A.N.  Okay, this is a story that I just can not for any reason get out of my head, which is causing me to develop a slight case of writer’s block for A Weekend to Remember.  So in order to relieve some of the tension on my poor little brain, I decided to at least get the prologue of this story out so that I can concentrate more on my other fic.  I hope you guys will enjoy this story as much as my other one.  I’ve been putting a lot of thought into this one as well.  I guess that’s my problem.  I think too much.  *shrugs* Oh well. 

 

Disclaimer:  I have never, nor will I ever own any part of Gundam Wing. 

 

Warning:  This fic is going to be very different from anything I have ever written.  Yes, this fic will contain a little bit of humor and a little bit of romance, as well, but for this fic I’ve decided to do an action/adventure.  It’ll probably stay more on the adventure side since I’ve never written an action sequence before, but we’ll just have to see how everything turns out.  Also, I guess you can consider this an AU since a majority of this fic will take place in a different time.  Okay, that’s all I’m going to give away for now.  So if what I’m saying so far sounds good, then by all means continue.

 

Forever Warriors Prologue:  Darkness Rising

 

The night was dark and cloudy with danger lurking at every turn.  The forest was no stranger to all that happened beneath the cover of its trees, and neither was the young woman running through it all as if something or someone were after her. 

 

She ran as if her life depended on it, and it did.  She and every other person in her tribe were in danger.  She knew that the peaceful life that they had known would not last forever.  Not with the Tatakais’ vow to return. 

 

The Tatakais are the ancient enemy of her people, the Heiwas.  The Heiwas were generally a peaceful tribe, but if the Fates felt their need to test them, then her people never failed to do what was necessary to defend their freedom or honor. 

 

The Heiwas battle with the Tatakais goes back many generations.  How it all got started was irrelevant now, what mattered was that the time for bloodshed was almost upon them once again.  And this scared the young woman more than anything. 

 

She has never seen the horrors of war herself, but she has heard enough about it to do everything in her power to protect her loved ones. 

 

‘Almost there.  Almost there.’  She kept mentally repeating to herself.

 

There. 

 

‘At last.’  She finally saw the light glowing inside.  She began running faster because a new wave of adrenaline kicked in.  Finally reaching her destination, she burst in through the front door of the home she shared with her sister.

 

“Lila!”  She screamed. 

 

“AAAhhh!  What?”  Lila screamed, and then upon realizing it was only her sister bursting in she could not help yelling at her.  “Mia, what is your problem?  Are you trying to scare me half to death?  Are you mad, bursting in here like that?”

 

“The time has come.”  Mia informed her.

 

“Time for what?  I’ll tell you what time it is.  It’s almost bedtime and way past the evening meal, which you missed by the way.”  Lila reprimanded.

 

“I’m sorry, sister, for being late, but I have a very good reason.”  Lila was four years Mia’s elder and since both of their parents have since died, Lila was in many ways both Mia’s guardian and sister.

 

“Well?”  Lila inquired with a raised eyebrow and both her arms crossed over her chest.

 

“I went to go see Mad Maggie.”

 

“What?  You went to go see that old crone!  Young lady, I thought I told you…”

 

“I can take care of myself.”

 

“Yeah right.”

 

“Lila, I know you took it upon yourself to care for me when momma died five winters ago from the sickness, and I am grateful and love you very much for it, but you’ve got to realize that I’m no longer a child.  I’m seventeen for crying out loud.” 

 

The sickness claimed the lives of many of her people five years ago.  It took away their mother and brother.  Their father died in a hunting accident when Mia was only five.  Miraculously, the two sisters survived and were able to stay together. 

 

Lila sighed then said, “However, I’m still waiting for an explanation.”

 

Mia sighed too then sat in front of the small fire.  “I had a dream last night.  And I wanted to make sure it was just that, a dream.  I had to make sure it could mean nothing more.”

 

Lila sat down next to her sister.  “That must of been some dream.”

 

“It was horrible.  I can still remember the smell of blood, the stench of death, and fear of loosing everything and everyone I know.”  Lila was very quiet not having anything to say to her sister’s confession.  “So I went to the one person who could set my fears at ease.  You know just as well as I do that every one of Maggie’s premonitions have come true.”  Mia absently wiped a tear from her eye as she thought about every lost loved one.

 

“Mia, I don’t think…”

 

“NO!”

 

“Lila, listen to me.  I was afraid that my dream could be the one that foretold the coming of the prophecy.  So, I went to her.”

 

“I hardly think that…”

 

Mia sighed.  “Everyone knows that prophecy by heart.  So I know you can not deny that it exists.”

