Author's Note:
In light of the events that transpired on the 11th, I have taken a break from After the Summer, it will continue on Monday. I am allowing myself this time to reflect, and have not really said anything on what happened. My heart does go out to all the families and friends of the missing, injured, and dead. You are all in my prayers. I too, have family in New York, fortunately they are all fine. I also have family in the military, and my brother was already out to sea when this happened.
It's all so tragic, but I find myself numb, like reality hasn't really hit me yet. At my school, we just held a memorial service for all the victims, since so many of us have family in New York. I can remember I was talking to another girl in my class who was from New York on Monday, and she was commenting how she didn't miss New York, since most of the people she met here were from New York. But while I was contemplating the events, this little fic came out. I do have this habit of projecting myself as Wufei and my subconscious as Duo (or vice versa), so I guess this is really an internal argument in the form of a fic. I put this out there more to make us think, I know that I'll always remember that day. I was in the school bookstore, of all places, when the announcement came over the radio about the second plane crash. I do just hope that we as a culture can grow from this and take a little advice from John Lennon's Imagine.
If you don't want to hear about the crash, do not read.
If you do not have an open mind, do not read.
I am in no way trying to justify the act, nor am I trying to minimize the magnitude of the crime, I'm just trying to tell a story, and I apologize now if Wufei offends anyone, his characterization in this fic is just a product of my mind, and no way reflects anything else.
Wufei stood in the kitchen of the condo that he and Duo had reserved for the weekend in Houston. He hummed to himself while making scrambled eggs, and he could hear the TV turn on in the next room, Duo was awake.
He glanced over at the microwave, amazed by the early hour that was displayed, 7:30AM, then he realized that it was probably just because the American pilot had gotten used to waking up at 8:30 for the two months they had spent traveling down the East Coast, from Maine, to Miami, before they flew to George Bush International Airport from Orlando International Airport. Duo had insisted they see everything, from New York City, to DC, he was going to show Chang what a great country the United States of America used to be, before it all went down hill with the wars. A funny way to have a honeymoon, but Quatre had insisted on getting them the latest and greatest thing he'd ever seen, a time travel vacation, to anytime in history, providing it was after the invention of the computer. They had three months in the year 2001, since Duo claimed he wanted to see his country during the first year of the millennium. They had arrived in Maine, July 1st, and it took them till August 21st to get down to Florida, then they went to all the theme parks in the state, finally arriving in Houston on the 10th of September at 8PM. Duo's new mission was to visit all the Six Flags theme parks, and ride all the roller coasters.
Duo sat in front of the TV, elbows on his knees, his hands supporting his chin as he sat, transfixed at the news, before breakfast, which was a rarity. His motto: no thinking before food. He had been watching Dennis the Menace on Cartoon Network, but it had ended, and he didn't like Pup Named Scooby Doo, so he started flipping the channels, seeing what was on the TV Guide channel, or at least the one he had grown accustomed to in Florida. In Texas, that channel was actually CNN, and the normal CNN Live This Morning was not on, and Breaking News was showing new footage received from New York.
War, terrorist attacks, and violence, something he had grown up with. He knew that one side's terrorists were another side's idols and war heroes, but that was the future, not 2001. This was supposed to be a time of peace for his people, not this.
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You are looking at this picture, it is the twin towers of the World Trade Center, both of them being damaged by impacts from planes. We saw one happen at about maybe nine minutes before the top of the hour, and just moment ago, so maybe 18 minutes after the first impact, the second tower was impacted with a -- by a another -- what appeared to be, another passenger plane. In fact, we've got some tape replay of that.
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"Breakfast is served," Wufei said, coming into the living room, tray in hand with enough for two.
Duo waved in acknowledgment, eyes never leaving the screen.
"We leave for Six Flags Astroworld in about an hour, do you think you can be awake and ready at 9?"
"Wu-chan. I think there will be time for Astroworld some other day." Duo said, leaning back in his chair, searching for the remote to up the volume.
"Fine, we'll skip Astroworld and go to the Johnson Space Center, or maybe even Galveston Island." Wufei casually bit into a piece of toast, and took a sip from his coffee cup.
"There's plenty of time for NASA and the beach SOME OTHER TIME! Are you even paying attention to the TV!? Two planes just crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center!"
"Thank you for reminding me, the first batch of film that we dropped off last night should be ready today. We'll have some fine pictures of New York."
"Damn it Wu, how can you be so blasé about it. Thousands of people just died in less than an hour, on American soil, at a place that you've seen, you've been in," Duo pointed at the screen, as the video was replayed yet again.
"Did you want to stop it? We're tourists here. All these people would be dead to us if we weren't here now. You don't even remember reading about it in our History books? September 11, 2001, some called it another Pearl Harbor, when anti-American terrorists hijacked four planes, crashing two into the World Trade Center in New York and one into the Pentagon at DC."
Duo's mouth formed a perfect O as he stared at his husband, a mixture of anger and shock on his face.
