Pairings: the obvious ones :blinks:

Warnings: yaoi, fantasy, magic, AU

Author's comment: Yay, it didn't take a year this time!

Story note:

"Yappity yap yap" = Mental conversation.

Duo has a nice ass = mental thoughts.

Spellcaster 23

"We should probably stop there for the night," Wufei said frowning as he glanced over at Solo. The other wasn't hearing it, looking off into the distance trying to find a trace of Shinigami's powers that he'd lost well over two hours ago. It was obvious from the look on his face that he was worried about Duo. Wufei was worried too, especially when he didn't even know if anyone was there with him to help save him if something happened.

But this won't get us anywhere wandering around in the dark where it's even more dangerous.

"Look, if we keep wandering around like this, we're going to wear ourselves out. We need to rest. Do you think you could do anything to help Duo now if you're too worn out to move?"

"I know that," Solo said frowning as the words slipped from his lips. "But…"

"Look…we'll just rest for a couple of hours then we'll start up moving out again. I'm sure right about now, Duo's probably taking a moment to rest in a safe place before he starts off again."

"Fine," Solo sighed looking back at Wufei, making the ebony headed boy's heart skip a beat, granted he didn't even know why he'd been having skipping heart beats so much lately. Maybe he wasn't eating healthy enough. "But just for a few hours." Not that Wufei had any complaints to that considering he was as ready to find everyone else as Solo was. For now though, rest was the best they could do. They needed real food and a place to rest up at.

As strange as it was for Wufei, they were having a hard time of finding any food around. Birds didn't seem to fly around in this forest all that often neither have they seen too many of the creatures that normally lived in the forest. Maybe they sensed something that the human and the elf had missed.

Or maybe Shinigami went on a rampage and scared them all away.

Giving a sigh of relief, Wufei glanced up ahead again, towards the small town right in front of their eyes. He was surprised to see a town here of all places, but he wasn't dissatisfied by it. At least here they could get a warm bed for a while, some fresh food, and dry clothes to replace the sodden, filthy ones they'd traveled in. He could get a backpack and get some of their food supply reestablish since the river stole everything he had away but the bit of change he still had in his pockets by luck.

"We're not going to have enough for a room and food all at the same time," Wufei said frowning realizing that the amount of coins he had wouldn't be enough to pay for two of them.

"Don't worry about that," Solo said stopping a few feet in front of him and giving him an impish little grin, reminding him of Duo in a way. Well they had been the best of friends at the time, so it's no wonder they're way of acting wasn't too far off. "I've been surviving quite well with no money to speak of."

"What do you mean?" Wufei asked, narrowing his eyes slightly, getting even more suspicious when Solo held up a leaf in his hand.

"I mean this," the older elfin boy said as the small green leaf was tossed straight up in the air and came landing down quickly in the boy's hand, the small shine of a glittering coin flashing before Wufei's eyes. "If we do this, it'll be fine."

"…But…" Wufei frowned at that. "That's like thieving."

"When it comes to survival, you do what you can. Or are you saying it's better to stay out in the open and let Mortimer or those creatures get to us without a fighting chance?" He was right there. There were only two of them trying to guard against who knew how many that were trying to kill them. Just because those guys were after Shinigami didn't mean they wouldn't try to take out the people that were trying to protect the God of Death.

"We have little choice," Wufei relented deciding to let it pass in this case. At least when this was all over, he planned to come back here and pay the people back for taking advantage of them, even if they never find out what happened.

Giving just the briefest of nods, Solo looked at a bundle of leaves on a small tree nearby to them. With just the slightest nod, the leaves changed turning into coins and raining down on the ground with brief jingles as they clanged together. "This should be enough," Solo said going over and starting to pick up the coins.

It wasn't long before they found themselves heading into the small town, frowning as the people looked at them warily, making them wonder if maybe it was a mistake for them to come there. It wasn't just the adults either, but small children and even the horses and other pets that lived there. It was…eerie.

"Just ignore them," Solo said as if he was able to feel Wufei's unease. It might have been possible that he could, considering that he could feel Shinigami and he knew how to use magic. Regardless of the words though, it didn't set Wufei's mind at ease, but he decided he would do his best to disregard the people telling himself that they wouldn't be staying there that long anyway.

