POSTED: 8/29/00
REVISED: 12/27/00
AUTHOR: Jay / carboxylated@yahoo.com
ARCHIVE: Gundam Wing Addiction (Tyr), Desolation Angels (Ashura, if
she wants it)
[Full fiction index @ http://www.geocities.com/fenris_wolf0]
Disclaimer: Scroll down (invariably at the bottom)
Title: Eden
Category: AU, yaoi, shonen ai, angst, horror
Timeline: Adapted Post-EW (Treize is alive to serve my purposes...
^^)
Pairings: 1+2, 3+4, 5+13, 6+9
Rating/Warning: R. Violent, and graphic descriptions of what is best
describe as "icky" situations. AU somewhat confusing, especially with flashbacks
and whatnot. YAOI = little anime boys snuggling. You've been warned.
Feedback: Craved, desired, wanted, coveted, yearned for, wished for,
and longed for. C&C will be repaid with dancing G-boys, my endless
adoration, as well as a nice slice of karma.
/... .../ = thoughts
Leron stifled his cries as the whip lashed over his back, cutting through the cotton fabric and into his flesh. His sister, Portia, stared in mute horror before casting a pleading glance at Calypso.
"Please," she begged. "Stop. Please stop hurting him... you'll kill him..."
Calypso chuckled. "Oh, I won't kill him. He might bleed a little, but I won't kill him."
"Why?" Leron's voice emerged from bloodless lips. "I thought... we were friends..."
Calypso winced. Leron had eyes that might even make Lucas think twice.
/Why? They're your friends... better you die than betray your friends.../
"Shut up. I might kill you after all." She raised the whip again.
/Everytime you hit him, something good inside you dies./
Leron cowered.
/I don't CARE if something dies! I have to... I must... obey Lucas./
Portia began to cry again.
Calypso lowered the whip. Really, it wasn't her style... now, give her a blade with a good balance...
/You don't want to. He makes you./
"Hello, my dear," Lucas drawled behind her. She turned around slowly. Moving too fast around Lucas sometimes startled him; it was a good way to invite death.
"Master," she said breathlessly, "I have your sacrifices."
Leron and Portia both looked at Lucas with terrified eyes. There was a glint, however, in both their eyes-- a sense of recognition.
He walked over and looked at Portia. "Little one, your parents named you well.[1]"
He slid over to Leron in a fluid motion. "Reyhan? Ready to give your life for *Him* again, little martyr?"
"There is no God," Leron replied, automatically. His eyes were sharp. "My name is Leron."
/My name is Quatre Raberba Winner./
Lucas laughed. "Did your parents teach you that?"
/Dorothy... why are you here?/
Leron tilted his head. "I taught myself that."
"Really, little one?"
His response was bitter. "How could any *God* allow my sister to suffer like this?"
"You're right," Lucas grinned. "You're absolutely right, because I know for a fact that there is no God."
Portia's eyes bulged as Calypso leveled a 9mm gun at her forehead.
"Cally... we were friends..." she whispered.
A shot rang out.
Leron gave a strangled shot. "PORTIA! Cal, I... I HATE you... how could you..."
Blood ran down, across her skin, bleeding into her clothes. Lucas delicately wiped a dribble off her collarbone and licked his finger.
Leron felt sick.
"Well, no need to pique my hunger." Lucas tipped Leron's head up. Sapphire eyes drilled into his, full of sorrow and hate.
"We'll get you one day," he breathed. "You can't kill us forever."
"On the contrary," Lucas laughed. "I can."
Soterios walked into his house after a day at work."Kids?"
There was no answer. Portia and Leron must be in the basement, working on that science fair project. He laughed a little. He was a lucky man-- two beautiful, intelligent children. Portia resembled him as far as looks went, but acted like her mother. Leron, however, resembled his wife and acted like him.
He walked down into the basement.
/I wonder what they've cooked up./
His eyes widened in horror. He gripped the railing for support, but fell onto his knees anyway.
"Cally, what *happened*? Who is that-- that--"
Portia was slumped in her chair. He could see the exit wound the bullet had made after it pierced her skull. Blood pooled around her chair. Leron stared at him through sightless eyes.
/His mother's eyes./
"Cally?" Soterios whispered, looking blindly at the young woman, and desperately seeking an explanation.
Her eyes were filled with a profound, heartbreaking pain. Her mouth answered him, but not her eyes. "I killed Portia." She looked down at the gun in her hand, wondering and almost disbelieving, and then glanced at the tattoo on her shoulder.
