Fubuki no Kaen
Authors: Xan and Vallen
Rating: R
Warnings: One thing… Or, lot's of things: This is a story with eventual yaoi/shounen ai/slash, whatever you want to call it. If that sort of stuff isn't your thing, then don't read it. But, we hope that you do…
Disclaimer:
The characters Marth and Roy, plus "Altea", do not belong to us. We just use
them for our pleasure.
Feedback: Yes. (That means we would love to hear from you and what you think!)
Notes:
Xan: Aight, well here we go again! Hope y'all like this one as much as you've been liking the others! Btw, I did the thank you's (as usual). Enjoy!
Vallen: Hmm… This is a fairly good chapter- It gets things moving along some more. Yay for plot. I just got home from a holiday and now a new chapter is out. Schweeet.
Thanks to: Alexandra Radcliffe (BEST story on ff.net? Wow, thanks! And reading all 26 chappies in one day, that takes dedication! I'm not even sure if I'VE done that… And YES, we've converted another non-yaoi fan! Gah, everybody likes Roy better. Oh well, more Marth for me. *huggles Marth*), Jennie ("Freaking-ly wonderful chapter of angst" oh MAN that's definitely going into my favorite sayings list. We're really pleased that you liked it, even if the angst is more Vallen's department. *bows humbly to her*), Ryuke-Naoe (Of course we have to leave you at a cliffhanger. We have to have our fun too, you know. ^_^ And yes, sadly it is almost the end. I foresee only a few more chapters… MAYBE we'll get into the early thirties, but I'm not sure. ^_^;;), Sinnatious: (Mm, praise xan & vallen, praise xan & vallen more! [heh, sorry little 3x3 eyes reference there…] Yes, the climax IS a great one, if we do say so ourselves. The ending is very cool, I think you'll all enjoy it very much. Oh and the Gaimen and Trave thing… Yeah, those two scumbags would naturally be friends. Birds of a feather, ya know… And we totally feel the love!), YoshiMars (Yep, the sequel is almost shaping up to be more fun than the original. Scary ain't it? You'll REALLY love that one. Yay, drawing! Any for us? *hopeful*), Shea (Hm, confused? That's not good… We try to keep things pretty clear, but we're glad you liked it anyways!), punk ikhny towryk (Thanks! It only gets better, so keep reading, k? *happy to find another marthxroy fan*), pannybaby123 (Oooh, you have NO idea how much Vallen liked that "he inspires the evilness that lives inside of me" She was cackling and stuff… It was scary. Here's the next chapter for ya! Enjoy!), Dark Comet (Ha! Hypocrite! *coughs* Sorry, couldn't help myself. *giggles* Yes, smack that bastard with a fish… and lay one on Trave too. *snicker* Yes, Marth is VERY lucky. I'm not sure if Vallen realized the implications of that statement when she wrote it, but I got the same impression. Oh, and the sequel is already started and coming along nicely. We do need to work more on it though.), Pichu*Star (*is huggled* ^_^ Good, we knew that y'all'd kill us if we just ended FNOK like we do without writing another one. And FNOK 2 has been in the works for a LONG time, guys. And as for Gaimen's fate you'll just have to wait and see what our boys decide to do with him. *grin*), hooshi (No, no lemon in this fic, sorry. Wait for the sequel, there's some citrus in that one. ^_^ Gr… They're EQUALLY hot.), Riku (Ack… Did we ever email you? If anybody did, it was Vallen, so… I'll talk to her about it. I'm really sorry if we didn't!), Sake Girl Duelist (^_^ Look, it's Gaimen bonfire! And you KNOW why we make you wait.), Mistral 2003 (Ack, another email thing… Again, Vallen would be the one to ask and she's out of town right now, so… I'll check with her ASAP. And no, you didn't write anything wrong.), The Flame Panther (*laughs* Okay, not reviewing is okay if it's cause you wanna get to the next chapter. And THANKS!), Veste Notus (*bows* You're very welcome! We take a lot of pride in keeping the quality of our work up to our own high standards and we're glad that you appreciate it.), LilFillipinoGurl (Nope, no kissing! That means that y'all appreciate it more when we LET them smooch.), MarthLover618 (Yes, they have a PLAN! Run away! Nah, just kidding. We all know that the hot guys always triumph over the bastardly uncle. It's the rules. We just have to put them through a lot of angst shit before that! ^_^), Random Gray Tile (Thank you very, very much. Like I said above, we really try hard to push our writing beyond the norm and make our fics stand out. To hear that our story merits its own site… Wow. I had no idea that our once little story would eventually grow to THAT. For this fic in particular, we were pushing for realism [well, as real as a sword-&-sorcery tale gets], which includes showing the little people. Please keep reading, we appreciate your comments. ^_^), tikimoof (Yeah, cross-dressing is fun, but the story needed to move on… And yes, it's almost over, but there is another Marth & Roy adventure after this, so no worries!)
The next morning was when Gaimen decided to appear before Marth and Roy again. He stood tall and imposing, his stance radiating fury as he shouted at them from the other side of the steel bars.
"Tell me how that happened!"
