Chapter Text
Beneath: The Kiss of Death
by Duointherain
disclaimer: I don’t own Gundam Wing
It wasn’t supposed to be a riot. Protests were how things got changed. For a moment, Duo was back in his room, a video chat with Heero on while he got dressed and in that disassociated moment, he could almost convince himself that he hadn’t gone to the protest.
Cuz it’s all downhill from there. He got separated from Relena. Riot roared back and forth like a human hurricane. The disassociation rocked him just as hard internally. Bombs exploded in memories so vivid his heart raced and he ran. The streets smelled of death, old death sweet and swollen. Then the world turned back to now and an armor covered monster raised the baton over Relena.
Her laughter and smile and her anger and her weird haircuts, and her hand holding his. She was his family. She was his sister. She was home. She was the man he was becoming. She was the courage to tell Heero every day how much he loved him.
All the reasoning he’d had, the preparation he’d done before coming, all of it lay around him in tatters. He had an air filtration system that he’d brought because he’d thought there would be tear gas. She’d said he was silly. That was probably never going to change. He hadn’t brought any weapons or he’d have put a bullet in the weakest spot of the armor. So he threw his little filtration system like it was a brick. It looked like a brick.
When the monster spun around in his direction, he flipped him off with both hands and flexed his hips in a fucking motion. There ya go. That’ll do it.
In the next second he was five again, running through plague devastated streets, bare feet slapping filthy textured metal. When he spun back around, arms rising protectively, it was an angry adult smacking at him over something he’d stolen. Hell everything he’d ever had was stolen in some way. Except his hair. That was all his.
The baton hit and he fell out of his body like that woman had put Dr. Strange out. Bam and there he was. Relena ran towards the riot cop, screaming, he was pretty sure she was screaming. He waved at her that it was okay, nothing to be so dramatic about. She went in low at full speed, throwing her arms around the guy’s legs, buckling his knees as she lifted him, not much, but just enough so she could throw him down.
Like wow! Bad ass.
Oh yeah. There was his body too, blood in his hair, eyes open and empty. Well. That might be a problem. It didn’t feel like a problem though. It felt okay, like it was supposed to be, like he’d finally done something right.
Martha’s attack dog came walking through the swirling clouds of tear gas and grabbed Relena up by the scruff of her neck, then his body. It’s so odd to think of something that’s like over there, that’s being carried away like a duffel bag, to think of that thing being one’s body. Duo ran a hand through his hair, scratched the back of his neck, and turned away. It just wasn’t his problem anymore.
There were at least three other people standing around like he was, unbothered by the tear gas or the noise. It all felt so far away. He sat down in the swirl of tear gas, crossed his legs, and let his thoughts wander. He wondered if there was some monster he should be fighting or some challenge to get to some afterlife or get back in his body.
Heero was going to be pissy about this. Maureen was going to be emotional.
The sun set.
It rose again.
Time didn’t have any meaning.
It was so peaceful.
There were no more monsters, no more screaming, no more starving.
He didn’t remember moving, but somehow he got closer to the stain his blood had left on the gray concrete. A woman came to pressure wash it way and he whispered his scariest dreams in her ear. She and her boss came back. The boss tried to pressure wash away his blood. Duo whispered in his ear too. His words were a chill that covered the man’s metal buttons with frost.
He couldn’t remember why he didn’t want to leave by then. He couldn’t remember how many sunrises there had been. An androgynous person came to set a flower and a candle there by the bloodstain. Whoever they were, with their short blonde hair and blue eyes, looking all sad and lonely, he didn’t like the way being near this person made him feel alone, lost. Ray, Rey, Reigh, something like that. He growled at them and their hair stood right up on end! That felt good, so he did it again, grinning with long white teeth around the endless void that was growing in him.
“Duo! Stop it!” She growled back, leaning into the chill of his growl. “You’re not dead! Stop it!”
“Clearly, you’re wrong,” he snapped back, running a finger down her arm, leaving a trail of white.
“I’m not afraid of you. I know you’re angry,” she said, clutching her tablet to her chest.
She was a liar. She was afraid. He pulled back and wondered what he was doing. He didn’t want to hurt her. She was.... sister. She was his sister.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a light, a bright beautiful light. Home. No.
Home was with the girl and a blue-eyed boy.
She was gone then though. The sun set again. The light slowly seemed to grow bigger.
It made him sad, but he neither knew why nor liked the feeling at all. Peace was better.
