Chapter Seven: Welcome Home
~
"She has to have some technological background," Duo murmured to Wufei as he watched Meike pilot her Gundam across the large expanse of colony grass.
"Why do you say that?" Wufei asked, still not entirely at ease with the idea of a foreign girl commanding one of the most lethal inventions in human history.
"Look at the way she's flying it! Duo exclaimed. "You can't pick that sort of a knack for a Gundam in just hours. I'd say she's well-versed in technology, and she's probably got a few tricks up her sleeve we haven't even thought of. Heavyarms never flew that well, and Trowa was a damn good pilot." A trace of bitterness entered his voice at the loss of a good friend. Then his face brightened a bit. "Let's give her a ring." Duo reached a hand up to the control panel above his head and flicked a series of switches. Heero and Meike's faces blinked simultaneously onto his screen.
"What do you want, Duo?" Heero asked, frowning. Then he caught sight of Meike's face on his screen and his eyes widened in surprise.
Duo's reaction was a bit more obvious. "Holy hell!" He yelled, pointing at Meike's screen. "What on earth is that?" Meike looked up in surprise as his amplified voice rang through the cockpit.
"What?" She asked curiously, then looked down at her holo-image of the Gundam as Duo's bewildered stare registered. "It's a holographic projection of the Gundam."
"Holo- holo- holographic?" Duo stuttered, and even Heero and Wufei's looks were ones of disbelief.
"Yes, holographic." Meike told him in annoyance. "Haven't you seen a hologram before?"
"Never one in a cockpit." Wufei said, arching his eyebrows questioningly. "Where did it come from?"
"It's a program inside the Gundam database. You mean to say you've never used it before?" Meike said, and now it was her voice echoing with bemusement.
"I didn't even know we had such a thing!" Duo yelped, flabbergasted.
"Don't tell me you've never looked in your own Gundam for new programs." Meike said, frowning. "There's hordes of things hidden in the database. Stuff I've never even thought of before, like the probots for repairing the Gundam, and especially the designations for the mental controls. That sort of thing can cut response times in half."
"Mental is absolutely right." He said. "How can your Gundam be controlled by your thoughts?"
"You simply adjust it to respond to your brainwaves. It doesn't need any neural connections or anything. Oh!" she cried in excitement, "I've also found you can turn the Gundams left thumb into an off-road motorcycle. Watch." She tapped on her Gundams holographic thumb, and it expanded to fill most of the holo. She tapped on the underside of the thumb, and two wheels came out. Handlebars extended from the front, and feet rest protruded from the sides.
"It's small – probably a drag racer." Meike said, looking closely at some writing scrawled along the side. "Good quality, apparently. I'll bet it performs well off road."
Heero coughed rather loudly, and Meike's head snapped up. She gave the other three pilots a guilty look. Then a small beeping noise rang through the pilots' cockpits, and the four teenagers looked simultaneously at their displays.
"We're nearing New Berlin." Heero said, glancing at his screen. "We'll land in the nearby forest, then proceed to the city on foot."
"On motorcycles, you mean." Meike corrected him with a grin, and Heero restrained himself from rolling his eyes. She's almost as bad as Duo…
~
In the forest not far from New Berlin, five gleaming motorcycles stood in front of the Gundam Pilots. Each was the color of its respective Gundam, except for Meike's. Hers was colored red and silver.
"How did you get it that color?" Wufei asked, inspecting the bike. Heavymetal Butterfly was still the same color of Heavyarms.
"She painted it for me." Meike said, gesturing at Heavymetal Butterfly. "Alright, let's test them out!" She grabbed the handles and leapt on to the seat, shouting, "Let's go, Heavymetal!" The motorcycle roared to life, and she circled around the Gundam pilots. Wufei, who rode a motorcycle as well, leapt onto his and reached for the ignition switch.
"It doesn't have an ignition switch," Wufei said, peering at the side of his motorcycle.
"It responds to your voice." Meike said, screeching to a halt beside him. "Just tell him to go." Wufei hesitated, then shrugged.
