What if: Myth

By Prinder

Rating: PG 13- R for swearing, violent situations and suggestive dialog.

Summery: a 'what if' story. What if the gundam pilots were living in a fantasy world, with myth, magic, mystery and monsters. This is what I think their lives would be like.

Notes: this is a non-yaoi, AU, action/romance story, Possible OOC.

Disclaimer: I do not own gundam wing or any of its characters. I also do not own Felina or Jasmine they were so gratefully lent to me by my dear role-playing friend Ashley.

Keys:

"…" Indicates talking

'…' Indicates thinking

(Notes from me)

Chapter 1: A tale of the souls.

He was sitting on the back of the bandwagon. Nothing strange about that, he always sits there, he was even sitting the same way he always does, one leg tucked under him and the other dangling haphazardly off the edge with his eyes closed and his flute pressed to his lips, playing a cheery tune.

"Trowa! Be careful, you might fall" his adoptive sister cried. She was always worried about him.

Trowa paused in his playing and looked at her. "I will, don't worry sis" he said reassuringly.

It was always like that. He would sit at the back of one of the bandwagons playing his flute and she would promptly warn him to be careful. It was the same every time the circus moved on from one kingdom to the next. It was funny how they seemed to look so much alike but weren't at all related, at least that was what they told the others, but no matter what they would always be family to each other. Just like everyone else in the troop.

Catherine looked up from her seat in the front of the bandwagon behind Trowa's and watched the sunset behind the mountains to the east. She turned to look to the west to see the glistening ocean splashing waves upon the shoreline. She sighed contently at the sights and sounds around her, slowly drifting off to sleep.

*****

He was pacing the halls, he always does, its just like his father to leave him in the dark when everyone knew that he was deathly ill, Quatre could almost hate his father for that, almost, if it weren't for his good nature he would be mad, but it still wouldn't help things, his father was dying and there was nothing he could to about it! Quatre sighed, he had to calm down, and getting upset wouldn't do anyone a wit of good right now! He forced himself to sit down in a chair and leaned back to close his eyes. He was tired, he had been up most of the night waiting to see if the mages could do anything for his father.

One of the mages walked out of his father's bed cambers. Quatre jumped to his feet and ran over.

"How is he? Is he all right? Will he make it? What's going on in there?" Quatre questioned rapidly.

The mage looked at Quatre with pity in his eyes, Quatre hated it when people did that, like they didn't want to be the ones to break the bad news to you. Quatre sighed; he knew very well what the mage was going to say and merely nodded before the mage could even speak.

"May I see him?" Quatre asked calmly.

The mage nodded and stepped aside to let the boy into his father's room for one last goodbye.

Quatre walked into the bed chambers asked the other mages to leave for a moment, they all complied wholeheartedly and soon Quatre was alone with his now dead father.

"Why now father? Why did you have to leave us?" Quatre asked the body, choking back tears that were threatening to fall.

Nothing. There was nothing but still air for a reply.

"I'm sorry I was never a very obedient son father, I know it won't help but I am really and truly very sorry" that did it. The dam broke and Quatre buried his face in his hands as he fell to his knees and cried at the foot of his father's bed.

Slowly the door opened an hour later and Quatre stepped out with his head bowed as he walked quietly to his chambers and crawled into bed only to cry himself to sleep.

The news spread quickly, mages were always big blabber mouths when it came to such things, and by morning light even people in neighboring kingdoms knew of what had happened that night, and they also knew that there was already a new king on the throne, the new king didn't know this until the next day, but now was the time of the reign of king Quatre!

*****

She was playing the harp, a trivial task, but it was still something to do.

"Your highness! Your highness!" one of her mother's maidens-in-waiting called as she ran into the throne room.

"Yes? Did you call me?" she stopped playing, rolled the impossibly large harp out of the way, stood up and walked over to her.

"Yes your highness, your mother wishes to see you at once!" the maiden replied.

"Why didn't you say so in the first place? Where is she?" she asked.

"This way your highness" and with that they both made there way to the library so see her mother reading calmly by the window.

