(Tapping fingers lightly on the keyboard without typing letters) I'm
warming up!! CHAPTER THREE: ASSASSIN. Guess who stars here??
Shout outs to all who bother to review: (I really am happy, though!)
Sarcastic Pessimist: (Because I'm used to calling you that. . .) I don't despise Middie, but what she did was still wrong. (Hum. . .) I don't think she actually told him she loved him. I think she just thought it. Hold on, my manga is right here. . . Yeah, she never said it aloud, but she did say she hated him aloud. What a hypocrite. . . Oh, and as of now, I am very happy that you read my notes. (Or at least it seems you do . . . !!)
Hikaru: (Sigh. . .) Hate to burst your bubble, but Chapter One, Plot Discovered, under my long list of notes, and I quote: "Non-yaoi." Sorry if you were hoping for that, but I don't write yaoi. I've got too many bad experiences with yaoi. But I'm glad you like my story!! ;;
My school had a bomb threat a few days ago. We're connected to another, separate school, and they let that school out, telling us that they had the bomb, and I heard from someone in the other school that they said we had the bomb. Odd, huh? But there were choppers and police and dogs and strange scary messages meant to keep us calm but we already knew there was a bomb threat, etc.
Nothing else I can blabber about. Short today. (Sigh) Oh, and my entire style of format as disappeared because of the quickedit option. I don't like it.
I thought we discussed this already. I do not own Gundam Wing. The Continent (Ahem, the setting) is mine, though
[La falta de interes me esta destrozando]
[Dame algo en que pensar, para ir empezando]
[Dame una guerra donde luchar]
[Dame una meta donde llegar]
[Dame un motivo, dame una idea]
[Pero dame algo en que pensar]
/The lack of interest is destroying me
/Give me something to think about, for the beginning
/Give me a war to fight
/Give me a goal to arrive at
/Give me a motive, give me an idea
/But give me something to think about Ella Baila Sola (She Dances Alone)
Last time: (Just to refresh your memory)
The wave slammed into Wufei and he felt the hard stone of the wall instants before all was darkness.
Duo shifted uncomfortably in the formal robes of the enchanted, wondering once again just why he was seated at the King's Table, waiting for the debate over trade prices to be over. He winced as another sharp wave of pain hit his head and he groaned lightly. It was sharp, but not too painful, but his head could not handle much more bursts as it had been having.
"We must raise the price! Loquacity is an enemy that refuses to take off the mask of friendship!"
That would be Lord Winner. Duo glanced up at the powerfully built man through a watery gaze. He could not help but feel sorry for him. It was common knowledge that though he wished for a man to rule his lands after him, Winner never got a son, though he had many children, until the very last child came. It was his last chance, and though he loved his wife, he wished desperately for a boy. Then his wife disappeared, taking his young heir with him. There had been signs of a struggle when they found her room empty.
He was left heart-broken and bitter. There had been marks of a possible kidnapping, and he turned all his anger and frustration upon Loquacity. Many believed it was just exaggerating, but many just ignored his hatred for the empire. He may have had a good point, for she was found dead on Loquacity's banks.
"Though we may not agree with Loquacity, my dear friend," Darlian stated calmly, "she is our mother, and we must be courteous to her, no matter what wrong she has done us."
"You're just bitter," another lord muttered. "Just bitter. Just because she was found on Loquacity banks does not mean they had anything to do about it."
"I am certain it was Loquacity! We are close enough to their borders for them to get in and out easily. And the desert traders always bring in new people. No one would have noticed it at all."
Duo shook his head at the pointless debate. Once again, it had gotten off of trade prices. Suddenly, he could see it. In his mind's eye, there was a wave coming at him at a horrible velocity.
He tried to set up his feeble defenses against such a blast, but they would not respond. He was completely open, helpless, and unable to defend himself. It slammed into him and he screamed as the power ripped through his body and mind, tearing it apart. His body was never used to such power, and now to have it all forced into him was going to kill him.
He was aware of his physical body lying on the ground, seizures shaking it and power bursts breaking free in his trademark violet power, all the while screaming. The power blasts were shaking the lords out of their wits, and no one could reach him to help him.
He was going to die.
