Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Diablo ❯ Knight in Shining Armor ( Chapter 4 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

"Rise and shine sunshine!" Duo poked Quatre who groaned and sat up trying vainly to scratch his armored belly "Wakey wakey, or you'll get flakey!" Duo poked Wufei.


"I'm awake Maxwell, can't you see my eyes are wide open?" he retorted.


"Just wanted to make sure Fei man, your still in your bed." Trowa stood up to prevent Duo from poking him and Heero sat pushing his hair back from his face.


They picked straws last night and Duo got the last watch, he woke everyone up the instant the sun began rising over the horizon, just as they agreed upon. They had been smoking the left over deer and now it was going to be for breakfast and, according to Trowa's map, for lunch. It will take that long a hike in full armor and gear to get from this crossroad to the Bloodmoor Rouge camp.


They ate breakfast in relative silence. It would have been completely silent if it wasn't for Duo's constant chatter. No one seemed to mind his talk, except Wufei whom Duo found so irristable with his all high and mighty attitude.


When Duo left to do some business in the bushes Wufei blew up "Is it just me or does everybody else think Duo Maxwell is annoying!"


No one answered for a few minuites and Duo's defense came from the strangest of all places. "Duo reminds me that technically I am still a kid." Trowa said to no one in general.


"Fei I think he picks on you because of your attitude." Quatre said as insightful as ever.


"I've seen him work, his performance is not hampered by his need to talk." Heero volunteered. "But he annoys me all the time."


"I think it's his way of coping." Quatre held one of his wolves "What do you guys do when the screams you heard a week ago is still echoing in your head?" no one answered, the silence dragged and when Duo came back Quatre smiled because the chatter about anything and everything has started again. For him it was a welcome anodyne to the constant screaming in his space heart.


They broke camp within minuites and they walked... and they walked and they walked and they walked... until Duo was whining and cursing random animals to amuse himself. He followed one of his skeletons and hung his pack on the minion who went on walking unaware of it's load.


"Hey! Why didn't you tell me you can carry my pack?" He opened it and pulled out his scroll. And observed his minion slow down and start bending backward. "Oh great!" he took the pack from the skeleton and it started off ahead of their group like it was shirking work. "Why that no good slacker." he said as he hefted his pack again.


Quatre smiled in amusement he scratched behind the ear of his alpha male who had decided to guard him, he remains always at Quatre's side while the female ranges ahead of the group sniffing and giving an occasional howl of what she smelled on the ground.


"Hmph, maybe we should name that one Duo after it's master, he is carrying a scythe." Wufei said with a smirk.


Quatre smiled "All those in favor raise their hands." He put his hand up Wufei raised both and Trowa, after an amused moment of consideration raised his.


"Hey! Is this payback for something I did? Can't we call him Duo Junior or something?" Duo watched the slacker run ahead and turn it's head left and right.


"Your vote Heero?" Quatre asked.


"Duo Junior is too long." Heero said never slacking in his pace.


"Duo J?" The Pilot of Deathscythe asked.


Quatre chuckled "It's Duo J then. What about the others?" he asked.


"Hey you guys get to name the warriors but I get to name the mages okay?" he said as he looked at his scroll.


"Mages?" Heero asked.


"I swear this wasn't here last I checked but my scroll says I can raise a skeletal mage. Kinda like these warriors except they deal elemental attacks from a distance." He said as he prerused said scroll almost bumping Trowa who sidestepped gracefully. "And 2 new curses, the amplify damage which I skipped. It's really cool because it's suppose to increase the damage we deal to our enemies. I took my scroll out to learn that and that's when I saw these 2 new ones, Dim vision which blinds our enemies and Terror which scares them away. Cool!"


"What do you say we have a brunch break? I want to see my scroll too." Quatre asked Heero who nodded. They looked for a clearing and found one near what seems to be a busy thoroughfare, there they set up a temporary camp. They plopped down on the grass brought out their provisions and ate as they read their scrolls.


Except Trowa who had a map, he ate his lunch of old hard bread and stringy deer jerky and took off to scout ahead.


