"Someone's coming," Quatre said, sitting up. Then he winced. "And they've hurt him," he said, unable to keep the pain and concern out of his voice. His eyes glazed over as he looked at a scene far away.
Trowa hastily got up and walked across the room, where he wrapped his arms around the trembling blond, secure in the knowledge that Quatre was so wrapped up in events elsewhere that he'd never remember the embrace, would only get some support in it. The others stared at him, but neither commented, for which Trowa was grateful. He was confused enough without their help. "Be careful," he murmured. "You never know when they might be watching us."
"I don't think they're watching us," Quatre murmured.
"But there's no way to know for certain," Heero observed disapprovingly from across the room.
"I can't help it," Quatre whimpered, and Trowa's arms tightened involuntarily around him. "He hurts so much, and he's powerful." Quatre's teal blue eyes opened wider as he saw something far away. "There are only six Hunters with him."
That got Wufei's attention, and he looked up from the kata he was performing. "Impossible," he stated. "The Hunters are always sent out in groups of twelve. Are you saying they think so little of us that they are only sending out six now?" there was a hint of outrage in his voice.
"No," Quatre said after a moment, as Trowa moved away. He didn't want Quatre to come out of his trance and find himself in the taller boy's arms. "I think... I think he killed half of them."
There was a long silence. Finally Quatre said, "You don't think he..." he trailed off when he saw a brief flicker of alarm pass through Trowa's one visible eye.
"Don't even say it," he whispered. "If they found out..."
Quatre bit his lip and fell silent.
"How long until he gets here?"
"I don't know. Not long."
"Lord Quatre!" cried a young voice. They all looked up as a young boy with dirty blond hair pushed aside the canvas flap that covered the doorway. "They're brining in someone new, they say they're putting him in with you guys." The boy licked his lips nervously. "They say he's in really bad shape. And they say to come out now."
"Thanks, Evie," Quatre said with a kindly smile. He carefully gathered up the chain attached to his collar, and wrapped it around his waist to get it out of the way. The boy respectfully held the canvas out of the way while the four of them exited the little hut. Then Evie ran past them and squeezed through the bars that separated their area of the enclosure from the main area.
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"Hey Lord Quatre!" one of the guards shouted from the top of the wall the surrounded the enclosure. Something hit him in the back of his head, and Quatre stumbled, fighting back tears.
"Everyone up against the bars!" someone shouted, and they all pressed their hands against the bars, putting their faces in the spaces in between the bars. They all remained completely silent, staring straight ahead as the guards walked pas them, occasionally offering a verbal or physical jab towards their prisoners.
Finally the main gate opened and four Hunters came in, carrying a large cage between them. Crouched inside the cage was a figure dressed in tattered black clothes and with a long brown braid running down his/her back. Was it a boy or a girl? He couldn't tell from this angle. The face was turned away, and what little of the body he could see was mottled with dark bruises, hiding any hint of the sex of the prisoner. Quatre's hands clenched into fists around the bars as he remembered getting similar treatment eight months ago, just after his fifteenth birthday, when it finally became impossible to hide that he was one of the so-called 'faery folk' anymore. They'd transported him for three days across country in one of those cages, treating him like little more than an animal. When they finally got to the compound, he'd still had his hands tied behind his back and had been forced to stumble after the guards as they led him around by the chain attached to the collar around his throat. And then...
His line of thought was distracted when he realized that the prisoner, whoever he/she was, was still unconscious. At least they wouldn't have to put up with humiliation by the guards.
His concern increased as the Hunters opened the cage and tossed its occupant on the ground. The prisoner had been badly beaten - bruises marred half of his/her body, and the rough treatment the prisoner was receiving at the hands of the guards had made the large gash on his leg start bleeding again.
"This one," the Hunter kicked the prisoner in the side. The prisoner didn't respond at all. "Is a troublemaker. Upon discovery of what it was, it failed to turn itself in. All of the kingdom knows the importance of the mission which King Treize has set for himself. A great danger is approaching this land, and only by properly utilizing and controlling the cursed faeries will we survive it. This one," he kicked again, "has been working against the good of all, and has been suitably punished. It will be kept with the other troublemakers." His gaze lighted on Quatre. "You. Faery-slave, come over here."
Quatre nodded slightly, carefully avoiding eye contact. These fools thought that his kind could steal souls if their eyes met. As if they had souls of any worth to steal at all. As if we'd want to.
He walked quickly over to the prisoner, who was slightly smaller than he was. Quatre reached down and touched the prisoner's shoulder, and a shock of recognition ran through him. There was no longer any question as to the prisoner's sex. He's powerful - not normal. Like me. Quatre had felt the same recognition when he met the other three. But this felt different. What does it mean? he wondered.
Quatre gasped as a whip hit his exposed back. "What do you think you're doing, faery? Just drag him to your cage!"
With some difficulty, Quatre managed to get the boy's hands free, then got his shoulder under the boy's arm. He started to drag him back to 'their cage', wishing he was strong enough to carry the boy properly.
The guard stuck his food in front of Quatre and pushed, sending him sprawling to the ground. He managed to get his body between the ground and the boy, so he could cushion the fall slightly. He grunted as the other boy landed on him, and heard a slight groan from the still-unconscious boy.
The guard laughed, and watched as Quatre managed to half-carry, half-drag the boy back to the cage, where Heero took the boy from him and easily carried him into the little hut they lived in. They silently followed as the guards re-locked the door.
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Heero set the boy down on one of the cots, and Quatre automatically started to move towards him. Trowa grabbed his arm. His face, as usual, was an expressionless mask, half-hidden under his bangs. His one visible eye was carefully blank, as always. "You know we've been ordered not to use our powers except to serve Treize." His voice, like everything else about him, was completely devoid of all emotion. However, Quatre understood the care behind the comment, no matter how Trowa tried to hide it.
He smiled at the taller boy. "If I don't help him, he may die, or be permanently crippled. You could even say that I am serving Treize's interests - his interests are not served if one of us dies." Quatre knew his reasoning was shaky at best, but he was already decided. He started to move towards the boy again, but once again Trowa's hand on his arm stopped him.
"Just a moment," Trowa told him, then flexed his fingers and put his hand behind Quatre. Quatre felt the fain tingle of magic on his skin, and the pain from the whiplash disappeared. Warned by this, he turned and caught Trowa as he collapsed.
"Why did you do that?" he demanded, helping Trowa to another cot. You're never going to convince me that you don't feel anything if you keep doing stupid things like this. "You know I can heal myself without exhausting myself!" he hissed. "I..." he trailed off as Trowa placed a finger on his lips, shaking his head sadly.
"What will it take to convince you that it is not safe to talk about such things?" he asked.
Quatre's lips were set in a thin line. He held his hand over Trowa's prone form. A yellow glow formed around his hand, and for a second Trowa's body also glowed. Quatre wilted momentarily as Trowa's exhaustion hit him, then straightened.
Here was the most dangerous and potentially useful of his secrets: he was different.
Most of the mage-gifted, or faery folk as the commoners chose to call them, were fairly helpless and harmless. Most were minor healers, driven out of hiding by the desire, no, the need to use their powers to help others. It wasn't something you had a choice about - when you had that sort of ability, you couldn't not use it, not when there were people in pain anywhere near you. But normal mages, when they used their power for anything more major than a paper cut, spent anywhere from a few hours to weeks flat-out on their backs from exhaustion. Quatre had never been tired from using his powers in his entire life, which was how he'd managed to hide what he was for so long, despite having all the physical characteristics that caused the normal humans to call them faeries.
There were other types of normal mages, too, ones who could make illusions, and a few who could set spells on stones, minor ones like the light-stones the Hunters used. But they were as weak, generally, as the normal healers. Holding a solid illusion for more than a few minutes was impossible, and they were unconscious for weeks afterwards. The same was true those who could spell stones.
But not Quatre. He'd never been tired after using his power, and what was more, he could use them on himself. All of the 'normal' powers a mage might have he had, not just one of them, and all of them were stronger than anyone he'd ever heard of. If he really wanted to, he could have cast an illusion of invisibility on himself and walked out of this horrible place tomorrow. But he wouldn't abandon his companions.
As he moved to heal the new boy, he mentally considered his three companions. Although none of them had ever told him directly, he knew that they weren't normal mages either. But their normal powers were as weak as any of the other mages, so it had to be something else.
He hadn't worked up the courage yet to ask them about it. Maybe Trowa...
He called up his power again, this time concentrating on the boy. There were no broken bones, thank the gods. Quatre always felt the pain of those he healed, and he really hated broken bones.
"Do we have any clothes, clean water?" he asked after healing the worst of the damage. Trowa brought him some water, and Wufei tossed over the rough shirt and pants that all the prisoners wore. As quickly as he could, Quatre stripped the boy of his tattered rags, washed him, and then eased him into the new clothing. There wasn't much danger of him waking up for several hours, at least. Quatre might not be exhausted, but the boy had been through quite an ordeal, and he needed sleep. Underneath the dirt and bruises, the boy was quite beautiful. He looked very young as he slept, although he was probably as old as Quatre.
"Hide these," Quatre said shortly, thrusting the remains of the boy's clothes at Heero. The guards came in regularly to destroy anything the prisoners had saved or made to remind them of when they'd been considered human. The ruined clothes were all that was left of the boy's past, and Quatre intended to save it if he could.
"Hn." Heero took the clothes, but stood staring at the new boy for some time. It was the first time Quatre could remember Heero showing interest in anything, much less another person.
Quatre finally got up the guts to speak. "You feel it too, don't you?" Heero glanced at him, an angry smile on his face. "All of you," Quatre added, turning to include the other two in his comment. They glanced at him, then went back to looking at the boy. "It's as if we were all waiting for something, for someone. Now we're complete."
Wufei grunted. "Let's see who he is before we jump to any conclusions," was his almost comment before turning away.
Heero had slipped out the door to hide the clothes before Quatre could turn to him, and Trowa refused to meet his gaze. Quatre quietly sat down to wait for the boy to way, but inwardly he was elated. Even if they didn't admit it, he knew they'd sensed it. And now the waiting was over...
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When he first woke up, the first thing Duo became aware of was that he wasn't in pain. The second thing he noticed was that he could still feel the damn collar around his neck. The hope that it all might have been a bad dream died stillborn. He opened his eyes.
A blond-haired, blue-eyed boy who looked like an angel was standing over him. "Oh good, you're awake," the angel said. "Don't worry, you're with friends."
"I don't have any friends," he responded automatically.
"Well, I want to be your friend," the angel said, hardly looking miffed at the rejection. "How are you feeling?"
Duo glanced down at his right hand and saw, to his surprise, that there was no sign of injury. He sat up straight. "What the hell did you do to me?" he demanded.
"I healed you," came the calm response.
