Chapter 3

Ivory looked down the massive stairs to the bottom so very
far away. She looked over at the empty hallway leading to
some rooms and the elevator. Wufei and Duo had gone off
to take care of their respective gangs. Trowa and Quatre
were up on the roof of Quatre's mansion. Aphrodite and
Leslie went shopping with Thanatos and Anubis. Zechs had
taken Heero to lunch and all of Quatre's servants had gone
for a day off. Ivory looked down on her little 7 year old hands
and watched as they gripped the railing, pulling her up.
Suddenly Ivory lost her balance and fell. She screamed
as she tumbled down the stairs, trying to stop herself
before she broke her neck.

"Did you hear something?" Quatre asked, looking up at Trowa.

"Yea, sounded like a scream," Trowa answered.

"Ivory," Quatre scrambled up and ran down the stairs.

"Quatre! Your shirt!" Trowa called after him, then ran after
the blonde beauty. Ivory bonked her head against the railing
and passed out as she finally stopped at the bottom. Quatre
ran out of the elevator then spotted Ivory at the bottom of
the stairs. He ran over to her and checked her pulse. Trowa
appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Call 911!" Quatre screamed up at Trowa, he nodded
and ran to the phone. "Oh god Ivory," Quatre whispered,
picking up Ivory's head and laying it in his lap, brushing red
bangs away from Ivory's pale forehead. Soon Trowa came
down and kneeled in front of Quatre and Ivory.

"They're on their way, don't worry Quatre, she'll be all
right," Trowa said quietly, Quatre looked up, tears filling
up his sea green eyes.

"You sure Trowa?" Quatre asked, Trowa nodded
and leaned forward, they're foreheads meeting.

"She'll be just fine," Trowa reassured him, Quatre
finally nodded and looked down at Ivory. The sirens
got closer and the door banged open. The ambulance
people hurried over and put Ivory on the stretcher they
carried and then carried her off with Quatre and Trowa
not far behind. Quatre pulled on his shirt and climbed into
the ambulance after Ivory.

"I'll call Leslie for you," Trowa said, Quatre nodded
and the doors shut. Trowa then went back inside and
called Leslie.

----------------

"What do you think about this?" Leslie asked Anubis.

"Didn't you just try that on?" Anubis asked, Leslie humphed
and went back to the fitting room.

"Hey, what about this?" Aphrodite walked out dressed
in a black cocktail dress, Anubis's eyes popped out of
his head, Thanatos stood up.

"Just beautiful doll," Thanatos walked up to Aphrodite.
Suddenly Leslie's purse rang and Anubis jumped since
the bag in his lap. He reached in and pulled out Leslie's
cell phone. He flipped it open and pushed a button.

"Anubis speaking," Anubis said, he paused. "I'll get her,"
Anubis stood up and went into the dressing room. He
knocked on Leslie's door, she opened it and peeked out.

"What?" She asked, Anubis handed over her phone.

"Hello?" Leslie asked, her face suddenly turned
shocked then worried then frantic.

"Round up everyone, we have to go," Leslie told
Anubis then handed back her phone and slammed the
door in his face. Anubis shrugged and walked out to
Aphrodite and Thanatos.

"Let's go people, something's wrong, we better go by
orders of spy bitch," Anubis grumbled. Aphrodite pulled
away from Thanatos. She then got dressed and everyone
followed Leslie to her car. Leslie was on the phone, t
rying to reach Duo.

----------------

"I told you, it's just the phone, don't worry," Duo said,
sliding his hands back up under Wufei's shirt.

"Answer it then," Wufei grumbled, pulling Duo's hands
away once more. Duo sighed and picked up his phone.

"This better be good," Duo growled, glaring at Wufei.

"It's Ivory, she's in the hospital, Trowa said she fell
down the stairs," Leslie replied.

"What! We'll be right there, which hospital?" Duo
asked, Leslie gave directions and Duo hung up.

"Let's go!" Duo climbed out of the sofa in Wufei's
apartment and pulled him to the door.

"What's wrong?" Wufei asked.

"Ivory's in the hospital," Duo replied, opening the
door and running out.

