So I'm not sure if this is the longest it's been between updates but it sure has felt like it! To me anyway...
If you'll notice I'm bumping the rating up to M to be safe for the next chapter.
Okay read on! I'll talk to you again when it's over.
Me

Name, Author, Archive, Feedback, Couples, Disclaimer: That doesn't really matter right now, does it?

Story Time With Trowa or Once Upon A Cross Dresser
Chapter Seventeen

The morning sky was still dark when he awoke, his neck stiff and throat dry. Still dark save the very edge of the horizon, which glowed a promising pale blue. Duo's window was open a crack, letting through the icy tendrils of early morning wind that woke Wufei from his troubled sleep.

Wufei peeled open his bloodshot eyes and glanced around. He had fallen asleep curled up in the stiff office chair in front of Duo's desk, his limbs folded in awkward ways that he would later pay for. The clock in the corner of the computer screen mockingly informed him that it was 5:27 in the morning. He must have slipped in a little less than three hours of sleep, which was good in comparison to the previous few nights.

A half completed game of solitaire was waiting onscreen where he left it a few hours back, but Wufei had no desire to finish it. Instead he stood and walked to the window to close it. He paused in front of it just as a sliver of light began to crawl out from the horizon. It burned his eyes but he didn't care enough to change his gaze. He watched the sun pull itself onto the edge of the earth until his eyes began to water and he had to turn away. When the sun's image faded from his vision, he found himself once more facing Duo's computer.

He had spent hours in front of that computer, busying himself with hollow activates so as to ignore a scrap of paper on the desk and the quickly scratched number that was burned into his memory. His heart began to beat faster as his eyes fell on it once more, and a now familiar feeling of excited dread settled in his stomach.

How long had he put it off? How long had he known it was going to happen?

His feet began to move and he was sitting in the desk chair before he could think about it. A few clicks on the keyboard and the communication dialog popped up on screen. Wufei took a deep breath and grabbed the cup of tepid water he had left on the desk the other night. His eyes never left the communication dialog as he drained the liquid from it. His throat still felt dry but he couldn't delay any longer. It was past time.

His fingers moved quickly across the keyboard, typing in the numbers he knew too well, and immediately hit "connect," knowing he had them all right. There was a moment of silence as the call went through. He had just enough time to realize that he probably looked like shit, but not enough time to do anything about it. The line beeped and Wufei quickly typed in a four digit code that he hoped was correct.

Then there was silence.

Wufei stopped breathing. Memories flashed through his mind, some he had almost forgotten and some he wished he had.

And then...

"Yuy." The voice on the other line stated.

Wufei froze. What the hell was he supposed to say?

The person on the other end waited a moment. "Hello?"

If Wufei didn't answer, he was going to hang up, so he did what he always did in uncomfortable situations. "I'm disappointed." He said gruffly. "I expected your security to be better."

The visuals on the other end turned on and Wufei was granted with the rare "surprised Heero" face. Of course, most people looking at him would fail to see the slight variations that expressed Heero's emotional spectrum, but Wufei knew Heero better then most people.

"Wufei?" the smallest hint of disbelief tinted Heero's voice.

Wufei threw a hand through his hair and hoped it was all he needed. He hit the V key and a small icon popped up indicating that his visual was on.

The small traces of emotion left Heero's face and after a moment he said simply, "It's been a long time."

Wufei nodded and tried not to imagine anything that wasn't there. "It has."

There was a long silence as Wufei searched for something to say and Heero stared vacantly at the screen. Neither of them was a sparkling conversationalists or even tolerant of small talk, which left Wufei with little to work off of. Instead, Wufei found himself staring back just as blankly.

Heero's hair was shorter than Wufei had last seen it, but he looked otherwise unchanged...the same Heero he had lost sleep over for the past few days.

The silence stretched on until suddenly Wufei realized that he had no idea where Heero was. He could be calling in the middle of the night, for all he knew. "Am I interrupting anything?" he asked.

"No. Why are you calling?" Heero asked bluntly.

