Gundam Wing - Balancing The Scales - Part 0 - by Madamhydra Last revised: 05/01/00 ******* WARNING ******* *** extremely alternate universe *** semi-darkfic, yaoi This is a slightly revised version of the teaser I posted earlier. The major changes consist of: (1) switching Trowa's and Quatre's prior personas (2) changing Quatre's and Wufei's prior names ------------------------------ (Earlier header note) WAIIII!!!! I got assaulted and abducted by another weird muse last night and boy, is this one STRANGE! I think it got inspired by watching too many episodes of "Record of Lodoss Wars: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight" and someone's idle comment about payment for past sins.... -_-;; ====================================================================== BALANCING THE SCALES A Gundam Wing ALTERNATE-REALITY fic by Madamhydra ====================================================================== Prologue (revised) ====================================================================== Short Disclaimer: (Full Disclaimers at the end) Gundam Wing copyrighted by their respective creators and all distributors of their work. Used without permission. ====================================================================== She stormed into the battered remains of the great hall like a pagan war goddess, still clad in her blood-stained black armor. On the floor just in front of the empty throne was a large, thirty foot wide circle drawn in blood and decorated with numerous mysterious symbols, also written in blood. Around the circle, at the cardinal points lay four bodies. Someone had taken the trouble to cover the bodies of the king, the queen, and her two siblings with some tapestries hastily torn from the walls. And in the center of the circle lay one more body, resting facedown in a huge puddle of its own blood. She gritted her teeth in suppressed rage and called out, "Wizard! I grow impatient!" A rabbity middle-aged man scuttled out from the shadows and babbled, "General Vincina! I...." She grabbed the front of his robe and hauled him toward her. Lifting her bloody sword, she hissed, "Well, have you succeed in reopening the gate?" He twitched in fear as the tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed warrior glared at him. "Y-y-yes, General! That is to say, I've done as much as I can! The rest... the rest is up to you." She threw him to the ground and headed for the circle. The wizard cried out, "My lady! Are you SURE you want to do this!?" Vincina glared at the man and snarled, "Do you think I'm going to let those four murdering bastards to escape my vengeance!? They betrayed their sacred trust to guard our borders from the Dark Lords and see the result! Look at what they've done!" She waved a gauntlet-covered hand at the four bodies surrounding the circle. "They've slain my entire family and destroyed the kingdom with their traitorous schemes!" "But my lady... we NEED you to protect and lead the survivors...!" "Fool! What makes you think that there's going to BE any survivors when the Dark Lords get through with us? The army is gone, most of the kingdom is crawling with darkspawned beasts who are killing, raping, or eating every living thing in sight, and this castle is doomed to fall to their forces within the hour! I have no time for your doubts, wizard!" "And so you intend to follow these four traitors through the gateway to seek vengeance?" croaked an old woman who hobbled into the great hall, dressed in a bloodied white robe. Vincina gave her a perfunctory nod of respect. "Yes." The old woman sighed, "General Vincina, I beg you to reconsider. Sadly I must agree that this land is doomed. Use the gateway if you must, but do so in hopes of finding a new life, not with rage and hatred in your heart. The fates have ways of ensuring that all deeds, even the foul crimes committed by the four great traitors, will eventually be balanced in full measure. Do not fear that they will escape their just reward. They WILL be punished and atonement WILL be made." Glancing at the blond general, she added, "That applies equally to you as well." "Priestess, after the events of these last few weeks, I have precious little faith in the gods, fate, or even other mortals." The old woman turned to look at the bloody corpse lying in the center of the circle. She closed her eyes in an expression of profound grief, then said softly, "HE would not want you to do this, Lady Vincina." The general clenched her fists and shouted back, "Bryon was a gentle soul... too kind-hearted, too trusting, too forgiving...! And look what all that got him? His four childhood 'friends' betrayed him, tortured him, and finally gutted him like a pig for their own filthy purposes!" Vincina took a few deep breaths to regain her composure, then said evenly, "I've made my decision, priestess. You will not sway me." The old woman sighed. "So be it. But Lady Vincina, remember this. Through this gateway lie the Wylde