Next part Next part! I actually almost forgot about this ficcie. sweatdrops>I hope its still interesting. ^^ Sorry about the tenses, I always have problems with tenses…they're too…tense lol>

Author: Swythangel
Email: swythangel@hotmail.com
Title: To Heed the Heart's Desire
Rating: PG (for shounen ai content)
Warnings: Strong Language, Slash, Fantasy AU
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is owned by Bandai and a passel of other people I never bothered to find out about. It just depresses me to see all those bishies as someone else's property.
Archive: ff.net

To Heed the Heart's Desire
Part 3

Bright banners in the Astorian Royal Family's colors fluttered gaily in the breeze atop the shiny turrets jutting out of the beautiful castle.

This castle bore testimony to centuries of benevolent rule of great kings, its own structure standing so proudly on the mountain crag it was situated in, to loom protectively over the valley that was its subject's home.

Today, unlike any normal day, all the windows and doorways of the castle were filled to the brim with waving servants and lords. Everyone had turned out to welcome back the sovereign they had thought dead for a fortnight now.

As soon as the gilded horse drawn carriage came into view, a deafening cheering broke out, startling Trowa into a surprised daze.

"They seem so happy to see me…"

A deep Eastern-accented voice let out a throaty chuckle beside him. "What do you expect? You *are* their monarch after all. And after believing you dead…"

"But I haven't done anything to merit this…this…affection." Trowa blinked. He was still overwhelmed by the intensity of emotion being shown.

Wufei shrugged and leaned back. "Just having you back is enough reason for them to celebrate. Besides, logically, they have much to be happy about."

"Why is that?"

"Because a country without a monarch can be plunged into war by greedy kings and pretentious would-be kings."

"That is true. You always come across as so logical, Chang."

Wufei smiled smugly. "Of course. I am Chang Wufei, scholar extraordinaire."

Trowa arched an eyebrow at Wufei's smugness. "Not to mention errant prince who ditched his country to travel the world?"

Wufei's face fell. "I am not ditching my country as you call it. I am merely perusing other cultures to compare methods and incorporate them in my own country. Are you insulting me, Trowa?"

The Easterner was huffing by now at the supposed slight to his honor and had stood up. Unfortunately he had forgotten that the carriage had a low slung ceiling and his head bumped the padded wooden roof.

Trowa laughed. "Sit down, Wufei. I was joking. Gods, you are so easy to rile."

The raven-haired youth sat back down and whacked Trowa lightly on the back of his neck. "And you, King Trowa of Astoria, love riling me."

"You noticed? It's one of my most favorite pastimes."

"Idiot." Wufei muttered. "And wave to your people, Trowa."

Trowa obeyed the imperious command, waving and smiling at the people lining the streets. "I suppose this has a logical explanation behind it as well."

Wufei arched his thin eyebrows. "What do *you* think?"

Trowa burst out in delighted laughter. It was good to be home.

***

Trowa stepped out into his balcony and breathed in the fresh sea air. It had been two weeks since he had been able to do so and he missed the smell of the Astorian sea.

Of course, his room in Adelniss had overlooked the sea too but it wasn't the same. He had longed for this particular balcony all of his stay there. He missed everything about it…from the white marble railing to the unchanging scenery.

He could describe the scene to anyone blindfolded…tell everyone of the three rock outcroppings that formed a rough triangle in the east where the sun would rise in its exact center every dawn and how the sun would set in the west at the exact center of a rock's sharpened point. He could even describe the exact hues of the ever changing sea at various points of the day...how it could reflect the orange brilliance of a dying day to the grey turbulence of a stormy hour.

Although he loved all the aspects of the sea, he still found the blue green emerald color when the sea was at its calmest as the best. He could stare for hours on end at it. Just as he did now.

Trowa hitched a hip on the marble railing and slowly put the flute he held to his lips. This was another thing he had missed…playing his flute here on his balcony.

/Scales first…/ He told himself firmly. Much as he would want to launch into fullout playing, he knew he had to warm-up a little first.

As his fingers danced in the well remembered patterns, his thoughts flew inescapably back to…violins. All throughout his stay in Adelniss it had been the one thing occupying his thoughts. Whoever the violinist was, he knew that he or she would have been the one who rescued Trowa.

Who was it?

It had been the first thing he had asked when he had regained consciousness. Unfortunately he had received no answer. Neither Princess Catherine or anyone else in Adelniss had ever heard of a violin much less have a violinist in the court.

Trowa did not give up though…asking everyone who was with the Princess when she had found him on the beach if they had seen anyone else besides him. They all answered the same thing…no one had been with him. Trowa must have been delirious, they said, and had imagined the whole thing.

