KC: @.@ Sleep...require sleep...

Duo: Then stop searching for free bondage mpegs late at night.

Heero: Or early in the morning.

KC: I haven't downloaded any bondage vid clips lately--

*ding*ding*ding*

Trowa: What was that dinging noise?

Quatre: You like it? It's my new lie detecting device.

Duo: You? I didn't know you could invent things.

Quatre: Oh no no. I can't. I ordered it from ACME supply. Someone was stealing my underwear, and I couldn't find out who.

Wufei: It wasn't Trowa?

Trowa: Why should I steal when I see it in bed?

Heero: Good point. So who was it?

Quatre: Maganacs.

Duo: Which ones?

Quatre: All of them.

All: *sweatdrop*

Trowa: *gets out knife* Nanashi will visit them all...

Treize: So, KC, anything interesting on those clips?

KC: *afraid to speak*

Wufei: Just how much do you lie?

KC: Um, not very much.

*ding*ding*ding*

Duo: I never lie.

Heero: No dings.

Wufei: Only dingbats.

Duo: Hey!

KC: Oh, that'd make a cute Preventer codename.

Duo: *glare* So, how big are those vid clips you download?

KC: Uh, not very?

*ding*ding*ding*

KC: Just a couple megabytes, at the most.

*ding*ding*ding*

KC: All right, I confess! I just downloaded a 44 megabyte .rm file! It took 5 or six hours, but I got it!

Zechs: That's...a lot of bondage. What, a half an hour or so?

KC: It's not bondage, damn it!

Quatre: Hm. No dings.

Trowa: Then what was it?

KC: Promise not to laugh?

All: *nod*nod*nod*

KC: A Ninja Turtle anime episode.

All: *sweatdrop*

Wufei: Turtles in bondage?

KC: I said it wasn't a bondage clip!

All: Oh...*muffled snickers*snickers get louder*all fall on floor and roll around in laughter*

KC: So that's what ROFLMAO looks like. No fair. I can't take revenge. There's hardly any pain in today's episode.

All: Ha ha!

*

Heero and Trowa sat in the library facing each other, arms folded on the table between them. Neither looked at the other, choosing instead to look either out the window or in the mirror on the far wall. Servants ran back and forth in the outside hall, but none of them dared come inside.

"So war is imminent?" Trowa asked.

"Perhaps not war," Heero said. "Not yet. It's only Dermail and Barton."

"And their supporters. You might have the makings of a civil war on your hands."

Heero shook his head. "I don't think either of them have enough supporters, otherwise why use necromancers? I think it'll be a powerful insurrection, but not war."

"Regardless, Dermail must be crushed, and soon."

"And then Barton."

Trowa leaned back in his chair and stared at his brother. "Do we use the gundams?"

"I don't know. I only know that we're up against a small army and four necromancers."

"And what do we have to bring to the battle?"

Heero shook his head once. "My army is large, but I don't want my soldiers running through the streets sacking and looting."

"Soldiers wouldn't do that, not with their commanding officers over them."

Heero smirked. "No, Trowa. You tell me I think too much like a soldier, so at least trust me on this. If you allow a fight in a city, soldiers will take it. It's their privilege in war. After all the effort that goes into siege or a battle, you have to let them loose for awhile. I can't do that to my own city."

"All right, so we can't use the army. What can we use? One sorcerer and the palace guard?"

"You're right. We'll have to use the gundams. There's no choice." He propped his head up on his arm. "Duo can fight. If I can get him to see his gift as a gift and not a curse, he'll be even stronger. What about Quatre?"

"His worst injuries are his fingers, and that's already healing." Trowa smiled. "He'd like training with Duo and Wufei. I think he'd like the company."

"Zechs and Treize are already practicing. I suppose we could join them."

"Good idea. We can bring...wait. Can Wufei handle a weapon now?"

Heero nodded. "He accelerated his healing, about two weeks worth in two days. I doubt Treize'll work him too hard, but he can at least get used to the Shenlong."

"Are they still in the garden?"

"They should be." He stood and went to the mirror. "Garden."

At the table, Trowa nearly fell off his chair when he saw his brother smile.

*

"And your hands are feeling better?"

Quatre nodded and showed one off to Wufei. "Yup. I don't know if that's your magick or Sally's herbs, though."

Wufei, crosslegged beside him, would have bristled if he had a tail. "You doubt my abilities?"

"Never." He looked back at his hand and the faint webwork of scars on his fingertips. "Did fighting the geis hurt?"

