Zechs watched the five of them walk up the Crystal, place their hands on it's surface - he shuddered at the very thought of what he'd feel if he tried that - and then there was a brilliant flash of light. When his eyes cleared, the five of them were still standing there in the exact same position they'd been, but there were now huge wings protruding from each of their backs. In his shock it took him several seconds to realize that the feeling of aversion that had him pressed up against the wall in an attempt to get away from it was gone. For the first time in his memory, the Crystal was nothing more than a large chunk of crystal, a stone capable of holding spells and no more.
Carefully avoiding Heero's huge white wings, Zechs stepped up to the crystal and lay a hand on it's surface. If he had tried this earlier (if he'd been able to try it) it would have killed him. Now he felt... nothing, no power, no intelligence, nothing.
"They're gone," Quatre said quietly, removing his hands. He twisted his head to look at the glowing wings that rose up behind him. "I wasn't sure if the wings actually existed, or if they were just a symbol of the transference of power. I guess they actually are physical. We're going to have to hide them." He turned his faced forward again, a determined look on his face. Behind him, the wings came down and flattened themselves against his back and legs. For a moment there was a bright shimmer of light all around him, then the wings were... absorbed into his back. A soft sound, a cross between a gasp and a hiss, escaped his lips, and then there was silence as the light died down and Quatre stood there, outwardly unchanged from when he'd walked into the room a few moments ago.
A few moments to him, perhaps, but Zechs could see that it had obviously been a lot longer for them. It was then that Quatre's comment hit him. "Who's gone?" he asked, feeling as if he'd missed something. A lot of somethings.
"The... ones who came before us. They've passed on, and the shield is breaking down. It will fall within a year, maybe less." The words were spoken calmly, with no hint of emotion or fear. Quatre was speaking about the attack, about the possible end of the world in the same tone he'd use to discuss the weather during a tea party. "They gave us their powers, and their memories. We are as prepared as we can be for such things," Quatre continued as the others withdrew their wings into their bodies. "I may need the assistance of the mages alive today when the enemy comes. Until then we can do nothing but wait and practice."
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Treize resisted the urge to glare at the report in front of him. He'd thought that once he knew where they were, once they were pinned down, it was only a matter of time until he had them again. But they'd been hiding in her palace for over two months now, with no sign that they ever intended to leave. He knew they would have to, eventually, but he wanted them before the attack came! If he didn't have them in his power by then, he'd be left on the sidelines.
He'd asked Une to do a mage-scan of the palace, and the report of that scan was on his desk. It was that report that had made him so angry. According to Une, there were very high amounts of magical energy being used inside the castle. Very high. Incredibly high. As Une had put it, any one of the emissions she was sensing was more powerful than the combined magic power of every mage he'd ever seen. Somehow they'd learned to tap their true potential, and now they were wasting it. A horrible thought occurred to him - that they might not even be *using* their power. What Une could be seeing could just be them walking around the palace, eating and sleeping and breathing. They probably weren't even at full potential yet. The thought was maddening.
It wasn't just the five, either. Treize was discovering that he never seemed to understand the prophecies until it was too late. He'd realized just *after* they escaped that he had held the five as he deduced their real names from the names the prophets gave them. Now that they were out of reach, he'd figured out who the Peaceful Girl and the Disinherited were, again too late to position his men to catch them. The Peaceful girl was obviously Queen Relena, who was definitely still a child and seemed intent on continuing her family's pacifist ways. The Disinherited was even more obvious, and thus more frustrating for him, since he'd practically given Milliardo the title, by driving him out of his position, his inheritance. If he'd been able to figure out either one of them, he would have put far more of his troops in Sank, and he would have had them by now.
He still didn't know who the Faithful Followers were, nor the Seeker. Some of the Seeker's followers were also appearing in the prophecies, the Devoted, and the Fighter, whoever they were. Treize was beginning to think that this was some sort of huge joke being played on him by the Fates.
He thought about it for several minutes, then thought he could find a way to force their hands. Calling for a page, he began to mentally compose a letter to Lord Winner, asking him to send his daughters (only some of them - gods, there were quite a few!) on a diplomatic mission to Sank. When Quatre saw his family... well, at best it would draw him out into the open, at worst it would cause him pain, be a distraction.
As he waited for the page to arrive, he looked through another prophecy, another new one. Perhaps this one would have the answers he sought.
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"All right, lets try this again," Quatre said for the eighth time that afternoon, hanging onto his temper with his fingernails. "We need to be able to combine our powers, not just use them at the same time, and we can't leave the palace until we succeed!" There was no guarantee after they left the palace that they'd be able to find a place where it was safe to practice like this. At least here, they could get Relena to order them not to be disturbed, and Zechs could shield them if anything went terribly wrong.
Since they emerged (figuratively) from the crystal, they'd been going through the memories that their predecessors had given them, trying out their various skills one by one. They'd discovered that there was a very large step between having the memories of using their powers, and actually being able to use those powers themselves. It was like having a very detailed instruction manual, but they still had to figure it out on their own, which was usually not as easy as it sounded.
They'd spent all morning and the three hours since lunch trying to figure out one of their predecessors' more difficult tricks - literally combining their power. It was one thing to fight together - that was easy - but to actually combine their powers so that it was being controlled, not by five different minds, but a sort of amalgamation of all. And it wasn't working.
They were all too different, too stubborn, too individual, himself included, Quatre thought moodily. They were all very strong individuals, and rejected the idea of giving that up to a combined consciousness, even if they did trust each other, mostly. They'd been trying for hours now, but one or another would shudder and pull away, bringing all the massed power down on the head of whoever had the unfortunate luck to be in the focus at that instant. More often then not, it was Quatre. For some reason, the others trusted him more than each other, so most of the time, when they could get themselves to give themselves over to the merge, he ended up the focus. There was only so many times that enough energy to flatten half of the Sank kingdom could come crashing down on your head before it gave you a headache, no matter who you were. Quatre felt like he'd stuck his brain out in a sandstorm to have it scoured.
"We almost had it that time," Duo said, rubbing his head wearily, and Quatre barely managed to keep himself from snarling at Duo. It was Duo who'd dropped out last time, and he'd only been the focus once or twice. Quatre was approaching three dozen times. "Sorry, guys," he apologized with a sheepish grin, looking at Quatre. "I lost my concentration."
Well, that was a little bit of improvement, maybe. At least he wasn't pulling out because he was afraid of being hurt anymore. That had been the problem for the longest time. Apparently he had a very deep-buried fear that anyone he reached out to would be taken away, killed, and would consequently hurt him again. It was something Quatre could understand (intellectually, at least), but he wished that Duo had mentioned this fact before he brought the link crashing down on Quatre's head a dozen times or more. By the time he finally admitted it, Quatre was in no mood to help him get it out of his system.
Surprisingly enough, it was Heero who took Duo aside and talked (or let Duo talk) until Duo was willing to try again. That on it's own had taken almost an hour. Quatre was very curious as to what Heero had said, at the sudden interest he was showing in Duo, but didn't feel that it was right for him to pry.
At least, he'd been curious about it six hours ago, before the stupid link was dropped on his head a dozen more times. The fact that it had been his own fault at least three of those times wasn't helping.
"Maybe we should take a break," Quatre suggested with the most politeness he could manage. "We're all getting tired..." The last three times it had collapsed, not because of a personality problem, but because they were too tired to focus properly. "Maybe if we rest for an hour or two we'll be able to focus better, and get it then." Maybe two hours would be enough for his head to stop throbbing. He had learned, to his dismay, that magic healing did nothing for magic-induced headaches, usually caused from backlash or overuse of powers. Right now he had a bad case of both.
"No, can we try it one more time, please?" Duo asked, turning those huge blue-violet eyes on Quatre. Even by the standards of a mage, his eyes were very large. "I'm sure we can get it this time. If we don't get it that time, we can quit until tomorrow, kay?" He had his most hopeful expression on his face, but it was his comment that caught Quatre's attention.
Tomorrow? Quatre turned from where he'd been sitting in the middle of one of Relena's gardens and looked over the edge of the walls of the castle, where the setting sun was just barely visible, a mere slit above the wall. I guess we've been at this longer than I thought, he thought, feeling a little stupid. Maybe if the imps in his skull would stop banging their sledgehammers he could concentrate on something...
"All right," he agreed with a weary sigh, not so much because of Duo's pleading eyes as because of the fact that he didn't have the energy to argue right now. "Let's do it. One more time," he said without any real hope that it would work. Contrary to popular belief, he did get grumpy from time to time, and he did have a temper, he just took longer to get to both than his companions, and when he reached that point, he usually hid it under a polite front.
Sometimes he was astonished by their... well, naiveté was not the word he'd use to describe any of them, ever, but it was the first word that came to mind. They'd all lived such a rough existence that with the possible exception of Wufei, they didn't understand that just because a person continued to smile and act as if they cared didn't mean that they weren't thinking, that they were weak and full of emotion. Quatre had grown up among people who would smile at each other over tea and chat while arranging each others' assassinations. It was one of the reasons he was glad to be out of the line of succession - if he'd still been at home, he would be dealing with those people every day, and the attacks would become more and more cruel (verbal attacks) or deadly (physical attacks) as he approached his majority.
His mind was drifting, a sure sign that he was exhausted. Quatre reminded himself that although he was polite, it wasn't because of a hidden agenda. Hypocrisy always drove him crazy (it always had), so he was probably the only diplomat they'd ever meet who really did show what he was thinking (most of the time), and whose emotions were genuine. Quatre had promised himself when he was very young that he would never allow himself to become one of those hypocritical bastards his father cursed about...
