(fic) Teasers - Gundam Wing
Sep. 15th, 2009 09:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katikatDark Light, Silent Scream
Post-EW, Dark ~ 1+2 ~ Something bad happened to Duo.
Heero raced on his bike through the unmoving cars on the highway. The people, who got out of their cars to see what was going on, scattered quickly out of his way, shouting at him, their fists raised. He didn´t pay any attention to them. There were more important things to worry about right now...
His eyes caught a glimpse of the ambulance and police cars, their blue and red lights flashing. He revved the engine and his bike shot forward, the back wheel almost slipping on the wet road. He needed to go faster!
When he finally reached the wall of gawkers, squashed behind the yellow "do-not-cross" line of tape, he honked loudly. The cops, seeing his Preventer jacket, pushed the onlookers to the side and lifted the tape, opening a narrow corridor, through which he raced at top speed, lifting his hand to thank them.
There, just a couple of meters in front of him, the ambulance and a couple of police cars stood, strategically placed in such a manner, that nobody would be able to see what was going on in the middle of the circle they made.
Heero stopped his bike with squealing tires, the smell of burnt rubber hanging in the air. The cops and the ambulance staff turned to look at him, some with a curious expression, some with a dark scowl on their faces. They had been told not to do anything before he arrived. He jumped from the bike, taking off his helmet and laying it down on the leather seat.
He took a deep breath. He had rushed over so quickly but now he felt unsure. Slowly he moved closer, his steps hesitant. He didn´t know what to expect. When Une called to tell him what happened, he didn´t believe her at first. This was... impossible. She didn´t know all the details. The only thing she knew for sure was, that it was bad. Really, really bad.
Finally he reached the ambulance, and moving around it, he stepped into the circle the vehicles created. And his breath caught in his throat.
On the wet ground in the middle of the circle, a lone figure sat on the ground. Long honey brown tresses, matted with blood and dirt, hung loose around his almost naked figure. The young man´s face was pale, cheeks hollow, the beautiful violet eyes sunken, wide open and unfocused. His lips were chapped and bloody. There were scrapes, bruises and dried blood on the dirty skin. The longhaired man was dressed in the tattered remnants of an orange jump suit. His clothes were dirty and bloody. He looked emaciated, sharp bones pressing against his too thin skin. His feet were bare, torn and bleeding. He sat there, legs tucked to his chest, hugging them tightly with his overly thin arms. He was rocking back and forth slightly, his breathing incredibly loud and wheezy.
Heero´s hands balled into fists, fingernails digging into his palms deep enough to draw blood. It was Duo. But that was impossible... Duo was on L2, with Hilde and the scrapyard. Duo should be living a happy life now, not sitting here in the middle of the highway on Earth. It was impossible... But still, he was here.
Heero pulled his badge out of the inner pocket of his Preventer jacket, and flashed it at the doctor and the police captain. "Preventer Heero Yuy. Can you tell me what´s going on here?" he asked, his voice quiet.
"Captain Montoya," the elderly cop introduced himself, then continued, his voice soft and sad, "I wish I knew. Some driver called the police to tell us that there was some man on the highway. He said that the man looked in pretty bad shape, warned us that there could be drugs involved."
Heero´s eyes narrowed, hearing the assumption, that his ex-partner could be a junkie, but he bit his tongue.
"When we arrived, he was stumbling between the cars. They tried to avoid him, but I suspect that he got hit a couple of times." Montoya shook his head. "He´s lucky that he isn´t dead. When we tried to come near him, he didn´t seem to notice us at first. When we touched him though, he started to scream and fight. We had to let him go before he hurt himself more. We stopped the traffic and called the ambulance." He pointed at the yellow car and the stern looking doctor.
The doc, a tall, greying man with glasses and the name "Richards" written on his ID tag, nodded and picked up, his voice sympathetic: "The patient is completely unresponsive to voice or light. The only thing that caused a reaction was touch. And it was a quite violent reaction too. It would be best to give him something to calm him down, but as long as we are unsure about his blood work, we can´t risk giving him anything. It may just worsen the situation."
Heero looked back at the huddled figure. "Why did you call the Preventers?" he asked.
"This man," Montoya pointed at one of the cops standing around helplessly, "recognized the victim."
Heero´s stomach lurched, hearing the word "victim", but that summed up exactly what Duo was. A victim. Of what, they would have to find out.
The young cop stepped closer. "My name´s Parker, Agent Yuy. I was a member of the White Fang during the war." When Heero´s eyes narrowed again, he continued quickly: "I remembered seeing him," he pointed at Duo over his shoulder, "in the OZ database. Duo Maxwell, Gundam Pilot 02. When I recognized him, I thought it would be better if we called Commander Une."
Heero nodded. "You did the right thing."
"So, this Une told us to wait here for you," Montoya said. "Can you tell us why?"
Heero sighed and tucked his shield back into his pocket. "Because I was 01 in the wars, Captain. And Duo Maxwell was my partner."
Leaving the surprised men behind, Heero stepped further into the circle, moving slowly towards his ex-partner.
"Duo? Do you hear me?" he asked softly as not to spook the other man. "It´s me, Heero." When Duo didn´t react at all, he turned to the men waiting by the cars. Recieving no advice from them, he moved closer, until he crouched right in front of the longhaired man.
"Duo?" he said again. Slowly, he raised his hand and waved it in front of Duo´s eyes. No reaction at all. Cold started to gnaw at Heero´s stomach.
"Duo? It´s me, Heero. Do you remember me?" he whispered. Receiving no reaction, he reached with his right hand and laid it on Duo´s shoulder.
Heero almost jumped back, startled by the violent jerk the longhaired man made. A wailing scream rose from Duo´s half open mouth and he tried to scramble away from the Japanese man. But Heero wouldn´t let him. Quickly, he caught Duo in his arms, the battered back to his chest and held on tightly, when his ex-partner started to struggle like a madman, his arms and legs hitting the ground.
"It´s okay, it´s okay," Heero whispered, but the other young man didn´t seem to hear him. Finally Duo slumped in Heero´s arms, defeated and exhausted. Tears started to run down the wet cheeks and tiny sobs came out of his throat.
"It's okay, everything will be fine now. I´m here," he repeated over and over, caressing his hair and kissing the top of Duo´s head. The injured man didn´t seem to hear him though, still sobbing quietly, shaking like a leaf.
Heero´s eyes narrowed in horrible suspicion. Lifting one hand, he brought it to Duo´s right ear and snapped his fingers loudly. He did it again and again, but the man in his arms didn´t react at all. He tried the same to the other ear with the same result. Heero swallowed painfully and closed his eyes for a moment. Then he turned to the waiting cops and ambulance staff.
"He is blind and deaf," he called out, his voice hollow. He didn´t wait for their reaction, but lowered his eyes back to Duo. Noticing one battered hand move in constant motion against his leg, his eyes slid in the direction. After a moment, he noticed a pattern. It was a code, Morse code.
H-E-L-P
It repeated itself over and over and over, while Duo sobbed quietly, trying to curl up in a tiny ball.
Heero breathed in sharply. Morse code! He caught Duo´s tapping hand in his, squeezing it firmly, but gently. When the longhaired boy froze in his arms, falling completely silent, Heero started to tap with his fingers against Duo´s hand.
H-E-E-R-O
He repeated it once, twice, three times, slowly losing hope of Duo understanding. Maybe he was too far gone to understand anymore.
When Duo gripped his hand tightly, it took Heero completely by surprise. He looked down at their joined hands, then at Duo´s tear stained face. The violet eyes were closed now, his face drawn, eyebrows furrowed.
"H... Hee.. ro?" came the weak question, voice hoarse. It was so full of hope that it tore at Heero´s heart.
´Y-E-S,´ he tapped.
"Really?" It was obvious that Duo wanted to believe it so much, but wasn´t sure if it – he – was true.
