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 13
Slowly everyone awoke on the hard dirt and stone covered floor in a dank and damp cave-like dwelling with lit torches on walls that glistened with quartz crystal imbedded within it.
"Uh… are we dead?" Jasmine asked as she finally came-to.
"Oh, god I hope so!" Fiora muttered as she rubbed her forehead, trying to ease the splitting headache that she had acquired.
"This isn't Grandeur. Heero, where are we?" Felina chirped.
"It's a cave." Heero replied.
"I think we already knew that!" Duo remarked loudly.
"Please! Let's not fight with each other, okay?" Quatre said, stepping in, ever the peacemaker.
"Quatre is right. Fighting amongst ourselves will do us little good right now." Trowa stated calmly, his back leaning up against one of the flatter walls of the cave, his arms folded over his chest.
Just then, Wong let out a scream of surprise.
"Lady Wong! What is it? What's the matter? Are you alright?" Quatre questioned, noting that she was staring down at her feet.
"What's the matter with you? See a rat?" Fiora laughed.
Wong didn't respond, still in shock.
"What's wrong with you woman?" Wufei barked, stalking over to see what had her so surprised that she couldn't even move.
"This does not make sense! It is not possible!" Wong muttered.
"What's not?" Relena asked, standing up on her tiptoes, trying to see around the men.
"Can you not tell? Are you all blind? Look! See for yourself!" Wong commanded, motioning her hands down towards her perfectly normal feet. (Let's remember that they were once deformed because they were bound when she was younger, so now you can understand her shock. Something like that isn't reversible)
"WHAT?" Wufei exclaimed, it suddenly dawning on him what had happened.
"What's what? What's goin' on here?" Fiora said, pushing the others out of her way so that she could see.
"Th-This shouldn't have been able to happen! It isn't possible!" Wong said, taking tentative steps forward, trying to get used to the feel of having bigger feet. (They would be bigger if they weren't bound cause they wouldn't have been, literally, folded over themselves)
"Magic maybe?" Felina pondered aloud.
"It's possible." Heero agreed with a firm nod.
"Wong, are you alright?" Jasmine whispered.
"I'll be fine. It was more of a shock at first then anything else." Wong replied firmly.
"Okay, so now what do we do? Do we even have ANY idea as to where the hell this place is?" Fiora asked, turning around to get the full view of the cavern.
"Mosses! Heero and I could teleport to Grandeur and see King Wynford! Then we would tell him what happened and then he would use his magic to teleport you over to him!" Felina said, proud that she had thought of it first.
"It could work." Heero added with a slight nod of his head.
"That's brilliant! We'll wait here." Quatre said.
"Right!" Both Heero and Felina nodded.
"…Well? What're ya waitin' for? AN ENGRAVED INVITATION?" Fiora said, breaking the silence.
Heero and Felina snapped their heads up and looked at each other with a look of alarm in their eyes.
"It-It's not working!" Felina stammered.
"WHAT?" Duo exclaimed.
The words: "But how?" "What happened?" and "What's wrong?" came from the others, their voices blending into each other.
"I'll tell you how, your magic has been conveniently misplaced." came a raspy voice, followed by the sounds of some kind of metal striking the cave floor. Heero and Felina turned and dropped to their knees in a swift, bowing fashion.
"King Wynford!" they exclaimed.
The Dryad's King stepped into the light before them, his long beard just barely touching the floor, his golden cape trailing behind him, his height barely two inches tall. Felina looked at her King and had to rub her eyes to be sure that she wasn't seeing things.
"PWA? What's this? Why are you so, small…?" She squeaked.
"This is your great and all mighty KING? THIS? You gotta be shitting me here! No way!" Fiora laughed.
"I AM King Wynford!" the small fairy man said, his voice booming loudly despite his small stature.
"You used to be bigger." Heero stated calmly.
"I am still the same size I was when you last left my courts, my prodigy. It is you that isn't the same size!" Wynford corrected.
"Mosses! We shrink when we go to Grandeur!" Felina exclaimed.
"Yeah, sure. Look, this is all fine and dandy and all that bullshit! But would you MIND filling us in here? I'd hate to break it to ya Kingie, but in case ya hadn't noticed! We HUMANS have no CLUE as what the FUCK you're all talkin' about!" Fiora yelled.
"You said our magic was misplaced. Where did it go?" Heero demanded.
"Why to the humans of royal, of course!" Wynford replied.
"Of royal? But then, that would be us, King Quatre, Princess Jasmine and me. But why would we get their magic, your majesty?" Relena asked.
