Duo POV

Heero was still sleeping when Sally came back to take blood two hours later. I wasn't surprised, I had expected Heero would sleep the whole time because of the fever and drugs, but I was a little unhappy. I didn't want Heero to keep waking up to Sally's presence, he might start to think she would only come when something bad was about to happen. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Quatre and Zechs standing in the doorway, I suspected that was not a good sign.

"Duo," Sally called, careful not to wake Heero, "We're going to have to take more blood this time. Just thought I'd warn you, after how he reacted last time. Maybe... maybe we should take it while he's asleep."

"No," I told her, shaking my head sadly, "He'd wake up and be out of his mind with fright. I don't think it's a good idea to surprise him like that."

Gently, I shook Heero awake. He opened his eyes and looked at me, then turned to see Sally. He winced and looked back at me with fear in his eyes.

"Heero," I told him softly, "Sally's got to take another blood sample. It'll only take a second and then you can go back to sleep."

I pulled Heero into a sitting position on my lap without giving him time to protest. Sally pulled out on of those evil-looking glass syringes and all the color drained from Heero's face. Damn, why did she need that much blood? She only needed a drop last time.

"Duo," Heero whispered, his voice terrified, "It's a snake. It's a snake Duo, don't let it bite me! Don't let it hurt me! Please, I'm sorry! Duo..." his eyes met mine and I suppose he could tell that I wasn't going to save him from Sally, because he went quiet and still. Sally rubbed his arm with alcohol and went to prick him with the needle.

Heero lashed out with his foot, kicking Sally and hurling the syringe across the room to shatter on the wall. He pushed against me, sending me flying to the floor, then dashed across the room. Quatre and Zechs were on him in a flurry of movement, pinning him to the floor and holding down his arms and legs so he couldn't thrash about. I got to my feet, uncertain about what I should do. In the few seconds while Sally rushed to get another syringe out of her bag, Heero's eyes met mine. They were laden with questions. "Why won't you help me? What did I do wrong? Why are you doing this to me? Do you hate me?" I could feel hot tears streak down my face, but there was no way I could answer those questions.

The moment was broken when Sally found the syringe and grabbed hold of Heero's arm. He looked at the floor, tears still sliding down his face. As gently as she could, Sally slipped the needle under Heero's skin. Heero screamed. He screamed and thrashed his head side to side and tried with all his might to pull away, but Quatre and Zechs were too strong and he only managed to tire himself out.

When Sally had finally finished, Quatre and Zechs let Heero go and stepped back quickly. Heero didn't move, only curled up into a little sobbing ball on the floor. I didn't know what to do. What reason did Heero have to trust me?

I knelt in front of Heero, daring only to put my hand on his head and stroke his hair. It hurt so bad when he flinched away from my touch, but I couldn't blame him. Even if we were trying to help, that wasn't what Heero saw.

"Heero, let me tell you a story," I said the notion popping into my head.

"A-a story?" Heero asked, his head coming up just enough so that he could see me from underneath his bangs.

"Uh-huh. A story. This story starts out with a man named Duo. This man went in search of the perfect mate, because only he and his one true love could defeat the monster that had been destroying Duo's village," I could tell that Heero was getting interested, the story taking his mind off of everything else. He even uncurled from his ball and rested his head on my knees. Slowly, I started spinning a story out of spider webs and pixy dust, "He was looking for traits like kindness, gentleness, caring, understanding, bravery, honesty..."

"... And so together they defeated the evil monster and Heero and Duo went back to the castle and lived happily ever after," I finished. It didn't matter though, Heero had fallen asleep some time ago.

"Someday," I told his sleeping form, "I'll make you see just how wonderful you are. Then I'll tell you I love you."

Careful not to wake him, I curled up to the sleeping Heero and fell asleep beside him on the floor.

I awoke later to the sound of raindrops on the roof and an incredibly sore back. I sat up and stretched, careful not to jar Heero. Gently, I picked Heero up and laid him on the bed, then went to relieve myself. I went quickly, hoping Heero wouldn't wake without me. When I came back out, I was surprised to see Quatre sitting in a chair on the other side of the room.

"Hey," I called softly, walking up to him.

"Hey," he said, also keeping his voice quiet for Heero, "I thought you could use someone to talk to. You've been pretty upset lately."

"I can't believe it's only been a few hours. It feels like it's been forever."

"Only five hours left to go. Hang in there, Heero needs you."

"Quatre... I've got to get him away from here. Every time I leave him alone something bad happens."

"Zechs says we can have the eggs all cleaned up in a week if we hurry. You know as well as I do that this is top priority. If this isn't handled well there could be war."

