The Pasts We wish We Didn’t Have: Part 14
Three days
had passed since they had come for Michael. Three days ago Michael had told
them he would say with his husband. He would stay in Hell with Lucifer, rather
than go back with them. Michael now walked around the
“What do you think my love?” Luc asked as he appeared in the hallway Michael was now looking at a statue in. The statue was the same black as everything else in the palace, but it was of God’s white dove. It had taken to flight; its wings spread a length longer than Michael’s thick arm.
“It’s very detailed.” Michael said. Luc shrugged and came to put his long pale arms around Michael’s waist.
“Thank-you.” Luc said, gazing at the bird. Michael turned his head to kiss Luc. After a moment, Luc broke the kiss and moved away from Michael, his brow was wrinkled, his attention somewhere else.
“What is it, Luc?” Michael asked. Luc looked at him.
“Two angels have arrived, only, their…different.” His voce was distant and curiosity made him move to the throne room, Michael followed him. The doors sung open, surprising him and causing him to jump back.
“Honey! I’m here!” Duo’s voice bellowed. “Oh wait, Lucifer’s not my honey.”
“I should hope not,” joked Lorelei at his side. Lucifer looked at them shocked, as they entered. There was a black box that they carried between them.
“Hi Satan!” Duo said cheerfully as he and Lorelei set the box down. “We never really got properly introduced, I’m sure when I came here you were focusing more on Michael than me, so anyway,” as he was talking he and Lorelei had been walking towards Lucifer and Michael, Duo held out his hand. “I’m Duo Maxwell and this lovely lady is Lorelei O'Cadhla.” Lucifer just looked down at his outstretched hand. Duo slowly took it back, “Jeeze, you’d think he would at least be polite.” He said through the side of his mouth to Lorelei.
“Well, he is the Devil.” Lorelei responded.
“Yeah, well,” Duo looked to Michael, “Michael! You seem to be having a good time in Hell,” he looked at Michael’s left hand which now harbored the silver wedding band on its ring finger. “Wish we could say the same to the people outside.” Michael seemed ashamed at this statement, his eyes averted to the floor. Duo looked around, and walked to the throne. “This is a…um…nice place you got her Luc. Real nice.” He sat in Lucifer’s throne. Lucifer’s face became outraged, “Who, may I ask, are you exactly?”
“We are freaks of angles.” Lorelei said.
Duo nodded, throwing his legs over the arm of the throne, “Born on the same day.”
“That’s impossible.” Lucifer said.
“That’s what our parents said.” Lorelei joked.
“But you know, here we are.” Duo opened his arms and smiled.
“And we can do many things.” Lorelei said, her eyes on Duo.
Lucifer looked at both of them, “Like what?” he asked.
Duo sat up
on the chair, “Like dropping your hopeless guise,” he said, his voice and violet
eyes somber and chilling.
Lucifer hunched over in pain, fell to his knees.
“LUC!” yelled Michael as he rushed to his lover. Lucifer’s body changed into a stereotypical-type Devilish body. His skin became red and glossy, thick black horns jetted from his head, his teeth became long yellow broken fangs, his fingernails cracked and turned yellow as well, his legs became goat like, his hair grew longer and became tangled. “Luc.” Michael said again, reaching out to his husband.
“Don’t.” Lucifer recoiled from Michael’s worried touch.
“This is what he is. Remember, Michael?” Duo said, standing from the throne.
“Why are you doing this?” Michael asked, his eyes teary. He watched as Luc’s twisted form crawled towards the wall.
“To remind you who you are!” Lorelei answered.
“What did he tell you, Michael? That he couldn’t raise his weapon against you? That you two were meant to be together in Hell? That he was the saint fighting for our place in God’s heart? Our place was and is and always shall be secure in His heart, you know that! You’ve seen His face. You remember the war!” Duo said franticly.
