Part 6
Heero entered the clearing, for the umpteenth time in the last few days, and stopped near the boulder where he'd first met Duo. He needed to think. Racing in to face this Quatre without a plan wouldn't help him at all. He was at a significant disadvantage since he had no idea what was on the other side of the waterfall. There was also the chance that he could be completely wrong and the waterfall wasn't even the doorway to where he wanted to go. There were so many things that could go wrong, he needed more information. Hero sighed silently. Despite how much he wanted to protect Duo from whoever had done that to the village he had to admit that he needed Duo's help.
No, scolded himself immediately, he didn't need Duo's help. He would not willingly put Duo in danger. So he'd have to solve this problem on his own. When he thought about it this was much like hunting, and hunting was what he was good at. The only real difference this time was that his prey knew he was coming. And his prey was intelligent; he would just have to adjust accordingly.
Leaning against the boulder he took stock of his weapons and rummaged through the old myths in his head. The myths said fae were deadly allergic to iron, that if it got in to their blood stream it could kill them almost instantly. Judging from Duo's reaction to Trowa's arrow when he was a child he knew that particular part of the myth was true. So how much iron did he have? Four arrows and one dagger, that was it. The bow to fire the arrows had been damaged before and was of no use now, so all he had were a set of fairly flimsy arrows and his dagger.
Heero set three of the arrows on the ground near the boulder, just in case he needed to run away and get to extra iron. Hesitating for only a moment he took the last remaining arrow and snapped it over his knee. Working quickly he removed the arrowhead and tucked it in his belt, as a last resort weapon. If worse came to worse and he lost the dagger he could use the arrowhead. Even though he knew that if Quatre got close enough for him to use the arrowhead he was probably as good as dead anyway. But he refused to die if Quatre was still alive; he wouldn't let it happen.
Heero paused in considering his small inventory and glanced about. The empty clearing greeted him with the sounds of birds and rushing water but didn't' calm him, he was sure he'd heard something. Slowly Heero stood and climbed atop the boulder. True it would place him in plain sight but it was also the only way he'd be able to see into the tall grass surrounding the tree line. Crouching atop the boulder his eyes scanned his surroundings for any signs of movement. Nothing.
Suddenly a dark shape bounded out of the tall grass, straight for him. Heero barely had time to reach for his dagger before the black shape slammed into him, knocking the air out of his lungs and throwing him backward into the water.
Heero brought a hand up to block himself from involuntarily taking a breath as the black shape had him pinned in the water. Heero struggled and kicked at the shape with his legs, the need for air causing his lungs to burn and his mind to panic. Reaching both his hands up he batted at the thing, anything to make it loosen its hold on him.
Black filled his vision and it became harder and harder to move his limbs. Finally he stopped moving, his body refusing to move as his lungs ached and burned. Still the black shape held him down and he felt consciousness slipping away. But then the black thing was gone. Heero numbly registered floating to the surface, not sure what was going on. As soon as his face broke the waters surface he took a deep breath, flooding his lungs with air and a small amount of water. Heero rolled on his side, coughing and sputtering as he ungracefully scrambled to shore. Once he reached land he collapsed, just lying there taking deep breaths until his vision cleared of the black spots and his mind started working again.
"Get off me you little demon!"
Heero looked up in surprise and brushed his wet bangs out of his eyes so he could see. A few feet away sat Duo, on top of a struggling panther-shapeshifter. Heero immediately recognized the scowling shapeshifter as the one who'd attacked Hilde and his village. Duo sat atop the half-transformed boy's back grinning from ear to ear. There was no evidence that he'd been crying the last time Heero saw him.
"That's three you owe me, human." Duo said with a chuckle.
Heero refused the urge to flinch; he'd been downgraded once again to being just a human in Duo's beautiful amethyst eyes. Either that or Duo had a plan, so Heero forced himself not to react, just in case. Heero shook off what water he could and stood up.
"I don't need your help," Heero murmured as he checked his weapons. Amazingly they were all still in their places, he was careful not to give Duo or the shapeshifter any clue about the arrowhead in his belt.
Duo jumped off of the shapeshifter's back and snickered. "I'd say coming near drowning qualifies you for needing help, unless of course you'd disagree in which case I'll heal his arm and leg and let him pounce on you again." Duo nodded back toward the panther who still hadn't moved despite the fact that there was nothing holding him down now.
Upon looking closer Heero saw that two of the panther's limbs were indeed broken. "You broke his legs?"
Duo chuckled. "Among other things." Purple energy crackled briefly from his eyes. "He couldn't move, even if he wanted to. Isn't that right Fei-chan?"
The shapeshifter growled. "I swear, Duo, if you ever touch me again I'll rip out your throat and tear you to shreds."
