You're my Possession
by
Anime the Fallen Angel
Underlined Italics – means time/ scene notes
Italics – means flashbacks / thoughts
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Chapter 2: Voices trapped in yearning... Memories trapped in time.
Barton Palace, Some years later...
"I thought we were friends!"
Prince Trowa Barton bolted upright in his bed, gasping and sweating. He wiped his forehead, wondering what might have caused him to wake up so suddenly. He recalled a distant dream and a feel of betrayal and hurt. What stood out to him were the eyes he saw. He tried to mentally grab the image, but the more he tried to grasp it, the further the image seemed to be. He wasn't even sure they were eyes. Taking a deep steadying breath, Trowa stood up and stretched. Immediately, almost as if he had mentally called for them, a group of servants entered the room and proceeded helping the Prince get ready for the day. Trowa's caretaker entered the room with a quill and some paper.
"Good Morning, Your Highness. Shall I inform you of any activities set for today?"
"Go ahead, and make it quick." was the harsh and clipped command.
"His Highness, Prince Wufei Chang of the Chang Empire and his father, the Regent of the Chang Empire, will be paying a visit today. He is scheduled to arrive after breakfast, according to his messenger."
"Prince Wufei? Is it just a social visit?" Trowa asked boredly as a he was helped into a dark green day jacket.
"I was not informed of his intent, your Highness."
"Is that all?"
"Yes your Highness. I shall prepare your horse for you." The caretaker bowed and left the room. Trowa straightened the lapel of his jacket himself and took his riding helmet and riding crop and descended to the breakfast room. He had already forgotten about the young familiar voice in his dream. He had forgotten how much the voice in his dream sounded hurt and betrayed. In fact, he lost the previous yearning that tore his chest.
******
Some house, Central village
"Hey, Duo! Wake up!"
"Wha... zzzzz....."
The brunette lain upon the mattress turned over and continued snoring. The blonde standing over him sighed and grabbed a nearby bucket. With a mischievous smirk, Quatre turned the bucket upside down and dumped the cold contents onto his partner. Duo yelped and shot out of his mattress, shivering.
"QUAT!!!! Th..that was c...c...cold! What was that!?"
"The bucket of water you left out all night."
Duo shook his head and the water flew in all directions. Quatre laughed and dried his face. Duo looked up at the blonde boy.
"So what got you up so early, Quat?"
"Oh, nothing much. Just a dream."
"Care to share?"
"Nope. Now, c'mon. The sun's up and shining."
Quatre turned and left Duo's room. The blonde looked out of the window and stopped. In the distance, he could make out the stone of the palace. Quatre frowned. He couldn't for long. A hand placed itself on his shoulder and a yawn followed close behind.
"Come off it Quatre; you're always frowning at that place. Why does the Royal family bug you so much? Sure, their values don't really lift off with us 'commoners', but you really take stuff to heart whenever they announce or do something."
"They just bug me. They always have and always will."
"Ah, the whole 'it was so long ago I don't remember', eh? Well, maybe it doesn't matter. C'mon, let's make our presence known in the market."
Duo walked away, leaving the blonde to stare and frown at the palace before he followed close behind. Who cared if he doesn't remember exactly why he hated the Barton household so much? The bottom line was he remembers that he was treated badly and unforgivably there, and that was all the reason he needed.
******
Barton-arms Palace, Breakfast Room
"Ah, Trowa. Glad of you to join us for breakfast."
Trowa blinked unemotionally at his father who sat at one end of the long breakfast table, uncharacteristically smiling joyfully. Trowa guessed immediately why it was so, and it shocked him for a second. A dark haired boy sat next to the king, his dark eyes witnessing Trowa's entrance. The young man wore a red robe reminiscent of his kingdom's style and a sword hanging off his belt. Black boots were over his white pants, dusty from riding. He nodded to the Prince of Barton-arms.
"Good day to you, Prince Trowa."
"Good day, Prince Wufei..." Trowa looked back to his father. "I thought the Chang Royals were arriving after breakfast, father."
"Well, young Prince Wufei here had taken the liberty of riding ahead of his train and join us for breakfast. He's quite the rider."
Wufei gave a small smirk like smile. "But not as good as your son, your Majesty, from what I remember."
Trowa sat himself down opposite of Wufei and grabbed a piece of fruit. Trowa observed the other prince. "So what brings you and your father to Barton-arms, Wufei?"
"Business, according to my father. What, don't ask me, but apparently, it will benefit both our kingdoms."
"Good good!" The King proclaimed. He tucked into another bowl of oats before looking up at the two boys. "Trowa. Why don't you take Wufei along for your horse ride? Whilst his father and I confer?"
Trowa gave an undecipherable grunt, which the King instantly took as an affirmative. "Excellent! Well, I won't keep you boys, then! Eat up, you'll need energy for your day!"
Trowa continued eating fruit, deep in thought. What sort of business would the Regent have that will please his father so much? Obviously something that may raise their stature or wealth; his father seems to care for nothing less. Trowa looked back at Wufei, who gave nothing away in his face. Trowa shrugged to himself. Why should he care anyway? Once the boys ate their fill, Trowa stood and gathered his riding things, looking to Wufei.
"Coming?"
******
Village Marketplace
Quatre peered out from the corner he stood at. Holding up three fingers, he mouthed a countdown to Duo, across the street.
"Three... two... one... go!"
