Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Shinigami's Gem ❯ Garnet ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter 10: Garnet.

Warnings: Angst, yaoi, shounen-ai, lemony-lime stuff, language? Not sure. Evil plots, sap, fluff… all that good stuff. If there's anything I haven't warned about, I apologise.

Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, not makin' money.

Author's Notes: Okay, yeah, I know. This took a helluva time. I'm so sorry. It just… wouldn't come. I had an ending, and it sucked, and I knew this, so I sent it to ShivaKuy, and she reminded me that yes, it sucked, so then I had to write a second and boy was it hard, but I'm pleased with the results. I hope you are too.

Some stuff from comments on the last chapter:

Dragon Tenshi, you're absolutely right. Heero should so not have referred to Duo as "Duo". He should have said "Shinigami". My mistake. I didn't pick it up. Nor did ShivaKuy. Bad her.

Kyra2, I do not always kill characters! I did that once! *laughs*

Now then, on to the fic!

~ ~ ~

Wu Fei smiled contentedly and snuggled closer to Duo, listening to their slowing breathing. His arm rested around Duo's waist and the thief's leg was hooked easily over the lordling's hips. Wu Fei let his mouth wander casually around in leisurely patterns over his lover's chest, kissing, sucking and licking idly in order to draw muted growls of approval from the back of Duo's throat. He eventually made his way to a nipple and spent some time there, listening to Duo's again quickening breaths.

"Mmm… ah, I missed you…" Duo said through a moan.

"I know," Wu Fei replied, gently pressing a hand to the centre of Duo's chest to keep him still.

"But do you know how much?" Duo wondered, his breath hitching as Wu Fei teasingly paid his nipples another visit.

"I can guess," Wu Fei whispered before sliding down to dip his tongue into Duo's navel. Duo's back arched slightly and he gave a slight moan.

"Yes… please…" he whispered, completely forgetting to tell Wu Fei just how much he'd missed him.

Wu Fei slithered further down until he could run his tongue up the underside of Duo's arousal and the thief shuddered.

"Ooh, 'Fei…" he gasped, hips lifting.

Wu Fei smiled seductively up at Duo before taking him completely into his mouth, knowing exactly what to do and how to do it to drive his lover crazy. Duo arched off the pillows, moaning and gasping alternately, his fingers clenched in still more of the cushions. He was swiftly approaching wonderful oblivion, loving everything about Wu Fei. He whispered his lover's name over and over as he came closer and closer to that which he both wanted and didn't want, for it would end this wonderful building pleasure.

And the door flew open.

Wu Fei pulled away from Duo with a start while the thief shot into a sitting position in no time flat, all thought of what he had been nearing gone in a wash of shock.

"What-?" he stated, but Wu Fei cut him off, his commanding "lord-of-everything" voice at full volume.

"What the hell do you two think you are doing, bursting in here like this? The door was locked and that means you stay out, whether you have the ability to disengage that lock or not!" He threw a significant look at Heero. "I would thank you to leave now and pray that I don't give word of this outrage to my father."

Zechs shook his head and stepped into the room, striding over to the bed in five long steps. He reached out and had dragged Duo off the bed, pinning his arms behind his back, before either of them had time to think.

"What's going on?" Duo cried, fighting against Zechs' tenacious hold. Wu Fei's eyes snapped. He was livid.

"I would ask the same thing…" he growled threateningly.

"He's a liability," Heero stated flatly, indicating the struggling braided thief.

"I'm a liability?" Duo asked in disbelief. "The Fuck's that s'posed to mean?!"

"Exactly what I said. You're a liability. Wu Fei won't let you go again and I don't think you're the type to share."

"This is not up to you!" Wu Fei snapped.

"Our duty is first to his Lordship and this city," Zechs said softly before shoving Duo in the direction of the doorway.

"You can't do this! I love him!" Duo cried, struggling and biting and kicking. Heero put two fingers to one of Duo's temples and whispered a soft word. The braided youth went limp in Zechs' hands.

"Please, don't," Wu Fei pleaded, dropping every thing even resembling command.

"We're sorry, your Lordlingship, but this must be done," Zechs said gently with an apologetic smile.

