Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Other Side ❯ Part Two ( Chapter 2 )

The Other Side - Part Two

"Duo and Relena are in that book."

"What are you talking about, Wufei?" Heero asked, angry that his usually so sensible friend would be so lame as to play such a stupid joke on him.

"Look!" Wufei spoke, picking the book back up hesitantly and sitting down next to Heero, opening it in his lap.

" 'And then the two strangers to the land, the braided boy and princess girl, were greeted by the man with the symbol for Ogre on his forehead'! That's a rough translation, but still, it's there! Who do you think the braided boy and the princess girl are? Some freaky coincidence? Not with the introduction it wasn't! 'When this page is turned the story will become a reality'! Well, it looks pretty damn real to me!"

Heero was blinking back his tears and his confusion and staring at the book in Wufei's hands.

"Duo...?"

"Is in this book."

"Is he...okay?"

"I guess...I guess we'll just have to read on," Wufei murmured, half in fear, half in disbelief of his own totally illogical theory.

"So...I...I guess.... 'The braided boy and princess girl were greeted by the man with the symbol for Ogre on his forehead....'"

~^~

Slowly Duo came to in the barren landscape and realized that he was no longer in his bedroom and that Relena was still with him.

"Where in the fuck am I?" he asked, rubbing his head as he sat up, letting Relena's still sleeping form fall back onto the ground.

He glanced around and seeing not much of interest, or anything really, he began to silently panic.

He didn't know where he was; he'd never seen this place before. Heero wasn't around. Heero wasn't there--! Holy shit, what would he do without Heero to protect him?! Or at least to be the brains of the outfit! Relena certainly didn't fulfill that description, how in living hell was he supposed to?!

Relena began to stir as Duo tried to calm his fear. He didn't want her to see his fear, of all things!

"What...?"

"Relena?" he asked, looking over at her as she sat up.

"Where am I...? Duo?"

"I-I don't know...."

Suddenly it hit Relena that they weren't in AC 196 anymore.

"Oh my Lord, Duo--! Where *are* we?!"

"I don't know!"

Her panicking certainly didn't help his emotional state as he began to lose control of his fears.

"I don't know where we are! I've never seen this place before! I'm so scared! Heero--!" he began to sob, burring his head into his knees, rocking back and forth. "The war is over! We weren't ever going to be separated again...!"

"Duo...!" Relena hissed as he backed up behind him. "Duo! There's--"

"Now what are two pretty ladies like yourselves doing all the way out here?"

Duo's head shot up as he quickly wiped away his tears and faced a man that reminded him so very much of Heero....

He had thin eyes, like Heero's, and blue hair that fell over his eyes just as Heero's did. He seemed to be a lot stronger than he looked, as did Heero, and had the same confident air about him.

Relena was definitely picking up the same vibes as she stared up at the man.

"We could ask the same of you!" she replied, not allowing herself to give into her fears as Duo did.

"Yeah, but I belong here. I've never seen anything like you two ladies before."

"Where are we?" Duo asked quietly, still having been unsuccessful in getting his emotions completely back under his control.

The man laughed. "You don't know where you are?"

"No," Relena spat back. "It was a reasonable question."

"Right now you're on the outskirts of the empire Konan."

"Empire...? Then take us to the emperor! We demand an explanation as to how we got here!"

The man laughed harder at Relena's bold requests.

"How you got here? I would think that you would have always been here!"

"Well, then you would think wrong!" Relena declared, now standing and helping Duo to his feet.

"It doesn't matter. Someone as petty as you couldn't possibly see the emperor on demand, anyway."

"What's your name? When the emperor hears that I am Relena Peacecraft of the Sanq Kingdom, he will think differently and you will be in severe trouble for not bowing to my whims immediately!"

"Relena...." Duo warned, a feeling of dread over coming him when the man's face twisted in confusion. He didn't think that this man had ever heard of the Sanq Kingdom.

"Well, my name is none of your concern, but you can call me Tamahome, if you wish."

"Tamahome...." Duo tested on his lips, getting the feeling of the name. He didn't think that this would be the only time they would see this man.

