I do not own Gundam Wing. The poem heading each chapter is called Stoled Child by William Butler Yeats and to state the obvious, I don't own that either ^_^

This was created about a year or so ago, and has sat on my hard drive untill now (obviously) so let me know what you think please!


Where dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake,
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water rats;
There we've hid our faerie vats,
Full of red berries
And of reddest stolen cherries.


Chapter 1

A figure ran across the darkened hills its movement quick and confident despite the lack of light. He was small, but the way he moved, the way he ran, suggested a strength at odds with his small frame.

In his arms was a small bundle, cradled close against his chest. His eyes shone with excitement as he gazed down at his precious burden, and he picked up speed; eager to get home.

Spying his goal he picked up speed to burst over the crest of a hill. In the moment he crossed over the top, he vanished from the sight of men.

"Mama! Mama! Look what I found!" His voice was high, excited laughing.
He ran to his mother's side, thrusting the bundle up in front of himself proudly. "Lookie mama! Can I keep it?"

His mother reached out to move aside the blanket covering her son's treasure, to see what it was that her son wanted to keep this time. Peaking out from the folds of cloth were two piercing blue eyes, framed by a serious looking face. She sighed. A human child.

"Now you know as well as I that was don't interfere with the humans anymore. Take him back to where you found him."

"But mama! It likes me, look at him laugh."

"No. I'll have none of it. Put the baby back,"

His shoulders slumped as he stared at his feet, his toes drawing uncomfortable patterns in the earth. He looked so pathetic that his mother relented slightly.

"Put the baby back, and when you return I'll tell you a story."

"Can I choose it?"

"Yes dear, whichever one you like. Now go return him before his parents notice he's gone and…"

"I know, make sure no one sees me. Silly mama, I'm never seen" With that he sprinted off once again into the darkness, while his mother shook her head at the eagerness of the youth. He had an enthusiastic nature, but would do anything at the promise of a story.

Moments later it seemed she again came through the barrier between the world of men and the land of the Faerie.
"I'm back mama! No one saw me, and they ever knew the baby was gone. Now can I have my story? " The words came out in an excited rush.
"Which one would you like tonight then?"

"Can I hear the one about The Five? "

"Yes child now sit down and listen.

"It was a time when the earth was dying. For hundreds of years the Men had stolen from it. Poisoning it with their deeds, stealing the riches from it and leaving only barren soil. We were also weakened. We, Fey race, linked to the earth could not fight against them for any time. They stole the magic from the land. Sucking it from the land with greed and hate. There were too few people who gave something back. There were a few, a few people that fought with honor, strength and courage.

"In the long ancient past, there were the men who fought with evil in their minds and souls, but, the benefits were wonderful. For opposing these men were Heroes. True Warriors. Men who shone brightly and gave freely. Through them we grew strong. But the world began to fill with cold iron, Death Metals. Men grew weak, the forgot our legends, they forgot their own pasts. The Old Blood grew tired within weak men's veins. They forgot about the consequences. They forgot about what it meant to be a hero. They forgot and we began to fade. They selfish hatred stole our power, giving to little back.

"So we gathered our power and we risked it all on one last chance. We broke the First rule and we took five children. Children like the one you had tonight, except ours were children who had no one to miss them. Nameless waifs but we gave then gifts so they could fight for us in the times to come.

"This war was one we could not participate in on our own. We were too weak from the actions of men, and what little strength we had was useless against the Death Metal the men fought in. We knew though that no matter who won that war, we would lose unless this new war created Heroes, people from ancient times who's very existence was an inspiration, a call to honour.

"To the first child we gave a gift of determination and strengthened his tolerance for pain. "To the second child, we gave our ability to fade away, to become unseen. We enhanced and we gave the gift of laughter to that one. Hoping that it would help keep them sane in the years to come.
"The third was gifted with our ability to communicate with the animals. His grace, speed, and suppleness were enhanced to the point where he became our equal.
"To the fourth we gave a gift of leadership and empathic abilities to keep the group together should they ever join in the fight.
"The fifth was given the strength to do what was needed, whatever that was. He was the calm and the passion, all worlds in one.

