Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Willing Slave II -- Corazon ❯ Chapter 4

Part 4

For an instant, the queen seemed to hover in the air. Sogran's sword reflected the moonlight. Barton lunged forward, trying to hurl a spell at her in place of his commander's sword, and as his focus faltered, his black shield flickered.

"Yeeeha!"

A flying carpet streaked down the street, flying scant inches above the ground. Soldiers either scrambled out of its way or found themselves tossed through the air as the carpet plowed through them. Duo, still hanging onto the backend, felt his boots dragging in the dirt and shook his face clear of the long carpet tassels.

"Higher, Noin!" he screamed against the wind, spitting out threads.

"It won't," she called back. She jerked back on the front edge but the carpet barreled through street regardless.

In her window, Dorothy heard the yells in the street and looked down. When she saw her carpet she grinned, took a deep breath. "Carpet, under Relena!"

The carpet lurched up, rolling Noin over Quatre and Duo and dumping her in the sand. Quatre landed on top of her, but before he could let go Duo found himself several feet in the air. Relena landed safely but her sudden weight pitched the carpet forward and snapped Duo into the air towards the black shield.

At the same time, Heero flared his Wing sword as strong as its spell could hold and slashed across the black shield, tearing open a gash wide enough to fit a horse. Trowa aimed his heavy arms at the shield and fired several bolts. The gash grew, but still not enough to let in their army.

Legs and arms flailing, Duo fell right through the hole as it flickered shut again, taking the tip of his braid with it. He landed in front of Heero and lay still for a moment. His master knelt and called to him from the other side.

"Are you all right?" Heero asked. "Get up, Barton's men'll kill you!"

"Uh...yeah..." Duo pushed himself to his feet and shook his head clear. "Oww."

"Wait," Trowa said, still firing bolts. "Duo, do you think you could find Wufei?"

Heero glared at his brother. "We can't let him roam around in there. It's too dangerous for a slave--"

"He's the safest one inside," Trowa said. "Duo, you have to find Wufei. Get rid of this shield."

"No problem." Duo spun his staff in one hand. "Don't worry, Heero. They won't lay a finger on me."

Before Heero could say anything, his slave disappeared inside Barton's compound.

"Dammit," Heero growled at his brother as he continued to slash at the shield, keeping the hole open. "If he kills anyone here--"

"I cannot change the laws on a whim," Trowa said. "A slave who kills anyone must be executed."

"Damn you!"

"But if he is no longer a slave..." Trowa let his voice trail.

"No longer..." Heero's eyes opened wide. "But..."

"Free him," he whispered. "He doesn't have to be a slave. Free him."

Heero closed his eyes. He didn't want to, but to save his life... "I--release Duo."

"Not so hard, was it?" He gave him a half-smile.

A life without Duo...Heero shook his head and forced that thought out of his mind. Duo would come back. He would. He would. "Harder than you'll ever imagine."

Trowa glanced at Quatre as the slave pushed his way closer. "I know."

*

"Dammit," Barton hissed. He turned to his soldiers and began yelling orders. "Sogran, get your men out there. Send out my serpent units. Make sure you kill Relena and Trowa and for God's sake you better kill the bitch's bodyguard this time!"

As his men disappeared into the fortress, Mariemaia tugged his shirt. "But grandfather, the plan--"

"The plan's gone to hell," he said. "But we'll still win."

Below him, the two kings hacked with glowing swords at his shield, soon joined by another soldier with glowing kamis. The shield wavered, weakening where they struck, and Barton might have thought it due to their strength if he hadn't noticed how the shield strengthened on the other, unassaulted, side of the citadel.

"The little brat's still fighting," he said and looked at Mariemaia. "Stay put. The last thing I need to worry about is making another one of you."

As he spoke, green humanoids, much like Dermail's dolls but covered in scaly hides and moving on tails, slithered out of the balcony doors behind them. They leaped off of the balcony, passing through the shield without injury. The first wave slammed Corazon's troops backwards and the second wave landed behind the army, cutting off any retreat.

"Shield's up!" Rashid's voice carried over the streets and the shouting.

Just as his men complied, the serpents leaned forward and spewed liquid flames over them, screeching and hissing as they sprayed. A few soldiers screamed as it hit their faces or destroyed their legs, but most of the front lines held. They needed no order to draw their swords and attack, slashing at the serpents' pale underbellies when their blades merely bounced off the green hides.

"Heero!" Trowa yelled. "Keep attacking the shield!"

Heero barely glanced aside as his brother turned and guarded his back. Beside him, Quatre also turned and helped his master.

Barton ignored the battle and ran back inside, running as fast as he could towards Wufei.

*

For a moment Relena lay in darkness, stunned and cold. First she was falling, then she was flying, and now she wondered if she was dead and simply didn't know it yet. Her hand moved a few inches and she felt the pile of a carpet beneath her. She breathed in. The carpet smelled familiar...

Hair wisped by her face and she opened her eyes, seeing gold whip around an ashen face, and then someone grabbed her arms and sat her upright.

"Miss Relena, say something dammit!"

Relena blinked and stared at her bodyguard. "Dorothy?"

