Muffled Cries
Chapter Two
By: Ann Lowe Creation Date: December 27, 2002
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. Darn. If whoever has the rights wishes to give it to me, that'd be just fine, thanks! :P Until then, however, I claim no rights over this wonderful show. I do, however, claim rights over my plot and title. Also, any original characters that appear here are mine, thanks. If you so desperately want to use them, ask me. I don't mind lending them to you, but you can't keep them. Also, if I find another story with my same plot, characters, course of events, et cetera, I will become highly agitated. This is why I put the creation date on my stories now. Thanks!
Author's Notes: Erm.this is another boring chapter. Please bare with me, okay? I absolutely promise that there will be some interesting events in this. I just have to introduce everything.*sigh* Once I'm done introducing things (after this chapter, I suppose) there'll be the fun stuff. Even I find the information chapters boring.and I'm writing them! If that's not sad, I do *not* know what is. Well, once again, read the notes at the end of the chapter! Teaser to the next chapter, and footnotes! Bai!
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December 4, AC 205
L1 X10001 Colony Residential Area 88 Barnes Street
When Wu Fei and Sally awoke, there was a neat breakfast sitting out on the kitchen table, along with a note.
Hey, I had to go to work, and you looked peaceful, so I decided against waking you. As you can see, breakfast is made. If you care to, we can go out to lunch sometime around noon. I'll stop by my house to see if you want to. See you then, Heero.
They noticed how he used the name they were used to, rather than the name he preferred. It was just a sign of hospitality and friendship, they supposed. Looking at the clock, it was only 8:30. They ate breakfast, did the dishes, as it was the proper thing to do, and decided to watch the video file they had found the night before. They went over to the bookshelf, where they had placed the album, opened it up to the back cover, and pulled the disk out of its slot.
"I suppose now we find out what exactly is on here. It's narrated by Riley, I suppose, as that's what's written on the disk." Sally just pulled out her laptop, as it was compatible with files like this.
"I suppose." Wu Fei just leaned back on the couch turned bed. Sally popped the disk in; a video screen popped up and she pressed play.
A girl with dark brown hair, shaggily cut to her chin, appeared on the screen.
"Hey! My name is Riley Corrigan Lowe! It's January 25, After Colony 192! I'm eleven years old, and this is the soon-to-be ongoing documentary of my family! Of course, my mom and dad are already dead, so they won't appear much, except in clips from years ago! But, there's me, my older brothers Christopher and Charles, and my younger brother, if only younger by fifteen minutes, Rei. Me and Rei are identical, even though we're fraternal, and we think that's cool! So, just to annoy people, we dress alike! See if you can figure out who's who!" The screen went blank, then opened back up to two pre-teenagers sitting on the sofa, eating instant noodles. Wu Fei and Sally looked between the two of them, and could not, for the life of them, figure out which was which. To be completely honest, they both resembled girls more than boys.
"I bet you didn't get it!" The screen flashed back to Riley's face, then the former scene came back and stilled. "Okay, the one on the left is me, and the one on the right is Rei!" Little white arrows drew themselves across the screen. After about two minutes, it went back to Riley, though this time she was walking around inside of a building with a lot of halls, but she was talking as she did so.
"Okay! I'm going to introduce you to everyone!" She turned a corner for about the thirtieth time before coming upon a closed door. She knocked once, and 'Come in!' rang from inside.
"This is Charlie! He's nineteen!" She pounced on her elder brother. "Say 'hi', Charlie!"
"Hi." He laughed. "Now what are you doing, squirt?"
"I'm making a video documentary of our whole family! I already did me, now I'm doing you, then Rei, but I don't know where Chris is, so I suppose I'll just have to do him when I find him." She shrugged.
"Well, find Rei, you're bound to find Chris lurking somewhere." He rolled his eyes. "You know him."
"Yeah. I suppose that's a good idea, and probably true, too. Ah well! This is my big brother!" She hugged him around the neck and kissed his cheek. "Next, we torture my poor little twin!" She laughed, purposefully, maniacally, and Charlie laughed.
"Later, Riley."
"Later!" She skipped out of the room, down endless more halls, and came to an open room where what seemed like her clone was sitting and reading.
"Rei!" She bounced over to him, and he looked up from his reading and smiled slightly.
"Yes, Riley?"
"I'm doing a video file on our family! Smile and say something!" She kept bouncing. "This is my little brother, Rei!"
"Hey! I'm not that much younger than you!" He scowled at her.
"So? I'm still older!" She stuck out her tongue at him and he laughed. And it was a different laugh from now, Wu Fei and Sally noticed, slightly shocked. His eyes smiled as much as his face did and his laugh was sweet and childish.
"If you insist, dear sister." He just smiled.
"Well, I do. Now, do you know where Chris is? I already did Charlie, I just have to do Chrissy-poo!" She smiled and bounced, but the life visibly left the young boy.
"Yeah, he's in the office over there." He quickly went back to reading, and Riley stared at him for a while, looked at the ground, and headed over to the aforementioned office.
She knocked, and the standard 'Come in!' was yelled in response. "Chris!" She bounced over to him, and he smiled. His smile was frightening, like he was plotting something. It was as though the only emotion he had was one of sarcasm. He seemed like he was laughing at the world.
"Oh, hello, Riley, darling. How are you?" His voice was sweet, just a little too much so.
"I'm doing a video thingy on our family! You're the last one I need to do!"
"I see." He just smiled his all-too-sweet smile at her.
"This is Chris! He's twenty-one, and the one in charge of our family!" She smiled and patted him on the shoulder.
"Yes, that is true." He stood up and stretched. "Now, if you'll excuse me, your dear twin needs to get back to work. We've been stalling for an hour." He walked past her out the door, and she peaked, along with her camera, around the side to watch them converse. You couldn't hear what they were saying, but Rei visibly stiffened and hastily, almost running, left the room, Chris following with a sinister look on his face.
