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"Halfway to Sublimity"Written By: Kaeru Shisho Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing
or its characters, nor do I make any monetary profit off this story. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: AU, male/male pairings, language Pairings: 1x2x1 Summary: When Duo moves to a new town on the river,
he meets a young man running the river and a rich boy who seems nice.
Maybe he'll settle down for awhile, or maybe not. "Halfway to Sublimity" Chapter Twenty-Four
The fifteen-mile ride to the small town called Hazardville scarcely lasted over an hour. Wufei valued a good ride when he was in a hurry and this road was empty and in excellent condition. Heero and Duo were riding as if demons were chasing them, which would indeed be the case if Khushrenada's men had been the cause of the disappearing rope trick-or something else. It wasn't until the final few minutes that the temperature dropped below freezing and frost rimmed the edges of puddles and outlined tree branches. Heero led away the horses, leaving Wufei and Duo to settle with the innkeeper. The sunrise was not far off and everyone was asleep, so getting a servant to arouse the keeper, ready baths, and rustle up food was a challenge. When Heero joined them in the lobby, that brought the count up to two men dressed in the governor's-guard livery standing in the inn demanding service, and one irritated Chinaman. The total effect seemed to make the servants move faster. Wufei hadn't considered the value of those clothes until that moment. Quatre had fortunately arranged for rooms ahead of time, so there were accommodations waiting for them. After a minor uproar, the three men were made comfortable. Heero and Duo agreed to share a bathtub. When Wufei entered with his medicine bag, he found them stretched, legs intertwined, backs against opposite ends of the smooth porcelain-lined, claw-footed tub. "At least this part of the escape has gone as planned," Wufei said. "Yo, Wu! Que pasa? Second bath in a day," Duo said, "in a night!" "The first does not count," Wufei said, thinking to himself that he'd come out feeling dirtier than before he got into Treize's luxurious tub. And then there was the Wu? He had enough disturbing thoughts to put to bed for one day, and so decided not to address the new nickname. And falling back into L2 lingo must have meant Duo was strained to his limits and dead tired. Why make an issue of it? Or of anything... Heero opened his eyes. "You're not joining us, are you?" He sounded serious. Wufei snorted and he settled cross-legged on the floor near Duo. "Absolutely not. I'm here to prepare my ointments. Duo has some nasty abrasions that require immediate treatment, and I assume you do, too. I was not joking about the cave fungus." "I think he likes to gawk at our beauty," Duo teased. His chuckle was low and soft. "Believe me--," Wufei dismissed his argument. "I understand communal baths are common throughout the kingdom, but not in the L5 area. It takes some getting used to, but I know that I would rather keep company with two naked, honorable, homosexual men than a single perverted, deceitful-" Duo placed a hand on his arm, cutting short what more he had to say. "I'm glad you appreciate the difference. Not everyone does." "Well..." Wufei busied himself with his preparations. Feeling comfortable around his comrades, and nearly spent, lowered his personal guard another notch. Enough so that he spoke his thoughts aloud. "Do you realize that I have seen all four of you naked in baths?" Heero looked wide-eyed, then thoughtful, while Duo looked nearly asleep. "I can account for every occasion, except for one where Quatre was present," Heero said. "That is because you were not there." Account for that, Yuy. A servant brought in a pot of boiling water, which he accepted and poured into three different brewing pots, and a bottle of amber liquor. "Where do you want the dinner put? It's almost ready." "On the table by the window. We'll all eat here in this room, together," Wufei told him. Heero waited until they were alone again before asking what had clearly been burning a hole in his head. "Why were you bathing with him? You certainly were aware of his sexuality." "He was bathing; I was reading the results of an annual report to him so he could be well-informed for a meeting he was rushing to make on time. He is very...blonde, which was unusual for me to see. Quite striking." He let that sink in while he turned to Duo. "I've got to clean the head wound, which means unraveling the rope you insist on dragging behind you." "My braid? 