So sorry this is so late! Next week's will be on Sunday, too, due to Thanksgiving. Sorry in advance!
Enjoy!
Heero crashed his head backwards against the stone wall in anger, the shock of pain on his skull a comfortingly grounding sensation.
"I should never have done that!" he raged at himself. "Quatre, what have I done to you?"
He had no explanation for his outburst, though he could not regret it now. And he knew all was not lost, for Zechs had suffered a blow to his pride, true, but did not expect Heero to act against him in his plans. If he could regain enough of the prince's trust, either before the wedding or during it, he could still succeed in protecting Sanc and Princess Relena. But as for Quatre...he could only trust in Duo, and that tore at him, too.
A clamor arose outside his cell and Heero's stomach turned to even more profound ice. "No!"
"Let me go!" he could hear Princess Relena shouting in terror. "Stop it! That hurts!"
"I will kill you!" Heero bellowed. First Quatre and now Relena, in danger because of him – Heero's heart ached with guilt and rage.
There was a spattering of laughter before the door to his cell swung open. Heero lunged forward, though he could only move a step or so away from the wall before the chains on his wrists yanked his arms painfully backward. He snarled at the sight of the princess being led to the cell opposite his, the lone torch held by a guard illuminating her face and its mask of terror.
"We ain't gonna hurt her," said one of the guards, throwing her into the cell and slamming the door. "We got orders to keep you both nice and safe until tomorrow. And if you do anything stupid, we'll take it out on her flesh."
Heero began to say something when a sudden pain, blinding in its intensity, swept through him. He was only vaguely aware of the guards closing his door and locking it again. Instead, he felt as though his heart was being ripped out of his body and shredded. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't even see around the white agony that filled him.
It seemed to last forever.
But when the sensation finally faded, Heero becoming aware from the soreness of his throat that he had been shouting or screaming, his heart lurched for an entirely different reason. Because somehow, just as he knew he would kill every guard that had betrayed the princess, just as he knew Zechs would have to kill him or he would die at his hands, he knew. He knew.
Quatre was gone.
The chains were the only thing holding Heero up now, and he would have given in to despair again except that he suddenly remembered.
"I told you I would come for you...Death cannot stop true love...I will never leave you again."
Shakily, Heero swallowed and breathed. He wiped his face, wet with sweat and tears, on his bicep.
"Quatre." Even saying his name, Heero felt courage return. "Death cannot stop true love. I know that now. I will wait until you come back to me again. I will not give in this time. You believe in me. I must be worthy of that trust."
He heard Relena, cautiously calling out to him from her cell, her voice muffled by the two heavy doors, "Heero? Are you all right now? Did they hurt you?"
"Princess," he called back. "Do not fear. You will be all right."
"I'm a lot more worried about Sanc now than myself," she replied. "Will you still be able to set things to rights? Will you still save my people?"
"Ninmu ryokai."
Far from Heero's desolate cell, three young men wandered the forest.
"Here?" Duo asked for what seemed like the tenth time. "Is this close?"
"I...it's hard to be sure," Trowa looked around. He could see the castle in the distance, but something about the angle was wrong.
"Quiet!" Wufei ordered. All three dropped into a crouch, trusting in the low underbrush to hide them.
"That was foolish!" came winding through the long shadows. "You may well have endangered all our plans by your recklessness! Not to mention making an enemy of one we wanted for an ally!"
"You're just angry because your so-called ears are ringing from the backlash," replied a dismissive voice. "If his feelings of love were manufactured by that pirate, he will thank me for freeing him from them. And if they were not, he would never consent to marry me anyway. He is too strong to permit as much freedom as we have given him. Perhaps this will show him whose power he should respect."
"You are a fool." The speakers had come closer now and Duo, Trowa, and Wufei could see three figures walking through the trees. "You must be married to be crowned king. Heero is a warrior, but he isn't stupid. He will not bow to you now."
"You could always marry me!" giggled a high-pitched voice.
"Heero will marry me," and the light illuminated Prince Zechs. "If not by his own will, than to ensure the safety of my sister. You," he looked disdainfully at long-haired woman that walked beside him, "will keep her under control."
"I shall not forgive you for destroying my best subject," Count Khushrenada was frowning deeply, "but this is not the time for that. There is too much to do now, and I have not even the hours to complete my final notes before your wedding tomorrow. When you are king, we will have words, but until then I will hold my tongue."
Wufei tensed and Duo put a hand on his arm. He urged Trowa nearer, too, and concentrated on staying invisible to Treize.
"Later," he whispered. "You promised to help Cat first."
"He will die," Wufei ground out.
"He's all yours, man. After Cat is back with us." Duo released the hold.
They watched the three go and immediately went to track where they had been. They walked some distance before the trail petered out, leaving them in a stand of trees.
"This is it," Trowa breathed. "This is it exactly."
"They must have come from somewhere in this grove," Duo looked around impatiently. "Want me to jog your memory?" He raised his fist threateningly, a hint of laughter in his eyes.
"Not really."
"Okay, so now..." Duo broke off. "Wufei?"
Wufei knelt in the center of the surrounding trees, his sword across his knees. He bowed low and began to speak in his own language.