Riley sighed, then she turned the camera back to herself. "I don't know why, but Rei seems to be frightened of our dear eldest brother. That's quite odd as the two of them used to be closer than Rei and I have ever been, and we're twins. Then, when we were about eight, Rei started avoiding big brother, and it just progressed from there. Now whenever Chris walks in the room, no matter what we're doing, Rei leaves. And Chris just laughs at him. I want to know the cause of this, but there's no way Rei would tell me. He doesn't talk to me anymore, at all. He just bottles himself up, so I have to talk to Charlie if I want to talk to anyone and get a reply." She sighed again. "I suppose there isn't much I can do, but I can show you a bunch of clips from years ago. Ones from when mom and dad were alive, and then I'll just progress through the years, okay? That's next!" And the screen went black then another clip came up.
A little girl, about four-years-old, wearing a very muddy dress stood triumphantly at the top of a hill. They presumed the little girl was Riley. There was laughter suddenly, and the refocused to something else. A little boy, about the same age, stood at the other side of a group of four people, completely covered in mud from head to toe.
"Riley-chan, what did you do that for?" A woman's voice, the camera focused on a woman with long raven-colored hair and dark blue eyes.
"Well, he was making fun of my dress. So I pushed him in one of the puddles on the driveway, and he sunk." They all laughed again.
"Rei-kun, what do you have to say to this?" The woman laughed.
"She does look funny in a dress, though." He said and stuck his tongue out at her.
"You little!" She bolted at him, but was scooped into the air by a young man, about twelve.
"Charlie! Put me down!" She shrieked at him. He just laughed.
"No can do, my dear. We can have you roughing up little boys, now can we?"
"Hey! That's not fair!" Rei was obviously pouting, but he too was picked up out of nowhere. Another young man, but he was older, and quite a bit more attractive. It was Chris, but he wasn't the same as the earlier clips. The smile on his face was pure and he was truly laughing.
"Rei-chan, behave." He said lightly to the little boy, flicking him on the nose. "I do believe you need a change of clothing, too."
"I 'spose." The boy rolled his eyes, then he yawned. "But 'm tired. I wanna go to sleep." He nestled his head on the older boy's shoulder and yawned again, looking quite content.
One of the maids walked up and smiled at Chris. "I'll take him for you, Master Christopher. I think he just needs a bath and a nap."
Chris glared at her, rather fervently, and his pleasant nature was suddenly replaced, if only for a very short amount of time. "No, thank you. I can take care of him." He shifted the boys weight, smiled at him when he looked up, and carried him into the house. In the background of the shot, Ann and a man, most likely Andrew, looked at each other, a somewhat worried expression mirrored on the other's face. The nurse was put-off, and it showed, as she went to Charlie, scooped up the little girl, and brought her inside in a huff, to bathe and change her.
The scene flashed out and another flashed onto the screen. It was the four children, this time they were in the building from the first shot, more specifically, the living room area. They looked about two or three years older from the last clip. Charlie was sitting in a chair, looking at the floor. Riley was sitting on the ground next to him, fiddling with her fingers. Chris and Rei were sitting on the sofa, the elder stroking his brother's hair. Chris suddenly looked up.
"At least it's a place to stay. We were just orphans on our own, we're staying somewhere now!" This statement was obviously directed at Charlie, and the teenager looked up.
"I don't trust them. That's the end of it, brother. I don't trust them at all. They're far too interested in Rei and Riley. It's not a good idea to stay here!" He was opposed to something, and was letting it get to him.
"There isn't much we can do otherwise. Do you want to die?" Chris was nervous, too, though somewhat better at hiding it.
"I'd rather die than let anything happen to these two." He gestured to the two youngest siblings.
"I won't let them get hurt, there's nothing to worry about!" One should believe something before they try to convince others of its reality.
"Dammit, Chris! I think you know as well as I what they want to do with us!" Charlie suddenly stood up, glaring daggers at his elder brother.
"I know, Charlie, I really do. But let's try this. If it doesn't work out, we'll leave."
"What if they don't let us leave, eh Chris? What if they keep us here?!?" He was panicking. "What then? What do we do then?" He collapsed onto the floor. Riley began to cry lightly.
"I don't want to be here, either, big brother." She looked up at Chris, but he took no notice of her. His eyes were narrowed on Charlie, who was also crying.
"Don't be so weak, Charles. There's no way the two of us can support ourselves and these two in the world we live in today. There are too many parties that want to kill us, if only for our names." His eyes were cold and empty. "Here we will be safe. This is a military outfit, they want revenge on the same people as us. Why should we rebel against them?"
"I'm not saying to!" Charlie sobbed, trying to convince his cold brother. "I just don't think revenge is needed! We shouldn't turn ourselves into them! They killed our parents, sure, but we shouldn't kill them! We'd just be repeating the cycle, Chris!"
"So what? They'll keep killing until their satisfied. We need to get rid of them. You and I, none other. We can do this, you know it! With help, the two of us can rid the world of them, why won't you cooperate?" Chris was attempting to convince him now.
"You don't know that we can succeed. And I don't want Rei and Riley to be drawn into this! They're seven for God's sake!" He screeched at his brother. Riley's tears increased, and she was silently sobbing.
"If we try, we can succeed. Nothing is too much, or too hard. Everything is possible, dear brother. I don't want them involved in this either. They'll be protected here, though. If we fight, they'll have the option of not!"
"Like hell they will." His eyes narrowed and he was talking through gritted teeth. "You overheard the same damn thing I did, Christopher. They don't want to just 'protect' our younger siblings, they want them in general!"
"That doesn't mean we'll let them have them, Charlie. Just cooperate. Once our enemy is gone, we can leave here, I promise you."
"Stop trying to convince me, it's not going to work. I refuse to participate in this."
