Thank you for the reviews, people! I apologize if people become a little OOC here and there, but I'll try and keep them as much as in character as possible. I hope you continue to like this story… if it goes slow at some parts, then I apologize… I'll have you know I'm still working on making up plausible rules concerning the alternate worlds for this story. So bear with me, k? Now, without further ado… chapter 2!
unenthusiastic crowd waves little flags yay…
Chapter 2: Oh great… an interrogation…
We stepped inside, and my mouth fell open. "Wow this place is huge…" I commented as I hugged my backpack to myself. In front of me there were stairs that led up to rooms on the second floor. To my right there was a room where the door was closed. To my left was a huge living room space, where there was a couch and a coffee table and a large stereo system. To the left of that was another door leading into another room. Past the living room area was the dining room area, where there was a glass sliding door leading to outside. It was too dark to see what was outside, but I could only guess the size of the backyard space. To the left of the dining room area was the kitchen, which I could only see a part of.
They led me into the dining room and had me sit in one of the chairs.
"Do you want to tie her down?" Duo asked Heero.
"No you don't!" I exclaimed. "What's the big idea?"
"It's just a precaution." Heero explained. The stillness of his voice didn't help at all.
"Precaution for what?" I demanded, as Duo left my line of vision and then came back moments later with some rope. "Oh this is just unbelievable…" They tied my wrists to the arms of the chair, and my ankles to the front legs. "Alright…" I said, once they were done. "Are you happy now? What normal people have rope ready and available anyway?"
"Hey, rope is useful!" Duo replied. He started to list the uses of rope, ticking each one off on his fingers. "tying down the trunk of a car, using it to pull or carry stuff, using it to tie things together so they don't fall apart, a lasso, a jump rope…"
"Using it to tie down helpless girls?" I added with a glare, which both men pointedly ignored.
Duo sat on the table directly in front of me, and Heero stood next to him, leaning against the edge. Both of them put down their guns since I was tied down. I shook my head, and let it fall, my chin resting on my chest. The bangs of my short hair fell over my face, and I wanted to wake up already. This was seriously becoming tiring.
"Alright." Heero began as I stared at my knees. "How is it that you know so much about me?"
"About us." Duo corrected. "And none of this cartoon business."
I didn't respond to their question, since there was nothing that I could say.
"You'd better answer us." Heero ordered.
"And if I don't?" I replied defiantly. "How much do I need to know about all of you before you decide it's too much and you'd have to kill me?"
"I don't know. Let's find out." Heero replied.
"Honestly, I know more than any of you would ever like, and would ever tell anyone. Now I wish I didn't know anything." I said quietly. Then I mumbled to myself, "To think your parents raise you to believe that telling the truth will keep you out of trouble…"
Suddenly, I heard someone enter the dining room and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up with apprehension. Then I heard Quatre's voice request something in Japanese. Probably asking what was going on. Heero responded to him in Japanese, and Duo added to what Heero said. How was it that they could speak English and Japanese? I thought to myself carefully. They spoke Japanese because GW is an anime and it was originally Japanese. But they can speak English because GW was dubbed! That made enough sense… At least I know for sure that I'm not making this scenario up in my head… because I can't understand a damn word they're saying.
At that point, Quatre took a couple of steps towards Heero and Duo, and I could see him in my line of vision. Wow, he was cute too. 'Pretty boy' cute. He didn't seem so young in person. I looked up into his eyes, and he looked back at me with a bit of sympathy and puzzlement. I could only look at him for so long, and I brought my eyes back to my legs. My eyes started to brim with tears, and I felt like a child who just got caught doing something bad.
Then Quatre asked something, and I didn't know if he was talking to me. But I heard Duo tell him, "She doesn't speak Japanese."
"Oh!" Quatre exclaimed. "Why not?" He seemed completely baffled by the concept that someone didn't know how to speak Japanese, no matter their nationality.
"Because I'm 100 full-blown American." I said. "The only Japanese I know are small words and phrases because I like anime."
"Ahh… that's weird."
Okay, so they have anime in anime-land. That's ironic. I wonder what their anime looks like?
Then Quatre kneeled down and tilted my face up by my chin slightly. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"No. No I'm not okay." I replied. "I didn't do anything wrong, and I'm tied to a chair."
