Wow... this has got to be an amazing day... This part has SAP!! You heard that right... one of my fics actually has sap in it! Hehehe, enjoy!
Fire Mated Part 10
"Someone apparently tried to kill you."
Duo's body shivered and he hugged himself. For a moment they thought the shock might settle back in again but it didn't. Instead Duo groped around blindly for a chair, needing to sit down, but not sure if he could make it to the bed. Treize quickly pushed the chair within his reach and he dropped into it, bringing his knees up to hug tightly.
"What makes you think that?" Quatre asked softly. It wasn't that he didn't believe his uncle, but he wanted to know what had led his uncle to that conclusion.
"The doorbell was cut on the front door, that was the first thing that tipped me off. Also, all the windows that I could see were nailed shut, pretty firmly I'm guessing. Not to mention the quilt stuffed up the chimney, it was probably a few hours before the smoke would have been noticed and by then the house would have been thick with it. I don't know if it would have killed anyone, but it very nearly could have."
Duo shut his eyes and shook his head wildly for a second. Then his head snapped up, his eyes wide. "I have to check on Trowa! He's by himself and-"
Quatre stood up and beat Duo to the phone, placing his hand over Duo's to keep him from picking up the receiver. "Duo, calm down. Please? I'll call him, ok? You're far too worried and panicked at the moment."
The braided boy bit his bottom lip and pulled his hand back, yet not without hesitation. Almost as an after thought his eyes flickered to Treize and he frowned at the man. Quatre caught the look and sighed.
"Sorry. Duo Maxwell, meet my uncle, Treize Kushrenada." Quatre shook his head and laughed slightly. "Only you, uncle, would show up and ring someone's doorbell this early in the morning without thinking about it."
Treize smirked and spread out his hands. "What can I say, it just never occurred to me that you might sleep normal hours."
Quatre rolled his eyes and picked up the phone. The lady at the front desk answered and he asked for the number to the hospital, taking care of checking up on Trowa.
Meanwhile Treize turned his attention to Duo. Treize was a taller man, well looking by most standards. In fact, he looked every bit the noble gentleman stereotype with thin arched eyebrows that split at the ends. His short blond hair was combed back in soft waves and had a strawberry tint in the right angle of light. Blue eyes, whose color perfectly matched Quatre's, spoke of someone who didn't miss much, in fact probably missed nothing. If Duo didn't know better he would have sworn this man had hawk blood in him or something, how else could his eyes be that attentive?
"I've never seen anyone react that way before." Treize mused softly, his eyes still moving over Duo, taking every detail of him. Oddly though the gaze wasn't intimidating, it was simply curious, like that of a young child.
Duo sighed softly and dropped back in the chair, nodding. "My parents died in a house fire, trapped in the basement while everything burnt down." He shuddered. "Since then I've never had any good reactions to fire, or smoke for that matter."
Treize nodded and rubbed a finger over his chin. "That would explain your dropping into shock, certainly, but that wasn't what I was referring to. Actually I meant what you did to Quatre when he tried to comfort you."
"What I did... what did I do?"
"You don't remember? Oh, well you were sitting on the bed, rocking back and forth murmuring. Then he tried to speak with you and you didn't stop. So he decided to hug you, you know in a comforting way. You melted into his arms, then a second later you jumped out of them and glared at him like he'd just threatened a close family member."
"That's how Trowa used to always..." Duo's voice trailed off too soft for the man to hear and he looked away, a guilty look crossing his face.
Behind them Quatre set down the phone, hanging it up. "Trowa said he's all right, nothing happened at the hospital. I didn't mention what happened, I figured he had enough to worry about with Mariemeia..." Quatre blinked and glanced from his uncle to the guilty and silent look on Duo's face. "Uncle! You creeped him out already didn't you?"
"No, it's not that." Duo said quickly. He turned back to look at the two. "Just..." He sighed loudly and closed his eyes. "Too much has happened in the last week. Someone please stop the world, I want-no, need to get off."
Quatre smiled softly at that.
"I really need sleep. Sleep uninterrupted by dreams, calls, feelings, screams and smoke. Just normal, honest to god sleep."
Treize stood up and walked over to his yet-unpacked suitcase and pulled out a small bottle. Turning he glanced at the label then tossed the plastic bottle to Duo, who caught it with a slight fumble. Duo frowned at the label.
"Sleeping pills?"
