After Colony: Revelation
Verse X
The group that went to space as six, returned to Earth as nine, plus the Maganac, of course. It was a long, tedious trip trying to get to Quatre's home. After all, they had to do it without CSO catching onto their return. However, after two weeks from their initial departure home, they were all sitting on Quatre's back porch, near the pool, having a group dinner.
Trowa was grilling hamburgers at Isabella and Duo's request, with Noin's help in setting a large table. Wufei and Quatre were sitting, playing an intense game of chess on a class chessboard, while the two pranksters ran around the marble edge of the water, trying to push each other into it.
Heero, Zechs, and Edan played cards (Isabella and Duo had been playing, until Duo took all of Isabella's chips, causing Edan to subsequently take all of his newly gained pot to avenge her friend; once he was out, Isabella started her attempt to shove him into the pool). Edan was currently in the lead of the Texas Hold 'Em game in play.
"Someone is going to slip and break their neck," Zechs muttered as the running pair passed him, Isabella shrieking and almost getting caught.
The brunette girl sighed, went all in, forcing the other two do to so as well, and then stood.
"You're done?" Heero asked, flipping over the remaining two cards.
She did not respond, but threw down her cards anyhow, face up. She went over towards the pool, waiting for Isabella to run by again, which she did. Edan caught her arm, causing her to stop and whine about her fun being ruined.
The two seemed to have a full discussion, made up entirely of Isabella's complaining and Edan's expressions. In the end, the blonde gave a 'fine!' and stomped over to the table being set by Noin. She sat down with crossed arms, pouting.
The rest of the pilots looked at Edan with a raised brow. For months, they could barely keep the blonde woman under control, and the other woman was able to do it without a single word uttered. Amazing.
At least they could now hope for a much more relaxing environment now.
"Food's done," Trowa called out, immediately bringing Duo to the table. He tried to sit down next to Isabella, but Chang quickly stood up.
"Not a chance, Duo," he growled, leaving behind the chess game, "you sit away from her and on the other side." As if to emphasize his point, Heero sat on one side of Isabella, and Edan on the other. Zechs and Quatre sat at the heads of the table (Noin at Zech's right, Heero at his left, Trowa on Quatre's left, and Wufei at his right, who was next to Edan) with Duo between Noin and Trowa.
Thankfully, it was a large table.
Their dinner was enjoyable. They laughed and talked and it seemed like they had all been good friends for years—or possibly family that actually liked each other.
However, their amusement was put to a screeching halt as dinner came to an end. It was a quick reminder as to what they were fighting for and what they needed to stop.
As they were cleaning up, Isabella and Duo returned to their antics until Heero forced them to take the dishes into the house. When they returned, the two decided to calm down in order to avoid being put to work. Isabella sat on the edge of the water, her pants rolled up and pale legs kicking absent mindedly. The braided pilot stood next to her, teasing her about how her legs could barely be seen against the white washed pool wall.
"I at least have—" he started to say, but was unable to finish. The young woman turned, just to see Duo's eyes become heavy lidded and then fell, face first, into the pool. She didn't waste a moment, jumping in after him.
Where they had been was in the five foot area, so Isabella was just barely able to keep her head out of the water. "I need help!" She struggled to bring his head above water so that he didn't drown. There was more splashing and Heero was in the water as well. Still, even with the two (Heero wasn't much taller than Isabella), it was extremely difficult to lift the dead weight, sinking body of Duo. They only made progress when Trowa dived in and swam over, since he was easily one of the strongest and tallest. He stood, helping to flip Duo over, then hooked his arms beneath Duo's and started to pull him backwards.
When they reached the four foot level, Isabella and Heero were able to help, since Duo was becoming heavier as more of his body was pulled from the water.
As attention was on the pool, there was another crash, but not in the water.
Quatre, Wufei, Zechs, and Noin turned to see what had caused the incredible loud, violent crashing sound.
The large, glass table that they had eaten at was no more. Edan was on the ground, bleeding, and shaking. The tabletop had slid off its mount and hit the ground. Her eyes were also heavy, like Duo's. The group of four started to turn to help the young woman, who had apparently collapsed while she was setting the dirty dishes down to help, right into the glass table. However, they had to stop and turn back.
"Zechs, we need another set of hands," Yuy called out. Isabella's grip had loosened up on Duo, and then she glided into the water herself, unconscious. Zechs went in as directed and grabbed hold of the blond woman, pulling her to the steps that led out of the water.
"What's happening?" Quatre asked, waiting at the edge to carry the unconscious bodies to the lounge chairs to keep from moving them too much. It was hard to evaluate the situation, since it was simply so bizarre.
Noin and Wufei were wary about moving Edan—she had numerous bits of glass in, on, and around her. After a few moments of starting to try to move her, only to stop after, Noin stood up. "I'll get a wet towel and we'll wipe her down to get rid of the glass shards, and then move her." So she ran off as Duo was pulled from the pool and towards the chairs.
