Life's Games
Chapter 3
Josie and Duo had arrived at the hospital 30 minutes later. They had to sit in the waiting room because Eedel was still being tended to. Josie remarked lightly, " You know Duo… You don't have to stay." Really though, she was glad he was here, but rather not keep him against his will.
" I would like to stay… The reasons aren't just because I am worried about Eedel either." Duo thought about his main mission here. He was sent to protect Josie so that is what he would do. An undercover bodyguard, he grinned at the idea. Josie blushed thinking the reason was because he liked her company. She shook it away; he was just being a friend.
Both of them looked up as they heard someone clearing their throat in front of them. It was a woman with a clipboard and a tag that read, " Doctor Gwen Louis." " Are you Josephine Farwell? The woman at the front desk told me a girl was here saying she was a close friend of Eedeline Renora." Josie nodded her head in response to her and Eedel's fake names. " As you know… your friend is in very bad shape. She was very lucky to survive with a second-degree burn and a couple of broken ribs. She will have a couple of scars, most are small and will fade with time. The only one that will really show is the one on her leg at the calf area. Would you like to see her?"
" Yes, please wait a moment while I talk to my friend." Josie motioned to Duo. " Duo I think it will be better if you leave now… I would like to be alone with Eedel…"
" Are you sure? Are you going to be ok?" Duo looked at her with concern his eyes very serious. Josie nodded mutely and turned away following the doctor. He sighed and walked out of the hospital. It was going to be hard keeping an eye on Josie after all… If she keeps this whole let me be myself thing; he wouldn't be doing his job very well. Her father told him to be as unsuspicious as possible, so he had to respect her wishes.
Josie gasped when she saw her best friend lying helplessly on the bed. The doctor took this as a cue to leave and left. She walked to the seat next to the bed and sat down quietly. " Eedel… How do you get yourself into these things? I really don't know how you stayed in one piece this whole time."
" I don't quite know either…" croaked Eedel. A small painful smile was on her face. She reached out to pat Josie on her hand that was on the bed. Eedel tried to hold back the tears of pain as she did it. " Oi… it feels like I have been hit by a train…"
" Hehe… almost being blown to bits makes you feel that way…" Josie grinned, glad that Eedel had not lost her humor. " The doctor said you wouldn't be awake for a long while."
" Well… I heal abnormally fast you know that."
" I always wondered why…"
Eedel looked at Josie uncomfortably. " I guess I am just really healthy…" Josie raised her eyebrow knowing Eedel was not telling her something. " Josie… when I went to finish off our job… someone set me up… The man was already killed and a bomb was set."
" I figured that… do you think it was perhaps Heero? He did say he was going to kill you…"
" No… it wasn't him… The way that person killed our target and did things is definitely not Heero's style…" Eedel saw the expression on Josie's face. " What?"
" Now… HOW would you know this?"
Eedel cleared her throat looking nervous. " What did you expect from a 16 year old girl that has been obsessing over him since she was… lets just say a very long time? At least used to anyway… I needed a role model you know! Even if he was just TWO years older than I was. He was still a great example. But now that I know the tricks in the trade also… I doubt there is anything else I can learn from him."
" You make him sound like a legend! Wait… ok… yea he was kind of a legend…The whole suicidal perfect soldier thing. Yes, hearing you babbling about him made me remember. Remember the first day you met him?" Josie giggled it was a very funny memory.
" Yea… He was a real jerk wasn't he? I doubt Heero even remembers now. We were pretty young. 10 and 12…" Eedel almost looked wistful. " I wish we had a childhood you know that? Just happy school girls…"
" Hey Eedel… tell me again about how you met Heero… it was such a funny memory… I don't quite remember much about it, at least the part where you showed Heero around the base. I will tell you how I THINK I might have met Duo from when I was small…"
" All right… it was like this… You have to fill in some of the empty spots though." Little did they know someone was listening in on the story…
~ Flashback ~
A 10-year-old Eedel ran into the dorms the four girls shared. " Hey you guys! Guess what!"
