Author's Notes- I will finish, I will finish, I will finish, I will finish, I will finish, I will finish, I will finish, I will finish, I will finish, I will finish, I will finish..

Duo- Er, Sage? What're you doing?

I will finish, I will.. hm? Oh, chanting a mantra. Nothing else seems to help, can't hurt to try.

Duo- Oh, right.

Ok, so, anyways, I'm really going to make an effort to finish this thing, I swear! I'm DYING to write the ending, no matter how hard it'll be. I'm willing to sacrifice my sanity to make it incredibly fluffy for you all, aren't you thrilled? Yup, but unfortunately, we still have quite a few chapters between then and now. So, enough stalling, ON WITH IT!!!

Disclaimer- Nope, don't own any Gundam Wing characters, not one. Not yet anyways.. *evil laughter* I do own Sage however, so that's something.

Warning- Ya know, these things are getting tedious.. -_- Yes, still 1x2, and mild 3x4. You really should know that by now.. O_o

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Heero blinked. He was standing in the middle of a green field, alone. As far as he could see, it was only waving grasses and a few shady trees. He blinked again. Wasn't it the middle of winter..? It didn't seem to be, it was quite comfortable out, and he could feel a warm breeze on his skin..

Skin.. Skin?!? The prince hurriedly glanced down. Sure enough, he was not coated in fur. In fact.. He was back to normal. He looked exactly as he had before that sorceress had cursed him all that time ago. Hands shaking, he reached up to feel his face. His fingers met soft skin, a normal nose, tender lips. He was indeed himself once again. "What's going on?"

Hearing a movement behind him, the youth quickly turned, realizing he wasn't quite as alone as he had thought. What met his eyes was nearly as shocking as the fact that he was no longer a beast. Duo, his beyond beautiful guest, stood before him, hair unbound and dancing in the breeze, a smile gracing his features. He was clad in a loose pair of pants and a sleeveless shirt, which would occasionally flap in the breeze, revealing a tantalizing section of his midriff. "Duo.."

The other's amethyst eyes flashed happily, but he said nothing. His head tilted slightly to the side, as if inquiring why Heero was just standing there. The prince began to ask himself that question, and took a hesitant step forward. Duo's smile widened, and he seemed to beckon the blue-eyed youth forward. Heero took another step, then another, until soon he was running, eager to be near his love.

He was close now, a few more step and he could touch him.. A few more.. No!!! Just as Heero was about to take the last step, closing the distance between him and the violet-eyed beauty, he could feel thick fur sprout from his skin. He froze in horror as he began to transform back into a beast. Even worse, Duo was slowly disappearing. He reached out with a hand that was quickly turning into a paw, pleading with the other not to go. However, he merely caught a last glimpse of the extravagant eyes before Duo was completely gone.

Heero himself had turned completely back into a beast. He was alone, utterly alone, the subtle beauty of his location seeming to mock him. He sank to his knees, not realizing the change occurring around him. The emerald green grass was dying, crumbling into a brown dust. The trees dropped their leaves, soon nothing but shriveled twigs sticking out of the earth. Even the sun seemed to dim, giving the whole setting a forsaken look. "Duo... DUO!!!"

"DUO!!!" Heero sat up quickly in bed, sweat making the fur on his forehead stick to the skin underneath. He breathed heavily, peering about at his surroundings. He was in his chambers, everything looking the same as it had when he fell asleep. "A.. dream." Shaking his head, the beast-prince got up, walking jerkily over to the window. Peering out, he saw snow falling softly against the panes. All more evidence it was only a dream.

But perhaps a bit more? A dream with a meaning, maybe? Of course he had hoped from when he first laid eyes on Duo that the boy would be the one to break the accursed spell.. But could it truly be reality? Could someone so wonderful, so amazing ever love him? He traced a finger along the glass, feeling the cold through his fur. There was always a chance..

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"Huh?" Duo sat up, blinking sleepily. It was still completely dark out, the only light a faint glow from the moon through the windows. "Did someone call me?" He wasn't asking anyone in particular, but considering he wasn't entirely awake, he would have been fine with the ceiling saying something in response. He blinked a bit more, trying to get the room to come into proper focus. Why did images of sapphire eyes keep running through his head..?