And yet…

Yet he could distinctly remember hearing the sweet strains of a violin playing when he had regained consciousness for a time…He was sure it hadn't been delirium, no delirium could ever produce such a hauntingly sweet sound.

Trowa's brows knitted in annoyance and it was reflected in the scales he had been doing.

/Who are you? Where are you?/

And then out of nowhere, a burst of sound reached his ears, a light beautiful sound of pure delight tripping in the air and somehow enticing Trowa to join it. He lifted his flute to his lips and did so, weaving flute into the lighthearted violin strains.

The duet was a light mix of flirting laughter, a game of catch, with the violin leading Trowa into the melody and Trowa following behind willingly, matching each note easily.

Trowa lost himself in the music, closing his eyes as he followed. He knew that this was the violin player who had rescued him. There was no doubt in his heart that it was.

/He came back…/

Somehow the thought made Trowa happy.

/This time I will not let you go without knowing who you are./

***

"Beautiful…"

Quatre opened his eyes as the song ended, smiling in delight at having found his human immediately upon surfacing. It had been sop long since he had last seen him that he had unthinkingly gone closer and closer until he almost hugged the face of the mountain.

When the human and started playing, he couldn't help himself. It had been so long since he had last sang with anyone, ever since Duo had been called back by his father…and it had been just beautiful.

Quatre bobbed up and down in the sea, a silly little smile on his face, basking in the last notes of the song when he heard his human, no, his Trowa, that was the human's name, throw down a quiet question.

"You are the same violinist who played exquisitely near my boat a fortnight ago were you not?"

/What's a violinist?/ Quatre wondered but he understood enough to know that his Trowa was asking if he had been the one near his boat. "Yes, yes I was."

"Can you show yourself please? I would like to see the face of one who plays so beautifully."

Oh Quatre was tempted, very very tempted. He wanted to, so very much that he ached inside. He wanted to introduce himself to his human.

/If I do I will be breaking all the rules Poseidon gave us merpeople. And we will be hunted down by humans who crave peculiaties. Would it be worth all that?/

No, no it would not.

With a heavy heart, Quatre whispered: "I'm sorry."

If he was smart, Quatre knew that he should never go back to see Trowa ever again. He dove into the sea, leaving Trowa with no answer, the small ripples the only sign that he had been there at all.

***

But Trowa had become like a drug in Quatre's blood, he could not get him out of his mind or heart. The green eyed King was all Quatre could think about and he could not help but come to the surface time and again.

Trowa would always be there, perched on the same marble balcony with his flute, waiting. And every time, Quatre would launch into song to let him know that Quatre had arrived. They would play…at least the human would play and the merboy would sing…intricately difficult pieces as time passed by, sharing in song what they could not do in words.

And at the end of the song, Trowa would ask Quatre to show himself and Quatre would disappear into the sea.

It was enough and not enough…each yearned to be closer to each other, to know more about the other but the invisible barrier kept Quatre back and Trowa, confused, did not know what else to do.

Trowa knew was that he asked such a simple thing…all he wanted was to see his rescuer's face, to see the face of the one who could play so exquisitely. He even had a mind to ask the boy to stay at the castle but he was afraid as to how the other boy would react if he did so if the simple request of showing his face was enough to frighten the boy.

A boy…Trowa never thought that it would be a boy but sure enough, the melodious voice, light though it was, belonged to a boy. /A very beautiful boy if the voice was any indication./

How could he even properly thank him if he didn't want to show himself? Trowa was very frustrated. Not being able to carry out a decent conversation irked him. He almost had a mind to go out in the shallows with a small boat and wait for the boy to show up. He was quite certain that the boy rowed out to the mountain's edge every afternoon for their daily duet…but if he did, Trowa was sure that he would frighten the boy away. And he didn't want that to happen.

Therefore he was at an impasse. He could not force the boy yet gentle prodding had proved unsuccessful. He didn't know what to do…

***

Quatre swam out to the surface again, leaving Rashid with a disgruntled look on his face. As usual, he had told Rashid that he was off to visit Duo. And since the Maguanacs found his hyperactive best friend very trying, they had opted to be left behind. After all, the Merduke Maxwell's guards would be ample enough protection for the Prince of the Sea.

Of course Quatre took the seahorses to alleviate suspicion but halfway to Duo's he turned at the nearest coral bed that bordered the Astorian sea and shot up to the surface.

He knew it was wrong of him to do so but he couldn't help it. His need to see Trowa had become like the air he breathed. He couldn't go without him.

***

"Your name is Trowa is it not?"

Quatre said, softly, not daring to increase the volume for fear that anyone else might hear. They had just finished another song and Quatre, who did not want to go yet, wanted to stop Trowa from asking the question he could not answer or give in to. So he did it in the only way he knew how.

"Why yes, yes it is."

"It's a very beautiful name." Quatre said sincerely. "Like waves ebbing in the distance."

