From Far Away Part 8
"How many times I told you to call me Relena when we are not in the palace, Wufei?"
Heero widened his eyes as he heard the girl's name. Relena Peacecraft, the Queen of Sank, enemy of the kingdom of OZ. What was she doing in OZ's territory?
"Who is this young man, Wufei? And why do you bring him here?" Relena asked Wufei.
"It's quite a long story, Relena. I suggest we sit down first. I will explain it to you." Wufei replied.
Relena nodded and gestured to the table, where the other girls were standing near. Unlike Relena who wore a dress, the other girls were wearing the warrior robes, just like Wufei's. Wufei walked to the table and sat down, followed by Relena and the other girls. Having no other options, Heero followed suit and sat down between Wufei and another girl with purple hair.
"This is Heero Yuy, Heero do you know who Relena is?" Wufei looked at Heero, who nodded his head. "Well, I don't have to explain about her then. The girl beside you is Hilde and the other one beside her is Noin. Both of them and I are Relena 's bodyguards. They got captured while we passed this territory."
"Relena's bodyguard? So you are...." Heero looked at Wufei.
Wufei nodded. "Yes, I am a spy here. I work for Romefeller in order to be able to access this prison where they are being held." Wufei turned to Relena who was sitting next to him. "Relena , Heero is a warrior and apparently Romefeller likes him and decided to capture him. He is the key for us to escape this prison."
"I am the key?" Heero interrupted, feeling confused and surprised at Wufei's explanation.
"Let me explain all of it." Wufei was becoming irritated of having his speech interrupted. "Tomorrow, you, Heero, will have to battle against 15 men. Romefeller likes to invite people to watch the battles, so he will be taking half of the prison guards to guard the open arena. Also all fifteen of his best bodyguards will be at the arena to fight Heero. That will weaken the prison's defenses so Sally, Quatre, and Trowa can infiltrate it easily and free you."
"Sally? Quatre? Trowa? Who are they?" Heero was becoming more confused.
"They are also my bodyguards, Heero. Together with Wufei, they managed to run away when Romefeller caught me. They are hiding someplace in town right now." Relena helped Wufei to explain.
"So they are in the town...." Heero turned to Wufei. "You can contact them, right?"
Wufei nodded.
"Good, can you ask them to find Duo? He most likely panicked when I never showed up."
"Who is Duo?" Hilde spoke up.
"Duo is Heero's friend. Don't worry, Duo is already with them, Heero." Wufei spoke calmly.
"Nani??" Heero was surprised. How could Sally, Quatre, and Trowa know Duo?
"I saw Trowa holding back Duo. He was so mad when he saw you being ....uhm...by Romefeller...uhm..." Wufei didn't continue his words but Heero, judging from Wufei's blushing face, could guess what Duo saw. Inside, Heero swore to make Romefeller very sorry. "Anyway, I have told Sally to tell Duo that you are okay. So just relax, Duo is safe with them." Wufei continued, ignoring the questioning looks from the girls who didn't understand what Wufei is omitting.
//Sally, Quatre, Trowa,......one female and two males.....could they be.....// Heero remembered the persons he saw sitting behind Duo. "Wufei, does Sally have two braids, and do Quatre or Trowa by any chance have blond hair or banged brown hair?"
Wufei frowned. "Sally does have braided hair, Quatre has blond hair, and Trowa has banged brown hair. How do you know about that?"
"I saw them."
"Nani??" Now it was Wufei's turn to be surprised. Relena and the others were also surprised as well. "How can you see them? You were in prison all this time." Wufei was really surprised.
"I saw them while I was in my cell." Heero spoke calmly.
"How?"
"I don't know, I just saw them behind Duo." Heero shrugged.
"You saw Duo, too?" Wufei's eyes widened.
"Yes, I was talking with Duo when you and Romefeller disturbed me."
"Talking with Duo? But that's impossible. He is with Quatre, Trowa, and Sally." Some stars began dancing around Wufei's head.
"I know he is somewhere far from me, but I can hear him and he can hear me too." Heero knew they are confused with his words but he didn't understand much about this phenomena either.
"Excuse me, this thing you are referring to ... I think you were doing some form of telepathy." Noin interrupted.
"Telepathy? Noin, you know about this?" Wufei turned to Noin. Heero and the others, following Wufei's suit, looked at Noin.
"I only heard about this ability when I was a child. It's really an ancient ability. But what I heard about telepathy is a bit different from the one you have experienced, Heero," Noin explained.
"What's the difference?" Wufei asked impatiently.
