The smell of the flowers outside her house made his nose
cringe. He ran his hand over it, thinking about the many times he's been
to this house. The familiar scent of its modesty and its aged beauty. He
stares up at the hanging green vines. A beauty marred by the oppression
of the ones that in a past had been their safety.
A lot had changed since the Federation had become what
they are today. Obasan seemed to remember a time before this oppression
that he would never understand.
He frowned, removing his pilot goggles. She would never
know about his actions. He would choose when to tell her.
The house was quiet, the old woman's small rooms adorned
with her natural flowers silent. He stood in the living room, listening
to the chimes in the windows, looking at the paper lanterns in the back
porch. Swinging back and forth in the breeze. Wu Fei bowed reverently at
the small shrine that the old lady kept by the door. he walked softly,
his bare feet treading quietly on the wooden floor. He could not hear Obasan.
He held his breath wondering if she was all right. He heard that many people
had been hurt in the last Federation patrolling. He bit his lip. Those
people should have never gone against them. They were weak compared to
the soldiers. He bit his lips harder, hoping that Obasan had been wiser
and had stayed in her house.
He frowned as he entered the old woman's room. It was
dark, the long curtains flowing in the wind over her bed. Wu Fei gasped,
his voice echoing in the room.
"Shao erzi,"
The old woman was in the small garden that lead outside
her room. The young boy walked outside, joining her. Obasan smiled at the
child, running her hand on his cheek. She smiled as he bowed respectfully.
"Goodness child," she said. "Times are rough and you come
to visit me?" Wu Fei smiled at her. He bowed again, his pony tail bouncing.
"Anything to see you, Obasan." The old woman held him
close to her breasts affectionally, stroking his pony tail. He smiled,
feeling her warmth, smelling her maternal scent. It was worth going all
the troubles a child faces trying to get through the city of the colony
these days. He had wanted to see her.
She had cared for him since he was a baby. He had hated
to have been separated from her when his family moved from the Ling Chen
district to the west side of the colony.
"I hope that you have been a good boy, shao," she said.
He nodded. "How about you help me water these golden Verdolaga flowers
and then we can have tea and some fresh baked cookies?" She picked the
bucket of soil by her side.
Wu Fei laughed. he loved her cookies. He frowned, letting
her walk before him. He pulled his long shirt over his waist. he bit his
lip, hoping Obasan wouldn't notice what he carried there. He cursed for
bringing them with him, but there had been no time for returning them back
home and run all the way to her house. The lab was so far away from both
houses. He ran his palms on his face. He hoped his grandmother wouldn't
notice the strange reddish colour around his cheeks and eyes, nor the small
marks on his wrists. He shook his head softly. Obasan wasn't looking for
those things. She was just happy that her grandson had come visit her.
Wu Fei sent those guilty thoughts to the back of his mind.
He followed her closely, smiling at her as she watered the plants kindly.
Each bud bending under the water. He stared up at her face. Her arms were
as strong as they had always been. Like when she had cared for him when
he was a baby. Her white hair hung down her back in a long braid. Her long
red Chinese dress moved softly as she walked slowly across the garden.
She was just as he remembered her to be.
She seemed fine in her easy manner, watering the plants.
He felt his cheeks colour in shame. He had ran all the way to her home's
door steps believing that she was sick or hurt. He startled. She was talking
to him.
She was telling him about the small seedlings she was
growing. He smiled, watching her take the small seeds tenderly. The smell
of greenery soft in the air. Driving away the sickening smell of metallic
chrome from the lab that he could still smell.
Wu Fei went to her side, wanting to help her. The Old
Woman let him have the a small shovel so that he could help her bury some
new seedlings. Obasan removed the soil carefully, placing it over the plants.
Wu Fei imitated her, his child's face brightening as she told him how to
do it right. He tried not to dig too much soil, covering the seeds kindly,
like his Obasan.
