This is a very dramatic segment. It's very emotional (I had a hard time writing it) and deep. It's got a few jokes in it for equalizing purposes and some swearing and "talk." Basically, The boys have a rough time at the colonies, then Duo has a fit at a refueling station and Heero has to go hunt him down. I won't say too much, so just read & enjoy.
AC 206: The Change Time Brings (Part XII)
Reflections
The next morning, the boys flew their carrier halfway across the world just to drop off their wives. Wufei and Phailin took a long time to say goodbye, good fortune for Duo, who was hurriedly trying to reconstruct Deathscythe-RB's leg.
"I believe in what you're doing, Wufei," Phailin told him, in case he was having doubts. "I know you don't like being away from me, but you're helping so many people . . ."
Wufei held her tight. "I get worried something will happen to you."
"I can take care of myself, Chang."
"I can't help it."
The three married pilots held a conference aboard the space carrier, once they had set off. They seated themselves around the table. Heero played Wufei at chess during Duo's babble-moments. "Hey," he observed, "where did Trowa and Quatre go?"
"Last I saw, Quatre was flirting with him. Either Trowa's telling Quatre that he's the only homosexual around here or they're having a heavy make-out session," said Heero, moving his knight. "Personally, I don't care to think about it."
Duo shuddered. "Thanks for the imagery."
"No problem."
Wufei moved a pawn. "I did call you two in here for a reason, you know."
"Look, Woof, I know how you feel, okay? Sophie's gonna have a baby any week now and I want to be there. You know what I'd give not to miss that? But I can see the tensions colony-wide, and if we're not careful there's going to be a war. I don't want my son to grow up the way we did."
Wufei cursed silently, at Duo because Wufei wouldn't be the first to have a son, and at Heero because he noticed Wufei's trap and ignored the pawn.
Heero continued, "Part of marriage is accepting the fact that you don't get to be together all the time. You know how long I go without seeing Relena sometimes? Weeks!"
"Why are people so insensitive?" Wufei asked, as if someone knew the answer.
"Because people are greedy," Heero answered. "They want what they can get, no matter whose lives it steals. That's pretty much the entirety of war. Checkmate."
With a growl, Wufei swept the pieces off the board. "This sucks."
"We know, man. Trust me."
~~@[~*~]@~~
"No-o-o-o-o-o . . ." Quatre said quietly. "They actually heard me say that?"
"And liked the idea," Trowa added.
"Baseball?" Wufei said incredulously. "I can't believe this. This is injustice!"
Duo did a little dance move. "Yes!! I love baseball!"
"It's you American nuts that got my people into it, and then we got into space." sighed Heero. "Oh, man, what will the universe stoop to next?"
The spokesman for colony X-298670 cleared his throat. "You are to report to the stadium now for a practice session."
"Shoot me," said Quatre, after the screen went black
"Question," said Trowa, "how are we supposed to play baseball with five players?"
"While inside gundams?" Wufei added. "Not likely."
"I wonder if Zechs Merquise is in on this?" Duo said. "Rumor is, he still has Tallgeese III."
"Doubt it," said Heero. "Relena would have heard if he was in on this. She would have been excited, too. She hasn't seen him in almost twelve years."
"Scratch that one."
Heero started the cargo plane's engine. "We'd better get going."
The stadium had not been modified to fit the gundams to scale. It was about ten times as large as a normal field. In fact, it wasn't a stadium, just a large expanse of grass. There were so many people there. It was quite impressive if it wasn't so depressing. Quatre sighed. The practice had not gone well, to say the least. It wasn't baseball, per se, but the one part he was really bad at was the one part that was exactly the same: the batting. Needless to say, he struck out.
See, it worked like this: A ball of energy, which was generated by a small and by all means indestructible device was "pitched" by a former shell-launcher to the gundam, who then attempted to hit it with what was nothing more than a hollow tube shaped like a baseball bat. If the ball was hit, the device stopped emitting energy and flew into the outfield, which was manned by several thousand lucky citizens. The person who caught it got to keep it.
"Man, this isn't baseball, said Duo, disappointed, as he hit a "home run." "This is a home run derby! Damn, I wanted to play baseball."
"I don't want to play at all, so just shut up," Quatre told him.
"Calm down, Quatre," Trowa said. "We've all got to be bad at something."
"You, too."
"Fine, I'll find something else to do tonight."
"Ugh," Wufei said. "Do we have to hear this?"
"Fuck you, Chang."
"No thanks, Winner, I've got a wife for that!"
"ALL OF YOU STOP IT RIGHT NOW!!" Heero yelled, making their comms rattle. "Stop fighting! We've got work to do after this is over so just relax and STOP IT! How're people gonna see this if we take it off the field, huh? So much for anti-hostility!"