"You healed... me?" he couldn't believe his ears. He knew, from personal experience, how difficult, painful, and exhausting healing someone was, especially when they were as badly injured as he'd been. No one had cared about him to do something like that in... years, at least. Actually, no one had cared about him in any capacity for years. Thinking about the last people who'd cared about him, he realized that the necklace he wore in remembrance of them was missing. He tried not to panic. Those damned soldiers must have taken it. There was plenty of time for him to scout around and steal it back. He brought his attention back to the angel. "All right," he said, seeking some sort of advantage. "You want to be my friend? You can start by answering some questions, like who the hell you are and where the hell I am!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, my manners are quite lacking," the angel said, standing up. His manners? Who does he think he is, a nobleman? "My name is Quatre. These," he gestured gracefully around the one-room hut at people standing in shadowy corners. "...are Trowa, Heero, and Wufei."
Trowa had auburn hair combed in a way so that it covered half of his face, leaving only one emerald-green eye visible. Heero had messy brown hair and cold blue eyes that looked absolutely dead as he glared at the visitor. Wufei was obviously a foreigner, with exotic black, slanted eyes and straight black hair.
"What, don't you have any other names?" Duo smirked, trying to fight the feeling that he knew these people, had known them all his life, and had just been waiting to meet them. "Or is it just Quatre, Heero, Trowa, and Wufei?" he almost regretted his words when a flicker of pain passed over Quatre's face.
"No one I here has family outside," the blond boy said quietly. "We lose it all when they bring us here."
"Yeah, whatever," Duo said, glossing over the fact that he had no family to lose. "Speaking of which, where am I?"
"You are in a prison, known to us as the compound, in the kingdom of Oz. You were brought here because of..." he trailed off, and touched his own sharply-pointed ears, a trait which they all shared. There were a number of physical oddities that marked them as not entirely human, but the pointed ears were the most obvious. "Because of what they think this means."
"And what do they want with us?"
"Treize wants to control all the mages in the kingdom, to have absolute control over us. He thinks that we're the key to some sort of ancient prophecy..." he trailed off and shrugged. "I don't know anything beyond that.
"That's plenty," Duo said suspiciously. "How do you know so..."
"I think it's your turn to give us some answers," Trowa interrupted him. "What's your name?"
"Duo," he replied. Then, remembering Quatre's comment about their lack of other names, added, "Duo Maxwell."
Wufei snorted in disgust, prompting Duo to jump off the cot and make a ridiculously exaggerated bow. "Duo Maxwell, champion thief, at your service."
Wufei made a strangled sound, but Quatre smiled, which was enough encouragement for Duo. Whatever else he might have said was jut off when Heero glanced past the canvas-door and said, "Soldiers coming."
"How many?" Quatre asked, is motion towards the door accompanied by the clink of chains. Duo stared in surprise at the long length of chain attached to his collar and then wrapped around his waist. With a quick glance around the room, Duo reaffirmed what he thought he'd seen - none of the others were chained - why was Quatre? He wasn't exactly a threat - he looked as if someone with a bit of strength could break him in half with very little effort. Why him?
"Eight," Heero responded in a flat voice.
"They're here for you," Quatre said, looking at Duo.
"Me? Why?" Duo asked, acting as if he didn't care at all.
"Treize always speaks to his new prisoners personally," Quatre told him, glancing anxiously at the door.
"Why the hell would he do that?"
Quatre stared at him, looking much like a trapped animal, and shrugged.
Trowa asked, "Quatre, do you want me to..."
Quatre shook his head. "No, it's today anyway. There's no need for both of us to be punished."
"Punished, what the hell are you talking about?" Duo demanded as the soldiers burst through the door.
"That one," one of them said, and Duo was roughly seized, his hands bound behind his back. None of the others made a move to help him. Friends. Yeah, sure, he thought sarcastically.
"Wait a minute," the soldier said, gripping his chin. "There isn't a mark on it." He let go of Duo's chin and turned to face the others. "Which of you did it?" he demanded.
"I did it," Quatre said, stepping forward, a resigned expression on his face. He was immediately seized by two of the guards, who also bound his hands.
"You will be punished."
Quatre shrugged, or at least he would have if they weren't holding his arms so tightly. "What else is new?"
Before Duo could figure out what they were talking about, he was hustled out of the hut and the cage, across a big open area surrounded by more huts and a large wooden barricade, and through a door leading to a room situated within the barricade itself. The guards escorted him into the room, which contained a single man in a fancy doublet with long red hair tied back in a ponytail.
"Why did you bring that one here?" he asked in an ultra-sophisticated voice that set Duo's teeth on edge. "I only wished to speak with the new one."
"Yes, your majesty, but this one disobeyed your direct orders," the guard said, shoving Quatre forward.
The man - this must be King Treize - stared at Quatre. "Is this true?" he asked.
"Yes, Treize."
"Do you have anything to say in your defense?"
"No."
The king frowned slightly. "Would you please explain your actions?"
Duo frowned as he watched Quatre. It almost seemed like Treize was looking for an excuse not to punish him, and Quatre seemed just as determined not to give him an excuse.
"Your Hunters overdid it. He might have died if I hadn't helped him."
"Then you might have been serving me. I need as many of your kind as I can find."
"I would have done it if it hurt you, Treize. I would have done it if it killed you, too."
"Do you still hate me so much, Quatre?" the king asked, confirming Duo's belief that there was something very strange going on here. It was almost as if Quatre had known - or even been friends with - the king before his imprisonment. But that was impossible, wasn't it?
Quatre didn't respond.
"Very well," Treize said, and turned to the guards. "Give him ten lashes and then take him to the garden. His father is waiting."
Quatre didn't so much as blink when Treize announced his punishment, but when he mentioned a father, Quatre's shoulders slumped slightly.
"Yes, your majesty." The guard saluted, and they pulled Quatre out of view.
"What did you do that for?" Duo demanded.
"We must enforce the rules, or there will be chaos."
"Quatre's harmless!" Duo protested. Crack. The sound of a whip was clearly audible, coming from the enclosure, and Duo winced sympathetically, then turned the wince into a grimace of anger. "And who the hell to you think you are, to dictate who we can heal?" Crack. That got to him the most. Not using your power could be painful, sometimes, knowing that there were people around who were hurting. Duo had taught himself to ignore the pain, but he couldn't see Quatre doing anything like that. It had to be agony, not being able to help people.
"I am your king." Crack.
Duo snorted. "Not mine." Crack.
"That is true, but not for the reasons you think." Crack. "I am not your king, because you are not a citizen of Oz." Crack. "You aren't human. Animals can't be citizens." Crack.
"Why you..." Duo took a step towards the king, but the guards pulled him back. Crack.
"An unpleasant reality, but it's true." Crack. "I make a point of speaking to every one of you, to tell you why your imprisonment is necessary." Crack.
Duo had a half-dozen retorts ready, but he uncharacteristically held his tongue. He really wanted - no, needed - this information.
"I have been warned by many star-gazers that a great danger is approaching this land, one magical in nature, and I have confirmed those warnings in numerous ancient prophecies, some dating from before the Mage Wars. I know that somehow your kind are the key to protecting our land, and that is why I have gathered as many of you here as I could over the last seven years."
Duo stared at him in unfeigned contempt, grateful that he no longer had to listen to them torturing Quatre. "You fool. They would have cooperated, they would have come on their own if you'd asked them. Instead you treat us like criminals, or worse, like animals. And now you want us to help you?"
"Oh, they might have cooperated, but they wouldn't have come. I tried, but they wouldn't leave their homes, the people they were taking care of and protecting, to live in a group for an unknown period of time, when they wouldn't be able to help people. They took their responsibilities very seriously." He shrugged. "Understandable, but unacceptable. I started bringing them here by force. Their friends and family started to get upset, so I separated them from their people by taking away their humanity. People might feel sorry for a bunch of sorcerers, but no one feels bad about locking up dangerous animals with special powers who masquerade as humans."
"You fucking bastard. You convinced people we were animals so that you could capture us? You..." Duo searched his extensive vocabulary for a word that would convey his disgust and anger, and finally settled on, "...fucking bastard," again.
"Sir." Another guard appeared in the doorway. "It's time."
Treize nodded, then opened a large cabinet. Inside was a rather large mirror. Treize frowned at it and murmured a few words, and an image appeared in the glass. Duo gasped and took a step closer to get a better look. This was High Magic, the old kind, from before the Mage Wars when those with magic had real power. Duo doubted that anyone alive now could create a spell that complicated, so the mirror had to be centuries old. So that's how he spied on me in the woods. I'd shatter it, except there's so little High Magic left in the world, it all needs to be preserved. But not if it's being used like this...
He froze when he saw who the mirror was showing. Quatre, his hands still bound behind his back, a back still bleeding from his punishment, was led to a stone wall on the edge of a beautiful garden. The chain around his waist was unwrapped and attached to a metal ring set in the wall. Then the guards left.
Suddenly a yellow-haired man dressed like a nobleman stepped into view. "Who is that?" he asked as Quatre and the man stared at each other.
"Lord Winner, also called the Earl of the Desert. He is a powerful man, and until I produce an heir, third in line for the throne. He is also the only one so close to the throne who has not made an attempt on my life. An honorable man."
Duo swallowed. In his experience it was a bad idea to get involved with anyone in a position of power. It was far too easy to end up dead in those situations. "What does he want with Quatre?"
"To speak with his son, I would imagine."
"What?!"
Treize turned to look at him. "You mean to say that you didn't know? How did he introduce himself?"
"He... he just said his name was Quatre, that he had no family," Duo said without thinking, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that a fellow prisoner was a nobleman, and a very powerful nobleman at that. "Wait a minute. If his father is third in line for the throne..."
"His full name is Quatre Rabera Winner, heir to the lands and title of the Winner family, and fourth in line for the throne if I should die. Or rather, he was Quatre Rabera Winner. Now he is only Quatre, a faery slave. Not even human."
"He's more human than you'll ever be," Duo muttered, watching the way Quatre held his head high, even though he was chained like some sort of animal.
"And he probably would have made a better king than I," Treize agreed. "Unfortunately, he had the poor sense to reveal his powers in public. He'd managed to keep it all hidden for years, even from his family, and he gave it all up for the sake of a little orphan girl." He shrugged. "He was captured on the spot by one of my most... enthusiastic hunters, and transported back here caged, treated as nothing more than some sort of exotic beast. His father came and begged me to have mercy on the boy. It was too late to conceal what he was, but I was willing to release him to his father's custody because of respect towards the father and fondness for the son, but he refused to leave."
Duo had a hard time believing that anyone would stay a second longer in this place than that absolutely had to, but if anyone would, it would be the boy who took a beating to heal a thief.
The two of them had been speaking for some time, and finally Quatre said something that made the older man stiffen in anger. Quatre hung his head as his father stomped away.
