Darkness at Dawn Part 37
Duo awoke to something incredibly warm and soft brushing his cheek -
He smiled. The Angel couldn't possibly know how beautiful he looked, bathed in moonlight that made his wings seem to glow with purity. The Dawnchild gently stroked one wing. He couldn't help feeling amazed that he could be so fortunate...
The Angel shivered, and Duo regretfully drew his hand back. "I'm sorry, love. Sleep..." He drew a line down between the Angel's brows with a single fingertip.
Heero immediately relaxed and nuzzled his shoulder affectionately, and the white wings settled once again.
Duo knew he would not be able to sleep again, though. The implications of what they had done ran through his mind, such a bittersweet feeling...
He gasped - images began flooding his mind, and Duo was powerless to control it as the Vision spoke to him.
Fires were burning everywhere, and he could hear the anguished cries of men, smell the stench of burning skin and spilled blood, so strong it threatened to choke him. The skies overhead were so dark, so forbidding...
But a patch of light was growing all around them, and Duo was suddenly aware that he was being held tightly in his lover's arms. Heero almost seemed to be shaking in his grasp. Too late, Duo realised that the shaking was sobbing - he pulled back to see tears falling from crystal blue eyes and sparkling as they traced down the angel's face.
"Love you, my Duo..." He felt the body in his arms growing less substantial, and Duo realised what was happening with a sinking feeling in his heart. He locked eyes with his Angel. Yes - Heero was being summoned home.
It was all he could think of - Duo threaded his hands one last time into Heero's hair and pulled him close for a chaste but passionate kiss, their tears mixing as they fell.
As Heero disappeared entirely, Duo sank to his knees, his whole frame trembling. Heero's tears - they were all he had left.
As the vision ended, Duo shoved his fist in his mouth to keep from crying out and waking his lover. He looked back down at Heero, breathing heavily as tears began to fall from his eyes.
Sometimes, knowing the future was too great a burden to bear.
~*~
"I know what you saw."
Duo turned in surprise from his contemplation of the sunrise. Quatre stood just behind him, his golden hair still damp from its morning wash. "Quatre!"
The blond moved forward and stood at his cousin's side, watching as the sky lit up. "It is what he is, Duo. If it helps any, he does not want to be parted from you any more than you from him."
Duo's blue-violet eyes glowed in pain. "It doesn't change anything, cousin. It doesn't make 'forever' any shorter. Guardians, there has to be a way!"
"Perhaps there is, Duo," Quatre mused. "The future, after all, is a tricky thing, and things that should come to pass could be altered, if the players choose it."
Duo sighed, his shoulders slumped. "The players cannot change who they are, and one of the reasons I love Heero so much is because of who and what he is. Regardless of who wins or loses, his place is not here, and I've known that all along. I just hoped..."
Quatre pulled the slender Dawnchild against him and held him as Duo struggled to hold back his tears.
~*~
"CREE!"
Trowa snorted - he should have known he would not be allowed to sleep in too late, though he had to admit he had been expecting his wake-up call from one of the many Dawnchildren around him, not from the bird that had just settled to the ground at his side. He cracked one eye open to find that Cree was watching him curiously. "Good morning, Cree. Duo didn't send you after me, did he?"
The bird chirped excitedly as it hopped from one foot to the other, and Trowa's eyes went wide as he heard the bird's voice in his mind. ~No, Duo and the Angel are too preoccupied with each other, I think, to bother you. I came of my own accord.~
Trowa smiled - the bird was gossiping with him now? "To what do I owe the honour, then?"
If a bird could roll its eyes, Cree did so. ~A warning. The Dark Ones have crossed the Vorlo River.~
Trowa sat straight up in shock and surprise. The Vorlo was a mere week's march from Sandrock - less than that, if the Darkchildren continued at the same speed they'd been going. He grabbed his shirt and threw it on, absently running one hand through his hair to get it to some semblance of order. "Does anyone else know this yet?"
~My master probably does, as will your human.~
Trowa stopped pulling on his boots to look down at the bird with a raised eyebrow. "My human?"
"CREE!" The bird spread its wings and took off without another word.
Trowa shook his head as he grabbed his sword belt up and quickly slung it around his hips. He could have sworn that damned bird was laughing at him!
~*~
Heero looked up as Duo slipped back into their room and gave his lover a small smile. "I missed you."
Duo noted with a pang of regret that Heero had once again banished his wings, but he managed to smile, despite the gloomy thoughts in his heart and mind. "I'm sorry, love. I needed to... think."
