A Matter of Heart: Heirs to the Legacy 2 (The Second Set)
A Gundam Wing Fanfiction By: Andrea Readwolf
Email: andrea_readwolf @hotmail.com
Rating: YA/Mature
Families: First Generation
YMC Fam (Yuy-Maxwell-Chang Family: Trinity, Mara Jade,
and Dylan);
Winner Fam (Quatre + Trowa, Triton&Tristan, and little sis
Calista)
Peacecraft Family (Zechs Marquise/Milliard + Lucrezia/Noin
Peacecraft, Kit/Katarynna, Adrian, and Nicolette/Nicole)
Mazzolla Family (Mariemeia + Jake Mazzolla {OC}, Julian)
Catalonia-Dorian Family (Dorothy Catalonia + Relena Dorian,
Regina)
Une-Po Family (Lady Une + Sally Po, Marie Une*, Michael Braddocks,
Mark Braddocks, Matthew Braddocks)
Families: Second Generation
The Royal Peacecraft Family: King Adrian, Queen Trinity, twins Yuy (10-f)
and Maxwell (10-m)
The Winner Family (#1): Tristan + Mara Jade = Meiran (14-f), Dakota (12-f),
Jasmine (11-f), Galen (8-m), Bryce (5-m), Adrianna (4-f), Fletcher (2-m),
Hakeem (8 1/2 PN-m) *(a lot ^__^'')
The Winner Family (#2): Triton + Katarynna (Kit/Kat ^__^v) = Gabriel (6-m)
Pairings: Dylan Maxwell + Nicole Peacecraft (hoped for by Nikki); Julian
Mazzolla + Calista Winner (hoped for by Julian) [AN: has anyone else
noticed that really on Trinity and Adrian *wanted* each other from the
first? None of this 'hoped for' business...]
Archive: Yes-- www.gwaddiction.com
Warnings: The following story contains scenes that are humorous,
sappy,fluff, with rampant Incoherence, random PoV switching, and
Sexual innuendoes abound.
Original Characters are presented; all characters are IC according to
the author's interpretation of them. Mainly heterosexual
situations, with hints of YAOI and YURI (from the "older" crowd... and
*some* references to Dylan's past).
Spoilers: None to the original Gundam Wing Series at first; However, once
Julian has been commissioned by Calista for a special project, expect a lot
of rehashing of the series. It would be a plus to have read the previous
Matter of Heart Series Arc stories: "Dance of the Heart" Arc and "Oh Baby,
Baby" Arc. "Heirs to the Legacy" is built off of the stories forming
"Traditions".
Feedback: C&C is always welcomed and adored.
Acknowledgements: It's been three years... Three long bloody years. Hn.
And this damn story *still* isn't finished! Acknowledgements go out to all
the people who have helped me throughout this incredibly long Series--it
ain't over yet! Special Thanks go out to Zan, who must be my longest-kept
beta-reader to date! (And also a very good friend.... "How many more days
till A-kon?" "AW-what?" "What to you mean it's pronounced 'yeowie'? It's
spelt like 'ya-o-ee'." "Okay, now, seriously here; how squicked out do you
think people will be if I happen to mention the sexual relationship between
the twins? I mean, Triton and Tristan are very affectionate and all,
but...." ^___^)
Notes: This is the story of the children, the nine children of the 6
gundam pilots (Heero--Zechs) plus the grandchild of Treize
Khushrenada. This story will not focus primarily on the characters
from the series, but rather, the generation after them. This story is
not for all die-hard fans, but runs along the lines of a more
original piece.
Additional Note: 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5 often times refer to each other as
"husband" [and thus the grandchildren might at one point refer to all five
men (six in Zech's case) as "grandfather"]; please refer back to "Promise of
the Rings" Part 13 if this causes confusion.
Additional Note 2: The chibis often times refer to their parents'
friends and partners as "Uncle" or "Aunt"--in this case, the
term is used simply as one of respect since, with the exception
of Kit & Adrian's relation to Relena, all of Quatre's sisters, and
Trowa's Catherine, none of the parents really have siblings.
Additional Note 3: As hinted at in Heirs to the Legacy #1, Zechs and Noin
have separated. Zechs has somehow been coerced into living with our boys at
Emerald Gardens (we've had the 5-somes; anyone up to a 6-some?)
Translation Note: Tousan/Otousan, father, represents Heero. Chichi is often
times used for Wufei. Daddy, Duo.
***These stories and the ideas contained within are copyright of the author. No reprinting or posting without permission of said author. ***
~Emerald Gardens, August AC 242 ~
Talk about redefining one's beliefs!
Julian sat in shock. It was the kind of stunned shock you get when you've just finished a good series and then you realize that you've finished it and there's no more left to enjoy. Only, Julian was going to be the one who was writing this series--he just didn't know where to begin.
After another week holed up in that secret room, pouring over his mother's role in history and Gundam and its pilots' last battle, and then finding more to read in a set of documents labeled the "The Hiroshima Files", Julian was physically exhausted. Even his mind was ready to protest the amount of info he'd been cramming into.
Julian's world was rocked off kilter--just as Calista had warned him it would be. As he dragged his weary body upstairs to the room that was assigned as his, as he shrugged out of his smelly old clothes, as he stepped under the steaming scalding shower stream, Julian's mind was processing and reorganizing all the information he'd received, revising questions for his mother and 'uncles'.
Again, Calista was right--there was no way he was walking away from this story and letting someone else touch it.
A runner came that day while the family was outside enjoying the unseasonably cool fresh air. With him came a simple envelope. Inside was only a small slip of paper that read:
August 16, 242
I'll be home within the next week. Sorry for taking so long. Miss you.
Love,
Dylan
PS I got married.
"What is it?" Wufei asked concerned, seeing Duo's dazed expression.
Heero took the letter, read it, read it again, and then passed it to Wufei, who blinked and read it twice, too.
Mara Jade, annoyed with the stunned silence from her fathers, snatched the paper from Wufei's hand, read it, and then let out a bark of laughter, tossing the note to her husband, cooing, "You owe me," gleefully.
She laughed as the sparkling water glistened in the air around her. The waves slapped against her thighs as spread out before her lay the great sea. Calista Winner moaned with delight as she lowered herself into the salt water and let it purify her: mind, body, and soul.
The White Sands always possessed the power to purify her in this way, and in recent years she had not been here nearly enough. But something was changing. She could feel it. Her life was about to change. She could sense it.
And there was nothing she could do to prevent it. She was not allowed to.
With a flash of insight she realized she would need to go home again after she left here. There she would find her future.
The sound of a child's laughter caught her attention and Calista looked down the beach to where a sandy-haired boy ran through the surf, carefree. He was quickly approaching her but didn't seem to notice her, either. He would trample right over her without realizing.
Calista extended her being outside of her body and the boy nearly fell over his feet, a scarce five feet from where she lay.
"Are you a ghost?" the boy asked wearily, large blue eyes staring down at her.
Without realizing it, Calista smiled kindly at the boy. "I most definitely am not. But the question is, are *you* a ghost?"
The boy frowned. "No, I don't think so." He tilted his head to look at her and for some reason the gesture seemed familiar to her. "Who are you?"
"My name is Callie," she replied easily enough, "And you are?"
"Luke. Well, actually, it's 'Lucius.' It means light," he told her. "But everyone calls me Luke."
"Lucius is a very pretty name," Calista offered.
"But I don't want to be pretty. I'm a boy," Luke replied, balling his fists on his hips.
"True, true." She looked at him closely. "Why are you here, Luke?"
The boy grinned, hands falling from his hips. "I like the ocean a lot so mom and dad bring me here whenever they can. This is my most favourite place in the entire universe!"
Calista laughed lightly. "It's important to have a favourite place."
"That's what mommy says."
They stared at one another. He looked familiar, but Calista could not say why.
"Luke! Luke! Where are you?!" a girl's voice called
"I'm over here!" the boy shouted back. "That's my sister," he told Calista. "She's here with me 'cause--"
"Who are you talking to?" the sister in question asked, frowning at her brother.
"The lady--" Luke quickly shut his mouth before offering a different answer, "I'm just talking to myself again." He grinned cheekily. "Planning my next story, you know."
The auburn haired young woman shook her head and said, "You are something, boy. C'mon. Mom and Dad want to eat lunch and they insist you be there."
"I'm coming, just give me a moment to finish the story, okay?"
The older girl looked suspicious but eventually relented. "Okay, but don't take long."
The boy looked guiltily back at Calista, as if to reassure himself that she was really there. "My sister, she doesn't see special things, you know. She doesn't possess the talent."
"Ah," Calista replied, nodding as if she understood what the boy was talking about. But then again, she did.
"I better get going before she comes back," he went on, watching her. "It was nice meeting you."
"It was nice meeting you, too," she replied.
And then Luke tilted his head again to the side in that familiar gesture that she still couldn't place, and then he nodded and ran off.
Calista pushed herself up out of the surf and crawled over the hot sand back to the house. It was time to put in that call home.
"Calista called this morning," Trowa replied calmly over dinner.
Quatre looked at his husband accusingly. "Why didn't you tell me? I would have liked to have talked with her."
Trowa shrugged. "You were out with the others," he answered, reminding his husband of hid morning spent outdoors on horseback with his grandchildren--and the sore back he'd received doing it. "She said she was planning on stopping by here for a little bit next week."
Down the table, the mouths shut tight as eyes looked eagerly towards Quatre.
There were very rare times when Quatre lost his temper, but they were all times remembered well--either with fear or trepidation--and the family waited now to see if this would be another time.
"Good," Quatre replied calmly. "I would like to speak to her about a few things."
"Just remember it's not your business anymore," Wufei said gently.
Quatre looked at him with surprise. "Oh, I wasn't even thinking about WEI. I know she's quite capable." He went back to his dinner.
Expressions of two types were exchanged across the table:
1. Shit. Where the hell can we hide next week? Do you think he'll believe us if we say we wanted a vacation?
Or
2.) Ooooh! THIS should be FUN!!!
Julian, back to being a clean, civilized human being, was in the process of interviewing his family members again. He interrogated his uncles, grandmothers, and etc with a merciless pursuit for knowledge and understanding.
"Why did you shoot down that plane even when Wufei said it was a trap?"
"Because that was my mission."
"Why did you build Wing Zero?"
"Because I was out of my right mind at the time. I was very angry and very hurt."
"Did you ever regret becoming a gundam pilot?"
"That's a tough question. I mean, there were tons of times I was sad or depressed 'cause I was killing a lot of people, but I was more sad that it was necessary, I think. And, I mean, where would I be if I *hadn't* of done those things, you know?"
"Did you ever think that you were the bad guy?"
"I always believed I was on the side of justice when I fought."
"Even when you joined the Mariemeia fraction?"
"Even then. I was wrong, I know that now, but at the time, I didn't realize it until too late."
"How did you not know he was a gundam pilot?"
"I--can I have another question, please?"
"Grandmamma! He was an ace pilot! And you didn't even suspect?"
"No, I knew, but things were... complicated at that time."
"What's that?"
"OZ was... fracturing. Romefeller was taking over and ruining your grandfather's plans. Treize was actually very fond of the gundam pilots, a fact I didn't realize until almost too late. So, no, I knew Trowa was a gundam pilot and that is why I kept him close at hand and left him in charge of the other pilots who were captured and being held on the moon base."
"So you were actually fighting each other during the war, then?"
"What do you mean 'then'? Your grandmother and I still fight! Top or bottom!"
"Yes, but I mean, in the sense of war."
"I think.... there was a lot of confusion at that time. It was easy to say the Alliance was bad, OZ was bad, the Gundam pilots were bad. But, at the end, there was no real clear cut bad guy. I was Alliance. Your grandmother was OZ. OZ defeated the Alliance and so those loyal to the Alliance became rebels and enemies of OZ, thus, by common enemy, associates of the Gundam pilots. But then Romefeller spun OZ around on its ass, tossed out your grandfather, who, essentially *was* OZ, and then OZ split into two--the Treize Fraction, those loyal to the former General, and what was left of OZ. The Treize Fraction then became associated with the rebel alliance and the gundam pilots. But then, the colonies turned on the gundam pilots and a new fraction was created, called White Fang. It's all really complicated."
And then, for the first time in nearly fifteen years, Dylan Maxwell returned 'home', and he brought his wife.
They rented a car from the shuttle port and drove the two and a half hours to Emerald Gardens in tense anticipation. It was almost anti-climaxal (1) . They drove up the lane, and nothing happened. They parked in the garage, and no one saw. They walked in through the kitchen, but the kitchen was empty.
"It's strange being here during the day," Dylan commented.
He set the wedding picture Adrian had insisted they take down on the table in the hallway that displayed other photographs of the family.
"Look!" Nikki softly squealed. "This must be Michael," she added, pointing at the newest addition to the family, Mara Jade's and Tristan's newborn.
Dylan nodded but just then someone came around the corner. A little someone. Who saw two strangers and promptly screamed and ran the other way.
Nicole and Dylan looked at each other, and then, grinning, followed the screaming Adrienne.
She led them to one of the medium sized family rooms--where the entire family, and then some, were gathered.
"Baby, what's the matter?" Tristan was asking his sobbing five-year old.
"She's not used to my ugly mug," Dylan answered, the room rustling to silence as everyone turned wide-eyed to face the newcomer.
"Dylan..." Duo breathed, a hitch in his voice as he stared at his baby.
"I'm home."
The room burst into sound again as people bounded across the room to greet the mysterious Maxwell. Tight hugs passed between fathers and son, and comments about 'how big you've gotten,' and 'damn, boy! Decided to take after the old man for hair styles, eh?'
Nikki held conspicuously back in the hallway, letting everyone get their piece of Dylan before she reclaimed her rights as his wife.
"So, where's this wife of yours?" Tristan asked, grinning as he slapped Dylan's hand in a toughened handshake.
Dylan looked over his shoulder, noticing Nikki was peeking in from the doorway, and then he checked on his proximity to Nikki's father. Okay, good, five--now six--persons between them. "She's, um, right behind me, I thought."
Slipping inside, smiling as she shook hands with Mara Jade who was nearest to her. "Sorry I'm late; just had to check with a mirror. Konnichiwa, mina." (2)
Another pause rang throughout the room until Zechs broke it. "Nicole, baby, I didn't know you were coming by for a visit."
"And I didn't know you've been sleeping with Dylan's dads; funny how information gets around." She smiled at her father, knowing the blow was a bit mean, but also wanting to distract him somewhat from the fact that Dylan and she had arrived together and someone had mentioned a wife. Yes, she'd just finally gotten Dylan to marry her, she wished him no death threats, yet.
Dylan was also taking this moment to shimmy over to where Nikki was. "Mina, may I present to you, Nicolette Maxwell, my wife."
For two heartbeats there was complete silence, and then people rushed forward with more congratulatory words. The couple kept a close eye on Zechs, who remained at the back of the fray sandwiched between Quatre and Trowa who were talking softly to him. Lady Anne and Sally stayed back, too.
Finally, everyone took to their seats once more, still chatting heartfully. Then did Zechs Merquise speak up.
"Well, doesn't that just beat all," he said, still staring at the new couple. "I tell ya, both my girls don't give a fig about me. They just up and hitch themselves with no warning." His eyes darted accusingly towards his oldest and her husband.
"I hate to tell you this, Dad," Trinity smiled fondly at her father-in-law, "but if it weren't for Adrian being the king of Sank, we would have eloped, too." She placed a hand on his as she leaned over to whisper, "We almost did!"
"Sir, to tell you the truth," Dylan spoke up. "It was really a spur of the moment thing. She said 'marry me' and I said 'yes'. We got married that day."
"Who would marry you on the same day?" Katarynna asked. "Even Triton and I had to wait one week before the judge would marry us."
"Well, we were in Sank at the time," Dylan offered.
"And I can be very persuasive," Nikki added.
"She threatened him," Dylan admitted.
"Adrian wishes everyone health, by the way, and he's sorry he couldn't be here to see all your faces," she said for her absent brother.
"So where did you two meet up again?" Wufei asked, choosing his seat right beside Zechs.
It was strange to see his father out of his lounge chair, Dylan thought. "Actually, I was in Paris on business when I saw a post bill for Nikki's play. This was back in January, mind you, and it had been my intention to stop by here in February, but as things turned out, that wasn't to happen."
"Business?" Heero picked up. "What business did you have in Paris?"
Dylan grinned. "You'd love to know what I've been up to these last fifteen years, eh?" he laughed. "Well, I guess it's only fair. I've been on a grand quest to find myself. But the problem was, I wasn't finding me, only a lot of people who needed help. So, I began helping people. Just a little bit, here and there at first, but eventually I got myself involved with all sorts of adventure."
His fathers snorted; all three of them. "You mean trouble," Duo quipped.
He was still grinning, though it became a little more forced now. "The most recent case concerned a young woman who was being harassed because of her parentage."
"It sounds like you've been busy," Trowa commented.
Dylan nodded. "Yes, I really had my hands full this last time. But," he continued, smiling at Nikki and squeezing their linked hands. "I'm ready to retire my vagabond days. In fact, Madame Preventer, I'm glad you're here. Please accept this as Preventers Agent Azrael's resignation."
Anne blinked. "*You're* Azrael!"
Dylan grinned again. "I'm surprised you didn't make the connection. After all, Azrael is the angel of death."
"Chip off the old block," Zechs snorted.
"I'm going to have a nice long talk with my son," Anne mumbled.
"Mike's really not to blame," Dylan hastened to assure her. "We just kept meeting over the years, usually for the same reasons. So he suggested I register as a Preventers so he could write me up in his reports without it getting back to my dads. I don't carry a badge or a gun, and for all purposes I'm really just a civilian."
"Like hell," the Lady grumped.
The adults laughed.
"Where's all your brood?" Dylan asked, looking around for any sign of the other kids. Adrienne and Hisoka and Michael were here, but there was a bunch of other ones who were missing.
Immediately, Mara Jade's eyes flared as she shook her head. But it was too late. A sniffling began from Tristan's lap, where little Adrienne sat. "They all went to the 'musement park, but I can't go 'cause Mommy says I'm too small, but I'm bigger than 'Soka and Michael put together."
"I don't know," Dylan said critically. "You seem pretty small to me..." He eyed her up again. "And pretty cute, too! Why! It would be easy for some stranger to pick you up and cart you off! No *wonder* your Mommy doesn't want you out of her sight! Why, if I was your Mommy, I wouldn't want you out of my sight, either! I'd be too afraid someone might like you so much they'd steal you away!"
The curly blonde little girl giggled and pronounced, "You're silly!" to which the adults laughed.
"But I'm absolutely serious!" Dylan laughed, wrapping his arm around Nikki's shoulders and completely unaware of it.
There were several pairs of eyes, however, that were not unaware of the gesture, and smiles blossomed all around.
The family talked for a long while, the day passing swiftly with the wagging of tongues, and into the early evening. The children returned, with an exhausted Mark Braddocks and his wife (3). And again, the introductions went around, for the children had never actually *met* their Uncle Dylan, though they all knew who he was, and everyone was bursting with excitement.
For the first time in fifteen years, almost the entire family was together.
They went to bed smiling with happiness and woke up with fear.
Trinity sat shaking at the kitchen table. The room was in silence. The reason lay innocently on the table. A sphere newspaper. The cover story read: Sank's King King-napped! Palace Security tight-lipped.
Calista Winner turned up that afternoon--
And with her was none other than Adrian Peacecraft, grinning sheepishly as hugged his wife and children. "I've been king-napped," he admitted.
And now, the entire family was together again.
End Part 12
1--anti-climaxal = oooh! I've created my own word! ^__^v
2--Konnichiwa, mina = Hello, everyone
3-- Mark Braddocks = Anne and Sally's adopted son. Younger brother of
Michael, older brother of Matthew.
Andrea Readwolf
Please send comments to: andrea_readwolf@hotmail.com