Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.
I wrote this a long time ago, and haven't have the time to look over it. If this is a really trashy fic, I apologize ahead of time. I'm going to revamp it sometime, maybe in the summer. Welcome to the wonderful world of laptops, right?
"Can I sit with you a while?" Quatre asked Wufei who was reclining stiffly on the couch in the waiting room. When he didn't respond, Quatre cut straight to the chase, "I know who he was."
Wufei threw him a half curious, half warning glance and waited for him to continue.
Clearing his throat, Quatre forced himself to talk, "He's was very rich. His father is Nicholas Wilde, a lesser-known name to the public, but far more powerful amongst the bluebloods than even Winner. Mr. Wilde's son disappeared around the time Operation Meteor began. Since all attention was on us…the story never reached the news."
"How do you know that Artax is him?" Wufei asked knowing how hard it'd be to forget his guardian's face.
"I met him once at this big congregation. We were really young, probably six. One of my sisters wanted to trade clothes with him and he consented. I was with my father the entire time, so I could only watch. Mr. Wilde seemed to appear out of thin air in the small, secluded place they had changed in. He grabbed his son and dragged him away. My sister was really scared."
"Why don't you call him 'Artax'?"
Quatre looked a little surprised at the question, but then shook his head, "That's not his name."
--
Wufei couldn't sleep as he thought on Quatre's words. He tossed and turned finally settling for lying on his side and staring off into the dark. It was a little creepy, he'd never stayed up late enough for Artax to fall asleep before him, and in sleep, Artax never made a sound and never moved. But he was warm, and his warmth carried on over to the pull out bed next to his.
He was close to drifting off when he heard the click of a lock. Wufei looked to the door, around the room and settled on the unmistakable outline of Artax's body. He was in front of the door Wufei had gotten used to being locked and almost forgotten about. Pale light poured from behind the opening door and Artax slowly stepped in closing it behind himself.
Wufei fell asleep before Artax emerged, incapable to hold onto consciousness any longer.
--
At the breakfast table that morning, Wufei watched every move Artax made. The way that he shrugged the hair out of his eyes, how he casually ate his rice in segments, he dipped his chopsticks in gojoojang before each bite, and many other almost robotic things. It was mesmerizing.
"I've been wondering, what's in that locked room?"
"That's not something crucial for you to know," Artax replied.
"I want to know," Wufei fumed.
Exasperatedly, Artax set his bowl down and got up from the table. "Don't be upset. It doesn't involve you."
Guilt quickly replaced anger and Wufei felt bad that he'd made his soft- spoken guardian upset and cold. "I'm just bored out of my mind here. I'm useless like this."
"You're used to working a lot? What do you do other than pilot mobile suits?"
"I had been without a mobile suit for two years. I worked at the Preventers. Then I was summoned to Stardust Complex and handed a mobile suit. I'm a 'peacekeeper'," Wufei said spacing out a little. "Why is it that I can answer all your tedious questions and you can't answer mine?"
"You really want to know. If you know, would you keep it here? You'll never enter that room again."
Wufei nodded and took Artax's offered hand.
"Keep your promise," he was warned as the door opened.
It was all white and sterile looking from the doorway and the hum of machinery barely reached Wufei's ears. He looked around and his gaze rested on a hospital bed. Lying in the middle of it was a very thin youth with black hair pooled around his head.
"Who is that?"
"Someone I need to protect."
"You'll never give me a straight answer, will you?" Wufei mused a little annoyed.
"I can't tell you his name…for his safety."
"What can I do with his name if I'm stuck here?"
"I'm thinking about when you go back to Preventers."
"I already know who you are," Wufei said.
Artax didn't answer for a while, "Winner told you."
"I won't tell anyone if you don't want them to know. Although, I'm sure that Trowa knows by now."
"If it spreads, another war will start."
"How do you know that?"
"I can feel it," Artax said sitting next to Hyejin's bed and stroking his hair. "It's like a storm. It's been brewing for a long time, and soon the rain will fall. I want to outlast the beginnings."
Those words were cryptic, but they strangely made sense. Wufei stared blankly as thoughts of holding Artax and comforting him. He shook them away and refocused on his surroundings.
A severe feeling of longing lanced through his body that he didn't quite understand. He felt as if he were suffocating.
All the affection Artax was showing towards his comatose friend, the love between Kat and Trowa, the magnetism Heero and Duo had, Wufei wanted for himself. The warmth he hadn't been shown since birth. He left the room, stifling unshed tears, and trying to get himself under control.
Artax followed him after a while meticulously closing and latching the door behind himself. Wufei was already under control by then and building a denser shield to hide his emotions behind.
