What if: Myth
By Prinder
Rating: PG 13- R
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.
"…" Denotes Speech
'…' Denotes Thought
(Notes from me)
Chapter 15
With fog so thick that even the brightest of torch flames wouldn't pass through it, they all dismounted from their steeds, splashing into knee-deep, lukewarm, water that they couldn't see.
"What a dump!" Fiora's screech-like voice echoed as she took in her surroundings. "You mean we have to protect THIS?" she added.
"It looks that way, Fiora." Jasmine said as she tapped the end of her staff under the water and started to rise up and levitate above it.
"Ew I hate wet boots!" Duo complained, pulling one foot out of the water, shaking it, and putting it back down into the water again before doing the same with his other foot.
"Unfortunately, Duo, I think we're going to have to live with it for the time being." Quatre said, shutting his book of shadows.
"Well, all I can say is that I'm not particularly fond of this place; it's far to easy for one to walk right into a trap, or an ambush." Wong glared, trying to see through the thick land-bound clouds.
Wufei nodded thoughtfully, his eyes scanning above the white smoke, into the armor-gray colored skies.
"Where do we go from here, Felina?" Relena asked, trying to lift up the bottom of her robes so that they wont get any wetter and at the same time, trying to make sure that they stay low enough so as not to show anything above her knees (back in those days, just showing anything above your ankles was considered "whorish").
"Hum…" Felina glanced around for a moment before pointing to the left of them, to which Duo said, "Figures, it's always the path that'll be the hardest to get past! That's gotta be the thickest part to this fog yet!" This only earned some groans from the others, and a smothered snicker from behind Fiora's hand.
They trudged along with Heero, Felina, and Fiora, leading the pack, as Heero and Felina knew which way to go and Fiora was used to having her boots sopping wet from living as a pirate her whole life.
As time wore on, they came to realize that there was no difference between night and day in the land of the forgotten isles; this was helpful because now they didn't have to worry about having to stop because of it being too dark to see. During this time Wong had somehow managed to light a torch to aid in cutting through the dense fog that wrapped around them as they went, coving their trail so well that, if they were to get lost, they wouldn't be able to find their way back. It was fortunate for them that they didn't need to, as Quatre held the book of shadows and the spell to make a portal back into the human realm.
Sleep would have to wait for them until they reached higher ground, away from the water, or to wherever it was that the dryads were leading them to.
"If we EVER have to walk through this place again, I'm building a RAFT! Ain't no pirate, dead or alive, dumb enough to walk through this place for hours on end like THIS!" Fiora complained.
"You are." Wong muttered, making the others, including Fiora, snicker.
"Eh Ha ha ha ha ha. Bite me JinChi." Fiora said as she twisted herself around to look at the Chinese woman and smirk before dropping to the back of their party, where Relena, Duo and Quatre were located, in an attempt to lighten the mood back there.
"Where is our destination, Heero?" Trowa asked from the middle of their pack.
"Demon Valley." Felina replied calmly.
"DEMON Valley? Why on earth would we want to be in a place like that?" Duo asked, having given up trying to keep his feet dry two hours ago, looking up from the warm, fog covered, water.
"It has more then just Demons." Heero stated.
"Such as?" Wufei questioned, raising his eyebrow slightly.
"Dragons." Felina replied with a smile.
Wufei and Wong seemed to perk-up slightly just then, almost looking excited at the thought of seeing the dragons from these lands, and, possibly, some Chinese dragons again. It had been so long since they had last seen a dragon.
"Dra-Dra-DRAGONS?" Fiora stammered, "Are you NUTS? Dragons KILL, I don't know what kinda backwards world you're from, but let me tell you this, I've seen what a Dragon can do, and it ain't PRETTY! Their teeth are like swords, their claws are like SPEARS, each and every one of their scales is alike a ten-fold shield, their wings are HURRICANES, the shock of their tails? THUNDER BOLTS! Yeah, I've seen what a dragon can do from the safety of my Daddy's ship; I've seen whole towns burnt to ashes in the matter of moments! All destroyed by a single Dragon! It's not pretty, it's not fun, and it's NOT SAFE to go waltzing up into a cave and go Dragon-petting!" Fiora yelled, her voice echoing through the great expanse that was the forgotten isles.