"First, they can only communicate with each other, not see each other. Second..... telepathy is not done between humans." Noin bowed her head.
"Not between humans? What do you mean, onna?" Wufei became irritated with all the confusion around him. Heero just kept silent. Noin mentioned telepathy, he remembered what he had read about it from a book, and that knowledge made him tense, in which he clenched his fists until they became white.
"Telepathy is only done between animals or monsters. Heero, Duo is not an animal, is he? And I don't think he is a monster." Noin looked at Heero apologetically.
"No, he isn't." Heero said bitterly. //But maybe I am......//
Wufei also became silent. He remembered now about the ability called telepathy. Hundreds of years ago, people could communicate with animals and also monsters. They could order the monsters to stay away from human territories and to never disturb any humans. But as the area where they lived become cleared of the monsters, people lost the ability. Now that the monsters are back, none of the humans had the ability to communicate with them anymore.
Relena finally broke the silence. "Okay, maybe it's telepathy that Heero has experienced but it isn't. There's no danger or threat to this ability, right? So why don't we forget about this thing for a moment and discuss about our plan to escape?" Watching the nods from the others, Relena continued, "So Quatre and the others will free us from here. But how about you and Heero, Wufei? I recall that you have to fight in the arena, that means you can't escape with us."
Wufei answered, "Yes, it's true. My plan is to have Heero lose the battle and collapse. Then I will take him out of the arena under the excuse to have his injuries taken care of, while in truth we will be getting the horses and joining you at the edge of the town."
"Sounds like a good plan to me. Sally and the others know about this plan, right?" Relena looked at Wufei who nodded back.
"Okay, I think we are done with the plan then. We will wait here to be freed by Quatre, while you and Heero find the way out of the arena. Any questions or additions?"
"I have nothing to add." Wufei spoke and folded his hands in front of his chest.
"I have a question." Heero surprised them all. "What about Duo?"
"Ah I think Quatre will take care of Duo, right Wufei?" Relena looked at Wufei.
"True Yuy. Don't worry about him, I have asked Sally to take Duo to the edge of the town tomorrow to join us too." Wufei answered.
Heero nodded and leant back onto his seat, signaling that he had no further questions.
"Nothing else? I think we should rest then. We only have a few hours left until morning comes. So I suggest to use them to reserve our energy." Relena ended the conversation.
"I will take Heero back to his cell, then." Wufei stood up, followed by Heero.
"Ah, Heero, take this with you." Relena took off her cloak and put it around Heero, covering his upper body before Heero and Wufei left the room.
Heero frowned along his way to his cell. Not that he didn't like wearing a cloak, on the contrary, he was glad to have something to cover his naked body. But what disturbed him was that the cloak was *pink* !
Wufei, noticing Heero's grimace towards the cloak, tried to hold his grins and smirks in Heero's reaction. When they reached Heero's cell, Wufei gestured Heero to go in it, and then locked the cell. "I will see you at the arena tomorrow, Yuy. Remember the plan, and don't try to fight the other men. They are too strong."
Heero snorted. "Don't you worry about that. What I don't understand is why the Queen was traveling around her while she knows that this is OZ's territory, her enemy's territory."
Wufei sighed. "To tell you the truth, we are on our way to find Shinigami and she insisted we take her with us. That onna is really stubborn. She said we would need her to talk to Shinigami."
"You want to find Shinigami too? What for?" Heero frowned.
"I think you know why. Shinigami has control over Perfect Soldier. We want to ask him to lend his Perfect Soldier to help us fight OZ." Wufei answered, oblivious to Heero, who clenched his fists beneath the cloak. When he saw Heero has no other questions, Wufei left him and joined the other guards.
After Wufei left him, Heero slumped down against the wall. //All the same.....Perfect Soldier is just a monster and a war weapon....not human........//
~*~
"Unn.." Duo came to from the darkness and into pain, with his face throbbing and sore.
"Ah, you finally awake, Duo." Duo opened his eyes and looked at the beaming Quatre
"What happened to me?" Duo sat up from the floor and saw Sally and Trowa stand near Quatre.
"We don't know for sure. You ran and shouted Heero's name then collided with the wall." Quatre explained.
"Heero! Where is he?" Duo looked around, already forgetting about the pain.
"He is in prison, Duo." Sally spoke up. "I have already told you that."
"No, I saw him here, just now! And I was going to hold him, but I met the wall instead of him."
"You saw him? How?" Quatre asked.
