Group 01 [3 11]
Duo Maxwell [leader]
Trowa Barton
Dorothy Catalonia
Nazoko Ten'oh
Zechs Merquize [Milliard Peacecraft]
Relena Dorlain Peacecraft
Marimea Barton
Usa "Chibbs" Tsukino
Shuka Tsukino
Group 02 [T.A.Z.]
Heero Yuy [leader]
Patricia "Lady" Une
Treize Kushrenada
Quatre Rebaba Winner
Uka Mei'oh
Anna Marie Takemaru
Dr. Sally Po
Inuko "Ica" Bonnie
Lucrezia Noin
Cherry Ave.
By: FLYz & Uka-san
And somewhere, in Charlottesville, Virginia at the Frank IV & Son's graveyard, there is a little shack out in the back, where the man who tends to it sleeps, eats, and lives, though he does not call it home. He was once remembered as Xiang Fei, which slowly over time turned to Chang Wufei, and now, nobody even remembers his presence upon this Earth. However, let me not bother you, dear reader, with frivolities that you do not appreciate, and most certainly don't want to read.
This here, is a story of a little town, Anywhere, U.S.A., which they who inhabit it have dubbed, Charlottesville. In it, of historical importance, are the University of Virginia, who's finest medicine and law schools have made itself something to be remembered, and Monticello, who's builder and sole inhabitant was Thomas Jefferson himself.
In this, the town of "C'Ville" our story takes place, of two gangs, the 311, and The After-Colony Zealots, known more commonly as T.A.Z., it is not a happy tale, nor is a particularly important one to those who didn't know the members themselves, but every story has a muse, and more often that not, that muse finds a correspondent, but not every time does someone stop to listen. No, not every time...
...
Not indeed.
* * * * *
The jingle of keys, the rattling of a doorknob, the squeak of wood on wood. All of it he would remember. All of it he would loathe.
Hey, man, I may be ruthless, but I do know how to be gentle when I have to be, and this is definitely one of those times. Haven't you ever heard of the expression don't judge a book by it's cover?
It was a simple job, check for clear streets, go a block left, from the house, walk into the mini-mart, get a six pack of 7-up, and get the Hell out of there before anybody saw you that wasn't supposed to.
What do I want to be when I grow up? I want to work for the CIA because the only way you'll ever get out of that job is to either get killed by the bad guys, or get killed by the good guys. You can't trust anybody. I'm good at that.
And that's all the two were trying to do. And unfortunately, neither of them wanted to see the other. They hadn't wanted to see each other for the past couple of years, actually. And only one of them had remembered a gun.
My one rule, my policy, the thing I NEVER do, no matter what the circumstances may be, I never shoot an unarmed person. I'd lie before I hurt someone not able to defend themselves.
Searing ice-blue violet met a burning cobalt across the street, as the two gang members stared at each other. They both knew that one of them carried a gun to bed with him, and they both knew that the other one didn't bring a gun unless he went out to kill someone.
God, Heero, where were you? Where were you when I died? When I had a soul, when I was a human being, we might have been able to get a long... God... Heero... I don't know what I am anymore. It sure as Hell ain't human...
They both knew what was going to happen before it did, maybe because they knew the course of things, maybe 'cause J told them, he has a little habit of doing that, but that's another thing I remember that bears another telling, for another time. Anyway, the air was thick, heavy with tension. Had school been out, or had this been a high drug-traffic area, someone might've recognized the lithe figure of the leader of the local gang 311, Duo Maxwell. And anybody who'd ever even attempted to go to driving school, or had applied for a gun permit would've recognized the well structured, solid frame of Heero Yuy, leader of T.A.Z. But all those kind of people were all either at the mini-mart, Tokyo Rose, or at Foods, so nobody who was wondering around recognized the two by name or looks, but most of them sure as Hell recognized the tension building around them, and those who could, got the Hell out of there.
I will kill you, even if it is with my dying breath, even if I have to wait an eternity and then some, even if I must become God Himself to do it, you wait Maxwell, I will kill you, even if it kills me in the process.
There wasn't much to it. He drew the gun out of his pocket, the few assorted people who saw it, squealed at hit the pavement in an undignified heap, some of the others just ran into corners and houses, anything to get out of range of the gun.
The beauty in war in general is that you get to put your soul into it, even if you don't want to. War draws the line, where innocence is lost; it separates the men from the boys, so to speak. The beauty in urban war, now that...
That is something else...
He brushed his braided hair over his shoulder, the other shifted his legs ever so slightly, the two reading each others' faces, memorizing each contour, reading each others' eyes, memorizing each detail, each emotion expressed. And then before either of the two had a chance to move, to reconsider, to be rational
Ah, I have learnt too much from war about myself. What, you ask? Well, the most obvious gain of knowledge is that I am now smart enough to keep out of this thing you're starting.
Duo lifted the gun
What do I love about you? I don't know... your soul, your eyes, you face, you hair, your sense of humor, your cooking, you laugh, your voice... they're all pretty insignificant in the end, though, aren't they?
So does that make love insignificant?
aimed between the rushing cars, a million eyes watching his every move,
You can't do it, can you? When it comes down to it, Duo, you just can't do it. Your too afraid of what it'll do to your soul... Hah. *laughter* You'll never be a warrior, you'll never be able to face that person in the mirror, you'll always keep on running
cocked it, searched for something in Heero's eyes
and you'll never become whole because you don't understand yourself. You can't understand yourself because you don't understand me. Know thyself, then know thy enemy. Except you can't do either until you do the other, so you'll never be able to get away from your fear, because you can't find what you need in yourself to kill me-
and finding nothing, closed his own, and squeezed the trigger.
Yup, folks, that's how it went down on Cherry Avenue that Monday evening in that chilly February, nothing quite like it ever happened since. And the stain from the pool of blood that gathered around Yuy's feet is still there, and what was lost that day shall never be forgotten.
But that was the end of that tale, it's always good to begin at the end, because it let's the listener know a little bit more about the people he's gonna have to understand. To truly understand their achievements at the end. So now that you know the... well, most of the end of that story, let us tell you the beginning and the middle. Then let's see if you still think straight.
If you still believe north is north, and not south, if you still think that the sun rising during the day, and the moon during the night, and if Heero Yuy was really a cold hearted murderer like every one said he was.
Or, for that matter, if Duo Maxwell was the wimp of a cynic masochist everyone said he was.
Well, as I said, you know how it ended. And sometimes the best place to begin is at the end, because you never know how that'll change you listinin' experience forever. But now... I think it started way before J left town... probably before G pissed him off, but that's too far back in time to matter...
...
Our story starts, like it always does, the good and the bad, the light and the dark, God and the Devil, T.A.Z. and 311. It was mostly like that because some say in a life before this one, Yuy was a bird, a dove I think, but knowing J he probably...
* * * * *
PART TWO COMING UPON DEMAND!!! YOU WANT MORE? REVIEW! NOT IMPORTANT ENOUGH? SCREW YOU! SOME OF US HAVE TO SURVIVE BEING A GOTH IN A PRIVATE PREP SCHOOL, AND BEING NEGATIVE IS GETTING US MORE TOWARDS OUR TIPPING POINT *MANICAL LAUGHTER*...
... AND YOU DO NOT WANT TO SEE MY TIPPING POINT...
... HEHEHEHE...
-Uka
JUST IGNORE HER FOLKS, BUT DO REVIEW, WE DO NEED TO MAKE IT THROUGH UNIVERSITY! THANKS A BUNCH A CRUNCH!
-FLYz