Wufei nodded once. "So much so that I passed out. But it was worth it. Duo?"

Crouched in the tree branches above them, Duo shook his head. "I didn't feel anything hit me. I pushed him away and hit him once, but I didn't feel anything."

"That's odd," Wufei said. "I know I put a geis on you. Why wouldn't it work?"

Duo shrugged. "I don't know. I'm glad it didn't." He grinned. "I heard you don't have a geis anymore, though."

Wufei smiled. "No. Treize freed me a few days ago."

"That's great," Quatre said. "Have you...you know?"

A blush crept over Wufei's face. "Quatre, I can't. My arm is still broken, remember?"

"So when it heals, then?"

"Quatre!"

"Okay, okay. I'll let you be." Quatre yawned and lay back on the grass, crossing his legs while he stared at the ceiling. "How'd you get clouds to form inside a building?"

Wufei looked up. "It was simple, actually. All the water in the ground goes up and forms there as a cloud. When enough goes up, it rains again." He flexed his arm, stretching it out and exercising the sore muscles. "The hard part is timing it so the servants aren't soaked."

Quatre turned his head and looked at him. "Water goes up? How?"

"It just does." Wufei nodded at the pond. "The water in there disappears and floats up to the ceiling."

Quatre shook his head. "That's impossible. Water can't do that."

"Sure it can," Duo said. "In the city, we have to cover jars of water so the water doesn't go away."

The blonde only frowned. "But that doesn't make sense. Water's wet. It doesn't go away just like that."

"Yeah it does. On really hot days you can lose half a jar. And when you take the top off, water drips off of it. It's like it gets stuck on the way up."

Quatre blinked. "I don't get it."

Wufei glanced at Duo. "Speaking of stuck on the way up, are you ever coming down?"

Duo rubbed the back of his neck and winced. "Uh...actually..."

"That's what I thought."

"It's not my fault. It was just so easy climbing up...I've never had to climb down before." Duo looked around for a nearby tree but none lay in range. "I've always just jumped before."

"Be careful," Quatre said. "You might tear your clothes."

Duo fingered the harem material and nodded. "Maybe. But if I try to climb, I'll tear something for sure."

"Then I guess you'd better jump." Quatre looked at the tree trunk. "It's not so far."

Duo winced. "Far enough. Wu', could you help me down?"

Wufei stretched out beside Quatre and closed his eyes. "That would be a waste of energy. Why don't you just lower yourself?"

"Are you scared of heights?" the blonde asked.

Duo shook his head. "No. Just the falling part."

"Then why did you climb up there in the first place?"

"I wanted to."

Wufei opened one eye. "Duo, from what I understand, you grabbed Heero and flew over the palace walls with him. Can't you do that again?"

Duo sat back on his branch and grabbed his braid, stroking it. "I...I don't think I should. I don't think I should use it."

Quatre looked at Wufei. "Use what?"

"He can move things with his mind."

"But that's a good thing." The blonde craned his neck so he could see his friend. "Why wouldn't you want to use that?"

Duo mumbled something and looked away.

"What?"

"I said it's wrong. It's bad."

"But why?"

He nursed his braid some more. "It's bad. God says we're not supposed to use magick."

"Is what you're doing magick?" Wufei asked. "You don't chant any spells, do you?"

Duo shrugged. "Well, no..."

"Are you calling up demons to make you move?"

"No..." He looked back at the ground again.

"Look, Duo, either jump or lower yourself, but make up your mind."

Duo tightened his grip on his braid. He didn't want to jump, so...he closed his eyes. He could feel himself, the way his clothes hung on his body, the tree branches underneath him, and he took a deep breath. He could feel something around his body, like a second skin, and he moved that up until he couldn't feel the tree anymore. Pushing that skin one way, he opened his eyes and watched as he floated a few feet from the tree and hovered ten feet off the ground. With a ragged sigh, he started down.

"Wow, that's amazing," Quatre said.

Startled by his voice, Duo fell the last five inches and plopped on the grass between his friends.

"Yes, amazing," Wufei said with a snicker.

"Ow..." Duo rubbed his hind end.
"Sorry."

"S'okay, Quatre."

"Um, Duo?"

"Yeah?"

Quatre sat up straight and faced his friend. "How come you don't mind being around me and Wufei?"

Wufei smirked again. "I was wondering when this would come up..."

Duo scratched the back of his neck. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I tell the future, and Wufei uses magick. How come you...you know...stay with us?"