"I don't know, I was thinking about him then I heard his voice and suddenly I could see him." Duo was confused as hell too. He was sure it was Heero whom he saw. Those messy brown hair, Prussian blue eyes....Heero was sitting and.....Duo growled as he remembered Heero's wrists and ankles had been shackled. Moreover Heero was only wearing his spandex shorts, where was the rest of his clothes? Heero also had a collar around his neck. What had happened to him? Duo was really worried. "Quatre, we have to rescue Heero soon!"
Sally, Quatre, and Trowa watched as Duo's face changed from confused to worried. They looked at one another . Trowa gave a silent gesture to Quatre, who nodded and turned to Duo. "Duo, you may be tired. Why don't you rest? Sally, Trowa and I will rescue Heero and our friends tomorrow so we have to reserve our energy tonight."
Duo nodded and looked sharply to Quatre. "I am coming with you, Quatre. Don't try to stop me. I can fight and I intend to free Heero as soon as possible. Heero is not safe there."
Quatre looked at Duo long before answering. "You care so much about him, don't you, Duo? Is he your koi?"
"Koi? What is koi?" Duo was confused. Heero never mentioned the word 'koi' before. That was a new a vocabulary word for him.
"You don't know what koi is?" Quatre was surprised
Duo grinned sheepishly, "Well, I am not originally from here, Quatre. I come from an island far away from here and its language is different from your language."
Quatre smiled. "A koi is a person who you cared most for'. The one you want to be with you always. You can say Trowa is my koi." Quatre looked at Trowa tenderly.
Duo looked at Trowa and then looked back at Quatre. Trowa is Quatre's koi.....the person who you care most for ? Did koi mean the same as friend? Well, as Quatre said, he cared for Heero so much. Loved him, to be truthful. So if a koi was the one he cared for then Heero was his koi nevertheless. "Yes Quatre, Heero is my koi. I care so much about him."
Quatre nodded. "We will take you with us tomorrow, Duo. Now rest, we need to keep our strength for the fight tomorrow. Trowa and I will go out to find another room for Sally. Is it okay for you to be left alone?"
"No problem, Quatre." Duo smiled. "Just be careful out there."
"I will." Quatre smiled and walked out, followed by Trowa and Sally.
After the three had left, Duo walked to the bed and rested on it, thinking about what had happened. It hadn't been a day since Heero was separated from him but he missed his companion so much. //Heero, are you okay there?//
{Duo?}
Duo sat up. He could hear Heero's voice. {Heero! You can hear me?}
{Loud and clear, Duo}
{Where are you now? I have been worried about you.}
{I am ..I am okay. Don't worry. Are you okay there?}
{Damnit , I don't think you are okay. You are in prison, aren't you Heero?}
{How did you know?}
{Sally told me. And moreover I saw you remember? I saw your wrists and ankles were shackled. } Duo growled again at the image. He would deal with Romefeller later for shackling Heero.
{....I am okay, Duo.}
{No, you aren't! You are half naked, for God's sake! Are you cold there? Damn, I wish I can free you right now.}
{A little cold, nothing to be worried about. Wufei will free me tomorrow.}
{Wufei has told you the plan, huh?}
{Yes, I assume Sally has also told you, ne?}
{Yeah, we will free you tomorrow, Heero.}
{Arigatou.}
{Don't thank me, you are my koi. I just do what I should do.}
{..........}
{Heero?}
{Your koi?}
{Yeah, Quatre had told me the meaning of koi. I care about you so you are my koi.}
{You want me to be your koi?}
{Why not? Haven't you ever had a koi before?}
{No....}
{I don't believe this. No one wanted to be your koi??}
{No....}
They are blind then. Whatever, I am your koi now, Heero. You can count on me.} Duo wondered why no one wanted to be friends with Heero. Maybe they were afraid of Heero's glare? So Heero lived alone before he met him? Duo promised himself not to let Heero be alone again.
{You really want to me to be your koi?}
{Yes, Heero. You are my koi and I am your koi. Don't doubt about that.}
{.......Arigatou.}
{It's nothing. Now sleep, Heero. As much as I like to talk with you, I need to sleep so I can fight tomorrow.} Duo lay back on the bed. He was happy now. Heero was okay. For now, he only could hear his voice, but tomorrow, he would meet Heero again. He yawned. {Goodnight, koi}
Far away in the prison, Heero Yuy smiled for the first time in his sixteen years of life. Although it was only a little quirk up at the edge of his mouth, it was a smile, nevertheless. Heero was not feeling cold anymore. He felt warm as if Duo hugged him and kept him safe. Duo wanted him to be his koi. Duo cared for him, loved him. He was loved. He was human....{Goodnight, Duo.}
~*~
Romefeller was standing smugly, looking down from the highest balcony of the arena. The arena was quite big and the seats around it were filled with his guests. "Let's begin the battle." He gave a signal and the door to the arena was opened. The crowd went silent as a boy walked to the middle of the arena.
