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"Dance with the Devil "Written By: Honor Disclaimers: Of course they’re mine. Everything
else belongs to me, why shouldn’t they? Pairings: 1x5x2x1x5…or something like that.
3x4 established. Rating: R. Definitely. Well, pretty definitely… Spoilers: Iie. Warnings: Lemon, violence, language, AU, questionable
humor…come on people, I wrote it, that’s warning enough.
A bit of a POV change after the first chapter. My betas
insist that I put a spew warning on this too. *grin* Betas: Velvet and Caitilin Archived: Gundam Wing Diaries and honordemandoren.livejournal.com
Author’s Notes: ::mental telepathy:: *emphasized*
"Dance with the Devil" Part Two: Partners
Howard is one interesting character. He’s a trader, but it’s more than just goods that he trades. Actually he specializes more in information than anything else. He’s also often used a guide or a rough kind of ambassador between humans and the magic world. Most of what I know about the magicky people comes from Howard. He was sitting in the back corner of the tavern, in his usual mismatched clothes and the remains of a meat pie sitting in front of him. I moved easily through the crowd and took a chair next to him, back to the wall. “Kay, Howie, I’m here. What’s up?” Howard grinned at me. “Heard you got a new job, boy.” I didn’t question how Howard had heard about this already. The man has ears all over the freaking kingdom. If I asked, he could probably tell me if the king had gotten any last night. “Yeah. Our local overgrown parasite made a deal for me.” I shrugged a little. “It means no more assassinations for me. Anything you know that I don’t?” “Of course there is.” Howard leaned forward slightly. “Everyone’s favorite Lord Vampire has been doing some very interesting research on something. It’s been even more intense the past five years.” “Oh?” Now this was news. What could provoke Quatre’s curiosity that badly? “The Labyrinth,” Howard murmured. Oh crap. “Howard, if you’re going to suggest that Q got me from Treize just so that I could bust into that thing…” “That’s exactly what I’m saying boy.” The Labyrinth is a fortress on the border of the kingdom. It was designed by the Mad Five, some of the most brilliant and demented scientists that had ever lived in this kingdom. No one had ever dared to go against the place and try to destroy it. A very few idiotic thieves had tried to break in. Actually, I know of at least three people who have promised a small fortune to anyone who can break in and out again. As far as I know, there hasn’t been any takers on those offers. Howard patted my shoulder in sympathy when I slumped to the table and groaned. Loudly. “Dammit, that’s not what I want to hear.” “Sorry, lad. Thought you should be warned. There is a slim possibility that we’re both jumping to the wrong conclusions.” Yeah, ‘slim’ being the key word there. “Right.” “Other than that, I’d say that switching careers right now is a good move.” Something about the tone in his voice made me look up. “And why is that?” “There have been at least three contracts that I know of to assassinate you.” “Assassinate the assassin? That’s rich.” And not unexpected. Kill off enough people, you wind up leaving behind a lot of pissed relatives. “Anything else I should know about?” “Nope.” “Gotcha. And thanks, man.” “No problem. Duo…be careful. I don’t know what the vampire wants from you, but he doesn’t do anything for charity.” Howard was right on that score. I nodded and gave him my best devil-may-care grin. “No worries. See you later, kay?” As I left the tavern I started thinking about what I had just learned. If we were right and Quatre really did want me to break into the labyrinth, then it cast a whole new light on everything. He probably knew that sending Wuffers and ‘Ro into that death maze wouldn’t be a good idea. Now, I may be wrong, but I would have to guess that he needed me because I was a damn good thief. I was thinking fast. If I stayed, it would be a pretty predictable ending to my all too short life. Not something I really wanted to dwell on. But if I left…where would that leave Heero and Wufei? Quatre, I have the feeling, had been looking for a partner for them for a few years at least. And they all had agreed on me for some reason. A part of me—the libido part of me—really wanted to stay with them. Well, if we’re being honest here, then another part of me wanted to stay. The part that was associated with an abandoned little boy that had never given up completely on the idea of belonging somewhere and with someone. It had felt incredibly good to wake up this morning in their arms. I don’t want to lose that. But staying meant dying, and I don’t want that either. *thunk* I was rolling before I even registered what had been thrown at me. Knife, in the tree. I came up to my feet, scythe in my hands. There was a group of about seven of them, assassins like me. “Hey guys! What’s up?” They didn’t say anything, just rushed me. Well, I had expected that. I was the only one in this trade that really talked. I ducked, pivoted, the scythe in my hands a blur as I fended off my attackers and tried to find a way out of this mess. I was so surrounded and focused on breathing from one moment to the next that it took a few seconds to realize that there were now only five to deal with. Huh? I haven’t killed anyone yet… Now there was four. Whoops, change that to three. The three circling me got distracted once they saw that some of their comrades were down for no good apparent reason. I took advantage of that and took two of them down. The last one dropped dead before I could turn to him. I didn’t question my unexpected saviors, just took off running