Duo sat up slowly, heart racing. We... we didn't... Smells assaulted him, the smell of sex... sweat... blood... tears... His blood... but... my tears?! God... what happened? What's happening to me?
The boy pulled himself out of bed, trying to not awaken the slumbering Heero. He was so sticky... a shower seemed to be in order. Duo shut the bathroom door behind him, and looked into the mirror.
An unusually somber Duo Maxwell looked back at him. All that's happened... and all I lost was my jester's mask. He tried smiling, then stopped as the smile looked too familiar. Too... sinister. Too... too...
Xellos-ish. He shook his head, and looked back at his nude reflection. Something made him stop, and take notice. "I have slitted eyes," he said in a monotone, too surprised to say it in another tone of voice. "I have fucking slitted eyes, like a Mazoku." Duo slammed his fist into the mirror, barely taking notice of the pain in his hand. "I AM NOT A FUCKING MAZOKU ANYMORE!" he shouted at the cracked silvered surface. "THAT DIED WHEN LINA AND ZELGADIS DIED!" Duo punched the mirror again, not caring that he was getting cut up. "I'M NOTHING LIKE XELLOS! I AM DUO MAXWELL!" He slid down the wall, head in his hands as tears mixed with the blood to drop onto the floor. "I'm Duo Maxwell..."
Heero blearily watched Duo's form walk away from the bed, rubbing his eyes. Where the hell does that braided baka think he's going? he thought grumpily. He better not be leaving.
The Japanese boy sat up on the bed, and looked at the door Duo had walked through. I don't think that's the door to the hall... Kami-sama, what's wrong with me? He felt more tired than he had in ages, but there was something about the tiredness that felt so good... Oh... that's right. I dreamt I had sex with Duo last night.
That sentence didn't sound right. Not Duo... But it was Duo's body... oh, shit. They weren't dreams. He really is Xellos... and we really did fuck last night. Heero was halfway to the bathroom door when Duo started screaming. "SHIT!" Heero struggled with the knob through his sex clouded mind, and finally succeeded in opening the door to see Duo on the floor, crying into bloody hands.
"I'm not Xellos... I'm not a Mazoku..." Duo sobbed. "I'm Duo Maxwell. I'm not Xellos Metallium." The boy looked up at Heero, amethyst eyes red with crying, but his pupils were undoubtedly slitted. "Tell me I'm just imagining it, Heero," he said as more tears ran down his face. "Please. Tell me my eyes are still human. Tell me I'm not a Mazoku."
Heero stood there, dumbfounded. This ISN'T the same boy that almost raped me last night. He mentally shook himself, and went to get a washcloth. "You know your hands are bleeding, don't you?" he asked in an almost cold voice.
Duo looked down at them, and blinked. "It doesn't hurt," he muttered. The American dug his nails into his palms, gritting his teeth. "It doesn't hurt. God, Heero, what's happening to me?"
Heero finished wetting the cloth, and wringing out the water when he answered. "I don't know," he said, bending down to take care of the distressed boy's hands. He washed the hand free of the blood, and ran his thumb over the cuts. "But you are cut."
"I dreamed last night."
Heero looked up at Duo at the sudden statement. "What?"
"I dreamed. About the Dragons." Duo closed his hand over Heero's. "I dreamed how they were killed... about the blood... in both the Golden Dragons and in Lina and... you..." A tear splashed against Heero's hand. "How... you hated me... how... I mercilessly killed the Golden Dragons... h-how..." His amethyst eyes caught cobalt. "How... no, why... I killed... God damn it, Heero, even back then, when L-sama touched the world constantly, I fucking loved you!" His breath came harshly as more tears coursed down his cheeks. "I know... you love Lina... Liena... whoever she is now. God... no, L-sama... I should have known long ago..."
"They weren't dreams." Heero took Duo's shoulders in his hands, and shook the sobbing boy. "Damn it, Duo. What happened that day? The day... the day Lina and I died."
Duo stood up abruptly. "You two confessed your love for each other. I got jealous because I thought I loved both of you. So I killed you two, because if I didn't have either of you, no one would. Then Juu-ou-sama got on my ass because I killed L-sama's kid, Lina."
"Lina's... the Lord of Nightmares' daughter?" Heero whispered, stunned.
"I love you, Heero," he said miserably. "I shouldn't have... but I do." Duo turned on the shower. "Please leave." He started to adjust the water temperature.
"Not in a place with broken glass," the Japanese boy said brusquely. "We're taking a shower together. A CHASTE shower."
"Whatever." Duo tested the water, then stepped in. "Heero...?"
Heero walked into the shower after him, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hm?"
"Was I an idiot back then, despite the fact I had lived for over a thousand years?" Duo hugged Heero suddenly, hot tears dropping onto Heero's shoulder. "I want to become a bird and fly high into the sky, looking for my far off hope. But if I looked back at me, would I be living so recklessly?"
Heero remembered the words. They were once sung by Lina while she was alone in the bath, while he had occupied the male side. "It's alright, Duo." The boy ran a hand down his lover's back, and whispered the next words, "And if I look at the present in this manner, I won't have to fear getting hurt, or what tomorrow holds."
Duo smiled lopsidedly. "I knew you knew those words. We were both fools, weren't we?"
We were. Heero blinked away the beading water on his lashes. I'm not crying. It's just the water from the shower...
In both the boys' minds, a laughing girl's voice finished the song.
I want to ride upon this wind
Toward my ocean of dreams
On these wings called bravery
Turn into a bird
And look down at what I left behind
And not losing to everyday reality
The beast chose the road
But if the key's lost
I won't fall
However, people are always confused
And when they're alone
They lose their strength
I want to ride upon this wind
Looking ahead with bravery
And as I walk this hard path
I won't lose my spirit
If I can find myself below
Then I won't have to fear
Getting hurt
Or what tomorrow holds
I want to ride upon this wind
Toward my ocean of dreams
On these wings called bravery
Turn into a bird
And look down at what I left behind
And not losing to everyday reality
"The past is past, Duo," Heero said in a choked voice. "This is the present. And we won't lose to everyday reality, will we?"
Duo laughed, shaking his head. "No, Heero, we won't."
There were two paths I could choose here: Kill Duo or let him live. To those who are either on GWfan or to Em-chan on Slayers Fanatics, who's been talking to me like crazy, I wonder if you can guess which I chose. ^_^
The words there are sorta the translation to Breeze, the Slayers TRY opening song. I took the translation I found, and changed it so that 1) It made more sense and 2) Was more poetic. 'Sides, I use "I want to ride upon this wind/Toward my ocean of dreams/On these wings called bravery" on pictures for friends anyway, and that wasn't what was on the translation I found. And I also made it so that Lina sang Breeze (probably in Japanese... it's a really nice song, though) one day in the bath when Xellos was nearby and Zel was taking a bath in the male side. I'm thinking that Gourry and Amelia had already taken their bath. ^_^ Convenient, ne?