Title: The Perfect Plan
Author: Makoto Sagara
Category: AU, Drama
Pairings: surprise! Like I would tell you *this* early!
Warnings: Shonen ai, AU, cross-dressing, OOC, language, angst
Disclaimers: I don't own Gundam Wing, but I do own my computer. I don't make money from writing this, only the pleasure of having this written and enjoyed by my readers. Suing would be pointless; for all that my wallet holds is receipts for all the manga and anime that I buy. ^_^
Author's Notes: Heh, well, this idea actually started as a Round Robin on the Appreciation of Zechs ML by Skeren Dreamera and I, but it sort of died. As a result, Neko and Pervy-boi, my angst and smut muses respectively, latched onto it and decided that they wanted me to work on this as an actual story. While I didn't write the first and third scene, Skeren has given me permission to use them in this story. So, in return, I would like to thank her heartily, and I dedicate this first chapter to her!
Chapter One: Interesting Discoveries
It was the perfect plan. All he had to do was get in, get the prize, and get back out without anyone being the wiser. This entire plan failed to account for one thing. In this training exercise, Duo had to get past Wufei, who he'd managed to really tick off that morning, so this would be a problem. Taking a deep breath, the braided boy stepped out of his room. Glancing first one direction, and then the other, Duo found the hallway safe. Duo then moved towards the kitchen, eyes watchful for the angered Chinese pilot.
How was he to know that he had made those rice balls for a special occasion and he
wasn't allowed to eat them? Duo felt rotten about eating them, but that didn't give Wufei the right to try and keep him away from the kitchen with his sword as a 'helper'. Hearing the front door open right before he could actually gain entrance to the kitchen, Duo spun around, ready to run if the opportunity presented itself. He then felt like a complete idiot, as Quatre stood there and waited for him to realize that no; he wasn't someone who was planning his demise.
Sniggering softly to himself as the braided pilot gave him a sheepish look, Quatre gestured him over. "I can use a bit of advice, Duo. Two of my sisters just got back from a trip to South America and brought this back with them. They bought it from a man who said he was an antique broker, and he said that he got it from some insane inventor. They couldn't make it do anything. All I can tell is that it is old, and it's a machine of some kind. You're good with old things, and better with machinery then I am, could you look at it?"
Sighing a little, Duo moved over to the small blond, prodding at the device curiously, but nothing happened. Picking the little machine up out of the white box, Duo studied it. It appeared to be made entirely of diamond, crystal, and a series of copper, gold, and,
surprisingly, gundanium wires. The little switches on the pretty machine were onyx stones. "Q-man, you really have some generous siblings, you know that? But, um, are you sure that it's okay to start messing around with this? It might blow up or something."
"Yeah, I know. If you can't figure out what it does, maybe we can get the other three to look at it, see if they have any ideas...?" The hopeful note in Quatre's voice didn't escape Duo, and he grinned at him.
"Alright, we'll get your walking wet dream in the same room with you, alright?" He tossed the comment over his shoulder as he went off in search of the other pilots.
Flushing bright red, Quatre did the same. After an hour, they finally had all the pilots gathered around the device in the yard, and they all found they were at a loss as to what to do with the machine. Certainly it had to do something right?
After a few more prods, and fiddling with the switches, Duo was about to give up so he could get some food, like he was planning on doing in the first place. Something made him pause though, and he leaned closer to the trinket, noticing an indent in the crystal that
held a little pink diamond. He brushed his fingers over it. There was a sound from behind him, as, for some unknown reason Zechs and Treize burst into the clearing, eyes focusing on the device even as Duo's finger made that little movement to mess with the pink stone.
Zechs saw what he was about to do, and lunged forward, unheeding of Heero's gun aimed his way, yelling. "No!"
A mere second later, the futility of the gesture was realized. The entire clearing burst into a blinding light, encompassing all the men in the clearing in its radiance. No one noticed that a girl slipped into the crowd of men. Heero's stalker, Relena, had arrived just in time to also be covered in the bright light. All sound and motion stopped for a few seconds as the machine started to hum. The next second, all of them were plunged into darkness.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Suddenly, the light cleared, and everyone looked at Duo. Then, they looked at themselves. Then, at one another. And finally, back at Duo. After a few moments of shocked silence, Quatre blushed a few shades of red and seemed ready to pass out.
