Sorry this one's a touch late. We're really getting into the hot water now, so hang on for the ride!
Enjoy!
Deep in the woods, a single gypsy wagon sat in the shadows of the trees. Its sides had faded from their once-brilliant reds and oranges, and weeds grew up amidst the spokes of the wheels. A piece of stout canvas was strung up nearby on a cord, providing a shelter, beneath which sat a pile of firewood. Smoke curled from the fire-pit in the center of the clearing, the coals hot but no flame currently in evidence. Stretched out on a black blanket was a lanky form, brown hair falling into his face.
"It's been days," Trowa said to himself. "G told me to go back to the beginning. So I have. This is where I am, and this is where I will stay. I will not be moved."
He tossed one of his daggers languidly into the air, not flinching as it came down and buried its point in the blanket beside his ear.
"When the job went wrong you went back to the beginning. Well, this is where I got the job, so this is the beginning. I don't have any option but to stay until G comes. I have nowhere else to go."
"But perhaps you might want someone to wait with you?" called a voice.
Trowa sat up, dagger in hand, but his posture relaxed and he rose, smiling, as the familiar form of Wufei emerged from the forest.
"It's you. You're alive," he said. "The man in black said he hadn't killed you."
"True. Our opponent chose the honorable path of sparing my life that I might continue my quest," Wufei gripped the hand Trowa offered tightly. "I am pleased to see he did the same for you."
"How do you know I didn't defeat him?" Trowa asked, an eyebrow raised in amusement.
"Because G is dead," Wufei replied. "I have seen his body myself."
Trowa nodded, unperturbed at the loss of their former leader. He had taken the job G offered for money and for lack of anything better to do, and he owed the man no loyalty. It was Wufei he had followed after that. And with G dead, Wufei would be freed of his duty to serve an unworthy master, and they could choose a future for themselves.
"It is time I return to my search for my opponent," Wufei continued. "You can join me if you wish, but I warn you that it is an unforgiving pursuit, and there is neither comfort nor rest in it."
"What I seek cannot be found but by the wildest chance," Trowa met his eyes. "I am not going to find it here. I may as well journey with you. Perhaps both of us may have better luck if we are together."
"It might be easier than that!" sang a voice from out of nowhere.
Wufei and Trowa both spun towards the sound, Wufei lifting his sword and Trowa preparing to let fly with a dagger. But both stopped in surprise when a form in black dropped out of the trees.
"You!" Trowa was surprised.
"Um, not really," the man in black replied.
"No, you're...different somehow." Wufei began to step closer, keeping his guard up. "Without the mask, I can see the distinction, not to mention that you don't move the same way. And your sword is of the same style, but much finer than the one that defeated me."
"I'm Duo. The person you fought was my buddy Quatre," he replied, holding himself up, "and now he's in trouble."
"Why should that concern us?" Trowa wanted to know.
"Because the same guy holding Quatre is probably the guy you're looking for," Duo said. "Six fingers, right?"
Wufei felt his feet falter as his lifelong search suddenly seemed to hit him all at once. He might have swayed except that Trowa was suddenly behind him, close enough to lean his shoulder against Wufei's arm and give him a solid point upon which to rely. A lesser man would have been totally overwhelmed, but with a moment to gather himself, Wufei returned to himself.
"Explain. Now."
"Come on," Duo began to walk until he was seated by the fire. "This'll take a little bit."
Trowa produced some bread and dried meat and shared it around while Duo began to tell the story of his friendship with Quatre, Quatre's search for Heero, and how the pair of them had been taken prisoner by the prince of Sanc in one way or another. He described Count Treize Khushrenada in great detail and Wufei's heart hammered darkly at the recollection.
"How do you know I seek him?" he asked. "If it was Quatre I was fighting on that cliff?"
"Because by the time you were telling your little story, I was hiding nearby," Duo shrugged. "One of Cat's abilities is to make people not notice something he doesn't want them to see. You hauled him up with the rope, but you never knew I was just a little behind him, climbing too. I heard everything."
"And if I had won the duel?"
"I'd have killed you before you could even cheer about it," Duo replied with a sinister smile. "Cat's the chivalrous one, not me. He only kills if he has no choice. I'd take you out from behind a rock like I did that crazy G guy."
"You killed G?" Trowa looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
"Yep. Cat signaled that the old guy was going to kill Heero – he must have read it in his heart. And I could see that he made Heero bleed. If G hadn't been such a bastard I might have just knocked him out the way Cat did you two, but he really scared my buddy. So when Cat had him distracted in their little drinking game, I let fly with my nastiest dart. Easy."
"Well, it's not a fair way to dispatch someone," Wufei scowled, "but it couldn't have happened to a better person."
