Disclaimer: Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written.
AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.
*** WARNING ***
This chapter gets a little intense towards the end where there is one mention of molestation, intended rape (meaning that it almost happened but didn't), and a slight escalation of violence and as such some of you may find that scene and what follows it a bit disturbing. I kept the details as vague as possible and tried to avoid giving any gory details but to cut the scene completely would have detracted from intensity of emotions that the scene is intended to invoke.
Further explanations can be found at the end of the chapter. For those who will undoubtedly be offended, I apologize but this story has been marked as mature from the beginning and I've always tried to post warnings at the top of each chapter as necessary so you can't say you weren't warned unless you don't bother reading the warnings.
Chapter 19: A Padfoot Pardon from Prison
After being led through a maze of endless hallways for about an hour, the two soldiers led Harry into a rather opulent office and this time Harry allowed his disgust and disdain for the gaudy décor to show on his face as he took in the gold chased linen wallpaper, the expensive hardwood paneling on both wall and floor, the scattered Persian rugs, and famous artwork hanging on the walls. Harry's lips curled up in distaste as he noted the large desk and accompanying gilded chair sitting in front of the wide windows of the east wall reminded Harry of the desk in Dumbledore's office and the gaudy golden throne that Dumbledore had sat upon during meals. Distaste that was soon extended to include the coldly handsome man sitting behind said desk.
Along with his two escorts, who had taken up a watchful stance just behind and to either side of Harry, there were another two soldiers stationed on either side of the door through which Harry had entered (and yet another pair standing guard outside of the door). To either side of Treize's chair, stood Lucrezia Noin and Lady Une; the former staring at Harry with a trace of disquiet and the latter with cold calculation. Just to the right of the desk, standing with his arms folded across his chest and wearing his ever present mask, was Zechs Merquise and Harry warily kept one eye on the man as he automatically assumed him to be the biggest threat.
"I just received a report of the wanton destruction that you indulged in this morning and you are clearly laboring under the misconception that I will allow you to continue the destructive behavior you first demonstrated last night," Treize stated as he leaned back in his chair, set his left elbow on the arm rest, and propped his chin upon his left thumb and index finger. "Allow me to set the record straight…"
Harry interrupted with a snort and gave an exaggerated yawn as he adopted a bored expression while allowing his eyes to wander about the room (silently rating his prank as a solid nine because of the underlying irritation he could hear in Treize's voice). He really had no interest in listening to the man's diatribe as he had no intention of doing what the man said regardless of how he thought to blackmail Harry into doing what he wanted. Nor would Harry allow the man to get away with threatening Cathy and Trowa and heaven help the bastard if he had harmed either of the taller teens.
"Zechs, if you would?"
Harry let his gaze slip sideways to follow the masked man as he walked to the large screen set into the northern wall and turned it on. Harry narrowed his eyes when a split image came into focus on the screen; one half depicting the same image of Trowa (only it looked as if someone had just hosed the teen down) that he'd seen earlier while the other half displayed Cathy in a similar state (minus the water). As he watched the two images, a pair of soldiers entered the pictures from somewhere off to the side and positioned themselves behind Trowa and Cathy before announcing that they were waiting for orders.
Fury dropped Harry's chin to his chest as he closed his eyes and fought to retain control of himself as silently told himself, The others would not want me to strike out blindly and risk getting Trowa or Cathy injured and Heero has ordered me to not reveal my magic carelessly. If I want to help them I have to be smart about it.
"There are two simple rules you will need to follow in order to insure the health of your companions," Treize began again after nearly five minutes of tense silence had past and Harry turned his head slightly back towards the man as he opened his eyes and lifted them just enough to stare up at Treize over his glasses through his fringe. "Firstly; you will answer any question you are asked. For every question you refuse to answer the young man you call brother will have a finger broken. If he runs out of fingers we will simply start on the rest of his body. And secondly; you will follow any orders you are given to the letter. Any order you disobey (whether intentionally or unintentionally) will result in the young woman suffering the same fate. So long as you cooperate they will remain unharmed. Do you understand?"
Harry let his eyes return to the monitor and this time he saw Trowa's artificially mismatched eyes filled with pain and regret staring right at the camera and the defiance and determination that had allowed Harry to face a Voldemort possessed Quirrell in his first year, a deadly basilisk and Voldemort's shade in his second, soul sucking dementors in his third, and everything that had happened in his fourth year filled Harry once more. Taking a deep breath, Harry lowered his head once more in seeming submission as he turned so that he was facing the screen; his entire body trembling as the tenuous control on his temper slipped slightly despite his earlier resolve not to act brashly over the threat that had just been voiced.
"I understand," Harry whispered sharply, his voice cutting through the office like a whip. "I understand that you just made a huge miscalculation." Harry snapped his head up and stared straight at Trowa, an invisible aura of rage surrounding him as he raised his voice and loudly declared, "I will never cooperate with you; so long as my brother and my friend are being held prisoner by you and your slip-shod minions, I will fight you with every breath I take."
"Each day the two of them remain imprisoned I will destroy one room inside of this castle. Each time a new bruise mars their skin I will poison one of your soldiers and make them wish for death. Each time you cause my family physical pain I will permanently maim one of your soldiers in the most painful way possible. Each broken bone you inflict upon Trowa and Cathy, will see me killing one of your soldiers without remorse. And should you spill a single drop of their blood I will raze this entire castle so completely that they will still be searching for your broken body a thousand years from now."
"I think you're bluffing," Lady Une sneered as her hand flashed up and signaled to the soldier standing behind Trowa.
Harry watched the man step forward with a sadistic grin and grab hold of Trowa's left hand. Even before the man had finished snapping Trowa's left pinky finger, Harry had one of his throwing knives in his hand. A loud thud coming from behind Harry coincided with Trowa's grunt of pain and Cathy's short, sharp scream as she stared at her camera with wide-eyed fear; indicating that they both could clearly see and hear what was happening inside of the office where Harry was standing. Harry kept his eyes on Trowa for a minute longer before he slowly turned to face Treize who was staring at the dead soldier on the floor in mild shock.
"Still think I'm bluffing?" Harry inquired as he studiously ignored the dead man who was bleeding all over the floor from the hole in his neck where Harry's knife had pierced the man's jugular and fought to beat back the nausea he felt churning his stomach.
"I would not have thought a child like you to be capable of committing cold blooded murder," Zechs quietly mused as he studied Harry as if seeing him for the first time.
"Since when is exterminating vermin considered murder?" Harry asked in a childish voice filled with feigned innocence as he pasted an expression of puzzled curiosity on his face.
"Why was the boy not striped of his knives last night as instructed?" Treize demanded tightly as he finally recovered his voice.
"We… we couldn't get close enough to him to search him, sir," the other half of Harry's escort meekly explained.
"He was unconscious you nitwit! What could he have possibly done?"
