Disclaimer: This is the first time I'll say this (not saying it'll be the last, sadly…) so get ready…ready? I don't own Gundam Wing! There, I said it. Whew, I've been working on that in therapy, I'm getting better though… j/k…but seriously, I don't own Gundam Wing, don't sue me…In addition, this story has been revised to edit out all the errors in spelling and such so it will be easier reading for you all! Also, it has several cheesy parts in it that I plan to change/erase during the summer when I have freetime. For now, this is what you'll have to put up with. So, when you post a comment or whatever, just keep in mind I will be changing various parts of it later...so stay tuned! end of long disclaimer
Gundam Fairytales
Chapter 1
"Oz troops gathering to the West and South, more coming in from the East. We're slowly becoming outnumbered, Duo, maybe we should give up now and wait in the caves for backup." The pilot of the Gundam Sandrock said calmly over the comlink to his battle companion, the Deathscythe. Stubborn as usual, Duo replied in spite, I'm not giving up now, we're still winning as far as I'm concerned! I'll take the West, you go for the South. Quickly, Duo shut down his comlink and rocketed toward the oncoming mobile suit fleet. With a sigh, Quatre Winner scanned the Western horizon again, finding the numbers of mobile suits rapidly growing from the original 40 to well over a 100. He wanted to stop his friend from committing suicide but it was too late, Duo was already in combat with the front of the attack wave. Reluctantly, Quatre advanced to battle the forces to the South, not looking back but still thinking about the battle to his right.
"I can take these guys on, I'm not afraid of them!" Duo yelled proudly, but his confidence was quickly defeated when a group of Doll Mobile suits flew in from the back of the fleet. He cursed in surprise as he tried to dodge the Dolls' accurate laser blasts. Despite his attempts to evade them, he was finally hit and fell with a crash into the thick forest below, landing on a camp he hadn't seen, before it was too late. With sweat dripping from his cheek, he struggled to get his Gundam to its feet before the Dolls had a chance to close in and blow him to oblivion. As he looked out his viewing screen to see where the Dolls were, he glanced down at the ground and caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. Forgetting the attackers for a second, he moved his Gundam into a position that he could see what it was he thought he saw.
"Oh no, there's someone down there! It's. . .a girl." He felt this sudden compulsion to save her, he didn't know quite why though. A mobile suit approached and aimed to fire at Duo, also aiming to take out the camp beneath the Gundam's frame. Duo quickly pulled out his Gundam's scythe and slashed the mobile suit in half, causing it to explode and block the rest of the troop's view of the Deathscythe. Taking advantage of this distraction, Duo piloted his Gundam to its feet and before taking off, turned on a outside comlink and yelled down to the girl, " Hey you, get out of here, before you get killed!" She just stood staring at the Deathscythe, wobbling a bit and clutching her arm. Duo didn't understand why she was just standing there.
"Do you want to be killed or something! Move it!" Duo yelled again, getting a bit worried, the smoke from the mobile suit's explosion slowly dissipating and revealing Duo's position. In anger, Duo cursed again and knelt his Gundam down, grabbing the girl in one of its large hands. She let out a small protest in fear, or pain, Duo wasn't sure. But all he knew was he had to get his butt out of there. He activated the propulsion rockets and began his escape, making sure he didn't let any stray shots hit the girl. He approached Quatre's Gundam and called to him.
"Quatre, let's get out of here!"
"Now he wants to leave," Quatre mumbled to himself before answering, Alright, head North and I'll follow soon, hurry! Duo didn't waste time retreating to the mountains, flying fast and straight for a while before diving into the trees and traveling quickly to the hidden caves they had been camping out in for the past few days. As he traveled deep into the caves where there was no light, he activated his scythe again, illuminating the tunnel with its green glow. He finally reached the cavern he was searching for and positioned his Gundam in a dark corner, quickly shutting down its systems and opening the front hatch. He jumped out of the cockpit and made his way down to the Gundam's hand that still held the frightened girl. Duo stopped on its wrist and said in a not too comforting voice, "What the heck were you thinking! Why the heck didn't you run like I told you to?" the girl stared at Duo in pain and said, " I-I can't run, my leg is broken." With a frustrated moan, Duo pulled the girl out of the Gundam's hand, causing her more unbearable pain than he did when he scooped her up in the first place. He wrapped her arm around his neck and said, "Hold on tight." He held her close as he grabbed the escape robe on his Gundam and slowly lowered himself and the girl to the ground. As soon as they landed on the ground, she slipped loose of his grip and fell.
"Ah, oops! Are you okay?" Duo asked, kneeling to help her back up.
"Yes, except for my wounds, I think I'm okay, Duo." He paused for a second, looking surprised.
How does she know my name? I don't recall ever hearing Quatre say it. Duo pondered this for a moment before the sound of the Sandrock echoed abruptly through the cave, startling Duo for a second before he recognized it. He pulled the girl to her limp feet and held her steady as Quatre entered the cavern and parked his Gundam. Quickly hopping out, Quatre ran to Duo and in a wondering voice, asked, "Duo, where'd the girl come from?"
"She was in the forest where I was fighting, I. . .didn't want to leave her to die." Quatre was a bit set back by Duo's sudden show of concern, but kept his comments to himself. The two boys together carried the injured girl over to their campout and laid her on the ground. Quatre ran to their supplies and got out a first aid kit, bringing it over to the girl and beginning to tend to her wounds. Duo stared at the girl's face for a while, fascinated and yet startled by her knowledge of his name, puzzling about how she may have figured out what his name was. As Quatre finished, he said sweetly, " There, now you should rest and stay off of that leg for a while till it heals."
"thank you, Quatre." The girl managed to say just before passing out. The boys looked at each other and Quatre questioned Duo.
"Did you tell her what my name is?" the boy asked as he brushed some blonde hair out of his face.
"No; she knows my name too." They fell silent and decided to leave her alone for a time while they went about with various tasks. A few long hours later, Duo walked by the slumbering girl and glanced down at her in curiosity. She looked so at peace, despite all that she had been through. He felt like checking her wounds, and knelt to look at the bandages. He gently unwrapped her leg and gasped, touching her completely healed flesh, running his hand over her soft, undamaged skin visible through the rip in her clothes. The touch of his hand startled her awake and she sat up, staring at his hand, which he quickly withdrew. He stared at her shocked shaky eyes, his own eyes wide with amazement. She blinked a few times before saying in a soft, gentle voice, "Why are you staring at me like that, Duo?"
"Your leg, it's completely healed! You've only been lying here for 2 hours and that big gash is already gone!" In wonder, she looked down at her leg and then her arm, unwrapping it and looking at her perfectly smooth skin, no sign of any wound or injury having been there. Duo stared intently at her arm, slowly reaching out in wonder to touch it.
"Duo, what are you doing! Her wounds haven't-" Quatre stopped abruptly in his approach and stared at her arm and leg as well, his mouth falling open in shock. He quickly knelt down to take a closer look as he rambled, "How is this possible? Your wounds are gone! But they can't have healed already, it hasn't been more than two hours!" Duo didn't seem to notice Quatre's comments as he touched the girl's arm, gently running his hand over where it had been broken. She lightly shuttered at this and she said, "What happened? Where'd my wounds go? What did you do to me!"
"What's your name?" Duo asked in a half trancy voice, ignoring her questions. Timidly, she answered, "Rachel. Is this a. . .dream?"
"I'm not quite sure at the moment." Quatre heard a beeping echoing through the cave and jumped up, running swiftly to his Gundam and hopping in. He pressed a button along side his seat and a screen popped up, showing a young man with long brown hair hanging in his face.
"Heero, hello my friend! Are you close by?" Quatre greeted the Gundam pilot in his cheerful voice.
I hate to disappoint you, Quatre, but I've been a bit. . .delayed. I won't be able to come for another couple of hours, I hope this isn't an inconvenience to you and Duo. The boy said with a face lacking emotion.
"Well, we've managed to get into some caves, I don't think the fleets spotted us retreating. There's at least 200 mobile suits and Dolls out there looking for us so be cautious when approaching our location."
I will, thanks for the warning. Heero out. And with that, the message ended. Quatre rejoined Duo to find the two teens in a deep conversation.
"Am I interrupting anything?" Quatre asked with a grin. Duo looked up at him and said, "No, I was just having an interesting conversation with Rachel here, she seems to know a lot about us and pretty much everyone else."
"Oh? Like what?" Quatre asked as he sat down next to the girl, curious himself as to what she knew. She smiled at him and looked back at Duo.
"Well, she knows everyone's name, on both sides of this war. In fact, she even knows stuff we don't even know." Duo said with an air of excitement in his voice.
