Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Ivory Tower ❯ Chapter 1

 

Title: Ivory Tower, 1/?

 

Author: Quirk othe Trade

 

Series: Gundam Wing

 

Pairings: 2+5 for NOW, other pairings to follow as they pop up.

 

Archive: Yes, please! Just tell me where.

 

Commentary: Yes, please. ^_^ quirkothetrade@yahoo.com

 

Category: Alternate Universe/ Fantasy

 

Ratings: For now; PG. That will probably change as the story progresses, especially as I can't seem to help the lemon seasoning.

 

Warnings: There is major o-o-c here, folks. My mind's always a little off, and I think it wandered a little further than usual... also; my own messed up characters which have been invented for pure plot device-edness. There'll probably eventually be violence in some form, uncomfortable themes or ideas, gender confusion, miscommunication, etc.

 

Disclaimers: All standard disclaimers apply; I only own Gundam Wing in my dreams, and besides: I've already spent all my money on the merchandise. ^_^

 

A/N: I have majorly screwed with various deities at my leisure. This is a total work of fiction, though I have used J.E. Zimmerman's 'Dictionary of Classical Mythology' as a basic reference. Please keep an eye on the pairings, ratings and warnings: these *will* change as the story progresses. If anything's a bit confusing, tell me and I'll start leaving foot notes; sometimes I wished I came with foot notes... ^_^;;

 

Beta-ed by: Duo-Chan and Mako-Chan! Love ya, ladies!!

 

 

"Duo! Where are you?"

 

In a different universe, there is a mystical castle on the outskirts of a similar world. There are several mystical castles and what not on the outskirts of this world, but the one we are currently viewing is made of some dark stone, like onyx, and has a strange, innumerable number of dark, sinister things lurking about, though not as sinister as the person who is currently stalking its halls.

 

"DUO!!"

 

She had a thick bun of hair at the back of her head, and long waist length strands tumbling over her ears with eyebrow length bangs. All this hair is, of course, black. The form fitting dress is black with white ruffles at the hem, cuffs and around the square, cleavage-skimming neckline, and mother of pearl buttons marched down the front. Black hose encased her legs, and five-inch platform Mary Janes brought her height to a whopping five foot six. Her figure was rather curvy, and her face was sweet, pleasant and smiling- usually. Right now a frown marred her face, ebony brows scowling. But her most remarkable feature was, hands down, her eyes, black, star-littered night sky eyes, no white showing what so ever. She wasn't human, of course, and the words coming out of her mouth weren't terribly ladylike, either.

 

"-Little brat- why did I choose him again? -can never find him when I need him, always underfoot when I don't-bastard! Bastard!! Damn servants obey him more than me-" She halted in mid-rant, one platform heel halted in mid-step. "Of course! DUH-ME!"

 

Turning down another hallway, she marched east through the Hidden Palace.

 

The slender form stretched out on white satin sheets was dressed in a pair of black trousers and a black dress shirt, untucked. Black socks covered gracefully arched feet, and long chestnut hair plaited into a single strand was sprawled across the bed. Blond tipped red lashes were closed as their owner dreamed. Obsidian walls enclosed the bed and its reclining figure except for one wall of open glass sliding doors, draped in white satin curtains that billowed artistically in a nonexistent breeze.

 

The door set in the opposite wall burst open.

 

"Duo! I've got an errand for you to run!"

 

She bounded across the hard stone floor and flung herself down on her knees beside him on the huge bed, making it bounce.

 

His lashes lifted marginally, revealing slits of lavender blue.

 

"Wakey wakey, Duo! Up, up, up!" Almost every word was punctuated with a full body bounce most people grow out of by the time they turn twenty. "Don't make me skip commas now!"

 

"Magda Therese, don't you ever knock?"

 

She pouted for a second, then glared. "Hey, you're my chosen apprentice! When I say jump, you ask how high while in mid air! When I say I have an errand, you're supposed to say-"

 

He snorted and sat up, the illusion of sleepiness falling away. "What do you want me to do?"

