Dreamers' Prayer, Chapter 1/?

[Tomorrow]

AN: I?m sorry this chapter took so long, but I?ve had a rough transition into college. I?m just finally learning how to manage my time effectively. So it shouldn?t take so long for the next chapter to come out. Thanks.

Disclaimer: I don?t own Gundam Wing, even though I wish I did.





A terrain of beauty and inherent light to don this realm of warring tribes, of radiant trees and lustrous streams that illuminated the darkness and bayed its children in their stead. Vacant, retaliatory, and vindictive whispers from such hostile, retributive lips and lethal guise.

Timber molded into lucid ivory, where within its shimmering, ridged seams was the matron moon mirrored from above this plane; trunks knotted themselves in crystal and twisted glass, brithing their leaves with golden veins and platinum stems that easily tarnished in the dawn. Yet scintillant ivy branded the rocks and ridges as kindled cobwebs of moss, still sparkling across the lucent land of sheer and sheeted mythril. Of grass blades pale and burnt in tallow sheen by the celestial stars and moonlight fair, scorching their earth to white and brightness in their stares. So were yielded rivers, lakes, and springs so clear, as with their currents they made lazy gurgles in passing?if but to cool the heat of distant and domestic light.

But these brilliant trees faded in their luster as the seasons came to pass, warping to dulled, faint copper as the cold months haunted these glimmering, starlit woods. And the glistening wreaths and luminous sepals wilted from their parent arbors thus when winter would arrive. A cold time? a desolate hour? a darker age-- For the streams and fountains that once illumined the realm were frozen and light captured within such guilded, frosted lamps?now cages of trapped kerosene and abysmal torches just barely flickering. They cast the forest into silence and sated glow, damning the illuminant gallows to death and woe, disrobed of vivid leafage to be but mere, tawny stakes of more withered ivory than before.

The gentle snowfall, white as beloved, ancestral candlelight and sent from those pentangles and sister moon to keep dormant these creations for a time, beneath a flurried blanket of chilled yet jewel?d light? Such was the only splendor they would provide their forsaken brood, for these months would pass and life could start anew, caressing this world once more in dearest, warm?d gleam. With torch-lit trees and lantern streams?a new season to unfold.

And this changing land was shared not only by the Pegasi and cousin moon race, but also with the countless creatures of direct descent of the human mind. For the two primal peoples were but the circuitous children of men?s dreams, created first by Darkness and sired Light?the two forces that now do sway human imagination and sibling thought, rear his intellect for opposing artistry. They are then, perhaps, the embodiment of the Tempter and his Seductive Daughter, or the desire that dwells within man?s forgotten heart as dim. But the other tribes that soon arose to populate the realm were bred only from caprice itself: faeries and cousin elves, with griffins and mischievous mermaids as their playmates; centaurs, enchantresses, and dragons too; along with many other creatures?as many as men can dream or dare behold. All such races innately good but not always righteous?the heritable flaw of these chimeras.

Yet those ethereal kith were commonly ruled by the imperial Selenian clan, whose castle, constructed by the Pegasi centuries before?in the youth of the Medieval Age?rested in the heart of these whimsical woods. A palace surrounded by ancient, sculpted fonts now strung with ag?d vines and twinkling bough aflame; the fortress rimmed in a moat of diluted mire for its barrier?conciliatory offering of those extinct Horsemen to their sovereignty. Wherein this slough slept the mighty water lizard, a lazy dragon born from that parent fluid at an hour unknown by any that ever lived within the Dreamer?s Realm. His origin much a mystery? progeny of water and light itself, all assumed as so.

It was a beast with translucent scales, nearly spectral beneath the surface of that dank, shale crypt, along with graceful fins--wings to shear currents and churning waves around him. He was guardian of the royal family from thievery and foreign contempt, or even assault from the Nightmares that stalked the castle gates with drool and bloodied talons?final defender from darkness and reptilian warrior of moonshine kin.

But in all truth, no one ever really knew whether he was fact or mere fable crafted, lizard that swam so reserved in a watery grave where the children of light could never witness? But for the long braid that would sometimes skim the surface of his bed as he sailed below that towered edifice. And because of his dual ?tails,? the one at his rear and the other on his brow so haphazard, the people of luminescence-bred and their Selenian monarchs called him simply, affectionately: Duo.

