Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Preventers: The Griffin Mission ❯ Chapter 7

Amy determinedly fought the urge to poke Wufei between the shoulder blades for the zillionth time that day. "Are we there yet?" had frozen on her tongue before she could yell it out at him. For once, it was too cold to indulge in such entertaining activities as annoying the touchy Chinaman. She'd just have to make up for lost time later.

They had been walking for nearly half a day. Or, at least, half an Earth-day, according to her watch. The dramatic purple sunset spreading across the sky declared the planet's time to be much later. Somehow, she didn't think the trip was measuring up to the brochure. Join the Preventers, see different worlds, meet hot secret agents and kick bad guys' butts. The only guy she saw now was an irate (albeit hot) Chinaman. But not to gripe! With her luck, there might be a horny Yeti around the next icy corner. Suddenly she was very glad that Wufei had taken the lead.

After another hour, however, jokes became impossible. They were farther up in the mountains now and the terrain had changed drastically. Now there was a light dusting of snow, just enough to cover the rocky ground. The wind had picked up to such high speeds that Amy often found herself leaning into it at a dead standstill. And then there was the added weight of the bulky snowsuits. Yet Wufei pressed on, apparently as fresh as when they had started at the crack of dawn. To his credit, he had left the cannon back in the cave with its original owner. Amy stumbled along behind him, attempting to keep up. Her foot caught in a small fissure and she nearly landed flat on her face. As she pushed herself up into a sitting position with her good arm, the biting wind swept the snow from her face.

Amy pulled her scarf down, under her chin. "Wufei. . . ," she croaked dryly. Clearing her throat, she tried again. "Wufei, wait!"

The Chinese man seemed to have heard her because he stopped and turned around, obsidian eyes flashing in the dusk. His brow furrowed darkly and Amy could imagine his lips pressing together impatiently behind his scarf. She pushed her own scarf over her nose again, licking her chapped lips. He'd wait for her. Even if he was going to sulk. Her eyes closed as she tried to regulate her breathing.

"Woman!" Amy opened her eyes again and saw Wufei running toward her, his eyes wide with . . . fear? What was wrong?

"Amy, behind you!"

Startled, she whirled around. Her breath caught in her throat, threatened to strangle her. A large, shaggy beast was loping toward them. Twin fangs, each the size of her forearm, hung from the creature's upper jaw, gleaming wickedly in the sun's blood red rays. Hungry yellow eyes were zeroed in on her, shining reflectively. The size of a large horse, the animal made Amy think of a saber-toothed tiger.

Screaming hoarsely, she staggered to her feet and tried to run. For some strange, demented reason, her feet legs decided that they just would not comply with her wishes. Well, there was gratitude for you. After she trained and trained and trained her butt off-

"Woman, run!"

"I- I can`t! I-" Suddenly, her over-active imagination kicked in, adding two and two and coming up-as usual-with five. In her mind's eye, she saw the beast's dagger-like claws rip through her flesh; brilliant red blood spill out and melt the snow that the crimson wave touched. The creature would disembowel her with its great, yellowed fangs, too large and powerful to see the need to even kill her before it began to feed. . . .

Suddenly, she had all the strength and energy she needed. Raw adrenaline surged through her veins, lending her nearly super-human speed. Everything but the path before her fell away in a grey blur as she hightailed it outta there.

Wufei watched in amazement as Amy zipped by, screaming like the madwoman he had always suspected she was. Where did she think she was going? At least she was running in the right direction. Regardless, he would be able to find her easily once he finished off the beast. He turned to the advancing creature, sizing it up carefully. The beast was huge and appeared pretty darn fierce, but he always welcomed a good challenge. Ignoring the biting cold, he whipped the bulky gloves from his hands and reached over his right shoulder to slip his broadsword from its sheath on his pack. Letting the pack slip to the snow-covered earth, he stood his ground, ready.

The beast leapt at him from a distance, taking the Alton pilot for easy prey. Wufei's eyes narrowed dangerously. He gauged his swing; timing meant everything. He stood his ground until the last possible moment, then dodged to the side, lashing out with his sword.

