A Reason for Living Part 18
Reconciled by Fire

Duo struggled to sit up. His back protested and his head felt as though it was stuffed with cotton. A gulp of smoke-laced air sent him into a coughing fit that stung his lungs but also served to jar his sluggish senses.

The overhead lights had dulled to a yellow glow and, even though the emergency lamps had automatically switched on, the thin beams could not compete with the thick smoky haze nor could they shine as brightly as the tentacles of fire groping in the air.

As Duo stood up he staggered like a sloshed sailor. "Easy." he whispered to his uncooperative legs. Slowly some semblance of orderly thought began to stir in his brain. He recalled the bang that he had assumed was a gunshot. Then he remembered Carter running across the room and Heero in pursuit.

"Heero!" Duo's mind screamed just seconds before his eyes caught sight of a smoke-shrouded body swaying above the transformer and a second equally hazy figure standing on the platform's edge.

Duo didn't have to clearly see Heero to know that it was his partner dangling a few feet from the raging flames. Duo didn't have to consider his next move or tell his body to break into a full run. It took mere seconds to bolt up the stairs and the briefest measure of time to stop short in stunned disbelief at the scene unfolding before him.

Paul Carter had a length of something metal raised over his head. His shoulders were taut and his muscles poised to use the improvised weapon to smash Heero's head and drop him into the hungry flames.

"CARTER!" Duo shouted to be heard above the hissing transformer and the crackling fire.

The "club" quivering in midair. The muscle tension eased a bit but Carter didn't seem inclined to change his mind, however, his head did turn towards the calling of his name.

Duo sucked in a startled breath as his eyes locked with Carter's malevolent glare. There was not a single hint of lucidness in his enlarged pupils, no trace of anything resembling rational thought process.

"Paul, please, don't do it." Duo begged fighting to display a calm facade even though his heart hammered and his body trembled from fear.

For a long moment Carter stared at Duo as if he was an apparition borne of smoke or maybe one of devil's minions send to ferry the slain agent's soul to the nether regions. Then a spark of recognition flickered in his unfocused eyes.

Carter tilted his head in an inquiring manner. "Duo?" the single word was as slurred as his eyesight.

Duo inhaled and, despite the stinging in his chest, held the steadying breath for several seconds. Inwardly he prayed that Heero could hold on until he convinced Carter not to follow through with his murderous plans. He pleaded with the fates or whatever higher power ruled men's lives to spare his newly pledged lover. He even gave strong consideration to making a deal with Lucifer if that would save Heero.

"Paul you don't want to do this, I know you don't"

Duo hoped to plant the seeds of doubt in Carter's mind. He had to make the madman re-evaluate his reasons for wanting Heero dead. But could simple logic break though the barrier of insanity surrounding Carter's mind? What could Duo say or do to alter the outcome?

Carter glanced back at Heero's pain-etched face. He took too long to study his sweat-drenched body that had all but succumbed to the blistering heat and the overwhelming weakness.

Then he returned his vague sight to Duo. "I can't...let him...stop...me." he stammered, "I have to get...away."

"We can get away together." Duo reasoned, "Heero and I can protect you." he promised then dared to take a step forward. "Just let me help him up."

"STAY BACK!" Carter exclaimed. The wench hovered again to emphasis the warning.

A violent explosion rocked the platform. A dense puff of fire-tinged smoke belched over the Heero and flowed as high as Carter's knees. Now Duo's instincts demanded that Carter be stopped then and there. They proclaimed a definite end for Heero if no immediate intervention was forthcoming.

Before Duo realized what he was doing the Derringer rose in line with Carter's chest. Without pause his finger tightened on the trigger. "Help Heero now or I will shoot you."

An odd grin stretched over Carter's mouth. An unreadable expression contoured his features. "You don't have the guts to shoot." he challenged Duo's resolve.

Duo hardened his sight and by his body language left no room for misinterpretation. "If you force me to choose between Heero and you," he growled, "then you ARE a dead man."

"Let's see if you're a good enough marksman to stop me. Even if you shoot I can still take this loser with me."

Duo's inner voice gave him explicit instructions. "A head shot will stop him cold."

"Merciful saints guide me." Duo prayed the redemptive entreatment.

The trigged drew back, the hammer quivered. Duo wanted to close his eyes, to keep a permanent picture of what he was about to do from being forever imprinted in his mind but he had to take careful aim...the shot had to be sure.

A deafening bang caused Duo to flinch. Every nerve ending jumped under his skin. Breath caught in his chest and it felt like his heart skipped a beat. Then the comprehension that he had not completed the trigger pull slowly seeped into his brain's subconscious regions. No smoke drifted from the Derringer's barrel. There was not evidence at all that the pistol had been fired.

Was there really a shot or had Duo finally fallen as far into the maddened abyss as Carter had? He raised his eyes to Carter's face searching for some sign to tell him what had happened.

