AUTHOR'S NOTE: First of all, obviously I don't own Sotsu Agency Sunrise, Gundam Wing, any of the characters or worlds involved, etc.
That said, this fanfic is mainly a gift to my friends. This is dedicated to them, especially to fellow authors hypaalicious and The Paradox whom I was blessed to know IRL along with Megh and Steph. We've endured so much this makes me smile, because I know we'll always be friends no matter where life takes us and I'll always remember the actions and adventures that have inspired the ones in here.
A lot of the characters in here are based off of real people. Yes I use my friends in this fic, and I use our real histories, names, etc. I know a lot of people don't like OCs, but please don't just turn your nose and leave at the thought of "egad, original characters!". You never know, you might like it. You might even laugh or cry. It depends on where this goes.
Oh yeah, and there's no real yaoi in this. I'm sorry if you're disappointed, but there's THOUSANDS of other Gundam Wing fanfics where you can find that. That said, on with the show.
Chapter 1
There is always something magical about airports. It's a place of either endings or beginnings; sometimes beginnings that happen because of an ending, or the ending of a great beginning. People from all over are either arriving or leaving, but in the end there is one thing in common: they come together. Sometimes it's for a day, sometimes it's for an hour, sometimes it's forever. But from wherever they have come, whatever path they have followed, it is here that they meet. It's where paths cross.
Chicago O'Hare International Airport was no stranger to this concept. As a matter of fact, it was a bustling metropolis of its own. At least four different languages were booming over the loudspeakers, calling the attention of flights, general things to take note, announcements, and so on.
Jaenelle Kelly took in a deep breath and sighed happily, re-adjusting the strap of her rather heavy carry-on yet another time. She was absolutely ecstatic at the events that were about to take place. Just one week prior she had finished her final year at Grand Valley State University. She was free to go. It was now May 8th. The day had finally come.
It had been a tough final semester. Suffering from severe bouts of senioritis and a deep lack of interest in her general education credits she'd neglected since freshman year, she was honestly surprised she'd made it. But she did and she was finally here at the airport and about to finally begin the journey she'd been yearning to take.
*United Airlines Flight Number 8624 from Chicago to Shanghai Pudong is now boarding… *
Her eyes perked. With a bright smile on her face, she thanked the woman at the stand where she had been buying a really seriously overpriced pizza and rushed to where gate C13 was, trying not to burn her mouth and manage to eat her pizza at the same time. She probably looked like a pig, but she didn't care. It was time.
Two years ago exactly she and one of her best friends, Sharon Gladden had gone to China. It all started when the two of them were in the same East Asian Literature class Jaenelle's sophomore year. They had met the year prior. Sharon didn't care much for Jaenelle at first for Jaenelle had always been late to a different class and caused a slight disturbance when she joked around in class with a boy she had been (very temporarily) seeing at the time. But that had changed when Jaenelle decided to shove down her shyness and as Sharon to teach her how to Para Para dance. The two became close friends quickly, and as that happened their own best friends met and became a close-knit group nicknamed 'Plan B', after the fact that they lived in dorm building South B and Plan B had been the name of a now-closed bar in Shanghai they and their classmates had frequented.
It was in that East Asian Literature class that they had met Peimin Ni from both the East Asian studies department and the philosophy department. A man in his early fifties with silvering hair and bright eyes that lit up a room, Professor Ni had smiled just as bright as the glow his eyes created that day and said, "My name is Peimin Ni, and I will be your professor this semester, as the normal professor for this course, Curtis Smith, is on sabbatical.
"On a side note, I along with Professor Geling Shang run a summer program to China every summer. Here, let me pass these out." Ni then passed out flyers for the whole class, detailing the trip in its either six-week or three-month entirety depending on the choice of the student. "The deadline is January 15th. If interested, please apply."
That night, Jaenelle had gone home and called her grandparents and told them she was going to China. This was a shock to them; Jaenelle had been planning on going to Japan as it was her goal to chase after her own heritage on her father's side.
"China?" her grandmother echoed, dumbfounded.
"China," Jaenelle had repeated.
