Angel Feathers and Dragon Scales 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of the places or anything else I've mentioned here!
Warnings: OOC, TWT, AU, Yaoi/Shonen-ai, Fantasy, Welsh, sap and fluff, probably. There will undoubtedly be a lemon, or at least something citrus for you to look forward to in later parts.
A/N: I live in North Wales, UK, and this place is so beautiful that I had to set one of my fics here. The Great Orme and the Little Orme are two mountains, by the way, if you were wondering, and Llandudno is a seaside resort town with two long beaches, the North and West shores. Please forgive me if my geography is a little skewed, I've not been to all the places I'm mentioning here, and I'm changing "Hiding Cave," which is a real place, into something huge, whereas it is probably very small and boring in real life. I'm also really, really screwing with Welsh mythology, changing legends and just making some things up, so don't take any of this stuff as real legends, they're not!
Welsh: Just a little word on the Welsh language, for those who don't live here. I think this is right, but I'm actually English, though I took Welsh lessons in school. There will probably be a few Welsh words in this fic, names of places and such, and here's roughly how to say them.
LL: Double L is pronounced "C" So Llandudno is said "Clandudno." You have to hiss it slightly, but that doesn't really matter.
DD: Double D is said "TH," but quite drawn out. Dda is said "Thaa."
I hope that helped a little! If anyone Welsh is actually reading this, and is appalled at how bad my Welsh is, feel free to flame me, I deserve it!
Angel Feathers and Dragon Scales, part one.
By Koneko Shido.
Duo Maxwell dumped his bags down on the bed nestled in the corner of the cozy little room that would be his home for the next three weeks. It was a lot smaller than some of the hotels he'd stayed in, but it didn't really matter to him. It wasn't as if he had anyone to share the small space with... He shook himself out of the bad mood that was threatening to take hold of him and grinned happily. He'd needed a break from all the busy, suffocating panic of city life on L2 and this seemed like the perfect place to come to get away from it all. Wales. It was beautiful, really. He'd flown over it and spent every second looking out of the window, wanting to take in every snow-capped peak and misty valley of the Snowdonia national park, the cool gray and dark blue of the calm sea caressing the rocky edges of the coast and the fields of lush grass. After the artificial, perfectly timed and fake weather of L2, with sun and rain scheduled days in advance, this place was like a breath of fresh air, which indeed it was. The air was real here, not recycled and already breathed by countless other people.
Duo parted the lace curtains and opened the window, leaning out and letting the rain coat his face and hair. It wasn't a downpour, simply a haze of tiny droplets hanging in the still air, saturating everything it touched. There was a feeling of stillness and calm in the air that Duo had never felt on L2, like the whole of nature was holding its breath, ready for the first boom of thunder to echo across the sky. All hell was about to break loose in a huge storm, and Duo fully intended to be right out in the middle of it.
He rushed through unpacking, knowing that if he didn't do it before he went out he would probably be too drenched and tired to do it when he got back. Clothes in the big wooden wardrobe, books on the table, toothbrush beside the sink in the small bathroom... He smirked as he took out the liters of shampoo and conditioner he needed for his hair, braided at the moment in a neat plait down his black-clad back. It was his pride and joy, a thick, silky mass of wavy chestnut curls that almost made some people mistake him for a girl. That and his wide, violet eyes, but once he spoke it was confirmed that he was most definitely male, with his cheerful, husky voice.
Duo took a moment to grin at himself in the large bathroom mirror then grabbed his long, leather coat from the bed, plus his bag with a map and a snack for later in, then rushed out of the door, not wanting to miss the start of the storm. He locked the door behind him and glanced at the key, glad that the name of the hotel was written on it so he could tell it apart from the others. "Llamedos." He read it backwards and smirked, then popped the key into his rucksack and strode off down the hall, waving cheerfully to the girl on the front desk as he left.
Duo looked at his map of Llandudno and chewed on his thumbnail as he tried to decide where to go first. He wasn't really in the mood for being around a lot of people, not that there were many out with the storm coming and all. A name on the map caught his eye and he squinted to get a better look. Y Gogarth. The Great Orme. What on Earth and all the colonies was an "Orme?" It looked like a small mountain to him, and he raised his head from the map, realizing that he wasn't in fact very far away from it. Sure enough, there was the great Orme, a great, rocky mountain sticking out from the gray sea, white waves crashing against its sides. He turned the opposite way and took a look at the Little Orme, a slightly smaller mountain on the other side of the town. The North shore of Llandudno stretched between them, lined with hotels and a long promenade.