"I had to." Her eyes were haunted, pleading for forgiveness.
"Calypso."
Soterios stared at the man by his son's side. Lucas rose, wiping blood off his lips.
"Your son was-- delicious." His tone was mocking.
The ginger-haired man threw himself at him, not really expecting anything to come of it. Lucas calmly held him at an arm's length.
"Why?"
"Hunger."
"Why do you take what's mine? Again and again and again!" His voice was anguished, rising to a shrill shriek of pain. "When will you stop? When will the innocent stop dying?"
Lucas gazed at him curiously. "You're not one of them, but... when will I stop? When the hunger stops, I assume."
Soterios looked at him with hateful eyes. "I'll kill you."
Lucas smiled broadly. "You already tried once. You'll just die again."
The other man snarled. "I have nothing to live for." He looked at Calypso and echoed his words hollowly. "Nothing to live for."
Calypso uttered a broken sob.
Noin uttered a broken sob and pushed herself from the circle.
"No! I won't believe it! I would never, ever, *ever*... I would rather die..."
Quatre walked over to her with an ashen face. "You had no choice."
Noin's eyes were empty. "I must have. I must have made the choice somewhere, sometime..."
Quatre's voice was harsh, desperate. "He offered false hopes, illusions. That's how he does it. But he lured you in and trapped you. It's not your fault."
Noin trembled. "How could I betray you?"
Zechs stood, eyes dead. "How could I..." He looked at Relena, tears falling from his eyes. "Sister?" It was a tentative word.
"Brother," she said firmly. "Every word that applies to Lu applies to you."
Zechs reached for her hand, clasping it. "We had to hunt you. Through time. We hunted you and offered you as a sacrifice."
"Well, it changes here, and it changes now." Dorothy's voice was like iron. She still remembered the basement... Leron... Quatre...
Trowa's quiet voice slashed the silence. "Yes. We can change it."
Duo sighed. "Does... does it make sense?" He hesitated before asking the question on everyone's mind. "What are we?"
Heero began to laugh. "I figured it out. I... of course... I just... can't believe it... it adds up... the names, the tattoos, and the memories... I can't believe *you* didn't get it, Duo... this is your kind of thing... well... I guess it's mine, too. Now."
Duo glared at Heero. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Lucas is a Latin name. It means 'bringer of light.'"
"So?"
"The tattoos Zechs and Noin had."
Wufei snorted, impatiently. "Not all of us are as bright as you, Yuy," he added dryly.
"Specifically, the morning star."
"Lucas. Bringer of light. Light bringer, light bearing. Don't you know your Latin?"
"I'm sorry. Learning a thousands-of-centuries-dead language was not covered in my introduction global terrorism class."
"Light bearing. Luc. Latin for light. Ferous. Bearing. It also refers to the morning star."
Nine heads leaned in.
"He's Lucifer," Heero said simply. His mouth twisted. "He *is*... Evil."
"Where's my little girl?"
Lucas. He couldn't even remember when he'd picked up *that* name. Lucifer was too familiar to mankind.
He sighed, pouting. His little Angel of Death wasn't around.
/A wolf in sheep's clothing./
He giggled, and plucked the nails out of his palms and feet. The dignified features of Lukyan Gables faded into Lucas.
/Better keep Lucas for now./
The wounds healed. He smirked. He was once considered God's son. God was dead-- he knew that-- and it was time to inherit the heavens.
He extracted the thorn out of his mouth.
"Lucy?" He cooed. "Where are you?"
"You mean-- Satan?" Duo hesitatingly spit out a reply.
"He isn't Satan," a weary female sigh sounded from behind them. Lucy rose and smoothed her dress. "Satan is a fabrication. There is no hell." She paused. "There once was a God, but not anymore."
"Lucy?" Heero's voice was disbelieving.
"Oh, come on, Mr. Linguistics. Lucy. Another Latin name. Meaning 'light.' Why stop there, though? Lukyan. Russian. 'Bringer of light.'"
"What are you?" Quatre asked.
"I told you," she smiled, blinking. "I'm his daughter. I was created sort of like you were. You're going to die soon-- all of you-- so would you like to hear the story?"
She took their silence for consent.
"Oh, good. Daddy used to tell me this. It's my favorite bedtime story." Her dark hair faded to blond, green eyes to blue-grey. She smiled again. "Don't even think about harming me," she said blithely. "I'm stronger than you could imagine."
A thunderclap sounded to emphasize her point.
