Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Elven Mage ❯ Of Meetings and Conversations. ( Chapter 4 )

Warnings: Shounen-ai, eventual yaoi, possible OOCness, evil characters.

Pairings: Guess what? Still not telling!

Disclaimer: I don't own the g-boys or any of their groupies, however, I do own Shiakara and her kind as well as the assorted characters who don't belong to Gundam Wing.

Author's note: You should be happy! I'm moving much faster with this fic than I did my last! ^^ You should also be happy because I was up until 1:30 finishing this part for you! Then again, I'm thankful for all your wonderful reviews! Thank you thank you! They're wonderful. Well, I hope you like this part!

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"Order! I will have order!" cried the crimson-clad figure at the head of the dining table, raising a hand to make his point. The gathered mages ignored him, still muttering to each other testily and uneasily, not liking that one of their number could be stolen away so easy, especially one of such importance.

"You don't know what happened, do you?"

"No, I've no idea."

"All I know is one minute I was fast asleep, the next I'm falling out of bed in shock!"

"Aye, an' tha' were a rude thin' too! Ge'in us out o' our beds a' such a time!"

"Aah, you're failing in your old age. It's not that early!"

"That doesn't matter anyhow! What matters is that Milliardo was stolen from under our noses and none of us even knew!"

"I agree! What's to stop it happening again?"

"It's all so-"

"I will have order!" the head mage cried, a bolt of lightening crackling out from his hand and gaining him the silence his voice hadn't been able to manage. He glared around at his fellow mages, a sour look on his face.

"What's up his nose?" Duo whispered to Heero.

"Shh!" Heero hissed back

The two of them plus Shiakara sat calmly beside the head mage, awaiting their turn to speak. Well, Shiakara and Heero sat calmly, Duo, on the other hand, fidgeted in his chair, trying to look at everything all at once and not succeeding. His stomach growled periodically and he whined that he was hungry every time it did.

"Now, the order at hand is the abduction of one Milliardo Peacecraft, the only full fledged Seer within leagues. Heero, you called us here, therefore, I am assuming you know something we need to know," the head mage said, turning to Heero as he spoke and waving him to his feet. Shiakara stood with him and the two of them glared down any mistrusting looks.

"Shiakara," Heero said simply and the OtherKin nodded, taking a step forward.

"You all know me and are aware of the fact I posses some small amount of the ability to See. It's unreliable and I can't See by choice like Milliardo, but I do often get a hint of things to come. Unfortunately, I received the information too late… a mere few seconds before the translocation was done and we didn't have the time to get there. I don't know much. All I know is the spellcaster was a female ordered or asked by a male to do the spell. It happened not long ago. It only supports what I've been saying since I got here, your defences are terrible!"

Her last words gained an angry murmur from the crowd of mages and Heero cast her a withering glare. She only stared defiantly back at him, knowing she was right and knowing they couldn't refute her because of Milliardo's kidnapping.

"Order!" the head mage bellowed again, before the murmur could become something he couldn't shout down. "Shiakara, you overstep your place."

For the second time this morning. Poor thing shouldn't have to worry about it! She wouldn't have to if she weren't forced here… like me… Duo thought to himself, violet eyes sparking angrily.

"Perhaps I do, but I'm right. You've no shielding at all! Even the weakest magic users could make their way in here without your knowledge! My point is proved this morning with Milliardo! You must tighten defence!" Shiakara cried, bearing her teeth on the last three words to emphasize her point.

"We've never needed defence before!" cried one voice from the gathering.

"That doesn't mean a thing! You can't-"

"Might I point out the matter at hand is Milliardo, not our defence…" Heero said, his soft tones somehow silencing everyone as the head mage's shouting had not.

Duo smiled slightly, then caught the movement and blinked in shock. His belly took that moment to growl loudly into the silence Heero's words had brought about and every eye turned to him. One watery blue set narrowed in accusation and Relena, clad in rose-pink coloured robes, surged to her feet, pointing a finger at Duo.

"The trouble started when he came! Nothing like this has ever happened before! It's his fault my brother's gone! His fault!"

