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"Yestermark"Written By: Asymphototropic
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam wing. Author: Asymphototropic (attracted toward the
light, but never quite arrives there) Email: asymphototropic@aol.com Rating: NC 17 Warnings: extreme Asyness Summary: Mingling of possibilities occurs at this vortex source. Don't leave home without your Ticket firmly in your fist. Else you may never return. Pairings: 1x2 other GW characters may appear upon progression
"Yestermark " Part 5: "Look at him kick." "Ain't that something, though?" "As scrawny as he is, didn't think he'd be such a lively 'un." "Shows what you know. Skinny fellows always last the longest." Heero scrambled hastily to his feet and searched his surroundings for orientation. "Serves him right, nasty, sneaking horse thief." "Oh, please, no. Its too cruel. Why are you letting them do this?" "Hush, dear. Its justice, that's all." "Lu, make them stop." "There's nothing I can do. I wish I could." Heero's first solid glimpse revealed to him a crowd of people surrounding him, all staring raptly ahead with the greatest fascination. Immediately next to him was a teenage girl, clinging desperately to a young woman. Both of them pretty, dark haired and blue eyed. And ahead of him, just beyond the crowd, a gruesome sight. A thick rope noose cinched around his neck, the slight body, helpless and hopeless. Dangling from a towering blackoak limb. Hands bound in back. Lifted right off the ground, high, so the onlookers could get a good view. Kicking frantically as he slowly strangled. The hanged form swaying like a hideous pendulum, as if some clock ticked the fatal second countdown to demise. Had the executioners left the feet free, to better appreciate the wretched death struggle? A wave of nausea knocked Heero to his knees again. Do something, he told himself. He groaned softly. What could he do? He took in the attire of the crowd. The men in denim trousers and leather boots, long sleeved shirts, mostly gray or butternut colored. Some folks in waistcoats, bandanas tied at their necks. Scarcely a head in sight but had on a broad brimmed hat, some straw, others felt. Many people wore belts with sidearms in plain view. "Are you all right?" It took a minute to register in his blurred cognition. The question was directed toward him. "Huh?" Heero looked up into blue eyes. The woman extended a hand toward him. "Try to stand up. You're going to get trampled down there," she urged. Embarrassed, he took her hand. Stood carefully, trying not to unbalance her. She had a very strong hand and arm. Even while she kept a tight grip on the girl's body, wrapped for comfort in a hug at her other side. The ladies were both clad in long patterned gingham dresses, with bonnets on their heads to shade them from the sun. They looked very picturesque posed together there. The view of them served for a moment to displace the vile death image. But then it returned to Heero in full force. "I can't believe it," he muttered, shaking his head. "Horrible." The woman placed her soothing hand upon his shoulder. "Its over now," she told him softly. "But what about the boy? Lu, they're going to hang that boy. Please don't let them hang the boy." Heero looked up in alarm. The little old man now hung dismally still, his face a horrible swollen blue mask with the eyes bugging out, framed in cruel hemp. His feet drooping pathetically. The whole image small and forlorn, twitching in a ridiculous parody of life. The eager crowd already had turned to fresh prey. "Horse thief!" someone shouted. "Hang t'other one." "Come on, now. Rope necktie, just the size of that
skinny little throat. Try "Leave him alone. You're just a bunch of cowards and bullies!" the girl suddenly broke free, squeezing her way to the front of the lynch mob. "Hilde, no!" the tall woman shrieked, desperately struggling to follow. Even as Heero fought forward, his mind revolted. His hand twitched, itching of its own accord to finger his Ticket. Instantly to flee this ugly, frightening confrontation, as far away into the cosmos as he could travel. But he couldn't leave Duo to be hanged. His logic fought him each step of the way. Time is infinite. Maxwell cannot die. For every Point on every Line that contains his death, there are an infinite number more in which he still vibrantly lives and