Summary: The son of a noble, Duo has been sent to the palace to see if he'd qualify as the Prince's consort. But with a missing Prince, Duo finds himself caught up in a conspiracy tangled in jealousy, lies and manipulations.
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing/ AC doesn't belong to me. But I'm not giving up yet! It shall belong to me... one day, I swear... Till then, this will have to make do. sweatdrops.
Warnings: Completely AU since I don't think I can write a proper fic yet. So there might be a bit of OOC but I'm trying :D And though this is rated M, I dunno if there actually will be any mature content, even ff net allowed mature content. But since I dunno what there will be, hence the M rating. And I almost forgot. There's gonna be yaoi. The pairings I'm sure about are 1x2 and 3x4. Monogamy isn't promised so who knows what else will pop up?!?
Babbling: This is my first time ever writing a Gundam Wing/ AC fan fiction. I'm new to the fandom like I've only been reading it for a week or something but I'm totally hooked to it! So this thing just attacked me and I started to write. The plot's not very strong at the moment since I'm thinking it up as I go along. And I'm only doing this as a stress reliever so I might abandon this if nobody's interested. So no promises or anything! Okay, now enough of my babbling and on with my questionable story.
Dedication: Oh, and thanks to my beta Raven White without whose help I would never even have thought of posting this.
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Chapter One
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Duo Maxwell, the sole heir of the Maxwell family, tapped his fingers on the window. A shadowed forest lightened by the last rays of the setting sun rushed past him. He kept tapping. A hand enclosed his, stopping his idle activities. He frowned, scowled in boredom and resumed tapping the moment the hand was lifted.
If any other person had accompanied him in the carriage, Duo was sure his ears would have fallen off with an endless list of complaints. But Trowa Barton had never been one for words. So when a low but deep voice told him to stop, Duo knew the other had reached his limits.
He scowled. "I can't talk, I can't tap, I can't jump, I can't do anything!!!" One visible green eye stared back at him. "Why do I have to go on this absurd trip again?"
A soft sigh was heard before his servant responded. "Your father wants to see if you're a suitable match for the Prince."
Duo's scowl deepened. "This is just SO stupid. Everybody knows that the Prince will end up choosing the Peacecraft girl. It's obvious, so why are we still going?"
"You have a chance as well."
Duo's snorted response was cut off as the carriage suddenly came to a halt. He was thrown into the lap of his servant, who had managed to remain upright. The single green eye narrowed as he pushed Duo off him and placed his hand on his sword hilt. Pulling himself up, Duo's hand reached his sword hilt too.
Duo stuck his head out of the window and was about to scream at the coachman when he was suddenly pulled back. A whooshing sound went past his ear and an arrow embedded itself onto the other side of the carriage, narrowly missing Duo's braid. He snarled, pushing Trowa's hand off him.
Trowa pulled the scroll wrapped around the arrow shaft and held it up in the presence of the candlelight in the carriage.
We demand all the bags of gold in return for your life. The coachman's already holds no worth.
The scroll was dotted with red, presumably the coachman's blood. "They're not getting anything," Duo's dark undertone stated. His hand tightened around his sword in a silent promise.
Trowa blinked. "They have us surrounded, we are in their territory, they know this area better, and we can't outride them." Duo opened his mouth to intervene when he noticed the gleam in Trowa's eye.
"But…" he prompted.
"But, I have a plan," Trowa finished.
Duo's mouth stretched in a mocking grin.
The sun was setting, but seven pairs of trained eyes were focused on the carriage stranded in the middle of the forest. They were waiting for the next move. And when a shadowed figure stepped out, sword thrown down in defeat, they were rather taken aback.
They had expected a response… just not one that quick. Their leader, a lithe, greasy man hidden in the thick foliage smiled, his lips pulling back to show yellowed, rotting teeth. This was a quick response indeed. He nodded, the gesture being immediately noticed by the one nearest him.
The concealed man dropped to the ground from the tree he had been sitting on. The person from the carriage swivelled towards the noise. A torch was lit by the bandit, flooding light onto the dirt path, causing the shadows to lengthen.
"I honestly hadn't expected it to be this easy," the bandit drawled, his hand holding a long knife firmly.
The other six trained their arrows on the person from the carriage. The torchlight reflected the green of his one eye. The bandit near him almost shivered at the emptiness in them.
