Author: Keiran
Title: A Witch's Way to Love 3/3
Pairings: 1x2, 3+4, implied 13+2
Rating: R. Although it probably is overrated.
Genre: Romance, some angst, AU
Warnings: Shounen-ai, mild yaoi. Lime (it was supposed to be lemon, but…), past mpreg, implied wished for incest.
Archive: my site: . If
you want it, drop me a line. ^_^
Notes: This
is a fusion with the movie 'Witch Way Love'. Ain't it
just too cute? This fic contains witchcraft. If you
wish to learn about witchcraft today go to www.witchvox.com
but bear in mind that I did not consult that page while writing this. The
spells and ideas mentioned in his fic are either
taken from the movie, or from my head.
This fic is betaed by Sundaire. hits the fic with 'Sundaire approved' seal
***
Duo ran into his home castle, stopping only long enough to take the shoes off
his feet. Walking into the living room, where Wufei
was talking with Quatre, Dorothy and Trowa,
he was still clothed in the garments Heero bought for
him. Water was dripping from every part of his body, creating a puddle around
his feet and making the wisps of hair that had escaped from his braid curl
around his face, but he looked at his family with a determined glint in his
eyes.
"I will unwitch Solo on my own," he said firmly. The
statement caused everyone, save for Trowa who didn't understand what
it meant, to gasp.
"Duo! Have you lost your mind? Unwitching
a child on your own will mean your death!" Quatre
yelled. Dorothy nodded.
"I prefer to die than to bear Treize's children,"
Duo said firmly, shocking his audience into silence. Wufei
stood up and walked over to his godson.
"You cannot do that. I forbid you," he said with as much authority as he could
muster.
"You cannot tell me what I can and cannot do, Wufei.
I am an adult," Duo replied calmly. "Either you help me to perform the ritual,
or I will do it alone." He caught the furious gaze of the Chinese man and held
it. Finally Wufei had to relent.
"If that is your decision, then be it," he said softly.
Duo smiled gently and touched the man's face gently.
"Thank you, Wufei," he said softly, accompanied by incredulous cries
from the blond twins. "I'll go to Solo now. Please have everything ready. I want
to do it as soon as possible," he said, walking upstairs. He took a quick
shower and changed into a long white ceremonial robe. He was supposed to take Heero's mind away wearing it. It was only fitting that he
would be put into his grave in that garment.
Solo, as if sensing what was going to happen, started to mewl softly. Duo
walked over and leaned over the crib, picking his baby up. He rocked Solo
delicately in his arms before sitting himself down before his desk and picking
up writing paper and a pen. The
baby soon fell asleep in his arms, taking comfort from the feeling of his
father's arms around his little body.
***
The worst of
the storm had passed over London
already, moving north. Heero was standing over the Tower
Bridge,
looking at the water below. The
rain continued to wet his already soaked clothes, the dark shirt and similar
jacket he had on before he and Duo went to that club.
Milliardo gazed at the pathetic figure before he
walked forth and shielded it with an umbrella.
"Let's go. You'll only catch a cold here," he said. There
was no reaction from the man. The
white-haired man tried again. "Heero, it's of no use.
You can't have money, brains, looks and luck with love-life, you know. It's,
unfortunately, normal, with that combination, that you found some psycho slut
from hell first." That
drew a reaction from Heero, albeit a little different
than his manager expected.
Milliardo was blinking at the dark-haired man from
the ground, rubbing his aching jaw. His umbrella sailed away as he got up
slowly. Heero might be a geek at first sight, but he
did have a rather mean right hook. Said geeky boxer was looking rather
bewildered right now.
"I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head. "I was high for the past few days. I'm
almost over it now."
"The fuck you
are," Milliardo muttered, getting up. "You're over a
bridge, that's over what you are," he paused and sighed. "Look. I'm fucking up
my entire hard work right now, Relena's probably
going to belt me a couple when she hears about it, but go and find that kiddo
of yours. Get him to stop dealing, or smoking, or whatever he's doing and well,
hit him once or twice for me," he finished, only to find Heero
gone already. "So much for the good advice part," he said to himself, sighing.
"I better go and catch a plane back."
