11-Aug-2005
Title: Piece of the Dark 5/?
Author: Phoenix
Disclaimer: I don't own GW. I am poor and that should be proof enough. This fic is for entertainment only.
Fandom: Gundam Wing
Pairings: Mentions MuellerXAlex, HeeroXTrowaXDuo
Rating: R for cussing and violence
Warnings: Cussing, AU, violence, mention of M/M relationships, evil magic, bad pilots, may squick people, and I wrote it.
Archive: CkoS, GW Addiction, AFF.net, FoSFF.net, WWOMB if they want it. All others please ask.
Summary: Duo has discovered what was done to him and an old enemy finds him.
Duo awoke languidly, feeling more rested and relaxed than any other time in recent memory. Why did he feel so good? Then, what happened came back. Betrayal. By those he loved and trusted most. But why? And that thing inside Quatre. He shuddered. Rage and grief warred with horror for his attention as he looked at his surroundings.
A small, sparsely furnished apartment. Strange symbols covered almost every surface. On the floor, right next to his position on the couch, lay a blond man. Thin, disheveled, there was still no mistaking the man on the Preventers Most Wanted list. Except why was he alive if this man had caught him? And why was Alex sleeping on the floor? And why was he naked?
Closing his eyes, Duo fought for control of his emotions. He was monster now; a thing like the others; strange new ideas and feelings filled him, like suddenly growing a new appendage. There was a slight pull to go somewhere in the back of his mind. It tried to force him to obey, but with his new power, the spell merely provided a small irritation not a geis.
For a second, Duo rode on the wave of power available to him, feeling the heartbeats of hundreds nearby. Their lives could be snuffed out so easily. The thought terrified the young man so much, he instinctively pulled away from the intoxicating energy. How long before this power drove him mad or corrupted him? How long before he began killing without a conscience? Was he going to become a monster in act as well as being?
"You will be whatever you wish, Master." A very exhausted sounding Alex murmured from the floor.
Master? Duo glared at the man slowly struggling to his knees. What game was Alex playing? And why was he calling him Alex? Since when we he on a first name basis with someone like him?
"Because, Master," he hung his head while kneeling before the long haired Preventer, "it was the only way I might get revenge for my lover and partner."
"How did you...."
"Know what you are thinking? The bond is still very new and you haven't made any effort to shut your mind from me."
"You better be able to explain. Everything." All the rage he'd kept in check washed over him and seemingly outward; though Duo didn't understand how that was possible.
"Please, Master." Alex whimpered, curling into a ball, head clutched between his hands.
"What?"
"It hurts."
Duo stared at him blankly.
"You're anger. I can feel it. Like acid in my mind."
Some new instinct told him Alex was telling the truth. The blond was where the emotions were bleeding off to. Taking a deep breath, Duo brought his anger under control. Instead, he focused on trying to remember all of the events that led up to this completely bizarre scene. Alex slowly uncurled.
"I gave you a potion which binds a Servant and Master together until death. The Dark God's power was killing you."
"Yeah," he remembered something nasty being poured down his throat a long time ago; the power had awakened when Duo had....died. How was that possible? Wait. Servant and Master?! "You tried to enslave me?" No one enslaved Shinigami!
Alex shook his head, sending dirty blond locks flying. "From the start, I knew your strength would probably overwhelm me, but if I didn't add my strength to yours, you were going to die. You'd spent too much energy fighting the change."
"And what is this change?" Duo spat, barely holding down his fury. How did this bastard know so much?
"The Dark Dragon God grants certain mortals a piece of itself, of its darkness. From that day forward, you experience excellent health and heal faster than normal. Some people even age slower."
"So it's a gift?" Then why wouldn't Heero and Trowa just offer or ask? Why the need for messing with his memory or forcing him?
"A tainted gift." Alex wondered if he could get away with keeping things hidden? A surge of pain told him the spell had done its all too well; defiance was a thing of the past. Might as well make the best of things. He'd gambled and hopefully not lost. "It eats away at your conscience, Master. Makes actions that would have once horrified you seem natural or necessary."
"Like forcing someone who loves you to accept this 'gift'?"
"Yes."
Well, at least what happened with Trowa and Heero was explained. But what about the others? And what did this mean for him? And Alex as his Servant? How? There was too much he didn't know. Duo hated lacking vital information; Intel was often the one thing that could shift the tide of a battle and this was shaping up to be one hell of a fight. No one took what belonged to Duo Maxwell. Not even a God.
"Tell me everything, Alex. I want to know what the hell is going on and how to stop it." He was going to get his friends back. And the Dragon God had better be ready to undo everything or it was going to learn the price for messing with Shinigami.
