Okay! As you might have noticed, I'm not only using the G-boys (who aren't mine), but also a lot of concepts from D&D. The D&D stuff is not mine, nor is some of the world's history, that credit goes to Jordon, who is one of the inspirations to this little piece of insanity.
Thanks go to Chiad, for her beta-reading and help with scheming, Jordon for sparking this, and Rin for being a lovely muffin and helping with the plot. And thanks to everyone who has, or will comment! I appreciate the feedback!
Chapter Three
"So what's with the burly bodyguards, anyway?" It was their third day out of Kano; Duo had been quiet for the first day and a half. In the evening of the second day it was as if someone had flipped a switch, and the braided youth had started talking animatedly with anyone who would listen.
After his initial surprise, Quatre had found he didn't mind the chatter at all. Duo was intelligent, a good conversationalist, and had a wicked sense of humor. In fact, Duo was one of the easiest people to talk to Quatre had ever encountered; he was also refreshingly blunt, something that delighted the young paladin.
"Rashid and the Maguanacs?" Quatre asked mildly, glancing over at his strange new friend.
"Maguanacs... Yeah. They weren't too pleased to send you off with such a small guard. They call you Master and all that..." Duo raised a hand from the reins, grinning at Quatre and making an effeminate gesture with his hand and body language, "Pleathe," Duo lisped, rather accurately impersonating some of the nobles Quatre had known, "Don't tell me I've been traveling with a princth, I don't know what I would do!"
Quatre laughed, too surprised and delighted by Duo's acting to stop himself. When he got his breath back under control he eyed Duo, trying to keep his voice stern, and failing. "Really, Duo, that is unkind. Lords do not..." He paused, then tried to stifle a smirk. "Well, they do not all act like that." Facing forward again, Quatre managed to compose himself, except for the little tug of skin at the corner of his mouth which indicated he was biting his lip. "Actually... How I met Rashid and the others is kind of a long story."
Duo snorted, glancing from Quatre to the road ahead of them with a wryly lifted eyebrow. "Well then, I dunno. I mean, we're in such a hurry here, and we'll be there any minute, you might wanna save it for when we have the time."
Quatre lifted his chin, staring down his nose at Duo in his most arrogant manner. "Sarcasm is not becoming in anyone." He sniffed, eyes dancing with suppressed laughter. "Alright, alright. To start with, I am not a prince, exactly. I am, however, the only male heir of a very influential and wealthy house." The blond looked ahead of them, eyes hooded with contemplation. "My family, the Winners, are known as pacificists. I will not go into detail, but my father and I have had a number of disagreements about that policy of pacifism. My father is a good man, but I think, in times of unrest like these, strength of arms is necessary; my father thinks I am nuts." Quatre smiled a little bitterly, hands tightening on the reins.
"I was, I should mention, a very spoiled little brat of a child. I ran away after one argument with my father and the Maguanacs kidnapped me." The blond's smile turned happy, his mind obviously recalling something special. "Well, they had no intention of hurting me, they were just trying to help some other people, and my father was happy to comply with their terms. But... They were betrayed by their own, and I was the one who apprehended the traitor. Unfortunately, they were attacked anyway, and I helped them fight."
Quatre fell silent for a while, and Duo just as was about to speak, the blond spoke up again. "They were a family. They were not related, but the Maguanacs had a bond unlike anything I'd ever encountered. And my short stay with them gave me a goal. I wanted to have the same pride in myself and my abilities and accomplishments that they had. I went back home and took one of the people the Maguanacs were helping with me. He—the man I took with me—encouraged me to become a paladin; father opposed my decision, but I went ahead with it anyway. I met with the Maguanacs again shortly after that, and they have become my family." Quatre swallowed, not looking at Duo. "So... When I found you, that was part of my final test to become a paladin. I want to help people, but I do not want to be helpless and weak, like my father. Peace is a wonderful ideal, but sometimes blood must be shed, no matter how we may wish otherwise."
Duo was silent for a short while, considering the information Quatre had given him. Quatre, for his part, did nothing to break the comfortable quiet they had fallen into. The Maguanacs were riding ahead and behind the two, but were, for the moment, keeping a polite distance.
"You're what, nineteen?" Quatre nearly jumped at Duo's voice, turning to stare at his companion's odd expression.
"Seventeen, actually." The blond replied.
