The Evacuee
A/N: This is my first Gundam Wing fanfic, so be gentle. Teehee. It may seem awfully similar to Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Margorian and that's because ever since I read that book, back when I was twelve, I wanted to write something similar. So it's taken me six years to do it, but hey, better late then never. It is very AU. Basically the pilot's histories are changed around. Heero has an English mother and a Japanese father, etc. This is all very essential for my plot line. So you'll have to bear with me. Apart from that, read and enjoy (hopefully).
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of the characters and I'm making no money from doing this. It's just for my own enjoyment.
Chapter 1: Evacuation
September 2nd, 1939.
Heero fiddled distractedly with the cardboard tag, hung loosely with a piece of string around his neck. The tag which identified him as being Heero Yuy, aged twelve, and belonging to St. John's Grammar School.
He looked up at his parents. They were both standing a little way off, conversing quietly to each other. His father looked like he was reassuring his mother somehow, and she looked close to tears.
He turned his head away from his parents and gazed up at the brightening sky instead. Apart from a few wispy clouds, the sky was a clear blue, with the sun getting gradually higher in the sky. The beginnings of autumn had brought in the colder weather and, as far as Heero was concerned, this was the coldest September day ever.
Just when he was beginning to lose hope, the bus they had been waiting for pulled up in front of where his parents stood. He picked up his suitcase and walked quickly up to the open door and just heard his father ask for three tickets to the train station, before he stepped onto the bus and followed his parents to the back of the large vehicle.
Heero sat on the worn-out bus seat and gazed out of the window. The area of London he knew best flashed past in a blur, as the bus trundled on towards the train station. He traced a finger down the window, causing an annoying squeaking sound, but soon stopped when his father glared at him.
The London bus finally pulled up outside the train station and Heero followed his parents back down to the front of the bus and out into the fresh air once more. The first thing he clapped eyes on was a newspaper headline, displayed on a news board.
Germany invades Poland: War imminent
He read the headline a couple of times even though he knew enough about it already. That headline was the reason he and his parents were on the way to the train station. He was being evacuated.
Every child in London between the ages of two and fourteen were being evacuated to the country. As soon as news about Germany's invasion of Poland had reached the British Government, the urgent call for evacuation had come out. So here he was, walking onto the platform, ready to be evacuated to safety.
The platform was alive with children. A mixture from his school and perhaps two others. The various teachers from each school were trying to call order but with little success.
Heero was scanning the crowds, his blue eyes searching intently for someone. He barely even heard his mother say she would register him to his head teacher, due to his frantic searching.
He was still looking when there was a tap on his shoulder. He spun around and came face to shoulder with a middle-aged woman. She had dark, brown hair, which was greying slightly, tied in a bun, which hang loosely at the nape of her neck, and hazel eyes, which seemed to bear the weight of the world in them.
"Mrs Barnes?" Heero said, lifting his eyes to meet her's. "Where's Michael?"
She let his question linger for a moment, while she pulled a piece of folded paper out of her handbag.
"I'm afraid he's much too poorly to be evacuated with you, Heero dear." She replied softly. "He did want me to give you this though, but he asked me to tell you not to open it until you were on the train. So that you had something to do on the journey."
She handed over the folded piece of paper. Heero clutched onto it for dear life and mumbled a quick thank you, before spinning rapidly on his heel and hurrying as fast as he could back to his parents.
Mrs Yuy looked like she had gotten a bit more used to the idea of her son going away as she stood calmly next to her husband. Heero stopped running and approached his parents at a much more sedate pace, unsure as to what exactly he wanted to say to them.
"Michael's not going."
Heero surprised himself with his choice of words. They just seemed to roll off his tongue automatically.
"That's a shame, dear."
Heero was even more shocked at his mother's reply. It was like she was reading from a script. There didn't seem to be any emotion behind her words at all. What was even worse was that his father just stood there, not uttering a word or showing any sort of emotions in his facial expressions.
