Soul of Magic
Chapter one
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Disclaimer:
I own Rina. That's it. Everything else goes to the people behind Gundam Wing And Hawk belongs to Sharpsnout.
Sharpsnout: Psst! ::nudgenudge:: ::whisper::
Oh...um. Sharpsnout would like to add that Duo belongs to her too. Just remember. She said that not me.
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"Hold her down! I'll never get this on her if she struggles!"
"You OZ assholes had better let me go right now or I'll," the young girl let loose with such words that made the soldiers and scientists around her blush.
"I didn't know you could do all those things," a young soldier remarked.
"You can't," one of the scientists replied, "At least not at the same time. Look!" he snapped slapping the girl, "You should count yourself lucky that we don't just kill you right now,"
"What are you gonna do instead?" the girl was curious in spite of herself.
"We're going to fit you with a special collar," the scientist explained snapping it on before the girl could let loose with powerful magic
"Pretty…" the others in the room sweatdropped, "What's it do?"
"It impedes your magical powers."
"It does WHAT?!?" she shouted, "How the hell do I get it off?!?"
"You can't," the scientist said smugly.
"What the," she began swearing fluently again. When she touched it, it stabbed her fingers painfully, "Ow! Sonuvabitch!!" she shouted sticking her finger in her mouth.
"I though Sorceresses were supposed to be elegant," one of the other scientists remarked.
"Yeah well this one's a kid. The Sank Kingdom fell when she was, what, two, three? She was probably trained by those two witches that got away."
"Oh yeah. I remember them. They swore like a man too," the girl punched the offending soldier in the face.
"Keep you mouth off my teachers!" she spat, "Isn't it bad enough that you killed every last one of us?"
"Not quite every last one," the girl looked to the sound of the voice, it was a high ranking officer, tall with light brown hair and blue eyes, "We've left you alive Miss…um…did you have a name?"
"None of your business asshole," the scientist who had put the collar on her cuffed her upside the head.
"You are to show His Excellency respect! He's the one who ordered us to bring you in alive!"
"To which I would be grateful if you didn't slap this goddamn thing on my neck! And where the hell is my siren?!?"
"Do mean that creature you came in with?" she rolled her eyes.
"Obviously," she got cuffed again.
"You behave or we won't give her back."
"You get this thing off my neck or I'll kill you," she retorted, "No wait, I'll torture you and then I'll kill you," she looked to the commanding officer who appeared amused, "And then I'll kill you. And enjoy myself!"
"My name," the officer went on as if he didn't hear her, "Is Treize Kushranada."
"Good for you," this time someone hit her in the eye.
"I'll ask you again, what is your name? It's only polite after giving you my name, after all without manners we are no better than dogs."
"Woof," someone punched her in the stomach, "Heh. Big tough men," she said sarcastically, doubled over, "Hitting a defenseless girl. Bet you all feel real proud of yourselves," someone raised their hand but Treize stopped him.
"She's right. She's defenseless. Leave her," she looked at him suspiciously.
"Why are you being so nice?"
"Mamma raised me polite," the girl grinned though she tried hard not too.
"Very well. My name is Shakira Blossom."
"Is that your real name?"
"Ha. Real name. Funny. It's real enough. And it's a name isn't it?"
"Fair enough," he looked at her clothes, torn in the fight she had with the soldiers, and her hair, which was mussed, then settling on the large gash she had on the right side of her face, "Feed her," he ordered, "Give her some clothes, a bath perhaps, return her pet to her and see to her wounds. Then put her in a cell until the Foundation figures out what to do with her," she was roughly hoisted up and led away.
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"I don't know why I let them get away with that," she confided to her pet, Elani, later on as she paced her cell, "I mean really how dumb am I?"
"Meow, meow, meow," Not very, honestly.
"Thanks. But I am. I mean, letting them fit this damn thing on my neck? How the Hell am I supposed to break free?"
"Merow mew meow?" What do you mean?
"Think Elani, I can't use my powers. It's gonna be hard doing things without em'. Jackin' a shuttle, getting out of here…get it?"
