The Plague of Madness
chapter 6 - lets talk about sex
AUTHOR NOTE:
I AM SO SORRY!!! I know it's been like - what - over 6 months now. I am writing this story and I do have access to the net but I'm not aloud to post big documents until we can get the net on the other computer. Hopefully that should be sometime next month. I would type it up on the other computer, and put it on disk and take it to a friends to upload, however our disk-drive is completely stuffed. I've typed this up at a friends, just to let you guys know this story is still coming. I have a good chunk of Kitten written, and almost all of the plague of madness. As soon as we get the net back, I'll upload heaps, and then revise this story so It's up to my standards. However - here's the next chapter. I know it's not the best - but it's all I've got in me right now.
DISCLAIMER: Not mine. Characters, chapter title and the computer I'm writing this on. I own nothing.
ANYHOW---- Upward and Onward!!!!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~
The morning dawned cold and wet. Wufei woke to find Duo gone, and for a moment he almost panicked. He wasn't quite sure as to why, maybe the knight had left without him - come to his senses after what he had told him last night...
// last night... oh shit!//
He dressed and descended the stairs, Duo was sitting on a bar stool talking animatedly to Cathy, or should I say mumbling as he had his mouth full of breakfast and the result was his speech became rather 'cryptic'....
Wufei came up behind him quietly, unsure of how things would go this morning. Duo swallowed and graced the slave with a tender smile,
"Hey Fei, I decided to let ya sleep in a bit, what do ya want for breakfast?" Wufei just shrugged his shoulders, he didn't know.
// Treize always tells me what I'm to eat.//
"Well come on, you've got to have breakfast. You're too skinny as it is.
"I guess I'll just have whatever you're having." Duo gave him a sceptical look.
"Alright... you heard the boy Cathy,"
"Sure, I'll be right back." She bustled off behind the counter, a few minutes later and she was back, carrying three trays piled high with food. Duo grinned as she set them down in front of an astonished Wufei.
"You didn't eat all of this?" he asked wide eyed,
"Yup!" The knight nodded enthusiastically patting his stomach. Wufei nearly fainted.
While Wufei struggled to even make a start on the first tray Duo and Catherine started jabbering away to one another again. Wufei listened with half an ear. Eventually the conversation turned to Cathy's creepy cousin and Wufei perked both ears up.
"- So where's that cousin of yours? I haven't seen him all morning." Duo was asking.
"Trowa? Oh he left well before dawn, said to say goodbye to you, and a special goodbye to Wufei. He told me he hopes he'll see you again Fei." Here she turned to Wufei who had stopped eating altogether. "That's a big compliment coming from him, he's normally so... withdrawn around people..." she finished. Wufei felt his blood freeze, but he nodded politely.
Just then two children raced through the doors squealing! Both of them clamped their too-skinny arms around Duo's legs. "Well hey Cindy! Hey Simon! Mind telling me why you guys feel the sudden urge to attach yourselves to my ankle?" Just then a roar was heard outside and the baker ran in, wielding a rolling pin in his left hand, a French bread stick in his right.
"Those brats stole half a dozen of my buns!" the red faced man spluttered, lunging for the two children. Duo stood up and the baker stopped in his tracks.
"Now Jim, just what is the problem?"
"T-those brats are the problem. They're thieves!!!"
"Do you wish them to die?" The question was forcefully put, and the baker was taken aback.
"Why on earth would I wish that?"
"Then you agree to take them into your home, and feed them and clothe them and give them a bed to sleep in and a roof over their heads." "I MOST CERTAINLY DO NOT!!!"
Well then," there was a tone of finality in his voice, "I think you're nothing more than a hypocrite Jim Baker. You don't want them to die, yet you will not be lenient when they steal just enough to survive. Tell me, if you do not take them in, and if no one else feeds them, and if they are expected not to steal for a living, how is it possible that they may keep themselves alive?"
Wufei grinned.
"Well... I guess I see your point, but - but, they could...well... Just this once ya hear? And don't you two come begging for more just because I went easy on you once!"
"Mr Baker, Sir? If you find yourself hard on cash sir, you may take this." Duo held out a small pouch of glittering coins. The bakers eyes widened, first in greed, then in anger.
"How dare you suggest that I cannot support my family?"
"Well then," Duo pocketed the money once more, "If you are quite well off, the buns the children took should be of no great loss to you." The baker could think of nothing else to say, he huffed a few times, then stormed out, mumbling under his breath about knights who think too highly of themselves.
Duo sat back down on the stool, and villagers who had been eagerly watching the drama unfold, returned to their conversations. Duo pulled the two street urchin's into his lap. "Now you two, listen here. Now that I'm back in town there will be no need to go on stealing like you do. I'll provide for you. I'll come down once a week and give you supplies, alright?"
"Really?" asked the girl, Cindy.
"No more stealing," Duo affirmed her, "And here, you can take his breakfast back to the others." Duo gestured toward the remaining two and a half trays that lay untouched. "He looks like he's going to be sick if he has another bite!" Duo laughed. "Mind you go tell the others huh"
"We will! We will!" The children chorused, and they ran out with the breakfast. Not without hugging Duo first though, and Cindy gave him a giggly peck on the cheek.
Duo turned to the slave sitting beside him, "You didn't mind did you Fei?"
