Life Goes On Epilogue
"That's it!" Howard cried as he ran from the study. Liz giggled and closed her notebook to follow her mentor down the stairs and into the living room. Heero was lying on one of the couches while playing a game of chess with Duo. The cat's head was tilted in thought of his next move when the old man entered with his arms spread open as he cried, "We finally found the solution!"
It had taken nearly two whole weeks since Duo had reverted back to his original self. Once Howard tracked down Liz, the two went right to work. After long days and late nights, it was nothing more than a waiting game as to when and if they would come up with the answer to bringing the neko back.
Solo, Cassie, Andrew and Carson all ran into their room in their own cat states with the little kitten that remained of Danny close behind. Looking up anxiously, they mewed with their tails weaving excitedly.
Finally breaking from his own stupor, Heero rose onto shaky legs and blinked in disbelief. "You have the solution? You can really bring them back without a flaw in their DNA?"
Tapping the book in her hand, Liz grinned, "That's right. There won't be a single flaw. Howard and his original team were close the first time they created Duo. What we have now will ensure that the strands are perfect. Thanks to Dorothy and Trowa in their allowing Treize to safely take a sample from their growing baby while it's still in the womb, we were able to fix the problem pretty quickly."
Howard shook his head, "It's amazing what modern medicine can do nowadays. There was only the smallest of modifications to the initial plan that make all the difference. That sample that we used was exactly what we needed to bring the whole thing to light."
Smiling widely, Heero thought back to how Dorothy volunteered to offer a sample from her baby's stem cell. While the extraction was proven to be quite safe for her and the child, Trowa promptly fainted in realizing that he was about to be a father. When he came to, the Latin teenager was practically dancing with excitement.
"And thanks to the equipment that Danielle and Trent managed to confiscate from Doctor J's lab," Liz giggled, "we can have the serum made up in a day or two. Duo and the others will be back to themselves in time for Christmas."
Turning back to the couch, Heero opened his arms just in time to catch the brown cat as he leapt into them with a happy mew. "You hear that, Duo," he asked quietly. Purring deeply, the feline nuzzled the teenager's face. With tears in his eyes, the art student breathed to the scientists, "Thank you."
At that, Howard bowed his head and winked, "No thanks needed. When the others get back, we'll have to celebrate. Until then, we'll get to work on that serum." Liz nodded and quickly followed the old man back upstairs to their 'lab'.
Solo and his family were having a playful wrestle as they meowed excitedly in knowing that they would be returning to their neko forms soon. Carefully lowering the cat in his arms back onto the couch at his side of the board, Heero was still beaming in anticipation. "I can't wait to see our parents' faces when we tell them the great news."
His tail swinging, Duo examined the checkered board once more. Placing a paw onto one of his black chips, he slid it forward to the square that he wanted. Heero sat up with wide, cobalt eyes as he noted that the simple move would skip over his own last three pieces. With a meow, the brown cat looked up with his head tilted innocently.
Laughing, Heero shook his head and smirked, "Got me again, you cheeky little bugger."
* * * * * *
Two days later, as promised, the serum was finished and Heero was on pins and needles for it to take effect after it had been injected. Just as before, it wasn't long before Duo was sleeping soundly. Rolled in a tight ball on their bed, his furry little chest rose and fell slowly.
In trying to keep himself occupied, the Japanese teenager was at his desk filled with art supplies preparing for his presentation to Jeffrey Klein. Occasionally, Heero would glance over his shoulder in hopes to see something happening. Eventually, the hour grew late and his cobalt eyes grew heavy against his wishes. Folding his arms on his desk and resting his head atop them, he only intended to take a short rest but drifted off into a much deeper sleep and missed the soft glowing from the bed.
When a gentle kiss fell on his forehead, Heero moaned quietly before blinking his cobalt eyes open. As his gaze focused when he raised his head, he found a pair of brilliant violet eyes watching him and a wide smile on the heart-shaped face that they belonged to.
Gasping sharply, the art student sat up wide awake in an instant as he cried, "Duo!" It was the only warning he offered before he lunged forward and tackled his naked, cat-eared lover to the ground with a tight embrace.
