The Prince and The Assassin chapter 09/10
Chapter 09: In the Darkness of Every body’s Life
*
It took Gertrude three days to track down Solo and the gang and when she finally caught up to them they were deep in the forest half drunk and singing lewd songs about whores and bakers.
Solo took a swig of his ale and was about to steal another apple from the barrel by the fire before he caught sight of a very harried looking Gertrude stumbling her way into their clearing with her bodyguard in tow. “Your Majesty?!”
Gertrude didn’t even bother acknowledging Solo as she snatched a skin of ale from a stunned urchin and swallowed half of it before she collapsed onto a log and stretched her aching feet out in front of her. Her loyal bodyguard stood behind her glaring death at everyone in the clearing.
“Solo.” Hilde whispered from her reclined spot next to her husband. “Is that the queen?”
“Yeah.” He nodded, just as confused and got to his feet to make his way toward the exhausted woman. “Queen Gertrude?”
Jolting as if she had just realized she was in a gathering full of people, Gertrude looked at Solo as if he had grown a third head before sighing in relief and pulling two sealed letters from her purse and throwing them at the stunned gang leader without a word.
Solo frowned down at them and opened the first finding it to be a simple list of every street rat’s name in his gang. Ignoring the oddity in favor of discovering what the second letter held, Solo ripped at the seal and read the neat script. Eyes widening he reread it and looked at Hilde with such a shocked expression that she jumped up and rushed to his side.
“Solo? What is it?” She feared the worst. Feared that Duo was dead, feared that Traveler was dead. She feared that is was some horrible royal decree that would have them all locked in chains.
Being the only two members of the gang who could read, Solo handed the letter to her and watched as her face paled then turned bright red and her mouth twisted in a bright smile.
“Is this for real?” Hilde could feel tears beginning to sting at her eyes.
“You better believe it.” Solo couldn’t help but grab her and press an ecstatic kiss to her lips before throwing his head back and laughing so loud it echoed through the forest.
“What’s going on, Solo?!” One of the other gang members shouted in a mixture of amusement and fright.
Turning to face the whole of his captive audience, Solo waved the letter in the air and shouted, “We’re going to the castle!”
*
Duo bounced on the balls of feet. “How long do you think, Heero?”
Sighing, Heero reached over and yanked Duo’s braid hard enough to draw a squawk from the excited Prince. “Long enough to annoy the hell out of me. Now stop fidgeting and be still. They’ll get here when they get here.”
Rubbing the back of his head with a half hearted glare, Duo pouted, reminding Heero of a child. “But I sent her out four days ago! It shouldn’t take them this long to travel here.”
“Duo.” Heero pulled his lover into his arms, forcing Duo to sit in his lap as they awaited the street gang’s arrival in the throne room. “It takes longer for twenty adults and children to travel than it does one person. It’s going to take them awhile yet.”
Huffing, Duo laid his head on Heero’s shoulder and curled his arms around his neck letting his lover’s warmth calm him. “I know, I’m just so excited. I’ll be able to give them something as precious as they have given me.”
Smiling, Heero placed a tender kiss on Duo’s forehead. “Don’t worry they’ll be here in time for the coronation.”
Just then Quatre burst through the throne room doors and smiled so widely it looked as though his face was about to split open. “Duo! They’re here!”
Shooting up from his lounging place on Heero’s lap, Duo almost toppled to the marble floor. “What?! Really?”
“Yes!” Quatre laughed. “Now hurry up and come greet them!”
“Alright!” Duo jumped in the air and began to rush out the doors throwing a glance over his shoulder to make sure Heero was behind him.
“Heero?” His lover was just easing out of the throne and beginning to slowly make his way down the dais steps.
“Go on, Duo. I’ll be there in a second.” He forced a smile. Even after all the resting and his abnormally fast healing rate, Heero still felt tired and sluggish. Not to mention his chest would still ache if he moved too fast. Much like he did when trying to jump up after Duo.
Duo frowned and back tracked till he was at Heero’s elbow, wrapping an arm around his waist in support. “No rush, love. We’ll take our time.”
