Tori: "I am, of course, referring to the ass of a tasty, flightless bird."
Awa: Well, aren't we all…?
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Well, if this isn't exactly what I wanted to see today…"
The two angels looked up to see a young girl standing a few feet away, arms akimbo. Standing in mid-air? No. They were on the ground in the girl's grassy back yard. They looked at each other, then at the girl, then back at each other. Finally, Duo decided to leap into action.
"Um…hello," he smiled and rose to his feet, pulling Duet up after him. He towered over the girl while Duet only stood an inch or two taller. "You can…see us?"
The girl, who Duo now recognized as his ward, looked around a bit before focusing on his intense blue eyes. "Not terribly well, but well enough to swear you're standing six feet away from me."
"Good job, Duo. You sure can pick 'em." Duet patted Duo patronizingly on the back and smirked.
"Hey! I only-"
Duo's sentence was cut short by the ringing of…what else? a cell phone.
Duet fished it out of her pocket and hit the answer button as the braided boy and his ward looked on in (surprise, surprise!) confusion.
"Hello…? Yes, this is she." Silence on Duet's part followed, but her eyes widened and her lips parted. "Yes, sir. I'm on it. Goodbye, sir."
"What happened?" the two on-lookers chorused, then exchanged looks and shot them back at Duet.
"Quatre. There was an accident," was all she said before she took off, leaving Duo and the girl behind.
~*~*~*~
Duet made it to Anaheim in record time. She hovered above the spot where she had last left the blonde boy, hoping beyond hope that he hadn't gone too far in the time she'd been gone. A crowd was gathering near the hotel, across a small street from the park. An ambulance screeched to a stop outside it's double doors where two police cars were already parked.
"Oh God…" she moaned and with another powerful flap of her wings glided to the spot. She touched down and slipped through the doors to find a huge crowd gathered in the lobby. The police had taped off a path from the outside to the elevator doors.
The angel whirled around and scanned the crowd gathered behind the yellow tape. Her hand shot out over the barrier, found purchase on something, and yanked it forward.
"BENJAMIN! What happened here!?" she cried and the other angel regained his composure to respond.
"The cable snapped. Nine people."
She released him and he returned to his ward so her could whisper reassuring words in the small boy's ear. Duet received reports like his on a daily basis, but this one didn't succumb to her usual indifference.
People were being wheeled out to the waiting ambulances now and she knew before she saw that one of them was Kevin, Quatre's ward. But where was Quatre? The other guardians had passed her, leading the departed souls out the doors with their bodies, explaining to them what had happened, but Kevin's body was alone and soulless.
"Quatre!" Duet called. "WINNER! ANSWER ME, YOU FUCK!" A few heads turned, but no one responded.
"Quatre!" She saw him, slumped against the wall, nearly obscured by a jungle of legs. "You fricken Berber…" she groaned and rushed to his side. She took his hand in hers. "Don't you even THINK of giving up! I am NOT going to lose another one!"
Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Kevin's soul. He was huddled against the wall, hugging his knees and looking on. Guilt stained his eyes and sorrow bent his lips.
"I'm sorry…" he said. "He was trying to help me and he just…collapsed." The man gulped for air he didn't need anymore. "I'm so sorry."
Duet's eyes softened. "You are forgiven." She shut them and held the blonde boy's hand against her heart, her lips moving in a silent prayer to God. "Please… wake up."
~*~*~*~
Tori: Mmmm… Tired. *collapses* ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZz…
Kegawa: WAKE UP!
Tori: Oooh… *blinks sleepily at screen* Right. Not done yet.
Awa: …poor kid…
Tori: Um, I dunno. I like Rachel's character. She and Duo clash a bit; either because they're too different or too alike, I haven't decided. But we get a nice bit of mail about her. I mean, I think she's the one that most authoresses, and maybe authors, can best relate to. Just my opinion…
Awa: And…?
Tori: The most popular question so far has been "Is Duo going to train Rachel to be a Gundam pilot?" / "Are the wards going to be the next pilots?" Nope. This is set after the war. There WILL be a Prologue eventually about the war, but whether that will be part of an arc or just a flashback/discussion I haven't decided yet. I haven't decided much. But this series is near completed (it's actually quite long) and I'm just posting in increments as I've said before. It WILL get funnier though.
Kegawa: That's sufficient.
Tori: *nods and collapses again* ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZz…
