Neither spoke for a time as they watched their child doze. After a few minutes, Dreamchaser�s pilot allowed herself to be led away. When they were alone, her soul mate, lover, and friend pulled her into his arms, �I�ve been doing some serious thinking and I�ve come to a decision.� Jess peered up at him questioningly, �Oh? About what?� Pilot two was in an extremely rare, solemn mood, but it didn�t appear to be a bad one in nature, �Well�about this.�
A cold band of metal slipped around her ring finger. The freckled Irish girl stared at it in obvious surprise, the diamond reflected in her dazzled gaze, she breathed her admiration; �It�s gorgeous. I assume that there�s a question floating around in that head of yours that goes with this?� He blushed deeply and smiled, �Yeah, but I�m thinking you already know what it is. So what do you say.� �No.� For a split second, he believed her. Jess realized so quickly, �I�m joking! Why would I say no?!� In apology, she smothered his face in kisses.
Things were easily smoothed over and the couple just stayed in each other�s arms. Pilot seven sighed, pulling away to look at Duo, �We�ll start planning when I get back, but I�m going to complete a mission I grabbed off the board a little while ago. Why don�t you watch Ace when he gets up and spend some more time with him?� He gave her a puppy dog look; �I can�t go?� Jess smiled with a shake of her head, �It�s a small base, I can handle it. I want you to stay here with the baby.� With a little convincing, Jess headed out.
The couch and TV ate the death of darkness for several hours as he waited for the tiny being to awaken. Bored, he went up to check on his offspring. The cradle was empty. Panic seized his mind as a vice.
A small child toddled down the hall; his cradle had been a fairly easy escape. He wasn�t sure of where he was headed or why he hadn�t just cried to be fetched from his bed, but he went anyway. Only one other door lay ajar along the hallway and this was the one Ace entered curiously. A set of blank eyes took him in with no apparent expression as he edged past the entryway. Wufei picked the baby up by the back of his diaper to consider him, �I don�t remember you being in this house. Wonder where you came from.� Ace attempted to slobber on the berserk�s arm in response, but the solitary dragon returned him to his feet. As Wufei folded himself on his meditating rug, the small angel climbed into his lap. He giggled at the ruthless killer, �Button!� In saying this, the toddler lost his interest and went to go splash in the bamboo fountain that dominated the center of the room.
Both angelic creatures disregarded each other, not minding that they shared space. The future Arch succeeded in making himself very wet and didn�t notice when Duo timidly stuck his head in the door. Wufei flashed him a deadly warning glare that sunk in instantly. �Ace, come here you goof. Let�s leave Chang to his own devices.� Ace grinned foolishly at him and trailed water across the floor, �Daddy!� The demon scooped his child into his arms, swiftly making his escape from a relentless stare, �Let�s not bother him anymore, okay little guy?�
Fire, it was all white fire. It was an inferno of pain, agony that twisted the possessor�s dreams into endless nightmares. The source of this internal holocaust were long, sharp gashes that had found reverence all across pale, freckled flesh. More than anything, however, her mutilated wings were haven to the assault of pain. Meat hooks in once white feathers held the small girl several feet from the ground and willful consciousness had long since fled her tortured body. Shockingly frigid water flung across her face remedied that comforting darkness. Exhausted emerald eyes regarded the culprit with unconfined malice that only caused him to smirk. The highly decorated officer lifted her chin with two fingers; �Do you hate me that much? I�m only repaying you for the damage you�ve done to my facilities. A cut for every base you and you�re petty friends have destroyed.�
Hardly conjured spit hit his scruff-lined face and his smirk widened to a wicked smile. Jess hardly saw the dagger move, but felt the streak of flame that was a new wound on her leg. Barely a gasp escaped her in response; she had the energy for nothing more. This general she knew to be Amber�s father brushed the saliva from his face, �Why do you insist on making things so hard for yourself? If you hadn�t have fought so much as we�d captured you, I wouldn�t have let those soldiers at you. You didn�t like them, I could tell. You don�t like to be touched like that by anyone but the demon that darkened your wings with that black. If I�m assuming incorrectly, please feel free to correct me.�
The scarlet stained young girl returned her gaze to the steadily growing puddle beneath her feet. The dripping blood was almost lulling. He lifted her head again, breaking the spell. Even as he opened his mouth to say something more, pilot seven summoned what breath she had to beat his words; �Shinigami is coming to reap the bountiful harvest of you and your men�s souls. You�re all going to die because he will come for me.� This left the general slightly stunned, �Shinigami, huh? Do you believe in the Japanese gods, or do you speak of the true Shinigami. The one who was predicted to be the next Satan at his birth, but came back from Earth a fool? Must be the latter, because all you�re acquainted with is that pitiful excuse for a demon that goes under the guise of Duo Maxwell. I�m not afraid of him.�
The coarse laugh Jess managed left him with disbelief in his own statement, �You have not seen the true Shinigami then, he will tear you to pieces. The base in Kingstown left with only mutilated bodies; that was just his hunger.� Feeling threatened, he dragged another mark in her flesh to quiet her. As the blood left her body, wakefulness went with it.