´B-A-K-A,´ he tapped out.
Duo let out a short, painful laugh. When Heero brought him closer to his chest, hugging him tightly from behind, the longhaired boy started to cry again, hugging Heero´s arms back, pressing himself against the Japanese boy, as if feeling the need to join with him completely.
"It´s okay, I´ll take care of you. Okay," Heero murmured into the damp hair, even though the young man in his arms couldn´t hear it. But it was a promise. He would take care of Duo.
And he would find out who did this to him - and kill them.
TBC? The End?
===
The Heart of Arabia
AU ~ 3+4, 5+6, 1+2 ~ The boys are members of a boy group called The Heart of Arabia.
They all sat in the long white limousine, Quatre and his band - The Heart of Arabia. The sun was hot and the "road" leading through the rocks and sand was dirty, the dust raising behind the car, leaving a brownish cloud behind. They had the climatization turned, up but they could still feel the sweat trickling down their backs. It was noon in the desert - the hottest place on Earth.
"You never took us home with you before, Quatre," said the longhaired Chinese boy sitting across from Quatre matter of factly, but his raised eyebrows indicated a question.
The blond Arabian tore his gaze away from the sand and rocks passing by in quick motion as the car headed up yet another mountain and turned to his friend, Chang Wufei. He was dressed in white pants and black tank top that left his muscled and bronzed shoulders bare. He was quite a sight to take in - and the best one in handling the keyboard. "Well, it was time, right? I´ve visited all of you at home and it seemed rather rude to not invite you to mine."
"If you are doing it only out of duty..." the half Japanese man began to say, dressed in khaki pants and black sleeveless shirt, sitting next to Wufei.
"Of course not, Heero," Quatre interrupted his friend. Quatre knew him the longest time from all of them having met him in college. He was a great drummer - a way to releave the anger and bad temper he often suffered from. "If I didn´t want you here, I wouldn´t have invited you. You should know me better than that."
Heero nodded and returned to staring out the window of the car, the unruly bangs falling in his face as usual, hiding his prussian eyes. Quatre sighed. Heero had been really touchy these days. He knew it had something to do with Relena, the little sister of their guitarist Milliardo Peacecraft, the Count of
Sanq. They were a noble family he and Heero met during their college years in England. As much as they both liked Milliardo - or Zechs as he prefered to call himself - they disliked his sister twice as much. She was a whiny clingy girl that had the hots for Heero. She followed them all over the world like a real groupie. At first they laughed about it, but now it had gotten plain annoying. Zechs did all he could to keep his little sister away from them, but he wasn´t almighty. And she always managed to slip under his radar. They always managed to deal with her, but the last time she went too far. Coming back from their concert, Heero found her naked in his bed. Quatre had never seen him that furious. Through clenched teeth, he asked Zechs to remove his sister from his room or he would do it himself and that his solution would be much more permanent. The longhaired, platinum blond man dragged her out of the hotel, covered only in the blanket from Heero´s room. Every time Quatre closed his eyes he could see the scene she made: she was kicking and screaming making a total fool out of herself, but embarassing them in the process too. Nobody slept that night and although they were incredibly tired, they left the hotel that night.
Quatre regarded his best friend with worry once more. Maybe this quiet vacation away from other people - Relena included, would help them all relax. He looked to the right where Zechs was seated next to Wufei. He saw the same thoughts displayed on his face, the worry in his cornflower blue eyes. Zechs felt guilty for all the problems Relena was causing them. But it was not his fault - even Heero snapped at him as he apologized for the upteenth time for the scandal at the hotel.
"You okay?"
The silent question brought Quatre back from his reverie and smiling a little, he looked at the young man sitting next to him. Trowa Barton, the youngest of their group - two years younger than him and Heero - the one playing the flute in their band... and Quatre´s lover as of a month ago. Quatre still thought that it was Allah´s blessing that he found a real soul mate in his life. He remembered how shy he was when he confessed his love to the taller boy. He still remembered the surprise in the one forest green eye visible behind the mop of hair covering half of his face, the side that was marred by scars left by the fire that took his family just two years before they met. The surprise turned to delight and then to love. Quatre´s hopes had been fulfilled. He found the love of his life.
"Yeah, love. I´m fine. Just lost in the memories," he answered him, entwining his fingers with the younger man´s. It always helped to feel the strength in them.
"Good ones, I hope," said Trowa tightening his grip on Quatre´s hand just a little.
"Partially," the blond man admitted and giving his lover one last smile he turned to look out of the window once again. He recognized the terrain there already - they were now up on the plateau on the top of the small table-like mountain. They were not far away from the Winner estate - The Pearl of Desert as it was called too. And he was right. Just in that moment the car took a 90 degrees turn to the right and headed around the large pile of rocks - a convenient road sign showing where to turn when the "road" got covered in sand and dirt and wasn´t visible at all - down the to the small valley where the family estate of Quatre´s family stood proud inmitten the lush green oase. There was even a waterfall bringing the waters out from the deepness of the mountains to the earth, building small lakes here and there before disappearing in the sand just outside the sheltered valley.
The other men in the car gasped with surprise, seeing the paradise on Earth. Among the green grass and bushes the estate stood proudly. Made of white stone, it shone so brightly in the sun that it was making their eyes hurt.
"It´s beautiful, Quatre," Trowa whispered.
Quatre smiled. Yeah, his family - rich business men and women - had always had more than enough money to buy whatever they wanted. Even to build an estate among the rocks and sand of the desert. There was nothing impossible for the Winner family.
It was good to be home.
The End - part 1
===
Lover of Mine
AU, Fantasy ~ 1+2 ~ Relena is a bad witch that wants Heero no matter what.
"I don´t love you, Relena! When will you finally understand?" Heero asked, more than a hint of anger evident in his voice.
No, he is lying. He doesn´t mean it, the violet and pink clad witch thought desperately. "You are lying!" Relena shrieked. "You are lying," she whispered, her eyes pleading for him to confirm her wishful thinking.
Heero sighed and closed his eyes. This was ridiculous. "Relena... I. Don´t. Love. You. Look around," he waved his hand. "This is where I live, where I´m happy. I´m not going with you. I will NEVER go with you. Can´t you understand that?"
She looked around. For the first time she really looked around taking in the simple clothes he had on, the small wooden cottage, the small field with wheat and vegetable, the linen hanging in the sun, the smoke escaping from the chimney. She snorted in disgust. "This is what you want from your life? You are no farmer, Heero Yuy. You are a swordsman, a man of the great world. Soon you will be bored in this place. I can offer you so much more. The whole world would lie at your feet, I can fulfill your every wish, every whim. I will give you everything you want. I can make you immortal..." she offered, her voice full of seduction as she peered at him from under her lashes, a small smile on her lips. Everyone wanted to be immortal. She knew he would take her offer if...
Heero shook his head, a sad look in his eyes. "I don´t want any of that, Relena. There is nothing you could offer me that I don´t already have. Treasures, immortality... They are not important if you don´t have somebody you could share them with. I have found the person I want to spend my life with. And he is here, with me and he matters to me more than my life."
She sneered. She knew exactly about whom he was speaking. "That street rat? You want to tell me that some street rat you picked up somewhere is more important to you than me? Don´t tell me you don´t feel anything for me. We´ve spent such wonderful time together. We were lovers and you enjoyed it. I know you did. You can´t tell me that this dirty nothing is more than me!"
"Shut up!" Heero shouted, for the first time since she had known him losing his cool control completely. "You will not insult Duo in my presence like that. Maybe he has no magical powers like you, maybe he doesn´t own all the treasures in the world, maybe he doesn´t have palaces and servants. But he has something you will never have! A heart!"