A flash of green and a human hand touched his body. Someone had gotten through. Without hesitation, he allowed the green power to draw out the strength that was killing him. He could hear the scream from the Green One and started to pull off, to let simply himself die, when he felt the power starting to be distributed. The Green One sent power to the King, and from there to all of the lords, to his children, and to the lords' children.
It dissipated pretty quickly. But the power surge was still strong in him, but no longer was killing him.
Both spent and drained, the Green One and Duo let their minds leave and their bodies collapsed.
Wufei came to his senses slowly. The ceiling above him was cracked. Groaning, he rolled to his side and looked at the room. Most everything was destroyed, and every stone in the room was cracked.
He sat up and held his head, feeling the blood pounding in it. He let out a moan and looked around the room again. Rasid was getting up, his own head cradled in his hand.
Quatre was passed out on the floor, the glow of power still obvious to Wufei's eyes. Wufei stumbled to his feet and crossed to his charge and shook him. Quatre's eyes opened, still glowing the light blue of his power. He blinked and shook his head.
"What happened?"
"You let all your power out in a blast, nearly killing us, nearly destroying my room, and probably sending enchanters in a dozen mile radius into seizures. After that half-dozen mile, there is probably a thirty-mile range in all directions that got headaches. Everywhere else, they probably just got a pressure."
Quatre looked at Rasid in surprise. "I did not mean to."
"Of course not. But that should give you an idea of how strong you are. The more you train, the more powerful you become. I heard the Perdition enchanter, in his prime, could kill anyone in a mile radius. But he's become sensitive, and now it is hard for him to gain his full capability."
Wufei raised a speculative eyebrow. "And how do you know?"
"My birds tell me all."
He gestured to elaborate at the birds lining the sills of the windows. Crows, gulls, eagles, songbirds, pigeons, and other birds lined the crumbling stone, staring at the three men. Several looked vicious, and Wufei reminded himself that he had his sword and his own power. If it had not been permanently sucked out by the tsunami.
Wufei heard footsteps and exclamations and grimaced. A shock wave like that had to have alerted many, including his king. The man burst through the door, his eyes wide in fear for his enchanter. They softened when he saw Quatre standing, but they turned an accusing look on Wufei.
Was he really so low in his king's mind? Was it just yesterday his king had told him that he pleased the king? What did he do to deserve this fall from favor? Angrily, he clenched his fists and refused to make eye contact.
"What happened, Chang?"
"A power burst," he snapped. "Just some practice, and it all burst out. He's just fine."
Treize sighed happily. "Good. Let him get some rest. Rasid, tell me about his power."
Rasid paused in dusting off his broken furniture. He snorted. "What's to tell? He was made for bigger things than an enchanter, but none exist who can help his training be complete, so you'll have to settle with a very strong enchanter," he paused and looked Treize in the eye, "with limitless power."
Treize looked very pleased, his eyes widening and a grim smile crossing his face. "I am fine with that."
Treize swept out of the room, his men tagging after him. With a growl, Wufei followed, motioning Quatre to follow him. Quatre did, but Wufei could feel the sadness radiating off of him.
"Wufei?"
"What."
"What did I do wrong? I'm sorry for it."
Wufei sighed, feeling the heavy guilt and sadness coming off of the Potential in waves. "You did nothing wrong. I'm just . . . tired."
"Wufei?"
"What."
"Why did he seem so happy when he heard I had . . . extraordinary power?"
Wufei shook his head. Boy he may be, but sometimes his mental maturity still surprised him. "It's nothing either of us can control."
Quatre moved to walk closer. "I'm sorry you're tired."
Wufei could not help but let his anger dissipate. It was not Quatre's fault that he fell from favor. The king chose to let that happen. He and Quatre were just subject to the king's desires. He turned and smiled at Quatre, placing a companionable hand on his shoulder before he continued to descend.
Several months. Several months of the power of that distant enchanter pounding into his head night and day, on and off, as if it were training. He had reason to believe it was.
He heard the rumors as well. Whispers among the courtesans, of an enchanter who could not do his job, of more attempts on the king as they slept. There were others, nastier, and other things that his power could not catch. Yet they did not know how good of a job he did.
