Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ A Happy if Farfetched Ending for 13x5 ❯ (Prologue) ( Prologue )

A Happy If Farfetched Ending for 5+13

Warnings: shounen ai, 5+13

Setting: Sometime after the wars

Disclaimers: Gundam Wing characters belong to Mixx Entertainment, Koichi Tokita, the SOTSU Agency, Sunrise, Kodansha and anyone I may have forgotten, not to me. I make no money off of this.

It was hard to practice the rites now, when there was nothing left. The tablets recording the divine ancestors, the shrines, the temples...all lost. There was no focal point for the burning incense. There was no way he could have created enough paper sacrifices to burn for the entire clan. He had performed the Ceremony of Universal Salvation, but he felt it wasn't enough. How could one boy help an entire clan of wandering ghosts?

And he knew they would be wanderers. The Chang clan had committed mass suicide and thus damned themselves to roam. Wufei sighed as he stared out at the stars through his window. Perhaps some of them had escaped that fate and achieved rebirth or status within heaven. He was certain Meiran was not a wanderer ghost. She had her husband to rely on for eternity. Sometimes he wondered if she had even died before her time. Her face and eyes had been so peaceful as she drifted off in his arms. If anyone in the Chang clan was in their proper place, wherever that was, it was her.

At night, when he left the lights off so he could better watch the dark sky, he remembered the ghost stories he'd read. Some of them were the foolish fantasies of young scholars dreaming of unearthly women who visited them at night. Some spoke about walking corpses from bygone eras. But the ones that bothered him now were the stories of ghosts who searched for substitute victims to take their place, so they could move on.

The Chang clan, outcasts from their homeland, now seemed to be denied even that dubious refuge. Unable to even walk the earth, he imagined them languishing piteously in the cold void, lost and miserable. He'd sent a lantern down the river for their souls, to help guide them, but how could they see such a tiny light from space? So when the Chinese government had announced they would launch a single shuttle loaded with the proper flares and explosives as a lantern on the largest ocean, Wufei had returned.

It was to be a guide for all those who had died in space, to help them as they helped their lost ancestors on earth. People had been at temples earlier that day, saying prayers and chants. Making offerings and sacrifices. Knowing he was an outsider, Wufei had kept away for much of the celebrations and reserved his energies and presence for the crucial parts of the festival. Even so, the stranger who remained in the shadows drew looks and stares. This was a day for the family. Being alone was...odd.

Only his pride in his clan had kept Wufei from faltering in his duty. The shuttle was a large one, already packed with explosives that, once lit, would trail from the sky into space until it vanished from sight, and even then it would continue to light a path. All that was left was the final ceremony before the launch itself, as those who had lost loved relatives in the wars brought single candles to the shuttle. Every candle represented all of the fallen of one family.

There were thousands of candles, with more families waiting in a long line.

Wufei stood at the center, head bowed to avoid the reporters that swarmed around the event. For the most part they interviewed those in the crowd, but one or two had tried to question the mourners before being pulled back by other reporters.

An hour later, night was beginning to fall, but there was still a long way to go before all the candles were collected. At last Wufei was able to walk up the platform to the shuttle, only a few people ahead of him now. A few political and religious leaders stood at the head, watching and nodding solemnly as each candle was deposited.

"The Ling family..."

"The Po Yen family..."

"The Mei Lin family..."

Wufei softly placed his single candle amongst all the others."The Chang clan," he whispered.

For a moment, no one breathed. Everyone in hearing distance froze.

"Impossible," one tall man in a business suit mumbled. "They all died."

"There is no one left to them," another whispered.

Wufei had expected their reaction and took it in stride. "I am Chang Wufei, last of the Chang clan. My family is gone, and I am all that remain to remember them."

Startled that one of the dreaded powerful Chang clan might remain, they quietly debated amongst themselves whether this could be true or not. Just as the consensus formed that he must be lying for some reason, one of the eldest religious leaders came forward. Leaning heavily on a wooden cane, the Shinto priest peered into Wufei's eyes, examining him up and down. No one moved.

"You...remind me...of someone I met a long...time ago," the priest whispered. "When I was young...so long ago...Chang Andao..."

Wufei allowed himself a small smile. "Chang Andao was my great-grandfather."

The priest smiled and nodded. "We would...sneak into the cherry orchards...late at night..."

"He told me of a childhood friend," Wufei nodded once, "who would join him in the orchards at spring, and tell ghost stories. A...Shen Lo?"

"Sheng Lo," the priest corrected, his smile growing. He gently lay his hand on Wufei's shoulder. "You do your duty well, for so much...burden on your shoulders. You are an honor to your clan."