"Wait a minute," Wufei called, running after Shinigami.
Duo slowed a bit, Wufei caught up with him and they
climbed into Wufei truck and sped off to the hospital.

----------------

"Where is she?" Leslie asked Quatre as they ran into
the hospital.

"She's on the fourth floor, come on," Quatre led the
way through the busy hospital.

"Duo's on his way," Leslie said in the elevator.

"Alright, I'll meet you later, she's in room 301," Quatre
said as everyone walked out of the elevator, Leslie
nodded as the doors closed.

"Ivory?" Leslie walked into the room, Trowa and Ivory
looked up as they appeared.

"Hi Leslie!" Ivory smiled at her. She had bandages wrapped
around her head and her arm was in a sling.

"She'll be healed in a month or so, nothing serious,"
Trowa answered Aphrodite's questioning look.

"Honey, what happened?" Leslie asked, sitting
down on a vacant chair.

"Well I was just starting to go down the stairs and I lost
my balance and fell, I 'm sorry Leslie, Aphrodite, I thought
I could walk down the stairs like everyone else since I was
always riding the elevator," Ivory explained.

"That's alright hon, it'll just take a while to get used to the
steps before you can go up and down them by yourself,
alright?" Aphrodite spoke up, Ivory nodded and
leaned back.

"I can go back to Quatre's mansion tomorrow,"
Ivory said.

"Well not exactly," a doctor came in followed by Duo,
Wufei and Quatre.

"Why not?" Leslie asked.

"She's an orphan, she needs to go to an orphanage, you
people aren't her legal guardians," the doctor explained.

"Then we'll just have to adopt her," Duo spoke up.

"Not all of you but that isn't my problem, you can take
it up with the social worker, she'll be here in a little while,"
the doctor then disappeared.

"It takes money for the courts and stuff," Duo said sadly.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of that and the bill for Ivory,
she fell at my house so I take responsibility," Quatre
held up his hands to the oncoming protests.

"Who'll be her parents? We can't all be her guardians,"
Wufei spoke up, his arm around Duo's waist.

"I found her so I'll be her mother," Leslie nodded.

"Volunteers for father?" Quatre asked, looking around the room.

"I can't, it'll be a little weird since we're siblings," Duo held
up his hands. Thanatos and Anubis shook their heads, not
wanting the responsibility. Wufei sighed, about to volunteer.

"I'll do it," Trowa spoke up.

"Really?" Ivory exclaimed, she laughed and hugged Trowa.

"The rest of us can be her godparents," Quatre shrugged,
smiling at Trowa and Ivory.

"Hello, I'm Cecilia Jaykins, Ivory's social worker,"
a woman opened the door.

"Not for long, we're going to be her parents," Quatre said.

"All of you?" Cecilia looked around at the group doubtfully.

"Well actually, Trowa and Leslie will be her parents and the
rest of us will be her god parents," Quatre explained.

"Do you really want her to be christian?" Duo spoke up.

"Well I mean if anything happens to Leslie or Trowa or
they need someone to take care of Ivory…you know,"
Quatre explained.

"Well then I guess you have all this figured out. All I need
is to come by your residence and check it out," Cecilia said.
"And evaluate the parents of course," Cecilia sat down.

"Alright, I'll give you my phone number and address.
Leslie lives at my place along with Duo and Ivory," Quatre explained.

"Oh really?" Cecilia took Quatre's business card, she looked
down and smiled. "Oh really," Cecilia put the card away.
"Then I'll give you people a call tomorrow, caio," Cecilia
stood and walked out.

"I hate social workers," Duo grumbled.

"Only because we had to deal with one after mom and
dad died," Leslie pointed out.

"Yea well they're just so nosey," Duo snuggled up closer
to Wufei, who wrapped both his arms around him.

"Yea after my dad died I had to deal with that to, even
though I have a ton of sisters, he still went straight to me
since I was the heir and the youngest," Quatre shook his
head.

"Well enough of this, let's go, I'll see you later Ivory,"
Aphrodite pulled Thanatos and Anubis to the door.

"Bye Aphrodite, Thanatos, Anubis," Ivory called.

"Bye," Anubis called, Thanatos waved and they disappeared
out the door. Leslie sighed and leaned back.

