A/N: Inspired by just about every supernatural sci-fi/fantasy thing I've ever read. In particular, a shout out to Jim Butcher's Dresden Files… 1x2X3, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.
Warnings: Language, violence, sex, language. Angst. AU. Gore.
A/N #2: Thank you so much to the lovely Cuzosu, who is my wonderful beta! And is super amazing and crazy fast!
A/N #3: I've started posting chapters for my next fic, Lost Dreams. It's another Gundam Wing AU fic – of a very definite fantasy bent, featuring Duo, Trowa, and Heero as the main characters. The first four chapters are already up. Check it out – if you want.
A/N #4: I'm not sure if anyone even reads these things, BUT, if anyone out there does: can I offer/request a challenge/trade? Lost Dreams was supposed to be a Tangled/Rapunzel thing, but it was immediately derailed – for the good. However, I really love the idea of a 2x3 Rapunzel fic. So… if anyone out there loves me and wants to write one, I will gladly accept any challenge you want to offer me. Seriously, I will write any GW fic you want me to - AU, canon, 1x2, 3x4, 1xR for that matter (although, seriously, please no?). Anyway… all you writers out there, give it a thought?
A/N #5: 100+ reviews! Thanks everyone! You make it so much fun to write and share my crazy ideas!
Umbra
Chapter Fifteen
Duo woke up slowly and had to fight off the lure of sleep. His brain felt lethargic, and it was an incredible effort to even open his eyes.
He was dimly aware of voices, and as he tried to blink his eyes into focus he recognized Trowa's voice.
"…south pass. I got stuck on the north face once during a storm, and it wasn't much fun," he was saying.
"Denali's a tough climb."
Duo recognized that voice too, and he sat upright fast enough that he felt a rush of pain and nausea.
"You're alive."
Heero was propped up in the hospital bed, still festooned with tubes and monitors, but awake and ALIVE. He regarded Duo with amused blue eyes.
"So are you."
Duo frowned.
"Yeah, whatever, obviously. But you – you look like shit."
Heero was still pale, and there were large, dark bruises under his eyes, as if he had gone weeks without sleeping.
Trowa and Heero exchanged amused glances.
"What the hell is so funny?" Duo demanded angrily.
"You're the one who's been in greater danger of dying than HIM," Trowa answered him.
"Me? I didn't get shot! I'm not the one who's body has been shutting down on itself. What danger was I in?"
"Do you even remember the last twenty four hours?" Heero asked him.
Duo frowned and wracked his brain. He remembered coming back to the hospital, fighting with Robbins until the man gave in and started a transfusion, and then – nothing. He flushed in embarrassment.
"Er… when you say twenty four hours –" he started.
"He means the amount of time that you've been unconscious," Trowa clarified.
Duo's jaw dropped.
"What – no way. What do you mean I've been unconscious? For twenty four hours?"
Trowa nodded.
"You passed out during the transfusion. You were already pretty weak before you started – I could barely feel your magic, but you threatened to kill me - and pretty much everyone – if you weren't allowed to give Heero blood." Under Trowa's amusement there was a veneer of hurt, and Duo winced. He DID remember that, now that Trowa mentioned it.
"Anyway, you passed out and they've had you hooked up to an IV ever since. Hilde came in this morning and sat with you for a while – I think that helped finally restore your magic."
"Damn. I didn't realize. How long have you been awake?" He asked Heero.
"Only a few hours," Heero told him.
"How do you feel?"
Heero arched one eyebrow. "Like I've been shot in the chest."
Duo chuckled, but it quickly turned nearly hysterical. He fought to get control of himself.
"You can't ever do that again," he told Heero once he had calmed down.
"I didn't plan on doing it in the first place," Heero pointed out.
"I'm serious. You can't die on me." He held Heero's gaze and tried to convey just how much the other man meant to him.
"The same goes for you," Heero said after a long moment.
"I didn't almost die!" Duo protested.
"Yes, you did. Trowa was a heartbeat away from opening a vein and completing your bond before Hilde showed up. You can't die on either of us."
Duo frowned and looked between the two men. Both wore determined expressions.
