Oh dear.
Dominic sighed as he watched Duo fight Sandalith in the full length mirror in his room. She'd certainly underestimated her opponent; with that long scythe of his, he looked almost like Death. Close, but not quite; an affinity was not good enough. He had to become more to defeat Sandalith.
They parried blows, neither gaining an advantage, his blonde servant using her bare hands to stop his wild cross-cuts. His ki flickered wildly; the transformation had been too recent for him to access anything near to full power. With a burst of strength, the braided boy pinned Sandalith to the wall, impaling her on the staff end of his scythe. With a quick flick of his wrist, the blade disengaged, spinning rapidly in the air, bleeding power into the room. Every muscle in her body tensed as she prepared to lunge--
Dominic winced as her head was pinned to the wall, her slender body crumpling lifelessly to the ground and dissolving into dust.
"Ouch," he sighed, and waved his hand. A large crack appeared in the mirror, shattering the glass to pieces. The clear shards tinkled slowly to the ground, crunching as his boots came down hard on them, grinding them to dust.
He wasn't sure *where* exactly the scythe had come from, but it felt natural in his hands, an extension of himself rather than a mere weapon. It felt like his Gundam; they were partners, more than a battle armament and its wielder; it was like his arm, rather than his blade.
He felt no remorse as she died, blood welling up from the bottom of her neck, dripping drop by drop onto the tiles. She had tried to kill both of them. And failed.
And then her body simply turned to dust, fine brown sand piling where she had laid.
Duo stood, panting, sweat dripping down his face and stinging his eyes, the blade of his scythe whistling through the air as it flew back to him. It seemed to sing as it returned to his hand, flicking once to loose the blood from the arch. He watched with a strange satisfaction as the scythe melted away into a little green ball of light that melted into his skin, suffusing him with a faint glow. He felt the adrenaline begin to seep away, leaving him with a headache and a growing feeling of wrongness. They had to leave soon.
No, they had to leave now. Scooping up the forgotten flask in his hands, he dipped it into the cold water pool and stoppered it firmly, shoving it into his shirt pocket.
He knelt beside Heero, hands working over his body, assessing damages and potential escape plans. The slender boy had red hand prints on his neck that would soon purple and flower into ugly bruises, a painful reminder of their own mortality. He winced as he felt bones in Heero's wrist grate together; broken. He wouldn't be piloting a Gundam any time soon.
Amazingly enough, his face had suffered little damage. A thin scratch raked across the sloped bridge of his nose, dripping blood, but other than that, he looked as good as he had the day Duo had first met him on the pier. His breath came in soft exhalations; Duo rested a hand on his chest, and nodded, feeling the contraction of his lungs. No broken ribs, then. He'd been afraid that he'd had a pierced lung, which would have been bad news indeed.
"Heero," he said gently, shaking his rounded shoulders, wincing as his hands came away with small, wispy feathers. "Wake up. We've got to get going." The Japanese boy moaned a bit, but slowly ascended from his stupor, Prussian eyes blinking dazedly at the sudden light.
"Duo," he sighed softly, breath warm against his face. "You're different," noted Heero, one hand reaching up to cup his face. His thumb grazed lightly across his eyelids, noting their softness, storing it away for instance of separation. "We're not the same anymore."
Duo nodded slowly, eyes brimming with tears. He wasn't sure why.
"He came as you predicted," Treize said, voice low, as he rocked idly back and forth on the balls of his feet. "And Duo killed Sandalith. As I predicted."
"You are truly in my image," Dominic chuckled softly, one hand reaching out to ruffle his hair affectionately in a cheap imitation of father and son relationships. "She is dead; traitors will always trade sides again as it suits them. She had far outlasted her use."
"The boy is paralyzed," Treize uttered softly, turning away from Dominic, from the room that had been decorated to appear exactly as his old study in OZ, to stare out the window. Even the Keys were restless, knowing that something was happening. And for the first time in hundreds of years, they had a possible revolt on their hands.
As if Dominic hadn't even heard him, he continued. "Do you think the Gundams have enough power to destroy the Palazzio?"
Treize smiled behind his glass of wine.
"I see." The dark-haired man came up behind him, looping his arms around his waist as he pressed a chaste kiss to his neck. "I see. What do you think, my beautiful little pet?"
