Love Conquers All Part 15
It took all of Quatre's power to hold Duo, to keep him from charging into the encompassing blaze that had surely swallowed whole his soldier.
Yuy heard Duo scream his name just before he leaped clear of the rapidly advancing flames. A wall of red rose higher broiling over everything. The blistering swells scorched the wet stone walls sending superheated steam to join the propelled fireballs.
Quatre took both of Duo's arms struggling to maintain his grip. "Duo look at me." he ordered giving the frantic human a firm shake. The command did not punch through the pure panic. "Duo look at me now!" the Light God demanded forcing Maxwell to look him in the eyes. As quickly as the fighting began it ended as Duo's limited strength gave out.
"Heero is not hurt" Quatre stated sensing a full measure of the Captain's lifeforce. "Do you understanding what I am saying?"
Duo raised his hand shielding his eyes from the wavering fire's brightness. "Are you...sure?" he asked his words trembling in his throat.
"Yes." Quatre answered his voice steady with surprising calmness. "Yes." he repeated to reinforce the truth of his feelings.
As the stone walls offered no fuel source the hungry flames soon receded until only a drift of smoke and steam remained behind. Slowly the reddened remnants faded leaving sooty walls and a blackened floor. Duo and Quatre blinked hard trying to find a trace of Heero. Trowa kept the crossbow level staring over the shaft at the empty spot where Yuy once stood.
The Dragon's Element, too, searched for some sign of its elusive prey. The tip of its tail twitched fitfully. His head cocked first one way then the other as nothing but the seared stones could be seen. The only evidence of the human's existence was a lone sword, the blade still smoking, lying in the corridor's center.
The two immortals and the human did not have to share any empathic connection to know what they all were thinking. Where was Heero? There were no charred skeleton, no stench of brunt flesh. As skilled as Yuy was as a soldier he did not process the transporting powers of the pair of Gods. He could not have simply vanished into thin air.
Quatre continued to focus on the strong lifeforce sending a steady signal for his intuitive validation. Gradually his mental investigate showed him where the disappearing human was hiding. "There." he whispered to Duo showing him where to look with a nod of his head. At the same instant Trowa received his mate's mental message.
When the hellish cur shot out its blazing attack Heero had jumped clear just ahead of the rolling tide. His sideways leap had taken him through the archway where he grabbed onto one rusty chain dangling above the murky canal. At that moment he had little time to wonder if the weakened iron would support his weigh. Now he hung swinging back and forth from the pitted links. His smoke dingy uniform jacket and soot streaked face against the moss-gray wall's backdrop offered an odd silhouette.
The Hellhound pivoted. Balancing on four sturdy legs it prepared to unleash another firestorm at the helpless human swaying beyond the archway. Trowa, sensing the beast's impending actions, let the arrow fly. The shaft struck dead center in the neck. However the arrow drove in only a few inches as the tough tendons averted the deathblow. The wound was not deep and certainly not mortal.
A claw closed about the shaft pulling the arrow free. Only a small spurt of blood followed the extraction. A high-pitched howl resounded through the hall. The enraged Fire Demon turned to face the bowman and the two intruders who were bravely standing their ground a bit further away.
"RUN!" Quatre yelled to his Dark Mate beginning to push Duo in the opposite direction towards the courtyard. He started to move then realized that Trowa had not fallen in line instead he rested on one knee reloading the crossbow.
"Trowa NO!" Heero shouted as he, too, realized that his comrade was not fleeing the Hound's fury. "Leave me and protect Duo and Quatre." He pleaded knowing he could do nothing to save his lover and his friend.
"Trowa!" Quatre called again, "Please come on."
The Demon's mouth opened wide. A rushing of hot currents could be heard boiling up from its gut surging to the surface. "Damn your stubborn pride." Heero cursed at the Dark God as the roaring of flames reached a frightened crescendo.
Trowa stood up throwing the stock against his cheek. His finger drew back on the trigger set. Pure instinct set the focus. The arrow flew but it never reached its mark. A rush of flames surrounded the flying shaft. In a fleeting flicker of time the arrow's steel tip hit the floor with a faint ring as the wooden shaft evaporated in the intense heat. Without pause the Hound leap forward ready to regurgitate another blazing flood.
The God of Darkness remained fixed in place. Although he held the crossbow he had no more arrows and he knew it would be useless to try to outrun the Element's fiery assault. His green sight locked on Chang's satanic servant never weaving in their determined focus.
"Quatre take Duo and go from this place." he instructed without turning around. He didn't want to see the terror in his lover's eyes but wanted to remember their azure warmth as they had often held him in their loving caress.
"I will not leave you." came his mate's resolved reply.
"I SAID GO!"
Heero refastened his grip on the corroded chain pulling himself higher above the rancid water. He knew he had but a second to distract the hellish beast. Only the briefest amount of time to save his brave but stubborn comrade from the deadly duty of his mission. An even shorter period to keep Trowa's equally headstrong mate from joining his lover in a baptism of fire that might secure their souls but not save their lives. And he knew if Quatre defied his orders Duo would not be far behind. For everyone's sake he had to refocus the Hound's wrath.
"Hey you whoring bastard!" Heero shouted pulling his dagger from his boot.
At the slanderous description and negative aspersion to the its questionable parentage the Demon shook its head in a fit of anger and reared up on its hind legs. Holding the blade by the tip Heero drew back and threw the slender weapon with all the power could muster. A twist of the wrist sent the dagger twirling end over end. Keeping true to it course the weapon embedded in the beast's belly. Claws clutched at the firmly set blade. Louder more anguished howls echoed. The Element of Fire spun about acute ire now guiding it to a single objective.