"No."
"Yes."
"No. No, you're not going to China. It's communist."
Lo and behold, both Jaenelle and Sharon were on a plane four months later to the really barely communist (honestly capitalist/socialist – please don't ask how that's possible) country of the People's Republic of China. They spent three incredibly wonderful months there, grew, matured, became inseparable friends, and then became crazy and went to Taiwan the following summer together. Again they grew, matured, became even more inseparable, and now were being crazy a third time and were now about to go to China a third time. Only this time they'd dragged everyone else with them.
As Jaenelle wolfed down her pizza, she spotted Sharon instantly at the gate. She was hard to miss. She was tall, black, thin, and… had purple and blue hair. She didn't dye it but instead had extensions braided into her hair. They were rather long also, so it was impossible to miss her. Her hair and her bright, blindly obnoxious attire caused her to stand out very easily in a crowd. She was talking very animatedly with her best friend since high school, Regina Stewart.
Gina was very opposite to Sharon. Also black, she was short, not stick-thin, definitely wore neutral colours (with the exception of orange), and definitely mild and soft-spoken. But the two of them were crazy close, practically closer than blood. On campus sometimes people wondered stupidly if they were lesbians, blind to the fact that people could just honestly be friends and be that close. Both Gina and Sharon were big video game players and shared about as much in common as they did opposites. For the summer trip due to the nature of black hair, Gina had also done her hair, only hers was done in cornrows. The last thing they needed was Shanghai's vicious humidity to give them fros, and both girls were pretty sure that the Chinese had no idea what to do with black hair.
Finishing her pizza, Jaenelle tossed the plate in the garbage and hopped in line. "So, wha'd I miss?" she asked brightly.
"Oh, you know, the flight," Sharon grinned. "They said we weren't allowed, y'know. They recognized our sorry asses and said we were deported though we hadn't left yet."
"People would die," Jaenelle smiled sweetly.
"I'll bet they would," Meghan O'Connor chuckled as she joined them. A hair taller than Gina, Megh had light, wavy brown hair with hints of red from previous dyes as well as fierce green eyes. She was considered very hard to get to know, especially when she glared at you with said fierce eyes. Generally quiet unless given a subject she actually felt she had something to say on, Megh was the slightly aloof one in the group, which was funny because in all truth it was Jaenelle who was the most aloof in her own way. Megh was a paradox, but not nearly as much of a paradox as Gina.
"You know, I really wish Steph was here," Jaenelle couldn't help but muse.
"She had to fly to China early, you know that," Sharon shrugged.
"I still wish my parents had let her just stay with us instead of her having to change her ticket because of her parents schedule," Jaenelle remained stubborn. Out of all of her close friends, it was Steph who was the closest. During high school Steph had broken the then very silent and somewhat dark Jaenelle out of her shell. Steph had been bright, bubbly and cheerful and didn't take 'no' for an answer when she tried very hard to be Jaenelle's friend. The two shared as close of a bond as Sharon and Gina did. Due to being absent from GVSU for two years because she had community college free (her father was a professor), Megh had some bonding and catching up to do, but there was plenty of time, Jaenelle thought, over the summer for that to finally occur.
"I'm worried about Steph though," Gina spoke up. "I think it's strange she hasn't called or anything."
"Her flight confirmed as landed," Sharon pointed out, trying to be optimistic. "Maybe Wang Peng picked her up okay. Hey, did you ask your boyfriend if he picked up Steph?"
Jaenelle's cheeks flushed. "Wang Fang is not my boyfriend. I wish! And he hasn't been on MSN lately, so I haven't talked to him to find out."
Two years ago, Jaenelle had met Wang Fang at Pudong International Airport the day she had arrived in Shanghai. She'd fallen in love with him, and she knew that when she arrived in Pudong once again he would be there. She couldn't wait to see him again… and to question him about Steph, of course. She knew Steph was alright in her heart. Jaenelle believed the two of them had a firm enough connection that she'd know if something bad happened.
"Hey, Jae!"
