To Duo’s relief, the corridor widened significantly. They could finally walk next to each other and keep an eye on their surroundings. To their surprise, the walls were perfectly plastered, without a single crack, showing no signs of destruction or decay. The corridor itself was free of any rubble, but not of cobwebs, fat spiders and other insects flying and crawling around. They picked up on the unmistakable sounds of rats, but as long as they didn’t encounter them, it was fine by Duo - he hated rats. His special costume protected him well enough from all the creepy crawlers; he couldn’t imagine how he would’ve felt without it. Heero flailed with his hands every now and then - he had brought insect repellent with him, but it just didn’t seem to work against all the bug life down here.
The air was suffocating hot and damp again. The whirling clouds of dust made the both of them cough, and the thick cobwebs clouded their sight, despite the intense flashlights they were carrying. Duo didn’t want to know how all the webbing stuck to his costume and his hair; it wasn’t something a good shower wouldn’t get rid of, and he wasn’t into archaeology to stay pristine clean. After a while, according to his watch it didn’t take longer than twenty minutes, they arrived at a large arch, covered by unsurprisingly more cobwebs. They had to use their knives to cut through the hideously thick strands.
“Gross,” Duo whined as his entire knife was encased in mummified webbing. He tried to pluck some off of the blade, growling when it of course stuck to his fingers. If anything, they were the first ones to visit this place since a long, very long time; that made it all worthwile. He could already feel the adrenaline and excitement of a discovery building up in his body. Heero grumbled something inaudible in return and stepped forward, setting foot on a new surface - a creaking surface.
“Wood,” he said in surprise. Duo shone on the floor with his flashlight; it was wood all right, and he knocked on it. He tested the planks by stomping on them with his heavy steel-toed boots and jumping a few times. Heero just shook his head at his antics.
“Be careful, Duo. I don’t want you to fall through it!”
“Don’t worry- it’s in excellent condition,” Duo said, sounding surprised as well. “And heey, no echo.”
“We must be in a very large room. We better determine its dimensions before we continue.”
“Can you see the other side?”
“No.”
“Damn. Where the hell are we?”
Heero looked around, the beam of his flashlight illuminating his surroundings. “I see some sort of railing over there. This looks like a balcony to me.”
“A balcony? I don’t think it’s easy accesible. Well, if this is a balcony, there has to be a way down. Another flight of stairs, perhaps.”
“We’ll follow this as far as it goes,” Heero suggested.
Duo walked up to the railing and looked over it, his flashlight shining all the way down. He whistled. At first sight, this was a large, oval-shaped room, probably some kind of shrine, as Duo thought he saw an altar down below. This was some kind of temple, hidden under the Royal Palace - was this the shrine the map had pointed out? But a shrine to what - a secret religion? To worship gods that had been forgotten in time? The Peacecraft family had never mentioned certain gods or idols to be of any importance in Sanq. It was impossible to determine the dimensions of the room without proper light, and Duo moved away from the railing. Just as he did that, his flashlight caught a glimpse of gold. A statue, perhaps?
“Duo, what’s taking you so long?”
“Come over here,” Duo answered. He waited until Heero had caught up with him and shone with his flashlight down again. Heero pursed his lips as he added his own flashlight to it; he squinted his eyes as more gold was revealed.
“What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know,” Heero said, pensive. “A golden idol, but as we don’t have a clue about the dimensions of the room, we can’t determine the size of the idol..statue…whatever it is. I never knew that the people of Sanq actively worshipped a deity or an entity. It looks huge from what we can see from here. Fascinating…let’s find a way down, so we can properly see what it is.”
“So…do you think Relena knows of the dark deep secrets of her ancestors?” Duo inquired. “Whatever it is down there. Maybe they worshipped tasty, young virgins.”
“Duo, quit it,” Heero grumbled. “I saw some oil lamps, we better give them a try if we want to have more light.”
“Fine.”
