Chapter 27 / 37
Written by Jessi Maxwell - send C&C to Megami_no_Remon@hotmail.com
"Spin for me, Q...oh yeah. Just like that..." Duo purred in smug self-contentment as he watched Quatre. "Damn, I'm good..."
Quatre rolled his eyes a bit before grinning and taking another look at the heavy fur outerwear he was now sporting. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it was thick and warm. The silver-white of the pelts also provided some excellent camouflage.
"Dammit all, though...I owe Heero twenty bucks though."
Zechs arched an eyebrow and looked up from his attempt to make something resembling crude snowshoes. His success was limited. "And why do you owe Heero money?"
Duo blushed a bit and busied himself with his next set of furs he was planning on crafting with. "Eh...well, one of the last times we were undercover in a school, I was whining about how useless the home economics class we were taking was...and I told him there'd never be a time any Gundam pilot would need to know how to sew, and that no matter how good I could bake cookies it wouldn't end the war. He responded....typical Heero, y'know...'oh, you should learn every skill you can; you never know when it'll come in handy.' So I of course bet him I would never need to know how to sew." Here Duo grinned sheepishly. "And here I am."
Zechs chuckled and leaned over to steal a quick kiss. "And a very good seamstress you are, considering what we have to work with." 'What they had to work with' consisted of a surprisingly large pile of furs and pelts that Shaiyra had apparently stockpiled, all of them meticulously scraped and cured. Duo was in the process of creating clothing out of them. He was surprisingly adept at it, considering that all he had to work with was a slightly bent butcher knife, a bone needle, some long and thin strips of leather to use as thread, and the furs themselves.
He had already made Quatre a rough but warm outfit in addition to some large pouches he could use to store anything he gathered on his forays.
Ayrchad watched them and never said much, though there was a contented smile on his face under half-lidded eyes. He was very much enjoying the camaraderie their presence had brought.
Quatre performed a quick check on the lone handgun before slipping it into his belt. "Well, I suppose I'm off...While you finish preparing your clothes and such, I'll see what I can find in the way of food."
Chad spoke up now. "The snowpeach grove is not a far journey to the west...You could easily make it back before night."
Quatre nodded. "Right. I better get going then. You guys'll need a little food for your trip too."
"Be careful, Q. I don't want to find somethin else hunted you down. There's like...dragons...here." Duo said, concerned.
"Oh, I'll be fine." Quatre said with a chuckle and headed out and leaving his companions to their work.
~ ^ * ^ ~
Almost as soon as he stepped outside, Quatre got the sense something was wrong. Not a sense of danger, but simply that something was ... off. It took him a while to figure out what it was.
The sun was in the same exact position it had been in several hours earlier.
Quatre shrugged slightly and headed off in a westerly trek. // Dear Allah, so many questions! But the poor dragon can't answer them; he's had no formal education or discussion about the world he lives in. He's a nice guy, though. Not bad looking, either. // Quatre pulled up short at his own suddenly traitorous thoughts and immediately blushed bright pink, shaking his head to clear the unbidden words.
His journey wasn't a fast one, but it only took a couple of hours of walking to find the grove the dragon had spoken of. Quatre huddled into the warm furs gratefully. They were heavy and made his travel a bit slow, but they were remarkable at keeping the chill out.
Quatre scanned the grove of trees before him with interest. The trees themselves had a dark, silvery bark. The leaves were the strangest shade of silver-green. Most of the trees were heavily laden with plump fist-sized blue fruits, ranging in color from ice-blue to a richer shade. The little blonde headed towards the small orchard when he pulled up short.
Ahead of him and seemingly oblivious to his presence was a herd of creatures. They largely resembled deer, although they only stood about the height of his waist. They were a silvery-white in color - obviously the creatures that most of the saved pelts in the cave had originated from. The only immediate physical difference from normal deer, besides their size, that Quatre noted in a cursory examination of the beasts was their tail. It was long and had a tuft of fur at the end, somewhat like a lion's.
// So these must be those easkii things. Cute creatures... // Quatre sighed inwardly as he slid into a crouch, slowly retrieving his gun. // Praise Allah for your sacrifice, and I'm sorry. // The Arabian sighted before firing. One of the herd instantly toppled over. The rest let out an alarmed squeaking noise and took off, running in an amazingly swift series of leaps, vanishing into the snow.
