Title: Becoming Meilan

Summary: Wufei is hiding something, a secret that could change everything.

Warnings: swearing, violence, future shojou-ai (lesbian) relationship. Nothing graphic.

Chapter One
A foot kicked me. I winced at the flare of pain up my side—a broken rib, at the least.

"This the Gundam pilot?" The ground was hard against my cheek.

"Yeah. Bastard killed Beiderman and Roeker." My hands were bound behind me; I had already rubbed my wrists raw twisting at the cold metal.

"You think—" the door slammed. A quiet hum filled the room at the lock engaged. My cuffs clicked open.

I rolled over, eyes searching my prison. Metal walls, metal floor, a sink and a toilet in the corner. A florescent light overhead. A door. A quick check confirmed that the stolen data was safe.

I relaxed against the cold floor and waited.

I was standing and ready when the door opened again. I ignored the rough hands that grabbed my arms, watching Une steadily.

"Pilot 05," Une's voice was clipped. "Chang Wufei. Why are you on my base?"

I remained silent.

"Search him." I flinched, barely, as the hands tightened on my arms. Une turned back with a triumphant smirk. "Something wrong, Chang?"

Bitch. "I have no weapons on me."

"Oh? And I should believe the word of a Gundam terrorist?" Une began to turn away again.

The words escaped before I could stop them.

"I have more honor than you could ever imagine, woman!"

She slapped me. I stared into her flat eyes, my cheek stinging. "I give you my word as a warrior of the Dragon, and on the sword of my family."

Une nodded sharply. "Fine. We'll try this again. Why are you on my base?"

Did she actually expect me to tell her?

Une's eyes narrowed, and she smiled thinly. "I see. You'll talk, in time." At her gesture the soldiers holding me shoved me to the floor; I rolled with it, trying to minimize the pain in my now very broken ribs.

The electric hum of the door replaced the click of Une's heels. I closed my eyes against the harsh light and waited

The silence awoke me. I stumbled to my feet as the first soldier entered, followed by a second, then a third. Two guards in the hall, two at the door, three surrounding me. Even with me hands loose, I would need a distraction to escape. I stood balanced, ready, as they surrounded me.

"You killed two of my friends, murderer." The voice sounded familiar—one of the soldiers from before. They closed in.

"Unnatural Gundam fucker," another muttered. My vision flashed pink, and I struck.

The first kick was solid, but I landed badly, and stumbled. Strong hands grabbed my arms and held me still.

"This is revenge," a voice whispered in my ear, as the first punch knocked the breath out of me.

I blurred the rest of it, spiraling deeper into myself, separating my mind from my body.

Distant pain.

An old voice. Block out the pain, and nothing can hurt you.

A young voice, shouting furiously. "You may be strong, but I am stronger! Get up and fight!"

rain plastering my clothes to my body wet hair in my eyes

blood dripping onto the cold hard floor black boots angry voices

A rough hand grabbed my shirt and pulled me up. "We'll be back, Gundam bastard."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Now, why am I not overjoyed to hear that?"

He flung me away and I stumbled, catching myself on the wall.

The door closed, the lock engaged, and the light went out.

It was dark.

I waited.

Darkness.

I pushed myself to my feet, ignoring the sharp pain of broken ribs and the duller pain of many bruises. I felt my way to the sink in the corner, drank slowly. Relieved myself. Washed my hands.

I did not think about what the other pilots were doing. I did not wonder if that woman with the odd hair was still alive.

I slid down the wall, relaxed again the cold floor, and closed my eyes.

Light. I pushed myself to my feet. The same three soldiers entered, pushed me down, kicked me. Pulled me to my feet to knock me down again. A familiar dance.

My shirt ripped.

The one holding me stopped at the sight of the bindings, and the curves underneath. Drew a thoughtful finger down the side of one. Grinned unpleasantly. "So the feared Gundam pilot is a woman, eh?"

I shuddered.

I was thrown back to the floor. All three guards were unbuttoning their pants.

I closed my eyes.

It was cold and dark and silent, the long silence before a door opens, the dark before a harsh light. The cold was constant.

harsh hands harsh voices harsh words

The ground was smooth against my cheek. The door opened and closed. Darkness. Light.

pain

Failing strength, pride. Failing pride, anger.

When there is nothing left you hold on, because letting go is not an option. There is nothing to do but grin and bear it, so you grit your teeth against the screams inside you and take the pain, welcome it inside you, make it your strength and your anger and your pride.

Because there is no one to save you but yourself, and the other option is to give up.

And you promised yourself that you would never, ever give up.

It went on. On and on and on.

Darkness. Light. Pain.

Sudden silence, and the slow swing of a door. Rough hands, harsh voices. Jeering.

Pain.

On and on and on

The humming stopped, but the door did not open. I opened my eyes, raised my head, looked around.

The world was red.

Shouting outside the door, the pounding of running feet and the sharp staccato of distant gunfire.

I pushed myself to my knees. Found my clothes, torn and stained with blood and—

and—

Put them on. Pushed myself to my feet. Stumbled to the door.

The door swung open.

I walked slowly down the corridor, one hand on my ribs, the other on the wall, holding me up. At the first body I paused, collected a gun and some ammo.

Kept going.

"Wufei!" I looked up and saw Quatre's relieved grin, Trowa keeping watch behind him. "I'm so glad you're okay. Can you walk? Heero and Duo are waiting in the hangar."

"Nataku?" I managed to rasp.

"Shenlong is fine. Can you go any faster? We've only got a few minutes before the rest of the bombs Duo set go off."

I nodded jerkily and somehow went faster.

They had come for me. Hours, days, weeks—however long it had been, they had come.

I ground my teeth, pressed my hand harder against my side, and kept going

Author's note: To tell you the truth, it's been a long time since I wrote this. Years, in fact. That said, I do have more written, and am working on more.

The one thing I need help with is a summary. I suck at summaries. If you come up with a good one, or even a bad one that's better than mine (wouldn't be hard), I'll use it and credit you. You know you want to!