Disclaimer: I do not own the Gundam Wing boys nor am I making any money from this. The idea of a Confessor is from Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth novels and is being used without permission. Warnings: None Pairings; 1+2 3+4 The Confessor Series Part 3 After a brief discussion about how they were going to move the confessor without touching it, Trowa came up with the idea to wrap it in its cloak and throw it over Heavyarms' back. They decided that contact would probably have to occur skin to skin in order for it to be able to work its power on them. Trowa, wearing gloves, gingerly tied its arms together behind its back and with Quatre's assistance pushed it onto the chestnut's saddle so it lay facedown. The long braid trailed in the dirt beside the horse as it walked. For the next few hours, they all lead their mounts through the darkening yellow walls that seemed to close in on them. "What do we do with it when it wakes up?" Quatre asked Heero, who was leading Wing a little ways ahead. "Question it." Heero replied absently. Cobalt eyes were scanning the area for the shadowmare that had run off before they could catch it. But he could feel that it hadn't gone too far from its master. He didn't know if it were a threat, so he would treat it like one. They made their way back through the gorge. By now the sun had set enough to make the shadows run deep into the canyon. Each of the group was lost in their own thoughts when a low moan pulled them back to the here and now. "It's waking up." Trowa stated quietly. He saw it trying to twitch its arms and stopped Heavyarms. "Ok, lets camp." Heero decided. He stopped Wing and pointed to an alcove off to the right. "Trowa, you and Wufei see to the horses, Quatre and I will get the camp ready and secure the prisoner." Trowa led Heavyarms into the alcove and unceremoniously heaved the unconscious bundle off of the saddle where it landed in a moaning heap. Without glancing at it he went and gathered up Sandrock and Wing from Heero and Quatre and lead them away. Quatre walked over to the groggy confessor and crouched down a few feet away. He saw large eyes trying to open, squint shut, and then open for real. He tried to smile reassuringly as the confused gazed focused on him. It was too dark to discern what shade they were, but they seemed dark. "Wha.?" The black-clad figure gasped. "It's alright. We aren't going to hurt you. Can you sit up?" Quatre kept his voice low and steady, projecting calm. He sensed that threats wouldn't work here. Instinct told him that the confessor needed to know that if it cooperated, they would treat it kindly. He felt that if they could gain its trust, it would make the return journey much easier rather than having to keep it tied up to prevent it from continuously attempting to escape. "Yeah, I think so. What happened?" The confessor struggled to sit up with its arms still tied behind it. After a few minutes' effort it was able to lean against a steep rock wall, it closed its large eyes and gasped for breath, sweat standing out on its forehead from the effort. "Your horse tripped and threw you." Quatre decided the other details weren't necessary at this point. "How do you feel?" Then Quatre said in a puzzled tone "you're a boy aren't you?" "Obviously," Came the dry reply. "And I feel like I've been pitched off my horse at full speed. Why am I tied up anyway?" It was a fair question, so Quatre answered it honestly. "We saw you are a confessor, although I heard that all confessors were female." Quatre indicated the long braid that was full of dust and sage sprigs. "We weren't sure what your reaction to us would be so we felt it would be wisest to restrain you until we were sure you wouldn't, um well, you know." Quatre trailed off, unsure how to proceed. "Use my power on you?" One eyebrow arched and a ghost of a smile flitted across the lips. "I suppose you have a point. What's your name anyway?" Quatre glanced back and saw Heero standing nearby, studying the confessor intently. He felt Heero silently urging him on and decided to take the plunge. "Quatre, Quatre Winner. What's yours?" "Duo Maxwell, nice to meetcha Quatre Quatre Winner. I'd shake your hand but I seem to be in a bit of a bind." Quatre felt himself grinning in answer to the impish look. He was surprised to find that he liked the young confessor, dangerous or not. He noticed that the captive was shivering and realized how cold it was now that the sun was down. "Heero, are you ready with to start the fire?" He called over his shoulder. In reply Heero merely grunted and turned to the pile of broken dead branches. He got out his flint and in one efficient stroke sent a spark into the center of the tinder. A small puff of air and soon the fire was blazing cheerfully. His actions were by rote, having done this so many times before. His mind was still on the confessor named Duo. There was something about it that made Heero uncomfortable. He tried to figure out what it was, but the feeling was alien to him so he had no point of reference to help him navigate. Trowa and Wufei came strolling up soon, each looked at the confessor who grinned cheerfully back, then sat down near the fire. The silence was amplified by the wind, still howling through the gorge. The confessor fidgeted uncomfortable under the eyes of the other four. Finally, Duo couldn't take it anymore. "Say, who are you guys anyway?" He burst out. Quatre looked at the others, then rolled his eyes