The creature buckled and fell to the ground, rolling to its feet easily. It shrieked at him, enraged and in pain. Wufei saw thick brown blood ebb from a large gash in its side. Lowering its head defensively, it circled him, giving him wide berth. Intelligent yellow eyes watched him, weighed and measured his frailties and strengths. Wufei pivoted in a slow circle, following the beast's every move, his sword held at the ready.

Suddenly, the creature growled and bolted, dashing past him to follow Amy's wind-blown trail. Swearing a particularly nasty oath, Wufei shouldered his pack again and loped after the beast, his bare hand still clutching the sword.

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Amy felt the adrenaline rush ebbing away. She didn't see the animal anymore, but that didn't really mean anything. It knew its surroundings better than she and could be waiting right around the next corner. . . . Dammit, girl!! Shut up shut up shut up- Gripped by fear, she let her pack fall to the ground by a small outcropping and ran on. I'll pick it back up later. When I'm sure of my impending survival. Now I just gotta run. . . .

Suddenly, she heard an inhuman shriek-a cross between Michael Jackson and a horny monkey (oh, wait . . . same difference)-from somewhere behind her. She cast about for a rock to dive behind, but abruptly realized that she was in the middle of a strangely flat basin amid the mountains. The other side was at least 400 meters away. Panicked, she whirled around to run back out . . . and found herself staring down the beast. It moved a little slower now, probably due to a large gash in its ribs.

Wufei!! Where is that little yellow devil?! Oh my God- I left him behind! Surely he should have caught up by now if he had run after her. Dreading the possibilities, Amy backed up slowly, watching the beast with a long, paranoid stare. Sensing her fear-hell, feeding on it like candy-it lowered its head and stalked after her.

It froze in mid-step, swiveling its ears as if listening to something. Puzzled, Amy strained to pick up the noise it was hearing. As she took another step back, she heard it: a sharp, cracking sound. The beast growled and continued to advance on her. Each step was punctuated with that oddly familiar sound.

As the creature placed a giant forepaw on the ground, something snapped. It's eyes shot wide open as it fell forward. It floundered in the snow for a while, then leapt into the air. Amy saw the forepaw shimmer with a cast of ice. ICE!! They were standing on a frozen lake!

Her breath caught in her throat as she turned to run. But before she could make good on her resolve, the beast landed right behind her. To her horror, she heard the ice give a sickening snap before buckling in under her feet. Burdened by the heavy clothes, she didn't stand a chance. the water closed over her head and she continued to sink. She kicked her legs weakly a few times, then doubled over, tearing off her mittens. Numb fingers fumbled at the boots, which were slowly taking her down to the bottom of the lake. After what seemed like an eternity, they fell away and she fought her way back toward the surface. But her lungs were already beginning to ache.

She saw, rather than felt, her fingers claw at the jagged ice above her. Without feeling, it was impossible to gain a hold. Suddenly-like a cheap sixties movie-her life flashed before her eyes. Before her mind's inborn defenses kicked in, making her black out, one thought resounded through her mind. Damn, my life sucked. As her eyes slid shut, she imagined a dark angel silhouetted in the dim red light above her, reaching into the water and gathering her into his arms.

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Wufei reached the mountain lake as Amy plummeted through the ice. In a second, both she and the beast were lost from view.

"Noooooooo!!!" Briefly, he wondered where the desperate scream was coming from. To his surprise, he found himself to be hurtling across the ice, screaming at the top of his lungs, his pack and sword left behind in the snow. He set out at a mad sprint, circling the creature's bloody trail and the initial spider webs cracks that were now visible beneath the thin sheet of snow. At the edge of the hole Amy had disappeared through, Wufei eased himself onto his belly. He squinted, straining to see into the murky waters, but twilight had already descended, obscuring his view. He lay there for a few moments, gaping at the sloshing water silently, dumbly.