"Huh? No! I'd never have been able to eat all that."
"Why didn't you just tell me you were full?"
"I don't know... It just seems so wasteful." Duo nodded, understanding.
"We'd best head back,"
"Already?" Catherine stuck her head over the counter, sounding disappointed.
"Yeah, but we might be back tomorrow, alright?"
"Alright. See you Duo, and you Wufei,"
"Come on, lets go wake up Hilde, she's still snoring, then we'll get moving." Wufei nodded and left to saddle the horses.
Back at the castle, Wufei found himself feeling slightly uncomfortable. He wasn't sure why until he realised that he had become used to the more friendly, less formal atmosphere of the village, and was feeling strange being back, even if he had only been gone a night.
And he was feeling strange without Treize as well.
They went back up to Duo's quaters, after an angry encounter with Sally in the hall. She wanted to know just what Duo had done with her lover for a whole night. Duo ducked her punches, grabbed Wufei and ran for his life.
When they were safe in Duo's rooms, the knight panted out "That's one woman you *don't* wana make mad,"
Wufei chuckled to himself.
//She reminds me a bit of Merain...//
Duo flopped down onto the huge bed. "Well, how do you wana kill the rest of the day?" Wufei shrugged.
"Hmmmm... how long since Treize claimed you?"
"Uh - just under a year now."
//Please, please don't ask me any more. I don't want you to know,//
"Were you with Rapheal before then?"
"N-no I was taken to the palace, along with the other slaves which they took in the invasion. I was at the palace for a few months, then Treize came to court..."
//Please, please don't ask me any more!//
"How did he treat you?"
"Better than the people at the palace." Wufei answered shortly. He didn't want another awkward discussion about Treize.
"Does he know, about Rapheal?"
"Is this an interrogation or something?"
"Don't be mad at me, I'm just curious," he paused, "I'd like to know that you're happy,"
"I am!"
"You're not."
"I am! I am perfectly content the way things are."
"Then why did you wake up from that nightmare almost screaming in fear, then cry yourself to sleep in my arms last night?" If you were really happy you wouldn't still be haunted by those memories... At least not like that.
Wufei's eyes burned and he shut them tight.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
"You didn't do anything wrong. I just don't want you lying to me and telling me you're fine when you're not."
"Why does it matter? I'm just a slave."
"It will always matter to me." "It shouldn't."
"Why not?"
"You know why." Wufei's voice took a bitter, loathing tone. "You know what I did."
"You did nothing wrong. You couldn't have done anything else! Would it have been better to have let him kill her, would it have been better to have let her die now would it?" The knight lent forward, and Wufei pulled back, away from him.
"I should have been stronger." He muttered. " I should have been stronger, and killed Rapheal. I shouldn't have been so *weak*"
"You are anything but weak. You are a warrior. No slave collar can destroy that!"
"A warrior wouldn't have cried himself back to sleep in your arms, like you said. A warrior wouldn't have been shaken up by a mere nightmare!"
"Oh yes he would, if he'd been through what you have." Wufei just shook his head dejectedly. Duo scooted closer across the bed to him.
"Does Treize know about Rapheal?" Duo repeated in a much softer tone. Wufei nodded.
"He had a truth spell placed on me before we left the palace, to make sure I was trustworthy.... It sort of came out then."
~~A truth spell! I hate those things~~
"Does he treat you well now?"
"Of course!"
"Does he really...?"
"Yes - he lets me speak in his presence, he doesn't keep me in chains and he lets me wander the castle on my own. That's better than what most slaves get."
"Has he ever hurt you?"
"Why are you asking me all of this? What does it matter? Just leave things as they are. I'm happy, the Baron is happy, that's all that matters."
"What about me? What if I'm not happy?"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not happy with the way things are as they stand. You love Treize because you've never known any better. I just can't believe that you are truly happy."
"Please just leave it alone." Wufei begged.
"Has he ever hurt you?" Duo repeated the question. He had realised the boy was avoiding it.
"Only... only when I deserve it. It's not as if he's not supposed to. He *is* my Master."
"What does he hit you for?"
"Why does it matter?"
"What does he hit you for?" Duo repeated himself.
"I deserved it!"
"What. Did. You. Do. Wufei?"
"I - I - freaked out once, about nothing, and I pushed him away."
"What did you freak out over?"
"It - it was my first night here. H-he wanted me t-to sleep with him. When he started doing... stuff, I got scared and freaked out. It was stupid of me. I - I deserved everything I got!"
"He knew about how you'd been treated, about Rapheal, and he beat you when you got scared of his first advances?" Anger and unbelieving disgust mingled and became one passionate emotion on Duo's face. Wufei hung his head and nodded.
"How badly did he beat you." Duo's voice had a new tone to it now, Wufei noticed. Something angry. Something deadly. It frightened him.
"I deserved it!"
"How badly?"
"Not as badly as Rapheal!"
"How badly! Did he draw blood?" The slave nodded.
"W-with a belt, then with his fists... I don't remember anymore than that."
"He beat you until you passed out!" Again the knight was answered with a small nod.
"Has he ever done it again?"
"Only a few times, when I didn't do my duties, or - or"
"Or...?" Duo prompted.
"If he's drunk... but it's not his fault then. He doesn't know what he's doing. He always apologises afterwards."
