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"Duo's Salvation "Written By: Jewel of Hell Disclaimer: Don't own nothin' but these words Rating: NC 17 Warnings: Gratuitous violence, abuse, torture, language, yaoi, lemon, angels, demons, bigotry, hypocrisy, blasphemy, heresy, sacrilege, and general religion-bashing. THIS IS NOT A STORY FOR THE CLOSE-MINDED. Pairings: 1x2, others Summary: When the Prince of Hell is captured and taken to Heaven, it is up to the Prince of Heaven to save him. But what if he believes Duo is already being saved? "Duo's Salvation "
"So tell me about the Prince of Heaven?" Hilde asked. Duo, lying flat on his back amidst the buildings of the great city, turned his head to look at the dark dragon. "What do you want to know?" "I'm dying to hear how he wound up being with the Prince of Hell. And what does he look like?" Glad Relena had disappeared some hours ago, Duo smiled wistfully. "He's very handsome. Dark hair all roguish and messy, cobalt blue eyes, all this wonderful golden skin . . ." "Ooh, he sounds perfect!" Hilde squealed - a very un-dragonlike sound. "So you obviously love each other." At her words, Duo sat up. An unexpected pain wrapped around his heart like a poisonous vice. "Yeah, I love him," he said at length. Was it really possible to have any kind of functional relationship where that painfully strong emotion was unrequited? If Hilde heard that half-omission, she made no comment. "How long will you be staying here?" she asked. A question he'd been dying to ask abruptly superceded his desire to answer that question - at the moment he had no answer, anyway. "Why do dragons supposedly love my mother? Or is that just a rumor?" Hilde's head rose off her front legs, eyes narrowing. "No, it's not rumor. We really do love her. And . . . I don't know that I could explain why we love the Black Mother. We've loved her so long the reasons matter less than the love itself, if that makes sense." Duo sighed. Yeah, it did, even if it didn't answer his question at all. "You couldn't tell me more?" "Well, there was a time - and this was a long time ago, mind - when angels were starting to get more and more forceful with this world. Everyone had to live a certain way, follow a strict dogma of beliefs, you know. Dragons were not willing to make a lot of those concessions. Tovala defended us against the King of Heaven, even though she was more vulnerable here than us. She told him he had no right to demand anything of us, since dragons were Candora's defenders. There's an old legend about her. Wanna hear it?" Drawing his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them, Duo nodded. "Kay. It's why she's called the Black Mother. Eons ago, back when this world was younger, the first dragon was born. Legend has it that the magic on Candora coalesced into an actual being, most powerful of all the beings in the world. Word reached the villages and towns and cities that this powerful being had been born, and naturally there were those who decided to hunt it, wanting to use its power for their own. "The dragon was still very young and inexperienced. He didn't know anything about anything. He was innocent and naive, and he believed all things he saw were beautiful and treated them with respect, curiosity, and eager excitement. He met several humans, most of them girls and young adventurers, and he loved them. He spent many, many hours playing with them. "So when the hunting party found him, he wasn't expecting them to attack him. He was severely wounded in moments, and it was a frightened and confused little dragon that took flight to escape. He couldn't fly very far before his wings gave out and he crashed to the ground. Wounded, bleeding, and terrified, he lay there in a kind of stupor. All he kept thinking was, why would they hurt me? Won't someone help me? "Someone heard his prayer. The young dragon, scarce more than a few months old, looked up to see a woman approaching him. She had long, blood-red hair and gold eyes. Her skin was like molten lava, and her voice was soft as shadow. She knelt beside him, pulling his small head into her lap and soothing him. She whispered in his ear she would take care of him and protect him. When the hunting party found them, she risked her own life to drive them away. "She managed to succeed, though she herself was wounded. She took the little dragon deep into the mountains where no one could possibly find him. For many, many days she stayed with him, nursing him back to health, hunting for him, talking to him, restoring him to his former kind and loving self. And because he was little more than a baby, he called her Mother. "Tovala stayed with him for almost ten years. She taught him how to hunt, how to swim, and what kinds of fruits and roots tasted the best. She taught him that humans could not always be trusted, and she taught him caution. She taught him what kinds of buildings to stay away from, and when a group of adventurers