Suddenly, water flew up, showering his unprotected face in a frozen spray. When he blinked it out of his eyes, he saw a pale hand clamoring against the jagged edge. A second later, it was gone. Wufei lunged forward, stretching his arm underwater, searching frantically. His hand brushed again wet fleece, the arm of her coat. Grasping the sleeve in a deathgrip, he threw himself backward. Amy's wet body slid from the water to lie in his lap.

Feeling lost, Wufei cradled her head in his arms. His trembling hands brushed her pale face, her blue lips. Blocking out his other senses for a moment, he concentrated on the air before her mouth, waiting for that telltale puff of condensation. After a short wait-though entirely too long for him-he saw it. His survival training suddenly flew into his head. He had to get her out of her wet clothes, out of direct wind, and warm her up. Fingers flying, he removed his own coat first, then hers. Moving fast, he slid her arms into the sleeves of his own dry coat and zippered the front.

Carrying her across his arms, Wufei trudged back to the place where he had dropped his pack and sword. Amy's head bounced limply with every step. Biting his lower lip, he tried to remember where he had seen the last cave. But before he could mentally backtrack too far, he reached the ledge where he had left his pack.

It was gone.

Wufei muttered a brief but scathing curse against the beast, and the snow, and the planet, and Griffin, and the mission, and Sally, and- Wait! A dark patch of ground beside the cliff-face, visible through the powdery layer of snow, caught his eye. Gently resting his unconscious partner on the ground, he knelt down to inspect it further. To his surprise, the dark patch was a bunch of slide marks leading to a nearly unnoticeable crevice. Damn. What if he couldn't reach. . . ?

Casting about for some divine revelation, he sat back on his heels and scanned the area. His eyes fell on Amy's pack, laying in the snow not even eight meters away. Perfect. Her pack should hold the same army pick and shovel as his did. Scurrying to his feet, he ran over, grabbed the pack, and returned to the damned crevice. Considering his luck, there'd be a rabid man-beast inside waiting to chomp his head off and crunch his bones. Just to be sure, he leaned in and sniffed at the back draft from the cave. Good; no animal smell. The cave was uninhabited.

Extracting the pick-head, Wufei knelt between the crevice and Amy, shielding her still form from the chunks of frozen rock which would soon fly. And fly they did. But in no more than five minutes, the small opening had been excavated enough to fit a human. Wu-hu.

First, the pack was shoved into the cave. Then he dragged Amy around until she was as close as possible without falling in. Lying on his belly, he wriggled into the hole backwards. Halfway through, he suffered a brief moment of panic. I didn't hear the pack hit the floor! Did the cave muffle it, or is there twenty feet between me and the ground? Having already cursed the majority of those involved in this mission, he began to curse himself. But before he could get into the really really nasty ones, the toe of his boot hit solid ground. Hissed swear-words (most of them unrepeatable) quickly and magically transformed into a rather pleasant Chinese blessing over the cave and a joyous prayer to his ancestors.

Planting his feet firmly on the ground, Wufei reached back up through the opening and locked his hands beneath Amy's arms. Slowly, carefully, he pulled her into the cave and braced her limp form against himself. Once she was completely inside, he laid her on the floor and sought out the packs in the sparse light that the crevice allowed. One had rolled a few meters into the cave; the other was nowhere in sight. He knelt and searched the remaining pack, more by feel than sight. His hand soon brushed up against the objects he was looking for: the self-contained fire pit. In a matter of one and a half minutes, he had a cozy little fire going.

Sighing softly, he turned to pull the crazy onna closer to the fire. Not close enough to invite disaster-knowing her, she'd find a way to roll into the fire and waste all of the effort he had gone through to save her. Once he was satisfied that she wouldn't be killing herself anytime soon, he crawled outside and collected her wet coat. In practically no time, he zipped back into the cave and spread the coat out onto the floor in the hopes it would dry before morning. With that done, he busied himself by blocking up the entrance with an assortment of loose rocks. Then he turned to Amy.

Kneeling beside her, he just stared at her for a few seconds, watching the firelight give color to her slack, whitened face. Crazy onna. . . , he mused. Shaking his head, he brushed her lips with his palm. Her breathing was still shallow; her mind had sent her into a state of hibernation in self-preservation. And she still wasn't shivering. He had to get her out of her wet clothes if she was ever going to warm up.

As he unzipped the thick fleece coat, he wondered what she would think if she woke up while he was doing this. "Nothing," he told himself sternly. "I'm not doing anything. She'd understand. She's sensible enough." He worked for a second before he realized what he had said. "For a woman," he added hastily.

Proceeding with a new determination, Wufei spread the coat out by the fire beside the soaked one. As he turned back to her, Amy began to shiver, her body shaking violently. Wufei tossed her sweater on the other side of the fire and began to peel her tee-shirt off. As it fell on top of the sweater, he unzipped her jeans and carefully worked them off her legs. "Damned wet denim," he growled to himself. His hands slid up her back and fingered her bra clasp, then hesitated.

No. She'd hate me forever. . . . Not that that's a bad thing. I don't need an emotional woman clinging to me. Sighing softly, he gathered her into his arms once more and gently placed her on the coat and rolled the sides around her. On second thought, he drew a blanket from the remaining pack and tucked it around her, hoping to trap as much body heat as possible.

Shifting slightly to the side, Wufei squatted as close to the fire as he dared. Hot as it was, it didn't seem to warm him. A phantom draft seemed to lurk about the cave, nipping at his torso beneath the sweater. He shivered and rubbed his arms vigorously, casting an uncertain glance at his surroundings. Jagged walls of stone and ice came alive in the flickering firelight. Nevertheless, it remained dead and cold. Well . . . maybe it wouldn't hurt to get a little closer. . . . He shifted again, huddled beside Amy's head, watching her pale face as the firelight played its restless games across it. To his surprise, it no more brought her slack features to life than it did the bleak cavern walls.

Touched by some atypical emotion, Wufei leaned forward and gently brushed the frozen strands of hair from her face. A tiny silver lockpick fell out of her stiff braid. Smiling slightly, he unbraided her hair, nimble fingers gently working the frozen locks into manageable tresses. Occasionally, he encountered a minute tool that had managed to remain woven in the loose brown plaits. In a matter of moments, he had a lovely little pile of glinting silver off to the side and a silken pile of hair in his lap.

Lost in thought, Wufei absently stroked the damp tresses as he stared into the "canned" flames. Such long, beautiful hair. . . . Like-

*flashback*

"I guess I'll have to let you. . . . It is tradition." Meiran huffed loudly and swung her legs off the side of the bed, smoothing her white nightshirt against the bed. Hard ebony eyes glared at the shaded window as though it held sole responsibility for every single misfortune which had haunted her in all of her thirteen years of life.

Wufei pretended to ignore her, instead turning to the wall to change into his own nightshirt. He stared blankly at his shadow, thrown and fragmented against the silken folds of drapery. Thus begins the first night of the rest of my life. He barely contained a sigh as he carefully folded his white scholar's shirt and placed it beside the dresser.

Will every night be this cold, this silent? As he tugged the nightshirt over his head, he afforded a sideways glance at the still silhouette of his newly wedded wife. I suppose we may learn to become more compatible. Neither of us is stupid. . . . But she's so stubborn! He quickly pretended not to have looked as she turned to consider him with her emotionless stare.

From the corner of his eye, he saw her continue to stare, unmoving and silent. He busied himself with smoothing down his white nightshirt for a moment. Heat slowly rose to flush his boyish ivory features. She wasn't going to let him have a moment's peace, was she? Finally, between clenched teeth and with much affected effort, he growled, "May I change, onna?"

"Of course you can, stupid." He could hear the insolent grin in her tone. "You don't have to be shy in front of your wife. I guess I`ll be seeing it all anyway . . . when we have to consummate this marriage. Be a man."

Growling, Wufei spun and drew his hand back to slap her before he knew what he was doing. Shocked, he stopped himself just before his hand connected with her cheek. Breathing softly, he glared at her for a moment, then snapped his arm back to rigidly hover by his side, his fist shaking with tension. "Don't be disrespectful to your husband, onna. There is no love to be lost between us, but we both know that petty bickering will make the rest of our lives miserable."

Wide, shocked ebony eyes hardened again almost immediately. As Wufei's arm returned to his side, she glowered at him. "Such beautiful words, husband, dear. Straight from a book, bu shi? So that's all they are; words. If I'm to respect you, then I ask that you do the same for me. I will not be the submissive bitch of a weak scholar wimp. If you're too weak to fight, then how can you fulfill your role in our domestic `life`?"

This time, his swing followed through and the sound of impact hit his ears with more force than the physical act. This time, her entire face reflected her shock. Slowly, she raised a hand to cover her cheek. Silence. She twisted away to face the window again. Silence.

Wufei swallowed and padded over to the dresser again. As he slipped out of his pants, he almost turned to apologize. Almost. But he firmly shook his head. No; they needed to establish the facts immediately. He was the husband, the provider, the dominant figure, the support column of the newest generation of the House of Chang. Not by his choice. Tradition. He shook his head. He could not change tradition. Especially for such a difficult girl.

Silently, he turned to the dresser. Encased in shadows, his pale, slender hand grasped the horsehair brush. He turned. She hadn't moved.

Silently, he knelt on the bed behind her. She bobbed slightly as the mattress shifted beneath his slight weight.

Silently, he extended the brush over her shoulder. She nodded.

Silently, he sat on his pillow. She lay down beside him slowly, resting her head in his lap. Her long black hair cascaded over his thighs and onto the bed sheets. Gently, almost tenderly, he ran the fine brush through her hair, brushing it out as tradition dictated. She balled her fists against her lips and stared at the blank window.

Silently, she cried.

*present*

Wufei blinked as the shadow-enshrouded bridal chamber transformed into the flickering walls of the cavern. Breathing an almost inaudible sigh, he slowly unclenched his fist, releasing the brunette locks that had been trapped within. The hand rose, wiping away the tear he had shed that night. The one Meiran had never seen. The one she had coaxed out. The one of which she was both the infliction and the balm.

Hearing a soft rustling noise, he turned his attention back to Amy. She was shivering again. Trouble already. He sighed again, shaking his head slowly. I knew it; I knew it. This onna will be nothing but trouble. But now what?

Body heat.

"What?!" Wufei scowled darkly as his startled reply was thrown back at him by the unyielding walls. "I'm not going to. . . . There's no way. . . ." He looked down at her purple lips and rolled his eyes. "This is your fault, onna. If you wake up, you have yourself to blame. I'm just looking out for the welfare of my new partner. . . ." It was good to sound so convincing.

But as he slipped his shirt over his head, he began having second thoughts. In a spurt of manliness, however, he quelled the little inner voices and stomped on them a few times for good measure. She would understand I'm just trying to save her life. There's no way it could be anything more than that. He spared her another glance as his jeans joined the pile of clothes near the fire. I won't . . . fall in love again. For a second he just stood there in nothing but his briefs, mentally berating himself. When his sweet little Chinese ass began to numb, he took action once again.

Steeling himself-for the sake of the mission!-Wufei unrolled the coat and crawled between that and the blanket, on the other side of Amy from the fire. She'd better appreciate this, he grumbled halfheartedly and, strangely enough, with none of his usual conviction. He tucked the blanket beneath his bare back and redirected his energies to exuding warmth, mentally wailing.

Hesitantly, he touched her sides. She shivered as though his hands tickled, but didn't leap up and bite his head off. That was always a good thing. Emboldened, Wufei slid his hands to her stomach and drew her close. In another moment, he pulled her closer, until her smooth upper back pressed against his chest and her buttocks, his hips. Ignoring the pleasant warmth of her body, he crossed his forearms over her breasts and clasped her shoulders.

In her unconscious state, Amy breathed a small sigh and lightly touched his arm with her hand. Then the cave grew silent. Wufei exhaled softly and nestled his chin in the smooth curve of her neck. He felt his heartbeat, strong and rhythmic, against her back. It might have been his imagination, but he thought he felt the same beat pulse against his arms. Smiling slightly, he fell asleep listening to the single beats of both hearts.

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