It seemed that the Great Orme was closer, and it was also the one that tourists visited, though not in this weather. There were cable cars and a ski slope, as well as the silver snake of a toboggan run winding its way down the gentler side of the mountain.
Duo took a closer look at his map and grinned. None of the attractions would be open with such a tempest on the horizon, but there were other attractions available to energetic and adventurous people like Duo. Around the edges of the Orme were a number of caves and places with interesting names that Duo decided he would very much like to visit. He began to walk up the long, winding path to the top of Y Gogarth while he gave the map further attention, laughing out loud at the names of some of the places marked there. "Frogs Head?" "Free Trade Loaf?" What in the hell did that mean? "Invalids Walk?" "Hell's Stones?" "Bishops Quarry?" Interesting-sounding places, but another name caught his eye. "Llech," or "Hiding Cave." It looked inaccessible on the map, but Duo was curious as to exactly what might be hiding there, so he headed towards it.
He followed the Zigzag summit path up to the Orme mines, and then cut across towards the Monk's path, watching the white mountain goats run when he passed close to them.
Just as Duo reached the rocks known as "Carnedd Cairn," the storm finally hit. The heavens were ripped open by a great roar of thunder and the rain went from a light mist to a torrential downpour in seconds. Duo laughed out loud, dancing about, the white bursts of lightening flashing in his eyes and lighting them up as he tried to watch the rain falling without getting it in his eyes. He howled to the storm and began to run, laughing like a crazy person because he'd never felt so alive on the plastic, perfectly predictable environment of L2. Faster and faster he ran, uncaring of the fact that he was now soaked to the bone, not stopping until he reached the very edge of the Orme cliffs at Squatters Rock. He looked down, grinning at the huge, angry waves hurling themselves at the rocks, bursting against them and falling back down into the sea again, defeated, only to pull back for a moment then race forth again.
Duo looked out over the gray sea, over the white-topped mountains of the waves, seeing the faint lights of another town far in the distance across the sea, out through the rain that pounded into the sea like bullets. It was amazing, he felt as though he were the only person on the earth, and the world was putting on this spectacular show of all its violence and chaos just to welcome him down to the planet from the colonies floating far above, oblivious in their quiet, repetitive lives, moving slowly in their orbit around the living, breathing sphere of the Earth.
He laughed at that, wondering why he was in such a poetic mood, and continued his walk along the cliff edge in the driving sheets of rain. He came first to a place called the "Hornby Cave," but the name didn't interest him as much as the "Hiding Cave" did, it felt as though something was pulling him there; he was drawn to it.
The rain was chilling him even through his coat but he ignored it, reasoning that as soon as he got to the cave he could have shelter whilst still being able to see the storm, and there was no point worrying about the cold or wet now, since there was nothing he could do about it anyway.
Finally, a little tired and dripping wet, Duo reached the cliff above Hiding Cave. He looked down through the blinding rain and decided that, even though there were countless warning signs telling him not to, he would climb down to the dark entrance he could just see below him.
Ducking underneath the wire fence that was supposed to keep people from doing exactly what Duo was doing, he walked right up to the edge and took another, better look down at the cliff side. It wasn't all that high, and there were plenty of handholds for him to use to reach the cave mouth, which was quite close. He knelt on the sodden grass and turned away from the cliff, lowering his feet over the edge and slowly, carefully climbing down. It wasn't hard, and he liked rock climbing anyway. The risk that he could slip and fall into the waves below only proved to excite him further and he grinned, imagining that the sea was clawing at the rock, trying to reach him.
After a few minutes, Duo swung into the cave mouth and landed with a thump.
"Oww," he muttered, but quickly forgot his pain as he stood up and looked around him.
"Wow..." Was all that he could manage, taking in everything with big, wide eyes. The waves were crashing against the cliff below the cave entrance, occasionally doing so with enough force to send a spray of water into the cave. Inside the cave was quite small, but there was some kind of dark passageway in the very blackest corner, looking very creepy and ominous to anyone but Duo. He headed straight for it, not even taking the time to dry off. Luckily, he was prepared for almost anything, and had a torch in his bag.