***
The chapel
was brightened with ninety-nine white candles and no other light. Three
silhouettes, clad in black, stood around an altar upon which a slender figure
of a young man laid, his hands spread on the flat stone. Duo seemed to glow
white in the flickering candle light, due to the white robe he was wearing. His
hair was loose and arranged carefully on the table. The
three people, two men and one woman neared the table.
Wufei took place by Duo's head, placing his palms on
his godson's temples gently.
"Bring Solo," he commanded softly. Trowa came forth, holding Duo's
son in his arms, allowing Quatre to take the child
from him and place it carefully on the young witch's chest. The
baby settled comfortably, snuggling to his father immediately. Wufei closed his eyes and started muttering softly. Soon
his voice was joined by two others, raising the whispers to a soft song that
filled the chapel. Duo's breathing became erratic as the song progressed. He
closed his eyes and concentrated.
Suddenly the atmosphere changed dramatically. A window was broken, a gust of
wind blowing out the candles. Treize Khusherenada
appeared in the bay, stepping down and nearing the altar.
"I would have expected better behavior from you,
little boy," the man said. "You are so very smart usually," he said, walking
leisurely to the small group. "How very touching," he added seeing the
protective spells the other three tried to cast, but he shook them off like
rain. "However, you forgot a tiny little detail." Duo unexpectedly saw ice-cold
eyes right before his own; a finger traced his face finishing on his lips. For
once in his life the superior smirk was gone from Treize's
face. "Once a pact is made, it cannot be broken. That
means Solo is mine." The
tall man stepped onto the altar and raised the child from Duo's chest. The
young witch tried to rise, but his strength had already left him – he could do
nothing more than gasp audibly, while his son was taken away.
Soon, even that became impossible – he lost consciousness. The
last image that flashed through his mind was of Prussian blue eyes.
***
Heero was driving in a manner that would render any
passenger unconscious. He needed to get to that castle. He wanted answers; he
wanted them from Duo, not some tall, red-headed psycho. He slammed the brakes
when the familiar gate appeared before his gaze. He jumped out, detangling
himself from the myriad of cables that hung from under the steering wheel. Heero didn't wait for anyone to check who was trying to get
in; he jumped over the gate and ran toward the castle at full speed.
It was a beautiful morning, as was custom after a heavy storm. The
sun was shining, the birds were chirping – and it was Heero's
birthday. He realized it only after an hour of fruitlessly searching for a cab
that'd take him out of London,
getting to the nearest car and hot-wiring it instead. He could afford paying
for it later. He made it to the door and knocked sharply while looking for a
door bell. The
door opened immediately. Trowa seemed startled to see him.
"I need to talk with Duo, now," Heero said in a tone
that accepted no arguments. The
butler looked at the floor sadly, but before he could answer Wufei came to the door.
"Duo cannot talk right now."
"I don't care. I will talk to him. Now," the man said, pushing past Trowa
and entering the house. He was stepping on the stairs when Wufei's
next statement reached his ears.
"Duo is in a coma."
Heero's world lurched. He turned his head around and
looked at Wufei disbelievingly. "What did you just
say?"
"He is dying," the Chinese man clarified, looking Heero
straight in the eyes. The
man was down the stairs and at Wufei's shirt in a
flash.
"Then don't just fucking stand here, go wave a magic wand or
whatever it is that you do and heal him!" Wufei's
gaze was sorrowful and kind, but steady.
"There is
nothing we can do right now. Come with me please," he said when Heero finally let go of his shirt. They
walked through the house and outside to sit down on the rocks over the sea. The
black-haired man proceeded to tell his companion everything that happened in
the castle between midnight
and dawn. "…we got him to a hospital then," he finished. Heero
was listening with his head bowed.
"Why didn't you stop that son of a bitch?"
Wufei sighed. "We couldn't. Duo agreed to give him an
heir, they had a deal. We cannot break the deal, no magic can help." Heero pondered the answer for a moment.
"Would it help if I blasted his head off?" he growled finally.
Wufei smirked. "Would you be able to? You're just a
kid. Normal people your age are at universities, getting a degree."
"I'm studying too! Just because I own a billion dollar company doesn't mean I
don't want to be educated!"
Wufei chuckled. "I didn't mean that. I meant that you
are just a child. You wouldn't be able to kill a person."
"I'm willing to try," Heero muttered. "My father was
obsessed with security, I've had enough training to last me a lifetime." He
paused for a moment. "If I shot him and got Solo out...? I mean, this whole
deal thing doesn't concern me, right?"
