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Story Time With Trowa or Once Upon A Cross Dresser
Chapter Eighteen

Saturday morning Duo, Quatre, Trowa and Wufei stood outside the boys' home. They gathered next to Wufe's car, looking and feeling like the mourning family at a funeral.

Quatre clutched Trowa's arm with misty eyes, while Trowa himself struggled to look neutral. Duo had a nervous quickness about him, and he had yet to make eye contact with anyone. Even Wufei looked somber as he shoved his bags into the trunk of his rented car.

"You don't have to leave so soon." Quatre blurted out, then caught himself. "I'm sure they would give you more time, if you asked." He finished timidly.

Wufei closed the trunk. He kept his hands on the trunk a moment as though he expected it to pop open again. "My shuttle leaves in a few hours..." he spoke to the trunk in answer to Quatre. "Besides, I have some things to take care of." Only then did he let go of the car and turn to face his friends.

Quatre let go of Trowa for the first time in more than an hour. He hesitantly shuffled the few steps to Wufei, and then quickly lost any composure he had retained. Wufei wasn't at all surprised when the blonde fell against his chest and wrapped his arms around his neck in a teary hug. Wufei didn't resist the small smile it brought to his lips, and he even gave Quatre an affectionate pat on the back.

"Don't go that long with out visiting again." Quatre ordered. As he pulled away he wore a stern glare, but it was completely negated by the fact that his arms still hung from Wufei's shoulders. When Wufei nodded, Quatre finally let him go.

Duo took Quatre's place as soon the blonde made his teary retreat. "Heh, I finally get my room back." he joked feebly, and followed it up with an even weaker laugh.

Wufei swallowed a good portion of his pride and pulled Duo into a stiff hug. Wufei could feel Duo's chest convulse in a silent sobs as he held him.

It was a few moments before Duo was calm enough to speak. "Ditto on what Quatre said, don't wait to visit us," his voice thick in Wufei's ear, "I get to missin' ya man." Duo pulled quickly away—ducking his head and turning to hide his face. He shot a shaky wave over his shoulder as he made his way to the front door where a sniffling Quatre was waiting.

Trowa was the last to step up and the most composed of the three. He smiled softly and held out his hand. "I'm glad you decided to spend the week."

Wufei nodded and gripped Trowa's hand. "We should, all of us, get together sometime." He said.

"A fuckin' handshake? Damn you macho bastards!" Duo yelled from the doorway.

Trowa chuckled and Wufei smiled tensely. Trowa pulled their arms together and patted Wufei's back in the awkward "I'm not really hugging you" man-hug. When Trowa started to pull away, Wufei didn't move.

"I have a request." Wufei spoke quietly so only Trowa could hear. "I will forgive you for the story, as long as you leave me with some dignity."

Wufei pulled away and stepped back with his gaze fixed over Trowa's shoulder. He lifted a hand to the boys in the doorway as he stepped backward toward the car. The second before he turned to get in, he looked back at Trowa with a firm, warning stare.

Trowa could only manage a nod.

Wufei was starting his car when Trowa felt Duo and Quatre walk up behind him and together they watched him drive away. They stood watching long after Wufei's car had disappeared.

"Now what?" Quatre said softly when his tears were finally dry.

"Go inside and start a pot of coffee." Trowa said with his eyes still on the road. "I suddenly have the desire to finish the story."

While Quatre made coffee, Duo and Trowa gathered every pillow and cushion in the house. They moved the living room furniture into a tight L shape and arranged the cushions to form one large half couch, half bed. Quatre came in with a tray of coffee just as Duo was coming back with his arms full of blankets.

"How long do you think it will take?" Quatre asked, passing Trowa his mug.

"I don't know," Trowa said honestly. "But I'm going to finish it or fall asleep trying."

"I'm not complaining." Duo said. He dropped the blankets at their feet for later and plopped down beside Trowa. He helped himself to a mug of coffee as Quatre got comfortable on Trowa's other side.

"We don't have work until Monday, so I guess it makes sense to finish it now." Quatre added practically.

Duo made a "yeah whatever" noise that made Trowa chuckle.

"Alright," Trowa said softly. "This is it." He looked to his lovers at his sides with a sad smile. "I almost don't want to finish. So much has happened because of it."

Duo grinned. "Well you could always start another--"

"No." Trowa interrupted.

Duo laughed. "Alright alright..."

"It is a little sad though," Quatre agreed. "I'm going to miss this."

Trowa nodded and took a sip of his coffee.

"Sad as it is, I still want to know what's gonna happen. On with it!" Duo prodded.

Trowa put down his mug and took a moment to reflect before plunging into the final telling of his odd little fairy tale.

The darkness was complete—not even a sliver of light seeped into the room. If there was anything in that darkness, he couldn't see it. In such total and constant darkness there was no morning or night; the only thing that marked the passage of time was the servant woman who brought a new plate of food every six or so hours in exchanged for the untouched platter of the previous meal.

He could not tell when he was awake from when he was asleep; he had simply stopped noticing the passage from one into the other. Did he dream the food placed beside the door? Did he imagine the hours pass? Had this all been a horrible nightmare? Had he fallen asleep before his birthday party and dreamt that horrible revelation?

That night played out repeatedly in his dreams, however, along with Wufei's approaching execution. In one dream, Hilde's blade slashed through Wufei's chest as it did in reality, except that blood spilled out in the place of sand and Wufei fell to the floor to die at his feet. In another dream, he was standing by watching as Wufei was executed. And in yet another, he held the axe.

His mind ran these images through dreams and thoughts, echoing in his empty stomach and even emptier soul.

Did these things have any effect on him? He could not tell... He could feel nothing as he watched Wufei's phantom die. Nor could he feel anything when he watched the better dreams, where Wufei was proven to be female and they grew old as King and Queen. He could not feel anything.

That thought echoed in the back of his skull for a few dreams, itching at his mind.

Cannot feel...

No feeling...

Numb...

Then for the first time in thousands of dreams, Heero awoke. At least he suddenly developed a sense of the difference. He was awake.

He slid out from his bed and moved in to the complete and utter darkness. He had lived in that room since early childhood; someone could spin him around ten times and he would still be able to walk around in the dark without bumping into anything. He easily found his desk, and from there he found the window. Somewhere in his insanity he had pasted parchment over his windows, effectively cutting out the straggling light that made parts of the room visible. After Hilde's visit he found that locking his room wasn't enough to keep people out. That impossible darkness made people nervous though. Even the servant woman wouldn't enter to leave food, she left it as close to the door as possible.

Heero lifted a hand to his dark curtains and yanked them back. Already the room grew lighter. The parchment was lit a bright yellow as it tried to block the blazing sun. Heero's eyes already burned from that small change in light, but he felt for a crease in the paper and pulled. The paper came away in shreds, stabbing odd shapes of searing light into the thick darkness. They left shards of color in Heero's vision but he tore on until a large space was mostly empty.

He blinked rapidly but it took several minutes before his vision cleared enough to see anything. His room stretched high up from the ground. As a child he liked to climb anything he could, so he had asked for the highest room his mother would give him. It was an odd memory that returned to him as he looked down on the castle grounds to see hundreds of colored dots gathering below.

A numb curiosity drew him toward those dots, but he couldn't see them through the dirty glass in his window. He undid the heavy bolt and pushed against the window. It hadn't been opened in years and protested being used again, but with a few hard shoves it swung open with a creak.