Duo nodded and leapt out, right in front of a cart full of bread from the bakery. The horse pulling the cart along reared in surprise, neighing fearfully. The cart and horse owner was thankfully not on the cart at that time as the horse had tugged on his bridle and pulled away the front of the wagon. With a whinny, the horse galloped through the market, causing women and children to scream, men to yell and generally cause people to leap out of the way as the horse left chaos in its wake. Duo made it across the street right after the horse started running, a grin wide on his face. He stumbled into the alleyway and quickly made his way to Quatre. The blonde grinned back at Duo.
"Great job!"
"Hey, just say it. I'm the man!"
Duo un-tucked his shirt and three loaves of bread rolled out. Quatre picked them up and dusted them before dropping them into his sack and tying it up.
"Well, I wouldn't say that you were the man, but you'd come pretty close. You did get the bread dusty after all."
"Hey! Beggars can't be choosers."
"And are we beggars?"
Duo laughed and slapped Quatre's shoulder. "Got me there, Quat. Anyway, that's my bit. Time to do yours."
Quatre looked out into the street and smiled. "In due time, my friend. The best quality action comes out around midday to early evening."
******
"How could you stand this weather? It's so hot."
"It's because it's nearing midday. I thought it was warm at midday in your kingdom."
Wufei wiped his brow. "Yes, but not this hot."
Trowa stared straight ahead as he moved his horse through the busy market crowd. Not that it was very hard anyway. Most of the villagers parted and made way for their prince like the Red Sea for Moses. Many of the younger ones would turn away in fear; stories of what would happen to them if they caught the Royal family in a bad mood haunting them. Trowa paid no attention to them, simply riding his brown horse through the crowd with Wufei behind him. Wufei encouraged his horse forward, bringing him up next to Trowa.
"So why are we riding through the village? It's not like they deserve our presence amongst them."
"I have my reasons." Trowa said quietly. Truth be known, he didn't remember why he felt that riding through the market place was really essential in his day. What he did know was that he felt there was purpose behind it and that he'll only know what it is when it stares at him in the face. Trowa slowed down; for some reason, he felt something was going to happen, and happen soon.
That was when, for the second time that day, chaos broke out once again. A flash ran out in front of Trowa's horse. It took all the prince had to keep his ride under control. Some dogs nearby barked and started running around, tripping up shoppers and scaring other animals. People shouted again, trying their hardest to get things under control. Trowa had managed to tame his horse once more and looked around angrily. Who dared disrupt the peace!? Trowa then spotted it, or rather, felt it amongst the chaos. His side felt a little lighter; the side he kept his money pouch. He looked around ad saw the culprit, his blonde hair disappearing into an alley, away from the crowd. Trowa took his horse to one side, ordering a child to mind his horse or else and took off after the thief.
******
"Quat!? Are you mad!?"
Quatre smiled, throwing the expensive looking leather money bag between his hands. Duo stared at his companion with a mixture of admiration and a look that said 'you need to be locked up'. Duo laughed, albeit a little nervously at first.
"It's not like he really needs the money, is it." Quatre said.
"That was either really brave or really stupid, but a real act of skill there!" Duo cried. "I mean, creating all that chaos even my act couldn't compare to, managing to get out of it alive, stealing from Prince Trowa...!"
"You shouldn't go around shouting your achievements until after you are sure you got away with it."
Duo and Quatre whirled around and faced the end of a sword. Trowa held the hilt, his visible eye angry, but unable to get a proper look at the boys as the blade blocked his view. His other hand was outstretched.
"Return the money to me, and I may consider going easy on you."
Quatre's eyes went hard. "You wish..."
The blonde ducked and swung the leather pouch at Trowa, causing him to stumble back to avoid being hit. That gave the two thieves time to turn and run. Trowa grunted in annoyance to himself. Sheathing his sword, he ran after the boys.
Quatre and Duo split up; Duo carrying the bag with the bread and the money pouch, Quatre acting as a decoy. This was their plan all the time, either one alternating the task of decoy. Quatre slipped in and out of side and back streets, hoping that the prince wasn't as fit as him to keep up. Quatre skidded to a halt, suddenly realising his mistake. He stared at the wall; the result of his wrong turn. Quatre turned to take a new route but stopped. The figure of the prince blocked his way out. Quatre took one step back, as the prince took several. Quatre gasped and squeezed his eyes shut in surprise when the prince managed to force him against the wall.
"Well, that was some refreshing exercise, peasant, but I'm not in the mood just now for a keep fit plan. Now open your eyes so I could get a good look at you."
Quatre reluctantly pried his eyes open and stared straight into Trowa's. Trowa gasped, inaudibly. He felt a strange familiarity when his near empty green met the endless blue, a feeling of shame mingled under the familiarity. Almost as soon as he felt it, it disappeared as a voice rang out in the alley.
"Prince Trowa; are you okay?"
"Just fine. About time you got here..."
Trowa moved away, allowing the guards to grab and shackle the blonde thief. Quatre went quietly with the guards, but without shooting an angry glare at Trowa. Trowa tried to ignore it when Wufei walked up behind him.
"Well, I suppose that doesn't happen very often here. I must say, that was some running you did."
"He wasn't so hard to keep up with. I suppose you were the one who alerted the guards?"
"Yes. Come now. I think we should return to the palace."
Trowa turned and followed the guards away. He moved the feelings he had aside, looking at the back of Quatre's head. Just a thief. Nothing but a rodent.