Sorcerer Stabber Shinigami Part 3
The two sorcerers stepped outside and faced each other, the cold wind moving over their bodies and tugging at their clothing. Duo ignored the chilly wind on his bare arms and face; it could be dealt with later. He had more important things to worry about at the moment, like the one facing him.
Trowa stood silently, watching Duo yet also watching the world around him. He was always aware of everything, always aware and always ready. It was one of the many advantages of being silent and spending the majority of his life learning how to melt into the shadows where no one would notice him.
"You've been following me since I left, haven't you?" Duo asked, his lips tilted at an amused grin. He wasn't about to let the other know how much he feared his silent powers.
Trowa nodded. "We gave you time, a whole year. But I have now been instructed to bring you back."
"By Treize?"
"Yes, by Treize and the rest of the Tower. You are still a student, you still are subject to his rulings."
Duo spit to the ground. "Like hell. I'm not about to go back there after what they did to Heero! What's to stop them from doing it to you next? Or to Milliardo? Or to any of the other countless people I know and care about in that Tower. No way, Trowa, I'm not going back."
Trowa frowned slightly. "I have orders to bring you back, one way or another."
A smirk slid across Duo face, he knew what was coming next. "You're welcome to try, old friend." Duo traced a shape quickly in the air and the snow around him began to glow. Trowa raised his hand, energy lighting up in his eyes.
Trowa's attack hit only moments after Duo raised a protective wall of ice from the ground. Duo responded by jumping out of the way as the ice wall shattered into millions of razor sharp shards. Rolling across the snow he landed in a crouch, burying his hand in the snow until he found the icy earth beneath. Pulling his hand back out it now grasped a sword made of shimmering marble, pulled from the earth itself. Duo turned to face Trowa once again.
"You know you can't beat me, old friend. We always hit a stalemate when Treize was teaching us."
"I have my orders," Trowa repeated in a flat voice. Tracing his own shape in the air the sky above them began to churn. Duo took the chance and looked up to the clouds. His own eyes narrowed and he swore as he saw the clouds move to close over the setting sun, extinguishing the world into a darkness close to the middle of the night.
"Cute illusion Trowa."
The world around him was bathed in darkness, but he could still see his opponent. Holding his earth-made sword he faced the other boy, readying himself for the next attack. Yet Trowa didn't move, he just stood there.
"I must take you back with me, Duo."
"You already know my answer."
Trowa shook his head sadly. The darkness grew darker, swirling in around them until all they could see was each other and the very faint outline of the inn. Duo's eyes flickered from Trowa to the darkness around him, he knew Trowa had something planned and he had to be ready for it. But he always had trouble reading Trowa's moves; the boy was so unpredictable in his precision.
Suddenly a blast of bright light came from where Trowa was standing. Duo gave a cry as the light hit his eyes, causing his vision to momentarily disappear in a fiery blast of pain. Dropping his sword he shielded his eyes and blinked rapidly, forcing them to get used to the sudden change in atmosphere around him. But he wasn't fast enough, and that moment of pain and distraction was all Trowa needed. Trowa aimed a blast of energy at Duo and fired, not even blinking as the energy sailed toward his friend.
However, just before it hit, a dark green wall of energy shot up around Duo, causing the blast to shatter and dissipate into nothing. Trowa blinked in surprise as the darkness around them faded and the blond from inside the inn raced to Duo's side.
"Master! Are you ok?"
Duo rubbed his head and blinked away the last of the burning red images on his eyes. "Yeah, thanks." His eyes flickered to Trowa and he readied himself for the next attack, glaring and practically challenging Trowa to continue the fight while an innocent bystander was involved.
Trowa shook his head. The battle was over; he had more important things to worry about now. Like that boy. "You've taken an apprentice I see." Trowa said, stepping closer to them.
Quatre's eyes narrowed at Trowa but Duo placed a hand on the blond's shoulder.
"Don't worry, kid, the battle's over. It's a stalemate, as always."