Harry hissed once and laughed softly, drawing everyone's attention back to him as two triangular heads followed by two sleek bodies slipped out from the neck of his shirt and circled his shoulders. When he noticed he had their attention he softly drawled, "I have a riddle for you… there were exactly eighty venomous snakes brought onto the castle grounds for our act; every single one of them just as dangerously beautiful and deadly as my pretty little Belladonna and her friend Rusty here; who I kept with me along with a couple others when I climbed out of the snake crate. Do you know where the other seventy some snakes disappeared to once the show was over? Funny thing about snakes; like the prey they seek to devour they are capable of slipping through seemingly impossible cracks and while they always seek warmth they willingly travel through the shadows as they stalk their next meal."
"It seems we've come to a bit of an impasse," Treize murmured as he leaned forward to prop his elbows on his desk as he nestled his chin on top of thumbs and contemplated Harry over the top of his interwoven fingers. "I can't allow you to walk free and you refuse to cooperate which means your two companions are useless to me."
"I don't see what is so complicated… it's really simple and straight forward on what needs to happen," Harry countered as he scratched Belladonna beneath her chin and once more let his eyes seek out Trowa. "You release my family or I will make your life a living hell while the scumbags that work for you will suffer for your sins if you choose to ignore my warning."
"I am still left with a distinct lack of cooperation on your part even if I choose comply with your demands."
There was no point in responding to that statement, so Harry ignored it completely as he continued to lavish attention on the two adders curled around his neck and shoulders as he silently kept his eyes on the pilot that he'd grown so close to over the last six weeks. Beneath Harry's skin, his magic roiled with the suppressed fury that Harry was barely holding in check through sheer will power while his stomach churned endlessly as the coppery stench of freshly split blood clogged his nose.
"I could always have them put to death instead."
"And then there would be nothing to stop me from unleashing the full extent of my fury," Harry replied in a low hiss that was filled with pure venom as he snapped his head around to glare at Treize. "The ties that bind me to my family are the only thing that ground me and should they be torn from me; there is no place on god's green earth or out in the frozen wastelands of space that you will be able to hide from my wrath."
"I see," Treize stated slowly as he sat up and turned to address one of the two women in the room. "Noin, please escort our young guest's companions from the property; it appears they are no longer needed."
"You can't seriously be considering giving into…" Lady Une protested only to cut off at a sharp gesture from Treize.
"How do I know you are actually letting them go free? How do you expect me to trust you to keep your word after the lengths you went through to take us last night?" Harry demanded on the heels of Une's unfinished protest.
"I will give you my word as a gentleman."
"And you're a feeble-minded fop of a flobberworm if you think I'm going to fall for that load of crup crap," Harry barked as he scowled at Treize. "I will believe that you have kept your word when I can physically see that the two people you are escorting from the castle are my family. And that doesn't mean you that stuff me in another windowless room and set me up with another useless video feed. If you are going to separate me from my family the least you can do is allow me to say a proper goodbye."
Several long minutes passed as Treize and Harry glared at each other before the older man ordered, "Noin; gather a squad and escort the young man and woman to the front gate. Zechs; you will be in charge of escorting our young guest so that he might say his goodbyes."
Harry turned back to the screen to watch Trowa with worried eyes as Zechs approached him and pulled a pair of handcuffs from his pocket. He gave a near silent hiss to Belladonna and Rusty to send them back into the folds of his shirt with their three hidden companions and tensed as Zechs reached out to take hold of his arm as the man clipped one cuff around his left wrist before pulling his arm behind his back. Bile rose up in the back of his throat as the masked man took hold of his right arm and pulled it back and snapped the second cuff in place.
The man then wrapped an iron grip around his upper left arm and steered him out of the room. Harry tossed one last glance over his shoulder towards the screen only for the screen to turn black as the connection was cut. Harry continued to offer no resistance as he was escorted through the maze of hallways once more; he'd gotten what he wanted. A dark cloud engulfed his entire being though as he finally allowed himself to think of the man he'd just killed in cold blood and he stumbled over his feet as a wave of self disgust swept through him.
He probably would have fallen on his face if not for Zechs' hand firmly holding onto his arm; as it was it took several minutes for him to regain his balance. A lead weight settled in the pit of his stomach and Harry tucked his chin to his chest and closed his eyes; allowing his body to move on autopilot as his guard deftly guided him through the castle. It was the sound of Cathy and Trowa calling his name that pulled Harry back into reality sometime later.
He glanced up as Zechs pulled him to a stop and Harry let his eyes search both teens for any sign they'd been hurt beyond the broken finger Harry knew Trowa had suffered. He then fearfully gazed up into Trowa's face, frightened that he'd see nothing but disgust in the other teen's eyes, only to feel the back of his eyes sting with the pressure of building tears as he found nothing but worry and concern. Letting out a half strangled sob, Harry tore his arm free from Zechs' hand and threw himself across the distance separating him from Trowa.
"I'm sorry, Trowa…" Harry whispered as he pressed his face against Trowa's stomach.
"Not your fault, little brother," Trowa whispered in reply as he pulled Harry close in a one-sided hug (Harry's hands still cuffed behind his back).
"You're one of the best big brother's a kid could ask for and I'll never forget everything you've taught me. I don't know what I'm going to do when you're gone but I couldn't stand the thought of them hurting you because of me."
"I understand, Harry; I understand. I'm just sorry I got you into this mess in the first place."
Harry leaned back and gave Trowa a weak smile as he reluctantly stepped out of his brother's arms and timidly turned to face Cathy. He was relieved when he found no trace of revulsion in her troubled eyes and he willingly stepped into her arms for the first time as she held them out to him all the while wishing he could hug her back. He couldn't help but sniffle a bit at the pain that was filling his heart in that moment.
"Thank you for everything, Cathy; I never really had any one properly mother me before and it was nice while it lasted. Don't let the ringmaster stuff Beauty back into the tiny cage, okay. And please watch over my brother for me… don't let him play the stupid Heero, alright?"
"Oh, Harry, you don't have to…"
"Yes, I do," Harry interrupted as he gazed up into Cathy's tear stained face; his eyes shimmering with unshed tears and a mixture of determination and desperation. "It would kill me if something happened to either of you. So long as I know the two of you are safe, then it doesn't matter what happens to me."
It was at that moment that Zechs decided that their small reunion and tearful goodbye had gone on long enough as he stepped forward and once again took hold of Harry's arm, dragging Harry out of Cathy's arms as the eight soldiers and Noin surrounded the two taller teens and herded them out the door. Zechs allowed Harry to follow as far as the threshold as he maintained his iron grip on Harry's arm. Numbness crept through Harry's mind and body as he watched the two people he'd come to consider part of the mismatched family he'd found in this world being taken from him.
He would have stood there staring after them long after they'd disappeared from his view if not for Zechs pulling him away from the door. Once again Harry didn't bother taking in any of his environs as he stumbled along beside Zechs. He couldn't find it in himself to really care where he was being taken as the pain of being separated from Trowa competed with the growing numbness; his earlier fury over Trowa's imprisonment fading quickly now that the pilot and his friend were no longer in any immediate danger (unaware that Treize was having the two of them followed thinking one of them would lead his troops to one of the Gundam Suits before being retaken into custody).
It wasn't until he was propelled into an informal dining room that was modestly decorated in comparison to the formal dining room from the night before and Treize's office that Harry managed to pull himself together enough to pay attention to his surroundings. He stared around the room apathetically as he felt Zechs remove the handcuff from his right wrist; a small part of him feeling apprehensive about what would happen to him now.