"Quatre," Trowa said, watching the blond in his odd behaviour, not to mention the attire all eight of them seemed to be wearing and the odd scenery.
They were in a clearing in the middle of what looked, and sounded, like an active jungle, wearing what could only be described as native attire. Wufei, Quatre, and Relena were all dressed as women, much to the shock of both Quatre and Wufei. In fact, the Chinese teen seemed about to lunge for Duo when ten natives rushed into the clearing.
"Prince Duo," one of them said, and the others looked to see that Duo *did* indeed bear the markings of a leader amongst the tribes. "There you are. Ah, and you have your bride, Princess Cocoton, and retainers with you as well. It is time for the ceremony." The speaker latched onto Duo's arm while the others ushered the remaining pilots and Relena ahead of them. "It is not safe to wonder out so far now. If Tonatíu [1] had not told me where I could find you, then... But that is not the point. Wise Tonatíu told me, and here you are. We really must be off."
Duo snatched his arm away from the nearly scraping man and glared. "Just who the hell do you think you are, and who is this Princess Coco..."
"Cocoton," the man offered in dismay.
"Cocoton that is supposed to be my BRIDE????" Duo finished, spreading the death glare, patented from so much time around Wufei and Heero.
"Why, my liege, *she* is Princess Cocoton," one of the other men, who was nearest Wufei and Relena, said.
"Excuse me, but I am *NOT* marrying Relena Peacecraft Darlian. I'd sacrifice myself to Treize first."
"You would be most welcome to," the OZ General said, but was silenced of saying anything farther by an elbow from Zechs.
"Oh, Maxwell, the feeling is mutual," Relena said, latching herself onto Heero, who was violently trying to shake her free.
"My liege, I know not who this Relena is, but you're bride is the exotic beauty next to her."
Duo looked at Wufei, took in his attire and noticed the crown that was placed upon his head and the many golden bracelets and necklaces. The Chinese boy was fuming, and his face was a mixture of green, red, and white. Duo couldn't help it; he burst out into large guffaws.
"You... You expect me to marry.... FEI-KUN???" he said between laughs.
"My liege, this is no laughing matter. The ceremony is to take place this evening. We really must get you all back to the palace to prepare," the man said urgently.
"Excuse me, but we aren't going anywhere until you tell us who you are, and where we are," Zechs said, moving to stand in front of the man who was besides the cackling Duo.
"Of course, my lord Mixtli, we are the priests of Tonatíu, and this is the land of Tenochtítlan [2]. Now, we really must get you all back to the palace." Zechs shot a look to Treize and mouthed, "Who is Mixtli?" and the general shrugged and mouthed, "Must be you, love."
The shocked pilots, and Relena, said nothing else and allowed themselves to be ushered along what looked like a path in the jungle clearing and out to a vast and wondrous ANCIENT city, the likes of which none of our weary time-travelers had ever seen. For, they were time travelers now. They had somehow traveled well over two millennia to ancient Mexico to when the Aztecs had ruled that part of Earth, and were now totally immersed into its culture.
"I'm going to really kill you, Maxwell," Wufei whispered, yanking his arm away from the man walking next to him.
"No, no... That's Prince Duo to you, Princess Cocoton. Besides, how in the hell was I supposed to know we'd end up in a living nightmare?" Duo replied, moving closer to Wufei to avoid the main priest's jabbering of what the marriage ceremony was going to entail. "And if this guy doesn't shut the hell up, I'm going to sacrifice him to this Tonatiu he keeps rambling on about."
"Oh, my liege, while Cozcatl, the high priest of Tonatíu, would find that most reassuring, I sincerely doubt that he would make an accurate sacrifice to our sun god," the young priest who was walking behind them said.
"So," Zechs whispered to Treize, "what do you think of the recent turn of events?"
