What if: Myth

By Prinder

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

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.

Claimer: I DO own Fiora and JinChi, so please don't use them unless you ask me first. Thank you!

Keys:

"…" Denotes Speech

'…' Denotes Thought

(Notes from me)

Chapter 11

Heero hissed softly as Felina replaced the wrappings over his arm wound, they had stopped at a small stream to rest for a few hours before continuing on their journey.

"We're making good progress. If we continue on at this pace, when do you think we'll get to the moor?" Quatre asked Felina once she had secured her cousin's bandages once again.

"We'll make it by night fall, I think. What do you think, Heero?" Felina replied.

"This route isn't the safest for humans, and has many traps made by fairies to keep humans out. I can use my magic to get past them, but there is still the off chance that we might encounter other creatures in this forest long before that time comes"

"Alright then, I want everyone to be on his guard for monsters. Now if we're all set, lets move out!" Quatre said as he stood up and mounted his steed and directed it towards the path as the others did the same, though, Felina and Heero had somewhat of a difficulty because of Heero's injury and Felina's lack of strength at the moment.

Duo lagged behind as he looked back down the way they had just came, thinking 'what is taking her so long? …. She's not coming, give up Duo, never trust a pirate…' before picking up his pace to catch up to the others.

"Duo, is something the matter friend?" Quatre asked.

"Nah! It's nothing…" he trailed off.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Well, lets get a move on, or we'll never make it to that moor- whatever it is- on time!" Duo exclaimed as they all galloped off into the light of the rising sun.

*****

Out of the trees came a rustle as four figures with horses stepped gingerly out of the brush.

"I fail to see the point in hiding like cowards and thieves, weren't we supposed to meet with them?" Wong questioned.

"Yeah, well, maybe so, but do you really think they'll just LET us stay with them? HA! Give me a brake! No way! We'll wait until they need our help, THEN we'll show up. And once they figure out that we just might be of some use to them, they'll be BEGGING us to stay! We just have to wait until the right moment until we strike!" Fiora laughed.

"Why does she make it sound like we're going to be ambushing them instead of helping them?" Jasmine whispered, leaning over to Relena's ear.

"Oh come on you guys! Don't you trust me? …Wait! Don't answer that… I don't wanna know"

"I wonder that myself" Relena whispered back, after hearing Fiora's outburst, as they followed the small troop ahead of them.

*****

"Hold it!"

"Huh? What is it Wufei?" Quatre asked.

"Something is coming"

"Yikes, quick! Unto the bushes!" Duo said as he jumped off his horse and led the others into the brush and out of sight.

"Sounds like hooves beating, horses maybe?" Trowa pondered aloud.

"I'll climb a tree and see if I can spot who it is," Heero said as he reached up to grasp a branch just over his head with his wounded arm and let out a sharp hiss.

"Heero! You can't! Not in that shape!" Felina chirped angrily.

"She's right Heero, it's too dangerous" Quatre added.

"Shhh! Here they come!" Duo hissed at the others, making everyone drop into dead silence right away.

On the trail the sound of the hooves came closer, suddenly one of the horses neighed loudly and started trying to buck off its rider.

"Whoa! Whoa! Damn it! I said WHOA! WHAT THE HELL?" a shrill voice screamed.

Duo's eyes widened in recognition 'Fiora… Well, it sure took her long enough to get here! …Wonder who she's with.' he thought.

"Calm down! Horses can sense your feelings!" a soft, soothing voice said.

"Jasmine!" Quatre gasped softly.

"YOU TRY BEING CALM WHEN YOUR HORSE IS HELL BENT ON KNOCKING YOU OFF!" the shrill voice, now known as Fiora's, replied.

"Try to keep it steady, I'll grab the reins" a slightly deeper, more gravely, but very feminine voice, said.

"What is that woman doing here?" Wufei muttered to himself, his eyes narrowing dangerously at the thought.

"What do you THINK I'm TRYING to DO here? HUH?"

"Lets back away from them, we don't want her horse to accidentally kick one of ours," a slightly lighter, and calmer, voice said.

"Relena…" Heero mouthed, his eyes slightly rounded in surprise.

"Good idea" Jasmine replied.

"Hurry up! I can't keep this bugger still!"

"I've almost…" Wong started growled slowly, trying to keep focus on the task at hand.

"AHHHH OOOOF!" Fiora screamed as she was flung off of the back of her horse as it reared up once last time before galloping off.

"Oh no! Your horse!" Relena shouted as she and her steed charged after it.

Unknown to the others in the brush, Heero slipped deeper into the forest, and with a barely noticeable, yellow, flash, he was gone.