His mind was drifting again. The spell. They were all looking at him to start it again. With difficulty, he pushed himself into the half-trance necessary for the spell. Then he quietly gathered his energy and launched it out of his body, holding it ready. He was, as usual, the focus. The others would have to match their energies to his, and to each others, while he held the entire mess together. And, when it collapsed (as he was almost certain it would) it would come crashing down on him. Again. He barely managed to catch that thought and shove it back into the depths of his mind. If there was one thing he knew about magic of this level, it was that thinking really did make it happen. If he thought that it wouldn't work, that would screw up the link before the others even started.
He 'watched' with his eyes closed as Trowa threw his energy out of body, merging it with Quatre's almost effortlessly. Even though he'd seen it dozens of times today, it still made Quatre smile to see how willingly Trowa surrendered his privacy to Quatre. It was a sign of trust, a large one, and Quatre understood that. Trowa still had trouble merging with the others. Wufei came up next, merging first with Quatre, then, much more slowly, with Trowa. Quatre continued to watch. His part at this juncture was mostly passive - it was up to the others to come, and all he had to do was hold the focus and keep his mind open enough for the meld.
Next Heero came. Quatre didn't know why they chose this order - they'd been playing around with it all day, switching in and out. That was how they'd ended up with other people being the focus the few times that had happened - none of them knew exactly how this worked (neither had their predecessors), so they didn't know the best way to make it work. But the few times that the others had tried to be the focus, they couldn't get more than one, maybe two others in before the whole thing collapsed. Apparently Quatre was the only one who could hold the focus. Before he was so tired, he'd wondered why that was, if it was him personally, or something having to do with his power. He suspected the first, because Gente hadn't held the focus most of the time, for the other group. That made him wonder what he'd done to be so lucky.
Heero somehow managed to merge with them with few problems, although it took a very long time. By then, Quatre was beginning to really feel the merge. He could see how worried Trowa was - about him. There was a small rock digging into Wufei's right thigh. Heero was focused on 'the mission' with the same intensity that he gave every task he set out to accomplish, but there was a small part of his mind that was looking at something else. Someone else. Duo.
Quatre realized what he was looking at, and hastily pulled as far back into himself as he could without breaking the merge. It was one thing to be experiencing what the others' bodies were feeling, quite another thing to look into the most intimate depths of someone's mind. They had to have some sort of privacy, or else they'd never be able to maintain this. Hence the reason for his hasty retreat, to say nothing of how uncomfortable he felt at finding himself intruding like that.
One of the first things they'd discovered when they came back and started experimenting was that Quatre's mental strength, in terms of mind reading and *mind control*, far exceeded any of the others. Despite all of their powers, he could reach into their minds and look at their thoughts at will, and even take over their bodies, although that was more of an effort. It was the sort of power that people like Treize Khushrenada would love to have - he could control thousands with his power, and if he did it right, they'd never even realize they were being controlled. Quatre was not happy about that.
Heero was still the most outwardly powerful. He'd entertained himself for a few days by practicing throwing those energy-balls of his at some of the older, falling-down parts of Relena's palace that she said she was planning on having torn down in the spring anyway. By the time he'd finished, she didn't need to have that area torn down in the spring, she could just start rebuilding. It also had the added benefit of making Relena rather... uncomfortable around Heero, which meant that she stopped following him around, or at least not as much as before.
Duo could cast illusions better than Quatre, sometimes they were even solid to the touch. Quatre wasn't sure who was more surprised by this, himself or Duo. Duo had immediately decided that he liked that power, and started a campaign to (in his words) 'get a rise out of Heero.' Most often this campaign took the form of rather crude practical jokes. Heero took this in stride, mostly, until Duo created a *very* realistic illusion of someone sneaking into Heero's room while Heero was asleep. Heero vaporized most of the contents of the room while he was still clawing his way out of sleep, and just barely managed to avoid killing an old servant who happened to be outside his door at the time. He only avoided that because he sensed him at the last moment and threw up a shield around him, so the destructive energy didn't touch him, although Heero took care of most of the decorations in the hall, too. After that Duo toned down his tricks *a lot*. It might have had something to do with the 'discussions' he had with Heero, Trowa, and Wufei. In that order. After that line-up, Quatre didn't feel the need to put his two cents in. In any case, Duo kept his tricks to verbal, mostly, after that. And maybe he did succeed in getting through to Heero, a little. Quatre had seen them talking (well, Duo talking) more than once, off in some dusty corner where they thought no one could find them.
Trowa had become... aware. There was no better way to put it. Duo's illusions, no matter how skillfully they were constructed, never fooled Trowa. He'd confessed to Quatre that he always knew where the others were and what they were doing, and that he was feeling other things, farther out, deep into the Earth. And he was having... well, they seemed like nightmares, but they both thought that it was a lot more than that. Something closer to prophetic visions, although they both hesitated to label the... occurrences as such, because he wasn't seeing pleasant things, most of the time. Quatre didn't know what to do, and was ashamed of himself, because the very rational, very pragmatic part of himself that he didn't like to admit was there was moving forward a full speed, figuring out the various ways that he could use the information Trowa now had. They needed all the information they could find, from any source... even if it was causing his love distress.
He wasn't sure how he felt about that. He loved being with Trowa, and for him (so far at least) just sitting with him and talking (or not) was more than enough. He knew that Trowa felt the same way, but this whole thing with the prophetic dreams was bothering both of them, Trowa because of what he saw, and Quatre because of what he saw in Trowa, and in himself... but they had to win.
Wufei was now practicing spells of such intricacy that if he were to try casting them, Quatre couldn't even imagine where to begin, much less how Wufei was actually doing it. He was making the spelled-mirror Treize had look like child's play, and that was the most complicated spell Quatre had ever seen, before all this started. He could do some pretty complicated spells himself, but nothing on the level that Wufei was doing with considerable ease.
Quatre desperately pulled his attention back to the spell as his control began to slip as his mind wandered. He braced himself as he 'saw' Duo gather up his energy, and barely managed not to flinch as Duo threw it at their group. He waited for the shattering of concentration, the brilliant flash of light and then the pain as all of their combined power lashed back at him. He felt Duo's consciousness join them... then came the expected flash of light... then... a brilliant glow all around them as Duo's power meshed perfectly with their own.
Quatre's physical body stiffened as the rush of energy hit him, and he was acutely aware of the others doing the same. Then there was calm, and incredible power at his disposal, more than he could ever have imagined. No, not at his disposal, at their disposal, because he was now fully in the bond. It had just come out as 'him' because he was so closely linked with them that he was having trouble distinguishing between himself and the others. Then the reality of the situation finally hit him. :We did it!: he crowed in triumph.
:See, I told you we could do it!: Duo said smugly.
:You didn't tell us how much pain you were in,: Trowa said to Quatre.
:It's nothing, really. I'm just glad that we finally did it.:
:We will have to do it again and again, until it becomes easy,: Wufei pointed out.
:Oh, come on, Wufei!: Duo scolded. :Even you're allowed to celebrate a little right now. And can you move? That stupid pebble in your thigh is driving me crazy.:
:Kisama!:
Quatre was amused by how Wufei's accent came through quite clearly even when they were completely immersed in each others' minds.
:So, what do we want to do?: Duo asked.
:What do you mean?: Quatre asked, and as soon as he asked, he knew the answer, which was provided by Duo's mind. :You want to cast a spell?!: he asked, more than a little alarmed. If they lost their concentration now, this was all going to drop back on his head again.
:We'll try something simple,: Duo promised him.
:This is a lot of power,: Heero warned them both.
Quatre took another look at their link, and realized that between the five of them, they had enough energy to completely tear the world apart, destroy everything. Their massed power was incredible, and much more than just the sum of all of their energies apart. They could very easily destroy the world. The thought was frightening, and Quatre clamped down on it as fast as he could, afraid that he might think the end of the world into existence without meaning to. He was too late to keep the others from seeing the thought, though.
:Yeah, we could do a lot of damage,: Duo said soberly, then his usual exuberance returned. :But we have to try something out. We need to be able to use all this power, not just throw it into a pile together.:
:Maybe we could start with something small,: Trowa suggested quietly. :A simple spying spell, for example.:
:Fine! Who do we want to look at?:
There was a moment of silence. None of them had any outside ties left, after their first imprisonment, flight, and virtual imprisonment in the castle. Quatre knew that he could ask to see his father, but he didn't know if he could take that right now. He suspected that that was also the reason that Duo didn't ask to see the faeries, or Trowa to see the circus. Wufei's entire clan was dead, and Heero had never had anyone.
:How about Treize?: Quatre finally suggested. He was nominally their enemy right now, and he had some sort of mage shield over him that had stopped Quatre's last attempt to look in on him.
The others picked his reasons from his mind. :I like it,: Duo said, and Quatre could practically feel him grinning. :Who casts the spell?:
:We all do,: Quatre reminded him. :But I guess I can do the actual incantation myself.:
:No need,: Wufei said, and suddenly their combined consciousness was flying through the walls of the castle, picking up speed as they flew over the capital. In mere seconds they were at Treize's castle, where they slowed momentarily before picking up speed again as they flew through the walls of Treize's castle, finally ending up in a spacious and elegantly furnished room.
:Damn it, Wufei! Give me some warning before you do that!: Duo hollered, and Quatre felt Wufei's satisfaction, combined with... was Heero in on it? Quatre tried to imagine Heero playing a joke of any kind and failed. Then he saw what was in front of them and dropped that line of thought.
Treize sat at a desk, looking through his papers, dictating something to one of his Hunters, a woman named Une who was fanatically devoted to Treize. Now that he was looking for it, Quatre saw the shimmer of energy around Treize that indicated he was covered by an illusion. :He's cloaked in an illusion,: Quatre observed.
:So is she,: Trowa said quietly.
Quatre looked and saw that he was right. Who would have guessed that the king of Oz and his right-hand man (woman) would both be mages? Then Quatre remembered something. :How did we get through the shields?: he asked Wufei.
:We slid through them. If you want specifics, ask me later.:
:Why are we just watching them?: Duo asked.