�Two days�she can�t be gone for two days on a mission! Something must have gone wrong! No, this is all wrong, she should be here by now!� Amber cocked her head at the raging demon, �We should search the news for her whereabouts then. Get every TV in the house into the living room so we can watch all the news channels at once. At least one of them should have heard about a Gundam pilot being captured.� Duo had a collaboration of various televisions in a matter of minutes; each tuned to a different station.
His son clambered onto the couch next to him, �Where mommy?� Deathscythe�s pilot only acknowledged him by transferring him from couch to knee and bouncing him slightly, his gaze shifting from one glowing screen to the next every few seconds. The dull ache that had spread all over his body, at first taken as flu symptoms, he now knew to be a shadow pain. He�d never managed to lay eyes on the mission paper; leaving Jess�s location a complete mystery.
Ace chewed on Duo�s braid for attention, but received none. The small child grumbled slightly at this sudden disinterest in him, �Daddy, I hungry.� Pilot two tore himself away from a newscaster droning about a nasty accident. �I�ll watch for her, you go get him something to eat.� Nodding, Duo set the baby back on the sofa and disappeared in the kitchen, �We�re going to need to find him a babysitter when we go after her. Especially if we both go.�
Amber rummaged around in the side table that flanked the armchair, withdrawing a directory. Remaining unwatched, Ace slid off his seat and waddled to sit in front of the multitude of televisions, �Cartoons?� The huntress shook her head and flipped several pages into the phone book, �No Ace, we�re watching them.� The tiny angel�s sudden gleeful cry of, �Mommy,� drew the immediate attention of both berserk and the god of death.
Swift fingers either muted or switched off the TVs that didn�t show the bruised redhead. In the silence that remained, expectant ears caught, ��found and captured at the Bronsfield base. Fortunately, she was apprehended before much damage was done.� Duo scooped Ace under one arm and sprinted upstairs; �Did you find a babysitter?� Amber followed slowly, �Isn�t there a sitter not too far down the street that Jess uses occasionally?� The clatter at the top of the stairs halted, �Um, yeah. We�ll drop him off there.�
A lithe, wide-eyed high school girl opened her front door to the small group standing on the steps, �Mr. Maxwell? You didn�t call. I was about to go out.� Duo chewed his lip, �I�m sorry but something big just came up and I have to find a place for him for a few hours. I�ll give you twenty dollars an hour to make up for it, please.� The young girl took Ace and nodded, �Alright, just give me a call when you�re ready to pick him up.�
Duo barely breathed in his hiding place as a soldier passed them. Amber cocked her gun. �I�m going through the shadows, do as you please.� He melted into the ebony behind him, completely fading from being. Pilot six shot down the man who�d just walked by and dashed down the way.
Shinigami shifted through the shadow realm, images surfacing and disappearing as he weaved through them. He knew as long as he didn�t leave the base, he would find her, but it was difficult to discern each scene�s location. Sympathy pains increased as he neared her, raising his fury near insanity. Then, she was there.
The room must have been dark, because he could see inside perfectly. The young girl he�d been searching for hung nearly a foot off the ground, held by shackles about her wrists and large hooks beneath the major structure in her wings. Two other chains were bound tightly around the thin portion of the feathered masses, each responsible for the shattered bone that protruded from beneath them. Gaping holes and bloody tears gashed the tender membrane of flesh; many of the feathers scattered on the crimson spotted floor. Very symmetrical slashes covered most of her slender body and her clothes were tattered. Three guards sat near her, one ran a hand over her curves. Duo emerged from the shadows.
