Title: Unicorn in the Moonlight 4/?
Author & Email: DarkNekoShini QuaxoKatt@yahoo.com
Archive: Whoever wants it
Category: Au/fantasy
Rating: R
Warnings: Violence, OOC, Language
Spoilers: None
Pairings: Eventually 3+4
Disclaimer: I don't own squat. *Checks for squat* Nope, don't own it. Nothing in this fic belongs to me.
Chapter Four.
Trowa rubbed his chest again for, what seemed to him anyway, the hundredth time that day. It felt tight.. something was wrong, something was tugging at his heart, but he didn't know what. Or why. The last time that he had checked, his heart was dead.
~Oh yes.. the dream.~ He blinked softly to himself, his gaze fixed apon his feet as he recanted last nights adventures. "How strange..."
"Trowa?"
He jumped, startled, an emotion that was completely foreign to him. "Yes, Catherine."
"Are you alright? You look upset..." She would have never mentioned it, but she was glad to see some kind of emotion on his face other than the normal stoic expression or the one of anger that seemed to loom just beyond the surface of the emerald depths of his downcast eyes. She had followed him as he lumbered slowly outside, seemingly lost.
"No.. I'm fine."
"Ok..." She said, nodding slowly as the wind ripped and pulled at her hair.
"I'm going for a walk. I'll be back soon."
"It's going to storm..." She motioned to the dark, heavy clouds that raced above them, not having to draw attention to the deep chuckles of thunder that boomed every once and again.
"I know. Don't wait up for me."
"Come back to me, Trowa.. and.. let me at least fix you something to eat."
He nodded once, allowing her time to pack him a light lunch, and place it in a leather napsack.
~~~
::Cold.. so cold..:: Quatre had managed to roll over on his back, one injured leg drawn up. Turning his head to the right, he could see a part of the road that snaked around a groove of trees. ::hungry.. i'm hungry.. iria.. i know you will be here.. you'll get me out.. we'll go home.. be safe..:: His lips were parted as he drug his tongue across them. They were dry and cracked, painful.
A coughing fit errupted him in mid thought, his lungs rattling in an ugly manner. Wrinkling his nose softly, he sneezed, then shivered. ::help me? Please.. someone... can you hear me?::
His voice was weak. His spirit broken as he tried again to contact anyone, but hope was waning. He had been in that cage without food or water for two days, a storm raging overhead the entire time, as his tired mind wandered and drifted.
~~~
A point of light, shining defiantly through a thick outcroping of trees, a pinpoint in darkness foreboding. Unseen rain stinging his skin. Supposedly firm ground marshy and soggy beneath his feet.
Those images, so strong.. so familar to him as he made his trek towards the nearest town, taking care to keep off of and away from the main roads, lest he find himself in the midst of people. It wasn't as if he were afraid of people, far from it. He just didn't care much for their company.
"Hey, Boy!" A drunken voice called to him from a feild to his left. Halting, he turned, standing in the road and watching as two enibriated, middle aged men swaggered to him. "Hey, boy. Come here. We got some goods. You want to buy them."
"No.. thank you."
Michael halted, looking at John. "He didn't.. hear us John." He giggled softly. "I said, Come buy our goods!" He swayed into his friend as Trowa regarded him blankly.
John, a little less sloshed than his partner, stepped toward the lanky youth, eyeing him up. "You're a tall one, you are. Hard worker I would bet." He lilted his voice just so as he half circled the youth. "Put your back into it, I know."
"I have no money."
"Come now, not a shilling? A pence even?"
A shake of the head indicated negitivity.
"Surely something to trade..?"
"I have to no wish to perchase anything from you." He spoke firmly, turning back to the road and continuing his walk.
John waited, watching him as he put distance between them.
"Not even to catch site of a Unicorn, then?"
Overwhelming despair clouded his heart at the mention of the creature. Images, vivid and ominous at the same time danced behind his eyes, clashing together violently until they settled onto the point of light hidden behind the trees. Turning, Trowa faced them as they approached, lifting his head as they murmured softly.
"Hey looks daft, he does, John.. we can use a strong boy like that.. no more carrying the things *and* that damned brute. He can manage the dogs and we can save our backs."
