A Colt's Reins, Prelude/? (Sequel to "Rigid")

[Tomorrow]

AN: Bittersweet news, everyone.

First the bad news: Dreamers' Prayer and The Mercenary are going on a TEMPORARY hiatus for the next few months. I've NOT abandoned them. I don?t plan to, and I never will. You all know I'm slow. Thankfully, I have all of my ideas for them stored away, so nothing will be lost over time. They will be completed, and they will prevail! ::Does victory dance::

Now, the good news: I've decided to pluck Zapenstap's plot bunny out from under the bed and use it. ^_^ In other words, I bring you the beginning of the sequel series to "Rigid." She had some really great ideas, and there are definitely a few that I want to run with. There will be action, adventure, angst, conspiracy, happiness, what humor I can come up with, and? romance. Heero/Relena romance. ::Traipses around giddily:: How, do you ask - why, flashbacks of course, my dears. ^_^ Don't worry: the story will be laced with enough romance of our favorite couple to wet the whistle. I could never just leave them hanging - no pun intended ::shudder::

This may appear as though it has nothing to do with Heero, Relena, or "Rigid." However, it does. Very much. This is actually the thread that will hold the entire series together. After the first chapter, you'll understand why I prefaced the story with this. The series won?t be AU, despite how AU this prelude/poem seems. I just didn't want you guys to get the wrong idea, or be scared off because of the opening.

Thanks to everyone that read and/or replied to "Rigid." Everything you all said means so much to me. Also, thanks to Andrea, my lovely beta-reader. ::Waits for Andrea to take a bow:: Last but not least, a big, BIG thanks must be given to Zapenstap for her MARVELOUS ideas. This wouldn't have been possible without her. ::Big huggles:: Therefore, if you guys like this, make sure you praise her, too.


Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, and I'm not making any money off of this. Part of the ending of this prologue is vaguely adapted from a legend in King Arthur. I don?t own that, either. -_-;




The Rise of One, the Fall of Another



Before the foot of man disturbed the lush hillsides and scaled the treacherous, rocky passes between the mountains,

A hoofed beast stalked the earth.

The fingers of God in the wind brushed through their pale manes;

His breath ignited the twinkle atop their spiraled, crystalline horns.

Dominion over the lesser creatures, the Father gave them; stewardship over the arbors, the cyclical shadow of the ivory moon, the water, and even the reaches of the smoldering, swathing sun.

And so to their Creator they reared in deference, when dusk cradled the land in somnolence and the yawn of the sky,

When all other life prostrated before the summons of sleep.



Though as time passed, from day into the haunted girth of nightfall, these gentle, antlered horses galloped over the bluffs and forded the mountain streams.

They grazed at the base of the foothills, mated in the melting mantles of virgin snow.

Lonely, they became.

They heralded an empty existence.

For none of the other animals could understand the obligation these unicorns fulfilled; they couldn't brandish the power that kindled within the pleats of the unicorns' sacred spirals.

They could only genuflect before that mystery, drawn to reverence by the grace that reflected through the eternity of tears, which glazed the horses' eyes.

In happiness. In rage. In woe.



When they could take this loneliness no more, whinnied their dirge to the morning doves and moaned to the swells of the foamy sea, they supplicated before their God,

Bowed their horned heads to the Alpha and Omega,

And begged that He release them from their blessed, wearisome burden of guardianship. Their cascade of tears and cataracts of tortuous, desperate pleas nearly drowned the earth, so mournful were they.

Beyond the finite conceptions of man, He loved His pristine unicorns, smiled upon their perfection, even felt compassion for their lament. But was enraged by their faithlessness.

He vouchsafed them a gift? one they didn?t seem to want, despite His wishes.

Yet His love was greater than His anger - mercy more potent than any ire -

Everything He made, He hath said at Genesis, was good - and so it was.



In an omnipotent cough of thunder, He commanded His ungrateful children to gather at the highest, most perilous peak on the earth - Mount Everest.

There, by His order, amidst the whirling fountains of snow, every living unicorn huddled in a circle and touched the glowing tips of their horns. They formed one almighty Antler that pierced the bellies of the clouds and frightened the wind into a deafening screech.

A ring of light. A waltz of angels. The groan of demons. The benevolent hand of God -

All coalesced into flesh and bone and a runny rose of blood.

Man and woman - whom the Father kissed to give them life.

They were graven in His image and given new dominion over the earth and its creatures.

All of its creatures.



Now? the unicorns were free, surrounded by humans that understood the responsibility those horses once knew - brethren in soul. They were granted their desire.

And as their punishment, the Lord ripped the crystal rapiers from their skulls and bit their tongues until they bled, so their speech would be raspy and garbled,

Rendering it unintelligible to man's ear.

No longer unicorns. No longer favored. Merely horses that Abba indentured as servants for humanity, to plough its fields and carry its wives on steady gaits. Reduced to the same menial rank as the other animals they once governed.

They could stand beside man as his confidant, could sense their kindred spirit with humanity when mounted or led by a mindful child into the corral?

But they could never share their story. Not in words. Only in the syncopated beating of their hearts.

Until?



The day when God forgave them.

With the coming of the dawn, He made a covenant with His demoted ones - conceived a way that horses and humans could eventually realize their inherent bond as protectors of the Lord's creation.

A sigh - with a soft wind that stirred the loose dirt of a grave, He made it so.

And it was good.

When a hero died and angels embraced his spirit at the Gates, the virtue of his soul was reborn in the unbroken endurance of a stallion or the chaste coyness of a mare.

Then to the human soul all was revealed,

Through a horse's eyes, it all became clear.




Preview - Chapter 1: Paradise

Tavi licked his lips, bit down on their rim as he his eyes fell to the ground. They rested on his brother's boots, scuffed and dusty from the jagged edges of the bluffs. Dung crusted the toe-lines in brittle, crumbling chunks. "Sometimes?" his stomach gyrated "?I can hear you crying out at night. You say things - a lot of things? I can?t understand - but?." The child paused; his left hand scrunched the hem of his sweater, showing a sliver of his olive-toned tummy. "? You almost always call her name. It's strained when you say it, like a colt just kicked you in your chest? but you have to reach her, anyway." His liquefying, gentian eyes rose to meet his brother's firm stare; the corner of his mouth twitched. "She must have meant a lot to you? like my Relena does to me."

[Mizaya]

I'm enthralled! I didn't think you would actually continue this story but you have. Tomorrow, you have made my day! Beautiful. Oh I can't wait for more. I'm sure your vision will unfold with all of your trademark imagery and emotion. Please continue!

[Morrighan]

Ooh... The intrigue!! I can't wait to see how this progresses!!

[bookworm]

*points above*

What they say.

[Aristale Wolf]

Dido!!!!!!!