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 16: So, it has come to this
Duo sat outside a long white (like what was new) corridor. He was wringing his hands nervously as he waited for the verdict for the domestic enquiry for Solo. He really hoped that his friend didn't get into any major shit. It was after all his fault that Solo did something that was against company policy. He really wished someone would blame him. But he knew instinctively that someone eventually would. Steve really wasn't the type to want to cover his ass for him.
He sighed again, staring at the closed door. There was something about closed doors in office buildings that was rather imposing. It spoke of 'very important things being carried out' as compared to closed doors in a home which meant 'very naughty things being carried out'. He suddenly missed Heero. He wondered how his lover was taking it. But he was beyond a doubt that Heero would get past this and move on. How he knew, was something else altogether.
"Mister, are you alright?" A tiny little voice piped from his side.
Duo jumped, swinging his head to see the cutest little girl sitting next to him. She was no more than five, by his estimation, and had the most glorious crown of blonde curls and the biggest blue eyes he had ever seen. Her lips were small and the colour of strawberries. She must have been running a lot in the sun before she had the rosiest cheeks he had ever seen on anyone. In short, she was adorable. Duo thought this must be what cherubs looked like, only instead of wearing one of those silly white sheets, she was wearing a sweet little summer dress and a huge floral hat.
"Hey honey," he smiled at her. "Yeah, I am fine. I am just worried about my friend."
She frowned, playing with a small plastic arrow that looked like it came from a bow and arrow toy set. "Did he do something wrong? People who are here did wrong things."
Duo nodded. "Yes, he did something wrong, but only to help me. I hope he doesn't get punished for something I did."
"What did you do?" She asked, her eyes wide with disbelief. She probably didn't think that anyone would do wrong things in heaven.
Duo's heart clenched as the age of the little girl finally registered in his mind. She must have died really young. The poor dear. "Well, I died before my time actually, so I really wanted to go see this… erm… really good friend of mine. I was worried that he would hurt himself. He had been known to do that in the past. I just wanted him to be happy, and live on. I didn't fill up the right forms and I utilised an empty husk without proper authorisation. Solo helped me."
The girl cocked her head adorably to the side. "Did you get your answers then? Your friend is okay now?"
"Yeah," Duo nodded frowning. "It was odd. One moment he looked like he wanted to kill himself, the next moment all the cares were lifted from him."
The girls smiled mysteriously, ducking her head before Duo could see. Then she looked up at him again. "And this… Solo?"
"I don't know… They have been in there the entire morning." Duo stared at the closed door again.
A door further down the hall opened and a head peeped out. The girl suddenly jumped to her feet. "I have to go now, mister. It was nice talking to you. Don't worry, your friend will be alright. He was only trying to help you. They will see that." She poked Duo playfully with the arrow before pelting down the hallway, her bare feet making a racket.
Duo smiled indulgently. He hoped she was right.
The girl skidded to a stop and turned to him. "I am always right. And remember? Leave the cupid arrows to me."
Duo started. Wait, did that little girl just read his mind? Then it hit him. Cupid arrows… who had said that to him before? It teased him, hovering just at the edge of his mind.
Lightning struck. Solo's PDA, the email from…
Shit!
That little girl was God?
XXxxXX
Duo Maxwell, former Gundam Pilot, formerly known as Shinigami, formerly known as Heero Yuy's human huggy toy…
"Tsu!" Keiran admonished giggling as she read over Tsu's shoulder.
Tsu looked up at Keiran and grinned. "What? You are lucky I didn't say Heero Yuy's Du-plushie."
Keiran whacked her friend on the back of her head. "That's an inside joke."
Pouting, Tsu rubbed her head. "Would you just beta the damn thing?"
"Would you move so I can beta the damn thing?"
… was now Gardener's assistant. He was offered the job not long after he did community service at the most hellish place on peaceful heaven, the administrative building. He had his fun with Gaylord, who reacted very much like Wu Fei did, with the name taunts.
Thereafter, he learned why no one stepped on any plants in heaven. Grass was a different matter, thank goodness. He half expected a mechanical voice to yell 'please get off the grass' and repeated a few times in different languages. Each plant was actually a new soul cultivated by 'munchkin' as he now took to calling God. Many had been scandalised by the nickname but God merely giggled with glee.
Being so cute had to be a crime.
Duo, with special permission from the munchkin, often checked up on Heero over the years and often cringed at the many mistakes his lover had made while trying to 'court' a girl. Yes, it was a girl this time. And true to his prediction, it was Relena. Her patience had finally paid off after three years, when Quatre had gotten pissed with them pussy footing around and locked them in his larder.
He also found out it was the little girl with the big straw hat that had tweaked with Heero's mind and made him a whole lot less suicidal. She had told him it was the organisation's way of apologising for the gross mistake done to him. It was also her fault that the email and flowers meant for Relena bounced back to Heero. She really didn't like other people playing with her cupid arrows. And she could out hack Heero and Duo combined. Little girls were really scary. Especially when they were God.
Six months later, Heero and Relena walked down the aisle. They had never mentioned the fact that Duo was still very much in between them but Relena knew absolutely nothing would change how Heero felt about Duo. She had accepted that she will always take second place in his heart, but there was really nothing to feel jealous about, but a memory. Or so she thought. Tsu and Keiran would definitely be waiting to see what would happen when Relena finally came to heaven.
Not long after, the munchkin gave Duo a special assignment. He was to take care of a very special flower. It was a new little soul that would go down to Heero and Relena. They were having a baby. Nine months later was something that Duo never forgot. Heero sat next to Relena's bedside, his expression troubled while Relena was looking down at the wrapped bundle rubbing her temple with one hand. The baby had deep brown hair and the most glorious violet eyes.
"Uh… Heero," Relena had asked, Duo giggling insanely from where he was peeking at them. "Is this supposed to happen?"
Heero sighed. "If I didn't know better, I would say God had an odd sense of humour."
Not God, Duo wanted to tell them. Just Duo Maxwell.
"Tsu!" Keiran squealed. "I've seen a doujinshi picture just like that! Someone requested a fic for that picture!"
Tsu wiggled her eyebrows.
God had been miffed at Duo's humour and had taken away some of his Salvation Point, which he was saving rabidly. He had pouted but promised no more forays into gene splicing for a while. The years plodded along until one day…
"Tsu!" Keiran squealed again, but this time a whole lot more annoyed. "You can't just stop there!"
Tsu shrugged. "I can't help it. I bugged Duo until there is nothing left to bug. The story is told until this far."
Keiran pouted. "Where is Duo now?"
"I don't know. He's being rather secretive today. He keeps muttering something about loud music and a really large tent."
Tbc…