Title: Amnesia
Summary: Duo's disappeared and a young man appears at a lakeshore in Florida, but he remembers nothing of his past. One-shot.
Oh, what a trip down memory lane this story gave me! I honestly pulled this out of my old stuff, edited it, and now am going to post it. So, I apologize for OC quirks or something like that. It's old. Leave me alone. I just made grammatical changes and stuff, so the plot is exactly like it was originally.
Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing. Honestly, who would think I would? I certainly don't own much at all. I have a total of one DVD, one manga, and one cat. And that's not even mine.
So, tell me what you think of my old stuff. It's a one shot, if you didn't catch that during the summary.
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The sun beat heavily upon the early morning mist, burning it all away. It was going to be a beautiful day.
A young woman was jogging down a narrow forest path, oblivious to the sticks that usually attacked her feet and tore at her legs. Today, they were not.
That only made her press harder into the forest. Surely something was wrong. This forest hated intruders, and to now let her through was unheard of.
Some one who was not supposed to be here was here.
Her long braided blonde hair only bounced to the rhythm of her gait as her green eyes meticulously searched the path around her feet for what was not supposed to be.
Suddenly, the path opened up and led right out to a beach on a small lake. The young woman paused and gathered her strength. She had never gotten that far before the trees blocked her off. Something was definitely wrong.
She remembered all of a sudden something that she had not before remembered. Her dream had been of a light in the night sky, falling down to the earth. It had not been a shooting star: she had seen the explosion as it hit the ground. She also remembered a strange cry, a scream of pain or fear, or something like that.
That was when she saw him. There was a young man, lying on the ground by the pond. He was not in a sleeping position. It was more as if he had fallen from the sky and landed there, or as if someone had dragged him there and left him to die.
The young woman raced down to him, hoping that he was not dead. To her luck, he was not. His hair was short, but almost as if it had been long but ripped off by some sharp object just chopping through it. It was a beautiful chestnut color that she had never seen before. She gently lifted his head and rested it on her lap. The man stirred and groaned, but the groan was all she needed.
"Good. You're alive," she said calmly. The man reached a hand up to his head and touched it gently before opening his eyes and looking at her and blinking in the harsh light.
"Where am I?" he mumbled. The young woman did not answer at first because she was taken aback by his eyes: they were the most beautiful blue-purple eyes she had ever seen.
"You're in what remains of the Florida Everglades," she said calmly. "The driest part of the everglades. You're lucky, because this forest itself could kill you, not to mention the animals in it."
"Who are you?" he asked.
"My name is Phil. It's a nickname, but I prefer Phil to my real name," the young woman said. "Try your feet, 'cause this forest wants us out."
The young man obediently tried to get up, but something caught and he collapsed. He laughed and clutched to her arm as she lifted him up. "Some thing's keeping me down!" he said jokingly, but Phil only frowned. She picked up a mess of some soggy rope and tossed it aside.
"What is your name?" Phil asked once the young man was leaning on her. The young man opened his mouth to speak but stopped. He tried again but had to stop again.
"I don't know," he said in a bewildered tone.
"How'd you get here?" Phil asked, trying again.
"I don't know," he repeated.
"Do you know where you come from?"
"No," he said, his face growing more desperate as each second passed.
"Well, I have to call you something," Phil said, her face thinking. "I can't call you Lucky because that's a dog's name. Let's call you Max. That's common enough."
The young man agreed to that and hobbled away, leaning on her shoulder. The forest seemed to sigh gratefully as she led him away, but the rope still lay there. It was long and thick, and braided. It was the same color as the young man's hair.
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Quatre choked back sobs as he checked the scanner once more. For Duo to disappear over Earth and then disappear with out a trace was not correct.
Quatre brushed back tears and sighed deeply. He had not wanted anymore death to come to him, but it just seemed to follow after him.
Suddenly, a small blip appeared on his scanner. Quatre blinked hard and looked at it. Yes, it was the Deathscythe's signal! There was no response when he tried to contact Duo, so it still was possible that he was dead, but now they could find a body at least.
"Heero, I've found Deathscythe," Quatre reported.
"Where is he?"
"Somewhere on the Florida peninsula," Quatre said, checking the scanner to be sure. "Near the southern area."
"Get the exact coordinates. I don't want him telling the world down there of our mission," Heero snapped. Quatre sighed and copied the coordinates down carefully.
'Heero needs to calm down. Duo would not tell a soul of our mission if he was told not to tell,' Quatre thought angrily. 'Duo is not dumb, no matter how much he seems the part. I hope he's okay!'
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"Now the first thing we need to do is to give you a decent hair cut," Phil told Max. Max looked at his shoulder-length hair and frowned.
"I don't think so. I just feel like I don't want my hair cut," Max said. Phil shrugged.
"Fine, but you need to get it trimmed and washed. Yuck, you reek of swamp," Phil said, enunciating the point with a wave of her hand. "Come with me back to my place and we'll get you washed right up."
"Your place?" Max asked.
"Yeah, and you should put your hair in a ponytail if you're not going to cut it," Phil said, taking his wrist and leading him down a paved road. Suddenly, she grinned and looked him in the eye.
"Race you," she said. Max's eyes widened.
"What?"
"Race you! You know, like running to that blue house on the corner?" Phil said. Max's eyes narrowed playfully and he nodded.
"You're on!" he said, dashing off suddenly and laughing at her surprised face. But Phil did not jog every morning to be caught by surprise. In minutes she was with him and holding steady. The race that had started so suddenly in Max's favor was now neck and neck, and the finish line was still yards and yards away.
Suddenly, Phil put on a burst of speed that not one person could have seen. One minute she was keeping pace with Max. The next minute she was reaching farther with her legs than she had ever imagined- and still reaching farther.
She beat him by five hundred feet.
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Quatre shut off Sandrock's engine and looked at the gloomy place that they were now in. It was wet and filled with animals, but not the kind that Quatre would feel comfortable with. It was soggy and seemed to give everyone a heavy feeling. The gloomy part was that Deathscythe was no where to be seen.
"These ARE the coordinates?" Heero muttered angrily. Quatre suddenly exploded.
"YES! They are! Check them yourself! I am going to have a look around!" he yelled, throwing opened Sandrock's hatch and stepped out to breath in the fresh air- and ended up hacking up some misfortunate bug.
