What is Good and What is Evil?

Enjoy-Fucking Mental!!!

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*You have no idea…* Duo thought as willed himself to change.
He didn’t have to see himself to know what was happening. The first thing was his skin, it was always his skin. Deep midnight blue spread across his back like colored blood under the flesh. Patches of it began to appear along his ribcage bleeding and running together. Four bands of color spread over his chest, two on each side, fading to deep violet at the ends. A single stripe of color twisted its way over each of his arms in a downward spiral. Twin stripes arched across his buttocks and over his upper leg towards his inner thigh. Thinner bands of color rose along the back of his neck, tinting his now pointed ears, slipping across the back of his head and down over his forehead from his hairline. He shuddered as his entire body went numb as though his nerve endings had all fallen asleep. His fingers reformed and lengthened into deadly claws while sharp fangs grew in. A sinuous tail, flicked from the base of his spine. The joints in his feet reformed, the distance from the ball of his foot to his ankle increased. Making him almost six inches taller and causing him to walk only on the balls of his feet, like a cat. The dagger slipped from his nerveless fingers and he slipped downward on his left knee as that entire side of his body lost motor control while his second spine grew in. Massive wings burst from his back, bat-like in their form of thin flesh and skin over a framework of bones. Double spikes rose from the ‘shoulder’ joint of the wings. Each side of his upper body now had its own spine and nerve system supporting it. He flexed first one wing and then the other. Rippling the indigo flesh that faded to wine and finally amethyst along the edges. His long braid remained the same and his eyes while still the same vibrant indigo now glittered in a way that was entirely inhuman. He stood to his feet and waited for Heero’s judgment and rejection.
The nymph-elf still stood in the river, his mouth hanging open, his dark blue eyes wide in shock.

“You’re a DEMON?” he asked shrilly in disbelief.

“Yeah, partly. So ya see, accepting you as a nymph isn’t really all that hard for me.” Duo said blithely trying to make light of the situation.

“Butbut…but…butbut…” Heero stopped to take a breath. “But demons are evil.” Heero said thoroughly confused.

“Now you get it. I’m a demon, demons are evil and therefore…I must be evil.” Duo said crossly.

“You’re not evil though.” Heero stated.

“How in the Nine Layers of the Abyss do you know!! You don’t know anything about me yet you think you’ve got me pegged!!!” Duo yelled. “You don’t know me! You don’t know what I’ve been through, what my life’s been like! Yet you want to be my best friend! I told you I was an assassin!! Did you think I was joking? I meant it! I KILL PEOPLE FOR MONEY!! I murder children! I kill women! I’ve done things you can’t even begin to imagine, my hands are bathed in blood, and you stand there with your ‘I just want to know you better’<<**in a squeaky voice** bullshit and I don’t believe it for a minute. That Golden bastard has something planned for me and you’re helping him and I’ll be damned to a devil’s lair before I give in to whatever he’s got going!!” Duo shouted loudly and turned away. He snagged his bundle with his tail and settled the straps onto his back with his hands.

“Duo please wait!” Heero called out as he turned to go. “You can’t leave you’re hurt!” he shouted worriedly. “Duo let me help.” He begged.

“Help!” Duo shouted. “What can you do to help!!”

“Let me stay with you at least until you get better.” Heero prompted as he stood before the now towering form. Duo stared down at him in disbelief.

“Are you mental? Do you not get it? I’m a fucking demon!!!!” he practically screamed. Heero shrugged.

“And I’m a nymph.” Heero said and sat down by the fire, beginning to finish his lunch without another word.

*He’s just going to sit there and finish eating. Fucking mental. My doubts on this guy’s sanity just keep on growing! Just sitting causally with his back to a demon, a naked little nymph by a fire. Like he doesn’t even care! Like its no big deal and he sees demons every fucking day! What the fucking hell!!* Duo thought wildly.

“Are you going to finish that bread?” Heero asked turning his luminous blue eyes towards Duo. They were like deep pools you could drown in.

“Yes!” he snapped out before he could think better of it. He never turned down food, even though he did want to leave. Duo crouched next to the fire and scarfed the bread hurriedly.

“Its going to rain again tonight.” He commented.

“How do you know?” he growled nastily in response. Heero smirked at him good-naturedly.

“Water-nymph.” Heero replied. Duo snorted and shoved the last of the bread into his mouth.

“Well I’d better get going then.” Duo stated bitterly. Heero looked at him sadly. Duo rose and limped about gather his meager things, then turned to leave.

