Fairy Tales 3; Fairy Fields

Iron is one of the few things that will break a fairy's spell. But when Bakunetsumaru gets cursed, where do the others go to find iron? To the closest source.

"Alright, men!" Kade called to his Merrow friends while he deposited the Gundams on the shore. "Merrow, salute!"

"Salute!" The others cried, saluting and tensing their muscles. Kade waved them into waiting and turned to the foreigners (our Gundam Force).

"We're glad we could help," Kade spoke solemnly. "We can only hope that restoring The Muse can return our home to the paradise it once was."

"We'll try, Kade," Captain said while bowing.

"Thanks for the help!" Shute waved.

"No problem!" Kade dived underwater, his friends following in perfect synch.

"Bye, Kade!" Bakunetsumaru shouted, waving his arms exaggeratedly.

"I wonder if that little yell was the Merrow Salute." Zero wondered.

He didn't need to wonder; just as he finished his thought, all of the Merrows tail's shot above the water and splashed the four. Shute giggled while Bakunetsumaru let out a loud belly laugh. Captain stood there, oblivious. Zero growled, his annoyed eyes switched on.

"Now THAT'S a salute!" Baku roared.

***

"Wow!" Shute silently wheezed. "Look at this place! It's so-"

"BIG!"

Bakunetsumaru's cry shot through the endless meadow and through the air, the very grass moving in the force of his voice. The field's grass was long, yet soft and smooth. Patches of flowers grew here and there, mostly bluebells, pansies, foxgloves, toadstools, and weird little ones Zero called "Saint John's Wort".

"This is so cool!" Shute squealed, his muscles tensing. He shot a mischievous glance at Bakunetsumaru.

Baku eyed Shute suspiciously. "Shute-san, what are you thinking.?"

"Kade said not to step on the tufts of grass," Zero reminded Captain. "Those weeds are actually pixies hidden underground, and if you hurt them, they curse you into wandering for the rest of your life."

"My goodness," Captain reeled back. "I had better explained that to Shute. Shute!"

Shute shot by Captain, involved in a tag match with an equally oblivious Bakunetsumaru. They each laughed and smiled and completely ignored the world around them; they were just playing. Doing something neither of them had done for some time.

Zero smiled. "Have you ever seen anything cuter?"

Captain's attention faltered as Shute tripped and fell into a patch of pansies. He soon snapped back to attention.

"Well, actually-"

"Just agree with me, Captain, in that those two are adorable together."

"Oh. Alright, then."

Zero laughed and watched again as Shute pushed Bakunetsumaru down (well, Baku was faking being knocked over; Shute could never hope to get a Gundam off his feet). But, as soon as Baku hit the ground-

POOF!

He was gone!

"Baku?" Zero shouted, his eyes shooting open. "Bakunetsumaru!"

"AAH!" Shute yelped. "Where'd he go?"

Captain ran forward and examined the area where Bakunetsumaru fell. A squished little bundle of uprooted weeds was the only disturbance seen in the tall grasses.

Zero gasped and began to shake. "Oh, no."

***

"HAHA HA!" Bakunetsumaru could barely breathe as he pushed himself up from his place. "Good one, Shute! Now, lemme see if I can-"

When he opened his eyes, Shute wasn't there. Nor was Zero or Captain. The little outcropping of pansies that Shute had fallen into was gone as well. There was nothing there that he recognized.

He blinked in confusion. "Hello?"

"Baku? Bakunetsumaru!"

"Zero, i'zat you?" Bakunetsumaru swiveled his head to trying a locate the voice.

"AAH! Where'd he go?!"

"Shute?" Baku frowned. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"Mereow!"

Bakunetsumaru looked to his shoulder; sitting there was a little hedgehog- esque creature with weeds growing out of its back. It was green (what wasn't green here?) with amazingly hand-like feet. It looked into Baku's eyes and hissed threateningly.

"WOAH!" Baku tried to swat the creature away; it jumped up onto his shoulder once again, hissing even louder. "Alright, this is weird! Zero!"