"Now we had our warriors who were to stand for us in the battle; warriors with the makings of True Heroes. Their youth meant they had yet to be tainted by the idea that war was for killing. We hoped that their short time with us would remind them that the point of war is Peace. But something went wrong. The children were scattered and lost, no longer living on our earth, within our borders, but in lands made of Death Metal. We could not find them. Our last chance was lost.

"Hope gone we waited, felt the magic of the land fade to away, leached away by humans and their wars.
"We waited for the day when the magic would finally be gone. And we would die."

She paused then in her telling, distracted by her son. He was now reduced to sitting on his hands to keep from fidgeting with his enthusiasm for the story. His eyes shining as he watched his mother's face.

"And then mama? And then? What happened next? That's not the end of the story! I know."
"You know as well as I what happens next" She smiled at him "probably better"
"But you're telling the story, you must finish the story!"
"Okay then, hush now and let me finish."

"Then one day, in the darkness there was a light. A brief flicker in the fading magic. We turned once again to the land of men, eager to see who was now feeding the earth, what new force had arisen. And we saw the first child, standing alone on the hard tarmac of a ruined base, beside him was his machine of Death. He had just saved the world, risked all so that the earth would live on. But that was no comfort to him. In his mind he had still failed.

He was one of ours. We had found them again and although we rejoiced at that fact, we wept for who 'our' children had become. They were hard, but so fragile. Strong but weak. But through their faults they still shone. Despite the fact they had no idea what they were doing, they were everything we had dreamed that our champions could be. They fought for what was right, they fought with everything they had, with spirit and hope. They gave everything for this world.

"But that still wasn't good enough for them. We saw that in their hearts it wasn't enough. They were saddened by what they could still have done. They might have rescued thousands, but they still mourned the one lost.

"That was a hard time for us. We all knew that his was not their last battle. We all knew that their lives would not be easy. They would hurt far worse before this was over. But there was nothing we could do. Not now. They were too fragile, our situation was not secure.

"But we did what we could. They were kept alive when they should have died. They were watched and people were nudged, encouraged to act at times.

When the First sacrificed himself for the colonies of humans out in space. That was the turning point. When we saw him step out of his machine, so cold, determined as he unhesitatingly pressed the button that would kill him. The Old Blood ran strong in his veins, it was like we were watching something from the Time of Legends, when we were strong. But then the amazing thing happened. One of the other five stepped forward to take the body, considering it more important than the battle, though there was no way he could even know if it was alive. Then the man they had been fighting stepped back, allowing them safe passage off the battleground with their fallen comrade. We could not let him die after all he had done. We did meddle there a little despite our promises to let them fight and not. But the Age of Legends they were representing was also a time of miracles. We were merely keeping the old stories alive.

He lived, his enemies respected his sacrifice, and his allies honoured his body. What happened there that day changed the minds and hearts of many, many people. It was not a time where people so willingly sacrificed themselves for their ideals and it made some of those fighting think about what it must be like to believe in something so strongly that it is more important than life itself. People saw and people changed. All of a sudden there were more who fought with a new fervor. Everything they did fed us, made us grow stronger. As our power grew so did the strength of our champions. These Five together were invincible.

So they were our inadvertent Champions when out worst fears came to pass.

The other men had a system. A system that would allow wars, the destruction of the land, without involving Human soldiers. No more would there even be the chance that one man would act for honor, that one person who could chose to battle for love or any of those wonderful emotions that humans had. No more would they feed us if this came to pass.

The Five stood against this new development. As we had expected. But, what we had not expected were the others who stood with them. Their legends had spread far by now and people saw what they stood for. They joined our Five in the fight. They joined them, and we rejoiced. Not only because of the benefits to the world, but because we had come to care about these young men, who had been alone for so long.

These men were Heroes. We saw the traits so common in the old and ancient times shine through once more. Honor Courage Love. Things civilized man had forgotten, put aside as unnecessary.

They brought us back to a time of legends.

Now it's past time you were in bed."

"But what happened then?"
His mother smiled. "Despite all odds they saved the world. Their names became legend. When the last battle was over they faded away into anonymity, enjoying the peace they had worked so hard for. Waiting for the day when the might be needed again."

"I know that but what next? What happened after? Where are The Five now Mama?"

"Sleeping, as you should be. Now off with you!"

He hung his head, but did as he was asked.

***to be continued***