"Okay, seriously, when did you two become a team? I mean, yeah, both of you are amazing in bed – so if you had sex together, I'm sure you enjoyed it – but this is like you've been best friends for years. What is going on?"
Both men looked uncomfortable.
Trowa sighed eventually and leaned forward in his chair.
"I – we - did enjoy sex together. But before that… I don't deal well with emotions."
"Join the club," Duo muttered. He eased back down to a lying position on the bed and rolled over onto his side so that he could see both men clearly.
"In the middle of a…discussion, Heero pointed out that there wasn't any point in living at all if you didn't follow your emotions."
"By discussion, I'm going to assume you mean fight, as in the two of you were about to kill each other until one of you got frustrated enough to say something too personal and then –"
"Do you want to hear this or would you prefer to make it up in your head?" Trowa asked, his voice a mixture of irritation and amusement.
"Sorry."
"In my experience, emotions make you weak – and they provide your enemies with avenues for attack."
Duo nodded. He was in complete agreement with that statement, and he knew that Heero was as well – it was, after all, the reason he had fought against his relationship with Duo in the first place.
"But you aren't weak. And maybe… maybe caring about you actually makes me stronger."
"So Heero and you philosophized and then had sex?"
Heero sighed. "Yes. We did. It was the easiest way to show him that I wasn't interested in treating him like –"
"Like a slave," Trowa finished for him when Heero hesitated.
Heero nodded.
Duo shook his head.
"How did the three of us wind up together? What bizarre twist of fate made it logical for us to be a – a thing?"
Heero smirked.
"It's your own fault."
Duo snorted. "No kidding. Um, back to that being stronger thing." He looked over at Trowa. "So… have you noticed that your magic is stronger since we started to bond?"
Trowa looked thoughtful for a moment and then shook his head.
"No, I haven't. I think it would take the full bond for us to actually get stronger. Why? Have you?"
"Er, well… not until just recently." He paused and drew in a deep breath. "I went to that crime scene – where they found Dorothy's body," he clarified, in case Trowa had not given Heero any details of the last day, but Heero nodded to indicate that he knew. "Right, so there was a ritual circle up, but it was designed to drain magic and hope and well, everything good, out of whoever happened to be near it – null or magic user. It was too strong for me to break on my own, and Hilde was pretty well drained by the time I got there. So… Zechs showed up and I used his magic to break it. It still took just about all of MY magic anyway, which is why I was so weak when I came back here."
"How did Zechs share magic with you? You aren't related, and you aren't his servant," Trowa said.
"Yeah, about that…"
"You slept with him," Trowa concluded.
Duo nodded and looked over at Heero. His expression was guarded.
"You can, you know, be pissed if you want," Duo told him.
"Thanks," Heero growled.
Duo looked over at Trowa, curious about HIS reaction.
"Treize has… shared me with him before," Trowa said, seeming to pick his words carefully. "Sex usually gives Zechs a hold over his partner. He can practically control you afterwards until it fades."
Duo nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. In the past, that was always the case. But this time – I could control HIM. Somehow I reversed it."
Trowa frowned. "Treize can't do that."
"Yeah. I know. So I thought it might have something to do with us."
Trowa shook his head. "I don't think so."
Duo sighed and looked back at Heero.
"Just – say whatever you want to say."
Heero glared at him.
"You did what you had to do. You needed the magic – and from what you've told me, you wouldn't have willingly slept with him otherwise. I assume you didn't want to involve Trowa in this for a legitimate reason, so Zechs was your only option."
"And yet you're pissed as hell about it…"
"Yes," Heero confirmed.
Duo sighed.
"So what am I supposed to do? Apologize – because yeah, I am sorry. If I could have avoided it would have."
"I know."
"Then what – what I am supposed to do?"
"Duo, I almost died because I was protecting the Arbiter – a man you never would have cared about if he didn't look like Anthony Quinn. I came back to you to start a relationship, and you've got a Soul Mate. I wake up and you tell me that you've slept with the only Old One I couldn't kill. My one failure. I think, all things considered, I'm allowed to be pissed off."
Heero didn't rant often, but when he did, it was always explosive.
Duo swallowed hard and nodded.
