Disclaimer: I don't own the G'boys, I just borrow them from time to time to play with and return them a whole lot happier, ne? Written for pleasure not profit.
Rating: NC 17
Warnings: Sap, angst, bondage, slavery, Yaoi, Lemon, lime, het, violence, dark, fluff, AU, OOC.
Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, 1xR, 2xR
Archive: gundam-wing-diaries. foreverfandom. net and gundam-wing-diaries. 150m. com.
Betaed by Karina *snugs*
Summary: Heero is the eldest son of the King of Colonia. His 21st birthday is approaching and as tradition dictates his betrothed is soon to arrive. However he is also bound by tradition to select his own personal slave. The events that unfold lead him down a path that not only tests his sanity but his humanity and love as well.
Author's Note: This fic was started back in 2004 and has languished on my hard drive ever since, only sporadically being added to when I have the time (and the muse the inclination) . Updates will be far between, but rest assured, it will be finished. Feed back is most welcome as are honest critiques. Flames will be dealt with as I deal with all flames – with sarcasm.
Commenced July 2004 – published January 2008
"Bound, Bonded and Betrayed"
Chapter 19
Having waved his brother and new bride off on their brief honeymoon, Trowa stepped back inside the castle. He took a subtle glance at Duo and noted the look of utter loss on the young slave's face and his heart ached for the boy. He paused in heading for his chambers and called for Quatre.
"Yes, master?" Quatre asked, dropping to his knees.
"I fear that young Duo is going through a very rough time and will continue to do so whilst my brother is away. This is the first time he has been separated from his master since Heero rescued him and brought him here and it won't be easy for him to accept that his master has not abandoned him. He has been left in my charge and as such it is up to you and I to try and reassure him that Prince Heero will return - and keep him occupied so he doesn't miss his master too much."
Quatre nodded. "What would you have me do, master?"
"I have work to finish off in my chambers, while I am busy with that I want you to assist Duo to move the rest of his things from your shared chambers to the new one he will reside in. I would suggest leaving some items in your shared chambers though as I think it would be a good idea to have Duo sleep there with you until Prince Heero returns and then Duo can go back to his new quarters."
"Very well, master."
"When you have finished I will expect you both in my chambers."
"Yes, master."
"And Quatre?" The blonde tilted his head slightly in acknowledgment. "Try to use your gentle nature to cheer him up a bit." Trowa gave his slave a warm smile and pat to the head before leaving.
Once Prince Trowa had departed, Quatre turned to Duo and told him what his master wished them to do. With sad eyes, Duo nodded and followed his blonde companion.
Once the two slaves had left the hallway, a slender figure stepped out from an alcove, her eyes looking in the direction the pair had gone. "Why would that slave be so frightened of abandonment? And just what was it Prince Heero rescued him from?" she mused. Flicking her blonde hair over her shoulder, Dorothy set off for her own chambers to think some more.
#
It didn't take long for Quatre and Duo to pack up most of Duo's things and take them to his new quarters. Quatre admired the new chambers and gave Duo a hand to put everything away. He kept up a light stream of chatter, doing his best to try and bring Duo out of his miserable mood.
Duo did his best to perk up a bit, knowing that Quatre was only trying to help, but it wasn't easy. He missed his master more than he thought possible – in fact, it quite overwhelmed him that he could miss a master so much. In the past he couldn't wait to get away from his masters.
"Cheer up, Duo. Prince Heero will be back in a couple of days," Quatre said and hugged the long haired slave.
"I know," Duo replied, "but I can't help feeling sad. I really miss him, Quatre."
The blonde pulled Duo to the bed and sat down, tucking Duo against his side, resting an arm about the other's shoulders and stroking his fingers softly against Duo's upper arm. With Duo's head in the crook of his shoulder, Quatre rested his chin on the crown of chestnut, pressed a small kiss to it and spoke softly. "I know you miss him, Duo, but he will return and I have no doubts you will be kept very busy once he does get back as he will have a lot of work to catch up on and he will need your help to keep him organized."
Giving a soft sigh, Duo hummed an affirmative.
"He won't abandon you, Duo and neither will he sell you. He has given you his word and I know the prince will not break that word."
"I know he's said he still wants me, but I can't help that feeling that once he returns he won't want me like he has in the past. He has his new wife to look after him." Sad, violet eyes turned to Quatre. "I never ever thought I would care about a master or miss one like I do the prince. In the past all I ever wanted was to get away from my masters."
"Oh, Duo. I told you when you first came here that our masters are not like others. They do not believe in punishing you through beatings. I think you now understand that."
"You were right. Prince Heero is the kindest master I've ever known."