Heero rose from the bed and snagged his shirt to pull it on as he crossed the room and folded Duo into his embrace. "Always remember, Duo-love, that He has a plan. We may not understand it or even like it, but there is a reason for everything, you and me included."
Duo fought back the tears - he knew the angel would say something like that. He put on a brave face. "You're asking me to have faith, aren't you?"
Heero nodded and cupped Duo's face tenderly before leaning in for a gentle kiss.
~*~
Roth stormed out of the command tent and straight to the wagon that was serving at the Army's infirmary. As he approached, the head doctor poked his head out from the covered portion of the wagon. "My lord, any news?"
Roth shook his head as he hopped up onto the wagon and carefully moved to the man's side. "He will not stop, I asked. I'm sorry."
The other Darkchild shuddered in anger. "I've lost six already this morning, my Lord. We cannot continue like this."
"But we have to," Roth countered, his eyes serious, but sad. "Ramar will stop for no one and nothing until he has the Raberba's head."
"There will come a time when he will go too far, my Lord."
Roth's eyes glinted in the darkness and gloom that followed the Army wherever it went. "He already has, my friend."
~*~
You could hear their approach from many miles away.
The people of Sandrock were curious enough that it overcame their apprehension - a long column of people followed the King's party as it set out on horseback from the Keep.
Quatre signaled for a stop and patted his horse's neck affectionately as he waited. He could now make out music, accompanying the steady rhythm of hooves and feet meeting the packed, hard dirt of the road, and the sound was getting louder as a dust cloud in the distance tried to camouflage the colourful troop it surrounded.
Heero shot Duo a quick look, and nodded to himself. The Dawnchild looked ready to bolt forward and meet the group halfway... He reached out and put a gentle hand on Duo's armoured forearm. Violet eyes swiveled his way, smiling at him in the bright morning sun-
"CREE!"
Duo laughed as a speck of gold wheeled overhead and drifted downwards in ever tighter spirals until it landed on his outstretched arm with graceful dignity. Duo stroked the bird gently. "What news, my friend?"
Treize watched, concerned, as Duo's smile drooped while the bird chirped in his ear.
Duo immediately began chirping back, and for the first time, Treize found that it was not difficult to understand what was going on - the Dawnchild was practically radiating his distress. The bird nipped Duo's neck affectionately before spreading his wings and leaping back into the sky.
Treize inched closer. "Duo-friend, what..."
"Alarming news, my friend. Let us not speak of it now," Duo said softly, looking not only to Treize, but to Wufei and Heero, who had also inched their mounts closer. He gave them all a relaxing smile, letting calm flow over them all... Let them have a few more moments of peace, at least. Ah, Guardians, if only we had a little more time...
He broke his thoughts off, though, as the approaching riders began slowing to a stately walk, and finally pulled up dramatically, all motion ceasing at once. As four riders calmly began walking forward, Duo urged his horse forward to Quatre's side. "Come, cousin. This is your cue."
Terribly nervous, Quatre nodded and nudged his horse forward. Like an honour guard, the others fell in around him, Heero and Duo to his right, Wufei and Treize to his left, and Zechs trailing just behind with Dorothy at his side. They rode forward at a stately trot.
Trowa couldn't hold back a smile as his lover's face came into view. At his side, Howard found it particularly amusing, and poked the slender youth in the arm. "You are grinning like the cat who will get the cream tonight, young one."
The half-breed blushed at the innuendo. "Meow."
Weyridge chuckled under his breath. "That's enough from both of you!"
Howard rolled his eyes. "They've already met Duo - they know we're not a dignified people!"
Weyridge shot him a withering look. "So kind of you to speak of your kinsman thus, Howard..."
The sniping came to an end, though, as the two groups met. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as the Dawnchild riders stared at Quatre, open amazement written on their faces.
Weyridge finally inched his mount forward enough that he could reach out and touch the young blond. "Your Trowa has told us about you, young Raberba, but we were not prepared... You look much like your ancestor. She was much loved by us all. I am Weyridge." He gave a small bow from his saddle.
Quatre smiled and returned the gesture. "Welcome to my Kingdom, sir. It is both an honour and a privilege to meet someone else who knew and loved my ancestor. It makes me wish I could have known her, as well." He reached out and clasped the older Dawnchild's hand in his own.
As Trowa began introducing Quatre to the others, Weyridge rode to Duo's side and embraced the startled younger Dawnchild as a father would. He pulled back slowly. "My boy, it lightens my heart to see you again, and to see you happy. One hundred lifetimes cannot possibly make up for what you have suffered..."
