I'm so sorry this is late! I'll try to do better with the rest of the chapters on the way to the end. We should be finished right around Christmas.
It's getting exciting!
Enjoy!
It was well after night-fall. Quatre's eyes roved over the rough plans of the palace drawn by Duo.
"And Heero wasn't in his rooms or anywhere you could find?" he asked.
"Nope. And that princess is missing too. But I couldn't look everywhere, not with all the guards roaming around, so there's lots of dark corners left where they might be."
"You don't think...?" Wufei began. Quatre shook his head.
"No. He's angry and upset, but I can feel that he's alive. I think he got found out, though. He'll probably be stuck out of sight until the wedding at sunset tomorrow."
"There is but one working castle gate," Wufei pointed to that place on the map, "and it is guarded by at least sixty men, all loyal to Zechs and Khushrenada rather than Princess Relena."
"That's not the problem," Quatre shook his head. "The Maganacs will get my message by dawn and will join us before noon. They can handle them. The problem will be making our move without Heero or the princess getting hurt. We've got to get them out before Zechs and Treize do anything to them. And I'd rather break up the wedding as well, all things considered," his eyes took on a dark light.
"Then you're going to want these," Duo said, holding out a wrapped bundle. Quatre took it from him reverently, the lines in his face relaxing for the first time.
"What is it?" Wufei asked.
"I told you when we met and battled that I was not a classically trained swordsman. Really, Duo just let me borrow his blade to keep up the illusion of Shinigami. But I've always been better with these." Quatre folded back the rough material to reveal two shotels, their curved edges gleaming in the firelight. They were inscribed in the flowing script of a far-off land, and their grips were made of ivory.
"May I?" Wufei couldn't help but ask, ignoring the rolling eyes and knowing smirk of Trowa.
"Yes, of course," Quatre lifted one and handed it to him, grip first. "They're part of my inheritance. Now that I have reclaimed my heritage, I have earned the right to wield them."
Wufei moved into the form of the crane, which he felt would compliment the shape of the shotel in his hands. It was like slicing the air with the sharpness of sound. The grips were smooth, and carefully carved so that he could reverse the shotel in one hand without losing his balance, shifting to an upward swinging strike from below.
"Can they stand against a Western sword, though?" Trowa asked as he watched Wufei dance with one while Quatre looked over the other with an unreadable expression.
"Oh, yeah," Duo put in. "Usually a sword winds up cut in half before he even has to block against it. Those things are sharp!"
"Disarming your opponent rather than destroying them is always preferable," Wufei said, finishing the kata and bowing as he returned the shotel. The two shared a small smile.
"Anyway, I thought you should have 'em," Duo slung an arm around Quatre's shoulders. "If we're doing this crazy thing, you deserve to face those rats with more than my little extra sword in your hands."
"Thanks, Duo," Quatre nodded. "With these, I feel like I can do more than rescue Heero. I can finally face him as an equal."
"Believe me," Trowa said, "you are already his equal. But if the weapons help you to know it for yourself, then that is enough. You have not lost your worth because you lack the knowledge of it. I should know." The two victims of Zero shared a long, knowing look.
"Then let's prove it," Quatre said, eyes sharp and decisive. "It's time to finish this."
In the castle, deep in the dark of the dungeon, Heero waited.
He marked time by the rotations of the guards, dozing when he felt it was prudent to do so, but mainly thinking and preparing. He expected to have no chance to alert his allies in the Royal Guard as to his predicament, but he also expected they might already know about it. And certainly when Quatre came for him, when Duo came back, they would be ready to act. Heero knew his soldiers would not engage any of Zechs's men until it was clear a fight had already begun, but any signal would be enough.
Heero had no choice but to trust Duo. To trust Quatre. He found both surprisingly easy and wondered at himself. But then, he had already mourned Quatre's death once before and it had almost destroyed him. This time, until he held his love's unbreathing body in his arms, he would choose to believe.
Sometime into the early afternoon of the day of the wedding, Heero was visited by Zechs.
"I may have been somewhat hasty in sending you down here," he said without preamble as he swept into the dark room, resplendent in scarlet and white and gold, "but you understand that you were not showing quite enough enthusiasm for our plans."
"I will fight in the war that is coming," Heero responded, no longer bothering to keep his eyes lowered, "but I will not willingly become your husband." He didn't know if Treize was nearby, so he held himself to the barest truths and thoughts.
