Intruder - Part Twenty-four
Freedom and reunion...
Duo realized what was going to happen next. Wufei, having listened to his story, was now going to let him do the same. He didn't want to push him into it. He wondered if he should to tell him to stop, but that wouldn't work anyway. Then he had a better idea.
"Hey Chang, what d' ya say we get outta here now, huh?"
No answer.
"I'm bored of sittin' in this rusty heap. I reckon we could prob'ly climb out now huh?"
Wufei gave him a funny look. As if he knew what Duo was trying to do.
~ Well, course he knows, he's good at that kinda thing. Guess we're stayin' then. ~
"Gundanium doesn't rust."
Duo had a blank look on his face, then laughed.
"Let's get out of here, I'm thirsty and I bet you're hungry."
Duo grinned. "You bet I am." His stomach growled in agreement.
He laughed, and Wufei had a smile on his face too. Cautiously they checked the metal's heat. It was still hot, but bearable as long as you didn't stay still for too long. The unlikely pair scrambled up the walls of their temporary prison, and then they were free.
"Well, that wasn't so bad. Maybe we should do it again some time, huh?"
"I don't think so. That explosion was a little too close for my comfort."
"Yeah, made my ears ring that's for sure. Wanna go get somethin' from the kitchen?"
He nodded.
"Alright! Look out fridge, here I come!"
Wufei shook his head, he didn't think he'd ever understand Duo, it hadn't been long ago that he'd been so serious, and quiet, but now he was practically bouncing off the walls again. He sighed and went after his rebellious friend.
Trowa and Charlie jumped to the side of the hallway as a very energetic braided pilot flew past them at high speed.
"Hi Trowa! Bye Trowa!" He disappeared round the corner. They both stepped back into the corridor as Wufei came strolling up the corridor.
"You came out then."
"Yes"
"I don't know how you stayed there as long as you did, I would have escaped as soon as possible." He said looking back up the passage. "How do you do it?"
"We talked."
"Oh"
"Excuse me, I need a drink."
"Oh, sorry." Trowa pulled Charlie across the hall, and he passed them both.
"I'll see you at dinner then?"
No answer.
'Well Charlie, I don't know about him standing Duo, maybe it was the other way around.'
Charlie rubbed his head against his jeans, and rumbled as if he understood.
Trowa smiled. "Come on then, we'll go back now."
Hilde was at the Mess Room door. She could smell cooking, and someone was in there. She hoped it was Quatre, Trowa worried her. There was something about those eyes, as if they could see right through you. But she had nothing of interest to hide from him, so there really was no reason for her apprehension when it came to Katherine's newfound brother. She took a deep breath and was about to step through the threshold when Quatre called out to her:
"You can come in if you want to, Hilde."
She sighed and walked in.
"How did you know it was me?"
"Process of e- " he paused. "Good guess."
He put the tray in the oven and turned around.
"What's cooking?"
"A big roast. Everyone's eating together tonight." He smiled.
"Nice idea, especially with the, um- recent occurrences."
"That's what I thought."
He looked as if he was going to say something else, but was cut off by the door banging back against the wall. They both flinched as they looked up. Duo cringed.
"Sorry, I gotta remember not to do that."
Hilde jumped up from her seat.
"DUO!!"
She ran across the small space between them and landed in his arms.
"Whoa! I think someone's happy to see me."
"Can't think why." She retorted
"Aw Hilde-"
"Shush. Man, am I glad to see you're ok. After that explosion earlier, I didn't know what had happened, I wanted to go look, but I couldn't get out, cause-"
"Trowa locked the door. I know, he told us when he came in to check. I think it was probably a good idea, as a precaution, but he's gotta learn not to mess with my 06."
"..." Hilde had opened her mouth to tell him off, but realized he wasn't actually cussing her. So she just wrapped her arms around his chest and hugged him tighter. His shirt smelled of smoke, and he was wet from the sprinklers, but she didn't care. He was safe, with her, and that was all that mattered.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
"Oh, hi Chang." Duo said, as he turned to move out of the way.
Hilde looked up to find Wufei standing in the doorway behind them. He wasn't scowling at her. She looked over Duo's shoulder at him. He stood in the arch of the door; his usually clean white shirt a darker shade of gray, with wet patches on his shoulders from the fire system. His hair was slightly out of place, and his ponytail dripped once in a while. There were dark marks on his face from the dusty smoke.
Noticing this, she looked up at Duo. His face was clean, wiped with his sleeve she thought. His hair was a mess, but then, that was usual. She toyed with his braid, damp and blackened with soot. It was amazing the two of them had survived. Escaping with their lives should have been a thin chance, but they were both standing there, with hardly a scratch between them.