"I think we should have gotten to that house sooner. This is ludicrous. Maxwell is a prince about to marry Chang, who is considered a princess, and the rest of us are their 'retainers'. I have never been anyone's retainer. Besides, you and your sister are the Prince and Princess of Sanc..." The ginger-haired man smirked as the natural pale beauty of his lover went even paler. "Relax, Zechs. You might pass out if you aren't careful."
"To think that could have been me told I was about to marry my sister..." Zechs said, eyes starting to glaze over as he passed out from the shock.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Treize merely smirked at Zechs, stroking a hand kindly over his head like he was a puppy, the action enough to break the blonde out of his trance enough to glare. "I was merely bringing you out of the daze."
Quatre looked over Zechs pensively, his lips twitching a little as he considered their attire. Somehow, he'd ended up walking back with their common enemies in this little voyage. Then again, they weren't really enemies, and this really was entirely his fault. "How did you know to come and try to stop the machine?"
Zechs sighed, looking forward at the other companions as Wufei glared around and Duo suddenly seemed to sober, seeming to realize the fact that, yes, they were going to make him marry one of his close comrades. So, those in the lead were silent to hear what Zechs had to say. "We found papers, actual paper papers, in one of the Romefeller archives telling us to stop a terrible evil, then listing where to find the Gundam pilots. When I saw that device, I just *knew*. But as you noticed, by then, I was a bit late, and now..." He grimaced, looking down at his attire.
Heero turned around, while Relena clung to him, casting a glance over Zechs for the first time without a mask. "You look better when I can see your face," Heero said to the blond and then turning his attention to Trowa, trying to convey that he wanted help to remove his leech.
The silent answer was an almost smile as the green eyed pilot advanced on the girl, evil intention in his visible eye just barely. It had occurred to him first that no one could possibly miss the girl now that they weren't in their own time...
Notes:
[1] Tonatíu was the sun god of the Aztecs that inhabited the part of Central Mexico that is now Mexico City.
[2] Tenochtítlan was the ancient capital of the Aztec empire, and later, the Spaniards built Mexico City on top of it.
Author: Makoto Sagara
Category: AU, Drama
Pairings: surprise! Like I would tell you *this* early!
Warnings: Shonen ai, AU, cross-dressing, OOC, language, angst
Disclaimers: I don't own Gundam Wing, but I do own my computer. I don't make money from writing this, only the pleasure of having this written and enjoyed by my readers. Suing would be pointless; for all that my wallet holds is receipts for all the manga and anime that I buy. ^_^
Author's Notes: Heh, well, this idea actually started as a Round Robin on the Appreciation of Zechs ML by Skeren Dreamera and I, but it sort of died. As a result, Neko and Pervy-boi, my angst and smut muses respectively, latched onto it and decided that they wanted me to work on this as an actual story. While I didn't write the first and third scene, Skeren has given me permission to use them in this story. So, in return, I would like to thank her heartily, and I dedicate this first chapter to her!
Chapter One: Interesting Discoveries
It was the perfect plan. All he had to do was get in, get the prize, and get back out without anyone being the wiser. This entire plan failed to account for one thing. In this training exercise, Duo had to get past Wufei, who he'd managed to really tick off that morning, so this would be a problem. Taking a deep breath, the braided boy stepped out of his room. Glancing first one direction, and then the other, Duo found the hallway safe. Duo then moved towards the kitchen, eyes watchful for the angered Chinese pilot.
How was he to know that he had made those rice balls for a special occasion and he
wasn't allowed to eat them? Duo felt rotten about eating them, but that didn't give Wufei the right to try and keep him away from the kitchen with his sword as a 'helper'. Hearing the front door open right before he could actually gain entrance to the kitchen, Duo spun around, ready to run if the opportunity presented itself. He then felt like a complete idiot, as Quatre stood there and waited for him to realize that no; he wasn't someone who was planning his demise.
Sniggering softly to himself as the braided pilot gave him a sheepish look, Quatre gestured him over. "I can use a bit of advice, Duo. Two of my sisters just got back from a trip to South America and brought this back with them. They bought it from a man who said he was an antique broker, and he said that he got it from some insane inventor. They couldn't make it do anything. All I can tell is that it is old, and it's a machine of some kind. You're good with old things, and better with machinery then I am, could you look at it?"