"Did they have windows like that back then?" Quatre queried.

Duo looked at him oddly. "Back when?"

Quatre blinked. "Um...when the story was."

Duo laughed. "It's a fairy tale Quatre, I don't think it needs to be historically accurate."

"You were the one who was complaining about realism in fair tales, if you remember." Quatre said defensively.

"Do you want me to go look up the architecture of castles throughout history?" Trowa asked with as little teasing as he could manage.

Quatre pouted. "I was just wondering."

Trowa smiled slightly and put a hand around Quatre. "I'm sorry, I should have done more research on these things."

Duo stretched out over Trowa's legs. "That'd take to long. You can give Wufei a gun and have a getaway scene with mobile suits for all I care, just get on with it."

Quatre laughed. "Agreed."

Heero stared down at the dots for a few minutes as the hot sun burned his pale skin and weakened eyes. His vision slowly focused and he realized that the dots he had seen were people. They were gravitating toward a larger dark spot on the grounds where, slowly, Heero's eyes came to rest. The dark spot seemed to be some a kind of stage. The dot-people's voices drifted up—a low, indistinct buzz in Heero's ears. They seemed to be waiting for something, but what?

"...You can believe what you want," Hilde's voice rang in his memory. "but the truth is that he loves you. And he's going to...die because of it."

Wufei...

"I know you two really loved each other."

Heero's fingers curled around the windows edge and he stared down at the crowd of villagers waiting to watch Wufei's execution.

"He still loves you damnit! His blood's on your hands!"

Heero's whole body convulsed painfully as he felt all at once that he was going to yell, cry and vomit. So real could he feel the wooden handle of that heavy axe in his hands, see Wufei's inky black eyes staring at him with such hurt and betrayal, hear the axe fall and connect. Heero's body convulsed again and he leaned heavily against the window sill, his eyes still fixed in horror at the crowd below.

The crowd suddenly surged. Everyone turned their backs to the stage and a sudden excited roar erupted from the people.

Heero felt as though he suddenly fell through the ice layer of a lake in winter. Everything suddenly became very sharp and very clear. His every cell was alive and every thought he once had was replaced by one simple and urgent demand: Stop them.

Heero's legs moved on their own with no help from his mind but for that one driving goal. He ran through the palace halls faster than he had ever run before; as though it were he that death was chasing, not Wufei. The halls and doorways flashed by without notice. The people he passed may or may not have tried to stop him but he lacked the ability to notice.

What if he was too late? What if he got their just in time to see the axe fall?

When he stumbled out of the castle doorway and onto the grounds, the sight of the crowd in the distance fueled his already aching limbs. He bounded blindly across the last yards, not stopping even when he ran into people.

Suddenly one of those people grabbed Heero from behind, stopping him just short of the crowd. "Your Highness!" The man shouted as his hand closed around Heero's arm.

Heero didn't even turn to look at his captor. He tried to jerk his arm away but the man's grip only grew tighter. "Let me go!" Heero shouted and turned sharply to glare at the man.

"It isn't safe to be out here!" The man had to shout above the din of the crowd.

"I don't care!" Heero shouted back, more in anger than in effort to be heard. "I have to stop them!"

The man wasn't listening. He began to pull Heero toward the castle. "I'm sorry if I'm hurting you Your Highness, but it's for your own good. We have to guard you until they catch the prisoner!"

Heero's heart stopped. "What!" he shouted, pulling heavily on the man's arm.

The guard finally stopped walking and turned around to glare at Heero as though he were lecturing a stubborn child. "Prisoner Chang escaped when they were brining him out for execution!" The guard shouted above what Heero now noticed to be an angry crowd. "We need to make sure he doesn't try to get revenge! Now if you—"

"Forgive me!" Heero shouted over his next words.

The guard had only a second to look confused before Heero's swift and accurate kick met his groin. His eyes bulged and a sort of odd squeak escaped his throat before he fell to his knees.

"Oh Jesus!" Duo shifted uncomfortably. "Not cool."

Trowa even looked a little pained thinking about it.

Heero hesitated in a rare moment of guilt and sympathy. Had he felt that he was strong enough to do anything else he would not have lowered himself by doing something so cowardly and blasphemous to his gender. That moment's sympathy was all he had time for, however, so after that quarter of a breath he was moving again. He ran from that bloodthirsty mob and his unsettlingly dark room.

His body knew where to go, even if his mind hadn't yet formed the idea.

Just in front of the Palace were the gates. It was usually heavily guarded but the defenses had been doubled due to the escape. Heero slowed to a walk. As he approached, the guards noticed him but didn't move from their stations. When he was within speaking distance they called out to him, but moments earlier Heero had caught the sight of something: Several yards from the gate, the forest started. Through the middle of it a road was cut which led to the villages. On the right of that road, at the edge of the forest, there was a spot in the vegetation where the foliage was thinner. It was faint, but it was still a visible path.

"Your Highness?" was all the guards could get out before Heero was off again, through the trees before they could even think to follow.

He ran at first, but after falling twice and nearly loosing the path, he decided to slow down. It was then that he realized how little energy he had left, and he vaguely wondered when he had eaten last.

The forest seemed to go on and on, and he wondered more then once if he was only imagining the path. Why was he looking anyway? Everything had happened so fast that he wasn't even sure what he was doing anymore...

The trees began to thin then, and the sunlight began to grow brighter...then the trees disappeared altogether.

It was the same meadow Heero had found Wufei in, the night he learned Wufei's sister passed away. Then it had been dark and the only thing Heero was paying attention to was his worry about Wufei. Now he was caught in the surreal and captivating calm that radiated from it in the daylight. The midday sun beamed unhindered on the clear meadow, making the plush grass glow an unearthly green. The whole meadow was filled with the sweet smell of nature that reminded Heero of the first day he had met Wufei; it was the same fresh smell that had brought his attention to Wufei in the beginning.

And in the heart of this fantastically glowing dream was Wufei.

He was kneeling in the middle of the meadow, his back to Heero. The sun shone on his bare back, making his skin glow an ethereal golden brown. His hair spilled over his shoulders, the darkest black except for where the sun touched and made it shine brighter than anything else in sight. Like the rest of the sun charged meadow, he looked like an over-exposed dream or a cruel illusion. He knelt still as a stone, glowing bright as a gem.

Heero stepped closer without thinking.

Apparently he had made some sound because the golden figure in the center of the meadow spun around, tense and ready to fight. Then his eyes focused, and a deep sadness relaxed his muscles. He turned back slowly, bowed, and then stood up.

Heero watched silently as the man stood and turned toward him. His whole body was toned in the tightly packed muscle of a martial artist: strong but flexible. A man stood before Heero, staring at him through the face of the woman he had once loved. His eyes traced that familiar face for a pained moment, before traveling down over the flat and muscular chest, then down to the thin and roughly sewn prisoner's pants. Finally, slowly, his eyes drifted to the man's right hand, which held a small, ornately decorated dagger.

The familiar stranger looked to where Heero's eyes landed and he shook his head. "This isn't for defense." He said. His voice was low and masculine, but there was the echo of a familiar voice within it. The man thought for a moment and said, "In fact." He shifted his hold on the dagger, then threw it hilt first toward Heero.

