I would like to thank all the wonderful people who stayed with this fic until the very end. You reviews ment a lot to me and always warmed my heart. This fic´s end is kind of open. I have some ideas for a sequel, but I´m not promising anything. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! J

I would like to dedicate this fic to Tai! Girl, what I would do without you? Hopefully, I won´t ever need to find outJ

The Claim - epilogue

by KatiKat

When Heero pulled in breath through his tightly clenched teeth, Duo looked away, looking distinctly green. Trowa was stitching the wound on the Enforcer´s upper arm with a simple needle and a black thread. Duo really didn´t need to watch it. So he distracted himself with looking around the small hut, not so different from their own. There was a table, two chairs, one bed and the fireplace, where a fire was cracking happily. On the shelves there were no knives or other weapons like in their hut had been, though. They were full of herbs, jars with strange fluids and ointments. The hut smelled like a meadow in high summer.

"Don´t be such a wuzz," Trowa said, smirking at Heero, who glared at him with all his might. "So," the Healer continued, cutting the thread with a small, sharp knife, "you pulled Duo out of the fire and then I came, right?"

Heero nodded, his eyes fixed on the braided lifebearer. "Yes. And now our home is destroyed and we will have to find a new one quickly. We can´t live here indefinitely after all." He flexed his arm and grimaced at the pull of the stitches.

"You can stay as long as you want and you know that." The Healer started to put away the ointments and bandages he had used to take care of Heero´s wounds. "You still didn´t tell me, why you left the hut in the first place, Duo," he said, putting the things back on the shelves, his back turned to the lifebearer.

When Duo didn´t answer immediately both Heero and Trowa turned to him, their eyebrows raised in askance.

The lifebearer flushed deeply and lowered his eyes, then he muttered something under his breath.

"What did you say?" Heero asked, putting on the tunic he had borrowed Trowa.

"I went to the stream for water," Duo said a little more loudly.

The Enforcer frowned. "But there was at least half of the bucket before I left. I´ve always made sure there is enough water so that you wouldn´t need to go out."

Duo´s blush deepened. "I kind of... I had a little mishap with the dinner I was cooking." The lifebearer squirmed on the hard wood chair.

Heero nodded as if that explained everything, but Trowa, seeing Duo squirm in his seat and noticing the palor of his skin and the black circles under his eyes, narrowed his eyes. In the last couple of days, Heero came often to visit the Healer. He didn´t say much, but it was pretty obvious that Duo had been irritable and annoying and all in all not the best companion one could wish for. And so, when he put two and two together, everything clicked.

"Duo, did you get your bleeding?" Trowa asked bluntly.

The lifebearer looked as if his eyes would pop out of his head, then looked away and blushed so deeply, that Trowa feared he would catch fire.

"Duo?" Heero asked and when he didn´t get any answer, he stood up, crossed the small room and crouched in front of his mate. "Duo, look at me." When the lifebearer shook his head wildly and kept on wringing his hands nervously, Heero raised his hand and took Duo´s chin between his fingers, then he lifted the braided man´s head, so that he could look directly into the violet eyes. "Is that true?"

Duo blinked a couple of times, then nodded slightly, clearly embarrassed by the whole conversation.

Unmindful of Trowa, who started to potter around the fireplace, Heero smiled brightly, then tugged Duo down into his arms. He hugged the lifebearer tightly, whispering into his ear in a coarse voice.

"I´m so happy for you, for us."

Hearing Heero´s words, Duo exhaled in relief and hugged his mate back. He had been afraid that Heero wouldn´t want to have children. Their child would become the next Enforcer, after all. He could have understood if Heero would´ve wanted to spare his child that sort of fate.

"Hear, drink this," Trowa´s voice sounded from the fireplace.

When the two mates separated and looked over, the Healer was pouring a steaming liquid into a porcelain cup. He then returned the pot of hot water back on the place by the fire and handed the cup to Duo, stepping over Shinigami, who was sprawled on the ground by the fire. The lifebearer took it reluctantly and sniffed at it. The smell was sweet and nothing like the concoction Trowa poured into him when he lost his child.

"What is it?" Duo asked.

Trowa dusted his hands off and propped them on his hips. "Well, since you´re bleeding, you need something that will help you replace all the blood you´ve lost."

Duo frowned. "I never needed to drink anything during this time before."

"Yeah, and half of the time you felt dizzy and kept fainting any time you got up. Am I right?"

Duo nodded reluctantly.

