Disclaimer: Mobile Suit
Gundam Wing belongs to its respectful owners, Sunrise, Bandai, and the other
companies whose names have never truly surfaced in my mind, but do own Gundam
Wing regardless of whether I remember them or not. I do not own the rights to Gundam Wing, and this fic is written
for entertainment purposes only, and not for profit.
Warnings: 4x?, probably some shounen ai/ yaoi in there
somewhere. Future appearances of insert
character. Angst. And some bastardization of computer junkie
terms. Be forewarned.
Rating: PG, so far. I'm trying to be safe here, but I may up it if I decide to be more
cautious.
Setting: Alternate Universe (AU)
~~~
Lost: 2
I love him. Plain and simple. The realization had even come as a shock to me; less than a year
ago I would never have dreamed of loving anyone, yet now I can't think of living
without him.
I walked behind him,
watching him poke fun at Wufei for cutting his hair. Quatre was, and always will be, a kind-hearted man; after ten
months with us, he never faltered in his belief that any conflict can be solved
with understanding and kindness, and that was what made him so likeable among
even the sourest of the techs. Yet,
while he valued peace, he still chose to fight with us, and is one of the best
pilots I've ever seen.
I could remember being
surprised at his joining the resistance - he was part of a highly pacifistic
family, and, while he may have been able to navigate the space, was not
expected to show up practically at our doorstep to request placement. But he was stubborn, and insisted on being
assigned to some operation - I don't remember anymore which, ten months seems
like ten years now - because he "wanted to help."
We all had our reasons for
joining the resistance, but his reason -
Maybe that's why I love
him. Because he has an incredible
respect for life. Because the world
needed more people like him - people who wanted to help. Maybe that's why -
Actually, I can't really
remember why I love him. Memory loss -
that's what comes with working with an assist for too long. Or when your system crashes on you - that
was what happened to me several days ago, on some routine mission I remember
sometimes, but at the moment I don't know where it was, or what it was
for. But the assist's system crashed in
the middle of the mission, and I had to get dragged back on another assist's
tail.
And - maybe this was why I
love him - I remember waking up, and seeing Quatre hovering above me, shaking
me, saying something -
"So," Wufei was talking to
me. He had stopped in front of the
makeshift diner in our station and was motioning everyone else in. "She said - hey, com'on, there's a lunch
discount, and we're about to miss it! - where was I? Yeah, and she said... " He nodded a little as he held the door open for me, a slight smile on
his lips as he continued his story.
I had to hold back a smirk
at Wufei's chivalry. The people you run
into while you're in the resistance - thinking about it, one had to wonder how
people survived under OZ's rule - there was nothing hidden about OZ's methods,
yet, even as they suffered at the hands of the company's soldiers, the people
still believed that there was no other life way to live. Wufei's sense of honor and justice was not
tolerated in most areas. Not even
Quatre's family could understand what was so important about freedom; he'd
tried explaining to them before he left, but only one sister, Iria, came with
him when he joined us. He left
twenty-eight sisters and his father, and all for peace...
Quatre...
"Are you alright?" Quatre looked at me, eyes wide in
concern. Beside him, Terrace, one of
the communications officers, blinked, and turned her attention to me. I nodded slowly at Quatre, suddenly aware
that her arm was slung around his shoulder, and that she was still holding the
fork she had used to feed him part of her food.
"I'm fine." Really, I was. There was no problem...
He repeated my gesture,
head moving up and down slowly as if he didn't believe me - Maybe he didn't
- But Terrace nodded quickly and tugged on his arm.
"So, how was it? You never answered me." The blond-haired woman tugged again until
Quatre looked back at her. "What do you
think of the food here?"
He grinned and waved his
own fork. "It's just as bad as at the
L4 base. "Duo, I don't know how you
grew up on this stuff."
Duo smirked from across the
table, tapping lightly on the table with his left hand. "Simple. No taste buds." He indicated his
tongue and laughed.
"So," Wufei began, leaning
over to look at the others at the table, "How well do you think that girl's
going to work with the assists?"
There was a collective
groan, then Quatre spoke up.
"You've brought this up on
breaks every time, ever since she came here. It's not because she's a girl, is it?"
The dark-haired man
frowned. "No, it's - " Caught, he took another gulp of his glass of
water. "Well, I mean, she was an OZ
pilot. I know she's been through the
tests, so she's as clean as the rest of us, but their systems are still
drastically different. They didn't have
assists, more like... lines. And, well,
if she's just tagging along, then - then she might - take a line instead of
keeping with Wing." He finished with a
defeated air, and took a long drink from his other glass.
"She could get lost." Terrace suddenly said, and she gripped
Quatre's arm tighter, her dark eyes watering a little. "I would never want the one I love to be
lost like that." For a moment, she
seemed lost in her own thoughts, but then she straightened and looked back up
at Quatre. "I'm sorry, I got carried
away."
The man grinned a
little. "That's okay. Everyone feels that way some time or
another."
Wufei harrumphed and sighed
heavily. "So, if I didn't bring up a
good topic, does anyone else?"
"Heh, what about those L4
girls, Quatre?" a voice piped up from behind Wufei. "You never told us if they were any good." There was a burst of laughter, and the
conversation shifted towards another corner of the room.
I watched as Terrace
lowered her eyes again, mouthing something to herself in the dim diner
light.
"think about it."
And what she said suddenly
hit me in full force. I would never
want the one I love to be lost like that.
Neither would I. If I could, I'd be there on every mission he
takes. If something were ever to happen
to him -
I could hear tapping from
beside me. Who was tapping? Damn my degraded memory -
Just to keep him from
living - or would it be dying? - in the space, with no other chance of return -
I would do anything -
- even if he's happier with her -
Duo's hand continued to tap
on the table, and Quatre suddenly looked over, concerned.
"Duo?"
Terrace blinked as Quatre
removed himself from her grip, then she turned her head to look at Duo. "Duo, what's wrong?"
"Huh?"
Wufei now noticed the
continuous tapping, and he winced. "Hey, what's - "
Violet eyes suddenly
dilated, and Duo choked, the fork falling from his fingers as he stiffened and
paled, jerking his head back.
"DUO!"
And I watched as the
occupants of the entire table rushed forward to catch a falling mess of black
and chestnut.