Duo shook his head. "Enough, old friend. That is in the past, now, and it doesn't matter anymore." They embraced again, and there were tears in Duo's eyes as he pulled away.
He recovered quickly, though, and waved Zechs and Dorothy over with a twinkle in his eye. "I think, though, that it is high time you met someone, sir..."
Weyridge's clear blue eyes went wide in disbelief as he stared at the Lady, staring equally back at him. "Guardians... my granddaughter! Please, child. Come here and let an old man take a look at you!"
Dorothy's smile was trembling as she inched closer and reached out a shaking hand-
Laughing in sheer joy, Weyridge took her hand warmly in his own.
A smiled broke like Dawn over Dorothy's face, and she laughed, too, as she was pulled from her mount into her grandfather's warm embrace.
~*~
Quatre was still throwing glances at Trowa and the tall Dawnchild at his side, Barton, who was undoubtedly closely related to him. The resemblance was uncanny, to say the least.
It had taken a few long hours to get the army settled in a large are outside the city walls, but it was done, and now the senior leaders of the Dawnchild army had come to Sandrock for the first time in over 200 years. Human and Dawnchild stared at each other across Quatre's Great Hall as he called the Council to order. He breezed through the introductions quickly.
Weyridge rose from his seat and bowed to the assembled lords. "On behalf of my people, I thank you for the warm welcome. We are honoured to be part of your company and to once again be in the service of our General."
Duo fidgeted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable with the title.
Quatre nodded. "And what if Duo were not to perform as your General? What then?"
Weyridge threw a look in Duo's direction, but the younger Dawnchild refused to meet his eyes. He shook his head. "Though he wishes it not, our allegiance will always be his. But should Lord Duo wish it, we will serve the Raberba, as payment of our blood debt to your kind."
"Blood debt?" Quatre asked.
Howard, on Weyridge's right, nodded his head. "Yes. Thousands of your kind have died at the Dark Army's hands. Your ancestor stood at our side, along with many good men, in the past - we will stand at yours, now."
Duo finally stirred. "I do not wish to be... who I once was. But I will not leave my cousin so burdened. Quatre, with your permission, I will ride at the head of my people."
The blond smiled warmly. "I was counting on it, Duo-friend. My thanks."
~*~
Relena knocked and waited before entering the room. She had finally managed to catch Duo Maxwell when he was alone, without even Heero at his side. She took a deep breath to steady herself and entered.
He looked up in surprise - the Dawnchild was sitting in the sunlight, carefully treating his armour and checking it for the slightest weakness. He set the shiny metal aside quickly and smiled, rising to his feet and giving her a small bow. "To what do I owe the honour, Lady?"
Sally and Dorothy were right - he doesn't feel threatening, at all. Relena took a step closer. "Two reasons, my lord. Firstly, a message from the Mother Healer, asking you to stop in to speak with her."
Duo nodded. "Of course I will! And the second reason?"
Relena gratefully sat when Duo waved his hand, indicating a chair. "I... I've been meaning to talk to you... about Ramar."
A pained look shone in the Dawnchild's eyes. "Dorothy warned me you might wish to. My lady..."
She held up one hand. "No, please let me speak first." She clasped her hands back together in her lap. "I've apologized to many people for what I did, but never to you. I can only imagine what pain this has cost you, even with your Angel at your side, and nothing I can say will ever be enough..."
She stopped speaking, startled, when he was suddenly at her side, gently wiping away tears she hadn't even been aware of on her cheeks. Violet eyes caught and held hers. "He hurt you deeply, and I'm sorry for that."
Him apologizing to... me? Relena froze, looking up into the perfection of the Dawnchild lord's face. "You have nothing to apologize for. It was my choice, and I have learned that... one must be prepared to live with the consequences when one makes decisions."
A glint of amusement entered Duo's eyes quite suddenly. "You were afraid of me, weren't you?"
"Yes... no! I mean..."
Duo laughed merrily and let calm happiness bleed out into the air around him. He smiled as Relena visibly relaxed. "It's okay. Understandable, even. But tell me - do you now know what you wanted to know?"
She nodded. "I had been prepared to hate your kind."
The light quite suddenly left Duo's eyes. "No - never allow yourself to feel hate. It is like poison and it can only lead to evil. Remember that, my Lady."
Relena knew the sound of a dismissal and quickly took her leave. She stopped, though, and looked back before she left.
His armour forgotten at his side, Duo was leaning on the window sill, a sad look on his face.
Relena shut the door carefully, and was surprised to find herself pitying the creature she had so feared.