Duo gave a low whistle, glancing sideways at Quatre, through the dark glasses. "Seventeen. I don't know much about this, but aren't most paladins at least twenty somethin' before they take that test?"
"...Yes."
"You must be one hell of a fighter."
Quatre blushed, "Not really. I am competent in holy magic, but I am not really that exceptional as a fighter."
"I don't believe you." Duo said flatly, watching the road in front of them.
"... I am good at finding an enemy's weakness, at building a strategy around exploiting it, but I really am not a great fighter."
"Maybe you're great at tactics, but I think you're selling yourself short in ability. If genius and magic were all it took to be a paladin, don't you think the land's'd be swarming with them by now?"
Quatre sighed, looking at the sky. "Why were you in the shadow plane?" he asked abruptly, changing the subject.
"... I don't remember. Or, well, I crossed a wizard, I guess. But I don't exactly remember much after that."
"Well, what did you do that made the wizard angry enough to send you to the shadow plane?" Quatre was now very curious.
"I was robbing him." Duo said casually, laughing at the look on Quatre's face when he glanced over to see the blonde's reaction. "You look like an upset fish, Q-bean."
"But... You... Why? Why did you rob him?" Quatre managed to ask, after a few false starts.
"'Cause me 'n my friends were starving, n' he was rich. We figured he could spare a bit of his stuff." Duo was so nonchalant about it, Quatre found himself struggling between believing the braided youth was serious, or thinking Duo was making it up.
Quatre closed his eyes a moment, listening to Duo's words with his empathy, rather then his ears.
"You are... I am sorry."
Duo lifted a shoulder, a half shrug, his expression distant and troubled. "Why? It's not like you were the one who put us on the streets. I'm just..."
"Just what?"
"Nah. Doesn't matter. So tell me... How does Rashid get his hair to do that?" Duo gestured towards the large Maguanac, who was riding a respectful distance away. The man's hair was parted and more or less sticking straight up in two spikes.
Quatre smiled and let Duo change the subject. "You know, I never have quite figured that out. And I have never gotten the courage to ask him about it." The blond said with a grin.
Duo laughed. "Heh. Maybe I'll have to ask 'im, relieve our curiosity." The braided teen grinned, then touched the edge of his dark glassed. "So, Quat, when can I take these off?"
"About four or five days, to be safe." Quatre replied. Duo's troubled, unhappy expression remained in Quatre's memory, even as the two traded stories and jokes, and the blond couldn't help wondering what Duo had gone through in his time in the realm of shadow.
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"This isn't our business!"
"Maybe it isn't your business, but it is mine." Wufei stated coldly, strapping on his wrist guards, double checking the light armor to be sure it wasn't damaged since the last time he'd cleaned it; the day before.
"What's your business is mine." The dragon grumbled, "But I don't think that this is your business. I don't like it. It's tainted."
"Which is why it is my business. I would be worse than a coward to leave things as they are there." The warrior snarled, securing the pins that kept his hair up in its complex knot of braids. "Justice must be seen to."
"You could leave it to this country to clean up its own messes. You have more important things to do." The dragon protested.
"Much as I value your opinion, Nataku, in this case, you are very wrong. I cannot leave this situation as it is. This country may be able to deal with that demon, but they may not be able to. I will not take that chance." Wufei said softly, eyes hard as he stood, holding out his hand absently to the small, sinuous form of the dragon.
"But your quest..." The dragon Nataku tried again, practically flowing up Wufei's arm to curl around his shoulders and neck.
"Is of utmost importance. But it can wait for this."
"If something should happen to you on this fool's errand, who will retrieve the Altron?" Nataku asked peevishly, settling her head under Wufei's ear. "What will happen to the Shenlong?"
"Nothing will happen to me." Wufei said shortly, picking up his pack and throwing his cloak on, concealing the small dragon on his shoulders under the brown fabric.
"Arrogance will kill you."
"It isn't arrogance. I will not allow anything to happen to me, not until my errand is fulfilled. You know this."
"I just wish I could believe it was that simple."
"You know this is the correct course of action."
"I know. That's what makes it worse."
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Duo stood in the center of a field. He could see the field clearly, but there was no color, no light to see either the field or color by, but he could, all the same, see his surroundings.
