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Feedback : yes! Please send it to Akuma
Pairings : 2x1
Rating : Still NC-17 *chackles*
Warning : yaoi, sap, AU, fusion with Kanata Kara
Disclaimer : GW characters and Kanata Kara's story are not mine. >_<

From Far Away + Part 13

"Hurts..." A seven years old boy curled like a ball on a table. He was naked, trembling and crying in agony.

"Hush, you know this is for your own good." J watched from his chair. "Thanks to the snake that bit you yesterday, I learnt more about your abilities."

"Please... stop..." The little boy whimpered in pain.

"I know it's a painful procedure but you have to bear it. It's amazing to know your body can build antibodies against any poison ingested or injected into you. Anyways, this is only the second poison, I still have many others to apply."

The little boy was now tossing and turning as the pain became more intense. "Hurts... "

"It's no wonder you are in pain. The process of creating the antibodies seems to be working all your nerves and systems to their maximum capacity, forcing them to work twice, no thrice, as harder than usual. But I think the pain is well worth it, boy."

"AAAHhhh!" The little boy screamed and jerked his body, than went still. He seemed to be dead, except for his lifeless body is being rapidly drenched by sweat. And it might have been the sweating that made J decide to strip the boy naked and lay him on the table instead of on the bed.

J stood up. "Hmm, one more process finished." He picked up one of the bottles on the other table and walked to the unconscious boy.

"Wake up." J shook the little boy awake. The boy blinked and looked at the man in exhaustion.

"No more... please..."

"A perfect warrior won't utter a plea, boy. Now drink this. It's a stronger poison than the previous one. Let's see how you handle it." J held the bottle in front of the little boy's lips.

"No..." The boy moved his lips away from the bottle.

J grabbed the boy's chin and offered him the bottle again. "Drink it, boy."

"NO!" The boy raised his hand and it shimmered with blue light.

J looked stunned and ready to bolt, knowing he had pushed the boy too far, but as fast as the light appeared, it died out even faster.

The boy was confused and looked at his hand. J also looked stun but quickly chuckled. "I think I discovered one more thing about you. You can't use your Power after producing antibodies, boy."

The boy widened his eyes and tried to escape but J quickly pinned him down.
"NO!!" The boy shouted and tried to struggle.

"This is not an attitude of a warrior. Don't you want to meet your parents, boy?" J barked to the boy.

The little boy stopped struggling. "I do.. ."

"So be quiet. They'll only want to meet you once you have become a perfect warrior." J held up the bottle to the boy's lips again. "Now drink this."

"It hurts..." The boy tried to move his lips away again but this time J held his chin still and forced the head of the bottle inside the boy's mouth.

"Hurt or not, you'll drink it." J tipped the bottle so the content filled the boy's mouth, forcing him to swallow all of it. "I intend to make you a perfect warrior, an unbeatable one. And once I finish with this process, no poisons can stop you."

The man pulled the bottle out once it had been empty and sat back on his chair. The boy lay sprawling on the table and whimpered in pain as the poison attacked his body. A minute passed and the whimper grew into moans and then cries. And J, all the while, watched the boy and wrote something down in his note, ignoring the pleas that came from the boy's mouth.

Finally the boy's body jerked up and went still, signaling the creation of antibodies had finished. "Hmm... so the stronger the poison the longer the process takes..." J wrote down on his note and like he did before, he stood up, shook the boy awake, and forced another poison into the boy.

The man kept repeating the procedure and only stopped when he went to sleep, leaving the boy out cold on the table and started again with him the next morning. The boy's screaming and crying were heard from J's house for four days straight.

"This is the last poison I have, boy." J spoke up to the boy on the fifth day. The boy, who was still lying naked on the table, made no effort to move or look up. "I think you will feel the pain for one hour before you're knocked out. This is a very strong poison."

The boy's eyes widened but he knew it was futile to plead the man. He just watched as the man held up a plastic bag. There was something inside the bag.

"This is a Libra, boy. An insect with a very poisonous tail." J smiled smugly and moved closer to the boy.

