Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Rynara's Cycle ❯ Chapter 2.0 ( Chapter 2 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Rynara's Cycle

Chapter II

By: Firey Angelwings

***Chapter 2 now…we are getting ready to start rolling. This chapter is really short (compared to my normal length) but I'm just keeping the communication lines pen. I'd prefer to do short, semi-frequent updates over long, never-happening updates. Not that this is my plan, but…

How is everyone? I feel like I'm out of touch, or something along those lines. Anyways, if the mood strikes you (or even if it doesn't), please remember to e-mail me you thoughts, reviews, ideas, whatever. I'm always open for a different point of view.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. Don't take me for such a stupid fool, as to believe that I own it. Why in hell, oh tell me why, would I be writing this if I wasn't? Use your logic, people. That's what it's there for.

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You really wouldn't believe how much has changed over this short time. I mentioned before that it seems as though I've been exiled…and the sensation never fades. How I wish, I pray, I hope that I can leave this place. This place…where they trap my conscience and make it battle with two different sides. To give up whatever it is that they want me to give up, they tug me in opposite directions.

And I ask again, why is it that every time this happens to myself in particular? I'd really hate to appear selfish, but now it really doesn't make a difference. So…why couldn't they pick up some random individual, out of the blue? Why is it I?

Why do they think that I am this person? The one that they refer to as Alariel? This person whom they talk about with reverence, but then transform it into disgust. Is this a being that is some part of me? An aspect that I have not uncovered, removed its dust?

And my brother, oh my brother. He dreamt things that hurt his eyes to see, though his eyes were closed the entire time. He dreamt visions of suffering: his own, my own, Noin's own…and I wonder. I wonder if they are all right. If they still breathe, if they still look up and can perceive the sky. Gods, I know nothing. The lack of knowledge in this place, which I now reside temporarily, is enough to drive one insane.

I can feel it. I'm approaching that edge. The fated edge of madness, I can hear the cackle rumbling in my chest as it tries to escape. I know, that if I let that crazy laughter outside into the real world, my mind will be lost for eternity. But so many beings rely on my existence.

Reliance. I despise it. I would spit on its shoes if it had any. Humans, they would rely on me when I held a position of political power. Their eyes would gaze up at my small form in great hopes that I could accomplish what they knew was the impossible. And yet, they still expected it of me, and when I could not give it to them, they ripped me apart to an extent that they could never comprehend. And these people, they rely on me now…

We have to fight them. But we cannot battle them in the manner in which we are accustomed. No, the Gundams, the mobile suits in all their shimmering glory could do nothing. It was not even attempted. Their cobwebs collect back on Mars.

Useless. Are we all useless?

One day before the anniversary:

“AAAGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

The loud and desperate wail peeled its way around the corners and through the hallways of the mansion. Any of the workers who walked amid the halls stopped in their progress for a moment, finding the source of the siren. As soon as they realized that source, they shrugged, or grinned, or both, and went back to their work.

Of course, they knew very well that the shout had been emitted from the Gundam pilot Duo Maxwell. Everyone in the mansion knew that he was attempting something he was very bad at: organizing. In this case, it was for all his friends to rendezvous in one spot for an anniversary which he found so very important.

Hilde strolled through the doorway of a large living room and scanned the setting. She rested her gaze on the form of Duo, now prostrate on the couch, clutching his hands to his temples, as if warding off all the invisible `bad guys'. She smirked and walked towards him

Resting a slender hand on his shoulder, she addressed him in amusement, “Something wrong, Duo?”

He rocketed out of his helpless position and glared with the ferocity of a lion. Most people, if they knew what was good for them, would have taken a cautious step back, in the least. Hilde, however, was evidently not one of these people. She only laughed.

Like a balloon, the flare of annoyance from Duo quickly deflated. His shoulders now hung weakly and he admitted, “I hate this.” He collapsed back onto the couch, his arms astray.

A flash of tenderness drew its path on Hilde's features, and she sat down beside him, rubbing his arm in a soothing motion. “Yeah, yeah. But you're almost done, right? I mean, the shuttle tickets are bought and sent, the whole gang alerted, well, except for Lena. What's left?”

He covered his eyes and groaned almost inaudibly, “Hotel reservations. And the stupid BASTARD hotel people aren't cooperating. They keep saying that it's too late and whatever the hell other excuse they have. What is wrong with people today? Why is this so hard??”