"You guys should let her go." Quatre told them.
"What do you mean 'let her go'?" Duo exclaimed. "You heard what we said, right?"
"Yeah, but I feel that she's telling the truth. About the not doing anything wrong part." Quatre said in my defense. I wanted to hug him, and I would have if I wasn't tied down. "She's not going to run away, there are three of us and one of her."
"Feelings can be deceiving, Quatre." Heero said calmly.
"She's not dangerous." Quatre explained.
"How about you tell Quatre some of the stuff that you told us?" Duo said, looking at me almost accusingly.
I was so stressed and upset, I didn't know what to do. I bit my lip and tried to reframe from crying, but by this point I had gone through too much too quickly and it seemed like I was stuck here. I started to cry, practically out of the shock itself. The tears fell silently, landing on my legs, and I kept sniffling to keep my nose from running all over myself. Why me?
"I'm untying her." Quatre said.
"But Quatre…!" Duo protested. Heero narrowed his eyes at the blonde, and then looked at me with a piercing glare as Quatre undid the knots, as if he were accusing me of using mind control or something. I glared back.
I rubbed my wrists once I was untied, and then I drew my knees up to myself and buried my face in my arms. I took a shuddering breath, and tried to calm myself down. Panicking wasn't going to do me any good. "You didn't have to tie it so tight, you know…" I said.
"Uh… Sorry…" Duo replied. "But do you blame us?"
"Yes, yes I do!" I replied angrily. Then I sighed, as I tried to calm myself down. "No, not really… I'm just… I'm afraid of how you'll react when I say the things that will make you believe me."
"She claims that we're cartoons." Heero told Quatre. Quatre looked at me and raised an eyebrow.
"Well, you are where I'm from…" I said defensively. "I didn't watch all of the series because it would show on TV before I could get home, not to mention it was painfully dubbed and edited… but I did find you guys interesting enough. So I know about each of you more personally than I know about what actually happened throughout the entire thing with Operation Meteor."
Quatre's jaw dropped. Apparently Operation Meteor itself was never really explained to the public.
"Oh man…" I muttered. "Not that surprised look again."
Heero then took my backpack from the table where they had put it, and started to take out its contents. Out came my class schedule that I printed off the internet. Out came my American history book for one of my classes. Out came the fall schedule booklet for Pierce. Out came my CD's (4 cases, each holding two CD's to save space) and my CD player. Out came my sketchbook. Suddenly I began to panic as I remembered what I had drawn in it. It would have been nice if either A) it was left at home, meaning not in my backpack, or B) there was at least another GW fan here, because undoubtedly nearly all otakus have sketchbooks where they draw their favorite bishonen.
Quatre looked at my belongings as well. I took my class schedule from his hands and scanned it. Then I pointed at the bottom right-hand corner where it had '6/29/2003' printed.
"Okay, see? That's when I had registered for my classes online. That's when I printed this out. I had this in my backpack so that I could find my classes on my first day at school. See? It says the classrooms on here." I pointed to where it said 'Location.' Then I grabbed my Pierce catalog, and flipped to the back. "See? This has the map on it."
Quatre furrowed his brow. "But… This is impossible! 2003?"
"I know!" I exclaimed. "But that's where I'm from!"
Then I noticed that Duo was beginning to flip through my sketchbook. I leaped forward to snatch it from him, but he held it away from my reach.
"Duo! Give that back!" I demanded.
"Woah! Why?"
"Because I said so!"
"Not a good enough reason." The braided boy held the book so that it fell open in his hand, and pages started to fall like a calendar, showing my artwork. "Wow! These are great! It looks so real!"
I sighed heavily. "That's because I've been drawing anime for a long time."
"Anime?" Quatre said. "That doesn't look like anime! That looks like realism!"
"Yeah, for you!" I responded. "But where I come from people look different, and you guys are anime!" I looked them over then. "Although back where I come from you look much more cartoonish. Here you're real, but you're anime at the same time. It's really weird."
