Love Conquers All Part 3
Heero was so cold. Too weak to open his eyes he laid, pale and still, in the deepening darkness. A considerable amount of blood pooled under his limp wrist. He could no longer sense his body; no cognizant thoughts flickered in his brain. Only one word remained in his muddled mind and that single syllable repeated over and over again.... Duo.
Then strangely a remnant of sensation rippled through the subconscious fog. Something struck a spark of energy, enough to prod him to open his eyes. Straight ahead, perfectly aligned in his blurred sight, Heero could just make out a shimmer of light. No, two glittering balls floated in midair.
"It is the wine and you slipping away." Heero's mind explained the odd visions. "Go to sleep so you can find Duo." it urged attempting to ease him back into his dying state as gently as possible.
But something more powerful than his desire for eternal sleep kept tapping at his mind. "AWAKE." it ordered leaving no room for misinterpretation. A radiating heat gradually began to replace the death-chill. Heero's sight became clearer.
The balls bobbed seemingly of their own accord. At first they appeared almost transparent, then they grew more solid. With steady pulsing the twin orbs elongated into sparkling columns. One shone with bright white light, its partner displayed a darker, bluish hue. Heero quickly raised his good hand to shield his sensitive eyes from the blinding brightness. Duo's red ribbon brushed against his clammy cheek once again reminding Heero of his unbearable loss.
The lengthening continued until the peculiar pillar's bottom ends rested on the floor. The columns widened taking on more recognizable structures. Torsos formed, appendages sprouted from the dazzling auras. Finally heads topped off the mysterious apparitions. Both spectral manifestations appeared to be male.
The white light completed the transformation first. The figure had a petite frame making him more feminine in his stature. Silky blond tresses framed a fair face. Wide azure eyes held Heero in a kind embrace. The blue light was taller, broader across the shoulders. Rich brown hair hung low over his eyes hiding their expression. But what could be seen beneath the sheltering bangs showed emerald eyes that fixed on Heero with a brooding stare quite opposite of his partner's soft vision. Both males stood in silence appearing to study the confused human lying weakly before them.
Heero blinked trying to concentrate on the voice inside his head that still demanded that he stay awake. In the mere second that it took him to blink the mysterious beings moved from their distant place and now stood inches from Heero. The King's Captain who never showed fear in battle recoiled from the sudden closeness. His back hit hard against the wall. The impact brought on a bout of dizziness and cold sweat that threatened to make him pass out.
Blood was smeared all over Yuy's legs, his breechcloth stiff with the congealing fluid. The coppery stench, mixed with pure terror, caused him to retch up what little wine remained in his stomach. Shaking uncontrollable Heero curled into a tight fetal position disobeying the voice in his head. All he wanted to do was sleep, escape this waking nightmare. And if the specters standing over him wanted his life so be it. All he asked was that they spared his soul so he could be with his beloved.
Heero was vaguely aware of a hand touching his shoulder. His horror-stricken mind barely registered a gentle voice telling him that everything would be all right. "Awake Heero Yuy." On some level the words broke through. The terror subsided and a comforting warmth surrounded the fallen warrior.
His glassy stare dropped away. Once more Heero dared to blink accepting that the ghostly strangers were in control, that he had no strength to ward any attack they chose to mount. His less-clouded eyesight met the kind azure eyes as they gazed meekly upon him. "It will be all right." the words repeated in his mind with a sincere promise.
"You know my name." Heero stated more than asked.
The phantom of white light slipped his arm under Heero's less rigid body carefully helping him to sit up against the wall. The blue light knelt beside his counterpart lending a hand to keep the frail mortal steady. "Yes we have been watching you for some time." the darker one stated with no discernible emotion sounding in his voice.
The fair immortal spirit encircled pale fingers about Heero's bleeding wrist. A hot wave surged over the cut skin. In moments the slashes closed up. In another brief measure of time the skin healed completely. The shocked Captain rubbed over the smooth skin marveling at the magic. For the first time he felt at ease with his strange visitors.
Heero used the return of his strength to wonder aloud, "Who are you?" he whispered sensing some heavenly influence was at work.
"We are the Gods of Light and Darkness." the fair one answered.
Heero closed his eyes taking in a deep cleansing breath. When they opened again he was much more alert, no longer frightened as curiosity replaced the fear. A barrage of questions erupted in his mind.