Thinking quickly, Wufei smirked and feigned bitterness. "That damned woman forced a vacation on me. I'm at Quat-" he caught himself, "-Winner's house with the others and..." he stopped, still unsure of how to explain exactly why he was calling. He wasn't exactly sure himself. He knew that he had to call, but he didn't want to admit why, even to himself.

"Is it that bad?" Heero asked with no audible sign of humor.

Wufei chuckled but didn't answer. He had looked away from Heero's digitally transferred eyes in that split second and now found it too hard to look back.

"How much longer is your vacation?" Heero asked after a while.

Wufei realized with a slight sinking feeling that it was already his sixth day of freedom/torture. "As long as I want it to be." He answered without looking up.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Heero smile. Or at least perform his version of the smile. "I'm in Europe right now. Relena will be consulting with the dignitaries here for another month."

Wufei nodded and pushed back the mental image of Heero as the fairy tale's prince dealing with dignitaries. He would kill Trowa if he wasn't embarrassed about the story enough as it was.

"What?" Heero asked. Apparently he knew Wufei as well as Wufei knew him and had seen something in that moment's mental lapse.

"Nothing." Wufei said gruffly, inwardly cursing Trowa. "I was thinking of visiting Europe." It was out of his mouth before it fully formed in his mind.

Heero was silent a moment. "She's in Russia right now. I will be here for at least another month." His words were almost hesitant and his voice...

'I could just be imagining it...' Wufei thought, trying to smother the ancient emotions that stirred.

"Russia...Moscow?" his voice was casual but his heart was beating quicker despite his best efforts.

Heero nodded.

He spoke his next words carefully, hoping and dreading that Heero would see past them. "Is it very dangerous for her?"

Heero was silent and Wufei could almost feel those cold eyes on his skin. "My people could handle it without me." Heero finally stated without emotion.

The longest silence of the conversation followed that. Wufei was still unable to bring his eyes up to the screen, but that was the smallest of his problems. There were things that needed to be said, but he couldn't bring himself to say them. There were things he wanted, but he couldn't bring himself to ask. Was he too proud? Too afraid? Maybe it could never work. Maybe it was never supposed to...

"Wufei..."

Wufei froze.

"Come to Moscow."

Wufei didn't speak a moment as his mind took forever to process exactly what Heero meant. When it finally sunk in, he smirked despite himself as the princely image returned. After a while he nodded. Maybe they had grown, maybe if they could both let a little go...

"It would be good..." Wufei said in a low voice that he realized with a bit of embarrassment, was his most masculine. "...to see you again."

Heero nodded stiffly, his allocation of tenderness already far surpassed.

"I'll call you when I get there." Wufei said and quickly cut the line.

Wufei turned off the computer and fell onto Duo's bed, uncaring of the various items of clothing and magazines that occupied it as well. With a small smile, Wufei slept better than he had in a very long while.

Quatre was humming a light tune, beautifully accompanied by the full orchestra of a cooking breakfast. Rice was steaming in the cooker and a pot on the stove was bubbling happily as Quatre's rhythmic cutting sliced green onions to put in the miso soup. The delicate green circlets kissed the water in the pot just as the tea kettle began to sing.

Trowa watched this domestic ballet from the kitchen doorway with amusement and just a little awe. Only Quatre could make preparing breakfast look so elegant.

Quatre turned the heat off under the tea kettle and in one smooth motion, poured the scalding liquid into a waiting teapot. When all the water was drained he pulled it back and turned. Surprise widened his eyes and embarrassment painted his skin as his eyes fell on the doorway.

"Trowa!" he placed the kettle back on the stove and nervously smoothed the plain white apron at his waist. "How long have you been there?"

Trowa smiled and hummed in his throat, a neutral sound that would tell Quatre nothing. He walked passed Quatre and peered curiously into the pot on the stove.

"What is this?" Trowa asked.

"Miso soup." Quatre answered quietly. He pulled open a cupboard and retrieved a small, shallow bowl. He stirred the soup once, then with the wooden spoon he ladled some onto the dish. He gently blew on the soup and then held it out Trowa.

"Try it. Careful, it's hot." He said with a shy smile.

Trowa took the small dish and tipped it into his mouth. After a moment he smiled down at his blonde companion. "It's delicious Quatre."