'Sokay, it don't signify. I had it down my shirt and pants all through the cave," he mumbled in a drowsy voice. "I don't know what makes you think that protected it in any way. Your shirt was a mere tatter when you came out. Don't argue with me. I'm willing to do the hard work." Wufei decided that Yuy was too exhausted from the journey to lend a hand, and took it upon himself to clean Duo's hair, unraveling the braid, and washing the blood matting the top. Duo didn't complain or comment, although Wufei thought he might have purred. He felt a pair of passionate blue eyes boring a hole in his chest, and wondered if Heero was going to help. He handled the mop gingerly and with reverence, with the result being that Heero didn't move a muscle. It warmed him inside, knowing he had been accepted as a trusted friend. Heero watched intently. "You are homosexual," he stated with certainty. "No, I am not. I am appreciative of the finer aspects of both men and women, but it is women that I choose for... coupling. Actually, woman. I have my one and only for my wife, which is all I want or need." This seemed to satisfy Heero at last. He nodded curtly and changed the topic, announcing, "If you are rinsing his hair, I'm getting out." Doing the hair last was a good idea, because the water was tinted pink during the rinse cycle. Wufei did not mention how the color matched that of Treize's vile rosewater-treated bath water, and nor did anyone else. They were dressed and Wufei was applying the final plaster over one of Heero's scrapes when the food arrived. They dined, exhausted, but alive, watching the sun rise over the hills, gilding the landscape where ice had frosted it the night before. Clouds scudded low over the hills and the wind blew chill. "I can't eat while I'm falling asleep," Heero declared. "I've had enough." "Yeah, that bed looks too good to be true over there," Duo agreed. "I'm gonna rack out." Wufei folded his napkin and stood. "I get the message," he said with a smile. "I'll probably run into Winner and his jolly footman if I wait downstairs. They're due in anytime, if their plans worked out. I shall see you at lunch, then." "Thanks, 'Fei." "Yes, thanks for everything," Heero said with added meaning when he touched Wufei's sleeve. "You are a good man. L5 lost one of it's best when you came to live here. I consider Sublimity to have gained far more than an over-qualified schoolteacher when you arrived. I know I gained a... priceless friend." Wufei swallowed hard. He couldn't recall hearing Heero make a speech about anything before and knew the man wasn't one to lavish praise. "As did I," he choked out, followed by another attempt to clear his throat. "The worst of this escapade of Winner's is past, let's hope," he said. He left the two men climbing into bed, not wanting to see them take comfort in one another. Had they asked him, he would have joined them, knowing they'd just sleep. But they didn't. His own bed would be empty, so empty, and he missed his new bride exceedingly. He would not be able to go into that bare room and lie upon that high-post bed and sleep, he was positive, so he turned toward the staircase. He would sit in the lobby, find a servant for company, and wait for his other friends to arrive. Maybe then, he would simply pass out. (o) Quatre bumped along, while Trowa drove the carriage as hard as he thought the rickety wheels could tolerate, which was a great deal less than the powerful horses could bear. " Dis is taking longer dan you planned. We shoulda transferred de engine to your fine coach." "Is this one going to fall apart?" Quatre asked. From his perch beside Trowa at the driver's seat, he risked a look to the side, but all he could see in the dark were spinning blurs. He had rarely sat beside the driver before, although he had driven his open carriage alone numerous times. He found the rush of icy wind on his face to be invigorating this night. "I hope not. I jus' have to drive slower." "I wanted to get to the inn first." Quatre gazed up into the sky. "Do you think it will snow?" "Not tonight, mon ami. Wrong kind of clouds, too thin, which is lucky for us." "I wonder how they are all doing." "De best dey can." Quatre moved closer to his side. "Beautiful moon." "Good for finding our way in de dark; Chang, too." Quatre sighed. "It's hard to be romantic when we're worrying about our friends, isn't it?" "Dat's right. Get friends and you spend your time getting dem outta trouble." Trowa flashed him a toothy grin. "But that feels good, too." "Yeah, it does." An hour later, Quatre spotted the small wayside tavern he had been looking for and told Trowa to pull around to the back. There, a heavy dray and four very heavyset horsemen were waiting for them. "Rashid," Quatre called out to the biggest, who reminded him sometimes of a mountain brought to life. "I'm sorry if you've been waiting long." "Not long, Master Winner, but thank you for your concern. Your carriage is overloaded, that is clear. It is good you didn't press any faster." Rashid barked out instructions to his fellow Maguanacs. They transferred the demonstration model steam engine to the dray, covered it, and then one of the men returned to the carriage for the baggage, including Heero and Duo's things. "You want that we take care of this for you?" Amid asked, patting the carriage and looking it over. He was another mountain monster of a man. There were small villages to