When he finally got a breath of air, it was heavy and it seemed as if he was drowning. It was too humid. Way too humid.
"The only way Deathscythe could be here is if it is not here, but still is," Quatre heard Wufei saying. The other gundam pilots only shook their heads and wondered where he got that stuff.
"Not here, but still is," Quatre mumbled, jumping off the small walkway that Sandrock had. He walked off, mumbling that phrase to himself until he paused at the edge of a lake. Suddenly, it hit him. Deathscythe had to be underwater or under ground, and from what he could make out from the murky water, Quatre assumed that Deathscythe might have very well gone underwater.
The other gundam pilots were brought out of their arguments by Quatre's screaming. This brought the other pilots running, but they didn't expect to see Quatre kneeling down by a lakeshore and crying his eyes out.
"He's down there!" Quatre was screaming, pointing at a large, undistinguishable shape below the surface. They only had to look once. Deathscythe was fully covered in water, and from the time it had taken them to find it, Duo wouldn't have lasted long under that water.
Heero immediately dived under the water and swam as best as he could to the hatch. To his horror, it stood open and empty. No bones, no body. Duo hadn't died from the impact, and he hadn't died from the water. Heero pushed off the edge of Deathscythe and broke the water's surface without any problem. He shook the water out of his eyes and started to swim towards the other pilots when something registered. They were screaming at him, Trowa included, about danger behind him. He turned and saw the biggest alligator he had ever seen. He cursed under his breath as he fumbled with his gun. This alligator was going to attack him, and now the gun chose to be fussy.
Suddenly, the gun disappeared from his sight. He had dropped it.
Taking a deep breath, he dove down after it, knowing his fellow pilots would call him a fool for it. Finding it, he turned to see the alligator on him. He tried once to get it to fire, but it did not work, and the alligator got a hold of his leg, but only a weak hold. The second time he fired, the alligator froze and easily was pulled off his leg. Using the body as a float, Heero clutched tightly to it until he got to the surface of the water.
Gasping for the sweet air he hungered for, he suddenly felt a strong hand grip his wrist and drag him roughly toward shore.
"You fool!" Quatre was calling from shore. "You could have out swam it!"
"No I couldn't have, baka," Heero muttered. The hand that was holding him tightened slightly and Heero only chose to fix a piercing glare at Quatre.
When Trowa finally deposited him on the shore, Quatre forgot all about the alligator and asked about what he had seen.
"Duo got out," was all Heero would say. Finally, they could take it no longer and set out to cover the perimeters of the lake.
Trowa was the first to find it, and the sight disturbed him. Something had dragged a lifeless body up onto the shore and left a thick rope beside the body. Later, someone had found the body, got it on its feet, and left.
Yelling was not his way. Trowa immediately took in the surroundings and turned around and started to look for someone. He found the someone in Quatre.
He motioned with his head off in the direction he had come from and led Quatre back to what he had found. When Quatre saw the rope, he gasped and shuddered.
"Duo's braid!" Quatre gasped again. "That's going to make it harder to find him, but now we know he's alive." Quatre yelled for the others to come see the findings.
Heero looked at the tracks and stared up at the slight path that appeared through the trees. The look in his eyes suggested that he wanted to rip down each and every tree.
"Where has that braided baka gone to now?" he murmured. He frowned deeply and looked at the rope in Quatre's hands before correcting himself. "Where has that short haired baka gone to now?"
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Phil had been right. A good shower and a new set of clothes did feel good. Unfortunately, the clothes were one size too big, since her older brother was a couple years older than he was.
Phil's father had suggested that he had had amnesia from some heavy blow to the head, and Max's head did hurt, but he tried not to let it show. Phil's mother had not taken it and she only smiled and handed him some aspirin.
Max enjoyed this new family, and they were very happy to have him with them. Phil's little sister had given him sidelong glances, but something had clicked and he remembered another little child and he had done well with her, even maybe to the status of big brother.
He looked good with his hair in a ponytail that curled under his skull and some old blue jeans. Some how the black shirt did his face good, as if that color was really good on him.
Phil was showing him around the city that she lived in and he smiled to see the sun beating down upon ladies using everything possible to keep the sun off. Chokoloskee was the name of the city, and even if it was impossible to pronounce, it sure looked nice on paper.
Phil had said something about finding his real past, but Max was starting to reconsider the fact. What if he did not want his old past? He liked his new life just fine. Forget whatever he had done before. Here he felt wanted, and that was a new feeling to him. He almost wondered just why the feeling of family was strange to him. Did he not have a family before, in his old life? If he had not had one, he did not want to go back.
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Quatre sighed and looked around the small city. The path had led them through a horrible forest until they reached a small street in some tiny town. Heero said then that they should split up and search for him.
Why did he have to search the center of town? It was hot, muggy, and the cars did not help either. There was no protection from the sun, and the sun was hotter than the pavement, if that was possible.
Quatre hung his head and stared at his feet for a while as he walked. Where could Duo be? Surely he would have tried to find them! Suddenly, a young man slammed into him and knocked him down on the pavement.
"Whoa! Sorry, kid!" a familiar voice said. Quatre looked up and smiled.
"It's okay," he said, nodding politely to the young woman beside him. Getting up, he started to walk away, as did the young man and woman, but Quatre paused.
Suddenly, he stiffened and gave a little shriek. He turned around and dashed up to the young man.
"Duo!" he screamed. The young man turned and gave him a strange look.
"Excuse me?" he asked, his face covered in an annoyed look.
"Duo! You had us worried sick!" Quatre exclaimed.
"Listen, kid, I don't know what you're talking about, so if you'll just leave me-"
"Max, calm down," the young woman said. "Do you know him?"
"Yes, I think. . . " Quatre said, his face starting to betray his doubtful thoughts.
"Max, do you recognize him?" the young woman asked. The young man glared at Quatre.
"Listen, Phil, I don't recognize him. I may have seen him before, but he doesn't remind me of anything," The young man snapped. Quatre blushed.
"I'm sorry. I've been looking for a friend of mine, but I must be mistaken," Quatre muttered.
"Max, how about if you go on ahead. I'll settle this, all right?" the young woman said. The young man walked slowly away, a glare still covering his features. "You are sure you recognize him?" The young woman snapped once the young man was out of sight.