Duo gazed at Heero’s retreating back while his right hand moved slowly but surely towards the holster of his Uzi. His fingers trembled. No, he wasn’t going to shoot Heero Yuy, the man he loved… the man he still loved, but kept so many secrets from him. This was driving him insane. How could Heero pretend everything was all right, after everything that had happened? Missing out on dinner and talking to Chang Wufei of all people, and not telling him, Duo, what was going on? Why didn’t he talk, why wasn’t he talking about Chang, his connection to Khushrenada and White Fang, and how it all tied to the Never-Ending Circle?
“Are you coming?” Heero sounded genuinely concerned and bewildered, as Duo usually was the first to eagerly explore and look around, often without checking his surroundings.
He slowly nodded. “Yeah, coming.”
Using their waterproof matches, both Heero and Duo ignited the oil lamps, coughing every now and then from the dense smoke.
“What a stench,” Duo said, lighting another lamp. He couldn’t determine what kind of oil it was; it reeked of kitty litter. Had these people not heard of scented oil? The lamps hadn’t been used in decades and were made of plain pottery, no specific markings or decorations on them. Duo hugged the wall, measuring the distance between the lamps. They were all evenly spaced, and apparently all refilled before this place had been abandoned; surely enough, there was more light, but not enough to completely illuminate the environment. They circled the entire room, and ended back up at the arch where they had entered. Heero scratched the back of his head, clearly confused.
“Did you find a way down?”
“No, you?”
“I guess people could only access this balcony the same way we entered,” Heero said, pointing at the large arch behind them. “Whatever has happened, ever since they left here, they felt it was necessary to close this entrance off with traps.”
“The balcony is so large, it’s like a balcony of a theatre.”
“If they held ceremonies for the golden idol we saw, the people could watch it from above. Perhaps the shrine was holy ground to the people of Sanq, and only their priests were allowed to be close to the statue? We’ve seen civilizations with more bizarre rituals and traditions. This is history, Duo - this is uncovered history of one of the world’s greatest nations, who has collapsed under the strain of war. They actually worshipped a deity or entity, and we’ve discovered it!”
Duo couldn’t help but smile, Heero’s enthusiasm was contagious. He knew very well the familiar feelings of making a discovery that was going to rock the archaeological world. Uncovering artifacts was one thing, discovering something entirely new was a completely different thing. This was going to shed an entire new light on Sanq and its traditions. The adrenaline was still raging through him, and Duo couldn’t wait to find out more. This was what he was born for; the excitement, treading unknown territory, together with Heero.
“We have to find a way down. I want to take a closer look at that statue.” Heero waved with his hand as if he could brush off the thick smoke clouds from the oil lamps. The stench was getting to them; Duo thought it reeked of kitty litter before, now it smelled like kitty litter on fire.
He took his backpack off of his shoulders and opened it, rummaging through its contents.
“What are you doing?” Heero asked.
“You did bring your grapple hook, right?”
“Of course I did, but you can’t use it now, Duo! We don’t know the height of the ceiling, or the distance to the ground floors…you can’t simply descend without knowing the altitude!”
“Have I done anything otherwise?”
“At least you’d make a rough estimate before!”
“I estimate it’s about forty feet, tops.” Duo said, attaching the hook to the grappler gun.
“Are you sure it’s going to hold? We don’t know the density of the rock - if you want me to measure it… the hook won’t settle if the rock is too thick to take it. We better descend from the balcony, Duo.”
“The wood is sturdy, yeah, but I put my faith more into solid rock than wood.” Duo straightened himself, aiming the gun. “Besides, we winged shit like this before, remember?”
“Oh yes I remember,” Heero muttered, digging through his backpack to retrieve a similar device. Duo took his time aiming, and fired. The hook propelled itself into the stone ceiling, and Duo tugged at the cord.
“It’s okay,” he said, content. The grappling gun and hook were his favorite to work with; it was extremely lightweight and he could use it to descend from any kind of material, provided it was solid and stable enough. It beat carrying around heavy rope anytime; with this device he was even more mobile. Wrapping the cord around his gloved hands, Duo set himself up for the jump. This was his speciality - jumping into the deep, into the unknown. Yes, when it came to fucking artifacts, he thought to himself. As brave and courageous as he was to get past each and any obstacle to retrieve an artifact, he was uncertain and not-so-independent in his relationships, especially when it involved Heero Yuy. Bugger! And I realize that when I’m about to make a jump into a forty feet deep dark abyss! Maxwell, you fucking moron!
