See all warnings and disclaimers in the first chapter.
A/N: (Floating) I am so happy . . . such lovely readers . . . (sigh) Here I was thinking last chapter was so long and slow, and you all assured me it wasn't . . . I love you!
Oh, this is to Shizukesa-sama: It doesn't take much to spark my imagination, but let me tell you, you did it in a BIG way. I can't tell you more than that . . . XD
Maars (and to any else who were wondering)—this is futuristic. I'll be revealing more about technology later on, but think Star Wars and impressive cities.
The Things You Don't Expect
"Duo, take the scarves off, just for a sec?" Heero requested, tugging a little. "I won't go far, you'll never be out of my sight, but I gotta get this out of my system!"
Grinning, Duo untied the scarves. "I'll wait here for you, I don't want to trip over any roots."
"I wouldn't want that either!" Heero exclaimed, and Duo heard him bolt off. "Your face is so cute, it doesn't need any scratches or bruises."
Laughing softly, Duo carefully felt for a tree to lean against and sat down. "Are you still close, my large and fluffy pet?"
"Yes, I can still see you. Hmm, there's evidence of human passage not that long ago. Feel like hunting some bipedal game?"
Letting his head fall back against the bark, Duo raised an eyebrow. "Hunt humans, huh? That doesn't sound like fun."
"But I also smell blood. What if one of them was hurt?"
That made Duo straighten a little. "Blood? Heero, come back."
Moments later a warm, wet nose touched his hand. Reaching up, Duo buried his fingers in Heero's incredibly soft, thick fur. "We're not that far from the city. Who would have camped here? And why."
"You know more about humans than I do. Inscrutable lot. I would have camped way up in the mountains."
"Of course you would have. Did you smell anything else?"
"Yes. Electricity. Like a lightning bolt."
"You can smell that?" Duo said, surprised. "What does it smell like?"
Heero snuffled laughter, sticking his nose in Duo's face. "It smells like electricity. Can't describe it. Tangy, bitter, coppery, sharp . . . those are all good words to try, though. It's all those and more."
"There, see?" Duo admonished, grabbing Heero's muzzle and kissing it, "that wasn't so hard, was it?"
Heero licked his mouth, making him pull away with a laugh. "Well? Have you changed your mind? Can we go hunting?"
Grinning ruefully, Duo tied the scarves back around Heero's neck and torso in a makeshift harness. "I forgot I wanted to get you a real one. All right, we'll explore a little bit."
"Oh, good. Here, come this way. Be careful, Duo. There're roots and shrubs everywhere. Don't trip!"
Duo followed Heero's lead, and as before the big wolf stayed close enough to guide him not only by tugging on the lead but by nudging him with his body. He could hear Heero sniffing at things, could feel his contented excitement, his desire to unravel the mystery.
"The smell of blood is here, too," the wolf said, "and it's fresher. This could be a mere hour or two old, Duo. I think someone is hurt, because the smell is stronger."
"If we find anything tangible," Duo said slowly, "maybe we should get help."
"And if there are bad people around, we should be extra careful," Heero said.
Duo got the feeling he said that without concern for anyone but Duo.
o8o o8o
As they pressed deeper into the forest, Heero's instincts began screaming at him. Something was wrong, he knew it. Everything was too quiet, for starters. He could hear the occasional birdsong, but there were no little creatures scurrying around in the undergrowth. It was only like this when something scared them . . . but what could it be? On Tel'Mar it was the presence of predators.
It was possible that a animal of some sort had attacked a human, he supposed. But there was little to no evidence of that sort of struggle, such as broken and trampled undergrowth. He kept his ears alert and eyes keen.
"What is it, Heero?" Duo asked silently, a hint of anxiousness in his mental voice.
Heero immediately moderated his own anxiety, rubbing his head against Duo's leg. "Probably nothing." But his instincts were seldom wrong.
Somewhere in the far-too-close-distance, he heard a scream. It sounded like a woman. Heart pounding, he turned to look, felt Duo's hand clench in the thick fur at the back of his neck.
"What was that?" his Bonded whispered, his soft tone conveying even mind-to-mind.
Heero didn't know much about humans, for sure, but that scream didn't sound pained or frightened. It sounded angry. "I don't know, but someone might be in trouble. Do you want to—?"
"Yes!" Duo said at once. "Go, Heero!"