when it was obvious that none of the others were going to answer. "We are soldiers from the Oz Kingdom to the east, sent to investigate the massacre of General Padua's battalion. We came across the tracks of your shadowmare leaving the site, so we thought you might know what happened to them. We tracked you and ended up here. I am Quatre, as you know, this is Trowa Barton," he pointed to a brown haired boy with strange bangs that fell across one eye. "The best tracker in the business, the one back there with the ponytail is Chang Wufei and that is Captain Heero Yuy." Duo nodded to each one in turn. Heero's eyes never left the confessor's face. When Quatre pointed him out to Duo and Duo's eyes had turned to him, he felt a weird tingle run up his spine. Unable to explain the sensation to himself, he did the only thing he could think of, he glared at the confessor. Duo in turn, stared at Heero with confusion. There was something about this guy that connected with him deep inside. He wasn't sure what, but it was there. And he had no idea what to do. He flushed when he realized that he had been staring and it had obviously made Heero mad. He looked away. Quatre, feeling the tension between the Captain and the confessor, sought to distract them. "Duo? What is a confessor anyway? I've heard stories." Duo laughed briefly as he turned back to Quatre. "I'll bet you have. Well, since I'm not going anywhere and you don't seem to be in a hurry, I guess I can answer some questions. What's on your mind?" He shifted to make himself more comfortable. Before Quatre could open his mouth, Wufei jumped into the conversation. "What is your power?" Typical Wufei, no beating around the bush there. Duo grinned, and stared up at the vibrant stars visible through the tall stone cliffs. "I'm not sure how to describe it. It's kinda like trying to describe colors to a blind person, so bear with me ok?" He took a deep breath and blew through his bangs. He then shook his head and looked back at the four sets of eyes that were keeping him pinned to the ground with the sheer weight of their stares. "I guess the only way to describe it is love." Duo's face turned red with embarrassment. "Love?" Trowa echoed. Wufei stared skeptically and Quatre looked confused. Only Heero didn't change expression, just kept on glaring at him. "Yes, love. Only it's more than that. Once touched by it, it" Duo paused, searching for the right word, "changes a person forever." They all caught the slight emphasis on the word changes. "Say, if I touched Wufei with my power, this is just hypothetical" he added quickly to forestall the protest forming on Wufei's face. "He would be totally devoted to me; nothing else would matter to him. He wouldn't care about honor, justice, and duty. Eating or even breathing would become secondary to him. All he would want to do is please me. The person you know as Chang Wufei was would be gone, only a mindless, soulless slave would be left." The others listened intently to this. Wufei stirred uncomfortably at the mention of turning his back on justice, and Quatre mentally cringed at the thought of losing his soul. Trowa just looked on silently. Duo went on, his voice flat, devoid of emotion. "I could have him betray his friends, his family and his commanders and he would be only too happy to obey. I could order him to cut off his hand with a smile and he would." Duo's voice lowered. "I could order him to die, and he would keel over right there." The others were staring in horror at him. Well, most of them were, Heero merely looked disgusted and that bothered Duo for some reason. But he shrugged it off. "So you see, the stories weren't all that exaggerated." "Have you done that to anyone?" Quatre asked quietly, he had turned and was now staring at the fire, unable to reconcile to vileness of what Duo described with the beautiful being that sat in front of him. Duo wouldn't lie, he was a confessor and knew that they wouldn't believe him anyway if he said no. "Yes, I have. " And left it at that. If they wanted the gory details, they would have to ask. He wasn't going to volunteer more on that subject. The silence returned as each of the boys mulled over what Duo had told them. Then Trowa stirred and looked at Duo. "I heard that all confessors are female." Duo grinned. "All the ones that are allowed to live are female." He corrected. "It has to do with strength. Confessors have both male and female offspring. Because the power breeds true, both types will inherit it. However, there is one major difference. When a female uses her power, it takes a while to recover it, sometimes a day and night, often longer depending on how strong her power is. She can only use it once. Really strong confessors may only take a few hours." "How long does it take a male to recover?" Wufei asked, wanting to know his enemy if he ever needed to take Duo out. "There is no recovery time needed." Duo stated simply. "That is what makes then so dangerous. Plus, it seems that female confessors have more compassion and are more reluctant to use their power as opposed to the males. I guess a long time ago, some male confessors got together and ruled the entire midlands. It didn't sit well with the ruling council of wizards and they went to war. I'm told that after long bloody years of hunting them down, the male confessors were all killed. Of course the wizards council wasn't bragging too much either since their ranks were decimated too. After that, every