"Have you no idea? Are humans really as ignorant as my Sprites say? In every great adventurers party there consists of three magic users. I have known for a long time that my prodigies carried with them more magic then possible for mere Dryads, mere forest dwelling fairy folk, that magic was to come to you once you arrived here, in the caves of Epyon. Now my prodigies are nothing more then your average Dryad, only able to handle to simplest of forest magic, nothing more." Wynford replied.
"Pwa? No more teleporting?" Felina sniffed.
"No more teleporting." Wynford replied firmly.
"So, now they have our magic. What is our use in this party, if not to be magic users, then what?" Heero questioned.
"Heero, step down this path behind me and receive your Sword and the gift from the cave of Epyon." Wynford said, teleporting onto a rock higher up, so that he could seem them all at their eye level.
Heero stood up, nodded to his king and walked into the depths of cave and out of sight.
"Felina, my second prodigy, you are the bard, follow your kin and receive your flute and Epyons gift for you." (A Bard was viewed as a magic storyteller; they used music and song to tell stories. But some believed that their music really did have magic in it, and it helped protect the members of their party.)
"Thank you King Wynford!" Felina chirped as she ran into after her cousin.
"Who is Wufei?" Wynford asked, looking around at the others.
"I am he." Wufei replied, stepping forward.
"You will be the first of two Ninjas, I give you your Armor." Wynford boomed, waving his staff in the air, a long smoky band of fairy magic floating up and around Wufei who stood as still as a statue, unfazed by the fancy show that Wynford was putting on.
The smoke wrapped around him, clinging to the silk of his robes before flashing a glistening green color and turning into the tight form fitting white garments, earning a curious look from Wufei (Ninjas are known for only wearing black, enough said.)
"I leave Eypon to give to you her gifts." Wynford said, motioning towards the passageway in which the others went.
Wufei bowed and stalked into the dark tunnel.
"Duo?" Wynford asked.
"Here!" Duo shouted from behind the others, making his way to the front.
"You will be their thief, and will be a valuable assist to your party. I give you your weapon."
"But I already have one! See?" Duo said, pulling out his broken Scythe.
"I see… place it on ground, broken ends together."
Duo did as he was told and Wynford waved his staff over to broken Scythe and, with a ray white light, the Scythe was not only mended, but its otherwise plain looking blade now glowed green and it was gilded with gold and diamonds on its edge.
"Whoa! Thanks man!" Duo exclaimed, picking up his scythe and testing it out on a nearby rock. The Scythe slashed through it without the slightest bit of resistance. "Wow." Duo murmured, in awe.
"Epyon awaits."
"Oh! Yeah, yeah, right! Thanks!" Duo said, snapping out of it and running off.
"Now I will take one of the magic users. King Quatre, step forward." Wynford beckoned.
"You wanted me first, Sir?" Quatre said, walking up to the small fairy king.
"Yes, you will need this." Wynford said waving his staff and making a large book appear in Quatre's hands. "This is the Book of Shadows, or Shadow book if you like, it contains a listing of all of the spells known to fairy and man alike, keep it safe and it stall reward you with all its wisdom."
"I'll be sure to take good care of it always Wynford." Quatre replied before continuing on his way into the dark caverns beyond.
"Trowa, or perhaps I should say, Nanashi, No-name?" Wynford smiled.
"I have no name, that is true, but, if you must call me something, call me Trowa Barton." Trowa replied stepping forward calmly.
"Ah, yes, Jester, Keeper of the Hunt. I give you, your bow!"
Lightning struck down out of nowhere and into Trowa's hands, traveling up his arms and onto his back, shooting around a large quiver of arrows that wasn't there before, and in his hands lay, still crackling with lightning, was a long bow, beautifully strung and ready for use.
"Right. Thank you." Trowa said, heading off into the cave like the others.
"I'll take the second Ninja, Wong."
Wong approached him, still slightly unsteady on her feet.
"You have my gift already, how do you like being able to fight?"
"It is different to what I am used to, but not unappreciated." Wong said. Bowing deeply.
"Good, good. Please, walk on." Wynford said, turning slightly and extending his hand towards the dark path beyond.
Wong bowed once again and walked off, fighting the urge to start running for the first time since she was first bound, at age seven.
"Princess Jasmine."
"I'm right here, your majesty." Jasmine said, curtsying before him.
"I have a special gift for you. I give you my staff," he said, his staff glowing whiter and whiter until it disappeared from his hands and into Jasmine's. It grew and grew until it was just the right size in length and width.