"Are, are you all right?" Jasmine asked as she got off her horse and looked down at Fiora, who lay sprawled out on the forest floor.

"…Remind me NEVER to go horseback riding EVER again," Fiora replied slowly with a slight laugh as she let in a wheezing breath and coughed.

"Perhaps it didn't trust you" Wong said wryly.

"Oh kiss off JinChi!" Fiora snapped, trying to hide the smile behind her voice, clearly showing her amusement with the situation.

"Are you injured at all?" Jasmine asked as she helped Fiora up.

"I'm still breathing, that's just about all I can say" she replied as she dusted off her clothes.

"I wonder what got your horse so scared" Jasmine pondered loudly.

"I wish I knew, come on, we have to get going, we still have to catch those guys before it's too late"

'Ha ha! She doesn't even know that we're here! I'm gonna have some fun with this' Duo thought as he tightened his grip on his scythe in is right hand and quietly gripped a study branch above him with his other.

The other three men in the brush must have had similar thoughts, for they all shared a look into each other's eyes and nodded in silent agreement.

"On thee…" Quatre mouthed to the others, pausing to get everyone else's seal of approval. "…One…two…three!" he mouthed again as they all jumped out of the brush with their weapons drawn upon their four unsuspecting followers.

The four young women, who were, as it turned out, dressed as men, jumped back with surprise, two of which screamed, the other two landing in fighting positions.

Duo didn't waste a second after he jumped out and swung his scythe up, spun it over his head, and brought its curved blade down upon Fiora.

"OH SHIT!" Fiora cursed, the adrenalin kicking in, barely managing to do a diving roll out of its way.

Duo lifted his scythe out of the lose earth and turned to swing at her again.

Fiora, with alarms going off in her head, pulled her sword out of its sheath in time for the next attack and slammed it's blade down onto the scythe's thin wooden handle, cutting it clear in half before twirling around and taking a stab at the wielder himself.

Duo twisted his body out of the way just far enough for the tip of her sword to come slicing through his shirt collar, and into the tree that had seemingly just appeared behind him.

"WAH! I give up!" Duo shouted, raising his hands up to surrender.

"Huh? Wha? DUO YOU IDIOT! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKIN'? YOU COULDDA BEEN FLAYED!" Fiora screamed, finally realizing who was at the wrong end of her blade.

"Oh my god! QUATRE! You scared us half to death!" Jasmine scolded at him angrily, clutching her chest with her hand right over her heart.

"Wong! I demand to know why you followed us!" Wufei seethed at the young woman.

"Let me ask you this Master Wufei, why not?" She asked she wasn't backing down this time it seemed.

"Because I said so!"

"Well, I am staying and that is that" Wong said firmly with a sharp nod of her head and a turn of her heels as she left him standing there, looking all the world like a fool, alone.

Meanwhile, deeper into the forest, Relena wandered on her horse, still looking for Fiora's runaway steed.

"Here, horsy, horsy, horsy, horsy!" She called.

"Looking for someone?" Heero asked as he stepped out of the shadows, leading Fiora's horse by the reins.

"Heero!" Relena cried as she quickly dismounted and ran over to him, throwing him into a hug.

Heero stiffened and quickly pushed her away, letting go of the reins to guard his injured arm from her touch and gaze.

"Heero, what's wrong?" she gasped, "Oh my god! Heero, you're hurt!"

"No, no I'm not" He replied, stepping away from her.

"That's a lie, I can see it as clear as day! Heero, are you okay?" she said as she took a step closer to him, not realizing that he was backing away.

"I'm fine!" He snapped.

"Let me see it"

"No"

"Heero, please! I want to help you!"

"I said no!"

"Heero, you're still bleeding! I can see the stains through your shirt! Now let me have a look at it!" she cried.

"NO!" he yelled.

She stopped moving, suddenly looking very hurt by his words.

"I'll be fine, I can handle it myself," Heero said, though still in a rather cold tone, it wasn't as icy as it was before.

"Alright" Relena said, defeated.

"Hey guys! Wow! You ACTUALLY caught that thing? Heero, you really are super-human" Duo remarked as he and the others ran over to them.

"He's not a super-human, he's a dryad!" Felina chirped.

"My mistake" Duo replied with a grin.

"Yeah, it seems like you been making a lot of those lately!" Fiora said sarcastically.

"Hardy Har, har Fiora" Duo said, trying to sound at least somewhat hurt.

The others laughed slightly at their antics.

"I'm just glad you all weren't real bandits attacking us," Jasmine said.

"I'm sorry we scared you, I really am" Quatre said, bowing his head shamefully.

