|
"Time Walker"Written By: t-shirt Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and its characters are
copyright to Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and associated parties.
I make no money with this fic. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: AU/Fantasy/Adventure, Angst, fluff,
sap, WAFF *g*, mild language, light lemons or perhaps more like mention
of lemons. Pairings: 1x2, eventual 3x4, unrequited Rx1, eventual
6x9, eventual 13xU (can’t really put 1 now can we? O.o), Summary: When a historic timeline is thretened
a celebrated Time Walker is called in to correct the problem. However,
when he meets a beautiful young thief everything he has ever believed
in begins to shift and change as he faces the adventure of a lifetime
and fights against the complexity of his own willful heart. " Time Walker" Ch 3
** The afternoon was wearing on as Hiiro made his way back up the mountain but he skirted around taking a detour that would lead him far enough into the woods to safely make contact with base. There wasn’t much to tell as of yet, or at least nothing he was going to detail at great length. Walters had greeted him and secured the connection. On Hiiro’s side of the timeline he watched as the golden hilt of his sword glimmered and a ball of luminescent light formed along the tip. It was a much smaller and less static version of the same portal he’d passed through but took significantly less energy to maintain allowing communication between the two time periods. “Status?” Une inquired. “Chronologic anomaly confirmed,” he replied. “Objective?” “Unknown but believed to be hostile.” “Hiiro!” “Shut up, Relena!” Walters hissed and Hiiro sighed at the sound of a struggle. “Procedure?” Une grumbled. “Phase two initiated.” “How’s Noin?” “Irritated,” he snorted taking some comfort at the sound of the woman’s light chuckle but then silence fall. “Be careful,” the Lady said softly and Hiiro swallowed the tightness in his throat as he replied… “01 out.” Being careful was hardly on the top of his list but she always said it reminding him that there were people out there somewhere who cared if he lived or died. His mind shifted, his eyes closing as he reached toward the shadows of a short time in his life when none of this had mattered, when all he could feel was the sublime ecstasy of being wholly encompassed by a warmth he knew he would never find again. The walk back to the castle helped to clear his head and put things back into perspective. He had a job to do no matter how distracting his suddenly overactive libido was. The thief had been sweet but he was gone and the mission, as always, remained. He was given a room beneath the main hall just above the dungeons where he spent a good deal of the night ignoring the cries of the unfortunate as he prepared his demonstration. The servants had found any number of uses for the hollow gourds that grew wild in the hills giving him the chambers he would need to make a good show. Anyone interested in defeating King Dermail would be very interested in him once the day had past. His work was finished before midnight leaving his mind to drift on clouds that were not entirely unwelcome but the more he thought about Duo the less content he became. When he woke to the milling sounds of the castles inhabitants he realized he’d spent most of the night reminiscing about the longhaired boy and sighed heavily as he made his way to the kitchen. The woman there, a rotund lady with big, brown eyes, fed him well then sent him to the well to wash. Once clean and fully awake, his belly full and a clear path set before him he felt a little better. The king was informed of his readiness and exited the castle some two hours later with his entourage. Hiiro noted that one of the boy’s was by his side but the other had been replaced by an older boy closer to his own age. Dermail looked every bit the king from his trim beard right down to the way he looked down his long nose at everyone around him. His attendants fussed over his robes, the smaller coddling to his side as if for safety while the other fawned over him relentlessly. It was unclear to Hiiro exactly what was going on with them but it wasn’t the time to deliberate on it. “Good morning, Highness,” he said bowing shortly at the waist. “You have your wares ready to present?” the man asked tolerantly allowing his older attendant to smooth his cape. “If you would follow me,” Hiiro replied. “We have patronized your whims long enough,” the king grumbled. “Let us see this marvel you speak of.” “It would be unwise to perform the demonstration within the castle walls,” Hiiro explained. “We need only step into the field beyond the gate.” The man stared thoughtfully for a moment before the older of his attendants leaned forward to whisper something in his ear and the tendons in Hiiro’s legs tightened when he saw the intimate familiarity in the exchange. His eyes