There were a number of shapes around him, towering, lumbering, ominous shapes with glowing eyes and long, wickedly clawed fingers. One of the shapes stepped towards him, slightly taller than the rest, and vastly different in appearance. This being had long flowing hair, for one, and it had white skin, not the soulless black of the others. The shape in front of Duo was also very male, and handsome, in a nightmarish way; he was vaguely human looking, the handsome lines of his face, the shape of his body, but he was obviously not a human.
The strange creature stepped so close that Duo could feel the heat of his body. The tall nightmare figure reached out a hand and touched Duo's braid, murmured his name, the glowing eyes looking down at the small human almost... Fondly.
"What troubles you, little brother?" the creature asked, his voice silky, deep, like shadow given sound.
Duo looked up, meeting the disturbing eyes, and smiled, anxiety, tension, fear all draining from his body in a single relieved sigh. "So much...." Duo whispered, taking the shadow creature's hand, and sitting abruptly, drawing the tall nightmarish apparition with him.
The two of them sat in the field, which abruptly emptied of any presence but their own.
Duo frowned at the black and grey landscape, not seeing anything as he leaned into the comforting presence of the being at his side. He closed his eyes, letting the other's presence soothe him.
"Things are changing, Ereshki..." Duo said softly.
"I know."
"Will you leave?"
"Not unless you wish it, little one." Ereshki placed a clawed hand comfortingly at the back of Duo's neck.
"No!" Duo's fists clenched, eyes narrowing as he looked at the tall figure sitting calmly by him. "We are the same. You can't leave me."
"Then I will not."
"But you hate the material plane."
"It is your home." Ereshki smiled coldly, "And you are mine. I protect what is mine. I will not abandon you, no matter how I detest the world of humans."
Duo closed his eyes again. "Then it's alright. You'll stay."
"You may relax little one." The shadows darkened around the two and Duo allowed the darkness to engulf him, to hold him in it's comforting embrace, and plunge him into sleep without dreams.
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"Duo. Duo... Duo!"
Duo blinked, staring fuzzily at the half-annoyed half-amused expression on the cherubic face of his new friend, as the blond stood over him.
"Quatre?" the braided boy muttered, dazed from an unnaturally peaceful night of sleep.
"No. Your fairy godmother." The blond said, exasperation in his voice. "What were you dreaming? I've been trying to wake you up for ten minutes! Are you feeling all right?" Sudden concern tinged the paladin's expression.
"Huh? Yeah. I'm fine. I was just... Sleeping really well I guess." Duo shook the remnants of sleep from his mind, already becoming more alert and aware of his surroundings.
"Well, alright. We'll arrive there in mid afternoon, so there isn't really a rush, but I didn't think you'd want to sleep through breakfast..." Quatre said, placated as Duo began to rise.
"Hell no! I never pass up food! Thanks... My dearest fairy godmother." Duo said cheerfully, bouncing past the blond in all his rumpled nightshirt glory to see what Rashid was serving.
"Hmmph." Quatre said, with a great deal of dignity, turning and following the long-haired boy, a small smile threatening the corners of his lips, despite his best attempts to suppress it.
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Heero reined in his horse, looking at the small village in a fold of the mountains. Cerauge was not a large town, but it was very picturesque, nestled in the mountains and surrounded by trees. It was quite a lovely sight to ride up to.
Trowa stopped next to his commander, looking down at the town just as Heero was, his calm face impassive. After a moment, the tall, green eyed ranger looked over at Heero and the messy haired commander nodded.
The two looked down the road again, at the little village. Neither of them were happy with this, they both felt it... Something felt fundamentally wrong. Nothing they could define, but the silent look and nod had confirmed it; something was off. They would proceed with caution.
Heero spurred his horse to a walk, and Trowa stayed still, looking over his shoulder at the small column of soldiers. "Make camp off the road here. No one is to proceed into town unless there is urgent news for the commander." Trowa said, is soft voice carrying to the whole line. "Do not come to town."
There was a soft murmur from the soldiers but the line of horses pulled off the road, led by one of the lieutenants. Trowa watched for a moment, then, satisfied that the soldiers were more then competent enough to set their own camp, he spurred his own mount on, catching up with the blue-eyed commander and falling into pace with him. Neither of them spoke as the entered the beautiful mountain village of Cerauge.
TBC
Phew. Wow, sorry this one took so long guys. ; stupid life, taking my time. I'll get chapter four out as soon as possible. Comments, as always, welcome! I like how Quatre came out in this and the last chapter.