When Noin returned, she took the wet towel and did her best to remove as much glass as she could, trying to keep the shards from getting any shards from slicing her skin anymore. However, when Wufei went to brush glass from her hair and face, even he was unnerved by the complacent expression she had. For the second time, she looked like she was dead—but she clearly wasn't, since her entire body was lightly shaking. "Let's move her," he said, and Noin returned to Edan's side, this time with Zechs who had already moved Isabella.
Together, they carried the quivering body to a third lawn chair.
"I'll get blankets so Isabella and Duo stay warm until they've dried." Quatre ran off, back into the house.
"Something must be wrong with their neurochips," Heero decided, stepping back to look at the trio that had made up War, Plague, and Famine in CSO's Horsemen projects.
"Well, then what are we supposed to do about this?" Noin asked, her hands on her head, "Isabella's the only one who can do anything if it involves those damned chips. We can't very well try to get into their minds." She paced around a bit, disliking the helplessness she felt in the situation.
"We'll have to wait it out and hope one, or all, of them wake up," replied Trowa. He pulled up another lawn chair and sat, ready for an all-nighter. It was ridiculous, how calm he was, when Quatre was wide eyed and antsy, and Noin was pacing about like crazy. Zech's brows were furrowed, and Wufei just looked angry. Yes, only Trowa and Heero were indifferent.
"We'll keep them here. They should be fine as long as they are warm," stated Heero. "We'll keep watch and see if Isabella comes around. Her unconsciousness did not come on so suddenly, maybe she isn't as badly affected." He also grabbed a chair, slid it up next to Trowa, and sat with crossed arms.
"I will go get more blankets. It gets chilly out here," muttered the blonde pilot. He did not want to be around the two wet pilots, nor the bleeding pilot.
000
It was Zech's shift, but Noin sat with him, the couple keeping careful watch over the unconscious group. It was nearly six a.m.
"Zechs," the woman muttered, but there was no response, "Zechs!" Her voice became louder, stirring him from the slight dozing state he was in.
"What," he barked, "what is it?"
"I think Isabella is moving, but maybe I'm seeing things."
As they watched carefully, they did, in fact, see her start to wake up. She shifted at first, as if just waking from a normal sleep. Then there was a groan and her arm went to her head. "This chair is ridiculously uncomfortable," she said, rubbing her eyes.
The former OZ colonel jumped up and went to her side. "Good. You're up. You need to help Maxwell."
"My God, give me time to wake up. And a cup of coffee. Yeah, that would help." Isabella swung her legs over and made a look of pure disgust. "I'm going to shower, change, and then work on Duo. Don't worry, another half hour won't make a difference." Standing, she awkwardly hobbled over to the patio door. Her clothes were still damp and uncomfortable.
"If you'll stay, I'll go wake Heero and make some coffee for her, okay?" Noin did not wait for her somewhat fiancé to respond. Instead, she went right in, after Isabella.
And just as Isabella had promised, she was back out, bundled up in a pair of sweatpants with a blanket around her, and hooked up Duo and her computer. Heero and Wufei watched her carefully as she typed away, her headpiece in and her computer making strange sounds as it worked. It was just like her first night at the estate, but this time, he did not wake to try to attack her.
"There," she sighed and disconnected after almost two hours, "he should wake on his own now." The blonde picked up her large travel mug and started to drink from it.
"What about Edan?" Wufei asked after, earning him a look from Heero, but he ignored it. "Well?"
"Eh, I'll get her later," replied Isabella, sitting back in her chair and curling her legs beneath her.
"…what?"
"I'm tired. I need a break," she said coolly with a shrug, "I'll help her later. I think I need to eat, I'm starting to get light headed…" As if to make a point, she yawned loudly and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.
"So you're going to let your friend, who you insisted we 'rescue' and 'save' because you cared about her so much, lie there, shaking and unconscious, because you're too tired." More than anything, Wufei was just aggravated with Isabella. In his mind, she was supposed to protect and help those who could not help themselves, and she was not doing that.
Her casual disregard for another person seemed to be rarely questioned by anyone else. In fact, to Wufei, it seemed that she was only acting when it came to compassion for anyone other than herself.
"First of all," Isabella said, her voice becoming icy, "I'm rather surprised that you're so eager to get Edan back up and running. Second, you have no idea how time consuming, energy draining, and pain staking this process is. It is much better for you to allow me to assess the situation and make the best decision."
Wufei looked at her through dark, narrowed eyes before crossing his arms and turning his back to her. He chose to leave the patio area before their argument expanded into something more.
He had more control than that.
Another hour passed, and Duo was awake. He had a headache and a sore throat from the chlorine he swallowed, but besides that, he was fine.
"What happened to me?" He asked, chugging yet another bottle of water after he spoke. "It just went black, and next thing you know, I'm waking up with a headache and feeling like I went swimming with all my clothes on."
"CSO was trying to access us," replied Isabella from her spot on the kitchen island, rubbing her temples, "more specifically, Death was trying to put in a control code. We fail-safed."
