Cruel

by KatiKat

 

I can hear the the footsteps coming closer, the snow crunching under someone´s feet. I don´t react to the other´s presence, hoping that whoever it is, they will just leave and let me be. This is the place of my solitude, the village I used to live in before the mercenaries came and destroyed it. There are only a couple of skeletons of burned up houses left here now. It´s dead land. Just like my heart...

"Wufei?"

I almost smile. Almost. It´s Solo, always so worried these days. We have been lifelong friends and we stayed friends even though it was me who got his brother in trouble. He forgave me, although I didn´t deserve it. It´s all my fault...

He lays his hand on my shoulder and squeezes it firmly. The sun is shining and the fresh snow is glittering from its light. But I can´t see the beauty, for in my soul there is only darkness.

"They are gone, Solo," I whisper, my voice hoarse from disuse. This is the first time I spoke to anybody in over a week since... "Duo... and now Meiran... they are gone." I clench my hands in the thick leather gloves tightly. "Duo is gods-know-where and Meiran is dead... And it´s all my fault." My voice breaks at the end and I hate myself for showing this weakness to my friend.

He sighs. "It´s not your fault. Duo ran away because of Howard and from what you told me, it was you who helped them escape. And Meiran..." He pauses, the latest death still fresh in both of our minds. I asked him to be the godfather of my son. And now there won´t be any child at all... "It was the fever that killed him. It took others too... You didn´t cause this plague. Even Sal told you so."

I swallow painfully. I was there when Meiran died. Before he took his last breath, he forgave me my betrayal. Gods, I didn´t even know that he was aware of my relationship with Duo. And he still loved me... I didn´t deserve such a devotion. I close my eyes tightly and take a deep breath. If I didn´t promise him to go on living, I would have pierced my heart the moment he left me.

When Solo speaks, his voice is hoarse and full of pain. "Wufei, you are the only friend, the only family I have now. I don´t want to loose you too. The distance you put between yourself and the rest of the world, even me, scares me. Come back to me, to us. Makir, Meiran´s Sire, is worried too. With each day, you seem to fade away a little more." The hand tightens on my shoulder and I feel him tremble slightly.

I open my mouth to say something, when his words finally catch up with me. His only family? What...? I turn to him and for the first time in over a week I notice how tired and wiped out he looks like. Did he go through the sickness too?

"What are you saying, Solo? Your only family? What about Sal?" I ask, confused.

He sighs and lets his eyes roam over the ruins of our home. "Sal broke our vows. He does´t want to bond with me anymore." The resignation in his voice is painful to listen to.

I stand there, looking at him in shock. I don´t understand it. He and Sal had been together for almost a year now and during the mid-winter festivities he finally gathered the courage to ask Sal to bond with him. What happened?

"Solo?" I inquire.

He lets his hand drop from my shoulder. "I told him about the whole mess with Duo, you, Heero and Howard... I didn´t want any secrets to stand between us, you know?" He pauses. "He was... disgusted. He called Duo a whore and blamed him for the massacre in our village. Immediately he broke our vows and warned me never to come near his children again. He condemned me for helping Duo, for covering for him..." He swallows hard and moves his weight from one feet to another, the snow crunching under his feet. "I... I never thought..." He shakes his head. "Obviously, I judged Sal wrong... he wasn´t the man I thought he was. But maybe... maybe it´s good that I found out now before... before I would have made the biggest mistake of my life."

Now it is me who clasps his shoulder in a comforting gesture. "I´m sorry, my friend," I whisper simply because there are no words to comfort this pain.

He looks at me with a small pained smile, reaches out and squeezes my hand that rests on his shoulder.

I want to say more, but then something catches my attention. There, over the trees a dark cloud of smoke is rising towards the blue sky. I frown in confusion. What...? Then a cold dread settles in my bones. Makir´s village, my new home, is the only settlement in this direction and if...

"Wufei?" Solo asks, uncertain of what scared me so much, but then he follows my gaze and blanches. "By the gods..." he whispers.

We both break into a run to where our horses are waiting.

*-*-*-*-*-*

When we arrive at the village a picture of destruction is waiting for us. There are men in silver furs with long, curved blades attacking the villagers, hacking at the Sires and herding the Bearers and children to one side where more of the attackers are waiting, binding their hands with thick ropes. The breath catches in my throat as I recognize them for who they are...

Slavers.

Madness clouds my brain. The only reasonable thing to do would be to run. There are too many of them and the rows of the defenders are thinning rapidly, everybody with a weapon in their hands falling prey to the invaders' curved blades. But instead of running to safety, I jump from my horse, snatch an axe from the ground and with an enraged cry, I throw myself toward the men destroying the last bit of life I had left.

I swing my weapon around wildly, cutting one of the slavers´ hands, then turn around quickly to take his head. I change the axe for the fallen foreigner´s blade and lunge for another man. I slash, parry, then slash again, snap around and kick my leg high, catching another man in the head. I know that I´ll die here, but it doesn´t matter. I have nothing left in my life anyway, but I will take a number of them with me.

They make a circle around me and attack, but I´m quick on my feet and my blade seems to be everywhere and what seems to be seconds later, the ground around me is scattered with bodies. I breathe hard and my clothes are damp with sweat and blood. I´m weak in the knees, having been wounded seriously somewhere. But I don´t feel the pain, only the thirst for revenge for everything that has happened to me and mine.

Others come for me, but then there is a shout, loud and booming and the attackers step aside, making way for a tall, bear-like man with a heavy blade, stained with blood in his hand. The village is quiet but for the desperate cries of the Bearers and children and the crackling of fire. As he stops in front of me, towering above me, I grip the blade tighter in my hands and look into the face of the devil.

He is grinning wildly at me, his eyes glistening with madness and lust. He is enjoying the killing, the horror he caused here. I lift the blade and threw myself at him with a wild cry. He sidesteps and our blades clash together. For such a robust man, he is incredibly fast and I realize that I have met my match. Our fight continues on and on, but I know that he is playing with me. I am a good fighter, but he is better, way better...

In the end, he rips the blade from my trembling hands and forces me to my knees. With the tip of his sword he lifts up my chin and forces me to look him in the eyes. The smile on his lips is dark and arrogant, and I know... that this is it.

He raises his sword and I close my eyes, wanting to be alone in my death. But then I hear the painful cry.

"Noooooooooo!"

I whip around to find Solo struggling with two of the slavers, a look of desperate horror on his face. The fool... why didn´t he run away? He has always been more of an archer than a swordsman... Why didn´t he go? Why?

He is fighting them, one arm outstretched towards me in a desperate need to reach me before... before the end. I smile at him with my eyes. The crazy fool. Now they´ll kill both of us. Such devotion... and I never deserved any of it...

I lock eyes with him, waiting for the sword to fall... but it never happens. Slowly, I turn around to look at the man. He has lowered his sword and there is a speculating look on his face. I don´t like the devious gleam in his narrowed eyes. As he steps closer, I freeze. He reaches with his bare hand to catch my chin, then turns my head from side to side as if appraising a horse. My stomach twists in revulsion.

Then he bares his yellowed teeth in a wolfish grin. "Pretty enough," he mumbles.

And as the pommel of his sword hits the side of my head a second later, sending me crashing in the darkness, the last thing I hear is Solo, crying out my name in desperation.

I´m sorry, my friend... It´s all my fault again...


The End