Silence reigned supreme for what felt like eternity; thicker then the fog that engulfed them, the only sound being the SLOSH-SPLASH coming from their feet and they meandered on. It wasn't a voice that broke the stillness of their talk, no; it was the unmistakable sound of flesh and bone coming into contact with flesh and bone.
SLAP!
Fiora blinked at the red-faced Chinese woman who, until just now, was always so calm and reserved before opening her swollen jaw and saying, "Gee, if ya didn't want me to say stuff like that ya couldda just said so." Wong only glared at her before turning and walking on with the others. Fiora hooked her thumbs in her belt and followed, a half-smile plastered on her face as she whistled a tune.
Felina heard it and dropped back to Fiora to hear it better. "What's that?" She asked.
"What's what?" Fiora asked.
"Mosses! What you were whistling." Felina exclaimed.
Fiora grinned, ignoring the bruising sting of her cheek, and replied, "I'll sing it once and then you follow, okay?"
Felina's eyes brightened and nodded.
"It's Welsh, the language from the land that I'm from, I'll sing it in English so that everyone knows what it means and then you follow." Fiora said as she closed her eyes, cleared her throat and began to sing:
"A voice from time departed,
yet floats thy hills among;
Oh, Cambria! Thus the prophet bard,
Thy Taliesin sung,
'The path of unborn ages,
Is traced upon my soul,
The clouds which mantle things unseen,
Away before me roll.
A light the depths revealing,
Hath o'er my spirit pass'd.
A rushing sound from days to be,
Swells fitful on the blast
And tell me that forever
Shall live the lofty tongue,
To which the harp of Mona's woods,
By Freedom's hand was strung.
Green Island of the mighty,
I see thine ancient race,
Driv'n from their fathers' realm,
to make the rocks their dwelling place.
I see from Uthyr's kingdom,
the sceptre pass away,
and many a line of bards and chiefs,
and princely men decay.
But long as Arvon's mountains
Shall lift their sov'reign forms,
And wear the crowns to which is giv'n
Dominion o'er the storms,
So long their empire sharing,
Shall live the lofty tongue,
To which the harp of Mona's woods,
By Freedom's hand was strung.'" (This is a real Welsh song called "A voice from time departed" also known as "Taliesin's prophecy")
Soon the whole isle was an echoing melody of Fiora, Felina, Jasmine, Relena, and Wong's voices. Making the time pass, seemingly, much faster. So much so that they didn't notice, with exception of Heero that is and Jasmine, who had to stop her floating spell so that she could walk in dry land, that the waters had reseeded and the fog faded away into green pastures, rolling hillsides, and endless spans of valleys and glens. It wasn't until Fiora had to stop singing because her throat was dry and when the sun peeked through the puffy clouds and touched their rosy cheeks that they realized that they had arrived and began to cheer, laugh, and hug the closest man to them, who just so happened to be Wufei who did not appreciate the gesture.
Having had their spirits lifted, they decided to relax the rest of the day away and so, with the sword-fighters, Heero, Quatre, Fiora, and Wufei, practicing with each other; Trowa and Wong perfecting their aim, Trowa with his bow and Wong with her Ninja stars, on a nearby apple tree; Relena, Duo and Jasmine teaching Felina all of the Human songs they knew and vise-versa; the day was quickly whisked away into night where everyone, with exception of Relena because it was her turn to keep watch, slept without a care in the world.
Relena smiled at them as she sat on the ground, her robes pooled around her and her orb glowing in the palms of her hands. Suddenly an idea came to her mind and she gazed into the orbs light and murmured, so as not to wake the others, "Show me my Brother and Lucrezia, please." she asked the glowing ball, not really expecting anything to happen, but, lo and behold, its pale blue light turned scarlet red and there, deep inside it was a small mirror-like pool that shimmered and appeared to be looking out from a campfire as Milliardo paced back and forth, saying something that Relena couldn't hear to Lucrezia and the circus-girl, Catherine; Relena leaned in closer to the orb and squinted to get a better look.