A blond man came and set another candle. Duo watched him set down a prayer mat in the direction of Mecca, kneel, and bend forward. Gods. Different gods. He couldn’t remember the man’s name, but he felt like he knew him. He kept his distance so as not to make him cold, but the farther he got from his bloodstain, the thinner he felt, the brighter the light got. The blond set a photo by the candle, of himself and a man with long brown hair and violet eyes. The brown-haired man looked like a nice guy. They stood close, arms over each other’s shoulder, grinning brightly. It must have been a nice day.
After he left, Duo sat there staring at the photo. It made him feel less thin, but the light started to sing to him, to pull him.
He felt so thin, like the light was a black hole pulling him slowly in.
In a while a man with a dark ponytail and a sword came. He drew the sword and hit the stain with all his will while screaming in a language that the ghost didn’t understand. He was angry, so very angry. Some words came through like dishonor, shame, wake up, but not enough to really make any sense.
The ghost threw himself on the angry man and mauled him, reaching into him and grabbing his heart. He dropped the sword and staggered away, tears in his eyes. “Oh my god! Duo! You are here! Please come back! Please! They’re going to disconnect you from life support soon! Please! Please my friend!”
The ghost turned his back to him, arms across his chest.
The light darkened, the music turning to a glow growling howl.
The androgenous person came again. Others came that he didn’t know. Many candles circled his bloodstain so he couldn’t even see it. He wanted to go. He was done. He just wanted to go.
Then an old woman and a young man with blue eyes came. The ghost walked around him and the light had no meaning. Joy filled him and the light turned back to music. The void left him.
He was Duo. He remembered then. This was Heero. This was love. The other side of the light was heaven and he’d be able to watch over Heero, to wait for him. It was okay. Everything was okay.
He whispered that in Heero’s ear, promising to always watch of him, to care for him, to love him forever because there was no other way for him to be. The light was right there then, as big as a door.
The old woman was blind, but she looked right at him.
“Duo Maxwell,” she said firmly and he heard her as clearer than he’d heard anyone ever. “I can see you.”
“He’s here?” Heero said, tears filling his eyes. “You can see him? Is he okay?”
“He is here. He can hear you.”
“Duo!” Heero said, looking around, because he couldn’t see him, couldn’t feel him because Duo wasn’t cold now that Heero was here. “I love you. I have something for you!”
“I love you too, Heero,” Duo said, feeling tears in his own eyes. He hadn’t felt anything like having eyes in so long. “I’m okay now that you’re here. It’s heaven on the other side. I’ll wait for you.”
“He says he can feel heaven and that he’ll wait for you,” the old priestess said.
Heero’s hands shook as he pulled a ring box from his jeans pocket. “I want to marry you. Your body is okay. You don’t have to die. The swelling is down on your brain. They say there isn’t even any brain damage. Please, wake up and marry me.”
“Wow, Heero. Talk about bad timing man,” Duo said, feeling like he had pockets again as he shoved his hands into them. “I mean, yeah, I want to marry you. I’ve always wanted to marry you, I mean, I think. Time is weird right now.”
“He says he would love to marry you,” the old woman said.
“Tell him he can do better than me. I’m fucked up and that was before I got my head caved in.”
“He said that you can do better than him, that he is ‘fucked up’ even before he got hurt.”
“I love you, Duo Maxwell. Please stay with me. We have so much to do together.”
“I’m at peace Heero. I love you. But the light is so .. heavy and I’m falling into it. I’ll wait for you.” Duo stepped through Heero’s arms to touch his lips to Heero’s. For just a second Heero leaned into the kiss as if he could feel Death’s lips on his.
“He said he is at peace and that he loves you. He is disappearing into the light. I’m sorry.”
“No!” Heero sobbed, pointing in front of him. “Tell me where it is! I’ll follow him! Let me come too! Let me come too!”
“You have to wait until your time,” she said.
Heero’s phone rang and while sobbing he answered dutifully.
“Heero! They disconnected life support,” Rey sobbed. “I tried to stop them! I did!”
“I know,” Heero said, dropping to his knees. The ring box fell from his hand, the ring rolling out to fall on its side in the center of the bloodstain. “I know... he went into the light. He’s gone.”
“No,” she said, also crying, “I tried to stop them, but when they turned off the machines, he was flat-lined for a moment, then his heart started beating again. Heero. He’s alive. Duo’s alive.”
Heero crawled to the ring, knocking over candles as he grabbed it up. “Put the phone by his ear. I’m coming. Tell him I’m coming!”