Authors Notes: Thanks for the reviews Mel, Ajedrez, ozzypoos, and SnakeMistress, and to anyone else who might review the first chapter before this one shows up on the site. I really appreciate the reviews, but I'll let you know that I'm writing unusually fast lately. It might not last.
If you notice anything wrong with the story please tell me.
Weapon: Chapter 2
There was a chill in the air as Duo began to stir from his nap. As his senses came back to him he felt that something was wrong. A voice suddenly rang in through the fog of his sleep and jolted him awake.
"Hey, hey, boys, look what we got here." Duo was instantly awake, as he saw the three boys approaching him. They looked no older than him, but he'd be hard pressed to fight three people at once. He remained still, his body rigid as he watched them.One of them was a fair bit taller than the other two. He seemed to be in charge. Their demeanor seemed wholly unfriendly.
The sun was beginning to set, drawing out long shadows, and casting the whole forest in red and yellow.
"What's a guy like you doing out in the woods all by himself?" The larger boy asked, "These woods aren't safe you know. A guy could get hurt."The two other boys laughed, as if there was some joke Duo was missing out on. Duo rolled his eyes. As if he didn't know where this was going.
He moved his arm slowly, hoping to God they didn't notice as he reached for the dagger tucked in the back of his belt. They made no indication that they had seen what he was doing, but each pulled out their own weapons, as Duo had expected.
The leader's stance changed suddenly. His posture became less relaxed. Duo knew to expect a fight soon.
"Alright. Seriously, hand over any valuables if you wanna live," The leader pointed his knife at Duo as he spoke.
Duo sighed, and stood slowly, pretending to go along with their demands. As he got to his feet though, he lunged quickly at the main boy, attempting to slice his neck, but the boy was faster than Duo had expected, only received a small cut along the lower half of his face as he barely dodged Duo's dagger, but Duo didn't let him rest there. He immediately followed through, attempted to stab at the boy's chest. Once again attempting to dodge, the boy stepped back, but stumbled and fell.
The two other boys made sounds of outrage and leapt at Duo. He was able to deflect one of their attacks, but the other knife made contact with his upper arm. He managed to stifle a cry as pain flared through his arm. He stumbled back, trying to get out of range and he clutched his bleeding wound.
Three on one was definitely no fair.
Duo knew this is where it got tough. The leader had already gotten back on his feet, and was wiping the blood from his face as he sneered at Duo. He knew he'd be lucky if they only beat the stuffing out of him.
Doing his best to ignore the pain in his arm, he held his dagger firmly and got ready to fight. The group of boys were doing the same as they spread out slightly, surrounding him.
"Duo! Catch!" A voice rang out through the tense silence, and they alllooked up to see where it had come from. "Aack!" Duo let out a somewhat girlish shriek, as he just barely avoided the flying sword that had imbedded itself in the tree behind him. His heart pounding, he once again looked up to see who had thrown it. It had sounded like that boy from earlier, but there was no one to
be seen. The boys surrounding him were also looking around to see where the projectile weapon had come from.
Duo looked back to the sword. Hadn't he told that boy that he had no skill with swords? Either way, a long sword would give him a range advantage over their knives, as long as it wasn't so heavy that when he swung it, the momentum left him wide open from the sides.
Throwing caution to the wind, he gripped the hilt of the sword with both hands, and pulled. A tingling sensation began at his fingers and ran up his arms as he held the sword. Suddenly, with a burst of strength he didn't know he had, he pulled the sword from the trunk of the tree. The strange feeling surrounded him, and suddenly Duo knew exactly what to do.
He charged and swung at the boy closest to him, who stumbled back in fear, not bothering to try to block a sword with his tiny knife. The boy had stumbled just out of the swords range, but he was caught severely off guard, and Duo followed his swing through by lunging and elbowing
the boy sharply in the ribs. The boy grunted in pain, and crumpled to the ground. Whimpering, the boy curled up and tried to catch the breath that had been knocked out of him.
As Duo stood over the boy, the strange sensation surrounding his body continued to grow and he was filled with a strange rage. He raised the sword, ready to strike, but froze.