"I'll go home and start getting things ready for the social
worker, do you want to come Trowa?" Quatre asked.

"Sure, bye Ivory," Trowa gave Ivory a hug and left
with Quatre. Duo sat down where Trowa was and
Wufei stood behind him.

"Well?" Duo asked Leslie.

"Well I guess I can't go back to shopping and I don't want
you to go back to what you were doing," Leslie eyed
Wufei, he blushed slightly.

"Sis, I think I can take care of myself," Duo grumbled,
staring out the window.

"Yea, just like that time you got kidnapped by Godfather?"
Leslie pointed out, brushing Ivory's bangs back
from her face as she slowly went back to sleep.

"I got out of it," Duo retorted.

"Yea with help," Leslie snapped.

"Guys, she's asleep, let's leave her alone, we'll pick her up
tomorrow," Wufei pulled the two simmering siblings out the
door. Wufei talked to a nurse to alert Ivory that they had left
and would be back tomorrow and not to worry. The nurse
nodded and went into Ivory's room. Wufei then pulled Duo
and Leslie to his truck. Aphrodite had taken Leslie's car and
Quatre and Trowa had taken Trowa's car.

"We might as well go back to Quatre's mansion since
somebody got us evicted from our apartment," Leslie
glared over at Duo.

"Hey, go talk to Aphrodite, she's the one that kept on
holding all those parties over there," Duo retorted.

"Peoples, please, I don’t think a fight's necessary, be nice,
please?" Wufei asked, driving up to Quatre's mansion.

"Fine," Duo wrinkled his nose and leaned back,
pouting slightly.

"Alright," Leslie managed over her death glare she was
sending Duo. Now they fight, Wufei thought, of all the times they
could have fought, they just had to picked now….damn, and
I was just starting to like Leslie.

Everyone climbed out of Wufei's truck and filed into
Quatre's mansion. Servants rushed around, scrubbing
the place spotless. Quatre was in the kitchen talking to
Rashid. The Maguanacs had come home while everyone
was at the hospital. The Maguanacs were the force behind
the Winner Corporation, the muscle behind the money,
the bodyguards.

"So now we have more people to guard," Rashid turned
to the Wufei, Duo and Leslie as they walked in.

"Trowa, Zechs and Heero are up stairs directing
servants," Quatre said, sitting on a bar stool.

"Good to know, come on 'Fei," Duo dragged Wufei
out and up the stairs. Duo waved to Heero and Zechs
as they directed a couple servants. Zechs waved back
lazily. Duo opened the door to his now spotless room and
sighed. He had it perfect this morning, everything scattered
around and his mangas all piled in the corner, now they
were in the book shelf and all his clothes either in the hamper
or in the dresser or in his closet. Suddenly Wufei spun him
around pushed Duo on the bed.

"Wu-man what are you doing?" Duo smirked up at
his boyfriend.

"Just keeping you happy, what else little fox?" Wufei
pounced on Duo, wiggling down until their lips met. Wufei
undid Duo's black silk shirt, the buttons coming easily undone.
Duo pulled away a bit.

"Um I don’t know Wufei," Duo slid out from under the Dragon.

"Wait a minute, you’re the one who started this in the first
place," Wufei pointed out, pouting a little.

"Well it has be done at the right time, I'm sorry Wufei," Duo had
walked to the window, he turned around, his cheeks wet.
Wufei scrambled forward.

"What's wrong?" Wufei asked, embracing Duo.

"I just," Duo choked. "I can't, not right now," Duo pulled
away from Wufei and ran to the door and out. Wufei stood
there, shocked. Duo ran down the hall and crashed into
Quatre who was coming up the stairs.

"Woah! Duo, look-" Quatre caught sight of Duo's tear
streaked face and helped him up. "What's wrong Duo?"

"N-nothing much," Duo stuttered, collapsing against Quatre.

"It's alright, come on, there's a bathroom in here," Quatre
opened a door and helped Duo in. He turned on the tap
as Duo leaned against the counter, trying to wipe away
the tears.

