Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ My Kinda Fairy Tale ❯ Plotting the Attacks ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter Six

Plotting the Attack

//It was the next day before Quatre and Duo actually started talking about anything to do with Dorothy and Heero. It was turning into an interrogation.

"So tell me," Duo asked, his hands clasped in front of him as he sat cross-legged on the bed and Quatre lounged in Duo's wooden chair. "How are you supposed to help me, exactly."

"I have to get to know what the people you have to pick from are like. So I will follow you around."

"But won't people see you?"

"Not if I don't want them to," Quatre wagged a finger slyly. "As a Wish I can make certain, adjustments to the laws of physics. I can make myself invisible, fly, stuff like that."

"Can you make things appear?" Duo asked eagerly. At that, Quatre sighed.

"Sorry. That's confidential. Most of my powers I can't use unless it is an emergency and I have all this paper work to fill out before and I have to take an interview slash lecture from Ira and well, it's just not fun."

"Why is it I made the wish and you popped up right after. You did say they had to explain and you have to get some things before you left. How did you do that right after I made the wish?"

"See, we watch people all over the world, when you made your wish, we froze time for a bit and sent me over. It's a very routine procedure. You won't be affected or even be conscious of it. Me on the other hand will notice it. If another WISH employee or person enters I'll see time stop but I'll still be able to move. So in the middle of a conversation don't be too shocked if I disappear or move without you seeing. Some transfers take hours and I might not even remember the conversation."

"Gotcha. Won't people think it's weird if I start talking to you and they can't see you? And what exactly is the name of your, er, company."

"Then I guess you can't talk to me," Quatre said simply. "I work or WISH, stands for Wish's Inside Shadowed Housings. There's a long story behind the name I'm not authorised to give out." He gazed around Duo's room "Your world is quite amazing really. I mean, green trees. Who would have though of GREEN trees? And the sky, blue? That's just freaky!"

Duo scowled at Quatre making fun of his world but shrugged it off. They were interrupted by a loud rapping on the door.

"Prince Duo!" Wufei's loud voice boomed through the heavy wood. "King Solo requests your presence at the breakfast table!"

"Shit!" Duo scr-//

"Duo," Merian hissed. "For the love of God, look up! It's your damned homework and you only barely got off last time."

"Shit Maxwell," Wufei hissed between furiously writing down the lengthy assignment. "You have the best luck of anyone in the school."

"Huh?" Duo whispered as he grabbed his agenda and started to scribble down what was on the board.

"She called on almost everybody but you!" Merian ridiculed Duo quietly. "You are so damn lucky Maxwell. Hurry up and write before she notices you."

"Class," Madame Goulash said with her accented voice. "I want you to aim for faster notes. Surprising as it seems, your classmate Duo Maxwell was taking serious notes today. I want you to all take after him. Allonez, the bell is about to ring and you can get an early start."

Duo looked like a fish when Madame Goulash stopped talking. From day one Madame and Duo never got along. He was constantly a few minutes late for class and when he was on time, he always did something to get on her nerves.

As Merian parted for her next class, Wufei and Duo headed for their lockers. They were only about a hallway from each other. Wufei just shook his head in disbelief as they pushed their way through students hurrying to class.

"I can't believe you Maxwell. Not only do you get away with writing your english assignment in french class but you were commended for it. I bow down to your luck God and hope he works his magic on me too."

"I'm sure I'll talk him into it," Duo winked as Wufei parted down the hall. He pushed back a group of kids to get to his locker and spun the lock quickly. Even if his school was cool enough to get extra credits and stuff, periods were cut drastically.

He grabbed the brown bag Sister Helen had handed him before he dashed after the bus. The second bell rang and there was panic in the halls as the lazy kids sprinted down hallways until Duo was left alone. He quickly made his way to the café and slide next to his usual spot with Wufei.

Wufei pointedly ignored him as soon as the book came out. Duo just stuck his tongue out and began to write where he had left off.

//"Shit!" Duo scrambled to his feet. "I'm late! Damn it to- Quatre, did you happen to find a pair of black pants when you fell out of my closet?"

"No!" Quatre yelled back. They both started to throw things around as they looked frantically.

"Damn it! Once sec Wu!" Duo yelled as he leaned under his bed and began ruffling through. "Hey. Is this it? I think it is! Yes! Success!"

Duo triumphantly held the wrinkled pair of pants over his head. Then he rummaged with his free hand under the bed some more before he came out with a matching shirt. Then he looked over to Quatre.

"Um, could you turn around?"

"Oh, right!" Quatre smacked himself on his forehead and turned. "Human's are very modest about their bodies. I always forget my lessons!"