“Duo!” Heero yelled, but he already moved forward, leaping over the railing of the balcony and he clung to his rope, as he plummeted down. “Duo!”
Despite the speed of his jump, Duo only swung back and forth a few times before stabilizing himself. He could see the ring of steadily burning oil lamps, forming a perfect circle around him; his own flashlight, strapped onto his shoulder again, shone down into the darkness below. Adrenaline mixed with fear pumped through his veins - what was he going to find down there, besides the statue?
He heard the metal clanking of another grapple hook being launched and attaching itself to the ceiling. Heero was about to follow him within a matter of seconds, and Duo wanted to get out of his way. He climbed down rapidly, enjoying the physical exercise - he’d always been good at climbing, Howard’s favorite part of training. His flashlight shone around him and Duo caught again glimpses of gold. He was descending in front of the statue, how convenient...and a miracle that he didn’t hit it when he had jumped so recklessly. He snickered.
Letting go of the rope, he miscalculated the last few feet and hissed in pain when he landed awkwardly on the floor, almost spraining his ankle. He heard Heero calling for him, and he gritted through his teeth, cursing himself mentally.
“I’m fine!” He yelled back. “Just…misjudged the last bit, that’s all.” He couldn’t overhear Heero’s answer, and he got back on his feet, trying to take a few steps.
“Ouch… fuck..!”
His flashlight revealed a huge golden bowl without any decorations, and its purpose was obvious. It took Duo only two tries with his matches to get the oil burning; coughing a little, he hopped over to a similar bowl, igniting the oil in it as well. In the meantime, Heero finished his descent and pointed out the two other bowls behind the statue; without another word they lit those as well, returning to the front of the statue to see what it really was.
Duo wolf-whistled. He’d been right about the gold - the entire statue was covering with it, from head to toe. Even if it was only a coating, the value was through the roof, worth millions and millions, judging from the height and proportions.
“You must be the God of Death,” Duo said, almost amused. The flickering light slowly revealed more and more of the statue, the gold enveloping it in warm colors - but no matter how warm or pleasant the colors were, a strange cold radiated off of it.
“Incredible,” Heero said with a hint of awe in his voice. “He looks more like a guardian to me, though.”
“Guardian.. God of Death… it’s all the same.” Duo took a step back, craning his neck to take the statue in completely. It was a male person in crouching position, his right leg on the floor, his left leg drawn up to his chest, leaning a little forward. His face resembled one of a warrior who had seen too many wars, with his mouth drawn into a tight, downward line, looking very unhappy, all but grimacing. Lines were added to the face as if to suggest old age, but instead added to the unfriendly, bitter, cold appearance. The eyes were laid in with dark stones, undoubtedly gems, but Duo couldn’t make out what kind of gems from this distance. The same stones appeared in the statue’s ears; at least someone had made an effort to ‘personalize’ it a little.
“What the hell…” Duo mumbled. The first pair of arms were crossed over the chest, the second pair spread out and were bent at the elbows, while the third pair was resting close to the legs. It was hard to see what kind of clothing the statue was ‘wearing’; Duo could see a sash that was held together by a cracked skull, and some layers of robe, reaching just above the knee; the rest of the legs and feet seemed to be bare. The style eluded Duo - it wasn’t Greek or Roman, neither Asian nor any other well-known culture - it was very different from anything he’d ever seen before. It was far from Sanq’s usual style of modest pottery with a flower pattern painted on it. His eyes were immediately drawn towards the six arms and the hands - they were all holding weapons, a remarkably aggressive statue for a peace-loving country. The left hand of the upper pair held a scimitar, while the right hand was holding a scythe. The left hand of the second pair held a nasty looking trident, and the right hand clung to something that resembled a large whip. The left hand of the third pair held a large tube-like weapon that Duo didn’t recognize, and the right hand was covered by a sharp, pointy shield, also with some unrecognizable weapon attached to it.