Quatre beamed back. "My Japanese language tutor used to bring it with her early in the mornings." He explained as he readied the meal to serve. "She offered me some once and I loved it, so she taught me how to make it. I thought it would be a nice change."

Quatre was ladling out the soup into four bowls when a groggy Duo joined them. He slumped into a chair at the table, folded his arms on the table top and promptly dropped his head into them.

"Morning Duo." Quatre greeted with a cheerful laugh.

Trowa filled a cup with Quatre's tea and sympathetically placed it beside Duo's arms. Duo looked at the cup and wrinkled his nose until Trowa placed the sugar bowl right beside it. Duo grinned and said something that vaguely sounded like: "shanks Tro'."

Quatre paused his ladle above the fourth bowl. "Has anyone seen Wufei?" he asked.

Trowa shook his head.

"He's asleep." Duo with a big yawn.

Quatre frowned. "Still?"

Duo nodded as he sipped his sugar-loaded tea. "I went in there to get some pants." There was a definite grin behind his tea cup. "He looked pretty dead too, he barely moved when I tried to get my pants from under him."

Trowa quirked an eyebrow. "Why was he asleep on your pants?"

"Because he's madly in love with me." Duo said with another large yawn.

Trowa chuckled.

"Well, that and my pants were in their rightful place: under my pillow." Duo finished with another grin.

Quatre put the fourth bowl down and covered the soup. "He can serve himself when he gets up then, no use letting it get cold..."

As he placed the other bowls on the table and packed a second set of bowls with rice, a small smile began to form on his angelic face. "Um, Trowa? Since Wufei isn't here..."

"Kitchen sex!" Duo shouted immediately, causing Trowa to almost shoot miso out his nose.

"Not that!" Quatre shouted over Trowa's coughing. He rushed over to pat Trowa on the back. "I was talking about Cross Dresser."

"Oh... yeah, I guess that's cool too." Duo nodded. "Er...you okay Tro'?"

The stone walls of the palace dungeon emitted a cold that seeped past your flesh and into your heart, chilling you far beyond the comfort of cloth. The visitor shuddered behind their escort, a brawny man that looked less then pleased to be there. He carried a foul smelling torch that shed light a mere foot in front of them; all else was pitch black. The sounds of rustling chains bounced off the walls, making it hard to decipher where they came from. The dungeon's visitor vaguely wondered if those sounds lived there with the prisoners, bodiless memories of convicts that had long since wasted away.

The torch came to a stop and the guard moved aside.

There, in the oppressive darkness held back only by the guard's torch, lay the prisoner. His black velvet dress had been stripped away and replaced by the roughly sewn pants of a criminal. His once beautiful, shining black hair was covered with the dust that lay on his cell floor. Slowly, his eyes lifted to his visitor.

"What are you doing here?" his voice was rough, deep, and filled with disgust.

Hilde was unsure of what her reaction would be when she saw Wufei, but she had not been prepared...

Tears welled up in the young girls eyes.

"Wufei..." she spoke softly, his name bubbling up behind her tears.

Hilde fell to her knees on the dirty stone floor and curled her hands around the cold iron bars that held Wufei. The rough metal cut at her hands but she didn't flinch, instead she held them tighter, hoping that pain would help ease the pain in her heart.

"Please forgive me." She pleaded.

Wufei stared at her without even a ripple of emotion.

Her tears came faster and she pressed her forehead against the bars until they cut her skin there as well. "I didn't think." She sobbed. "I didn't know that this could happen... I just... I didn't mean to..." she couldn't speak beyond her tears and so she gave up.

The guard stood impassive through Hilde's display until he noticed a small stream of blood that began to trickle down the bar from her hand. "Princess Hilde, stop!" He shouted and rushed over to her. "You're hurting yourself!" He kneeled beside her and tried to pull her away from the cell.

"Leave me alone!" She screamed at him, her hands tightening around the bars.

The guard let her go immediately but didn't move away, obviously unsure of what was going on and what he was supposed to do about it.

"Leave us." Hilde ordered in a low and deathly serious voice. "I want to speak to him alone."

The guard hesitated, throwing a suspicious look at Wufei and muttering something to Hilde under his breath.