"Still so stubborn, child?" Treize murmured to himself. "I had thought you would give up after some time. Your time here has been harder than most..." he trailed off, realizing that he had an audience. "I'd hoped for your cooperation..." he started.
"Well, you'll just have to get used to disappointment," Duo sneered.
Treize shot him a cold look and continued, "But if I can't have that, I'll have your obedience." He turned to the guards. "Throw it back in its cage."
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Trowa looked up as the guards dumped the new boy, Duo, on the floor. His hands were still bound behind his back. He got smoothly to his feet, twisting his arms and wrists in a serpentine manner. Suddenly his arms were loose and he dropped a piece of rope on the ground.
He grinned at them. "Someone ought to teach those guys how to tie a knot. On the other hand, maybe not." He seemed disappointed when no one responded, but it didn't discourage him from talking. "So where is Quatre?"
"They haven't brought him back yet," Trowa told him.
"Is it true that he's a nobleman?" Duo asked.
Trowa stiffened involuntarily. He didn't like to be reminded of the vast differences between his and Quatre's past. Quatre seemed nice enough when he was in here, but how could a friendship between a noble and an orphaned circus performer ever exist anywhere else?
He was relieved when Wufei snapped, "He used to be a nobleman. Now he just a prisoner, the same as the rest of us."
"All right, all right, what's up your ass?" Duo muttered.
"Who told you he used to be a nobleman?" Trowa asked. It wasn't the sort of thing that Quatre talked about, and no one else did either. The other prisoners called him 'Lord Quatre' , but that was out of respect, not because of who he'd been outside.
"Treize told me when I saw him meeting with his father," Duo told them.
Wufei spun around to look at him, and even Heero looked surprised.
"Meeting with his father?" Trowa repeated, surprised at feeling the pain of betrayal. It served him right for thinking that he could trust anyone, much less a nobleman.
"You didn't know?" Duo asked, then continued. "Quatre's dad is a personal friend of Treize, and Treize agreed to release Quatre to his father's custody."
Father's custody? It meant that Quatre would be a prisoner in his own home, probably confined to a few rooms and never allowed out, but it would undoubtedly be better than life here. "Did Treize change his mind?"
Duo stared at them. "You mean you didn't know that, either? He refused to leave and be cuddled while you guys were still here. His father comes by every now and then to try to convince him to leave. Treize said... he said that Quatre's time here had been harder than most. Why?"
"The guards like to see one of the great ones brought low," Trowa said, his mind racing. They all knew that Quatre had some special abilities - they all did, even if they didn't talk about it. Quatre probably could have walked out of here at any time. Trowa knew he could but the only place he had to go was the circus he'd been with for the past two years, and he wouldn't lead the Hunters to them. He'd been assuming that Quatre didn't escape because if he did, he would be a fugitive, and wouldn't live in the manner he'd grown up in. The thought that he could have gone back there, to his father's mansion, and had chosen to stay here shocked Trowa.
"Here he comes," Heero said in a low voice.
They all stood up and moved to the opposite end of the room so as not to give the guards an excuse to punish them. Duo watched them with bright eyes and determined look on his face, then followed. Quick learner, and powerful too, he observed. Not normal. Like the rest of them.
A shove sent Quatre stumbling into the room. He might have recovered his balance, but then the guards threw the chain after him. It hit him in the back, and the mass of it knocked him to his knees. For once the guards didn't come in to further torment him, and Quatre got to his feet. There was a gash on his forehead and he had a fat lip. The way he was moving indicated there were more injuries under his clothes. Every two weeks the guards came for him - he called it punishment - and he always came back in this condition. He never said anything about his father.
Quatre looked around at them, then stared directly at Duo and began to glow. Duo's eyes widened as the injuries disappeared. Quatre turned his back towards Trowa. "Could you..."
Trowa untied his hands. "How is your father?" he asked, trying to keep bitterness out of his voice and failing.
Quatre stiffened. "How did you know?" he asked, his face anguished. Quatre wore his expressions as openly as some people wore clothing.
"Duo saw you when he was in Treize's office," Trowa said, wondering at the anger he felt.
Quatre bit his lip and looked at the ground. "What do you know?"
"You could get out of here?" Wufei asked.
"Yeah, but not free. This... this damn collar," Quatre tugged futilely at the chain, showing anger with it for the first time Trowa could remember. "It stays on, with the chain. The chain is attached to a wall in my room back home, and they leave me there for the rest of my life. Those four walls for the rest of my life," he said, sounding bitter. "And I'd have to live knowing that I left you here in this place."
"Those four walls would be better than these four walls."
"I'm not leaving."
"Excuse me, but am I the only one here who noticed something?" Duo interrupted. "You just healed yourself! No one can do that!"
"I can," Quatre said. "But you can do things too, can't you?"
Duo suddenly became very still. "What else can you do?"
"Lots of things."
"Could you escape?"
Quatre shrugged. "I think so. But any of us could, I think."
"You all..." Duo shook his head in disbelief. "I thought I was the only one!" They all knew he wasn't just talking about being able to escape.
"Hold your tongue!" Wufei snapped. "They could be watching..."
Surprisingly, Duo did shut up. Trowa had a good idea that silence was unusual where the violet-eyed boy was concerned. Very unusual.
"Fine. But we'll talk about this later," Duo said, sounding grim.
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Duo devoted the rest of the afternoon to entertaining the others, but for some reason, they didn't seem particularly entertained. Wufei actually walked outside, and only came back in when the guards became excessively abusive. Then he came back in and leveled a furious glare at Duo. That was nothing compared to the glare Heero was using on him. Trowa was pointedly ignoring him. Quatre listened to him, occasionally nodding or smiling in response to a joke, but Duo could tell he wasn't really paying attention.
That night Duo had strange dreams. Really strange. Nightmares, sort of. Nightmares were nothing new to him, not for years. Not that it was something he didn't deserve, after what he did. But this wasn't a nightmare, not quite.
He was standing on top of a hill in the center of a vast plain. There were black clouds overhead, stretching forever in every direction, and a chill wind was blowing.
Duo looked around and saw his four current companions, but they were not the same people that he met in the compound. Wufei had large red wings sprouting from his back, and behind him stood a fiery dragon. Trowa had brown-feathered wings sprouting from his back, and a multitude of animals stood behind him. Quatre had glowing gold wings behind him, and Duo got the impression of masses of people behind him. Heero had white wings, and stood in a nimbus of white light. And himself...
Duo craned his head back and saw two black wings rising up behind him. There was a field of blackness around him, and a scythe in his right hand. Of course. I'm Death.
"It's coming," Quatre said with supernatural calm, and in the dream, Duo tensed. He didn't know what was coming, but he knew it was evil and had to be stopped. They were all going to die in the upcoming battle, but it didn't matter, as long as they stopped the enemy.
"They're going to wish they'd never been born," Duo said, and grinned.
"Hn," Heero said.
Then... somehow... the enemy was behind them. They were too late! They hadn't been fast enough, and now they were too late! Duo struggled to get around to face his enemy, but he couldn't move fast enough, and he saw the blade descending towards his chest...
There was a stinging in his cheek, and Duo opened his eyes and sat up, automatically reaching for a knife that wasn't there. Wufei glared at him. "Must you talk incessantly, even in your sleep?"
"I... I had a dream," Duo stammered.
"You too?" Wufei looked disgusted. "I can't believe I shared a dream with you."
"You mean we all had the same dream?" Duo asked.
"We were there, weren't we?"
Duo tried to figure out what was wrong with that statement - it seemed to him that there was something illogical there - but was interrupted by a low groan. He looked over to see Trowa leaning over Quatre, who was lying on the cot, tossing in his sleep. Trowa gently shook his shoulder, and Quatre suddenly sat upright, his eyes were more than a little wild. "It's coming! We have to stop it!" he shouted.
"We know. We dreamed it too," Trowa told him.
Quatre stood up. His entire body was glowing faintly, providing illumination to what would normally be a pitch-black room. "Come on," he said, his voice taking on an air of authority it hadn't had before. "We have to leave now."
"How are we going to do that?" Duo asked, not sarcastically. He knew he could do things that no one else could, that no one would want to do, but he didn't know what Quatre could do.
Quatre's eyes were half-closed, then he opened them. "They're not watching us," he stated confidently. "I can hold an illusion for... I can do it as long as I want. I can cast an illusion of invisibility on all of us, and when they open the gate to change the guard, we can slip out of here. But..."
"But what?" Heero asked.
"I don't want to leave all the others here," Quatre said. "I can hold the illusion on everyone, but there's a limit to the number of people we can sneak out through the gate. If there was more time... but we have to leave now." Quatre looked miserable at the thought of abandoning the normal mages.
"That... will not be a problem," Wufei said, stepping forward. "Can you hold an illusion of normalcy on a part of the fence?"
"Yes," Quatre said, a faint gleam of hope in his eyes.
"Then we will sneak them out through the hole in the fence."
"What hole in the fence?"
"The one I will make." Wufei flexed his fingers, and fire danced in the air around them.
Everyone stared at him.
"All right," Quatre said. "We'll do it." He muttered to himself for a few seconds, then everyone disappeared. At least, that what it looked like. Duo knew that they were still there, just invisible. Quatre hadn't been kidding when he said he could do illusions. Duo could do a few minor illusions - most of his talents lay elsewhere - but Quatre was amazing. He was so much better than anyone Duo had ever seen that there was simply no comparison.
"All right," Quatre's voice seemed to be coming from out of thin air. "Wufei, you know that little stretch of fence between the support beam and the third guard tower?"
"Yes."
"Anything you do in that area they won't be able to see."
"Hai."
Duo didn't know what that meant, but it sounded like agreement. The door flap moved as Wufei pushed it aside and exited.
"All right, I'll go get everyone else. Then we can leave."
Duo was seized by a sudden fear. Things had been so crazy so far that he hadn't had time to worry about his missing necklace, but if they were leaving, he wouldn't be able to find it. "Wait! I know this sounds stupid, but do you have any idea where they would have put my clothes? There was something with them..."
"I hid it," Heero said. "I'll retrieve it." The canvas moved again as Heero left.
"Duo, wait here. I have to go get people," Quatre said.
"I understand. Thank you," Duo whispered, somehow knowing that Quatre had been responsible for saving his things.
The canvas moved twice as both Trowa and Quatre left, leaving Duo in the pitch-black room. A few seconds later he heard the canvas move once again and a small bundle of cloth appeared as Heero moved it out of the bubble of invisibility. "Here," he said shortly.
Duo quickly undid the ties that held the bundle closed. Almost immediately he relaxed as he felt the metal cross that the faeries had given him. He didn't know the significance of the symbol, but it was all he had left from the faeries, and he didn't want to loose it. He quickly slipped the necklace on and stuck it under his shirt, promising himself he'd find (or steal) some decent clothes first chance he got. After all, he had an image to maintain. "Thanks."
