Hi! Me again! Uhm, not much to say here. Just hi.
I don't own Gundam Wing. I do, however, own Alaryan's Keep and all her inhabitants and to steal them may result in a whole troupe of dancing monkeys to come to your home and beat you silly. This has been a public service announcement. –Lady PhoenixDagger
ALARYAN'S KEEP
PART I
"FREAKS"
Chapter VI
The next day dawned bright and sunny with cheery birdsong filling the air. Heero's bed creaked slightly under Relena's weight as she leaned forward to see him better. She sat on the edge in a light sleeping gown which was supposed to close from the centre of her chest up with a network of complicated laces. Needless to say, Relena was glad Heero's eyes were bound, as she couldn't seem to figure out how to get the damned laces tied up and so left them wide open and hanging along the soft contours of her breasts.
Carefully, she ran her hands through the Perfect Soldier's mat of thick, chocolate hair, revelling in the softness of it running through her fingers like water. He's so beautiful, Relena mused, brushing a smooth fingertip across Heero's surprisingly soft cheek.
"Does that feel nice?" she asked softly, imagining Heero's assenting nod and smile and then the sweet feeling of his own strong fingers twining through her own honey blonde locks. But she knew in her heart of hearts that this would never happen. Relena would forever be two things to Heero Yuy. She would always be either a mission or a nuisance to him, but never a lover. There were still nights when she dreamed that they stood alone in some secluded place, simply holding each other, lips touching gently, not saying anything, just basking in the warmth of one another. On these same nights, Relena woke in sweat-soaked anguish when her dreams became too real and her body searched for him in her bed, only to find the world to be the exact same as when she last left it. She would still be alone and he would still not love her. Trembling slightly, Relena's thumbs slid down to Heero's lips, delicately caressing the smoothness of them. "Pretty mouth," she murmured, half to herself, half to Heero.
"You know, Princess, you'll eventually rub his face off if you keep doing that," Catherine's sly whisper came at Relena's back. Humiliated, the "Princess" quickly felt her face heat up into a blush.
"Here." Catherine handed her a steaming cup of tea. "There's a tray by the window over there." She smirked. "It came about a half hour ago while you were busy rubbing down loverboy."
By now Relena's face was flaming. Rubbing down? Loverboy!? "That's not nice, Cathy!" she spluttered, further humiliated to feel her face heating up even more.
Catherine just smirked and went to wake Trowa.
"Ugh, ooh, man…" came the moan from Duo's bed. It creaked as he sat up. "I'm still here!" he cried.
Heero's still form suddenly drew in deeply a breath of morning air and sat up, awakened by Duo's less-than-brilliant observation. Carefully he felt along the bandage and pulled it off. From her perch, Relena watched him blink slowly in the brilliant sunlight like some form of beautiful wildcat.
"Relena," Heero murmured, his face softening briefly before returning to its normal blank countenance.
"Good morning," Relena murmured back, shyly rising from her little corner of the bed. Welcome back to good old stupid reality, Princess, she sighed to her herself. Well, maybe for once he'll give me an actual answer instead of that damn non-committal grunt he's so fond of.
"Hn."
Of course.
Trowa, Duo and Wufei approached the bedside, quietly so as not to wake Quatre, who was still resting in his own bed. Catherine was across the room at the tray of food, pouring herself a fresh cup of coffee.
Wufei leaned against the stone wall, rubbing his wrists, which were now stained an angry red from rope burn. "Welcome to purgatory, Yuy," he said acidly, still rubbing.
"Good morning to you too, Wufei," Heero said back, dead-voiced, as usual. "I heard everything. It doesn't take too much to look unconscious."
"Yeah, but you were lucky enough to miss the really weird shit." Duo's hands found the end of his braid and nervously began to toy with it. "Years –no, centuries!- of training couldn't have prepared us for what happened last night! It was, like, out of a science fiction novel or something!"
Quickly, Trowa filled Heero in on the previous night's events, sparing none of the gory details.
"Uh, huh," was all Heero said.
Relena stood up and began pacing the room, restless with her uselessness in the matter. "We need to speak to this Belle woman and learn all we can about this place from her. She seems kind enough to tell us the truth."
"She did say she would come to 'collect us in the morning', so we'll see her soon, I guess," Duo pointed out. "She called Quatre something before she left us for the night. Uhhh…an epitaph? Something like that?"