That chance meeting felt like an eternity ago, but only an hour more had passed before Wufei sat where he was now. Streaking into the sky, the shuttle left a beautiful white mark in the dark background. By sheer coincidence, and to his sad delight, it passed through the spot the L5 colony would have been. And soon he could no longer see it as it trailed off into the distance. He sighed, casting his gaze down on the floor. In a few days he would return to the Preventer offices...and be entirely alone again...

He looked back up at the sky. He'd carried out his responsibilities. He'd done more for the colony, his clan, all of the earth, than most people ever could. Nowhere did it say he had to be alone. So why was there no happiness in space for him?

He looked around the small hotel room he had rented for the night. It was all but impossible to practice the rites now, since everything was gone. The tablets, the temples, the records...all lost in that brilliant explosion. But his clan was descended from dragons...he was descended from dragons...and dragons did not reside in tablets and paper.

"Please," he whispered to the darkness. "I have given so much. I have lost everything. I have no family now, only the barest of acquaintances. I have no home and no country. All I have is the pride and memory of a destroyed clan. Is there no reward, no token of recognition, from even cold space?"

Desperate for an answer and expecting none, he quietly shut the window and eased out of his clothing, folding them onto the chair before sliding into bed. It had been a terribly long day. He stretched out and lay his head on the pillow, closing his eyes with a sigh. His left lay curled beneath the pillow while he'd put his right out a little, resting on the warm mattress as he drifted to sleep.

He wasn't sure how long he'd slept when he woke up, knowing something was not right. Not daring to move, he listened for the slightest sound. There was nothing. Even the crickets outside had stopped chirping. He shivered and pulled the blanket up, unable to block the chill. Then he realized something frightfully cold lay beside him.

His first wild thought was that a ghostly woman had come to him, but he dismissed that quickly. Before another idea came to him, the cold thing began to shiver, as if it was finally feeling its own lack of heat and struggling to warm up.

Wufei reached to the side to turn on the light, but then brought his hand down as he remembered where he was. The switch in the hotel room was on the opposite wall. The cold creature began to edge closer to him, trying to soak up his body heat. Wufei could tell it was a bit larger than he was, but there seemed to be no hatred or malice coming from it. Only a need to get warm. Reaching down to his bag, he pulled out a small knife and aimed at the spot he knew the switch was at. He threw it so that it slammed the hilt into the wide, blocky switch, turning the light on as the knife fell noisily to the floor.

Wufei tried to gasp, but he couldn't make himself breathe. It was a ghost, it had to be. Shivering beside him was the one person he thought he'd never see again.

"I...I...you died..." he whispered faintly. "I saw you die..."

"W...Wufei?" came the familiar voice. "Where...so cold..."

Wufei put his hand on the pale shoulder, startled to find it so solid. Ghosts were not this corporeal. Male ghosts never visited, only female. Only one logical conclusion lay before him, then.

This was not a ghost.

"Who are you?" Wufei demanded, struggling to keep his voice steady.

"I...Tre...Treize...don't remember the...last part...all so vague...so cold..."

Wufei stared at the ruddy brown hair, the blue eyes that opened and shut tight. Everything was the same, he hadn't even aged since...the Chinese boy lay down next to his companion and allowed him to press against his body, lessening his shivering. Slowly at first, afraid that Treize would disappear as suddenly as he had reappeared, Wufei put his arms around him and held him close.

"How?" he whispered. "You were dead...I killed you..."

"It was all dark and cold..." Treize murmured. His voice had none of his past confidence, but rather sounded like a frightened child's. "Then...light...followed it back to you..."

The shuttle? Wufei wondered. An understanding smile came to his face, and he closed his eyes as he hugged Treize.

"Remember dying...but...then how?" Treize groaned as he warmed up, no longer as disoriented as he had been for a long time. "Wufei...how?"

"I am descended from dragons," Wufei replied. "My prayer was answered." He picked up another knife and similarly used it to turn off the light, then lay back down and practically covered Treize's body with his own. "You've had a long journey, Treize. You need to rest."

"I don't want to close my eyes," Treize shook his head, but his movements were slowing even as he spoke. "Don't leave me alone..."

"I won't," Wufei promised, lightly stroking the reddish hair back. "I'm right here." As Treize's breathing became deeper, Wufei gave a silent thank you to his ancestors. His clan would not be a colony of wandering ghosts. Everything was back in its proper order. Only one thought lingered in his mind as he sank back into sleep.

How in space am I going to explain this to the Preventers?

The End