"Then you need to show him how much you care for him."
"H- How?"
"By being the best behaved slave you can be. Try to anticipate what it is he wants or needs before he knows it himself, keep his chambers spotless, do everything he asks without question."
Duo nodded. "I will do that, Quatre. I'll be the best slave ever; I'll be so good he won't want to sell me." Duo brightened a little with the thoughts of how he could show his master how well he could look after him.
"Good." Quatre smiled and hugged Duo. "Come on, it's getting late and my master wants us to go to his chambers once we are finished here." Releasing Duo from his arms, Quatre stood, the long haired slave following suit and the pair exited the chambers.
Once they had left, Dorothy stepped out of her own chambers, a thoughtful look on her face. She had overheard a lot of the conversation between the pair and it intrigued her even more. Her curiosity was well and truly raised now and she vowed to get Quatre alone as soon as possible and find out exactly what had happened to Duo before he came to the castle.
#
"Enter," came the soft voice from within, Quatre opening the door and stepping inside, Duo beside him. Once the two slaves were inside Trowa's chambers, they sank to their knees with bowed heads.
"You requested we return to you once we had finished moving Duo's things, master," Quatre said.
Looking up, Trowa gave a smile. "That I did. Tell me, did you both manage to get everything moved that was necessary?"
"Yes, master," Quatre replied for both of them.
"Good. Quatre, I require you to tidy up my chambers for me, I'm afraid I've left you quite a bit of work to do. Duo?"
The long haired slave tilted his head slightly, a little unsure what he should call the prince as Trowa was not his master, but his master had told him he was to obey Trowa whilst he was gone. A soft whisper from Quatre soon sorted his problem out for him though. "Yes, sire?" he asked in his quiet tone.
"Would you please build up the fire again, it's burning a little low. Once you have done that I will require you to go to the kitchens and fetch dinner for all three of us. We will eat here in my chambers."
"As you wish, sire." Duo wasn't too sure he would be able to eat anything, but he would carry out his duties anyway.
"You may both continue." Trowa returned to his work, Quatre disappeared into the bed chamber to start tidying up there and Duo made his way to the basket of wood beside the fire.
He selected a couple of large logs and carefully placed them on top of the current ones that had almost burned through. Picking up the poker, he pushed the embers around a bit, stoking the fire and encouraging it to take hold of the new wood. The flames began to lick at the logs and Duo added a couple of smaller ones just to help things along a bit.
Once the fire had taken hold again and was merrily crackling away in the grate, he turned to the prince and bowed his head. "Sire?"
"Yes, Duo?"
"Permission to speak, sire?"
"Permission granted, Duo."
"I have finished with the fire. Shall I fetch dinner now?"
"Yes, please. By the time you return I should be finished with this and we can all relax and eat together."
"Thank you, sire." Duo bowed and turned on his heel, leaving the chambers and heading for the kitchens.
Trowa watched the young slave leave, noting the lack of usual bounce in his step. With a soft sigh he returned to finishing off his paperwork.
# # #
Heero stared out at the lake ahead, a soft ache in his chest. The water was still, hardly a breeze in the air and the sun shone down strongly. Although it was spring, the warmth from the sun was quite hot and promised a very warm summer ahead.
"Ah, there you are, Heero. I was wondering where you had gone off to." Relena stepped up beside her husband on the shore of the lake and looked out across the blue waters, trying to see what held his attention. Unable to discern anything at all of obvious interest, she turned to the prince and placed her hand upon his arm. "Why don't you come into the shade? It's getting rather hot out here."
Finally registering the woman's presence, Heero turned to look at her. "Pardon?" he said politely.
"I asked you to come into the shade, it's too hot out here," Relena repeated.
Noting her pale skin taking on a touch of redness, Heero nodded and turned back towards the large cabin nestled at the edge of the clearing. Relena latched onto his arm and they walked back to the large verandah surrounding the property. Once back in the shade, Relena sat on one of the reclining chairs, folding her parasol and standing it beside the small table that sat between the two chairs.
"Would you mind getting me a drink, please?" she asked with a smile.
"Of course." Heero went inside the building which was more like a small mansion than a cabin and headed for the kitchen. Once in the kitchen he located the wine skins and poured two generous amounts into the goblets. Picking up his own, he took a long pull of the dark wine, feeling it blaze a trail down his gullet to sit in his stomach. Staring out the window towards the lake again, he couldn't help but compare the blueish hue of the water to a pair of blue/violet eyes.
And that caused his chest to ache again.
