Disclaimers: Don't own any part of Gundam Wing nor it's characters. Merely borrowing them for a little torture.

Warnings: Shounen-ai (because I suck at yaoi) , mildly blasphemous in terms of my depiction of heaven. Not a death fic… ish. Usual 1x2, 3x4, and with 5 hanging in the wind. The poor darling.

Notes: Betaed by Keiran. Thank you.

Chapter 15: Heaven can't wait

Heero had to be dreaming. He must be. But the rapidly cooling body he held was real, as much as the person in front of him. Duo, his dead lover. Duo, the other part of his soul. Duo, standing in front of him, with pain and regret in his eyes. He laid Adrian down and stood as if in a daze. Part of him was screaming at him, to try to help the person now lying at his feet, but…

"Duo?" Heero whispered, reaching out a hand to cup the pale cheek. He gasped when his fingers encountered cool skin.

Duo's eyes fluttered close as he nuzzled into Heero's touch. "Yes, love."

"But… but… you're dead!" Heero blurted, unable to believe he was actually seeing Duo standing in front of him. If this was a dream, he really didn't want to wake. He never wanted to wake.

Duo laughed mirthlessly, looking back at the two waiting for him. "And I still am."

"How…?"

Duo sighed, reaching out and placing a hand Heero's shoulder. "I know this is hard to accept. But for the last few days, I was Adrian. His heart failed and was taken away by one of those odd dudes in black suits."

"What…?"

"Mr Maxwell, I am an archangel," the dude in black suit said. "I am by no means a courier. Mr West was retrieved by them and not by anyone of my colleagues. Doing another person's job affects my performance appraisal."

Duo rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Huh?" Heero seemed to be a constant state of confusion. "So… last night…"

"Yes," Duo nodded. "Last night was me. I wanted it to be special. I wanted… to… say goodbye."

Heero panicked. "Goodbye? Why? And why is Adrian now lying on my floor, dead? Can't you stay with me?"

With a low moan, Duo threw his arms around Heero. "Baby, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you further, but I really couldn't stand to just sit there and not do anything. You really were trying to kill yourself."

Heero shook his head vehemently. "I promised you out of the war I would never do something like that ever again…"

Duo held Heero's face in his hands. "You were doing it unconsciously, Heero. We all could see that. But for some reason, you've stopped." He shrugged helplessly.

"I just found you again," Heero whispered, curling his arms around Duo's waist possessively.

"My time is up here. I don't want it to be, but I wasn't given the choice in this," he turned and glared at the two standing behind him. The two cringed a little. "Maybe sometime in the future, when I see you again, I will tell you how I got into this mess but for now… I want you to go to your desk. I left some letters there. Some are for the guys and Relena. There's one for you."

"Mr Maxwell, we are running out of time. I am going to be late for an executive committee meeting," Mr Black Suit whined.

Heero frowned. He wasn't sure to be sad or confused. Executive committee meeting? He saw the expression on Duo's face, which was probably a mirror of his own and they exchanged a similar roll of eyes.

Duo hugged Heero tightly, knowing that this would be the last time he would ever get to touch Heero for a very long while. He whispered softly in his lover's ear. "We will meet again and it would be for eternity, just you and me. And when that happens, we will laugh about this. But for now, heaven is calling and I need to answer. I love you, Heero. Remember that." He released the stunned Japanese man and stalked purposefully back to the couple waiting rather impatiently for him. Though the one in cream clothes look like he was going to an execution – his own.

The white light that had been infusing everything flared suddenly encompassing Heero's site. He could barely make out the figures as they disappeared into it.

"Remember Heero, I will be waiting for you at the Administrative Building with a large tent and really loud music," Duo's voice drifted back, laced with forced humour.

Heero smiled sadly. Administrative building? He thought. Duo's humour was getting lame.

Just as the light faded, he heard Duo's voice one last time. "Damn, can you just get the interior designer to fix this stupid white crap?"

Then he was alone, standing in an empty apartment. He didn't even notice that Adrian's body had also mysteriously disappeared.

He just wanted to cry.

XXxxXX

Dear Heero,

This is supposed to explain everything that happened over that past few chaotic days but I tried writing one and for some reason the stupid words blurred before I got past the second sentence. Stupid Steve from the recycling plant. Remind me to kill him when I get back there.

Anyway, so I decided this letter is going to be for you and not to explain anything. We will have time to explain things to each other when we meet later.

I am not going to accept your psychopathic shit and if I see you anything other than old and grey, I am going to be severely pissed and you are not going to get any for at least a century or two. So this is the thing. I just want to tell you that it is alright to be with someone. You would be in no way cheating or betraying my memory. Because, baby, my memory can't give you the nookie that it wants to.

I am not going to say anything sentimental or romantic, because we both know I don't even know what those terms mean. I just want to tell you, that there is someone out there for you. I, for a fact, know exactly who it is but I think you need to figure it out for yourself before any clues can be given. Well, I am not trying to be difficult but someone is really a huge idiot when it comes to certain details.