"Do you mean you control good and evil?"
The taller man rested against the wall beside Heero. The blond sat cross-legged settling back on his partner's chest. It was the light being that took up the explanation.
"No we have no control over good and evil, they are a force unto themselves." he replied, "We are the Rulers of night and day. While we are separate entities we compliment each other. We complete a circle the same way day and night follow each other to make the daily cycle.
I am called Quatre. I control the elements of day. The sun's fiery energy, the winds invisible power, all hours of daylight are mine to command. My partner is called Trowa, he controls the elements of night. The moon's influence over the tides is under his sway. The star's ability to brighten the somber blanket of heaven answers only to him."
Heero took a moment to digest the information. One pressing question begged for an answer. Suddenly a wave of indignation swamped Heero's better judgment. "Why are you here?" he hissed.
The fact that these eternal beings were superior, that they could squash Yuy like a bothersome fly, was forgotten as he realized that they had stopped his journey to be with Duo. "What right to you have to interfere with my wish to die?" he demanded as the pain in his heart took over.
Quatre looked on the heartbroken mortal with a mixture of awe and pity. Awe at the fierceness of Heero's determination to be with his lover. Pity at the senseless waste had he succeeded in his mission. Placing a hand on Heero's arm Quatre replied calmly, "You do not understand Heero Yuy. You do not have to die to be with your soul mate. Duo is alive."
"Alive." Heero repeated certain he could not have heard correctly. "But the letter. Duo said..." the rest of the sentence evaporated as Heero was overwhelmed with the possibility that his beautiful lover had not perished.
Trowa shifted his green eyes string at the infuriating human who asked too many questions. "Was there a body found?" he inquired even though he already knew the answer.
Heero shook his head, "No but the currents are so swift that a body would wash miles down steam. If Duo was alive I would have felt it." He proclaimed believing that he and Duo's connection was strong enough to transcend any boundaries.
Quatre looked gently on the human, "Did you feel Duo die in your heart?"
An astonished look swept over Heero's face. For the first time he realized that he had never felt Duo slip away. There was never an empty place in his soul. He had been so despondent, so drunk that he had not stopped to listen to his heart. How he could be such a fool? All his instincts, the very disposition of his intuitive knowledge, his training as a soldier, all had been ignored.
"The fates were not cruel." Heero whispered, "Duo is alive."
Heero Yuy broke down weeping unashamedly. Quatre wrapped his arms about the sobbing Captain and let him cry until the releasing tears set his pain-shackled soul free. "Are you ready to reclaim your lover?" Quatre asked after all of Yuy's tears were spent.
Heero straightened sharply. "Where is he?" he demanded pushing to get to his feet. A renewed wave of faintness quickly put him back on the floor.
"Steady." Trowa ordered lending a hand to support the wobbly human. "You must regain your strength if you hope to rescue Duo from Ryuujin.
At the mention of the vile name, one feared and hated by all who knew it, Heero drew in a strangled breath. "The Dragon God! No he can't have Duo! NO!." Heero screamed struggling to get up again.
Trowa kept his hold firmly in place determined to keep the erratic human from hurting himself. "Will you be still mortal." he sighed as Heero resisted his unyielding grip. Heero could tell if the Dark One's use of the term "mortal" was intended to be an aspersion on his character or not.
Heero locked his sight with Trowa. Superior or not this God of Darkness was not going to keep him from leaving. Trowa read the human's mind then decided that if it was Yuy's wish to be released then that was fine with him. He let go and sat back. Heero braced his hands on the wall, centered his feet, stood up and promptly pitched forward. With another sigh Trowa intercepted the falling Captain just before he hit the floor.
Quatre intervened before both Heero and Trowa's quick tempers got the better of them, "You must be quiet and listen if you have any hope of rescuing Duo." he insisted as Trowa eased the woozy soldier back against the wall.
Heero was too faint to do anything but listen as he breathed deeply to chase away the cobwebs in his brain. He shook his head in an affirmative manner relaxing on the cold stone surface.