"A long, long time ago, Lucifer-- that would be daddy-- sat on God's throne. He was created perfect. And being the perfect creation, he deemed himself more worthy to rule than God. He took a third of the angels on his side and waged a war. That was when you were created." She paused. "That was when God died."
A small sound escaped from Duo's throat.
"God killed Himself to make you-- it was a sacrifice. Blood is the price and all. You see... God was perfect. Everyone was perfect, but you could always make the choice to sin." Lucy smiled. "Once you've sinned, things change. In God's case, He ceased to exist. He chose to make you-- five angels created to fight daddy. To kill him. When the last of you was created, He was gone. God sinned-- that violated the dogma of existence, and the universe doesn't like paradoxes. So five flawed angels were created-- by flawed, I mean your conception came from sin and your purpose was for sin. To fight daddy."
Lightning flashed. The power flickered, but they ignored that, eyes riveted on the girl in their midst.
"And you flew in the heavens, striking down your brothers with lightning, killing those on daddy's side. Killing an angel. They'd never heard of that, either. But daddy," here her eyes gleamed, "daddy knew what you were doing-- he knew what you were. Daddy came and cut you out of the sky, and you plunged towards earth, burning." She paused again. "He cut off your wings, isn't that sad? Cutting off an angel's wings. You bled. Angels never bled, but you bled, and finally daddy understood completely. God never sinned-- it was the link to His immortality. Sinning is a mortal thing, you know. Angels-- not until then-- never sinned. You understand? So when you bled, he knew that even if you were flying through the heavens and striking down your brethren... a part of you-- God's sin-- a part of you was mortal. He could kill you. But there was the God part of you... that gleaming piece of immortality..."
Her voice dropped, coyly. "Did you know what daddy did? He fed off that. He fed off God in you. He's been feeding off of you for so long. And now I'll feed too."
Lightning struck again.
Shadows played in front of them-- their forms, distorted and long.
And...
"Oh my God," Relena whispered hoarsely.
Five had wings.
Lucy looked at Noin and Zechs, expectantly. "My daddy put his mark on you."
They cried out in pain. Noin clutched her shoulder.
/It burns./
Zechs stared at his wrist. The morning star was burned into his skin; the puckered scar tissue was all too real.
"And now you've come to *his* garden of Paradise."
The lights went off.
When they switched on again, she was no longer there.
"You told them, darling?" Lucas stroked Lucy's cheek lovingly.
"My favorite story, daddy... it's nice to share."
"I'm growing hungry, my dear."
"You promised I could drink too." Lucy pouted and looked into her father's eyes.
"And you can. As much as you like, little one."
The light threw shadows on the wall. Two winged creatures embraced each other. Lucy giggled as the leathery skin of her father's wings brushed her cheek.
"Oh. So we're battling the greatest force of evil ever to exist," Duo stated, flatly.
Heero examined his hands, carefully.
/God made these? God?/
"I'm God?" he asked, aloud.
"There are pieces of Him in you. There's a difference," Trowa answered.
Quatre looked doubtful. "Allah... created me?"
Wufei sat very, very still. /Maybe if I don't move,/ he thought distinctly, /maybe the universe will right itself./
Relena and Dorothy exchanged glances.
"Shouldn't we be able to do something? Something angelic?"
"Hn."
"Or at least have wings?"
Treize broke his long silence. "You're taking this very well."
It was Duo who answered. "It's because I'm waiting to wake up." He sighed, eyes downcast. After a moment, he raised them. "Very well. Let's go save the universe." Duo paused. "I suppose it's not as fun if you've already said it before."
End Part 8
Note:
[1]Guess what? Names *and* meanings!
HEERO: Gavrie (1: man of god); Nathaniel (2: gift of god)
DUO: Matthias (1: gift of god), Abijah (2: the lord is my father)
TROWA: Thane (1: attendant warrior), Brishen (2: meaning unknown, gypsy name)
QUATRE: Reyhan (1: favored by god), Leron (2: the song is mine)
WUFEI: Samuel (1: asked of god), Xiao Long (2: little dragon)
NOIN: Lucia (1: bringer of light), Calypso (2: concealer)
ZECHS: Zeke (1: the memory of the lord), Hadrian (2: dark one)
RELENA: Tahirah (1: chaste, pure), Cecania (2: free)
DOROTHY: Iman (1: faith, belief), Portia (2: offering)
TREIZE: Wuxing (1: fifth star), Soterios (2: savior)
Jay
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