Once Upon a Gundam
A Tale as Old as Time

Chapter VIII: The West Wing

Miriallia, Yzak and Athrun roamed the halls of the castle while Kira and Lacus cleaned up from the meal Mir had just enjoyed. She was more nervous than she thought possible. All she could think about was finding the West Wing, and finding out what Shiho thought was so special there. But they had been showing her the castle for over an hour now and still no mention of the West Wing… yet anyways.

"They designed the castle with many different architectural influences. Back in it's prime the Vessalius castle was one of the most beautiful around. It's a great example of the neo-classic baroque period." As they passed by the suit of armor they could see the helmets were following Mir. Yzak turned sharply towards them with an angry look.

"As you were!" Athrun ordered. Quickly they turned there heads back at attention. Miriallia was surprised they listened to the small candlestick so fast. Maybe he was more than just a candle. She began to wonder just who 'Lumiere' really was.

Mir was about to ask something when she noticed the staircase the other two had walked right by. It was almost like they were ignoring it's existence. Could that be what she was looking for all along? She placed one foot on the first step very hesitantly. Gathering all her courage she was about to take another step when she was stopped by her two guides running in front of her.

"What's up there?" Miriallia asked looking up the grand staircase.

"Where?" Yzak asked trying to play dumb. He looked behind him then back at her. "There's nothing, it's just the West Wing. Just a bunch of dust. Boring really" He said trying to play it off as no big deal. Athrun just shook his head, unable to believe Yzak just told her it what that place was.

"So… that's the Wing Wing" She said to herself.

"Nice going" Athrun whispered to the clock.

"I wonder… what's he hiding up there?"

"Hiding? The Master is not hiding anything" The candle replied quickly.

"Then why is it forbidden?" She argued as she stepped over them to continue up the stairs. They quickly dashed forward to block her again.

"Maybe you would like to see something else?" Cogsworth asked. "There are these tapestries tha-"

"Maybe another time" She said stepping over them again, causing the men to rush in front once more.

"The gardens, or the library" Athrun suggested.

Miriallia looked down at the small candlestick with her eyes wide with interest. "You have a library" she said excitedly.

Happy to see her excitement the men began to try to describe the size of the library. "Yes, we do" Yzak said

"With books!" Athrun added.

"Tons of books!"

"Mountains of books"

"Forests of books"

"Cascades…"

"... of books!"

"Swamps of books!"

"More books than you could ever read in a lifetime..." They continued to talk as they started to walk down the hall. Mir pretended to follow at first but once they turned a corner she spun around and headed back for the staircase as fast as she could walk.

She was full of excitement, soon she would know what was hidden there. Her excitement began to dwindle when she turned the corner and began to walk down the hall. Cogsworth wasn't lying when he said the place was dusty. But this was more than dust. It looked like tornado had spun through the place. As she walked through the hall she passed by a mirror. It was shattered into several pieces, each one reflecting her concerned look. Did the Beast do this? She wondered.

Finally she reached the end of the hall. There she found a closed door with gargoyle handles. She took a deep breath and reached out her trembling hands. She was scared but she knew what Shiho wanted her to see was through those doors. Holding firmly on handle she pushed the door open. Inside was dark and gloomy, more so than the hall she just left.

She began to explore the room avoiding the destroyed furniture tossed about. She was so shocked at everything she was seeing. As she wandered around she nearly knocked over a table luckily she was able to spin around and grab it before it fell. Once it was stable she turned around. There hanging on the wall was a shredded picture. She walked up to it. It appeared to be a portrait of someone, but who? Reaching up she lifted one of the shredded bits. It revealed the emotion filled eyes of a young man. She looked at it confused.

She was about to question it further in her head but something distracted her. It was a orange glow. She looked over to see an amber colored rose under a bell jar. Her eyes focused on it she walked forward to get a better look. She reached out and lifted the jar, leaving the rose unprotected. She set the jar next to the floor then reached up to tucked her hair behind her ear nervously. What was this rose? Was this what Shiho wanted her to find.

The beautiful glowing flower seemed to have her in a trance. Taking a deep breath she decided to reach out and touch the beautiful thing. As her hand neared it a shadow feel over her. It was the Beast. He quickly jumped in front of her slamming down the jar over the rose before her fingers touched it. Then he turned his attention to the girl.

He was angry as he growled "Why did you come here?"

Miriallia was terrified. Slowly she began to back away. "I-I'm sorry" she managed to say.

"I told you never to come here"

"I didn't mean any harm" She pleaded.

"Do you realized what you could have done?!" He yelled as he began smashing furniture.

"Please! Stop!" She cried terrified of what may happen next.

"Get out! Get the hell out of here! Now!" He screamed at her.

Without hesitation she turned around and fled the room. Dearka watched her running, he couldn't help but feel bad. He didn't mean to yell. He began to calm down, quickly falling into despair. He started to realize he may have just ruined any chances with Mir, and any chance of ending the spell.

Miriallia ran as fast as she could. When she reached the stairway she grabbed her cloak. Rushing down the stairs, she wrapped herself in it, bursting past a confused Athrun and Yzak. "Wh-where are you going?" Athrun asked panicked.

"Promise or no promise, I can't stay here, not with him!" She said voice quivering with fear.

"No! Please wait!" Yzak yelled after her but it was too late she had already exited to castle. "What the hell did Master Dearka do?" He asked Athrun angrily.

Once Miriallia reached the gates she saw Endymion was still waiting. Climbing up she and the horse charged out of the gates. She rode quickly through the forest until Endymion came to a stop. She looked up and there standing in front of her was a giant grizzly bear growling loudly at her. She gasped and pulled the reins to flee. She guided her horse through the trees as well as she could at the speed they were going. Unfortunately the bear seemed to be following close behind.

In their attempt to escape Endymion ran out onto a frozen pond. With the combined weight of him and Miriallia the ice collapsed. The horse struggled to get out of the ice so they wouldn't fall under the water. They were luckily able to get out before anything serious happened but the bear still was hot on their tail.

Endymion ran into a clearing to escape. Bucking twice, he knocked Mir to the ground. His reins catching around a tree trapping him. The bear was about to hit the horse with his large paw when Miriallia threw a large rock at it's head. The bear leap forward to attack her. She jumped to the ground, his claws ripping the edge of her cloak. She looked up horrified. She was defenseless. The bear lunged forward again, fearing the worst she closed her eyes.

She felt something woosh past her from behind. She opened her eyes to see the Beast wrestling with the bear. It seemed like a pretty even match. Dearka pushed the bear back with all his might causing it to crash against the tree behind it. Launching off that tree the bear retaliated by ripping its claws across the beast forehead. Dearka shock of the pain and rammed it one more time into the tree knocking it out.

He breathed heavily out of breath. He turned to look at Mir. He was so happy to see she wasn't hurt, only terrified. He tried to smile at her but losing all energy he collapsed in front of her. She was relieved to see he was still breathing. Turning she headed towards Endymion to leave, but her conscience got the best of her. The Beast had just saved her life, she couldn't leave him there out in the cold.

Trying with all her strength she managed to get Dearka up on the horse. Slowly she walked beside Endymion guiding him back to the safety of the castle.