Maxwell's Demon
Part 6
By: Madam Hydra

[on Treize's estate]

    With a dark green maintenance uniform tucked under his arm, Trowa

quickly glanced into the computer center, but failed to find any sign

of Heero.  Noting the thin trails of smoke starting to emerge from the

computer equipment, he prudently decided to leave the area before the

fire alarms went off.

    The Heavyarms pilot frowned slightly.  Had he been wrong in

believing that Heero was no longer suffering the side effects of the

drugs?  Because if he *was* wrong, there was no telling where the Wing

pilot might be at the moment.

    He decided to search the rooms adjacent to the computer center, on

the off-chance that Heero would be working in one of them.  Behind the

third door he checked, Trowa found his fellow Gundam pilot staring

into a video monitor.  But before he catch a glimpse of whatever

interested Heero so intensely, the Wing pilot abruptly switched off

the monitor.

    Without saying a word, Heero reached down and pulled out a disk

from one of the video recorders, then joined Trowa in the hallway.  He

appeared to be his normal self again, with his usual expressionless

face and the familiar cold, blue-eyed stare.

    "Are you finished?" was Trowa's only words.

    "Yes," came Heero's equally curt reply.

--------------------------------------------

[Relena's office]

    Heero and Trowa walked into the waiting room to find both Quatre

and Relena happily snoozing.  When Trowa touched the blond pilot

lightly on the shoulder, Quatre sat up with a yawn and blinked in mild

confusion.

    Stifling another yawn, the blond pilot answered Trowa's inquiring

glance by murmuring, "The lack of sleep must really be catching up

with me."  He glanced curiously at Heero, who seemed to be looking

around the waiting room with unusual intensity, even for him.

    As he watched Heero open up a filing cabinet, Quatre asked, "Is

there anything wrong?  Are you looking for something?"

    "No," Heero said with his usual flat monotone, closing the filing

cabinet with a decisive gesture.  He walked over to Trowa, took the

clothes from the Heavyarms pilot, and headed for Relena's office.

    Trowa quietly said, "What about her?"

    Heero stopped and glanced back at Relena.  He stared silently at

her for a long moment, then turned to look at Duo who was still fast

asleep on the desktop.

    "Leave her."

    Quatre frowned slightly.  "But Heero, what if she keeps making

those ridiculous accusations about Duo?"

    "Let her," Heero said with chilling indifference.  "She'll only

make a worse fool of herself."

    "Aren't you worried that someone might eventually believe her?"

Quatre fretted.

    "Only fools and madmen would believe that creatures like demons or

angels exist in this day and age."  There was a brief gleam in Heero's

cobalt eyes which nearly made the Arab pilot shiver.  But it was gone

in a flash and Quatre ended up dismissing it as a quirk of overactive

imagination.

    Heero turned his back on the sleeping girl and walked over to Duo,

who was still huddled under Relena's coat, snoring away.  The Wing

pilot silently lifted the soft cashmere away from Duo's face, then

stood there for a brief moment.  He neither spoke nor moved, but

simply stared down at the long-haired Deathscythe pilot peacefully

dozing atop the desk.

    Heero abruptly shook off his pensive mood and gave Duo's bare

shoulder a hard shake.

    "Wha...?" Duo blinked sleepily.  His words ended in a squawk of

outrage as Heero brusquely shoved Duo off the desk, then dumped the

dark green coveralls on top of the other's head.

    "Wake up and get dressed.  We're moving out," the Wing pilot said

curtly.

    Duo groaned, brushed his tangled hair out of his eyes, and

muttered, "Geez, Heero, so much for the romantic mood!" as he rubbed a

sore hip.

    The only response Duo got was a stony, unapologetic glare and a

flat, "Shut up."

    "Chi!  I guess everything's back to normal.  Bummer."  Duo stuck

his tongue out at Heero's back as the Wing pilot efficiently began

removing any trace of their presence in Relena's office. 

    Despite his complaints and groans, it only took Duo a few minutes

to get dressed and ready to leave.  He soon gave up trying to untangle

the knots in his hair and settled for pulling it back into a messy

ponytail.  By that time, Heero had retrieved all the remnants of Duo's

old clothes, picked up the papers and other miscellaneous desk items

scattered all over the floor, and basically put the office into some

semblance of normality.

    As Duo entered the waiting room, he glanced at the sleeping Relena

and stopped short.  Jerking a thumb in her direction, he asked,

"Heero, what are you planning to do about her?  Aren't you going

to...." 

    The Wing pilot said coldly, "I have nothing further to say to

her."  He grabbed Duo's ponytail and dragged him out into the hallway

without another word.  Trowa and Quatre quickly followed, leaving

behind the bound, but now ungagged Relena loudly snoring on the sofa.

