Lovely, Chapter 6
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
Lovely 6
Duo strode into the dining hall absolutely furiouss. Heero wasn’t present, so he sat down, served himself and sat glaring at the plate, his stomach knotted with rage.
When the door creaked open and the shadow that was Heero drifted in, Duo was on his feet and shouting in a few seconds flat-fast enough to surprise even Heero.
“-and you didn’t even have the decency to see if he was alright, you ass! What the fuck did you think you were doing, anyway, pulling that? You better not have any idea of what’s going on, that’s for damn sure!”
Duo could manage an impressive volume, Heero realized. The yelling was loud enough to hurt. His own control, of course, was impeccable.
“Shut up! You have no right to question me while I’m in my own castle!”
His loud reaction was entirely purposeful.
Duo didn’t seem to be cowed by Heero’s advantage, or by the threat of what he was. He simply glared back.
“It’s just shock caused by fear, anyways,” Heero continued, voice quieter but still cold, bitter.
“It’s damn well not,” Duo muttered, venomous. “He went far too cold, then too hot. For all I know he’s cold again, because the fucking castle itself forced me into the dining room. His breathing’s slowed down. He barely has a pulse, but he’s trying to talk, throat flexing but no sound coming out and his breath coming too fast. He is not in shock, you condescending bastard, he’s steps away from death because of something that is almost definitely your fault.”
“You’re the reason he’s here the first place,” Heero sneered. He did not appreciate being verbally attacked in his own castle by a guest for such a stupid reason that was out of his control anyways, to top things off. “It’s as much your fault as mine-if you hadn’t torn a gaping hole in the barrier coming through here, he would be safely at home, serving his lands. I’d imagine that his family is frantic that he’s disappeared off of the face of the earth.”
Duo blanched. The utterly horrified look that appeared on his face before blankness flooded onto his features was strong enough, desperate enough, to force Heero back a step, irrationally and involuntarily.
Duo turned and ran, leaving the monster behind him.
oOo
It was slightly before midnight or slightly after when Trowa exited Quatre’s room.
“He woke up briefly before going back to sleep, and now he’s breathing right, and his temperature’s normal,” he said, voice quiet, to the waiting Wufei, who was very studiously not worried.
He still relaxed visibly.
“I’ll go tell Duo the news,” Trowa offered.
“Good luck,” muttered Wufei. “He hasn’t been to his room since before dinner.”
Trowa frowned slightly. Nothing sounded better right now than sleep, and running around a dark castle looking for an exceptionally-good-at-hiding pick-pocket and thief was an even less attractive idea than anything else he could think of, within reason-excluding sleep, of course. There was no guarantee that he would even find him.
But he did owe it to Duo to tell him how Quatre was doing. He was probably frantic.
“I wonder what happened,” he muttered. It would have to be something dramatic to keep him away from Quatre-it had taken the castle itself moving under his feet, drawing him towards the dining room, to make him leave his bedside in the first place. Even then, it had been a close thing.
“I should probably go find him,” he muttered.
“I’ll go too,” said Wufei, face set and determined. Trowa mentally upped the chance that they would find Duo considerably-Wufei was considerably more familiar with the castle than even Duo was, and with two searchers they could cover more ground faster.
He nodded an acknowledgment, and the two set off.
oOo
The Morning Lady (1) had risen by the time Trowa found Duo; he was slinking back towards his room, from the gardens.
“Quatre’s awake,” he said simply. He was bone-tired, and though he was capableliked Quatre, who was interesting and fiercely intelligent and treated him like a person, more than he had liked any of his charges in the past. His heart had started painfully when he had seen him collapse.
Duo looked even more tired, if possible, and-there was something off about him. There was a sense of exhaustion, loneliness, hurt and guilt about him-or maybe it was something else.
Whatever it was, it was covered up by sheer relief when Duo practically beamed.
“Can I talk to him?” he said, enthusiasm radiating off of him and managing to seem nearly awake.
“He’s asleep,” said Trowa, a trifle amused and bemused.
“Uh… Right.”
“Try the morning.”
“Right. You know, you look like you could use some sleep, Trowa.”
He was so torn by how to respond to that, with outrage or with outrage and accusations of hypocrisy-he had been out looking for him, damn it, and Duo certainly wasn’t looking all that chipper himself-that he didn’t manage to choose one in time. Duo had stumbled into his own room by the time he had the words, and had probably collapsed onto the bed.
Oh, well-he could yell at him for running off (and try to pry the story out of him) tomorrow. He’d also start working on figuring out what, exactly, happened to Quatre. He had a duty to, after all.
oOo
Duo was there when Quatre woke up.