"I want to try this." Quatre said he stood up and walked towards the trees he held his arms out and began talking in gibberish. Duo, Heero, and Wufei watched. They waited and nothing happened. "Hmmm, I know I said it right..." Quatre said as he looked at his scroll again. He was busy rereading his knew skill when a raven called and hovered over his shoulder before it landed. Quatre grinned "Hey there, thought you didn't hear me right." Another landed on his shoulder and more came, a total of 5 ravens festooned Quatre in black feathers "Awesome." he said as he threw them back into the air and their cawing filled the blue spring sky as they hovered around him.


"More pets?" Wufei said "I learned new traps." he pulled a jumbled bunch of oddments from his back pack, he read the scroll while he assembled something following it like an instruction manual.


"I can't wait to find a new corpse, I want to see if I can summon a mage. I'll move over there a bit k? I want to practice my curses." He waved at them.


"Maxwell you don't need to practice curses, it comes to you naturally." Wufei remarked acidly.


"Yeah, yeah, potty mouth Duo, for your information Fei-fei these are very special curses, even if I'm a natural, I still need to practice them. It's sorta like singing, you have to practice it even if you've got a golden voice already." He winked at him and before Wufei can retort to the use of his pet name he said "Hey Heero man, what did you learn today?" he asked Heero who was absorbed in his study.


He looked up then down again "Frozen armor and Nova." he said simply "Trickier than the last skills."


"Hey wait till I'm here before you practice k? I wanna see it."


"Hn." he muttered already absorbed in his scroll.


Wufei held up a finished trap and threw it after Duo, a shockweb of electricity barely missed him.


"Hey! Watch where you throw those things!" Duo shouted as he leapt out of the way, 2 of his skeletons who was following him out got caught in it and just stood there unharmed.


"The safety catch is on Duo it will not harm any of us, only our enemies, try it before it ends." Wufei reached into the electric web and they saw how the electricity danced on his hand.


"Cool. It tickles." Duo said as he reached in, before Quatre could touch the shockweb it ended. "I was touching naked electricity man, that is way freaky."


Heero stood up then and raised his staff over his head. He had a cocky smirk on. They looked up at him and felt static electricity send all their hairs standing, an arc of lightning sparked between his two fists and a deep loud THOOM pushed them backwards as an arc of lightning exploded out of Heero in a circle.


Duo shook his head "Wow, lemme guess that was the nova." Heero nodded as he sat back on the grass and studied his scroll again.


"That must take a lot of mana Heero you looked tired." Quatre said.


"It does, mana will be an issue with me in the near future." he said.


"We have to save on mana potions then for Heero." Wufei said " I don't need it, so far."


"Me too." Quatre added "Only when I change into my werewolf form."


"Only when I summon." Duo added.


"I don't need it at all." Trowa said as he approached the camp, he was so far away technically he shouldn't be hearing them talk yet. "A caravan is being attacked I think we should help them, they seem like normal people and they are going in the direction of Bloodmoor."


"What's attacking them?" Duo asked as they hefted their pack in a hurry stuffing scrolls and everything else into their packs. They were running after Trowa through bush and trees off the road in less than the minuite it took for Trowa to answer.


"Carvers, goatmen, skeletal archers and spearmaidens. It was an ambush" he said.


"Wohoo! Practice! I want to see my skeletal mages!" Duo said running abreast with Heero who looked at him with a smirk.


It wasn't a bad kind of smirk, it was a ... pleased kind? Duo grinned at him and squashed the thought that fluttered in his heart. He can't be distracted, they're going into battle with untested methods, he's going to need his concentration.


He'd always admired Heero Yuy, yep, ever since he shot him. There was this certain somthing in the other boy's looks that told Duo he is extraordinary and working with Heero had only increased his admiration and in the end he realized his admiration was turning into somthing deeper...


They heared the battle before they came to a clearing and a well traveled dirt road. The said caravan had made a circle that protected them from all sides. Archers from the roof of the wagons fired to protect the men and women who fought hand to hand on the ground.


The five assesed the situation as they dropped their packs and as one unit turned to Quatre their unofficial leader.


"I'll lure the carvers, Trowa cover me, Heero take out the shamans if we take them down the rest will be easy, Wufei will back-up Heero, Duo help the civilians defend themselves against the others, they seem to be dying when they're suppose to and not recovering like the carvers, your an army on own you can do it." They nodded to Quatre's plan.


Except Duo who grinned maniacally "Can I go now? Can I go now? Can I go now?" he chanted.


