Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Sea in I ❯ XIV ( Chapter 14 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

By: priscel

Unbeta'd
Italics ~ thoughts
Warnings: Angst, MXM goodiness, gore, death, NCS and Mpreg in later chapters, just thought I'd bring up now so all will be prepared when it happens
Pairings: 1x2/2x1, and the pen dabbles around a bit

Input/feedback is much appreciated

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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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XIV

Quatre held up his hands and the movement of the sand around them slowed with a gradual lifting sensation. The tunnel of earth and wind collapsed all around them to show it was still morning but late judging by the raised position of the sun. In Maheran, Duo knew it would still be early, dark but warm. He shivered, redoing the wrap he had thrown across his shoulders at Quatre's entreaty. There was a chill lingering in the air here and it was sticking. Usually when the sun was high in the sky in Maheran it was hotter than piss out. The large white masses he always saw from the city at the top of the mountain seemed unreal. He had never seen that much ice in that color before.

“Yes,” Duo could hear the smile in Quatre's voice then felt friendly squeeze to his shoulder with a bit of shake, “this is something I wanted to see up close too!” He said with a bright laugh that had Duo smiling beside him. It made him again wonder if Quatre was aided by more than his empathy and perceptiveness. “They say we may even see it snow!”

Duo shared Quatre's excitement but it was tempered by a familiar niggling sensation in his chest. His eyes sought out the source of that feeling and he found Heero turning toward them. Duo started to call to him but Heero stopped him with an icy glare.

“What is he doing here?” Heero was standing in front of them in two long strides. Cerulean icicles slid from him and back to Quatre.

“He's here of his own will.” Duo watched them both as Quatre easily maintained his calm expression in the face of Heero's scowl.

“He is not needed.”

Duo gaped at him, floored into silence by the blunt dismissal of his presence. He wanted to deny it. He didn't want to believe the slight had come from the man he considered to be his bonded but Heero's eyes were cold and emotionless.

Quatre held Heero's gaze and casually raised his shoulders then let them drop, “That's not for you to decide.”

“Heero,” Relena began tentatively, understanding where Heero's inflexible protective streak was stemming from. She'd confronted Quatre in a similar brass manner without considering how persistent her brother could be and how he wouldn't be forced into doing anything he didn't want to do. She laid a calming hand on Heero's arm and eyed Duo's taut face with concern, “You surely didn't me-”

Heero brushed her off, “He has no part in this!”

“Yea, why the hell not?” Duo cut in bitterly, “Oh, I get it. Because you say so right?” He gave Heero a dark smile that showed too many teeth. “Didn't we already have this conversation?”

Heero fisted one hand at his side. Steely eyes shifted to Duo along with the weight of his displeasure, “You should go back.”

Duo caught the movement by Heero's robed side and arched a brow, rolling narrowed violets to meet angry cerulean blues. “Or you'll do what?”

Heero sighed, his hand unfurling in the length of that escaping breath, “Don't argue with me.”

“Don't think you can tell me what to do.” Duo riposted, brow arching as he invaded Heero's personal space. He tracked the rise and fall of Heero's chest and felt the tiny space between them heat up in a matter of seconds. “Just `cuz we fucked,” Duo whispered harshly, “doesn't mean you own me.” He pushed Heero aside, resisting the need for more contact and dismissing his regret over the hurt he saw flicker in Heero's eyes.

He headed over to Heero's company who had kept at whatever task they had at hand. Duo knew they were aware of what was happening but chose to remain unobtrusive. They stood near their mounts and the Gua rested along one of several low ridges of intermittent rock and sand that led up to the mountain. Duo looked for where the mountain ended but he could see no end to it. He considered walking its expanse to calm his mind and distract himself from the blue eyed man, but then he saw Ethan. Ethan had walked past him to lean against a massive swell of rock, too engrossed in scribbling on a rolled piece of parchment to spit any insults his way. Duo smirked mischievously, eying Quatre briefly and approached the unsuspecting soldier.

“Me boy! Ye come t'join us have ye?”

Duo's gaze slipped from Ethan to Fraix. The big man smiled in greeting, the thick scruff on his cheeks rising with the corners of his mouth. Duo smiled curiously back, the play of memory making his smile grow as he remembered a younger just as hairy man. He recalled how Fraix had made it a point to chase them in play or track them down when they went exploring and no one could find them. Then Fraix would toss them up into the air and catch them, one with each hand. It was a feat to see because eight year olds were far from light.

“Uncle Fraix.” Duo's smile was wide and welcoming. The black beard man's eyebrows rose high on his forehead while his eyes held a speculative glint. Duo laughed and rubbed the side of his temple then tapped it for emphasis. “I remember and yes, I know you're Heero's uncle but you're still family to me.”