"That´s because your Healer is a traditionalistic idiot, who is convinced that the body of a lifebearer musn´t be polluted during his time," Trowa said, rolling his eyes in disgust. "What crap! It´ll be nothing more than this brew, some tea and some cheka leaves for you the next three days, though."

Duo nodded unhappily. He knew that the lifebearers couldn´t eat any solid foods during their bleeding to minimize the risk of infection. He opened his mouth to say something when suddenly Shinigami sprang to his feet, growling silently.

Immediately Heero stood up from his crouch and gripped the knife that was lying on the table. Trowa followed his example and took a long hunting knife still in its sheath from the shelf. They both turned to the door, watching it intently.

When the impatient knock sounded through the hut, Shinigami´s growling turned into a loud bark. Trowa and Heero moved to the door. The Enforcer laid one hand on the latch while the Healer stepped to the other side of the door, so that when the door opened he would be hidden from the sight of their unexpected visitor. Trowa then pulled the knife out of the leather sheath and nodded at Heero.

"Who is there?" the Enforcer asked, his voice flat and cold.

"Heero, it´s me, Wufei. Open the door!" the villager´s voice was intense, bordering on desperation.

Heero looked at Trowa, who shrugged. The Enforcer then turned to Duo. The lifebearer´s eyes were wide open and he was gripping the cup so tightly that it threatened to shatter.

"Heero, open up. It´s important! I´ve some really bad news," the voice sounded through the thick door again. It had now more than just a hint of desperation.

"Open the door, Heero," Duo said then, his voice quiet. When he saw Heero´s eyes narrow, the lifebearer sighed. "It´s obvious that he must have been looking for us, so whatever he wants to tell us must be really important and we should at least hear him out."

Heero clenched his jaw and stared a moment longer at his mate. Then he too sighed, ordered Shinigami to get back and tore the door open. Immediately sharp, cold wind pushed inside, a veil of snow flakes tearing through the door, which melted when hit by the warmth inside.

A white clad figure stood in the doorway, covered from head to toe in snow, which helped him to blend with his surroundings. The man staggered inside.

Heero slammed the door shut and pressed the point of his knife against the man´s back. "What do you want?" he asked his voice full of hostility. "I warned you the last time."

Wufei breathed in deeply and pushed the hood off his head. He looked down at the wide eyed Duo and his features, red from the cold outside, twisted in sorrow. The lifebearer blinked, a sense of foreboding gripping his heart.

The black haired man turned slowly to face Heero. "I remember what you told me, but it doesn´t matter now," he said, his voice hollow.

Heero frowned, his weapon still pointed at the man he considered an enemy. "So, what was so important?"

Wufei sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, there was only the strength of resolve in his black irises. "You have to take Duo and get out of here. Now!" he said, his voice hard.

Heero exchanged glances with Trowa, who was now frowning too. "Why?" the Enforcer asked. "You know that as an Enforcer I can´t leave the village. My duty is to protect the people, even if I hate them with all my heart."

The black man´s lips twisted into a bitter grimace. "People? There are no people to protect anymore, Yuy!"

There was the sound of a chair scrapping against the wooden floor. Duo´s voice was trembling when he asked: "What are you saying?"

Wufei turned to the pale lifebearer. "Howard and the Sweepers came..."

Duo´s eyes lit up. "Uncle Howie?"

Seeing Duo light up at the name of the man who destroyed everything they had, he snarled: "They killed them! All of them. Every man, woman and child in the village is dead! Howard´s mercenaries slaughtered them all!" He knew was being to harsh with the lifebearer, but the sight that he encountered when he came back from Meiran´s village, where he had hidden his pregnant mate, was still burned into his mind. The whole village in flames, mercenaries beheading the rest of the men still alive. And among them, Howard, with Father Maxwell at his feet.

The porcelain mug shattered on the hard wood floor. "No... You´re lying," Duo whispered.

Wufei felt himself propelled around, a hand gripping his shoulder tightly. "What did you say?" Heero demanded, his voice hoarse. "Tell us everything from the beginning."

The black haired man swallowed painfully, but started to speak in a soft voice. "It began a couple of weeks ago. Father Maxwell was getting impatient, rude; he changed a lot after you took Duo away. He collected all the money the villagers had to give and it was still too little for him. He refused to tell any of us more. And then, today, Howard and his mercenaries came. I thought it was weird and had a bad feeling about it. Father Maxwell looked shocked; he was white as a ghost when he saw them. He said..." Wufei turned around to look at the shocked Duo. "He said he came to claim his mate he paid so well for. He came for you, Duo," he added.