Duo grinned brightly. "So, it sounds like you two might be willing to help me out. First," and the warmth in the smile died all at once, leaving a frightening expression of murderous madness, "since you guys were working with G, who got hired by that prince and his count, tell me: do you know how to find Quatre?"
"Why do you think we would know?" Wufei asked.
"Treize has a hideout somewhere, a private dungeon he's got to be keeping Cat in. You guys were part of his little plan. You might know where it is."
"Well, I don't," Wufei crossed his arms. "Had I ever even seen the man, he would already be dead."
"I guess that's true," the mania leeched out of Duo's face. "But we still have to find it."
"I..." Trowa began. He stopped, then turned to the smoky fire-pit and stared at it sightlessly. "I might have an idea."
"Yeah?"
"Trowa?" Wufei put a hand on his shoulder.
"There's...something. Something I dream about sometimes. I never really put it together until now." He let out a long breath. "There's a grove of strange trees in the dream. It's dark, but I can see the light of the torches lining the walls of a castle in the distance. I'm filled with terror, and all I want is to run away." He looked up. "Could someone with empathy take away my memories? Because maybe whatever happened to me wasn't an accident."
"You're thinking the count messed up your mind for some reason?" Duo considered. "I don't know if Cat can do it, but I wouldn't put anything past that crazy Treize."
"So that grove of strange trees might be where you encountered him," Wufei added. "It's a place to start."
"You'll help me, then?" Duo stood up.
"Yes," Wufei rose as well. "You have found my enemy for me, and you may lead me to him. But beyond that, Quatre spared my life. I owe him a debt."
"And if empathy broke my mind once," Trowa stood and began kicking dirt over the coals in the fire-pit, "perhaps empathy can repair it again, and I would rather trust my mind to a man like this Quatre than anyone else. If your enemy," he tipped his head to Wufei, "is the cause of my suffering, I will happily follow you both to see his blood flow."
"Great!" Duo rocked on his heels. "But first we save Cat. Then with your skills, my sneakiness, and Cat's ability to out-think anybody, we'll take down everybody who got us into this mess in the first place!"
While Duo was gathering his own allies, Heero was seeking out those members of the Royal Guard whose loyalties he never questioned. With Count Khushrenada away for the day (and he would not allow himself to consider why), and Zechs busy placating the ministers and planning the upcoming wedding, he had a small window of freedom and he knew well he needed to use it. By mid-afternoon, Heero had spoken to six of the other commanders of the Guard, and all of them, appalled and angry, were ready to stand with him against Prince Zechs. As Heero had not yet heard from Duo, he had to assume his battle would be fought alone, though he did warn his men that they might have allies when the moment came.
Heero was making his way back to his temporary quarters when he came upon Zechs in the hallway. He bowed at once.
"Ah, Heero," Zechs smiled broadly, like a cat who got the cream. "Our wedding shall be tomorrow at sunset and my coronation will be the following dawn. When the sun rises, we shall have a new life and a new kingdom together."
Heero's mind raced. Tomorrow? He could not warn his men to be ready so soon. And if Duo didn't return...
"You don't look pleased," Zechs narrowed his eyes. Heero realized belatedly he had failed to school his expression.
"I am surprised," he said carefully. "I expected more time."
"We will not need it," Zechs shook his head. "The day after my coronation, Treize will bring in the bulk of his army and we will conquer Oz and any other land we choose!"
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Come, Heero," Zechs offered him an arm and began to lead him. "I know you have been drawn into our plans quite suddenly, but it is my hope you will be more than my warrior. Treize believes in the sincerity of your intent, but I would be interested to know the depths of your heart and whether it might truly be mine."
Heero looked up at him in surprise. "Your Highness, I always assumed that Treize was..."
"Oh, you thought Treize and I were...? No," Zechs smiled. "Though many have made that mistake. Treize is brilliant at many things, but he could never be my equal. His soul lacks the fire of a true warrior."
Perhaps it was fatigue in the face of so much iron control over his emotions in the last days. Perhaps it was hearing words so similar to the comparison Quatre had spoken of to him once long ago, and once more in the Fire Swamp. Or perhaps it was simply that Heero's heart could take no more of it and rebelled. He made a snap decision and a weight lifted from his chest.
"No," and he pulled his arm from Zechs. "Whatever happens tomorrow, I will not be your husband. I will fight and I will do what I must for Sanc," he tripped over his words in his haste to retain his deception on that, at least, "but I will not belong to you."
"Heero," Zechs's face had darkened thunderously. "While I approve of your place in our plans, I want more than that. I might have been content to kill you once, but no longer, not now that I know the power of your soul. Only a truly worthy opponent can stand at my side and I have no other save you. You must marry me so that I can claim my throne, and so that I can claim you."
