Genre: Fantasy/Romance/Drama

Pairings: 1x2 main, other

Disclaimer: Don't own nothin' but these words

Warnings: Yaoi, lemon, language, gross misuse of powers, reincarnation, evil Duo, cold Heero, Relena bashing (sort of), cruelty

A/N: Zzzzzzzzzzz . . .

The Wisdoms

Shinigami appeared in the middle of the room in a swarm of shadow that billowed outward from him almost like a cloak, coiling around everything it encountered. Like icy fingers snaking up from a grave. His smile was death itself, his eyes black pits of malicious glee.

"Well, well," he murmured as the shadows spread over every wall, "what have we here?"

They tried to escape. After a moment of unmoving horror, their instincts kicked in and they tried to escape. Once the shadow encompassed the entire room, however, they were in Shinigami's domain. No one could enter or leave here without his permission. His grin stretched wider, just like the frozen rictus of a grin on the face of a skull.

"Daydre," he purred. "Haven't you been receiving and understanding my warnings?"

She swallowed so thickly he could see her throat move. "Shinigami," she croaked. "What . . . uh, why are you here?"

The grin relaxed into something softer. "Because after all," he purred, "you are the goddess of Life. Every deity of life needs an equal counterpart. A deity of Death. Elsewise they would be incomplete."

The Lesser deity took a step backward.

Shinigami took a step forward. "But we aren't equal, are we?"

Another step. He matched her again.

"You are just an immortal with a little power."

Another step. Again to match her.

"I've been waiting for this day for quite a long time," Shinigami said as finally she could back up no further. The shadow coiled around her arms. "The day when you gathered all your cult leaders. All the pathetic humans who recruit new members. Who secretly teach your dogma. Who form your secret temples." He reached out and ran a finger down her jaw. "The day I destroy you all at once."

"Please!" she nearly shrieked, voice shrill and cracking. "I haven't done anything wrong! Just leave us and go! We create our own religions on Earth all the time!"

"Yes," Shinigami agreed, taking a single step back, "but you've done more than that, haven't you? You've tried to supplant Hiro. You are not the Goddess of Life, Daydre. You're not even a goddess." He lifted his hands, and the shadows began to swarm. "You're a worm." Tendrils lashed out and coiled around the necks of her human followers. "And today, you'll die like one."

As one the humans crumpled, heads rolling away from shoulders to vanish into shadow. Shinigami laughed as the light of the Ebb began to glow from the inside of his skin. He knew it would make him look absolutely terrifying to the Lesser deity. Daydre screamed and whirled, clawing at the walls of shadow.

"That's right, worm!" he sneered. "Wriggle like the maggot you are! Do you understand the difference between you and him, Daydre? He is powerful and magnificent, my equal in every way."

"Yes!" she gasped, turning enormous, frightened eyes on him. "Yes, I understand! I'm nothing! Please, please Shinigami, spare me! Show mercy!"

That terrible, frozen grin came back. "Mercy? When has Death ever shown mercy?"

As he lifted a hand to end her life, he felt the first pulse of power outside of his shadow walls. He recognized Hiro at once, and a delicious shiver coursed down his spine. The god of Life would be furious. What will he do to me, Shinigami wondered. The second Daydre's grating screams stopped, he lowered the walls and Hiro appeared. Light devoured darkness, and as always Shinigami allowed it. Those blazing blue eyes burned into his, and he met that powerful gaze with an impish grin.

"What's going on, Shin?" Hiro demanded.

"Nothing," Shinigami said, all innocence. "Pest control."

Hiro's eyes narrowed. "I thought I forbade you from destroying the Lesser deities."

Unrepentant, Shinigami shrugged, grin undiminished. "So you did."

Hiro strode forward and gripped Shinigami's chin in one hand, squeezing until Shinigami yelped and tried to back away. The God of Life didn't allow it. "I'll make sure you don't forget this time, Shin. Come."

Trembling from head to foot, Shinigami obeyed without resistance. This was what he lived for. To have those incredible eyes on him. Even if Hiro hurt him, even if it hurt until he was half mad from pain, it meant Hiro would hold him and comfort him after. Perhaps one day the comfort would extend into something more.

When will you finally realize that I am so madly, desperately in love with you?

o0o 0o0

Duo tried to smother his sigh. "Ne, Hee-ro, how long will we be waiting like this? I'm really bored."

For the last half hour, Heero had been sitting without moving on his chair, eyes unfocused and distant. A distracted Heero was a gentler one, but Duo was so bored he wanted to cry. Heero, who'd been resting his chin in his hand, lowered his arm and looked over at Duo.

"Not much longer, probably," he said. "You don't have to wait here, I already told you."

Duo shifted and squirmed on his chair. "But this place is huge, and I don't know anyone," he explained. After having been cooped up in such a tiny space, big open places made him inexplicably nervous.

"Then don't complain," Heero said, sounding distracted.

As Duo tried to think of some way to protest without complaining, the door opened. In strode an old human with more wrinkles than Duo had ever seen. His eyes were bright, though, and he wasn't hunched over. Heero rose, offering a hand. "Head Master."

The old man shook Heero's hand. "Welcome back." He glanced over at Duo. "I trust you found what you were looking for?"

Heero made a strange face, sort of like a smirk mixed with a wince. "Yeah. I returned to the Vale Tower for a short while, and I was contacted by three guardian deities."

"Yes, I was beginning to sense some sort of change," the old man said. "The time has finally come to gather the Wisdoms, am I correct?"