It had to be from that blast. The tsunami wave of power had burned much of his old power out of him, useless as it was now, but still a part of him. In its place, the wave had placed new gifts, and he felt his old strength return as it never had for the past few years. Strange that he would receive a gift in such a painful way. But those gifts did him good. The pounding in his head came intermittently, and would have required elderroot several times, had it not been for this newfound power that raced through his body.
It was strange, to feel another's power they still used within him. His boy had noticed it too, noting that his eyes were no longer the violet they once had been. Instead, they were a blue-violet, and though many noticed it, few accounted it to a new power.
The gifts were amazing. Strength, boundless and ebbing at his beck and call. Sight, so that he could see people in colors. Two different things, actually. If he looked at someone long enough, he could see a glow of their power over them, like a skin invisible to the normal eye. This was what provided him with a clue to find the one who had saved his life.
Trowa, the silent bodyguard of the king. It made sense too. His eyes were the same color as the Green One that appeared to save him. Duo had searched him out not long after he saw the aura around him.
The second was quite useful as well. He could see a color under their power, the color indicating some aspect of their personalities. Trowa, he found, was a mix of colors, almost impossible to discern from each other. It made sense. So little was obvious and so much was hidden, as the colors seemed to indicate to him. It was hard to describe in words.
But one more, most important thing, that the blast had left him with, was images. Two, actually. One of a man his age. His eyes and hair were black, his skin burned to a bronze color. The aura that Duo could see around him was black, but not in an evil sense. Just dark, dark like a summer night, or dark like a dry cave in a rainstorm. It was strong, but not like an enchanter. A warrior trained to the full extent of his skill.
The second picture was of eyes. Simply eyes, blue like the power that ran through his mind. They were soft, and yet held maturity. A gentleness of spirit that had seen much in his short life. Beyond a doubt, he knew who it was. The owner of such power.
For some reason, the aura was familiar in some sense. There was a soft knock and Duo got up to his door and opened it. "Oh, Helen!" The aging woman smiled. Duo remembered her when she was younger. She had been a very beautiful young woman, but he had been a child. "What do you wish of me?"
"The king wishes for you."
Helen smiled at Duo as he scrambled to pull his tunic on. Duo threw one last grin at her before he trotted out the door. His mind sent a sharp guard up around her before he completely left her vicinity. She was important to him. She had been his teacher.
With a final grunt, he pushed open the door to the king's chamber and encountered Trowa's sword point. He stopped short and blinked at Trowa for a moment. The bodyguard blinked and pulled the sword down. Duo was certain he saw a ghost of a smile cross his face. Some joke.
The king was seated at the dressing table; his eyes focused on his own reflection. "Duo. Thank you for coming quickly."
"I would have been faster if your guard would learn to find another way to tease visitors," Duo muttered sullenly. Darlian grinned at his enchanter and examined him.
"You have changed."
"That blast changed me."
"It was familiar," Darlian murmured. Duo only nodded. "But it is very powerful. I have sensed it growing."
Duo did not speak. He could not understand what Darlian was saying. In a moment, he understood partially as Darlian waved to a dark corner. A figure stepped out, his blue eyes glaring at Duo for a moment before he turned his eyes back to the king.
Duo knew him instantly. The King's man, the Night One, the one who attacked him in the night that one day.
"Heero. The threat to the east is growing large."
Heero nodded without emotion.
"The Perdition king sleeps light. Come Duo. We need to go and wake my slothful son. Relena should be up about now."
Duo only stared over his shoulder as Heero blended back into the shadows. What did he mean? He understood very little of it. But the new skill showed him that the personality color of him was dark, possibly the dark purple of kings in the shadows, and it made him uneasy.
Yet he trusted his king, and would not question him.
Quatre had rarely been so pleased to feel the light pinch out at his will. The candle winked out and he leaned back into the straw mattress of his bed. Rasid's deep breathing sounded from just across the room. The hermit had left his high bedroom to train him, to sleep in a room with a whole bed. And in the tradition of teacher and student, Rasid slept in the same room as him. It was a nice feeling, too, to have another breathing being in the room. It comforted Quatre.
