01-Apr-2002
Blood.
Everywhere.
It was splattered on the walls and the floor; stained Duo's and Odin's clothing; more flew through the air whenever a particularly vicious blow was landed.
Heero's mind was still struggling to comprehend the scene before him. Duo and Odin, apparently locked in mortal combat; their eyes literally glowing, violet and red. The walls around them scorched, stained; the heavy metal door crumpled behind them.
Sound and scent kicked in next. Claxons wailing; grunts of exertion, exclamations of pain; bodies hitting metal walls. The rich scent of blood and salty tang of sweat.
The two people he loved most, trying to kill each other. Why was this happening? His earlier clarity, brought on by rage, had vanished. All that was left was confusion.
"Yamero..." he whispered, his voice weak and hollow in his own ears. The two combatants took no notice, too completely bent on each other's destruction.
Eventually, his strategic mind caught up with the chaos, and began observing the fight. Duo was obviously inflicting more damage; Odin's inhuman stamina was nearly exhausted. Duo was not without injuries, however; Heero knew Odin's strength was quite formidable. He was surprised Duo had lasted as long as he apparently had.
<When did Duo learn to fight like that?> he suddenly wondered. In the time they'd fought together, he'd gauged Duo's capabilities. The power the braided pilot was exhibiting now was far beyond anything he should have been capable of.
<Have to distract them. I don't want either of them hurt... but at this point, Odin is in greater danger. Therefore, I must distract Duo.> He moved forward, reaching for Duo's arm, in mid-swing toward Odin's face.
Grasping it, he felt a shockwave of energy rush through him; sharp and painful, causing all his muscles to spasm. Nonetheless, he held on. Finally noticing the intruder, Duo paused, glancing in his direction. His eyes widened sharply.
"Duo," Heero stated simply, not knowing what else to say. The braided pilot stared at him, seeming almost... angry?
"Not Duo," he hissed. "I am Shinigami!" His other arm, out of Heero's grasp, suddenly came toward him; Heero caught a flash of metal out of the corner of his eye, moving instinctively to counter the oncoming blow.
Suddenly, Duo's face contorted. Pain, desperation, fear, all flashed across his visage.
"No... not Heero," he moaned. "I won't let you hurt Heero!" The knife he'd raised fell from his now limp hand, clattering to the floor.
Slowly, Duo's eyes focused on him. "Heero...?" he whispered, almost inaudibly. "Help me..."
Then he collapsed in Heero's arms.
...solo?
...Solo, c'mon... get up... I brought the medicine... ev'rything's gonna be okay....
"You're a nice guy.... I wish I coulda stayed with you longer..."
"Don't be stupid... you shouldn't give up."
please? please don't leave me alone solo... i don't know what to do without you... you make the bad thing inside go away. don't let it come back, solo... please..?
"Please... Don't leave me alone..."
"Hey... even after I die, I'll always be with you. So be nice."
One grubby hand clutched fiercely at another, larger, thin and pale, and felt it slowly growing cold as the last spark of life died from a set of kind golden eyes.
<This is my favorite part... the dying of the light. The window to eternity opens up and you can see them look inside. Watch close, watch very close...>
"Solo..." the voice was rough with tears that he would not let fall, would never let fall... "Fine... if Solo's with me, we'll be Duo." Two. Together. Not alone, ever.
<You're not alone, Duo... I'm here. I'm always here. When everything else dies, I'll still be left. You and me, 'til the end of time.>
Solo's eyes were dim. There was nothing left inside the empty shell. Slowly, the newly-christened Duo reached out a trembling hand, brushing gently over the eyelids to close them. <I don't want to see. I don't want to see the emptiness.>
The emptiness was inside him already; he didn't want to have to think about it. The gaping hole inside where Solo's warmth had been, where everything good had lived. Gone.
"There was medicine. There was." He stared down at the vial that lay in the dust nearby, gleaming, full of unused potential to give life. Golden, like Solo's eyes. "Why didn't they give us any medicine? Why did they let him die?" The last sentence was an angry cry, railing against the unfairness of 'them,' of the nameless, faceless entities that had held Solo's life in their hands and let it slip away. <WHY?!>
<They killed him, didn't they? With their contempt and their neglect.> Shinigami sent him images, flashing one after the other in his mind; every person who had hurried past them on the streets, sparing them only a sneer; the heavyset man in the nice suit who'd nearly bowled him over on the sidewalk, not even caring if he fell; the people in the restaurants who dined and laughed as they stared in the windows, bellies aching from days without food.
The men in white coats, somewhere on the colony, who held precious vials of medicine and passed them only to those who could pay for it. Men in nice suits, who watched from up high in their towers of steel and glass, sneering down at the unwanted masses, who clinked their glasses of champagne and toasted the 'removal of unnecessary population' from their streets.
<This plague wasn't an accident, Duo... it was man-made. To rid themselves of the 'unwanted'... the 'useless'...> His spine stiffened.
No... <They sacrificed your friend's life in the name of 'progress.' They killed Solo.>
They killed Solo....
A haze of red filled his vision. He closed his eyes, hearing the blood pounding in his ears; feeling hate, hot and painful, fill his veins. They killed Solo.
I loved him....
<Make them pay...> Shinigami whispered.
"Yes..." Duo felt the hot wetness building behind his eyelids, but no tears came.
Shinigami came. Filling his limbs, flooding his brain; sending red-hot energy coursing through his body, tingling almost painfully. He was made of pure energy. He was rage and hate and pain and everything dark and angry, given form and flesh.
He was Shinigami. And he would make them pay.
End Part 16
(:./madcat/separate16)