"Mother, you wished to see me?"

The queen looked up and smiled at her daughter and motioned her forward.

"Yes my dear, please have a seat," the queen said cheerfully.

The princess did as she was asked and then looked at her mother.

"Mother, what has happened?" she asked.

"Nothing has happened my dear, I merely wished to see you my love" the queen replied.

'Something was very wrong here' thought the princess. 'She never calls me that, she still is yet to say my name' she frowned and stood up "Mother, please, tell me, what is going on here?"

"King Winner has passed away, his son needs a queen, his royal adviser sent me the message requesting that you meet with Prince Quatre" her mother replied.

"I understand… when am I to leave?" she asked sadly. This was not how she wanted to be married, but that's what it's like to be royalty.

"Today. Jasmine, please don't cry my little one. They say that prince Quatre is a kind young man. And it is only to meet him, not to marry him. He wants to get to know you before he decides to honor his fathers last request" Jasmine's mother said as she hugged her gently and wiped away her tears.

"Thank you mother, I feel better now," Jasmine said as she put on a brave smile and walked out the door.

"Take care my dear," her mother said softly when she left.

*****

They were drinking tea in the dinning room when one of the soldiers came running in waving a note above his head franticly.

"Your majesty!" he dropped to his knees in a long sweeping bow.

They looked up at the soldier and Queen Lucrezia stood up and walked over to the soldier to retrieve the note.

"What's this?" she asked as she read it.

"K-King T-t-traize se-sent it yo-your majesty!" the soldier stuttered.

King Milliardo took the note from his wife's hand and read it for himself. "I see…hum…"

"What did he say when he gave it to you?" Queen Lucrezia asked.

"He said that he found something that might interest you. Your majesty I swear I don't know what he was talking about!" the soldier said as he bowed again.

"But I do… " King Milliardo said as he wrote down something on a new sheet of parchment and handed it back to the soldier "take this to Traize, tell him to sand it here, I would like to see it for myself"

"Y-yes your majesty!" and with that the soldier stood up, took the note and left.

"Milliardo? Do you really think he found the…"

"Yes Lucrezia I do… my only hope is that it can save my sister…"

*****

It was dark, very dark, he noted. They were trapped in a cage of sorts that much he could tell…

'Damn it! Why can't they just leave us alone?' he thought as a body next to him stirred from its sleep.

"Heero?" a voice chirped out as the body it belonged to sat up and let its eyes adjust to the light, or their lack of.

"I'm here, where here is, I don't know, but I'm going to find out" he replied.

She noticed the cage and started to panic. She pulled on the iron bars, kicked at the steel top and pounded at the floor. Nothing. This cage wasn't about to open anytime soon.

"Are you done yet?" he asked.

"I can't help it! I hate small dark places!" she replied.

"I know, if it helps, I tried the same thing you did," he said.

"Pwa? It doesn't but thanks anyways" she replied.

"Other then being claustrophobic, are you all right Felina?" he asked.

"Yeah… I think so"

A tall dark figure walked up to the cage and opened the door.

"Step out please" he said.

They hesitated.

"I'm not going to harm you," he said calmly.

They slowly walked out of the cage and stood before him with their arms crossed in front of their chests.

"I trust that you want an explanation?" he asked.

"That would be a good place to start" Heero said glaring daggers at the man.

"You aren't like most humans aren't you," the man stated. "You are both extremely gifted, and that's why we brought you here, there is someone in need of your help" he added.

"And who might that be?" Heero asked.

"And what do we get out of it?" Felina questioned.

"She is Princess Relena… and she has taken ill by some sort of curse that a warlock cast upon her while she was out riding in the woods… her brother has offered her hand in marriage to whom ever saves her"

"Pwa! And you want us to do it for you so that you can marry her?" Felina said with disgust.

"No… I am doing this as a favor to her brother…I already have a queen"

"What makes you so sure that we can accomplish this?" Heero asked.

"Because you can," the man replied as he turned and started walking up some steps before turning to face them. "I only need one of you… then you are welcome to leave afterward…please follow me" with that he continued to climb the steps.