Wufei stared at him uncomprehending for a moment. Then
a hopeful expression made it to his face. "It might work. It just might work,"
he said in wonder. The
rest of the day was spent between Wufei's study and
the library. "You need to watch out a lot. Some of us train in martial arts;
Duo, for example, is keen on kendo. Treize, fortunately, found this too
human to bother with, so you have a minor advantage," Wufei
explained.
"Almighty Mr. Witch regards physical exercises as something inferior?"
"Treize is not a witch, he's a
warlock."
"Then why was
Duo calling himself a witch?"
"Because he is a witch."
"Thank
you, you've made everything perfectly clear for me." Heero
fell silent.
The Chinese
man smirked to himself. "We call Treize a warlock, because he's a…
different kind of witch, you could say." All day Wufei
was piling various pieces of stuff on the table in the middle of the room, Heero haunting his footsteps.
"You mean he's the bad guy," Heero concluded.
"Well, yes, but that's not why we call him a warlock." Wufei
wondered for a while how to phrase it so that Heero
would understand. "It has a lot to do with dying, see. Witches die like normal
people, mostly. It's just they can live for a few centuries even, if they are
in a coma, but they do eventually die. Usually we live for one or two hundred
years. I, for example, was born in 1880." Heero
blinked when he heard that. "Duo is rather young; he was born in the early
seventies. Of course, we age as we please, as you can see."
"Wait," Heero waved his hand. "Are you trying to tell
me that Duo is almost forty years old? He looks twenty!"
Wufei shrugged. "Well, you know benefits of being the
baby of the clan. He was and always will be a cute little child to us, even though
Dorothy and Quatre are only about seventy or so.
"That's what
witches do. The
warlocks however, have it a little differently. They
live as long as us, virtually, but they can expand that time by using other
witches." Heero raised a brow at the statement. "It's
not exactly what you're thinking. The
witches are usually chosen at a very young age, they learn magic, and by the
time they're sixteen the warlock that chose them would merge their soul with
the witch's. Usually the two merge into one in equal proportions, but if a
warlock is good enough, he can overcome the hosting soul. The
process needs to be repeated every hundred or so years, which is what Treize
is doing right now. He was, as far as I know, first born some when in the
eleventh century. They
don't have to be bad, you see, but frequently are, as you can see here. Treize
is bent on having Duo's child as his next heir – he sort of had an affair with
Duo's mother, but she rejected him, so he tried to take Duo away from her…
Fortunately I came along. He could only claim a child before the ritual, after
that their power is too stable."
"Was that what he needed me for?" Heero asked
quietly. The
black-haired man knew he wasn't speaking of Treize.
"Yes. You were supposed to unwitch Solo, so that he
would become a human. Right now he is what Treize
calls a half-witch."
"You mean his mother was human?"
"His 'mother' is Duo. His father was human."
"So, Duo is your equivalent of a hermaphrodite," Heero
said, surprised.
Wufei smiled sadly. "No. He is a man, always has
been."
"Excuse me, while I go sit here and lose my mind," Heero
said lightly.
"Don't say that!" Wufei yelled sharply. The
other man blinked. "Duo is dying because he didn't want you to." Heero lowered his head. He tried to avoid thinking about
what had happened to Duo the whole day, wondering why the hell he was still
doing the things he was doing, after being magically seduced and almost brought
to insanity.
"You are still enchanted," he heard Wufei explain. He
jerked his head up sharply. Wufei smiled
apologetically. "We can read minds, remember? But this kind of enchantment
isn't going to be lifted by taking off a tie." Heero
stared wordlessly.
"Okay, let's get on with it," Wufei said, seeing
Dorothy and Quatre enter. "You should go there during
the night; you'll catch some sleep in a moment. Some essential things to
remember: never allow Treize to touch your skin. You'll
be susceptible to his suggestions if he does. Avoid any physical contact with
him, as long as you can. Don't accept any offers of food, drinks or
picnics. It would be best, if you could trap him somewhere. We'll give you some
crystal dust; a magical being cannot escape a ring made of it. Pentagrams work
too, or a circle of fire."
"Can't we just burn him on a stake?"
