This is a songfic, or more technically a poem fic. It's set to the song/poem "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes. I didn't mean this to be a yaoi story, but whatever floats your boat! ^_^ BTW, the poem was set to music by Loreena McKennitt, and is on her CD "the book of secrets".
I got these words from the song version, so they aren't the complete verses of "The Highwayman". IOW, this is the abridged version.
It was an ordinary mission; how did all of this happen?
Trowa, Wufei, and Heero had just received the news. They were the only remaining pilots, after a series of unclear events killed both Duo and Quatre. Trowa's question, unheard by the others, was nonetheless in their own minds. The Silent Clown stood against a wall, his face covered and unreadable. Heero appeared unmoved by the sudden news, all except for his clenched fists, so tight that his nails drew a drop of blood. Wufei alone was open about his anger, but not his pain. The Dragon still hissed curses under his breath.
Never, even after the war, would they understand or even know what the deepest truths were….
~
//The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees · The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon the cloudy seas · The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor · And the Highwayman came riding, · Riding, riding, · The Highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.//
//He'd a French cocked hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin, · A coat of claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin; · They fitted with never a wrinkle; his boots were up to the thigh! · And he rode with a jewelled twinkle, · His pistol butts a-twinkle, · His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.//
It was almost midnight when Duo Maxwell snuck into town. He'd just been on an exhaustingly annoying mission, only gathering information. Now came the hard part; destroying the machines the info described. But first…first he'd stop by and see a friend he knew was staying at a hotel here.
//Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,· and he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred; · he whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there · but the landlord's black eyed daughter · Bess the landlord's daughter, · plaiting a dark red love-knot in her hair.//
//"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize tonight, · But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light; · Yet if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day, · Then look for me by the moonlight, · Watch for me by the moonlight, · I'll come to thee by the moonlight, though hell should bar the way."//
When he got to the rather small hotel, Duo found all of the doors locked. Not that that ever stopped him before, but he was running out of time. Now angry, he randomly threw some rocks at the offending building. Just as he turned to go, a single window opened on the second floor.
"Well, if it isn't the great Shinigami, who has forgotten how to knock properly," came a soft, amused voice from above.
"Cat? Heh, well, I am a wanted fugitive."
"What's up? Do you need a place to stay, or something?"
"Not really. I mean, tomorrow I will. I've just got to finish this easy mission. But just in case…if I run into trouble, I'll come tomorrow night, K?"
"I'll be watching for you."
//He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand · But she loosed her hair I' the casement! His face burned like a brand · As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast; and he kissed its waves in the moonlight, · (oh sweet black waves in the moonlight!) · Then he tugged at the rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the West.//
//He did not come at the dawning; he did not come at noon, · And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon, · When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor, · A red-coat troop came marching, · Marching, marching, · King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.//
It was evening, but Duo still hadn't returned. Quatre paced anxiously about his room, always stopping to look out the window for his missing friend. There were loud noises and shouting coming from downstairs, and eventually Quatre gave into curiosity. Cautiously exiting his room, he had gone no more than ten feet when a hand came out of nowhere, knocking the gundam pilot senseless.
//They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead, · But they gagged his daughter and bound her to foot of her narrow bed; · Two of them knelt at the casement, with muskets at their side! · There was death at every window, · And hell at one dark window; · For Bess could see, through the casement, the road that he would ride.//
//They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest; · They had bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast! · "Now keep good watch!" and they kissed her. · She heard the dead man say- · Look for me by the moonlight · Watch for me by the moonlight · I'll come to thee by the moonlight, though hell should bar the way.//
It was dark when Quatre came to, and he realized quickly that he was tied to the foot of his bed. Oz shoulders surrounded him, all carrying rifles. There was also a rifle bound next to him, pointing to his pounding heart. His mouth was gagged, and his hands tied behind him. One of the female soldiers noticed his alert, almost fearful eyes, and grinned.
"Keep good watch out that window, 04. It'll be the last time you see your friend again!" And with that, she blew a mock kiss at his defiant and walked out of the room, whispering that she would watch outside. When she was gone, Quatre leaned against the bed, terror filling his chest. It was not for himself, but for Duo; he had to warn the braided Shinigami!
//She twisted her hands behind her, but all the knots held good! · She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood! · They stretched and strained in the darkness and the hours crawled by like years! · Till, now, on the stroke of midnight, · Cold, on the stroke of midnight, · The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!//
//Tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs were ringing clear · Tlot-tlot, in the distance! Were they deaf that they did not hear? · Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill, · The Highwayman came riding, · Riding, riding! · The red-coats looked to their priming! She stood up straight and still!//
For hours, or years it seemed, Quatre struggled against the ropes, until he was sure not all of the wetness was sweat. Finally, on the stroke of midnight, he managed to reach the rifle's trigger! But just as he reached it, another sound reached his ears, beneath the ringing of the clock tower. There was no mistaking it; Duo's motorcycle! Didn't the soldiers hear it? It was loud and revealing in the blonde pilot's ears. What could he do, what could he….
Since they had first met, Duo had saved Quatre's life dozens of times. It was time to return the favor.
//Tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot, in the echoing night! · Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light! · Her eyes grew wide for a moment! She drew one last deep breath, · Then her finger moved in the moonlight, · Her musket shattered in the moonlight, · Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him with her death.//
//He turned; he spurred to the West; he did not know she stood · Bowed with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood! · Not till the dawn he heard it; his face grew gray to hear · How Bess, the landlord's daughter, · The landlord's black-eyed daughter, · Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.//
A shot rang out, loud and harsh against the quiet night. Duo, on his motorcycle, heard it and immediately turned around. OZ must have gotten there ahead of him! It was ok, though, he'd just spend the night in Deathscythe. Quatre would have heard the shot too, and known to stay clear of it….
It was almost 9:00 when he heard the truth: pilot 04 had been captured and murdered by OZ the night before. At first, the words didn't register in his mind; but all too soon, Duo understood and was filled with rage, both at himself and at OZ. How could he have been so stupid? Why had he spent the day hiding, when he could have easily snuck past the soldiers with only a little difficulty? Why, why, WHY?!?!?
//Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky · With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high! · Blood-red were the spurs I' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat, · When they shot him down on the highway, · Down like a dog on the highway, · And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.//
Unable to think clearly and filled with rage, Duo raced back to the town, shouting curses at the empty air. Although he managed to take many of the soldiers camped at the hotel to death with his hand gun, it only took one shot for his body to be sprawled, lifeless, on the road. He was later identified as Gundam pilot 02.
And so ends the truths untold to those who would hear them most….
//Still on a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees, · When the moon is a ghostly galleon, tossed upon the cloudy seas, · When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, · A Highwayman comes riding, · Riding, riding, · A Highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.//
Kat C, a.k.a. Poetry in Motion