Duo snickered with a maniacal gleam in his eyes. "I'd like to see you try." Leaning forward he caught Wufei's scowling mouth in a fierce kiss and refused to let go. Wufei struggled for only a moment then his eyes drifted shut and his body went limp. "Sweet dreams, Fei," Duo whispered as he stood up and faced Heero.
"What did you do to him?"
Duo's expression became serious, the grin disappearing. "I'm an incubus remember? I steal people's energy through sexual actions. A few well placed touches during the fight and that kiss were enough to knock him unconscious. Heh, if you're that jealous then why are you rushing off so carelessly to face your death?"
Heero frowned. "I'll take care of this myself, I don't need your help." And I don't want you to get killed on my account, he added silently to himself.
Duo's eyes narrowed and he darted forward, clamping his hand against Heero's chin and holding their lips a breath apart. Duo's eyes crackled with purple energy. "Now listen to me, human." He hissed. Heero didn't dare move, he knew it would be no trouble for Duo to take away his life energy just like he had done with Wufei. The safest course of action was to just wait until Duo gave him an opening to get away.
"Listen to me, Heero, you have no idea what he's like! He is the ruler of our kind because he killed the ruler before him without mercy. He'd do the same to you just as easily. You'll be dead within seconds and what will that accomplish?! Did it ever enter your thick head that the people in that village weren't the only ones who care about you?" Duo shook Heero in anger. "Did you ever think that some of the people who are still living might care about you too? Like me…"
Heero's features softened. "That's why I'm going Duo."
"Why? To protect me? Feh! That's the lowest excus-"
Duo's words were cut off as Heero leaned forward and kissed him tenderly. Almost immediately Heero felt some of his energy floating away through that kiss, Duo must have noticed too because he quickly stepped back, letting go of Heero's chin and separating their lips.
"Wh-what was that for?" Duo whispered in surprise.
Heero kept his expression blank but his voice came out softly. "I will kill him, to avenge the dead… and protect the living."
Duo nodded slowly in understanding. "Then I'm going with you."
"No."
Duo stopped Hero by placing a finger lightly across his lips. "Yes, I'm coming with to help. You'll need me, and you know it. You don't even know where to find him, much less how to fight him."
"I've got a pretty good idea," Heero said patting the handle of his dagger.
"Doesn't matter, I'm still going with. Whether you like it or not."
Heero frowned but finally nodded.
Duo responded with a wide grin. "See? Sometimes we fae are just as stupid as you humans."
Heero couldn't help but smile in agreement.
Heero entered the clearing, for the umpteenth time in the last few days, and stopped near the boulder where he'd first met Duo. He needed to think. Racing in to face this Quatre without a plan wouldn't help him at all. He was at a significant disadvantage since he had no idea what was on the other side of the waterfall. There was also the chance that he could be completely wrong and the waterfall wasn't even the doorway to where he wanted to go. There were so many things that could go wrong, he needed more information. Hero sighed silently. Despite how much he wanted to protect Duo from whoever had done that to the village he had to admit that he needed Duo's help.
No, scolded himself immediately, he didn't need Duo's help. He would not willingly put Duo in danger. So he'd have to solve this problem on his own. When he thought about it this was much like hunting, and hunting was what he was good at. The only real difference this time was that his prey knew he was coming. And his prey was intelligent; he would just have to adjust accordingly.
Leaning against the boulder he took stock of his weapons and rummaged through the old myths in his head. The myths said fae were deadly allergic to iron, that if it got in to their blood stream it could kill them almost instantly. Judging from Duo's reaction to Trowa's arrow when he was a child he knew that particular part of the myth was true. So how much iron did he have? Four arrows and one dagger, that was it. The bow to fire the arrows had been damaged before and was of no use now, so all he had were a set of fairly flimsy arrows and his dagger.
Heero set three of the arrows on the ground near the boulder, just in case he needed to run away and get to extra iron. Hesitating for only a moment he took the last remaining arrow and snapped it over his knee. Working quickly he removed the arrowhead and tucked it in his belt, as a last resort weapon. If worse came to worse and he lost the dagger he could use the arrowhead. Even though he knew that if Quatre got close enough for him to use the arrowhead he was probably as good as dead anyway. But he refused to die if Quatre was still alive; he wouldn't let it happen.
Heero paused in considering his small inventory and glanced about. The empty clearing greeted him with the sounds of birds and rushing water but didn't' calm him, he was sure he'd heard something. Slowly Heero stood and climbed atop the boulder. True it would place him in plain sight but it was also the only way he'd be able to see into the tall grass surrounding the tree line. Crouching atop the boulder his eyes scanned his surroundings for any signs of movement. Nothing.
Suddenly a dark shape bounded out of the tall grass, straight for him. Heero barely had time to reach for his dagger before the black shape slammed into him, knocking the air out of his lungs and throwing him backward into the water.
