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"Dawning"Written By: Honor Disclaimers: Not ours. They belong to rich people. We just snuck them out of the high-security vault when they weren’t looking. Pairings: 3x4, 5x2, 1+(um…eheheh…we have no idea.) Warnings: Angst (which is fixed), AU, Fant, violence, character death (a couple of the bad guys, don’t spaz), questionable humor and LEMON!!! Rating: PG-13 to NC-17 Summary: When a man of obsession turns to the powers of darkness to curse two lovers that are against him, then those that can must do everything they can to break the chains that ensnare them all. *emphasized* //spell or thoughts//
"Dawning"
“—possible, possible, nothing is impossible!” The voice did not seem to belong to anything within the walls, and yet it became progressively louder as time ticked by. “Come on, mouse, dig! Dig!” + Above ground three nooses tightened in a designed reflex on the gallows, cutting three thieves and murderers’ lives short. A lieutenant in the guard looked on in bored satisfaction, but refrained from yawning. Zechs Merquise, captain of the guard, rode closer on the dappled grey stallion that he preferred. “Bring me two more.” The lieutenant saluted. “Yes sir.” + Beneath the lieutenant’s feet, a hand pushed through the sludge coating the sewer walls. There were no words from the mysterious owner of the hand, only grunts of effort and harsh breathing. + Lieutenant Mueller made his way down into the dungeons, two subordinates at his heels. The area stunk of unwashed bodies, rotting food and other things that he really didn’t care to think about. Smudged faces stared at him listlessly as he moved past the open cells, but he paid no heed to them. Once he came to the guard detail over the dungeon area itself he looked at Alex. “I need two men. Bring me Duo Maxwell.” “Of course sir. Right this way.” He guided his leader down a row of cells into the second cell block. “This is the one.” Mueller stepped in, scanning the three men in the cell. They were sitting in various places, watching him with open fear in their eyes. But he did not see the youth that he was looking for. “Wrong cell. He’s not here. I want the one they call The Mouse.” “The mouse?” An inmate asked almost cheerfully. Mueller turned back to him, somehow curious. Once the man realized that he had the lieutenant’s attention, he continued. “Mouse… The mouse, he’s left our house. No mouse today, he’s gone away.” Mueller tensed when he heard those words and started forward. “To ease the pain—” The inmate paused, obviously trying to think of a sentence that would rhyme well with the previous one. His eyes lit up when he thought of one. “He’s—he’s down the drain!” “Where is he?!” Mueller demanded, jerking the man up by the front of his tunic. “I just told you, gentle lord!” The inmate protested shrilly. “Hang him.” Mueller commanded brusquely, tossing him towards Alex. Ignoring the inmate’s frantic protests, he eyed the drain that the inmate had pointed toward. The grill was indeed off, but the hole was barely a foot square. Sticking a hand into it, he muttered “Impossible. No one could possibly fit down there.” Standing again he bellowed, “Search everywhere! I want him found!” + A few dozen feet below the lieutenant’s boots, an arm had wriggled free of the wall and mud. Now it made way for more of the body and soon a shoulder popped into view, quickly followed by a head. The boy’s face was smudged in dirt and sweat, but his violet eyes were burning with determination and success. “It’s not unlike escaping mother’s womb—God. What a memory.” With another grunt of effort, he placed his hands on the wall in front of him and strained to pull himself free. With an almost audible pop he managed it, but with nothing to support him he tumbled free of the drain and fell into the water below with a hoarse shout of surprise. The water sloshed and splashed against the walls as he hit. A moment later he came back up, sputtering and wiping water out of his eyes. With no conscious idea of where to go, he simply started moving forward. The water resisted his movements, but he continued, keeping an eye on his surroundings and hoping to get an idea of where he was exactly. A strange and menacing shape started to float toward him. With a yelp he scrambled onto the nearest ledge, grasping frantically at the uneven stones for support so that he wouldn’t fall back into the water. “Lord,” he whispered frantically “I will never pick a pocket as long as I live, I swear it. But here’s the problem. If you don’t let me live, how can I prove my good faith to you? Now if you heard me, then this ledge will remain as steady as a rock and that thing won’t be what I think it is. If not, there will be no hard feelings of course. But I will be terribly disappointed.” The shape bobbed its way nearer. Duo resisted the urge to close