--
"The reports have gotten worse. We sent another hail after our last meeting, and they still haven't replied," Erriji frowned.
"Why can't we just send them back? Stop all this…" Bijoe whined.
"We've already gone over this. We cannot let the Alliance think they can control us with threats. We can defeat them in a war. We have something to fight for," Akasi answered.
"Maybe we should send…someone to negotiate," Titien suggested.
"Do we want to take the risk?" Hithien reminded everyone lightly rapping on the table.
"No," Erriji responded.
"So, we're just going to wait for a war?" Bijoe asked.
"We wait for them to threaten us to our face," Akasi said.
"Do you think that the gundam pilots would speak on our behalf?" Kanan asked adjusting his glasses.
The three guardians shifted around in their seats with pensive expressions etched on their faces.
"We have shown them every courtesy they can expect…seeing as how they have not ascertained their role here. No one has complained," Titien spoke softly. "Our actions are understandable here, and it's up to the Alliance to…to send a transmission so we can start negotiation on the release of their soldiers. It would be a textbook operation if they weren't wanting to start a war."
"So, it's time to hold our breaths and wait," Akasi said massaging his temples.
"Alright…Bijoe, Artax, Titien, you three have permission now to explain everything to them. Give them the bare facts and let them translate it to whatever they want. Judge their creditability from that and watch them for a while. Report to me tomorrow with your verdict and twenty page essays following the nine hundred twenty-five format."
"Yes sir," the guardians said all at once.
--
Wufei, Trowa, and Quatre all sat at a corner of the waiting room in silence.
"Something is happening. The Alliance is up to something," Quatre said in his first words against the government.
Trowa and Wufei looked at his questioningly and he took it as queue to continue. "We're going to have to choose sides soon. I've been having second thoughts about the Alliance since we were sent here. To be honest, I think if we'd come here under more cordial conditions, I'd like it here a lot. I mean, I like it here anyway. Just looking outside…It's like Eden. Not the manicured, industrial look of Earth. If this colony and Earth were to have a war today, who would you fight for?"
Wufei shrugged and Trowa held Quatre's hand to show that his loyalty belonged only to one person. Duo was conveniently walking by at that time and stopped to think, "I dunno Quatre. Two wars and then switching sides is kind of a waste isn't it?" Then he looked at Wufei and Trowa remembering the Marimeia incident. "But then again, some of us don't care so much about that, I guess."
Wufei rolled his eyes, "When will you let it die, Maxwell?"
"Preserve life, Wuffie," Duo countered.
"Both of you, stop," Quatre scolded. "It was a rhetorical question, anyway. My point was just…whose morals you agree with so far."
"I like what I know," Duo said.
"I want to get to know this colony. It seems so peaceful here even with all the militant technology. There seems to be just enough technology dedicated to saving life," Quatre explained. Duo nodded.
"But there is 'challenging' here," Wufei said. "I don't know exactly what it is, but this woman wanted to challenge Artax to, I think, a duel."
"A duel?" Quatre exclaimed.
Trowa took this time to speak up, "These people are honor bound like clans, and they happen to develop weaponry here. It's only natural that they'd use it to resolve disputes."
"That's stupid," Duo frowned. "What happened to talks over a cup of coffee?"
"Nothing," Trowa replied. "It's just…some people really have problems."
"Oh, I get it."
"I think that most people here like quiet living," Quatre said. "It's genius if you really think about it. 'A big dog needn't bark so much'."
Everyone nodded.
--
"This is the latest news clip, it's a press conference with Relena Peacecraft," vice operations manager of foreign affairs, Eingrad, explained as the lights dimmed.
-
"The gundam pilots are being held within the covert colony 666, and are being refused release. We, the Alliance, are preparing for conflict. The colony is believed to be heavily armed, so we may need to begin training a peacekeeper's army. For the peace of Alliance space, we must disarm them by any means possible and recover our lost pilots…" Relena spoke into the microphone. She paused a minute to think about her Heero and held back tears as she hastily wrapped up her speech. "Please support us in this endeavor."
She made her exit in a blinding show of camera flashes, bowing graciously and was met by L6 rep waiting for her just outside of the conference room. "Good job, Miss Peacecraft. I'm so glad that you have gone back to work after being so ill."
"Thank you, Mr Okita," Relena replied curtly not bothering to grace him with her sugar sweet façade.
"Tell the people anything using big words, and they'll follow you into the pits of hell. You'll get your Heero back, guaranteed."
"I'm counting on it, Mr Okita. Thank you." Having said that, Relena made a hasty retreat to her limo waiting outside.
