Dark Ice ~ Hey it's me again! Well, I've just finished my last two exams of the year, and I'm pretty sure I've bombed one of 'em. XP... But there's nothin' much I can do about it now, can I? (looks really worried about having to repeat the course)
Palmy ~ (puts authoress in a headlock) Damn straight!
Dark Ice ~ (from the headlock) Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Everyone, this is one of muses, Palmy. From now on, she's going to help me keep things in check, so that I don't mess up too often.
Palmy ~ And I'm the one helping Dee with her new fic, 'cause she ran into a major writer's block with her last one (Stupid, Creepy House) and she didn't have a muse to help her finish it.
Dark Ice ~ (still in a headlock) Ahem. Yes well, when I figure out how I'm gonna finish it, I will. Anywho, I hope that you all enjoy this new fic.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or anything in that area related to it. Anything else that may seem familiar (i.e. characters not belonging to Gundam Wing, situations/events that occur in the story) is completely out of coincidence. I only own the characters that I have created, which are not found in the original Gundam Wing series. Umm... I think that's all... remind of anything else that I might've forgotten mention, wouldja?
Palmy ~ -__-U
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Chapter 1: You Know Things Are Going Wrong When...
"Hey, Heero, it's almost time to leave. D'you think we should wake Duo up now?"
"He shouldn't be going anywhere in his condition. He'll simply hinder us."
"Are you sure? He's been sleeping even before we finished dinner. He should be feeling better by now...?"
Trowa came out of Duo's room. No one had even noticed that he had gone in. He had a peculiar look on his face. Quatre frowned at his expression. "There's nothing the matter, is there, Trowa?"
Trowa smiled briefly. "No, it's nothing serious. It's just that, apparently, our invincible Shinigami has gone and caught the flu. I've just checked his temperature, and he's got all the symptoms. We should just let him rest."
Wufei hmphed. "How did that happen?" Folding his arms across his chest, he leaned against the hallway wall. "I thought we were all supposed to be inoculated against all common viruses, not to mention the fact that the professors were supposed to make sure the pilots were in top physical condition."
Trowa simply shook his head. "I'm not sure...but all I know is, we cannot bring Duo on this reconnaissance mission. He'll have to stay here."
Quatre chuckled. "I can't believe a bit of flu has Duo down." He went into Duo's room, which would be completely dark but for the sliver of light coming from a crack in the curtain. Duo was snoring, spread-eagled on the bed, surrounded by a fortress of blankets and pillows. Trowa's handiwork, of course. He placed a cooling hand on Duo's burning forehead and spoke to him softly. "Hey Duo... just wanted to let you know, the other guys and I are leaving for the mission now. Both Heero and Trowa say that you're to stay here and rest. Don't worry about a thing... we'll have everything covered. Just get better soon, 'kay?" He smiled when Duo grunted in response; he probably had no idea of what he had just said. Quatre lifted his hand away from Duo's forehead, putting a cold compress in its place. Then he left the room quietly, shutting the gently behind him.
He found the rest of the G-pilots waiting by the front door. "Is he all right?" asked Heero.
"Yeah, he'll be fine. I'm positive Duo can take care of himself. I doubt that anything can go wrong if he'll be asleep for the rest of the evening. Let's go."
Wufei was the last one out. As he closed the door and followed Heero and Quatre to the car, he could be heard muttering darkly to himself, "Maxwell staying in one place? For the whole night? I should probably start counting how many things can go wrong..."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ (An hour later) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Duo rubbed his eyes and sighed. This was pathetic. And to go with the pathetic-ness, he coughed weakly. Here he was in vacation hot spot, Hawaii, and he was stuck indoors with the friggin' flu.
"AHH – CHOOOO!!!"
Damn this stupid flu. And damn this stupid virtual pinball game. He had "borrowed" Heero's laptop, in hopes of amusing himself while the other four pilots were doing... whatever it was that they were doing. He thought that he heard someone tell him where they were going – maybe it was Quatre – but his head was too stuffed up to remember.
He sneezed violently several seven times. He sighed again and fell back on his pillows in exhaustion. Grabbing a tissue from the box beside him, Duo leaned over drowsily to check the time. "Grreaaat... it's still 7:20. Hey wait a sec, wasn't it 7:20 ten minutes ago?"
After blowing his nose in an acceptable imitation of a goose honk, Duo turned back to the treacherous laptop. So far he had lost multiple rounds of solitaire, hearts, backgammon, parcheesi, minesweeper, and now pinball, as an addition to the list. Why did Heero have so many dumb games on his laptop anyway? Ah, well... it didn't matter. The point was, this wasn't how he planned to spend his time in Hawaii. Even going on the mission with Heero as the "leader" was way better than vegetating in bed.
Duo bolted up, but because of his weakened state, he immediately fell back down. Now he remembered! The rest of the guys had gone to scope out the OZ base located here in Hawaii. According to the last transmission from Dr. J, this base was supposedly supervising the construction of OZ's own version of a Gundam: the mobile-doll, Sagittarius. The mission was to find the base, eliminate the base, and destroy all traces of the Sagittarius.
He struggled against the blankets and pillows surrounding him as he tried to get out of bed. Going on a mission without him, eh? Tch, yeah right! Flu or no flu, they weren't going to leave Duo Maxwell behind!