“Hey! Quatre! You’re okay!” he said.
“Nngh,” said Quatre, eloquently; his throat was a bit dry.
Duo laughed, mostly for the sheer joy of it. There was something off, Quatre could tell; he was too relieved, too manic. This-Quatre’s collapse-had cut too close to something else for Duo’s comfort. Now he was hiding.
He still handed Quatre a glass of water, which he drank gratefully. At least his little fainting spell (Gods above, that’s embarrassing even to think) hadn’t left him too weakened, now that he was over it and had had some sleep-some true sleep that is.
“Duo,” he said in greeting, once he could speak.
“How do you feel?” There was still relief in Duo’s voice, but also worry, a strong undercurrent of it in his words.
“Good. A little tired, but good,” Quatre said. It’s the truth, mostly.
“Do you know what happened?” An unspoken ‘Will it happen again?’ could be plainly heard.
“Yes,” Quatre said, then sighed, and opened his mouth to answer. Before he could continue, Trowa wandered into the room, still looking half asleep.
“Good,” Quatre said absently. Duo, correctly assuming that it wasn’t directed at him, ignored it.
“Good morning,” Trowa said.
Quatre and Duo said their own “Hello’s” simultaneously-Quatre blinked, then smiled sheepishly, while Duo laughed.
“Quatre was just going to tell me what happened,” prompted Duo.
“I know my eyes don’t show it, but I’m an empath,(2)” Quatre admitted, in a rush. “Not a strong or reliable one, but enough that I need to keep my gift in check around others.”
Trowa straightened, stiffening slightly and imperceptibly, at the admission.
“And I think the curse had amplified Lord Heero’s, um, mental footprint. How much room his thoughts take up, and how much strength they have. I have to admit, I’ve never had any true training, though, so I don’t know for sure. It’s not much more than an educated guess.”
“Ohhh,” said Duo. He was maybe feeling a little guilty for yelling at Heero.
“The pressure of it was just too much-it just overloaded my mind.” Quatre looked actively embarrassed. “I’m really not much of a mage, and too sensitive for the scale of my gift.”
“Will it happen again? How far away from him do you need to be?” Trowa was all business.
“I don’t know,” said Quatre, bleakly.
oOo
It was another evening, and, again, Duo beat Heero to the dining room, where the dinner was already out on the table, steaming gently.
His dinner seat was as little as three, as much as five, feet away from where it normally was.
Duo sat down and waited.
It was probably half an hour before Heero strode into the room.
The manor’s lord was glowering darkly-more so than usual-and sticking to the shadows, almost defensive. He looked more than half-feral and was blaringly, unsubtly, dangerous.
“Please partake of that which I am able to offer,” he bit out-Duo hadn’t served himself yet. It was the first time he had bothered to give the pleasantry. It was not the first time Duo had waited for Heero before eating.
Duo cast a cool glance at the man across from him; then appeared to turn his attention to the table and his plate. “I am lucky to feast on the bounty you have so generously given,” he muttered, voice low and dark, nearly rebellious.
He had barely put down his fork before Heero was on his feet; it was only through iron control that Duo kept from flinching back. He had gotten used to Heero, somewhat, but it had not been a-comfortable evening.
“Will you marry me?” asked Heero, voice blank-not angry, not cold, not anything.
“No, thanks.” Duo’s tone, at least, was warmer. Not that that meant much.
oOo
“I just feel so guilty!” Quatre was pacing, driven to distraction. He was out in the moonlit gardens with Trowa, talking; the night was chilly, and Trowa could smell frost in the air. It had been uncomfortably warm the night before, and it had snowed, just the faintest dusting, the night before.
“I’ve never really met Lord Heero-not at all, actually-except for that, and then I have to fuck it up somehow…
“And Duo’s furious, and that’s not helping. And I still don’t know what to think about the situation to start with, and I certainly don’t know what Heero thinks, and I don’t even know what Duo thinks. I can’t do anything, can’t even offer support when I don’t know what to say or how to act, and I messed things up this much when I did get involved. The gods know what I’ll do if I actually try to fix anything…!
“And you’re here too, and my family’s probably frantic. I just keep on causing problems.”
“I don’t mind being here,” said Trowa quietly, looking up.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BetaNote: This is Dream’s Beta Lady Frisselle. I think we should all encourage her to finish this story….Even if we have to wait a long time. It’s too good not to finish.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) This world’s version of the morning star. There’s a creation myth to go along with this… It should feature in a later chapter.
