Shadows of Yesterday
CHAPTER ONE: WHAT'S IN A NAME?
It was official. Lady Une would never get her meeting with him, because if that little boy in the next aisle didn't shut the fuck up within the next ten seconds, he was going to throw himself out the fucking airlock into the hard vacuum of deep space, regulations be damned.
It had been three days since he received the letter from the Dragon Lady, and he had been quite busy since then, calling her and scheduling the meeting for that Friday—it was Tuesday, then—and then packing up what little he considered important in his apartment, paying rent, turning in his keys, and bidding a not-so-fond adieu to the craphole he called a neighborhood.
He didn't plan on coming back, ever, at least not to live there. He had a ticket to Earth, and even if this whole black-ops thing, whatever it was, didn't pan out, he had some savings that he could use to get a place there.
He would never set foot on L2 again, not if he could help it.
He couldn't help feeling a tiny bit guilty at leaving Seth behind without a word, the boy was kind to him and he considered him a friend, at least, but he would get over it, eventually. He didn't want any ties to the colony.
L2 wasn't his home, had never been even though he was born and raised there. Ever since he was young he'd had a feeling, a feeling that there was a place out there, an actual home, someplace he could belong.
It had probably just been the waning hopes of a dying street-rat, 'cause they were all fucking dying until the day they did or got out of that hellhole—usually the former.
He had found a home in Earth, though, the moment the cockpit of his Gundam opened and he felt real sunshine and breeze. It had killed him inside every time he took a space mission during the war, not wanting to leave Earth with its sun and rain and wind and oceans and huge blue sky behind.
Now he was going back to that home, or at least he would be if the little boy didn't fucking drive him to insanity and suicide before the flight was over.
After hearing him beg for candy for the twelfth fucking time, Duo finally turned around. "Ma'am," he said frigidly to the woman next to the boy, obviously his mother, who was reading a book. She looked up as he tapped her shoulder. "Could ya please get your son ta be quiet? He is disturbin' the other passengers."
The woman gave him a strange look, but turned to her son and said quietly, "Matthew, you need to be quiet. There are other people on the shuttle, and they need peace."
"But Maaa..." he whined, but she shushed him quite firmly before turning back to him. "I'm so very sorry, sir, I didn't realize he was still begging after the first time...you see I'm deaf, and I just sort of ignored his tugging on my sleeve."
He immediately felt guilt flush hot through his system. "I'm very sorry ma'am, I didn't realize..."
She waved him off with a laugh. "It's alright; hardly anyone does unless I tell them. Not your fault anyways—I told Matthew the first time that he couldn't have candy, he should have listened. He didn't bother you too badly, I hope?"
He noticed for the first time the slight skew to her words, as though she wasn't quite sure of the sounds she was making. "Not too badly," he agreed—not technically a lie, he supposed. "If ya don't mind me askin', how...?"
"Can I tell what you're saying? I've become an expert at lip-reading over the last few years, didn't want to rely on an interpreter. I'm afraid I was a little too close to a bomb during the war, even in a—poorly built—bomb shelter. My hearing started to go and eventually it went."
He would have replied again, but it was at that moment the captain came on and told them to buckle up and secure everything, as they were preparing for reentry. He turned back to the front with a wave and an apologetic smile, and she waved with a laugh before turning to secure her son.
Looking out the window, he caught a glimpse of the ocean beneath him before everything started to burn red with reentry.
Fifteen minutes later they were on the ground and docked, and he grabbed his duffel—his only luggage—before heading off the shuttle and into the terminal. He looked around for anyone who looked all stuffy and official looking (or wearing a Preventer's uniform), but not seeing anyone, decided to lean against a wall and wait.
That plan was spoiled by the appearance of the woman from the plane, her son in tow. "Hey! I just wanted to say thanks...it's still hard getting used to being deaf, even after four years..."
He laughed. "Not a problem, ma'am. Glad ta be of service."
She grinned. "Well, the name's Kelly McManus, and you've already met Matthew—oh my, we've got to get to our next flight!"
He waved her off with a laugh. "Go! I don't want ta keep ya!"
She smiled and waved as she took her son away. "Look us up if you're ever near Seattle!"
He raised a hand in acknowledgement, and she finally vanished into the crowds.
When she finally realized she had never asked the kind man his name, she looked back to find him already gone.
"Mama? Candy?" Matthew asked.
"It's about fuckin' time," he muttered as he finally spotted a Preventer's agent (in full uniform, fucking pretentious Une) in the crowd of people in the waiting area, obviously looking for him.
He grinned slightly, before sneaking around to the back of the crowd and up behind the agent. He crossed his arms and settled into a relaxed position before drawling, "Une really needs ta train her agents better. In keepin' track of their surroundin's and people identification."