As he was maneuvered into the nearest chair, a ghost of a smirk briefly crossed his face as the empty cuff was immediately secured to the left arm rest in order to prevent Harry from going very far. It was a small acknowledgement of the havoc that Harry had created the night before when he'd attempted to resist capture and just a short while earlier in retaliation for Treize having himself and the others captured.
Harry cringed in his seat when a waiter appeared and dropped a plate of food down in front of him. The unexpected looming presence of the man sharply reminding him of the unexpected attack the night before, when they'd first tried to drug him. Untrusting of everyone and everything around him, Harry watched the man's every move like a cornered wolf as he finished delivering what Harry assumed was meant to be his breakfast. His eyes continued to track the man as he withdrew, going so far as to lean around the side of the chair to mark his retreat from the room.
"Eat."
The softly delivered order had Harry turning back around in his seat and staring across the table where Zechs was leaning back in a chair with his right ankle propped on his left knee and his left elbow braced on the arm of the chair as he watched Harry through the opaque eyes of the mask the man never seemed to take off. Harry then dropped his eyes down to the plate sitting in front of him and noted the pile of scrambled eggs, two pieces of toast, a few strips of bacon, and half a dozen orange wedges arranged artfully on the plate. The sight and scent of the food only made Harry's stomach twist and churn though and he reached out and shoved the plate away from him.
He then pulled his legs up onto the chair, turned sideways so that he could watch both the door to the room and the man sitting across from him, and leaned his head against the back of the chair as he listlessly tapped the metal cuff on his left wrist against the one that secured him to the chair. Twenty minutes later, found both man and de-aged teen still sitting in the exact same positions.
The tableau was broken just seconds later when the door opened and Treize entered with both Une and Noin in tow and Harry paused in his ceaseless clanking for fifteen full seconds before he resumed. Harry felt a minor trill of satisfaction when the three newcomers all scowled in his direction over the mildly irritating sound (or maybe just over his very existence) but did his best not to let them know their annoyance pleased him. It was probably petty of him but he didn't care at this point.
"If you do not eat what is in front of you; you will get nothing else to eat for the rest of the day," Treize declared as he noted Harry's untouched plate.
"Whatever," Harry replied in an uncaring tone as he lazily spun around in the chair to track Treize as the man crossed the length of the room and passed behind the chair he was cuffed to; the threat of a missed meal or three nothing new – the Dursleys had trained him to expect little in the way of creature comforts and trained him well. He then began sliding the cuff hooked to the arm of the chair back and forth so that the metal was scraping against the wood; adding just enough pressure to scrape the varnish and stain from the chair's arm with each pass of metal against wood.
"So be it," Treize announced as he signaled for the plate to be removed. "I imagine you are probably wondering why we went through the trouble of taking you into our custody."
Harry glanced up from where he was methodically stripping the stain and varnish from the arm of the chair he was cuffed to, tilted his head to one side, and simply waited for the man to continue. Only, instead of saying anything further the man simply gestured to Lady Une and the woman deposited a thick stack of eight by ten glossy photos onto the table in front of Harry. Harry swept his eyes over the top image to see a close up of him standing on the small ramp leading into the cockpit of Wing and had to fight to keep his breathing calm as he sat back in the chair and returned to his minor act of vandalism as if the picture meant nothing to him.
"Aren't you interested in seeing what other photos are there?"
"No, I don't need to see photos of some kid I've never met to know you have an unhealthy interest in little boys," Harry blandly declared.
"You should know that we've done our research and we made no mistake; no amount of bluffing and blustering on your part is going to change that," Zechs stated as he leaned across the table to spread the pictures out across the table. "You may have died your hair and slipped on a color contact but there is no mistaking that scar."
Eyes unwillingly drawn back to the photographs a second time, Harry noted that each and every one of them were fairly clear full body close ups of himself. There were several more from the day of failed mission to destroy the Taurus transports (both before and after the explosion), a few of Harry still looking like himself with his left leg and arm still in casts standing in the middle of Beauty's old cage, several more of Harry with his new look in Beauty's new cage, and various ones of him in the ring performing. In each of the photos bar the one that had been on the very top of the stack, someone had taken a red marker and circled the very unique lightning bolt scar on Harry's forehead.
"As you can see, Harry, we know exactly who you are."
"So you have a few pictures; shall I write the press and demand they give you a fucking award for creative stalking? I really don't see how having a few photos equates to knowing a fucking thing about me either."
"Watch your mouth, brat," Lady Une growled as she loomed over Harry from behind his chair.
"Or what? You'll shoot me? Torture me? Or maybe wash my mouth out with soap and send me to bed without dessert?" Harry shot back as he slipped a knife out from his left sleeve and whispered a soft order to two of the snakes inside of his shirt before he craned his head around to glare at the woman. As two scaled heads slipped free from his collar Harry spat, "You made a mistake if you think I'm going to be easily cowed by the likes of you, you blithering bitch of a banshee."
Lady Une lifted her hand as if to strike Harry and Harry actually smiled a cold smile at her as he rose up on his knees, pulling the chain of the handcuffs taut as he softly dared, "Go a head and try it… if you think you can get away with it before Belladonna and Rusty sink their fangs into your flesh. Did you know that most vipers can accurately strike a target at a distance of up to six times their own body length? How good are your reflexes? I'm willing to bet that you'll not even have a chance to strike me before my snakes inject you with enough venom to kill an elephant in less than a minute."
"Stand down, Une," Treize quietly ordered before she could attempt to carry out her unspoken threat or test Harry's latest supposed bluff.
"Nice to know you've almost got your ugly mongrels housebroken and at least partially trained. I hope you were responsible and got them spayed as well because no one wants see ugly and stupid reproduce."
"I had hoped we could come to a peaceful accord, boy," Treize began only to snap his mouth shut as he dove to the left to avoid the blade Harry had thrown at him. The man slowly stood up and glanced at the knife now imbedded in his chair about where his head had been before turning a razor sharp glare in Harry's direction.
"Listen up you poisonously pompous pignut; I'm only going to tell you once where you can stick your pathetically patronizing platitude…"
"You seem like a rather intelligent young man," Treize interrupted angrily as he stalked around the chair where Harry's knife was still imbedded in the back rest with a stormy expression as he closed the distance between them. "So I will not waste any more time beating about the bush. I'll give you choice; and don't think you can outmaneuver me a second time. You can keep a civil tongue in your mouth and cooperate with us and be treated as a guest or we can treat you like a common criminal and throw you in the dungeon where you will remain indefinitely unless we bring you out for questioning. I will give you one minute to decide before I take matters into my own hands and I promise you that you will not like how I deal with matters."
"You know… I think I'll go with the dungeons… I think the air will be cleaner down there instead of up here in the cesspool with the hoards of walking, talking excrement."
"So be it," Treize declared grimly. "Zechs; he's all yours. Mind you strip him of his knives and any vermin he's carrying with him."
