Shinigami's Forgiving Nature (formerly "untitled Wufei/Duo Ficcie")

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

"Take it, Duo!"

Wufei froze outside of Heero's door, listening carefully.

"Heero, please?" Duo whimpered. "I can't take anymore."

"Duo, I said take it." Heero demanded.

Wufei rushed in and found Duo holding a rather large amount of items that seemed to be on the verge of overwhelming him.

"Come on, take it." Heero said, trying to hand the poor braided pilot another box as he fished through his closet.

"Everything okay?" Wufei asked.

"Yeah," Heero replied. "He can carry one more box out to the trash for me."

"Heero, give him a break. He can't carry all that at once." Wufei turned to Duo. "Here, let me give you a hand with those." he offered.

"Thanks, Wufei." Duo told him as Wufei took a number of boxes from the pile Duo was holding.

As they were putting the boxes into the trash, Duo turned to Wufei. "So, what made you come running in like that?"

"Well, it kinda sounded like Heero was... well, you know..." Wufei blushed.

"Like he was what?" Duo thought about his and Heero's verbal exchange. "You thought he was raping me?"

Wufei nodded. "I'm glad he wasn't. But when I thought he was, I wanted to tear him apart with my bear hands."

Duo blushed and Wufei's heart skipped a bit.

"You don't love him, do you?" he asked.

"I used to." Duo replied. "But I'm tired of waiting. Tired of wondering if he'll ever tell me he loves me. Of wondering if he even does."

"I''ve always loved you, Duo." Wufei told him. He took Duo into his arms and kissed him, soundly, upon the lips.

Heero watched from the door, then turned and went back to his room.


That evening, it was Heero's turn to get dinner. He got a large pizza, Duo's favorite. As soon as the delivery boy was gone, Heero opened some sleeping pill capsules and sprinkled them onto the pizza. Then, feigning a stomach ache, he walked into the living room, placed the drugged pizzas on the table, and headed up to bed.

Duo ate most of the pizza, though the other pilots did manage to get a couple slices for themselves.

"Duo?" Quatre asked, looking over at Duo.

Duo was passed out on the sofa, sleeping peacefully.

"Good night, Duo." Wufei said as he kissed Duo and then went into his bedroom.

Quatre and Trowa also felt tired and went to bed shortly after Wufei.

When he was sure they were all sleeping, Heero went into the living room. He picked up Duo and carried him out of the safehouse. He brought Duo off into the wastelands, locked him in an abandoned bomb shelter, then returned home muttering, "If I can't have him, no one can."

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

Duo opened his eyes, and found the only light in his prison to be a ray of sunshine that filtered down through a fault in the door. He remembered that the pizzas had tasted a little strange. He felt weak and sick. Throughout the day, he drifted in and out of consciousness. At one point, when he could barely stay awake, he heard Heero's voice and felt Heero making love to him. But when it was over, instead of rescuing Duo, Heero simply left him there.

"I'm all you've got, Duo." Heero had said, thrusting inside of Duo. "I'm the only one who knows where you are."

"Please?" Duo had coughed, weakly. "Please, I need a doctor. So... weak."

Heero had ignored him and had continued having sex with him instead. Then, he had climaxed inside of Duo and had left the shelter, locking it behind him when he went.

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

Wufei searched throughout the city, but no one had seen Duo. He returned to the safehouse, and found Heero humming to himself. It was the song Heero always hummed to himself after he'd made love to Duo. Was Duo home?! He looked around, but there was no sign of Duo anywhere.

A shock of horror ran through Wufei's heart.

"Heero! What have you done?!"

Heero looked up. "Oh, just dropped in on Duo for a bit." he shrugged.

"You.. where is he?"

"Oh, put away someplace safe. Don't worry. I don't intend to lose my treasure to you or anyone else." Heero frowned for a moment. "You know, he wasn't as energetic as he usually is. I wonder why." he started to walk away, but Wufei rushed him and slammed him up against a wall.

"Tell me where you put Duo right now!"

Trowa joined him. "Heero, you have to tell us where Duo is. He might need a doctor's care."

"That's what he said, " Heero told them. "But I know he was just bluffing to get me to let him out."

"I think I know where he might be." Quatre offered.

Wufei turned. "Where?" he asked.

"In the desert wastelands, there is a number of old bomb shelters. The kind you climb down rope ladders to get into and out of." Quatre told Wufei.

"Can you take me there?" Wufei asked.

Quatre nodded and led the way.