"Oh, thank God," she said, laughing as she clutched Relena close. "I was afraid you were dead, or they were hurting you, or you'd die right in front of me or...oh thank God thank God..."

"It's okay, Dorothy," Relena said. "It's okay."

Her bodyguard held her out at arm's length again, stared at her for a moment, then reached her hand back and slapped her.

"Ow!" Relena's jaw dropped as she put her hand to her cheek. "What the--"

"Don't you ever question my orders again," Dorothy said, shaking her back and forth. "I told you to hide, and what do you do? You try to talk them out of kidnapping you! How could you be so stupid! No one puts their sword down just 'cause you asked them to. I've been worried sick and you nearly died." She hugged her again, rocking back and forth. "I was so afraid you were hurt."

Relena hugged her back with one arm, her free hand rubbing her sore cheek. "No, no...I'm okay."

"Good." Dorothy held her out again and kissed her, then dropped her on the floor. "Now stay put. I've gotta keep you safe."

"Ow..." Relena rolled onto her back and groaned. "Safe? Dear God, with a bodyguard like her..."

*

Firelight cast the only glow in the citadel's halls, and as the rest of Barton's serpent troops slithered by, their scales reflected the blue flames and sent scattered triangles of blue light on the wall. Their hisses echoed behind them for several seconds. Once the hall fell silent again, Duo slipped out from one of the darker shadows and ran deeper into the halls. Wufei's energy hummed around him, but he couldn't tell what route would steer him right.

Where the hell am I going? he thought, turning right down another hall. Wufei could be anywhere. And Heero an' Trowa an' Quatre an' Relena...Treize and Zechs...if I don't get these shields down... He remembered the sandy Lagrange streets turned to red mud, severed body parts and the smell of decaying flesh that lingered for weeks. All those soldiers...

The hall split into three and he turned left without looking into the other halls. Then that hall split again. And again. Turned around and came to a round room with six doors leading out. He didn't stop running but let fate take him down one on his left. That one turned and forked, and he went left.

Blue flames passed by him, a patch of light, then darkness, then light, then darkness, then light...he felt sick and dizzy and when he came to the same round room with six doors, or a room very much like it, he screamed and turned around around around, not knowing where he'd come out of.

"Dammit!" He looked down each hall, but they all looked the same. "These doors might as well be locked for all the good they're doing."

Now that he was alone, he didn't have to worry about his gundam's glow attracting attention. He whipped Deathscythe around, igniting the end, and sliced at the wall. His blade bounced back so hard his bones rattled. He tried again and again, but after a few minutes decided that Barton had shielded his citadel specifically to annoy Duo. The magicks cancelled each other out.

Instead he slammed his fists against the wall, willing a door to appear, the one hall that could take him to Wufei. The mortar between bricks crumbled around his fingers. Several bricks fell backwards and he looked through the hole he'd made. He grinned.

"Doors are useless," he whispered. "Let's make some windows!"

He spread his hands out, and the walls collapsed around him. Torches plopped to the ground and flickered out. He pushed forward, creating his own hallway. As the dust and rubble settled, he spotted Barton for a second, running into his view then right back out.

"Yes!" Duo ran ahead, walls blasting apart before him as he followed.

*

Serpents and soldiers lay on top of each other, bodies slowly eaten by puddles of the serpents' liquid fire, and more fell on top of those. Quatre felt each human that dropped down, each surge of adrenalin and fear before the final cold sense of desperation, when each soldier saw the fire or steel that would kill him and they looked for anything that would make it easier, grasped any remembered thread of childhood prayers against the darkness, again and again and again.

He'd felt it before in his cell, in little bits and rushes, when his sister killed traitors and assassins in the palace. The war that gave him Trowa also gave him his first taste of slaughter, when he could look outside the window and put faces to the feelings sinking into him. The battle in Lagrange put him closer, but thoughts of Trowa's death, the deaths of any of his friends, pushed the emotions and little tragedies of the soldiers around him out of his heart, and he'd fought with blinders, focused on safeguarding his king, who'd become so close that he couldn't find a word to describe how they meshed.

And now, swamped by the cold fits of fear and burning anger of the men around him, Quatre leaned into his work, slicing through soft underbellies and thick hides alike. That they were snakes made it easier, but he'd stopped seeing them as such minutes ago. They were living things trying to hurt the people he loved. They were living things killing other living things. Splattering their blood on the street, on his clothes and veil, on his knives, made it easier.

*

"I think it's getting thinner," Heero yelled.

Trowa turned his head towards him as he fired into the serpents. "I can't hear you!"

"The shield! Thinner!" Heero stopped when his brother shook his head. He could see the shield turning gray where he struck it, becoming darker everywhere else. But the attacked part should be strengthened, unless you were trying to sabotage yourself.

He smiled.

"Wufei."

And he swung harder.

*

Another tremor made the walls shake. Barton paused and looked around himself, then expanded a black sphere around himself. Bricks as large as his head rained down on him, pelting his bubble and rolling off where they shattered on the floor, and he stretched his bubble out until it buffered his hallway. It expanded out and out until he couldn't see the edges anymore, a second coat of magick on his walls.