"What are you talking about?" Noin took Duo's water bottle and filled it back up for him.
"Project Green Horse—Death," Isabella replied with an annoyed sharpness. "He's designed to be able to tap into the rest of us. Duo's incomplete, so he just shut down as soon as Vince tried. I don't have nearly as many control chips as either him or Edan. I deliberately designed mine to put me to sleep if I do not slip into the control state, so I passed out. Edan has much more to fight against, and I've already disabled as much as I can, so, she… short circuited… and her muscles are just spasming from the desire to follow through with the orders. She's fine, just in between her own consciousness and control. Don't worry about her."
Everyone turned in relatively early that night since no one slept for any more than a few hours, if all, the night before. Well, mostly everyone.
Isabella stayed up, working her magic on Edan. After an hour and a half, she ended up putting her head down on the table she was using, and falling asleep (she often fell asleep in awkward positions, so the table wasn't the worst).
The boys had moved Edan after she was deemed safe to be moved. For almost half the day, the silent woman had lain in the parlor of the house, on a comfortable couch. Around five in the morning, Wufei left his room to go do his morning meditation. He planned to head through the back door, causing him to briefly pass by the open double doors of the parlor room. He had to back track and look in, when he noticed that something was off.
Edan was not on the couch where he and Trowa had left her.
Wufei paused for a moment, looking to see if anyone else was moving about. He turned back around and walked up the front stairs, making a left at the top, and going for the room that was Edan's. He thought about knocking, but he saw that the door was slightly open. Pushing it open, he quietly stepped in.
Honestly, he wasn't sure why he was creeping about. He didn't hear anything, so he half doubted that she was even there. He still should have announced himself though, before entering a lady's room. However, his legs were already moving of their own accord.
The reason he did not hear anything in the room was because she was not in it. She was in the large bathroom that connected her room to Isabella's. Her door was open, and she was leaning forward, towel drying her hair. Luckily, she already had a pair of jeans on, but that was all.
Wufei tried to quickly turn around and leave, but it was too late. She had already seen him in the mirror. She stood, putting the towel to her chest and looking back at his reflection.
He swirled around and marched himself right out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Back he went, down the stairs, passing Heero (who always awoke at odd hours) and making his way to the back door. Wufei threw it open.
While staying at Quatre's home, he would do his meditation in a small gazebo meant for small parties, which were never held. Wufei sat down with a loaded sigh, putting his hands to his head and shaking it. He was incredibly angry with himself. Finally, he settled down and started to breathe deeply, clearing his mind.
But he could not concentrate. All he could picture was his late Nataku, shouting angrily at him for being too much like Duo. Obviously, that situation had never happened, it was just his conscious manifesting itself into an image.
Well, if she were around, Meiran would surely be extremely angry at him for his inappropriateness.
Wufei sat back, putting his arms behind him, and groaned as he tilted his head back to stare upwards. After gazing at the wooden ceiling with gloss coating chipping away from the desert sandstorms, something new entered his sightline. Edan leaned over him, causing him to jerk forward. "What are you doing here, woman?"
She sat down next to him with a shrug.
They sat in an awkward silence, the Wufei stealing uneasy glances at the female, who simply gazed off into the nothingness of the desert in front of them. When he couldn't take it anymore, he turned to face his body to her side, shifting up to sit on his legs.
"Edan," he started formally, "it was inappropriate for me to enter your room unannounced. Though I sometimes ignore it, the fact is that you are still a woman and I had no right to invade. Please accept my apology, and know that it will not happen again." Wufei waited for a response, as he should have, with a completely serious expression.
The silent woman stared at him and blinked. And then her lips twitched upwards into a slight smile. And then she did something that no one, no one, had seen in years.
She covered her smiling mouth, eyes shut, and her shoulders shaking. She—was—laughing.
"Fine!" Wufei shouted and jumped up, "this is exactly why I don't like you people! I was just trying to correct the situation—" when he tried to turn away, her hand shot out to grab him.
Reflexively, he twisted away and guarded himself.
Edan stood up and opened her little notebook. She scribbled something down, and then ripped off the page to give to Wufei.
Apologies. Thank you. But I am a soldier. I do not know privacy.
"Still—" he started to say until she tore off another sheet.
You don't scare me.
He read the note then, fuming, ripped the note up into little pieces and tossed it into the wind. He wasn't sure if he should be offended. "Unbelievable…"
000
Author's Notes: I want to send a thank you to the anonymous reviewer Pat who always sends me great reviews and helps motivate me. And on that note, I also want to thank ShineyWurmple who is totally wonderful and helps me feel like I'm on the right track! You are both so great! Thank you!
This is a shorter chapter, but the next chapter is on the longer end and action packed. I am super eager to get to that one. It is the chapter that initially sparked the idea for this story. It came from this deep question: "Who would win during a potential zombie apocalypse? Zombie horde or the Gundams/gundam pilots?" So, prepare for zombies (sort of.)
Ever your servant,
A.F