"Well, goodbye then." Heero let out a small sigh as he spoke, wondering why his parents were being so frosty with him.
"Goodbye, son."
Mr Yuy spoke in a business-like voice and held his hand out. Heero stared incredously at him.
'A handshake? I knew my dad was formal but this is ridiculous.'
He clasped hold of his father's hand and gave the firm handshake he had been taught when he was younger. Mr Yuy kept a completely indifferent expression throughout. Heero frowned slightly before turning to his mother. She seemed to have a bit more emotion in her eyes now.
"Goodbye, Heero. Take good care of yourself and make sure you write to us." Her voice cracked a little as the emotion she had been bottling up threatening to break out. Heero couldn't help but smirk a little. 'So she was trying to keep her emotions under check then.'
He let himself be taken into a tight embrace; the wool on her sweater tickling his nose, before he pulled away, barely looking at his mother as he blinked back tears that threatened to spill out.
"St. John's Grammar, Year 8."
Heero heard the call of his headmaster, took one last glance at his parents, and walked quickly away, towards the carriage his headmaster was standing next too.
The inside of the carriage wasn't as big as he thought it would be. The seats were worn-out, like the ones on the bus had been, and they're was a strange, musty smell filling the air.
"Hurry up and find a seat. Don't just stand there, Yuy."
Heero mumbled a 'sorry, sir' to his teacher and quickly dropped into a vacant seat by the window. He shut his eyes, trying to block out everyone and everything around him. The thought of not knowing where he was going was really starting to bug him. He liked to know details in advance. He didn't like surprises.
When the train had finally left the station and the noise had subsided slightly, Heero opened his eyes. He gazed around at the packed full carriage, filled with all the children from his class and the class below, except Michael that is.
He suddenly remembered the folded piece of paper he still held tightly in his hand. He carefully unfolded it and started to read the neatly written note.
Hello Heero,
I can't believe you get to go off on some big adventure
and I have to stay here in boring old London. I wish I was
going too but the doctor said that I wasn't well enough.
I'll miss you a lot. Make sure you come back soon, okay?
I don't know what I'll do with myself while you're gone.
From your best friend,
Michael.
Heero reread his friend's note a couple of times, marvelling at Michael's way of dismissing his illness and instead showing envy at Heero's 'big adventure'. Michael knew as well as he did, that his illness was getting worse, not better. Ever since he had contracted tuberculosis a year ago, his condition had been deteriating. The doctors just didn't have anything they could give him to cure it.
Heero was brought out of his musings by a paper aeroplane hitting the side of his head. He looked over at the direction it had flown from and scowled when he saw the four boys sitting there, laughing their heads off.
"Nice shot, Johnny. You hit the freak right above the ear."
Heero's scowl hardened as the boys congratulated each other and laughed even harder. Michael's soft voice popped into his head as he fought with his conscious over what he should do.
"Don't give them the satisfaction, Heero. They're just provoking you so that you retaliate and then get yourself in trouble."
Heero smiled at the memorable speech Michael always gave him whenever these boys started picking on them. He always knows what to do in any sort of situation.
"Yuy's smiling at something. We better wipe that off his face right now."
The speaker, Johnny, got up from his seat and walked towards Heero. Heero just sat back, his eyes shut once more. Johnny drew his right arm back, balling his hand into a fist.
"Look at me when I hit you, freak!" Johnny shouted, before thrusting his fist forward.
"Jonathon Daniels! What do you think you're doing?"
Johnny's arm froze mid-swing upon the sound of a very irate headmaster. Heero opened his eyes and gazed calmly up at the other boy and the head teacher.
"Um...nothing, sir. I was just talking to Heero."
Johnny made a pathetic attempt to cover his tracks, but the headmaster was no fool.
"You know I don't tolerate talking with fists. Please take your seat and stop bullying your classmates."
Johnny grumbled under his breath as he sat back down.
The headmaster then addressed all of the children in the carriage.