Her beautiful face paled, eyes darkening with rage. "Is this your last word?" Her voice was cold as ice. She knew that she couldn´t just simply take him. There would be nothing short of a mind altering spell that would stop him from leaving her. Again. He wasn´t called the "Perfect soldier" for nothing. And she didn´t want a soulless puppet.
"Duo loves me, Relena," Heero whispered. "And I love him. You only want to posess me. I have made my mind."
Her eyes narrowed. "You will be sorry, Heero. I swear you will curse this day for the rest of your life!" And then she disappeared in a flash of light, thunder rolling through the small valley where the two men lived.
Heero sighed and hung his head. That was a complete failure. He couldn´t believe how much she had changed since he had left her. Nothing of the fair girl he once loved remained. The elders of their village warned her that the witch powers she played with would corrupt her mind, but she didn´t listen and now only the pretty shell was left behind. And it was filled with obsession, anger and rage, madness ruling where happiness once lived. No, nothing of his former lover stayed behind.
"Heero?" a tentative voice came from behind him.
He lifted his head and turned around. In the doorway leading to their cottage his lover stood - long hair in a messy braid, simple black clothes dusted with flour, a smudge of coal on his nose. Heero smiled. He had never seen anything more beautiful.
"Yes, lover?"
Duo shuffled his feet and looked away. "I... I heard..."
Heero sighed. "Duo..."
"Maybe you should go with her. She is right. I have nothing to offer you. Not the things she could give you..."
Heero quickly closed the distance between them and caught his lover´s face in his hands lifting it. "You heard, but obviously you didn´t listen. I don´t want anything she could offer me. You are my life, my soul, my heart. You are everything I need. For the rest of my life and beyond."
Duo blinked but didn´t look convinced.
"For the rest of my life and beyond," Heero repeated their oath with more heat.
"For the rest of my life and beyond," Duo repeated quietly and then he laid his arms around his lover´s neck as Heero kissed him passionately on his lips. Maybe... just maybe he will be enough for Heero after all...
~*~
Relena was looking in the deep black pool, watching them kiss and hug before they disappeared in the cottage and closed the door behind them. She shrieked and caught one of the stones that surrounded the small pool and threw it in its black waters. With a big splash, the peaceful picture of the small house was destroyed.
"You will be sorry, Heero Yuy. You will be sorry that you didn´t choose me. But you will come to me. You will come crawling. I swear. You will come..."
There was a mad look in her eyes as she turned around and swept some glasses with strange dark liquids and paper scrolls from her work table. She laughed insanely as they crashed to the ground, and with a hiss caught fire.
"You will come to me and you will beg..."
TBC
===
Of Cats and Wolves
AU ~ 1+2 ~ Heero is a wolf-boy, Duo is a cat-boy.
Flashes of light crisscrossed the night sky and thunder rolled down the mountain where the village of the Wolf Clan lay. The rain fell down in heavy drops and turned the narrow streets into rivers of mud. The storm raged, hitting the stone houses with full force. But the people here were used to weather like this and so they slept peacefully, unfazed by the battle of nature forces outside their safe havens.
And in one of the houses, a small Wolf boy slept curled up on a large bed. His father had left in the evening just before the storm started, smelling the heavy rain in the air. He wanted to make sure their traps in the woods wouldn´t get flushed out. The iron they used for them was a rare material here in the mountains, and the traders came only twice a year and only in the summer season. Now with the autumn hitting them full force and the winter nocking slowly on the door, there would be no way to get new ones until the summer started next year. And so he went and promised to come back before the first morning light.
The boy wasn´t afraid for his father, for the man was strong and fast like all the Wolf males in their best years were. But he still felt a little lonely in the house, even with the fire burning cheerfully in the fireplace, lighting the interior and making it feel like home. And so he crawled into his father´s big bed and curled up on the blankets. He didn´t want to fall asleep. He was a big boy after all, and big boys could wait for their fathers to come home. But in the end, the warmth coming from the fireplace overran his determination and his eyes closed. He slept. His body, half wolf, half human, rested.
His pointed wolf ears twitched, and his long silver tail wiggled unconsciously, hitting the bed a couple of times with dull thumps. He picked up the sound of his father´s steps on the street. When the door banged open as the wind tore the handle out of his father´s hand, throwing it against the stone wall, the boy was already awake, watching the big figure of his parent loom in the doorway. He smiled, showing his sharp teeth and jumped from the bed, his bare feet slapping against the cold stone. His father managed to close the door in the end and shook a little, sending droplets of cold water in every direction. The boy laughed and his father turned to him, at first scowling at the fact that he was still awake, but then smiling gently at the upturned face that was showing such delight at having him back.
"Put more wood on the fire," the man ordered. "I´ve found something in the woods and we need to dry it off."
The boy complied without hesitation, his interest piqued. His father always brought him delightful presents. He took two pieces of dry wood and pushed them into the flames very carefully. He knew how burned flesh hurt, having learned his lesson when he was just a small cub. Seeing the flames flare with new life, he went back to his father who now sat at one of the chairs near the fire, his black cloak still on, covering something that he was holding to his chest. He gestured to his son to come closer.
"What is it, daddy?" the boy asked, whispering. He sniffed the air and his ears twitched again. There was something alive under the cloak. He didn´t recognize the scent so it couldn´t be some animal living around the village. He was now wracked with curiosity.
His father smiled at his impatience, and very slowly pushed the cloak aside, watching his son´s face for his reaction. He wasn´t sure how his son would take this small surprise.
The boy's eyes grew large and his mouth turned into an O. Under the cloak, curled up against his father´s chest, a little boy was asleep. He couldn´t be any older than he himself but where he was a Wolf with silver ears and long silver tail the boy was... a little different. He had pointed ears sticking up from his head too, but they were black and his tail was not bushy like his, but narrow and sleek, with shiny short black hair covering it. He was holding his father´s leather jerkin with sharp claws that were sticking out of the tips of his fingers but when he twitched in his sleep, they appeared and disappeared into the flesh again. The Wolf boy blinked, the ears standing straight up on his head. He looked down at the sharp claws on his fingers, claws he couldn´t retract the way the foreign boy did. Strange. He sniffed the air again. The smell of the boy was really pleasant, but it had undertones of sickness in it. The strange boy whimpered in his sleep, and tried to bury himself in his father´s chest. The Wolf boy made a cooing sound and caressed the long chestnut locks on the boy's head.
"Who is he?" the boy asked quietly, when their new guest settled down again.
The man smiled, seeing his son´s blue eyes fixed on the small bundle in his arms. "I would say that he belongs to a Cat clan. I can´t say which one. Maybe to the Wood Cats living on the other side of the mountain. I found him in the woods, shivering, so I decided to take him home."
His son nodded seriously, and the man sighed in relief. The Cat clans and the Wolf clans usually didn´t get along well with each other. But he couldn´t let this cub die in the woods, and so he really hoped that his son´s warm nature would accept the stray, even though it came from a different clan. And he was right.
"What will we do with him?" the boy asked, his hand still buried in the silken chestnut strands. The color and texture fascinated him.
"We will help him get well, then find his clan and return him to his home."
The boy nodded and smiled when the cub in his father´s arms started to purr loudly as he scratched his ear. "Can he sleep in my bed?"
"Of course."
The Wolf boy smiled happily, scratching one of the black ears again.
Some time later the man watched his son and the Cat cub curled up around each other on the bed, fast asleep. He wasn´t afraid that his son could catch some disease from the stray boy since the Wolf cubs were immune to sickness from the moment they were born. That´s why their clan kept growing stronger with each passing year where the Cat clans, where the people were more prone to falling ill, slowly died out. He bent down and covered them both with a warm blanket. He would have to fetch the healer and explain to the villagers that for the time being, they had a Cat guest in their midst. But there was time for it tomorrow. Now he needed sleep just like his cubs.
The End? TBC?
