Treize Khushrenada's villa was located in a chic suburb, where the upper class lived in fancy houses, ranking into the millions, about the half of them build by Winner Enterprises. It was getting late in the evening when Heero finally halted in front of the huge gate, decorated with the man's monogram. According to the tabloids, the playboy actor was still at his exclusive spa, battling his fatigue.
"We get into major trouble if we trespass on his property," Heero said. "My reputation will be ruined, and my degree will be stripped if I get caught breaking and entering."
"I'm not asking that of you," Duo said. "You've done more than enough. This isn't your battle. The otherworld isn't your place. I have to fight it alone."
"For fuck's sake, no," Heero immediately retorted. "I love you, Duo Maxwell. Are you now asking me to step back and watch while you plunge yourself head first into danger?"
"Pretty much yes, yeah," Duo said.
"Don't be stupid." This time, he was angry. "I know your work isn't exactly my world, but you can't keep me out of it all the time, Duo. I love you. I care for you. Are you not hearing anything I say?"
"I hear you loud and clear," Duo said, "and I love you and care for you too, Heero. More than my own life. That's why I want you to stay out of business you don't really understand, you don't truly understand. No, Heero, listen to me. The otherworld is dangerous for an unknowing, untrained and inexperienced person like you. I can't even teach you the basic protection, it would take too long. I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is. The otherworld is nothing like the real world. I can't protect the both of us in there, Heero. I'm sorry."
"I want to know about the otherworld, and I want to learn how to protect myself," Heero said. "You're not going in there alone."
"Wufei is in there. If he went through the rift, for whatever reason, I'll find him. I'll always find him, Heero. It's okay."
"No, it's not, goddamnit!"
Duo took a step forward and cupped Heero's head with his hands. "I love you," he said, staring Heero straight in the eyes. "I love you so much, my shining knight, my noble savior. But this… you can't help me with this. You're a lawyer and a disbeliever, Heero. The otherworld would kill you, and I would never forgive myself for bringing you into danger. If you want to help me, go home and get Shinigami. Bring him to me. I could really use his help."
"You can use his help but not mine," Heero pouted like a small child. Duo pursed his lips and kissed Heero on the tip of his nose.
"One day you will know everything about the otherworld. That day is not today."
"Fine, I'll go get that creature for you," Heero said grumpily. He didn't know whether to scream or to cry out in frustration. "I'll bring him back here."
Duo nodded and didn't leave Heero's gaze until he got into the car, and sped off.
It took him ages to get to Duo's apartment and catching the dragoyle; one look at the oversized cat carrier and the creature flew up in high circles, scraping the ceiling, hissing and puffing smoke in Heero's direction. When Heero spoke Duo's name and the word 'danger', it calmed down considerably and waggled into the cage on its own. By then, a lot of time had been wasted, the minutes having ticked away mercilessly.
Heero ran back to his car and drove fast enough for any cop to start salivating at the speed tickets he could slap on him, and he was back at the Khushrenada estate in no time - with no Duo in sight.
"Duo, you asshole!" Heero slammed his hands on the steering wheel. Duo had asked to retrieve Shinigami, but he had never said he would wait for him. Heero wanted to take out his anger on the snorting creature in the carrier, but Shinigami responded to his anger by banging against the door of the carrier.
"Shut up!" Heero yelled at him as he turned off the engine. He had to take a precious minute to calm down. Duo had found a way into the villa, and he obviously hadn't entered through the electronic gate. Heero got out of his car, took the carrier, and went to take a look for himself. If Duo had gotten in, he could get in.
It was so obvious that it was laughable. Millions of dollars were spend on the finest electronics and surveillance cams, but next to the Khushrenada villa was a large oak tree with branches stretching out into every direction. Heero could almost see Duo climbing the tree and jumping over the fence, and he couldn't help but to shake his head.
With the carrier, he worked himself up the tree. Heero was tempted to open the carrier and leave Shinigami out, so that the bulky object wasn't hindering him to climb the tree, but he had made a promise to Duo, and he wasn't going to turn back on it.
