Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Sea in I ❯ XIII ( Chapter 13 )

Unbeta'd
Italics ~ thoughts
Warnings: Angst, MXM goodiness, *snickers* nudity
Pairings: 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

 

Input/feedback is much appreciated and really helps ^_^

 

Notes: Thank you all for putting with the jumbled workings of my mind

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Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sexies in Gundam Wing AC, I just love to help them live a little.
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XIII

 

Duo rolled on the bed, eyes still closed in sleep and a silly grin spreading drowsily across his face. The memory of Heero- hot, hard and tight- greeted him while sleep slipped away. Duo's hand snaked out to the left of him, running over the cool sheets and finding nothing. A furrow formed between his brows and he felt the other side of the bed, there wasn't much space there unless he'd knocked Heero onto the floor and he stayed there. Duo sat up rubbing sleep from one eye and looking over both sides of the bed just in case.

 

No Heero.

 

Duo popped out of the bed, bare footed with a sheet tangled around his waist but falling fast. He bust out into the hall, looking around frantically and not seeing anyone at all. He started walking and just as quickly stopped, not even a foot from room. He kicked the wall in frustration. He knew Heero was long gone but that didn't mean he wasn't still on the surface. He looked up at the ceiling, the very place he didn't know how to get to. A startled sound then laughter had Duo turning around to see a pink faced brunette and a blushing blonde. He glared at them, not really meaning to include Quatre in the crossfire but the petite blonde held his smile. Duo huffed, eyes narrowing, not even Quatre's bright smile could lighten his mood when the very reason Heero was leaving him with arousing memories of his body, golden skin and his incredible mouth… He shook his head, trying to quell the heat rising in his face and flushing his body. He couldn't let himself get swept up in memory and sensation with Relena standing right next to Quatre.

 

Hand to his heart, Quatre sobered. “When you're ready,” Quatre said sagely with a casual stride toward him, stooping at the entryway to pick up the sheet that Duo vaguely remembered being around him from the floor. “I'd like you to join us on our venture to the mountains. Now I know-”

 

“Are you kidding me!?” Duo nearly toppled the blonde wielder with his exuberant hug.

 

“I take that as a yes then.” Quatre chuckled, struggling to pull the sheet in his hands up around Duo shoulders.

 

Duo let up on the hug a bit when he noticed Quatre moving and only hugging him back partially.

 

Quatre sent a quick look in Relena's direction, her face was still pink but she had her head tilted to the side slightly as if she was trying to see something.

 

Duo narrowed his eyes at her, moving closer to Quatre, his nose grazing the side of Quatre's cheek and his lips close to Quatre's ear, “What's wrong Quat? Did she do something to you?”

 

Quatre's blush deepen, his hand going to his ear as he put a little space between himself and Duo. “What do you mean?” His ears twitching as he went back to pulling the sheet over Duo's shoulders.

 

“She must have for you both to be blushing like you are.” Duo's eye brows rose nearly into his hair in sudden understanding and then he leaned forward with a shocked whisper, “She's the one who helped get your sight back?! Your potential bonded?”

 

“What?! No!” Quatre bit his lips, glancing at Relena out the corner of his eyes who was giving him an inquisitive tilt of one brown eyebrow. Quatre's shoulders shook and laughter danced in his sea green eyes.

 

“Then why are you both blushing?” Duo drew back, looking between the two, large violet orbs giving them a speculative once over.

 

Quatre took Duo's hands and brought his attention to the sheet he was now wearing.

 

Brows scrunched up, Duo looked down and found a path of tiny little red marks that ran from the inside of his thigh to the inside of his hip. He realized, belatedly, he could see them without dropping his pants because he didn't have any on. Duo half smirked, pulling the sheet open to see what other marks Heero left.

 

Quatre interceded, closing it back with an arched brow.

 

Duo gave him a questioning, mischievous look. “What? It's not like you haven't seen me naked before.”

 

Bemused aquamarines cut slyly to snickering violets, “That's not the point. We're out in the corridor and plus Relena is here.”

 

“Oh, please! I've seen Duo's bear butt more than I cared too when we were younger.”

