Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Abode of Demons ❯ Abode of Demons - Prologue ( Prologue )

Fukumaden (Abode of Demons) - Prologue

Duo lifted the lid from his pot and watched the liquid concoction boil happily. It had an ugly brown coloration, but past experience taught him to never judge things on their looks. If he had, he might not be the happy man he had become in the most recent three years. Or the excellent cook. True, the presentation still left much to be desired, but it was taste that really mattered, right? And everyone agreed that Duo's food kicked ass in the taste department.

"Hey babe," he called out to the woman in his living room, "come taste this and tell me what you think." He heard a sigh and a groan, then her tall form passed wraith-like through the kitchen door. She held a fencing foil in one pale hand. Her lips enticed him to steal a kiss even though they were frowning.

"Call me babe again and I skewer you. And don't think I won't."

Duo just grinned and threaded one hand through her long, platinum hair as his other hand held up a spoon of brown gloop. The thin nymph of a woman made a face of slight disgust and passed a wary look through dark eyes.

"C'mon," he urged.

"Well, it's never killed me before." She sighed and leaned forward sliding her lips over the spoon and he watched her throat ripple from the action of swallowing. Acting on pure impulse and hormones, Duo used the hand in her hair and grasped her body closer to his, placing his lips on that alluring throat. She pushed him away with a strong grip and lifted a thick eyebrow. "You call me `babe,' threaten me with unidentified food items, and then expect me to melt under your touch?"

"Yeah, pretty much." He flashed a grin. She stared at him a moment with her hard, sexy-as-hell eyes, then sneered prettily.

"Damn you." Dorothy growled and wrapped her arms about his neck, claiming his lips with the fiery viciousness present in everything she did, even the way she made love. Duo didn't mind. His arms snaked around her waist and pulled her even closer. Her body pressed into his, molding her curves into his in all the right places. Blood pumped in his lower regions and the urge to rid her and himself of some annoying clothing grew stronger. His hands groped at her shirt, yanking it upwards and away from her body. Hers drifted downwards over his sides and his hips, where they came in contact with a bulge . . .

"What the hell?" Dorothy pulled away from him and looked downward in confusion.

Shit . . .

"Uh . . . well . . . I . . . you see . . ."

Her fingers delved deep into the space of his pocket and found the source of the bulge. She pulled out a small, velvet lined box. Waiting in frightened silence, Duo watched her as she slowly opened the box with a small creak. He knew what lay inside. A single, simple sparkling diamond. Not much, but all he could afford on his infinitesimally small salary and real besides. A real gold band as well. He swallowed his nervousness.

"I wasn't going to ask you tonight, I was just carrying it around as a . . . a sort of good luck charm I guess." Somehow he found the floor much more interesting than her face at the moment, even though her face was usually the most interesting thing in the room. Her silence stretched, so he fought to fill it. "I really just kinda bought it on a whim, ya know? I was on Earth and walking through one of those annoyingly quaint and charming markets. I guess I got a little wishy-washy or something cause I saw it and thought of how good it would look on your finger and well we've been living together for two years now and I just . . . well . . . I . . ." He sighed and groaned, running his fingers through his bangs. "Dammit, Dorothy, I love you, okay? And I want to show everyone by marrying you." Finally he managed to force his gaze upwards.

Tears had gathered on her eyelids, though they had yet to fall. The sight so shocked his system that his knees weakened. The crazy thought that he'd hurt her somehow, had gotten too close with a knife, flashed across his brain. He stumbled forward awkwardly and took her slim form in his arms.

"Baby," he murmured, the pet name falling easily from his lips, "are you okay? Shit, I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's fine," she answered in her usual brisk tone, though not as sharp as normal. In fact she sagged into his embrace in a way she'd never done before. She let him support her. "I wasn't expecting this. I never thought I would ever get married. I didn't think anyone would ever want me that much."