Heero climbed up higher, much higher than he expected, and he had to think twice where he was going to jump. The branches had brought him up high, but there wasn't an easy path down. He threw the carrier first, carefully aiming for the bushes to catch its fall.
Ignoring Shinigami's snorts and howls, Heero jumped right after it, also landing into the bushes, and rolled as soon as he hit them, keeping his body as relaxed as possible. He didn't care about the slashes and cuts from the shrubs and rolled away as far as he could, taking a small minute to recover. He got back on his feet and grabbed the carrier; Shinigami's red eyes were narrowed in anger, and it all but snarled when it caught a look at Heero's face.
"Sorry," Heero muttered and hurried to the villa. It wasn't hard to notice the open window next to the front door; someone had cut out the glass pane to create an entrance. He didn't hesitate and climbed through the opening. He knew where Duo had to be: the pantry, next to the freezer unit where the rift had been… or still was, if demons could move freely between the otherworld and the real world.
Heero broke out in a jog, swinging the carrier with him, evoking more grunts and protests from Shinigami. He kept ignoring the creature as he was too hurried to get to the pantry and too worried about Duo's fate. But it wasn't Duo who he saw next to the freezer unit.
"Chang!" He gasped.
Chang Wufei was lying on the floor, his hands next to his body as if he had toppled over without trying to catch his fall, and his beloved katana was a few inches to his right side. What the hell happened?
Heero took a step forward. The electricity was off. Another step forward, as he tried to take a peek at the rift. As soon as he turned a little, Shinigami went berserk. Heero put the carrier on the floor, unable to hold onto it. The creature gnawed on the bars of the carrier, growling and hissing.
The shiver going down Heero's spine had nothing to do with Shinigami's reaction or the low temperature in the pantry. The rift… It was almost like he could feel the darkness seeping through it. Was that what had gotten to Wufei? He didn't know what to do.
Shinigami was fighting so hard to get out that the carrier toppled over a few times. It was a shock to realize that the dragoyle wasn't stressed by the carrier but because he could feel Duo might be in danger. Hadn't Duo told him that Shinigami could find him anywhere? Hurriedly, Heero opened the carrier and Shinigami rolled out, flapping its wings and diving nose-first towards the rift. Without thinking, Heero grabbed one of Shinigami's stumpy legs. The dragoyle screeched, but by then it was too late.
If Heero had thought that the punch to his face had been painful, it was nothing compared to what he was going through right now. It felt like a bus was riding over him, backing up and riding over him again. Thousands of fists pummeling him, bashing his head and punching his stomach; and on top of that, millions of pins and needles attacking him mercilessly and he was cold, so cold, that all his bones seemed to crack and splinter.
He wanted to scream, but no sound left his throat, as if he didn't have a throat anymore. He was torn apart, destroyed, deconstructed, and slowly put together again, with every single fragment hurting like it had been tortured for ages. Heero only cried out when he came into contact with something massive - he fell facedown onto solid ground. The first thing that struck him, was warmth - delightful, delicious warmth. He reveled in it for a moment, the relaxing, comfortable warmth seeping into his sore muscles and painful body.
Groaning, Heero tried to get up. Everything hurt, and his limbs weighed a ton. Looking for support, he noticed something next to him: a solid column of a strange material, some kind of scaly stone, and Heero gratefully used it to get himself up. Leaning against the column, his mind worked at a hundred miles a minute to get a hold of the current situation.
Where was he? Where was Shinigami? How was he supposed to find Duo?
Heero lost himself completely in his thoughts, until he heard a familiar snort, a loud, thundering snort, and he looked up… and immediately staggered away, tripping and falling on his butt. Next to him wasn't a solid column, but Shinigami towering over him, his hind legs huge, his body as massive as a dinosaur, and his wings were spread, the leathery tissue spanning at least six to seven meters. In the otherworld, Shinigami looked much more like a dragon than the gargoyle in the real world. His stump snout was now a slim, tight-jawed mouth, filled with impressive sharp teeth. His purplish skin color was reflected and intensified by the reddish hue of this world, making him look majestic. The dragon turned his head towards Heero, almost amused. Heero swallowed.