"No. We aren't affected by fire that way anymore. The
only thing that can kill us is electricity, but there has to be a lot of it for
us to die," Dorothy said with her ever-present smirk. Heero
stared long and hard at her eyebrows. Her smirk disappeared momentarily. "I am
related to Treize," she said. "Don't think too
obviously, you should already know we can read your thoughts. Try
reciting a multiplication tablet, or computer circuits, or whatever it is that
you geek boys do to relax. Treize, our mother and Duo's father
were siblings. He usually keeps calling himself with the 'new' name. It avoids
confusion."
"Right," Heero muttered.
"Here's the crystal dust," Wufei said, handing Heero a leather bag. "It should give you about half an hour
before it evaporates, if I remember the air in Treize's
house correctly. Also, these cards," he picked one up for Heero's
inspection, "are enchanted. A witch or a warlock cannot pass between them;
they'd have to find another way. It takes about an hour to find a way around
this one – and they don't fade like the dust does.
"You'll be wearing these gloves," the man started again, handing Heero a pair of black leather gloves. "They'll
keep you safe from any enchanted objects you may touch. There
is not that much we can do, since we are unable to fight Treize
ourselves."
"I'll get Solo out," Heero replied confidently.
"Hopefully. If you do that, come to the hospital
immediately. Solo's powers have been stabilized enough, so that he doesn't need
a godfather anymore – unfortunately the stabilization hasn't been completed, or
else Treize wouldn't have taken him,"
the man remarked finally.
"But I thought Duo was trying to unwitch Solo?" Heero asked.
"Yes, but he needed to get him stabilized, so to speak. It's like with a computer
in a way – before you unplug it, you need to disconnect it. Duo managed to
disconnect, but unplugging… This
is possible, but not many witches survive the 'disconnecting' if they are
dealing with their own children. Their
magic is too close."
The preparations
took a while. Heero found all the stuff he had left
in the castle previously, finding his precious invention and packing it
carefully. 'Just in case he has an alarm system there,' he thought. After
making sure that everything was planned in detail, Heero
took a short nap in Solo's room. He couldn't say why, but the atmosphere of the
place served to calm his nerves. He woke at sunset, which was virtually
invisible due to the heavy clouds obscuring the sky. The
dark-haired man ran his fingers through his hair, which in his case meant that
his hair was brushed, and stood up. He walked to the desk seeing a picture of
Duo there – the man was holding a grinning Solo in his
arms. The
baby's violet eyes were sparkling, just like his father's. Mother's.
Heero smirked softly. Or at least he attempted to
smirk, because the expression that came onto his face one could only describe
as 'wistfully tender.' He put the photo down when something else caught his
attention. It was a simple, white envelope, with several sheets of paper inside
of it. The
man thought about it for a while and opened the letter. He was risking being
changed into a toad anyway; it didn't really matter if it would be done by the
good guy or the bad guy.
'Dear Solo,' the letter started.
'I suppose that Wufei, Quatre
and Dorothy have already told you all about magic and who (or what) you were as
a child. Or just why there is no single modern picture of a lady, save for
Dorothy, in the house. Now don't start burning my photos, okay?
'I think that after everything that they told and showed, you might be
wondering why you can't do magic, which is directly related to you not having
any parents, although hopefully you might have one. Wufei
must have explained the deal with godparents to you, so I'm not going to waste
time doing it. One of the reasons I wanted to unwitch
you was Treize Khusherenada,
my uncle, who wanted to have you as a way to prolong his own person. That,
obviously, I didn't want.
'But, there sort of was another reason. See, a short time ago I did a pretty
idiotic thing, kind of like breaking your back by bungee jumping from a
twenty-store-high building just for the heck of it. Namely, I fell in love. That
is, in itself, a stupid story, so I'm sure Wufei told
you that a dozen or so times. The
point is, that even though I cannot remember their face or anything else about
them (yes, me, the pathetic witch, I don't even know their gender), I remember
what I felt the moment I realized I was in love. It was something I never
wanted to end, that sort of weightless happiness that comes over you after
eating chocolate you've been staring at for hours, just less physical. Trust
me to get on the subject of food in a 'suicide letter.'
'Sweetheart, the reason I wanted to take your magical powers away was exactly
that: I wanted you to fall in love someday. It may sound corny and stupid, but
trust me on this one. You'd want to, even if it means that everyday you'd need
to get up and fetch your slippers manually.