A murmur of agreement rippled through the mages and Duo's violet eyes widened as he shook his head at Relena.

"I… it's not my fault! I haven't done anything!" he cried, shrinking down into his chair under the glare Relena shot at him. He knew she wielded a power akin to Heero's and he knew she could kill him where he sat. He wished he could vanish through the chair.

"No!" Heero snapped softly, instantly slipping a shield over Duo. "This has nothing to do with him! Shiakara would have Seen that much. Relena, don't be foolish."

"Don't be foolish? Don't be foolish?! You should be as worried as I!" Her eyes narrowed and she smiled dangerously. "You were kissing him last night, were you not?" Her tone was low and scathing. She felt betrayed by both her brother and Heero. Heero, upon whom her gaze had rested since she came here. She was still an apprentice to one of the elder mages, and she had felt as though Heero looked down on her for that fact. Still, she wasn't all that far from his level. That he had been kissing her brother was something she could never forgive, no matter how much she loved him.

Nothing betrayed Heero's shock at her telling of that particular fact but a momentary flash in his prussian blue eyes. He raised one eyebrow and gave a very deliberate shrug.

Duo stared at Heero, something inside him twisting strangely. He frowned and shook it off, nervously pushing chestnut bangs out of his eyes. He chewed his lip, wondering if the mage-apprentice Relena was telling the truth or had just said that to turn the rest of the group against Heero. Duo had figured out it was easy to tell full mages from apprentices by the way they held themselves. The full mages seemed to carry an air about them that wasn't replicated by the apprentices. Something he could just feel.

"I never said I'm not worried, Relena. I just know better than to blame this on Duo," Heero said eventually after she'd wilted under his icy glare. He pushed a hand through his hair and closed his eyes a moment in thought.

"Who else would have a vendetta against us?" Relena cried.

"Who's to say it's anything even like a vendetta?" Shiakara put in, somehow growling in her throat even while she talked. She flexed her wings in agitation, not liking the fact the discussion had taken this turn.

"It's all his fault! I tell you, if we send him back to the rest of his barbaric people, they'll give us back Milliardo!" Relena shouted back.

"My people are not barbaric!" Duo cried suddenly, shooting to his feet and not caring who struck him with lightning. "You humans think anyone but yourselves is less than perfect! Here's news! You're the barbarians! It's you who destroy the forests and the mountains and the rivers and the oceans for your own comfort! Look at this!" He waved a hand around, indicating the building in general. "How many trees did you cut down? How many animals did you kill or leave homeless? The answer is, you don't know because you care about nothing and no one but yourselves! We are far, far more civilized than any of you!" Duo turned sharply, braid flying and began to stalk toward the doors. He stopped before walking out them and threw his last words back over his shoulder. "And none of us know how to use magic anyway because you never let us learn!"

Heero watched him go and had to fight the urge to follow after him and apologize for Relena's behaviour. Instead, his eyes snapped angrily at Relena and he stalked over to her.

"Relena Peacecraft, now you overstep your place! It is not your place to disagree with a full mage and it is not your place to insult another apprentice, especially one who has not even been here long enough to learn what is right and wrong for him to do! Quarinias, your apprentice lacks discipline. Her advancement to full mage status will be delayed three months in order for her to learn it…" Heero hissed out, before turning and stalking back to stand beside the head mage again while a little man in glasses scurried up and promptly began stripping Relena of what little dignity she still had left by commanding her to the kitchens for the day.

Heero looked over the rest of the group while the head mage talked.

"Enough of this bickering, my fellows. We must get Milliardo back.

"Sir…?" a timid female voice said before two girls of around thirteen stepped out of the group and looked up at him.

"You disturb us, apprentices…" he warned, eyes narrowing.

"Aye, sah, we knaew…" spoke up the second with a thick accent. "Bu' we've nae choice…"

"Milliardo's our master and teacher, sir… No one else can help us. We need his shielding and focus to keep our Seeing under control. Without him here, we can't keep it up ourselves for much longer. We haven't learned enough to. Please… you have to send us to someone who can help!" the first spoke again, her chocolate-brown eyes frightened.