(2) I’ve mentioned this before, but in the world this story is set in, you can tell if people have any magical ability by their eyes-often through an unusual color, but sometimes by eyes with an ordinary color but an unusual intensity or depth
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
Lovely 6
Duo strode into the dining hall absolutely furiouss. Heero wasn’t present, so he sat down, served himself and sat glaring at the plate, his stomach knotted with rage.
When the door creaked open and the shadow that was Heero drifted in, Duo was on his feet and shouting in a few seconds flat-fast enough to surprise even Heero.
“-and you didn’t even have the decency to see if he was alright, you ass! What the fuck did you think you were doing, anyway, pulling that? You better not have any idea of what’s going on, that’s for damn sure!”
Duo could manage an impressive volume, Heero realized. The yelling was loud enough to hurt. His own control, of course, was impeccable.
“Shut up! You have no right to question me while I’m in my own castle!”
His loud reaction was entirely purposeful.
Duo didn’t seem to be cowed by Heero’s advantage, or by the threat of what he was. He simply glared back.
“It’s just shock caused by fear, anyways,” Heero continued, voice quieter but still cold, bitter.
“It’s damn well not,” Duo muttered, venomous. “He went far too cold, then too hot. For all I know he’s cold again, because the fucking castle itself forced me into the dining room. His breathing’s slowed down. He barely has a pulse, but he’s trying to talk, throat flexing but no sound coming out and his breath coming too fast. He is not in shock, you condescending bastard, he’s steps away from death because of something that is almost definitely your fault.”
“You’re the reason he’s here the first place,” Heero sneered. He did not appreciate being verbally attacked in his own castle by a guest for such a stupid reason that was out of his control anyways, to top things off. “It’s as much your fault as mine-if you hadn’t torn a gaping hole in the barrier coming through here, he would be safely at home, serving his lands. I’d imagine that his family is frantic that he’s disappeared off of the face of the earth.”
Duo blanched. The utterly horrified look that appeared on his face before blankness flooded onto his features was strong enough, desperate enough, to force Heero back a step, irrationally and involuntarily.
Duo turned and ran, leaving the monster behind him.
oOo
It was slightly before midnight or slightly after when Trowa exited Quatre’s room.
“He woke up briefly before going back to sleep, and now he’s breathing right, and his temperature’s normal,” he said, voice quiet, to the waiting Wufei, who was very studiously not worried.
He still relaxed visibly.
“I’ll go tell Duo the news,” Trowa offered.
“Good luck,” muttered Wufei. “He hasn’t been to his room since before dinner.”
Trowa frowned slightly. Nothing sounded better right now than sleep, and running around a dark castle looking for an exceptionally-good-at-hiding pick-pocket and thief was an even less attractive idea than anything else he could think of, within reason-excluding sleep, of course. There was no guarantee that he would even find him.
But he did owe it to Duo to tell him how Quatre was doing. He was probably frantic.
“I wonder what happened,” he muttered. It would have to be something dramatic to keep him away from Quatre-it had taken the castle itself moving under his feet, drawing him towards the dining room, to make him leave his bedside in the first place. Even then, it had been a close thing.
“I should probably go find him,” he muttered.
“I’ll go too,” said Wufei, face set and determined. Trowa mentally upped the chance that they would find Duo considerably-Wufei was considerably more familiar with the castle than even Duo was, and with two searchers they could cover more ground faster.
He nodded an acknowledgment, and the two set off.
oOo
The Morning Lady (1) had risen by the time Trowa found Duo; he was slinking back towards his room, from the gardens.
“Quatre’s awake,” he said simply. He was bone-tired, and though he was capableliked Quatre, who was interesting and fiercely intelligent and treated him like a person, more than he had liked any of his charges in the past. His heart had started painfully when he had seen him collapse.
Duo looked even more tired, if possible, and-there was something off about him. There was a sense of exhaustion, loneliness, hurt and guilt about him-or maybe it was something else.
Whatever it was, it was covered up by sheer relief when Duo practically beamed.
“Can I talk to him?” he said, enthusiasm radiating off of him and managing to seem nearly awake.
“He’s asleep,” said Trowa, a trifle amused and bemused.
“Uh… Right.”
“Try the morning.”
“Right. You know, you look like you could use some sleep, Trowa.”
He was so torn by how to respond to that, with outrage or with outrage and accusations of hypocrisy-he had been out looking for him, damn it, and Duo certainly wasn’t looking all that chipper himself-that he didn’t manage to choose one in time. Duo had stumbled into his own room by the time he had the words, and had probably collapsed onto the bed.
Oh, well-he could yell at him for running off (and try to pry the story out of him) tomorrow. He’d also start working on figuring out what, exactly, happened to Quatre. He had a duty to, after all.
oOo
Duo was there when Quatre woke up.
