Thanks for all the reviews guys…I made this chapter longer then my normal ones.

Warnings: AU OOC, Flight,

Chapter Eight: Red Dragon and Flight

Heero woke up a little surprised that Duo wasn't in his bed. He sat up, rubbed his temples, and eyed the door guiltily. He knew Duo still had problems with the nightmares. It wasn't right for him to have told Duo to stay in his own bed. He threw the covers aside and got out of bed, quickly dressing himself and left his room.

He was also surprised to find that Duo had already left the chambers. They usually walked down to breakfast together before Heero would go into meetings with the others and deal with the soldiers.

Heero left his chambers in a, not so good, mood and made his way down to breakfast. He turned the corner and found Wufei leaving his room.

"Have you seen Duo!" He barked out. Wufei looked at Heero and smiled.

"Morning to you too." He said. "And yes, Duo stopped by this morning with Quatre. I guess the two of them are going to explore the upper floors of the castle today. Quatre hasn't been up there in a long time, and he felt that it may help Duo want to spread his wings again." Heero smiled at that, he caught Duo on many occasions looking at the sky his wings slightly open, that longing in his eyes.

He had wondered what it would look like to see Duo with his wings spread, or flying in the sky. He still felt incredible guilty though.

"Did Duo look okay this morning?" Heero asked.

"He looked tired. He told me what you said." Heero blushed slightly.

"I was just mad-."

"Heero, you don't have to tell me anything. Just keep it between you and Duo." Heero rolled his eyes and walked passed Wufei with a growl. Wufei smiled as he followed Heero.

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"Wow! Quatre look at this." Duo said, coming to step out on the tallest tower of the castle. The wind was pulling at his feathers and his braid. His eyes closed as he enjoyed the feel of the wind. He heard Quatre come out onto the balcony and step up next to him.

"How long has it been Duo?" Quatre asked, feeling that Duo wanted to be in the air.

"Too long." Duo said, opening his eyes.

"Then why don't you. Your wings have healed, all your feathers have grown back." Quatre said, lightly running fingers through Duo's feathers.

"I can't…." Duo said and made to turn back towards the door. His eyes caught movement on the ground.

"Duo I thi-."

"What is that?" Duo asked, interrupting Quatre. Quatre moved to look in the direction Duo was looking. He had to look really hard before he saw it. The maroon and blue flags. He panicked and backed up a few steps. "What is it?" Duo asked.

"Those are Oz soldiers." Quatre said running for the door. Duo looked back at them, then down to the ground of the castle courtyard. He could see Heero, King Odin and Trowa stepping out. He jumped up onto the balcony's edge and spread his wings, not to their fullest length but enough so that when he jumped off the tower he landed in a perfect crouch in front of Heero, landing on his haunches, his hands on the ground. Heero had taken a step back in surprise. Odin had actually yelped slightly in surprise and Trowa had pulled out his sword, thinking it was an assassin.

"Duo!" Heero said. Duo straighten up. Trowa sheathed his sword and stood up straight.

"I saw them, Oz, their in Gundam." Duo said.

"What! How do you know it was Oz." Odin asked.

"It is! I saw…the flags." Quatre said, coming out behind them, out of breath and heaving slightly. He looked at Duo, then behind him, then at Duo again. He shook his head and turned back to the others. "It looks like it's only a small portion of their army."

"How far away are they?" Trowa asked.

"Not far." Duo said.

"Maybe an hour." Quatre added.

That was when hell broke out. The King and Heero rushed into action, getting the soldiers ready for the attack. The castle was barricaded and the people who lived in the town around the castle were brought into the castles walls for safety. The women, elders, and children were brought to the lower parts of the castle, while the men, the strong and able, readied for battle.

Duo tried to help with everything he could, but he just felt like he was in the way. Quatre told him to help with the weapons and they retrieved them all for the soldiers. Duo went back to Heero with his scythe in hand, he too was ready to fight. To protect his knew home.

"Duo, go with Quatre and wait in my chambers. Don't let anyone come in unless you know who they are." Heero ordered.

"Heero I can help you fight." Duo protested.

"No you can't, you'll only be in the way. You don't have enough experience and you'll be a distraction to those who don't want to see you hurt." Heero said. Duo was about to say something else, but Quatre grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the castle.

After an hour the castle was deathly quiet. Everyone was anticipating the arrival of Oz, the attack they knew was coming. Duo had a perfect view of the front of the castle. He could see Heero from the window and watched him carefully.