Michael turned from Luc to Duo. Lorelei continued, “You used to tell us stories of about Lucifer, how he tore the hearts of other angels from their chest and kissed away the blood. You remembered his smile as he ripped off the head of one of God’s white doves! You’ve told us of the horror of the war, of the horror of him!” She pointed at the cowering figure, sobbing by the wall.
“Don’t you remember?” Duo asked.
Michael’s eyes dimmed, yes, he remembered now. He turned to Luc, “What did you do to me to have me forget?”
“I did nothing!” Luc insisted, his crying voice muffled by the massive teeth, “You did it on your own!” Michael continued to look at him, until Lorelei spoke again.
“You’re our leader Michael. God needs you to lead us, forever. It hurts to think of him, I’m sure, but our duties to God have always come before everything else.”
“You taught us that.” Duo added, together they moved to open the box they had brought in. Inside was Michael pointed crown. He walked up to it, touched one of the six points. He looked at Duo, then at Lorelei. He placed both hands on the crown, picking it up to place it on his head.
“Michael please!” cried Lucifer from his place by the wall. Michael didn’t look back as he straightened his posture, the heavy crown now balanced on his head.
“I have to go Luc.” He said without turning.
“No!” Lucifer stood and tried to run towards Michael. He tripped on his goat legs and as he fell on the hard ground he transformed back into the tall, skinny, pale, green-eyed, blonde-haired boy he had been before God cursed him. He stayed on the ground, and cried as Michael held back tears and left him. Duo and Lorelei picked up the black box once again and followed Michael outside. Luc stood and tried to run after them, but then was thrown back when he reached the threshold. Then the massive doors slammed shut, leaving him completely alone.
~~
“I’m still not sure I understand this entire Lucifer/Michael thing. How can the Devil love anybody and how can the archangel love him back?!” Wufei asked.
“It’s simple really,” Duo explained, “Before God brought forth the plan of the Creation of Humans, angels were His pride and joy. We lived with Him and He loved us. Well, I use the word ‘we’ loosely, because I wasn’t alive. Actually the only angels alive at that time were God’s white winged ones. If an angel has white wings it means he was created from the beginning, well at least the beginning of angels, how long God had been in existence before that isn’t really clear. Anyway, when God brought forth his plan for Human Beings Lucifer got jealous, that much is clear. He started a war against the Creation of Humans. To counter his move, God put the one angel he couldn’t kill in charge of His army, Michael. Michael was used by God, but then again, all angels are used by God one time or another.”
“What do you mean?” asked Quatre, curious.
“Well Lorelei and I were used to break up a perfectly happy marriage, just so God could keep His alternate world for truly evil Human Beings. He used us to keep Lucifer miserable. He is a very bitter God, you know.”
“But didn’t Lucifer take advantage of the War? I mean, didn’t he prove he was very evil during the war?”
“No, I don’t think he was. You see, Kat, every memory that someone has, be he angel or human, is all connected to an event. The emotion that they feel for that memory is connected to that event, not to the image of the memory. The difference is so small that most people don’t notice it, but Lorelei and I noticed that the emotions of the memories of Lucifer during that war, his tearing a heart out of other angels, drinking their blood, his tearing off the heads of God’s holy doves, those emotions of hatred, and the sense of betrayal, they are connected to the images, there is no event behind it.”
“What are you saying?” asked Trowa.
“I’m not saying anything, but if I were a conspiracy theorist I would say that God Himself fed the images into His remaining white-winged angels. That’s why Michael could forget them, that’s why Lucifer doesn’t remember them at all. Lucifer was stubborn, yes. And he did start a war that would kill many of the white-winged angels, but this also served God’s purpose. How many of us, do you honestly think could stand coming in second to just Adam and Eve. They were pure, they didn’t know how to procreate, their Fall was needed to give God more stories.”
“Stories?” It was the first word Heero had said since Duo had showed up again.
