By the Red Moon Part 42
There was a massive hole in the wall beside the large, stained window of the guest bedroom where a hurled boulder had crashed through. Where the large rock had rolled there was an even larger crater in the tiles that had been shattered and cleaned away. Still, there were few rooms in as good condition as Duo's guest bedroom in the castle.
Opting for a real bed the night before, the prince had returned to the grand estate to try and get a decent sleep. Heero had been there to hold him through the evening in his attempt to make it easier for him to rest without too many nightmares. Still, they came.
And they were still with Duo even as he soaked in the chipped tub of the adjoining bathroom. The thought of those horrifying growls, glowing eyes and razor-sharp teeth made him shiver despite the warmth of the water he lay in.
While he never knew what the monster was that chased him throughout his dreams the night before, he knew that it was related to the dark magic within him.
...Death chasing after him even though it was a part of who he was.
Must have been a metaphor, the long-haired teenager thought to himself... a visual of how he wished he could run from his ability, but it would always be there no matter what he did.
Taking a deep breath, Duo closed his eyes and sank under the water to soak his hair... and try to force those thoughts away. However, the demon behind his eyelids just learned how to breathe under water. Frustrated, he shot back up to take in a deep gulp of air, his eyes wide.
Hands shaking, the prince reached up to wash his face with his empty hands. This coping with his ability came in waves.
Depending on the moment, he could handle the situation easily, even laughing over it. Other times, much like now, he really questioned if he would be able to keep his sanity when he really considered all of the possibilities of his gift...
...No. His curse. A gift was something pleasant and wanted. This was as far from enjoyable or desired as it could be. It was a damnation.
A soft knock on the closed door had Maxwell jumping, startled as he spun his head behind to face the entrance. "Duo? Are you okay in there?" Heero's muffled voice called. His tone carried with it the concern that was no doubt etched on his face.
Blinking, the youth looked down at himself and noted that the water had cooled considerably. No wonder the Commander was growing worried if he'd managed to stay in here for that long.
"I'll be right out," Duo replied, opting to avoid answering the question. He did not lie, so he could not say that he was fine. And he did not want to worry the knight any more than he already had by saying that he felt like he was coming undone at every seam.
Quickly, he stepped from the crack-edged tub to dry off. Throwing his wet hair up in one of the provided towels, he pulled on a violet robe of fine cotton and tied it off close to his slender waist. With a deep breath, he paused at the door a moment before opening it.
Leaning against the doorway with an arm propped by his head, Heero straightened himself and sighed, "Any longer and I would have been coming in to check on you." To his dismay, he noted that the dark circles had not eased up from the suggested bath that he had hoped would ease the prince's tension.
"Sorry," Duo frowned, too tired to come up with anything better to say.. and certainly too weary to be mad over how he was being mothered as he would have under normal circumstances. "Just... had a lot on my mind and I lost track of the time."
A sad smile tugging his mouth, Heero reached out and wrapped his hand around a wrist. Turning, he gently tugged his partner to the bed and sat him down on the edge. He remained silent while he moved for the dresser to pick up the brush waiting there.
Duo blinked in surprise and watched the knight as he slipped behind him and felt the towel around his head being carefully unraveled. Unraveling the thick hair from its damp twine, Heero took the brush back up and started working at the ends to remove the tangles.
With a deep sigh of content at how nice it felt to have someone else care for his tresses, the prince's eyes closed. "So, talk to me," the Commander urged in little more than a whisper as he continued in his task. "I want to know everything that's bothering you so that I can help you."
"I'd just feel like a burden on you if I did," Maxwell heard himself admitting. "And it's not like you don't already have enough on your shoulders with your new role to be bothered by me."
His hands stopping, Heero shifted to lean around the other teenager so that their eyes could meet. "Nothing is more important to me than knowing that you are alright," he said quietly, but with a fierce resolve in his voice. "These last couple of days, I have seen you put a smile on while you are pulling away from us... from me."
Swallowing roughly, Duo turned and lowered his head with a soft, "I'm sorry. I guess that I'm still kind of getting used to having people that actually care and worry about me. Lately, I've been feeling less and less myself and I don't know where to start to fix it."
Pleased that his partner was that forthcoming, the knight-in-training smiled sadly and placed a kiss on his cheek. "Well, maybe the two of us working on that would be better than you trying to sort it out on your own." The smile on his face grew when the other teenager chuckled at that and shook his head. It made it pretty clear that the sentiment did the trick.
"Now," Heero began as he readjusted himself behind the prince to resume brushing his hair where he had left off a few inches from the ends. "What is on your mind?"
Taking a deep breath, Duo sighed, "This whole dark magic thing isn't settling well with me the way I guess it should. Since that discussion about my abilities in the stables a couple of days ago, my nightmares have been getting more and more intense and I know it's related to this... thing inside of me."
