Chapter 18
I was almost quivering with anticipation. Dolphins. I'm actually getting to see them.
For years, people had thought they were extinct, so that even the zoos didn't house a single one. It had almost been true. Before the underwater explosion that had nearly wiped the Pacific Ocean clean of life hundreds of years ago, they had already been extremely rare, barely seen except for special exhibits.
And because most dolphins were assumed to live in the Pacific, when all the other oceans had frozen to an almost arctic degree (scientists' answer to global warming backfiring), after that blast, it was thought that they'd been totally annihilated.
That assumption continued until a few decades before I popped into being, when some guy spotted a herd of dolphins somewhere in the Caribbean.
For a while, they'd simply thought the guy was nuts, until another dolphin sighting was reported. The SOWA, Save Our Wildlife Agency had gone a little crazy, and barricaded the dolphins away for a few years. People went totally wild. Everyone wanted to see the dolphins. It was finally allowed, grudgingly, and the dolphins let free, though every single one was tracked like it had an explosive bomb ticking inside of it.
That's how we were finding the dolphins right now. The boat we were in had its sights set on a group of dolphins, that were thought to have just birthed a few baby dolphins, a couple miles into the open ocean.
The others were pretty excited about this too, but not as much as me. I mean, to me, dolphins were like the essence of the word 'miracle.' They'd lived, to put it simply. They'd inexplicably escaped extinction; they'd endured to become the most revered creature in the universe…I don't really know how to explain it. For me, they had a multitude of meanings. Perseverance. Survival. Peace. Happiness. It was, forgive my corniness, a dream come true.
We drew closer, and the guy brought the motor down to an almost inaudible hum.
"They're pretty friendly," our guide told us, "though not as friendly as legends say they were back before space travel was even invented. The dolphins then supposedly actually saved drowning victims or let people hold on to their fins."
It's kind of sad. Not even the dolphins trust the human race anymore.
I caught the flash of silvery fins and my breath stopped in my throat.
The guide said in a pleased voice, "There they are. When we bring passengers out here, we always keep a supply of fresh fish."
He tossed one in. Then I saw the figure of a dolphin swimming up, and her head burst through the surface. For the moment, let's just call all the dolphins 'her', alright?
"Ohhh…" I reached out a finger, wanting to touch her, but she shied away.
"Here," the guide handed me a fish, "feed it first. It might let you touch it later, if you're patient."
I held the fish out temptingly, and her snout stretched out to take the fish delicately.
I suppose you could say they weren't as beautiful as some fish in the sea, but I was…enchanted.
She warbled shrilly at me, and I laughed delightedly.
"Another fish please," I said, almost bouncing.
I turned around, and almost dropped it. There were four dolphins staring at me. I looked around wildly for the other guys, to find them observing me with this amused, but fond, I hoped, tolerance.
"Go on, Duo," Quatre said. "Feed them."
"But what about you?"
"We don't mind just watching from a distance," Heero said, a strange note in his voice.
"Okay, if you're sure." I rushed to get a whole bucket of fish, and watched the dolphins gulp them down with an odd sense of euphoria. Babbling incoherently, Other Duo jumped around in the back of my head.
I think I fed them each about four fish, before three more swam up.
"There should be two more, if we don't count the babies," the guide said.
And then they were there. Two tiny miniature dolphins. My heart was practically thudding out of my chest.
"If they trust you to feed their babies, maybe you can try touching 'em." Advice from the guide.
Trembling, I dangled one above the nose of the smaller one, and he gobbled it up greedily. (The babies are guys now. So I'm weird. So sue me.)
Then he snorked at me. I giggled. I fed the other one, watching exultantly.
Finally, daring to touch a dolphin, I let my fingers trail along the head of one of the adults. She was smooth, cold, wet, and wonderful.
I stroked each of the adults, and they all stayed still, trustingly. I can't begin to tell you how I felt. Enraptured, maybe. And kind of…blessed.