the east that weren't as large as Amid. "Inferior quality piece. Shabby workmanship. You can always tell the middle classes' mediocre taste and indiscriminate purchasing decisions at work." "Yes, thank you, Amid," Quatre replied. "We'll ride our horses the rest of the way. We won't be needing the carriage any longer. What will you do with it?" "Kindling?" Amid grinned. "We kill a goat... have a bonfire-- just like in L4. Ha!" He chuckled with a sound like small bones being crushed. "Knock yourselves out," Quatre said, laughing. Rashid had the horses un-harnessed and shouted a command to a man toting a saddle for Quatre. "Put that on Master's mount, Emir." He held Quatre's pack of clothes and papers like a cherished treasure and smiled his way. Quatre nodded is general approval, but then noticed his servant's eyes slide past him and over. The man looked down at Trowa, his shiny, satin-garbed boyfriend, and spoke with politeness but without warmth. "Yours will be saddled next, sir." "No, thank you, Rashid. I ride bareback." Quatre knew Rashid doubted his suitability for a partner and wondered how Trowa's news would be taken. The big man's furry, black eyebrows shot up into his overhanging fringe of hair. "No!" "Mais oui, monsieur," Trowa said, leaving Quatre snickering in the background. "You are so... accomplished! I had no idea! Veer-ry impressive, sir. Very good." Quatre watched as Trowa bunched the horse's mane in one hand and hoisted himself onto is back in a single acrobatic leap. The Maguanacs clapped and cheered him on. "Like a prince he moves!" Amid shouted with praise, his voice rising above the others. Quatre rolled his eyes as Trowa's steed reared to a stand. Without a saddle, it was a striking stunt to pull, but he chided him anyhow. "Show off." Trowa drew up close to Quatre and leaned over. "I t'ink dey respect me now." "Yes, I think you're right." Quatre let Trowa ride off in the lead, admiring the way he looked astride the large horse. Rashid was busy affixing Heero and Duo's bags to his saddle and some other things wrapped in a blanket. The men worried over him so. It was nice, Quatre felt, to be loved. When he heard Trowa's name mentioned, his attention was drawn to the other men talking discretely; in particular, Amid telling one of the others, "He gave up smoking for the master." He sucked at his own handmade cigarette and blew out a long scrim of smoke. "Now that's impressive." "No, that's true love," said another man, his cousin, Quatre recalled. "You know what they say: A man who smokes, loves; a man who never smokes, loves more; but a man who gives up his smokes, loves the most of all." "They say that?" Amid asked, dashing out his smoldering butt with his heel. "I never heard that one. Who told you that one--?" Quatre didn't stay to hear the rest; he'd heard enough, and he couldn't have agreed more with all statements. He tested the saddle, swung his leg up and over, dug in his heals, and his bay shot forward to join his impressive, princely, flaunt-it-all of a Cajun lover. A short while later after covering a mile or two, Quatre's hand flew to chest, covering his heart and he cried out, "Oh, no! Oh, Trowa! I feel something terrible has happened!" Trowa jumped from his horse and was at his side in an instant. He dragged Quatre from his mount and held him snugly. "Is it very bad?" "Fear! Pain! Weariness! We must help them!" "We...can't, my dearest," Trowa said. His voice cracked with the same anguish painted across his face in the moonlight. "We must trust dem to do deir part despite deir troubles. 'Ça chauffe, non?" (It is difficult to do, no?) "Yes, so hard. Trowa, it hurts me." Quatre sobbed and he hated to appear so weak, but in Trowa's arms he knew he did not have to pretend anything. He buried his face in Trowa's neck. "You don't know who or w'ere dey are, an' I sure as hell don't know eider, so let's get a move on an' find out by getting to our meeting place." Quatre tightened his grip. "Just a few minutes longer. I'm so cold." "Okay, okay. A few minutes you can have." Trowa turned Quatre's face up and held it between his hands. "It is getting colder, feel it? An' later dis day it may snow, de wind blows in de weather wid de clouds." They locked eyes and Quatre saw reassurance and strength. "Yes." "Rashid tied a coat and gloves on your saddle. Go put dem on." "Yes." He felt like he soaked up Trowa's life force and gained power through eye contact alone. "Kiss me," Quatre whispered, and when their lips touched, the transfer was complete. Quatre's being filled with trust and hope and daring; the fear and pain retreated; he was whole and his heart healed. He was the first to end the kiss and part. "I'm ready." They regained their horses, found Rashid had packed two coats and two pairs of gloves, and put them on gratefully. After that, they rode hard into the dawn of the next day without further incidents or delays. When they arrived in the village of Hazardville, they slowed and picked their way through the narrow, cobblestone paved