The big man scooped him up into a crushing hug and Duo gave it back as best he could. “U'cle,” Duo squeaked out soon after, “you w'nt me t'live t'see t'morrow don'tcha?”

Fraix chuckled and dropped him to his feet. Duo's legs wobbled a bit but Fraix held fast to his arm. He kept hold of him until Duo looked stable enough and was breathing semi normally for someone who'd had their breath squeezed out of them.

“Good! It be good t'have ye back. Newt's been wondering what be taking ye s'long.” Fraix waved him toward her and headed back to his own mount, surreptitiously wiping at his eyes.

Duo snickered, “Oh, has she?”

Duo approached said Gua who immediately nuzzled into his stomach and chest. “I say Sand Dragon is a better name for you.” He rubbed his face against her soft, warm skin. He smiled at the feel of the low, pleased soundless rumble Newt made at his continued petting.

Duo felt the pull in his chest but didn't let it disrupt the steady stroke of his hand. “You have some serious control issues.”

There was no response.

Duo straightened and glared over his shoulder, “I'm going and you can't stop me.”

Heero scowled, piercing cerulean blues locked with determined blue-violet. Duo turned fully to face him and he kept the surprise from his face when he felt the soft material of Heero's robe under his hand. It was like he couldn't be near Heero and not touch him in some way. He closed the space between them, tilting his head as if he meant to kiss him or would allow him to, then turning to the side instead. Duo brushed his lips against the corner of Heero's mouth, letting the tip of his nose brush along Heero's cheek before he leaned in close to his ear. The wet sound of his tongue running over his lips filled Heero's ear before it swiped at his earlobe then Duo sucked it into his mouth.

Heero shuddered and Duo smiled, releasing the tender piece of flesh. “Don't think I don't know,” adept hands found their way inside Heero's robes through his sleeves. They ran over Heero's sides, sliding tantalizingly back to cup and squeeze his ass, “that I'm still deep inside of you. Stop trying to control me.” Duo gave Heero's ass cheeks one vicious squeeze, making him buck into him and gasp, “I'm not leaving. I'm staying with you. No taking mementos as a substitute for me.”

Heero pulled Duo closer to him so they were pressed thigh to thigh, groin to groin and almost chest to chest. The robes concealed their closeness, making it appear as though Duo was hugging Heero.

Duo gazed at him through lowered lashes, a sultry smile spreading across his lush lips. “We could be making memories right now... Me and you, blockading ourselves in my room…”

Heero had a rosy tint to his cheeks and that telling back-lit glow to his eyes all offset by his stoic expression. The mask cracked in his next breath. Heero pressed his lips to Duo's, lightly brushing over them before swallowing and pulling back. His lips twitched into a small, strained smile then he nuzzled into Duo's hair, breathing him in as he spoke. “You are an idiot,” he stepped back out of Duo's hold, a deadpan expression on his face before he walked away.

Duo blinked then frowned thoughtfully, his hands dropping to his sides. He turned back to Newt, trying to shake himself from puzzling over what had happen by busying hmself with Newt's harness. Out the corners of his eyes, he followed the messy haired man as he walked to his mount seemingly unburden by the hard-on they both shared. Duo shifted, not having to do much to hide anything because the robes' billowy make.

“Start loading up!” Heero sent a scowl in his direction and rubbed Krídlo's snout, “We'll be heading out as soon as the harnesses have been checked.”

Duo gave Heero a wry grin. Heero turned his back to him and intent on Krídlo. Shrugging, Duo poured some water into his hand and offered it to Newt as he covertly watched Heero. Distractedly, he wiped his hand on his robe and gripped the harness bar then found himself sitting. Duo's brows rose up into his messy bangs, confused as to how he had managed it without paying attention to what he was doing. He was no expert rider. Newt shifting beneath him brought him at his musings.

“You looking out for me, girl?” But his eyes remained fixed on Heero who was adjusting Krídlo's harness. Duo stopped rubbing Newt's snout when their eyes met. He could see the promise in those cerulean depths, feel the heat of where Heero's fingers had been on his skin. He wanted that again. He started to pull off his robe and decided Heero would be walking like a well laid man by the time he was done with him.

“Duo!”

He jumped in his harness, “What!?” Lust driven haze, fading slightly, but he couldn't take his eyes off of Heero.

Wu Fei scowled at Heero who had turned to help Relena with her harness on Nue. He had seen the smirk on Heero's face and Wu Fei found he couldn't find fault with that because part of the reason why he himself was smirking was because of Duo's flustered state.

“Did you not just recover from a fever? Are you trying to get sick on purpose?” Wu Fei snapped, gesturing to the robe hanging half off Duo's shoulder.

