Odd, but I like it.
"Father Maxwell?" he said, looking at the priest smiling at him. A feeling of joy and peace came upon him as he ran up and hugged him tightly. "I've missed you."
He felt those firm, rough hands pat his head, then lift his chin up. "Take a look around," Father Maxwell said.
"Is this heaven?" said Duo. They were surrounded by fields of flowers, fruit trees, vines and fields of grain that ran all the way to the horizon. In the distance were hazy blue mountains with snow-capped peaks. A silver thread of a river ran through the land. He could see in the distance, all the people he knew from church, all the people he loved. He turned back to Father Maxwell. "Can't I stay here?
He shook his head. "There are many things you have to do, many things you have to see before that. Look over there."
Standing before them was an angel, but not the kind of angel one usually imagines. It was a grey angel made out of razor blades,knives and sharp metal edges. Its halo was made of glass shards whose edges were trimmed with gold. The wings were not made of feathers, but of swords that were polished so brightly that the sun glinting off them nearly blinded him. It was obviously not an angel of mercy, but an angel of destruction, the kind that could destroy the world. It was reaching out to him as if asking for help, its hands dripping with needles in a plaintive gesture. Duo looked closely at the angel. "Heero?"
It stepped closer and closer to him. He turned to look for Father Maxwell, but he had gone and now he could feel the cold metal brush against his wrist, about to grab unto him. He cried out . . . and woke up in his bed. He turned over on his side to see Heero glaring at him from his own bed on the other side of the room. "This is the fourth night you've woken me up. Do something about it!" Then Heero turned his back and went back to sleep.
Duo looked at him. Ah-- Ah, thought Duo. I should just leave him alone. After all, we're at school now. I have lots of people I can make friends with. Even if he's my roommate, I don't have to keep after such a silent, brooding, unfriendly guy. That's just what I'll do. If he wants to play the hermit, then that's his business. Why did I even think you were cute?
Then why did you have that dream? Why did you dream about him that way? Why do I feel like I want to reach out to him even though I know I'll get hurt in the process? Then he smiled. Simple, I'm stupid. He shook his head, then went back to sleep.
Duo sat down by himself at lunch. He looked around and thought, Hmmm, maybe I should sit down with the guys on the basketball team.
"Duo!"
"Hmm?" he said, watching as Heero sat down across from him. He's never actually wanted to sit near me at lunch before. He put on a little grin. "Feeling social today?"
"You've got to do something about your dreams. I don't appreciate being woken up every night for the past four days. When a mission comes, I won't be ready."
Ah, such concern, Duo thought. He began feeling a little mad at him. "It's not something I can help! I like it even less than you!"
"What have you been dreaming?"
"It's stupid and you wouldn't understand."
"I want to know."
"So you can make fun of me?"
"I won't laugh."
Well, I wasn't worrying about you laughing, thought Duo. He puffed out his cheeks with his breath, then blew out. "I dreamed about people I used to know. The people I really missed were all in heaven. It was really beautiful and I got to saw the one person I wanted to see, Father Maxwell of Maxwell Church." His eyes half closed and his expression took on a dreamy expression. Then he frowned. "Then Father Maxwell pointed out an angel made out of knives. It was reaching out to me with hands like pincushions. I was so scared, but mostly... "
"Mostly?"
"I was sad."
"Sad?"
"Because I couldn't do anything and it wanted me to do something. I hate that dream. I knew that Father Maxwell wanted me to do something, but what can I do? What should I do?" He banged the table with his fist, then realized that he'd gotten pretty wound up. "Oops."
"Sometimes, I have bad dreams, too."
"Really?"
He nodded. "Dreams are often about something you can't face in real life, it's the only place you can face it. If you can figure out why you're dreaming it, then it might go away. Or you can try to take control of the dream, face it."
"Easy for you to say."
"It's doable."
Duo looked at him sharply. He must've had a lot of bad dreams in order to do that, he thought. "What kind of dreams do you have?"
"Nothing for you to be concerned about. Mine are under control," he said coolly.
"Chi," snapped Duo. I spill my guts out to him and this is what he says. He looked away from him.
"Did the angel look like a Gundam?"
"No, actually it looked like you!" With that, Duo stood up and left to talk to the other basketball players on the team.
Heero walked in late that night into their room. He was about to snap the lights on when he saw that Duo was already asleep. He shut the door behind him and turned on the desk lamp.
"Mmmph," mumbled Duo in his sleep.
Heero looked at him and saw the look on his face by the lamp light. It was an expression of someone trying to keep from being afraid. I've seen that so many times in the mirror, he thought. He pulled up a chair next to the bed and brushed back the stray hairs from Duo's face, then he let his hand rest gently on his cheek. "Don't be afraid," he said quietly. "Don't be afraid."
The angel reached out to him again. I can't run away, Duo thought,I have to get through this dream or it'll never go away.
Strangely, before it touched his face, the hand lost all of its needles and broken bits of steel to show a hand that had calluses but was surprisingly tender in its touch as its thumb caressed his lower lip. He put his hand over it and held it there for a second before releasing it. The angel looked at him as if waiting for some sort of sign. Finally, Duo understood what it wanted. Slowly, he began pulling the needles and the knives off, one by one.
It was slow, very careful work. There was so many blades, yet he couldn't hurry lest he cut himself. Yet, he discovered that for everyone he took off, ten fell with it. When the last knife fell from its body, the halo disappeared and the swords that were its wings fell off. Everything he had thrown to the ground had melted away. What stood before him was a boy just like him.
"Heero?" he said.
"You're hurt."
He looked down at his hands and saw surprisingly few cuts, but those healed when Heero took his hand in his. "Wow, I... " Suddenly, he saw those hands begin to unbutton his shirt. "Ah, Heero."
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid."
"Uh, OK."
Funny guy, Heero thought, now he's smiling and making little happy noises. I'll have to ask him in the morning what he's dreaming. He shook his head in wonder.
The End
An Absolutely Unnecessary epilogue
Duo woke up with Heero already up and dressed, looking at him from his own bed. "What did you dream last night?"
"Ah," said Duo then he turned a bright red. Oh, my God, he thought. "I'm not telling you!"
"You were making little happy noise, lots of them."
"I was? I didn't say anything out loud, did I?" Oh, shit, he thought. "I think it's time for me to go to class."
"It's Saturday and... " Heero swiftly moved to block the way to the door.
"You're not getting out of here to tell me what was so funny you interrupted my sleep."
"What kind of super agent lets a little giggle interrupt his sleep?" Duo countered. Hmmm, I wonder if I could jump out the windows without breaking anything. "What business is it of yours?"
"I want to know!"
Hmm, he's got emotion in his voice. That's not a good sign. Duo began to sweatdrop.
In the room right below the pretty pair, Emiko and Naomi were listening to the soundtrack from Revolutionary Girl Utena, when they heard some sounds above them like two people were running around the room. "Gyah" and "Waaah" also were heard. Then "Bakayaro" and "Come back here" were also heard.
They frowned and looked at each other, then began staring at the ceiling even though there was nothing to see.
There was some muted conversation that they couldn't make out, then they heard some rhythmic thumping. They frowned, then threw each other a look of "Is that what I think it is?" They then stared back up at the ceiling.
Since neither of them wanted to complain about the noise to Heero Yuy, they simply turned up their stereo and listened to the song
"Absolute Destiny Apocalypse!"
(:./mk/knives)