Duo smiled. "You're my friends. I just can't stop liking you."

Quatre smiled back.

Wufei rolled onto his stomach and rose up on his elbows. "Besides, who would he talk to?"

Duo folded his arms and glared at him. "Hey, just 'cause you outrank us now doesn't mean you can keep snapping at me."

"Still, I'm glad you can still sit with us and talk," Quatre said.

Wufei nodded once. "They trust me."

Duo smirked, much like Wufei had done. "Even though you turned Treize into a duck?"

Wufei's jaw dropped.

Quatre giggled. "He did what?"

"Duo!"

"Hey, Wu', I hear the servants talk all the time. In fact, I've heard you even turned him into a little puppy dog once and made him do tricks."

Quatre rolled on his back, wracked with giggles.

Wufei sat up, waved his hand, and smacked Duo in the face with a bunch of wet leaves. Duo scraped them off, but he didn't throw them down. Instead he glanced at the leaves, up at Wufei, then back at the leaves. A particularly wicked grin spread over his face and he held the leaves up in his hand.

Wufei yelped as the leaves landed back in his face. "Duo!"

"You said I shouldn't be afraid to use it," the slave said with a laugh.

"I didn't mean on me," the sorcerer said. He grabbed another bunch of leaves and stood up.

Duo did the same and advanced.

Quatre squeaked and ran behind the nearest tree.

When Heero and Trowa entered, Duo and Wufei both had leaves stuck in the hair and on their face, with more gathered in their hands and flying through the air. Leaves zoomed back and forth on impossible paths as each made motions with their hands and sent their handfuls in curves coming around to smack each other in the back of the head.

"Duo," Heero said, and he lay a hand on his slave's shoulder.

"Eep!" Duo spun around, eyes wide open and beginning to turn pink, and dropped his leaves. The sudden spin upset his balance and he fell backward on the grass.

Wufei laughed and let his leaves fall to the ground.

Trowa walked to nearest tree and held his hand out. "It's safe to come out now, little one."

Quatre smiled and took his hand, stepping in close and laying his head on his master's chest. "I can't throw leaves with my mind. I don't have to be psychic to know I'm outmatched."

Wufei shook his head. "You know I wouldn't hit you. Duo, on the other hand..."

"Ah, you just don't like it that I can nail you back."

Trowa walked back toward them with Quatre snuggled against his side. "Shall we go, then?"

Duo looked up at his master. "Go where?"

"Training room. You need to practice with your gundams."

Duo paled. "We have to go back to J's lab?"

Heero shook his head. "No. We moved them up. Wufei'll clean out the lab later."

Wufei groaned and picked up his staff. "Not something I'm looking forward to. Is Treize waiting for us?"

"Can't wait to show off?" Trowa asked.

"He's never seen me fight the way I used to. It's an entirely different style...although I'm out of practice."

They walked through the hallways and down new corridors that Duo had never seen before. He looked through an open door they passed and saw hundreds of swords, shields and bows along the walls, with other weapons he didn't recognize on racks and hooks, and sheets of mail spread out ready to be sized.

Wufei winced and leaned hard on his staff. Quatre noticed and put one arm around Wufei's waist, steadying him. "You all right?"

The sorcerer shrugged and closed his eyes. "It's the amount of iron here. It's so hot and I can taste it in the air. I'll be all right when we pass it."

"We're almost there." Heero quickened his step farther down the hall, and he opened the door in front of him.

Duo nearly tripped when they entered the training room, too busy gawking at the sheer size and the variety of weapons inside. No tiles covered this room, but the amount of cracks and dents in the wall told him why, and he wondered just how violent the fights in here could become. He felt a tug on his braid and kept moving after Heero.

In the middle of the room, Zechs and Treize appeared to have been fighting for quite awhile. Treize tried to step in close with his glowing Talgeese, while Zechs kept him at bay with the Epyon and even managed a few strikes against his commanding officer. Both lowered their weapons when they saw the others come in.

"Got tired waiting?" Heero asked.

Treize sheathed his sword. "We both wanted to get a little more practice in. Are you decided?"

Heero nodded. "Yes. We can't trust anyone else. Where are they?"

Zechs motioned for them to follow and took them to the back of the training room, to a weapon's rack set against the wall. "Maybe they should choose their own."

"I agree." Heero turned to Duo. "Choose a weapon. Whichever you like best."

"You too, little one." Trowa nudged Quatre forward when the blonde held back, looking back and forth between the rack and his master. "It's all right. Go ahead."
"You'd better take one, too, Wufei," Heero said. "You might need something more than magick when the fighting starts."