Harry snapped his head around as the masked man rose from his seat and began moving around the table in his direction and Harry let his eyes dart around the room once; taking in everyone's position. A glimpse of his reflection in the window gave him his only avenue of escape and he burst into action before Zechs had rounded the first corner of the table. Pulling out one of the pistols that Heero had given him for his birthday, Harry snapped the chain of the handcuffs with a single shot and scrambled up onto the table as he fired off a half dozen bullets at the window directly across from the chair he'd been chained to, shattering the glass.
Dashing across the table towards the now open window, Harry sprang for his freedom (uncaring that he had no idea how high up in the castle they were) only to feel himself being grabbed midair and thrown back across the room by Zechs who'd dashed back around the table the moment Harry had started moving. Not willing to give up, Harry rolled back up onto his feet and dashed forward again; pulling out more of his throwing knives and casting them as fast as he could at all four individuals in the room as he headed towards the window a second time. This time he actually had his hand on the sill and was thrusting his legs up into the air to vault out when he was grabbed by the back of his collar and thrown away from the window yet again; the broken glass of the window slicing through the palm of his hand as it was dragged sideways while he was still holding the frame.
Rolling across the floor to a stop beneath the table, Harry shook his head to clear away the dizziness and drunkenly climbed back up onto his feet only to immediately drop back to the floor as Une made to grab him. He reached out and grabbed hold of the nearest chair by the legs and slammed it side ways into her and managed to knock her from her feet. He then scrambled out from under the table and charged towards the only door leading out of the room.
The door opened a heartbeat later and a squad of soldiers poured into the room in response to the earlier gunshots and Harry was forced to skid to a stop least he plow right into their outstretched arms. As the grim faced men began moving forward, Harry brought his pistol up a second time and emptied the rest of the clip into their midst causing them to scatter. His fear and anger allowing him to completely block out the pained cries and spilled blood that were the result of the bullets he fired connecting with flesh. A hand ripped the pistol from his grip at the same time he fired the last bullet and Harry ducked to the side to avoid being grabbed at the same time.
Taking off across the room, he headed for a lone soldier that looked more than a little nervous and dove forward onto the floor so that he slid between man's legs before he bounced back up onto his feet and aimed for the broken window once again. Treize jumped directly into his path this time and Harry threw himself into a sideways roll that had him skidding across the table once more to avoid the sword the man was wielding. His momentum carried him all the way across the table where he slammed into the chair that Treize had been sitting in earlier and pulled free his knife as he jumped to the floor.
He then immediately jumped to the left to avoid both Noin and Une as he headed for the nearest window and pulled out his second pistol so he could smash its glass. Time seemed to slow down as he felt hands grab the back of his shirt at the same time as Une grabbed hold of his left arm and jerked him sideways. His eyes followed Rusty's path as the adder launched himself at Une only for him to witness the snake exploding before his eyes as Une fired her gun at point blank range.
His feet were then lifted clear of the floor as Une swung him around while twisting his arm as his shirt was torn from his back, spilling two of the other snakes onto the floor where they promptly met the same fate as Rusty. Time then sped back up as his back and head crashed into the window hard enough to crack it but not shatter it before he was dropped painfully to the floor. Une then brought his left arm back and up as she rolled him onto his stomach and dropped a knee down on the middle of his back as she pressed her gun to the back of his head.
Harry didn't make a single sound as he stared at the shredded remains of the three adders that had willingly followed him simply because they enjoyed the free mice and adored being the center of attention. He offered no resistance as the rest of his clothes were striped from him in their quest to remove all of his remaining weapons. The remaining two snakes tried to protect him but Treize expertly beheaded them with his sword before they could even bite anyone. Harry cried out against the senseless deaths as he watched Belladonna's head roll to a stop right in front of his face.
He then let out a keening whine as he finally felt the hands running all over him as they searched for and removed the rest of his knives but it was cut off fairly quickly when Une boxed his ear and told him to shut up and hold still. Harry's wand was inadvertently protected from the same fate as his knives by Lady Une due to the way she was holding his left arm across his back; the invisible lower arm holster that Trowa had helped him make several weeks earlier digging reassuringly into his back.
His eyes had gone glassy and unseeing by the time they re-cuffed his hands behind his back and pulled him up onto his feet. His legs refused to hold his weight though and someone ended up lifting him up off the ground before tossing him over their shoulder in a fireman carry but Harry still didn't react. He never saw the destruction he'd wrought in the small dining room in such a short amount of time nor did he see the dead and injured soldiers he'd shot in his attempt to escape; all he could see were mangled bodies of the five snakes that had tried to protect him.
Trowa grabbed hold of the bars of the gate as it swung shut to lock them off of the castle grounds, a pained expression on his usually stoic face. He kept seeing Harry's dejected stance as he was half dragged down the hall by Zechs and the tortured look in his eyes when the kid had finally looked up. It brought to mind the night he and Duo had spent listening to Harry speak about his nightmares just before they infiltrated New Edwards Base when Harry had still been having difficulty coming to terms with the lives he'd taken during the disastrous mission to reclaim Harry's belongings from his island cave.
Trowa knew that Harry had not been as unaffected by the death of the soldier as he'd pretended to be while standing in front of Treize. He'd actually been more than a little shocked that Harry had followed through on what he'd been certain had been intended as a bluff. Trowa well remembered how Harry had balked over learning how to use and clean the various guns he kept on hand and how long it had taken the pint-sized teen to grow comfortable enough just handling the guns let alone learning how to shoot them (while he knew Harry saw the knives more as dangerous toys than weapons). He briefly wondered if he'd been wrong to teach Harry how to handle weapons before he shoved the thought away.
"You need to leave," Noin announced as she watched Trowa through the gate.
"Please, you have no right to take him. He's just a kid… he hasn't done anything wrong," Trowa growled out.
"Just a kid?" Noin spat back with unexpected venom. "That damned kid cut down a man in coldblooded murder without any hesitation just now! He didn't even give the soldier a chance to defend himself. He crippled a number of other soldiers last night without blinking an eye!"
"He never would have done it if you people hadn't used that farce of a dinner party last night to take us hostage or if that cold hearted bitch hadn't called his bluff and found out first hand that he wasn't bluffing; so don't blame my brother for trying to protect himself or for following through on the warning he gave. You people have no right to judge him after all of the murders you have committed!"
"Trowa, please, this isn't helping," Cathy pleaded as she grabbed his arm and began dragging the younger teen away when Noin pulled out a pistol and leveled it at Trowa through the gate. "Harry wouldn't want you to throw your life away for nothing. We'll find some other way to get him back."
Trowa allowed her to pull him away, his mind once again going numb as the knowledge that he'd just left Harry in OZ's hands sank in. When they finally reached the circus, Trowa stared up at the large marquis that declared the Siblings of the Knife (the stage name for their act) would be performing for one week only with Harry's, Trowa's, and Cathy's names written out and a number of posters with their picture plastered on the posts of the signboard.
Trowa stared at the picture of the three of them and he couldn't help but see how happy each of them had been in the most recent version of the poster. Harry had grown to love performing in front of the crowds, he'd completely come out of his shell after they'd started performing. Trowa had never heard Harry's laughter ring as loud or as long as it did when the kid would dart out of the ring with him hot on his heels after getting hit in the head with one of those blasted juggling balls one too many times over the course of their performance.