'Then there is
this third thing… by the name of Heero Yuy. He was supposed to be your godfather and on the next
shipment to a psycho ward. In the end he was neither, although we didn't
exactly part on the best of terms. I, however, am hoping that you'll get to
meet him, someday.
'Goodbye baby. See you, hopefully, not too soon,
Duo Maxwell.'
Heero put the letter down. The
last paragraph was a little vague, but so perfectly Duo. Joking, descriptive
and accurate, but on what was left out, you could write an essay. He smiled
softly. A lightening outside made him look to the
left, and for the shortest of moments he was sure there was a mirror on the
wall. He was looking into a pair of Prussian blue eyes, which could belong to
no one but himself. The
sudden light outside disappeared, leaving Heero
looking on a portrait, of which nothing but eyes were visible. He approached
slowly and touched the worn canvas in wonder.
***
Wufei insisted on having Trowa
drive them all to the hospital were Duo was staying. 'We shall be waiting
here,' he said. The
whole group marched into the tiny room Duo was settled in, pushing doctors and
nurses out. Heero's eyes didn't leave the prone
figure on the bed since they had entered the room. He looked so fragile in a
white hospital gown, with his shining braid of hair laying
beside him. There
was an IV in his arm and a breathing tube inside his nose. The
Chinese man took one good look at Heero's face and
shoed everyone out of the room, leaving the couple alone.
"I will bring you Solo back," Heero whispered. He
produced the violet tie from his pocket. "I promise." He carefully wrapped the
silk around Duo's left wrist. Then
he leaned forward and pressed his cheek against the sleeping man's. This
was the position Wufei found them in when he walked
in a few minutes later.
"Let's go," he said softly. The
man nodded lightly and let go of Duo's hand. He followed Wufei
to the door of the hospital, Heero bumping into an
elderly cop on the way. They
were walking to the car when Wufei noticed that Heero was checking over two pieces of black metal.
"You stole a gun from a police officer?"
"Well, I'd need all the help I can get, right?"
"And I thought I knew everything about humans," the man muttered.
"I thought you were reading my mind?" Heero put in
innocently.
Wufei shrugged. "I can see the forming words in you
mind. I can see when you're lying; I can see what you're feeling. I don't know
the way your mind works. I don't know what you know I know what you are."
The
dark-haired man glanced ahead speculatively, filling the info away. It might
later prove to be of some use.
They rode
silently, Trowa driving calmly through the
horrific conditions the weather was kind enough to supply. The
journey seemed never ending, the heavy rain only serving to make it even more
unbelievable.
"That shiny,
grey, new Toyota
you drove to us…" Wufei started hesitantly. Heero's face gave no indication of any emotion.
"It was necessary for obtaining the objective."
"Of course. Well, no need to worry about it, I've told
Trowa to take it to a police
station," Wufei said. "All fingerprints removed."
"Hn."
There was
brief silence. "Uh, Wufei?"
"Timothy Moore, aged thirty-four, lives in London.
I've got his address at home," the man replied smirking. Heero
was torn between breathing freely and frowning. "My
compliments. I wasn't able to hear your thoughts. I was guessing the
last part," Wufei finished. Heero
breathed.
Trowa pulled to a halt.
"We can go no further," Wufei said sourly. "He would
be alert if we did. You need to follow this road straight. You can't miss Treize's
house, it's way too big."
"It makes a person think. You all live in such big houses," Heero muttered. "You have a shared complex or something?"
"I am going to ignore that remark. I suppose Solo would be held somewhere in the
southern side of the mansion. The
rooms there are much sunnier. Knowing Treize,
he'd also be on the top floor, in a tower. The
house is usually empty, save for when a big party happens." Heero
nodded, shouldering his backpack. "Good luck, Heero.
We will be waiting with Duo."
"Hn."
"Be careful."
"Hn."
With that said Heero turned around and marched, never
looking backwards. Wufei and Trowa
looked after him for a moment.
"Do you think that was a wise idea?" Trowa asked Wufei.
"Well, no. But we wouldn't be able to stop him anyway," Wufei
answered. "You should know it yourself; you're not a witch either." Trowa
didn't answer.
