Ajax

Cosmic Castaway

Ajax

Heero, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, Zechs, Sally, and Noin (who was now Merquise) sat in the rather large dining hall of Quatre's incredibly large house. They rarely had chances to speak anymore, but every now and then, Quatre, being the socialite that he is, arranged some sort of meeting.

"Too bad Duo couldn't come," Quatre said. "I don't think he's been quite the same since Hilde left him a year ago, as if the accident wasn't bad enough. Imagine... losing an eye and most depth perception along with it...."

"Yes, it would have been better if he had died," Wufei said casually.

Sally smiled and rolled her eyes as she looked over to Lucrezia, who was now seven months pregnant. Zechs wouldn't hardly let her stand in one spot without him being right by her side. Not that Lucrezia minded...

"I'll contact him," Heero said, getting up, grabbing his computer, and hurrying off to a corner. He couldn't ever sit still and talk leisurely. Such a busy person.

Lucrezia sighed and rubbed a hand down her stomach. "Why is Miss Relena not here?"

Quatre grinned and said, "Heero refused to come if she did."

"Understood." She looked away sadly. "I... had asked Anne to come... she's been going through a lot lately since Mariemaya died a week ago, I thought it would do her some good to get her out of the house."

"Where is she living now?" Quatre asked.

"She lives with her maid, Hine, in a large house in the Blue Mountains of Australia. I went to visit her there a few days ago... she seemed to be doing better than expected. It was strange though, I thought I heard another voice from somewhere mixed with Hine's... Oh well. Probably not. It sounded very young, but Anne didn't have any children besides Mariemaya... that I knew of anyway."
*****************************************************************

"Heero, eh? I'll show up later if I wanna, and if I don't, I won't."

Duo shut down the computer before anything else could happen. He walked out of his room quickly, heading for the bar on this small junk yard colony. So many people came here that belonged nowhere else. He sort of felt that way now. The best part was that the rest of everything was so far away. The war had hardly affected these people at all, except that many more people had begun working there to escape the conflicts.

He sat at the bar and ordered three sakes right away. A new acquaintance of his looked at him and grinned. "Thanks for buyin' me a drink, Mate!"

"No, Gabe, they're mine."

Gabe laughed. "You drink like an Aussi! I'm proud! I might as well have a drink too while I'm here. Bartender! One whatever this loser next to me's having!"

While they were waiting, a face Duo had never seen before came into the room... a rather beat up face that he wouldn't have forgotten. It looked as if it was one huge burned bruise. Beyond that he had blue eyes, and scruffy blond hair. "Uh... Gabe? Who's that guy?"

Duo forgot one rule of life: Never ask an Australian something that you'd like to keep discreet.

"Eh? Oh! Ajax! Come 'ere, Mate!" Gabe shouted, waving the man over. "I wancha to meet my friend 'ere, Duo!"

Ajax smiled timidly and nodded in greeting.

"We found Ajax about three years ago, in some random floating debris. Considering how banged up what was actually left of cockpit was, it's amazing he's still alive. Anyway, when he finally woke up a week later, he didn't remember anything! Not even his name! He didn't even know there was a war going on!" Gabe explained, as he took a gulp of the sake the bartender had placed before him. "Ick! How can you drink this stuff, Maxwell? Bartender! Get me some Victoria Bitter!"

Ajax cleared his throat nervously as he ordered a glass of water. "How long you off for, Mate? Hour or so?" Gabe asked.

"Only thirty minutes," he answered. Something about that voice...

"Come on! Let's sing, ay? Please!"

Duo rolled his eye. "Is that all you ever think about? That guitar and your music?"

"Ay, it's better than a shuttle! Easier to hold close..." Gabe laughed with a wink.

Duo sighed sadly. "I used to have something much better than that piece of junk, a few things really..."

Gabe turned back to Ajax and said, "So yes or no?"

"No, I'm really too tired."

"That's because you overwork yourself, Mate! You've already repaid all of your debts, why not start working only seven hours or so? It's gotta be better than only getting seven hours time off out of the entire day!"

"You exaggerate."

"Hardly. Just one song, please?"

"If it will shut you up."

"Lose my head to the chemical freeway
Comin' up on overload
In a mystic new dimension
Purify and sanctify me
What, so I'm in no end game
Move my piece right off the board
Losing sure is easy so I am no more

"But I'm not broken, in my dream I win
In here I'm nothing, a Cosmic Castaway

"In my head I'm a chemical dreamer
Speed up to burn out mode
Comin' up in the 5th dimension
Beautify don't crucify me, yeah
So I need no mind game poisoning my lonely soul
Losing sure is easy so I am no more

"But I'm not broken, in my dream I win
And I take over, coz I'm no loser
And I'm in and you're not, bad dreams don't stop
But I'm all screwed up, a Cosmic Castaway
a Cosmic Castaway, a Cosmic Castaway

"And I want but have not
Bad dreams, lust thoughts
In here with no pain, you hurt me again
And I want but have none
I should beat the alien
But here I'm no one, a Cosmic Castaway
a Cosmic Castaway, a Cosmic Castaway
a Cosmic Castaway "

"Ajax! Boy! Get back here, now!"