"No. Marry Treize or someone else. I will not stand there with you." Emboldened by the truth, he drew himself up. "You may be among the finest warriors I have ever known, but your heart is nothing to me. You are nothing more than a means to victory. You do not possess true courage or honor. You do not understand the meaning of strength. I am a fool for ever thinking otherwise."
"You..." Zechs snarled and wrapped his hand around Heero's arm so tightly it bruised. "How dare you?"
"You can't hurt me," Heero replied smugly. "You still need me to ensure your plans succeed."
"That's where you're wrong," Zechs growled. "I can hurt you. I can and I will."
"How?" Heero felt some of Duo's cockiness slide through him. "Harm your sister and you will answer to every man and woman in Sanc and your throne will slip away. What other power do you have over me? You have no strength."
"You..." Zechs's face twisted evilly in inspiration. "Have you no care for the pirate from the Fire Swamp?"
Heero could not stop the intake of breath that betrayed him. His face said everything he did not.
"You care for that dirty pirate," the prince sneered. "And he must value you, to save you from G and to protect you so from Treize and I. Oh, I see it all so clearly. Perhaps he even used his talents to bind your mind and heart to himself. It would explain how you resist me even now, when I have never failed to win a heart or a battle until you. You are bewitched and possessed! It must be so!"
"Or it could be because you are the slimiest weakling ever to crawl the earth!"
"I would not say such things if I were you!" Zechs snarled. "Guards!" Four of his men appeared in the corridor. "Take my betrothed to a room from which he cannot escape and lock him there."
Heero started to resist but he was unarmed and he could hear the thump of boots that meant yet more were coming. A fight might cost him, leave him injured, and now more than ever he needed to remain strong and ready. In moments, he was surrounded.
"What will you do?" Heero demanded as he was grabbed, Zechs's men holding him tightly.
"Why, I'm going to free you from the influence of that demon, my dear Heero," Zechs smiled and it turned Heero's stomach. "By nightfall you will no longer be plagued by that alien influence, and tomorrow you will be mine, heart, mind, body, and soul."
"NO!" Heero roared as Zechs sped away from him.
Zechs had never run so fast in his life, careening through the palace, out into the woods, and down into the hidden workshop not even winded, his body fueled by rage and betrayal. He noted that the pirate was affixed to the machine, probably for another round, and leaned close in to the pale face. The bright eyes, dulled with exhaustion and pain from exposure to Zero, widened, and he growled against the piece of cloth thrust between his teeth to give him something to bite when the machine drove his body to its limits.
"With your powers, you have turned the perfect heart of a warrior and soldier to madness. You have bewitched and possessed him, poisoned a soul whose strength should be mine! And it will be. It will be."
"Zechs?" Treize half-rose from his chair, taken aback by the rage in the prince's heart. He didn't even notice the ink spilling across the pages of notes he'd taken throughout the morning and afternoon of experiments on his newest test subject.
"With your gift purged, your influence over Heero Yuy will be broken forever. Perhaps with your powers you might have been truly happy together if you even wanted him at all and it wasn't just a ploy. Not one couple in a century has that chance, and you will not be what keeps him from me!"
"Zechs!" Treize shouted as he realized what was about to happen too late.
"But I see in your eyes a genuine concern for him. And so I think no man in a century will suffer as greatly as you will. I certainly hope not. You deserve every moment of it!"
And he wrenched the lever that controlled Zero to the highest setting.
"Don't!" Treize rushed to him but was stopped by Zechs's outstretched hand.
On the table, the pale body rocked and arced, and the smell of burned flesh rose while a wailing that was near inhuman marked the violent erasure of a life and soul.
-==OOO==-
"...If G hadn't been such a bastard I might have just knocked him out the way Cat did you two, but he really scared my buddy. So when Cat had him distracted, I let fly with my nastiest dart. Easy.'..."
"Hey!"
"What is it now?"
"You let me believe Quatre killed G himself! I mean, well, at first I thought it was Shinigami, but it turned out that Shinigami was Quatre so Quatre would have killed him!"
"Don't take everything at face value. You know better than that."
"Good. I'm glad. Quatre wouldn't do that."
"Don't get used to thinking that, either, child. Quatre is not as innocent as you want to believe."
"Yes he is."
"How so?"
"Because he wouldn't just kill somebody when they weren't looking at him. Like how Wufei wouldn't duel until Shinigami, er, Quatre, was ready. I know he would kill somebody he was fighting, or to save somebody but...I guess...it's hard to explain. He's not a bad person, either!"
"You're talking about honor, child. And you're right. Quatre is very honorable."
"I think they all are. Even Duo, even though he killed G. He did it to save Heero and protect Quatre. I think they're all just as good even if they have to kill people."
"...I'm sure they would all be glad to hear you say so. I think...it would mean a lot to them."