Then I tried one of the babies. It let me gently brush its nose, before trilling at me, and disappearing under the water. The others followed seconds after that, though they gave me a show before leaving; jumping up to show their sleek bodies, before spiraling down out of sight.
I felt absurdly like crying. And like smiling.
That brief moment of…rapture was…intense. Maybe too intense.
I turned back to the others, and if they noticed a sort of wetness in my eyes, they didn't comment on it.
Heero wrapped his arm around me, comfortingly. We started back.
As the guide started the engine, and we began to move, sluggishly, several of the dolphins unexpectedly leaped by the side of the boat.
For nearly a mile they followed us, their bodies a perfect bow above the water, and I understood why some people called them the most playful creatures of the sea.
Then they disappeared, and for a second, I felt like jumping in after them. The feeling passed, fortunately, because I don't think Heero would've taken well to me just leaping into the ocean like that.
The trip back was a two-hour ride, and I don't think I said a word.
Near the end, I turned to Quatre and said, "Quatre, thank you. I can't tell you how much…"
"I take it I've just used up my quota of Christmas gifts for years?" he asked impudently.
"For the rest of my life!" I laughed.
"I've never seen that kind of…reverent joy on your face before," Wufei said wonderingly.
I wanted to share something with them, with Quatre, who made it possible, and Trowa and Wufei, who watched me so fondly, and Heero, whom I loved. And maybe a little because I didn't want them thinking me absolutely crazy for going all goo-goo-gaa-gaa like I did over the dolphins.
So I shared a little about my life. "Back on L2, when I lived on the streets," I said slowly, "and everyone around me was dying…I don't know really what I thought…" A tiny little grin. "But I kind of imagined, if I could touch a dolphin, maybe some of their…magic would rub off on me, and the people I loved didn't have to…go."
I looked up and smiled at them sadly. "But there weren't any dolphins on L2, and they…left." I was silent for a moment. "Now, though, you see, I have more people that I don't want to leave, so that's why it's such a…precious gift to me."
A bit of guilt sparked in Quatre's eyes, for bringing up such painful memories, I guess. "You've made me very happy, Quatre," I reassured him. "Very happy."
He managed a smile, and none of us said anything else until we docked.
Nobody really mentioned what I'd revealed, but I think they kind of knew how exceptional it was for me, for any of us, well, maybe except Quatre, to voluntarily talk about our past. We all knew that Heero had had some kind of almost monstrous training, and that something truly tragic had occurred to Wufei. Trowa and I were both pretty mysterious, and I doubted anybody knew that I'd been an orphan, and lived on the streets. Even I couldn't really get a clue about Trowa, though, but I know his past probably wasn't a real happy one.
That night, as we lay on the bed, Heero just held me close through the night.
The next day was our last day. We kind of moved lethargically through the day, unexplainably sad. The others didn't go surfing, I didn't go to play volleyball, and we all squeezed onto two towels, lying squashed next to each other for hours.
We'd actually gotten to be regular teenagers - carefree, and happy. It was then that I realized how truly damn…unfair it all was. Why were we the ones fighting the war? Why us? I'd always almost taken it for granted, we were the Gundam Wing pilots, therefore, we fight wars. We had reasons, oh yes, but why did we have those reasons?
Near the end of the day, I got up, and went to say goodbye to Ian, and Terry, and all the others I'd probably never see again.
Ian looked at me with the most wretched expression as I hugged him, and Terry swung me around in the air for a moment, before saying crustily, "I'll miss you, midget."
"Goodbye, giant."
I brushed the ruins of my castle with my fingers; I guess last night one of the waves had been larger than usual, and just washed half the walls away.
Too bad…I would've liked to leave some kind of memento, saying, "Duo Maxwell was here."
We headed back to the hotel, and packed. I had one souvenir. Wufei had come up to me, in the middle of the day, and just stuck a stuffed dolphin in my hands. It was…extremely thoughtful of him, and I'd wanted to bawl. I still haven't gotten around to thanking him for it.
A cab drove us to the spaceport. We were leaving for a different world, L4, this time.
