Labyrinth - Gundam Wing Style Part 6
Night had fallen, stretching its long cape across the Goblin King's castle and the labyrinth surrounding it, shrouding everything is a beautiful purple light. As the light completely disappeared smaller creatures made their way out of the cracks in the walls, much akin to fireflies as they danced through the air. The darkness was not given complete reign thanks to these small creatures and one was still able to see the path in front of them as they walked.
Duo paid little attention to the scenery though. Instead he just followed the fire demon quietly, his mind wandering back to his younger brother and trying not to let himself worry. Frowning deeply he quickened his pace and was soon walking beside Quatre as the fire demon skipped down the path.
"How often does he kidnap kids?"
Quatre's skip died down to a normal walk and he brought a hand to his chin in thought. "That depends on when people request it. But he used to a lot... not so much now. Still, judging by the number of goblins in the palace..." The little fire demon trailed off and shrugged.
Duo raised an eyebrow. "The goblins? Are you saying they were all human children at one time?"
He nodded. "All of them. Not all of them were wished away by family members and others, some were just abandoned or lost... or left alone. Its part of the old law, since time began the Labyrinth has been a place for those who have lost their place in their own world."
Duo stopped walking. "You mean like orphans, or those who run away?"
"Yeah, exactly. The goblin king has always collected them and brought them here."
Duo's eyes traveled over the small demon standing before him and tried to imagine the boy without his pinkish skin and red tinted hair, definitely without his tail and pointed teeth. It was hard to do. "Were you... human once?"
Quatre giggled merrily. "No, I've been a demon all my life, just not... a normal one." The boy turned away from Duo and hugged himself. "Demons aren't supposed to be happy and what you humans would consider cute. I'm a freak among my own people because I'm almost always happy and I don't like hurting other people. I don't like eating other creatures or hurting them just for fun, and I guess I'm supposed to like that stuff." He paused for a moment then turned back around, the smile back on his face. "So I wished to be taken away and I was brought here by Heero."
"But then how come all the human children are goblins?" Duo started walking again, not wanting to waste time, Quatre kept up pace beside him.
"That's one of the problems. In order to live here all creatures go through some small change. Me, I will never grow up. I already told you Heero is a child, I'm a few centuries older then he is and pretty soon he'll look like he could be my father. Other creatures, like Trowa, changed in perhaps a better way. I haven't met the merboy but I hear he has legs and can walk on land."
Duo nodded.
"The majority of merfolk can't do that. I don't know why he left his home and came here but I know that merfolk are not supposed to be able to live out of the water, and yet he is able to walk around like a human and swim like a fish."
"That makes sense."
Quatre paused for a moment and placed his ear to the wall, asking it for further directions, then stepped away with a bright smile. "Around the corner."
The two walked around the corner and found themselves stepping out of the warm pulsating area into another section of the labyrinth. This time thick trees surrounded them, plants in lines to create the illusions of thick walls, while a canopy blocked out the sky. A thin path appeared under their feet, curving its way among the trees and plants. Duo stopped and looked around, scanning the woods for Trowa. He glanced back at the fire demon.
"You can leave your area of the labyrinth and be fine?"
Quatre nodded. "No problem, just can't go swimming, that's all. Where's Trowa supposed to meet you?"
"I'm not sure, we didn't know where your area would come out so he said he'd try to find me. I guess we should try to find a body of water and contact him from there."
Quatre grinned and sniffed the air around them, skipping a little farther down the path. His nose wrinkled and he made a face. "There's water this way, but it smells really bad. Wanna try?"
Duo shrugged. "I guess that path is as good as any, unless the trees talk to you too."
"Nope, they don't."
"Well... it was a nice thought."
Stepping forward Duo started down the path, his hands shoved in his pockets. In his mind he was thinking over what Quatre had said about all those children coming to live in the labyrinth. And if Quatre was correct and Heero only took children who asked to be taken he wasn't that bad. After all, what child didn't feel alone at times? He knew he's felt that way many times in his life. So in a way he couldn't be mad at Heero anymore, especially since he seemed to have good intentions, even if he went about them all the wrong way.