Sighing a little, Duo moved over to the small blond, prodding at the device curiously, but nothing happened. Picking the little machine up out of the white box, Duo studied it. It appeared to be made entirely of diamond, crystal, and a series of copper, gold, and,
surprisingly, gundanium wires. The little switches on the pretty machine were onyx stones. "Q-man, you really have some generous siblings, you know that? But, um, are you sure that it's okay to start messing around with this? It might blow up or something."
"Yeah, I know. If you can't figure out what it does, maybe we can get the other three to look at it, see if they have any ideas...?" The hopeful note in Quatre's voice didn't escape Duo, and he grinned at him.
"Alright, we'll get your walking wet dream in the same room with you, alright?" He tossed the comment over his shoulder as he went off in search of the other pilots.
Flushing bright red, Quatre did the same. After an hour, they finally had all the pilots gathered around the device in the yard, and they all found they were at a loss as to what to do with the machine. Certainly it had to do something right?
After a few more prods, and fiddling with the switches, Duo was about to give up so he could get some food, like he was planning on doing in the first place. Something made him pause though, and he leaned closer to the trinket, noticing an indent in the crystal that
held a little pink diamond. He brushed his fingers over it. There was a sound from behind him, as, for some unknown reason Zechs and Treize burst into the clearing, eyes focusing on the device even as Duo's finger made that little movement to mess with the pink stone.
Zechs saw what he was about to do, and lunged forward, unheeding of Heero's gun aimed his way, yelling. "No!"
A mere second later, the futility of the gesture was realized. The entire clearing burst into a blinding light, encompassing all the men in the clearing in its radiance. No one noticed that a girl slipped into the crowd of men. Heero's stalker, Relena, had arrived just in time to also be covered in the bright light. All sound and motion stopped for a few seconds as the machine started to hum. The next second, all of them were plunged into darkness.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Suddenly, the light cleared, and everyone looked at Duo. Then, they looked at themselves. Then, at one another. And finally, back at Duo. After a few moments of shocked silence, Quatre blushed a few shades of red and seemed ready to pass out.
"Quatre," Trowa said, watching the blond in his odd behaviour, not to mention the attire all eight of them seemed to be wearing and the odd scenery.
They were in a clearing in the middle of what looked, and sounded, like an active jungle, wearing what could only be described as native attire. Wufei, Quatre, and Relena were all dressed as women, much to the shock of both Quatre and Wufei. In fact, the Chinese teen seemed about to lunge for Duo when ten natives rushed into the clearing.
"Prince Duo," one of them said, and the others looked to see that Duo *did* indeed bear the markings of a leader amongst the tribes. "There you are. Ah, and you have your bride, Princess Cocoton, and retainers with you as well. It is time for the ceremony." The speaker latched onto Duo's arm while the others ushered the remaining pilots and Relena ahead of them. "It is not safe to wonder out so far now. If Tonatíu [1] had not told me where I could find you, then... But that is not the point. Wise Tonatíu told me, and here you are. We really must be off."
Duo snatched his arm away from the nearly scraping man and glared. "Just who the hell do you think you are, and who is this Princess Coco..."
"Cocoton," the man offered in dismay.
"Cocoton that is supposed to be my BRIDE????" Duo finished, spreading the death glare, patented from so much time around Wufei and Heero.
"Why, my liege, *she* is Princess Cocoton," one of the other men, who was nearest Wufei and Relena, said.
"Excuse me, but I am *NOT* marrying Relena Peacecraft Darlian. I'd sacrifice myself to Treize first."
"You would be most welcome to," the OZ General said, but was silenced of saying anything farther by an elbow from Zechs.
"Oh, Maxwell, the feeling is mutual," Relena said, latching herself onto Heero, who was violently trying to shake her free.
"My liege, I know not who this Relena is, but you're bride is the exotic beauty next to her."
