(no subject)
Title: Lovely
Author: Dreaming of Everything, dreams_of_all
Series: Gundam Wing
Characters/Pairings: Duo, Heero, Wufei, Quatre, Trowa, Duo/Heero
Rating/Warnings: T for various things, not really pushing the rating. Slash.
Summary: A retelling of Beauty and the Beast. When someone stumbles into an enchantment hidden deep within a forest, he trades his life for the lives of one of his slaves... 1x2 shounen-ai.
Author's Notes: My eternal thanks to Lady_Friselle for being fantastic beyond words. (She betaed, for the record.)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
FFnet link
"Hey there, I'm Duo, and I'm going to take a wild guess and say you're Heero. Mind if we eat? I'm starving!"
In five hundred years, nobody had ever responded to him that way. There was no fear, though there had been just seconds earlier; there was no hate, no disgust, no revulsion, no panic. He had to be crazy or, or...
Really, the only explanation Heero could come up with was insanity.
Duo looked blankly at his poleaxed dinner companion. He really was hungry, and it wouldn't be polite to eat until his host sat down, at least.
"...It is good to meet you," said Heero finally, falling back to formality, voice so deep it was nearly subterranean, humming through Duo's bones, a nearly physical force. Some vague part of Duo's mind noted it was probably a side-effect of the inhuman build the creature had.
Heero finally moved, as enigmatic as he had always been, to the seat obviously meant for him, considerably larger than the other one, and meant for his taller, heavier frame. His old body had been short and lightly built, but the curse had promised him a body stronger, heavier, more endurable and faster than any man could hope to be and whatever else happened, the sorceress who had cast it had been true to her word. That particular promise had been fulfilled, and then some. So had the others.
Duo took his own seat gracefully, blinking at his already-served plate. While Wufei had explained about the invisible servants, the echoes of the souls who had once lived in the castle, it took some getting used to. At least he wasn't the skittish type…As this scene was so effectively demonstrating. Inside he was a little puddle of fear, but he was functioning fine beyond that. It helped that he was hungry--it gave him something to focus on.
As he ate he was intensely aware of both the silence and the penetrating gaze. Oh well--he could remedy one of those, at least.
His dinner partner didn't seem to be the talkative type; in that case, it was up to him. It was a good thing he was a master at inane babbling... "Wufei spent the day showing me, Quatre and Trowa around. Took us through some of the house--this place is ridiculously large, just for the record--and around most of the grounds. Didn't quite make it all the way through. We've still got the rose garden and informal gardens, apparently. I dunno, though, it's the wrong time of year for roses... Now that I think of it, that bastard Ellyaugh kept on muttering about roses. He seemed even crazier than usual, which takes some doing in reference to a guy who tried to kidnap a Winner. I mean, that's got 'repressed suicidal urges' stamped all over it, really."
Heero glared slightly at his dinner companion. Did he have any idea what he was caught up in? What he was facing? This wasn't...Wasn't anything normal. Heero wished he would stop talking about the roses.
Duo caught the look aimed in his direction--it would be hard not to even if his attention wasn't focused on the creatu--person across from him. As things were, his mind was still screaming "Threat! Threat!" as loudly as it could.
Seeing as drawing Heero into conversation most definitely wasn't working, Duo redirected his flow of words towards himself. “…Anyways. Nice to be out of Ellyaugh's hands. I just can't believe he took advantage of the plague like that, especially since it took his family as well--Well, I mean, I can believe it, hard not to, but I just can't imagine what sort of person it would take to do that. Other than Ellyaugh, I mean."
"Plague?" said Heero finally. They--Wufei and himself--had no way of learning what was happening in the world outside of their own except through news brought in through their "visitors."
Duo had swung around sharply at Heero's sudden words to look him full in the face, (So he wasn't crazy, thought Heero. Just good at hiding his fear...) but as his mind processed what Heero had actually said he froze, face moving to blankness for the first time since his arrival, smoothing out to something as immobile as marble for one quick split second before Duo began to move again, straightening up out of a barely-noticeable hunched position, his grin returning. All in all, the brief moment of change was nearly unnoticeable, and all the more extraordinary (Heero refused to think 'vaguely unnerving' just on principal) because of that.
"The plague? I guess it makes some sort of sense that you wouldn't've heard of it... Still. It started seven years ago, with a single case in a small town. People think it came out of a near-by swamp. People from the neighboring village went to see what had happened after nobody showed up for their weekly market and found everyone dead. I think three people out of the whole village survived.