So Duo decided he was still mad at Heero for stealing Solo... but he was starting to understand the stuck-up and stubborn king more. Though he wasn't sure that was exactly a good thing.
Continuing down the path he pushed a large clump of vines out of the way and ducked under them. One slipped out of his grip and fell back in his face. He tried to push them away again but that same vine always seemed to evade his grasp. Growling in frustration he grabbed the vine and yanked it, trying to toss it out of the way.
Above them came a thick hiss and Duo let go of the vine and stumbled backward just in time to avoid a thick furred hand with razor sharp claws as it swiped through the air. Duo's foot caught a root and he fell to the ground, his eyes widening in fear at the figure above them in the trees.
The large dark shape narrowed its midnight blue eyes and pounced down from the branches above, landing softly on the ground and stalking angrily over to them, its tail swaying menacingly behind it. Black fur covered its obviously human body while its hands and feet more resembled paws with razor sharp retractable claws. Glowing eyes narrowed on a furred face surrounded by a mane of long thin black hair with cat ears poking out where a human's would be.
Duo scrambled backward until he bumped into Quatre's legs, the fire demon refusing to move in fear.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't realize that was your tail." Duo stuttered out.
The neko-boy didn't seem to accept the apology, he just kept stalking toward them with his eyes narrowed and his claws extended. He circled them slowly, like a large cat sizing up its prey and Duo couldn't help but shiver.
"I said I was sorry." He gulped out.
The neko-boy came to a stop right next to him and hissed angrily. He raised a clawed hand when Duo heard a soft whoosh of air above him. Glancing up he saw that Quatre's hand held a swirling ball of flames.
"Don't touch him," the fire demon murmured softly.
The neko-boy took a few small steps back but still retained his very ticked look. Opening his mouth he hissed angrily, showing off his fangs, his ears laying flat against the sides of his head.
Suddenly the neko-boy pounced forward, hitting Quatre right in the gut. The small fire demon was so surprised that his ball of threatening flames snapped out of sight and he tumbled back to the ground, landing hard against a tree with a painful cry. Without wasting any time the neko-boy turned and pounced at Duo, catching the shoulders of his shirt with his claws.
Duo cried out in surprise and batted away at the neko-boy with one hand as his other searched for a stick on the ground to hit him with, or a rock, or something! He gave up the search quickly though since he had to concentrate on keeping the claws away from his face and body. The neko-boy hissed angrily, swiping at him with the very clear intent of ripping him to shreds and Duo had no idea how to stop him.
Then something cold and wet covered them and the neko gave out a cry of surprise. Quickly he retreated from Duo and cowered near a tree, shivering and shaking violently. Duo sat up and found that he and the neko had been doused with water, very cold water. Glancing around in surprise he found Quatre standing to his feet, rubbing his head, while Trowa stood on the other side of the path, glaring at the shivering neko.
"Trowa!" The neko-boy hissed angrily as he shook the loose water from his fur.
"Serves you right," Trowa countered back in a calm voice. "You should know better then to attack others just because you taunted them with your tail."
The boy's eyes narrowed and he hissed quickly, glaring at Trowa.
Trowa simply moved his hand through the air, beads of water appearing near his hand. Immediately the neko-boy stopped hissing and looked away, the water disappeared. Trowa turned back to Duo and Quatre.
"Sorry I hit you too." He said, reaching his hand down to help Duo stand.
"Hey, no complaints, at least you stopped that crazy cat."
The neko-boy stood up on his hind legs and gave his body one last shake, much like a dog would, sending the last of the loose water into the air and partially ruffling his thin black fur. "Wufei, the name is Wufei."
"I don't care what your name was, you attacked me!" Duo countered. "Serves you right that you got soaked."
"This is my forest, you are not welcome here. None of you are."