streets until they reached their destination, the inn where they hoped to find their friends. It was Wufei who they ran into after entering the door. "Wufei!" Quatre cried out. He didn't bother to mask his pleasure, bounded up to the man, and hugged him. "You made it! I was so worried." "Well, I'm fine, as you can see." He wiggled free and straightened his jacket. "What about Duo and Heero? Are they here?" "Yes, and don't go bothering them. They had a rough trip and just got to sleep. I told them we would all meet for lunch." "Oh...good. I can rest now, thank you for the news. I'm getting the key," he said to Trowa in passing. Trowa slumped against the wall. "You were so sure we'd make it?" "Naturally." Wufei met him smile for smile. "Nothing can stop a Winner and nothing can kill a Cajun, or so I hear." "Oh, ho! Well, den, I should follow my own words of advice an' never miss a good chance to shut up." "You like the sound of your own voice too much." "Maybe. So? Why aren't you on your way to your room? You've been up all night, too." Wufei folded his arms over his chest. "I thought I'd stay here in the lobby, read, talk to the charlady or whoever is awake." Quatre returned from collecting their room key. He looked to Trowa and asked, "Ready?" "He shouldn't be alone, mon ami. Talk him into it." Quatre, being the empathic man that he was, took Wufei by one hand and caught up Trowa with the other. "Come on. You both look tired. Wufei, my friend, you should get some rest, too, I got the best room, plenty of space to share." Wufei started to complain, but gave up and followed the two lovers up the staircase. They would honor his boundaries, he felt, and allow him the rest he needed-and the company. "Sounds like a good idea. I have my own room, you know." "I know. I specified it all, but you don't want to be alone right now, I can...feel it, and we have the largest bed. It will be fun." "I actually am too tired to argue, I'm afraid." (o) A light snow blanketed the landscape, hiding all the signs of scuffles, riders, climbers, and cart trails under a pristine concealment. It was well after noon and edging into the early dinner hour by the time all five friends gathered to eat around the same round table. Platters scattered across the top, were quickly being emptied and pitchers of the house ale were empty. There were half a dozen chairs, all but one occupied. That one chair had its back to the door; this was never a popular choice. After allotting for a courteous period of quiet eating, Quatre spoke up. He wanted to hear about everyone's adventures, and he was most worried about Duo, who had been more subdued than usual. "I'll get started with the good news," Quatre began. "A message was left for me. Great Eagle and his lovely wife, Ivy, passed through here before we got up, did a head count, saw that we were all fine, and left, but not before leaving saying that they are sending word back to Hilde and Catherine, letting them know that we are all okay. So, you can rest assured that those at home will stop their worrying. My, that was wordy. Did I make sense?" "Yes, thank you," Wufei whispered. "You are welcome. More good news-- I got Khushrenada's signature on the bill repealing the anti-homosexual laws." "Hot damn!" Duo said his eyes alight with familiar fire. "I hope that rat-bastard gets what's coming to him." "I'd like to see he gets a new family crest," said Wufei. "And what's that?" Duo asked. "'Quid lucrum istic mihi est?'" "Meaning?" "'What's in it for me?'" "Not bad, better than the pecker-headed phutzer deserves." "I agreed not to publicize his worst deeds," Quatre said, his beatific smile turned a bit evil as he added, "but that doesn't mean someone else won't!" He described the dancing and patter and the drugging in order to make their escape, and watched the fire in Duo's eyes fade out. "I'm glad my herbs were of use," Wufei said. "I should have thought of that and drugged the entire household from the start and avoided... much unpleasantness." "I'm not sure I'm satisfied with Khushrenada's...punishment," Heero said, "but I trust you'll devise a plan to cover that sooner or later. What about the, ah, big item?" Everyone looked around the room to make sure their conversation wasn't being overheard. Trowa leaned forward and lowered his voice. "Rashid has de...ah... mock-up far away by now. Ours was, overall, de simplest path." "I think you're right." Quatre turned to Wufei. "Why don't you go next? Something tells me Duo and Heero's story will be the longest." "No shit," Duo muttered. He revealed nothing of what was on his mind, but Quatre could feel the undercurrent of unrest emanating from him. "I'll be brief. When I arrived at the stables, no one was there. My thought was to find our horses and wait for Yuy and Maxwell to show up, but then I realized we would have to take or free all but Winner's horses to prevent the guard's giving us chase. So, while I waited I looked over the horses. I couldn't find yours, Winner." Trowa ran a hand through his long