Duo was laughing and holding onto Heero with all of his strength. After an exchange of kisses and drying each other's wet faces, the Japanese teenager made a thorough look over the other boy. Every inch of the long-haired neko was just as he remembered before he had reverted back into his cat state.
Without using words to reassure his partner, Duo leaned up and kissed Heero fiercely. Before long, he removed the taller teenager's clothes and they made love slowly. Every gentle touch expressed what words couldn't as they moved together on the floor there. When they found their release, silent tears of relief and love rolled from their eyes and they simply held onto each other for a time.
Finally lifting his head from where it was pillowed on the firm chest beneath him, Duo purred deeply and grinned, "Missed you, too." Heero chuckled and pulled the other boy's face close for a heartfelt kiss.
* * * * * *
Over the next few months, Solo and his family remained in the care of Heero and Duo's parents until they were granted government funding that would more than support them. Moving to a nearby apartment, they were regular visitors to the Yuy-Clark estate.
Danny was enrolled in a nearby kindergarten and was well on his way to going into grade school. Solo, Cassie, Andrew, Jena and Carson earned their high school diplomas in no time with help to their home studies and they were already planning on what they wanted to study in college for their careers. There was a whole summer to enjoy before they needed to really worry about any of that. Of course, while they were studying at home, they were treated to many of life's pleasantries that they had missed out on during their captivity thanks to Duo and his friends.
With the new batch of nekos loose in the world, the media made a mention of them before they realized that following the lives of more than one such creature would be too much trouble. Reporters were soon no longer an issue as they went about more interesting and unique stories to report.
The spring semester for Heero and Duo flew by. To no one's surprise, they both excelled in their classes and made the Dean's List once again. Between his lessons and finishing his creation for the Stellar Gala competition, the art student was quite busy. It was during the week of finals when he received the call from Jeffrey Klein that he had been chosen as one of the twenty artists to be featured at the event.
At the opening of the Stellar Gala, everyone was present and waiting to be ushered into the massive museum. Nervously holding onto Duo's hand, Heero took a deep breath and smiled to his family and friends as they talked excitedly amongst themselves. Wrapping his tail around their joined hands, the neko whispered, "Don't worry, love. You're already in the Gala. This isn't like a tryout or anything."
"I know," Heero sighed deeply. "I just always get nervous at these unveilings. Maybe Mister Klein and the other judges were impressed, but what if no one else is?"
Chuckling deeply, Duo grinned, "I highly doubt that would be possible. I personally can't wait to see what you made for this." Unable to help but feel better at his lover's words, the Japanese teenager just smiled lovingly to him in appreciation.
Just then, the ushers smiled and bowed to the large crowd that began working its way into the museum. Once they weaved their way inside, Heero and his tight group of supporters were greeted by beautiful music played by a small band of harps, flutes and violins. Men and women in black and white uniforms walked around with platters of delicious snacks and a variety of beverages in crystal glasses.
Solo and his family were all wide-eyed as they looked about the impressive exhibits. Even Trowa and Wufei seemed to be appreciating the event, though they only attended such an event for Heero's sake. Dorothy was starting to show and her hand that was not clasped onto her fiancés would occasionally rub her swelling abdomen. Sally spoke quietly with Wufei as they discussed some of the lovely works that they walked past.
Relena and Quatre were still on the moon after their recent engagement and never drifted far from each other during their walk through the building. Howard, Treize and Liz would occasionally chuckle at a softly spoken joke from the old man. And Lady Une was in her element, beaming in pride that one of her students was featured in one of the most well known art events in all of space. Even Sylvia Noventa and her father came as the proud owners of the art university, just as they had at his first big reveal.
Stepping into the main room with the featured artists' displays, Heero froze in the doorway with wide cobalt eyes. Everyone around him did the same as they looked up. Placed on the back wall, high above all of the other displays from the featured artists was the Japanese youth's work for all to see as soon as they entered.
Instead of presenting five separate pieces of work as every other contender had, Heero used five huge, square canvases that when placed together made one massive painting. One canvas made up the top, one the bottom and the remaining three placed in a row portrayed the center. From the bottom and working the way up, the colors went from vivid and bright colored flames to a dark and calming scene in the starry heavens.