He slowly focused on loosening his tight muscles in his back and felt the unwinding of the fibers. He was sore. Rasid had pushed him hard today. He had mastered hiding his power, for no more than a half-hour. It was too hard after that. He was now trained to light and extinguish lights, attack with his power, and other small little things that he could expand upon. Rasid experimented upon his individual gifts, and also taught him to send messages to those he bonded with.
But what caused his muscles to be so bunched was his training with Wufei. He made sure that Quatre understood that his training was an absolute secret. No one was supposed to know that he was being battle trained. Wufei taught him drills with weapons, but also how to use his power to block attacks when he had nothing to defend himself with. He was taught to block weapons with his hands, and Quatre found that Wufei was a formidable opponent. Only once had Wufei actually attacked him to the fullest potential of his strength, and it made Quatre glad that Wufei was his friend. There had been little he could do to prevent his attacks from hitting.
Wufei had healed him, though. He had no scars from those wounds. It made it so much easier to stand before his king and show his training.
Quatre sighed and rolled over, studying the night sky out the window and finally fell asleep.
To awake moments later by a dark feeling entering his barrier. He had set it up around the castle to tell him when someone would come into the castle grounds. He sat up in bed, scarcely daring to breathe. He quickly checked the second barrier around the sleeping chambers, hoping he was just imagining things. A few moments passed and he started to breathe slower.
A person crossed it, paused in it, and then moved on. Quatre swallowed hard and got out of the bed, crossing to the door. He slipped it open and set up a makeshift barrier just outside his door. To get to the king, they would have to get through him.
It never occurred to him to get his teacher. It never occurred to him to send a message to Wufei. He just knew it, just knew that the man was after his king, and he would not let him do it.
The person walked into the barrier and Quatre barreled out of his door and promptly found his head slammed into the floor. All he could see of the man were his two eyes, blue and filled with anger and surprise. The man held him tightly and Quatre felt panic send out three messages to those he had bonded with. His teacher aroused in the room behind him and approached the door. Wufei jumped and started running. Treize stared at the ceiling in confusion.
A knife touched his throat and Quatre gasped silently. The man breathed slowly and murmured a small question. "Who is your king?"
Quatre screamed. The knife pressed to his throat and entered, ripping apart his skin. His eyes widened in fear before his scream faded to a voiceless gurgle.
Evilest cliffhanger you will ever read from me. Honest. Cross my heart. Or at least, the evilest in this story. There's an eviler one in another story. . .
Okay, notes from other stuff. I'll only state stuff once, so if you have questions that refer to specific parts, I'll refer you to those notes in reviews, okay?
Desert Traders: A people that live in the deserts just north of Perdition and Loquacity. As I've written this, the people sort of grew up in my mind, so I cannot waste space to tell you everything. They do not have too much importance in this story, but they do in other's I'm working on.
When Duo saw that wave coming at him, it was a wave that no one could see but him. Does anyone understand what happened there, because it's hard to explain? See, his mind was what saw it, but it was an actual, physical wave of power. It had lost it's original strength over the land before it hit him, so the most it caused was throwing him out of his seat. But the power forced itself into his body, like into a storage tank in him, but it was too much and could not be controlled. So it started to burn, and could have physically killed him, and it was ripping apart his mind. Does that make any sense?
Okay, on to Heero. He's what I call a Shadow, a race of human that can shadowleap, or travel through another world, one of shadow, by means of shadows. In the desert trader tongue, they are called Hombresobra, and in the pirate tongue (yes, it will be important, but in another story), they are called Hommombre. And for those who care, yes, the desert tongue is Spanish and the pirate tongue is French, but they are not specifically called that. And for those who are insulted that the French speakers are pirates, the main characters and good guys are pirates in that story, okay?
Nuttin else. Have a good day!!!
Teaser:
The only reason he did not scream was that he breathed. Duo sat up quickly in his bed, his hand touching smooth skin where there should have been torn muscle. He swallowed hard and breathed again, amazed that he could breathe. He had felt that blue-eyed person push him into the ground. He had felt that blade slip into his neck and slice it open. He had felt his own blood pool in his lungs. He shuddered and rubbed his head where he should have throbbed horribly.
Thank you for reading this time! Please come back soon! Maybe even see some other stuff I have up. That'll make me happy.
