Part One: The Time Fault

Authoress: Suiki Bara

.oO~*-*~Oo.

~Friday, 13th, 2001~

"Cass? Cass?! WHERE ARE YOU?" The door to the cellar of a small house in the middle of the country was flung open, a girlish form peering into the light. She was tall, curvy, and had mahogany shoulder length heavily layered hair. In one hand she held a book.

"Cass?" Starting down the steps, her greenish eyes peered around the lab. She didn't see any sign of her best friend, tinkering with some new invention.

Stepping onto the basement floor, a slight chill came over her. Pulling at the sleeve of her sweater, she began walking to the door in the back of the laboratory, where Cassidy kept all her delicate instruments. 'She's probably in there...'

A faint buzz came from inside the room. Passing by one of the tables, she felt her elbow hit a small contraption.

Startled, she looked at what she had hit. A small label beside it said "Microscopic Refractor". Sighing with relief, she headed on towards the door to where she was certain Cassidy was.

Gently, she pushed the door open, to see Cassidy shaving her legs with an electric razor for women. The new one that she'd given Cassidy as a present for her birthday last week.

Suddenly, she giggled, making Cassidy look up, her large olive eyes and her face showed surprise. She dropped her razor.

"Taryn!!" Cassidy jumped up, her long light brown hair falling in her face as she did so. "What...?"

"I just wanted to tell you, Garret's on the phone." Taryn said with a slight giggle. They both hated the uppity rich boy, and him calling for one of them was considered torture. "And I finally have the book I ordered!"

"Ech, how horrible. What did you tell him? To go away, I hope." Cassidy said, as she stood up. Shaking her light brown hair down her back again, she took off the white terrycloth robe she had been wearing and stood up, dressed in shorts and a tank top.

"Nope, I said, you'll be right there!!" Taryn said, with a smirk as she pushed her friend forward. Being about 4 inches taller than Cassidy, this was very easy to do. "We can watch the tube when you're done talking to lover boy!"

"HEY!!!" Cassidy protested, trying to push back and not succeeding. Then she noticed a buzzing sound.

"Um, Taryn?" She asked tentatively of the taller girl, who had heard the noise as well.

"What IS that?" Taryn asked, looking around, nervous because this was not her home turf.

"Did you touch anything in here?" Cassidy asked, looking around to find the source of the sound. Then she noticed the invention she’d bumped into vibrating and humming.

"I only bumped that...but that's safe, isn't it?" Taryn asked, coming close to Cassidy, still clutching her book.

"I don't know!? I just made it today!" Cassidy reached out to touch the contraption, to turn it off, but then there was a beep.

**BEEP **

Cassidy scratched her head. It had stopped shaking and was still. Taryn looked relieved.

"Well, now that THAT is over with, let’s go upstairs again." She waved her hands, and in doing so, flashed the book in front of Cassidy’s face.

"Hey, hey, wait a minute…." Cassidy grabbed the book. "You got the Wonderland Gambit?" She turned the book over.

Taryn crossed her arms. "Yeah. I thought it looked pretty cool."

Cassidy groaned. "Tell me you’re not into evil computers and such nonsense." She looked at the book again. "Or cyber kinetic transportation to wonderland…"

"Of course not! But it does sound funny coming from you. You know I’m more practical sometimes." Taryn wrinkled her nose at her friend. "You’ve convinced me on a lot of things." She shook her head next. "But you can’t convince me on that fault line theory."

"But Taryn!" Cassidy protested. "Don’t you ever wonder why our town is called Fawlt Line?"

"I know I know! It was named after Thaddeus Fawlt in 1714…" Taryn rolled her eyes and took back her book.

"And all the disappearances and the weird things that happen? Like those people who swear they’ve switched?" Cassidy kept right on talking. "If you’d just let go and look at the facts, you’d see there is also a meaning behind the name Fawlt Line!"

"Uh huh." Taryn started to head up the stairs, Cassidy latched on to her arm, talking away.

"I mean, can’t you see it also means this town is on a time fault?" Cassidy said, a desperate tone coming to her voice, knowing she was drawing nearer to the phone and Garret.

"Cass, I just don’t believe in time faults. It’s impossi-" Taryn felt a strange sensation. Like falling backwards, the room began to tilt.

Cassidy felt it as well. But for her, the room was focusing out and then back in again.

"Taryn…what’s happening?" Cassidy reached for her friend, but she couldn’t reach her. Her vision thus warped, she couldn’t tell where she was.

"I don’t kno--" Taryn’s voice was cut off. Her book fell to the floor.

Cassidy didn’t know exactly how it happened, but she felt herself sinking down, as if through the floor. The sensation was terribly frightening and she shut her eyes and cried out.

"Cass!" Taryn cried out as she felt herself being sucked into a black oblivion. Yet she felt like she was remaining conscious of everything around her. There seemed to be a wind swirling around her and a faint soft yellow light coming from below her. But she couldn't move.

Cassidy couldn't say a thing nor even breathe. She was being pulled away from her best friend and yet could do nothing but feel herself being tugged down. She was soon floating in the middle of nowhere. All was black. Becoming very scared, she became insensible.

"Where am I?" Taryn found she could talk once again, as she felt her sense of feeling coming to her body again. Her voice echoed and her eyes slowly began to adjust to the darkness. Pinpoints of light were all around her. Turning in this floating state, she gasped silently.

She was floating in what looked like outer space! Planets and stars as far as she could see...

"Cassidy!" Her voice echoed and re echoed, yet no one seemed to hear.

"Silence, child."

"Who are you?" Taryn cried out, looking for the speaker. The voice was calm and mellow, and deep.

"That does not matter."

"What?!" She was shocked.

"What matters is a task before you."

"A task? What happened to me?" Taryn demanded. She was very scared now.

"You must go into a world of chaos and return it to peace. Then you may go home."

"Why must I do as you say?" She was slightly angry with this commanding voice in the middle of space.

"Because the Time Fault in your world shifted, bringing you down with its shift. The regular time frames on Earth have been interrupted. But you have a mercy granted you. If you want to get back to your world, you and Cassidy must return peace to this Earth alternate to yours."

"But I..." She didn't know what to say, floating in the middle of a space she didn't belong in, without a sight of Cassidy, and now to be told Cass was right all along. She wasn’t ready.

"You must go now, my child..."

"I..." Taryn protested weakly, feeling her eyes closing as she felt like she was slipping into a warm embrace. The last thing she saw was the sun in the center of a vast system, and Earth, a bright blue and gray orb, beckoning to her.

Again the voice began in her mind...

"In the hope of building a promising future, mankind built and inhabited "space colonies" around Earth. They called this new age "AC", for "After Colony"......

......But the Promise of this new age was not to be. History soon repeated itself, and the human race found itself in the middle of an age of war......

......Under the guise of keeping the peace, the Earth established the Allied Earth Forces, and stationed them on the Colonies. The truth, however, was far more sinister......

......Through the use of Mobile Suits, the AEF oppressed the people of the colonies. The freedom of the colonists was taken away......

......AC 195, the date of destiny. Capsules were launched simultaneously from 5 separate colonies to different parts of Earth......

......Inside the capsules are brand new Gundam model Mobile Suits. The Gundam and their pilots are on a mission to subvert the Allied Earth Forces. They are the colonies last hope for freedom......

......Help the Gundam and you may go home......

...Taryn...

Taryn heard the voice no more and drifted away into blackness much like sleep.

.oO~*-*~Oo.

A/N: This version of Gundam Wing is from the MANGA not the actual video series. I tried hard to get a good plot going! Be patient, it gets better! ~Suiki Bara ~

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing nor do I make money off of this.