"Let's go, Nataku!" he roared. The motorcycle took off into the forest, and Wufei circled trees before turning and stopping before the rest of the pilots. Heero and Duo jumped on their own bikes, Duo with considerably more enthusiasm. They took off in the direction of New Berlin, Meike in the lead.
Soon they were driving past suburban homes along paved roads. All along the side were houses, built exactly alike.
"All the houses on this colony are identical!" Duo yelled as they zipped past house after house.
"L-6 is a brand new colony! This Side is only marginally inhabited!" Meike yelled at him, long brown hair flapping in the wind. Duo's braid bounced on his back as he lurched over small bumps and potholes. "Only a few more minutes, we're almost there!"
"Where is there?" Heero yelled at her, but Meike didn't answer. Seconds later, she screeched to a stop in front of another identical house. The three bikes roared to a stop beside her.
"My house." She said proudly. "You can stop, Heavymetal." The motorcycle's loud roar receded, and the other bikes died down as their owner deactivated them. "Come on inside." She gestured them inside the house.
~
Once inside, Meike let out a loud sigh and flopped down on a couch. The inside was much roomier that the house appeared from outside. "There're two bedrooms. Two of you guys can have a room, and I'll sleep out here with the other." She gestured at the two living room couches.
"Oh, Duo should sleep out here with you." Heero spoke up instantly, a glint of mischief dancing in his otherwise stony eyes. Wufei shrugged and paced into a small room, closing the door behind him. With an uncharacteristic wink, Heero did the same.
"You both suck!" Duo yelled at the closed doors. Grumbling angrily, he jumped onto the couch and began to get comfortable.
"I don't bite, you know." Meike told him. Duo looked up and scratched the back of his brown head awkwardly. Meike laughed. "Don't worry about it." She told him. "I'm going to take a shower. Then, we'll spend the night here," pointing at the darkening sky outside the living room window, "and get started in the morning." Duo nodded and closed his eyes.
"Hey, whatever floats your boat." He said. Meike nodded and stood up, walking to the bathroom door.
"You and I will be sharing this bathroom, okay?" She called, and Duo nodded.
"Okay," he called, and stretched out on his couch, resting his feet on the armrests. He closed his eyes for a second and tried to make his mind stop buzzing with questions. Why weren't her parents here? She was too young to have her own house. Why was she so familiar with modern technology?
And why couldn't he stop thinking about her?
~
A door creaking open woke Duo from his light slumber, and he twisted and sat up, blinking sleepily. He hadn't even realized he had drifted off, and he raised a hand in greeting as Meike exited the bathroom clad in a white, fluffy towel. Then he fell off the couch.
"Ow!" he yelled, falling on his arm. Then he jumped to his feet. Meike was watching him in amusement, a bewildered look on her face. "You're wearing nothing but a towel!" he cried, pointing a finger at her.
"So?" she asked. "At least I'm wearing one." She padded over the room Wufei had entered and tapped lightly on the door. "Hey, Wufei!" She called.
"Yes?" Wufei opened the door with the expression of someone who hated to be bothered.
"You got my room here. I need to grab some clothes." Meike pushed through the doorway and ignored Wufei's purple-faced gawk as he noticed she was only wearing a towel. The Chinese teenager looked about ready to explode. He caught Duo's eye, and Duo shrugged helplessly.
"She's crazy," he mouthed silently, and spun a finger around his head in order to denote total insanity. Wufei gave him a look and flattened himself against the doorframe as Meike pushed by again. Duo found himself staring at her as she strode lithely through the room.
"What?" She cried indignantly as she saw him looking. Duo shook his head and turned, folding his hands across his chest. He heard the door of the bathroom close once more, and he let out a soft groan.
What are you thinking? He asked himself in disbelief. Are you nuts? Do you really think it could work? He frowned angrily and looked at the floor. He couldn't really tell what he was thinking anymore. Then the bathroom door creaked behind him again.