Kay Kylo
Oops, I forgot!
REVIEW PLEASE!!
Shout outs to all who bother to review: (I really am happy, though!)
Sarcastic Pessimist: (Because I'm used to calling you that. . .) I don't despise Middie, but what she did was still wrong. (Hum. . .) I don't think she actually told him she loved him. I think she just thought it. Hold on, my manga is right here. . . Yeah, she never said it aloud, but she did say she hated him aloud. What a hypocrite. . . Oh, and as of now, I am very happy that you read my notes. (Or at least it seems you do . . . !!)
Hikaru: (Sigh. . .) Hate to burst your bubble, but Chapter One, Plot Discovered, under my long list of notes, and I quote: "Non-yaoi." Sorry if you were hoping for that, but I don't write yaoi. I've got too many bad experiences with yaoi. But I'm glad you like my story!! ;;
My school had a bomb threat a few days ago. We're connected to another, separate school, and they let that school out, telling us that they had the bomb, and I heard from someone in the other school that they said we had the bomb. Odd, huh? But there were choppers and police and dogs and strange scary messages meant to keep us calm but we already knew there was a bomb threat, etc.
Nothing else I can blabber about. Short today. (Sigh) Oh, and my entire style of format as disappeared because of the quickedit option. I don't like it.
I thought we discussed this already. I do not own Gundam Wing. The Continent (Ahem, the setting) is mine, though
[La falta de interes me esta destrozando]
[Dame algo en que pensar, para ir empezando]
[Dame una guerra donde luchar]
[Dame una meta donde llegar]
[Dame un motivo, dame una idea]
[Pero dame algo en que pensar]
/The lack of interest is destroying me
/Give me something to think about, for the beginning
/Give me a war to fight
/Give me a goal to arrive at
/Give me a motive, give me an idea
/But give me something to think about Ella Baila Sola (She Dances Alone)
Last time: (Just to refresh your memory)
The wave slammed into Wufei and he felt the hard stone of the wall instants before all was darkness.
Duo shifted uncomfortably in the formal robes of the enchanted, wondering once again just why he was seated at the King's Table, waiting for the debate over trade prices to be over. He winced as another sharp wave of pain hit his head and he groaned lightly. It was sharp, but not too painful, but his head could not handle much more bursts as it had been having.
"We must raise the price! Loquacity is an enemy that refuses to take off the mask of friendship!"
That would be Lord Winner. Duo glanced up at the powerfully built man through a watery gaze. He could not help but feel sorry for him. It was common knowledge that though he wished for a man to rule his lands after him, Winner never got a son, though he had many children, until the very last child came. It was his last chance, and though he loved his wife, he wished desperately for a boy. Then his wife disappeared, taking his young heir with him. There had been signs of a struggle when they found her room empty.
He was left heart-broken and bitter. There had been marks of a possible kidnapping, and he turned all his anger and frustration upon Loquacity. Many believed it was just exaggerating, but many just ignored his hatred for the empire. He may have had a good point, for she was found dead on Loquacity's banks.
"Though we may not agree with Loquacity, my dear friend," Darlian stated calmly, "she is our mother, and we must be courteous to her, no matter what wrong she has done us."
"You're just bitter," another lord muttered. "Just bitter. Just because she was found on Loquacity banks does not mean they had anything to do about it."
"I am certain it was Loquacity! We are close enough to their borders for them to get in and out easily. And the desert traders always bring in new people. No one would have noticed it at all."
Duo shook his head at the pointless debate. Once again, it had gotten off of trade prices. Suddenly, he could see it. In his mind's eye, there was a wave coming at him at a horrible velocity.
He tried to set up his feeble defenses against such a blast, but they would not respond. He was completely open, helpless, and unable to defend himself. It slammed into him and he screamed as the power ripped through his body and mind, tearing it apart. His body was never used to such power, and now to have it all forced into him was going to kill him.
He was aware of his physical body lying on the ground, seizures shaking it and power bursts breaking free in his trademark violet power, all the while screaming. The power blasts were shaking the lords out of their wits, and no one could reach him to help him.
He was going to die.