"Really, I don't think so. My friend had long hair, but some how it got cut off, but his hair is neat. I must really be mistaken," Quatre said, trying to pull away.
"Max has had amnesia. He doesn't even remember how he got to the lake I found him at. His hair was shorn off and I found what I thought was a rope, but I left it there. Does that help you?" she asked with her voice low and hurried. Quatre's eyes widened and he nodded.
"I've got to go, but I'll talk to him. What was his name again?" the young woman asked.
"Duo. Duo Maxwell."
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Heero stared silently up the street, scanning the crowds for Quatre. Trowa, Wufei, and Heero had not found him or Duo, but something had happened. Quatre had found him, but something was wrong.
He could not say what.
Trowa made a small grunt under his breath. Quatre was walking through the crowds toward them, dragging his feet as he went. He stopped only a couple of yards away from them and stared straight at the ground. After a few minutes, Heero could not stand it and walked up to Quatre. He took him roughly by the shoulders and lifted his head forcefully. Only then was it noticeable that Quatre was crying.
"Duo doesn't remember any of it. Nothing. As far as he knows, he was born on a lakeshore fully grown and found by a young woman. He has been going by the name of Max. . . We should just let him stay. . . " Quatre was unable to finish what he had started. He fell quietly to the ground on his knees and began to sob gently.
Heero's face hardened and he violently lifted Quatre up to his feet. What happened next was enough to move Trowa from his silent masquerade into tears. Heero silently balled his fist up and swung it. Quatre stumbled back from the blow and had to blink hard a couple of times to keep tears from flowing. Suddenly, he straightened to face Heero and stared at him.
"Yes?" he whispered. "What did you do that for?"
"That was for jeopardizing the mission," Heero said in his monotone, no regret filtering through his iron mask.
"How did I do that?" Quatre asked calmly.
"You wanted to let Duo live here, but he knows too much," Heero snapped, turning brutally on his heel and marching off into the crowd. Quatre watched him leave. When he was gone, Quatre dug into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. After glancing at it, he turned to the remaining gundam pilots to see tears going down Trowa's face and on Wufei's face a look of horror.
Suddenly, Quatre stared to laugh. "You would think that I would be the one crying!" he said. "Come with me. I know where Duo is staying. It didn't hurt that much."
A wince quickly proved him wrong, but neither pilot took notice of it.
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Phil silently entered the room that Max was using. He was not in, and she had hoped that would be so. A pile of torn, muddy clothes lay in the corner. He had worn those when she had found him, and they were the keys to his past life.
She quietly walked across his room to the clothes. They had not been touched since he came. Gently, so that she would not get dirty, she picked through the clothes, searching for something. She was not sure what it was, but there was something in there that would unlock his memory.
Her fingertips hit a small hard object in one of the pockets. She pulled it out and stared at a small wallet. Somehow it had been untouched by mud or water.
She opened it and gasped. Inside were pictures, one of them of the boy who had stopped them. With trembling fingers, she pulled it out and glanced at the back.
Quatre Raberba-Winner.
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Quatre quietly rang the bell to the small quaint house. It was not that far from where the path from the lake entered onto the street.
The door opened and the young woman appeared. Phil was her name. Phil smiled at Quatre and chuckled.
"Quatre, Trowa, Wufei? Where's Yuy?" she said, a glint in her eye. When Trowa and Wufei looked suspicious, she held up the wallet and explained that she had found it.
"Duo might remember with these," Phil said quietly. "He's out at a movie now, and he's due back any minute now. If you'd like to come in, come on in."
The pilots gratefully accepted the invitation, for the sun was unbearably hot at that time. The minute that they were seated with a cool drink Duo/Max walked into the house. He stared at the three pilots and turned away angrily. Phil ran after him, a pained look on her face.
"Max!" she exclaimed. Duo/Max turned to look at her and sighed angrily.
"Do you want them to take me away? I love it here! I don't want to go!" he snapped. "I don't recognize these guys and you are letting them decide what happens to me!"
"Max!" Phil whispered, placing her hands on his face. "Sometimes you are caught in a choice of who you are and who you want to be, and there needs to be a sacrifice! And let me tell you, it won't be who you are." Duo/Max blinked in a confused way.
"What are you saying?" he asked.
"Sometimes you need to go with who you are and hope it will be who you want to be," Phil whispered. Duo/Max sighed and looked away.
"I'm going to bed. When you can, kick those guys out of here," he snapped. He pulled out of Phil's grip and walked toward the staircase, leaving Phil to stand alone in the hallway.
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Duo/Max lay awake in his bed, a look of fear in his eyes. Something was pulling at him; from deep in his bones there was a calling. He rested his eyes on the clothes in the corner and thought about what Phil had said.
Suddenly, he thought that there was something missing. Duo/Max got to his feet and started to go through the pockets, the first hand going to his back pocket. When he found nothing there, he felt a small bit of panic rise in his throat. Something was supposed to be there, and his memory remembered that much.
Suddenly, the door opened and Phil stepped in through the doorway. She looked at him and held something out to him.
"I found this in your back pocket of those pants," she said calmly. Duo/Max took it and stared at the pictures that he found encased in the wallet.
"I did know them," he said. Phil nodded.
"Do you remember now?" she asked. He shook his head and walked back to his bed.
"I should sleep on it," he whispered quietly. Phil closed her eyes and walked out the door before closing it again, throwing his room back into the darkness. Duo turned on a bedside light and stared at the pictures again. After glancing again, he turned to the moon and watched the small crescent of light rise above the horizon. The wallet fell from his hands and he grabbed at it again. A small picture fell out and Duo/Max looked at it in surprise. He had seen no other picture of that size. He picked it up and stared at the picture of a large mobile suit with a large scythe in its hands.
Duo/Max's eyes widened. "Deathscythe!"
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Duo/Max never saw the other pilots the next day, but the one that had the name Heero on his picture came and tried to force memories into his head. He left, obviously without any results.
All day he mediated on what he had remembered the other night. He remembered the entire interior of Deathscythe, what each mechanism did. The first thing that he did in the morning was to draw the entire interior on paper. He began to piece together what he might have remembered. Quatre's name came easily when he looked at the picture, but he still had trouble with the other pilots and the two pictures of girls he had found in there. One of them brought out a mad feeling when he looked at it. He did not understand, but he knew it would come in time.
