Disclaimer- I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters from the series and will never claim to own them. However, the plot, Anita, Blain, and the little children all belong to me.
A/N- Please don't flame me if you don't like the story. If the characters are OOC, that's something that's almost unavoidable as none of the Gundam Wing characters belong to me, and they never will. Basically, if you don't like what you're reading, stop reading it and hit the back button on your browser. I don't want to hear your fussing just because something isn't to your liking. Fuss to yourself, not me.
Also, please note that the characters are kind of a lot a bit older than in the series. And please also take note that I honestly never really thought about where this story was taking place, so just think of it as where ever. Thanks and enjoy~
"I'm heading out now." She said as she pulled a cloak around her shoulders. "I'll be back soon, I hope. Please don't open the door for anyone, okay?"
"Wait!" One of the younger boys called as he ran up to her. " Miss Anita, please let us come with you!"
"I'm going alone." She replied.
"But what if you don't come back!"
"I'll come back." There was a pause in which she looked away from him for just a fraction of a second. "I promise."
After finally getting the boy to let go, Anita headed for the front door. The moment she opened it, a hand reached out from behind her and shut it. She spun around on her heel to face one of the older boys and frowned at him.
"Blaine," She began, "Move your arm."
"At least let me go with you." He said.
"No," Anita snapped. "And that's final. Now, move!"
They stared at each other for several minutes before Blaine gave in with a heavy sigh. He stepped back with folded arms and simply wished Anita well and asked her to come back safely. She smiled at him and waved before taking her leave. After spending an hour or so in town getting food, she decided it would be best to hurry and head back because it was getting late and the sun was setting. It would likely be dark by the time she got back, anyway.
Upon her arrival, she found the front door wide open. Her hand shot down to the gun on her hip and she cautiously made her way inside. There was no power tonight, much like any other night, and she was forced to find her way around in what little light the candles gave her. Her heart was pounding in her chest with every step she took and she could only hope that the children were safe in bed like they were supposed to be. And there, just barely lit by the light of the candles, stood an unfamiliar face that surely didn't belong here.
"Hands up where I can see them!" Anita demanded.
In what seemed like merely a second, she found herself pinned against the floor, her gun somewhere on the floor above her head. It had happened so fast that she hadn't even fully had the time to register what was going on. Of course, the moment she did, she screamed as loudly as she possibly could in hopes that the kids would hear her and know to get away. However, her scream was cut short by a hand being shoved against her mouth.
"Geez, lady." Her captor said suddenly. "You sure got a set of lungs on you. My ears are ringing."
Something about this guy joking around while pinning her to the floor really set Anita off. But, before she got a chance to do anything else, the room suddenly got brighter and Blaine was standing over the two of them, Anita's gun in one hand and a lantern in the other, with two of the younger children clinging to his legs.
"Get off of Miss Anita!" One of the kids shouted.
"Yeah, you big meanie!" The other piped in.
"I'm warning you," Blaine began, "I'm not afraid to shoot you!"
"Look, I didn't come here looking for trouble." The stranger said, raising his arms as he slowly got to his feet. "Your lady friend just suddenly came in and pointed a gun at me. What was I supposed to do? Let her shoot me?"
"Yeah!" The little ones shouted.
Suddenly, Anita found it completely impossible to keep a straight face and burst out laughing. Sure, she had just been pinned to the floor by a complete stranger who could have done God knows what to her if Blaine hadn't actually been awake, but something about two children saying the man should have let her shoot him was really funny. Two innocent and beautiful children who didn't quite seem to understand the meaning behind their words saying something so absurd was somehow so amusing to the young woman that she just couldn't help herself. And, as quickly as it had begun, this tense situation dissolved, but no one else seemed to understand what exactly was so funny in the first place.
"Oh, okay." She said suddenly, trying to take her breath. "I'm done now. Blaine, take this guy to one of the back rooms and lock the door behind you as you leave. Meghan, Nathan, you two follow me to get the groceries."
"Yes, ma'am!" The three rang in unison.
