By the Red Moon Part 47
(Flashback)
The rain was coming down pretty hard outside with the occasional flash of lightning and crash of thunder. However, that was the furthest thing from Heero and Wufei's minds. Seated at their desks, the young knights-in-training kept looking back to the empty seat behind them.
Anna was late. She was never late. In fact, she was always the first one to be in her chair with her notepad ready for that day's lesson.
In a rare show of anxiety, Chang's right hand began a continuous tap on the edge of his desk as he propped his free arm up to have his open palm cover his mouth. Beside him, Heero cast his friend a sidelong glance that spoke of his own worry. This was very out of character. Something was not right.
Both only fourteen and yet so much older at the time, the two had become quite close with the only girl to last this long in their training. However, something was different when it came to Wufei and Anna's connection that Yuy felt whenever they all spent their time together.
Neither had ever made it evident that they were in a relationship that went beyond the boundary of friends as it seemed neither of them had sorted out how to broach the matter.
However, the more time that passed without the redhead's appearance, the louder that rapt against Wufei's desk grew.
Odin lowered the chalk from his hand when he finished writing on the board at the front of the room. Looking back, he frowned deeply when he found Anna's seat still empty. Seated beside the Commander's desk to face their charges, Captain Fraise peered up to his long-time friend with concern in his deep blue eyes.
It was not like the red-headed officer to display any such emotion when he came to his daughter. Justin was very careful to not allow his fatherly duty towards her to be seen as favoritism by the other knights-in-training. More often than not, he was even harder on her than the boys.
The Captain himself had told Odin, "If she wants to be a knight so badly, I am going to be certain that she will be able to not only keep up with the other, she will be able to run laps around them." And so, he had to be stern... even cold towards her from the moment that she enlisted.
But this was different. This made it that the Captain could not hold back his role as father. And seeing that his friend was becoming concerned only sealed Odin's decision to act.
As the Commander opened his mouth to call out orders, everyone in the room's heads snapped to the door in the back when it flew open with a bang. Storming her way past her classmates to reach her desk behind Wufei, a drenched Anna took her seat and kept her head down with a muttered, "I am sorry I am late."
Frowning deeply, Heero met Wufei's dark eyes. Instead of there being any hint of relief for either of them, their tension only doubled when the archer would not look up at them or so much as push back her long hair shielding her. It was Captain Fraise who stepped up before his daughter's desk and ordered, "Meet your superior's eyes when you make an apology, Anna."
Her hands froze in their process of opening her notebook at her father's words. In the heartbeats that she remained still, a pin drop could be heard as everyone around watched. After a long hesitation, Anna raised her head and gasps rose through the classroom.
The right side of the archer's face bore long scratches that looked as though she had been dragged across gravel while her left eye was beginning to color a mix of blues and purples. Her chin bleeding from a nasty scrape, the corner of her mouth also bore a weeping cut.
While the sight of her face was alarming enough, what had the boys around her most startled was that the sleeves of her purple tunic were hanging on by a couple of threads. One look at that and it was perfectly clear to be the work of hands ripping at the material. Any doubt of that was cleared when the exposed skin of her shoulders began to bruise in the shape of long fingers.
Instantly, Wufei and Heero were on their feet with wide eyes. "Anna," the swordsman breathed, the pain in his voice bringing her attention to him. And for just a moment, as their eyes locked, the girl's eyes reddened. That brief, vulnerable moment was ended when she shook her head to fight off the tears.
Odin hurried up beside Justin while the Captain lowered himself to a crouch before the archer. Carefully reaching out to place his fingers beneath her face where she was not injured, he turned her head so that she would focus on him. "Anna, I want the name of the person who did this to you," he urged with as gentle a tone he could muster. Such a gentleness to his voice had never been used when he addressed her.
All around, the boys of the class leaned in, their eyes narrowed heatedly, bodies practically shaking with the urge to act as they waited for that name.
"I stopped him before he could get what he wanted," the girl snapped, the rage and humiliation of what had happened practically glowing in her eyes. "He only got lucky in catching me off guard for a moment when I was about to return from my post at the far end of our base. I was not a victim."