Quatre took Trowa's hand interlacing their fingers, "We have been to the Dragon's Lair. Duo has been enslaved." he stated bluntly knowing that Heero deserved to know the truth no matter how painful it might be, "For now Duo is being spared because he is submitting to the Dragon's sexual desires. I believe Duo will do whatever he must to stay alive so he can be reunited with you. His love for you is his driving force, the one thing that keeps him from giving up."
"If you were there, why didn't you free Duo?" Heero hissed fighting hard to hold his anger in check. The thought of that vile creature touching his beloved ate through his gut. Visions of that beast raping his beloved soul mate was almost too much for Heero to bear. But he had to keep his wits about him if he had any hope of rescuing Duo.
"We could have tried to free Duo but Ryuujin would have sensed our presence before we reached his inner stronghold and most certainly would have killed Duo. It was too dangerous to try without your help"
"If you cannot defeat Ryuujin then why to you think I can?" Heero proclaimed knowing his mortal power was no match for any of the supreme forces.
"Because you have one thing Ryuujin cannot sense, your love for Duo. Your purity of heart and conviction of soul will be your means to win." Quatre declared with certainty, "There is one turn of events that is on your side. When Ryuujin is in his Dragon configuration he cannot have sex with Duo without doing irreparable harm so he must return to his original state. In that form he is much more vulnerable and that will be your means to kill him."
"His original form, hasn't Ryuujin always been the Dragon God?"
Now it was Trowa's turn to for explanations, "At the beginning of recorded time Quatre and I were Priests at the Temple of Light located parallel to your mortal plane. There was a Bishop named Chang Wufei who was in charge of the Holy Symbols. Chang was once a devout and faithful man but his casual dabbling in unsanctioned occult religions soon became an overpowering doctrine, a heady intoxication destroying any righteous theology he ever upheld.
Soon Chang's blasphemous ranting that he had conquered the natural elements and harness their mighty powers had him declared a heretic. The straying cleric's absurd claims that he was the reincarnation of the vanquished God of War, Balzar, labeled him an untouchable by the Elders. His claims of immortally granted to him by his rebirth as the defeated unearthly deity, the Temple Priests believed, further proved Chang's total insanity.
The stripping of Chang's priestly duties, his banishment from the Temple, was the final blow that pushed his connection with reality well beyond any hope of recovery. The black magic and mystic amazements slowly ate away at the holy man's mind and eroded his soul until nothing remained but an empty black pit in his heart.
One day during the Noon Prayer Hour the defrocked priest, now a slave to his evil principles, burst through the Temple gates. Chang Wufei's lunacy had finally disintegrated into pure deranged rage, an unpredictable and quite volatile madness. From the Temple's marble steps the self-proclaimed Sorcerer of the three natural elements, Earth, Wind and Fire, announced his authority over the soul of everyone within our realm. Chang swore that with the aide of nature's most violent forces and the Triad of Darkness, War, Famine and Pestilence, he would redeem his lost position. One day soon, he promised, he would take his rightful place as Supreme Prophet and Highest Priest."
Trowa paused taking a moment to run a hand over Quatre's face to soothe his remembrances of that awful day. Satisfied that his partner's fears had been calmed, he continued. "After that fateful day Chang disappeared from our realm. It was rumored that he traveled to the mortal world and became a reclusive madman dwelling in an ancient castle on the cliffs above a river. It was said that he had not left his solitary confines since that day.
But some said he did occasionally leave but ventured out only at night to avoid the sun's purifying light. Under the cover of darkness, when the Triad's powers were the greatest, Chang Wufei would leave in a carriage drawn by four black horses and go down into the valley. There he would converse with evil spirits and perform all manner of unspeakable ritualistic ceremonies on the riverbank. These wicked rituals were all designed to bring about the fall of the Temple of Light and cause the damnation of his fellow Priests whom he viewed as traitorous unbelievers. When the Temple was overthrown then he would be able to take his ruling position over both realms enslaving mortals and immortals forever.
Quatre and I, along with a highly trained Band of Believers, were sent to your plane to find out if the rumors were true and, if so, destroy Chang before he could put his evil plan into motion. Chang found out we were coming and conspired with a mortal witch. In exchange for granting the devil's whore immortality the witch gave him a spell that enabled Chang to change his shape at will. As his favored form he chose the dragon, the most powerful beast in your realm. That is when Chang Wufei became Ryuujin, the Dragon God. He has preyed on your kind ever since.
