Disclaimers:
All rights and privileges to Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing are trademarks and property of Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and associated parties.
Original characters are owned by Yuuki Miyaka and Kira.
The characters of these works--with the exception of the original characters--are used without permission for the purpose of entertainment only. This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit. The original portion of the fiction included here is considered to be the sole property and copyrighted to the author.
Dedications:
This story is dedicated in whole to Kira, Aiyla, and Colin.
Kira - for her help in creating the plot and original characters, and for the inspiration of years.
Aiyla - for giving me a glimpse of heaven in her smile.
Colin - for being my greatest inspiration and the other half of my soul.
Warnings:
AU, Angst, Humor, Romance, Eventual Yaoi, Violence.
Author's Notes:
This is being written for a contest. Due to this, I would like you to tell me what is wrong with the fic as well as what is right. Please make feedback constructive. It is combined with an original universe, though more of a fusion than a crossover. All will become clear in time.
Also, originally this fic had within it's disclaimer the information regarding the ownership of ElfQuest. This was a misprint due to the fact that I was html-coding this piece late at night, and stole the disclaimer from another fic (also co-written by me) called Six Splinters of Gundanium. My apologies for any confusion this may have caused.
Dragon Dark
A Gundam Wing Alternate Universe Story
by: Yuuki Miyaka
Chapter One - And So It Begins
"Guuzen no deai ga mirai made kaete shimau kiseki o shinji na yo umaku ikusa. It's gonna be OK!" Chang Wufei glared at the teenage boy singing, mildly annoyed that they'd been forced to share a room. His angry demeanor would have frightened most people, but it seemed that Duo Maxwell was immune to his death-glare. That, Wufei reflected grimly as Duo continued to sing, swaying towel-clad hips as his lips moved just over the bristles of the hairbrush in his hand, was probably due to Heero Yuy's influence.
"Maxwell?" he asked quietly, hoping to get some peace and quiet soon. He needed to think over what he intended to do about Treize Khushrenada. But the long-haired boy ignored him, instead making his movements a trifle more along the lines of stripping as he dug in his bag for a clean set of clothing. 'Why unpack?' Duo had asked Wufei philosophically when they'd moved into this safehouse. Wufei had agreed, and noted that without their personal items cluttering the tiny living space, they seemed to have more room. But even with the 'extra' room, he was still feeling cramped and claustrophobic.
"Dare ni mo watasenai," Duo continued, his tenor drawling slightly in a rather sexy manner. Wufei reflected silently that if Heero Yuy HAD been around, Duo would probably be eating the brush he was singing into. "Taisetsuna mono wa hitotsu," the words drifted out, circling around Wufei's head and catching slightly at his heart when Duo paused after the last word of the phrase. The brief wait made the seductive effect even more apparent, and Wufei decided to try again.
"Maxwell?!" He'd raised his voice slightly this time, but it still seemed to have no effect. Just as his duel with Khushrenada had been nothing more than a frustrating attempt to do something about the ruthless bastard that had tricked them all.
"Chance wa ichido dake te ni irero yo ashita ja osoi." Had it been Wufei's imagination, or had Duo's voice gotten husky there for a moment? He wouldn't be surprised, not with the way he was singing this song. It almost sounded as though the song . . . AND singer . . . belonged in a 'gentlemen's club.' But the words of the song seemed almost designed to make Wufei sit up and think about what had happened, what he'd done, and how he had been hiding until recently. He opened his mouth to make another attempt at catching Duo's attention, snapping it shut without a word as Duo spun to face him, arms thrown above his head and nearly-nude body shown off to full advantage, his voice belting out the next part. "Tada! Hiza o dakaete ochikonda kinou wasurete shimae jibun o shinjite." Wufei stared for a second, then spoke sharply.
"MAXWELL!" Again Duo affected not to hear him, his hips still swaying, the side opening of the towel giving small glimpses of things that Wufei felt should be better left unseen. The pilot of Shenlong dropped his face into his hands, staring at his legs and the bed under them as he pondered what he should do. He knew what Meiran would have demanded, and as he was her only way of living on, he did his best to keep her alive through his actions. But how could justice be delivered if he were dead? He'd never understood that.
"Tabun umaku iku ze, dakara umaku iku ze," Duo sang, either completely oblivious to Wufei's sharp exclamation or pretending to be. As Wufei looked up, he realized two things. First, Duo was watching him as the braided pilot sang, which meant that he was ignoring Wufei's attempts to silence him on purpose. Second, and more important, the towel around Duo's waist was slipping, which had Wufei's face growing far more red than it should. "Chance wa me no mae. Daijoubu kitto OK!" he sang just as the towel gave up completely.
