Disclaimer: I in no way own Gundam W or AD&D. Don't sue; I'm simply an E5 in the USN, therefore I have no money. Ha.
A/N; psychic power
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Duo rubbed his eyes as he crawled out of the tent he and Heero shared at the crack of dawn.
"Neh, anyone seen Heero?" he muttered with a hefty yawn, staring around the camp.
The camp was nearly completely empty. Quatre was the only other inhabitant, sitting calmly by the campfire and whittling away at a piece of wood with one of Trowa's daggers.
Glancing over, the blond nodded. "He and Wufei headed out about an hour ago with Trowa to fetch breakfast."
"Oh." Grimacing, Duo stared at the blond boy. 'Gee, just what I want. A morning alone with Mister Sardonic over there. Fabulous.'
The blond paid no attention to him, continuing to whittle away happily, smiling as the dagger continued shaving piece after piece of wood from the block he held tenuously in his left hand. He paid not a bit of attention to the mage as he plopped down beside him.
"What'cha doin'?" Duo asked, looking at the nearly shapeless block in the boy's hand.
"Carving something."
"What?"
"None of your business."
Duo rolled his eyes. 'Should've expected that. Little unsocial bastard.'
Still, there was nothing better to do than watch and no one else to talk to besides him. Duo mentally groaned. Yet, with a shrug, he continued watching.
Two hours later, the other three adventurers had yet to emerge from the woods below and the block that Quatre held had begun to take shape into a beautifully detailed bird.
"Hey, you're really good at that," Duo commented, nodding. "I wouldn't think that the son of a Noble of Waterdeep would have any ability like that."
"Son...?" Quatre whispered quietly, staring at the bird he held as he lightly traced over it with the dagger's tip, adding further detail to its delicate feathery wings. Turning to Duo, he blinked a couple times before smiling. "I got incredibly bored in my Father's house. Seeing as how I wasn't allowed out very often, I had to come up with things I could do within its confines to keep my mind off of my isolation."
Duo arched a brow. "Not allowed out, eh? Why not?"
Quatre shrugged. "My dear father's wishes."
And, grinning wickedly, Duo reached over Quatre's shoulder to snatch the bird out of the boy's hands. Listening to him gasp then growl in annoyance, he grabbed the boy's chin, wrenching his face towards him and staring straight into his eyes. "You can quit lying any time now, 'Lord VonWinner'."
Quatre snarled, "Unhand me!"
"Not until you tell me the truth, kiddo. You know that I've got you figured. So stop with the little charade, and tell me what's up between you and Archmagus VonWinner."
The blond stared at him, before narrowing his eyes once more.
Duo screeched, letting the boy go, as his head was hit violently from behind. Looking behind himself, he stared.
There was nothing there.
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Duo watched the woods worriedly. The sun was near it's noon peak, and still there was no sign of his companions. "Damn it. Where the hell are they?"
"Tough hunting. Undead scared nearly everything away."
Glancing over his shoulder, the mage frowned. "You sure about that?"
"Yep."
"How?"
"I am."
Rubbing his head, Duo walked over to the blond and sat down beside him upon his black cloak. Staring at the boy, he frowned.
Quatre had finally removed his cloak, and was sitting calmly upon it, using its black fabric as a high quality blanket to save his khaki pants and brown boots from the dusty ground below him. Completely shirtless, he basked in the sunlight, his pale skin beginning to show signs of sunburn.
Duo's eyes, however, were more on the delicate armbands that the boy wore than anything.
They were thick, solid bands of silvery metal that he recognized to be more precious than platinum - a metal known as mithrel, laced with tracings in adamantite that formed runes of power around its span. Duo's eyes critically traced over the bands, his brain seeking desperately for the identification of each of those runes.
'Spell absorption. Recognize that one. Mind shielding... Contingency? Hm. Interesting. Alter self, too. And a shocking grasp or vampiric touch spell... something like that... urm...' He frowned. "Those are really interesting, Lord VonWinner. Think I can look 'em over?"
"No."
"Oh, come on!" Duo sighed with exasperation. "I won't steal them! Gods, Trowa's more likely to do that! I'm not going to hurt them. I just want to look at them."
Snorting, the blond glowered at him. "I'd hand them over if I could."
Duo stopped his ranting tirade and blinked. "What do you mean by that?"
"Why don't you take a closer look?"
Duo leaned forward, staring at the boy's arms even as Quatre drew a whetstone out of his pouch and started sharpening the dagger he'd been using to carve his wooden figurine. And, with a hiss, Duo stared.
He'd finally noticed the bolt that was welded solidly into the center of the band. Leaning over, he stared at the other side and nodded. Sure enough, the other end of that bolt was welded to the other side.
'What the hell... that's one way to hold something permanently on, I suppose, but isn't it a bit extreme?'
"It actually goes all the way through?"
The blond slowly nodded.
"And you can't remove it? Certainly you can cut 'em off..."
Duo stared as magical energy cracked when the boy reached towards the band upon his left arm. "I touch it, I get electrocuted."
"What the hell...?"
The blond bowed his head. "It's... a gift. A gift from my father. And we'll leave it at that."
