Disclaimer: Gundam Wing belongs to Sunrise and Bandai Entertainment.
A Fish Out of Water
" The sun was shining on the sea/ Shining with all its might. /It did its very best to make…"or at least, that was what it said in the book, anyway (1). The sun was shining on the sea, but that was about as accurate as it was going to get.
"It's still daytime around here," the reader commented aloud. "There's nothing odd about that." He was stretched out on a large rock in the middle of the ocean. In one hand he held a book, a bit old, but in pretty good shape for something he found in a shipwreck; in the other, he was stroking the head of a very happy sea lion. He was very handsome (the man, not the sea lion), with light brown bangs that fell over his face so that it covered one eye; a muscular chest, tan from long hours in the sun; and most distinctive of all, a shiny, emerald green tail. The tail was only seen slightly below the waist, as it was submerged in the cool salt water so that he wouldn't become a half-human, half-fried fish. Already his skin was rather crisp from the sun's heat, since no merman ever thought it fit to invent sun block. In fact, few people in the underwater Sank Kingdom went out of the water at all, a custom that Trowa, as he called himself, found odd. At home we used to hang out on the surface all the time, he remembered. Then he frowned. "But you're not at home anymore," Trowa reminded himself sternly. "Get used to it." But he didn't think he would ever get used to it. He and his sister had only swam there less than a month ago, when their home kingdom had been destroyed. How or why, he didn't know, but Prince Milliardo and his family had been more than willing to take them in as refugees. They were kind to them, he'd be the first to admit that; but it just wasn't the same as home.
"Triton! Triton!" He could hear his sister Cathy's voice over the sound of the waves, but he stayed put. She would find him on her own. Sure enough, her auburn curls bounced up out of the water in a second. "There you are Triton! I've been looking all over for you! The prince… Triton, what's wrong?"
Her brother was glaring at her furiously. "I told you never to call me that again," he growled. "My name is Trowa Barton now."
Catherine looked puzzled for a moment; then she frowned. "Oh, right, I forgot. Trowa: A different name for your completely different personality. Honestly, Tri- er, Trowa, this is really ridiculous. I can't believe you- Ah!" Her criticism was cut off as her beloved brother dunked her head in the water. It didn't do much, being she was a mermaid and all, but it made him feel better just the same. She resurfaced with a big splash, surprising the poor sea lions and making them scatter. Only one animal stayed: a seagull that had just landed a minute ago and was now shaking out his feathers like a dog. If birds could give people dirty looks, he would surely be giving her one. Instead, he pecked at Trowa's arm to show his irritation.
"You're such a pain," Cathy complained. "I just have one question for you." Trowa picked up his disgruntled friend and started to smooth out his feathers. "Why?"
"Because it makes me forget," Trowa said, so quietly that the bird in his arms could barely hear him. Catherine's face froze with shock. She hadn't expected an answer. Trowa rarely shared his feelings to begin with, but even less frequently now. He'd gotten a reputation for being secretive and antisocial, so much so that Catherine herself started to believe it. He'd changed from the happy boy he was a few weeks ago. Trowa had grown up in a horrible way, and she'd never expected he'd talk about it, even with her.
"I'm sorry," she said softly, putting her hand in his. "I won't call you that again."
"It's not your fault," he replied, squeezing her hand as a sign of forgiveness. "I'll be okay. Someday."
Catherine seemed doubtful. "You're always out here, Trowa," she commented, trying to push his bangs out of his face like she often did. Like always, they fell back into place. "These people are really nice. They want to be your friends, if you'll give them a chance. You can't spend the rest of your life up here with all these animals forever."
"Of course, I can," Trowa said. Now dry, the seagull flew upon his shoulder and picked up where Cathy had left off, but with his beak. "These guys are all the friends I need." The bird squawked through a mouthful of hair, as if to agree.
Catherine laughed and held out her hand to the creature. It stopped what it was doing, clamped its beak on her finger as payment for what she did before, and resumed its grooming. "Ouch! Stupid animal," she grunted. She gave it a dirty look, but it ignored her. Now it was Trowa's turn to laugh, or, better said, chuckle silently to himself. She still knew though, and smacked him on the arm. "Seriously, though, there are a lot of cool people in the Sanc Kingdom." A grin started to creep up on her face. "And a lot of pretty mermaids," she added teasingly.
Trowa started, pitching the poor animal into the air with only a piece of bang to hold onto. It flapped its wings rapidly, to keep itself from plummeting tail-first into the water. "Mermaids!" he sputtered. Trowa turned a shade of green the color of his tail. "Wh-why would I care about that?"
