A While by Paz Enai

Part 1: "Well, Now What?"

It's been a while since I've seen any of the guys. I sort of feel bad that I haven't been able to keep in touch.

It seems that my past of breaking the law to survive is catching up to me. I had been hoping all along that, since when I was younger I didn't actually have a last name, that they wouldn't be able to find me. But I've been finding out how wrong I was.

I've been seeing posters on walls and sides of buildings of a boy that looks like it would be me. The images are like the ones that look like they were generated by one of those computer programs the cops use to approximate what a person looks like years later. For the most part I've been trying to stay away from them because I don't want to be seen near them if it really is me. But the other night, when it was dark out, as it tends to get around 6 on Earth, I took one down and back to my apartment with me. What I read was very bewildering:

"Lost boy Taken by an explosion in the year After Colony 182

(picture)

Was spotted in After Colony 186 as an orphan and thief

(picture)

Projected appearance for the year After Colony 197

(picture)

If you have any information of the whereabouts of this boy contact your local Police Dept."

Well wasn't that unexpected. I mean there really is no proof that it is me that they are talking about. Except that the picture from AC 186 looks like me a bit. It's hard to tell, because it's not a still picture, like, the kid is running away. A little befuddled, I sat down in front of my TV and turned on the news to see what else was going on in the world.

The next piece was even more shocking.

News reporter: ".. as the Molonigal family continues to look for their long lost cousin. His parents were killed in a rebel attack on L2 colony A3352 in AC182. The boy was believed to have be taken by rebel forces but was lost. Then some 4 years later he was spotted on the same colony, or so the family believes, as an orphaned thief. The police in the L2 area, as requested by the family, were told to monitor the colony in search of the lost boy. When he was finally found some time later, and imprisoned in a Romeffeller jail for Grand Larceny, the family was to go and verify that the boy was indeed the lost boy that they had been looking for. A DNA test had been prepared, but by the time the family got to the jail, the boy had escaped. He was spotted every now and again by smuggling himself on the space ships of others several times over the following few years, but no one was able to catch him, as he always managed to get away before the authorities could come. It was believed that he had perished during this time, as there were no reports of him. In AC195, there were on many colonies wanted posters for a boy that had been shown on TV as a Gundam Pilot who had escaped. The family believes that this boy may very well be the long lost cousin and nephew that they have been looking for. Here is a part of an interview with Caryl Molonigal, sister-in-law of Daanna, the boy's deceased mother:

"He was taken from us by an explosion caused by colonist rebels in the year After Colony 182. We believe that the rebels had taken him as hostage material and left with him. When the colonists were captured we were saddened to find that the boy had not been with them... We have been looking for Trevor for 15 years now. Every few years we find some information that we are told will lead us to him, but something always happens; the information is wrong or some outside force hacks into the system and deletes all of our leads. (woman begins to cry) We just want to see him again. We want to know that he is all right!" (sobs uncontrollably)

Reporter: "If you have any information about this boy, or think you have seen him please call now, the # for CW News Network is "

I just sat in disbelief as the reporters finished about the story and moved on to the next one. But the number stayed on the screen.

That… that was my fucking life story that that just told on the TV. TREVOR! My name isn't TREVOR! What is going on here? How...Should I call the station? I-...

Without even thinking on it I found myself dialing the number on the screen, glad that it was toll-free since the studio for CW News was in another country.

Receptionist: "Hello, are you calling in regards to the Trevor Molonigal story? Please tell us whatever information that you have."

I was quiet a moment before I tried to speak.

The Molonigals THE Molonigals. Weren't they a family that was as well known and wealthy as Quatres?

"H-hello" I mumbled, the woman patient on the other side, "I-um..am calling about the-the story, about the kid."

Receptionist: "Yes? What is it? Have you seen him, or think that you have seen him? Was it recent or a while ago? Do you know of something that happened to him?"

"N-no. Nothing like that. Well, I mean, it is LIKE that, but...I mean, uhm. The story that you just said on the TV...It was... It was my life story. But my name isn't Trevor... It's Duo, and I'm no Molonigal, my names Maxwell. But, that story, that was definitely my life you ... that you just explained... Is.. Is that possible?" and I paused.

