castleinthemist | .01.

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gundam wing: duo maxwell [au1]

.01. - Open

He really should have known better. He was the kind of person capable of getting in to trouble just walking across the street, what made him think that going exploring in the castle alone was a good idea?

Well, really, he never thought it was a good idea. It was just an idea. One that he did despite the possible risk of it.

And now he was regretting that.

Having made his way up to a flat, almost roof like area of the castle, he was simply looking around the edges, thinking it was about time to start heading back to his room since there really hadn't been anything of interest around there except for a couple of barrels he couldn't open in another room. He leaned over one of the little ledges that hung over another area below, spotting what looked like train tracks.

Well that was interesting! But not something he wanted to keep to himself. His double would sure as hell want to know about that, right? He kind of wished he'd brought something to draw a map out with, but he knew if he went back now he could recall the path there from memory alone.

He turned to start the trek back, and it was that moment fate decided to remind Duo Maxwell that his luck was good, but never as good as he would have liked it to be.

Loose, crumbling stone fell away from where his right foot was, and his balance was lost. He felt a sickening sensation in the pit of his stomach as he fell backwards. A yelp sounded from him as he grabbed what was left of the ledge, feet dangling high above the stone floor below. If he fell, it was going to hurt. A lot. If it didn't kill him.

"Damnit...!"

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A long while after his chat with Heero, he'd finally worked up the nerve to seek his double out to ask him a few important things. The younger was practically absent in the past few days, hiding out in his room or something Duo and thought. He'd been trying to choke down a bit of that flavorless gruel when he'd spotted the boy heading out an adventure, and if it hadn't been for that he probably wouldn't have gone the right direction. Or so he thought.

Hadn't he come up this way? There weren't many that options either. He trekked further until he rounded a corner up a stairwell, heading up and up until he stepped onto a flat stone roof. Aside from the birds, it was pretty damn lonely up here. "Well shit."

He looked around again. "Where the hell did he go?"

"Nnng--!" Duo grunted, flailing weakly to get his other hand on to the ledge. Nothing he grabbed stayed together long enough for a hold. Stones slipped and clattered on the floor below him softly, but that didn't give him any hope for a gentle fall.

He didn't hear the other one above him, but he still yelled loudly, mostly at his horrid luck and whatever deity was listening to him right then.

"Crap!"

Lucky for him, the deity listening happened to be the one on his side. The God of Death. Duo heard the familiar yell and followed the noise. Coming up on the ledge he spotted the hand and slowed a bit. He saw the crumbled edge and he proceed with caution, moving towards the edge and moving to his knees before reaching down to grab the other boy's wrist.

"Gimme your other hand, quick!"

Duo stared back at his double for a second, throwing his hand up again in an effort to grab his.

"I-it's... really gonna suck if you drop me..."

Duo grabbed his double's arm around the wrist, allowing him to grab him by the arm. His other hand grabbed the same arm firmly and he started pulling up, getting a bit of leverage. Frankly, this kid had best be grateful he was blessed with decent upper body strength.

"Ain't gonna drop you, kid! Just hang on!" He started pulling up and back best he could.

"I've been doin' the hangin', I'd like to stop now!" Duo shot back, his legs kicking frantically as the other pulled. Eventually he was able to get a toe hold on the thick ledge he was hanging off of and with a grunt he threw himself up on to it, landing on his stomach while panting.

"I... need... to stop fallin' offa things..."

Once he hauled Duo up enough and he made the rest himself, Duo released him onto the roof, kneeling by his side. He looked him over for injuries, his hand careful on his back. With the comment, he had to chuckle.

"Well, at least you had a good view." A bad joke as he patted his double's back and withdrew completely, sitting back.

"I shouldn't have to remind you to not make a habit of it." He was sure he mentioned it last time, but he couldn't be sure.

"Eheh..."

The chuckle was weak, but there was humor in it as well as a small smile over his shoulder.

"Sorry... guess all the stone here is kinda weak. Might wanna make a note of that yourself," he said, sitting up on his knees and pointing down. "There's tracks down there. No idea where they lead or if there's anything on 'em, but I haven't heard a train or anything yet."

It was weird, hearing him apologize again for something like this, but he wasn't going to call him on it. No need to bring attention when he was just covering for his pride in the end. He brought up a hand to scratch the back of his scalp.