It had been that laughter and the undisguised joy filling Harry's emerald eyes that had prompted the pilot to put off returning to the Winner Estate (or even contacting the others) when the one month of agreed upon silence had come and gone. He hadn't been able to bring himself to smother the life he'd seen replace the hopelessness, self-loathing, and anger that had once filled the smaller teen's eyes. He also hadn't been blind to his own happiness in living for nothing but the next show and he knew that Harry had been the one to change him. He doubted any of his fellow pilots could have stepped into his shoes and avoided being caught up in the excitement that Harry had radiated with each breath he took.
And Trowa had selfishly wanted to keep that feeling of belonging, of finally knowing what it felt like to truly live, all to himself. He'd loved knowing that he could make Harry laugh and that Harry could in turn make him laugh. There would be no laughter now though and the circus suddenly turned dark and desolate as the realization set in that he'd probably never see Harry again because he'd been so selfishly stupid.
Wandering aimlessly through the different attractions, Trowa soon found himself standing in front of Beauty's new cage. The python seemed to perk up the moment she caught sight of Trowa as she canted her head back and forth as if looking for some sign of Harry. Eventually, the enormous snake sank back down and sighed as if disappointed that the pint sized teen hadn't made an immediate appearance.
Unable to stand the pain of his failure any longer, Trowa spun on his heel and began heading back out of the circus; fully intending to make his way towards where he'd hidden Heavyarms after their most recent change of location. He'd just barely reached the entrance when Cathy grabbed his arm and spun him around angrily.
"Where the hell are you going?"
"I'm going to go fetch my little brother and take him home."
"And just what do you plan on doing, storm the walls bare handed? Run in blindly and get yourself killed trying to be some kind of hero? Did you not see the fear in Harry's eyes when that man threatened your life!? Did you not hear him begging you not to be a stupid hero and get yourself killed!?"
"Stupid hero…?" Trowa repeated as he stared at Cathy for a full minute before realization struck him. "One of the best… No, not hero… he said Heero! My little brother is brilliant… leave it to that sneaky little pint-sized teenager to drop a clue without being obvious about it." Trowa suddenly hugged Cathy before he pulled his arm away from the now confused young woman as he took off once more in the direction of his Gundam.
"Now where the hell are you going, Trowa?"
"To call on Hee-man, Wuff-man, Kumquat, and an annoying shinigami to help me get our favorite little brother back," Trowa called back over his shoulder before he took off running, leaving an annoyed and confused Cathy to throw her arms up in exasperation as he quickly disappeared from view; seemingly unaware of the shadow he'd picked up the moment he left the circus grounds.
When Harry finally came back to his senses sometime later, he found himself laying in the middle of a cold, metal and canvas cot in a damp stone room; his hands still tightly secured behind his back and still naked. Shaking his head to clear away the last of the empty numbness that had filled him, Harry twisted around and sat up as he glanced around his prison cell.
"Nice ambiance," Harry murmured hoarsely in feigned appreciation. "Although I think it needs a few more rusted chains, a rotting corpse or two, a bit of stale vomit, and some fresh blood splashed about the wall to really give it that homey dungeon feel. Oh, and they forgot the unwashed, foul mouthed prison guard looming out of the shadows in a show of intimidation; still for amateurs they at least got the damp and dank correct. Too bad I can't give Filch a call and schedule them a few free lessons. Probably for the best… they would never be able to handle the cranky bastard and I really don't want to see him or his demonic cat."
Sighing, Harry shook his head and pulled his hands under his body so he could pull his legs through his arms and his gave a soft hiss when it made his left shoulder ache from where Une had wrenched it in its socket. After allowing his shoulder muscles a moment to adjust, he reached up to his face and grinned with he found they had left him his glasses (the weak sticking charm he'd applied to them having prevented them from getting lost during his two escape attempts – and during his many performances). Pulling off the frames, he placed the right arm in his mouth and gave a gentle tug to remove the plastic ear guard from the one side and then proceeded to use the thin metal of the frame to pick the lock on the handcuffs.
While he worked, he silently thanked Duo for showing him how to turn virtually anything into a lock pick. When he had one hand free, he clipped the open cuff to the wrist with the other cuff so that they were both encircling his left wrist; a visible reminder that it was his own fault he was in this predicament. He spent another several minutes stretching out cramped muscles before repairing his glasses and putting them back on. He then took a moment to remove the bandages from his left hand so that he could study the cuts on his palm from the broken window; noting that they had been treated and stitched at some point.
His next task was to explore every inch of his cell; idly making tsking sounds and shaking his head as he noted the distinct lack of urine stains on the walls and spider webs in the corners while bemoaning the lack of edible rats. He did give them extra brownie points for the two different types of mold growing on the walls and floor. Harry knew he was probably being watched through at least one security camera and actually hoped to give those watching him the impression that he was completely nutters. The only thing that truly bothered him at that moment was his nakedness which had him feeling both exposed and vulnerable.
When he finished exploring the cell, he turned his attention to the only two pieces of furniture in the room; the bed and a chamber pot. Ignoring the chamber pot for the moment, Harry contemplated the bed before he allowed a demonic grin to spread across his face when he noted the deeper shadows beneath the rusted cot. Shuffling up to the bed, he dropped down to lie on his stomach on the floor before he wriggled his way beneath the bed.
Once he was pressed up against the wall where he was certain the cameras would never see what he was doing, Harry slipped his wand free of his hidden holster. He then cast a permanent sticking charm on the feet of the bed to prevent it from being moved or removed. Next, he cast a couple of low level protective wards on the frame to prevent anyone from seeing what was beneath the bed or from sneaking up on him.
Satisfied that he would be safe for the moment, Harry set about making the space beneath the bed a little more comfortable; expanding the space so he could sit up properly, adding cushioning and warming charms to the floor, and conjuring a couple of globes of soft light so he could see clearly. Another series of spells vanished the stitches in his hand so he could properly treat the cuts before they became infected. He then used his wand to undo the disillusionment charm that hid his leather necklace of shrunken trunks as he pulled it over his head and set it on the floor so he could expand the ones holding his food and supplies.
He dove into his supply trunk first where he used the rather simple bathroom it contained to wash himself up with rune generated warm water before dressing in a long sleeved shirt and pants. Next he spent several minutes disinfecting his hand and smearing it with healing ointment before he tightly re-bandaged it with a bit of gauze. He then took a moment to down a couple of potions to get rid of the lingering ache from his rather desperate failed escape attempt and to give him a bit of a boost so he didn't get sick after spending who knew how many hours sitting naked in the damp cell.
Before exiting that trunk, he warned the snakes that things had gone from bad to worse and promised them that he'd fetch them mice and rats when he could and let them out as soon as it was safe. Lastly, he grabbed the new laptop Trowa had purchased for him, a box of Dr. Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start No-Heat Fireworks, and a pack of playing cards.