“A Guardian of what?” Duo asked when he found his voice again. “The Never-Ending Circle?”
“Who knows? Look at all the weapons it’s holding. Six arms, six hands, and they’re all holding something to kill and destroy.”
“Nice people, those Peacecrafts…”
“It’s amazing,” Heero breathed. “We must take pictures. This is the first and maybe only sign of early worship in Sanq country…”
“The early worship of weapons? Of violence? Your pretty princess will probably faint when she hears about all of this.”
“Relena doesn’t faint that fast,” Heero muttered. “It’s a historical breakthrough - we can prove with this statue that Sanq knew or even worshipped violence before the Peacecrafts rose to power.”
“That will hurt,” Duo said. He could only imagine the reaction of the Queen of the World when she heard that her ancestors had bend backwards for a golden statue that was wielding six weapons. Six weapons…why six? And why the choice of weapons?
“Hey, Heero, you did see the scythe up there, right?”
“I noticed it. Do you think it’s the one we’re looking for?”
“No, it’s attached to the hand. The blade doesn’t appear to fit with the staff we already found.”
Heero adjusted the settings of his video camera, recording the image of the statue.
“Amazing,” he repeated. “It’s not very detailed - the style is rather crude compared to the arts of the Greeks and Italians. The craftsmen didn’t pay much attention to the proportions either…”
“I wonder why they made him look so shitty,” Duo mused. “He’s the grouchiest statue I’ve ever come across.”
“I doubt he likes his job as a guardian, and lifting up six weapons at the same time,” Heero snorted. “This is excellent study material, predating Sanq history, I’m sure of it. Hopefully I can find some kind of mark, an autograph of the sculptor…”
Duo stretched, yawning out loud. They’d been at work for the whole day, barely taking breaks, and now they had ended up in this room with a grumpy statue. There was nothing else to see here besides the guardian.
“We have to come back here with a decent camera,” Heero continued, “with more lights! A film crew!”
“It’s just the statue,” Duo replied absent-mindedly, as he walked around it. It was just the statue indeed - nothing indicated that it had actually been worshipped. There was a small altar in front of it, flanked by the golden bowls with the burning oil. The surface was smooth, and empty - no other bowls, vials, ceremonial daggers or other artifacts…and how in the world was anyone supposed to reach this altar but from descending from above? He couldn’t see any entrance or exits.
“Are you done filming it?”
“Just a moment!”
“Okay.” Duo remained still so he wouldn’t disturb Heero’s recordings. Toying idly with the tuft of his braid - dear God, he was so going to need three bottles of shampoo and conditioner - he waited for Heero to finish.
“Hey, that’s strange.”
“What is it?”
“There’s something below the scythe’s blade,” Heero said, peering through the lens of his camera. “Come take a look, will you?”
Curiously, Duo did as he was asked and peeked over Heero’s shoulder, watching the footage.
“Here,” Heero moved his thumb.
“There’s another scythe, underneath it,” Duo said, dumbfounded. “A smaller one.”
“It’s a twin blade,” Heero said, staring once again. “An exact copy, but smaller, yes.”
“I think that one will fit with the staff,” Duo grinned. “Too bad you didn’t bring the staff from Khushrenada’s office, Heero.” He saw the other flinch, but didn’t comment on it.
“How are we ever going to get it?”
“It’s not that difficult - it has six arms, for crying out loud! It’s just like climbing into a tree.”
“Duo! Stop it! You can’t…!”
He was already too late - Duo jumped up to the first hand and hoisted himself up to the next pair of arms, using the hand for leverage. He was careful enough not to damage the statue, and made sure that he never stayed in the same position for longer than a few seconds. As he quickly found out, the statue was solid gold, and his heavy boots would leave dents and marks in the soft material if he lingered. It was quite ironic that such a valuable statue was hidden in this strange shrine underneath the royal palace, whereas the family had fled from the terror of war with nothing but their clothes and a few personal belongings, even living in modesty nowadays.
