Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Broken Wing ❯ Broken Wing - Chapter Sixteen ( Chapter 16 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Authors Notes: Chapter Sixteen



Authors Notes: Chapter Sixteen! YAY! How many of you thought I'd never make it this far, hm? C'mon, tell the truth! I see you guys out there ducking and trying to hide from me! Well you were wrong! HAHAHAHAHA-::cough, choke:: Eew, hairball. Anyways, yes, I have made it this far. And I want to address a couple of questions. Polgara: Endymion's whereabouts will be explained, don't worry! Silver Dragonfly: I would be honored if you would host Broken Wing on your site. Blue Angel: My, my . . . where to begin? Well, first of all, Alpha was built by Ami back in Crystal Tokyo. She told the GBoys it was her ancestor because she knew they wouldn't understand her if she told them SHE'D built it all those millennia ago. About the GW dimension: there is no GW dimension. I'm writing BW as if AC 195 is simply VERY far in the future of Usagi's time. Ami is not with both Usagi's. She left Earth like Setsuna told her to do, and is with Serenity in the L2 cluster. The comment about the past, present, and future is confusing, I know, but it was meant to be. It was meant to show the utter confusion and wacky state of Serenity's mind at the moment, but if you think about it, there is a bit of meaning to her madness. ::winks:: If you still don't get it, email me privately and I'll explain it further. Bunny-chan: NOT end in a cliffhanger??? You know better!! GoldenGoddess: How could I do that? Very easily! Hime: Ah, the agony of Broken Wing should be over fairly soon. But then shall the agony of a new fanfic begin! AHAHAHAH… oh I shouldn't do that… Okies, well, that seems to be all the questions. Now thankies: MARIKA! I knew you would start writing Gundam fics! HAHA! Trenchcoat Man! WRITE CHAPTER THREE NOW!!! Or else… erm… heh. VEEBEES! Erm… thankies! And now… ONWARDS!

Disclaimer: Over and over and over and over and over… they aren't mine, they aren't mine… ::sniffles:: THEY AREN'T MINE!!! My therapist says I'm having a breakthrough…

Broken Wing - Chapter Sixteen


Duo smoothed the glittering, golden strands out across his hand before running the stiff bristled brush over and through them. He'd never really realized how long or soft this curtain of gold was until two weeks ago, when he had self-appointed himself Usagi's keeper.
"I'm sorry I don't know how to make the odangos, Usagi-chan," he told her for perhaps the hundredth time, "but I tried and they looked really terrible." Each time he tried, the buns feel lopsided from her head, or allowed strands to escape in ways that they never had when Usagi herself so diligently fixed her hair. None of the different ways he had tried to duplicate the hairstyle came out looking anything like the perfect twin odango and rivers of hair that so personified Tsukino Usagi. So he alternated between letting her hair fall loose about her shoulders to the floor, or tying it into a braid much like his own. The braid was not odango, but it sufficed.
He sat behind the girl, brushing her hair as gently as he could, and after a moment of silence he stood and leaned forward, daring to take a look at her face. It was slack, as always, the dull blue of her eyes staring out of the window into nothing. He couldn't figure out what it was she might be seeing within the closed confines of her mind if she saw anything at all. She wore no expression, and the vast majority of her time she spent sitting in this same chair in front of this same window, looking out on the world, but really seeing none of it.
"Usagi-chan . . ." Duo's throat constricted, closed in on the words and forced him to take a moment to gather his emotions back into a safe, tight ball inside his chest. Almost, almost those tears had fallen. They'd been fighting to escape his eyes since he first took her from Alpha, screaming and raving about living souls and dead souls. It frightened the boy, the self-proclaimed Shinigami, for even after she had been beaten to near death by OZ, Usagi never reacted like this. She was strong, and remained that way through everything. But then . . . after killing those men . . . and now the silence that he couldn't decide was more a blessing or a curse . . . it made him wonder if perhaps Usagi's soul had finally broken.
Duo moved around in front of her, kneeling, looking up into her loose mask of a face. She didn't tilt her head down to watch him. He wasn't sure if she even knew he was there. Her hands lay in her lap, resting there only because Duo placed them there every morning. She would not move of her own accord. He had to do it for her.
He took her limp hands into his own strong ones.
"Usagi-chan . . . Usagi . . . if you're in there, please do something. Anything to let me know I'm not taking care of a living corpse. Please . . ."
Nothing.
Desperate, two weeks of keeping his sorrow and pain inside, not knowing what else to do, Duo felt his hands release hers and fall into his own lap, fingers laced together in a position they had not known in quite some time.
He wanted to pray, but he didn't think that his own words were good enough. If God truly existed then He should know what a person wanted when they prayed, even if the words didn't say it . . . right? So the braided boy opened his mouth and out tumbled the words of a prayer he learned as a child taken from the streets.
"Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy . . . thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven." He paused, the next words coming to mind, but he was unsure if they were appropriate. Hoping that he was not committing a terrible sin, Duo skipped to the end of the prayer, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the . . ."
A gentle touch lighted on his shoulder, a pressure so soft he could barely be sure he felt it.
" . . . glory . . ."
Duo lifted his head. Usagi still had not looked down at him, but she had moved. One hand no longer rested in her lap, but on his shoulder instead. Duo completed his prayer in a whisper soaked with tears of gratitude.
" . . . forever. Amen."
"Together."
He blinked.
"Together and only together. . ." The words were soft, emotionless, and perhaps meaningless, but they fell from her slack lips as if they had been perched there for two weeks waiting for this chance to fly. Duo kneeled there in silence, hopeful, expecting her to continue. The girl spoke no more.
Usagi . . .
"Duo."
The braided boy turned at the soft voice. In the doorway stood Noin, a towel draped over her right arm, soap and a shampoo bottle held in her left hand.
"Hey," he stood quickly, Usagi's hand falling limply from his shoulder to her side, as if she had never moved it at all. Duo paused long enough to replace the slender hand to her lap, then looked up at the waiting woman. "Have I thanked you for this?"
"Profusely." She arched a dark brow and gave up a sad but amused smirk. "It's no trouble, I've told you before, Duo. It has to be done, and I'm the only one Usagi-chan would ever give this responsibility to, if she could."
He laid an indigo glance on the top of Usagi's golden head.
"You're right, but it's still way above and beyond, you know."
Noin shrugged and moved into the room, placing her burdens gently on the bed before taking Duo by the shoulders and pushing him gently towards and through the door. Once she had him safely in the hallway, the woman sighed and smiled at him.
"I'm a servant, Duo. Whether it's OZ, Miss Relena, or Usagi-chan, I live to serve. Nothing is above or beyond for me, and I require no thanks." She grinned. "If I hear you thank me one more time, I'll lop off that braid of yours."
Mouth opened in shock at such a terribly insensitive and evil threat, Duo had the door shut in his face.