The light from the torch glinted off veins of Quartz crystal running along the walls, and Duo followed the tunnel down into the depths of the Orme, imagining that he had entered the mouth of a great dragon and he was now walking down its throat on his way to the stomach of the beast. The rumble of thunder outside made his fantasy seem more real, and Duo was so engrossed in his dragon theory that he gave a startled shriek when there was a fluttering ahead of him and a chorus of ear-splitting squeaks. He ducked, heart racing as what seemed like thousands of bats shot past above his head, disturbed by his torchlight.
Once the bats were gone and the only sound once again was the beating of the rain and the roar of the waves and thunder outside, Duo stood up straight, blinking.
"Jeez..." He muttered, and continued on his way, keeping a lookout for more bats. He didn't find any, however, and soon the tunnel widened into a huge cavern with limestone spikes hanging precariously from the roof above him. There was a steady dripping sound as water seeped through the ground into the cavern where he stood and Duo shone his torch all around the huge place, exploring in between the pillars of rock that stretched between the floor and the ceiling. Everything sparkled with crystals and fool's gold, making the whole place seem like some fairy grotto where a magical creature might reside. In fact, it was. Little did Duo know, but he wasn't alone in the cave. A ghostly figure watched the braided boy, its startling blue eyes watching his every movement. What was even more startling about the figure was that he was completely transparent, as insubstantial as a spirit, which is in fact what he was, his body having been frozen in crystal for countless centuries, binding his soul to this enchanted cavern until such time as a suitable person should free him. He watched the boy, wondering what the strange light-giving device he held was. Could this violet-eyed boy be a sorcerer? A warlock, perhaps, come to seek his power? Well, if this was a creature of evil, he need not have bothered. Only one pure of heart and soul could release him from his crystal tomb. That was if he could find it.
Duo felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise, making him shiver. He turned quickly, getting the uncomfortable feeling that he was being watched, and caught sight of a shadow flitting between two pillars at the far end of the cavern.
"Hello? Hey, anyone here?" Duo called, listening to his voice echoing around the enormous room. No reply came, so Duo decided that it must have been an animal, another bat, perhaps. That or his overactive imagination. He shrugged and turned in the other direction, padding towards the very back of the cave. Once he reached this darkest corner, he paused, something in the darkness catching his eye. He walked towards it, shining his torch over whatever had distracted him, and stopped short when he came face to face with a flat wall of smooth, shining crystal. It was beautifully clear and looked polished until the surface was almost like a mirror, showing his reflection. He placed his hand on the cool stone, running it over the flat surface, and peered deep into the depths of the mirror-like plane, beginning to make out something inside, just visible if he squinted past his own reflection. Something... a shape, there inside the crystal. An idea struck him and he changed the angle of his torch slightly, moving it towards the ground until the reflections became hardly noticeable and the inside of the crystal became clear. Duo peered once again into the crystal wall and froze. A pair of Prussian blue eyes stared back at him, blinking. Duo's jaw dropped as he took in the rest of the figure inside the crystal, the slim boy about his age with a mop of wild, dark brown hair and shining silver armor, a long sword in one hand with a golden dragon entwined about the hilt. Then Duo's eyes traveled up, and he felt his heart skip a beat. At the boys back hung a huge pair of white, feathery wings, frozen where they were spread out at his sides. Duo snapped back to reality with a jerk, scrambling back with wide eyes, never moving his gaze from the angel trapped in the crystal. He couldn't speak, or even move as the torch dropped from numb fingers. An angel... There was an angel frozen inside the wall... and it had blinked at him. Duo's eyes slowly traveled back up to the face of the angel and he almost had a heart attack as he realized that the angel was watching him, following his every move with those piercing blue eyes.
A slight smirk crossed the lips of the angel for a moment, all the warning Duo got as a great rumbling noise broke the silence, far louder than the thunder still raging forgotten outside.
A huge, deep crack split its way down the crystal wall, and golden light began to stream out from within, so bright that Duo had to raise his hand to cover his eyes, staggering back. Then, after a few moments more of the deafening rumbling sounds and crashing of breaking rocks, everything went deadly silent and the cavern was plunged into darkness again, the torch having been jarred off by a falling chunk of crystal.
Duo scrambled back until he came up against a hard surface, then dug his lighter out of his pocket, raising it hesitantly up so that it was level with his face.
He flipped the flame into life, taking a moment to adjust his eyes, then looked over the flame, his eyes widening. Right in front of him stood the angel, the light from the flame dancing in his eyes, peering at the braided boy interestedly.
Duo screamed loud enough to wake the dead.
TBC