Ways, where both space and time dance to chaos' whimsy. Your path may be short and direct as the arrow's flight, while your enemies' path may be a long, winding road which takes them through many lives and reincarnations, but be warned. No one passes through the Wylde Ways unchanged. Both the hunter and the quarry can be transformed beyond recognition, whether for good or ill. What you find could easily be very different from what you seek or expect." When Vincina coldly shrugged aside the warning, the priestess gave Bryon's corpse a last sad look, then wearily retreated back into the ruins of the castle. Turning back to the wizard, the general said, "What do I have to do?" The wizard barely qualified as such, but all the other wizards were already dead, slain either by the traitors prior to the invasion or later by the enemy. He bit his lip nervously and said, "You must picture your enemies and focus on your reasons for seeking them." "And then?" He gulped. "And then you must plunge your blade into your chest and use your heart's blood to open the gateway." As Vincina's eyes narrowed thoughtfully, he hastily backed away and babbled, "It has to be YOUR blood! That's the only way to ensure that you'll be able to track down the traitors! YOU'RE the one with the burning desire for revenge, not me!" "Very well, wizard. Then leave me." Ignoring the patter of the man's retreating footsteps, she took a deep breath and walked into the circle's center. Now alone except for the dead, Vincina sank to her knees beside Bryon's bloody corpse. She pulled off her gauntlet and slowly ran her fingers through the long, tangled strands of chestnut brown hair. It had been Bryon's sole vanity, but now it lay bloodstained and matted. She whispered sadly. "I'm sorry... sorry for being so hard on you... sorry for constantly making fun of your hair... sorry for mocking your peace-loving ways... sorry for not telling you that I loved you when I had the chance...." She lifted his head slightly, then froze when she caught a glimpse of the raw, bloody sockets where Bryon's beautiful violet eyes used to be. She gently placed his head back on the ground, then lifted up the bloody robe he had been dressed in. When she saw the incredible number of whip and burn marks all over his body, she started to curse. "Damn you damn you Damn You DAMN YOU BASTARDS!" she screamed into the empty great hall. "He LOVED YOU! ALL OF YOU! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO HIM!?" Vincina closed her blue eyes and started to concentrate on the monsters responsible for this hell her world had become. She didn't know what she hated them the most for -- the destruction of the kingdom or the atrocities done to Bryon -- but she knew that she would know no peace until the four traitorous nobles had paid for their sins... and paid many times over. She pictured them in her mind, etching their names, faces, and crimes indelibly into her memory. The first traitor was Perane, the craven. His dark hair, intense cobalt blue eyes, and swashbuckling manner misled many into thinking him a brave hero, but the flamboyant exterior hid a spineless worm who said or did anything to preserve his own miserable life. The selfish coward. The second traitor was Harrow, the cruel. A brown-haired, slender youth whose easy laughter and witty words concealed a vicious, jealous, emerald-eyed monster who gloried on others' pain. The charming sadist. The third traitor was Trevi, the callous. His angelic smile, golden hair, and sweet demeanor distracted one from noticing the empty, uncaring blue eyes of the consummate opportunist who treated all around him as mere pawns. The cold-hearted schemer. The fourth traitor, but certainly not the least was Faylin, the faithless. His black hair and eyes mirrored the darkness of his traitorous black heart. The honorless oath-breaker. As Vincina's heart burned with hatred, her piercing blue eyes focused on the four bodies lying outside the circle. Her family also bore much of the blame. If it weren't for their flaws... their sheer stupidity... the traitors would not have succeeded so easily or so completely. Her uncle -- Koranth, the naive. Ginger hair and cornflower eyes provided him with a majestic demeanor, but his gullibility and foolishness allowed others to manipulate him with ease. The puppet king. Her aunt -- Merielle, the frivolous. Famed for the beauty of her long brown hair and doe-like eyes, she was consumed with her own pleasures and willfully blind to the schemes of those around her. The oblivious queen. Her brother -- Chastain, the passive. Strikingly elegant with his platinum blond hair and sky blue eyes, he had been content to hide in his study and allow the world take its own course. The apathetic scholar. Her older sister -- Eleido, the weak. A blond haired, blue-eyed butterfly of a woman who fluttered aimlessly from lover to lover, who allowed herself to be swayed by the slightest comment from others. The