could be approached. She taught him to respect all life as sacred, and to not harm others for the sake of causing harm. "And when he was bigger, stronger, and able to take care of himself, she left him. She promised she would return as often as she could, and he never stopped calling her Mother. It's said that when he had lived long enough, he retired his immortal life in Hell to be with her forever." Duo listened to the long tale, eyes closed. That physical description of his mother was not quite accurate - she had red eyes and black hair. But everything else was accurate. He could easily see her doing exactly that. An ache settled in his chest. He loved his mother fiercely, and she loved him just as fiercely. They were close, because he was her only child. It was a strange thing, but the Queen of Hell (or Heaven, for that matter) could have only one child. Tovala the Cruel was a strange title for her, because Tovala was rarely cruel. She could certainly be so, but she wasn't as a general rule. Tovala's wrath was an awful thing to behold if her kith and kin were threatened. He couldn't imagine how furious his mother must be in Hell right now, not knowing if her son was alive and well, or if he was suffering horribly at the hands of the angels. Even his father, Anzuei the Destroyer, was known to balk at Tovala's fury. "Thanks, Hilde," Duo said at length, aware she was giving him a curious look. "That's a great story." She broke into a wide dragon grin. "I know. At first, that's how all dragons were born. Tovala found the first female, and introduced her to the one she'd saved. They had the first dragonlings together." Sighing, Duo abruptly rose back to his feet. "Can you take me back to Wufei? I want to see if Quatre and Heero are back yet." "Sure!" she chirped. Her eyes sparkled with good humor. "Wanna ride on my back?" That grin was infectious, and Duo felt himself returning it. "Sure." She ran through the caves with a swiftness that could only be rivaled by the wind - hence, no doubt, their name. Duo had little trouble hanging on as she wound her way back the way they'd come. Hilde led them right to Wufei. The massive black dragon lounged on the ground, talking to Trowa, Quatre, and Heero. Hilde paused to let Duo slide down off her back. The demon ignored the others for now in favor of addressing Quatre. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked the gryphon. Quatre was halfway through rising in an instant, but Heero forestalled him. "Can it wait, Duo? We're discussing -" Duo sent him a withering glare, daring him to finish that sentence. Quatre's beak opened in hissing laughter, that fierce gleam back in his aqua eyes. "Apparently it can't wait, Heero," he said, rising fully and following Duo. Duo led him away from the others, back to the mouth of the caves, peering down the sheer cliff-face. Up here the wind was warmer, and he closed his eyes against it, feeling it whisper across his face. "What is it?" Quatre asked, spreading his wings momentarily as though considering catching an updraft. Then he folded his wings back to his body. "You were mocking me, weren't you?" Duo said, turning to face the gryphon fully. For a moment, the magical beast looked taken aback. Then his head tilted to the side, keen eyes narrowing. "You mean back in the forest." Grateful he wasn't being deliberately obtuse, Duo nodded, allowing the first hints of anger to seep through for the first time in a long time. "I don't appreciate being mocked, Quatre." More hissing laughter, but it wasn't mocking this time. "I was simply wondering why the Prince of Hell was being so taciturn. I never expected to find one of the most powerful demons allowing an angel to decide his fate so quietly. You've only done what he wants so far, is that not true? What about what you want?" It was Duo's turn to be caught off guard. What I want? He'd barely stopped to consider that since being brought to Candora. He wanted many different things, most of them standing at cross purposes. He wanted Heero to love him. He wanted to return home to Hell. He wanted to stop any war from returning to this world. He wanted to kill Oraia. He realized he'd closed his eyes against the onslaught of thoughts and feelings and forced them to open to meet Quatre's inquisitive eye. "I don't know what I want." "You mean you don't know how to pick which desire you want more," Quatre corrected sagely. Duo snorted. "Splitting hairs. Right now, I don't want to leave Heero." Quatre, who'd been sitting upright to now, lowered himself to the ground, front legs crossed. "You love him." "Yeah." "But he does not love you." Duo's head whipped around, and he stared at the gryphon. "Is that what he told you?" "No, that was a guess. But an accurate one, I see." Once more Duo turned away, anger and hurt seething through him. He said nothing, neither willing to confirm that nor lie and deny it. "And you're staying with him anyway," Quatre went on. Yeah, stupid