Not mine. Etc.

Thanks, as always, to Chiad, for her wonderful patience and beta-ing, not to mention being willing to point out my errors! All flaws are due to my last minute rewrites.

And of course, thanks to Rin, and to everyone who commented on the Prologue and Chapter One, I like hearing the feedback! It makes the muses happy! .

Chapter Two

Quatre frowned at the gloom surrounding him, feeding a little more power into the floating light above his head. The magic orb did grow brighter, but it failed to illuminate the gloom any more then it already was; the darkness was almost physically resisting the invasion of light, and the globe of magic only managed to illuminate a small circle around the young man's feet.

He walked cautiously forward a few steps, looking around often, ears straining for any sign of other beings around him. He was undergoing the final test of a paladin, one of the youngest men in centuries to take this test, but only about half the people who took it survived to /become/ paladins, and most of them were half again his age, if not more, and had a lot more experience with demons.

Of course, wandering a plane of shadows under a magical light was like waving a sign reading "Eat me, eat me!" and jumping up and down with lettuce sticking out of one's ears, but Quatre had declined to point this out to the priests... Surviving the shadow plane, after all, was part of the test, and surviving was a lot harder when you were the only thing that glowed; the test wasn't supposed to be easy.

Quatre shifted his grip on his sword; he hadn't put the weapon away since his first encounter with one of the denizens of the shadow plane. If he hadn't been fully covered in enchanted plate mail he wouldn't still be walking, or breathing. He thanked the gods that the priests at least allowed those who took the test to decide on their own equipment.

The young blonde touched a small medallion that was hanging around his neck. It was growing warm, and he nearly sighed in relief. He didn't have much more time to spend here, then. The medal was a magical link to the material plane, and apparently the priests watching from the other end were deciding to bring him back. Still, he continued to walk forward, instead of standing still and waiting for the magic portal to open. Partly he walked forward on survival instinct—staying too long in one place on this demon-filled plane wasn't wise—but something, an odd little itch almost at the edge of his mind, called him forward.

Quatre almost yelped as he stumbled, so preoccupied with his thoughts that he had lost track of where he was going. Immediately berating himself for doing something as stupid and suicidal as getting preoccupied in a demon-filled realm, the young man looked down to see what he'd tripped over. Staggering backwards, Quatre knelt cautiously, staring wide-eyed at the thing that had tripped him.

The "thing" was a young man, about his own age, Quatre guessed, sprawled face down and naked. He was dead or unconscious, Quatre couldn't tell, and he clutched a long ebony scythe and something ragged and torn that may once have been a knapsack.

Hesitating, fearing that it might be a strange shape-shifting demon, Quatre reached out and brushed his fingers over the pale skin of the strange man's shoulder. He was deathly cold, but Quatre sensed no danger in him, and as the young blonde touched the unconscious man's throat, he felt the weakest of pulses. Deciding that, strange as it was, the being before him was indeed human, Quatre took a closer look, gently turning the stranger onto his back, making it easier for the unconscious man to breathe.

The naked man was almost white, his skin so pale it seemed he'd never seen the sun. His hair was ragged and dirty, and his body was so thin and bruised it made Quatre wince just to look at it. There as a deep gouge across the unconscious man's chest, and it looked rather recent. Brows furrowed in concern over the unconscious man's state, Quatre forgot to be cautious. He set his sword down and placed his hands over the man's body, eyes closing as he concentrated on drawing healing magic through his own body and into the stranger's.

The blonde was making a little headway when heat at his chest startled him out of the healing trance. Magic that was not his own spread over his body, and he clutched desperately at the pale man, practically falling over the unconscious body in an attempt to drag it with him through the magical portal. He barely had time to regret leaving his sword before there was a moment of disorienting whiteness, and when Quatre blinked the spots of color from his vision, he found himself sprawled on the stone floor of the Temple of Light.

Looking around, Quatre nearly sagged in relief when he spotted the naked stranger next to him, still clutching his scythe and sack. Hardly noticing the gaggle of people that were surrounding and talking at him, Quatre knelt next to the wounded man, voice rising sharply to cut through the other voices in the room.

"This man needs help! Bring a healer, and blankets!" He stood, glaring sternly at the surprised faces of the clergy, until several priests moved forward and began attending to the unconscious stranger. Quatre watched a moment, then frowned. "And... when he's healed and clean... put him in a dark room." He himself was still adjusting to the brightness of the Temple; he could only imagine what would happen if the stranger had been in the shadow plane for long, and he opened his eyes to the sunlight brilliance of the temple.

Quatre was beginning to fidget, moving forward to fuss at the priests when two large arms encircled him, lifting him off the ground, plate mail and all. Quatre gave a small, strangled "Eep!" before he was swung in the air once and the breath was effectively knocked out of him.