Catherine rolled her eyes. "You're almost a man now, you should be thinking of these things. A lot of the girls think you're cute, though, grant it, really unfriendly. But they can dismiss that as shyness. What about the princess? The prince might betroth you to her, as an alliance between our kingdoms (Once we return to ours, of course, which we will). In fact…" Something struck her and she remembered why she was looking for him in the first place. "Speaking of which, the prince wants to see you right away, and I think it might have something to do with her."
"And it concerns me, why?" he asked stubbornly. The princess was a kind woman, and she was beautiful, any merman would agree with that, with long golden hair and eyes the color of the ocean. But beauty and kindness only went so far. They weren't enough to make Trowa fall in love with her. In fact, he refused to do it with anyone, whether a puffy flounder or a beautiful princess like Relena Peacecraft. Nevertheless, an order was an order. He dove into the depths of the ocean after his sister to the coral reef they called home.
The Sank Kingdom was a large reef, spanning 100 acres, 20 leagues under the sea. It was nicknamed "The Rainbow of the Ocean" with good reason. Schools of brightly colored fish traveled on after another in bands of blues and reds and yellow. Oysters lined the floor, displaying their insides invitingly, and then snapping them shut when one tried to get a closer look. A large amount of lobsters, crabs and other shellfish were kept in stock nearby, as they were popular meals for merfolk. Closer to the reef were various plants and algae, and of course, seaweed was everywhere. It was so abundant in fact that many merpeople became rich thinking up ways to use it, which included making bracelets and other jewelry, hair ornaments, and most importantly, keeping the seashells that served as the mermaid's only source of covering on the chest area. Seaweed came in many different varieties and colors as well, adding to the multiple colors on a sea green background.
The royal palace was coral red, the color most associated with a reef. But it didn't just resemble the reef; it was the reef. Over centuries, erosion and construction had turned the habitat for fish into the habitat for the Sank Royal Family, currently the House of Peacecraft. Towers of coral rose up almost to the surface of the ocean. No moat could protect this castle, of course, but a field of seaweed and the fish surrounding it (who were made up of royal guards as well as normal residents) provided a perfect camouflage to ward off outside invaders. Not that it was needed, for, as the name of the royal family implied, the kingdom was a pacifist nation and no other mercountry dared to attack it. And there were many other countries, as Trowa and Cathy proved, though many leagues away. Still, Prince Milliardo's ancestors were very paranoid people and their castle was as secure as any. Too secure, according to Princess Relena, who often chided her brother about his obsession with safety. "It's so dull over here. Who would want to attack us?" she'd complained once when she was in a less than cheerful mood. Though normally she had a very friendly disposition (or so Trowa had been told), she'd been rather moody of late, complaining about her home one minute, daydreaming happily the next, and frequently disappearing for hours at a time. And it was just that type of behavior Prince Milliardo wanted to discuss.
"The princess is gone," he announced the moment they came in, not pausing to greet them, or even allow them to kneel (well, as best as one with a tail could, at any rate).
Cathy's face fell and Trowa rolled his eyes. "Forgive me your majesty," Trowa spoke up boldly. "But I'm sure you are mistaken. She's done this a number of times, and she's always turned up. She probably-"
"No." The prince shook his head firmly. "If it were just like that, I wouldn't be so worried. But she's been gone for two days already. She was last seen the night before last and then she disappeared. There's been no sign of her since." Cathy gasped and grabbed her brother's hand for reassurance. Though they didn't know each other for that long, Relena had become her friend. The idea that something might've happened to her was horrifying indeed.
"And we've lost so many friends already," she said sadly. Trowa squeezed her hand, and she knew he'd been thinking along similar lines.
Milliardo nodded sympathetically, then continued. "The only clue we have to where she could be is this." He drew something out of a pouch next to his throne. Now was Trowa's turn to be surprised. It was a feather, as pure white as clean snow, but too large to belong to his seagull friend, he was sure. He reached out to examine it more closely and the prince gave it to him. "I was hoping that, being as you are from another land, and are familiar with animals, you would recognize this. None of us have ever seen it before."
Trowa shook his head apologetically. "No, sire, I've never seen the likes of it before. But there are many birds that fly over the surface that I've never seen. Perhaps it belongs to one of those."
"But why would they come here?" Cathy wondered. "Did they get lost?" In other circumstances, she would have said it to be funny, but she was dead serious at that moment.
"I don't know. There's one way that we could find out though." Milliardo's expression was grave, and Trowa felt his heartbeat speed up. "There are a people to the east called the Avians. Bird people, if you will. Half mortal, half magic, like us. As we rule the sea, they rule the air and all the creatures that live there. If anyone would know whom that feather belongs to and where Relena may be, they would."
Trowa nodded slowly, finally understanding the reason he was summoned. "I see, your majesty. You want me to find these people, do you not, and bring your sister back safely?"