Yawning, the braided youth stood. Wondering how his feet managed to move without commands from his brain, he slowly made his way over to the window. Halfway there, his brain kicked back into action and decided that bed was definitely the best place for Duo to be at the moment. Yawning again, he turned around, eventually collapsing on the soft bed. He shivered, realizing exactly how cold it was outside his bed with no shirt, and quickly burrowed under the covers.

Once he was warm again, his mind promptly decided to be ornery and keep him up a while longer, thinking. Muttering darkly, the braided youth squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to fall asleep. Unfortunately, that had little to no effect. Sighing resignedly, he opened both violet eyes once again, placed his hands behind his head and turned to stare at the ceiling.

This whole thing wasn't so bad, actually. In fact, he'd never been treated so well. He hadn't been lying at dinner, the fact that he would never permit himself to lie had a helping hand in that. He wondered vaguely why Heero had put so much effort into making him comfortable. Not that he didn't appreciate it, quite the opposite in fact. He was just slightly confused; shouldn't a beast be cold and cruel, shoving people in dungeons and the like?

There were those non-beast-like qualities again. Duo thought about it a bit longer, then decided that Heero hadn't always been a beast. There was simply no other explanation. And his eyes were still human... His eyes... The braided youth could picture the deep blue eyes, dark and mysterious with a certain alluring quality... Beautiful eyes... He blinked rapidly. What on earth was he thinking? Whatever it was, it must not have been processing correctly. Although, he couldn't help being attracted..

"Whoa!" Duo had to shout to try and knock some sense into himself. "I'm DEFINITELY tired.. Either that or I'm going absolutely crazy." Rolling his own violet orbs, he rolled back over, intent on falling asleep and soon. "Attracted.. Geesh." He tried to ignore the weight his own mind put behind the statement.

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"Master Duo?" Quatre peered into the amethyst-eyed youth's room, wondering whether he should just barge in or wait for an invitation. Wanting to remain polite, he chose the second option. "Master Duo? Are you awake? May I come in?" He got some muffled muttering in reply. Guessing that was the best reply he was going to get, the blonde servant shrugged and pushed open the door.

Quatre walked over to the bed, not seeing Duo, but there was a large lump in the covers that he was pretty sure hid the boy. As he stopped by the side of the ornate piece of furniture, the afore-mentioned lump moved a bit, and a sound rather like an irritated groan emerged from somewhere near the head of the bed. A head peeked out under the covers, and Quatre eventually caught sight of two violet eyes looking out from behind mussed bangs. "Whatchu want..?"

"For you to get up, of course." Duo looked back and forth, trying to figure out where exactly the servant was standing. The fact that he was still half- asleep didn't help matters at all. Quatre finally felt sorry for the youth, and tapped him on the shoulder. "I'm right here."

"Oh, right. Good night then." The head immediately retreated beneath the thick covers again, and the lump ceased moving. Wondering whether to burst out laughing or pull his hair out screaming, Quatre poked the part of the lump where he assumed Duo's back was. He didn't get a response.

Frowning, the servant poked the lump again, harder. Another irritated sound, however muffled, made its way to his ears, and the lump scooted away from his reach. Quatre, realizing there was no other way to do this, steeled himself for the yelling that was sure to come afterwards. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed one end of the blankets firmly, and tugged. The bed was bare except for a pillow and a now shivering Duo.

"HEY NOW!!!" The youth shouted angrily, fulfilling Quatre's expectations. "WHAT GIVES?!?!" He tried to grab his coverings back, but Quatre stepped backwards out of his range. Muttering, the amethyst-eyed one wrapped his arms around himself in attempts to keep warm. "Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I don't believe that stealing my covers is on the top of the "Top Ten Polite Things To Do" list."

"Well, neither is staying in bed when I asked you politely to do otherwise!" Quatre explained, rolling his eyes. The latter action wasn't noticed by any party other than himself, of course, but he didn't really care. "Now, would you please get up and get dressed?"

"Gimme one good reason." Thinking it was unexpected, Duo made another attempt at retrieving his blankets. Again, his efforts were foiled. "Ok, give me a reason besides the fact that you have my covers."

