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The Lyrebird War. Chapter six.

~ By Sweetdeily.

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With my startled burst of Quatre’s name it is as if pandemonium erupts around me. I try to get off the bed and run to my charge but the chain yanks me and I am almost kissing the ground before strong arms catch me and I’m gently deposited back on Heero’s bed. The sound of the clanking guards outside makes me crawl to the edge of the bed. Heero is talking but I’m not listening; there are shouts outside and through my link to Trieze I know he is almost out of his grave.

“Heero, where is Quatre?” I ask desperately. If something bad happens then… then the one for Quatre… the man with no voice…

“Who is Quatre?” Heero speaks slowly; moving closer and resting his hands on my shoulder even though I flinch at the contact.

“Quatre… Quatre is… the man with no voice… the…” I stop myself. Quatre, I think, what would Quatre be to Heero…? “He’s the blonde that you caught with us…”

“You mean the little one? Not General Zechs?”

This makes me pause. ‘General Zechs?’ But I will ask later; one problem at a time. “Yes, yes, he is very small.”

Heero shrugs. “I believe my top General took ownership of him.” Heero gently pets my back and even though the motion soothes me I am still panicked. This is not comforting; I know that Heero’s top General is that Trowa man I keep hearing about. They say that he is silent and stealthy; no army under his command has ever lost a battle. His name is mentioned in every tavern with unusual things happening during the war.

I look imploringly at the King. “Please, I must find Quatre… if… if the man with no voice doesn’t…if he can’t get to the man with no voice…”

Heero stops me; hushing my words with a finger on my mouth. “Who is this ‘man with no voice’ and what is so important about him?”

I blink at the brown haired ruler. “What is so important about him? He’s Quatre’s beloved! He is the one to whom Quatre is promised! Although I never saw what he looked like, I know he is here, at this point in time, in this palace… he never speaks but he loves Quatre…. And he will be the one to take down the shields around Quatre’s heart.” I can’t help a light blush that spreads over my features. It sounded like such romantics. I mean, ‘take down the shields around Quatre’s heart’? Single handedly, I doubted any such person could ever possibly exist. Those shields are made of diamond.

Heero frowned, and gods, it made my heart stop to see the expression cross his face. “I don’t think I can help you, Duo.”

I open my mouth and close it, what can I say? Heero is the King, if he couldn’t help me, who could? I shake my head, honestly Duo! I’ve been alone with Quatre, Zechs and Trieze to help me for years, why should I have to rely on Heero? I’m acting silly, like I’m just some lost little child crying for something familiar.

His mouth makes this small, half-smile and he gently touches my hair. “I’m sure your friend is fine. Trowa is a good man.”

I lean into his caress, but my heart beats coldly in my chest. “Please? Please help him, master?” What else can I ask; I can’t stand the fact that I’m reduced to begging this strong man for help, but Trieze is still too far away to help. I don’t even have a clue as to Zech’s whereabouts.

“It’s Heero.” He whispers reflexively; I wonder if he’s ever had any other Lyrebirds, am I his first? “I’ll help your friend, Duo, but on one condition…”

I nod. “Name it.” I think I will do almost anything he asks of me, regardless of the pain it might cause me. Quatre must be with the man with no voice, if he’s not, I don’t know what will happen. It will, in the very least, alter the course of fate.

“Give me the pleasure of kissing your lips.” He leans closer, waiting to see if I will accept or decline.

I blush; in all my time alive, all the times I’ve been raped and fancied, no one has ever asked to kiss me and it strikes a certain chord inside me… Heero would ask me for my permission? A King would ask his slave if he may do something? All my thoughts of holding together, of Quatre, of the future, of everything vanish and I nod. Heero is my promised… for him… for him I have waited, and if not for anything he wishes, why else would I exist in this world? I don’t know why I want him so badly, but staring at him, in the flesh, the living creature that he is, I know why I came to this place. I didn’t know why it was that it was so important to get to him, to go through everything until now. Until this minute, I think I expected some great, world altering event… not a man. Funny the things that happen in the name of love… the many times I could have broken destiny when it got too hard.

