Title: The Little Cinder Boy
Author: Angst Faerie
Rating: T
Disclaimers: I don't own Gundam Wing our Cinderella written by the Grimm brothers.
Notes: This part might make Trowa a bit of a bastard and Lady Une something much worse. This chapter is filled with the drama and angst that has been building up.
Chapter 6: Truths and Consequences
Heero had finally reached the castle and set off to look for Trowa. He was finally going to tell him the truth about Quatre. Heero was a little worried about how Trowa might take the news but he wasn't scared Trowa would try and take it out on him, there was no way he would nail a hit on Heero, but Duo's friend that was another story.
.
He finally spotted Trowa on a balcony overlooking the garden and as he approached Trowa spoke. "This is taking longer than I expected and with uncle Dekim at my side constantly I'm not sure how much longer I can last." He looked back at Heero. "Were you looking for me?"
.
Heero nodded before blurting out. "Have you been checking everyone?"
.
"Of course I'm checking the noble's sons as well as daughters if that's what you meant."
.
Heero frowned. "His name is Quatre and you went right past him without realizing it. I was going to let you find out on your own but you're a little slow on the uptake. Tomorrow I'll take you to him." Heero turned about to leave when he felt a hand grip his shoulder tightly.
.
"You watched me run around in circles and the whole time you know where he was." Trowa ground out through gritted teeth. "Yes of course." Was all Heero said shaking of Trowa's hand and continuing on his way.
.
Trowa could of hit his head against the railing a million times, the friends he made. Instead Trowa brightened up. He would finally be meeting his blonde angel. A little nervous Trowa bolted for his room he had to plan in advance what to wear and so forth, he had the reputation of being Prince Charming to keep up.
.
It was early morning at the Winner Manor when Quatre was rudely awoken by the Kitchen door slamming open. Quatre was about to roll over to see who it was but before he could his arm was grabbed and he was yanked up painfully wrenching his arm. His eyes widened as he came face to face with a very mad Dorothy.
.
"Wake up you overslept, you worthless piece of garbage, now mother's breakfast will be late." She dragged him towards the middle of the room to keep her dress from getting in the soot. Quatre could see out the window and was confused he had plenty of time to get breakfast done. "I'll get to work on it right away." He tried to move but Dorothy kept her grip on him. "I was talking to Edger earlier you know that one servant that works in the orchid." Dorothy started to tell Quatre.
.
"He told me the funniest story, you see he swears you didn't stay home the night of the ball but," she laughed, "But actually went into the village with Maxwell and his friends. Can you believe he actually thought you'd disobey mother to go off for some silly little party." Her grip got tighter and Quatre could feel the nails break his skin. "L-let go." He said in a small voice.
.
Dorothy didn't let go but instead she continued on with her attack. "Why would you ever want to go to the village and celebrate with all the poor pathetic fools that live there? Maybe you were out looking for a poor un-expecting drunk rich man to trick into bed with you. Just like how your mother snagged your father right?" she let out a cruel hyena of a laugh as Quatre's mind went blank. With a growl he pushed Dorothy off of him. "I SAID LET GO!" he watched as she fell backwards busting her arm on the corner of the kitchen table.
.
Time seemed to slow as the realization of what he did hit him. Oh no! His mind screamed as he watched Dorothy cradle her arm and cry out. "MOTHER! HELP ME, MOTHER." It didn't take long before Une busted into the room and was at Dorothy's side in minutes. "What happened darling?" she asked her eyes giving Quatre a dangerous glare.
.
"He done it again mother." Dorothy said hysterically. "I told you before Quatre was mad didn't I he has tried to kill me again. All I did was wake him to start breakfast and ask him about the rumor of him going to the village while we were gone the day of the ball." Une told her to quiet and calm down. She then called two servants in and told one of them to help Dorothy to her room and the other to ride into town as quick as he could to find the family doctor.
.
When they left taking Dorothy with them Quatre became quite aware that he was alone with Une. She marched forward and grabbed Quatre by his hair and pulled him towards the door. Quatre stumbled to keep up with her. "You want to act like a rabid animal then you can stay a few nights in the stables with the other animals. You will not have any food for two days and if you are thirsty you can share the water with the horses."
.
Once in the stable Une threw Quatre against the back wall as she reached for the whip on the wall. "Hands against the wall back to me." She said flatly as Quatre did as told. He bite his tongue he knew begging and crying would only make her even angrier. The first hit was always the worse to him he knew it was coming soon but when it did the pain would always catch him off guard. Quatre heard the crack as he felt his skin split and burn. He stayed as still and quiet as he could, hit after hit till it finally stopped.
.
His back screamed like it was on fire and he could feel the back of his shirt damp with blood. He was vaguely aware that Une put the whip up and left. On shaky legs he moved to carefully lie on his stomach on the stable floor. He learned the hard way not to sit up last time he did that his back began to hurt hours later from not being able to lean against the wall and the wounds that began to scab reopened as he tried to lie down. No it was easier to lie now then regret it later. He cried a bit before falling into a fitful sleep.
.