Carter stood stiffly. His arms went limp at his side allowing the wench to hit the platform with a shrill ping. A garbled noise rose through his throat then a thin stream of blood tricked over his lips.

Gradually his eyes lost their light and a sightless glaze settled over their fixed pupils. His mouth opened allowing more blood to stain his lips and form red droplets on his chin. A broader bloody stream gushed from a jagged hole in the base of his skull to clothe his shoulders in a crimson cape.

Duo more read the words than heard his voice as Paul Carter relinquished himself to his fate. "Forgive me." He mouthed out his final request for absolution as his vacant sight reflected a strangely peaceful aspect.

Carter's body went slack. His legs wobbled, his hips shifted to the left then his torso pitched forward. For a heartbeat he seemed to hang suspended between the platform and the hellish pit below then his body fell straight down. In an instant Paul Carter was gone.

Luckily the tumbling body missed Heero as it dropped soundlessly into the smoke and disappeared into the flames. A blinding flash of light erupted where the last shattered circuits ruptured. The sickening odor of burnt flesh drifted up. A full blaze followed.

Duo stared at the spot where Carter had vanished. He couldn't make any sense of what had just happened. His eyes told him that Carter had been shot but if not by him then by whom?

An outline moved among the swirling smoke on the platform's opposite side. Duo aimed the Derringer still prepared to do what he had to do to save Heero. Love pressed him to Heero's side and no one was going to get in his way.

The hazy shape came closer. Zechs Merquise stepped into view. He, too, was dressed entirely in black. His silvery hair was tied back in a loose ponytail. His face glistened and his sweat-soaked bangs were plastered on his forehead. A smoking gun was griped firmly in his hand.

Duo didn't have time to question the man who had seemed to materialize from thin air. The Derringer was shoved back into his pocket as he ran to where Heero was barely holding on.

Zechs knelt beside the braided man and reached over to help haul Heero over the edge. "I had to for Treize." he stated flatly. There was no emotion in his voice, no indication of either remorse or regret.

Duo nodded that he understood and leaned over as far as he dared. "Hold on Heero." he urged as his hand closed over Heero's wrist.

*********

Heero couldn't feel his hands on the post. All sense of direction was lost in the suffocating cloud encircling him. He felt himself drifting away as the unbearable heat consumed the last traces of his consciousness.

Was he moving? Falling? Closing his eye he wished he could see Duo one more time. He wanted to tell him how much he cared...that he was ready to commit his heart and share his soul.

Heero's strength gave out. He had nothing left to fight the overpowering faintness. "Duo." The name was raspy as it floated over his cracked lips.

From above a hand folded over a fistful of Heero's jacket. Another set of fingers closed around his wrist and a second hand took hold of his arm. In one fluid motion he was lifted over the platform's rim and came to rest on his back.

Focusing through the sweat stinging his eyes Heero gazed up into an anxious angelic face that compassionately beheld the wandering spirit who had recently entered the land of the dead. A reddish halo glowed around the kind countenance and a long braid lay over the angel's shoulder. A braided angel? Was this fate's final cruel joke?

"Heero can you hear me?" the angel asked. Duo wiped his watery eyes and squinted down at Heero's pale face. "Heero please."

The lilt, the tone. There was a familiar comfort in the voice. Only then did Heero realize that he had not fallen victim to the fire. Somehow a miracle had granted him a second chance to share his life with his soul mate.

The air was suddenly cooler. The smoke not as intense. Several shallow inhalations urged Heero's foggy senses to come around. The next gasp for air shook his body awake. His eyes cleared and he took in Duo's worried face.

"Duo?" Shakily Heero reached out.

Duo intertwined his fingers with the searching hand. "Stay still."

"How did you..."

"Shhhhh. We'll have plenty of time for questions later but now you have to recover enough to get out of here."

*********

Duo turned to thanks Zechs for his help but found that the taller man had merged back into the haze. He looked across the platform and caught a glimpse of black blending into the shadows. Zechs paused, gave a knowing nod to the man who understood what he had done for love, then it was as if he had never there at all.

*********

You're arm...it's bleeding."

"I'm all right." Heero insisted even though it hurt like hell every time the jacket material scraped over the long cut.

"Can you stand?"

Heero pushed up on his elbows and surveyed his hellish surroundings. A shiver coursed up his spine as the realization of how close he'd come to dying hit with full force. He had faced death before but this was the first time he had been afraid. Before he merely saw himself as a disposable unit. Life was cheap, especially his, he believed.

But the possibility of being separated from Duo, not seeing his smile or hearing him laugh was no longer acceptable. Heero had a new-found strength and it flowed from his reason for living. "Let's go."

Duo put his arm around Heero's waist to lend support and guided him carefully down the stairs to avoid the blistering heat and the hand railing that was so hot it glowed. The smoke that had been denser at the top lessened as they descended.