A few seconds later, horrifying screams were heard from the house.

Heero sat up on his bed, drenched in sweat. His face was pale and his breath was harsh. The pain was gone now but he felt so tired and powerless. Why did the past haunt him again? He had been dreaming about the past more often than usual since Duo followed him. Usually he felt something soothing and warm in the end of his dreams, as if someone was there, caring and protecting him. But this time.... This time... no one came to sooth him...

"Heero?"

Heero looked at his caller and saw Hilde standing at the door. He quickly put on his usual mask and steadied himself. "What?"

"Were you asleep just now?" Hilde entered the room. She was holding a glass in her hand.

"Hn."

"You should be helping us make the antidote instead of sleeping here. Don't you care about what'll happen to Relena?" Hilde looked at him angrily.

Heero narrowed his eyes. He was not in a good mood and talking to this girl never lightened him up. "It's my business what I'm doing here. Now are you going to tell me what do you want or leave me alone?"

Hilde gritted her teeth angrily. "We need to boil this potion before mixing it with the others, but it takes too long to go out, find wood, start a fire, and boil it."

"You want me to use my Power to boil it." Heero stated matter-of-factly.

"Yes, it's one thing you c an do at least better than sleeping here." Hilde spoke sarcastically.

Heero ignored the girl and took the glass from her. He stared long at the glass.

"Are you going to do it or not? I know it's an easy task for you." Hilde watched the stoic boy in anger. "We're running out of time here so..."

"Shut up!" Heero growled. He concentrated hard, trying to gather the remains of his Power. It was long but finally he managed to make the potion boiling hot. Sensing his energy dropping drastically, he quickly handed the glass to Hilde, who took it using some clothes because of the heat. "Take this out and leave me alone."

"What? You're going to sleep again? Don't you think it's better to help us out there? We're racing with time, you know!" Hilde spoke angrily but the stoic boy didn't reply and dropped his body on the bed instead. That only made the girl angrier. "Fine! Do what you want!" With that she stomped out of the room.

Heero just watched the girl leave the room. He didn't move. Actually, he couldn't move. He was really out of energy and powerless. That simple task had drained all the remains of energy he had. Although J had said he was powerless after producing antibodies, he still had some Power left or he wouldn't have been able to boil the potion at all. And now he really had used up all his Power and energies for he couldn't even move his arms anymore.

Heero felt so tired and unsure. He needed the braided boy. He wanted to feel Duo near him, to feel his warmth enveloping him and make him forget about whom he really was.

"Duo... " It was the only word he had in his mind as he once again passed out.

+

"Lena!!" Wufei hugged the girl who just opened her eyes. Duo smiled from behind as they finally managed to produce the antidote in time. "Baka onna, don't do that to me again!"

"Wufei" Relena smiled weakly.

"Well time to me to rest then." Meiran murmured.

"You're leaving?" Duo looked at the floating girl next to him.

Meiran smiled. "No, not leaving, just resting. I never left him, you know." Meiran winked and pointed her chin to the raven-haired boy. "Tell him that I always watch him and wish for him to be happy."

Duo watched as Meiran turned into a ball of light. It flew and entered Wufei's chest, resting inside the boy's heart.

"Meiran?" Wufei looked up.

"Meiran? She's here?" Relena followed Wufei's suit.

Duo approached and rested his fingers on Wufei's chest. "She is resting in here, Wufei. She always watches you and wishes for your happiness."

Wufei looked at his chest and then at Relena, who looked back at him.

"I think you two need to talk alone." Duo smiled and walked out of the room, gesturing the others to do the same too.

"I think we can get some rest now. Wufei will take care of Relena." Noin said to the others.

Duo stretched his body. "Hmm, I agree. We need sleep and rest."

"Thank God, we managed to make the antidote in time." Quatre smiled.

Sally also smiled. "Yeah, thanks to Heero for that. His Power is really useful. We might not have made it if we had to boil the potion manually."

"Heero... Where's he??" Duo just realized he hadn't seen Heero for the last few hours.

