31-May-2001
Title: Love's Ghost part 2
Author: Phoenix
Disclaimer: I don't own GW. I'm poor...proof enough. Go bug someone with
money since that is what you are really after.
Warnings: Angst, violence, death, angry ghost.....I wrote it.
Rating: Hmmm....R for language
Fandom: Gundam Wing
Archive: Sure just tell me where you're putting it.
Pairings; 6X2
Summary: Five years after the murder, Zechs returns to their house to kill
himself.
Five years passed since the night Zechs killed his lover, Duo Maxwell. Five years since the Preventers searched the woods looking for a man they would never find. Five years since the betrayal of his beloved and the lies to all his friends to cover it up. Five years of secrets, lies, and a soul wrenching truth: Duo Maxwell had been innocent.
At first things had gone well. Zechs was secure in the knowledge he saved the peace, even if it cost him the last living part of his soul. Then a week after the murder, yet another attempt was made on Relena's life. Same MO. This time the former noble did the investigation himself.
He turned up the same things Une had. A man with violet eyes, a long chestnut braid hired the killer, providing top-secret security information. It wasn't possible. Duo was dead. Buried next to the most beautiful waterfall Zechs knew of. Yet the witnesses were telling the truth. In desperation, the Sank Preventer had drugged them and gotten the same story.
It meant only one thing: Duo had been set up. Framed. The who and the why of it consumed the next four years of the nobleman's life. The attempts on his sister stopped after two more; the last putting Relena in the hospital. An e-mail claimed the assassins were hired by Duo Maxwell. A reporter interviewed a man who said the Preventers knew Duo was guilty but refused to arrest him as he was "close" to Une.
Zechs chased all the clues provided by these opportunities down. The e-mail proved to be untraceable. The company it came through suffered a virus attack hours after the tip off was sent. As a result, all their information was forever lost. Nothing could be done.
The man who was interviewed turned up dead three days after talking to the reporter. The apparent victim of a mugging. The reporter died in his home a week later, of a heart attack at thirty-two. Lead after lead dried up until Zechs had nothing more to go on.
The other former Gundam pilots dropped in from time to time. He could tell they were suspicious of him as first, but the hard work he put into finding the assassin, and clearing Duo's name, convinced them he had nothing to do with their friend's disappearance. Even Quatre forgot his initial gut feeling. Heero, on the other hand, became ever more cold. Not even responding to Relena. The Japanese man did his job, went home, ate, slept, and nothing more. Very much like Zechs.
Such behavior was fairly normal for the Perfect Soldier. In the former noble, however, it alarmed everyone. By the end of the first year, they tried to drag the blond to various parties or social events. Anything to get him out and away from the Preventers Office. He refused all offers.
As the second year passed, Zechs became more bitter. Every avenue led to more dead ends. Reinterviewing the witnesses only wasted time. With each month, the surety of a set up haunted him more. There were too many coincidences. Too many unanswered questions.
At the start of the third year, the nightmares began. Each started with a memory of Duo and he making love. His lover arching against him; their sweat soaked bodies seeking pleasure in the other. Then they would come together and cuddle just like normal. Yet it was at this point the dream turned dark.
Suddenly, Duo would vanish from his arms and cold wind whipped at his body.
"Zechs," a soft voice would call from behind him. The noble turned each time to find Duo, but not the Duo he loved. It was a rotting corpse. Worms moving through open wounds; flesh dripping off his bones.
"Why?" The thing would ask. "Why did you kill me? I loved you. I trusted you. I gave you everything. Why couldn't you love me back? Why?"
And then the thing would look at him with those still clear violet eyes. An eternity of agony and despair reflected in their depths. The emotions sent the former OZ soldier screaming into consciousness. The word "Why?" echoing softly in his ears.
So passed the third year. The fourth held little difference. Zechs distanced himself from both family and friends. Spending more time undercover than not. Taking chances that could easily have gotten him killed. Caring less and less. Yet, never quite succeeding.
At the end of that year, though, Zechs finally caught a break. One he soon wished he hadn't. While tracing another assassin in hopes of finding someone else who'd met the elusive braided man, the Sank Prince spoke with a woman who ran a costume shop. She was a well-known master of disguise. Someone the sought after killer needed.