bangs and sighed. "Dat is because de coach horses, dey put dem in an o'der stable closeby." Wufei's eyes flared. "I should have known that." He brushed aside anything Trowa had to say with a karate chop movement that nearly shattered the tabletop. "Chill, Wu," Duo said in a cautious manner. "It's just-frustrating." Wufei closed his eyes in a manner Quatre recognized as 'centering' himself. After a few moments, he had calmed. "Time had run out. I gathered up all the horse flesh I could, roped the leads together and left the stables." "Dat must have been complicated." "It was, but I have a way with horses," Wufei said with a touch of his old pride returning. "Still I waited in a copse for any sign of you before I had to leave. I freed the other horses far enough from the property line that I was sure they wouldn't return that night, and then rode on to our appointed location near the cave exit. Shortly before reaching there, I heard the pounding of hoof beats following me." "Better hoof beats than screams in the dark, I can tell ya," Duo shared mostly with Heero to his right. "Waitta minute!" He sat up and fixed his violet stare on Trowa. "You mean, you knew that there were other horses there? Heero and I could have ridden out and met up with Wufei and not had to go through the fucking cave?" Trowa sat back, putting a little distance between them. "I know now, it's true, but I didn't know at de time. W'en I had Tsubarov's coach hooked up with our horses, I saw o'ders dere, but I didn't t'ink. Besides, you an' Heero had already been gone an hour. You don't t'ink I'da made you go dat way on purpose, do you?" "Ah, geez, I guess not, now that you put it all that way. Bad timing, huh?" "I'd say we had the most fortunate timing, overall," Wufei put in. "'Cept for missing the other horses." Duo scratched his chest, muttering, "Damned itchy coat." "W'ere'd de uniforms come from?" "The guards who attacked me," Wufei said. "I fought back, skillfully, I might add, and knocked them senseless. I'm sorry I left them in the cold without their clothes, but had they beaten me, I'm sure I wouldn't have had any chance at survival." "I am certain you did the right thing," Quatre reassured him. "It saved our lives," was Heero's comment. "And, Duo, you're right, having to go through the cave should have been avoidable," Quatre stepped in as Duo fidgeted with the material of his borrowed coat. "Are you uncomfortable in those clothes?" "Yeah, but I can't go nude, I suppose, huh?" "No, but you don't have to. I have both your bags in my room upstairs, should you want to change-" Quatre got out before Duo cut him off. "God, yes!" he shouted, bounding to his feet. "Then do that and come back for dessert and tea in a few minutes." No sooner had the words passed over Quatre's lips, than Duo shucked his coat and was on his way skipping up the stairs. Heero scraped it up, shouting after him, "You'll need these warm things later, idiot!" Quatre stood and stretched his back and arms. He could see snow drifting lightly past the glass window panes outlined in frost. "I'd say our timing was perfect, with respect to the weather." (o) Feeling far more comfortable in his own familiar, well-worn clothes, set Duo more at ease. He knew Heero felt the same and shared a smile over bites of apple cobbler, flooded with clotted cream. "So, you have to tell us how you and Heero got so banged up. A cave... I could never go in one," Quatre said. "Nor I," Wufei admitted. Duo watched, amused, as Wufei ensconced himself by the fireside where he could wield the poker to punctuate his comments. Duo guessed he had liked the weight and feel of a sword in his hand, no matter how much he complained about it. "I've hid in dem, but never gone in far. I'm in awe you did," said Trowa. "How long did it take?" Duo, mouth full, waved his fork in circles. "They were in there for three hours at least, no, certainly more than that," Wufei supplied. He jabbed at a log, sending sparks flying. Duo swallowed and washed it all down with another mug of ale. "Once we got on the other side of the squeeze-ah, that's a real narrow spot-and we got a few feet of crawl space, it wasn't so bad." "It was better when we could stand, or at least stoop, but that didn't come until the very end, actually," Heero said. "Hey, there was a cavern or two in-between." "You should start at the beginning," Wufei suggested. "It's kinda become one dark blur after another now," Duo said. He swiped his free a hand overhead in an elaborate arch. Heero, he knew would step in again for him and take over getting the story started. And Heero did. "It's difficult to recollect and tell, because this wasn't one straight through passageway. The cave split off into different passages at several points. We had to investigate them all, usually, to find a way that wasn't a dead end or...impossible. Most of our choices took us on routes winding around rocks and crevasses that came to abrupt dead ends. One tunnel led to small pools of water, which would have been a little fun