"Th-Thank you! Thank you very much, your majesty, I-I really don't know what to say." She whispered in awe.
"It was to be yours to begin with, think nothing of it Princess." He replied as she bowed and slowly walked on.
"Fiora, step forward." He beckoned.
"Aye, aye Captain! One pirate, as you requested." Fiora laughed, taking off her hat and bowing.
"Hum… Turn around for me." he commended.
"Wha? Okay, I guess…" Fiora said, replacing her hat upon her head and turning around a few times.
"Ah! Now I see what the problem is!" King Wynford exclaimed, snapping his fingers.
"Hey! What the hell? THAT'S MINE YOU LITTLE…!" Fiora yelled, realizing that he had taken her sword and scabbard from her belt.
"Ah ah ah! Do you really want this so much that you would turn down what I am going to give you in exchange?"
"Um… let me think about that for a moment… YES! That was my grandpa's sword and I want it back NOW!"
"I see… well how about this…" He murmured as he ran his hand over the sword's sheathed blade, causing it to start glowing with a strange black light, before reaching the hilt and making it disappear into thin air.
"HEY! You bring that back!"
"No, no… don't you see? I have returned it to your grandfather, where it belongs. I have two gifts for you, you see. One of which is this…" he said, waving his hand over the upturned palm of his other, revealing a rather flat, wooden box with silver runes carved into it's sides and top.
"Uh huh, yeah, so? What's so great about that?" Fiora snapped, still sore about having lost her grandfather's sword.
"See for yourself." he said transporting it into her arms.
Fiora eyed the little fairy king for a moment before opening the latch to the surprisingly large, but extremely light, box and lifting the lid. Inside, it contained one blue mask, two black leather gloves, a piece of wire that was bent and twisted into the shape of a pair of glasses, a blue vest, and small dark blue sailor captain's hat.
"Huh?" Fiora said, looking confused.
"Well, aren't you going to put them on?" Wynford prompted.
"Why should I?"
"Trust me. They're very safe." he assured.
Fiora put everything on and then looked over at Relena, who was the only one there besides Wynford, and said, "Well, do I look like an idiot?"
Relena smiled. "Only if you looked like one before you put everything on, it's all turned invisible."
"You're shitting me! So it looks like I'm not wearing ANY of it?"
"I can't see any of it."
Fiora turned back to look at Wynford. "Okay wise guy, just what hell is this stuff supposed to do?"
"Now that you have it on, you can change your appearance to outsiders by merely thinking it." Wynford replied.
"I'll believe it when I see it… so what was the next gift you had for me?" she asked.
"This…" he replied, and with a snap of his fingers she disappeared.
"What? Where did she go?" Relena asked, looking around.
"I transported her to the others, no need to worry."
"Your majesty, what gift do you have for me? The last magic user."
"I have only this," he said, pulling out a small glowing orb and holding it in the palm of his hand.
"What is it?"
"This is your shield. As long as you hold it on your hands, no harm shall come to you or your friends. But be warned, this takes more then just magic to use, it takes spirit, and one must have a strong spirit to use it for any length of time. Not only that, it is very fragile and will brake easily, be careful with it." he said, making it float up out of his hands and making it grow so that it would fit comfortably into her palms.
"I'll be careful."
"Good good! Now then, off you go, and good luck to you."
"Thank you, good King Wynford, you have no idea how much this means to me."
"Oh but little human, I do, I do." he said as he faded into thin air, his voice echoing as he left.
Relena stared at where the old fairy king once stood for a moment before turning and, with her shoulders back and her head held high, walked deeper into the dark caves of Epyon, her orb her only source of light.
"Hello? Fiora? Jasmine? Quatre? Heero? Anyone?" she called softly, her only reply was her own voice echo back at her, taunting her.
'I wonder where they all went, they couldn't be that far ahead, could they?' she thought as she looked around, walking slowly so as to make sure that she didn't trip and break the delicate glowing sphere in her hands.
She walked for what seemed like hours in the seemingly endless darkness and still not even seeing hide or hair of any of the others. 'I hope I didn't miss a path; maybe I should turn back…NO! You've gotten this far Relena, you can't back out now! You can't have much further to go…' she thought.
Two hours later, sweaty and tired, she kneeled down onto the hard cave floor to take a rest, and to cry. "It's no use! I'm hopelessly lost in here! Probably forever! Oh god! What do I do now?" she sniffed, wiping away her tears as quickly as they came, her orb nestled next to her feet.