"Right you are, Michael. Right you are." John murmured back, a half smile on his face.
Catching the light words, along with reading their lips, Trowa tensed. He didn't like this and the vision of the pinpoint of light behind the trees became somewhat... desperate. He held his ground as Michael sprang at him, moving to the right in a quick motion seconds before the large, blocky fist would have made contact with his mouth and grabbed the arm, twisting it sharply and putting Michael on the ground. Giving John a deadly glare, he placed his hand on his captives' shoulder, pinning the still twisted wrist at an angle behind the mans back.
"I don't know who you are, but I tell you now. If you have such a creature, you will not leave with it."
"Bah! Let 'im go, you daft bastard!" John scowled, putting on an aire to hide the trembling he felt as he moved closer.
Pressure to the already strained shoulder caused Michael to cry out in pain.
"Stop. Or he will not have use of this arm for a *very* long time."
"Maybe... we can work things out." John tried to reason. Trowa didn't trust the smile that sprang up apon his face one bit, and in response, pushed down on Michael's abused shoulder joint again, feeling a creaking, straining sensation beneath the flat of his palm.
Howling in pain, Michael gibbered softly, begging John to back off.
"Where is the Unicorn?"
"We were kidding... there is no such creature." He spoke in a softly chiding tone, as if Trowa should have known better.
"Where. Is. The Unicorn?" With each word, he pushed down harder, the ball and socket joint at it's limit.
"We'll show ya... just let 'em go."
"I told you, I would not be leaving here without him. I dare not turn my back to you, 'for you can not be trusted."
"You can trust me! You can trust me!" Michael howled up to him, pleadingly.
"Now. Just let him go, boy and I'll show you the creature." John held his hands up, palms facing Trowa as he approached. "Just this way, in a nice cage behind a bank of trees. Setting in a nice feild." He spoke as if calming a horse, or as if he were trying to coax a wayward child into handing him a weapon it was using against him.
Grabbing Michaels hair, Trowa half pulled, half drug him towards the direction, his head turned incase John got any ideas. He walked around a small bend, listening to both men now try to speak flowered words to the youth.
~~~
"Noo..." He couldn't contain the gasp that escaped his lips. Even though the figure inside of the cage wasn't equine, it was defenately malnourished and afraid. He watched as the youth inside scrambled to the far end, trembling in fear as the men approached. He could hear the labored breathing, the rattling of his lungs as the creature within panted for breath.
"What have you done.." He murmured softly, placing Michael in the same position as before. Anger overwhelmed him as he bounced up, bringing his knee down apon the abused shoulder, listening with a warped pleasure at the ball seperated from the socket, causing the man to shriek in pain, falling to Trowa's feet into a dull heap.
He held his ground, his face turned to the left as John roared in anger, moving with a speed that had Trowa not seen it, would not have believed it. Instead of moving away, he brought his hand up, swiftly blocking the upraised arm and shoving it to the side, applying his right fist into the older mans midsection.
John grunted as his air was knocked out of him, mainly from his own momentum as he had launched himself at the young stranger. Staggering up to one knee, his eyes widened as a fist flew down, making contact with his mouth, blood spraying from his smashed lips, a tooth laying heavy on his tongue.
Reeling back, he once again tried to stand, and once again, that same fist made contact with his already damaged mouth, his head snapping back fiercely.
The kid wasn't bad. He brought his fingers to his rapidly swelling mouth, turning a cold eye up to the boy. "Not bad, kid, but I can take 'em as good as I can give 'em."
"That sounds like a challange."
"You bet it is."
"I don't take advantage of the weak. I will defend myself if the need arises. Stand, and I *will* put you back down."
Turning, he moved to kneel by the cage, his very wind knocked from him as John launched himself at Trowa's back, grabbing the lanky youth in a bear hug.
His knees buckling, he collasped to the ground, falling against the wooden enclosure, enciting the boy within to scream out and throw himself against the back of the cage. The wooden boards split with the weight of both of the men as they crashed gracelessly into it.