"I'm not staying here… I'll meet you in the forest Heero" Felina said as she ran off into the darkness of the forests behind them.

"Hn…" was all Heero said in reply as he followed the man.

'I'll just heal her and leave' he thought as he entered the princesses' bedchambers.

There she was laying on the bed, drenched in sweat from head to toe, her eyes clenched shut as her muscles in her hands flexed, fighting some invisible foe. Just for a moment Heero imagined what she would look like without the paleness in her face and her eyes not scrunched up in pain.

'Stop it stop it stop it! You have a mission to complete!' Heero scolded himself mentally as he walked over to her bed.

"…Heeerrreerooooo…" she moaned softly.

'Not possible! She doesn't know who I am! She must be calling someone else. Yeah that's it. It has to be' he told himself, but just to be on the safe side he snuffed out the candles in her room, leaving it in total darkness with exception for the moon light streaming in through the window.

'Lets just get this over with' he told himself as he put his hand in her forehead and a strange golden glow emerged from his fingertips, he groaned in pain. Soon after it was done he passed out, his head landing on her chest, using it as a pillow.

*****

She opened her eyes slowly and looked around her room, the sun was shining in through her window… it was early morning. She tried to sit up but a strange weight was holding her down, she looked down and tried not to scream when she saw a boy asleep on her chest.

"Wh-what is he doing here?" she said out loud to herself.

Heero mumbled and groaned slightly as he regained consciousness 'what? Now where am I? It must have taken a lot more out of me then I thought it would… what was that!' he opened his eyes to the feeling to something moving beneath him and he shot up and backed at least ten feet away from the bed.

"Who are you? Are you okay?" the once dying girl said as she looked at him with her clear blue eyes.

"…" Heero took another step back and hit her dressing table, tripped and fell to the ground in a spray of shattering glass, scented oils, powders and various other objects.

Relena gasped as she jumped out of bed and slowly walked over to him, afraid that anymore-sudden movement would frighten him.

"Are you all right?" she said softly as she reached out to touch him to see if he was okay.

Heero saw her hand coming and knocked it away as he scrambled over to a corner holding a knife in his hands.

She looked at him carefully, unsure of what to do.

'He acts as if he were a wild animal'

She looked at his clothes carefully. He was wearing what looked to be a dear hide shirt and pants, his boots looked to be made of a stronger form of leather with matching laces, his hair looked like it hadn't been touched in months, maybe even years! His dagger itself looked to be rather crude on its own and well stained with blood. From what she could tell he LOOKED like he was an animal in most respects.

He felt a shiver run up his spine as she looked at him, she wasn't glaring like he was a piece of filth, nor a monster like most people did when they got a good look at him. She was just looking, her innocent eyes piercing him. It was unnerving.

"What's your name?" she asked again.

"… … … Hee- Hee-Heero" he stammered out, suddenly finding his mouth dry and his voice raspy.

'When did that happen?' he asked himself.

She smiled. She smiled at HIM! Heero pressed against the wall behind him even harder.

'I know that name… but how could I? I must be imagining things' she thought.

"Pleased to meet you Heero" she said.

Heero made a brake for the door kicked it open and ran as fast as he could out of the castle and into the forest.

She stared at the doorway, blinking her eyes in confusion.

"My name is Relena…"

*****

He pulled open the paper screen doors and walked into his study at 9:54 am on the dot, just like the day before and the day before that. He was hiding there, not that he would ever admit it if you asked him. He was stubborn in that way. He chose a book randomly off of shelves and sat down to read.

"Master Wufei?" she called softly, just like she did the day before and the day before that. It would have been a game if they let it. They were both stubborn in that way, unwilling to admit to the real truth of the matter. She would claim that she only thought of him as a brother. He would say that she was a constant nuisance.

"Hum?" he said as he looked up from his book.

"Master Wufei, am I correct to assume that you have not only read that book before, but are now trying to read it up side down?" she asked in wry amusement.