"Hn." The canvas moved again, and Duo followed - he thought - Heero out into the open. It was much brighter outside due to several torches, and Duo was relieved to see that the invisibility held in the light as well. The door to the bars that separated them from the rest of the compound was already open.
Suddenly a hand gripped Duo's wrist like a vice and dragged him through the gate and to a part of the fence. Duo was fascinated to find out that he could sense Wufei and Heero beside him without seeing them, and farther away, he could sense Quatre and Trowa. He could even tell which was which.
"It's done," Wufei reported.
Duo reached around Wufei - somehow he could even tell exactly where Wufei was standing - and touched the wall. It looked normal, but he felt a hold, three feet in diameter. The edges were still warm.
"Not bad," he said approvingly.
"Shut up."
Trowa came up, leading about half of the prisoners behind them. "We're on the edge of the city. Once you're out, head north. There's a forest there we can hide in and regroup. I'm heading back for the other group."
Duo felt a woman's hand placed in his own. "Come on," he whispered to her, guessing that they were all holding hands to avoid being separated. "I know where we're going. There's a hole in the wall. We're through it and than we're out of here. Heero will follow to make sure no one gets lost. Hold on tight, we're almost free."
"Thank the gods," the woman breathed.
Duo kept an 'eye' on Quatre and Trowa as he led his group through the open fields, keeping a wary eye out for a sign that the illusion of invisibility was slipping. This illusion had held for longer than any he'd ever seen, and the ones he'd seen had only been on one person. How long could Quatre keep this up?
He saw when Wufei started leading the second group away from the compound, but noticed with a frown that neither Quatre nor Trowa was with that second group. "All right, everyone stop! But keep holding hands!" he called out as loud as he dared. Sighs of relief told him that the former prisoners were already exhausted and grateful for a rest. He felt Heero come up from the rear of the line.
"What are you doing?" he asked in that flat voice of his.
"They need rest. They probably haven't walked any farther than across the damn prison in months, if not years!" Duo snapped, showing his irritation with the other boy's callousness. "Besides, Quatre and Trowa aren't with the second group."
"I know."
"Aren't you just a little bit concerned about them?"
"They can take care of themselves. If they can't, then we'll go on without them."
Duo's jaw dropped open. "Don't you care at all about them?!" he exploded. "You've been living with them for what... months, years? Don't you care?"
Heero didn't say anything, and since they were both still invisible, Duo couldn't see his face, but he was willing to bet that it was the same expressionless mask that he'd worn ever since Duo first saw him. Duo wasn't fooled by the mask - he wore a mask of his own, that of the foolish joker, so that people wouldn't see the monster that he really was - just because Heero wore a mask of not having emotions didn't mean that he didn't have them. But Heero did a better job of wearing the mask then anyone he'd ever seen.
"Come on," Duo muttered. "We'd better get them moving again. If they are caught, we'll lose the illusion pretty quick, even if they don't kill him."
He felt a ripple of surprise, quickly suppressed, coming from Heero. Didn't think I had it in me, did you? he thought with a kind of savage satisfaction. I've done far worse before. I'm Death, and I kill everyone who gets close to me. You think that a few more makes any difference? But that thought led to another, more uncomfortable. Everyone I've ever cared about has died. As soon as everyone's safe, I'll leave. I don't want to kill all of them, even Heero.
They made it to the forest with no more incidents, and long before they reached the safety of the trees, Duo 'saw' Quatre and Trowa start to follow them, and breathed a silent sigh of relief. No one had died yet.
It was distinctly uncomfortable, sitting around in the dark woods while they were all still invisible, listening to people speaking in whispers and the occasional sound of crying. Wufei's group arrived about twenty minutes after them, and there was more confusion as they tried to get themselves seated without stepping on those who had arrived earlier. They didn't have much success, and finally they just sat wherever they happened to be standing.
Quatre and Trowa arrived about ten minutes after that. Duo felt them approaching, and when they reached the edge of the glade, Quatre called, "Is everyone here?"
"We're all here, somewhere," Duo told him. He felt the faint whisper of magic tingle in the air around him and across his skin, and everyone suddenly became visible again. There was a startled gasp from the group of normal mages, then they all got up and started moving around, making sure that loved ones were near and safe. Finally, when it was beginning to get loud enough to make Duo nervous, Quatre called them to attention.
Duo was surprised when the former prisoners automatically obeyed him. It was a sign of how much respect they had for him. Was this something that all rich noblemen were taught, or was Quatre something different? His personal experience made him lean towards the latter choice.
"All right," Quatre said, emptying a bag onto the ground. He was still faintly glowing, providing enough illumination to see. Duo noted that the former prisoners both moved closer to him and tried to pull away. They were drawn to the light, but he was different, and frightening, too. Over a hundred of the small pendants that the Hunters used to protect themselves fell onto the ground, along with several larger crystals. "I've stolen all the seeking crystals they had," he explained, pointing to the larger crystals. "So they won't be able to find us. I'll spell each of these pendants to hold an illusion of full humanity on us, so they won't be able to tell that we're mages. After that, we should be safe. Those of you who still have families who you can trust..." he hesitated for a fraction of a second. "Can go back to them. I'm sorry, but the rest of you will have to start over. But you should be safe. Just be very, very careful about using your powers. All right, Evie, come over here," he gestured to a small boy. The boy came running over, and looked up at Quatre with trust in his eyes.
"Yes, Lord Quatre?" he asked.
"Just stay still, this will only take a few minutes." He stared thoughtfully at the boy, then closed his eyes, his fist closing tightly around one of the smaller pendants. He started muttering to himself. After less than a minute he opened his eyes, and placed the pendant around the boy's neck. There was an immediate change, and it was obvious that the boy looked entirely human. Duo knew well the physical changes that led normal humans to call the human mages faeries - the long, pointed ears, for one thing. They also tended to have rather large eyes, and long, thin bodies that were still incredibly strong. Evie now had short, rounded ears, squinty eyes, and was a little pudgier than he'd been a moment before. He barely looked like himself anymore. "Now don't ever take that off," he warned the boy, who nodded and backed up.
Quatre quickly moved on to the next person. One by one, he worked his way through the crowd, and one by one, the distinguishing marks of the human mages disappeared. We may look a little like faeries, but we most certainly aren't! Duo thought, watching another transformation. He should know, he'd lived with one faery clan for several years. The true faeries had iridescent wings sprouting out of their back, pale blue or lavender skin, and rarely grew over three feet tall. He hadn't been much taller, himself, at the time. The faeries were also irrevocably bound to their homes, their forests, and could never leave them. In return, they had forest-magic to defend themselves. And the faeries lived a very long time, if there weren't any accidents.
Accidents... yeah. Their first mistake was in giving me shelter at all. I kill everyone I'm close to... Duo renewed his personal promise that as soon as he could, he'd leave. He didn't want to kill anyone else.
It was almost dawn before Quatre had finished. Towards the end, people started drifting off in twos and threes and tens. They'd been making plans while Quatre worked. Some had homes that they thought they could return to, and offered sanctuary to a few others. Others knew of old friends who could help them get a start. One was actually the younger son of a wealthy landowner, and took over a dozen with him, confident that he could find places for all of them, at least temporarily.
Duo noticed that although everyone thanked Quatre profusely, all but a few avoided actually touching him, and a few refused to make eye contact, either. Duo saw the pain in Quatre's eyes when that happened, and clenched his fists. Lousy ungrateful jerks. He just risked his life to free them, he waited all this time when he could have left at any time, and they won't even shake his hand.
Finally only the five of them were left. Quatre reached with shaking hands for the last of the pendants. "Come on," he said wearily. "There's just the five of us left." He glanced at Trowa, and then frowned, concentrating on the crystal in his hand. After a minute he stopped mumbling and handed the pendant to Trowa. "Here," he murmured. By now his hands were shaking so badly that it would have taken a fool not to notice it.
Trowa grasped the pendant, then grabbed Quatre's wrist with his other hand. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm just a little tired," Quatre said, snatching his arm back. "Putting spells in crystals is harder than just normal illusions. You have to put... a lot more into them. It's fine, I'll be all right." He smiled weakly. "You know, I've never been tired before. This is kind of weird." He reached for another pendant, but Trowa grasped his arm.
"No. Stop now. You can wait a few hours, rest, and finish later."
"No!" Quatre exclaimed. "I've got to finish this!" He snatched up another pendant before Trowa could do anything to stop him. Duo remembered the one time he'd seen a mage cast a spell into a stone - the mage had been unconscious for weeks afterwards. There had been over a hundred prisoners...
Quatre did manage to finish making pendants for all of them, but when he finished he was so weak he could barely walk. "I'll be fine," he tried to tell them, but when his legs collapsed out from under him, Trowa and Wufei supported him from either side and carried him to a log to sit down. "What do we do now?" Trowa asked quietly of the group in general.
"We can't do anything until he's healed," Heero said matter-of-factly. He glanced around. "Do any of you have any sort of special healing powers?" he asked.
They all shook their heads. Not unless you want him dead, Duo added mentally.
Heero frowned furiously, as if this was somehow their fault, then bent by Quatre's side. Trowa grabbed his arm, and then he held out a glowing hand and passed it over Quatre's body. Quatre's eyes flickered open as Trowa collapsed across his lap. "Not again!" he cried, and his entire body lit up again. He wrapped his arms around Trowa's arms and chest. "Stop doing that for me!" he demanded as Trowa shook his head slightly and woke up. He stiffened, and Quatre let go of him.
"Quatre, can you walk?" Heero asked. "We need to get farther away from the compound. They'll be discovering that we escaped soon."
Quatre nodded, then gestured, and they all disappeared again. Duo heard Heero's surprised grunt.
"Hey, where are we going, anyway?" Duo complained. He'd just stick with them for a little while, until he was sure they'd survive on their own. No one knew the streets like he did - they might be helpless out in the real world. It was possible. Maybe.
"I... we have to go north," Quatre said. "Can't you feel it? It's like we were waiting for you to arrive before we could leave the compound. The five of us have something very important that we have to do, and we have to go north to do it."
"Do what? Fight off Treize's mysterious threat?" Duo said sarcastically.
"He did some very evil things," Quatre said quietly. "But he wasn't lying about those prophecies. There's something big coming, and we're all tied up in it somehow."
"Fine, whatever. If it makes you happy... north it is!" Duo agreed, although he had the same drive that Quatre had described, pulling him north. He doubted he could go anywhere else right now, not with the damn buzzing in his brain...
Damn it, I want to be moving away from these guys, not with them! Everyone near me gets killed sooner or later! How am I going to avoid that if we have to go somewhere together because of what... what the hell is this anyhow? I don't believe all that crap about prophesies... do I?