Trowa looked at his screen, where Heero's face had appeared. He hadn't noticed the lines on the young man's face until now. "He's right, you know," he told the others. "We're all tense, and it's showing. Just try and wind down and have some fun. I'm serious, Quatre. I can't deal with angry people. Ask my niece."
"Sorry, Trowa."
"That's better."
"Get a room you guys," Wufei said.
"Yeah, it's the same one that your cot's in, as I recall," Trowa said. "Are you homophobic or something?"
"Damn right."
"I said DROP IT." Said Heero. "Chang, I swear if you don't stop I'm going to bash your head in."
"Go ahead and try."
"I'm not going to let you goad me into it. You're up."
Duo grimaced and clenched his armrests. Nothing seemed right. This is bad, he thought.
~~@[~*~]@~~
Duo could hear the screams through his armor. Innocent people were dying out there. Deathscythe could only go so fast. The gundam was trying, it really was, but size hinders movement. With a violent swing, Duo rammed his fist into the side of the building from where the gunmen were shooting. He ripped the roof off and before he knew what he was doing he was in the building. The five boys, none of whom were older than seventeen, turned their guns on him.
Duo raised his hands. He didn't have his pistol with him. "Shoot me and you'll have several tons of trouble on your asses," he said, motioning out the window with his head. Wufei's gundam stood just outside. "Now stop being foolish and drop the weapons. I'm not going to hurt you. Come on, put them in the corner."
Looking at each other, they did as he asked. Duo cuffed them and led them outside, to the waiting police. "Only out of respect for you, Mr. Maxwell," said the ringleader.
"What do you boys think will be gained by independence? Duo asked him.
"Freedom from a tyrannical government," he said. "It's time for change."
All that will be gained from that will be more bloodshed. Your political leaders want independence so they can declare war on Earth. It's not like I haven't seen this before. Duo thought, watching the colony fade into the distance aboard the space carrier. Off they were to go police another colony and expose another terrorist faction. It's all so depressing. Don't people realize that the games we're playing are only meant to distract the violent members of society so we can dispose of them? Those boys were so young . . . too much like we were. I can't take all this much longer.
~~@[~*~]@~~
Quatre hugged Trowa tightly. "This is so frightening," he whispered. "I've never seen so much anger before. Those politicians are downright insane."
"I know. We aren't helping any, either. The sooner the gundams are forgotten about, the better. The problem is, no one's going to let anyone forget. The gundams are impressive, and people are always attracted to their kind of power. The instant it's gone, they try to compensate."
"Sandrock sacrificed himself once for me," Quatre said. "He'd do it again if it meant peace, I'm sure. What about Heavyarms?"
"I'm not sure it really matters to him," Trowa said, staring at the ceiling. "Live, die, kill, sacrifice, fight or flee. He'd do whatever he felt was right."
"But would what he felt was right really be right?"
"Isn't right and wrong all in perspective anyway? You never went through the extensive training I had. One of the things they teach you is to not to let your feelings interfere with your orders. Heero always told me to do the opposite, although I know he had the same training as me. In a lot of ways, he knows so much more than all of us."
"I appreciate it, really, Trowa, but I'm trying to get some sleep," Heero said, sounding irritated in the dark room. "You two have been talking for hours. Could you just save some for later or something? Yeesh." There was a rustling sound as Heero pulled a pillow over his head.
Quatre nuzzled Trowa's chest and fell silent. Trowa stared at the ceiling until he himself felt sleepy. There was no hurry to find sleep. It was two days to reach the next scheduled colony. Quatre's warm breath across his neck, he slept.
~~@[~*~]@~~
"You five are going to be patrolling now. I'm afraid we can't let you in the colony any other way. There's a lot of violence through here right now."
"Understood," Heero said, cutting the connection. "Get to your gundams, guys. I don't think we're going to have a warm welcome."
No sooner had Heero landed than his words proved to be true. He hurried to Zero, securing the ship on his way. The police were issuing requests for assistance, yet the streets were eerily silent. "I've got a bad feeling about this," Heero told himself.
"I hear ya, buddy," Duo said. "Where is everybody? I kind of find that weird. . ."
"There!" The police shouted, and Duo heard gunfire. He turned towards the sound and saw someone carrying a wounded woman. They shot him.
"What the Hell are they DOING??" He cried. "That's police brutality! Heero, something's wrong here!"
"Hey, Yuy, tell your guys to help us out here! There's twenty or thirty of those terrorists in that blue building. They're all in the basement. Rip the building up!"
Heero positioned himself and the others around the building and they brought the walls down. A crowd of several hundred women and children huddled amidst the rubble. "WHAT THE HELL—" Heero protested, but it was too late. The armed police surrounded them and shot each systematically through the head.
