Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Skywind ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Gundam Wing, and I do not make any money from the writing of this fanfiction.

 

Chapter 7

 

“What is it?”

 

Duo blinked, glancing his way. “Your pardon?”

 

Quatre continued to carve the piece of wood he had been fiddling with, his eyes on the fire in front of him. “You've been quiet all day. That's unusual for you. What's bothering you?”

 

It was the night of their fifth day of travel together. Ever since the battle with the demon, Quatre had noticed a change in the way the noble treated him: no longer teasing him relentlessly, he seemed to accord Quatre a certain amount of respect, but had still chattered to him endlessly, pestering Quatre with questions about his knowledge of the fighting magic he had used that day, what he knew about demons, and several other random subjects thrown in. However, that day he had been all but silent, an event so unusual Quatre felt prompted to ask if something was wrong.

 

Duo shrugged. “I'm just…thinking.” At Quatre's raised eyebrows, he asked wryly, “Is it really that difficult to believe?”

 

A corner of Quatre's mouth twitched. “I'm just not used to you being quiet, that's all. What are you thinking about that's got you so deeply wrapped up in yourself?”

 

Duo cocked his head at him. “Do you promise not to hurt me?” he asked warily.

 

This time a smile managed to cross his face, briefly warming his expression into something beyond beauty and taking Duo's breath away. “I'm not as vicious as all that,” he said softly. He pushed a hand through his hair, his gaze still on the fire. “I'm just…used to solitude. When you appeared out of nowhere, it kind of…threw me for a loop. I'm not used to being social.”

 

Duo studied him intently. Quatre seemed to be in a much more mellow mood than he had ever been since he had first met him. Deciding to test his luck, he said, “I've been wondering why someone so obviously beautiful and talented as you is wandering about this wilderness. You'd hold your own in any court, I know you would. So why are you avoiding humankind?”

 

A wry look settled in Quatre's eyes. “Let's just say my teenage-hood wasn't…very nice. I'm more comfortable with Lian than with most humans.”

 

That was the understatement of the year, thought Duo, recalling what his cousin had told him about Quatre being under a control spell. “You seem comfortable enough around me,” he pointed out.

 

Quatre's eyes flickered toward him, then away to the fire again. “You are the first human being I have spoken to in almost three months,” he said quietly.

 

Duo stared at him. “Are you joking?”

 

“No.”

 

“Damn,” he said in some awe. “I don't think I could go that long.”

 

The small smile flickered again, and Duo congratulated himself on bringing it out. “You should smile more,” he told him. “So much nicer than that frown of yours I usually see.”

 

Some of Quatre's acidity returned as he remarked, “If you could figure out that I do not like being flirted with or called silly names, you wouldn't see me glare at you so often.”

 

Duo sighed. “There, I've gone and made you cross again. And I didn't even mean to.”

 

Quatre cocked an eyebrow at him. “Yes, you seem to have a singular talent for doing that,” he commented, more in amusement than in aggravation.

 

Duo cocked his head at him again. “Why don't you like being flirted with? You're so beautiful, there must have been men and women in and out of your life for a while now.”

 

Again, Quatre glanced away. “I…did not have much of a life when I was a child. I rarely had the company of others my age.”

 

Duo grinned at him. “Listen to yourself, Grandfather,” he teased. “Come, you can't be more than eighteen. If you want to get really technical, that's still a child.”

 

Quatre kept his eyes on the fire. After a few moments, he shook his head without looking at Duo. “I have not been a child since I was five years old.” His voice was so low, it was nearly inaudible.

 

Duo stared at him so hard, Quatre turned his gaze toward him, feeling the intensity. “Now, why would you say something like that?” he asked, his voice nearly as soft as his had been.

 

Quatre shrugged, the movement hiding the powerful emotions the conversation had somehow managed to stir up, emotions he had learned to repress by the time he was nine. “Because it is truth.” He stood and walked to his tent. “I've had enough talking for one night. A good evening to you.”

 

“But -“ Quatre shut the tent flap firmly on his protest, and Duo had come to know him well enough to know that he would get nothing more from him that night. He sighed, and glanced at Lian. “I don't suppose you would care to explain that little comment to me.”