“No.” Duo muttered, petulantly. He fixed his robe then clapped his hands on his cheeks. He slouched where he sat, his eyes straying back to Heero when the harness abruptly jerked beneath him. He quickly hugged Newt's neck for balance and to keep himself from falling. The Gua settled just as quickly and hissed back toward him.

“What is it?” He sat back and stiffened at the body behind him. Duo turned and was face to face with a smirking Wu Fei.

“I tire of walking.” The shape shifter said simply, his hands moving around and past Duo to grab hold of the harness bar.

Duo looked at the man, skeptical of his claim since Quatre and an earth wielder had sped them to this in a handful of minutes. He was sure had done the same for his most trusted friend.

“And you couldn't do what anyone else would do and ask?” Brows arching into his bangs, Duo gave Wu Fei a dubious smile.

Wu Fei shrugged, “The lizard said yes.”

“Humph,” Duo rubbed Newt's neck and traced one of the thick black bands that ran down to her shoulders, “Since when have you two gotten along?”

Wu Fei smirked, “We've made amends.”

Duo shook his head, unconvinced.

“I could smell you two...” Wu Fei leaned in close to his ear, the gesture almost intimate, “Were you going to disrobe for him right here?”

Duo's face flushed red, “And outdo the steamy looks passing between you and Relena over there?” Anything else he might have said was cut off by his own yelp when Wu Fei pulled him back against him, making Newt rear up and buck beneath them. Duo laughed, the sound cut short again by an explosion of air and dirt several feet away from them.

Curiosity aflame in blue-violet eyes, Duo watched the ball of dirt rise out of the ground then collapse on itself. He figured that was what Heero's crew had seen when they had arrived.

Wu Fei glanced at Heero's frowning face. He smirked knowingly when Heero's eyes dropped to his hand resting on Duo's stomach. Cerulean icicles attempted to stab him from afar.

“Focus.” Wu Fei mouthed and Heero rolled his eyes away from him. Wu Fei had a small frown crinkling his brow when Relena approached Heero.

“Heero, I thought Fraix was going to get Hilde?” Relena inquired, eyes looking past Heero to the dark haired shape shifter who meet her gaze evenly then flushed when Duo said something and laughed. She smiled at Wu Fei who looked away, lips pressed in a thin line.

“Too risky.”

Relena nodded distractedly, Heero picking up on where she was looking and noticing how she didn't badger him like she usually did when he gave her two word answers.

“Relena?”

“My lady?”

Relena heard them both at the same time, the latter stealing all her attention and saving her from being confronted by Heero for her lingering stare at the shape shifter. “Hilde!” Relena pushed past Heero who barely moved from the shove and pulled her friend into a tight hug. “Don't call me that when we're amongst family. I'm Relena, your friend, first and foremost.” Relena said with tears in her eyes.

Hilde smiled and hugged her back, “Gotcha Rel.”

Relena chuckled, her curious gaze landing on the robed, still hooded figure who silently watched her. Relena smiled, “Thank you.”

The hooded figure's head swiveled to Quatre who gave them an indulgent nod. She pulled the hood back with a gracious smile curving her lips.

Relena's eyes went wide, “Sophil?”

“Yes, my lady.” Brown eyes smiled at her, “I'm glad you escaped and made it safely to Master Quatre's care. Your hair doesn't look too badly with the bangs. Even now, my lady, it grows back quickly.”

Relena's blush stole over the whole of her face as the memory of stopping herself from falling by inadvertently grabbing hold of Sophil's breast. She nodded stiffly, glancing between Quatre and her acolyte.

Sophil offered her a small bow before she turned to Quatre. She bowed again and kept it there as she spoke, “If you have no further need of me, Master Quatre...”

“Please, Quat, is fine-” Quatre began with smile then shook his head, changing his mind about the ineffective correction that he had said numerous times before, “That is -”

“Quatre,” Relena pulled her eyes away from Sophil, “The proph-” her smile had a sour tinge to it, “Nana's song spoke of four wielders.”

Quatre gave her thoughtful look and then a quick shake of his head, “Sophil can't stay. She has to keep them unaware of Hilde's absence. If she stayed,” Quatre smirked slightly, “too many of her admirers would miss her.”

Sophil shared a shy glance with Hilde before her face colored.

Relena frowned, “But if we want this to work-”

“Don't I count?” Duo hedged, wide violet eyes looking at them all with an air of uncertainty. “You guys said it yourselves, I'm a wielder.” Duo pushed on staunchly ignoring Heero's eyes burning a hole into the side of his head. “I mean, I know I'm not a fully functioning one or can do anything, really, but it doesn't say I have to be, right?”

Quatre nodded, “If you're sure?” At Duo's faint smile, he returned his attention back to Sophil. “That will be all. Thank you and take care on your return.”

Sophil ducked her head, smiling brightly at Quatre as she pulled her hood back up and dropped from sight into the ground.

