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Diversion #39 - Ii Kibarashi Extra - Checking it Twice
Duo stopped and looked down each of the intersecting hallways. Then he checked the stairways going up and down. Nothing.
Damn it. He rolled his eyes in exasperation and sighed heavily. This place needed a damn map! With all these moving staircases and shifting hallways, he was lost more often than not in this part of the Castle, and that just insulted the crap out of his Banshee sensibilities. Banshees don't get lost, dammit!
He blew a puff of air up through his bangs. A moment later there came a grinding sound from one of the hallways. The damn thing was shifting again. He huffed again, closed his eyes and spun in a circle. He opened his eyes to find that he was facing the downward staircase. Good a direction as any. If he went down he would have to reach the ground floor eventually.
Wouldn't he?
Three staircases, five hallways and eight intersections later, the Banshee concluded that he was in the midst of a nightmare. How else to account for this maze? Didn't Wizards believe in fire doors; emergency exits?!
He began opening doors at random, in case there really was an emergency stair behind one of them.
In the middle of the second gloomy hallway, he flung open a door and almost clobbered a man reaching for the door from the other side. They both jumped back, startled.
Duo recovered first.
"Oh crap! I'm sorry! It didn't hit you, did it?"
The man blinked, then smiled. "No, just startled me. I seldom meet anyone in these hallways; rather off the beaten track."
"No kidding," Duo growled. "I've been lost for three hours! Can you show me the way out?"
"Lost? Oh, dear. That's not good," he agreed.
Duo ran his fingers through his bangs. "I'm going crazy; it's like the place is conspiring to keep me here!"
The man laughed softly. "Perhaps it's only that these halls so seldom have company; you are a novelty to them."
"I don't mind exploring, but I just don't have time for this right now. I have things to make and things to finish and people to call, and... and... just stuff to do!" he cried in frustration. "Geez! I just want out of here!"
Yes, he was being childish and hysterical, but he was almost an hour late for his date with Heero and he couldn't get a signal on his cell phone and there hadn't been a sign of a fire anywhere in the maze.
"It'll be all right," soothed the stranger. "I'll show you the way. You just have to know the secret."
"Thank you! You are my new best friend!" He remembered his manners. "Oh, I'm Duo; I work for Magical Investigations."
"I'm Nik; Crafts and Trades." He shook Duo's hand.
"Then you know all about the Castle." Duo brightened at his good fortune.
Nik laughed. "Well, not *all* about it, but plenty. You must be the Banshee I've heard about." He pointed down the hallway. "This way."
Duo fell into step with him. "I guess I am. My uncle visits now and then, but I'm permanent. We haven't met before, have we? I've usually pretty good with names and faces, but..."
"I don't believe we've ever been introduced. I've seen you around, though," he smiled. "You're hard to miss."
"It's the hair, right? Everyone notices the hair," Duo grinned.
"True, but I noticed the Dragon bookends first."
Duo blushed. "Um... Yeah. They are rather over-protective..."
"They care about you," Nik shrugged. "You've had a hell of a year."
"Sorta," Duo muttered. "Not like I go looking for trouble... It just... happens around me."
Nik nodded. "I've heard that about Banshees; comes with your territory."
"My 'territory'? I have a 'territory'?"
"Sure; we all do. All those little things that follow us around; the legends, the old wives tales, the superstitions. Yours just tend toward the... well, the darker side."
Duo stopped walking and blinked at the man. "Banshees aren't bad."
Nik turned, spreading his hands apologetically. "I don't mean that as a pejorative, Duo. Light and dark exist together; you can't have one without the other. Dark is not always bad; that's a Human assumption. You lived with them for a while; surely you noticed that."
"Yeah... I guess I'm just used to hearing bad things referred to as the 'dark side'."
"That's because Humans are afraid of the dark; it's a genetic thing."
"Oh. Yeah, that's true." He started walking again and they continued down the hallway together. "So, what's your 'territory'?"
"Ah! Sorry. I'm an Elf."
"We're sort of second or third cousins then," suggested Duo with a grin. "You guys are generally seen as the light side."
"You've obviously never met an Elf before his morning coffee," snorted Nik. "We have to struggle against our collective reputation just like Banshees do."
"So, nobody's perfect and I shouldn't whine so much about being misunderstood?" Duo smirked.
"We're all misunderstood by someone."
Duo thought of his Wyvern. "Oh, very true... So, what do you do in Crafts and Trades? Isn't that maintenance?"
"That's the Trades end; they fix things. Crafts build stuff."
"Like woodworking or glass blowing?"