"Master Quatre!"

The blonde looked up at the broad, grinning face of his friend and servant and managed a wide smile, despite the pain in his ribs from the larger man's enthusiastic hug.

"Forgive me Master Quatre, but we were all so worried! But we needn't have been. You're a paladin now!"

"Th-thank you, Rashid." Quatre said faintly, inhaling sharply. He hesitated a moment, then straightened, looking first at the large muscled man that was beaming at him, and then down at his boots. He'd almost forgotten about the test, with worry for the strange man, and though he felt a faint stab of triumph in the back of his mind, most of his emotions we still tied up in worry for the pale stranger. Still, he knew the priests' abilities at healing were better than his own, so with only one last, concerned glance at the man on the floor, Quatre turned his full attention back to Rashid and smiled as brightly as he could. "Let's go tell the others, before they worry themselves gray," he said cheerfully. "You're like a bunch of mother hens."

"Really, Master Quatre." Rashid folded his arms over his chest, "With the stunts you pull, we all have every right to worry about you!"

Laughing, Quatre led the way out of the chamber, "All right! But you can stop fussing. I'm okay."

"Master Quatre!" A large chorus of whoops greeted the young blonde as he exited the inner sanctum of the Temple, and he smiled, greeting each of his adopted family with a smile and a few words.

"Master Quatre, the high priest wishes to see you." Rashid touched the short blonds' arm as he was enduring an enthusiastic pat on the back from one of the taller Maguanacs.

Smiling and waving at the relieved soldiers, Quatre turned and followed Rashid into one of the side corridors, shoulders slumping slightly as soon as he was out of the Maguanac's visibility.

Rashid chuckled, catching the gesture out of the corner of his eyes. "They are simply relieved to see you well, Master Quatre."

"I know," Quatre murmured, a little embarrassed, and looking at the floor.

"They are also proud of what you have accomplished."

"Mmm." Quatre nodded.

"The priests say the young man you found will be fine."

Quatre's head shot up and he found himself staring into Rashid's amused and intelligent eyes. "Ah... oh. That's good."

"I thought that was distracting you. Come, Master Quatre, you have to finish the ceremony with the high priest. Observe the formalities, and then I'm sure you can go fuss over the hurt boy and distract the healers to your heart's content."

Blushing red, Quatre gave Rashid a rather steely look, which only earned him another amused chuckle.

The rest of the ceremony went smoothly. It was solemn and respectful, but also very long. The high priest acknowledged Quatre's accomplishment in front of a small audience of important religious leaders, and Quatre spoke the Oath of Protection, binding himself to the service of good and of his god and his king. He went through the ceremony in a bit of a blur, hardly hearing the words he or the priest spoke, finding himself being led out of the chamber by Rashid with no clear memory of what had transpired. He was distantly aware of Rashid saying he needed to rest. It had been a while since he'd last slept; two days of staying awake and praying, actually. And the battle with the demon at the beginning of his test... Quatre stumbled, resting a moment against the large, steady mass that was Rashid before he attempted to move again.

"Master Quatre! You must rest. It's been too long since you slept!"

"But... The boy..."

"He'll be taken care of! You can visit him after you rest!"

".... I did it!" Quatre mutter happily, gazing blearily up at his friend, the reality finally sinking in. "I actually did it..."

"That you did, Master Quatre." Rashid steered the blond gently down the corridor. "And now you can take a little well earned rest."

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Duo clawed his way to wakefulness, fighting the darkness away from his mind then carefully turning his thoughts to the mental inspection of his body and his memories. Last thing he recalled was fighting a very disgruntled cat creature, and then falling and then... Then he couldn't remember after that. He didn't remember winning the fight, which didn't please him. Most recent memory catalogued, Duo moved on to quick appraisal of his body. He was... Warm. Which was unusual; and laying in something soft, covered in... Cloth? Too weird. He opened his eyes and encountered a level of light that nearly blinded him. He shut his eyes again quickly, flinching away from the brightness. He curled a little, hands rising to cover his eyes protectively. This was very not right. Brightness and light had stopped existing a long time ago, they had no right to come back into his life like this!

For a moment Duo considered the possibility that he was dead; there were all the signs. He was on something soft, and he was warm, and he didn't hurt, which was odd, since he knew the shadow-cat had slashed him a good one. And it was bright. All very definite signs of not being alive, as far as he was concerned. However, he reasoned, if he were dead, the light shouldn't affect him. Of course, he wasn't sure on this point, he couldn't recall ever having been dead before.

Keeping one hand over his eyes, Duo slowly sat up. He heard a soft sound to his left and whipped his head in that direction, wishing he dared open his eyes, but too afraid of the light. Something touched his hand and he jerked back from the cool feeling of metal. The creature that he couldn't see made a soft noise, then something warm touched his hand. Flesh. Something flesh was taking his hand away from his eyes.

