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"In My Lover's Arms "Written By: Jewel of Hell Disclaimer: Don't own nothin' but these words Rating: NC 17 Warnings: Yaoi, lemon, violence, slavery, language, war, torture, fear of the unknown, AU/Fantasy/Drama Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, other Summary: New part, new warnings, new dedications, new threats, new dangers. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ "In My Master's Arms", DO SO BEFORE READING THIS STORY! This one will not make much sense otherwise. Also, this one picks up pretty much exactly where its prequel leaves off, so I will NOT recap. I hate recap. Blegh.
"In My Lover's Arms " The Unspoken Truth Deep, way deep down, something stirs. He has never felt it before. His hosts are usually quiet and numb when he slides into their minds. They don't know to fight, let alone how. But this host . . . even with the Yellow collar choking off most of the power, he can still feel the tremendous well of magic boiling and seething beneath the surface. For the first time in his life, he feels . . . uneasy. It's as if something lurks in that bottomless pit, waiting for him to blink, to look away, to lower his guard. He's never taken a host before who fought back. They've never known how to fight. Heero Yuy, he thinks, is really a magnificent young man. He assumes control of everything without trying. He was born to rule, and he rules well. He will happily submit to being this man's lover, nestled safe inside this beautiful host. In fact, the idea of Heero fucking him while thinking he's the host is strangely exciting and appealing. That he can fool the man who brought down the most diabolical plan in his kingdom using such simple means is thrilling. So then why does that feeling of unease grow when Heero leans down and kisses him? Heero draws back, and his incredibly blue eyes dark and cloud over. "Duo?" he asked, sounding a peculiar mix of concerned and wary. "Are you all right?" "I -" he tries, swallowing hard. "I'm fine . . ." Weak. His voice is weak. Shit. "I-it's this damn collar," he gasps. "Get it off me, Heero. Please." Heero is already lifting his hand to comply when something ripples. o0o 0o0 Quatre walked down to the dungeons with Carine at his side. He wasn't sure what it was about the Green that he liked so much, but he felt an instant connection to her. The guards moved aside and held open the cell door, and Carine entered first. Salyn lay curled up in the corner, skin ghost white and eyes vacant. Carine stopped, frowning. "Get up, boy," she snapped. He didn't move. Carine's frown deepened as she strode forward and gripped his shoulder. She jerked her hand back with a gasp as though scalded. "What is it?" Quatre asked, putting a hand on her arm. She shook her head. "It's not there anymore. This is . . . this is the host." That got a reaction. The young man finally lifted his head, staring up at Carine with shadowed, empty eyes. "I didn't want to," he mumbled, voice slurred as though he was drunk. Carine took several steps backward. "It's gone. Where is it? Guard! Who was the last person in here?" "No one -" the guard began. Quatre sucked in a sharp breath. "Duo was," he interrupted. The guards looked confused. Carine froze, back rigid. Finally, she looked at the guards. "Bring that boy a blanket and a cup of hot tea. Other than that, don't touch him. Quatre and I will be back in awhile." She led the way back up, and Quatre felt vaguely panicky. "If that boy isn't Salyn any longer, and the last person around him was Duo, he's inside Duo now, isn't he?" "Yes, that is very likely," Carine said. She made a vexed sound. "That worthless wretch couldn't have possessed Duo if it weren't for that Yellow collar." "Quatre, I've been watching Duo very closely," Nirande's voice abruptly filled his mind. He stopped, putting a hand on Carine's arm. "There's a highly unusual silence in his mind. It's different than the suppression by a foreign spirit. I believe Duo is aware of what happened to him. He's also not afraid. Salyn's hold on him isn't nearly as strong as his hold was on that other child." Quatre looked back at the Green. "Nirande isn't worried about it. She tells me Salyn's hold on Duo isn't very strong. And if that collar is the only reason Salyn was able to possess Duo, then won't removing it remove the problem?" "It might," Carine said, "but it might exacerbate the problem. I can't imagine that worthless parasite having access to a Black's power. No, we need to be sure. Will you find Maritias for me, child, and bring her? The three of us should convene with Heero. He is probably the only one with enough power to do what needs to be done." o0o 0o0 Heero drew back from Duo, surprised by the mixed feelings he kept getting from his love. Though he was close enough to touch right now, it felt like Duo was far away. Something deep in the back of his mind tingled as if in warning. As if Duo was sending him a very, very soft warning. A general sense of no. Wrong. Duo's mouth asked him to remove the collar. Duo's indigo eyes begged him. But it didn't feel like Duo himself. Heero reached out with his senses and brushed gently over Duo's mind. Empty. Completely blank. His love, who had never hidden anything from him, was now as blank as a white sheet of parchment. Not the blank of someone merely shielding his thoughts. The kind of empty he'd only felt from one other person. Salyn. "It's like his mind is a leech . . . he nested his parasitic consciousness in the body of the young man he now habituates." "Heero?" Duo's mouth queried, his beautiful eyes widening slightly as if in fear. Smiling faintly, Heero reached up and cupped his chin. "Clever boy," he murmured. He squeezed. "How did you do it? Get Duo to lower his guard?" The boy opposite him grabbed his wrist, eyes tearing up. "Stop it, Heero!" he yelped. "You're hurting me!" "Am I?" Heero said, squeezing harder but making sure he wouldn't leave a bruise. "I'll do a lot worse to you for squatting in Duo's head. Did you honestly think I wouldn't recognize the difference between you? You may be wearing his body right now, but you aren't Duo, Salyn." The hand on his wrist abruptly wrenched, and Heero winced at the slight pain before releasing Salyn. He immediately backpedaled, eyes aflame now. Then he broke into a manic grin. "I knew I hated you. I don't know why Duo loves you. Arrogant asshole. You should have just accepted us as we are. Now