In the safety of the leather cushions of her limo, Relena laid back holding up a picture of Heero that Dorothy had given her. "Oh…Heero," she sobbed. "I know they're doing something horrible to you right now…Heero." She ran her fingers over his half turned face and cried out, "Heero!"
--
An involuntary shudder ran through Heero and he all of a sudden felt cold.
"Are you okay?" the temporary guardian, Beck, asked.
"Un…Tell me more about the duels."
--
"We need to divide, plan to put some operations on hold, pick out the important ones that can't wait, everything like that. Lists will be sent to your homes by the end of the day," Erriji stated leaving no room for question. "Keep in mind that the lists can be changed at any time." Everyone nodded. "Alright, you're free to go."
--
"What is Artax like?" Quatre asked. "He looks so sad."
"I don't really know," Wufei answered warily. "He's extremely quiet, polite, smart, kind of like 'the perfect soldier' with etiquette lessons."
"He would be, I guess," Quatre responded a little sadly. "I would hope that he'd be happier now that he's free."
"Maybe his issues followed him here," Wufei suggested.
"Perhaps…I just don't know. Every time I see him, it just makes me want to cry. It probably sounds stupid to you, but his depression…"
Wufei frowned and eased himself further into the artificial comfort of the couch.
A light tapping on the doorframe brought them out of their reverie. Bijou stood in the doorway smiling nervously, "Lets go home." Trowa and Quatre obediently joined her at the door leaving Wufei to fend against Duo and further ignore Heero.
Like a charm, Duo bounded over to Wufei and took over the spot Quatre had been, soaking up the fading warmth.
"Hey Fei, what'cha up to?"
"I thought it should be quite obvious, Maxwell."
"How're you and Artax doing?"
"Mutual respect, not that it involves you."
"Not in the sack yet, eh."
"I don't plan on it."
"Does he?"
"I've half a mind to wield your mouth shut."
"Heero would never forgive you for that."
"You're disgusting."
"Thank you."
"That wasn't a compliment."
"I'm so pleased."
Wufei was ready to gag Duo with his braid or something to that effect when he remembered Artax and the book, Amrita. It isn't so bad…he said to himself. And he remembered that he had yet to read the entire book. Why could he never remember it?
"I hate being here," Duo whined. "I want to be back home and not watched twenty-four, seven. It's so annoying!…Fei? Wuffie? Hey, Chang!"
Wufei looked at him for a split second before returning to his own thoughts. Duo began talking again but he couldn't hear him. He was thinking about his guardian as a person instead of an occupation. Then he thought about the person in the locked room and how insanely jealous he'd been when Artax had been so soft and…loving? For some reason, Wufei was visualizing Artax as a woman, a motherly entity. He thought about what Duo had said before about how "it wouldn't hurt," but at the time Wufei had been in his objective sense of mind. It wouldn't be prudent to develop emotions in such a strange situation. But for some strange reason, that was just what he was doing no matter how hard he tried to think methodically, his thoughts, lately, returned to Artax, what reminded him of his guardian, what it would be like to live with him forever. What would it be like to really touch him? Feel him from his skin to his soul. To know how he works. It was perplexing, his tastes and his secrets. If Wufei had a computer to look up Artax's other life, would he?
"Chang."
Wufei snapped to attention looking towards the doorway where Artax waited. He looked worried, but ofcourse, no one else would notice that. Before Wufei could rise from his seat, Heero got up and in the way.
"You're the best soldier. I want to challenge you," he stated simply.
"Just like that…" Artax asked.
"Just like that," Heero echoed.
"Engagement rules and regulations prohibit such bouts. In 'challenge,' someone must die," Artax said.
"In virtual battles, both parties can walk away without a scratch. I want to fight."
For the second time in his life, Wufei wanted nothing more than to wax the floor with Heero. Rage raced through his veins while Duo just sat pleasantly dumbfounded. There was a long silence where the two combatants to be just looked each other over.
Then it occurred to Wufei that Heero could only assess Artax by his physical appearance until they ended up on the battlefield. Artax looked extremely thin rather than strong. His eyes, though, they betrayed his ravenous intellect. Those eyes, Wufei was extremely fond of. One dark, and one light like good and bad, the ancient battle that could move people to tears.
"I accept," Artax finally said. "Titien will have to help you…it takes a month to set up."
Heero nodded.
"Chang…lets go…"
--
"What exactly is a 'challenge'?" Wufei asked.
"The virtual battle Heero wants is different from a traditional 'challenge.' You apply for it like a traditional challenge, but it's a lot more work. The challenger must create the battlefield. Designing three- dimensional fighting platforms and the like. Or he can use a pre-rendered set and modify it. And he can choose any three manipulative bugs. Adjusting gravity, density, and things like that. It is a lot of work, but he doesn't have very much else to do right now, does he?" Artax explained pushing a rice cake around in his ramen. "It's like a video game, people do virtual challenges for fun. There are nerve readers to simulate pain, so the fight is real to the brain. It's fun."