"I will give you a choice, Heero Yuy of the Royal Guard," Zechs smiled predatorily. "Participate in the wedding in a few hours without resisting me, and not only will I forgive you for this striking lapse of manners on your part, but I will also entrust the safety of my sister to you afterwards. I know you care about her well-being, and thus you could personally ensure it."
"And if I refuse?"
"You're still going to the ceremony, but you'll do it in chains," Zech's voice was like cold iron, "and Relena may not long survive my coronation. You will be blamed for high treason, for the murder of the princess, as a spy for Oz. I shall have the sad duty of executing you for your crimes and declaring war anyway."
Heero clenched his jaw so hard it hurt, but he managed a stiff nod. "Very well."
"No tricks now," Zechs warned as he stepped forward with a key to the manacles. "You wouldn't risk precious Relena's life, would you?"
"No," Heero said truthfully. He did not break eye-contact with Zechs as the prince released him from the chains. "But if she is harmed, I will kill you. I promise."
"There's that fire I so admire," Zechs bent low to his face. "Even turned against me, it is the only fire I want at my side. In time, you may learn to appreciate me more." He closed the distance between them and pressed his lips to Heero's.
Heero stood stiffly, unmoving, and clenching his hands to keep from shaking. He squeezed his eyes shut and thought only of Quatre.
"Good soldier," Zechs approved as he stepped back. "Come. Your wedding clothing awaits you."
Which was how Heero found himself, wrapped in white, silver, and green, beside Zechs in the castle chapel before the Sanc priest. To one side, Relena stood between a set of guards, her face drawn and her eyes red with tears, but her expression stubborn in its fury. Only a sharp eye would have noticed that the bouquet clutched in her hands hid thin ropes that bound her wrists together tightly. But she was uncowed by her circumstances, though the fearful glance she threw to Heero told him that he, too, was under threat should she attempt to speak out.
The chapel had no windows, but sudden sounds from outside made their way in during the opening prayer as a tense counter to the words of love and responsibility.
"Stand your ground, men! Stand your ground!"
Heero smirked and winked at Relena. Treize stepped away from his place at Zech's elbow and left the chapel quickly, several guards following him.
Zechs tightened his hold on Heero's right arm. "Remember our deal."
"I am not going back on it in any way," Heero responded, turning and letting some of his fierce relief show in his face, "but our deal said nothing about my friends."
"If you mean that pirate, he's gone. I destroyed him myself, mind and soul."
"Then why is there fear behind your eyes?" Heero shot back. "If death could not stop him, what makes you think you could?"
Zechs let out a growl as the sounds of fighting outside intensified and the assembled witnesses began to rise and chatter in fear. Now there was the echo of swords clashing in the hallways of the castle itself, and Heero recognized the upraised voices of some of his own Guard as they engaged Zechs's men. The prince turned and practically threw Heero into the arms of his waiting soldiers.
"Take him to the honeymoon suite and guard him there." He gestured to the other armed men throughout the chapel. "Clear the area now!"
Heero began to struggle in the grip that held him, but a look at Relena stopped him. She was backed against the broad chest of her older brother in a mockery of a protective embrace.
"I will see my sister to safety and will join you later, Heero."
Relena let out a cry but before the priest or the assembled ministers could really catch onto what was happening Zechs was out a side door with her, a few guards at his heels. Heero fought to free himself but instead felt himself struck at the temple by an elbow. His vision swam and his knees trembled.
"He's fainted," one of the guards said by way of quickly-invented explanation to the priest. "He and the prince were both fasting in preparation for this, so it's no wonder. We'll take care of him. Just get to your chambers and stay there until the prince calls for you."
Lost in swirling colors and darkness that threatened to close over his mind, Heero found the only thing that mattered seem to beat inside his heart. Quatre was alive – he had to be.
"Heero, I'm coming," Quatre's head snapped up as he rose from the crouch he had fallen into while sweeping the leg out from under a now-dead soldier.
"What's next, Kitty Cat?" Duo called cheerfully, his face set in its manic Shinigami grin.
"The Maganacs have breached the outer wall already," Quatre replied, wiping his shotels on the tunic of the fallen guard, "and I think Heero's people have taken the alarm that's been sounded as a signal to attack because there's a lot of fighting out in the courtyard."
"It's a good thing these men hired by Zechs are such cowards," Wufei spat, "or I might have to respect them as opponents."
"I've never seen a grown man run so fast, let alone the whole group at the gate," Trowa winked, smirking.