"You've got more than a towel on, right?" Duo called. Meike, who was toweling her hair dry, was not at all naked. Grinning, she tossed her damp towel on Duo's head, and Duo let out a startled yelp. "Please be dressed." He cried as he turned and looked over the edge of the couch. Meike glared playfully at him, her hands on her hips. She had on black boxers and a red and black plaid tank top. Her long brown hair hung in little ringlets across her shoulders.
"Of course I'm dressed. Your turn for a shower." She said, then grabbed her hair and began to comb it gently as she walked to her couch and sat down. Duo got up off his own couch and walked into the bathroom and closed the door. "Towels are beneath the sink!" she yelled through the wooden door.
"Okay!" he yelled back, and stripped down to his boxers, but caught his reflection in the mirror. Leaning on his elbows, he brought his long braid in front of him and fingered it. "Maybe I should cut it." He said softly. "It is a little feminine." Duo bunched his hair behind his neck and looked at his face. "I guess I'd look okay with short hair," he mused. "But I've had it for so long… It'd be almost like cutting off my arm." Shrugging, he pulled the elastic off and pulled the hair apart, and tossed it over his shoulders.
~
That night, Meike couldn't sleep. She stayed awake and stared at the ceiling, wondering if he parents were still alive. Wondering if they had come back here and found her gone. Silent tears streaked her face, and she stifled a sob.
"Mm?" Duo said sleepily. He blinked in confusion for a moment, then rose on his elbows as he heard distinct sniffling sounds from Meike's couch. "Meike? Are you all right?"
"I –I'm sorry, Duo. I didn't mean to keep you awake." Meike tried to keep her voice normal, but her soft soprano wavered tremulously.
"What's wrong, Meike?" he asked, swinging his legs off of the couch and standing up. He knelt beside her couch and put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?" Meike turned away, her cheeks wet and her gray eyes glistening.
"It's nothing, Duo, really. Just go back to sleep." She said, pushing him towards his couch. Duo didn't budge. Instead, he sat down on her right, crossing his arms. Meike looked down at her lap.
"Oh, come on, Meike, you can tell me!" he said. The German teenager didn't look up. Duo brought his hand up and laid it softly on her left cheek, pulling her face to look him in the eyes. "You're a Gundam pilot now. If you're going to stay a pilot, you're going to be our friend." Meike nodded slowly and took a deep breath.
"It's my parents," she began softly. "They… they're gone, somewhere, and I don't know if they're alive." She tilted her head up and traced a finger at the thin white scar across her slender throat. In the near darkness, it seemed to shine. "I got this from a Vampire, along with a concussion that seems to have receded. I was too badly wounded to be taken with my mother and father to wherever the nearest safe camp of Resistance fighters. They left me in a small, hidden room beneath the house, but being the fool that I was, I left it." Meike
"That's terrible!" he said. "Why did you keep it from us?" Meike looked down at her lap again, and her tears dripped off her cheeks onto her bare legs.
"I didn't want to bother you." She said softly.
"Bother us?" Duo asked in disbelief. "How could you think you were bothering us?"
Meike said nothing.
"Oh, Meike!" Duo exploded. "Do you have any idea how close we are? I mean, sure, Heero's stuffy and Wufei is a woman-hater, Trowa is – was – cool, and Quatre wants to be everyone's best friend, but in between all the animosity and glaring and the ragging on each other, we're close." Duo let out a small sigh. "You're becoming a part of that closeness, whether you like it or not. You're a Gundam pilot." Duo looked her straight in the eyes. "And you have a responsibility as such." The American teenager's violet eyes softened. "That means you tell us everything. Got it?"
Meike have him a small nod, gratitude shining in her eyes.
"Got it." She whispered, and Duo put an arm around her shoulders. They sat in silence for a moment.
"Duo? Did you really mean to tell you everything?" she asked in a guarded voice, and Duo nodded without any hesitation. "Then… then I want you to follow me." She stood up, slipping out of Duo's arm, and held out a slim hand.
~
A/N: Yes, yes, Alora-chan, I know this wasn't in the original. But before I started this work, you remember I told you about that one idea I had? Well, ta-da! Enjoy the next chapter. ^-^"
~Melody-chan. Meow!