Notes: Remember, this takes place in A.C. 195! So don't be surprised when a vid-screen is suddenly mentioned in here...
Traitorous Acts Part 4
IV.: A Change of Plans~
Hilde ran the brush through her mistress' beautiful hair lovingly. "This is your day, Duo-sama," she commented gently. "The day which you become a Duchess, with power and fame and a wonderful husband. No longer behind curtains."
Duo felt like laughing. Wonderful husband? One should say not.
The maid finished her brushing and slipped a silver crown onto Duo's glistening tresses along with numerous clasps of a transparent color.
"There," Hilde said happily, "you look lovely."
Duo eyed himself in the mirror. Long white gown, a string of pearls, hair brushed to the finest shine, a jeweled crown rested on top of his head. "Yes, thank you Hilde," he smiled, feeling none of the happiness one would expect of a bride.
The blue-haired girl must have sensed it somehow, for she embraced the princess as tightly as she dared. "You mustn't be nervous, Duo-sama. This is the most important day of your life. And tonight will be the night you lose your virginity."
Duo did a double-take, and had he been drinking anything, it would've been all over his immaculate dress. His face turned white, then crimson. "No it won't," he grumbled to himself.
"Nonsense!" chided Hilde. She bounced out of the room to make last minute preparations for the ceremony.
"No it won't," Duo repeated quietly with conviction as the door clicked shut. //Oh, Heero. Why didn't you break the engagement before now? Must you wait until today to humiliate me in front of the whole country?//
~*~
Heero paced back and forth furiously, stopping occasionally to mutter a curse.
"Your Highness," interjected a servant he'd brought along from L1. "The ceremony will start in ten minutes, sire."
He nodded but didn't move. "I'm ready." Ready to what? Ready to reject the quick-mouthed princess? Ready to pull out a gun and finally accomplish his task after four months? Ch', he didn't even know why he'd bothered waiting this long, since the bratty princess already knew so much about him. His fingers curled around the handle of the revolver concealed in his trouser pocket. She was one of the most confusing, most infuriating people he'd ever known.
Yes, that must be it. He must have been too angry at her tactics and character to do anything rational. Even through his frustrated haze, Heero still recognized a pathetic excuse when he encountered one, and //that was definitely the dumbest ATTEMPT for an excuse I've ever heard.//
As much as he hated the idea, he, Heero Yuy, prince of the L1 Kingdom, was failing a mission.
~*~
She looked positively radiant in a gown of the purest white, something like an ethereal body--an angel. Heero scowled at himself and shifted uncomfortably at the thought. K'so. Since when did he start seeing people as more than what they were?
His bride flashed him a shy smile, one he immediately recognized as fake. He nodded politely as Duo came to stand beside him on the royal alter. A priest stepped up and they recited the marriage vows, which sounded shockingly sincere considering the situation. How ironic, Duo mused.
Both froze when the priest told them to kiss and the audience waited with bated breath. Duo tensed when he felt his 'beloved's hands close on his arms and he was forced to look into the burning cobalt gaze. He noticed Heero reaching down to his pocket, undoubtedly for a gun, and his mind began running around in terrified circles. //OhmygodI'mgoingtodie...// He'd taunted Heero mercilessly on the subject during the past four months, acting as if his End meant nothing to him. But now that it was actually here... Duo squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the shot.
It didn't come.
Instead, warm lips covered his and swallowed his gasp. His heart skipped a beat then sped until it was racing, and he nearly swooned when a powerful arm encircled his waist and pulled him flush against the other's body. //My first kiss... What does he think he's DOING?!//
Duo didn't talk to Heero all through the rest of the ceremony.
~*~
Heero followed the servants as they led him to his bedroom where he knew his bride was waiting. The look on Duo's face when he'd kissed her made the entire trip worthwhile. Quite obviously her first real kiss. He smirked, caressing the butt of his revolver. And to think he'd have to kill her hours later...