his eyes and shrink against the column. For one thing, he wanted to know if he was in danger, and for another he couldn’t get any closer to the column than he already was. As it moved, the object turned to where he could get a better look at it. It revealed itself to be the skull of an ox. He breathed an explosive sigh of relief. “I don’t believe it.” From above his head there floated a strong religious chant. Duo’s head snapped up. “I believe it.” With wide eyes he climbed off the ledge and started to move toward that voice. “I’m coming, Lord. I’m coming.” A beam of weak light seemed to come from the same direction as the music, so he followed it blindly. A shaft led up by at least fifty feet, but there were bars to hold onto and the stones were so uneven that this would be a fairly easy climb. With a grunt of effort he levered himself up and started to shimmy his way up the narrow shaft. “I’m coming Lord. You won’t regret this. I’m a wonderful person.” He continued his climb until a grill barred his way. Threading his fingers through the grill he peered through the openings, trying to see what he was hearing. A girl roughly nine or ten noticed the fingers and stepped away from her mother, making her way toward the drain slightly hunched over. “Hello. What are you doing down there?” Duo panicked. If anyone noticed that she was talking to a drain, then he was in serious trouble. “Get away.” He hissed, waving his hand to shoo her off. “Get away, get away, get away!” The child’s mother abruptly noticed her absence and reached over, tugging her back by her arms. “Come back.” “But—” The child protested. “Shh.” Duo relaxed as he heard the girl subside. Well, wherever he was there were people. People could be a good thing. There wasn’t much that he could see through the grill, however. He could see the ceiling, which really wasn’t all that enlightening. It looked very ornate and vaulted, so he was guessing that he was still inside the castle somewhere. But there wasn’t anything else in his view. The stones he was resting against were a bit slick with mold, and he was starting to slip. Carefully he put his fingers back through the grill, shifting his weight onto his arms to hold him into place. He had barely done so when an armored boot stepped on his hands. With a scream of pain Duo instinctively let go, falling straight down back into the water. When he sputtered his way back up again, he cradled his hands protectively against his chest. “Right. NOT up. Okay. Let’s try down, then.” It took a minute of searching, but he finally found a place with his feet where he couldn’t feel the bottom. Taking a deep breath he dove under the water, opening his eyes with a grimace to see where he was going. This passage did indeed flow down, so he started to follow it. Maybe it would lead him outside the walls. + A lone figure sat upon a beautiful black stallion, a hawk on one wrist. He watched in curiosity as the execution bells stopped and the warning bells began. Interesting. Someone had managed to escape L’Aquila? After a moment of deliberation he nodded and moved closer, hoping to discover where the escapee went. He would need them. + “Your Grace.” Zechs bowed slightly as the Archbishop approached. He was not happy with what he was about to report, but then, it would be much worse if he didn’t mention anything at all. “Report, Captain.” “No can escape from L’Aquila. The townspeople accept this as a historical fact.” Treize Kushrenada replied sharply. “Nevertheless, it has happened. I have men searching for him now.” “Good.” “I will find him.” Zechs promised darkly. “Yes, captain, you will.” Treize extended his hand, which was duly kissed, then stalked down the hall in the original direction that he had been going. Zechs growled a curse under his breath and went a different direction, calling out orders as soon as he hit the courtyard. “We ride north to Dalgpras! A hundred in silver to however catches the Mouse and I will personally bring him to the bishop’s attention! To the man who lets him escape, he will lose his head!” With a sharp kick to the gray’s flanks, he led his men out of the gates and thundering down the road to the north. + Duo’s breath was burning in his lungs, and he didn’t think that he would be able to hold it much longer. His eyes were burning, but he kept them open. He had to see where he was going. Ahead he saw the faint outlines of a grill, and his heart stuttered at the thought of having to go back. He was too low on oxygen. There was no way that he would be able to make it. Frantically he began to search around the edges. On the left hand corner, there was a section that looked as if it had been torn away. He pulled himself downward and through the hole, thanking God that it was just large enough to admit him. Then he kicked his way frantically toward the surface. His head cleared the