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"Hellfire"Written By: Keiran
Genre: Supernatural Pairings: 1+2+1, hints of others Warnings: mildly religious stuff. Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following
is strictly for entertainment purposes. Archive: FF.net, Gundam Wing Diaries. For the
record, I have an “Ask and you shall receive” policy. Notes: This is a fusion with the movie Constantine. Doesn’t follow it closely, or at all really. Thanks to the Amazing Shenlong, for betaing!
" Hellfire"
“Heero!” Quatre? Heero wanted to ask. How did you know where I live? Then he remembered, the slender blond was psychic. Must be rubbing off on me, he thought dazedly, this whole psychic thing. I wonder what will Duo say… Wait. “Duo!” The name escaped his mouth, followed by a coughing fit. The world returned to its proper shape. “Easy. You’ll be fine.” An unfamiliar hand offered him a glass of water. “Drink slowly.” The water slid down his throat, easing the cough. It helped him focus. “What the fuck happened?” he rasped out. Silence answered him. He looked around, at the apologetic and concerned expressions Trowa and Quatre were wearing, and grim determination on the stranger’s face. “Duo happened, I’m afraid,” the latter said. “Turns out we had the Antichrist under our very noses.” “What? No, that’s not possible!” Duo? No way he was the Antichrist. “And who the hell are you?” “This is Wufei Chang,” Quatre said quietly. “He’s a scholar. History of religions and occultism.” The dark-haired man nodded curtly. “Another freak?” “Strictly speaking yes, another freak,” Wufei answered a tad stiffly. “What’s this bullshit about Duo being the Antichrist again?” Heero’s head was aching like he’d been hit with a mallet. Then he remembered – walls do tend to have that effect. “Shit. He threw me across the room.” “Without even touching you,” Quatre supplemented. “Which would imply he’s at least aware of what he is, at best. At worst, he’s ready to get the End started. I had another vision, I’m afraid. Rather explicit,” he added seeing Heero’s round eyes. “Duo is one of my best friends, I like to keep tabs on him.” “Well, isn’t this embarrassing,” the officer muttered, rubbing his neck. “Still, something is not right.” Heero looked at Quatre again. “You mean except Duo suddenly being the evil incarnate?” “You’re still alive,” Trowa said bluntly. “Oh, thank you very fucking much. I really wish I wasn’t, at the moment.” “Heero, be reasonable for a second. Duo knows just about everything about my visions, and I told him today that you will kill the Antichrist.” “You’re saying he should have killed me.” “Or have you possessed. Don’t know why he didn’t do that, actually, most demons would think it’s a brilliant strategic move,” Wufei wondered aloud, tapping his chin. “That’s a good question,” Quatre picked up the thread. “Do you carry any amulets? Anything to prevent a possession?” “Not that I know of.” “Did you ever participate in a ritual? Anything which could have attracted a supernatural force?” Heero opened his mouth to deny, but stopped himself. When Duo’d showed him the Hellfire earlier, something in his memory stirred. “I was in a church during a fire once, when I was ten. I don’t remember much, but I remember my shirt catching fire. I doused it with holy water. I think- I mean, now I’m pretty sure that was Hellfire.” The two freaks looked at each other. “That’s one mystery solved. A lifetime of protection against possession and most supernatural influence,” Wufei said. “Perfect balance.” “Usually a mark left by either holy water or Hellfire fades as soon as the contact is broken,” Quatre hastened to explain to the other two. “But if someone is touched by both at the same time, they leave a combined, permanent mark. Which would mean that you, Heero, are immune to both demonic and angelic influences.” “Was that why Duo couldn’t kill me?” “No. Killing wouldn’t be a problem.” “I feel better already,” Heero muttered. “And I can’t think of a reason for him not to,” the blond said softly. “I just doesn’t make sense!” “Does it mean he can still be brought back? Exorcised or something?” “You cannot exorcise people,” Wufei broke in, slightly irritated. “You exorcise demons out of people. The Antichrist is not a case of possession, he is fully human and fully demonic.” “I’m doing the math and coming up with some strange solutions here,” Heero said frowning. “It worked for Jesus, it’s only just that it works for his counterpart too.” “Splendid.” So Duo wasn’t kidding when he mentioned the