Duo whistled, “Quat, you didn't tell you had a harem?”

“Duo.” Quatre chided approaching the grinning braid man.

“What?” Violet eyes lit up as they gave everyone in their party a critical once over. “Oh, ho ho! He's here isn't he?” Duo's smile nearly split his face at Quatre's pinkening cheeks.

Wu Fei arched a brow, nose twitching slightly, “Why are you saying `he'?” He eyed the short haired woman with purplish hair that had an arm still looped around Relena.

“`Cuz, he is Wuffers!” Mischievous violets peered around, considering the only two options - Tamien and Ethan. Quatre smacked him on the thigh, pulled his hood over his head to shield him from Wu Fei's inquiring eyes and climbed atop the only free Gua in their group.

Pib. Duo was surprised he remembered the brash man's name. He knew the type. Pib would sooner spit on him then help him. He knew he was no longer with them.

“Did you know?” Duo heard Relena ask Hilde in a hushed whisper that wasn't much of one as they walked past them arm in arm.

Hilde shook her head. “Da sent me a cryptic note. I never noticed anything about her before. Can she really be-”

“Yes.” Relena smiled, stopping Hilde from bringing up the matter of trust, “We are amongst family.” Her smile grew broader, “You want to ride with me?”

“Mount up!” Heero called tersely, cutting Hilde's reply to a smirking nod. Heero glared hard at Relena for her reckless behavior before mounting Krídlo.

Relena stuck her tongue out at him.

Duo snickered and Heero arched a brow in question at them both as Krídlo twirled about with him on her back. A practiced move the other Gua mimicked to ensure their harnesses were secure.

“Let's be off!” Fraix agreed, squeezing his daughter in a brief one arm hug as he passed that lifted her feet off the ground.

The Gua got them half way up the mountain when they began to falter. It was getting too cold for them to continue but they would push on if they were asked too. Heero and Tamien left their mounts and sent them over to huddle for warmth with the other Gua, walking off without a word to the rest of their party.

“Where are they going?” Duo asked the effects of the chilled air evident in quiver of his voice.

Wu Fei pulled Duo's hood over his head, pulling down on it as he hopped down, not answering. Wu Fei searched inside one of the harness totes then handed him a warm thick piece of fur laden cloth. “Hide. Rub the Dragon with it to help keep her warm.”

Duo smirked and started doing just that.

“They be looking for shelter for the Gua since they can't continue pass here.” Fraix told him, rubbing his daughter's shoulders, lending her extra warmth even though she wore a robe similar to theirs.

Duo realized then that Wu Fei had no robe. He turned to chastise the shape shifter on his remark about him trying to get sick when he saw him shift. It was a fast change, one he barely saw happening before Wu Fei the desert cat stood on all fours in front of him. Wu Fei eyed him with gold speckled eyes before he stalked away, nose low to the ground, agile feet silent in his movement as he climbed a shelf of rock without displacing any loose stones and disappeared around a bend. Duo rubbed Newt with the hide.

He let himself be distracted by all around him but his body brought him back to the here and now with a shot of pain from his hand. It was burning from the heat created by the friction of furred hide against Newt's skin. He examined his redden palm when he switched hands, rubbing slowly with the other and wondering about the strange quiver along his arm. It was a kind of urge to do something, so he focused on it staring at the palm of his hand. His hand still burned, so his focus was geared more toward finding a way to ease it so he pulled.

It was easy.

The quiver in his arm gave way to a pooling sensation in the palm of his hand. The burn eased, becoming cooler and slowly a bead of water formed in his palm. It was no bigger than a sweet pea but it sent an icy mist across his palm. He cupped his palm shifting it, everywhere the bead touched the redness and the residual heat went away. Duo gasped and it evaporated back into the air he pulled it from.

Duo rubbed Newt absently along her ear before stepping away from her, still staring at the palm of his healed hand. A dull murmur, like the one that had him half sleep walking because he had thought Quatre had been calling him drew him now to an outcropping of rocks. They went up the side of a snowy ridge with a thin mass of clouds curling about the highest peak five feet above his head. There was no free standing water he would likely drown in so he didn't resist the wordless call and started climbing up the slippery ice covered ridge. Duo reached the top, his balance precarious at best with his feet slipping as he reached up toward the white fluff and was zapped. He gasped, his feet slipping from beneath him and sending him tumbling three feet before his back hit the rocking outcropping from the start of his climb then slid down the windy, rocky face the rest of the way.

The hand he had touched the cloud with, the same one he had somehow healed shook uncontrollably in his lap. Duo jerked at the sharp jab to his shoulder and squinted at the rock that rolled off it as another joined it. Duo heard more coming and covered his head with his arms. His teeth chattered as fluffy snow plopped onto his face and arms. Some of it immediately became slush, sending cold streaks of water down his neck and back.