"Meow." No, not really, the girl sighed and threw her hands up.
"Elani!"
"Meow!" Sorry!
"Hey! You in there!" it was a soldier, a scared one.
"Yes?"
"I'm gonna open the door to feed you…so…don't try anything…any funny stuff and I'll shoot got it?" Rina raised her hands innocently.
"Who me?" the soldier muttered something and opened the door. Once inside Rina lowered the sleeve of her jacket and shirt, exposing her shoulder and a tiny bit of her breast," Could you help me? I've got this…this…itch… that I just can't seem to reach…" the soldier turned beet red but walked over anyway, "Could you get it for me?" Rina pouted sensually and turned around, lowering her jacket and shirt even more. The soldier, who had a slight nosebleed, began to scratch, "Ooooo….that's it….right there…" meanwhile Elani snuck up behind him and bit him, hard, on the back of the neck.
"What the-" quick as anything Rina whirled around and elbowed the soldier in the head, knocking him out.
"Let's go," she said re-adjusting her clothes, "Normally I'd leave this place a smoldering pile of ruin but, they gave me new clothes and besides, that guy scratched my back for me!"
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"All personel, all personel, the sorceress has escaped. Repeate she is on the loose. If you come across her shoot her down," Rina scowled at the nearby intercom. That guard had woken up sooner than she had anticipated.
"I bet he didn't like that I stole his uniform and left him dressed in the clothes that, that Trieze ass left me," she whispered to Elani. The siren meowed her agreement. Rina shouldered her rifle and began joggining in what she hoped was the direction of the exit.
"You! Hold it right there!" an officer ran up to her, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Heading to the exit sir, the Sorceress will most likely head that way. I was going to head her off," the officer looked at her and cocked his head. She gazed right back at him, "Sir? She could escape."
"Arlight solider. Don't do anything stupid," Rina saluted.
"Yes sir!" she rolled her eyes as the officer ran off.
"You salute with the other hand you know," a calm voice told her, Rina whirled around, instinctively throwing a spell. The collar around her neck crackled and sparked, draining her completely and sending her to her knees. Elani got between her and the voice, hissing angerly, "Relax. I didn't do anything,"
"You only....only put this damned collar on me...like I was a dog or something...."
"You're young," Treize replied, stepping out fully, "It was either this or death. I had no wish to kill you."
"Mercy for the enemy is it?" Rina spat, using the wall to get back to her feet, "I would rather you had killed me."
"Would you?" she raised her rifle at him with a shaking arm.
"I will find a way to remove this thing. And then I will come for you. I swear it. Now get out of my way."
"As you wish. You are tame now. You can no longer destroy our bases."
"Other people do it without magic. I'll just have to learn their way. Steal a Mobile Suit or two."
"Do you really think you can survive withour your magic?"
"Yes. Now move," he moved out of her path, she inched around him, keeping her gun trained on him, "Don't come after me or I will shoot you."
"What's stopping you?"
"You showed me mercy, returned my siren to me, gave me clothes....food. I owe you gratitiude but that only goes so far. Consider my not shooting you where you stand as payment. After this I will not hesitate to kill you or your men," she took off, running unsteadily.
"We're in the desert you know," Treize called after her, "How far do you think you'll get?"
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The next thing she remembered was waking up in a strange tent. Not strange as in odd, but rather strange as in not hers. Not that she owned a tent in the first place, but whatever. The point was that she had no idea where she was.
"You shouldn't move just yet," the heavily accented voice was to the left of her, "You're exhausted. We watched you wander around for several days with nothing ot eat or drink. It's a miracle that you survived really."
"Heh," Rina's voice was gravel dry, "I must have an angel watching me or whatever," a waterskin was pressed into her hand, "Thank you," she told the unknown man greatfully before gulping its contents, "You said you were watched me?"
"Yes. We saw you come from the direction of the Oz Base. We weren't sure if you were one of Oz's. Then you passed out and we figured that it was safe to take you in."
"So now I'm a prisoner?"