Jaenelle whipped her head around to look at Geling Shang, her 'Dad'. She loved both him and Ni like they were her both her fathers, and as life was kind they loved her the same. "Count the students. See if everyone's here."
"Yes, sir!" Jaenelle nodded, taking out the class roster.
"And watch your little brother," Shang added as an after note.
Jaenelle glanced over at Christopher, who was with his mother and Professor Yan Yu. She shook her head; Christopher didn't need watching. He was trying to pull Professor Yu's carry-on, but decided it was too heavy and dropped it. The two-year-old stared at it, puzzled.
"Ei, ni zai gan shenme?" his mother, Sarah, laughed as she picked him up. Yan Yu laughed too. Jaenelle couldn't help but smile as she watched the exchange, as she looked around and counted the heads of everyone in the group. This was going to be an amazing summer filled with wonderful moments. 2007, she'd declared on New Year's Eve, was the year of destiny.
"Everyone's here, Dad," she called out after she was finished.
"No, no, you forgot someone," Sharon chimed in. "The black one, with the purple hair…"
"Where?" Peimin Ni put in as he walked up, looking around. "I don't see anyone with purple hair!"
Sharon just dropped her jaw dramatically. "That's meaaaaaaaannnnnnnn, Niiiiiiiiii!" she wailed, stomping just as dramatically, causing Ni to laugh.
Taking the opportunity, Jaenelle lunged forward and caught Ni in a choke-hug. "Papa!"
"Hey!" he laughed, hugging her back and patting her awkwardly; Ni wasn't too great with physical affection and he was half-blessed, half-cursed with being one of the very few people Jaenelle loved to get hugs from. Gina grinned, "Heya, Professor Ni."
"Yeah," Shang chimed in as he approached. "Time to get on the plane."
Not willing to pass up this opportunity, Jaenelle hugged him too. He patted her on the back and set his hand on her shoulder. "That's my girl." She beamed with pride and warmth at his words. Yes, this was the way she wanted life to be. She was going to be in China with all of her beloved friends, her fathers, and she would finally see him again at last.
"The line's moving," Megh pointed out. Shang and Ni then headed towards the front. Everyone took out their passports and boarding passes as announcements in both English and Mandarin were being made.
"Nervous?" Sharon asked.
"Maybe," Megh laughed. "Never been out of the country before. This'll be interesting."
Gina nodded, gulping. "Oh god. Plane time. Really long plane time."
"If you didn't sleep, it'll go faster," Sharon pointed out.
"Oh no, I slept a little," Gina whined.
"It's okay, I did too," Jaenelle shrugged.
"I didn't," Sharon and Megh both put in.
"That's because you both are crazy insomniacs. Well, Megh is," Jaenelle smirked as they started to board. "You just have an odd sleeping schedule, Miss 'I-Am-Not-Awake-Before-Noon'!"
"HEY. I am so awake before noon!" Sharon said defensively, then added as an after thought, "If there's Tai Chi."
Gina awoke with a start. Normally she wasn't roused out of sleep like this, but her chest was hurting in that way that said something bad was happening. It was kind of hard to breathe. Why was it hard to breathe?
She turned suddenly to her left. Phew, Sharon was still there, dead asleep and in her blanket. Wait a minute, why was she worrying whether or not Sharon would still be there? You're being paranoid, Gina, she told herself.
Still, something felt… off.
Unbuckling her seatbelt, Gina managed to get past Sharon and went down the aisle. Instincts were screaming at her to check on her friends. The first person down the aisle on her left would be Jaenelle; Megh was sitting in a section way up front by Ni and Shang. Jaenelle was asleep, slumped against the window in a not very comfortable-looking position. Relieved that Jaenelle was alright, Gina made her way up even further and finally found Megh, engrossed in a book.
"Hey," Gina said, waving as she approached. "Have you slept at all?"
"Yeah," Megh said, putting down her book. "I think I woke up maybe a minute ago? I just re-opened my book. It was weird though."
"Weird?" Gina tilted her head and scratched the back of it.
"Yeah, like… I just fell asleep. And then it felt like the plane shifted in my dreams. Then I woke up. I don't know- hey, the screens are off."