The lifebearer stared at him, as if Wufei was crazy. Duo´s knees buckled and couldn´t support him anymore and so he plopped back into the chair. "No, that´s impossible... I´ve known Uncle Howie since I was a child. He always brought me sweets from his travels. He is like my real uncle. He would never... I mean, I´m just a child in comparison to him."

"I heard him saying that..." Wufei whispered.

Duo bowed his head, the expression of sick shock still on his face.

"And?" Heero probed further impatiently.

Wufei sighed again, the turned to Heero. "I got Meiran out of there since I had a really bad feeling about the whole thing. I took him to his father´s village, then returned to see how things turned out..." his voice trailed off. "The village was in flames, bodies were everywhere. They were all dead, slaughtered..."

Heero clenched his jaw, then released Wufei´s shoulder and turned to where his warm jacket lay.

"What are you doing, Heero?" Trowa asked. That seemed to bring Wufei out of his contemplation.

"I´m going to the village," the Enforcer answered, his voice ice cold.

Wufei opened, then closed his mouth a couple of times, watching Heero dress. "Why?" he asked in the end.

"I will look for survivors and..."

"And what?" Wufei interrupted him. "They are dead! All of them!" he shouted harshly. "There is no one to save. You will only forfeit your life if you go there." He caught the Enforcer by the sleeve of his jacket.

Heero pulled his arm out of the black haired man´s grasp and glared at him. "Then I will die with them. It was my duty to protect them and I failed."

Wufei looked helplessly toward Trowa, who was staring into the flames in the fireplace, then to Duo whose eyes were still downcast.

"What about Solo...?" the lifebearer asked in a soft voice. "Is he..." he swallowed painfully. "Is he dead too?"

Hearing the desperate question, everybody turned to Duo. The longhaired young man was pale and trembling.

Wufei managed to find a small reassuring smile for the benefit of his ex-lover. "No. He is in Sal´s village. He wanted to spend the winter festivities with him."

Duo blinked once, twice, then crystalline tears started to run down his pale cheeks. "It´s my fault," he whispered. "All of it. All I do is destroy everything I touch." His tone was full of self-loathing.

Heero, half dressed, crossed the room and knelt in front of his mate, gripping his love´s hands in his calloused ones. "It´s not your fault. You didn´t know. You couldn´t know," the Enforcer said softly. "If someone is to blame, then it´s me. I´m the Enforcer. I should´ve been there to save them, to-"

"Bullshit!" Wufei snapped, interrupting their guilt trip. "If there is one person you should blame, then it´s Father Maxwell. It was him who sold Duo to Howard; he spent all the money he got so that he had to steal the money of the villagers. He caused it. He and Howard." Wufei looked Heero firmly in the eyes. "And what would you´ve done, if you had´ve been there? Stood up against a small army? You may be good, but there is at least thirty of them and you´re alone." When Heero still glared at him, he continued, his tone desperate to make them understand. "Do you think anybody from the village would´ve helped you? Do you think they would´ve lifted a finger to protect Duo?"

Heero stood up slowly and laid one hand on Duo´s shoulder. "It doesn´t matter," he said, his voice flat. "I know my duty. The Enforcer protects the village and dies with it."

"Why? Why are you so intent on losing your life?" This time Wufei screamed. He came here to give them a chance to escape before the mercenaries came for them. Instead he was losing precious time arguing about whose fault it was.

"If I couldn´t protect them, I will at least revenge them," Heero said, his tone completely emotionless.

Wufei clenched his hands, still covered with gloves, in fists. "You would rather die, than live a life with Duo?" He pointed at the distressed lifebearer.

Something dangerous flashed through Heero´s eyes. "So that I can live like you?" When Wufei only blinked in confusion, Heero continued: "All you did was save your own mate. You just turned tail and ran!"

Cold furry gripped Wufei. "Yeah? And what should I have done, huh? Run from house to house and yell at the people that I had a bad feeling? Or should I have fetched you, so that you could die in a blaze of glory and leave Duo alone?"

The two men looked at each other, the anger in their eyes clashing together.

"He is right, Heero," Trowa said softly, who had been until now only following the conversation silently. "He is right and you know it, and that´s why you are so pissed. The villagers wouldn´t have done anything. They grew too lazy in the time since the last war. They grew to depend on the skills of the Enforcer. They would´ve sacrificed you, Duo, me, maybe even one another."

The silence in the hut grew heavy, the soft whining of Shinigami who seemed to follow their argument too the only sound besides the cracking fire.