Harry set the things he gathered down on the floor of his hidden retreat before slipping down into his food trunk where he warmed up a can of soup and made himself a small sandwich. Once he finished eating, he made himself a mug of hot chocolate and grabbed a couple bottles of water for the fireworks. He climbed back up out of the trunk at that point, shrank the trunks back down to a more manageable size, returned the leather cord to his neck, and reapplied the spells to hide his trunks. Expecting someone to come and check on him soon, Harry tucked his wand back into the hidden holster, gathered up the pack of playing cards and his chocolate, and backed out from under the bed (leaving the others things for later).
He whistled a happy little tune as he imagined the confused expressions on his watchers faces when they saw him emerge fully clothed from beneath the bed when they assumed that he had nothing on him and nothing in the cell before he'd snuck under the bed. He continued to hum as he sipped at his hot chocolate before opening the pack of playing cards so he could shuffle the deck. As he sat there in the dank dungeon, Harry wondered if his godfather would be proud of him for pranking the guards that watched him before he grew sad as thinking of Sirius reminded him that he was once again all alone.
Shoving the ache in his heart to the back of his mind, Harry dealt out a game of solitaire and absently played through the hand as he sipped his chocolate; savoring the thick rich taste of Honeydukes' best chocolate and enjoying the warmth that spread through his body with each sip. He'd just started his third game when he heard the lock being turned and Harry did his best to keep calm and pretend not to hear the hinges of the door squeal loudly as it was opened just wide enough to admit one of his jailers. The door slammed shut again a heartbeat later and he heard footsteps crossing the stone floor to stop just beside him.
"Who gave you those clothes and the cards?"
"My godfather and my brother," Harry replied politely as he studiously continued flipping and moving the cards. "I carry them with me everywhere I go and I figured since you people ruined and stole my stage costume I might as well make use of my godfather's final gift. And I was bored because there are no rats to play with in here."
"Do not lie to me; you had nothing on but your glasses and your handcuffs when you were thrown in here two days ago."
"Two days?" Harry repeated in a pained voice. "Huh… imagine that; no wonder I was feeling hungry enough to eat a full can of soup by myself."
"Where did you get those clothes?"
"What clothes?"
"The clothes you are wearing!"
"Wow, you must really be a few pies short of a holiday. You just told me that I was put in here with nothing and if I had nothing on me when I came in, how could I possibly be wearing something now?" Harry sincerely inquired as he finally peered up at the guard standing right in front of him for the first time since the man had entered the cell.
Harry expected the blow and allowed his head to turn with the slap in order to reduce the force of the blow but it still stung through the mild pain relieving potion he'd taken earlier. He blinked a couple of times, straightened up his glasses, and prodded at his cheek where he suspected a rather large bruise would soon be forming before glancing up at the man hovering over him once more.
"You should ask that horrendous hag of a harpy, Une, for a few lessons; she hits much harder."
The second blow stung a bit more than the first but Harry felt satisfaction in the knowledge that he could goad the man into lashing out. It meant that he could drive the man to do something stupid. Harry smirked at the man and picked up his mug in order to take a drink only for the guard to grab it from him and fling it across the cell where it exploded against the wall.
"Oy, now that was just plan bad manners," Harry exclaimed indignantly. "That was damn expensive chocolate you just wasted, not to mention that was my favorite mug too. Have you no sense of decency!?"
The guard reached out and grabbed Harry's shirt and slammed him into the wall beside the bed as he got right up in Harry's face and growled, "I asked you a question you snot-nosed little brat and when I ask you a question you will answer me or I'm going to start breaking your fingers one at a time."
"I did answer you; not my fault you didn't like hearing the truth you insipid, in-bred idiot," Harry snarked back irritably as he lashed out with his foot and clipped the guard in the crotch with his toes.
The guard jerked and let out a pained grunt even as he wrapped his fingers around Harry throat and began squeezing only to stop and let go with one hand when the door opened up and the man half whirled around to see who was entering. Harry wiggled a bit to see if he could free himself but that only brought the guard's attention back to him and renewed pressure on his throat as the man once more tightened his grip.
"That is enough, captain."
Harry groaned out loud and practically growled as he recognized Zechs' voice. He should have known the man would show up sooner or later; Treize had given Harry to the man after all. The guard holding Harry snarled and slammed Harry back into the wall once more before dropping Harry back onto the bed.
"You will never again enter this cell without my explicit permission, is that understood captain?"
"Yes, sir, Lieutenant Zechs."
"Good; now get the hell out of here."
Harry reached up to massage his bruised throat as he warily watched Zechs while the guard vacated the cell. He tensed when the man stepped closer and studied Harry from beneath that detestable mask and Harry clenched his teeth and slipped sideways to maintain the distance between them. He could almost tolerate the guard trying to kill him but he'd be damned if he'd let the masked man touch him again.
"You should not have provoked him," Zechs admonished with a frown.
"Better a quick death than anything you or that man that holds your leash have planned for me," Harry spat back as he braced himself to dodge should the man make a grab for him.
"You know you don't have to stay in this place," Zechs pointed out as he seemingly studied the small, damp cell (specifically noting the broken mug and spilt chocolate) before turning back to study Harry once more. "It can't be all that comfortable and solitude weighs heavy on one's soul I have heard. All you have to do is agree to cooperate with Treize and you could be treated as a pampered guest."
Harry began to laugh softly at first, his voice slowly growing louder the longer he laughed. It was not a pretty laugh and there was no humor to be found in the sound as it bounced endlessly off of the stone walls of the dank cell. It was the sound of pure madness that was fueled by the dark memories of Harry's past coupled with the two long years he'd lived alone on the beach. Zechs retreated from the cell five minutes later (when Harry showed no signs of stopping) without saying anything further even as Harry's voice grew loud enough to echo throughout the entire dungeon.
Harry continued to laugh long after Zechs had left and more than one of the guards on watch that night shifted uneasily as the sound continuously drifted up from the depths of the dungeons. Harry didn't stop laughing until his voice finally gave out several hours later and even then his shoulders shook endlessly as he sat on the edge of his bed.
When Harry finally calmed down an indeterminate amount of time later, he sighed softly and pushed himself up from his bed to shuffle across the room in order to sweep up the shards of the mug that the guard had destroyed. Once he thought he had them all in one place, Harry glanced around the cell for a moment before he hunched over the cup and muttered a soft 'Reparo' as he discreetly palmed his wand for a moment in order to draw on his magic. He smiled briefly as he watched the broken cup restore itself.
Sighing a second time, Harry stared at the slightly raised silhouette of a magnificent twelve-point stag etched into the mug and smiled wistfully as he thought of his father and godfather. A split second later he vanished the spilt chocolate (to further mess with the heads of those watching him) before returning his wand back to his holster. The pint-sized wizard then tucked the cup into the crook of his elbow and retreated to the bed where he promptly vanished into the shadows beneath it.
It had been over two months now since Harry had been forcefully taken into custody by Treize and he was still sitting in the same dank cell. Zechs visited him at least twice a day during the first couple of weeks and then only once a day after that to try to talk him into cooperating in exchange for being moved out of the dungeon. Harry's response to the man's continued efforts remained virtually unchanged from his first, though the presentation varied from day to day. He'd also driven at least half a dozen guards crazy (or ill) with the little tricks he'd play on them when he wasn't hacking into the castle's network trying to figure out what exactly it was that OZ wanted from him.