They stepped through the inn door, the people inside looking up staring at them not making the feeling go away. Still, Wufei was determined not to show his anxiety, staring the people in the eyes before he found himself glancing away feeling sick to the stomach. Something wasn't right here, something wasn't…natural.

"It might better to leave this place," Wufei said giving out the suggestion.

"No, we should stay here," Solo replied stubbornly. "Otherwise we'll just end up wasting a night of sleep in the forest."

"Better that than to wind up dead here," Wufei mumbled eyeing the people but making sure to avoid their eyes.

"Excuse me," Solo said ignoring Wufei's statement as he stepped further inside heading to the front desk. "My friend here and I were hoping that you would have a room open for the night."

"Sorry," the man behind the counter said, giving them a look as he chewed on the end of a straw. "We're booked solid for the night."

"Booked solid?" Solo said incredulously. He glanced around, Wufei's eyes following his taking in what he saw. Though the guy said it was booked solid, the only people they even saw in the small inn were a couple sitting by the far table by a door, and a small child sitting on the floor in front of them playing with her doll. Even with just this small amount of people, the eyes were unforgiving. "There hardly seems to be anyone here, not to mention for such a solidly booked place, it completely lacks of sound."

"Yes well, regardless of what you see or hear, it is booked solid." The man left it at that, closing the sign in book as he grabs it and leaves heading for the door leading to the back of the shop.

"Hey….where do you think you're going? " Solo started to go after him, but Wufei was quicker this time reaching out and grabbing his arm.

"No, there's no use for that. We'll just try another inn."

"Stupid town, I hate it already." Still, Solo held it in, calming down. The two of them took it upon themselves to go from inn to inn in search of a "vacant" inn until finally one accepted them, apparently tempted by the gold in Solo's hand if nothing else.

"Your room will be number 234," the innkeeper said before looking back at the book he'd been reading disregarding them. Maybe it was Wufei, but it almost felt like this was the only guy who didn't stare at them weirdly. He was even able to strike up a conversation though the man didn't look up at them.

"Don't be too angry with the townsfolk," the guy said, a whistle coming out of his voice as he spoke. "They ain't too use to strangers here."

"Why would that be the case?" Wufei asked, feeling at least a little at ease to not have the staring eyes on him.

"Well, strangers are known to be a thieving group of people. They don't like thieves or liars around here. Most people that come here, try to steal from the people. I don't think you kind folks would do something like that now would ya?" Maybe it was just Wufei's imagination, but he almost felt as though the guy were talking about them in particular getting the slight underlying feel of being accused of the previous words before the old man started to laugh and coughed a bit. "Nah, I guess you two look like a good set o' boys there. I ain't gotta worry about ya using this little old town here. Why, you could even be like family."

"Well, I'm just glad we were able to find a room for the night," Wufei grumbled under his voice before turning and leaving to head upstairs intent on not leaving the other alone for too long.

"You should take care on these long nights," the innkeeper said, the words stopping Wufei on the steps and making him turning his head looking back over his shoulder at the old man sitting at the counter, still looking at the book he was reading. "The townsfolk get pretty darn restless at night when there are strangers around." He laughed, the sound coming out a bit eerie as Wufei felt a shiver run through his body.

Wufei shook his head telling himself that it was all in his imagination. But he couldn't shake the feeling that there was a warning in those words. Something was going to happen tonight. It made him wonder if maybe they should have stayed out in the woods. Well, it wasn't like it was too late to change their minds. He was going to go on in there and tell Solo that the plan changed and that they were going to keep moving and find some place better.

Wufei paused in front of room 234 hearing the sound of a struggle inside. He felt his body going into a sort of shock, fearing that the elfin boy was in danger. Quickly, he opened the door then paused when he saw Solo inside, holding a small child probably about the age of six with their hands behind their back. From the looks of it, it seemed to be a small boy, at least that's what Wufei was guessing on anyway.

"What...what the heck is going on in here?"

"Sorry," Solo said keeping a grip on the kid not letting him go. "I found him hiding under the bed. He was trying to escape but I caught him and well…."

"…I don't know if I want to ask," Wufei said rubbing his head as he came inside and closed the door. "But what made you think to look under the bed?"

"You know how good my ears are," Solo said grinning like a fool reminding him of Duo. "Anyway, I get the feeling this little guy was planning on stealing from us."