Looking into his lover’s tender smiling violet eyes, Heero sighed and relented to leaning on him till they were at the bottom of the steps. “Thank you, love. I forget sometimes to go slow.”
“I know.” Duo kissed his cheek softly as they walked out of the throne room together.
They entered the entrance hall to the roaring sound of amazement and exclamations of surprise. The children had pulled away from their adults and were racing around the hall looking behind tapestries and knocking apprehensively on suits of armor.
Gertrude was collapsed in a chair against the wall, her bodyguard standing next to her and smiling as he watched the chaos around them. Solo, Hilde and the other members of the gang stared around transfixed at the pure wealth surrounding them.
When Duo and Heero stepped into the hall, the first to spot them was a little girl with a smudged face and choppy hair. “Duo! Traveler!” She shrieked in delight and ran toward them arms stretched out.
Duo intercepted her before she could launch herself at Heero and swung her around, seating her on his hip. “Hello! Are you enjoying my castle?”
She nodded brightly and giggled. “It’s big.”
“Yes it is!” Duo smiled.
Solo stepped up as Duo set the little girl on her feet and she ran back to her mother, the other children and gang members beginning to crowd around. “Traveler!” Solo grinned and pulled Heero into a light one armed hug. “It’s good to see you on your feet.”
“Thanks.” Heero grimaced slightly and Duo motioned to Gertrude’s guard to bring another chair for him. “I can barely keep them under me lately.”
Hilde threw her arms around Duo and planted happy kisses all over his smiling face. “We thought you had died! I was so worried!” She stepped back and glared at him.
“I’m sorry, Hil.” Duo grinned bashfully. “We had to spread the rumor. I’ll explain it all to you later, alright?” He squeezed her arms in comfort.
“Fine.” She scowled. “But I want all the details.”
He nodded then tapped her on the nose with a mischievous smirk. “Someone else has been quite busy as well, haven’t they?”
She blushed then placed a hand on her flat belly causing Duo to laugh in delight at her pinked cheeks. “Congratulations Hilde. I’m so happy for you.”
A warm smile spread over her lips as glanced over at a proudly beaming Solo. “Thank you, Duo.” Turning her gaze back to her friend, her brow creased nervously. “I-I realize that Solo and I are asking you a lot, and even if you don’t want to take our child as a ward, we want you to know that if you want to you will still be its Godfather and-”
Duo placed a finger over her rambling lips and cast a smirking glance at an amused Heero now seated in a chair with a little boy sitting on his lap. He turned back to his expectant friend, took his finger away, placed his hands on both sides of her face, and kissed her smack dap on the lips. “Hilde, my love, you, Solo, your baby, and the whole gang are going to live here, in the castle, with me.”
Her eyes grew impossibly wide from between his hands. Laughing, he glanced over her shoulder at the gaping mouths and unblinking eyes of his friends with a smirk on his face. “You will all be taught by the best tutors, dressed in the finest clothes, eat the best food you’ve ever tasted, and…”, Duo’s smile widened as he flicked his eyes at a stunned Solo, “Your child will be my heir to the throne. That is, if they accept it and you two don’t object.”
Without warning Hilde shrieked and jumped into Duo’s unprepared arms toppling them both onto the hard marble floor. “Yes! Yes! Yes! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” She showered kisses over his suddenly blushing face while the rest of the gang jumped up and down in excitement, some laughing, some crying, but all inexplicably happy.
Heero watched his lover being suddenly accosted by all the children in the gang and some of the adults while he was still trapped underneath Hilde with a smile on his face. Solo stood next to his chair with an expression somewhere between disbelief and unrepentant happiness.
“Do you think I should pull her off of him?” Solo asked, his lover and the mother of his child still crying on Duo’s chest.
“Nah,” Heero chuckled as one of the littlest children began to tug painfully on Duo’s braid. “We wouldn’t want to ruin the moment.”
The two men glanced at each other and broke into laughter leaving Duo to fend for him self at the bottom of an ecstatic pile of street urchins.