"The people from the second village carried it with them, and then messengers left there to inform the King's City what had happened, taking the plague with them as well--soon it was everywhere. It raged for two years--only the richest families had a good chance of survival. Healers couldn't save anybody unless they died in the attempt, which many chose to do--there are almost none left anymore because of that.
"The plague was unique in that it was worse for people with power, and innate magic wasn't enough to drive off the disease unless you were a healer. There are even less general magic-workers than healers now.
"In the long run, it tore apart all the structure society had. There's no order, no organization anymore. It's what allows Ellyaugh to run his slave trade--now all that matters is if you have enough money. Laws and rules are largely inconsequential. Most people have lost their families, which leaves you weaker in the long run, having nobody to watch your back, so many have joined what are essentially gangs that act like extended family groups. It keeps people safer, emotionally and physically.
"Only people with large amounts of power and wealth really survived intact, and even then they needed to change how things work for them to keep themselves that way.
"The plague really changed everything, I guess."
Heero nodded once, still analyzing the new information he had been given.
"Now it's my turn for a question!" enthused Duo. "Soooooo--! Tell me about this curse-thing. I'm curious; why were you cursed? Who by? How the hells did it last so long? When--Well, you get the point."
Heero stilled, Duo noticed, and barely suppressed an ironic, bitter smirk. We seem to be treading on all sorts of metaphorical toes today... He thought.
"I... Was the one cursed because of a..
.
"Actually, it is none of your business. I owe you nothing.
"Please do not speak of this again."
Duo nodded his understanding, knowing he had the same reaction to some questions as well. It could be a personal question, depending on the situation, and Duo certainly never answered those, at least not with complete truth, and not to the people who mattered. Not that there had been any, those past few years as a slave.
He had finished eating, he noticed, and decided it was time to leave. The atmosphere had grown irrepressibly awkward, and he didn't want to deal with any more of it. He was still feeling bad, anyways, weak and nearly dizzy from the continued effects of his imprisonment. "Well, that's that, I guess, and I'm going to be heading back to my room if it's all the same to you, I'm still a bit on the tired side and all."
"Wait. Before you go--I'm required to say this. It is one of the conditions of the curse. I do not think I will ever love anyone. It certainly has nothing to do with you.
"Will you marry me?"
"Uh?"
"Answer however you will. It is of no importance to me."
"Uh, sorry but no." Duo's body stilled instead of moving back before he managed a quick "Goodbye!" and dashed off to his room. It was a relief that there were no sounds of pursuit, though he knew that he wouldn't hear the beast even if he did follow after him.
oOo
Trowa, Quatre and Wufei had eaten a very tense, very quiet dinner in what Wufei had termed the "small" dining room, despite its cavernous size. The three all had their worries, secrets, and very little in common, not a particularly good combination; Quatre alone wasn't enough to carry the conversation. In the end he had given up, eating his dinner in quiet and hoping that Duo would eventually start joining them during the evenings, or at least that one of the other two would start talking. With Wufei, at least, it might just be nervousness.
And thinking of Duo and his absence sent Quatre's thoughts spinning in the direction of the dinner that was going on in some unknown area of the castle, and who--or what, his mind whispered--Duo was eating dinner with. They knew a name, true, Lord Heero Yuy, but since he (and with him, his family) had been gone for over 500 years now, that meant nothing. Less than nothing, maybe. He had scared Ellyaugh into insanity, not that he was all that far from it in the first place, and was presumably hoping that Duo would fall in love with him.
They didn't even know what, exactly, the curse was; how it had been cast on the castle, why it had been cast, nothing.
After Quatre's train of thought had completed several (noticeably circular) cycles, he gave up. Excusing himself, he left for his room.
Seeing that Duo's door was half-open he poked his head in, assuming he wouldn't be intruding. He was startled to see that Duo seemed to have fallen asleep, still dressed for dinner and sprawled on the floor. Quatre quietly walked into the room, trying to be unobtrusive, and Duo's eyes flew open as he approached, falling back into a fighting position almost immediately, eyes narrowed.
"Duo?" said Quatre quietly.
"Oh, it's just you..." managed Duo sleepily, his eyes dropping closed again. His breathing quickly evened back out.
Quatre smiled softly and pulled a blanket off of the bed, laying it over the boy on the floor--it was startlingly cold tonight after last night's relatively temperate weather--then left the room.
"He's asleep," murmured Quatre to Trowa as he left the room, prompted by the other's questioning look. "Good night, then." Trowa nodded in reply and they entered their respective rooms.
Both were tired, but neither fell asleep quickly. Both were plagued with doubts and questions. They did not know nearly enough about the situation they were in...