"Empath." Trowa took a book of old fantasy stories he had been recently reading out of Hammer Space. "Ahhh…" he calmly flipped through the pages while Duo tried in vain to look over his shoulder. "Here it is. An empath is someone who physically shares in the pain or emotions of others." He looked over at Quatre, who still lay peacefully sleeping. "Hm. Sounds like Quatre all right." Casually, he flipped the book back into Hammer Space and reclined against the wall next to Wufei. "Did Belle say when she would be-"
"Good morning." Belle's musical voice chirped from the door. Her hair was pulled back from her shoulders today and she wore a medieval-looking dress considerably like the one she had worn the day before. There was a large wicker basket balanced on her hip. "Have you had your fill to drink?"
Nods.
"Very good." She set the basket on a vacant bed and stood back. "Your clothing has been mended and cleaned. Dress quickly and then we can all go downstairs and get some breakfast. Alright?"
More nods and a general reach for the basket. Trowa woke Quatre and gave him his clothes, which were spotless and smelled faintly of wildflowers. "How are you feeling?" the taller boy asked quietly.
"Better." Quatre replied, sitting up and unfolding his freshly-pressed shirt. "My head stopped hurting and I don't feel like I'm going to throw up anymore."
"Mm. That's good." Trowa looked around the room and smiled faintly at the tangible pall of discomfort which quickly fell as everyone soon realised that though they now had clothes, what they really needed was somewhere in which to put them on. Relena and Duo were alternating between looking at each other and the bundles of clothing in each other's arms, blushing all the while. Wufei was scowling. Also blushing, Catherine seemed to be utterly fascinated with the ceiling. Heero, of course, had already stripped down to his shorts and was currently in the act of pulling on his jeans. A thin smile of amusement was painted over Belle's ageless face.
"There is a men's room here, you know. Down the hall, third door on the right." Belle pointed. "Move out!"
The boys trooped out, leaving Relena and Catherine to dress alone. Sighing, Relena tugged on the shorts she had been wearing what seemed to be eons ago and reached for her blouse. This day will certainly prove to be interesting. She looked down to pull off her nightgown and was suddenly faced with a sickening realisation: the ties on her gown were still undone, giving the world a generous peek at her partly exposed breasts. Oh, lord!! Heero and the others were looking at me!!
Don't worry dear, came a kindly voice in Relena's head. They were polite enough to look elsewhere.
"Thank goodne-" A sudden thought dawned on Relena. "Ah…" How did one go about asking such a question? "How-"
Belle laughed, a sound that reminded Relena of a multitude of brightly tinkling bells. "It's just a talent of mine, darling. I am a psionicist and an empath, like your friend Quatre. I can read minds and communicate with people inside their heads, along with a few other added perks. Right now the boys are just realising that they made it aaaaall the way to the jacks and halfway back under my power and not their own." She laughed again. "You should hear the swear words going through Wufei's head right now."
Catherine's mouth was hanging open in shock. As Belle looked at her, she shut it with a guilty snap. "What am I thinking right now?" she demanded.
Belle's grin never faltered. "You are thinking about Trowa in a pair of puffy yellow pants with stars on them and a funny neck-ruff and a porcelain half mask with a wide red smile." She paused. "That's not very nice, Cathy. We may be from different worlds, but I can assure you that that type of hand gesture is quite universal."
Catherine at least had the decency to blush as Belle shooed them from the room and into the hall. They met the boys coming back from the men's jacks, freshly scrubbed and dressed. Quatre's hair was damp. Trowa smelled of toothpaste. Wufei still scowled.
"I trust you found the jacks to your liking?" Belle asked, cool as ever.
At this Wufei's face turned beet red. "What did you do to us woman!?!?"
"Why Chang, my dear. I was just helping you all find the little boys' room," Belle said, innocently batting her eyes at him. One could almost see the halo rising from her head.
This time Wufei's face turned a rich shade of purple. "How dare you call me by me given name!!!"
Belle's smile turned frosty. "A pity," she said, ice coating her words and inch thick. "So bright and yet so full of rage. Such a waste of such a brilliant mind." She turned to the others, leaving Wufei to sputter at her. "Come. We have to eat. They are waiting for us."
"Who?" queried Quatre, running his fingers through his still-wet hair.
"Friends," was all Belle would say.
More soon! Ja!
--L.P.D.