"Right," Duo said and started to change.

Meanwhile, Wufei was still outside and heard the conversation very clearly. Or at least, one side of the conversation.

'Is Prince Duo gone mad?' he thought to himself quietly. 'I think it is better if I don't report this.'

The door opened and slightly rumpled Duo stood and grinned in the doorway, his limp braid hanging over one shoulder.

"Hey Wu, I'm ready to go!" Duo grinned and started to push the shocked guard down the stairs. "Come on, we're gonna be late!"

Unknown to Wufei, there was a third person following down the stairs and making some very funny comments.

"Duo, why do you like squares so much?" Quatre asked as he tried out the stairs. He kept both hands on the stone wall and leaned heavily on it for support. He placed each foot down like it was his last. "It's unnatural!"//

Duo stopped, cracked his knuckles and looked at his watch.

"Shit Wu!" Duo exclaimed and grabbed his lunch. "I have 5 minutes before I have to be in math! Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Do I look like your keeper Maxwell," Wufei looked up over his book. Duo almost grinned at how close he had to hold the book to his face and the squinting marks. Wufei definitely needed those glasses, the sooner the better.

"Yes, yes you do," Duo took a big bite of his sandwich and had a huge gulp of his juice. Wufei winced and looked back to his book. Duo munched through his lunch quickly before the bell rang. They sat in comfortable silence until there was the first bell. Duo sighed and swallowed his last bite.

As they gathered their stuff quickly, Duo asked before he and Wufei had to split, "Have you seen Heero?"

"He was in Tech class this morning," Wufei said thoughtfully as they made it to the branch in the hall where they separated.

"Good," Duo grinned. "See ya tomorrow Wu!"

Wufei simply lifted a hand in farewell as they ran to their separate classes. Duo slide into the class a few seconds after the bell but Miss Nion was too busy straightening papers on her desk to notice him. He quietly sneaked to his seat and pulled out his books like he had been there all along. They had to wait before Miss Nion finally stood up and walked to the front of the class.

"Today we will be taking notes and talking about your assignments. For this class you may go and sit near your partner."

There was a lot of moving and talking until people got settled. Duo ended up going from the front of the room to the back with Quatre. They pulled out their books and began to label pages for notes.

There wasn't anytime to write in this class. Duo patiently waited and wrote until his hand was sore. He waited for the whole hour before they were finally dismissed. Duo wasn't even out of the room before he began running. As he ran he began to talk to himself and lecture himself like everyday.

"Duo, you have to remember to grab your History before Math! You'd stop being screwed like this and stop being late for class. You do it for the first half of that day, why not do it when you really need to? You have to-"

As it was everyday, Duo was stopped by a solid force. Only this time, Duo wasn't as polite to his human wall as he was everyday.

"Sorry Tro, but I have to-" it was about there that Duo realised this blocking force wasn't Trowa. "Heero!"

Heero smirked and offered his hand. Duo gratefully took it and gave him a huge bear hug.

"I haven't seen you since Friday! Where have you been!"

"I had some things to take care of on Monday," Heero replied as Duo dropped his hands. Then he offered the black binder. "Trowa was running late. He said you might need this. Do you want a ride home today?"

"Thanks Heero! And that would be great, Solo is gonna be on my case the whole ride. Shit, I'm late! See ya after school!"

Duo dashed down the hall to his history class. He was just on time. He sat in his seat near the back and opened his notebook. The class had to wait a bit before Dekim began the lesson, this time about World War II or something. Duo resolved to bug the person next to him for notes tomorrow at lunch and pulled out his worn notebook.

//"It's unnatural!"

"They make buildings bigger," Duo explained quietly, eyes darting to Wufei to see if he overheard his apparent one-sided conversation. Wufei didn't glanced back as they stepped off the stairs. They moved down the tangle of hallways and corridors to the breakfast hall, Quatre looked amazed at the tapestries on the walls.

"Look at the colours! Designs!" Quatre poked at the corner of a tapestry with a man hunting a boar. "It's truly amazing!" he looked to Duo who had stopped behind Wufei as Wufei unlocked one of the doors. "For all your miscomings, your people have a real sense of entertainment. The most decoration on our world is what you call a, what it is? Oh yea, an open flame. And even that is unusual; they are most usually covered and channelled. I could get used to this."

"I'm so glad we have your approval," Duo murmured as Wufei unlocked the door and they walked down the last hallway.

