Nothing I can say is better than what the boys will say.
Enjoy!
Heero felt like his mind had stuttered to a halt. He was looking at a twin of the person he'd just thrown down the ravine. The same braid hung out of a black head-covering, and this person wore the same black clothing and mask and the same sword at the hip as the one Heero held. But his face was creased in a rage mirrored only by Heero's own.
And his eyes were violet.
Heero looked over the edge of the ravine. What color were the eyes of that person? He wasn't sure he'd ever seen clearly. How could he have missed it?
"Look," the person at his side shook him, gripping his collar tightly. "You've got two choices, buddy. Either you go after him willingly or I'm going to throw you down there myself. I told him I wouldn't let you get hurt, but I'm going to bend those rules if I have to!" Heero stared at him dumbly and he shook his head in disgust. "If this is what having a true love is like, count me out! And here Cat made it seem so great."
"Cat? ...Quatre?" Heero finally managed.
"Oh, good, you're not a total moron. Now get down there after him or I swear I will show you why they call me Shinigami!"
Shinigami, the real one, shoved at Heero's shoulder, and this time Heero gave himself to the fall that awaited him. Where Quatre – if it really was Quatre, could it really be Quatre? – had tumbled down the hill brokenly and out of control, he slid deliberately, keeping his feet under him and his eyes at the dark shape so far below. Heero noticed that Shinigami was running down the hill with the swiftness of a deer, and the same lithe grace.
Something on the ground caught Heero's eye and he reached out to grab it on instinct. It was a chestnut braid like the one that had spilled from beneath the dark head-covering. But here it was, loose in his hands, a long tail of hair affixed to a piece of black material. And below...a spot of gold in the fading light of afternoon flashed against the rocks.
Heero's feet froze and he toppled forward, sliding on his chin and rolling uncontrollably. He actually slid past where the black-clad form had stopped, and a strike to the head left him dizzy again.
And then there was a familiar hand on his forehead and a voice he remembered so well. "Heero? Heero, are you all right?"
"Quatre," Heero blinked his eyes and the vague outline before him resolved into Quatre. The golden hair, the blue-green eyes, the warm smile. Maskless, for that too had been lost in the tumble. The hand, not so pale as it had been five years before but still pale compared to Heero's own skin, moved gently against his cheek. "Quatre."
"I'm here. I'm real. Oh, Heero, I'm so sorry."
Emotion seized Heero's heart fiercely and he forced himself upright so quickly he nearly knocked his head into Quatre's chin. He grabbed at the thin shoulders and brought their faces so close they were breathing the same air. There were tears standing in Quatre's eyes, and Heero's heart cracked open. He bent his forehead until it rested on the bridge of Quatre's nose.
All he could do was breathe.
"Heero, I have so much to tell you, so much to explain," Quatre spoke urgently. His fingers moved feverishly, touching the cut on Heero's neck from G's blade, the slice along his arm from their skirmish, a bruise at his temple he had never even felt in his slide down the hill.
"You're alive," Heero whispered, like a prayer. His injuries' pain, his exhaustion, they vanished in the wonder of that truth. He looked a sorry sight, but his face was moon-bright with relief.
"I told you I would come back. Why did you give up hope?"
"Because you were dead," he answered with the grief of five years.
"Death cannot stop true love," Quatre smiled wetly, carding his fingers through Heero's unruly hair. "All it can do is delay it for a while."
"You have come...you did keep your promise after all. I will never doubt you again. I swear it."
"Oh, Heero," Quatre tipped his face up and placed a sweet kiss on his forehead. "There will never be a need. I will never leave you again."
"Okay. Yay and all that," came the voice of Shinigami, "but can you do this when we're out of the open? We're gonna have company soon."
"You're right," Quatre said, sitting back on his heels but taking Heero's hands. "I guess we're stuck with the Fire Swamp route, then. Sorry about that, Duo."
"Eh, don't sweat it, Cat," Shinigami shrugged, holding the sword Heero had taken from Quatre and had subsequently lost somewhere between being punched in the stomach and his trip down the hill, offering it hilt first. He had removed his own mask and it revealed a face that looked as if it were always laughing. "It wasn't exactly your idea to throw yourself down here." He glared at Heero. "But I clocked him good, so we're even."
"Heero," Quatre said, smiling fondly as he took the sword back with one hand, squeezing Heero's with the other, "meet Duo. Also known as Shinigami, but more importantly, Duo is my friend."