Hilde snorted angrily. "That boy is sleeping. I woke him up when I asked for his help but after that he went back to sleep again, falling like a rock onto the bed and ignoring me."

Duo frowned. It felt wrong that Heero did something like that. It wasn't his normal behavior to do that. "I'll check on him. Night, guys."

"Actually, it's almost dawn, Duo." Quatre spoke up but the braided boy had taken off. "Oh well, we better get some rest too." With that they headed toward their rooms.

Duo entered the room he, Wufei, and Heero had shared. His eyes fell on the slender figure on the right bed. "Heero?" Duo approached the bed and noticed Heero was dead to the world. Hilde was right, Heero was sleeping while the others were busy helping Relena.

The braided boy frowned again. He needed to talk to Heero and scold the boy's manner. But it could wait until later. Right now, he was too tired to do anything. Duo crawled into his bed and quickly fell asleep.

+

"Oh great, can't I get one peaceful sleep?" Duo groaned as he once again found himself in the darkness. "Well, at least I could see little Heero here." He shrugged and ran his eyes around, knowing he will see some scenes soon.

His eyes finally found what he had been looking for but not what liked he had expected to see. There on his right side, he could see the man that Heero's father called as J hover over a seven years old boy who was laying on a table. Duo's eyes widened as he recognized it was little Heero and he was naked. "What the fuck!" Duo quickly approached them and noticed J hold up a plastic bag in front of the boy.

"Okay, boy. The last poison. You can bear it as you've bore the others these past four days. Now put your hand inside this bag so the Libra can sting you."

"What!?????" Duo was surprised. He couldn't believe what he heard. That man wanted to poison Heero? What the hell was happening here?

"C'mon boy. You know you won't die and will be producing antibodies instead." The man sounded very impatient and when the boy still didn't move, J finally took the boy's hand and tugged it inside the plastic bag.

"NO!!" Duo tried to shove the man but he went through him as always. "Damn bastard, let him go!" Duo felt so helpless as he watched the Libra sting the little boy's hand.

The boy only gasped in pain and let his hand drop to his side as J released it. Duo looked at J in anger and hatred. "You're going to pay for this.... "

A painful whimper brought his attention back to the little boy. Duo watched as the boy tossed his head from side to side and it broke his heart to know how much pain the boy had to bear. Finally the boy couldn't hold the pain in silently anymore and screamed as loud as he could with his sore vocal chord.

"You know, boy." Duo looked at J who had sat himself on the chair, watching the boy. The man talked as if he was talking about weather, not affected by the screaming boy before him. "This is the last poison I have but it isn't the last poison in this world. I once heard there's a Libra queen that had two poisonous tails and its poison is two times stronger than an ordinary Libra. When you are out of this village, I suggest to you to find her and let her sting you. After you accomplish that, I think no other poison will have any effects to your body."

"Damn you.... " Duo was really angry now. If he could touch the man, he was sure the man would be an unrecognized corpse by now. "I swear I'll kill you when I meet you, fucking bastard!" It still broke his heart to hear the little boy's crying and screaming from the pain.

Duo approached the boy and reached for his little hand. And as he had thought, he could touch the boy, but the boy didn't seem to notice for the pain was too great and ruled his body. "I'm sorry, Heero..." Duo felt his eyes start to blur and tightened his grip on that little hand. "I'm sorry I can't help you." A tear finally slipped down the heart shaped face as he watched the boy.

For the first fifteen minutes, the boy kept screaming but then it reduced into moans and then whimpers. Duo kept holding the boy's hand and witnessed every pain the boy had while he kept praying for it to stop. Heero didn't deserve this. No one ever deserved something like this. And thinking back to the words spoken earlier by the man, Duo knew that bastard had tortured his Heero for four days. Heero had been in pain for four fucking days and it was all because his body could produce antibodies against any poison? This was not fair!

Finally Duo felt the little boy's body tensed and jerked up then the boy passed out. "Heero!!???"