"What's wrong Duo?" Quatre asked, handing over a
damp washcloth. Duo took it and held it up to his face,
wishing he could hide in it. "You could tell me anything,
I won't say a thing to anybody," Quatre offered softly,
Duo looked over at Quatre. His violet eyes dark
and sad.

"Well Leslie isn't really my sister, just like Anubis isn't really
my brother. I was found on the front steps of Maxwell Church,
later I went to Maxwell Academy but no one knew who I was,
the government didn't have a birth certificate for me and no
one knows anything about my parents," Duo took a s
huddering breathe, Quatre waited patiently. "Well when
I turned 13 something happened. Leslie didn't know anything
about it and I always kept it from her because I was at the
academy. The nuns called me a-a," Duo shook his head, sitting
on the counter and looking down at the cloth.

"Woah," Quatre looked down at the cloth, it wasn't full of
water anymore, it was red, soaked through with blood. "Did
you cut yourself, did Wufei?" Duo shook his head, looking up
Quatre, his tears turning a dark red color and thickening.
Quatre stumbled back a bit, not believing his eyes. Quatre
lifted a shaking hand and wiped a blood tear away from
Duo's cheek and looked down on his stained finger. He s
lowly tasted it and it was truly blood, Quatre looked up at Duo.

"They called me a death angel," Duo finished, looking
back down at the blood soaked cloth. "Almost a demon,"
Duo shuddered.

"What happened to trigger this?" Quatre gestured to the
cloth in Duo's hands.

"Wufei," Duo paused. "Wufei and I well we were," Duo
blushed. "I'm not a virgin Quatre and unfortunately I know
what happens if I do it with another person," Duo sighed.

"What happens?" Quatre asked.

"Well I get wings, black leathery wings and fangs, when
I was 13 I had a girlfriend, I lost control and killed her,"
a shudder racked through Duo. "After that someone came,
triggered by my change and destroyed the church and school.
Another demon called Lucifer or something, he was," Duo
choked, then swallowed and then more blood tears started
down. "Laughing, terrible laughter. Sister Helen said that I
should never believe myself a fallen angel because I wasn't.
I wasn't evil, I just made a mistake is all," Duo shuddered
again. He slowly looked up at Quatre, he was staring at
Duo then he snapped out of it and smiled.

"Everyone makes mistakes Duo, now I know angels
do to but," Quatre paused, his eyebrows knitted. "How?
I thought angels didn't exist and how could you be here,
I thought angels were just made of spirit, nothing of matter,"
Quatre asked. Obviously struggling through a sea of questions.

"I don't know, I don't know anything about why," Duo
answered, sniffing and rubbing his face with another
washcloth, finally settling down. "Sister Helen said that
I could control it when I changed. I finally settled down,
learned to control everything after the massacre. It seems
I start to change every time I get emotional. I start out with
the regular human reactions, you saw me earlier, I had regular
tears and then they turned to blood like a regular angel reaction.
I've learned to control it all, I don't change as easily and I can
control the angel emotions once I give in, sometimes it can be
really powerful and I'm pretty dangerous but it takes a lot,"
Duo explained, Quatre smiled again.

"I trust you Duo, you trust me, I can keep any secret
you want me to, this included, I'll help you even,"
Quatre offered.

"I'd like that," Duo nodded, throwing the stained washcloths
in the trash and standing up.

"So do you still turn into a death angel when you do it?"
Quatre asked, blushing slightly.

"Nope, well I can start growing wings but I can usually
pull them back in, the fangs are a little harder though,"
Duo replied, Quatre nodded.

"Go back to Wufei, maybe he'd understand if you told
him," Quatre suggested.

"No! Not yet anyways," Duo returned, Quatre
nodded slowly.

"Up to you of course but Duo you can come to me
with anything, anything at all," Quatre said, opening
the door and walking out.

"Thanks Quatre," Duo mumbled, walking toward his room.