His grandmother stood back, laughing as he bit his lip,
trying desperately not to mess up. She smiled wide as the boy got on his
heels, reaching up to the plants. She lowered her eyes sadly.
She had noticed the strange smell in the boy, the marks
on his white skin, the way his eyes moved, the way he was breathing. She
frowned sadly. She didn't have to see the things he carried on his waist.
She knew. Wu Fei didn't notice how she was looking at them as if they hurt
her eyes.
"Wu Fei san," she said. the boy turned to her, noticing
the sad tone in her voice. He dropped the shovel, gasping silently. Obasan
had seen them. She turned from him, going back inside her house, her shoulders
hunched. The small boy closed his eyes, willing the look she gave him to
leave.
He walked inside his head bowed. She was walking hurriedly,
like when she is disappointed, to her small living room. She stood before
the huge statues she kept before the windows, looking at them, her eyes
glazed. Wu Fei felt his head hurt. She sighed heavily, turning to him.
"Shao, times are dangerous," she said. "There is so much
grief in the colonies, and you have turned foolish."
Wu Fei wanted to speak, but a child only listens as his
elders speak. He felt Shuan Ho's defeat again, hard in his chest. He wanted
to rip the goggles apart. Obasan was talking again, her voice passionate.
"I thought you had become a man."
The boy bit his lip, his eyesight clouding. He raised
his eyes, hoping Obasan would see how he felt in them." You came here to
see that I was safe? Well, shao, I am safer than you. I can take care of
myself unlike what the others in the family say. I am strong woman."
Wu Fei bowed his head again, his eyes hurting. His heart
racing madly. He had thought she was hurt, lowered her to the state of
a weakling. Her, who was older and wiser than him. He was a fool. He dropped
to the wooden floor, kneeling before her, ashamed to be such a grandson
not to trust his elders. Obasan closed his eyes as he kneeled. She stopped
talking, her eyes sad. The boy bowed his head low over the floor. She walked
closer to him, her slow pace soft on the wood, her bare feet wrinkled.
He closed his eyes tight. She reached down to touch his shoulders. He startled.
He raised his head. Her eyes searched his soul, her eyebrows
lifted alarmingly. "Who is making you do this, shao?"
He gasped looking at her eyes, seeking to drive away the
fear she was giving him. He drew back from her touch, his eyes wide. She
gasped. She felt her heart rip to pieces as she saw a strange new madness
in his eyes. A feverish look in them. He frowned at her, his eyes wild.
"I want to do this, Obasan!"
She cried out to him, as he got up with an agility she
had never seen his master. He didn't listen, turning away from her. She
reached for him, her old wrinkled hands groping after his fast movements.
The house felt hot now. He closed his eyes, and ran outside the room. Down
the wooden steps. Away from her. Away from her pitiful eyes, his bare feet
burning in the hot sand. She lowered her hands, a small tear trailing down
her cheek.
"Wu Fei..."
*****
The child screamed his fingers clawing at the arms of
the metal chair as the electrical shocks burnt him. He snarled, his hand
brushing his black hair out from his eyes, concentrating on doing better.
The incredible speed that the machine was reaching made it impossible for
his arms to control the rotating seat. He cursed, tasting blood as his
teeth broke his tongue.
He screamed again as his back slammed into the metal seat.
He lay limp, letting the spinning machine move freely,
his arms and mind tried to concentrate. His eyes lost their focus. He closed
them, his brows knitting together in anger.
He gasped, releasing a small scream as the machine stopped,
the impact smashing him him forwards into the steering mechanism. He yelled
as the bar that held him in place gave way and he dropped to the ground.
Hard, solid in his face. He lay there strangely numb and shaken.
"The rotating motion of the machine sickens you child?"
The old man came closer to him. His shoe heels clanking loudly in the floor.
He reached down to help the young boy to his feet, steadying him.
The boy leaned into him grasping the professor's white
lab coat. He felt nausea coming on strong.