"…You don't think it's fun," Wufei concluded.
"No. Here, people are trained to be large army…Though not purely for destruction. The idea is to preserve life, not destroy it. However, people die everyday here, not all from old age. 'Challenges' are a regular occurrence. The birth/death rate is one to one. It's steadily been like this for decades."
"While the Alliance populous increases exponentially," Wufei said.
"The Alliance has the advantage of having more people to throw away in a war, but it's their way of thinking that would defeat them in the end. Relena Peacecraft has the Alliance preparing for a war in the name of peace."
"A war?!" Wufei exclaimed and Artax nodded shaking a curtain of hair into his eyes.
"They are using your disappearance as a cover. This colony can't just send you back because hails have already been sent to the Alliance and not returned. It would be a serious infringement on the rules on engagement. The Alliance has fabricated conversations and meetings that have not taken place to make fighting more appealing. As long as there is a reason to fight, no matter how small, how much people know about the suffering of war, they will always come back for more. All the soldiers from the wars before, everyone in rehabilitation will be on the front lines because they know no other life. They hate it but they love it at the same time. It's satisfying to inflict pain on others that may equal their own."
"I don't like it," Wufei said wondering at the same time whether he was telling the truth. "So, what happens to us?"
"You and the other pilots, your fate is pending."
--
"Artax?" Wufei said into the dark where his guardian was sleeping. He was rewarded by a sleepy grunt, and he smiled inwardly. "Can I listen to your music?"
Lazy sounds of sheets and a moving body filled the room, then a quiet click. Soft piano notes trickled out like dew followed by a deep, smooth voice. The song was in Japanese and it was very beautiful.
"Who is this?"
"…K…amui…Gackt…Sakai Story," Artax replied slowly, his voice muffled by something Wufei couldn't see.
Unconsciously, Wufei groped and after a few misses, found Artax's hand and held it lightly. He began to drift off to sleep when he felt Artax's hand grasp his firmly then becoming relaxed again.
The music played all night.
--
"How fast can we put an army together and train them?" Relena asked.
"A month at the least," Rikuro, the L2 vice rep replied. "The people feel a real sympathy for the pilots. We'll get recruits faster than we'll be able to process them."
"A month? That is all I am giving you. And what of our weaponry?"
"We have mass arms from the last war. They are stored in an underground safe house on the east Australian coast," Rikuro said unfolding a map and making marks on it with a red pen.
"I thought everything was destroyed…"
"That doesn't matter now, does it?"
Relena hastily replied, "No…no it doesn't. I just want to get this going and over with as soon as possible. Retrieve the pilots and disarm 666. Two birds with one stone."
"I never took you for one to make such a crude analogy," L2 rep, Alexis called from the doorway. "What are you up to busy little bee?"
"Nothing that concerns you," Relena shot back leaning over the map and making notes.
"I think not. What the hell is with all the news reports? I was not told of all this."
"The Alliance is going to retrieve the pilots," Rikuro said looking at Alexis's slight form standing in the wooden doorframe. He looked fairly scuffed like he'd been running or ready to rip his hair out.
"Bullshit!" Alexis spat. "I don't know what sick games you're playing Miss Peacecraft and the rest of you, but be assured that L2 will not be a part of it."
"Sick games? Wasn't it you that approved the plan to send the pilots to 666 for 'negotiation' in the first place. You knew something was going to happen!" Relena nearly screamed. "And I'm going sick with worry! Heer…the pilots need our help!"
"They can take care of themselves! I am not going to be a part of your sick schemes! I read the 'communication' with 666. I wasn't even here when they supposedly took place! How was I in a conference room and my cabin in Russia at the same time!?"
Rikuro lashed out and caught Alexis's in the stomach with his knee. The L2 rep fell to the ground making barely audible gasps for breath. Rikuro took a kerchief out of his coat pocket and rolled it into a rope, then he gagged Alexis, who was taking his first rattling breaths.
"You're still in your cabin, my dear boy. Two days ago, a pack of hungry wolves came and tore you apart. And now…" Rikuro said kneeling so that his lips touched Alexis's upturned ear. "I am in mourning, but politics cannot wait. So…I must take your place."
With that, Rikuro got up, looking about cockily with a self-assured smile etched upon his face. "My dear boy, you were always too kind no matter how crude. I'll miss you."