Unknown to her, one of her party members did woke-up from the bright red light coming from her spot next to the tree and was now watching her with the unusual look of curiosity in the Dryad's, Heero's, eyes.
"I miss them so much, I wish I could hear my Brother's voice again. Don't worry Milliardo, I won't let you down, I'll find who did this and put an end to their evil plot. Somehow, I just know I can do it; just hold on a little bit longer, I promise." she whispered into the orb as the image faded out and the red glow returned to that pastel blue once again as she slumped up against the tree, unconscious, the orb falling to the ground with her hand, rolling off of her fingertips before stopping halfway between her and the campfire. And Heero.
Heero stood up, letting his bear skin blanket pool on top of his make-shift bed, and picked up the orb and saw that, while it used to glow blue, its eerie light had all but disappeared, leaving only the faintest of white-light left. He rolled it around in his palms before gazing up at its keeper, the Princess Relena, who was taking slow, deep, breaths; she was fast asleep.
Carefully, so as not to brake it, he set the faintly glowing sphere deep within the bear skin on his bedroll, taking an extra blanket made of two wolf hides, and, taking long purposeful strides, glided over to the sleeping form at the foot of the tree and draping the coverlet over her and tucking it in at the sides to aid in keeping the warmth in before returning to his bed, retrieving the orb and placing it next to her before seating himself on the opposite side to keep watch of the others until morning.
It was to this strange feeling of comfort and the light of the sunrise touching her eyelids that she awoke to. Somewhere within her dream-clouded mind, she realized that she wasn't the one that put the warm pelt cover on her lean body. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and sat up and searched for her orb franticly, finding it nested in-between two large roots.
"You fell asleep and I put it there so you wouldn't lose it." a voice rumbled from behind her as she un-wedged the orb from its bed and turned to look into those depths of Persian blue.
"Oh no! Heero I'm sorry! I didn't realize that I had fallen asleep. One moment I was working with the orb that King Wynford gave me and then… I must have blacked out; I can't remember what happened after that. I'm so sorry, I promise it wont happen again."
"Don't worry about it. If it had to happen, I'm glad that it happened here, this is the safest place right now and, in fact, I was debating weather or not to have anyone keep watch last night." he droned out, watching the wind play in the high marsh grasses nearby.
They were silent from that point on as the sun rose steadily into the sky above and the creatures of Demon Valley came alive and began to forge for food.
"Oh! Heero, look!" Relena said, pointing at a flock of Unicorns as they galloped by.
Heero didn't say a word, nor did he move, for what seemed the longest of time, then, as if being controlled by some strange outside force, he stood up and walked up to one of the Unicorns that had stopped to watch the strange new beings in its homeland.
"Heero, where are you going?" Relena asked as she hurried to follow him.
If he heard, he never gave any indication of it as he stopped and extended his hand, palm facing up, for the Unicorn to smell, and to see that he meant no harm.
"Be careful Heero." Relena said, her voice trembling ever so slightly.
"I'm not going to hurt him Milady. I'm called Steadfast; what are you called?" the horn atop the Unicorn's head hummed, sounding almost Feminine.
"Wh-what? M-my name is Relena, Princess Relena."
"I've heard a lot about you Lady Relena, and a lot about your friends. Tell me, why are you here? It's not often that we had humans visiting our lands." Her horn hummed back.
"I don't know, Heero lead us here, but he hasn't said--" She was cut off by the most surprising of voices, Heero's.
"We need more powerful steeds then just horses to accomplish our goals." He said, seeming to have snapped out of his trance-like state.
"I would be honored if Milady would ride Me." the Unicorn hummed, closing her eyes and bowing her head slightly.
Relena blinked with surprise, she didn't really expect the unicorn to be willing to go, let alone allow someone to ride her. Heero, however, seemed to take this all in stride and nodded his consent.
