Mwahaha! I got quite a few reviews asking about our dear elf, Trowa. Well, wouldn't you all just love to know what happened to him. *evil grin*

Wait and find out...

And no, Sarkan is neither Treize, nor Zechs (aka Milliardo, whom was an elf if I may remind you). To tell the truth, I contemplated using him as such, but then trashed the idea. It's really just that I enjoy the thought of the bad guy looking so good. It's a contradiction to the state of their soul and general grasp on normal mental capacities ( ie. sanity ^_^ )

Eclipse of Dusk

By: Hseru

Warnings: Shounen ai later on 1x2 3x4 5xM (Hey look...he's got someone now ^_^)

Disclaimer: I own not Gundam Wing, but I do own the world the G-boys traverse. Fear my god power

Chapter 28

Several days passed in a dull, yet tense and overly stressed blur for Duo. He sat in his cell waiting for...well, for anything to tell the truth. Whether it be death, some horrific torture, or...

Well, safe to say, he'd run out of terrible things that could be done to him by the end of the first day, and was left contemplating the ways and workings of the whole screwed up universe. He was delivered food three times a day, consisting of a somewhat thick meat broth, a chunk of bread, and a cup of water. At first hesitant to touch the fare lest it should be poisoned, the braided youth eventually let hunger win out, coming to the conclusion that if Sarkan wanted him dead, he would have already succumbed to rigor mortis. Of course, it could have contained a horribly slow working poison to kill him as painfully as possible, but thankfully that was not the case, as the though crossed his mind after his first meal was already out of recalling distance. The cell was cold, but not frigid as might be expected, and the blanket upon the bed was used to effectively stave off said cold.

He saw no one save for the guard that visited for the few seconds it took to deliver the food then retrieve the empty dishes. Glimpses through the open door revealed that there were several guards on detail to watch him at all times. It was unnerving, but not nearly as much as not having anyone to talk to, or to even see long enough to get a good look at. He took to humming to himself on the second day, and by the third he'd counted out exactly how many steps it was to each wall and corner of the room.

It was 12 paces straight across from the small cot to the opposite wall, counting the three paces that made up the width of the cot. The length of his cell was an even 16 steps, and he took to pacing, counting each step as he went. It began to feel as if the walls were gradually moving inwards on him, and it was some small reassurance to the braided youth that each time he counted, the room was no smaller than before.

The small hole open to the sky was located in the corner opposite the door. It gave him light during the day, and a vague way of telling time, and he would often pause in his pacing to look upwards, sometimes wistfully, sometimes angrily. In the end, it might have been surprising to see the multitude of emotions that tumbled through the youth's visage.

He started off with a genuinely depressed outlook, then moved on through the gambit from hopeful, to incensed, to annoyed, and back again. It might have been humorous to see him fuming one moment and moping the next, but Duo had good reason for his uncontrolled emotions, and there was no humor to be found in his situation.

It was near the end of the third day when Duo was finally visited by his captor. The light was low, as the sun was close to setting. He'd paused in his incessant pacing long enough to hear the approach of someone unfamiliar. By unfamiliar, it was not the clanking of hard boots signaling the coming of a guard he heard, but the softer tread of someone else.

The guards at the door shuffled quietly about, and Duo took a step back from the door as the key was shoved into the lock from the outside, and the heavy bolt released. In stepped the blond sorcerer, now bedecked in a long, trailing crimson cloak kept at his throat by an ornately worked golden clasp shot through with rubies. Beneath the cloak, his attire was much similar to what he'd worn before, only now there seemed to be pieces of metal armor added to the ensemble. A burnished chest plate was secured with belts, trailing short, overlapping pieces of chain-mail to just past his waist. At each wrist was a metal studded leather guard covering the backs of his hands to a little past his mid fore-arm.

Sarkan looked quite grand, to say the least, and Duo watched the sorcerer warily from across the room as he stopped just inside the door to the braided youth's cell, azure eyes locking onto amethyst ones.

"Well...have you had a pleasant stay?" Those cool vocals ran over him like a burning caress, sending shivers down his back. However, Duo managed to repress most of his reaction to reply.

"I've stayed in better. The ventilation needs some serious work, and the food is less than desirable." He said in a voice laced with sarcasm and contempt.

A smile quirked at Sarkan's lips from the youth's words.

"Ah...then I will have to either get that fixed, or find a way to make you better appreciate what you have been given." The sorcerer replied icily, with an undertone of amusement. Duo was about to give a scathing reply when two of the guards stepped within the room, one holding iron manacles. Apparently they'd received some hidden signal, for as one, they moved with obvious purpose towards the braided youth.

Duo backed up until he came up square against the far wall, then lashed out at the two who'd separated to get at him from both sides. Sarkan watched on with open amusement as Duo struck one of the guards, the man doubling over for a moment, but not before he had a strong hold on the arm connected to the fist which had impacted into his gut. Wrenching backwards, Duo was unable to dislodge the man's bruising grip, and the second guard, the one with the manacles, came up behind him, grabbing hold of his other arm, and before Duo could so much as protest, had snapped one end of the manacles about the youth's wrist.