Soon it was nightfall, Wufei had gone home, convinced that
Duo was alright. Quatre was up on the roof with Trowa again.
Leslie asleep at the hospital, all the servants and Maguanacs
sleeping in their own rooms. Duo adjusted his long almost
trench coat, pure black. Underneath he wore a blood red
mesh shirt and tight black jeans, artfully ripped. His braid
had black and red ribbons twisted in it and a black hair band
holding it all together. His black combat boot reaching just
under his knee made little noise on the carpet going down the
stairs. Duo stopped as someone coughed and then everything
fell silent once more. Duo turned, his eyes changed to a black
color for seeing in the dark, a little angel trick. Duo got to the
door and reached into his braid for the lock pick hidden there.
He kneeled down and picked the numerous locks on the
massive door. The last one clicked and Duo opened the door,
reset most of the clocks that could be reset with out a key or
code and slipped through then silently closed the door. He smiled
to himself then turned and silently ran to Leslie's car but spotted
Quatre's garage, a red Lotus Espirit caught his eye. Duo hurried
over to it, popped open the hood and start hot wiring it.

"Looking for these maybe Duo?" Quatre held up a pair
of keys, Duo froze then stood up and stared, Quatre was
stark naked except for a pair of white boxers. Trowa was
shaking with suppressed laughter behind Quatre.

"Go have fun Shinigami," Quatre put the keys in his hand
and shooed him to his car. Duo shut the hood and got in.

"Thanx Quatre," Duo called as he started the engine
and blasted off.

"Hmmm, remember that time we did it in your garage?"
Trowa whispered in Quatre's ear, Quatre blushed scarlet.

"And remember when Rashid walked in on us?" Quatre
answered, he turned around and kissed Trowa.

----------------

Duo turned on the radio and turned to the heavy metal
station, a girl's voice soared above the base,

"I'm the fear addicted, danger illustrated," Duo smirked,
already feeling that this night would be totally different from the last time he snuck out to go bar hopping and raving.

"I'm a firestarter, twisted arsonist," soon the song died and
another slower one came one.

"I'm more than a bird, I'm more than a plane," Duo sombered
a bit.

"Wish that I could cry, fall upon my knees," Duo stopped
at the first club.

"It's not easy to be me," Duo shut off the engine, silencing
the song and getting out. He walked up to the large crowd
surrounding the place. Duo pushed himself through and
suddenly found himself at the door. The bouncer spotted him,
looked him over and motioned him in. Duo smiled, his eyes
had turned back to their blazing purple, his perfect body
mostly on display, it pays going to all those gyms, plus the
angel part of him kept him pimple free and soft. Duo went
in and pulled off his jacket, put it on a hook that looked like
a silver hand and went into the club.

"Truly you are the one, my fire, my death," the song pounded
in Duo's head, making him bob his head to the beat. He joined
the writhing crowd and started to enjoy himself. Suddenly a
hand descended on his shoulder and Duo looked up. Bright
brown eyes bore into his own violet, fire burning in the depths
of them. Then Duo looked down, a black muscle shirt that
didn't hide well toned muscles and baggy black jeans greeted
his eyes. The guy had chestnut short hair with highlights and
black painted fingernails, pouty lips curved just right. Duo
smiled up at the guy, liking him already.

"What's your name?" Duo asked.

"Avery," the guy answered. "Your's?"

"Shinigami," Duo answered, the guy half-smiled.

"I've heard of you, even in the underground your
well known," Avery said, Duo smiled back, remembering
that one time he ran up against one of the leader drug
dealers, Jermaine, who got the bottom for the first time.

"You're from the Underground?" Duo asked.

"Yep, come on, I've been dancing all night, I need a
break you?" Avery went to the stairs that led to the
catwalks above. The club was Duo's favorite, it had a
large bar and a large dance floor complete with stage
on the first floor, and the second was made up of a
smaller dance floor and catwalks. In the middle of each
catwalk were a small table and two chairs on the side of
the catwalks. You could look down and see the people
below. A smaller bar stood against the wall on the left side.
They sat down at a vacant table and a waitress came up,
she took they're orders and left.

"So are you a Mercenary or drug dealer, stripper
maybe?" Duo asked, the Underground was made up of
drug dealers, mercenaries and the occasional sex toy but
they have to be really good and have a lot of money.

"Oh I don't know, what do you think?" Avery slid a
foot up Duo's leg.

"Okay, point taken, so what are you doing here?" Duo
asked, pulling Avery's foot away.