Duo looked at Wufei, took in his attire and noticed the crown that was placed upon his head and the many golden bracelets and necklaces. The Chinese boy was fuming, and his face was a mixture of green, red, and white. Duo couldn't help it; he burst out into large guffaws.
"You... You expect me to marry.... FEI-KUN???" he said between laughs.
"My liege, this is no laughing matter. The ceremony is to take place this evening. We really must get you all back to the palace to prepare," the man said urgently.
"Excuse me, but we aren't going anywhere until you tell us who you are, and where we are," Zechs said, moving to stand in front of the man who was besides the cackling Duo.
"Of course, my lord Mixtli, we are the priests of Tonatíu, and this is the land of Tenochtítlan [2]. Now, we really must get you all back to the palace." Zechs shot a look to Treize and mouthed, "Who is Mixtli?" and the general shrugged and mouthed, "Must be you, love."
The shocked pilots, and Relena, said nothing else and allowed themselves to be ushered along what looked like a path in the jungle clearing and out to a vast and wondrous ANCIENT city, the likes of which none of our weary time-travelers had ever seen. For, they were time travelers now. They had somehow traveled well over two millennia to ancient Mexico to when the Aztecs had ruled that part of Earth, and were now totally immersed into its culture.
"I'm going to really kill you, Maxwell," Wufei whispered, yanking his arm away from the man walking next to him.
"No, no... That's Prince Duo to you, Princess Cocoton. Besides, how in the hell was I supposed to know we'd end up in a living nightmare?" Duo replied, moving closer to Wufei to avoid the main priest's jabbering of what the marriage ceremony was going to entail. "And if this guy doesn't shut the hell up, I'm going to sacrifice him to this Tonatiu he keeps rambling on about."
"Oh, my liege, while Cozcatl, the high priest of Tonatíu, would find that most reassuring, I sincerely doubt that he would make an accurate sacrifice to our sun god," the young priest who was walking behind them said.
"So," Zechs whispered to Treize, "what do you think of the recent turn of events?"
"I think we should have gotten to that house sooner. This is ludicrous. Maxwell is a prince about to marry Chang, who is considered a princess, and the rest of us are their 'retainers'. I have never been anyone's retainer. Besides, you and your sister are the Prince and Princess of Sanc..." The ginger-haired man smirked as the natural pale beauty of his lover went even paler. "Relax, Zechs. You might pass out if you aren't careful."
"To think that could have been me told I was about to marry my sister..." Zechs said, eyes starting to glaze over as he passed out from the shock.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Treize merely smirked at Zechs, stroking a hand kindly over his head like he was a puppy, the action enough to break the blonde out of his trance enough to glare. "I was merely bringing you out of the daze."
Quatre looked over Zechs pensively, his lips twitching a little as he considered their attire. Somehow, he'd ended up walking back with their common enemies in this little voyage. Then again, they weren't really enemies, and this really was entirely his fault. "How did you know to come and try to stop the machine?"
Zechs sighed, looking forward at the other companions as Wufei glared around and Duo suddenly seemed to sober, seeming to realize the fact that, yes, they were going to make him marry one of his close comrades. So, those in the lead were silent to hear what Zechs had to say. "We found papers, actual paper papers, in one of the Romefeller archives telling us to stop a terrible evil, then listing where to find the Gundam pilots. When I saw that device, I just *knew*. But as you noticed, by then, I was a bit late, and now..." He grimaced, looking down at his attire.
Heero turned around, while Relena clung to him, casting a glance over Zechs for the first time without a mask. "You look better when I can see your face," Heero said to the blond and then turning his attention to Trowa, trying to convey that he wanted help to remove his leech.
The silent answer was an almost smile as the green eyed pilot advanced on the girl, evil intention in his visible eye just barely. It had occurred to him first that no one could possibly miss the girl now that they weren't in their own time...
Notes:
[1] Tonatíu was the sun god of the Aztecs that inhabited the part of Central Mexico that is now Mexico City.
[2] Tenochtítlan was the ancient capital of the Aztec empire, and later, the Spaniards built Mexico City on top of it.