Two tall figures stepped out of the shadows behind Relena and dragged the struggling man away
I wrote this a long time ago, and haven't have the time to look over it. If this is a really trashy fic, I apologize ahead of time. I'm going to revamp it sometime, maybe in the summer. Welcome to the wonderful world of laptops, right?
"Can I sit with you a while?" Quatre asked Wufei who was reclining stiffly on the couch in the waiting room. When he didn't respond, Quatre cut straight to the chase, "I know who he was."
Wufei threw him a half curious, half warning glance and waited for him to continue.
Clearing his throat, Quatre forced himself to talk, "He's was very rich. His father is Nicholas Wilde, a lesser-known name to the public, but far more powerful amongst the bluebloods than even Winner. Mr. Wilde's son disappeared around the time Operation Meteor began. Since all attention was on us…the story never reached the news."
"How do you know that Artax is him?" Wufei asked knowing how hard it'd be to forget his guardian's face.
"I met him once at this big congregation. We were really young, probably six. One of my sisters wanted to trade clothes with him and he consented. I was with my father the entire time, so I could only watch. Mr. Wilde seemed to appear out of thin air in the small, secluded place they had changed in. He grabbed his son and dragged him away. My sister was really scared."
"Why don't you call him 'Artax'?"
Quatre looked a little surprised at the question, but then shook his head, "That's not his name."
--
Wufei couldn't sleep as he thought on Quatre's words. He tossed and turned finally settling for lying on his side and staring off into the dark. It was a little creepy, he'd never stayed up late enough for Artax to fall asleep before him, and in sleep, Artax never made a sound and never moved. But he was warm, and his warmth carried on over to the pull out bed next to his.
He was close to drifting off when he heard the click of a lock. Wufei looked to the door, around the room and settled on the unmistakable outline of Artax's body. He was in front of the door Wufei had gotten used to being locked and almost forgotten about. Pale light poured from behind the opening door and Artax slowly stepped in closing it behind himself.
Wufei fell asleep before Artax emerged, incapable to hold onto consciousness any longer.
--
At the breakfast table that morning, Wufei watched every move Artax made. The way that he shrugged the hair out of his eyes, how he casually ate his rice in segments, he dipped his chopsticks in gojoojang before each bite, and many other almost robotic things. It was mesmerizing.
"I've been wondering, what's in that locked room?"
"That's not something crucial for you to know," Artax replied.
"I want to know," Wufei fumed.
Exasperatedly, Artax set his bowl down and got up from the table. "Don't be upset. It doesn't involve you."
Guilt quickly replaced anger and Wufei felt bad that he'd made his soft- spoken guardian upset and cold. "I'm just bored out of my mind here. I'm useless like this."
"You're used to working a lot? What do you do other than pilot mobile suits?"
"I had been without a mobile suit for two years. I worked at the Preventers. Then I was summoned to Stardust Complex and handed a mobile suit. I'm a 'peacekeeper'," Wufei said spacing out a little. "Why is it that I can answer all your tedious questions and you can't answer mine?"
"You really want to know. If you know, would you keep it here? You'll never enter that room again."
Wufei nodded and took Artax's offered hand.
"Keep your promise," he was warned as the door opened.
It was all white and sterile looking from the doorway and the hum of machinery barely reached Wufei's ears. He looked around and his gaze rested on a hospital bed. Lying in the middle of it was a very thin youth with black hair pooled around his head.
"Who is that?"
"Someone I need to protect."
"You'll never give me a straight answer, will you?" Wufei mused a little annoyed.
"I can't tell you his name…for his safety."
"What can I do with his name if I'm stuck here?"
"I'm thinking about when you go back to Preventers."
"I already know who you are," Wufei said.
Artax didn't answer for a while, "Winner told you."
"I won't tell anyone if you don't want them to know. Although, I'm sure that Trowa knows by now."
"If it spreads, another war will start."
"How do you know that?"
"I can feel it," Artax said sitting next to Hyejin's bed and stroking his hair. "It's like a storm. It's been brewing for a long time, and soon the rain will fall. I want to outlast the beginnings."
Those words were cryptic, but they strangely made sense. Wufei stared blankly as thoughts of holding Artax and comforting him. He shook them away and refocused on his surroundings.
A severe feeling of longing lanced through his body that he didn't quite understand. He felt as if he were suffocating.
All the affection Artax was showing towards his comatose friend, the love between Kat and Trowa, the magnetism Heero and Duo had, Wufei wanted for himself. The warmth he hadn't been shown since birth. He left the room, stifling unshed tears, and trying to get himself under control.
Artax followed him after a while meticulously closing and latching the door behind himself. Wufei was already under control by then and building a denser shield to hide his emotions behind.