"Train tracks? You wanna point it out to me in a few?" Give him a chance to catch his breath, anyway. Instead, he waited a few more minutes before looking back to his double.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah..." Duo nodded, crawling over to the more solid part of the roof, also catching his breath.

"... what?"

Duo had made it a point to help him along with that motion, making sure he was on solid ground before really getting into anything.

"Just wanna know what the last big thing you remember doing was."

"Last... 'big' thing?" Duo echoed, raising an eyebrow as he looked up as his double. "Define 'big'."

He rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to find a better way to phrase it. Okay...

"I mean the last notable event. In regards to the war." That'll do it.

"The war? ... the Eve Wars or... Marimeia's Amry? 'cause there's more than one, yehknow..."

The comment came with an odd trailing off of his tone. Why was he asking? Shouldn't HE be the one asking his double what was in his future?

Well, that answered his question right there. Just like what Heero had told him, same term. 'Eve Wars.' Wasn't something he'd experienced at all, and that means that they weren't from the same timeline after all. There was a brief look of disappointment in his eyes.

"Yeah. That's kinda about what Heero told me--" He turned his attention to look past his time lost double at a black bubbling mass growing on the ground on the corner of the roof.

"What's that?"

He probably would have caught the disappointment in the others' eyes if he hadn't suddenly found himself nearly choking at the mention of Heero.

And then promptly distracted from that.

"Wait, Heero's here-- ... the hell?!"

By the time he yelled it was no longer a pulsating mass of black. There was, in fact, a figure emerging out of it, and it seemed to be focused on them.

"Yeah he's here!" Duo said quickly as he rose to his feet, watching as the black figure looked at them with a blank gaze, white glowing dots as eyes he assumed. One nasty little bastard with wings and everything looking right at them, big black wings extending. Once it left the black swirling mass on the ground, another one started to rise out of it.

The big one was coming for him, and he made to help his double to his feet.

"Okay, that's great, I'll deal with that later!" Duo yelped as he was hauled on to his feet. He wasn't sure what it was about these things that sent a wave of panic in to his heart and his stomach twisting, but frankly just their presence terrified him.

"We should run. We should run now."

Because standing around made so much sense! Duo felt a cold fear grip him and he almost froze before his double spoke. He turned his head to his double and turned on his heel, starting back for the stairs. He was confident that they could keep up with each other.

He was more than able to keep up, and really one would think that just running from something that had literally oozed out of the stone would have gotten them a clean escape.

Except.

They could fly.

The big ones, even with their seemingly unwieldy forms, were able to flap skeletal wings and lift themselves in to the air, getting distance over their supposed speed.

This was going to end badly if they didn't come up with some sort of plan. Hell, it might end badly even if they DID.

Running wasn't a plan? He wasn't about to stick around to find out what these things were vulnerable too, not if he didn't have to in any case! He looked overhead as one of them swooped down at them, mainly aiming to wrap one of it's big hands around the little one.

Duo didn't see the trajectory, he just ran, ran back down to that door he'd emerged from. "This way!"

Even if it wasn't exactly a plan, it was pretty much all they had right then. Duo's eyes scanned the area they moved through frantically, hoping to spot something akin to a weapon in their hasty retreat, but nothing stood out.

Running it was. Running, and a lot of ducking as they went far too fast down the crumbling stone steps.

"Shit--!" he swore as he felt one swoop dangerously close to his head. The hands felt like little more than smokey tendrils at first brush, but after a very odd sort of delay he also felt the distinct sting of what could only have been claws on his scalp, nearly snagging his hair.

Thankfully he managed to get away and keep going, but damned if it wasn't an all together terrifying sensation.

"Go go go go go..."

Duo had stopped at the door, seeing his partner through to the inside before moving through the threshold himself. Just as he passed through he was grabbed under both arms, yanking him back through the door and up.

"Aaah-- Shit!" He cried out as he was drawn up into the air by one of them, ghost like claws wrapping around his torso and seizing his arms. While he struggled, he could see the other one landing at the portal as the shadow which had him descended towards it.

He'd long learned to be cool headed in tense situations, but this like so many other things as of late was beyond his realm. Panic was taking him and he kicked his legs and thrashed his arms for what little movements he could at that time.