 

Duo frowned at her familiar tone.

 

Quatre shook his head, “You're older now so I do think seeing each other naked... would be kind of hard to explain away with childhood innocence. I highly doubt Heero would believe it, where a certain person's concerned.” Quatre looked at Duo with innocent wide eyes before giving Duo a devilish smirk, “He probably won't let you leave the bed next time.”

 

Duo blinked, visualizing Heero dragging him back to bed… then the tying of hands with ripped sheets, Heero spread out and at his mercy... Duo dropped his head into one hand and shook it, “By the One, I don't need any help with visuals Quat.” He peered up at Quatre through his fingers, “Geez... Your kids will get away with murder! I just know it! Hell, people probably won't know what hit them if they batted one cute, seemingly innocent lash.”

 

Quatre snickered and batted his lashes theatrically, “So you're saying I'm that beguiling?”

 

Duo mocked groan, a grin plain on his face. “By the One-”

 

“You called?” Came Relena's impish chirp.

 

Duo had forgotten that she was still there watching and laughing. He frown at her, he had forgotten she was the One. The very person he'd been hoping to have the chance to talk. But now, his reasons to talk to her have changed. Actually, he didn't want to talk to her. He had the distinct feeling that he should be wary of Relena but that thought warred with the one that told him that she should be respected. She was the One but she was Relena and some reason that didn't add up.

 

“Heero won't hear of your sudden need to show off all your endowments from me.” Duo glared at giggling brunette who misinterpreted his expression. Relena wiped a corner of her eye then crossed her middle finger over her index finger, “Promise.”

 

Duo blinked at that, his irritation level dropping a couple of notches at the oddly familiar gesture. He stepped away from Quatre, brows wrinkling in thought as he stared at Relena who had her hair pinned up, the length overwhelming the pins and spill in to a waterfall of straw-brown hair that stopped at her shoulders. Quatre went into the dwelling and Duo shook his head, starting for the room himself when Relena spoke again.

 

“Duo, walk with me awhile once you're done before we meet up with the others?” Duo frowned at her and she shrugged, “Its not everyday family turns up.”

 

Duo gave her an insincere grin, and then entered the dwelling.

 

There must something wrong with her. Duo concluded, She goes from threatening to kill me to thanking me and now claiming we're related? He shook his head, “Cheh, wasn't that supposed to be the other way round.”

 

“Hm?”

 

Duo started to shake his head, but realized Quatre's back was to him, “Nothing Kitty-Quat.”

 

That earned him a bemused smirk from Quatre. Duo leaned against the wall and wondered what it would be like to have a family. Even if there was some chance he was some kin of theirs, he wondered if he could just pretend they weren't. Or better yet, he wondered if he could have her disown him. Millie, he didn't mind so much, not to mention he had invited him to come by whenever. Which was something he wanted, the guy seemed burden with a lot and then he wouldn't mind just being there to help when he could. He could probably even hangout with him since Relena would be leaving soon.

 

“Duo?”

 

“Yea, Quat?”

 

Quatre held up a smaller less cumbersome bandage and gestured to the clothes on the bed. “Want to go with me to the bathing chamber and I'll help change that bandage?”

 

Duo snorted as he pushed off the wall to stalk toward the bed, even though he was grateful for Quatre's thoughtfulness, “Is that a nice way of saying I reek?”

 

Quatre shrugged, “No, just I need one too and I can change that bandage for you in the process.” Quatre had a thoughtful frown on his face as he picked a long strip of cloth. “What's this?”

 

Duo looked at it a moment then blushed, taking it from Quatre. “Sorry. I'll clean up.” Duo muttered, shoving the ruined pant leg under the bed covers and kicking another scrap of cloth under the bed.

 

Quatre turned wide aquamarine eyes on Duo, “Duo is there something you want to tell me?”

 

“Gahh, Quat! I'm dying here!” Duo flushed and glared, “You are not that innocent.” He said, holding up a finger as if it alone would protect him from Quatre's innocent guise, “Put those deadly peepers away, will ya?! Geez just--I'll clean up, kay?”