"I'm not a little guy," the kids said pulling away from Solo roughly. Despite the words, Wufei could tell the kid had to be at least six or seven years old. For a moment, Wufei took assumption that the kid's parents must be staying in the inn as well. But looking over the tattered clothes or the skinny body that definitely needed more food, Wufei figured that the kid must be homeless. Whether he had parents around or not, Wufei couldn't determine.

"So where are your parents, kid?" Solo asked, sounding a lot kinder than he ever did with any of them…well…minus Duo. The kid just looked at him frowning and staring though, Wufei was quick to notice something. This kid wasn't like all those other weirdoes in town. Though the stare was heated, similar to Heero's glare, it wasn't the look that screamed with the intent to kill.

"Ok, let's go with something simpler," Solo continued giving the kid a grin as he kneeled down looking up at him. "What's your name?"

The kid stared at him then quickly glanced away, apparently thrown off his game by the kind words as he hesitated before mumbling out, "Kite."

"Well then, Kite, why don't we go out and buy you something good to eat."

The kid looked at him again, eyes going wide as he stared at him. "Do you really mean that?" Kite said, giving him a suspicious look. Who could blame the kid? Here he was stuck with two random strangers who'd just found out he tried to steal from them, and now they were offering to take him to dinner? Not that he was the only one with a frown on his face.

"Actually," Wufei said drawing Solo's and Kite's attention to him. "I think we should really leave this town. Something's not right about this place."

"Aww come on," Solo said grinning and walking over to Wufei elbowing his shoulder. "Weren't you the one who said we should stop here for the night and get some rest?"

"Yeah but..."

"We should get something to eat before it gets too dark," the kid said sounding almost as mature as an adult, except when he started to pick his nose, something Wufei made a face at.

"He's right," Solo said easily teaming up with the kid which only served to aggravate him even more. What happened to all that talk about needing to get to Duo? He was acting like he hadn't been about to tear someone's head off.

"Fine," Wufei said grumbling under his breath. "Just don't come running to me if you come out of this with a missing arm and leg."

"Don't worry, I won't," Solo said the grin on his face again. "So, Kite," he said looking at the kid again, "Where's the good places to eat at?"

Hilde was startled, waking up in a cold sweat, despite the fact that she was surrounded by several bodies of the people sleeping who had escaped with her. It'd been going on like this for a while now, where she'd wake up in a cold sweat, seeing the cold eyes of Shinigami staring at her through Duo's eyes. It reminded her of the times Duo would have that look on his face, the blank expression and cold eyes being signs that Shinigami was trying to take over. But even then, he still trusted her, just like how she trusted Howard and the big cat named Scythe.

Hilde looked around at the people still asleep, glad she didn't wake them. They had the tougher males standing guard around them, prepared to protect them should anyone try to harm them, especially the women, children, and elderly.

Currently, they were camped outside the city, having received no help from King Treize which more or less shocked her. She wondered if maybe he was under the same spell as Queen Relena had been, but she didn't try to investigate it. They got no help, no food or water from the people inside. No, they were relying on their own strengths now, the women gathering the food while the men hunted with the supplies they had. So far they were making due, but they couldn't stay out here forever. They needed to get some place safe.

Standing, she walked over to a group of the males watching guard, asking them if they'd seen anything suspicious. At the shake of their head, she frowned and turned looking up at the sky. She knew very well that she could take care of herself, having been around Duo for so long. She knew also that the group here truly respected Duo, the young elf having helped them out time and time again with things such as debt or even simple things like repairing parts of a house. He was kind to the elderly and helping to get their cats out of the trees in the city. And he was good friends with both Howard and Hilde.

But with him not here, they really had to rely on themselves for help. Hilde looked towards the city, sitting the castle standing tall in front of them so close yet so far. They hadn't been able to even get in contact with Treize. Perhaps it was even possible he didn't know they were even there. So she was decided that today, she would attempt to get in there. She was going to sneak into King Treize's room and ask him on hands and knees if she had to, to help her friends in need.

Watch me, Duo. I'll help everyone just like you do.

TBC...

Is it bad that I forgot that Howard and Hilde existed in this story? I think that means I need to start adding them in again soon. Or it means I just got high on the whole DuoXHeero thing going on. And everyone else too. I'm especially having fun teasing Solo and Wufei. Ah...yes updated!