He saw his chance, a large, splintery gap that had formed as the young man was jerked up and away. Placing his hands against the loosened boards, Quatre wiggled out slowly, eyes wide in fright as he watched the man who had hurt him fall, a dagger in his belly.
Michael had the audacity to crawl away during the struggle, running into the woods like the coward he was as his friend was fallen by the boys hands.
~~~
Quatre pulled back into the cage as the tall stranger approached, head held high in defiance as he glared.
"I won't hurt you."
The figure remained huddled within his corner.
"Come on.. you're free.."
"...oooo.."
"Please..." Trowa knelt at the fresh hole in the box, reaching his hand through as the youth turned his eyes apon it as if it would bite. He didn't like the way the boy trembled, nor the bright flush of fever that seemed to radiate from his whole body. He knew that the fair stranger in the box was on death's door and if something wasn't done soon, he would die.
"I don't know what they did to you... but I assure you... I promise.. I won't harm you. "
~~~
"Come on.. it's all UNGH!" Carrying the boy, Trowa grunted as a set of teeth were firmly placed within his arm, and he went down on one knee as the youth somehow turned around in his arms, head pointing downwards as he tried to wriggle out of his hold.
"Easy.. Hey!" He placed Quatre apon his back, placing his hand on the small sternum as he continued to fight. He had to get him home, he just wasn't sure how.
Lowering the hand apon his abdomen, Trowa shrugged out of his cloak, placing it over the boys body, grunting as he fought to roll him within the brown material without being bitten or scratched any futher.
"It's ok.. It's alright.. don't fight, let me help you.." He murmured through clenched teeth as the bundle squirmed and wiggled.
The walk home was long. They stopped once to eat, but Quatre had only crouched against the trunk of the large tree that Trowa had chosen to rest under, glaring at the strange human with a weary, untrusting gaze. He refused food of any kind and once again delivered a cruel bite apon the muscled forearm that lifted him.
About an hour away from his home, Trowa gazed down into his arms. His burden had grown still.
~Tbc
AN: I am *So* revamping this chapter, but I need feedback so I know with what to do with it. I like it, I don't like it, argh! Thanks! Love you all for reviewing! ^^v
Author & Email: DarkNekoShini QuaxoKatt@yahoo.com
Archive: Whoever wants it
Category: Au/fantasy
Rating: R
Warnings: Violence, OOC, Language
Spoilers: None
Pairings: Eventually 3+4
Disclaimer: I don't own squat. *Checks for squat* Nope, don't own it. Nothing in this fic belongs to me.
Chapter Four.
Trowa rubbed his chest again for, what seemed to him anyway, the hundredth time that day. It felt tight.. something was wrong, something was tugging at his heart, but he didn't know what. Or why. The last time that he had checked, his heart was dead.
~Oh yes.. the dream.~ He blinked softly to himself, his gaze fixed apon his feet as he recanted last nights adventures. "How strange..."
"Trowa?"
He jumped, startled, an emotion that was completely foreign to him. "Yes, Catherine."
"Are you alright? You look upset..." She would have never mentioned it, but she was glad to see some kind of emotion on his face other than the normal stoic expression or the one of anger that seemed to loom just beyond the surface of the emerald depths of his downcast eyes. She had followed him as he lumbered slowly outside, seemingly lost.
"No.. I'm fine."
"Ok..." She said, nodding slowly as the wind ripped and pulled at her hair.
"I'm going for a walk. I'll be back soon."
"It's going to storm..." She motioned to the dark, heavy clouds that raced above them, not having to draw attention to the deep chuckles of thunder that boomed every once and again.
"I know. Don't wait up for me."
"Come back to me, Trowa.. and.. let me at least fix you something to eat."
He nodded once, allowing her time to pack him a light lunch, and place it in a leather napsack.
~~~
::Cold.. so cold..:: Quatre had managed to roll over on his back, one injured leg drawn up. Turning his head to the right, he could see a part of the road that snaked around a groove of trees. ::hungry.. i'm hungry.. iria.. i know you will be here.. you'll get me out.. we'll go home.. be safe..:: His lips were parted as he drug his tongue across them. They were dry and cracked, painful.