:What do you want to do, kill them?: Wufei asked. They all knew that none of them could stomach that, not even Heero. Not yet. The specter of their predecessors - what had happened to them, what they were forced to become - haunted them all.
:How about we shatter those illusions?: Duo suggested in a wicked voice. :We wait until he's in a meeting with as many of his assistants and nobles as we can find, and then we shatter them in front of them.:
:No!: Quatre cried, alarmed.
:Why not?! You like Treize?:
:You know how I feel about that, but if you do that to him, there will be a civil war to determine who takes the throne. The traditional rules of succession will be thrown out and whoever is strongest will end up on the throne, but not until after the bloody war. Who do you think will suffer?:
:The people,: Duo said with a sigh. He wasn't stupid. :Sorry, Quatre, you're right. How about if we just shatter them now? It won't do anything, but it might make him nervous.:
:I have no problems with that.:
:Good. You take his Lowness, I'll take the bitch.:
Quatre ignored the crudity, focusing his (their) energy on Treize's crystal pendant. He heard Duo count down in their mind(s), and at the appropriate time, he *squeezed*. The crystal shattered loudly, and the illusion shimmered, then disappeared. Quatre got his first good look at the true face of the man who had hunted them for so long. He looked almost the same - he'd always looked long, now he was simply a little longer, with the large eyes and pointed ears of mages. Hard to believe that one of their own had done so much harm to them.
:Not one of ours,: Trowa corrected him. :One of ours never could have done such a thing.:
Treize knew immediately when they attacked him. It would have been a little difficult to miss the shattering crystal. The shards fell into his lap as he suddenly sat up completely straight, eyes opened wide. He stared at Une, who was also unmasked now and held one of the fragments of the shattered crystal in her hands. She gazed at it silently for a moment, in which time Quatre observed someone distractedly that her face was somewhat rounder than most mages.
A second later her head snapped up and she was looking around, an angry glare on her face. She'd been the one who captured Trowa, Quatre suddenly remembered a memory fragment that belonged in Trowa's head. Fighting off the Hunters... Trowa had killed eight of them before Une got smart, and grabbed Catherine. Trowa couldn't stand to have the first person to treat him like a real person hurt, so he immediately surrendered himself. The Hunters hadn't been happy about him killing so many of them, and were very brutal when they finally got their hands on him. Then came the collar...
Quatre jerked his mind out of the memory. Madness was not pretty, and he had no desire to experience someone else's madness through their memories. He remembered it himself - he was the one who'd brought Trowa out of that insanity in the first place, and he'd gotten enough glimpses of Trowa's mind in that time to last a lifetime.
:You looked.: There was no accusation in Trowa's voice, but that didn't mean that he didn't feel anything. Quatre could feel him - he was upset, feeling somewhat betrayed. No, not betrayed - he knew that Quatre hadn't done it on purpose, but he was feeling, uncomfortable, vulnerable, with his memories so open to his love. Quatre never wanted to make Trowa feel that way.
:I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I just recognized Une from...: Quatre trailed off, realizing that he was probably making the situation worse. :I'm sorry. If you ever want to see one of mine...:
:It's all right. I understand. Thank you for the gesture.: Trowa paused reflectively. :I may hold you to that.: Now there was a hint of curiosity in his voice, which surprised Quatre. After all of their talks, he had thought that Trowa knew about every aspect of his life, including all of his embarrassing stories from when he was a child. Quatre's knowledge of Trowa was much less thorough. Talking about his past was often painful for Trowa, so Quatre didn't pry. He listened very carefully when Trowa did feel like talking, but didn't push. He wondered what Trowa was thinking, but carefully kept himself from unintentionally finding out the answer to that question.
Treize also was looking around as he slowly stood up, but there was no expression on his face. After a minute or so, he looked directly at them.
:Does he see us?: Quatre asked, wanting to draw back, but the majority of the minds in the merger didn't, so they didn't move.
:Impossible, right, Wu-man?: Duo didn't sound so certain.
:My name is Wufei,: Wufei corrected him. :And it's possible, I believe. But if he can, he's far more powerful than we realized. He's far more powerful than he should be.: They all knew what he was talking about - the mages of today were pitifully weak compared with the mages they now remembered, thanks to their predecessors' memories. Wufei was saying that it would take a mage the caliber of one of the ancient ones to see them now.
"I know you're there," Treize said in a conversational tone.
:How could he be that powerful?: Quatre asked, doing his best to ignore Treize. :I thought that the powerful mages wouldn't start to show up for a year or two.:
:Maybe he's just early,: Duo suggested hopefully, although his tone suggested he didn't believe it.
:It couldn't happen,: Wufei said firmly.
:So is he... like us?: Quatre asked nervously.
"You know, it's very rude to spy on people," Treize continued in that same pleasant tone.
:Let's get out of here,: Duo said, and they all agreed. In a few seconds they were back in Relena's castle.
Quatre felt Duo withdrawing before he realized what was happening. Too late, he shouted, :No, we have to do this a special...: Quatre got cut off as Duo withdrew completely, collapsing the merge and once again dumping all of that energy on top of Quatre.
He wasn't sure whether it was because he was tired, or because of the number of times he got hit before, or because there was just more energy this time, but it seemed to him that his head hurt a lot more this time. That was his last thought before he blacked out.
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"Quatre!" Trowa cried, dropping out of the link, a tortured expression on his face. He barely managed to catch Quatre as he slumped to the ground, then turned a glare on Duo, who had a horrified expression on his face. It was the most emotion Heero had ever seen Trowa show, and right now he looked like he was going to kill Duo. They needed him alive to defend the world. Heero stood up and put his body between Trowa and Duo.
"What happened?" Zechs asked, running over. "I had the shield up, but something passed through it anyway. And... what's wrong with Quatre?"
"I... oh, man, I fucked up," Duo said, practically distraught. "I didn't realize..."
"Come on, let's get him to his room," Zechs said to Trowa, who picked up the unconscious Quatre and suddenly vanished. Zechs froze, startled by the sudden action, then with a final glance at Duo, strode off in the direction of Quatre's room.
For his part, Wufei cast a disapproving glance in Duo's direction before striding off in the direction of one of the guard's training rooms, his sword materializing in his hand as he walked. Duo watched him walk away with an expression of pure horror on his face. He turned to look at Heero.
"Heero, I didn't mean to do that..." Duo started, then trailed off, his face going hard and closed-in. 'Never mind." He sighed and turned his back, staring at the blank wall.
Heero stared, not liking what he was seeing, but unsure of what to do. Duo spent so much of his time acting like an idiot that it was easy to forget that he was powerful, dangerous... like Heero, he had fought and killed for years without his magic, although for different reasons, but he taught himself. It was easy to forget that his mind was an equal of any of theirs, that he'd practically taught himself Wufei's language in the months they'd been together despite having a less-than-enthusiastic teacher in Wufei. It was so seldom that he let what he really felt show that it was very easy to forget.
But not now. There was nothing playful about Duo now. In fact, he looked very, very dangerous. Heero reached out towards his thoughts.
He wasn't as good at this as Quatre, but he had a feeling that Duo wasn't really working on shielding his thoughts, and Heero had to know what was going on in his head. Duo had to stay with them, had to remain functional. The survival of the world depended on it.
Deep in the recesses of his mind, there was something that he didn't want to acknowledge, something that had to help Duo, not because they needed Duo for the mission, but because it made that part of him... uncomfortable... to see Duo hurting. It was getting harder and harder to push that part of his mind aside, to ignore it. He didn't know what that meant, didn't know how to deal with it, and that made him even more... uncomfortable. Upset, even.
He was right - Duo wasn't guarding his thoughts. For a moment he was staggered by the anger, darkness, and self-hatred in Duo's mind. How could Duo, the most friendly and out-going of them all, the one who made himself everyone's friend whether they wanted it or not, how could he hate himself so much? And there was such darkness - it was all self-imposed, Heero realized after a moment's examination. Duo wasn't evil, but he viewed himself as... no, that wasn't right. He didn't think he was evil, but he thought that he was cursed. Everything he loved died, and that's where the blackness came from. And there was something else... a word that Heero didn't recognize.
"Shinigami," he murmured out loud, trying to remember if he'd ever heard the word before. It sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't remember from where.
Duo suddenly stiffened and spun to face Heero as he heard the half-whispered word. For a moment there was a heartbroken, horrified, sad look in his eyes, then Duo closed them and turned his head away. "You fucking bastard," he said in a low voice. "You... fucking... you looked into my mind without my permission. How... how dare you?!" he demanded, his voice rising on every word, a finger pointed accusingly at Heero.
"What does it mean? And why's it in your head?" Heero asked.
Duo stared at him in complete disbelief for a minute, then started chuckling to himself. There was more than a hint of hysteria in the sound. He shook his head. "Were you born like this, Heero? Or is this something that's developed naturally over time?"
Heero considered the question, realized that Duo was talking about the fact that he'd ignored Duo's words to follow up on his objective, which was currently to find out what 'Shinigami' was. "No. Trained into me."
Duo snorted softly. "Figures." He started to walk away.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm leaving before I kill someone. Don't worry, I'll be around when the attack comes. But I knocked Quatre unconscious today, tomorrow it will be something worse. I can't let that happen."
Heero felt something inside him that was not connected to the mission. "No!" The word burst out of him before he could stop himself.
Duo hesitated.
Heero forced himself to calm down, fought for control. "What's Shinigami?" he asked. Somehow he knew that the word was very, very important. He needed to know what it meant, in order to understand Duo.
"Why the fuck should I tell you?" Duo asked angrily. "You looked in my brain!"
Heero hesitated. "Please."
Duo stared at him as if he'd grown a second head. "Never thought I'd see the day," he muttered to himself. "Fine. What the hell! It's my secret name. My real name."
Heero frowned. "What's that?"