Quatre screamed in pain, his voice the only one that was able to make a sound.
Wufei lunged forward and smacked a line of the officers, all grinning in a sick sadistic way, sending them flying. A tank down the street began firing at the gundams, killing only the innocents surrounding them.
"You're not following orders, gundams!" The Commander shouted at them. "We are promoting peace!"
"Goddammit!" Heero realized. "This is a trap! Everybody back to the ship, NOW!!"
"Oh, God, those kids . . ." Duo moaned, thinking of his unborn son
"These people are beyond our help . . ." Trowa felt himself start to cry.
"I can't believe this . . ." Quatre felt stifled. He couldn't breathe.
There was silence. "Wufei? Wufei, can you hear me?"
The cargo plane roared over their heads. Wufei had sensed the rottenness and had gone back to the ship. "Heero, can you catch me? We've got to get out of here. They're closing the perimeter."
"We can try. Duo?"
"How fast are you going, Woof?"
Wufei told him.
"Hell, we could catch you goin' twice that. Let's rock, guys!"
"Guys, hurry! They're shooting at me!"
They roared off into the sky, pursued by several ships, but their carrier's engines had been modified and even with the heavy load they were able to outrun their pursuers.
"That's it," Heero raged later, too angry to fly. "I am not going to put up with this! We never agreed to put our lives on the line here, and we definitely didn't agree to endanger civilian lives. We're going home, and I'm going to have some serious talks with the Senate."
"This is so incredibly stupid. If they're going to declare war, why don't they just do it?" asked Quatre.
"They want prisoners," Trowa said. "They want something to negotiate with."
"Should've known," Duo growled. "Why the hell didn't we figure that out sooner?"
A light blinked on the control panel. "We're low on fuel. We're going to have to stop at an inner colony," Wufei said, checking the display. "Let's see . . . X-957's close. That's about it in this vicinity."
"Let's go, they're friendly nowadays," Heero said.
Duo pounded the panel with his fist and walked out, head in his hands.
"What was that?" Trowa asked.
Heero shook his head. "I think we should all go cool off for a while. I'll be in the rec room."
Wufei stood up. "You two can take the controls for a while. I need to meditate."
~~@[~*~]@~~
"Bacca! What have they been trying to pull?" He slammed his fist into the wall and it echoed through the ship. "Let's get out there. Now!!"
"Calm down. I've already set a course. What's up with this temper?"
He looked at her. His eyes . . . they no longer seemed like his. They were afraid. "We've failed," he said, voice cracking. "Perhaps things were just meant to be this way, but I still think we could have done something."
"We're out here. We're doing everything we have the power to do. That's what counts."
The ship rocked suddenly, as if from an impact, and everything went dark.
~~@[~*~]@~~
Duo had disappeared. Everything was a fueled up and ready to leave, but he was nowhere to be found. He wanted to stay at the colony, at least until he had things sorted out. He knew the others would be frantic, but there was a peace he needed to make.
Why do people always look to fighting to solve their problems? It can't just be the instinctual feeling of might makes right. There has to be something else. Someone once said after being asked why we were exploring space, "Because it's there." Do we make war just because we can?
So many people die so pointlessly. Those women and children were innocent. I've never seen such fear on such a young face. I saw a man in uniform shoot in cold blood a civilian who was trying to save someone else's life. He died trying to protect her. He died trying to give her life. Was he in love with her? Was he her husband, her lover? A few months ago Wufei almost pulled the same move. Why am I always the one that can't save those I love most deeply? Fate plays such cruel tricks.
Hilde, you died right on this corner. You died in my arms. You died at the hands of men that are still unknown to me. They might still be here, waiting to take a shot and finish the job, but I can't let them take me now. I have a wife, Hilde, like you said you wanted for me. I'll have a son soon, like we'd always dreamed. Are you happy or sad that I'm not with you? I can still see something dark in the pavement cracks. Is it your blood, still staining these streets? I can see the memorial from here.
Now I'm close. There's the pond we spent our last peaceful day together by. The water's so still. I can see my reflection. I wonder, would you even recognize me today? I can read your name, Hilde, among the hundreds that died. It feels like I'm standing by your grave, but I know you're buried on Earth. My bitterness, my sadness made me come here for you. Are you happy to be remembered this way?
The hill is so green. The memorial is beautiful. I see an old man and a young woman farther down the wall. The woman is crying. Did she lose someone she loved that day, too? The stone is so cold. My hand won't stop touching your name. I haven't seen it written down for years.
"This is a memorial?" Duo looked up and saw Heero standing a meter or so away. "Where are the people bleeding and crying in pain? Why don't they just recast the faces written here so people can see what's happened? Names don't mean a thing."