"Shinigami?"
The dragon let out a burst of flames as an answer. Heero hardly had the time to process what was standing right in front of him. This was really the same creature he had been dragging around in a cat carrier, a few moments before?
It wasn't the only strange thing about this world, though. The ashen taste in his mouth made him feel sick, and an invisible weight was straining on his body. Whatever this weight was, it made movement very difficult, and as he got up again, Heero had no choice but to lean on Shinigami for support.
Propped against the dragon's massive leg, Heero tried to keep his breathing under control, taking a look at his surroundings. So this was the otherworld. Strange, his imagination had led him to believe it would be filled with demons, dark entities, and creatures weirder and more outrageous than Shinigami, but instead, there was nothing to see. No screaming of tortured souls, no ghosts hovering around him, no entities showing itself…. just a vast, wide plane, without any natural phenomena like mountains, rivers or vegetation.
"I'm thinking of hell," he murmured. Duo had told him that the otherworld was the place where souls were waiting to cross, to go over to their respective destination: Nirvana, Valhalla, hell… It was hard to think in a lucid manner, even his thoughts weighed heavy on his body, mind and soul.
Heero forced himself into rational thinking. He was here with Shinigami, and he had to find Duo and Wufei. Duo first, he knew what to do. If he found Duo, he'd find Wufei.
As if he had read Heero's mind, Shinigami flared his wings and went a little lower with his knees. It took Heero a precious minute to understand that the dragon wanted him to climb on his back.
Baffled, Heero used the strong, stony scales of Shinigami's skin to climb on his back and found a suitable place to sit: in the crook of Shinigami's neck, between the shoulder blades. He sat down, not comfortably, but securely enough to not fall off. Shinigami didn't wait for him to settle, moved its wings and took off. Heero thanked whatever deities he could think of that he wasn't afraid of heights.
The wind blasted through his unruly hair, the air terribly cold, and he shivered. Heero made himself as small as possible, hiding between the large scales, avoiding the chilly wind. The sky was dark with strokes of purple and red, just like Shinigami.
During their flight, every now and then something flew next to them, entities of darkness and anger, trying to touch them. They bounced off of Shinigami's sturdy body, and Heero heard them screech and scream, before dissolving into the air again.
He wiped away the sweat off his brow. How could anyone deal with this world and still be joyous and generous like Duo?
"Find him, please find him," Heero kept muttering as in a mantra. Suddenly, Shinigami went down, almost kissing the ground, and Heero's stomach shot up into his throat. The dragon stretched its mighty legs and caught himself, stomping on the ground as it ground to a halt. Not a hint of dust was visible.
Shinigami threw its head back and let out a massive roar. Heero all but slid from his spot and landed for the second time on his ass, grunting loudly as he hit the ground. A shadow fell over him, and he assumed it was Shinigami's - until he could see the difference in size and shape. With his heart fluttering in hope, Heero looked up.
Duo was barely recognizable in all black. He was clad in a jacket that reached to his knees, embroidered with the familiar golden lion crest, closed in front with polished, brass buttons. It looked like some kind of armor, sporting silver-colored shoulder pads adorned with sharp, pointed triangles. A silver chain went from shoulder to shoulder with an old-fashioned pocket watch attached to it. Duo's boots were heavy, and the toes weren't adorned with silver strips but strengthened with metal. His chestnut braid hung still, weighed down by a black scarf woven into it, and the grim expression on his face was so unlike Duo that Heero had to look twice to make sure it was really him. He was standing in front of Shinigami; the dragon had found him, true to his word.
"I told you to stay away." Duo didn't sound angry, more like he was chiding a disobedient child. "I told you that the otherworld isn't meant for you, Heero. You're disrupting the balance here."