*
Later that night, Duo curled up to Heero’s still bandaged chest feathering light kisses over his shoulder. The whole gang was situated in their rooms after the biggest feast they had ever seen, and snuggled into the softest beds they had ever slept on.
It had been a wonderful day, one neither Duo nor the gang would ever forget.
Sighing contentedly as Heero combed fingers through his loose hair Duo closed his eyes and savored the closeness. “I’m so glad everything worked out this way.”
“Mm.” Heero was relaxed despite the stiff bandaging and the unsatisfied aching between his legs. Sally had forbidden him from any sexual activity until the stitches came out and Heero, no matter what he tried, couldn’t get Duo to break the doctor’s orders. “You did a wonderful thing for them love.”
“Not more than anybody else would have done.” He gingerly wrapped his arm around Heero’s stomach and inhaled his earthy scent.
Heero turned his face into Duo’s hair and brushed a kiss over the silky strands. “You undervalue your deeds, my love. Very few people would care for them the way you do.” He stroked his fingers over the still puckered scar on Duo’s upper arm.
“You would.” Lifting his head, Duo stared at Heero’s deep blue eyes. “You would do the same given the chance.”
His heart sank in doubt of his lover’s optimistic words. “I wouldn’t be so sure.”
“That’s bullshit!” Duo was suddenly unreasonably mad. He couldn’t stand the way Heero put himself down. It made his chest burn with sadness. “That’s complete bullshit and you know it, Heero Yuy. You would do anything for those poor homeless children if you could.”
“No!” Heero exclaimed, digging his fingers into Duo’s hair trying to his hold his lover there as if he were about to drift away from him. “No, Duo, I wouldn’t have. At least not until I met you.” He averted his gaze away from Duo’s questioning violet eyes. “I’ve been killing since I was eleven. I’ve been a trained killer since I was thirteen and an assassin since I was fifteen. My soul was dead until I met you, Duo.”
“Heero.” Duo didn’t know what to say. His heart was aching for the sadness radiating off of his lover. “Why did you become an assassin, Heero?”
His breath hitched as the memory. “When I was eleven a man in my village, that richest man in my village killed my father. He wanted our land, but my father wouldn’t sell it to him, so he killed him.” Duo let out a sudden whimper and wrapped his arms around Heero pressing his head to his chest in comfort. “Without my father there to stop him he would have taken our home by force, taken my mother into his bed, sold me to slavery, or just killed us both. I couldn’t let that happen, Duo. I had to protect my mother, protect our home.”
Duo’s eye suddenly burned with unshed tears, but he tightened his hold on his shaking lover and began to stroke his finger through his hair to sooth him. “You killed him.”
“I had to.” Heero’s throat ached as he squeezed his eyes shut trying to shut out the memories of that night.
“What-… What happened after?” Duo could just imagine a frightened little boy struggling under the weight of the world being suddenly dropped on his shoulders.
“I ran.” He inhaled Duo’s scent to calm his pain. “I didn’t go back to my mother. She didn’t want me to go so I couldn’t let her see me with blood on my hands. It was better that she forgot about me, that I disappeared from her life.” A single tear fell from his pained blue eyes to land on his beautiful lover’s warm soothing chest.
Tightening his hold on him, Duo feathered kisses over his hair and forehead as he whispered reassuringly. “Don’t worry Heero. We’ll find her. We won’t get married without her. I promise.”
“Thank you, Duo. I love you.” Heero turned his face and kissed the skin over Duo’s softly beating heart.
“I love you, too.” He scooted down in the bed to get more comfortable. “Now let’s get some rest. I’m being crowned tomorrow and I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be long and boring.”
Heero chuckled and sighed in contentment. He was finally able to be happy.
*
Heero reflected that this scene was beginning to become rather redundant as he watched Duo bounce around the room waiting for Quatre to return and give them their cue.
The coronation tradition in Sanq was to have the sovereign escorted to the castle cathedral by a person of their choosing; Duo chose Heero. Then that person, Heero, was supposed to “give away” the prince to their closest royal family member, Gertrude, who would then lead them down the isle to be coronated by a priest and witnessed by the advisors and anybody else who showed up, the whole castle and all the street urchins mainly.