Heero looked around the silent crowd. He was wearing a black tank top, green moist pants and black boots Wufei had given to him. His shackles had been removed, though his collar was still intact.
Romefeller smiled as the crowd admired the boy, his soon to be slave. "Gentleman, this boy will fight against my fifteen bodyguards." He snapped his fingers and soon his bodyguards were in the arena, surrounding Heero. "Since this battle today is very special to me, I decide to invite some special guests to watch." He signaled his other guards to bring out his guests. "Meet my guests, Relena Peacecraft and her bodyguards."
In the arena, Wufei was surprised to see Relena and the other girls there, tied up on chairs. Damn, their plan had failed. He never thought that Romefeller would bring Relena and the others to watch the battle. May be Quatre and the others were smart enough to leave the prison as soon as they found out Relena was not there.
The trumpets were blown, signaling the battle had started. Wufei quickly leaped forward and attacked Heero, wanting to be the one to beat Heero so he would not suffer hits from the other bodyguards. But to his surprise, Heero evaded his attack easily. "Damn it, Yuy. You better lose at my hand than the others. I don't want to suffer more than you have to." Wufei whispered to Heero while he kept attacking him. The other bodyguards didn't join him in attacking the boy because they felt Wufei could handle it alone, so it was quite safe for him to whisper some words.
"I intend to win. I don't want to be his slave." Heero spoke calmly while evading Wufei's blows.
"You will never win. Don't you understand that Romefeller never wanted to free you? Even if I help you, I can't beat all the bodyguards, especially Kaze. He has this unique Power that can make us faint within seconds." Wufei hissed.
"Now that you mention Kaze, I think I have a plan to get us out of this place."
"Oh, what's that?"
Romefeller watched as Wufei attacked the boy. The boy was still weak; Wufei could beat him easily. But to his surprise, after some minutes of fighting, the boy managed to launch a blow at Wufei, sending him a couple of feet away. His bodyguards leaped to attack the boy one by one but the boy easily beaten them. He was so focused on watching the fight that he didn't notice Wufei had left the arena.
When Wufei returned to the arena, he watched as Heero fought and knocked down the bodyguards one by one. He joined the battle and pushed Heero a bit far from the others. "This is the item you requested. Are you sure you can use this?" Wufei slipped a fist-sized bottle to Heero, who quickly snatched it.
"Yes, Wufei. I am sure of this. Now go, release Relena and the others." Heero gave a fake blow to Wufei and the Chinese used its momentum to push him near Relena's seat.
Romefeller however, had had enough. The boy had humiliated him in front of his guests. "All of you, attack the boy!"
All his bodyguards, except Wufei and Kaze, leapt and attacked Heero. Watching as his enemies attacked him from all directions, Heero chose to jump high, evading the attacks.
Kaze watched as his comrades attacked the boy. He was not stupid; He knew his potion had lost its effect on the boy. Moreover he wasn't very good in close combat, so he stayed behind, waiting for his chance. His chance eventually came as he noticed the boy jump up high. He smiled and released his Power. This time he used the strongest potion he had that would knock the boy out in a second.
Romefeller smiled widely as Kaze controlled the wind to attack the boy with his potion once again. The boy was high in the air when the wind hit him, sending him down to the ground with a loud thump. His other bodyguards quickly leapt at the boy, surrounding him and preventing Romefeller from seeing him.
Romefeller only could see his bodyguards kicking and punching in full force upon the youth beneath them. He frowned, predicting how many broken ribs and bruises the boy would have. But then the boy deserved it. The boy would never dare to fight him again after this battle.
Wufei had managed to climb into Relena's place when he heard the girls scream. He turned to see the arena and watched in horror as the bodyguards attacked the fallen Heero. He was sure the boy was out cold right now beneath the rain of kicks and punches. Their plan had failed miserably. Now he could only hope that Romefeller would stop the battle or Heero would surely die from the blows.