Heero looked down as the beautifully crafted weapon slid through the grass to stop a few inches from his shoe. He bent and picked it up. He could hardly feel it in his hand.

"I wanted to say good bye to her first." The man said, moving aside and looking down at something on the ground.

Heero followed his gaze to a large stone sitting in the middle of the meadow. Perched on top was a small golden hair comb with three green gems that glittered in the sunlight. Another reminder of their first meeting, as she—he—had been wearing it the day they met.

"I couldn't die without giving her that," he said, speaking of the comb, "it belongs with her. It's too dangerous to visit her real grave, so this is all I can do."

Heero wasn't listening. He looked down at the blade in his hand, then to the man standing in front of him. The man with the same name as the woman he had loved.

He was looking back at Heero now, with that same sad look as when Heero first entered the meadow. "I was going to do it myself but I see now that, rightfully, it should be you."

Heero looked at the blade again, his whole being was numb and slow.

"I understand, Heero."

That name...he said it the same. That voice was so different, yet so familiar. This person who was and who was not Wufei...

Heero's hand tightened around the dagger's handle as he felt a thousand of them tear at his heart. "You lied to me." His voice seeped in his pain and anger—the first words he had spoken to Wufei since he had been forced into the truth.

"I did." Wufei said with honest regret.

"I believed..." Heero struggled but it was impossible to place all he felt into words. "You made me think..."

Wufei hung his head. What could he say? What could he possibly say?

Heero looked down one last time to the dagger in his hand. "You want me to kill you?" he asked, his voice rough with raw emotion.

Wufei nodded solemnly. "That is all I can offer you. With my death you will have had your revenge. Your subjects will forget what happened, you can marry some woman and become king and forget what I did to you. With my death I hope to repay some of the hurt I have caused you."

Heero looked up at Wufei standing there with solemn acceptance, and he began to laugh. It was a wild, cold and bitter laugh that made Wufei flinch and turn away.

"You think that killing you is going to fix me!" Heero shouted. "You think that's going to erase all these memories I have of you? I'm going to forget that when I look at you now, part of me hates you while another part still sees you as the person I fell in love with?" Heero turned sharply and drove the dagger into a nearby tree.

He watched for a moment as sap oozed from the wound in the tree before turning to face the man named Wufei. 'They are the same person...' he forced himself to think. The way he acts and thinks...the way he talks, if not his actual voice.

"God damn it!" Heero shouted. He sat down sharply and knotted his fingers in his hair, pressing his palms against his temples as though it would somehow help.

Wufei slowly walked toward him and sat down a few feet away. Heero could sense his eyes on him, but couldn't bring himself to look up.

"How much was a lie?" Heero said after a long silence.

"My voice and my gender, that's all." Wufei answered.

"Liar." Heero snapped. "Why did you do it? Why did it go so far? There has to have been some reason!"

Wufei took a deep breath. "It started because my sister was sick, and we didn't have the money to help her."

Heero thought back to the dagger in the tree and wondered briefly if thrusting it into his chest would relieve some of the pain.

"It wasn't even supposed to involve you." Wufei went on.

"And when it did? When we became friends? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was afraid you'd kill me or my family. I thought you would eventually get tired of me and I could disappear without you ever knowing."

"And when I didn't get tired of you? When we... How could you have let me...?" Heero felt sick at those memories, knowing that they were all a deception.

"I..." it was the first time that Wufei had stopped in an answer, the first time he had hesitated. "I don't know." He said finally. "I wasn't thinking ahead. I wasn't thinking about what it would turn into or what was going to happen in the future... I just wanted to enjoy it for a little while."

"Then all the times we were together...?" Heero asked roughly.

"My voice and my gender were the only things that weren't true." Wufei's voice was thick. "I am sorry that I failed you."

"...You can believe what you want, but the truth is that he loves you." Hilde's words echoed in Heero's mind.

Heero looked up to see Wufei was watching him with heavy guilt. Past that, Heero saw the girl he had fallen in love with, except that nothing seemed different; he had put on a dress and changed his voice, but nowhere in their conversation had Wufei been anyone other than the person Heero knew. The angry glare and biting wit was gone, but he had seen Wufei without those guards already. Would he really have loved a girl for her voice and body alone? Was all this just anger because Wufei had lied to him?

A heavy breath left Heero's longs, partially a sigh and partially a shout. Heero leaned back sharply against the tree behind him, knocking his head against in an effort to relieve some of the pressure. He sat there for a long while with his eyes closed and his teeth clenched. Then he finally spoke.

"I don't know what I feel anymore." He said roughly. "But you can't die until I figure it out...so you're coming back with me."

Trowa paused a moment.

'But how will I get them back...?' he thought. Then a sudden smile twitched at his lips. 'Well, I gave Wufei his honor...'

"I thought I was finally done with this." Wufei grumbled.

"Stop whining and keep still, or your eyeliner will smear." Sally reprimanded.

"Yes, that would be embarrassing." Wufei mumbled with rusty sarcasm.

They sat together in Sally's attic, Sally bent awkwardly close to Wufei as she applied a strange array of cosmetics to his face. All around them were dusty remnants of past works: baskets and chests filled with strange devices and props, racks and shelves of old and half finished items, masks and old theater posters hung on every wall. It was dry and stuffy in the summer heat, but it couldn't be helped; if anyone saw Wufei's transformation, he was as good as dead.

When Sally pulled the brush from his eye, Wufei spoke again. "When I asked you to make a disguise, I didn't mean this."

Sally made a sort of frustrated growl and dabbed his eye where the color ran. "Well unfortunately the only male clothes I have, I only have because they're unfinished. Besides, fewer questions are asked and more is assumed if a man and a woman are traveling together, rather than being two strange men. Especially if one of those strange men is wearing make up to hide his resemblance to a certain wanted criminal."

Wufei did not look assured, though he didn't offer any more objections either.

"Are you sure this will work?" Wufei asked a while later, before a tiny brush filled with a ruby red substance descended upon his lips.

"You don't really have a choice." Sally said in a tight voice. "Don't worry. When I was training under your mother she gave me the lower class work, most of which was theater work." She gestured around the oddly decorated attic before refilling her brush. "I got damn good at it too." She boasted. "I've turned more men into women then you would believe. And if I can make a man into a mermaid, I can get you passed a few guards."

Sally's brush was just about to touch Wufei's bottom lip when he pulled back. "Thank you." He said quickly. "I'm sorry for involving you."

Sally's hand dropped and her smile wavered. "Don't talk like that."

"I've endangered you by coming here." Wufei pushed on. "If someone saw me, you could-"

"Shut up!" Sally shouted. She quickly turned to the table beside her to grab a scrap of fabric. "You're screwing up your makeup..." She turned back to him and placed a gentle hand under his chin. Her eyes glistened as she dabbed away some stray color. "Just shut up and let me work."

Heero was sitting at a strange table, across from a strange woman, in a strange house with a cup of strange liquid steaming between his hands. He sat on the edge of his strange chair with his back as straight as a soldier on watch. His eyes flicked from the cup, to the back door, to the front door, and then to the stairway that Wufei had disappeared up nearly an hour ago. His eyes lingered on the stairs for a beat longer, and then flicked back to the cup between his palms. All the while he was keenly aware of the strange woman's eyes on him.

Noin. She had been hastily introduced simply as "Noin."

And he, he had been hastily introduced simply as "a friend from the palace."

