Well, here's the end of this tale, with a tiny epilogue to follow. I hope it has been fun!
So, as promised, here's the reveal for my next project. The first weekend in January will see a pair of chapters – an intro and a beginning – to a crossover more than a year in the works. I'll be retelling the tale of Gundam Wing, kinda, in a whole new context and, therefore, with a whole new result. It's a crossover that's never been done in Gundam Wing before, and I'm super, super proud to start it off!
Here's your ultra-secret synopsis:
A world in chaos on the brink of war. A secret alliance with the intent to change the world through five very special, very unique young men. A young woman driven to the heights of power with a goal for peace and hope for all.
War is so much more complicated when all sides can bend the elements.
In the year After Comet 195, the world faced chaos and war on an unprecedented scale. Even the war 195 years prior, when Avatar Aang had defeated Fire Lord Ozai in the battle that became the most pivotal moment in history, paled in comparison.
Join Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei as they fight to save the world of Avatar Aang (Avatar: The Last Airbender) as only they can.
Debuting in January 2014: Tears of Revelry
Check it out and spread the word!
And now onto the end of what my brain insists on calling The Gundam Bride no matter what I do.
Enjoy!
The funeral took place on a day that was discordantly bright and sunny. Most of the people in the area attended, dressed in their somber best, a silent testament.
Heero wore black, having forgone his uniform, and stood silently beside Relena, holding her hand tightly. He never raised his head, never looked around him, never moved from the perfect straight line of his spine. His heart felt as though it would break if he even took too deep a breath.
Behind him, Duo, Trowa, and Wufei were also silent, heads bowed. They made no move to help or comfort Heero, but they traded worried looks when they knew he was focused elsewhere.
The ceremony ended after an interminable sermon, it seemed, and the four followed Queen Relena into the palace in silence. Her coronation had taken place almost within the hour of her brother's death, and the instant power had fallen to her, she had used it well to restore peace and order within the palace. She looked much older than her thirteen years now, her long hair all bound up in braids wound around her crown, and her eyes had aged a decade in a single night. On any occasion Heero left his rooms, she nearly always kept him at her side, not for her own protection, but for his sake, for she knew he too carried grief that had changed him. They all did.
The five of them waved aside other guards, and for once the nobles left their new queen alone, although that may have had something to do with the fierce glares from three of her protectors. Queen Relena's first official act had been to name Wufei, Trowa, and Duo as her personal Guard, along with Heero. She gave them unlimited power to do as they saw fit to protect herself and her people, and they had taken that order quite seriously, even Duo. By now, days later, every person in the castle had learned that not one of her protectors would hesitate to relieve them of their lives if they proved a threat, and they were not unwilling to drive off annoying interlopers with force as well.
They reached what had once been the honeymoon suite of chambers, the rooms Heero had taken as his own in the aftermath of the battle and rarely left. Out of respect, six or seven of his most loyal Royal Guards remained nearby at all times, as though they could offer him strength and comfort by their presence, and if they did not, they at least reassured the other three that no mischief would be done.
When the door had closed, leaving them in the room with no outsiders, only then did Heero's eyes lift above the level of his feet and he blinked.
"It's my fault," he said very softly, moving to sit on the edge of the bed as though his knees could not hold him up.
"No, love. It isn't."
Heero looked up to Quatre's face and managed a tiny smile. The blond was still confined to bed after his dire injury, and for the first two days there had been no assurance that he would survive at all. But Quatre had proven again that love was stronger than death and fought his way back from the brink. Those two days, however, had weighed so heavily on Heero that he had been little more than a ghost himself, returned to the hopeless, soulless being he had been after he had heard of Quatre's "death" years before. But he added to that grief and emptiness a deep paranoid fear.
For he knew as well as the others that Prince Zechs had made many allies, and it was possible not all had been found. For thwarting his plans, Heero was likely a target for revenge, Quatre doubly so for ending his life. Twice in those two days men tried to break into the room to murder both, and those men died at the hands of whoever got to the door first – Duo once, Heero once, and Wufei twice. Never for anything other than the new queen absolutely needing her champion and captain with great urgency had Heero left Quatre's side, and then always two of the others stayed with him while the third watched over Heero, just in case. Only now that Quatre was fully conscious and able to confirm through his empathy that he sensed no ill-will remaining in the castle did Heero trust that they had finally rooted out all of Zechs's allies.
"Really!" Duo flung himself on the broad couch that had become his bed at one end of the room. "I was here too and didn't stop it either. I really am sorry we couldn't save him, but it was Treize and Zechs who killed the king. Their choice, their actions. You couldn't have stopped them without getting their attention on you, and then you and Cat would both be dead, and probably 'Lena too."
"Queen Relena, not 'Lena,' you disrespectful pirate," Wufei grumbled, dropping onto one of the thick feather cushions that was between the proper bed and the door, where he and Trowa had passed the last several nights.
Before Quatre had recovered enough to wake, the trio of defenders had settled into an odd fellowship together. Trowa and Wufei had come to like Quatre in their short alliance as a true friend, and Duo would cut his braid off before he'd leave his best friend's side. When Heero had business elsewhere, even after Quatre was awake, one remained to watch over the healing empath and keep him company, as if none was able to risk a return to a silent, deathly sickroom. Wufei and Duo often clashed with their opposite personalities, but it tended to make Relena and Quatre and Trowa laugh, and after the last weeks, by the gods, they could all use the laughter.
"It's all right," the queen shook her head and sat in a chair. "With you I don't mind. But don't say that in front of the nobles. They'll embarrass themselves when they cannot overcome their shock." She shook off her grief like a lady many years her senior and grinned. "Unless you think that would be what they need, Heero," she teased gently. "Perhaps they should be shocked a bit, set off their ease for a while."