That night he retired early and tried to remember other things, but they did not come. His mind was too locked up to let him remember. He sighed inwardly and thought angrily, 'I'm going solo on this, aren't I?'
He sat up suddenly. "Solo!" he hissed. Then it all came back to him, piece by piece. He remembered Solo, the church. . . the streets, Quatre, Trowa, Heero, and Wufei, and to his distaste, Relena's face appeared in his mind. Hilde came to his memory and he thought again of the fight that he had been downed in. He remembered the fear he had to see the ground of Earth racing up to him. He had hit the ground supposedly and then been knocked out.
"I just brushed him off. . . " he whispered, thinking of the way he had gotten mad at Quatre. Tears started to roll down his face. He managed to keep them quiet, but still Phil appeared at his door.
"What is it, Max?" she asked gently. Duo looked up at her.
"It's Duo. Duo Maxwell. Duo for Solo, and Maxwell for the Church," he mumbled.
The silence from Phil made him uncomfortable. "You gonna come back after the war?" she asked finally. Duo smiled.
"I have to come back. My family is here. I have other family, but this is my Earth family," he said with a chuckle. Phil smiled and sat down on the bed with him. Duo looked at her and lay back.
"I need to sleep because I have been losing sleep about this," Duo said. Phil gave him a strange look.
"You get a full eight hours so far!" she said.
"I used to sleep to noon," he said with a grin. Phil gaped until Duo began to feint snoring. She grabbed a pillow and buffeted him with it. Duo broke out laughing and attacked her with another pillow.
The next morning, he slept in until one.
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Quatre rang the doorbell, not at all happy that Heero was making them come. When Phil opened the door, she smiled and motioned them in.
"Duo's not up yet," she said quietly. Heero gave her a suspicious look.
"What do you mean? It is noon," he snapped.
"He's still asleep. Slept like a baby all night," she said with a grin.
An hour passed before they heard sounds of life in the floor above. Somehow the pilots were entertained until that time: Trowa and Phil's brother played two matches of chess-Trowa won both games, Heero and Wufei managed to find a show that entertained them both, and Quatre just chatted quietly with Phil.
When Duo came downstairs, the entire group looked up expectantly. They were thrown into a state of shock to see that he had his short hair in a braid. Somehow during that short time his hair had grown enough to reach just below his rib cage, but not anywhere near what it had been.
It was only then that he saw the large purple-yellow bruise covering Quatre's lower chin. His face darkened and he grabbed Quatre's shoulders in a gentle but firm grip.
"Who hit you?" he asked. Quatre clamped his mouth shut and refused to speak, a look of fear cloaking his face. Duo turned and saw Heero. His face grew darker and he marched up to him. Suddenly, a fist struck Heero's chin and stomach at nearly the same time.
After his blows connected, he smiled and started to walk away. Heero, bent over his wounded middle and a hand over his chin, started to glare at Duo's back.
"What was that for?" he hissed. Duo turned and pointed at Heero's chin.
"That was for hitting Quatre," he said. He pointed at Heero's stomach. "That was for letting me take that shot that knocked me down to this place. If I hadn't met Phil, I would've hit you harder, but since I did, I didn't hit you as hard as I wanted to."
A slight grin slid over Trowa's face as Wufei sighed. "Maxwell's back."
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Duo stared up at Deathscythe. It was dirty, covered with that stuff that one just did not want to think about. Somehow Heero had managed to pull it out of the mud-hole it had been sitting in and set it back up on its feet.
Duo turned back to Phil and smiled. Phil managed a weak smile.
"You promise to come back?"
Duo smiled and touched Phil's cheek. "I promise. They couldn't keep me away with a whole legion of Aries."
Phil smiled and embraced him before allowing him to enter Deathscythe. Duo saluted her from the cockpit. He watched her lips move and read "Don't look back." He nodded and prepared his engines.
Roaring through the troposphere, he looked up toward the small flickering stars and forced himself to not look down. Only when they were out of the atmosphere did he break his promise and look back. The Florida Peninsula was just another bit of land on the bright blue ball in the inky blackness of space.
"Hey, Duo, how are you doing?" Quatre asked.
"Great!" Duo replied, his usual pep running through his voice. "Just great! It's great to be back!" Duo leaned back in the soggy seat of Deathscythe. 'Yeah. It's great to be back.'
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Phil smiled up at the last bits of the glows that the gundams had made. After a small glance around at the forest, she started walking. Suddenly, a small deer appeared from the trees. Phil put her hand out and let the deer sniff her.
"Yeah, you remember me," she said. The deer then nuzzled her and started to lick the salt from Phil's hand. Suddenly, as if on command, the deer left. Phil sighed and looked at the forest one last time. She was no longer wanted. The forest wanted her out.
Her service was done.
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Ah, a walk to remember. . .
Pathetic, I know. Hey, just so that I don't get any flames, IT'S SIBLING LOVE, nothing more, nothing less. Okay?
So, how was my old stuff? Tell me whatcha think. Thanks! ^_^!!!
Oh, I've got time and space. I'm going to advertise some of my stuff on here.
First of all, one that's already out: Under the Bed
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Heero was about to walk into the room when Quatre moved quickly and there was a loud gunshot. Trowa collapsed to his knees, holding his stomach, fear written across his face. Quatre held a gun to Trowa's head, hatred making his eyes look red in the dying sun. Trowa looked up at him and murmured something to him, which only caused Quatre to smirk. Quatre replied in a murmur and then pulled the trigger on the gun. ________________________________________
Then, one I just recently finished that I just have to post. I'm so proud of myself, it's eighty six pages long, very long for me. It's called: Fe Desplazada. Now, when you read the teaser, understand that it was really hard for me to pick out a good part. This story is so darn complicated and wonderful (personally, I think it's my best yet) that I can't just choose one.
So: Fe Desplazada _______________________________________
'Strange,' Wufei thought to himself as he looked at the man. 'He looks familiar.' He heard a sharp murmur of pain before the subtle scent of power started to radiate off of the man again. Wufei quickly mentally rebuked it, and his efforts caused the boy to awaken with a gasp.
One look at those blue eyes with his hair tied back and short, his body clean and white again, and Wufei felt his heart rate speed up. He knew who this was.
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Thanks for dealing with me! ^_^; Gotta go!