 

“I know it exists, but how can you be so sure?”

 

“Well, for one, the summer solstice has come and gone forty times.  Still another reason is that while our people have lived a peaceful existence it has not been the best of times, which has put us in serious danger.  Meanwhile, our enemy has been elsewhere and probably had the chance to resurrect into an unstoppable force.  And finally, we are without a leader to unite us.”

 

“We have the tribal elders.”  Lila tried to reason.

 

“Those old farts probably don’t even know how to string a bow!”  Mia suddenly got pleading eyes with her sister.  “Lila, think about it.  What if the time has come for the Tatakais’ return?  Right now we are totally defenseless against them.  We’ve known that one day we’d have to face our past, and the elders have spent the last two seasons arguing over who is the ‘most worthy’ to replace our late queen.  It is time to find out how to bring the prophecy to life and bring our new queen to us.”

 

Lila could not look away from her sister’s eyes.  She knew Mia was right.  She couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding building up inside of her.  She closed her eyes and recited those words taught to her when she was only a little girl,

 

Out of the darkness the Chosen Ones shall come,

The first of seven, the Warrioress of Strength, will change the era and prepare the way,

For then a new Warrior Queen who strives for peace shall come with the key to the future in her heart,

Then on the Eve of the Forty-Fifth Solstice,

The Five Warriors of the Sekai shall appear,

The Warrior of Hope who protects freedom for the generations,

The Warrior of Death who avenges the destruction caused by evil,

The Warrior of Silence who calms the screams of innocents,

The Warrior of Truth who sees into the hearts of forgotten souls, and

The Warrior of Justice who defends serenity for the honor of all,

The outbreak of war and an enemy long forgotten will devour the land,

But out of the tears of children a new light will shine,

For only a passionate heart will conquer the darkness,

Then and only then shall the dreams of new life begin.

 

Lila tried to deny that it was coming down to this, but she could not deny anything and she was not going to let the Tatakais win.  Not if she could help it.

 

“Then we must go see the elders.  I think I know of a way to help find our new queen.” 

 

<>

 

The next morning a tribal meeting was called.  Mia stood behind her sister as she pleaded their cause in front of the elders. 

 

They preferred to listen to Lila.  Their mother was once the tribe’s medicine woman and had a gift that in tuned her with nature.  She was able to read deeper into things, which gave her a foresight unsurpassed by anyone else in the tribe.  It was widely known that Lila was born with a part of their mother’s gift.  Lila was able to find a deeper meaning in a lot of things, but she did not possess the full gift of their mother’s foresight. 

 

That was the reason Mia went to visit Mad Maggie the night before instead of first telling her sister about her dream.  That, and she did not want to worry her sister, if she didn’t have to.  Mia knew Mad Maggie’s gift was stronger than anything their mother had ever possessed.  That is why most people feared the old crone.  She had a very powerful gift, and the fact that the old bat was never appealing to the eyes did not help her cause very much either. 

 

Mia, herself, had always been the daughter that inherited their father’s fighting skills.  It was not until the other night that she experienced a piece of what her mother’s gift used to be.  The dream alone frightened her, but the thought of loosing the only family she had left scared her even more.

 

Mia knew that the elders were listening, but she sensed that the seriousness of Lila’s words was not sinking in.

 

The Head Elder, a woman in about her mid forties stood up to speak.  “What makes you so sure that the time has come?  You could be wrong with this assumption.  We have not received any signs that our enemy will be returning anytime soon.”

 

“Ma’am.”  Mia stepped forward.  She could not stand back any longer.  She wanted her say.  “May I speak?”  The elder waved her hand to give permission, so Mia continued.  “With all due respect, I don’t think the question should be ‘what if we’re wrong?’ but ‘what if we are right?’  I don’t know about you, but I am far from willing to let the Tatakais surprise us.  And you say we have not received any signs, but I can tell you I have.”

 

She paused as she heard gasps throughout the assembly.

 

Mia continued.  “The other night I experienced for the first time a taste of my mother’s former gift.”

 

A few more gasps were heard, but the elder quieted them once again with the raise of her hand.

 

Lila gave her sister a look of encouragement to continue.

 

“In my dream, I saw the coming of the Tatakais, the death of all I know, and it all happened because we were not ready for the surprise attack.” 