When he reached the blade, Duo moved his head a little, looking up at the face of the statue. It looked damaged from up here, as if someone had used metal claws to scratch the cheeks aggressively. No wonder you look so unfriendly, pal. He shivered violently, suddenly feeling creeped out. He quickly tore his eyes away from the face and leaned over to get what he had come for. Duo yanked at it, careful at first, until he noticed how crude and dull the blade was - contrary to its larger counterpart, that even after all that time looked like it could slice through everything. A cold shiver ran through him when he finally disentangled the blade, and he felt a sudden pang of pain in his chest. Gasping for breath, he remained silent and unmoving until the pain subsided; it went away as quickly as it had come. Moving down was as easy as climbing up and still careful as to not damage the statue, Duo held the blade clutched to his chest. His backpack was on the altar, and he opened the flap to pull out a piece of cloth to wrap around the blade. As Heero remained silent, Duo’s face turned sad. He heard footsteps behind him, and his shoulders slumped. This is it.
“Is this the point where you take the blade from me, Heero?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t play fucking stupid with me,” Duo hissed, turning around, his braid dangling with the brusque movement. “I caught you talking to Wufei in the village. What exactly were you discussing with him? About how you were going to supposedly ‘double cross’ the big bad evil Khushrenada? About how you would leave all the work to me and tag merrily along until you could pry it from my dead hands? I never thought you would be capable of doing that - you’ve never done things like this before...!”
“I never have and I never will, Duo,” Heero said. “I haven’t sold my soul, no matter what you’re thinking. I did what I had to do, and I had to play on certain people’s emotions and feelings, yes, something I’m not exactly proud of. I had to make choices, difficult ones - not for myself, but for other people’s sake. I rather not have to take the blade from you by force, Duo.”
“Don’t be fucking stupid,” he said again. “You’re not going to take it from me, Heero. This is our discovery, our artifact, not yours, not mine. I have a commission, you have a commission. We both agreed to recover the artifact. I don’t know all of the choices you made, and I’m sorry for the hardships you endured, I really am - but we hunted for sport, for the triumph, for the benefit of history and archaeology, not for the money!”
“I didn’t have much of a choice!” Heero shouted, more out of frustration than anything else. “Will you shut up and listen to me? It wasn’t my fault that these things have come up, that people wanted to blackmail Relena, defame her, dethrone her. I made a promise to her, and you know I always keep my promises. I couldn’t help it that something was going on that would determine my course of action for years to come! It hit me in the face at every corner I turned, every path that I took, every decision that I had to made, that I had to leave you behind, and I was trying to get back to you and see if there was…”
“If there was what?” Duo yelled.
“If there was anything left of the Duo Maxwell I knew and loved,” Heero said. “I never stopped loving you and I never will…and for the love of God, I’m doing all my best to keep you safe before you go down as well!”
“What do you mean by that?” Duo asked, voice soft. The blade, partly wrapped in the cloth, was lying in front of him - he needed his hands free for his guns…if necessary.
“This has grown over your head…heck, over my head too,” Heero answered. “It’s not only about the Never-Ending Circle. I told you before Duo, it’s about politics and its devastating implications for the entire world. If Relena’s position is compromised, if Khushrenada, the White Fang or the Romefeller Foundation get their hands on any sort of power to rule the world, there’s not going to be an Earth for much longer. I don’t want that to happen, you don’t want that to happen. I wasn’t planning on taking the scythe from you. I was planning to make you reunite the blade with the staff, and deliver the artifact to Winner as you were commissioned to do. I’d deal with the consequences concerning Khushrenada - but Winner would have his artifact and his redemption, and after that, I would make sure it would never fall in the wrong hands.”
“Even if you manage to keep the Never-Ending Circle from falling into the wrong hands, even if you manage to deal with an angry Khushrenada, that still leaves you with the blackmail,” Duo objected. “People can’t get away with blackmail. It’s a criminal offense…”
“I can live with that as long as Relena isn’t exposed,” Heero interrupted him, dejectedly. “As long as she’s well and the Peacecraft family in their positions and not in any danger, my involvement with it doesn’t matter. That’s my problem. I simply prefer to see the scythe not in the hands of Romefeller or White Fang.”
“Heero, you…”
“A lovers’ quarrel again, and again I interrupt it.”