"I love you too," Heero said dryly as he got up for the third time. There was no need to dust off his clothes, nonetheless he tugged at his shirt to make sure everything was still in place. It's a good thing your pet can find you anywhere."
Duo nodded and put his hand on Shinigami's nose, in a tender, affectionate movement. The dragon's nostril was as large as his hand. "Here he is Shinigami, God of Death," Duo said. "He accompanies those who have to cross over to the final side, those who have murdered and slaughtered in their mortal lives and yet fight their death with tooth and nail. And well… you can guess now what they call me here."
Heero looked at Duo's hand, holding a scythe. The double-bladed weapon with a curve in the upper silver blade was unlike anything he'd ever seen.
"You're the Executioner," Heero said, breathlessly.
"That I am."
"What… What is this world?"
"It's not your world, Heero, and you've made things indefinitely difficult for me." Duo reached for Heero and pulled him closer for a quick kiss. "You haven't eaten enough, and you're not fit at the moment. That was Wufei's mistake too, remember?"
"You've found him?"
"Not yet. But I saw his body in the real world, and I knew what he had done." He abruptly changed the subject. "How are you feeling? Nauseated? Headache?"
"Like the weight of the world is on my shoulders," Heero admitted.
"I thought so. You need protection, and I can't give it to you. I'm glad you brought Shini, but you should've let him go and stay behind in the real world."
"I saw Chang lying there, unconscious, and I didn't know what was happening to you."
"I'm a big boy," Duo winked at him, "and this world is mine, Heero. I appreciate your concern, but it wasn't necessary."
"I'm sure you can use some help." Heero pointed at a puddle of black goop at Duo's boots. Duo shrugged.
"You can't kill soul reapers, Heero. Only I can. Remember what I am in this world." He leaned on the scythe, the black staff carved with silver linings, the two blades so large that the lower one reached the ground at this angle. The upper blade was strangely curved in the middle, and the metal of the blade caught a rare flicker of light, the red hue making it look like it was covered in blood. Heero shivered.
"There has to be something I can do," he said.
"Yes, you can leave this world," Duo repeated. "Shini can take you back…" but the dragon interrupted him, bellowing out a huge breath of fire, and Duo smiled wistfully. "Apparently, he wants you to stay here."
"Shinigami wants me to stay here?" Heero was surprised.
"All right." Duo was quick to adapt. "You're here, and apparently there's nothing we can change about that. Well, we have to work with the things we're given… We'd better start looking for Wufei, and find the master boss behind all of this."
"Master boss," Heero repeated, dull.
"Master boss." Duo tilted his scythe a little. "Did you really think there was only one boss, like the one who attached itself to Trowa? There are so many around here, I don't even bother to count them. As long as people can be corrupted, as long as souls can be stolen, there will be evil, big, bad bosses creating chaos and disorder. We have to go now."
As if it had been waiting for a signal, Shinigami moved its wings and went to the sky again, its roar rumbling as it climbed higher.
"Where's he going?"
"He'll be around."
"Maybe you can tell me his story now that we're here?"
Duo laughed briefly. "Sure. I found Shinigami on one of my visits here, just a baby… or a puppy or whatever I should call him. He was tangling with a dark entity and not strong enough yet to fend it off. So I rescued him, and in gratitude, or perhaps some kind of loyalty, he stuck to my side. I don't know how he ended up here in the first place as he's not a spiritual being, and I don't know what his breed is. The otherworld is so different, so strange from what humans know or think they know. He was in need, alone, and he didn't present a threat to me."
"You just took him home?"
"Yes. When I left the otherworld after rescuing him, he came along. I had no idea he was able to manifest himself into the real world, but apparently he travels through any kind of world effortlessly. I took him to Master Long, but even the old man didn't have any documentation on his kind."
Heero had seen the library when they had visited the Long compound, and he whistled. It was hard to imagine that no record of something like Shinigami existed.
"He can find you anywhere," Heero said. "How is that possible?"
"Jealous?" Duo pursed his lips.
"Don't be silly. I'm a grown man, not a kid."
