Love Conquers All Part 2
Heero staggered partly blinded by too much wine and his tears. Almost falling over his feet he braced a quivering hand against the wall. Easing himself onto a seated position on the floor the wall at his back was the only thing that kept him sitting upright. The bed would be more comfortable but in his drunken stupor it was too far away to make the effort. Besides the sheets still reeked from the last time he vomited and he had not been able to find his pillow for two days.
Grabbing up a previously discarded bottle he turned it up only to find it empty. "Damn!" he shouted flinging the container across his bedchamber. "Damn everything to hell!" he wheezed fighting the urge to be sick again.
Crawling from one empty bottle to another Heero Yuy didn't look like one of the King's top-ranking soldiers. He wore only his breechcloth and a torn shirt strained with a wide variety of fluids. His hair was dirty matted with sweat and dust. He hadn't bathed in three days but what difference did it make. His only reason for existing on this cruel earth was gone.
If his lover had been a solider and fallen in battle Heero might had been able to cope, make some sense of his loss. If the fates had claimed Duo in an accident maybe, just maybe, the separation could one day be accepted. But Duo had taken his own life and according to the Priest's teachings that act would surely send him to hell.
Heero Yuy had never made a secret that he did not have much use for religion. He had seen little evidence of prayer's influence or any deity's intersession. He had no reason, he believed, to call on a higher authority, had no deferential need to believe in any being supreme or otherwise.
It was not that Yuy viewed himself as superior, actually he possessed no vanity concerning his self-worth, but he still was not ready to give up that much control over his life. He had always relied solely on his own volitions, his skills as a warrior and surrendering even a fraction of the mastery of his fate was something he was not yet prepared to do.
Oddly Heero did believe in heaven and hell although their plane of existence was not always clear in his mind. It seemed that both locations often manifested their attitudes on earth depending on the circumstances one found themselves in at the time. But whether, upon shedding one's mortal connection, their soul went to one place or the other had never been of pressing importance until now.
If the village Priest, who constantly begged for Heero's salvation, was correct in his warnings about a soul's deliverance then Yuy supposed his sins far outweighed his virtues. And if those transgressions were not of a forgivable nature then he had no choice but to accept his damnation.
Duo died believing a lie, believing that Heero no longer loved him. In his farewell letter Duo begged his lover not to grieve, to find comfort in the brief love they had shared. Heero looked down at his wrist, at the red ribbon tied there. It was Duo's ribbon, the one he promised he would always wear. The thin scarlet strip was all Heero had left, the "tie that binds" according to the old saying.
"Duo." he sobbed surprised that he had any tears left. "I have to...come to you." he whispered as complete despondence torn his heart in two, "You have to know I still...still love you that I always...will."
If Duo was indeed in hell then that is where Heero wanted to be. Far better to share eternity in hell with Duo than live the "hell on earth" he was suffering now without his lover.
Finally finding a mostly full bottle the heartbroken soldier drank in long gulps letting the wine burn his throat and crash in sickening waves inside his empty stomach. His sword, secured in its sheath embossed with the King's Crest, laid on the opposite side of the room. As drunk as Heero was the bladed weapon might just as well have been in the next Shire.
The first night after Heero found Duo's clothes and letter, the King had sent a member of his Royal Guard to check on Yuy. When Heero's screaming of vulgar curses did not stop the pounding on his door, he threw it open, grabbed the unfortunate guard and slammed him hard against the wall. As the man sputtered to regain the breath the sudden assault had dislodged, Heero pressed his sword's blade to the shocked man's throat.
"If you want to live to see the next moment," Heero growled his liquor-fouled breath hissing in the man's face, "then I suggest you get the hell out of here." No one had dared to disturbed the volatile madman since that night.
Yuy's dagger rested about a foot under the bed close enough to reach if he put all his concentration into one focused crawl. If it had not been for his inability to stand the simpler weapon would not have been discovered. "The fates have done something right." Heero declared then issued a loud bout of swearing as his head bumped on the cross-slates. The King's Captain made several swipes before his trembling fingers closed around the slender knife's handle.
Wine bottle in one hand, dagger in the other Yuy debate which was the deadlier weapon. Together, he decided, they made a formidable pair. The bottle for false courage and the dagger his means to go to his lost love. Another drink fortified his resolve. Two more swallows finished the lukewarm fermented liquid. Blinking his eyes Heero tried to clear his blurry sight, to stop the room from spinning around him.
"You have to do this for Duo." he ordered pushing himself to follow through with his plan, "It is the only course." he continued the self-debate. Raising the dagger to eye level Heero studied the blade's sharp edge, "Red ribbon on one side, red ribbon on the other." he chanted out the words in a slurred singsong melody.