"Until you prove yourself otherwise."
"I'm a sorceress," the man chuckled.
"Of course you are."
"I am. Only I can't do magic because of the collar Treize snapped on me."
"Little girl, all the sorceresses are dead. Everyone knows that."
"Not true. Two older ones escaped with a toddler."
"If that's true then the toddler would have to be–"
"Fourteen. My birthday was a few months ago. I would not lie about this. If you truly want me to I will attempt a spell....but I may knock myself out."
"Ok. Try a spell," Rina growled.
"Jerk face. Fine. Don't care about my well being. See if I care..." she held out a hand, tiny sparks jumping over it, her collar crackled warningly, "Can I stope now?" she wasked when the collar really began to get pissy.
"Yes, yes! I believe you!" the hand lowered shakily.
"Thanks."
"You have to understand–"
"All the sorceresses were killed in the fall of the Sank Kingdom blah blah blah....yeah yeah. I know. Look, whenever a child of the Sank Kingdom is born a Sorceress shows up not much later, right?" the man nodded, everyone knew the tales, "Well the Sorceress and her charge are linked, thanks to a spell placed on the anchient king. Basiclly if I die the my charge gets real sick and if he or she dies then I'll loose my powers. Which may not seem like much, but let me tell you, it's a HUGE pain in the ass to not have them. Since I'm still here, and there's not reports of any unexplained sickness then we're oviously not all dead right? Right?"
"Sure...." she had clearly confused the man.
"You know what? Nevermind. Forget I said anything. I'm not a Sorceress. I'm an Oz captive that escaped with her pet...wait....HOLY FUCK!!!" the man jumped.
"What? What's wrong now?"
"Elani!! Where is she? Is she ok? Oh my God....."
"The cat thing?" Rina nodded, "She's fine. She's entertaining some of the men."
"They'd better not feed her she'll get fat. And then I'll have to deal with a fat, spoild....whatever she is."
"You do not know what she is?"
"No clue. Other than she's my friend, and the only one I have at this point," she rubbed her face with her hands, "I won't stay long. Your people are in danger because you hold me here."
"Our people are rebels of the desert. We're in danger anyway."
"Well I'm making it worse. I would like to leave today if I could. But first could I ask one more thing of your people?"
"What is it?"
"New clothes? Please? This uniform is fugly."
"Fugly? My but you have quite a mouth on you."
"This it true. New clothes? Please? Preferably involving a cloak?"
"A cloak?" Rina nodded emphatically.
"I'll need it until I can find some mundane way to change my appearance. No powers anymore," she pointed to the collar, "Stupid Oz people. Think they're so smart....anyway, I need a way to hide my appearance."
"But a cloak will seem more conspicuous will it not?"
"Not if I stick to the border towns. People wander around in cloaks all the time. They come in from the desert I think. As soon as I can get dye and contacts or something I'll be able to go into the cities and things."
"You seem to have this thought out," the man commented.
"I've been hiding from Oz most of my life. It was only recently that I was caught. I was careless. And it cost me my mentors, my friends. Kalina and Rani where like older sisters to me. They, even though they had no powers of thier own, trained me for ten years," she smiled wryly, "And I thank them by getting them executed," her clenched fists shook slightly as two drops of salt water landed on them, "I hate Oz for what they've done to them. All of them," she looked up, wiping the tears away, "I'm sorry. You've been nothing but kind and here I am giving you a sob story."
"No, no it's ok," a handkerchief was handed to her, "At least you are not fighting just on your own indignanties."
"Although this collar thing fucking sucks....." she muttered, wiping her face and handing the garmnant back.
"No keep it. I have others."
"Thanks."
"May I ask you your name, Little Sorceress?"
"Rina."
"No last name?"
"Nope. Do I need one? I'm sure I can think up a good one," the man chuckled.
"No, no Miss Rina. There is no need."
"Can I ask your name Large Desert Man?" chuckling increased, Rina could be charming when she tried.
"I am, Rashid."
"What...no last name?" chuckling increased again, as Rina grinned.
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