As he watched his lover nervously pace the small waiting room by the cathedral, Heero couldn’t help by think that he looked astoundingly beautiful and handsome.
Duo wore his kingdom’s colors. A beep violet silk tunic glided on his body over black silk trousers, and pressed against him with a thick black leather belt around his waist. At his side the sword his father, King James, wore hung elegantly from its leather holster, the gems on the hilt glinting in the light. His black leather boots were shined to perfection and buckled with jewel encrusted buckles. Duo’s long gorgeous hair was woven into an intricate braid with strings of strawberry seed sized diamonds glinting in the light.
Atop his head was a modest golden crown inlaid with sapphires and amethysts, and fastened around his shoulders with a wide chain of gold to match his crown was a floor length white fur cloak speckled with tear drops of black.
Heero caught his breath for the hundredth time that morning. His lover was absolutely stunning, breathtaking.
A knock on the door halted Duo in his pacing and Quatre stuck his head in to smile kindly at his nervous prince. “It’s time David.”
Exhaling a deep breath to calm himself, Duo turned to his smiling lover and felt all his nerves dissolve. “Alright. Let’s go.”
They walked down the isle arm in arm, Heero’s chest swelling with pride, Duo’s stomach flipping in excitement.
Gertrude stood half way to the front and smiled as her son neared. He looked more like his father than he ever had. It gave her a heart a jolt of pain and love all at once.
Coming to a stop Heero turned to his lover and gingerly placed his hands on either side of his face, pulling him forward to place a light tender kiss upon his lips he said simply, “I love you” before releasing him and stepping aside.
Duo slid his hands down Heero’s arms as he moved away and smiled brightly at him then turned to his mother and offered her his arm. She took it elegantly and they began the short journey toward the dais at the front of the church.
When they reached the priest and it was time for Gertrude to move away she paused and leaned forward to place a kiss, their very first, on his cheek. “I’m very proud of you, David. Your father is very proud of you.” She pulled away and was momentarily startled to see a tear in his deep violet eyes.
He gave her hand a squeeze and returned the kiss. “Thank you,” he whispered before turned toward the priest and kneeling on the stool before him.
Unlike Duo predicted the coronation didn’t last quite as long as he had thought. He suspected Dorothy had something to do with that seeing as the priest kept shooting her glances every time she cleared her throat.
But when it was through and the King’s crown in all its ruby, sapphire, emerald, and amethyst glory was placed on his head, Duo could feel his knees shaking and his heart pounding. He had never felt such a mixture of fear and excitement in all his life. Well, except for the first time he and Heero had made love, but that was a different kind of fear and excitement.
Later as the whole castle sat down to the feast and the gang’s children had finally stopped staring at Duo’s crown in wondrous awe, Duo was able to corner his newly crowned brother just off of the dining hall.
“Trowa!”
“David!” Trowa imitated with an amused smirk. “What can I do for you, Your Majesticness?”
“Oh, stuff it.” Duo grumbled as he smacked his laughing brother on the arm. “I have a job for you.”
“Ooh!” The fresh prince grinned in mischief. “Do tell.”
Rolling his eyes, Duo pulled a sealed envelope from his pocket and flashed it at his brother. “I need you to take this to Heero’s mother.”
Suddenly very serious, Trowa took the letter and studied the royal seal. “Duo, I don’t know where Heero’s mother is.”
“I do.” Duo explained. “Heero’s from the Nippon Islands off of the Orient coast. His village is on the main island. Travel there and I’m sure you’ll be able to find her.”
Trowa frowned at him skeptically. “Duo-”
“Your journey will be backed by the Sanq treasury. Please, Tro. Please.” Duo looked into his brother’s deep emerald eyes and pleaded with more than just his words. “I promised Heero.”
The prince deflated and sighed. “Alright.” Duo squealed and wrapped his arms around him as he jumped up and down with glee. “But I’m taking Quatre with me.”
Duo pulled back with a smile that didn’t seem to be able to dim. “By all means take him! Thank you so much, Tro. You’re the best big brother ever!”