The tremors still shook the walls but the hits were muted. Barton smiled and turned back on his way.

The wall behind him exploded out, showering him with debris. He didn't stop to look back.

"I see you," Duo said with a grin. "And I can guess where you're going." He sped after Barton, not noticing that his feet no longer touched the ground.

This time the halls didn't feel alien and the rhythm of the passing lights now set his path off for him. At the end of his path lay a room glowing gold, and Barton disappeared inside. Duo floated closer and saw Barton raise his hand, a black ball forming in his hand. In front of his enemy, Wufei knelt in a pile of gold coins, eyes completely black, mouth open in a mute scream, his magick burning hot enough to singe the iron around him. Electric sparks coursed over his body.

"I know what you're doing," Barton said, stepping towards the sorcerer. "Weakening the spell for them."

He doesn't know I'm behind him, Duo thought. He looked at his friend, his body pulled so tight that Duo could see the striations of his muscles under his skin. The amount of magick in the air made his own skin tingle. Oh God...Wufei...

"And if you won't serve me..." Barton brought his hand back, ready to fling his spell at Wufei.

A brick burst out of the wall and slammed into Barton's bubble. It didn't reach his head, but he staggered forward and his spell hit the floor, blowing through to the floor beneath them. As he turned, Barton managed to deflect another brick, making it explode inches from himself. He stared at Duo, who floated several inches off the ground.

"The king's slave?" Barton whispered. He smiled and tilted his head, letting the shadows fall across his face. "Did Heero send you in here to reclaim your sorcerer?"

"That's the job. But finding you..." Duo raised his hands, and the mass of bricks and mortar around him rose into the air. "This is pleasure."

"And did he tell you what happens to slaves who kill?"

Duo held his missiles back. "What?"

"Corazon law. Slaves who kill must be executed, no matter what."

"Even if I kill a treasonous little snake like you?" Duo smirked.

"No matter what. Death by fire."

Duo's smirk faded as Barton's grin grew.

"He didn't tell you, did he? Your ass must not be that great, but then, what king would want a piece of ass that could kill him?" He created his spell again and aimed at Wufei. "Your choice, little slave. I could use you. Kill me and die, or serve me."

Duo's hands fell, and the bricks around him also lowered back to the ground. His head lowered. His feet touched the floor again, inches away from the blue torches. The flames made his feet disappear into the shadows cast by the holes and stones he'd torn across the floor. Flames surrounded him.

A chunk of stone as large as Duo's hand hurled itself across the room, pierced Barton's shield and hit his arm. A crack sounded through the air as his arm broke and the spell hit the wall, exploding it outwards so they could see the first oranges and reds of the sun on the horizon. It matched the colors on the street.

"You little--" he looked at Duo and he screamed.

The remaining three walls came to pieces and flew towards him, and Barton's voice disappeared in the hum each rock made, so quickly were they thrown. Blood erupted as each one hit, the hum turning to wet crunches as bones shattered. Barton's face turned into mangled flesh and bone, red skin and muscles spotted white with pieces of his skull. His chest caved in. His legs bent backwards even though he stumbled to one side, one arm raised in time to snap.

With his enemy propped up against the edge of the outer wall, Duo bent and picked up a small stone, just big enough to fit in his hand. Barton's eyes, clear and unblinking, stared at him.

"I could never serve a devil," Duo said. He pulled his arm back, narrowed his eyes, aimed, and threw. It struck what remained of Barton's jaw, and he fell backwards into the street.

After a deep breath, Duo looked at Wufei. The sparks looked stronger than before, strong enough to maybe burn his hands off if he came too close. Instead he backed against the far wall and pulled.

First the iron walls crumpled away from the sorcerer. Gold and silver coins exploded out and the chains popped. Wufei fell sideways onto the ground.

"Wufei?" Duo ran to him and knelt down. "Wufei, say something."

The sorcerer only groaned, but it was enough to make Duo smile. He turned Wufei on his back and held him up off the ground.

*

Ripples ran through the dark shield, making the citadel waver as if under intense heat. Heero backed away as the shield warped towards him, nearly searing off his hands. The bodies around the shield vaporized, or the closest arms and limbs and heads vaporized, the shield leaving asymmetric bodies as it pulled backwards.

He heard a scream louder than the others and glanced to one side. Treize stood, sword up, facing Barton's officer Sogran, but where Sogran had once held a sword, his right arm and leg were burned down to their joints, the ends still smoldering. The shield warped back, slowly shrinking, and Sogran fell backwards onto the ground.

Instead of running his enemy through, Treize fell to his knees and pulled him into his arms, holding him out of the mud and the poison flowing in streams around them. Heero saw him whisper to the enemy, saw Sogran meet Treize's eyes as his breath slowed, coming in deep gasps before turning shallow and fading altogether. His remaining arm went limp, his head lolled back.

Then Treize let him slip to the ground.

