| Gundam Wing: Legend of Mystiks Chapter 23 � . . . Cosmos.� Cosmos jumped and spun to face the person. � Shinigami-sama!� She�d completely forgotten about the punishment when Duo had come back. � Please listen! Duo---� � Damare!� Instead of continuing, Cosmos� conditioning made her shut up and lower her head to stare at the ground. � Of all my Reapers, I expected you to face your punishment.� � But I---� Something thin and quick struck her cheek. She could feel her lavender-colored blood run down her face and onto her body. � Hush!� It hit her again and again, twisting her already broken wings and tearing out the delicate feathers and leaving painful burn marks if it didn�t draw blood. When it was over Cosmos was a shivering, bloody mess. From the darkness there came a shaky, quiet voice. � Gomen nasai, Cosmos. I didn�t ever want to do that.� Then she was alone. *~*~* � Where�s Duo?� � In the forest, talking with the animals.� � Doushite?� � Many animals go back and forth from here to other places. Duo is trying to find Cosmos by questioning the animals that have come from all around.� Zechs looked out the window and watched Duo lean defeatedly against a tree. � Evidently they don�t know anything.� � They don�t seem to,� Quatre replied, sighing. � They say they�ve seen a girl in black, but she was too far away, didn�t have wings, and she looked nothing like Duo described her to them.� � How do you know?� � I�ve been helping every few hours. Duo�s driving himself to the point of exhaustion trying to find Cosmos, but it�s not paying off. No one has seen her and Duo refuses to believe she�s beyond being found.� � Where do you think she is?� Quatre shrugged and took a drink of tea. � I don�t know.� � So speculate.� � Anou, the most logical place would be the mountains. Plenty of hiding places, things to fight, and food, but Cosmos would think it too obvious. Duo knows that, which is why he hasn�t left, or he would�ve been gone a long time ago.� � He doesn�t sleep inside,� added a new voice. � Of course not,� put in a second. � Seeing us and the girls must hurt him a little.� � A little? Try �enough to make him cry himself to sleep every night�,� corrected a third. Quatre turned. � Really, Heero?� � Hai. When I make my midnight patrol he�s out there crying as if the world is going to end.� � Maybe it already has,� Trowa said. � For him.� � Do you think that old saying is true?� Wufei asked. � That one can die of a broken heart?� This caused them all to think. Zechs paused in his thought to glance out the window and then did a sudden double-take. � Shimatta, Wufei! Sometimes I wonder if you�re not a prophet!� The other guys ran to the window and looked out to Duo. He lay on the ground, seemingly dead except for the small, shallow breaths he took. His wings, just newly healed, were wrapped around his body somewhat. Deer, their fawns, and other creatures were all laying around or on Duo to keep him warm in the fading sunlight. � What about the search?� Trowa asked finally. � Absolutely nothing,� Heero answered. � It�s as if she dropped off the face of the planet.� � Could she be living in another plane?� � Iie. She would only be able to pause briefly. Not stay.� A large falcon landed on the window sill. [Oi! News!] Quatre leaned forward. � Hai?� [I saw a girl out near Vericon Hills. She didn�t seem to have wings and she was rather dirty from all the exercises she was doing, but the picture I was shown looked a lot like her.] � Where, again?� [Vericon Hills.] Quatre scratched the feathered breast and the falcon cooed happily. � Domo arigatou!� [Oi, if I get this every time I�ll keep an eye on her for you.] � Deal!� The falcon turned and took off back the way it had come. � Quatre?� � It seems our quarry has been found!� Quatre announced. � Where?� Here, Quatre stopped and his face fell. � Vericon Hills.� � Nani?!� � How did she get all the way out there?!� Quatre shook his head. � I�m not sure.� � It�ll takes us weeks to get out there and back!� � We�re going,� Heero stated in a tone that brooked no argument. � We�ll have to be discreet, so the packing will probably take a week. Then it�ll be another month to get up and back.� � Can Duo last that long?� � We�ll have to find out.� *~*~* It had taken her four times the amount of time to get back than it had to leave. But she�d done it, her only motivation that of seeing Duo as soon as she stepped out of the forest. When she did so, though, no one was there but some forest animals bold enough to emerge in daylight. Not two minutes later she saw a black shape hurtling through the air towards her. It was coming so fast there was no time to identify it or duck. She just closed her eyes and stood straight, waiting for it to hit her. Instead, she was lifted partially off her feet and kissed hungrily. She put her hands on it and pushed away slightly. � Duo?� He hugged her so tightly she thought she would die from lack of air. He held the back of her head in thoughtless control of her, as if to keep her from leaving again. � You�re back. You came back. I was so afraid you�d never come back.� He repeated that over and over as if she wouldn�t understand unless he kept telling her. Finally, Duo sat back to take in the new picture of Cosmos to etch in his memory. The obvious growth in strength, both physical and mental, and the scar on her left cheek . . . Scar? |