by Yemen's Ashes
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After Colony 199 Chang Wu-Fei looked out at the stars. Out at space. The bright pinpoints of light were so far away, and yet they shone so brightly that even humans on earth could see them. Wu-Fei looked down at the earth, at the chaos and havoc that had been wreaked upon the planet by those it had given birth to. But that was over now. All the wars were over now, and there was nothing but an endless expanse of peace in sight, much like there was nothing but an endless expanse of nothing in Wu-Fei's life. He had had a life filled with things before this war, he had had a life, and a wife. But both of those had died back on his home colony. When that war began, he had had an enemy, someone to defeat so as to ensure the prosperity of all other humans. But that enemy was now dead as well. And there was nothing left. Nothing at all. What did a warrior do when there were no wars and no one worth saving was still alive? An image reflected off the window, marring the perfect image of space. "Wu-Fei. I thought I would find you here." Turning at the familiar voice, he abandoned his earlier thoughts. "Quatre. What do you want?" Wu-Fei noticed the gray duffel bag at the former Gundam pilot's feet. "I'm leaving. Going back to my colony to try and help restore peace." Wu-Fei said nothing. "Well, I know that you have nothing to do around here, so I was wondering if you would be willing to go along with me and..." Wu-Fei raised an eyebrow. "And what?" "And help me." "Me help you restore peace." "Yes. The others are coming along, too." "They are?" "That's what I said." "But Heero joined the Preventers." "He's taking time off to do this. Relena apparently talked him into it." "Stupid Onna," Wu-Fei muttered. "Well, coming or not?" Quatre asked again as he hefted the bag. "When are you leaving?" "Now." "I'll meet you in five minutes out front." "See you then." "He agreed to come along? You didn't have to beg him or anything? He just said, "Yeah! Sure, why not!"?" Asked an incredulous Duo Maxwell. "Pretty much," Quatre Rebabah Winner affirmed. "Wow." "Here he comes," observed Heero Yuy, who had assigned himself the position of lookout on the limo's hood. He now hopped off and joined the rest of the Gundam pilots beside the left car door. Wu-Fei came down the steps of the safe house and placed his bag in the limo before climbing in without so much as a glance at the other pilots. Trowa exchanged a look with Quatre over Duo's head as the American shoved his way past them into the limo. He too, had noticed a distant look in their Chinese friend's eyes. Quatre shrugged and got into the limo, followed by Trowa, and Heero - at last abandoning his post. Duo decided this vacation was well deserved and told all the other pilots exactly this. "Duo, this isn't a vacation. It's a mission. A mission to restore peace." "Sure, sure. But I've heard that L4 has some great resorts and - " "Duo. This is not a vacation." Heero clarified, giving Duo the glare of death that usually shut him up. This time, however, it failed. "I know that. I'm just saying that the five of us have earned a vacation and this is a perfect opportunity for one." "Duo, L4 is chaos. Ever since...ever since my father died its been that way. We have to fix it. Make it like it used to be." The blonde pilot looked for support and got a small smile from the reticent Trowa. "You make it sound like a broken toy. Quatre, how are we going to restore peace to a colony?" Duo broke in to Quatre's explanation. "We defeated OZ, and Marimaya, surely we can restore peace to one colony." Quatre insisted. "Making war is much easier than stopping it," Wu-Fei observed from his window seat on the shuttle. These were the first words he had uttered since the former Gundam pilots had boarded the shuttle that was to take them to L4. "Hey! He's alive! I thought you weren't ever going to say anything at all, Wu-chan." Duo announced, elbowing his neighbor in the ribs. Wu-Fei glared. "Maxwell, do you ever, ever, close you mouth?" "No," Heero answered for his old partner before Duo could say anything. "You two and Trowa are so quiet, somebody has to make up for the lack of noise." "Maxwell, have you ever heard of noise pollution?" "No, why?" "Because I've found its source and have formulated a plan to rid the universe of it." Wu-Fei announced. Heero smiled, liking the implications of what Wu-Fei was saying. Quatre not liking the implications - since no one should be fighting at all - didn't smile. Trowa abruptly wiped the grin off his face as Quatre looked at him. "Are you threatening me?" Duo