He closed his violet eyes as the brush moved up higher, the light, down strokes only growing more relaxing. "It just feels like every time I start to come to terms with something new about myself, there's something else that knocks me back on my heels," he commented. "I was only just starting to get used to the fact that I'm a prince when this bombshell comes along."
Behind him, Heero nodded, "I can see where it all would be very overwhelming... especially considering how your life was vastly different in the world where you grew up to the life that you have here."
"I'm still just a kid, you know!?" the prince barked out in a bitter laugh, his eyes opening along with the walls that he had built up around himself.
Shaking his head, he frowned, "And I'm every bit as scared of what Dekim and his army are capable of as what I can do. What if Quatre, Relena and Catherine can't find a way to keep my power from getting out of control?"
Duo bit his lip and looked over his shoulder to meet the cobalt eyes on him.
"What if I hurt you... or worse?" he breathed, pained by the thought. "We were lucky this last time that my ability kept you and the others safe, but if something went wrong... If you or Wufei or Anna or any other the others were caught in the middle of my gift getting out of control, I would never be able to live with myself."
Lowering the brush, Heero kept their eyes locked and stated with all the certainty in the world, "That simply will not happen. I have every faith in you that you will be able to handle this." He smirked and gestured to the closed bedroom door, "So do Wufei, Anna and everyone else we're close to."
The Commander's calloused hand reached up to cup the side of the prince's face. Lightly rubbing his cheek with the pad of his thumb, he smiled, "More than that, we all love you. And we are not about to leave your side over this. You will find your way and we will all be here to help you."
Another lump formed in Duo's throat that he had to clear away before he whispered a sincere, "Thank you." Just managing to keep his eyes from stinging, he sniffled and snickered, "How is it you know exactly what to say to me?"
Shrugging, Heero smirked, "I'm just good, I guess." Of course, he stole that line from his partner and it worked in making him laugh his more natural, full laugh. As the prince's fit wore off, the Commander leaned in to kiss him soundly. "Love you," he smiled warmly.
"Love you, too," the other teenager replied in kind. Turning forward again, he felt the last of his tension fading.
Closing his eyes, Duo took in a long breath of the warm air that was blowing in through the large hole in the wall. The scent of the sea mixed with the flowers growing in the flower beds before the balconies of the castle filled his nose to ease him further.
After brushing out all of the knots, Heero set to parting the drying hair at the top of his partner's head and separated it into three sections that he weaved. "If I may offer further advice?" he requested. Humming, Duo opened his eyes and waited.
The Commander continued to spin the braid as he said, "Do not feel ashamed for being frightened of Dekim and his power. We are all afraid of that, including myself. We simply do what we have to in order to get past that. However, the last thing that you should ever be afraid of in this world is yourself."
Reaching for the tie he brought along with him, Yuy wrapped it around the end of the weave and stated, "There are going to be times when you will need to act on your own, make decisions on your own. You need to be able to stand strong on your own and trust yourself. And you cannot do that if you are constantly running from who you are."
Duo blinked at that. Heero was certainly a master at giving simple logics that carried a lot of weight to them. There was no question that if he was going to be a leader he would need to be able to stand on his own.
There was only one way for him to be able do that. And it had been the very thing that he had been avoiding. He could not afford to run away from it any longer.
He refused to.
Rolling his shoulders back and straightening himself, the prince nodded firmly, "You're right. I know what I have to do now."
A smile curling his mouth, Heero responded, "Good."
Bending forward, he pressed a kiss to a temple and told the prince softly, "I knew that you would figure it out." Finished with the braid, he placed it over his partner's shoulder for an inspection as he said, "Not bad for going off of memory from watching you."
"Not bad at all," Duo agreed, running a hand over it. Looking back over his shoulder, he smirked, "Feel free to braid my hair anytime you want. That was nice."
The Commander nodded, "That it was." Rising from the bed first, he avoided the large crater and placed his hands on his hips. "So, what is the plan of action for this morning now that you know what you need?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow and the corner of his lips.
Snickering, the prince stood before him and answered, "Food first. I can't do anything on an empty stomach." At just the hint to his hunger, a loud growl rumbled from his chest and he blushed.
Heero laughed, "Not a bad place to start, then. Come on." That said, he waited for Duo to change quickly before he turned for the door to open it. Meeting up with Wufei and Anna out in the hallway during their watch, the foursome headed for the main banquet hall together.
Throughout the meal, the nightmares managed to stay back in the furthest thoughts from Duo's mind. Now all that he was focused on was doing something about them.
* * * * * *
"Very happy to see that you are still getting along well, darling," Howard smiled kindly to Peacemillion as he finished filling her trough.