"I don't care." He had given up. His deep brown eyes were devoid of emotion. "You are not the one who makes decisions here, I am. So you'd better just sit back and do what I say. I know what I'm doing, Charles. I'm going to end this. If I lose my own life in the process, so be it. I won't allow the ones I love to be hurt any more." He turned to leave the room when Rei grabbed the back of his shirt. He turned around, startled, to look at the boy.
"Big brother. Don't be mean to Charlie, please? He's scared, so are you. We know you don't want to hurt us, but these people aren't trustworthy. Not at all. I don't want to be here, but if you'll stay here, with me, and don't fight, I'll stay." His blue eyes were large, and full of tears, and he was begging his brother. To the surprise of the viewers, the older boy reached down and picked him up, holding him tightly.
"I'll never leave you if you don't want me to. It's you I want to protect, my dear little brother, and as long as you stay safe, I'm happy. Do you understand?"
"Yes. But please don't fight. It's pointless. Fighting doesn't do anything but rile people up. Then even more people will die, just like Charlie says."
"Fine, we'll stay away from the fight, I promise. But can we stay here? It's safe, I hope."
"I don't mind, not really." He smiled lightly and brushed away the tears from the older boy's eyes. "Not if you protect us." He smiled and hugged him. Chris would do anything for the small boy. Anything he asked. Charlie and Riley just watched, they knew that Chris loved the boy more than either of them, but didn't mind, not really. As long as they didn't have to fight. Neither of them wanted to stay at the base, but they couldn't do much about it. At least Chris would be there. He would protect them. It would be a cold day in hell when he did anything at all to injure the one he prized. At least, they thought.
There the scene faded out again, and a new one replaced it. The new scene was obviously several years later, as it opened with Rei and Riley, both practicing kendo. They looked about ten or eleven.
"Okay! You're done for today!" Chris's voice echoed. "Enough!"
"Yes, big brother!" Riley said happily, and Rei just nodded and ran to put his things away and get as far from his brother as possible. Chris had changed back. No longer a kind-looking person, he had gone back to looking horrible and destructive.
"You need to practice balance." He motioned for them to do so. Riley climbed onto a balance beam, and started doing gymnastics stuff while humming, and Rei began to climb a ladder to a rope hung above them all. He walked, steadily, to the center of the rope. Once there, he began to practice martial arts fighting stances.
The practice ran smoothly, and they looked quite good at what they were doing, until Riley slipped and fell off her bar, landing on her butt on the floor with a shriek. This shriek, however, distracted Rei and he started to fall off the rope, wavering and leaning forward, he couldn't keep his balance, and fell. Both viewers had to close their eyes, but there was no crash, as they had been expecting, just a loud 'Oof!'. They looked up and almost fell over.
Chris had caught the boy, and was glaring at him. "You need to try harder. Ignore distractions." Rei just glared back at him.
"Put me down. Now." Was his only reply, and his brother complied with it. Once back safely on the ground, the boy returned to his exercises. The scene faded out again, and Riley's face, at eleven-years-old, reappeared on the screen.
"Well, I think that describes, pretty damn well, the differences between now and then." Her eyes weren't cold, just extremely sad. "Things can't go back to the way they were, but I can hope that they'll get better, at least a little." She smiled sadly. "Well, I'll record again in a while. Bye for now!" And the screen went black. After about a minute, her face reappeared.
"Hey! I decided to record again! The date is February 6, After Colony 194. I'm thirteen now, so Rei's thirteen, Charlie's twenty-one, and Chris is twenty-three. I wish I could tell you that everything between us all has gotten better, but I'd be lying. Those clips, I've realized now after watching them, really do sum up our lives quite well. All I can say is that it's gotten worse. Much worse." She smiled sadly. "But, I can still get brother-dearest to do some cute things when Chris isn't around!" They assumed that she meant Rei by brother-dearest.
"Well, let's see how everyone is, then I have to show you some pretty cute things, to make you feel better, since those clips were kinda depressing." She walked down some halls, and came upon Charlie, typing on a laptop. "Hey Charlie!" She smiled and waved. "I'm doing the continuation of my video documentary on us!"
"I see, well, hi, then." He smiled and waved. "But, Riley, dear, I have to work on this. I hope you don't mind?"
"Not at all! I have to go find Rei, though, bye!" She scampered off and found Rei quite quickly. He was practicing karate in a training room, quite impressively. "Rei-chan! Hey! I'm doing more on my documentary!"
"That's great, sis." He was concentrating pretty hard.
"Frustrated, dear brother?"
"A little."
"What about?"
"Ass holes."
"Right.I'm going to assume you mean Chris since I hope you aren't researching people's butts." He fell over in the middle of his exercise.
"Riley." He glared at her for about two seconds before bursting out laughing. "Yes, you're right."
"I know, I always am!"
"Hah! Double hah!"
"Oh, you shuddup!"
"What if I don't?" He stuck out his tongue, provoking a wrestling match between the two of them.
"Well.I just make you try that outfit on again!"
"NO!" He screeched and very quickly pinned her down. "That was torture!"
"But I liked it on you! And plus, if I ever wear it, you just have to! We always have to look alike!"
"If you say so." He was involuntarily shuddering.
"Hey! It wasn't that bad!"
"Not if you're a girl.but guys don't wear that stuff."
"J-Rockers do."
"Well, I'm a martial artist, not a J-Rocker."
"So? You can be both."
"Riley." He was glaring at her.
"Oh, all right! You don't have to wear it anymore!"
"Good! I didn't like it at all!"
"But I am adding the recording of you in it to this documentary!"
"Oh, no."
"." She stuck out her tongue at him.
"Who all is going to see this recording?"
"Whoever winds up with that photo album we found."
"Oh, geez."
