Disclaimers: Don't own any part of Gundam Wing nor it's characters. It's a loan.

Warnings: Shounen-ai, OOCs, AU (what else do I write?)

Circle of Destiny

Part 14

Heero took a step back, his heart pounding his in chest. Elves, he was harbouring elves. Elves were evil creatures waiting to pounce on a person and steal their soul. He was going to die, he was going to be attacked. He looked around, noting his sword was by his bedside. How could he have been so careless?! He knew that the slave was dangerous. Why didn't he listen to his instincts?

Your instincts are tell you that this is your lover, the same gentle voice admonished.

Duo stiffened and stopped advancing. "You really did steal it!" His eyes grew sad and condemning. "I wanted to… believe that all the deaths, all the suffering and all the pain. That they weren't your fault. But you took it."

Heero shook his head in denial. "No! I don't know what you are talking about. I don't even know you! You have some spell that is messing with my mind." He already knew that this wasn't the case. Whatever he had said wasn't true, not in the least. He was safe with this person, elf or not.

Duo was shaking his head. "You destroyed my people. You destroyed me. You lied about how you loved me, how you cared for me. You are like everyone else, you only wanted our treasure. You lied like everyone else." His head was bent, dark strands of hair falling over his face.

The young king's heart squeezed at the dejection on the elf's posture and the slow droplets of tears that fell to the ground next to his bare feet. Instincts propelled him forward, gathering the now human Duo into his arms. An ever-present ache he didn't really notice diminished. He inhaled deeply, smelling in a soft undertone of a scent that stirred up old memories. At this point, he wasn't sure if they were memories or hallucinations or dreams or some sort of spell inflicted on him but he did know that this was Nefros, the elf that had haunted his dreams from the day he was born. He tightened his arms around the struggling man.

"Let me go," Duo pushed ineffectively at the chest that held him captive. He didn't want to admit it to himself but it was part weakness from the Healing he had done and part from the familiar arms holding him. Just what was wrong with him? This man had destroyed all that was dear to him, yet when he was held, he was willing to throw aside his family, his ideals and his revenge?

Duo took a deep breath and pushed, causing Heero to stumble away.

"Duo, please," Heero begged, not really sure where this pleading tone came from. He didn't know half of what he was thinking or doing anymore. All he did know was that there was an overwhelming need to explain himself to this elf, to apologise and prostrate himself before his feet.

"I don't know what you did, or how you did it, but you managed to steal our treasure. In doing that, you took away the lives of my people. You caused children, babies, some even in the womb to die due to the lack of magic to sustain them," Duo's voice climbed with every word. "Then you caused my people to be enslaved and tortured, and my baby brother to be used as a pleasure slave." Duo refused dwell on the fact that each accusation thrown at Heero was very much due to his own guilt in the matter.

Heero fell to his knees, a cold shiver working its way through his body. Every single sentence stabbed directly into his heart. He didn't understand, he couldn't remember anything but yet, he felt that every single one of those accusations was valid. He really didn't know anymore. He really wasn't sure who he was at this point in time.

When he looked up the door was open and Duo was gone.

XXxxXX

Trowa traced little circles on the back of the blond currently curled up like a kitten next to him. His mind was in turmoil as he reflected back on the events of the last few days. The revelations of his teacher, and his slave, they were a little hard to swallow. He didn't know how to react to all he knew now, but he did know that deep within, it mattered little what Quatre was, only that he was someone that haunted his dreams for a long while now.

He had resisted forming any kind of physical relationship with his slave because he felt he was using Quatre and that the blond wouldn't know the depth of his feelings. He had thought Quatre had wanted him out of physical release but what they had shared was beyond that. Words were whispered, touches exchanged, looks shared, and it wasn't just sex they were talking here. He didn't understand how such intensity of feelings could be built over such a short period of time. It usually took more than a few weeks… moments for someone to irrevocably fall head over heels in love with someone right?

Deep down, he knew the exact moment Quatre became someone important to him, even if he wouldn't admit to loving the blond man… elf. It was the precise moment his eyes fell on him while he was clinging to his brother's ankle.

They were elves… and they had been living in the Kyrin for what seemed to be ages. What did they want? And apparently, whatever it was, they wanted it from Heero. He felt a slight pounding as a headache began. The moment they got whatever it was, they were going leave. That meant Quatre was going to leave him. His arms tightened around the blond, eliciting a small whimper of pain from his lover.

"Lor… Trowa?" Quatre whispered, his voice husky from sleep. "What's wrong?"