"Yeah, okay. You're right. I fucked it up and –"
"Stop," Heero growled. "This isn't your fault. I don't blame you. I'm not even mad at you."
"Just the world," Duo supplied.
"Yes," Heero agreed.
Duo nodded and glanced over at Trowa. The shape shifter had remained silent throughout Heero's tirade, and he, curiously, hadn't expressed anger over Duo sleeping with someone else.
"So what about you, then? Are you also pissed at the world?"
"No more than usual," Trowa told him. "I'm not thrilled about the mental image of you and Zechs together."
"I'm not thrilled with the image of you and Zechs together," Duo muttered.
"I didn't have a choice," Trowa pointed out, his voice bitter.
"I know." Duo sighed. "And I know that you belong to Treize and fucking hell I do not want to have to think about that man torturing you again."
"Me either," Trowa said drolly. He arched an eyebrow. "I assume -?"
"Yeah. Back in the Old Court. Before Jason decided I was more than just an amusement for his Council."
They all fell silent, and Duo reflected that they were likely a therapist's worst nightmare. It was amazing that any of them could even function, and ridiculous to think that they had a chance of coming out of this whole.
"So what's the verdict on you getting out of here?" Duo asked Heero, deciding that they weren't going to resolve any of their issues any time soon.
"They want to keep me for observation for another few days." Heero looked as excited about the prospect as Duo felt.
"How are you healing?"
Heero rubbed a hand over his chest.
"Faster than usual. Thanks to you." He shrugged. "I can already breathe normally, and the pain is manageable."
Duo rolled his eyes. Of course Heero wouldn't be on pain medication. He hated to dull his reactions.
"So… what do you want to do?" He asked him.
"I'd like to get the hell out of here," Heero answered.
Duo grinned.
"Let's see what we can do about that."
-0-
In the end they had to smuggle him out – Robbins refused to sign off on a patient who had just undergone serious surgery leaving a hospital less than forty-eight hours later – but Duo was grateful. The sooner he left the foul smelling place the better, and he made a mental note to ensure that none of them had to visit one again.
Trowa drove them back to Duo's condo and Duo got Heero situated in the bedroom while Trowa made him soup.
Duo was grateful for the time alone with Heero.
He sat on the edge of the bed once Heero was ensconced under the covers.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I am," he continued when Heero started to speak. "I'm not saying that all of this is my fault – because let's be honest, fate fucking hates me and would have found some way to fuck me over even if it didn't involve Soul Mates and being haunted by my past. But, I'm SORRY because I do love you, okay? I love you, and you almost died – just like everyone else – and I'm freaked out about it."
"I know," Heero said.
"Okay, Han Solo, I'm glad that you 'know' but what the hell am I supposed to do? I'm the Executioner again, my Soul Mate is the leader of an illegal pack of shape shifters and he belongs to a sadistic vampire who would love to have my head on a plate and you – look at you. You're ready to pass out after walking from the elevator to my front door." Duo shook his head. "I swear to God, this is about all I can handle." He buried his head in his hands.
"Are you done freaking out now?" Heero asked after a moment.
Duo lifted his head and glared at him.
"No, I'm not. Because I neglected to mention the fact that the Council knows who the serial killer is and Treize won't let anyone tell me and I can't shake the feeling that I should know who it is and that the bastard might attack Hilde. So no, I'm not quite done."
"Okay. I'll just be here, slowly recovering from my near fatal wound, when you want to calm down and remember that you're one of the most dangerous men alive and no one can touch you if you don't let them."
Duo sighed and moved to lay down beside Heero in the bed.
"Fine. I remember. I'm calm."
Heero smirked at him.
"So what are you going to do?"
"Nap sounds nice."
Heero arched an eyebrow.
"Oh – about all the shit I need to fix in the world?" Duo sighed. "I need to figure out who the hell this serial killer is. And I need to figure out how the hell to get Trowa away from Treize. And – yeah, I'm starting to freak out again."
"Trowa can take care of himself," Heero pointed out.
"You say that but the bastard had him in a silver collar –"
"He's powerful enough that he could kill Treize if he wanted to," Heero interrupted. "You have to let him do this his way. He doesn't need you to fight for him."