Bakunetsumaru stepped for- wait. He stopped. "What the?"

He took three steps forward and noticed something. Every step he took forwards, he moved backwards!

He whimpered in fear and began to hold his shoulders, shaking like he did when he was just a little Musha growing up in Hi-mahoumaru's dojo. "Whoa. what's going on here? S-s-some kind of w-w-witchcraft, if you ask m-me."

A golden glimmer of light in the corner of Bakunetsumaru's eye caught his attention. "What's that?" He turned towards the source; it looked like it was coming from a small, knotted tree in the distance.

Music flittered in and out of his ears; it was coming from the tree's direction. "Well, I don't know what it is. but I might as well see."

He began to walk forward and (surprise) the ground moved forward with him. He led himself to the tree.

***

"Bakunetsumaru!" Captain called out. "Bakunetsumaru!"

"Baku!" Shute echoed his friend, calling out the samurai's nickname. "Baku- san, hello?"

"It is to no avail," Zero cried, his eyes to the ground. "Bakunetsumaru is lost, cursed by a fae to wander and never find his way home."

"No he's not!" Shute tried his hand at encouraging Zero; his usually well- received words fell on dead ears. "We'll find him, don't worry, Zero! We just need to find him and break the curse!"

"Every magic spell has a counter spell, so you told us," Captain said as he rubbed Zero's shoulder. He switched on his happy eyes, just for encouragement purposes. "Bakunetsumaru will soon be back in our hands."

"We just need to break the curse!" Shute chirped hopefully. His cheerful demeanor faded slowly. "Now, what do we do to break the curse.?"

"There are numerous ways. Let's see if I can remember it."

"Remember what?" Captain asked.

Zero took a deep breathe and began to sing, (to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", no less) "If faes you wish to drive away, then heed these words that I now say. First bless your lips with holy prayer, then turn outside your outerwear. Iron also breaks the spe- IRON!"

Zero shot into the air in ecstasy, landing very lightly. "We just need to find something made of iron! All Bakunetsumaru needs to do is touch it, and the curse will be broken!"

"YEAH!" Shute, as usual was up and down again with emotion. "But, where will we get the iron?"

"I am also confused as to where we will get iron. This area is mostly grassland," Captain stated.

"My Master would always give me an iron dagger whenever I went out to play," Zero reminisced. "So, weapons are usually made out of iron, so we need to find a weapon."

Shute sweat-dropped. "But where do we find the weapons?"

"If you silence your yelling, you will hear the clank of a blacksmith's hammer," Zero narrated. "Control your breathing and you will smell molten metal. Relax your eyes and you will see the red sparks of a furnace fly. There is an army near; and where there is an army, there are enough weapons to set free 1,000 Bakunetsumarus."

***

Bakunetsumaru kept walking, the weed-hog on his shoulder as he sang his impromptu "get-up-and-stop-shaking-like-a-baby" song. "Walkiiiiiiiiiiing! Walking towards the little tree that's probably on fire 'cause it's glowiiiiiing! But I hear some music so there's probably somebody who is singiiiiiiiiing! And I sure do hope that is Shute because it would be reassurriiiiiiiing! And I cannot think of anything more that rhymes with walkiiiiiiiing! And I just thought one up now and it is anythiiiiiiiiiing! And my voice is getting hoarse 'cause I've been singiiiiiii- (cough, wheeze, cough) dang it!"

Baku stopped walking and sat down swiftly, closing his eyes and relaxing. "Oh man, I feel sick. I need food. I need rice balls." His mouth began to water. "Oo, what I wouldn't give for some of Neotopia's famous rice balls; the ones that contain the love and respect of the person who makes them! Those big ugly ones that Zero makes are really good, especi-" He stopped suddenly, just realizing what he said. "Woah, wait a minute!"