How can I describe the next instance of my life? How do you describe paradise on earth? How do you put into words what it feels like to kiss someone? For a start it’s warm and fluttery, Heero’s lips are so soft -not what I would expect from the stoic man- and it sends a tingling down my spine to have contact against his flesh, this strange -not entirely nameable sensation- that I just wish I could feel again and again.

I don’t think I even want to lose the feeling when he draws back; a chaste kiss to my knowledge, yet what is a chaste kiss when it strikes you hard?

In my mind I feel as if I have seen eternity pass before me in a heartbeat; a breath-taking heartbeat of everything and nothing. Pure exhilaration, from love. How do you describe love to someone who’s never felt it? You’re weak and powerful at the same time, right and wrong, focused and illusion mulled… I don’t know, I’ve never felt like this before, and I was trying not to start now, but it feels like I’ve lost that battle.

“What do you want me to do?” Heero asks; staring into my lavender eyes from inches away.

“I…uhmm…” I try to think of something useful, honestly I do, but the feeling of his lips upon mine has banished the outside world from my mind, destroyed my usually perfect defenses and left me naked in the night. “That again?”

He makes that small smile again and leans closer, lips pressing against mine more firmly, fingers threading through my hair and sending sparks up my spine. I lean into his warm embrace, he feels safe, he smells right, and he tastes wonderful. A wet tongue gently touching my lips makes me startle, and I jerk back, blushing madly. Heero blinks, hands rising to catch me.

“I’m sorry.” I mumble, leaning back into his hold. “It startled me, that is all.”

He traces invisible patterns on my cheeks. “I can stop if you want, Duo.”

I shake my head. “No, no. It’s not that… I was surprised; I’ve never been kissed before…”

He makes this confused little frown and I precariously trace the contours of his forehead. He doesn’t tell me to stop so I move my fingers over his face, memorizing the lines and curves. It’s so comfortable with him practically cradling me in his lap like a child; I don’t ever want it to end. “I… can we try it again?” I murmur, captivated by his eyes. They’re so frozen, like he’s been through hell and come out; no one should have eyes like that.

He kisses me again, this time hesitantly at first before we finally settle into the soft caress, I don’t jump when he slips his tongue out this time, and I manage to somehow part my lips just slightly. I close my eyes, enjoying the moment when his tongue touches mine and I respond, clumsily, but happily.

When he pulls back I sigh, my mouth tingles weirdly, not in a bad way, but just… incommunicable.

“You have such sad eyes, Duo.” He comments.

“You’re eyes are cold, Heero… they’re too old.”

“Yours look like you’ve been through hell and back and lived to tell the tales.”

I jerk in his grip; that was almost exactly what I thought his eyes were like. “No, my eyes aren’t that bad, are they?”

He gives me a small nod.

A knock on the door interrupts our moment and I frown, I know who it is.

“Whose there?” Heero growls out.

“It’s Trieze.” I answer; I glance down at the chain on my ankle and back at him. “I can’t get up, Heero.”

“Who is Trieze?” He asks, looking back at me with guarded eyes once more, they feel cold.

“Trieze is my Dread Knight.”

“That doesn’t tell me anything, Duo.”

Oh. “Oh.”

Heero raises an eyebrow. “What, or who, is he?”

“He’s… err…”

“He’s a creature of magical animation; a corpse brought to life through supernatural powers possessed of a certain individual to whom all dead answer to; He is the servant of the Lord of Hell, a retainer to those powerful enough to summon him and he’s got grave dirt all over his new clothing.” Trieze interrupts from the closed doorway.

I roll my eyes. “I know we can’t help but hear everything we say, Trieze, but have some manners; Heero is my destined, thank you!”

“My darling, Duo, I am the spitting image of chivalry.”