Quatre blinked at their speed. // No wonder Chad said he couldn't catch them! // he mused. He straightened and then glanced at one of the fruit-heavy trees. // Well, maybe dragons don't eat fruit, but I certainly shall. // He rapidly filled his pouches to bursting with the peach-like fruits before heading to his kill. He murmured a quick prayer of thanks for the beast before grabbing it by the legs and beginning his trek back towards the cave. // Mission complete... // he thought with a faint grin.
~ * ^ * ~
"I still have to say, delightful as you would look in it, a fur skirt may not be very good at protecting you from the elements, Duo."
Duo snickered and dropped the pelt from around his waist. "Who said it was for me? I was going to make one for you!"
Zechs stared at him. "You think there is a power great enough to convince ME, of all people, to willingly don a SKIRT, Duo Maxwell?"
Duo paused to consider that, imagining the ex-OZ Colonel piloting Epyon in a skirt, his hair done up in cute little pink bows. He snorted, then fell back laughing hysterically. Chad blinked and looked at Zechs. Zechs merely shrugged and shook his head. "It's probably better that we don't know."
Duo eventually managed to compose himself. "Sooo...how those snowshoe thingies coming, Zechsy?"
"They're very rough, but should serve their purpose."
"Yeah, well, I'm putting the finishing touches on your winter wardrobe. It's fabulous. I should give up piloting and do this professionally."
Zechs stared at Duo.
Duo blinked innocently, and then grinned. "Eh. Somehow, I don't think I'd get my adrenaline fix."
"I don't know. Sewing can be VERY exciting."
All three of the cave's occupants looked up when they heard someone calling out for them.
"Hey, Q's back!" Duo chirped, happily bouncing out to see if his friend had had any luck. Zechs followed - he had needed to get up and stretch anyway. "Woo! Lemme help ya with that, Q...ya got one!"
Quatre was more than happy to relinquish his hold on the easkii. His arms ached and he was exhausted after hauling it through the snow.
Zechs frowned and looked up at the sky, or, more specifically, at the strange silver sun. "It hasn't moved..."
"I noticed that too." Quatre said somewhat breathlessly.
As if on cue, the sun abruptly vanished and the world was plunged into darkness.
~ * ^ * ~
So lost was he in information and scholarly discussion - a passion he rarely admitted to - Wufei had almost forgotten exactly who his companion was. He had to admit it to himself - Treize was devastatingly intelligent and cunning. But in his own weird way, he had a strong sense of honor and pride to rival Wufei's own.
"There has to be a common bond!" Wufei finally exclaimed in frustration, slamming down yet another useless book on top of one of the many stacks that surrounded him.
Treize nodded absently, too consumed with amusement at how different Wufei looked with his ponytail loosed and his reading glasses on.
"So this...thing...this rip, it opened up and dropped a dragon into our world on top of Epyon. We liberate Zechs, you send him Epyon, and a rip opens up to suck him in. The only thing the two Rifts had in common was Zechs and Epyon. So w..." Wufei stopped, noticing Treize was looking at him a bit too intently, and it didn't look to have anything to do with what he was saying. A blush instantly stained his cheeks. "What are you looking at me like that for, you leech!"
"Leech?" Treize blinked in amusement. "Have I made a single action or uttered a single phrase that could be construed as lecherous? I have been nothing but a perfect gentleman, despite having you at my mercy. You surrendered all control of this situation when you came to my door and begged my assistance. I have offered my assistance and been nothing but a gracious host, without asking for a thing in return."
Wufei spluttered for a moment, trying to come up with a good counterargument, but he had none. Treize was right - he HAD walked in and placed himself at the general's mercies. // Stupid move, Chang... You didn't even TRY to bargain, you just went straight to begging. // His flush only deepened and his fists clenched at his side as he forced down his resurging humiliation and stifled his rising self-righteous anger. "You're right. I'm...sorry."
Treize chuckled. "Think nothing of it." // Though my actions and words may be pure, it certainly does not mean my thoughts are. You are a creature of beauty and fire, my dear little dragon. Perhaps I will find a way to exact payment in the future. // "Your theory on this somehow being tied in with Epyon or Zechs may be correct. I cannot study the man, but I do have the information on Epyon at hand. Come, sit by me and we'll look. I only have the one computer in here, I'm afraid."
Cursing inwardly Wufei drug a chair over. He attempted to arrange it as far from Treize as possible while still being able to see the computer screen. He had a dark thought that Treize was probably doing this on purpose.
Treize merely smiled benignly and began pulling up the data on Epyon.