flourishes. But logic be damned. Yuy couldn't allow these wretched excuses for humanity to hurt this Duo at this Point on this Line. Not if Heero could prevent it. He had to act. "Lemmee go!" The boy struggled and writhed in his captors' grip. Managed in his terror to wriggle free from them. Unbalanced by the posture with his hands tied behind him, he tripped and fell forward into the dirt. Still trying to scramble away on his knees. Others reached to grab him, laughing and sneering at his contortions. The boy booted one in the knee, and head-butted the next in the crotch, sending both tormentors into painful howls. Someone grabbed Duo by that long brandy braid, while another slugged him, fist to the gut and another to the face. At last he collapsed, born down by the sheer mass of the subduers. They hauled him toward the second dangling rope, tightened the cruel loop around his pale throat and tugged him to a stand. The tall woman screamed out, so loudly they all stopped at her banshee cry. "How do you know this boy is a thief?" she demanded, the instant the stunned silence allowed her a hearing. "Caught red handed, riding upon the beast," one of the men in the crowd cackled, ghoulishly gleeful. "But you've already hung this man here as the thief. At least let the boy speak in his defense." "He's nothing but a weed tramp, homeless n' worthless. Needs stringing up, bad." "I want to hear his story," the tall woman insisted, blue eyes burning. Some of the other ladies collected there murmured their agreement. The women's force of determination silenced the men again. The boy glared defiance at them all, helping his cause not a whit. "I didn't steal no horse. Never stole nothing. Never. I wouldn't do that." "Says you. Nothing but a damned liar and thief." "I don't lie. Ever. Swear to the gods!" Heero shuddered at the misstep. Yestermark. He hoped, fervently, the others would have missed it. "I was walking along, peaceably. The old man rode up, offered me a ride. Being main tired and sore of foot, I took him up on it. Dun' know him. Neither his name nor his kin. Never seen him afore today. Dun know how or where he got the horse. Thas' the whole truth, like it or not," Duo spat the words out angrily, visibly hate filled. "Don't know you, neither, boy. Not your name nor your kin. Why should we believe a word you say?" "Only just cause its the plain unvarnished truth, is why." "I know him," Yuy called out, loud and clear. "Bah. City slicker. Sugar foot out of Rimsford, betcha." "The last I heard, that's not illegal," Heero retorted, scornfully. "Inadvisable, perhaps, but not illegal," he added with a grin. Sure enough, the crowd laughed. He could feel the mob ease a notch, settle down, the rabid cruelty disperse a bit. "I know that boy. His name's Duo Maxwell. And he doesn't lie. If he says he didn't know the horse was stolen, why then, he didn't know it," Yuy persisted. "All them Maxwells is red headed, buttermilk freckle faced, the lot of them." "Reckon the brat's a Maxwell, all right. Surely looks to 'em's a favor." Yuy felt the strange shift of opinion, almost palpable, surround him, tending toward a lighter, more charitable feel. He grabbed a pocket knife from his trousers, stepped boldly toward the bound boy. Duo's eyes met his, burning straight through to his soul. Heero shook his head slightly, urging the kid not to speak. A murmur of objection at the loss of the spectacle started up again, seemingly out of nowhere. "Thanks unto the Lord, for his mercy endureth!" "Now, Miz Lucrezia, don't start no Bible thumping at us." "And why not? Could it be, someone amongst us has a guilty conscience?" The crowd guffawed at the red faced protester's expense. While the mob was distracted with the exchange, Heero sneaked behind, to sever the ropes at Duo's wrists. Hastily loosened the noose. Into his ear, then, a muttered phrase. "Run for it. Low and fast. Hurry!" Maxwell scampered like a scared rabbit. His body twisted in pain, along with the corpse. He hearkened to the sobs in the eternal distance, enduring several miserable slamming beats of his heart. "Let me go to him," he pleaded to the sentient Universe. Heero found himself crouched by the bright stream, the roar of rushing water sweet to his hearing. And there sat the boy, with broken old castaway boots, far too large for his feet, set aside. His blistered and bleeding toes thrust