Trowa dropped a kiss on the pale forehead and disentangled himself from his lover's arms. "Sleep, my love. I need to go see someone for a while."

Quatre muttered something incomprehensible, turned over and went back to sleep. Trowa smiled at his dozing lover and pressed another kiss to Quatre's smooth forehead before quietly leaving the room. His destination was to where he could find information. His first thought was to look for Wufei. He was ever the teacher to both nobles as a child but Trowa was saddened that Wufei was now considered the enemy. He felt lost without the steady presence of his teacher, like a child thrown into the unknown.

With that option taken from him, he went to the libraries, hoping that historical accounts would be able to yield answers. He wasn't surprised to find his cousin within the large, eerily silent room. Heero was still dressed in the clothes he went hunting in the day before, and his tunic still ripped and bloodstained. Otherwise, he looked at the epitome of health.

"Are you feeling better?" Trowa asked, walking over when Heero startled at his voice. The other noble frowned. Heero was a very good warrior, which student of Wufei's wouldn't be? But what was this inattentiveness?

"Yes, I am," Heero nodded, looking at the large tome on the table again.

"What are you doing here?" Trowa asked, taking a seat opposite the king. "Shouldn't you be resting?"

"Why?" Heero muttered, his attention fully on the scroll before him.

Trowa grunted in disbelief. "You nearly died yesterday."

Heero looked up and stared at his cousin, his eyes haunted. "And I got saved by an elf. We are habouring elves, Trowa. Wufei's one as well! So is Sally."

"And so is Quatre," Trowa mumbled, burying his face into his hands. It didn't really feel good to have the ground swept off from under him. "We have to free them." Even as he said this, a lead weight settled in the vicinity of his heart. He knew it wasn't just the matter of 'freeing' the slaves, the elves, it also meant Quatre would be going home. And that Quatre would never be with him. Having your heart torn out through your chest was rather painful.

"You think I don't know that?" Heero threw at his cousin, raking his fingers through his already dishevelled hair. "Do you think I want them around? Do you even know what would happen to us if anyone found out that we are not only still harbouring slaves, but those that are elves? There would be a huge uprising."

Trowa frowned at the uncharacteristic tantrum being thrown by Heero. The young king was usually quite calm in all things. When not calm, he usually got angry but this was Heero being absolutely frazzled. This wasn't Heero. The King wasn't this emotional for anything.

"What's going on, Heero?" Trowa asked, placing a hand on the king's tense arm.

Heero jerked back, pushing the scroll he was reading toward Trowa.

Trowa frowned in confusion and looked down at the scroll. "This is a historical account of Odin Lowe. We both read it to death a long time ago. What about it?"

"We always wondered why Odin Lowe never took a queen right?" Heero asked, swallowing hard. He felt swamped by emotions that weren't his. He felt overwhelmed by memories and convictions of another person. He felt awed by love he felt for one longhaired elf who had every right to hate him.

"And why he seemed so obsessed with looking for Sylver Myst," Trowa nodded. "I guess he wanted the jewel of everlasting life like his father as well."

"No!" Heero protested vehemently, his harsh voice reverberating through the tomblike silence of the library. "I didn't want it! I never did," he started pacing the room. "I hated it when father wanted me to try and steal it. I hate it when he told me that an elf would be a very valuable slave. I hated it that he used me to increase his own fortune." He wound his arms around himself forlornly. "He made me give the most precious thing to me. I lost him to slavery for so many years." The young monarch turned pained eyes to Trowa. "Duo will never forgive me. I never lied to him, but he will still never forgive me. I killed his people."

Trowa's eyes widened with every word Heero said. He shook his head in denial. Something was awfully odd about his cousin. And the things he said, was saying. They weren't true, were they? Heero has never met the slave Duo before this, how can he know these things? Why was Heero speaking like he was… "Odin?" Trowa whispered.

"No!" A denial exploded from Heero's lips. "I'm Heero Yuy! I am not Odin Lowe. The elf… the elf…" He sank into a chair. "What am I, Trowa? What happened to me? Did Duo put a spell on me? Why do I have these feelings? These memories?"

Trowa sighed softly, patting his cousin on the shoulder. Their life had turned upside down almost completely since the two slaves entered the castle. He didn't know what to believe anymore. But Heero was Odin Lowe? His cousin had the soul of one of the most ambitious and powerful King of Kyrin within him? It was not in the least believable but entirely possible. If there were elves masquerading in their realm as slaves, it could be probable that Heero was the reincarnation of an august King long dead.

