Something was moving under the bedsheets.
Anyone watching the rather strange transformations of the sheets and comforter on Zechs' and Duo's bed might have thought that the bed itself had come to life. It's surface seemed to roll and boil like a primordial sea, and every now and then a definite wave would arise and flow thickly towards the foot of the bed. This was usually accompanied by a soft cry from somewhere deep beneath the soft white surface.
Then a mass of silky, chestnut hair slid out from underneath the sheets, followed by the head of a young man which seemed to be the origin of the hair itself. Obviously reacting to something happening under the cover of exisquisitely soft cotton, the young man, who just happened to be Duo, let out a little yip and then dissolved into a fit of giggles. He was making impressive headway towards a thrilling escape when suddenly he stopped giggling and gasped softly, his wide, violet eyes opening impossibly wider. The his lids fluttered. "Oh - *Bunny*... he whispered, and at that point was pulled back under, hair and all, looking for all the world as if he'd been swallowed by the seething bed creature.
While all this was going on, Relena had come down for breakfast and was sitting now at a table in the drawing room that had been set for three. There was a small sideboard in the room and on it were set a dish of eggs, English bacon, kippers, and fresh orange slices. A small toaster sat to one side and in front of it was a freshly baked loaf of bread.
Hadley walked into the room, carrying a carafe of coffee.
Relena looked up briefly. Hadley was not man who stood out in his appearance, which made him the perfect butler. Relena guessed him to be in his mid-30s, but the formality with which he carried himself lent an air of maturity to him that could very well make him seem older than he was. Everything about him was subtle: his hair was pleasant light brown, neither long nor short; his face was attractive but not one of breathtaking beauty or noticeable ugliness; he was about average in his height, approximately 5'10" and he possessed a remarkably average body shape, with no long legs or powerful chest to be remembered after he left the room. All in all, he blended into the surrounding environment, making the service he provided seem ten times more smooth than it would have had he been a more striking man.
"Good morning, your highness, may I serve you some breakfast?" Even the voice was pleasantly average, neither deep and resonant nor high and shrill.
Relena frowned over at the meal waiting to be served. "Is my brother up yet?" she asked, somewhat petulantly.
"He and Mr. Maxwell are still in their rooms, I believe," Hadley murmured. "Will you be waiting to eat until the two gentleman come down?" He poured the coffee he'd been carrying into a small, silver coffee pot that sat on a warming plate on the table.
"I don't really want to wait," Relena answered him. "You would think that my brother would at least have the common courtesy to greet his houseguest at the breakfast table."
"Mmm," Hadley murmured uncommitally, gliding over to the sideboard and slicing bread to put into the toaster.
The princess watched the man's smooth, unhurried movements and tapped her fingers on the snowy, linen tablecloth. /He could at least have to decency to offer to wake them up... Surely he doesn't expect *me* to do it. / She would have laughed at the idea if she'd been alone. Imagine her, walking in on her brother and Duo... She paused. A wicked thought crossed her mind, perversely wicked even, and she pushed her chair back from the table. "I'm feeling a bit warm, Hadley, would you mind getting a glass of ice water for me?"
"Ice water?" The butler's aplomb was disturbed only for a moment and then he bowed slightly. Of course, your highness," he said softly and left the room. On his way into the kitchen, he pressed a small button on a console that was mounted on the wall. There was a moment's hesitation and then Zechs voice was heard. He sounded rather out of breath.
"Yes... Yes, Hadley?"
"Beg pardon, sir, for the interruption, but I believe your sister will be visiting your rooms in a few minutes and I believe she intends to bring a glass of water with her."
Another pause. "Water?" Zechs asked, still panting a bit.
"Yes, sir," said Hadley. "With ice," he added meaningfully.
"Ah. *Aaaah*," Zechs replied, as if comprehending some great truth. "Thank you for the warning Hadley, I'll take it from here."
"Of course, sir," the butler murmured and broke the connection.
Being the professional that he was, he had been able to read his master's mind completely and was, therefore, able to predict that the gentlemen would need a few mintues to dress so as to meet the young lady (and her ice water) before she met up with them.. In that noble cause, he filled the glass with water and ice and then sat down, very deliberately, at the kitchen table and took up the cook's pencil and newspaper, proceeding to finish the crossword puzzle in record time.
With that accomplished, he carried the glass to the drawing room with immense slowness. By the time he reached the room Relena was pacing up and down. "Where have you been? It's been a good 15 minutes! How long does it take to fill a glass with water?" she complained and snatched the glass out of his hand and heading for the door.
She was about to reach for the handle when the door opened suddenly, causing her to jerk back, thereby spilling much of the ice water down the front of her pale blue sweater.
Zechs walked into the room, a portrait of casual elegance in a silky, Egyptian cotton shirt of dark carmine red and slim-fitting, stone-colored trousers. "Good morning, Relena," he murmured and then, noticing her damp clothing added, "Oh my. What *have* you done to yourself?" before heading to the table.
Duo bounced in at that moment, dressed in black jeans and a dark blue, paisley-patterned shirt, rolled up at the sleeves. He was still brushing his hip-length hair free of tangles. "Morning, Hadley! Ooh - Relena, heh heh. That looks cold. What's for breakfast? I'm starved!"
Relena said nothing for a moment, just stared down at her ruined sweater and thought of how satisfying it would have been to have doused the two of them in bed and let the ice water shrink certain parts of the anatomy, which would then have been rendered useless, if only for a brief time.
She looked over at them: Zechs, looking every bit the English gentleman, perusing that morning's Times, and Duo, plaiting his hair a respectful distance from the sideboard while chattering to Hadley about the appearance and taste of the kippers. Putting her glass down on the table, she sighed heavily. "Well, this is certainly a strange little domestic scene."
Duo, now munching happily on toast, raised his eyebrows a bit and looked back at her. "No stranger, " he said, swallowing a mouthful, "than the thought of you and Heero sitting around a a table, peacfully eating scrambled eggs. He's even more silent in the morning, if that's possible. Drives ya crazy. I used to throw cereal at him to get his attention." Duo paused and appeared to reminisce. "Didn't work very well, though," he mused. "He usually just ate the ceral and went back to whatever he was doing." Behind his newspaper, Zechs tried, rather unsuccessfully, to stifle a snicker."
"That's just because you didn't understand him," Relena said sharply. "I never understood how the two of you could even stand each other. You couldn't be more different."
Duo sobered a bit at that and turned to the sideboard, his back to Relena. "Yeah, well, I guess sometimes opposites attract," he muttered.
Zechs, sensing the potential for a hurtful exchange between the two, turned his attention to his sister. "Relena, hadn't you better go change? I'm sure that wet sweater couldn't be comfortable."
"I suppose," Relena answered, throwing a last, dark glance at Duo's back before she left the room.
Zechs waited a few moments after the door was closed and then turned to the butler, who was laying their breakfast plates on the table. "Thank you for the warning, Hadley. I have come to the conclusion that when meeting Relena it is best to do so on neutral territory and if you hadn't called when you did that would have been impossible. You're a good man to have around."
The quiet man was about to demure when Duo, hair neatly braided, sat down at the table and smiled up at him. "He's right, you know, Hadley. I mean, how in the hell did you know she was gonna come and throw ice water on us while we were in bed?"
"Language please, Duo," Zechs murmured, biting into a peice of toast without looking up from the news paper.
Hadley, who at that moment was refilling Zechs' coffee cup, lifted a white-gloved hand in protest. "No, Mr. Maxwell, I knew nothing of the kind. I had just seen the look on her face when she asked for ice water and the combination made me uneasy. It was nothing more, really." Replacing the coffee pot, he turned towards the sideboard, giving Duo a very discreet wink as he did.
The braided boy looked surprised for a moment, then grinned at the butler's very straight back and turned to Zechs. "So Bunny, what are we doing today? How about going on a boat ride? You know, up the Thames, to see the Tower?" Duo rubbed his hands together wickedly and drew a finger across his throat, adding, "Bwahahahahaha..."
Zechs looked over at him mildly, one golden eyebrow raised. "Feeling particularly gruesome today, are we? Well, I suppose the Tower would make an interesting morning of it."
"Pardon the interruption, sir" Hadley said smoothly, "but the weather report was calling for rain this morning, with the afternoon turning fair. You may want to forego the Tower until later in the day."
"Oh," Zechs said, looking first at Hadley and then at the disappointed Duo. "Well then, why don't we plan on seeing the Tower after lunch?" Seeing that Duo was still pouting rather adorably, Zechs smiled softly and turned a page or two back in his newpaper. "There seems to be a special exhibit going on at the British Museum, all about the burial rites of the Ancient Egyptians." He looked pointedly at Duo, who had perked up a bit. "That should be nice and goulish, kitten; sounds perfect for you, in fact. What do you say - the museum in the morning and the Tower in the afternoon?"
The blond man received a wide smile and an enthusiastic nod for his trouble. Duo himself was unable to comment, having just eaten a large bite toast and marmalade.
"Well," Zechs said, "that's all settled then. We'll leave right after breakfast."
"Very good, sir," Hadley murmured. "I'll see that the car is brought round for you."
"Car?" Relena stood at the door to the room. "Where are you going? This is my first day here!"
Duo swallowed a mouthful of eggs and watched her sit down. "We're going *out*, of course," he said putting a hand up to his mouth as eggs threatened to spill. Zechs handed him a napkin without looking up. "Mmm, thanks Bunny. You know, Relena, this *is* our vacation. We didn't come to London to sit in the house with you all day."
Relena frowned at him. "Zechs, are you going to let him speak to me that way?"
Duo put his fork down in surprise as Zechs let the top half of the newspaper drop down. They both stared at her, then each other. "Why Bunny, she called you Zechs!" Duo said, grinning and doing his best impersonation of the blond man beside him.
"Why Duo," Zechs replied, "so she did! Has the world gone mad?"
"It must of done!" Duo'e expressive eyebrows went up in mock surprise.
The frown had now turned into a full glare. "Stop it this instant! I know when I'm being made fun of," she snapped.
Duo was giggling behind his napkin. "But you're so *easy* to make fun of, Relena -" he began.
Her hand came down hard on the table. "Brother!" she said sharply, shifting her gaze to Zechs.
"Relena..." the blond man's deep voice growled a warning. "Let's just have a peaceful breakfast, shall we? Duo?" He gave the violet-eyed boy a cautionary look.
"Sure, sure," Duo said, waving his fifth peice of toast and agreeing to the unspoken demand. He couldn't quite resist a final giggle. "You know, Relena," he said pointing his toast at her significantly, "you shouldn't be so formal with Bunny here. He *is* your brother after all."
Relena recoiled from the threatening slice of toast, eyeing it suspiciously, while Zechs gave Duo a withering glance. Duo knew full well how his lover felt about using private nicknames in public and Relena, they both had agreed, was definately public. The American apologized by giving Zechs a sheepish grin, then stuffed the rest of his toast in his mouth and pretended to be very interested at a speck of something on his plate.
"So you've made plans for the day," Relena said, addressing Zechs while she cut her orange slices delicately.
"Yes," Zechs murmured, "we're doing some sightseeing. I expect we'll be home for dinner. That should give you plenty of time to work on your own affairs."
"Affairs?" The princess looked momentarily puzzled. Zechs looked up from his plate.
"Yes. Your affairs. The affairs you said you needed a week to take care of before your... trip."
"Oh, yes," Relena said, smoothing her hair back and taking a sip of coffee. "Those affairs."
Zechs watched as she lowered the cup to the table, hand shaking badly, then looked over at Duo, who had nabbed the paper and was now thoroughly enjoying the comics. "Duo, why don't you run upstairs and grab my travel guide - it's on the lamp table near the door - and then get your coat on. I'll be just another minute."
Duo looked up. "What? Oh, will do," he said taking the comics with him. "I'll meet you in the front hall." Grabbing a last piece of bacon, he wiggled his eyebrows at Relena and disappeared around the doorway.
Zechs was staring at his sister, who had watched Duo leave, and now he leaned back in his chair, lifting his coffee cup to his lips before speaking. "What is it, Relena? Surely you're not upset that we didn't include you in our plans."
His sister looked down at her hands, laying in her lap. "No," she said quietly. "No, that's not it."
"What then?" Zechs murmured, keeping his gaze on her. "Is it this trip of yours? Are you having second thoughts?"
"No..." she said slowly, "not second thoughts exactly. It's just..."
Zechs waited patiently.
"It's just that, it seems so final!" she said at last. "I'll ask him again and if he says no -" She cut herself off abruptly and looked up at Zechs. The pain was evident in her dark blue eyes. Zechs put his coffee cup down and stretched his hand across the table to her.
"And if he says no, you'll have to let go somehow."
She was holding onto his hand with both of her own, eyes shimmering with tears. When she spoke again, her voice was no more than a whisper. "It's just that I've wanted him for so long. And he's always been so confusing about things. Sometimes he seems as if he wants to be with me - that I'm important to him. But it was never anything consistent. Never anything I could just relax about and be happy with. And this is one last chance at that..." Her voice trailed off and she sat, looking down at Zechs long, golden fingers and stroking them absently.
"It's wise of you to prepare yourself for both possibilities," he said softly. "And I know that the idea of letting go is one you don't want to face." He thought back to his own decision, of letting go the person he thought was his One True Love, and empathized deeply with his headstrong and often foolish sister. "But you have to trust that, if the answer is no, there will be something, someone else in the future. You don't want to hear that, I know, but it *is* true."
He looked at her intently until she raised her eyes to his. "No matter what you think of Duo, the truth is he's been my salvation. I thought the only person I could ever love was gone, and I was ready to go myself, when he came along... and changed everything."
Tears were falling down her cheeks. "Are you saying... that Heero will reject me? Reject my offer?"
Zechs sighed and gave her fingers, tightly curled around his, a soft pat. "I'm saying you need to be prepared for either answer, Relena. And that if that answer is no, you need to remember that there are and *will be* reasons to hold on."
She pulled one hand away and dabbed at her eyes with her napkin. "Thank you... brother."
He leaned forward, covering the remaining hand he held with his own. "I grew up without a family, Relena. I knew you were alive and safe, but it was the same as your being lost to me. Just as mother and father were lost to me. But we have a chance to make that different. My name is Zechs now. I do wish you would use it."
"Wouldn't it be better to call you Milliard?" Relena answered, her voice full of emotion.
Zechs hesitated. After his sixth year, there had been only one person who referred to him by that lost name, and that person was gone forever. He had taken the name with him.
"Zechs," he said quietly. "I prefer Zechs."
Her eyes were puzzled but she repeated the name almost to herself, it was so quietly said. Zechs gave her hand a squeeze and stood up. "Duo's waiting. I need to go. Will you be joining us for dinner this evening?"
She nodded and, as he turned to leave the room said, "Broth- Zechs?" He looked back at her. "Thank you." The words came out a little hoarsely and Zechs understood the difficulty she had overcome to be able to say them.
"You're welcome, Relena. We'll see you this evening."
He met Duo coming down the stairs, still coatless.
"Sorry," the boy said, hopping over the last few steps. "I was going to go say 'hi' to Mouse, but he wasn't around, so I left a note. Are we ready to go?"
"I believe we are," Zechs said, holding Duo's coat for him. "Hadley has the car waiting outside."
"Cool! Can I drive this time?" Duo's voice was eager as they headed down the front walk towards the street.
Zechs looked down at the young man beside him, taking in the bouncing feet, the twitching braid, and the rather manic grin. "This *is* London, Duo, and *that*," he said pointing to the roadster at the curb, "is a very expensive paint job. I'll drive this time."
The American tried his most adorable pout but Zechs simply put a finger up and said, "Ah - we'll have none of that now," and ducked into the driver's seat. Duo rolled his eyes, recognizing the battle was lost, and climbed in beside him.
The museum was already crowded by the time the two of them arrived. Walking in the front entrance they were assailed by no less than three large groups of English schoolchildren passing from one wing to the other, all of them with bright red cheeks and absolutely no manners. At their peak, the little terrors had Zechs surrounded. They were smiling at him and several were trying to touch his hair. Duo was able to get a snapshot of him in the middle of a sea of small faces, none of them higher than than his waist. The children all looked happy. Zechs, however, wore an expression of mild shock.
"That was great, Zechs!" Duo hooted, and waved the camera as his lover emerged from the tide. "You really have a way with kids - betcha can't wait to become a father, eh?" He winked and gave the tall blond a nudge.
"On the contrary, Duo, I might be willing to wait forever." Zechs frowned in the general direction of the child-sea that had now passed on to the opposite wing and straightened his clothes. "I'll have you know I only *just* got away with my life."
Duo continued to giggle. "They looked like they were about to carry you off and make you their king, Bunny."
"Yes," Zechs said dryly, "either that or use me as a ritual sacrifice."
"Poor bunny!" Duo patted the tall man's arms and tried hard to look sympthetic. He failed miserably of course, breaking into more giggles. Zechs sighed heavily and shook his head, then caught hold of Duo's braid and tugged the boy towards the Egyptian wing.
As they disappeared around the corner, Duo's voice drifted back into the lobby. "Hey, hands off the hair! C'mon now! Paws off! I mean it Zechs..."
A small, dark-haired figure came around a nearby corner. Chang Wu Fei was absorbed in the exhibit brochure for the Chinese Antiquities department, but jerked his head up at the sound of that fading voice. /Zechs? No, couldn't be. I must of misheard./ He stared off in the direction the voice had come from. It had been familiar, not just the name itself but the voice. He hesistated for the briefest of moments, then set off after it, a small frown already settling on his face.
Relena stood at a window in the small sitting room near the back of the house. The rain had begun about thrity minutes after her brother and Duo had left, and now she looked out pensively on a dripping garden, the dark clouds matching her mood perfectly. She kept hearing Zechs' words in her mind: /"... if he says no, you'll have to let go somehow."/ But surely that wasn't possible. In no more three years' time her entire existence, it seemed, had come to center around the brooding ex-pilot of Wing Gundam Zero. /Funny - that's how I always think of him. Even though the gundams have been gone for over a year.../ She moved to the couch and sat down heavily, resting her cheek against one fist, and staring ahead, trying to see into her future.
She was absorbed enough that she completely missed the ringing of the phone and the next thing she knew Hadley was at her elbow, telling her that a call had come through and asking if she could take it.
A little startled, she hit the audio key on the comm unit hesitantly. "Hello - this is Relena Darlian speaking."
"Well, well," a familiar voice purred, "I didn't realize I could find *two* Peacecrafts in the same place at the same time. "I'm just lucky, I guess."
Relena stared at the comm unit for a moment, then hit the video key. The smiling face of Dorothy Catalonia looked back at her. "Dorothy?" she asked. "What a surprise - what are you doing calling me brother?"
"Relena dear! I'm in London of all places amd I heard through the grapevine that your brother would be here and thought... well, I thought I would stop in and... pay my respects as it were. He and I have so much to talk about."
"Do you?" Relena murmured. Of the people whom he'd fought against during the Eve Wars, Zechs had been reconciled with all but two of them, and those two were people she knew he never cared to face again. Unfortunately, one of them was at the other end of the telephone.
"Did you arrange to meet Zechs?" Relena asked, knowing what the answer would be, but feeling compelled to ask anyway.
"No, not exactly," Dorothy replied. "I've actually written him a few letters but he's returned them to me unopened. I knew he wouldn't agree to see me if I asked him straight out, so I thought I would just drop by my Treize's house while I was in town. I believe Zechs would be too much of a gentleman to turn a lady away at the door."
"You might be surprised," Relena said, rather distractedly. "He's changed since - well, he's changed."
"Don't tell me the rumors I've heard are true?" Dorothy said smoothly, her voice a touch excited.
"Rumors? What rumors?" Relena knew she was stalling, but she really had no desire to begin dissecting out her brother's romantic life with Dorothy Catalonia. She could be on the phone for hours if she wasn't careful.
"Oh, come now - don't pretend you haven't heard. Your brother, and Duo Maxwell - are they really, well... a *couple?*"
"Why don't you take that up with Zechs when you talk to him, Dorothy. Should I tell him you called?"
"Oh, heavens no!" the smooth voice was raised just a bit. "Why don't I call round after dinner this evening. You give him some brandy and loosen him up, all right? There's a pet. See you this evening!" And with that, the vid screen went blank.
Relena stared at it for a long moment. "Well this is something different to think about," she said quietly, then headed off to her room for headache tablets and a nap.
They had found the Egyptian Funeral Rites exhibition on the upper floor and now Duo was wandering the rooms, completely absorbed in coffins, sarcophigi, canopic jars, and, of course, mummies. He stared at one through its protective glass case, eyes wide and mouth open. "Zechs!" he whispered fiercely, "Look!! Mummies!!"
Zechs smiled softly, drinking in the sight of his lover's boyish face grinning at the ancient relic as if it were an old friend. He walked over to the glass case. "My, my - what have you found now?"
"Isn't she cool, Zechs? She was from the Late Kingdom - that's why she's so well preserved. Did you know they used salt to dry these guys out? And there's none of those jars with her, see? By the time of the Late Kingdom they didn't take all the guts and stuff out. Well, they *did* take 'em out, and wrap 'em up all pretty, but then they put them back in - isn't that cool!"
Zechs, who was feeling a bit queasy what with all of the embalming details on display, tried to moderate the look of disgust on his face by putting a smile over it, but he knew it probably didn't come across well. "That's... amazing Duo, especially that part about the guts... and you - well, you've pick up so much information, it's incredible!" He tried to smile again. "Shall we move on?"
Duo wasn't having any of it. "Heck no! There's so much stuff here - all this embalming stuff, and the jars for the organs -"
"All right," Zechs interrupted, trying to make his voice sound light, "Why don't you browse to your heart's content and I'll just head across the hall for a moment to look at the coffins, all right?
Duo was already intrigued by a set of Middle Kingdom canopic jars and could only mumble, "Uh huh - I'll be right here, Bunny."
Zechs shook his head softly and headed across the floor to where the larger coffins were displayed. /Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. I thought I was better now; I *have* been better, but... /
He stopped short for a moment. In front of him was a sign introducing the coffin exhibit. It was exquisitely done with large lettering that read, "The Adoration of Fallen Kings." The words seemed to leap out at him and resonate in his mind, bringing with them painful and horrific images. The tall blond closed his eyes for a moment. "No, please," he whispered. "Not again. I'm over this... I should be over this..."
But he could still here a voice inside that in two years had refused to be stilled. /Who adored your Fallen King, Zechs? Who was there to immortalize his honor, his greatness... his sacrifice. Did you adore him when he died? Did you cry out in grief and swear to build him a tomb for the ages?
No. You didn't even mourn him, did you?/
/That's not true! I spent a year on that God-awful colony doing nothing *but* mourn him. ANd everyday I wake up and he's not there with me, I mourn him! But he's gone and I can't reach him anymore, even though there's so much I didn't say.../
The room was pressing in on him. All these funeral objects - equipment for the dead, and surely this isn't the way to spend one's time, reveling in death and haunting oneself with regrets. And with it all there was something beyond just what was exhibited here - a presence. It was familiar but it puzzled him because he wasn't sure of it's purpose. /God, what am I thinking. Believing in ghosts? Pull yourself together, Zechs!/
He needed air, he needed light, and the sound of living souls. And if he didn't find them quickly, he would start falling - far, far down that terrible spiral again.
He crossed the floor again quickly. Finding Duo pouring over a group of embalmer's receipts, Zechs leaned down and whispered to him. "I'm going downstairs to telephone Relena. She wasn't feeling well and I just want to check on her, all right?"
Duo nodded and cast him a sidelong glance. "She doesn't deserve you, you know."
Zechs' smile was weak. "I'll be back in 15 minutes."
Something in the tall man's voice made Duo pause and follow him with his eyes as he headed for the stairs. "What's up, Bunny?" he said softly to his lover's retreating back.
Back in Berkeley Square, Mouse had returned to his rooms and found Duo's note. He sighed. /It's probably for the best - I still haven't found anyone.../
He took out the small, dark green package of chewing gum that he had removed from Duo's pocket the day before. He held it up to the filtered light coming through the shades, turning it over in long, slender fingers. Then he gripped it tightly in one hand, holding it close to his heart, and concentrated on the boy he'd met. After a few minutes, he began to hear faint words and other sounds, although he couldn't make out any of them. Then the light flickered behind his eyes and a few shapes came into view. There was a cross, and a large machine of some kind, but he shook his head. He needed people - people who had died.
He wandered aimlessly in the visions for a time and then one stood out from all the others. It was a man, of that he was sure, and he was much older than either Mouse or Duo. He wore black, but Mouse had an idea that he was a good man, and so he invited the strange form to come to his home.
Wu Fei had wandered through the extent of the main Oriental Collections and found himself now in a dark and quiet corridor at the very back of the museum. There was only one way to go if he didn't want to take the stairs back down to the main level, and so he turned north and came upon a room so quiet he thought at first it mightn't be open to the public. There were very few items in the small room, but the hushed atmosphere and intimate lighting made a breathtaking backdrop to the few treasures it housed.. The slender Preventer pilot looked over two indigo ink scrolls and a small collection of minature vases before happening to glance up at the grandest piece, situated against the far northern wall: a small but equisite dragon.
It was a study in motion, really, captured in a piece of brilliantly gilded metal and made up primarily of swirling tail and flame-like mane, it claws and fangs intimidating even at so small a size. Wu Fei stood for a moment, transfixed by it, by the fierce life that seem to throb in it, as if the creature were just about to shed it's golden covering and come to snarling life right there in the museum case.
Approaching it slowly, Wu Fei stepped up to the spare, glass case and read the card along side it:
Dragon, gilded bronze. Tang Dynasty (Before Colony 618-906). Excavated Before Colony 1975, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province. On loan from the Shaanxi History Museum.
From far away in time, a soft voice sounded in his head. "You do me an honor, young dragon, killing me this way..." The sound of it echoed around an image of a noble face on a video screen in the cockpit of a gundam long destroyed.
Was the room suddenly hot? The gentle tenor voice had unleashed the gates and memories were swarming around the Chinese boy who futiley put his hands to ears and dropped to his knees in front of the case. /No... no, not again! I don't want to see it again! Don't want to see his face, in pain; his smile and that soft voice... NO!!/
He could have sworn he felt a presence there, reaching for him, trying to break the barrier between one world and another, but was it's broken and bloody arm held out in supplication or threat? He was aware of harsh breathing and now the gilded dragon danced before his eyes, moving in serpentine twists before devouring an eagle with eyes of sapphire blue.
When the hand fell on his shoulder, Wu Fei could feel his entire body startle.
"Wuffie? Is that really you? Hey are you all right, man? You're lookin' a little weird, come over and sit down."
The voice - so familiar - but his vision was hazy, so he sat down on the cool marble bench and passed a hand over his eyes. When he looked up the world had resolved itself into the rather inexplicable image of Duo Maxwell, who was grinning at him while he waved his museum map up and down to create a cool breeze for Wu Fei's heated face.
The Chinese boy reached out and grabbed the waving wrist, staring at the unmistakeable violet eyes and the long, gleaming braid. "Duo?" he said and blinked several times. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Duo put on a look of mock hurt. "Well *thanks*, Wuffie! I hear someone shout and run down here to find out if whoever did it is okay, only to find you, lookin' like your gonna pass out. And then your first words are "What the hell are you doing here? Nice guy," the American said shking his head, "that's the thanks I get..."
Wu Fei frowned at the other former gundam pilot. "Well, what *are* you doing here? I thought you were on one of the colonies - a scrapyard business or something."
Duo smiled, a bit shakily, Wu Fei thought. "Yeah, I was, but uh... well I'm here for awhile. On earth, that is. Strange to meet up with you, though - guess it really is a small planet after all. Hey, are you sure you're okay? You *did* kinda look like you were about to faint."
Wu Fei felt the heat rise to his cheeks. "I am fine, thank you. I may have just done too much sightseeing - but I'm much better now." /Can't tell *him* about all that... / He got up and immediately regretted it, as the blood left his head and he was forced to sit down, dizzy, and feeling slightly sick. From a far corner of the room, fading away into the walls, the soft voice was calling. "Young dragon... such an honor that you would bring my death about.../
Duo peered into his friend's face, concerned enough to get help. At the same moment, he heard a familiar low voice outside the room. "Duo? Where *have* you got to?"
"I'm back here!" the braided boy called out. /This will work out - Zechs can help me get him outside for some air./
The sound of that other voice made Wu Fei uneasy for some reason. "Duo -" he began, intending to ask who the other person was with. His unvoiced question was answered the next moment when a tall blond man turned into the room. For the first time in over a year, Chang Wu Fei and Zechs Marquise were face-to-face with one another.
End of Part 4
(:./kumiko/2road21)
