Author's Note

ImperialGuardian: Hey everyone, I will be updating this sporadically, at the latest once a month. This is my first straight GW fanfic, so give me a chance! And today I shall decide which of the guys is my buddy in skits!

Everyone: ……

ImperialGuardian: What? I can't have fun, if I don't talk with one of the guys each time to tell the audience the disclaimer!

Wufei: This is an injustice. A woman is writing a fanfiction of us five men.

Duo: (starts laughing) Wu-man! You're a riot!

Wufei: What are you talking about?

Heero:

Trowa: Did you read the summary?

Wufei: No, I refused to read it on the grounds that ImperialGuardian09 is a woman. (Duo is laughing uncontrollably) SHUT UP!

Quatre: Well, Wufei, this story is set AC 580, long after our time.

Wufei: WHAT?

ImperialGuardian: I don't own Gundam Wing, so get over it.


Gundam Wing Renaissance

CHAPTER 1: The Legend Never Dies

It's as old as time itself, this curse of mine… years ago, there was a group of men… they had fought back against an army thousands of times their size, and won. Now, in a time when war is imminent, we could only hope for their return... or at least, the spirits of what they used to be…


A.C. 578

Dear Diary,

Operation Meteor… that was their original mission, wasn't it? It brought the ancient Gundams to Earth and caused a panic. Now before you ask, to this day no one knows the original intent of this group, although it was rumored they were to be heroes of a great massacre. Well, today was an anniversary of that fateful flight. The Mars Colony was holding the largest banquet known to man in honor of the Gundams' efforts for peace, and to honor the death of Heero Yuy, a great pacifist in the early days.

Now being invited to this banquet, however noble, was a matter of status. Of course I was going, seeing as my father was a wealthy man and he was very into the ladies. Mom died a few years back, and since then all he could think about was women. From the celebrities to the nursemaids. It really bothered me to no end. Yet, there was this one woman he was interested in for awhile I would have gladly accepted. Her name was—

"Angela Kathari!" the master of ceremonies shouted. We all looked up to the front, where a woman in a stunning silver gown stood elegantly. Her sandy blond hair fell to her middle back, and her comforting smile warmed the entire room. Yet just as quickly as she tried to speak, a bullet was shot from the crowd, and struck her down, the dream she stood for, dead.

I couldn't speak, I couldn't scream, and I sure as hell couldn't run. Angela Kathari was dead, and even more distressing, my father held the gun.

"Long live the name of Oz!" he shouted, and then aimed the gun to his head, and—he fell. Down to the floor. I mean, he wasn't moving. Everything fell in an instant. I looked up to the dead woman on the stage. It was Angela Kathari. Yet on the ground in front of me was my father, holding a smoking gun. How could this happen? Why did this happen? The master of ceremonies, who had long run off, came back with law enforcement, who all held armed weapons. They seiged the empty colony ballroom, and were awestruck at what lay before them. The most wonderful woman known to man was dead, and the man responsible, was my father, who now lay on the ground. In fact, I remember sitting near him. I remember crying, but I can't remember why. My legs were gone, and so was my hero.

Always here,

Angela Totgarten


A.C. 580

Dear Diary,

Oz came back. I mean, they really came back. They're here. They've grown back into the same terror they once were. I have heard rumors though. I've heard that a new group is coming. I've heard that they will come down from the colonies to here and Earth. That Oz will pay for what they've done to Angela Kathari. I sure hope they do.

By the way, I've inherited my father's estate now. Everything belongs to me. The company, the wealth, and now a notorious history all belong to Miss Angela Totgarten.

Always here,

Angela Totgarten


Day 1

Command Log

Operation Meteor had commenced, and all was successful. I was one of five to launch, but I am the only one here on Mars at the time. I am to destroy the base here and then proceed to Earth.

There was this woman who reminded me of a glass doll. She stood at the cliff. She seemed ready to jump. Yet she didn't. She just looked to me. To who I was. Staring at the Gundam's eyes, her posture looked cold, unforgiving, and heartless, yet there was a warmth in her face that erased all that. Her face smiled, was radiant, and welcoming. I thought for a moment of killing her. There was a time that I would have thoughtlessly killed her. Instead, I found myself exiting and walking to her.