"I have a night off for once, Jermaine has been riding me
pretty hard lately," Avery trailed off. "Anyways I was
actually looking for you, either that or a good-"

"Looking for me?" Duo cut him off. Avery grinned.

"Yep, I well I'm thinking about getting out of the
Underground, it's becoming too dangerous, things have
been happening, mostly to the," Avery paused. "The
concubines like myself. Jermaine says I should get some
protection somewhere else for my benefit. Drug dealers
like him self can't back out but I can. You know the only
way I can get out is if I joined a gang, since I'm the best
in the Underground it wouldn't hurt to ask for the best
on the streets," Avery explained.

"Then why didn't you go to the Dragons?" Duo asked.

"One, they wouldn't accept a concubine, the leader
has a stick up his butt and everyone knows it. Two, you
beat them over South Central a while back and you have
a couple past hookers," Avery replied. Duo nodded, thinking
sadly about Aphrodite and Hilde. "Look I need you, I'll do
anything," Avery said. The waitress came by and set
down their drinks.

"That's a pretty strong statement, could get you in trouble,
you know that," Duo said, taking a sip of his bloody mary.

"I have no where else to go but down unless you help me,"
Avery returned. "I've worked too damn hard to go down,"
Avery growled. Suddenly Duo leaned forward and captured
Avery's lips. Avery responded immediately, deepening it, Duo
broke the kiss and leaned back.

"I'll think about it, come to Quatre Winner's mansion in three
days," Duo stood up, dropped a twenty and walked off.
He then slipped on his jacket and went to his car. He drove
away, deep in thought. Soon he stopped at Romano's, one
of his favorite restaurants and went in. Shelly waved do Duo
as he sat down in his favorite booth in the back and in the
corner where little iron cherubs were positioned over the walls,
on the table and on the lamp shade. Shelly walked over and
sat down opposite Duo.

"What'll it be Shini?" Shelly asked.

"A coffee and some spaghetti, Shell," Duo answered.
Shelly smiled and walked off. Duo leaned back and pulled
out his repaired relic, examining the small cross like so many
times before. Duo flipped the small jewelry over and stared
at the scrawled initials on it. Shelly silently set down a plate
filled of food and a cup full of liquid. Duo sighed and dropped
the golden necklace and dug into his second dinner, he was
getting hungrier everyday but he knew the feeling. He'd been
on the streets for too long, had to sell his soul too many times
for his liking to not know the feeling. He was hungry for
something only two people could possibly give him right
now and he wasn't about to go barging back into that club or
bang down Wufei's door. He just had to try and suppress
all his urges, all his instincts and all his emotions for once.
He'd have to wait for once like the rest of the mundane half
awake humans that he shared the world with. He knew
patience, just not with people that had such great bodies….

Soon Duo stood from his booth, dropped a twenty for
Shelly, went to the counter, paid and walked out into the
brisk air. He sighed, not caring very much on his life at that
moment, not caring if anybody recognized him that wasn't
his best of buds. Duo hunched over a bit and walked to the
left, down the crowded streets to nowhere. Duo didn't like
waiting, Duo didn't like to be deprived, Duo didn't like being
a death angel but Duo had no choice except where his feet
went and even that was taken from him for his feet did all
the walking. Soon he found himself in his old territory, the
territory that was neutral now, the territory Duo grew up
in. The street sign read Logan and Ivy, he knew this already.
He also knew that the alley he was about to walk down was
the alley Solo died in. Shinigami stopped at the entrance,
not wanting to go haunting in a dark alley, he was a gang
leader and gang leaders don't hide in alleys. Duo shrugged
off his gang leader pride and entered the dirty old alley. It
was different, everything was extremely dirty, more than he
remembered and garbage was higher and uglier than when
he was here last. Duo stopped at the end of the alley, staring
at a small alcove in the dirty bricks. He felt tears start to slide
down his cheeks and soon they started to hurt, his eyes
burned and the blood felt warm and thick sliding down his
rounded cheeks. He fell to his knees and bowed his head.

"Solo, help me," Duo whispered reverently like he would
a prayer for it was, a beautiful plea for assistance in a crue
l world where only the strong and powerful survived.

 

~~onto Chapter 4 ~~


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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