They shouldn't still be breathing, but she wasn't going to complain.
"Come on babe, let him in then."
She smiled at the sound of his voice, then fell back into the moment.
"Oh, sorry." She quickly let him go and stepped away from the door.
As Wufei walked in past her, she was certain he smiled. Not a big grin, but sufficient to be noticed. He walked on, and Duo came over to her. Noticing the confusion in her eyes, he asked what she was thinking.
'He smiled at me.'
"That it? Why? What's wrong with that? Is it illegal?"
"No." She recovered her composure. "If it was, you'd be a serious outlaw."
Now Duo looked confused "Serious? Me? Course not."
"Hmm."
Trowa was walking back up the corridor towards the Pilot's wing. He'd decided that rather than keeping Charlie in Katherine's room, it would now be better to keep him in his room, well to sleep at least. The rest of the time he could have the run of the base, as long as he didn't make a mess. Fortunately he was well housetrained.
As he watched the lion curl up on the rug on the floor, Trowa wondered where Heero was. He left Charlie asleep on his mat, and went up the hall to Heero's room.
Heero had just finished reading the Sandrock file, as he heard someone at the door. He switched it to the hallway cam, and invited Trowa in.
"How did -" He stopped as he saw the monitor.
"What did you want?"
"Nothing much, I was just wondering where you were."
"Well, now you've found me."
"I think Quatre's planning a big dinner this evening. It should be ready soon-"
"I'll go now, coming?"
Trowa nodded.
"Ok."
The left the room, and headed back down the hall to the Mess hall.
Quatre was sitting at the table, listening intently to Duo's descriptive story of the events of the morning. His eyes fixed on the braided pilot in front of him. Hilde was sitting on the end of the table, opposite Wufei, as they all watched Maxwell's performance.
"-And then the intruder stood in front of us an' we had him at gun point,"
Duo stood facing them all pointing his fingers and holding his hand like it was his gun
"An' then Chang yelled something in Chinese or somethin' an rammed me into the Gundanium. Straight to the floor."
Duo dived to the side, as if Wufei had just hit into him, kicking a chair on his way past.
"OW!" 'I really didn't mean to do that'
The other three all jumped up, and then Wufei sat down again,
~ He's hit his shin on the chair. ~
Quatre and Hilde rushed around the table to see if he was all right.
"BOOM!" yelled Duo, trying to cover up his mistake, surprising his would be rescuers.
"An' then the whole place blew up, BANG! An' me an' Chang are sittin' under all this metal, which is kinda hot cause of all the fiery stuff, and we're sitting there with our hands over our ears like this-"
He curled himself up on the floor and shut his eyes with his hands on the sides of his head. The other two were now back in their seats, watching him rolling about on the mat.
Chang smiled to himself. ~ He knows how to keep a secret that's for sure. ~
Then Duo stood up, and quietly sat down on his chair, next to Hilde.
"What about the rest?" she asked
"Y' don't wanna know the rest, cause it was real borin'. We just sat there till it cooled down, so we could climb out, an' then we ended up back here about ten minutes ago."
"Oh." She wondered about asking further, but was interrupted.
*Beep-beep, beep-beep, *
"Dinner's almost ready."
Quatre stood up and turned off the timer.
"Can someone get Trowa and Heero down here for -"
"No need." Heero said, as he walked in the door.
Trowa came in behind him. Quatre was just getting the plates out when Hilde stood up and volunteered to help dish up their meal.
Heero sat between Duo and Wufei, and Trowa sat opposite him, next to Quatre's empty chair. Dinner was served.
About halfway through their meal, the inevitable occurred.
Heero brought up the subject of the Intruder.
"As we all know, the intruder returned this morning. What you may not have realized is that it appeared in the guise of my former training master, Odin Lowe."
"Odin Lowe? As in the Odin Lowe, who assassinated Heero Yuy?" Quatre asked
"Yes."
The others had sat with blank faces, till Quatre mentioned the assassination.
Trowa hardly moved, his feelings, as ever, were hidden.
Wufei frowned. This wasn't an honorable person.
Hilde was lost. She knew of Heero Yuy, the colony's previous pacifist leader, who'd been assassinated in the April of AC 175, but she'd never before heard of Odin Lowe.
Duo frowned. He didn't like where this conversation was going.
"Anyway, that is not important. The point is that this intruder now has the capability of becoming anyone, anyone at all."
There was no sound as Heero paused.