"No!" Wu Fei cried, throwing himself across the room. Heero held him back with little effort.

Wu Fei fell to his knees at Heero's feet, head bowed and silent tears flowing down his cheeks. Heero ran his fingers through the lordling's hair.

"Zechs and I will always welcome your company," he said softly, the insinuation behind the words obvious.

Wu Fei didn't reply as they dragged Duo away, but the instant they shut the door he sprang to his feet and threw on whatever clothes were within easy reach. He strapped his sword to his back and went to the door, turning the knob. He found, however, that the door wouldn't open.

"Damn…" he hissed.

It was mage-locked. He tried a few more times to push the door open with no success, then muttered a violent curse - street language learned from his lover. Wu Fei smiled suddenly, remembering something else his lover had taught him.

In no time flat, he was out of his chambers.

He had nowhere near the talent Heero commanded, but he had enough to be able to search out the signature of the advisor's power.

"They're taking him to the dungeons…" he realised in a moment, and set of at a run in that direction. He didn't know what he was going to do when he caught them - he was no match for Heero. He'd have to wait until they locked Duo up and then set about freeing him somehow. The thought that they might not just be locking him up never crossed the lordling's mind. A short nod, and the plan was laid.

Not that it's all that much of a plan, Wu Fei thought ruefully.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn't see the two men with Duo limp between them until it was too late. He pulled himself to a hurried, but silent halt.

"How can we do this?" Zechs lamented.

"It's our duty," Heero replied.

"And if duty stated you had to kill me, would you?" Zechs challenged, running an agitated hand through his blonde hair. Heero didn't say anything, but the look on his face told Zechs the heart-tearing truth.

"Gods…" Wu Fei murmured, even as Zechs turned hurt-filled eyes to Heero.

"You… you would?" he asked shakily, needing to hear the words to fully believe what he thought he was seeing.

"Yes… but only under the most severe of circumstances and if there was no other way… And… I would follow you," Heero said softly.

Zechs reached out to gently brush his hand over Heero's hair, tears welling in his ice-blue eyes.

"That is one of the sweetest things you have ever said to me, Heero Yuy," he said softly, and Wu Fei wondered what sort of a relationship they must have.

Heero shifted uncomfortably.

"Well… I… uh…" he muttered, trying frantically to think of something else to say.

Zechs just smiled.

"Let's get this unpleasantness over with so we can get back to poor Wu Fei and his wipe his memory of this man."

Heero nodded and they continued on.

Wu Fei thought for a moment, then followed on the heels of the head slave and advisor-mage.

They got Duo to a cell and set him roughly on the pallet in the corner. The thief muttered and shifted, curling instinctively around his naked body in the cold stone room.

"Do it swiftly, lover. He is waking," Zechs murmured.

Heero gave a curt nod and placed two fingers to each of Duo's temples, closing his prussian eyes in concentration.

The realisation of what they were going to do suddenly hit Wu Fei like a blow to the gut, making his breath hitch painfully in his throat. Fear and love gave him a power he never knew he could possess and he quickly tossed a strong magic shield over Duo.

Heero hissed and recoiled in pain, whirling to face Wu Fei who now stood, defiant, in the doorway. A ball of amethyst mage-fire floated easily over his right hand.

"Wu Fei?! But I mage-locked the door!" Heero cried in astonishment.

Wu Fei smirked.

"Nobles often hire mages to lock their treasure 'safely away'. What they don't realise is that a good thief knows the workings of a mage-lock - and knows a trick to undo it without the use of magic. Duo taught me…"

"Duo…?" Zechs asked, frowning.

"Duo…?" Heero echoed, but his brow was furrowed in an entirely different frown to that of his lover. His prussian eyes turned inwards, something in the name tugging at a far-off scrap of knowledge he'd almost forgotten.

Duo shifted and muttered under his breath, drawing Heero's attention back outward again, even as Wu Fei spoke.

"Nothing. It doesn't matter. Give Shinigami to me."

"No," Heero said. "No, we can't, Wu Fei. You must see how impossible this is! Who is ever going to let you keep him? Sally? Your father? It's bad enough he's a man, but a thief as well? Please, Wu Fei, you must forget him."