Gina glanced at the screen that should be on detailing where the plane was on the map and her eyes widened when she realized the screens indeed were off. But why? This was a sixteen-hour flight; surely they would be at least be playing some kind of movie?
"I'm gonna go look for Ni or Shang," Gina suddenly announced, the feeling in her chest only growing worse. Megh nodded, noting the look of concern but returning to her book, not sure what to do about the situation.
Gina made her way down the aisle, looking around with an intense look. Everyone seemed to be sleeping, but this was normal as it was dark and a long flight. She made it all the way to the section where business and first class started when she realized: Ni and Shang weren't there.
Back-tracking, Gina went down the aisle again all the way back to her seat at the very back of the plane. She went back up and down yet again, almost oblivious to the concerned yet weirded-out look on Megh's face. Finally she made a beeline for Jaenelle. It seemed natural to go to Jaenelle in a crisis; she was the unspoken leader of the group.
"Umm… Jae?"
Jaenelle jerked awake like someone shoved her. "W-what?" she blinked, rubbing sleeping sand from her eyes. "Are you alright?"
"I can't find Ni or Shang," Gina blurted. "I can't find Yan Yu either."
Jaenelle tried to shoot up from her seat, but her seatbelt held her in, digging into her stomach. Cursing slightly, Jaenelle fumbled with her seatbelt and rose from her chair. "Maybe you just missed them because they're sleeping. I'll-"
Suddenly the plane jerked. Letting out a pained whine – Gina never really screamed, which oddly caused Jaenelle to wonder at the moment what it would sound like if Gina actually did ever scream – Gina fell forward, sprawled out on the ground. Though quiet, her yelp alerted Sharon, whose eyes snapped open.
"G-fuu?" Sharon said loudly, her voice filled with concern as she tried to also jerk out of her chair but was caught by her seatbelt. "God. Fucking. Dammit!" she cursed loudly, throwing her blanket to the side and unbuckling her seatbelt before rushing to Gina's side. Jaenelle was also there, holding Gina's hand.
"I'm okay, thanks," Gina offered as Sharon helped her up. Nodding at Gina, Jaenelle rushed forward, looking feverishly back and forth for Ni or Shang. "Dad? Papa?" Jaenelle called out, worried. No one seemed to wake up or notice except Megh, who was putting her book away and also unbuckling her seatbelt. "Lao Ba, Baba," Jaenelle switched to Chinese, her worry increasing by the moment. "Nimen zai nali?"
The plane jerked again; Megh gripped the chairs, digging her nails in like claws to keep her footing as Jaenelle let out a scream, flying forward and hitting the doors that separated the classes hard. Megh was by her side in a second; Sharon's loud cursing heard in the background. "You okay?" Megh asked.
"Nothing's broken," Jaenelle muttered.
"Guys," Gina said loudly, panic in her voice. "Guys, oh my fucking god, guys!"
Gravity was pulling them forward. The plane was tipping.
"We're falling, oh my god," Gina groaned.
That did it. Jaenelle started to beat on the doors as Megh kicked. "Papa! Dad! Someone for the love of god!" Jaenelle wailed, banging her fists loudly.
Gina and Sharon were rushing towards them; not like they had any choice as the plane was tipping and they were surely going to plummet to their deaths any time. "What the fuck is going on?" Sharon demanded, trying to open the doorknob and cursing, "Shit! It's locked!"
"This isn't happening, this isn't happening," Gina moaned, sitting in a chair. "We gotta think! We. Need. To. Think."
"Why the hell isn't anyone else waking up?" Megh suddenly pointed out, shaking her head as she glared at the still sleeping bodies.
"P-please don't tell me they're dead," Jaenelle moaned. Gina's hands flew up and clutched at her braids, letting out a half hysterical laugh mixed in with her own moan of terror.
"Oh hell fucking naw!" Sharon screamed, walking in the aisle and kicking one of the legs. To her absolute horror, they didn't move. "Oh. My. Fuck."