asked, piecing together what Wu-Fei meant from the others reactions. "Yes." "Ha! I can take you. Bring it on. Shiginami is - " A soft beep and a small orange light asking all passengers to please buckle their seat belts cut off Duo. "Justice can wait. Sit sown and buckle your seat belt, Maxwell." "Don't tell me what to do, Wu-chan." "Don't call me that, Maxwell." "Don't - " "Don't talk anymore." Trowa said, and the three words from the silent pilot shut the two feuding ones up. Duo's jaw dropped as he surveyed the crowd greeting them. Closest to the pilots was a gathering of women, all blonde haired and blue eyed, all looking like Quatre. "How many sisters do you have, Quatre?" He asked. "Uh..." "Should we be worried about the angry mob behind Quatre's hundred and one sisters or are they part of the welcoming party, too?" Heero asked. "Well..." "We should have brought more weapons," Wu-Fei announced. "We didn't bring any weapons," Quatre told him. "My point still stands." "Whoa! Why do they get guns and we get nothing?" Duo asked, beginning to get alarmed. "Take it easy, all we have to do is avoid a fight and we can go to my family's headquarters and work this out." "I don't think we can avoid a fight," Trowa said quietly. He had been analyzing the situation and now reached a conclusion he didn't like anymore than the others. "Alright, what if we get back on the shuttle and - " Quatre was cut off by the sound of engines igniting. The five pilots looked behind them in time to see the shuttle begin to slowly drift away from the colony. " - Never mind," Quatre finished. Trowa continued to observe the situation. "We could run away." Duo suggested. "I may run and hide but I never lie" Quatre quoted the famous Maxwell maxim. "That's right. Any takers?" Heero surveyed the angry mob and the innocent blondes. He sighed. "Sounds like a good plan." Trowa agreed with a nod. "I can't believe I came with you idiots to this stupid colony. There is no justice in this." Wu-Fei protested. "I'll take that as a yes, Wu-chan." Duo ignored Wu-Fei's glare. "It would be best if we split up." Trowa added. "Right. I know the way to my family's head quarters, so I'll take Trowa. Duo you know how to get there, too. You take Heero and Wu-Fei." "No, I'll stay and get your sisters somewhere safe," Heero said. Quatre thought that over. "Alright. Thank you. The crowd might calm down after they see us leave, but still. Duo, you'll take Wu-Fei." "No!" "Wu-Fei, you don't know how to get there - " "I'll stay and help Heero with these weak onna's." "I don't need the help," Heero said. Wu-Fei glared at him. His glare, however, was no match for the glare of death, and he relented. "Maxwell, if you say one word, I'll kill you," he warned. Duo started to say something, but Quatre broke in. "Good, it's settled. We'll see you back at the headquarters." With this, Quatre grabbed Trowa's hand and the two ran off down a terminal. Some of the angry mob followed after them. Heero made a beeline for Quatre's gaggle of sisters. Duo looked around and decided on a course of action. He took off towards the men's restrooms. Wu-Fei stared at the American. What in the hell was he thinking? But wait. Shiginami doesn't think at all. Sighing, Wu-Fei set off after him. He got to the restroom just in time to close the door in the faces of the rest of the angry colonists. With his back pressed against the door to hold them back, he frantically searched for something to brace the door. His eyes locked on the trashcan. He hurriedly overturned it and kicked it into place between the door and wall. He looked around and spotted Duo leaning into a urinal. "What? You came in here just to - " "Hey, man, I had to go." "I don't believe this. Now we're stuck, in a damn bathroom. We are going to die, IN A GOD-DAMNED BATHROOM!" "Take it easy, Wu-chan. I know a way out." "How? Go down the toilet? Just because your mother told you it led to a happy place for your dead goldfish doesn't mean it does the same for us." "You mean, Pinky and Monkey aren't in heaven?" Duo, now finished, approached a stall, but sent one mock-devastated look Wu-Fei's way. "You have to take a crap too?! Do you want me to ask the dozens of people with guns out there for a newspaper?" "No, remember, I don't read the newspaper. It's too advanced for my little bity brain," Duo shot back, beginning to be annoyed. "Forgive me for forgetting," Wu-Fei said as he walked towards the open door. Duo had appropriated the toilet as a stool and now stood upon it, a screwdriver in hand, and was beginning to take the screws out of the air ventilation shaft. "Where did you get a