Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ LadyHawke ❯ Beginning ( Chapter 2 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: SkItZoFrEaK 
So the tale begins...
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 09.02.2001 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.6K | Visits: 287 | Status: Completed
So the tale begins...
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 09.02.2001 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.6K | Visits: 287 | Status: Completed
\\LadyHawke//
(Gundam Wing Style)
//By SkItZoFrEaK\\
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~
In the sewers, a faint scratching echoed through the darkness. Strangely, the scratching came from a thick wall of slime and mud...or rather, from behind it. Even stranger was the voice that accompanied the scratching. "...not impossible! Nothing is impossible! Come on, Mouse, dig! Dig!" The scratch, scratch, scratching went on, small, quick, and desperate, but growing slowly louder.
Had anyone been in the sewers just then, and had their eyes been properly equipped to see through the inky blackness, they would have been startled to see, up on the wall of seemingly solid mud, a thin white hand bursting through the muck, groping blindly at the empty air.
It's probably for the best that no one was there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
High above the sewers, in the misty dawn of the church courtyard, three bodies swung gently from the gallows. The soldiers, shivering even in the heavy livery of the Bishop of Aquila, waited for the last hooded figure to stop kicking feebly. With the weary, deliberate motions of men long accustomed to their work, they loosened the knots, hauled the corpses away, raised the trapdoors, and retied the nooses in preparation of the next set of victims.
"To attention!" The lieutenant on duty barked, and the nearby men at the gate snapped to a position so rigid it was amazing no bones were broken. The men at the scaffold, on the other hand, merely paused long enough to look up and mark the man who rode through the gates before returning to their duties.
Captain Zechs Marquise noticed neither the overzealous guards nor the negligent hangmen. He barely noticed anything at all, save the steady clop-clop of his horse's hooves and the steaming mug of brew in his gloved hand. He rubbed a hand over tired eyes and yelled blearily at the scaffold, "Three more."
He really had to stop staying up all night with the men on the wall. He wasn't needed, that was true, but somehow no matter how tired he was, the Captain of the Guard couldn't sleep in his own house at night. Her image kept appearing behind his closed eyelids, accusing and pleading no matter how hard he tried to push her away...
Zechs gulped another swallow of the hot liquid. It was daytime now, he reminded himself irritably. No point in dwelling on night demons. He had a job to worry about. Keeping His Grace happy was a difficult enough task without exhaustion to contend with.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Deep underground, underneath the cathedral, a large cavern glowed with the red light of a thousand torches and watch-fires. The light danced throughout the cavern, glinting off the many levels of steel and iron cages interlaced with wooden walkways and platforms patrolled by red and black-uniformed guards. Between the demonic uniforms and the fiendish firelight, the dungeon of Aquila was a hell unto itself. The gaunt, filthy people who inhabited the cages might have been compared to the lost souls that haunt the underworld, but where those souls were trapped throughout eternity, these pitiful beings never stayed long. Sooner or later the guards would come for them, transferring them away to their inevitable execution.
Not much is really known about these dungeons, and that may be entirely coincidence. Of course, the only people knowledgeable to speak of them are the guards themselves...and those who spend their shifts here are not often wont to speak at all.
One such guard was entering the lower level now; pointing to two grungy prisoners he passed. "Right there," he told three 'outside' guards following close behind, who were unaccustomed to the light, the prisoners' destitution, or the stench. The 'inside' guard, who came in and out every day for the last twelve years, paid their nervousness no heed. He raised his voice to another guard nearby. "They want Duo Maxwell," he bellowed above the noise.
"This is the cell," the fellow 'inside' yelled back.
The rusted iron door rose slowly, and the guard ducked under the low frame into the cell. He glanced around, and then called back in disgust. "Wrong cell, nitwit, I want Duo Maxwell, the one they call 'the Mouse'."
"The Mouse?" A new voice quavered from the opposite side of the cell. "The Mouse....he's left our house!" A filthy pile of rags shifted to reveal an even filthier old man. He grinned at the guard with his three yellowed teeth and laughed the giddy cackle of someone happily insane.
The guard stepped closer, unperturbed by the prisoner's leering smile or apparent madness. He'd seen much worse. "What?" he demanded.