Gina started to hyperventilate. Jaenelle kept pounding on the door, screaming, "Someone please! Wo men bu yao! Qing bang women! Oh hell, my Chinese isn't good enough to even plead in an emergency! Sharii?"
Sharon gave a harsh laugh, "You think mine is either? ELL OH ELL, NO."
Frustrated and scared, Megh suddenly turned, letting out a cry of rage and kicked the back of a chair, causing the already down food tray to suddenly break off its hinges and crash to the ground, sliding forward due to the tip of the plane. Grabbing it, Megh let out another raging cry and started hitting the doorknob wildly. On the fifth swing it snapped off. She kicked the door and it flew open.
"To the pilots!" Jaenelle snapped, taking charge. The four girls rushed forward, trying not to fall on each other. The plane hadn't tipped to a complete 90 degree angle; but it was still definitely on its way there. As they ran past, Gina looked around at the open windows and let out another loud moan. "You guys… I see ground!"
"You're shitting me," Sharon groaned, stopping to look and she let out a laugh almost as crazy as the ones Gina was laughing earlier. "Wow, GOD!" The ground was definitely getting closer, and the plane wasn't losing speed.
Rushing forward to catch up with them, Sharon entered the room and stopped to see what everyone was staring dumbfounded at. "What now?" she demanded.
"There's no pilots," Jaenelle answered.
"Please tell me you're- aw, hell!" Sharon threw up her hands in despair when she looked past them and realized it was true. "Now what do we do?"
Jaenelle was already in a seat, putting on the headphones on the dashboard and pressing down a button she prayed was for communication. "Emergency! S.O.S.! Um, we're a United Airlines flight heading from Chicago O'Hare to Shanghai Pudong and we're about to crash, and we have no pilots so if the nearest tower could please give us instructions on how to land it would really be bloody appreciated right now…"
Sharon was pacing as Megh was slumped against a wall, angry tears sliding down her cheeks. Finally she turned to Gina, the craziest idea ever popping into her head. It was definitely crazy, but this wasn't exactly a situation that couldn't use a few crazy attempts. "G-fuu! This is just a video game. A video game. And you're the best at games."
Gina shook her head, her laughter-like-wail emerging yet again, "No, Sharii-chan, no this isn't like a video game! I can't land a plane; I don't know how!"
"G-fuu, please, you're the only one skilled enough to do this!" Sharon pleaded.
"Agreed," Megh piped up. "If anyone can do this, you can."
Gina started to hyperventilate a little. Her, land a plane? In what video game do four recent college graduates stop a full plane from crashing to the ground? Did any game she even play have any type of landing? This wasn't Snakes on a Plane where someone actually did something like that seriously! That movie was a comedy anyway!
"PLEASE!" Jaenelle was screaming into her microphone piece. "DOES ANYBODY HEAR US?! WE DON'T WANT TO DIE!"
That did it. Gina marched forward, her face set with determination and she sat down, rubbing her palms on her jeans to try and dry the sweat that had formed from the anticipation of the suggestion Sharon had made. They were ridiculously close to the ground now, at least as far as this was concerned.
"Pull up!" Sharon snapped.
Gina pretended it was a video game. She was sitting in the lobby of South B and Sharon was with her, encouraging her and shouting suggestions like always. This wasn't anything more than a PS2 controller, although big. Maybe it was like the Wii Remote or something since she could move it and it would do what she wanted as she moved, yeah! Gina pulled up, her grip on the wheel extremely hard. Her eyes were focused on what looked like to be a runway. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jaenelle put down the headphones. Megh's hand was on her shoulder.
"Yeah, that's it G-fuu!" Sharon shouted, a glimmer of hope evident in her voice. The nose of the plane seemed to rise a little. If she aimed it right, they could land…
Buzzers suddenly started to go off, lights began to flash. It was as if the plane had woken up and realized that it was doing something terribly wrong. The noise only caused the fear in Gina to rise. This wasn't a video game, this was real, they were all going to die…
Suddenly Jaenelle's hands were on Gina's left hands. As Jaenelle nodded curtly, Sharon's hands were on Gina's right. Gina understood immediately. "You gotta pull with me, guys!" Gina said. "Otherwise, we can't beat this boss, the evil ground!"