"Yes," Heero confirmed.

Duo watched with burning curiosity. The Wisdoms? Guardian deities? It all sounded terribly exciting and important.

The old man drew in a deep breath, and when he expelled it he seemed relieved. "It has been a great burden for me to bear, and I confess I'm grateful to pass it along to someone younger and stronger than I. The Wisdom has been in a special sealing jar for many years now, its power concealed by the old magic. You should not remove it until you're ready to use it."

Heero merely nodded.

The old man looked at Duo and stepped toward him. "You, I haven't met. What's your name, child?"

"Duo," he chirped, giving him a grin. "Heero found me and saved me."

"Saved you, eh? This is an interesting thing. Do you mind if I look at it?" He gestured to the golden cross around Duo's neck.

"I don't mind," Duo said, lifting it off his chest, "but I can't take it off. I've tried. No matter what I do."

The old man ran his fingers over the cross, frowning a bit. "This is quite a strange thing. Unless I'm entirely mistaken, it's very old. How did you come to possess it, Duo?"

Duo shrugged. "I dunno. I've had it ever since I woke up in the mountain. Before that, I don't remember anything. Then Heero found me and freed me."

The explanation seemed to confuse the old man. "I see. Well, I believe it's been imbued with some sort of sealing magic." He released it. "Heero, do you know what it is? You're far better at detecting magical properties than I."

Heero didn't answer, just looked at the old man.

"Ah, no matter. You two wait here, I'll fetch the Wisdom. The guardian deities told you what to do with them?"

"Yes."

"Very well. I'll return shortly."

Another wait. Duo sighed. Then he brightened. "What are the guardian deities? And what are the Wisdoms?"

Heero retook his seat. "They're the ones with whom I spoke in the Seeing Room."

"Oh! Then the thing they told you to find, it's the Wisdom?"

"Yes. There are five of them."

"What are they?"

Heero's gaze went unfocused again. "They're also called the Aligning Stones. They align the energies of the world."

Duo plopped down. "Really? That sounds amazing. What does it mean?"

It was Heero's turn to sigh. "Different kinds of energy swirl through our world. They flow in set directions. When they do, all is as it should be. But when the flow is disrupted, the energies begin flowing in different directions that eventually harm the world and its inhabitants. The Wisdoms restore the proper flow."

For a moment Duo tried to think of any other time when Heero had said so much to him all at once. He couldn't think of one. "That sounds really amazing. That's what you're going to do?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll help!" he exclaimed, bouncing in his seat. "You just tell me whenever you need help, and I'll do it!"

The look Heero gave him seemed vaguely amused, and Duo grinned. Heero had very few facial expressions, so to see anything on his handsome face was wonderful. He really hoped he'd be able to see the older youth smile soon.

It wasn't long before the old man returned, holding a red glass jar not much bigger than Duo's palm. It had a plain cork and no embellishment. Still, the color was pretty. He extended it.

"This is the Wisdom of the East," he said (making no sense to Duo, but he didn't comment).

Duo snatched it, and the second he did he froze, caught completely off-guard by the rush of sensation.

Cold. Hot. Power. Pain. Captivity. Wrong. Right. Flying. Standing. Moving. He could feel the presence of a powerful something inside the jar, and it reacted strongly to him. It tugged at dormant places in his mind until he felt he could almost remember things. A voice. A touch. A color. A place far, far from here. And pulsing through it all, a great and terrible energy storming through life in all the wrong directions.

Heero was right. The energies of the world were wrong. Off. It was causing the birth of twisted and destructive monsters and the warping of demonic and human minds alike.

All of this raged through him in the time it took to blink. A strong hand pried the jar out of his numb fingers, and he looked up to find Heero kneeling beside him. When did I end up on the floor? He was trembling so hard his body ached, and to his shock Heero gently gathered him to his chest and held him.

"Easy, Duo. Shh, just breathe. It'll get easier after a moment."

"Why did he react to the Wisdom?" the old man demanded, sounding shaken. "I thought only Vale Priests could feel them."

"Be quiet," Heero hissed. "Just leave us for awhile."

Then silence. Silence and warmth, folding softly around him. Gradually the tremors lessened and then ceased, and Duo found himself weak as a newborn babe. He managed to tilt his head back and peer up at Heero. When he tried to speak he found his throat too dry, so he licked his lips and swallowed thickly.

"What . . . was that?" he managed.

Heero brushed his bangs back. It felt wonderful. "My mentor calls it the Wisdom Storm. You were able to feel the flow of energy through the stone, even through the sealing jar. Normally only Vale Priests can do that."

Duo blinked. "Oh. What does that mean? Am I a Vale Priest?"

"No," Heero replied, and he smiled. It was a small smile, little more than a quirk of lips. But it briefly lit up his bright cobalt eyes. "It probably called out to whatever dormant power sleeps beneath this seal." He fingered the gold cross.

Duo closed his eyes and rested his head on Heero's chest. Cobalt. That color stirred those dim forgotten memories. It felt so familiar. Heero felt so familiar. Maybe he reminds me of someone I knew, a long time ago? From before I was locked up in that mountain? He realized he was getting sleepy.

"Hey," Heero said, shaking him a little. "This isn't the best place to sleep. Let's go to my dorm."

Getting his feet under him took surprising effort, but Heero was patient and supported him. It felt like the longest walk ever, and when he collapsed onto the bed he fell asleep before his head hit the pillow.