~ Kay Kylo
Summary: Duo's disappeared and a young man appears at a lakeshore in Florida, but he remembers nothing of his past. One-shot.
Oh, what a trip down memory lane this story gave me! I honestly pulled this out of my old stuff, edited it, and now am going to post it. So, I apologize for OC quirks or something like that. It's old. Leave me alone. I just made grammatical changes and stuff, so the plot is exactly like it was originally.
Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing. Honestly, who would think I would? I certainly don't own much at all. I have a total of one DVD, one manga, and one cat. And that's not even mine.
So, tell me what you think of my old stuff. It's a one shot, if you didn't catch that during the summary.
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The sun beat heavily upon the early morning mist, burning it all away. It was going to be a beautiful day.
A young woman was jogging down a narrow forest path, oblivious to the sticks that usually attacked her feet and tore at her legs. Today, they were not.
That only made her press harder into the forest. Surely something was wrong. This forest hated intruders, and to now let her through was unheard of.
Some one who was not supposed to be here was here.
Her long braided blonde hair only bounced to the rhythm of her gait as her green eyes meticulously searched the path around her feet for what was not supposed to be.
Suddenly, the path opened up and led right out to a beach on a small lake. The young woman paused and gathered her strength. She had never gotten that far before the trees blocked her off. Something was definitely wrong.
She remembered all of a sudden something that she had not before remembered. Her dream had been of a light in the night sky, falling down to the earth. It had not been a shooting star: she had seen the explosion as it hit the ground. She also remembered a strange cry, a scream of pain or fear, or something like that.
That was when she saw him. There was a young man, lying on the ground by the pond. He was not in a sleeping position. It was more as if he had fallen from the sky and landed there, or as if someone had dragged him there and left him to die.
The young woman raced down to him, hoping that he was not dead. To her luck, he was not. His hair was short, but almost as if it had been long but ripped off by some sharp object just chopping through it. It was a beautiful chestnut color that she had never seen before. She gently lifted his head and rested it on her lap. The man stirred and groaned, but the groan was all she needed.
"Good. You're alive," she said calmly. The man reached a hand up to his head and touched it gently before opening his eyes and looking at her and blinking in the harsh light.
"Where am I?" he mumbled. The young woman did not answer at first because she was taken aback by his eyes: they were the most beautiful blue-purple eyes she had ever seen.
"You're in what remains of the Florida Everglades," she said calmly. "The driest part of the everglades. You're lucky, because this forest itself could kill you, not to mention the animals in it."
"Who are you?" he asked.
"My name is Phil. It's a nickname, but I prefer Phil to my real name," the young woman said. "Try your feet, 'cause this forest wants us out."
The young man obediently tried to get up, but something caught and he collapsed. He laughed and clutched to her arm as she lifted him up. "Some thing's keeping me down!" he said jokingly, but Phil only frowned. She picked up a mess of some soggy rope and tossed it aside.
"What is your name?" Phil asked once the young man was leaning on her. The young man opened his mouth to speak but stopped. He tried again but had to stop again.
"I don't know," he said in a bewildered tone.
"How'd you get here?" Phil asked, trying again.
"I don't know," he repeated.
"Do you know where you come from?"
"No," he said, his face growing more desperate as each second passed.
"Well, I have to call you something," Phil said, her face thinking. "I can't call you Lucky because that's a dog's name. Let's call you Max. That's common enough."
The young man agreed to that and hobbled away, leaning on her shoulder. The forest seemed to sigh gratefully as she led him away, but the rope still lay there. It was long and thick, and braided. It was the same color as the young man's hair.
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Quatre choked back sobs as he checked the scanner once more. For Duo to disappear over Earth and then disappear with out a trace was not correct.
Quatre brushed back tears and sighed deeply. He had not wanted anymore death to come to him, but it just seemed to follow after him.
Suddenly, a small blip appeared on his scanner. Quatre blinked hard and looked at it. Yes, it was the Deathscythe's signal! There was no response when he tried to contact Duo, so it still was possible that he was dead, but now they could find a body at least.
"Heero, I've found Deathscythe," Quatre reported.
"Where is he?"
"Somewhere on the Florida peninsula," Quatre said, checking the scanner to be sure. "Near the southern area."
"Get the exact coordinates. I don't want him telling the world down there of our mission," Heero snapped. Quatre sighed and copied the coordinates down carefully.
'Heero needs to calm down. Duo would not tell a soul of our mission if he was told not to tell,' Quatre thought angrily. 'Duo is not dumb, no matter how much he seems the part. I hope he's okay!'
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"Now the first thing we need to do is to give you a decent hair cut," Phil told Max. Max looked at his shoulder-length hair and frowned.
"I don't think so. I just feel like I don't want my hair cut," Max said. Phil shrugged.
"Fine, but you need to get it trimmed and washed. Yuck, you reek of swamp," Phil said, enunciating the point with a wave of her hand. "Come with me back to my place and we'll get you washed right up."
"Your place?" Max asked.
"Yeah, and you should put your hair in a ponytail if you're not going to cut it," Phil said, taking his wrist and leading him down a paved road. Suddenly, she grinned and looked him in the eye.
"Race you," she said. Max's eyes widened.
"What?"
"Race you! You know, like running to that blue house on the corner?" Phil said. Max's eyes narrowed playfully and he nodded.
"You're on!" he said, dashing off suddenly and laughing at her surprised face. But Phil did not jog every morning to be caught by surprise. In minutes she was with him and holding steady. The race that had started so suddenly in Max's favor was now neck and neck, and the finish line was still yards and yards away.
Suddenly, Phil put on a burst of speed that not one person could have seen. One minute she was keeping pace with Max. The next minute she was reaching farther with her legs than she had ever imagined- and still reaching farther.
She beat him by five hundred feet.
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Quatre shut off Sandrock's engine and looked at the gloomy place that they were now in. It was wet and filled with animals, but not the kind that Quatre would feel comfortable with. It was soggy and seemed to give everyone a heavy feeling. The gloomy part was that Deathscythe was no where to be seen.
"These ARE the coordinates?" Heero muttered angrily. Quatre suddenly exploded.
"YES! They are! Check them yourself! I am going to have a look around!" he yelled, throwing opened Sandrock's hatch and stepped out to breath in the fresh air- and ended up hacking up some misfortunate bug.