screwdriver?" Wu-Fei demanded. "I carry it with me, I am, after all, a mechanic, and it occasionally helps to have one with me," Duo said without looking at him. A loud crash cut off any other comment Wu-Fei might have made. "We don't have much time," he said instead. "Give me another two seconds and...Got it!" Duo scrambled up the escape route, letting the vent cover drop. Wu-Fei climbed up after him. He looked to his left and immediately saw Duo's butt. He swallowed hard. Duo began crawling away and Wu-Fei pulled himself all the way out of the shaft. He crawled after Duo down the narrow shaft. It wasn't long before Wu-Fei had a new resolution for the next year: to make sure that Maxwell didn't live to see it. Every few minutes the American would stop without Wu-Fei noticing and Wu-Fei would abruptly find his face shoved into the other's butt. "Maxwell, if you don't move you ass now, I swear I will kill you." Wu-Fei threatened the next time it happened. "I'm going, I'm going." After what seemed like days they reached another vent. Duo looked through the slits. "Uh- oh." "What? Did you loose your screwdriver?" "No, and they are opened from the outside. But, the problem is, there are people, with guns, on the outside, waiting for us. Shit." "Well, keep going, then." "Problem there too," Duo said after a moment of silence. "What do you mean?" "There are people on the inside too. In front of us. And they have guns too." "Shit." "Where are they taking us?" Wu-Fei asked as he was manhandled through the back door of a truck. "How should I know?" Duo shot back, really, really annoyed now. The two were forced inside, then the metal doors slammed shut. The truck started moving, and Wu-Fei stood, swaying with the truck to remain balanced. He looked around. "Hey, Maxwell, still have that screw driver?" "Yeah, why?" "I've got an idea." Ten minutes later. "It's not going to work. The lock, form the outside, just won't give," Duo grunted as he shoved the screwdriver into the narrow opening between the doors again. "Are you sure?" "Do you want to try?" "I believe you. How about this, when the truck stops, I'll attack one guy, and you attack another with your screwdriver, and then we'll just run away." "Brilliant idea. Simply ingenious," Duo said as he pushed again. "You got a better one, Maxwell?" "No." "Ok then. Remember, as soon as the doors open - " He was cut off as the doors opened. Duo, still pushing with the screwdriver, fell out immediately and cried out as he was stepped on. Wu-Fei instantly jumped out and attacked the nearest person. He quickly felled the man, then looked to his left and spotted Duo, curled into a ball, and a lifeless body lying beside him. Wu-Fei knelt beside the American. "You were supposed to attack him, not the reverse," He admonished. "Duo coughed weakly. "My mistake." Wu-Fei looked at the fallen man. A screwdriver was driven into his throat, blood was pouring out or a deep cut. "Can you walk?" He asked. "Of course I can walk." Duo attempted to stand, but instantly fell down. "Well, I can, just not right now." "Great." Wu-Fei hoisted the American over his shoulder and stood. He was surprised at how light Duo was. "Which way to Quatre's place?" He asked. "I - I don't know. I got lost right about the time we were put in the truck." Wu-Fei looked around him. Across from the truck and two dead people was a building that looked abandoned. Great place for an execution, he thought. Shrugging, he headed towards it. He stepped across the rubble-strewn threshold and into a large chamber, abandoned packages littered the floor. A large, gaping hole let in dim light from the outside. "Wow. You found an abandoned post office. Lucky us," Said a barely conscious Duo. "Shut up, Maxwell." Wu-Fei walked farther in and laid Duo down on a relatively clean area of the floor. "How do you feel?" "Like you actually care. I'll be okay, just let me sleep for a while." Wu-Fei sighed as the American's violet eyes closed. "Sure," he said softly, to no one. Wu-Fei looked around, wondering what had awakened him. The artificial light of an artificial moon filtered in form above. That wasn't it. He looked across the floor to where Duo lay. The braided boy was lying on his side, tightly clutching at nothing, muttering something. Wu-Fei pulled himself up and approached Duo. He sat down beside him and touched his shoulder. "Maxwell, wake up." Duo's hand instantly locked in a death grip around Wu-Fei's throat. The American's eyes shot open and focused on his surroundings. Wu-Fei was finding the vice like grip around his throat none too comfortable. "Maxwell, let go," he gritted out. "Wu-Fei?" |