"Aww. You're awfully cute when you try to hide your jealousy."
"I'm not jealous!" Heero protested and Duo laughed out loud. He didn't answer the question though, and Heero decided not to press matters. It was hard enough to keep his thoughts organized; there was still that invisible force, that weight pulling him down. He wanted to fall on his knees and lie down and never to get up again. Even the hard, solid ground looked like a comfortable bed to him right now.
How could Duo walk so upright, with such a firm pace, and how did he know where they were going? This world had no roads, no signs, no directions. The familiar shadow of Shinigami, hovering above them in the sky, was oddly comfortable. This world was draining, Heero could feel it. It leeched off of his life energy, exhausting him, nauseating him.
Heero ignored the physical signs as well as he could and focused instead on matching Duo's pace.
The spirit hunter pointed at the sky, which had dissolved into a lighter, violet color, almost the same color of his eyes. Heero could see the soft, white spots he was pointing at.
"Those are neutral souls," Duo explained. "The majority of mortal people who have led their lives and died from natural causes, they often find the way themselves."
"The way to what?" Heero asked.
"The afterlife," Duo said. "Don't forget, Heero; this isn't the afterlife. The otherworld is a station in-between, a gateway for souls to find their destiny. Every soul has to travel through here. It's more a transit station."
"Great. Even after you're dead, you have to wait in line."
Duo had to chuckle, but he quickly turned serious again. "It's to make certain that souls don't end up where they don't belong," he said. "It's like a sifting system, and yes, you have to wait in line - but I doubt you'd notice."
"And those who don't get sorted, or sifted, or whatever you want to call it, they become bad, like your soul stealers?"
"Soul reapers. They might. Souls may be corrupted here, but the souls of evil people - murderers, criminals, violent people - can bring corruption into the otherworld. It's something that can't be controlled, and it's very complicated. There will always be evil, in whatever world you are."
"True. How do we find Wufei in all of this?"
"Shinigami can find him. He's not as loyal to Wufei as to me, so it'll take some time to…" Duo was promptly interrupted by the dragon, a huge burst of flames tearing through the sky. Immediately, Duo grabbed Heero at the shoulder and forced him to the ground. "Get down! Get down!"
Heero made himself as flat as possible, pressing himself to the ground. His ears were attacked by loud, horrible shrieking, abruptly silenced when Duo's scythe cut a black swirl in half, slicing as if through paper. A part of the black… swirl fell close to Heero's hand.
"Don't touch it!" Duo kicked it away from him. "We can't have anything attach to you here, Heero. If it returns with you into the real world..."
"I rather return in one piece, yes," Heero said and got up again, a little grumbling.
"That's not all," Duo interrupted him. He pointed to the west. "Do you see that? Those bright columns of light?"
"Yes? What's wrong with them?" The light emitted cozy, gentle warmth.
"It's a summoning," Duo said. "I can't see what's being summoned, but judging from the light someone is trying to communicate with a recently deceased person. If someone was trying to contact a dark entity, the light wouldn't have been so bright."
"Why are people summoning…" Heero's voice died away. Treize Khushrenada had dabbled in the supernatural, and had seen nothing wrong with it. Playing an Ouija board just for fun, practicing a little witchcraft, what harm could there be? "Your work is far more dangerous than I ever imagined."
Duo tilted his head and lowered his scythe. Instead of fatigued, he looked defeated… Heero could smack himself mentally. Duo was expecting the 'this is more than I can take and I'm going to leave you now' speech.
He took a step closer to Duo, grabbing his upper right arm.
"I'm not going to leave you, never!" he said brusquely. Duo looked up at him. He was about to say something, but Heero didn't allow him to speak. "I'm not going to take this away from you, Duo," he said, "and don't you dare assuming that I would ever leave you!"
"What do you mean?" His usual warm eyes were cold. "This isn't easy, Heero. You've seen it for yourself. Very few people can deal with this. I've heard it all before, and I understand. I've been tossed aside for less."