to explore, under different circumstances." "So you got dat cut up from climbin' over boulders and de crawling 'round?" Trowa asked, doubtfully. "It look like to me like you been wrestlin' wid wildcats." "Oh we'll get to the rough parts." Duo decided he'd tell the exciting parts of the story and allow Heero cover the dry stuff. He listened on and off while Heero described the cavern interior, and attended to Wufei's scholarly information, when he shared it. "Shiny cones of wet-looking, marble-like stone hung down and a like one pointed up from below, sometimes meeting in the middle and making columns." "Those were stalactites suspended from the ceiling reaching down to stalagmites below. They drip mineral-rich water seeping from the ground above and add layer after layer of the mineral to form what you saw." "Wu-man, our fountain of knowledge," Duo said. "That stuff's cool." Wufei hid a smug smile in a cough. "There are formations called soda straws, which also hang from the ceilings of caves, and are extremely fragile hollow stalactite tubes-," "Yeah, we saw soda straws, too." "Yes," Heero agreed. "There also was rock that reminded me of snow glittering in the sun, flowing on the walls." "That would be flowstone. A truly an awe-inspiring sight." Wufei smiled, brandishing the poker like a baton and taking up, what Duo guessed was, his "teacher's stance." "That cave has to be thousands of years old to have those formations and it is still growing. Other common speleothems include bacon in thin sheets of banded flowstone, rimstone pools, helictites of tiny shoots of calcite--," "I'll bet we saw those pools-rimstone you say, heh, heh..." Duo laughed at the sexual connotation, and noticed Trowa and Quatre did, too. Wufei continued his discourse, unaware of the homosexual subtext. "You might also find an unusual free-form deposit called moonmilk, anthodites that appear as quill-like flowers of aragonite or calcite, and gypsum flowers and needles." "All in all," Heero said with a shake of his head attempting, as Duo well knew, to subdue the other three. "Aside from the caverns, most of the cave was small, low-ceilinged, wet, and muddy." Duo suppressed any more comments that might lead the discussion to degenerate more, and simply puckered up and blew his lover an air kiss. Heero accepted it with a frown, and so Duo crammed another humongous bite of cobbler into his mouth so he wouldn't start laughing. Heero went on with his story. "I remember a lot of fairly steep and slippery crawling around and climbing down short drop-offs into pitch black holes. One section of the cave resembled a hard rock mine. A nearly perfect arch opened into a cavern with pools and a floor flat and easy to walk on. The arched opening rose nearly 10 feet in the air, ending a mere foot below the cave ceiling, where we'd once again be forced to drop onto our hands and knees and get reacquainted with the floor of the cave. After walking a few feet we reached a small level area with a passage leading down immediately to the left. If we ducked under an overhang and knelt upon the rocks that rise above the floor by a few inches we could feel a cool breeze blowing out of a hole." "Fresh air?" Quatre asked. "A way out?" was Trowa's quick deduction. Duo noticed that he had a rapt audience, and that Heero's reporting was just too dry, lacking the dramatic touches a story like that one really needed, so he decided it was time to take over the telling of the tale. "That's what I was thinking. There was a small passage near the floor that I wanted to check out to see if it was possible to get past it. It had a small opening, but lots of air blowing out of it. It was almost too small to climb through, and I couldn't see inside the passage, so I squeezed head first." "Putting your least important limb first," Trowa said past a chuckle and avoiding a pinch from Quatre. "W'at? He knows I'm juss pullin' his leg." Duo gave him a dubious look with a raised eyebrow while he considered a worthy comeback. Heero used the opportunity to move along the story. "That way led to an underground river so he came back. The uppermost opening was on the side of a cave wall, about four feet from the floor. To get inside, Duo used an overhang of rock to grab onto and swing up." Afraid Heero would take over his story, Duo jumped back in. "Right, so, I entered a tight passage, which opened up a bit just inside the hole. It continued into a small crawl space. After that it seemed to really open up, although how much I couldn't tell, because of all the loose rock in the way. To get past the crawl space, we'd have to clear the debris and enlarge the opening, which was about the size of my fist." "Big enough for your head, sure," Trowa muttered, this time with a sly smile to go with it. Duo showed him his fist. "I know what hole this'll fit in." "Duo!" Quatre shouted with a long, drawn out "u." Wufei choked on his drink and flushed to his part at the top of his head. That innuendo he got. "Me? Why me? I was talking 'bout Trowa's big