25-May-2001
Title: He Lived/He Lives
Author: Kimmie (JaenKaeGW@hotmail.com)
Archive: GW Addiction
Category: angst
Pairings: None.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, I mean no harm, I have no money... Stuff like that. Yeah.
Rating: PG
Warnings: None.
Spoilers: Duo's Episode Zero.
Notes: This idea hit me like a barrel straight from Donkey Kong. Hope you enjoy. I haven't written much Duo lately. I think it shows. Also, a portion of the dialogue of this is copied directly from the English adaption of "Endless Waltz". Hopefully, I correctly described what was happening in that part. But, that's the spoiler. But, be proud! I actually did research and transcribing and such! ^__^
Once upon a time, there lived a boy who knew that he would grow up to be something special. He was so sure of this that he never allowed anything to bring him down. He'd been gifted with a strong body, and a strong mind, and he developed both of them as much as he could despite not being able to attend school, exercise beyond just working, and having to face diseases and disasters that killed off all of the people he'd ever been around.
But, he lived. He took every opportunity that was thrown his way, always knowing that what he was destined for was far beyond what even he could imagine. However, he also suspected that whatever it was would be filled with death and destruction. Most lives probably were, he reasoned, after all, it was a time of war. Without the death and destruction, war would merely be a big game of cops and robbers. It wasn't something that everyone did, wasn't something necessary, but it happened to pass the time, to help define your friends; those who would fight against you as opposed to those who would fight with you.
Eventually, he found his spot in what he deemed to be his place in life. Aboard a ship, hiding in the nooks and crannies, he was found out and forced into piloting a new type of mobile suit if he didn't want to die. This mobile suit... no, Gundam... was unlike anything he had ever seen. It was a towering giant to his height-challenged form, every plane gleaming in the light, every shadowed crevice begging for care. The boy heard the machine call to him, talking to him in words that no one else could hear. The machine told him legends, gave him advice, begged for him to become a pilot.
He didn't need the convincing, though. He'd come too far to die. This was a delicious opportunity, and even if it was the last one he ever got to take, it was the right one. He could feel it in every artificial breeze that blew across his skin, every bit of generated warmth that radiated across his face, every drop of engineered rain that dripped from the L2 colony dome onto his smooth skin. This was to be his future; this was to be his life.
Training began, and he was soon performing above and beyond what anyone thought he could do, except for himself. He knew that he could do anything. He would not, could not, fail.
Then, he discovered that he was in this with a mission. Operation: Meteor. No one would ever tell him the exact mission parameters, so he hacked into the system, found every file regarding the plans, and copied them onto a disk. He quickly and quietly erased everything that might have tracked him, and crept back to his quarters where he spent the entire night reading about his mission. As soon as he'd finished, he'd made a decision. This mission would end up killing him and more people than he could ever hope to know. He wouldn't go through with it, and wouldn't let that suit be part of it, either.
He crept through the halls to the area where his Gundam was stored. Technically, he didn't own it, but he had claimed it, and it had claimed him. With quick fingers, he set up the self-destruct and ran the wires to the other side of a steel wall. Whispering words to this machine that called to him, apologizing for his murder, he pressed the detonator. "So long, old buddy."
Nothing happened.
He pressed the button again in annoyance, continuing to press it to no avail. "What happened? Why won't it explode?" He looked back around the wall. "Urgh. What did I do wrong?"
"Duo.."
He turned around, responding to the name he'd only had to find for people to call him. "Huh?"
Prefessor G spilled several spark plugs to the ground. "Deathscythe is an excellent piece of art. Think of a better way to use it than destroying it." He still held a few plugs in his hand.
"Tuh. I'm not about to have my buddy here used as a tool for a massacre. Hmm?" G reached into Duo's shirt, pulling out a gun "Huh?"
"Hmm. I see you were planning to kill me after you destroyed Deathscythe."
Duo smiled. "I was going to kill everyone here, including myself. If it meant peace for this colony, I'd be the God of Death any day."
He got a close up of G's face for the next line, infinitely aware of the scars hidden behind his bowl haircut, and the large nose that G had always hated, but never would rid himself of with surgery. "If you're prepared to go that far, try to outwit me."
"What?"
G let his gun-laden hand fall to his side. "Duo, why don't you steal Deathscythe?
Duo stepped forward slightly. "Huh?"
"Take it to Earth now." He threw the gun back to Duo. "Just ignore Operation Meteor." He begins to walk away. As he faded into the darkness, he imparted with a final bit of wisdom, his voice echoing in the metal halls. "There's a man called Howard on the Pacific Ocean. You can rely on him. Of course, go as the God of Death."
Duo smirked. "The God of Death..." He twirled the gun on his finger. "Well, it's a lot better than being the hero of a massacre. Hmm."
It took no more than fifteen minutes for him to re-install the plugs, gather his meager belongings, as well as stocking Deathscythe with what he would need for the trip, and then he was off to Earth. It was an exciting thing for him; he'd never really been off whatever colony he called home except for the few times he'd made it on board a ship only to discover that it was only headed to a different colony in the L2 cluster.
Now, though, he had a different home. Deathscythe. It was all the peace he needed.
Ever since hacking into all of the documents on Operation: Meteor, Duo had known that there were other Gundam pilots. He knew their names, who they worked with, what they piloted, what they looked like, where they were from, their immunization records and Earth Sphere Identification numbers.
Code Name Heero Yuy: origin unknown. Gundam Wing. Pilot from L1. Underling of Dr. J. Full immunization. ESI: 740-985-6983. Age: 15. Male. Height: 156cm. Weight: 45kg. Eyes: blue. Hair: brown. Ethnicity: Japanese.
Code Name Trowa Barton: origin unknown. Gundam Heavyarms. Pilot from L3. Underling of Doktor S. Full immunization minus the L2 colony killer: Rasputin's Plague. ESI: 943-001-7765. Age: 15. Male. Height: 160cm. Weight: 44kg. Eyes: green. Hair: browb. Ethnicity: unknown.
Quatre Raberba Winner: origin L4. Gundam Sandrock. Pilot from L4. Underling of Instructor H. Full immunization. ESI: 070-693-1947. Age: 15. Male. Height: 156cm. Weight: 41kg. Eyes: blue-green. Hair: blond. Ethnicity: Arabian.
Chang Wufei: origin L5. Gundam Shenlong. Pilot from L5. Underling of Master O. Full immunization minus German measles and chicken pox. ESI: 404-924-9743. Age: 15. Male. Height: 156cm. Weight: 46kg. Eyes: black. Hair: black. Ethnicity: Chinese.
These were the others. He had their details memorized. He'd meet them eventually; he was sure of that. How close he'd let them get would depend on how much they wanted to know. The less interested they were, the closer they'd get. He couldn't afford to jeopardize his mission for friendship. He'd lost too many friends to try to find more soft ones who'd just go and die.
But, if these guys were Gundam pilots too, they had to be capable of some form of greatness. Survival was the highest form of greatness that existed.
Owari. -__-
Jenny&Kimmie
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