"Tee hee!" She grinned and laughed at him. "Well, I have to find Chris, you wouldn't happen to-" She was cut off.
"In the office over there." He pointed to the office next to the ring, and went back to training, any former signs of joy were gone from his features.
"Thanks, little brother!" She knocked on the door, and was let in. "Hey, Chris!"
"Oh, hello, Riley." He smiled politely at her, but it was his usual, scary smile.
"I'm continuing my documentary of all of us! Just say something!"
"Well, I really must be finished up with this project." He tapped the container on the desk. "You'll know what it is soon enough."
"Oh, all right! Geez, you and Charlie are no fun! I'll just go do the clips now." She rolled her eyes and left his office. The screen faded black, then back to her face. "Well, this is what's happened since last recording that I got on tape and was entertaining. Don't worry, there's only one clip this time. Charlie's the one recording, since he went with."
The screen faded, and came back on in a clothing store. More specifically next to the dressing room. Suddenly there was a 'Ta da!' and Riley popped out of one of the rooms. She scampered over from the girls' dressing room. The camera was in between the boys' and girls' dressing rooms.
Riley was wearing black, skin-tight, shiny black, seemingly leather, pants, and a black mesh top with a tank top underneath. "Like it, Charlie?"
"Yeah, it's great!" He was laughing. "I can tell you're actually female in that!"
"And you're looking." She raised an eyebrow.
"No, it's just noticeable, dear." He was trying very hard to talk between chuckles. "So what's Rei wearing?"
"This." Wu Fei and Sally fell over.
Seemingly, so did Charlie, as the camera was getting something upside down. Suddenly, there was a shriek from the boys' dressing room. "Riley! I am not wearing this out there! You're insane!"
"Well, you're no more sane than I, just come out! I did! I'm sure you look cute!"
"I look like a hooker! A female hooker!" All burst out laughing. "Aargh!"
"Just come out!"
"Fine! But you owe me for this!" He walked out, and there was a mass laughing and falling over. He was wearing the same thing, and he really did look like a female hooker.
"Rei! That's just hilarious! Charlie, we have to get these!"
"I agree!"
"NO!" Rei was about to hide, but they pounced on him. "NOOOOO!" Was the last thing they heard before the screen faded out again. This time when Riley showed up, she looked even older.
"Hey. It's March 12, After Colony 195, and I'm going to be fifteen in two days! Yay! Well, this is another continuation of my life! So, hey! Here we go!" She walked down the hall, and into the living room thing. All three boys were in there. Charlie was typing on his laptop, Chris was reading a magazine, and Rei a book. "Okay! He guys, this is another installation of my documentary! Cool, huh?"
"Yeah, wonderful." Rei scowled at her. "Don't even mention that thing. I've seen enough of myself in hooker outfits, thank you." Charlie and Riley laughed, Chris just looked between the three of them, raised his eyebrows, and shrugged.
"Oh, ha ha, Rei!" She stuck her tongue out at him. "Okay, everyone's together! Yay! Say something, everybody!"
"Something." Rei glared at her again, but was smirking slightly.
"REI!" She glared at him and scowled.
"Well, hello never-to-be audience!" Charlie stuck his tongue out at his sister.
"Yeah.Rei's fourteen, like me, Charlie's twenty-two, and Chris is twenty- four. Say something, Chris!"
"Well, I finished my experiment." He smiled slightly and his upper lip twitched up.
"Oh, yay! Do we get to see it?"
"Tomorrow."
"Okay! Well, there are no more interesting clips, so I guess that was just an update! Things are exactly as they were last year! Bye!" And the video file ended.
Wu Fei and Sally looked at one another. "Wow. That was.informative." Sally stated the obvious.
"Quite. Heero sure changed a lot in between that recording and operation meteor. And there was only a three-week difference."
"Wait." She flipped to the back page of the album and looked at the dates while Wu Fei put the disk away, they had already saved it onto the hard drive of Sally's laptop. "That's it. Wu Fei.Charlie and Riley died the next day. The day after that was recorded." She looked up at him, and both winced.
"We should put this away." He stuck it back into the book shelf, and looked at the time. "It's almost noon. That was a long recording."
"Yeah, it was." Sally looked at the ground.
"I suppose we should wait to go out for lunch now."
"Yeah, let's make the bed.couch.thing." She laughed, causing her husband to, and they did so. Heero arrived ten minutes after they were done to take the pair out to lunch. It was a nice lunch, but neither Wu Fei nor Sally said much during it. And their flight was to leave at two, so they said their goodbyes, confirmed he'd be in Brussels on the twenty-third, and left.
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Author's Notes: Yeah, yeah, I know I've completely disregarded the Episode ZERO. Oh well, it's my fic, after all! Well, that was the last 'boring' chapter. AKA, the last chapter with just information on it. The rest of the story will give information, of course, but in a way that's a lot more fun! Teaser for Chapter Three: The speeches, arrangements, and some weird courses of events. You should know by now, or have noticed, that this story is going to be kind of odd. Why does Heero hate his brother? I mean, it's somewhat obvious why he does now, but why did he suddenly start hating him when he was eight? They were closer than anything, I mean it. I tried to get that across, but I don't know if I did a very good job. I'm not saying those questions will be answered in the next chapter, actually, they most definitely will not be! But, you need to think, since I'll be giving hidden clues the whole way through. I've started, but they're hidden to the point of only I would notice them. Also.'Tomorrow'. What did that mean? What do you think his experiment was? I guess that's another thing to think about. ^.~ Well, until next time, later!