Heero relaxed his grip letting his body slide smoothly along the chain until he stood on the archway's rim. His hands still gripping the rough links he stalwartly stared down Chang's last threat. The Element hissed spitting out sparks. A shriller shriek bounced off the walls as unadulterated hatred drove the Devil Dog into a fury of rage. Driven by pain-blind madness the Fire Demon rushed headlong for the helpless unarmed human.
"COME ON YOU SPAWN OF HELL!" Heero challenged the charging Devil. "That crazy charlatan cannot help you now." he growled under his breath gritting his teeth for the final confrontation.
The Fire Element paused just long enough to transfer its power into its hind leg muscles. Squatting slightly it rocked back on his haunches putting all its strength and energy into one final, fatal leap. Its head tilted upwards, its mouth snarled in anticipation of ripping flesh and gnawing bones. Eyes blazed like bellows-blown embers. Now a single motive held its attention one set on tearing the haughty human limb from limb.
Suddenly the great Hellhound was airborne. Long wicked claws struck out to snag and hold its intended victim. Pointed teeth parted to deliver their shredding bite. The brave soldier stood tall his eyes locked on the rampaging canine. Seconds before its massive body flew over the archway's top, at the last possible moment before powerful jaws closed about Heero's head, the cunning Captain let loose his hands. The Element of Fire realized too late that its intended prey had dropped beyond its reach. Too late it found its quarry had disappeared and that the maddened charge left it diving through thin air.
Scummy water, moss algae and other distasteful crud splashed over the rim. The foul liquid spattered across the floor releasing the putrid stench of rotten eggs. The panicked beast flung its limbs in an unsuccessful attempt to halt its headlong plunge toward the deadly water. One last hallow howl ricocheted along the slim-clogged channel. Clouds of superheated steam belched out of the archway. The flushed spray boiled up the walls quickly filling the passage with humid fog. Lingering for an instant the muggy evaporation, much like the Wind Maiden's wispy demise, floated along the corridor until the rancid smell of death and decay was all that marked the Fire Element's passing. Water, fire's natural enemy, had done what Decador's pawns in his gruesome game could not, quench the Hellhound's ferocious inferno.
Trowa rested the crossbow on the floor using it for balance. Although the fog had thinned out he still could not see clearly enough to locate his mortal partner. Duo and Quatre stood motionless. The Light God touched his comrade's shoulder leaning around as his eyes searched anxiously for any sign of Heero but the archway and the hall were vacant.
Quatre felt Duo tensed beside him, "Where is he?" Duo whispered as fearful alarm tore through his heart.
"Trowa," Duo called as desperation took a firm hold, "do you see him?" Trowa shook his head, "No." he replied leaning further into the drifting haze.
Duo pushed passed the Fair One rushing to Trowa's side. "Quatre where is he?" he repeated begging his intuitive friend to assure him that his lover was all right.
Taking in a calming breath Quatre tried to focus his mind on Heero's lifeforce signals. "Wait." he instructed touching Maxwell's arm.
Duo's eyes flashed as he jerked away, "Wait for what?" he hissed starting toward the archway.
Quatre pointed below shorter links where the remainder of the chain had pulled free from the top, "There." he sighed.
One grimy hand, slick and green, eased over the rim. Some inches apart a matching hand followed clumsily catching the equally slick stones. Slowly a tangled mass of wet black hair rose above the low wall. Trowa reached over clasping Heero's wrists. With a steady pull Yuy's chest cleared the top, then his hips and finally his knees. Swinging his legs over Heero settled down inside the archway.
Ignoring the nasty mess covering his soldier, Duo wrapping both arms about his brave hero. "Are you all right?" he whispered close to Heero's ear tightening his hug to make certain his lover did not slip from his grasp.
"I will be," Heero answered squirming a bit in Duo's bear hug, "if you will let me breathe."
Duo lessened his hold leaning back for a better look. He wanted to study Yuy's eyes, he could always tell a person's condition by their eyes. "Oh God I love you Heero Yuy." Again ignoring the slime and smell he deeply kissed his soul mate. "We will never be apart. This I promise with my heart and on my life." Duo declared as he broke the kiss. The old phase states that "love is blind" but love must not have very sensitive sinuses either.
The Gods of Light and Dark did a fair job of restraining their eagerness to also hug and fuss over their victorious comrade. Their enthusiastic fervor was quelled somewhat by the fact that Heero did smell like a stable in serious need of cleaning. The ledge above the waterline was all that had kept Yuy from a scalding swim with Chang's Ambassador from Hell and a possible drowning had he become pinned beneath the Hound's considerable weight. But the backwash from the Element's plunge had managed to soak his clothes and hair leaving behind a peculiar and quite perfuse perfume. A thorough bath would definitely be the first order of business when the group arrived back at the village.
Giving Heero a moment to catch his breath and regroup his thoughts Duo continued to hold his lover. Quatre and Trowa also held each other closely as they rested on the canal's short wall. Duo pushed back damp hair from Heero's face rechecking the alertness in his eyes.
"You know," he began moving his blue sight to the immortals then back to his partner, "it is amazing how much we are like the Dragon's three Elements."
"ALIKE!" Heero exclaimed, "Have you lost your mind?"
Duo shook his head, "Just think as the Demons were forged from the natural elements of Earth, Wind and Fire we, too, were created in much the same manner. Our bodies were born from the Earth, our breath from the Wind and the Fire of life burns hot within our souls."
"Yes but the one important difference that separates us from those Spawns of Satan," Quatre added to Duo's accurate insight, "is our ability to love. That is what gives our fiery souls their spark of life." No one found any argument with that statement.
With the final Demon's defeat the next question occupying everyone's thoughts was, "Would Decador be true to his word and let then leave?" Although the sincerity of his promise was doubtful all the conquering quartet could do was find an exit, stay alert and pray there would be no more surprises.
TBC...
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