"I can't just forget him, Heero. You of all people should know that," Wu Fei growled, eyes flicking to Zechs.

"'Fei…?"

Duo's muted voice broke the tension strung taught between the other three men, and Wu Fei left the mage-fire to hover threateningly just above his own head, pushing past Zechs to get to his lover.

"Duo…?" his tongue slipped again and Heero's mind worried at the name. He should know it. He should!

"What's going on…? Why's it so cold…?"

"They brought you down the dungeons. But it's all right now. I'll take you out of here," Wu Fei assured him, smoothing a hand across the thief's brow.

"Duo…?" Heero murmured.

Duo flinched, turning away slightly and draping an arm across his eyes.

"No. Wu Fei, you said you wouldn't tell anyone!" he murmured painfully.

Zechs took pity and lifted his cloak off his own shoulders to lay it gently over Duo's naked body in an effort to stem his shivers, but it seemed they weren't borne of cold.

"It was an accident," Wu Fei replied. "I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

"Your family's name, Duo, what is it?" Heero asked sharply, stepping up behind Wu Fei.

"What difference does it make? Stop calling me that. My name is Shinigami!"

"Leave him alone, Heero!" Wu Fei snapped, the mage-fire flaring alarmingly. "Haven't you already done enough? You were going to kill him, now you're firing questions at him? Go away, now, both of you, or I'll kill you!"

Heero shook his head, laying a hand on Zechs' arm. The blonde bent a little as Heero leaned up to murmur something into his ear. Ice blue eyes widened in surprise and the slave blinked at the mage.

"Are you sure?"

"No, but I'm fairly certain. Find the book in the library and bring it back here. Fast. Preferably before the Lady Po and his Lordship return from the festivities."

Zechs nodded and hurried off as Heero turned back to Duo and Wu Fei, touching the latter's shoulder.

"Did he tell you his family's name, Wu Fei? Did he?"

"It's not my place to tell you! I've already said more than he wants me to!" Wu Fei growled and Duo smirked at Heero, his faculties apparently beginning to return, then stuck his tongue out.

Heero only arched a brow, which made Duo snicker and Wu Fei followed suit moments later. The mage rolled his eyes and pressed his fingers to his temples, feeling the pressure behind his eyes that threatened to burst into a stress headache. He did not want to have to deal with this today - ever, if the truth be told.

Wu Fei bowed his head close to Duo's ear to murmur gently into it, and Heero watched the tender smile spread across the thief's face with detached sorrow. He was upset at what he had to do, true enough, but he couldn't afford to let it affect what needed to be done. He knew where his duty lay and it was with his Lord.

Duo lifted a hand to the back of Wu Fei's head, urging him down for a slow, easy kiss that screamed of possessive familiarity.

Heero shifted, feeling as though he were intruding, then forced himself to stillness. It wouldn't do for him to be going soft now. He opened his mouth to speak, but Zechs chose that moment to return, the requested book in hand. He passed it to Heero with a murmured word, causing prussian eyes to widen momentarily. The mage-advisor flipped quickly through the pages, scanning the flowing text quickly.

"I looked, Heero!" Zechs hissed, drawing the attention of Wu Fei and Duo. "It's all right there. They never found him."

Heero either didn't hear him, or chose to ignore him, because he made no response of any kind.

"What's going on…?" It was Duo who asked, sitting up warily. "What's in that book?"

Zechs opened his mouth to speak, but Heero cut him off with a sharp movement of his hand and pulled him close by way of a fist of the front of his tunic.

"We can't let this out, Zechs!"

"Why not?" the slave replied. "It solves every problem!"

"No!" Heero hissed, then remembered Wu Fei and Duo and dropped his voice, speaking in hushed, hurried tones with Zechs. "No, it makes them worse! Don't you see? This," the advisor waved the book. "Doesn't stop him being a man. How do you think his Lordship will react to Wu Fei being with a man?!"

Zechs matched Heero's low tones, eyes slipping once or twice to the confused pair across from him.

"I don't know, but… but what else are we supposed to do?"

"What we were going to do in the first place."

"Heero… Heero, can you really go through with that? Just think of who we'd be… what we'd be doing! We'd be killing off the last of an entire bloodline!"