***

Zero and Captain both stepped in front of Shute, just then realizing that they had made a terrible mistake. All three of the heroes felt horribly painful knots forming in their stomachs. Shute and Zero went pale, while Captain gasped to himself.

"Oh no."

They had gone off the field and had wandered straight onto Redcap Road.

The road was more like a ditch that had been worn into the field after centuries of walking the same path over and over again. On either side of the wide path were dozens of tents, each smoking with an inner fire. Irons axes, scythes, swords, and maces all lay strewn out among the dust; none of them were sharpened.

The Redcaps themselves were tanned, wrinkled little men with leather armor and red wool caps. They stood hardly any higher than Shute's armpits, and widthwise they were the human boy's equal. They were all hunched over and emaciated, which made their knobby bones shoot out from beneath their skin. Their faces were much too large for their heads, with noses too wide, eyes to buggy, mouths too gaping, and hair too sparse. The eyes of the Redcaps were wild and flaming; an eerie yellow that dug straight into Captain's Soul Drive and stuck there.

And this they knew quite well, because every single Redcap eye in the Redcap camp was centered on the small group of Gundams.

Zero readied his sword while Captain anxiously fingered his rifle. Shute gulped audibly.

"What're we gonna do?" Shute whispered.

"Steal one of their weapons, and then run back into the field," Zero announced. "They did not move onto the field before, they will not do it now."

"Go get 'em, guys."

Captain nodded. "We will."

"GO!" Zero rushed onto the road while Captain hung back and, not bothering with his targeting eyepiece, blasted the Redcaps. Shute stayed behind Captain, cheering him on as usual.

Zero smacked away at least 4 Redcaps on the first swing of his sword, only to be countered by 10 more jumping on him, hacking away with dull axes. Captain didn't dare fire near Zero; he concentrated on small groups of Redcaps which would move toward him and Shute. Zero could barely hold his own; he launched himself into the air and held out his sword and shield.

"Super Magical Violet Tornado!" The Redcaps were suddenly blown away by a myriad of purple rose petals. One small axe got away from the twist and shot towards Captain; Captain and Shute both dodged, but Shute didn't dodge soon enough and-

"OW!" the blunt axe skimmed his cheek, cutting him across his cheekbone.

"Are you alright, Shute?" asked Captain, holding out a concerned hand.

"I'm okay," Shute reassured his friend, holding his bleeding cheek. "Uh, why is everything so quiet?"

Shute looked over Captain's shoulder and nearly shrieked in fear; each Redcap had focused their attention to him, licking their lips and sneering suggestively.

"RUN!"

Captain pushed Shute on the chest, urging him to run. The human only fell over, which meant Zero had to swoop down, pick him up, and fly off with him. The three raced into the fairy fields, panting for breath. Zero deposited Shute on a dead patch of grass which, Zero guessed, was previously a fairy ring.

"Oh man, that was close!" Shute wheezed. He looked up at his savior twice today, Zero. "Aa!"

"Zero, what happened to you!?" Captain yelped.

Shute ran his delicate fingers over Zero's numerous dings and dents; they couldn't have been caused by the Redcaps, no way were they that strong!

"The Redcaps," Zero sighed, confirmed Shute and Captain's worst fear. "Their strength is great, and their hunger insatiable; I felt their fury the second Shute's blood was spilled. I Felt it!"

The ground began to rumble beneath the feet of the Gundams. They looked about wildly to find the source, and so they found it. An immense army of Redcaps, riding upon flame-red horses, holding axes, swords, maces, and newly acquired spears.

The heroes paused, unable to think of anything to say, or even do. The sight of your impending doom is a bit of something to bear, you understand.

"Shute, may I have permission to swear?" Zero asked.

"No," he quickly answered.

"Oh, wonderful."

***

"(pant, pant) Um, wheels on fire, rolling down the road. um. what's the next line?" Bakunetsumaru moaned, the fairy music still teasing his ears. "Oh, I'm tired! But I still want to walk, but- my legs hurt, and I'm out of breath, but I want to keep going, but I don't want to. ow."

The music began to whistle through his ears even louder. He blinked. "What the- is that singing?"

He could barely discerner a few words, but it was a chorus of women, and they were singing. He looked down to his weed-hog companion. "Hey, it's people! Maybe they can help me get back to Zero and Captain and Shute! Yeah!"

"There's no turning back."

"What the hey?" Bakunetsumaru could hear the words more clearly than ever now; it was a slow, droning tone, sung by deep-voiced women. About 20, actually.

"You belong to us now."

"Excuse me?" Baku clenched his fist in anger. "I don't belong to anybody, who are you?!"

"The name's on your grave."

Baku then went pale and shrunk to about 3x his normal size. "G-g-g-g-g-g- grave?"

"You will not ask us how."

***

Shute ran as fast as he could away from the fairy horse. The horse snapped at him with razor-sharp teeth, barely even cantering to keep up with the relatively slow human boy. This was one of his worst nightmares; being chased by some animal. It didn't matter which animal because he was afraid of all of them, every last kind. Animals could hurt, bite, scratch, claw, trample, Hurt! Just thinking about it made Shute dizzy, and his eyes began to water.

"Somebody, help me!"

Captain jumped away from his previous battle to tackle the fairy horse. He was then, without warning, jumped by 20 Redcaps, who proceeded to beat him with maces.

"Captain!" Shute screamed.

***

"You're now dead to all."

"Stop it!" Baku screamed, clenching his fists. "I'm not dead!"

"Trapped in your new home. your friends are forfeit."

"My friends?" Bakunetsumaru paused and thought for a moment; where were his friends? "What do you know about my friends? Where are they?"

"You will spend life alone."

Baku felt a swirling wind encompassing him; he closed his eyes tightly, only to open them again to see-

He was in the middle of a battle! Many tiny brown people ran all around him, screaming and waving their arms. "Hey! What's going on here-"

"GAaah!"

"I recognize that scream!" Bakunetsumaru gulped. "Zero!"

He looked for Zero, but found only a soft veil of silk; he was wrapped in a cloak. He looked over his shoulder and saw the face of a fairy; a young woman with blue skin and darker blue hair. She placed her hands on Baku's shoulders.

"You belong to us now."

And she sang with the voice of 20 women! It was like an entire choir was living in her throat!

And that was enough to scare Bakunetsumaru-san.

"WAAH! WITCH! SORCERESS! MAGIC-USER!" he jumped back and fingered his blade. "D-d-d-don't make me use this!"

She laughed and pointed to Zero, who was being swamped by a large number of Redcaps. "You're now dead to all."

"Zero!" Baku ran forward, only to have the ground move sideways and away from his Knight Gundam friend!

"Trapped in your new home." The silk-garbed fae laughed, stroking her cloak.

"Aa!"

"Shute!"

Baku turned around just as Shute had tripped and fallen. Captain stretched himself over the human boy, trying to protect him; it worked, but it wouldn't hold for long. The Redcaps were already trying to flip the Gundam off Shute.

"Your friends are forfeit."

"Captain!" Baku growled and lunged at the fairy woman; she laughed and dodged out of the way. She took a breathe to sing the next line, but Bakunetsumaru cut in. "You leave them alone!"

And she gasped, appalled that she had been interrupted in her dirge. She stiffened up and began to sing again, a little louder and a bit more intensely. "The curse is complete, you are trapped, you are mine." And at a faster tempo.

But Baku was ready. He began to talk back, not quite singing but speaking with enough of a tone to get the fairy mad. "I will not put the life of my friends on the line!"

Her voice began to change, morphing from 20 women in one of 10 voices combined (the way the aliens spoke in that movie we watched together, remembered Baku). "No man has ever escaped from my spell!"

"They're in need of my help," Baku motioned to Shute and Captain. "They are not fairing well."

The fairy was no longer singing; she was shouting. Her gown flapped about her as if she were standing inside of a tornado, and her eyes began to glow a terrifying red. "You won't upstage my voice, you incompetent jerk!"