Heero brought a hand up to block himself from involuntarily taking a breath as the black shape had him pinned in the water. Heero struggled and kicked at the shape with his legs, the need for air causing his lungs to burn and his mind to panic. Reaching both his hands up he batted at the thing, anything to make it loosen its hold on him.
Black filled his vision and it became harder and harder to move his limbs. Finally he stopped moving, his body refusing to move as his lungs ached and burned. Still the black shape held him down and he felt consciousness slipping away. But then the black thing was gone. Heero numbly registered floating to the surface, not sure what was going on. As soon as his face broke the waters surface he took a deep breath, flooding his lungs with air and a small amount of water. Heero rolled on his side, coughing and sputtering as he ungracefully scrambled to shore. Once he reached land he collapsed, just lying there taking deep breaths until his vision cleared of the black spots and his mind started working again.
"Get off me you little demon!"
Heero looked up in surprise and brushed his wet bangs out of his eyes so he could see. A few feet away sat Duo, on top of a struggling panther-shapeshifter. Heero immediately recognized the scowling shapeshifter as the one who'd attacked Hilde and his village. Duo sat atop the half-transformed boy's back grinning from ear to ear. There was no evidence that he'd been crying the last time Heero saw him.
"That's three you owe me, human." Duo said with a chuckle.
Heero refused the urge to flinch; he'd been downgraded once again to being just a human in Duo's beautiful amethyst eyes. Either that or Duo had a plan, so Heero forced himself not to react, just in case. Heero shook off what water he could and stood up.
"I don't need your help," Heero murmured as he checked his weapons. Amazingly they were all still in their places, he was careful not to give Duo or the shapeshifter any clue about the arrowhead in his belt.
Duo jumped off of the shapeshifter's back and snickered. "I'd say coming near drowning qualifies you for needing help, unless of course you'd disagree in which case I'll heal his arm and leg and let him pounce on you again." Duo nodded back toward the panther who still hadn't moved despite the fact that there was nothing holding him down now.
Upon looking closer Heero saw that two of the panther's limbs were indeed broken. "You broke his legs?"
Duo chuckled. "Among other things." Purple energy crackled briefly from his eyes. "He couldn't move, even if he wanted to. Isn't that right Fei-chan?"
The shapeshifter growled. "I swear, Duo, if you ever touch me again I'll rip out your throat and tear you to shreds."
Duo snickered with a maniacal gleam in his eyes. "I'd like to see you try." Leaning forward he caught Wufei's scowling mouth in a fierce kiss and refused to let go. Wufei struggled for only a moment then his eyes drifted shut and his body went limp. "Sweet dreams, Fei," Duo whispered as he stood up and faced Heero.
"What did you do to him?"
Duo's expression became serious, the grin disappearing. "I'm an incubus remember? I steal people's energy through sexual actions. A few well placed touches during the fight and that kiss were enough to knock him unconscious. Heh, if you're that jealous then why are you rushing off so carelessly to face your death?"
Heero frowned. "I'll take care of this myself, I don't need your help." And I don't want you to get killed on my account, he added silently to himself.
Duo's eyes narrowed and he darted forward, clamping his hand against Heero's chin and holding their lips a breath apart. Duo's eyes crackled with purple energy. "Now listen to me, human." He hissed. Heero didn't dare move, he knew it would be no trouble for Duo to take away his life energy just like he had done with Wufei. The safest course of action was to just wait until Duo gave him an opening to get away.
"Listen to me, Heero, you have no idea what he's like! He is the ruler of our kind because he killed the ruler before him without mercy. He'd do the same to you just as easily. You'll be dead within seconds and what will that accomplish?! Did it ever enter your thick head that the people in that village weren't the only ones who care about you?" Duo shook Heero in anger. "Did you ever think that some of the people who are still living might care about you too? Like me…"
Heero's features softened. "That's why I'm going Duo."
"Why? To protect me? Feh! That's the lowest excus-"
Duo's words were cut off as Heero leaned forward and kissed him tenderly. Almost immediately Heero felt some of his energy floating away through that kiss, Duo must have noticed too because he quickly stepped back, letting go of Heero's chin and separating their lips.
"Wh-what was that for?" Duo whispered in surprise.
Heero kept his expression blank but his voice came out softly. "I will kill him, to avenge the dead… and protect the living."
Duo nodded slowly in understanding. "Then I'm going with you."
"No."
Duo stopped Hero by placing a finger lightly across his lips. "Yes, I'm coming with to help. You'll need me, and you know it. You don't even know where to find him, much less how to fight him."
"I've got a pretty good idea," Heero said patting the handle of his dagger.
"Doesn't matter, I'm still going with. Whether you like it or not."
Heero frowned but finally nodded.
Duo responded with a wide grin. "See? Sometimes we fae are just as stupid as you humans."
Heero couldn't help but smile in agreement.