"What brings you to the Dead Garden fierce warrior?" she asked. I should have known.

"I was told to come here for supplies."

"You have come to the right place. Please, follow me," she said. She was my welcoming committee—the glass doll. I got back inside and walked very slowly after her. A human taking steps with a Gundam on Mars… what a thought. Ahead, a hangar opened up. She gestured me to move first, and I stepped onto a risen platform. The Gundam sunk into the depths of Mars, in a hangar that was similar to one I had encountered on the ES colonies. It seemed made for mobile suit repairs.

"Welcome to the Dead Garden," the glass doll said warmly. "Now if you could please give us your codename we will gladly begin the repairs."

"Quatre," I said. There was a sigh of relief from the glass doll. She seemed almost happy.

"Well then Quatre. Let's get you ready for war," she responded, almost in too pleasant a manner.

As the day drew to a close, I kept thinking that there was something familiar about that glass doll of a woman. Something I'd seen somewhere before.

Quatre


Command Log

I am the Grim Reaper baby! It's almost foolish, how much money they spend on this fine weaponry and I get to destroy it! They should have known. Start a war up again and we'd be a-coming! Oh yeah! I love this job!

On a more serious note, I totally trashed my landing objective. They never stood a chance. You would think they would learn. Oh well. Another day, another mass destruction.

Duo


Mission Log

Landing was a success. Target was destroyed. Data was gathered.

Heero


Command Log

I've come to the Dead Garden after Quatre. I thought he was aware of my arrival, but instead was quite shocked to see me. I then reminded him we were to do the first mission together. He was quite happy to hear it. He kept mentioning a woman who reminded him of a glass doll. I think he was referring to whom they called the Gatekeeper. Her face did remind me of a glass doll. He even went so far as to ask if I knew her name. I simply told him that I was sure it was Gatekeeper of the Dead Garden—that she had no name otherwise, much like the man whose name I took.

Trowa


Command Log

Here is where I belong. On this battlefield. Destroying my enemy and making them all pay. That is my ultimate goal.

Wufei


Dear Diary,

I love my new school here on Mars. It is filled with so many people and they are all so happy! Except for this one girl. She reminds me of a porcelain doll. Her face is always the same, haunting the halls with her eloquent presence. Her name is Miss Angela Totgarten, daughter of the man who killed Angela Kathari. Although the man had shot himself, no charges were pressed against the daughter, who to this day lives in her great Totgarten estate, alone. Her father had given her everything, and a long apology note to boot on his will. It's amazing what you can find out roaming the halls. No one dares to approach her, for her name seems to bring ill-will to any who associate with it. Well, I am surprised such a rumor like that started, seeing as simply being in the same school associates one with ill-will.

I will not let this continue. Tomorrow, I will talk to her, and introduce myself properly. I cannot imagine how any harm can come of something like that. In all honesty, I do not see how being even associated is a bad thing. She seems like a nice person. Like I said, I will talk to her tomorrow. I'll show them all that it's all in their heads.

Here tomorrow,

Relena Altroost


Every waking moment, she felt dead. Every time she wanted to run away, she would hold her ground. This was the girl of your blond-haired nightmares. This porcelain doll named Angela Totgarten. With each step of her slender frame, someone would cry. With each breath from her pallid lips, a plant somewhere died. It was her lack of facial expression that gave off the impression of a living porcelain doll. This girl with amber eyes lived off the life of others, cursed to a wretched existence of solitude. Until today.

Relena walked through the terrified hallway of girls, and stepped into the untouchable space within where Angela Totgarten walked. Time froze, and girls swooned at the sight of Relena's departure from their world to Angela's. Angela stopped moving, and looked at Relena.

"Hello. My name is Relena Altroost. It is an honor to meet you," she said, curtsying.

"Hello Relena Altroost. I am Angela Totgarten. It is also an honor to meet you," Angela replied, her immobile face suddenly moving. The crowd stopped now, hearing this voice for the first time it seemed.

"We have the next class together. Would you like to sit with me?" Relena offered, as the crowd's perfect complexions all fell to a ghastly white. This girl, they decided, was doomed to die, or at least was asking for her death.