Trowa hastily got up and walked across the room, where he wrapped his arms around the trembling blond, secure in the knowledge that Quatre was so wrapped up in events elsewhere that he'd never remember the embrace, would only get some support in it. The others stared at him, but neither commented, for which Trowa was grateful. He was confused enough without their help. "Be careful," he murmured. "You never know when they might be watching us."
"I don't think they're watching us," Quatre murmured.
"But there's no way to know for certain," Heero observed disapprovingly from across the room.
"I can't help it," Quatre whimpered, and Trowa's arms tightened involuntarily around him. "He hurts so much, and he's powerful." Quatre's teal blue eyes opened wider as he saw something far away. "There are only six Hunters with him."
That got Wufei's attention, and he looked up from the kata he was performing. "Impossible," he stated. "The Hunters are always sent out in groups of twelve. Are you saying they think so little of us that they are only sending out six now?" there was a hint of outrage in his voice.
"No," Quatre said after a moment, as Trowa moved away. He didn't want Quatre to come out of his trance and find himself in the taller boy's arms. "I think... I think he killed half of them."
There was a long silence. Finally Quatre said, "You don't think he..." he trailed off when he saw a brief flicker of alarm pass through Trowa's one visible eye.
"Don't even say it," he whispered. "If they found out..."
Quatre bit his lip and fell silent.
"How long until he gets here?"
"I don't know. Not long."
"Lord Quatre!" cried a young voice. They all looked up as a young boy with dirty blond hair pushed aside the canvas flap that covered the doorway. "They're brining in someone new, they say they're putting him in with you guys." The boy licked his lips nervously. "They say he's in really bad shape. And they say to come out now."
"Thanks, Evie," Quatre said with a kindly smile. He carefully gathered up the chain attached to his collar, and wrapped it around his waist to get it out of the way. The boy respectfully held the canvas out of the way while the four of them exited the little hut. Then Evie ran past them and squeezed through the bars that separated their area of the enclosure from the main area.
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"Hey Lord Quatre!" one of the guards shouted from the top of the wall the surrounded the enclosure. Something hit him in the back of his head, and Quatre stumbled, fighting back tears.
"Everyone up against the bars!" someone shouted, and they all pressed their hands against the bars, putting their faces in the spaces in between the bars. They all remained completely silent, staring straight ahead as the guards walked pas them, occasionally offering a verbal or physical jab towards their prisoners.
Finally the main gate opened and four Hunters came in, carrying a large cage between them. Crouched inside the cage was a figure dressed in tattered black clothes and with a long brown braid running down his/her back. Was it a boy or a girl? He couldn't tell from this angle. The face was turned away, and what little of the body he could see was mottled with dark bruises, hiding any hint of the sex of the prisoner. Quatre's hands clenched into fists around the bars as he remembered getting similar treatment eight months ago, just after his fifteenth birthday, when it finally became impossible to hide that he was one of the so-called 'faery folk' anymore. They'd transported him for three days across country in one of those cages, treating him like little more than an animal. When they finally got to the compound, he'd still had his hands tied behind his back and had been forced to stumble after the guards as they led him around by the chain attached to the collar around his throat. And then...
His line of thought was distracted when he realized that the prisoner, whoever he/she was, was still unconscious. At least they wouldn't have to put up with humiliation by the guards.
His concern increased as the Hunters opened the cage and tossed its occupant on the ground. The prisoner had been badly beaten - bruises marred half of his/her body, and the rough treatment the prisoner was receiving at the hands of the guards had made the large gash on his leg start bleeding again.
"This one," the Hunter kicked the prisoner in the side. The prisoner didn't respond at all. "Is a troublemaker. Upon discovery of what it was, it failed to turn itself in. All of the kingdom knows the importance of the mission which King Treize has set for himself. A great danger is approaching this land, and only by properly utilizing and controlling the cursed faeries will we survive it. This one," he kicked again, "has been working against the good of all, and has been suitably punished. It will be kept with the other troublemakers." His gaze lighted on Quatre. "You. Faery-slave, come over here."
Quatre nodded slightly, carefully avoiding eye contact. These fools thought that his kind could steal souls if their eyes met. As if they had souls of any worth to steal at all. As if we'd want to.
He walked quickly over to the prisoner, who was slightly smaller than he was. Quatre reached down and touched the prisoner's shoulder, and a shock of recognition ran through him. There was no longer any question as to the prisoner's sex. He's powerful - not normal. Like me. Quatre had felt the same recognition when he met the other three. But this felt different. What does it mean? he wondered.
Quatre gasped as a whip hit his exposed back. "What do you think you're doing, faery? Just drag him to your cage!"
With some difficulty, Quatre managed to get the boy's hands free, then got his shoulder under the boy's arm. He started to drag him back to 'their cage', wishing he was strong enough to carry the boy properly.
The guard stuck his food in front of Quatre and pushed, sending him sprawling to the ground. He managed to get his body between the ground and the boy, so he could cushion the fall slightly. He grunted as the other boy landed on him, and heard a slight groan from the still-unconscious boy.
The guard laughed, and watched as Quatre managed to half-carry, half-drag the boy back to the cage, where Heero took the boy from him and easily carried him into the little hut they lived in. They silently followed as the guards re-locked the door.
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Heero set the boy down on one of the cots, and Quatre automatically started to move towards him. Trowa grabbed his arm. His face, as usual, was an expressionless mask, half-hidden under his bangs. His one visible eye was carefully blank, as always. "You know we've been ordered not to use our powers except to serve Treize." His voice, like everything else about him, was completely devoid of all emotion. However, Quatre understood the care behind the comment, no matter how Trowa tried to hide it.
He smiled at the taller boy. "If I don't help him, he may die, or be permanently crippled. You could even say that I am serving Treize's interests - his interests are not served if one of us dies." Quatre knew his reasoning was shaky at best, but he was already decided. He started to move towards the boy again, but once again Trowa's hand on his arm stopped him.
"Just a moment," Trowa told him, then flexed his fingers and put his hand behind Quatre. Quatre felt the fain tingle of magic on his skin, and the pain from the whiplash disappeared. Warned by this, he turned and caught Trowa as he collapsed.
"Why did you do that?" he demanded, helping Trowa to another cot. You're never going to convince me that you don't feel anything if you keep doing stupid things like this. "You know I can heal myself without exhausting myself!" he hissed. "I..." he trailed off as Trowa placed a finger on his lips, shaking his head sadly.
"What will it take to convince you that it is not safe to talk about such things?" he asked.
Quatre's lips were set in a thin line. He held his hand over Trowa's prone form. A yellow glow formed around his hand, and for a second Trowa's body also glowed. Quatre wilted momentarily as Trowa's exhaustion hit him, then straightened.
Here was the most dangerous and potentially useful of his secrets: he was different.
Most of the mage-gifted, or faery folk as the commoners chose to call them, were fairly helpless and harmless. Most were minor healers, driven out of hiding by the desire, no, the need to use their powers to help others. It wasn't something you had a choice about - when you had that sort of ability, you couldn't not use it, not when there were people in pain anywhere near you. But normal mages, when they used their power for anything more major than a paper cut, spent anywhere from a few hours to weeks flat-out on their backs from exhaustion. Quatre had never been tired from using his powers in his entire life, which was how he'd managed to hide what he was for so long, despite having all the physical characteristics that caused the normal humans to call them faeries.
There were other types of normal mages, too, ones who could make illusions, and a few who could set spells on stones, minor ones like the light-stones the Hunters used. But they were as weak, generally, as the normal healers. Holding a solid illusion for more than a few minutes was impossible, and they were unconscious for weeks afterwards. The same was true those who could spell stones.
But not Quatre. He'd never been tired after using his power, and what was more, he could use them on himself. All of the 'normal' powers a mage might have he had, not just one of them, and all of them were stronger than anyone he'd ever heard of. If he really wanted to, he could have cast an illusion of invisibility on himself and walked out of this horrible place tomorrow. But he wouldn't abandon his companions.
As he moved to heal the new boy, he mentally considered his three companions. Although none of them had ever told him directly, he knew that they weren't normal mages either. But their normal powers were as weak as any of the other mages, so it had to be something else.
He hadn't worked up the courage yet to ask them about it. Maybe Trowa...
He called up his power again, this time concentrating on the boy. There were no broken bones, thank the gods. Quatre always felt the pain of those he healed, and he really hated broken bones.
"Do we have any clothes, clean water?" he asked after healing the worst of the damage. Trowa brought him some water, and Wufei tossed over the rough shirt and pants that all the prisoners wore. As quickly as he could, Quatre stripped the boy of his tattered rags, washed him, and then eased him into the new clothing. There wasn't much danger of him waking up for several hours, at least. Quatre might not be exhausted, but the boy had been through quite an ordeal, and he needed sleep. Underneath the dirt and bruises, the boy was quite beautiful. He looked very young as he slept, although he was probably as old as Quatre.
"Hide these," Quatre said shortly, thrusting the remains of the boy's clothes at Heero. The guards came in regularly to destroy anything the prisoners had saved or made to remind them of when they'd been considered human. The ruined clothes were all that was left of the boy's past, and Quatre intended to save it if he could.
"Hn." Heero took the clothes, but stood staring at the new boy for some time. It was the first time Quatre could remember Heero showing interest in anything, much less another person.
Quatre finally got up the guts to speak. "You feel it too, don't you?" Heero glanced at him, an angry smile on his face. "All of you," Quatre added, turning to include the other two in his comment. They glanced at him, then went back to looking at the boy. "It's as if we were all waiting for something, for someone. Now we're complete."
Wufei grunted. "Let's see who he is before we jump to any conclusions," was his almost comment before turning away.
Heero had slipped out the door to hide the clothes before Quatre could turn to him, and Trowa refused to meet his gaze. Quatre quietly sat down to wait for the boy to way, but inwardly he was elated. Even if they didn't admit it, he knew they'd sensed it. And now the waiting was over...
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When he first woke up, the first thing Duo became aware of was that he wasn't in pain. The second thing he noticed was that he could still feel the damn collar around his neck. The hope that it all might have been a bad dream died stillborn. He opened his eyes.
A blond-haired, blue-eyed boy who looked like an angel was standing over him. "Oh good, you're awake," the angel said. "Don't worry, you're with friends."
"I don't have any friends," he responded automatically.
"Well, I want to be your friend," the angel said, hardly looking miffed at the rejection. "How are you feeling?"
Duo glanced down at his right hand and saw, to his surprise, that there was no sign of injury. He sat up straight. "What the hell did you do to me?" he demanded.
"I healed you," came the calm response.