"Apologies are shit." Duo spat out the words, and Wufei looked up and got a shock. Duo's face was a war zone. Quiet, fatal death was bubbling under the surface. Threatening to break free and loose itself any minute. It was terrifying.
"He doesn't mean to!" Wufei protested weakly in the face of this new, angry Duo.
~~ThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastard!!!!!~~
Fei...." He put a hand on the shoulder of the boy, who shuddered and pulled back saying,
"No! I deserved it."
"You didn't. That would have been the first time since Rapheal, right?" The Asian hung his head again.
"Please, can you just forget I ever told you about him, pleas?" Duo hugged him.
"No, sorry Fei, I can't and I won't. Not until justice is served." Wufei's eye's went wide and he make a strange sort of strangled squeak. "Fei?"
"It's, nothing. It's - just....that's just... that's exactly what Merain said to me before I locked her in the house.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know"
"It's alright, I was being stupid anyway,"
"There's nothing stupid about it." Wufei cast his eyes down and didn't argue.
~~Just like all good little *broken* slaves should~~ Duo thought bitterly. But he didn't say it.
"Fei, can I ask you a question?"
"What is it?"
"It's kind of personal, I want to know, how does the Baron treat you, well... you know, in bed? You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
"You think he's like Rapheal, don't you? You think he hurts me!"
"Well...."
"HE IS NOTHING LIKE RAPHEAL WAS!" There was silence for a few moments. Wufei hung his head and murmured an apology for shouting.
"It's all right, I just wanted to know. Tell me then, perhaps I have misconceptions of the Baron." Wufei's cheeks flushed red. "You can ask me a personal question too, if you want. If that makes it any easier." Wufei nodded, still blushing hotly.
"Well, do you have a choice?" Duo prompted, "If you asked him to stop, because you were tired or something, would he?" Wufei shook his head violently, as that kind of thing was completely outrageous, even to suggest.
"And, is he gentle?" Wufei gave a slow nod and then merged that into a shake saying "Yes! N-no ...well yes, ...but not really... I mean, he is, but - but - sometimes...." He stopped and looked up at the knight, who nodded to him encouragingly, "Sometimes, sometimes ... it hurts..."
"It shouldn't, not much at least, if he's careful. How much?"
"Not much" Wufei's face was on fire. Duo gave him a questioning look that said he had seen through that.
"Well... sometimes quite a bit, but it's only pain. I *should* be able to deal with that!"
"You shouldn't have to." Wufei looked up at the knight, looking into shimmering violet eyes, he gave a start.
Duo looked down at Wufei's hands. They were curled into tight fists and shaking. All of a sudden Wufei punched a pillow and yelled out, "WHY IS IT THIS WHOLE DAMN WORLD REVOLVES AROUND SEX? IT'S DISGUSTING AND IT HURTS AND I HATE IT!!!" Duo blinked at him, surprised. Wufei continued in a quieter tone, wrapping his arms around his knees. "Why is it that sex is all I'm good for?"
"No!" Wufei shrank back slightly. "You. Are. Good. For. So. Much. More. Than. Sex." The knight put a hand on Wufei's quietly shaking shoulders.
"I hate it! I hate it! I hate it!" He put his hands over his ears and rocked back and forth.
"The fact that you have that kind of attitude towards it tells me Treize doesn't treat you right. The fact that it hurts you tells me he doesn't treat you right. The fact that you think sex is all that you are good for tells me he doesn't treat you right. I'll bet he told you that!"
"He does treat me right."
"He hurts you."
"Not as much as Rapheal."
"It's still too much."
"I am a slave. I am expected to obey my master. If he gives me pain that's his choice. I have no rights. Why don't you understand that I'm not a free man. I am a slave. It is my duty to pleasure my master in whatever way he wishes. That is what I am. That is all I'm good for." As his voice stumbled clumsily over the last line of his little speech it was crammed full of such disappear and hopelessness that the tightening in his chest was almost physically painful.
"Who told you that?" Duo said quietly.
"Master Treize," Wufei studied his hands, "On that first night."
"Well he's wrong." The slave gave him a questioning look. "He's *wrong.* You are not a slave. You are a warrior. I knew it from the moment I saw you. You are good for so much *more* than this kind of life."
"No!-" he faltered, "I - I'm sorry, it's just - why are you telling me all of this? It's not as if I have a choice. I can't just up and leave whenever I feel like it, what's the point?"
"The point is to tell you that I'm here, and if you want help in anything, I'm here, and I will help you. You don't have to feel like you are alone in this."
"Just leave it alone, please..." The frustrated knight sighed.
"Alright, for now. Isn't it your turn to ask me a question?"
Wufei nodded, opened his mouth to speak, closed it, let out the breath he'd been holding, opened his mouth, and promptly snapped it shut again. Sir Duo gave him a lopsided smile. Then all of a sudden Wufei said quickly, "Ifyouwereatheifhow'dyougettobenobility?"
(Translates : "If you were a thief, how'd you get to be nobility?")
"There now that wasn't so hard was it?" Duo chuckled, "and I'd hardly call that a personal question,..."
Wufei waited. "I saved the Queen's life," He said, making it sound like this was something he did everyday "-well that's the short version anyhow." Wufei blinked at him several times.
"You - you mean Queen Relena? You saved Queen Relena?"