A coughing fit errupted him in mid thought, his lungs rattling in an ugly manner. Wrinkling his nose softly, he sneezed, then shivered. ::help me? Please.. someone... can you hear me?::
His voice was weak. His spirit broken as he tried again to contact anyone, but hope was waning. He had been in that cage without food or water for two days, a storm raging overhead the entire time, as his tired mind wandered and drifted.
~~~
A point of light, shining defiantly through a thick outcroping of trees, a pinpoint in darkness foreboding. Unseen rain stinging his skin. Supposedly firm ground marshy and soggy beneath his feet.
Those images, so strong.. so familar to him as he made his trek towards the nearest town, taking care to keep off of and away from the main roads, lest he find himself in the midst of people. It wasn't as if he were afraid of people, far from it. He just didn't care much for their company.
"Hey, Boy!" A drunken voice called to him from a feild to his left. Halting, he turned, standing in the road and watching as two enibriated, middle aged men swaggered to him. "Hey, boy. Come here. We got some goods. You want to buy them."
"No.. thank you."
Michael halted, looking at John. "He didn't.. hear us John." He giggled softly. "I said, Come buy our goods!" He swayed into his friend as Trowa regarded him blankly.
John, a little less sloshed than his partner, stepped toward the lanky youth, eyeing him up. "You're a tall one, you are. Hard worker I would bet." He lilted his voice just so as he half circled the youth. "Put your back into it, I know."
"I have no money."
"Come now, not a shilling? A pence even?"
A shake of the head indicated negitivity.
"Surely something to trade..?"
"I have to no wish to perchase anything from you." He spoke firmly, turning back to the road and continuing his walk.
John waited, watching him as he put distance between them.
"Not even to catch site of a Unicorn, then?"
Overwhelming despair clouded his heart at the mention of the creature. Images, vivid and ominous at the same time danced behind his eyes, clashing together violently until they settled onto the point of light hidden behind the trees. Turning, Trowa faced them as they approached, lifting his head as they murmured softly.
"Hey looks daft, he does, John.. we can use a strong boy like that.. no more carrying the things *and* that damned brute. He can manage the dogs and we can save our backs."
"Right you are, Michael. Right you are." John murmured back, a half smile on his face.
Catching the light words, along with reading their lips, Trowa tensed. He didn't like this and the vision of the pinpoint of light behind the trees became somewhat... desperate. He held his ground as Michael sprang at him, moving to the right in a quick motion seconds before the large, blocky fist would have made contact with his mouth and grabbed the arm, twisting it sharply and putting Michael on the ground. Giving John a deadly glare, he placed his hand on his captives' shoulder, pinning the still twisted wrist at an angle behind the mans back.
"I don't know who you are, but I tell you now. If you have such a creature, you will not leave with it."
"Bah! Let 'im go, you daft bastard!" John scowled, putting on an aire to hide the trembling he felt as he moved closer.
Pressure to the already strained shoulder caused Michael to cry out in pain.
"Stop. Or he will not have use of this arm for a *very* long time."
"Maybe... we can work things out." John tried to reason. Trowa didn't trust the smile that sprang up apon his face one bit, and in response, pushed down on Michael's abused shoulder joint again, feeling a creaking, straining sensation beneath the flat of his palm.
Howling in pain, Michael gibbered softly, begging John to back off.
"Where is the Unicorn?"
"We were kidding... there is no such creature." He spoke in a softly chiding tone, as if Trowa should have known better.
"Where. Is. The Unicorn?" With each word, he pushed down harder, the ball and socket joint at it's limit.
"We'll show ya... just let 'em go."
"I told you, I would not be leaving here without him. I dare not turn my back to you, 'for you can not be trusted."
"You can trust me! You can trust me!" Michael howled up to him, pleadingly.
"Now. Just let him go, boy and I'll show you the creature." John held his hands up, palms facing Trowa as he approached. "Just this way, in a nice cage behind a bank of trees. Setting in a nice feild." He spoke as if calming a horse, or as if he were trying to coax a wayward child into handing him a weapon it was using against him.
Grabbing Michaels hair, Trowa half pulled, half drug him towards the direction, his head turned incase John got any ideas. He walked around a small bend, listening to both men now try to speak flowered words to the youth.