"Yeah, the evil ground," Jaenelle laughed. Sharon couldn't help but laugh too.
It had to be timed, it had to be timed… Gina kept her gaze steady, concentrating, knowing that if she was a second too late or a second too early everything would fail… "PULL!" she suddenly shouted.
All three girls pulled, guided in the right direction by Gina's hands. The tip of the plane began to rise; the lights were flashing, sirens were wailing, the ground was too close, coming too close…
The ground wasn't close anymore; they were directly parallel to the buildings. That's when Jaenelle shouted, "We don't know how to activate landing gear!"
Sharon shook her head slowly. "OH SHI-."
The plane collided with the runway, the underside of it screeching loudly as it slid across the pavement. Jaenelle and Sharon screamed. Megh let out her own scream as she was thrown into the co-pilot's seat. She groaned loudly; she had hit hard. An idea formed in her head and she shouted, "BUTTON MASHING TIME!" and started to press all the buttons, praying something would turn off this damn plane, or something would cause the flaps on the wings to open and slow them down…
"No good, no good!" Jaenelle moaned, the building rushing in on them.
"We're gonna fucking crash!" Sharon shouted.
Suddenly the plane jerked to a stop. Everything shut down, all was quiet. The four girls stared at each other for a long time.
"We… didn't crash?" Jaenelle whispered.
"Megh, did you…?" Sharon asked, choking on her own breath.
Megh shook her head, just as bewildered.
"I think... it's okay," Gina offered, coughing.
Suddenly, the door closest to the cockpit opened. Bright sunshine filled the otherwise dark plane.
"Is this plane haunted?" Jaenelle wondered out loud.
"Normally I'd think that's a dumb ass question to ask, but right now, I wouldn't be surprised at anything," Sharon laughed nervously.
Shrugging, Jaenelle rose and took a deep breath. "I say we get off this thing. Let's grab our carry-ons before this plane decides it'd be a great idea to take off on its own too."
The four girls scrambled to get their things and rushed to the open door. Megh winced at all the still bodies on the plane that didn't move.
"Dad… Papa," Jaenelle whispered.
Megh sighed, not knowing what to say. Could words even come at a time like this?
To their surprise, there were stairs already waiting for them to help their climb down on the ground.
"I swear to fucking god, if we somehow managed to land in Silent Hill? I'm killing myself," Sharon muttered as they began to descend.
Megh looked up and blinked. "There's a car coming," she announced.
"Wang Fang?" Jaenelle perked. "Maybe it's Wang Fang, come to save us!"
"This… doesn't look like Pudong Airport," Sharon pointed out.
"There's not even Chinese," Megh added.
"Then… where are we?" Gina asked.
The car slowed down at the base of the staircase. Jaenelle, who had been first down the stairs, stopped walking. "My Detroit senses say no getting in cars with strangers," Sharon muttered. Gina nodded fiercely in agreement.
The door opened and a smiling woman with dark hair that seemed to almost be a purple-black stepped out. Her hair was relatively short save for a front thick almost side-bang that lined the right side of her face. She wore a green and brown jacket with a very familiar P on the left breast.
"Hey Megh," Jaenelle laughed softly, trying to make light of the situation. "Her jacket looks like a Preventer jacket. Didn't we want to order replicas from the internet once? Haha, it looks like she got there first!"
"Hers looks pretty real though," Gina pointed out.
"Yeah, but-" Jaenelle stopped talking as the woman began to clap, a pleased expression on her face.
"Very well done, all four of you," she smiled brightly. "At first we were afraid you wouldn't make it."
"Wait just a damn minute," Sharon spoke up, her voice loud and rimmed with anger. "You set us up with that fu-"
"You have successfully passed your entrance exams," she continued, beaming with pride as she took out a piece of paper. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Lucrezia Noin. I am happy to announce that you four are about to begin a remarkable journey. Sharon Gladden, Jaenelle Kelly, Meghan O'Connor and Regina Stewart, welcome. Welcome to the Preventers Organization."