"Only four persons survived from the village, Heero," Wufei said quietly, his voice suddenly void of any sign of anger. "Solo will surely stay with Sal. Meiran and I will live at my mate´s village. And that leaves only Duo." Wufei paused to let his words sink. "You know what that means? There is still one villager left who needs your protection, and it doesn´t matter that it´s your mate. He is the one who now owns the right to an Enforcer. And your duty is to protect him."

Heero clenched his teeth together. He understood the logic behind Wufei´s words, he didn´t like it though. It seemed too selfish to him.

"They will be here soon," the black haired man continued. "I´m sure one of the villagers, if not Father Maxwell himself, told them where they can find you. And when they see the mess at your hut, they will know that there is only one place where you could go to. Here." Wufei looked at Trowa, who was now watching him with a grim expression. "I´ve never been here and I still managed to find this place. There are dozens of them and if they spread..." he let his voice trail off.

For a moment, nothing happened. It looked as if they were figures frozen in time. Then Heero whispered: "I should´ve known something was wrong."

Trowa sighed and uncrossed his arms. "How? From what I saw you had problems of your own. But that´s the past. Now we have to think about the future. And the decision is yours."

Heero sighed deeply, scrubbing his face with his hands. Then it seemed as if everything snapped back into focus. He had made a decision. "We go," he said, his voice firm, no doubts left. "Trowa, give Duo something warm to dress in. We have to pack food, some clothes, blankets and weapons." Trowa nodded. "Don´t pack anything that´s not absolutely necessary."

Wufei sighed in relief. Finally. He just hoped it wasn´t too late. He took off his gloves and reached into the inside pocket of his warm jacket. "Here," he said, handing something over to Heero, while Trowa moved to pack already.

The Enforcer frowned as a heavy money purse slid into his hand. "What is it?"

The black haired man shrugged. "That´s all I could get together in such a short time. You can´t stay in the woods through the whole winter, that means you have to head south, to the cities. This will help you survive in the beginning," he explained. He felt still little bad that he couldnt´do anything more for them.

"Wufei-" Heero started to protest, but the black haired man stopped him with a raised hand.

"I made some wrong decisions in my life and they caused a lot of pain. That´s all I can do for you. I would give you my horse too, but I suspect that where you´re heading, it would be more of a burden than help."

Heero looked at him for a moment, as if gauging if his offer was genuine, then closed his hand over the purse and nodded. He tucked it safely into the inner pocket of his jacket, then turned around, only to spot Duo still sitting rooted in his place. He crouched in front of him. Seeing the shocked, hazy look in the violet eyes, he caught Duo´s face in his hands and swept the tears away with his thumbs.

"We have to move, Duo. Now! Can you do that for me?" he asked gently, as if speaking to a skittish colt.

Duo slowly nodded and allowed Heero to help him get up. He still didn´t say anything though. The world around him was changing too quickly. Just minutes ago he was happy that he finally found his lost memories, that he could have children again and now they were going to be refugees, on the run. His mind was still refusing to accept the truth.

It was a matter of minutes to get together small packs containing clothes, food and weapons for the three of them. Then they were standing there, about to leave one life behind and step into another one, but reluctant to take the step anyway.

"I... uhm..." Wufei wanted to say something, anything. He knew that this was probably the last time he would ever see Duo, but the words just wouldn´t came. So instead he quickly caught Duo in his arms and hugged the warmly clothed lifebearer tightly. "I´m so sorry about everything that happened," he whispered into Duo´s ear.

"I know," the longhaired man answered in the same, hushed tone. "I´m sorry too. I loved you, you know that, right?"

Wufei shut his eyes tightly, feeling the tears prickle behind his eyelids. "Yeah, I loved you too." With that he pulled back and looked Heero directly in the eyes. "Protect him," he said, making it sound like an order.

The Enforcer nodded. Then Trowa moved and opened the door, letting the ice cold air seeped in from the outside. Shinigami shot out and the four men followed him.

In front of the hut they split up, Wufei taking his horse from where he left him behind the hut, out of the cold wind and the other three men heading slowly into the woods.

Duo stopped among the first trees and turned around, watching his former lover disappear into the darkness together with his old life. What would they do now? They had no home, nowhere to go to. They only had themselves. Would it be enough? Was it even worth trying?

The lifebearer felt a tug on his arm. He looked around and spotted Heero, the man he loved more than his own life, standing next to him in the darkness.

"We have to go!" the Enforcer shouted over the wind.

Duo nodded slowly, then turned around and together with his mate and his best friend he headed towards an unknown future.

The End