"Leave me." Hilde nearly shouted.

The guard nodded quickly, and then with a last glance at Wufei, he all but ran to the exit.

When the guard's hurried footsteps faded away, Hilde lifted her eyes once more to the bare and fallen boy that had once been Wufei. "I don't know how to explain myself." She said slowly. "When I found out about you I was just so...torn. I was just...just trying to protect Heero but...I've just made everything so much worse." She stumbled through the words, trying to somehow justify her actions not only to Wufei, but to herself as well. "I don't know how to say how sorry I am..." her tears came once more and slurred her speech. "I can't get you out of here, but if there's anything else you want from me...I'll do anything! Everything I can..."

Wufei watched her in silence for a long while. When he spoke next, he did so in a voice that didn't seem to come from him, but from somewhere inconceivably far off. "How is my family?"

Hilde took a few calming breaths. When she could speak clearly, she said, "They kept them in your rooms for a little while, but they eventually let them go home under guard. I don't think they will be harmed, since you said that..." Hilde stopped.

"I took responsibility for my actions." Wufei said. "I did everything on my own."

Hilde could only nod.

"How is...your brother?" his voice wavered only slightly at the mention of Heero.

Hilde shook her head. "I have no idea... He keeps himself locked in his room and doesn't talk to anyone. My mother had to order food to be delivered to him, since he wouldn't come to eat..." Hilde took her hands from the bars and placed them in her lap. They were raw and bleeding but she could no longer feel their pain. "I tried to talk to him once but..." her voice cracked. "He wouldn't answer the door, he would only tell me to leave... But his voice...it was so empty. I didn't think he could get any colder than before..." Hilde seemed to catch herself. "Than before you came." She mumbled quietly to herself.

They went silent.

In the distance Hilde could hear those rustling chains. The cells around Wufei's were empty, but she knew there were some farther on that were occupied by long term prisoners, people that had done so much wrong that they would endure a lifetime of captivity for it.

Hilde was unsure of how much time passed in silence, but if it were her choice, she would have gladly lived her life in silence rather than hear the next words spoken.

"What will they do with me?" Wufei asked in the same distant voice.

Hilde dropped her head and her bloody palms began to fill with hot tears. "Don't ask me that..."

"I have a right to know." Wufei stated.

"I can't..."

"Hilde." Wufei's voice was firm.

Hilde's answer was slow and hitched, but the message was clear to Wufei's ears.

"Execution." Wufei repeated without emotion.

Hilde nodded.

Trowa picked up his teacup to drink from but realized it had gone cold. He put it down and looked thoughtfully at Quatre and Duo, who were hunched together and staring at him expectantly.

"I wonder why Wufei isn't up yet?" Trowa commented, looking up at the clock. "It's already--"

"Trowa!" Duo and Quatre whined in unison.

Trowa chuckled. "Alright, alright..."

Wufei moved for the first time since looking up at Hilde's arrival. He crossed his arms over his bare chest and closed his eyes. Tense minutes passed with Hilde watching him, her breath held captive in her throat. Eventually his eyes slid open.

"I understand." Wufei said calmly.

Hilde stared at him in disbelief. "What?"

Wufei bowed his head. "I understand."

Hilde stood up, her dirtied skirts swirling around her as her temper flared for the first time since the night of Heero's party. "You understand? What do you mean you 'understand'! They're going to kill you Wufei! For what? Tell me! How did it all come to this! What in the hell is going on!"

Wufei watched her silently until her angered breaths slowed and her muscles relaxed. "I will tell you everything that happened, as it happened," Wufei spoke once more in that far off voice, "if you will listen calmly and without interrupting."

After a moment Hilde nodded. She sat down again and listened as Wufei told her everything; from his parent's immigration to Meiran's illness; from the formation of the plan, to Hilde's birthday party; from his days sparring with Heero, to their nights spent in comfortable silence. All he changed was his parent's involvement. He told her the same thing he told his captors: he had done everything on his own, only telling his parents when he had no other choice.

"I accept my punishment." Wufei said once the story had come to an end. "I have failed my sister, my parents, and now I have failed...Heero." he had not used the name throughout the story, and now it hesitated on his lips. "I deserve this."