logic being ravaged viciously. “If he is the devil, or whatever, how come none of you noticed?” He glared at everyone accusingly. “Don’t look at me, I’m just a bodyguard,” Trowa said. “According to most sources, the Antichrist would have powers to hide his presence from everyone, even unconsciously, unless he chose to reveal it.” Wufei might have looked like a martial artist, in his gi, or whatever it was called, Heero reflected, but he sure sounded like a scholar. Any minute and he’d start quoting references with page numbers. “That is mentioned or hinted at in several sources, including the first letter of St. John, chapter…” Right on cue. “Spare me,” the detective said sourly. “The way I see it, Antichrists should have some identifying features. Sociopathy, psychological disorders, manifested as cruelty to people or animals, communications issues-” “It’s not quite so simple, Heero. Human psychology doesn’t necessarily apply to the supernatural,” Quatre explained. “Even though I agree, there should be some indications, like…” He fell silent, his face paling. “Like what?” “Increase in the amount of possessions in the vicinity, both angelic and demonic. Natural phenomena,” Wufei finished. “I can’t say anything about the latter, but the former… I believe the _expression is ‘duh’.” “It’s his job, searching for demons. He took it seriously,” Trowa countered. “You have the Sight too, you should know both demons and angels are around a lot of the time. If that was the only indicator, you should be suspected too.” “Yes, but I wasn’t brought up by a demon and an angel,” Wufei said smugly. Heero wanted to hit him, for the “quod erat demonstrandum” tone, until his brain registered the words. The room fell into silence. “What?” Heero asked cautiously. He noticed that Trowa’s _expression seemed pretty surprised too. “He didn’t exactly go around announcing it,” Quatre said. “But as far as I know, Solo found him somewhere on the streets, alone, when he was maybe three. I will never understand just why he took him in, but he did. After a while they came here, stayed with Howard, until Duo was eight. Then he went to Father Maxwell’s orphanage.” “Oh.” A brain cell sizzled. “You mentioned him being brought up by a demon and an angel…?” “Solo and Howard, respectively.” An image of a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, greying goatee and sunglasses did the cancan across Heero’s mind. Suddenly Solo’s earlier remark made sense. “Oh.” “There is a story there, but I don’t know the details, I’m afraid.” “I’m not sure I want to,” Wufei muttered. “Good thing they let Duo go to an orphanage, they were hopeless at childrearing.” “No they weren’t! He turned out okay.” “First of all, last time I checked, beer and wine is not what toddlers should be fed. Secondly, if by ‘okay’ you understand speaking seven languages, Latin, ancient Greek and Aramaic included, before learning how to read, I congratulate you.” “Excuse me,” Heero felt obliged to speak up, “I don’t mean to interrupt, but don’t we have an apocalypse on our hands?” “You think this is off-topic?” Trowa asked, helping the detective up. “You should see Duo and Wufei banter.” “I can imagine. What do we do now?” “We have to stop the apocalypse, of course.” Heero knew he should ask “how?”, but he had that horrible feeling he already knew. “I know how you feel about it, but flaming sulphur raining from the sky is not exactly what humanity needs to be better folk.” Heero shook his head. It’s not like he wanted flaming sulphur particularly, hell no. Just… “I know,” he said instead. “I know.” He straightened. “How do we find him?” “Megiddo would be an obvious place to start,” Wufei said with a shrug. “As in Israel? How do we get to Israel in time?” “He has to get there too, remember? He doesn’t have that much of a head start.” “No, just super demon powers. Fucking brilliant.” “If you ask me,” Quatre said visibly irritated, “I would start looking at Mirror Street. But please, don’t let me interrupt. I only get remarkably accurate visions, of course.” Heero and Wufei looked at the blond, while Trowa placed a hand on his shoulder. There was a barely visible smirk on the bodyguard’s face. “That does make it easier,” the black-haired man conceded eventually. Then he turned to Heero. “We haven’t much time.” “I know,” the policeman answered quietly, picking up the gun he was admiring earlier. The headache was still there, but it was dissipating, thanks to the sudden burst of adrenaline. “I know.” TBC.
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