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

Wufei and Quatre tried several shelters, but there was no sign of Duo in any of them. They were about to give up, when Quatre opened up the right shelter. "I've found him!" He called to Wufei. He hurried down the rope went over to Duo.

Duo was naked and covered in perspiration and his skin was warm. Too warm.

Quatre climbed out of the shelter. "You need to carry him out, Wufei." he said. "He's sick. Very sick. Go down and tie the rope ladder around yourself once you've got hold of him. I'll pull the two of you up."

After a great deal of effort, they got Duo out of the bomb shelter.

"It's okay," Wufei told Duo, "you're going to be just fine now. We're taking you to the hospital." He removed the cloak he was wearing and wrapped around Duo.


"How is he?" Wufei asked.

"He's in catatonic shock." the doctor explained. "Probably brought about by the physical and emotional trauma of having been drugged and raped."

"Raped?" Wufei felt nauseous.

The doctor nodded. "There was no tearing and the deed appears to have been non-violent. However, it was clearly done while the patient was already drugged which makes it rape."

Wufei's heart shattered. "Oh, Duo-chan." he whispered, as tears fell from his eyes.

"May we see him?" Quatre asked.

The doctor nodded and led them into the room where Duo had been placed.

Duo was lying on a bed with several machines hooked up to him monitoring his vital signs. Wufei went over to him and kissed him.

"Please, come back to me, Duo." he whispered. "I love you. Please don't leave me."

-----part 5-----

Wufei sat by Duo's bedside, carefully dabbing a cold compress onto the braided pilot's forehead. He leaned over and kissed Duo, softly. "I love you." the told the unconscious pilot. "Please wake up. I want to see your beautiful eyes again. Don't deprive me of them."

Duo's eyes fluttered open and he gazed, not into Heero's cold and unflagging stare, but into Wufei's loving gaze. "Wufei?" he asked.

"Duo," Wufei told him. "It's all right. I"m here. You're going to be okay."

"What happened?" Duo asked. "It's all so foggy. I remember Heero having sex with me. I asked him to take me to the doctor. Did he bring me here after he had sex with me?"

"No, Duo." Wufei said. "He left you in a bomb shelter after he raped you."

"Heero wouldn't..." Duo shook his head in denial. "Get out, Wufei." he said, angrily.

Wufei shook his head. "No, Duo." he said. "You have to face the truth. If you don't... Duo, I won't let him hurt you. You said you remembered him having sex with you. What do you remember about him doing that?

"I was tired and I felt sick all over." Duo recalled. "I kept asking him to take me to the hospital, but he just kept having sex with me. He wasn't even listening to... oh God..." A wave of nausea swept over him. 

Wufei retrieved the waste basket and held Duo's braid out of the way while the stricken pilot threw up into it. When Duo was finished, Wufei set the waste basket aside and handed Duo a glass of water.

Duo drank it, slowly, then handed it back to Wufei.

"Duo," Wufei said. "Are you all right, now?"

"I don't know, Wufei." Duo sighed.

-----part 6-----

Duo was released from the hospital a few days later. Quatre and Wufei picked him up and drove him home. 

The minute Duo saw the safehouse loom into view, he went into a full-blown panic attack and climbed onto Wufei's lap, clinging to the Chinese pilot, shaking in terror.

"Quatre, we can't take him to the safehouse."

Quatre pulled the car over. "Allah," he whispered, "he's terrified."

"After what Heero did can you blame him?"

Duo tensed up at the sound of Heero's name.

"I'm sorry." Wufei soothed. "I won't mention him again. I promise."

Quatre turned and headed away from the safehouse

Duo relaxed, but continued to cling to Wufei, shaking violently in abject terror until the safehouse was out of view.

"It's okay, Duo." Wufei said, "We'll find you someplace else to live."

"He'll find me." Duo whimpered. "He'll find me and he'll put me back there or someplace worse."

"No he won't." Wufei promised. "Because I am going to protect you." he lifted Duo's chin so that the braided pilot's face was turned up to face him, then kissed him, tenderly, upon the lips.

Duo shook his head. "I don't want another on-again/off-again boyfriend." he told Wufei. "My heart is too fragile to be broken again."

The pain in Duo's eyes was more than Wufei could bear. "Well, then," he asked, gently, "would you accept me as a husband?"

"I would." Duo replied as tears ran down his face. "Can we get married tonight? I don't need some big wedding and I don't want him there anyhow."

"Of course we can." Wufei told Duo. "Oh, but how do we do this without him showing up?" he looked up to Quatre for suggestions.

"I could ask Trowa on a date." Quatre suggested.