But to Wufei's surprise, he saw the bodyguards were thrown into all directions, hitting the wall and collapsing. There in the middle of the arena, Heero was standing perfectly still. His expression couldn't be seen since he bowed his head so Wufei didn't know whether the boy was in pain or not. Wufei ran his eyes, checking the boy's body. Heero's body was clearly unscratched nor bruised. Wufei dropped his jaws, not believing his eyes. Apparently, he was not the only one, almost everybody, who watched the fight had their jaws dropped in surprise.
"Wufei, now!" Heero's words snapped Wufei from his surprised state and he quickly climbed up to Relena. He knocked out the two guards there and released Relena and the others.
"All of you, close your eyes, mouth, and nose." Wufei shouted and closed his eyes and held his breath.
In the arena, only two people were left standing while the others were out for the count. Heero and Kaze. Kaze stared in disbelief as his potion had no effect on the boy. Slowly to his horror, he watched as the boy lifted his head to stare back to him. He gulped....the boy's eyes ...were not human's eyes. The pupils were reduced leaving a white vertical line on blue pools, just like cat eyes.
Then suddenly the wind blew furiously. Kaze covered his eyes with his arm as the dust floated around. The crowd screamed and shrieked, trying to protect their eyes. Vaguely Kaze heard a husky voice. "Did you think you can beat me again using the same method as before?"
Behind the protection of the wind, Heero smirked, showing his sharp fangs without hesitation. He knew no one could see him right now. He then raised the bottle and broke it, letting the powder inside be scattered by the wind. It was the same mixture that Kaze had used against him. As the wind spread the powder, the crowd fainted one by one, including Romefeller and Kaze.
The windstorm continued for about 30 seconds then subsided. Feeling the wind had stopped, Wufei opened his eyes, followed by Relena, Hilde, and Noin.
There in the arena, Heero was the only one standing. Every one else had collapsed, leaving them alone in the now quiet arena. Wufei and the others walked to the arena, approaching Heero, who was tossing his collar to the ground unceremoniously.
"I didn't know you could control wind, Yuy." Wufei was mesmerized by this boy's power. He seemed to be full of mysteries.
" It's not something I'm proud of." Heero shrugged.
Suddenly the arena's door was opened. "Heero!!"
Heero quickly turned and was surprised when he felt someone hugging him. "You're okay! Thank God!!" He tensed a little and quickly relaxed as he realized it was Duo who hugging him. The braided boy buried his head on Heero's shoulder and hugged him tighter, almost cutting his air supply. Well, not he that minded though. For a second time, the edges of his mouth quirked up, forming a smile.
After some seconds passed, Heero realized no one had spoken up. He ran his eyes over everyone and blushed when he realized all eyes were on them.
"Whoa, and here I thought you couldn't blush, Yuy." Wufei's voice made Heero blush deeper. What had happened to him? In a week he had blushed twice and all because of the braided baka, who was hugging him right now.
Duo still wasn't aware of his surroundings. Heero was safe. That was the most important thing. He panicked when they couldn't find Relena and the others in the prison. The plan must have gone wrong and it was killing him, not knowing what happened to Heero. But now Heero was here, safe and unscratched.
"Don't tease him, Wufei. He looks cute when he blushes." Relena giggled, making Duo realized they were not alone. He turned around and saw a girl with brown hair smiling at him. "Hello, I am Relena Peacecraft, nice to meet you. This is Hilde." Relena gestured to the girl on her right and then to the girl on her left, "This is Noin. They are my guardians, together with Quatre, Trowa, Sally, and Wufei."
Duo nodded to Hilde and Noin as Relena introduced them then fixed his eyes back to Relena. "I am Duo Maxwell. Nice to meet you too, Relena."
Relena smiled and then turned to Quatre. " Quatre, how did you find us?"
"Well, it was Duo who led us here." Quatre explained sheepishly. " He panicked when we found your cell empty and he ran to this arena. We followed him because we were afraid he would be caught or killed. When we came here, we found the guards had fainted and entered easily, as you can see."
"Talking about guards, we better get out of here before they awaken." Wufei spoke up.
"Wait, I have unfinished business with Romefeller." Duo's eyes flashed as he eyed Romefeller's prone body.
Later when Romefeller woke up, he would find three big words had been written on his forehead with permanent ink. He would have to skin his forehead to remove the writings 'HENTAI OLD MAN'.
Duo and the others had been far gone by then. They had decided to go back to Sank through the forest east of the arena. Duo and Heero had decided to join Relena and the others since it was too dangerous to stay in Romefeller's territory. Meanwhile deep in the forest, a boy opened his golden eyes. "He is coming...."
TBC...
Hehheheehehehe, another GW character will show up, guess who? *grins*
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