"Woah! Woah! Hold everything!" Duo shouted, and I looked back at what he was talking about. I let out a squeak when I realized what he was gawking at. It was a drawing of none other than Heero, and with a made up female character nonetheless. It was no one in particular, just someone I felt like drawing Heero with. It only showed the two from the chest/collarbone area and up, but it was very evident that the girl was wearing no top, while she clung to Heero's tank top.
I let out a moan, and put my head in my hands. "How embarrassing!" I cried.
Heero snatched the book from Duo and stared at the drawing. A slight redness came to his cheeks and I wasn't sure if it was from blushing or from contained rage. "What the hell is this!" he demanded.
I moaned again, and put my head back into my hands.
Heero continued to yell, "Who the heck is she? How did you draw this?"
Heero then quickly flipped through the pages. Next he came across a gothic drawing of Trowa. I wouldn't have minded him seeing that one as much, only Trowa was wearing tight pants, and… well, there were details to be had. He flipped some more, and came across a headshot of himself done in pen.
"Wow…" Quatre whispered. "It looks just like you, Heero!"
"It is me!" Heero replied, completely surprised. "How'd you get this!"
"It's from one of the episodes." I explained. "It's from the scene where you self-destruct your gundam so that OZ can't get it."
Quatre stared at me. "What happened after that?"
"Well…" I began eager to prove my identity. "Heero flew in the air a few hundred feet and skidded to a stop. I remember seeing the uncut version… he was bleeding a lot, and he was unconscious but his eyes were open. Sorry Heero, but since it was anime, it was really cool. Then Trowa picked him up with his gundam and took him away. Zechs let him leave because he thought it wouldn't be fair or something like that. If I recall, Une got into some trouble over that. Treize wasn't very happy. He told her to 'be more graceful.'"
"Then what happened?" Heero asked.
"Well, you were in a coma or unconscious or something like that for two months. Or was it a month? I don't remember. But I do remember that when you woke up, you told Trowa that dying hurts like hell, which he found very funny."
"I don't believe it." Heero whispered. "That's exactly what I said. That's exactly what happened." Then he became much more serious, and his voice got quieter. "How much do you know? Honestly?"
I bit my lip. Should I lie? I stared at Heero's piercing blue eyes, and I realize that he could probably see right through me. He'd know if I was lying, and then I wouldn't be able to redeem myself. I never was good at lying to begin with. "More than you want me to, or anyone else. Please don't make me tell you, Heero… just believe me, already."
"You have to tell me." Heero demanded. His eyes bore into my own, and I couldn't look away. He had me, I knew it. I couldn't lie to him, and I know he deserved to know that I knew. I would hate myself if I wasn't honest.
"I know what you told Wufei when you were fighting with him during the time of Mariemaia." I said this so quietly, that I wasn't sure he'd caught it. But he did. He stared at me then, and I didn't know what he was going to do or what was going through his head. I immediately gave myself a mental beating. I shouldn't have said that. I really shouldn't have said that. I have just sealed my fate.
Finally he whispered, his voice shaky. "You… you know about that?" His hands clenched into fists, and I didn't know what to expect from him. Whatever it was, it would be something violent.
"I… I'm sorry…" I whispered. "No one should ever know something so personal about a person unless that person is willing to tell them. Now I wish I never knew anything. About any of you."
"What do you know about me?" Duo asked.
But before I could answer, Heero cut off his question with one of his own. "How much of it do you know?" He wouldn't look at me, and I was grateful and afraid over it.
Then Heero did something I didn't expect. "Get out." He said to Duo and Quatre. "This is something I need to clarify with her on my own."
By this time I was really scared. "No, don't make them leave Heero…" I begged as I stood up, pushing the chair back. I automatically clung to Quatre's arm for support and as a defense.
"What?" Duo said, as if he hadn't heard right. "I don't understand…"
"You don't have to." Heero shot back. "Just leave. I need to talk to her alone."
Quatre looked at me as I clung to him.
"I'm not going to hurt her." Heero said quietly. "But this is something personal."
I didn't believe him. People were unpredictable, and often tended to act randomly. But Duo and Quatre did believe him. I don't know why they did, but they did. Still, Duo took Heero's gun that was sitting on the table. Not like that would stop him from killing or hurting me if he really wanted to…
Once Quatre and Duo left the dining room, I kept myself a good distance away from Heero with my arms crossed protectively. He stood at the glass sliding door, staring outside, although I don't think he was really looking. His hands were in the pockets of his jeans and he stood there, seemingly calm.