"All the innocent lives lost and you're acting like it's just part of a theme park or something. This is a real tragedy today, an attack on humanity, and an attack on freedom, there is no justice to this. It's all so senseless." Duo said, his fists balled up in anger about the lives lost, and his husband's casual attitude about the whole thing.
"All senseless to you, but I bet it means a great deal to the families and comrades of the people who orchestrated the event. You've grown up around it. We fought a war 10 years ago where we were the terrorists, we bombed the buildings, and we killed the innocent employees of our enemy.
"Duo, it's all a game of perspectives. I'm not justifying the act, and I am not in any way trying to minimize the severity of this great tragedy against humanity and peace, but I can see it like it were a movie because it is not my time, and it has no affect on me. Now if we had done something to prevent it, then things might be different, you and I would definitely be different, and we may not even exist. Which of course is impossible, because if we don't exist then we don't come back in time and prevent it from happening, therefore making our existence real, again. You can't change the past."
Duo looked back at the screen. He understood Wu, knew where Wu was coming from about their similarities to the terrorists, but he still couldn't pull himself out of the chaos, and feel detached, as Wu seemed to be able to.
"But these people are real, how can you detach yourself from them?"
"Simple, they do it to us."
He went back into the bedroom, looking through his suitcase for a little gift he had bought for Duo at one of the numerous malls they went to. Surprisingly enough, Duo had neglected to look through all the comics in the comic book sections, sticking with Sandman, or through all the videos in the video stores, sticking more to cult classics and horror flicks, he had missed out on the one thing that Wufei was sure he was going to see, Japanese Animation, and Shinkidousenki Gundam Wing.
He came out, with a wrapped package, and a DVD, out of it's casing, and came back to the living room. Duo sat, unmoved from the couch. Wufei placed the DVD into the portable DVD player Duo had purchased on one of their shopping adventures, and handed the package to Duo.
"What's this?"
"Just open it."
Inside the box was what looked like a tiny Shinigami, complete with double bladed scythe. Many of the adjustments he had made once it was in his possession were not displayed, the graffiti tattoo on the leg, and other personal adjustments, matching tattoo to the one he had on his back, but other than that, it looked like someone made a little model out of the plans for the original.
"Cool, Wu. When did you have time to commission someone to make this? I thought, though, that you would have remembered the graffiti, since it's kinda special to us."
"I didn't commission it, Duo. It was not special made for you, it's just an action figure to go with a television show called Gundam Wing." He turned the DVD player to where it was facing Duo, and he could see an animated likeness of himself pointing a gun at an animated likeness of Heero and Relena. It was speaking Japanese, and didn't have nearly as bad a mouth as his own had been on that day. The cartoon Duo wasn't even shooting at Relena, but rather at Heero, who was being protected by Relena, not the other way around.
"That's not how it happened. It's basically what happened, but… you mean to tell me that they have the entire war done up like a cartoon?!"
"And Relena is good, sweet, innocent, Treize is bad in a 'I want supreme power in order to attain peace', and in English, you sound like, Dude, and think Hilde is a hottie."
"I'm STRAIGHT."
"It's a show on war, there really is no time for relationships with anyone. But the fans, however, well, let's just say they have a different spin on things, and on who's with whom."
Duo just looked at his husband, amazed and speechless, for once.
After a few minutes of watching CNN, Duo looked at Wufei, who was draped sideways on the chair next to the couch, sketch pad in hand, drawing a picture of his husband.
"Ne, Wu-chan? Why did they do it? Why did the terrorists hit the World Trade Center?"
Wu looked at his love, blankly. "I don't know, Duo. I never read about it in history. I read a novel that was set on that day. It followed two fictional characters and their reactions to it. You know me, I prefer to live, rather than dwell on the past and the things we cannot change. I only know enough about history to not remake its mistakes. But if you want my personal opinion, the Terrorists did what any conquer tends to do, try to shake up the people and subdue them by trashing what they hold dear, the temple to their gods. History is littered with conquerors who come in and destroy things, like the Romans when they burnt the second temple in Jerusalem, these terrorists tumbled down the temple of the west, an icon to their new gods wealth, commerce, and the American belief that they are immune to the fighting that is going on in the rest of the world… stuff like this does not happen here. Americans feel too safe, they don't really get a proper view on world news. The country itself is rather like the nosy teenager, who puts their nose in all their elder's business, maybe someone is just spanking the US, telling them to shape up or face the consequences. Who knows. As you've seen, people's perspectives tend to influence how history is written, and time tends to change the details that are deemed important, till all that you are left with is a date on a calendar, and all the suffering is for naught. Unless people make a conscious effort to remember and learn from this, then all those lives that were lost, would have been lost for nothing, and there will never be justice for their departed souls."
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Date Written and Posted: 13 sept 2001
Disclaimer: I do not own the GW characters, or any other commercially released thing mentioned in the contents therein. I do however own the personas of the characters contained within, and any resemblances to any other author's characters (of the same name or real life persons for that matter) is purely coincidental and is not done with that intent in mind. The quote is from a transcript on the website.