top with an audible splash, but he didn’t care. He was frantically drawing air into his deprived lungs. Once he had control of himself he swam toward the bank, grinning to himself when he saw that he had indeed made it outside of the walls. Now if he could get well away from those walls, he would be truly free. Two soldiers were sitting on the bank, and he made his movements very quiet so that they wouldn’t notice. They were too focused on their lunch and watching the patrol speed past (which, in truth, was probably sent out looking for him) to notice his presence. There was a dagger buried in the ground next to one of the guards and he pulled it free before slicing the man’s purse off his waist. “I know I promised Lord, never again.” He murmured under his breath. “But I also know that you know what a weak willed person I am. No hard feelings, alright?” He slid out of the water when no one was near and started running. It was cold, with the promise of snow in the air, but the air soon dried his clothes. Unfortunately, about the time that his clothes dried, the sun started to set and whatever warmth that he was enjoying disappeared. “Come on, mouse. Keep going. Not much further. Only another three hundred and fifty miles…” He ran most of the night, walking when he couldn’t draw a proper breath into his lungs. He had a lot of practice when it came to running, mostly from the guard. He wouldn’t have been caught last time if he had been able to run instead of blocked in on all sides. When morning came he was down to a stumbling shuffle. “Hot cabbage.” He murmured, desperately needing to hear something in the too-quiet atmosphere of the woods he was in. Snow was clearly visible in the mountains, and the lake that he was running beside was coated in ice. It wasn’t a good idea to be out here alone, and he wanted nothing more than to be in a city with lots of people, fireplaces, and hot food that he could steal as necessary. “Just like the old woman used to make.” There was the howl of a wolf in the distance and he nearly froze. “Wolf? Urk, no. Bad. I hate wolves.” Shaking his head sharply to put the worry out of his mind, he picked up his pace a little. “A nice joint of lamb…Where the hell am I? Hot lamb. With sauce on it. Maybe even some of that green stuff…” + Late the following morning he arrived in a small village. It was barely large enough to host a tavern, but Duo didn’t care. It meant civilization again and he was only too happy to see people and smell the smoke in the air. He ran into the tavern, by passing the people that were at the outside tables, going straight to the innkeeper. “Innkeeper! A glass of your most expensive.” “Yeah, yeah.” The man grumbled, looking up. “Show me your money.” Duo raised his purse and jingled it meaningfully. The man brightened when he realized just how much money the youth was carrying and poured him a cup of sweet wine. “And the same to anyone who will join me in a toast!” Duo proclaimed, accepting the cup with a nod of thanks and taking a small sip. Ah, it was sweet on his tongue and a mercy on his dry throat. All that running hadn’t been good for him. One of the customers, wrapped in a dark cloak, tilted his head a bit in the thief’s direction. “And what is the toast?” “We drink to a special man, my friend. A man who has been inside the dungeons of L’Aquila and lived to tell the tale.” “Then you to drink to me, little man. I have seen them.” “A carpenter, or a blacksmith, or a stonemason perhaps. But a prisoner of L’Aquila?” Duo scoffed, taking another sip. It truly was a delicious taste on his tongue. The man reached forward and drug part of his cloak off an object sitting before him on the table. It revealed a helm, and Duo froze as he spied it. “I never said I was a prisoner.” The man continued calmly. He threw his hood back and turned to fully face Duo. Zechs Merquise. “If you had stuck to the woods, Maxwell, you might have stood a chance.” “You’re right.” Duo allowed, retreating back a step. “Get him.” Zechs ordered his men. Duo made himself stay put. Wait for it…the right moment…wait for it… When the first guard reached out to grab his shoulder he tossed the cup of wine full into his face and dove for the ground, ducking out of range of another guard and running for all he was worth. Another pair of guards had been waiting out of sight and started for him. Duo eeped and pivoted, going to his right at full speed. He ran smack into one of the guardsmen, who tried to wrap his arms around the quick thief and hold onto him. Duo threw his arms up above his head and slipped easily downward out of the hold. He dove under tables, around people, anything to slow down his pursuers. When he was out of sight for a moment he snatched a thin blanket and threw it over his shoulders, sliding onto a bench in the confusion. Soldiers started to grab people and shove them