From the shadows, a dark-haired girl emerged, black opal eyes glowing wildly. "I believe my husband will triumph in anything he chooses to do. It is the only way. It is the way that our people have taught and Wufei will act accordingly. Your resistance is--"
"--useless, I know, Meiran. You've told me countless times, but it never ceases to amuse me." He laughed fruitlessly. "I suppose that's why I keep asking."
"You mock me." Her voice was hollow, mirroring the dark circles pasted beneath her eyes.
"I mock those who follow an antiquated and outdated culture. Honor and justice have no place in the real world." He watched Treize silently, measuring his responses and short breaths. "How ironic. Your husband entrusted your care to *him*, this man who will ultimately destroy you. How to honor a man who has slept with another man, given his wife to death from carelessness? Honor, Meiran?"
She looked away and refused to answer.
"Ah well." Dominic chuckled. "It will all be over soon. The play comes to a faltering end, Treize. Have you served your Master well? Will you be rewarded...?"
"I do not pretend to know your will, Dominic. You are capricious and as changing as the tides; utterly predictable in your bouts of insanity."
"Silence," he hissed, fingers curling into vicious claws.
"I will not. Your instability may yet cost you victory. A commander needs a clear head. Tell me, you do this for victory or for revenge?" He turned, his blue eyes boring into the darkness. "Were you angry when you found that Darius had been used? That he was as barren as the darkest side of the sun? Did it make you want to kill him and his insubordinate lover?
"You hurry, because you know it is only a matter of time before Duo's seed takes hold and then it will be too late for you; too late for your grand plans. You have planned so long, but your impatience draws the act to an early closing and the players rebel. You were foolish to allow them back into the Palazzio, and now they will escape.
"Did you know that he is Darius' son? That his ki is as compatible with yours as his father's? They look nothing alike, thanks to his birth mother. His eyes are the same, though." He fingered the stem of his glass thoughtfully.
Dominic stared at Treize.
"Are you in love with the blasted child? You said yourself he has the same ki. A farmer may fall in love with his prize hen if she holds his dead wife's ki. And here I thought you were only in it for the pretty Chinese pilot." He barked a short, humorless laugh. "You said he was paralyzed?"
"Sandalith severed his spine. He will not walk again. He would die transferring the child." The ginger-haired man shrugged. "He can still be made to fit your uses, if you choose, but he will not be able to fight back." Their eyes met in perfect understanding.
"What good is he if he can't fight back? If I can't hear him screaming, feel every muscle grow taut as I claim him? That's not ambitious, Khushrenada. I admired you for your ambition and your desire. However worldly," he added with a smirk.
"No, I believe we will force their hand. There is a way for him to walk again."
"That is dangerous, Dominic. Unlock him and you may have a greater mess on your hands than you have now." Sighing, he turned to Meiran, who was vacillating between glaring at him and glowering at Dominic.
"It is the only way. Suffer my desire," he said childishly. "Are you ready, child?" asked Dominic abruptly. The raven-haired girl shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest. "I didn't think so. Stay here, then, I don't care. You will play the part I assign, for I run this little play and not you. I warn both of you now," he shouted, shadows looping around his ki, "do not cross me. Or I will kill you."
Treize nodded politely.
"Aa. Shall we go?" Dominic nodded and then they were off.
Duo was beside himself. "You really can't feel this?" he asked hopefully, poking one of Heero's long legs again. The Japanese boy shook his head disconsolately. "Damn." He closed his eyes briefly, trying to clear his head.
"You have to get out of here, Duo," Heero insisted, hands grabbing at his collar. "I want you to leave me behind. You've got to get Quatre and the others. I'll still be here." He tried a soft smile that quickly faded as Duo trembled with fury.
"No! I'm not _fucking_ leaving you. How many *fucking* times have we _fucking_ gone OVER THIS?!?" Heero shook his head; for a Catholic boy, Duo sure cursed a lot.
"Can you fly?" Heero blinked twice. "Forgot about those damn wings, didn't you? We're not human anymore, Heero. We're not human! And these...things...we're up against, they aren't either. So you can either sit there," he snapped, grabbing his shirt and ripping it up the back, "and mope or you can get us the hell out of here."
Duo smirked as the small wings no larger than his palm slowly unfolded, stretching and quivering, arcing over his head and draping against the floor. A few feathers dropped to the ground as he gave them a test flap or two, then lifted off the ground, one hand outstretched.
"Are you coming?"