During their conversation, he managed to bring the subject around to people seeking to look completely different. For hours the woman ruminated on the many who tried to become entirely new individuals. Until, at long last, she told him the tale of a young lady with long blond hair. The girl wanted to look like a young man; with a long, chestnut braid and amethyst eyes.
Zechs stopped breathing. The costumer noticed the increased interest and launched into the complete tale of how her customer wanted a special set up. So the older woman taught her how to wrap her breasts, move, and speak in a deeper voice convincingly. By then end of a month, the young woman couldn't be mistaken for anything but a male when fully dressed up.
Trying not to appear too interested, the Preventer asked if the women knew her trainee's name. It was a question he deeply regretted asking. The response tore apart whatever was left of his soul. The young woman went by the name of Lena.
Reeling as if struck, Zechs thanked the woman and stumbled back onto the street. Why? Why had she done it? His mind ran in circles. There had to be a logical explanation. Didn't there?
Yet the old costumer had no reason to lie. No way to know he was coming. He'd found her by accident. The route he normally took came no where near here. It all moved back to a blond woman who knew what Duo looked like. Who knew enough about him to impersonate him.
Why Relena? Why? Heero was at her side. Duo was with Zechs; not even near Heero at all. Ever. The two lived in separate worlds.
So the distraught man spent months trying to discover how and why the trap came into being. All for naught. No one else knew anything. No matter who he talked to, no one else in the neighborhood remembered seeing the blond girl. By the five-year anniversary of his crime, the tired man understood nothing more.
Looking at his world, Zechs found his life was not worth living. He couldn't kill his own sister, as much as he may want to. She'd cost him more than a lover. Duo had been his soul. The best part of living. And he could never avenge is death. But maybe he could pay for his crime.
So, on the night anniversary of Duo's murder, Zechs again stood in what once had been their home. Unlike his beloved's death, the Sank heir's would be the most painful he could think of. Drawing a small pistol from his pocket, the man looked around the living room. A single shot to his stomach. He'd suffer for hours before finally dying. Fitting.
Dust covered everything. The windows were dark with dirt and a small breeze told him one was broken somewhere. So very little had changed since that night. In the house at least. Zechs, however, felt like centuries had past. Here his life began when Duo Maxwell joined him as an equal and here it ended with the same man's death. Now it was time for that death to be more than spiritual. Casting a last look around, Zechs opened the back door and headed into the woods.
It took only fifteen minutes to find the grave. After all, he knew the way and the hidden paths and he was in a hurry. The site still took his breath away. Softly lit by moonlight; crickets singing. The waterfall sparkled as if it moving, shimmering diamonds. Like something from a fairy tale.
In the middle of the clearing, Duo's grave lay. Green grass covered the earth and a small bed of violet flowers grew around the oblong strip. The blond man approached the burial place with great reverence.
"I know I have no right to come here," Zechs said quietly. "but I had to. I had to tell you how sorry I am. Sorry that I didn't trust you more. Sorry that I didn't see Relena's evil. Sorry that I didn't love you enough to know you would never do what I thought. Sorry for so many things." A single tear slowly slid down his cheek.
"I thought I could make things right when I found out how terribly wrong I'd been. I couldn't even do that. I can't kill her, Duo. Not my sister." He laughed bitterly. "I know. I could kill you but not her. She's the last Peacecraft, my love. The last. My family's line can only be continued through her. I cannot bring myself to end all my family has struggled for. But I can't live with myself any longer."
He carefully placed the tip of the gun against his stomach.
"I can never make up for my sin. Maybe you'll forgive me someday. For now, please let my suffering make up in the tiniest bit for yours."
Closing his eyes, the killer tightened his finger on the trigger, a part of him not really wanting to die and still screaming for him to stop. He didn't.
"Zechs," a whisper reached him.
The shaking man's eyes flew open to see Duo standing in front of him, a furious expression on his hazy face.
"Duo?" Zechs breathed, just before the sound of a gunshot filled the forest.
End Part 2
Well... am I doing this right? Think you know what's going on? Hmmm? Let me know what you think. This is a VERY rough draft and I am not entirely happy with it. HELP!
Phoenix
Please send comments to: lina.inverse@verizon.net