--
"The reports have gotten worse. We sent another hail after our last meeting, and they still haven't replied," Erriji frowned.
"Why can't we just send them back? Stop all this…" Bijoe whined.
"We've already gone over this. We cannot let the Alliance think they can control us with threats. We can defeat them in a war. We have something to fight for," Akasi answered.
"Maybe we should send…someone to negotiate," Titien suggested.
"Do we want to take the risk?" Hithien reminded everyone lightly rapping on the table.
"No," Erriji responded.
"So, we're just going to wait for a war?" Bijoe asked.
"We wait for them to threaten us to our face," Akasi said.
"Do you think that the gundam pilots would speak on our behalf?" Kanan asked adjusting his glasses.
The three guardians shifted around in their seats with pensive expressions etched on their faces.
"We have shown them every courtesy they can expect…seeing as how they have not ascertained their role here. No one has complained," Titien spoke softly. "Our actions are understandable here, and it's up to the Alliance to…to send a transmission so we can start negotiation on the release of their soldiers. It would be a textbook operation if they weren't wanting to start a war."
"So, it's time to hold our breaths and wait," Akasi said massaging his temples.
"Alright…Bijoe, Artax, Titien, you three have permission now to explain everything to them. Give them the bare facts and let them translate it to whatever they want. Judge their creditability from that and watch them for a while. Report to me tomorrow with your verdict and twenty page essays following the nine hundred twenty-five format."
"Yes sir," the guardians said all at once.
--
Wufei, Trowa, and Quatre all sat at a corner of the waiting room in silence.
"Something is happening. The Alliance is up to something," Quatre said in his first words against the government.
Trowa and Wufei looked at his questioningly and he took it as queue to continue. "We're going to have to choose sides soon. I've been having second thoughts about the Alliance since we were sent here. To be honest, I think if we'd come here under more cordial conditions, I'd like it here a lot. I mean, I like it here anyway. Just looking outside…It's like Eden. Not the manicured, industrial look of Earth. If this colony and Earth were to have a war today, who would you fight for?"
Wufei shrugged and Trowa held Quatre's hand to show that his loyalty belonged only to one person. Duo was conveniently walking by at that time and stopped to think, "I dunno Quatre. Two wars and then switching sides is kind of a waste isn't it?" Then he looked at Wufei and Trowa remembering the Marimeia incident. "But then again, some of us don't care so much about that, I guess."
Wufei rolled his eyes, "When will you let it die, Maxwell?"
"Preserve life, Wuffie," Duo countered.
"Both of you, stop," Quatre scolded. "It was a rhetorical question, anyway. My point was just…whose morals you agree with so far."
"I like what I know," Duo said.
"I want to get to know this colony. It seems so peaceful here even with all the militant technology. There seems to be just enough technology dedicated to saving life," Quatre explained. Duo nodded.
"But there is 'challenging' here," Wufei said. "I don't know exactly what it is, but this woman wanted to challenge Artax to, I think, a duel."
"A duel?" Quatre exclaimed.
Trowa took this time to speak up, "These people are honor bound like clans, and they happen to develop weaponry here. It's only natural that they'd use it to resolve disputes."
"That's stupid," Duo frowned. "What happened to talks over a cup of coffee?"
"Nothing," Trowa replied. "It's just…some people really have problems."
"Oh, I get it."
"I think that most people here like quiet living," Quatre said. "It's genius if you really think about it. 'A big dog needn't bark so much'."
Everyone nodded.
--
"This is the latest news clip, it's a press conference with Relena Peacecraft," vice operations manager of foreign affairs, Eingrad, explained as the lights dimmed.
-
"The gundam pilots are being held within the covert colony 666, and are being refused release. We, the Alliance, are preparing for conflict. The colony is believed to be heavily armed, so we may need to begin training a peacekeeper's army. For the peace of Alliance space, we must disarm them by any means possible and recover our lost pilots…" Relena spoke into the microphone. She paused a minute to think about her Heero and held back tears as she hastily wrapped up her speech. "Please support us in this endeavor."
She made her exit in a blinding show of camera flashes, bowing graciously and was met by L6 rep waiting for her just outside of the conference room. "Good job, Miss Peacecraft. I'm so glad that you have gone back to work after being so ill."
"Thank you, Mr Okita," Relena replied curtly not bothering to grace him with her sugar sweet façade.
"Tell the people anything using big words, and they'll follow you into the pits of hell. You'll get your Heero back, guaranteed."
"I'm counting on it, Mr Okita. Thank you." Having said that, Relena made a hasty retreat to her limo waiting outside.
