Author: Snow Tigra
Rating: R to be safe
Pairing: heheh Heero and Duo of course!
Warnings: AU, slight OOC for Heero, fae, goblins, mazes and annoying little brothers
Spoilers: Maybe for the original movie Labyrinth, but not likely
Archive: Fanfiction.net
Note: A big GLOMP and thanx to klc for betaing this for me!
"Life can't be easy. It's not always swell.
Don't tell me truth hurts, little girl.
Because it hurts like hell."
David Bowie - 'Underground'
Labyrinth - Gundam Wing Style Part 1
If there were ever two boys that looked this much alike, the world had not seen them. Now mind you, when I say alike, I do not mean identical in every fashion. For identical twins are created from the same cell, and therefore are two of the same being. No, I mean that despite the fact that these two boys had the same father and a different mother they still looked like mirror reflections of each other, with small differences here and there. These differences, of course, could not be helped, yet there were only two. Their hair, and their height.
The tallest one was, of course, the oldest. Many believed him to be a girl thanks to the long silky smooth locks of hair that flowed down his back and gathered into a braid, which reached his mid-thigh. His hair was his pride and joy, his late mother having loved it so. As a result in memory of her, he never cut it.
His younger half brother, on the other hand, had long hair simply because he wanted to be like his older brother. Being shorter then his brother made no difference in his life, for he endeavored to become his brother's reflection in every way. Or at least he had done so until about a year ago.
But in any case the two still looked like perfect reflections of each other save the fact that the older brother had hair the color of sweet caramel while his younger brother had hair as bright as fire.
Aside from looks the two were quite different. In fact, one could almost say as different as night and day. But perhaps night and day aren't that different.
The oldest brother, whose name was Duo, lived in a world of fantasy. His mother, Helen, had been a great actress before she died, and was well known for her roles in fantastic movies, plays, and all sorts of media. Her son, following in her footsteps, found himself drawn to things of the like. He spent his time reading books, tromping through the library, and occasionally, when no one was looking, acting out his favorite scenes as if he were the main character facing the archenemy in the final battle.
He decorated his room with stuffed animals his mother had given him as a child. They were all lined up neatly on shelves around the room with name plaques hanging below each, their names etched in large sweeping calligraphy. Posters of dragons, wizards, castle, knights and magical creatures dotted his walls. Red Christmas lights were wrapped along the walls and down his bedposts, and were the only source of light ever used on his side of the room.
Crammed against the wall between his closet and the main door to the room was a single bookshelf, overflowing with old beaten books which had obviously been read millions of times. He never left a book on that shelf long enough for it to collect a layer of dust before he read it again, but still he was reading new ones every week.
Contrary to the notion of being mirror images, the other side of the room was a stark contrast to Duo's. He shared his room with his younger stepbrother Solo, much to both their dismay. Solo had spent the first few years of his life in the house imitating Duo's every movement and following him like a shadow, and he couldn't have been happier. Yet Solo had finally found he wasn't interested in all of Duo's fantasy books or magical creatures. In fact he found them rather childish. So he abandoned imitating Duo in favor of different activities, though he still had no intention of cutting his hair.
His side of the room also had shelves along the walls. But where Duo had stuffed animals, and pewter figurines, Solo had models and various other gadgets. A desk was crammed next to his bed, complete with a brand new computer their parents had gotten him for his birthday. There were no posters from books on his walls, and no figurines. Instead they were replaced with model instructions, blueprint-like drawings, and various directions from computer games. Disks and CD cases were overflowed in piles on his side of the door, occasionally toppling to the ground, but never near the door. No, they were far too precious to be stepped on.
One room divided evenly into two separate worlds, with two separate beings that now only spoke to annoy each other. And their parents expected them to live like this for how many years? Duo being fifteen and his younger brother being thirteen didn't matter that much. In any case it was a long way for both of them until college, and they were still working on not coming to blows.
Speaking of coming to blows...
Duo glanced up from the thick book in his hands and glanced over at his stepbrother, who sat practically stone still at his computer, save for the movements of his mouse and an occasional blink. All around them the room was filled with silence.
Well, silence until Duo noticed the strange static noises coming from his brother's headphones. Turning his head back to his book, he turned the page and thanked his lucky stars that his brother was actually using the headphones this time. He couldn't stand Solo's techno dance music or whatever the heck it was called. That steady mechanical beat in the background was horrid.
Beyond the closed door Duo heard the front door shut, and the great grandfather clock in the living room chime five o'clock. Dad always came home at five o'clock on the dot, and he'd done that ever since Duo could remember. But five o'clock was more important for another reason. Dinner time. Closing his book Duo sat up and stretched, throwing his braid back over his shoulder. Walking over to his brother's desk he kicked the back leg.