Fed up, was the image that Duo created right about now.

Apparently Hilde picked up on this, and as it always did, her conscience kicked in at exactly the wrong time. She suddenly pitied his quest, and how it might be completely ruined because of these… “Hotel people, Duo? Maybe you should give them a bit more respect.”

Rolling his eyes visibly now, Duo shrugged and justified himself half-heartedly. “Hey, I started with respect, but it just kept on decreasing, decreasing, decreasing. I'm not cut out for this stuff!” He stared at the ceiling.

Grinning she agreed. “No, you're not.” She leaned forward and pecked him on the forehead. “But you've done enough. I think these evil `hotel people' need a woman's touch, Duo.”

Enthusiasm shot through his body like a spark to a flame. His whole demeanor lightened up and he whirled to her, his hands clutching her willowy shoulders. “You mean that? Really?”

Her face dead serious, Hilde pushed his hands off her upper arms and stated, “No.”

Duo's face fell. He began to look away, that brilliant inner light extinguished, when she laughed jovially. She pushed his chest away good-naturedly, saying, “Ha ha ha. I'm joking with you, Duo! Lighten up. Of course I mean it. You really aren't any fun to be around when you're busy and stressed, anyways. Just don't forget….”

He was smiling again, already standing up. He turned and saluted, decreeing, “Yeah. I owe you one. Major.”

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There they were, the two of them. They were chatting in the regular manner; almost in a gossipy way. They're always talking about something, and he didn't have any interest in finding out what the subject was. Probably just one of those female things; men, clothes, whatever else.

Relena would kill him for thinking that, but she didn't have to know.

In the distance, he could make out several other people: the Gundam pilots, that girl Hilde, the scary woman Dorothy, Sally Po, whose company he enjoyed immensely… They were all here on this…empty plane of existence. Why were they here?

Dread rushed through him like a gust of powerful wind. Wind, that was his gift…but he didn't use it very much.

Somebody tapped him on the shoulder.

Obliging, he turned around and faced a man he had never seen before. Although, he seemed rather familiar, in some odd and inexplicable sense. Why was everything so bizarre and enigmatic? What was going on here?

This man was talking, but he couldn't hear a word he said. He opened his mouth to inform this stranger of that fact, but no sound emerged from his own vocal cords, either. No matter, who cares what some random person had to say, anyways?

Knowledge coursed through his mind. He knew something, but it did not make any sense. This…stranger, he wanted…

Definite thought came to view.

“Fire and wind do not mix, deserter. You do not obey the rules which must be obeyed.”

Chastising? What the hell? Was that the voice of this intruder upon this realm? Fire and wind…could he mean, could he be threatening himself and Relena? Questions, questions. An endless torrent of conjectures, all of them completely absurd.

He looked back towards Relena and Noin, the never-ending chatterboxes. But now…he could not perceive Lucrezia. Anywhere. Where had she gone? And his sister, she was looking blankly away, as if frozen in place by some invisible force.

Black clouds weaved their way through this place and they passed in front of her. She came back to life, color staining her cheeks as she regarded the mists with a curious expression, her head cocked to the side.

Although he had made no internal wish to do so, he glanced in another direction and discerned the figure of Heero Yuy. The boy, who really was no longer a boy, watched the area ahead of him like a hawk. He followed Heero's gaze and saw that the pilot was staring at an exact copy of himself.

Creepy and bizarre and uncanny. This seems to be a growing trend.

Agh, but who cares about Heero Yuy? He looked back to Relena.

She was completely swarmed by those dark clouds. Her expression was carefully guarded, but he could see apprehension from the cracks in her emotional armor. He watched in helplessness as the mist passed in front of her…and drew away again.

Relena was gone.

He whirled around to confront the stranger behind him but…he was no longer there.

In fact, there wasn't anyone there. Nobody. What had he been wondering about?

His mind was blissfully blank, and he didn't like it. His thoughts never stopped their steady rush and became stagnant.

“ENOUGH!!”

His own loud voice woke him up. Milliardo Peacecraft sat up unsteadily in his bed. He was alone. But hadn't he gone to sleep like this anyways?

Dreams. Just dreams. But the precious knowledge gained there was slipping away very rapidly.

Only dreams.

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