~*~
Zechs and Dorothy had only been in Weyridge's company for half an hour before both were absolutely certain the older Dawnchild could beat Duo out in a speaking competition. Everywhere they went, he was greeted and saluted - it was a source of wonder to Dorothy that her mother would ever have turned her back on either this creature or the people who were not giving her welcoming, if somewhat wary, smiles.
"Steady, there." Zechs' rich baritone pulled her from her thoughts just as a strong arm closed tightly about her waist and lifted her neatly over a small pile of weapons next to a brightly-painted wagon. Dorothy felt herself blushing as he set her back on her feet and both Zechs and Weyridge gave her careful, concerned looks. "Are you ill, granddaughter?"
She shook her head, surprised. "I was lost in thought - my apologies. I should have been paying more attention..."
"Nonsense, child!" Weyridge said. He took her arm and led her towards a blue wagon and a young-looking Dawnchild who was waving at them from it. "We will take a small rest. Come, I want you to meet some people..."
The boy next to the wagon looked enough like Dorothy that one could have thought them brother and sister. Weyridge gave him a fond embrace. "This, my dear Dorothy, is your cousin Araan."
Dorothy's eyes went wide. "I didn't know I had cousins!"
"Well, you do now. Araan, greet your cousin properly, now..."
The young blond gave Dorothy a disgustingly handsome smile and bowed with a flourish. "A pleasure to meet you, kinsman."
Before she could say a word, the he grinned and took off running around the other side of the wagon. Weyridge laughed. "Children! His father - your mother's little brother wasn't born until after the War ended, you know - his father is around here somewhere. Now please, sit! Make yourselves comfortable..."
Within moments, Dorothy and Zechs were ensconced in piles of cushions, a still glowing-faced Weyridge seated across from them.
Dorothy shook her head in amazement. "Sir, I must ask. Why did my mother leave you?"
The smile dimmed. "Ah, young one, you ask the most difficult of questions first, and yet I would have been disappointed, had you not. Your mother... did not believe, as many of us do, that Human and Dawnchild should intermingle. She was scared that allowing it to happen could signal the end of our kind, afraid of becoming a relic, forgotten creature..." He sighed heavily. "There is nothing I regret more than losing her, seeing her on the battlefield for the other side..."
He shot Zechs a piercing look. "She would be much surprised, young Epyon, to find her daughter in your company, but maybe it would have been enough to make her see..."
Zechs could find nothing to say, and merely nodded, the fingers of one hand tracing gently down Dorothy's forearm.
"Grandfather!" A shout was the only warning they got before Araan burst back into the calm scene, landing in Weyridge's lap with a thump.
"And you must be my new niece," a musical voice said from behind them. Dorothy turned -
The Dawnchild behind her looked so much like her mother that she gasped. He smiled. "Welcome to our family, Dorothy. I am called Rory." He gave her a quick bow, and then quirked an eyebrow at Zechs, already grinning. "And I see you've already brought a beau to meet us. How sweet!"
Zechs stifled the urge to groan. He smiled instead - the Dawnchild sense of humour was infectious. "I am Zechs of Sank. A pleasure."
Rory laughed. "Of course you are, Lord Epyon! Believe it or not, you've already made quite a reputation for yourself."
"I have?" Zechs turned to look at Weyridge, who merely shrugged back.
Rory threw an arm around both Zechs and Dorothy's shoulders. "Now let's get acquainted..."
~*~
Duo finally managed to track Sally down in a smaller outbuilding in the castle's courtyard. He gave her a respectful nod before turning to embrace the other woman with her, his kinswoman, Noin. "I hope I'm not interrupting..."
Sally shook her head. "Of course not, Duo. I asked you to come and find me, after all. Please sit..." she invited, pointing to a section of counter top that had been cleared of what Duo recognised as bundles of herbs and pots of healing salves.
He simply leaned against the counter and cocked his head, ready to listen.
The Mother Healer smiled, amused. "Have it your own way, then! I swear you Dawnchildren are all the same..."
Duo simply smiled. "What did you need to tell me?"
Sally and Noin exchanged nods before the princess turned to him and said, "We wanted to volunteer something, actually. You know my brother will not allow me any closer to the battle than I have to be... so I was thinking that between the Lady Sally, myself, Abdul and a few others, we might be able to stand guard over your Mad Four. That way your attention would not have to be diverted from the actual battle."
Duo was silent, but a slow smile began to spread over his lips and from there to the rest of his face. "The idea has great possibilities..."