"Hm... as I thought before... It needs one hour to produce the antibody for this poison." Duo looked in hatred and anger as J stood next to the table where the little boy was sprawling lifelessly. "Knocked out as usual. Hmm, I'll give you a day to recover and then we'll see if your Power has returned to normal or not." With that J left the room.

"Fucking bastard, I'll make you feel that poison yourself when I get my hands on you!" Duo seethed with anger. All he wanted to do right now was to beat that man senseless and make him go through what he had forced Heero to go through. But knowing he couldn't do a damn thing since he couldn't touch the man, Duo kept his anger to himself.

The braided boy turned and looked at the unconscious little boy on the table. The boy looked so fragile and lost that Duo felt another tear about to burst from his eyes. Slowly he caressed the boy's cheek and wiped away all the tears that had stained that delicate face. "I can't help you now... But I promise... No, I swear I'll make you happy in the future. I won't let you go through this anymore. And even if you do, I'll be with you, I'll try my best to lighten the pain. You aren't alone in this... "

Duo opened his eyes and blinked. This is the first time he had awakened from the dream without seeing someone hovering over him. The sun had shined through the window and from the height of it, Duo knew it was late in the morning.

He brought his hand over his face and realized that he had cried in his sleep when he touched his wet cheek. " Another dream again... Was it really a dream, or the reality of Heero's past?" Duo murmured and looked to his right, where Heero was sleeping. The braided boy saw Heero sprawling on his own bed but from where he was laying, he couldn't see Heero's face clearly. "I really wish it was only a dream... Just because Relena got poisoned, I dream of you being poisoned too, Hee-chan."

Then he remembered he had to talk to Heero about the boy's attitude. Duo didn't want to deal with this but he knew Heero is wrong this time. They're supposed to help whenever they could not ignore them and sleep instead like Heero did.

Duo stood up and walked to Heero's bed. The stoic boy didn't stir. That and the fact that Heero usually always woke up earlier than him had caused a frown on Duo's face. He stood next to the bed and felt déjà vu once his eyes fell on that delicate face. Heero's face didn't show that he was enjoying his sleep, nor was it showing he was having a nightmare either. There was something.... Something Duo couldn't put his finger on... Heero looked so lost... lost and fragile.

An image of little Heero flashed in his mind. The little boy's face had the same expression as Heero does now. Duo then remembered about the poison and the bastard in his dream mentioning something about a Libra queen. The wheels in his mind turned, processing all he had seen in his dream and comparing them to the current situation. His mind offered an answer, a suspicion really... A suspicion he prayed to be totally wrong on.

Carefully, he rolled Heero to his side. He thought he had woken Heero up, but the boy was still dead to the world. That raised his suspicion higher and prayed he didn't find what he was looking for as he inspected the boy's back.

He knew Heero heals fast and it was useless to study his back so Duo studied his clothes instead, praying he was only too paranoid and superstitious and trying to ignore the fact that the clothes were damp from sweat. But his suspicion proved right once his eyes fell on two holes on Heero's tank top. They were not big but they were holes nonetheless and they fitted the size of the Libra queen's tails. "No... " Duo's voice seemed to choke, trying to deny the truth.

He then remembered Heero gasped in pain after the boy tackled him, saving him from the Libra's attack. It had been at that moment... He had thought the Libra queen missed its target, but it seemed it only switched to a different one. He also noticed how the boy had arrived back to the cabin later than Wufei and himself...

"No... " Duo remembered how he watched the little version of the boy before him tossing and screaming in pain for an hour. It had been an ordinary Libra, but now Heero got poisoned by a queen, whose poison more lethal and stronger. How long... How long had Heero suffered? How long had he bore the pain alone ? And Heero didn't even let out a single scream this time for Duo was sure he would have heard it if Heero did. The ordinary Libra had caused him to suffer for one our, so how long did the Libra queen made him suffer...

He had asked Hilde to get Heero's help and judging from the girl's reaction, Heero had been sleeping, so that means the torture was over by the time Hilde approached him. Duo felt his tears welled up on his eyes as he realized two hours had passed when he sent Hilde to Heero. Two hours... Heero was suffering for about two fucking hours. Alone!