"Tell me…" he finally said. "Were you just there for the part when I had told Wufei?"
I remained silent, because it seemed to be the best answer. Finally he turned around. "I asked you a question. Was that all, or not?" His eyes burned into mine, and I backed up against the wall. Finally, he tilted his head down, his bangs covering his eyes. "Please… I need to know the truth."
"I don't want to tell you." I whispered, as I stared at him with steady eyes. Finally I looked at my feet. "But I… I can't lie. I suck at it, honestly. But I have to watch out for my own safety too, you know…"
Heero frowned at me. "You have to tell me. I'd much rather have you do it willingly than me having to threaten you. I don't' want to do that, but if I must then I will. For my own safety."
"But can you guarantee my safety? If I tell you, then can you swear to me that you won't hurt me?" I shot back at him, angry now. Didn't he realize my position? Didn't he understand what he was asking me to do? At this moment I had to first look out for myself and then think about Heero and the others. By this point, I knew I wasn't hallucinating. But what I didn't know was if I could get back home. "I understand completely why you have to know, but you should also understand that you won't like it."
"If you know something about me then I damn well have the right to know exactly what you know and how much." Heero responded. "Do you realize the threat that you present? You could go and leak this information to anyone!"
"Why the hell would I tell anyone about your past?" I yelled at him. "It's not my history to tell! What good would that do? I have no reason to do anything that may harm you!"
"Having you know about what I was talking about with Wufei is enough harm as it is!" Heero yelled back. My anger lowered a bit, and I felt sympathy.
"That's not my fault." I said finally. "It is my fault that I opened my big mouth to you. But it's not my fault that I know. Damn it, it's not even my fault that I'm here." I leaned against the wall and slid down, and put my face in my hands. This was way too complicated for my taste.
"Well, you're here now. And you're going to tell me what you know." Heero said matter-of-factly. He kneeled down in front of me as he said this, and I looked up at him, staring him straight in the eye.
"Will you believe me if I tell you?" I asked finally. Heero nodded.
"I'd have to." He said. "As unbelievable as it may sound."
I played with the sleeves of my black and rose-printed shirt. "And… if I tell you, and you're willing to believe me, would you not hurt me? I might go home eventually, if I can find a way or if I'm taken home like I was taken here. Then I won't be a threat anymore."
Heero paused at this, and thought for a moment. "What if you can't get back home? What if you're stuck here?"
I shrugged. "Well then I don't know. Personally, I think that since I got here, then there's a way to get me back. But… if I don't… then I guess there's nothing I can do about it and you can do what you want with me, whatever you think is right. Not like I'd ever fit in here anyway…"
Heero let out a quiet sigh, and finally nodded his head. "Alright. Then I won't hurt you. But you have to swear to me that whatever you know, about any of us, you won't tell to anyone else. Meaning if I ask you about myself then you tell me. But if anyone besides me asks, anyone at all, then you don't say anything."
I nodded. "I promise. I wouldn't tell anyone anyway, so that'll be simple enough."
"If I find out you've told someone, then I get to shoot you." Heero said.
I grinned. "Deal."
"Now tell me. What do you know?" Heero asked.
"Um… okay." I started. "Not all the stuff is together in my head, 'cause I've only really gathered a lot of your past from reading the mangas in the bookstore and seeing Endless Waltz. But I know the whole event of what you told Wufei."
"Be more specific." Heero pressed.
"I mean I saw it like a flashback in a movie." I replied. I hoped he didn't ask for any more on it, but naturally he did.
"What happened?" he demanded.
"Don't make me recite the damn thing; I'm sure the memory is bad enough as it is." I said. Instead, I mentioned a couple of brief details. "Alright… escaping an OZ base after putting bombs somewhere in it. You're lying on the grass. There's a girl, with a dog named Mary, she gives you a yellow flower, etc, etc. The entire shish and caboodle right down to the aftermath. I can't make myself describe it much deeper, I don't want to make this any more difficult."
Heero sighed heavily and ran his hands through his hair with his head down. "Dialogue. Any dialogue?"