out of the eating area. Duo was so intent on not moving that his table was cleared before he realized what was happening. A soldier grabbed the blanket to yank him out of area as well, ripping away Duo’s camouflage. With a curse the soldier reached out to grab him again, but Duo was too quick and was already off the bench and sprinting for the tavern. As soon as he reached the building he dropped to his stomach and wriggled underneath the floor. Zechs rolled his eyes as he watched his men running in circles, trying to catch the slippery thief. The Mouse was making his men look like complete fools. Duo slithered out the other side of the building, and had barely gained his feet before he was once again avoiding the outstretched arms of a guardsman. In desperation he climbed up onto a trellis and balanced on the slim poles. Four men immediately went underneath the shaking supports, poking at him with the tips of their swords. Duo went from one brace to the next, avoiding swords and falling at the same time. Finally, however, he realized that this was only delaying the inevitable. He had to get solid ground under him again and run for it. Zechs clapped with a bored expression on his face. The thief’s attempts at escape were clever, but the result was inevitable. He pointed a finger downward, indicating that it would be wise if The Mouse would come back down. Now. Duo really couldn’t care less what the captain thought, but he agreed with the assessment and jumped down. The men, of course, were waiting for him and grabbed him almost immediately. He fought free of one man’s hold, swinging around wildly with a dagger to discourage anyone from coming too close on his right side. The dagger bit into Zechs’s cheek. Duo flinched backwards, the dagger dropping from his numb fingers. This was Bad. Really Bad. “Sir, I am so terribly sorry—” Zechs wiped at the gash with one finger, staring at the bloody trail on his glove with a sneer. “Kill him.” He snapped. Duo shook as he was pulled to a pole and maneuvered so that his back was to it. Was this it, then? Was he to die here, like this? There wasn’t anything else that he could think of to do. He had exhausted his bag of tricks and there was no one around to help him. Air was becoming harder and harder to draw into his panicking lungs. He closed his eyes as a soldier approached, blade held high. “May God have mercy on my soul—” *thunk* Duo’s eyes went wide as he realized that he was still alive. He jerked his head back around to see why his head was still attached. The soldier that had tried to execute him was lying on the ground, holding his arm where a cross bolt stood upright. Cross bolt? Someone had come to his defense? He looked around for the owner of that bolt and fell on a man in black. His hair fell over one side of his face, eyes burning green in the late morning sun. “You. Come here.” Duo obeyed that brusque command in a daze, so astonished that he was still alive that he didn’t even think to question why this man had saved him. “Here.” Duo accepted the crossbow that was shoved in his direction before brushing past and out of the way. He didn’t know why his head was still sitting on his neck, but he wasn’t sticking around long enough to question the stranger’s motives either. “Barton.” Zechs snarled. “One of my men told me that you had come back, and I wanted to cut his throat for lying because I knew that you weren’t that stupid.” Trowa’s expression didn’t change. He sensed someone coming up to his right and moved his short sword to meet the threat. “Captain Barton.” One of the guardsmen smiled to see his former captain, lowering his sword. Trowa smiled in return. The man had been a good friend and a loyal soldier. “Francesco.” “Oh, *Captain*.” Zechs pushed Francesco as soon as Trowa’s eyes turned to him, ramming the soldier into the short sword still held in the air. Trowa’s eyes went wide in horror as he realized what had happened. He dropped the sword, and Francesco tumbled to the ground with it. With a growl he closed the distance between them and threw a punch at Zechs’s smiling face. “You bastard!” Zechs fell to the ground hard, knocking over one of his soldiers in the process. The other soldiers took this as their cue to rush the former Captain of the guard. Trowa darted out of range and grabbed the first thing that came to hand. A chain of horse shoes, as it turned out. He chucked it at the nearest soldier, spinning to find some other weapon that he could defend himself with. A green branch was smoldering in the fire and he snatched it up. The smoking end was slammed into the stomach of the next guardsman near him, then he cracked it sharply over the man’s back as he doubled over in pain. When no one else confronted him he picked Zechs up by the front of his cloak and shook him until the man raised his eyes up. Words failed Trowa and he