~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~


Hiiro probed the opening carefully with a screwdriver. Two hours of such probing had yet to reveal any knowledge as to what purpose exactly this particular orifice served. It was settled neatly into Alpha's right leg, in correspondence to the place the Silver Crystal was nestled into on the left leg. But this hole was shaped differently, as if to hold a different source of power. For all of the laptops on the Earthsphere, Hiiro couldn't figure out WHY the Gundam would need another power source. It wasn't as if Alpha needed anymore power than it already had. It was already vastly more powerful than Wing Zero.
"Any luck?" Trowa stood behind him, arms crossed, wrench in hand.
"No."
" . . ."
"It's different than the other one."
" . . ."
"Bigger."
"Would you two stop that?" Wufei growled from his perch on Alpha's cockpit door. "It isn't helping anything."
"We could use that woman about now."
Hiiro knew that Wufei was staring at him, but he didn't bother to look up from his current work.
"You mean Setsuna?"
"Yeah."
"Well, why don't you just call her?" The Chinese boy slid down the wire, landing without trouble on the hard concrete floor. "Remember, Usagi-san just called her name and she was there. I wonder if she would do the same for us?"
"It's possible. She considers us important."
Hiiro continued his probing, making no more comments. From the corner of his eye he saw Wufei stare at him a moment, then turn around and cross his arms.
"If you're listening, Onna, we need to speak with you."
"I wanted to speak with you as well, Wufei."
All three jumped slightly. None had really expected an answer to Wufei's request into the air. But there she was, standing just off into the shadows, sailor fuku neat and clean, ever-present staff clutched in one hand. An amused smirk tilted the corners of her lips as she walked forward, the darkness shrinking backwards to reveal her face.
"I keep a window open on each of you at all times. I know when you speak about me or to me." Her statement hung in the air, because no one said a thing in response. Hiiro watched as her maroon gaze traveled upward over the expanse of Alpha Gundam, and the shine in those eyes was one of sorrow. Of regret.
"You knew this would happen." Hiiro felt his eyes go hard. He would never admit it out loud, but Usagi was as close to a dear friend as one such as himself dared to get. He would not be happy if this woman acknowledged having allowed something this tragic to occur.
"I knew. But I could do nothing. This was destiny on her part."
"Destiny?" Trowa stepped forward, a frown marring his normally placid face. Hiiro knew that Trowa felt the same about the girl who had not only restored his memories, but had saved his life as well. "How could something like this be destiny? You've told us before that she has some sort of great fate or future in store for her. How can that be, when all she can do is stare out of a window?"
"The answer to that lies in her past and who she really is. All of this is part of why I brought her here." Setsuna paused, pressing her lips together tightly for a moment. Then she sighed. "These are the things you've been wanting me to tell you, and I'm ready to do that now."
"I'm glad to hear it."
Setsuna and the three pilots shifted to see Duo in the doorway to the hangar, leaning against the frame, arms crossed. His expression was closed. Hiiro guessed that he'd been standing there long enough to here Setsuna's admission of knowledge. Behind him stood a pale-faced, red-eyed Quatre.
"Are you doing well?" Setsuna asked, looking at the blonde.
"I haven't slept much lately." His voice was quiet, pained, and he swallowed as his eyes fluttered to the floor.
"He has nightmares." Trowa glared at the woman.
"Should I tell my story?" Setsuna straightened under their glares, apparently feeling the weight of their current dislike.
"By all means." Duo sauntered further into the hangar, Quatre following in short, almost nervous steps. The braided one plopped down onto the floor, and the other four pilots quickly followed suit. The scene looked like Auntie Setsuna's Story Time. Hiiro watched as she lowered her eyes to them, the sorrow in them gaining a greater hold on her. This was an older regret, a deeper sadness than the one that sat staring at nothing. The story she was about to tell . . . Hiiro knew somehow that it was something that occupied the very core of her being.
After a silence that filled the empty air, Setsuna opened her mouth and began to speak . . .


