Disclaimers: Don't own any part of Gundam Wing nor it's characters. Merely borrowing them for a little torture.

Warnings: Shounen-ai (because I suck at yaoi) , major A.U, some OOC I think, mpreg (mentioned, implied, so on)

A/N: It has come to my attention that there is ONE among you that don't like how this story is progressing and some of the details I have included. Duo's braid WILL NOT grow out in a few days and no matter how angry you are, I won't do anything about it since this is part of the plot. If you are not happy about this story, you are welcome to stop reading. Perhaps, if you want, you can write your own ending. And for Circle of Destiny, Duo was NOT raped. I gave no indication in the second chapter that he ever was, only whipped. Thank you. If you want, you can leave me your email and we can talk about it.

As for the rest, thank you very much for all your encouragement and for guessing about the whole… thing. I guess I am that transparent. Guess my cliffies are not working then.

Reflections of the Past

Part 12

Kieran woke to find himself on his bed. It was dark outside and quite evidently night had fallen. He found his eyes fluttering shut again by its own accord, his strength sapped from every limb on his body. The pain was blessedly gone, and along with it, the images and the mass of conflicting emotions as well. It was something that was alarmingly familiar to him, a memory that seemed so precious that the loss had translated to a physical pain. Now, those memories blurred and threatened to disappear as he fell unerringly back into slumber.

"You are awake," a voice from a dark corner jerked him from the comforting arms of sleep.

Kieran blinked, a little confused, levering himself up on one shoulder. "Dorothy, how long have you seen sitting there?" He was instantly concerned. He fought the drowsiness that hovered and sat up. He swayed lightly as dizziness assailed him. When the spell passed, he felt strong hands encircling his upper arm. "Thanks," he muttered, really wishing this stupid spell of weakness would pass. He was becoming more of a liability out here in the wild than any real help, while effectively pushing all the responsibility of taking care of their home to his sister, who, in his opinion, was still quite emotionally fragile from losing her husband of seven years.

While he had his own way of dealing with the pain of his brother's death, by losing himself in his work, Dorothy had taken up brooding. Gone was the impish smile, along with the twinkle in her ice blue eyes. Gone was the spring in her step and in place was pain and grief etched all over her once unlined features. Studying the seemingly aged woman in front of him, Kieran felt again the unholy rage at that faceless, nameless, heartless bastard that took life from this family, the happiness, the spirit and he vowed once again to end his miserable existence.

A slight pang of… something shot through Kieran at this thought and he frowned, running after this elusive feeling.

"You have not been feeling well?" Dorothy asked in a low voice. It was actually not a question. She pressed Kieran back onto the pillows and covered him up in blankets once again. "How long has it been since you have been feeling off colour?" She glared at him. "No lies now."

Kieran felt himself squirming under that gaze as he did when he was fifteen and was caught drinking apple brandy Dorothy had been brewing for a feast. "I don't know, a month a guess, maybe, longer?" He tried to recall and as he did, the familiar stirrings of pain began once again, thrumming at the sides of his temples.

A cool hand closed over his own and he looked up at Dorothy with wide eyes. "Rest now, don't think about it anymore."

"I'm fine," Kieran grumped at Dorothy still treating him like he was no more than five.

"And apparently fat as well," Dorothy said quietly, her eyes speculative.

Kieran blushed, running a hand over his rounded middle. "All your fault. Those dinners and lunches that you make are just too tasty for words."

His sister stared solemnly at him, a fleeting expression crossing her aristocratic features before she smiled again. "You are a pig, pure and simple. Now go to sleep," she smiled, pressing a kiss on his forehead.

"What about the food that you cooked?" Kieran asked with a faintly guilty expression on his face. He honestly couldn't muster anything more than that, as tired as he was right now.

Dorothy shook her head, still smiling. "You really are a pig, aren't you?" She mocked lightly. "Don't worry about it." She tucked the blanket around Kieran shoulders as if he was still the child she had met the first time and blew out the flame from the candle. Seeing him deep asleep before she even left the room brought a smile to her face. As she turned to leave the room, the smile twisted into something more, something ugly. "You've just given me the best news ever, Kieran."

xx

The noisy chirping of birds woke Kieran from slumber, well, that and the rather noisy rumbling of his stomach. Gods, he felt like such a glutton these days. It seemed that no matter how much he ate, he was still starving most of the time. However, another need got his attention almost immediately. An increased pressure in his bladder informed him that it was time to heed the call of nature before he was hit over the head with it. Kieran launched himself from the bed, only to have his lower back protest mightily at the sudden movement. Instinctively, both of his hand came to the aching spot, arching his back to ease the discomfort. He suddenly had a mental image of how he must look and laughed at appearing like an old man.