"Because.. Well, because Master Heero is up, and he has requested that you eat breakfast with him." Well, it wasn't completely a lie.. The servant was sure that the beast-prince would enjoy anything having to do with being near his guest. He was replied by a grunt, and had to jerk the covers out of Duo's reach one last time before the braided youth finally gave up, and got up. (a/n- for all you perfectionists out there, I MEANT to put two phrases with 'up' right next to each other like that; if you say it right, it sounds good, so there)

"You're lucky I'm too tired to argue any more.." He muttered, pulling a fresh black tunic from the closet Quatre had been sure to stock the night previous. Checking to make sure all his hair was still firmly in it's braid, Duo turned around, facing the floating pile of blankets. "All right, I'm up. Lead the way, Q-man."

Blinking at the nickname, the blonde set the blankets back down, making a mental note to get someone to remake the youth's bed. He noticed belatedly that Duo would now be unable to follow him, and grabbed the other's hand lightly. "Ok then." Setting a quick pace, he led the amethyst-eyed boy through numerous corridors, until they finally reached a dining room, though different from the one the guest had already seen.

"How many places to eat do you have, exactly?" Duo whispered, awed again at the excellence of the room he was being led into.

"5 formal dining rooms, 6 luncheon areas, and the ballroom was used for eating on occasion if there was a large amount of people present..." Quatre stopped his explanation, realizing the braided boy's mouth had dropped. "Er.. Yea." (a/n- hmm, is that a good number of eating areas for a castle, do you think? I'm merely guessing here..)

"Sorry I asked..." Violet eyes clamped shut as Duo tried to comprehend the size of the place he was in. Considering the mere prospect of a ballroom made his head hurt, he dropped it quickly. He glanced around, finally spotting Heero at the head of a large oaken table, reading something or other. When the braided youth stepped on a particularly squeaky floorboard, the beast looked up hurriedly. He blinked a few times, as if not understanding why he was no longer alone, but quickly covered up his surprise.

"Er, good morning.." Heero glanced behind his guest, where he was sure Quatre was standing, grinning sheepishly. Mentally rolling his eyes, the prince gestured to an empty seat. "Hungry?" Duo opened his mouth to respond, but his stomach gurgled before he could reply. He clamped his lips shut again, blushing. "I guess so, eh?"

"Um, yea.." Duo quickly took a seat, and helped himself from the platters laid out when his host gestured for him to do so. He was as shocked as he had been the previous night at the layout of foods. Heero, however, seemed to have barely touched anything, and indeed, he currently wasn't eating, just looking at the braided youth with a thoughtful expression.

"So, do you like it here so far?" Heero sighed inwardly. His attempts at conversation were never anything spectacular, and were often just plain stupid. He really hoped his comment hadn't come across as the latter to his guest.

Duo gulped down his mouthful of bacon, considering. What exactly was he supposed to respond with? 'Oh, why yes, this has all been the best time of my life, thank you!' or perhaps 'No way in hell, I'm a prisoner!' Well, maybe the latter was out of the running. Although, thinking about it, he would never have said that anyway. He never lied, and it hadn't been that bad. In fact, so far, he was sort of enjoying himself, in a way. He had never been pampered in his life like this, and had certainly never had access to all the food he wanted, and that was a plus all in itself. When you're a street rat most of your life, you learn to appreciate the value of food.

So, all things considered, his answer was the blunt truth. "Yea, kinda." Duo winced. What on earth was that? You don't say a meager two-word reply when your host asks you if you're liking your stay.. Well, maybe you did, he wasn't really clear on that point. Heero seemed to be satisfied with the answer, so it wasn't unacceptable, anyway.

"I see. Is there anything you need at all, anything I can get you?" The braided youth blinked. That certainly wasn't the response he was expecting. His host had already gone so far out of his way to see to it that his stay was pleasant, and now he was offering to do more? But why...?

"Er, no no, that's all right, I'm fine.." Duo started folding his napkin repeatedly, focusing intently on it. There had been something in those sapphire eyes.. He had seen it, he had agreed with it, he had.. The violet- eyed boy mentally slapped himself across the face a few times. What on earth was he thinking? But still, excepting their initial meeting, Heero was near-perfect, other than his appearance.. Duo quickly shook his head. He was falling for a beast. Plain and simple.