===
Revenge Is Mine
AU, Post-GW ~ 13+5, past 13+5, 13+6, 6+9 ~ Zechs commits suicide and someone comes to take revenge on his behalf.
The sun was setting, coloring the sky blood red and orange.
The graveyard was silent, the only sound the screeching of the iron gate being pulled open.
Two men stepped through the elaborately ornated iron wing. One was the master, leading the way, his right leg having a small limp. The other was the servant, walking two steps behind, his alert eyes combing the surrounding area for trouble.
The man was dressed all in black. His expensive suit, his coat, his gloves, his shoes... His long brown hair was tied back at the nape of his neck. His walking stick hit the pavement with a rhythmic tap-tap. The last rays of the setting sun glinted off the mask that hid one half of his face. It was silver, etched with intertwined spirals and swirls. The mask covered his forehead and both of his deep blue eyes then ran from his left cheekbone over the bridge of his nose down to the right side of his jaw. The expression on his face was cold and distant.
The men walked through the rows and rows of graves and tombs, heading for the one they came to visit from such a distance. And then they finally reached it, nothing more than a simple marble plate with gold etched letters, hidden among expensive tombs, looking small and forlorn. Fresh earth surrounded it, the grass gone from recent digging.
The servant stepped back in reverence, leaving his master alone with the buried one.
"Hey," the black dressed man whispered, his voice harsh from an injury that took its toll and mangled his body. "I'm sorry for coming so late." He paused as if waiting for an answer. A flock of birds passed above his head, crying out, the death one stayed silent though.
Etched letters, painted in gold. Two dates, one name. 176 AC - 205 AC. So young, gone before his time came.
The man reached into his coat and pulled out a single blood red rose, careful not to break the stem. He then crouched down stifly, pain shooting up his injured leg. He ignored it. In the last ten years he learned to live with pain - the pain of the body and the pain of the soul.
He laid the rose down on the white marble plate, then ran his fingers gently over the etched name. "She didn't even bury you under your own name," he croaked out again. "Not Milliardo, the Prince. But Zechs, the Soldier, the Traitor, the Black Sheep. Not worthy of the royal tomb." His voice cracked with silent fury.
The sun disappeared behind the horizon and the sky darkened. The first stars appeared on the dark velvety canopy.
"I've loved only two men in my life, precious, now one of them is lying in a grave, alone in the dark. Dead by his own hand." He fell silent, gazing down at the name he never thought he would see carved in a gravestone.
He lifted his hand from the gold etched letters and closed his hand in a fist. When he spoke, his voice was full of menace and arctic cold. "I don't know what happened, precious, but I will find out. I will uncover who hurt you so much that you thought death was the only escape. And I swear to you," his voice grew even more quiet, "they will pay."
With a last glance, a last caress, he got up, leaning heavily on the cane. Without looking back, the black-clad man headed for the gate, the servant falling in step behind him.
And when he sat down on the expensive plush seat and the servant closed the door of the limousine, he laid the walking stick aside and reached for the stack of files, lying on the seat just opposite him. He leaned back comfortably, then switched on the small reading light just as the car was set in motion, the engine humming quietly under the hood. He opened the yellow cover of the top most file and read the first name...
Lucrezia Noin...
TBC
===
The Wedding
AU, Humor ~ 5+S, 1+2, 3+4 ~ Wufei and Sally are getting married and so Sally hires a wedding coordinator.
"You WHAT?" Wufei yelled at his soon-to-be-wife over the breakfast table.
Sally looked calmly at her soon-to-be-husband and put another piece of fruit in her mouth. "I hired a wedding coordinator," she repeated.
Wufei looked shocked for a minute, silently sputtering. "Why? I thought it was going to be a small wedding!" he finally managed to force out.
"It will be," she answered, chewing on a piece of melon.
"Then *why* hire a wedding coordinator? Meiran and I planned the whole thing alone and everything went down just fine," he protested.
"Yeah, *down* is the right word," agreed Heero from behind his newspaper. "Do I have to remind you that your bride ended up falling in a fish pond, the food was either burnt or undercooked, and when it started to rain during the ceremony, we stood there like a pack of drowned rats?" Finally he lowered the paper and met Wufei´s glaring eyes. "As a witness, I would rather not repeat this disaster."
"And besides, there is a saying that your wedding shows you how your marriage will look like," said Quatre and took a sip of tea.
Wufei turned to the left and glared at him too. "That´s nonsense!"
"Is it?" Trowa, sitting next to Quatre, raised his one visible eyebrow. "Do I have to remind you that your first marriage didn´t survive the six months mark?"
Wufei huffed a little, knowing they had a point. "But I still don´t know..."
"Love," Sally interrupted him calmly, completely used to his ´moods´. "The wedding is in less than a week and the only thing we have been able to accomplish is asking Quatre if the wedding could be held here, to which he-" she raised her cup of coffee to thank him, to which Quatre bowed his head a little "-thankfully agreed. Our schedules are so busy - me at the hospital and you playing Special Agent - that if we don´t find somebody who would take over the organization we won´t be able to get married in a year, let alone a week!"
Wufei sighed. He knew that Sally was right. But he didn´t have to like it. He hated the prospect that some stranger would be digging around in his life and turning it upside down. But on the other hand... "So who is she?" he asked, his voice full of long suffering.
Sally smiled at her victory. "It´s him and not her." When Wufei raised his eyebrows, she continued: "I checked his references. He is very good. He has been working in this field for three years and none of the couples he helped are divorced yet."
"You call it success when a couple is still married three years after the wedding?" he asked, one eyebrow still lifted.
"Do I have to remind you how soon *your* first marriage ended, Love?"
Wufei harrumphed again. "So, when do we meet this wizard among wedding coordinators?"
Sally opened her mouth, but after hearing the huff, puff and bang outside she smiled. "I think that´s him."
Heero, sitting closest to the window, leaned back in his chair to look out and had to blink and catch himself to avoid falling when he spotted the source of the strange sounds. It was a small Beetle, huffing its way up the hill where Quatre´s mansion stood. Multicolored was a weak word for what the car looked like. It was as if the small beetle got caught in an explosion in a paint factory. Heero raised his eyebrows, hearing the strange vehicle wheeze when it finally reached the courtyard of the mansion. He snickered when it disappeared from his sight. He couldn´t even imagine how it must look sitting in the driveway next to Quatre´s Masserati, his Mercedes and other well known makes of cars.
"What are you grinning at, Yuy?" Wufei asked him suspiciously and everyone else turned to the Japanese man too.
"Oh, nothing," he assured them, but caught Sally´s eyes. Oh yes, she knew something they didn´t know, and she was obviously enjoying herself.
Seconds later, the door to the dining room opened and Rashid, Quatre´s "man for everything" stood there looking rather... uncomfortable. "Master Quatre, someone would like to see Ms. Sally," he announced.
"Let him in, Rashid," Quatre waved, reaching for a tea pot. Rashid stepped to the side and Quatre´s hand froze in midair.
In the doorway, a strange... individual stood. The young man was of medium height, chestnut hair in a long braid from which some strands managed to escape. He was dressed in combat boots, knee high neon yellow and black striped socks, black shorts, short white t-shirt with a "Hug me, I´m an idiot" written on it, under a sleeveless black fishnet shirt. He was good looking, eyes twinkling with mischief, black rimmed glasses sitting on the tip of his freckled nose. Over his shoulder, he had slung a neon green backpack covered with neon pink smiley stickers. He grinned at them toothily and waved. "Hi, I´m Duo Maxwell. The wedding coordinator. Sorry for being late, but I think my car suffers from PMS," he said, rubbing his nose and leaving a dark smudge on his face from his oily fingers.
Three men gaped at him, their mouths hanging open. Sally beamed, waving at the newcomer. And Wufei started to hit the table with his head. If he was lucky, this marriage would survive at least their wedding day. But he didn´t count on it.