Trowa nodded.
Quatre helped Duo stand up and the braided sorcerer regarded his opponent. "So what will you do now? What are you going to tell your Master?"
Trowa shrugged. "My orders still stand. I will carry them out. We will meet again." Turning he walked off, heading down the road and past the houses. Duo leaned against Quatre, very visibly, until the boy lead him over to a crate near the stables.
"Are you alright?"
Duo shook his head and took a few deep breaths, then he grinned at the boy. "Man, you do pack quite a punch, I've never seen one of his attacks deflected like that. But you gotta listen to me, Quatre. You can't go jumping in like that in the middle of a fight."
"But you would have been hurt!"
"No, he wouldn't have hurt me. Look, it's rules for magical battles, you don't interrupt, no matter what. The battle was between me and Trowa, you can't interfere and jump in. Besides that, you're still drawing power from me, remember? If he'd attacked after you made that shield we would have both been in big trouble. Power isn't endless; you near zapped it all out of me. You're lucky it was Trowa and not someone else, you could have gotten us both killed."
Quatre hung his head and took a few steps back; watching the snow-covered ground in guilt. "Sorry, I was just trying to help."
Duo grinned. "I'm not mad at you, Quatre. It was an honest mistake. I just need you to remember that for next time. When you use magic right now you take power from me, that's the dangerous part. Next time you try it I suggest standing closer to Trowa and then using his power, he would have really been thrown for a loop then."
Quatre looked up and smiled, nodding happily. "All right, I'll remember that. But, he'll be coming back won't he?"
"Not for a while. He has to go report into his Master first, no biggie. I'll be ready for him the next time he comes in." Duo struggled to his feet, catching himself against the wall until he was sure he could stand. Then he wrapped his arms around himself and shivered. "Can we get back inside? I can't exactly teach you magic if I'm a human ice-cube."
Quatre giggled and nodded. Both headed back into the inn.
~*~
A couple weeks went by with nothing too eventful. Duo stayed around the inn, gathering what information he could from the people in the town, asking if any of them had seen someone of Heero's description. Most of the time he felt pretty helpless because he was getting absolutely no where, but he kept grinning. He wasn't about to give up on the search; he'd find Heero, dammit! Even if it took him another year!
During the time he wasn't asking the people around the town he was teaching Quatre magic. It only took a couple of days for Quatre to discover his own source of energy to tap from, and he stopped drawing it from Duo while he was learning and practicing. Following the rules of the school Duo made Quatre swear to never tell the symbol he pictured when he drew his power, or where he drew it from. This was a safety precaution for all sorcerers, for if anyone else got word of where you got your power they could block or completely destroy that power source, thus rendering the poor sorcerer helpless.
Quatre was a quick learner and was soon doing many things from instinct, learning the symbols and spells with ease. Though Duo taught him slowly, making sure that he didn't get too much knowledge. He didn't want the Masters of the Tower to appear one night and steal Quatre away because of his newfound talents, which they had a habit of doing. In fact, if he had any say in the matter, Quatre would be his apprentice and never need to go to the Tower. He wasn't about to give them another student to abuse the way they had him, and he certainly wasn't about to give them a trump card to use against him. Because, in spite of himself, he'd become really good friends with Hilde and Quatre and wasn't about to let anyone hurt them. Quatre was more then his apprentice, they were equals, despite Quatre's continuos insistence of calling him Master even when he didn't need to anymore.
"Here you go, Master." Quatre slid the strawberry drink down the bar and went back to cleaning the dishes.
Duo took the drink and tried a sip, then shook his head. "You know, kid, you don't need to call me that anymore. You know how to get your own power and-" he paused to take another drink, then decided to just let the sentence stand as it was, unfinished.
"You said it yourself," Quatre said, placing a cleaned glass on the shelf above the bar. "I better get used to the habit now or I'll get into trouble when I get to the Tower. It's not a big deal, I just think of it more as a name."