“You owe me.” Tro grunted as he wrapped his arms around Duo, conceding to his younger brother’s enthusiastic embrace.
“I owe you.” Duo nodded as he released Trowa and turned back to the dining hall. “You won’t regret this!”
As he watched his younger brother and king stroll toward his lover and place a warm and tender kiss on his lips, Trowa smiled. “I won’t.”
*
Sylvia sat in her late husband’s favorite rocking chair and watched the clouds move through the mountains outside of her home. It was times like these, times when she could almost hear the soft patter of her missing son’s feet on the wooden floor of her house, the deep laugh of her beloved husband, that made her heart ache anew.
It had been… twelve years since Heero had disappeared. Well, she sighed, runaway actually.
After her husband, Heero’s father, had been murdered her son had become consumed with fury and anger. She begged him not to go, not to retaliate for the blood shed that made her own heart scream in agony, but he didn’t listen. The memory of that night still plagued her dreams.
Heero had been so angry. They had just buried his father, and the man that had taken him away had just begun the measures to destroying all they had left. He was about to take their home.
Sylvia knew she could live in a hovel as long as she had her son and the memory of her beloved, but Heero had been consumed, even at the young age of eleven, Heero had thirsted for their tormentor’s blood.
“Heero! Please, your father wouldn’t want you to destroy your life like this.” Sylvia’s tears were streaming down her face as she kneeled before her son, clutching him to her like her final breath.
“Father wouldn’t have wanted us to live on the streets either.” His voice was flat and so cold. It sounded nothing like her little boy. Like the child she had felt kicking in her womb, kneading at her breast, or crying on her shoulder.
She felt her heart breaking. “Please, Heero. Don’t do this. You’re only a child!”
Heero’s face suddenly contorted in agony before he averted his gaze from his mother’s pleading deep blue eyes and spoke with a finality that rang through his home like the dying scream of his father. “And because of that, I couldn’t save him.”
Sylvia’s breath caught in her throat and her tears began to stream down her cheek anew. She could feel it. It was the end of something she had held so dear.
Small, play roughened hands lifted her face to look into Heero’s suddenly warm, sad eyes. He whispered, “Please don’t cry. I love you, Mama, but I have to do this.” Then he leaned forward and kissed her softly like he had every night as a little child when she tucked him in, before he stepped out of her arms and disappeared into the night.
Sylvia wiped a stray tear away from her cheek and cursed her self for remembering something so long buried. It had been twelve long years since that night, the last night she had ever seen her son, and she had cried almost every night after.
She missed Odin fiercely, but her love for her beloved husband paled in comparison to a mother’s love of her child. Heero had never come back after that night. She didn’t know what had happened to him. All she new was that their tormenter had been found the following morning stabbed to death. That thought had always brought a shiver to her soul.
So she had mourned. Not only for her dead husband, but for her lost son. And she prayed that he would one day be brought back to her.
It was getting late, the sun had begun to sink below the mountains making their forever snow covered tops shine pink and orange. Her heart was heavy with memories of laugher and tears, and her skin was chilled from the evening cold. It never really seemed to get warm this far up in the mountains, but Sylvia would never leave her house, her memories, her ghosts.
Standing from the rocking chair on her porch she was about to turn and head inside when a trail of lanterns caught her attention on the road leading up to her home. She stood and waited till the figures came into view.
It was a caravan of sorts. Large enough for a traveling party, but not quite as big as some. The uniforms on the armed horseman held a magnificently stylized M with the colors of deep blue and deep violet. Sylvia could just count twelve horsemen, two carriages, and four drivers as they finally came to a stop in front of her house. She suddenly shivered in fear and gripped the railing of the porch with white knuckles.
There were two lead riders. One, with bright blond hair and kindly smiling blue eyes, stayed on his horse, the other dismounted, a tall man with a fall of auburn hair and sparkling green eyes. He stepped forward and bowed low, before he smiled up at her and asked, “Is this the house of Sylvia Yuy?”