An implosion deep in the transformer's belly launched a ball of orange flames over the platform's rim. A pulsating WHOOSH shuddered through the room. Then the scorching heat was sucked back like fire through a dragon's gullet leaving the area the pair had just vacated badly charred.

*********

Twin shadows, enhanced by the fire's radiance, rippled along the wall. "Over there." Heero motioned to the narrow hall. He hoped that the concrete walls would offer a margin of protection from the inferno's fury that, for the moment, was contained by the lack of combustible materials.

Hurrying down the corridor Heero and Duo's curiosity was drawn to a partially opened door. Heero attempted to see through the door's glass panel but a ruddy reflection defeated his clear view. Easing the door back the agent and his civilian counterpart peered inside what was obviously an office.

"Dorothy...no." Duo whispered. Heero nodded in agreement, took Duo's hand and stepped inside.

Dorothy's blond hair shimmered with crimson-tinted sparkles as bright as the firelight that caused wavy shadows to dance on the walls and ceiling. Her peaceful repose was somehow more bearable than the tortured contours of Welige's mutilated remains. The scarlet spots staining her blouse were less troubling than the black congealed pools of blood that had permanently bonded Welige to the floor. Her eyes closed in perpetual sleep were so contrary to the horror mirrored in Welige's vacant stare.

This time the view of death came a little easier---as easy as it ever gets.

Now there was no doubt where the original shot had been fired and that Paul Carter had been the shooter. The nagging question was why. What had prompted the former Khushrenada Electronics employee to commit the unpardonable sin? Unfortunately the answers died with Carter.

Duo hesitated then moved to the desk. He stood, head bowed, in silent contemplation. There was nothing he could do, nothing left to say. He had no parting prayer to guide her journey into the afterlife.

*Forgive me.* Paul Carter's penitent plea echoed his Duo's mind.

"I can't." Duo sighed. He lifted his head to gaze at Dorothy's pale countenance. So many hearts had been broken by betrayal. So many lives destroyed by greed and there was no guarantee that the evil would ever be vanquished.

Something shiny lying on the floor caught Heero's attention. He picked up Dorothy's bracelet and suspended it from his index finger.

There were six charms attached to the golden chain with the broken clasp. The first was a flower, perhaps a poppy, with a ruby gemstone in its center. Next came a cloisonne` cat with emerald eyes, a crescent moon hanging by the pointed end and a ballerina forever poised in a perfect pirouette.

The fifth sentimental trinket was a Celtic cross intertwined with ivy vines. Lastly a heart decorated with delicate filigree trim made Heero feel as though he was intruding on a private moment. The initials D.C. + T.K. were engraved on the heart's smooth surface.

Did the inscription hint at a pervious relationship or was it just wishful thinking on Dorothy's part? Just like Carter took his secrets to his grave, now Dorothy also utilized death to guard her confidential memories.

Heero moved his hand. The charms jingled bringing back memories of Dorothy Catalonia. He recalled her saying that she never took the bracelet off. "I'm sorry but it won't go back together." Heero declared sadly. He carefully forced Dorothy's death-constricted hand open, placed the bracelet in her palm then closed her cold fingers to keep her secret safe.

Duo touched Heero's shoulder. "We have to go."

"Goodbye." he whispered then closed the door to give Dorothy the serenity she deserved as she waited for the office to become her private crematorium.

*********

Duo matched Heero's speed, stride for stride. A bellow of smoke snaked passed as Heero opened the hall door then its escape route was cut off bythe metal portal's closing. Persistently the stubborn smoke began to filter under the door. Thin wisps of bluish haze crept along the floor.

Another long hallway stretched out before the apprehensive spies. "Damn." Heero mumbled under his breath.

"Are we heading in the right direction?" Duo wondered hoping against hope that he and Heero were not running around in circles.

There was no way to know how long they could stay ahead of the rapidly advancing flames. How long before the fire spread along the ceiling fixtures to find more flammable resources to feed its all-consuming appetite and hasten it's lethal trek.

There were too many unknown factors. Maybe the concrete walls would be sufficient containment, maybe not. At any rate Duo and Heero didn't have the luxury of unlimited time to hunt for an exit.

The constant changes in the lights, their spasmodic dimming and flaring were a sure sign that the electrical systems were losing the battle. If the power failed and plunged the retreating pair into total darkness then they, too, would become fodder for the ravenous flames.

But they had no choice but to keeping moving forward. Going back was not an option; that fact was made quite clear by the increasingly thick smoke wafting down the hall.

"Take my hand and don't let go." Heero ordered.

Duo took hold of his lifeline and trusted Heero to find their way to freedom. It was not over yet, not while they could still had breath in their bodies and hope in their hearts.

TBC...

 

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