away from the scene. I don’t want to see what else might pop up to stick a knife in me. About a mile later I relaxed into an easy walk. “Okay guys, come on out.” Silence. “Don’t play innocent, I know it was you. Come on, I’m not mad or anything.” Wufei melted out of the shadows beside the road I was on, face unreadable as he approached me. Heero was a beat behind him, coming from the opposite side of the road. Yup, just like I thought. “Thanks for the rescue.” They exchanged looks. Wufei was searching my face intently. “You truly aren’t angry?” “Nope. Actually, I figured that you would follow me. You two are about as malleable as granite.” “Then why did you argue with us?” Heero looked like he was going to scratch his head in puzzlement at any moment. I shrugged. “I didn’t want Howard to panic when he saw me followed. It’s happened before, and the results weren’t pretty. And I wasn’t sure how good you two were at being sneaky.” Wufei waved this away. “Who were the attackers?” “Beats me.” I grinned at him cheerfully. “Can we get something to eat? I’m starving.” + We were back at Quatre’s, in what I was fast getting used to thinking of as ‘our’ room. I had managed to tuck about three meat pies into my stomach. Now of course I’m well fed, warm and comfortable. All this considered…I think it’s time for a nap. Considering that we were all lounging on various parts of the bed, I felt influenced in that direction. And normally I would have done just that. In my business you sleep when you can. There was something…off about how Heero was moving though. It was subtle, I grant you that, but I noticed that he was keeping his right side away from me. And he was moving very gingerly so as to not rub against anything on that side. Call me paranoid, but I couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was hurt. “Heero, take off your shirt.” Heero’s head snapped toward me, eyes widening a bit. Wufei stopped idly sharpening one of my daggers. “What? You two were all over me this morning. Naked and all over me, I might add. What’s up with the pause?” I turned to lean a very pointed stare at Heero. “Unless, of course, you’re hiding something.” I think Heero knew exactly what kind of a position he was in. After another tense moment he grudgingly stripped the shirt over his head. I saw immediately what he had been trying to hide from me. One of those assassins had tried to use a whip on him, a common enough tactic if you are facing an opponent who is faster than you are. I hissed angrily at the sight of that mark. It stretched over his lean stomach around towards the back. Without saying a word I got up from the bed and went over to my pack. There was a medical satchel of sorts that I had brought with me. After a bit of rummaging in the pack I got out the cream and moved back towards Heero. “This will help. And it will feel good.” Heero made—well, for him at least—a slight purr of relief as I smoothed the cream over the mark. As I worked over it, the full ramifications hit me. He had taken this for me. He had been hurt for my sake. It hadn’t been necessary. In fact, it all could have been avoided if I had listened to them in the first place and let them come with me. Or hell, just stayed and not gone anywhere. But I had argued against it, the wrong choice. And he hadn’t said a word about it. I was becoming deeply ashamed. Both of them had accepted me unconditionally. I hadn’t. Until this point I had still considered backing out and leaving them to their own devices, now that I knew what Quatre had in mind. They were more than capable of taking care of themselves, after all. They hadn’t thought that way. Not for a moment. Even though they knew that I was shying away from any kind of commitment with them, they had acted as if I truly were their partner. What kind of courage did that take? It wasn’t their life they were putting on the line--it was something more. Something just as precious. If I withdrew, turned away from them, how much would it hurt them? And if I accepted, stuck it out, knowing that I could still hurt them by accident? It was this that I wanted. This partnership, this place to belong to. Not exactly the easier road to follow. Actually, the number of ways that I could screw this up were making me dizzy. “Duo?” I looked up, swallowing convulsively. Heero’s eyes had this bewildered and alarmed tilt to them. “Duo…you’re shaking.” Wufei moved to sit next to me, grasping my hands to hold them still. “And you’re white. What’s wrong?” “I’m terrified,” I whispered hoarsely. Heero blinked. Not the answer he was expecting, apparently. “Why?” “It just hit me. Everything just hit me.” Wufei moved around a bit so he could have a clearer view of my face. “What did?” “That…you’d do anything to protect me. That…” I couldn’t finish. I was too shaken. Reason flew out the window in the face of what my heart was telling me. I threw my arms around Heero’s shoulders and buried my face into his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Heero closed his arms around my back. “Duo, I don’t blame you.” That just made me feel worse. I pulled back to look at both of them. “I swear to you from this moment on that I will never send you blindfolded into battle. I will never make a mistake like this again.” Wufei leaned close and brushed a kiss over my forehead. His eyes were smiling at me softly. “That is appreciated.” I smiled shakily in response. “Anything else? I mean, are you hurt anywhere else? Either of you?” “No,” Wufei assured me gently. “Just that,” Heero agreed. “Okay. Good.” I was still shivering. Emotions can hit you hard sometimes. They pulled me down onto the bed and curled up against me, one on each side. It was a sweet gesture that I desperately needed at that moment. I have no idea when they became so important to me, but they were. And I didn’t want that to change. Ever. + There was something seriously wrong with me. There had to be. This was the second time that I had slept all night, quite chastely, with two exquisite specimens of the masculine gender. Both of which had professed to wanting me. I was sick. I needed a doctor. That was the only explanation for such a phenomenon. ::Shinigami.:: I did not snarl at Quatre. And I am very impressed with myself for being so restrained. ‘What?’ ::I need to speak with you.:: I was not moving. I was especially not moving from this bed until I’ve had hot kinky sex with my two partners. In fact, having steamy sex was the only thing on my agenda all day. ‘No way, Q. You wanna say something to me, you do it this way.’ ::You can get laid later, Duo.:: Dammit, why does the little parasite have to be such a pain? ‘Stay outta my head, Q.’ ::Get out of bed, Duo,:: he replied in the same tone. ::Or I’ll come and get you.:: ‘Gah. Alright already. Give me five minutes.’ It actually took longer than five minutes. More like fifteen. Wufei can be one stubborn little dragon if he doesn’t want to wake up. And damn persuasive about it too. Still, I managed to get into the study with a pair of pants on and my hair loosely tied back. I even had a shirt thrown on, although it wasn’t buttoned. As I stumbled into the room I yawned widely. “What?” It was then that the slight atmosphere hit me. We had guests. I snapped back into awareness, eyeing the two sitting in chairs near the banked fireplace. One of them was a young woman about my age, her hair a dark blonde and light blue eyes. Just by looking at her, I would have to say she was nobility. And strangely familiar, for some reason. The man sitting to her right I knew by reputation. Zechs. His light blonde hair was as long as ever, blue eyes fixed on me with cool amusement. I scowled at him. “I’m not gonna be happy if you’re the reason I’m outta bed.” “I am not,” he replied easily. “Good.” “I am,” the girl inserted smoothly. “I am Relena Peacecraft.” Oh gods. Shoot me now. I have had exactly three ‘experiences’ with this woman. Indirectly, but still...none of them had been pleasant. I eyed her warily and prepared to bolt. “Okay. I’m all ears and panting at your feet.” She snorted wryly. Very ladylike, despite the mannerism. “Are you aware that at this moment several assassins have been ordered to kill you?” “Ah…you know an exact number?” “I only know of three guilds, not the precise number.” “Huh.” I turned slightly as Wufei and Heero finally came in. They went directly to a couch that faced everyone else. I shrugged casually and moved towards them as I answered. “Make that two guilds. One’s already been taken care of.” “I see.” Quatre was giving me this suspicious little glare. I think he was slightly suspicious of *when* I had taken care of this guild. I deliberately avoided looking at him as I settled on the floor in between my partners. Heero shifted to press his leg against my side at almost the precise moment that Wufei lifted my hair into his lap to finger comb through it. I appreciated that limited contact beyond words. Relena’s questions had stirred up memories of yesterday and the guilt associated with it. Not something I wanted to dwell on, really. “Do you know who is behind it?” “Nope.” I grinned at her cheerfully. “No clue. I tried talking to them, but they just weren’t in the mood for a heart-to-heart.” My smile faltered a little as she frowned, giving an anxious look at Quatre. “Oh crap. Don’t tell me you don’t know either.” “I’m afraid we don’t.” Zechs leaned back, scowling. “Whoever it is has enough power and wealth to cover his tracks very well. We’ve tried for several days now and don’t even have a hint.” My partners tensed behind me. I wasn’t any too happy about this either. An invisible enemy is hard to fight, hard to predict. Wufei leaned close to my ear to murmur, “Perhaps they cannot discern who it is. We have other means.” “Yeah.” I tilted slightly to press my forehead against his cheek, an innocent thanks. Heero squeezed my shoulder gently and I reached over with a hand to cover his. Our audience was staring at us in frank amazement. Quatre hummed a little and smiled slowly. “That was…quick.” “Stow it, Q. Alright, Relena, I’ll keep an eye on my back end. Thanks for the warning. Anything else?” “Yes,” she replied promptly. “You do realize what you’re getting into with those two? They are both impossibly obstinate.” At that I had to roll my eyes. She had NO idea. “Yeah, princess, I know what I’m getting into. Now, if everyone will excuse us, we have a great deal to talk about and a few assassins to bump off.” “Duo,” Quatre growled. “Do not leave the castle.” “Don’t be a mother hen, Q. Trowa, distract him would you?” “Duo!” “Quatre.” Heero gave him a little hand gesture. ‘Stand down’ without the words. Amazingly, it worked. “Fine.” Quatre heaved this sigh like he had just shrugged the world off his shoulders. But not in a good way. More like he had just set it down and he knew that he was going to have to pick it up again. “Just make sure that he stays in one piece.” Hey! Now that was insulting. They weren’t my keepers. And it’s not like they control me or anything—mmm that felt good. I tilted my head a little so that Wufei would keep rubbing the back of my neck with his thumbs. He’s really good at that. “Don’t worry, Quatre,” Trowa murmured, voice amused. “I think they can handle him.” I would have retorted, really. It’s just that Wufei’s hands were turning my spine into pudding. Ah well. It probably wouldn’t have been worth the effort anyway… ~*~*~*~ |