All the fight suddenly left Duo then as a searing pain flowed up his arm, the resulting pain radiating from his collar bringing him to his knees with a gasp. It took only a few seconds for the first guard to pull the youth's other hand roughly behind his back, snapping the second manacle into place.

The two stepped back then, as if to survey their work.

Duo slowly hunched over on his knees, forehead resting against the ground, face twisted into a grimace of pain though it could not readily be seen from his current position. Each breath brought new pain with it, a twisting, nerve cutting pain, and the result was that he took short, thin breaths that only served to make him dizzy on top of everything else.

And then the world tilted as he was jerked upright by a tight and sudden pull on his braid.

He looked dazedly up at deep blue eyes and a smiling face, the pain apparently dulled somewhat by the sorcerer's touch.

"Now...we'll just leave you here alone for a day or two to see how you fair." Sarkan said cheerfully. "I do hope you'll learn something from this, but one can only hope" And with that, he released the youth's braid, the sudden return of pain sending Duo crashing back to the ground, unable to catch himself even had he been paying attention to so trivial a thing.

Even as the sorcerer moved to leave, his last few words tossed so carelessly behind him penetrated like an arrow through the fog that had begun to cloud Duo's pain numbed mind, sending him reeling into a world of despair and loss, everything else forgotten.

"Oh, and I wouldn't get your hopes up for a rescue if I were you. ...They've been taken care of."

...

Six days.

Hard traveling for six days with small amounts of rest and a few snatched hours of sleep during the darkest night saw the group of four companions a great deal closer to their goal than they would have been had they been traveling at the same pace as before.

Weariness had begun to drag at each of them, and it was with a resigned sense of urgency that Heero nevertheless called a halt for a brief, but sorely needed rest.

The snows had, thankfully, held off for the greater part, only slight flurries managing to get past the great gray barrier of clouds that hung overhead. Their trail stayed clear, and packed, giving them the opportunity to make twice the distance they would have in the same amount of time. They saw no signs of the trolls they followed though. Nothing but the footprints remained to say they had even traveled this way. The beasts had probably been moving solidly both day and night in order to bring Sarkan his prize.

Not too long after setting out, Quatre had found something interesting about the connection his magic had to the collar Duo wore. He could sense, through the link, the general direction in which the youth was. It had not been so clear before, as they'd always kept close, but it was a definite tug on his mind that he felt might end up being useful, instead of the constant detrimental state he found himself in. Also, something he did not see need to tell the others, a dull pain in his chest had begun late the day before, and not stopped as he hoped it would. For some reason, it sent a thrill of fear for his friend threading down his back, for he had good reason to believe the pain he felt was Duo's...

Though these thoughts clouded his mind, forever and anon the worry for Trowa was present The question of whether the elf was even still alive ran like mad through his thoughts, distracting unless he forcefully shoved them to the back of his mind. The blonde mage focused on thinking that Trowa was one of the most resourceful people he'd ever met, and if anyone could survive what they suspected had happened to him, it was the elf.

Despite this, he kept his head quite well. He refrained from using any sort of magic, be it little or big. If Duo's collar decided it wanted to grab at his magic again, or if being with Sarkan strengthened the collar's hold upon him, then he wasn't all that sure what would happen, whether it be that the youth would feel the drain as he had both previous times and stop it, or the mage would be sucked completely dry of his life force, leaving only an empty shell.

They settled down in a small copse of trees off to the side of the trail they followed, effectively sheltered from the worst of the snowfall by the thick canopy overhead. Therefore, the ground was clear, if yet frozen, and offered as secure a resting place as could be desired.

Deciding that a full stop would be best, they set about getting wood for a short fire, and scouting the area for any potential hazards that were within the immediate vicinity.

Meiran and Wufei did the scouting, while Heero gathered wood, and Quatre went about making a fire from scratch. The chocolate haired boy returned shortly with an armload of half dry wood to find the little mage with a small blaze going, however it would not be large enough to catch that which Heero carried. So he boosted the flame with a mental flick, showering the both of them with warmth while they piled the wood on. It would burn clean, and virtually smokeless, which was ideal.

Wufei and Meiran, meanwhile, had split to circle around each side of their chosen camp spot. The sword's master and virtual Amazon had grown closer over the time spent in hot pursuit, despite worries that hounded each and every step of the way.

Wufei still did his katas in the brief resting times, managing to keep at his practice even when dead tired. It spoke of his discipline that he could, and would weave his way through a difficult kata while at the same time barely be able to stay atop a horse for weariness. Meiran was the one who got him to stop, and to rest. She seemed to be the only one who could do it, for even if Heero had grown more close to Duo over the interim, it was Wufei who had first found the youth bedraggled in the dragon's cave, and therefore took the braided youth's health and welfare upon himself as a duty and responsibility he believed he'd neglected. The warrior maiden talked him down, so to speak. Soothing, is what one might say she was to him, though she herself had such a fiery spirit in even the worst of times, as was currently being demonstrated.

