Author: Merula
Pairings: 1+2
Rating: PG
Warnings: AU
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine.
Left Behind
The bees swarmed in the honeysuckle, their humming offering a counterpoint to my pipes, the music hanging heavy in the warm air.
I dropped my pipes, ending my song abruptly. The bees didn't care, they continued to gather their pollen, go on about their tasks.
I envied them. What tasks did I have in this new age? My realm had grown smaller and smaller, forcing me to send more of my charges into those lands beyond. Most of my kin lived there already. They had thought me foolish for still venturing out into this world at all.
I tried to argue that we had a duty. That there may still be people who believed in us out in the world... they had laughed at me.
And then one day I had gone to the doorway- and found it sealed shut.
I was cut off from my kind. Alone in this world that wanted nothing to do with me.
It was not too much of a hardship at first. But then the world began to change, and I lost too much. Life grew tedious. Even music, once the soother and lover of all my hours had lost its charm for me.
My music. Once I had used it to lure unwary folks to me, for me to reward or punish as I wanted- now- now it seemed no one heard it at all. No one in this new age seemed to take the time to stop and listen anymore- even to each other.
I leaned back against the tree trunk watching the bees play in the honeysuckle underneath me and let my loneliness wash through me. I looked at my feet- misshapen and hideous, my legs covered with fur... once I had been thought- if not fair to look upon- at least not hideous. But then things had changed. Humans had run screaming from me- called me Lucifer and Devil... I knew those were no names of mine, but they never listened. If I managed to pull a sweet girl or lovely boy to dally with me, they cursed themselves afterwards- and once- once- I had followed one back to her village, and I saw her dragged from her house and burnt in the square...
It was too far from my forest for me to help her- and her screams and the shouts of the townspeople too loud to hear my music...
I stopped dallying with mortals after that. Better my loneliness than their deaths... my own kind were gone... and so I had been alone for a very long time.
It was enough for me to want to turn myself into a tree and just have done with it for good. But, I lingered- still hopeful... maybe someday...
An odd noise pulled me from my reverie. I looked up and saw that I was no longer alone in my meadow.
A human was carefully making their way across the meadow. I couldn't tell if it was male or female- the modern clothes were confusing- and it wore a hat that concealed its features. I spotted a camera dangling from one hand. Ah, I knew this kind of human. No threat.
I knew the forest I lived in was now a 'National Park' and that humans were forbidden to build any of those structural monstrosities in it- but it never hurt to be careful. Their 'science' could do nearly anything that magic could, and I knew they already thought of magic as a myth.
The human stopped, took a deep audible breath, and tossed its hat off. A long braid of copper uncoiled and dangled down- hm, must be a her- back. The last few male humans I had seen had cropped their hair- only women wore it that long these days.
The camera was immediately set into use. I wasn't sure what it did exactly. Humans used it to look at things, as near as I could tell.
I looked down at my pipe, lying forlornly in the honeysuckle. No chance this human would hear it if I did play. I was tempted to try- it had been a very long time-
But still... if she did... I wouldn't want her to be hurt...
I was being foolish. She wouldn't hear. And did I truly want to go through it all again? The dallying part was sweet, true, but the aftermath...
And wouldn't the loneliness be worse afterwards?
The woman was moving around the meadow with her camera. I wonder what she saw when she looked with it.
I watched her, wishing that she'd move the camera away from her face, noting that she seemed to lack womanly curves- she must be young...
She stopped in the honeysuckle patch below my tree and paused. Her head was bent, so all I could do was admire that fall of hair. The camera moved away from her face, and I saw her reach out with tentative fingers.
Too late I realized what she was reaching for.
"A syrinx," she said, her voice low and husky as she picked my pipes up and examined them. "Huh. Wonder who left you? Guess it's finders keepers," She moved to tuck them into her belt and I reacted without thinking...
"Give those back!" I tumbled from the tree and landed in front of her. "Those are mine."
She stared at me, her eyes growing wider in her face, mouth opening into a surprised O.
And I realized that she was in fact- a he.
"My pipes- please?" I asked, gentling my voice and reaching out a hand to him. "Please? I just want them back..."
"What... what kind of joke is this? Are you something for the tourists?" He managed to stammer out. I was relieved that he didn't merely take my pipes and run off shrieking.
"Please?" I asked again. "May I have them back?" Just in case he did decide to go running off.
He blinked and looked down at his hand. "Sure..." He held them out to me and I snatched them from his fingers.
"Thank you," I told him and flipped the pipes over in my hand, making sure I hadn't damaged them.
"You... what are you doing here?" He stepped closer to me. I knew it was foolish to talk to him, but I had been a long time without conversation of any kind.
"I live here."
"How- how long have you been here?"
"A very long time."
"I could almost believe it," he smiled. "Do you have family here? Is there more than one of you?"
I shook my head. "No. They've all gone. They left long ago."
"How come you didn't go with them?"
"I thought I needed to stay. That there might be some people left who believed in us."
"Are there?"
"Not anymore."
"So- you're alone here?" He looked saddened and I wondered why.
"Yes."
He gestured to the meadow. "But surely other people must come here- you must have company of some sort..."
I shook my head. "No- I hide. I watch. That's all."
"Why?"
"Because most of your kind believe that I'm evil. That I wish to harm them. My kind were not created for that purpose, but no one knows that these days."
The man smiled. "You'd be surprised. Are you a faun or a satyr?"
I blinked. "You know of my kind?"
"Of course. It must have been ages since you've talked to anyone..." He shook his head. "Will you sit and talk with me a while? Will you tell me of the old times if I tell you of the new one?"
I nodded and sat beside him in the grass. I answered his questions willingly, let him tell me stories of this time... and I was happy for that space of time.
That brief happiness was almost enough to pay for what came later...
OWARI
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