By then Wufei was sure the entire castle and kingdom were crazy. First, here was the ridiculous lax in security, his comrade dishonoured the serving women in their own bedrooms and bragged about over dinner (personally, Wufei found that one most informative but it was the principle that counted). The fact that the prince can choose his own bride (Wufei refused to consider that fact there might be a another groom involved, who would carry on the line?) and now, the Crown Prince, Heir to the throne, was talking to himself. Wufei sighed as he announced Duo to the breakfast table and hurried to go and spar with the other Chinese cadets. At least they made sense.

Duo stepped graciously into the room; not giving notice to his rumpled clothing and the few way-warred hairs that had escaped from his braid. No, Prince Duo looked every bit of the Crown Prince and inspected the seated Princes and Princesses like a holster looking over a herd of horses. Zechs Marquise stood and went over to Duo.

"Prince Duo," Marquise bowed and held out a hand to the left side of the table. "Today you will be dining beside Prince Heero Yuy of the Odin Lands."

Duo nodded and strode over to the end of the table nearest to the king's. Heero kept his face emotionless and Princess Dorothy who sat across the table offered a chaste smile. Duo sat in the vacant seat beside Heero as King Solo stood up.

"We pray to the Gods that this gathering of noblemen and noblewomen bring forth not only the prosperity of the Solo Kingdom but also encourage peace between the Twenty Kingdoms," King Solo lifted his goblet and the rest of the diners did too.

"So mote it," they chorused in sync and the king sat again. Then the room sprang to life with the clinking of forks and spoons as the first dish arrived. Polite conversation trickled over the young men and women.

"Prince Duo, I am honoured to have a chance to talk with you," Dorothy said easily as she reached for her cup of water. "I can only pray others like me have the opportunity to do the same."

"It is a rare prospect that I have the great luck to be seated next to a beautiful jewel like you, Princess Dorothy," Duo said smoothly and with a sly grin. He turned to Heero. "Prince Heero, I believe you and Princess Dorothy are old friends."

"Heero," he picked up his fork and knife and began to cut his omelette. "My name is Heero, I prefer not to have a title."

"Well, Heero," Duo grinned. "Call me Duo. Princess Dorothy, am I to presume you also would be inclined to go by informal tones?"

"If it wouldn't trouble you too much," she wiped her lips daintily. "My friends call me Dorothy."

Unnoticed by Duo until now, Quatre leaned over to the princess seated next to Heero and dipped a finger into the side of honey she had. He popped it into his mouth and his face twisted to one of pleasure.

"This, this, this," Quatre said loudly and he reached for more of the sticky food. "This is the best thing I have ever had! Dear me, Duo how do you not eat this kind of food all the time! If I could live here I would never leave this table!"

Quatre licked his finger completely, his expression clearly showing amazement and he groaned each time he found a morsel of the food. When he found it good, he reached for more. This time however the princess was looking. She screeched and scrambled out of her seat.

"There is a spirit!" she laid her hand on her forehead dramatically. "Will no one save me!"

"I don't see anything," Quatre looked around, invisible to the rest of the room. "And why would a spirit be here? They only work in abandoned houses and at night."

Duo rolled his eyes as several servants whisked the princess away and the room erupted into nervous whispers. Heero looked sharply at the fingers imprinted in the honey and Dorothy looked around at the disarray the attendants and chaperones were.

Duo glared in Quatre's direction who looked guiltily back.

"I'm sorry Duo, but seriously! Breakfast on my world is a grey paste, this is paradise! I can stand stairs if it means more of that stuff!"//

Duo was startled by the bell and quickly shoved his books in his bag as the rest of his classmates left. He could hear Dekim vainly trying to call Duo to stay after class but Duo ducked behind a tall girl and snuck out.

He weaved his way through the crowd and jumped over legs until he reached his locker. He dumped his bag and spun the lock as Dorothy came up behind him

"Do you have much homework?" Dorothy leaned on the locker next to Duo's.

"Not too much," Duo opened the locker and grabbed the last books he needed and shoved in the ones he didn't. "You?"

"A bit," she sighed. "You getting a ride with Heero?"

"Yup," Duo grinned and slammed his locker shut. "Just gotta tell Solo. I'll be seeing ya tomorrow Doro."

"Bye Maxwell," Dorothy yelled after Duo as he dashed down the hallway, stepping on quite a number of toes. She sighed and laughed at the curses that followed him down the stairs.

After a fleeting call to Solo, Duo happily walked to the student parking lot and quickly found Heero's beat up jeep. He also saw his strikingly handsome boyfriend beside it. Heero was leaning against the passenger side, hands in pockets and sunglasses on his face. Duo grinned at the picture he made. Slowly, as to not alert Heero, Duo brought out his camera and quickly snapped a picture.

Heero heard the click and wiped off his glasses. He glared half-heartedly at Duo. Duo held up his hands innocently.

"Hey! It's for my photography class!" he explained as he walked up to Heero and stood in front of him.

"You take it next semester," Heero reminded him as he opened the door.

"Just starting early," Duo kissed Heero's nose. Then he looked at Heero brightly. "Can I drive?"

"No!" Heero jumped and shook his head. "Never again Duo! I'm still paying for the last time!"

"Please?" Duo pleaded. "I swear, speed limit this time! And I'll even use the turning signals!"

Heero glared at Duo but Duo knew he was going to win. Heero sighed, defeated, and tossed the keys to the braided teen. "Fine. But this time when the cops are chasing you with horns blaring, lights flashing and fists shaking, you pull over!"

"Yea, what was their problem?" Duo slipped into the driver's side and snapped on his seat beat while Heero got in beside him. "I wasn't going that fast and my speakers were not that loud!"

"It was hospital zone Duo," Heero doubled checked his seat belt. "You generally don't do 120."

"Wussy."

***

Duo slammed on the breaks and popped the brake on in front of the church. Heero's fingers slowly relaxed their grip on the dashboard and pulled away to reveal the ten small dent marks. Duo grinned and wiped Heero's sunglasses off his face. He clipped them closed and leaned forward to give a quick kiss on Heero's lips.

"See, that wasn't so bad!"

"Duo," Hero said slowly and through clenched teeth. "Doesn't a stop sign mean anything to you?"

"It might," Duo laughed. "If I had bothered to pass the written test. But all I needed were my sexy looks and a cute female tester."

Heero sighed and unclenched his jaw. Duo laughed again and unsnapped his seat belt. He opened the door and ran around to Heero side and let him out.

"Well good sir," Duo grinned as Heero stepped out. "This appears to be my stop. I'll be seeing you tomorrow?"

Heero grinned slyly and wrapped his arms around Duo's slender waist. He leaned forward until his nose was almost touching Duo's. Duo gulped at the predatory look in the Prussian blue eyes.

"I guess so," Heero captured Duo's lips in a soft kiss. Duo smiled and draped his arms around Heero's neck. When they did break apart panting, Duo looked up at Heero shyly thought his bangs. Heero smirked back as he untangled himself and took the keys from Duo's lax fingers. He walked over to his side and started up the car. Duo grinned madly as he watched the white jeep putt out of sight.

The front door of the church burst open and with a flurry Duo was almost tackled to the ground.

"Guess what!" Hilde giggled as Duo recovered his balance and picked her up. "I got a gold star in school today because the teacher said I was the best reader in my class!"

"That's awesome Hilde," Duo started up the steps as the seven-year-old chattered on.

"And Bobby Rudders poured his chocolate milk in Brittany's hair and Ms Meehan got really made and sent him to the corner but Adam went and snuck Bobby out of the class and they broke into the grade eight class when they were having test and Mr Tee had to bring them back but Mr Tee's really scary and..."

***

Duo sighed in happiest as he settled in his single room for the night. When he hit fifteen, he had been given the tiny storage closest in the back of the church as a room and he was loving it.

He sat in his chair and pulled out his notebook.

// I can stand stairs if it means more of that stuff!"

Later, after everyone had been reassured and breakfast was over, Duo was wandering around with Wufei trailing after him, out to the archery range. Duo sat in the shade on a fence rail and watched the princes unwind at the targets. May of them had taken off their shirts because of the heat, some of them shouldn't have.

Duo settled down in his hiding spot and was relaxing with watching Quatre exclaim over a caterpillar and Wufei mumble about bad forms when Heero stepped out. Duo sat up straighter at the informal dress Heero wore. A green tank top didn't hide his well-used muscles and the ripped breeches showed off Heero's form like nothing else. Duo licked his lips.

He was down by an isolated target lane, near to Duo. Duo inspected him critically as Heero drew the string for his long bow. He carefully sprang the bow a few times to loosen his muscles and drew an arrow along the string.

With startling accuracy, Heero fired the bolt and hit the target. Duo gaped in amazement. The target was a small red circle on a board and at this distance it was an extremely difficult shot. Heero coolly lined up another shot. This one landed right beside his last. He fired three more bolts, each landed at almost the same spot. Then he turned his glance to Duo's hiding spot and his lips half turned up in a smirk. Duo gasped when he realised he had been spotted but Heero just unstrung his bow and walked away, leaving the servant to pry the arrows out.

Duo watched Heero leave and slowly let out his breath. This was going to be the most difficult decision of his life.//