"You have to master it completely or I wont be able to
put you in the cockpit model. You have become weak after all the way you
had come, child." The old man brushed the boy's messy hair back from his
face. He pulled the boy's hair out of the messed up pony tail and combed
it with his fingers. He re did the ponytail.
Wu Fei wanted to speak, to tell the professor that the
machine was fine, that he could master it soon enough, that it didn't matter
how much his bones threatened to brake, how much his insides hurt. He'd
master it. The old man helped him to a seat next to the simulator. The
old man stood before him looking at the boy's shaking body, noting scientifically
all the changes he was going through. He was disappointed in Wu Fei's performance.
"The Mobile Suit is going to be a lot more than that spinning
machine. It's going to be harder, nerve jutting."
Wu Fei raised his head in defiance. He was fully aware
of what the Suit would be. He gritted his teeth, his eyes angered. His
body refused to become hard. He frowned. The professor would have to apply
stronger chemicals on him, make him harder. He pulled at the skin in his
arm feeling it like rubber. The surface cells peeled off in layers. The
professor put his hand on his shoulders.
"Something in your head is blocking your abilities, "
he said. "Whatever it is, take it out. In this you have to be strong, forget
the things you know-"
Wu Fei gasped. He frowned. "I am strong professor! Trust
me!"
The old man's eyes glowed with a strange light. He smiled,
a bit wickedly, his lip twitching. "Wakateru yo" The old man crossed his
arms over his chest. Wu fei clenched his fists, getting up from the seat.
"Put me on the machine again," he said.
The old man turned around and lead the boy back to the
simulator. He looked back at the boy. Wu fei reached a hand up to steady
himself with the machine's body. He felt his head spinning, the floor dancing
beneath his feet, the walls twisting. The air smelled putrid, his bones
felt weak, his belly hurt. He gripped the machine's harness, ready to get
on it again. He doubled over in pain.
The professor smiled to himself as the boy's body twisted
over convulsing as he wretched on the floor his arms wrapped over his belly.
He bent down and pulled the boy straight, pulling him
closer to his body. He reached down and cleaned the boy's mouth with his
lab coat. The boy's body danced dizzily on his arms. Wu Fei looked up at
his face, his eyes sunk in dark pits.
"Go home, Wu Fei-"
*****
It must have been something that Ching's mifan had caused
him. Or maybe it was that he had eaten too many dangao. He held on to the
small bathroom sink as his body shook with convulsions. He threw up again.
His head hurt so much and every time he bent over, the room shifted.
"Wu Fei, are you ok in there?"
He startled. His aunt knocked on the door again. The knocks
seemed to loud, to shrill, like glass shattering. The boy covered his ears.
He his senses have become too keen. The woman knocked again. He closed
his eyes willing the pain to go away. He opened the door.
"You don't look too good, Wu Fei san," she said. She ran
a hand over his brow. "At least you don't have a fever. Did you eat too
much?" He lowered his eyes, slightly irritated. Ching was talking too loud.
Her perfume was too penetrating.
"Onegai, Ching sama," he said in a low voice. her shook
his head. He walked back to the living room where the rest of the family
was assembled. Ching shook her head smiling. She never understood the boy.
Some of his cousins were playing a small ball game by
the garden door. He sat with them, trying to forget. Ling, the eldest greeted
him and welcomed him into the game. Yi Yi, smiled at him, glad to see his
cousin after so long.
Ching frowned. Her father called her attention to the
table. Ojisan was congratulating her fine cooking. She smiled, barely listening
to the old man. She was looking at her nephew. She noticed the boy was
acting a bit strange. She frowned. He seemed a lot keener to each little
noise. His eyes narrowed as if in pain at the minimal sounds, the other
kids talking. She served her guests some more baicai filling her plates
like a robot.
Wu Fei, she noticed, acted faster, more alert, than any
of the two boys. He didn't miss any of the times his turn came. He was
quicker, almost feral, and ten times more astute, it seemed to her. When
his turn was over, though, he'd close his eyes as if he were extremely
tired. His lips parted slightly. She shook her head. she must be seeing
things because she was worried over him. She turned her attention back
to Ojisan.
