Chapter Four, coming up! Enjoy!
I do not own Gundam Wing or Sailor Moon.
Only One
---Chapter Four---
Minako gasped.
Duo smiled. "I'm not stupid, Minako. Just crazy."
Minako shook her head. "You aren't crazy. And don't you dare say you're crazy about me; that's the stupidest line ever and you know it."
Duo laughed. "How'd you know that's what I was going to say?"
"Just because it's been eight years doesn't mean you've changed. You don't know how it scared me when I came here and found you. Especially after I spent eight years failing to forget you."
"Most people would have said 'trying', but whatever. And I've got two guys in my head that occasionally take over my body. I think that qualifies me as insane, don't you?"
Minako bit her lip. "Maybe. I think they're your past selves, manifesting due to emotional trauma…"
Duo smiled humorlessly. "You've changed. You never used to use big words. And no, they aren't just my past selves. Hades and Shin have been up here-" He tapped his forehead. "-the whole time. I just used to hide it a lot better. Why do you think I called myself 'the God of Death' when I was a Gundam pilot?"
Minako didn't know how to answer that. "So… this morning… did you know it was me?"
"The second you stepped into the room. And Hades knew you were Aphrodite, but the guy is the angry-angsty type and tends to dwell in the past. So he reacted as he did once to Aphrodite." Duo laughed, still without humor, at the expression on Minako's face. "You don't even remember being Aphrodite, though, do you? Hades won't like that when he finds out. But you remember being Mina, I know you do. Shin knows it too. He's quiet, though. It's Hades that always gets me into trouble." He looked at her, and his face softened. His violet eyes held a sad expression Minako hadn't seen in years. "Even now he gets me in trouble," Duo said softly.
Minako reached for him. "It isn't your fault, Duo. With help, and the right medication, we can…" She trailed off as Duo stared at her.
"No, you can't. I've been on their stupid meds for eight years now, and there hasn't been any change. I lived with them in my head just fine for eighteen years. It wasn't until I thought you died that there was any problem."
"They reacted violently to my supposed death, didn't they?"
Duo snorted. "To say Hades reacted violently is a gross understatement. He was enraged and started reliving Aphrodite's death. Naturally, he took it out on Zeus, who killed Aphrodite in the first place. Hades knows that was an accident, but he doesn't really care. He never regrets his outbursts, which mostly leaves me to do it for him. Shin… he remembered Mina's death when we thought you died. He can separate the two of you. Hades can't. Anyway, Shin was just really sad, and he said the same things to Alyssa's reincarnation that he said to her just before the Silver Millennium was destroyed." Minako's eyes widened, and Duo's expression turned serious. "You don't remember that either. I guess I'm the only one who remembers all of it. That really sucks," he said reflectively.
Minako couldn't help but laugh, though she knew she shouldn't. "I think Hotaru remembers. She calls us by different names sometimes, and Setsuna says she has nightmares that she won't tell anyone about."
"Yeah, Hotaru would remember. It wouldn't surprise me if she has the same problem I've got. Eris and Viola being in her head would explain a lot of things, especially…" He paused.
Minako's interest was piqued. "Especially what, Duo?"
Duo looked away. "I shouldn't say."
"The less you tell me the harder it is for me to figure out how to help you."
"It isn't my secret to tell, and it doesn't really have anything to do with my problems, okay? The biggest problem I've got right now is that I really want to kiss you but I can't tell you because you're supposed to be my doctor and that's illegal somehow and I just blew that one, didn't I?"
Minako blinked. "Yes. Yes, you did."
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Ami hung up the phone, having a strong desire to either go to L2 and strangle Minako, or just stay here and bang her head against the wall. Heero was still looking at her. "Everything all right?"
Ami nodded vaguely. Heero set down the coffee mugs he had retrieved from the kitchen during the first part of Ami's phone call. "Good. So, why don't we discuss what this isn't?"
Ami took a deep breath. "We just met a few hours ago. While we have spent all of the time since we met together, I'm not used to being in a relationship. I think we should take this slowly and see where it goes."
"In other words, you want to go home and spend the next six weeks avoiding me until I get called on another mission and leave for perhaps a year, during which time you can theoretically relax but instead will wonder what would have happened had you not avoided me." The monotone was back, and Ami flinched. Was she that transparent? Heero then gave into an impulse of the sort that he thought he had long ago learned to ignore and squash.
Heero Yuy stepped up to Ami Mizuno and kissed her. Ami's eyes widened in complete surprise, but then closed as she kissed Heero back. So much for taking it slowly.
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Ameiro Yuy-Winner watched her twin children play, half-smiling but troubled by her thoughts.
Though only five years old, Alicia Meilan Winner had very firmly insisted on wearing her long blond hair in a braid. She refused to wear it in any other hairstyle, unaware that the braid brought back bad memories for both of her parents. Her twin brother, Trowa Maxwell Winner, knew something was wrong just by the look in their mother's steely-blue eyes, the eyes Alicia had inherited with her stubbornness.
It wasn't only the braid that disturbed Ameiro. She saw so much of Duo's sense of humor in the twins, though they had never met him. She felt guilty about that, for she and Quatre hadn't visited Duo since the twins were born. She knew that Heero still visited their friend occasionally. He had taken everything the hardest, though Heero's way of coping was by becoming more distant and stoic. Much as it pained her to admit, the rest of them had moved on.
Trowa and Quatre were both always busy, now that they were co-presidents of Winner Corporation. Leia and Ameiro spent a lot of time together since their children had just started school. Wufei had immersed himself in the Preventers and was even rumored to have a relationship with Sally Po. However Ameiro tried to discover the truth, he remained decidedly closed-mouthed. She knew better than to meddle in Heero's life, but it bothered her that her brother was the only one of their group still alone. Even Duo had had someone just before the war, regardless of what had become of the girl.
Duo…
Ameiro sighed and reached for the phone. "Rashid? Can you give me the number for Shadyside Asylum on L2? Thanks."
---End Chapter Four---
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