"What?" Cathy erupted when she saw Milliardo nod. "All by yourself? But it's dangerous out there! You don't know where you're going," she sputtered. She turned to her ruler. "You can't possibly let him go all alone."
The prince shook his head. "I'm afraid I have no choice. Not many of our people are willing to go to the surface. They're too frightened. Wufei would go, but he knows our area better than you do, and I need him to lead the underwater search party. There's no one else I could send. Besides, Trowa spends a lot of time with the animals of the surface. They could help him."
"I understand, sire," Trowa said calmly, but Catherine wasn't finished.
"No one else? What about me? Or Lady Noin," she mentioned, meaning his spouse, "or Sally? We're all Relena's friends, we'd accompany him. Just because we're women doesn't mean that we're useless."
Prince Milliardo smiled slightly, in spite of his grief. Then he frowned. "I know that. But the eggs will hatch any day now, and Noin must stay behind. And Sally's medical knowledge has no rival; she's needed here. Besides, she wouldn't leave when Wufei is doing something potentially dangerous. And while I don't doubt you, one of you has to stay if you're going to restore your kingdom. Your bravery is certainly commendable, but I've noticed that you have, how do I put this without hurting your feelings [Trowa bit back a laugh], a bit of a temper and not quite the patience with animals as your brother does. You might scare them away."
"Why of all the most untrue things a person could say- Ouch!" She glared at her brother who'd just squeezed the finger one of his pets had bitten that morning. Cathy sighed. "All right," she grumbled. "Maybe you have a small point. Fine, have it your way. I'll stay. But I won't be happy about it." She stalked out of the throne room angrily.
Trowa bowed. "I pity you, your majesty," he said and left quickly. The monarch groaned.
"Why did this have to happen?" he lamented, speaking about more than just Catherine's behavior.
He felt a gentle touch on his arm. "It's not your fault, dear." Lucrezia Noin, his wife, reassured him, coming out from behind the throne, where she had heard almost the entire conversation. "There was nothing more you could do, Zechs," she said, using her private name for him.
Zechs frowned. "Really? I could think of a few. I should've taken care of her better, or I should've given her more freedom. And that's only if she ran away, like we thought. What if she didn't? What if she was kidnapped? There was something I didn't tell Trowa."
Noin gaped at him in alarm. "What? You never said anything about this to me before."
He shook his head. "I didn't want to worry you, but there's a chance…" His voice broke.
"Tell me," the merwoman commanded.
"I know more about the Avians than I let on. I was friends with one long ago, Treize Kushrenada, back when I used to visit the surface all the time. He was the prince of their people, though I don't know what happened to him now. That was decades and decades ago." Though the prince only looked like a young man in his twenties, he was nearly a century old. They were not immortal, but the merfolk did live for a very long time. "We were close, but my father found out about it and forbid us to play together. The Avians are great warriors, you see, and my father feared they might attack us to dominate the ocean. I never saw Treize after that, and Relena was only a baby, so she never met him. Father was very adamant that she never would, and tried to keep us as close by as he could. That's why so few people go to the surface now. I imagine he made up some tale to frighten them away, and if they didn't go, he figured we wouldn't. I never saw the harm in it, but I respected his wishes just the same. But I never told Relena, so if she did visit the surface, she might not have been prepared."
Noin looked horrified. "So you think one of them might have hurt her? But how could they have gotten here? And why would they want Relena?"
Zechs shrugged. "Possibly, Treize may have changed since I last saw him, or an entirely different person could be the ruler now. Some of them can swim, though I don't know if this deep, but their technology was pretty advanced. They could have found away. As to your last question, well, I really don't know. All we can do is hope that Trowa will find the answers we seek and bring my sister home."
* * * * * *
"You're really going by yourself?" Catherine pouted, stopping her pacing for a moment. She studied her brother carefully, searching for any sign that he might yield to her, though their prince did not. But she found none.
"Yes," he replied testily. "I can handle it." He resumed his packing. As he wore no clothing, and merfolk could easily forge for supplies as long as they were near water, he only brought a few things: a couple of books wrapped in oilskins (in case he got bored, which seemed unlikely), some pearls for bribes, and a jewel encrusted dagger that he found in another shipwreck. He hoped he wouldn't need the last item, but better safe than sorry.
"But why can't I…" Catherine began to speak, and try to persuade him again, but he cut her off.
"No!" he said sharply. He'd never sounded so harsh before, and his tone frightened his sister into silence. "I won't lose another person I love. You're staying here, and that's final."
Catherine was stunned, and immediately guilty. "Triton, I…" he shook his head.
"You don't have to apologize. Just keep safe, that's all I ask of you." He kissed her cheek briefly and locking the door behind him, set out on his journey, all alone.
1 "The Walrus and the Carpenter," Louis Carroll from Through the Looking Glass