The woman on the other side of the phone asked if I was serious, I explained that I never tell a lie. She told me to hold on for a second and I heard the sounds of being patched through to another line. I was surprised when I heard one of the reporters on the TV answer me on the phone as well as on the television that was still on in front of me. I lowered it so that it wouldn't interfere.

The reporter then called out, "News flash! We have a young man on the phone who is claiming that the story we just told on the news is none other that the story of his own life? (into the phone connection) Hello? Trevor?"

"No, my name is Duo. But that ... are you really looking for someone who..." I didn't know what to say, so I just trailed off.

The confused reporter replied, " I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?"

"DUO, it's Duo Maxwell. At least it has been for the past however many years..."

"What made you call tonight? How did you hear the news?"

"Well, there were some fliers around where I live now and... When I read it I was a little shocked so I turned on the TV to try and get it out of my head. Then I saw the end of the report on it… In all honesty, I don't know why I called. I...Don't think I've ever been this confused before in my life."

"Interesting. What would you say to seeing your family again for the first time in 15 years?"

"I would say that they're not my family. I grew up alone. I have no family. Look this whole thing is making me really depressed, and I don't like feeling depressed. In fact, I refuse to take a DNA test. I may have been part of the family at one point, but I'm not anymore. Tell them that their beloved Trevor is dead, he has been for 15 years. He sold his soul to the devil and can't be taken back. Tell them, and everyone else, to leave me alone. Ok!" and I hung up.

At first I didn't know why I was so mad. I left the TV on long enough to see the reporters look at each other before continuing on with their stories. They look almost as if I had personally done something against them. Damn them. I wish I never had to see their damned faces again. I'll have to stop watching the news at night.

I went into my room and tried to do some work on my computer for my job. But I was just too mad to deal with it. I went to bed early, but lay on my back thinking of how immature it was to think that after 15 years they thought that someone wouldn't mind being randomly inserted into their family. I bet that they just found some random kid to stalk their lives away to try to find in hopes of one day convincing him that he was one of theirs. Hell, for all I know they just happened to decide to hunt me after I became a Gundam Pilot and did some background research on me.

But wait... If they knew I was a Gundam Pilot, then why would they try to find me at all? HAHA, maybe they have some deep-seeded revenge that they need to fulfill against me and this is all just some plot to get back at me.

Thoughts like this went through my head all night. When I finally felt like going to sleep it was already time to go to work, so I called in sick. When I go to work tomorrow they're all gunna know I was on TV... They're probably going to try and convince me to go get the blood work done, or to at least meet the family. So, even though I was tired, I decided to instead pack all of my stuff. I was in a U-hall truck and on my way to Canada 8 hours later. I had put a sign up for my shack of a house and left a nearby hotel's number so that the people who wanted it could call up. I never woulda realized how much work went into selling a house, but at least this way I could get away from the reporters and other people who would no doubt soon find out that I lived there and swarm the property, only to find that I had already left.

Finding a new house in Canada was harder than I thought. I tried really hard to find a place that was close to the boarder so that I could work in the United States, since my money would count as more this way. To my surprise, my shack sold faster than I had anticipated. This was good news as well, since with the money I got from it-which was nearly 2 times what I paid for it-was used to buy a full size 2 story house, not a shack, a house.

There has still been a lot of mention of me, or rather Trevor on the news. I guess when your family has more money than they know what to do with it doesn't get that hard to keep something like that in the news. People seem to be aghast at what Duo Maxwell said to the reporter on the news, and how he refuses to reunite with his long lost family. Now that every one knows my name, with regret, I had to change it. I kept Maxwell, since it is, after all, a common American name, but my first is now Andy, the only name that I felt suited me right. I tried to hack out as much info on myself as possible, but my info has never been so protected before. I managed to delete some of the recent stuff but more of the old, which really doesn't help since the whole world knows it by now.

Currently I work a night job as a bar tender at some Club in Buffalo, NY, about 50 miles away from my new home in the outskirts of Dunnville Ontario. The perks are that no one can clearly see what I look like and that I'm acting like myself again so they don't suspect me of being Duo...yet. I have also been able to dress in clothes that hide my hair(I'm still reluctant to chop it off, although I know that in the end it will have to be done). We'll see what life has to throw me now.

I went back and fixed it up a bit.. put the appropriate page breaks in. I'll be doing likewise with the other parts.