The orange steed waddled over to eagerly eat up her breakfast. Patting the top of her head, the Head Squire chuckled deeply to himself and headed out of her stall with his large pail in hand to finish feeding the rest of his scaly charges.
Once she'd finished her meal, Peacemillion raised her head to sniff at the air when a familiar scent carried on the breeze drifting overhead.
Her tail swishing, she moved for the opened door to her stall and peered to the quarters running alongside her own. In finding the blonde king alongside his wife as they paid a visit to a stall not far from her own, the dragon's tail thumped all the more enthusiastically and a wide smile lit her face.
Noin giggled as she and her husband stood in the stall doorway to watch her daughter, Catherine and the First Scout share in the duty of cleaning Heavy Arms. Her head lying flat on the hay along with the rest of her body, the red-and-gold steed let out a quiet sigh as her eyelids sagged down.
"Like that, huh, girl?" Hilde snickered as she scrubbed down one of her long front legs. Atop his steed's back, Trowa applied a soapy sponge along her spine.
Peering up to her brother from her place at the long tail, the Catherine grinned, "I get a feeling that she's getting used to this kind of treatment these last few days."
Trowa snorted, "Well, she's been spoiled by me long before she was injured in the battle."
When Heavy Arms raised her head to puff a cloud of white smoke at him with a half-hearted glare, he raised his sponge to her face and smirked, "Don't you even try to argue. You know you're cared for better than most household pets. And you are considerably more work than they are."
The side of the dragon's mouth curled up as she lowered her head back down with a rumbling chuckle.
Now that her natural healing abilities had sealed the wound she'd endured, it was nice to not have the laughter bring on any pain. And those bloodied rags around her torso were long gone as well, much to Heavy Arms' relief. One thing that a steed could never stand was feeling confined in any way.
Stepping inside to run a hand over the contented beast's nose, the queen smiled, "It is wonderful to see you back to your old self, dear." Her whole body wiggling from side to side, the steed smiled in a response of appreciation.
Zechs was nearly knocked off his feet when a large head pushed at him from behind.
Spinning, his wide eyes shot up to the grinning face of Peacemillion. "Well hello there, friend," he greeted with a laugh. Lowering her head, the dragon leaned the side of her head against him for a nuzzle. Snickering quietly, the king wrapped his arms around her muzzle.
"You both really seem to have taken a shine to each other," Noin commented as she patted the orange beast's nose with a smile of her own.
At that, Quatre and Relena stepped into the doorway. "That you have," the empath agreed. Folding his arms, he smirked, "From what I can gather from her feelings, there are many similarities between you and Odin that she is picking up on... and they were the very reasons she had chosen him to be her original rider."
Blinking in surprise, the king froze along with everyone else in the stall. The grin on his face spreading, Quatre offered, "As one who had wished he had a dragon of his own since he was a child, this would be your opportunity."
His jaw falling open, the king did not pay any mind to the fact that the empath had used his ability to pick up on his longing to be a dragon rider. It had been a wish of his since he was a child, but the natural selection of a steed to their human was never something that came along for him.
Much as he wanted the chance to have that long-time wish come true, Zechs peered up from the scaly face watching him and frowned, "But she has not chosen me."
"Actually, she has," Relena giggled. "Have you ever seen her latch onto anyone else who had been though he stables here? And that has not been from any of Quatre's influence." Her husband nodded his head to verify that comment.
Swallowing roughly, Zechs looked into the gold eyes watching him. "Well, she is a magnificent creature. And I would be honored to be her rider." Like a child would turn to their mother for permission to keep a puppy that followed them home, he turned to his wife with pleading eyes.
Noin laughed, "You do not need my blessings. But if you must have my opinion, I think that the two of you are perfect for each other." Hilde smiled widely and bit her lip with as much excitement as the wiggling beast.
Unable to contain his own excitement, the king focused back on the dragon's large eyes and smiled widely, "Well then, if you will really have me as your rider, Peacemillion, I would be most privileged-" It was as far as he got before the steed leaned her head heavily against him to make it known exactly how happy she was to accept.
Much to his surprise, Zechs actually blinked away the sting of tears in his eyes as he laughed and wrapped his arms around the muzzle of his steed. His steed. For a long time, he had given up on the chance of ever having his own dragon... especially one as spectacular as Peacemillion.
"Congratulations, Uncle Zechs," Duo smiled as he stepped into the stall with Heero at his side. Walking up, his friends and family gathered around to extend their morning greetings.
Once all of the reunions were out of the way, the prince gazed on the three gifted of the group. Straightening himself and taking a deep breath, he announced, "I just came to let you all know that I am ready to begin my training with you.
Their eyes blinking widely, Quatre, Relena and Catherine all shared their shocked expressions amongst themselves.
As the first to recover, the fire-starter rubbed her hands together and beamed to her braided friend, "Wonderful! Let us not waste any time and get started."
TBC...
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