"Jesus, Heero! Enough already! Why are you pushing for the total recall?" I announced. "You're making this harder, and not just for myself! Believe me already! Yes, there is dialogue! Would you like me to recite it?"
Heero looked away stubbornly because I know he didn't really want to hear it. Then he asked, "What else do you know?"
"That you met Dr. J. when you were young… after this guy you worked for was killed. You were pretending to be his son, I think." I said.
"What was his name?" he asked. I shrugged.
"I don't remember reading a name in the manga." I told him. Not necessarily a lie, but not the full truth either. I purposefully meant to leave out that in many fan fictions and GW websites around the world, fans say that the guy was Odin Lowe. I didn't find it wise to bring Heero to the realization that somewhere, in another world, a surmountable number of people knew all about him. Talk about invasion of privacy. "That's all I know. Just where your origin of being a gundam pilot came from, and a memory showing that you care about people, which is no surprise to me, even if I didn't know about it."
There was silence for a few minutes. Suddenly Heero blew up in a rage. He knocked over the chair and started yelling. "But I don't even know you! How is it that you could know! You're not supposed to know that! You're a complete stranger to me!"
I bit my lip hard, and I couldn't react. I couldn't respond. All that went through my head was, 'I'm sorry, it's not my fault.' I didn't want him to hold me responsible, but I held myself responsible. I couldn't offer him comfort of any kind, because I was a stranger. I truly didn't know him, and he didn't know me.
Finally he suppressed what was left of his rage and he turned back to me. "So this is it? I'm a cartoon? Is that all I am? All of the people I know? Is everything fake? You have to be right, there's no way you could know what you know. I never told anyone. What about everything I've fought so hard for? Everything I've ever believed in? Is it all a lie? Does it not matter anymore?"
His anger scared me, but I had to reassure him of his reality. "You are real. Everything here is real. There's no way you couldn't be real. You're only fake where I'm from. But that's a completely different universe, so my world doesn't matter. You're never going to see it or anything."
"But if I'm real, then what does that make you?"
I thought for a moment. "I don't know… maybe reality is a figment… maybe there is more than one type of reality. I don't know. Look, I don't have all the answers, alright? I'm just as confused as you are. I'm just me! I'm just supposed to be a normal girl!"
"But you're not." Heero said. "You know things about us that no one else does, and we've never seen you before. Everything you have dates back to 2003. Even your drawings…" He left his sentence unfinished, and paced the dining room.
"Okay, let me rephrase that, then." I said. "According to where I'm from, I'm just a normal girl. And aside from me knowing about you and your friends, I'm still a normal girl. I'm still a smart ass, I still make stupid jokes about nothing, and I still just plan to start college and become an animator. I'm just a person with hopes and dreams and fears like everyone else."
Heero glared at me under his bangs. "Well, aside from being a retired gundam pilot and having saved the Earth and the Colonies, while also killing a number of people, I guess you could say that I'm just a normal person too."
I rolled my eyes. "Fine, I see your point. But there's nothing we can do about what we've done or what we know for either of us, now can we?"
Heero sighed quietly then. He shoved his hands in his pockets, and I realized that he was trying to act stoic again, but he was uncomfortable.
I stood up then, and went to the chair and sat down in it. "This fucking sucks…" I said finally. I started rambling again, because somehow it made me feel better. "I mean, I'm still having trouble accepting this. And not like this could have happened just a tad bit better. I get thrown into every otaku's fantasy, and things have already started off crappy. I bet no fan girl ever thought this type of thing would happen… you know, actually go to your anime world of choice and having it be so realistic that it sucks because that's how reality is. Like this is even anime! Good grief. I don't know what to call this sort of thing. Well, I bet God is laughing himself into stitches right now! 'Serves her right!' he's saying. I hope he's satisfied. Maybe eventually he'll get over the ironic hilarity of my situation and take me back home."
Heero stared at me, and then raised an eyebrow. "That's an interesting way to look at it." he said.
"Yeah, well I'm running out of ideas." I replied.
There was a pause, and then Heero asked, "Did you really fantasize about coming here? You know… meeting us?" I could tell that he found it weird to try and say those words. It sounded weird hearing them.
