Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, though I wish with all my heart that I did. I am making no money off this.
AN: Hi! This is my first story ever!!!!!!!!!! So, if you like it, review it! If anyone likes it I will write more chapters about the other's and maybe even how Lady Une became a witch:) Please, remember it is AU. Thank You for reading.
Chapter One
Once upon a time, A.C. 195 there lived a royal family in the Sank Kingdom. Five young men about
the same age lived there with their adopted parents, Miliardo Peacecraft and his wife Lucrezia Noin.
Now these boys were coming of age to be married. Their father, who was upholding an age-old tradition
of the Peacecraft family, made each of these boys go out into the woods and cut down a tree.
Whichever direction the trees fell in, the young men were to go in that direction until they came across a
fair maiden. Then, they were to ask her hand in marriage. The first man to go out was, Heero. He went
far out into the woods and cut down a tree. It fell pointing east. Heero shared one of his rare smiles
with the forest because he knew of a beautiful and kind pacifist girl named Reelena who lived to the
east. The second man to cut down a tree was Trowa. He went out into the forest and hacked down a
tree. It fell pointing west. Trowa was pleased with himself because he knew of a certain circus star
named Catherine who lived out to the west. The third boy to fell a tree was Quatre. After his tree
pointed east, there was a shot dispute, but it was finally decided that Quatre would marry the neighbor
girl, Dorothy instead of Reelena. The fourth young man to chop down a tree was Wufei. He went far, far
out into the forest all by himself when he cut down his tree. He had stood there for quite a while and
finally manipulated the tree so that it fell pointing north. When he went home, he grumbled and
pretended to be upset, but Duo knew his long time secret love Sally Po lived to the north and stupidly
threatened Wufei with it. As a result when Dou
Four brothers came home that night with shouts of joy at their success with the beautiful women. They were all betrothed. Duo, however, did not come home that night. Or the next. Or the next! The brothers who had howled with laughter at first now became slightly worried. They suspected at that Duo was either having problems finding a wife or embarrassed to come home because of he had found one.
Duo had been traveling in the same direction for three days straight and had run out of food and water. He had expected to find and ugly troll girl and be forced by tradition to earn her hand in marriage on the first day, but instead he had found nothing.
"Oh, damn . . ." Duo said wearily, "I'm so hungry . . ." All of a sudden he collapsed with hunger and thirst. He just missed squashing a small rabbit.
"Ooh!" she squeaked as she hopped out of the way. "Oh dear," she muttered to herself.
Being rather distressed at this near death experience, she lifted her paw and murmured an incantation. A second later, she rang the miniature silver bell that had appeared on her paw. In moments hundreds of rabbits sat at her feet. She asked her people to bring food and water for her guest. You see, Hildi was the kind, princess of the rabbits so all her people were eager to obey her commands.
A couple of hours later, Duo woke up to find a rabbit the size of his hand from his wrist to his middle fingertip, sitting on his chest. He blinked in confusion for a moment and then began crying.
"Waaaaaaaaaaa, hic!, ahhhhhhhhhhh, hic! ahhhhhhhhhhh." Duo paused to breathe, "Waaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaa"
This was upsetting Hildi greatly, not to mention killing her ears, and she quickly tried to console him. Duo immediately stopped sobbing at her comforting words and he told Hildi the story of how he skinned his knee when he collapsed.
A few minutes later he realized why he had collapsed and began crying again. Through his wrenching tears, he told her about how he must find a fair maiden and earn her hand in marriage. Duo also told Hildi about his evil adopted brother, Wufei and how Wufei had made the tree fall south. He sat and complained about Wufei ridiculing him until he remembered once again why he was sitting in the dirt with a rabbit on his chest. When he did, he stopped talking.
Hildi frowned and said in response to Duo's tale, "You could marry me. I'm a princess and I'm sure I'll make a wonderful wife to a person like you."She smiled then, and said, "By the way, my name's Hildi. I'm a princess."
"I'm Duo. Nice to meet you. Wait a minute . . . I couldn't marry a rabbit!" Duo began to wail again, "Wufei and Heero and Quatre and Trowa and Mommy and Daddy will laugh at me and I'll be forced to dye all their clothes pink again."
"Look Duo, if you don't marry me, you'll have to marry a troll. Just don't tell anyone I'm a rabbit." Duo and Hildi debated the subject further and finally concluded a few minutes later that Duo would marry Hildi.
The next day, Duo set out for home with plenty of food for the return trip which only took two days now that he knew the way. When he arrived, Noin and Miliardo welcomed him with open arms and asked him about his beau. Duo told his parents that she was a beautiful princess and could relate no more information than that because Heero had just found his diary under Duo's pillow.
A week later, after Duo's bruises from Heero had healed, Miliardo decided it was time for his sons to visit their future wives again. He informed his sons that each of the brides must pass three tests so that he and their mother could be sure these brides were worthy of his sons. The first test was to bake a loaf of bread.
Quatre had every confidence in his future spouse, and the other boys were rather non-committed to talking about tests. Duo on the other hand kept his normally loud mouth shut, but he cried all night long, thinking his rabbit fiancé couldn't make a bread at all.
Two days later, at the rabbit burrow, Duo mournfully told Hildi about the test. He wailed and went on and on about how sad he was because he was really beginning to like her.
"Duo," she finally interrupted him laughing, "I can bake a simple loaf of bread." She lifted her paw and chanted some strange words that Duo didn't understand. In the middle of her small paw, a tiny silver bell appeared. She rang it three times and suddenly, hundreds of rabbits appeared.