"Well, I am pretty scary," Duo's grin deepened into the expression that had caused the surrender of untold ships on the seas. "Worse when Cat makes them really feel it."
"Speaking of feelings," Quatre turned to look up the hallway as several figures appeared. There were at least a dozen guards, but amidst them strode Count Treize Khushrenada, who regarded them coolly.
"Kill the dark foreigner and those two," he nodded at Duo and Trowa, "but keep the fourth for questioning."
The men charged, but Duo and Trowa stepped forward to engage them. Wufei advanced on Treize, fire burning in his heart.
"Hello. I am Chang Wufei, of the Long Clan. You killed my people. Prepare to die."
"I don't think so," Treize smiled knowingly. Then his expression tightened.
Wufei felt his knees give out under the onslaught of sudden pain that was everywhere.
"Wufei!" Trowa yelled, pulling a dagger from the throat of the last guard still and moving towards his friend.
"Don't," Quatre ordered, putting a hand out. "Duo, Trowa, you know what you have to do. Leave this to us."
"But..."
"Come on," Duo tugged Trowa's arm. "Trust them."
Trowa met Quatre's eyes for a blazing moment before he nodded tightly and set off down an adjacent corridor. Duo shot his friend a bright grin and headed the other way, leaving the blond alone with Wufei and Treize.
"I'm amazed to see you so awake," Treize said conversationally, ignoring Wufei entirely. "I expected you to die, or at least to be rendered mindless. Your powers of recovery are impressive. I will be interested to see how you react to Zero now."
"You know," Quatre returned, an overly-bright smile lighting his face, "of the several tactical errors you have made in all this, putting me in Zero is probably the worst of them."
He stepped up beside Wufei and dropped a hand to the spasming shoulder. Without ever taking his attention from Treize, he let his power flow.
"You see," he said, and his eyes seemed to be darker than their usual color, his voice oddly colder, "Zero can do many terrible things to a person's mind and soul, but in the end it also imposes order on chaos. I survived the effects of what you intended, and reached Zero's true potential."
"What do you mean?" Treize was tempted to take a half-step backwards in sudden uncertainty. He noted that his attack on the swordsman seemed to have no more impact as the man himself rose from where he had fallen with a smooth, calm grace.
"Dorothy told me that Zero would free me from all the 'constraints' of my mind and heart, give my darker impulses free rein. She was partially correct." He smiled and there was nothing kind or warm in that smile now. "Zero has given me a new power, and a strength you will never understand."
And Quatre launched an attack of his own.
Treize had to fight not to vomit as dizziness overtook him. The shields and defenses he had place were like wet parchment before a blade. He felt as though a line of fire had been drawn inside his very skull.
When he came back to himself, Treize faced something more unsettling than the dark triumph on the angelic face before him. He was completely alone in his heart. He reached to feel the pirate's emotions, to feel anything, and he was answered by silence.
"Your empathy cannot hurt anyone ever again," Quatre said, slipping his shotels into their sheaths on his back. "You were born with a gift, Treize Khushrenada, and you betrayed and perverted it. If I could, I'd mark you on the outside with the ugliness of your heart so that children would weep at your approach, so that men and women would see you as the thing you are. Wallowing in the misery you have created in others for the rest of your life. But I am not you. Instead, I leave you blocked and impotent."
He turned to Wufei. "I believe you may now have a fair fight with this person. Shall I leave you to it?"
"Yes," Wufei's face creased in dark satisfaction. "Go on. I will find you after I have had my revenge."
Quatre strode past Treize, utterly unconcerned. As he passed the count, he whispered, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry. But if it is any comfort, I doubt you will suffer it for long." And he was gone.
Treize turned back to his opponent who raised his sword in a proper salute.
"I am Chang Wufei, of the Long Clan. You killed my people. Prepare to die."
-==OOO==-
"...To one side, Relena stood between a set of guards, her face drawn and her eyes red with tears, but her expression stubborn in its fury. Only a sharp eye would have noticed that the bouquet clutched in her hands hid thin ropes that bound her wrists together tightly. But she was uncowed by her circumstances, though the fearful glance she threw to Heero told him that he, too, was under threat should she attempt to speak out..."
"That's stupid."
"How so?"
"She should fight back! Yell to somebody! There's people from her kingdom there, right? They'd help her! She should try to do something!"
"This princess is not as spirited as you are, little one."
"Well, she should be. I wouldn't let somebody just hold me and wait quietly while they ruined all sorts of peoples' lives."
"It pleases me to hear it."