"Certainly," Angela replied. A gasp finally came from the crowd. Angela and Relena walked down the hall. There was a deafening silence, as the porcelain doll received her first real friend in a long time.

"I can't believe it," one girl whispered. "She just—like—walked up to her. She went right into the zone of evil, and is still there, and hasn't been shot or anything."

"Either she's a good luck charm reincarnated, or she just signed a death wish," another whispered.

"I give her three days," one more bet to her nearest friends.

Meanwhile, ahead, Relena and Angela walked along.

"Why?" Angela asked her.

"Why what?" Relena asked.

"Never mind."

"Did you study the terms last night?" Relena asked now.

"Not really. The professor isn't one to give out terms and then give a quiz the next day," Angela admitted sheepishly.

"I thought he did," Relena said, looking down and blushing. "That's why I studied for three hours."

Angela, the porcelain doll, laughed. "That's a ridiculously long time to study Miss Relena."

"Please, just call me Relena. We're equals you know."

Angela stopped now, as Relena turned to her.

"Is something wrong?"

"It's been a while since anyone has said that," Angela replied, her face emotionless, but a tear showed up at the doll's cheek. "You must have a heart of gold Relena."

"Nonsense!" Relena replied, as the two continued their walk. Angela smiled inwardly, for she had finally met an angel in disguise.


"Dead Garden," he mused. This platinum blond boy, who called himself Quatre, was sitting in his private room underneath the star projector, trying to solve the mystery of his temporary home. His deep blue eyes stared at each constellation, as if he were trying to analyze them, when his mind was elsewhere. A knock came on the door, as another boy, the one called Trowa, stepped in.

"Are you still trying to figure her out?" he asked, an impish smile on his face. "It's a waste of time."

"It makes me wonder," Quatre said, looking at the soothing holographic stars around him. "Why would she be here if she weren't important somehow? I'm sure the doctors wouldn't include her unintentionally."

"It's a waste of time," Trowa repeated. "Have you even thought about our mission?"

"Yes," Quatre said, pulling out a map. "I've mapped out the area around the base we're going after. However, it's a risky operation. They've hidden it near a popular preparatory academy. If we want to get a good look at the inside, we're going to have to get close to that area through the school."

A sigh escaped Quatre's lips, as Trowa gave him a strange look.

"What's up?"

"Well, it seems that the academy is an all girls' school."

"AW HELL NO!" Trowa cried, his emerald eyes widening in fear. "I AM NOT CROSS-DRESSING! I AIN'T DOING IT!"

"I thought that would be your response," Quatre said smugly. "That's why I was wondering if Ms. Doll could help us out."

"You didn't stop to think this through, did you? She would stand out almost immediately amongst any group of giddy girls," Trowa said, calming down as he smoothed his short dusty brown hair, and leaned against a wall.

"I know," Quatre replied. "But she's the only girl around here, if you hadn't noticed."

The two boys sat there, both pondering how this mission would work out. If they didn't get the plans, then they couldn't get into the base properly. Going in blind was not an option. In fact, anything short of cross-dressing didn't seem to be available to them. This mission was a lot harder than they thought it would be.


"Mission this, mission that," the boy who called himself Heero sighed. "That's all those damn doctors care about, are those stupid missions."

His printer rolled out about twenty pages worth of papers, as he sighed, flipping tenderly through, his violet eyes scanning each page. His mind wandered back to basic training. Sure, they trained him to be a bad-to-the-core Gundam Pilot, in honor of the person he now paraded around as, but there was someone from there whose image alone was enough to make him smile. A girl with flowing brown hair and stunning blue eyes. As he reached the last page, he knew those thoughts, unfortunately, would have to wait.

"Another solo mission? Bastards," Heero sighed. The poor ill-fated lad ran out the door almost immediately after that, leaving his giant portfolio of paperwork on his desk.


She and her braid tore through the shopping plaza like death itself was on her heels. Behind her was an enraged shop owner, one who she had given just a bit too much advice.

"COME BACK HERE YOU INGRATE!"

Needless to say she wasn't stopping for anything. As soon as she was certain she was out of the city limits, she looked back to that small town, and then started to laugh.

"Oh baby, that was priceless!" she, the girl codenamed Duo, laughed. "He had no sense of style! No grace! I, the Grim Reaper, merely tried to set him up!"

