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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" Chapter Four: Developments
As he scooted backwards he rammed into something. Odd. Was there a boulder right behind him? With one hand he felt to see what it was, only to feel metal against his palm. In horror he looked up into the face of a leering guardsman. “Damn!” Duo jerked forward, trying to roll out of the way. The guard had expected such a move and caught his collar easily. “Well, well, what have we here? A most interesting catch, I should say.” With that, the guardsman proceeded to drag Duo down the hill and into the encampment. //Damn! Damn, damn, damn! *Now* what do I do?// Duo kept his mouth shut as he was drug down the hill and before the lieutenant. Alex, if memory served. “Well, little thief. You’ve been keeping lofty company these days. Where is Barton?” “Barton?” Duo parroted, trying to buy enough time to think. He didn’t want to betray the man, despite what his intentions had been toward a certain mouse. And the hawk…if he was right about who the hawk was, he certainly didn’t want to send trouble in their direction. “Ah yes. Big black horse, dressed all in black? I last saw him riding south. Toward L’Aquila.” The guard who had caught him laughed. “Then we head north.” “It’s not polite to assume that someone is a liar,” Duo informed him haughtily “when you’ve only just met them.” “And yet,” Alex mused, “you knew we would. South, then.” Duo’s face fell as his plan fell through. He flinched a little as he was roughly grabbed and towed toward the tents. “I told the truth, Lord!” He muttered under his breath, accusing eyes fixed upwards. “How am I supposed to learn any kind of moral lesson when you keep confusing me like this?!” + Wufei grumbled under his breath as he followed the Captain down through the edge of the woods and into flat land. “Where could that thief have gone? He knows that we’ll catch him eventually. And yet he totally disappears.” “Wufei, if you insist on talking to yourself, could you please be a little more quiet about it? I’m trying to concentrate.” Wufei flushed a little at Trowa’s words and snapped his mouth closed. On Trowa’s wrist, the hawk gave something that suspiciously sounded like laughter. “Be quiet, Quatre!” It happened again, and now Wufei knew that he was definitely being laughed at. “Grr.” “Relax, Wufei.” Trowa muttered, eyes on the tracks in front of him. “We’ll find your huggy toy soon.” “He is *not* my huggy toy!” Wufei growled back. “And the fact that I found you two curled up in the barn together and then *again* the next night, has nothing to do with it?” “NO!” Wufei was a hair’s breath away from screaming in frustration. “He climbed into bed with *me*!” “Really? Then yesterday morning, why did I almost have to cut his braid off to get him free? Hmmmm?” Caught without a decent response to that, Wufei sputtered for a moment. “I-I was trying to make sure he didn’t run off!” “Uh huh.” Jerking the reins of his horse, Wufei pulled out in front of Trowa. “Whatever. Let’s just continue looking for him.” Trowa arched an eyebrow and shared an amused glance with the hawk. “Tetchy, tetchy.” “I heard that!” “You do have excellent hearing.” Trowa remarked calmly. “It looks like he tried to stay out of sight with those foothills.” “At least he isn’t a complete featherbrain.” Wufei growled to himself. “Let’s pick up the pace a little.” “Next time,” Trowa observed to Quatre “I’m tying Duo to Wufei before going to sleep. That way, at least, I don’t have to put up with a sleep deprived grouch the next morning.” “Barton!” Trowa smiled. + Duo was panicking. Apparently, his reputation for getting out of knots was widely spread, because they hadn’t bothered to tie him. They just had someone holding him with his arms tightly behind his back, which was hard to get out of. Duo wasn’t too terribly surprised by this. The only person that had been able to restrain him with a rope was no longer in the guard, after all. But now he could clearly see Trowa and Wufei approaching the supposedly innocent hay stacks, and he had no way of warning them of the ambush surrounding them. Inspiration struck and he moved his mouth just enough against the hand covering it to bite down. Hard. The guard who was holding him gave a muffled cry of pain, but not muffled enough. Trowa and Wufei both jerked their heads in the direction of that sound. Trowa threw Quatre into the air, letting the hawk gain altitude and safety. As he did so, Wufei drew his sword and ducked the first volley of crossbow fire. “Dammit! It’s an ambush!” Trowa didn’t say a word as he pulled his own double crossbow from his saddle, loaded it quickly and fired back at the first head he saw. With a cry, the man went down, clutching at the arrow lodged in his shoulder. Wufei kicked his horse into motion and headed toward the haystack where the first volleys had come from. Duo saw him coming and gave a muffled yelp. Jerking himself desperately out of the guard’s hold, he threw himself to the side as Wufei’s sword whistled overhead. Seeing that the Major was intent on the men around him, Duo concentrated on getting away from that part of the scene. As he ran around the haystack, he spotted Trowa as he let loose his last arrow and swung the crossbow at the man who was riding toward him. The weapon caught the man across the chest and threw him from the saddle. Out of the corner of his eye, Duo noticed another guard desperately drawing back another crossbow and then aiming it at the Captain. //Oh, no!