Duo had to push her an arms length away to see her eyes. In them he saw the truth of what she spoke, or the supposed truth. She had truly believed herself an undesirable prospect for marriage. Dear Lord, how could she ever think that?!?

"I want you that much," he told her as he glared into her deep eyes. He said it hard, in such a manner as she could never believed otherwise. "I love you. Marry me, please?" At the last word he let his tone soften, become questioning, even pleading. She opened her mouth speak.

A banging interrupted her answer. A sharp, rapid rapping at their door. Duo scowled and looked to Dorothy, who seemed all too willing to clam up and allow the interruption. Cursing under his breath, Duo let her go and stomped over to the door. He fingers closed around the knob in a death grip and he prayed that whoever stood on the other side had a damn good reason for showing up at that particular moment. He swung the door open wide.

A form wrapped in a damp trenchcoat stood gripping the outside door jam. Duo blinked. Dark glasses covered their eyes and a fedora hid their hair. Black gloves covered the hands that gripped the coat tight over the bottom of their face and high boots kept him from even seeing the person's legs. The person swayed, then stumbled straight into him, or would have if he hadn't moved quickly out of the way. The damp individual fell down to hands and knees on his living room carpet, panting from what he could hear. Dorothy moved in from the kitchen to look at their intruder. Duo noticed the box had vanished.

"Who the fu-"

"Help!" the person rasped in a damaged voice, one that nonetheless was familiar. Duo began to take a step but was blocked when Dorothy dropped to her knees beside the coughing form.

"Miss Relena!"

The fedora fell from her head, letting her long hair fall down around her shoulders. Duo's eyes widened.

"Shit! Relena, what the hell happened?!?" He launched forward to get a better look at the place in the back of her head where the hair had been ripped out. Blood clotted the skin and held her hair together with its half-dried stickiness. The woman curled up into Dorothy's arms and flinched away from him.

"It was a man," Dorothy said instantly. Duo nodded.

"Where's Hiiro?" he asked Relena, who merely gripped Dorothy tighter and didn't reply. Duo cursed again, turning to slam his fist into the wall. "Something bad has happened. It had to, for Hiiro to allow Relena to be abused like this."

"Duo . . ." came Dorothy's soft voice, so unlike her that he turned immediately to look.

She pulled off Relena's sunglasses gently, revealing the black eye beneath. Her lip trickled a small river of blood. Peeling away the princess' layers of clothing showed layers of bruises and cuts. She hadn't even bothered to clean herself during the journey from Earth to L2. Duo couldn't find words. All he knew revolved around the fact that Hiiro would never, ever allow something like this to happen to Relena unless he were unconscious or dead.

"She needs to be cleaned," Dorothy spoke quietly, no longer in that soft tone. Her words came as knives, pointed towards the person or persons who had done this to her princess. Duo watched her support Relena to a standing position, then guide her back to the bathroom. He heard the water running for a hot bath; he sighed and plopped down into his chair.

Assassination attempts on Relena's life weren't necessarily common, but they weren't completely unknown either. Hiiro had things on Earth under control. He always had. He never needed any help defending Relena or Sanch. For something like this to happen, Hiiro must have been completely outclassed. Hiiro being outclassed . . . an inconceivable thought.

He sat there absorbed in his thoughts the entire time Dorothy spent with Relena. After a good long while, his tall wraith of a lover passed almost unseen into the room and kneeled before him. Duo vaguely felt her hands land on his knees. He shifted his gaze to hers and saw a deep, burning desire to punish those involved.

"She's asleep."

"Good. She'll need the rest."

"What are you going to do?"

He groaned a sigh and shook his head, tugging a bit at a hunk of his bangs. She watched him.

"I don't know. I think . . . I'll wait an hour to let things in Sanch settle down then call, see if I can't get in touch with Hiiro. See if he's still alive, and if he is I'll ask him what happened."

"And if he's not?"

"Then . . . I guess we'll find the bastards ourselves."