instantly fell to the child on his other side but the boy seemed quite content to hide under the wide palm of the king’s hand. “We shall watch from the wall,” Dermail informed him and Hiiro swallowed as he watched a coy smile curl the older attendant’s lips. “A clever solution,” he praised noting with satisfaction the approval in Dermail’s eyes. It took a short while to get everyone settled but he soon stood among the sweet grasses of the meadow with three gourds in hand. He heard the laugher and knew the men on the wall were making jokes, no doubt, due to the ridiculous notion that gourds could, in any way, be considered a marvelous invention. It wouldn’t take much, just a little light show really so he’d used his spoils sparingly but made sure he was far enough away after lighting the twine fuse that when the small bomb exploded with a loud crack and smoldering black smoke none of the debris harmed him. At first there was complete silence from the wall and he turned to watch as King Dermail staggered forward catching the wondrous light in his eyes before turning as shouts began to rise to place the second, slightly larger gourd. “You see!?” he shouted back to the king. “The result is based on the amount contained within,” he explained backing away as the second fuse smoldered and covering his ears as it exploded more violently making half the men on the wall fall to the ground defensively. Dermail said nothing and his younger attendant was hidden completely under his robes while the older cowered behind him and urged his retreat but the man was smiling as brightly as the sun. Hiiro set the third charge shouting a quick warning to the curiously brave who were gathering as he ran from the detonation site and dove into a ditch just as it exploded taking a large chunk of the meadow with it. Everyone within eyesight had hit the dirt including Dermail but his laugher could be heard loud and clearly as he rose to his feet again and Hiiro smiled when he saw the distant presence of Zechs in the west tower window. He knew the show would be of great interest to whoever was pulling his strings and sighed knowing that the wheels had been set in motion. There was no turning back and no way to know how his actions would affect the timeline but they had to flush the culprit out and this was the fastest way to do it. Dermail was quite excited when he returned to the castle insisting a contract be drawn up to ensure the delivery of more of the wondrous substance. Hiiro was invited to remain in the castle which fell in with his plans so he said good day and went to fetch the rest of his things and inform Noin of his success. “I sure hope you know what you’re doing,” she exclaimed. “Exposing these people to such a force seems a little extreme.” “Trowa has weighed the consequences thoroughly, I assure you,” he replied stuffing his long, riding cloak into a bag. “Of course,” she nodded seeming to come to grips with what was happening. “All right then, how can I help?” “Stay here,” he told her. “I won’t be able to contact base while I’m in the castle. You’ll have to relay information.” She nodded her understanding while he shouldered his pack and turned to leave but he paused at the door unable to look back as he added, “And if you ever happen upon a young man with a thigh length, chestnut braid… make damn sure you get a tracker on him.” “What?” she replied but he was already gone leaving her to ponder the odd command alone. When he returned to the castle he found a celebration already under weigh. King Dermail had apparently spent the afternoon making quick plans to show off his new weapon to his neighbors in the south. Little did he know Hiiro’s father nor his company existed but that was irrelevant. Since the gunpowder supposedly had to be imported he had at least two months to complete his mission before he was any wiser. A task that seemed to be moving along speedily when he saw that Zechs had decided to join in the merriment. The tall blond’s claims to royal blood were being researched much to Dermail’s dismay but he was ever confident that nothing would be found to support him and tolerated his presence as if he were a pesky fly. Most people ignored him as if he weren’t even there but Hiiro had no desire to segregate the man, on the contrary he made it quite easy for him to approach which he did the moment the time was right. “I’ve seen your face before,” Hiiro smiled taking a good look at him now that he could see all of him at once. Noin certainly had good taste. “Do you know who I am?” the tall, blond asked cleverly. “The ladies of the court hold you in high regard,” Hiiro smirked. “Though it is unclear if that is due to your claims of royalty or simply the resplendency of your person.” “A little of both I fear,” he chuckled and Hiiro wasn’t sure if it were arrogance that made him speak or simply the truth of the matter. “But I wonder,” he added turning cool, calculating