She watched in astonishment, her heart pounding. “Y-yes. I am Sylvia Yuy. On what business do you come, Sir?”
Trowa smiled widely and pulled a letter from his coat, holding it up to her. “News, Madam. I have news of your son.”
*
This place felt familiar. Dark, foreboding, and so familiar, as if from his worst nightmare.
He crept through the halls as silent as his bare feet could carry him, dodging maids and servants as he made his way toward the sitting room were he could hear that gruff demanding voice shouting orders to the frightened staff.
Heart pounding in his chest, Heero swallowed roughly and felt so very small and weak in this mansion of nightmares. He wished to be home warm and safe in the arms of his mother, but he knew what he must do. He must end it, so that the cycle could not be repeated.
Gasping softly he ducked behind the corner and out of the firelight as the monster threw a glass against the wall in anger shattering it with a sound like lightning. Heero’s heart thumped wildly as he pressed himself against the wall wishing for all the world that he could disappear into it. The only comfort he had was the firm pressure of one of his father’s daggers at the small of his back where it was stuffed through his belt.
For you, Father. I’m doing this for you.
He prayed as he pushed his shoulders back and stepped away from the wall and out into the room, a grim expression fixed on his childish features.
“Who the hell are you, kid? How did you get in here?” The monster reeked of drink and sweat. Its beard was matted with food and its teeth were yellow and rotting.
Lifting his chin, the fear that had been twisting in his chest had disappeared. Heero knew what he must do. “My name is Heero Yuy.”
“Oh!” The monster slapped its knee and threw its head back in grotesque laughter. “You’re the brat of that peasant I ran through yesterday. Tell me boy, how’s your whore of a mother?”
Fisting his small hands at his side, Heero refused to yield to the monster’s growls. “My name is Heero Yuy,” he repeated in a flat emotionless voice. “You murdered my father. I’m going to kill you.”
Sitting straighter on its perch the monster snarled. “What did you say, boy?”
Taking a step forward Heero felt himself grow stronger. “My name is Heero Yuy. You murdered my father. I’m going to kill you.” He could feel his muscles bunching with tension.
“Shut up, brat!” The monster roared as it fisted its claws around the arm of its perch.
Heero simply continued forward, feeling as though with every step his body grew in size and strength. “My name is Heero Yuy!” He was shouting now. “You murdered my father! I’m going to kill you!”
The monster gave a mighty thunder and lunged forward backhanding Heero across the face in fury. “No body talks to me that way, you little bastard.”
Despite the force of the blow, the little eleven year old boy stood stock still, his head snapped to one side, his eyes wide open in determined rage, and the side of his mouth slit open and bleeding. Slowly he turned his head back to stare at the monster with an unwavering glare. “You murdered my father. I’m going to kill you.”
Lunging off of its perch the monster shoved a fist into Heero’s gut sending the little boy flying backward. He landed hard on the dagger in his belt and yelped in pain as it dug into his spine.
Heero had no time to move way before the monster was upon him, raining blows like boulders upon his tiny body. He felt a rib crack, his arm break, but Heero couldn’t cry out. His determination wouldn’t let him.
Kicking out with his bare feet, the heel of one foot connected with the monster’s jaw knocking out a few fangs and sending it backward with a howl of pain and blood spraying from its mouth. Heero struggled to his feet then and reached behind him to draw his father’s dagger only to find it gone.
Frantically looking around the room Heero saw a glint of metal near the fire place behind him. Lunging for it he fell hard on his injured body but was able to wrap a bloodied hand around the hilt before the monster’s claw clamped around his ankle and pulled him backward.
“No body spills my blood, you little shit!” The monster dragged the struggling little boy toward it and reared its arm back to deliver a crushing blow upon his blood caked head.
It was caught completely by surprise when Heero twisted around and lashed out with the sharp blade of the dagger.
Howling in pain the monster let go the boy and clutched at its gushing face feeling the flesh connected with its beard begin to peel away. Heero limped to his feet and didn’t wait for the monster to recover; he jumped at it with the dagger high above his head and thrust it downward again, and again.