// With a quick look around, Duo spotted a stone near to him and threw it at the man, but not before the weapon began to fire. The crossbow was jerked up as the stone impacted and Duo watched with horror as the arrow shot straight up. The agonized scream of the hawk sounded across the small valley as the arrow impacted into his wing and he began to fall. “NOO!” Trowa threw the last of his assailants to the side and drove the black forward to where the hawk had fallen. Wufei jerked around at the cry and stifled a curse as he saw what had happened. Quickly dispatching the rest of the soldiers, he turned his horse to go to the Captain’s side. Duo hung back as Trowa brought the black to a halt a few feet away from the injured hawk. With slow movements, he dismounted and crept forward. “It’s alright. Everything will be alright.” He whispered, crouching next to the bird. His face was tight with worry, his eyes reflecting the pain that he knew the hawk was in. “It will be alright.” Hands hovering, Trowa looked around for something to wrap him in. Spotting Duo, he gestured to him. “Fetch a cloth out of my bag and bring it to me.” Duo quickly nodded and crossed to the black. Pulling a white cloth out of one of the saddlebags, he took it back to the Captain. Trowa took the cloth and still murmuring gentle words, he wrapped it around the hawk, careful to avoid the shaft of the arrow that protruded from his shoulder. The hawk let out distressed chirrups as he was gently lifted and cradled in Trowa’s arms. “Get on my horse.” Duo shook his head violently. “I can’t, sir!” “You will do as I tell you. Get on my horse, now.” Duo wet his lips nervously. “You are the only one who can ride him.” “Wufei will guide Goliath.” Trowa bit off. “It will be your task to look after him. Go to Heero Yuy. He will know what to do.” Wufei, recognizing the name, nodded. “I know where he is.” Without any consideration towards Duo’s balking, he threw the thief into the saddle before climbing up behind him. Duo recognized that he had no choice in the matter. He felt horribly guilty for the hawk being injured in the first place, so he accepted the burden carefully as it was handed up to him. With a last look at the hawk, Trowa caught Duo’s gaze. “Take care of him. Please.” With those words, Wufei kicked Goliath into a gallop and left the Captain standing forlornly behind them. + The ride was made in relative silence, except for the heavy breathing of the stallion and soft chirps of pain from the hawk. Duo was too caught up in his own guilt to want to talk, and Wufei too focused on just getting to the old abandoned castle without running into any more ambushes. It was approaching dusk as they finally spotted the ruins. Duo whispered softly to the hawk, “Almost there. Just a little further.” Wufei muttered under his breath. “Let’s just hope he’s there.” As they sidled along the wall, Duo raised his head and called out “Hello! Hello there!” When they were met with silence he tried again. “For pity’s sake, hello!” “Hello, hello!” A voice grouched back. “Who is it?” “I have a bird for you!” Duo called back. “Hn. Bring it in. I haven’t made dinner yet.” “We can’t eat this bird!” Duo protested. “I’m not an animal doctor!” A face finally came into view from the top of the wall, but in the dim light neither Duo nor Wufei could get much of an impression besides a stocky build and messy brown hair. “This bird comes from a man named Trowa Barton!” Wufei snapped. “Holy gods.” The man breathed, then gestured urgently to them. “Bring him up, quickly!” A ramshackle gate rose to admit them. Wufei slid off first, catching Duo and lowering him to the ground. “Go in. I’ll see to Goliath.” Duo nodded, almost running up to where the man was waiting. Once he was close enough he saw that Heero Yuy was a shaman, wearing the traditional necklace to indicate his abilities. Heero took one look and hissed. “Follow me.” They crossed to a wooden bridge and he gestured Duo sharply to the left. “Walk on the left side.” Duo nodded, following in something of a daze. They went into a room that appeared to be a workroom of sorts. Following Heero’s gestures, Duo lowered the hawk gently to a pallet in the far corner of the room. The hawk squawked and righted itself, giving chirps of pain. “Go out.” Heero ordered brusquely. “Can’t I help?” “Go out, boy.” Heero waited only until he heard the sound of the door closing before gently removing