“God is a lover of stories, why do you think he wanted humans in the first place? Well with just Adam and Eve in their perfect state, that isn’t a whole lot of story. God needed them to partake of the Forbidden Fruit. He needed them to Fall. He needs Lucifer’s Hell even now, to put fear in his follower’s hearts. Everything that has taken place with the angel’s from the War to Lorelei and mine’s birth has been part of His plan. And now ten thousand years is up, it’s time for another angelic child to be born.” He added this part dimly, thinking to himself.
“Why were you and Lorelei born so close together?” Quatre asked.
“God needed five, over-qualified teenaged Gundam pilots. You, Trowa and Heero became Gundam pilots on your own, but Wufei became Master O’s choice because of the Spirit inside of him, created by myself and Lorelei. And the chain of events that lead me to be on that colony when the virus struck had largely to do with my blood-lust that came from the circumstances of my birth. He needed us five to pilot the Gundams, to save His beloved human beings; we are part of His plan. He also needed me and Lorelei to pull Michael out from love’s arms. I helped to brake up Michael and Lucifer, only because He wanted it. So, I have a question now.” Duo looked directly at Trowa, “Why in Hell, can’t two of my friends be together?”
Trowa’s eyes widened, “What?” he asked distantly.
“Duo!” Quatre protested.
“Quatre told me about the proposal.” Duo answered. Trowa immediately turned to Quatre, who looked back, mouth slightly open, shocked. Trowa shook his head and stood to leave the room. Duo stood in his way, Trowa’s eyes looked to the floor.
“Get out of my way Duo.”
Duo slowly slide to the side, but before Trowa could open the door to leave, “Don’t worry kid, it’ll taste just like candy.” Duo’s voice was hoarse and low, not his voice at all. Trowa froze and the other in the room stiffened. Duo noted that Heero and Wufei did know, he wondered how they had found out.
“Duo, how could you?” Quatre asked, whispering, before he stood to slowly walk over to Trowa, “Trowa?” He asked softly before placing a hand on Trowa’s shoulder. Scenarios like this had happened so many times before, when Quatre and Trowa had been alone, and still Quatre wasn’t quite sure what he was supposed to do. Trowa turned to look at his lover, his eyes cold as ever, but he pulled Quatre to him and held him in a tight embrace, almost as if he would never let go.
“You know,” Duo said, “Lorrie healed Wufei from what Lorelei did to him. What makes you think that another angel, say perhaps me, couldn’t heal Trowa.” Trowa and Quatre both looked at Duo, in fact so did Wufei and Heero, both who had previously been staring at the rug.
“Could you?” asked Quatre.
“Yes I could.”
Trowa let go of Quatre to face Duo.
~~
Duo left the room to look at the hopeful face of Quatre. “Go in there, Kat. When he wakes up he’ll want you there. He should be sleeping for a little less than an hour. K?”
Quatre nodded, “Thank-you.” The words didn’t even begin to express what Quatre felt.
“No prob,” He patted Quatre’s shoulder. Then, as Quatre hurried into the bedroom, he looked at Heero, “I need to go back home, to the angelic world.” He sighed, “God gave Michael a ceremony that will make me human.”
Heero rested against the wall of the hallway, “Are you sure that is what you want?”
“Yes, actually, it is what I want.”
“And when you turn 70, you don’t think you’ll regret giving up immortality?” Heero turned his unemotional face towards Duo, who thought for a moment.
“No, I won’t regret it. However I have to do one thing I know I’ll regret if I don’t do it now.” He walked past Heero to the end of the hallway, opening the large window at the end wall and looking outside.
Heero stood and walked up behind him, “And what’s that?” He asked, looking at Duo’s winged back. Duo turned back around.
“This.” He said simply before grabbing Heero and taking flight out the window.
Heero didn’t have time to respond, but quite suddenly he found himself off the floor and looking down of the rooftops of the colony. Surprised more that Duo had taken him by surprise, then by the fact that he felt like he was flying.
“Aren’t you afraid someone will see you?” Heero called up to Duo, who was holding him around the waist. He was pretending he didn’t love the wind whipping through his hair.