Although he would never admit it, Heero missed his slave. He didn't mind having to dress himself or take care of his and his new wife's daily needs as they hadn't brought any slaves with them - no. He missed the vibrancy of the slave, the soft looks, rich voice and gentle manner in which Duo went about his daily routine. He missed having the slave next to him, missed softly petting his hair, feeding him and just generally having the calming presence near him.
Being a solitary man by nature, Heero liked his peace and quiet. He was also disciplined and completely focused on his royal duties. He hated it when things diverted from his normal routine. He was used to getting up, carrying out his duties each day, attending sparring lessons with Wufei and sharing his evenings with his brother or sitting quietly by the fire with Duo at his side.
He'd thought that things would remain pretty much the same once he was wed, that his wife would take on some duties herself and in the evenings they would either sit in companionable silence before the fire with their respective slaves beside them quietly enjoying each other's company or share just a few words of conversation.
So far, none of that had happened and Heero was beginning to feel quite lost.
Oh he knew he was on his honeymoon and was supposed to be relaxing, getting to know his new wife better, but frankly, it was all starting to get on his nerves. He wasn't used to having time on his hands and he certainly wasn't used to having someone talking to him practically all the time. It seemed his wife was apt to want to talk – a lot – and she also wanted him to spend every waking minute with her.
Whilst he didn't object (at least not vocally), Heero would have been much happier simply taking a quiet walk with her or sitting under the shade of a tree and watching nature pass by. When they did go for a walk she'd done nothing but talk and then complain that her feet were hurting or the sun was too hot or her skin was drying out. When she'd exhausted those complaints, she'd switched to criticizing nature. The track was too rough, the plants were poisonous or giving her a rash, there could be snakes around... the list of complaints was endless. When Heero had suggested they take a swim in the lake together she had shuddered and made such a face that Heero wondered if she'd tasted something foul in her drink.
She had firmly informed him that a princess simply did not go swimming like that, and especially not in a lake which held all sorts of horrible things beneath the surface.
Heero gave up suggesting things after that and suffered in silence. Now he was counting down the candle marks to when they would be returning to the castle.
"Heero? Heero?!"
The prince gave a sigh. "I'm coming," he replied and finished his goblet of wine before refilling it and replacing the wine skin. With any luck the alcohol would help to numb his mind.
Picking up the two goblets, he returned to the verandah and his new wife.
# # #
"Quatre?"
The blonde slave turned and looked to see who had addressed him and spotted the maid of the Princess. Placing the used breakfast dishes on the counter top, he gave Noin a smile and left the kitchens. "Yes?" he said once he was back in the hallway.
"Could you spare a moment please?"
"Well, I really do need to be getting back to my chambers to bathe before attending to my master..."
"It's about Duo. I'm concerned about him," Dorothy said, cutting Quatre off. She added a worried look to her face to be more convincing.
Quatre's eyes shot to the woman's face. "Duo? What's wrong with him?"
Dorothy sighed. "That's just it, I'm not sure, but I was hoping you could spare a few moments to talk to me about him."
Quatre thought about the request for a moment and reluctantly agreed. He guessed he could always bathe later if necessary. "Okay."
"Thank you. I think it would be best if we discussed this somewhere more privately." Dorothy turned and headed for her chambers. Quatre followed behind and couldn't see the woman's face. If he had then he would have spotted the smirk on her lips. His empathy didn't tell him anything either, all he could read from her was an underlying concern. Dorothy was very good at hiding what she was feeling.
Once they were inside Dorothy's quarters, she turned to face the other slave. "I'm a bit worried about Duo. He doesn't seem to be himself these past few days. When we first came here he appeared to be quite happy, now he's more like a frightened rabbit. He flinches if anyone makes a sudden noise or moves to quick by him. Is he alright?" Dorothy made sure to put as much concern into her voice as possible and combined it with a facial expression that indicated she was genuinely worried for the slave.
Quatre bit his lip, unsure if he should relate anything of Duo's past to the woman or not.
"I'd really like to help him, Quatre," Dorothy said softly and placed a hand on Quatre's arm. "If we are to be sharing the care of our mistress and master, we need to be able to work together and get along, but I can't help him or do that if I don't know what is wrong."
Having considered what he knew of Duo's past and given the genuine look of concern and words of assistance from Dorothy, Quatre decided to fill the maid in. "What I am about to tell you is in the strictest of confidence," he began.
Dorothy nodded. "I won't say a word to anyone," she stated. My mistress excepted.
"Prince Heero found Duo along a track in the forest, he was beaten and abused..." Quatre related what he knew of Duo's past to the woman, trying to keep it as brief as possible and skipping over a lot of the more horrible experiences Duo had gone through.
Dorothy listened with rapt attention, absorbing the tale like a sponge and filing all the information away in her head for further analysis later.