 

She smiled insanely, her night sky eyes glittering. "Fate. Has. Taken. An. Apprentice."

 

Duo's brows shot up, hiding in his bangs from shock. "Dorothy took an apprentice?! She's FATE; is she even allowed five minutes to herself, much less letting someone else take over her office?"

 

"Hey, if I can do it, everyone can do it," Magda Therese shrugged. "Here's what I want you to do. I want you to go check out this new apprentice. I want to see before anyone else, or at least as soon as possible. Find out what you can."

 

"Won't we meet the new apprentice at its presentation ball?" Curling his legs underneath him, he shifted around to face her.

 

"You know me, Duo! Nosey, nosey, nosey! Or are you saying you can't get in there with all you so-called high and mighty skills?" She smirked tauntingly at him, crossing her arms over her chest.

 

"You know I can," he said, eyes narrowing at the implied insult. "Stop goading me. I'll do it already."

 

 

He floated forward, just enough to land safely on the small edge of ground available. Tucking his hands in his pockets, he closed his eyes and smiled. "I know you're there. So, your masters sent you to spy on the new apprentice, too?"

 

There was a vague snort and a couple of sighs, and several figures emerged from the edge of the shadowy forest that surrounded the Ivory Tower of Fate.

 

"Honestly, our masters are so nosey," complained Hilde, emerging from the underbrush. She was dressed in shades of green, as befit a gnome, one of the earth faerie, but not dressed in her normal garb. Forest green jeans, matching tee shirt, leather half boots topped off with a flannel were much better camouflage. Her short dark hair was hidden under a ball cap almost as faded as the flannel, reversed so that her bangs tumbled from the opening. Her blue eyes were vaguely petulant, and her skin glowed vaguely in the soft gloom. "Don't we deserve more respect than this?"

 

"Apparently not," replied Duo cheerfully, cracking an eye to look at her with a smile. Truthfully, he was glad to be doing something that would be mildly fun for a change. "Magda Therese alternated between being cutesy and threatening."

 

"At least your mistress HAS a cutesy side," said Relena. She had floated out of a tree. She was dressed in a light, airy gown a very pale shade of blue with long fluttery sleeves and satiny ballet slippers, her sylph wings flashing a guilty iridescent even in the half light. Her wheat colored hair, recently trimmed about her shoulders, was pulled back in a twist. The navy liner sketched in whorls around her eyes gave emphasis to her sky colored eyes. "All Aeolus said was 'Go. Get caught and suffer the consequences.'"

 

"We all have our orders,” said Trowa, fading in from the shadows. "And the Muses were... eager to learn what Dorothy's new apprentice looks like." The auburn haired man was dressed in modern casual too, faded denim, a white cotton muscle tee with a blue long sleeved work shirt, and scuffed leather boots.

 

“Wow. We're only missing… Heero and Quatre,” said Duo. “Wanna wait for them?”

 

“They may have already gone in,” said Relena.

 

“Nah, I would have sensed them like I did you.” Picking a tree, he settled under it. “You know Treize. He'll be just as curious as everyone else.”

 

“Hn.”

 

Everyone turned. Heero and Quatre floated down out of the gloom, wings working. Both wore leather boots and pants, Quatre draped with a silk sash that matched his aquamarine eyes over one shoulder and wrapped around his waist. Fine platinum hair smoothed itself out with their decrees in speed. Heero simply had his broad sword at the small of his back, the long leather straps draped across his bare chest. Sapphire eyes flashed even in the gloom, and his dark hair, always rather rebellious remained so.

 

“And the coronals of the general of the Armies of Light are here,” intoned Relena, and then snickered at the baleful look Quatre shot her. “Sorry.”

 

“You aren't sorry,” said Quatre darkly. “You're a typical sylph, full of mischief and mayhem. Sell it somewhere else, huh?”

 

“Who broke your wings?” asked Duo.

 

“Treize placed Quatre in extra training sessions with me.”

 

“I thought your master used Quatre purely for strategy?”

 

“He discovered Quatre has an untapped talent for fighting.”

 

Silence filled their unnatural grove, while Quatre glared at the ground at his feet.

