The Cathach

The Cathach

Chapter 14

Finally, I'm gonna update this. After weeks of writer's block and then college, I neglected this fic. Same warnings and disclaimer.

Duo scowled as he watched Trowa and Wufei leave from his bed. Heero was staying behind to make sure he didn't try to sneak out and help them infiltrate the castle. He'd been halfway out the window when they'd come in to discuss the plan with him, so now he was stuck with his Captain babysitting him like a small child.

Heero wasn't too put out by his duty, though. Wufei had worked as a soldier in Tara before so he knew the castle inside and out, and Trowa wanted to be there when they found his lover. Duo was sulking, an added bonus, he refused to jabber away lightheartedly the way he usually did.

Despite the fact that Duo refused to talk to the dungeon master, he hated being ignored. His best death-glares didn't even get a raised eyebrow from Heero. The faerie rubbed his bandaged temples and sighed. Until they found Quatre, it was going to be a long night.

A small grey rat scuttled along the iron hinges of the portcullis and leaped into a tunnel carved out by the vermin. Its sharp nose picked up several scents; rotten food, other rats, human waste, dogs, spices and medicines, and beyond the earthy castle aroma the indescribable scent of an immortal. The rat passed several other rats unharmed although it was not quite one of them. Instead of the demon-red eyes of a normal rat, this one had bright green eyes.

Along with the ability to communicate with animals, Trowa could merge momentarily with them. It was a technique he rarely used, if one spent too long in the body of another the souls would blend and either the animal spent an eternity in the human's body or the human lived for the rest of his days as an animal. But this was an emergency.

The rat followed the scent of the immortal, almost overpowered by the rotten stench of demons nearby. For a moment the rat's instincts took over and it was ready to dive into another tunnel, but Trowa's resolve to find his beloved overpowered it. Soon enough a tunnel lead the rodent into a dark room, covered with red and black tapestries and with a six-pointed star cut into the roof to let the moon cast its glow into the chamber. An alchemist's chamber, but unlike any Trowa had ever seen. Animal's heads hung like chandeliers, with candles in their gaping jaws. Blood and creature's waste stained the floor; even the rat was reluctant to walk around. The pool of water directly below the star was pitch black, and dangling from chains above it was…

Quatre!

Battered, bleeding and bedraggled, but alive. With one last glance at the Alicorn, Trowa returned his soul to his own body. The rat's eyes became red again, and it ignored its initial uneasiness to raid Une's supply of herbs.

" Take this medicine."

" Bite me."

" I said, take this medicine."

" I said, bite me."

" That's no way to talk to your captain."

" So fire me. Or bite me. Your choice. If I leave, I'm going with Quatre. I've gotten him into enough trouble."

The worst thing about being stuck in this bed wasn't Heero hovering over him, or the pain in his head. It was that it gave him time to think, and feel guilty. If it hadn't been for Duo, Quatre could have been living peacefully in the forest the way he had before meeting the faerie. Instead he was dragged into a human conflict he barely understood, stabbed, attacked, and now captured. Once they found him the Alicorn was going back to the forest, where he belonged. If they found him.

" It's not your fault."

Duo looked up in surprise. Heero's eyes were strangely compassionate. When he wasn't shooting deathglares, he had beautiful eyes, Duo mused, then shook himself. What was he thinking?

" It is my fault. He was trying to save me when he was captured."

" Would you have done the same for him?"

" Yes, of course!"

" And would you want Quatre to feel guilty about you?"

Heero really had a way of putting things in perspective.

" I…no."

A small weight was lifted from Duo's mind. And it released a wave of pain. Duo clutched his head and groaned, until Heero leaned forward and laid a cool hand on his forehead. They were looking directly into each other's eyes, and then Duo closed the distance between them and pressed his lips to Heero's. It took less than a second for Heero to regain composure and swipe his tongue along Duo's bottom lip. Both mouths opened for the other's tongues, Heero's arms wrapped around Duo's slender middle and they laid back on the bed. After a few minutes like this, Duo felt very drowsy. Heero kissed his forehead gently and the faerie fell asleep in his arms.

Wufei, dressed in his old Tara uniform walked confidently through the castles winding corridors, while Trowa followed silently in the shadows. Amazingly, they weren't stopped by anyone. Most of the castle's occupants assumed that Wufei just returned to service. Word hadn't gotten out that he was fighting for the other side.

Very few people had ever seen Treize's witch, and even less knew where her workshop was. Only herself and Treize had ever been inside. Luckily, Wufei was one of the few who did know of it, because when he had been a soldier in Tara he had been a personal acquaintance of Treize's. The Fianna didn't question the nature of his relationship with Treize and his reasons for switching sides, but Trowa could see he wasn't delighted to be back.

Eventually, they reached the door of the room, at the top of the North Tower. A demon with ruby eyes peered out menacingly at them from its frame in the door. The door itself was heavy oak, but Trowa knew that all the rat's tunnels running through it made it brittle. The cracked an entrance large enough for them to enter, and while Wufei kept a lookout, Trowa ran to his lover's side.

Trowa tried desperately to revive the Alicorn, and was rewarded when blue eyes, hazy with pain, slowly opened. He sighed with relief.

" It's me, Quatre. We're leaving now."

The Alicorn's eyes closed again.

" Stay with me, Quatre. Please turn into your human form, or we won't be able to get you out."

Eyes still closed, white light flashed weakly from the prism-like horn, and faded.

" Come on, Quatre. Try harder, please!"

Trowa was starting to panic. Even Wufei was looking over at them worriedly. Slowly, and weakly, the Alicorn's shape contorted and left the human figure hanging from the chains. Relieved, Trowa reached over to gather Quatre into his arms.

His arm went right through the immortal's body.

Quatre's body was almost completely transparent, disappearing in front of them, then filling out again. Sickened, Trowa had to wait until Quatre looked solid enough to hold before untangling him from the chains and wrapping his cloak around the battered little body.

Both boys wasted little time in leaving, Trowa even more careful to hide both himself and Quatre in the shadows. Just a few feet away from the door, Wufei bumped into the one person he didn't want to see.

Treize.