The Telmaran wolf needed no second bidding. Making sure to keep his pace safe for Duo, he tracked the direction of the sound. In a short time he could smell the stink of sweat and fear and anger and hate. Splash in a liberal dose of blood for good measure, and Heero nearly reeled from the overwhelming—and unpleasant—odor.
Through a break in the trees a strange sight met his eyes. A woman, perhaps a handful of inches taller than Duo, stood facing a man. They shared only a single thing in common: long golden-blonde hair. The man was armed with what looked like a long hunting knife, and the woman's blue dress was torn.
The first thought that flickered through Heero's mind was, this was not appropriate terrain for a dress. The material was somewhat sparkly and gauzy, a sure sign it was not meant for outdoor activity of any kind, let alone trekking through forests and mountains.
The second was, the woman looked to be bursting a blood vessel in her anger, and the man looked pale and weary. Though the woman was not armed, that seemed . . . odd. Like it should have been the other way around, since the man held the weapon.
The third was, a small shuttle pod was landed nearby, hovering a hairsbreadth above the ground. Ready for immediate takeoff, then. It had some official insignia or other—registered to the Andarian Empire, then. Heero only knew that because many of the shuttles that landed on Tel'Mar were registered to the Andarian Empire.
It took about four seconds to take all this in. That was all the time he got, anyway, because at that moment, the man shifted and lowered his knife. Only then did Heero notice it was bloody, and the woman had several shallow scratches on her arms.
"Why are you doing this?" the man asked, sounding utterly defeated.
Heero's ears flicked toward the woman, now, curious as to what he might mean. Her blue eyes were haughty and filled with scorn.
"I have told you time and time again, yet you still refuse to listen. Are you deaf as well as blind, fool?"
Back to the man.
"You're the one who is blind, Relena," the man spat, "and the fool as well! I told you your first plan would not work, so what makes you think this one will? It's more absurd than the last, and the Vice Chancellors will cut you down for it! You are no longer as powerful as you once were."
"And whose fault is that, brother dear?" the woman—Relena—scoffed. "You undermined me, ruined my chances for the throne. I would have been Empress were it not for you!"
"Were it not for you, you mean," her brother said quietly, voice full of resignation. "It was your own scheming and plotting that brought you down, Relena. And that you never could choose an adversary wisely. The emperor's daughter isn't stupid."
Relena abruptly whirled away from her nameless brother, the act of turning her back riling the predator in Heero. Her brother didn't react much, other than to slump his shoulders.
"I'm going to kill you, Zechs," she said, not a hint of irony in her voice. "I know you won't stop me; you never could deny me anything."
Beside Heero, Duo finally stirred. "Zechs Marquise!" he hissed. "The Lightning Count. He was to be next in line for the Andarian throne after the emperor's daughter. I'd heard it on the news that he and his younger sister, Relena Peacecraft, were exposed as plotting the emperor's death. I could never believe it until now."
"Do you know him at all?" Heero asked.
"I—" Duo began, but a new voice cut them off.
"Princess!" A sterling hulk of a man came tromping out of the forest on the opposite side of the clearing. "We're all finished here. We should return to Kentan right away."
Still ignoring her brother, Relena paced back to her shuttle. "Yes. At once then, Rashid."
"What shall I do with your brother?" the man asked, gesturing with a huge energy rifle at Zechs.
Ah. That would have been the source of electricity Heero had smelled earlier. Those things had an impressive discharge.
"Leave him," Relena said, waving a be-ringed, imperious hand.
"We should go," Heero said, backing up as slowly as he could. "We definitely shouldn't be here."
"Wait," Rashid said, eyes moving past Zechs. "something's amiss . . ."
Heero froze. As if on cue, two other men tromped out of the shuttle, making it rock softly. They too were armed with energy rifles, and they looked to Rashid for a sign. Rashid's eyes went right to the hidden pair.
"What the—" he snarled. "Who's there!"
Heero's heart sped up incrementally, his ears flattening against his skull. If he were alone, it would be easy to vanish. If Duo could see to run, it would be easy to make the two of them vanish. Neither of these things was an option. He could attack, and he would win. But killing humans was a messy business at best, and so far from the protection of Tel'Mar, who knew what would happen. He could not afford to let anything happen to Duo because of him.
But his moment of indecision cost him- that was all it took.