    Their escape from the estate turned out to be a total anticlimax

-- no high-speed chases, no huge explosions, no raging gunfights.... 

The various electrical and computer failures had left the OZ forces in

such a disorganized state that it was pathetically simple for the four

Gundam pilots to slip out of the compound unnoticed.  By unspoken

agreement, they decided to move to a new safehouse... just in case.

--------------------------------------------

[Treize's suite]

    Wufei Chang could remember waking up in Treize's bed, on Treize's

sofa... tied up, tied down... but he had never woken up UNDER Treize's

bed. He slowly crawled out, clutched his throbbing skull in his hands,

and wondered what the hell had happened that afternoon.  And where the

devil were Treize and Zechs?

    Wufei was vaguely relieved to find himself still fully dressed. 

As he attempted to get his extremely reluctant brain working again, he

staggered over to the sofa, only to find Treize and Zechs curled up

against each other on the floor amid a clutter of burnt out candles

and numerous empty liquor bottles.  They looked rather like a pair of

snoozing puppies.

    As he tried his best to keep his head from falling off his

shoulders, the Chinese pilot swore up and down that he would never

touch another drop of that devilish alcohol again.  Wufei slowly made

his way to the bathroom, gulped the first painkillers he could get his

hands on, then stuck his head into a basin of icy cold water.

    After a half hour, he was feeling semi-human again.  Wufei was

just about to slip away when a small heap of printouts caught his eye.

 He took a second glance, then hastily flipped over the lurid pictures

of Heero and Duo before he could get another nosebleed.  The Chinese

pilot scowled a moment, then reluctantly headed back toward Treize's

computer.

--------------------------------------------

[the pilots' new safehouse]

    Several hours later, as the other pilots were getting settled in

their new hideout, Wufei stalked into the house.  He scowled at Duo

and Heero, then tossed a sheaf of printouts onto the table.

    "You owe me," was all he said before stomping off to find a place

to dump his own meager belongings.

    Duo thumbed through the papers, then stared irately at Heero.  "I

thought you said you got rid of Relena's file...!"

    "I did," Heero snapped.

    When Wufei walked back into the room, Duo started to ask him,

"Hey, where did you get this stuff...?"  However, his question trailed

off in a startled "Meep!" as Wufei marched over to him and gave the

Deathscythe pilot a long, searching stare from only a few inches away.

    With their noses practically touching, Duo clutched the printouts

to his chest and stammered, "Errr... is there something wrong,

Wufei...?"

    The Shen Long pilot gave Duo a decidedly suspicious scowl.  He

could vaguely remember some discussion about Maxwell....  A hazy,

disturbing memory stirred briefly in his aching brain, but it slipped

away from his grasp.  As Duo continued give him a startled, wide-eyed

stare, Wufei shrugged and turned away with a disgusted snort.

    "What the hell was that all about?" a thoroughly bewildered Duo

muttered.

    "It's nothing important," Wufei said irritably, as he rubbed his

forehead in a futile attempt to massage away the remainder of his

hangover.

    "Uh... o-kay, if you say so.  But about these pictures...."

    The Chinese pilot muttered, "That crazy female sent Treize an

separate email message repeating her asinine accusations."  Before Duo

could interrupt, Wufei growled, "Don't worry, I erased all traces of

her message AND the pictures."  His deadly glare warned against any

attempt to discover just how he managed to do that.

    "Uhh... thanks, Wufei," Duo said.

    The Chinese pilot shrugged and stalked out the door in search of

some peace and quiet... not to mention a large icebag.

--------------------------------------------

    Later that evening after dinner, Heero went looking for Duo.  He

found his quarry sitting at Deathscythe's feet, struggling to brush

the tangles out of his long hair.  

    Duo glanced up to see Heero scowling at him.

    "What's up?" he asked brightly.

    Heero tossed a data disk at Duo, who reflexively caught it, and

snapped, "You shouldn't be so careless."

    "Careless?" the violet-eyed pilot said with an air of bewilderment

as he turned the disk over in his hand.  "What the hell's this?  That

stupid computer virus?"

    "No.  It's the most recent surveillance video for Relena's office

and waiting room."

    Duo froze with a shocked look on his face and blurted out, "But

that IMPOS-sible...."  His voice abruptly trailed off, then he slowly

lowered his head.  With his long, brown bangs hiding his eyes, Duo

uttered a rueful little chuckle. 

    "I see.  I suppose you heard and saw... everything."

    "Yes."  Heero was silent for a long moment, then added in a

disturbingly cold voice, "I remember you now.  Somewhere in the back

of my mind, something about Duo Maxwell always seemed strangely

familiar.  Now I know why."

    Duo released a deep sigh.  Without looking up, he continued to

turn the disk over in his fingers as he quietly said, "So I guess it's

pretty useless for me to pretend that it was all a sick joke on

Relena."

