Title: Mission 3?

Author: sankekorafi

Pairings: 2+5? 5+M

Warnings: Depression, insanity?

A/N: I own nothing!

For days, all he knew was a few faint visions of a dimmed world. Beyond was a light world once, another few times a dark one. Always the words were clearer than sight, but only a few made sense each time.

The voice was too deep to belong to Meiran and too dark to be Maxwell's. Once it had yelled at him in worried fury, another time it was quiet and coaxing. Once there had been only sobs. Then he would return once more to a realm of colored dreams of flight. He felt lifted, staring at rocks down below. There was water and birds that flew below him, but the graceful flap of their wings was too slow to keep up with him and soon he was beyond the world all together.

Below him was a great expanse of night, tiny dots revealing that he was in space. The panel before him belonged to Wing Zero. And once again he felt the confusion. Who was his enemy?

Even the machine could not say.

"Wu?" a voice from above whispered, startling him.

His eyes opened and stared into pure cerulean water, the depth of which was beyond that of the most full ocean. Was this the end? Was he dying into these great blue circles? Falling into the sky or ocean, never to be seen again?

Was this what Zero meant? Why did it not know his enemy?

Then a cloth of skin separated him from the blue for a moment, and he saw the true meaning of the vision. In fact, he was no longer dreaming. This was….

Maxwell's eye?

"Hey man, you okay? You've been out for days now." The pilot sounded concerned, serious, and his face betrayed him. He was smiling, but red tear tracks could be seen like dried up rivers that had once sent water crashing down his cheeks. "Your fever broke yesterday. You're gunna be okay, right?"

Wufei sat up slowly, still watching Maxwell's face. His head spun on its axis, but he willed himself upright, not wanting to worry the boy from L2.

He didn't know why, but he wanted to comfort Maxwell, take his tears away somewhere the man-child would never find them again. And he found himself comforting the braided man without conscious thought. Just another deed without a meaning.

Those blue eyes continued to look at him, puzzled perhaps at his kindness, but Wufei was far away. He watched himself talk to Maxwell and observed as the young man hugged him in relief, for once not caring about the intimacy he routinely denied himself. Somewhere in his mind he was strapped in a chair, not knowing where The Mission was, forced to watch his life as shadows on the proverbial cave wall.

Then there was a beep from the corner of the tent and Maxwell stepped away, face red with tears and something else. "I'll just… get that… okay?" he asked nervously. Wufei nodded as G's form appeared on the screen where their missions were given, taken, and reported upon. He turned away as a conversation started up in English, the Chinese man listening brokenly, not really trying to understand what was being said. His name appeared a few times, and then Maxwell accepted the mission and G left, disappearing from the computer's mainframe entirely.

"Hey man, don't do anything stupid, okay? S'been nice workin' with ya, but I got someplace to be. Don't move too fast, you're still sick ya know…." The voice had more concern than Wufei was used to from the braided pilot, and it surprised his imprisoned being, which stared more intently still at the shadows.

He didn't turn around, not even as he was glomped by the braided pilot. He did not respond to the mumbled "bye" that the other said at the tent's flap.

And the dragon was once again alone in his den. He rapidly took stock of his situation. A vague hunger penetrated his thoughts, but was wrenched back to make room for the illness, which spoke to him in spins and whirls as his head throbbed and breath caught in his raw throat. Medicine had been left on the counter, and a note sat beside it. It stated that he should take a certain amount each certain number of hours and was signed Sally. Wufei wondered when Maxwell had had time to be on a first name basis with Dr. Po.

Then he smelled the object of his undoing: a sweet brothy smell came from outside of the tent. Using a hand on the tent for support, he willed himself up and stumbled out the flap, catching the last flip of the braid as it entered the forest proper, compelled onward by it's wearer. He walked, and then crawled to the pot on the fire. It bubbled at the top as Wufei took it off the cooking setup and used a spoon to taste the savory dish.

It was so good he finished half of it before considering his weakened condition. He proceeded to pass out, drunk on its flavor, beside the fire.