Warnings: This is yaoi, i.e. boy/boy. Do not read if that kind of thing bothers you.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, or any of its characters.
Notes: 2+5, of course.
Counting Stars
Part 4: The Field, The Well, and the Castle.
Duo stood in a barren field; the grass beneath him was as black as the empty sky above. He spotted a red light blinking slowly in the distance, and followed it.
The shadows in front of him, far in the distance, shifted into a dark gray, and he realized that he was walking towards a wall. He couldn't see where either end of the wall stopped; both sides just faded into nothing.
Duo walked closer to the light and he saw that it lead to a giant gate. He hurried towards it.
There was a young woman standing guard. She wore no armor and her sword was absent from its sheath. The woman spotted Duo, but she continued leaning casually against the gate until he was close enough to speak with her. Then, she straightened slightly and smiled cheerfully at him.
"Duo Maxwell! I never expected to se you face-to-face," she greeted him, nodding politely.
"Where am I?" Duo asked, "And who are you?"
She stopped smiling, and answered, "I am Meiran. Well . . . kind of. His interpretation of her has been warped by time."
Duo was even more confused by this, and the fog that had been clouding his mind suddenly cleared, "What? Who is this he? What are you talking about?"
Meiran's fingers gently brushed her empty sheath while she answered, "This is Wufei. This place," she waved her left hand towards the wall, "is his fortress. You are the first visitor we've had in a long time," she looked at him, calculating.
"Wufei's fortress? This is a dream, right? Brought on by all the drinking?"
She laughed, "Sort of."
He smiled back, "This is one of the stranger dreams I've had. Can I go inside the fortress?"
Her hand reached back towards the empty sheath, then relaxed, "You know, I kind of like you. Maybe I will let you in. Though, I'm not supposed to let anyone in without a password," she shrugged, "Oh, well, go on in. Just don't spread the word that I let you by so easily, okay?"
"Sure," he agreed, eager. It was either go in, or sit outside and wait until he woke up.
Meiran gestured, and the giant door disappeared. Beyond the now gaping hole, Duo could see the inside of the fortress. Meiran pushed him inside, lightly, and whispered, "Don't bother trying to get inside the castle itself. That guard takes his job much more seriously than I do," she finished. The gate slammed shut behind him.
The first person Duo saw was a little boy lying on the grass a few feet in front of him. He realized that the little boy was actually Wufei.
Wufei spotted Duo, and sat up.
"What are you doing?" Duo asked, softly. Wufei looked about eight, and he was very small for his age.
"Star-gazing," Wufei said, "Want to join me?"
Duo sat down on the cold grass and looked up at the sky. The walls surrounding them folded downward, revealing the brightly lit sky. Outside the fortress the sky had been blank, but in here there were thousands of stars, millions. And they weren't stable, either. They raced across the sky, crossing each other's path, but never touching.
"Those are all the little people," Wufei explained, his voice calm, "I have to count them all."
Duo turned to Wufei, and saw that he wasn't even looking up.
"One, two, three . . . you made me lose count by coming here. Meiran shouldn't have let you in," Wufei looked at Duo, "Four, five, six, seven . . ."
Duo smiled at the boy, "How can you count them if you aren't even looking at them?"
"I know this sky by heart, after so much time."
"But the stars keep moving, how can you know?"
Wufei pulled up some grass, "I can't, but does it matter? I'll never count high enough. There just isn't a large enough number to dissolve the truth. Sometimes I can't even look at them anymore, they're so far away."
"What's so far away?" Duo watched the child rip out a small circle of grass from the ground. He looked back up at the sky for a moment, and when he looked back, the grass had returned.
Wufei noticed Duo's surprise, "This is a single night preserved, Duo. Nothing can change a memory," he looked sad about this, "Anyway, it's the little stars that are too far away for me to see," he took a deep breath, and continued, "When I was young I sat outside on a night exactly like this one and counted the stars as they appeared in the sky. I sat in the same spot all night long, just counting, until I realized something."
"What?"
"I realized that I could never reach them. Even if I flew all the way to a single one of them, when I got there, I'd be just as far away from them as I was before. Do you notice how they never touch?" Wufei was still staring at the ground, "Reaching one only gets me back where I started."
Duo considered this for a while, staring at the points of light above him, "But if you believe this so deeply, why do you even bother counting them anymore?"
"I don't know. I guess . . . I guess that I hope that when I reach a higher number than the one I reached that night, I will discover a different truth. One that won't leave me so alone," the child suddenly turned his face up to the sky, "One hundred!" he sighed and turned back to Duo, "You can go now, if you want. I can't tell you anymore until I find my new truth."
Duo stood up, "Can't I help you?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
"No. I'm only a memory."
Duo kept walking towards the castle in the center of the fortress. The walls rose up again, and the sky darkened.
He saw another Wufei in the distance, standing by a well. This one looked about the age Wufei was now, but his eyes were oddly blank. He spotted Duo, and waved.
"I'm surprised Meiran let you in," Wufei said, turning back to the well once Duo had reached him.
"What are you doing?" Duo asked, curious. There was a steady stream of . . . something entering the well. It looked like a river of shadow.
"I'm the well-keeper. I watch to make sure none of the shadow-water escapes once it goes down the well."
"What is it?" The constant movements of the shadow made Duo feel vaguely seasick.
"These are feelings connected to memories," the well keeper explained, "The shells of these are the memories themselves. They make up the walls that surround this place."
Duo came closer and looked down the well. It faded into blackness, "Is there a bottom?" he asked.
"There isn't supposed to be. I don't really know. That is the business of the Wufei who lives inside the castle."
Duo glanced again inside the well, and then waved good-bye to the well keeper. He had to reach the castle before he woke up.
Wufei was standing guard at the door to the castle.
"Hey, Wufei," Duo greeted him.
"I see Meiran let you in, Maxwell," the guard growled, "Even though you didn't know the password."
"Can I help it if I'm just so damn charming?" Duo questioned.
The guard glared, "There is no justice in her actions. She will be punished."
"Punished? Why?" Duo stepped up to the figure, and glared back. This was much more like the Wufei he knew. But he knew, instinctively, that this was not the real Wufei. The real one was hidden behind that door.
"She is a fool. If I had a choice, I wouldn't have married her."
Duo choked, "You were married, Wu-man? What?"
"Never mind. You need to give me the password, or fight me, if you wish to pass."
Married? He would have to ask the real Wufei about that once he reached him, "I don't know the password, so I'll fight you."
The guard laughed, "Really? I've never been beaten."
Duo smiled, "I actually doubt anyone's ever even tried to defeat you before. Let me pass."
The guard took a sword out of his sheath, and then took out another. He handed one to Duo, "I'll start when you're ready."
Duo didn't wait, and slammed the sword down- into nothing. The guard was gone, the fortress was gone, even the castle was gone. All that was left was the door into the castle, sans guard. He opened the door and stepped inside.
Wufei was sitting at a desk, reading a book. He looked up when Duo entered, and smiled, "Hello, Duo," he absently pushed a thin pair of glasses to a more comfortable position.
"Hello, Wufei. I finally found you."
Duo woke up then, the image of Wufei's smiling face still reflected behind his eyes.