"You're right. We do need to send you. Eli'iarkin, the nearest branch of the University with a Seer is… two months travel away. Can you send them that far?"

"Aye, sir. I'll do it straight away." Eli'iarkin beckoned the two girls after him along with his own apprentice and the four of them vanished in a hurry.

"As for Milliardo…" The head-mage sighed and shook his head. "I've already had a group scour his room and there's no hint to tell us where he was taken. The only thing we can do is have all of you with the ability to FarCast and a strong enough Talent to use it as far as the edges of the continent lock yourselves away and look for him. I know how long this will take, but I can think of nothing else to do for now, aside from pray. Organize yourselves and start now. The rest of you, continue with your daily studies and teaching. We can't halt the workings of the University, even for someone as important as Milliardo Peacecraft."

The group muttered to itself, but began to move off to do as directed until Shiakara spoke.

"Please, sir… You can't let the University stay as unprotected as it is…" she said softly, then turned and went in search of Duo, having said her piece and knowing there was nothing more she could say.

The head mage frowned slightly, then beckoned to four of the Council and they retired to his rooms to talk more about Shiakara's assertions.

Heero scowled at everyone in general, then went to find his apprentice some food. He possessed little of FarCasting ability, so he wasn't needed there. He was to teach Duo and he knew the elf wouldn't be any use without food. Shiakara had gone after him, so he was satisfied that, for the moment, he didn't have to worry about Duo. He snorted a little at himself. He didn't need to worry about Duo anyway it wasn't as if the elf meant anything more to him than as his apprentice…

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"Shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" Duo snarled, kicking a bush of flowers to bits in frustration, then feeling guilty because it wasn't the bush's fault he was here. He looked around the University's small garden with angry violet eyes and wished he were home. Picking irritably at his black robes, Duo paced back and fourth, trying desperately to come up with some way of getting out of here.

"Duo…?" came Shiakara's soft voice from a little way away.

Duo whirled and faced her, surprised someone had followed at all, then smiled when he registered who it was. He went over to her and knelt in front of her, hugging her blue neck tightly.

"Oh, Shiakara… I hate it here as much you do. Let's get away together!" he cried, looking at her with bright eyes.

She blinked confusedly back at him, extricating herself from his hug and sitting back on her haunches to look hard at him. She licked her own nose, finding some breakfast left there, and scratched behind her ear with a hind paw, then tilted her head and looked hard at him again.

"Duo… I don't hate it here…" she said softly.

Duo blinked, tugging on his braid.

"What…? But they're always ordering you around and treating you like dirt! And you were forced to come here by Heero just like I was!" he cried, plopping down cross-legged in the grass before her.

Shiakara shook her head and flexed her wings.

"No, Duo. I wasn't forced here, far from it. I fought tooth and claw to get into the University. I apprenticed under Hitainia for four years and once I'd gained my full mage status, I became Heero's assistant, because I knew he needed a friend and that was the only way he was going to let me get close enough to him to start becoming one. My Talent's strength lies in energy manipulation and fire… I only have a trace of a few other things aside from those two. But, Duo, I don't hate it here. I love it here! Surrounded by magic… It's what I wanted from the moment I knew I was different to the rest of the OtherKin… And they don't treat me as badly as it seems. They just get pigheaded at times and pull rank on me. If it weren't for the fact I'm Heero's assistant, I would be on the same level as them, but I made the choice and I'm sticking with it because Heero Yuy isn't as stable as he seems. He's oh so lonely, Duo. So very lonely…"

She tilted her head to one side, ears perked forward and noted the tear at the corner of Duo's violet eye, which he dashed away.

Duo shut his eyes for a moment. He wouldn't feel sorry Heero. He wouldn't. Heero was a bastard. He'd dragged Duo away from his friends and family and brought him here where he had none of either. And now he'd found out that his one possible ally didn't mind being here! That she had, in fact, had to fight hard just to get here!

"He deserves to be lonely," Duo spat.