"Thank you." The pleasure in Trowa's voice was clear. "You say that like you love the sea."

A smile curved Quatre's lips. "I do love the sea."

"I'm not surprised. I do too. We seem to share that."

Silence. Quatre didn't know what to say to that without revealing what and who he was.

It was Trowa who spoke out.

"Well since you already know *my* name, do you not think it is only fair that you give me yours?"

Quatre's heart skipped a bit. Surely nothing wrong would come out of giving his name to Trowa. "Quatre." He said. "Its Quatre."

"Quatre." Trowa tested the sound on his lips and found that it felt like it belonged on his lips. "That's a beautiful name."

The compliment fell on the silent ocean as Trowa found that the boy had disappeared again as silently as he had come.

/Quatre…well that's a start, I would think./

Trowa smiled. At last he was making progress.

***

"I'm going to Duo's, Rashid. Don't bother coming with me." Quatre said cheerfully as he passed the Maguanac captain.

Rashid's features scrunched up in an unreadable mask. "It seems that Your Highness has been spending entirely too much time with the Duke's son. I do not find that advisable."

"Oh Rashid!" Quatre said with a laugh. "Duo's not so bad. And he's my best friend. Besides, he comes from the few families father approves of."

And with that Quatre swam unto one of the seahorses in the stable and waved to Rashid. "Well, I'll be off. Better to catch the undercurrent to Duo's."

Rashid watched his young master go with apprehension and a nagging suspicion that the Prince was hiding something from him.

***

Quatre had a bad feeling that something bad was going to happen. He couldn't shake off the feeling. And wondered if it had anything to do with Rashid. The Maguanac captain had definitely been suspicious of his actions for some time now.

Quatre felt guilty for lying all the time and for using Duo as a cover but he didn't know what else to do. He could not tell Rashid because he knew what the Maguanac captain would do if he found out where Quatre spent his afternoons. And he could not give up Trowa. He would sooner give up breathing than give up Trowa.

The problem turned itself over and over in his mind, so much that he didn't realize that he was at the coral bed junction where he always went up to the surface. Fortunately, his seahorse Sandrock, knew the way from repeated excursions and turned on its own.

The preoccupation also made Quatre miss the slight figure on a black seahorse who was waving at him.

"Now, where in the seven seas do you think Quatre is going, eh, Deathscythe, boy?"

Duo, son of Duke Maxwell and Quatre's best friend said as he looked up at the fast disappearing Sandrock and the blond Prince of the Seven Seas.

***

"You WHAT?" Rashid roared out at Duo who flinched at the loudness.

"Hey Rashid! You didn't have to shout you know. I'm right beside you." Duo grumbled, rubbing at his ear. "You just might have deafened me for life."

"I am sorry, Your Lordship. But can you kindly repeat what you just said."

Duo whuffled the bangs out of his face and tugged at his long braid in exasperation. "Honestly Rashid. I think you're getting too old for your job. Your hearing is going or is it your memory? Can't you remember? I just told you."

At any other time, Rashid would have winced at the barrage of words from the hyperactive merboy in front of him but right now he was too intent on the news the young lord had just unwittingly imparted. "Humor me." He said in a hard voice.

Loud sigh. "All right, all right. I just told you that I was happily riding Deathscythe towards the palace to visit Quatre seeing that I haven't seen him for a very long time now…"

"He has been visiting your Lordship for 2 consecutive weeks." Rashid interrupted with narrowed eyes.

"Eh?" Duo scratched his head. "Well if he had I have never seen a scale or fin of him…you're mistaken Rashid."

Rashid's black brows drew even tighter together. "And you were saying, Lord Duo?"

Duo brightened oblivious to the simmering Maguanac. "Ah yes…I was just saying that I am very hurt that he did not say he was going to go up into the surface. He knows I love treasure hunting and sightseeing,"

The Maguanac didn't even wait for Duo to finish as he swam away in agitated strokes, yelling out for the whole Maguanac corp to assemble.

Duo frowned. "Really! Dreadfully rude of Rashid to just get up and leave. With his scales all ruffled too."

He swam after the Maguanac captain to say so when he heard the Maguanac captain dress every Maguanac guard down for allowing the Prince to even go up to the surface without monitoring his actions.

"Uh oh…" Duo said to himself. "Looks like I got Cat into trouble."

TBC ^_~ Comments are dearly sought after. And boy I love an oblivious Duo! Oh oh, the duet I was trying to describe (and failing miserably at ^^;) was the duet in the OPeration 1 CD of Trowa and Quatre. I love that so much that I played it continuously the first time I got it. IF anyone wants the mp3 of it I'd gladly send it out ^^

Next Part: The Evil Sea Witch Dorothy! Ahohohoho!