"Yeah what other queen is there around here? Queens are kinda hard to come by."
"How..."
"How are they hard to come by or how did I save her?" Wufei gave a start and began to explain that he hadn't meant that, but looked up to find Duo grinning. He blushed some more/
"Well the long version goes like this, see she was in town, visiting the Baron. She was quite new to the throne and there were a lot of doubts circulating about her capability. I was... borrowing some lunch from one of the better off families in the village when I overheard a conversation about how the two eldest sons were planning to assassinate her. I didn't give it much thought, their plan wasn't very good and I really didn't care much for queens.
"The next day she came down to the village for a visit. Much to the Baron's discomfort mind you, he isn't too proud of his slums. Anyway I peered out from a street corner to see her and one of the kids I had under my wing at the time tried to cut the strings to a purse she was wearing. He didn't realise who she was, he was only four or five. He told me afterwards that he didn't believe she was a queen because she wasn't wearing a crown. One of her guards caught him up by the scruff of the neck and held him out in front of them all. Baron Treize started rambling his apologies of course, and about how he would see the kid hanged publicly. I was just getting ready to grab Solo and see if we could get him back, but I stopped in my tracks because Queen Relena, she was outraged at such a suggestion. Saying he was only a child. She asked where his parents were and Solo stepped forward, really bravely might I add because there was a warrant out for his arrest. He explained to here that he was an orphan like the rest of us.
"Treize had the guards grab Solo, but Relena ordered them away and listened to what he had to say. Solo gave basically that same speech I gave in the Tavern to the baker. Then," Duo chuckled, "Then she rounded on Treize, demanding to know why he didn't have an orphanage if there were so many cases like us. Heh, Treize didn't look to happy mumbling under his breath that he didn't have the funs. Relena just replied in that strong voice of hers "You do not have the funds for an orphanage Baron, yet you can afford to feast yourself, I and all of our company so extravagantly in your castle?"
"Then she said she had seen enough and gave Thomas, that was the kid's name, her blessing and the bag full of coins, along with two more like it. Then she very firmly cancelled the warrant for all of our arrests saying that our crimes were committed out of need and nothing more.
"From then on I liked here and so when it came to the day she was leaving, which was when the assassination was planned for, I went out with all the other villages who were assembled to see her off. I tried to get up to her to warn her but the Barons guards wouldn't let me through. I looked up at the roof of the dancing dove, and there was the assassin, fitting an arrow into his bow. I raced up, using that trapdoor I showed you. I wouldn't have made it in time otherwise and knocked him aside just as he let the arrow loose. It barely missed her, but she had me come down, and she knighted me right then and there. Baron Treize couldn't say or do a thing about it. Relena made sure I was accommodated at the castle, and that's the way it was."
Wufei's eyes were wide with admiration.
//When he puts it like that, he doesn't make the Baron out to be such a good person after all. But he loves me and that's all that matters. The queen is amazing, I remember what she said to me at the palace. Sir Duo is so sure of himself. I bet he never failed at anything like I always do.//
"Course I left pretty smartly," Duo continued, "The plague had just started up, there was a scandal at the castle over me, and I thought it would be best if I just went away for a while. So they could cool down. Now I'm back."
"Relena is a kind woman and a good ruler. I met her once at the palace..."
"Yes she is. She, like others of her class, knows nothing about the rest of the world, but unlike the rest of them she is willing to learn and she does care." Wufei studied the fabric of his pants.
"Fei, what's the matter?"
"I don't see why you bother with me."
"Why shouldn't I?"
"You were born in poverty but your noble heart raised you up. I was born into honour and status but my cowardice and failure put me into slavery."
"Oh, geez Fei, don't you ever think that. You did nothing wrong. Sometimes things happen which just aren't fair. It was pure good luck that I was made a knight, and just bad luck that you were captured."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Doing what?" "Getting close to me, trying to turn me against my master. Bringing up history that is better left to rot in the ground."
"Why do you think Fei?" Duo said quietly. Wufei looked up searchingly into huge sincere purple eyes. He opened and closed his mouth slightly. Hardly daring to breathe. Any thoughts (or doubts) he had, flew his mind then and all he knew was Duo, Duo and more kissable Duo. Cautiously , carefully the knight lent forward toward Wufei, until their noses were nearly touching, and their shallow breathing seemed to suck everything around them up so that nothing was left but them.
~~No plague~~
//No memories//
~~No heirchy~~
//No fear//
~~No hatred~~
//No sex//
~~No society~~
//No weakness//
~~No orphans~~
//No failure//
~~No Treize~~
//No Trei-// "Treize!!!" Wufei gasped out and pulled away just as their lips were about to meet.
"I - I can't. T-Treize he'd kill me!"
"I wouldn't let him," Duo said with an expression on his face that told the frightened slave that he meant exactly what he said. Wufei looked lost, torn. Opening and shutting his mouth like he was about to say something and then couldn't find the right words. He shook his head and bolted all of a sudden. Fleeing out the door, Duo heard his footsteps pounding the stone floors all along the hall.
He closed his eyes and punched the bed, then flopped back rubbing his temples, deciding to let him go.
~~~~
I know I know! When are they actually going to snog let alone jump in the sack!!! It's coming, I promise.