"Zechs! Zechs, don't do this to me now. This changes nothing!"

"It changes everything, Heero! Everything!"

Duo and Wu Fei looked between the other two, then met each other's eyes. Neither had the slightest idea what advisor and head-slave were talking about. It all fell into place for Duo, however, when Zechs' voice became audible with one exasperated exclamation.

"He's the last surviving Maxwell!"

Duo gasped and shook his head frantically.

"No! I'm not! My name's Shinigami! Shinigami!" he cried, and turned his eyes away from the three pair staring at him in shock. "I'm not… I… I-I…"

"If he says that's who he is, then that's who he is," Heero stated firmly, looking significantly at Zechs.

"No, Heero, it's not. He's a Maxwell. The very last Maxwell. The Maxwell holdings are rightfully his. The Maxwell fortune is rightfully his! Don't you see, Heero? All the bickering and the argument over who that money and that land should be given to would cease! It answers all those problems, if nothing else."

"But it only makes things more complicated here!"

"Will you two just shut up?" Duo snarled. "It doesn't matter, because I'll never admit to being Duo Maxwell! You can't make me!"

"Can I make you…?" The question was soft, and three pair of eyes now slid to Wu Fei, whose own gaze was focused solely on his hands, folded in his lap.

"'Fei…?" Duo asked hesitantly, not certain he'd heard right.

"Can I make you?" Wu Fei lifted dark eyes to his lover, more open and vulnerable than Duo had ever seen him.

"Wu… Wu Fei…?"

"If you really are that Duo Maxwell, if you're the rightful heir to those holdings, then maybe… maybe I could get my father to accept you. I… Duo, I hated being away from you for all that time, I couldn't stand it. I… I love you. I don't want to pretend anymore. I don't want to make everyone think I care for Sally when I don't. I don't want to make everyone think I'm happy when I'm not! The only time I'm happy is when I'm with you, and I hate living a lie. I don't want to lose you again. Can't you understand that?"

Duo stared at the lordling, speechless. It was very rare to hear such things from Wu Fei. It wasn't that he didn't care, it was just that he'd had it drilled into him for so long that emotions and attachments were a weakness in rulers that could be exploited for others' gain. But here, now, Wu Fei was laying his soul bare, and all for Duo.

"I… W-Wu Fei you… you don't know what you're asking for!"

"I'm willing to risk everything for you," Wu Fei said simply, and the question was implied - Aren't you willing to risk everything for me…?

Duo looked away, he couldn't stand to keep his gaze locked with Wu Fei's any longer. He took a shaky breath and he couldn't even think of anything to say. He was so confused. He wanted to do whatever Wu Fei asked of him, he loved the lordling that much, but… it had been so long since Shinigami had been Duo Maxwell. He didn't know if he was done punishing himself yet.

"Wu Fei… I… I c-can't… I haven't… I haven't paid for what I did, yet."

"Duo…" Wu Fei said, then touched his face gently when he flinched at the name, drawing him around so he could meet his eyes. "Duo," he said a little more firmly. "You didn't do anything. None of what happened was your fault. How can you keep thinking that? You were just a boy - you didn't make those things happen, that's just stupid, and I know you're not stupid."

Tears welled and began to trek slowly down Duo's cheeks, shining like quicksilver in the uncertain light. He shook his head a little, still trying to deny what Wu Fei said, but the lordling was right - he wasn't stupid, and he could see the validity of his lover's words. Wu Fei said it hadn't been his fault. None of it had. And, he realised slowly, Wu Fei was right. He choked back a tearing sob and threw his arms around the lordling's neck, crying into his shoulder.

"Wu Fei, you can't-" Heero started, but a snapping gaze and the sizzle of power down his spine silenced him. In such an emotional state, Wu Fei's power was increased ten-fold, perhaps more, and Heero knew it.

"I can. I will," came the determined reply.

Zechs touched Heero's shoulder lightly.

"What can it hurt for him to try…?" he wondered, his husky voice soft.

"What can it hurt? What can it hurt?! The reputation of this land, His Lordship, the Lady Po, Wu Fei's daughter and his as-yet-unborn second child, his rights as heir, his son - if he has one - his son's right to inherit. There is virtually nothing it can't hurt, Zechs!"