Both Heero and Duo turned around and drew their guns before the man finished his sentence, light suddenly pouring into the room as several men with portable lanterns entered, revealing a similar archway as on the first floor; smudged and covered in dust and cobwebs.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Duo yelled. Heero’s surprise wasn’t an act; he was just as baffled as Duo to find Khushrenada standing in front of them.
“What else do you think,” the man snorted, looking pristine in his Romefeller outfit - even his white pants were spotless. He was accompanied by Zechs Merquise, dressed in a red uniform that didn’t reflect any known military rank - the Romefeller Foundation was known for keeping a very different way of ranking.
“You’re going to attach the blade to the staff for me, Mister Maxwell, and then you’ll hand the Never-Ending Circle over to me. You’ll demonstrate to me how its powers can be used and I will use it accordingly - by then, our ways will happily part. A very good plan, if I do say so myself. Oh, and do put down those guns now, all right?”
Duo growled. More men were entering the room, all of them armed with hand guns, aiming at him and Heero. He didn’t drop his Uzis, but forced himself to relax, lowering his arms. They’d lose in a gun fight, and Khushrenada couldn’t probably care less if the both of them died here - he would still have his precious artifact, and he’d find another guinea pig to assemble it. Merquise stepped to the side, a box visible in his hands.
“I had something you didn’t have,” Khushrenada said, smugly. “Inside information. Though poor Zechs couldn’t recall every single…ah, every insignificant little detail, he vividly remembered the secret passageways and tunnel systems under the Palace. It’s a good thing he’d been in the resistance, for whatever it was worth - they used this system of tunnels and hallways to retreat to when Sanq was run over.”
“Idiot!” Duo mumbled, leaving it in the middle who he was referring to. Khushrenada smiled pleasantly, knowing he was holding all the trump cards.
“No gas, no weird puzzles or pressure pads, no dangling from ceilings,” the man sneered, “just an old layout and inside knowledge, Mister Maxwell.”
“You always find the right men to work for you, my dear Khushrenada,” Duo answered airily. “And if they’re not right, you simply kill them, right? You don’t deal with incompetence very well, do you?”
Khushrenada kept smiling. “Your debate skills aren’t working on me. I’m not that easy to anger.”
“True,” Duo returned a thousand-watt smile. “You send out your men to deal with your anger, preferably with cars. Shoved anyone else off of the road lately?”
“Tsk tsk,” Khushrenada said, shaking his head. Merquise pulled the lid off the box, taking out the small staff. The man had been silent, shoulders a little hunched.
“Attach it, Mister Maxwell,” he continued. “We’ll see for ourselves what powers it holds. I want to know if it summons the God of Death or not. I want to know how it works and how it can be used.”
“It won’t work,” Heero said, calmly. “Whatever you’ll try to do, Khushrenada, it’s in vain. You already failed.”
“What do you mean? You should know better, Mister Yuy.”
“Shinigami has long been summoned,” Heero said, voice barely a whisper. “At the moment the first part of his scythe was uncovered.”
“What do you mean?” Khushrenada repeated angrily.
“When you retrieved the staff from the island close to Cuba, his powers awoke. How many people exactly are still alive from that particular expedition?”
“Superstition,” Khushrenada said dismissively. “Coincidence. You can’t possibly scare me with that, Mister Yuy.”
“You should be careful,” a new voice was added to the company. Duo aimed his guns again, gritting his teeth this time. He’d recognize that voice any time.
“Superstition and ‘coincidence’ should never be discarded so easily,” Chang Wufei continued, stepping into the room, the light catching the blade of the katana on his back. “Especially when it comes to…treasure hunting.”
“Who else is invited?” Duo muttered, finally putting his guns down, shoving them back into their holsters. Chang ignored him, glaring at Heero briefly before retreating into the background again, dark eyes resting at the both of them. He stood next to an elderly man with a blue vest and light grey hair. Khushrenada’s men remained silent, guns ready, awaiting their orders.
