Due South - part 1

by KatiKat
 

"I´ve been looking for you."

Trowa looked at the approaching Enforcer, then turned back to the dark port of Dartvalley. "I haven´t been hiding." He laid his glove-covered hands on the rail.

Heero walked up to him, propped his side against the rail and crossed his arms on his chest. He was facing his best friend, watching him closely. "You seemed so withdrawn after Rufus brought us the news about Howard´s death. What´s wrong?"

Trowa shook his head, his long bangs covering one side of his face. "Nothing."

But the Enforcer didn´t let himself be fooled. "You and Duo are the world´s worst liars."

The healer smiled gently. "And where is your mate?"

"He is sleeping."

Trowa nodded. "Sleep is good for him." There was a moment of silence when only the slapping of waves and the steps of sailors could be heard. "You two should talk, though. The captain decided to wait until morning to sail out. You should decide what you want to do now."

Heero looked at him with confusion marring his features. "What do you mean?"

The taller man looked at his friend and shrugged. "Howard is dead. You don´t have to run anymore. I mean, you can do anything you want. Even return to the village and rebuild everything. You don´t have to go with us anymore."

Another moment of silence passed between the two men. "Us? Does that mean that you´re going?"

Trowa nodded once. "Yeah. I´ve been living in one place for way too long already. I´m not the type for settling down forever, you know it. I´ve enjoyed the last two years I´ve spent in your company, but now it´s time for me to move on."

A frown settled on Heero´s face. "So... you would leave us... me.. behind."

The healer smiled again and looked his friend directly in the eyes. Only a couple of torches and the moonlight were trying to light up the dark night. "It has nothing to do with the two of us, Heero. I´ve been traveling for the past two years too and we stayed friends anyway. It won´t change anything between us nor between me and Duo. You two will always have a special place in my heart, no matter where I go or if we meet in two days or two years from now." He looked back at the pier where two soldiers were walking back and forth, keeping guard. "I would like you two to come with us but I don´t want to push you. Everybody has to live their own lives, Heero."

The Enforcer watched his friend for a moment longer, then nodded to himself and straightened. "I understand. And I want you to know that no matter what we will decide, you´ll always have a place with us."

Heero touched Trowa´s shoulder and the healer patted his hand with a smile. The message was clear - best friends forever.

*-*-*-*-*-*

Duo woke up snuggled closely in the warm embrace of his mate. His head was lying on the short-haired man´s strong chest and the thumping sound of his beloved's heart was filling his right ear. The lifebearer smiled, sighed happily and blinked sleepily.

"Awake?" Heero asked, a smile in his voice.

Duo raised his head, his hair tousled. "Yeah, kind of. What time is it?" His voice was husky with sleep.

"It´ll be dawn soon."

Duo nodded contently and laid his head back down on his favorite pillow. His eyes slid shut, but before he could fall asleep, Heero´s voice broke through the haze of his mind.

"We need to talk, Duo."

The long-haired man opened one eye. He didn´t like the way that sounded. "About what?" he mumbled.

Heero caressed his mate´s light brown hair, then let his hand slide lower to rub Duo´s back. "About what we will do next. Howard is dead. We don´t need to run. We can stay here in Dartvalley or go back to our village, maybe rebuild our house. I know how you hated the prospect of leaving your brother alone here."

Long minutes ticked by quietly. Duo - now fully awake - was lying in his love´s arms unmoving, looking straight ahead into the half-darkness of the cabin. They could stay here... they didn´t need to leave... Howard was dead...

"What about Trowa? Did you talk to him?" Duo asked, tracing small circles on Heero´s chest with his finger. He could feel more than see the Enforcer nod.

"Yes. He is going with Treize and Mil. And before you ask - yes, I would miss him but we can´t build our new life on the wants or needs of someone else. He needs to move on, but we don´t have to. Say the word and we will stay." There was a note of certainty in Heero´s voice. The decision was Duo´s.

Stay or go? To see his brother again... never leave the last member of his family... to return to the village that Howard´s men...

"I don´t want to go back," Duo whispered, clutching Heero´s shirt in his fist. "Although I would like to get my old life back, it´s impossible. It´s naive to think that we could go back and try to rebuild what was lost. You would be an Enforcer without a village to protect and I... I would see Howard´s shadow everywhere," he admitted with a shudder. "This nightmare would never end for us if we didn´t move on - not only mentally but physically too." Duo raised his head from Heero´s chest and looked his mate in the eyes. "I need to put distance between the present and the past, between me and what is left of our home."

Heero lifted his hand and caressed Duo´s cheek. "It´s up to you, love. I´m not forcing you to do anything. I have no ties to cut, you´re the one with family to leave behind."

The lifebearer frowned and leaned his cheek into the caressing hand. "I want to go. This is the farthest I have ever been from the village. The world is so large and I want to see some of it. But I want to... I would like to send a message to Solo. Now that it´s safe, I would like to tell him where we are headed, that we are safe and that he doesn´t need to worry about us."

Heero nodded and brushed Duo´s cheekbones with the thumb of his right hand. "I will see what I can do."

"So... We are going south, huh?" Duo said quietly, the frown on his face replaced with a smile.

"Yeah, due south and a new beginning together," Heero promised with a nod, then leaned closer and proceeded to kiss his mate thoroughly.

*-*-*-*-*-*

With the first rays of light the ship Peacemillion II set out for the sea. Clouds of everpresent steam, rising in the cold air from the warm waters of the bay sustained by the volcanic sources hidden under the surface of the calm sea, surrounded the ship and soon even the last mast slid from sight and only the gentle slapping of waves against the hull and the distant calls of sailors indicated that there was a ship leaving the bay.

No one came to wave goodbye to the departing king´s men since the fishermen and their mates didn´t consider ships coming and going anything special. And that´s why nobody - from the ship or the village - noticed that the young boy one of the passengers sent back with a letter never arrived at his destination.

The dark cloaked man dropped the dead body to the ground and wiped his knife off on the messenger´s clothes. Then he pulled a small leather bound parcel from beneath the boy´s woolen shirt, cut the string and unfolded the letter.

The man scanned the piece of paper with hungry, mad eyes, then a wolfish smile broke on his scarred, burned face. He crumpled the letter and dropped it in the snow next to the dead body. Then he pulled his cloak tighter and headed for the horse that stood patiently among the trees a short distance from the village.

"To the south then..."


TBC