Oh, and one more thing: yes, I did base Riley's character off that of Hokuto, the female protagonist of Tokyo Babylon, a wonderful manga/anime (though I haven't seen the anime) by CLAMP. And with the dressing alike thing, that was also stolen from Tokyo Babylon! Sorry! CLAMP, I love you guys! Get X/1999 done! I wanna know what happens to Subaru! *sobsob*
By: Ann Lowe Creation Date: December 27, 2002
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. Darn. If whoever has the rights wishes to give it to me, that'd be just fine, thanks! :P Until then, however, I claim no rights over this wonderful show. I do, however, claim rights over my plot and title. Also, any original characters that appear here are mine, thanks. If you so desperately want to use them, ask me. I don't mind lending them to you, but you can't keep them. Also, if I find another story with my same plot, characters, course of events, et cetera, I will become highly agitated. This is why I put the creation date on my stories now. Thanks!
Author's Notes: Erm.this is another boring chapter. Please bare with me, okay? I absolutely promise that there will be some interesting events in this. I just have to introduce everything.*sigh* Once I'm done introducing things (after this chapter, I suppose) there'll be the fun stuff. Even I find the information chapters boring.and I'm writing them! If that's not sad, I do *not* know what is. Well, once again, read the notes at the end of the chapter! Teaser to the next chapter, and footnotes! Bai!
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December 4, AC 205
L1 X10001 Colony Residential Area 88 Barnes Street
When Wu Fei and Sally awoke, there was a neat breakfast sitting out on the kitchen table, along with a note.
Hey, I had to go to work, and you looked peaceful, so I decided against waking you. As you can see, breakfast is made. If you care to, we can go out to lunch sometime around noon. I'll stop by my house to see if you want to. See you then, Heero.
They noticed how he used the name they were used to, rather than the name he preferred. It was just a sign of hospitality and friendship, they supposed. Looking at the clock, it was only 8:30. They ate breakfast, did the dishes, as it was the proper thing to do, and decided to watch the video file they had found the night before. They went over to the bookshelf, where they had placed the album, opened it up to the back cover, and pulled the disk out of its slot.
"I suppose now we find out what exactly is on here. It's narrated by Riley, I suppose, as that's what's written on the disk." Sally just pulled out her laptop, as it was compatible with files like this.
"I suppose." Wu Fei just leaned back on the couch turned bed. Sally popped the disk in; a video screen popped up and she pressed play.
A girl with dark brown hair, shaggily cut to her chin, appeared on the screen.
"Hey! My name is Riley Corrigan Lowe! It's January 25, After Colony 192! I'm eleven years old, and this is the soon-to-be ongoing documentary of my family! Of course, my mom and dad are already dead, so they won't appear much, except in clips from years ago! But, there's me, my older brothers Christopher and Charles, and my younger brother, if only younger by fifteen minutes, Rei. Me and Rei are identical, even though we're fraternal, and we think that's cool! So, just to annoy people, we dress alike! See if you can figure out who's who!" The screen went blank, then opened back up to two pre-teenagers sitting on the sofa, eating instant noodles. Wu Fei and Sally looked between the two of them, and could not, for the life of them, figure out which was which. To be completely honest, they both resembled girls more than boys.
"I bet you didn't get it!" The screen flashed back to Riley's face, then the former scene came back and stilled. "Okay, the one on the left is me, and the one on the right is Rei!" Little white arrows drew themselves across the screen. After about two minutes, it went back to Riley, though this time she was walking around inside of a building with a lot of halls, but she was talking as she did so.
"Okay! I'm going to introduce you to everyone!" She turned a corner for about the thirtieth time before coming upon a closed door. She knocked once, and 'Come in!' rang from inside.
"This is Charlie! He's nineteen!" She pounced on her elder brother. "Say 'hi', Charlie!"
"Hi." He laughed. "Now what are you doing, squirt?"
"I'm making a video documentary of our whole family! I already did me, now I'm doing you, then Rei, but I don't know where Chris is, so I suppose I'll just have to do him when I find him." She shrugged.
"Well, find Rei, you're bound to find Chris lurking somewhere." He rolled his eyes. "You know him."
"Yeah. I suppose that's a good idea, and probably true, too. Ah well! This is my big brother!" She hugged him around the neck and kissed his cheek. "Next, we torture my poor little twin!" She laughed, purposefully, maniacally, and Charlie laughed.
"Later, Riley."
"Later!" She skipped out of the room, down endless more halls, and came to an open room where what seemed like her clone was sitting and reading.
"Rei!" She bounced over to him, and he looked up from his reading and smiled slightly.
"Yes, Riley?"
"I'm doing a video file on our family! Smile and say something!" She kept bouncing. "This is my little brother, Rei!"
"Hey! I'm not that much younger than you!" He scowled at her.
"So? I'm still older!" She stuck out her tongue at him and he laughed. And it was a different laugh from now, Wu Fei and Sally noticed, slightly shocked. His eyes smiled as much as his face did and his laugh was sweet and childish.
"If you insist, dear sister." He just smiled.
"Well, I do. Now, do you know where Chris is? I already did Charlie, I just have to do Chrissy-poo!" She smiled and bounced, but the life visibly left the young boy.
"Yeah, he's in the office over there." He quickly went back to reading, and Riley stared at him for a while, looked at the ground, and headed over to the aforementioned office.
She knocked, and the standard 'Come in!' was yelled in response. "Chris!" She bounced over to him, and he smiled. His smile was frightening, like he was plotting something. It was as though the only emotion he had was one of sarcasm. He seemed like he was laughing at the world.
"Oh, hello, Riley, darling. How are you?" His voice was sweet, just a little too much so.
"I'm doing a video thingy on our family! You're the last one I need to do!"
"I see." He just smiled his all-too-sweet smile at her.
"This is Chris! He's twenty-one, and the one in charge of our family!" She smiled and patted him on the shoulder.
"Yes, that is true." He stood up and stretched. "Now, if you'll excuse me, your dear twin needs to get back to work. We've been stalling for an hour." He walked past her out the door, and she peaked, along with her camera, around the side to watch them converse. You couldn't hear what they were saying, but Rei visibly stiffened and hastily, almost running, left the room, Chris following with a sinister look on his face.