 

“But Quat hates fighting,” said Relena, leaning forward, eyes intent with her protest. “Everyone knows that.”

 

“How cruel” said Hilde, her voice holding sorrow.

 

“Does Treize know of his empathy?” asked Trowa.

 

“No,” sighed the blonde. “There's no telling what he'd do with me then. The master of Light is more treacherous that even the Queen of Hell, more devious than Fortuna, more twisted than Fate.”

 

Everyone blinked, and looked around uneasily, abruptly remembering where they were.

 

“Okay, that's enough of that,” said Duo lightly, rising to his feet. “Let's go.”

 

Everyone started forward. There were no sounds; no animals, no whispering branches, just unnerving, unnatural silence. It took almost an hour for them to get within sight of the gardens that surrounded the very base of the Ivory Tower.

 

In the garden, on a silk cushion, sat a dark haired figure.

 

 

Dorothy sat gracefully on her pile of cushions beside the water mirror in the gazing room, silently watching her new charge. She was dressed in white and black marbled robes, sans the long veil and slippers. Her long hair didn't lay flat as normal hair did; the ends floated a good four feet away from her waist, continuously weaving themselves into the fabric of the universe and recording everything on this particular planet. Of course, if you didn't know that, it simply looked freaky. At the top of the gigantic tower, the gazing room was fairly spacious, with the vaulted ceiling rising up to the crystal eaves that allowed the moon to spill its light on the water mirror on its raised dais where black and white tile gave way to natural stone. In the pale light, everything had an eerie quality.

 

“Honestly, the other Archetypes are so nosey. And they send their poor apprentices at that. How obvious. Well, at least WuFei will have some advanced warning of what to expect at his ball.” She studied the pool. Poor WuFei- if he'd thought his mortal life was hell, he had no idea what it would be like as an apprentice. Perhaps she could do something to change that? “What? No one from Hell? No one from War? How disappointing. Maybe I need to make things a little more interesting…”

 

Lifting a hand tipped with beaten silver nail rings, she used a thought to bring a parchment scroll, pen and ink on a tray to her. Setting it in her lap, she mentally raised the feathery pen as she thought about what to write. A smile crossed her face, the limpid, pale blue eyes brightening. Then, she set pen to ink then paper.

 

 

“Who's there?”

 

They all jumped at the sudden break in the silence.

 

“Who's there?” The voice was now slightly impatient, and the person it came from rose from the black and white checked cushion to turn and face them.

 

“Sorry for the intrusion,” Duo said easily, automatically stepping forward. His eyes swept over the other.

 

A half veil covered the lower half of a pale gold face from the nose down to the chin. Above it, fantastic black eyes gazed calmly, if dismissively, at him. Robes similar to what Dorothy wore, only in white, draped and gathered around the small form, ending in black slippers. Only the long silver nail rings were missing and the waist length hair. This one's raven hair fell past the shoulders.

 

“I'm Duo.” He waved a hand. “Nice to meet you. Who are you?”

 

The eyes flashed something painful. “No one.”

 

“Everyone's someone” snorted Duo and he strode forward. Halting right in front of the stranger, he reached out a hand to grasp the other's chin. The eyes flinched, the head jerked back, and a strong hand grabbed his wrist before he ever made contact.

 

“Hey, I'm not going to hurt you.” Tone softening, he lifted his hand higher, to cup the other's cheek. They kept a firm grip on his wrist. “I'm going to name you… Sweetheart.”

 

The eyes flashed again. “Why?”

 

“Because everyone deserves to be someone.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because. You can be my sweetheart, if you like.”

 

The black eyes widened. “No- I mean- Why does everyone deserve to be someone?”

 

“Well… they just do. Right, guys?”

 

“Who are you talking to?”

 

“My friends, who came- Let me guess, there's nobody behind me, is there?”

 

The dark head moved in the negative.

 

Duo spun around, fury snapping a brief electric shock of indigo around him. “You guys are such JERKS!”