"So are you a spy or something? Or maybe Treize's secretary?" Quatre jokingly said. She laughed sweetly and said, "No, nothing of the sort! I'm just a normal, 15-year-old girl, lost in a fantasy world…" She looked around in slight confusion and sighed.
"Fantasy world? Humph, who would want a fantasy like this. . .this is the real world, babe, get used to it. What, have you been hiding in some mansion somewhere, far from the war and any sign of reality?" she frowned at Duo and said, "What's your problem, you act as if what I said was aimed at you! I was just saying. . ."
"Sure. . .look, you don't wanna know what MY problem is. . .you don't wanna know anything about me, you'd be too scared." Duo said, getting close on his last few words. Rachel leaned back, away from Duo and said, "Well if you're gonna be like that. . ."
"I am, got a problem with that?"
"No, I'm going to leave now, I think I can find more answers outside, where I'm alone." She stood up and stormed toward the dark tunnel.
"Duo, did you have to get so defensive? I mean, gosh, do you hate her or something? I'm going to go follow her. . .so she doesn't get lost." As Quatre got up, Duo stopped him and said, "Oh forget it, I'll follow her. We shouldn't let her leave anyway, she knows way too much about us." Duo left to find the girl. As he ran down the long and dark tunnels that twisted here and there into more darkness, he wished he had been smart enough to bring some form of light with him to see where he was going. But as he was arguing with himself, he saw a flicker of illumination ahead of him in the corridor. He sped up to find that the girl had something lit in her hand, held out to brighten her way as she ran along at a slow trot. He caught up to her and yelled out abruptly, "Hey you! Where do you think you're going? Don't you think you might get lost if you don't know your way around?"
"I think I can find my way, thank you." She answered snidely, not even bothering to acknowledge his presence. He frowned and grabbed her arm, pulling her to a stop rather suddenly, saying, "Hey! I was-"
She gasped as the light in her hand fell to the ground and revealed itself to be a mere ball of fire, no signs of a source of its ignition. He stared at it as it quickly went out and left the two young people in the dark together, staring intently at where they had last seen each other's faces.
"Now look what you've done!" Rachel exclaimed indignantly.
"What I did? You dropped it! What was that, anyway? It didn't look like a flare or candle or a match. . ."
"It wasn't. Would you leave me alone!" She tried to pull away but Duo wouldn't let her go.
"Wait, you can't run off in this darkness, you'll trip and hurt yourself or fall into a hole or-"
"Or find the way out? Do you mind?" She reached for his hand and pulled it away, throwing it aside and taking off down the tunnel, leaving Duo to scream after her, "You must have hurt more than your leg and arm when you were out there! Hey, come back here, I'm not done yelling!" He ran after her, a bit cautious of where he stepped as he went. Her footsteps raced off ahead of him, fading into a dull echo as he slowed to a fast walk, and then a complete stop.
Darn that girl! If she gets lost it won't be my fault!. . .Oh who am I kidding. . .I have to find that stupid girl before someone else does. There has to be something in my pocket that I can light. . .
He groped around in his pockets and patted himself down until he felt a bulge in his left sleeve. He unrolled it and found a matchbox tucked away there for obvious safekeeping. He grinned as he fumbled around and managed to feel his way to lighting one of the matches. He didn't waste anytime as he hurried off down the tunnel after the girl, not even thinking to perhaps return to his Gundam and use its lights to find her faster, and with fewer burns and fumbles for new matches. He finally found the faint echoing of her footsteps, slowed to a calm walk from what he could guess as he turned a corner. He looked ahead of him but couldn't quite make out whether she was anywhere in proximity to him.
"Hey, girl, where'd you go? Please come back, will ya! I didn't mean to yell at ya; awe please come baaack. . ." He sighed and slowed down himself as he couldn't hear the girl anymore. In frustration, he stopped and stared into the darkness barely lit farther than 5 feet in front of him by the depleting match.
"YEEEAAAOOOWWWW!" Duo yelped as the match burnt him and went out from the wild shake Duo gave his hand. He sucked on his fingers in an attempt to ease the pain as he moaned sadly and crossly, feeling a bit hopeless in his dark situation. A hand touched his shoulder and he grabbed it, feeling that it was soft and small, that of a young girl's. He squinted into the darkness but couldn't see a thing.
"Are you okay? I heard you scream." It was the girl. He was surprised as he exclaimed, "How'd you find me like that! It's pitch black in here!"