"So that's it? You think I'm going to dump you when we get back to the real world?"
"You've seen what it's like here, Heero," Duo shot back. "There are demons and evil creatures out here, and it's taking its toll on you every second you keep standing here! The darkness is getting to you, and I can't protect you! We have to find Wufei and get out here, before a demon decides to attach itself to you."
"Do you really think that could happen?" Heero said tersely. "You really don't think much of me, do you?"
"Heero, listen to yourself." Duo shifted the scythe, and the dark shadows on his face sharpened his features. "The anger and negativity is already getting to you. You have to get out of here. I'm serious."
"Fine. Let's find Chang, for crying out loud!"
"Shinigami is having trouble locating him," Duo answered, voice oddly strained. "I'm afraid something has happened to him, something worse than I could ever have foreseen. I think a boss is holding him hostage or that he has fallen prey to an extremely strong entity."
"Fine. Let's just go, damnit." Heero started to walk and he stuffed his hands into his pockets angrily. He wanted to kick at something, but there was nothing in sight. The warm ground was devoid of any rock or pebble, and grumpily he kept walking - even though he didn't know in which direction. He was jealous, he was being devoured by a jealous animosity that Duo had such an understanding of this world, and he didn't. He didn't like not knowing.
A surge of anger washed over him: anger directed at his biological father who had abandoned him, anger at his adoptive father who died so unexpectedly, leaving him with worries.
Odin Lowe couldn't foresee he'd die at a relatively young age. He couldn't foresee that car coming from that direction.
Not even his mother had bothered to keep him. Maybe she thought he was a really ugly baby.
Nobody bothered to look at him, nobody cared for him. Duo was lying to his face that he loved him, all he wanted was a fuck and nothing more. Duo made you food, Duo shared his body with you.
His whole life was empty and lonely, and Relena… Hah, Relena had married that wimp Wilkinson, just to get away from him. Sure, she had made sure that he got a job with her office, but since when did he need her fucking sympathy? What was that bitch thinking?
Relena is your friend. She genuinely loves her husband and she loves you as a friend.
He was only good enough to deal with the cases she didn't want to. He only got the crumbs, and everyone was laughing behind his back.
You are the youngest person ever to make partner at Darlian, Peacecraft, Merquise & Yuy..
Pity, they all took pity on him! He didn't need their fucking pity!
Images rapidly went through his mind: his adoptive father, proudly presenting him with his first suit so he could apply at law school; Relena, secretly leaving a bag of groceries in his kitchen because she knew he hardly had any money; Duo, naked and beautiful, telling him "I love you", over and over again.
It started to dawn on him. The darkness, the negativity… It weighed him down, pulling him into a dark abyss. It preyed on his soul, whispering in his ear with a voice that he just had to let it all go, to leave it be, to give into the darkness; breathe, escape life and be done with it. Heero shook his head.
"No," he said, then louder: "No!" He turned around, only to see Duo with his scythe, his lips slightly pursed. He was careful, and he searched Heero…for what?
"How did you like your first boss?" Duo said and threw him a watery smile. "It was trying to attach itself to you. It was a very weak boss but a boss nonetheless. Don't worry. I got him." Duo lifted up his scythe and Heero saw something on the tip of the second blade; if he didn't know any better, it looked like a dirty shirt hanging out to dry. A shirt that had been completely ripped to shreds.
"I was attacked by a boss?"
"A stupid one. He thought that your defenses were low - which they are, but still too strong for him. Did you hear whispers in your ear? Did he promise you everything if you'd just 'let it go'?"
Heero swallowed and nodded.
"I thought so." Duo swung the scythe to his right, discarding the remnants of the spectral life force that had tried to parasite on Heero. "We have to hurry," was all he said.
A thundering roar alerted them of Shinigami's arrival, and the dragon set itself on the ground, snorting large clouds of smoke.
"Did you find Wufei?" Duo asked. A puff of smoke evaporated through the dragon's nostrils. "Show us!"
Chapter 7 | Chapter 9 |