"No Mouse today...he's gone away!" The old man laughed again, and his eyes stared benignly through the steel bars of the cage above, obviously pleased with his rhyming prowess. "To ease the pain..." he paused and furrowed his grimy brow, "...He's down the drain!"
The guard drew his short sword and smacked it sharply on the bars just above the old man's head, causing sparks to fly. "Where's the Mouse, old fool?!"
The sparks caught the prisoner's attention, as did the dangerously waving blade. He cringed away whimpering, "I already told you, gentle lord!"
"Take him," the guard ordered the 'outsiders' who had caught up to him by now. "Hang him. Search every sewer, every drain! Find him! Or Captain Marquise will hang you in his place!" The 'outsiders' gave him a confused glance, as if appraising whether or not he'd been down here too long. "You idiots!" he exploded. "Now!"
They scrambled to obey, dragging the old man out to the gallows. The 'inside' guard knelt back by the small square drain in the corner of the cell, which was mysteriously open. "Impossible," he muttered. "No one could escape through there!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Duo, had he heard the perplexed guard at that moment, might have been inclined to disagree. That is, if he had not been so otherwise occupied. He was hanging half out of the narrow pipe by now, straining to free his lower body from the confines of the rusty drain. "Come on, Mouse," he grunted. "It's not unlike escaping mother's womb..." the thought gave him a moment's pause. "God - what a memory."
A final heave, a twist of his legs, and with a yelp he was free from the pipe and plummeting into the darkness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the cathedral, Wufei looked up from where he knelt at the Bishop's feet, eyebrows rising almost to his tightly bound hair. The bells of Aquila were ringing - not unusual, save for they were ringing in the middle of mass! He glanced up at His Grace, the Bishop's thin lips were twisted into a slight grimace. He was displeased. Someone was going to have a very bad day over this blunder. Wufei bowed his head again and sent up thanks that it wasn't his neck to be stretched.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Duo hit the water below with a splash and sank beneath the muck. He bobbed back to the surface almost immediately, struggling to keep his head above water and forcing himself not to notice the horrific smell rising off the surface of the slime. He swam a bit, and then his feet hit a shallow spot and he tottered upright, pausing to try and adjust his eyes to the gloom. Over here, there seemed to be some faint sort of light - just enough to let him make out vague shapes. Like the large thing off to the right, the one that looked like some kind of large reptile...coming slowly at him....
Frozen fingers grasped his guts. "Oh no! No!" he yelled, thrashing away. His hands found an overhanging rock, and he heaved his body up, just barely out of the water, clinging to the stone.
The object picked up speed.
Duo stared at it in horror. "Lord, I swear I'll never pick another pocket as long as I live!" He gulped, still watching the thing looming closer. Was that a head? Oh, please, don't let it be a head, especially not one with teeth! "But here's the thing, Lord," he went on. "If you don't let me live, how can I prove my good faith to you? If you've heard me, then this ledge will remain steady as a rock, and that thing coming towards me won't be what I think it is..." the object was getting much closer now, waddling from side to side slightly. "If it is, then there's no hard feelings, of course - but I'd be very disappointed."
The shadow floated within touching distance, Duo bit his lip and held his breath...and the object spun lazily in the current.
A skull bone. A large animal skull bone, picked clean of flesh and totally harmless. Duo followed it's path into the darkness until it was lost to his eyes, and allowed himself to breath again, much to the regret of his nose.
"I don't believe it."
Ahead, a bright shaft of light spilled down from above, followed by the harmonious tones of a hymnal.
"I believe it," Duo amended in awe, sliding off his rock and wading towards the light. The light spilled down from a long shaft of stone. With a leap, Duo pulled himself up into the shaft and began climbing, quite literally, towards heaven.
"I'm coming Lord!" he called. "It's me, Duo! Duo, Lord!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wufei rose solemnly as the hymn ended and the monks began to chant. He took the gilded plate from the table and offered the holy relic to His Grace the Bishop. From the corner of his eye, he noted the white and gold uniform of the Captain of the Guard, striding casually along the back wall of the cathedral. His glittering mail shirt caught the early morning sunlight through the high stained glass windows, making him stand out spectacularly against the black or white robes the monks and priests wore.
Wufei suppressed a frown and turned his attention back to his duty. The Bishop would deal with the Captain. After the mass.