He knew he could have easily slipped out of the dungeon on his own but he would need outside help if he was to escape from the castle entirely because he didn't have his broom with him to help him get away and he had no idea where he could go to avoid being recaptured once he did escape. He didn't even have Sirius's motorcycle because he and Duo hadn't finished repairing the damage the bike had taken during that ill-fated raid on his beach-side cave (not that he knew how to drive it anyway). He would have made himself a portkey if he knew of a safe place he could portkey to within the five hundred mile limit of the transport spell. There was also the fact that he really didn't want to have to openly use his magic in front of Zechs or Treize (or any of the guards, really) because he feared the consequences of such an action.
Sighing in frustration, Harry picked up the special deck of cards he'd designed and created out of several bars of the silver he had pulled from his money trunk over the course of his first month of imprisonment. At first glance they appeared to be ordinary cards (the colored artwork done with a combination of spells and magical paints) with silver edges until you picked one up because despite being no thicker than a normal card; each one of the silver cards weighed exactly one quarter pound (or four ounces each), was fairly rigid, and had razor sharp edges.
The suits on the cards were also quite unlike any other deck of card as instead of clubs, hearts, spades, and diamonds; they had full moons, crescent moons, suns, and stars with one of a kind images for the face cards. Sirius, Remus, his father, and Heero were the kings. Cathy, Hermione, his mother, and Relena Darlian were the queens. And Trowa, Quatre, Duo, and Wufei were all jacks. Harry himself was on both jokers; one image of him dressed in his Quidditch robes and the other of him dressed in his stage costume. The five pilots all had faint outlines of their Gundams in the background, the three Marauders had their animal forms, and the four ladies all had different flowers.
The design on the back of the cards had a detailed etching of an adder circling around the edge of the entire card and biting its own tail, a white lily filled the center of the card with the silhouette of the head of a stag facing forward drawn over the heart of the flower, and in the bottom two corners seated on their haunches facing each other were a dog and a wolf howling. Hidden within the designs on both sides of each card, were delicately drawn runic blood wards to prevent them from lost or stolen. There were also dozens of protective spells woven into each card to keep the cards from being physically damaged, to make them self-cleaning, and to have ever-sharp edges.
After shuffling the cards for a couple of minutes, Harry began casually juggling them much as he juggled his knives, the deadly edges of the cards flashing in the dim light as they cut through the air far easier than a normal card would. The bloodstained bandages wrapped around his fingers and hands hinted that he'd had more than a few problems learning how to properly juggle (and shuffle) the new weapons. Harry had just added playing card number eighteen to the number of cards slicing through the air above him when he heard the lock on his cell being turned yet again.
Pouting over the unwanted interruption, Harry set about plucking the cards from the air as quickly as he could so that he wouldn't be tempted to test their effectiveness on Zechs until he felt more comfortable handling the deadly cards. He giggled insanely as the thought that his special deck of cards could give new meaning to the phrase cutthroat when it came to card games passed through his mind. By the time the door pulled open, Harry was shuffling the cards again and preparing to deal out a game of war so that he could play against himself.
When he heard more than one set of footsteps enter the room, Harry paused in mid-shuffle and glanced up slowly to find Lady Une, the guard that had tried to strangle him, and two unfamiliar guards stepping into the room. He couldn't help but notice one of the unfamiliar guards had recently lost half of his left arm; the blackened stump and angry red streaks running up the arm letting him know that the man had been tagged by Belladonna the night he'd been captured and Harry let a wide grin slide onto his face over that fact.
Knowing that their presence couldn't possibly mean anything good, Harry tucked his cards back into order and slipped them into one of the hidden pockets he'd created in his sleeve to prevent the cards from being taken from him (the pocket to which the cards would return to on their own the moment he activated the retrieval rune he'd woven into the hidden pocket with blood soaked thread that was linked to the runes on the cards). The smug, predatory smile on Une's face and the satisfied smirk on the face of the guard he recognized made the hairs on the back of Harry's neck stand up on end.
"Zechs is unable to visit you tonight so Treize asked me to come in his place," Lady Une announced as she stopped just a few feet away from where Harry sat while the three guards spread out to either side of her. "After being locked in this cell for two months with no visitors aside from Zechs, I thought you might be getting a little… lonely… so I brought a few friends of mine who would just love to play with you for a while."
Harry sucked in a sharp breath as the image of greasy hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin flashed before his eyes while a silky voiced whispered in his ear that it was time for them to play a little game. Lady Une's eyes lit up triumphantly as she easily recognized the fear that flashed through Harry's eyes in that split second.
"You see… I've been studying your behavior these past two months and going over the video footage of your two escape attempts and I've finally figured out how to break you," Lady Une practically purred while the three guards leered at Harry. "I know exactly how to make that little heart of yours flutter in true fear. I'm not completely heartless though, I will give you one last chance to willingly cooperate. But first, I promised these boys they could give you a little… sample of what you can expect to experience if you stubbornly continue to refuse to work with us. Try not to fight them too much, little boy; you'll only draw the lesson out needlessly."
Lady Une turned to leave as the three guards advanced on Harry and he froze for nearly a full minute as the past overlapped the present. And then hands were grabbing him, lifting him off his bed, pulling at his clothes, and pawing at him. A hand slid up beneath his shirt, another hand soon slipped down the front of his pants, and he felt teeth scraping against the skin of his neck as the guard standing behind him placed his mouth on Harry's neck and something inside of Harry rebelled at the violation.
Arching his head back, he let out a scream that was filled with both fury and fear. A heartbeat later, his magic lashed out against those that were grabbing and groping him as they sought to remove his clothes while continuing to fondle him at the same time (a reaction that no muggle and very few wizards could have prevented or protected themselves against – Snape avoiding the same fate due to magical suppression wards Harry had unknowingly been wearing at the time). Heat exploded in the small dungeon as three agonized screams rose to join Harry's. At the same time a concussive blast of magic shot through the entire castle destroying part of the dungeon and plunging the large estate into darkness beneath the cold light of the stars.
Ash floated down around Harry as the screams of the three guards ended rather abruptly. His own voice cut off a second later as he dropped to his knees and panted raggedly, tears blinding his eyes as they poured down his face. He heard Lady Une's voice ring out from somewhere near where the door used to sit and Harry dragged his arm across his face to clear his vision before he scrambled towards his hideaway beneath the prison cot that was pressed up against the only undamaged wall in the room (thanks in part to Harry's spell work).
He quickly gathered all of his things, dumped them haphazardly into the supply trunk, and hissed out a soft order for the snakes to quickly exit. While the adders, vipers, and asps were pouring out over the lip of the trunk, Harry was rocking back and forth on his knees with his arms wrapped tightly around his stomach as he tried not to think about what had just nearly happened as he urged the snakes to hurry. The moment the last snake dropped down over the lip of the trunk, he slammed the lid shut, shrank the trunk, and pulled the cord back over his neck.
'I have to try and escape now and it is safer for you not to be with me if I am caught again. Get out of the house if you can and bite anyone who tries to stop you,' Harry ordered in parseltongue as he rolled out from under the bed, dropped the protective wards and spells on his secret hideaway, and hit the wall beside the bed with a blasting curse. 'If at all possible, I will return to the forest one day to collect those of you who wished to stay with me.'