Merquise all but shoved the staff into Duo’s face, and he grudgingly unwrapped the blade. There wasn’t much he could do now but to reattach the blade; he had to think of a solution fast. Now that Chang suddenly was added to the mix, he had no idea if that worked in his advantage or not, he didn’t know where the other was standing. He had to be friends with Heero, judging from what he had seen - but Duo didn’t know at the moment what to do. How could he make his way out of here alive, with the artifact..and preferably with Heero? This was a damn mess he was in…and melancholically, he remembered how Quatre had told him that this case more than probably would grow over his head. The business man had a good notion of Khushrenada’s involvement, but even he couldn’t have foreseen the White Fang and the entire Romefeller Foundation preying on the Never-Ending Circle.
Huffing, he tried to attach the blade to the staff, but there was no way he could fit it together; there was an opening in the upper part of the staff, but the blade couldn’t be wedged into it. Annoyed, he tried again and again. Maybe he needed the larger blade after all, not this crude, blunt object that didn’t fit at all. He shivered from a sudden gust of wind. Wind...? Where is that coming from? He irritably shook his head.
“What’s taking so long, Mister Maxwell?”
“It doesn’t fit,” Duo said. Heero moved closer to him. “The blade doesn’t match with the staff at all. Maybe it was for decoration purposes and the real blade is around here somewhere.”
Khushrenada snorted again. “I don’t think so. Stalling for time is of no use, Mister Maxwell. The statue is taking up every little bit of room…but very well, we can always take a look around.”
He snapped with his fingers towards his uniformed men, who immediately spread throughout the room, weapons hoisted over the shoulders.
“Nothing here!”
“Nothing here either!”
Khushrenada threw another smug look at Duo. One by one, the men reported that nothing was to be found. Duo ignored everything around him and tried once again to get both parts to fit - to no avail. Heero looked over his shoulder, studying the object attentively as Duo was fiddling with the blade and the staff. The silence was disrupted by a low, deep groan.
Duo widened his eyes. “Damn..! It’s been a while since I had something to eat.”
“That didn’t come from you,” Heero said, almost accusingly. Khushrenada looked bored.
“Where did it come from, Mister Yuy? Don’t tell me you can’t manage to assemble one simple artifact…”
“I don’t know,” Merquise suddenly said out loud. It was the first time he spoke. “It didn’t sound natural to me…” Another deep groan cut him off, and the men grabbed their weapons, eyes darting throughout the room.
“What’s going on? Who’s making these sounds?”
“Fuck,” Duo said out loud, and reached for his guns just like Heero for his shotgun, and cocked them, even if he didn’t know yet who or what his target was.
“What the hell is going on?” Khushrenada repeated, a slight crack in his calm demeanor, and his eyes almost rolled out of their sockets when he suddenly realized what was going on - the statue was moving. It was moving! Slowly unfolding the crossed arms, it started to straighten itself, stretching lazily.
Heero pointed his guns at the statue, finger at the trigger. Solid gold, and as tall as a building - how the hell were they even going to bring this one down?
“I think it wants its blade back,” he commented.
“No shit,” Duo said. “It doesn’t even match anyway.” He quickly glared at the two parts of the artifact, lying on top of the altar.
“Don’t you even dare think of it,” Khushrenada growled, reaching for Duo.
“We can’t…” he started, aiming at Khushrenada who moved towards him, but they were both interrupted by loud screams of agony from Khushrenada’s personal army. The statue, standing straight, was attacking the men and they cried out in horror and pain as they were pierced by the trident, sliced by the scythe, choked by the whip-like weapon or brutally crushed by the pointy shield.
“Fire! Fire, you fools!” the man yelled, the artifact temporarily forgotten. Some of the men started to fire, a few hesitant bursts at first. Heero and Duo fired at the statue as well, the bullets striking its surface, lodging into the gold. As soon as the others opened fire, the moving statue lifted up all three pairs of arms with the shield in front of its upper body and face, effectively deflecting all the bullets. The ricochets flew around, hitting some of the mercenaries who fell to the floor, crying out in pain.
“Hold your fire!” Khushrenada bristled as soon as he noticed that firing at the statue didn’t work. “Retreat!”