This person is waiting for you, and I hope to God, and I think he is listening, so he is bound to help, at least I hope so, because if he didn't then he isn't doing it job, oh my goodness, what the hell am I saying and I think I should end this letter before it gets anymore incoherent…

I love you, baby. This person is as deserving of you as me.

I will see you again.

Love,

Askjlfkdj Jerjekjng

PS. See what I mean by not being able to tell you anything? Sorry.

Heero smiled wistfully at the silliness of the letter. There was no way he couldn't believe that this letter was indeed written by Duo Maxwell. He had seen his lover's case reports. They were probably more incoherent than this one.

It had taken three days after Duo left him, again, for him to go to the desk and pick up that letter. He found two other there, one for the rest of the guys and one for, of all people, Relena. Heero was tempted to just open the letter and see what Duo had to say to her. As far as he knew, they had nothing in common except for him, as a familiar obsession. Then again, he guessed that Duo would have a way of finding out that he had opened that letter and since he was rather convinced that there was an afterlife, filled with annoying white that Duo positively loathed, Duo would make his life rather painful for that.

He had also taken the time to find out exactly where Adrian West's body had been dumped by Mr Scary In Black. A report came in to Preventors HQ about him being found in his apartment. He died of heart failure. That brought him another round of grief. He truly cared for this person, even if the reason he started was because he had Duo's heart beating in his chest. But all in all, Adrian was indeed a good person. He deserved a much longer life than he had. Since he was an orphan, Heero took care of the funeral arrangements and now he was resting next to Duo, who still had that fancy gravestone.

He finally understood Adrian's rather mysterious remarks about Duo sending down a miracle for the gravestone just to make him laugh.

He stared at the sealed envelope again, pondering what to do.

"Guess I'll go send this to Relena."

XXxxXX

Waaaaaaaaaay up in the sky, a pair of naughty violet eyes watched the entire proceedings and cackled evilly.

XXxxXX

Relena,

You didn't like me, and I was uncomfortable with you. After my ears recovered from you incessant screeching of 'Heeeeeero' during the days of the war, I realised that you were just as lonely as I was. I am not going to apologise for Heero being my boyfriend. I didn't steal him, he decided that breasts were overrated.

Relena choked on her tea.

So, anyway. Listen, I am dead now. And don't ask any stupid questions about how I am dead yet writing you a letter. You know no one would ever insult you that way and get away with it? Okay, I digress. I just want to tell you something.

1) Heero is an idiot.

2) Heero is a stubborn idiot.

3) Heero is a stubborn idiot still in love with me and won't see anything else if it bit him on the nose for a while so please wait for him.

4) Heero is a stubborn idiot that will eventually be your stubborn idiot.

Trust me, I know what I am talking about. That idiot is a sucker for damsels in distress. Okay, I think I just insulted myself. But remember this, do not hurt him under any circumstances. Since we both want only the best for him, I doubt that can be a problem. But if it does…

Eternity is a really long time and I know just how to utilise every moment of it.

Heero has feelings for you, and they are stronger than familial. Sometimes, even I am not enough to stop him from coming to you. So, while being patient and waiting in the sidelines seem hard to you right now, I believe that eventually, he will come to you.

I wish you well thought honestly it is killing me to say it. Wait… did I already mention that I am dead? Was dead… is dead…?

Yours,

L2 Rat

PS. You do understand that the 'yours' part is figuratively speaking right? Since technically, I am Heero's.

Relena burst out laughing as she finished the letter, wiping away a few tears that managed to creep past her normally iron control. The letter gave her renewed hope, although it served to confuse her further. What did it all mean? Didn't Duo die all those months back? Why did this letter suddenly come out of nowhere?

While Duo and she didn't have the best of relationships, they did have Heero's best interest at heart. Neither would consciously hurt him. Whatever the case, Duo had never lied about anything, not even to her. And by the cadence of this letter, it was Duo through and through. Only he was this blatantly disrespectful to her and only he could get away with it by only a minimum tug of his braid by Heero. Since Heero gave her this letter, saying it was from Duo, it couldn't be a lie.

Wait… she could do that. She had been doing that for the past four years.

Hope blazed hot.

XXxxXX

Dear Quatre & Trowa,

Keep fornicating like rabbits.

Wu Fei,

Would you PLEASE pop the question to Sally before she decides to drop you like a hot potato?

Quatre held the letter with a small melancholic smile on his face. Duo was gone, irrevocably gone and Adrian's body was found in his apartment. They had been shocked of course. A person's heart wasn't just supposed to stop like that. Then again, there was a story behind the whole Duo/Adrian issue that Duo wasn't able to tell him. Quatre guessed this was one of the reasons.

Deciding that it was already a moot point, he put a close to that chapter.

"Duo, I will miss you very much," Quatre whispered to himself, his eyes misting as he stared at the letter.

Besides, it was so much more satisfying to see Wu Fei's face change colour.

"That stupid idiot! Sally is more than glad to have me," Wu Fei blurted.

Trowa nodded sagely. "Yes, definitely Wu Fei, keep telling yourself that. One day, it might actually come true."

Quatre laughed as Wu Fei lunged for his katana, causing his boyfriend to run from the room with undue haste.

Yes, Duo, we are all going to miss you.

Tbc…