 

Quatre snickered, nodding his assent and turning away. Duo dropped the sheet he'd been using to cover himself and began slipping on the robe Quatre had given him.

 

“Duo, wait.”

 

Duo looked to Quatre over his shoulder and Quatre held up a palm sized, tear drop shaped blade with a thumb handle. “Where did you have that thing hidden?” Not at all threaten by its sudden appearance.

 

Quatre shrugged, cutting away the bandage in one deft motion when Duo kept his back to him. “Somewhere close.” Quatre said with an air of mystery and a smirk in his voice, “It's sometimes necessary to get one to understand some boundaries are there for a reason and are meant to be obeyed.”

 

Duo wagged his brows, “Oh, who got under your skin?”

 

Quatre laughed, giving the blade to Duo with an amused shake of his head. “You can have that, if you want, but this might hurt. Your wound looks like it healed into the bandage.” He gave Duo a sympathetic look when he felt the wince and the pain that came with his touch even though he was being gentle, “You ready to reconsider having at least one of the healers from my city spare you this slow recovery since you won't let Thecla or Relena do it?”

 

Duo shook his head, “Couldn't this wait-” he grimaced, “until I was in the water… awhile to loosen it up?”

 

“And get blood in the water?”

 

Duo grabbed the tail end of his braid to keep it out of the way and managed a sly look over his shoulder, “You just wanted to see my-ah!”

 

“Done.” Quatre smiled, examining the bloody cloth before giving it to Duo.

 

“You sure you don't want some more skin with that? Or perhaps a body part?” Duo griped while looking briefly at the soiled bandage before tossing it on the bed. After a moment he felt Quatre run his fingers lightly below his shoulder blade moving along the long scabbed scar and back down to the wound. “Feeling me up- Shit, Quat! Ya know that hurts right?”

 

“Sorry, Duo.” Duo felt the fingers tracing his scar hesitate before leaving his skin. “This wound, how did you get it?”

 

Duo shrugged, the heat of embarrassment coloring his face, “I fell into a water hole… fought a water demon…” Duo said with a flippantly wave of his hand, “Yea, nothing doing! You know, we battled monsters everyday in Maheran!”

 

Quatre laughed, but it became a melancholy thing. He gave Duo a small smile at the ache in his chest, “Yes, I'm aware.”

 

Duo sighed, ducking his head, “Nothing so grand.” He gestured to his left side, “this happened in the bathing chamber and I fell into this hole in the floor. I think it used to be a hot bath, but the water level was too low and well… coming back up wasn't pretty.”

 

Quatre blinked at him as Duo turned around to finish pulling on the robe. Quatre stopped his hand from going to his chest, “Oh, I see. They left you alone with the water.”

 

“Heh, messed up my back pretty good.” Duo muttered, evading an admission and shrugging a shoulder as if it didn't bother him.

 

Quatre shook his head. “But this looks sort of like a birthmark. It swirls,” Duo felt his fingers tracing said swirl on his skin, “more like it kind of curls on it self like a scorpion's tail but it's real hard to see. Your wound is healing ok, though a healer should still look at it.”

 

“Maybe.” Duo snorted, tying on the robe and following Quatre out. “If I'm a wielder and all then, what's it say?” Duo smiled at Quatre's back.

 

Quatre shrugged, “Never seen it before. I can check with the oldest among us and see if he knows.”

 

“The bovine caretaker?” Duo said with a wide smile and Quatre nodded, “Well as long as I don't have to go anywhere near the creature that tried to eat me.”

 

Quatre chuckled, “No worries, I'll send someone to ask. Do you remember having a birthmark there?”

 

Duo shook his head, “Nope. An old scar used to be somewhere in all that, but I don't remember how I got it… unless it was a tattoo my parents changed their mind on.”

 

“It's very faint but I can make out the basic pattern. Some of the clans did tattoo themselves and their children at certain ages, if not for decoration then clan solidarity.”

 

Duo let the conversation drop and they walked on in companionable silence. He was used to not bathing, though bathing was nice. It wasn't that he was afraid he could drown and even though he had come close one time. It was more like he always felt something in the water, more so when he was by himself. Like the other day when he'd been sleeping alone in his room.