"There's already going to be war, Quatre, we're just not sure who with. Somebody's trying to start something, we just don't know who."

"I realize, Duo, but would you prefer to have China with us or against us in that war?"

"I know, I know. I just hate it here. I wanna get Heero somewhere safe, you can understand that."

"Of course I can, but we're all here now. You know we'll watch out for Heero when you can't. Nothing like this is going to happen again. You know that," Quatre finished, then took his leave.

"Quatre," I called as he headed out the door, "Thanks."

I got a nod and a small wave in reply, like it was nothing. Feeling, if not better, a little lighter, I walked over to the bed and crawled in beside Heero.

"Duo?"

"Sorry Heero, did I wake you?"

"No, I heard the door shut and thought you left."

"You know I wouldn't do that."

"I know but... I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I just wish you'd trust me."

"I do trust you."

"But not enough to know I wouldn't leave?"

"...Why would anyone want to stay with someone like me? It doesn't make sense."

"It makes perfect sense. You're a wonderful person."

"Then why do these monsters always follow me around? I must have done something horrible. You don't know me very well, Duo, I'm a bad person. I do bad things. I kill."

"I know you kill, but you do it because you have to. Do you like to kill? Do you like hurting others?"

"No!"

"Then you're not a bad person."

"How can you say that? You don't know what I've done."

"Heero, times are hard right now. The wars in Europe and France have just finished. India has just gotten its new government settled, and Russia is just trying to get used to our new ruler, Treize. There's fighting everywhere and in most places it's a kill or be killed society. I know you fell guilty about what you've done, and that will never fade, but the people that love you want you to be happy. Even if they're gone, they still want to see you happy."

Heero frowned, looking sullen in the drawn out silence. His next words surprised me.

"No one loves me."

I laughed out loud, surprising Heero so much that he jumped, then turned on his most heated scowl.

"No one has ever loved you? Never?" I asked, knowing that couldn't possibly be true. Heero looked uncertain for a moment.

"One person, when I was little. Maybe."

"Maybe? There is no maybe in love. You either do or you don't."

"I think he did. He took care of me even though he didn't have to. He cared for me when I was sick. He trained me to fight, but he didn't force me to."

"See? He did love you. He would want you to be happy."

"...He didn't love me."

"Why not?"

"He left me. You don't leave the people you love."

"What happened?"

"He died. It was an accident. His name was Odin Lowe. He came to Japan when China tried to invade. He was European, sent by their king to defend the European ports so they could still trade. He was caught in a burning building when the roof collapsed."

"How did the two of you meet?"

"He found me tied up in an abandoned building and cut me loose. He took me home with him, fed me, gave me a warm place to sleep, and taught me everything he knew. But he didn't love me. You don't leave the ones you love."

"Heero, what makes you think he's gone?"

"What?"

"If there's anything humans have taught me, it's that just because you can't see someone, it doesn't mean they're not here. The dead watch over you."

Heero raised his eyes from where they were staring at the comforter and looked around the room. I could tell he was seeing something I couldn't.

"I don't like the dead," he told me in a small, hushed voice, "I don't want them to watch me anymore."

"Tell me what you see," I asked him, needing to know what those haunted blue eyes of his saw. He shuddered, looking at me with pleading eyes, but did as I asked.

"The walls are covered in blood. It pools on the floor and makes a puddle about an inch deep. Bodies, some just skeletons some still decomposing, lie on the floor. When I look at them, they look back at me, some with dead eyes, others with black pits. They move whenever they feel like it, using their bony fingers to clutch at the drapes or the walls, sometimes even the bed, and try to rise, but they never manage to get to their feet. The rats come and eat at them sometimes and they scream, trying to bat them away. Once in a while a little girl will come, half of her face is perfect, with blue eyes and blonde hair and a pink dress, the other half is all skeleton. She always has her puppy on a leash with her, but it never has any skin, just two pleading brown eyes. Sometimes I close my eyes, but that just makes it worse because I can hear what she's doing but I can't see it. Sometimes she'll come so close I can taste it, so close I could touch her. I hate the sounds she makes. She walks around with her puppy crying but she never stops or tells me what she wants. I stopped asking a long time ago. She usually leaves when the crows come, or the snakes. They feast on the bodies too. I can't stand watching them eat the bodies. It smells so bad I just want to gag, but I can't because I'll make noise. Sometimes, if I move too much, the crows or the snakes will come feed on me. Sometimes the bodies come and..."

"Stop! Stop, Heero, enough! D-don't say anymore!"

God, how could he live in a world like that? What kind of person would want to put Heero through that? Repeatedly, too, it seemed, since Heero was fairly accustomed to what went on inside the nightmares. I knew I was shaking, but I couldn't stop. Heero was giving me a funny look.