Heero knew his friend's reasons for the insistence. The word victim was something that stayed with a person forever. If she was deemed a victim, she would never keep the respect that she had worked so hard to earn. His heart broke for her. But even more than that, he wanted to get his hands on the person responsible for forcing himself onto her.
From the corner of his eye, he could see that Wufei was in the same state of mind. The Chinese knight's face was reddening a deeper shade by the second as he continued to stare at the markings on their 'sister.' The swordsman's body was wound so tight it was shaking with the threat of an explosion of his anger.
Bending at the waist, Odin reassured the archer quietly, "Anna, I promise you that the records will not claim you as a victim. Just give us the name."
With a deep breath, the girl kept her attention on the Commander and gritted out, "First Scout Robert Zuegler." Several surprised mutters filled the air at the naming of the knight. Well into his forties, the man was one of the more respected within the ranks of the Sanq army for a long time.
In spite of the First Scout's honorable reputation, Wufei bitterly recalled catching him leering at the archer on more than one occasion. At first, the swordsman had overlooked the glimpses as being made into something more because of his growing affections towards Anna. For a time, he was convinced that he was being so protective that he was imagining things.
Now... the thought of that stocky man catching her, pinning her to the ground and ripping at her clothes while she was no doubt screaming and struggling had Chang's already boiling blood steaming in his veins.
Reaching into her satchel, the archer removed something wrapped in a piece of wool that had been there for a while. Now, it dripped red and fell, along with her bloodied dagger, to her desk with a sickening squish. By the size and shape, there was no question to the paling faces and widening eyes throughout the room what was inside.
Anna smirked to her superior, "He will most likely be found at a healing station since I turned him from a rooster to a hen the moment his pants were pulled down. Unfortunately, he managed to run off after that."
The first to recover from their shock, the corner of Heero and Wufei's mouths curled up in smirks. Keeping his eyes on his daughter, the Captain ordered in a low growl, "Yuy. Chang. I want you to find Zuegler and have him returned here for sentencing. I do not trust that I would keep the man in one piece if I was the one to go after him."
Slowly peering at the boys over his shoulder, he said, "So long as he is still alive to see his day in court and we do not face charges for taking justice into our own hands, the condition that he is in when he gets here does not matter to me. Bring him within an inch of his life and we will look the other way." His own face grim, Odin nodded his head firmly to back the statement.
Not needing to be told twice, Wufei and Heero moved for the door and stepped out into the stormy night. On they way past Anna's desk, they both squeezed their friend's shoulder as she continued to stare forward, lost to the visions in her mind of the horrific attack on her.
Justin took a long, deep breath that he released in a quiet sigh. Reaching out to squeeze his daughter's shoulders, he told her softly, "Come on, Anna. Let's get you to our healer so that they can treat you."
At her father's kind tone, she swallowed roughly and returned to the present with a couple of blinks. Their gazes locking, she nodded shallowly and rose to her feet as she allowed him to lead her back outside.
Running a hand over his short hair, Odin released a soft sigh and turned back to his student. "Class is dismissed for the rest of the night, boys," he announced quietly. "Get back to your quarters and rest up for an early start to your exercises tomorrow."
Those not already standing got out of their chairs as the lot filed out with salutes to their Commander when they passed him. Once the last of his pupils left, Lowe made to clean the bloody mess left on Anna's desk and planned to wait as long as he needed for Heero and Wufei's return.
~ ~ ~ ~
When Heero and Wufei returned with their steeds over an hour later, they also returned with swollen hands and a very unexpected guest in the form of a blue-purple dragon bearing a tall shield that framed its head.
Tail wagging behind him, the beast moved to land right before Anna where she waited outside of the stables with her father and Odin. In his smirking mouth, he held onto the back of Zuegler's shirt as the unconscious perpetrator dangled in the air. In that moment, the dragon's bond to the archer was firmly established.
Handling the First Scout, the officers disappeared to leave him in a holding cell. Once that matter had been handled, Heero remained behind with the Captain to give his report of what had happened as Odin went back to the stables to check on his other charges. He paused in the doorway when he spotted the pair closing the door to the new steed's stall.