 

All too soon, the bath was over and Quatre left him to continue with preparations for their journey. Duo let his feet lead him back to Quatre's room as his mind wondered back to Heero. His smell, his brooding dark blue eyes and his wild but soft, dark brown mop of hair. Duo rubbed the towel he brought from the bathing chamber vigorously over his face fighting the heat that pooled low in his stomach at the very thought of tasting Heero's skin. He could feel Heero—

 

“Gahh! Damn him!” Duo growled into the towel. He wouldn't mind spending a couple days sealed in his room with Heero and nothing else. His stomach made a sound and he amended that thought to Heero and some food. Heero covered in something sweet and creamy... Duo shook his head, running the towel over his face and then twisting it around his braid and wringing it inside the towel. The sound of a throat clearing had Duo flick preoccupied violets up to meet sheepish cornflower blues. Duo picked up on her hands behind her back and raised a brow at her, throwing the towel over one shoulder.

 

“Hey,” he said as friendly as a rock to the head but managed a faint smile to soften his tone.

 

Relena sighed, bringing her hands to the forefront and presenting him with a bowl of food. “You know I didn't recognize you at first.” She smirked at him wistfully, “But Millardo knew who you were from the start little cousin but he wasn't sure of your allegiance”

 

“I'm not-”

 

“-little!” Relena finished with him, chuckling fondly.

 

Duo scowled at her, feeling off kilter and unsure of why he said that.

 

Relena smiled and held out the bowl of food to him. “I used to call you little all the time because you were a hand shorter than me.”

 

Duo arched a brow, staring at it with a critical eye until his stomach rumbled lowly, tired of his hesitance. That earned another chuckle out of Relena. “I'm still going with you,” he said, taking the bowl with a scowl.

 

“Heero does better.” She quipped traipsing by him with a smirk over her shoulder, “Besides, I'm not asking you to stay. You think I'd go against Quatre?” Relena rolled her eyes at Duo's unconvinced expression as he started to answer, “Don't answer that! Coming?”

 

He glared at her even though a corner of his mouth quirked up for her. He threw the towel into the room before following her down the corridor. He was finished with breakfast by the time they came to another side corridor that opened to a hatch in the ceiling.

 

“Cover your eyes and hold your breath.”

 

“Huh?” He hastily put his hand up, dropping the bowl when she opened the hatch and powdery sand drifted down on them. Duo cursed under his breath and coughed when the fine grit went up his nose.

 

“Told ya to-”

 

“I don't have to be here.” Duo reminded her with a tight smile and she closed her mouth, lips twisting into a peevish pout.

 

Relena went outside and Duo stayed where he was, debating on whether to just go back down and find Quatre. He decided he would if Relena so much as said anything to him about hesitating or peeked down at him through the hatch. She didn't. Duo climbed out and found Relena sitting, her legs crisscrossed in front of her several feet away from the hatch. She stared off and Duo sat on the sandy shelf, an arm's length away from her.

 

“I never thought we'd find more family here.” She flicked sand at Duo where her fingers were buried and Duo snorted, brushing the sand off his arm and folding his arms over his bent knees. She shifted her fingers through the sand and began again, “We are in tune with nature and in a sense with each other but I couldn't sense you. I still can't. We were thinking, Milliardo and I, that you can't wield because you don't remember how... But Millie doesn't remember what you wield and the strange thing is that you don't have a birthmark.” She smacked one fisted hand into the other, a triumphant look brightening her face, “That's it! That's why Heero doesn't know what you wield or can use it because you can't either!” She nodded to herself.

 

Duo rolled his eyes not wanting to acknowledge what she said but he had to admit it did explain why he couldn't do anything... kind of. He stared down at his hand, then followed a slip of sand was blown off his hand and danced a moment in the air before it was swept off the shelf. He followed it, staring off into the vast desert his eyes catching then tracking a swirling ring of sand. He watched the dance dissipate then start up again somewhere else as the wind hopped from dune to sandy shelf. It disappeared toward the luminous mountains in the distance. Duo's mind went back to Quatre's awesome display in the living cloud of sand that seemed like it went on into the sky forever. No matter how many times he tried to even shift the sand beneath his hand, nothing came of it.