"NO! Let me go!" Bad choice of words, because he was let go, right into the arms of the other one while the one who had him went to chase his double. That sinking feeling? That fear? It was back with a vengeance, and he really was sinking. He could feel the solid ground at first, something to stand on before it was breached and the creature pulled him down.

"Gnnnn... nnn." He grunted, jerking his shoulders against the beast which held him still with a pressure he almost couldn't feel. That's what it felt like. Like some goopy slime overtaking him and pooling around him. Something he couldn't even pull out of once they stuck him in there. What really got him though was looking down into it, like some dark swirling void threatening to swallow him up into some kind of eternal darkness. He wasn't claustrophobic by any means, but he was certainly beginning to understand those fears!

"Ohgodohgodohgod-- SOMEONE HELP ME!" He yelled, now frantically struggling as he was pulled down to his thighs.

Duo heard the scream long before it ever registered that he was very suddenly alone. He skidded to a halt on the dusty floor and whirled around fast only to find that his double was already gone, in the air and being held tight by one of those shadows. Whatever fear that had been there before was gone instantly, replaced by furious anger. There was no swear sufficient enough for how pissed he truly felt right then.

But he couldn't just run after them. Not without something to--

There.

Right in the corner at the top of the stair well, unnoticed before in his previous exploration, a simple length of heavy, square wood. Not the most effective weapon, but it would have to do. He hit the ground running, hand snatching the stick as soon as he passed it without breaking his stride. Like hell he was going to waste even a precious second getting there.

Back up the stairs, around the corner, down to the portal. All but two of the shadow creatures had dispersed to... somewhere, leaving the others to simply hover over the portal in wait, apparently keeping watch to make sure Duo went down and stayed down. And they were the only ones there to face the younger one's wrath.

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HIM!"

It was a ferocious scream that echoed off the stone workings around them, as did the distinct sound of the wood striking the first one straight across what could only be it's face. It reeled and stumbled but didn't go down, and the other promptly retaliated with a shockingly strong backhand across Duo's face. He staggered back, catching his balance and swinging again, this time cracking the first one hard enough that it actually went off the ledge and to the ground below where it hit and appeared to melt in to the stone before fading.

That just left the other one. Rather than follow up his swing and potentially leave himself open, Duo jumped back twice, zig-zagging in his pattern to keep the shadow from predicting where he was going to be next.

Instead of staying on level ground to fight him, though, it took off to the sky again, apparently convinced that Duo's double wasn't going to crawl out of the blackness any time soon.

"I don't think so!" Duo barked as it tried to get above him, jumping up and swinging down hard, successfully knocking it down to the ground. Once again it got up, but this time Duo simply thrust his foot out at it and caught it before balance could be restored, sending it to the same fate as the first one.

Panting heavily, sweat rolling down his face, he dropped to his knees next to the portal and without thinking thrust his arms inside it, grabbing his double under the arms and hauling him up.

"Come on! Don't let these bastards get the best of you!"

He was waist deep now, still his arms held fast, pinned to his chest as the monster's arms wrapped around him. The cold darkness that was swallowing him up felt like it was draining his own warmth away. It wasn't the first time he'd felt this kind of fear either. The last time? Last time he was on death's door, and that thought chilled him do the bone.

He caught sight of his double storming up the castle stairs to save him and do combat with these damn monsters. The battle cry snapping his attention to the younger one as he watched the exchange. Strangely enough, seeing himself be smacked across the face triggered anger in himself and he began his struggles anew.

"Someone shoulda warned you." He said shakily, looking back to the one who held him in it's embrace. "Anyone who comes up against the god of Death is gonna die!" That bit came as a growl, but he let out another fearful yelp as the beast pushed down on his head, pushing him down to his chest, then his armpits. He raised his arms watching as the one who held him flew off to face his other. He was sinking faster now, and that dark and angry scowl gave way to fear once again. He was done for, at this rate!

By the time his double was done, he was neck deep, his chin pointed up out of fear of drowning in this thing. Hurryhurryhurry! His double grabbed him and hauled his ass up, but it was tough at first. Once he managed to get his arms and chest out, he helped himself up, climbing back out onto the cold stone roof top, near collapsing on his double, his face pebbled with sweat.

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