Hissing Duo tried to kick at the creature that was doing such things to him, but his legs were entangled in the soft warmth, the cloth that surrounded him, and all he managed to do was tangle himself. The creature took advantage of his incapacitated state, and the flesh touched his temple. Immediately Duo felt a wave of warmth spread from the sensation on his forehead and he fell back onto the bed, boneless, slipping into unconsciousness.

The second time Duo woke up, he opened his eyes before he could remind himself not to. He flinched his eyes closed quickly, but then opened them again, a puzzled frown twitching at his brow. He remembered the flesh and the creature and being unconscious. He was still warm and covered in something soft, but the bright light was gone, instead a band of metal wrapped around his head and cupped his eyes. He found he could see quite normally through the glass and metal. He reached a hand up, tentatively lifting the strange contraption away from his eyes. When blinding light peaked around the metal Duo let the eye mask cover his eyes again. Blinking spots from his vision he frowned, pushing himself abruptly to a sitting position and looking around, taking stock of his very strange surroundings.

He was in a room, on a bed. That in itself was really just rather weird, considering the last few years of his life. He was clothed in a night gown; again, an anomaly. There were a few candles around the room; the source of the blinding light, though as he looked at them through the strange glasses they seemed not to shed any light at all. The room was small, and there was a second bed, a chair, and a small table, and that was it. Duo was the only person in the room.

There was a door, near the foot of his bed, and he could hear noises beyond it, but they were indistinct. Sliding carefully out of bed Duo tested the floor; it was solid, made out of stone, and chilly. The almost normal sensation grounded Duo, and he crept towards the door silently, pressing his ear against it, listening for all he was worth.

There were voices, outside. Mostly they were speaking softly, but Duo fancied he could almost understand them. They sounded... Human. And they spoke a language he'd only heard from his own mouth in a long while. His heart did a strange flip-flop in his chest, apprehension, wariness, and survival instinct warring with elation and a strange, bitter joy that wrenched hope up from where he'd buried it and stuffed it into his throat. Backing away from the door Duo sat heavily back down on his bed, wrapping his mind around the concept that he might... Be back in his own world.

He was still rolling thoughts over and over in his head when the door opened. Head shooting up like a startled deer Duo watched the person who entered warily. It was a he, and he was short, blond and wearing a strange golden robe. He had blue eyes, and the sweetest smile Duo could ever remember seeing. It was almost impossible to be wary of the stranger, but Duo managed it anyway, eyeing the young man in the doorway distrustfully, though his expression was rather completely masked by the dark glasses.

The blond took a few steps into the room, expression joyful. "You're awake!"

Duo stared, surprised he could, indeed, understand the words. He'd learned the language of the shadow, but this was a language he'd known as long as he could remember, it was... Comforting to hear words, any words, in that language. "You're human." He said, mouth on automatic, while his brain attempted to cope.

The blonde's smile grew wider. "Yes!" he said enthusiastically. "So are you." He stepped closer, careful, non-threatening, but still... Exuberant. "My name's Quatre Raberba Winner... I found you on the shadow plane. How are you feeling?"

Duo blinked at the strange man, mouth twitching into a slight, surprised smile. "Duo Maxwell." He said carefully, not moving away from the advancing blond by sheer force of will. "So... You're the one who found me? Um... Where am I?" he raised a hand to push his bangs from his face, staring at Quatre, examining the blond closely. He decided he liked him. He didn't know why, but he just... Trusted the guy. His instincts had kept him alive for this long, so he didn't question, just went with it. "I'm hungry, actually."

Quatre laughed, sitting on the bed across from him. "I imagine. Rashid!" a large, burly man poked his head through the door and Duo couldn't help staring. The guy was huge. "Please ask the preists to send food for my friend." Quatre smiled at Duo, and the large man grunted, exiting the room. "You're in the Temple of Light at Kano. How do you like the glasses? I helped design them. Can you see okay?"

"...Friend?" Duo stared at Quatre, then started to laugh. The noise was odd to his own ears, he hadn't heard it in so long. "You're a weird one, Quatre. You don't even know me. You picked me up in... In the shadow plane! And you call me a friend?"

Quatre blushed, and looked down at the stone floor. "Well... No. I don't know you. But I fee..." The blond placed a hand over his heart, looking back up at Duo, his expression earnest. "I don't know why but I feel like... I can trust you."

Duo stared at Quatre for several minutes, not sure how to take the blonds words, especially since he felt the same. He shrugged after a moment, and smiled wryly, "I don't know why either, but I like you." He stroked his hand nervously on the sheet, looking away from Quatre's face and frowning.

"If you don't mind my asking... why were you in the shadow realm?"

"... It's a long story. Ask me later."