Solo looked up and frowned at him, pulling one speaker away from his ear. "What?"
"Dad's home. Dinner time." Duo grinned broadly, just to counter the annoyed look on his brother's face, then turned and raced out of the room, practically flying down the stairs. He came to a landing at the dining room table without flinching, dropping into his seat and watching the kitchen door expectantly.
It took him a second to realize the table wasn't set as usual. Duo frowned. Not that he expected his stepmother to be a slave or anything, but she had this anal retentive tendency to have everything finished or set up the second Duo's father got home from work. She was like that with everything. Stiff as a stick and very strict, everything had to be right the first time, and it had to be perfect. She even threw a fit when her child, Solo, came home with a B on his report card. She'd tried that once with Duo and he'd simply stuck his tongue out at her, proceeding to purposely not turn in his homework for the next week. It'd really pissed her off and significantly lowered his grade. But at least she got the point, and no longer bothered him about his grades.
Standing up from the table, Duo wandered into the kitchen to see what was going on. He found it empty. That's strange, he thought. Shrugging to himself he walked back up the stairs and went to the doorway that led to their room. Leaning against the doorframe he watched his father bustle around the room, picking up several ties and tossing them aside after a moment's thought.
Duo's father looked up and saw him watching, he grinned at his son. "Help me find my blue tie, will ya?" he asked.
Duo nodded and stepped into the room, walking straight to the closet where he knew his father kept his favorite ties. He could hear the sounds of his stepmother curling her hair in the bathroom.
"Here it is." Duo pulled out the tie and handed it to his father, then sat down on the large master bed patiently waiting to get an answer about what was going on.
"Thanks," Duo's father said, taking the tie and proceeding to tie it around his neck. "You'll never believe what I saw in the front yard when I got out of the carpool today. It was this beautiful snowy owl, sitting right on the mailbox near your bedroom window. He had perfect white feathers with not a speak of dust on them and bright blue eyes, that looked almost human."
"Wow! Cool! I knew I should have read outside today instead of staying in my room."
Duo's stepmother stepped out of the bathroom, her hair pulled into a tight bun surrounded by tight little curls. "Honey, you know as well as I do that owls don't have blue eyes."
"This one did." Duo's father repeated, but then shrugged it off. Meanwhile Duo watched the two rush around the room, searching for purses, and wallets, and keys.
"Where are you two going?"
All three heads turned to see Solo standing in the doorway, in the exact same spot Duo had been standing only moments ago.
"The Winner's are having a fancy dinner at their estate and we were invited." Duo's stepmother supplied as she stuffed her make-up in her purse. Turning, she frowned and proceeded to straighten and tighten her husband's tie, despite his protests.
"So you guys get to fend for yourself for dinner," their father finished.
"Is there a pizza in the freezer?" Duo asked hopefully. He received a scolding look from his stepmother.
"Duo Maxwell, you know very well that pizzas aren't good for you. No, there is left over salad, and I'm sure you boys can come up with a perfectly healthy meal on your own."
Duo scowled and narrowed his eyes at the stiff woman as she turned her back to him. It was all her fault that he hadn't had a real frozen pizza in years, and even then he'd only gotten one because he'd gone to a friend's house. No, pizzas and other really good junk food weren't allowed in their house anymore, his stepmother made sure of that. He was convinced that it was her mission to make everyone as willowy as herself, and so Duo ate large amounts of the healthy food, just to make sure he never looked quite as thin as she wanted him to.
"Mind if I go out to Alex's tonight? He has some books I want to borrow."
Duo's stepmother shook her head. "Absolutely not. You need to stay here and watch your younger brother."
"I don't need baby sitting," Solo muttered venomously from the doorway.
But she fixed her son with a stern look and he went silent, retreating from the doorway to their shared room. Having satisfied herself with the fact that Solo wouldn't complain anymore she turned her attention to Duo. "You are not to leave the house, with or without your younger brother."
Duo grumbled and stood up, heading for the door.
"What was that?"
"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya." Duo stepped out of the room. "Ya old hag," he muttered under his breath as soon as he knew she wouldn't hear. Why his father had married a lousy stick in the mud like her he'd never know. Still grumbling to himself he returned to his room and grabbed his book. Flopping back onto his bed he reopened it to the page he'd left off on.
Minutes passed and soon his parents left, the grandfather clock in their entryway marking their departure with a loud dong for five-thirty. Solo returned to the room a few minutes after with a sandwich in his hand, crammed with tuna and lettuce. Munching loudly he walked over to Duo's bed and leaned over his shoulder.
"What'cha reading?"