Anyway - if anybody is still reading this - R&R if you luv me??? ^_^;;;
chapter 6 - lets talk about sex
AUTHOR NOTE:
I AM SO SORRY!!! I know it's been like - what - over 6 months now. I am writing this story and I do have access to the net but I'm not aloud to post big documents until we can get the net on the other computer. Hopefully that should be sometime next month. I would type it up on the other computer, and put it on disk and take it to a friends to upload, however our disk-drive is completely stuffed. I've typed this up at a friends, just to let you guys know this story is still coming. I have a good chunk of Kitten written, and almost all of the plague of madness. As soon as we get the net back, I'll upload heaps, and then revise this story so It's up to my standards. However - here's the next chapter. I know it's not the best - but it's all I've got in me right now.
DISCLAIMER: Not mine. Characters, chapter title and the computer I'm writing this on. I own nothing.
ANYHOW---- Upward and Onward!!!!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~
The morning dawned cold and wet. Wufei woke to find Duo gone, and for a moment he almost panicked. He wasn't quite sure as to why, maybe the knight had left without him - come to his senses after what he had told him last night...
// last night... oh shit!//
He dressed and descended the stairs, Duo was sitting on a bar stool talking animatedly to Cathy, or should I say mumbling as he had his mouth full of breakfast and the result was his speech became rather 'cryptic'....
Wufei came up behind him quietly, unsure of how things would go this morning. Duo swallowed and graced the slave with a tender smile,
"Hey Fei, I decided to let ya sleep in a bit, what do ya want for breakfast?" Wufei just shrugged his shoulders, he didn't know.
// Treize always tells me what I'm to eat.//
"Well come on, you've got to have breakfast. You're too skinny as it is.
"I guess I'll just have whatever you're having." Duo gave him a sceptical look.
"Alright... you heard the boy Cathy,"
"Sure, I'll be right back." She bustled off behind the counter, a few minutes later and she was back, carrying three trays piled high with food. Duo grinned as she set them down in front of an astonished Wufei.
"You didn't eat all of this?" he asked wide eyed,
"Yup!" The knight nodded enthusiastically patting his stomach. Wufei nearly fainted.
While Wufei struggled to even make a start on the first tray Duo and Catherine started jabbering away to one another again. Wufei listened with half an ear. Eventually the conversation turned to Cathy's creepy cousin and Wufei perked both ears up.
"- So where's that cousin of yours? I haven't seen him all morning." Duo was asking.
"Trowa? Oh he left well before dawn, said to say goodbye to you, and a special goodbye to Wufei. He told me he hopes he'll see you again Fei." Here she turned to Wufei who had stopped eating altogether. "That's a big compliment coming from him, he's normally so... withdrawn around people..." she finished. Wufei felt his blood freeze, but he nodded politely.
Just then two children raced through the doors squealing! Both of them clamped their too-skinny arms around Duo's legs. "Well hey Cindy! Hey Simon! Mind telling me why you guys feel the sudden urge to attach yourselves to my ankle?" Just then a roar was heard outside and the baker ran in, wielding a rolling pin in his left hand, a French bread stick in his right.
"Those brats stole half a dozen of my buns!" the red faced man spluttered, lunging for the two children. Duo stood up and the baker stopped in his tracks.
"Now Jim, just what is the problem?"
"T-those brats are the problem. They're thieves!!!"
"Do you wish them to die?" The question was forcefully put, and the baker was taken aback.
"Why on earth would I wish that?"
"Then you agree to take them into your home, and feed them and clothe them and give them a bed to sleep in and a roof over their heads." "I MOST CERTAINLY DO NOT!!!"
Well then," there was a tone of finality in his voice, "I think you're nothing more than a hypocrite Jim Baker. You don't want them to die, yet you will not be lenient when they steal just enough to survive. Tell me, if you do not take them in, and if no one else feeds them, and if they are expected not to steal for a living, how is it possible that they may keep themselves alive?"
Wufei grinned.
"Well... I guess I see your point, but - but, they could...well... Just this once ya hear? And don't you two come begging for more just because I went easy on you once!"
"Mr Baker, Sir? If you find yourself hard on cash sir, you may take this." Duo held out a small pouch of glittering coins. The bakers eyes widened, first in greed, then in anger.
"How dare you suggest that I cannot support my family?"
"Well then," Duo pocketed the money once more, "If you are quite well off, the buns the children took should be of no great loss to you." The baker could think of nothing else to say, he huffed a few times, then stormed out, mumbling under his breath about knights who think too highly of themselves.
Duo sat back down on the stool, and villagers who had been eagerly watching the drama unfold, returned to their conversations. Duo pulled the two street urchin's into his lap. "Now you two, listen here. Now that I'm back in town there will be no need to go on stealing like you do. I'll provide for you. I'll come down once a week and give you supplies, alright?"
"Really?" asked the girl, Cindy.
"No more stealing," Duo affirmed her, "And here, you can take his breakfast back to the others." Duo gestured toward the remaining two and a half trays that lay untouched. "He looks like he's going to be sick if he has another bite!" Duo laughed. "Mind you go tell the others huh"
"We will! We will!" The children chorused, and they ran out with the breakfast. Not without hugging Duo first though, and Cindy gave him a giggly peck on the cheek.
Duo turned to the slave sitting beside him, "You didn't mind did you Fei?"
"Huh? No! I'd never have been able to eat all that."