" Don't tell me… You found a great book?" A Chinese girl with shoulder length black hair about 11 said this with much sarcasm. " You need to stop keeping your nose in books. I thought you said you wanted to learn how to use the sword."
" I know Meiran! We will practice as soon as I tell you the great news!" Eedel stuck her tongue out at Meiran. " Josie! Midii! Come on gather around!"
An 11-year-old Josie who had been napping woke up with a snort. " What? What is it?" A girl with long blonde hair to her waist with green eyes and was also 11 bopped Josie on the head. " What didja do that for Midii?"
" Just making sure you are staying awake." Midii smiled sweetly and walked over to where the other two girls were standing.
" Josie! Come on hurry up!" Eedel jumped up and down impatiently.
Meiran muttered to Midii, " You would think she was still five…"
Midii giggle whispering back, " That's what makes her so cute."
" Cute and naïve… How is she going to make it as a soldier?"
" You are practically her sister Meiran… You know her enough to know that she will make it through this training. She is tough."
" We are just cousins… Yes, I know…"
" I can hear what you guys are saying!" Eedel glared at the both of them, but her eyes suddenly soften. " Who knows what will happen to us… I have a feeling… We will all change in some way…"
" Uh oh… don't get into your lecturing mood Eedel…" Josie said this through a yawn. " So what didja want to tell us?"
" You know Heero Yuy?"
" How could we possibly NOT know… You mention him one hundred times a day…" Everyone snorted at what Meiran said.
" Wow… you keep count?" All the girls' jaws dropped. How could Eedel be so DENSE?
" Exaggeration you dope!" Josie swatted her a good one on the head.
Eedel rubbed her head with one eye open. " Sorry… just a simple misunderstanding… Well as I was saying… Doc said Dr. J was coming to look at this new thingamajig Doc made! Guess who is coming with him?"
" Who? Elvis?" Josie remarked this with slight malice. The other girls started laughing.
" No! And who the heck is Elvis anyway? Well Heero is! Bet you guys never would have thought huh? "
Midii stopped the others from further teasing Eedel and asked, " When is he coming?"
" TODAY! This evening, they are staying until tomorrow-late afternoon! HEEHEE… I can finally meet my role model!"
" More like your boyfriend…" Josie and Meiran cracked up.
" Think what you want! But I can't wait to show him all my weapons and what I learned so far!" Eedel ran out of the room yelling back, " I wanna go ask Doc some things!"
The three girls left standing silently watching as Eedel ran out of the room. Josie suddenly said, " You know she is going to make a fool of herself…"
Meiran shrugged answering, " What's new?"
" It will be interesting to see her try to impress him though… I just hope this Heero doesn't do anything to hurt Eedel… " Midii looked worried. The other two girls nodded.
" You don't actually think she might like him do you?" Meiran looked curious.
Josie reminded her, " Eedel doesn't usually think about guys that way… at least not yet… Hehe… But I would be surprised if this obsession turns into a crush over time… I just hope… what ever Dr. J did to Heero… Doc won't do to us." Everyone agreed. " Can you believe how mature we are now? We are just 10/11 and we already know what death is like…"
" Yea its kind of sad… so many children have been stripped of their childhood. Except maybe Eedel…" Midii grimaced with a sad look.
" Eedel lost her childhood way before us… Just look at her… right into the eyes…" Josie spoke this quietly.
" I have seen it also… Midii… Eedel isn't as innocent as she looks." Meiran fingered one of her knives.
" I know… it's just hard to imagine her… a trained soldier… She just acts so innocent."
" Enough talking lets go find Eedel… I wouldn't be surprised if she is knocked out on the floor because she ran into a wall in the midst of her excitement." Josie and Midii smiled at what Meiran said.
The three girls found Eedel talking to Doc. Doc was a. old thin woman. Her face usually had a very stern look upon it, and her gray hair was always tied up into a bun. Little spectacles adorned her nose making her look very much like the grandmother of the four girls rather then a guardian and mentor.
" Are they here yet Doc? Are they?" Eedel peered up into Doc's face with a puppy-eyed expression.