Trowa glanced back at the neko-boy. "I am welcome where ever there is water."
Quatre nodded. "And I am welcome where ever I may walk, as are all other creatures who live here."
"You may be, but he is not."
Duo sighed. "Look, I'm just passing through and I don't have time to waste. I have to get to the castle at the center of the labyrinth."
"I don't care." Wufei spat back.
Trowa just shook his head. "Lets go, just ignore him, he won't do anything while I'm here. He doesn't like getting wet at all."
The three nodded and started down the path, completely ignoring the outraged neko-boy as he just stood there staring in disbelief. How dare they walk through his territory and ignore him! How dare they!
Growling angrily he jumped back up in the trees and followed them, jumping from branch to branch as they made their way along on the ground. This went far beyond his orders from Heero-sama to not let them pass, this hurt his pride! So he decided to follow them and regain his pride, but he would have to be patient for the right time.
Wufei hated being patient.
~*~
The three came to a stop near a rather large lake as Duo called for a rest. He needed a break from all the walking, not to mention that there were these really small and annoying rocks that had somehow appeared in his shoes. Dropping to the ground he pulled off his shoes and dumped the rocks out. Quatre took a place sitting next to him while Trowa leaned against a close tree trunk.
"Quatre, this is Trowa, Trowa, Quatre." He grinned.
The fire demon smiled sweetly at the merboy, who nodded back. "I'd offer a hand to shake in greeting," Quatre said. "But I have a feeling it might hurt you."
Trowa nodded. "I don't do well with fire. But I thank you for the thought."
Duo slipped his shoes back on and leaned back, glancing up into the trees. Not to his surprise he found Wufei perched above them cleaning his arm in very cat-like movements, which made sense considering he seemed to be part cat.
"And you? You planning on coming with us to the castle at the center of the labyrinth?"
Wufei stopped cleaning his paw and frowned. "I am not following you," he growled.
Duo smirked. "Yeah, sure you aren't." Standing up he stretched his legs and yawned. Running a hand through his bangs he walked to the water's edge, his eyes scanning to see where they could cross. He took a step closer to see the depth of the water and there was a rustle above.
Duo frowned and glanced back at him. "What?"
"Don't touch the water, or you won't make it to the castle."
Trowa and Quatre stepped up beside Duo and Trowa knelt down to examine the water. Taking a branch from near the shore he dipped it in, only to see the water fizzle and the stick dissolve almost instantly. Duo took a step back in surprise.
"Acid," Trowa murmured softly. "Which would explain why I've never used this body of water to travel before."
"We still need to cross it to get to the castle, there's no other paths. So how..." Duo's voice trailed off as he scanned the shoreline. His eyes stopped on a path of upraised rocks creating a kind of natural bridge to the other side. Quatre followed his gaze and nodded, smiling.
"I'll go first! I'm the lightest." Practically skipping over to the path and hopping up on the first stone. His tail waved through the air behind him as he stood on the stone, testing it with his own weight. Smirking he jumped up and landed back on the rock, satisfied to find that nothing changed.
"Don't do that!" Duo cried out in surprise. "Do you have a death wish?!"
Quatre giggled. "It's safe, don't worry." With those words he jumped to the next stone and continued until he was all the way across, landing with a giggle of happiness and spinning around to face the rest of them. "See?"
Duo shrugged. "Go ahead Trowa."
Trowa followed Quatre next, moving more cautiously from rock to rock. His scaled feet scraped lightly against the rocks and he eyed the water with a small amount of fear but made it safely across.
Duo waited until he was safely on the other side with Quatre then turned and looked at Wufei who was still perched in the trees, cleaning his other paw.
"You coming?"
"No." Came his short and direct answer.
"Suit yourself." And Duo stepped up onto the first rock. He was doing fine, crossing the water but when he reached the middle rock he misjudged his jump and his shoe hit the curved edge of the stone. Duo gave a cry of surprise as he slipped.
TBC...
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