“You hide for so long that you feel fake. And you almost can’t remember how you really look. And as much as you wish you were normal, you start to miss that other part of you. You start to forget who you really are.” Heero said softly, freezing Duo in his tracks. “A person can’t live like that. We are alike, you and I. In more ways than you think. Have I given you any real reason to not trust me? If I were in on some scheme for Quatre to get to you, I wouldn’t have let you meet him. I…want to help you. I always want to help anyone who lived through the Scorching, we need each other.” Heero said standing to his feet. “But it’s more than that and I don’t really know what it is…you’re in so much pain…and I just want to make it go away and I don’t really know why. I feel like I can’t stay away from you. Just……let me help you Duo, just this once let something go well for you.” Duo sighed and shook his head. “Don’t you have any friends that have worked out well, don’t you have anything that…hasn’t hurt?” he asked quietly.

“Just one.” Duo replied.

“Try for a second one.” Heero pleaded.

“Did…the Gold tell you who my mother was?” He asked suddenly.

“A black dragon.” Heero answered keeping the hate out of his voice.

“And did he tell you why she died?” he asked.

“Because it was killing people.” he stated as though it were obvious.

“No! SHE was not, SHE had gone to fine HER sister, because SHE knew that the Uprising was a set-up! SHE knew that they would be defeated and SHE went to save the only family SHE had left!” he shouted.
“Duo…” Heero began but the braid boy steamrolled over him in a whispered voice his eyes going distant.

“I followed her, even though she told me not to, I watched her plummet from the sky in a cone of fire. I went to try and help her but…I always thought she was the biggest thing on the planet. I felt like nothing could go wrong when she was around…but…she was so small compared to him…he towered and…I changed to fight him…she gave him the scar on his face…and she looked at me as I ran toward her…I’ve never seen her look scared before that…she almost beat him…” Duo shuddered and closed his eyes.

“You were at the Scorching to help the dragons?” Heero asked his voice emotionless.

“I was at the Uprising because I was a foolish child and mistakenly thought myself strong enough to help my mother. Now I live to kill the person who caused the failing of the Naïlo Uprising.” He said and turned to face Heero.

“No one knows who warned the forest dwellers about the dragons.” Heero stated. “We’ve looked, trying to form an alliance with them to prevent future attacks.

“I do. The person responsible for its failure, is the person responsible for its forming. Played both sides and came out on top. He made sure the dragons would lose, but timed it so that the forest would still burn to the ground.” Duo said bitterly. “And all the damn world is too blind to see it. You want to be my friend? You’re going to have to get over your bitterness for the Uprising. Be hurt that you lost family and friends, but don’t let it affected you so much, because I play a dangerous game and I won’t let feelings get in the way. You want to come with me fine, but I have work to do, and I’m greatly behind schedule.” Duo stated and went to the tent to sleep. He knew he couldn’t actually leave he could barely stand, despite his bluff. If he were truly human he would’ve passed out days ago and still been that way. Duo lay down onto the thick bedroll and rolled slowly to one side, hissing lightly in pain. He quickly fell into an exhausted sleep.

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Duo woke again to the sound of rain pummeling the tent in the darkness. He lay tensely trying to remember where he was.
*Where in the Abyss am I?* he asked himself silently. He inhaled a deep breath through his nose, scenting the air. *No bugbears.* He thought relieved and shivered. He went through his sleep fogged memories trying to place where he was. *Its warm here, and dry.* He told himself as he started slipping back to sleep. The reason for that warmth slipped an arm around his waist in their sleep and snuggled closer to him. Duo lashed out wildly to get away.

“Let go!” Duo screamed as strong hands gripped his flailing limbs. “Get the fuck off me!”

“Stop it lie still!” the other man growled harshly. Duo tried kicking him away with no success. “I said stop fighting.” The voice told him sharply and pressed against him firmly down on top of him to keep him from struggling. Duo tried to push away from him and began to cry.

“Please let me go, please.” He pleaded.

“It’s okay. I’m sorry, you nailed me in the side of the head.” The other man said softly and brushed back Duo’s hair. “It’s alright.” He stated and relaxed on top of Duo, letting his arms go. Duo shivered violently. He realized he was in his demon form, but couldn’t get his brain to work properly. It felt like dwarves were mining in his head and a troop of gnomes was helping. [15] “Are you going to be alright Duo?” He asked softly and brushed his hair back from his face again.

“H…Heero?” He asked uncertainly and the other released him completely.

“Are you going to be okay?” Heero asked sitting up and gripping Duo’s hand in his own.

“Yeah. Fine.” He replied croakily, aware that he sounded anything but all right.

“You sound like shit.” Heero stated grimly.

“Thanks. Dick.” Duo rasped in reply and Heero chuckled. Duo couldn’t help but smile wryly at the sound.

“Here drink this.” Heero instructed and handed a cup of liquid to Duo. “It’ll help with you’re cough.”

“I don’t have a cough.” Duo protested. Heero sighed and took the cup back. A few moments later a harsh rattling cough tore from Duo’s chest. He reached out to accept the cup once more and downed it quickly once he’d stopped coughing. “Thanks.” He said settling back into the bedroll. Heero lay down as well without touching him.