“Hey! Quatre! You’re okay!” he said.
“Nngh,” said Quatre, eloquently; his throat was a bit dry.
Duo laughed, mostly for the sheer joy of it. There was something off, Quatre could tell; he was too relieved, too manic. This-Quatre’s collapse-had cut too close to something else for Duo’s comfort. Now he was hiding.
He still handed Quatre a glass of water, which he drank gratefully. At least his little fainting spell (Gods above, that’s embarrassing even to think) hadn’t left him too weakened, now that he was over it and had had some sleep-some true sleep that is.
“Duo,” he said in greeting, once he could speak.
“How do you feel?” There was still relief in Duo’s voice, but also worry, a strong undercurrent of it in his words.
“Good. A little tired, but good,” Quatre said. It’s the truth, mostly.
“Do you know what happened?” An unspoken ‘Will it happen again?’ could be plainly heard.
“Yes,” Quatre said, then sighed, and opened his mouth to answer. Before he could continue, Trowa wandered into the room, still looking half asleep.
“Good,” Quatre said absently. Duo, correctly assuming that it wasn’t directed at him, ignored it.
“Good morning,” Trowa said.
Quatre and Duo said their own “Hello’s” simultaneously-Quatre blinked, then smiled sheepishly, while Duo laughed.
“Quatre was just going to tell me what happened,” prompted Duo.
“I know my eyes don’t show it, but I’m an empath,(2)” Quatre admitted, in a rush. “Not a strong or reliable one, but enough that I need to keep my gift in check around others.”
Trowa straightened, stiffening slightly and imperceptibly, at the admission.
“And I think the curse had amplified Lord Heero’s, um, mental footprint. How much room his thoughts take up, and how much strength they have. I have to admit, I’ve never had any true training, though, so I don’t know for sure. It’s not much more than an educated guess.”
“Ohhh,” said Duo. He was maybe feeling a little guilty for yelling at Heero.
“The pressure of it was just too much-it just overloaded my mind.” Quatre looked actively embarrassed. “I’m really not much of a mage, and too sensitive for the scale of my gift.”
“Will it happen again? How far away from him do you need to be?” Trowa was all business.
“I don’t know,” said Quatre, bleakly.
oOo
It was another evening, and, again, Duo beat Heero to the dining room, where the dinner was already out on the table, steaming gently.
His dinner seat was as little as three, as much as five, feet away from where it normally was.
Duo sat down and waited.
It was probably half an hour before Heero strode into the room.
The manor’s lord was glowering darkly-more so than usual-and sticking to the shadows, almost defensive. He looked more than half-feral and was blaringly, unsubtly, dangerous.
“Please partake of that which I am able to offer,” he bit out-Duo hadn’t served himself yet. It was the first time he had bothered to give the pleasantry. It was not the first time Duo had waited for Heero before eating.
Duo cast a cool glance at the man across from him; then appeared to turn his attention to the table and his plate. “I am lucky to feast on the bounty you have so generously given,” he muttered, voice low and dark, nearly rebellious.
He had barely put down his fork before Heero was on his feet; it was only through iron control that Duo kept from flinching back. He had gotten used to Heero, somewhat, but it had not been a-comfortable evening.
“Will you marry me?” asked Heero, voice blank-not angry, not cold, not anything.
“No, thanks.” Duo’s tone, at least, was warmer. Not that that meant much.
oOo
“I just feel so guilty!” Quatre was pacing, driven to distraction. He was out in the moonlit gardens with Trowa, talking; the night was chilly, and Trowa could smell frost in the air. It had been uncomfortably warm the night before, and it had snowed, just the faintest dusting, the night before.
“I’ve never really met Lord Heero-not at all, actually-except for that, and then I have to fuck it up somehow…
“And Duo’s furious, and that’s not helping. And I still don’t know what to think about the situation to start with, and I certainly don’t know what Heero thinks, and I don’t even know what Duo thinks. I can’t do anything, can’t even offer support when I don’t know what to say or how to act, and I messed things up this much when I did get involved. The gods know what I’ll do if I actually try to fix anything…!
“And you’re here too, and my family’s probably frantic. I just keep on causing problems.”
“I don’t mind being here,” said Trowa quietly, looking up.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BetaNote: This is Dream’s Beta Lady Frisselle. I think we should all encourage her to finish this story….Even if we have to wait a long time. It’s too good not to finish.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) This world’s version of the morning star. There’s a creation myth to go along with this… It should feature in a later chapter.
(2) I’ve mentioned this before, but in the world this story is set in, you can tell if people have any magical ability by their eyes-often through an unusual color, but sometimes by eyes with an ordinary color but an unusual intensity or depth