“Duo!” He looked up and saw Hilde run-stomping her way over to him. It actually looked pretty funny. “What are you doing?!”

Duo blinked up, snow stinging his eye before sliding off his face. He felt a little crispy and cold at the same time but he managed to give her a puzzled smirk.

She pursed her lips at him arching a brow, not accepting his non-verbal response. “I swear! You are almost like having a little brother but worse! Always getting into something when no one's watching you and,” she pointed at the rising peak, “by the One! What possessed you to climb that?!”

Duo shrugged his shoulder, inadvertently freeing it if snow and smiled, holding back a snicker. He used the rocky wall to stand up, “Trying to eat a cloud, I think? You know you sound like someone's mom saying that.” He said giving her a wide eyed, innocent look.

Hilde's eye brows furrowed, foot tapping but she stopped it as she thought more about Duo's comment.

Duo's smiled remained as he tried to shake feeling back into his hand. “It's damned cold up there. I always wanted to try to catch one when I was a kid.” Duo looked surprised at himself and then wistful as the memory came to him fully, “Even though it was so far away it always seemed that you could just reach up and grab one. And somehow,” Duo smiled looking up the mountain at the clouds that clung to its highest peaks, “l got it in my head that you could eat them. There were so many, I was sure we could all eat them and never be hungry or thirsty again.”

Hilde snorted, turning away from him and sending an incredulous but softer look over her shoulder. “Yea, real tasty huh?”

Duo turned his back to her and sighed rubbing his hand and wondering if coming along had been a bad decision on his part. They had places, things he could do in the undercity that could keep his mind off the underground stream and away from Heero. Yet being here, the place he'd been prompted to go to for so long, felt right.

“Hey, cloud eater!” Duo turned at Hilde's call and barely caught the chunk of bread she threw to him.

I bet she was aiming for my head. He held it awkwardly in his numb hand and gave her a questioning smirk.

Hilde gave him a cocky smile as she pulled her short hair back into a stunted pony tail even though more than half of it escaped to cup both sides of her face. She rummaged through her pack, then closed it pulling it over one shoulder when she spoke again, “I bet that'll be much tastier.”

Hilde stayed at his side until Heero and Tamien returned. They had the Gua go back to the warm surface and moved on by foot. Quatre dragged behind the group suddenly and Duo dropped back to meet him, immediately picking up on the blonde man's wrinkled brow.

“Quat, what is it?”

Aquamarine eyes looked to him. Even though they walked through the shadows the pupils remained unchanging tiny black dots in the sea of his eyes.

“You can't see!” Duo gasped out in a quiet whisper, “By the one, Quat, let me-”

Quatre shook his head, waving Duo away while he tried to walk normally on the uneven, rocky ground he couldn't see. “I said it before, I knew it would happen eventually.”

Duo bit his lip, fisting his hands at his sides to stop from reaching out and helping the stubborn blonde wielder. Duo heard Quatre mutter under his breath just as he tripped then floated back upright. From there on Duo watched Quatre work on letting the wind guide his steps.

“You intended for me to be a part of this all along.” It was blame free. Duo brought his hands up in a stretch then crossed his arms behind his head, forcing his eyes to focus on the robed back several feet in front of them.

Quatre's eyes rolled to regard Duo's glowing form and offered a slight smile when he matched Duo's calm tone with that of his emotions. The blonde wielder pushed down the bit of guilty that flared up at automatically checking if it had been a veiled lie. He shook his head slightly in self chastisement, he trusted Duo more than he would normally trust any outsider and he hadn't lied to him once. His smile firmed, becoming more real and less guarded. “Why else do you think I would have asked you?”

Duo rolled his head back bit and looked at the sky, “Oh, I dunno because I make everything interesting and you'd be bored out of your gourd without me! Oh, and you knew I was pissed at Heero and you wanted to see me lay into him.”

Quatre smirked, “That too.”

Duo shook his head and eyed his scheming friend, “You good?”

At Quatre's nod, it didn't take long for them to catch up to the others. They came to a stop where the clouds were thickest and wrapped around the mountains' snowy peaks thirty feet above their heads. They started to pass what, on first glance, looked like a narrow fissure in the side of one peak just large enough for someone to squat down and walk through. Wu Fei went in to investigate, his sleek feline form easily ducking inside. Quatre, a little behind the others, surveyed the area and listened to whispered description of the wind gliding over rugged slopping side of the mountain. His brow furrowed when half the whispers disappeared as they flowed across the fissure. He started toward it when Wu Fei reemerged, the shape shifter's annoyance hitting him first and foremost. Wu Fei walked back out shaking his furry head and pawing at thick webbing across one side of his face and covering one ear.