Heero looked back at the shield, now warping back towards him. His jaw clenched. He grasped his Wing in both hands, brought it up, then yelled as he swung down as hard as he could. The Wing glowed bright enough to blind him, and he only felt the shock of the blow travel through his blade up his hands and arms and shoulders, driving him backwards. He landed on his ass, but the glow from his sword now washed over the shield, turning it from solid shadows to shiny gold, lighting the street as bright as day. The pressure in the air around him changed and the shield seemed to hum for a few seconds before shattering into sparkles, letting the day fade back into night.

For a moment, he wondered where all the magick had gone.

*

"...burns..."

Duo looked around the room for whoever had spoken, then looked down. Wufei squirmed in his arms, murmuring and gasping, and Duo struggled to hold him still.

"Wufei, relax, you're out of that now," he said. "You're safe."

"Burns! Nataku!" Wufei tensed more than he had imprisoned in gold and silver, and his skin warmed so much Duo thought he might catch on fire. "Too much, it burns!"

"Too much what?" He looked around. The metals were across the room, the shield was gone, the magick he'd felt before was gone. But gone where? He looked into Wufei's eyes, still black and wide open. The same sparkles he'd seen before leaked around the edges, burning the skin around them. Burns.

"Get rid of it," Duo said. "Get it out of you."

"Too much...for little spells..."

"Then cast a big one, I don't care! Just get rid of it." He pulled Wufei higher up so that his head rested on Duo's shoulder. "Think, there must be a spell big enough for...your magick and...Barton's magick..." And they were hacking on the shield outside, he thought, J's magick. God, how much went into him?

"Can't...not just me," Wufei whispered as his eyes smoldered. "We'd always belong to them."

Duo bit down on his lower lip, tasting blood. He hugged Wufei tighter and closed his eyes. "I'm willing," he whispered. "If you are."

He expected lightning, thunder, fireworks, like with Wufei's other large spells. Instead there was a gust of wind blowing in from the destroyed wall, the sound of a thousand wings beating at once, and then nothing but the sounds of fighting outside. Wufei breathed out and went limp, closing his eyes.

With Wufei in his arms, Duo stepped out of the hole in the wall and floated down to the ground. Before he'd touched down beside Barton's body, Treize stood beside him and whipped off his uniform's jacket. He wrapped it around Wufei and gathered him up as if he still owned him.

"What did they do to him?"

Duo opened his mouth to speak, but Rashid beat him to it.

"Maybe this one can answer," his voice boomed.

In one hand he held Master Lao on his knees. In his other, he held a bloody sword to the man's throat.

"I found him waddling away, but he looks just like your sorcerer...well, fatter anyway."

Treize gently shook his former slave, rousing him enough to open his eyes. He turned Wufei towards their prisoner. "Love, do you know this man?"

"S'Master Lao," he breathed. "Buy me...back to clan..."

"Buy you?" Treize frowned. "From Barton?"

Wufei nodded, his eyes fluttering closed. "He..."

"Shh, it's enough. Go back to sleep." He looked up at Rashid. "He wanted to buy Wufei from Barton."

"An enemy fallen into my hands," Rashid laughed. "He'll make wonderful target practice for the archers. See if he pops." He turned and carried Lao towards his own soldiers, disappearing amongst his own troops.

Only a few serpents remained, and several men surrounded each. The rest of Trowa's men walked around the bodies, picking out those likely to survive. Duo spotted Zechs sitting against a blood-spattered house, his own hair loose and matted, and Noin kneeling beside him, putting his arm in a sling. Quatre was coming towards him, his kamis still dripping, and Heero walked a little behind him.

Death by fire, Duo thought.

Treize turned to his king and nodded his head. "Barton's dead. Rashid has a prisoner you might want to question, if they haven't killed him yet. I need to tend to Wufei, and see to my men."

"Understood." Before his general could leave, Heero put his hand on Treize's arm. "What did you say to Barton's officer before he died?"

"The one the shield killed?" Treize shifted his grip on Wufei. "That no one should die on the ground. No one should die like that."

"He was our enemy."

"He was human." He shook his head and looked into his eyes. "It's not that he died, Heero...if it had been my sword, or someone else's, then it would've been honorable. But like that...but then no one can choose how they die."

Heero looked at the Sogran's corpse, now half gone in acid. "He chose how he lived. It doesn't matter how he died." A wisp of brown to his right caught his attention, and he saw Duo standing a few feet away, chewing on the end of his braid. Heero smiled, but other things, the wounded humans and serpents, required attention first. "Stay here with Shaay. I'll come back for you after we kill the rest of Barton's army. And don't go anywhere." He brushed his knuckles across Duo's cheek. "I have something I need to tell you."

Duo nodded once and watched Heero walk away.

"Duo, you haven't seen Trowa, have you?" Quatre asked.

"Sorry. I've been inside that big building back there." He sighed and stretched up to the sky. "I'm sure he's okay."

"I hope so." He wrung his hands and looked around. "We got separated, and there were so many of those snake things."

"I'm glad I didn't have to fight any of those," Duo said. "Is their blood acid?"

"No, but they could spit acid. And fire. I hope their blood isn't poisonous." Quatre bent and wiped his blades off on Barton's corpse. "Allah, what happened to this poor guy?"

"Don't feel too sorry for him." Duo kicked the body once and smiled when there was no reaction. "You'd know him if I hadn't stoned his face in."

