Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ A new future ❯ Chapter Seven: Christmas ( Chapter 7 )

A/N: Sorry, late update. Got enough excuses, but the truth is that I kinda lost my interest in this story… Good thing for my readers that it's already almost finished and that basically all I have to do is read it over and write the last one or two chapters (chapter 12 and 13)… Anyway, I decided to update this for you now because if I wait any longer I will be in the middle of MY new life (a.k.a. college) with more excuses why Not to update... Yay, I graduated from `high school' this year! Finally! 6 years is long enough! Not that this interests you but... Oh well, it's been over 6 months now and I'll be 18 soon so I hope I can finish this story without changing too much. So much has happened to me and my writings, hope the difference is only for the better in this story. Also, this chapter has a small experiment, I doubt you'll like it, but I really don't care much about how strange you might find it.

Anyway, on with the story:

Chapter seven: Christmas

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Heero never spoke another word about that Christmas night and Duo thought of it as better not to mention it. At least it seemed to suit Heero fine. However, that evening had not been for nothing, as their friendship now seemed stronger than before.

The next morning Heero and Duo joined the rest of the orphanage just before nine o'clock, for that was the time they would start unpacking their gifts. Duo was pretty excited about this, but one glance at the huge pile of presents was enough for his head to start aching. He realised he'd never done this before and he felt guilty for getting to do it now when there were enough other now like he once was.

He tried his best not to think about it as he sat down beside Heero, who had seated himself by Wufei and Quatre and not much later Saria and her friend joined them. She, too, looked insecure and cast Duo a confused glance, not knowing what to expect. She leaned closer to him so that their shoulders barely touched. Duo didn't mind. He was glad he wasn't the only one who had no idea of what was coming.

When everybody was seated, Sally got up and started counting the children to see if all were present. She shook her head once and counted again, then whispered something to one of the people next to her who whispered something back. Sally nodded and the other woman walked off. Then she bid for silence by throwing her hands in the air. The noise died down and then Sally spoke.

"We are still waiting for one more student, but while we wait I would like to start with welcoming all of you on this..."

Duo tuned out here as Sally started talking about Christmas and its means and stuff. One student was not here yet. Who could it be? By now, Duo knew almost all of the students in the orphanage, so he glanced around to see who was missing. He couldn't find anyone not being there, though. Maybe it was some new kid he didn't know?

Saria had taken his hand and was now squeezing it slightly. Like him, she just wanted to get this started already. Her roommate next to her seemed to be concentrating on Sally's speech. Duo squeezed back a little and gave her a reassuring smile. Finally the woman who had left the room returned and when Sally was done with her welcoming words, she whispered something to her again. Sally nodded and looked thoughtful for a moment before she spoke again. Without an explanation about the missing person she said the unpacking could start now and while several teachers in attendance here this morning started giving out the presents stocked up below the tree, she herself walked out of the main room.

Duo's first present he unpacked came from Quatre. The blonde had given him a library card so he had something to do in his free time. In return, he was really glad with the video game and forgot about his other presents as he tried it out immediately.

Very appropriate, Heero had gotten him an alarm clock. He was always complaining about Duo not being up in time so now he had an alarm to wake up to. Duo playfully groaned at the idea of being woken by the sound of an alarm. He was thinking of just not setting it, but knowing Heero, the short haired boy would probably set it for him.

When Heero got his set of cards from Duo he cast him a strange look. Duo just grinned at him and mouthed that he would explain later. Confused, Heero opened his next present, the basketball.

The best gift Duo got that day came from Wufei, who was already enjoying his books. He had gone a bit over the limit he was allowed to spend, though. He had bought Duo the CD he had broken in his anger only weeks after the braided one first came to the orphanage. The moment Wufei realized the youth had gotten his present, he started avoiding him so Duo decided not to mention it right now. He wasn't even sure if the others knew the reason of that big fight he'd had with Wufei. Anyway, he'd be sure to thank him later. He'd be sure to thank all of them.

Not much later all the presents were unpacked and the kids were busy thanking each other for the gifts. Saria was just hugging Duo for the little bear when suddenly Sally came in with an envelope in her hand. She cleared her throat and smiled as she saw she had gotten the attention of most kids.