"Do as you like. It's your country," he replied with a tiny smile.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be there with you," Quatre said softly, meeting her eyes as he never would have dared when he was merely a valet. "I respected your father greatly, and it was an honor to serve in his house."
"It wouldn't have been good for your side," Trowa replied, leaning against the door. "You aren't really even supposed to be sitting up yet, so I guess we should be grateful you aren't pushing things more than this." Even so, there was a relief in his eyes – this was the first time Quatre had been entirely alone since his injury, and it had taken a great deal of his convincing for the others to agree to leave him without their protection for the funeral.
Heero stretched and took Quatre's hand, closing his eyes and listening to the warm heartbeat in his chest. There was no shadow of reproach or shame in that boundless love, and for as long as Quatre did not blame him, he found it easier to try to stop blaming himself.
"So what happens now?" Duo wanted to know.
"Quatre continues to heal," Heero said firmly.
"Obviously," Wufei rolled his eyes. "I think he wants to know what happens when Quatre is well." He paused for a moment before speaking, more to himself than the others. "I have been in the revenge business so long, now that it's over, I don't know what to do with the rest of my life. I've never thought about it before now."
"That," the queen spoke up, "is something I would like to discuss as well. It is my hope that you would stay on as you have been, would continue to watch over me and Sanc with your strength. Not just Heero, and, of course, Quatre, but all of you."
Trowa and Wufei exchanged a look full of meaning. Duo shot a glance to Quatre, who nodded slightly before catching Heero's eye and holding it for a moment.
"Quatre, I know you are not a servant, and it is unfair of me to ask you to be a protector when you are, by rights, my equal in rank," Relena said nervously into the silence. "I hope you don't think..."
"Your Majesty, please do not worry," Quatre smiled gently. "We do hesitate, but not for that reason."
"We have something we must do," Trowa said softly.
"What is that?" she asked.
"Well, for one," Duo explained, "Tro wants to find out about the sister that crazy Dorothy girl mentioned. See if he can find her."
"And to help him remember her, I want to bring him to Weiland," Quatre added. "There are many masters of gifts like my own there, and while they may not possess the same power as I, they are wise. From them, I may yet find a way to restore to Trowa what was taken with Zero."
"And it is my duty to journey to my homeland, one last time," Wufei said. "I have completed my mission and must return to honor my clan now that they may rest."
"So you're leaving? All of you?" Relena looked at the five of them, her eyes resting on Heero.
"Yes, Your Majesty," he nodded, but a smile softened his face. "We find ourselves bound now by more than circumstance. Trowa's journey is Quatre's, and is therefore mine. Wufei's journey is Trowa's."
"And I'm the one with the ship!" Duo put in with a bright grin.
"But do not fear," Quatre said gently. "When we have found what we seek, I think we may well return. Sanc is Heero's home," he squeezed the hand he held, "and I would enjoy serving as envoy for Weiland in Sanc. And," his eyes flicked momentarily as he listened with his heart before he continued, "some of us have been seeking a home for a long time."
"Then I will be grateful for the time we have together," Relena smiled a little sadly, "and I will miss you when you depart. But believe me that I will celebrate when you return." She rose. "Whether you wish it or not, all five of you have earned whatever it is in my considerable power to give. A home is the easiest of this. It is yours if you wish." She made them a small curtsey, as though they were kings, and quit the room to leave them to themselves.
"How long until we can go?" Duo asked almost as soon as she was out of the room. "It's been a while since I've been away from the 'Scythe for so long. I'm not used to being stuck on a still ground instead of the sea."
"Just a few weeks before Quatre is mobile, the healer said," Wufei answered. "The blow was serious, but the recuperative abilities of the queen's own healing masters are substantial."
"A few weeks is a small price to pay for such a wound," Heero said, reaching up to touch Quatre's face with the same compulsive fear that seemed to dog him when reminded of how close he had come to losing his beloved again. But Duo, seeing his face crease, could not let Heero take things so seriously for long.
"You know, Cat, you could have just hit that guy with your empathy or something," Duo bounced over from his couch and poked his friend in the shoulder. "Why'd you do something dumb like get in front of the crossbow bolt anyway?"
"Um," Quatre blushed slightly. "I panicked?" As Duo began to laugh, loudly, Quatre swatted at his hand. "Hey, I'm not perfect! I was a little distracted at the time between keeping track of you all, and, oh, not letting Heero die!"
"It's not like you to make such a miscalculation," Trowa put in, smiling.
"What can I tell you?" Quatre shook his head. "It just happened."
"True love sure does make you dumber sometimes, Kitty," Duo ruffled his hair.
"Love is stronger than death," Heero replied firmly. "I will never doubt in it again."
"And as I said before," Quatre looked into his eyes and brought them both home with what they found there, "there will never be a need. For the rest of our lives, my love, I will never leave you again."
They sealed the promise with a kiss.
-==OOO==-
"...Heero looked up to Quatre's face and managed a tiny smile. The blond was still confined to bed after his dire injury, and for the first two days there had been no assurance that he would survive at all. But Quatre had proven again that love was stronger than death and fought his way back from the brink..."
"You jerk!"
"Ow! What was that for, you vicious girl?"
"You made me think he was dead! You're so mean!"
"Isn't that what a good storyteller does? Draw you in and make you believe what he wants you to believe?"
"Yeah but not like that!"
"Settle down or I won't finish this."
"If you do one more mean thing like that again I'll...I'll...I'll tell on you!"
"If you say so."
Note: This exchange was almost verbatim between me and my beta reader. So if you were mad at me? Yeah, she avenged you already.