"Go." Quatre gave the command. Heero grunted pulling out several bottles of mana potions and tucking them in his belt, then he moved off with Wufei on his heels, Duo took one of the bottles hooked to his belt and uncorked it as he ran to the nearest corpse. Quatre stood up stretched out as far as he could go with axe in both hands and summoned the rage he felt when he saw his pets die he shook his head and growled deep in his throat as he towered over Trowa, he gave a feral grin then ran for the heart of the carver camp, his wolves howled as they followed him and the ravens darted off to pluck the eyes off his enemies.


Trowa nocked 3 arrows at once and let loose as fast as he can on the women who tried blocking Quatre with long lances.


Duo ran to the nearest corpse and began his summons, he watched as the jumbled hacked pieces of what looked like a black goat and a man shudder and tear. A skeleton rose from the flesh and it's eye sockets glowed a brilliant smoky green, it's hands came together in front and the same sickly emerald glow emanated from them. Duo watched as the skeletal mage walked away from it's corpse and raised it's fists to fire a burst of green at a carver who turned the same shade and screamed as it died.


"Sweet!" he cried and that carver became the next mage. He promply popped a bottle of mana and drank even before he felt the drain. By the time he reached his position near the caravan he had a troop of 4 warriors and 4 mages all 4 dealing different attacks. The first one delt poison damage, one of them had blue smoky sockets and fired bolts of ice, another had glowing red eyes and fired bolts of fire and the last had white sparks in it's eye sockets and fired bolts of electricity.


He found himself on an intercept course with a band of... women, except they screeched and had an unearthly light in their eyes they carried lances and ran so fast. That wasn't what made Duo decide they are the enemy though. It was the arrows sticking out of their sides and the bluish skins that were showing signs of beggining decay, that told Duo clearer than daylight that these were undead and they were after them. Duo dug his heels in and grinned as he lowered the skull faceplate on his helm "Come and dance with Shinigami ladies." He spun his Grim Scythe and met them head on.


Heero ran swift as a deer past attackers, fireballs and arrows. He was grateful that his armor is lighter than Duo's or even Wufei who followed behind him throwing those shockwebs left and right at clumps of attackers before they can get too close. He didn't remain unscathed though, blood dripped from sword cuts and arrows and as he got closer his silks got singed from the shaman's fireballs. But if his nova is going to be effective he has to fire it while he stood in the very middle of the carver camp. surrounded by some 16 or 20 minions and a grand total of 8 shamans.


It was a risk made for the perfect soldier.


He dodged and rolled avoiding a volley of 4 that could have incinerated him and hoped Wufei avoided it as well. He has no time to seek out his safety. He was on a mission, destroy the shamans and the carvers will fall, when the carvers are gone the rest will be managable. He gritted his teeth when a carver managed to land a blow on his shoulder and he heard Wufei's attack cries mingled with the cries of the dying. He survived... good.


The objective was close. Heero raised his staff and cast frozen armor, blue sparks surrounded him as he reached the center of the carver camp. He raised his staff again and waited for a couple of breaths until the carvers had him surrounded.


"Yuy!" he heard the concern in Wufei shout, the eight shamans bore down on him they raised their staves and Heero let go a series of 3 Novas.


Wufei watched as impossible odds surrounded Heero. He cried out his name in anger at the son of a bitch's suicidal tendencies, and was knocked flat on his ass when the shockwaves of pure arc electricity exploded from Heero destroying the entire camp. He sat there stunned, he shook his head and saw Heero fall on his knees and then on his face.


"Yuy! You stupid son of bitch!" he cried and ran for the perfect soldier. He was conciouse but dazed and very weak. "Status!" he snapped trying to edge out the fear and concern in his voice.


"Injured none fatal, incapacitated." Heero tried to reach for his belt but his fingers refused to cooperate.


"Dammit Heero!" Wufei said fighting for composure, as he understood what happened. Heero's mana was drained, he took the mana potion out and cradled the boy in his arms as he helped him drink the potion for good measure he made him drink some of the health potion too. "Try that stunt again and I'll kill you myself." he said gruffly "What if they survived? What if I wasn't here?" Wufei saw Heero give him a strange look and he realized what he just said, he blushed. "We need you." he added by way of explanation. Wufei set Heero down and berated himself for that lapse.