Mischief alighted violet eyes, Duo squatted by the shape shifter with his forearms resting over his knees, “What is it boy?” Duo scratched lightly behind one web free ear, “Something in that little cave spooked ya boy?”

Wu Fei's growl rumbled out through a half purr, paw slowly working away at the web as he attempted to ignore the braided wielder.

“S'ok boy, you did good!” Duo snickered, rolling away from a claw extended paw as he swiped the rest of the thick web from Wu Fei's ear. “Sheesh! No more catnip for you!” Duo grinned, shaking the webbing free from his hand.

Quatre shook his head, directing them onward along the sloping side. Fraix took up the lead surprised to find footholds beyond the fissure in a sort of path that still looked like a melding of man and nature.

“This be the workings of an Earth wielder.” Fraix said clapping Ethan on the back. They followed bearded man's direction up the steep incline with Duo quietly griping to himself. Hilde had given him a narrowed eyed glance warning him not to start up again but he couldn't help it. He'd fallen on his ass three out of four times and almost took Quatre down with him on the last.

“Shit!” Duo glanced up and couldn't help his cocky grin as Hilde scrambled back up to her feet. Hilde glared over her shoulder at him and smiled bigger for her.

“See, Quat, just deserts…” he trailed off, turning to find his blonde companion missing from his side. He looked around for a moment and confused, Quatre just leave him to catch up with the others. He looked back and found the blonde wielder standing a good distance behind them.

“Quat?” Duo called and immediately went back to the blonde wielder's side when he got no response. As he approached, he saw that Quatre was staring and standing in front of the fissure they'd just left. But from the pained look on his face, Duo wondered if Quatre was pushing himself too much. He stood in front of the blonde wielder and grabbed his shoulders, “Quatre?”

Quatre drew in a breath as if he hadn't been breathing. “It just disappears here... hear that…”

Duo frowned, the black dots were gone from Quatre's eyes. A snort to his right, had him glancing back to the others, Wu Fei on all paws whipped around Duo to Quatre, nudging at Quatre's legs in effort to get him to move.

“You had a similar expression,” Duo stopped himself from glaring and arched brows in question at the woman he still couldn't believe was the One.

"What do you mean?"

Relena approached with a shrug of her shoulders and Hilde hot on her heels, “When I found you keeping my brother company, it was like you were preoccupied with something.”

She started was a few feet from the fissure when Quatre grabbed his arm hard and gasped out, “Don't you feel it?”

“Feel what?”

Duo noticed Wu Fei making a grumbling sound but at as if he couldn't move forward. Duo frowned, noticing Wu Fei was a foot away from them and he coughed at the smell of decay drifting on the air. Duo's hand covered his face when a gust of rancid heavy air blew past with enough force throw him back if not for Quatre's grip on his arm. “Wu Fei!”

Wu Fei let out a yowling growl, body pressed as close to the mountain as he could manage but it wasn't enough. Duo saw Wu Fei's paw give under the strain, leaving red streaked furrows and gouges on stone and rock as the shape shifter tried to hold his position. Duo watched helplessly as Wu Fei was pushed back, rolling into to Relena, catching her off guard. Hilde lunged to catch her as Relena fell backwards, away from mountain side and toward open air.

Duo started to move but Quatre's hand stayed him. He looked into Quatre's eyes and found a swirl of color. The ring of greenish blue that separated his pupil from his eye had half faded, color bleeding into the white of one eye.

“We must go to Abbadon.”

“Abba-what? Quatre?!” Duo whipped his head around to catch glimpses of Hilde pulling Relena to safety and Wu Fei shifting back to his human form but still sprawled out on the rocky surface. He glimpsed Heero's shocked and angry face before Quatre pulled him through with him into the fissure.

Duo was blinded by darkness. He couldn't even see Quatre as the blonde wielder pulled him along to stumble after him.

“Quatre, what is it-ah! Is-fuckin' ow! Shit!” Duo limped onward after knocking his shin against a large boulder he couldn't see. He looked back and saw shadows moving against the crack of light they had passed through. He limped easier, the path smoother under his feet and he saw that they were quickly approaching a shaft of light.

“Quat, buddy, you can't keep not telling me things here. This place already weirds me out more than you could possibly know right now.” Duo sighed, squinting as a silent Quatre pulled him into the light. “I need you to talk to me... here.” Duo looked on in astonishment, a mountain village with paths snaking up to enclaves full of recessed dwellings and wooden doors.

There were several lines of laundry crisscrossing along one windswept wall. Duo tracked what looked to be a tunic, he was too far away to tell, as a gust of air tore it from the line and he followed it up into the air until an icy sting made him close his eyes. Duo opened them again, his eyes going wide, as children ran past them.