The End? TBC?
Post-EW, Dark ~ 1+2 ~ Something bad happened to Duo.
Heero raced on his bike through the unmoving cars on the highway. The people, who got out of their cars to see what was going on, scattered quickly out of his way, shouting at him, their fists raised. He didn´t pay any attention to them. There were more important things to worry about right now...
His eyes caught a glimpse of the ambulance and police cars, their blue and red lights flashing. He revved the engine and his bike shot forward, the back wheel almost slipping on the wet road. He needed to go faster!
When he finally reached the wall of gawkers, squashed behind the yellow "do-not-cross" line of tape, he honked loudly. The cops, seeing his Preventer jacket, pushed the onlookers to the side and lifted the tape, opening a narrow corridor, through which he raced at top speed, lifting his hand to thank them.
There, just a couple of meters in front of him, the ambulance and a couple of police cars stood, strategically placed in such a manner, that nobody would be able to see what was going on in the middle of the circle they made.
Heero stopped his bike with squealing tires, the smell of burnt rubber hanging in the air. The cops and the ambulance staff turned to look at him, some with a curious expression, some with a dark scowl on their faces. They had been told not to do anything before he arrived. He jumped from the bike, taking off his helmet and laying it down on the leather seat.
He took a deep breath. He had rushed over so quickly but now he felt unsure. Slowly he moved closer, his steps hesitant. He didn´t know what to expect. When Une called to tell him what happened, he didn´t believe her at first. This was... impossible. She didn´t know all the details. The only thing she knew for sure was, that it was bad. Really, really bad.
Finally he reached the ambulance, and moving around it, he stepped into the circle the vehicles created. And his breath caught in his throat.
On the wet ground in the middle of the circle, a lone figure sat on the ground. Long honey brown tresses, matted with blood and dirt, hung loose around his almost naked figure. The young man´s face was pale, cheeks hollow, the beautiful violet eyes sunken, wide open and unfocused. His lips were chapped and bloody. There were scrapes, bruises and dried blood on the dirty skin. The longhaired man was dressed in the tattered remnants of an orange jump suit. His clothes were dirty and bloody. He looked emaciated, sharp bones pressing against his too thin skin. His feet were bare, torn and bleeding. He sat there, legs tucked to his chest, hugging them tightly with his overly thin arms. He was rocking back and forth slightly, his breathing incredibly loud and wheezy.
Heero´s hands balled into fists, fingernails digging into his palms deep enough to draw blood. It was Duo. But that was impossible... Duo was on L2, with Hilde and the scrapyard. Duo should be living a happy life now, not sitting here in the middle of the highway on Earth. It was impossible... But still, he was here.
Heero pulled his badge out of the inner pocket of his Preventer jacket, and flashed it at the doctor and the police captain. "Preventer Heero Yuy. Can you tell me what´s going on here?" he asked, his voice quiet.
"Captain Montoya," the elderly cop introduced himself, then continued, his voice soft and sad, "I wish I knew. Some driver called the police to tell us that there was some man on the highway. He said that the man looked in pretty bad shape, warned us that there could be drugs involved."
Heero´s eyes narrowed, hearing the assumption, that his ex-partner could be a junkie, but he bit his tongue.
"When we arrived, he was stumbling between the cars. They tried to avoid him, but I suspect that he got hit a couple of times." Montoya shook his head. "He´s lucky that he isn´t dead. When we tried to come near him, he didn´t seem to notice us at first. When we touched him though, he started to scream and fight. We had to let him go before he hurt himself more. We stopped the traffic and called the ambulance." He pointed at the yellow car and the stern looking doctor.
The doc, a tall, greying man with glasses and the name "Richards" written on his ID tag, nodded and picked up, his voice sympathetic: "The patient is completely unresponsive to voice or light. The only thing that caused a reaction was touch. And it was a quite violent reaction too. It would be best to give him something to calm him down, but as long as we are unsure about his blood work, we can´t risk giving him anything. It may just worsen the situation."
Heero looked back at the huddled figure. "Why did you call the Preventers?" he asked.
"This man," Montoya pointed at one of the cops standing around helplessly, "recognized the victim."
Heero´s stomach lurched, hearing the word "victim", but that summed up exactly what Duo was. A victim. Of what, they would have to find out.
The young cop stepped closer. "My name´s Parker, Agent Yuy. I was a member of the White Fang during the war." When Heero´s eyes narrowed again, he continued quickly: "I remembered seeing him," he pointed at Duo over his shoulder, "in the OZ database. Duo Maxwell, Gundam Pilot 02. When I recognized him, I thought it would be better if we called Commander Une."
Heero nodded. "You did the right thing."
"So, this Une told us to wait here for you," Montoya said. "Can you tell us why?"
Heero sighed and tucked his shield back into his pocket. "Because I was 01 in the wars, Captain. And Duo Maxwell was my partner."
Leaving the surprised men behind, Heero stepped further into the circle, moving slowly towards his ex-partner.
"Duo? Do you hear me?" he asked softly as not to spook the other man. "It´s me, Heero." When Duo didn´t react at all, he turned to the men waiting by the cars. Recieving no advice from them, he moved closer, until he crouched right in front of the longhaired man.
"Duo?" he said again. Slowly, he raised his hand and waved it in front of Duo´s eyes. No reaction at all. Cold started to gnaw at Heero´s stomach.
"Duo? It´s me, Heero. Do you remember me?" he whispered. Receiving no reaction, he reached with his right hand and laid it on Duo´s shoulder.
Heero almost jumped back, startled by the violent jerk the longhaired man made. A wailing scream rose from Duo´s half open mouth and he tried to scramble away from the Japanese man. But Heero wouldn´t let him. Quickly, he caught Duo in his arms, the battered back to his chest and held on tightly, when his ex-partner started to struggle like a madman, his arms and legs hitting the ground.
"It´s okay, it´s okay," Heero whispered, but the other young man didn´t seem to hear him. Finally Duo slumped in Heero´s arms, defeated and exhausted. Tears started to run down the wet cheeks and tiny sobs came out of his throat.
"It's okay, everything will be fine now. I´m here," he repeated over and over, caressing his hair and kissing the top of Duo´s head. The injured man didn´t seem to hear him though, still sobbing quietly, shaking like a leaf.
Heero´s eyes narrowed in horrible suspicion. Lifting one hand, he brought it to Duo´s right ear and snapped his fingers loudly. He did it again and again, but the man in his arms didn´t react at all. He tried the same to the other ear with the same result. Heero swallowed painfully and closed his eyes for a moment. Then he turned to the waiting cops and ambulance staff.
"He is blind and deaf," he called out, his voice hollow. He didn´t wait for their reaction, but lowered his eyes back to Duo. Noticing one battered hand move in constant motion against his leg, his eyes slid in the direction. After a moment, he noticed a pattern. It was a code, Morse code.
H-E-L-P
It repeated itself over and over and over, while Duo sobbed quietly, trying to curl up in a tiny ball.
Heero breathed in sharply. Morse code! He caught Duo´s tapping hand in his, squeezing it firmly, but gently. When the longhaired boy froze in his arms, falling completely silent, Heero started to tap with his fingers against Duo´s hand.
H-E-E-R-O
He repeated it once, twice, three times, slowly losing hope of Duo understanding. Maybe he was too far gone to understand anymore.
When Duo gripped his hand tightly, it took Heero completely by surprise. He looked down at their joined hands, then at Duo´s tear stained face. The violet eyes were closed now, his face drawn, eyebrows furrowed.
"H... Hee.. ro?" came the weak question, voice hoarse. It was so full of hope that it tore at Heero´s heart.
´Y-E-S,´ he tapped.
"Really?" It was obvious that Duo wanted to believe it so much, but wasn´t sure if it – he – was true.