He could almost taste the woman's suspicion, but hoped she didn't have the audacity to confront him. He looked down at himself, wondering about his appearance for the first time in days. Luckily his clothes were old, worn for days without changing because of his depression and dirty from the run through the forest. It would be hard to suspect him of royalty in those clothes. His mother's words about his often disheveled appearance came back to him, bringing a rusty smirk to his lips.

"Where are you taking him?" Noin asked abruptly. Whether she was spurred on by his sudden smile or not, Heero couldn't guess.

"The palace." Heero said without thinking.

"What!" Noin asked with a condescending bark of laughter. "Are you insane or just stupid?"

Heero's royal anger flared, but this woman's...friend or whatever she was—was helping them so he had to keep nice. He simply didn't answer her.

"You have to get him as far away from here as you can! Away from that crazy prince!" Noin continued.

"I will take him wherever I want!" Heero shouted back, his miniscule reserve of patience run dry. "Don't tell me what to do!"

Noin watched him with cold interest, not even flinching at his outburst. "I don't care what you do, I don't even care if that stuck up little snot looses his head because he got caught again." She spoke slowly, watching Heero's every move with a sharp eye. "But for some reason I can't imagine, Sally cares about that arrogant bastard, which means that I am forced to care about his wellbeing. Now, if later I hear that he's dead because you took him back to the very place he escaped from, I'm going hunt you down and gut you with the rusty trowel I use to dig up potatoes."

Before Heero could answer, Sally showed up at the bottom of the stairs. "Well, I see you two are getting along fine. I don't know what you were worried about." The last part she called up the stairs into the place beyond the wall that blocked off the view of the upper room.

Heero stood up awkwardly, feeling suddenly nervous. What had they come up with as a disguise?

"So...is this the part where I introduce the beautiful lady and everyone gasps in awe?" Sally called up the stairs.

A ball of yarn came whizzing through the air from the stairway and hit Sally in the exact center of her forehead. And with no further introduction, Wufei came down.

The first to appear was a shiny red boot, high heeled and with a pointy toe. It was soon followed by a stockinged leg and a swish of frills. Shocked into silence, Heero watched as a stranger came down in Wufei's place. She seemed to wear a hundred skirts, all tucked under one bright red one. Everything disappeared under a scarlet bodice pulled so tight that her modest bosom squeezed out through the top and seemed larger because of it. She clasped a black shawl around her shoulders, over which spilled a wealth of shiny blonde curls. A fake beauty mark kissed her cheek, her lips were ruby red, her eyes were laden with bright colors and her cheeks held a false blush...

Heero and Noin stared in shock, Sally was bubbling with pride and the girl looked very very uncomfortable. This went on in silence for minute or two before Sally got impatient.

"So?" She urged. "You think he'll pass?"

"You look..." Heero started.

"Like a whore." Noin blurted out.

Sally smiled. "Great! That's what I was going for."

Wufei folded his arms and sulked in his most dignified way.

Noin stepped closer to inspect Sally's work. "Amazing, Sal... How did you give him those?" She pointed to Wufei's fake breasts.

Wufei held himself tighter and glared knives at Noin.

Sally feigned modesty. "A little padding and a lot of pressure. He can barely breathe." The last bit she explained with disturbing pride.

Wufei looked up briefly to see Heero's reaction, but the prince looked quickly away.

"His own mother wouldn't recognize him Sal." Noin said before giving Sally a quick kiss on the cheek, instantly making both boys even more uncomfortable, if it were possible.

Sally was beaming as she ushered Wufei toward the back door. "You should get going before someone sees you." She said in a low voice.

Heero ducked out first to see if it was clear. The only living thing out side was a scrawny chicken that didn't even look Heero's way. Heero signaled that the way was clear without looking up at the people in the doorway.

Sally broke down and gave Wufei a quick but firm hug. "Take care?" She whispered with the intonation of a plea.

Wufei nodded.

As he stepped into the open, Noin held up a hand and said in an odd accent. "Have fun storming the castle!"

Sally snorted, but the boys only looked at her quizzically.

"It's an old joke." Noin said flatly.

Heero and Wufei left the girls holding each other in the door way, waving good bye with fake smiles.

They walked to the castle in silence, with Wufei taking rapid shallow breaths and Heero looking about nervously in every direction but Wufei's.

Sally didn't leave the door for a long while after Wufei had faded into the distance. Finally she gave a distressed sigh and pulled back into the house.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" Sally asked as she sat down at the table. She stared down at the untouched mug Wufei's friend had left behind.

"I wouldn't worry." Noin assured her, placing a new cup of tea in front of Sally. "The prince wouldn't go through this much trouble only to have Wufei imprisoned again."

"I guess you're right..." Sally said with a sigh as she lifted the cup to her lips. Her brow wrinkled and she put the cup back down. "Wait...what?"

Noin lifted an eyebrow as she set across from Sally. "You didn't guess?" her lips tightened in a suppressed smile. "You wrapped and delivered Wufei into the hands of the enemy."

Sally blinked rapidly a few times, her mouth slightly open as she went over the events of the last hour. All she could say was: "Well fuck!"

Noin just chuckled.

At this point Trowa had to take a break. His throat had gone hoarse and his limbs were cramping.

In the kitchen, he found a glass and filled it to the brim with water.

"You want to um...stop there?" Duo asked as he watched Trowa take long gulps from his glass.

"Yeah, we can leave it there for today." Quatre added from the kitchen door.

Trowa downed the last drops from his glass and shook his head. "Une will want us back now that the week is over, weekend or not." He filled his glass once more and headed back to the living room, gathering boys as he went. "We should finish this tonight."

"It's gonna be a long night." Duo said, bouncing happily behind Trowa.

They traveled under the shadow of the trees, skirting the very edge but not going inside of the forest. The sun was falling in the sky, turning the shadows into long, grasping fingers all reaching toward the castle.

Wufei watched the tops of towers slowly rise from the line of trees in the distance with growing anxiety. Would the disguise work? And even if he got past the guards, could he really trust Heero?

Wufei stole a look at the silent prince, but he hadn't spared so much as a glance at Wufei since they left Sally's. Wufei looked back to the growing castle with another stone in his stomach.

When the castle gate came into view, Heero stopped.

Wufei, thankful for the break, placed a hand on his tightly bound stomach and tried to catch his breath.

"So that's the plan?" Heero said roughly, his eyes trained on the gate ahead. "You're supposed to be my..."

Wufei nodded to him but with a pang of shame, realized that Heero still wasn't looking at him. He looked back to the road. "Yes, I'm your prostitute." He said with obvious distaste.

Heero nodded. "We should..." he held out a stiff and impersonal arm. "...so they don't suspect..."

"Right..." Wufei placed his hand on Heero's arm with a confusing jumble of emotions, none of which he cared to acknowledge.

As they came up to the gate, a few guards came out to meet them. As they neared, Wufei's muscles tensed.

"Stay calm." Heero muttered under his breath a second before the guards came into earshot.

"Your Highness!" One of the guards called over. He bowed quickly and came up smiling. "Everyone has been searching..." his eyes fell on Wufei and he stuttered. "Uh...for you..."

Faced with danger, there is the "fight or flight" instinct in every animal, even humans. As the guard stared at him, Wufei was faced with one such situation. Drawing up every reserve of courage he had and stomping out the last of his pride, Wufei winked at the guard.