“Tell me about your mom?” Heero asked suddenly when it became apparent that Duo wasn’t going back to sleep. Duo was surprised to say the least, but…what the hell.

“She and my father tried to kill me when I was five because I started showing demon traits. I got away that’s about all there is.” Duo stated emotionlessly.

“I meant the dragon.” Heero said softly.

“Vorel? You want me to tell you about Vorel?” Duo asked stunned. He could see Heero nod in the darkness. “No.” Duo told him simply and rolled over quickly even though it pained him. *Fucking mental elf-nymph-thingy.* he thought sleepily.

*Well that was abrupt…* Heero thought to himself.
“I was born in Naïlo. My father was an elf. A wood elf. My mother was a nymph, she never showed my father her true form and he always said it was for the best because if he loved her anymore he’d burst. They died when I was little.” He commented sadly.

“How old were you?” Duo asked in spite of himself.

“Eighty-seven.” Heero replied. [17]

“Young.” Duo commented.

“My father’s friend Odin took care of me until I came of age.” Heero said. “What did you do after you left your parents?” Heero asked hesitantly.

“I quickly learned to hide my true form, which at the time consisted of fangs, claws and horns mostly, I only turned when I got emotional. I found my way to an orphanage, Maxwell Church of St. Cuthbert.[16] When it burned I got very emotional and behold…it was my fault that my home caught on fire and those I’d come to care for burned alive.” Duo said without emotion. They were silent for a while, neither of them sleeping, each lost in their own thoughts.

“What did you do after you came of age?” Duo asked although he was unsure what possessed him to do so.

“I traveled for a long time. I met a girl, human, she was seventeen. She had a child with my eyes and pointed ears when I was a hundred and twenty-two; I’d already left and didn’t know about it until five years later. By that time she’d gotten happily married and I’d moved on as well. That unfortunately didn’t end well.” Heero said sadly. “What happened after the orphanage?” Heero asked, he felt for some reason like it was okay to ask things as long as Duo asked a question first. Almost like he wasn’t intruding.

“Vorel took me in. She always told the best stories.” He said softly with a smile in his voice.

“Like what?” Heero prompted.

“Well…there was this one that she told all the time, over and over again. And each time it was different in the details. She would always say, ‘Once when I was a very young dragon a band of adventure seekers came to my lair to…kill her or rob her blind or steal her eggs, which she never had any of. And they would plow through the woods making so much noise that it would wake her for her afternoon lounge in the swamp and she would lay in wait for them outside her cave. They would walk in and start stealing her horde and she would stand at the entrance and wait for them to come out. Then roar a mighty roar and they would run away or attack and she would chase them off. But my favorite was when she said she pinned them to the ground and told them she would bite off their head if they couldn’t make her laugh. That one I believed most of all as true.” Duo said laughingly.

“Why that one over the others?” Heero asked interested.

“Because the first time I stumbled across her lair she pinned me to the ground and told me she was going to bite my head off if I couldn’t make her laugh out loud.” Duo said still smiling. Heero was aghast in silence as Duo chuckled lightly to himself.

“What did you do?” He asked enthralled.

“Well let me tell you, she had a mouth full of very, very sharp teeth and she was very close, so close that I couldn’t see anything more than her huge mouth, big enough to swallow me in one bite. She had me pinned from the waist down and I was scared, terrified. And I said…you won’t believe this…I folded my arms over my chest and said very cocky and sure of myself ‘Listen bitch, I’m a fucking demon so don’t fucking mess with me! I won’t take any shit from anyone for any reason. Let me go now and I won’t fuck your day up!’ She reared back with the most disgruntled look on her face and then she laughed. She laughed until I thought she’d puke and asked me to stay.” Duo told him merrily.

“You bluffed your way out of getting killed by a dragon!” Heero exclaimed in amazement. Duo laughed at him.

“That I’m still here attests to the fact that I’ve bluffed my way out of A LOT of shit.” Duo said laughing still. “Why didn’t things end well after the human girl?” He asked after a moment.

“Oh…I decided that the person I was in love with would love me for who I was and not my nymph blood. I told them I was a nymph, didn’t show them just told them and they accused me of using the effects of my mixed heritage to gain their attention. He rejected me completely, said he hated me and so I left. The Naïlo Scor…fire happened and I never got to talk to them again.” Heero said with a small yawn.

“And since then?” Duo asked.

“I traveled for a few years and then settled in Enberk.” Heero told him. “What did you do after the fire?” Heero asked.

“Honestly?” Duo asked.

“Honestly.” Heero replied.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Duo told him evenly.

“Goodnight Duo.” Heero said in respectful reply.

“Night.” Duo responded after a moment as he fell into an uneasy sleep.