Densetsu No Duo

-----part 1-----

"Duo, could you hold..." Heero paused in the middle of his sentence.

"Sorry, Quatre." he said.

"It's okay," Quatre reassured him. "I keep thinking of Trowa, too. And I miss Wufei, too." he added as he loaded a few boxes into the van, then took a deep breath. "We got everything?"

"Just about." Heero slammed the van door, venting his anger out on it. "Damn it all, Duo. Why did you have to die just when I was ready to admit how much I loved you." He fingered the ring he wore upon a chain near his heart. A ring he'd bought to give to Duo. He'd never had the chance, but he still thought of it as Duo's ring. "I was going to marry you."

He climbed into the van with Quatre, the only other survivor of the attack upon their hideout, and sped off into distance.

Neither he nor Quatre, who was heartbroken over losing Trowa, whom he had married only recently, was aware they were being followed. Neither noticed the shadow being cast about them like a protective cloak.


-----part 2-----

Heero and Quatre pulled into the parking lot of an all night eatery. They'd been driving for hours. They'd been attacked once, but something had driven off the attackers and they hadn't seen them since. Whatever it had been, they didn't know. But they were grateful for its intervention.

They got out of the van and were closing the doors when they first noticed the shadow. Something was circling overhead.

"Buzzards." Quatre said in a spooky tone.."They're coming to get us! Wooooooh."

"Hey! Buz..." Heero began as he looked up. His voice caught in his throat however.

It wasn't a buzzard. It was, in fact, a thing of rare and fatal beauty.

It settled upon the hood of the van, stretching out its magnificent wings, cocked its head, and winked at Heero.

"Kami-sama." Heero whispered, choking back a sob.

"Great Allah." Quatre gave his own whisper as he put a hand on Heero's shoulder. "Heero... what..."

He shook his head in bewildered amazement as a mixture of laughter and tears came from the Perfect Soldier.

"Figures!" Heero was saying. "Oh man, it figures you'd chose this form! It's just so you!"

"You know this bird?" Quatre asked. He was pretty sure they'd never met any sort of mythical creatures before, but Heero seemed very sure of himself.

The bird actually nodded in response to Heero's question.

"I did not see that." Quatre muttered to himself. "Heero, what the hell is going on?"


-----part 3-----

The small black bird cocked its head and waited for Heero's explanation.

"It's Duo." Heero finally said.

"What in the name of Allah makes you think that this bird is Duo?" Quatre exclaimed, watching as the thin line of flames burned at the edge of the bird's wings, but did not ignite either the bird or the van..

"It's a deathkite." Heero shrugged.

The bird nodded in confirmation.

Quatre smiled the smile of someone who's just been let in on an inside joke. "Oh, I see. Missed your boyfriend, did you?"

The deathkite nodded.

"You sure he's Duo?" Quatre was puzzled. "He's not saying very much."

Just then, the front of the store fell over.

"SHIT!" Heero snarled. "It's a set up! Block your ears!"

"What the hell kind of battle command is that?!" Quatre demanded.

"Just do it!" Heero ordered. His command was so forceful that Quatre
did it without further question.

The deathkite flew up into the air and unfolded its wings. Then, it reared its head back and let out a long cry, which was missed by both surviving gundam pilots. The OZ troops that were advancing however, did not miss it.

Every single one of them dropped dead instantly.

The bird fell silent once again, as flew back to its perch atop the van.


-----part 4-----

Heero unblocked his ears and nodded approvingly to the bird. "Thanks, Duo." he said, quietly.

Quatre's skepticism was gone completely now. Only Duo would manage to get himself reincarnated as something that beautiful and that deadly.

"We should keep him." he told Heero.

"I think he's already decided to keep us." Heero replied.

The deathkite nodded agreeably, then looked up into the horizon.

In the distance, a small dragon, about the same size as the deathkite, flew towards them. The deathkite rose up into the air and flew to circle it a couple of times. The dragon then rose up and dive-bombed the deathkite.

Fearing the deathkite would cry out to defend itself, Heero and Quatre threw themselves to the ground, blocking their ears. After some time, they both stood up.

Both airborne creatures were there, still swooping and diving. It suddenly dawned on them that they were playing. Eventually both of them landed on the hood of the car.

"Oh no." Heero shook his head. "We're not running a home for lost mythologic creatures."

The deathkite gave Heero a look of exasperation.

Quatre leaned forward to examine the dragon more closely.

The dragon started licking his face as if the animal were happy to see him.

"Wufei?" he asked. He turned to Heero. "We gotta take him in. Please?!"

Heero sighed. "Oh, very well. But you have to feed him."

-----TBC-----