"You are going to have to explain all of this," Heero said as he got to his feet, refusing to let go of the hand he held. It was a lifeline, the only permanence that had ever mattered. If somebody wanted to part him from Quatre now, they would need an army and more courage than a dragon.
"I will. But let's get out of sight. I'd rather not explain this to Prince Zechs."
Quatre, Duo, and Heero raced along the bottom of the ravine. The forest looked far worse up close, its trees sickly brown and yellow, and the smell of sulfur and blood and ash permeated the air. The trio made it to the trees in time to peek out from behind spiny bushes at a line of horses silhouetted against the sky at the top of the ridge. A horn blew and they headed off.
"They won't dare come in here," Quatre said. "They'll have to go around if they want to intercept us."
"There's no reason to stick to the plan now, Cat," Duo said, leaning casually on a tree. "I can go on ahead and move Deathscythe and meet you someplace else, you know. They'll never bother with me even if they do see me. Which they won't."
"The plan?" Heero turned to Quatre, his heart still beating faster every time those eyes turned on him.
"To rescue you, of course." Quatre looked back at Duo. "No. The Fire Swamp is deadly and you know it. I'm not denigrating your skills, but we'll all be more likely to survive the next few hours if we stay together. Besides," and he blushed slightly, "I have a lot of story to tell, and I'm...a little distracted. I'd rather have you looking out for us still. As much as you're willing, anyway."
That won him a broad grin from Duo. "Hey, I did pretty good today. But you! I think you've mastered the Shinigami act. I've never seen you play it that well!"
"Okay," Heero tugged the hand he held and looked them both in the eye. "So your ship is at the other end of the Swamp? Then let's move. And while we move, explain." He turned his blazing gaze directly on Quatre. "Where have you been, how did you survive, why are you friends with Shinigami, and why the ruse?"
"Of course," and Quatre had the grace to look abashed while Duo threw his head back and laughed.
"He is so your problem now, Kitty-Cat!"
Quatre flashed him a smile, and Heero felt his heart constrict. But before he could even identify the dark feeling for what it was, Quatre had spun in place and drawn their lips together in a searing kiss. Everything – the Fire Swamp, Duo, and the last vestiges of his uncertainty and jealousy – stopped mattering completely.
"Don't worry, love," Quatre whispered fiercely when he finally broke away. "My heart is yours, more than you know. Duo's been like a brother to me these last years, that's all."
"Cat ain't looked at anybody no matter how much we wanted him to," Duo added. "He's like a moth to the flame for you, Heero Yuy." And his laughing face sobered. "So you better appreciate what you've got, 'cause I've never seen anybody that loyal, and I've never seen Cat this happy."
Heero turned his eyes back to Quatre, whose face was turned to his and his expression encompassed all the joy of the rising sun and the soaring eagle. And Heero's heart felt a sudden rush of peace. More than the surprise, more than the reminder of grief, and more than the blazing connection, now at last he felt he could believe the reality of it. It wasn't in the fires of passion his love was truest – it was in the quiet shadows of the soul. And he could never have remembered the bright joy of Quatre that clearly without having him truly in front of him again.
Heero's heart lurched and steadied, and he felt whole as he had not been for five years.
A tiny noise sounded in the ground under their feet, and all three instinctively reacted, leaping backwards, each reaching out for the other two, to protect them or cling to them. The earth upon which they had stood only moments before erupted in flame that shot well over their heads before burning out a few moments later.
Heero looked to where his one hand was wrapped around Quatre's wrist and the other had tangled itself in Duo's black shirt. Quatre had reversed the grip and seized Heero's wrist as well, and had fastened a hand on Duo's forearm, and Duo had a hold of both of their shirts.
"Well," Duo said, releasing them and looking at the sparking embers that were the only legacy of the fountain of flame from nowhere, "that was exciting."
Heero and Quatre exchanged glances, and both smiled. They were too happy to laugh, but they could not smile enough.
"Let's go," Quatre said, drawing out his compass with the hand not still holding Heero tightly and reading it expertly. "I'm sure we'll learn all about the Fire Swamp as I try to explain everything."
They moved deeper into the dark trees, surrendering to all that was to come.
-==OOO==-
"...'Okay. Yay and all that,' came the voice of Shinigami, 'but can you do this when we're out of the open. We're gonna have company soon.'..."
"Way to ruin the mood, Shinigami!"
"What did you expect?"
"Good point. Please keep going."
"As you wish."