"Father, I have failed you for ten years. Now our misery and shame can end. Somewhere, somewhere close by, is a man who can help us. I cannot find him alone. I need you. I need you to guide my sword. Please. Ancestors, kin lost to murder – guide my sword."
He rose gracefully and extended the sword. The light streaming through the trees seemed unusually bright, and Duo and Trowa wordlessly stepped back, leaving him a clear space. Wufei closed his eyes and let go, allowing himself to move according to only what he felt inside his heart. He stumbled in several different directions, not sure if he was moving in circles or barely leaving his spot. Then, in the quiet of himself he felt something akin to a lightning strike.
The sword almost jumped out of his hand and he lunged to follow it. The tip buried itself in a tree trunk.
Wufei opened his eyes and for a moment felt nothing but desolation. Had his father, his clan, forsaken him? But then his sharp eyes caught something unusual in the bark of the tree. He closed his eyes once more and stretched out his hand. It fell upon a knobby outcropping on the trunk.
And a door swung open with a squeak.
"O...kay. Nice work," Duo said, shuffling forward a little awkwardly. Then he drew himself up. "Let's go."
As they descended the staircase that was within the trunk, their eyes adjusting to the darkness, they could see an enormous contraption taking up most of the cavern below. Trowa lifted a torch from the wall and lit it, its orange light shining off the machine's sinister angles and pieces. But beside it, lying motionless on a table, was Quatre.
"Quatre!" Duo jumped the remaining steps and landed beside him. "Kitty Cat! Oh, come on. Say something!"
Wufei and Trowa joined him and they looked down at the still body, deep bruises littering the pale skin. Wufei bent down to rest his ear on Quatre's chest and listened for a moment.
"He's breathing," he reported.
"Quatre, you've got to wake up!" Duo felt slightly frantic. His fingers fumbled with the manacles that bound his wrists, and he got them open after two tries, though he recoiled in horror at the reddened and broken flesh that suggested Quatre had struggled against them as though...
Quatre's eyes snapped open, their blue-green depths totally unseeing. He sat up stiffly, looking straight ahead, and spoke with a voice so flat and cold it could have been the voice of a sword. "Are you my enemy?"
"No!" Duo exclaimed. "No, I'm your friend. And," he risked a glance at the others and Trowa gave him a nod, "and so are they."
"Where is my enemy?"
Trowa held up a hand and leaned close, his eyes strangely bright. "In the castle. With Heero."
"Heero?" That was warmer, a crack in the coldness that sounded a bit like Quatre.
"Yeah, Heero. Your true love. Remember him?" Duo pounced on it.
"You defeated me to rescue Heero," Wufei added. "You would stop at nothing to find him. You could not be defeated because you had something to protect."
"Protect."
"What's wrong with him?" Duo asked. "What did they do to him?" He turned back. "Quatre, you gotta remember Heero at least."
Wufei exchanged a glance with Trowa before moving away, up towards the desk and the parchment spread across it. He began to read, black eyes flicking over the pages with great speed.
"It's called Zero," Wufei reported. "And it..." A grunt caused him to look up in surprise.
Trowa was kneeling on the ground, clutching his head.
"Tro?" Duo looked away from Quatre and reached for him.
"I...remember," Trowa choked out. He shuddered for a few moments before he pushed himself back to his feet. "Not all of it. But I remember Zero."
"What? How?"
Trowa ignored Duo and turned to Quatre instead. His green eyes had taken on a new intensity.
"Zero rips away everything that you are. And for you, it must have been a thousand times worse because what you are is caught up in your love and your empathy. With us who survived Zero, we became mindless empty shells, made for nothing but war. Quatre, you're not the only one who feels that way. I do, too. But the kinder you are, the bigger the toll it takes on you. We have to fight with ourselves, in our hearts, to find ourselves again. Please. Turn back into the kind and gentle person I once met. You told me sparing lives suited me. Your kindness suits you, Quatre."
"Heero is waiting for you," Duo said softly. "Please wake up from this and come back to us so we can rescue Heero." He took his hand and held it tightly.
Quatre's eyes shuttered closed, and suddenly there was wetness on his cheeks. After a few rapid breaths, he gulped and opened his eyes, looking at the three of them.
"Heero. I almost lost him. I almost lost myself."
"But we're gonna save him. We're gonna save everybody," Duo put his other hand on the pale shoulder – the one without the rat's bite-marks – and squeezed.
Quatre nodded and his eyes went a shade darker, his face focused as even Duo had never seen it before.
"Ninmu ryokai."
-==OOO==-
"...He had no explanation for his outburst, though he could not regret it now. And he knew all was not lost, for Zechs had suffered a blow to his pride, true, but did not expect Heero to act against him in his plans. If he could regain enough of the prince's trust, either before the wedding or during it, he could still succeed in protecting Sanc and Princess Relena. But as for Quatre...he could only trust in Duo, and that tore at him, too..."
"Why did he do that, anyway? It doesn't make sense. Why would he just lose track of the plan like that and say all the wrong things?"
"Remember, at the same time Quatre was being tortured with Zero."
"Oh! And somehow it infected Heero?"
"Presumably yes."
"Does that mean Heero's an empath too?"
"Not exactly. More that Quatre's connection to Heero is stronger than either of them know."
"Well, I could have told you that!"