"Why didn't you just tell me you were full?"
"I don't know... It just seems so wasteful." Duo nodded, understanding.
"We'd best head back,"
"Already?" Catherine stuck her head over the counter, sounding disappointed.
"Yeah, but we might be back tomorrow, alright?"
"Alright. See you Duo, and you Wufei,"
"Come on, lets go wake up Hilde, she's still snoring, then we'll get moving." Wufei nodded and left to saddle the horses.
Back at the castle, Wufei found himself feeling slightly uncomfortable. He wasn't sure why until he realised that he had become used to the more friendly, less formal atmosphere of the village, and was feeling strange being back, even if he had only been gone a night.
And he was feeling strange without Treize as well.
They went back up to Duo's quaters, after an angry encounter with Sally in the hall. She wanted to know just what Duo had done with her lover for a whole night. Duo ducked her punches, grabbed Wufei and ran for his life.
When they were safe in Duo's rooms, the knight panted out "That's one woman you *don't* wana make mad,"
Wufei chuckled to himself.
//She reminds me a bit of Merain...//
Duo flopped down onto the huge bed. "Well, how do you wana kill the rest of the day?" Wufei shrugged.
"Hmmmm... how long since Treize claimed you?"
"Uh - just under a year now."
//Please, please don't ask me any more. I don't want you to know,//
"Were you with Rapheal before then?"
"N-no I was taken to the palace, along with the other slaves which they took in the invasion. I was at the palace for a few months, then Treize came to court..."
//Please, please don't ask me any more!//
"How did he treat you?"
"Better than the people at the palace." Wufei answered shortly. He didn't want another awkward discussion about Treize.
"Does he know, about Rapheal?"
"Is this an interrogation or something?"
"Don't be mad at me, I'm just curious," he paused, "I'd like to know that you're happy,"
"I am!"
"You're not."
"I am! I am perfectly content the way things are."
"Then why did you wake up from that nightmare almost screaming in fear, then cry yourself to sleep in my arms last night?" If you were really happy you wouldn't still be haunted by those memories... At least not like that.
Wufei's eyes burned and he shut them tight.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
"You didn't do anything wrong. I just don't want you lying to me and telling me you're fine when you're not."
"Why does it matter? I'm just a slave."
"It will always matter to me." "It shouldn't."
"Why not?"
"You know why." Wufei's voice took a bitter, loathing tone. "You know what I did."
"You did nothing wrong. You couldn't have done anything else! Would it have been better to have let him kill her, would it have been better to have let her die now would it?" The knight lent forward, and Wufei pulled back, away from him.
"I should have been stronger." He muttered. " I should have been stronger, and killed Rapheal. I shouldn't have been so *weak*"
"You are anything but weak. You are a warrior. No slave collar can destroy that!"
"A warrior wouldn't have cried himself back to sleep in your arms, like you said. A warrior wouldn't have been shaken up by a mere nightmare!"
"Oh yes he would, if he'd been through what you have." Wufei just shook his head dejectedly. Duo scooted closer across the bed to him.
"Does Treize know about Rapheal?" Duo repeated in a much softer tone. Wufei nodded.
"He had a truth spell placed on me before we left the palace, to make sure I was trustworthy.... It sort of came out then."
~~A truth spell! I hate those things~~
"Does he treat you well now?"
"Of course!"
"Does he really...?"
"Yes - he lets me speak in his presence, he doesn't keep me in chains and he lets me wander the castle on my own. That's better than what most slaves get."
"Has he ever hurt you?"
"Why are you asking me all of this? What does it matter? Just leave things as they are. I'm happy, the Baron is happy, that's all that matters."
"What about me? What if I'm not happy?"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not happy with the way things are as they stand. You love Treize because you've never known any better. I just can't believe that you are truly happy."
"Please just leave it alone." Wufei begged.
"Has he ever hurt you?" Duo repeated the question. He had realised the boy was avoiding it.
"Only... only when I deserve it. It's not as if he's not supposed to. He *is* my Master."
"What does he hit you for?"
"Why does it matter?"
"What does he hit you for?" Duo repeated himself.
"I deserved it!"
"What. Did. You. Do. Wufei?"
"I - I - freaked out once, about nothing, and I pushed him away."
"What did you freak out over?"
"It - it was my first night here. H-he wanted me t-to sleep with him. When he started doing... stuff, I got scared and freaked out. It was stupid of me. I - I deserved everything I got!"
"He knew about how you'd been treated, about Rapheal, and he beat you when you got scared of his first advances?" Anger and unbelieving disgust mingled and became one passionate emotion on Duo's face. Wufei hung his head and nodded.
"How badly did he beat you." Duo's voice had a new tone to it now, Wufei noticed. Something angry. Something deadly. It frightened him.
"I deserved it!"
"How badly?"
"Not as badly as Rapheal!"
"How badly! Did he draw blood?" The slave nodded.
"W-with a belt, then with his fists... I don't remember anymore than that."
"He beat you until you passed out!" Again the knight was answered with a small nod.
"Has he ever done it again?"
"Only a few times, when I didn't do my duties, or - or"
"Or...?" Duo prompted.
"If he's drunk... but it's not his fault then. He doesn't know what he's doing. He always apologises afterwards."