mouth. Geez, you've got a dirty mind, Quat." Trowa barked a laugh. "He knows you better dan I thought." "He does not! I wasn't thinking...anything... Well, not anything you weren't!" "Don't drag me into the gutter wid you... or, hell, go ahead." Trowa bent to the side and mashed Quatre with a wet, sloppy kiss. "Can we get back to the story?" Wufei asked. "I know you can behave." "You do?" Duo questioned, sensing a back-story of interest. The devil must have taken up residence in Trowa's head, because he blurted out, "Chang hogged de bed wid us last night. An' he's got cold feet." Wufei blubbered something to the negative and blood flooded his face, again. Heero's eyes narrowed. "You ever hear the term latent homosexual?" "There's nothing 'homo' about me, latent or otherwise," Wufei asserted tartly. "Heero!" Quatre said with that stern little edge to his voice Duo thought could bring men like Treize to their knees. "It was all very proper. You weren't alone last night were you? I thought not. Well, he missed his bed warmer and it was all very nice and friendly." "I'll bet," Duo said, grinning. "He's got this thing for blond-" "If you have a story to tell, do so, or I shall leave," Wufei threatened, stabbing the poker into another log and sending up another spray of hot, glowing sparks. Heero let out a giant sigh. "All right. So, to go through the passage Duo chose, we would have a lot of rock clearing to do, but we thought we could do it." "So," Duo cut in before Heero could take over, "we sat down for a few minutes to rest and think what to do. We still had to haul our gear through the cave." "Actually you left some of it inside," Wufei reminded him. "I'll get to that; you'll see why," Duo said with a placating gesture, as if he were calming a nervous colt. He was on his feet now, so he could pace. Trowa mumbled a "down boy" under his breath, which Wufei pointedly ignored, and the storytelling continued in earnest. "So, while we sat there in the darkness we could hear the wind howling from the other side of the passage. It was a low, eerie noise (which Duo said in a low, eerie voice.) We could also hear a low rumble from time to time. No big deal, though." Duo smiled and shrugged. "Wind was good. I figured it meant there was an opening to the outside at the other end. And, we had plenty digging to do; damned hard work. What made it worse was that we were both beat in no time moving around rock in this really tight space. So, we'd take short breaks and check out the results of our hard work. Then we'd notice the howling again, which seemed to be a little louder than the first time we'd heard it. We just figured the wind was blowing a little stronger outside. What we couldn't figure out was the rumbling. It, too, seemed to be louder, and more frequent." "That's creepy," Quatre said with a shiver. "What did the inside look like?" "The walls were lined with a sharp, white rock." "That formation is called 'popcorn,'" Wufei informed them. "Yeah? Let me correct that: it used to be white, but it got covered with dust and dirt from our rock moving. The stuff was sharp, like brushing up against all these tiny razors. I got the scrapes to prove it." "Was it cold inside the cave?" Quatre asked. "Yeah, but not worse than outside." "The temperature is stable year-round," Wufei put in. "It was a good temperature to work in," Heero said, "but too cold to lie around and do nothing." "Knee pads would have been real handy, right, 'Ro?" "And gloves," Heero agreed. "Even where the floor was covered with soft dirt, the thin layer did nothing to soften the blow to our hands and knees after ten minutes down a crawl space." "Yeah, especially when, as a reward, at the end of a long crawl, I got to scoot on my belly in a tight squeeze." "That's sounds terrible, Duo!" "Well, Quat, I haven't even gotten to the bad parts." A wash of dark memory washed over him, sobering his expression. Now, even Trowa seemed to keep his thoughts to himself. "Without the lanterns all we could see was complete blackness," Heero said. "There would have been no way to get through." The log popped and resettled sending flickers of flame shooting up the chimney. The added light was welcome even here with friends to talk to. Duo's eyes shifted to the window where snowflakes were falling outside. Wufei nodded to Heero. "Eyes are capable of at least limited sight even on the darkest night --allowing us to discern, for example, the outline of a hand-- in the total darkness of a cave we are completely blind." "Yeah. At first," Heero said, "I'd strain my eyes, focusing in and out trying to catch a crumb of light, but after several futile moments I noticed that my other senses took over. The sounds, smells and feelings I'd dampened down just sharpened into perfect detail." Duo grinned. "Yeah, like the pain in my ass from sitting on the cave floor." "And the smell of dust, sweat. The sound of our clothes and shoes shifting on age-old rock. Everything." Heero stared off into the distance as if replaying the events in