"What?" Quatre looked over the mangled face, but couldn't recognize anything through the mess of broken skin and bone. He looked over the strips of his outfit and made out a swirled B on the front. "Lord Barton?"

"Yup."

"You attacked nobility?" Quatre whispered. "You killed..."

"Yeah. Had to be done. Shalt not suffer a poisoner to live, and all that."

"But..." Quatre shook his head. "Duo, you have to run, get out of here. You don't know the punishment--"

"I know. Death."

"Death by burning, Duo! It's awful. All slaves are executed like that. You have to run."

Duo smiled at his friend. "You weren't so scared of dying for Trowa before."

"That's...that's different."

"I guess."

"You...you could lie..."

"I never lie." He flexed his hands and sat down beside Barton's body. "I made a choice, Sha--Quatre. I made a choice. Serve Heero and die, or serve Barton and live."

Quatre knelt and put his hands on Duo's shoulders. "A choice?"

Around them, people began to inch out of their doors and look over the damage. While the women remained inside, the men came out and helped the living pull dead soldiers away from the disintegrating bodies of serpents.

"Yeah..." Duo looked up, noticing at last the sky brightening, covered with clouds but still turning light. "Better to burn for an hour."

"Better? Better than what?"

"Than all eternity."

*

Heero was wiping his sword off when he spotted his brother walking past the dead, taking slow deliberate steps. His Heavy-Arms crossbow hung at his side, the knife still extended and covered in blood. Heero caught up and placed his hand on Trowa's shoulder. "You all right?"

"I can't count them all," Trowa whispered. "They blur together. Some of them are missing so many parts I can't tell how many there are. And then that shield burned others up...I can't count them all."

"Trowa. You don't count them now. Wait until the serpents are burned away and then let your men do the sorting." He tugged his sibling away from the bodies and led him back down the street. "Barton's dead. And Quatre's waiting for you."

"Quatre. Yes." He stopped and looked back down the street. "It's different when it's your kingdom."

"Trowa, you've seen battlefields before."

"But never on my ground. On yours, yes, and here when it belonged to Wahea. It feels..." He shook his head. "You said Quatre is fine? We got separated."

"He's waiting with Duo. Come on."

"Duo survived? You said Barton was dead. Duo killed him?"

"Yeah."

"Good thing you freed him."

Heero glanced at his brother. Trowa couldn't stop glancing at the bodies. "And what about Quatre?" he said. "He's killed."

"Only these snake things."

"He killed men in my kingdom."

"In your kingdom," Trowa said, stepping over a headless body. "Where your laws aren't so harsh."

"You rule this land," Heero said. "What happened to 'we control justice itself'? You can change the law--"

"Not if the people don't want it changed!" He glared at his brother and brought his voice back under control. "If the people want it as such--"

"Fuck what the people want," Heero said. "If we followed what everyone wants, we'd all be dead. Justice, ethics, morality, that is what we live by. And keeping your one love a slave...it's not right."

"It's not that simple--"

"Trowa...some things are that simple. Good. Evil. Right. Wrong. Maybe there are shades of gray, but that doesn't change. Darkness and the light, that's all that matters. The rest is a bunch of shadows, and matter about as much."

"Heero..."

"Free him. I know it's frightening, but...free him."

"And if he doesn't want to be freed?"

"Too easy to do what someone else tells you to. It's not right. You have to make choices and then live with the consequences. To settle for anything less isn't, it isn't human." He kicked a snake as he walked past. "Might as well be a doll or a serpent like these."

After a deep breath, Trowa stared at his sibling. "You're trying to take my mind off the fight, aren't you?"

"Is it working?"

"You honestly believe I should--?"

"Yes."

For a moment, Trowa looked at the gore-stained boots. He closed his eyes and nodded. "Where is he?"

*

Once again, Treize found himself glad he didn't have long hair like Zechs. Not only did it get in one's face, but it gave Noin something to tug if her husband wouldn't pay attention.

"Ow!"

"Don't whine," she said, pulling his hair back into a ponytail. "You got it tangled."

"Noin, sweetheart, I'm seriously in pain here."

"I know." She looked over the burn on his right shoulder. "I think it'll scar, too."

"Really?" He smiled and sat straight.

Treize laughed and set Wufei against Zechs' good side. "You and your battle scars. You should be glad your face didn't get burned."

"Yes," Noin said, "then I'd be the prettier one."

"Noin, can you play nurse to both of them?" Treize asked, brushing Wufei's hair back as he steadied him. "I have things I need to do."

"No problem. Be careful in there."

"I will be." He pressed a kiss to Wufei's forehead, then stood up and headed for the citadel.

After several minutes of searching, though, Treize was sure there was no one left inside. Although the building went deep into the ground and there were more than enough places to hide, the air refused to move and the only sound was that of the broken walls threatening to cave in. He reminded himself never to upset Duo.

Every trace of Barton's magick seemed to be gone, even the torches had gone out. The brightening sky outside sent a few rays in now that the windows would allow it, but he still felt more in a cave than in a building. Any sound, any wisp of air that would've meant someone was breathing, didn't come. He was about to turn around when he heard a shuffle and the sound of crumbling mortar and looked down one of a dozen halls.