"All his life Duo has only known starvation, beatings and hard work, it took him some time to adjust to life here at the castle and to accept that here, the masters do not believe in beating their slaves. Duo's trust in Heero is only just starting to blossom and now that he's taken a wife, Duo is feeling very uncertain in his future position."
"Ah, I can see why he would be feeling that," Dorothy muttered.
"Prince Heero has repeatedly told Duo that he won't sell him, that he still requires him as his personal slave, but," Quatre shrugged, "Duo finds it very hard to believe things like that given what he's been through."
"How horrible, to have lived like that," Dorothy sympathized.
"Now you can see why Duo is a little skittish. Just be gentle and patient with him, once you get to know him, Duo is a sweet slave with a gentle nature," Quatre finished.
Dorothy nodded.
"I'd better go, my master will be wondering where I am," Quatre said and turned to leave.
"Thank you, Quatre for that information, it does help me to understand a bit better why Duo is the way he is."
Quatre gave the maid a small smile. "Patience is the key with Duo."
Once Quatre had left, Dorothy took a seat and rubbed her hands together. Her face lit up with an evil grin. "Now I know your secrets, Duo. My mistress is going to be so pleased to hear what I have to tell her when she gets back." I'd suggest you get used to being scared, little slave. It's only a matter of time before you're gone, she thought venomously.
# # #
Between Quatre and Prince Trowa, Duo was kept very busy. If he wasn't running errands he was helping Quatre to keep the prince's chambers neat and tidy. When they had completed all those duties, Quatre took Duo back to his master's chambers and gave the long haired slave a hand to completely clean and tidy up Prince Heero's old chambers.
When Duo approached his master's desk and all the work that sat around on and in it, he hesitated, unsure if his master would be moving his entire 'office' to the study in his new chambers. He recalled his master mentioning something about the study in the marital quarters as being large enough for him to use for his work, but Duo didn't want to assume that would be the case. But on the other hand, if his master did wish to use the study, Duo could have it all set up and ready for him when he got back. Quatre saw the problem and approached his master regarding the situation to which Prince Trowa suggested that they leave it until Heero returned and if his brother wished to move his office it wouldn't take Duo long to see it was done.
Sitting by the fire, Trowa stretched his long legs out in front of him, a wine goblet held in one hand, the other gently caressing the blonde locks of his slave who was sitting by his side. On his other side, Duo sat, his violet eyes staring off into the flames.
"I wish to thank you, Duo," Trowa said softly.
Duo started a touch and turned his head slightly to peer up through his bangs at the prince.
Seeing the look of confusion on the slave's face, Trowa smiled. "You have been a very attentive slave to me whilst my brother has been gone and I wish to thank you for your services. My brother is a lucky man to have found you."
Duo blushed and lowered his head. "It has been my pleasure, sire," he whispered.
On Trowa's other side, Quatre pushed his head against his master's hand and gave a teasing growl. The prince chuckled.
"Don't tell me you are getting jealous my sweet Quatre?" the prince teased back. Leaning down, Trowa captured his slave's mouth in a hungry kiss. "You have no need to be jealous. You are my one and only slave."
Doing his best to ignore the sweet exchange that made his heart ache all the more for his own master, Duo returned his attention back to the fire.
"I have received word that my brother will return tomorrow. He is expected to be here around midday."
Duo looked up sharply at the words, forgetting all about protocol and not looking the prince in the eye unless given permission. "He will?" he blurted out before suddenly realizing his mistake and hanging his head. "Forgive me sire."
Trowa swapped his wine goblet over in his hand so he could rest his other upon Duo's head. "I will forgive you for this indiscretion, Duo," he said with a smile, "And you may speak freely."
"Thank you sire." Duo chewed on the information for a few moments. "Sire?"
"Yes, Duo?"
"If you have no further need of me this evening, may I be excused to return to my quarters?"
Having a pretty good idea of what the slave wished to do, Trowa couldn't help the chuckle. "Yes, Duo, you may return to your chambers and begin your preparations for your master's return. I will expect you to take your breakfast in the kitchens tomorrow. After breakfast come to me in my chambers and I will give you your duties for the day."
"Thank you, sire." Duo stood up and bowed before retreating from the room, his step a lot lighter than before.
Prince Trowa and Quatre watched him go, the smiles on their faces broadening as they watched the hasty departure.
Duo hummed to himself as he walked through the castle halls and back to his quarters. His heart was the lightest it had been for the past couple of days, his step held renewed bounce to it and he almost glowed with happiness. His master would be back on the 'morrow.
Duo couldn't wait.
tbc...