To their far right villagers tended the field. A couple of young men, free from any task it seemed other than playing, wrestled in the mud but quickly broke it up when an older woman came after them with a stick. All the while, snow fell lightly but the village was so warm that it melted once it touched the ground.

“Mhmm... Duo, where are we?” Quatre was holding his head, rubbing at his temple with a frown furrowing his brow.

“I don't know...” Duo turned to the blonde wielder who looked up and stared on, surprise widening his eyes. “If can see them, I really don't know. You brought us here.”

Quatre turned quizzical eyes to Duo. “What?”

Duo nodded and then jerked away from Quatre when a girl came running toward them, almost like she intended to push them down. Then she was gone.

Duo looked behind him looking for the girl and found a tattered shoe amongst the rocks and dirt. He bent down, picking it up and fingering the little strap's button closure. The button dangled from the rotten thread, his finger adding to much weight that the thread gave and the button dropped down onto a small pile of white sticks, dusted in gray earth. He looked at it curiously, picking up and blowing away dirt to reveal its rounded edge. A side of Duo's mouth quirked up, his eyes sweeping the ground, “Hey Quat, this sort of looks like…” Duo missed Quatre's indrawn breath, violet eyes followed the along two long white bones, one crushed, both peaking out through tattered cloth and stone. Duo stepped back, the small bone and shoe falling from nerveless fingers, “Quat-”

“Duo, I can't feel any of them. It's like they're not here. None of them are.”

Duo met Quatre's eyes, the little black dots were back but they shimmered after one slow blink. “Quatre, I - your ears are bleeding!”

Quatre blinked at him once before dropping into a rocking ball, his hands flying to his bloody ears as he screamed.

Duo crouched down next to him and tried pulling his hands away from his head, “What's wrong? What's happening!?”

No way out...

Duo whipped around at the whisper in his ear, still rubbing Quatre's back. He stayed like that, chin over shoulder, his blue violet eyes losing focus and becoming an inky blue. They moved in his shocks without his notice and he felt as if he was searching for something. Tracking the movement and seeing the once happy people of this city start screaming and flee. He felt the ground shake and knew the presences flickering in this place were mute. They were useless to them. They needed more than echoes of what once was. Then there was just him again and a hand on his shoulder pulling him to his feet and shaking him. Duo couldn't hear the person in front of him nor could he really see them. They were like a blob of something in his line of sight that was fast becoming a nuisance.

There was no escape.

A prickling sensation in his eyes caught his attention before two steady streams ran down his face. He understood what happened to the people here. In the next moment the indistinct blob of a person became Heero and he watched him with a detached sense of not really being there. He could feel Heero's hand on his face, his arm around him as he held him silently. Duo saw Quatre shaking against Tamien who was checking his ears with a murderous glint to his green eyes. Then Duo's eyes lingered on the pale Relena, shoulder to shoulder with Wu Fei and the shaken Hilde leaning heavily on her father.

Fraix had one thick arm across the front of Hilde's shoulders and covered her wide eyes with one hand, “Me girl. Me never meant for ye t'be seeing the likes of this.” Fraix kissed the top of Hilde's head then ran his scruffy cheek across it. She turned into him, burying her face in his beard and shoulder with an anguished sob.

There at the edge of the hole, for that's what it was - made by some sort of explosive force, stood Ethan looking scared and lost. Duo wanted to call to his former friend but he didn't know how it would be received. He noticed a wide, dark streak behind Ethan's head. It was darker than dirt with a rust, reddish tinge. He followed it, finding other streaks that branched off and rejoined the main trail that led to another enclave. Duo's eye brows furrowed as he squinted at the white gleam along the enclave's high ledge and he thought it to be snow. The more he looked at the enclave on the face of the mountain peak they'd walked through, he saw that the tops were jagged, irregular.

Bones… A carrion bird flew down watching them with eager eyes while another came and started picking through the bones. Duo watched it fly downward; there were bodies staked to the face of the mountain peak.

“Duo.”

Some of them still had hair and skin that was blacken and peeling. One looked fresher than the others. It was shriveled with the head gone and a long rope of entrails hanging free from the open cavity of its stomach. The carrion bird pecked at it, flapping its wings to stay balanced while it acquired its meal. Pellets of ice struck the bird and sent it off with an alarmed squawk.

“Duo!” Heero shook him again, holding his face with both hands and blocking out the sight of the bodies with his face. Duo's strangely dark eyes met Heero's with their back lit glow and took note of a small red welt on his temple.

“Don't.” Duo heard his quiet whisper and then felt Heero's thumbs running under his eyes then across his cheeks. “Don't leave me, focus.”

Heero pressed his forehead to Duo's for a long moment and then he was trembling. Everything came into a sharper focus and he couldn't breathe right. He could hear himself gasping for it, panting but air wasn't filling his lungs fast enough. His heart thrummed wildly in his chest and Duo felt the urge to get away. He tried to, but Heero wouldn't let him go.