"Please, Heero… spare me the humiliation of having to answer that question." I replied, looking away from him.
By this time, I was already very embarrassed. And extremely tired. Actually, that would mean I was exhausted. I was beyond exhausted. My entire being was worn down to the fragility of a toothpick. I was amazed that I was still sane. Or maybe I had lost my sanity once I finally allowed myself to believe that I was in GW land.
Quatre and Duo came in then, ending mine and Heero's conversation, which wasn't a problem since we weren't talking anymore. The two of them looked at us attentively. Finally Duo asked, "So… is she a nut, or is she telling the truth?"
"Hello…" I waved my hands at him. "Right here! No need to refer to me in the third person, thank you very much…"
Heero sighed heavily and looked away. "Yeah. She's telling the truth."
"You're shitting me!" Duo announced.
I couldn't resist. I responded for Heero. "He shits you not." They all raised eyebrows at me, and I shrugged as I blushed a little. "Sorry."
"Seriously…?" Quatre whispered. Although I couldn't blame all of this skepticism, it really began to get on my nerves. I frowned and crossed my arms. Heero looked away from his blonde friend, confirming it. "That's impossible!" Quatre cried.
I put my head on the table, making a resounding 'thunk' noise. At least Heero believed me, although I felt guilty for having to tell him that which convinced him.
Then Duo decided to try and dash that. "Heero… whatever she told you… is it really so far off as to believe she's from another world? Think about this logically, man…"
"She told me two of my own memories." Heero replied. "One of which is way too old, even for her if she's really from here. She'd be our age. It's not possible."
"Someone else could have given her the information." Duo replied. "This is much more likely to be a conspiracy than what she claims it to be. Did she give you dialogue along with those memories?"
Finally, I intervened. "I could, but I didn't because I didn't want to make it any harder than it was."
Duo looked at me skeptically, and I didn't like him right then. I glared at him. Quatre sighed. "Duo, let it lie. If Heero believes her, then that definitely means something." A sigh of relief escaped my lips.
Still, the stress was there, weighing me down. I realized that Heero's words weren't enough to convince everyone else and eventually I'd have to convince them, partially for my own safety, which was a chance. Perhaps the others wouldn't be as willing to compromise as Heero was. I didn't know what to do anymore; I didn't know what to think.
The rush of thoughts that entered my head and the full reality of my predicament hit me like a ton of bricks. Here I was, and I was in danger. My sanity was at stake, first off because I was allowing myself to believe in this. I had to believe what my senses told me, though. If you can't believe your senses, then what the hell can you believe? And not only was I in danger for what I know, but I'm in danger of not getting home. Stuff like this never happens. Ever. The chances of getting back to where I belong were pretty much impossible. And what then? I couldn't find my place here… I have no history here; there is no way I could fit in. What will my family and friends do when they realize I've disappeared? They would be absolutely crushed. These gundam pilots couldn't help me get back home any more than I could. I didn't even seem to have an outcome. This was absolutely unbelievable and unbearable… it slammed against my mind like harsh waves upon a sand castle.
I swayed on my feet, and gripped the table for support. The room began to spin and blur before my eyes, and I tried not to faint. Fainting was the last thing I needed. I felt sick; like I was going to hurl the dinner I had, along with my insides. I didn't know what to do.
The three of them noticed, and Heero who was closest to me, caught me first. I couldn't even feel his arms around me, holding me up so I didn't hit the floor. I felt completely outside of myself. I think someone said 'oh no…' and I think it was me, I wasn't sure. Quatre had my right arm by this point, and Duo stood there not knowing what to do. Quatre was talking to me, but I couldn't hear him. I tried to focus on his words.
"Lynn! Lynn, what's wrong?" he was asking me.
The spinning of my surroundings became worse, and I closed my eyes and put my hand to my forehead. I groaned. It was all I could muster. I couldn't seem to get enough air. I tried to take even gasps of breath to keep myself from vomiting and to stop my world from twirling. I covered my face with both hands, and in my mind it felt like the world was crashing down on top of me, threatening to pin me under it.
"I think she might be going into shock." I heard Heero say, his voice distant to my ears. Shapes became shadows, and I finally gave in to the darkness.
