One
by 0083
There are moments when everything falls away, leaving only the naked truth behind, trembling in its vulnerability. For most people, those moments were rare, especially during times of peace when everything was a mind numbing repetition of the everyday life. But for some, those stark moments came often to torment them away from a happy life. For one person in particular, those moments of truth came with regularity and precision. For that poor soul, every time he gazed into his own eyes, the world fell away.
Pilot 02, Shinigami, Duo Maxwell. So many names for one boy, yet all were his to keep. None of those call signs were his from birth, not his name, his number or his persona. They were constructs made by a shattered boy in the midst of a horrible environment. They were more than just names. They were him.
People are born and are named. Duo never had such luxury. He was a nameless, parentless little urchin with wide violet eyes which had lost their innocence before he had reached double digits in age. However he grew up, whatever he did to get by, those ugly things he may have done were nothing compared to what he had to do for the sake of peace. Murder, killing, snuffing out the light of life. All were just words to describe one act, one simple act of being the judge of life and death for another human being. Just like these words of death that meant the same thing however you looked at it, Duo Maxwell was Shinigami, Pilot 02. All were related. They were the same.
Duo Maxwell was a cheerful human being who had a penchant for his own voice, who told jokes which were funny only to him. He had a gentle demeanor about him, cared about others, bandaged wounds and brought donuts. Pilot 02 was a dedicated man with incredible piloting and warfare skills, who rescued his comrades, risked his life and finished his missions with efficiency and alacrity. Shinigami was a merciless demon who killed without hesitation, who shed blood with gusto and enjoyed the sounds of screams before they were silenced by him forever. Three disparate beings, three totally different people, in one body.
The truth behind this enigmatic young man was known by no one. Only he could see it. Only he could comprehend the being that he had become. He was a trinity, but a trinity with a fatal flaw. If one part disappeared, so would the other two. The truth was, when the war had ended, Duo Maxwell, Shinigami, Pilot 02 ceased to exist. He became a broken being who stared at himself and realized that he was no longer whole, no longer alive. His world had ended with the war.
But hope existed because this broken soul knew another broken soul. Pilot 01, Perfect Soldier, Heero Yuy. Just like Duo, Heero was a construct. Heero’s past was so different from Duo’s, yet they were so alike. Heero was also a flawed trinity. None of the names were his, yet they belonged to him. He had no one to turn to either. Maybe he gazed into the mirror just like Duo and saw nothing.
Once, someone in the distant past said, if you break someone enough, they would never be able to put themselves back together. Broken once, the pieces would be found and glued back together, perhaps to near perfection. But broken over and over again, the pieces got lost, dulled and too small to notice. Duo Maxwell was such a being, a broken soul, a broken heart. He could no longer piece himself back together. The three beings that held onto each other during the war could no longer make themselves whole again, not in the miraculous peace that the three had achieved. In bringing peace and fulfilling everyone’s wish, Duo had to consign himself to the scrap pile. But he had hope. One Heero Yuy.
If Duo could no longer be Shinigami and Pilot 02, maybe he could save the part that was Duo Maxwell by finding something else to help him stand, help him live. In return, Duo Maxwell would help the other being stand and live as well. They could lean against each other and instead of the flawed trinity that they were, they could become an indestructible duality.
Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell. They were no longer separate entities of three, but soon, they would be one being. Half and half. Yin and Yang. Up and Down. Opposites who define one another. Heero and Duo would define each other, support each other. They would exist together forever as one being, one soul, one force of the universe. From three, they would become two and merge into one. The old sayings.. Three’s company, two is the perfect number, one is the number of god. From imperfection, they would become perfect and become a god unto themselves. Pilot 02, Duo Maxwell, Shinigami and Pilot 01, Heero Yuy, the Perfect Soldier, no longer. Just Heero and Duo. The ultimate truth. Even in peace.
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