his head. "And at the back of our minds were all these 'What ifs?' What if we had to climb out of the cave with no light. Would we make it? Would we find all of the turns and bends, which got us to the place, or be able to move ahead and not fall into a pit? We knew that no rescue party would find us." "We'da come fo' you," Trowa insisted. "No matter w'at." Duo smiled. "Wait til I finish the story and you might think differently." Quatre shook his head. "No. We stick together." "Tell them," Heero said to Duo. "It's hard to believe." "Will do! So, we thought the weird noises might have come from the sound of water deep within the cave. Possibly a waterfall. We couldn't really explain why the noise seemed to come and go, though. To me, solving the mystery was just one more reason to get through." Heero grunted. "Hn." "Heero was taking his turn, going deeper into the hole, moving rocks out, enlarging the opening as he went. I was kicking back, almost asleep at the time, and hardly paying attention, but when he came out, I was on full alert and turned up the lamp. See, I had a light by my side to light up the work area. In the weird glow, 'Ro had this puzzled and intense look on his face. He looked over at me and shook his head. He swore he just heard a strange noise coming from beyond the hole." "It sounded like rock sliding on rock. Sort of a grinding sound. I heard what I heard," Heero said firmly. "He just sat there while the cave was all quiet before going back to work, so I knew he'd been spooked." "I was listening. And, when I resumed my rock moving, I frequently had to stop from time to time to just listen more. I found the experience to be very disturbing." "And you all know should know by now that Heero is very grounded and not one to make up some imaginary sound or anything. I believed he heard something, but I wasn't worried about what it was. I assumed we would figure it all out once we got through the passage. I didn't have an explanation, so what could I do about it? Nothing! So I went back to dozing." "Only you could sleep," Heero muttered, but with a quick smile and a wink. "You could have gone back the way you went in and, and... Oh, I don't know...walked. I would have walked to meet Wufei," Quatre said. "We'da froze, bud. We got to where we were by following a series of tunnels. I don't know how long it woulda taken us to get...well, anywhere." "Oh." Quatre looked so sad, that Duo moved over to his chair and rubbed his shoulders. "Don't think 'Ro and I didn't consider backing out more than once, but we had this goal at the time." He stepped away and continued his story from atop the window seat. He liked the way the window framed him. "I couldn't have slept more than a couple minutes when I woke with a jolt. It was quiet." "Like a crypt," Trowa whispered. "Yeah, exactly, but I didn't think that at the time. Kinda ghoulish even for me, ya know? We did find the right spot to name as Treize's final resting place, but that came later. What I did is poke my head into the tunnel where Heero was working. The wind had stopped!" Breathing had stopped in the room, too. Everyone's eyes were glued to Duo. "For all of the time we'd been in the cave, that damned wind was blowing outta that hole. The last time I had had my turn clearing out rocks, the wind was blowing worse than ever. "I liked how the breeze cooled me off," Heero put in. "Yeah, but then, suddenly, nothing! Heero came out and said he didn't know when it stopped, but it hadn't been for long, he guessed. The rumbling had died away, too, but that, we figured, was a good thing." "Bizarre," Quatre said. "Wufei, have you any idea what might have caused that rumbling?" "No," he said simply. Duo met Chang's dark searching eyes and smiled, sharing a sign of support. "We thought it was pretty weird. Um, yeah. We traded off and I was moving rocks, appreciating how far we'd come, clearing the space, and was lost in my own thoughts, when suddenly... I heard a strange noise. I mean, this was awful." He ran the fingers of both hands through his bangs, mussing them terribly but they were tickling the bandage Wufei had attached over his largest gash. "It was loud. Different. It took me several full seconds to grasp that this was coming from inside the opening in front of me. This awful noise was coming out of the opening we were working in!" Quatre scooted his chair so that it was touching Trowa's. "What did you do?" "I didn't know what to do. I sure thought about backing out of the passage, though." Duo fingered his freshly braided hair, enjoying the soothing feeling a moment. "I'd stopped moving around. Frozen, thinking, just in time to hear the most terrible scream I've ever heard!" "Oh..." Quatre moaned softly. "It faded away and echoed on and on. I stared at the hole scared shitless. For several moments I didn't move, or breathe. Then I got the hell outta the tunnel-backwards-- to where Heero was sitting. I was more than ready to scrub the entire plan."
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