Duo let out a bark of bitter laughter. "Sometimes humans are so ignorant it's frightening," he muttered. "A secret name is the name that is yours the moment you're born. It's the way the stars and the gods and everything else that matters identify you. If a person finds out another's secret name, they can have a great deal of power over them. All faeries go through a... a ritual, to find their secret names. I participated in one, and that's it. That's how the universe knows me." His voice was very bitter now.
"What does it mean?"
"I didn't know, not until very recently. That's the difference between the younglings and the elders, you know. The younglings are satisfied, happy, knowing just that they have a place in the universe. When that isn't enough, they start to become elders... searching for the meaning of their names. When they find the meaning, then they're elders. I always wondered, but it never seemed important enough until recently."
"What does it mean?"
"Ask Wufei, it's from his language. That's how I learned it."
:Wufei?: Heero asked immediately.
:What?: Wufei sounded impatient, distracted.
:What does Shinigami mean?:
:Shinigami is the god of death in my culture.:
Heero broke off contact. "The god of death?" he asked.
"Yeah. Great name for the universe to pick for me. It fits. Can I leave now?" he asked sarcastically.
"No."
"No? What now, Heero? Do you want to hear a list of all the people I've killed? Or better yet, all the people who've died because of me? We can start with Solo and work our way through all the faeries, it would be more painful," he snarled.
"I... don't want to hurt you."
That caught Duo by surprise. After a few seconds, he said, "I don't want to hurt you either. That's why I have to go."
"No."
"Now what?!"
"It wasn't your fault."
Duo snorted his opinion of that assessment.
"I mean it wasn't only your fault. All of us played a part. We've been working on this all day. We all knew that Quatre had to hold the focus, and that he's been it all day. We knew that every time we failed, it dumped more energy on him. Trowa told me he was keeping an eye on Quatre, and he should have noticed how tired and stressed Quatre was. We were all in the link together, and none of us thought to check on Quatre. With our sensitivity, we should have noticed how tired he was." This was hard for Heero - he was angry with himself, he hated the thought that he'd failed that way, but it was inescapable.
Duo frowned slightly, which meant that his mind was back into working condition, and he was no longer concentrating on how everyone he loved died. "That doesn't make sense. We were completely merged. We should have felt something."
Heero nodded. "Which means it's also Quatre's fault, because he was hiding it from us. He must have known how tired he was, and he was concealing that information. You may have gotten sloppy at the end and tipped the balance, but we all made mistakes. There is the possibility that no matter what we did, Quatre would have collapsed, depending on what his actual condition was. You are not completely responsible, and this doesn't mean that Quatre is going to die because you're here. Your absence could cause his death just as easily, if for some reason we need you and you're not around."
Duo stared at him, then transferred his gaze to the ground. "Heero, I think that's the most I've ever heard you say at one time."
"Hn."
Duo grinned at him. "That's more like it." He became serious again. "No, seriously, Heero. Why are you doing this?" he asked uncertainly.
"Baka," Heero responded automatically. "I wanted you to stay..." he cut himself off. Why was it so important to him that Duo stay with them? With him? With me? What am I thinking? What the hell is wrong with me? He examined the... things he was feeling, and discovered that he cared whether Duo was near, and not just because of the mission. And it made him... sad, upset, when Duo was upset.
"Why?" Duo pressed.
"Because I..." Heero swallowed. He wasn't sure what he was feeling, if he was feeling anything. He didn't know how to deal with this. All he knew about was completing his missions, killing people. This was a lot harder. "Because I... care about you. And I... I don't want you upset. And you are not cursed," he said firmly, regaining his mental footing as he retreated into more familiar ground. "There is no logical reason to think that you staying with me... us will cause us to be killed."
"You... care about me?" Duo asked, and something in his face made Heero wonder if he'd heard anything after that statement.
Heero nodded affirmatively.
Duo took a step closer. "I... Heero, please don't kill me, I just wanted to do this for a long time," he said in a rush, and then leaned forward, his lips brushing against Heero's. The contact lasted for several seconds before Duo pulled back. He had one hand on his knife, Heero noted, as if he thought he'd have to protect himself. Heero didn't tell him that if he was planning to kill Duo, he would have done it the moment Duo touched him. He'd had his hand on his knife, was ready to drive it up into Duo's chest before he realized what he was doing. He barely managed to arrest the automatic reaction so that he could think.
Then he realized that there were two reasons that he wouldn't kill Duo. The first was that Duo was needed to protect the world. The second reason was that he was enjoying the sensation of Duo's lips touching his own.
That shocked him more than anything else, and he actually reached up to touch his own lips after Duo backed off, to see if... he wasn't quite sure why he did it. But he did like the feeling. He had so few emotions that when he felt one, he always acted on it, he always had. So after a few seconds he leaned forward and carefully pressed his lips to Duo's again, this time concentrating on the sensation, so he could examine it more carefully. It was definitely a pleasurable experience, and almost as satisfying was the look on Duo's face when he finally pulled back. Duo's eyes took up fully half of his face as he stared at Heero.
"Ah, Heero, sorry, but I have to ask you this. Did you get really drunk last night or something? Cause..." Duo cut himself off, shaking his head, but at what Heero didn't know. He was about to ask when Trowa's voice spoke into his mind.
:Quatre's awake. He'll be fine in a day or two.:
:I can't feel him,: Heero observed.
:He burned himself out.: There was definite disapproval in Trowa's voice. :He was hiding how tired he really was. I've already talked to him about it. He wants to talk to Duo.:
:I'll bring him.: Heero cut off contact. "Did you hear?"
Duo nodded nervously - the joker wasn't back all the way yet. "Why do you think he wants to talk to me?"
"Ask him," Heero said shortly, grabbing onto Duo's braid, which provided a very tempting target for dragging him around. He'd suggested a few times that Duo should cut it off - it couldn't help him in battle, but Duo had refused. After he demonstrated to Heero the number of different weapons and tools that Duo could hide in his braid, he decided it might have a practical purpose after all.
"Yeow! Heero, leggo!" Duo shouted, stumbling after Heero and sounding a lot more like himself.
---------------------------------
Duo continued to yell as Heero dragged him by his braid up to Quatre's room. His mind was busy on other things right now. He'd half-expected Heero to respond to his kiss with a knife to the gut (although he'd probably have healed Duo immediately after). If not actually a knife, then at least Heero would have done something painful (if not damaging) to him. Nowhere on his list of possible reactions was Heero kissing him back ever listed.
He never actually thought he'd get up the guts to kiss Heero in the first place, despite his long-held attraction for the silent boy. He probably never would, except that then Heero had to go and say that thing about *caring*...
No one had ever said that to him before. He knew that Solo had cared for him, and the faeries, but Solo never got around (or a chance) to saying it out loud, and the faeries didn't feel the need to say it at all. So he'd taken the opportunity to kiss him. And then Heero kissed him back. There was something there that just didn't make sense, and he thought it started when Heero stopped him from running off again. Then him saying he *cared*, him even admitting that he felt anything... Duo felt as if his brain was on overload. And now Quatre wanted to talk to him.
He had no idea what Quatre was going to say. If it was anyone else, Duo would have expected accusations, angry words, and he could have taken them, but Quatre never did anything like that. So what was it?
He'd heard the disapproving tone in Trowa's voice when he said that Quatre had hid his exhaustion. He would have given a lot to be a fly on the wall during that discussion Trowa had mentioned. Trowa sounded angrier now than Duo could ever remember, and what was more amazing, he was angry at Quatre?! Sure, it was because Quatre had gotten himself hurt, but still...
By then they were in front of the door to Quatre's room. With his usual tact, Heero shoved the door open without knocking, dragging Duo's braid with him.
Duo stumbled after him in an attempt to keep from being scalped, then blinked as they entered the darkened room. He wasn't surprised to see the darkened room - light was extremely painful to your eyes when you overdid it with magic. He'd overreached himself a few times when he first started, and the closest he could come to describing it was like a really, really, really bad hangover.
"Hey, Quatre?" Duo said hesitantly as Heero finally let go of his braid.
"Hi, Duo," Quatre said, a hint of pain in his voice.
"Hi. I'm really, really sorry..."
"No!" Quatre said, his voice surprisingly strong. "That's why I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to make sure that you understood that it wasn't your fault! It was mine. I knew how tired I was, but I didn't tell anyone. I didn't want to be the first to fail..." Quatre, looking very much like a scolded child, sneaked a glance at Trowa, who was standing by the bed, his face immobile. "Trowa has already discussed the fallacies of that course of action with me," he said finally, glancing at Trowa again. He might have said more, but suddenly someone opened the doors wide (something even Heero had avoided) flooding the room with light.
Quatre gasped and winced in pain, covering his eyes.
"Close the door!" Duo snapped, but Trowa reacted faster. There was a gust of wind, and the door swung shut behind the intruder.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" said a high-pitched voice that Duo automatically recognized. It was a young woman from Relena's court, one of her ladies-in-waiting. After living at the palace for several months, Duo still had no idea what the function of the 'ladies-in-waiting' was, other than to occasionally run errands for Relena.
"He... hello Hilde," Quatre said shakily. "It's all right. I just had a little accident. I'll be fine in a few days."
Hilde nodded nervously. "Ah, Queen Relena sent me with a message. Oz is sending a delegation to discuss the trade agreement between the nations."
Heero made a slight sound indicating his disbelief of that statement. Duo was more obvious. "Yeah, sure. It's probably just a bunch of Hunters in disguise. Guess we're laying low for a few days, huh?"
Hilde shook her head. "No, the Queen is quite certain that the delegation has no Hunters in it."
"How can she know?" Duo challenged.
Hilde looked directly at Quatre. "Because the delegation is made up entirely of people from the Winner family."
Quatre went absolutely white.
OK, I spent some time putting extra spaces between the lines in an effort to make this a little more readable. Did it work?