~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~


There is much about Usagi-chan that cannot be learned by spending time with her. So much of who she is . . . it's hidden away in some secret part of her soul that even she has forgotten about. But it's there. You may have caught a glimpse of it at one time or another. That stance of sovereign grace, or the expression of royal calm that signifies someone of regal blood. Yes, she is royalty. But even that is not the most extraordinary thing about her.
The story, her story, really begins about five millennia ago. That was the time of complete peace in the solar system. Yes, there were people who lived on the other planets then. Each planet had a ruling family, but all belonged to the greater kingdom known as the Silver Millennium, which had its base on the Moon of Earth. There was the Moon Kingdom, lead by the kindness and compassion of the high queen, Serenity.
Serenity had a daughter, the princess of the Silver Millennium, also named Serenity in the tradition of the Lunar royalty. The princess grew into a beautiful and strong woman, raised to take over the throne and responsibilities of her mother.
At this time, Earth was an almost primitive planet, and the Lunarians were charged with the protection of Earth and its people. They were like guardian angels, looking down on Earth from afar. If you could have seen Queen Serenity, you would have known how people once believed so strongly in angelic beings. She was . . . there are no words to describe her beauty. The pale, moonlight skin, silver hair, and deep blue eyes certainly had something to do with it, but her beauty radiated mostly from her kind heart and gentle soul. But I'm getting too sentimental.
The Princess Serenity had the blood of the Lunarian protectors running through her veins, but it was not enough for her to simply watch from her safe place on the Moon. She wanted to be amongst the people of Earth and share their joys and heartaches. So she would often sneak away from the Moon Palace and her court of guardians would have to go to Earth to find her. You see, the Earthians were not supposed to know about their protectors residing in the heavens. Each time she went down to the planet, Serenity risked compromising the secrecy of the Silver Millennium.
It was on one of these forbidden excursions that the princess met and fell in love with a young man named Endymion. The story behind how they each found out each other's true identities and how Earth was made an official part of the Silver Millennium is far too long to tell here. It all comes down to the fact that Endymion was actually the prince of Earth, and Queen Serenity was too kind to forbid her daughter to marry a man who not only carried the proper status to court a princess, but whom she loved. I can tell you that even then Queen Serenity thought the match a doomed one, even if it were destined. She confided in me her visions of a coming tragedy, in which Serenity and Endymion would play a central part. Even I, who should have seen it, did not believe her. But I was young then, and didn't have the experience to know when to look ahead.
What we couldn't know then was even at that moment brewing on Earth. A woman, who perhaps was not completely evil at this time, was approached by an entity known as Metallia and told that she would be given all the power of the Moon Kingdom if she helped to lead a rebellion against the Lunarians. That wasn't very difficult, for there was a ripple of jealousy already spreading through the people of Earth. Lunarians lived much, much longer than Earthians, and the woman, who now called herself Queen Beryl of the Dark Kingdom, used this jealously to incite the usually gentle Earth people into war against the Moon. Beryl had power, given to her from Metallia, and the promise of more to come when the Moon Kingdom fell.
But she set her sights not only on power, but on the Prince of Earth as well. I can't tell you whether he was just another rung on her planned ladder to power, or if she truly had some feeling for Endymion. All I know is that she offered to let him rule by her side, and he refused. So she went after Princess Serenity, determined that the prince would be happy with no one else if not with her. Endymion-