Above them, the bells continued to ring.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zechs also felt the urge to scowl, but unlike the Bishop's aide by the alter, he was making no efforts to hide it. It was taking all his discipline not to run up to the alter and tell the Bishop what his guard had told him, what the tolling bells of the cathedral tower told everyone. It was absolutely imperative that he search the city from sewer to attic, including the entire cathedral, right *now.* But he couldn't search the cathedral in the middle of morning mass, escaped prisoner or no.
If only the damned things didn't last so long, he growled mentally, and contented himself by glaring suspiciously at every robed figure within his view...which was pretty much everyone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The bells' rolling cries echoed throughout the nearby countryside, reaching the ears of one mounted figure. He was dressed entirely in black leather armor, complete with billowing black cloak that covered his head and face. He sat astride a large black horse, motionless as he listened. The only thing of any color that could be seen was the bright golden hawk that rested on his gloved wrist. The hawk baited for a minute, fluttering its wings, and then stilled, as if it too were listening to the distant chimes. The man stared at the city blankly, but something in his hooded eyes twisted with a flash of disbelief and hope.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You won't regret this, Lord," Duo said as he neared the top of the shaft. "I'm a wonderful person." He pulled himself up the last few treacherous inches and found himself facing a small, rectangular grate, not unlike the one he'd crawled through out of the dungeons. This one was wider, though, much better accommodated to a pious young man ascending into Heaven.
He peered through the grate, confused. The singing was replaced by a low chanting, and many white or black robed people stood with their backs to him...the cathedral, then. This was the cathedral.
Back along the wall was a small group of people clad in more normal attire - the wealthier class people were often allowed to attend morning masses on non-holy days. A little girl, less than enthralled by the proceedings of the Bishop and his aides, caught sight of Duo. She scooted over to him, smiling curiously. "Hello," she chirped. "What're you doing in there?"
"Get away!" Duo whispered anxiously, batting a hand at her. "Get away, get away!"
The girl's mother, who was paying strict attention to the mass, managed to glance away long enough to notice that her daughter had wandered off. "Come back!" she hissed, shuffling over and grabbing the child's pinafore. "Come back!" She dragged the girl away without looking down the grate.
Duo offered up silent thanks and decided this was as good a place as any to get out of these sewers. Maybe he could get lost in the crowds as they left - after all, not many knew what he looked like. He slid his fingers through the grate, but before he could shift it, heavy black boots squashed his fingers. With a cry and a curse, he lost his balance and went plunging once more into the water far below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zechs glanced down into the grate. For just a moment, he could have sworn he heard someone cry out...he shrugged. Probably his imagination. He was under a lot of stress at the moment, and it was hard to hear his own thoughts over all this chanting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For a moment, Duo panicked, disoriented under the muddy water. Then his well-trained survival instincts kicked in, and he swam.
His lungs were aching faintly when his hands found an iron grate blocking his way forward. Duo groped until he found a gap big enough to squeeze his body through, His lungs were starting to burn in earnest now, he needed AIR!
Blindly, he turned and swam in a way that he hoped was up.....the water was getting slightly brighter, but Duo didn't care....was that the surface? His whole body hurt with the need to breath, his eyes were starting to dim.....
With an explosive cough they must have heard in France, he broke the surface of the city reservoir.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally, the mass ended. The Captain was ordered to report to His Grace's veranda immediately.
He entered to find the Bishop staring across the balcony at the city beyond his lavish home's walls. He cleared his throat, and when that got no response he decided that this was no time for formalities. "There's disturbing news, Your Grace. One of the prisoners has escaped."
The Bishop's eyes widened, and his voice was like a tight whip crack. "No one ever escapes the dungeons of Aquila, Marquise. The people of the city accept that as a historical fact."
Zechs nodded. "The responsibility is mine."
"Yes."
"It would be a miracle if he manages to get through the sewage system."
"I believe in miracles, Marquise. It's part of my job."
Zechs felt a certain foreboding about this. He didn't like the idea of a prisoner escaping and ruining Aquila's perfect record anymore than His Grace, but unlike the Bishop, he had other things to deal with in his job besides the dungeons and the cathedral. "At any rate, Your Grace, 'tis only one insignificant petty thief."
