Crossover With Non-anime Series Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ On a Pale Horse ❯ When Animals Attack ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: As far as Mobile Suit Gundam Wing goes: Bandai has rights. Sunrise has rights. Sotsu Agency has rights. Rally does not have rights; she just likes to play with the characters. It's so much fun. As far as the world of Valdemar and Velgarth go: Mercedes Lackey has rights. DAW books have rights. Rally (again) does not have rights; she just loves dropping confused bishies in and waiting to see how long it'll take them to swim. (Again) it's just so much fun!

A/N: "Italics" is Duo speaking in Standard. "No italics" mean he's speaking Valdemaren. :Colons and Italics: indicate mind speech. Whoops! Looks like the legend keeps growing. Sorry about that.

On A Pale Horse
-When Animals Attack-

The first part of Duo's plan involved acquiring something a bit more appropriate in the way of clothing. The hospital gown he was wearing, while considerably more substantial than any he'd woken up in before, was still a hospital gown that barely hit his knees. In fact, in it Duo looked like an adolescent child using his older brother's hand-me-down as a nightshirt. The whole look was topped off by his tousle-headed, bare footedness.

Padding down the still corridor, searching for anything resembling a storage closet, Duo rounded a corner and practically slammed into a crowd of chattering teens dressed in light green. These people sure loved their uniforms. Green must be for doctors and the light green for students. Ayden had mentioned something about a school, but Duo couldn't decipher much else of that particular run-on paragraph. He escaped detection only because the group was too busy chatting, yawning and rubbing sleepy eyes to notice the escaped patient before he jumped back into the empty hallway. Reversing his route eventually led him to a set of double doors that were propped open by a couple of white marble doorstops in the shape of horses.

The new wing was quieter than the one his room was located in, but as he passed by a closed door he could make out the cadence of a lecture. The voice was too muffled, and Duo's grasp of Valdemaren too weak, for him to make out more than a few words, but the teacher was enthusiastic enough to make Duo wish at least some of the school's he'd attended had faculty as impassioned as the man behind that door. It wouldn't have mattered if he cared or didn't care about the subject; he would have been drawn into the learning environment and maybe not slept through more than half of his classes. That type of teaching produced an infectious knowledge.

With a shake of his head he moved on. The next several rooms were empty and he soon came upon a copy of the previous double doors. These ones were closed so Duo pushed through them and tried the first door on his left. It proved to be a bathroom. Literally. There were three rows of bathtubs through the center of the room and the far end was taken up mostly by a large copper water heater. Duo winced at the primitive plumbing, not because he disapproved of having hot water in which to bathe, but because it proved his nagging suspicion that returning home was an impossibility. His home colony had more sophisticated equipment than this place did and it was the poorest of any of Earth's satellites. This place was so far from home it was like another universe entirely. Hell, it was probably another dimension.

But Duo had no time for self-pity. There was hot water and fluffy towels waiting and with the enthusiastic class going on down the hall he'd have a few minutes to make use of both. Snatching a towel, he noticed that there were two stacks of the pale green uniforms he'd seen on the teenagers in the hallway earlier. It made it almost too easy.

Freshly cleaned and changed—though he'd still have to do something about footgear later—Duo pushed his way out into the warm morning air. The sun was shining directly in his face and as soon as he exited the building he had the distinct feeling that someone was watching him. He squinted against the blaring light. Straight ahead there was a shadow looming in the sun glare. An arm automatically raised to shield his vision when—

:You're wearing the wrong color.:

"Yeah," he began, still squinting hard, trying to force the shadow to become a clear image. "But I couldn't find anything bla—" He froze. Whoever spoke had done so in Standard.

The figure ahead stepped forward—each step chiming like a bell—and blocked out enough of the sun for Duo to get his first look at the owner of the voice. Duo's heart thumped hard and he fell back against the door. It was a horse, a huge, white monstrosity of a horse. Now, Duo was an artificial boy. He grew up in a fabricated world with simulated sunlight, synthesized weather and recycled air. It was only after descending to Earth that he learned a valuable lesson: Duo and wildlife had a tendency to disagree—violently—on all things. His mind flashed to many a night he'd spent under the cover of trees that he'd been beaten, bashed, bitten and generally assaulted simply because the local fauna had decided that they didn't want him around. It didn't matter what type of animal it was: squirrels, birds, mice, rats, wolves—that had been a horror filled night—, skunks, cute wittle itty bitty bunny-wabbits all hated him. Now, he was facing down an animal that was easily twice his size with a jaw span that he was positive could engulf his own head and hooves that gleamed like polished gundanium razor blades.