"He knows nothing of his family, Duo. He was found on the doorstep of the University at the age of 18 months and raised here, surrounded by magic, which he loved and mages who were constantly wary and jealous of him because of his power. He's had to deal with being attracted to Milliardo Peacecraft for as long as he can remember and he now has to deal with having had that attraction used against him for your protection!"

"For my protection…?"

"Yes! Milliardo Saw something about you. None of us know what it was, but he Saw something and he didn't want Heero hurting you, so he used Heero's attraction. He played upon it for everything it was worth! He extricated a promise from Heero not to hurt you with a kiss, then made it clear he hadn't liked the kissing at all and didn't want anything to do with Heero in that way."

"He did…? But I… What…? Why…? I don't understand… Why would he do that just because of me? Doesn't he care about Heero?"

Shiakara laughed softly and leaned forward to touch her nose to Duo's cheek in the canine equivalent of a light hug. Her eyes held his and her ears slid forward a little as she spoke softly.

"Human kind aren't quite like your own, Duo. Things like greed and power can easily waylay them at the cost of compassion and care for one another. In the elven society, as in my own, everyone shares everything and there's no need for those sorts of things to get in the way, but humans are very different and it's hard for them."

"Then why did he care about me? Why did he care so much about an elf that he would even betray one of his own kind like that?"

Shiakara sighed and flexed her wings agitatedly, shaking her head and baring her teeth in a nervous gesture.

"I don't know. None of us do. Something… Something's going to happen. That much even I can feel. Whatever it is, it won't be good and whatever it is, you're important in it. Milliardo knew exactly what it was and exactly the part you play in it and he didn't want you harmed or weakened in any way that might jeopardize your playing of it."

"Still…"

"Duo… Sweet Duo, I know you don't want to be here. I know that. I can feel it, but you are here and you're here for something huge. You're here to learn magic! That's not a chance everyone receives. Make the best of it, ne? And don't hate Heero. He wanted to get you away as quickly as possible and that's why he forced you by using your friend. And… he doesn't know how to deal with you. Humans have an inherent distrust of everything non-human and to find someone with a power to rival his own who isn't human does frighten him. He-"

"Whoa! Hang on and back up! 'A power to rival his own'? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means exactly what I said. You've the Talent and power to back any training Heero's going to give you and it is possible for you to equal and possibly surpass him. Put that on top of the fact you're an elf and you have one confused Heero."

Put all that on top of the fact he's attracted to you and won't admit it to himself and you've got an even more confused Heero, she thought silently to herself, giving a small smile.

"Oh… man…"

"Duo…? Shiakara…? I…" Heero started, annoyed immensely at the tremor in his voice. The stress was getting to him… It really was. Oh, Milliardo… Milliardo…He cleared his throat and tried again, pleased when he got a far stronger result. "Lessons begin soon, but I thought you'd want to eat first, so-"

"Food!" Duo cried, leaping to his feet and bounding over to Heero as though forgetting everything he and Shiakara had just talked about. He hadn't. It was all circling repeatedly around his mind.

Shiakara grinned toothily and winked at Duo.

"I do remember you saying you didn't trust anything Heero gave you to eat…" she said teasingly, a sly sparkle in her stark white eyes.

"Yeah, well… My stomach doesn't get the idea of trust," Duo replied, tugging at the tray in Heero's hands until the mage released it. He bounded over to a smooth patch of grass and settled himself down, then placed the tray before him and licked his lips.

"It's not all for you!" Heero snapped, though his voice lacked anything other than amusement.

"Uhh… Well you better come grab what's yours 'cause I'm hungry!" Duo cried, before starting at one end of the tray and beginning to make his way along it.

Heero and Shiakara blinked at each other, then hurried over to get their share. Neither of them fancied attacking the elf's lessons on an empty stomach either.

~Shiakara, I- ~ Heero started silently, but the OtherKin cut him off.

~No.~

~He is my apprentice.~

~I don't care. We didn't talk about anything which might have ramifications for the fate of the whole planet, so you don't need to know.~

"Heeeeeey! You two are doing that head talking thing Quatre can do, aren't you? I can tell! Stop it. It's not fair to those of us who can't do the head talking thing!" Duo cut in between bites.