"Jeez! I was really starting to wonder when you'd give up!" Fiora laughed. "I gotta admit Relena, you're pretty tough, you lasted longer then some of us!" she added before somehow managing to laugh harder.
"Fiora!" Wong scolded.
"What?" Relena said looking up to find herself back in the forest with all of her friends grouped around her.
"As it turns out, the cave of Epyon was not only giving us something while we were in the darkness, but was also testing us, to see where our braking points were, or when we figured out what it was trying to do." Quatre explained.
"Now all we have to wait for is Heero. Man! Gotta hand it to him, he sure is mighty stubborn! He's worse then an Eleri!" Fiora laughed.
Relena took a look around; noticing that Fiora was right, Heero wasn't out yet!
"But, he was the first one to go in!" Relena exclaimed, more then slightly worried about his safety and well-being.
"Mosses! Don't worry! Heero's been through worse! He'll be fine!" Felina chirped.
"The worst that could happen is that he could pass out from exhaustion in there, and once that happened he would be transported back here." Wong said, as if matter-of-fact.
"I hope you're right Wong, I really hope that you are right." Relena said, picking up her orb and standing up, suddenly realizing that she was no longer in men's clothing, but in a long, white, flowing robe. Looking at the others, she noticed that they, too, weren't wearing the same things that they wore when then had first entered.
Felina was dressed in an outfit that consisted of a long sleeved, greenish-blue top, matching hat with two eagle feathers sticking out of it, a bluish-green skirt with breeches underneath it that gathered at the knees by the tops of her brown knee-high boots, and in her hands she held a long golden flute.
Wufei was still dressed in the all white Ninja outfit, but only now there was a strange looking sword strapped to his back by a black sheath that had a black band of leather that went over his shoulders to keep it in place.
Wong was dressed very much the same as Wufei, only her Ninja garb was black and more form-fitting so it clung to all of her curves like a second skin, leaving little to be imagined, but, on her arms, she held the real prize, ten silver ninja stars fitted into two arm bracers, five on each arm, that gleamed in the sunlight.
Duo could have stepped out of an ill man's nightmare, he was dressed in all black and wore a long cloak that just barely stopped just above the toes of his shiny black boots, and then there was his new scythe, glowing like the devil's eye. All this gave him the appearance of being something akin to the grim-reaper.
Quatre was also dressed in a robe colored a dark blue, and atop his head he wore a pointy hat of the same coloring, at his rune engraved belt, he carried a sword with a gold hilt that was incrusted with gems of varying types. Obviously, he was a battle-mage, and in his hands he still carried the book of shadows that Wynford had entrusted him.
Fiora was wearing thick soled black boots, matching breeches and gloves, a red puffed sleeved tunic with a lace up front, dark blue vest, and matching sea captain's hat. On her hip she wore short sword, gleaming in the light, a small crystal dangled from her neck on a thin silver chain and a large hoop earring in her right ear.
Trowa was dressed in the outfit of a ranger, heavy brown leather boots, long sleeved tunic made of soft elks hide with tassels hanging off of the upper part of his chest and from the underside of his sleeves, to aid in keeping himself dry (don't ask me how that works, it just does), his breeches were made of the even softer leather, deer hide, and also had tassels hanging off of the outside sides. All this was almost completely hidden by bear skin cloak wrapped around his shoulders and neck and secured by a singular tarnished silver pin in the front, his quiver, bow and arrows were fitted over it.
Jasmine was also dressed in earthy tones. Her robes were made of soft greens, glistening with golden runes imprinted all over it, her staff in her hands, a tan colored cape flowing all around her, and her gleaming black hair pulled up away from her face and atop her head and allowed to spill back down over the sides of her lightly blushed cheeks in long curling ringlets.
"So, what do we do now?" Relena asked.
"What else? We wait until Heero makes it out, there isn't much else we can do at the moment." Quatre replied with a heavy sigh as he sat down on a rotting log.
'Oh god Heero, please be alright. Be safe' Relena thought before she curled up next to an elm tree's trunk and falling into a deep sleep.
It wasn't until late into the night that Heero finally got of the caves of Epyon, too weak to even stand, everyone agreed that they should stay until morning light, and so, with Trowa standing watch, everyone, including Heero, made their beds out of fallen leaves, having lost all of their supplies when their horses ran off with all of it still on their backs, and slipped into a blissful sleep.
______________________________________________________________________________ Yes, yes, I know how long it's been since I last sent in a chapter, but I have my reasons. If you don't like then though! Deal with it! Lol you know the drill, e-mail me at FioraEmbyr@aol.com flame away my little pretties!