The guard turned a light pink and smiled sickeningly before turning back to the Prince. "You can go on up to your rooms..." he glanced back at Wufei with approval. "I'll spread the word that you're home safe."

Heero nodded and led Wufei toward the castle.

"I want to vomit." Wufei growled when they were a safe distance from the gate.

"We aren't safe yet." Heero said grimly.

Duo was holding his belly and tears were gathering on his lashes as he laughed.

Quatre giggled behind his hand. "Oh poor Wufei!"

"I'm just glad Wufei isn't listening anymore." Trowa mumbled.

Quatre's eyes widened and Duo's laughs cut short. "'Anymore'!" They shouted in unison.

Trowa cleared his throat and went on.

They got through the halls without running into too many people, and luckily without meeting any of Heero's family.

The walls sped past with only Heero's firm hand guiding Wufei. With his free hand, Wufei clutched the black shawl over his wig and hoped that fate was with him. It seemed like both hours and seconds before Heero stopped at what looked like the last of countless doors and threw it open.

The prince turned to Wufei, meeting his eyes for the first time since...Wufei couldn't remember. "Hurry inside." He said in a voice Wufei found achingly familiar.

The room was very dark. There was only one window, but not only was it mostly covered, the sun was already going down so even that gave off very little light.

Behind him, Wufei heard a heavy lock slide into place. The sound of old metal grinding together wasn't a pleasant or welcoming one.

Once the door was closed, Wufei could hardly see anything.

Something moved beside him and Wufei tensed, reflexively expecting a blow. Instead, Heero walked past him and began fumbling in the darkness. Light soon bloomed from a candle in Heero's hand. He lit a few lamps around the room and then placed the candle back on the table.

Wufei watched this with tense anticipation.

"Go take that off." Heero said, tipping his head toward a door on the opposite side of the room. He wasn't looking at Wufei anymore.

Wufei dropped the shawl to his shoulders again. He looked down at the hideous dress and the red pointed shoes. He wanted to get out of them as quickly as possible, but...

"Dispose of them." Heero spoke in a low voice. "I don't ever want to see them again."

Wufei's hands tightened on the shawl. He tried to walk calmly to the door, but his footsteps echoing in the silent room were hurried.

As soon as he shut the door, Wufei's fingers found the bodice lacings and he tore at them. The room was pitch-black, but Wufei hardly noticed. The knot came loose in Wufei's determined fingers and as quick as one of his strangled breaths, the bodice was off. He took a few deep and blessed breaths before he tore off the last pieces of women's clothing he swore he would ever wear. The wig topped the pile off with a flutter of fake curls.

Wufei stood over the pile of clothes that he couldn't see. His face felt caked with makeup and he could still feel where the bodice had cut into him, but once that wig was off he took his first few breaths of freedom.

He really had hoped never to do that again.

He felt around in the dark and found a bowl, pitcher and some towels. He breathed a sigh of relief as the sound of water sloshed around in the pitcher. He leaned over the bowl and poured the water straight onto the back of his head. The water snaked and twisted in his hair and over his face to land in large drops at the bottom of the bowl. He let it take away the make up—his last guise, the final lie.

He was finally able to let go of everything.

Even as he kneeled at Meiran's grave he didn't feel this amount of release. He didn't have the closure he wanted from Heero, the assurance of his parent's safety or Meiran's forgiveness. Though he didn't have any of that even now, what ever happened to him after this almost didn't matter.

It was really over, washed away.

He picked up a towel and scrubbed away the last of the make up, taking care at the hideous fake mole on his cheek. Even after it was all gone, he held the towel to his face. He stood naked in the darkness—clean, bare, free...

He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding, and bent to gather Sally's clothes. He bundled them up so nothing was showing but one of the white under skirts. He didn't want to see them either.

When everything was done, he stood and looked blindly around. He was naked and only now thinking a change of clothing would have been a good idea. He looked around once more in fruitless hope.

"Damn." He growled.

He took a deep breath and opened the door a crack. He cleared his throat loudly and called out. "Do you have something I can wear?"

He waited in silence for what felt like centuries.

Wufei's heart sped up with every molasses second. "Hello?" he shouted a little louder.

More silence.

Inwardly groaning, Wufei opened the door enough to get his head through.

Heero was standing exactly where Wufei left him and staring unfocused at the wall in front of him.

Wufei cleared his throat again, but the prince didn't move. Some kind of unnamed and baseless fear gripped Wufei's heart and he called out again. "Heero?"

Heero snapped to attention. He looked over to Wufei, an odd vacancy in his eyes.

"Do you have some clothes I can wear?" Wufei repeated, unnerved by that look.

Heero didn't answer. His eyes suddenly focused...he looked at Wufei as though they had never met.

Then out of the silence, Heero's voice calmly shattered everything. "Come here."

Wufei's hand tightened on the door knob. "I'm not wearing anything."

Heero didn't seem to hear him. "Come here." He repeated.

Wufei once again felt he was walking to his doom, but at the same time he knew he could do nothing else. He came out slowly, expecting Heero to turn away, or yell, or attack him as more of his bare skin was exposed. Then he was out, and Heero hadn't moved.

Literally and metaphorically, Wufei stood bare and exposed. He had no more lies, no more fake faces or voices. He had nothing to hide behind and everything was there in Heero's eyes. Those cold blue eyes, they moved over every inch of Wufei's skin. Heero's face never changed; nothing moved or shifted except for those piercing eyes. Once they had inspected every muscle, every hair, every crease and every joint of Wufei's body, Heero's eyes rested once more on Wufei's eyes.

"Come here." Heero repeated, just as calmly as the first.

Wufei stepped forward without even thinking of disobeying. His feet stopped just out of reach of Heero, his heart beating like a hummingbird's wings.

Heero's eyes flittered across his face, and then traveled down his neck...

Wufei's breath stopped as Heero stepped forward and placed a gentle hand against Wufei's chest. That hand—only the light touch of a few fingers—traced the red indents on Wufei's skin where the bodice had left its mark. Then those fingers drifted from the lines, and went down across Wufei's ribs and over his stomach. His muscles tightened from years of work, twitched and melted into Heero's light touches.

Wufei grabbed Heero's hand as his touches started to move lower. His skin felt hot and he feared other reactions to Heero's exploring fingers. "Heero..." But he didn't know what to say. How could he explain anything anymore?

Heero was suddenly very close and suddenly...softly...Wufei could taste something that had haunted him in dreams: that familiar taste that was only Heero's taste. All he could smell was that scent that was only Heero's scent. Those cruel and teasing dreams as he lay alone in his prison... Was this just another twist of the dagger before he died?

Heero's lips slid away and his head fell onto Wufei's shoulder. The prince clung to his naked body and so close, Wufei could feel him trembling.

"Why do I want this?" Heero breathed harshly against Wufei's neck. "How can I still feel this?"

Wufei's arms wrapped hesitantly around Heero's waist, but when Heero didn't pull away he tightened his hold to match Heero's. "I'm sorry." He spoke in a hushed voice. "I wish this had happened any other way."

There were no tears on Wufei's skin, but Heero's chest heaved in dry sobs. "Hilde said you loved me." His voice gave away no emotion but held so close, Wufei could feel his every emotion.

"I do." Wufei said without hesitation. He was sure he could never lie again.