"This possibility leaves us with two choices. One, we could just leave it here, and next time someone other than us six are seen on board, we shoot them. However, I do not believe that is a relevant choice. So, the other is that-"
He was interrupted by Duo on his right.
"We have a real fun story telling session, so if he turns up again we'll at least know which one of us he's going for, as the characters in these stories must be ourselves, and those we used to know."
He finished and stared back at Heero, who was looking up at him, somewhat surprised by this disturbance.
"Whaat?"
Heero looked back at the others.
"I agree with Duo's proposition. It would give us some idea of its next target."
"But what if it comes back as Treize, or someone like that, that we all know?"
Wufei frowned at the mention of the former OZ Commander's name.
Trowa looked up. "If it returns as Treize, we can assume it is for Wufei."
The others looked at him, then Chang, who didn't seem to have heard this last comment. His eyes were shut and his expression a frown. He then realized the quiet and looked up. The others were all watching him.
"Treize Khushrenada is mine."
He sat back and closed his eyes again, seemingly ignoring them, but still listening.
"Ok then, no problem! Who's first?" Duo tried to break the silence.
"I will go first." Quatre said.
Until now he had been quiet. But now he was ready.
"I know I am the one who you probably know the most about anyway, but I feel an obligation to start the confessions."
Everyone sat back and waited to hear what he had to say.
From here the parts change a bit, because I'm going to split them into each different pilot's story. This means they can be short, but I'm posting them all at the same time, so that shouldn't matter too much. As far as I know, all five of these stories to come are completely correct, and follow the official story line of the series. I put them in because I know there's some of you out there who don't know the Gundam pilot's pasts, and perhaps would like to investigate further.
I know I have already written Duo's one once already, but in keeping with the story, he only told Wufei, therefore the other three pilots, (and Hilde of course) would need to know this information.
I know it's kinda long, but as I only send out bits at a time, it means it's like a magazine or whatever, so it really doesn't take as long as you might think. And anyway, I can't write short stories too well, but I promise I'll give it a go after I finish this one.
(Which I will. Honest. I do not intend to give up, as that would prove my weakness, and I would have no honor, and Wufei would come and tell me off, blah, blah, blah...)
Thank you for reading this note type thing, which I write here, occasionally it may contain some important information, but more often it contains traces of nuts. (But no chocolate cause I ate it all already.)
Freedom and reunion...
Duo realized what was going to happen next. Wufei, having listened to his story, was now going to let him do the same. He didn't want to push him into it. He wondered if he should to tell him to stop, but that wouldn't work anyway. Then he had a better idea.
"Hey Chang, what d' ya say we get outta here now, huh?"
No answer.
"I'm bored of sittin' in this rusty heap. I reckon we could prob'ly climb out now huh?"
Wufei gave him a funny look. As if he knew what Duo was trying to do.
~ Well, course he knows, he's good at that kinda thing. Guess we're stayin' then. ~
"Gundanium doesn't rust."
Duo had a blank look on his face, then laughed.
"Let's get out of here, I'm thirsty and I bet you're hungry."
Duo grinned. "You bet I am." His stomach growled in agreement.
He laughed, and Wufei had a smile on his face too. Cautiously they checked the metal's heat. It was still hot, but bearable as long as you didn't stay still for too long. The unlikely pair scrambled up the walls of their temporary prison, and then they were free.
"Well, that wasn't so bad. Maybe we should do it again some time, huh?"
"I don't think so. That explosion was a little too close for my comfort."
"Yeah, made my ears ring that's for sure. Wanna go get somethin' from the kitchen?"
He nodded.
"Alright! Look out fridge, here I come!"
Wufei shook his head, he didn't think he'd ever understand Duo, it hadn't been long ago that he'd been so serious, and quiet, but now he was practically bouncing off the walls again. He sighed and went after his rebellious friend.
Trowa and Charlie jumped to the side of the hallway as a very energetic braided pilot flew past them at high speed.
"Hi Trowa! Bye Trowa!" He disappeared round the corner. They both stepped back into the corridor as Wufei came strolling up the corridor.
"You came out then."
"Yes"
"I don't know how you stayed there as long as you did, I would have escaped as soon as possible." He said looking back up the passage. "How do you do it?"
"We talked."
"Oh"
"Excuse me, I need a drink."
"Oh, sorry." Trowa pulled Charlie across the hall, and he passed them both.
"I'll see you at dinner then?"
No answer.
'Well Charlie, I don't know about him standing Duo, maybe it was the other way around.'
Charlie rubbed his head against his jeans, and rumbled as if he understood.
