Author: Merula

This is a fusion of GW with a series of books by Christine Feehan called the Dark Series.

Dark Bond + Part Two

The small jet that Zechs had insisted they use only had a few seats. Duo intended to sit a little away from Heero, to give himself some breathing room, but once on board, Heero went to go speak to the pilot. Duo sat down next to a window without thinking, and a few minutes later Heero came out of the cockpit, closing the door behind him and sat down right beside Duo. The plane began to taxi out of the hangar.

"The pilot assures me that we will arrive before dawn," he told Duo.

"That's good. I'm still not sure why we had to take one of these- though it was nice of Zechs to loan it to us."

"We'd never make it back in time- we'd have to stop somewhere." Heero frowned. "And I need to see who is threatening my home."

Duo nodded, turning to look out the window. He watched as the plane left the ground, trying to ignore the warmth of the other beside him.  

A gentle hand brushed his.

"And besides, it gives me all this time to be with you. If someone else is doing the flying then we can concentrate on each other."

Duo turned in his seat to face Heero, frowning.

"Look, Heero, I meant what I said- I don't think this is a true bond..."

"And I do. Duo, you know how this goes. You can see in color. Your emotions have returned," Heero smiled. "And they are obviously overwhelming you a little or you would not be so frightened."

"I'm not frightened!"

"Then kiss me."

Duo blinked. "I don't see what kissing you would have to do with me being frightened."

"Maybe nothing. Maybe I just want a kiss." Heero shrugged. "Maybe it would prove that you are not frightened of seeing what we have between us. The bond is there- even if it is short lived, and I don't think it is-  why should we waste it?"

He leaned closer to Duo who found himself somewhat trapped between wall and lifemate with nowhere to go.

"Don't you want to kiss me?" Heero asked, voice deeper than before, nearly a caress in its own right.

Duo had to admit the thought was damn tempting, with Heero this close it was hard to think coherently... to remember why this was a bad idea...

"I have a lot of very bad ideas, I'm afraid..." Heero smiled, and his thoughts began to show Duo some of those very bad ideas as he leaned even closer and let his mouth touch Duo's.

He kissed Duo deeply, one hand sliding around Duo's neck, cupping the back of his head, letting his fingers sink into Duo's braid, the other hand dropped down to Duo's knee.

Duo opened his mouth for Heero, the images Heero was sending him overwhelming his senses. He was finding it difficult to remember why he shouldn't let Heero kiss him like this... why he should be objecting to the hand that was caressing the inside of his thigh... why he should be trying to block out the images Heero was sending him...

It wasn't until Heero's hand slid a bit further down his neck and touched the chain Duo wore under his shirt. The faint catch of the necklace on his skin was like a dose of ice water.

He pushed Heero back a little, trying to regroup, looking for a reason to make Heero stop...

"Heero- doesn't this freak you out at all? There is no such thing as lifemates of the same sex! We're brought up to hope that we find our lifemate, our female half- Why does it not seem to concern you that we're both male?"

"Then you admit to the bond we have?" Heero had only moved back a little, Duo's hands were still pushing him away, but he didn't move back into his own seat.  He looked at Duo intently as he waited for an answer.

Duo frowned. "We have something, I admit that."

Heero released him, leaning back in his chair, a smile curling his lips. Duo wondered why he suddenly looked so satisfied. "Then I will admit that the first moment I realized you were male was disconcerting. But then I saw the look on your face, saw that you were worried and scared and I felt the need to comfort you. My hesitation left me then. What can we do to make yours leave as well?"

Duo relaxed a little. It was good to know that Heero had at least been a bit concerned too. "I don't know- we can't be lifemates- the connection is wrong somehow... you know it only works between males and females."  

Heero shook his head. "Duo- you are my lifemate. I feel the connection. I don't care if you are male, female or both. I simply want you."

"Nothing else matters? Our people won't react well to this... and after being brought up to wait for a female mate..."

"You matter. Nothing else."