inconstant lady. What of herself? What of Vincina? Like most of her siblings, she bore her family's blond hair with blue eyes. People claimed that she was bloodthirsty and loved war. Perhaps she was a bit too good at her job. Did it really matter? Sometimes the only way to accomplish a necessary task was to shed some blood.... And what of poor Bryon? Bryon, the gentle. A caring, trusting, light-hearted soul who lived to save the lives of others, but who also had the misfortune to stand in the way of his fellow nobles' dark ambitions and who ended up paying dearly. The loving healer. As the images hung crystal clear in her vision, Vincina pulled out her dagger and without hesitation, plunged the blade into her heart. She felt herself fall, but instead of landing on the cold hard stone floor of the hall, she found herself sinking ever deeper into a crimson haze that seemed to go on forever. Almost infinitely far away, she saw a four flickering specks of darkness racing away from her. Vincina smiled. She had sighted her quarry and would not lose them. ------------------------------------------------- Bound by bloodoath, she relentlessly pursued the traitors, letting nothing stand in her way. Her journey was long and hard, but her time was not wasted. Along her way, she picked up new skills, new powers... learning or taking anything that would aid her quest. And eventually, she began to close the distance. A seeming eternity passed before the huntress finally managed to catch up with her prey. And as she tore through the frail boundary between worlds and plunged into a new universe and a new body, Vincina smiled. Now her vengeance would truly commence. ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- In the residential wing of one of Quatre's houses, Duo fell out of bed and hit the cold floor with a thud. Or to put it more correctly, he was KICKED out of bed.... "Oi, Heero! What the hell did you do that for?" the braided pilot sputtered in outrage as he rubbed his bruised posterior. He glanced up to see the Wing pilot kneeling on the bed, gun in hand. "I... don't know," Heero muttered as he gazed suspiciously around their bedroom. Duo frowned as he instinctively reached for his own pistol. There was a familiar, itchy feeling between his shoulder blades. That usually meant one thing. Somebody was hunting them. ------------------------------------------------- Across the hallway, Trowa and Quatre slept comfortably in each other's arms. Without warning, they both twitched awake at the exact same moment. As they stared at each other in consternation, Quatre shivered and whispered, "I just had the weirdest feeling...." Trowa nodded in somber silence. ------------------------------------------------- Down the hallway, Wufei found himself sitting bolt upright in bed, drawn sword in hand. ------------------------------------------------- In the middle of sorting through various intelligence reports, Treize Khushrenada stiffened as he felt a faint chill touch the back of his neck. Zechs Merquise, dozing lightly on Treize's sofa amid a pile of reports, suddenly sneezed and awoke to give his commanding officer a bleary-eyed look. ------------------------------------------------- At the other end of the OZ base, Lady Une shrugged off her abrupt twinge of unease and continued to terrorize a group of incompetent technicians. ------------------------------------------------- And in a distant city, Relena Peacecraft got out of bed, silently got dressed, and packed a small traveling bag. She took a quick peek inside Dorothy Catalonia's bedroom and found the other girl twitching restlessly in her sleep. Just before she headed out the door, Relena paused in front of the hallway mirror, smiled coldly at her reflection, then left to start her bloody quest for revenge. (end teaser) ===================================================================== ------------------------------------------------- Keeper of Duo's Dark Side ~~~ Duo no Seishi Co-Keeper of Duo's Scythe & Bat Wings (w/ Death) Co-Keeper of Little Grim Reaper Duo (w/ Kitsune) Keeper of Saitoh's Sex Life ~~~ Saitoh no Koibito ------------------------------------------------- madamhydra@aol.com /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/:E http://www.geocities.com/madamhydra/ ------------------------------------------------- ===================================================================== The Full Disclaimer All rights and privileges to Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing are trademarks and property of Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and associated parties. The characters of these works are used WITHOUT permission for the purpose of entertainment only. This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit. Original portion of the fiction included here is considered to be the sole property and copyrighted to the author. =====================================================================