The black beast that lay dormant inside him roared to life, not to be contained. Duo allowed it to come allowed it to tear free from where he�d kept it hidden for so long and take control. His conscious thought slipped away as the dark creature invaded his mind, his smiling mask shattered, releasing the true Shinigami. An aura of darkness surrounded him; blackness that would singe whomever came too near. The amethyst of his eyes flared to a deep crimson that swirled as pooling blood, swallowing his pupils entirely. The dark beast approached the guards with a predator�s grace; �Your souls are mine!�
The soldiers surrounding the other half of his soul shrank back from him, one supported a dark presence himself, but this boy�s power was far superior to his. As Shinigami advanced, one of the guards lost his nerve, opening fire. The bullets hit the ebony that seemed generated by Duo�s flesh, they were absorbed. The longhaired demon laughed, his voice echoed from the walls with the fading gunfire, overwhelming it, �Fools. You will die, regardless of what you do. You�ve taken something dear to me.� Two of the three guards allowed their feet to flee; the one remaining was a low-level demon. He kept his aim true, but fear radiated from his core, �Stop, I can�t allow you to take her.� Shinigami hissed, the demon�s fear doubled, �You dare?! It was you who took her from me first!� Razor claws swept the air millimeters from the creature�s face. Sweat could be seen shining across his brow now as the death of darkness continued to advance, �Shinigami, please stop this. Take her and leave!� Shinigami lashed out; the guard�s body hit the floor in several pieces, his mouth still open from speech.
The demon�s aura faded, leaving the god of death to gaze longingly at his injured lover. Gently, he took Jess�s mangled form down. The energy he pushed into healing her seemed wasted as only one or two wounds sealed up. They were too old for his minimal abilities.
Amber burst into the room and stopped dead, her eyes glued on Jess; �This is his fault. I recognize his work.� Duo�s slitted, glowing gaze shifted to her, �Who�s? I�ll rip him to shreds.� The berserk came forward to brush blood caked bangs from the freckled face she�d known for quite some time, �He won�t be here now. As soon as that broadcast went out over the news, he would have been expecting us. Or, at least you. The general has a way of slipping through your fingers. He�s been getting through mine since I began hunting him.�
As the pair escaped the base with their treasure, Duo became quieter. Amber realized it was the same mood he�d been in when Jess was shot. He would be very grumpy until she was in stable condition, which could take awhile. Both halted a good distance from the base and Amber lifted the detonator. Before she could touch the button, the building was swallowed by suddenly living shadow. Looking at Duo, she cocked an eyebrow. The crimson of his irises had completely engulfed the whites of his eyes along with his pupils. They were glowing fiercely. She clicked the radio remote anyway, but there was no sign of an explosion. Nothing remained but a random forest of pipes and wires that stuck up at odd angles. The rest of the base had been banished into shadow by the grandson of Lucifer.
Amber set Jess�s heavily bandaged foot on the road to recovery, a long journey though it was. Duo remained the god of death, but never left the weakened woman�s side. The only pieces of flesh visible were the closed eyes that fluttered with nightmares and fever. The endless days of watch were broken when Duo�s aunt emerged from the eastern wall, �Well, I�m here to turn your girlfriend�you look rather pissed. I haven't seen that expression since before you first traveled to Earth.� The demon sent a glared dagger in her general direction. She looked past him at the wrapped up body, �I take it something happened and I should come back later. Right?� The death of darkness said nothing, continuing his watch over Jess. Satan shrugged, �Alright, I�ll be back in a month or two or three, depending on when I get time.� She disappeared as quickly as she�d come, leaving Duo to his pondering.
Amber brought a startling thing back to mind, �Did you pick up Ace?� It had been four days since they�d left the child at the babysitter�s house. He would owe her a small fortune. He slapped a palm to his forehead and headed to the garage. The sitter gave him a furious look when the door opened, �Mr. Maxwell! Did you forget your baby?! What kind of father do you call yourself?!� The blonde toddler latched onto his dad�s leg, �Daddy! Missed you!� She continued to chew him out until he raised a hand to silence her. �I really didn�t mean to forget him, but his mother has been hospitalized and is in critical condition.� He withdrew the owed amount of money, a large wad though it was, and pressed it to her hand. He was aware that half of it was a lie. They couldn�t take Jess to the hospital due to the fact that her wings were also damaged and couldn�t be returned to her back, but it was truth enough.
The teenage girl gasped softly, �I�m so sorry! I hope she�s alright, what happened to her?� Duo put the happy child on his shoulders, �It�s not really something I want to discuss now, perhaps another time.�
