Disclaimers: Gundam Wing is not
mine. Charmed is owned by Spelling Production Group (uh...I think, but one of
its producers is Aaron Spelling, so there) , Warner Brothers, and all associated
parties. Magic and Mayhem is not mine. No copyright infringement intended. I am
not making money out of this. Original part of the fiction is the property and
is copyrighted to the author.
Category: shounen ai/yaoi implications, AU, angst, action, dark themes
Rating: R overall
Pairings: 1x2x1, 3+4, 5xD(whoa don't hate me for this!), 6x13, 11+13,
various
Warnings: language, sap, violence, death
Finished: October 1, 2000
Author's Notes: This is a GW/Charmed fusion. I got majority of the storyline
from Charmed, the characters from GW, a little Magic and Mayhem, and the Island
of Fire bit from history. Wufei ain't Prue, Heero ain't Piper, and Trowa ain't
Phoebe, although they're kinda alike in some ways, huh?
Dedication: Thanks to
my imouto Ryu, Ayako, Kristie, Jade & Elizabeth for their C&Cs and support.
/blah/ denotes thought, and telepathic conversation
*blah* denotes emphasis
~blah~ denotes dream sequence
Title: The Bewitched Chronicles,
Entry #4: And the Sons Meet the Thief
Author: AJ Maxwell ( webmaster@weluvduo.zzn.com
)
~The jar dropped from Heero's slack hands as a fireball went hurtling towards him.
Barely saving himself from being a toasted witch, he dived for cover behind the nearest tree.
"I thought you loved me, Hee-chan," his lover taunted, a sneer distorting the face that he had fallen in love with. No, the face before him was that of his enemy's...but--
"You said you loved me, Hee-chan, even if I'm like this. Why are you cowering now?"
/Why are you cowering now?/
/Why are you cowering now?/~
Prussian blue eyes woke up to a dark room, illuminated only by the digital clock that announced 37 minutes past 3 in the morning. For a minute Heero thought that the light of the clock was red.
/What was that all about? Who was that boy? Why do I dream about him...why do I feel this pain, this sense of foreboding? Is something going to happen? Is this a sign?/
He sighed and got up from his bed. He knew that he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. Might as well do something downstairs. /Maybe I'll cook something for breakfast, like a real breakfast for once. I think we all deserve it./
"Damn," Heero swore.
The cupboards were empty, save for a box of cereal he *knew* that wouldn't be enough for his eldest brother alone. The fridge was in a similar state, with only a bottle of orange juice and a carton of milk that was past the expiration date. They need to get some supplies soon, or they wouldn't have anything for breakfast.
It was already 4 in the morning.
/I wonder if groceries are open at this time...it would still be a miracle if they'd go on business, since everything's a wreck in this island./
Milliard Peacecraft sipped from his 1759 crystal goblet, savoring the taste of the 18th century.
/Soon any of my henchmen are going to report to me./
Noble fingers wrapped around a gold-lined remote control with an emblem of a serpent--customized for the one and only Clan Master--and pressed the rewind button to view the disc for the ninth time. Committing the utter beauty of the slaughter to mind, a ghost of a smile flitted over his lips.
/I've never managed to kill as much in my awakening...and yet...I'm willing to wager that my son hasn't even begun the real awakening. I shouldn't be impatient. Now that I'm certain that he will come back, father and son have all the time in the world.../
His mind drifted, going as far as the time when he fought the water witch, Lucrezia Noin.
/I wonder where you are...*Lulu*.../ At that taunting, scornful thought a soundless laugh went past Milliard's lips. /Too bad, so sad. Too much pride don't do well, especially with me involved. Now you're in hiding, and I am about to wrap my little fingers around my long lost son...the Stealer of Souls......my own little Shinigami, and you can't do anything. You'll be dead before you can do anything. I'll see to that./
The three brothers trudged along the dark alleyway, different expressions gracing their features. Wufei wore his omnipresent scowl while muttering about injustices and why Heero just had to be such an ass at 5 a.m. Heero wore his usual stoic expression, while Trowa walked on, his green eyes closed.
Suddenly with a look of pure irritation, Trowa spat out, "Urusai. I'm trying to sleep here."
Heero just snorted. He could sense another battle between the two.