The maid in front had been stiff all the way from the church and her brows were furrowed with worry. The Princess' personal maid, he remembered. It was she who opened the main door to the wedding suite and stepped aside for him to enter. As he did, he could've sworn she whispered: "Please be gentle with Duo-sama", but the door closed before he could make sure.
A somewhat maniacal smile crossed over Heero's darkly handsome features. Oh he'd be gentle. The princess wouldn't even feel him coming, and he'd get out of the country before morning, when they'd find her body, lying in a pool of red but still as beautiful as ever...
His hand tightened around his revolver. It'd shocked him he'd gotten as far as he had under the name 'Peacecraft'. Was the king really so dense to not even bother to do some RESEARCH before jumping to conclusions that he was telling the truth?
It was pure instinct that saved him from having a bullet embed itself in his back, and he whirled to seize the offender. There was a curse, hissed in masculine tones, before he managed to get hold of a handful of chestnut hair and yank. Heero muffled the blood-curling scream and both went tumbling to the ground, the prince pinning his slender would-be assassin to the lush carpet.
With no small amount of surprise, he found his wife beneath him, thrashing and bucking before going limp. A small pearl-handled pistol lay not four feet away from them, the silencer still attached to the end.
"Duo..."
The 'girl' took advantage of his dazed state and shoved him off with strength no woman, let alone a woman of pampered upbringing, could muster. Duo grabbed the pistol and stood up slowly, never once taking his eyes or the weapon off of Heero.
"S-stay away from me," he rasped, voice shaky and lower in pitch than Heero ever remembered. He took a few deep breaths and managed to regain his composure. "Did you really think you could just waltz in here and kill me without any resistance?" Duo snorted, confident sarcasm back in place. "You're out of your mind, Yuy!"
There was a tense silence until Heero spoke, cold and detached. "Yes, perhaps I am," he murmured.
Duo backed away, eyes narrowed and stance wary. Heero got to his feet smoothly, careful to stay a healthy distance from the princess.
"However," he continued in the same tone and extended a hand toward the neck of Duo's robe, "why don't you just shoot me? Or are you able to?"
The longhaired boy froze stiff. Surely Heero didn't know...there was just no way! "What makes you say that?" he demanded with more confidence than he felt.
"For one..." Heero removed the pistol from his wife's nerveless fingers and opened the cartridge. "it's empty. Two..." He took one step closer and laid a firm hand on Duo's collar. "you're not the only one who knows what's going on."
Duo leapt back, eyes wild and frightened. "Shit."
Heero eyed him. "Now, that's not something a princess would say, is it? Duo Maxwell, Crown Prince of the L2 Kingdom."
The longhaired boy snapped then, knees going weak and his entire body sagging to the floor. Without missing a beat, Heero picked him up and laid him the over-sized bed, almost tender in his movements. He sat down beside the huddled figure and sighed. "I suppose it wouldn't be good to kill you now. Your father won't live forever, and L2 needs a leader." He fanned out the long brown locks on the satin pillow, toying with them as he did so. "I have a feeling you will be a much better leader than him."
Duo nodded numbly. He sat up suddenly, clutching to the enemy prince desperately. "But what'll I do?!" Heero nearly fell back at the expression in the bright violet eyes. They were lost, so unlike the spoiled brat he'd gotten used to. "I can't just announce to the country that I'm a boy. Imagine how Father would react."
Heero had no answer for that.
Long, elegant fingers tightened on the white sheets of the bed. "How did you find out?" he asked quietly. "What did I do that...gave it away?"
"I first suspected it the day we spent in the garden. Then little things you did added to the suspicion, then when you attacked me tonight I was certain."
Duo leaned back against the cushions on the bed wearily. "I see."
Heero nodded and stood up. "I should be getting back to L1."
The other prince nodded. "Aa."
Heero had barely opened the door when Duo's horrified cry reached his ears.
"HEERO!"
...and he fell to the ground, unconscious.
TBC...
*falls over*
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