It was the screeching that they didn't expect. With the clouds thick in the sky, the dragons weren't seen until it was too late.

"Shit." Someone said next to him.

"Shoot them down." Heero ordered. Tar covered boulders were loaded into the catapults and lit on fire. They flew towards the dragons but were easily evaded. Using his abilities Heero moved the flaming boulders as one unit towards one of the dragons, causing the dragon to collide with the ground and break it's neck, throwing it's rider. The rider was immediately sliced down.

Heero's eye caught the rider of the largest dragon. The dragon itself was intimidating, a black dragon covered from head to foot with blood red armor. It's tail looked like a ridged whip ready to strike down anything. (The dragon looks like Epyon okay J ). Heero glared at Trieze, who was sitting on the back of the dragon his sword ready. But Heero noticed that Trieze had different plans, as his eyes weren't on Heero.

The dragon took a sharp turn, heading towards the King. Heero ran full speed towards his father, yelling out a warning but it was to late. The dragon picked up the king in his talons. Heero picked up his pace and managed to grab onto the dragons tail just as it kicked off the ground.

Heero sheathed his sword with one hand, his other holding onto the red armor of the dragon's tail. He grabbed on with both hands and started to climb up the dragons tail.

"You're a stupid boy." Trieze said, turning to see Heero half way up the dragon's tail. It was all Heero could do to hang on as the dragon whipped his tail around.

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"They've got dragons." Duo said, watching the dragons swooping on the ground and picking up soldiers like they were nothing. He watched at Heero controlled the boulders to force the dragon out of the sky. He watched as Trowa shot one in the lower jaw, his arrow going through the dragons head. He watched as Wufei jumped onto the back of one killing the rider and leading the dragon to go after the others.

That was when the big red armored dragon swooped out of the sky. Duo and Quatre watched as the dragon picked the king up, and as Heero grabbed onto the tail. They watched as the dragon rose higher then the castle, still rising higher into the sky, the dragons tail whipping around, trying to throw Heero off. Then it disappeared into the clouds.

"Heero…" Duo whispered. Duo pushed the window open and got onto the window ceil.

"Duo what are you doing?" Quatre asked reaching out for Duo. Duo looked at Quatre, smiled a very smug smile, and jumped from the window. Quatre rushed to the window and watched as Duo fell a few feet before his wings snapped open to their full length. Quatre was speechless as he watched them beat against the sky, bringing Duo higher. Duo suddenly took a sharp turn upward, his wings beating faster as he rose into the sky.

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Trowa saw the shadow fly over him and turned, arrows ready, but what he saw made him stare in shock. Duo was flying. Trowa smiled and watched as Duo headed skyward disappearing into the clouds.

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Heero finally got to where Trieze was and punched him in the face. Trieze's head turned in the force of the blow, and he brought his own fist into Heero's gut sending Heero backwards, tumbling off the dragon. Heero caught himself on the armor. There was a scream next to him and he turned to see his father being squeezed in the dragon's talons.

"Stop it." Heero yelled, trying to pull himself back onto the dragon.

"Listen to him Heero. This is what your mother did before she died." Trieze spat out. Heero growled out in anger and pulled himself up onto the dragon. His hand grabbed a fist full of Trieze's hair, before Trieze even knew what was happening. Heero pressed his dagger to Trieze's throat.

"Bring him back to the ground, saf-" Heero choked a little, gasping for air, his eyes rolling slightly.

"The airs a lot thinner up here, Heero." Trieze said with a smirk. "I think it's time for both of you to die." Trieze said, pushing Heero off the dragon. At the same time the dragon dropped the king. Heero unsheathed his sword and swung one last time, catching the dragons thigh between the armor. Blood spraying over him and he fell towards the ground.

Heero tried to use his abilities to balance the wind around him, but he was too high up and the wind itself was too strong. Something black shot up passed him in a blink of an eye.

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Duo saw Heero fall from the dragons back, he saw the blood gushing through the dragons armor and he rushed upward faster. Duo passed Heero before balancing himself and dove after the Prince. He folded his wings tight to his back and flew downward. As he approached Heero he brought his wings out a bit to slow himself down. If he didn't go the same speed as Heero he could seriously hurt him. The force of being stopped at this speed would really hurt Heero, if not kill him. He turned his back to Heero and spread his wings out fully, the wind caught them and shot up upwards, causing Heero to land on his back, knocking the last of his breath out of his lungs. Heero immediately wrapped his arms around Duo's neck, trying to catch his breath. Duo dove again, heading towards the ground. After a minute Heero gasped for air, finally able to get some. Unsure of what exactly was happening. His eyes fell on his father who was falling below them.