The voice of one of the working directors startled the three of them. Ajax glanced at his watch and said, "It's only been ten minutes..."

"It's an emergency! Hurry up!"

Duo watched as Ajax hurried out. He knew this person somehow... the voice... the eyes....

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Ajax dragged the banged up escape capsule behind his junk collector. Somehow it had managed to float this far out to space, but when hailed no one responded. Either it was empty, or maybe this type didn't have that sort of device, or, which Ajax most feared, someone was injured and wasn't capable of responding. That would be how Ajax was found, except this capsule wasn't nearly that wrecked.

As he landed and was able to inspect it, it seemed to have no more than minimal external damage. He looked around until he found the entry, but it was jammed shut. He tried a few gadgets at it, but nothing worked. All he had left to try was melting a hole in it, which could be dangerous were someone passed out against the door on the other side. Then again, if he didn't, the person could die of suffocation were that out, if they weren't already dead. He went ahead with the melting, first yelling, "Stand back!" in case whoever was in there could hear.

A few minutes later, a clean circle was punched in the door, and he climbed through to look around. In the corner he saw a small huddled form, her shoulders trembling. She was crying softly as she lifted her face just enough to look at him.

"Dear child..." he whispered, "You can't be older than eight! Are you okay?"

"I'm seven..." she sniffled. "My name is Anna Khushrenada, and I'm lost."

He walked over and gently touched her cheek. "You feel really hot, you're probably sick. You look very pale. When was the last time you ate?"

"I don't know. Probably three days ago, but I've lost track of time along with everything else."

"Come with me and I'll get you something to eat."

"I can't get up."

Ajax smiled as he leaned down and gathered her in his arms, carrying her out of the capsule. As they emerged into the light, he realized that she wore a short pleated white skirt, a navy blue shirt, and an official looking scarlet jacket which was far too big for her, as it was meant for an adult. And something about her face looked familiar...

"Sir, I need to take her to get something to eat." The director nodded to Ajax and looked at the girl thoughtfully as they passed.

When Ajax entered with the girl in his arms, Gabe and Duo watched curiously as he gently placed Anna in a seat and ordered her food and water.

"Who's the girl?" Gabe asked. Duo only stared at that all too familiar jacket.

"Her name is Anna Khushrenada."

"Khushrenada?!" Duo yelled.

"Yeah... Do you know a Khushrenada?"

Gabe laughed at Duo's disbelieving expression. "He doesn't remember all that."

Ajax shrugged. "Whatever. Do you guys think you could look after her a while? I've really got to get back to work."

"Yeah, me too, but at least I'm not a workaholic like some people I know," Gabe said. "You're good with kids, aren't you, Duo?"

"Sure, why not."

"Good. See ya later, Mate!"

Duo sat next to Anna as she practically inhaled an entire cheese pizza. "A little bit hungry, Kid?"

"Yeah." She sat back and looked at him curiously. "Why do you have that patch over your eye?"

"I lost it... trying to put down some people who were trying to do bad things to the colonies about a year or two ago..."

"Oh! The war! My mommy and daddy were both in the war, but my daddy died..."

Duo looked down at the girl as a thought suddenly struck him. "You're father is Treize Khushrenada, yeah?"

"Yes, sir."

"Don't call me 'sir,' it makes me feel old. Anyway, is your mom Lady Une?"

"Uh... she's Mommy."

"Alright... Let's try this again. Does that jacket you're wearing belong to your mother?"

"Yeah! She always wears it when she has to go do something official-like."

"I never knew those two had a kid... I'll be damned..."

"What's 'damned?'"

"You shouldn't say that, Kid."

"But you said it."

"All the more reason for you not to." Duo couldn't help but smile at that absolutely befuddled expression only a little innocent child can perfect with sincerity. Then he began thinking back to his conversation with Heero... If Zechs and Noin were there, then they would be able to return the girl to Une. Problem solved. "You up to a little trip, Kid?"

"I can walk now that I've eaten, sure!"

"No, I mean in my shuttle."

Her lip pooched out in a pout and her blue eyes seemed to quadruple in size. "I don't wanna go back to space! It's cold and scary!!"

((And somewhere in the galaxy Zechs says, "Space. It's so quiet," and Kira says, "Nobody will hear you scream."))

He laughed and hugged her around the shoulders. "Don't worry, Kid! I know how to pilot it. We'll be fine!"

She looked at him very distrustingly. "You promise?"

"I promise."

"Cross your heart?"

"And hope to die! After all, I am the God of Death!"

"You're weird."

"Yeah... that too... Come on, I have to go get my stuff and we can be on our way in about thirty minutes."

"Where are we going?"

"I'm going to go talk to one of your mom's friends, and she'll be able to take you home!"

A smile spread across her face and that childish sparkle of excitement glistened in her eyes as she leapt at him and hugged him around the waist. "Thank you, Mr. Duo, sir!"

"Please, it's just 'Duo.'"