'...' thoughts
One and Only Part 15
Staring dazedly at the blood-splattered cloth Trowa still held in his hand, Heero felt his whole world shatter as his knees turned to water and he slowly sank to the floor. "Duo." his anguished voice whispered softly.
With a muttered curse, Trowa dropped the cloth and hurried to his friend's side, kneeling down until he was at eye level with the other man. "Heero, you can't assume its Duo's blood."
"Then where is he Trowa?" the blue-eyed man demanded heatedly. "Why isn't he here like he said he would be?"
"I don't know, but if you start assuming the worst now, it's just the same as giving up." the brunette reasoned, his hands gripping the young lord's shoulders as he willed him to understand.
Before either of them could say any thing further though, Quatre burst into the room with Hilde and another serving girl following directly behind him. "Where's Duo?" he asked abruptly as he fought to catch his breath.
"We don't know." Trowa said, hooking an arm under Heero's to pull the man to his feet. "We only returned a few minutes ago and he wasn't here."
"Oh dear god, we're too late." the blonde whispered as tears sprang to his eyes.
"Too late for what?" Heero asked, a glare fixed firmly on his face as he finally turned his full attention on the new arrivals, taking in their harried appearances.
"It'd be best if you sat down first Heero, before we discuss what we've learned." his blonde friend stated as he tried to regained control of his emotions.
"No, dammit. If this has anything to do with Duo and where he is right now, then I want to know what the hell it is."
"Please my lord." Hilde said as she stepped forward, wringing her hands nervously. "The sooner we all sit down, the sooner we can figure out what we're going to do."
Whether it was the pleading tone in her voice or the fear he saw glimmering in her eyes, Heero nodded in agreement and allowed Quatre to lead him to the sofa situated opposite the small table used for meals where the blonde doctor sat down beside him. Once the others had taken their seats as well, he turned his attention to the man sitting beside him. "Ok, I'm sitting; now tell me what's going on."
Instead of answering him though, Quatre turned his attention to the two young women with an expectant look on his face.
"My lord," Hilde started, gesturing toward the servant sitting beside her. "this is Tilly, she's one of Princess Relena's personal servants. She came to me just a short while ago to tell me she had overheard the other servants talking about the princess' plans to have Duo kidnapped. Luckily I knew Lord Quatre was in the dining hall since I didn't think we could stop her on our own nor did I know who I could trust among the palace servants."
"As soon as Hilde told me what was going on, I rushed back here." Quatre explained, his voice soft. "Unfortunately, it appears I didn't move fast enough."
"It wasn't your fault." Trowa stated.
"No, it's not." Heero stated before turning his attention back to the young woman. "When did you overhear them talking?"
"Ju... just this morning, my lord." she stammered, the man's intense gaze was unnerving her. "Wh... while we were preparing her hi... highness' bath."
"If the others knew, why didn't they come forward as well? Maybe even sooner." Trowa asked.
"Everyone's too afraid of her." the girl whispered in shame. "She threatens to have our families killed if we tell anyone the things we hear in her rooms."
"Then why did you tell Hilde?" Quatre asked.
"My brother." Tilly said, her voice catching as she spoke, her eyes fixed on her hands, which were clasped tightly in her lap. "He just turned sixteen a few days ago and enlisted in the army. I just know she's going to cause a war by kidnapping the elf prince and I don't want to lose him."
"Do you know what she has planned for Duo?" the blonde man asked and received a small nod from the woman. "Would you please tell us?"
Taking a deep breath as she firmed her resolve, Tilly raised her bowed head to look the blonde doctor in the eye. "If it will help keep my brother from having to fight, I'll tell you anything you want to know."
********************
In the far back corner in the small inn on the outskirts of the city, hidden by deep shadow and unbeknownst to the other patrons, two figures sat quietly at a table, each sipping at a cup of ale. After having sat there for several hours watching the man not three tables away become more and more drunk, the smaller of the two had finally reached his limit of patience and turned to his companion with a glare, "How much longer do we have to wait?"
"Not much longer now Dragon." the tall man said. "I promise, the wait will be rewarded."
"We should've taken the bastard into custody an hour ago." the dark-eyed man snarled.
"Then we would've run the risk of not being able to find Duo." Treize countered. "Since their first meeting took place before his kidnapping and they have yet to meet again, she's the one who will know where he is, not Septim."
"I still say we should've dragged her out of her chambers last night and forced her to tell us where she put him." Wufei snarled. "Princess or not, what she's done is unforgivable."
