30-Jun-2000
Title: Mission Arcadia
bonnejean & vonceia *present*Category: yaoi, AU
RavynFyre & Kateri Marie
in The B&V Guest Authors Series!
Duo - words, thoughts, actions - RavynFyre
Heero - words, thoughts actions - Kateri Marie
Rip & Jack, Their World and General Production - bonnejeanne & vonceia
There was something odd about the message. It simply said, "Meet me at the park in two hours." There was no signature so naturally Duo thought it was from Heero. He did not realize that Heero had gotten the same message, and made the same assumption.
So at the appointed time, each one found himself standing in the park, looking around. After but a moment, they each managed to spot the other.
"Hee-chan!" Duo shouted, running over to glomp the silent boy.
"Baka." Heero muttered but he did not move out of the way.
"What did you want, koi? I got your note."
"Me?" Heero's brow drew together in a way that indicated confusion. Then he held out the message.
The message Heero held out was identical to the one Duo had received, printed in a plain typeface on unremarkable white paper. They might have been photocopies of each other.
"Hrm. If you didn't send it... Naw. Stop messin' with me Hee-chan."
Heero glared for a moment then grated out, "I didn't send it."
Duo frowned, eyeing the message that Heero was holding out towards him and giving it a blank stare.
"Don't fight," A new voice interjected. The two realized there were now two people standing behind them.
Duo whipped around, reaching for the gun he was no longer carrying.
Heero's muscles tensed as he backed up beside his lover.
In front of them were two remarkable looking young men. One of the pair was tall, perhaps 6 feet, with glowing red hair cut wildly, the bangs rivaling Heero's. The shorter of the two had blond hair that reminded them a bit of Quatre. The blond looked at them with cool, amused green eyes, though his face was only faintly smiling. The redhead was grinning widely, showing a row of blinding, perfect teeth. There was something a bit odd about the pair. They seemed extremely young, not much older that the two Gundam pilots. But there was something in their eyes that seemed... ancient.
The redhead held up his hands laughing at Duo's reflex action.
"We apologize for the confusion," the blond said in a low drawl, his voice carrying a faintly British accent. "It seemed the easiest way to get you together in a place where we could talk."
"And you are?" Duo asked.
Heero stayed silent but bristled beside Duo as they waited for an answer.
"You can call me Jack," the blond said. "My companion is usually known as the Ripper, but if that seems a mouthful," and there was a clear innuendo in the deep voice, "You could try calling him Rip. If he likes you, he won't kill you for it. And you are Duo Maxwell and Heero Yuy."
"Jack... Ripper..." Duo gave a short, sharp bark of laughter. "Ya know, I studied ancient earth history... Are your names supposed to COMFORT me? How the hell do you know who we are, anyway? What do you want?"
Well used to letting Duo do the talking, Heero stayed in the comfortable familiarity of his glare.
The two facing them both laughed delightedly at Duo's words. Ripper nodded. "That's a good one, I like him. This is going to be *fun*!!!"
Jack smiled indulgently at Rip, then turned back to Duo. "It isn't intended to comfort or anything else. You asked for names. Those are the one we've been using since... since we were your age.... If you don't like them, think of something else. In the meantime... to answer your perfectly reasonable question, we know who you are because we have been studying you. This is an intriguing world. And the two of you have had a great deal to do with many of the more intriguing events. I suppose you could call us fans of the Gundam pilots... right, Ripper?"
Rip nodded, still grinning.
"How did-" Duo started to ask, edging closer to his lover whom he KNEW would still be carrying a weapon, even after the two wars were over and done with.
Heero used his lover's movement to close his hand comfortingly around the cold iron of his gun, tucked amazingly into jeans for a change.
Jack looked reproachfully at Heero. "We aren't going to hurt you. I'd ask you not to simply shoot us. Not that you could, but it might be annoying. Perhaps you might simply hear us out instead?"
Heero didn't take his hand off the gun but cocked his head towards Duo, "He asked you a question before. What do you want?"
Duo crossed his arms belligerently over his chest. "Yeah. What?"
Jack nodded. "Of course. I suppose I should talk quickly, or you might get impatient and shoot me," he said in a lazy drawl. "We need you to help us with something. A little contract work, so to speak. We have a bit of a problem back... home. Your skills are going to waste here. You come and do a little something for us, and we will, in turn, do something for you."
"Yeah? What could you possibly do for us that would interest us that much? I can't think of anything we need, can you, Heero?" Duo asked, casting a quick, sullen glance at his lover.
"Hn." Heero responded, quickly calculating how hard it would be to escape the men before them, if necessary.
"Besides... Our skills, as you put it, are going to waste here for a reason. We gave them up. If you hadn't noticed, we have peace here now," Duo added.
Ripper nodded. "Yes... it's lovely, isn't it? Peace is nice..." he said, and there was something odd about the inflection. "But not everyone is as lucky as you chaps. Where we come from, there are many things that are dangerous. And few if any fighters. You see we don't come from here... it's a very interesting story that you probably won't believe. But as for your other question..."
"You won't believe that either," Jack picked up smoothly. "But what we can do for you is very simple. We can save your peace and your world from destruction, which I'm afraid even you couldn't do. You don't have very long. The Crown will see to that. It will have been frustrated to have come so close, and then been thwarted."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Duo almost shouted, having bristled at the talk about not being able to save their peace. He was frustrated and angry, and about ready to take it out on anyone.
Heero put the hand that wasn't on his gun, on Duo's arm, restraining his lover. He focused hard Prussian eyes on the two men and growled, "You had better explain yourselves. And quickly. I won't bother to hold him back long."
Rip said, "Oooh... I'm scared," with a huge, almost affectionate-seeming grin.
Jack said, "All right. Explanation coming. How do you feel about show and tell?"
Jack reach around to the air at his back and something shimmered into existence under his hands. It wasn't a gun... or any weapon. It looked like a synthesizer keyboard on a strap... a strap that had not been there seconds ago. His hands moved over the keys and a rippling vibration of sound seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.
Ripper made an identical movement, and an object that looked like an electric bass guitar appeared under his hands. He stroked the thick strings lovingly and the sound that came from them was a low throbbing moan that seemed to penetrate the two boys' very bones.
Duo found himself watching the instruments appearing out of thin air with fascination. Despite his earlier anger, it intrigued him. Now if only he could figure out a way to meld that with Heero's spandex space....
At the first movement, Heero had jerked the gun up, pointing unerringly at Jack's heart. But when the synthesizer appeared and the music surrounded them, he found his muscles relaxing against his will.
The sound, both musical and wild, blended and built and suddenly the two boys felt something around them, something inside them *give*...
... and they came to, gasping for air, to find themselves in quite another place.
End of Prolog
bonnejeanne & vonceia present
RavynFyre and Kateri Marie
Please feel free to direct feedback to any or all of the authors!
ravynfyre@hotmail.com,
nacl3salaris@hotmail.com,
vonceia@yahoo.com,
bonnejeanne@yahoo.com.