 

There was a muffled sound behind him that sounded suspiciously like a giggle, and he turned to see a pale gold hand pressed over veiled lips. The dark eyes were wide in half amusement, half shock.

 

“Hey, it's okay to laugh. I laugh all the time.” Duo smiled down at the other, who raised its head.

 

“My name… was WuFei.”

 

“Nice to meet you, WuFei.” His smile grew wider, his expression settling into gentleness.

 

“Please call me `Sweetheart'.” There was a tremor to the voice, as though mortally afraid of what was just said, and what could be said. In the eyes, there was a faint hesitation, and a faint sheen of tears.

 

“My pleasure.” Duo held out his elbow. “I've never seen the entire gardens. Can you show me?”

 

“Y-yes.” A small hand grasped the crook of his arm hesitantly. “If you like.”

 

“If you ever need me, call my name, and I'll be there.” He laid a hand comfortingly over the other's, still smiling. “Just say `Duo, Duo, Duo.'”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Their voices faded as they walked away, and slowly, five shapes materialized out of thin air.

 

“Duo does have a way about him, doesn't he?” sighed Relena. “Didn't he realize I'd cast `Invisibility'?”

 

“Duo doesn't get as much play time as the rest of us, AND he's never had the terror of being in on one of your little jokes.” answered Trowa. “Magda Therese may be the most complacent of all our masters, but her job is also one of the most demanding.”

 

“That's right. You've never dragged him into any of your little schemes,” said Heero, taking the opportunity to make a dig. “Like the time you stole Lady Clio's laurel wreath-”

 

“Which I had to fetch back,” mummered Trowa.

 

“OR, Treize's flaming sword, which Quatre and I had to fetch back. We still owe the Camaenae for telling us where and how to carry the damn thing.” Heero glared with the weight of five sleepless days and dozens upon dozens of years of remembered irritation, causing her to cringe. “We also still owe that hell spawn Adez for borrowing her master's cloak of night for us to wrap it in. You know, you never did tell us how you managed to carry it without it-”

 

“Then there was the time you stole Ares' shield, and he sent Miliardo after it, AND you,” said Hilde hurriedly. “Plus, all those other stunts. Honestly, how does your master put up with you?”

 

Relena cringed a little more under the weight of all her past sins. “I don't know.”

 

 

Dorothy winced as a piece of hair was pulled sharply and set down the quill. Closing her eyes, she focused on the ends of her hair. What she found made her eyes widen in shock. “Oh my. Someone's trying to wake Lord Endymion?”

 

Her mouth curved in a devious, bitchy smile. “How interesting.”

 

“WuFei.” Her voice took on a hypnotic quality as she reached out. “Come inside, please; we need to discuss plans for your ball.”

 

“Coming, Mistress.”

 

 

Duo turned his head from where he was bent over a particularly lovely ox blood rose. WuFei stood within reaching distance, a faraway look clouding onyx eyes that Duo was more than familiar with. “What's wrong, Sweetheart?”

 

“I have to go; my mistress is calling me.”

 

“Wait! Can't I see your face first?” He straightened completely and held a hand out beseechingly as the other made to run off.

 

Large black eyes stared up at him, and then pale gold hands carefully, hesitantly rose up. The veil came down slowly, and Duo drew in a breath as the rest of WuFei's features were revealed.

 

“Beautiful.” Without hesitating, he laid a kiss on one rose-blushed cheek, just beside cherry pink lips. Pulling away, he smiled and winked, hiding the sudden dizziness that assailed him. “You better go before your mistress gets angry. I'll show myself out, okay?”

 

He walked away and disappeared behind the plants, leaving WuFei blinking after him, veil crumpled in one hand.

 

TBC…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Author ID1: at Mon Oct 4 17:30:00 2004 ][Author ID1: at Mon Oct 4 17:30:00 2004 ][Author ID1: at Mon Oct 4 17:30:00 2004 ]

 

 

[Author ID1: at Mon Oct 4 17:30:00 2004 ][Author ID1: at Mon Oct 4 17:30:00 2004 ]1[Author ID1: at Mon Oct 4 17:30:00 2004 ]