Hilde looked at the broken boy held captive behind those rough iron bars. He was no longer the girl that was stealing her brother, or the boy that was lying to Heero either, he was Wufei. And under no circumstances...

"You do not deserve this!" Hilde hissed. "What is wrong with you? How can you just let them..." she couldn't force the word past her throat.

"Did you see the way he looked at me?" Wufei's voice was different now, his distance was gone. "I am not what he fell in love with." His voice was filled self inflicting venom and his head was bowed in shame. "As far as he is concerned, the woman he loved is dead. And if his wish is my death as well...then I have died along with her."

And finally, Hilde understood.

"You actually love him, don't you?" She asked, her heart twisting in guilt. "This wasn't at all a play for power or money...You actually love him, don't you?"

Wufei didn't answer, but he didn't need to.

"Well I'm glad I didn't call Hilde to cuss her out like I was planning." Duo said with a forced chuckle.

Quatre tried to laugh but his eyes were still glistening with tears.

Trowa stood up and walked over to the side of the table where the other two were sitting. "Let's relocate to the couch." He held out a hand to each of the boys.

They clung to him all the way to the living room and only cuddled closer once they got to the couch.

Hilde ran.

Past a befuddled guard, up the dungeon's stone stairs, through the palace's winding hallways, past countless frightened servants and directly...

...into Dorothy.

Neither had been paying attention, so both fell in a heap and swirl of skirts and dust. Hilde was the first to scramble up.

"I'm sorry but I have to get...Dorothy?" Hilde's eyes widened in recognition. "Oh I'm sorry! I didn't even see you! Here..." she held out a hand to her fallen friend.

Dorothy swept the hair from out of her eyes. "It is fine, your highness, I just wasn't—oh my god!" Dorothy's hand went to her mouth as her eyes fell on Hilde's bloody hand. "What happened!"

Hilde laughed nervously and hid the offending hand behind her back. "Oh, that's nothing...just a flesh wound..."

Dorothy stood quickly and forced the hand from behind Hilde's back. "Oh Hilde..." Her voice was soft, as were her hands as she gently inspected the wound. "You have to clean this."

Hilde pouted, not even noticing Dorothy's sudden change in formality. "I can't! I have to get--"

Dorothy's eyes widened once more as she noticed the cuts on Hilde's forehead. "Here too?" she reached up and gently touched the skin around the cuts there. Her eyes firmed. "I'm not letting you go a step further until you clean up."

Hilde shook her head frantically. "I can't Dorothy, I have to-"

"The wounds will get worse if you don't-"

"I don't have time!" Hilde protested.

"Why won't you let me care for you?" Dorothy cried out.

Hilde starred at Dorothy as the girl covered her mouth, both of them in shock. Hilde knew her sudden outburst meant more than treating her wounds and Dorothy was horrified that she had let it slip so bluntly. It had already become obvious to even Hilde, but she couldn't ignore it anymore.

"I can't Dorothy." Hilde said regretfully.

"Why not?" Dorothy asked, her voice heavy with defeat.

"I don't know." Hilde's words were dry and raspy with overused sorrow. "I'm so sorry..."

Her feet moved before she could think and she tore away from her shattered friendship. The sound of her swiftly falling footsteps drowned out the soft sobbing of her best friend and the muted rustle of her skirts as Dorothy retreated to her room.

"Damn it Trowa!" Duo shouted, wiping his eyes.

Trowa frowned. "I'm sorry...do you want me to stop?"

"NO!" Duo and Quatre shouted at once.

Hilde pounded on Heero's door. Tears were once again falling from her eyes. She had cried so much that day that she was surprised she had any liquid left in her body. They still fell no matter what she did, so she just accepted them.

"Open the door Heero!" she shouted as she pounded against it. "Open the goddamn door!"

The door slowly gave way beneath her hands. Heero stared blankly at her from the other end as he pulled it open.

"What?" he asked, his voice completely missing the annoyed tone he usually spoke to her with. His voice was missing any trace of emotion, in fact.

Hilde angrily wiped away her tears. She had so many emotions swirling in her and for once, no words to convey them. When she didn't immediately answer, Heero started to close the door.

