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"Magic, Mischief, and Miracles"Written By: Honor Disclaimers: I've contracted some guy named Doctor
Draken to steal the boys. It's part of his mad scheme to take over
the world. Nifty, huh? Pairings: 3x4, 1x2 already established Warnings: AU, violence, language, supernaturalness,
LEMON, yaoi, etc. Spoilers: nada Author's Insane Ramblings: Okay, this is the result
of watching too much Inuyasha. I was sick, and to keep myself entertained,
I bounced back and forth between watching Inuyasha and writing GW
fanfiction. This...is the result.
" Magic, Mischief, and Miracles" Part 5 It was early in the morning -- very early. Dew was still on the leaves and grass, and a fine mist hovered over the land. Duo rolled over, still half-asleep, trying to find a more comfortable position on the ground. As he turned, his braid caught underneath him. "Dammit," Duo grumbled as he winced, pulling himself up to pull the braid free and tossing it out again. Grumbling, he settled back down to sleep some more. In the complete silence of the morning, the softest of sounds could be heard. At first, Duo was sure that it was his imagination. He was, after all, still mostly asleep. Cracking open an eye, he turned to look in the direction of that sound. Trowa was on his side, one arm folded under his head and the other around Quatre's waist. The little blond was completely tucked against the demon, only his hair visible. They were so cute snuggling like that...there was that sound again. If Duo didn't know better he could swear that it was -- "Heero!" he hissed, poking his lover in the side. "Baka," Heero grumbled, smacking the hand aside. "I'm sleeping." "Listen," Duo ordered him while completely ignoring the protest. "For what?" "Just listen!" Heero gave in, and tuned his ears into their surroundings. There was the usual quiet of dawn, nothing unusual...in...what was that? Opening his eyes, he propped himself up on one elbow and looked at the slumbering duo across the fire. "Is Trowa purring?" "So I wasn't hallucinating!" Duo whispered in triumph. The purring abruptly stopped. One green eye slitted open so that it could glare at the two lovers. "What are you two whispering about?" Duo beamed at him, and snuggled back into Heero's arms. "I'm still sleepy." Trowa grumbled something about nosy humans and demons, shifted Quatre closer to him, and went right back to sleep. Duo had to clamp a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter when soft purring once again rumbled in the air. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quatre had given up trying to find the reasoning behind Duo's smirks all morning. Even Heero was amused about something, and whatever it was made Trowa glare at them both. No one would explain the why of it, so he settled for ignorance and getting Duo drunk later. The truly interesting part of his morning was when they had started out. Duo had climbed onto Heero's back, much like a piggy-back ride, and looked at him in expectation. After a bit of hemming and hawing, Trowa had motioned for him to curtly climb onto his back. It had been a little embarrassing, but that had lessened over the course of the day. Actually, riding like this was fun. He simply could not believe how fast Trowa could run. Heero was keeping up with him easily, too. Were all demons like this? Quatre stopped them as the crested the top of the mountain. "Wait. Duo, how hard is it for you to transport?" "Er...not very. It's a bit draining, but I'm as good as new the next morning. You scheming something?" Quatre nodded to the small stream running next to them. "You said your ability is reflections -- do you need a mirror, or will any reflection do?" "Mirror's the best, but anything works," Duo said slowly. He was beginning to see the blond's plan. There was the stream next to them, and on the horizon there was a lake sparkling in the noon sun. "You thinkin' about cutting down on some of the travel time?" "Terandl went in that direction," Quatre confirmed. "It'll take us at least a day to cross that country -- unless we can find a way to cut that time out. I think we're already catching up with him, but if we do this we'll be that much closer." "Let's do it," Heero agreed as he set Duo down. Duo went over to the water, palms flat over the surface. Quatre could see white power flowing over him, and then building in the water. It was incredible to watch. "Duo, how does this work?" "Er...it's really complicated and really simple and really hard to explain." "...that was so informative, thank you for sharing." Duo grinned back at him. "I'll try later. For now, just hop in." Quatre approached, prayed fervently that he would land easier than he had the first time he'd been transported like this, and jumped in. His wish was NOT granted. When he came out, it was like an explosion. He shot up in the air, twisted, and landed on his hip on the bank. A rocky bank. One rock in particular dug right into his hip. "Owww." He'd barely rolled out of the way before Trowa was thrown in the same direction -- the cat demon had better reflexes, however, and managed to land semi-on his feet. Quatre didn't think that was fair at all. Trowa sighed. Transporting was never an easy prospect with Duo in control. Bending, he picked up Quatre and set him back on his feet. "Well?" "Much closer," Quatre informed him after a moment. "I think I'm getting the hang of this -- we're probably about three days behind Terandl at this point." Trowa let out a soft sigh of relief. Finally, he could see some visible progress. Heero flew out, but landed better than either of them had. He'd had more practice, after all. He turned and caught Duo neatly as he exploded out of the water. Trowa went down on one knee, motioning for Quatre to get back on. Blushing a little, the human wrapped his arms around him, settling comfortably. Trowa wrapped both arms under Quatre, supporting him. Heero did the same with Duo, catching Trowa's eye and nodding when he was ready. Running at half speed, they took off again, Quatre's soft voice guiding Trowa as they raced to catch up with the enemy. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night was stealing over the land when Quatre caught that sense of wrongness again. It was remarkably similar to the little girl -- and it was right off their path. "Trowa! Go right." He did so, feet flying over the ground. "What is it?" "Terandl's been doing something again. Someone else has a bit of his power tangled with their soul." Heero caught up to ride beside them, nose twitching in distaste. "More than that." Quatre turned to look at him. "Eh?" "There's blood ahead," Trowa growled in agreement. "Lots of it." That really didn't sound promising. They picked up their pace, heading through thick woods. Trowa skid to a halt inside a village running mad in chaos -- people were screaming, running in every possible direction, humans already dead or wounded on the ground. He dropped Quatre carefully to his feet, but made him stay close. This whole situation was unpredictable, and he didn't like what his nose was telling him. Quatre hissed, and pointed to the other end of the square. "Up there." Without a word Trowa ran alongside him as they dodged people, horses, and corpses. Heero and Duo were right behind them, eyes peeled for an attack from the rear. A man stood, liberally splashed with blood, sword in hands. Even Trowa could see the red power in his eyes. "Jyaki." "What?" Quatre risked a quick glance at the cat demon. "He's full of jyaki." "I don't know that word." "Jyaki is evil energy, but it also means demonic power." "Oh. In this case, you're right in both senses of the word. But...his soul was already corrupt, Trowa. It's nearly black, it's so bad. Adding Terandl's evil to it was like adding fuel to the fire." Trowa's eyes cut to his. "Are you saying you won't try to save him?" "I can't." Quatre's eyes were hard, and unforgiving. "He's beyond help." "Then it's my turn." Trowa darted forward, claws crackling with energy. With no effort at all he threw Shards at the man. The human dodged them, grinning evilly. "What's this? A demon? Well, it should be more fun than killing humans! They're no challenge at all." Slashing his katana once in the air, he charged forward with a yell. Trowa dodged the swing easily, his hand smoothly slicing through the air and right through the man's neck. Gurgling, his opponent dropped to its knees, then fell over completely. "Pathetic." Quatre's eyes widened. "Trowa, move away, now!" Trowa leapt backwards, confused. Why had Quatre -- before his eyes the corpse twitched, then stumbled back up to its feet. "Shit," Duo hissed. "Terandl's energy is healing him. He's a damn zombie." Quatre grabbed Heero's arm. "Help him hold that man down. The only way to kill him is to remove Terandl's energy -- it won't take me long to separate it from his body." Heero nodded once. Catching Trowa's eye he said, "Low." Trowa returned the nod. "High." "Heh." The human was grinning at Quatre, the gesture taut with sick pleasure. "You can see it, eh? Well, you can't do much about it. I think I'll kill you last -- it's been a while since I had a boy. You're a pretty little blond, and I've always liked blondes." Trowa snarled at the implication and attacked, slamming the human to the ground so hard that bones broke at the impact. Heero was right behind him, putting all of his weight on the man's legs. Quatre shook off the threat -- it was meaningless, Trowa would never allow for that to happen -- and sprinted the remaining distance. He forced himself to touch the man's back, calming so that he could focus. "Come." The energy flinched, but stayed put. Damn, this wasn't going to be as easy as it had been with the little girl. Terandl's power was running in harmony with this soul. The only way to do this quickly was to take the man's soul out as well as the power. /So be it./ Readjusting his focus, he ignored the struggles and curses of the man and put more force behind his call. "COME!" With a wrench, the soul flew into Quatre's hands. The body it had inhabited immediately stilled, and the two demons gratefully got off of it. Duo came around to see if he could help, wincing when he saw the blond's face. "Quatre?" The blond was shaking with effort, teeth gritted. "It's...too...strong." Breathing hard, he looked at Trowa. "Anything! Give me anything I can put it into!" They looked around frantically, but there were only corpses near them. Trowa tore out of the immediate area and looked frantically around him. People, houses, carts -- bucket? Grabbing it, he sped back to Quatre's side. "Will this do?" Quatre nodded thankfully, and begin the difficult process of putting the jyaki and soul into the wood. It fought him viciously, and he nearly lost his hold on it