Zechs took a step back, taken aback by Heero's outburst. The advisor-mage rarely lost control of his composure. The slave hesitated a moment, then reached out to touch his lover's shoulder again.

"There's nothing you can do to stop him."

Heero snarled, angry with himself and Wu Fei and Zechs and especially, especially Duo Maxwell. He should have just stayed away when he was given the chance! But Zechs was right. He was right dammit. There was nothing Heero could do to stop Wu Fei from doing what he intended.

"Duo," Wu Fei whispered after a few moments. "Come. We need to get you bathed and clothed again. You're frozen."

Duo hadn't realised it until Wu Fei pointed it out, but yes, he was frozen. Zechs' cloak provided little warmth when pitted against the icy dark of the cell they were in. He nodded against Wu Fei's shoulder and gave him a quick squeeze, then let go and drew the cloak about himself, standing slowly.

Wu Fei followed his lead, also getting to his feet, and he leaned towards him to murmur something in his ear, private and intimate.

Heero closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"This isn't going to end well, Zechs. It truly isn't," he muttered.

Zechs said nothing.

* * *

"Wu Fei… 'Fei, maybe we shouldn't do this…" Duo murmured for about the hundredth time as they headed along the corridor leading to the main doors of the Great Hall. "I mean, for starters, I look like an idiot…"

"You do not look like an idiot…" Wu Fei muttered, also for about the hundredth time.

Duo pulled a face, tugging at the gold brocade vest he wore. He hated it, but Wu Fei had insisted he wear it - along with the rest of the get up. He supposed Duo Maxwell, sole owner of all the Maxwell holdings and belongings, would wear this sort of thing, but he'd been Shinigami for so long, he wasn't used to it. He could dimly remember spending an hour every day being dressed when he was a boy, but he had never thought he'd be wearing these clothes again.

"Your father-"

"Shut up, Duo."

"But what if-"

"Shut up, Duo."

"They won't-"

"For the gods' sakes, Duo, shut up!"

Duo shut up, or at least, lowered himself to a disgruntled mutter. He didn't like this. Not one bit.

They stopped at the doors, and Duo could see the herald squinting at him, knowing he knew him, but unable to place his face. Duo said nothing to enlighten him, only watched silently as Wu Fei stepped forward to murmur under his breath to the man. It was amazing, really, how wide one herald's eyes could get, Duo reflected as Wu Fei ushered the man in the doors.

"I really don't think-" Duo started, but Wu Fei shook his head and drew the thief forward.

"Too late," he muttered as the herald's staff rang three times on the cool stone of the Great Hall.

Silence fell instantly over the people gathered there, all excited chatter about the celebrations of Sally's new baby stuttering to a halt. It was very rare for anyone to bother being announced anymore unless there was a visiting noble - and there wasn't. So who would the herald be announcing?

"His Lordlingship Wu Fei Chang, heir to the Chang holdings and…" The herald hesitated, stumbled over his words. "His… His Lordship…" He had to stop and clear his throat to start over. "His Lordship Duo Maxwell, Lord and owner of the Maxwell holdings." The herald bowed and there was a collective intake of breath.

Duo Maxwell? Duo Maxwell? But all the Maxwells were dead. Every single one had perished, everyone knew those tales. Wasn't there bitter feuding even now over who to give their lands to?

All eyes turned to the doors through which Wu Fei stepped, almost dragging a young man with familiarly long hair.

Quatre turned to Trowa, eyes wide as saucers, but the Captain of the Guard looked just as shocked as he was. What was Wu Fei trying to pull?!

Evidently, Wu Fei's father wondered the same thing, because he got to his feet, hands planted firmly on the table before him, and glared at his son and the slave behind him.

"What is the meaning of this, Wu Fei?" he growled dangerously.

Wu Fei returned his father's look, standing tall and holding tight to Duo's hand.