A small smile on her healed face, Anna giggled in amusement as the blue-purple craned his neck over the door to lightly nuzzle her with his snout.
Wufei walked up to lightly pat the smooth scales along with the archer and informed quietly, "When we got into the city to check the first healing station, this one had Zuegler pinned under his claw. Apparently, he had waited for the bastard to be healed before he toyed with him a bit. Once we arrived, he stepped back so that we could have our shots."
That grin on the archer's face grew at the story and she told the dragon, "I am going to name you Ingier. It means True One in our old language." Blinking his vibrant green eyes, her steed lifted his head as a proud smile lit his long face. Anna giggled when he bent back down to rub his face against her with a deep purr.
Ingier took a few strands of her long red hair to chew on it. "Or maybe I should call you trouble," Anna snickered. "I get the feeling you are going to be a handful." Reaching behind her as the beast blinked innocently, she lightly pulled her hair free.
Wincing, the redhead did her best to ignore the throb in her shoulders. Underneath her new tunic, the concealed bruises from Zuegler's hands remained. During her visit with their healer, she was not comfortable with having anyone touch her skin there as it brought back very... unpleasant memories. And she did not want to be responsible for breaking the hand of someone trying to help her should she lash out in defense.
Her blue eyes fell on the swordsman's blistered hand. Recalling how Zuegler's face was beaten badly enough that Anna almost did not recognize him, she swallowed roughly. Slowly reaching over when Ingier's head pulled back so that he could lay down, she lightly ran her fingers over the other knight's cut knuckles. Watching her, Wufei blinked and swallowed past a lump that formed in his throat.
"Thank you, Wufei," the archer whispered, not trusting her voice any more than with that. There really was no need for her to go into what she was thanking him for.
Nodding firmly, Chang turned his hand to catch hers and asked quietly, "Are you alright?"
Anna snorted and smirked, "Of course. I am perfectly fine." While her tone was steady, there was also something that let onto the fact that it was mental effort on her part to achieve that.
Chewing on the inside of his cheek, the swordsman hesitated before questioning, "Then why are you still here instead of trying to get some sleep?" At the flash of panic in her eyes, he knew he was right in his assumption that she was afraid to be alone that night. But that was something that she would never willingly admit.
With a tentative step forward, Wufei squeezed her hand when it tried to pull away and frowned deeply, "You do not have to worry about staying strong all the time, Anna. Especially around me. I am the last person in this world who would ever consider you weak... even if you need to cry."
And just like that, the walls that Anna had built up began to crumble as the earlier events came rushing back along with her fear and anger surrounding the attack. Her eyes began to sting and for the first time in her life, she allowed them to water and spill over. "I... I can still smell him... feel him on top of me," she breathed as a whimper broke from her.
Quickly closing the distance between them, Wufei pulled her into a fierce embrace. Cupping a hand over the back of her head, he dared to kiss her temple and just held on as she clung to him and sobbed into his shoulder. "I swear to you that I will never let anything like that happen to you again," he vowed in a whisper beside her ear, his own body shaking along with hers.
Blinking away the last of her tears, Anna pulled her damp face back to look on her best friend upon a new light. How many confusing moments had there been between them before? How long had they been so blind to what was staring them right in the face for so long now?
Then, suddenly it all made perfect sense. And their eyes drifting closed, the two knights leaned their heads in to share a long kiss.
Leaning against the doorway, Odin smiled and pushed himself from the frame to leave the two alone with a chuckled, "Well, it is about damned time."
(End Flashback)
* * * * * *
Duo closed the fallen Commander's private journal that he had been reading and let out a deep breath. It was late into the night following the rehearsal and dinner for Anna and Wufei's wedding and after voicing his interest in how the couple actually got their start, they agreed to Heero passing the log entry to him.
"Man," the prince whispered as he stared into the flickering glow of the candle on the table before him. Shaking his head, he commented quietly, "Funny how something terrible can turn out to be the best thing for some people." Across from him, his lover smirked and nodded firmly.