    When Heero remained silent, Duo peeked upward through his bangs

and quipped, "Gee, no waving of guns?  No threats of 'Omae o korosu?" 

    "Considering what you are, that's rather pointless, I think."

    Duo shrugged carelessly.  "Okay.  So what now?"

    "A few questions."

    "Naturally.  I'm sure you're just *dying* for some answers."

    Heero merely glared at the other boy and snapped, "Who, when, and

how?"

    "Huh?"  Duo blinked in confusion.  "You know, most people would be

asking 'What the hell are you?' and 'Why the hell are you here?'  That

sort of thing."

    "I already know what you are and I can guess... why... from your

conversation with Relena." 

    Duo smacked himself lightly on the forehead.  "Damn it, you DID

hear everything."

    "Yes."  In a frighteningly calm voice, Heero said, "I want to know

exactly when this masquerade of yours started."

    Duo leaned back against his Gundam's leg and held up his hands. 

"If you're worried that I somehow sneakily managed to dispose of the

real Duo Maxwell and take over his body or junk like that in the last

couple of weeks... well, don't be.  I'm the exact same person you've

known for the last year or more.  I've always BEEN Duo Maxwell."

    "Is Duo Maxwell a real person or just some convenient

fabrication?" Heero coolly inquired.

    The long-haired pilot said evenly, "Duo Maxwell is a very real

person.  *I'M* a real person, Heero.  I bleed.  I feel pain.  I hurt. 

But if you're asking when Shinigami first entered the picture.... 

Well, soon after I saw you for the first time, I ended up at L2

colony.  There was a virulent plague going around and the people in

the ghettos were dying in droves.  An antidote existed, but the

colony's administrators didn't want to waste valuable resources

distributing such an expensive drug to a bunch of penniless nobodies. 

    "While I was there, I came across two street kids.  One was

already dead from the plague.  The other boy was alive, but infected. 

I knew that in less than a day, I'd be back for him, too.  But when I

noticed that he looked a lot like me, I got a crazy idea."  He

shrugged a shoulder.  "So I called in a few favors and sort of... I

guess you could say 'merged' with that kid....  I was him, he was me.

    "And so here I am -- the one and only Duo Maxwell.  It's just

that... I happen to be Shinigami, too."

    Heero asked in an emotionless voice, "If you're really Death...."

    Duo rubbed the back of his neck and grinned a bit sheepishly,

"Well, if you want to be really picky about it, I'm *A* Death. 

There's others who do the same sort of job I do.  Believe me, there's

more than enough work to go around!"

    The Wing pilot shook his head irritably. "So on a mere whim, you

decided to pretend that you're an ordinary human being?"

    With a wistful little smile, Duo said, "Why not?  I deserved a

well-earned vacation."

    "For over a decade?"

    "These things are relative.  I've been working non-stop for... oh,

a very VERY long time....  Even if there aren't wars going on, people

are constantly dying from all sorts of reasons... disease, accident,

violence, even plain old age.  I suppose I just... got tired of it

all."

    "So that's all it is for you?  A way to spend a few decades?  A

frivolous little game with us puny humans?"

    Duo shook his head somberly.  "Oh no.  It's anything BUT a game to

me."  He slowly walked up to Heero.  "You see, my real reason for

taking a human form... well, it's because I was... because I wanted to

be with you...."

    "But isn't hanging around with me rather like taking a working

holiday?  Not much of a vacation, is it?  Or is that the real reason

why you decided to stick around?" Heero retorted, his lips curling

upward in a bitter smile.

    Duo shouted, "No!  That's not it at all!  I did all this because I

wanted to be together with you and ONLY you.  Don't you get it?  I

love you!  I think I loved you from the moment I saw you, all those

years ago!"

    In a cynical voice, Heero asked, "But if you really want us to be

together, then why are you interested in keeping me alive?  Why bother

saving my life on all those occasions?"

    Duo grabbed Heero's shoulders.  "Because I don't want to lose

you...!"

    "How can you lose me?" Heero snapped.  "After all, you're Death,

aren't you?  I'm going to be yours eventually.  And considering the

sort of life I lead, it's likely to be much sooner rather than later."

    "Don't you think I know that better than anybody!?"  Duo shouted.

    Taken aback by the pain in the other boy's voice, Heero's tense

expression eased slightly. 

    "Then what are you waiting for?"

    The Deathscythe pilot shook his head slowly. 

    "That's... not how it works, Heero.  I'm not some kooky collector

of souls.   It's my JOB to release people's spirits from their bodies

so they can go on to their just rewards."

    "Just... rewards?"

    Duo gestured wildly.  "You know... heaven... hell... rebirth...

whatever the fates, judges of the dead, or destiny decide.  You

wouldn't believe the bureaucracy and red tape!  But the point is that

I don't KEEP any of the souls I take!  Once you die, Heero, off you go

and that's IT!"