 

Relena glanced at Duo, who sat oddly silent and stiff at her side. She smiled mirthlessly, having heard from Heero the kind of life her cousin had been living while she... She looked down at her hand, watching the twinkle of tiny bits glass that some of the sand had become. Duo shifted and rested both of his arms on one bent leg, the other kicking loose sand off the edge of sandy shelf.

 

They both sat wrapped in their thoughts as the wind picked up, whipping her hair forward and Duo's braid from around his neck. Relena laughed, letting the wind blow the sand from her hand and smiling down at the dust left behind before putting her hand back into the loose sand.

 

Duo looked at her curiously.

 

“You're probably looking for them? For Heero?” She didn't notice Duo's hand dropping to his side, his fingertips trailing over the sand or the way the sand swirled then darken and clumped near her hand. Her eyes crinkled at the corners as she looked up at the sky in thought. “They're actually closer to the mountains and walking from here to there without aid of a good map or someone who knows the desert would be foolish. We'll see them soon enough. For now, you're stuck with me.” She gave him a wide smile and Duo rolled his eyes again.

 

“I know you've been trying to use your ability. Actually, I remember you weren't very good at using it even when we were young.” She gave him a fond smile, “Your mother always corrected me whenever I described what we do as wielders like that. `We don'tuse, it's a matter of will,' and she said you were doing it wrong and it wasn't coming to you like it should because we were always pressuring you to show us or showing off in front of you. But I wish she was here. I've been wishing they were all here so I can ask them… ask her why does it have to be like this.” She smiled sadly at nothing, her eyes dropping to her lap.

 

Duo looked away from her, giving her a moment to collect herself. He had nothing to offer her for her pain when he couldn't even remember his mother's face. He was still adjusting to the fact that he had parents who had wanted, loved him even. He had... He glanced at her out the corner of his eye, he has a family still but he wasn't sure he wanted that family if it would cost him Heero.

 

“I wish she were here to explain things.” Duo shared the longing he heard in her voice, “But we'll make do.” She smiled at him encouragingly and he offered a small one that made hers a little brighter. “Being a wielder now is like being a container... a bowl. It can only hold so much, you know, before it overflows. Like Quatre, I have these moments where it's too much for me alone to bear,” her voice dropped to a whisper and she sounded far older than she was. “I fear that one day I will end up like Quatre, even though it's different for me,” she rested her chin on the swell of her shoulder her eyes fixed on Duo.

 

Duo's eyes narrowed as he met her unblinking stare. If she was fishing for pity or sympathy, he really couldn't see what she meant by the comparison. This isn't just about her. She sounds like she's saying she's worse off than Quat? He was quickly becoming more and more pissed. If this doesn't work, whatever they've planned on doing in the mountains, than Quat could…

 

“But there are many earth wielders. I don't see how you would end up like that.” Duo said crisply, distracting himself from that line of thinking and directing his ire fully at her.

 

Relena gave him a shaky smile, focus returning to her eyes as she turned to stare at the shifting sands below the sandy shelf they rested on, “Yes, as of now there are. Our people are disappearing. They are being killed. Those few I was able to protect through my Temple-” Relena shook her head, her smile turning bitter, “our old tribal hall, can feel it too. And every time someone died, I'd run.” Duo watched her face contort into a grimace of something more than pain, “Run without thought, out of the palace and into the desert beyond the farms. Years back, I put two and two together and figured out that their death, their murders were the reasons I could restore dead regions.

 

“Heero could stabilize me sometimes, act as extension of my will and disperse the buildup. But there were times when it hurt too much and Heero couldn't get to me to help level out the imbalance brought on by their deaths. I would run because I felt so full like I was going to burst and then stop in a place that was barren, empty to bury what was left of them into the ground.”

 

She blinked rapidly with a dry chuckle, “And they praised me for it! They praised me for giving them new homes, making `Utopias,'” she shook her head, “when it cost so many lives to make it happen. They don't seem to realize how I made it happen, just as long as it keeps happening. But I'm sure that if they knew they would help stop it like they did before.”