Duo narrowed his eyes as a few crumbs fell from the sandwich on to the pages of his book. He brushed them away. "Nothing you'd be interested in."
Reaching down Solo grabbed the edge of the book and snatched it from his brother's hands. Shoving the rest of his sandwich into his mouth he closed it and flipped to the front. "Fae and other magical creatures?" Opening the book he paged through the beaten papers, not so kindly. He stopped on a particular drawing of a tall willowy man dressed in long midnight colored robes. "Another fairy book? Honest, Duo, when will you give up on this childish hobby and find something... less girlish to read?"
Duo sat up and snatched back at the book but his younger brother lifted it out of reach. He chuckled as he read a few lines.
"The Goblin King, eh? Looks like an anorexic jeans model if you ask me. What's this?"
Solo made his voice high and squeaky, like a particularly annoying teacher. "To call his great and royal majesty for revenge one needs only to mutter these words.
'I wish the goblins would come and take you away.'
"Oh please!" Solo tossed the book back into Duo's lap with a giggle.
Duo glared at his younger brother as the boy sat down at his computer and pulled out the headphones, intent on listening to his annoying music without them.
"Next thing I know you'll be going back to reading Peter Pan and Snow White!"
"You used to read these books too," Duo pointed out, trying to keep his cool. "As I recall you used to want to read every book I'd ever looked at."
Solo laughed. "And I am so glad I got over that little bit of insanity."
Duo snarled lightly and rolled over in the bed as the techno music started, greeting him with an instant headache. Rolling so his back was to his brother he reopened the book to the exact page his brother had read. He tried his best to ignore the little pest across the room and pretty much succeeded. The picture presented before him was quite beautiful, and didn't look like an anorexic model at all, but rather a very noble king who not only ruled his people justly but also looked damn sexy while he did it. Duo grinned quietly to himself as he reread the words his brother had just read.
"In order to call his great and royal majesty for revenge one need only mutter these words. I wish the goblins would come take you away, right now."
Duo glanced over his shoulder at his brother, who was now completely obvious of him and surfing the net while chatting and murmuring with the incessant noise he called music. Glancing back at the book he smiled a dreamy smile and closed his eyes. In his mind he pictured the Goblin King arriving at their window and whisking Solo away along with all the annoying stuff on his side of the room. Duo's parents completely forgot about Solo and he was allowed to retake the other half of the room, proceeding to decorate it with whatever he wanted. And the best part? They ordered pizza every night.
Smiling to himself he pushed the book off the side of the bed and stretched out, curling up with his large purple stuffed dragon. He groaned as his bother's music turned up a notch.
"I wish the goblins would take you away, Solo. Right now. Then things would definitely be better."
Murmuring those words he held the dragon tightly, repeating the happy vision in his mind.
The music snapped off.
Duo opened his eyes in surprise, he'd never known his brother to turn off the music that quickly, especially not in the middle of a song. Sitting up he noticed that the room was significantly darker now as well. Duo spun around, still holding the dragon with one hand and looked around, only to find that all light was gone from the room. His alarm clock wasn't even blinking.
The electricity had gone out?
"Solo? You blow a fuse again?" Duo dropped his dragon and squinted into the darkness. "Solo?"
No answer.
Standing up he moved slowly toward his brother's side of the room, making sure not to step on anything. He soon reached the desk only to find the computer was shut off, it wasn't even humming. He took a step further toward it and something cracked beneath his feet. Duo winced and knelt down; finding it was his brother's headphones.
"Solo? Where'd you go?"
Standing back up he gave a jump and fell to the ground, landing hard as everything electrical in the room switched on at once. The computer whirled to life, the stereo blared, the Christmas lights jumped to life, and everything turned back on.
Duo shielded his eyes from the sudden change of light and swallowed a small cry, meanwhile all around him he began to hear strange sounds like the scurrying of little rat-like feet. Blinking away the spots from his eyes, he stood up and looked around the room. His eyes fixed on the large bay window.
Wings flapped against the window and Duo gasped as he saw the white owl his father had described. Perfect snowy wings and bright blue eyes, truly a sight to behold! He completely forgot about his missing brother and approached the door. Carefully and slowly, as not to scare the magnificent bird, he undid the lock and pulled the two parts of the window open, allowing the bird to fly into the room.
Smiling brightly he watched the owl flap its wings and swoop into the room, landing lightly on Duo's bed. The scurrying sounds stopped almost immediately and the room fell silent, almost as if it were holding its breath and waiting for something. Then the most amazing thing happened.
The owl changed forms.
TBC...
Author's note: It was brought to my attention that I made a mistake in the first part. Solo is Duo's half-brother, not his step-brother. Oopsies! Thanks Kacfrog711 for pointing it out!
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