" Yes, they are here… They should be resting in their rooms. If you want Eedel… I am quite sure that little boy, Heero would love to have you show him around." Doc looked at the other three girls with a look that said, ' Let her have him to herself.' The girls nodded knowing Eedel would be grateful to finally get to meet her idol alone instead of feeling like a little kid with them around (they are almost pretty much a year older than her).
" Really? Cool!" Eedel took the information from Doc and walked out of the room cheerfully.
~ Pause in Flashback ~
" Now here is the part I know nothing about Eedel…" Josie had a very interested look on her face.
" I know…" She yawned and said, " Can I finish this tomorrow? I am so tired… tell me about your story now…" Josie nodded.
The figure that had been listening on seemed to be disappointed.
~ Heero's p.o.v. ~
He sighed… He was standing right outside of the room listening on a balcony that was connected to the room. He had been overhearing Eedel's story and it was really interesting him. He couldn't really recall those memories… Some of it was coming back now that they have been talking about it, but he needed to hear the rest. He decided to come back tomorrow and left silently by scaling down the building.
~ Josie's Flashback ~
A 5 year old Josie wandered through the streets, her face looked as if she was about to cry. She kept mumbling, " Where am I?" She walked down the street in her pretty expensive dress and looked really out of place. Somehow she had ended up in the slums of Colony L2.
Suddenly she felt someone grab her arm. She shrieked out in fright, but a large hand covered her mouth. It was very dirty and smelled bad. She looked up into the face of some beggar. He seemed to be crazy because he was saying, " Where have you been? Sweet little good daughters shouldn't stray from their fathers. I was so worried." Her eyes widened and she tried to yell that she wasn't his daughter.
" Hey let her go Fred! She is not your daughter and you know it!" A young boy had yelled this and he threw a stone at the beggar.
The beggar scowled and yelled at the boy, " You are scaring all of my tickets out of here you rat!" The beggar shook his fist and stumbled away.
The young boy was about six, his hair was long and went to his waist. His eyes were bright blues and you could tell he was full of energy. He turned to her with a grin, but by now Josie just bursts into tears. " Oh come on… everything is ok… I scared that old guy away! He won't be messing with you anymore."
" T-hank you… It has just been a bad day! I am lost and that scary guy tried to take me away… I wanna go home!" Josie sniffle and hiccuped a few times.
" I didn't think you were around here… Do you know the address?"
" N-no… I just know what its looks like…" Josie had another hopeless look on her face.
" Well… I know my way around here and every detail of each building. Just describe it to me." Josie described the big house with its huge gardens and the many cars. " Wowies… your dad must be loaded! I think I know what house you are talking about!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her a long.
Josie had a small smile on her face. This boy was really nice. Him holding her hand made her feel a whole lot safer too. She couldn't believe how some girls thought boys had the cooties. The two walked happy in each other's company. They started talking about things, and Josie found out he was an orphan. A church had also taken him in and he described his everyday life.
Time passed by quickly and they arrived at Josie's house in no time. Josie was very reluctant to let his hand go, but she did. " Thank you for everything…"
The boy just grinned and waved bye. " It wasn't anything… I hope to see you around, but now I got to go!" He ran off without wasting another minute.
Josie walked to the front door of her house and did a small knock. Her nanny opened the door in surprise. She exclaimed, " Josie! I thought you were still napping… Look how dirty you are! Come a long before your father finds out where you have been."
Josie sighed, no one even noticed she was gone. That was normal, but then something jolted her. She forgot to get the boy's name!
~ End of Flashback ~
" I think… there is a very good chance that was Duo… He was from L2… and he did stay at an orphanage for some time… Yes, I know all about him too. I have been studying up on all the Gundam pilots… but now I am tired…" Eedel sank under her covers.
" What ever you say Eedel… just remember you promised to finish your story…" Josie walked out quietly, and closed her door. By then Eedel was already fast asleep.
End Chapter 3
A/N: I know… this was probably pretty boring, but its just some background information… and please… review! I am also thinking of changing my title. Please give me suggestions. And I hope you all already know I don't own GW. Chapters 3, part two, coming soon!