~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~


"He protected Serenity," Quatre interrupted quietly, wide blue eyes still on the floor, "and was killed by Beryl."
"That's right." Setsuna nodded, not surprised at all that this boy from so far in the future of these events knew exactly what had happened on that long ago day. The other four remembered the dream he'd told them about, and were silent.
"Beryl was killed by one of the princess' protectors . . ." Quatre looked up to Setsuna for help.
"Sailorvenus. The leader of Serenity's royal guard and the princess of Venus. She used a sword made out of Imperium Crystal to slay Beryl. Then she and the rest of the guard were killed in battle."
"And Serenity used Endymion's sword to kill herself. Her mother was so sad . . ." He choked on his own voice and squeezed his eyes against the mental memory of his dream: the image of the princess who looked so much like Usagi taking her own life.
"What does any of this have to do with Usagi-san?" Wufei asked coldly, dark eyes trained on the woman who was only now explaining things they all felt should have been said that first day.
"Usagi-chan is the reincarnation of Princess Serenity," Setsuna said, fingering her staff as she thought, "but unlike the reincarnations of other dead rulers, Usagi-chan cannot escape that destiny that was hers when she was born on the Moon all those millennia ago. She still carries within her the blood of the Lunarian protectors, and the Silver Crystal still belongs to her. Its power obeys only the desires in her deepest heart, because she is still the only heir to the Silver Millennium."
"And her great destiny?"
"She is to fight the Enemy, those remnants of evil that still plague Earth in the Time that is now her home. And then, once she has grown as a warrior, she is to take full control of her power and the throne her mother vacated at her death. She will become NeoQueen Serenity of Crystal Tokyo. On Earth. Four millennia in your past."
Silence. Setsuna stared at the five, waiting for the weight of her words to rest fully on their shoulders, waiting for them to comprehend. It was, of course, first Quatre in whom she saw the light of understanding. Surprisingly, it was Duo who understood next.
"She's the Queen, isn't she? The one who had Alpha built in the first place. That's why the Silver Crystal is Alpha's power source. And why she's the only one who can pilot it."
"Yes."
"And the woman," Wufei stood, brows furrowed, eyes narrowed, "The one who said that it was her ancestor who built Alpha? She and Usagi-san acted like long lost friends."
"Mizuno Ami, also known as Sailormercury. In the time of Crystal Tokyo she was known as Queen Mercury. Now she is merely a scientist and a doctor, who serves the descendents of her former queen generation after generation. And yes, it was actually she who built Alpha. NeoQueen Serenity and her court are immortal."
"Are?" Duo asked in a breathless whisper, "You mean . . . somewhere there exists an older version of Usagi-chan . . . still alive after four thousand years?"
Setsuna nodded. She didn't think it necessary to tell them of the current plight of Serenity, or the fact that the former Queen may or may not exist in only a few short hours. Their minds were burdened enough with the knowledge of who Usagi truly was.
"Did you bring her here because of her power?" Hiiro's arms were crossed, and he didn't look up, Did you bring her here to use the Crystal to help us?"
"No. You must win this battle on your own. But you must do it together. Only together do the five of you have any chance at all to defeat OZ."
"Together and only together . . ." murmured Duo, his eyes burning into the steel walls of the hangar.
"Exactly," Setsuna smiled to herself, knowing where he had gotten those words. "I'm sure that you all have noticed the inherent ability Usagi-chan has to becomes friends with the most unlikely of people. Her talent does not end there. She takes those people and somehow binds together their hearts and souls. She has done that with the five of you; she has made you the strongest five fighters in the cosmos, because you will fight together from this day forward. The friendship between you five is special, because it has been formed, touched, and blessed by Serenity, the princess and goddess of the Moon."
"You're wrong," Quatre sobbed, and Setsuna blinked, "You're wrong!"
I'm wrong? I can't be wrong . . . I see the friendship in them! I'm not wrong! Usagi-chan did make them stronger!
"You're wrong because you keep saying the friendship is between the five of us!" The Guardian watched as Trowa steadied the shaking blonde boy, who trembled like a leaf ready to be blown away by the slightest of winds, "But you're WRONG! There aren't five of us in this bond, there are SIX! Usagi-san is as much a part of this friendship as any of us, don't you see that? She doesn't just bind people together and then leave them to fend for themselves! She binds herself to them as well!"