"Great storms announce themselves with a simple breeze, Captain, and a single rebel spark can ignite the fires of rebellion." The Bishop countered, and there was a long pause as the two men considered each other.
"If he's out there, Your Grace, I shall find him."
"Yes."
(Gundam Wing Style)
//By SkItZoFrEaK\\
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~
In the sewers, a faint scratching echoed through the darkness. Strangely, the scratching came from a thick wall of slime and mud...or rather, from behind it. Even stranger was the voice that accompanied the scratching. "...not impossible! Nothing is impossible! Come on, Mouse, dig! Dig!" The scratch, scratch, scratching went on, small, quick, and desperate, but growing slowly louder.
Had anyone been in the sewers just then, and had their eyes been properly equipped to see through the inky blackness, they would have been startled to see, up on the wall of seemingly solid mud, a thin white hand bursting through the muck, groping blindly at the empty air.
It's probably for the best that no one was there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
High above the sewers, in the misty dawn of the church courtyard, three bodies swung gently from the gallows. The soldiers, shivering even in the heavy livery of the Bishop of Aquila, waited for the last hooded figure to stop kicking feebly. With the weary, deliberate motions of men long accustomed to their work, they loosened the knots, hauled the corpses away, raised the trapdoors, and retied the nooses in preparation of the next set of victims.
"To attention!" The lieutenant on duty barked, and the nearby men at the gate snapped to a position so rigid it was amazing no bones were broken. The men at the scaffold, on the other hand, merely paused long enough to look up and mark the man who rode through the gates before returning to their duties.
Captain Zechs Marquise noticed neither the overzealous guards nor the negligent hangmen. He barely noticed anything at all, save the steady clop-clop of his horse's hooves and the steaming mug of brew in his gloved hand. He rubbed a hand over tired eyes and yelled blearily at the scaffold, "Three more."
He really had to stop staying up all night with the men on the wall. He wasn't needed, that was true, but somehow no matter how tired he was, the Captain of the Guard couldn't sleep in his own house at night. Her image kept appearing behind his closed eyelids, accusing and pleading no matter how hard he tried to push her away...
Zechs gulped another swallow of the hot liquid. It was daytime now, he reminded himself irritably. No point in dwelling on night demons. He had a job to worry about. Keeping His Grace happy was a difficult enough task without exhaustion to contend with.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Deep underground, underneath the cathedral, a large cavern glowed with the red light of a thousand torches and watch-fires. The light danced throughout the cavern, glinting off the many levels of steel and iron cages interlaced with wooden walkways and platforms patrolled by red and black-uniformed guards. Between the demonic uniforms and the fiendish firelight, the dungeon of Aquila was a hell unto itself. The gaunt, filthy people who inhabited the cages might have been compared to the lost souls that haunt the underworld, but where those souls were trapped throughout eternity, these pitiful beings never stayed long. Sooner or later the guards would come for them, transferring them away to their inevitable execution.
Not much is really known about these dungeons, and that may be entirely coincidence. Of course, the only people knowledgeable to speak of them are the guards themselves...and those who spend their shifts here are not often wont to speak at all.
One such guard was entering the lower level now; pointing to two grungy prisoners he passed. "Right there," he told three 'outside' guards following close behind, who were unaccustomed to the light, the prisoners' destitution, or the stench. The 'inside' guard, who came in and out every day for the last twelve years, paid their nervousness no heed. He raised his voice to another guard nearby. "They want Duo Maxwell," he bellowed above the noise.
"This is the cell," the fellow 'inside' yelled back.
The rusted iron door rose slowly, and the guard ducked under the low frame into the cell. He glanced around, and then called back in disgust. "Wrong cell, nitwit, I want Duo Maxwell, the one they call 'the Mouse'."
"The Mouse?" A new voice quavered from the opposite side of the cell. "The Mouse....he's left our house!" A filthy pile of rags shifted to reveal an even filthier old man. He grinned at the guard with his three yellowed teeth and laughed the giddy cackle of someone happily insane.
The guard stepped closer, unperturbed by the prisoner's leering smile or apparent madness. He'd seen much worse. "What?" he demanded.
"No Mouse today...he's gone away!" The old man laughed again, and his eyes stared benignly through the steel bars of the cage above, obviously pleased with his rhyming prowess. "To ease the pain..." he paused and furrowed his grimy brow, "...He's down the drain!"