"You healed... me?" he couldn't believe his ears. He knew, from personal experience, how difficult, painful, and exhausting healing someone was, especially when they were as badly injured as he'd been. No one had cared about him to do something like that in... years, at least. Actually, no one had cared about him in any capacity for years. Thinking about the last people who'd cared about him, he realized that the necklace he wore in remembrance of them was missing. He tried not to panic. Those damned soldiers must have taken it. There was plenty of time for him to scout around and steal it back. He brought his attention back to the angel. "All right," he said, seeking some sort of advantage. "You want to be my friend? You can start by answering some questions, like who the hell you are and where the hell I am!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, my manners are quite lacking," the angel said, standing up. His manners? Who does he think he is, a nobleman? "My name is Quatre. These," he gestured gracefully around the one-room hut at people standing in shadowy corners. "...are Trowa, Heero, and Wufei."
Trowa had auburn hair combed in a way so that it covered half of his face, leaving only one emerald-green eye visible. Heero had messy brown hair and cold blue eyes that looked absolutely dead as he glared at the visitor. Wufei was obviously a foreigner, with exotic black, slanted eyes and straight black hair.
"What, don't you have any other names?" Duo smirked, trying to fight the feeling that he knew these people, had known them all his life, and had just been waiting to meet them. "Or is it just Quatre, Heero, Trowa, and Wufei?" he almost regretted his words when a flicker of pain passed over Quatre's face.
"No one I here has family outside," the blond boy said quietly. "We lose it all when they bring us here."
"Yeah, whatever," Duo said, glossing over the fact that he had no family to lose. "Speaking of which, where am I?"
"You are in a prison, known to us as the compound, in the kingdom of Oz. You were brought here because of..." he trailed off, and touched his own sharply-pointed ears, a trait which they all shared. There were a number of physical oddities that marked them as not entirely human, but the pointed ears were the most obvious. "Because of what they think this means."
"And what do they want with us?"
"Treize wants to control all the mages in the kingdom, to have absolute control over us. He thinks that we're the key to some sort of ancient prophecy..." he trailed off and shrugged. "I don't know anything beyond that.
"That's plenty," Duo said suspiciously. "How do you know so..."
"I think it's your turn to give us some answers," Trowa interrupted him. "What's your name?"
"Duo," he replied. Then, remembering Quatre's comment about their lack of other names, added, "Duo Maxwell."
Wufei snorted in disgust, prompting Duo to jump off the cot and make a ridiculously exaggerated bow. "Duo Maxwell, champion thief, at your service."
Wufei made a strangled sound, but Quatre smiled, which was enough encouragement for Duo. Whatever else he might have said was jut off when Heero glanced past the canvas-door and said, "Soldiers coming."
"How many?" Quatre asked, is motion towards the door accompanied by the clink of chains. Duo stared in surprise at the long length of chain attached to his collar and then wrapped around his waist. With a quick glance around the room, Duo reaffirmed what he thought he'd seen - none of the others were chained - why was Quatre? He wasn't exactly a threat - he looked as if someone with a bit of strength could break him in half with very little effort. Why him?
"Eight," Heero responded in a flat voice.
"They're here for you," Quatre said, looking at Duo.
"Me? Why?" Duo asked, acting as if he didn't care at all.
"Treize always speaks to his new prisoners personally," Quatre told him, glancing anxiously at the door.
"Why the hell would he do that?"
Quatre stared at him, looking much like a trapped animal, and shrugged.
Trowa asked, "Quatre, do you want me to..."
Quatre shook his head. "No, it's today anyway. There's no need for both of us to be punished."
"Punished, what the hell are you talking about?" Duo demanded as the soldiers burst through the door.
"That one," one of them said, and Duo was roughly seized, his hands bound behind his back. None of the others made a move to help him. Friends. Yeah, sure, he thought sarcastically.
"Wait a minute," the soldier said, gripping his chin. "There isn't a mark on it." He let go of Duo's chin and turned to face the others. "Which of you did it?" he demanded.
"I did it," Quatre said, stepping forward, a resigned expression on his face. He was immediately seized by two of the guards, who also bound his hands.
"You will be punished."
Quatre shrugged, or at least he would have if they weren't holding his arms so tightly. "What else is new?"
Before Duo could figure out what they were talking about, he was hustled out of the hut and the cage, across a big open area surrounded by more huts and a large wooden barricade, and through a door leading to a room situated within the barricade itself. The guards escorted him into the room, which contained a single man in a fancy doublet with long red hair tied back in a ponytail.
"Why did you bring that one here?" he asked in an ultra-sophisticated voice that set Duo's teeth on edge. "I only wished to speak with the new one."
"Yes, your majesty, but this one disobeyed your direct orders," the guard said, shoving Quatre forward.
The man - this must be King Treize - stared at Quatre. "Is this true?" he asked.
"Yes, Treize."
"Do you have anything to say in your defense?"
"No."
The king frowned slightly. "Would you please explain your actions?"
Duo frowned as he watched Quatre. It almost seemed like Treize was looking for an excuse not to punish him, and Quatre seemed just as determined not to give him an excuse.
"Your Hunters overdid it. He might have died if I hadn't helped him."
"Then you might have been serving me. I need as many of your kind as I can find."
"I would have done it if it hurt you, Treize. I would have done it if it killed you, too."
"Do you still hate me so much, Quatre?" the king asked, confirming Duo's belief that there was something very strange going on here. It was almost as if Quatre had known - or even been friends with - the king before his imprisonment. But that was impossible, wasn't it?
Quatre didn't respond.
"Very well," Treize said, and turned to the guards. "Give him ten lashes and then take him to the garden. His father is waiting."
Quatre didn't so much as blink when Treize announced his punishment, but when he mentioned a father, Quatre's shoulders slumped slightly.
"Yes, your majesty." The guard saluted, and they pulled Quatre out of view.
"What did you do that for?" Duo demanded.
"We must enforce the rules, or there will be chaos."
"Quatre's harmless!" Duo protested. Crack. The sound of a whip was clearly audible, coming from the enclosure, and Duo winced sympathetically, then turned the wince into a grimace of anger. "And who the hell to you think you are, to dictate who we can heal?" Crack. That got to him the most. Not using your power could be painful, sometimes, knowing that there were people around who were hurting. Duo had taught himself to ignore the pain, but he couldn't see Quatre doing anything like that. It had to be agony, not being able to help people.
"I am your king." Crack.
Duo snorted. "Not mine." Crack.
"That is true, but not for the reasons you think." Crack. "I am not your king, because you are not a citizen of Oz." Crack. "You aren't human. Animals can't be citizens." Crack.
"Why you..." Duo took a step towards the king, but the guards pulled him back. Crack.
"An unpleasant reality, but it's true." Crack. "I make a point of speaking to every one of you, to tell you why your imprisonment is necessary." Crack.
Duo had a half-dozen retorts ready, but he uncharacteristically held his tongue. He really wanted - no, needed - this information.
"I have been warned by many star-gazers that a great danger is approaching this land, one magical in nature, and I have confirmed those warnings in numerous ancient prophecies, some dating from before the Mage Wars. I know that somehow your kind are the key to protecting our land, and that is why I have gathered as many of you here as I could over the last seven years."
Duo stared at him in unfeigned contempt, grateful that he no longer had to listen to them torturing Quatre. "You fool. They would have cooperated, they would have come on their own if you'd asked them. Instead you treat us like criminals, or worse, like animals. And now you want us to help you?"
"Oh, they might have cooperated, but they wouldn't have come. I tried, but they wouldn't leave their homes, the people they were taking care of and protecting, to live in a group for an unknown period of time, when they wouldn't be able to help people. They took their responsibilities very seriously." He shrugged. "Understandable, but unacceptable. I started bringing them here by force. Their friends and family started to get upset, so I separated them from their people by taking away their humanity. People might feel sorry for a bunch of sorcerers, but no one feels bad about locking up dangerous animals with special powers who masquerade as humans."
"You fucking bastard. You convinced people we were animals so that you could capture us? You..." Duo searched his extensive vocabulary for a word that would convey his disgust and anger, and finally settled on, "...fucking bastard," again.
"Sir." Another guard appeared in the doorway. "It's time."
Treize nodded, then opened a large cabinet. Inside was a rather large mirror. Treize frowned at it and murmured a few words, and an image appeared in the glass. Duo gasped and took a step closer to get a better look. This was High Magic, the old kind, from before the Mage Wars when those with magic had real power. Duo doubted that anyone alive now could create a spell that complicated, so the mirror had to be centuries old. So that's how he spied on me in the woods. I'd shatter it, except there's so little High Magic left in the world, it all needs to be preserved. But not if it's being used like this...
He froze when he saw who the mirror was showing. Quatre, his hands still bound behind his back, a back still bleeding from his punishment, was led to a stone wall on the edge of a beautiful garden. The chain around his waist was unwrapped and attached to a metal ring set in the wall. Then the guards left.
Suddenly a yellow-haired man dressed like a nobleman stepped into view. "Who is that?" he asked as Quatre and the man stared at each other.
"Lord Winner, also called the Earl of the Desert. He is a powerful man, and until I produce an heir, third in line for the throne. He is also the only one so close to the throne who has not made an attempt on my life. An honorable man."
Duo swallowed. In his experience it was a bad idea to get involved with anyone in a position of power. It was far too easy to end up dead in those situations. "What does he want with Quatre?"
"To speak with his son, I would imagine."
"What?!"
Treize turned to look at him. "You mean to say that you didn't know? How did he introduce himself?"
"He... he just said his name was Quatre, that he had no family," Duo said without thinking, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that a fellow prisoner was a nobleman, and a very powerful nobleman at that. "Wait a minute. If his father is third in line for the throne..."
"His full name is Quatre Rabera Winner, heir to the lands and title of the Winner family, and fourth in line for the throne if I should die. Or rather, he was Quatre Rabera Winner. Now he is only Quatre, a faery slave. Not even human."
"He's more human than you'll ever be," Duo muttered, watching the way Quatre held his head high, even though he was chained like some sort of animal.
"And he probably would have made a better king than I," Treize agreed. "Unfortunately, he had the poor sense to reveal his powers in public. He'd managed to keep it all hidden for years, even from his family, and he gave it all up for the sake of a little orphan girl." He shrugged. "He was captured on the spot by one of my most... enthusiastic hunters, and transported back here caged, treated as nothing more than some sort of exotic beast. His father came and begged me to have mercy on the boy. It was too late to conceal what he was, but I was willing to release him to his father's custody because of respect towards the father and fondness for the son, but he refused to leave."
Duo had a hard time believing that anyone would stay a second longer in this place than that absolutely had to, but if anyone would, it would be the boy who took a beating to heal a thief.
The two of them had been speaking for some time, and finally Quatre said something that made the older man stiffen in anger. Quatre hung his head as his father stomped away.