A flash of green and a human hand touched his body. Someone had gotten through. Without hesitation, he allowed the green power to draw out the strength that was killing him. He could hear the scream from the Green One and started to pull off, to let simply himself die, when he felt the power starting to be distributed. The Green One sent power to the King, and from there to all of the lords, to his children, and to the lords' children.
It dissipated pretty quickly. But the power surge was still strong in him, but no longer was killing him.
Both spent and drained, the Green One and Duo let their minds leave and their bodies collapsed.
Wufei came to his senses slowly. The ceiling above him was cracked. Groaning, he rolled to his side and looked at the room. Most everything was destroyed, and every stone in the room was cracked.
He sat up and held his head, feeling the blood pounding in it. He let out a moan and looked around the room again. Rasid was getting up, his own head cradled in his hand.
Quatre was passed out on the floor, the glow of power still obvious to Wufei's eyes. Wufei stumbled to his feet and crossed to his charge and shook him. Quatre's eyes opened, still glowing the light blue of his power. He blinked and shook his head.
"What happened?"
"You let all your power out in a blast, nearly killing us, nearly destroying my room, and probably sending enchanters in a dozen mile radius into seizures. After that half-dozen mile, there is probably a thirty-mile range in all directions that got headaches. Everywhere else, they probably just got a pressure."
Quatre looked at Rasid in surprise. "I did not mean to."
"Of course not. But that should give you an idea of how strong you are. The more you train, the more powerful you become. I heard the Perdition enchanter, in his prime, could kill anyone in a mile radius. But he's become sensitive, and now it is hard for him to gain his full capability."
Wufei raised a speculative eyebrow. "And how do you know?"
"My birds tell me all."
He gestured to elaborate at the birds lining the sills of the windows. Crows, gulls, eagles, songbirds, pigeons, and other birds lined the crumbling stone, staring at the three men. Several looked vicious, and Wufei reminded himself that he had his sword and his own power. If it had not been permanently sucked out by the tsunami.
Wufei heard footsteps and exclamations and grimaced. A shock wave like that had to have alerted many, including his king. The man burst through the door, his eyes wide in fear for his enchanter. They softened when he saw Quatre standing, but they turned an accusing look on Wufei.
Was he really so low in his king's mind? Was it just yesterday his king had told him that he pleased the king? What did he do to deserve this fall from favor? Angrily, he clenched his fists and refused to make eye contact.
"What happened, Chang?"
"A power burst," he snapped. "Just some practice, and it all burst out. He's just fine."
Treize sighed happily. "Good. Let him get some rest. Rasid, tell me about his power."
Rasid paused in dusting off his broken furniture. He snorted. "What's to tell? He was made for bigger things than an enchanter, but none exist who can help his training be complete, so you'll have to settle with a very strong enchanter," he paused and looked Treize in the eye, "with limitless power."
Treize looked very pleased, his eyes widening and a grim smile crossing his face. "I am fine with that."
Treize swept out of the room, his men tagging after him. With a growl, Wufei followed, motioning Quatre to follow him. Quatre did, but Wufei could feel the sadness radiating off of him.
"Wufei?"
"What."
"What did I do wrong? I'm sorry for it."
Wufei sighed, feeling the heavy guilt and sadness coming off of the Potential in waves. "You did nothing wrong. I'm just . . . tired."
"Wufei?"
"What."
"Why did he seem so happy when he heard I had . . . extraordinary power?"
Wufei shook his head. Boy he may be, but sometimes his mental maturity still surprised him. "It's nothing either of us can control."
Quatre moved to walk closer. "I'm sorry you're tired."
Wufei could not help but let his anger dissipate. It was not Quatre's fault that he fell from favor. The king chose to let that happen. He and Quatre were just subject to the king's desires. He turned and smiled at Quatre, placing a companionable hand on his shoulder before he continued to descend.
Several months. Several months of the power of that distant enchanter pounding into his head night and day, on and off, as if it were training. He had reason to believe it was.
He heard the rumors as well. Whispers among the courtesans, of an enchanter who could not do his job, of more attempts on the king as they slept. There were others, nastier, and other things that his power could not catch. Yet they did not know how good of a job he did.