"Without substantial evidence, we have no way of tying her to Duo's disappearance and even if we could prove she was the one behind it, she could keep us guessing as to where she's keeping him for days if not months." the general stated logically. "This means that, unless she has someone taking care of him wherever he is, he would be on his own until we were able to get the information out of her. Do you really want to risk his dying of thirst, hunger, or possibly something even worse between now and then?"
Stifling a heavy sigh, the young constable dropped his eyes as he shook his head. He knew that Treize was right in forcing them to wait, but just the thought of Duo being held somewhere against his will had his protective instincts raised and he found himself prepared to do just about anything to find him. Picking up his cup, he raised it to his lips once again but before he could take a drink, another cloaked figure entered the inn and even though he could not see the person's face, he knew by the way the person carried herself that the second half of their quarry had just arrived.
********************
Relena was furious; not only had that presumptuous bastard Septim demanded they meet at the same inn as their first meeting but had named the time as well and warned her that if she were late, he would inform Zechs of her hand in kidnapping the little elf. 'We'll see who's in charge here.' the princess thought to herself as she quickly scanned her eyes over the occupants in the dusky room. Almost immediately, she noted the increased number of patrons that day and it put her on edge; after all, the more people in attendance, the more potential witnesses that at this point she had no way of dealing with. However, she also knew she had no other choice than to follow through with the meeting since things had escalated beyond the point of no return. So, finally spotting the senator amongst the crowd, she made her way to the table and took the seat directly across from him.
"Good afternoon, your highness." Septim purred from inside his own cloak, the slur to his voice indicating he had had one too many pints to drink. "Good to see that you could follow direction so well."
"How dare you think to--"
"Ah ah ah princess." the senator tutted, one finger raised as if disciplining a child. "You no longer have the upper hand here. From now on, we do things my way."
"That's where you're wrong." Relena sneered. "You still need me to deliver that little freak and if you think I care one way or another whether he lives or dies, you are wrong. For all I care, he can stay right were he is and rot. But that wouldn't bode too well for you now would it?"
"You wouldn't dare." Septim growled, the woman's threat doing a good job of cutting through his drunk-fogged mind. "If that boy dies, the elves will slaughter us all."
"Not if I can make them believe that my brother, as well as the senate was to blame for his death. You do support the slave trade after all, which is what put him in this position in the first place." she state smugly. "After that, they would only have a select few to... dispose of."
"You would destroy us all? Including Yuy?"
"You know as well as I that Heero has always taken a stand against the trade. I'm sure I'll have little problem convincing them that Heero was merely an innocent bystander."
"He would never let you get away with it."
"With the little elf gone and a carefully placed threat to his friend's lives, I doubt he'll be much trouble." she smiled maliciously. "He'll roll over and play dead if I told him to in order to save them."
"You have a lot of confidence in your... charms princess." the older man mumbled. "Ok, we'll do it your way, but I want the boy tonight, it's getting to dangerous for me to stay in the city."
"Very well, I'd prefer having him off my hands anyways." she said with one more quick look around to see if anyone was watching them. "Come to the kitchen entrance to the palace tonight at midnight. I'll take you to where I have him hidden."
"Fine." he said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some things to take care of before I leave."
Standing from his chair, Lord Septim grabbed the edge of the table to steady himself before finally staggering from the inn. As she had done following the previous meeting, Relena waited until he was a good distance away before leaving herself.
When the door closed behind the woman's back, Wufei felt his entire body twitch with the desire to follow after her. However, he managed to contain his impulse as he turned back to his companion, giving him an inquisitive look.
"It would look like we're down to the final act." the ginger-haired man stated. "Now all we have to do is follow our little princess tonight to close the curtain on this little play of hers."
"I just hope Duo's there for the encore." the black-haired man snorted as he slumped in his chair, his heart beating hard in his chest as he hoped beyond hope that the nightmare would be over soon.
********************
Stalking through the palace halls, Heero growled at practically anyone who happened to cross his path. Trowa and Quatre, who were following close at his heels, only hoped to save any poor soul who might not have moved fast enough to escape the young lord's wrath and as far as he was concerned, they deserved to have to deal with his bad temper since it was their fault he was here and not in his chambers. They had come to his room not long after lunch, insisting that he join them for dinner in the main hall and following several hours of pleading and cajoling, he had agreed but only after Quatre mentioned presenting a united front to Relena. It still angered him that he had not been allowed to act upon the servant's information the night before.