Relief flooded the blond. After so long, it was good to get everything off his chest. "The Dark God is an old creature. Older than recorded history, if you believe the legends. It eventually became worshipped by the Dragon Clan."
"Wufei's clan?" Duo interrupted.
"Yes, Master. Which is how I think it entered our current world. With the war, I am certain one of the Dragon Clan summoned their oldest God and asked for help."
"Which involves....?"
"A warrior is chosen to receive a piece of the Dark God. It in turn becomes a part of him or her. Depending on the deal made, they might become a monster or simply remain human except for a few internal changes."
"The long life and healing thing you mentioned?"
"Yes, Master."
"So Wufei was probably the chosen warrior?"
"It seems more than probable."
"Does he have to be willing?"
"No, Master. The Dark God doesn't care about such trivial things." There was a touch of bitterness in Alex's voice.
"Okay. Why the fuck are you calling me 'Master' all the time?" Might be a trick, yet Alex had not once looked him in the face. Besides, the world was a bit stranger than he thought, obviously. And a lot more dangerous.
"When I found you, all I wanted was revenge. Then I noticed your condition. I knew you'd spent too much energy fighting the change and were going to die, so I took a chance."
"A chance?"
"You're not like anyone I've ever seen before. Once the dark gift is awakened, it changes you more than just internally. In the end, what you become is ultimately up to you, your subconscious desires and fears. It should be almost instantaneous."
Alex paused, remembering how shocked he'd been to find anyone holding off the change for any amount of time; Duo had done it for more than an hour at least.
"Aaannnnnnd... " The American prompted. In fact he was fascinated. If Alex had just stopped him on the street and told him all this, Duo would have laughed and thought it was an attempt at an insanity plea; however, given all that had happened recently, history and mythology became a great deal more personal and real. Information was power. He needed as much power as he could get. Wufei and the others weren't just going to let him walk away. Nor was he going to the same for them.
"I've spent years learning as much magic as possible. Perhaps someday I could avenge Mueller, or so I dreamed. But nothing I did could ever get me near the power I would need to destroy the Dark God."
"So you thought you'd enslave me and use my power?"
Alex sighed. "Not really, Master. One look at the changes taking over proved no one would ever be able to control you. I thought, maybe, I could give you a second shot at living and making the God's power your own."
"And then what? Kill the damn thing?" Would shoving a giant thermal scythe up its ass kill it?
"It was my hope. You didn't seem to be a willing participant in the change. Some of the things you said led me to think you might hate the God once it's darkness was finished with you. I knew there was little chance my power could overcome yours, but the binding spell would allow you to live by adding new energy to your own almost exhausted supply and the shock would drop your defenses long enough for the change to finish." He paused, fighting the compunction to be wholly honest with Duo; he failed. "And I have lived without hope too long."
Duo suddenly knew Alex had been planning on killing himself. In his mind, he could even see the man's plot for doing it. With any luck, the Preventers would be blamed, causing a scandal. Trying out his new powers for a moment, the young man reached out toward the thoughts from Alex. Memories flooded him. From early childhood where discipline and the need to succeed were beaten into him to meeting and falling in love with Noin and then meeting Mueller and learning a new set of lessons. Years of pain and pleasure, joy and sorrow, filled Duo's mind until who he was started to become lost.
"Master!" Alex's frightened cry was followed by a withdrawal of the invading personality.
"Why-why did you save me?" Duo panted. Shouldn't Alex have allowed him to become lost and perhaps destroyed?
"The spell binds me to protect you as part of my service, Master." Besides, he was Alex's best hope for revenge, a way to heal a wound left to fester.
The former pilot suddenly noticed he was laying cradled in Alex's arms. Surprisingly, it was very comfortable. "So why not use another spell?" He groaned. Surely there was another way to help without enslaving himself to someone who might just be a sadistic bastard.
"There wasn't time. You had perhaps half an hour before the last of your energy was gone and you died, leaving a true monster behind in your body. A thing without human compassion. A minor version of the Dark God reborn."
Which reminded Duo. "Quatre had something inside him when...when they..." It shouldn't be so hard to say it.
"Violated you?"
"Yes." Duo didn't want to think of it as that, but what else could he call it?
"The God feels things through others. It's physical form was destroyed long before man had consciousness. Now, it lives in the body of another, feeling what they feel, influencing their life and decisions. The possessed one never knows."
"Like a parasite."
"Yes, Master."
"Why Quatre? I thought Wufei was its chosen?'
"From what I know of the Winner heir, he feels things deeply while Wufei does his best to lock his emotions away."