"I've done both. I'm a master craft Elf; I build all manner of stuff."
"Wow! That's cool! I make stuff, too, but handcrafts; you know?"
"Indeed I do; I've seen your work. You're quite an artist."
Duo shrugged, a little embarrassed. "My mother was a knitter and I used to help the beaders sort colors when I was a kid. It's relaxing; I enjoy it."
"And you donate a great many things to the shelters and foster homes."
"You know a lot about me," he said in amazement. Good thing Heero wasn't there; he'd probably go into super-protective-paranoid mode. Duo just found it embarrassing that someone he didn't even know had such a high opinion of his work.
Nik smiled. "I notice things, and you're a good person. Ah, here we are." He stopped at a small landing, pointing down the stairs. "Go all the way down, then turn left. You'll see the glass doors straight ahead down the hall. That'll take you out right near the supply warehouse."
"Thanks! My boyfriend is going to be frantic; he goes nuts when he can't find me."
The Elf chuckled. "Dragons are like that; he loves you a great deal."
"Yeah, he does." He started down the stairs eagerly, only to fetch up sharply only a few steps down. "Wait a minute...." He spun about peering back up at the landing. "How did you...?"
Nik was gone.
Duo climbed back up the stairs to stare down the empty hallway. "Huh. How would he know...?" he wondered. "Oh, well."
He clattered down several flights of stairs and found the glass doors Nik had described. They did indeed take him out of the building near the supply warehouse and less than two minutes later, Heero was swooping down to embrace him.
"Where were you?! Your phone wasn't working! Are you all right?!"
"I'm fine, Heero! I got lost in the south wing!"
Heero blinked and morphed into his less threatening form. "The south wing?! How did you get in there?"
"That rotten hallway shifted on me! I've spent three hours trying to get out. I'd still be wandering around if I hadn't met a craft Elf, who showed me the way out. Nice guy; he apparently knows who I am."
Heero blinked again. "You met a craft Elf?"
"Yeah..."
"Duo, the only Clan of craft Elves live at the North Pole."
Duo snorted. "Well, one of them lives in the south wing, because I met him. His name is Nik."
The Wyvern cast him an odd look. "Okay." He took Duo's hand, snugging him close. "Let's just go to dinner; you can tell me all about it then."
"Okay," Duo sighed. "I am starving! And the south wing is *freezing*! Don't they heat that place?"
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~*midnight; the south wing*~
"What are you doing here?" *growl*
"Checking my list, Heero." *smile*
"Here?!"
"Why not here? It's a pleasant place to work; he's a charmer, your Banshee."
"Yes, he is. But why did you tell him you've noticed him?" *exasperation*
"I did notice him; he's a good kid. Nothing wrong with letting him know that, is there?" *innocently*
"No... But he doesn't know about you, and I'd rather keep it that way."
"You're a good boy, too, Heero. See you on the night. Oh! What was it you wanted again? Happiness for your Banshee? I think I can manage that."
"Goodbye Nikolas." *snort*
"Goodbye, cousin." *smirk*
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The fire jumped and a man's face appeared.
"Ah, Q! How nice to see you! You've been very good this year."
The blond Wizard blinked. "Um... Thank you; that's always nice to hear. Nik, you were seen in the south wing."
"The poor thing was lost; I had to show him out."
"But you didn't have to show yourself. We've done a lot of work down here, convincing people that you're nothing more than a warm and fuzzy myth; if you start showing up again... Well, the world population is around six billion now."
"That much? My, they are prolific, aren't they?"
"Nik..."
"I know, Q, and I appreciate the work all of the Magical Community has done on my behalf; really I do," said the man earnestly. "You know how those hallways are, though."
The Wizard sighed. "Oh, I know; believe me, I know. I really wish the founders hadn't given them sentience."
"They do get lonely..."
"Yes... But that doesn't mean you can tease my people, Nik. And anyway, don't you have work to do this time of year?"
"That I have, Quatre; that I have," he said gently.
Q winced. "All right, Nikolas; point taken. I'll try to be more sensitive from now on. Just... remember how Dragons are where their Chosen is concerned. Happy new year, Nik."
"I will remember; Heero Glared at me last night." He chuckled softly. "Oh, I do love Dragons! Ah, Q; about your wish..." His smile faded.
Q shook his head. "I know; don't worry about it. You have plenty enough to do as it is."
"Sorry, Q..." he murmured regretfully. "Maybe next year... Happy new year, child." The fire sank and his face disappeared.
The Wizard Q sighed and tilted his chair back to rest his feet on the desk. "There's always next year..."
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