Duo groaned. "I really don't like the two of you being on the same page while I'm out here on my own."
"Stop being wrong, then," Heero said.
"Yeah. I'll get right on that. Okay, fine. Trowa can fight his own damn battles. So, the serial killer. Zechs said something weird to me –" he stopped himself when Trowa came into the room.
The shape shifter was carrying a bowl of soup on a plate with two slices of bread.
"Smells good," Duo commented.
"Family recipe," Trowa informed him before handing the plate to Heero.
"You made that from scratch? In ten minutes?"
Trowa looked amused. "No, I opened a can of chicken noodle soup and heated it up. Then I put it in a bowl."
Duo rolled his eyes. "Family recipe. Whatever."
Trowa stood by the bed and looked a little unsure of what he should do.
Duo shifted closer to Heero so that there was room on his other side, and Trowa sat down.
"How's your neck, by the way?" Duo asked.
"Healing slowly."
Duo assumed that with him having passed out Trowa had thought it best to remain in human form and watch over both he and Heero in the hospital.
He stretched out, and it was surprisingly comfortable to have Heero on one side of him and Trowa on the other.
Duo yawned. He felt completely drained – physically and emotionally. He didn't understand why he was so tired, considering that he had been unconscious for twenty four hours, but he figured it had something to do with the fact that he could finally think about closing his eyes and not picture Heero dying in his arms.
"That nap sounds like a really good idea," Duo muttered.
"We have dinner with Relena in three hours," Trowa told him, settling back against the pillows. "She rescheduled when she came by and saw you and Heero hooked up to IVs and heart monitors."
"Thoughtful of her," Duo said. "Maybe we should cancel, though, I don't want to leave Heero on his own."
"I'll be fine," Heero said. "So don't even think of postponing the damn thing until I'm well enough to go. That woman is oversexed and I do not enjoy being looked at as though I were a piece of fresh meat."
He finished the soup and bread and sat the empty plate down on the nightstand. He shifted so that he was laying down and looked over at Duo.
"You should go. It would put Quatre's mind at ease."
Duo had to agree with the logic of that statement.
"Okay, but first I'm taking a nap."
"Lazy."
"Oh like you can talk – look at you, you can barely keep your eyes open," Duo grumbled.
"I'm injured," Heero protested, but he finally allowed his eyes to close.
Duo watched as his breathing evened out and his body relaxed.
The bed shifted as Trowa rolled onto his side, away from Duo.
"Thanks for not being a shitty Soul Mate," Duo told him. He reached out and ran a hand over Trowa's hip. He drew his shirt up and rested his hand against Trowa's bare flesh, enjoying the instant feeling of contentment he felt at the contact.
"Just don't make me do it again," Trowa said. He caught Duo's hand as he started to move away and used it to pull Duo closer so that he was pressed against his back. "I really don't like seeing you in a hospital bed."
"I'll keep that in mind," Duo promised. He adjusted his arm so that he was holding Trowa a little higher and then he closed his eyes.
Duo and Trowa were the last to arrive for Relen'a dinner party – Hilde and Quatre had driven up together so that she could fill him in on the serial killer's latest victim – and Duo was both grateful and mildly uneasy that she had arranged to have caterers serve them in her massive suite.
Hilde greeted him with a hug, and he held her tightly, breathing in her clean scent and basking in the warmth of her magic.
"How is Heero?" She asked as they sat down with everyone else.
"Recovering at home," Duo told her.
"Excellent. Shall we drink a toast to his health?" She suggested and raised a glass of champagne.
Duo had barely managed to take a sip from his own glass when she continued.
"And now I want to hear all about how you became involved with this gorgeous creature."
Duo choked on his champagne.
Relena's smile was practically predatory as she looked over Trowa.
"An excellent specimen," she continued. "And while I applaud your taste, I'm very curious about just when you started to relax your ban on shape shifters sharing your bed? Is he just that good?" She winked at Duo.
He could feel Trowa's irritation, and while he was used to the way that Relena discussed sex and potential lovers as though they really were little more than fresh meat – as Heero had said – he knew that she could at times be grating on other people's nerves.