The guard drew his short sword and smacked it sharply on the bars just above the old man's head, causing sparks to fly. "Where's the Mouse, old fool?!"
The sparks caught the prisoner's attention, as did the dangerously waving blade. He cringed away whimpering, "I already told you, gentle lord!"
"Take him," the guard ordered the 'outsiders' who had caught up to him by now. "Hang him. Search every sewer, every drain! Find him! Or Captain Marquise will hang you in his place!" The 'outsiders' gave him a confused glance, as if appraising whether or not he'd been down here too long. "You idiots!" he exploded. "Now!"
They scrambled to obey, dragging the old man out to the gallows. The 'inside' guard knelt back by the small square drain in the corner of the cell, which was mysteriously open. "Impossible," he muttered. "No one could escape through there!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Duo, had he heard the perplexed guard at that moment, might have been inclined to disagree. That is, if he had not been so otherwise occupied. He was hanging half out of the narrow pipe by now, straining to free his lower body from the confines of the rusty drain. "Come on, Mouse," he grunted. "It's not unlike escaping mother's womb..." the thought gave him a moment's pause. "God - what a memory."
A final heave, a twist of his legs, and with a yelp he was free from the pipe and plummeting into the darkness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the cathedral, Wufei looked up from where he knelt at the Bishop's feet, eyebrows rising almost to his tightly bound hair. The bells of Aquila were ringing - not unusual, save for they were ringing in the middle of mass! He glanced up at His Grace, the Bishop's thin lips were twisted into a slight grimace. He was displeased. Someone was going to have a very bad day over this blunder. Wufei bowed his head again and sent up thanks that it wasn't his neck to be stretched.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Duo hit the water below with a splash and sank beneath the muck. He bobbed back to the surface almost immediately, struggling to keep his head above water and forcing himself not to notice the horrific smell rising off the surface of the slime. He swam a bit, and then his feet hit a shallow spot and he tottered upright, pausing to try and adjust his eyes to the gloom. Over here, there seemed to be some faint sort of light - just enough to let him make out vague shapes. Like the large thing off to the right, the one that looked like some kind of large reptile...coming slowly at him....
Frozen fingers grasped his guts. "Oh no! No!" he yelled, thrashing away. His hands found an overhanging rock, and he heaved his body up, just barely out of the water, clinging to the stone.
The object picked up speed.
Duo stared at it in horror. "Lord, I swear I'll never pick another pocket as long as I live!" He gulped, still watching the thing looming closer. Was that a head? Oh, please, don't let it be a head, especially not one with teeth! "But here's the thing, Lord," he went on. "If you don't let me live, how can I prove my good faith to you? If you've heard me, then this ledge will remain steady as a rock, and that thing coming towards me won't be what I think it is..." the object was getting much closer now, waddling from side to side slightly. "If it is, then there's no hard feelings, of course - but I'd be very disappointed."
The shadow floated within touching distance, Duo bit his lip and held his breath...and the object spun lazily in the current.
A skull bone. A large animal skull bone, picked clean of flesh and totally harmless. Duo followed it's path into the darkness until it was lost to his eyes, and allowed himself to breath again, much to the regret of his nose.
"I don't believe it."
Ahead, a bright shaft of light spilled down from above, followed by the harmonious tones of a hymnal.
"I believe it," Duo amended in awe, sliding off his rock and wading towards the light. The light spilled down from a long shaft of stone. With a leap, Duo pulled himself up into the shaft and began climbing, quite literally, towards heaven.
"I'm coming Lord!" he called. "It's me, Duo! Duo, Lord!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wufei rose solemnly as the hymn ended and the monks began to chant. He took the gilded plate from the table and offered the holy relic to His Grace the Bishop. From the corner of his eye, he noted the white and gold uniform of the Captain of the Guard, striding casually along the back wall of the cathedral. His glittering mail shirt caught the early morning sunlight through the high stained glass windows, making him stand out spectacularly against the black or white robes the monks and priests wore.
Wufei suppressed a frown and turned his attention back to his duty. The Bishop would deal with the Captain. After the mass.