"I think..." Wufei could feel Heero's fear against his chest and sense his confusion against his skin. "I still..."

He couldn't say it yet, but he didn't need to. Wufei could feel everything.

Trowa paused for a long time, the boys staring at him with tense expectation.

When the silence stretched unnaturally long, Duo cleared his throat. "Well?"

Trowa shifted uncomfortably. "I don't feel comfortable..." he trailed off but looked at them apologetically as a continuation.

Duo's shoulders dropped. "Oh come on!" he looked to Quatre for support, but the blonde just blushed and picked at the blanket on his lap.

Duo looked wildly at the both of them. "We've had sex! Many times!" he flailed his arms.

Quatre hid behind his hands.

Trowa shifted again. "But this isn't us...and I would be...saying it."

Quatre nodded behind his hands.

Duo sighed and clasped his hands together. "You have to give me something!"

Trowa looked at the hiding Quatre and thought a moment.

Heero had begun with those questioning touches, but once Wufei allowed himself to return them, their explorations soon escalated further than ever before. As the first light blushed the sky a pale pink, they were making love without a thought to the people they had been just days before.

When the sun reached Heero's window, Wufei was asleep. Heero stayed awake an hour later, looking down at the real person he had fallen in love with the first day they met.

He would always remember that morning, but even years after he wouldn't be able to explain what he felt as he watched Wufei sleep. It was as though he had fallen in love with someone but only ever saw one side of their face, one corner of their being. Looking down at Wufei that morning he found that everything he had ever known and loved about Wufei was still there, and everything he never knew was his to learn. He found he loved the whole picture the same, if not more than when he saw only part of it. In his mind he knew he wasn't supposed to feel this, that this wasn't what how things were supposed to be, but that was only his mind.

Looking down at Wufei that morning, he knew this couldn't have happened any other way. What would happen next would happen; now that he had Wufei, he could do everything or nothing at all, and he would be fine. Everything would be fine. He could finally be happy.

Quatre couldn't keep his giggle from escaping. He fell against Trowa in a content half-hug, an irremovable smile on his lips. Trowa shifted into a more comfortable position, and then held a hand out to Duo. Duo crawled over to snuggle against Trowa's side. His hand found its way to Quatre's hair and he begun twisting idly, much to the blonde's delight.

Trowa looked to each of the boys in lazy contentment, then up to the ceiling. "And now to wrap it all up..."

"Remember that it's gotta be realistic." Duo said with a yawn. "No 'everything is great!' and all that happily ever after shit."

Quatre made a small noise of disapproval.

"Hey, it can still be a happy ending! As long as it's realistic too." Duo defended.

Trowa chuckled and thought for a moment.

Wufei was kept secret for nearly a week, hidden in Heero's room under the guise of the Prince's whore.

They had spent those days together in a lazy trance. They took advantage of every precious hour, relearning and rebuilding. There was no outside taint, no third party influences. It was just the two of them, and it was nearly perfect.

Despite all his efforts, Wufei could not shake the title: The Prince's Whore. Though he had quickly disposed of the actual disguise, that silent assumption, that unspoken lie was like a sliver under Wufei's skin. It stung at his honor every time he had to hide from the servants bringing food and it sliced at his pride every time Heero locked the door when he left. He was hidden. He was shame.

He pushed it back, unwilling to spoil the moment's peace. He kept silent and tried to enjoy the few precious days while they lasted. But they didn't last. No, they ended all too quickly and all too unexpectedly.

In their short time of peace they had become too comfortable, too careless. It was as easy as falling asleep. Literally. They had stayed up late into the night; they talked a little, made love many times and even sparred, though not seriously. Dawn was a scarce hour away when Wufei's eyes finally slid shut and Heero's breath slowed. In their comfort, in their bliss, they had forgotten to lock the door.

Hours later, the woman who brought breakfast knocked lightly on Heero's door a few times. When they didn't answer, she came in as quietly as she could. She meant just to leave the food on a table by the door, but she misjudged the distance and the tray landed with a louder sound then she had intended.

Both boys awoke at the sound. Heero jerked up immediately, his sudden movement causing the servant to jump and swerve in his direction.

"Forgive-!" The woman's voice stopped short in a small yelp, because at that moment Wufei sat up, still drowsy after only a few hours of sleep.

Wufei felt Heero's hand clamp around his arm with alarm, and he blinked rapidly to clear his fogged morning vision. His eyes focused on the shocked servant, staring at him as though she had just walked in on them in the throws of passion.

Before either boy could move, the girl was out the door and running full speed down the halls.

Her rapid footsteps were still slapping against the tile when Heero slid out of bed. "We should get dressed. We have about five minutes before my father will want to see us." He spoke calmly, matter-of-factly.

Wufei wouldn't tell Heero, or anyone...ever...but in that moment, he wasn't afraid of what might happen. In actuality, he was relived.

Wufei had thought Heero was exaggerating, but it was only minutes after the servant girl found him that they were ushered into the thrown room.

Queen Heather sat in her thrown, an uncharacteristically thoughtful look on her face. She regarded Wufei with very little surprise as he walked in behind her son. Throughout most of the coming discussion, she would remain unnervingly silent, her hands folded in her lap and her eyes sharply following the conversation.

The King was everything his wife was not. He stood on the dais, but had long since deserted his ornate thrown. He paced from one end of the platform to the other, his layers or embroidered silk and plush velvet following him like a nervous steward. His chest was already heaving and his face was flushed red with rage when they entered. When he spoke, his voice seemed uncontrollably loud.

"What is the meaning of this!" Odin shouted as his son entered. When Wufei followed behind wearing some of Heero's clothes, his whole body seemed to expand to fit his rage. "Will someone tell me what the hell is going on!" He turned the corner and his elaborate robes whipped aside with an emphasizing swish.

Heero stopped in the middle of the room and regarded his puffed and bothered father with cold arrogance. "Is there a problem?"

Odin seemed ready to burst. He clenched and unclenched his hands several times before flinging one richly draped arm in Wufei's direction. "Would you care to explain why that...that criminal was...with you!" Odin, by now, was most likely informed of every detail of what the servant had seen, including the amount—or lack thereof—of clothing both boys had been wearing.

"I didn't want to wait until the wedding." Heero replied coolly.

The King was frozen. He stared at his son as though he were waiting for either the punch line or a hand to shake him out of this nightmare. Wufei himself was shocked and wondering how much of that statement was meant solely to rile up the old man.

They were still stuck in that suffocating stasis when the door burst open and a wide-eyed and disheveled Hilde rushed into the room. As she skidded to a stop in front of Wufei, an unsettling sense of déjà vu settled into his stomach.

"You're okay!" she shouted with an almost insane grin. She seemed to be itching to hug him, but she took one look at her father and wisely decided against it. "What's going on?" she asked carefully.

"THAT'S WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW!" King Odin shouted, making his wife and daughter flinch.

"I already announced our engagement." Heero spoke calmly to his father. "It was already approved."

"That was before I knew he wasn't a woman! Before you knew!" The king roared in reply. He started pacing again with his robs swishing angrily behind him.

Hilde retreated a few steps, her relief fading and quickly being replaced with new worries.

"Gender aside, nothing has changed." Heero's voice was tinted with the beginnings of anger.