The need to empty his full bladder called to his attention once more and he gingerly made his way to the outhouse. Once that was done, he returned to the house and was hit by the wonderful smell of breakfast. His stomach protested again at being so thoroughly abused last night. Licking his lips in wonderful anticipation, he headed into the kitchen to find his sister before the stove, skillet in hand while the table was practically laden with a variety of offerings.

"Good morning, Dorothy," Kieran greeted, eyes completely riveted on the table and the heavenly smells coming from it.

Dorothy turned with a slight smile and gestured for Kieran to take a seat. "I'll be done with the bacon soon, go ahead, start without me."

Kieran nodded distractedly and proceeded to demolish half the breakfast fair. When he was done, he sat back to review the damage and realised once again that he in fact was a horrible glutton. However, his stomach was full and he could care less what anyone said, despite the ugly giggle that came from Dorothy. "Oh, shut up," he groused.

Dorothy shrugged innocently. "Did I say anything?" She asked, a mask of pure innocence.

The doctor quirked an eyebrow at her as if it say 'do you need to?"

"Doctor Walker! Doctor Walker!" Came a panicked cry from outside.

Kieran exchanged a worried look with Dorothy before going to the kitchen window and leaning out, shouting a greeting. "We're here, come through the back."

"Thank God!" The woman blubbered. It was Sally Po, Kieran recognised her as the village's healer of sorts. In his eyes, she was nothing more than a witch doctor who believed in fairy tales and ghost stories and creatures coming out of the Forest.

True, their village lay on the outskirts of the dark looming Forbidden Forest, but that doesn't mean their lives revolved around the old wives tales passed down through generation and generation of idiocy. He truly doubted they had even seen an elf from the Forest. Still, she was competent but in moments of true exasperation and loss, she would turn to him, the man of science, the credible doctor. Sometimes, when it was too late.

"What's wrong?" Kieran asked, concerned that the normally calm healer was so frazzled.

"We need your help, quick, before it is too late," Sally gasped, her twin braids flying as she sped around the corner.

Kieran nodded and ran into his room to get his medicine case. He debated changing his clothes, but realised with some chagrin that these were probably the most comfortable, with him gaining so much weight over the past month. He sighed a little despondently and hurried out of the house, his case slung over his shoulder. At the last moment, he took his two knives and sheathed them at the side of the case, something that had become a habit for him to go about armed. He would never know when he might meet his brother's murderer, or a situation came up where he would need to protect himself.

"Take care, Dorothy," he said as usual before leaving every time he was summoned to the village.

His sister nodded, not overly worried but concern was there every time Kieran left the house. The doctor found it mildly irritating that he couldn't be trusted to take care of himself, he was after all a grown man and not a child any longer.

"Hurry up," Sally urged, waiting up the path for him, a testament of how grave the situation probably was.

Kieran nodded tightly and trudged up the path in Sally's wake, who had already started her way towards the village. The doctor panted slightly at the exertion, embarrassed that a woman could outrun him. He slowed some more, trying to ease the ache in his lower abdomen, his arm curling around it protectively. God, he was completely out of shape. Were all the hours he spent training with his knives utterly useless?

Sally looked back at saw the faltering doctor and slowed her step. "Are you alright?" She asked, somewhat alarmed at Kieran's pallor.

Kieran gave her a tight smile. "Wasn't feeling all too hot yesterday. Don't worry, give me a little time."

"We don't have it," she almost wailed.

"What happened?" Kieran asked tightly, as the aches in his muscles eased with the pace set.

"Little Hilde stumbled into the Forest last night and something attacked her," Sally explained, her face tight with pain. Hilde was her niece, which explained her anxiety.

"Something?"

"We don't know what it was, but it had poisoned claws and they raked her knee. Right now she is suffering from a fever and nothing I tried helped her," Sally turned pleading eyes on Kieran. "Please, Doctor Walker, you have to help me!"

Kieran exhaled. He didn't like the sound of this 'help' that was provided by the good healer. "What did you give her?"