isn't it? "How long can you stay with someone who doesn't love you?" Duo turned his empty gaze on the sky. Good question. He'd thought he could do it. But Quatre's words, and Wufei's too . . . they were painful to hear. He didn't want to change who he was. But if he was brutally honest with himself, that's exactly what he'd been doing. Who knew how long Heero would wallow in denial and his sense of duty? "Quatre, can you do me a favor?" The gryphon merely looked at him, though he did incline his head. "Tell Heero I've gone back to Hell." Duo couldn't begin to define the gleam that entered Quatre's eyes. "I suppose you don't need any help finding your way there?" "Of course not." Spreading his shining black wings wide, he prepared to spring off the ledge. He cast one last glance at the gryphon. "Thanks." Another nod. "I hope we meet again soon." Duo's lips quirked in a slight smile. "Lead an immoral, decadent life and when you die, I guarantee it." Quatre burst into hissing laughter as Duo stepped off the ledge. He immediately caught a thermal and allowed it to boost him higher. He could see Quatre's eyes on him as he slowly spiraled up out of sight. o0o 0o0 It was some time before Quatre's keen eyes could follow the Prince of Hell no longer. He felt immensely satisfied - he'd been disappointed to learn the demon Prince was so easily controlled by the Prince of Heaven. He'd wanted a headstrong, brash, willful demon of legend, not a mousy, quiet boy who did as he was told. Perhaps because that's exactly what Quatre was himself: stubborn and willful to a fault. Which was exactly why Trowa, an incredibly upright and sensible elf, loved him so much. Clicking his cruelly hooked beak, Quatre finally rose to his feet and turned back into the caves. It had been awhile since he and Trowa had shared a night together. He rather missed those acts of physical pleasure. Perhaps Trowa could be seduced into making love to him. Such was absurdly easy, after all. Elf, angel, and dragon were still where they'd been before. Heero frowned at the sight of him, eyes obviously taking in the lack of Duo. "Where's Duo?" he asked predictably. Quatre took his time answering, going back to Trowa's side and giving his elf lover a little nudge of affection with his beak. Then he daintily folded himself down into a lazy sprawl, curling his tail around his powerful back legs. Only when he was nice and comfy did he turn back to the angel, who by this point was looking annoyed and even a little concerned. "He asked me to tell you he's returning to Hell." Silence. "WHAT?" Heero eventually exploded, looking suddenly every inch the powerful and wrathful Prince of Heaven. "And you didn't bother to stop him? What the HELL is he even thinking? Doesn't he care that by doing so he's assuring war?" "He was probably just tired of giving his love to a fool angel who's merely using him," Quatre said primly, grooming his feathers with his beak. That comment earned him three sets of incredulous stares - although in Trowa's case it was laced with both awe and amusement. "Gryphons," Wufei said, chuckling. "You're all the same. Meddlesome little troublemakers." Heero looked as far from amused as he could possibly get. He whirled away from them, running back the way Quatre had come. Quatre ignored him. Really, when had his feathers become so mussed? Arms abruptly went around his neck, interrupting his fussing. He could feel Trowa shaking with laughter as he hugged his lover. "You rotten little beast. What are you trying to prove?" "Nothing," Quatre protested. "I just want Heero to realize he loves Duo, too. I can't stand to see Duo doubting himself." Still chuckling, Trowa released him and kissed his forehead. "I love you." Quatre gave him another affection nudge, in a much less appropriate place. "Love you, too." Wufei snorted. o0o 0o0 There were only certain places on Candora where a demon could re-enter Hell. Most humans and mortals would never even know they were there, but Duo was a demon. He could sense them easily, it was second nature. Dragons tended to lair near sources of great power, so the caves were not far from one such place. Duo could see the strange energy warping the air around it, though to a human it would seem as though they passed through a place that gave them a sudden chill and nothing more. Wings feeling a little tired from more flying than he'd done in weeks, Duo saw it gratefully. He had just begun his descent when he felt it. Or rather, felt her. It sent a shiver of ice down his spine. But at the same time, heat flared in Duo's belly. If he could somehow trick Oraia into entering the doorway to Hell, he could fight her on his terms. She would lose, and he would kill her. So he reversed his path, flying directly toward where he could feel her, blood racing and burning in his veins. Those cold, cold eyes of hers saw him. She was not alone, but there were only two other angels with her. Duo drew a black sword of pure power, the