"DUO!!!" Wufei nearly gave himself whiplash, he looked away so quickly. Surprisingly, he heard Duo stop singing, then chuckle softly. There was a rustle of cloth, then the gentle swish of a brush through long, wet hair as Duo spoke.
"Ne, Wufei. Didn't know ya even KNEW my first name." At that, Wufei gave up, rising and stalking out of the room. He was never going to be able to think about the thrice-damned duel here. He didn't see the look Duo gave him as he left, didn't notice the thoughtful contemplation in those violet eyes. And if he had, he probably wouldn't have understood it anyway.
It had been a disappointing and altogether unproductive session spent contemplating the duel, Meiran, Nataku, and where he fit in this world or any other. As usual, he was left with more questions than answers, and that always irritated him. And so it was because of his preoccupation that he almost missed his name as he walked past the bathroom. What was Duo doing talking about him in the bathroom? Curiosity piqued and unable to let the odd situation pass, he stood outside the door, listening with ears sharper than any of the other pilots had ever suspected.
"You said Wufei? Man, that's just . . . well . . . weird. I mean, it's gotta be some kinda weird shit goin' on if all FIVE of us are marked!" After a brief pause, Duo chuckled softly. "Heero didn't notice because he couldn't. He ain't a healer, man, just a soldier like the rest of us. I shoulda guessed though." Another pause to let him know that whoever Duo was talking to must be on the phone. Remembering the discreet cell phone that each of them had been supplied with when they'd first taken over their Gundams, he assumed that it must be that phone. "Well, because he was so honorable and shit. Kinda like Erik, ya know?"
Deciding that he wouldn't understand anything that Duo was saying, Wufei turned to walk away, then stopped as he heard Duo say something that surprised him. "Well SURE I'll look after him till they get here. Ain't like I'm gonna abandon 'Fei in his hour of need!" Wufei felt a chill run through him at the words, and hurried his pace slightly. He didn't want to know what Duo had planned. The American pilot had sounded almost . . . sinister for a moment. And knowing Duo as he did, Wufei had enough presence of mind to be afraid. Very afraid.
It had been a week. A week of no missions and Duo's company. Wufei reflected wryly that he SHOULD be dead by now, talked to death by the braided Shinigami. Instead, he'd found Duo's presence much more calming and comfortable than he'd ever expected. Then again, Duo hadn't constantly tried to chatter his ears off. Instead, he'd been mostly quiet, surprising Wufei with a rather scholarly bent himself. In fact, there had been one day when Wufei had come into the safehouse to find Duo reading one of his books. He'd stared for a long time, and when Duo looked up, the braided pilot had flashed an ironic little grin and said, "What makes you think that I can't read just 'cause I like to talk?" And then he'd proceeded to explain exactly what he thought of Sun Tzu, Sun Tzu's writings, and how they related to chess. Wufei had been floored.
So it had been a week, and a comfortable one at that. Duo had stopped being just 'Maxwell' or 'baka' to Wufei, and had, instead, become 'Duo.' At least, inwardly. On the outside, Wufei still found it much easier to call the braided pilot by his last name, as though nothing had changed. As though nothing would ever change. As though he still saw Duo as something less than a human.
His reverie was broken by a knock on the door, the sound of their code surprising him. Duo bounced up to swing the door open wide, and Wufei's small welcoming smile died on his face. It wasn't the other pilots. It wasn't anyone he recognized, and he felt suddenly bare without a gun or sword on him. But Duo greeted the man politely, letting him into the safehouse without a backward glance at Wufei, almost as though he knew this man.
Man was almost too bland a term for him. Giant would have been more appropriate since at six foot plus he towered over Wufei's five foot one frame. He greeted Duo casually, slate-grey eyes flickering over the shorter American before he turned to Wufei. "You would be Wufei, would you not?" Wufei nodded slowly, frowning as the man sat down. "I'm Erik Lyon, a friend of the other pilots."
"Maxwell, what is this about?" Wufei demanded, ignoring Erik's introduction.
"Let him explain, 'Fei-kun. When he's done and gone, I'll answer any questions you might have. But be warned . . . it's gonna sound fucked up."
Wufei nodded shortly at Duo, then at Erik, clearly giving permission for the taller man to begin. He did.
It took two hours of explanation, two hours of listening to a fantastical tale of magic and soldiers, WarLocks and a war that had lasted for more centuries than anyone cared to think about. It took two hours to explain that there were two sides to the War (Wufei could hear the capitals in the Erik's voice), the Light and the Dark, and that Erik himself was Leader for the Dark. Two hours to find out that he was the last pilot to discover his 'true heritage' and to be given a choice that he must think about before deciding. Did he wish to be on the side of the Light or the Dark? For it was up to him.