 

It's more like they don't care. Duo glanced away. He didn't share her blind optimism. He knew the people of Maheran, lived among them and watched as they let urchins be taken away by the soldiers - like what happened to that girl, like he himself had done... But he hadn't wanted to risk being caught - lot of good that had done him in end.

 

Duo could see some of them agreeing with her but there were many more who let complacency and greed rule them. He stared down at the sand he sifted with his fingers and then caught site of where Relena's hand was in the sand. He frowned and watched her hand move through the sand much like he was doing. Some of it looked dark but there wasn't anything happening.

 

“Then...” Duo gestured to her hand near his.

 

She nodded before squeezing her eyes shut with a bitter smile and rose to her feet. “It's all about perception. `A touch by me, anywhere,' and they have their savior. They see the good of our people and how much we love this world despite the cruelty done unto us.”

 

Duo gave the sand he was playing in a confused look. He knew she had included him in her little speech about her people.

 

“The Principal-” she laughed cutting herself off and a wily smile, “Heero is strong, capable ...” She eyed him and he kept his expression neutral, refusing to be baited by her, “and lucky because you've found each other again. Just like I will find my bonded one day. I'm thankful he was around when he was. He helped me control my ability when I was senseless and kept me from going insane sometimes. So if I'm not imposing and he wants to help me...?”

 

Duo didn't reply and stared up at her instead. “I can't believe you're asking me something I can't answer for.” He was half tempted to say no but Heero had left him to help her.

 

She shrugged, “Which is part of the reason, you two are so good for each other. You don't deny him his freedom or try to control him... Or dress him up as something else.” She half snickered, rubbing at one eye then stopping to look down at him.

 

Duo smiled, eyes closed before he opened them to look at her with an arched brow, “You made him wear one of your dresses.”

 

“Huh? Oh!” She smiled widely, “It only happened twice! And he looked so cute!”

 

Duo made a face at her cooing, “Right. That's abuse you know.”

 

“No it's not.”

 

“Then you traumatized him.”

 

She smirked sadly with a shrug of her shoulders, “I didn't do that frequently only when I could get him away from you and never after... After everyone was gone, it was like I was there but not, being myself but not quite me.” She messaged her temple as if thinking about it bothered her. “Jirrad said my eyes seemed sightless for awhile and when I went on my runs, no one could get close to me. No one except Heero. Jirrad said the priests immediately took me under their wing but he would've asked for guardianship if they hadn't gotten to me first.”

 

Duo watched her curiously, there was a kind longing in her eyes that he recognized in himself any time he was around the Gaults. “You wanted him to take you in.”

 

Relena's gaze slid to him from whatever she had been watching. She nodded, “I didn't know him like Heero did. He would run his hand through my hair, saying it reminded him of sun browned straw in the fields and treated me like his most cherished child. I thought it was the same for Heero. I never knew how Heero was treated when he was alone with Jirrad. Not until he told me a few years back and I had to...” Relena dismissed his probing stare with a laughing shake of her head that was strained even to Duo's ears. “Yes, I would have preferred the same for Heero,” she swallowed thickly, emotions clashing in her eyes, “instead of him being under Jirrad's tutelage. Can you imagine, loveable me an ice princess?”

 

Duo gave her a skeptical look, her smile didn't even reach her eyes but he knew her pain for what it was. She was the One he'd wanted to talk to about his dreams. She was said to be regal, powerful, kind and beautiful. Yet, here she stood, scared and unsure of how to handle it all while the world she knew steadily crumbled down around her. He felt he could understand her weirdness from before and even sympathize a little.

 

Maybe she's not really all that self absorbed, just overwhelmed confused and huma-! He winced, thoughts cut short by the pain arcing from the back of his skull.

 

Relena let go of his braid and got the full force of his glare. In that moment, he remembered a younger bratty Relena who had made it a point to torment him in exactly the same way. His glare lost its intensity as it fell into a put-upon pout.

 

“I asked you a question and I should be given an answer.” She said haughtily, ruining it with smile, “Although, you can continue to stare at me all you want; I think I'm lovely too.”