Yea for Heero and Duo! It took them long enough! I promise, things will really start to pick up (action wise) after this chapter.
Quatre in the beginning of the section was mostly drawn from my own personal attitude when I'm over-worked and exhausted, except I'm less quiet and more crabby.
Carefully avoiding Heero's huge white wings, Zechs stepped up to the crystal and lay a hand on it's surface. If he had tried this earlier (if he'd been able to try it) it would have killed him. Now he felt... nothing, no power, no intelligence, nothing.
"They're gone," Quatre said quietly, removing his hands. He twisted his head to look at the glowing wings that rose up behind him. "I wasn't sure if the wings actually existed, or if they were just a symbol of the transference of power. I guess they actually are physical. We're going to have to hide them." He turned his faced forward again, a determined look on his face. Behind him, the wings came down and flattened themselves against his back and legs. For a moment there was a bright shimmer of light all around him, then the wings were... absorbed into his back. A soft sound, a cross between a gasp and a hiss, escaped his lips, and then there was silence as the light died down and Quatre stood there, outwardly unchanged from when he'd walked into the room a few moments ago.
A few moments to him, perhaps, but Zechs could see that it had obviously been a lot longer for them. It was then that Quatre's comment hit him. "Who's gone?" he asked, feeling as if he'd missed something. A lot of somethings.
"The... ones who came before us. They've passed on, and the shield is breaking down. It will fall within a year, maybe less." The words were spoken calmly, with no hint of emotion or fear. Quatre was speaking about the attack, about the possible end of the world in the same tone he'd use to discuss the weather during a tea party. "They gave us their powers, and their memories. We are as prepared as we can be for such things," Quatre continued as the others withdrew their wings into their bodies. "I may need the assistance of the mages alive today when the enemy comes. Until then we can do nothing but wait and practice."
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Treize resisted the urge to glare at the report in front of him. He'd thought that once he knew where they were, once they were pinned down, it was only a matter of time until he had them again. But they'd been hiding in her palace for over two months now, with no sign that they ever intended to leave. He knew they would have to, eventually, but he wanted them before the attack came! If he didn't have them in his power by then, he'd be left on the sidelines.
He'd asked Une to do a mage-scan of the palace, and the report of that scan was on his desk. It was that report that had made him so angry. According to Une, there were very high amounts of magical energy being used inside the castle. Very high. Incredibly high. As Une had put it, any one of the emissions she was sensing was more powerful than the combined magic power of every mage he'd ever seen. Somehow they'd learned to tap their true potential, and now they were wasting it. A horrible thought occurred to him - that they might not even be *using* their power. What Une could be seeing could just be them walking around the palace, eating and sleeping and breathing. They probably weren't even at full potential yet. The thought was maddening.
It wasn't just the five, either. Treize was discovering that he never seemed to understand the prophecies until it was too late. He'd realized just *after* they escaped that he had held the five as he deduced their real names from the names the prophets gave them. Now that they were out of reach, he'd figured out who the Peaceful Girl and the Disinherited were, again too late to position his men to catch them. The Peaceful girl was obviously Queen Relena, who was definitely still a child and seemed intent on continuing her family's pacifist ways. The Disinherited was even more obvious, and thus more frustrating for him, since he'd practically given Milliardo the title, by driving him out of his position, his inheritance. If he'd been able to figure out either one of them, he would have put far more of his troops in Sank, and he would have had them by now.
He still didn't know who the Faithful Followers were, nor the Seeker. Some of the Seeker's followers were also appearing in the prophecies, the Devoted, and the Fighter, whoever they were. Treize was beginning to think that this was some sort of huge joke being played on him by the Fates.
He thought about it for several minutes, then thought he could find a way to force their hands. Calling for a page, he began to mentally compose a letter to Lord Winner, asking him to send his daughters (only some of them - gods, there were quite a few!) on a diplomatic mission to Sank. When Quatre saw his family... well, at best it would draw him out into the open, at worst it would cause him pain, be a distraction.
As he waited for the page to arrive, he looked through another prophecy, another new one. Perhaps this one would have the answers he sought.
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"All right, lets try this again," Quatre said for the eighth time that afternoon, hanging onto his temper with his fingernails. "We need to be able to combine our powers, not just use them at the same time, and we can't leave the palace until we succeed!" There was no guarantee after they left the palace that they'd be able to find a place where it was safe to practice like this. At least here, they could get Relena to order them not to be disturbed, and Zechs could shield them if anything went terribly wrong.
Since they emerged (figuratively) from the crystal, they'd been going through the memories that their predecessors had given them, trying out their various skills one by one. They'd discovered that there was a very large step between having the memories of using their powers, and actually being able to use those powers themselves. It was like having a very detailed instruction manual, but they still had to figure it out on their own, which was usually not as easy as it sounded.
They'd spent all morning and the three hours since lunch trying to figure out one of their predecessors' more difficult tricks - literally combining their power. It was one thing to fight together - that was easy - but to actually combine their powers so that it was being controlled, not by five different minds, but a sort of amalgamation of all. And it wasn't working.
They were all too different, too stubborn, too individual, himself included, Quatre thought moodily. They were all very strong individuals, and rejected the idea of giving that up to a combined consciousness, even if they did trust each other, mostly. They'd been trying for hours now, but one or another would shudder and pull away, bringing all the massed power down on the head of whoever had the unfortunate luck to be in the focus at that instant. More often then not, it was Quatre. For some reason, the others trusted him more than each other, so most of the time, when they could get themselves to give themselves over to the merge, he ended up the focus. There was only so many times that enough energy to flatten half of the Sank kingdom could come crashing down on your head before it gave you a headache, no matter who you were. Quatre felt like he'd stuck his brain out in a sandstorm to have it scoured.
"We almost had it that time," Duo said, rubbing his head wearily, and Quatre barely managed to keep himself from snarling at Duo. It was Duo who'd dropped out last time, and he'd only been the focus once or twice. Quatre was approaching three dozen times. "Sorry, guys," he apologized with a sheepish grin, looking at Quatre. "I lost my concentration."
Well, that was a little bit of improvement, maybe. At least he wasn't pulling out because he was afraid of being hurt anymore. That had been the problem for the longest time. Apparently he had a very deep-buried fear that anyone he reached out to would be taken away, killed, and would consequently hurt him again. It was something Quatre could understand (intellectually, at least), but he wished that Duo had mentioned this fact before he brought the link crashing down on Quatre's head a dozen times or more. By the time he finally admitted it, Quatre was in no mood to help him get it out of his system.
Surprisingly enough, it was Heero who took Duo aside and talked (or let Duo talk) until Duo was willing to try again. That on it's own had taken almost an hour. Quatre was very curious as to what Heero had said, at the sudden interest he was showing in Duo, but didn't feel that it was right for him to pry.
At least, he'd been curious about it six hours ago, before the stupid link was dropped on his head a dozen more times. The fact that it had been his own fault at least three of those times wasn't helping.
"Maybe we should take a break," Quatre suggested with the most politeness he could manage. "We're all getting tired..." The last three times it had collapsed, not because of a personality problem, but because they were too tired to focus properly. "Maybe if we rest for an hour or two we'll be able to focus better, and get it then." Maybe two hours would be enough for his head to stop throbbing. He had learned, to his dismay, that magic healing did nothing for magic-induced headaches, usually caused from backlash or overuse of powers. Right now he had a bad case of both.
"No, can we try it one more time, please?" Duo asked, turning those huge blue-violet eyes on Quatre. Even by the standards of a mage, his eyes were very large. "I'm sure we can get it this time. If we don't get it that time, we can quit until tomorrow, kay?" He had his most hopeful expression on his face, but it was his comment that caught Quatre's attention.
Tomorrow? Quatre turned from where he'd been sitting in the middle of one of Relena's gardens and looked over the edge of the walls of the castle, where the setting sun was just barely visible, a mere slit above the wall. I guess we've been at this longer than I thought, he thought, feeling a little stupid. Maybe if the imps in his skull would stop banging their sledgehammers he could concentrate on something...
"All right," he agreed with a weary sigh, not so much because of Duo's pleading eyes as because of the fact that he didn't have the energy to argue right now. "Let's do it. One more time," he said without any real hope that it would work. Contrary to popular belief, he did get grumpy from time to time, and he did have a temper, he just took longer to get to both than his companions, and when he reached that point, he usually hid it under a polite front.
Sometimes he was astonished by their... well, naiveté was not the word he'd use to describe any of them, ever, but it was the first word that came to mind. They'd all lived such a rough existence that with the possible exception of Wufei, they didn't understand that just because a person continued to smile and act as if they cared didn't mean that they weren't thinking, that they were weak and full of emotion. Quatre had grown up among people who would smile at each other over tea and chat while arranging each others' assassinations. It was one of the reasons he was glad to be out of the line of succession - if he'd still been at home, he would be dealing with those people every day, and the attacks would become more and more cruel (verbal attacks) or deadly (physical attacks) as he approached his majority.
His mind was drifting, a sure sign that he was exhausted. Quatre reminded himself that although he was polite, it wasn't because of a hidden agenda. Hypocrisy always drove him crazy (it always had), so he was probably the only diplomat they'd ever meet who really did show what he was thinking (most of the time), and whose emotions were genuine. Quatre had promised himself when he was very young that he would never allow himself to become one of those hypocritical bastards his father cursed about...
His mind was drifting again. The spell. They were all looking at him to start it again. With difficulty, he pushed himself into the half-trance necessary for the spell. Then he quietly gathered his energy and launched it out of his body, holding it ready. He was, as usual, the focus. The others would have to match their energies to his, and to each others, while he held the entire mess together. And, when it collapsed (as he was almost certain it would) it would come crashing down on him. Again. He barely managed to catch that thought and shove it back into the depths of his mind. If there was one thing he knew about magic of this level, it was that thinking really did make it happen. If he thought that it wouldn't work, that would screw up the link before the others even started.