~~~
"Noo..." He couldn't contain the gasp that escaped his lips. Even though the figure inside of the cage wasn't equine, it was defenately malnourished and afraid. He watched as the youth inside scrambled to the far end, trembling in fear as the men approached. He could hear the labored breathing, the rattling of his lungs as the creature within panted for breath.
"What have you done.." He murmured softly, placing Michael in the same position as before. Anger overwhelmed him as he bounced up, bringing his knee down apon the abused shoulder, listening with a warped pleasure at the ball seperated from the socket, causing the man to shriek in pain, falling to Trowa's feet into a dull heap.
He held his ground, his face turned to the left as John roared in anger, moving with a speed that had Trowa not seen it, would not have believed it. Instead of moving away, he brought his hand up, swiftly blocking the upraised arm and shoving it to the side, applying his right fist into the older mans midsection.
John grunted as his air was knocked out of him, mainly from his own momentum as he had launched himself at the young stranger. Staggering up to one knee, his eyes widened as a fist flew down, making contact with his mouth, blood spraying from his smashed lips, a tooth laying heavy on his tongue.
Reeling back, he once again tried to stand, and once again, that same fist made contact with his already damaged mouth, his head snapping back fiercely.
The kid wasn't bad. He brought his fingers to his rapidly swelling mouth, turning a cold eye up to the boy. "Not bad, kid, but I can take 'em as good as I can give 'em."
"That sounds like a challange."
"You bet it is."
"I don't take advantage of the weak. I will defend myself if the need arises. Stand, and I *will* put you back down."
Turning, he moved to kneel by the cage, his very wind knocked from him as John launched himself at Trowa's back, grabbing the lanky youth in a bear hug.
His knees buckling, he collasped to the ground, falling against the wooden enclosure, enciting the boy within to scream out and throw himself against the back of the cage. The wooden boards split with the weight of both of the men as they crashed gracelessly into it.
He saw his chance, a large, splintery gap that had formed as the young man was jerked up and away. Placing his hands against the loosened boards, Quatre wiggled out slowly, eyes wide in fright as he watched the man who had hurt him fall, a dagger in his belly.
Michael had the audacity to crawl away during the struggle, running into the woods like the coward he was as his friend was fallen by the boys hands.
~~~
Quatre pulled back into the cage as the tall stranger approached, head held high in defiance as he glared.
"I won't hurt you."
The figure remained huddled within his corner.
"Come on.. you're free.."
"...oooo.."
"Please..." Trowa knelt at the fresh hole in the box, reaching his hand through as the youth turned his eyes apon it as if it would bite. He didn't like the way the boy trembled, nor the bright flush of fever that seemed to radiate from his whole body. He knew that the fair stranger in the box was on death's door and if something wasn't done soon, he would die.
"I don't know what they did to you... but I assure you... I promise.. I won't harm you. "
~~~
"Come on.. it's all UNGH!" Carrying the boy, Trowa grunted as a set of teeth were firmly placed within his arm, and he went down on one knee as the youth somehow turned around in his arms, head pointing downwards as he tried to wriggle out of his hold.
"Easy.. Hey!" He placed Quatre apon his back, placing his hand on the small sternum as he continued to fight. He had to get him home, he just wasn't sure how.
Lowering the hand apon his abdomen, Trowa shrugged out of his cloak, placing it over the boys body, grunting as he fought to roll him within the brown material without being bitten or scratched any futher.
"It's ok.. It's alright.. don't fight, let me help you.." He murmured through clenched teeth as the bundle squirmed and wiggled.
The walk home was long. They stopped once to eat, but Quatre had only crouched against the trunk of the large tree that Trowa had chosen to rest under, glaring at the strange human with a weary, untrusting gaze. He refused food of any kind and once again delivered a cruel bite apon the muscled forearm that lifted him.
About an hour away from his home, Trowa gazed down into his arms. His burden had grown still.
~Tbc
AN: I am *So* revamping this chapter, but I need feedback so I know with what to do with it. I like it, I don't like it, argh! Thanks! Love you all for reviewing! ^^v