Trowa smiled. "Come on then, we'll go back now."
Hilde was at the Mess Room door. She could smell cooking, and someone was in there. She hoped it was Quatre, Trowa worried her. There was something about those eyes, as if they could see right through you. But she had nothing of interest to hide from him, so there really was no reason for her apprehension when it came to Katherine's newfound brother. She took a deep breath and was about to step through the threshold when Quatre called out to her:
"You can come in if you want to, Hilde."
She sighed and walked in.
"How did you know it was me?"
"Process of e- " he paused. "Good guess."
He put the tray in the oven and turned around.
"What's cooking?"
"A big roast. Everyone's eating together tonight." He smiled.
"Nice idea, especially with the, um- recent occurrences."
"That's what I thought."
He looked as if he was going to say something else, but was cut off by the door banging back against the wall. They both flinched as they looked up. Duo cringed.
"Sorry, I gotta remember not to do that."
Hilde jumped up from her seat.
"DUO!!"
She ran across the small space between them and landed in his arms.
"Whoa! I think someone's happy to see me."
"Can't think why." She retorted
"Aw Hilde-"
"Shush. Man, am I glad to see you're ok. After that explosion earlier, I didn't know what had happened, I wanted to go look, but I couldn't get out, cause-"
"Trowa locked the door. I know, he told us when he came in to check. I think it was probably a good idea, as a precaution, but he's gotta learn not to mess with my 06."
"..." Hilde had opened her mouth to tell him off, but realized he wasn't actually cussing her. So she just wrapped her arms around his chest and hugged him tighter. His shirt smelled of smoke, and he was wet from the sprinklers, but she didn't care. He was safe, with her, and that was all that mattered.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
"Oh, hi Chang." Duo said, as he turned to move out of the way.
Hilde looked up to find Wufei standing in the doorway behind them. He wasn't scowling at her. She looked over Duo's shoulder at him. He stood in the arch of the door; his usually clean white shirt a darker shade of gray, with wet patches on his shoulders from the fire system. His hair was slightly out of place, and his ponytail dripped once in a while. There were dark marks on his face from the dusty smoke.
Noticing this, she looked up at Duo. His face was clean, wiped with his sleeve she thought. His hair was a mess, but then, that was usual. She toyed with his braid, damp and blackened with soot. It was amazing the two of them had survived. Escaping with their lives should have been a thin chance, but they were both standing there, with hardly a scratch between them.
They shouldn't still be breathing, but she wasn't going to complain.
"Come on babe, let him in then."
She smiled at the sound of his voice, then fell back into the moment.
"Oh, sorry." She quickly let him go and stepped away from the door.
As Wufei walked in past her, she was certain he smiled. Not a big grin, but sufficient to be noticed. He walked on, and Duo came over to her. Noticing the confusion in her eyes, he asked what she was thinking.
'He smiled at me.'
"That it? Why? What's wrong with that? Is it illegal?"
"No." She recovered her composure. "If it was, you'd be a serious outlaw."
Now Duo looked confused "Serious? Me? Course not."
"Hmm."
Trowa was walking back up the corridor towards the Pilot's wing. He'd decided that rather than keeping Charlie in Katherine's room, it would now be better to keep him in his room, well to sleep at least. The rest of the time he could have the run of the base, as long as he didn't make a mess. Fortunately he was well housetrained.
As he watched the lion curl up on the rug on the floor, Trowa wondered where Heero was. He left Charlie asleep on his mat, and went up the hall to Heero's room.
Heero had just finished reading the Sandrock file, as he heard someone at the door. He switched it to the hallway cam, and invited Trowa in.
"How did -" He stopped as he saw the monitor.
"What did you want?"
"Nothing much, I was just wondering where you were."
"Well, now you've found me."
"I think Quatre's planning a big dinner this evening. It should be ready soon-"
"I'll go now, coming?"
Trowa nodded.
"Ok."
The left the room, and headed back down the hall to the Mess hall.
Quatre was sitting at the table, listening intently to Duo's descriptive story of the events of the morning. His eyes fixed on the braided pilot in front of him. Hilde was sitting on the end of the table, opposite Wufei, as they all watched Maxwell's performance.
"-And then the intruder stood in front of us an' we had him at gun point,"
Duo stood facing them all pointing his fingers and holding his hand like it was his gun
"An' then Chang yelled something in Chinese or somethin' an rammed me into the Gundanium. Straight to the floor."
Duo dived to the side, as if Wufei had just hit into him, kicking a chair on his way past.