She stopped pouring the food, her gaze falling on Obasan.
The old lady, still and silent, was looking at Wu Fei intently just like
she had been doing a few moments ago. The old woman's face had an expression
of pain.
Ching gasped silently, her attention grabbed by the kid's
again. Ling was shaking Wu Fei's shoulders intently, trying to make the
boy snap up. Wu Fei raised his hands quickly pushing the small boy away.
He snarled. Yi Yi frowned drawing away from him slightly worried. Wu Fei
lowered his eyes, his face blushing, his eyes refocusing on his cousins.
Ling crossed his arms, angry at him, but Wu Fei didn't seem to be aware
of the boy's anger, or what he had done.
Ching was about to leave her place by the table and walk
over and stop her children from quarrelling with the boy when she heard
Obasan's voice. The young woman turned to look at the old lady.
"Leave them be, Ching san," The young lady nodded, accepting
the older woman's wise advise.
Ling talked loudly, his eyes angry, asking Wu Fei what
was wrong with him. Wu Fei wasn't paying attention to the boy, his face
twisting as if something was hurting him. Ling's voice hurt his ears. The
boy brought his hands to his ears. Yi Yi whimpered, scared by Wu Fei's
actions. He looked like a mad man. Ling drew back from him.
"Ting!" Wu Fei screamed his voice harsh. "Your screams
are hurting me, Ling!" He tried to get away from the two boys, drawing
backwards. Both boys gasped letting him get away.
Ching gasped, her heart hurting. The boy's yelling had
caught the adult's attention. Wu Fei lowered his head, realizing that he
had screamed, feeling his family looking at him. He felt his cheeks colour.
Their soft gasps were like sharp scratches on a board to him. He gritted
his teeth and ran from the living room. His cousins looked at him worried.
Ching was about to cry out when Ojisan got up from his
chair, pushing the table forward slightly, his face worried.
"Wu Fei shao...?"
The young woman brought her hand to her mouth, her brows
knitted. She turned to see what Obasan would say, but as she turned to
look at the old lady, she gasped.
The old woman was not in her seat.
*****
He slammed his head into the mattress, the hard surface
driving the noise in his head away. He felt hot tears slide down his cheeks.
He brushed them away, ashamed that he'd managed to cry. He got down and
reached under his bed bringing out a small metal box.
He opened it carefully and sat down on the floor next
to it. He took out the long needle inside and a small silver bottle. He
bit his lip, working with agility, filling the needle with the reddish
liquid inside the bottle. Careful not to spill it, his hands worked with
dexterity. He frowned.
The professor had warned him that the effect of the drug
would wear off leaving behind terrible pain. He had warned him to keep
injecting himself often or the chemical wouldn't work. His head was spinning
just like when he had gotten on the Mobile Suit's cockpit. He gritted his
teeth. He needed to become stronger or else he'd never be able to drive
Nactac. his colony, the professor, none of them needed a weak man. his
mind, his body, his whole self must become stronger- even if it hurts.
He moaned softly as the hot fluid broke into his veins. His senses quieted
down, the noise residing.
The small boy relaxed letting his body fall back on the
paper wall next to his bed.
He gasped.
She gave a horrendous cry, ripping the needle from his
arm. She tossed it to the corner, her eyes wide with anguish. Wu Fei had
no time to cry out as his grandmother's hand slapped his face. He stood
still, his eyes wide, her form over him. Her was face full of grief as
she stared at the place where the needle had been. It was now bleeding.
"How could you do this, shao?" She grabbed him by his
shoulders, dragging him up from the floor. "You have betrayed your father's
memory and your grandfather's trust. Do you realize what you have done,
Wu shao? What is this venom that you are putting into your veins? This
evil that they have caused you?"
Wu Fei whimpered, his thin arms limp by his side, his
eyes in pain. "Ting xialai!" he begged. "Please, Obasan, let me go!" She
released him.