into the cooling torrent. His face in his hands, shoulders shuddering as he wept. "Please don't cry." "I'm not." Duo scrubbed at his damp face with the backs of his fists, shaking his head adamantly. Then broke down again. "They shouldn't uh killed the old fellow. He didn't mean no harm. Anybody that looked could uh seen that, surely. The gods curse them all. They should never uh hung him. T'was a damned cruelty." "Yes, it was, indeed. I'm truly sorry." "What ya lied for? Told 'em all ya knew me? Why'd ya say that?" "I do know you." "How's that possible, and you a stranger?" "I knew your name, didn't I?" "Maybe. Not sure what my name is. Folks in Rimsford set me to walking this way. Seeking family. There's a claimstead, yonder a piece more. Supposed to be the old Maxwell place." "You don't remember it?" "Nah. Don't remember much of anything, most the time." Heero studied the face, red and scrunched from battling against the tears, a black eye causing the one to swell shut. The other glittering like an amethyst gemstone, filled with angry sparks. Yuy scarcely could remember a more helpless moment. Inexplicably, he burst out laughing. Maxwell was on him in a minute, hands around his throat. Yuy broke the clench and rolled his opponent onto his back. Bare feet, wet, found his midriff and jolted hard. Heero went flying. He tucked midair and flipped tidily. Landing upon his feet, knees bent, he raised his guard instantly. Not a moment too soon, since the boy was there already, fists clenched, chin tight to his chest, battle ready, a formidable combatant. "You're a damn fine bantam, aren't ya though, Mr Fighting Cock?" "Thank you." "You think I'm funny, huh?" "No, not a bit of it." "What ya laughing in my face for, then?" "I guess it seemed better than crying?" "Reckon so, at that." Maxwell paused thoughtfully a moment, swiped at his runny nose with his tattered shirt sleeve and then grinned. "Well then, dun think I want to beat up on you. Considering you spoke up for me when ya did with them black hearted hooligans. Guess t'would be more likely to say thank you for standing by me so steadfast. Which I do." He stuck out his hand. Yuy took it and shook it heartily. "You been following me?" "Not really. I just wanted to see that you were okay." "Guess I am. Now. Just gonna go on and find that Maxwell claimstead. See if it sets my poor sorry memory to firing any." Yuy tried not to shake his head. He doubted there would be anything or anybody at that destination who could tell Duo about his past. Heero thought the boy would be better off staring up at the stars for answers. But in resignation, he waited for the kid to pull into the wretched boots again and wearily set off on his path. They walked a considerable trek through the unruly wilderness. It was a glistening, brilliant place. Towering ancient oaks, huge tulip poplars, chestnuts and elms, the sweet fire maples. Ever and again admixed, the fragrant cedar stands, growing so straight and tall, as if each tree was a heart's true prayer, cast directly up to the gods in heaven. Shy doe and their dewy eyed fawns started and ran. Staunch roebucks standing brave and defiant of the intruders. Black bears, large and dangerous, but strangely as timid as the deer. The smaller creatures in abundance, fox, raccoon, cotton tailed rabbits. Gray squirrels and striped little chipmunks, skunks and porcupines and oposum. Sudden collections of colorful wildflower underfoot. And challenging the colors to a duel of beauty, myriad songbirds, aloft in their brilliant plumage. With the grand raptors sailing through the glimpses of vast firmament far distant over their heads. It was a place for which you could feel an endless passion, conceived in your heart's pulse on your natal day. An affection that would survive even the last gasping of your final rest. A place to love eternally. Heero could easily understand why the homesteaders had rested here. He would like to remain, too, if only he knew how to accomplish the sowing of his feet like some strange crop into this soil. The cabin, when they came upon it, was sturdy and inviting. But clearly long neglected. The reason for that was evident when they came to the burial plot. A dozen wooden markers planted in the earth, all of similar vintage. And saddest of all, a man's corpse, picked clean by the scavenger animals, much dried and weathered, lying forlornly