Trowa answered by picking up a bag chained to his belt. He opened it and pulled out a coin. There was a gold glint in the torchlight. Every eye in the clearing, except for Trowa's, was drawn to the bulging bags that were strapped to his belt. Too busy engrossed with the shine of the pure gold, they missed a sudden darkening in the tree's shadow.
Trowa, who hadn't missed it, unhooked his belt, and let the bags fall one by one. Three other bandits emerged, too greedy to wait. One stepped on Trowa's sword while the other two moved closer to him. If they had looked closely enough, they would have been able to see the almost devilish tightening of his lips.
Suddenly, something fell from the trees. There was a moment's pause as all eyes turned towards the body that had fallen with a sickening crunch. Before they could register anything, another fell from another tree, blood spraying.
Trowa rolled to the side, missing the arrows aimed at him by the last one left overhead. He grabbed his sword and pulled it out from underneath the imbecile standing on it. Then he swung. The man fell with his legs sliced off, his head soon following.
He heard a whistling noise and quickly grabbed the closest man in front of him. Trowa dropped him, an arrow embedded deep within the bandit's chest. He knew that would be the last arrow that would be sent his way.
He was soon holding off another robber, paring stroke for stroke before he found an opening. The man collapsed. He turned around to see the last robber on the ground running away with the bags of gold.
A flash of metal passed his eyes before the man too joined his comrades. He didn't have to turn back to see Duo behind him. Instead, he walked towards the last bandit, taking back the bags of gold.
Trowa ignored the hollow laughter ringing in the clearing as his master gazed at the deaths they had wrought. He had a carriage to ready.
The King stared down from the balcony to the gates as he saw the carriages bearing nobles from all across the country arrive. His face, marred with angry eyes, glared at nothing in particular.
His wife, the Queen, sighed as she saw the look on her husband's face. She slowly massaged his shoulders, unmindful of the royal guards that stood at either end of the balcony. They were chosen for their obsessive loyalty of course, and would not spread a word of what happened behind closed doors.
"It wasn't like we didn't expect something of this sort," she whispered soothingly.
"But how could he just disappear like that?!" the King roared. "We invited everybody and he just disappears to shame us!"
"Hush," the Queen said with a sigh. "The marriage was not of his will. At least give him a choice in this."
"I gave him a choice!" The King waved an arm across the palace front where nobles appeared. "Men, women, I did not discriminate! I only asked that he marry someone with noble blood!"
"It's not like he refused! He just had something to do before marriage took precedence. He'll be back in two months. He gave us his word and he shall undoubtedly keep it. In the meanwhile, I believe we have some guests to attend to."
The Kind nodded and pressed a kiss to his wife's hand. "If my lady shall follow," he asked with a slight bow. She smiled and with a curtsy replied, "My King has yet to lead."
They both left the balcony, readying themselves for the rather perplexing state of affairs they had to attend to.
Duo jumped out of this carriage. On Trowa's insistence, he had changed his clothes from the blood drenched ones he had on before. He felt like sighing when he saw Trowa lead the carriage away. He hated gatherings like these. He had been trained as a soldier first, and then, and only then, a noble. However, since the past few years, he had been forced to be a polite gentleman by his parents.
It wasn't an experience he had found entertaining in any way. He hated the delicately wrought lies, the manipulations that travelled throughout the court and the puppetry played by everyone there. He especially couldn't stand the double entendres that were dished up, making everything so vague and uncomfortable. Why couldn't people just be straightforward?
While Duo was ruminating, his feet had led him up the foreign steps going up to the wide open doors. A guard blocked his way. Duo reached into his pocket to pull out the scrolled invitation. His hands found nothing.
"Ah, shit!" he cursed. He searched his other pocket but nothing was to be found there either.
"Do you have an invitation, sir?" the guard asked with thinly veiled disgust.
"I kind of forgot it," Duo said with a slight laugh. "If you let me in, I could sort it out and… "
"No invitation, no entrance," the guard said in a bored voice that belied the movements of his hand as it covered the hilt of his sword. Duo mentally cursed everything from his father to the unwedded prince as he tried searching again for the invitation.
Just as he was about to declare it a lost cause and storm out of the palace, a warm hand landed across his shoulders. "He's with me."
