It's going to be a crazy weekend, complete with probably two extra trips into the office, so here's the chapter a trifle early. If you all think you're going to die at the end of this pretty hefty cliffhanger, send me a review or a note and maybe I can be convinced to put up chapter 8 sooner than next Saturday!
Enjoy!
They were several miles away when the man in black finally stopped, dropping his hold on Heero's chain and digging in a pocket. "Guess this is as good a time as any," he shrugged, holding up the key.
Heero shrugged too, but was just as grateful to be free of the heavy manacles. He rolled his shoulders once, stretching the tight muscles. He didn't bother to look up at the man in black as he asked, "What happens now? Are you going to kill me like they were?"
"Kill you? No, that wasn't the plan," but he seemed taken aback by it.
"Money then? Ransom? I'm sure Prince Zechs could have plenty of gold for you if that's what you want."
"Ha!" the man laughed. "I don't need his money. Plus, he's probably not running around with however many of his guards carrying bags of gold. I don't think he'd really stop to pay me before asking all those loyal men for my head." He tossed his braid.
"That's probably true," Heero allowed. "So if you don't want to kill me, and you don't want money, what do you want? You can't be here interfering just because you didn't have anything better to do."
"Would you believe me if I said that was the reason?" and he smirked.
"No."
"Too bad!" The man reached out and caught Heero's sleeve in a tight grip. "Enough of a rest. Time for more running."
The grip was like iron, and Heero saw no real reason to fight it, so he permitted himself to be drawn along for a few more miles at a run before they both stopped and sat, facing one another on some low grey rocks that overlooked a steep ravine that ran away into an ominous-looking forest. The man in black ignored Heero for a few moments, pulling out something from his belt-pouch.
It was a compass.
"Where are we going?" Heero asked as his eyes narrowed. A new suspicion began to grow in his mind.
"My ship isn't far. Docked on the other side of this peninsula. I think we can avoid the forest if we stay up here, though we'll have another long climb ahead of us to get to the sea. Up for it?"
"Why would we be going to your ship?" Heero asked.
"Because that's where all my stuff is?" the man in black shrugged. "Where did you think we would go? Oz? I bet they'd be thrilled to see you, Sir Betrothed-of-Prince-Zechs. You do want to go home to your beloved once he quits following us around, don't you? Kinda need a ship for that."
"He's not my beloved," Heero found himself snapping.
"No? You're the one who's marrying him."
"He's royalty. He gave me an order. I don't back down from my missions for the Peacecrafts no matter my feelings on it." Heero had to stop himself. This was not the time to pour out his own story when a more important one might be right in front of him.
"You're very dutiful," the man in black said, coldness creeping into his voice. "I bet you would give up anything you cared about if somebody gave you an order." He sneered. "Pitiful."
"How dare you?" Heero got to his feet. "You are laughing at my pain."
"Life is pain, soldier," the man snapped, rising as well. "Anybody telling you anything else is a liar. And especially you, when you deal in war and death, should know better. People who kill, people like us, there's not a lot left when we give ourselves to that."
"You're a killer," Heero repeated. "A killer with a ship, who followed us from the sea. A killer who can beat a sword master and an acrobat. Who doesn't think twice about killing an opponent. And you wear a mask."
"Are we making lists?" the man replied, tipping his head. "You've got brown hair and a serious perspective problem."
"You are Shinigami," Heero breathed as a fire began to burn him from the inside. "Admit it!"
"With pride!" the masked man swept him a bow, braid flapping. "What can I do for you?"
"You can die. Slowly. Cut into a thousand pieces." Heero curled his hands into fists and wished for his familiar blade, left back with Winged, with which to exact the proper revenge. "I will kill you."
"Any particular reason you hate me so much?"
"You killed Quatre, the only person I have ever loved. He was nothing but a valet," Heero shook with rage. "He couldn't defend himself and he would never have fought you! How could you kill him?!"
"I kill a lot of people," came the flippant reply.
Heero took a step forward but found himself dizzy and his feet uncertain. His knees weakened and he staggered to the nearest rock as his vision went white.
"Blond hair, blue eyes, set out in the summer a few years ago, right? I remember him. He died well, if it makes you feel better," Heero could hear the voice above him, and the mockery in the tone fueled his growing bloodlust as he fought to regain his sense of balance. "No bribe attempts or blubbering. He simply said 'please, I need to live.' He told me he was in love with a man who truly loved him in return, that he could not die and leave his true love waiting. He described a warrior of strength and honor and courage and integrity. I assume he meant you?"
Heero choked on a reply.
"Then you definitely owe me one for killing him before he found out what you really are."
The attack of dizziness left Heero as if it had never been and he sprang at Shinigami with his hands curled into the claws of an animal. "Why?"
"He spoke of your integrity," the man in black held him at bay with the point of the sword he had quickly drawn. "But here you are, throwing your life away for nothing. Did his love truly mean so little to you that you would rather die than live with that feeling in your heart?"
"I died the day he did!" Heero bellowed. "What difference does the rest of it make?"
"It makes all the difference, Heero Yuy," Shinigami's body was taut and tense and the tip of the sword trembled slightly. "If you are nothing but a creature of death now, if you care nothing for life and love, then you must thank me for killing your precious Quatre before he learned that what he read in your heart was nothing but a pretty lie."
"I never lied!" Heero roared. "I never lied to Quatre! I will feel nothing for the rest of my days because there is nothing to feel with – he was my heart and he is gone!"
Heedless of the blade, Heero charged. If Shinigami cut him down with the same sword that had taken Quatre, so be it; it would be fitting, at least. He let the sword slice along his left sleeve while he knocked it aside, bringing around his right hand in a wicked punch to the side of the head that Shinigami did not block. The sword clattered to the ground and Heero spun with a sharp kick, knocking Shinigami to his knees. He hefted the sword and considered it.
"You killed the only light and love I will ever know and left me with nothing but battles and duty and missions," Heero growled, stamping hard on the back upraised to him. "It will be your body as well as mine Zechs finds, and your blood will pave the way to my peace. When I have watched you die, I will follow you into darkness and hunt you in the afterlife, and only a word from Quatre will save you!"
"Stop it!" came a cry, and Heero lifted his head to see another figure in black racing towards him from somewhere up the hill. "Stop it, Heero!"
"More blood to spill," Heero smiled darkly. "Bring as many as you wish You call yourself a God of Death, but you know nothing about it until you know what it means for your life to die while your body survives." He glanced down the steep ravine nearby and kicked viciously into the side of the still-crouching Shinigami. "Your lifeless corpses will be my pyre, and I will be free of this pain you have brought to me." With his foot still lodged in Shinigami's stomach, he swept his leg out, and the figure in black was away, rolling down the hill like a limp rag doll.
But a voice floated up, eerily clear in the echoing valley. "Ninmu ryokai…"
"You baka!" A fist slammed into Heero's stomach and he looked up into furious, violet eyes. "I'm Shinigami! That was Quatre!"
-==OOO==-
"...But a voice floated up, eerily clear in the echoing valley. 'Ninmu ryokai'…"
"Oh no!"
"Don't cry, little one. It will be all right."
"Promise?"
"Well, it will be mostly all right. Just listen."