"Well, I'm sorry, My Lady," Baku sneered, grabbing the hilt of the sword on his right hip. "But you've just been usurped!"

He pulled his katana and-

***

Shute saw the axe zooming towards his chest. That Redcap was about to bash his heart in, killing him on the spot. He heard Captain voice crying out something to him, but he didn't hear it. A bright white flash shot over him, smashing the axe in pieces and pushing away the Redcap who wielded it. After that, it was a little hard to explain; it was simply a white blur that would dash to this Redcap and back, finally driving them all away. The blur began to move into focus.

"Oh, Maana, do my eyes deceive me!?" Zero gasped and nearly wept as his best friend, Bakunetsumaru, almost magically appeared before his eyes. "Bakunetsumaru!"

"Baku!" Shute jumped up and hugged the Musha Gundam; Baku didn't like it (the touch of human skin made him uneasy), but he let him. "Bakunetsumaru, you're okay!"

"Where were you?" Captain asked, switching on his happy eyes. "We're glad you're back!"

"I'm not sure exactly where I was," Bakunetsumaru sighed, rubbing his head. He startled as Zero scooped him into his arms, giving him his second hug of the day. "Geh! Hi, Zero."

***

"All I did was pull out my swords," Baku explained, holding his katana before his face. "And then everything went all. slow, and I started attacking people."

"Are your swords made of iron?" Shute asked, daring to touch the side of the blade; it felt more like smooth aluminum that iron.

"What's iron?"

"The fae you met was obviously some kind of bluebell fae," Zero said proudly. However, other thoughts began to enter his mind. "Or, maybe it was a Leanan-Sidhe (Lan-awn-shee). or maybe it was the glaistig, but she lives near water. but with everything going wrong." He groaned and fell to his knees. "Now I am starting to get confused. This is so embarrassing."

"All I know about these swords is that they were given to me by my master Hi-mahoumaru, who obtained them from his grandfather and his grandfather before that. That they were forged by the purist of all the monks o-"

"Didn't Zero say something about saying prayers?" Captain suddenly remembered. "As protection from fairies?"

Zero shot up into the air, his face aglow. "Of course! Bakunetsumaru's swords were forged in good, while the curse he was under was evil! The magics contradicted each other and broke the curse! YES! I'm back on the beat!"

As Zero did an absurd little victory dance, Baku pondered to himself. "Hmm. it was not just my will that caused me to pull my swords. I normally would not attack a woman. there is some higher power that wishes us to succeed, I know it!"

"Well, let's go guys!" Shute shot out in front of the small group and clapped his hands once. "Next stop, Mount Gwillon-Mine, or whatever!"

The three Gundams nodded and began to move, the mountain becoming larger and larger within their view.

"Hey, Captain?" Shute asked naively. "What were you yelling at me when the Redcap was about to kill me?"

"That I love you."

"Oh, okay- Woah! What?!"

Baku laughed. His friends ruled.

OKAY! Notes, notes.

THIS IS RATED G! There is no actual romantic thing going on between anyone or anything! It just. sounded like something Captain would say. or something. oh, it sounded good in my head, but then I put it on the computer, and it's clumsy! Gah!

Just like Zero said, the fae that tried to curse Baku was a mix of a glaistig, Leanan-Sidhe, and bluebell fairy. Nothing specific. But the weed- hog is actually a type of pixie called "stray sod". Redcaps are also "real". The glowing tree is a Will-o-Wisp, a special faerie that looks like a dead tree that leads lost travelers astray. And faeries have to their name their own breed of horse, the last of which supposedly was bought in an auction by a British emissary a long time ago; it reared up on him and threw him off, killing the emissary and running off into the wilderness, Supposedly dieing (you never know, those horses lived for centuries (hears best friend Double F go "Eeee!" hopefully and smiles).

To answer Baku-san's question, the next line is "Notify my next of kin, this wheel shall explode."

DONE!