An hour later Quatre woke with a start. Someone was next to him cutting his shirt off. "Duo?" he asked softly turning his head to see who it was. He was surprised to notice the person helping him was none other than Relena. She was actually sitting in the dirt and hay in her expensive dress, on the ground next to her was a basket full of bandages and ointments, she had a solemn look on her face as she took in the wounds on his back.
.
They stayed in silence as she cleaned and dressed each wound. It was a comfortable silence after the filling of guilt left. Quatre wasn't sure if Relena was only acting on pity because of how out of hand this was getting. If she was Quatre didn't mind pity, it was better than resentment any day. When she finished she sat a clean shirt next to him and left without a word. With his wounds wrapped he could move a lot better, sitting up he pulled on the clean shirt. The ointment had helped numb the pain but Quatre felt drained and he began to realize just how thirsty he was.
.
He moved over to the barrel filled with the horses' water and grimaced at how dirty it was. It hadn't been changed yesterday and there was no way Quatre was going to drink that. A little nervous but the thirst getting the better of him Quatre grabbed a bucket and snuck around the back of the stable. He was going to head to a bridge that ran over a clean stream and get some water there.
.
Une had spent some time thinking about what happened earlier. Dorothy was fine, she would only have a nasty bruise but that wasn't her main concern. It was what Dorothy said. Quatre wasn't home the night of the ball and it left a sick feeling in her belly. Too many unanswered questions were floating around in her head for quite a while and she felt that somehow Quatre was the answer to them all.
.
She stood and left her room. Heading down the stairs she noticed Colette humming to herself as she did her chores around the house. She smiled at Lady Une and wished her a good morning. Une just nodded her head and continued out the door. Whenever Quatre was involved in something Colette knew and tended to try and protect him. Well not this time Une was going to find out if her suspicions were true.
.
Once she was at the servants living quarters she went up to the second floor. Colette's door was right at the top of them and she had the biggest room. Pulling out a ring of keys she unlocked the door and went in. Once inside Une began to ransack the room she emptied every drawer pulled the mattress off the bed looking for anything her eyes rested on a locked trunk in the corner of the room. With a frown she grabbed for a dresser drawer and smashed it to pieces on the ground.
.
She grabbed a large piece that had splintered off and carried it over the trunk. With all her might she brought it down on the cheap lock and it broke with ease. Opening the trunk she pulled some blankets out before finding things she hadn't seen in years, the late Lady Winner's personal belongings. Stuff she had thrown out years ago it seemed Colette had saved. Une found the Winners wedding portrait and frowned. "That dress!" quickly she began to empty the trunk and found a box at the bottom. Opening it she found the dress in the portrait and the same dress the blonde Prince Trowa was searching for was wearing.
.
Her hands shook with rage. "How dare they!" She yelled as the dress was ripped in two. "No Lady Une stop it." Une turned to the door where the voice had come from. She saw Colette standing there eyes wide as she stared at the ruined dress.
.
"You did this." Une hissed launching herself at Colette. "You let that demon seduce the Prince and take my only opportunity away. He was meant for Dorothy me and Duke Dekim had been spending months planning this, you ruined it all." With one shove Colette was falling down the stairs. She lay at the bottom unmoving. "There is still time I won't let you ruin this." Within minutes she had a messenger ride to the castle with an urgent letter to the Duke in his hands.
.
Quatre had finally reached the bridge and looked down at the clear stream. It was beautiful he got down and reached the bucket into the water. It was cold but felt good. Once the bucket was full he pulled it out and dragged it up onto the bridge again. He spilt quite a bit of it but he still had plenty. Cupping his hands he stuck them into the bucket and brought some water out to his face which he happily drank.
He could hear horses approaching the bridge and looked in that direction to see the travelers. In the distance he could see that there was only two and were dressed fairly nice, both seemed to be men and as they got closer they looked familiar. It was then he noticed it was Prince Trowa and Sir Yuy. He jumped up knocking the bucket over. It was too late to run it would seem to suspicious now.
.
Heero had noticed who was on the bridge and smiled it made his job loads easier. He rode ahead of Trowa and stalled his steed right next to Quatre. Trowa rode up next to them with a confused look on his face. "Trowa meet Quatre now if you don't mind I finished my job and wish to go visit Duo." With that he turned and rode off.
.
Trowa turned white before stumbling off his horse and looking the blonde over. It was easy to tell it was the angel from the ball but to be sure he pulled the slipper out. "Can you try this on for me?" he asked setting it on the ground. Nervously Quatre slipped the shoe on and it fit perfectly. "If you'd like I can get its mate if you wish to have it." Quatre said looking down.
.
"You mistake my intentions it's not the shoe I wanted but its owner. I guess I found it though after all this time." Trowa pulled Quatre into a hug. Quatre cried out in pain and tried to pull away. Startled Trowa lifted Quatre's shirt up and noticed the bandages. "What happened to you?" he asked.
.
"I was whipped." Trowa looked up. "Whipped! Are you a servant?" With a disgusted look he pushed off Quatre. Quatre himself was becoming a little confused with Trowa's reaction. "What does it matter if I am?"
.