In the safety of the leather cushions of her limo, Relena laid back holding up a picture of Heero that Dorothy had given her. "Oh…Heero," she sobbed. "I know they're doing something horrible to you right now…Heero." She ran her fingers over his half turned face and cried out, "Heero!"
--
An involuntary shudder ran through Heero and he all of a sudden felt cold.
"Are you okay?" the temporary guardian, Beck, asked.
"Un…Tell me more about the duels."
--
"We need to divide, plan to put some operations on hold, pick out the important ones that can't wait, everything like that. Lists will be sent to your homes by the end of the day," Erriji stated leaving no room for question. "Keep in mind that the lists can be changed at any time." Everyone nodded. "Alright, you're free to go."
--
"What is Artax like?" Quatre asked. "He looks so sad."
"I don't really know," Wufei answered warily. "He's extremely quiet, polite, smart, kind of like 'the perfect soldier' with etiquette lessons."
"He would be, I guess," Quatre responded a little sadly. "I would hope that he'd be happier now that he's free."
"Maybe his issues followed him here," Wufei suggested.
"Perhaps…I just don't know. Every time I see him, it just makes me want to cry. It probably sounds stupid to you, but his depression…"
Wufei frowned and eased himself further into the artificial comfort of the couch.
A light tapping on the doorframe brought them out of their reverie. Bijou stood in the doorway smiling nervously, "Lets go home." Trowa and Quatre obediently joined her at the door leaving Wufei to fend against Duo and further ignore Heero.
Like a charm, Duo bounded over to Wufei and took over the spot Quatre had been, soaking up the fading warmth.
"Hey Fei, what'cha up to?"
"I thought it should be quite obvious, Maxwell."
"How're you and Artax doing?"
"Mutual respect, not that it involves you."
"Not in the sack yet, eh."
"I don't plan on it."
"Does he?"
"I've half a mind to wield your mouth shut."
"Heero would never forgive you for that."
"You're disgusting."
"Thank you."
"That wasn't a compliment."
"I'm so pleased."
Wufei was ready to gag Duo with his braid or something to that effect when he remembered Artax and the book, Amrita. It isn't so bad…he said to himself. And he remembered that he had yet to read the entire book. Why could he never remember it?
"I hate being here," Duo whined. "I want to be back home and not watched twenty-four, seven. It's so annoying!…Fei? Wuffie? Hey, Chang!"
Wufei looked at him for a split second before returning to his own thoughts. Duo began talking again but he couldn't hear him. He was thinking about his guardian as a person instead of an occupation. Then he thought about the person in the locked room and how insanely jealous he'd been when Artax had been so soft and…loving? For some reason, Wufei was visualizing Artax as a woman, a motherly entity. He thought about what Duo had said before about how "it wouldn't hurt," but at the time Wufei had been in his objective sense of mind. It wouldn't be prudent to develop emotions in such a strange situation. But for some strange reason, that was just what he was doing no matter how hard he tried to think methodically, his thoughts, lately, returned to Artax, what reminded him of his guardian, what it would be like to live with him forever. What would it be like to really touch him? Feel him from his skin to his soul. To know how he works. It was perplexing, his tastes and his secrets. If Wufei had a computer to look up Artax's other life, would he?
"Chang."
Wufei snapped to attention looking towards the doorway where Artax waited. He looked worried, but ofcourse, no one else would notice that. Before Wufei could rise from his seat, Heero got up and in the way.
"You're the best soldier. I want to challenge you," he stated simply.
"Just like that…" Artax asked.
"Just like that," Heero echoed.
"Engagement rules and regulations prohibit such bouts. In 'challenge,' someone must die," Artax said.
"In virtual battles, both parties can walk away without a scratch. I want to fight."
For the second time in his life, Wufei wanted nothing more than to wax the floor with Heero. Rage raced through his veins while Duo just sat pleasantly dumbfounded. There was a long silence where the two combatants to be just looked each other over.
Then it occurred to Wufei that Heero could only assess Artax by his physical appearance until they ended up on the battlefield. Artax looked extremely thin rather than strong. His eyes, though, they betrayed his ravenous intellect. Those eyes, Wufei was extremely fond of. One dark, and one light like good and bad, the ancient battle that could move people to tears.
"I accept," Artax finally said. "Titien will have to help you…it takes a month to set up."
Heero nodded.
"Chang…lets go…"
--
"What exactly is a 'challenge'?" Wufei asked.
"The virtual battle Heero wants is different from a traditional 'challenge.' You apply for it like a traditional challenge, but it's a lot more work. The challenger must create the battlefield. Designing three- dimensional fighting platforms and the like. Or he can use a pre-rendered set and modify it. And he can choose any three manipulative bugs. Adjusting gravity, density, and things like that. It is a lot of work, but he doesn't have very much else to do right now, does he?" Artax explained pushing a rice cake around in his ramen. "It's like a video game, people do virtual challenges for fun. There are nerve readers to simulate pain, so the fight is real to the brain. It's fun."
"…You don't think it's fun," Wufei concluded.
"No. Here, people are trained to be large army…Though not purely for destruction. The idea is to preserve life, not destroy it. However, people die everyday here, not all from old age. 'Challenges' are a regular occurrence. The birth/death rate is one to one. It's steadily been like this for decades."
"While the Alliance populous increases exponentially," Wufei said.
"The Alliance has the advantage of having more people to throw away in a war, but it's their way of thinking that would defeat them in the end. Relena Peacecraft has the Alliance preparing for a war in the name of peace."
"A war?!" Wufei exclaimed and Artax nodded shaking a curtain of hair into his eyes.
"They are using your disappearance as a cover. This colony can't just send you back because hails have already been sent to the Alliance and not returned. It would be a serious infringement on the rules on engagement. The Alliance has fabricated conversations and meetings that have not taken place to make fighting more appealing. As long as there is a reason to fight, no matter how small, how much people know about the suffering of war, they will always come back for more. All the soldiers from the wars before, everyone in rehabilitation will be on the front lines because they know no other life. They hate it but they love it at the same time. It's satisfying to inflict pain on others that may equal their own."
"I don't like it," Wufei said wondering at the same time whether he was telling the truth. "So, what happens to us?"
"You and the other pilots, your fate is pending."
--
"Artax?" Wufei said into the dark where his guardian was sleeping. He was rewarded by a sleepy grunt, and he smiled inwardly. "Can I listen to your music?"
Lazy sounds of sheets and a moving body filled the room, then a quiet click. Soft piano notes trickled out like dew followed by a deep, smooth voice. The song was in Japanese and it was very beautiful.
"Who is this?"
"…K…amui…Gackt…Sakai Story," Artax replied slowly, his voice muffled by something Wufei couldn't see.
Unconsciously, Wufei groped and after a few misses, found Artax's hand and held it lightly. He began to drift off to sleep when he felt Artax's hand grasp his firmly then becoming relaxed again.
The music played all night.
--
"How fast can we put an army together and train them?" Relena asked.
"A month at the least," Rikuro, the L2 vice rep replied. "The people feel a real sympathy for the pilots. We'll get recruits faster than we'll be able to process them."
"A month? That is all I am giving you. And what of our weaponry?"
"We have mass arms from the last war. They are stored in an underground safe house on the east Australian coast," Rikuro said unfolding a map and making marks on it with a red pen.
"I thought everything was destroyed…"
"That doesn't matter now, does it?"
Relena hastily replied, "No…no it doesn't. I just want to get this going and over with as soon as possible. Retrieve the pilots and disarm 666. Two birds with one stone."
"I never took you for one to make such a crude analogy," L2 rep, Alexis called from the doorway. "What are you up to busy little bee?"
"Nothing that concerns you," Relena shot back leaning over the map and making notes.
"I think not. What the hell is with all the news reports? I was not told of all this."
"The Alliance is going to retrieve the pilots," Rikuro said looking at Alexis's slight form standing in the wooden doorframe. He looked fairly scuffed like he'd been running or ready to rip his hair out.
"Bullshit!" Alexis spat. "I don't know what sick games you're playing Miss Peacecraft and the rest of you, but be assured that L2 will not be a part of it."
"Sick games? Wasn't it you that approved the plan to send the pilots to 666 for 'negotiation' in the first place. You knew something was going to happen!" Relena nearly screamed. "And I'm going sick with worry! Heer…the pilots need our help!"
"They can take care of themselves! I am not going to be a part of your sick schemes! I read the 'communication' with 666. I wasn't even here when they supposedly took place! How was I in a conference room and my cabin in Russia at the same time!?"
Rikuro lashed out and caught Alexis's in the stomach with his knee. The L2 rep fell to the ground making barely audible gasps for breath. Rikuro took a kerchief out of his coat pocket and rolled it into a rope, then he gagged Alexis, who was taking his first rattling breaths.
"You're still in your cabin, my dear boy. Two days ago, a pack of hungry wolves came and tore you apart. And now…" Rikuro said kneeling so that his lips touched Alexis's upturned ear. "I am in mourning, but politics cannot wait. So…I must take your place."
With that, Rikuro got up, looking about cockily with a self-assured smile etched upon his face. "My dear boy, you were always too kind no matter how crude. I'll miss you."
Two tall figures stepped out of the shadows behind Relena and dragged the struggling man away