Our Army of Believers engaged Chang on battle. He stayed in his human form using the deception to lure us into his ancient fortress. When we were well inside the castle's strong stone walls the fiend transformed into Ryuujin. We were almost slaughtered to every man. Only a handful of us escaped back to our world. Ever since that deadly day Quatre and I have watched and waited for Chang to make a mistake, to let down his guard so the next time he took on his human form we would be ready to hunt him down. A hundred years we have waited," Trowa declared, "now is the time to strike."
Quatre shook his head in agreement, "Unfortunately we could not foresee that what would cause Chang to change would be a mortal. That is why you are so important to our cause, Heero Yuy. We need your soldier's training, your battle honed instincts and, most of all, your mortal love to defeat Chang and end his hellish rule forever."
Heero locked his sight with the two immortal warriors. He was also a warrior, a kindred spirit. He knew he had the one power that all the supreme beings together could never possess; he had the love of Duo Maxwell. "Tell me what I need to do."
Quatre smiled certain that with Yuy's help they would send the Dragon God back to the infernal underworld where his depraved wickedness was spawned. "First you have to regain your strength. You must sleep tonight and eat in the morning. We can lend you mental courage and heal your wounds but you still must rest and take in nourishment."
As anxious as Heero was to start off for the cliffs, as frightened as he was for Duo's life, he knew that a soldier had to be one hundred percent physically, mentally and emotionally ready if he was to defeat his enemy. Chang Wufei was more powerful than anyone Yuy had ever faced. He would need all his strength, all his wits sharp or Duo would surely be lost.
Heero nodded taking in his disheveled appearance. For the first time he realized how much he stank, how his near naked, filthy state of undress showed just how far he had fallen from his pride in being a soldier to a dirty drunkard. Heero hung his head in shame letting more stinging tears fall freely.
Quatre mopped back stringy brown bangs sticking in the mixture of oily grim and salty moisture clinging to Heero's face. "We will clean you up." he promised, "As exhausted as you are you will sleep soundly tonight."
The God of Light pressed his palms together. As he pulled them apart an earthen bowl appeared. The next manipulation created a pitcher made of the same material filled with fragrant water. He set down the bowl and pitcher then repeated the spell producing three clean white towels from nowhere. Quatre wetted one towel and gently began to bathe the human warrior. The towel immediately turn dark stained with blood, sweat and tears. The water, likewise, was fouled by the three-day accumulation. A pass of Quatre's hand and the tainted water evaporated.
Fresh liquid was poured from the pitcher that never seemed to run dry and the cleansing operation began again. At one point Quatre began to untie the red ribbon but Heero staunchly refused. The scarlet band was his only link to Duo and it would not be parted from him until he personally tied it back on Duo's braid. The alternating washing and drying continued until every inch of the King's Captain was clean. Next a sweet scented oil was thoroughly rubbed into Heero's shoulder length hair. More wiping with a towel and his fresh hair lay in shimmering locks around Heero's broad shoulders. The washing finished Quatre snapped his fingers sending the bowl, pitcher and towels back to where they came from.
Trowa went to a large wooden wardrobe collecting clean bed linens. He stripped the bed then decided that the soiled bedcovers were too nasty to keep so with a wave of his hand they vanished into thin air. He made the bed, found Heero's missing pillow wedged behind the washstand, how it got there was anyone's guess. Another pass, the God of Night produced a new down-filled coverlet from the same phantom space that the dirty linens had disappeared into.
With a clean body redressed in a fresh breechcloth, clean hair and an equally clean bed Heero was ready to give into his exhaustion. Trowa picked up the drowsy man as if he weighed nothing, carried him to the bed and carefully covered the weary warrior. Heero rolled onto his side facing the immortal pair that would be his comrades in the upcoming battle.
"Thank you." he sighed as sleep overtook his haggard body. Heero didn't hear Quatre and Trowa bade him a good night or their solemn oath that they would keep a faithful watch. Quatre touched Heero's forehead smoothing back his brown bangs. "No dreams tonight." he promised using a blocking spell to keep the mental night visions at bay.
Trowa cradled his lover in his arms as they lay together in the soothing darkness. The only sounds were Heero's steady breathing and the wind whining outside the wavy windows.
TBC...
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