"Everything," yelled Trowa. "I am the Prince of Lynnet I have rules and expectations to live up too. If I asked to marry something like you it would never happen the notation of it would disgrace my family." He paced back and forth before stopping to face him. "You should have never disillusioned me I failed to find someone on my own, now I have to go back and lie to my father about you and be forced into a marriage I don't want with some girl my father picked for me." The words stung Quatre and he lifted his right hand and slapped the Prince right across his face.
.
"I never tried to trick you I was only there for Duo to find your Heero. I didn't ask you to like me. Servant, if that's what you call me, it's more like slave. You have no clue of who I am yet you insult me. I am Lord Winner's son. I've been told this is the life I deserve to live by my stepmother ever since she came into the picture. I deserve it because my mother was a servant too." Quatre continued despite the wetness he felt on his cheeks.
.
"Well my mother was not a whore she was a strong brave woman. She didn't trick a rich man to bed for his money. She loved him with all her heart and fought to keep that love even if it defied what all others thought was right. I was wrong about you Trowa I thought you were above all this but I guess I was wrong. I'm not ashamed of my birthrights but I don't need you to insult them." Turning on his heel he took off at a full run. He had to get away from Trowa before the tears became worse and uncontrollable.
.
At the end of the bridge he noticed Heero with a death glare plastered on his face staring off in Trowa's direction. "I'll teach him a lesson for you." Was all he said to Quatre before riding off the other direction as Quatre kept for home.
.
Quatre made it to his mother's grave where he stayed most of the night before finally going back to the manor. When he got close to the stables and was about to head in when he heard Duo call him. What now! Was all he could think before he noticed Duo's own tearstained face.
.
"Thank God I found you. Colette had an accident earlier." Duo stopped to take a shaky breath.
.
"No don't tell me this, not now." Quatre whispered feeling his knees go weak. Duo shook his head. "I have to Quatre, she's dead. Colette must have slipped and fallen down the stairs. I told Une she needed a downstairs room she was too old to keep going up and down those damn stairs." At this time Quatre blocked Duo out. Colette couldn't be gone she was with him since he was born. Quatre's Godmother was always there to protect him. With her gone Une would kill him and at this point in time he wasn't sure if he would mind much. First his mother, then father, Trowa the one man he loved, and now Colette. He just kept losing the things that meant everything to him. Everything went dark as he fainted, he could hear Duo calling him.
.
As his consciousness began to come back Quatre tried to will himself back to sleep again. He didn't want to wake up and remember it all over again. It left a pit where his heart used to be but sleep wouldn't come again. His stomach churned as he rolled over and vomited. His vision was blurred but began to focus. He was staring down at a now ruined expensive rug. He also was lying on an expensive couch, why was he inside the manor. "He's awake." He heard Une's voice and began to sit up. They were in the study and it was pretty dark, there were only two candles lighting in the room. One on the table next to the chair Une occupied and another on the table between them. He was confused as why she was talking like someone other than them was in the room. He didn't see anyone else.
.
Une's face hardened as he sat up the candle caste an eerie glow on her face and gave her a frightening look. She played with something sitting on her lap before tossing it on the table Quatre recognized it as his mother's slipper. The one Colette was hiding.
.
"You've set us way back Quatre but it seems we have use of you so we won't have to kill you…well not yet that is. It was so nice of Colette to show me your secret but she had an accident so soon after I never really got to thank her." Une gave a cold laugh.
.
Angry like he had never felt before raised up in Quatre as he tried to stand up but a man's hand came from behind the couch and held him down. Looking up he understood why Une kept saying 'we' Duke Dekim was there and kept him still. "Now don't be scared little bird Une is just teasing you."
.
"Whats going on?" Quatre asked frightened. "For months I planned the demise of the King and my rise in his place." Dekim spoke. "Trowa caused me a problem though, he was next in line preventing me from taking the throne. After the Baron Khushrenada's death I meet Une and her daughters and our plan was formed based on both of our wants. Trowa was to take one of Une's daughters as a wife and after their first son was born Trowa would be dealt with and I'd become King. I'd help Trowa's child to be raised suitable as my replacement when I died. He'd become my son and I would get what I want, the Kingdom of Lynnet to do with as I wish. Une would get what she'd want by marrying her daughter into one of the most powerful positions assuring her family extreme wealth. We didn't plan for Trowa to fall for another though so you will come to my lands in Durham where Trowa will die by my blade when he comes to save you." He looked at Une.
.
"The King is already being dealt with after the ball I've been poisoning him and he is taking ill I can tell but he is hiding it. I have help in the castle and they are going to up the poison. In a few days he will be dead as well." Dekim then looked back at Quatre. "Don't worry little bird you'll be safe I always have room in my harem for someone as pretty as you." Quatre began to fight for all its worth to get free and it almost worked as he got away from Dekim's hands and made for the door. He had to get help he had to warn Trowa. A sharp sudden pain on the back of his head stopped his flight as darkness surrounded him and could hear Dekim's and Une's laughs fade in the distance.
o.o.o.o.o
Sorry about ending it like this the next chapter might be that last if I can get the ending all in it. If not 2 more.
Angst Faerie