"What the hell am I doing?" Duo thought as he shook his head to clear the fog from his mind. He couldn't believe what he'd been about to do. He stepped back, lowering the sword slightly. He looked over at the two other boys, who stood with their knives at the ready, but shaking with fear.Duo looked down at the boy by his feet, and kicked him once before shouting, "Get the fuck out of here!"
He turned back to the two other boys, who were slowly backing away. Duo raised the sword menacingly, and the both turned and ran. The boy by his feet stumbled a few times before getting to his feet, and running after the other two.
After a few moments Duo began to relax. The strange feeling that had come over his body was quickly leaving him, and it was leaving him very tired. He winced suddenly, the pain in his arm flaring up. He'd forgotten about it. He examined it quickly, and found that it was bleeding quite a bit.
He looked down at the sword in his hand, and then looked up, scanning the clearing. Someone had thrown the sword to him, and that someone had known his name, but why would they just run off?
"Anyone out there?" Duo shouted. There was no reply.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew he should wrap his wound before passing out, but he was far beyond caring, and fell to the ground in a slump.
When Duo came around, he could hear the sound of crickets chirping, and the crackle of a nearby fire.
He struggled to open his eyes, thankful that it was now dark out. His muscles felt if they hadn't been used in a year as he attempted to sit up.
A firm hand suddenly pushed him back to the ground, and Duo found himself staring in to the deep blue eyes of the boy from the cave. Duo watched the firelight dance in his eyes, and neither of them spoke for a few moments. The moment was broken as the boy closed his eyes and looked away.
Duo watched as the boy headed over to the fire, and put some more
wood on it. With his back to Duo, he spoke suddenly, "I wrapped your arm."
Duo tilted his head down, and found that the cut on his arm had been wrapped neatly in white linen. A splotch of blood was showing through.
"It wasn't too deep, but you should make sure to clean it and change the bandages every couple of days," the boy spoke again, his back still facing Duo.
Duo finally found his strength returning to him, and forced himself to sit up. Questions were suddenly flooding through his mind, and he cleared his dry throat to speak, "Was that you who threw me the sword?" He could see the boy nod in the light of the campfire, and pressed on."That was the enchanted sword, wasn't it?"
The boy paused, remaining still, before answering. "... Yes. It was."
"You lied to me," Duo said incredulously, "You told me you hadn't found it! You just wanted the money for yourself, didn't you?" Duo asked angrily.
The boy turned to face him, and Duo was surprised to see an almost pleading look in his eyes.
"I didn't really lie... It's complicated."
"I don't see what's so complicated about it. You either found the sword or you didn't," Duo sighed in aggravation. This boy was really confusing. Hardly ever speaking to him, lying to him, not even thanking him for getting him out of the cave, and now... saving his life.
"...Why did you come back?" Duo asked suddenly.
The boy's expression suddenly turned sour. "Look, I saved your life, so why does it matter?"
"Geez, I was just asking," Duo said defensively.
He moved closer to the fire, and just sat there for a few moments, doing his best to ignore the other boy as he moved around.
Looking around quickly he asked, "What did you do with the sword?"
"I put it away."
Duo looked around. The boy didn't even have a bag with him. "What do you mean 'away'?" he asked.
"Go to sleep and stop asking question." The boy said flatly as he stoked the fire.
"Right, whatever," Duo mumbled as he lay down and rolled over, facing away from the boy and the fire. A few minutes passed, and Duo could still hear the boy shuffling around.
"Don't you sleep?" he asked.
"Someone needs to keep watch."
"Right..." Duo waited uncomfortably for a few moments before continuing, "Thanks... You know, for saving my life twice."
No answer came, but Duo was beginning to get tired again, and he didn't really have the energy to get annoyed. He had almost drifted off when the boy spoke.
"It's Heero."
"Huh, wha?" Duo mumbled, jolted awake.
"My name. It's Heero." Duo rolled over and grinned at him from where he lay.
"Nice to meet ya, Heero," he said, stifling a yawn.
"Go to sleep."
"Pfft, fine," Duo rolled over, once again facing away from Heero, but nothing could destroy his sudden good mood.