Wait, what was he thinking?

"I came here hoping to find something, anything," Heero waved his hands across the cluttered table. "Anything that would prove that fever dream and Du… that elf's accusations wrong."

"Did you?" Trowa asked softly, and the anguish in Heero's eyes answered everything.

XXxxXX

Duo knew exactly where his brother was. It wasn't just through the bond they had. He had seen the way his brother and that young lord cling to each other the night before. He felt a stab of pain that his brother was repeating something that had brought him such utter pain years before. There was no possible conclusion to this relationship and it would be better for everyone if Quatre knew that. Humans only brought pain in their wake.

He crept past the hallway, trying not to bring attention onto himself and slipped into Master Trowa's room. As expected, he found his little brother curled up under the sheets of their master's bed. An unexplained rage ran through him as he rushed to the bed and ripped off the sheets.

"What have you done?" Duo yelled, startling the blond to wakefulness.

Quatre looked up blearily at his brother and yawned, stretching his limbs. He looked vaguely annoyed at being woken so rudely. "What?"

"Why have you crawled under the sheets with the enemy?" Duo barked, glowering. "Why have you given yourself to him? You are going to ruin us all!"

"I love him!" Quatre shot back mutinously, the last of his drowsiness burned away by his brother's harsh accusations.

"Love," Duo spat bitterly. "Nothing will come of love between an elf and a human. There is nothing but destruction. He's also your master."

Quatre tilted his head stubbornly, his jaw jutting out belligerently. "He is also the person that saved us, or have you forgotten? He has never been anything but kind to us. And besides, he loves me too."

"Humans don't understand the concept of love. They know nothing but lies and deception and betrayal. He will hurt you," Duo ground out, clenching his fists in annoyance. Why couldn't his brother understand? Why didn't Quatre see that Duo was just trying to protect him?

"Like Odin did to you?" Quatre returned.

Duo paled as the truth of the matter slapped him in the face. Yes, he wasn't even talking about Quatre and Master Trowa, He was referring subconsciously to himself. He took a step back, his chest heaving with pain.

"Nefros," Quatre called out, his expression softened with compassion.

But Duo heard nothing of his brother's call and fled out of the room.

"Duo, please stop!" Quatre called out, scrambling out of the bed.

Duo ran through the castle, this time not caring if he made a din. He needed to be out of that place, he needed to be with nature. He needed desperately to be outside. Right now, more than anything, he wanted to go home.

But would he still have a home?

Yes, came a soft whisper in the wind. Yes, Master.

XXxxXX

Dermail had turned in an evilly vengeful man. He was once the Stable Master at Kyrin but upon being banished, he was little more than a stable hand, mucking stalls and doing all manner of trivial tasks set upon him by the Stable Master at Sanq Kingdom. He hated this. He was once revered and respected, but now he was nothing more than filth. People were actually ordering him around. How could they? They were nothing more than the lowest of servants. He should be the ones commanding them to do his bidding and not the other way around.

He gritted his teeth in anger. This was the slave's fault. He was the one that reduced him to this. He was nobody. He was probably lucky to look like a female and interested the King. He probably seduced the King with his body as well.

Dermail couldn't fault the King. King Heero had been fair with him all his life. It had to be the fault of that little slut who crawled under the King's sheets. He was the one that poisoned the King's opinion of him. He would get his revenge once day.

"Shut up!" Another servant kicked at him, annoyed at Dermail's constant mutterings when it clearly time for them to rest.

Dermail hissed in annoyance. Life here was harder than in Kyrin, the monarch less patient than King Heero. King Peacecraft also had a lousy temper and was wont to take it out of whatever slave or servant that was around. Dermail himself felt the brunt of his new monarch's temper in the form of a rather painful brand on his thigh. His ire increased as he thought of how he was treated like an animal.

"… that's the rumour," a soft hushed voice from the other side of the servants quarters drew his attention.

"There are no such things as elves," someone else scoffed.

"That's not true. And this person that told me this rumour is almost certain that there are elves in Kyrin. One of them had a very long brown braid and the most unusual coloured eyes. Imagine how much we could make if we could get one and sell him off? We could free ourselves."

"Stop talking nonsense."

"No, it is not!"

But Dermail drowned out the rest, his mind working furiously. How could he have been so blind?! Of course that God forsaken slave was not human. That was the only he could get his filthy paws on the King. He put the King under a spell. He would free the King. He would prove his loyalty again.

The first thing he had to do was speak to King Peacecraft tomorrow.

tbc