male child born to a confessor was killed before it was an hour old, usually by the father." "So how did you manage to be here?" Heero spoke for the first time, not looking at Duo but at the fire. Duo smirked. "You can thank your own General Treize for that. He had sent various squads of assassins to thin the ranks of the confessors. The confessors were forced into hiding just to stay alive. My mother was hiding in a small village, away from the confessor temple in the capitol, which was where the slaughter was most concentrated. Anyway, she died giving birth to me, and since no one knew she was a confessor I was allowed to live. I guess it never occurred to her to tell anyone to kill me if she had a boy. But from what I had gathered, it has become extremely rare for a male confessor to be born these days. Anyway she left all sorts of journals, written to me about what a confessor is and how to control the power inside. When I turned ten and my powers began to manifest, I was able to hide them." There was another thoughtful silence, this one more comfortable than the last. Then Quatre thought of another question. "So why are your kind called confessors?" Duo grinned. This was an easy answer. "Because, that is what we do, we take confessions. The truth is the ultimate goal of a confessor. We, or I should say they, since I am not supposed to exist, are called in when justice needs to be served. If there is a criminal that needs to be dealt with, a confessor can determine if he is guilty or innocent. Sometimes just the mere presence of a confessor is enough to make some person admit what they have done. Innocent people also need to fear a confessor, though. That is the saddest part. If a confessor touches an innocent person, they are destroyed as surely as if they were guilty. There is no going back once a confessor touches you. Could I have a drink of water, please? I am very thirsty." Duo requested politely. The four soldiers looked uneasily at each other. After what they had heard just now they were even more reluctant to go near Duo. Duo caught their looks and laughed bitterly. "I won't touch you, I promise." "But what if we touch you? Won't we be affected anyway?" Quatre asked "No, it's not like that at all. I restrain my power at all times, except for when I need to use it. Then I relax the hold and release it. It's not like anything that brushes against me will automatically be my slave. I couldn't walk through a crowd without being in serious trouble if that were the case." Duo tried to reassure them. "So it's voluntary?" Wufei had to make sure before he went anywhere near the confessor. "Yes." Duo wasn't entirely truthful about that, but the one time a confessor would slip and use its power by accident had nothing to do with this conversation. The other four were engaged in s silent conversation by the looks on their faces, clearly not happy about the prospect of approaching him. Duo sighed. "Forget it, I'll be ok." Quatre looked over at him. "No, that's alright. I'll get you some water." He got up and walked over to the saddlebags and rummaged around for a few seconds. He straightened up with a water bag dangling from his hand. He ignored Trowa's concerned look and made his way over to the young confessor's side. Unconsciously the other three tensed. Wufei casually eased his hand over the pommel of his sword and Trowa fingered the knife stuck in the top of his boot. Heero didn't move a muscle, though. Every nerve was tuned into the slightest movement of the figure in black. Squatting down next to Duo, Quatre pulled the stopper out of the water bag and held it up to Duo's lips. Duo drank clumsily, spilling water down his chin and the front of his shirt. Quatre reached out and steadied the back of his head with his hand. Duo closed his eyes, trying to keep his humiliation in check. Finally, he had enough. Nodding his thanks to Quatre, he sat back. The bruises from the tumble earlier were making their presence felt in force now. He winced as the pain stabbed through his head. He opened his eyes and saw Quatre staring at him with some concern. It was a strange feeling. No one had been concerned about him for such a long time he had forgotten what it felt like it. It was almost a warm feeling. He smiled to reassure Quatre. "I'm alright, just a bit sore." He took a deep breath and let it out. "I'm tired though, would you mind if I sleep now?" "Go ahead, we'll keep watch." Quatre smiled. Duo curled up on his side, not bothering to ask if he could be untied. He knew that they had their reasons. He wanted to know why they had been following him; it was more than just what had happened to General Padua and his foot soldiers. They had captured him for a purpose, and he was curious to find out why. He wasn't afraid of them, not now. In the gorge he had panicked briefly, when they were closing in on him. He had been sure they were going to kill him so he had lashed out. Working his hands slowly, he eased the ropes around his wrists. He was an expert at escaping from tight situations. But he had no wish to escape right now, just ease the chaffing the ropes were causing. He was quite curious about his captors actually. They wanted something from him and having nothing better to do, he decided to play along. They seemed like decent people and they obviously cared about each other. No one had ever really cared for him, and he was envious. Besides, he grinned to himself, that captain intrigued him a little.