Sally rattled off a series of treatment that did nothing more than offer her niece's safety to the spirits of the Forest. The herbs she used were not only ineffective, they probably aggravated the situation more. Inwardly, he sneered once again at the informal method of training the villagers had for their healers. Of course, it was a little early for him to pass judgement when he didn't know what poison the little girl had been stricken with. With half an ear, Kieran heard Sally rattle on and on about the mysterious creatures that lived within the Forest and how dangerous some of them were. The doctor was an inch away from outwardly sneering at the healer despite his brother's teachings to be constantly courteous to women. This was the first time in his life he had lived so close to the Forbidden Forest.

xx

It was legendary in his country and Kieran had to admit, one of the most beautiful piece of virgin forest left on the land. It was technically inviolate as anyone who entered meant certain death, or at the very least, that was what the stories purport. If people that went in there didn't survive, where did all the stories come from? As far as Kieran knew, there wasn't any government or royal grants that disallowed logging within the Forest but in spite of this, the Forest was virtually untouched. There were supposed to be a myriad of fairy tale creatures within it that the villagers around there believed implicitly. Pixies, elves, trolls, goblins, unicorns, werecreatures by the dozens, these were to name a few of the 'things' that lived within the green barriers that made up the Forest wall. Children were frightened with tales of the creatures within the Forest coming to get them in their sleep if they weren't good. Oh, he had been regaled with stories from the villagers from the first day he got there.

There was more to that, one that caused Kieran to strain something laughing. Apparently, there was some form of law enforcers within the Forest; these 'mythical' creatures were as much warring as human beings were. These were called 'Spirit Shifters', sexy as hell and just as deadly. They were all men and someone jokingly said once that Kieran looked good enough to be one of them. Of course, the blacksmith had then turned bright red, realising too late the implications of the statement. They had some form of weird magic that allowed them to turn into anything they wanted. Of course, their root form was like a human's but they don't call themselves human. They were supposed to have the most powerful healing magic ever seen by anyone and they maintain the balance of life and death within the Forest. That meant they played God. Kieran's logical mind couldn't accept this and had challenged the fact that since these omnipotent beings was male; they would only last one generation. The ignorant villagers then had an even more amusing answer; apparently, these 'males' were able to procreate on their own.

That meant, male pregnancy. What do they think they were? Seahorses? Kieran fell off his chair cackling. Even Dorothy had on an amused little smile. As a doctor, he knew that there wasn't any physical possibility that a man would be able to carry a child, much less give birth to it. That had brought on a long forgotten memory, more feeling than memory. It had been a strange sort of longing. Kieran was confused and had written it off medical curiosity.

They reached the village in short order. Everyone heaved a huge sigh of relief at the sight of Kieran and he felt somewhat touched by the villagers' faith in him to 'make things right'. He was showed into Sally's home, where the little girl lay suffering. A brief examination told Kieran what he needed to know. There were three deep gashes on the girl's thigh and they appeared to be infected. But there was some kind of poison injected into the wound that caused the accelerated infection. The poison seemed to be rushing through the little child like wildfire and if Kieran wasn't mistaken, Hilde wouldn't be able to see the dawn of the next day.

"What kind of poison is this?" Kieran asked, at a loss. "I've never seen one so destructive."

The doctor felt a stab of pain at the loss of hope on Sally's expression. The healer had thought Doctor Walker would be able to solve everything. A deep sense of helplessness welled up within Kieran. He wanted so much to help, the desire was so strong, but there wasn't anything he could do.

"I think it is called Teran, at least that's what the legends say," Sally said dully. "It lies in the claws of a beast that dwells within the Forest called a Wleker. They are small creatures but their fangs and claws are dripped with that poison."

Kieran shot to his feet. "I have no use of fairy tales. There has to be an explanation for this. Hilde must have been raked by an animal and the juice of some poisonous plant seeped into her blood. That means that there is a cure." An energy deep within him flared to life and all of a sudden, the desire to move was thrumming in his soul. He shot Sally a glance. "Take me to where you found her." He watched as Sally paled. "For God's sake, she's your niece! You are not going to let something like a legend stop you from helping your niece, are you?' He frowned his disapproval.

"I'll take you to the edge of the Forest," Sally said quietly, shame in her fear evident. "Beyond that…"

"Fine," Kieran snapped. "Take me there then."

And then, they entered the Forbidden Forest.

tbc…

Well, another day, another fic.

Thanks for reading.