"Heero." Quatre said for nearly the thousandth time. "You need to calm down; your anger's not helping things and you're frightening the servants."
"Twenty four hours Quatre." the dark-haired lord snarled without looking behind him at his friend. "It's been twenty four fucking hours since that bitch had him taken from our chambers. I want him found now, not later."
"We're doing everything humanly possible to find him. We should count ourselves lucky that Tilly came forward when she did, otherwise we may never have found out what exactly happened." Trowa stated, causing Heero to spin around and nail him with a withering glare.
"You tell that to him, wherever the hell he is!" the man exclaimed. "Can you imagine what's going through his mind right now? I promised him dammit, I promised...." With those words, Heero seemed to collapse in on himself, causing both the auburn-haired man and his blonde lover to hurry to their friend's side. "My god, Trowa." Heero whispered, his voice choked by unshed tears. "He must be scared to death; not knowing what's going to happen to him."
"Heero." Quatre said as he wrapped his arms around his distraught friend. "We will find him, I promise. You just have to have faith and a little patience."
Closing his eyes, Heero mentally pulled himself back together, feeling embarrassed that he had broken down like that in the public hallway. Finally straightening from his friend's comforting embrace, he gave them both a nod of gratitude before turning on his heals and continued down the hallway.
"Let's just hope we find him soon." Trowa said softly once the blue-eyed man was out of earshot as he draped an arm over Quatre's shoulders and pulled him close. "For both their sakes."
********************
Leaving her chambers as the hour struck midnight, Relena made her way toward the palace kitchens in order to greet Septim as agreed earlier that day, failing to notice the two shadows that detached themselves from the wall to follow not far behind her. Upon arrival, she hurried across the room before unbolting and opening the door, being extra quiet so as not to wake the cook or the servants in that area, and finding herself pleased to see the man waiting impatiently on the other side.
"About damn time." he sneered, pushing past her and into the room.
"I told you midnight and that was what I meant; not a minute before." she countered as she shut the door once again.
"Enough with your pretentiousness just take me to the boy." the man snapped. "The sooner I'm away from here the better."
"Follow me then, and keep quiet." Relena hissed before turning to leave the kitchen.
Leading him through the palace, she took him through the servant's wing and past the soldier's barracks before stopping at the top of a set of stairs that led down into darkness.
"You put him in the dungeon?" Septim asked as he wrinkled his nose in disgust.
"You didn't expect me to keep him in my rooms, did you?" she stated while pulling a torch from its wall brackets before lighting it with a flint stone. "Besides, no one would think to look down here; Zechs hasn't used it in ages. And even if they did, there's no way they would be able to find him in time."
Continuing down the stairs with only the spare light to illuminate their path, they finally reached the floor of the dungeon. Relena paused only briefly at the bottom to pull down another torch, which she lit and handed to Septim before leading him further into the darkness. The dungeons of the Trasil palace were more maze than anything else; the hallways led on for a distance before twisting or forking and a person without any knowledge of the place would be helplessly lost and confused within only minutes of entering. However, with a skill evidently born of much practice, Relena walked confidently through the maze, past many closed doorways until she stopped in front of one that was undistinguishable from all the rest and reached for the bolt.
Inside the small dungeon room, Duo's breath caught in his throat as the sound of what he thought were footsteps stopped outside the door. During the time he had been left in the room, he had been alone with nothing to eat or drink. Also, while he had managed to sleep in short stretches, it was not enough for him to have actually called it rest since he was unable to let his guard down completely and therefore, every little sound or movement in the dark around him would bring him back to wakefulness in an instant. This was the first time however that the sounds proved to be anything more than the rats or his overactive imagination and as the bolt was drawn back, he could do nothing but hold his breath and wait.
With the lock out of the way, Relena pulled the door open, allowing the light from the two torches to push back the darkness in the small cell and in its path, the violet-eyed elf was revealed lying on the floor, hands and feet bound.
"Well, I see you've wrapped him up nice and tight." the man said as he approached the small boy after securing his torch in one of the wall brackets just inside the cell. Kneeling down, he reached up to brush the long bangs back from the boy's face. At the touch however, Duo whimpered and tried to pull away causing the man to frown sharply. "Now now pet, you mustn't forget your training. I would hate to have to start from scratch if Yuy's managed to ruin it all."
At the terror-filled look the longhaired elf gave him, Septim knew the boy understood what was in store for him and he smiled evilly. Once again, the man reached out to touch the boy's cheek and this time, Duo simply closed his eyes, forcing himself to remain still and even going to far as to suppress his involuntary shudder.