The beast-prince tilted his head slightly. He wanted to do something for his guest, something that would make him happy. A part of his mind was screaming at him that he was about to take a plunge, but Heero didn't care. He was poised over the deep water, and was not afraid to dive in. (a/n- dear lord, now I've stooped to using metaphors.. WHAT IS THE WORLD COMING TO?!) "Nonsense, you can't merely sit around all day!" Heero mentally groaned. Great, now he had backed himself into a corner. What next?

"Guess not.." Duo's voice was quiet, as if he wasn't sure he should be responding. He glanced out the large window, behind which the sun was shining pleasantly. It had stopped snowing in the night, clouds retreating and leaving a perfectly clear, blue sky in their wake. The effect made the outdoors look very appealing. "Could I.. I mean, well, I could go outside.. You know, play in the snow or something.." The braided youth wondered if anything he said had been somewhat clear. He had mumbled the entire thing somewhere in the direction of his lap.

Heero raised his eyebrows, trying to decipher what had been said to him. When he had worked it out, he gave a slight nod. "If that is what you desire, I see no reason why not." A few thoughts crossed his mind about what he himself desired, but he quashed them down to pay heed to the object of his affections. Yes, he had definitely dived deep. (a/n- not ONLY do I write a metaphor, it comes back repeatedly to haunt me! ARGH!!!)

The guest's violet orbs were trained downwards, but he managed a brief nod. Why had the other's voice granting him a favor struck such a chord inside him? It was as if he had just been given the world. Still wondering what on Earth was making him feel and act so strangely, Duo jerked slightly when his host spoke again. "Do you need warmer clothes?"

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Duo blinked a bit, trying to clear his vision. The sun striking the snow filled his sight with blurring sparkles, making it difficult to tell what was moving and what was not. Raising a hand to shade his eyes, the youth looked around at the castle's yard. Most was a smooth expanse of fresh, white snow, and the remainder was brown patches that had gained refuge from the elements by being located under tall pine trees. A handful of other types of trees were sprinkled around; however, all were bare of leaves and provided no shelter for the ground below. (a/n- don't you just love lengthy descriptions?)

An idea coming to his mind, the braided boy dropped to his knees, grinning wildly. This was perfect for something he used to do as a small child: building a snowman. Scooping up a handful of the snow, he molded it into a ball and placed it down beside him. He piled more and more snow on top of it, eventually getting a lump which he deemed large enough to be the creation's base. He repeated the process on top of this lump, and then again on that one, finally standing in front of a human-sized pile of snow, divided into three circular sections.

In spite of having nothing to decorate the so-called snowman, Duo smiled. He never had anything to decorate his creations with when he was a child either, so it made the whole event just like old times. The smile was soon accompanied by a shaking of his head as he tried to remember exactly what the entire purpose of building a snowman was. All it seemed to have done was make his hands red with cold and deprive the surrounding ground of it's well-deserved blanket of snow.

He didn't even notice the large shadow that was getting closer and closer to his back.

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Author's Notes- Oooooooo, cliffhanger! Well, sorta..bah. It looks like one to me, all right?! Sigh.. Well, sorry about the semi-long wait and all, I haven't had much creativity in me as of late.. What a bugger. Especially when you have two stories that are causing people to threaten you with death if you don't continue soon. _

Duo- Death threats?

Yea, I think I've received a few on account of my never finishing things.. It's harder than it looks, geesh. DEATH THREATS ARE NOT BENEFICIAL TO THE WRITING PROCESS! *sobs*

Yami- What's with her?

Duo- *shrugs*

Yami- Well, on account of the fact that Sage is having a mental breakdown, and that I'm in a story that isn't even Yu-Gi-Oh based and should have SOMETHING worthwhile to do, I'll finish things.. Ahem. The afore-mentioned blue-haired author needs to know if you people like this story enough for her to continue right away, because she has an idea for another, and quite a few more after that. Please, for Ra's sake, SOMEONE KEEP HER ON TRACK!!!!