´B-A-K-A,´ he tapped out.
Duo let out a short, painful laugh. When Heero brought him closer to his chest, hugging him tightly from behind, the longhaired boy started to cry again, hugging Heero´s arms back, pressing himself against the Japanese boy, as if feeling the need to join with him completely.
"It´s okay, I´ll take care of you. Okay," Heero murmured into the damp hair, even though the young man in his arms couldn´t hear it. But it was a promise. He would take care of Duo.
And he would find out who did this to him - and kill them.
TBC? The End?
===
The Heart of Arabia
AU ~ 3+4, 5+6, 1+2 ~ The boys are members of a boy group called The Heart of Arabia.
They all sat in the long white limousine, Quatre and his band - The Heart of Arabia. The sun was hot and the "road" leading through the rocks and sand was dirty, the dust raising behind the car, leaving a brownish cloud behind. They had the climatization turned, up but they could still feel the sweat trickling down their backs. It was noon in the desert - the hottest place on Earth.
"You never took us home with you before, Quatre," said the longhaired Chinese boy sitting across from Quatre matter of factly, but his raised eyebrows indicated a question.
The blond Arabian tore his gaze away from the sand and rocks passing by in quick motion as the car headed up yet another mountain and turned to his friend, Chang Wufei. He was dressed in white pants and black tank top that left his muscled and bronzed shoulders bare. He was quite a sight to take in - and the best one in handling the keyboard. "Well, it was time, right? I´ve visited all of you at home and it seemed rather rude to not invite you to mine."
"If you are doing it only out of duty..." the half Japanese man began to say, dressed in khaki pants and black sleeveless shirt, sitting next to Wufei.
"Of course not, Heero," Quatre interrupted his friend. Quatre knew him the longest time from all of them having met him in college. He was a great drummer - a way to releave the anger and bad temper he often suffered from. "If I didn´t want you here, I wouldn´t have invited you. You should know me better than that."
Heero nodded and returned to staring out the window of the car, the unruly bangs falling in his face as usual, hiding his prussian eyes. Quatre sighed. Heero had been really touchy these days. He knew it had something to do with Relena, the little sister of their guitarist Milliardo Peacecraft, the Count of
Sanq. They were a noble family he and Heero met during their college years in England. As much as they both liked Milliardo - or Zechs as he prefered to call himself - they disliked his sister twice as much. She was a whiny clingy girl that had the hots for Heero. She followed them all over the world like a real groupie. At first they laughed about it, but now it had gotten plain annoying. Zechs did all he could to keep his little sister away from them, but he wasn´t almighty. And she always managed to slip under his radar. They always managed to deal with her, but the last time she went too far. Coming back from their concert, Heero found her naked in his bed. Quatre had never seen him that furious. Through clenched teeth, he asked Zechs to remove his sister from his room or he would do it himself and that his solution would be much more permanent. The longhaired, platinum blond man dragged her out of the hotel, covered only in the blanket from Heero´s room. Every time Quatre closed his eyes he could see the scene she made: she was kicking and screaming making a total fool out of herself, but embarassing them in the process too. Nobody slept that night and although they were incredibly tired, they left the hotel that night.
Quatre regarded his best friend with worry once more. Maybe this quiet vacation away from other people - Relena included, would help them all relax. He looked to the right where Zechs was seated next to Wufei. He saw the same thoughts displayed on his face, the worry in his cornflower blue eyes. Zechs felt guilty for all the problems Relena was causing them. But it was not his fault - even Heero snapped at him as he apologized for the upteenth time for the scandal at the hotel.
"You okay?"
The silent question brought Quatre back from his reverie and smiling a little, he looked at the young man sitting next to him. Trowa Barton, the youngest of their group - two years younger than him and Heero - the one playing the flute in their band... and Quatre´s lover as of a month ago. Quatre still thought that it was Allah´s blessing that he found a real soul mate in his life. He remembered how shy he was when he confessed his love to the taller boy. He still remembered the surprise in the one forest green eye visible behind the mop of hair covering half of his face, the side that was marred by scars left by the fire that took his family just two years before they met. The surprise turned to delight and then to love. Quatre´s hopes had been fulfilled. He found the love of his life.
"Yeah, love. I´m fine. Just lost in the memories," he answered him, entwining his fingers with the younger man´s. It always helped to feel the strength in them.
"Good ones, I hope," said Trowa tightening his grip on Quatre´s hand just a little.
"Partially," the blond man admitted and giving his lover one last smile he turned to look out of the window once again. He recognized the terrain there already - they were now up on the plateau on the top of the small table-like mountain. They were not far away from the Winner estate - The Pearl of Desert as it was called too. And he was right. Just in that moment the car took a 90 degrees turn to the right and headed around the large pile of rocks - a convenient road sign showing where to turn when the "road" got covered in sand and dirt and wasn´t visible at all - down the to the small valley where the family estate of Quatre´s family stood proud inmitten the lush green oase. There was even a waterfall bringing the waters out from the deepness of the mountains to the earth, building small lakes here and there before disappearing in the sand just outside the sheltered valley.
The other men in the car gasped with surprise, seeing the paradise on Earth. Among the green grass and bushes the estate stood proudly. Made of white stone, it shone so brightly in the sun that it was making their eyes hurt.
"It´s beautiful, Quatre," Trowa whispered.
Quatre smiled. Yeah, his family - rich business men and women - had always had more than enough money to buy whatever they wanted. Even to build an estate among the rocks and sand of the desert. There was nothing impossible for the Winner family.
It was good to be home.
The End - part 1
===
Lover of Mine
AU, Fantasy ~ 1+2 ~ Relena is a bad witch that wants Heero no matter what.
"I don´t love you, Relena! When will you finally understand?" Heero asked, more than a hint of anger evident in his voice.
No, he is lying. He doesn´t mean it, the violet and pink clad witch thought desperately. "You are lying!" Relena shrieked. "You are lying," she whispered, her eyes pleading for him to confirm her wishful thinking.
Heero sighed and closed his eyes. This was ridiculous. "Relena... I. Don´t. Love. You. Look around," he waved his hand. "This is where I live, where I´m happy. I´m not going with you. I will NEVER go with you. Can´t you understand that?"
She looked around. For the first time she really looked around taking in the simple clothes he had on, the small wooden cottage, the small field with wheat and vegetable, the linen hanging in the sun, the smoke escaping from the chimney. She snorted in disgust. "This is what you want from your life? You are no farmer, Heero Yuy. You are a swordsman, a man of the great world. Soon you will be bored in this place. I can offer you so much more. The whole world would lie at your feet, I can fulfill your every wish, every whim. I will give you everything you want. I can make you immortal..." she offered, her voice full of seduction as she peered at him from under her lashes, a small smile on her lips. Everyone wanted to be immortal. She knew he would take her offer if...
Heero shook his head, a sad look in his eyes. "I don´t want any of that, Relena. There is nothing you could offer me that I don´t already have. Treasures, immortality... They are not important if you don´t have somebody you could share them with. I have found the person I want to spend my life with. And he is here, with me and he matters to me more than my life."
She sneered. She knew exactly about whom he was speaking. "That street rat? You want to tell me that some street rat you picked up somewhere is more important to you than me? Don´t tell me you don´t feel anything for me. We´ve spent such wonderful time together. We were lovers and you enjoyed it. I know you did. You can´t tell me that this dirty nothing is more than me!"
"Shut up!" Heero shouted, for the first time since she had known him losing his cool control completely. "You will not insult Duo in my presence like that. Maybe he has no magical powers like you, maybe he doesn´t own all the treasures in the world, maybe he doesn´t have palaces and servants. But he has something you will never have! A heart!"
Her beautiful face paled, eyes darkening with rage. "Is this your last word?" Her voice was cold as ice. She knew that she couldn´t just simply take him. There would be nothing short of a mind altering spell that would stop him from leaving her. Again. He wasn´t called the "Perfect soldier" for nothing. And she didn´t want a soulless puppet.