He 'watched' with his eyes closed as Trowa threw his energy out of body, merging it with Quatre's almost effortlessly. Even though he'd seen it dozens of times today, it still made Quatre smile to see how willingly Trowa surrendered his privacy to Quatre. It was a sign of trust, a large one, and Quatre understood that. Trowa still had trouble merging with the others. Wufei came up next, merging first with Quatre, then, much more slowly, with Trowa. Quatre continued to watch. His part at this juncture was mostly passive - it was up to the others to come, and all he had to do was hold the focus and keep his mind open enough for the meld.
Next Heero came. Quatre didn't know why they chose this order - they'd been playing around with it all day, switching in and out. That was how they'd ended up with other people being the focus the few times that had happened - none of them knew exactly how this worked (neither had their predecessors), so they didn't know the best way to make it work. But the few times that the others had tried to be the focus, they couldn't get more than one, maybe two others in before the whole thing collapsed. Apparently Quatre was the only one who could hold the focus. Before he was so tired, he'd wondered why that was, if it was him personally, or something having to do with his power. He suspected the first, because Gente hadn't held the focus most of the time, for the other group. That made him wonder what he'd done to be so lucky.
Heero somehow managed to merge with them with few problems, although it took a very long time. By then, Quatre was beginning to really feel the merge. He could see how worried Trowa was - about him. There was a small rock digging into Wufei's right thigh. Heero was focused on 'the mission' with the same intensity that he gave every task he set out to accomplish, but there was a small part of his mind that was looking at something else. Someone else. Duo.
Quatre realized what he was looking at, and hastily pulled as far back into himself as he could without breaking the merge. It was one thing to be experiencing what the others' bodies were feeling, quite another thing to look into the most intimate depths of someone's mind. They had to have some sort of privacy, or else they'd never be able to maintain this. Hence the reason for his hasty retreat, to say nothing of how uncomfortable he felt at finding himself intruding like that.
One of the first things they'd discovered when they came back and started experimenting was that Quatre's mental strength, in terms of mind reading and *mind control*, far exceeded any of the others. Despite all of their powers, he could reach into their minds and look at their thoughts at will, and even take over their bodies, although that was more of an effort. It was the sort of power that people like Treize Khushrenada would love to have - he could control thousands with his power, and if he did it right, they'd never even realize they were being controlled. Quatre was not happy about that.
Heero was still the most outwardly powerful. He'd entertained himself for a few days by practicing throwing those energy-balls of his at some of the older, falling-down parts of Relena's palace that she said she was planning on having torn down in the spring anyway. By the time he'd finished, she didn't need to have that area torn down in the spring, she could just start rebuilding. It also had the added benefit of making Relena rather... uncomfortable around Heero, which meant that she stopped following him around, or at least not as much as before.
Duo could cast illusions better than Quatre, sometimes they were even solid to the touch. Quatre wasn't sure who was more surprised by this, himself or Duo. Duo had immediately decided that he liked that power, and started a campaign to (in his words) 'get a rise out of Heero.' Most often this campaign took the form of rather crude practical jokes. Heero took this in stride, mostly, until Duo created a *very* realistic illusion of someone sneaking into Heero's room while Heero was asleep. Heero vaporized most of the contents of the room while he was still clawing his way out of sleep, and just barely managed to avoid killing an old servant who happened to be outside his door at the time. He only avoided that because he sensed him at the last moment and threw up a shield around him, so the destructive energy didn't touch him, although Heero took care of most of the decorations in the hall, too. After that Duo toned down his tricks *a lot*. It might have had something to do with the 'discussions' he had with Heero, Trowa, and Wufei. In that order. After that line-up, Quatre didn't feel the need to put his two cents in. In any case, Duo kept his tricks to verbal, mostly, after that. And maybe he did succeed in getting through to Heero, a little. Quatre had seen them talking (well, Duo talking) more than once, off in some dusty corner where they thought no one could find them.
Trowa had become... aware. There was no better way to put it. Duo's illusions, no matter how skillfully they were constructed, never fooled Trowa. He'd confessed to Quatre that he always knew where the others were and what they were doing, and that he was feeling other things, farther out, deep into the Earth. And he was having... well, they seemed like nightmares, but they both thought that it was a lot more than that. Something closer to prophetic visions, although they both hesitated to label the... occurrences as such, because he wasn't seeing pleasant things, most of the time. Quatre didn't know what to do, and was ashamed of himself, because the very rational, very pragmatic part of himself that he didn't like to admit was there was moving forward a full speed, figuring out the various ways that he could use the information Trowa now had. They needed all the information they could find, from any source... even if it was causing his love distress.
He wasn't sure how he felt about that. He loved being with Trowa, and for him (so far at least) just sitting with him and talking (or not) was more than enough. He knew that Trowa felt the same way, but this whole thing with the prophetic dreams was bothering both of them, Trowa because of what he saw, and Quatre because of what he saw in Trowa, and in himself... but they had to win.
Wufei was now practicing spells of such intricacy that if he were to try casting them, Quatre couldn't even imagine where to begin, much less how Wufei was actually doing it. He was making the spelled-mirror Treize had look like child's play, and that was the most complicated spell Quatre had ever seen, before all this started. He could do some pretty complicated spells himself, but nothing on the level that Wufei was doing with considerable ease.
Quatre desperately pulled his attention back to the spell as his control began to slip as his mind wandered. He braced himself as he 'saw' Duo gather up his energy, and barely managed not to flinch as Duo threw it at their group. He waited for the shattering of concentration, the brilliant flash of light and then the pain as all of their combined power lashed back at him. He felt Duo's consciousness join them... then came the expected flash of light... then... a brilliant glow all around them as Duo's power meshed perfectly with their own.
Quatre's physical body stiffened as the rush of energy hit him, and he was acutely aware of the others doing the same. Then there was calm, and incredible power at his disposal, more than he could ever have imagined. No, not at his disposal, at their disposal, because he was now fully in the bond. It had just come out as 'him' because he was so closely linked with them that he was having trouble distinguishing between himself and the others. Then the reality of the situation finally hit him. :We did it!: he crowed in triumph.
:See, I told you we could do it!: Duo said smugly.
:You didn't tell us how much pain you were in,: Trowa said to Quatre.
:It's nothing, really. I'm just glad that we finally did it.:
:We will have to do it again and again, until it becomes easy,: Wufei pointed out.
:Oh, come on, Wufei!: Duo scolded. :Even you're allowed to celebrate a little right now. And can you move? That stupid pebble in your thigh is driving me crazy.:
:Kisama!:
Quatre was amused by how Wufei's accent came through quite clearly even when they were completely immersed in each others' minds.
:So, what do we want to do?: Duo asked.
:What do you mean?: Quatre asked, and as soon as he asked, he knew the answer, which was provided by Duo's mind. :You want to cast a spell?!: he asked, more than a little alarmed. If they lost their concentration now, this was all going to drop back on his head again.
:We'll try something simple,: Duo promised him.
:This is a lot of power,: Heero warned them both.
Quatre took another look at their link, and realized that between the five of them, they had enough energy to completely tear the world apart, destroy everything. Their massed power was incredible, and much more than just the sum of all of their energies apart. They could very easily destroy the world. The thought was frightening, and Quatre clamped down on it as fast as he could, afraid that he might think the end of the world into existence without meaning to. He was too late to keep the others from seeing the thought, though.
:Yeah, we could do a lot of damage,: Duo said soberly, then his usual exuberance returned. :But we have to try something out. We need to be able to use all this power, not just throw it into a pile together.:
:Maybe we could start with something small,: Trowa suggested quietly. :A simple spying spell, for example.:
:Fine! Who do we want to look at?:
There was a moment of silence. None of them had any outside ties left, after their first imprisonment, flight, and virtual imprisonment in the castle. Quatre knew that he could ask to see his father, but he didn't know if he could take that right now. He suspected that that was also the reason that Duo didn't ask to see the faeries, or Trowa to see the circus. Wufei's entire clan was dead, and Heero had never had anyone.
:How about Treize?: Quatre finally suggested. He was nominally their enemy right now, and he had some sort of mage shield over him that had stopped Quatre's last attempt to look in on him.
The others picked his reasons from his mind. :I like it,: Duo said, and Quatre could practically feel him grinning. :Who casts the spell?:
:We all do,: Quatre reminded him. :But I guess I can do the actual incantation myself.:
:No need,: Wufei said, and suddenly their combined consciousness was flying through the walls of the castle, picking up speed as they flew over the capital. In mere seconds they were at Treize's castle, where they slowed momentarily before picking up speed again as they flew through the walls of Treize's castle, finally ending up in a spacious and elegantly furnished room.
:Damn it, Wufei! Give me some warning before you do that!: Duo hollered, and Quatre felt Wufei's satisfaction, combined with... was Heero in on it? Quatre tried to imagine Heero playing a joke of any kind and failed. Then he saw what was in front of them and dropped that line of thought.
Treize sat at a desk, looking through his papers, dictating something to one of his Hunters, a woman named Une who was fanatically devoted to Treize. Now that he was looking for it, Quatre saw the shimmer of energy around Treize that indicated he was covered by an illusion. :He's cloaked in an illusion,: Quatre observed.
:So is she,: Trowa said quietly.
Quatre looked and saw that he was right. Who would have guessed that the king of Oz and his right-hand man (woman) would both be mages? Then Quatre remembered something. :How did we get through the shields?: he asked Wufei.
:We slid through them. If you want specifics, ask me later.:
:Why are we just watching them?: Duo asked.
:What do you want to do, kill them?: Wufei asked. They all knew that none of them could stomach that, not even Heero. Not yet. The specter of their predecessors - what had happened to them, what they were forced to become - haunted them all.
