Storm: Winds of Revolution
Chapter 1 – An angel and a soldier
by Lady of Earth aka Aya (gaiaya@hotmail.com)
Pairing: Heero+Usagi, Relena+Quatre (yes, that's right! and I'm not changing it!) and Duo+Hilde; implied Wufei+Sally
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.
In her vision, stars exploded and colors swirled. She was tossed and turned so many times, it felt as if she was stuck in a large washing machine. Just as she was thinking she couldn't take much more of this, she was dumped rather unceremoniously on hard dirt.
She coughed slightly and flinched. She touched her ribs, a muted groan escaping her lips. They felt bruised. But the strange thing is, she hardly felt any pain, yet she knew what had happened. Blue eyes blinked and she picked herself off of the ground.
The first thing she noticed was the strange in her attire. She was dressed entirely in black. A black tank top under a black leather jacket and tight black pants that seemed like second skin. But another thing she noticed was the hard object that was poking her side. She opened the jacket and eyes widened as she saw the gun in the holster.
She took it out with unbelievable steady hands, checking the rounds with such professional ease that she was amazed at herself. She's never carried a gun before, let alone checked its chambers for rounds. Yet it felt natural somehow, like she was born to do this.
She stood up, aiming the gun at the distant horizon in the open space. She was dropped in some sort of field, but she barely registered it as she focused on one point in particular. It was a road sign, quite far from where she was standing, yet she could see it clearly and focused on one spot.
Making sure the safety was off; she aimed again, slowly pulling the trigger before the crack of the gun echoed throughout the tranquil grounds. She didn't have to inspect the sign to know that she had hit her mark precisely.
She blinked again, reaching up to brush away her hair, but found in alarm that instead of her usual 'odangos', her hair was pulled back to a simple ponytail. There wasn't enough hair for her to pull her hair in her usual hairstyle. She fingered the soft locks with slight regret. But it suited her...for some reason....
He hated the mansion. He hadn't the strength to tell Quatre, because even though it was widely assumed that he had showed no emotion and possible lacked a heart, he didn't have the incentive—the nerve?—to tell Quatre that he didn't want to stay.
Wufei liked the place enough, he was kept occupied by the billion and one books that Quatre had in his "study." It was a damn library, that's what it is. He didn't understand why rich people would even have the nerve to call that gigantic emporium of a library just an ordinary "study." But knowing Wufei, it would take him only a year to go through all of those books.
As Duo said, multi-tasking was what Wufei does best. And reading two or three books all at once seemed to be one of it, much to his own chagrin. Of course, this sense of amusement was kept hidden, although he doubted that his efforts really mattered much. The four others knew him too well.
They've been through so much together already, they practically know what the other is thinking. Well...most of the time anyway.
He hated the mansion.
Duo was kept busy by the many computers that the place seemed to have and all of the rooms and secret passages that it concealed. The place was like a gigantic maze and Duo, being the child that he is, was practically bursting with excitement when Quatre had told him about these passages and how there were rumored to be a 100 hidden ones. Quatre had mentioned something about 50 being known and the other 50 yet to be discovered.
It was day 15 and Duo had managed to uncover 7 already. It was a feat, it truly was. These passages were designed in such a way that they would never be noticed. One, as Duo found, looked as if it was built and then forgotten. It had taken him a couple of hours to get the damn door to budge. It turned out that the passage that had started from one side of the "study" came out all the way to Quatre's bathroom.
And the reason why the door wouldn't open was because there was a rather large cabinet in its way. A cabinet that Duo managed to topple over as he gave the door one big shove. Needless to say, Quatre hadn't been amused. Luckily for Duo, Trowa had been there to point out to Quatre that the accused had merely taken on Quatre's challenge to find those passages.
And that was exactly what Duo did. Well, he hadn't been there to listen in on the rest. Wufei did, though, from the hallway, book in one hand, an apple in the other, dark eyes sparkling with amusement from behind his reading glasses. Just like one big happy dysfunctional family. But...
He hated the mansion.
Trowa liked it because it had a calming spirit. The quiet boy—soon to be man, he was nearly 18—always loved the sanctity of the mansion. He loved going from room to room, memorizing each and every painting that hung on the wall and going into the shared kitchen they had, the one separate from the "cooking kitchen," as Duo had dubbed.
The reason why they had 2 kitchen was because the chefs would use the one kitchen, cooking whatever it is that Quatre had requested—or ordered, if you choose to see it that way—and basically preparing anything that the master wanted. The other kitchen was really a basic kitchen, with a stove and an oven and a huge refrigerator. There was no use in it other than the fact that all five pilots liked to be able to walk to a kitchen and rummage around the fridge for a snack. They'd rather not call one of Quatre's one hundred and one maids and butlers and whatnots.
After years of living in safehouses, it became a custom. Almost a ritual, for the pilots to hang around the kitchen, sitting at the counter. One of them would cook while the others chat or typed away on the laptop. Of course, Trowa and Wufei took turns in cooking while it's usually Duo and Quatre who did the chatting, though sometimes Wufei joined in as well. And it was a no-brainer as to who would be having an entirely asexual and arguably, unhealthy relationship with the laptop while the others did whatever they did.
So yes...He hated the mansion.
Which was why he was making his way to that open field not too far off. The mansion was largely shielded from view, a relief, really, considering the amount of reporters, former comrades-in-arms and so-called "freaks" that seemed to enjoy keeping the five former pilots company.