Duo stumbled over to the bathroom and changed out of his pajamas into his trademark priest's uniform, collar and all, with the sleeves rolled up. He pulled his brush through his long chestnut hair and twisted it into a braid, then slapped a black, unmarked cap onto his head. In minutes, he looked as if he was ready for a night on a mission. All he needed to complete the look was a hot mode of transportation. But the guys had taken the car, and Trowa was using the motorcycle. Duo attempted to snort, which didn't work due to his congested sinus. Typical. They didn't even bother thinking about whether Duo had to get around or not. Now he'd just have to take the bus.
A half hour later, Duo found himself stumbling off the bus, and onto the boardwalk, at the closest beach to the boys' safe house. As the bus pulled away, he staggered over to a nearby bench. Oh, geez, thought Duo, as he rubbed circles around his temples. Why didn't I just stay in bed? My head hurts. He let his head fall back onto the top of the backrest as he slouched on the bench and groaned, to prove just how miserable he was. Squeezing his eyes shut, he hoped to carry out two objectives: to shut out the pounding going on inside his head, and to somehow teleport himself back to his bed. Neither was the result.
"Are you okay, mistah?"
Duo jumped up at the sound of the voice. He looked around, and saw a slight movement in the lower area of his peripheral vision. Looking down he saw a small girl, about six or seven years old, standing before him. He knew that there was only one person standing there, but it looked like two or three. Shaking his head a bit, he tried to clear his vision. She looked up at him with wide eyes, like any little kid would at the sight of a big person being sick.
"Yeah, don't worry kiddo, I'm fine." Duo's nose twitched as he slumped back down onto the bench.
Her short pigtails of silky black hair continued to bounce back and forth after shaking her head once. "But mistah, your nose is all red an' you were makin' lotsa funny noises, like you had a really bad tummy ache." She kept on fidgeting her hands around as she spoke, with the colours of her yellow t-shirt and denim overall shorts matching her movements. Peeking over her back were the fuzzy ears of what appeared to be a teddy bear. Then, she tugged a couple of times at the straps on her shoulders restlessly, and Duo could see that it was a teddy bear backpack.
Duo patted her head and gave her a smile. Cute kid. "Hey I'm big person. I know how to look after myself," he lied.
The young girl frowned. "But you're sick, mistah," she insisted. "An' when you're sick, you gots t'stay at home."
Duo opened his mouth to say something, but then he turned away from the girl, and grabbing his handkerchief, he sneezed. "AHH – CHOOOOO!" After he blew his nose a couple of times, he faced the girl. She had the I- know- I'm- right- and- you're- wrong smirk on her face. "Okay, you've got me, kid. Now maybe you should go back home to your mommy and daddy. I'm sure they're wondering where you are right now." Duo began to feel uncomfortable as the little girl's face fell. Great, now what did I say wrong?
Duo tried to put on a serious face, in place of the drowsy-looking one he had on. "What's wrong?"
The little girl looked away from Duo's concerned gaze as she shuffled her running shoe clad feet. "Idunhaveamummyandaddy," she mumbled.
His heart sank as soon as the words came out of her mouth. He should have known this was coming. It wasn't normal for a little kid to be walking around all by herself after dark; no parents in their right minds would allow it. He should have expected something like this, on an island crawling with OZ troops and rebels. Duo scrambled for a way out of this awkward situation. "Well, then... you've got to have a home, right? I'll help you find your way back if you're lost."
She shook her head. "I don't have one." She looked up at him. Her eyes were welled with tears that wouldn't fall, and she bit her bottom lip to keep herself from crying. "Sorry mistah. I didn' mean t'bothah you. I'll go away now." Then she turned and fled from Duo, running as quickly as if all the horrors from her nightmares were chasing after her.
"No, wait! Don't go!" Duo called after her, but it was pointless. All he could see was her scruffy teddy-bear backpack bouncing up and down after her in the distance, receding into the darkness.
Duo felt like kicking himself in the head. Why'd he have to go and open his big yap? Now he made a little kid – who was concerned just about his health – upset and run away, and without anyone to look after her. Duo just stood there, mentally bashing himself for a few minutes, when a high-pitched scream shattered the calm night air. It came from the same direction as where the kid had run off too. "How do I do these things?" wondered Duo through gritted teeth, as he sprinted towards the source of the screams. I don't know anyone else who can, in the mere space of five minutes, change his priorities from looking for his buds to help them on a mission to gain world peace, to looking for a kid he suddenly feels responsible for because he made her upset.
Even though he had only been running for a few metres, Duo was already breathing heavily. Forget this flu, I've gotta help this kid, he thought fiercely as he heard another piercing scream. If she's hurt, I don't think I could ever forgive myself.
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Dark Ice ~ Well then...
Palmy ~ Yes, well then....
Dark Ice ~ I have no idea what I can say at this point, in order to follow my new tradition of random blurbs, so I'll just skip that.
Palmy ~ Good idea.
Dark Ice ~ This chapter is short, I know, but it is only the first chapter after all. So now that you've read it, tell me what you think; how I can improve, what needs to be added, what needs to be taken away...in other words, please review or flame! And if you're flaming, try to stay away from using any extremely bad language. Much appreciated. =)