Author: Dreaming of Everything, dreams_of_all
Series: Gundam Wing
Characters/Pairings: Duo, Heero, Wufei, Quatre, Trowa, Duo/Heero
Rating/Warnings: T for various things, not really pushing the rating. Slash.
Summary: A retelling of Beauty and the Beast. When someone stumbles into an enchantment hidden deep within a forest, he trades his life for the lives of one of his slaves... 1x2 shounen-ai.
Author's Notes: My eternal thanks to Lady_Friselle for being fantastic beyond words. (She betaed, for the record.)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
FFnet link
"Hey there, I'm Duo, and I'm going to take a wild guess and say you're Heero. Mind if we eat? I'm starving!"
In five hundred years, nobody had ever responded to him that way. There was no fear, though there had been just seconds earlier; there was no hate, no disgust, no revulsion, no panic. He had to be crazy or, or...
Really, the only explanation Heero could come up with was insanity.
Duo looked blankly at his poleaxed dinner companion. He really was hungry, and it wouldn't be polite to eat until his host sat down, at least.
"...It is good to meet you," said Heero finally, falling back to formality, voice so deep it was nearly subterranean, humming through Duo's bones, a nearly physical force. Some vague part of Duo's mind noted it was probably a side-effect of the inhuman build the creature had.
Heero finally moved, as enigmatic as he had always been, to the seat obviously meant for him, considerably larger than the other one, and meant for his taller, heavier frame. His old body had been short and lightly built, but the curse had promised him a body stronger, heavier, more endurable and faster than any man could hope to be and whatever else happened, the sorceress who had cast it had been true to her word. That particular promise had been fulfilled, and then some. So had the others.
Duo took his own seat gracefully, blinking at his already-served plate. While Wufei had explained about the invisible servants, the echoes of the souls who had once lived in the castle, it took some getting used to. At least he wasn't the skittish type…As this scene was so effectively demonstrating. Inside he was a little puddle of fear, but he was functioning fine beyond that. It helped that he was hungry--it gave him something to focus on.
As he ate he was intensely aware of both the silence and the penetrating gaze. Oh well--he could remedy one of those, at least.
His dinner partner didn't seem to be the talkative type; in that case, it was up to him. It was a good thing he was a master at inane babbling... "Wufei spent the day showing me, Quatre and Trowa around. Took us through some of the house--this place is ridiculously large, just for the record--and around most of the grounds. Didn't quite make it all the way through. We've still got the rose garden and informal gardens, apparently. I dunno, though, it's the wrong time of year for roses... Now that I think of it, that bastard Ellyaugh kept on muttering about roses. He seemed even crazier than usual, which takes some doing in reference to a guy who tried to kidnap a Winner. I mean, that's got 'repressed suicidal urges' stamped all over it, really."
Heero glared slightly at his dinner companion. Did he have any idea what he was caught up in? What he was facing? This wasn't...Wasn't anything normal. Heero wished he would stop talking about the roses.
Duo caught the look aimed in his direction--it would be hard not to even if his attention wasn't focused on the creatu--person across from him. As things were, his mind was still screaming "Threat! Threat!" as loudly as it could.
Seeing as drawing Heero into conversation most definitely wasn't working, Duo redirected his flow of words towards himself. “…Anyways. Nice to be out of Ellyaugh's hands. I just can't believe he took advantage of the plague like that, especially since it took his family as well--Well, I mean, I can believe it, hard not to, but I just can't imagine what sort of person it would take to do that. Other than Ellyaugh, I mean."
"Plague?" said Heero finally. They--Wufei and himself--had no way of learning what was happening in the world outside of their own except through news brought in through their "visitors."
Duo had swung around sharply at Heero's sudden words to look him full in the face, (So he wasn't crazy, thought Heero. Just good at hiding his fear...) but as his mind processed what Heero had actually said he froze, face moving to blankness for the first time since his arrival, smoothing out to something as immobile as marble for one quick split second before Duo began to move again, straightening up out of a barely-noticeable hunched position, his grin returning. All in all, the brief moment of change was nearly unnoticeable, and all the more extraordinary (Heero refused to think 'vaguely unnerving' just on principal) because of that.
"The plague? I guess it makes some sort of sense that you wouldn't've heard of it... Still. It started seven years ago, with a single case in a small town. People think it came out of a near-by swamp. People from the neighboring village went to see what had happened after nobody showed up for their weekly market and found everyone dead. I think three people out of the whole village survived.