you're going to cause him unnecessary suffering. Killing the Black King wasn't ever part of my mission, but I don't think my master will mind." He held up one slender hand. Heero folded his arms. "How do you plan to kill me with that Yellow collar on your neck?" Salyn clenched his hand into a fist as if only just remembering the severe restriction on his power. Then he smiled. "You won't hurt me," he said. "You wouldn't risk hurting Duo. I am him now, you know. I haven't done anything to your precious Duo. He's still here with me. Just . . . sleeping." With that, Salyn lunged at Heero, hands grappling at the man's waist for his sword. Heero winced. I wonder if I should teach Duo some advanced fighting techniques. I'll bet he doesn't have even rudimentary knowledge, and relying on magic is asking for disaster. Salyn, obviously, had as little talent as Duo, because subduing him was a matter of a simple side-step-sweep-kick to knock his legs out from under him. Pivoting his weight on one ankle, Heero grabbed him in a chokehold and put a little pressure on his carotid artery. "You're right about that," he said, not even slightly winded. "I wouldn't hurt Duo. But I can put you down without hurting him, you mangy dog." He squeezed his arm. Salyn flopped for all of ten seconds before going limp. Heero caught him and lifted him, carrying him to the bed and laying him out. Then he took a deep breath and started slightly when Frost pushed her nose under his hand. "That's not our Duo," she said as if he could have somehow missed it. But also asking for confirmation. "No, it's not," Heero agreed, stroking her ears. "Don't worry, girl. That parasite won't stay in him for long." He smiled. Sleeping, was he? That was Duo who showed me something was wrong. He would have sensed it anyway. The bond he and Duo shared now was deep and unbreakable. But it was Duo who had pointed it out much quicker than Heero would have found out. He shuddered to imagine making love to Salyn while he was in Duo's body. He wasn't sure he could have forgiven himself. o0o 0o0 Quatre hurried alongside Carine. Maritias had joined them, and the three of them burst into the king's private chambers without so much as a knock. Heero was standing in the bedroom next to his great black hound, and the eyes he turned on them were full of irritation. "Think you this is some market square you can charge around in like poorly behaved children?" As queries went, it was a polite one for him. Quatre was fully ready to retreat and enter like an adult, but Carine just made a rude sound in her throat. "We don't have time for that, boy," she snapped. "Where is Duo?" Heero raised an eyebrow. "Sleeping. Have you some reason for bursting in on me so improperly?" Carine met his cobalt gaze levelly. "Let's see how disrespectful is your tongue when I put you in a collar." Heero didn't move. He didn't glare, he didn't frown or so much as narrow his eyes. But suddenly his presence filled up the room like a terrible force of darkness, the threat of violence palpable. "Try it," was all he said, his tone of voice not changing at all. Quatre swallowed thickly. "Heero," he said, then quickly moderated, "Majesty. We think Salyn has possessed Duo." That darkness didn't abate an iota. "I know." Blink. "You do?" How, exactly . . . ? Heero stepped slightly to the side, and for the first time Quatre noticed Duo on the bed, quite literally sleeping. Maritias sighed quietly. "Thank Vyrea," she murmured. She looked up at Heero. "Now we must decide what to do with the boy Salyn inhabited for a number of years. It is likely he is perfectly innocent, Your Majesty." "And he's still a Blue," Carine added. Judging by his expression, Heero didn't care about the youth all that much. "How do I get Salyn out of Duo?" Carine and Maritias exchanged glances. Finally, Maritias stirred. "I don't know," she admitted. "When I killed Salyn's original body, he simply transferred himself. I cannot think of a way to drive a consciousness from a body without killing the . . . host." "The boy in the dungeons isn't dead, is he?" Heero snapped. "Therefore, it can be done." "What she's saying," Carine said in frosty tones, "is that we know of no way, Heero. Salyn's specialty is quite unique. No other sorcerer that we know of has possessed it, and Salyn isn't likely to impart that knowledge. And if you torture him, you torture Duo." Heero perched on the edge of the bed. "What happens to the host that Salyn possesses?" he demanded. "They're completely buried beneath Salyn's consciousness," Maritias said. "They're unaware of what's happening to them. It's rather like being in a deep sleep, or a coma. They cannot interact with the world around them." Heero drummed his fingers on the bed. "Not true. Duo reached out to me. I felt it. He let me know somehow that he wasn't himself. It's how I sensed so quickly that Salyn had taken him over." Quatre felt a smile begging to come and let it. Trust him to be strong enough. He's an amazing boy. "Yes," Nirande agreed, "and I suspect the answer to freeing him will come from the special bond between those two. It's every bit as deep and strong as your bond to Trowa. And mine to Jhatahj." He shifted. "Nirande is convinced Duo hasn't been suppressed," he told the other three, "and that he will be able to free himself with your help, Heero." His words seemed to have more weight with the Black King than Carine's. His cobalt eyes bored into Quatre's aqua. "How?" "Salyn took over a mind that was restricted to a level far less powerful than his own," Nirande explained. "I believe he was probably either a Green or a Blue in his original body. More likely Green. Therefore he hasn't experienced Duo's full power. If that Yellow collar was removed, the sudden influx of power would overwhelm him. Heero and Duo could drive him out then." Quatre relayed her words. "However," he added, "we'd have to find a way to ensure his malicious spirit couldn't just jump out into someone else." Carine's eyes narrowed. "But if he was able to control the power of a Black faster than Heero could free Duo, we'd never be able to unseat him from his new perch. Short of killing Duo." The very thought of that made Quatre sick. He spoke only to Heero now. "Nirande believes in the power of your love for each other," he said quietly. "And so do I." Heero remained silent for long moments, then he gave
a tiny, tiny smile. "I have an idea."
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