Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Shadow Lands ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: Don't own….damn…

Rating: R

Pairings: Relena + Heero, Duo x Heero, Relena x Dorothy, Solo x Lily

Warnings: Relena Bashing, AU, Yaoi, Yuri, Magic

Summary: Heero, Emperor of the Yuy Empire, has his own share of problems, the neighboring country of Sanq is declaring war, his wife is having affairs, and worse of all, his fifteen year old daughter and heir to the throne is kidnapped. Soon a thief enters the picture and promises to lead Heero to his daughter, but love is blossoming and soon, everything will make sense…

Please Read & Review! Flames Are Welcomed!

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Chapter Two

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Lily looked down the great hall. She sat in the middle of the long table, and her parents set at opposite ends, Heero seating at the right end, and Relena at the left end. It was a beautiful Saturday morning. The sun had begun to rise and her warm red fingers stretched across the sky as the roosters from miles away cawed, waking them. The chirps and the morning songs of birds began to play across the land as the cattle grazed on freshly blooming morning glories.

"Remember, Lillian, you have lessons with me today," Relena's voice rang from down the table, snapping Lily out of her daydream.

"Relena," Heero began, "I wanted to take Lillian on a tour to the country side." Relena shot her own death glare, and although it's very unlikely that Heero would back down, he did, understanding that this was her time with their daughter.

"There will be need for that," Relena snapped, "I'll be taking her to the East Village and we'll be visiting the seamstress." Lily, realizing things could get ugly, excused herself and exited the room from another hidden tapestry door. Yelling carried down the corridors and Lily flinched at the sudden outburst from her parents.

"Lilly!" a voice shouted down the corridor and Lily turned to see her father's advisor's daughter, and one of her best friends, Jia Chang, running down the corridor. Her long black hair bounced from side to side as she came closer to Lily.

"Where were you yesterday?" Jia asked, "I asked the guards and your father and they said they haven't seen you at all."

"Promise you won't tell anyone?" Lily questioned and Jia nodded, "Not even your brother, you know how protective he can be."

"Yes, yes, Lily, I promise," Jia added, "not even my brother."

"Alright…" Lily dragged her down into her room and locked the door. Making sure no one was listening, she began to tell her how she had tied up Instructor Jove when he fell asleep, snuck over the wall and made it into the village's market place where she had met Solo, to their departure, and how she had snuck back into the palace. It was a fifteen minute story and it would have been shorter if Jia hadn't been asking so many questions.

"How romantic," Jia replied with a dreamy expression in her black eyes, "You must see him again."

"I can't," Lily replied, flopping down on her bed, her face engulfed in the covers, "I don't know anything about him…"

"That's why you get to know him," Jia grabbed a pillow and hit Lily over her head with it, goose feathers flying from the stitching. Lily grabbed another pillow and hit Jia and soon a pillow fight had erupted. A knock on the door ceased their giggling and Relena stormed in, looking mad as hell…

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An erupt of laughter rose from the band of thieves that were staying at an inn not too far from the East Village. Rum and whiskey were passed around, puffs from pipes were taken, and floozies weaved in and out of the pup, some leaving with men, others with women. Items that had been stolen or bought were being traded or purchased. Bar maids busied themselves with taking orders and delivering rum to the customers. The Inn was packed more than they ever had been.

Duo looked across the table at his godson who sat silently in the dark corner,

nursing his beer. "What'd you get, Solo?" Duo asked his dreadfully quiet companion.

"This," Solo replied, reaching into his cloak and pulling out a necklace made of sparkling sapphires and diamonds. A low whistle escaped Duo's lips as he took the necklace and examined it.

"This'll be worth something in the next city," Duo stated, now examining the silver chain that held the jewels in place. A large man wearing a dirty, patched yellow tunic approached the two in the corner. He reeked of alcohol and spoke with a slur as he mock saluted the two in the corner.

"Yeh, two s'rs, need ter be going," He said, "Guards f'om the 'oyal city ha'e bin seen head'd this way." The man hiccupped and left, leaving the two alone.

"Well," Duo began, "I guess we need to head on toward the city. Come on So." The two stood and went to retrieve their unibanged friend, Trowa from a corner he was lurking in, his one emerald eye visible. They gathered a few of the drunken members in their band and left, heading for the city.

================================================================ < p>Lily had learned a very valuable lesson that day: never let your mother brush your hair when she is mad at your father. Relena had been in such as angry mood that she had gone to taking chunks of hair from Lily's scalp, which Lily assumed that somewhere under all the twisting braids, her head was bleeding.

The country side rolled by as Lily stared out the carriage's open window to the White City. The autumn air blew a soft wind carrying the smell of spices to the carriage's occupant's noses. Rosemary, thyme, and dill tickled their senses and caused a sleepy feeling in the carriage and Lily felt herself drifting slowly into a sleep.

"Honestly, Lillian, I don't see why you were that thing," Relena said, staring at the dark blue cloak that Lily had wrapped around her shoulders and drawn her hood over her hair, "Really, you have better clothes than that old thing. You've had it for years."

Lily sighed as they came to a stop at the White City's local seamstress. The door opened and the coachman came into view and helped the Queen out of the carriage. He bowed to Lily and Jia as they stepped out and entered the seamstress's store where the Queen was busy talking to the plump old woman enthusiastically. The woman bustled over to the two girls as they stood in the doorway.