Treize nodded. "I use them when I fly, never have been one for planes. They help you sleep, rest on the other hand is a different matter. But at least they keep away nightmares of the plane crashing. Completely harmless of course, no side effects."
"And if a fire starts in this room?" Duo asked. His voice was filled with a very dry tone of humor but at the same time it was a very reasonable question for all he'd been through lately.
"One of us will wake you up and get you to safety, I promise." Quatre said.
Duo smiled and nodded. Opening the bottle he took one of the pills and lay down on the bed. Curling up with the small blanket he'd been wrapped in earlier he closed his eyes. It wasn't long before his breathing evened out and he looked quite peaceful. Quatre sighed.
"I feel sorry for him, everything that's happened lately... I doubt I would have been able to remain as calm as he has."
"From what I've seen he's very lucky to have you as the level-headed one in all of this. He appears to need some stability in his life."
Quatre nodded. "And did I mention that you have impeccable timing, as usual? If you hadn't of shown up at such an ungodly hour, well..." Quatre shrugged and stopped there, not feeling the need to state the obvious.
"You were both very lucky." He agreed, then his face turned more serious. "Who is he Quatre? What could have possibly happened to him recently that he has broken down this much? The death of a person's parents doesn't have this kind of effect, even in the worst of cases."
Quatre shook his head. "You gave him those pills so he would sleep and not hear your grilling session with me, didn't you?"
Treize frowned. "Tell me you have a higher opinion of me then that, please. I merely gave him the pills because he needed the rest, a time to unwind. However, you know I will use circumstances to my advantage if the opportunity presents itself, so yes it did solve two problems at once."
"Heartless opportunist," Quatre teased. Still he knew the way his uncle's mind worked, mostly. He knew Treize had given Duo the pills to help him sleep, and though he didn't admit it, he probably didn't even think about the boy listening in until moments later.
Treize smirked at the mock.
Shaking his head Quatre stepped forward and hugged his uncle tightly. "I swear I've never been more happy to see you in my life."
Treize hugged back. "Yes, it does appear I showed up at the best of times. Now, if you please, don't leave me in the dark any longer. I am eager to hear of all things that have happened, especially concerning your young friend, he seems quite the case."
"You have no idea!"
~*~
Trees surrounded him on all sides, the large dark trunks reaching high above with branches going in every direction. The trees were close together, yet not close enough to make a complete canopy. The scattered pattern of the trees spoke of natural growth, a process rarely disturbed by humans until recently, as there was a beaten path below his feet. Somewhere behind him, very faint and nearly silent, were the sounds of a town, a place with many more people. But he was walking away from there, walking toward a retreat, a quieter place.
The world around him, despite its clarity, was also shaded. He blinked a few times, thinking it was just the world around him, but then he realized it was his own eyes. Everything seemed to be covered with a strange fog, yet not intimidating in any way, just unclear, hard to focus on. Colors were muted, sunlight was muddled and behind everything there seemed to be this soft roaring, like interference in a far away radio station. After several attempts to shake it all off and failing miserably he just gave up and continued down the path, it wasn't worth a fight he was pretty sure would only wear him out and accomplish nothing.
He walked a slow, sluggish walk down the path. Everything seemed so slow, but yet he reached his destination quickly, finding himself standing in a small clearing, the path leading up to a very familiar log cabin. The large boulder he remembered from the night after the chess game - the one that had held the salamander - stood off to his left, a speckled piece of gray rock that added to the landscape, was it natural or moved by human hand?
Dismissing thoughts of the boulder he turned his attention to the house. He pushed open the door slowly and peeked his head in. He felt a smile cross his face as he saw the large and warm atmosphere.
All the windows were wide open, letting the sunlight stream in and light the entire place. The bed was empty, the blankets rolled up in a haphazard fashion, slept in not too long ago. Sitting in the corner was the boy, the same boy as always. But he was so much more clear, even in the muted environment, and Duo couldn't help but feel the smile cross his face. He pushed the door open a little more and it made a small noise.
The boy startled, the knife slipping and cutting his finger. He dropped the knife and brought his finger to his mouth, hiding the small carving he was working on in his hand. His eyes looked up to meet Duo and he smiled softly.
"I didn't mean to make you cut yourself! Sorry," Duo said, stepping completely into the cabin. The words were strange, something familiar about them. Duo blinked as he felt himself swept up in an incredible feeling of déjà vu... this all seemed so familiar and yet he knew none of his other dreams had gone like this.