"They mean a lot," Duo croaked, not bothering to hide the tears already rolling down his face.
"Not to someone who doesn't know anyone here," Heero said, peering at a name he recognized. "I know this name, Breya Yuy; she's my second-cousin, the granddaughter of Heero Yuy the colony leader. We'd never met. All I see up here is dead people. No one can tell how much they suffered, or why they believed they needed to. It's better to forget the names and know the deaths than see something beautiful erected for a memory that should be forgotten, save to be used to pacify.
"Doesn't it make you angry, Duo, to know she's gone forever? Don't you feel hatred for the man who fired that fatal bullet? Don't you want to kill him? Don't you?"
"What do you want me to say? I want to, but I won't."
"Ah, but others who have never witnessed death will not sacrifice their feeling of revenge for their memories of gore. If Joel Vendata's grandson felt his grandfather's death was unjustified, would he not seek revenge, unhindered as we were by the blood we have under our fingernails? How will he see this memorial, having to look at his grandfather's death every day? You called yourself the God of Death once. We were all ruthless until we looked down at the mess we'd made."
Duo touched his forehead to the wall. All he felt from it was coldness, unforgiving and eternal. The wall felt nothing. It was just black stone. He's right, he thought, being here accomplishes nothing. Hilde, I've got to stop grieving for you.
Heero held out his hand. "You need to go home. We all do. We can't abandon all we have today to go chasing the Ghost of Christmas Past."
Duo clasped it, wiping away the cold tears. "You're right. I'm going home to see wife— and my son."
Behind them, the reflecting pool rippled suddenly, washing away the image of two young lovers. Carved in the concrete where they had sat that fateful day, a message dedicated to the memorial proclaimed: Even the greatest of all pain fades. Only the wisest of us come to realize it.
~~@[~*~]@~~
"Tro-san?" Quatre poked his head into the cockpit. "Duo's back. We should get going."
"Right. Why don't you take the copilot seat?" Trowa reached for the ignition.
Quatre sat down. "I get the feeling you want to talk."
"How's Duo?"
"He seems eager to go home. Why?"
"I just remembered that this is the colony where Hilde died. I would've found a different place to refuel if he'd just said something."
"No, Trowa, you had a gut feeling and you went for it." Heero was standing just outside the door. "He found some peace out there."
Quatre turned around, a little shocked. "Well, that's pilot's intuition for you," he managed weakly.
"I'll leave you two alone." Heero shut the cockpit door.
"Trowa . . ."
Trowa held up his hand. The control tower gave him runway clearance. He hung up the line and gunned the engines. "Before you say anything, Quatre, I want you to know that it's not going to last forever, okay? Our relationship right now is fine, but someday I want to have kids of my own. I'm not seeing anyone right now, but I don't want you to be disappointed when I call and tell you I've got a girlfriend, okay?"
"Fair enough." Quatre felt a little bashed. Trowa wasn't totally . . . on one side? "How long do you think—?"
"I don't know. As long as we both want to. But let's stop talking about that. I wanted to know how you felt about all this."
"About us?"
"About the tension in the colonies. Can't you get your mind back on the important things here?"
"Uh, I can try." Quatre put his chin in his hand, leaning on the panel in front of him.
"That's not funny."
"Sorry. Okay, I'll stop. It's getting terrible out there. Like I said earlier, I'm surprised they haven't declared war yet."
"You're not partial to fighting again?"
"What do I have to lose? My sisters, I suppose, but they're not in danger. I don't have a serious relationship with anyone. I don't have kids, I don't have any power but that of fame. I don't want war, but if the colonies say they want war I'll probably just end back out on the battlefield."
"You sound like you're confident you won't be killed." Trowa cleared the atmosphere and set a course for Earth.
"Considering what happened ten years ago, I don't think we would need to worry nearly so much as other people."
Trowa shook his head. "You can be so naïve." He reached over and tapped Quatre on the head, plucking at a couple of yellow-white hairs.
"I don't like blonde jokes, you know."
"Doesn't mean they're not true."
Quatre glared bullets. "Shut up."
"Make me."
"I will!"
"Go ahead and try!"
Quatre growled. "You can be so annoying."
"Damn straight."
The comm buzzed. Trowa, perplexed, blocked Quatre's intended slap and hit the answer button. "Yes?"
***********************************
*Sob* See, I told you I'd killed off Hilde for a reason, and not only because I hated her guts. This segment is a little darker than originally intended, but I think I did a good job with it.
Next time: Relena receives urgent news from Lady Une. Two of her top Preventers have been kidnapped, and our ever-diligent gundam pilots may be the only ones that can save their lives . . . The next chapter of AC 206: The Change Time Brings: "Rescue Mission".