"Duo loves me, Relena," Heero whispered. "And I love him. You only want to posess me. I have made my mind."
Her eyes narrowed. "You will be sorry, Heero. I swear you will curse this day for the rest of your life!" And then she disappeared in a flash of light, thunder rolling through the small valley where the two men lived.
Heero sighed and hung his head. That was a complete failure. He couldn´t believe how much she had changed since he had left her. Nothing of the fair girl he once loved remained. The elders of their village warned her that the witch powers she played with would corrupt her mind, but she didn´t listen and now only the pretty shell was left behind. And it was filled with obsession, anger and rage, madness ruling where happiness once lived. No, nothing of his former lover stayed behind.
"Heero?" a tentative voice came from behind him.
He lifted his head and turned around. In the doorway leading to their cottage his lover stood - long hair in a messy braid, simple black clothes dusted with flour, a smudge of coal on his nose. Heero smiled. He had never seen anything more beautiful.
"Yes, lover?"
Duo shuffled his feet and looked away. "I... I heard..."
Heero sighed. "Duo..."
"Maybe you should go with her. She is right. I have nothing to offer you. Not the things she could give you..."
Heero quickly closed the distance between them and caught his lover´s face in his hands lifting it. "You heard, but obviously you didn´t listen. I don´t want anything she could offer me. You are my life, my soul, my heart. You are everything I need. For the rest of my life and beyond."
Duo blinked but didn´t look convinced.
"For the rest of my life and beyond," Heero repeated their oath with more heat.
"For the rest of my life and beyond," Duo repeated quietly and then he laid his arms around his lover´s neck as Heero kissed him passionately on his lips. Maybe... just maybe he will be enough for Heero after all...
~*~
Relena was looking in the deep black pool, watching them kiss and hug before they disappeared in the cottage and closed the door behind them. She shrieked and caught one of the stones that surrounded the small pool and threw it in its black waters. With a big splash, the peaceful picture of the small house was destroyed.
"You will be sorry, Heero Yuy. You will be sorry that you didn´t choose me. But you will come to me. You will come crawling. I swear. You will come..."
There was a mad look in her eyes as she turned around and swept some glasses with strange dark liquids and paper scrolls from her work table. She laughed insanely as they crashed to the ground, and with a hiss caught fire.
"You will come to me and you will beg..."
TBC
===
Of Cats and Wolves
AU ~ 1+2 ~ Heero is a wolf-boy, Duo is a cat-boy.
Flashes of light crisscrossed the night sky and thunder rolled down the mountain where the village of the Wolf Clan lay. The rain fell down in heavy drops and turned the narrow streets into rivers of mud. The storm raged, hitting the stone houses with full force. But the people here were used to weather like this and so they slept peacefully, unfazed by the battle of nature forces outside their safe havens.
And in one of the houses, a small Wolf boy slept curled up on a large bed. His father had left in the evening just before the storm started, smelling the heavy rain in the air. He wanted to make sure their traps in the woods wouldn´t get flushed out. The iron they used for them was a rare material here in the mountains, and the traders came only twice a year and only in the summer season. Now with the autumn hitting them full force and the winter nocking slowly on the door, there would be no way to get new ones until the summer started next year. And so he went and promised to come back before the first morning light.
The boy wasn´t afraid for his father, for the man was strong and fast like all the Wolf males in their best years were. But he still felt a little lonely in the house, even with the fire burning cheerfully in the fireplace, lighting the interior and making it feel like home. And so he crawled into his father´s big bed and curled up on the blankets. He didn´t want to fall asleep. He was a big boy after all, and big boys could wait for their fathers to come home. But in the end, the warmth coming from the fireplace overran his determination and his eyes closed. He slept. His body, half wolf, half human, rested.
His pointed wolf ears twitched, and his long silver tail wiggled unconsciously, hitting the bed a couple of times with dull thumps. He picked up the sound of his father´s steps on the street. When the door banged open as the wind tore the handle out of his father´s hand, throwing it against the stone wall, the boy was already awake, watching the big figure of his parent loom in the doorway. He smiled, showing his sharp teeth and jumped from the bed, his bare feet slapping against the cold stone. His father managed to close the door in the end and shook a little, sending droplets of cold water in every direction. The boy laughed and his father turned to him, at first scowling at the fact that he was still awake, but then smiling gently at the upturned face that was showing such delight at having him back.
"Put more wood on the fire," the man ordered. "I´ve found something in the woods and we need to dry it off."
The boy complied without hesitation, his interest piqued. His father always brought him delightful presents. He took two pieces of dry wood and pushed them into the flames very carefully. He knew how burned flesh hurt, having learned his lesson when he was just a small cub. Seeing the flames flare with new life, he went back to his father who now sat at one of the chairs near the fire, his black cloak still on, covering something that he was holding to his chest. He gestured to his son to come closer.
"What is it, daddy?" the boy asked, whispering. He sniffed the air and his ears twitched again. There was something alive under the cloak. He didn´t recognize the scent so it couldn´t be some animal living around the village. He was now wracked with curiosity.
His father smiled at his impatience, and very slowly pushed the cloak aside, watching his son´s face for his reaction. He wasn´t sure how his son would take this small surprise.
The boy's eyes grew large and his mouth turned into an O. Under the cloak, curled up against his father´s chest, a little boy was asleep. He couldn´t be any older than he himself but where he was a Wolf with silver ears and long silver tail the boy was... a little different. He had pointed ears sticking up from his head too, but they were black and his tail was not bushy like his, but narrow and sleek, with shiny short black hair covering it. He was holding his father´s leather jerkin with sharp claws that were sticking out of the tips of his fingers but when he twitched in his sleep, they appeared and disappeared into the flesh again. The Wolf boy blinked, the ears standing straight up on his head. He looked down at the sharp claws on his fingers, claws he couldn´t retract the way the foreign boy did. Strange. He sniffed the air again. The smell of the boy was really pleasant, but it had undertones of sickness in it. The strange boy whimpered in his sleep, and tried to bury himself in his father´s chest. The Wolf boy made a cooing sound and caressed the long chestnut locks on the boy's head.
"Who is he?" the boy asked quietly, when their new guest settled down again.
The man smiled, seeing his son´s blue eyes fixed on the small bundle in his arms. "I would say that he belongs to a Cat clan. I can´t say which one. Maybe to the Wood Cats living on the other side of the mountain. I found him in the woods, shivering, so I decided to take him home."
His son nodded seriously, and the man sighed in relief. The Cat clans and the Wolf clans usually didn´t get along well with each other. But he couldn´t let this cub die in the woods, and so he really hoped that his son´s warm nature would accept the stray, even though it came from a different clan. And he was right.
"What will we do with him?" the boy asked, his hand still buried in the silken chestnut strands. The color and texture fascinated him.
"We will help him get well, then find his clan and return him to his home."
The boy nodded and smiled when the cub in his father´s arms started to purr loudly as he scratched his ear. "Can he sleep in my bed?"
"Of course."
The Wolf boy smiled happily, scratching one of the black ears again.
Some time later the man watched his son and the Cat cub curled up around each other on the bed, fast asleep. He wasn´t afraid that his son could catch some disease from the stray boy since the Wolf cubs were immune to sickness from the moment they were born. That´s why their clan kept growing stronger with each passing year where the Cat clans, where the people were more prone to falling ill, slowly died out. He bent down and covered them both with a warm blanket. He would have to fetch the healer and explain to the villagers that for the time being, they had a Cat guest in their midst. But there was time for it tomorrow. Now he needed sleep just like his cubs.
The End? TBC?
===
Revenge Is Mine
AU, Post-GW ~ 13+5, past 13+5, 13+6, 6+9 ~ Zechs commits suicide and someone comes to take revenge on his behalf.