Of course the thing would choose Quatre. The poor blond didn't have a cruel bone in his body, but he felt everything around him thanks to his empathy. It must be like a buffet living inside his friend. Well, it was time to evict the trespasser. First, though, he needed to understand a few more things.
"Why do you call me Master sometimes and not others?" A hint of frustration entered Duo's tone; he'd only just noticed Alex's intermitant use of the word . It was time to go reawaken the instincts and skill he'd devolped during the war. There was so much to know. How much time did he have before the others came looking? Would he be able to defend himself? Was Alex telling him the truth?
Alex was startled; he hadn't realized how he was speaking. For a second the former pilot directed his senses inward. "I seem to have a bit of freedom left. Just enough to not address you as Master all the time." With a sigh, he opened his eyes to see his owner's reaction to the news. Duo actually looked pleased.
"Good. I don't have any use for a mindless ally." Alex permitted a small smile to grow. Maybe the Dark God was going to suffer for Its crimes. "So how did you get involved in all this?"
Taking a deep breath, Alex told Duo everything from the beginning.
He and Mueller had always wanted to impress Noin. Over and over they took missions that were dangerous hoping to draw her praise or notice; instead she remained focused on Zechs. Their anger and frustration attracted the attention of the ancient monster. It appeared to them through an old man, offering immortal life, power beyond their wildest dreams. All they had to do was keep fighting. Any killed while they held Its blessing would become sacrifices or food for Its eternal hunger.
Accepting the gift proved the Dark Dragon God told less than half the truth. Though they never lost the love for Noin, eventually an attraction between them grew; soon overwhelming what they felt for their former teacher. They became lovers, bonded through the Dark God. And it had been heaven. For a while at least. Unfortunately, as time went on, Mueller and he found themselves growing increasingly bloodthirsty. At first, neither man liked all the death and battles, but soon each ached to kill and after every fight, they ached for the other.
Worries about right and wrong became distant. They were above petty, mortal concerns. When Zechs appeared again, planning to murder him seemed natural. Even lost in the God's evil, they still felt jealous over the love Noin showed the platinum blond. He easily agreed to go with them; actually offering to let the pair be in charge. Zechs should never have survived long enough to become corrupted by Epyon.
Except, as they turned their mechs on him, the Dark Dragon revoked His gift. Stripped them of every ounce of power, skill, and healing ability. Without it, in shock from the sudden loss, they were easy prey. Instead of both men dying, however, Alex remained alive, bereft of his lover or the strength he'd grown used to.
"So you healed up, wandered around looking for vengeance, and just gave up?" Duo asked, incredulous. Why give up after pursuing a goal for so long?
"There wasn't much I could do," Alex sighed. "All my research, every legend or myth proved there was no way I could so much as scratch that traitorous fuck."
"There's no one who could help?" The braided young man didn't like the idea of running from the others for the rest of his life or fighting some incredibly powerful creature without a chance of winning. There had to be a way.
"You're power now is beyond anything I have ever seen," his Servant acknowledged, "however, even that will not be enough without a careful plan. The Dark God will simply remove Its gift and then do with you as It pleases. We must have more magic and power, even though this is closer than I have ever been to killing the Dark God. "
"Nobody does with me as they please," Duo hissed. He'd had enough manipulation and lies in the wars. A thought suddenly occurred to him. "What about other Gods?"
"Other Gods?"
"Where there's one, there's usually others." He claimed to be the God of Death. Yet what if there was a real one. Could it help them? Would it? Was it worse than what they faced now?
"I have never found a way to contact them."
"About time they contacted us." Duo slowly stretched out his new powers, careful to keep them under his full control. So many new things flooded his mind. New ways of seeing. At the very edge of his consciousness, something hovered; it felt familiar; almost like a long lost friend. He called to it. In an instant the thing turned to him and though he could not see it clearly, Duo swore it was smiling.
"ABOUT TIME YOU CALLED ME, BOY." It whispered in his mind with words louder than an explosion. "I WILL BE WITH YOU SOON." And then the connection snapped and Duo was once more with Alex.
"Master?"
Duo realized he had never left Alex's arms. How odd of him. Still, it was oddly comforting to be held by him.
"Something's coming," he rasped, exhausted beyond belief. "Something BIG."
"Good or evil?'
"Who knows?' Duo shrugged.
Alex could not believe how lightly his Master was taking this. Then again, he really didn't have any idea what was out there. A knock at the door caused both men to jump. Friend or foe, someone or something had found them.
End Part 5
Phoenix
Please send comments to: lina.inverse@verizon.net