All he saw was a mop of red hair behind a pile of broken masonry, but as he pulled brick after brick off, he slowly revealed a small girl, her face covered in dust, and one leg pinned, perhaps crushed, under the largest chunk of stone. She turned her face up towards him and blinked, then stared at him again.

"Father?"

Treize stared at the girl in front of him. He'd never lain with a woman, but...the red hair, the look in her eyes, her bearing...he breathed in and stepped back. "Homunculi."

The slave block he'd rescued Wufei from, he must have left a strand of hair behind. And the auctioneer trafficked with necromancers. Barton created a homunculi.

She lowered her head and he winced, guessing that she knew what she was. Blood trickled down a cut above her eyes, and she tried to push herself up only to grimace as she put pressure on a broken hand. He stared at her a moment. He'd never seen one before, not that he knew of. She was remarkable, almost a perfect imitation of a human. In fact, if he hadn't known she was made from his body, he might have thought she was...real.

He looked at the bricks again and noticed the puddle of blood around them. "Does it hurt?" he asked, his voice echoing through the building.

"Only at my knee," she whispered. "I think the rest might be gone."

"We'll see." He started tossing more bricks off. For a few minutes, only the sound of his breathing and crunching stone filled the hall.

"Why did he make me?"

Not pausing in his work, he glanced at her. "You're a Khushrenada, even without parents. That would give you some claim to Corazon."

"How?" She wiped blood from her eyes. "You're just a general."

"And you're just a little girl. Funny how royalty works." He took a moment to catch his breath. "No. My family were related to Wahea's. All those sisters, it's inevitable they'd be related to every royal family on this side of the world. I think one was on my great uncle's side, the Romefellers...also related by marriage. So, you'd be entitled...though it's a hell of a stretch. I guess he couldn't get Dorothy to agree. She's closer, bloodwise." He lifted the last stone off of her, revealing a small leg with splintered bone protruding from the skin. "Damn. It's still attached, but I don't think you're going to walk right again."

"Doesn't matter." She shrugged and turned her head away. "I'll be dead long before it can heal."

"Dead? It's not that serious."

"Even if I thought I wouldn't be executed, the moment my creator dies, I'll fade, or melt, or whatever it is homunculi do when our magick runs out." Raggedly she drew her good hand over her face to get rid of the tears. "That won't be long now."

She's been waiting to die, he thought. Stuck in a lonely corner of the citadel, in pain and clearly tired, she'd simply been waiting to dissipate into nothing, maybe crumble like the rest of Barton's works.

"I don't think that'll happen," he said, unable to hide his smile. "Your maker's already dead. Been dead for about fifteen minutes, I think."

"What?" She looked down at herself, as if she expected to see parts of her already melting. "Then why...maybe it's just going slow..."

"No, his torches are all out, every bit of magick's gone from the place." More rumblings came around them, and while he didn't want to move her, he didn't think he'd have time to assemble a travois. "If you had any of his magick in you, it's gone by now."

"Then why am I still here?"

"Maybe he made you better than he thought. Brace yourself." He picked her up and began the walk out.

"Ow..."

"Sorry."

The walls shook more and more as pieces of the building caved in behind them, and he walked as fast as he could.

"Are we gonna die down here?"

"Better not. My sorcerer would conjure me back up and feed me to his dragon."

Instead of laughing, though, she groaned and covered her eyes. Her broken hand dangled limp off her side. "Oh hell. He's your lover?"

He didn't stop, although he nearly dropped her. "What? You saw him?"

"Forget about melting, I'm gonna be a frog for the rest of my life." She glanced at the sword at his hip. "Or run through."

"I'm not in the habit of running through little girls," he said, "even if they have tried to take the throne. Besides, holding a child responsible for being manipulated by a con like Barton...I can't fault you for being created."

"Will King Trowa fault me?"

"I don't know." He stepped out of the citadel and kept walking.

A rush of dust and debris followed them out the door as the building's structure gave way and imploded on itself. Those who could turned a shoulder to the dust and shielded those on the ground who couldn't. Treize set her on the ground beside Wufei and stepped back far enough for Noin to get a look. "Think you can do anything for her?"

"I don't think so," Noin said as she put her hand on Mariemaia's forehead. "The only thing that's wrong is her leg, and that's too much for me to fix. Where'd you find her?"

"Inside. She was the only one left."

Zechs pushed some of his hair out of the way and looked over her. "She looks like you, a little."

"More than a little," Treize said. "Remember the slave blocks I rescued Wufei from, the one that sold to necromancers? I must've left something behind because Barton made her."

"A homunculi?" Zechs and Noin both stared, and Mariemaia lowered her head.

"What for?" Noin asked. "She's hardly a child."

A handful of Maganacs came into view down the street, and Treize waved them closer. He looked back at his officers. "I know. I think Barton wanted her a little older before this happened. Someone spelled King J to die, but slowly, on a schedule. Working with Wufei brought his death faster, so Barton got stuck with a princess instead of a young queen."

"So what'll happen to her now?" Noin asked. "She can't help who made her."