He didn’t need to say that twice - the remaining men made a beeline for the exit, but they didn’t go unnoticed. The groaning statue all but stomped on them, crushing human bodies below its feet, cutting the survivors off from the exit. There was too little room to move. The tall statue put one foot in front of the other, walking; its hands and weapons grazed the walls, its movements brusque and uncontrolled. It had already demolished the wooden balcony, and rubble and rock came tumbling down - the whole shrine would cave in if this continued.
“We have to find a way to stop it!” Heero fired at the statue again as soon as it moved and unsurprisingly, it immediately crouched down when the bullets hit it, arms covering its upper body and face. Wufei held the katana in front of him; he’d tried to cut into the statue.
“We do not get out of here alive if we do not do something!”
“Mister Maxwell…?” Khushrenada phrased it as a question, though his tone of voice was commanding, a slight hint of fear to it. “I suggest you better find a way…”
“Who, me? Or else you’re going to blackmail me too?” Duo snorted, lowering and holstering his Uzis - he was out of ammunition anyway - and looked at the man. “I don’t know why you’re asking me to find a solution.”
“You and Mister Yuy are the experts on situations like this,” he snarled. “Or do you really want to die here?”
“No,” Duo shot back, “but I hope you do realize that I have no other choice but to give the scythe back. That prompted it to become alive, and with a bit of luck, it’ll…”
“No! Not the scythe!” Khushrenada protested loudly, and lunged for Duo again, closing the distance between them with a few large steps. Duo quickly picked up the two parts of the artifact, growled and tried to turn away.
“Idiot! What…” As he turned around, his hands moved over the two parts, sliding the blade over the staff and he heard a loud snap; his last clear, conscious thought was that he probably broke it.
A sting of pain was all the warning he got before the blade started to light up, glowing a sickly green - Khushrenada and Merquise barely had a second to jump out of the way before he lashed out.
“Duo!” Heero cried, but promptly had to duck as the scythe swung his way, missing his head by a mere millimeter. Duo growled, fighting against the force flowing through his body, forcing him to move at will – against his will – and he tried to push it back, not to give into it, and he cried and he crawled, howled and gasped…he moved forward, slowly, stepping past the small altar, walking towards the golden statue. It was still crouching down close to the exit, trapping every one of them, arms in front of his body and face, waiting for…something to happen? It started to move when Duo approached and if it were possible, it seemed to tilt its giant head, the chagrined, unhappy expression becoming curious and…almost frightened. The next moment, it thrust the scimitar forward with unnatural, excessive force. Not blinking and with a movement faster than the human eye, Duo cut through the arm as slicing with a hot knife through butter. The large limb fell to the floor, breaking into pieces, releasing the weapon it was holding. As it fell, the statue froze dead in its tracks, looking dumbfounded at its arm - then it kneeled down in front of Duo, groaning and rumbling.
An eerie silence reigned.
“Duo…” was the first word Heero spoke, his shotgun still in his hands, but not aimed at him. Wufei was standing close to him, his katana lowered, suspicion clear in his eyes. Nothing was heard but ragged breathing, soft moaning from injured soldiers and pebbles hitting the floor. Duo stared back at him, lips drawn in a cocky smile. He was just standing there with the scythe in his hands - a perfect, polished and razor sharp scythe, much unlike the blunt, dull blade and old, fragile staff they had found earlier.
“Duo?” Heero tried again.
Khushrenada looked from one to another, pursing his lips. The situation had changed - not only didn’t he hold the trump cards anymore, Duo Maxwell seemed to be…very different now, as well as the Never-Ending Circle. It was pure power, surging through the room - everyone felt it, and he wanted it. He had lived for this. He didn’t need much time to collect his bearings, or draw his small handgun.
“The Never-Ending Circle,” he said, voice smooth and mock-friendly. “Give it to me, Mister Maxwell. Now.”
“Don’t call me that!” Duo rumbled, voice strikingly lower, and his movement was once again so fast that Khushrenada didn’t see him moving. He yelped indignantly when his gun was cut in two, the blade of the scythe flashing in front of his eyes. Staggering backwards, Merquise was the one to immediately react - drawing his own gun, he aimed at Duo and shot. Right between the eyes.