"Yes, my lady. What is it you require my lady?" All the rabbits chanted in unison.
"Go and find me the finest grains of wheat and bring them to me."
"Yes, my lady. Of course." Once more in unison, and then they were gone.
An hour later, all the grain that was needed for a loaf of bread had been gathered. All of that day and into the night, Hildi worked with her people to make the loaf of bread. The early the next morning, Duo started for home with a loaf of white bread, still warm from the fire.
When Duo arrived home, he only got halfway to the dining room before he was intercepted by Noin. She was very upset that he had been trying to snack before dinner. Again. As a punishment of sorts, she asked Miliardo to commence with the presentations of the loaves. The young men displayed their loves one at a time. Miliardo carefully examined each loaf thoroughly and tested the grain and flavor. Finally, he pronounced the girls fit cooks for his sons.
"Heero," Miliardo began, "A loaf of oat says that one is true to their feelings and honest. Quatre, wheat bread symbolizes that one is faithful. Trowa, corn bread stands for good blessings and a good harvest upon you and your heirs. Wufei, rye bread stands for ingenuity and cunning." Miliardo raised an eyebrow, "It seems that you and your fiancé were made for each other. All of your brides have passed the test."
"You forgot Duo." Heero reminded Miliardo diffidently.
"Oh, of course! I can't believe I forgot the princesses loaf of bread."
"Your sarcasms not needed here, dad," Duo replied hotly.
"Well Duo? Where is your fiancé's bread?"Quatre asked.
"I got it right here," he said handing Miliardo the loaf of White bread.
"Amazing!" Miliardo exclaimed, "Only the rich and powerful like me eat white bread. Duo, this means that your one and only has great riches now and the promise of more to come."
"I had no idea bread meant this much to him or I would have baked my way out of lots of trouble," Duo whispered to Trowa who had remained silent through the whole grain ordeal.
"That's probably why we all knew and you didn't." With that, Trowa turned and walked away. A week later, the five young men received instructions for the second test their fiancé's must pass. Noin wanted a sample of their weaving. Once again Quatre was happy and the rest were usually silent. Once again, Duo despaired.
When Duo sadly informed Hildi of this terrible news, she laughed once again.
"Have you no faith in me, Duo my love?" she asked him when her laughter subsided. Hildi summoned the silver bell and rang it. Hundreds of rabbits appeared at their feet.
"Go and find the best of silk and satin strands for my love," she told them, and in a scamper of paws they were gone.
The next day, Hildi handed Duo a walnut and told him, "Inside here is a sample of my weaving. It is made of the finest silk and satin strands in the world."
When Duo arrived home, the boys had just finished showing Noin their future spouses weaving. "Heero," Noin began, "Cotton shows strength and flexibility. Quatre, calico displays a love for family. Trowa, Denim reveals that your bride realizes arduous work can be as good for one as it can be bad. Wufei," Noin also rose an eyebrow when she came to Wufei, "Lace," she went on, "shows ones appreciation for the finer things that life has to give." Noin stopped for a moment as Duo handed her the walnut.
Everyone cracked up. Even Trowa. But the laughing paused when Noin opened the walnut and gasped out loud. In her hands was the most delicately woven handkerchief any of them had ever seen. Made of satin and silk, it was white with silver woven into the lace surrounding the outside edge. Wufei became jealous at once and claimed that Hildi must have stolen it from a princess.
"Nope," Duo replied grinning, "Hildi is a princess."
Another week passed when Miliardo and Noin decided it was time for the final test. Each of the young men must bring their future brides home so their parents could see them and deem them worthy of their sons.
This time Quatre wasn't too awfully proud of Dorothy because he knew she wasn't exactly the most beautiful woman in the world. But the rest of the guys knew they had beautiful brides and they were sure they would end up marrying their fiancé's. Now, Duo did not despair. He was positive the little rabbit would ring her silver bell and hundreds of rabbits would appear to make her human. He was sure of it.
Two days later he reached Hildi's burrow and told her of the final test. He did not despair and he did not cry. He lifted her up and told her he had faith that if they truly loved each other, and he was sure they did, everything would be all right.
Upon hearing these words Hildi smiled brilliantly. "Thank you," she said in a no longer squeaky, small voice. "Thank you for believing in me and our love."
With that she rose into the air and began to change. Her legs and arms grew long. Her ears shrank and her fur was replaced with skin, white as snow. Her hair turned raven black and grew in a short choppy style. Hildi stood before Trowa in an elegant black dress with a full skirt and she jumped into his arms laughing.
"Oh, Duo," she exclaimed breathlessly,"Oh ,Duo I'm free. You see, a long time ago, an evil witch named Lady Une was very jealous of my kingdom so she put me and all of my people under a curse. She said no one would ever trust a filthy rabbit and since curses can only be placed if there is a way to lift them, she told me the only way I could restore myself and my kingdom was to have someone believe in me with all their heart. Thank You Duo."
She lifted her hand and said the incantation once more. Hildi hung the silver bell around her neck and rang it. A golden coach appeared and Duo and Hildi drove to the cottage in only one day.
Back at the cottage, Miliardo and Noin had approved of everyone's love except for Duo's, who
hadn't arrived yet. The four other sons got married in Duo's absence to avoid the humiliating wedding
day Duo had promised them. After the newlyweds happened home for the night, Duo showed up in a
horse-drawn, golden carriage. Miliardo and Noin were awed at the sight of Duo's prized bride with white
skin, raven hair, and Violet eyes. They immediately approved of the marriage and Duo and Hildi lived
happily ever after.
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