Heero, meanwhile, walked steadily down the road. He
had studied all of the plans Wufei managed to sketch
for him, realizing the best chance of getting into the house unnoticed would be
through the roof. The
only safe way to the roof was to go up a tree.
And tree climbing was not one of his favorite
exercises. Fortunately for him, the trees in question were easy to climb, for a
moderately fit person. Heero hoisted himself easily
onto the first branch, making sure that the backpack and all its contents on
his back were safe, he continued his painstaking rise
to the roof. The
rain was not helping at all, the bark was slick and the man strongly suspected
that the rooftop would be as welcoming as a skating-rink. But there were also
good sides to tree-climbing. The
tree Heero was fighting to conquer reached with its
considerably thick branches almost to a brightly – and warmly – lit room, which
he assumed was occupied by the baby.
It turned out he was quite right, when he managed to get a peek inside, nearly
falling all the way down in the process. Indeed, although the room was
decorated rather scarcely, it was obvious that it was supposed to be a child's
room. There
was pale blue wallpaper; stuffed toys were lying on the floor. In stark
contrast to cute bears and other plushies, a stern
woman was reading a bedtime story to the baby in the crib. Heero
raised a brow when he saw her. She looked as if she belonged in the principal's
office, or in a nunnery, optionally on a battlefield. Definitely out of a
baby's room. Solo seemed to share Heero's mind, since
he tried as he might to disobey the lady. She tried to put him to sleep, but to
no avail.
Heero moved from the spot and slowly crawled along
the branch to the roof. It was exactly as slippery as he thought. The
thought brought a wry grin to his face. 'At least I can still think
reasonably,' he thought smugly. 'Take
that Milliardo.' He moved with stealth, reaching the
opposite side of the building. He made sure the room below was empty before
pushing the – thankfully unlocked – window open and throwing his backpack in.
'Now, let's see if those hours in the gym really paid off,' he thought, taking
a deep breath. He grabbed the edge of the roof and swung forward. Somehow he
managed to land on the windowsill. Heero stood up and
looked around. His eyes glittered maliciously. Computers.
The room was
filled with computers. And there was an electronic lock on the door.
The guy up
there really liked him.
***
Treize was sitting on a couch in
his salon, enjoying a glass of wine. He was mildly irritated, he had to admit
that. Getting an heir was one thing, not having Duo… that would be a sore spot
for a while. He hated sore spots. Unless someone else had
them.
"Mr. Khusherenada?" he heard a woman say.
"Yes, Lady Une?" he asked without turning around.
"The baby
doesn't want to sleep. I don't know what to do," the woman said.
"You may leave. I will put him to sleep. Thank
you, Lady." Treize dismissed the woman with a
flick of his wrist. He finished his wine and got up slowly, heading for the
room in the tower.
Meanwhile, Heero clicked on the final key, thus
ensuring that he would have total control over the electricity in the house. He
smirked to himself. The
security here would embarrass a five-year old. But he wasn't going to look a
gift horse in the mouth. Once he was sure he had everything transferred into
his palm-comp, he walked out of the room, getting into the baby's room in no
time at all. He leaned over the crib.
"Hey Solo. Remember me?" The
baby gurgled happily, reaching for Heero with his
tiny hands. The
man obligingly took the baby in his arms, wrapping a – now violet – blanket
around him. He pressed the child against his chest. "Now we need to get out,"
he whispered. Suddenly Heero heard footsteps outside.
"Oh, hell." He jumped into the next room quickly,
getting outside and inching to the computer room over the windowsill. He
sneaked inside, tiptoeing to the corridor and moving down the stairs as
silently as he could.
He wasn't prepared to meet Treize at the bottom of the stairs.
"You caused me many problems, Mr. Yuy. Yet I didn't
dispose of you, because my little nephew asked me not to. I apparently still
can't. Which is pretty unfortunate, but not unexpected."
Heero was nodding thoughtfully thorough Treize's
speech. He was withdrawing slowly, leading the tall man around the room,
leaving a trace of invisible dust behind him. A few times he brushed against a
wall too. "…so you see that the child belongs to me. I wouldn't of course mind
getting Duo and the child, but since things are as they are…" he paused.
There was
something wrong. Heero brought a strange device to
his mouth and whispered a command. Immediately the lights in the house went
out. Treize frowned when they shone
again. There
was a shining circlet around him and no one in sight. He blinked, stupefied. He
didn't see this one coming. "Well, well, well. Not bad for a human."
