NOTES: As I said before, non-of these characters belong to me and if you

NOTES: As I said before, non-of these characters belong to me and if you
want a long disclaimer go to part 1! Our favorite braided baka finally
makes his appearance! Hope I made his character not too OOC…actually, I'm
just trying to put plain Duo into the past, that's all…meaning I DON'T WANT
DUO TO BE OOC OR ANY OF THE PILOTS!!! Ok…with that out of my system I think its safe for me to get my fingers working! Enjoy ^_~

KINGDOMS' MASKS
PART II

Duo Maxwell considered himself lucky. Three geezers and an old hag had
croaked and now his pouch was full. Of course Duo felt for the deceased,
but all four of them had died peacefully, surrounded by those who loved
them. So where was the sadness in that? Where was the sadness if by them
going to heaven fed him for a week? Duo considered himself very lucky
today, for the friends and families of the deceased had enough money to pay
him.

Duo did not consider him himself a full priest, even though he did wear the
trademark collar. He never took any sacred vows, and he certainly did not
think himself closer to God than anyone else.

Maybe closer to Death…

He called himself a Death Priest, only going to those of the dying or
deceased. He would sit by the body and out loud say the prayers for all to
hear. Why? Because there were people who were too poor to afford to pay a
real priest. Everyone knew that Duo wasn't a real priest; whenever they
came to him he'd always remind them. Duo Maxwell had been raised in a
church, Duo Maxwell knew all the prayers by heart and could read. They
needed Duo Maxwell. Just by him sitting there praying, minds and souls were
assuaged, the dying's last moments calm and gentle.

He never took money from those who were desperate, that would put him in the
same level as all those other priests. No, only those who could afford, so
that was why today Duo was lucky.

Flicking his long chestnut braid over his shoulder, Duo stopped his walking
and looked down the path he was taking. He was tired and wanted to get back
to his cottage as soon as possible. Also, Hilde had said that she'd come
over the next day so he had to clean up the place. She always complained
that he lived like a hog, so for once he wanted to prove the girl wrong.

Letting a mischievous smile cross his face, Duo decided to get off the path
and take a short cut through the woods to his cottage. The young boy leaped
off the path and went into a jog, kicking playfully at the orange fallen
leaves that blanketed the ground. He loved it when the trees started to
loose their leaves. Mainly because the colors would change form green to
orange, brown, and gold. Then when they fell down, Duo could have some fun
with them. Last year he had made a large pile of leaves and buried himself
in it. When Hilde came over to give him some freshly made muffins; he had
leapt out with a monstrous cry. Hilde had ended up pelting him with the
muffins, and it had taken him nearly two hours to get all the leaves and
twigs out of his long chestnut hair. But it was worth it!

Something flashed suddenly from the side, and Duo stopped his jog and looked
curiously toward it. Squinting he made out some kind of metal object a
couple of yards away. Duo's curious nature got the best of him. He started
to jog over to investigate, but before he could reach it, his foot caught on
something and he went sprawling face first into the leafy ground.

Cursing bitterly, Duo turned to look at what had dared to trip him, and
Duo's heart leapt into his throat as he realized that he had fallen over the
corpse of a very…very dead man!

Duo scrambled back, and leapt to his feet. He stared at the body and saw
that it was dark skinned man dressed in outlandish brown clothes. He
hesitated; the reached down and rolled the body over, and cried out and
jumped away from the corpse. The man's gut had been sliced open, and under
him was his sword, drenched with his own blood. Some wild animal had not
killed this man; someone had murdered him. Duo checked the man's pockets,
and found that the purse was still there, meaning any highwaymen didn't do
him in. Duo opened the purse and spilled its contents into his open palm
and his eyes bulged as he gold pieces came out!

Duo immediately looked up and scanned the area. He was absolutely sure that
a rich foreigner would never travel alone. He was right, for he spotted
three more lumps not to far away. Duo put the gold back into the purse and
dropped it back onto the man (1) and went to look at the lumps. They were
three dead men, all dark skinned, outlandishly dressed, and loaded with more
gold. All had been armed, all looked like they had battled, and all had
lost their lives.

Duo wanted to leave; he wanted to run away. Someone had killed these men,
meaning someone must still be somewhere, probably waiting for more victims.
Duo looked down at the pitifully small dagger strapped to his belt. Against
armed killers, he would have no chance, but he would at least take as many
down with him…a gift to Death to send down to Hell.

Ignoring the fact that the killers might still be around, Duo began to dig.
He was not about to leave these men's bodies out in the open for the crows.

Then he heard a faint moan.

Duo leapt up and once again scanned the woody area. He heard the moan again
and this time spotted two more lumps ahead of him. Duo broke into a run,
nearly falling over in his haste. "Hey! Hey! Are you hurt?!"