The blade stabbed through the monster’s cheek, the monster’s neck, the monster’s collar, the monster’s throat. Blood sprayed the little boy, the floor, the walls. The only sounds that could be heard were the gargling of blood and Heero’s furious screams as he killed the monster that killed his father.
Finally the monster had stopped thrashing, stopped gargling, and lay beneath the boy, now reduced to carrion, no longer the frightening creature it once was.
Heero pulled the dagger out of the monster’s chest and stumbled away from it, his body shaking, his skin dripping with blood.
He had done it, he had killed the monster that had murdered his father, threatened to take his home, planned to violate his mother. Heero had done what he must.
And he felt completely hollow.
Bolting up in bed, Heero screamed in agony, sweat pouring down his body, every muscle shaking like an earthquake beneath his skin.
“Heero!” Duo clutched desperately to his lover’s face, stroking his soaked bangs from his eyes and trying to wake him from his nightmare. “It’s alight, love. It’s ok. I’m here. It was only a dream.”
“Oh god.” Heero collapsed against Duo and wrapped his arms painfully tight around his lover, his tears mixing with his sweat as he tried to forget the feeling of the dagger being shoved through skin and bone, the smell of blood and rancid breath. “God, Duo! God!”
“Shh.” Duo stroked Heero’s hair and rubbed his back as he began to rock slowly, trying to comfort his lover. “Everything’s alright, Heero. It’s over. I’m here. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Heero was close to hyperventilation, but the sound of Duo’s heartbeat was calming him and his gasps of breath were beginning to slow. Duo, all he had to do was concentrate on Duo and everything would be alright. The smell of lavender was washing away the rancid breath and warm blood, the feel of soft skin underneath his fingers and against his chest was chasing away the painful blows and heavy weight pressing down in him.
“Hold on to me, Heero. That’s it. Just breathe.” Duo had never heard such a tortured sound. He had awoken to Heero’s desperate whimpers and wild thrashes. When he tired to wake his frightened lover, the sound that had burst from his lips had chilled him to his very soul. He wished he never had to hear a sound like that for the rest of his life. “Take your time, love.”
After perhaps hours of gentle rocking and stroking, concentrated breathing, and basking in his lover’s offered comfort, Heero was able to open his eyes and pull far enough away from Duo to look into his concerned violet gaze. “I’m sorry, Duo. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Nonsense.” Duo scolded softly as he leaned forward and kissed Heero tenderly on his dry lips. “Don’t be sorry. I’m glad I was here for you. Do you want to talk about it?”
No. But Heero knew he had to. His lover deserved to know why he had woken up in the middle of the night screaming like a banshee. “I had a dream about the night… about the night I left home.”
Duo kissed Heero’s cheek just below his eye. “Tell me about it.”
“I left home to kill the man that murdered my father. I was eleven years old and armed only with one of my father’s daggers.” The two lovers scooted down to lie together and Heero rested his sweat dampened head on Duo’s shoulder, listening to his steady heartbeat as he retold his dream.
“It was not clean.” He suppressed a shudder and buried his face in Duo’s skin while Duo continued to rub his back comfortingly. “I cracked a few ribs and broke one my arms. I didn’t even think while we were fighting. The sound of my breathing and the pounding of my blood in my ears was all I remembering being able to hear.”
“How did you kill him?” Duo closed his eyes and tightened his hold on his lover.
“I had slashed him across the face and jumped on his chest, stabbing him. I couldn’t stop stabbing him.” Heero’s stomach rolled but his swallowed it down. “When he stopped moving I was finally able to hear and I saw what I had done. His blood, my blood, it was everywhere.”
“It’s alright.” Duo cut him off when his body began to shake again. “It’s over, Heero. It’s over.” He pressed kiss after kiss upon Heero’s face and hair whispering, “I love you, Heero. Everything is going to be alright.”
Sighing, finally able to let got of the dream that had attacked him, and finally able to let go of the blood on his hands after twelve years, Heero turned his face to press a kiss to Duo’s chest. “I love you, Duo. Now that I have you, I know everything is going to be alright.”
*
TBC…
Chapter 10