When he finally got a breath of air, it was heavy and it seemed as if he was drowning. It was too humid. Way too humid.
"The only way Deathscythe could be here is if it is not here, but still is," Quatre heard Wufei saying. The other gundam pilots only shook their heads and wondered where he got that stuff.
"Not here, but still is," Quatre mumbled, jumping off the small walkway that Sandrock had. He walked off, mumbling that phrase to himself until he paused at the edge of a lake. Suddenly, it hit him. Deathscythe had to be underwater or under ground, and from what he could make out from the murky water, Quatre assumed that Deathscythe might have very well gone underwater.
The other gundam pilots were brought out of their arguments by Quatre's screaming. This brought the other pilots running, but they didn't expect to see Quatre kneeling down by a lakeshore and crying his eyes out.
"He's down there!" Quatre was screaming, pointing at a large, undistinguishable shape below the surface. They only had to look once. Deathscythe was fully covered in water, and from the time it had taken them to find it, Duo wouldn't have lasted long under that water.
Heero immediately dived under the water and swam as best as he could to the hatch. To his horror, it stood open and empty. No bones, no body. Duo hadn't died from the impact, and he hadn't died from the water. Heero pushed off the edge of Deathscythe and broke the water's surface without any problem. He shook the water out of his eyes and started to swim towards the other pilots when something registered. They were screaming at him, Trowa included, about danger behind him. He turned and saw the biggest alligator he had ever seen. He cursed under his breath as he fumbled with his gun. This alligator was going to attack him, and now the gun chose to be fussy.
Suddenly, the gun disappeared from his sight. He had dropped it.
Taking a deep breath, he dove down after it, knowing his fellow pilots would call him a fool for it. Finding it, he turned to see the alligator on him. He tried once to get it to fire, but it did not work, and the alligator got a hold of his leg, but only a weak hold. The second time he fired, the alligator froze and easily was pulled off his leg. Using the body as a float, Heero clutched tightly to it until he got to the surface of the water.
Gasping for the sweet air he hungered for, he suddenly felt a strong hand grip his wrist and drag him roughly toward shore.
"You fool!" Quatre was calling from shore. "You could have out swam it!"
"No I couldn't have, baka," Heero muttered. The hand that was holding him tightened slightly and Heero only chose to fix a piercing glare at Quatre.
When Trowa finally deposited him on the shore, Quatre forgot all about the alligator and asked about what he had seen.
"Duo got out," was all Heero would say. Finally, they could take it no longer and set out to cover the perimeters of the lake.
Trowa was the first to find it, and the sight disturbed him. Something had dragged a lifeless body up onto the shore and left a thick rope beside the body. Later, someone had found the body, got it on its feet, and left.
Yelling was not his way. Trowa immediately took in the surroundings and turned around and started to look for someone. He found the someone in Quatre.
He motioned with his head off in the direction he had come from and led Quatre back to what he had found. When Quatre saw the rope, he gasped and shuddered.
"Duo's braid!" Quatre gasped again. "That's going to make it harder to find him, but now we know he's alive." Quatre yelled for the others to come see the findings.
Heero looked at the tracks and stared up at the slight path that appeared through the trees. The look in his eyes suggested that he wanted to rip down each and every tree.
"Where has that braided baka gone to now?" he murmured. He frowned deeply and looked at the rope in Quatre's hands before correcting himself. "Where has that short haired baka gone to now?"
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Phil had been right. A good shower and a new set of clothes did feel good. Unfortunately, the clothes were one size too big, since her older brother was a couple years older than he was.
Phil's father had suggested that he had had amnesia from some heavy blow to the head, and Max's head did hurt, but he tried not to let it show. Phil's mother had not taken it and she only smiled and handed him some aspirin.
Max enjoyed this new family, and they were very happy to have him with them. Phil's little sister had given him sidelong glances, but something had clicked and he remembered another little child and he had done well with her, even maybe to the status of big brother.
He looked good with his hair in a ponytail that curled under his skull and some old blue jeans. Some how the black shirt did his face good, as if that color was really good on him.
Phil was showing him around the city that she lived in and he smiled to see the sun beating down upon ladies using everything possible to keep the sun off. Chokoloskee was the name of the city, and even if it was impossible to pronounce, it sure looked nice on paper.
Phil had said something about finding his real past, but Max was starting to reconsider the fact. What if he did not want his old past? He liked his new life just fine. Forget whatever he had done before. Here he felt wanted, and that was a new feeling to him. He almost wondered just why the feeling of family was strange to him. Did he not have a family before, in his old life? If he had not had one, he did not want to go back.
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Quatre sighed and looked around the small city. The path had led them through a horrible forest until they reached a small street in some tiny town. Heero said then that they should split up and search for him.
Why did he have to search the center of town? It was hot, muggy, and the cars did not help either. There was no protection from the sun, and the sun was hotter than the pavement, if that was possible.
Quatre hung his head and stared at his feet for a while as he walked. Where could Duo be? Surely he would have tried to find them! Suddenly, a young man slammed into him and knocked him down on the pavement.
"Whoa! Sorry, kid!" a familiar voice said. Quatre looked up and smiled.
"It's okay," he said, nodding politely to the young woman beside him. Getting up, he started to walk away, as did the young man and woman, but Quatre paused.
Suddenly, he stiffened and gave a little shriek. He turned around and dashed up to the young man.
"Duo!" he screamed. The young man turned and gave him a strange look.
"Excuse me?" he asked, his face covered in an annoyed look.
"Duo! You had us worried sick!" Quatre exclaimed.
"Listen, kid, I don't know what you're talking about, so if you'll just leave me-"
"Max, calm down," the young woman said. "Do you know him?"
"Yes, I think. . . " Quatre said, his face starting to betray his doubtful thoughts.
"Max, do you recognize him?" the young woman asked. The young man glared at Quatre.
"Listen, Phil, I don't recognize him. I may have seen him before, but he doesn't remind me of anything," The young man snapped. Quatre blushed.
"I'm sorry. I've been looking for a friend of mine, but I must be mistaken," Quatre muttered.
"Max, how about if you go on ahead. I'll settle this, all right?" the young woman said. The young man walked slowly away, a glare still covering his features. "You are sure you recognize him?" The young woman snapped once the young man was out of sight.