"How what happened?" The boy-general asked, playing dumb and enjoying every minute of it.
"You know what I'm talking about, Boy!" Gaimen yelled back, flinging open the gate. He wore a tunic, but one could easily discern the bandages around his chest beneath. They had obviously hurt him severely.
Without warning, Roy leapt and ran for the older man. Gaimen jumped aside, still spooked and wary of the two teens, allowing Roy to duck past him and take off down the hall. It was all as Marth and Roy had planned.
"Catch him! Don't let him escape!" Gaimen began to roar angrily, turning to start after the General. He was stopped by his nephew seizing the back of his tunic and whirling him around.
"Let go of me!" Gaimen snarled, glaring at Marth and trying to squirm out of his touch.
A small smile quirked a corner of Marth's mouth.
"No. I've waited a long time to do this, Uncle and I am not about to let you run away from me now."
"Are you calling me a coward, Marth?" Gaimen reached back, clenching his huge fist to punch his nephew as hard as he could.
Marth caught his fist easily and squeezed, causing the twisted tyrant to howl in pain. Marth's skin was blistering cold – welts were forming on his burned fist. The prince smirked inwardly. All the training sessions with Rowen were paying off now. The Weather Mage was about Gaimen's size and physical match, so he had plenty of practice against opponents that were larger and stronger than he was.
'And Gaimen doesn't have magic either.' Marth thought with a smirk, digging his fingers into Gaimen's flesh.
Gaimen choked back a scream and broke away from his nephew, fumbling for the blade around his waist.
"What are you?!"
Marth allowed himself a small, evil chuckle, his eyes glittering dangerously.
"The true King of Altea."
Roy panted heavily as he raced through the castle halls with several guards from the dungeon and others that he had picked up along the way at his heels.
"You there! Halt!" They shouted at him.
'I can't. Not now.' He thought, not even glancing back to see how many there were now.
It was day, the windows were open and anyone could see him. He was bare-chested, the wounds on his back gaping and flaring as he ran, the skirt still fluttering around his legs. Granted, he had ripped it a little up the sides so that he could run, but it was still uncomfortable. Roy made it up to the place where Marth had shown him the swords, streaking past startled harem girls and boys and doubling back after seizing the hidden swords.
Now he had to face the guards and using effort and skill, he took most of them down, inflicting minor and major injuries using just his bare body, but it still took the time he did not have to waste. He finally reached the dungeons where Marth was battling his uncle.
"Marth, here!" He shouted, tossing a sword hilt-first to his partner.
The Prince caught it neatly in one hand, savoring the feeling of a blade in his grasp once again. Granted, this sword was by no means Falcion, but it would no doubt serve its purpose. The action gave Gaimen time enough to draw his own sword. With a furious yell, he swept it down upon Marth, who countered quickly. The two swords shrieked as mental grated against metal.
"You're stronger, Marth. What have you been doing all these long months?" The false King sneered, pushing down on Marth's sword with his own with all his formidable weight.
'How in the hells did he get so strong?' Marth heard Gaimen's frantic thought clearly and smiled to himself.
'Roy, help.' He thought to the general.
Roy nodded and cut in, slashing at Gaimen's sword arm to handicap him. He knew the false King fought best with both hands, but if one was out of the way…
"Back off," he growled.
Gaimen returned the growl and jumped back, blood pouring from his injured arm.
"You'll pay for that, you little rodent…" He snarled at Roy. Marth slashed at his uncle's face, slicing a thin wound on his cheek there.
"Don't insult Roy."
"It doesn't matter!" Roy snarled back, tiny droplets of sweat trailing down his face. He could hear the pounding of boots against the stone and wood floors – guards were coming. The boy-general let out a yell and plunged the sword into Gaimen's shoulder, high enough to miss his heart, but enough to subdue him.
Seeing that Roy had Gaimen under control for the moment, Marth turned to face the guards who were running into the room.
"Stop! I am Prince Marth!" He commanded. They paused for a moment, some lowering their weapons a bit.
"He's an imposter!" Gaimen shouted, shoving Roy into a wall roughly.
The auburn-haired teen let out a groan, dropping his sword and the wounds on his back were aggravated and dirt worked deep into them. He didn't bother to get up again.
"No!" Roy snarled from his place on the ground. "That is the real Marth and I am the real Roy, your former commander! We were unjustly exiled and seek fair trial!"
The guards looked undecided. Marth turned to Gaimen, enraged and knocked him down to the floor. Gaimen's sword flew out of his hand and Marth kicked it far out of his reach. He wanted badly to go to Roy, but this came first.
He held his sword to Gaimen's throat, daring the guards to try to stop him with his icy-blue eyes glittering dangerously.
"Say it," he hissed softly, staring down at Gaimen, daring him to disobey as well. "Tell them who we are."
Gaimen choked, staring up the blade at Marth with fear present in his orange eyes.
"You are the real Prince Marth and he is High General Roy…" He grated. "Let me up…"
Marth pressed the point of the sword into Gaimen's skin. Blood blossomed and spilt onto the floor. The false king gagged.
