24-Oct-2000
Notes: Thanks for all the encouragement of the people who emailed me and told me to continue this story.
Crossover with Evangelion.
Warnings: Angst
Heero stared at his computer screen. It has been exactly six hours and fifty-eight minutes since he typed anything. Since that time, all he had been doing was staring at his own reflection in the monitor.
Six hours and twenty minutes ago, Heero watched Duo leave from the same reflective surface. Something about going to church.
Heero knew with certainty that the church service ended two hours and fifty-nine minutes ago. Heero had given himself exactly three hours before he would go look for Duo. It was already pitch black outside as the apathetic clock ticked with the weight of eternities.
Duo stared at the stain glass windows and sighed in the candle light. It's been a long time. Perhaps too long. Slowly he knelt before the alter, and put his hands together.
"Pater noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen. "
"What did you say?" the girl asked curiously.
"It's a prayer to our Father," Duo smiled, "Father Maxwell made us all learn the prayers in Latin. I don't know why, but it's nice sometimes to be speaking to God in a secret code."
"I don't understand," the girl seated herself next to Duo by the alter.
"I'm not sure if I do either," Duo ran his fingers through his bangs roughly, "But it reminds me of my father whenever I say it. And it reminds me of..."
"Your redemption..." the girl whispered.
Duo stared at her in surprise, "Yes. It does. Do you want to learn it?" It occurred to Duo that there was something ironic about trying to teach an angel how to pray, but then again the angel was lost.
The girl thought about it for a moment before nodding.
"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name," Duo began.
"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name," the girl repeated dutifully.
/*Thy kingdom come. */
Although her lips said the words with the boy, Rei felt herself slowly sinking into the mist of memory, but they were not of her own.
/*Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. */
She watched an old man wrap a blanket on the sleeping form of a small boy. The old man bent over and kissed the boy on the forehead before walking away. There was tears in the small boy's eyelashes.
/*Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our
trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. */
The small boy hid the small golden cross that he had stolen in his hand. The old man solemnly called the small boy to his side. The old man reached out his hand with open palms and waited for the small boy to return the cross. Tentatively the small boy placed the cross on the old man's hand. Very slowly, the old man patted the small boy's shoulders and smiled. The old man whispered something to the boy that Rei could not hear as he gently gave the cross back to the boy.
/*And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. */
The small boy was crying as he stared at what once was a church. From the shadows an ugly man emerged. The ugly man offered something to the boy. The boy considered it for a moment before nodding. And as he walked away with the ugly man, his hand clung tightly to his cross.
"Amen," Duo finished.
"Amen," the girl looked slightly dazed.
"Congratulations on your first prayer," Duo joked as he kissed the girl on the forehead.
/* Hac nocte illumina */
Heero stared at the sleeping boy by the altar. Duo should have woken up by Heero approaching him. The pilot was being entirely reckless leaving himself vulnerable like that.
"Duo," Heero called out.
The black clad boy lazily opened one eye, and stared at Heero mildly, "Hey Heero. Didn't know you came to church."
"Duo no baka." Heero started, but Duo pressed his hand over Heero's mouth.
"Don't lecture me here, Heero," Duo's eyes were focused on the stain glass window, "Tell me Heero, do you believe in angels?"
"Christian mythology," Heero said simply.
Duo laughed, "I suppose it does seem a little too romantic to be true to expect winged people to guard over you."
"It's physically impossible for a human sized creature to fly, there is not enough." Heero's mind calculated as he studied the creatures depicted on the stain glass window.
But Duo wasn't listening.
"...and the angels would fall." Heero finished.
"And the angels would fall," Duo repeated his eyes met Heero's, "I wonder if they are just lost?"
Heero felt himself tremble slightly under Duo's gaze, "Lost?"
"Maybe they just need a beckon or something to guide them back," Duo smiled at the thought.
Heero was about to ask what Duo was talking about when the ground shook.
"Damn it, it's another attack on the colony," Duo took himself out of his contemplation.
"K'so!" The pilots began to race out of the church.
With another impact the stain glass window suddenly shatters. The multicolored pieces blossomed against the candle light.
The situation was worse than either pilot realized. Mobile dolls were practically oozing out of the seems. OZ seemed to have taken special notice to the two gundam pilot on the colony and was determined to flush them out.
OZ was not disappointed as Deathscythe and Wing Zero appeared on schedule.
Rei watched the boy use his robot as a shield for the buildings on the colonies. Somewhere nearby she could hear the voice of the other boy yelling at him.
The robot and the boy would not be able to take the onslaught of the missiles for much longer. Rei shivered without knowing why.
Slowly she reached out into the machine once more.
"No!" The boy tried to push her back.
"You will die," Rei noted reasonably.
"I promised you wouldn't have to fight any more!" the boy said stubbornly, "This is not your fight!"
The boy winced slightly as another missile caught the giant robot. He was bleeding again. His white collar dyed red.
/*custodi, rege, et guberna. */
Heero tried his best not to look when he heard another missile impact against Deathscythe.
It was obvious that their current attack pattern was not working. Quick calculations told him that if he was aerial he would be able to cover more mobile dolls, but that would mean.
As if sensing his thoughts, Duo's face beeped into life on the monitor. He didn't look good, blood coated his forehead.
"Get up there. I can handle them down here," Duo urged Heero, "It's the only way!"
Heero nodded.
Rei fought against the boy to gain control of the robot. She could already control the arm of the robot as her own. As another missile grazed the robot, she bled again.
"Damn it! Don't do it!" the boy noticed, "You're feeling the damage of Deathscythe!"
Rei ignored him. She couldn't let him die. Sixty percent. seventy percent. eighty percent.
She felt every torn and scar of the robot as she wielded its scythe. It occurred to her that she might die again.
"Stop it!" the boy yelled in horror as he realized that Rei was bleeding all over her body now.
"And are you going to die in my place?" Rei asked suddenly.
"Whatever it takes!" the boy exclaimed.
"Not today, Duo Maxwell."
Deathscythe reach into its own cockpit and removed Duo.
Rei knew that even though she would succeed in wiping out the enemy she would die. Her body was too badly damaged for her to survive. Funny, she didn't think she could die again.
Yet somehow dying this time didn't hurt. She felt as if a soft warm light was around her and wrapping itself around her. She looked up into the sky expecting to see the sun penetrating the darkness. instead she saw wings. Angels. real angels. Rei smiled as she collapsed.
Wing flew beneath Deathscythe and caught it before it fell to the ground. The cockpit of Deathscythe had been completely crushed. All Heero could see was blood outside of it.
Heero couldn't breathe. He couldn't even will himself to scream. Trembling, Heero vomited over and over again. Yet, the tears would not come.
Suddenly, in the darkness, Heero saw a light flashing. The same light that was shone in his face the first time he met Duo.
Heero force himself to walk towards the light. In a distance he could see the outlines of a figure.
Trembling still, Heero ran towards the familiar braid and crushed Duo in a furious embrace.
Only one word came out, "How?"
"My angel protected me," Duo whispered, tears free falling from his face as his eyes were focused on a single spot outside the church they were in before.
Still holding Duo, Heero turned to what Duo was staring at. It was something in Latin.
"Angele Dei, qui custos es mei, me tibi commissum pietate superna; Hac nocte illumina, custodi, rege, et guberna," Duo softly chanted.
"What?" Heero buried his face into Duo's hair.
"Angel of God, my guardian dear, To whom his love commits me here; Ever this night be at my side, To light and guard, to rule and guide," Duo translated as he suddenly returned Heero's tight embrace. Holding on.
Owari
(:./draco/resurrect2)