"I think now would be a good time for you to explain yourself." Anita said as she sat down across the table from the stranger they'd captured earlier. "Why are you here? Who sent you?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." The man admitted with a shrug. "I thought this place was abandoned since there weren't any lights and decided I'd use it to get out of the cold of the night."
"Liar!" Anita snapped. "You don't just stumble around out in the middle of nowhere for no reason! You came here for some reason and I demand to know what that reason is!"
"Look, lady." The man said patiently. "I may run and I may hide, but I would never tell a lie."
"You actually expect me to believe that?" She scoffed.
"Yeah."
She had never seen someone with such an honest look on their face as this man had and, honestly, it unnerved her enough that she had to look away from him. What harm could come from trusting someone who seemed pretty honest? Well, actually, that was a pretty dumb question, but she completely caved in and decided to give the man a chance.
"What's your name, then?" She asked, finally working up the courage to look at him again.
"Duo Maxwell." He said with a cheeky grin. "Nice to meet you, Miss…?"
"Anita Forrester." She replied, attempting to smile a bit herself. "Nice to meet you, too"
"How old are you?" Duo asked, though it honestly seemed like a strange question to pop up right now.
"Twenty-four." She replied.
"Are you serious?" The brunet asked, seeming somewhat shocked by her response. "You sure as hell don't look it."
"Dead serious." She replied, frowning slightly. "And how old are you?"
"Twenty-one." He replied.
"Oh, that's surprising." She mused. "You don't look your age, either. I thought you were a kid."
The two went silent for a moment. If the conversation continued like this, they'd be at each others' throats before the night was up and there was no telling what they'd be saying by then. It would be better to just take a moment and let things cool down before continuing. It was Duo who eventually broke the silence.
"Those kids earlier," he began, "Are they yours?"
There was a moment in which Anita looked very troubled by his sudden question. She wasn't entirely sure how to answer it, though most people wouldn't find it that hard. But she'd also lived with them for several years, so she'd grown attached and simply saying "No, they aren't" was a lot harder than it normally would have been.
"K-Kind of." She answered quietly, looking away again. "Just a little. Maybe…"
"Kind of?" He questioned.
"Not really." She admitted. "Blaine and a few of the other kids are runaways, but the rest don't really have a home to return to. I'm not sure when it happened, but I suddenly became like a mother to them and they depended on me for everything. I don't have a job or money and I'm terrified having them hanging all over me like they do because I'm not very good support."
"Didn't you just come back with food?"
"About that…" Anita paused and shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Can we just say someone donated it to me without knowing it?"
"So you stole it?" Duo asked.
"I just told you that it was donated to me by some kind patron." She barked, rising to her feet once again. "Don't go twisting my words and making me sound like some kind of thief because I'm most definitely not a thief."
Duo seemed to find her getting so worked up over being called a thief pretty funny and started laughing. There was a knock at the door and the two of them went completely silent. When Blaine announced that he was the one standing there, Anita got up and let him in. He handed a tray of apples to her and stuck a knife in one of the apples before whispered the words " I'm sorry" and taking his leave. A chill ran down her spine suddenly, but she swallowed the little bit of fear that had begun to well up inside of her and set the tray down on the table.
She went for the apple with the knife in it first, but paused right as she began to peel it. Blaine's words were now ringing loudly in her head as she stared at the apples, the forbidden fruit. Surely it was a message to her, but she needed to figure it out before things went sour. Just as Duo reached for one of the apples, Anita slammed her knife in the one nearest to his hand. He pulled it back, alarmed by her actions.
"Hey-!"
"Go ahead and eat one if you want to die." She snapped, jumping to her feet. "Something's not right. I'm going to check on the kids. Don't move from this spot and, for the love of God, don't touch those apples."
"Why?"
"They're poisoned!"
With that said, Anita was out the door, her gun drawn and loaded in case she actually had to fire it off. This did nothing more than leave Duo sitting there and possibly more confused than he had been in a while. However, he wasn't just going to sit back and let her run off without any sort of back up. That would be a very stupid thing to do, so he got up after a few moments and followed after her.