"I don't want anyone else leaving they're seats for the rest of the journey without asking permission from me. Is that understood?"
A chorus of 'yes, sir' from all of the eleven and twelve year olds met his stern command.
Heero let out a low sigh and stared dully out of the window, watching the outside world flash by, as the houses and factories changed into never-ending fields and trees, which were already starting to feel the bite of autumn.
After a relatively short journey, compared to what he had expected, the train grinded to a halt. Heero peered out of the window, searching for any signs, which might indicate where they were. He was in luck. A sign, located on the wall of the platform, read
HASTINGS TRAIN STATION
'Hastings? I would have thought we would have been moved further away from London than this.'
He was ushered off the train, along with all the other children. They all lined up on the platform and answered with a 'yes, sir' when they're name was called out on the register. They then were split up into two groups. One group walking one way, the other group walked the opposite way.
Walking along next to a boy who was probably slightly younger than him, Heero looked around eagerly at his surroundings, half carrying, and half dragging his bulky suitcase. They walked for roughly fifteen minutes, before they arrived at a building that bared the words TOWN HALL on the front.
Once they had been lead inside, Heero stared around at the interior of the building. From what he could tell, he was standing in the main part of the building and they're were two rooms leading off from it at the back. The ceiling was quite high, maybe three metres and the room itself was a long rectangular shape.
All of the children were asked to sit cross-legged on the floor, towards the back of the room. A stern looking woman marched importantly over to stand in front of them all. She was quite stout with brown hair, which was twisted tightly in a bun. She had sharply defined features and wore spectacles, which clung to the tip of her nose.
"I'm the billeting officer for this area. Very shortly you will be picked out by the townsfolk from this area. I would like you all to sit quietly while the billeting process is carried out."
All the children sat and waited, like they were asked to, some of the younger ones fidgeting irritably. After about five minutes, the townsfolk started to filter through the double doors. Some looked reluctant to be there, others looked rather pleased, but most held a great deal of pity in they're eyes for these city children.
Heero sat back and watched as the hall gradually emptied. The children were picked out like loaves of bread; the townsfolk either sizing them up or simple stating that they wanted 'two girls' or 'one girl and one boy', and so it went on.
Soon they're was only him, a boy of about nine or ten, and a girl of about thirteen left sitting on the floor.
A young to middle aged woman then burst through the double doors. She had long, chestnut coloured hair, which was swept over her shoulders and fell loosely down to the small of her back. Her eyes sparkled a violet-blue colour, causing Heero to shiver a bit at they're sheer intensity.
"I'm not too late am I?"
Her voice was slightly harassed as she addressed the billeting officer.
"Not at all." There are three children still to be housed.
The billeting officer nodded her head in the direction of the three-seated children as she spoke. Her voice carried a certain tiredness from the strain of the billeting process.
"Oh, thank goodness. I did want to do my bit for the war effort." The lively eyed woman said, staring keenly at the three children.
She walked over to them and inspected the tags around they're necks. After carefully scrutinizing the three she pointed at Heero.
"I'd like to have this one. He's the same age as my son. So hopefully they'll get on well together."
Heero glanced up at the woman who had picked him out. Her sparkling eyes drew most of his attention. They seemed so entrancing.
"That's fine." The billeting officer said, wearily. "Just sign this form and write down you're name and address, please."
While his new guardian proceeded with the formalities, Heero climbed to his feet and wondered what her son would be like.
Once she was done, she told Heero to come with her. He followed her out of the double doors, into the fresh, September air.
"Heero..." She said, reading off his tag again. "I'm Rosie Maxwell, please just call me Rosie. We are heading back to the house now, where you will meet my husband and my son. I hope you will be happy while you stay with us."
Heero gave her an acknowledging nod of his head, while he struggled on beside her with his bulky suitcase.
End chapter.
Well, there's the first chapter. Hopefully you won't have to wait too long for the next one. I'll have to see how my college work goes. Please leave a review because it would be very appreciated.
Alana ^_^