"The people from the second village carried it with them, and then messengers left there to inform the King's City what had happened, taking the plague with them as well--soon it was everywhere. It raged for two years--only the richest families had a good chance of survival. Healers couldn't save anybody unless they died in the attempt, which many chose to do--there are almost none left anymore because of that.
"The plague was unique in that it was worse for people with power, and innate magic wasn't enough to drive off the disease unless you were a healer. There are even less general magic-workers than healers now.
"In the long run, it tore apart all the structure society had. There's no order, no organization anymore. It's what allows Ellyaugh to run his slave trade--now all that matters is if you have enough money. Laws and rules are largely inconsequential. Most people have lost their families, which leaves you weaker in the long run, having nobody to watch your back, so many have joined what are essentially gangs that act like extended family groups. It keeps people safer, emotionally and physically.
"Only people with large amounts of power and wealth really survived intact, and even then they needed to change how things work for them to keep themselves that way.
"The plague really changed everything, I guess."
Heero nodded once, still analyzing the new information he had been given.
"Now it's my turn for a question!" enthused Duo. "Soooooo--! Tell me about this curse-thing. I'm curious; why were you cursed? Who by? How the hells did it last so long? When--Well, you get the point."
Heero stilled, Duo noticed, and barely suppressed an ironic, bitter smirk. We seem to be treading on all sorts of metaphorical toes today... He thought.
"I... Was the one cursed because of a..
.
"Actually, it is none of your business. I owe you nothing.
"Please do not speak of this again."
Duo nodded his understanding, knowing he had the same reaction to some questions as well. It could be a personal question, depending on the situation, and Duo certainly never answered those, at least not with complete truth, and not to the people who mattered. Not that there had been any, those past few years as a slave.
He had finished eating, he noticed, and decided it was time to leave. The atmosphere had grown irrepressibly awkward, and he didn't want to deal with any more of it. He was still feeling bad, anyways, weak and nearly dizzy from the continued effects of his imprisonment. "Well, that's that, I guess, and I'm going to be heading back to my room if it's all the same to you, I'm still a bit on the tired side and all."
"Wait. Before you go--I'm required to say this. It is one of the conditions of the curse. I do not think I will ever love anyone. It certainly has nothing to do with you.
"Will you marry me?"
"Uh?"
"Answer however you will. It is of no importance to me."
"Uh, sorry but no." Duo's body stilled instead of moving back before he managed a quick "Goodbye!" and dashed off to his room. It was a relief that there were no sounds of pursuit, though he knew that he wouldn't hear the beast even if he did follow after him.
oOo
Trowa, Quatre and Wufei had eaten a very tense, very quiet dinner in what Wufei had termed the "small" dining room, despite its cavernous size. The three all had their worries, secrets, and very little in common, not a particularly good combination; Quatre alone wasn't enough to carry the conversation. In the end he had given up, eating his dinner in quiet and hoping that Duo would eventually start joining them during the evenings, or at least that one of the other two would start talking. With Wufei, at least, it might just be nervousness.
And thinking of Duo and his absence sent Quatre's thoughts spinning in the direction of the dinner that was going on in some unknown area of the castle, and who--or what, his mind whispered--Duo was eating dinner with. They knew a name, true, Lord Heero Yuy, but since he (and with him, his family) had been gone for over 500 years now, that meant nothing. Less than nothing, maybe. He had scared Ellyaugh into insanity, not that he was all that far from it in the first place, and was presumably hoping that Duo would fall in love with him.
They didn't even know what, exactly, the curse was; how it had been cast on the castle, why it had been cast, nothing.
After Quatre's train of thought had completed several (noticeably circular) cycles, he gave up. Excusing himself, he left for his room.
Seeing that Duo's door was half-open he poked his head in, assuming he wouldn't be intruding. He was startled to see that Duo seemed to have fallen asleep, still dressed for dinner and sprawled on the floor. Quatre quietly walked into the room, trying to be unobtrusive, and Duo's eyes flew open as he approached, falling back into a fighting position almost immediately, eyes narrowed.
"Duo?" said Quatre quietly.
"Oh, it's just you..." managed Duo sleepily, his eyes dropping closed again. His breathing quickly evened back out.
Quatre smiled softly and pulled a blanket off of the bed, laying it over the boy on the floor--it was startlingly cold tonight after last night's relatively temperate weather--then left the room.
"He's asleep," murmured Quatre to Trowa as he left the room, prompted by the other's questioning look. "Good night, then." Trowa nodded in reply and they entered their respective rooms.
Both were tired, but neither fell asleep quickly. Both were plagued with doubts and questions. They did not know nearly enough about the situation they were in...