"Don't reprimand me, Trowa," Wufei growled. "I'm older than--"
"Well you prize yourself for being older but why is it that you don't know when to shut up? Your incessant babbling will get us nowhere."
They have already entered the fluorescent-lighted 24-hour store, and the two brothers were just in their warm-up.
"Babbling! Kisama! Take back your words, baka, or I'll--"
"Or you'll what? I'm sick and tired of you telling me what to do."
Heero went for the dairy section, leaving the other two behind to argue. As he checked the expiration date of the milk, a familiar sight caught his eye.
/Wh--?/
A rope of chestnut brown braid.
He quickly whirled around to see the owner of that braid, the exact braid of the boy that tormented him for almost a week now since the storm.
/Gone./
It was then that Wufei and Trowa walked up next to him. Seeing the perpetrator of this grocery expedition in the wee of hours staring at nothing like some *idiot* just like a certain uni-banged person, the eldest Halliwell narrowed his eyes. "Get your head out of the clouds, Heero! We have to hurry I'm hungry!"
Trowa just stared. "I am not an idiot."
At that, Wufei glared. "Did I say anything?"
"You didn't *say* anything," Trowa breathed out, his lips in a tight line, "but I can hear your damn mental wailing." /Like a bitching woman,/ he added mentally, only for his eldest brother to hear.
Wufei sputtered, indignant at the comparison. "Like a bitching WHAT?!"
One emerald eye blinked innocently, the other hidden by a fall of hair, "Did I say anything?"
"KISAMA!! This is--"
As Heero walked further, the voices of his brothers faded. He was intent on finding out who the owner of the braid was, and he won't fail. Too many nights of dreams turned nightmares urged him to move on.
/Where could he possibly be?/
Amethyst eyes scanned the rows and rows of pastries.
/Is he gone? Why is that guy stalking me? Is he connected to the cops? Did he see me take anything? Man I have to get out of here fast!/
He made a quick turn to the right, and bumped against a taller body.
"Itai!"
A knock interrupted his musings.
Milliard raised an eyebrow. "Come in."
Aries, one of his Four Henchmen, walked in, his head bowed down in reverence to his Master.
"Do you have news that might interest me?" he drawled.
The henchman knelt down before him, head still bowed. "Master, I have detected another surge of power in the area of the city."
The Clan Master felt a flare of hope in his chest, but he quelled it. Instead, "Are you sure about this information, Aries? Or is this about the church massacre and you're just late in relaying the details to your Master, hm?"
"No, Master Milliard. I have obtained this information at exactly 15 minutes earlier."
"Alright, then. Spill."
"There was another carnage at an alley just beside the all-night gas station in the city, right across a bookstore which is beside a 24-hour grocery."
At the description, a muscle in the Master's cheek twitched. He clamped down the compulsion of breaking the neck of his minion. "That is most helpful like a toothpick for a four-course meal, Aries," he gritted out. "Since there are a handful of all-night gas stations, several bookstores, and tens of 24-hour groceries in the city that are close by to each other."
Aries didn't move.
Milliard raised his right hand, palm faced up. A second later there was a ball of fire swirling and forming in his hand, like a jewel of merging red, orange, and blue. "I'm too much in a good mood now, Aries. Tell me, before I give in to the temptation of burning you alive, the exact whereabouts of this 'carnage' that you are referring to."
"Itai!" he yelped. He looked up to find a boy his age, much taller, with green eyes.
"Gomen," the boy said softly, almost inaudible.
He just nodded, then walked hastily away.
Trowa followed the departing longhaired boy with his gaze, then, with a start, his eyes widened a little.
/That--I've seen him before...I've seen him in Heero's dreams./
"Relena, we're going out for a drive," Milliard Peacecraft said as he entered his sister's room without knocking.
The blond witch stirred from her pink four-poster bed.
"Get your things ready. We're going to look for my son."
At that, Relena opened her eyes. "Your son...my nephew?"
Milliard smothered a snort. He wasn't sure if his sister was truly out of it upon just waking up, or if his sister was *always* out of it. He sighed. He's still quite fond of her, though, and regarding where her loyalties lie, well, she's the one that he could fully trust.
Except for Treize, of course.
/Of course./
/Where did he go? I'm sure he went this way,/ Heero thought.
/Are you looking for a guy with a long braid, Heero? I saw him go this way,/ a voice said, in his mind.
Heero was a little startled, still quite unaccustomed to having his youngest brother barge in in his private thoughts. /Thanks./
Running up the aisles, he scanned the rows of junk food. Spotting the end of a braid disappearing at the far end, he made a swift turn and ran.
/Dammit! Why's he on my case, the jerk! Maybe I should just stop and ask the bastard why he's following me...or maybe not. I don't want to get caught...keep going...I have to live.../
/I have to live.../ the thought echoed inside of him, though he wasn't sure if there was still something worth living for.
Heero ran at full speed.
He had long since dropped his assorted food articles in favor of catching up with his target. /Let those idiots pick up what we need....there!/
Just in time, he spotted the black-clad boy quickly making his way out of the glass doors.
"Hey wait!"
The boy didn't look back.
The Prussian-eyed Halliwell hurried out of the grocery, scanning frantically for the boy with the long rope of hair. Not caring to notice, he didn't see that he was about to collide into two people, until too late.
"Ouch! Look where you're going!" a high, screechy voice exclaimed.
For several moments all Heero was aware of was the pounding in his head, and the ringing sound in his ears.
/What...?/
"Look at what you did, Relena. We're quickly losing the signals. Hurry!"
He was barely aware of the footsteps scurrying away. All he could think about was the pain in his head, and the overwhelming impulse to just fall down and faint.
An odd feeling nagged at him to gather his senses. He felt a shiver of cold that had nothing to do with the temperature, and a queer crawling sensation on his skin. The crawly things made him want to vomit right then and there, when suddenly Quatre appeared, bathed in a pulsing blue light.
"Heero. We have to get out of here. It's not yet time."
"You shouldn't have opened your mouth, Relena," the Master groused. "You've just messed up with the monitoring, and *now* we're getting mixed signals from different places since your power continues to bounce off and scatter. How are we going to find him at this rate?"
"I'm sorry, brother," Relena whispered, taking note that she was able to control her power this time. "If that boy didn't crash into us then I wouldn't have reacted." /...and such a handsome boy, I might add./
After a few minutes of walking and sensing their quarry, the two came to a dark, reeking alleyway.
Relena, who miraculously didn't mind the stink, breathed in deeper, trying to pinpoint what the smell was, while Milliard adjusted his eyes to the lack of light.
The two discovered the same thing at the same time, and their discovery elicited triumphant laughter.
"I can't wait to meet my nephew, my dear brother. I could learn some tips from him," Relena purred.
There, the alley too dark for mortal eyes to see, lay twenty reeking bodies, all of them lifeless and rapidly becoming cold.
Eyes, wide and blank, and mouths frozen in a twisted O.
"He couldn't have gotten very far. Let's go, Relena."
Quatre settled Heero at the wall of the grocery, while he teleported himself to where Wufei and Trowa were.
He found the two bickering at the cashier.
"You didn't *have* to buy an extra block of cheese, and you didn't *have* to buy Earl Grey tea!" Wufei half-shouted. "We *don't* drink Earl Grey tea! We just *don't*, so why the hell did you get it from the shelf?!"
"Well you didn't *have* to buy another 3 extra boxes of cereal, *brother*. If it weren't for your bottomless pit of a stomach, then we wouldn't be faced with such a problem here."
The girl sitting before the cash register yawned. "Hey, are you two going to pay up, or should I call the police?"
"Excuse me," Quatre said, smiling angelically at the girl, "I know these two. What seems to be the problem?"
"They're short of 15 credits."
The blond boy produced 15 credits, though how he did was unknown to anyone. White Lighters weren't human anymore, and so they had no need for things like money.
Wufei and Trowa stood in silence.
After paying, Quatre gestured to the grocery bags. "We have to get going, and quick. There's trouble. I'll tell you when we get to the manor."
They found Heero slumped against a wall, breathing ragged and eyes closed.
Wufei's eyes narrowed. "What happened to him?"
"I'll tell you when we get home. We have to hurry," was all Quatre said.
"You carry this, Quatre. I'll take care of Heero. He's not as light as he looks like," Wufei said.
