Cinderelena (Interlude 1)
Storyteller
Heero stared pensively ahead, not noting the brightly lit town spread out before him, nor the fact that he was up high upon the roof of one of the Palace’s four towers, the West Tower to be precise. The cold night wind gently ruffled his hair and chilled his skin, but he did not take notice of it either.
The only thing that was on his mind were bright cheerful eyes set in a face that captivated him from the start. What had gone wrong? he wondered bleakly. He had seen it in the braided boy’s eyes, his body. He had wanted him as much as he did. Duo had definitely responded positively and to be blunt, he had been the first to make a move.
The Crown Prince closed his eyes and pillowed his head on his knees. Why did Duo run away? Perhaps…Maybe Duo hated him. Or Duo thought he was a pervert? Or- Heero clenched his fists. Self-doubting would only lead him to more trouble. Not to mention a headache. He wasn’t having girl troubles at all. It was boy troubles at plague here, he thought sourly.
There was something hard in his fist, he realized. Heero brought his right hand up and slowly relaxed it. A scythe carved of wood lay there. It was evidently a pendant of a sort, for it hung from a long silver chain. Strange, it looked familiar. Heero had no recollection of picking it up from anywhere. There were long strands of hair entangled in the chain, hair that evoked the painful memory of its probably owner.
He rubbed the surface and found it smooth. It was a skillfully carved piece of wood, and to judge from its worn and smooth surface it was very much used and mayhap loved. He narrowed his eyes; smoke was issuing from the scythe. What? He immediately threw the scythe into the air, thinking it an explosive of a sort.
He congratulated himself for not gaping when the scythe flew smoothly out then turned around to fly back at him. It settled gently on the ground at his feet with the smoke still coming out. The smoke suddenly shrunk back on itself and coalesced into an aged man whose one eye seemed impaired and whose arm a metal limb replaced.
Who?! Heero crouched and drew his rapier. "Omae o korosu!"
"Heero!" the apparition snapped sharply. "This is not the time for games."
His rapier had cleaved right through the enemy as easily as a knife goes through butter. Disappointingly, no blood spurted nor did he hear any groan of pain. Not to be outdone, Heero sheathed the rapier in one smooth motion and threw a LN² (localized non-nuclear) mine [1], an explosive of his own creation guaranteed to blow up entire buildings.
Boooooommm!
***
Quatre nearly fell over when the very foundations of the Palace shook and trembled. He caught his balance quickly however and turned to check on Trowa who had recovered faster and had drawn his ARMSÔ (Armored Reloading Multiple Shooter). Quatre wasn’t worried however. He recognized the tremors as something that used to happen on a fairly regular basis years ago. Maybe now was the time to test the mettle of the engineer who had reconstructed the Palace foundations during the years of Heero’s fostering.
"Heero’s at it with the bombs again," he explained calmly to Trowa.
***
He glared at the apparition. The apparition glared back at him. Impossible. How could his newest and best explosive fail? A discreet glance around showed the LN² not much of a failure after all. He was no longer at the top of the Tower but at its base with the rubble all around him. A good part of the rubble was from the part of the Palace connected to the Tower, and the rest was the Tower itself.
"Good," the ghost-like thing said grudgingly. "No finesse, but all power."
"Who are you?" Heero asked flatly. The man facing him smiled rather sneeringly.
"Doctor J, Genie Extraordinary, at your service, pup."
"Pup?" the Crown Prince echoed menacingly.
"Would you prefer Perfect Soldier?" came the sarcastic reply.
"Exactly."
The genie sweatdropped.
"You came from this." Heero held up the scythe.
"I marvel at your powers of intuition," he said dryly.
"Then you are mine, genie," Heero grinned maliciously.
The genie snorted. "Until someone else rubs the sycthe."
"How many wishes have I?"
"Three," came the tightlipped reply.
A golden opportunity he couldn't pass on. "For my first wish, Genie, I want the biggest and most powerful bomb in the world, one that can blow even you up!"
Doctor J sweatdropped.
"Genie, my second wish, I want to know everything about," Heero hesitated. "I want to know all you can tell me about Duo. My third and last wish, tell me how I can find him."
Doctor J stared steadily at him then took a deep breath. "First wish, nothing can blow me up, so that wish is invalid. Second wish, my contract prevents me from revealing confidential information about previous employers, so that is invalid too. Third, Duo lives on the streets in your town, sometimes in the ruins of Maxwell Church. He has a very distinctive braid," he added sarcastically. "And you're such a smart fellow, I know you can find him. Three wishes done and finished. It has been a pleasure working for you."
The genie disappeared in a flash of smoke. Heero jumped and stomped and endlessly blew up the small scythe but nothing he did summoned the genie forth again.
"OMAE O KORUSO!!"
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[1] Inspiration from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