 

Duo chortled with a roll of his eyes, “Right.”

 

She flushed a little at his unexpected laughter but smiled through it. She reached down and ruffled his bangs, earning a glare. “Come on, we need to get back and be on our way.”

 

He smiled grudgingly, slipping in the sand beneath his hand and stumbling to his feet. He glanced back, frowning down at sand where he was sure his foot had caught on something but saw only shifting sand. Duo caught up to Relena, giving the sand behind him no further thought.

 

As the trap door closed shut and the displaced sand quickly recovered it. The sand where Duo and Relena's hands had been, darkened and bubbled even as the sand shifted trying to cover it. The windswept more sand off the shelf to reveal green stalks growing and bobbing slightly as the dark pool overflowed, spilling over its edge.

 

O----------------------OoO----------------------O

 

Duo dragged the heavy robe, altered by the carpenter so that it was thicker than before, along the floor as he met up with Quatre and Relena in the dining hall. He half wanted to leave the cumbersome thing on the table but a raised eyebrow from Quatre had him folding it and messily jamming it into his satchel that he'd found in his half furnished room. Something blackish gray fell out of his bag. Duo winced at a dull twang in his side, his brows wrinkled in thought. He remembered where he had seen and left the rigid, gray stone - in Heero's room on his bed.

 

The stone continued to spin at his feet. The action itself was unusual since its rigid shape would allow one roll before it was stopped and the spinning didn't seem to be decreasing any.

 

“Duo, what are you doing?”

 

Duo glanced up and saw Relena shrugging on her thick robe and looking at the gray stone with interest. She approached him and the stone stopped. Duo swiped it up, stuffing it one of the satchel's many pockets, “Nothing.”

 

Relena looked at him oddly but let it go, coming to stand where Quatre directed her to, on his left side with Duo on his right.

 

“Got everything?” At the concession of nods, Quatre raised his hands, “Good. Let's go.”

 

“Wait.” Duo looked around at the vacant and the wall they were standing in front of in the dining hall. “So it's just us?”

 

Quatre nodded, “We're meeting them there.”

 

“Oookay?”

 

Quatre chuckled, understanding the question inferred without having Duo voice it.

 

“Trust me, Duo. This is the cool part.”

 

“Ok, on with it.”

 

Quatre chuckled dropping his hands and Relena snorted, then blinked owlishly as sand rose up around them. She gasped when she saw them moving more then felt the motion. Duo seconded her reaction, glimpsing the wall fast approaching through swirl of sand in front of them before they were sealed inside the sand sphere completely. The interior was lit by several lichens rubbing together in a floating glass sphere above them. The glow caught on the bits of glass in the sand, making the interior sparkle and distributing the light.

 

As they travelled, Duo saw the grain of sand change around them from red-browns to darker brown, nearly black, gray and white. Duo cocked a brow, curiosity urging him to ask a question but common sense warning him that whatever Quatre was doing was requiring a lot of concentration. But...

 

“You know, I can hear you.” Quatre chuckled, giving him a cut of one wry, backlit aquamarine orb over his shoulder. “I haven't heard from the caretaker and don't worry, to do this I am not pushing my limits. This,” Quatre offered a small but grateful smile before looking straight ahead again, “is not me alone, several earth wielders in city are aiding us.”

 

Relena made a face, “Millardo can't-”

 

“As a resident,” raised a hand to calm her rising ire, “he is free to make his own decision. I will not-”

 

“Even at a risk to himself and his unborn-”

 

“I will not,” Quatre asserted, demeanor calm but fierce, “deny him choice. Thecla is monitoring him and will intervene if he pushes too much. He is teaching, for the most part, the inexperienced that are unfamiliar with this skill and showing them how to overlap each other if one tires so someone else can take over.”

 

Duo glanced over at Relena who glared at Quatre's back. He saw her start to speak and broke in, “He will be fine.”

 

She stared at him and he kept looking ahead, certain about the truth in his own statement. Surprisingly, Relena accepted it, casting her eyes about in thought and allowing silence to take up residence as they traveled.

 

 

Tbc…