It was an infant princess that summoned the mammoth from his depths and slumber lonesome, the Selenian Lady who wandered from her elfish maid to the edge of that moat and was swallowed in its impartial tides. Tiny babe? sweetest victim? a head of golden ringlets soaked in the dying?s sweat to survive? A glow cast upon her fading form as the lunar circlet moaned for the death of a daughter in the wind?s trill. A call that brushed the baby?s cheeks and chilled them whilst the water?s darkness took her further down. The moat swadled the girl in shifting, dazzled mists and silver sheets: the Princess Relena Peacecraft, Selenian heiress of the Dreamer?s Throne.

Descendent of Katrina Vividaire.

But the braided beast heard the little girl?s pleas. Watched her as she sank to the bottom of his morbid pit, as fallen star feigns into the sea with ashen breaths. And out of instinct he took the infant maid so delicately within his jowls?carrying the limp child between his teeth until the light touched her even waning face, lips white and beauty drowned.

He saved her that day, this noble dragon, for once her lips kissed the evening?s tide her breath was hers again to have. Still suckling maiden sprawled upon the shore. The lunar mark upon her brow still glowing?pallid flesh still moved with every breath. And so companions they became from that moment forward: Moon child and her dragon savior?princess with her brutish beau.

Yet years came and so then passed, the victim princess aging with the time. Her long blonde tresses shimmered as golden, moonlit ribbons upon her scalp, with halo as their captive, christened crown; she claimed smooth and pale skin of softer glow. She was a small woman but well endowed, thighs shaped and form as intimately seductive?child bred into a lady and further beautified by age? virgin candle of a chastened, pristine maid. Warmer lips. Tempestuous, azure gaze. Her sweet soul behind it.

Temptress of Selenians.

And upon reaching her eighteenth year, on a day of fair and cloudless skies, Relena sauntered along that musty moat and traced her fingers across its darkened depths, hesitant as she glanced at the fading ripples her touch had roused--smirking slightly as her reflection was swept away by an artificial current. After accounting for the sentry and a few cautionary glimpses, she dove into those murky waters of chill and bitter cold. All sight left her and breath withheld, her hair of glistening flaxen strangling her limbs and tying her in chain?d amber.

But from that blackness emerged her faithful dragon, nebulous reptile as he sought her in his realm to take her further down. His scaled snout met with her hands then bound, her slender legs brushing past his coarser cheek as he allowed her face to touch his own?mutual embrace of disparate, patient mates. The bubbles from the force of his tail surrounded them, nearly pushing her away; their tendrils mating in that muddy blue.

She grasped his facial fins, and he took her down? Through those wretched waters and dim recesses of nautical dusk?s reside, a trench of liquid emptiness and drear. Abandoned of hydrophilic nymphs and other oceanic creatures. Nothing? save for the cove that revealed itself amidst the shadows and the wail, shrill and of seismic might, the lizard released as they surfaced in the hollow.

Lowering his head, he set her gently on the shore, the breath from his nostrils so pungent as to throw her to her knees and toss her dampened strands around her body?innocently sensual, coy water dripping from her chin and off her thighs, with droplets glittering along her skin like newborn stars upon a milk-white, heavenly height.

And so he settled there? and she looked away from him. Silence their communal ally.

?They?re getting closer, you know,? Relena nearly whispered. Her eyes were in absence yet somber still, refusing to turn to her reptilian confidant.

Duo merely remained quiet and cocked his head at her voice: inquisitive violet stance to urge her on, scaly lips curled into as much of a smile as he could muster.

?The Nightmares keep advancing on our borders. I overheard my brother telling Lucy this morning that ten of them were killed near the Northern Border yesterday-- At the expense of seven of our own men.?

Even then he said nothing, the lazy swishing of his tail through the shallow cove causing the water?s current to arbitrarily shift with his strength.

?It just seems so futile, Duo. Their numbers keep growing, but we?re losing more men everyday. It's getting worse, bad enough that I think my brother's starting to withhold things from me, to try and protect me from the severity of it all-- I have to go behind his back and steal the casuality list if I want to stay in any way informed.

"And I know it's grim when Milliardo can't even be up-front with me.?

She sighed.

?So that's it. This is how it ends." She shook her head.

"Forgive me for sounding cliche about this, but it's almost as if we're heading into battle defeated, gradually degenerating into a dying breed. Headed towards extinction, one might even say.?