blade gleaming with an unholy light. "Well, well," he sneered from his position above her, wings spreading wide to keep him aloft, "look who it is. The Bright Hypocrite of Heaven. What in heaven's name are you doing here, Oraia? Lose something?" And he dove down at her, the black sword singing a discordant melody as he struck at her. A white sword of pure power appeared in her hands, and she deflected the blow. "Attacking me will not save you, Demon," she said in that hated, cold voice. "I will take you back to Heaven, and you will repent for working your evil wiles on the Prince of Heaven. Where is he? What have you done with him?" Duo watched with eager eyes as she took flight after him, and he fell before her attack, leading her slowly backward. "That's not the question you should be asking, Oraia. You should be asking what he's done with me. After all, he's the one who fucked me. Again and again." The cold mask cracked again, and heat flared in her eyes as she shrieked out her anger, doubling the ferocity of her onslaught. Duo continued to allow himself to be driven back. So close . . . almost there . . . "How dare you speak of the Prince that way!" she snarled. "As if he would stoop so low as to allow a filthy demon to touch him! He is not like you!" Duo laughed, deflecting blow after blow. "He touched me, Oraia! He stuck his holy cock up my ass. Not the other way around!" She let out a scream that sounded like a dying banshee and abruptly reversed her trajectory, flying away from him to land on the ground. Surprised and a little confused, Duo pulled up short to watch her. What is she -? "Duo!" Startled by the sound of that voice so close, Duo took his eyes off Oraia to locate the source. Heero was flying toward him, worry, anger, and fear written on his beautiful face. Damn, he had the most amazing eyes. Heero's frantic gaze was on Oraia, jarring Duo back to the seriousness of the situation. He turned back to the angel. But that second of distraction cost him. Oraia now held a bow in her hands, drawn tight, a gleaming golden arrow nocked. She released it, eyes filled with pure hatred. "DUO!" The arrow struck him right through the heart. Duo's indigo eyes went wide as unimaginable cold suddenly froze his entire body. His wings spasmed and collapsed, sending him falling back to the earth. o0o 0o0 Heero, already feeling anxious and tense, felt his heart double when he suddenly sensed Oraia as he flew. She was so close! He saw Duo first. The demon was in the air, holding a black sword. He called the Prince's name, but a split second later his eyes found Oraia. She was holding a bow, and he saw her nock a golden arrow, drawing the bow taut. That was an Unsummoning Arrow! The scream that left his lips did not sound like himself at all. So desperate, so terrified. The warning came too late - the arrow hit Duo in the chest. The only weapon in existence capable of killing a demon had just struck Duo right through the heart. The beautiful demon went rigid, eyes wide. Then his wings folded and he fell. Heero's wings furiously beat the air for speed as he raced to catch the demon before he hit the ground. Duo's skin was freezing, and his lips were blue as Heero landed. He sensed Oraia's intent just before she moved and immediately erected a temporary barrier around himself so she could not touch him. It blocked out everything so he could neither see out nor could anyone see in. He gently lay Duo on the ground, cradling the demon's head to his breast. "Duo?" he whispered, noticing how badly his hands shook. Indigo eyes fluttered open, and Duo offered a weak, strangled cough. Blood trickled down his chin, the brilliant red a disturbing contrast to the icy blue of his lips. "H-Heero . . ." he gasped. "Ungh . . . hu-hurts . . ." Hot wetness spilled down Heero's face. To his astonishment, he was crying. He touched the shaft of the arrow, hissing out a gasp at its infernal cold. "Duo," he barely managed, watching with growing horror as the young demon struggled to breathe. "Sh-shit, Heero," Duo mumbled, "why're ya c-cryin'?" He raised one trembling hand to brush one of Heero's cheeks, leaving a red smear behind. "Don't talk, Duo," Heero said in a voice far less firm than he would have liked. "Just stay still." Duo's normally bright eyes looked so dull. They slid shut. "I-I think . . . I'm d-dyin', H'ro . . ." His voice sounded so faint. Feeling like an Unsummoning Arrow had pierced his own heart, Heero crushed Duo even closer. "No. No! You're stubborn. You're a demon! Don't . . . don't leave me, Duo . . ." But each breath sounded more labored, the pulse under his fingertips was getting thready. There was, Heero knew, only one way to save Duo. If he stayed here on Candora, no matter what Heero did Duo would die. That thought hurt far more than Heero ever thought it could. He could not let the demon Prince die. He would have to take him back to Hell.
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