Riley sighed, then she turned the camera back to herself. "I don't know why, but Rei seems to be frightened of our dear eldest brother. That's quite odd as the two of them used to be closer than Rei and I have ever been, and we're twins. Then, when we were about eight, Rei started avoiding big brother, and it just progressed from there. Now whenever Chris walks in the room, no matter what we're doing, Rei leaves. And Chris just laughs at him. I want to know the cause of this, but there's no way Rei would tell me. He doesn't talk to me anymore, at all. He just bottles himself up, so I have to talk to Charlie if I want to talk to anyone and get a reply." She sighed again. "I suppose there isn't much I can do, but I can show you a bunch of clips from years ago. Ones from when mom and dad were alive, and then I'll just progress through the years, okay? That's next!" And the screen went black then another clip came up.
A little girl, about four-years-old, wearing a very muddy dress stood triumphantly at the top of a hill. They presumed the little girl was Riley. There was laughter suddenly, and the refocused to something else. A little boy, about the same age, stood at the other side of a group of four people, completely covered in mud from head to toe.
"Riley-chan, what did you do that for?" A woman's voice, the camera focused on a woman with long raven-colored hair and dark blue eyes.
"Well, he was making fun of my dress. So I pushed him in one of the puddles on the driveway, and he sunk." They all laughed again.
"Rei-kun, what do you have to say to this?" The woman laughed.
"She does look funny in a dress, though." He said and stuck his tongue out at her.
"You little!" She bolted at him, but was scooped into the air by a young man, about twelve.
"Charlie! Put me down!" She shrieked at him. He just laughed.
"No can do, my dear. We can have you roughing up little boys, now can we?"
"Hey! That's not fair!" Rei was obviously pouting, but he too was picked up out of nowhere. Another young man, but he was older, and quite a bit more attractive. It was Chris, but he wasn't the same as the earlier clips. The smile on his face was pure and he was truly laughing.
"Rei-chan, behave." He said lightly to the little boy, flicking him on the nose. "I do believe you need a change of clothing, too."
"I 'spose." The boy rolled his eyes, then he yawned. "But 'm tired. I wanna go to sleep." He nestled his head on the older boy's shoulder and yawned again, looking quite content.
One of the maids walked up and smiled at Chris. "I'll take him for you, Master Christopher. I think he just needs a bath and a nap."
Chris glared at her, rather fervently, and his pleasant nature was suddenly replaced, if only for a very short amount of time. "No, thank you. I can take care of him." He shifted the boys weight, smiled at him when he looked up, and carried him into the house. In the background of the shot, Ann and a man, most likely Andrew, looked at each other, a somewhat worried expression mirrored on the other's face. The nurse was put-off, and it showed, as she went to Charlie, scooped up the little girl, and brought her inside in a huff, to bathe and change her.
The scene flashed out and another flashed onto the screen. It was the four children, this time they were in the building from the first shot, more specifically, the living room area. They looked about two or three years older from the last clip. Charlie was sitting in a chair, looking at the floor. Riley was sitting on the ground next to him, fiddling with her fingers. Chris and Rei were sitting on the sofa, the elder stroking his brother's hair. Chris suddenly looked up.
"At least it's a place to stay. We were just orphans on our own, we're staying somewhere now!" This statement was obviously directed at Charlie, and the teenager looked up.
"I don't trust them. That's the end of it, brother. I don't trust them at all. They're far too interested in Rei and Riley. It's not a good idea to stay here!" He was opposed to something, and was letting it get to him.
"There isn't much we can do otherwise. Do you want to die?" Chris was nervous, too, though somewhat better at hiding it.
"I'd rather die than let anything happen to these two." He gestured to the two youngest siblings.
"I won't let them get hurt, there's nothing to worry about!" One should believe something before they try to convince others of its reality.
"Dammit, Chris! I think you know as well as I what they want to do with us!" Charlie suddenly stood up, glaring daggers at his elder brother.
"I know, Charlie, I really do. But let's try this. If it doesn't work out, we'll leave."
"What if they don't let us leave, eh Chris? What if they keep us here?!?" He was panicking. "What then? What do we do then?" He collapsed onto the floor. Riley began to cry lightly.
"I don't want to be here, either, big brother." She looked up at Chris, but he took no notice of her. His eyes were narrowed on Charlie, who was also crying.
"Don't be so weak, Charles. There's no way the two of us can support ourselves and these two in the world we live in today. There are too many parties that want to kill us, if only for our names." His eyes were cold and empty. "Here we will be safe. This is a military outfit, they want revenge on the same people as us. Why should we rebel against them?"
"I'm not saying to!" Charlie sobbed, trying to convince his cold brother. "I just don't think revenge is needed! We shouldn't turn ourselves into them! They killed our parents, sure, but we shouldn't kill them! We'd just be repeating the cycle, Chris!"
"So what? They'll keep killing until their satisfied. We need to get rid of them. You and I, none other. We can do this, you know it! With help, the two of us can rid the world of them, why won't you cooperate?" Chris was attempting to convince him now.
"You don't know that we can succeed. And I don't want Rei and Riley to be drawn into this! They're seven for God's sake!" He screeched at his brother. Riley's tears increased, and she was silently sobbing.
"If we try, we can succeed. Nothing is too much, or too hard. Everything is possible, dear brother. I don't want them involved in this either. They'll be protected here, though. If we fight, they'll have the option of not!"
"Like hell they will." His eyes narrowed and he was talking through gritted teeth. "You overheard the same damn thing I did, Christopher. They don't want to just 'protect' our younger siblings, they want them in general!"
"That doesn't mean we'll let them have them, Charlie. Just cooperate. Once our enemy is gone, we can leave here, I promise you."
"Stop trying to convince me, it's not going to work. I refuse to participate in this."