“It's ok. Just breathe.” Heero exhaled against Duo's mouth and then inhaled with their noses touching. “Copy me.”

Duo tried, his eyes locked with those cerulean depths until they were breathing in time with each other.

“When need to get moving.” Heero said calmly to the others, holding onto Duo.

Relena swayed on her feet but Wu Fei was there surprising her with the gentle pressure holding her elbow and side. She nodded to him and he released her arm, “This is nothing I haven't experienced before. I am used to this feeling. The imbalance…” she said with an airy quality to her voice as if she'd just realized something, “…they are not.”

“Where do we go from here?” Ethan spoke up standing at Fraix's side, a frown marring his face. “This Quatre doesn't seem like he can guide us any longer.”

Wu Fei growled at the impertinent man and Ethan had a trembling hand on his sword hilt.

Relena shook her head and Ethan removed his hand stepping back. Blue cornflower eyes with pupils the size to needle points roved about the ruined village. The dwellings that remained were charred looking and the land was blackened, cracked on the surface with a thin layer of grayish dust filmed snow covering everything. The farmland was littered by rocky protrusions, mounds of earth and hollowed dark pockets. She walked away from Wu Fei's side and into the center of a wide path that seemed to be the main road of the village. Relena dropped down to her knees, raised her elbow up to shoulder level and punched the hard, icy ground.

She ripped the skin on her knuckles but remained leaning over that arm as the ground the shook.

Quatre, surprising Tamien, pushed away from him and was by Relena's side before he caught up with him.

Relena met pupil-less aquamarine eyes that were pale comparisons of their former selves.

“You understand.”

Relena started, the semi trance she had lapsed in while staring at him broken by the doubled sound of his voice.

“But... you cannot see.” Quatre said absently, a frown marring his pale face as his eyes flitted about the area. He watched residual presences flicker out and then his eyes met Duo's for a long moment before they rolled back to Relena.

Relena rose, holding her partially fisted bloody hand in her left one. “Quatre-”

“You are not.” He broke in and gave her a vacant smile, his head nodding slightly as if he was agreeing with someone. “We thank you for release.”

Relena nodded, shocky blue cornflower eyes focused on Quatre then shook her head, pulling herself together enough to make her mouth work. “Who did this to you? To your clan?”

Quatre stared at her unblinkingly then his eyes slipped shut. Relena gasped, reaching out to catch him. She and Tamien kneeled beside the fallen blonde wielder, both at a loss to what had just occurred. Tamien turned Quatre's head toward him, his hand steady under Quatre's nose.

“Is this what usually happens?” Tamien asked in quiet monotone.

Relena shook her head, and then spoke when she recognized the tension in the way the 'silent man was detached from his own actions. It was a tone Heero usually used when he was hurt or trying to hide what he was feeling. “No. I've never had another wielder with me or around when my runs happened. This was, by far, the most unusual situation I've encountered.” She smiled as Tamien tucked Quatre's head against his shoulder, then stood with him in his arms before she continued, “This place was stagnant. They've been gone a long time but they were still here; trapped really. Quatre is-”

“He's asleep.”

“Were?” Relena started, too focused on Quatre to notice when Wu Fei had come to stand by them. Relena caught Wu Fei's hand twitching at his side, his eyes flitting between her and Quatre, then to their surroundings. “You said, `they were still here.' What could hold them here?”

“Ghosts?”

Relena smiled her thanks to Ethan as he helped her to her feet, but not missing the tremor in his voice and the fear in his eyes. She patted his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze for reassurance. “I don't know. The clan that was here was slaughtered and our people are still being murdered…” She squeezed her eyes shut when they started to wonder up the dry rust colored stains on the mountain's face. She swallowed, “…here. Other than that I don't know. I dispersed them. If wielders had come here alone before or were forced too... with no one to balance and ground them or help them cope however Abbadon affected them, they would've been overwhelmed.”

“And Jirrad would have had to kill them because he couldn't control them. Explains why so many failed before. Did you see them? How do you know the name of this place?” Heero asked, approaching them with Duo barely conscious and dragging his feet beside him.

Relena turned away to avoid any involuntarily glimpses of the fairly fresh corpses pinioned to the mountain's face. “No. Quatre said it to Duo before he brought him here. I can't believe I felt none of it - them until we got in here….” Relena trailed off, her pale face looked thoughtful and disappointed.

“What is it?” Heero whispered as he picked up an unresisting Duo.

She could tell that Duo's stillness was starting to get to Heero. She brushed her bangs back from her forehead and let Ethan support more of her weight, “Unluckily for us, this is the place we are seeking. We'll take this road and hope we find a more hospitable dwelling to recover in before we take our next step.”

Tbc…