"What is that, some kind of cheap nickname? A way to get out of your fate? Well, whatever it is, Tamahome, take us to your emperor right--!"

"Relena!" Duo cried, clamping a hand over her mouth. "He doesn't know who you are! We don't even know where we are! We can't expect him to know us!"

Tamahome watched the two strange women and scratched his head. Why did he even bother to come out and see who it was lying out here? It was really none of his business or concern. He shouldn't have wasted the time....

"Well, you two can argue this out. I'm leaving."

With that, he turned and began to walk away, but Duo grabbed him and pulled him back before he could wander off too far.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing?! You can't just abandon us like this! We don't know where we are, we're lost, I'm scared, I don't want to be here, I don't even know where here is! I just want to be back home! The least you can do is show us into the city! Please, just somewhere to stay...?"

Tamahome turned and looked at the pleading face of the longhaired girl that had possessed herself of his arm.

He sighed.

"If you two weren't so damn pretty I wouldn't be doing this...." he muttered before motioning them to follow him.

Duo smiled happily, having at least accomplished one thing, no matter how small.

They followed the silent Tamahome into Konan, only to find it was all in futile because once they got to the heart of the city, Tamahome had full intention of just abandoning them in the middle of it all.

"Hope you girls can make it on your own," he spoke, smiling, before he made to walk away once again.

"You bastard!" Duo screamed after him. "You get your sorry ass back here right this instant! How *dare* you desert us like this?! And you call yourself a man!"

Well, that certainly raised enough attention and Tamahome immediately backtracked to shut Duo up before he caused too much attention to be brought to him.

"Fine, what do you want? You want to see the emperor? Well, then it will be your heads not mine!" he cried in frustration. Then he smiled. "But there is a catch."

"I'm not sleeping with you if that's what you're thinking!" Duo declared loudly, nose up in the air.

"No!" Tamahome cried, waving his hands. "Money!"

Duo looked over at him and scratched his head before digging into his pockets. "Well, I've got twenty dollars!" he spoke, pulling out the bill.

"Dollars?" Tamahome asked, grabbing it away from him and looking at it funny. "What *is* this? It looks like paper!"

"Well, of course it's paper! It's not fraud either! I swear! Hold it up to the light and you can see for yourself!"

"I can't accept this!" Tamahome replied, throwing it to the ground. "No one will take that."

"Well fine then!" Duo gasped in exhaustion. "Just leave me here. I don't care."

Relena just stood there, not really comprehending anything that was happening.

Tamahome sighed. "Fine fine. I'll--"

"Move out of the way!" came the shouts of the people as they began to quickly clear the streets.

"What's going on?!" Duo cried in fright as he dashed off after Tamahome, yanking Relena along.

"I guess the emperor is coming through!"

"Really?!" Relena asked, excited. "That's great! We can go talk to him right now!"

"No! What are you doing you stupid idiot!" Tamahome screamed, trying to grab the girl.

"Hey emperor! Hey! This is Relena Peacecraft and I demand an audience with you!" she shouted, waving her arms in the air.

People laughed, and some of the guards in the procession grabbed her by the wrists.

"Wait!" Duo cried. He couldn't just let Relena be taken away! What would he do then? She was the only person he knew and the last link to his world.

"Oh Suzaku," Tamahome muttered.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Relena asked, aggravated. "I'm a princess, you can't treat me this way!"

The men holding her chuckled.

"Hey, hey! Stop that!" Duo cried in a burst of pity and compassion for his slightly mentally slack friend and soon found himself also captured by two men who were a lot stronger than him.

"Tamahome said that he'd take us to you anyway! We have to talk!" Relena shouted at the emperor who was hidden behind the silken cloth, which shaded him from the sunlight.

"Who's Tamahome?" one of the guards asked roughly and Relena pointed back to him.

"Shit," he cursed and dashed off in the other direction.

"You can't leave us here!" Duo screamed after him.

What Duo said had struck Tamahome hard and he stopped.

He couldn't just leave the two strangers there.

So, heaving a great sigh, he turned around and made to follow them in secret.

But of course, was caught anyway and dragged brutally to the palace.

~^~To Be Continued~^~