"I'll give you a day to recover and then we'll see if your Power has returned to normal or not." J's words echoed in his mind. Something inside him snapped and Duo looked at the silent boy miserably. "No... how... " He was sure Heero had used his Power or the potion wouldn't have come back to him boiling but... If J was right... He then remembered it had taken quite a long time for Hilde to come back with the boiling potion.

Did Heero use all of his remaining Power... no matter how little it was? .... "I woke him up when I asked for his help but after that he went back to sleep again, falling like a rock onto the bed and ignoring me." This time Hilde's voice rang in his mind. Falling like a rock... Heero had passed out!!!

Tears had threatened to roll down from his eyes as Duo caressed Heero's face. The boy was still dead to the world but Duo knew he was alive because he could feel the warm breath brushing his fingers. Another voice echoed in his mind and this time it was his own voice. "I swear I'll make you happy in the future. I won't let you go through this anymore. And even if you do, I'll be with you, I'll try my best to lighten the pain. You aren't alone in this... "

The tears were rolling freely down on Duo's face. He promised. He promised, dammit. He swore he would be there for Heero. Dammit. He swore to him. He swore... What was the meaning of his promise, his vow now, when he had let Heero suffer alone? [1] He had let Heero down, let Heero suffer alone. Duo wiped away his tears furiously. There was no use regretting it now. It had happened and nothing he can do could change it. If he couldn't prevent it, then he can, at least, make it up to Heero and look after him. "I won't fail this time." Duo gritted his teeth.

+

Heero felt someone stroking his hair. It felt so good... so caring. Who was it?... Mother?... no... it couldn't be her... then who? Heero slowly opened his eyes and was greeted by wide violet eyes. "Duo..."

"Yeah, Hee-chan... it's me." Duo smiled and leant down, planting a kiss on Heero's dry lips. "How are you?"

How was he? Heero was thinking this was the best time of his life. He had been dreaming about his past again but in the end, he could feel the soothing sensation again. The same sensation Duo gave to him right now. It could make him forget his past, and having the person he loves smiling and caressing him as the first things that greeted him once he opened his eyes were surely making it the best. He let out a small smile and closed his eyes, enjoying the stroking Duo still administered to his hair. "Never been better."

Duo winced as he saw how contented Heero was. Never been better? After the excruciating pain Heero had gone through, he was happy just with this? Just this simple caress.... It had truly made the boy happy? Duo didn't know whether to cry or to laugh. He had planned to do whatever Heero wanted him to do, to fulfill everything Heero wished for and to show him how much he cared for the boy.

But Heero only needed this simple caress to forget his pain. How could this be possible? Duo realized now how rare it was for Heero to receive any kind of affections. Maybe he never received any until he met Duo. After all, in his dreams, he never saw anyone care for Heero. It made him wonder why Heero could still be so kind and gentle after what he had gone through.

He moved his hand down, caressing Heero's cheek, and almost felt his heart burst as he saw Heero quickly lean into the caress. Heero wanted this. He wanted to be caressed but he never asked... He accepted every caress Duo gave him but he never asked for it... Why? Was... Was Heero afraid he would have none and never get it again if he asked for it?

"What do you want, Heero?"

Heero opened his eyes and Duo could see the confusion in those blue orbs. Had anyone ever asked this boy about what he wanted... Duo had a sinking feeling that he was the first one to ask this question to Heero.

"Water..."

"Huh?" Duo was confused.

"I want water." Heero licked his dry lips.

Duo was taken aback. This was not what he had expected as the answer. He asked the question to find out what Heero truly yearned for, to find out what would make him happy with and in life, not to find out if he's thirsty. But it seemed Heero didn't comprehend the real meaning in his question. So, he needed to make a different approach on this subject with Heero then "Aah, water of course..."

Heero watched as Duo stood up to retrieve the glass on the table. He slowly sat up and realized he was naked beneath the blanket and it wasn't his bed he was occupying right now. It was Duo's.