"Go on; climb on my back Milady, I'm quite strong and you look to be very light." she hummed as she turned so that her said was in front of the human Princess.
"Alright, I'll need some help up." Relena stated as she fingered the white-silken locks of Steadfast's mane. Heero placed his hands around her waist, his finger tips almost touching, lifting her up and settling her back down on the Unicorn's back. "Thank you, Heero." Relena murmured, still slightly surprised by the strange tingling fire-like feeling that she felt when his hands made contact.
Steadfast didn't wait for the feeling to ware off, as soon as Relena had a firm grip around her neck with one arm, as Relena held her orb in the other, Steadfast galloped off, quickly catching up to the other Unicorns and soon passing them by in a what felt like nothing more then a whoosh of air.
It was about this time when the others had woken up and were now running over to Heero, who was staring down as his hands in the most curious fashion.
"Poor little kitten, he lost his mittens, and then he began to cry, 'oh Mama dear, see here, see here, my mittens I have lost'." Fiora sang with a laugh, Duo looked at her funny, making her laugh even harder. "Well, that's what it looks like!" she exclaimed.
"Was that what I thought it was?" Jasmine asked in awe, "Relena, riding on a…Unicorn?"
"Pwa! I want a Unicorn!" Felina chirped.
"This is hardly the time for joy-rides, if we are going to be going to Dragon caves like I think we are; we must be off shortly." Wong stated with a firm nod.
"We don't even know how far away the caves are, Wong, let alone weather we are going or not." Quatre reprimanded her.
"Quatre is right. Heero, perhaps you can tell us where we're headed to next." Trowa said, demanded more then asked.
Heero, almost as if hearing the others talking for the first time, lifted his head suddenly and glanced around at them before saying, "First we'll see if any of the other Unicorns are willing to go with us, then we'll head east, to Eagle Mountain then, from there, we go north, to Wolf-fang Forest, then we go west, to Crystal Dragon Caves, and then to Phoenix Downs; in the volcano in the south." He replied slowly, as if deciding on where they were going at that moment.
"Uh…. Question… WHY?" Fiora asked.
"Because, Heero said we needed help, powerful help, and this is the only place to get that, I think." Relena said as she and Steadfast came to a stop in front of them.
"Milady is right, this realm is the only safe place for beings like myself to be free from hunters, warlocks, and other beings that roam the human world." Steadfast hummed.
"WHOA! Check it out! The thing actually TALKS!" Fiora said, shocked.
"Yes, everyone, this is Steadfast; Steadfast, this is Fiora, Jasmine, Felina, Wong, Wufei, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and you've already met Heero." Relena said pointing to each one in turn.
"It is an honor to finally meet the Keepers of Mystic, you don't know how long we've waited for you to come here." Steadfast's reply hummed.
"Whoa, whoa, wait! Just what the hell do you peop…err… animals know about us? And who in the hell is WE?" Fiora asked.
"Only what the Tomes of Enchant have said Milady."
"I'm NOT a LADY! Don't call me that!"
"It does not matter now, Fiora, about who knows what. Right now we must get going; for the day appears to go by quickly in this realm." Wong said, noting that the sun was already high into the sky.
"I'll ask others of my family if they would come with us." Steadfast hummed as she turned, with Relena still on her back, and took off back to the heard of Unicorns before waiting for a reply.
Heero chose this moment to turn to the others and ask, "Are you all packed up?"
"Pwa! Yes, Heero." Felina chirped back.
"Good, we move out as soon as Relena and Steadfast get back over here." Heero ordered.
"Yes sir!" Duo replied, doing a mock salute.
Ten minutes later, with Relena and Steadfast returning with two other Unicorns named Willow and Blastfamous, they were on their way to Eagle Mountain.