"Really, I don't think so. My friend had long hair, but some how it got cut off, but his hair is neat. I must really be mistaken," Quatre said, trying to pull away.
"Max has had amnesia. He doesn't even remember how he got to the lake I found him at. His hair was shorn off and I found what I thought was a rope, but I left it there. Does that help you?" she asked with her voice low and hurried. Quatre's eyes widened and he nodded.
"I've got to go, but I'll talk to him. What was his name again?" the young woman asked.
"Duo. Duo Maxwell."
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Heero stared silently up the street, scanning the crowds for Quatre. Trowa, Wufei, and Heero had not found him or Duo, but something had happened. Quatre had found him, but something was wrong.
He could not say what.
Trowa made a small grunt under his breath. Quatre was walking through the crowds toward them, dragging his feet as he went. He stopped only a couple of yards away from them and stared straight at the ground. After a few minutes, Heero could not stand it and walked up to Quatre. He took him roughly by the shoulders and lifted his head forcefully. Only then was it noticeable that Quatre was crying.
"Duo doesn't remember any of it. Nothing. As far as he knows, he was born on a lakeshore fully grown and found by a young woman. He has been going by the name of Max. . . We should just let him stay. . . " Quatre was unable to finish what he had started. He fell quietly to the ground on his knees and began to sob gently.
Heero's face hardened and he violently lifted Quatre up to his feet. What happened next was enough to move Trowa from his silent masquerade into tears. Heero silently balled his fist up and swung it. Quatre stumbled back from the blow and had to blink hard a couple of times to keep tears from flowing. Suddenly, he straightened to face Heero and stared at him.
"Yes?" he whispered. "What did you do that for?"
"That was for jeopardizing the mission," Heero said in his monotone, no regret filtering through his iron mask.
"How did I do that?" Quatre asked calmly.
"You wanted to let Duo live here, but he knows too much," Heero snapped, turning brutally on his heel and marching off into the crowd. Quatre watched him leave. When he was gone, Quatre dug into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. After glancing at it, he turned to the remaining gundam pilots to see tears going down Trowa's face and on Wufei's face a look of horror.
Suddenly, Quatre stared to laugh. "You would think that I would be the one crying!" he said. "Come with me. I know where Duo is staying. It didn't hurt that much."
A wince quickly proved him wrong, but neither pilot took notice of it.
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Phil silently entered the room that Max was using. He was not in, and she had hoped that would be so. A pile of torn, muddy clothes lay in the corner. He had worn those when she had found him, and they were the keys to his past life.
She quietly walked across his room to the clothes. They had not been touched since he came. Gently, so that she would not get dirty, she picked through the clothes, searching for something. She was not sure what it was, but there was something in there that would unlock his memory.
Her fingertips hit a small hard object in one of the pockets. She pulled it out and stared at a small wallet. Somehow it had been untouched by mud or water.
She opened it and gasped. Inside were pictures, one of them of the boy who had stopped them. With trembling fingers, she pulled it out and glanced at the back.
Quatre Raberba-Winner.
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Quatre quietly rang the bell to the small quaint house. It was not that far from where the path from the lake entered onto the street.
The door opened and the young woman appeared. Phil was her name. Phil smiled at Quatre and chuckled.
"Quatre, Trowa, Wufei? Where's Yuy?" she said, a glint in her eye. When Trowa and Wufei looked suspicious, she held up the wallet and explained that she had found it.
"Duo might remember with these," Phil said quietly. "He's out at a movie now, and he's due back any minute now. If you'd like to come in, come on in."
The pilots gratefully accepted the invitation, for the sun was unbearably hot at that time. The minute that they were seated with a cool drink Duo/Max walked into the house. He stared at the three pilots and turned away angrily. Phil ran after him, a pained look on her face.
"Max!" she exclaimed. Duo/Max turned to look at her and sighed angrily.
"Do you want them to take me away? I love it here! I don't want to go!" he snapped. "I don't recognize these guys and you are letting them decide what happens to me!"
"Max!" Phil whispered, placing her hands on his face. "Sometimes you are caught in a choice of who you are and who you want to be, and there needs to be a sacrifice! And let me tell you, it won't be who you are." Duo/Max blinked in a confused way.
"What are you saying?" he asked.
"Sometimes you need to go with who you are and hope it will be who you want to be," Phil whispered. Duo/Max sighed and looked away.
"I'm going to bed. When you can, kick those guys out of here," he snapped. He pulled out of Phil's grip and walked toward the staircase, leaving Phil to stand alone in the hallway.
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Duo/Max lay awake in his bed, a look of fear in his eyes. Something was pulling at him; from deep in his bones there was a calling. He rested his eyes on the clothes in the corner and thought about what Phil had said.
Suddenly, he thought that there was something missing. Duo/Max got to his feet and started to go through the pockets, the first hand going to his back pocket. When he found nothing there, he felt a small bit of panic rise in his throat. Something was supposed to be there, and his memory remembered that much.
Suddenly, the door opened and Phil stepped in through the doorway. She looked at him and held something out to him.
"I found this in your back pocket of those pants," she said calmly. Duo/Max took it and stared at the pictures that he found encased in the wallet.
"I did know them," he said. Phil nodded.
"Do you remember now?" she asked. He shook his head and walked back to his bed.
"I should sleep on it," he whispered quietly. Phil closed her eyes and walked out the door before closing it again, throwing his room back into the darkness. Duo turned on a bedside light and stared at the pictures again. After glancing again, he turned to the moon and watched the small crescent of light rise above the horizon. The wallet fell from his hands and he grabbed at it again. A small picture fell out and Duo/Max looked at it in surprise. He had seen no other picture of that size. He picked it up and stared at the picture of a large mobile suit with a large scythe in its hands.
Duo/Max's eyes widened. "Deathscythe!"
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Duo/Max never saw the other pilots the next day, but the one that had the name Heero on his picture came and tried to force memories into his head. He left, obviously without any results.
All day he mediated on what he had remembered the other night. He remembered the entire interior of Deathscythe, what each mechanism did. The first thing that he did in the morning was to draw the entire interior on paper. He began to piece together what he might have remembered. Quatre's name came easily when he looked at the picture, but he still had trouble with the other pilots and the two pictures of girls he had found in there. One of them brought out a mad feeling when he looked at it. He did not understand, but he knew it would come in time.
