Thanks to everyone who liked the "Jinx" story and "A Return to the Military." Some of you requested more of the story arc, so here it is. This centers more on the kids of the Gundam Pilots than the Pilots themselves, but they do play a large role and, as requested, aren't too old to kick some ass when the occasion calls for it.
By the way, I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters.
Teaser
Mother's Death
Something in the hallway woke him up. He hadn't been able to sleep well since his mother became sick six months ago, and now even the slightest sound could rouse him from slumber. His mother. The funeral had been yesterday. But it still didn't seem real. It still didn't seem like his mother was gone.
Whatever it was in the hallway made a sound again. He got up from his bed and crept to his door, peeking into the hall. His father was there, walking softly and trying not to make noise as he went from his room to the doorway of the guestroom. He watched as his father eased open the guestroom door, whispering to the person residing inside.
She'd arrived the day before the funeral. His father had introduced her as an aunt and an old friend, someone who had known both his father and his mother years ago. They'd lived together in the same building until he was two years old, his father said when he introduced the woman.
And now his father was sneaking into her room, the night after his mother's funeral. His eyes narrowed as he saw his father's figure disappear into the darkness of her bedroom. He quietly crept out of his room and sneaked down the hall. He waited outside of her room, listening to what was going on inside.
"Can I talk to you?" He heard his father say softly.
"About what?" Despite the fact that it was barely 3:00 in the morning, the woman answered immediately, as if she had never been asleep.
"Wufei talked to me yesterday, before the funeral. He told me…"
"What did he say?"
"He told me that there was still room for me at the Preventor Academy. That he and Sally live there still and I have a room if I want to stay. And I have a job if I want to take it."
"You would be closer to all of us if you came to the Academy on Earth."
"I'm strongly considering it, to be closer to your family and Wufei's family. But I don't know how my boys will handle the move, especially after their mother's death so recently. It just might be too many life changes all at one time."
"Your boys will support you. And if you come to the Academy, we can help take care of you and your family."
He left the doorway and crept back to his room, refusing to hear any more of it. His father was a Gundam Pilot once upon a time, something his father and mother both kept secret from him and his brother. They ran away to L3, hoping to outrun his father's past, but he was too young to remember or reject it.
"Hayden?" His brother's sleepy voice called to him.
"What, Luke?"
"Who's Dad talking to?" His brother was amazing sometimes, able to hear their father's voice down the hall and in another room. "Is it Mom?" Then again, his brother was half-asleep and therefore delusional at the moment.
"Mom's dead, Luke. He's talking to that friend of his from the Preventors." Hayden threw back the covers of his bed and sat down heavily. Luke continued to talk from the bunk above him.
"The woman from the war?"
"Yea, Luke. Go to sleep."
"What are they talking about?"
"We're moving."
"Where?"
"Going to Earth, most likely. So Dad can work at the Preventor Academy."
"Oh yea, Dad was in the war, too."
"That's right. Go to bed Luke."
"Goodnight, Hayden."
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Thanks specifically to Mistress Maxwell, Terry Yuy, Dark-sephiroth, Shaman Flamingo, Ryoko-onee, Midnight, and everyone else who liked the Jinx Arc.