Duo swallowed hard. He was serious about all this. Heero truly believed Duo was his lifemate. But Duo knew better:

"But, this just can't be.  Connection that we feel or not. There have been lifebondings that haven't been real before..."

Heero snorted.  "Where the partners were faking their connection. Does this feel fake to you?"

"No. But maybe- maybe they thought they felt something at first too..." Duo's voice trailed off, his expression turning darker.

Heero raised an eyebrow as pieces began to fall into place. "Where did you see this fake bond?"

Duo's eyes widened.

"Please Duo. I know you have. Why else would it disturb you so much? I'm your lifemate. You can share these things with me."

"My parents..." Duo admitted.  "They said they were lifebonded, but Father was so- cold. And then..." Duo took a deep breath, but he couldn't force the words out past the sudden block in his throat. "He turned... and he killed mother..."

Heero reached out, pulling Duo into his arms. The flashes of memory he was receiving from the other were disturbing. But they were an explanation.

"They were not bonded. They could not have been."

"Why did they lie to me then? And father... father was going to walk out into the sun. But the darkness stopped him...  The bonding didn't help him..."

Duo could hear the screaming as the memory rose to the surface: His father covered with dirt and blood, screaming, turning into a monster before his son's stricken gaze.

Heero's hands slid over Duo's braid comfortingly.

"It was because he was not truly bonded to your mother. She could not bring him back."

Duo shivered, and Heero caught a vivid flash of a lovely woman, her throat torn out, gasping for breath in front of him as bloody claws reached for the son that huddled behind her.

"How did you escape?"

"Mother...  mother distracted him. Told me to run." The woman, injured as she was, moved into the path of the claws. Duo shook his head as if trying to clear the image away. "I was a coward- I ran."

"You did what she asked. I'm sure she was happy that you were safe. I'm happy that you are safe."  

"I left her to die." Duo's hand reached up to his neck, pulling out the chain that Heero's fingers had caught on earlier. A battered ring, scratched and dented, twirled in the air. "I went back... afterwards... had to see..."

Heero's arms tightened around him.

"You were a child. She wanted you safe. She didn't want you to die with her. There was nothing you could've done."

"I could've done something." He pulled back, out of Heero's embrace. "Do you see why our bond worries me? It's not supposed to work that way... and I... I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't hurt me Duo. You can't. I'm your lifemate."

"But what if I do? I can't trust this Heero... I can't."

Heero sighed and shook his head. "I see I will have to win your trust." He reached out and brushed a strand of hair off Duo's forehead. "This has all been a little fast for you perhaps. Take some time and think about it."

He leaned forward, brushing his lips over Duo's cheek. Then he turned slightly and pulled a newspaper out of the seat in front of him. A moment later he was immersed in its pages and Duo was left alone with his thoughts.

Though not truly alone. He could still 'feel' Heero in his head. Not that surprising, they had shared blood after all... now they had a permanent connection that way. All that was lacking was the ritual that would bind them together even more deeply... if they were truly lifemates.

He wanted Heero. Desired him. But was it real? Was this a real bonding? He had been alone for so long, wanted out of the darkness that consumed him a little bit more every day. Logic told him that their bonding was impossible- reminded him of what had happened with his parents.

But his heart and body protested. Heero was his and he wanted him badly.

Duo looked out the window at the tiny lights below and wished he knew the answers to all the questions that moved through his head.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Nice place," Duo commented as they walked up the front steps.  It was the first words he had said since Heero had picked up the paper and left him alone with his thoughts. Heero had done his best to wait until Duo felt comfortable again, but it had been a trial in and of itself. He understood Duo's hesitation, but at the same time he wanted to push, wanted to make the other understand that their bond was a real one and there was nothing to be frightened of.

"Thank you. I've had it for a long time." Polite words and not what he wanted to say.

The door opened as they approached.

"Heero," a blonde young man stood on the other side of the door, ushering them in. "We're glad you're home. Irea did as you asked, and everything is ready."

"Thank you, Quatre." Heero smiled faintly. "I'm sorry that something happened while I was gone. Irea is all right?"