The princess gave a cynical, desperate chuckle in that place, turning herself to finally face her dragon friend.

?It?s nothing but a vicious cycle of birth, war, pain, and consequental death?by then, I hate to say it, no matter how true it may be, an almost perverted godsend from our losses. To think that men are born to fight and damned to obligatory death, conceived for killing in a meaningless war. That women are made to witness to that massacre: mothers meant to lull their sons into oblivion; that sisters must cradle their siblings in their arms; and lovers fated to kiss the cold lips of mutilated, unrecognizable corpses...?

?Aren?t you being a little melodramatic there, Princess?? Duo interrupted her playfully with brow raised in amusement. Relena in turn snapped her head at him, her eyes wet with unshed tears and voice now low and heated with her passion at his apathy.

?They?re my people, Duo? and they?re dying."

His deep breath of solace and immediate repentence for his forgotten sympathy, perhaps even for his former bluntness, ruffled her dress?s hem and fluttered through her long blonde hair. Decrepit smile now lost to him as he watched her shoulders fall.

?And it pains me? keeps me up at night, knowing that someday my son will be born for the sole purpose of surrendering his life in battle. He?ll be part of that circle? my own child??

?But you?re gonna be the one to stop all this, M?lady. I just know it.? He hooked his claw beneath her chin. ?You?ve got the words?you just proved that with your pretty little speech back there. And I know you?ve got good intentions. You?ve just gotta have the conviction to back up those nice sentences you?re comin? up with.

?You master that, and I guarantee we?ll have that peace, Missy. But you?ve gotta find that something to believe in, first.?

Once more she looked away from him, tearing her face from his talon as she replied to him with silence?only to shift the subject slightly in her sorrow. Waiting what seemed to her endless moments for his breath to catch at her retraction.

?They?ve asked for me again, Duo.?

Reptilian muscles tensed at her whispered words. Twitiching eyes narrowed as vengeful thoughts consumed him. An image of her? Vulnerable in the enemy?s bed.

?Lord Obscurisa keeps asking Milliardo for my hand? He insists that with our marriage an alliance or at least some sort of truce could be reached.?

A swallow from fang?d orifice.

?It would stop both sides from dying.?

?You can?t tell me that your brother?s even considering giving you to that bastard.?

Relena pulled her knees beneath her chin at his fierceness. Closing her eyes; gathering her words. ?The decision isn?t final yet, and I know he?s trying to negotiate around it? but he really doesn?t have much of a choice right now. I don?t really have a choice in the matter, Duo.

?Our union would bring on atleast a temporary hiatus in the fighting, which could open the doors for better communication and a peace that could be reached through diplomacy rather than combat? even if just a dim glow in their darkness.

?To save even one life would make the betrothal worthwhile.?

The waters crashed in violent waves around the beast as he trembled with his anger, pitching the cave into fervent chaos and near fury at her surrender?and he seething with a muted growl that rumbled in his throat as he vowed with claws clenched, ?They?ll have to kill me first! I?ll fight clawless before I let them abuse you like that!

?I?ll kill them all! For you? I swear it!?

?And stir up even more trouble for us?? she scolded him into logic somewhat mockingly, a smirk pulling at her lips and shaking her head at his irrational display.

?Whatever it takes? my Beautiful Princess,? the dragon sighed as the violet fire in his eyes came low, slowly bringing his jagged, glacial nail to her shoulder and caressing such scintillant skin--as lovers often do.

But she shied away from his affection with a quiver, eyes downcast and almost tragic as she wrapped her arms about her chest. Cowering maid. Voice pained and dulcet. ?Duo please? don?t say those things to me.?

?But I?m only saying something that?s true, M?lady.? A soft smile through rejection he granted her, yet still a saddened gaze. ?You once told me when you were nothin? but a little thing,? he said as he measured the implied height with the distance of his talons from the water, ?that it?s better to hide like a coward and lose your pride and even honor than to say somethin? the isn?t true.

?Well Princess? I may run and hide, but to this day I?ve never told a lie; and I don?t plan to start now.?

With an even more rueful countenance she stood to leave him, her shoulders trembling with her leavened sorrow as she drifted languidly to the edge of the cove, dragging her feet across the dampened sand and rubbing the grains between her toes, scraping smooth, white skin.