When Erik's explanation ended, the tall man rose. "Duo knows how to get in touch with me. When you decide, just tell him." With that, he walked out in a swirl of black hair and black trenchcoat, leaving Wufei feeling lightheaded. Why did all the strange stuff happen to him?
"Maxwell, if this is your idea of a joke," Wufei began, but Duo shook his head violently.
"Hell no, 'Fei! If I wanted to play a joke like this, I'd come up with something a lot more believable than the story he just fed you. It's all real, man! And before you ask, you've already met the Leader of the Light." When Wufei raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him, Duo grinned brightly. "It's Treize Khushrenada. He's the Leader of the Light. Which means the rest of us ended up on the side of the Dark. How's that for funny?"
An hour later, Wufei was still listening to Duo's story of his own induction into the Dark. "So then, Erik showed up and explained it all to me and I thought he was insane. The only reason I even listened was because Heero was right there agreeing with everything he said. It was really bizarre." Wufei agreed quietly, letting Duo continue. "So I thought about it for a while, and when I finally realized that it wasn't a joke, it didn't take much thought for me to decide NOT to be on OZ's side." Duo grinned brightly, and Wufei nodded.
"Is this what you were talking about in the bathroom, Maxwell?" Wufei demanded. Duo stared at him for a long minute, stunned, and Wufei smiled. "I heard my name. Since I can't recall you talking about me in the bathroom before, I listened."
Duo blushed. "Um, yeah. I was talking to Q-man. I meant it when I said we're all WarLocks. Q-man's a healer, so he actually could tell what you were. Only the healers can see other WarLocks apparently." Duo thought a moment, then amended, "Well, the healers and the Leaders. They can tell that you're a WarLock right now, and when you choose sides, they can tell which side you're on." Absently, he traced a stylized thirteen in a circle into his oatmeal. "Q-man says they see the symbols of the WarLocks in general over newbies and WarLocks of either Light or Dark over the people who've chosen sides."
"We have symbols?" Wufei asked, eyeing the drawing in Duo's food.
"Yep. This one is the symbol you're wearing right now. It's the symbol of WarLock's in general. The Dark is more like this," he said, drawing another circle, in which rested a backward six, also stylized. "The Light is the opposite. Apparently, we used to use these for messages sent back and forth. These days, they're pretty useless, but it's always nice to know."
Wufei nodded absently, trying to draw the Dark symbol in his own oatmeal. It was harder than it looked. He seemed to constantly mis-draw one or more of the lines. After a minute, Duo laughed. "Ne, 'Fei-kun . . . you can't draw it until you are one. That's why I didn't draw the symbol of the Light." Wufei nodded again, looking thoughtful.
"So . . . I'll know what I am when I can draw the symbol?" he asked softly.
"Hell no. As soon as you make up your mind which side to be on, you're on that side. Erik meant it when he said that it was up to you. No one else can decide for you."
"So . . . what else do I need to know, Duo?"
Duo blinked in surprise at Wufei's using his first name, but continued easily. "Well, y'know how I keep saying 'ya can't kill Shinigami?'" When Wufei nodded, Duo grinned. "That's 'cause it's true. We're almost immortal. Not quite, of course. We can kill each other. But normal humans can't kill us. The down side is we aren't gonna really age after this. Which REALLY sucks for us! I mean, we're stuck as kids. But at least we're not really young. It'd really suck if some true innocent was in our place. I mean, it's bad enough that Q-man's a WarLock, but I can kinda understand it. He's as good as the rest of us."
"Immortality," Wufei mused, feeling a sharp pain in his heart at the thought of living for hundreds of years with the memory of Meiran haunting him.
"Yep. So it gives us a major edge on the battlefield. But Q-man says that a lot of the battles we fight are really for the War, not against OZ but against the Light."
"Why Dark and Light?"
"Because . . . umm . . . I have no idea, really," Duo shrugged. "But that's what it is. 'Course, being Dark doesn't make us evil, like I first thought. It's more about balance than good and evil, from what Erik says, though he doesn't like Treize at ALL."
"Treize is honorable, in his own way," Wufei said absently, then rose, ignoring Duo's dumbfounded expression. "I must think." He turned, walking out of the room as Duo stared after him.
It couldn't possibly be real, Wufei decided as he stared up at ShenLong. It was all a huge misunderstanding. Duo had to be playing an elaborate joke. He could have easily paid the giant to say all those things. And though Quatre might go along with it, Wufei was certain that the others wouldn't. Well, at least not Heero. So he could be sure to get the complete truth from the stoic pilot.
Immortality wasn't real. WarLocks didn't exist. And if Duo truly expected him to believe it, then Duo was truly insane. Gullible, Wufei was NOT!