Heero ran outside. He took a sudden turn when he
noticed a garage in which a shiny red sport car stood. 'It's worrying,' he
thought, sitting behind the wheel and hot-wiring the vehicle 'how fast this is
becoming a hobby.' He placed sleeping Solo on the other
front seat and buckled the child's seat belt. They
had almost an hour to drive, provided that he didn't get lost. He set off, the
rode wide and welcoming for the most part.
Treize was fuming. "Stupid human!"
he said, gritting his teeth audibly. Then
he grinned. "But he probably forgot about the fire alarm…" with that he flicked
a tiny flame into existence, sending it to the ceiling. The
tiny sparkle ignited showers across the room, effectively washing the dust
away. "Now…" The
ginger-haired man tried to follow his own car, but found himself immobilized.
"What the hell?" He did a double take and still he couldn't get out the door.
His eyes fell onto a small card stuck to the wall. "Clever Yuy. Really clever." Moving
around the room he noticed that he was trapped inside a pentagram of the
magical cards. Sighing he set to work on disabling them.
Heero drove, bearing in mind that car accidents were
not acceptable right now. He also couldn't exceed the speed limit if he didn't
want to alert the cops. However, he was still unsure of himself. He got the
baby out; Duo didn't break the deal, so everything should be alright now. He
needed to make sure that Solo wouldn't be needed anymore.
The road
seemed to fold under his tires, making the way back quick and problem-less. Heero was nearly back to the hospital when suddenly he was
forced to hit the brakes because Treize appeared before him on the
road. "Oh fuck."
"Careful Mr. Yuy, watch your tongue. You have a child
in my car."
"Tell me
something I don't know," the dark-haired man muttered, getting out of the car
and pressing the little boy to his chest tightly.
"Now, Mr. Yuy. We both know
that this child should belong to me."
"Over my dead body," Heero shot back.
Treize sighed. "If you say so…" he
said, taking a gun from his pocket and training it on Heero's
head. "Put the boy down."
"Put the gun down first," the man replied monotonously.
"I don't have time for this," the warlock said, pressing the trigger. Heero ran around the car as the bullet hit the door,
shielding the baby with his body. He set the child down, making sure the
seatbelts were secure, before whipping his own gun out and shooting in Treize's
direction. Of course, the inhumanly fast movements of the warlock prevented the
shot from hitting its mark, but it bought Heero
enough time to race away in the direction of the hospital. Treize
looked after the car thoughtfully. "You are not buying yourself much time, Yuy."
In the hospital, a group of doctors were busy trying to keep their long-haired
patient alive. Said patient's family was standing in a circle, muttering
strange words over a shapeless violet figure, vaguely resembling a human. It
looked as if it was formed of a piece of cashmere material. The
onyx black eyes opened suddenly, while their owner raised a syringe over it.
"Take that, Treize."
Not far from there, Treize doubled over in pain.
"I'm going to get you for this Wufei, mark my words,"
he said loudly, two furious flames blazing in his eyes. The
voodoo doll burned, virtually in Wufei's grasp.
"It was worth a shot," the black-eyed man said, seeing his companion's
expressions. "We need to meet Heero, he is almost
here."
Indeed, the red car was approaching the parking place before the hospital. Heero jumped out, taking the baby with him and raced to the
door. However, as he reached it he stopped dead in his tracks. There
was Duo! He looked so worn and tired, yet he smiled delicately holding his arms
out to his baby.
"Hello Heero," he whispered. "Hello baby," he said to
Solo, who started mewling softly. "Come to me, sweetheart." Heero
smiled and held out the child in front of him, but just as the violet-eyed
witch was about to grasp the baby, he pulled it back. "What's wrong Heero?" Duo asked, bewildered. The
dark-haired man didn't hesitate long, before burying his fist in Duo's gut. The
long-haired man toppled to the floor, holding his stomach. "It seems I didn't
give you enough credit, Mr. Yuy," Treize's
voice sounded. Duo's form grew, until finally Treize
stood before the man and the child. Heero's eyes
glowed hatefully.
"Get lost, Khusherenada," he managed through clenched
teeth. Right then three pairs of feet came thundering downstairs.