"Everything has changed!" Odin's robes swished. "Only days ago that man was supposed to be executed! Now you want to marry him?" The King looked around wildly as though everyone was going to spring out and shout: "surprise!" and this horrible joke would end. "You can't be serious!"

"I am serious." Heero answered. Nothing is his voice even hinted that he was anything other than that.

Wufei finally allowed him self to look over, having trained his eyes as confidently as he could on the king. He saw that utter seriousness etched in every cell of Heero's body, and he was once again reminded of Heero's birthday ball. That same feeling of fearful excitement and dreadful joy, returned to him. He wanted it to be true but some deep seeded voice laughed at his foolish hope. He looked back at Odin with a calm and confidant expression as undisturbed as the still pool in his mind's eye, but inside he was everything but that.

The King regarded his son with disbelief. "Have you thought about this?" he asked. "Putting aside your sudden insanity, forgetting for a moment this..." he looked at Wufei with blatant disgust, "perversion..."

Wufei stared back, his body tensing with an old friend of an emotion. His temper had too long been kept silent, put away and suppressed for many reasons. Now it burned in his veins, pulsed in his muscles, lit his every breath. It returned to him so quickly and easily that Wufei wondered briefly how he had kept it dormant for so long.

Wufei stared back at Odin, his eyes on fire with a silent challenge to that pompous old man.

But Odin looked away, either oblivious or indifferent to Wufei's silent rage. To Heero he said, "If you were to marry this...man...what would happen when I die? What would he be? Queen? Co-King? And how could you have an heir? And how would your subjects take this? Your army? The men who guard your castle? Have you considered any of this!"

Heero was silent.

Odin nodded, the corner of his mouth turning upward in self-satisfaction. "Of course not." He turned sharply and went to his thrown. He sat down beside his wife and folded his hands together. "This sort of thing isn't new to the bloodline." He said suddenly. "Kings of past generations have been known to keep..." he cleared his throat. "...men, like women, for recreational purposes." His voice took on the air of someone reluctantly granting a favor. "If you wish, he can stay as one such...luxury."

Wufei's mouth tasted sour.

He was the Prince's Whore. He was hidden. He was shame.

"I would rather die." Wufei's words bubbled from his throat with utter sincerity.

Every eye turned toward him. Even the Queen shifted for the first time since their entrance.

"That would be my preference as well." The King replied with just as much sincerity.

"I will not accept that." Heero answered. "Either option." He glanced sternly at Wufei, who wouldn't meet his eyes. He turned back to his father. "If you do not want Wufei to rule beside me, then so be it. I will refuse the crown and Hilde will become Queen."

Hilde looked up suddenly as though the cannon were now aimed at her. "M-m-me?" she stammered.

"Preposterous!" The King shouted.

Hilde's shoulders slumped and she was obviously hurt.

If he noticed this, Odin apparently didn't care. He descended from his dais, an angry storm cloud of silk and velvet. He stopped a foot in front of Heero. He was maybe an inch taller than his son but by sheer force of will, he was now towering over him.

"Listen to me, you insolent child." He seethed. "I could have you dragged from this room, stripped of every right and title, thrown into the streets and left for rat fodder. One word and I can have you locked in your room until you rot."

"Try it." Heero's voice was liquid ice.

The King's chest was heaving as he sucked in angry breaths. He seemed ready to do something—yell, strike, storm off...and maybe he would have, but a calm voice pierced through the room, a soothing balm for a room of white hot rage.

"Odin dear," the Queen's voice soothed, "sit a moment and breathe."

The King stared down at his son another few heartbeats before taking his wife's advice. He went back to his thrown and glared silent daggers at the rebellious prince.

Heather let silence reign for a few seconds before she spoke again. It was the voice she used with her subjects in ceremonies, and so often to calm arguments. This was a skill she was forced to learn, a role she had developed from experience.

"Heero, I agree with your father on this. What you are proposing cannot be done." She sounded almost regretful.

"It can, and it will or I do not take the crown." Heero stated.

Heather frowned. "What if the people don't accept it?"

"I will make them accept it." Heero answered calmly.

"What would his title be? His position?" She asked, her frown deepening.

"Whatever he wants it to be." Heero answered simply.

Heather didn't seem comforted by his answers, but she pulled out the trump card: "What about an heir?"

Heero was silenced.

Heather breathed a heavy sigh. "I understand how you feel dear, but this simply cannot be done. There is more at stake than just pride. If there is no heir..."

"I'll do it."

There was a long silence, in which every eye turned to a shadow behind Wufei.

"I'll do it." Hilde repeated. "I'll have the heir."

Heather stared at her daughter in confusion. "What?" she asked what everyone else was thinking.

"Heero and Wufei can get married and I'll have the next in line." She explained. "Marry me off to some third son of foreign king or something, and I'll keep having kids until I get a boy." She spoke as if it were nothing at all.

"Hilde, that's not..." Heather started to say, but even she didn't know exactly what she planned to say.

"It's not like I have anyone in mind." Hilde went on. "The person I love and the person who loves me are two different people." She looked down at the floor. "And nothing's going to change that..." She looked up again with a forced smile. "I may as well be of some use."

"This is ridiculous!" Odin shouted. He was standing again, and staring down at Heero as though it were somehow his idea.

"You don't have anymore arguments." Heero spoke with a touch of victory.

"I will not allow this!" The King shouted down from his dais.

"You won't have a choice once you're dead." Heero countered.

Odin seemed about to explode, but his wife cut in with that Aloe Vera voice, "That is enough for today, Heero. Your father and I will discuss this alone." She spoke to Heero first, and then turned to her daughter. "I want you to think hard about what you're offering." Then to everyone she said, "Go now, you have said all you can."

The door closed behind the three banished children, leaving them alone in the empty corridor.

Heero immediately went to the opposite wall. His whole body tensed, he curled a fist and before anyone realized what he was doing, he slammed that fist into the wall. It met with a sickening flesh-against-stone thud.

Wufei and Hilde winced.

"Christ, Heero." Hilde mumbled.

Wufei looked at Hilde. This girl had played him out to the extremities of his emotional spectrum. This girl had condemned him to death, only to turn around and try to save him from it. This girl was willing to sacrifice a lifetime's happiness for his...

"Hilde..." Wufei called to her as she turned to leave.

"Hm?" her voice was supposed to sound casual but she couldn't hide her apprehension.

"Thank you." He said with a tiny bow.

Hilde waved her hand, a sad smile on her lips. "I just want to make up for...you know...stabbing you in the tits." She laughed tensely. "Well anyway, I don't want to be here when they come out so..." with a little wave, she walked off.

Heero was flexing his hand with a tightness around his eyes that was the only thing that indicated that he was in pain.

"Do you feel better?" Wufei asked dryly.

Heero dropped his hand and stared back defiantly. "Yes."

"Good, then we can finally train seriously." Wufei started to walk in the opposite direction of Hilde. "I've noticed that you're getting soft." He added with an inner smirk.

Heero grabbed Wufei's arm. His good hand, Wufei noticed. "Wufei." Heero's voice had a touch of urgency.

Wufei turned to face a solemn Heero.

"If they won't let us be together here, we may have to leave." Heero said.

Wufei didn't answer right away. Was he serious about all of this? Wufei searched his face but found nothing but complete sincerity. "I can't let you sacrifice..." he didn't finish his protest.

