...Or, The Fairytale Where Quatre Isn't The Princess For Once.

Well, this one was a whirlwind of a story, the plot bunny hitting me and INSISTING I finish within a month. Which I did. This is not the epic crossover I have been talking about, but rather a sort break from it that helped me recharge my creativity.

In case I need to make it explicit, this is a retelling of "The Princess Bride" except with our Gundam boys (and a few girls) involved. Not everybody is cast exactly according to their Gundam personalities, however. That's the nature of fairytales. Oh well. Also, major props to whoever put up the entire transcription of "The Princess Bride" online. I would have had to watch the movie eighteen million times to get all the dialogue right where I used it. It may be worth rewatching the movie to get some of the connections I drew – this is not a direct parallel, but some parts certainly shine through unexpectedly.

Obviously I don't own "The Princess Bride" or Gundam Wing. I just mashed them together into a lovely sandwich of cuteness.

I'll be putting up a chapter a week barring anything untoward happening. The story is totally done, so there should be no delay other than, you know, real life.

Lastly, awesome thanks to my beta, to whom I read this story aloud over the course of two nights. She laughed and shouted at me and we had some of the very conversations you'll get in what she calls "the second part." "The Princess Bride" is a story being told. I'm only telling it to you as it was already told to me...

Enjoy!

Heero Yuy was born and raised in the country of Sanc. The orphaned son of a master warrior, he had been trained from birth to the arts of battle, earning a place amidst the Royal Guard of the Peacecraft monarchy as a child. The winter he turned fifteen years of age, Heero defeated the captain of his troupe in single-combat and won the prestigious role of chief knight of Her Highness, Princess Relena. Heero found the girl, who was many years younger than himself, to be quiet and brave, and he devoted himself to improving his skills that he might keep her from all harm.

With his promotion, Heero was granted the use of private quarters and a valet of his own, a young man known only as Quatre, but Heero never called him that. For all that Heero was a skilled warrior and a member of the Royal Guard, he was still young himself and arrogant besides, and so never ceased in tormenting the valet from dawn to dusk with nearly impossible tasks. From demands that his valet polish his many swords until each shone like the full moon on a still lake to complaining that a tunic did not exactly match the dark blue of his eyes and how was he to wear it before the princess that way – Heero made his valet's life an unending toil for impossible perfection. And yet, Quatre obeyed every order, no matter how unkind, accomplished his tasks no matter how undoable, and only ever answered his master with "Ninmu ryokai."

Quatre had served Heero faithfully for a full year before Heero learned what the strange words meant. They were the same oath, in the language of another land, he himself had given when the safety of Princess Relena had been entrusted to him. In essence Quatre met his every order by saying, "I accept this mission," or, as Heero had said then, "Mission accepted."

When Heero realized that his valet had taken up serving him with the same fervor he showed to his own charge, Heero's heart turned towards the young man a little more warmly. He noticed for the first time how kind Quatre was, not only to himself in spite of his cold and demanding nature, but to all who crossed his path. Quatre's eyes, not the dark blue of a storm like Heero's but brighter and calmer like the green line of the shore when at sea, were always gentle and hopeful even when his hands bled from the rough soaps that he used to clean Heero's leathers. He had a ready smile for everyone he met, everyone but Heero, to whom he bowed politely, never raised his eyes beyond what befit his station, and simply repeated "ninmu ryokai."

It was another year before Heero realized that when Quatre spoke his oath to Heero, he was not only accepting his master's orders; for Quatre, "ninmu ryokai" was also his way of saying "I love you."

Heero should have dismissed the blond young man the instant the realization hit him, but he found he had been struck utterly dumb instead – Quatre had lifted his eyes for the first time, and the intensity of their gaze met and overpowered Heero's own. Heero wasn't even sure what he had ordered his valet to do in a desperate attempt to get the other man to quit looking at him so; he only knew he had grappled with the soul of another who was strong and willful and steady, a soul that had already given itself to him, and only barely escaped.