"Quatre introduced us," Duo said, determined to ignore any slight she had given Trowa and not start an argument.
"You introduced Duo Maxwell to a shape shifter?" She turned her amused gaze to Quatre. "What on earth possessed you to do so?"
Quatre sighed. "I didn't know he was at the time…"
Relena arched an eyebrow and looked back at Trowa.
"He's practically broadcasting it," she pointed out. It was true – once Duo had discovered his secret, Trowa had never bothered to mask his shape shifter magic around him.
Duo looked at Trowa and smirked at the look on his face.
A moment later he could barely feel Trowa's magic at all, it was just a faint, golden wash, and he was fairly confident that only he could feel that.
Relena's eyes widened. "Oh my. Most impressive. What else can he do?"
"He can speak," Trowa answered her, his voice terse.
"So he can." Relena arched an eyebrow. " Can he also explain why he decided to deceive the Arbiter and the Executioner?"
Duo sighed.
"Relena –"
"Duo. He can speak for himself. He said so." Her voice had taken on the icy, commanding tone that she used on rebellious minions.
"Well?" She prompted Trowa. "If I'm not mistaken it is in fact, now illegal in this country to deceive someone into thinking you aren't a magic user."
"I was never directly asked," Trowa said eventually, the expression on his face making it clear he would rather stab Relena with a fork than answer her.
"Hm. So you still felt it was warranted that you deceive your Soul Mate?"
"I didn't know he was at the time. And yes, I felt it was warranted."
"Why? Because you knew who Duo was?"
Trowa inclined his head.
"Ah. I see. You wanted to cozy up to the Executioner and win him over to the plight of the shape shifters."
"Yes."
"And how did that work out for you?"
Quatre and Hilde were starting to look as tense as Duo felt. He sighed.
"Relena, is now really the time –"
"Duo, I've known you for four hundred years. In that time I know that you have buried five human servants, your best friend, and the love of your life. You have absolutely no concept of watching your own back, and I've seen you lose too many people that you care about. So, yes, now is the time to interrogate this shape shifter – and your human servant – because if I don't look out for you, no one will."
She turned back to Trowa.
"Now, I would like to know what guarantee you can give me that you aren't still trying to use Duo to fight for the freedom of shape shifters. Because you now have the Executioner as a Soul Mate – which means that he would sooner kill himself than you and he isn't likely to lay a finger on any other shape shifter for fear of hurting you."
"I don't think that's true," Trowa argued. "No, I don't think he would harm me, but I also know he's intractable on the issue of shape shifter's rights. He's more likely to side with Treize on any issue involving shape shifters than not. It's not Duo who should be concerned with someone watching his back. I'm the one who has to fight for my very right to walk into a room without permission from someone."
Relena's eyes narrowed.
"And you think Duo won't fight alongside you."
"I know he won't. He's blinded by prejudice."
"I believe you mean that's he's had nearly a thousand years of experiential evidence of knowing that shape shifters are a danger to society."
"I don't believe that either," Trowa argued.
"Really? Do you know what Duo's greatest fear is? Either of you?" She turned her gaze to Hilde.
"Relena, enough. Leave them alone."
"Well?" She continued, completely ignoring Duo.
Hilde paled and looked over at him.
"No," she admitted.
Trowa remained stonily silent.
"His greatest fear –"
"Relena. They don't need –"
" – is dying in a fire. And do you know why that is his greatest fear?" She paused long enough to glare at both of them. "When he was a child he lived in a monastery in Scotland. A monastery that had a habit of taking in strangers who needed protection from the elements or from the world. The leader of the monastery, Father Maxwell, took in a group of peasants one night – a family five – and as soon as the monks and acolytes had gone to sleep the family shifted into their wolves and butchered the monks. Once they had had their fill, they set the monastery on fire so that none of their victims would live long enough to become shape shifters themselves. There were only two survivors – Duo and Solo, his Ephemeral companion."
Quatre and Hilde wore identical expressions of horror on their faces, but Trowa was locked in a glaring match with Relena.
"And that is only the first in a long list of incidents that Duo has –"
"Relena. Enough. Please."
She looked at him, and the pained expression on his face made her sigh.