 

No, I would not care to, Lian answered in a lazy, complacent voice from where he was lying sprawled perilously close to the fire, eyes shut. It is Quatre's business, not yours.

 

Quatre, listening from inside the tent, sent his silent thanks to his feline friend.

 

The next morning was dank and gray and foggy - a miserable day for travel. Quatre crawled out of his tent with a tired sigh - he had not slept well, haunted by dreams of dark memories so distant he wasn't sure if they were real or imagined. If they were imagined, then he cursed his vivid imagination and whatever had stirred it up. If the memories were real…

 

Without even thinking about it, he reached out and curled his fingers tightly into the scruff of Lian's neck, who stood by his side scanning the gray sky for some sign of sunlight. If the memories were real, then he had witnessed things no child should ever have seen.

 

That's a bit rough, Lian said mildly, not pulling away, but shifting uncomfortably beneath his grip.

 

Instantly he released his friend. I am sorry, Lian.

 

Don't worry about it, he reassured him. I am here now, kestra-an. Whatever is bothering you, you need not fear it while I am by your side.

 

He had to smile at Lian's arrogance, but felt better all the same. What does `kestra-an' mean?

 

It is the term my people use for a human bonded to one of us, he answered. Literally, it means `heart-brother.' Kestra-ana is `heart-sister.'

 

`Heart-brother,' he echoed softly. I like it. So, you are my kestra-an.

 

Or you could just call me Sandrock, my nickname among my folk. There was a distinct note of embarrassment in the feline's voice at the affection displayed in Quatre's tone.

 

Quatre smiled again, a real, full smile, something that happened only very rarely. I have smiled more in these past three months than in the whole of the rest of my life, he mused, half-sad.

 

Your life has been very short, Lian snorted. As a Winner, you have many more years of life to look forward to, so I wouldn't become gloomy just yet.

 

Quatre laughed softly at his acerbity, but something about that phrase bothered him. What do you mean, as a Winner?

 

Lian was saved from answering when Duo half-crawled out of his own tent, looking groggy. “Is it time to wake up?” he asked blearily.

 

It is time to leave, Lian told him in an amused tone. The man groaned and pulled back into the tent, where he could be heard pulling on clothes and grumbling loudly about “slave-driver guides” and “obscenely cheerful in the morning.” Lian bared his teeth in a feline smirk.

 

Quatre gave him a narrow-eyed look. Our conversation will be finished later, he warned him.

 

Yes, dear, Lian said in an absent tone, as though he was not really listening. His head was lifted, and he scented the air, his tail swishing restlessly. I'll be back in a few minutes, he announced, and bound away into the thickness of the trees before she could protest.

 

Duo crawled out of his tent, looked around, and scowled. “Don't tell me I did all that waking up for nothing.”

 

“Lian will be back in a few minutes,” Quatre said, trying not to show his own annoyance.

 

“That's a few more minutes for me to sleep,” Duo muttered. “Honestly, `good morning' is a contradiction of terms.” He made as though to crawl back into his tent.

 

“You should pack your tent away,” Quatre advised. “It will be less work for you to do when Lian gets back, and less a waste of time.”

 

Duo glared at him. “I hate you and your reasonable little ways,” he announced. Quatre wisely chose not to reply as he began to roll the tent and sleeping pack up, snarling all the while. Duo had displayed this sort of temper in the morning ever since Quatre had met him, and he had learned to ignore it.

 

He sat down on a fallen log, ignoring Duo's muffled curses in the background as the tent rebelled and refused to be rolled up under his clumsy hands. His hand went to his throat, and he caressed the emerald hanging there. He had placed the beautiful pendant around his neck soon after finding it three months ago, and had developed a habit of touching it whenever he was restless. It always seemed to grow warm beneath his fingertips when he was tense, and he experienced a soothing feeling. He imagined there was a protection charm of some kind imbedded in the charm, but he didn't know for sure, the pendant being a remnant of a life before his parents' deaths, a life he had no real memories of, just images and feelings. The bracelet of rare blue crystal beads was fastened to his left wrist, and was almost never removed, as it gave him the same type of comfort as the pendant.