"I don't care." He had given up. His deep brown eyes were devoid of emotion. "You are not the one who makes decisions here, I am. So you'd better just sit back and do what I say. I know what I'm doing, Charles. I'm going to end this. If I lose my own life in the process, so be it. I won't allow the ones I love to be hurt any more." He turned to leave the room when Rei grabbed the back of his shirt. He turned around, startled, to look at the boy.
"Big brother. Don't be mean to Charlie, please? He's scared, so are you. We know you don't want to hurt us, but these people aren't trustworthy. Not at all. I don't want to be here, but if you'll stay here, with me, and don't fight, I'll stay." His blue eyes were large, and full of tears, and he was begging his brother. To the surprise of the viewers, the older boy reached down and picked him up, holding him tightly.
"I'll never leave you if you don't want me to. It's you I want to protect, my dear little brother, and as long as you stay safe, I'm happy. Do you understand?"
"Yes. But please don't fight. It's pointless. Fighting doesn't do anything but rile people up. Then even more people will die, just like Charlie says."
"Fine, we'll stay away from the fight, I promise. But can we stay here? It's safe, I hope."
"I don't mind, not really." He smiled lightly and brushed away the tears from the older boy's eyes. "Not if you protect us." He smiled and hugged him. Chris would do anything for the small boy. Anything he asked. Charlie and Riley just watched, they knew that Chris loved the boy more than either of them, but didn't mind, not really. As long as they didn't have to fight. Neither of them wanted to stay at the base, but they couldn't do much about it. At least Chris would be there. He would protect them. It would be a cold day in hell when he did anything at all to injure the one he prized. At least, they thought.
There the scene faded out again, and a new one replaced it. The new scene was obviously several years later, as it opened with Rei and Riley, both practicing kendo. They looked about ten or eleven.
"Okay! You're done for today!" Chris's voice echoed. "Enough!"
"Yes, big brother!" Riley said happily, and Rei just nodded and ran to put his things away and get as far from his brother as possible. Chris had changed back. No longer a kind-looking person, he had gone back to looking horrible and destructive.
"You need to practice balance." He motioned for them to do so. Riley climbed onto a balance beam, and started doing gymnastics stuff while humming, and Rei began to climb a ladder to a rope hung above them all. He walked, steadily, to the center of the rope. Once there, he began to practice martial arts fighting stances.
The practice ran smoothly, and they looked quite good at what they were doing, until Riley slipped and fell off her bar, landing on her butt on the floor with a shriek. This shriek, however, distracted Rei and he started to fall off the rope, wavering and leaning forward, he couldn't keep his balance, and fell. Both viewers had to close their eyes, but there was no crash, as they had been expecting, just a loud 'Oof!'. They looked up and almost fell over.
Chris had caught the boy, and was glaring at him. "You need to try harder. Ignore distractions." Rei just glared back at him.
"Put me down. Now." Was his only reply, and his brother complied with it. Once back safely on the ground, the boy returned to his exercises. The scene faded out again, and Riley's face, at eleven-years-old, reappeared on the screen.
"Well, I think that describes, pretty damn well, the differences between now and then." Her eyes weren't cold, just extremely sad. "Things can't go back to the way they were, but I can hope that they'll get better, at least a little." She smiled sadly. "Well, I'll record again in a while. Bye for now!" And the screen went black. After about a minute, her face reappeared.
"Hey! I decided to record again! The date is February 6, After Colony 194. I'm thirteen now, so Rei's thirteen, Charlie's twenty-one, and Chris is twenty-three. I wish I could tell you that everything between us all has gotten better, but I'd be lying. Those clips, I've realized now after watching them, really do sum up our lives quite well. All I can say is that it's gotten worse. Much worse." She smiled sadly. "But, I can still get brother-dearest to do some cute things when Chris isn't around!" They assumed that she meant Rei by brother-dearest.
"Well, let's see how everyone is, then I have to show you some pretty cute things, to make you feel better, since those clips were kinda depressing." She walked down some halls, and came upon Charlie, typing on a laptop. "Hey Charlie!" She smiled and waved. "I'm doing the continuation of my video documentary on us!"
"I see, well, hi, then." He smiled and waved. "But, Riley, dear, I have to work on this. I hope you don't mind?"
"Not at all! I have to go find Rei, though, bye!" She scampered off and found Rei quite quickly. He was practicing karate in a training room, quite impressively. "Rei-chan! Hey! I'm doing more on my documentary!"
"That's great, sis." He was concentrating pretty hard.
"Frustrated, dear brother?"
"A little."
"What about?"
"Ass holes."
"Right.I'm going to assume you mean Chris since I hope you aren't researching people's butts." He fell over in the middle of his exercise.
"Riley." He glared at her for about two seconds before bursting out laughing. "Yes, you're right."
"I know, I always am!"
"Hah! Double hah!"
"Oh, you shuddup!"
"What if I don't?" He stuck out his tongue, provoking a wrestling match between the two of them.
"Well.I just make you try that outfit on again!"
"NO!" He screeched and very quickly pinned her down. "That was torture!"
"But I liked it on you! And plus, if I ever wear it, you just have to! We always have to look alike!"
"If you say so." He was involuntarily shuddering.
"Hey! It wasn't that bad!"
"Not if you're a girl.but guys don't wear that stuff."
"J-Rockers do."
"Well, I'm a martial artist, not a J-Rocker."
"So? You can be both."
"Riley." He was glaring at her.
"Oh, all right! You don't have to wear it anymore!"
"Good! I didn't like it at all!"
"But I am adding the recording of you in it to this documentary!"
"Oh, no."
"." She stuck out her tongue at him.
"Who all is going to see this recording?"
"Whoever winds up with that photo album we found."
"Oh, geez."
"Tee hee!" She grinned and laughed at him. "Well, I have to find Chris, you wouldn't happen to-" She was cut off.