"OW!" 'I really didn't mean to do that'
The other three all jumped up, and then Wufei sat down again,
~ He's hit his shin on the chair. ~
Quatre and Hilde rushed around the table to see if he was all right.
"BOOM!" yelled Duo, trying to cover up his mistake, surprising his would be rescuers.
"An' then the whole place blew up, BANG! An' me an' Chang are sittin' under all this metal, which is kinda hot cause of all the fiery stuff, and we're sitting there with our hands over our ears like this-"
He curled himself up on the floor and shut his eyes with his hands on the sides of his head. The other two were now back in their seats, watching him rolling about on the mat.
Chang smiled to himself. ~ He knows how to keep a secret that's for sure. ~
Then Duo stood up, and quietly sat down on his chair, next to Hilde.
"What about the rest?" she asked
"Y' don't wanna know the rest, cause it was real borin'. We just sat there till it cooled down, so we could climb out, an' then we ended up back here about ten minutes ago."
"Oh." She wondered about asking further, but was interrupted.
*Beep-beep, beep-beep, *
"Dinner's almost ready."
Quatre stood up and turned off the timer.
"Can someone get Trowa and Heero down here for -"
"No need." Heero said, as he walked in the door.
Trowa came in behind him. Quatre was just getting the plates out when Hilde stood up and volunteered to help dish up their meal.
Heero sat between Duo and Wufei, and Trowa sat opposite him, next to Quatre's empty chair. Dinner was served.
About halfway through their meal, the inevitable occurred.
Heero brought up the subject of the Intruder.
"As we all know, the intruder returned this morning. What you may not have realized is that it appeared in the guise of my former training master, Odin Lowe."
"Odin Lowe? As in the Odin Lowe, who assassinated Heero Yuy?" Quatre asked
"Yes."
The others had sat with blank faces, till Quatre mentioned the assassination.
Trowa hardly moved, his feelings, as ever, were hidden.
Wufei frowned. This wasn't an honorable person.
Hilde was lost. She knew of Heero Yuy, the colony's previous pacifist leader, who'd been assassinated in the April of AC 175, but she'd never before heard of Odin Lowe.
Duo frowned. He didn't like where this conversation was going.
"Anyway, that is not important. The point is that this intruder now has the capability of becoming anyone, anyone at all."
There was no sound as Heero paused.
"This possibility leaves us with two choices. One, we could just leave it here, and next time someone other than us six are seen on board, we shoot them. However, I do not believe that is a relevant choice. So, the other is that-"
He was interrupted by Duo on his right.
"We have a real fun story telling session, so if he turns up again we'll at least know which one of us he's going for, as the characters in these stories must be ourselves, and those we used to know."
He finished and stared back at Heero, who was looking up at him, somewhat surprised by this disturbance.
"Whaat?"
Heero looked back at the others.
"I agree with Duo's proposition. It would give us some idea of its next target."
"But what if it comes back as Treize, or someone like that, that we all know?"
Wufei frowned at the mention of the former OZ Commander's name.
Trowa looked up. "If it returns as Treize, we can assume it is for Wufei."
The others looked at him, then Chang, who didn't seem to have heard this last comment. His eyes were shut and his expression a frown. He then realized the quiet and looked up. The others were all watching him.
"Treize Khushrenada is mine."
He sat back and closed his eyes again, seemingly ignoring them, but still listening.
"Ok then, no problem! Who's first?" Duo tried to break the silence.
"I will go first." Quatre said.
Until now he had been quiet. But now he was ready.
"I know I am the one who you probably know the most about anyway, but I feel an obligation to start the confessions."
Everyone sat back and waited to hear what he had to say.
From here the parts change a bit, because I'm going to split them into each different pilot's story. This means they can be short, but I'm posting them all at the same time, so that shouldn't matter too much. As far as I know, all five of these stories to come are completely correct, and follow the official story line of the series. I put them in because I know there's some of you out there who don't know the Gundam pilot's pasts, and perhaps would like to investigate further.
I know I have already written Duo's one once already, but in keeping with the story, he only told Wufei, therefore the other three pilots, (and Hilde of course) would need to know this information.
I know it's kinda long, but as I only send out bits at a time, it means it's like a magazine or whatever, so it really doesn't take as long as you might think. And anyway, I can't write short stories too well, but I promise I'll give it a go after I finish this one.
(Which I will. Honest. I do not intend to give up, as that would prove my weakness, and I would have no honor, and Wufei would come and tell me off, blah, blah, blah...)
Thank you for reading this note type thing, which I write here, occasionally it may contain some important information, but more often it contains traces of nuts. (But no chocolate cause I ate it all already.)