 

“Where did you get that?”

 

Startled, he lifted his eyes to find that Duo had finally finished packing, and was regarding his pendant with fascination. “It has been mine since before I can remember.”

 

“Emeralds - true emeralds - are rare enough,” Duo persisted. “That one's got some kind of magic, I can feel it. Do you know what it can do?”

 

“No,” Quatre admitted warily. “I do not.”

 

Duo sat on the log beside him and held out his hand. “May I?”

 

Quatre felt a great reluctance to allow the man to handle something so precious to him, but reminded himself that Lian would not have tolerated his presence if the noble had meant him any harm. Slowly, he reached up and unfastened the chain that bound the emerald around his neck, giving over the pendant to Duo.

 

He let out a yelp and dropped the thing, Quatre hastily reaching out to catch it. “What was that about?” he demanded, not liking his property so treated.

 

“The damn thing stung me!” he said in an outraged tone. “What'd I ever do to it?”

 

Quatre looked at the pendant in his hand in puzzlement. It felt a little warm, but beyond that… “Try taking it again,” he suggested.

 

Reluctantly this time, Duo held out his hand. Quatre once again placed the pendant in his palm.

 

Immediately the man winced. “Owww,” he whispered, but did not drop it this time. Puzzled, Quatre touched the pendant. He felt a faint buzzing-like sensation, but nothing more. Yet, clearly Duo was feeling something painful, if the strained face he was making was any indication.

 

He lifted the pendant from Duo's palm, eliciting a sigh of relief from Duo, who massaged his hand. “Protective thing, isn't it?” he complained plaintively.

 

He ignored him, his attention focused on the pendant. For an instant after he had lifted the pendant from Duo's hands, his eyes had caught a strange, ember-like glow in the center of the stone. Just for a moment, barely noticeable, but it had been there.

 

“Apparently it doesn't like other people touching it,” he mused. He took Duo's hand in his own and examined the palm. It appeared to be slightly burned. “Wait a moment. I have some ointment that will take the sting away, if that's an actual burn.”

 

“It sure feels like one,” Duo said in a cross tone. Quatre couldn't really blame him for speaking sharply. He dug into his own pack sitting beside him and found a small jar of ointment Lian had shown him how to make from different herbs. He smoothed a little of the cream onto Duo's palm, eliciting a sigh of relief from the noble. “Oh, that feels nice. Where did you buy it? I must get myself some for emergencies.”

 

“I didn't buy it; I made it,” Quatre said briefly, releasing his palm.

 

Duo's eyebrows went up. “Your talents increase with every day,” he said in admiration. “You will make some of this cream for me, won't you?” He gave him that winning smile that grated on Quatre's nerves.

 

White teeth flashed as Quatre smiled grimly. “For what I'd charge for it, you'd do better to get a cheaper, less effective ointment. It takes time to gather the herbs needed for this mixture; they only grow in certain spots.”

 

Duo sighed. “And I am dramatically short of funds at the moment, and will be so until I manage to return to my home estate. Ah, well. At least I had the benefit of feeling your wonderful touch on my hand for a moment.”

 

Quatre rolled his eyes and decided to ignore his flirting as Lian came trotting back into the camp clearing. “Now, your highness, are you ready to go?” he asked sarcastically.

 

Yes, my vassal, Lian said in a cool, lordly tone. Duo let out something that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle, but when Quatre turned his head to give him a narrow-eyed stare his face appeared perfectly innocent.

 

He sighed. “Between the two of you clowns, it will be a wonder if I maintain my sanity all the way to Hitsome.” She held up a hand at Duo's protest. “Can we just get going?”

 

Both of the others realized that he was tired and wanted the journey to be over with. Yes, kestra-an, Lian said gently. Let us continue. If we are to get Duo to Hitsome on time, we must leave now, to make the edge of Ransem Woods by nightfall.

 

“Then what are we waiting for?” Duo brightened. “Let's go!” He blinked, realized the other two had already started walking off. “Hey, wait for me!”