It was rather easy to talk the other animals into going with them and soon they were nearing the Crystal Dragon Caves, Felina and Trowa upon giant wolves named Tigress and Trance; Quatre and Jasmine on the two other Unicorns; Fiora and Duo soaring above them all on magical Eagles that could change in their size at will named Hawkeye and Vertigo; and Heero, Wong and Wufei riding below on their, pitifully slow, horses.
"If what Fiora says is true about Dragons, I'm not so sure I want to go in there." Duo said as Hawkeye landed on to let him off before returning to a normal size before perching himself on Duo's right shoulder.
"Yes, but, when does Fiora EVER tell the truth?" Jasmine asked with a giggle as she dismounted from Willow.
"Hardy har, har. I just might be a little hurt… if it wasn't the truth!" Fiora laughed as she jumped from Vertigo's back and landed almost on all fours before standing up, waiting for Vertigo to land on her outstretched arm.
"Heero, after this stop we go to Phoenix Downs, right?" Relena called as Heero and the scholars finally caught up.
"Right." was all he said in reply as he swung off of his steed before it had even come to a halt.
"Pwa, now all of you stay out here with the other animals, okay Trance?" Felina asked the Wolf.
"As you wish…" Trance growled back.
"Milady, what do we do if something happens to you?" Steadfast hummed, the other Unicorns nodding in agreement.
"Running would be smart!" Fiora laughed.
"We would feel better if you didn't go charging in after us, please, just stay out here." Relena said, sending a glare in Fiora's direction.
"Can we get moving now?" Heero questioned, impatiently tapping his leather-boot clad foot on the well-compacted ground.
"Gonna jump into your own grave just as fast, Heero?" Fiora laughed.
"Fiora!" Relena scolded.
"It's a JOKE!"
"Come on, let's go everyone." Quatre said as he walked into the cave with Heero, motioning the others to follow.
Everyone filed into the mouth of the cave and, with Wong making use of some wood to make a torch, stared in awe at its insides; lining the walls, ceiling, and floor were glimmering Quartz Crystals, long and prism-like, clear like the water from the falls hidden behind them. As the party traveled deeper, they came across a great chasm with only a small, narrow, Quartz Bridge to the other side; they stopped.
"Wow! Would ya look at how far this thing goes down?" Duo's voice echoed.
Felina grabbed hold of one of the crystals that was jutting out of the ground, leaned way out over the abyss and let out a long whistle. It echoed back at her.
Fiora, feeling up to giving everyone a fright, decided to kick a rock into it; it fell, and fell, and fell, and fell….
Silence.
Even with Heero's experienced hearing, he never heard the rock it bottom.
"…Now THAT'S a bottomless pit if I never saw…. Err… hear one." Fiora said, laughing uneasily.
"…" The others, needless to say, were not impressed.
This made the way across the bridge very unpleasant for those among them that didn't like heights, namely Wong, Quatre, and Jasmine. After making it across without incident, they fallowed a long corridor that turned slightly to the left and trailed down, into the glass-like chill of the deep.
"Why would a Dragon want to live here? It's so damn bloody COLD!" Fiora shivered.
"It has to get warmer the further we go down." Wong replied, doing her best to ignore the nipping cold.
"Yeah, well, it better! Nah! Or you're going to have to drag me out of here; I'll be too damned FROZEN to move!"
"I highly doubt it."
The rest of the hike on down was made in silence, half because they were trying to conserve heat; this being Wufei, Trowa, Wong, Heero, and Felina, the other half being too cold to talk; namely Fiora, Jasmine, Quatre, Relena, and Duo.
True to Wong's word, it did finally start warming up as they sunk deeper into the land below. As they went on, they found that the tunnel got increasingly larger until they couldn't see what was above them anymore.
"HEEEEELLLLLLOOOOOOOO!" Felina called, only to have her voice call back to her.
"Well, that was pointless." Wong remarked.
Suddenly, Heero stopped.
"What is it, Heero?" Quatre asked. Heero just raised his arm to silence him.
"Quiet, we're here." he replied, motioning his head upwards, they followed his gaze up into the blackness, where, for a moment, all thought that there was nothing to be seen within, but, as the shadows were parted, by the soft chanting of Quatre's spells, they saw the red-silver gleam of light falling upon Dragon scales.