"Duo?"

Duo turned around, glass in his hand and saw Heero leaning against the headboard of the bed. The blanket only covered his body from the waist down , revealing his smooth chest and firm abdomen. The scene would had surely made him hard if it wasn't for the fact that he was still worried about Heero's condition. "Heero, you should rest."

Heero blinked. "I'm not sick... What has happened to my clothes and why am I using your bed?"

"If you weren't sick, then how come you were sweating enough to cause a flood? Your sweat had damped your clothes and bed, so I took the liberty in removing them and moving you to a dry bed." Duo sat on the bed, next to the naked boy and handed the glass.

"Maybe it's too hot last night." Heero shrugged and took the glass, downing it in one gulp.

"No, you're sick, I'm positive of that and I want you to rest today." Duo took the glass and placed it on the nightstand. He had predicted Heero wouldn't tell him what had happened. And he couldn't explain how he could dream about Heero's past anyway. Besides, no one else needed to know about Heero's abilities. Duo had realized Heero was different from any humans in this world and he didn't want anyone to make Heero into a lab rat, so he chose to remain silent.

Heero was about to reply when the door to their room was knocked. Before Heero could blink, Duo had pulled the blanket to cover his chest and then walked to the door.

The braided boy opened the door and saw Hilde standing there. "Hey, Hilde. What's up?"

"We're having lunch, want to join?" Hilde smiled, "Relena is having lunch with us too."

"Sounds great but I'm afraid I can't. Heero's sick and he needs someone to take care of him." Of course, Duo wanted to go. His stomach had been protesting since he had woken up but he prefer staying with Heero and looking after the boy instead of eating with the others.

"I'm fine, Duo." Heero spoke up from the bed. Actually he wanted to stand up and show how well he was but he didn't think Duo would appreciate him wandering around naked with only a blanket covering him. He knew this to be true since Duo pulled the blanket to cover his body before opening the door, so he stayed put on the bed.

"There, he said so himself. C'mon, let's eat Duo." Hilde cheerfully took Duo's arm and tried to pull him to the dining room but Duo didn't budge.

"No, Hilde. I won't eat together with you all." Duo felt Hilde was asking only him to lunch, and not including Heero in the invitation, but he quickly dismissed the feeling. He could have been wrong. "I think I'll have to fetch some food for Heero. Will you watch him while I'm gone?"

"Oh.., sure." Hilde released Duo's arm and entered the room.

" I'm not a kid that needs to be watched." Heero glared at Duo, who found how much he had missed that particular glare. Laughing, Duo quickly took off.

Heero felt the girl looking at him like a hawk would look at its prey, but he wasn't one who could be intimidated so easy. Heero just lay back and closed his eyes, waiting for Duo to come back.

"You don't look sick to me."

Heero opened his eyes quickly and saw Hilde hovering over him. He felt annoyed by the question and chose to ignore the girl. "Hn."

Hilde narrowed her eyes. She was still angry with this boy for not helping them and now the boy was ignoring her. "You pretended to be sick, didn't you?" She made a move to remove the blanket, but Heero, who had picked up her intentions, had moved faster than her. He quickly grabbed the blanket and jumped off the bed, covering his naked body with the blanket.

"What do you think you're doing?" Heero hissed angrily after the blanket was secured over his body.

Hilde spoke mockingly. "I just wanted to check on you, to see which part of you is sick but apparently you are quite healthy to move that fast."

"I'm fine now." Heero growled.

"Oh, I think you have been fine the entire time." Hilde spoke in mocking tone. "You just pretended to be sleeping so you could avoid helping out."

"What do you mean?" Heero narrowed his eyes.

Hilde snarled. She had been angry with this young warrior since last night. Her anger was fueled with the jealousy she got every time she saw how tender Duo treated this boy. "Don't you care if Relena dies? She is our queen. The Sank Kingdom won't survive from this war if she dies and yet you slept like a log here while we struggled to save her. Don't you care what'll happen to our people if we failed to save her last night?"