"Duo!" He yelled over the wind, pointing downward.

"Hold on." Duo said. Heero's eyes shot open wide and Duo's wing folded in pressing in on Heero, holding Heero in place. Duo dove for the ground even faster, everything around them blurred.

They passed the top of the castle and where nearing the ground quickly. Just before they hit the ground Duo's wrapped his arms around the king and in a fluent motion swerved upward, his wings snapping out again, and taking a few unlucky men out as he passed them.

Fire hit the ground a second after Duo moved. Duo looked over his shoulder to see the large red armored Dragon and Trieze giving chase.

"Trowa!" Duo shouted seeing Trowa ahead of them. Trowa turned and barely managed to catch the sudden weight of the King as he was dropped into his arms.

With the king out of his arms Duo picked up speed, wing flapping hard and headed skyward again. The dragon right behind him. Duo turned and headed towards the castle.

"Duo what are you doing?" Heero asked, eyeing the castle. Duo didn't say anything as he flew straight into the window, his wings folded, of the western tower. Duo immediately flew down the stair case. His feet running against the wall as he did so. At the end of the staircase he pushed off the wall with his feet and flew down the halls. He couldn't open his wings all the way, giving them a hard time flapping, but Duo managed to keep air born.

There was a crash behind them, the red armored dragon let out a screech and gave chase, they watched as the dragon flew next to them outside the castle, seeing the dragon form window to window. Duo turned down another hall that ended in a large stained glassed window. Using his abilities again, Heero blew the glass away as Duo dove out the window and towards the forest on the Northern side of the castle. The dragon followed.

"Duo the trees are to close." Heero said, Duo grinned.

"I know." Was all Duo said before he entered the forest.

Duo's wings folded and flapped between the trees. His body twisting and turning to weave around the trees. Weaker branched snapped on Duo's wings, stronger ones bent as he flew passed. Heero moved with Duo, trying to make the turns easier with his weight on Duo's back. A small amount of blood hit Heero's cheek. He looked at Duo's wing and found cuts from the branches.

Fire swept passed them, meaning that the dragon was following them. Duo flapped his wings hard, picking up more speed. They cleared the forest and flew over an empty meadow, Duo folded his right wing, just as the dragon went to bit it, thrusting it out to hit the dragon in the face, the hit threw the dragon off balance, Heero chose then to wave his hand upward, bringing a solid wall of stone from the ground. The dragon crashed into it, its neck breaking at the impact. Trieze was thrown into the ground and laid there unmoving.

"Duo we need to go back." Heero said as Duo turned to enter the forest again.

"We can't." he said.

"I have to make sure he is dead." Heero said.

"I can't." Duo said again. "Look up." Duo added. Heero did so and found more dragons heading towards the meadow. "I barely managed to dodge one, I don't think I can hand-" A flame shot past them. Duo groaned. "Hold on." He said and headed skyward. Tree braches whipping them in the face and broke against Duo's wings.

They broke threw the forest's canopy and into the sky. Duo turned and headed back towards the castle. The dragon suddenly stopped chasing as the rider turned them to help his king. Another dragon passed them chasing after the dragon that had been chasing them.

Duo flew over the wall of the castle and descended to the ground. He landed on his feet and allowed Heero to stand before he fell to his hands and knees, breathing deeply, his wings spread across the ground. His left wing was smoking slightly as the feathers were crumpled and burnt from the flames. Both wings were missing feathers again, and blood was showing on them in the form of a thick sheen.

Heero knelt down next to Duo and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you Duo." He said. Duo looked at him was half closed eyes and smiled, collapsing into Heero's arms.

"That was quiet a flight for someone who hasn't flown in over a month." Trowa said. Heero nodded.

"He didn't get much sleep last night ether." Heero said, feeling really guilty now. Heero picked up Duo and turned back to Trowa.

"How is he?" He asked.

"Not to good Heero." Trowa said.

"Sally's tending to him now, but it looks bad."

'Where is Wufei?" Heero asked.

"Chasing the last of the army off. He stole one of the dragon." Trowa said, looking amused at that. "They never mad it into the castle and the dragon riders were taken care of." He added. Heero nodded and headed back into the castle.

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I really enjoyed writing that chapter…I hope you all liked, let me know.