The Gundam Faeries

Pairings: reference to 11+9, mention of Hee-sama x D-sama, (you'll understand after reading)
Warnings: mention of sexual relationships, both willing and not...
Rating: PG...ish...

Aislira's Notes: Okay, this Note is only for AFF.net people. This is -ridiculous-! I have gotten only one review on this so far, and I've had it up for over two months. Now, I know people are reading it, but I don't work for free. Please, I need at least one other person to review, or this story shall not continue, and I promise you, it just keeps getting better and better. Now, on to the story.

The Gundam Faeries
Chapter 4

Noin stood and clapped her hands, silencing the gathered nobles and officers. "Noble Gentlemen, Ladies, if I could have your attention please!"

Chairs scraped and a hundred pairs of eyes focused on the Captain. She cleared her throat once, and dropped the big news: "Lady Une has betrayed us to Prince Trowa, and has kidnapped the Princess."

Noin waited until the exclamations had died down and the only sound was Relena's muffled sobs, and Milliardo's shushing murmurs. "This doesn't change anything. If nothing else, it makes it that much more important that we win. Before you, you have the plan that Princess Relena, King Milliardo, Lord Chang, the mortal, Heero Yuy, and I have drawn up. Look it over and if there are no questions or comments we will proceed in two days."

Noin sat down and waited impatiently while those who gathered perused the documents. She stood again and excused herself when she heard a tap at the door. She exited the council room and faced her daughter, "Yes Hilde?"

"My apologies for interrupting Mother, but a messenger from the Prince is waiting in the blue guest room."

Noin nodded briskly, stemming any of Hilde's further words. "Thank you, Hilde. Please let the others know, and tell them to hold their questions until I return."

Hilde bowed, "Yes Mother."

Lucrezia smiled and waited until Hilde was safely ensconced in the council room before squaring her shoulders and moving down the hall. She took a sharp left down another short hallway, and into what was fondly referred to as the 'lovers room.'

Noin scanned the room, and, not seeing anyone but observing the balcony doors open, marched out.

She couldn't help herself - she gasped in outrage and heartache when she saw Une. She was standing with her back to the room, her hair free and blowing softly in the light breeze. Une turned at the sound, a smile on her lips and hate in her clear hazel eyes. "Ah, Lucrezia. How good to see you again. How have you been?"

Hearing Une's husky voice again, Lucrezia had to fight the urge to kill Une, herself, or both. Instead Noin settled for snapping, "Cut the shit. What do you ?"
?"

Ever playful Une snickered, "So harsh, Lucrezia. No kind words for one you professed to love for eternity?"

Noin snorted. "Eternity was a lot shorter than either of us imagined. I'll ask again, what do you want, Lady Une?"

"Your answer to the ultimatum."

Noin glared, her voice hard as steel, "No way in hell, and you can quote me on that. Is that all?"

Noin had already half-turned, but Une's drawled words froze her in place, "Not quite, lover. I'm also invoking my half of the parental rights. I'm taking Hilde with me."

"No. You can't." Noin's words were whispered and half-hearted.

"I can, and I am." Une snapped her fingers and disappeared. Lucrezia frantically dashed inside, down the halls, and threw open the council doors, shouting her daughter's name.

Inside, the room was a scene of chaos. The assembled faeries were everywhere. Some on the ground, burned, others were huddled together. The veteran officers, headed by King Milliardo were trying to organize those not injured into some semblance of order, but not getting very far.

Noin's eyes were murderous as she roared, "Silence!!"

The room hushed instantly. Noin moved inside and her eyes went to an elder veteran. "Dakim, get Dorothy! Lord Chang, wait here and explain what happened, and give her a hand if she needs it. The rest of you, unless there are any questions, the plan goes forward unaltered."

Noin waited the space of a heartbeat and then continued, "No? Then I suggest you inform your troops, and get some rest. We march tomorrow at daybreak."

Noin whirled and marched out of the council hall, Heero close behind her.

She glared at the quiet boy and ground out from clenched teeth, "What do you want, Yuy?"

"I don't want you going tomorrow. You will jeopardize the mission."

Noin spun and grabbed the younger boy by the collar of his green tank top. "Listen here, mortal! There is no way in hell you're leaving me here. That bitch has my daughter, and I'm going to kill her for it."

Heero stared calmly at her, "This is what I'm talking about. You are not thinking clearly. You will endanger Hilde, Catherine, and the kingdom with your rashness if you come."

Noin slowly released him. "You have a point, Yuy. Unfortunately, you need me. No one knows the palace like I do."

"Wufei knows enough to do what is necessary."

Noin leaned forward, into Heero's face. "Let's get this straight right now, Yuy. I have more at stake here than you, and I also happen to outrank you. I'm going tomorrow and that's final."

Without waiting for an answer, Noin whirled and stormed off, turning to the right and disappearing upstairs.

Heero allowed himself a small sigh, and moved to the side, letting Dorothy race past him. Before he left, he heard her say, "Lugh above, this is getting ridiculous!"

It was two in the morning and Heero couldn't sleep. He was looking out of the window that led onto the balcony. The early morning quiet was broken by a knock at his door.

He didn't stir, almost certain of who was on the other side. Sure enough after he said, "Enter," Wufei did, shutting the door behind him.

Wufei crossed the room silently, barefoot, wearing only a pair of skintight pants that matched his black hair. He came to a halt next to Heero. "I didn't think you were asleep. Our Heero never slept the night before a battle."

Though Heero burned with curiosity, not a muscle twitched to betray this, his training being too complete to allow otherwise.

Wufei seemed to sense this and he continued, "I think you would have liked your counterpart, maybe envied him in a way. In battle he was unswerving, and yet he knew how to relax and have fun. He and Duo were our two greatest casualties in King Darlian's last war. When they fought together, no one could touch them. Heero's control over fire was unwavering. He put Lady Une's flash fire to shame. If he had been the one to attack the throne room, there would have been no survivors, unless he wanted there to be. And then there was Duo."

Wufei smiled tenderly, "Duo was in a class unto himself. He held himself high, but without conceit. Quiet, reserved, not quite shy, but very introspective. Until you got to know him, that is. In his chest beat the heart of a true romantic and Healer. Dorothy studied under him, got to know him better than anyone except Heero. Only where Dorothy uses her power to Heal, Duo used his to kill. I'm not sure if he enjoyed it exactly, but you could see something in his eyes when he fought, something fierce and unbalanced." Wufei fell silent, lost in his thoughts.

"How did they die?"

Heero's quiet question startled Wufei out of his reverie. "Um, about fifteen, maybe sixteen years ago, there was a fire. It went nowhere but Heero and Duo's room. When we searched the wreckage, we found their bodies, entangled together in sleep. The rebel group we were fighting took credit for the deaths."

"What made you believe them?"

Wufei answered simply, "Lady Une was their leader."

Heero nodded, "And you explored no other possibilities? Perhaps the two had done it themselves."

"We were too busy fighting to think overmuch about it." Wufei sighed. "I didn't know them that well. Dorothy would be a better one to talk to about that."

Heero finally turned to face the young Lord, "Why are you telling me all this?"

"To give you something to think on, Heero Yuy. I didn't take what was willingly offered me when I could, and now it's too late."

Wufei turned and walked to the door, offering Heero a final statement before leaving: "Dorothy's rooms are just above yours. She's sure to be up. A night owl that one."

Heero stared at the closed door a long moment before making up his mind and going onto the balcony. He took a suddenly nervous breath and called up softly, "Dorothy?"

After a long pause and just before he was going to go back in, the faerie's smooth voice floated down on the flower-perfumed air, "Yes, Heero?"

"May I come up and speak with you?"

Her surprise was evident in her voice,f cof course, Heero. The door will be open."

"Thank you, Dorothy."

Her voice was soothing and faintly maternal, "Of course, Heero."


Heero snuck through the halls, not wanting to disturb anyone's slumber. As promised, the door to Dorothy's suite of rooms was open. By long habit Heero's eyes swept the feminine rooms, searching for hidden enemies.

His Prussian blue eyes locked on the faerie Healer as she laughingly said, "I assure you, Heero, there is no one here but you and I."

Heero said nothing, but took the proffered seat across from her. The chair was a delicate ironwork structure, the metal melding together to form two flower blossoms with leaves for armrests.

Dorothy sat in a matching chair, her long golden hair braided and pinned on top of her head. The light breeze coming through the open window tossed the hem of her gauzy robe and nightgown around playfully.

Dorothy clasped her hands and leaned back, "So what was it you wished to speak with me about? Or should I guess? I'd probably be right."

Heero's tone was faintly accusatory, "You heard our conversation?"

Dorothy nodded with an amused smile, "Bits of it."

"He said you knew them better than anyone."

Dorothy smiled wistfully, "Sometimes I think I knew them better than they knew themselves." By silent agreement, Heero and Dorothy didn't use the faeries' names. "I miss them terribly, even now. No equal in battle, or, when they chose, in charm." Dorothy sat back a little farther and said musingly, "Except maybe Quatre, but he's a strange one. Appeared out of nowhere the day King Darlian died. Very odd. But I digress. Where to begin? I suppose the beginning would be the best place. Oh, Lugh help me, I don't remember how long ago, but when I was barely five - your years - I was sent here to train my Healing power. That's when I first met them. D-sama was to be my tutor, and though he was scarcely older than I, he was ages ahead of me in terms of skill and thought. Hee-sama was a divided soul. He was an amazing warrior - and, to put it bluntly, a rapacious slut. If he saw someone he wanted, he took them, whether they ed ted to be or not, though thank all the Gods, there were precious few that said no to him. Never the same bed-partner in a night, except for Prince Trowa. They seemed to gravitate towards one another. For basically the same reason, they both craved love. Prince Trowa from his father - King Darlian always favored the Princess - and Hee-sama..." Dorothy stopped, struggling on whether to say something or not.

Heero waited, ever patient; either she'd tell or she wouldn't. Finally Dorothy nodded, "It couldn't hurt. No one knew who Hee-sama's parents were. What is known is they dumped Hee-sama on the palace steps when he was a tiny babe. He was raised by Jaycob, an embittered ex-soldier who trained him from birth to be a merciless and sadistic warrior for King Darlian. So, in order to fill the gap left by his parents and Jaycob, he reached for love in sex. Both Hee-sama and Prince Trowa did, but neither of them found it there. Over the years, I watched them grow up, Hee-sama into his split personality - that of the passionate lover and the chilling fighter - and D-sama into himself. It pained me, because I could see how good they could be for each other. So I decided to play matchmaker. At that time, I was very much into the social scene, and one night, I dragged D-sama with me. I knew Hee-sama loved to dance, and though D-sama protested it, I made sure that D-sama took my place in a dance with Hee-sama. Well, of course Hee-sama was interested, as was D-sama, but D-sama wouldn't do anything about it, and rejected Hee-sama's flirting overtures. I don't know the full story of what happened between them, but Hee-sama broke D-sama's heart. I swear to Lugh, if I hadn't intervened they would never have gotten together. I cornered Hee-sama one night and, as you mortals say, raked him over the coals. Made him take his head out of other people's crotches, and take a good look around him. I guess he realized a few things, because next thing I know, Hee-sama and D-sama moved in together. They were made for each other, Heero. In D-sama, Hee-sama gained stability, and Hee-sama was able to draw D-sama out, and keep him sane."

Dorothy lapsed into silence, her brows drawn. She showed no signs she even remembered Heero was there.

Heero leaned forward, engrossed despite himself. "And then what, Dorothy?"

Dorothy winced. "When I Heal, I have to draw a certain amount of that person into myself. It was the same with D-sama, only worse because he killed. Slowly, bit-by-bit, it was driving him insane. A little over sixteen years ago, Lady Une and a few other nobles banded together and rebelled. It was doomed to failure at the start."

Dorothy stopped again and wiped the silent tears from her eyes. Her voice was rife with unshed tears as she started her story again, "The fighting had been going on for months, and D-sama had been killing so much that Hee-sama and I together could barely get him to talk. It was a horrible time for the fae, Heero. A deadly disease swept across Underhill, killing thousands, and rebellions ran rampant. As a Healer, I saw the end results, not the means to get there. I can only imagine how Hee-sama and D-sama were impacted. I helped as much as I could, by lending them an ear if they needed to talk. They wouldn't talk to me, Heero!" Dorothy's words were desperate, as if trying to convince herself she cared and had tried her best. Dorothy sighed and looked down, her voice flat, "Then the fire. Heero, I know Lady Une's power. She has good control over her faerie flash, but not that well. And it doesn't, I repeat doesn't do the extensive damage I saw in that room. Why I could barely recognize D-sama's pinfeathers. No, no, Une may have taken credit for the deaths, but it was not her doing., He, Hee-sama, D-sama, they're out there somewhere." Dorothy stopped and wiped away escaping tears; she blinked rapidly, trying to stem more from falling. Her smile was wobbly, and her speech was full of longing. "I just wish I could have said good-bye."

"I-I'm sure they know, and they're sorry for it."

Dorothy looked up from her white-knuckled hands, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "Do you really think so, Heero?"

Unsure what to do, Heero relied on what he'd seen others do. He leaned forward and covered her hands with one of his, and allowed a small, but genuine, smile to cross his face. "I'm sure."