As expected, the agent jumped before whirling around in shock. The man stared for a moment—he knew, he was quite the...odd...figure—before regaining his composure. He gave him points for swift recovery.
"You're the one Une sent me to retrieve?"
"That would be me," he drawled in a sarcastic tone. "Unless ya see anyone else with a fuckin' knee-length braid around."
To his credit, the agent didn't blink—at his accent, his language, or his braid, which he hadn't noticed before.
"I am Agent Helix, I am to bring you to Preventer's Headquarters to meet with Lady Une."
"Oh, really? I thought ya were here ta sweep me up on your white horse and ride off into the sunset for our happily ever after. Right, silly me, that's next month."
Agent Helix merely rolled his eyes before turning and walking away, giving a hand gesture that obviously meant, 'follow me.'
He decided that he liked Agent Helix.
The drive to headquarters was spent with him asking Agent Helix questions about pretty much anything and everything they saw—hey, it had been a long time since he was on Earth, the last time was for another war, and he had never been to Sanq except in battle!
Again to his credit, Agent Helix kept any eye-rolling and sarcastic comments to himself, merely answering the questions—usually with interesting little tidbits that he knew he wouldn't find in any guidebooks.
"So," he said, about twenty minutes into the drive. "I can't exactly keep callin' ya Agent or Helix or Agent Helix—well, I suppose I could but that's fuckin' borin'. So what's your name?"
He was silent for so long that he finally up and said, "Hey, it's okay if you're not allowed ta tell—"
Agent Helix shook his head. "It's not that. You're just very different from the usual people I'm sent to pick up, when I am sent. They're usually stuffy old politicians who—pardon my language—wouldn't know sarcasm, or heaven forbid, an actual name if it bit them on the ass. It's always, "Your Highness," "Your Excellency," "Your Grace."
He grinned. "Sucks for you. So again, man-who-is-never-called-by-his-name; what's your name?"
"Sam," the other replied with another grin. "Sam Tahary."
"And I am Bond," he quipped. "James Bond."
The both broke down laughing hysterically, and he decided that he really did like Agent—whoops, Sam.
Eventually they made it to the Preventer's Headquarters—with Sam dragging him quickly through the lobby after the security checkpoint as he began to laugh hysterically, scaring some of the agents in the lobby.
"What the hell was that for?" Sam hissed once they were finally in the elevator, on the way up to Une's office.
"I saw...a fuckin' marble...dragon..." he bit out between bouts of laughter. Sam only looked for confused, so he elaborated. "My nickname for Une is the Dragon Lady."
Sam started laughing too, and they were still laughing when the doors opened onto the reception area for Une's office, scaring the secretary who was there.
"Agent Helix..." Sam choked out as they approached the desk, trying to hold in his laughter. "Bringing..."
Suddenly he frowned, turning to look at his companion. "I just realized...I don't know your name."
"Ya mean Une never told ya?"
He shook his head. "She just told me, 'Look for the guy with the braid.'"
He grinned. "Apt description, yes?" Then he turned to the secretary. "Une's not in her office, right? Then we'll just wait in there for her, thanks a lot!"
With that he turned and entered the Dragon's Lair, dragging Sam behind him even as he—and the secretary—sputtered.
"What are you doing? We can't just burst into Lady Une's office!"
"Maybe you can't, but I can! Hell, she'd have a fuckin' heart attack if she didn't come up here and find me in her office already!"
"Just who the hell are you? You're a guy, but you have a knee-length braid and purple eyes, you apparently know Une very well, and you have no problem with antagonizing her—"
Any further questions were cut off as the Dragon Lady herself blew into the office with a grace and fury reminiscent of her namesake, trademark buns flying.
"Duo Maxwell, can't you go five damn minutes in this building without terrorizing my agents or my secretaries?"
"Lovely ta see you too, m'lady," Duo quipped, while Sam gaped.
Such is the effect of Duo Maxwell, Gundam Pilot 02 and sarcasm extraordinaire, on the general populace.
Well, I must be in a very good mood today. Two chapters of a legitimate—as in, one story line—multichapter story! Call the press! Yeah, they're short, but they'll get longer...eventually...
As you can see, I purposely did not name our lovely main character until this moment, and unfortunately had to cut out some lovely lines because of that. But now he's been revealed, and his sarcasm can continue in all its glory! 'Sides, not that you all didn't know who he was in the first place.
Not so much swearing, either. I think I wore myself out with the prologue. I'm not a swearing person, really, except under my breath...-muttermuttermutter- Sorry for all the OC's. Kelly and Matthew, like Seth, will probably not appear again, unless they're needed. Sam, however, will be part of this...yeah, this story has some direction now!
I disclaim anything you recognize as not belonging to me.
Ciao.