~*~
Most of the humans present at banquet that evening would never be able to tell you if anything specific happened during, but simply that it was one of the most enjoyable evenings of their lives. There had not been space within Sandrock to hold a proper welcoming feast for the Dawnchild visitors; instead, Une had the affair set up outside the walls, between the trees and the river. Quatre's vassals had given their men stern warnings to be on their best behaviour, yet the warnings seemed unnecessary. No one spoke for a full minute when the Dawnchildren joined the group, dressed in their bright colours and laughing amongst themselves.
Une had set it up so that humans could sit to one side and Dawnchildren to the other, but that distinction only held for the first hour or so. Quatre and his lords watched in amazement as the visiting Dawnchildren pulled instruments, seemingly out of thin air, and set up an impromptu orchestra on the grass, torchlight gleaming on polished metal. Even those who did not understand the words were stirred by the music.
It was a magical night that many would remember long afterwards as the beginning of the end.
~*~
Dawn had not yet broken over the trees when Trowa woke, stretching languidly in the soft sheets of Quatre's bedroom. He sighed in pleasure-
"Stretches as enticing as that should be illegal, Trowa," Quatre murmured sleepily. Trowa turned to him to find sleepy aquamarine eyes smiling at him.
The blond pulled his lover closer and kissed him thoroughly. "D'you think we could have another wagon to pull the bed along with us?" he asked drowsily, as they finally pulled apart for air.
Trowa chuckled. "No privacy, unfortunately," he said, tracing Quatre's jaw with one finger. "Our soldiers probably don't want to know the intimate details of their King's life, and the Dawnchildren would never let us live it down..."
Quatre shuddered at the thought. "There would be several songs written about it within hours, I'm sure. I thought one or two of them were bad enough, but an entire army..."
Trowa's green eyes captured Quatre's. "I love you, Raberba."
"Love you, too," Quatre whispered, his arms tightening around the other man's body. The two kissed again, and Trowa let his hands roam over tanned skin and hard muscle, knowing fingertips moving steadily lower.
Quatre stiffened in surprise as Trowa's hands gravitated to his backside and fingertips brushed his entrance suggestively. "Trowa, Rashid could come to wake us at any minute..."
"The hell with him," Trowa growled, attacking the blond King's neck with fervour. "You're mine until sunrise."
~*~
"Enter!"
Treize opened the door to Heero and Duo's room and walked in closely followed by Wufei. The two smiled - with a gentle breeze accompanying the bright sunlight of morning, the atmosphere was far less somber than it probably should have been on the day the great army would march to war, but no one was about to complain about it.
In fact, the Elemental Lords were feeling particularly smug at having found a way to keep everyone calm at once.
Heero looked up from his task of braiding Duo's hair and gave them both a nod of greeting. The Dawnchild's voice sang out across the room, though, in sharp contrast to his lover's reserved manners, "Good morning! Did you sleep well?"
"Don't you already know the answer to that, Duo?" Treize asked, strolling to the window and inhaling the fresh air with a smile.
Knowing violet eyes sparkled. "I didn't think you wanted me to discuss your intimate affairs in public, Treize-friend, but yes I do know you two had almost as much fun as we did... OW! Angel!"
Heero snickered, pressing a gentle kiss to Duo's abused hair. "Hush, love."
The Dawnchild made a show of pouting prettily, and Wufei rolled his eyes. "Cute, Maxwell."
Treize laughed along with everyone else, but quickly sobered. "I can't believe we are finally riding out..."
Heero nodded. "I pity these people. They cannot possibly imagine what they shall face."
"In defense of their homeland and their loved ones," Duo said, leaning back against Heero after the Angel finished his braiding and tied the long braid off. "There is little any creature wouldn't do to protect that. They are strong." Heero's arms came up and around the Dawnchild, who let himself simply be held.
The silence that followed was heavy and uncomfortable and, to break it, Wufei gently tapped Treize's shoulder. "I promised to escort Zechs to the Great Hall this morning." The ginger-haired man nodded his understanding.
"Off with you, then!" Duo said, looking back up at them with a sudden smile on his face. "We won't be far behind - tell my dear kinsman we will join them presently. I think... for the sake of the first day of riding, it would be best if I stayed with my people to help guide them along."
Treize smiled and turned to leave, Wufei at his side.
As soon as the door closed, Duo turned and captured Heero's lips with his own. The angel pulled his lover into his lap, wrapping the tail of Duo's braid in his hands, and he held him tightly, confused by the sudden kiss but by no means questioning it.
Duo broke away with flushed cheeks and feverishly bright eyes and panted for air as he leaned his forehead against Heero's. "Ride with me?"
Heero nearly jumped as Duo's voice caressed his ear. He smiled. "Of course I will, Duo-love. Wherever you go, I will be there."
TBC...
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