Duo looked back one more time at the small town, as her watch started beeping, and explosions were seen in the distance.

"I get mission specs and bombs go off—now that must be an omen of success!"

She watched with her blue eyes as her watch's holographic projector started running down an operation, as she yawned near the end.

"Boring!" Duo cried at last. "I have to go find out who caused that explosion? Aw, come on! You can give the Grim Reaper a better task than this! That's it! Missions specs with explosions are an omen of a crappy mission!"


"They say destroy the target at my discretion," she whispered. "But then they go around and tell me I went too far! This is injustice I say!"

The girl who was codenamed Wufei sat cross-legged on the floor. Sure he had cleared out a base by just blowing everything up, as her mission had required, but apparently the doctors had miscalculated what she was destroying.

"And to top it all I have a MASCULINE codename? Who the hell came up with this idea anyhow?"

As she stared with her dark eyes at the floorboard ten feet away from her, she wondered what was going to happen next. She only had blown up the base with about two dozen well placed explosives! They certainly were going to be more specific next time. Whether or not she would be punished, that concerned her. Why would they put this out on her? Why would they get at her for doing her job? Her holograph-phone rang. She let it go to the answering machine.

"Wufei, you are not to be punished for your brash behavior, however, we will remind you to avoid in participating in such dangerous behavior in the future. Your next mission is to research the Totgarten legacy."

She stared at the hologram, the woman whose face she hated more than the men in the world.

"A dummy mission? Forget that!" Wufei cried, outraged. "No punishment my ass."

Wufei pouted hopelessly, now reaching for her latest copy of Justice Weekly. She read the name of the editor, and sighed in a scary way, her soft black locks falling in front of her face. Then, brushing the hair away from her face and opening the magazine, she began to read.


Author's Note

Duo: Grim Reaper huh? Sounds like my kind of gal.

Trowa, Heero, Quatre: … … …

Wufei: (outraged) INJUSTICE! I refuse to be portrayed in the future by a WOMAN!

Wufei: HOW DARE YOU HAVE THAT MASCULINE A NAME!

Wufei: At least it's my real name you honorless wench!

Wufei: Don't you dare reference me in the same sentence with the word honorless, you justiceless fool!

Wufei: Don't you DARE use justice like you know the meaning of the word!

Wufei: I know it better than you. ;)

Wufei: WOMAN!

Wufei: MAN! (fight continues)

Else: … … … (punches and kicks flying) …

ImperialGuardian: Well, that went better than I thought. (Wufei is fighting with Wufei over the honor of the rug beneath them) Anyhow, I still haven't decided who's going to be my buddy in skits.

Heero: Use Duo. He'll complain less.

Duo: Harsh. At least I don't have drooling fan girls that are waiting outside this room for me.

Trowa: Actually, yes you do.

Duo: …? OH NO! Call my bodyguard! I ain't going near any fan girls! (Heero cracks a smile) WHAT ARE YOU SO CHUMMY ABOUT?

Quatre: You didn't realize you have such a wide fan base Duo?

Duo:

Heero: Don't ask the idiot intelligent questions.

ImperialGuardian: Oh man, I can't decide!

Trowa: Use Heero.

ImperialGuardian: Yes, the almighty Trowa has spoken! (everyone freezes)

Else: … … …

ImperialGuardian: I have decided!

Else: DECIDED WHAT?

ImperialGuardian: I've picked my buddy in skits! (group takes a step back) I have decided, that…

Else: … … … Go on…

ImperialGuardian: Duo is not my buddy in skits. (Duo cheers and dances around room) … Quatre is not my buddy in skits. I'm sure we'd all get along just fine.

Quatre: Thank you for the compliment. But does this mean you want someone who would argue with you?

ImperialGuardian: Sorta…I want them to have points to argue with me without sounding stupid... it's no fun otherwise… so I choose He—(a loud cock of a gun in heard as Heero gives her a stare that could kill)—um, then again, I fear for my life, so Trowa and Wufei it is!

Trowa, Wufei, Wufei: WHAT?

ImperialGuardian: I can't just choose one. Well, later! And by the way, please review! I'd like to know how I can improve. Thanks!