"Apologies are shit." Duo spat out the words, and Wufei looked up and got a shock. Duo's face was a war zone. Quiet, fatal death was bubbling under the surface. Threatening to break free and loose itself any minute. It was terrifying.
"He doesn't mean to!" Wufei protested weakly in the face of this new, angry Duo.
~~ThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastardThatfuckingbastard!!!!!~~
Fei...." He put a hand on the shoulder of the boy, who shuddered and pulled back saying,
"No! I deserved it."
"You didn't. That would have been the first time since Rapheal, right?" The Asian hung his head again.
"Please, can you just forget I ever told you about him, pleas?" Duo hugged him.
"No, sorry Fei, I can't and I won't. Not until justice is served." Wufei's eye's went wide and he make a strange sort of strangled squeak. "Fei?"
"It's, nothing. It's - just....that's just... that's exactly what Merain said to me before I locked her in the house.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know"
"It's alright, I was being stupid anyway,"
"There's nothing stupid about it." Wufei cast his eyes down and didn't argue.
~~Just like all good little *broken* slaves should~~ Duo thought bitterly. But he didn't say it.
"Fei, can I ask you a question?"
"What is it?"
"It's kind of personal, I want to know, how does the Baron treat you, well... you know, in bed? You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
"You think he's like Rapheal, don't you? You think he hurts me!"
"Well...."
"HE IS NOTHING LIKE RAPHEAL WAS!" There was silence for a few moments. Wufei hung his head and murmured an apology for shouting.
"It's all right, I just wanted to know. Tell me then, perhaps I have misconceptions of the Baron." Wufei's cheeks flushed red. "You can ask me a personal question too, if you want. If that makes it any easier." Wufei nodded, still blushing hotly.
"Well, do you have a choice?" Duo prompted, "If you asked him to stop, because you were tired or something, would he?" Wufei shook his head violently, as that kind of thing was completely outrageous, even to suggest.
"And, is he gentle?" Wufei gave a slow nod and then merged that into a shake saying "Yes! N-no ...well yes, ...but not really... I mean, he is, but - but - sometimes...." He stopped and looked up at the knight, who nodded to him encouragingly, "Sometimes, sometimes ... it hurts..."
"It shouldn't, not much at least, if he's careful. How much?"
"Not much" Wufei's face was on fire. Duo gave him a questioning look that said he had seen through that.
"Well... sometimes quite a bit, but it's only pain. I *should* be able to deal with that!"
"You shouldn't have to." Wufei looked up at the knight, looking into shimmering violet eyes, he gave a start.
Duo looked down at Wufei's hands. They were curled into tight fists and shaking. All of a sudden Wufei punched a pillow and yelled out, "WHY IS IT THIS WHOLE DAMN WORLD REVOLVES AROUND SEX? IT'S DISGUSTING AND IT HURTS AND I HATE IT!!!" Duo blinked at him, surprised. Wufei continued in a quieter tone, wrapping his arms around his knees. "Why is it that sex is all I'm good for?"
"No!" Wufei shrank back slightly. "You. Are. Good. For. So. Much. More. Than. Sex." The knight put a hand on Wufei's quietly shaking shoulders.
"I hate it! I hate it! I hate it!" He put his hands over his ears and rocked back and forth.
"The fact that you have that kind of attitude towards it tells me Treize doesn't treat you right. The fact that it hurts you tells me he doesn't treat you right. The fact that you think sex is all that you are good for tells me he doesn't treat you right. I'll bet he told you that!"
"He does treat me right."
"He hurts you."
"Not as much as Rapheal."
"It's still too much."
"I am a slave. I am expected to obey my master. If he gives me pain that's his choice. I have no rights. Why don't you understand that I'm not a free man. I am a slave. It is my duty to pleasure my master in whatever way he wishes. That is what I am. That is all I'm good for." As his voice stumbled clumsily over the last line of his little speech it was crammed full of such disappear and hopelessness that the tightening in his chest was almost physically painful.
"Who told you that?" Duo said quietly.
"Master Treize," Wufei studied his hands, "On that first night."
"Well he's wrong." The slave gave him a questioning look. "He's *wrong.* You are not a slave. You are a warrior. I knew it from the moment I saw you. You are good for so much *more* than this kind of life."
"No!-" he faltered, "I - I'm sorry, it's just - why are you telling me all of this? It's not as if I have a choice. I can't just up and leave whenever I feel like it, what's the point?"
"The point is to tell you that I'm here, and if you want help in anything, I'm here, and I will help you. You don't have to feel like you are alone in this."
"Just leave it alone, please..." The frustrated knight sighed.
"Alright, for now. Isn't it your turn to ask me a question?"
Wufei nodded, opened his mouth to speak, closed it, let out the breath he'd been holding, opened his mouth, and promptly snapped it shut again. Sir Duo gave him a lopsided smile. Then all of a sudden Wufei said quickly, "Ifyouwereatheifhow'dyougettobenobility?"
(Translates : "If you were a thief, how'd you get to be nobility?")
"There now that wasn't so hard was it?" Duo chuckled, "and I'd hardly call that a personal question,..."
Wufei waited. "I saved the Queen's life," He said, making it sound like this was something he did everyday "-well that's the short version anyhow." Wufei blinked at him several times.
"You - you mean Queen Relena? You saved Queen Relena?"