"Don't worry Duo, they won't come near us. They know you'll protect me, so they've stayed away," he told me, his bright eyes shining with happiness. I let out a strangled sound. I wanted to protect him, but I couldn't.

"Why? Why, Heero? Why did you leave the room when I was away? I told you not to, but you did. Why?" I asked, my voice cracking with emotion. Heero became upset, his eyes brimming with tears again.

"I-I'm sorry. I was so sad when you left and Master J..."

"Is he the one that did this to you?" I asked, my anger surging. That bastard!

"Y-yes. H-he took me to his lab and gave me the shot he uses to help me get rid of my emotions."

"Do you know where this lab is? Could you tell me?"

"It's in the dungeon. The entrance is secret, you can only get to it by pulling on the torch holder in the cell. You're not mad at me, are you?"

"Of course not, silly. Now, go to sleep. The next time I wake you everything will be back to normal. All the monsters will be gone," I told him as hope began to fill his eyes. Gently, I laid a hand on his forehead, "Besides, you still have a fever. You need some sleep."

"Did you mean it? Will the monsters go away?" he asked me, the child in him peaking through.

"Of course. Now go to sleep," I told him and he immediately curled on his side and closed his eyes. I smiled sadly. Soon, Heero would be better. Soon. Putting my arms around his small body, I was soon fast asleep with him, plotting plans of revenge in my dreams.

I awoke to feeling of someone standing above me. Instantly I came awake and looked up, only to find Heero hovering above me, his eyes wide with fever and awe.

"You made the monsters go away," he told me, his tone revealing astonishment and reverence. And suddenly his arms gave out and he was sobbing on top of me, kissing up and down my neck and face.

"Please, I love you! Please, don't leave me! Please! I love you! Don't leave me!" he cried hysterically. I knew he didn't really love me, I had traced the link to his mind many times lately, calming him and sorting things out, barely realizing I was doing it. I knew Heero had grown to love the concept of safety that I offered him, but he still wasn't ready to love me. It was alright, I could wait.

However, this notion that I would leave him still, even after it appeared that the drugs had left his system, bothered me. I wrapped my arms around him, immobilizing him. He sniffed from crying, what I was assuming an after-effect of the drug, and looked up at me with sad eyes.

"Alright babe, what makes you think I'm going to leave you?"

"I know you hate it here. I was hoping I could make you happy enough that you'd want to stay, but I've been nothing but trouble and I haven't made you happy. I know you plan to go back to your home with your friends, but I want you to stay with me. I'm so selfish, I'm sorry."

"Heero, I'm the one who should be sorry. I thought you knew. I would never leave you, I've told you that. When I go back to my home, your coming with me. I'm sorry if I led you to believe otherwise."

His eyes had gone awe-struck again, and I was starting to wonder how bad his fever really was. He didn't feel too hot, but still...

"Do you really mean that?" Heero asked me, his voice small again.

"Of course I do. You have to trust me. Now, I want you to drink that glass of water on the night-stand and go back to sleep. The drugs aren't completely out of your system yet."

Heero nodded and drank the glass of water, making a small face since the water was warm. Then he laid back down, but couldn't seem to get to sleep.

"Duo?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think we could go lay by the window? I'm a little hot..."

"Is your fever up again?" I asked, quickly checking his forehead and comparing it to mine. I was glad to find that it wasn't too bad, though a little higher than normal. I looked over to find Heero smirking at me.

"What?" I asked.

"You."

"What about me."

"You just panicked because I said I was hot."

"I did not!"

"Hn."

"Come on, you said you were hot so let's go lay in front of the window already," I told him, trying to distract him even though I couldn't get him to lose that shit-eating smirk of his.

I took the blanket and we curled up in front of the open window, the rain had stopped and a cool breeze blew in. The sky was still cloudy and dark, but it was beautiful and seemed to fit the mood perfectly. The rain-fairies, a special kind of fairy that was said to sing a song after every storm, were even out. Everyone knew that the fairies made the noise beating their wings to get rid of the moisture, but it didn't make the sound any less magical. I only wished Heero could hear it, it was far too high pitched for the human ear to hear. However, Heero did seem to be listening to something, probably the crickets outside.

Inside my head, I was making plans for revenge. Once Heero was asleep I planned to have Sally come sit with him while I went down to the dungeon to find Lord J. There was no way I would let a ruler like that live, not after what he had done to Heero, but I didn't know if Heero was still loyal to him and letting him know my plans would only cause him unnecessary worry.

Just as Heero's breathing started to even out as he slipped into sleep, the song of the rain-fairies waned and stopped. Heero frowned and sleepily mumbled, "What a pretty song."