"War and feuding has wracked the provinces surrounding the Maxwell holdings for too long now. No one knows to whom those lands should go. We have had the answer under our noses since Shinigami walked through the gates of this keep. He is the last surviving Maxwell! He lived through the massacre of his family and through a harsh, dangerous life on the streets. What justification have we to take what should, by rights, have been his since every single one of his relatives took their last breaths? We cannot-"

"This is ridiculous!" Wu Fei's mother spoke up, drawing a shocked look from the people in the hall. She rarely spoke out in front of the people. "All the Maxwells died. All of them! What proof do you have that he isn't lying to you, Wu Fei?"

"He wouldn't tell us his name was Maxwell."

Wu Fei and Duo both turned to the doors where Heero and Zechs stood. It was Heero who had spoken and he took a step forward, holding the book he'd had down in the dungeons.

"In actual fact, he refused completely to reveal who he was, and it was only through an accidental revealing of his first name that I worked out who he was. It's here. Right here."

Heero strode up the long table to place the book down before his Master, carefully running a finger down the list of names and conferring softly with him. Chang looked more and more upset with every word Heero spoke, and he seemed unwilling to accept what his advisor was telling him.

Duo looked in askance at Wu Fei, confusion written on his features. What was Heero playing at? Hadn't he been saying not five minutes earlier that this was a bad idea? Wu Fei looked just as confused as he was and the lordling shrugged slightly.

"He is Duo Maxwell," Heero insisted finally. "I can feel it!"

Wu Fei's father looked about ready to order Heero flogged, and Wu Fei took a step forward, opening his mouth to speak, but the Lord's hand lifted to still him.

"There is nothing to prove this… boy… is a Maxwell. I cannot have every slave stepping up claiming to a member of some long-dead family, Wu Fei. Cease this foolishness. Take your slave away, free him, I don't care, but do not try to convince me he is more than what he is."

"There is a way to see…" Heero spoke up suddenly. "If Duo agrees, I can bring out his memories of what he saw back then. Prove he was there when the Maxwells were slaughtered…"

There was a long drawn-out silence during which Duo surreptitiously touched Wu Fei's hand, reassuring himself. Wu Fei smiled at him and he didn't feel so frightened at the prospect of facing his memories again.

Heero's eyes met those of his Lord for a long moment, before Chang finally nodded with a weary sigh, sitting back down in his chair. The mage-advisor turned and walked quietly over to Duo, indicating that he should sit down. Duo looked sceptical, but Heero murmured an assurance and, with a glance at Wu Fei, Duo sat. Heero moved around behind him, placing one hand against his neck, the other atop his head, both their eyes drifted slowly shut, and power thrummed in the air. A collective shudder through the hall after a time and every pair of eyes slid shut, Duo's memories playing across their minds.

Blood, death and pain. Monsters and horror. Terror, fear, fear, fear.

They watched through the eyes of a boy as his family was slaughtered and not one of them thought any longer that Duo wasn't the Maxwell Wu Fei and Heero claimed him to be.

"He is who we say he is, father," Wu Fei murmured into the absolute silence.

Duo shuddered and gave a low gasp, covering his face with his hands. He took a few deep breaths, distraught from having lived those memories again. Wu Fei went to him, curling a hand over his shoulder and squeezing lightly.

"But more than that…" he murmured softly as Duo lifted his gaze to meet the lordling's. "He's my lover. The man I love…"

The silence, if possible, grew thicker.

Duo would have laughed at the look on Sally's face if he hadn't still been reeling from re-living those memories. She looked something like a fish, mouth opening and closing but no sound coming out, eyes unbelievably wide.

"You… He…" Chang managed, looking between the two and Duo thought he saw Heero tense in expectance of an explosion.

Quatre squeaked and Duo turned violet eyes to him, catching a tentative smile from the blonde. It was hard to tell with Trowa, but the thief though he might be happy for them too.

Wu Fei's father, however, certainly was not.

"What do you mean you love him?! You can't love this… this… slave!"

"He is no slave, father, and even if he were… It wouldn't matter to me. I've loved him for some time now."

"But… but what about me?" Sally had evidently finally found the will to form words again, and she was on her feet, distraught. "Don't I mean anything to you?"

Wu Fei turned his eyes to her, looking genuinely sorry.

"I'm sorry Sally. I thank you," he said softly.

"I won't have it. You'll not ruin everything we've worked for with Sally's father," Chang hissed.