The horse snickered—could horses snicker?—and took another step forward. Duo cowered against the solid wood of the door behind him, squeezing his eyes shut. The fearsome creature snickered again and then wuffed in his ear. Duo heard himself squeak. It was a pitiful mewling sound.

Wait a minute! Wait just one god damned minute. Duo does not squeak. He's Shinigami. He's Death. He makes others squeak.

Duo swallowed his heart back into its proper position, faced his tormentor and, as ridiculous as it sounded, opened his mouth to give the horse a piece of his mind. He didn't count on immediately getting trapped in a sapphire-blue gaze.

His first thought was, "Heero?" His second, "Oh, my."

The feeling that engulfed him could only be described as pure, undiluted love and acceptance. It was a heat that reached down into his cold inner being, down into the areas filled with guilt, loneliness and self-loathing and it warmed them. It went far beyond anything Duo ever felt before and he allowed himself to drown in the sensation until a voice called him back to the surface.

:I Choose you. I've waited eons for you so don't even think about running away.:

With a start, Duo found himself with his arms clamped desperately around the horse's neck, tears pouring down both cheeks. He turned his face into her silky mane, ashamed of his inability to cease his weeping. The torrent of tears wore themselves out after a few moments and aside from the embarrassment, he felt wonderful.

"Don't tell anyone about this," he mumbled. "I'll never live it down." The idea of talking to a horse didn't bother him as much as it probably should have. This was a guy who frequently had long conversations with a mobile suit; talking to a horse—a living creature—had to be an improvement in his mental state.

:Oh, don't worry,: the horse began with a hint of amusement in her voice, :I intend to hold this over your head until I can make use of it.:

Duo couldn't help but smile as he pushed himself away and tapped her nose with a forefinger. "You really are an evil, evil creature."

:Aren't I, though?:

Oh, he liked her. She was someone he would have absolutely no trouble getting along with, a perfect companion. His Companion. "You're Onette."

:See, I knew you weren't just a pretty face.:

Tehlin maintained a rapid pace, remaining silent until they had put a good bit of ground between the training field and themselves. When they were clearly out of earshot, he slowed to a stroll and spoke up. "These dreams, what does he see in them?"

Simaree hesitated a moment, trying to assemble her thoughts into a coherent, cohesive whole. She really hadn't learned anything else about the visions from Alaen since that first confession. The kid had taken to dodging her and her questions at every turn. Half of the time he'd notice her approach and, not bothering to conceal his actions, turn and run off in the opposite direction. The other half of the time he gave her lame excuses and ran off in the opposite direction. And the few times she managed to corral him, he just stared at the ground and told her that he was fine and the dreams had gone away.

But he wasn't fine. He walked hunched over, his face was either flushed beet red or drained to the color of fresh snow and he was startled by every little sound. He was avoiding her and he wasn't talking to his friends. He wasn't confiding in anyone and that was making her just as flustered as the Dean was.

"The dreams all revolve around a boy who calls himself Death, but Alaen used a different word for the name and then translated it. Shimmi- Shimmilani or something. He says this boy flies around from village to village destroying them and killing everything in his wake. There was also something about guardian statues that defend against this Death kid, but I'm not really sure what that bit was about either."

She came to a stop, sure that Tehlin was about to tell her to get herself back to the nursery until she could stop whining like a baby over inconsequential matters. She kept her gaze fixed on the Armsmaster's back until he noticed she wasn't beside him and turned to face her.

Before that deprecating command could leave his lips she delivered her defense. "I know it sounds ridiculous. I know I'm taking up your valuable time, but..." So much for a defense. This was not helping her at all. "You didn't see the look on his face. He was panicked." Tehlin held up a hand, but Simaree ignored it and plunged onward. "And when he mentioned the dream, the only thing I could think was 'Foresight.' And I tried to talk to Dean Ayden about it but he's always out. And—"

"I believe you."

"—it's just so, so irritating! And—Huh?" The girl came up short, mouth flapping like a fish. "I— You— What?"

"I said I believe you, so stop jumping to conclusions." Simaree flushed a little. Tehlin was right, she wasn't being fair to him. "You did exactly what you should have."

She was hit by sense of relief so profound it brought tears to her eyes. Finally, someone was going to help Alaen. "What should I do, sir?"

"We," he caught her eye, "Are going to collect young Alaen and then we're all going to see Ayden."

"Thank you, sir." It was inadequate, but it was all she could think of to say.