Of course, the list of former comrades-in-arms was relatively short. Well...come to think of it, the list should really be called, "people who fought in the war or had a role in it." It mainly consisted of Noin, Une, Zechs (he thought he should keep that pseudonym as he would have more problems if he used the name Milliardo Peacecraft), Relena, Dorothy, Howard, Dr. J—God only knows why he would look them up—and the other scientists (though it was more Dr. J than the others). The only names missing from that list was Hilde and Catherine. The main reason, of course, was due to the fact that Duo was dating Hilde and Catherine was Trowa's only living relative. The two would occasionally drop by for a visit. It was usually every other day and the pilots welcomed the visits, as it provided a sort of relief for them to be able to get into contact with the outside world.
Well...three has limited contact with the outside world, but the other two didn't, really. Duo would take Hilde on dates, so they would borrow Wufei's motorbike to go to the nearest city and have their fun there. Wufei was the other person who actually had a life. He worked part-time at Preventers, but though he worked under Une's command, he refused to disclose the whereabouts of the other pilots and the whereabouts of his own residency. Despite many attempts by other Preventers officers—as Noin, Sally and Zechs had declined this 'mission' as they respected the pilots' privacy—none of them ever manage to find out any information. And they owed it all to Wufei's ability to lose their tail within the blink of an eye.
Out of all of them, he noted, it was Wufei who had changed the most. Gone was the justice-ranting, women-hating confused boy who didn't know his way. Wufei was far more relaxed, he would good-naturedly laugh at one of Duo's jokes or pranks and had even ditched the hairstyle that had once been part of the image he had. His hair would either be tied by a simple hair tie when he went to work or he would let it be loose on his shoulders.
Duo had declared him a miracle. But just because he was far more relaxed, didn't mean that the old Wufei was gone. He was still there, lurking beneath the surface. They saw it on occasions when some news reporter would dig up their past, saw the flash in those dark eyes as they narrowed dangerously. He still had his occasional bouts of male chauvinistic views, although they were toned down a lot and were more rare as they were frequent.
And of course, Duo was the complete opposite of Wufei. He hardly changed at all. Either than the fact that he dropped the title of Shinigami, Duo was still Duo. Still the same happy-go-lucky, never-tell-a-lie prankster that he was and always will be. And it was good.
Perhaps with all of these changes, it was a relief to see that they at least had one constant to hold on to. Even though it came in the form of the unrestrainable squall that is Duo Maxwell.
His thoughts would have lead on forever, if not for the unmistakenable sound of a gun being fired. It had a silencer, but he was too attuned to the sound of a gun to be wrong about this. He knew what he heard and felt his blood pumping as his pace quickened and he followed his instincts to lead him to the source.
She felt the presence. Something, some foreign but strangely not unfamiliar force within her stirred. It called out, to something...someone...even as she forced herself to calm down.
Her heartbeat was erratic and she felt that flutter in her stomach like the wings of a million butterflies. What the-When was the last time she felt this way? She racked her mind for a clue, yet she couldn't help the feel of dread mixing with this pleasant anxiety as she realized when.
Mamoru.
The name was so foreign to her name, almost like the force within her and yet a long time ago, it was so familiar. They had grown apart, like neighboring stars that slowly drifted away, farther and farther away from each other into the endless space. How she missed that old familiarity...
A branch snapped and she looked at the trees. She could barely make out a silhouette but she knew someone was there. Not knowing where she found the nerve or the voice, she shouted,
"Excuse me!" The quiet and almost undetectable movement in the trees stopped. "Excuse me?" She tried again.
"I'm kind of lost, over here! Do you mind telling me where I am?" She asked, knowing that she shouldn't head over to the woods just yet. She could startle whoever it is into firing, after all. She vaguely thought of how she knew all of this, but quickly pushed the irrelevant thoughts away as she focused on the problem at hand.
"Look, I know you're out there." She said with a sigh. "Please, I really could use some help." Utter silence met her yet again, but as she was about to give up altogether, the movement started again and this time, it was more noticeable. Apparently whoever it was thought it was futile to try and hide his or her presence any further.
When the dark-haired young man stepped out into the clearing, however, it was hard for her not to gasp. He stopped not too close and not too far from where she was standing. Far enough to give both of them room to run and yet still close enough for her to be mesmerized by his Prussian blue eyes.
"Where am I?"
"You're within the perimeters of the Winner Estate Property." The man answered in a monotone. She frowned, not recognizing the name.
"Who are they?" An eyebrow rose. Winner Estate was practically a household name. But maybe this girl was just confused...or delusional...or she might have lost her memory.
"What's your name?" He asked in turn. Her frown deepened, but she replied anyway.
"Usagi...I think." She said in a quiet voice.
Ah, so he was right after all. Quatre would know what to do with her, he thought. And it was that reasoning that made him motion for her to follow him, as he retraced his steps back to the mansion. He never turned around to see whether or not she followed him, because he knew she would.
When they were approaching the mansion, she suddenly asked, "What's your name?"
There was no hesitation when he replied, "Yuy. Heero Yuy."
"Ah." It wasn't an answer, it was barely a breath, but it was soon followed by, "Nice to meet you, Heero."
I'm trying to make each part of the series as light-hearted as possible. I think I'll devote about 5 chapters per anime. By the third chapter, I'd probably ask for a vote as to which anime should come next. Thank you so much for the suggestions minna-san! I really appreciate it. Unfortunately, I've never seen some of the anime you've mentioned and the others I've never even HEARD! -_-; That says a lot about my knowledge of anime!
Well hopefully you guys liked this first chapter! Please don't forget to review! Reviews make Aya-chan happy! You guys want Aya to be happy right? Right?