"Yeah what other queen is there around here? Queens are kinda hard to come by."
"How..."
"How are they hard to come by or how did I save her?" Wufei gave a start and began to explain that he hadn't meant that, but looked up to find Duo grinning. He blushed some more/
"Well the long version goes like this, see she was in town, visiting the Baron. She was quite new to the throne and there were a lot of doubts circulating about her capability. I was... borrowing some lunch from one of the better off families in the village when I overheard a conversation about how the two eldest sons were planning to assassinate her. I didn't give it much thought, their plan wasn't very good and I really didn't care much for queens.
"The next day she came down to the village for a visit. Much to the Baron's discomfort mind you, he isn't too proud of his slums. Anyway I peered out from a street corner to see her and one of the kids I had under my wing at the time tried to cut the strings to a purse she was wearing. He didn't realise who she was, he was only four or five. He told me afterwards that he didn't believe she was a queen because she wasn't wearing a crown. One of her guards caught him up by the scruff of the neck and held him out in front of them all. Baron Treize started rambling his apologies of course, and about how he would see the kid hanged publicly. I was just getting ready to grab Solo and see if we could get him back, but I stopped in my tracks because Queen Relena, she was outraged at such a suggestion. Saying he was only a child. She asked where his parents were and Solo stepped forward, really bravely might I add because there was a warrant out for his arrest. He explained to here that he was an orphan like the rest of us.
"Treize had the guards grab Solo, but Relena ordered them away and listened to what he had to say. Solo gave basically that same speech I gave in the Tavern to the baker. Then," Duo chuckled, "Then she rounded on Treize, demanding to know why he didn't have an orphanage if there were so many cases like us. Heh, Treize didn't look to happy mumbling under his breath that he didn't have the funs. Relena just replied in that strong voice of hers "You do not have the funds for an orphanage Baron, yet you can afford to feast yourself, I and all of our company so extravagantly in your castle?"
"Then she said she had seen enough and gave Thomas, that was the kid's name, her blessing and the bag full of coins, along with two more like it. Then she very firmly cancelled the warrant for all of our arrests saying that our crimes were committed out of need and nothing more.
"From then on I liked here and so when it came to the day she was leaving, which was when the assassination was planned for, I went out with all the other villages who were assembled to see her off. I tried to get up to her to warn her but the Barons guards wouldn't let me through. I looked up at the roof of the dancing dove, and there was the assassin, fitting an arrow into his bow. I raced up, using that trapdoor I showed you. I wouldn't have made it in time otherwise and knocked him aside just as he let the arrow loose. It barely missed her, but she had me come down, and she knighted me right then and there. Baron Treize couldn't say or do a thing about it. Relena made sure I was accommodated at the castle, and that's the way it was."
Wufei's eyes were wide with admiration.
//When he puts it like that, he doesn't make the Baron out to be such a good person after all. But he loves me and that's all that matters. The queen is amazing, I remember what she said to me at the palace. Sir Duo is so sure of himself. I bet he never failed at anything like I always do.//
"Course I left pretty smartly," Duo continued, "The plague had just started up, there was a scandal at the castle over me, and I thought it would be best if I just went away for a while. So they could cool down. Now I'm back."
"Relena is a kind woman and a good ruler. I met her once at the palace..."
"Yes she is. She, like others of her class, knows nothing about the rest of the world, but unlike the rest of them she is willing to learn and she does care." Wufei studied the fabric of his pants.
"Fei, what's the matter?"
"I don't see why you bother with me."
"Why shouldn't I?"
"You were born in poverty but your noble heart raised you up. I was born into honour and status but my cowardice and failure put me into slavery."
"Oh, geez Fei, don't you ever think that. You did nothing wrong. Sometimes things happen which just aren't fair. It was pure good luck that I was made a knight, and just bad luck that you were captured."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Doing what?" "Getting close to me, trying to turn me against my master. Bringing up history that is better left to rot in the ground."
"Why do you think Fei?" Duo said quietly. Wufei looked up searchingly into huge sincere purple eyes. He opened and closed his mouth slightly. Hardly daring to breathe. Any thoughts (or doubts) he had, flew his mind then and all he knew was Duo, Duo and more kissable Duo. Cautiously , carefully the knight lent forward toward Wufei, until their noses were nearly touching, and their shallow breathing seemed to suck everything around them up so that nothing was left but them.
~~No plague~~
//No memories//
~~No heirchy~~
//No fear//
~~No hatred~~
//No sex//
~~No society~~
//No weakness//
~~No orphans~~
//No failure//
~~No Treize~~
//No Trei-// "Treize!!!" Wufei gasped out and pulled away just as their lips were about to meet.
"I - I can't. T-Treize he'd kill me!"
"I wouldn't let him," Duo said with an expression on his face that told the frightened slave that he meant exactly what he said. Wufei looked lost, torn. Opening and shutting his mouth like he was about to say something and then couldn't find the right words. He shook his head and bolted all of a sudden. Fleeing out the door, Duo heard his footsteps pounding the stone floors all along the hall.
He closed his eyes and punched the bed, then flopped back rubbing his temples, deciding to let him go.
~~~~
I know I know! When are they actually going to snog let alone jump in the sack!!! It's coming, I promise.
Anyway - if anybody is still reading this - R&R if you luv me??? ^_^;;;