“Don’t be such a party pooper.” Duo called through the rushing wind, “Just shut-up and enjoy yourself.” Then Duo called out to the artificial night, “WHOOOO!” And spun around in flight.
Heero couldn’t help it; he smiled and closed his eyes. When he had been very little he had wished he could fly away from Odin, from learning how to kill, from the dim memories of the war his real parents had died in. It had been one of his deepest wishes and now Duo was giving him the experience of a lifetime, he would be damned if he didn’t allow himself to enjoy it, just a little. And he couldn’t help being disappointed when they returned to Quatre’s mansion. He was however, still smiling when then landed back in the hallway and Duo saw it.
“Ha!” Duo called, his own familiar smile plastered on his face. “I knew it! I knew you were smiling!” Heero made his smiled automatically fall. “Oh no you don’t! I saw it! I made Heero Yuy smile! I made Heero Yuy smile!” He laughed and spun around, his hair and wings flinging around him. Heero caught him, and placed his arms around Duo’s thin waist. “I made you smile.” Duo said once more, only with less enthusiasm. Heero pulled Duo closer to him, his arm brushed the feathers of wings, but he didn’t care.
“Don’t you have to leave?” Heero asked quietly.
“Yeah.” Duo answered, not moving but staring into Heero’s eyes. And before Heero could stop himself he titled his head a little and kissed Duo. Someone in the hallway cleared his throat. Duo and Heero broke the kiss and turned to see Wufei. He was holding a tray with some milk and cookies.
“You two sex-crazed animals are in the way.” He motioned to the room Quatre and Trowa were in right now, Duo and Heero were blocking the door.
Duo laughed and Heero let go of him.
“I really do have to be going.” Duo said, daring one last look at Heero before he disappeared.
~~
“She’s on the roof,” Michael told Duo when he peeked his head into the room. Duo nodded and left the building to look up. Sure enough Lorelei was sitting with her feet dangling of the edge of the building. She was looking up to the stars. Duo used his wings to come up beside her.
“Hey,” he said.
“Come to say good-bye?” Lorelei asked harshly. Duo didn’t answer because he knew the only way he could answer was ‘yes’, and he was tried of hurting her. Instead he sat down beside her and for a pregnant moment they sat together in silence. “You know the next ten thousand years is almost up and no angel is expecting. Do you think that this time there will be no baby?”
Duo shock his head, “That’s not the question you want to ask.”
“Should I have to ask?” She finally looked at him. “You’re going to be human in the morning; you should know what I want from you this night.”
He smiled, “Ours will be the first angelic child born out of wedlock I suppose.” Then he looked her hand, and led her down into their bedroom.
The Sun rose brightly the next morning and Duo went down stairs, leaving Lorelei sleeping and quiet, the way he knew she would want it. Michael was still in their house. He was sitting on the white couch. Duo noticed that when we came into the room Michael quickly tucked a sliver chain back into his shirt.
“Well Duo.” He stood, “Everybody is outside and they would appreciate it if you said good-bye.” Duo nodded.
“Do me a favor, Michael, when my son is grown, please give him this.” He handed a letter to Michael, which Michael took, nodding, “I couldn’t trust Lorelei to give it to him, so I’ll put it in your hands. And I have no idea how I know the baby is going to be a boy.” He said and then slowly walked out of the house. Outside was the group of angels. Duo kissed and hugged his parents good-bye, insisting to his mother that everything would be ok. The he went to every angel to hug and kiss every one good-bye. He turned back to the house, looked up to see the curtains ruffle as Lorelei quickly ducked back into their room, and then turned to the doorway to see Michael standing there holding a golden goblet.
“Drink this.” Michael said, his eyes a little teary as he came forward to hand Duo the cup.
The drink was bitter and burned its way down his throat. Michael rushed to hold him before as he fell and said quietly, “Good-bye Duo.” Before Duo lost consciousness.
Duo awoke
in a massive bedroom, the fake