atop the earthen graves. Duo knelt there, staring solemnly at them. "Likely they died off at once and the same spell. Some fever that struck them down, the lot. And this poor fellow, the last of them, with no mourner left to bury him. Crawled here to die amongst his own. Sad old soul. You've found your peace, ha'n't ya?" Trying to distract the boy, Heero walked toward the house. "Do you have any recollections of this place, Duo?" "Nary a one." "I was afraid of that." Yuy came to the door, which hung upon a single moldering hinge, the other rusted through and fallen. He looked into the dark interior, to shadowed suggestions of furniture and household goods, silently gathering dust. In a dingy square of window light, upon the sill, stood an hour glass. A view which suddenly set Yuy's heart to hammering. He had to reach for it, had to try, to grasp that thing. Felt compelled to seize the object. He reached out a trembling hand and drew it forth. Why was it familiar? His mind leafed frantically through impossible memories. Roman slaves as gladiators. Amerindic warriors singing tribal songs as their drums pounded the tattoo of his heart. Buccaneers upon the high seas drawing swords to fight. This hour glass, tumbling through Time and Space, becoming a winged chariot, a bird, a meteor. This hour glass, sitting upon a clumsy warped bedside
table next to a bejeweled dragon. Heero's arms around a boy, grasping
the warmth of his young body, stealing that heat and mingling it with
his own, eternally. "Don't mean no rudeness, but what do you care?" "Hmm?" "What's my ailing punkin head to you? What does it matter, if I can remember stuff or not?" Heero licked his cracked lips with his dry tongue, swallowed the lump in his throat. "Duo, listen to me, and try not to laugh or protest too much at what I say. I'm not from this Place. Neither do I belong to this Time. And I believe that you have Traveled from a much greater Distance than even have I. Duo, I want to show you a device. I want you to come right up to me and touch it, if you will be so bold." Yuy set the hour glass gingerly upon the ground at his feet. Then pulled forth the Ticket from his shirt front, and offered it out to view. He held his breath lest the unstable Vortex should take it upon its fickle self to fling him suddenly far from Duo's side. The boy stared, fascinated at the glittering square as it tingled in Yuy's finger tips. Duo's hand reached forth, even as Heero's had moments before, to grasp at the Time piece. He was inches away from contact. "Hold it right there!" The two boys jumped at the sudden sound cutting through the solemn stillness. "I'm sorry, Mr Yuy. But we can't let you do that. You step right back, now. Slowly and carefully, and you wont get hurt." Heero turned as he hesitated, and stared directly into the barrel of a six shooter. A loaded, aimed and cocked pistol. It was the two aristocrats again. The one with long platinum hair, now pulled back in a severe knot at his neck. The other, strawberry blonde. Both in somber black broadcloth jackets, waistcoats and breeches, shiny leather riding boots, broad brimmed hats. The two intruders glared sternly at Yuy. "I do not wish to shoot you. But I cannot allow you to interfere with this vital task." The pale man gestured calmly with the loaded weapon. "You can't shoot me," Yuy taunted in retort, sounding bolder than he felt. "You are following me. Repeatedly. You need me, in order to find the boy again, at more Points on the Line." "Perhaps so. But we have other means for the hunt as well. You are valuable to us, Mr Yuy. But still expendable. You should not test this point, for it is the last mistake you will make. Trust me, at the very least, being shot at this range will hurt like fire and brimstone." "Its okay. I'm not scared of them," Duo gave Heero a small smile, even as he stepped back from him. "Just do like they say. I don't want to see ya hurt, neither. Please." "Mr Maxwell," the blonde purred. "For someone so young, you are very wise." He raised his hand, wielding an entirely different weapon. Aimed it at the boy's heart and immediately fired. The scene fragmented into broken shards as Heero was flung headlong into the Vortex. Vision was gone then. But as everything erupted to null, he could still hear his own voice, crying Duo's name. ~ * ~
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