"Drop your weapon!" Lady Une ordered from somewhere behind Harry even as she fired several shots from the gun she carried.
"I am the weapon, you grotesque and gormless gorgon," Harry spat as he lifted his wand and cast an overpowered disarming spell in the direction of the woman's voice as several bullets rammed into him.
The spell slammed into the woman at the same instant and threw her against the damaged wall with a loud crack as it ripped the gun from her hands. Pain blossomed across Harry's body even as hate, disgust, rage, and a desperate wish to be free boiled up inside of him as he recalled what that woman had been about to allow those men to do to him and inside of Harry his magic shifted in response. Harry screamed again in agony, his voice sounding distinctly animalistic this time as glistening black and green wings covered with feather-like scales ripped free of his back and tore through his shirt.
Blood dripped from the newly formed wings for a heartbeat before they suddenly burst into flames the color of freshly spilled blood and tarnished gold that washed across the full expanse of both wings in an instant. Harry screamed yet again and dropped to his knees as his magic continued searing its way through his body, twisting and tearing at every cell in his body, as it altered him for a second time; making his new wings permanent and redesigning his body for flight.
When it was over and the flames had died away, Harry coughed up blood and climbed weakly up onto his feet. His body felt frail and the unfamiliar weight of his new wings unsettled and unbalanced him. The sound of loud voices echoing through what remained of the corridor outside of his cell sent Harry stumbling through the hole he'd made in the wall earlier; desperate to escape from the memory of what had happened, what had nearly happened, and the woman who intended to break him.
His wand flashed out time and time again as he simply blasted his way through each and every obstacle that presented itself (living or not). Newly instilled instincts told him he needed to go up and so Harry hunted out the stairs and climbed higher, hurling anyone that tried to stop him out of his way with high powered banishing charms. He'd just reached the roof when he recalled Treize and the others stealing the gifts that Trowa and Heero had given him and he hissed angrily at the thought of being forced to leave them behind.
"Accio knives! Accio guns!" Harry bellowed as he pictured his throwing knives and his two pistols in his mind.
He heard them whistling through the air several long minutes later and Harry turned to face the direction from which they were coming. His hands darted out as he plucked the fifteen knives from the air (his final knife still rattling around in Heero's Gundam) and shoved them haphazardly into the pockets of his pants before snagging the pistols as they arrived shortly after the last of the knives. Harry then ran across the battlements that made up the roof of the once great castle as he pushed his aching body as fast as it could go towards the rapidly approaching edge; firing several blasting curses over his shoulder without any hesitation as he heard a flood of soldiers pour onto the roof in his wake.
When he reached the edge of the roof, Harry vaulted up and over the top wall without missing a beat. He felt a rush of air whip passed his face until his wings snapped open ten seconds later and caught on the air that was rushing by him. He easily soared across the sky thanks to the wings for the first few minutes, the ground rushing by below him, until gravity began reasserting itself on Harry's body. Afraid of crashing into the ground below, Harry desperately tried to use his new wings to keep himself aloft. He had no idea what he was doing though as his fear overrode any instincts that had come with the appendages; the wings seemingly unwilling to work properly.
The more Harry struggled to remain aloft the faster he seemed to lose altitude and he was just descending into a full blown panic attach when a large pair of mechanical hands curled around him and gathered him close. Hauntingly familiar warmth washed over and through Harry as he wrapped his arms around the nearest digit to steady himself as his aching wings sagged limply at his side. Taking a shaky breath, he glanced towards the mobile suit's head where he knew most of the optic scanners sat and breathed a single word before passing out from the pain and blood loss.
"Heero…"
AN: Alright, where to start… First off, this chapter was the main reason why this story was rated as mature (in addition to the potty mouths that Harry and the pilots let loose with every now and then). So this is the worst it's going to get as far as content though there are a couple of limes hinted at way later in the story.
Moving on, Harry's attitude at the start of the chapter; he gets right pissy when you threaten those he claims as his family and he tends to get a little unreasonable. I tried not to make him too powerful again but at the same time I didn't want him to be timid, weak, and accepting. If you want to complain about Treize seemingly letting Trowa and Catherine go too easily, you might have missed my not-so-subtle hints that he was hoping to use Trowa to pick up a Gundam. His zoning at the end of his second escape attempt was meant to be a combination of shock the snakes getting killed and a mild concussion from his head hitting the window.
Next up, we now know why Trowa didn't contact the others. Out of all five of the pilots, I see Trowa's past as the harshest; I mean the poor guy doesn't even know his real name at this point. He was raised by mercenaries that called him No Name and it's a toss up whether Nanashi (no name in Japanese) or being called freak/boy is worse and that gives Trowa and Harry common ground because they were both denied a true name for a time. I see my Trowa as being desperate and selfish enough to hold onto the small piece of normalcy for as long as humanly possible; even against his better judgment. He is just fifteen years old after all.
That brings us to the time frame that Harry is a captive. Two months may seem like a really long time but it really isn't and while it isn't shown in this chapter, the pilots are pretty much scattered about the globe and trying to get back to the Estate (bar Quatre and Heero) without being caught while the Alliance and Oz are still going at it. It takes time to discreetly move the Gundams (except Duo's I suppose but I can see our shinigami stopping to help people out on the way because that is just who he is). So there's traveling, waiting, and planning being done during those two months even if you can't see it here.
Harry's reasons for not escaping on his own were given in the chapter; with limits again being applied to his magic (his Wing portkey having been made within Saudi Arabia where the pilots waylaid the transports on their way out of Africa towards Siberia). With Trowa retreating to Europe and the circus because it is far away from where the ambush took place; his goal ultimately to protect Harry.
And then we have the entire scene with Une and the guards and what happened Harry's magic; the former being the catalyst for the latter. That part was the bit I'd been fighting with myself about; tormenting Harry and then giving him wings. I could have had Oz physically torture him but I don't think it would have had the same effect as Une allowing the guards to play with Harry. There was also the fact that I'd already gone that route with Heero at the beginning and I don't see it having quite the same impact on Harry now as the Harry then; if that makes sense. I can say that I will not put Harry in that position again though there will be a reference or two to the scene in this chapter later in the story and to Snape another time or two.
Finally, Harry's wings; boy were those a pain. I hemmed and hawed over those for months and what I'm going to say now is a bit of a spoiler but I think it necessary to make this clear; this story is not a creature!Harry story. Harry will not become a basilisk/phoenix/human hybrid type deal but there is a reason for the wings being there. The hows and whys of the wings will be partially addressed in the story in the next chapter so I won't say anything more here about them for now.
I think that pretty much covers everything I needed to say about the chapter. The only other thing I need to do is apologize to everyone who reviewed for not responding as promised yesterday; my youngest picked up yet another bug from school and she's been feeling icky yesterday and today and I've been trying to take care of her and not get sick myself. This chapter, aside from being the longest chapter yet, is my formal apology for seemingly ignoring everyone (unintentional as it was) and I'll answer what I can when I can once she's feeling better and once the holiday messes have been cleaned up. ~ Jenn