Spring had not yet turned to summer when Heero also realized that he truly loved Quatre in return. As little as he knew him, as little as they had ever interacted but for the soldier to give his valet instructions, his heart was inextricably bound up in that bright gaze and soft smile. And as the sun began to set on Midsummer's Day, he gathered his courage to tell him so.

"Quatre," Heero called into the small room off his own quarters that belonged to his valet; he had given orders yesterday that Quatre was to stay with him all day and not join the other servants in their Midsummer's Day revels – unusually harsh even for him, but he had not wished to have him out of his sight before this moment.

Quatre rose from where he had been writing in his own language at the small table in his room – Heero knew neither what language that was or how a peasant had come to learn reading and writing – and stood at proud attention. From the day Quatre had met his eyes blazingly for the first time, he had not lowered his gaze for his master unless they were in public.

"Come with me," Heero said simply. He strode out, cognizant of Quatre's light steps behind and just to the left, as befitted a valet. The warrior led the way out of the castle to the stables, where he mounted his favorite horse, a black stallion named Winged. As he settled in the saddle, he called over his shoulder for the groom to bring out another horse. Quatre's face betrayed no surprise, his expression carefully schooled, as he was ordered to mount a plain brown mare, nothing special, but a horse of his own rather than walking alongside. Within moments, they were away from the smells and sounds of the city and out into the forest beyond. Heero led the way along a path he knew well.

The shadows had grown long when they stopped beside a small farmhouse. Heero dismounted, opening the paddock with old familiarity and turning out his horse, waiting for Quatre to do the same. Then he strode past the house to the nearby hill that afforded a beautiful view of the distant cliffs that dropped away to the sea beyond.

"Quatre," he said after a moment, "stand beside me. Not behind me."

Quatre moved so that they were shoulder to shoulder, but looked straight ahead and said nothing.

"Do you know why I have brought you here?"

Silence.

"This was my home once," Heero said. "Before my father died, this was the home I shared with him. Princess Relena has always permitted me to take care of it. Nothing at the castle matters, for none of it is real. It is all part of my duty, my mission. Only that which is truly mine, only that which is my life, resides here."

Heero might have imagined the tiny stiffening of Quatre's straight spine, but he didn't think he had.

"Quatre," Heero turned to him, and the blond turned as well, that firestruck gaze linking them once more, "when the time comes that I am someday defeated and lose my place at the princess's side, I want you to return here with me. Not as a valet. As an equal."

"Ninmu ryokai," Quatre said softly, his face still and unreadable.

"You speak to all but me, in the castle or in the city, to dozens of strangers," Heero felt something cold clutch his stomach. "I know you speak this language. But you do not speak to me. I believe it is because there is something you wish to say, and you cannot say anything else before that so you say nothing at all. Please," and he swallowed a tension he never ever felt on a battlefield, "please tell me what it is."

He didn't hesitate for a moment. "Kimi wa ai shiteru."

"And in the language of your heart, Quatre, what does that mean?"

"It means," Quatre's voice was firm, "that you are special and important to me, that I care for you far more than I should, and that I love you beyond what my station permits me, and always will."

"Good." Heero smiled, and it was a smile he almost never permitted anyone to see. "My father taught me that the only way to live a good life is to act on your emotions. His wisdom has never led me wrongly. So I give you this order, Quatre, and I hope you will accept it: forget that you are my valet in this moment and face me as you would were we alone before the gods."

There was a brief war on Quatre's expressive face, as his pale cheeks flushed and his brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed, and Heero longed to trace the emotions chasing themselves across such a vibrant canvas, but at once they seemed to stop and Quatre smiled. Smiled with all the joy of the rising sun and the singing of the morning lark. Heero had seen the moon rise full over the sea but he had never seen such light after darkness.