the cloth and taking a look at the damage. “Barton was right. I know what to do. Just wait patiently, Quatre. I’ll be back in a bit. We must wait a little.” + Duo looked around for Heero, extending his hearing as much as he could. Wufei was out on the battlements, keeping track of the wolf, so he had no worries there. But he was not entirely sure if the shaman would let him see the hawk. The poor thing had been too quiet, and he was beginning to worry. The captain cherished the bird, and he didn’t want to give him the news that it had died. It took only a few moments for him to undo the lock, then he slipped inside and closed it firmly behind him. He looked around in the dim lighting for the bird…and froze as he saw someone else entirely. He was there. The beautiful boy that he saw only at night, who spoke so softly and gently toward him. An arrow pierced his shoulder, standing upright. He looked up as Duo entered, eyes clouded in pain. “Trowa. Is he--?” “He’s fine.” Duo assured him softly. “He’s just fine, my lord.” The boy sank back into the furs with a quiet sigh of relief. “There was a terrible battle.” Duo continued, approaching cautiously, a bit at a time. “The captain fought like a lion. The hawk…the hawk was struck. You know that, don’t you?” “Yes.” He would not meet Duo’s eyes. “Are—” Duo whispered, his voice barely above recognizable even to his own ears “Are you flesh or are you spirit?” The boy turned his face away. “I am sorrow.” Duo was nothing but confused at the answer, still…he couldn’t just walk away. The boy had been kind to him, in those moments that they had spent together. He would feel callous if he turned from him now. Hesitantly he moved forward, settling on his knees near the pallet of furs. When nothing was said about his presence, he gingerly reached out and stroked the pale blond hair back, away from the sweating forehead. “Can I get you something?” “No.” The boy whispered. Tears began to stream down his face, but he turned back to Duo and tried to smile. “Stay. Please…just stay with me?” “Okay.” Duo settled near him, taking one of his hands in his. “I’m sorry.” “What for?” “It’s my fault you were hit. He was aiming at the captain, so I threw a stone at the crossbow. But the shot still went off and…” Duo swallowed, looking away. “If he was aiming at Trowa,” Quatre softly smiled at the bowed head, “then I owe you nothing but thanks.” “I still wish he hadn’t hit you.” “So do I.” Quatre agreed wryly. “But chance cannot be foreseen. You did the best you could in the moment. I try not to question people’s decisions when they are made in the heat of the moment. It’s hardly fair.” Duo turned back, smiling a little. There was the rattle of the door, and Heero looked in with a gleam of suspicion in his eye. “Duo? Ah ha. I thought so. I must consider getting a more complicated lock…” Putting a bag on the table he knelt next to Quatre as well. “I have the herbs I need. Duo, out.” “No.” Quatre shook his head. “I want him to stay.” Heero opened his mouth to protest, then paused. “Fine.” He gave in with a sigh. “Duo, I’ll need you to hold him still. This…won’t be easy for any of us.” Duo didn’t trust his voice, simply nodding once before moving to kneel behind Quatre. He laid a hand over Quatre’s left one, holding it firmly to keep the injured shoulder from moving. He watched as Heero quickly mixed the herbs he had together into a paste and lay it around the base of the arrow. Casting a look up at Duo, Heero took a deep breath and reached for the arrow. + Treize turned in his twisted and soaked bedsheets, beaded in sweat. Hoarsely he drew in a breath, then another, but it never seemed to be enough. The dream he was having was too real. Quatre… Quatre was hurt, and it was his doing, his hand… No… No! + Duo felt Quatre tremble a little as Heero’s hand touched the base of the arrow. Keeping his hand on the blond’s, he moved his other one to rest over Quatre’s eyes. Quatre gently took it away. Duo drew his hand back and placed it on Quatre’s shoulder as Quatre reached out and caught Heero’s shoulder in a tight grip. Heero watched the blue eyes widen. With a sharp nod, Quatre showed that he was ready. +Treize shivered, eyes rolling up in his head as he felt extreme pain pour through his frame. Where…why…how was Quatre hurt? In desperation he turned again, fighting with the strips of linen on his bed, trying to gain free of their stranglehold. + Heero drew in another deep breath and caught the hand on his shoulder and held it tight. Taking a firmer grip of the arrow he drew in one last breath before pulling the shaft sharply upwards. Quatre arched up in agonized pain with a piercing scream as the arrow left his shoulder. Outside, the mournful howl of the wolf echoed across the valley. + With a sharp cry, Treize bolted from his bed as the doors to his chambers were flung open. “Your Grace! Cesar has arrived!”
Honor: How did I end up as the washing machine?
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