Duo looked over his shoulder to see a tall man with long white hair behind him. The man stood proudly as his gray eyes glinted at the guard to challenge the claim. The guard gulped rather audibly as he nodded. "Of course, Count Merquise."
Duo paled as he was steered in with the Count's arm around him. Everybody knew who Zechs Merquise was. Well, nobody knew for sure actually but he had been declared second in line to the crown. He was the King's best soldier and second best man, his first being Treize Kushrenada, his advisor and lord of war.
Rumour had it that Zechs Merquise was actually the missing son of the Peacecrafts who had abandoned his family and their pacifist ideals to serve the country at large. Rumour also had it that his very steps into a battlefield echoed death for the enemy. He was one of the most feared and powerful men in the country, and right now, his hand was on Duo's back.
"Ummm, thanks for helping me out there," Duo said in a low voice. A pleasant laugh met his ears. Duo raised his eyes to meet the Count's. They weren't as cold as he had first thought them to be.
"The guard is a fool. Anybody could notice that you were a noble." Duo's cheeks were traced with pink as a slender hand took his to caress the family seal ring that his hand bore, twin amethysts on each side, a shade of his eyes. It denoted his status as heir to the Maxwell family. Duo grinned at the Count.
In return, the Count bowed to him. "My name is Zechs Merquise and I wish we had more time to talk, but I really must go and attend to other duties."
Duo bowed as well. "Duo Maxwell and thank you again."
The Count gave him a fleeting smile as he left, the presence on his hand disappearing. Duo stared after him with blushing cheeks.
"That would be rather unwise," a voice stated beside him.
Duo spun around to see Trowa there, twirling his invitation in his hand.
"Hey! Where'd you get that? How'd you get in here and why? Wait… what do you mean?"
Trowa sighed as Duo snatched back the invitation. The barrage of questions nearly made him dizzy but he was too used to Duo.
"You left it in the carriage and I was going to return it to you. And it would be rather unwise to stare after the Lightening Count when you come here to see if you suit his rival, the Prince."
"Oh yeah…" Duo trailed off. "How'd you know it was him though?"
Trowa just gave him a look, seeming to have used up his maximum word quota for the day. Duo sulked at his servant/ friend's unresponsiveness until he spotted a table set up for snacks in the middle of the hall.
All the ladies seemed to be giving it a wide berth, especially when the boy with the long plait ran towards it like it was kingdom come. Trowa just watched as his master load his plate up with everything on the table. This was normal.
Every head in the hall turned as the King and Queen stepped down the stairs elegantly. Murmurs slowly died out as the royal couple stood on the last step. The Queen smiled and the King looked around at everyone present. To his right stood his two best men, looking on impassively at the crowd before them.
"I am certain that all those who stand here know of the reason for their arrival at my humble home," the King began.
Trowa stepped on Duo's foot before the snort that he knew would be coming could come. The front hall where they had assembled was at least thrice the size of their ballrooms back home. Humble home indeed.
The King continued on, ignoring the choking of one of his guests.
"My son, the Prince and Heir to the Throne, shall choose his consort from among one of you. As you may have noticed, he is not present among us."
The Prince had always been an elusive figure. He never attended the royal parties nor had he any interest in flaunting himself to the public. He was a soldier in the army and was good enough to challenge the Lightening Count and walk away from the battle, maybe not unscathed in appearance but in pride knowing that he had caused his opponent as much pain. He was rumoured to be very handsome and charming. Even though most of the nobles hadn't seen him, they had sent all their children with hopes that they'd be the ones to be chosen by him. Murmurs began again but were soon shushed when the King resumed speaking.
"He has been sent on urgent business elsewhere and shall return in two months. On the day of his return, he shall choose whom he shall wed. I welcome all of tonight's guests to stay with us for these two months. Rooms shall be provided and all of your requests shall be attended to with the utmost consideration."
Then Duo stared with an open mouth as the royal couple left. He turned to Trowa with a wide-open mouth.
"He...he didn't just say that the… AAAAAARGH!!!! When I get my hands on that royally stuck up arse of that Prince! Calling everybody here and then..."
Needless to say, Trowa had gotten rather good at tuning Duo out.
A/N: So how's the story? I'm not trying to pressurize anybody into reviewing but PLEASE review. I really wanna know how this story's going and if there's any point in continuing.