Centering the honed edge over the wrist free of Duo's red ribbon he applied steady pressure until a thin crimson line began to appear. One or two slashes, lay back among the bedchamber's squalor and wait...that was all he had to do. Strangely there was no pain but as pickled as his brain was Yuy was not surprised. Lifting the blade he moved it next to the first cut. Another bloody line appeared. This one was more inclined to be freer in its flow unlike the first that just leaked out his life. A third cut, a fourth, it wouldn't be long now.
A suddenly shiver engulfed Heero's entire body. The wine had thinned his blood hastening the hemorrhage. Dots danced over his vision then merged into one gray mass. Slumping over Heero curled up on his side. "Wait." he whispered drawing his knees to his chest. "Duo...wait for me."
*********
Whiffs of clouds set on fire by the sunset drifted along the skyline. Duo clumsily picked his way through a labyrinth of rocky spires lining the cliff. Far below him the river snaked between the steep granite ravine. Clutching the nearest outcrop Duo dared to lean into the fitful wind. His hair whipped stinging his bare back, his auburn bangs also tossed about to block his vision. The rock's sharp angles had cut his hands, torn his exposed skin but he didn't see the blood, didn't feel the pain.
Duo could see Heero walking by the river. He watched helplessly as his lover knelt by his discard clothes. His breathing increased as Heero removed the red ribbon and read the farewell letter. Duo's heart shattered as his reason for living clutched his middle rocking back and forth like a wounded animal. Then Heero lifted his hand, the red ribbon held high to the heartless heavens and let out a gut-deep wail as if his soul had been torn away.
"HEERO!" Duo screamed out his lover's name. "Oh merciful God. Heero I'm here!" he shouted as the whistling wind blew his words back into his head.
Heero continued to wail, travailing in sheer anguish. "WHY?" he demanded of the deity that surely could hear, "Duo why?" the tormented question rose from his raspy throat.
Duo leaned further ignoring the battering wind and the dizzying heights. His tattered hands held loosely, barely keep him from falling forward. "HEERO!" he cried again, "LOOK UP!" he pleaded for his lover to see him.
Heero did not look up, he did not hear. He beat in fists into the sandy soil crying and cursing and asking the same heart-wrenching question over and over again. "No Duo no." Duo's wretched soul mate sobbed pressing the red ribbon to his heaving chest.
Duo bent further. Heero had to know he was alive, had to know how much he loved his heart-broken soldier. Heero slowly gathered up Duo's clothes and with a defeated posture began to walk away.
"HEERO! NO!" Duo screamed in one last desperate attempt to make his lover hear him.
Suddenly Duo's tenuous grip failed, his numbed fingers slipped free from the rocks. Head first he plunged towards the rushing water below. Even as the icy wind froze the tears in his eyes and robbed him of his ability to breath, Duo kept his failing eyesight fixed on his departing lover. Closer and closer he dropped like a lead cannonball, his body becoming heavy, his mind becoming dull.
"Heero please," Duo prayed, "don't go." he whispered as his body hit the water and his lungs begged for one last breath.
A sharp pain raced through Duo's chest. A hard gasp for air surged in his lungs causing his eyes to fly open. He sat up trembling, bathed in a cold sweat, struggling to regulate his rapid breathing. Running quivering hands over his face Duo fought the overwhelming urge to be sick. "It was a dream." his inner voice explained. "Only a dream." it repeated echoing inside Duo's throbbing head.
Raking back his bangs Duo stared into a red-tinted haze wondering what had happened and where he was. Gradually his stomach stopped churning, his chest hurt less. Duo was in a dim room. On one side flames flickered creating wavy patterns on the dingy stone walls. Just as slowly he realized he was naked expect for his breechcloth. A scratchy blanket hung off his shoulders. Pulling the rough woven cover around his still trembling body Duo felt panic begin to swell in his gut.
Without warning the panic evolved into full-fledged terror. Pain seared about his shoulders as he remember being swept from the water. The fear increased as he recalled looking down, being lifted higher and higher then looking up to see the scaly underbelly of a green demon looming over him. Now fear compelled him to flee and the same fear held him in place. "No." he whispered lowly wrapping the blanket closer, "I AM dead and this must be hell."
"This is neither heaven nor hell." a voice spoke from the shadows cast up by the firelight. "This is my domain, a place unclaimed by either influence. Welcome to Dragon's Lair."
Duo, in spite of the gripping fear, turned his head his eyes darting to find the phantom sound. He drew in a halting breath as his sight rested on a pair of ebony eyes that seem to float in the dim light. "Who are you?" Duo asked afraid of what the answer might be.