"Heero!" It was Wufei Dorothy and Trowa.
Quatre, being an empath,
stayed behind to help the unconscious Duo feel the arrival of his son and his
lover. Treize turned his head in annoyance
and Heero used the moment to squeeze through the
doors into the building. He thrust Solo into Wufei's
waiting arms and turned around to face Treize.
"You really are stupid, Mr. Yuy. But let it be so,"
the man smirked evilly. "With Solo here Duo will wake up sooner or later," he
added thoughtfully. "And he still has a deal to answer to." The
three people on the stairs stared at them frightened. They
couldn't do anything, being bound by the deal Duo made. Heero
didn't answer Treize, until his eyes fell on the
electrodes standing right beside him. He moved his hand, making sure that Treize
couldn't see the movement and flicked them open, setting the power to maximum.
Right behind the electrodes was a socket. Heero
wondered just why this equipment was standing in the halls, for all to see. Then
it hit him.
'Out of order.' Heero turned
the power switch way past the point of 'safe.'
"I have to say, you really annoyed me, Mr. Yuy. You
and my precious little nephew, with that silly stunt of his," Treize
said, stalking forward slowly. "I shall enjoy watching you die. Would you
rather take it outside? If we fight here, someone might get hurt."
"No, I think, I'd rather fight it out here," Heero
said rather forcefully, grabbing Treize's shirt and
throwing him to the ground, simultaneously switching the electrodes on and
pressing them to the man's chest. Treize's eyes
widened in surprise, right before an agonizing scream escaped his mouth.
Heero watched with horror as the twitching body of
the man turned into ash. He couldn't help feeling sick a little. 'I killed the
bastard,' he kept repeating to himself. 'I killed a man.' But the feeling –
although it never disappeared completely – faded very soon. 'He hurt Duo.'
"Holy fuck," Wufei said, his jaw dropping open.
Dorothy and Trowa looked at him in surprise. Then
all three gaped at Heero disbelievingly. "Let's get
this cleaned up. Quickly." The
three (Trowa was holding Solo) quickly collected the ashes and poured them into an
empty bottle found nearby. Heero found the fact oddly
amusing.
Just as they were finishing Quatre appeared on the
stairs. He seemed breathless; his eyes were full of fright.
"Duo's dying!" he exclaimed tearfully. For a total of three seconds silence
reigned in the hall. Then
the group jumped up and raced upstairs, where the young man lay.
They slowed
down just before the room, only to meet a string of doctors and nurses exiting.
"I am sorry," one of them said. "There
was nothing we could do." Heero's heart constricted in his chest painfully. Duo was dead? How
could that be? He wasn't supposed to be dead, he saved Solo, Treize
was dead… everything was supposed to be alright.
"He is not dead yet…" he heard Wufei whisper. "He's
trapped between life and death; you can still call him back." Heero nodded his head and sat next to Duo. He caressed the
delicate face of the witch, leaning forward to plant a gentle kiss on his lips.
"Wake up Duo. Please, wake up," he said as emotionally as he could bring
himself to, which, of course, wasn't much. The
words seemed to reach the sleeping man though, not perhaps through the speech,
but straight from the heart. Heero took hold of Duo's
hand and brought it to his lips. "Please," he said and continued silently.
'Please don't leave me.'
'I won't.' Heero looked up sharply, gazing hopefully
at Duo's still face.
"Duo?"
"'m sl'py," the man muttered, fluttering his
eyes open briefly. Everybody present whooped with joy, as Heero
drew the long-haired man into his arms. "You're back Heero. You came back…"
"And I won't leave again." With that said, Heero
gently pressed their lips together. Quatre 'awwed' softly, while Trowa
gently set Solo on the bed beside the pair. The
two broke their kiss to glance at the baby crawling towards them.
"Solo!" Duo exclaimed softly, kissing the baby's forehead sweetly. "You're
safe." The
dark-haired man put his arms around his family and leaned his head against
Duo's shoulder. He was home. He was never going to leave again. The
three witches and Trowa smiled, seeing the smiles on
the three's faces. Everything would be perfect now.
Solo gurgled happily and reached for the tie on his daddy's braid. He giggled
to himself as it turned violet. He wound the rope of hair around his tiny wrist
and snuggled close to his fathers. He was a very happy baby right then.
~*~The End~*~