It had to be from that blast. The tsunami wave of power had burned much of his old power out of him, useless as it was now, but still a part of him. In its place, the wave had placed new gifts, and he felt his old strength return as it never had for the past few years. Strange that he would receive a gift in such a painful way. But those gifts did him good. The pounding in his head came intermittently, and would have required elderroot several times, had it not been for this newfound power that raced through his body.
It was strange, to feel another's power they still used within him. His boy had noticed it too, noting that his eyes were no longer the violet they once had been. Instead, they were a blue-violet, and though many noticed it, few accounted it to a new power.
The gifts were amazing. Strength, boundless and ebbing at his beck and call. Sight, so that he could see people in colors. Two different things, actually. If he looked at someone long enough, he could see a glow of their power over them, like a skin invisible to the normal eye. This was what provided him with a clue to find the one who had saved his life.
Trowa, the silent bodyguard of the king. It made sense too. His eyes were the same color as the Green One that appeared to save him. Duo had searched him out not long after he saw the aura around him.
The second was quite useful as well. He could see a color under their power, the color indicating some aspect of their personalities. Trowa, he found, was a mix of colors, almost impossible to discern from each other. It made sense. So little was obvious and so much was hidden, as the colors seemed to indicate to him. It was hard to describe in words.
But one more, most important thing, that the blast had left him with, was images. Two, actually. One of a man his age. His eyes and hair were black, his skin burned to a bronze color. The aura that Duo could see around him was black, but not in an evil sense. Just dark, dark like a summer night, or dark like a dry cave in a rainstorm. It was strong, but not like an enchanter. A warrior trained to the full extent of his skill.
The second picture was of eyes. Simply eyes, blue like the power that ran through his mind. They were soft, and yet held maturity. A gentleness of spirit that had seen much in his short life. Beyond a doubt, he knew who it was. The owner of such power.
For some reason, the aura was familiar in some sense. There was a soft knock and Duo got up to his door and opened it. "Oh, Helen!" The aging woman smiled. Duo remembered her when she was younger. She had been a very beautiful young woman, but he had been a child. "What do you wish of me?"
"The king wishes for you."
Helen smiled at Duo as he scrambled to pull his tunic on. Duo threw one last grin at her before he trotted out the door. His mind sent a sharp guard up around her before he completely left her vicinity. She was important to him. She had been his teacher.
With a final grunt, he pushed open the door to the king's chamber and encountered Trowa's sword point. He stopped short and blinked at Trowa for a moment. The bodyguard blinked and pulled the sword down. Duo was certain he saw a ghost of a smile cross his face. Some joke.
The king was seated at the dressing table; his eyes focused on his own reflection. "Duo. Thank you for coming quickly."
"I would have been faster if your guard would learn to find another way to tease visitors," Duo muttered sullenly. Darlian grinned at his enchanter and examined him.
"You have changed."
"That blast changed me."
"It was familiar," Darlian murmured. Duo only nodded. "But it is very powerful. I have sensed it growing."
Duo did not speak. He could not understand what Darlian was saying. In a moment, he understood partially as Darlian waved to a dark corner. A figure stepped out, his blue eyes glaring at Duo for a moment before he turned his eyes back to the king.
Duo knew him instantly. The King's man, the Night One, the one who attacked him in the night that one day.
"Heero. The threat to the east is growing large."
Heero nodded without emotion.
"The Perdition king sleeps light. Come Duo. We need to go and wake my slothful son. Relena should be up about now."
Duo only stared over his shoulder as Heero blended back into the shadows. What did he mean? He understood very little of it. But the new skill showed him that the personality color of him was dark, possibly the dark purple of kings in the shadows, and it made him uneasy.
Yet he trusted his king, and would not question him.
Quatre had rarely been so pleased to feel the light pinch out at his will. The candle winked out and he leaned back into the straw mattress of his bed. Rasid's deep breathing sounded from just across the room. The hermit had left his high bedroom to train him, to sleep in a room with a whole bed. And in the tradition of teacher and student, Rasid slept in the same room as him. It was a nice feeling, too, to have another breathing being in the room. It comforted Quatre.