Heero frowns. “How can you hear us, the door is soundproof.”

“I have supernatural hearing; besides, Duo is my master; whatever he hears I do too.”

The King leaves the bed and opens the door. The sight that is revealed can’t help but make me crack up laughing. Trieze is covered in dirt smudges, his cheeks are smeared with the earth and his hair has clumps of grass in it, his white leggings are brown and green and broken rose petals are scattered all over his suit. I fall backward, legs up in the air as I laugh until I cry. “Gods, Trieze you look like crap!” I cackle out finally.

I finally managed to stop laughing and I wiped tears from my eyes, glanced back at Trieze and cracked up again.

“Thank you Duo, I am quite aware that I’m a little worse for wear.”

“It’s not that Trieze, it’s the way you carry yourself; even covered in crap you walk like royalty!” I finally managed to stop laughing, which was quite a feat and coughed. “So, have you found out anything?”

Trieze sighed and leaned against the doorjamb, Heero wasn’t letting him in, actually, it looked like Heero didn’t really like Trieze; he was glaring at my Dread Knight like he wanted him back in the grave. I guess it didn’t help that Trieze towered over him, not just physically either, Trieze was big on a psychic scale, I’d noticed it a few times when we walked in towns, people gave him a really wide breadth, almost like a second thought, he must radiate some sort of aura I suppose. Whatever it was Heero obviously didn’t like it and want it anywhere near me. He was protecting me. The thought gave me a sort of satisfaction deep down.

“I’m afraid not, Duo, I only just got here, although I think the King should invest in some more stable soldiers, they ran away when they saw me.”

Heero frowned. “I’ll take that suggestion to heart… Sir Trieze, is it?”

“If you like.” Trieze gave Heero a low bow. “At your service, well, that is after Duo’s.”

“Heero… Trieze isn’t bad, you know, he doesn’t bite.” I put out tentively; crawling across the bed to get as close to them as I can.

Heero looks at me. “I don’t really care if he is or isn’t… I don’t know him, so I won’t trust him.”

I sigh, curling up into a ball. “Go find Zechs then Trieze, come back when I call.”

Trieze bows to me, bows to Heero and then leaves with a trail of dirt.

Heero closes the door and turns back to study me. I give him my best innocent look but it fails in the sight of his cold eyes and I’m left feeling sad and lonely. I look away and wrap my arms around my knees. “Is that why I’m chained to the bed, master?” I try not to sound bitter, but I know I do.

“What? Oh… no… I...” He walks over to the bed and sits down. “…Yes.”

“I scare you, don’t I? It makes you break out into a cold sweat to think that I can bring back soldiers that have died, that I could look around your room and see ghosts that you’d like to believe are just figments of superstition.”

“Would you like me to lie and say that I’m not wary of these things? I’ve heard rumors about you, Duo, stories that you take the life of little children to further your own, that you don’t belong in this world. But my father started a war to own you. And for whatever reasons, I think there must have been something that made it worth it.”

I shake my head and rest it on my forearms. “I don’t understand you people! I’ve been living in this world for so long and all I see is this horror and heartache that you inflict on one another. The Alasa King was so cruel, he raped his own children, I haven’t words enough for the pain he brought me. Zechs tried to touch Quatre… whenever someone sees my face they act like an animal, I’ve seen whole taverns full of patrons rush out of a door or erupt into a brawl over me without any decent reason. Your father went to WAR for a pretty little boy. War, for ME. Hundreds are dying and suffering and I don’t understand why. There’s not much special about me, Heero. Hilde… and poor Quatre, I don’t even want to tell you the horrors they have been through, Hilde is lucky, she has been in a quiet, safe place for the last nine years but Quatre has seen the horrors of this world as freshly as me. I didn’t think you would be worth it Heero. All I have been through… and you are afraid of me.”

~ To Be Continued…

Sweet notes: Still looking for a beta. Meow. Reviews???