Biting his lip, Maxwell frowned, "Back when I was still figuring out my feelings for you, Wufei told me that he almost missed his chance with Anna. I had no idea that she was almost raped and killed..." The written recount of how Quatre learned of Zuegler's full intention with the archer at his interrogation sent a shiver down the braided teenager's spine.
Heero replied, "It is good that they since have been able to move beyond all of that. It is just a firm reminder of how you can never take anything for granted." Rising to his feet, the knight rounded the table to sit beside his partner and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.
Looking to the short stacks of books spread over the table that were only the tip of the iceberg to what was available for reading material, Duo rubbed the back of his neck. "This is just so overwhelming," he said quietly. "All of you have so many years on me, so many more experiences... decades worth."
Just sitting there, his mind was flooded with the journal entries that he had read over the last two days....
There was the introduction of the three knights-in-training when their team was established and their first days of exercises where Heero was an early standout to the officers. More detail went into Wing's arrival as the first steed to meet with their rider from the class along with how Yuy had earned a mouthful from Odin regarding his cliff-jumping stunt, which more than amused Duo.
A couple of years later, the retelling of how Wufei saved Nataku from a quicksand pit that she had been sucked into when she flew too low in her attempt to link with him just outside of Sanq. Excerpts revealed how the young swordsman's continued progress and determination moved him up to the front of the class with the officers looking to him as one of their finest pupils.
It was their sense of duty and the fact that they had lost both of their parents in some way that made Heero and Wufei quick friends. Not long following their introduction, they became each other's confidants and friendly competition. They supported each other as much as they challenged each other to improve themselves in their training.
Then, a certain redhead that they both came to admire for her shared conviction was taken in.
Most of the entries on Anna in the beginning revealed the bets that had taken place throughout the high ranks as to how long she would last. Her own father had gone on in, giving her a month at best. The archer picked up wind of that and found out that one particularly nasty sergeant was the one to come up with the idea.
One morning, that man woke in the officers' quarters without his waist-length braid attached to him. When Anna held it up with a proud smirk when the class was called to session, no one could believe how she had managed to pull off the feat unnoticed. And so all betting against her came to an end that day.
The trio was written as one of the tightest friendships that had ever been seen in any of the Sanq knight training. Together, they would have late night talks in the stables alongside their steeds, come up with good-natured pranks and always have each other's backs.
When Anna began to blossom and one of their classmates got fresh enough to catch her off guard by walking up and squeezing her breasts hard, Heero was on him and broke one hand while Wufei snapped the other. Duo laughed then in reading of how the archer gave it to them for not giving her a chance to defend herself while in the background, Odin and Justin snickered in amusement when no one knew they were watching.
All of the tales that the braided prince read had been taken, at the time, as if it was a novel of three fictional characters that he had come to care for. The stories were so enthralling from the moment he started that he stayed up late into the last night wanting to continue on his journey.
But every time he finished a book and closed it, he had to remind himself that these were not made up people. These were his best friends. These things really happened in their lives. and even still, there was so much more to read of their times together through Odin's eyes.
In addition to learning of their past experiences, Maxwell was finally able to 'see' his homeland of Sanq before the attack against it. He could envision the white marbled walls of the castle that rose at the top of a hill of rocks at the center of the sprawling city.
Framed by the ocean to its north, rolling hillsides to the east, grand lakes to the south and forest to the west, everything about the kingdom was majestic. To have that picture of his first home meant as much as learning more about those closest to him.
Taking a deep breath, Duo looked to his lover and frowned, "Even if my aging has slowed along with all of you since I came here, I would never be able to catch up on everything that I've missed."
Heero smiled and kissed his temple. "Well, instead of looking at it in that sense, you could always remember that we have already started to make some memories and moments of our own," he suggested. "And we have many more to look forward to. Starting with Wufei and Anna's wedding tomorrow."
A wide grin spread across the prince's face at that and he nodded firmly. There were many pages in Odin's journals that were left blank. Someone was going to have to fill them.
Reaching for the ink bottle and pen on the table, Duo turned to the end of the Commander's log and dated it with the new system that he had learned.
And with Heero looking on, he began to write.
TBC...
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