The boy stood up slowly from his place in the corner and approached Duo, his face questioning. His bright blue eyes moved over Duo's figure and Duo shook his head, noticing another difference. He reached his hand up, as soon as the boy was in reach, and moved to touch the boy's hair... but he stopped himself before he could.
"Your hair," he said softly. "It's shorter now."
The boy's eyes widened, just slightly. He reached his own hand up and lightly touched the newly chopped edges which just barley brushed the back of his neck. Before his hair had been pulled into a messy ponytail, and now it was cut, the ponytail completely gone, though his hair was still just as messy. The boy closed his eyes and swallowed softly.
"You're remembering," he breathed.
"Remembering?" Duo whispered softly.
The boy opened his fingers, holding out the carved wooden sculpture for Duo to see. Duo's jaw dropped open in amazement and he took it into his own trembling hands. The sculpture was perfect!
The wood had been expertly carved into the shape of two people, about the same height. They were two men, standing very close together with their hands laced together in a caring and loving gesture. But it wasn't the fact that it was two guys that got Duo, what got Duo was that it was him! Him and the boy before him!
His eyes flickered from the sculpture to the boy. The detail was so amazing it was almost lifelike! On a whim he turned it over and noticed a blood stain on the back, two of them. One from the cut that was freshly made and the other from the time the boy had cut himself and thrown the sculpture across the room. Duo closed his fingers around the piece and smiled, his eyes nearly watering from happiness.
"Why am I this happy?" He asked softly. "My mind is saying this is one of the sweetest things you have ever done for me... but that doesn't make sense."
The boy looked at Duo, an obvious sadness in his face, yet mixed with a sense of joy. Closing the steps between them he wrapped his hands around Duo's, enclosing the piece of carved wood between their hands.
"You're remembering things. I wish I could help you more."
"How can I remember something that never happened?" Duo asked. He didn't understand this! It didn't make sense!
That comment affected the boy and he pulled his hands away in a very cold gesture. He stepped back a ways, farther then before and watched Duo with sad eyes.
Duo felt horrible. "I'm sorry... it just... I don't understand any of this!"
The boy nodded slowly. "This was one of our happiest memories. When I gave you that gift." He gestured lightly to the sculpture in Duo's hand. "And when I cut my hair."
Duo closed his eyes and felt that same warm feeling surge up in him again. Happiness, bright happiness, like he was...
His eyes snapped open and widened.
Like he was in love?
He shook his head and stepped back. "No... that doesn't make sense," he murmured softly to himself. "None of this... none of this makes sense!"
The boy closed the distance between them once again and wrapped his arms around Duo, pulling him close in a light embrace. Gently he pushed Duo's head against his chest and murmured soft words to calm him, holding him with a great amount of gentleness. Duo's first reaction was to jerk away... but he didn't.
The embrace felt natural, warm and comforting. Once the boy's arms surrounded him he found he didn't want to leave, ever. In fact he found himself embracing the boy back, perfectly comfortable with resting his head on the boy's chest and closing his eyes, letting the boy's sweet and soft words calm his confusion. The embrace felt so natural... so right.
Everything about this boy felt right. It didn't bother him at all that they were both men, hugging in an empty cabin where this boy obviously lived. In fact, now that he thought about it, even the cabin seemed familiar in a new sense. Not familiar from many dreams, but in a more home-like sense. He could have sworn he'd known this place before. But how was that possible?
As he leaned into the boy's embrace the world around him grew softer, the boy's words soon becoming the only sound. The world seemed to fade around him, almost as if he were falling asleep. But he was in a dream; it wasn't possible to fall asleep in a dream... was it?
Duo opened his eyes but found himself floating in darkness, with only the boy holding him still. The cabin and background had disappeared into nothing and instead they floated in weightlessness, almost like they were in space.
"Shh, relax." The boy murmured quietly. "I know it doesn't make sense now but just relax. I'm sure you'll remember more as time goes on, don't worry."
Duo felt his eyelids getting heavy and closed them once again; snuggling closer to the boy before he even realized it. "Don't leave," he whispered softly.
The boy smiled and the embrace tightened around Duo. "I am not going anywhere, I am always here when you need me. I would never leave you."
Duo felt something soft and warm touch his forehead lightly. Had the boy just kissed him?
"I love you Duo, I'm not leaving, ever."
TBC...
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