Wufei smiled. "We'll see you tonight, then." he said as Quatre pulled the car over and let him and Duo out.

"Okay. Page me and let me know where on my private number." Quatre instructed.

"Will do!" Wufei nodded as he lead Duo down the sidewalk and toward a block of apartment buildings.

-----part 7-----

Quatre deliberately ignored Heero when he got back to the safehouse. As far as he was concerned, Heero wasn't his friend anymore. Anyone who would hurt someone he cared about and do it on purpose wasn't his friend.

"I asked you where Wufei was." Heero pressed.

Quatre went over to Trowa and kissed him, softly.

"Why don't we go out to dinner? Just the two of us?" he suggested. "The company around here would make a Langolier go off its lunch."

Trowa raised his eyebrow at this analogy. "A lang- what?" he asked.

"Something from an old TV movie I saw once." Quatre shrugged. "I'll explain later."

Trowa shrugged, and followed Quatre outside.

Heero sat fuming inside the safehouse.

"Have fun." he muttered to nobody.

Quatre picked out a rather nice seafood restaurant that served every possible seafood dish imaginable, then phoned Duo and Wufei and told them where to meet him and Trowa.


"I'll have the sushi platter special." Quatre selected.

"A good choice, " the waiter smile, "and you, sir?"

"I'll have the sashimi." Wufei chose.

"And, you sir?" the waiter inquired, looking at Trowa

"The swordfish will be fine."

"Would you like lemon with that, sir?"

"Yes, please." Trowa nodded.

"And that comes with the French fries, rice pilaf, or a garden salad."

"I'll have the French fries, please."

The waiter wrote it down, then turned to Duo. "And you, sir?" he asked. "What may I get for you?"

"I'll have the niku no ningyo." Duo replied.

The waiter blinked. "Sir, are you certain?"

Duo nodded. "Yes. That and a bit of fugu."

"Sir likes to live dangerously." the waiter observed.

"Sir is Shinigami." Duo replied.

"Shinigami wants... Shinigami gets." the waiter bowed and departed.

-----part 8-----

"Duo?!" Wufei hissed at him after the waiter had left. "Have you flipped?! Do you have any idea how dangerous that stuff is?"

"I've eaten blowfish before," Duo rolled his eyes. "Don't you remember at that fancy Japanese restaurant you guys took me to last year for my birthday?"

Wufei nodded. "I remember. You had seconds. But I'm not talking about the blowfish, Duo, and you know it."

"Oh, that." Duo shrugged. "Wufei, you don't really think that's what it is, do you? Look, its probably just some plain old fish just given a fancy name so they can charge high prices." He didn't believe this for a second, but he didn't want the others to be alarmed. The truth was that he was fighting to stay conscious and doing a very good job of hiding it. One of the internal injuries sustained during Heero's abuse had started bleeding again. Duo had kept this to himself and had figured he would marry Wufei and then die in the arms of a man he loved. But when he had seen the menu at the restaurant, his eyes had fallen almost immediately upon the dish he had ordered. If what people said was true...

The waiter returned with their meals.

"Enjoy your meals, sirs." he said, as he placed them in front of each pilot. He turned to Duo and nodded. "Good luck, sir." he added with a knowing nod.

"Thank you." Duo said. He ate the small bite of the niku no ningyo, chewing thoughtfully. "Not bad." he swallowed and sipped a bit of the complimentary tea that Wufei had poured him with a shaking hand.

"DUO!"

Duo looked up at the door and saw Heero standing there.

Quatre, and Wufei stood between Duo and Heero.

"Heero, leave him alone." Quatre said. "We won't let you hurt Duo ever again."

"I didn't come to hurt him." Heero said, quietly. "I came to apologize to him."

Duo walked over to Heero, the others keeping a close eye on the Perfect Soldier. "Make it fast." he said.

"Duo," Heero said, lowering his head. "Please forgive me. I know I've hurt you and I..." his voice hitched and it sounded as if he were actually about to cry.

Duo put an arm around Heero, to comfort him. As soon as they were embracing, Heero, moving too fast for anyone to stop him, drew his gun and fired it into Duo's heart!

"NO!" Wufei screamed, as Duo fell over.

Quatre knelt down and examined Duo. "He's dead." he said, looking up at Heero. "Heero, you bastard!"

The police arrived and took Heero into custody, having to use high intensity TASER guns to bring him down. 

Duo's body was brought to the morgue. Wufei went to make an identification while Quatre and Trowa went to the police station to give a statement.