Duo stopped at the first body. It was a giant monster of a man, dark
skinned and outlandishly dressed like the others. Duo gasped in relief as
he found the man's pulse, but also groaned when he saw the ugly stomach
wound. The man was unconscious and probably never going to awaken. He then
turned to the other lump, and saw that it was much smaller than the rest.

It groaned.

Duo crawled over, and saw that it was a cloaked and hooded boy. Duo rolled
him over and pulled the hood away and gasped. This was no outlander! The
boy was pale skinned and had blonde gold hair drenched in blood from a nasty
head wound. Yet he was dressed just as the others if a little more finely.

Duo shook him, "Hey! Can you hear me?"

The boy moaned again and his eyes opened a crack, and Duo could see pain
fuzzed aqua eyes looking at me. Then the boy closed his eyes and sighed,
loosing consciousness.

Duo checked the boy for any more wounds, but found nothing. If treated
right, the boy would recover nicely. Duo then looked at the dead men,
thinking. They died fighting. He looked at the giant man who was going to
die no matter what Duo could do. And then he finally looked at the
unconscious boy. Finely dressed, outlandish, the men were probably the
boy's defenders, and they were now dead, at least almost. Duo could always
pretend that he never found them and walk away, walk away from this helpless
injured boy…

But Duo would not do that.

Wondering if he was going regret this, Duo slung the boy onto his back and
stood, and the same time trying to form a plan of how he would get the giant
brute to his cottage?

***

Milliardo paced while Heero and Trowa watched their King silently.

The Queen and Princess were at a ball, but the King had excused himself,
claiming that he was feeling ill, when in reality he was going to meet
secretly with his Captain of the Royal Guards and his Court Jester.

The King suddenly snarled and slammed his fist onto the table.

A voice suddenly said, "Stay calm or your emotions will influence you
judgement."

Heero found himself smirking, and Trowa merely blinked at the figure that
stood uninvited at the door to the private council room.

The King whirled around and faced Ambassador Wufei Chang, and was not
amused. "This is a private meeting, Ambassador!" Snarled the King.

The young Chinese boy shrugged and entered, ignoring the heated glares from
the man who could order his execution. He said, "This may concern my
kingdom as well, Majesty, so I will make this my business." The he turned
to look at the smirking Heero, then at Trowa. His jet black eyes widened
slightly and he exclaimed, "An ingenious disguise!"

Milliardo growled in submission as Heero offered Wufei a seat who took it..
The King said after the Ambassador was seated, " I never met the Malik's son
I had heard the Malik only praise him, except for his rebellious nature, and
if I remember right his 'over-sensitive heart'." Milliardo shut his eyes
and shouted, "The Amhir is the Malik's life! If anything has happened to
him, who knows how the Malik will act!"

"Do you fear that the Malik would wage war on his own ally?" Asked Wufei.

The King sat down and buried his head in his hands. "I don't know. The man
is wonderful, kind, reasonable, but…"

"Reason seems to always get lost when one's child is involved." Finished
Trowa softly.

Heero said, "My concern is where is the Amhir? Did he arrive at the ports
as scheduled? Was he waylaid? Or id he just simply lost?"

The King turned to Trowa; "Do you think you can find these things out?" He
asked.

Trowa stood up and bowed, "I will find everything that I can, Majesty." He
said, and without another sound he left.

Wufei watched him go then commented, "An excellent disguise! I had never
noticed before how lethal he moved until I saw him sitting with you." He
looked up at the King. "You are extremely fortunate, your Majesty, for you
are not surrounded by fools."

Heero thought to himself, no…he wasn't a fool, and neither was Trowa. They
were the best, yet neither could fathom what this strange occurrence could
lead too. Was there a conspiracy against the throne? Or did the little
Amhir and his entourage get lost? Was someone plotting to have both
kingdoms go to war against each other? Heero wasn't sure, but hoped that
the Amhir was just simply and idiotically lost.

Heero cursed to himself. Whoever thought that some little spoiled foreign
brat he had never met could cause so much trouble for him and cause Heero's
already hectic life even more hectic. If this Arabian Prince was in danger
would Heero end up having to sacrifice his life to save him? If Heero was
killed, would that spark a war?

No.

If this little Amhir was killed by foul play, would that spark a war?

Definitely.

So this was life, forever cruel, cold, and uncaring.

TO BE CONTINUED…

(1) Duo put the gold back into the purse and dropped it back onto the man:
Come on! Duo would never steal form the dead! Especially not form some
foreigner who's dead!

NEXT TIME:

Duo dragged the boy to the bed and shook him, "Hey! Snap out of it! Come
on, calm down. Do you understand what I am saying?" The boy turned
sorrowful teal eyes to him and said in perfect common, "I am alone. They
are all dead! They were all killed!" The boy buried his head into his eyes
and wept, "I am lost! What do I do?"