several times, but he refused to give up. If this thing got loose, who knows who it would inhabit next and what damage it could do? Heero was ready and waiting for the moment that Quatre had that thing in place. As soon as that happened he slapped a shield over it. Quatre collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut. Trowa caught him, lifting him into his arms and frantically checking to make sure his heart was still beating. "Quatre?" Duo leaned in closer, checking with his Sense. "He's okay, Tro. Worn out, but okay. Hell, I would be too after doing something like that. Blondie's tougher than he looks." Trowa only allowed himself a nod of acknowledgement, but he wanted to do more than that. This time, Quatre had been in over his head and that wasn't something that he liked to think about. He couldn't have protected him if anything had gone wrong -- and that was something else that he didn't want to admit. "Excuse me...sirs?" An elderly gentlemen stepped forward, dressed in priest robes. "Is he...dead?" "Very dead," Duo announced cheerfully. "Nothing to worry about. Although...we do need to talk about the bucket." The priest turned old eyes onto the bucket in question and nodded. "Yes. I can see the evil in it -- the young man who put it there is quite powerful. Come, I have places for you to sleep tonight. We can talk more comfortably there." Duo gingerly picked up the bucket and followed him. Heero waited until Trowa was on his feet with Quatre in his arms before following along. Trowa barely noticed the neat wooden house that they entered -- he was torn between being irritated that Quatre had put himself recklessly in danger again and worry that he had collapsed so suddenly. Last time this had happened, he'd been able to stay awake for a while longer. "Here," the priest murmured as he motioned to pallet near the wall. Very gently he laid his burden down, covering him with a blanket. Left without anything more constructive to do, he knelt there and continued to worry. Duo dropped the bucket as soon as he could and looked around. The unusual sight of seeing Trowa worrying over someone had Duo nearly falling over in a giggling fit, but he managed to restrain himself after being jabbed in the stomach by Heero. "Tro, he's fine. Tomorrow morning he'll be up and rummaging for food." Trowa glared at him, and went right back to staring anxiously at Quatre's face. Giving up, Duo turned back to the priest. "Thank you for the hospitality. I'm Duo, and this is Heero, Quatre, and Tro." The priest nodded politely, perhaps a bit hesitant to welcome demons into his abode. Well, the man could hardly be blamed for being a little wary. "I am Aral, the priest for this village. I saw what Master Quatre did...I've only read of such ability." "Yeah, Quat's really unusual," Duo agreed blithely. "It's kinda interesting seeing which parts of the records are true, and what was exaggerated. Which reminds me -- about that bucket. Heero put a seal on it, but if I were you, I'd put some kind of a shrine around that thing and make sure it gets purified." "Purified?" Aral blinked, processing this. "But I thought it was a soul." "It is...and isn't. I can't give you details, 'cause I couldn't really see everything that was going on. Q just mentioned pieces as he was trying to fix it. There was a source of jyaki tangled up with that soul -- granted, the soul was corrupt to begin with, but it was the jyaki that made him nearly indestructible. Anyway, if that jyaki gets loose again, it'll do some serious damage." "I understand," Aral said slowly. "I'll see to it myself." "Good. Trowa, cut it out!" "He's never passed out cold like this," Trowa snapped back. "I don't like it." Duo rubbed his temples. "Let me see if I can explain this so that you can understand. What Quatre just did was equivalent to you picking up a mountain. It's extremely difficult to manipulate a soul, especially if it's tangled up with jyaki. He did it twice in a row, first by taking it out of that guy and then putting it somewhere else. If I had tried to do something like that, I would have keeled over and stayed dead for three days." "Duo," Heero muttered in exasperation, "that just makes us worry more." "Look, my point is, he's a lot stronger than he looks. Let him sleep, he'll be fine in the morning." Trowa still didn't like it, but he couldn't think of a way to help either. Grumbling, he took off his boots and daggers, then curled in around Quatre's side. "Um, Master Trowa, I do have other beds --" Trowa glared at him flatly. Aral gulped audibly, backing up a pace. "Tro, stop that. Sorry, Aral." Duo gave his own dark glare at his friend. "He's just really protective of Quatre. Let him sleep there, it'll be fine." "...right. Um, I'll see to your beds then." Trowa didn't care what they did. He brought Quatre up into his arms, smoothing both hands over his back. Even after the world had settled down, and the silence of the night had filtered into the house, he didn't go to sleep. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Footnotes: Jyaki: Sorry, I couldn't resist! 'Evil energy' just sounds so lame and redundant after a while... The Bucket: As I was writing this, I was trying to think of something that any village would have that's wood -- and that was the first thing my mind thought of. I blame it entirely on my absent muse.
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