The sun was setting, coloring the sky blood red and orange.
The graveyard was silent, the only sound the screeching of the iron gate being pulled open.
Two men stepped through the elaborately ornated iron wing. One was the master, leading the way, his right leg having a small limp. The other was the servant, walking two steps behind, his alert eyes combing the surrounding area for trouble.
The man was dressed all in black. His expensive suit, his coat, his gloves, his shoes... His long brown hair was tied back at the nape of his neck. His walking stick hit the pavement with a rhythmic tap-tap. The last rays of the setting sun glinted off the mask that hid one half of his face. It was silver, etched with intertwined spirals and swirls. The mask covered his forehead and both of his deep blue eyes then ran from his left cheekbone over the bridge of his nose down to the right side of his jaw. The expression on his face was cold and distant.
The men walked through the rows and rows of graves and tombs, heading for the one they came to visit from such a distance. And then they finally reached it, nothing more than a simple marble plate with gold etched letters, hidden among expensive tombs, looking small and forlorn. Fresh earth surrounded it, the grass gone from recent digging.
The servant stepped back in reverence, leaving his master alone with the buried one.
"Hey," the black dressed man whispered, his voice harsh from an injury that took its toll and mangled his body. "I'm sorry for coming so late." He paused as if waiting for an answer. A flock of birds passed above his head, crying out, the death one stayed silent though.
Etched letters, painted in gold. Two dates, one name. 176 AC - 205 AC. So young, gone before his time came.
The man reached into his coat and pulled out a single blood red rose, careful not to break the stem. He then crouched down stifly, pain shooting up his injured leg. He ignored it. In the last ten years he learned to live with pain - the pain of the body and the pain of the soul.
He laid the rose down on the white marble plate, then ran his fingers gently over the etched name. "She didn't even bury you under your own name," he croaked out again. "Not Milliardo, the Prince. But Zechs, the Soldier, the Traitor, the Black Sheep. Not worthy of the royal tomb." His voice cracked with silent fury.
The sun disappeared behind the horizon and the sky darkened. The first stars appeared on the dark velvety canopy.
"I've loved only two men in my life, precious, now one of them is lying in a grave, alone in the dark. Dead by his own hand." He fell silent, gazing down at the name he never thought he would see carved in a gravestone.
He lifted his hand from the gold etched letters and closed his hand in a fist. When he spoke, his voice was full of menace and arctic cold. "I don't know what happened, precious, but I will find out. I will uncover who hurt you so much that you thought death was the only escape. And I swear to you," his voice grew even more quiet, "they will pay."
With a last glance, a last caress, he got up, leaning heavily on the cane. Without looking back, the black-clad man headed for the gate, the servant falling in step behind him.
And when he sat down on the expensive plush seat and the servant closed the door of the limousine, he laid the walking stick aside and reached for the stack of files, lying on the seat just opposite him. He leaned back comfortably, then switched on the small reading light just as the car was set in motion, the engine humming quietly under the hood. He opened the yellow cover of the top most file and read the first name...
Lucrezia Noin...
TBC
===
The Wedding
AU, Humor ~ 5+S, 1+2, 3+4 ~ Wufei and Sally are getting married and so Sally hires a wedding coordinator.
"You WHAT?" Wufei yelled at his soon-to-be-wife over the breakfast table.
Sally looked calmly at her soon-to-be-husband and put another piece of fruit in her mouth. "I hired a wedding coordinator," she repeated.
Wufei looked shocked for a minute, silently sputtering. "Why? I thought it was going to be a small wedding!" he finally managed to force out.
"It will be," she answered, chewing on a piece of melon.
"Then *why* hire a wedding coordinator? Meiran and I planned the whole thing alone and everything went down just fine," he protested.
"Yeah, *down* is the right word," agreed Heero from behind his newspaper. "Do I have to remind you that your bride ended up falling in a fish pond, the food was either burnt or undercooked, and when it started to rain during the ceremony, we stood there like a pack of drowned rats?" Finally he lowered the paper and met Wufei´s glaring eyes. "As a witness, I would rather not repeat this disaster."
"And besides, there is a saying that your wedding shows you how your marriage will look like," said Quatre and took a sip of tea.
Wufei turned to the left and glared at him too. "That´s nonsense!"
"Is it?" Trowa, sitting next to Quatre, raised his one visible eyebrow. "Do I have to remind you that your first marriage didn´t survive the six months mark?"
Wufei huffed a little, knowing they had a point. "But I still don´t know..."
"Love," Sally interrupted him calmly, completely used to his ´moods´. "The wedding is in less than a week and the only thing we have been able to accomplish is asking Quatre if the wedding could be held here, to which he-" she raised her cup of coffee to thank him, to which Quatre bowed his head a little "-thankfully agreed. Our schedules are so busy - me at the hospital and you playing Special Agent - that if we don´t find somebody who would take over the organization we won´t be able to get married in a year, let alone a week!"
Wufei sighed. He knew that Sally was right. But he didn´t have to like it. He hated the prospect that some stranger would be digging around in his life and turning it upside down. But on the other hand... "So who is she?" he asked, his voice full of long suffering.
Sally smiled at her victory. "It´s him and not her." When Wufei raised his eyebrows, she continued: "I checked his references. He is very good. He has been working in this field for three years and none of the couples he helped are divorced yet."
"You call it success when a couple is still married three years after the wedding?" he asked, one eyebrow still lifted.
"Do I have to remind you how soon *your* first marriage ended, Love?"
Wufei harrumphed again. "So, when do we meet this wizard among wedding coordinators?"
Sally opened her mouth, but after hearing the huff, puff and bang outside she smiled. "I think that´s him."
Heero, sitting closest to the window, leaned back in his chair to look out and had to blink and catch himself to avoid falling when he spotted the source of the strange sounds. It was a small Beetle, huffing its way up the hill where Quatre´s mansion stood. Multicolored was a weak word for what the car looked like. It was as if the small beetle got caught in an explosion in a paint factory. Heero raised his eyebrows, hearing the strange vehicle wheeze when it finally reached the courtyard of the mansion. He snickered when it disappeared from his sight. He couldn´t even imagine how it must look sitting in the driveway next to Quatre´s Masserati, his Mercedes and other well known makes of cars.
"What are you grinning at, Yuy?" Wufei asked him suspiciously and everyone else turned to the Japanese man too.
"Oh, nothing," he assured them, but caught Sally´s eyes. Oh yes, she knew something they didn´t know, and she was obviously enjoying herself.
Seconds later, the door to the dining room opened and Rashid, Quatre´s "man for everything" stood there looking rather... uncomfortable. "Master Quatre, someone would like to see Ms. Sally," he announced.
"Let him in, Rashid," Quatre waved, reaching for a tea pot. Rashid stepped to the side and Quatre´s hand froze in midair.
In the doorway, a strange... individual stood. The young man was of medium height, chestnut hair in a long braid from which some strands managed to escape. He was dressed in combat boots, knee high neon yellow and black striped socks, black shorts, short white t-shirt with a "Hug me, I´m an idiot" written on it, under a sleeveless black fishnet shirt. He was good looking, eyes twinkling with mischief, black rimmed glasses sitting on the tip of his freckled nose. Over his shoulder, he had slung a neon green backpack covered with neon pink smiley stickers. He grinned at them toothily and waved. "Hi, I´m Duo Maxwell. The wedding coordinator. Sorry for being late, but I think my car suffers from PMS," he said, rubbing his nose and leaving a dark smudge on his face from his oily fingers.
Three men gaped at him, their mouths hanging open. Sally beamed, waving at the newcomer. And Wufei started to hit the table with his head. If he was lucky, this marriage would survive at least their wedding day. But he didn´t count on it.
The End? TBC?