That night he retired early and tried to remember other things, but they did not come. His mind was too locked up to let him remember. He sighed inwardly and thought angrily, 'I'm going solo on this, aren't I?'
He sat up suddenly. "Solo!" he hissed. Then it all came back to him, piece by piece. He remembered Solo, the church. . . the streets, Quatre, Trowa, Heero, and Wufei, and to his distaste, Relena's face appeared in his mind. Hilde came to his memory and he thought again of the fight that he had been downed in. He remembered the fear he had to see the ground of Earth racing up to him. He had hit the ground supposedly and then been knocked out.
"I just brushed him off. . . " he whispered, thinking of the way he had gotten mad at Quatre. Tears started to roll down his face. He managed to keep them quiet, but still Phil appeared at his door.
"What is it, Max?" she asked gently. Duo looked up at her.
"It's Duo. Duo Maxwell. Duo for Solo, and Maxwell for the Church," he mumbled.
The silence from Phil made him uncomfortable. "You gonna come back after the war?" she asked finally. Duo smiled.
"I have to come back. My family is here. I have other family, but this is my Earth family," he said with a chuckle. Phil smiled and sat down on the bed with him. Duo looked at her and lay back.
"I need to sleep because I have been losing sleep about this," Duo said. Phil gave him a strange look.
"You get a full eight hours so far!" she said.
"I used to sleep to noon," he said with a grin. Phil gaped until Duo began to feint snoring. She grabbed a pillow and buffeted him with it. Duo broke out laughing and attacked her with another pillow.
The next morning, he slept in until one.
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Quatre rang the doorbell, not at all happy that Heero was making them come. When Phil opened the door, she smiled and motioned them in.
"Duo's not up yet," she said quietly. Heero gave her a suspicious look.
"What do you mean? It is noon," he snapped.
"He's still asleep. Slept like a baby all night," she said with a grin.
An hour passed before they heard sounds of life in the floor above. Somehow the pilots were entertained until that time: Trowa and Phil's brother played two matches of chess-Trowa won both games, Heero and Wufei managed to find a show that entertained them both, and Quatre just chatted quietly with Phil.
When Duo came downstairs, the entire group looked up expectantly. They were thrown into a state of shock to see that he had his short hair in a braid. Somehow during that short time his hair had grown enough to reach just below his rib cage, but not anywhere near what it had been.
It was only then that he saw the large purple-yellow bruise covering Quatre's lower chin. His face darkened and he grabbed Quatre's shoulders in a gentle but firm grip.
"Who hit you?" he asked. Quatre clamped his mouth shut and refused to speak, a look of fear cloaking his face. Duo turned and saw Heero. His face grew darker and he marched up to him. Suddenly, a fist struck Heero's chin and stomach at nearly the same time.
After his blows connected, he smiled and started to walk away. Heero, bent over his wounded middle and a hand over his chin, started to glare at Duo's back.
"What was that for?" he hissed. Duo turned and pointed at Heero's chin.
"That was for hitting Quatre," he said. He pointed at Heero's stomach. "That was for letting me take that shot that knocked me down to this place. If I hadn't met Phil, I would've hit you harder, but since I did, I didn't hit you as hard as I wanted to."
A slight grin slid over Trowa's face as Wufei sighed. "Maxwell's back."
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Duo stared up at Deathscythe. It was dirty, covered with that stuff that one just did not want to think about. Somehow Heero had managed to pull it out of the mud-hole it had been sitting in and set it back up on its feet.
Duo turned back to Phil and smiled. Phil managed a weak smile.
"You promise to come back?"
Duo smiled and touched Phil's cheek. "I promise. They couldn't keep me away with a whole legion of Aries."
Phil smiled and embraced him before allowing him to enter Deathscythe. Duo saluted her from the cockpit. He watched her lips move and read "Don't look back." He nodded and prepared his engines.
Roaring through the troposphere, he looked up toward the small flickering stars and forced himself to not look down. Only when they were out of the atmosphere did he break his promise and look back. The Florida Peninsula was just another bit of land on the bright blue ball in the inky blackness of space.
"Hey, Duo, how are you doing?" Quatre asked.
"Great!" Duo replied, his usual pep running through his voice. "Just great! It's great to be back!" Duo leaned back in the soggy seat of Deathscythe. 'Yeah. It's great to be back.'
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Phil smiled up at the last bits of the glows that the gundams had made. After a small glance around at the forest, she started walking. Suddenly, a small deer appeared from the trees. Phil put her hand out and let the deer sniff her.
"Yeah, you remember me," she said. The deer then nuzzled her and started to lick the salt from Phil's hand. Suddenly, as if on command, the deer left. Phil sighed and looked at the forest one last time. She was no longer wanted. The forest wanted her out.
Her service was done.
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Ah, a walk to remember. . .
Pathetic, I know. Hey, just so that I don't get any flames, IT'S SIBLING LOVE, nothing more, nothing less. Okay?
So, how was my old stuff? Tell me whatcha think. Thanks! ^_^!!!
Oh, I've got time and space. I'm going to advertise some of my stuff on here.
First of all, one that's already out: Under the Bed
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Heero was about to walk into the room when Quatre moved quickly and there was a loud gunshot. Trowa collapsed to his knees, holding his stomach, fear written across his face. Quatre held a gun to Trowa's head, hatred making his eyes look red in the dying sun. Trowa looked up at him and murmured something to him, which only caused Quatre to smirk. Quatre replied in a murmur and then pulled the trigger on the gun. ________________________________________
Then, one I just recently finished that I just have to post. I'm so proud of myself, it's eighty six pages long, very long for me. It's called: Fe Desplazada. Now, when you read the teaser, understand that it was really hard for me to pick out a good part. This story is so darn complicated and wonderful (personally, I think it's my best yet) that I can't just choose one.
So: Fe Desplazada _______________________________________
'Strange,' Wufei thought to himself as he looked at the man. 'He looks familiar.' He heard a sharp murmur of pain before the subtle scent of power started to radiate off of the man again. Wufei quickly mentally rebuked it, and his efforts caused the boy to awaken with a gasp.
One look at those blue eyes with his hair tied back and short, his body clean and white again, and Wufei felt his heart rate speed up. He knew who this was.
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Thanks for dealing with me! ^_^; Gotta go!
~ Kay Kylo