"They should know. They should understand. And he–"
"Five people's action, however horrific, should not be used to judge an entire race," Trowa interrupted.
"Then what about the hundreds of others Duo has faced over the years? Surely their actions –"
"We aren't animals. I've met vampires more vicious than any shape shifter and faeries more likely to kill children than the shape shifters I protect."
"So have I," Duo growled, thoroughly irritated with Relena for making this an issue.
"And as a result you are filled with more self-loathing than anyone else I have ever met." Relena shook her head. "You truly believe that all Old Ones are a threat to humans."
"We are!"
"You said it yourself, I've buried every human I've ever cared about. And they've died because of me. You can't tell me their lives wouldn't have been better without my involvement."
"Actually, I can. Being your servant prolonged their lives, saved them from disease, and gave them the chance to be with you. A chance that I sincerely hope these two understand is one they should kill for."
"Each other?" Duo suggested, trying to lighten the mood.
Relena looked serious for a moment longer, but then she relaxed and smiled slightly.
"That is not what I meant." She sighed. "I simply want to make sure that they understand –"
"They understand, Relena. They've met me. They know I don't have a past full of rainbows and unicorns."
"You don't?" Hilde asked, jumping in. Duo shot her a look of gratitude.
"Well, I suppose I'll end the interrogation. Tell me about the new developments regarding this serial killer."
Duo let Hilde and Quatre take the lead on explaining the situation to Relena. He looked over at Trowa. He was still withdrawn, his magic barely a flicker, and his face had the blank look that meant he was angry and trying to hide it.
He reached out under the table and grabbed Trowa's clenched fist.
Trowa flinched away from him and then relaxed, allowing Duo to pry his fingers lose.
" – my brother doing there?" Relena asked.
Duo cleared his throat.
"Helping me get rid of the ritual circle. Uh, that reminds me – I asked if the serial killer was a servant to one of the Council members."
"Is he?" Hilde asked. "You didn't tell me you had a lead."
"I don't. He didn't." Duo sighed and shifted in his chair so that it was easier for him to rub his fingers over the back of Trowa's hand. "He said that the Ephemeral had never been a servant, but was instead the master of the greatest threat to the Council. He wouldn't say anything more – Treize swore him to silence with a blood oath. Anyway, Relena, do you have any idea what he's talking about?"
She looked pale.
"Duo," Quatre spoke up, "isn't Treize's biggest concern that you are a threat to the Council?"
Duo shrugged. "Sure, but am I his greatest threat? Besides, I don't have a master. Not unless we're talking about Jason. I haven't… I haven't had another master since…"
He looked at Relena, and the faery had gone completely white.
All of the pieces started to fit together – and Duo was overwhelmed with fury.
"Relena."
She flinched, but met his gaze.
"The only master I've ever served aside from Jason was an Ephemeral. An Ephemeral that was executed by the Old Council four hundred years ago."
Relena blinked.
"Relena, tell me that the Council executed Solo four hundred years ago. Tell me that my master hasn't been alive all of this time and you knew."
"Duo, Jason –"
"Son of a bitch!"
Duo jerked away from Trowa and stormed from the hotel room. His only thought was tracking down Treize and finding out just where Solo was and why he had kept his existence a secret. And if he needed to stab Treize with something sharp and silver a few times in the process, Duo was okay with that.
Up Next: Noin steps up to the plate.
Definitions:
Council: the body that presides over magical creatures and users in the US. The Old Council refers to the European Council.
Dryad: A nature spirit, like a Sprite. Another Old One. Usually associated with a tree, and different 'families' of Dryads are associated with different trees.
Ephemeral: a human who can use magic. Used interchangeably with witch.
Jinn: alternately Djinn or Genie. They are spirits, supposedly created by God (if you're Muslim), and can be good or bad.
Old Ones: the powerful magical races. Vampires, Shape shifters, Faeries, and a few more to be named later!
Old Ways: reference to the way that the European Council ran things or the way things were before magic was legal. Sally Po refers to the old ways – a reference to the practices of Native American Shamans, and NOT the Council.
Null: a human without magical ability.
Shaman: A Native American mystic or holy person. Used in this context to mean an Ephemeral.