"Quatre's right," Duo sighed, indigo eyes glaring at her, and she saw in them the first hintings of something she had not foreseen.
Hell, she hadn't foreseen this complication at all.
"But . . ." she began, aware of how feeble the word sounded.
"You were trying to save us," Duo continued, "and we appreciate that, we really do. We're all trained to die for our mission, but none of us really want that. Only an idiot would choose to die." His gaze hardened more as the next words poured forth, "But apparently even you didn't completely understand the consequences of the actions you took to ensure our safety."
What?!? This . . . this can't be coming from Duo . . . not Duo . . . I DID understand! Didn't I?
"She was pure!" Quatre screamed, doubling over with his emotional pain, Trowa doing his best to hold him upright, "She's tainted because you brought her here, you introduced her to OUR war, the kind where you can't fight without spilling human blood! Now she's alive, but she might as well be dead for all she sees or hears or knows! And if she ever wakes up, then you're going to rip her away from us! I know you are; that's what you planned from the beginning, isn't it? Bring her here, let her do her job, then take her back, isn't that it?"
Setsuna stepped backwards. This couldn't be true, these pained words from a boy who knew nothing about Time, or its concepts, or its consequences. He didn't know anything about the true power of the Crystal, or of the Moon. But . . . his words were true.
"She's our FRIEND, Setsuna! You brought her here to help us, to connect us . . . but did you really believe that you could do that and just take her back without upsetting the bond that you helped create? DID YOU?!?"
"I . . . Quatre . . . I never . . ." Setsuna stumbled, lost her grasp on the Time Staff and fell to the ground, wide-eyed. She finally realized exactly what she had done. How could she not have seen this? The little blonde spoke his heart, and it was all utterly true. Usagi would never again be content to go home, because she would be able to know nothing about the fates of the Gundam pilots. Her friends.
How could I not have seen this?
Usagi would return to the past because she must, but a part of her heart would forever belong in After Colony 195, split between five young, rash, and brave boys. Could that possibly be why NeoQueen Serenity had been more of a militaristic ruler than anyone thought? Because of their influence? Was there once a Timeline, now forgotten, when Crystal Tokyo had been ruled entirely through peace?
We will never know now . . .
She looked up to see the five pilots standing above her. In that moment they truly were as one, because they all had the same expression of disgust and anger on their faces, even kind Quatre. Perhaps he was even the most appalled at her actions, for he was the one having to go through Usagi's pain with her. He was the only one, besides the Queen, who knew exactly what had happened in those seconds after Usagi pressed the control for Alpha's buster rifle. He alone knew the exact damage Setsuna's miscalculation had and would cause.
"Maybe you should go." Trowa offered, his voice gentle although even he seemed to look on her with less respect than before. "We'll take care of Usagi-san until she revives."
The others nodded, and Setsuna realized that she had effectively been taken out of control. Words seemed inappropriate, and what could she say anyway, so she rose without speaking and retrieved her Time Staff. With that in hand, she concentrated on the Gate and took herself away from AC 195.


~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~


"Will she ever revive?" Wufei turned to Quatre, whose head was bent low between his shaking shoulders. The other four waited patiently for the boy to regain control of himself. At last, with some help from Trowa's comforting embrace, Quatre looked up at them with red-trimmed eyes.
"I don't know . . . I really don't know. I don't feel anything from her at all. It's as if she has no soul anymore."
"Then we may end up taking care of her for the rest of her life." Hiiro stated, quite matter-of-factly.
"Yes."
"If that happens, what will happen to the kingdom she's supposed to rule in her future?" Duo asked seriously, looking from each pilot to another, "It's in our past . . . how will that change the world as we know it?"
He looked over at Alpha as it rested peacefully amid the other Gundams, giving no indication of the havoc it had caused. No one else said a thing. He knew that they were thinking over his words, wondering, as he did, whether the world were already changing because of Usagi's condition, or if this was simply another stop on her road to destiny. How much would existence change if Usagi never ascended to her throne as NeoQueen Serenity? Could she have been that important to the past? And if she never did revive, could they truly care for her for the rest of her long life?
I guess we're going to find out . . .


End Chapter Sixteen.