"Good, that's much better." Septim smiled before pulling out a knife from its sheath at his side. Grabbing the rope that connected the elf's ankle and wrist binding, he neatly sliced it in two before doing the same for the one leading to the noose around him neck. Then, after returning the knife to his side, he picked the boy up in his arms and turned toward the princess, who was still standing outside the cell door. "Show me the way out of this disgusting, hell hole." he demanded.
At first, the command in the man's voice caused her to glare darkly as she contemplated leaving him to rot in the maze of hallways. However, when her eyes met those of Duo's and she saw the horror and helplessness there, she could not help the smirk that crossed her face. Without saying a word, she turned and proceeded to lead them back through the dungeon. In her mind, visions of her victory played repeatedly and it was not until she had reached the top of the stairs where she was grabbed and shoved against the wall that she realized things had gone horribly wrong.
"Did you really think you'd get away with this?" Wufei snarled in her face, causing her eyes to widen as she stilled completely. A second later, totally unaware of the drama taking place just out of sight at the top of the stairs, Septim emerged with Duo, who by this time was positively vibrating with the constant stream of tremors that were passing through his small frame as tears streaked down his cheeks.
"That's far enough senator; put the prince down." a deep voice stated from directly in front of him, causing Septim to look up from where he had been gloating down at his small captive. Freezing in his tracks at seeing Treize Khushrenada standing in front of him with his sword drawn, Septim's head snapped to the side only to find Relena glaring helplessly at the black-haired constable. "Don't make me repeat myself, Septim." Treize's ominous voice stated when he did not comply with the original demand immediately.
"You will unhand me at once." Relena screeched as the dark-eyed constable proceeded to spin her around so he could bind her hands behind her back with a length of rope. "Or I will have you both flogged."
Giving her a moderate shove into the wall to still her complaints, Wufei leaned in close so he could hiss in her ear, "You should count yourself lucky I don't carry out my justice right here and now. Kidnapping an elf, let alone the crown prince, is punishable by death and by the laws of my clan, I have the right to carry it out at my own discretion."
"I don't know what you're talking about." she said, her voice shaking convincingly. "It was all Lord Septim's plan; I swear he blackmailed me into helping."
"That won't work this time your highness." Treize stated without taking his eyes from the senator. Finally growing impatient with the man's hesitance, he took a menacing step toward him, causing the man to kneel down immediately and place the longhaired elf on the stone floor. "We've been watching the two of you since your first meeting at the inn."
"You chose the wrong messenger to set the meeting up princess." the constable stated, giving the ropes a good tug to tighten them before stalking over to tie the senator's hands as well. "It was simple for Treize to corner him, learn what the message was, then send one of his own men to deliver it instead. Thus allowing him to station himself where he could not be seen while still being able to observe the two of you."
Finally satisfied they were both bound and would not be able to escape, Wufei turned his attention to where Duo was still laying on the floor as he knelt at the boy's side, feeling his anger rise at the slight flinch his actions caused. Pushing it down though, he pulled his knife from his belt and quickly cut the ropes that still bound his hands and ankles. Then placing a gentle hand on the elf's shoulder, he turned the boy over onto his back, seeing only fear in those unnaturally dull violet eyes that did not seem to recognize him at all. "Duo." he called, keeping his voice soft so as not to frighten the elf any further.
The sound of his name called by a familiar and much loved voice slowly penetrated Duo's over frightened mind, which had tried desperately to hide itself away once again, knowing exactly what Septim had in store for him when they returned to his home. Struggling within himself, he managed to pull himself away from that cloaking darkness and back to the light. Finally blinking his eyes a few times as his vision cleared, he found himself looking up into a pair of dark-eyes he had known since childhood. "Fei?" he whispered softly, one trembling hand reaching up to touch the man's cheek.
At the feel of warm flesh under his fingertips, the reality of the moment solidified and the braided boy launched himself into his friend's arms with a sharp cry as renewed tears began trailing down his cheeks. Having been unprepared for Duo's sudden movement, Wufei found himself knocked backwards onto the stone floor with the elf's arms wrapped securely around his neck. A soft sigh of relief passed his lips and he brought his own arms up around the small boy and began rocking him gently, whispering words of comfort into his ear. In no time at all, and to the young constable's infinite relief, the exhaustion of everything finally caught up with the violet-eyed elf and he was soon sound asleep, safely ensconced in his friend's arms.
TBC...
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