Mistress Mary
Chapter 1
By Silent Stalker
DISCLAIMER:Don't own Gundam Wing. Although I wish I did. Doesn't every fangirl out there?
WARNINGS:This has open unrequited shounen-ai. And it's from Duo's point of view. And Duo's kinda OOC (On purpose). And Death ((Don't worry, it's not a deathfic!! I hate the ones where one of the pilots die and I will never write one.))
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is the revised version of Part One
My name is Duo Maxwell and this is the story of how I met my little sister: Mary Maxwell. Well, she's not really my little sister. More like my 1/2 clone. And for the first couple of years that I knew her, she was practically my daughter. But I'll get to that. One day, when she's older, I'd like for her to read this. She'd like it. I remember the day I met Mary as if it was yesterday. Hell, it almost was yesterday. Less then 3 years ago . . .
After the war ended, I was lost. I think we kinda all were, but me most of all. After all, Quatre and Trowa had each other, Quat's business and Tro's circus to fall back on. WuFei, though he vehemently denied any ties to "that onna", followed Sally right into the preventers. Heero, now that boy managed to surprise me. Despite his obvious annoyance and constant "Omae o korosu" to Relena, fled right into her arms once the gundams was on their way towards the sun. Ouch, that one hurt like a bitch. Heero probably didn't know that I pined after him more'n her.
So I moped around for a few days, once everyone was gone. They kinda abandoned me in the last safe house we stayed at. Jackasses. Then I figured with all of my oddball schooling during the war, it was prolly best if I bypassed high school all together, even though I had just turned sixteen. Might have had something to do with the fact that, due to my training, I was more intelligent and smarter then most college sophomores. Sister Helen always said you could be intelligent, without being smart. I was a lovely mixture of both; I just never let it show. So anyway, I talked to G over the vidphone, and he recommended a few schools that I might like. I picked one randomly and a week later G called back to tell me I was fully paid for the next 5 years there. I was on my way to Harvard, in America. I chose it so I wouldn't feel so out of place.
In early June AC196, I started my advanced schooling. I suppose the fact that I started Summer Quarter, to get caught up might have had something to do with my isolation. Despite being among other American's I was still horribly Lonely. None of these pricks knew the horrors of war, no matter how much they spewed and I was a few years younger then most. After a couple of weeks, I ended up changing my image a little bit, to fit in more. I had to, to feel comfortable.
All the students here were rich, with rich parents, went to private boarding schools and were hellishly booring snobs. Personally, I had naught a cent to my name, but G- and oddly enough, J- had paid my way fully, with a small allowance. No parents, but hell, at the time, I could care less. I didn't even remember them. I went to a few of them private boarding schools. Quite a few, as a matter of fact. And I think I was a bit too hyperactive for these brainiacs.
In Ancient Times (approx 2000 AD), Harvard had 2000+ students. Now we barely scraped 625. So I began to mellow out. I quit using contacts and reverted back to my old silver wire rimmed glasses. Never knew I was far sighted, didja? I also lost my black riding pants, preferring to wear khakis or black slacks now. My priest shirt and collar I held onto, not quite ready to give up all my past just yet.
My braid I also kept, I would never cut it. I remember Sister Helen braiding it for the first time for me, but somehow I knew I had, had long hair for far longer then that. Studying and good grades became second nature to me, along with my lack of a social life. It took less then one Quarter here to know what I wanted to do with my life. I knew what I wanted to Major in, and how long it would take me to get the PhD I wanted in that particular field. I began throwing myself at my studies, reading and learning even when the school was on break.
I had always had a passion for Ancient Times, the years before the colony projects. My extensive knowledge of proved helpful in deciding what to do with the rest of my craptacular life. Anthropology, Cultural Anthro to be exact, was the study of past human cultures. I wanted to know how Ancient humans lived, and even delve to pre-Ancient, possibly the years from 900 AD to 1700 AD. The first technological revolution. I chose Archaeology as my minor.
My bright world started dim in October AC 196 when I began to get sick. At first, I brushed it off as a cold. Then the cold became pneumonia and pneumonia became worse. When three private doctors, a couple of hospitals and a head and lung specialist couldn't diagnose the disease that made me have migraines so bad I could barely see and my lungs so full of shit I couldn't breath, I went to see G, unannounced.
"Duo, I am not your physician," G had said. "I cannot tell you what is wrong with you."
"I know, Doc," I drawled. I knew the man was lying. "But you took care of me for two years straight. You know more about my super-human immune system then I do, and even I know I shouldn't be sick. It's physically impossible for any of the gundam pilots to get sick."
"It's just a cold, now go!"
The way he practically shoved me out of the building set off warning bells. And I could have sworn I saw J peeking out a window as I walked down the New York suburb street.
I returned later that night. It was easier'n piss to break in. And my stealth was perfect. Thanks for the training, G. No one was in the computer room, so I snuck in and hacked open my personal files.