Duo grinned, jumping up and down. "I've never flown outside of Shinigami's cabin," said the braided one, twitching with delight.
"Well, neither--"
Soundlessly, Heero dropped to the floor in a dead slump, wings slowly folding in on themselves.
"Why hello!" He whirled around, growling as he saw two familiar figures step forward, both wearing OZ uniforms. "Fancy meeting you here, Duo Maxwell. How unexpected."
"What are you doing here?" Their faces suddenly became clear in the low light. "Khushrenada! I knew we shouldn't have trusted you," Duo sneered, dropping down on one knee to check Heero's pulse. Steady and strong; so what caused his fall?
"Give it up, Duo. The game is over, the hands are face up on the table and I win. If you leave now, I promise I won't hurt Heero." He didn't trust the glint in that eye for even a tenth of a second.
"Like hell you won't. You can't beat us." He felt a familiar heat rush through his body; yes, he could almost see the outline of the scythe, glowing and twisting into a blade. Almost painfully, the scythe suddenly disappeared, wrenched away from his grasp.
"Not so cocky now, are we? He would want you to save yourself, Duo. So go. Take your scythe--" He smirked, spinning the green blade on one fingertip. "--And take one last good look at him.
"He's mine, now. He always has been. He was supposed to be mine, my child, my spawn and heir. And my body." He shrugged his arms. "This one is old and displeasing to the eye. Only a body like Heero's would be able to withstand the transference of souls." Dominic grinned. "But I want to keep him for a while. So I'll just use his child's body instead. Just as good, ne?"
Duo watched him rant with a growing sense of horror. "You can't," he said simply. "Heero would never betray me with someone else." But deep inside, a little voice was screaming at him, telling him that wasn't exactly what the monster meant.
"I'm not talking about mating him with a woman, although that would be interesting to see. I'm talking about using your precious lover to create a child. It would kill him, but..." He shrugged. "It's not a big deal in the long run."
"He wouldn't."
His denial rang out sharply, biting and nipping at his soul. Treize looked away, a faint expression of disgust on his face. "Heero wouldn't do that to me. He *loves* me," Duo said again, cradling Heero's body in his arms.
"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Duo realized with a start that Heero's eyes had flickered open sometime while Dominic had been talking, and he was pushing himself to his feet, walking--no, floating--across the room, head lolling bonelessly.
Duo tried to summon his scythe again, to no end. He was stuck. <Heero!> he called urgently. <Heero!>
< Duo? He's making me--I can't stop-- > He watched with a strange sense of morbid curiosity and horror as Heero undressed, fingers fumbling the buttons of his shirt, then bent down on all fours, hips raised, legs parted.
"I think he wants something," wondered Dominic aloud. "I'm not sure...could it be this?" Brutally, he jabbed his finger into the air. Heero's body rocked forward, as if he'd been hit. Heero let out a choked cry, eyes squeezing shut.
Duo couldn't take it anymore. He rushed forward, knocking Dominic far away from Heero, then gasped as his left ankle twisted painfully and he fell onto Heero, the force of impact rolling them both across the floor and into the cold water pool.
Heero's eyes snapped open as his body met with cold water, raising gooseflesh on his arms and legs, grabbing his ankles and pulling him screaming down into the unknown depths.
Duo surfaced first, his hair a dead weight on his head, gasping for breath. He looked down into the clear water and nearly fainted as he was met with nothing but water. No Heero. No unruly brown hair floating in the water, no Prussian eyes, closed or not. Just...gone.
He looked up suspiciously at Treize, who stared down at him impassively. "Where's Heero?"
The light brown-haired man shrugged, darkness pooling around his body. Duo swallowed hard, debating the merits of ducking underwater and never coming up.
"It's time we said goodbye," said Treize after a moment. Before Duo could protest, he reached down and shoved his face underwater. He kicked for a few minutes, admirable for a human, then went limp in a mass of bubbles. Dead. He left him floating face down in the cold water pool, hair slowly unraveling from its braid, loose tendrils of chestnut swirling in the slow current. Dead as a nail in his coffin.
Dominic sighed beside him and kicked the prone form of the Gundam pilot. "What a waste. He was so pretty, too." With that, he pulled out a cigarette from his jacket and lit up, blowing smoke clouds into Treize's face as they waited for Heero to resurface.
End Book Two, Part Five
Ariana
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