The sorcerer smiled and leaned his customary staff against the wall. "I already know which one." He picked out the silver pole. Duo stepped next to him and took the other, black, pole. Quatre picked up the two curved blades on the bottom of the rack, and he sighed when his hands gripped the hilts.

"Quatre?" Trowa took a step closer. "Are you all right?"

The blonde smiled and looked up at him. "I'm fine. It feels right." He turned them over in his hands and watched the sunlight reflect off the edges. "They feel perfect."

"So what do we do with them?" Duo asked. "It looks like it's just a stick."

Wufei smirked and shook his head. "Not quite. Hold your weapon out and face me."

Heero stiffened.

"It's all right," the sorcerer said before the king could pounce on him. "I won't hurt him."

Heero relaxed, and he backed away with the others to give the two some room.

Duo took a good hold on his staff and stood so that his side faced Wufei, who whirled his own staff to feel out the balance. Once he was comfortable, he dropped into a fighting stance.

"I'm going to attack," he told Duo. "Defend as well as you can, or else you're going to have some ugly bruises to show off."

Duo nodded. For a moment, neither of them moved. Then Wufei lunged out with the stick, sweeping it through the air at Duo. As it arced, it flashed white around the tip, and the light sharpened into a dull glow in the shape of a spear tip. Duo yelped and dodged to one side, jumping back again when Wufei made another pass.

That's it. I don't like being swung at, Duo thought. He took his own weapon and swung it at the sorcerer, who bent backward and let it pass by. Now why can't I make my staff glow? He took a deep breath and moved forward, bringing his staff with him. He envisioned a green spear of his own, glowing bright so that it blinded his enemies. A light tingle moved through his hands with his next swing, and this time light gathered at the tip. Instead of focusing the same as Wufei's had, it trailed to one side and hardened into a scythe blade.

"Wow! Cool," he breathed, spinning it once. "Did I make it do that?"

"Yes," Wufei nodded. "And fast, too."

"I'll take over now," Heero said. "Treize?"

The captain smiled and raised his sword. "Wufei? Are you up for some real fighting?"

Wufei raised one eyebrow. "You've never seen the way I fight. Do you think you can handle it?"

Zechs laughed and leaned against the wall. "Now we'll see how much you really do coddle him."

The sorcerer practically hissed at him. "You...I should tell Nataku to burn your room."

"Then Noin would kill you. She has all her things in there." Zechs looked around at the few windows. "Where is your little lizard anyway?"

"In bed, as usual."

Trowa put his hand on Quatre's shoulder and drew him to the other side of the room. "Are you ready to practice?"

"Just like we do at home?"

"Mm-hmm. And you'll be allowed to carry these with you at all times if you wish."

Quatre's eyes widened and he breathed in sharply. "But...Trowa. I'm not allowed to have any weapons--"

"Little one, I am sovereign of one of the strongest kingdoms in the land. If I say my slave may have two kamis," he stepped closer and pressed a kiss to Quatre's forehead, "then he can. Damn the law. In fact, I'll change it when we get back."

Quatre nearly dropped his blades.

Zechs watched the six pair off and coiled his epyon, fastening it to his hip. "I'll let you practice, then. Treize?"

The captain nodded once. "I'll see you later to discuss the white fang."

Zechs walked out of the training room and down the hall, heading for the main corridor and the room he shared with his wife. The halls were uncomfortably hot in the summer season, or was that just the result of his long practice fight? He stretched his sore muscles and brushed his hair back from his face. And with the fight coming so close...I wonder if I should cut it.

"Milliardo?"

He stopped, but he didn't turn around.

"Milliardo, it is you, isn't it?" Relena came out of her doorway and stepped closer. "Please turn around. Please?"

He hesitated, then turned sideways and looked back at her. She still had on her red vest and pink skirt, but it was what she didn't wear that surprised him. No crown. "Relena."

She smiled and ran up to him, grabbing him in a tight hug. "It is you! All these years, and you've been right here."

He couldn't squash his smile. He put one arm over her for a moment. "You've grown. The last time I saw you, you were still playing with dolls."

"I've missed you so much," she said, pulling back. "Why did you leave? Mother said you weren't happy, and father wouldn't say anything. Miliardo, you should be ruling in my place. The crown is rightfully yours."