As the four boys trudged home, a pair of violet eyes followed them behind a parked car on the side of the road.
/That guy...what happened to him? He was chasing me earlier, and now he's...? What happened to him? He can't even support himself now. Is this my fault again? No, please no this can't be my doing again. It's bad enough that I...what *did* I do again? Why is it that I can't remember things? I know they're important, but.../
There was a nagging voice at the back of his mind, but it was only loud enough to be noticed, not to be actually heard and understood. He knew that he's supposed to be remembering something very important, but when the thought was already on the tip of his consciousness, his mind would draw another blank.
He looked at the boy again, the one that chased him all over the grocery store. Now that he's thought of it, the boy looked familiar to him--achingly familiar, in fact. There was something in the unruly brown hair and the Prussian blue eyes that called to him. He squinted in the dark, wishing for a better view of his former stalker, when there was something that caught his eyes just a little to the right. Dragging his eyes away from the boy for just a moment, there he saw two women, the other tall with platinum blond hair, and the shorter girl had dark blond hair, shrouded in the shadows of the narrow alley that they were in.
/What would two ladies do in such a place at an hour like this? Aren't they aware of the dangers?/
It was then that the taller woman turned, and from the way the woman moved he knew that the woman was really a guy. He shook his head to clear it, then crouched even lower so that he won't be discovered.
Cold sweat broke from his forehead, dampening his already sweaty chestnut brown bangs. Something about those two called to him as well, but there was a part of him that strongly warned him to be as far from them as possible. Somehow, he knew that the two were dangerous.
He just didn't know *how* dangerous.
Little did the boy in the shadows know that he wasn't really alone in his private thoughts.
Trowa Halliwell looked thoughtful for a few moments, his emerald eyes seeking the obscured shadow of the boy behind the parked car. /There's something...different about him. Should I tell Quatre about him later?/
At the Halliwell manor...
Wufei poured his favorite cereal into his bowl and drenched it with milk. "You were going to tell us something, right, Quatre?"
Quatre nodded, blue eyes round as he looked at Wufei's bowl in wonderment. /That must be like...more than half of the box. Just *how* does he do that?/
He paused, his cereal-filled spoon halfway to his mouth, "So what is it already?"
The blonde White Lighter cleared his throat first, then proceeded the way he would have addressed any situation: head on. "Heero had just encountered Milliard and Relena Peacecraft."
Wufei's eyes bulged in their sockets as he spewed half-chewed cornflakes on Quatre's vest and pink shirt.
Trowa just stared as if nothing happened.
"W-WHAT?!" the eldest Halliwell sputtered. Did he just hear it right? Peacecraft?
Quatre, on the other hand, was trying his best not to wince. /My shirt, my shirt! My favorite pink shirt! Oh what woe--!/
Trowa handed him a kitchen towel. "Here."
"Did you just say Peacecraft?!" Wufei continued ranting, oblivious to the distress he caused their blond guide. "Where? When?! Why wasn't I alerted to this? Why--"
As he kept on ranting, the youngest Halliwell was helping Quatre get out the stains on his vest and shirt.
"It's a good thing he didn't pour the rest of the chocolate sauce on his breakfast, too, or this would have stained very badly," Trowa commented as he dabbed the pink fabric with a clean napkin.
Quatre just shook his head, brushing off the food particles on his vest disgustedly. "You can say that, but I feel dirty already. I think I'll have to change first--"
"Why don't you borrow one of my shirts for a while?" Trowa offered. "Besides, Wufei wouldn't really be able to function without finishing his breakfast first, and it's better to discuss these things with Heero around, since he was the one involved."
The blond just nodded, and the two left Wufei to his food.
Relena stomped into her chambers, then slammed the door as she closed it. "Brother is always annoyed with me," she griped, pouting at everything in her room. "It wasn't really my fault that we lost nephew-dear. How was I to know that we were going to bump into someone? The two of us would never have anticipated anyone shopping at that time!" she exclaimed, walking back and forth in her room.
Sighting her hot pink couch, she plunked herself to sit, brat-like. "He was cute, though. *Very* cute," she giggled to herself. "I wonder if brother would miss me if I'd be gone for a few days?"
(Hmm. Smell anything...interesting?)