Heero hooked his fingers around the back of Wufei's neck, his thumb resting where Wufei's ear met his jaw. His bad hand, Wufei noticed. Firm but gentle, he pulled Wufei close. Those deep blue eyes trapped Wufei's and forced him to accept their unrelenting truth.

"I had never cared about anything before I met you." Heero spoke in a voice so low that only someone as close as Wufei could hear it. "Only death can take you from me now, and even that won't win without a fight. Do you understand?"

Later there would troubles. Even if the king agreed to their marriage, they would have to deal with the rest of the kingdom. Later there would be wars and losses, droughts and blizzards, religious disputes and power grabs.

Later perhaps Hilde would be married off to some foreign prince.
Later perhaps the king would die and there would be controversy over his successor.
Later perhaps Zechs would disappear.
Later perhaps, the next day even, so would the new arms master.
Later perhaps Wufei would start a temple of his own and gather a small but dedicated following.
Later perhaps Heero would lead his army in a successful campaign and be accepted as king.
Later perhaps Hilde will birth seven children, all of them girls.
Later, perhaps...

But in that moment Heero pulled Wufei the tiniest bit closer. Their lips met in a second. It was a breath, a flash of time in the entirety of their lives, but it was the most important breath in their lives.

As Odin raved at his placid wife and Hilde tried to make it to her room before her tears began to run; as Mrs. Chang placed flowers on her daughter's grave and Mr. Chang stood solidly nearby; as Sally stitched a detached sleeve on her back porch near Noin, who was bringing an axe down to split a waiting log; as Zechs swung a practice foil through the air with the arms master looking on in approval; as Dorothy packed her last dress into a large trunk and a heavy sigh escaped her lips; As everything stormed and wailed outside of them, Heero and Wufei stood in a delicate bubble of perfection.

Everything was ending and everything was beginning. While running they had come to a cliff, and now stood hanging on the edge right before they were either captured or forced to jump. They were in the beat between death and rebirth, in the eye of the storm, in the second you float right before the fall. For the one minute between peace and destruction, Heero and Wufei shared one perfect kiss.

Later the world could fall apart.

Later they could loose everything.

"Are you sure?" Wufei asked when their lips drifted apart.

And Heero just nodded.

"The End." Trowa finished.

Quatre sighed with a sad smile. "That was beautiful Trowa."

Duo nodded and sniffed. "A little sappy though." He said in a thick voice.

Trowa smiled. "I'm sorry."

Duo shrugged and tried to covertly wipe his eyes. "I'll live." He stretched his arms out wide, his chest expanding with a large yawn. "I can't believe it's over." He said mid-yawn, which made his voice sound strange.

Quatre pulled his legs up to his chest and hugged his knees. "It's a little sad." He said softly. "I really will miss this." He looked around at the scattered pillows and empty glasses, and then at Duo as he started to cuddle against Trowa again. He sighed sadly and curled up at Trowa's other side.

"Honestly, I will too." Trowa said. He reached over to lazily twist his fingers in Quatre's hair.

There was a long silence as they all stared up at the ceiling and reflected on the end of the story—and consequently, the end of their nights together.

"Well...why do we have to stop there? Why don't I tell one?" Duo suggested.

Quatre leaned over Trowa with a smile as bright as the midday sun. "Really?"

Duo grinned. "Why not? I may not be as poetic as Trowa, but mine'll have sex in it!"

Quatre blushed, but in a small voice he said: "really?"

Duo's grin turned devilish. "Lots of it."

Trowa chuckled. "It's getting late though, so you'll have to wait until tomorrow."

Quatre shot up and searched the darkness for a clock. "Oh no! Do you really think we'll have to work in the morning?"

Trowa stood up and stretched, towering over the two shorter boys.

Duo was still smiling devilishly. "Let's sleep in here."

Quatre frowned. "I don't think that's a very good idea..."

Duo crawled over and snaked a hand up Quatre's leg. "But I need some inspiration..."

Quatre blushed and melted back to the floor.

Trowa smiled as Duo's other hand enticed him to join them. "It is a shame Une will be unable to reach us tomorrow."

Miles away, Wufei slung an old pack over his shoulder with a stifled yawn. The shuttle doors opened and blank faced passengers filed out into the small Russian landing strip. It wasn't the largest or even safest shuttle port, but it was the quickest trip Wufei could find.

He was the last to exit, letting all the competitive people in a hurry to be off the damn thing go first. Wufei hesitated at the top of the exit ramp, his eyes darting across the foreign terrain.

Was he really sure he wanted to do this? Was he just getting his hopes up for nothing?

His fellow passengers slowly drifted away while Wufei hesitated at the shuttle door, unsure of taking that final step. Soon everyone was gone but for one person who seemed to be standing still a few yards off. Wufei shifted the bag on his shoulder and started down the ramp, but froze when his eyes caught the still figure in the distance.

Even from far away the outline was familiar. Even from far away he could see that ruffled hair and those piercing eyes.

Wufei's lips curled in a tight smile and he made his way toward the lone man.

"I should have known you would find out where I was landing." He called out when he was closer.

"You should have used a new alias." Heero answered when Wufei stopped in front of him.

Even if the strip were filled with people, Wufei would be the only one to know that Heero was smiling.

The (2nd) End

Author's (really long) Note:Well that's it! Honestly, I feel like crying. I can't believe it's all over -sniff-
First and foremost, I would like to thank Rai Kasshu for beta reading this chapter for me. I really wanted to give this a good send off and I'm incredibly thankful to her for giving me some peace of mind as to the quality of the final chapter. Thanks so much Rai!
Now to all of you, this is all going to sound cliché and sappy but it's true! I hope that you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. This was definitely the most fun I've ever had writing and I'm really sorry to see it go.
I want to thank all of you readers. From the bottom of my heart, I love you all! I've read (and when I was feeling down, reread) all of your reviews and your kind words always put an immovable grin on my face. You've stayed by me despite my infrequent updates and that really means a lot to me. I still can't believe how much response I got to this little fic that started as a fluffy, pick me up, fun story to shake off all the heavy drama of Phoenix. I never expected anything I wrote to get reviews in the triple digits and it still boggles my mind to see the number! Your kindness and enthusiasm has fueled me more than you can know! It warms me to know that something I created brought joy to so many. And I want to give a special thanks to those who gave me constructive criticism. Looking from the first chapter to this, it's obvious that I've learned a lot.
I know that I'm starting to ramble but it's so hard to say good bye! I'm sorry to say that I don't think I will be writing in this fandom again, and that is just another good bye to make this harder!
I will try to get an official site together so that I can share my other writings, but websites aren't my forte. If you would like to be updated on the progress, visit my live journal or write to me and I'll compile a little mailing list of sorts.
You can also comment on my live journal if you have any questions or comments that you want a reply for, since I can't really reply on here. The link for my live journal is on my profile as my webpage.
So I guess this is good bye! Thank you again everyone! I will miss you all as much as I will miss writing this story.

Your humble author,
Nataku's Child

Edit: Thanks to Tai for pointing out the typo! It is now fixed.
As to a Duo's Story sequel, there are a few reasons I don't think I could do it:
1) Bad sequels often ruin the original ;;
2) Duo's story would most likely be riddled with sex and I'm still unsure of where line is on sex. Plus I've never written it before ;;
3) I sorta said I wasn't gonna write in this fandom again ;; I want to try my hand at original stories.
Thanks again!