The mortician pulled back the sheet to begin the autopsy the next morning. He looked at Duo's perfect, unblemished body, then frowned. "Hey, what did they say this guy died of?"

"Gunshot. Point blank. Right to the heart." The morgue attendant replied. "Why?"

"There's no gunshot wound." the mortician replied.

"What are you...?" the morgue attendant began. However both of them lost the ability to speak when Duo opened his eyes.

"Nice morgue." Duo told them cheerfully. "Guess the stuff really works. Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but it's freezing in here and I'm hungry. See ya!" he gave a cheerful wave, found the storage locker where the clothes of the John Does were kept, selected an outfit, and, after getting dressed, left the morgue .

-----part 9-----

"What do you mean the body is gone?!" Wufei demanded when they arrived at the morgue ten minutes after Duo's inexplicable departure. "Look, it didn't just get up and walk away."

"Actually, it did." the morgue attendant replied.

"You want to run that by me again?"

"The body... it just got up and walked away."

Wufei sat down heavily in a nearby chair.

"No way." Quatre shook his head. "That gun blew a damned hole in his chest. He was dead before he hit the floor."

"He walked out of here ten minutes ago completely unscathed." the mortician confirmed. 

"Did you see which way he went?" Wufei asked after a moment.

The mortician shook his head.

"Come on," Wufei told the others, "let's go look for him."

"But..." Trowa began.

"I'll explain outside." Wufei told him.


Outside, Trowa stopped Wufei as they neared the street.

"What's going on?" he asked. "How could Duo just get up and walk out like that. And unhurt. He was dead last night, Wufei. Dead.... and with this big hole in his chest. So what gives?"

"Duo ate mermaid's flesh. Wufei said, simply.

"He what...?" Quatre asked, cautiously.

"You mean he's ...?" Trowa asked.

Wufei nodded. "Immortal."

-----part 10-----

"Poor Duo." Quatre said to Wufei as they searched for their missing companion.

"Run that by me again." Wufei raised an eyebrow. "He's immortal and you're feeling sorry for him."

Quatre nodded. "Imagine how painful it must be to go through centuries watching the people you love and care about die."

By chance, they were back within sight of the restaurant.

Wufei looked at the door for a moment, then went inside.

Quatre pondered, then nodded and followed him.

A cloaked figure noticed them and followed them in. He'd broken out of jail just that morning, killing several guards in the process. He was going to follow them and get his property back.

Wufei took a bite of the mermaid's flesh and offered some to Quatre and Trowa. They each took a bite, all of them determined to make sure that their friend Duo would never be lonely.

The cloaked figure saw them and guessed what they were up to. Grabbing the meat, he swallowed what remained. The transformation was as swift as it was horrible.

Now half-human and half-monster, Heero let out a scream of rage. Duo Maxwell was to blame for this. And he would make the little immortal pay for what Heero had become.

"I'll destroy you three now." he snarled, his voice barely human, "and when you're out of the way, I'll deal with Duo Maxwell in my own way... swiftly, deeply, and painfully."

-----part 11-----

"We won't let you hurt Duo ever again." Wufei told the monster that had once been Heero Yuy.

The monster attacked and a brawl ensued that lasted for nearly ten full minutes before Quatre, Wufei, and Trowa were lying on the floor, all three dead, but regenerating. It knew they wouldn't stay dead. But this would give it a head start, at least.

Sometime after Heero's departure, Wufei opened his eyes. He watched as the wounds the monster had inflicted up himself, Quatre, and Trowa finished vanishing. Then, he got to his feet. The others stood up a moment later.

"That beast has a head start." Wufei said. "We have to find Duo as soon as possible. If Heero gets to him first, I dread to think what he'll do."


Duo kicked and beat upon the monster as it carried him over its shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"PUT ME DOWN!" he ordered.

The monster pinned Duo down on the sidewalk beneath himself, then he ripped open Duo's shirt as he prepared to have his way with Duo. It licked at Duo's nipples, trying to force him into a state of arousal.

Duo moaned and shook his head. He would not give in.

The monster shifted to get a better position on top of Duo. When it did, Duo brought his knee up into its crotch, causing it to double over in pain. Duo got to his feet, then ran from the monster as fast as he could. The monster grabbed Duo's ankle and Duo fell, slamming face-first into the pavement.. Moments later, he could feel the monster's inhuman erection pressing against his opening, He struggled, but the monster had him pinned.

A moment later, the monster's weight was lifted from Duo's body.

"Wufei!" Quatre said as he and Trowa wrestled with the monster, "Get Duo out of there."