"Still so stubborn, child?" Treize murmured to himself. "I had thought you would give up after some time. Your time here has been harder than most..." he trailed off, realizing that he had an audience. "I'd hoped for your cooperation..." he started.
"Well, you'll just have to get used to disappointment," Duo sneered.
Treize shot him a cold look and continued, "But if I can't have that, I'll have your obedience." He turned to the guards. "Throw it back in its cage."
-----------------------------------------------
Trowa looked up as the guards dumped the new boy, Duo, on the floor. His hands were still bound behind his back. He got smoothly to his feet, twisting his arms and wrists in a serpentine manner. Suddenly his arms were loose and he dropped a piece of rope on the ground.
He grinned at them. "Someone ought to teach those guys how to tie a knot. On the other hand, maybe not." He seemed disappointed when no one responded, but it didn't discourage him from talking. "So where is Quatre?"
"They haven't brought him back yet," Trowa told him.
"Is it true that he's a nobleman?" Duo asked.
Trowa stiffened involuntarily. He didn't like to be reminded of the vast differences between his and Quatre's past. Quatre seemed nice enough when he was in here, but how could a friendship between a noble and an orphaned circus performer ever exist anywhere else?
He was relieved when Wufei snapped, "He used to be a nobleman. Now he just a prisoner, the same as the rest of us."
"All right, all right, what's up your ass?" Duo muttered.
"Who told you he used to be a nobleman?" Trowa asked. It wasn't the sort of thing that Quatre talked about, and no one else did either. The other prisoners called him 'Lord Quatre' , but that was out of respect, not because of who he'd been outside.
"Treize told me when I saw him meeting with his father," Duo told them.
Wufei spun around to look at him, and even Heero looked surprised.
"Meeting with his father?" Trowa repeated, surprised at feeling the pain of betrayal. It served him right for thinking that he could trust anyone, much less a nobleman.
"You didn't know?" Duo asked, then continued. "Quatre's dad is a personal friend of Treize, and Treize agreed to release Quatre to his father's custody."
Father's custody? It meant that Quatre would be a prisoner in his own home, probably confined to a few rooms and never allowed out, but it would undoubtedly be better than life here. "Did Treize change his mind?"
Duo stared at them. "You mean you didn't know that, either? He refused to leave and be cuddled while you guys were still here. His father comes by every now and then to try to convince him to leave. Treize said... he said that Quatre's time here had been harder than most. Why?"
"The guards like to see one of the great ones brought low," Trowa said, his mind racing. They all knew that Quatre had some special abilities - they all did, even if they didn't talk about it. Quatre probably could have walked out of here at any time. Trowa knew he could but the only place he had to go was the circus he'd been with for the past two years, and he wouldn't lead the Hunters to them. He'd been assuming that Quatre didn't escape because if he did, he would be a fugitive, and wouldn't live in the manner he'd grown up in. The thought that he could have gone back there, to his father's mansion, and had chosen to stay here shocked Trowa.
"Here he comes," Heero said in a low voice.
They all stood up and moved to the opposite end of the room so as not to give the guards an excuse to punish them. Duo watched them with bright eyes and determined look on his face, then followed. Quick learner, and powerful too, he observed. Not normal. Like the rest of them.
A shove sent Quatre stumbling into the room. He might have recovered his balance, but then the guards threw the chain after him. It hit him in the back, and the mass of it knocked him to his knees. For once the guards didn't come in to further torment him, and Quatre got to his feet. There was a gash on his forehead and he had a fat lip. The way he was moving indicated there were more injuries under his clothes. Every two weeks the guards came for him - he called it punishment - and he always came back in this condition. He never said anything about his father.
Quatre looked around at them, then stared directly at Duo and began to glow. Duo's eyes widened as the injuries disappeared. Quatre turned his back towards Trowa. "Could you..."
Trowa untied his hands. "How is your father?" he asked, trying to keep bitterness out of his voice and failing.
Quatre stiffened. "How did you know?" he asked, his face anguished. Quatre wore his expressions as openly as some people wore clothing.
"Duo saw you when he was in Treize's office," Trowa said, wondering at the anger he felt.
Quatre bit his lip and looked at the ground. "What do you know?"
"You could get out of here?" Wufei asked.
"Yeah, but not free. This... this damn collar," Quatre tugged futilely at the chain, showing anger with it for the first time Trowa could remember. "It stays on, with the chain. The chain is attached to a wall in my room back home, and they leave me there for the rest of my life. Those four walls for the rest of my life," he said, sounding bitter. "And I'd have to live knowing that I left you here in this place."
"Those four walls would be better than these four walls."
"I'm not leaving."
"Excuse me, but am I the only one here who noticed something?" Duo interrupted. "You just healed yourself! No one can do that!"
"I can," Quatre said. "But you can do things too, can't you?"
Duo suddenly became very still. "What else can you do?"
"Lots of things."
"Could you escape?"
Quatre shrugged. "I think so. But any of us could, I think."
"You all..." Duo shook his head in disbelief. "I thought I was the only one!" They all knew he wasn't just talking about being able to escape.
"Hold your tongue!" Wufei snapped. "They could be watching..."
Surprisingly, Duo did shut up. Trowa had a good idea that silence was unusual where the violet-eyed boy was concerned. Very unusual.
"Fine. But we'll talk about this later," Duo said, sounding grim.
-------------------------------------------------------
Duo devoted the rest of the afternoon to entertaining the others, but for some reason, they didn't seem particularly entertained. Wufei actually walked outside, and only came back in when the guards became excessively abusive. Then he came back in and leveled a furious glare at Duo. That was nothing compared to the glare Heero was using on him. Trowa was pointedly ignoring him. Quatre listened to him, occasionally nodding or smiling in response to a joke, but Duo could tell he wasn't really paying attention.
That night Duo had strange dreams. Really strange. Nightmares, sort of. Nightmares were nothing new to him, not for years. Not that it was something he didn't deserve, after what he did. But this wasn't a nightmare, not quite.
He was standing on top of a hill in the center of a vast plain. There were black clouds overhead, stretching forever in every direction, and a chill wind was blowing.
Duo looked around and saw his four current companions, but they were not the same people that he met in the compound. Wufei had large red wings sprouting from his back, and behind him stood a fiery dragon. Trowa had brown-feathered wings sprouting from his back, and a multitude of animals stood behind him. Quatre had glowing gold wings behind him, and Duo got the impression of masses of people behind him. Heero had white wings, and stood in a nimbus of white light. And himself...
Duo craned his head back and saw two black wings rising up behind him. There was a field of blackness around him, and a scythe in his right hand. Of course. I'm Death.
"It's coming," Quatre said with supernatural calm, and in the dream, Duo tensed. He didn't know what was coming, but he knew it was evil and had to be stopped. They were all going to die in the upcoming battle, but it didn't matter, as long as they stopped the enemy.
"They're going to wish they'd never been born," Duo said, and grinned.
"Hn," Heero said.
Then... somehow... the enemy was behind them. They were too late! They hadn't been fast enough, and now they were too late! Duo struggled to get around to face his enemy, but he couldn't move fast enough, and he saw the blade descending towards his chest...
There was a stinging in his cheek, and Duo opened his eyes and sat up, automatically reaching for a knife that wasn't there. Wufei glared at him. "Must you talk incessantly, even in your sleep?"
"I... I had a dream," Duo stammered.
"You too?" Wufei looked disgusted. "I can't believe I shared a dream with you."
"You mean we all had the same dream?" Duo asked.
"We were there, weren't we?"
Duo tried to figure out what was wrong with that statement - it seemed to him that there was something illogical there - but was interrupted by a low groan. He looked over to see Trowa leaning over Quatre, who was lying on the cot, tossing in his sleep. Trowa gently shook his shoulder, and Quatre suddenly sat upright, his eyes were more than a little wild. "It's coming! We have to stop it!" he shouted.
"We know. We dreamed it too," Trowa told him.
Quatre stood up. His entire body was glowing faintly, providing illumination to what would normally be a pitch-black room. "Come on," he said, his voice taking on an air of authority it hadn't had before. "We have to leave now."
"How are we going to do that?" Duo asked, not sarcastically. He knew he could do things that no one else could, that no one would want to do, but he didn't know what Quatre could do.
Quatre's eyes were half-closed, then he opened them. "They're not watching us," he stated confidently. "I can hold an illusion for... I can do it as long as I want. I can cast an illusion of invisibility on all of us, and when they open the gate to change the guard, we can slip out of here. But..."
"But what?" Heero asked.
"I don't want to leave all the others here," Quatre said. "I can hold the illusion on everyone, but there's a limit to the number of people we can sneak out through the gate. If there was more time... but we have to leave now." Quatre looked miserable at the thought of abandoning the normal mages.
"That... will not be a problem," Wufei said, stepping forward. "Can you hold an illusion of normalcy on a part of the fence?"
"Yes," Quatre said, a faint gleam of hope in his eyes.
"Then we will sneak them out through the hole in the fence."
"What hole in the fence?"
"The one I will make." Wufei flexed his fingers, and fire danced in the air around them.
Everyone stared at him.
"All right," Quatre said. "We'll do it." He muttered to himself for a few seconds, then everyone disappeared. At least, that what it looked like. Duo knew that they were still there, just invisible. Quatre hadn't been kidding when he said he could do illusions. Duo could do a few minor illusions - most of his talents lay elsewhere - but Quatre was amazing. He was so much better than anyone Duo had ever seen that there was simply no comparison.
"All right," Quatre's voice seemed to be coming from out of thin air. "Wufei, you know that little stretch of fence between the support beam and the third guard tower?"
"Yes."
"Anything you do in that area they won't be able to see."
"Hai."
Duo didn't know what that meant, but it sounded like agreement. The door flap moved as Wufei pushed it aside and exited.
"All right, I'll go get everyone else. Then we can leave."
Duo was seized by a sudden fear. Things had been so crazy so far that he hadn't had time to worry about his missing necklace, but if they were leaving, he wouldn't be able to find it. "Wait! I know this sounds stupid, but do you have any idea where they would have put my clothes? There was something with them..."
"I hid it," Heero said. "I'll retrieve it." The canvas moved again as Heero left.
"Duo, wait here. I have to go get people," Quatre said.
"I understand. Thank you," Duo whispered, somehow knowing that Quatre had been responsible for saving his things.
The canvas moved twice as both Trowa and Quatre left, leaving Duo in the pitch-black room. A few seconds later he heard the canvas move once again and a small bundle of cloth appeared as Heero moved it out of the bubble of invisibility. "Here," he said shortly.
Duo quickly undid the ties that held the bundle closed. Almost immediately he relaxed as he felt the metal cross that the faeries had given him. He didn't know the significance of the symbol, but it was all he had left from the faeries, and he didn't want to loose it. He quickly slipped the necklace on and stuck it under his shirt, promising himself he'd find (or steal) some decent clothes first chance he got. After all, he had an image to maintain. "Thanks."