Wufei looked back at his book, she was right, he was reading it up side down. He wasn't really reading it, he only took it off the shelf just so that they would think that he was and leave him alone. She never disobeyed orders, she never did anything wrong, she only went about her business, only pointing out someone's errors in that voice that reeked of self pride.

He always looked at her with such distaste, like he had just bitten into a lemon, that sour look could almost make her want to laugh at him, if it weren't for her sense of integrity she would have gladly made a fool of him in front of his peers. No, she wouldn't to that. As much as she hated to admit it, she cared for the young master.

"Do you want to know a secret?" he asked as he set his book on his lap.

"If you think that I am trust worthy of keeping it," she replied with a bow.

'Strange that she acts so humble yet she is actually far from being it' Wufei thought.

"You are the only person since I lost my Meiran that dares to question me" he said slowly with a piercing glare.

"Thank you master Wufei, you honor me, you so rarely compare others to your beloved wife, I knew Meiran long before I met you, when she came home one day and told me about this irritating scholar boy who let others push him around when she knew perfectly well that he was stronger then all of them! I told her that there were those that fought differently then others; she told me that this boy didn't fight at all! That he was a coward. That was the first time I have ever known her to make a mistake. The second time was when she died," she said ignoring his glare, bowing once again and turning to leave the room.

"Wait" Wufei ordered and she stopped and turned to look at him.

"Yes master Wufei?"

"You were her friend weren't you?"

"Yes master Wufei, you could say that we were that close"

"Then why weren't you present at our wedding?"

"I was there master Wufei, I simply chose not to make my attendance known, she knew that I was there, and that was all that mattered"

"Thank you"

"You are quiet welcome master Wufei, now I will leave you to your thoughts" she said as she bowed again and left the room.

"Thank you Wong" he said as he turned his book right side up, and for once, actually read it instead of glaring at its pages.

*****

There was a great commotion in the streets, there always were these days, and one boy was responsible for it.

"Catch me if you can fatsos! You're way too slow!" he yelled and he jumped over some crates and knocked over a couple of barrels of who-knows-what to trip up the guards.

"After him!" "Stop him!" "Don't let him get away!" "Filthy street urchin!" and various other things were yelled between the guards as they tried in vain to catch him.

He was a skinny kid, he looked at if he wasn't very well fed, which was true, he wasn't. Like most other orphaned children, he didn't have any choice in the matter, it was kill or be killed out on the streets and you either starve to death or you learn real quick how to survive on your own.

"Ha ha! Losers! Ya can't catch me!" he yelled over his shoulder as he ducked into a dark ally way and behind a pile of trash.

The guards ran down the ally way continued to search the whole kingdom for the annoying little street rat, apparently they had nothing better to do with their time then to hunt down some poor starving kid. Duo let out a sigh as he crawled out of his hiding place and dusted off his clothes, they were really just somebody's old rags, Duo knew that that used to be a large array of colors, but now they were practically black from dirt.

Duo sighed again. It was only by mere luck that he was even still alive to begin with, he slumped down onto the ground and took a bite out of one of the apples that he had managed to keep in his mad dash out of there, it would have to be his dinner tonight, there wasn't much else he could do about it either.

*****

One look at him and you knew right off the bat that he was born into life as a man of the open sea, a pirate, an adventurer, a master of the ocean, a traveler, a wonderer, a woman. Yes this boy was indeed a girl, her long brown hair was hidden skillfully under her hat, she wore men's garments instead of dresses, her boots laced high up to her knees with a sword and knife at her hips. Yes this maiden was not like most of her time, she could cuss and swear with the best of them, and once she even made the first-mate blush with shock at the words that could and would come out of her mouth! And she was proud of it, she fancied herself to be the toughest of the tough, and even though all of the men on board ship knew she was a lass and not a lad, they kept their hands off and in fact treated her as if she were just like the rest of them, not because she was tough, but because her father was their captain.

"HOIST THE MAIN SAILS! WE'RE HEADED FOR A HOWLER M'BOYS!" shouted the captain and his men quickly set to work.

"HEY! GET YA SORRY HIDE IN GEAR OR I'LL RUN YA THROUGH YA SLIMY EXCUSE FOR MAN!" came the unmistakable yell of the captain's daughter as she forcibly pushed she way onto the main deck.