?Where?re you off to now, Little Missy?? Rejected once again.

She still didn?t look back. Stiff. Her dress clung to her thighs and breasts and knees like the anomalous, translucent flesh of an apparition, tenuous yet surreal and hauntingly beautiful. She just gave him an answer.

?To a place where I can finally be alone? maybe even think things through a little bit if I?m fortunate enough.?

The scaled head of that beast bowed at her coldness to his affection, his eyes obstructed by unruly bangs as the dripping strands hid his pain in jest.

?Well just watch out for some Pegasi that might be roamin? around the woods. I?ve heard that they love to abduct gorgeous maidens that wander around without escorts.?

A splash and she resurfaced. Glimmering blonde tendrils surrounded the broken moon maid in a stranded canopy while her voice carried through the cavern with mock sternness, as alleviation to their awkwardness. ?First of all, I thought I just asked you to stop hitting on me. And second, you know as well as I do that Pegasi aren?t real.?

?Hey, how long have you been alive??

?Eighteen years now, Old Friend. You know that.?

?Well then I?ve been around here a lot longer than you. Centuries actually. And so I?ve seen a few more things than you have, and believe me: they?re real, Princess.?

She rolled her eyes at his indignance and huffed, letting her shoulders fall.

?C?mon, Duo.?

?Were you here 300 years ago??

?No.?

?Then who are you to tell me I?m wrong??

The Selenian woman shook her head at her seemingly obstinate companion and gave a resigned laugh at her own expense, with that giggle resonating through the cove and wrapping them in rhythmic peals of jubilation.

?The Pegasi are an ancient legend created so that young girls do what their fathers and older brothers tell them to.

?I?m not buying into it.?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Wings on the wind as nigh
White on a starry sky, he sighs
In shadow does a horse abide
Soft feathers and a crown on high

The maiden sang as through the gleaming briar she walked, her feet gliding over stipule bronze and gown dragged through resplendent brush and leaflets. The forest was somber and trees its solemn patrons?abandoning the woman to herself. Lone. Forsaken woods.

He leads me
He knows me

The rustle of a leaf.

Child of the stars and mine

Foreign breath.

Sweet dreamer?s prayer
On my lips you stay
In sleep I know your lover?s face

Intense, darker gaze.

Wing?d wild, come down to me

Confused gaze, nearly.

Grant me your embrace

Relena turned the direction of those savage eyes, to the stirring of the leaves that beckoned her. Searching for those fierce pools that burned her back in such attentive heat, igniting passion through her veins with mere glance. But there was nothing? only light.

Oh stallion sweet, so may you glide
Against the moon may you rest your wings

A soft wind.

In vagrant stride you leave me here
Far away yet heart as near

Those hypnotic eyes were on her shoulder, scalding her skin with their inherent fire.

He shares me

She stiffened.

He loves me

Her eyes prowled.

Son of the stars and lover mine

The princess suddenly twirled around to confront the one who stalked her with his rarest eyes, mouth agape and fit to subdue her predator with a sultry stave? but again there was nothing. Just trees and deadened shoots beneath her feet and so littering the distance with their barren sheen. Moon and starlight on her lovely face. Alone.

But he was there. She knew.

Sweet dreamer?s prayer
On my lips you stay

She sauntered towards the refuge of the bushes, winding through their brilliant umbrage as a lucent citadel from the other?s gaze.

And threw her voice.

In sleep I know your lover?s face
Wing?d wild, come down to me

In the corner of her eye-- A flash of white; and so she followed that pallid shadow passed the bushes and through the trees. Her eyes were set on his pale form, separated from her only by a few, stray branches at his back.

Grant me your embrace

Blue. Deep, endless blue.

[freelight01]

This is such a cool fic!!! and i can't believe that i am the first to review!!!! Anyway just wanted to say your writing amazes me and i love the story line so please get the next chapter out SOON!!!!

[AngelOfDeath]

::takes a moment to savor::

::thrums in happiness::

I'm so glad you are indeed continuing this. I do hope time allows you to work on more soon.

[Akasha]

Such descriptive and complex words in the beginning. Beautiful writing i must say. Yes, please keep it coming.

[Morrighan]

OMG, that is SO Heero at the end! *squeals* Can't wait to see more soon!!! I love your writing style!!!