shook him hard, wanting to kill the man. But time was running out, and he knew it. The little thief had disappeared between one moment and the next and he had to run him down. With a heave he threw the blond into an open fire. Zechs hissed in pain, trying to roll back out of the fireplace. He didn’t notice when Trowa turned and ran, heading for his black. Two of his men had managed to pull him from the fire and started to stomp the fire out that was consuming his cloak when Trowa sped past on the large black. + Duo had dropped the crossbow when he realized that the man in black wasn’t paying any attention to him. He went to the horses tied to the post just outside the village walls, putting on his most soothing voice and manners. “Pretty ladies. I won’t hurt you, just need to borrow you for a bit.” He threw his weight into the saddle of a chestnut, but the girth had been loosened and he almost fell back to the ground. In confusion, the chestnut shied away from him. Duo spun from the horse to the next one near him. “Pretty ladies, that’s right, nothing to be afraid of—” None of the horses now trusted him and jerked their heads, shifting away from him as much as their leads would let him. “You filthy strumpets!” Frustrated and panicking, he turned and fled on his own two feet. There wasn’t any particular destination in mind, just Away From Here. He was almost to the gate outside of the village when he heard hoof beats behind him. Turning his head slightly, he looked over his shoulder to see an enormous black horse gaining on him. It was the man in black. “No no no no no no no no!” Duo gasped, sprinting now as fast as his legs would go. It did no good of course, for the black had four legs to his two and could outrun him easily. As the horse came up behind him, its rider leant forward a bit in the saddle and snatched him up by the neck, throwing Duo onto his stomach in front of him. Duo abruptly lost whatever air was left in his lungs and couldn’t offer any verbal protest to the rough handling. A guard had managed to beat them to the gate and closed it frantically. Trowa set his face in determination and kicked the black into a fast gallop. Duo looked around to see the reason for the sudden increase of speed and groaned. “Oh no.” With a surge of muscles, the black threw itself into the air, clearing the gate easily. The guard, of course, had no horse to follow with. But his companions did. They attempted the same jump, determined to pursue both captain and thief. A hawk dove from the air, claws swiping only inches away from their faces. Frantic to avoid the talons, they threw themselves backwards. In doing so of course, they lost their balance and fell heavily out of the saddles. Duo lay quite still on the saddle’s edge for almost a mile. Once he was sure that no one could catch up to them he finally let loose a string of complaints. “Ow. My lord, do you think I could sit behind you or something? This blasted saddle is digging into my ribs.” “Hn.” The man in black slowed the horse. With a casual heft he picked Duo up by his waist and slid him around to the back. “Hold on.” He ordered quietly, and there was no room for disobedience allowed in the tone of the words. “I won’t be pleased if you force me to run you down again.” Duo swallowed hard and gingerly held onto the man’s surcoat at his sides. A moment later he flinched a little as a hawk dove for them, but the man simply held up an arm. The hawk settled on his wrist with practiced ease, reaching out to nibble on the edge of the stranger’s hair. “Thank you, love, for scaring off our pursuers.” The man whispered, a note of softness entering the voice that Duo hadn’t thought was possible from the man. “She’s beautiful.” Duo ventured, peeking over his companion’s shoulder to stare at the hawk. “Yes. *He* is.” “Ah. Yes. My most profound apologies for the mistake. I know little of hawks. Where are we going sir?” The man threw him a glare for the unsolicited question. The hawk reached forward and tugged on the end of the bangs in front of him, and if Duo hadn’t known better, he would have sworn that the hawk was reproving his master for being such a grouch. Strange notion. Duo shook it off, but he couldn’t help but keep a curious eye on the bird. “For now, we are headed north.” “Ah yes. A splendid place, north. Although I prefer it in summer over the dead of winter. Are we staying long?” “No.” “Visiting anyone?” Duo got another glare for that and decided that perhaps he should just keep his mouth shut for the rest of the day. It might get him into trouble otherwise. The hawk, fortunately, distracted its master by nibbling on an ear. They rode in silence until late evening, Duo unwilling to antagonize, the captain unwilling to volunteer information, and the hawk keeping an eye on them both. ~*~*~*~
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