"Swear it." Marth commanded.
"You are King!" Gaimen gasped. "I swear it is the truth! Release me!"
The guards turned to Marth. One of them, obviously the leader by the crest on his uniform saluted.
"We hoped for your return, your Majesty."
"Secure the traitor in the strongest cell and inform the people what has happened." Marth stepped away from Gaimen and a few guards rushed forward to take him away.
Finally, Marth dropped to one knee, crouching down beside his companion.
"Fetch a healer!" He ordered the chief guard. The man rushed off, leaving the two of them alone.
"Roy," Marth said softly, touching his general's face lightly. "You need to get up." He pulled the boy up into a sitting position, being mindful of his wounds.
Roy bit his lip hard, suppressing any noises he could make. It was also to keep himself from crying out of sheer relief. He had been swamped with emotions lately…
"We did it…" He whispered, closing his eyes with a wince. "I never thought I could feel this happy or relieved. Thank you, Marth."
The prince allowed Roy to lean on him.
"Don't thank me yet. This is far from over."
A healer rushed into the room and began fussing over the two of them, especially Roy.
"Hey!" Roy cried, pushing him away. "Just bandage it, okay? I need to be able to move around! Marth, what do we do now?"
Marth rubbed his temples, and then stood.
"What is your name?" He asked of the guard chief who had brought the healer.
"Farro, your majesty."
"Farro, inform every noble in the city and surrounding provinces that I am holding audience and expect to see all of them there with no exceptions. And the general and I desire full meals and baths before seeing anyone else." Marth sounded once again like the king that he was supposed to be, but his appearance belied his exhaustion. What little was left of his skirt was in tatters and he was covered in bruises and scrapes, many of which were bleeding. His face was slightly pale and his hair disheveled, giving him the appearance of a gutter waif instead of a royal.
Farro bowed.
"Yes, your Majesty. I shall inform the servants to prepare them for you at once."
Marth nodded, tired, then stopped.
"There is one serving girl, a young woman by the name of Gwen. Have her sent to my chambers once we have bathed and eaten."
Farro bowed again before running off to do as Marth ordered.
Roy coughed, leaning against a wall for support. His appearance was quite similar to Marth's, except for the fact that he had white bandages wrapped around his torso. One would have laughed at the sight of him in a skirt if it weren't for the serious look upon his face.
"Oh great… A meeting. What should I do? I don't exactly live here, but I guess I should go to the barracks to see if some of my stuff is still there, huh?"
"You live here now." Marth said, exhaust creeping into his voice. "My first official act as the reinstated sovereign is to declare you returned to your former rank and give you chambers here. I need you here in the castle with me, Roy." Marth took a deep breath, trying to wrap his mind around all that had happened. He slid down to the floor. "You don't have to go to the meeting."
"Oh… Thank you… Your Highness." Roy caught Marth's eye and managed a smile. It was the first time that he had said the title without a subservient and contemptuous tone. "And yes, I have to go to the meeting. I'll meet you in the council room in an hour." With that, he left.
Marth made a small, happy noise as he slid into the large tub full of cold water. For the ten minutes that the bath would last, it would be heavenly.
'I just dread what comes next,' he thought as he washed his hair. 'I always knew that I would have to do it, but I am not looking forward to it.'
When he was clean, really truly clean for the first time in months, he stepped out of the bath and dried himself with a soft, fluffy towel. Then he pulled on some clothing that had been set out for him in his favorite dark blue and silver.
'I need to send someone to retrieve the horses and things.' He thought, so that he would not forget later.
"Your Majesty, I've brought the servant girl that you wished." Farro poked his head in and told Marth.
"Thank you, Farro, bring her in." Marth tied his long hair back and pulled on a small silver crown.
The small blonde girl, seemingly younger than she looked with her innocent heart-shaped face, wide green eyes and pale skin looked frightened as she was ushered into the room. Once she saw Marth in his proper clothes and wearing his crown, she fell to her knees.
"Your Highness!" Gwen gasped. "Is there something you require of me?"
Marth walked over to Gwen and kneeled on the ground beside her.
"Gwen, I told you that I would reward you for all that you have done for Roy and I and now I am making good on that promise. Henceforth, you are my personal servant and no man will ever mistreat you again without answering to me for it."
"Oh my…" Gwen breathed, tears rolling down her face. "You repay me too much, Sir." Then she remembered what she now was. "What is my first task?"
"Find High General Roy and inform him that I'll meet him in the Council Room in a few minutes. I need to speak to him privately before it starts."
"I shall, Sir!" The girl cried. She got up and bowed several times before rushing off.
To Be Continued…
Xan: *whew* I typed all of this one up in one night! The thank you's and everything. Well, I've marked the fic… there are only three more chapters left after this one, guys! So enjoy it while you can! *sobs into Vallen's shoulder* Our baby's almost OVER, Vallen!
Vallen: *sobs as well* Three?! Just three?! It can't be… I demand a re-count. (^^)
PS. SHAMLESS self-promotion alert: We updated our other (non-yaoi) fic as well, Marth and Roy on the High Seas! Check it out!