"And probably fed her lies her whole life," Zechs said.

The Maganacs came closer, and Treize picked up Mariemaia again and handed her to one of them. After telling her to listen to them and that she'd see him again soon, he watched them take her wherever the physicians were.

"I don't know," Treize said. "But if he spares her...I know two women back in Lagrange who'd love to have a little girl to take care of." His second's laughter made him glance down. "What's so funny?"

"Adopted by Une and Sally?" Zechs said. "Truly a fitting punishment for her crimes."

"Zechs!" Noin tugged his hair again. "I'm gonna tell 'em you said that."

A smile pricked at Treize's face. "They're not that bad. Really."

"Not Sally or Lady Une, no," Zechs said. "But if she pisses Une off..."

Noin's eyes widened. "Oh dear God...the poor child."

"I'll warn her," Treize said. "Then again, that poor child's leg is smashed and she's not even crying."

"Be sure you warn Sally, then," Zechs said. "She'll have two stubborn hellcats to deal with n--owww! Noin!"

*

When Duo saw the two kings coming towards him, he sighed and stood up, brushing as much gore and dust from his pants as he could. While he looked down at his dirty hands, Quatre looked between him and his master, one hand at his mouth. Before Duo could stop him, the blonde slave ran forward, slipping a little in the mud, and flung his arms around Trowa.

"Please don't kill him," he cried, tears streaming down his face. "I'm sure Duo didn't mean to kill him when he went in, and Barton was--a traitor--anyway--" His voice dissolved into hiccups and sniffles. Trowa's heavy hand touched his back and began to rub below his shoulders.

"Calm down," he said. To Duo, he asked "Is it true? You killed him?"

"Yes," Duo said, not meeting his eyes. "I stoned him to death before he could kill Wufei."

Both kings looked at the mangled corpse.

"Painful way to go," Heero said.

"So's death by burning," Trowa said.

Quatre cried harder and fisted his master's bloody shirt against his face.

"Barton said..." Duo started. "He said...for a slave to kill--"

"--that slave must be punished by death," Heero said. He stepped closer to Duo and put one hand on his shoulder, using the other to tilt his chin up. "Good thing you're not a slave anymore."

Duo's eyes widened until Heero could see his reflection in them. "What?"

"I said it before, when you first went in," Heero said, "but it's something you should hear. Duo, you are no longer my slave. I release you and grant you full rights as a freeborn citizen."

"Heero, I--"

The king put his fingers on Duo's lips, shushing him. "However, as your king, I command you to live with me for the rest of your life."

Duo grinned, and his eyes lit up. "Would I have to call you majesty all the time?"

"Only at banquets and gatherings."

"Then I accept, gladly."

While they hugged, a few feet away Quatre had stopped crying and only sniffled a little, smiling as he looked up at Trowa.

"You let me think he was gonna burn," he whispered.

"It made you hold me. I...needed that, right now." He gently pushed Quatre back a few inches and stared into his eyes. "You know that I love you."

"Yes." Quatre nodded once, tilting his head as he looked up. "And I love you."

Trowa swallowed once and took a shaky breath. "God, I don't think I've ever been so nervous," he mumbled.

"Trowa?"

"My brother has told me a few things today...and for once in his life, I think he's right." He gathered Quatre's hands in his own and held them. "Quatre Raberba Winner, I release you from servitude. Your rights are restored, though I...I cannot restore your title."

"I don't want it," he whispered. He wanted to hold him, but Trowa held his hands too tightly. "Are you sending me away? I don't want to leave you."

"Then don't leave me," Trowa said, his voice breaking on the last word, and clutched Quatre to himself as tight as he could without hurting him. "Don't ever leave me."

Quatre hugged him back, burying his face in his king's bloody shirt.

Standing several feet back, Heero and Duo turned away and glanced down at Barton. Heero gave him one more kick.

"Stoned him to death, hm?"

"Seemed right at the time."

"Mm."

Duo glanced over his shoulder at his friend, unable to see much but his blonde hair and blades. "Heero?"

"Yes?"

"Quatre still can't be prince, can he?"

"No. And he can't reveal his abilities, his true name or even his face."

"Unless he went away, like Wufei left his home?"

"Right."

"Oh." He looked at Heero. "Then does anything change? He'll live with him just like before."

"Except now he has a choice. Changes everything." Heero put one hand on Duo's shoulder and leaned on him. "Lead me back to the castle. We need a bath, a bed, and a day to ourselves."

"A whole day?" Duo started walking, guiding Heero around bodies and small fires and clumps of Trowa's soldiers. A small carpet floated overhead, and as it flew away to the castle, he saw Dorothy wrapped up in Relena's arms. "And what do you have in mind for a whole day in bed?" he asked, squeezing Heero gently.

"A whole day's sleep," Heero said, and ignored his lover's groan. "We'll worry about the next day when it comes."

*

The first thing Wufei noticed was the plain ceiling and early morning glare coming in through the window. He felt the pillow under his head, the blankets up to his chin, and for a moment thought he was back in Lagrange, in the room and bed he shared with Treize. Then a handful of servants walked down the hall outside the door and he heard the familiar echoes Wahea's palace made.