eyes on him. “If you understand that when I am king your goods will be mine to command?” “I don’t see where it matters who has control,” Hiiro replied nonplussed. “As long as I sell the shipment there will be funds to acquire more.” “And what of the lives lost due to your ambitions?” The tone was cleverly disguised but Hiiro could hear the anger boiling under the chill surface of his words. “I should think anyone with a modicum of intelligence would surrender before that became necessary,” he reasoned. “Men, are not so easily enslaved,” Zechs snipped. “Men, are born servants to their own desires,” Hiiro countered. “Conflict is inevitable.” “Giving that man this kind of power is the same as murder,” Zechs snipped looking some of his well polished cool and Hiiro smiled. “Do you have a better proposition?” Zechs eyed him cautiously for a moment before glancing about and asking, “Would you consider redirecting your shipment?” “That would depend entirely on the compensation,” Hiiro replied. Things were looking up. Zechs had been most eager to strike a deal but had to contact his men who Hiiro already knew to be the infiltrators he was after. He had to be careful not to move too soon however, as he was unaware of how many displaced individuals needed to be removed. Any indigenous persons that had been exposed would also need to be dealt with and he couldn’t be sure how long these people had been there worming their way into a position to act. The manipulation of the timeline was a delicate action that took great effort and constant attention to achieve successfully. So far, the Society was certain they had contained any major shifts but the truth was unless some evidence that a fluctuation had occurred was created before the time that it happened, such as a prophesy, there was no way to be sure. The timeline would simply shift and all events from that moment on would become the truth regardless of what it had been before. No one in the future would have any recollection of the world as it had been because it would have never existed. He had already altered the timeline in Cherryton in some moderate way by disturbing the kings lethargic reign and prompting him to consider an invasion that would have otherwise never entered his mind. The only consolation was that the invasion could not take place without the promised goods and Hiiro had no intention of letting any of these people get their hands on a substance that was not properly in time with their era. Whoever was working with Zechs was aware of this factor as well though the possible introduction of such a thing would not necessarily have been recorded in the history books if nothing ever came of it. There was still a danger that they would guess his identity making caution a high priority so he stowed what was left of his stash behind a brick he’d loosened in the wall of his room and prayed that Trowa had not made his first mistake. ** “Relena,” Trowa sighed having found the girl puttering around in the dark control room. “What are you doing?” “He hasn’t checked in,” the girl sighed pulling up the communication logs again. “Noin said he won’t be contacting us directly as long as he’s staying in the castle,” he reminded her shutting down the delicate machinery. “You should get some sleep.” “Can you ping his beckon?” she asked stubbornly. “Its fine,” he sighed. “There’s no way to know for sure unless it’s tested,” she argued. “Relena,” he groaned but the girl was relentless when it came to Hiiro. If she hadn’t been the daughter of their benefactor and boss he’d have tossed her out a long time ago. “It’s the only way to be sure!” she snipped trying to pull up the proper programming to do it herself. “Stop,” he sighed pushing her hands away and taking a seat. “Fine, but when it proves in working order you are going to bed.” “All right,” she smiled anxiously. The task was simple enough and would cause no ill effects in Hiiro’s timeline so he did it just to appease her smiling when the signal came back in perfect order. “You see?” he smiled soothingly. “He’s fine just as Noin said.” Her face darkened as a shadow of doubt clouded her eyes. “It still doesn’t mean…” “You have to stop this,” he told her not unkindly. The shadow cleared somewhat as she smiled sadly, “I know,” she nodded, “I just worry so much when he’s away.” “He’s given you no reason to believe he will ever reciprocate your feelings,” he reminded her. “He cares for me,” she insisted. “He cares for us all,” Trowa countered. “But right now he needs our support. If you truly love him then think about what you can do for him.” Her eyes shifted to the blinking confirmation on the screen and she smiled and nodded before taking her leave. Trowa cleared the screen and sat back in his chair, his fingers running absently over the keyboard to his right that was connected to the control module for the gateway and slowly closed his eyes. “Soon.”
~ * ~ tbc... |