"Holy mother, fucking, Chris--"
"Don't use the lords name in vain, Fiora." Duo snapped, ending her colorful speech.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say!"
"Quiet!" Wufei said, silencing them both.
"For thieves, you two are ridiculously load." Wong said, glaring at them from the darkness of the room.
"Bite me!"
"Sshhhh…" Felina hushed.
"Well, here we are…" Jasmine started.
"But, what do we do now?" Relena finished for her.
"WHO GOES THERE?" a deep, rumbling voice called out from above.
"Good going Fiora, you woke it up!" Felina snapped.
"HEY! Why is it just MY fault? In case ya hadn't noticed, I WASN'T THE ONE TALKING!" Fiora yelled, her voice echoing around them.
"SHUT UP, FIORA!" everyone yelled back in reply.
"WHO GOES THERE?" the voice boomed out again.
"What do we say?" Jasmine whispered.
"I don't know." came Felina's chirp in reply.
"Well think of something soon. He doesn't sound happy to be waiting." Trowa remarked.
"It's not like you're making things any easier, Trowa!" Duo retorted.
"Um uh…. WE'RE THE KEEPERS OF MYSTIC!" Fiora called back at last, cupping her hands around her mouth to aid in carrying her already loud and shrill voice up to the being above.
This seemed to pacify him, as he slowly lowered himself to the ground in front of him, being mindful not to blow them away with the powerful whirlwind created by his wings.
"I AM CALLED MYOPE, THE MYSTERIOUS. WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT OF THE DRAGON KIN?" he said, his voice thundering so much that many of them had to cover their ears to stop them from ringing.
"WE NEED YOUR HELP! WE'RE ON A MISSION THAT REQUIRES POWERS SUCH AS YOURS TO COMPLETE IT!" Quatre called back, his ears still covered by his hands.
"WE ONLY NEED TWO OF YOUR KIN, WHO ARE WILLING, TO COME WITH US." Heero added, standing tall, unmoved by how the earth shook with the dragon spoke.
"VERY WELL. DRAGONS! COME TO ME!" he bellowed, the caved began to tremble and quake with replies.
Two smaller dragons caught Wong and Wufei's eyes; they were long and lanky, one tinted pure silver and the other a curious violet color, they were both lacking in wings, and yet, they seemed to float high above them; twisting and turning as they went. They were Chinese dragons!
Wong stepped forward as the two Chinese Dragons curled on the ground before them and began to speak in her native tongue to the two wingless beings. Wufei adding his say every now and then along with her.
Finally, after an hour or so of speaking in only Chinese, Wong turned to the other members of her party.
"This…" she directed her hand towards the silver dragon, "is Shou, and this…" she placed her other hand on the purple colored Dragon, "is Chwun; they have agreed to go with us." (Shou means, "Respect" and Chwun means, "Spring" in Chinese, I think…)
"Wong, we can speak their tongue as well." Chwun said, the English somewhat clumsy in her mouth. Wong simply bowed in understanding.
After all of the hellos and welcomes, they set off for Phoenix Downs, with Wufei and Wong leading the pack on the backs of Shou and Chwun.
"Well, that went well!" Fiora remarked uneasily as she and Vertigo caught up with the dragons ahead of them.
"It went well enough, Fiora, that's all that matters." Wong replied.
"Yeah, Fiora. And, after all, it could have gone worse." Duo said as he and Hawkeye matched speeds with them.
"It couldda gone better too, but that's besides the point! I'm just happy that wont be needing a gravestone just yet!" Fiora laughed.
"I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. We still have a long way to go." Wufei remarked, a slight smirk playing on his face.
"…That doesn't make me feel any better…" Fiora muttered.
________________________________________________________________________ Yipes! It's been FOREVER! But, I finally got it finished! Sorry it took me so long Ashley! Please forgive me! You know the drill, e-mail me, or review this fic at www.FanFiction.net byes!