We still got a private spaceship though, not one of those commercial kinds. Quatre had really gone all out on this trip, I guess.
But he and Trowa still had one more surprise for us.
When we had settled into the central cabin, Trowa suddenly asked Heero, "Could you get your lab top out?"
"All right." He pulled it out and turned it on, staring at Trowa inquisitively.
Then Trowa pulled It out. It was one of those new high-tech cameras, so tiny you could just tie them to your wrist and people would think it was nothing more unusual than a small watch. They had a memory card in them so small it would just fit on your fingertip, and could store so many pictures I didn't think you ever had to upload it. And its zooming and focusing abilities were beyond amazing. The thing must have cost a damn fortune. It was meant to be more of a…security camera, I think, and only somebody with extraordinary hand-eye coordination could even think of trying to take pictures with the thing without being able to see what they were focusing on.
"Trowa!" I gasped. "What the hell? How many damn pictures did you take of us?"
"A lot," he said ambiguously.
When I glared at him, he said ingenuously, "I wasn't counting." A pause. "A lot."
"Why the hell…" Wufei asked.
"Don't blame me. It was all Quatre's idea. Though," Trowa added after some contemplation, "I can't say I didn't like it."
He attached a cord to Heero's lab top, fiddled around a little, and then clicked through some screens that went by too fast for me to really catch anything.
Then we got to the first picture. It was of Quatre, who was looking at whoever took the picture lovingly. Three guesses at who he was and the first two don't count.
"Trowa…" Quatre blushed.
"Like Duo said, you reap what you sow," Trowa said imperturbably.
I don't know how many pictures there were. A hell of a lot more than a few hundred, for sure.
Here was one of me ready to pounce on a laughing Wufei.
And another of Quatre smiling up at the sun.
Me snuggling into a gentle looking Heero.
Trowa holding Quatre.
Wufei grinning at something I couldn't see.
My castle.
The guys surfing.
Quatre, hunched over, a determined look on his face, riding a wave.
Me running along the waves, my braid flying behind me.
Me staring up at a wave with a devilish grin.
Heero hugging me.
Wufei with his arms extended, an expression of concentration across his face, leaning to hit a volleyball.
Heero and I sharing an ice cream cone.
Quatre slurping up a bit of mint chocolate that trickled down his chin.
Me staring into Heero's eyes and his smile captured on film.
Wufei stretching.
Heero with me in his arms.
Quatre jumping up to hit a volleyball.
Quatre with his eyes closed on the bed.
Quatre posing in front of the mirror.
Wufei cannonballing into the Jacuzzi.
Heero staring down at my head as I cuddled into him with a strange expression.
Quatre nodding off in the hot tub.
Me with my face pressed flat against the glass of the aquarium.
The hammerhead shark inches from my face.
Quatre eating his fish.
Wufei eating his crab.
Me poking at my jellyfish.
Heero looking at something off screen tenderly.
Quatre offering a piece of fish to the photographer.
Me with Trowa's prawn speared on my fork.
Quatre smiling.
Wufei laughing at me.
Me laughing at Wufei.
Heero walking.
A lot of surfing pictures.
Heero on his surfboard in the water.
Wufei retying his ponytail.
Quatre wiping the bangs from his face.
The dolphins.
Me with the dolphins.
Quatre smiling a little sadly.
Me with an almost radiant look in my eyes.
Me petting the dolphins.
Heero yawning, sleepy-eyed.
Wufei looking up into the sky.
This was just the tip of the iceberg. Trowa picked pictures at random…I have no idea how many we missed. I think it'd take us a month to get through every single picture. Who'd have thought? Trowa, the photographer.
After about an hour of silence, he closed the file.
"We can print out a few pictures later," he said. "Oz already has a pretty good idea of what we look like, and it's not like they can break into our Gundams without setting off the self-destruct alarms."
I thought about that. It would be…extremely comforting to have their pictures with me in Deathscythe. Yes, I'd like that. Very much.