He closed his eyes and remembered what he could about...was it only one night? He sighed, and the hard bed seemed softer for his exhaustion. Only a faint tingle of magick lingered in his body, and thought back to the amount of magick he'd been using, creating fires, destroying spells, and the last spell he'd cast, so powerful it affected the wind, like air rushing together after a lightning bolt to create thunder. He remembered the sound of wings...

The sound of flapping leather and a weight on the pillow made him smile and open his eyes. "Nataku..."

Wufei, she said, nuzzling him as if afraid he might disappear in front of her. My little lost sorcerer...

"And where have you been?" Wufei asked.

Recovering from that spell you cast, she said. Ripples went everywhere and I couldn't fly. I came as soon as I could. Such a sloppy spell,

"Sloppy?" he whispered. "What do you mean?"

Your aim encompassed everything. You didn't just include your mate. She stretched her wings fully and curled them against her back again. Using so much magick, too.

"Nataku, I don't--"

It crosses times, dimensions. You didn't just change how time flows, you've made it so it has always flown that way. And so much magick... She nuzzled his cheek and closed her eyes. I'm lucky I got here so fast. We don't have much time. When it all dissipates from you, I'll have to leave.

"Dissipates?" He felt for the tingle of magick he'd felt before and found it even less. He forced his hand up, stroked the ridges above her eyes, burning the image of her scales into his mind. "Must you...?"

Foolish boy. I leave because I have always left. I will always leave you. She nuzzled him again, her muzzle caressing his throat. And you'll forget. Time and death will take this from your mind. But I'll remember, even if the gods do not see fit to remind me.

He strained to hear her as her voice grew faint, turning more into chirps than words. "I hate losing friends." Since he couldn't sit up, he settled for touching her head as she wrapped her tail around his throat one last time, just so she'd remember how it felt. "Must you leave?"

You've always had me, and you'll always lose me. But you won't lose everyone. Her voice was nothing more than a whisper, a cool wind, and she stretched her wings again, now beating her way back into the air. And I will remember...

"I won't forget..."

Her voice was lost to him. She chirped once, flipped her tail, and soared into the sky, a green spot in the darkness until she disappeared into the storm clouds. Thunder rumbled and rain began to fall, a few drops splashing on the windowsill.

A moment later, the door opened and Treize walked in. Wufei turned his head to see him, their eyes met, and then Wufei found himself propped up and held in his lover's arms. He heard Treize ask something, but he didn't answer right away. He stared out the window again, resting his head on Treize's shoulders. At least the uniform was off, and he didn't have to feel the hard epaulets against his cheek.

"She's gone," he whispered.

"Gone?" Treize followed his look out the window, but he only saw rain and clouds. "Lost?"

"Until I meet her again, and she leaves again," Wufei said. "Over and over until the last day."

"What do you mean? Wufei, why did she leave?"

"My magick's gone. I can't hear her anymore, and...and she's supposed to be in my mountains anyway, in a stream or a waterfall, perhaps." He found Treize's hand with his own and clung as tight as he could. "My companion is gone."

"And all your magick?"Treize picked up Wufei's other hand and looked at the scars on his lover's wrist. He could hardly make out the lines anymore. "They're healing."

"Maybe it was only my magick that scarred." He sighed again. "What will happen to Heero's garden? The plants will wither and die. The wards will collapse...the gundams...they'll fade."

"Perhaps we'll grow stronger without them to lean on," Treize said. "And you'll be able to complete your weapons training."

"What--?" Wufei frowned, his losses momentarily forgotten. "I'm already a master--"

"I admit, your artistry is flawless, and your body nigh perfect," he said and touched his fingertips to Wufei's face. "But you are still young and lack discipline. And a little common sense." Another thought entered Treize's mind, and he gave a low, evil laugh, although he did try to hide it.

"Treize?"

He snuggled Wufei before he could wriggle away. "No worries. I'm simply the stronger one in the relationship again, that's all."

Wufei managed a faint smile. "I'll see about that. That will be a shame, though. No more pandas or kittens or ducks."

"No carrying you back to Lagrange as a horse." Treize looked back out the window. "Still...I'm going to miss that little dragon."

"She'll be fine. She's just going home."

Treize heard the sad note in his voice. "You want to go with her?"

"No. She has her own life now, as do I. I told you before, my magick makes...made...little difference in my life. They would have banished me regardless. I would have come here anyway, been taken captive by a beautiful general." He snuck a quick kiss, all the sweeter for how seldom he did that. "I would have loved you."

They sat quiet for a moment. Treize didn't push but he knew Wufei had lost his last link to his past, the only other creature for thousands of miles who knew his language, old customs, stories. It would take a little while to sink in.

"Then...you don't want to go back to your homeland?"

Wufei shook his head and tugged at the covers, smiling when Treize pulled them higher to his chest without asking. "I am home, Treize. I'm with you. My home will always be with you."

He leaned back and watched the rain come down, knowing it was helping wash away the blood and poison from the night before, and occasionally blowing a few drops of chilly water inside their room. The day, though overcast, dawned through their window.

To be concluded...