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Heero, Wufei and Trowa triumphantly returned from the woods, tromping up the hill back to camp, each holding a good bundle of rabbits
"This ought to keep us into the next town, neh?" Heero said with a smirk.
"Provided your lover doesn't fuck up and turn them into charcoal like he did with the last batch," Wufei sniggered.
"That was entirely accidental. It's not like he meant to ruin an entire day's hunting."
Trowa just shook his head as the argument between the two warriors escalated. Looking up the hill, he smiled as he caught sight of their two other companions seated by one another. Picking up his pace, he walked past his friends, making his way swiftly through the grass.
Duo looked up and grinned. "Ya, Tro! Finally back, eh?"
"Yeah," Trowa said with a smile as he sat down beside Quatre. Reaching out slowly, he arched a brow. "Is it OK, Quatre?"
The blond nodded.
Smiling, the acrobat laid his hand upon Quatre's shoulder, giving it a tender squeeze. "How are you doing?"
"Fine."
And, as they continued conversing, Duo smiled and stood. "I'll be leaving you two love birds alone now."
"Thanks," Trowa said with a nod.
Quatre simply glanced over before returning his attention to Trowa.
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Duo muttered curses as he sat by the campfire, holding a rabbit on a spit over the flickering flames. "Why do I always have to be the one to cook?"
"Because when you actually don't burn it, it's damned good."
"Shaddup, Wufei!"
The warrior smirked, shaking his head before returning to his conversation with Heero. "But as I was saying, leaving him behind would be our best option. He's doing nothing but bringing trouble down on our heads, and we have no need of such."
"I heartily agree with you. The only thing is that we have a problem so far as Trowa is concerned. To leave behind that annoying blond may be to leave him behind as well."
"We can do quite well without him."
Duo snorted. "I ain't leavin' Tro behind. Sorry. But he and I have been traveling together forever, and I am NOT about to leave behind one of my friends."
"Understandable. However, do you want that blond to stick around?"
"Not really," Duo muttered, turning the rabbit over to bathe its topside in flame.
"It's unanimous between the three of us, then. Little Mr. Sardonic must leave."
Heero snorted in agreement. "The sooner we can leave him behind, the better. I know not how many more battles of that calibur that he seems to draw to his person we can make it through. Plus, seeing as how he does nothing more than run from said battles and leave us to deal with him, perhaps it is fair play that he should be forced to deal with his own problems every once in a while."
"Agreed."
Duo sighed, staring at the rabbit. 'But... he wasn't all that bad this afternoon. He was actually calm and...'
'Sad.'
'Makes me wonder what's really going on with him...'
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Quatre sighed, his eyes closed as Trowa held him.
'They don't want me here, eh?'
Slowly retracting the Contact he held with the mage, making certain to do so carefully and slowly as to not be caught by Duo's sharp senses, Quatre scowled. 'They want to be rid of me.'
'Hmph. I don't care about them, then! I don't need them.'
'They want me gone? Fine. I'll be gone by morning.'
'Let's see how they deal with that. Bastards!'
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Trowa slowly opened his eyes with a tired yawn. Lifting his head, he looked at the bedroll that laid beside him in his tent where the blond had settled down for the night. "Good morning, Quatre," he whispered, leaning over to peer at the roll.
It was empty.
Trowa burst out of the tent at a run, looking around wildly before heading over to Heero, who was already up and practicing with his longsword.
"Heero! Quatre... he's gone!"
"What?" Heero stared at the acrobat.
"He's gone."
Heero frowned. "He left...?"
"Apparently."
Shrugging, the warrior returned to swinging his sword. "Fine."
Narrowing his eyes, Trowa glowered at his friend. "You don't care, do you?"
"Not particularly. In fact, I'm rather glad. This should reduce the amount of trouble we run into. The boy seems to be a monster magnet."
"Bastard..."
Heero shrugged. "Cry me a river. I'm glad he's gone."
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Wufei and Duo stared as Trowa roughly jammed his belongings into his bottomless pouch.
"Neh, Tro?" Duo called quietly. "Sure you won't reconsider?"
"I'm going to search for him. With or without you."
Wufei snorted before laying his hand upon the mage's shoulder. "Come along. If he wishes to strike out on his own, let him."
"But Wufei..."
"Leave him."
"But...!"
Rustling echoed through the air, emanating from the grass around them.
Everyone stared in complete and utter shock as lances surrounded them in a tight, secure circle.
"For the crimes you have committed against the celestial, consider yourselves to be under arrest!"
The four adventurers blinked.
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"Our clan elder will speak with you on the morrow about what you have done."
"DAMMIT!" Duo screeched, lunging for the elven guard even as the waif man closed the door to the room the four companions had been escorted to. "But what the fuck are you talking about! What crimes? What celestial?"
"He'll question you about it tomorrow."
"COME ON, PECKERHEAD! WE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!"
"Be quiet."
"IYA!"
And, as the elf walked away from the cell, Duo's voice rang through the night, screaming:
"WHY CAN'T WE SPEND ONE FUCKING FORTNIGHT WITHOUT GETTING THROWN IN JAIL?"
tbc...