"It needn't affect you," Wu Fei murmured, coming upon a sudden idea. "Duo and I will leave here. We'll go to his holdings and rule there." Then his voice took on a regal quality. "I do hereby turn my heirship over to Sally Po and would have it known that whomsoever she chooses to marry will thereby inherit it. If the baby who rests now within her should be a son, he will, therefore, be her heir. If not, then my eldest daughter will take the title, and her husband, when she marries, shall then become Sally's heir."

Silence seemed a common thing in the Great Hall at the moment, and Wu Fei turned to Duo, murmuring a quiet reassurance in his ear. He smiled a little, and nodded to the lordling, still shaking slightly as he ran a hand through his chestnut hair.

There was nothing anyone could do. Wu Fei's father had the power to refute any command Wu Fei made, save that of heirship. It was law that once the heir was named, the only person who could change that was the heir himself, and not even the lord could naysay it.

"Wu Fei, you are being foolish in the extreme," his mother said softly, steel lining her voice. "You will stop this now."

"Mother, I have long since outgrown your commands. I am no longer a child," Wu Fei informed her lowly. "I tire of this. I have made my decision and nothing any of you can say will change that."

Wu Fei said no more, because he knew, without a doubt, he would never get either father or mother to accept what he had with Duo. At least not in the near future. Duo's lands were only a day's ride away, they were free to visit whenever they should wish, but he needed to get out. He couldn't stay here anymore.

He took Duo's hand, helped him out of the chair. Turning dark eyes to Heero, he smiled.

"Thank you," he said, and that was enough. The advisor-mage nodded his acknowledgement.

Duo paused by Quatre and Trowa and threw his arms around the blonde's neck.

"You take care," he demanded into the little slave's ear and Quatre nodded against his shoulder.

"I will. I'm happy for you, Duo. You take care too."

Duo smiled and drew away, nodding to Trowa before he turned back to Wu Fei.

"Let's go," he murmured, quietly surprised no one had tried to stop them yet.

Wu Fei's father seemed to be making a strange, strangled sort of sputtering noise, his mother was strangely silent. Sally was crying.

Duo felt faintly sorry for her, but he couldn't help feeling happy he had Wu Fei. He assumed they'd go back to Wu Fei's rooms, but the lordling had other ideas. He took Duo's hand and lead him down to the stables.

"I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to," he explained. "They'll only try to talk me out of this. And I don't know that I won't give into them."

Duo looked confused.

"But I thought-"

Wu Fei knew what Duo would say, so he cut him off softly.

"Yes, I do love you, but you have to remember that ever since I was a little boy I've been trained to be lord over these lands, and to fulfil my duty. Duty. That's all that mattered. And it's a hard habit to break; I might still fall back on it, despite the fact that I love you. I did once. I sent you away, and it was the worst mistake I've ever made. I was miserable. I don't want it to happen again, I just want to go and be with you."

Duo smiled and leaned forward to press a kiss to Wu Fei's lips.

"I understand. Let's go."

And they did. They took two horses and just… went, leaving behind everything they knew and depended on for each other and a patch of land no one had touched for years.

For some reason, it didn't matter. They didn't care what they may or may not find and they didn't care how uncertain their future was, because there was one certainty they could count on; that each loved the other and knew they were loved in return.

The horses' hooves beat rhythmically upon the ground, echoing their hearts, and they laughed for pure joy, free and in love.

Nothing else mattered.

~Fin~

Author's Notes: Yes, this is the end. There is no more. I'm ever so thankful that's done… I don't know why it was so hard to get out, but it was. Thanks for persevering with me through that mess. Next thing is "Blood-Wild" and a Final Fantasy VIII fic that has no name yet.

I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed. Believe it or not, it's reviews that keep me going, because I think, "I can't just drop this and let it lie how it is, because there's people reading it."

I have the most stunning urge to write a Cloud/Squall(Leon) fic based on Kingdom Hearts… We'll see how that pans.

Oh, I really apologise for this sentence right here: "It was law that once the heir was named, the only person who could change that was the heir himself, and not even the lord could naysay it." It royally bites, but I couldn't find another way to word it.

Merry Christmas! And in case I don't see you before, Happy New Year!