"AW forget about it! Ain't no harm been done! Besides, it was kinda funny!" Fiora laughed.

"Humph! I still think that you should all turn back," Wufei grumbled.

"Think what you like master Wufei, but we are staying weather you like it or not!" Wong replied.

"Its better this way, there is safety in numbers," Trowa added.

"Yep! Plus, we just couldn't let you boys go marching around un-chaperoned with a girl all to her lonesome" Fiora snickered as Trowa's ears turned a ever-so-slight shade of pink and Duo coughed on some water that he was drinking out of a wineskin, causing Quatre to have to pat him on the back to get him to swallow properly.

Felina eyed Fiora warily after that, thinking that she was up to something, this only caused Fiora's now permanent grin to widen even more so then what anyone would have deemed possible, making her seem strangely demonic to the others, with exception of Duo, who only laughed at all of this, as if he was the cause of all of it.

It wasn't until nightfall that they reached the opening to the fairy world; they had to stop many a time so that Heero could, literally, work his magic on the enchanted traps and snares that the elder fairies had set.

"You stay here, Felina and I will be back a little later" Heero said in a commanding tone as the others set up camp.

"…As if we're going anywhere! My legs hurt!" Fiora complained as she messaged her legs just above at her knees, trying to sooth the pulsing spasms that were raking through her muscles.

Duo laughed as he attempted to rub her back before she stood up and moved to another rock to sit on, at the farthest end of the camp.

"Weaklings" Wufei snorted.

"You say that once more master Wufei, and you cook your own meals" Wong threatened, knowing that Wufei didn't even know how to boil water, let alone cook anything in it.

"Heero, please, at least let me change your bandage before you go! It's completely soaked through!" Relena begged.

"I'm fine, I'll get healed while Felina gets recharged" Heero replied.

"Take care you two!" Quatre called as Heero and Felina disappeared into the darkness.

"Yes, TAKE CARE!" Jasmine yelled joyously, waving at them as they went.

As the night lingered on, the camp fell into a hushed silence, Trowa, having remembered that he packed his flute in his sack, played a tune for everyone, making Jasmine and Quatre wish they had brought along instruments of their own to play.

After the song had ended Fiora grabbed a piece of unused firewood and explained that it was part of an old game that she the other pirates played whenever they camped out, it was called the entertainment stick, whoever had it in front of them had to do something to entertain the others until someone else had tired of what he or she was doing and did something else to keep the others happily clapping their hands. Quatre and the others liked this idea and decided to give it go. Fiora decided to go first, seeing as she thought of it, and began to tell them stories of being on a pirate's ship, swashbuckling, and making traitors walk the plank.

Wong grew tired of this however when Fiora mentioned the time she father's ship got caught in a storm that lasted for three weeks straight! Needless to say, Fiora was making Wong feel like she was going to be seasick all over again and decided to end Fiora's story in mid-sentence, which Fiora was surprisingly okay with, and began to tell old stories about Chinese dragons, Wong and Wufei were horrified when Fiora and Duo actually started cheering when they heard that a dragon that was well known, at least to the Chinese, to be good was killed in one of said stories.

Relena however was starting to turn green from all of the blood and gore from all of these stories and asked for Trowa to play a tune while she sang. She sang surprisingly well, her voice an almost perfect compliment to the tone of the flute, though not quite high enough to match the flute's bird-like notes.

Quatre asked for the stick next and he pulled out rather beat up book, perking Wufei's interest at once, and began to read of the Arabian Knights. This kept everyone's attention, that is, until Quatre stopped in the middle of a word, seemingly to read ahead, and started to blush. It was obvious that Quatre hadn't read that book before, otherwise he would have known about the harem and the other various parts to it that weren't what some mothers would have called "wholesome"

Duo was the first to figure out why the story stopped so suddenly and started laughing at his poor ,richly, Prince friend. Fiora soon fallowed him in hooting cries that rose up from her chest like butterflies on a mild summer day. Relena, Jasmine and Wong all turned brilliant shades of red at the very suggestion of those sinful thoughts. Wufei and Trowa simply pitied the man, shaking their heads at him and the others.

Needless to say, when Heero and Felina finally did make it back to the others, they were very surprised, nervous, amused, worried, and not just a little bit scared upon happening upon the scene.

______________________________________________________________________________

LOL! I'm loving this a little too much I think. All I have to say is, POOR QUATRE! I'm almost sorry I did that to him, almost. You know what's coming now, E-mail me at FioraEmbyr@aol.com Yadda yadda yadda… blah blah blah, you get the idea. Chio!