"Hullo, mi dears," the woman said. She had white hair that had been tied tightly into a bun high upon her head and Jia was sure her mother would be jealous at how evenly placed it was. "My name is Rita," the seamstress continued, "And you must be the princess." She pinched Lily's cheek and Lily allowed her to lead her to a stool that had been brought out by another woman who Jia and Lily assumed must be her daughter.

"My, my, milady, you have a tiny waist," the seamstress had pulled a paper measuring tape from a fold in her dress and had begun measuring her. Relena strolled around the shop, examining silks of brilliant colors and laces, pulling ones she fancied from the shelves and handing them to the seamstress's assistant.

"Now, Rita," Relena began, handing more fabrics to the assistant, "I want her to have a gown." Relena watched as Rita unclasped Lily's cloak and begun to measure her neck, bust, and arms, stopping each time to muter about underfed children.

"Any particular style or color?" Rita asked, peering over her quill as she wrote down measurements.

"Yes, bell sleeved, but I want the skirt to be more full," Relena continued, "and I want it in a pale pink…"

"Blue," Lily added, "No pink."

"Yes, yes, whatever, blue then, no pink. And how about a few Flemish gowns?"

"Oh yes, that's one of my specialties," Rita replied as she wrote the styles and colors of the dresses on the side of the parchment.

"Do you also tailor shoes?" Relena asked, "Lillian's boots are getting quite old and out of style…"

"Yes, milady," Rita said, "My husband does the tailoring and I'm sure he'd be more than happy than to shoe the future Empress…"

"Good, good." Rita disappeared and had went to get her husband who looked a little younger than him even though his hair and beard were pure silver and glinted in the dim candlelight. He measured Lily's feet and her boots and like his wife, asked the Queen what style she'd prefer her daughter wear.

It was a long morning, and Rita promising that she'd have Lily's dresses done in a days time and would send them to the palace, allowed Jia and Lily leave (provided that Jia's brother, Jin, who was assigned to guard the carriage follow them) while Relena was fitted for new dresses and shoes.

"That was boring," Lily told Jia as they walked down the street.

"Yes, it was," added Jia.

"Will you two slow down?" Jia's brother Jin asked as the two were practically running. Jin had shoulder length black hair like his sister, but instead of keeping it loose like her, he had tied it back like his father with a black leather thong and he had equally dark onyx eyes like his father. He was well built and muscular and was easily one of the best royal guards and often took part as a body guard when traveling with the royal family.

"No," Jia replied as she steered Lily to a display on the street where jewelry and flowers were being sold.

"You cloak," Jin reminded Lily as she entered the crowd. Jin heard Lily sigh in frustration as she pulled the hood of her cloak over her head to only the slits of her eyes down to her chin could be seen.

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"We're here," Trowa stated from inside the covered wagon as the band of thieves entered through the White City's gates. Duo's head peered through the flap in the wagon's cover.

"We're here," he said, nodding and the few thieves they had jumped through the back of the wagon and scattered to various places. Solo helped steered the wagon to the square and settle the horses that they had brought. Solo's uncle Trowa had disappeared the minute the wagon had stopped and was off to do his business. Duo unhooked the wagon's cover and set up the stolen goods that they were intending to sell.

The autumn sun was high when they had finished and customers had started to arrive. Solo, not having a very good experience dealing with people left his godfather to his own devices and went in search to find his uncle.

When Solo had found his uncle, he was in a small pub, sitting in the corner and peering at people threw his one visible green eye. Solo joined Trowa at the table and even though they were both quite, they understood the meaning of each other's silence.

"Go to the market square," Trowa said in a low voice, looking at his nephew.

"Why?" Solo questioned, never truly understanding the power and the foresight his uncle saw when he had meditated.

"You'll find something your looking for."

"All right," Solo stood and left the bar, waving over his shoulder at his uncle. He walked down the street, his black cloak billowing in the breeze. The moment he turned on the corner and entered down the square, the sound of a large crowd hit his ears as they bustled back and forth. Looking around, he could see many people from different villages coming to sell and if you looked well enough, you could see the band of thieves Solo was with either stealing or buying items. It was then that Solo saw a pair of dark blue eyes from underneath the hood of a cloak.

'There's only one person I know of that has those eyes,' Solo thought as he plunged into the crowd after the pair of eyes that had disappeared a second ago.

"Lily, look at this," Solo heard someone say. He immediately started to look around and soon spotted a dark blue cloaked figure with a black haired woman.

"Gorgeous," Lily said as she examined the well cut amber gem incased inside a ring.

"You may purchase it, milady, for one silver and three bronze pieces," replied the salesmen. His smile grew wider as Lily handed him the coins. The man wrapped the ring in the folds of scrap parchment and put it in a box for the two ladies.

"Thank you, misses," the man said as he handed the box to Lily. Solo watched as Lily and her friend walked away.

"Happy Birthday," Lily said, handing the box to Jia.

"It's not my birthday."

"I know," Lily replied, "but you liked it better than I did, and besides I have enough rings as it is…"

"Thank you," Jia said, unwrapping the ring and placing it on her ring finger before hugging Lily.

"Your welcome."

"Where'd Jin go?" Jia asked, looking around.

This alerted Lily, too, and realized that Jin was not following them at all, "I don't know, he could be lurking about anywhere."

Jia shrugged, "Yes, I suppose your right." And the two continued walking. They were about to leave the square when a sudden voice called out.

"Lilly!" It was an awfully familiar voice to Lily's ears and it even had Jia looking around, hoping it was her brother, but instead, Jia was quite shocked. A man was approaching them, a man that was not her brother…