He slowly focused on loosening his tight muscles in his back and felt the unwinding of the fibers. He was sore. Rasid had pushed him hard today. He had mastered hiding his power, for no more than a half-hour. It was too hard after that. He was now trained to light and extinguish lights, attack with his power, and other small little things that he could expand upon. Rasid experimented upon his individual gifts, and also taught him to send messages to those he bonded with.
But what caused his muscles to be so bunched was his training with Wufei. He made sure that Quatre understood that his training was an absolute secret. No one was supposed to know that he was being battle trained. Wufei taught him drills with weapons, but also how to use his power to block attacks when he had nothing to defend himself with. He was taught to block weapons with his hands, and Quatre found that Wufei was a formidable opponent. Only once had Wufei actually attacked him to the fullest potential of his strength, and it made Quatre glad that Wufei was his friend. There had been little he could do to prevent his attacks from hitting.
Wufei had healed him, though. He had no scars from those wounds. It made it so much easier to stand before his king and show his training.
Quatre sighed and rolled over, studying the night sky out the window and finally fell asleep.
To awake moments later by a dark feeling entering his barrier. He had set it up around the castle to tell him when someone would come into the castle grounds. He sat up in bed, scarcely daring to breathe. He quickly checked the second barrier around the sleeping chambers, hoping he was just imagining things. A few moments passed and he started to breathe slower.
A person crossed it, paused in it, and then moved on. Quatre swallowed hard and got out of the bed, crossing to the door. He slipped it open and set up a makeshift barrier just outside his door. To get to the king, they would have to get through him.
It never occurred to him to get his teacher. It never occurred to him to send a message to Wufei. He just knew it, just knew that the man was after his king, and he would not let him do it.
The person walked into the barrier and Quatre barreled out of his door and promptly found his head slammed into the floor. All he could see of the man were his two eyes, blue and filled with anger and surprise. The man held him tightly and Quatre felt panic send out three messages to those he had bonded with. His teacher aroused in the room behind him and approached the door. Wufei jumped and started running. Treize stared at the ceiling in confusion.
A knife touched his throat and Quatre gasped silently. The man breathed slowly and murmured a small question. "Who is your king?"
Quatre screamed. The knife pressed to his throat and entered, ripping apart his skin. His eyes widened in fear before his scream faded to a voiceless gurgle.
Evilest cliffhanger you will ever read from me. Honest. Cross my heart. Or at least, the evilest in this story. There's an eviler one in another story. . .
Okay, notes from other stuff. I'll only state stuff once, so if you have questions that refer to specific parts, I'll refer you to those notes in reviews, okay?
Desert Traders: A people that live in the deserts just north of Perdition and Loquacity. As I've written this, the people sort of grew up in my mind, so I cannot waste space to tell you everything. They do not have too much importance in this story, but they do in other's I'm working on.
When Duo saw that wave coming at him, it was a wave that no one could see but him. Does anyone understand what happened there, because it's hard to explain? See, his mind was what saw it, but it was an actual, physical wave of power. It had lost it's original strength over the land before it hit him, so the most it caused was throwing him out of his seat. But the power forced itself into his body, like into a storage tank in him, but it was too much and could not be controlled. So it started to burn, and could have physically killed him, and it was ripping apart his mind. Does that make any sense?
Okay, on to Heero. He's what I call a Shadow, a race of human that can shadowleap, or travel through another world, one of shadow, by means of shadows. In the desert trader tongue, they are called Hombresobra, and in the pirate tongue (yes, it will be important, but in another story), they are called Hommombre. And for those who care, yes, the desert tongue is Spanish and the pirate tongue is French, but they are not specifically called that. And for those who are insulted that the French speakers are pirates, the main characters and good guys are pirates in that story, okay?
Nuttin else. Have a good day!!!
Teaser:
The only reason he did not scream was that he breathed. Duo sat up quickly in his bed, his hand touching smooth skin where there should have been torn muscle. He swallowed hard and breathed again, amazed that he could breathe. He had felt that blue-eyed person push him into the ground. He had felt that blade slip into his neck and slice it open. He had felt his own blood pool in his lungs. He shuddered and rubbed his head where he should have throbbed horribly.
Thank you for reading this time! Please come back soon! Maybe even see some other stuff I have up. That'll make me happy.
Kay Kylo
Oops, I forgot!
REVIEW PLEASE!!