 

Mia took a deep breath.  She knew she could not mention that a visit to Mad Maggie supported her dream.  The elders and the rest of the tribe feared her too much, but Mia’s hope was that her mother’s legacy could convince them other wise.  “I know you are finding what we are saying hard to believe, but if my sister and I are correct, and we are unprepared, then we are all doomed.  I know you all do not want to believe that our peace can be shattered, but if you remember the prophecy, it mentioned a war starting after the Forty-Fifth Solstice.  As of today, the summer solstice has come and gone forty times since the last battle with the Tatakais.  We need to act soon to find our new queen to unite us in battle to defeat our enemy once again and hopefully this time forever.”

 

There was an uncomfortable silence as Mia’s words sunk in.  Finally, the Head Elder looked at her other council members then back at Mia and Lila.  “If what you say is true, and if the prophecy is at hand, then we are in danger.  Also, the former queen’s death was untimely, but now I see that it is fitting into the prophecy.”

 

“Ma’am.”  This time it was Lila who stepped forward.  “If I may?”

 

“Go ahead, child.”

 

“Before momma died of the sickness, she spoke about the prophecy with a renewed victor.  She said that the time was almost at hand.  Back then I believed it to be the sickness talking, but I still listened to her every word since I knew they would be her last.  It was not until last night when my sister spoke of her dream as a premonition that I truly believed my mother’s last words.  As she spoke to me five years ago, she told me how the time would come when the need for a new queen would arise.  She then told me the only way the new queen could be found.  She also said it would all happen in accordance to the prophecy.”  Lila paused in her speech to take a breath, while everyone in the room waited for her to finish.  “She said a ceremony called, The Shin Yarikata would bring our queen and another to us.  Then she spoke of a second ceremony that must be performed in order to bring the remaining warriors foretold in the prophecy.  It is called The Saigo Nozomi.  Both must be performed within five years of each other and on nights of a full moon.”

 

“How did you mother know of these ceremonies and we do not?”  One of the elders asked.

 

“When she told me of these ceremonies, I was sworn to secrecy just as she was.  Only one family member per generation could be told and not until the time was right could the ceremonies be revealed.  The ceremonies have never been performed, but she said they are written in the medicine book given to me upon her death.  She also said that I would know in my heart when the time was right, and when the time came to perform the ceremonies, I’d know what to do and how to do it because it was in my blood.”

 

The Head Elder once again looked at the other elders, and this time all nodded their agreement.  She looked at Lila then Mia. 

 

“Very well.  We agree that the new queen needs to be found soon, and if it requires a ceremony as your mother foretold, then so be it.  The next full moon will appear tomorrow night.  I hope that gives you enough time to prepare.  Come to us, if anything is needed.  And may the gods smile upon you for it seems the future is being held in a delicate balance.”

 

Lila smiled then bowed to the elders before she walked out.  Mia did the same and followed not very far behind with a smile of her own because she knew in her heart that her sister would be the one to find their queen.

 

~~~To Be Continued~~~

 

Okay!  That’s the end of the prologue.  I hope it wasn’t too bad.  I know none of the Gundam Wing characters had a scene in this part, but that is because none of those characters exist yet in this fic.  The majority of this story takes place in ancient times.  But, you don’t have to worry because all your favorite characters will appear in the first chapter.  I had to set the stage to get them there first before they can appear.  

 

Oh yeah, I also need to explain a few words.

 

Tatakai is the Japanese word for war, and heiwa is the Japanese word for peace.  So that is the reason I chose those words as the tribal names.  All I did was pluralize the two words by adding the letter s.  In the prophecy, the word sekai appears, it is the Japanese word for world.  The ceremony names are also in Japanese.  (Can you tell I finally bought a Japanese dictionary?)  Shin Yarikata means ‘new way’ and Saigo Nozomi means ‘last hope.’  Okay.  I don’t know the Japanese language, so I don’t know if the words should be reversed.  You know how in some languages the adjective is behind the subject.  Oh well.  If I’m wrong, please forgive me.

 

In case anyone is wondering the exact era this story is taking place, I’m setting it in Ancient Greece.  Yes, I know.  The people live in Greece, but their tribal names are Japanese.  It probably doesn’t make much sense, but hear me out.  I’ve always wanted to write a fic connecting the Gundam Wing characters to Ancient Greece.  However, beings that this is Gundam Wing, I also wanted to add a few Japanese words to somewhat stay true to the characters’ original Japanese heritage…  Oh, and I wanted to put my new dictionary to good use, and what better way to do that, than by using it for the new story I want to write.  ^_^

 

I’m still working on chapter eleven of A Weekend to Remember.  I hope to have it out as soon as I can.  Thank you all so much for your patience.  I really appreciate it. 

 

Well, I must go for now.

 

Bye,

Carebear