A soft whimper escaped his mouth. He lowered his eyes,
his face blushing horribly. His arm hurt. She stood before him quietly.
Wu Fei rubbed his arm. She stepped towards him, her white braid bouncing
as she moved. "Who is doing this evil to you, Wu shao?"
His eyes grew wide, scared. She pressed on, her wrinkled
face angry. He lowered his eyes.
"It's... a secret project.. Obasan..."
"Secretly killing yourself? Is that it?"
"Obasan," he said. The child looked up at her. "I am fighting
to free the colonies." He raised his hands holding towards her. She drew
back, bringing her hands to her mouth, her face becoming pale. "I am working
with scientists in a secret operation that will get the Federation to leave
the colonies alone. I am training so that I can pilot my very own Mob-"
Her hand slap sent him crashing into his night table.
The things on top of it fell as he hit it, scattering about the floor.
The old woman stood before him, her hands clenched, her body shaking with
grief. Wu Fei touched his cheek, his eyes filling with tears that he swallowed.
He looked up at her. She shook her head, her eyes burning hideously at
his, her voice like a cruel knife.
"Urusanai!" she yelled, her voice ragged. "If one
knows that he is going to loose, there is no point in fighting!"
*****
The cold, unfeeling eyes of the huge machine looked down
at him. Looming majestically above him with its huge frame and impressively
built arms, it stood against the darkened metal walls of the empty hangar.
It was quiet, like all the other machines in there.
The young boy leaned his head forwards, resting it on
his arms folded over his up-brought legs. He closed his eyes tight, willing
his mind to stop thinking. It wouldn't stop, punishing him. He heard heavy
boot steps in the quiet halls outside the hangar doors. Every now and then,
one of the rebels would open his or her door and exit his room. Wu Fei
would raise his head, his now sharp hearing making out who he or she was.
He'd wonder about what they were doing in their rooms. Probably working
on the project, like they all were, sweating over his computer in his hot
room. Sweating, his eyes full of vigour and anger as he plotted, created,
dreamt about each perfectly planned point in the operation.
Wu Fei let his head fall again over his hands, closing
his eyes.
If only Obasan would see the reason, Nactac," he said
talking to the huge machine behind him.
The boy ran a hand on the leg of the machine, his dark
eyes gleaming. the sound of another rebel walking down the hall came to
his ears. He looked at the hangar doors. That reason moved all of this
people that he's gotten used to being with towards taking this risk. It
makes them go against sanity, against civility, to accomplish what they
need. Freedom. He opened his mouth as he felt the word fall of his tongue.
The price to get it would be great, but he was not a coward.
The hangar doors opened, one of the doors sliding apart.
A thin man popped his head in through the opening. He smiled at the boy,
whom he knew would be sitting in the dark room.
"Oi, Wu san," he yelled. The boy got up, brushing his
thoughts aside. "Come on boy, the professor wants to see you. It's time."
Wu Fei ran to his side, his eyes exited. The man ran a
hand over his head, drawing him near affectionately. They walked up the
hall headed fro the professor's office silently.
It was time.
*****
"Nactac Shenlong!"
The old man grabbed the young boy by the shoulders, gripping
hard onto his small body. He yanked the boy, one swift brutal pull, free
from the cockpit. The boy clawed at the man, swinging his arms back towards
the driver's seat. The man snarled, taking him out of the cockpit forcefully.
The child held on to the Gundam's door, crying to be put
back inside. Another man, taller than the professor, came up to help the
old man. He took the boy's arms, holding them tightly. The boy jerked his
head backwards.
"Please, let me go! I want to drive him again!"
The professor jumped down from the huge machine, taking
the boy with him. The other man closed the driver's door, locking it. The
lights of the huge Gundam's eyes went off.
Wu Fei lowered his eyes sadly, calming down slowly. The
professor still held him, but he wasn't paying attention to him. The old
man was rutinarily checking his vital signs, his heart rate and blood pressure.