"Of course she is," Quatre nodded as he closed the door. "You know her. She was ready to go out and fight it all on her own."

That made Duo blink a little. Heero saw his confusion. "Duo, may I introduce you to Quatre Winner? Quatre's family and I have been friends for many years. They have offered assistance in many of my hunts."

"Quatre, this is Duo Maxwell, the Shinigami."

"So you've come to help?" Quatre offered his hand and Duo took it. "I'm amazed Heero let you. He never really wants us to help either and we're used to hunting things." He smiled a bit wider and Duo noticed that all of Quatre's teeth looked sharp. "Still, we humor him. Since we were turned out of our home recently, Heero has been nice enough to let us stay with him."

Heero shook his head. "Your father would've haunted me forever if I let you and your sister wander around on your own." He smiled. "Duo is here because he is my lifemate."

Duo whipped his head around and glared at Heero.

"So he'll be staying permanently then." Quatre nodded, amusement in his expression.

Duo opened his mouth to protest, but Heero didn't let him. "Any more testing of the wards?"  

"Nothing else, just the first surge. Irea has the papers for you with the reports of the deaths."

Heero nodded. "Tell her I'll look at them first thing this evening. It's nearly dawn now."

Quatre nodded again. "We'll be ready when you wake up."  He turned and vanished through a doorway.

Heero turned to Duo, who was still glaring at him. "Shall we go?"

"I can sleep outside."

"Not with something out there testing my wards. Please Duo, be reasonable. My wards are good, and Quatre and Irea excellent protectors, but we will do better inside." He reached out and placed a hand on Duo's arm.

"All right," Duo grudgingly gave in. He could see the sense of it, though there was something Heero had said that struck him as odd. "Quatre and Irea are protectors?"

"Of course," Heero led him down a set of stairs. "I met their ancestor in the Arabian desert over 400 years ago. They are one of the clans."

"Oh," Duo nodded. "Turned out by whom?"

"Humans. Very superstitious even in these times. Quatre had 29 sisters at one time- now he just has one."

Heero opened a door that led into a bedroom. Duo blinked and he smiled. "Have to make a show of it at least." He turned into mist and slipped between the floorboards. Duo followed and found himself in a rock-lined chamber with a dirt floor. Heero made the earth open in a space big enough for both of them.

"Ready?" He asked, as he held a hand out to Duo.

"I can make my own." Duo frowned. Heero stepped towards him and Duo backed into the wall.

How did Heero get him in this position again?

Heero leaned forward; let his lips just brush against Duo's.

"You're my lifemate. Don't you want to sleep near me?"

"Heero..." Duo shook his head. "We've been through this..."

Heero leaned into Duo more, his body pressing Duo's against the wall.

"If you aren't going to be near me, then at least kiss me before we retire..."

It seemed like a simple request. A little thing to grant... a craving of his own to satisfy. The kiss drowned him, Heero's mouth demanding entrance, overwhelming his senses. Every time Heero kissed him all of Duo's willpower to resist him fled elsewhere, and other desires rose up.

To touch, to be touched, to possess, to be possessed...

Heero's hand slid between them, brushed over Duo's groin and Duo found himself gasping. " Duo... tell me yes. Tell me it's okay..." The accompanying image made Duo's blood flare hotter in his veins.

"Yes... please..."  

A moment later and Heero was kneeling on the floor in front of him, lapping gently and Duo's hands were buried in his hair. He arched backwards, pushing himself into Heero's welcoming mouth, feeling pleasure ripple over his skin.

"That's it..." Heero's mouth increased its pace. Duo couldn't manage a thought back.

He came hard, shuddering with release, collapsing forward into Heero's waiting arms.

A moment later, they were in the earth, and he was curled up tight in Heero's embrace.

"That was unfair," he thought sleepily at Heero.  

"I know it," Heero didn't sound in the least bit apologetic as he caused the earth to close over them.

[part 1] [part 3] [back to Merula's fic]