I was right and I was mad. This was no ordinary cold; it was remnant of the L2 plague. That and G had both the vaccine and the antigen here in his lab. Bastard. I made a copy of my medical files and downloaded them to a hard disk to take with me. Then I walked back down the hall. G had the medication somewhere in one of these rooms; I just had to find it.
I went through all the rooms, discovering the antigen in a cabinet in a room near the front door. But as I was about to leave, I spied a door that I had seen earlier. It was large and looked like it was made out of solid steel. Various scientist had been coming and going from this door the entire time I was here. My curiosity kicked in and I slipped into the room.
Down some blackened stairs and a right at the turn in the corridor and I had come to the strangest room I had ever seen. Wall to wall computers, each displaying different data. And in the middle of the room was a floor to ceiling glass tube, with an electronic base and top. It was filled with a water like clear substance and floating in the middle of the tube was a small girl, about 5 years old. She had long dark hair, the same shade as Heero's, and tubes and wires ran from her to the top of the tube. The lights in the tube made it glow slightly and it illuminated a small circle around the tube. I inched closer.
A plaque on the base said MY07-0691 I wonder briefly if this was her name or just a serial number. That last part must have been a date. Also, there was a sign that read 'Do Not Tap On Glass'. I grinned. Loathe as I was to disturb her, the sign was like being told not to look down. I couldn't help that I was contrary by nature. So I reached up and gently rapped on the glass with my knuckles.
The girl's eyes flew open and I was so startled I stumbled back a few steps. Her eyes were as violet as my own, and scared. As I got over my shock, I realized she had done the same thing I did. Although she had nowhere to retreat to, she had backed herself against the far side of the tube. I cautiously crept back, trying not to scare her more.
I placed a shaking hand, palm down, on the glass. The girl inside was surreal and I wanted to touch her and see if she was a dream. But this was the closest I could get. The girl drifted towards me, and laid her hand, palm down, in the same spot mine was. I marveled at how tiny it was. Everything about her was small. As an exact copy of my eyes gazed into mine, I felt a sinking in my gut. This was soooo wrong. Somehow, I wasn't sure how exactly, this girl was related to me.
Suddenly the laboratory filled with light and I whirled around, temporarily forgetting MY07-0691. G stood in the doorway, his hand still on the light switch.
"Hullo," I said. It was the most coherent thought I had. Everything else ran along the lines of 'cruelty!', 'kill the bastard!' and 'what the hell is going on around here?'
"I see you've met MY07. Isn't she wonderful?" G moved farther into the room.
For the first time since meeting the scientist, I found myself distrusting him. "What is she?" I demanded.
"She is our greatest creation ever. J's and mine, of course." Pride filled the cursed voice.
"And that tells me . . . what?"
"MY07 is the most forward leap in scientific knowledge on genetics. She was created from a genetic mixture of DNA and grown here in the lab. She is, in essence, the single clone of two different people. And the first to survive."
"How old is she?"
"She first opened her eyes in November AC 191, but her first cell was spliced June AC 191."
I was right. The 0691 on her serial number was in theory, her birthday. But what was the MY07?! Suddenly something clicked in my brain. I glared at G, with a look that Heero would be proud of.
"Whose genes?" I asked darkly, already knowing the answer, yet praying I was wrong.
G hesitated. Now I knew I was right. M- for Maxwell. Y- for Yuy. And 07 for being the 7th in the line, yet the first to still be living. The look in G's eyes let me know he knew that I knew now. G pulled out a gun before I could react.
"Tsk, tsk, Duo," he said patronizingly. "You wandered somewhere you shouldn't have. You should have taken my word for it earlier and just left. Big mistake."
J took this moment to enter the lab and G turned towards him, still watching me out of the corner of his eye.
"We have an intruder," he said almost conversationally as if I was merely a petty crook. I grew even more infuriated and my hand reached towards the pistol I had hidden in my waistband.
A sharp retort stopped me and I slowly looked down. Blood oozed from the bullet hole in my stomach. G had shot me. G, who practically raised me and taught me almost everything I knew, had shot me. I crumpled to the ground, clutching my stomach.
G knelt next to me. "So sorry Duo, but I can't have you ruining everything. Can you imaging the uproar if the public found out we were growing a child in our lab? Besides, J taught me some things about severing emotional attachments."
I mumbled something incoherently and G leaned in closer to hear better. "Me too," I whispered when he was close enough.
Then the knife that had previously resided in my shirtsleeve, found it's new home in G's chest, right in his heart. G's back was to J, so the other doctor probably had no idea what was going on. I drug the knife diagonally across his midsection, slicing through his flesh like butter. Lovely, sharp knife. Thanks Tro.
"G?" J said when the mushroom-headed scientist collapsed in a rapidly expanding pool of his and my blood. He took few steps towards us and I raised the gun I had pried from G's cooling fingers.
Three shots and he, too was dead. Severing emotional ties, indeed. My last sight before I passed out was looking up and seeing MY07-0691 staring down at me in shock- and hope.
END NOTES:Eh, so I have a flair for the dramatic. I like it, though. If you like, do me a favor and email me please? I'd like to know whether it's worth completeing.