"AHOY!" the captain said as he ran over to his daughter. "How have you been fairing lass?"

"Never better! Now if only these guys would LISTEN to me, then I would be perfect!" she replied with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

Her father gave a booming laugh as he ruffled up her bangs with his hand.

"You lass are still a ways too young to be commanding a ship of your own" he said.

"I can handle it! Darren's already got a ship! And I'm older then he is! And I'm three times the man that he'll never be!" she said with a stomp of her foot and folded her arms over her chest.

"And that, my dear one, is the reason" said another female voice as a tall woman walked gracefully over to the captain and his daughter.

"WHAT? YOU SAY AGAIN I DARE YA!"

"Ah Kiora! It's good to see you out of the gully for once!" the captain said as he hugged the woman.

There was only one other woman on board ship other then the Captain's daughter and that was her aunt. Kiora was constantly trying to turn the captain's daughter into a lady, earning Kiora a very low ranking on his daughter's like list.

"Aw! Whad'da ya want now?"

"Fiora! You will speak to me with respect!" Kiora said with a warning glare that Fiora ignored.

"Sorry! But I only respect those that are worthy of it! And you ain't on that list lady!" Fiora returned fire at Kiora's verbal attack.

"Now now ladies…" Captain Gethin said trying to stop a fight from ensuing.

"I AM NOT A LADY!" Fiora yelled as she turned, punched a rather large dent into the wood beam leading up to the crow's nest and marched back down below deck, stomping all the way.

Kiora watched Fiora go then turned to Gethin and said pointing one of her long fingernails into his chest "this is all your fault! If you hadn't worked these nonsense ideas into her head she would still be at home! Acting like the proper young lady she should be!"

"NOW WAIT JUST A DOG GONE MINUTE HERE! Who are you to say that they're nonsense? And what right do YOU have to tell ME what to do? She is MY daughter and I will raise her however I see FIT! Just because you hate me for marring your sister doesn't make it your place to say what is good for HER daughter! I would kindly suggest that you watch where you walk m'lady! You're treading on very thin ice!" and with a curt nod Gethin walked back to the steering wheel of the ship and continued to shout out orders to his crew, who never even stopped what they were doing to pay attention to the fight, it was old news for them, and in about three hours Fiora would return from below deck in a very sour mood indeed…

*****

He was asked to go hunting, he didn't mind, he liked the solitude of the forests. He equipped himself with a bow and a quiver of arrows and proceeded into the forest's suffocating blackness.

Trowa scanned the area carefully for his pray, an arrow already loaded onto his bow and the string pulled back ready to fire on any unsuspecting wood land creature.

She was wondering through the forest, she had stayed up all night and she still was yet to see neither hide nor hair of her cousin Heero. Then she heard it, the unmistakable snap of a twig, she spun around on her heels, she thought she heard it come from the right, she started creeping through the woods in that direction to see what is was, she hoped it was Heero, but that didn't even calm her nerves.

Trowa spotted something moving through the trees, thinking is was a doe he pulled back in his arrow and let it fly.

Felina turned just in time to see a arrow flying straight at her, she tried to dive out of the way, too little, to late, the arrow hit its mark and she hit the ground with a loud thud!

Trowa ran into the bushes where he saw his pray fall, he gasped as what he discovered… it was a girl! He shot her by mistake! He quickly checked to see if she was still alive, thank heavens! She still had a pulse! There was still time to save her. He removed the arrow, bandaged up her wound, scooped her up into his arms and ran as fast as he could back to the circus troop…

______________________________________________________________________________

Yeah! I did it! The first chapter! Wahoo! Yeah baby yeah! *Does a little dance* okay this one goes out to my best bud Ashley! I'm sorry I tried having Trowa kill Felina! I didn't plan this I swear! But it was the only way I could think of to get those two to meet dang it! *Lol* ^_^; so umm… send all comments, questions, praise, flames, wedding proposals to FioraEmbyr@aol.com okay? Well chio peoples!