Above them, the bells continued to ring.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zechs also felt the urge to scowl, but unlike the Bishop's aide by the alter, he was making no efforts to hide it. It was taking all his discipline not to run up to the alter and tell the Bishop what his guard had told him, what the tolling bells of the cathedral tower told everyone. It was absolutely imperative that he search the city from sewer to attic, including the entire cathedral, right *now.* But he couldn't search the cathedral in the middle of morning mass, escaped prisoner or no.
If only the damned things didn't last so long, he growled mentally, and contented himself by glaring suspiciously at every robed figure within his view...which was pretty much everyone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The bells' rolling cries echoed throughout the nearby countryside, reaching the ears of one mounted figure. He was dressed entirely in black leather armor, complete with billowing black cloak that covered his head and face. He sat astride a large black horse, motionless as he listened. The only thing of any color that could be seen was the bright golden hawk that rested on his gloved wrist. The hawk baited for a minute, fluttering its wings, and then stilled, as if it too were listening to the distant chimes. The man stared at the city blankly, but something in his hooded eyes twisted with a flash of disbelief and hope.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You won't regret this, Lord," Duo said as he neared the top of the shaft. "I'm a wonderful person." He pulled himself up the last few treacherous inches and found himself facing a small, rectangular grate, not unlike the one he'd crawled through out of the dungeons. This one was wider, though, much better accommodated to a pious young man ascending into Heaven.
He peered through the grate, confused. The singing was replaced by a low chanting, and many white or black robed people stood with their backs to him...the cathedral, then. This was the cathedral.
Back along the wall was a small group of people clad in more normal attire - the wealthier class people were often allowed to attend morning masses on non-holy days. A little girl, less than enthralled by the proceedings of the Bishop and his aides, caught sight of Duo. She scooted over to him, smiling curiously. "Hello," she chirped. "What're you doing in there?"
"Get away!" Duo whispered anxiously, batting a hand at her. "Get away, get away!"
The girl's mother, who was paying strict attention to the mass, managed to glance away long enough to notice that her daughter had wandered off. "Come back!" she hissed, shuffling over and grabbing the child's pinafore. "Come back!" She dragged the girl away without looking down the grate.
Duo offered up silent thanks and decided this was as good a place as any to get out of these sewers. Maybe he could get lost in the crowds as they left - after all, not many knew what he looked like. He slid his fingers through the grate, but before he could shift it, heavy black boots squashed his fingers. With a cry and a curse, he lost his balance and went plunging once more into the water far below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zechs glanced down into the grate. For just a moment, he could have sworn he heard someone cry out...he shrugged. Probably his imagination. He was under a lot of stress at the moment, and it was hard to hear his own thoughts over all this chanting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For a moment, Duo panicked, disoriented under the muddy water. Then his well-trained survival instincts kicked in, and he swam.
His lungs were aching faintly when his hands found an iron grate blocking his way forward. Duo groped until he found a gap big enough to squeeze his body through, His lungs were starting to burn in earnest now, he needed AIR!
Blindly, he turned and swam in a way that he hoped was up.....the water was getting slightly brighter, but Duo didn't care....was that the surface? His whole body hurt with the need to breath, his eyes were starting to dim.....
With an explosive cough they must have heard in France, he broke the surface of the city reservoir.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally, the mass ended. The Captain was ordered to report to His Grace's veranda immediately.
He entered to find the Bishop staring across the balcony at the city beyond his lavish home's walls. He cleared his throat, and when that got no response he decided that this was no time for formalities. "There's disturbing news, Your Grace. One of the prisoners has escaped."
The Bishop's eyes widened, and his voice was like a tight whip crack. "No one ever escapes the dungeons of Aquila, Marquise. The people of the city accept that as a historical fact."
Zechs nodded. "The responsibility is mine."
"Yes."
"It would be a miracle if he manages to get through the sewage system."
"I believe in miracles, Marquise. It's part of my job."
Zechs felt a certain foreboding about this. He didn't like the idea of a prisoner escaping and ruining Aquila's perfect record anymore than His Grace, but unlike the Bishop, he had other things to deal with in his job besides the dungeons and the cathedral. "At any rate, Your Grace, 'tis only one insignificant petty thief."
"Great storms announce themselves with a simple breeze, Captain, and a single rebel spark can ignite the fires of rebellion." The Bishop countered, and there was a long pause as the two men considered each other.
"If he's out there, Your Grace, I shall find him."
"Yes."