Duo sighed softly. "Yeah and every time I hear it I'm reminded of that jerk who I used to call Master."
Quatre paused and glanced over his shoulder, expecting to see a frown on Duo's face or some depressed look, but instead found the braided sorcerer was sipping his drink with a grin on his face, as usual. The blond gave a silent laugh and shook his head. Was Duo ever serious about anything? Did that grin ever leave his face? Not that it was a bad thing, he just swore he'd never seen anyone smile so much.
Silence carried on for a few moments more, with Quatre cleaning and Duo simply sitting in his seat listening to the conversations around him. All around them the inn was lively with people talking of their day. The snow was finally melting away and almost completely gone, a testament to the hot season heading their way. Everyone spoke of the coming weather and preparations for the fields or other seasonal activities.
The conversations were stopped though as a small group of three villagers burst through the door. They looked around worriedly, their eyes going straight to Quatre. They pushed their ways past the tables to where Quatre stood behind the counter. The blond boy set down his glass and cloth and watched them quietly.
"Hey kid," one of them said sitting down. "There's rumors that a sorcerer or something hangs out here, you know him?"
Quatre's eyes flickered to Duo, who gave a slow nod.
"You're sitting right next to him," Duo said quietly, not looking up from his drink.
One of the other men raised an eyebrow. "You kidding? You're younger then my daughter, how could you be a sorcerer?"
Duo glanced up and pulled his amulet into view, the light from the room glinting off the silver. His violet eyes shifted from one man to the other, settling on the one who'd sat down, their leader. "We don't generally do jobs, we're not usually for hire."
"You gotta help!" Pleaded the smaller one who'd remained silent until now. "There's a dragon on the edge of the town, he stomped out my entire field."
Duo set down his drink and just glanced at the guy, then broke out laughing. "A dragon? Oh man! You've got to be kidding me! What do you think this is, some child's fantasy story? There hasn't been a dragon sighting for hundreds of years and now one just decides to go tromping around on your fields? Are you insane, I think you drank a little too much."
By now all the tables in the inn were silent, listening in. One of them set down his glass on the table, hard. "Funny. I heard dragons were as rare as the children of Shinigami."
Duo turned around sharply and eyed the man silently.
"Yeah, I know what you are." He said, downing the rest of his drink. "The dragon's most likely here from your cursed existence. We'd be better off kicking you out of town, then it'd leave us alone."
"Hey! You don't know that-" Quatre yelled angrily but Duo raised a hand to silence him, standing up from his seat.
"Even if it is a dragon, old man, it ain't gonna listen to me. But what the heck, I'll go look, which way are your fields?"
"To the north of town, past the brewery."
Duo nodded and headed for the door. Quatre raced to the back and yelled to his father that he was heading out then ran after Duo. "Master! Wait up!"
Stepping outside of the inn Duo turned and looked straight at Quatre with serious eyes. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to come along."
Quatre smirked. "Too bad. I can't let my Master walk off without me. Besides, what if it's that guy from the Tower again? I'm not letting you walk off when I'm not sure if you're going to come back."
"I'm coming too!"
Both boys turned to see Hilde racing toward them, clutching onto the large sword on her belt tightly, so it didn't throw her off balance.
"I want to see this dragon."
Duo laughed and shook his head. "All right, fine. But if it does turn out to be a dragon you two stay back and Quatre you get to use your shield to protect both of you, got it? I'll take care of it."
"Got it!" Quatre replied happily.
And so the three set off.
As they walked to the north, toward the fields where the dragon had been spotted Duo's eyes traveled to the moon above. He didn't even realize what time of year it was, but right there above him was the full moon, red as blood. Duo swore under his breath and shook his head.
Oh great. Well bloody happy birthday to me. Looks like I'm fifteen, he thought angrily. Shoving his hands in his pockets he started to walk a bit slower. He had a bad feeling about this. His birthday was never a good day.
TBC...
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