Wufei helped Duo up. "Can you walk?" he asked.

Duo nodded and followed Wufei back to their new apartment.

-----part 12-----

Heero, if the monster could still called Heero, struck at them again. Dodging the monster's blows, Quatre and Trowa delivered a few hits of their own.

"This is for Duo!" Quatre vowed as he landed a blow of his own.

Heero glared at his former comrade as he lifted him and moved to snap him like a twig.

A door flew open and a man carrying a long katana on his back stepped forward.

"Keep back." Quatre warned the new arrival. "He's dangerous. We don't want you getting hurt."

"What manner of monster are you?" the man asked. "Foul creature, yet not an ogre. If you can speak, tell me what you are."

"I am the perfect soldier." Heero replied, launching himself at the newcomer

The new arrival reacted instinctively, pulling the katana from its shoulder-mounted hilt and holding it up so that it impaled Heero as the ex-Gundam Pilot landed on him, piercing his heart..

Heero staggered back in disbelief. Surely, he couldn't be dying! He was immortal, wasn't he? But then, there were ways to kill immortals. Certain magical weapons that were now only to be found in tales some parents still told their children at night was one. Another was fire.

He was dying. The blade had to have been one of the magical ones. But which? He closed his eyes and recalled the man's words to him.

"You win, Ogre Slayer." he whispered.

Quatre knelt beside the dying monster. "Heero," he whispered, "please... "

"Quatre..." Heero whispered, his voice no longer tinged with madness as his body reverted back to its human form. "I'm dying, Quatre. Why am I dying? How did I get here? I was just on my way to the garage to help Duo and Wufei..."

"Heero." Quatre wept. He looked up at the man Heero had called Ogre Slayer. "Can you do anything for him?" he asked.

Ogre Slayer shook his head, then departed.

Quatre held Heero in his arms, and rocked him, gently. "Heero, " he said, "you have to fight it. Don't you dare die. I won't lose you. Not when we just got you back."

"Got me back?" Heero asked.

"You were overcome by a madness." Quatre told him. "You said and did awful things. You... you hurt Duo, Heero. Hurt him very badly."

Heero felt tears of remorse trickle down his face. "Bring him here." he whispered. "Hurry. I have to apologize. I can't go without telling him I'm sorry."

Trowa ran to find them, heading to the apartment they'd mentioned while waiting for their food at the restaurant on the night Duo had eaten mermaid's flesh. He located it and rang the doorbell.

Wufei answered the door. "Yes?"

"It's Heero," Trowa told him. "He's dying. He's regained his sanity and... well... he wanted to apologize to Duo."

Duo nodded. "I'll come." he said.

"Are you sure it's not a trick?" Wufei asked.

"I'm positive." Trowa nodded.

"But how can you be sure?" Wufei wanted to know.

"Because he's human again."

They got to where Heero was clinging to life in Quatre's arms.

"Duo." Heero said, weakly. "Please, forgive me."

Duo knelt down and took the dying ex-pilot into his arms.

Heero looked up at him with clear and understanding eyes. He saw the residual pain and fear in Duo's eyes, as well as relief and budding forgiveness that shone in them. 

"It will take time to put what you did behind me," Duo told him, "but yes, I do forgive you."

Heero whispered a barely audible, "Thank you." and closed his eyes as his breathing slowed. 

Duo felt the joy of seeing Heero human and sane once more. But it was marred by the pain of knowing that Heero was dying. He closed his eyes, then drew a knife across his palm, cutting it open.

"Won't it make him a monster again?" Quatre asked, as he realized what Duo was doing.

Duo drew his hand away, but not before two drops of blood fell into Heero's mouth.

A moment passed and nothing happened. 

Duo's heart raced. Was it working? Or was Heero already dead?

Heero blinked. He wasn't dying anymore. Duo had made him immortal. After all the things he'd done, Duo had saved his life.

"Why?" he asked, confusedly, as he got to his feet.

Duo stood up as well. "Just because I don't love you in that way anymore doesn't mean I don't love you at all." he explained. "Heero, you're one of my best friends."

"But..." Heero protested.

"No arguing." Duo told him. "This is my wedding day and I will not have fights on my wedding day."

"So, you're going to marry Wufei?"

Duo nodded. "I'm sorry. But I can't marry a man who doesn't love me and you don't. Not in the marrying sense."

Heero sighed and nodded in understanding. "Can I at least walk you down the aisle?" he asked.

"Sure." Duo smiled. "I'd like nothing better."

-----Owari-----