And then Quatre's arms were around him and their lips touched and Heero felt that same joy fill his heart as well.

The sun was below the horizon when they broke apart, and Heero never knew his arms could feel so empty now that they did not have Quatre to hold. The blond was alight with happiness, his face rosy pink, and tears stood in his eyes. Heero reached up to wipe them away.

"Still silent, Quatre?" he asked with trepidation.

"You always preferred it." His voice was musical and light.

"Not anymore," Heero assured him, taking his hands firmly. "You may be my valet in the castle, but I never ever want you to be anything but this when we are alone again. Will you do this for me, Quatre? Will you be mine when you can be yourself?"

"Yes," Quatre smiled. "Yes, I will be." But his blue-green eyes darkened and he glanced out at the horizon.

"What is it?"

"I will be yours, but you cannot be mine, Heero Yuy of the Royal Guard." He turned back with a frown. "I shall have to earn my own glory to share a life with you. You deserve better than a valet, no matter the truth of my love."

"I don't, Quatre," Heero protested. "I want only you as you are."

"You don't know what I really am," Quatre shook his head. Then he smiled again, a smile Heero had never seen before, filled with secret eagerness. "But you will. I promise you that."

Within the month, Quatre left his place at the palace to seek his fortune across the sea. Heero was distraught has he had not been since his father's death a decade before. In the same place overlooking the cliffs and the sea, they said their goodbyes, arms wound around one another.

"I fear I will never see you again, Quatre," Heero whispered against the blond hair he held so dear. "I have only just found you."

"And you shall find me again, or I shall find you."

"But how can you be sure? People die every day in battle, and you are not even trained with a sword!"

"Hear this now," Quatre said gently. "I will come back to you. Just as you protect our Princess, just as you are her shadow and her strongest sword, so shall I follow after you and take a place at your side once more someday. And when I find myself and claim my fate, the place I shall hold with you will be better than that of a valet. I will become what I am not now. I have your love," and here Quatre laid a feather-soft kiss on Heero's forehead, "but I will earn your respect as well."

Heero could not argue that point honorably. He loved Quatre with all his soul, and he knew that Quatre was possessed of great strength of spirit, but Quatre was not a warrior with a warrior's power, and Heero could not deny that it made a difference. So he ducked his head and said instead, "I wish I knew where you get your certainty that all will end well for us. You could just as easily be killed tomorrow."

"Heero," Quatre said fondly, burying his fingers in the unruly dark hair, "this is true love. Do you think this happens every day?"

And they held one another as though they would never let go. But they did, and Quatre was gone.

With the first cold winds of autumn came word that the ship upon which Quatre had sailed had been attacked by the most feared pirate of all time – Shinigami. The God of Death was inescapable and unforgiving. When Heero learned that Quatre had been murdered, alone and fathoms away, for the first time in his life he abandoned his post at the side of Princess Relena. He fled the castle and took refuge in his home on the hill. For days he neither slept, nor ate. And the only words he spoke were of the deepest grief for his life that remained.

"I will never love again."

-==OOO==-

"Heero Yuy was born and raised in the country of Sanc. The orphaned son of a master warrior, he had been trained from birth to the arts of battle, earning a place amidst the Royal Guard of the Peacecraft monarchy as a child. The winter he turned fifteen years of age, Heero defeated the captain of his troupe in single-combat and won the prestigious role of chief knight of Her Highness, Princess Relena. Heero found the girl, who was many years younger than himself, to be quiet and brave, and he devoted himself to improving his skills that he might keep her from all harm..."

"Wait, wait."

"Yes?"

"That's not a very exciting beginning."

"Pardon?"

"I mean, the best stories always start with something like, 'On a dark and stormy night,' or something, you know?"

"No, they don't. That's only unimaginative, uninspired stories. I now find myself concerned about the quality of the literature to which you have been exposed."

"Huh?"

"Do you want to hear this story or not?"

"Yes sir."

"Good girl."