:How about we shatter those illusions?: Duo suggested in a wicked voice. :We wait until he's in a meeting with as many of his assistants and nobles as we can find, and then we shatter them in front of them.:
:No!: Quatre cried, alarmed.
:Why not?! You like Treize?:
:You know how I feel about that, but if you do that to him, there will be a civil war to determine who takes the throne. The traditional rules of succession will be thrown out and whoever is strongest will end up on the throne, but not until after the bloody war. Who do you think will suffer?:
:The people,: Duo said with a sigh. He wasn't stupid. :Sorry, Quatre, you're right. How about if we just shatter them now? It won't do anything, but it might make him nervous.:
:I have no problems with that.:
:Good. You take his Lowness, I'll take the bitch.:
Quatre ignored the crudity, focusing his (their) energy on Treize's crystal pendant. He heard Duo count down in their mind(s), and at the appropriate time, he *squeezed*. The crystal shattered loudly, and the illusion shimmered, then disappeared. Quatre got his first good look at the true face of the man who had hunted them for so long. He looked almost the same - he'd always looked long, now he was simply a little longer, with the large eyes and pointed ears of mages. Hard to believe that one of their own had done so much harm to them.
:Not one of ours,: Trowa corrected him. :One of ours never could have done such a thing.:
Treize knew immediately when they attacked him. It would have been a little difficult to miss the shattering crystal. The shards fell into his lap as he suddenly sat up completely straight, eyes opened wide. He stared at Une, who was also unmasked now and held one of the fragments of the shattered crystal in her hands. She gazed at it silently for a moment, in which time Quatre observed someone distractedly that her face was somewhat rounder than most mages.
A second later her head snapped up and she was looking around, an angry glare on her face. She'd been the one who captured Trowa, Quatre suddenly remembered a memory fragment that belonged in Trowa's head. Fighting off the Hunters... Trowa had killed eight of them before Une got smart, and grabbed Catherine. Trowa couldn't stand to have the first person to treat him like a real person hurt, so he immediately surrendered himself. The Hunters hadn't been happy about him killing so many of them, and were very brutal when they finally got their hands on him. Then came the collar...
Quatre jerked his mind out of the memory. Madness was not pretty, and he had no desire to experience someone else's madness through their memories. He remembered it himself - he was the one who'd brought Trowa out of that insanity in the first place, and he'd gotten enough glimpses of Trowa's mind in that time to last a lifetime.
:You looked.: There was no accusation in Trowa's voice, but that didn't mean that he didn't feel anything. Quatre could feel him - he was upset, feeling somewhat betrayed. No, not betrayed - he knew that Quatre hadn't done it on purpose, but he was feeling, uncomfortable, vulnerable, with his memories so open to his love. Quatre never wanted to make Trowa feel that way.
:I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I just recognized Une from...: Quatre trailed off, realizing that he was probably making the situation worse. :I'm sorry. If you ever want to see one of mine...:
:It's all right. I understand. Thank you for the gesture.: Trowa paused reflectively. :I may hold you to that.: Now there was a hint of curiosity in his voice, which surprised Quatre. After all of their talks, he had thought that Trowa knew about every aspect of his life, including all of his embarrassing stories from when he was a child. Quatre's knowledge of Trowa was much less thorough. Talking about his past was often painful for Trowa, so Quatre didn't pry. He listened very carefully when Trowa did feel like talking, but didn't push. He wondered what Trowa was thinking, but carefully kept himself from unintentionally finding out the answer to that question.
Treize also was looking around as he slowly stood up, but there was no expression on his face. After a minute or so, he looked directly at them.
:Does he see us?: Quatre asked, wanting to draw back, but the majority of the minds in the merger didn't, so they didn't move.
:Impossible, right, Wu-man?: Duo didn't sound so certain.
:My name is Wufei,: Wufei corrected him. :And it's possible, I believe. But if he can, he's far more powerful than we realized. He's far more powerful than he should be.: They all knew what he was talking about - the mages of today were pitifully weak compared with the mages they now remembered, thanks to their predecessors' memories. Wufei was saying that it would take a mage the caliber of one of the ancient ones to see them now.
"I know you're there," Treize said in a conversational tone.
:How could he be that powerful?: Quatre asked, doing his best to ignore Treize. :I thought that the powerful mages wouldn't start to show up for a year or two.:
:Maybe he's just early,: Duo suggested hopefully, although his tone suggested he didn't believe it.
:It couldn't happen,: Wufei said firmly.
:So is he... like us?: Quatre asked nervously.
"You know, it's very rude to spy on people," Treize continued in that same pleasant tone.
:Let's get out of here,: Duo said, and they all agreed. In a few seconds they were back in Relena's castle.
Quatre felt Duo withdrawing before he realized what was happening. Too late, he shouted, :No, we have to do this a special...: Quatre got cut off as Duo withdrew completely, collapsing the merge and once again dumping all of that energy on top of Quatre.
He wasn't sure whether it was because he was tired, or because of the number of times he got hit before, or because there was just more energy this time, but it seemed to him that his head hurt a lot more this time. That was his last thought before he blacked out.
------------------------------------------
"Quatre!" Trowa cried, dropping out of the link, a tortured expression on his face. He barely managed to catch Quatre as he slumped to the ground, then turned a glare on Duo, who had a horrified expression on his face. It was the most emotion Heero had ever seen Trowa show, and right now he looked like he was going to kill Duo. They needed him alive to defend the world. Heero stood up and put his body between Trowa and Duo.
"What happened?" Zechs asked, running over. "I had the shield up, but something passed through it anyway. And... what's wrong with Quatre?"
"I... oh, man, I fucked up," Duo said, practically distraught. "I didn't realize..."
"Come on, let's get him to his room," Zechs said to Trowa, who picked up the unconscious Quatre and suddenly vanished. Zechs froze, startled by the sudden action, then with a final glance at Duo, strode off in the direction of Quatre's room.
For his part, Wufei cast a disapproving glance in Duo's direction before striding off in the direction of one of the guard's training rooms, his sword materializing in his hand as he walked. Duo watched him walk away with an expression of pure horror on his face. He turned to look at Heero.
"Heero, I didn't mean to do that..." Duo started, then trailed off, his face going hard and closed-in. 'Never mind." He sighed and turned his back, staring at the blank wall.
Heero stared, not liking what he was seeing, but unsure of what to do. Duo spent so much of his time acting like an idiot that it was easy to forget that he was powerful, dangerous... like Heero, he had fought and killed for years without his magic, although for different reasons, but he taught himself. It was easy to forget that his mind was an equal of any of theirs, that he'd practically taught himself Wufei's language in the months they'd been together despite having a less-than-enthusiastic teacher in Wufei. It was so seldom that he let what he really felt show that it was very easy to forget.
But not now. There was nothing playful about Duo now. In fact, he looked very, very dangerous. Heero reached out towards his thoughts.
He wasn't as good at this as Quatre, but he had a feeling that Duo wasn't really working on shielding his thoughts, and Heero had to know what was going on in his head. Duo had to stay with them, had to remain functional. The survival of the world depended on it.
Deep in the recesses of his mind, there was something that he didn't want to acknowledge, something that had to help Duo, not because they needed Duo for the mission, but because it made that part of him... uncomfortable... to see Duo hurting. It was getting harder and harder to push that part of his mind aside, to ignore it. He didn't know what that meant, didn't know how to deal with it, and that made him even more... uncomfortable. Upset, even.
He was right - Duo wasn't guarding his thoughts. For a moment he was staggered by the anger, darkness, and self-hatred in Duo's mind. How could Duo, the most friendly and out-going of them all, the one who made himself everyone's friend whether they wanted it or not, how could he hate himself so much? And there was such darkness - it was all self-imposed, Heero realized after a moment's examination. Duo wasn't evil, but he viewed himself as... no, that wasn't right. He didn't think he was evil, but he thought that he was cursed. Everything he loved died, and that's where the blackness came from. And there was something else... a word that Heero didn't recognize.
"Shinigami," he murmured out loud, trying to remember if he'd ever heard the word before. It sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't remember from where.
Duo suddenly stiffened and spun to face Heero as he heard the half-whispered word. For a moment there was a heartbroken, horrified, sad look in his eyes, then Duo closed them and turned his head away. "You fucking bastard," he said in a low voice. "You... fucking... you looked into my mind without my permission. How... how dare you?!" he demanded, his voice rising on every word, a finger pointed accusingly at Heero.
"What does it mean? And why's it in your head?" Heero asked.
Duo stared at him in complete disbelief for a minute, then started chuckling to himself. There was more than a hint of hysteria in the sound. He shook his head. "Were you born like this, Heero? Or is this something that's developed naturally over time?"
Heero considered the question, realized that Duo was talking about the fact that he'd ignored Duo's words to follow up on his objective, which was currently to find out what 'Shinigami' was. "No. Trained into me."
Duo snorted softly. "Figures." He started to walk away.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm leaving before I kill someone. Don't worry, I'll be around when the attack comes. But I knocked Quatre unconscious today, tomorrow it will be something worse. I can't let that happen."
Heero felt something inside him that was not connected to the mission. "No!" The word burst out of him before he could stop himself.
Duo hesitated.
Heero forced himself to calm down, fought for control. "What's Shinigami?" he asked. Somehow he knew that the word was very, very important. He needed to know what it meant, in order to understand Duo.
"Why the fuck should I tell you?" Duo asked angrily. "You looked in my brain!"
Heero hesitated. "Please."
Duo stared at him as if he'd grown a second head. "Never thought I'd see the day," he muttered to himself. "Fine. What the hell! It's my secret name. My real name."
Heero frowned. "What's that?"
Duo let out a bark of bitter laughter. "Sometimes humans are so ignorant it's frightening," he muttered. "A secret name is the name that is yours the moment you're born. It's the way the stars and the gods and everything else that matters identify you. If a person finds out another's secret name, they can have a great deal of power over them. All faeries go through a... a ritual, to find their secret names. I participated in one, and that's it. That's how the universe knows me." His voice was very bitter now.