    Heero stared at the panting Deathscythe pilot for a long moment. 

Then he finally said, almost disbelievingly, "Are you afraid of being

left ALONE?"

    "...."  Duo abruptly whirled and turned his back to Heero.

    "Duo?"

    The long-haired pilot refused to turn around.  In the faintest of

voices, he whispered, "They all leave... that's what they always

do...."

    "What did you say?"

    Duo twitched slightly, then spun around and said with slightly

forced cheerfulness, "Oh, nothing!"  

    In an off-handed way, the long-haired pilot added, "Freed souls

are always running off somewhere."  He shrugged carelessly.  "Places

to go, things to do, people to see... that sort of thing.  They

usually don't bother to stick around to talk.  And the ones that do

linger... well, they're the undead, the ghosts, the spirits obsessed

with something from their mortal lives.  And like Relena, obsessed

souls aren't the most entertaining of conversationalists."

    Duo found himself backing up as Heero stalked forward, until he

ended up pinned against Deathscythe.

    "Is that it?" Heero asked softly.  "You're afraid I'm going to

leave you alone once I die?"

    Duo tried to look away, but Heero grabbed his chin and forced him

to meet his cobalt-blue stare.  In low, furious tones, the Wing pilot

snarled, "Did you think that when I said, 'I love you,' I was just

JOKING?"

    "C'mon, Heero.  You know that you NEVER would have said it if you

weren't drugged out of your mind at the time!" Duo retorted.  Then his

expression turned wistful. "But I was really glad to hear you say

it... even if you didn't know what you were doing."

    "Baka.  I knew exactly what I was doing.  I just couldn't stop

myself.  Maybe I wouldn't have said it under normal circumstances, but

the fact that I wasn't exactly in total control of myself doesn't mean

that I was lying to you."

    Duo's hand slowly crept upward to grab a hold of Heero's tanktop. 

"So... are you trying to tell me that when you said...."  He was

almost afraid to believe what he was hearing.

    The Wing pilot scowled at his lover.  "When I told that I'd love

you forever, that's EXACTLY what I meant!"

    "And now that you know what I really am...."

    "That doesn't change anything.  I wasn't afraid of you when I was

a child.  I'm not about to be afraid of you now."

    "But... does that mean you're not the slightest bit worried that

Relena might be right when she claimed that I could control people's

minds?"

    "Ignoring the fact that Relena's an obvious nutcase to begin with,

I don't care if she IS right about that."

    "Heero!?  You're not serious!"

    "I'm perfectly serious."  Heero leaned even closer to Duo.  "Don't

you understand?  All my life, I've felt separate... detached... like

there was a thick glass wall between myself and the world.  I could

see, but couldn't touch....  A dying man once told me to 'Live

according to your feelings.'  But before I met you, it was almost

impossible to figure out just what those feelings were.  Somehow, you

broke through that wall of mine... gave me a connection to the rest of

the world... made me WHOLE.  

    "I like that feeling, Duo.  Having lived so long without real

emotions, I know just how precious it is.  And if through some

incredible longshot, Relena turns out to be right with her babblings

about mind control... well, as I said before, I really don't CARE."

    Duo's amethyst eyes darkened with emotion, then he flung his arms

around Heero and held him as close as he could possibly manage.

    Wrapping his own arms around Duo's body, Heero whispered quietly,

"Strange... it took Death itself to teach me how to be alive...."

    Behind Heero's back, Duo held up the video disk in his hand and

frowned slightly.  No, he *hadn't* forgotten to blank out the security

camera in Relena's waiting room.  Then how on earth did Heero manage

to see....

    The black-clad pilot froze, then glanced upward at the night sky

with a rueful grin on his face.

    Feeling Duo's body stiffen, Heero quickly pulled back and said,

"What's wrong?"

    Duo shook his head quickly and burst into merry laughter.  He

tossed the video recording into the air where it disintegrated in a

flash of green flame, then shoved Heero back onto the thick grass and

pounced on him.  

    As he started to drop slow, tantalizing kisses on Heero's face,

Duo murmured, "Forever, Heero?"

    "Forever and always."

    And as Heero grabbed a hold of his lover's long hair and pulled

his head down to show him how to *really* kiss, Duo thought he felt

soft, feathery wings encircle him and hold him close.

--------------------------------------------

    And somewhere, on some distant extra-dimensional plane, two great

towering figures faced off.

    "He's finally learned how to truly feel," the glowing figure with

incandescently white feathered wings noted with great satisfaction.

    "He's no longer lonely," commented the ominous, shadow-shrouded

and bat-winged figure with a raspy sigh of relief.

    The light and the darkness shook hands, grinned smugly at each

other, and said in chorus....

    "Mission accomplished!"

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