"If I didn't care, I wouldn't have helped you boiled the potion." Heero growled as Hilde was perplexed by his words. He ignored the girl and took out his spare clothes from his bag. "Turn around."

"Wh... what... OH." Hilde blushed as Heero removed the blanket and quickly turned around, back facing the stoic boy. "Don't you have any shame?"

Snorting, Heero put on his clothes, a tank top and loose pants. "You had no shame when you wanted to remove my blanket. So why should I?"

Hilde blushed to the root, ashamed and angry. She was about to snap back at the young warrior when she heard a commotion outside the room. She turned around just in time to see Heero grab his sword and storm out of the room.

Heero ran to the dining room where the commotion was. He arrived there and saw many white ribbons flying and swirling. His friends were trapped between the ribbons, restrained and held still in place. Heero scanned the room, searching for Duo.

"Heero!"

Heero turned to his left and saw Duo restrained and wrapped like a mummy by the ribbons. A man in his late twenties was standing next to him. Heero narrowed his eyes and noticed the man controlled all the ribbons. "Release him!" He charged forward, swinging his sword at the man.

The man avoided the swing easily and moved his hands in a dance, causing the ribbons to attack Heero. Heero swung the sword towards the ribbons, wanting to cut them into pieces but the ribbons evaded his sword and wrapped themselves around Heero, restraining the youth. Hilde, who entered the room, was also quickly secured by the ribbons.

"It's useless to struggle. I'm Otto; I control the ribbons. They are as strong as steel." The man spoke up and grabbed Duo by the waist.

Heero shouted. "Let him go!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that. My Lord had ordered me to bring this boy to him. So bring him I will." Otto smirked. "I'm sorry but you all have to die." The man flexed his right arm and the free ribbons curled into sharp pikes.

"Heero! NO!" Duo shouted as he saw the sharp ribbons attacked the nearest person to him, Heero.

Heero growled and focused his Power. As the blue aura surrounded him, the ribbons around him exploded into pieces. He swung his sword, cutting off all the sharp edges of the attacking ribbons in one slash.

"What the..." Otto stammered and was surprised.

"You'll regret this." Heero charged forward. His fangs had grown long and his pupils narrowed into a slit. He slashed all the ribbons along his way to the man, freeing his friends, and then swung the sword at the man.

Otto managed to dodge the attacking sword but he realized the boy was really strong. The ribbons were his ultimate weapons, but the boy had easily torn them into pieces.

"Who sent you? Why do they want Duo?" Heero snarled as he charged torward the man again, glaring the entire time at the man. "Answer the questions if you don't want to die."

Feeling his life was at stake, Otto held out a round symbol "Aquarius, help me." Before the sword could touch him, Otto disappeared, leaving Heero's sword meet nothing but empty space.

Duo widened his eyes as he saw the man disappear right in front of him. Within seconds after the man disappeared, all the ribbons lost their power and turned into ordinary ribbons. Duo quickly disentangled himself from the ribbons and rushed towards Heero whose fangs and eyes had turned back to normal again.
"Heero, are you okay?" Duo grabbed the boy and checked for injuries. It was only some minutes ago that he had left this boy in his bed, looking so fragile and weak, but now, Heero looked nothing but strong and healthy.

"I'm fine. You okay?" Heero put his sword aside.

Duo nodded and then ran his eyes to check the others. He saw Trowa and Quatre have already managed to free themselves. Noin and Sally were helping Hilde while Wufei helped Relena to stand up "Guys, you all okay?"

"We're fine, Maxwell." Wufei grunted and helped Relena to sit down. "I can't believe a man could single-handedly beat all of us at once."

"He isn't an ordinary man." Trowa spoke up. "I heard his last sentence and I think something or someone he called Aquarius granted him his Power."

Heero nodded. " I think that is the case, as well " He then turned to Wufei. "He was after Duo. Duo and I have to leave this place as soon as possible. There's no guarantee he won't come back and try again."

Wufei nodded his agreement. "We'll go with you. We depart this night."

+

[1] Thanks to my beta reader for the suggestion ^_^

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