"What does it mean?"
"I didn't know, not until very recently. That's the difference between the younglings and the elders, you know. The younglings are satisfied, happy, knowing just that they have a place in the universe. When that isn't enough, they start to become elders... searching for the meaning of their names. When they find the meaning, then they're elders. I always wondered, but it never seemed important enough until recently."
"What does it mean?"
"Ask Wufei, it's from his language. That's how I learned it."
:Wufei?: Heero asked immediately.
:What?: Wufei sounded impatient, distracted.
:What does Shinigami mean?:
:Shinigami is the god of death in my culture.:
Heero broke off contact. "The god of death?" he asked.
"Yeah. Great name for the universe to pick for me. It fits. Can I leave now?" he asked sarcastically.
"No."
"No? What now, Heero? Do you want to hear a list of all the people I've killed? Or better yet, all the people who've died because of me? We can start with Solo and work our way through all the faeries, it would be more painful," he snarled.
"I... don't want to hurt you."
That caught Duo by surprise. After a few seconds, he said, "I don't want to hurt you either. That's why I have to go."
"No."
"Now what?!"
"It wasn't your fault."
Duo snorted his opinion of that assessment.
"I mean it wasn't only your fault. All of us played a part. We've been working on this all day. We all knew that Quatre had to hold the focus, and that he's been it all day. We knew that every time we failed, it dumped more energy on him. Trowa told me he was keeping an eye on Quatre, and he should have noticed how tired and stressed Quatre was. We were all in the link together, and none of us thought to check on Quatre. With our sensitivity, we should have noticed how tired he was." This was hard for Heero - he was angry with himself, he hated the thought that he'd failed that way, but it was inescapable.
Duo frowned slightly, which meant that his mind was back into working condition, and he was no longer concentrating on how everyone he loved died. "That doesn't make sense. We were completely merged. We should have felt something."
Heero nodded. "Which means it's also Quatre's fault, because he was hiding it from us. He must have known how tired he was, and he was concealing that information. You may have gotten sloppy at the end and tipped the balance, but we all made mistakes. There is the possibility that no matter what we did, Quatre would have collapsed, depending on what his actual condition was. You are not completely responsible, and this doesn't mean that Quatre is going to die because you're here. Your absence could cause his death just as easily, if for some reason we need you and you're not around."
Duo stared at him, then transferred his gaze to the ground. "Heero, I think that's the most I've ever heard you say at one time."
"Hn."
Duo grinned at him. "That's more like it." He became serious again. "No, seriously, Heero. Why are you doing this?" he asked uncertainly.
"Baka," Heero responded automatically. "I wanted you to stay..." he cut himself off. Why was it so important to him that Duo stay with them? With him? With me? What am I thinking? What the hell is wrong with me? He examined the... things he was feeling, and discovered that he cared whether Duo was near, and not just because of the mission. And it made him... sad, upset, when Duo was upset.
"Why?" Duo pressed.
"Because I..." Heero swallowed. He wasn't sure what he was feeling, if he was feeling anything. He didn't know how to deal with this. All he knew about was completing his missions, killing people. This was a lot harder. "Because I... care about you. And I... I don't want you upset. And you are not cursed," he said firmly, regaining his mental footing as he retreated into more familiar ground. "There is no logical reason to think that you staying with me... us will cause us to be killed."
"You... care about me?" Duo asked, and something in his face made Heero wonder if he'd heard anything after that statement.
Heero nodded affirmatively.
Duo took a step closer. "I... Heero, please don't kill me, I just wanted to do this for a long time," he said in a rush, and then leaned forward, his lips brushing against Heero's. The contact lasted for several seconds before Duo pulled back. He had one hand on his knife, Heero noted, as if he thought he'd have to protect himself. Heero didn't tell him that if he was planning to kill Duo, he would have done it the moment Duo touched him. He'd had his hand on his knife, was ready to drive it up into Duo's chest before he realized what he was doing. He barely managed to arrest the automatic reaction so that he could think.
Then he realized that there were two reasons that he wouldn't kill Duo. The first was that Duo was needed to protect the world. The second reason was that he was enjoying the sensation of Duo's lips touching his own.
That shocked him more than anything else, and he actually reached up to touch his own lips after Duo backed off, to see if... he wasn't quite sure why he did it. But he did like the feeling. He had so few emotions that when he felt one, he always acted on it, he always had. So after a few seconds he leaned forward and carefully pressed his lips to Duo's again, this time concentrating on the sensation, so he could examine it more carefully. It was definitely a pleasurable experience, and almost as satisfying was the look on Duo's face when he finally pulled back. Duo's eyes took up fully half of his face as he stared at Heero.
"Ah, Heero, sorry, but I have to ask you this. Did you get really drunk last night or something? Cause..." Duo cut himself off, shaking his head, but at what Heero didn't know. He was about to ask when Trowa's voice spoke into his mind.
:Quatre's awake. He'll be fine in a day or two.:
:I can't feel him,: Heero observed.
:He burned himself out.: There was definite disapproval in Trowa's voice. :He was hiding how tired he really was. I've already talked to him about it. He wants to talk to Duo.:
:I'll bring him.: Heero cut off contact. "Did you hear?"
Duo nodded nervously - the joker wasn't back all the way yet. "Why do you think he wants to talk to me?"
"Ask him," Heero said shortly, grabbing onto Duo's braid, which provided a very tempting target for dragging him around. He'd suggested a few times that Duo should cut it off - it couldn't help him in battle, but Duo had refused. After he demonstrated to Heero the number of different weapons and tools that Duo could hide in his braid, he decided it might have a practical purpose after all.
"Yeow! Heero, leggo!" Duo shouted, stumbling after Heero and sounding a lot more like himself.
---------------------------------
Duo continued to yell as Heero dragged him by his braid up to Quatre's room. His mind was busy on other things right now. He'd half-expected Heero to respond to his kiss with a knife to the gut (although he'd probably have healed Duo immediately after). If not actually a knife, then at least Heero would have done something painful (if not damaging) to him. Nowhere on his list of possible reactions was Heero kissing him back ever listed.
He never actually thought he'd get up the guts to kiss Heero in the first place, despite his long-held attraction for the silent boy. He probably never would, except that then Heero had to go and say that thing about *caring*...
No one had ever said that to him before. He knew that Solo had cared for him, and the faeries, but Solo never got around (or a chance) to saying it out loud, and the faeries didn't feel the need to say it at all. So he'd taken the opportunity to kiss him. And then Heero kissed him back. There was something there that just didn't make sense, and he thought it started when Heero stopped him from running off again. Then him saying he *cared*, him even admitting that he felt anything... Duo felt as if his brain was on overload. And now Quatre wanted to talk to him.
He had no idea what Quatre was going to say. If it was anyone else, Duo would have expected accusations, angry words, and he could have taken them, but Quatre never did anything like that. So what was it?
He'd heard the disapproving tone in Trowa's voice when he said that Quatre had hid his exhaustion. He would have given a lot to be a fly on the wall during that discussion Trowa had mentioned. Trowa sounded angrier now than Duo could ever remember, and what was more amazing, he was angry at Quatre?! Sure, it was because Quatre had gotten himself hurt, but still...
By then they were in front of the door to Quatre's room. With his usual tact, Heero shoved the door open without knocking, dragging Duo's braid with him.
Duo stumbled after him in an attempt to keep from being scalped, then blinked as they entered the darkened room. He wasn't surprised to see the darkened room - light was extremely painful to your eyes when you overdid it with magic. He'd overreached himself a few times when he first started, and the closest he could come to describing it was like a really, really, really bad hangover.
"Hey, Quatre?" Duo said hesitantly as Heero finally let go of his braid.
"Hi, Duo," Quatre said, a hint of pain in his voice.
"Hi. I'm really, really sorry..."
"No!" Quatre said, his voice surprisingly strong. "That's why I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to make sure that you understood that it wasn't your fault! It was mine. I knew how tired I was, but I didn't tell anyone. I didn't want to be the first to fail..." Quatre, looking very much like a scolded child, sneaked a glance at Trowa, who was standing by the bed, his face immobile. "Trowa has already discussed the fallacies of that course of action with me," he said finally, glancing at Trowa again. He might have said more, but suddenly someone opened the doors wide (something even Heero had avoided) flooding the room with light.
Quatre gasped and winced in pain, covering his eyes.
"Close the door!" Duo snapped, but Trowa reacted faster. There was a gust of wind, and the door swung shut behind the intruder.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" said a high-pitched voice that Duo automatically recognized. It was a young woman from Relena's court, one of her ladies-in-waiting. After living at the palace for several months, Duo still had no idea what the function of the 'ladies-in-waiting' was, other than to occasionally run errands for Relena.
"He... hello Hilde," Quatre said shakily. "It's all right. I just had a little accident. I'll be fine in a few days."
Hilde nodded nervously. "Ah, Queen Relena sent me with a message. Oz is sending a delegation to discuss the trade agreement between the nations."
Heero made a slight sound indicating his disbelief of that statement. Duo was more obvious. "Yeah, sure. It's probably just a bunch of Hunters in disguise. Guess we're laying low for a few days, huh?"
Hilde shook her head. "No, the Queen is quite certain that the delegation has no Hunters in it."
"How can she know?" Duo challenged.
Hilde looked directly at Quatre. "Because the delegation is made up entirely of people from the Winner family."
Quatre went absolutely white.
OK, I spent some time putting extra spaces between the lines in an effort to make this a little more readable. Did it work?
Yea for Heero and Duo! It took them long enough! I promise, things will really start to pick up (action wise) after this chapter.
Quatre in the beginning of the section was mostly drawn from my own personal attitude when I'm over-worked and exhausted, except I'm less quiet and more crabby.