Conversation with Death Part 3
Heero woke up in a hospital room after his stunt with the car. He ended up enduring several lectures from his partner and coworkers about his recent recklessness. It annoyed him. He could almost imagine Death standing nearby, shaking his head and saying 'I told you so.'
If only he could see him.
There had been something- familiar- about that braided figure. The way he'd touched Heero's cheek...
Heero's life had been empty before. He had work and his few friends there, but he came home every night to an empty apartment and a tankful of fish.
He had never met anyone he wanted to share his life with.
Except Death, and that was kind of impossible. It wasn't like sharing an apartment with a lover who had a normal 9 to 5 job.
"And who did you usher along to the Great Beyond today? Chat with anyone interesting?"
When they released him from the hospital he still was on medical leave from his job. His partner volunteered to come and check on him everyday, but for the most part Heero faced the prospect of sitting in an empty apartment...
Or was it so empty?
Death had said that he was always with Heero.
Always. Which led to some uncomfortable feelings at certain times...
Heero waited until the third day, when the tedium and the loneliness got to be too much, before he propped himself up in the bed and spoke to the empty room.
"I know you're here."
There was no answer. Not even a shimmer in the air.
Was he just a hallucination brought on by the prospect of imminent death? Was he a creation of Heero's mind?
But if that was the case, he should be able to re-imagine him. It was easy enough to pull up the picture of the other in his mind's eye.
Heero closed his eyes and focused on the image. The long chestnut braid, the mischievous violet eyes, the gleaming scythe... He opened his eyes.
The room stubbornly stayed empty.
"You are here."
Nothing.
Heero thought back to all the conversations they'd had, replayed every detail in his mind.
"You said you were my death. That you had always been with me. How? Why are you my death? Is that why I feel like I know you? You said we'd be together afterwards. Why? Why not now?"
No answer.
This was getting frustrating, and a bit embarrassing.
Heero sighed and reached under his pillow, pulling out the knife he kept there. He unsheathed the blade, laying it across his wrist.
The room went dead silent. Even the fish tank's hum stopped.
Ah hah. Got his attention at last.
"I need to know this. Or I will come ask you myself."
Heero's laptop, sitting closed on his desk, suddenly popped open, the screen glowing blue as the computer booted itself up.
Heero carefully got to his feet, knife still clenched in his hand and made his way across the room.
He sat down in front of the computer screen, watched as a news site popped up, watched as the archives were opened, as articles appeared on his screen.
A hundred years ago. Back when the Preventers were founded.
Two agents. Partners.
One of them looked exactly like he did. Same name... how?
The other-
Smiling for the camera. Winking, the long braid hanging over his shoulder.
Death.
Duo Maxwell.
He read through the articles. The commendations, the praises...
The accident.
That's what the papers called it. An accident. Friendly fire. Happens all the time, unfortunately...
Still, the criminals were brought to justice. That's what matters, right?
The funeral was covered. A war hero, a Preventer, a man dead before his time due to an accident.
What happened to his partner afterwards was not an accident.
He read the last article and sat back in his chair. He sat there for a long time, thinking.
The Preventer who looked like him- shared his name... a different background of course- Heero remembered his parents, he'd been seven when they died and he'd been placed in an orphanage. Not like the other...
But some things would have to be different this time around...
He looked at the screen again- the fate of the other agent...
The young man was found in the bathtub of the apartment that he had shared with his partner. His wrists were slashed. He had obviously been dead for several hours...
"Why did you do it?" He asked the air. "It was an accident."
A word popped up on the screen.
No.
Not an accident? On purpose? Heero put his head in his hands.
He remembered the touch on his cheek. The whispered 'beloved'.
"Duo," he whispered. "What happened?"
The computer turned itself off.
TBC...
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