"As you will it. But is... Is there anything you'd like to know? Anything I can help you with? Maybe the Temple can help you find your family?"

Duo looked up at Quatre, blinking at the barrage of questions. "There's a lot I'd like to know, actually." He said softly. "Most of it can wait though. And... I don't have a family." He picked at the hem of his nightgown, frowning. "I do have a... A friend. I don't know if he's still around, or... Or what. But... I'd like to find out."

Quatre nodded. "I see. Will you let me help you? I would like to help you find your friend."

Duo shook his head. "Do what you want." He said quietly.

"Then I will help you. I have... One duty I must perform first, but I think the then I could help you. After all, I found you and brought you back, it is my responsibility to see that you are safe."

Duo tilted his head curiously, watching the blond. "What duty is this, that you gotta do?"

"... I'll tell you tomorrow, if you like. But I'm being rude and inconsiderate! You just woke up, and already I'm... Look, we'll get you fed, and then maybe if you want, if you feel up to it, a bath. Then you can rest and we'll talk tomorrow. Is that okay?" The blond looked sincerely worried.

Duo's eyes widened. "A bath? Food sounded good enough, but... A bath? Q-man, now I /know/ I'm dead and in heaven. You have to be an angel."

Quatre blinked at Duo's words, surprised greatly by the nickname, but pleased that the strange man seemed rather normal. Most people who spent any amount of time in the shadow plane tended to end up raving lunatics, and something about Duo almost screamed that he had spent more time than Quatre would like to contemplate in the shadow realm. "You aren't dead, that I know of. And I'm just a human, but I'm glad you're happy." Quatre said softly.

"You bet I'm happy. I don't even mind wearing this dress, for food and a bath." Duo grinned and Quatre answered his expression with a smile.

Rashid did return with food, and Duo had never in his life tasted anything so delicious. While he ate, Quatre explained that his things were in a storage room, and would be returned to him in the morning, which gave Duo a great feeling of relief; he'd hate to have lost his 'scythe. True to his word, Quatre led Duo through a few hallways and to a steamy room with a sunken basin of a tub, and Duo spent the better part of two hours thoroughly cleaning himself and his hair, and then just enjoying the heat and the warmth and the water.

After that, Duo was well and truly tired, and he followed his blond rescuer back to the small, secluded room. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow; years of paranoia and wariness giving into exhaustion that pulled him into black unconsciousness.

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Quatre had delivered actual clothing and some breakfast the next morning, and Duo was happily tearing into the food while the blond sat on the other bed and watched.

"Duo." Quatre said quietly, and the tone of the blonde's voice made the long-haired man pause in his eating and look up at his companion. "I've been assigned to help the army in the investigation of one of the mountain towns. But when I'm done, I've requested that I be given time to help you find your friend. The Temple has granted my request, and offered to let you stay here, for as long as it takes me to finish my first duty. Is... Is this okay?"

Duo looked at Quatre over his food, shoulders stiff. "I'd... Rather not." He said slowly, "Stay here, that is." The violet-eyed young man looked down at his plate, scowling. "But, if that's how it's gotta be... I /do/ want your help..."

"You could come with me." Quatre said, very softly. "The temple would be willing to provide you with supplies, if you were helping me with the investigation... It might be dangerous though, if you don't want..."

"I don't care about /danger/. I'm very good at taking care of myself." Duo fixed Quatre with a steady stare. "Me and my 'scythe can take care of ourselves. I'll help you out, after all, I do owe you." The long haired boy grinned. "So when do we leave?"

"A little before noon. You have time to finish breakfast and help pick out what supplies you need." Quatre's voice was relieved. He was strangely happy that the other boy would accompany him.

"Great! Could you get me a brush and a tie for my hair then? It needs braiding. I'll finish eatin' and we can get ready!"

Quatre smiled, "Sure!" and left the room to get Duo the requested items.

It took a few hours to get everything together and ready, and then another half hour for Quatre to convince the Maguanacs that he didn't need all, or even half of them to accompany him to the town of Cerauge. Eventually Duo had all the supplies he needed, including a set of battle priest's robes that had raised a few eyebrows. The priests' had been reluctant, at first to allow Duo the robes, but with some persuasion, and help from Quatre, Duo had wrangled the garments from the Temple, though he refused to answer any questions as to why he preferred the robes to a more normal set of clothing.

Duo also left the Temple for half an hour with a small purse Quatre loaned him, against Rashid's advice. When he returned half the money was gone, and when Quatre asked what he'd bought, the braided boy just grinned and handed the purse back, not answering. He still wore the darkened glasses, and Quatre was too pleased with the fact that the spells were holding up on them, to pry much.

Not long after they were organized, Duo, Quatre, and five Maguanacs, including the very large Rashid, were riding from the city, headed west.