Heero looked at Shiakara who raised a dark blue eyebrow and somehow managed to shrug her shoulders.

"Well… Duo, while you're eating, I'll give you a bit of history on magic," Heero said.

Duo only nodded absently. Heero rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair, but began his lecture anyway.

"Magic, in the broadest sense of the word, was first discovered…"

* * *

"And… if they make it before then, he won't have time to finish…" Milliardo whispered, at the end of his strength. Oh, the things he did for his sister. He put two fingers to his temple and closed his ice-blue eyes tight, as though doing so would stave off the headache already well established over the entire left side of his skull and fast creeping over to encompass the right side as well.

"Damn…" Treize murmured, looking thoughtful. The mismatched group of the elf's friends would do nothing but make his work more difficult. He had to stop them. They couldn't reach the centaurs for a long time yet… But how to do it…? A wild animal or magic beast wouldn't occupy them for long… No… They needed capturing. A sudden smile lit Treize's handsome face and he called one of those little creatures over to him, then whispered his orders to it. It nodded its understanding and scurried of, leaving Treize to worry about a more pressing matter. He looked over at the failing mage and a pang of intense guilt bit at his heart. He didn't like that much. He wasn't used to feeling guilt.

"Don't say a word, Treize. Whatever you might have to say would be empty words anyhow. Just take me somewhere I can sleep. Or send one of your… pets to take me somewhere to sleep…" Milliardo said, his voice far thinner than he would have liked.

"Milliardo… I would far rather have you do something else for me than sleep…" Treize said, standing and walking over to the white-clad mage.

Milliardo didn't look up, but he knew the man was there and his body tensed. He was totally drained and the most he could manage would be a small shock of lightening to Treize, but it might get him to back off if he was planning anything hazardous to Milliardo's health.

"I can do nothing more, Treize. You have already sapped me of everything I have," Milliardo said softly, letting a translucent flicker of lightening dance above his palm and slither around his fingers.

"Nothing magical, Milliardo…" Treize replied, going to his knees and lifting the mage's face until he could meet his eyes.

"What-?" Milliardo started, but his words were silenced by the warmth of Treize's mouth covering his own. Milliardo's eyes flew open and he brought the hand about which the lightening danced up to the side of Treize's neck. There was a small flash and Treize withdrew, giving an undignified yelp. His hand flew to his abused neck, but came away devoid of the blood he'd expected.

"That hurt," Milliardo stated, eyes snapping at Treize angrily.

"Milliardo, I-"

"I have just enough energy to do that a few more times, so don't dare to lay a finger on me, Mr. Khushrenada…" Milliardo growled as he got to feet, managing to conceal a wince as the pounding in his head increased.

"I wouldn't hurt you…" Treize said softly, taking a step toward Milliardo.

The mage stepped back and lifted his hand, about which lightening still danced. He eyed the red mark he'd left on Treize's neck and made a face. If that was all he'd done, then he had less energy left than he'd previously thought. No matter. So long as the man thought he had enough. After a good sleep, he'd be back to full strength again.

"Don't lay a finger on me," Milliardo repeated, eyes still angry and filled with - Treize flinched at the emotion - hate. "Sleep is what I want now and not with you. Not ever with you."

Treize studied Milliardo for a long time. Even exhausted, the mage was beautiful. He would come around. Never had Treize failed to seduce someone he'd set his sights on.

"Very well," Treize said with a nod, subsiding for the moment. "Here, let me show you the way."

He strode to the door and out of it and Milliardo followed, glad Treize hadn't called his bluff and even gladder he was going to get some rest. He hoped his apprentices were faring all right. They wouldn't do well without him.

Still, there was nothing he could do about it. He thanked Treize coldly when the man showed him his room, then shut the door in Treize's face. As he fell bonelessly onto his bed, all thought of poise and gracefulness gone from his aching head, his thoughts wandered to Heero for a moment before he drifted off into a troubled sleep filled with restless dreams.

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Author's note: Oo… Milliardo didn't appreciate that much. *evil grin* Whatever shall happen?!