I stared at him so long that he was fast asleep by the time I realized just what had happened.

Oh yes, J had a lot of questions to answer.

When I was sure Heero was asleep deep enough that he wouldn't wake if I left, I called Quatre and asked him to stay with Heero. I think he saw that he couldn't dissuade me from what I was about to do, because he simply grabbed a book and sat down.

It wasn't hard to find the lab, rather it was surprisingly easy. Heero's directions led me to a small room behind a moving wall. The room had a large table with tubs, glass jars, and wires going all over the place, some bubbling over burners. It was your typical evil genius laboratory. How boring.

At a clean portion of the table writing with a long feather pen on some high quality paper was Lord J. He didn't even look up as I walked in, simply continued his mad scribbling. I was half wondering if the old guy had gone bonkers when he threw down his pencil and turned around, not a hint of fear on his face. I was a bit put out.

"I suppose you're here to kill me for what I've done to your pet, correct Shinigami?" he sneered.

"Heero is not my pet!"

"Whatever he is. It really doesn't matter to me."

"Doesn't it bother you that you're about to die?" I couldn't help but ask him. It had been a long time since I'd seen someone who didn't care whether they lived or died, other than Heero, but he had started to care so he didn't count. The old man's eyes went far away and I could tell he wasn't just seeing this dark, dirty room. I briefly wondered what horrors his past held, then decided I didn't care. There was no excuse for the pain he put Heero though, I could never forgive him for that.

"I've been dead for a long time," he told me softly, then seemed to shake himself, "Well, don't keep me waiting, demon, if you're going to kill me, kill me already. I'll die of old age soon, then you won't have the pleasure of my death."

"Before you die, you've got some questions to answer, and you had better answer, or your last few moments of life will be... unpleasant."

"Ha! Unpleasant, is that the best you can come up with? My whole life has been unpleasant!"

"Look gramps, I'm not here for your sob story! I'm here to ask a couple questions, kill you, and get out, got it?"

"Seems simple enough to me, even though you have yet to ask a single question."

"Alright smart ass, what is Heero?"

"A slave."

"You scum!" I shouted grabbing him by the neck and slamming him against the wall. He flinched in pain, but showed no fear. "You know what I'm asking. Heero is not human, what is he? A shapeshifter? A wizard? What?" Damn bastard had the audacity to laugh at me.

"No, nothing like that! The boy, Heero I suppose he's called, is a demon."

"What? That's not possible. He would have had his wings by now, he's got to be at least thirteen."

"Actually, he's sixteen, only two years younger than you if that's what you worried about," he told me, smirking knowingly. I blushed, though the relational aspects of him being so young were not what I had been thinking of.

"If he's a demon why doesn't he have his wings? Why doesn't he have a tail? He looks like a damn human!"

"And he thinks he's a human as well. Which is what I wanted. I wanted him to fight for the humans, to overthrow the demon leaders. If things had gone as I had planned, we would have been able to take over the entire world in a few short years, with wingless demons controlling the dragons and Oz controlling them."

"Oz?"

"What, you thought I was doing this all alone? Don't be silly, boy."

"What changed?"

"Nothing much, I simply found that all those in Oz are cowards. They found out just how strong the wingless demon was and were afraid they wouldn't be able to control him. They ordered me to kill him, but I wasn't about to do that, not after all the trouble he and Odin put me through."

"Odin?"

"Blasted man found the demon waiting for me in one of former hideouts and kidnaped him. It took me forever to find him again. It was sheer luck that the man was killed before I left Japan and I was able to recapture my experiment."

"So why is Heero wingless?" I asked him and he gave a look to me that you give to someone extremely stupid.

"Because I gave him an enzyme to keep his wings and anything else demonic from developing," he told me slowly. Once he was done he got this look of distaste, annoyance even. "It doesn't matter now, though, Heero will never be as strong as he once was. No matter how much he recovers he will never have the stamina he once had, I'm not even sure about what else has been irreversibly damaged."

"So that's it? Heero was supposed to take over the world for you, and then what? Would you have killed him?"

"Of course. I couldn't have something that powerful waltzing around my new domain, he might have tried to overthrow me."

"You sick, demented old fool. Do you know what you've done to Heero?"

"I've made him perfect. It is you that hurt him. He had hope when you where near him. It hurt him deeply when that hope was killed. I made him stop hurting."

I took my fist and bashed the man's head in and dropped him on the floor. What could I say? It was all true. In some sick, twisted way I had given Heero hope and it had hurt him. But I knew it was better to give him hope than it was to let him walk through life as a shell of a person, feeling nothing, no joy or pain. It was better this way.

Wasn't it?