The hidden figure stirred bringing a face into clear view. Green scaly skin covered a long snout. Two bony horns rose from a spiny head. A great mouth flexed, lips parting to reveal rows of yellowed teeth and a set of four inch fangs. A heat rose from the creature's skin that could be felt even from Duo's considerable distance from the beast. The thing that spawn nightmares reared back on his muscular legs curving its equally scaly tail into a lax curl to help balance his massive form. A green forked tongue teased the tip of its lips as if it was tasting the air.
"Please forgive my rudeness," the creature sneered with much sarcasm hissing in its deep voice, "I don't usually have many visitors that live long enough to engage in conversation." he declared his lips stretching into a sly grin. "I am Ryuujin, Ruler of the Dragon's Lair."
A woozy webbing threatened to envelop Duo in its cold grip. Only a deep breath stayed off the faintness. "The Dragon God." Duo murmured in shock hoping that he was still dreaming.
"You are correct my Pretty One." Ryuujin replied bowing his head in mock humbleness, his black eyes leering at his beautiful prize.
From somewhere in his quaking heart Duo found a bit of courage, "What do you want...with me?" the question quivered to the surface.
Ryuujin let the grin break into a delighted smile, "You are to be my lover. If you are as good as I believe you to be then perhaps I will spare your life. But spurn me, disappoint me in any way and you will not live to see the morning." the Dragon God promised, "And have no doubt that your end will not come quickly or painlessly." he added straightened up to his full height.
Duo drew back as the towering beast approached the bed. Leaning over Ryuujin sniffed at his beautiful man-child, "Ah..." he groaned, "such a sweet smell and this mane of fire." he purred reaching out to stoke Duo's auburn hair.
"Please, no." Duo begged knowing that the rape Ryuujin was planning would surely tear him apart. "If you love me I will die." he stated hoping his logic would be heard and considered.
The Dragon tiled his head, his eyes narrowed in concentration, "That is true." he agreed his hot breath blowing through Duo's hair, "But you see, mortal, I can take on many forms. Perhaps this one will be more to your liking."
The beast raised his long arms extending razor talons above his head. A wavy outline pulsed beginning at his claws, moving in ripples down his sides before washing out at his feet. Bit by bit his body began to compress. Little by little the beast faded away and a human figure emerged from the flowing lines.
A slender form at least a head taller than Duo was born of the vibrating energy that sparkled in a shimmering glow. The black brooding eyes softened. Even though they were still as dark as before they had a more indulgent look. Heavy black hair replaced the bony spikes cascading over strong shoulders, reaching halfway down his back. Tanned skin transformed from green scales. Then the light evaporated leaving in its wake a handsome Asian man. His body was trim, almost graceful. His overall features were totally opposite from the vile beast that moments before had held Duo in such a frightened state.
The transfigured human stood naked and unashamed before the astonished object of his desire. "Is this more pleasing?" he inquired in a husky voice that seemed to purr.
Duo blinked, not believe what he had witnessed. But as fascinated as he was Duo could not for one moment forget that this strikingly beautiful man was still Ryuujin. That no matter what bewitching form he chose the Dragon God was still a creature of death. A primitive, lascivious beast who had an appetite for human flesh and whose brand of passion could kill as easily as his brute strength could break every bone. That he possessed a viciousness that could tear out your heart without one second of remorse. No the form did not matter, Duo was still in danger for his life. One wrong move, one miscalculation could be his final act.
"Be careful how you answer." Duo's inner voice warned.
Duo was alive. Although he had lost Heero's love and tried to end his life, now he wanted to live. Duo made himself a promise, one he intended to keep this time. He would do whatever was necessary to survive even if it meant copulation with this hellish beast. Where there was life there was hope. Duo would bide his time and if it took days or months he would one day escape and return to tell Heero that he still loved him. At least his precious soldier would know he was alive and would not have to grieve anymore. Duo swallowed hard washing a tense lump from his throat. His answer would set the tone, could be the difference between living and dying. Carefully he formed his thoughts, crafted his words. It had to be this way he had no other choice.
"Yes very pleasing." Duo lied trying to hide his repulsiveness at being touched by the unearthly creature.
"You will give yourself willingly?" Ryuujin asked moving closer to the bed.
Duo closed his eyes fighting hard not to draw away from the advancing transformation. "Anything you desire." he promised letting his eyes meet the alluring dark sight now fixed squarely upon him.
A thin-lipped smile crept over the Dragon's mouth, "While I am in this form I am Chang Wufei but you will call me Master." Chang instructed bracing one knee on the bed. Cupping his hand behind Duo's head Chang twisted his fingers into his Pretty One's hair to hold him steady then leaned forward until their lips were inches apart. "Give me a reason to spare your life." he whispered before deepening the kiss.
TBC...
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