"In the office over there." He pointed to the office next to the ring, and went back to training, any former signs of joy were gone from his features.
"Thanks, little brother!" She knocked on the door, and was let in. "Hey, Chris!"
"Oh, hello, Riley." He smiled politely at her, but it was his usual, scary smile.
"I'm continuing my documentary of all of us! Just say something!"
"Well, I really must be finished up with this project." He tapped the container on the desk. "You'll know what it is soon enough."
"Oh, all right! Geez, you and Charlie are no fun! I'll just go do the clips now." She rolled her eyes and left his office. The screen faded black, then back to her face. "Well, this is what's happened since last recording that I got on tape and was entertaining. Don't worry, there's only one clip this time. Charlie's the one recording, since he went with."
The screen faded, and came back on in a clothing store. More specifically next to the dressing room. Suddenly there was a 'Ta da!' and Riley popped out of one of the rooms. She scampered over from the girls' dressing room. The camera was in between the boys' and girls' dressing rooms.
Riley was wearing black, skin-tight, shiny black, seemingly leather, pants, and a black mesh top with a tank top underneath. "Like it, Charlie?"
"Yeah, it's great!" He was laughing. "I can tell you're actually female in that!"
"And you're looking." She raised an eyebrow.
"No, it's just noticeable, dear." He was trying very hard to talk between chuckles. "So what's Rei wearing?"
"This." Wu Fei and Sally fell over.
Seemingly, so did Charlie, as the camera was getting something upside down. Suddenly, there was a shriek from the boys' dressing room. "Riley! I am not wearing this out there! You're insane!"
"Well, you're no more sane than I, just come out! I did! I'm sure you look cute!"
"I look like a hooker! A female hooker!" All burst out laughing. "Aargh!"
"Just come out!"
"Fine! But you owe me for this!" He walked out, and there was a mass laughing and falling over. He was wearing the same thing, and he really did look like a female hooker.
"Rei! That's just hilarious! Charlie, we have to get these!"
"I agree!"
"NO!" Rei was about to hide, but they pounced on him. "NOOOOO!" Was the last thing they heard before the screen faded out again. This time when Riley showed up, she looked even older.
"Hey. It's March 12, After Colony 195, and I'm going to be fifteen in two days! Yay! Well, this is another continuation of my life! So, hey! Here we go!" She walked down the hall, and into the living room thing. All three boys were in there. Charlie was typing on his laptop, Chris was reading a magazine, and Rei a book. "Okay! He guys, this is another installation of my documentary! Cool, huh?"
"Yeah, wonderful." Rei scowled at her. "Don't even mention that thing. I've seen enough of myself in hooker outfits, thank you." Charlie and Riley laughed, Chris just looked between the three of them, raised his eyebrows, and shrugged.
"Oh, ha ha, Rei!" She stuck her tongue out at him. "Okay, everyone's together! Yay! Say something, everybody!"
"Something." Rei glared at her again, but was smirking slightly.
"REI!" She glared at him and scowled.
"Well, hello never-to-be audience!" Charlie stuck his tongue out at his sister.
"Yeah.Rei's fourteen, like me, Charlie's twenty-two, and Chris is twenty- four. Say something, Chris!"
"Well, I finished my experiment." He smiled slightly and his upper lip twitched up.
"Oh, yay! Do we get to see it?"
"Tomorrow."
"Okay! Well, there are no more interesting clips, so I guess that was just an update! Things are exactly as they were last year! Bye!" And the video file ended.
Wu Fei and Sally looked at one another. "Wow. That was.informative." Sally stated the obvious.
"Quite. Heero sure changed a lot in between that recording and operation meteor. And there was only a three-week difference."
"Wait." She flipped to the back page of the album and looked at the dates while Wu Fei put the disk away, they had already saved it onto the hard drive of Sally's laptop. "That's it. Wu Fei.Charlie and Riley died the next day. The day after that was recorded." She looked up at him, and both winced.
"We should put this away." He stuck it back into the book shelf, and looked at the time. "It's almost noon. That was a long recording."
"Yeah, it was." Sally looked at the ground.
"I suppose we should wait to go out for lunch now."
"Yeah, let's make the bed.couch.thing." She laughed, causing her husband to, and they did so. Heero arrived ten minutes after they were done to take the pair out to lunch. It was a nice lunch, but neither Wu Fei nor Sally said much during it. And their flight was to leave at two, so they said their goodbyes, confirmed he'd be in Brussels on the twenty-third, and left.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Author's Notes: Yeah, yeah, I know I've completely disregarded the Episode ZERO. Oh well, it's my fic, after all! Well, that was the last 'boring' chapter. AKA, the last chapter with just information on it. The rest of the story will give information, of course, but in a way that's a lot more fun! Teaser for Chapter Three: The speeches, arrangements, and some weird courses of events. You should know by now, or have noticed, that this story is going to be kind of odd. Why does Heero hate his brother? I mean, it's somewhat obvious why he does now, but why did he suddenly start hating him when he was eight? They were closer than anything, I mean it. I tried to get that across, but I don't know if I did a very good job. I'm not saying those questions will be answered in the next chapter, actually, they most definitely will not be! But, you need to think, since I'll be giving hidden clues the whole way through. I've started, but they're hidden to the point of only I would notice them. Also.'Tomorrow'. What did that mean? What do you think his experiment was? I guess that's another thing to think about. ^.~ Well, until next time, later!
Oh, and one more thing: yes, I did base Riley's character off that of Hokuto, the female protagonist of Tokyo Babylon, a wonderful manga/anime (though I haven't seen the anime) by CLAMP. And with the dressing alike thing, that was also stolen from Tokyo Babylon! Sorry! CLAMP, I love you guys! Get X/1999 done! I wanna know what happens to Subaru! *sobsob*