Wu Fei bowed his head, disappointed that each time he got on the huge machine
he always had to be taken out. It was a strange fascination what he felt
behind the control mechanisms in the driver's seat.
He gritted his teeth as the professor injected some strange
cold liquid into his arm. His dark eyes stared up at Nactac a small smile
in his lips. The time would soon come when he would get to drive the huge
machine all he wanted. He wanted that time to get here even if it meant
going to earth, a new strange land to him. He wasn't afraid. He wouldn't
be alone.
He needed to be strong for the sake of all of those that
were looking at him from their places behind their machines and monitors.
Looking at him from up stairs. All of the engineers and scientists, the
people that have grown to be his family for the past few months. He smiled,
his mind easing into a bliss as the fluid ran though his veins.
The professor held him close to his chest. The old man
laughed. The boy looked up to his face quietly. The old man's reddened
face burst with joy, smiling down at him.
"I'd say we're ready, Wu Fei," he said. The man standing
next to him nodded, returning the needle they had used into its box. "I'd
say we are more than ready to lounge Operation Meteor. What do you say,
boy? Are you ready to go to Earth?"
The boy nodded, his pony tail bouncing. The men and women
that had been looking at him from upstairs came down from their places.
They now stood close, all of them gathered near the Gundam's leg. Close.
The boy looked at each one of their faces, theirs looking at him, searching
their souls. Their strong faces. All of them looked at each other, knowing
that they were each other's hope. Maybe, each other's last hope.
Wu Fei jerked his head up in alarm. He gasped silently.
Something was wrong.
"I think not, gentlemen," The voice in the shadows materialized
in the form of a man, a heavy gun in his rams. Several more men stood behind
him, their uniforms grey and green, their eyes dark with malice. The old
scientist clenched his fists sensing the alarmed looks on his fellow scientists.
One of the women snarled. Wu Fei gasped, gritting his teeth.
The man by the door cocked his gun once and smiled wickedly.
behind him, his men smiled as well.
"Your petty attempts end here."
The fired shot broke the silence. Wu Fei watched as the
men around him broke into action. The professor fired again, his eyes evil,
taking one of the Federation soldiers down with his hot. The man leading
them ran forward, his men spreading. There was a look of hatred in his
eyes at what the doctor had done. He hadn't expected the doctor to be ready
for an assault.
"Kill them!" he shouted. The soldiers rushed at the scientist,
like maddened wolves, and opened fire.
Wu Fei ran towards the huge Mobile Suit, but he turned
around in his run as he heard several shots next to him. From one of the
railings, one of his friends had taken a shot at a incoming soldier. That
same friend, a woman engineer, screamed as the soldier recoiled and opened
fire on her. She couldn't duck on time and got hit in the neck, her blood
spraying down from the rail. Wu Fei swallowed his grief, his soul screaming.
The boy snarled as he saw the same soldier open fire on another scientist
that was about to activate the central defence mechanisms. Her cries pierced
the room as the intruder soldier emptied his gun on her body, laughing
wickedly. Her hands clawed the wall, her blood mingled with the metal wall.
The little boy gasped as the professor jumped up the stairs
calling his attention. Wu Fei snarled, ashamed that he'd just been standing
without doing anything. The professor ran up the stairs, turning every
now and then to open fire at his followers. He was screaming at one of
his men up in the monitor area.
"They want to destroy our secret! They must leave this
place alive. Open fire! Set fire to the complex!"
One of the rebels yelled, slamming down the mechanisms
of the central defence, the electrical wiring that manoeuvred the whole
building. Some of the fuse boxes caught fire immediately. The soldiers
kept on coming, their leader yelling that the scientist would suicide,
but allow their project to escape.
Copyright (c) February 24, 1996 (c) Gundam Wing. All materials
in this page are the product of a very crazy mind. If any of this is used
without the permission of the author, then you run the risk of having this
maniac upon you. Have a nice day!
Ore no Tameni
By: Team Bonet