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"From the Shadows"Written By: Honor Disclaimers: The boys are not mine (curses!) however all the other characters are, and the story, and the idea, and my evil muse. You can have my evil muse. Pairings: 4x5 Spoilers: Nope Warnings: AU, soooo AU, maybe a hint of OOC, violence,
lemon, language, political scheming and fantasy elements. Oh, and
unicorns. ^_^ Rating: R Archived: Gundam Wing Diaries Betas: Velvet and Caitilin *emphasized* =thought= ::mental communication: :
" From the Shadows " Chapter 12 You are my lover and I am your mistress and kingdoms
and empires and governments have tottered and succumbed before now
to that mighty combination.
By the feel of warm skin against his own, and a very familiar musky scent, he knew that he was lying within Quatre's arms. The mattress and what he could see of the room was very familiar—their bedroom, then. He was in bed with his very attractive, half-naked life mate. Well, things couldn't be too bad. "Wufei?" Tilting his head slightly he looked up into Quatre's worried eyes. "Hello." The worry dissipated a little into a smile. "Hello yourself. How do you feel?" "A little disoriented," Wufei admitted. "How long was I out?" "About twelve hours, I think. It's late morning now." Wufei nodded, not knowing precisely what to say. He slid a cautious mental probe along the bond and winced at how tender it felt. At least it was in one piece, though. "I did what I could to strengthen it," Quatre murmured. His face was drawn in worry and nearly white in remembered pain. "How long do you think it will take to heal completely?" "I don't know," Wufei admitted. "No one's been stupid enough to try to separate a Sanguine couple before," he added caustically. "Speaking of which, where are the idiots?" "I tossed them to Wyrack and told him to deal with them." A brief feral grin flickered across his face. "I trust him to think of something appropriately nasty. I was too concerned about you to really handle them at the time." "Ah." Wufei fully planned on doing something about the idiots later, but not now. Now what he needed was to reaffirm that Quatre was really there. Sliding his hand up to tangle in thick blond hair, he drew his husband's head down to him, the kiss hungry and tinged with near desperation. Quatre sank into it with a low groan, tongue flicking out to tease its way into Wufei's mouth, even as he shifted to cover the prone man more completely. Neither of them said a word for what remained of the morning. + Quatre wasn’t precisely in the mood to speak with anyone, or deal with possible political ramifications or think of punishments for two drooling incompetents for trying to break his bond. It had to be done, however, and as much as he wished otherwise it simply wasn’t feasible to stay in bed with Wufei for the rest of his life. The only thing that made it bearable was that he was nestled in Wufei’s arms. Feeling that solid heat against his back, moving slightly with his husband’s every breath was vastly reassuring. They were in Chaelane’s study again, with Wyrack and Zechs seated comfortably facing them. The three anticipatory smiles on their faces was another reason why Quatre didn’t want to be there—those smiles spoke only of trouble, and he was not in the right mind set to be the voice of reason at the moment. “What are you three scheming?” Wufei drawled, his tone indicating that it better not cause trouble for either him or Quatre or there Would Be Consequences. “We’ve discussed the situation and did some research,” Chaelane started explaining in a cheerful voice that was quite at odds with her feral smile. “Dermail cannot be significantly punished by Chahiran law for what he did, and our laws unfortunately reflect theirs, so our hands are tied.” That explanation did not explain the smiles, in Quatre’s opinion. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why do I hear a ‘but’ in there somewhere?” “But,” Zech’s smile was a tinge sadistic, “there are laws that deal with trying to separate an unicorn from their mate, and those laws give complete autonomy in punishing the miscreant to the unicorn and their spouse.” Something smelled about this neat little law, and it wasn’t fried chicken. Quatre’s suspicious stare intensified. “And how old is this law?” Zechs and Wyrack and Chaelane all exchanged too innocent glances. “About two hours, isn’t it?” Chaelane enquired of Wyrack genially. “Perhaps a little less than that,” Wyrack disagreed politely, “but somewhere in that vicinity, yes.” “It’s perfectly legal,” Zechs assured them brightly. “It’ll go right through the court system. Now, what do you wish to do for punishment?” Quatre tilted his head so that he could meet Wufei’s dark eyes. “We can’t really kill them, can we? Too many political ramifications.” “Unfortunately true,” Wufei conceded with a weary sigh. “I’m not quite sure what to do, truthfully. Do you have any ideas?” Quatre’s smile wasn’t at all nice. In fact, it scared everyone in the room, Wufei included. “Oh yes, I have an idea.” + “Remind me to never get on your husband’s bad side,” Wyrack muttered to Wufei. “I don’t think you’ll need reminding after this.” Wufei cast him a sardonic glance. The two of them were watching as the Chahiran king and his party left the gates (minus one Star Priest that had been executed the day before.) Wyrack and Wufei both wanted to make sure that they were gone. Chaelane had unceremoniously tossed the royal party out of her country that morning, after Quatre had dealt his punishment. And it was quite the punishment. Quatre’s idea was eloquently simple and devious. He put a magic collar around Dermail’s throat, one that could not be removed. The spell was simple—for every thought, word, or action that Dermail had that would harm someone, he lost a part of his life force. His cruelty would literally kill him, bit by bit, unless he truly changed his ways. The collar would stay with him for the rest of his life, however long that might be, as a constant reminder of what he had tried to do. Eloquently simple, but very effective. What had alarmed everyone was the almost beatific smile on Quatre’s face when he had put the spell on Dermail. When it had settled into place, Quatre had given him a mocking bow and said in a voice rich with irony, “Long live the king.” “Do you think he’ll really change?” Wyrack asked softly. “Never.” Wufei snorted at the very thought of such an arrogant, cruel man every admitting that he might be wrong. “I don’t think Quatre expects him to either. This is just a neat loophole—we can honestly say that Dermail’s own cruelty killed him.” “Hm. That sounds right.” “There you are!” Quatre hailed cheerfully. He nearly bounced out of the palace doors, coming up to cuddle against Wufei’s side. “I just had a thought.” Wufei had no idea what that thought might be, but looking at Quatre’s shining face and madly twinkling eyes, he just knew that it boded trouble. “Oh?” “Dermail can’t harm us without drastically shortening his life span, right? So why don’t we go visit your family some?” Wufei blinked. That was actually a good idea. They could probably beat Dermail to Chahir, actually, since Dermail had a huge body of people with him. They’d make better time. “I would love to,” he answered with a slight smile. He especially wanted for his family to meet Quatre. “Then let’s go!” “We have to pack—” Wufei instinctively protested. “Why? Whatever we need I can make.” There were perks, apparently, about being bonded with a unicorn. Wufei kept offering protests, curious as to the answers. “Horses?” Quatre was already dragging him away from the palace, heading for the main gates. “Just ride me. It’s much faster, and I’m itching to change forms.” Wufei thought it a marvelous idea, he’d always wanted a chance to ride Quatre, but hadn’t been sure on how to ask. Was it against the rules to ride a unicorn? Quatre didn’t apparently think so… “And who’s in charge of the Hearken?” “Heero. And Sally is keeping an eye on Duo to keep him out of mischief.” Wufei’s sense of humor bubbled up to the surface and he started grinning. “Have this all out planned out, I see.” Quatre just winked at him. ~*~*~*~ Footnote: Don't worry about Quatre visiting Chahir. Only Dermail is stupid enough to try to separate a Sanguine from his mate.
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