Painted all in white was an enormous phoenix, its wingspan covering the entire middle of the portrait, its head the top in the heavens and its tail feathers in the fiery bottom canvas. Just as the legend spoke, the great bird was rising up with its eyes on the star-filled skies as it took flight from the ashes.
Each of the five canvases had their own scenes that helped create the bird. When taking a closer look at the feathers, those scenes began to come out. There was an image of a lively dance under a gazebo. Another had the scene of a mother cradling a child in a field of flowers. One of the canvases had the image of friends carrying large baskets of fruits from a farm filled with trees. The top canvas displayed several people holding hands in a circle under the stars.
And in the center of the phoenix were two lovers embracing. The silver-colored pair had no distinction in their gender. They were neither male nor female, they just were. Locked in each other's arms, while one could not make out their faces, their joy and love could be felt just by looking at them. In the bottom corner of the bottom canvas had the painted name 'Love Never Dies' along with Heero's signature.
Everyone that was in the room pointed up to the grand painting at the center of it all. Praises were heard and gasps filled the air whenever someone new entered and laid eyes on the artwork. Beside the young artist, Duo breathed, "Gods, Heero. I-it's beautiful." He looked to his lover with small tears in his eyes as smiled, "It's really beautiful."
From behind, Danielle hugged and kissed her son with tears in her own eyes. "You have no idea how damned proud I am of you," she whispered brokenly. Wrapping his own arms around hers, Heero swallowed past the lump in his throat and nodded his appreciation.
"There you are, my boy!" Jeffrey Klein called as he ran up with a huge smile. Taking one of the boy's hands to shake it firmly, he opened his free arm out to the painting and stated, "I just had to have your piece as the center of it all. Everyone on the panel was blown away by how you were able to successfully create five separate paintings that worked into one. You have an incredible amount of talent for one so young."
Blushing, Heero stammered, "T-thank you, sir." Jeffrey gave him a firm pat on the back and a promise to talk to him later along with some interested clients before he headed off. Relena, Quatre and all of the others moved in to congratulate their friend on his work along with offering their own praises.
As the group filtered out to look over the other displays along with the crowd, Heero and Duo were left at the entrance. Purring deeply, the neko wrapped his arms around his lover's neck and kissed his cheek. "You should be proud, Heero," he grinned. "I know I am."
Finally able to breathe easier, the Japanese teenager raised an eyebrow and smirked, "You realize that I have you to thank for this one, too. I was quite inspired by everything that had happened over the winter."
Chuckling deeply, Duo asked, "Art imitating life, then?" Heero smile and nodded before kissing the tip of his partner's nose. "I suppose I could get used to being your muse of sorts," the neko thought aloud as he looked back up to the phoenix. "Especially if it brings things like this out of you."
From where she was observing another painting, Liz frowned deeply and looked over to Howard. "You know," she began, "I've been thinking about that serum that we used to bring the nekos back. I know that there is no flaw to their DNA now, but you remember that before we even injected the serum I thought there might have been something wrong in what we came up with?"
Howard laughed, "You're still worried about that? We've taken regular blood tests and nothing has come up as a concern. Their structure is perfect."
"I'm not worried about a breakdown in their structure like before," Liz shook her head. Biting her lip, she shrugged, "But we used the sample of cells from a woman and an unborn child to fix them. The answer to the DNA problem just came a little too quickly to my liking."
The old man wrapped a fatherly arm around her shoulder and winked, "You really need to learn to relax, my dear. There is nothing to worry about. We're at an art museum. Try and enjoy some of the sights for a change."
A small smile tugged the girl's lips as she shrugged, "You're right. I'll try and learn to take it easy for a change."
From where they were standing in the entrance, Heero kissed his love's cheek and suggested, "We better get back to the others before we lose them in the crowd." Hand-in-hand, the young couple walked together through the main hall.
Little did anyone know that day that life was about to preparing another surprise for the pair just down the road.
...But that's another story.
OWARI
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