They talked, and half of the time that talking consisted of arguments that eventually ended up with neither of them knowing what had actually started the fight. Then they would continue on peaceably as if nothing had happened.

It was an odd relationship, to say the least, but it was a relationship. In fact, it was the first of such that Wufei had experienced. Hell, he was no child. Pleasure houses offered the kind of release needed at that age, but nothing more than the physical did they sate. Even one so used to being alone began at times to wish for the company given by a loved one, and not merely by traveling companions and good friends.

Because of this, he was unduly awkward in the way he went about things. For once, he'd found a woman he considered worthy [1] of his true respect and consideration, and he had no idea how to approach her. So, to cover his blunders, he got angry, which resulted in the fights. But it was unfair to say that he caused them all, for Meiran had her share of confrontation when concerning the sword's master as well.

It was a two way relationship, to say the least, for both of them were unsure how to proceed, even if to proceed at all, and it made for a somewhat uncomfortable time for Quatre and Heero, who were both in a constant state of worry over their other halves.

For now, they worked well together, easily as able to give and receive silent messages as Heero and Wufei were able to, even though the pair had worked together for far longer.

At the moment, the sword's master was busy keeping a keen eye out for any signs of danger as he moved just outside the boundaries of the tree line. In so doing, he didn't miss what many would have, mixed between the line of snow and ground.

Outlined in the snow was the half brushed away impression of a boot, immediately identified as belonging to none in their party.

A closer look at the surrounding snow and ground, now that he knew he was looking for something so specific, revealed several more such tracks. Many more than a single man, or even a small group of men would have conceivably made. And the tracks were fresh, for the small amount of melted snow in each print was still unfrozen, a process that took little time in these temperatures.

Hurrying, though not in a rash way, the sword's master made his way back to camp, thankful that there seemed to be no evidence of incident there as of yet. Quatre and Heero, yet unaware of the danger, had a merry fire eating at the logs thrown on, a veritable signal to anyone within any certain amount of distance. Cursing under his breath, he moved into the camp, immediately crossing to where Heero sat next to the blaze, keeping it under control with barely a thought.

"We have a problem." Wufei said quietly, stopping next to him. He had Heero's immediate attention then, searing cobalt eyes latching onto his own.

"There is perhaps a score of men [2] not two miles distant from us. I found fresh tracks just outside this wood, heading around to the South from the North." He said quickly, breaking eye contact to glance warily around. There was Quatre, listening intently, but....

Where was Meiran?

A sudden fear seized him as he realized something dreadfully important.

Meiran had taken the southern half of the circuit, the same direction the tracks had been heading in. What if they had met up? Would sounds of a scuffle reach them in the camp? Would they perchance lay in ambush, and catch her unawares?

Without a second thought, Wufei strode out of the camp again towards where the warrior maiden had been on her scouting rounds, leaving a slightly bewildered Heero and Quatre behind to muddle after him.

What he found was discouraging to say the least, and just a bit heart wrenching. One will eventually find what they search for, so Wufei's first evidence of Meiran's fate were the signs of a scuffle that suddenly opened before his seeking eyes.

Moving into the slight clearing, he looked at the surrounding terrain, and realized that his thoughts had proven true. This place was perfect for conducting an ambush, for the brush was higher here, and rather easy for a man of goodly size to hide himself in. Not to mention that visibility past said brush was nearly zero.

It was with a sinking heart that the sword's master came to terms with the facts.

Meiran was captured. Duo was captured. If by one and the same, there was no telling. He only knew that the people close to him were suddenly being taken away, and it left a gaping hole where his heart had been, for he'd failed each of them.

A sudden flare of anger entered him then, and his search was renewed again as Quatre and Heero came upon him.

Only this time, he searched for the tracks that would tell him where this rabble had taken the one person he might be able to love.

1. Gah...Wufei is pompous...but cute ^_^'

2. A score is twenty. ( Not to say that you don't know, but I always wondered about that when I would read it somewhere)

*drops dead* I swear, parents can be the most annoying of creatures, though one may love them dearly.

I sit here, munching the inspirational food that is YanYan, listening to A Perfect Circle, and trying to read past the blurry ass screen of the comp in my room.

Life's wonderful ^_^

I have been getting a great many reviews, including some from a few new readers, of which I love just as much as those who've managed to stick with me since the beginning. To all of you, I give my thanks. This couldn't be possible without you guys' support.

*hugs you all* I Wuv you!!!

And now for the traditional, yet subtly changed request for reviews.

Review; Review ((See? There's a semicolon in there *points it out* Let the world cherish differences!!!))