He shook his head and put his hands on her shoulders. "No, Relena. I can't be king. I can't rule. Peacecraft is a pacifist nation, and I...my hands are too stained with blood. I'm too much the soldier to give up fighting."

Relena nodded once. "That's what mother said. She said you needed the fight, that it was in your blood."

"Exactly." Zechs looked down the hall and for once was glad there were no servants nearby. "Besides, I couldn't stand being royalty."

Her jaw dropped. "You...you didn't want to be prince?"

"No. I couldn't stand all the people trying to use me for their own ends. Everyone begging for something and expecting me to fix their problems. The political in-fighting, the backstabbing, constantly looking over your shoulder...although I suppose that's why you have Dorothy." He smiled and tilted his head. "Or at least part of the reason."

She blushed and lowered her eyes. "Are we so obvious?"

"And her lion costume wasn't?" He laughed when her blushed got darker. "Relax, you're not obvious. I've just been surrounded by that for so long I pick up the hints and clues."

Relena laughed with him. "It makes me wonder how royalty perpetuates itself."

"Or maybe we're both adopted," Zechs said. "That's the way everyone else seems to do it."

She shook her head. "No, I'm sure we're Peacecrafts."

"You're paternity, at least, was never in doubt."

She kept her grip on his arm and tugged him gently towards her room. "Will you stay with me awhile? I want to talk to you so much."

He looked at her for several seconds. "I can't go back. My life is here now."

Relena's hand slipped from his. "I...I know. I wouldn't try to take you away. I only..." She looked away and stopped talking. "I just wanted to talk. It's been so long."

He let out a breath. Well, if she isn't going to try to take me back... "I suppose I could take a few hours from training."

She smiled and walked with him into her room.

*

Deep inside Dermail's villa, where the only light came from the torches in the corners of the room, one sorcerer leaned a dark mirror up against the wall and sat down in front of it. He tapped it three times, then called out one name. The surface of the mirror rippled like water, and another face came into view.

"What is it? I can't be here long."

The necromancer with the metal nose nodded once. "Understood. Things have come up. Dermail says we're too attack in a few days time."

"What? He knows I can't get there that soon."

"True, but he has reason to suspect that the new king suspects our plans. If you can't reach here, neither can Relena's army."

"Damn. I'd hoped...damn. I take it you've called for the cannon aspect."

"Yes. The Libra spell is nearly complete. All that remains is to add the cannon and tie the seperate parts of the spell together."

"Very well. A moment." The face disappeared, coming back after a few seconds with a scroll bound with velvet. "Here. Don't let anyone else see you with this. Just say I sent it through without anyone's knowledge. They shouldn't know you're my eyes and ears."

"I understand." The scroll pushed through the mirror and popped into the necromancer's hands. "Thank you, master."

"One other thing."

"Yes?"

"Trowa Barton. If he fights on Heero's side, kill him. And make sure his little concubine doesn't survive, either."

"It shall be done."

*

KC: All right, all right, look! I finished this chapter!

Heero: Took a month.

KC: *sniffle* I'm sorry...I just couldn't make myself write it. I would look at the page and just get all exhausted.

Quatre: Poor kitty.

KC: And then with all my school work--

*ding*ding*ding*

KC: Dammit, shut that lie detector off!

Treize: I think we all like it better on. *grabs Wufei* Now, I've always wanted a straight answer out of you. Do you like being tied up or not?

Wufei: Er...*struggles*

KC: Here you go. *hands him oodles of rope*

Everyone sits back and watches.

Wufei: Injustice! I don't like being watched!

Treize: *ties Wufei's hands behind his back* I insist, love. Do you like bondage or not? Answer me.

Wufei: *shakes his head* Not with that damn lie detector on.

Treize: *takes loose end of rope and teases Wufei's face* Tell me, or I'll just put on a show for our audience.

Quatre: Ooo...

Duo: Cool...

KC:...oh yeah...blindfold him, blindfold him!

Wufei: All right, I give! I like it, all right?

All: Aww...

Treize: Was that so hard? *makes rope into a leash and tugs Wufei off stage*

KC: Aw...man, if only I could get a picture of that...or of anything in the fic, actually.

Quatre: You want some fan art?

KC: Yeah...I can't draw any, and I'd love to illustrate...well, any part of Willing Slave, or anything else.

Duo: You mean the bondage bits.

KC: *tongue lolls* Oh yeah, especially the bondage bits! Fan bondage makes me want to write.

Zechs: The machine isn't dinging.

Duo: Nope. But she's still kinda dingy.

KC: Hey!