"I trusted in you keeping up with me. You didn't fail me." Wufei returned Heero's gaze as he dropped the empty bottle. He helped Heero to a sitting position Wufei sighed and gave a rueful shake of his head.


"I am honored by your trust Yuy. It is... very important to me." He stood up and gave the Japanese boy a curt nod. "Stay here and rest a little. I will help Quatre. Re-engage combat when your able." he said and Heero nodded.


Quatre was blind from the devastation he wrought he felt nothing but the thrill of slashing these weak creatures that dared harm him and his friends. He can smell them distinctly, undead, unnatural, demon. He growled and leapt to stomp on a carver crushing it into pulp as he slashed a skeleton he did not recognize. Duo's skeleton's smell different from these. These are vile and unclean he could taste the demonic essence that gave them the power to defy death. Duo's skeletons are tied to his essence, he can smell Duo's mark on them and they are not vile to his senses they seem natural. They are the minions of the god of merciful death.


He loved the sound as these other skeletons crunched under his assault, he raised his arms to lend his strength to his wolves who have gone into an attacking frenzy. The ravens cawed and dived delivering what attacks they could so that some of the demons he had to destroy had bleeding sockets for eyes. He paused to smell the air and smelled the strong clean scent of ozone before it was covered with the overpowering scent of scorched flesh. Heero was successful. He grinned ferally and gave a loud howl to let his friends know the end of this battle is near.


Trowa grinned as he saw from the corner of his eye the carver camp fall under Heero's flashy attack. He heard Quatre howl in victory and saw his renewed energy in attacking the enmey.


He also saw a blue glow surrounding Duo's minions... and when Quatre came close to one of Duo's ... the blue glow transfered itself to him. He looked closer at the caravan and saw that the defenders were all glowing blue. Duo was gracefully hacking away at the Vile Lancers attacking him, only one of his mages remained at his side the rest were occupied, he nocked an arrow to fire at a goatman trying to attack Quatre from behind and got him square on the head. He moved from his vantage because the werewolf was getting beyong his range.


He ran after Quatre just as he saw Wufei join the melee. He smiled when Wufei stood behind the towering werewolf and started his intricate dance of death.


He also got surrounded by that blue aura.


An old instinct told tickled him and he snapped his attention to Duo just in time to see another band of Lancers escape the forest canopy and run for the still engaged Shinigami. "Duo! Behind you!" he shouted as he nocked an arrow and aimed for the closest he managed to stop 2 but that left 5 more, they were within striking distance Duo was out numbered.


Duo cut one of the demon women up from the middle and blocked his last attacker when he heared Trowa shout a warning. He heared his mage go down from the dual assault of a lancer and a thorn beast. His minions were scattered keeping the rest at bay his back was wide open he dropped to his back and kicked the... demon lady he was fighting off before he jacknifed to a standing position he spun around to see he now has a total of 6 lancers to fight. He grinned, cooooool.


From the corner of his eye he saw a white knight dressed in shining scale mail rush in to help him. He wore a dazzling white leather surcoat emblazoned with a fist holding a bolt of lightning. His shield was so shiny it reflected the sun in places like a polished mirror, his sword was bloody and as he arrived Duo saw he was glowing blue.


The lancers fell easy to his attacks they screamed and the dark shadow of what looked like an animal escaped their tormented flesh as they died for real. Duo summoned a warrior and a mage to replenish his numbers and watched the knight make mincemeat out of the rest of his attackers. He half heartedly raised his scythe to block an attack from the last of the bitches, she's doomed, the knight cut her up from behind.


Oooooh but his eyes are a gorgeouse shade of aquamarine. Duo was glad he was wearing his helm. It covered his face. He could feel heat all the way to his ears as he ogled the white knight, his rescuer. He has broad shoulders and platinum blonde hair all the way down his back. The knight wore a crown helm that left his face open and what Duo saw made his jaw drop and thrice thankful for the bone helm.


He's so hot! I think I'm in love!


Holy shit... he looks familiar...


"Sir Zechs! Sir Zechs help me!" A man in blue shouted he was defending a fallen comrade from a pair of slow plague bearing zombies.


"No fucking way." Duo whispered but he saw the knight frown nod at him and go on to save them.


Behind him Trowa whispered "The Lightning Count."



Mens sana in corpore mortua