"Hn." The canvas moved again, and Duo followed - he thought - Heero out into the open. It was much brighter outside due to several torches, and Duo was relieved to see that the invisibility held in the light as well. The door to the bars that separated them from the rest of the compound was already open.
Suddenly a hand gripped Duo's wrist like a vice and dragged him through the gate and to a part of the fence. Duo was fascinated to find out that he could sense Wufei and Heero beside him without seeing them, and farther away, he could sense Quatre and Trowa. He could even tell which was which.
"It's done," Wufei reported.
Duo reached around Wufei - somehow he could even tell exactly where Wufei was standing - and touched the wall. It looked normal, but he felt a hold, three feet in diameter. The edges were still warm.
"Not bad," he said approvingly.
"Shut up."
Trowa came up, leading about half of the prisoners behind them. "We're on the edge of the city. Once you're out, head north. There's a forest there we can hide in and regroup. I'm heading back for the other group."
Duo felt a woman's hand placed in his own. "Come on," he whispered to her, guessing that they were all holding hands to avoid being separated. "I know where we're going. There's a hole in the wall. We're through it and than we're out of here. Heero will follow to make sure no one gets lost. Hold on tight, we're almost free."
"Thank the gods," the woman breathed.
Duo kept an 'eye' on Quatre and Trowa as he led his group through the open fields, keeping a wary eye out for a sign that the illusion of invisibility was slipping. This illusion had held for longer than any he'd ever seen, and the ones he'd seen had only been on one person. How long could Quatre keep this up?
He saw when Wufei started leading the second group away from the compound, but noticed with a frown that neither Quatre nor Trowa was with that second group. "All right, everyone stop! But keep holding hands!" he called out as loud as he dared. Sighs of relief told him that the former prisoners were already exhausted and grateful for a rest. He felt Heero come up from the rear of the line.
"What are you doing?" he asked in that flat voice of his.
"They need rest. They probably haven't walked any farther than across the damn prison in months, if not years!" Duo snapped, showing his irritation with the other boy's callousness. "Besides, Quatre and Trowa aren't with the second group."
"I know."
"Aren't you just a little bit concerned about them?"
"They can take care of themselves. If they can't, then we'll go on without them."
Duo's jaw dropped open. "Don't you care at all about them?!" he exploded. "You've been living with them for what... months, years? Don't you care?"
Heero didn't say anything, and since they were both still invisible, Duo couldn't see his face, but he was willing to bet that it was the same expressionless mask that he'd worn ever since Duo first saw him. Duo wasn't fooled by the mask - he wore a mask of his own, that of the foolish joker, so that people wouldn't see the monster that he really was - just because Heero wore a mask of not having emotions didn't mean that he didn't have them. But Heero did a better job of wearing the mask then anyone he'd ever seen.
"Come on," Duo muttered. "We'd better get them moving again. If they are caught, we'll lose the illusion pretty quick, even if they don't kill him."
He felt a ripple of surprise, quickly suppressed, coming from Heero. Didn't think I had it in me, did you? he thought with a kind of savage satisfaction. I've done far worse before. I'm Death, and I kill everyone who gets close to me. You think that a few more makes any difference? But that thought led to another, more uncomfortable. Everyone I've ever cared about has died. As soon as everyone's safe, I'll leave. I don't want to kill all of them, even Heero.
They made it to the forest with no more incidents, and long before they reached the safety of the trees, Duo 'saw' Quatre and Trowa start to follow them, and breathed a silent sigh of relief. No one had died yet.
It was distinctly uncomfortable, sitting around in the dark woods while they were all still invisible, listening to people speaking in whispers and the occasional sound of crying. Wufei's group arrived about twenty minutes after them, and there was more confusion as they tried to get themselves seated without stepping on those who had arrived earlier. They didn't have much success, and finally they just sat wherever they happened to be standing.
Quatre and Trowa arrived about ten minutes after that. Duo felt them approaching, and when they reached the edge of the glade, Quatre called, "Is everyone here?"
"We're all here, somewhere," Duo told him. He felt the faint whisper of magic tingle in the air around him and across his skin, and everyone suddenly became visible again. There was a startled gasp from the group of normal mages, then they all got up and started moving around, making sure that loved ones were near and safe. Finally, when it was beginning to get loud enough to make Duo nervous, Quatre called them to attention.
Duo was surprised when the former prisoners automatically obeyed him. It was a sign of how much respect they had for him. Was this something that all rich noblemen were taught, or was Quatre something different? His personal experience made him lean towards the latter choice.
"All right," Quatre said, emptying a bag onto the ground. He was still faintly glowing, providing enough illumination to see. Duo noted that the former prisoners both moved closer to him and tried to pull away. They were drawn to the light, but he was different, and frightening, too. Over a hundred of the small pendants that the Hunters used to protect themselves fell onto the ground, along with several larger crystals. "I've stolen all the seeking crystals they had," he explained, pointing to the larger crystals. "So they won't be able to find us. I'll spell each of these pendants to hold an illusion of full humanity on us, so they won't be able to tell that we're mages. After that, we should be safe. Those of you who still have families who you can trust..." he hesitated for a fraction of a second. "Can go back to them. I'm sorry, but the rest of you will have to start over. But you should be safe. Just be very, very careful about using your powers. All right, Evie, come over here," he gestured to a small boy. The boy came running over, and looked up at Quatre with trust in his eyes.
"Yes, Lord Quatre?" he asked.
"Just stay still, this will only take a few minutes." He stared thoughtfully at the boy, then closed his eyes, his fist closing tightly around one of the smaller pendants. He started muttering to himself. After less than a minute he opened his eyes, and placed the pendant around the boy's neck. There was an immediate change, and it was obvious that the boy looked entirely human. Duo knew well the physical changes that led normal humans to call the human mages faeries - the long, pointed ears, for one thing. They also tended to have rather large eyes, and long, thin bodies that were still incredibly strong. Evie now had short, rounded ears, squinty eyes, and was a little pudgier than he'd been a moment before. He barely looked like himself anymore. "Now don't ever take that off," he warned the boy, who nodded and backed up.
Quatre quickly moved on to the next person. One by one, he worked his way through the crowd, and one by one, the distinguishing marks of the human mages disappeared. We may look a little like faeries, but we most certainly aren't! Duo thought, watching another transformation. He should know, he'd lived with one faery clan for several years. The true faeries had iridescent wings sprouting out of their back, pale blue or lavender skin, and rarely grew over three feet tall. He hadn't been much taller, himself, at the time. The faeries were also irrevocably bound to their homes, their forests, and could never leave them. In return, they had forest-magic to defend themselves. And the faeries lived a very long time, if there weren't any accidents.
Accidents... yeah. Their first mistake was in giving me shelter at all. I kill everyone I'm close to... Duo renewed his personal promise that as soon as he could, he'd leave. He didn't want to kill anyone else.
It was almost dawn before Quatre had finished. Towards the end, people started drifting off in twos and threes and tens. They'd been making plans while Quatre worked. Some had homes that they thought they could return to, and offered sanctuary to a few others. Others knew of old friends who could help them get a start. One was actually the younger son of a wealthy landowner, and took over a dozen with him, confident that he could find places for all of them, at least temporarily.
Duo noticed that although everyone thanked Quatre profusely, all but a few avoided actually touching him, and a few refused to make eye contact, either. Duo saw the pain in Quatre's eyes when that happened, and clenched his fists. Lousy ungrateful jerks. He just risked his life to free them, he waited all this time when he could have left at any time, and they won't even shake his hand.
Finally only the five of them were left. Quatre reached with shaking hands for the last of the pendants. "Come on," he said wearily. "There's just the five of us left." He glanced at Trowa, and then frowned, concentrating on the crystal in his hand. After a minute he stopped mumbling and handed the pendant to Trowa. "Here," he murmured. By now his hands were shaking so badly that it would have taken a fool not to notice it.
Trowa grasped the pendant, then grabbed Quatre's wrist with his other hand. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm just a little tired," Quatre said, snatching his arm back. "Putting spells in crystals is harder than just normal illusions. You have to put... a lot more into them. It's fine, I'll be all right." He smiled weakly. "You know, I've never been tired before. This is kind of weird." He reached for another pendant, but Trowa grasped his arm.
"No. Stop now. You can wait a few hours, rest, and finish later."
"No!" Quatre exclaimed. "I've got to finish this!" He snatched up another pendant before Trowa could do anything to stop him. Duo remembered the one time he'd seen a mage cast a spell into a stone - the mage had been unconscious for weeks afterwards. There had been over a hundred prisoners...
Quatre did manage to finish making pendants for all of them, but when he finished he was so weak he could barely walk. "I'll be fine," he tried to tell them, but when his legs collapsed out from under him, Trowa and Wufei supported him from either side and carried him to a log to sit down. "What do we do now?" Trowa asked quietly of the group in general.
"We can't do anything until he's healed," Heero said matter-of-factly. He glanced around. "Do any of you have any sort of special healing powers?" he asked.
They all shook their heads. Not unless you want him dead, Duo added mentally.
Heero frowned furiously, as if this was somehow their fault, then bent by Quatre's side. Trowa grabbed his arm, and then he held out a glowing hand and passed it over Quatre's body. Quatre's eyes flickered open as Trowa collapsed across his lap. "Not again!" he cried, and his entire body lit up again. He wrapped his arms around Trowa's arms and chest. "Stop doing that for me!" he demanded as Trowa shook his head slightly and woke up. He stiffened, and Quatre let go of him.
"Quatre, can you walk?" Heero asked. "We need to get farther away from the compound. They'll be discovering that we escaped soon."
Quatre nodded, then gestured, and they all disappeared again. Duo heard Heero's surprised grunt.
"Hey, where are we going, anyway?" Duo complained. He'd just stick with them for a little while, until he was sure they'd survive on their own. No one knew the streets like he did - they might be helpless out in the real world. It was possible. Maybe.
"I... we have to go north," Quatre said. "Can't you feel it? It's like we were waiting for you to arrive before we could leave the compound. The five of us have something very important that we have to do, and we have to go north to do it."
"Do what? Fight off Treize's mysterious threat?" Duo said sarcastically.
"He did some very evil things," Quatre said quietly. "But he wasn't lying about those prophecies. There's something big coming, and we're all tied up in it somehow."
"Fine, whatever. If it makes you happy... north it is!" Duo agreed, although he had the same drive that Quatre had described, pulling him north. He doubted he could go anywhere else right now, not with the damn buzzing in his brain...
Damn it, I want to be moving away from these guys, not with them! Everyone near me gets killed sooner or later! How am I going to avoid that if we have to go somewhere together because of what... what the hell is this anyhow? I don't believe all that crap about prophesies... do I?