"It doesn't matter. Why do you want to find me so badly?" Duo blushed a bit in embarrassment.
"I just. . .thought it was a bad idea to let you run off alone. . .seeing that you don't seem to know your way around here. . ."
"Well. . .care to show me the way?" He could almost sense her smiling as he blushed a bit more and said, "I think it would be a better idea if you stayed in the cave with me and Quatre, it would be safer than out there. . .being a war. . .and all. . ." A small light flickered to life from the darkness and Duo squinted his eyes, readjusting to the light. He looked down to find the light coming from a new flame in the palm of the girl's left hand. He gasped and tried to bat it away but she stopped him, saying, "No, don't! It's okay!"
"But. . .your hand!"
"It's okay." The girl said softly, touching Duo's shaky hand with hers and smiling. He looked up into her eyes and blushed again, turning away because now she could see him. He scowled in embarrassment and said, "Come on, I'll take you back to the cave." The girl grinned and said coyly, "Okay." They walked together back through the tunnel and watched the light from the flame dance along the rocky walls like one of the rivers flowing through the forest surrounding the cave. They stayed quiet the entire walk back until they entered the cave the Gundams were in. Quatre looked up and said, "Ah, there you are! Did you two have a nice stroll?" Duo glared at him and mouthed "Shutup" as Rachel rolled her eyes and walked toward Sandrock. She ran her hands over the Gundanium alloy making the frame of Sandrock as she said, "Is this Sandrock? Or Sandrock Custom?"
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Quatre asked as he walked over to join her.
"Your Gundam self-destructed to save your life. . .oh, but I guess that hasn't happened yet. . ." She responded, quickly shutting up. Quatre seemed surprised by her comment and said, "Self. . .destructed? On its own?"
"Um, forget I said that. . ."
"Wait, you said it hasn't happened yet, what did you mean by that?" Duo asked, getting pulled into the discussion.
"Nothing, I didn't say anything. . ." She tried to walk away but Duo cut her off and said sternly, "No, you know something and I think we should know as well! You ARE a spy for Treize, and you know his future plans, don't you!"
"What! NO! I don't even know Treize!"
"Don't you try to fool me with some lame innocent act, TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW!"
"Leave me alone!" Rachel screamed, cringing up as she did and somehow pushing Duo away from her without even touching him.
"AAHH!" Duo flew 10 feet from her and landed with a thud, wincing and staring at her glowing form, seeming to be almost on fire. Quatre's eyes were wide with surprise as he witnessed what just happened.
"How. . .did you do that?" Quatre asked Rachel in a calm voice, trying not to use a tone anywhere near Duo's demanding commands. Her eyes popped open and she stared at Duo as if she just realized what she did. She gasped and looked at herself, noticing the ominous glow of ghostly flames encompassing her body.
"What's going on!" She said, frightened by everything she was doing.
"You don't know?" Duo asked as he wobbled to his feet.
"No."
"Maybe it would help if you calmed down so we could talk about this." Quatre tried to tame her rage with his soothing voice.
"No, you think I'm a spy, you just want to interrogate me!" Rachel exclaimed, backing away from them and starting for the cavern again.
"Wait, you're wrong, I just want to help!" Quatre said, trying to convince her he wasn't against her. She stared into his sincere blue eyes and realized he wasn't lying to her, so she stopped. She clutched her hands against her chest and still looked a bit unsure as Quatre slowly approached her, his hand out in a show of friendship.
"How do I know I can trust you?" She said, still wary of him.
"If you know as much about us as it seems you do, then you should know me well enough to trust me."
"True. . ." She said, finally giving in and taking his outstretched hand and letting him lead her to the small encampment they had set up. He got her a foldable stool to sit on and sat down on one himself, facing her with his usual cheerful smile.
"So, you don't seem to be from around here, that's obvious by your behavior. Where are you from?"
"Earth. . ." She said shyly.
"Okay, so you're not from the Colonies. Where on earth? You look to be a bit European, say from the area of the old Sanc Kingdom?"
"No, I'm American. I mean, I was born in America; I have a diverse heritage. . ." She responded, looking into her lap and fiddling with the edge of her silk skirt.
"You're American? Me too." Duo said, trying to get on her good side.
"I know." She said, looking at him and smiling. Duo paused and blinked.
Huh? She smiled at me! I thought she was mad. . .why's she acting so nice? I don't understand girls.