"Tell them to let him go!" She shouted, throwing her arm against the door before it closed.

Heero's hand tightened on the door for a moment, and then he let go and walked back into his room.

Hilde followed him. She glanced around the room and a feeling of unease crept across her skin. The room was almost completely dark, the only light sources were the very edges of Heero's windows that his heavy curtains could not reach, and the faint light from the hallway.

'All those hours in here, in this darkness...' Hilde thought as she stared blindly at the dark form she assumed was her brother. She looked back at the door and felt an odd comfort that it was still open.

Hilde turned back to the darkness, and spoke softer this time. "You have to order them to release Wufei."

There was a long silence, and for a moment Hilde feared Heero had somehow escaped.

"Why?" Heero finally asked.

"He doesn't belong in there! He doesn't deserve to..." Hilde still couldn't get that word past the lump in her throat. She took a couple of deep breaths. "I tried to free him myself but it's a direct order from father, they won't listen to me."

Heero didn't answer.

Hilde's anger flared. "This isn't the time to be stubborn! This is his life for Christ's sake, Heero! You can hate him all you want but that doesn't mean he has to..." Hilde's lip quivered and her throat was on fire from all her tears. "...You can believe what you want, but the truth is that he loves you. And he's going to...to die because of it." Hilde was finally able to force the word through. She swiped angrily at her tears as she waited in silence.

Heero's silhouette shifted. "She..." his voice sounded different, but Hilde couldn't tell anything from it. "They're going to execute...him?"

Hilde's eyes narrowed in confused suspicion. "You weren't the one who ordered that?"

Heero didn't answer.

Hilde felt the beginnings of relief. "Then you see how stupid all this is! I'm sure the guards would have to listen to you if you order Wufei's release." Hilde was actually smiling in relief. "You could stop all this barbaric--"

"I'm not stopping it." Heero's voice struck out from the darkness.

Hilde's steady stream of relieved blabbering stopped dead. "What?"

"Why would I care if he lives or dies?" Heero's voice was empty once more.

Hilde stared dumbfound into the darkness, her mind slowly processing what Heero said.

"As far as he is concerned, the woman he loved is dead." Wufei's words echoed in Hilde's shell-shocked mind.

"Because it's unnecessary." Hilde said slowly. "Because he doesn't deserve it. Because I know you two really loved each other, even if--"

"Leave."

Hilde's words froze at the icy violence in Heero's voice. "But you did." She whispered.

"Get out."

"Heero please, you can't let them kill him!"

The dark figure moved quickly. Heero was so suddenly in front of Hilde that she squeaked in fearful surprise. Glowing slightly from the open door's light, Heero's hand lifted, poised to strike her with the back. His impossibly cold eyes glared down at Hilde who was frozen with fear.

Heero's fingers curled into a fist that shook with the intensity of his anger. He stared at her, vulnerable and terrified...

Then he seemed to shift, to change in the slightest way. He dropped his fist and pushed her away with his other hand. Hilde stumbled back through the doorway and would have fallen if the hallway wall hadn't been there to catch her.

Heero's door slammed, waking her from her fear induced trance. She ran up to the door and pounded on it.

"Heero!" she shouted at the impassive wooden door.

"Damn it Heero!" her eyes stung but she had used all her tears. "This is insane!"

Her knees gave and she sunk to the floor but still she pounded, albeit weakly, on the door. "He still loves you damn it! His blood's on your hands!"

Then in a whisper she added, "And mine..."

A thick fog of depression settled over the household and remained there for the rest of the day and into to the next, as that was when Wufei would leave them.

To be concluded...

Next Chapter:
In which the day of Wufei's execution arrives.

It's me again! So I'm sorry for the mistakes (as I'm sure there were at least some) once again I am without a beta reader. I've looked it over myself so many times that I can't bear to read it again. I hope it wasn't too bad!
I'm thinking about doing a sort of FAQ or something at the end of the story, if there are a lot of questions afterward. Yes! The next chapter is the last (tear) so keep some questions in mind! If they aren't answered in the last chapter I will try and answer them later.
I guess that's it... I'm sorry this took so long! I love you all!