"I found this one present." She announced, holding up the envelope. "It says `Duo'." Duo blinked. Another present? But he'd already gotten his presents from his friends and from Saria. Who else would buy him a present? He wasn't popular or anything. The envelope made its way towards Duo and he glanced at it. It indeed read his name, but he didn't recognise the handwriting. There was no `sent by' on it either. He opened the envelope and revealed a card.

`To Duo Maxwell
Hereby I would like to announce that at noon today -December 25th - a limo will be awaiting you to escort you and one other person to Miss Catherine's Orphanage For Children Below 12, where I believe some friends of yours are resided.

Merry Christmas from Santa Claus'

Duo blinked. `Yeah right,' he thought, `my mind is playing tricks on me.' He read the card again, but the text remained the same. He felt a grip tighten on his hand. Saria was sitting next to him and had read the card as well. She looked up at him.

"Are you. . ." She started, "are you really gonna see the others?"

Duo smiled back. "Nope."

Saria's eyes grew wide. "But it says. . ."

"WE are going to see them!"

The young girl looked up at him with a hopeful expression. "You mean...?"

"Well, it says I can take someone with me. So, how about it, fancy going with me?"

She flung her arms around him and hugged him tight. "Oh Duo! Yeah, I wanna go! This is the best present anyone could give!"

Duo smiled as he hugged the girl back, but somewhere in the back of his mind a question started to burn its way trough.

`Who arranged this present?'

#*~*#

The limo was the top of luxury. It was large enough for a dozen of people to fit in and had all the newest techniques. It had a DVD-player and several DVD's, flat-screen television, a laptop and with one push on a button you activated the device trough which you could talk with the neatly dressed and slightly snobby driver. The man seemed emotionless like Heero, yet way more polite and did whatever was asked of him. The car was great. Actually, the only thing missing was the wine which was switched with soda though there only were wineglasses to pour the liquid in.

The whole orphanage came to see the fancy limousine and they all gaped at its size, envying Duo and Saria because they actually got to ride in it. Duo felt awkward at the beginning and figured Saria was feeling the same, but he decided not to mention it. He had an example to set.

He couldn't believe it, they were going to see there friends, or that's what the card had said. Duo couldn't help but worry about the whole scene. It was all so sudden and so unbelievable. He felt like he could wake up any moment now to realize this wasn't real, that he was back in bed and Christmas had yet to begin. But soon enough they pulled up to a huge building that looked like a school or something and outside kids of different ages were running around, playing with toys Santa Claus had probably given them.

That was when Duo decided not to think about who sent him this present for the rest of the day. If the rest of his gang was truly here, he would be enjoying every moment he got to spend with them.

The four missing members of their `street clan' were indeed in the orphanage. No words could describe how any of them felt, the six of them together again after so long. Of course, it wasn't the same without Solo here, but still, it felt good nevertheless to be reunited with the little ones again. All their troubles seemed to be forgotten as the kids showed them their new rooms and the toys Santa brought them.

But five o'clock kept drawing nearer and too soon the time came that Saria and Duo had to leave again. The four youngsters obviously didn't approve of this. The twin Mikal and Caria clamped themselves to Duo's legs, the other two hugged Saria tight and did not seem ready to let go either. The leaders of the orphanage, including the headmaster Miss Catherine herself did their best to get the children to let go of Saria and Duo, but it wasn't until Saria started to get tears in her eyes that Nique, -who with his ten years was the eldest of the four in this orphanage- let go of her and got the other three to follow his example. In about two years Nique would be twelve and then he would most likely join Duo and Saria in the Maxwell orphanage. But by that time Duo would be almost eighteen and he would have to leave very soon himself. As he walked towards the exit, he couldn't help but wondering, would they ever meet again?

Letting go of the four willingly youngsters was one of the hardest things Duo had ever done. Much rather would he have taken them and fled, but he forced himself to remember Solo's words about them getting a chance at a family now, a chance to have a life. He knew how important it was for all of them to get an education if they ever wanted to make it off the street, but his heart tried its best to ignore those facts. Damnit. He couldn't afford getting sentimental now. That wouldn't be good for anyone.

The four children held hands as they cried and waved goodbye while Saria got back into the limo. But just when Duo wanted to follow her, he felt someone tugging his shirt. He turned around and looked questioningly at Nique, who was watching him, trying to be a big boy and not cry, but failing miserably.

"Are we ever gonna see you again?" The young blonde asked Duo and he smiled in return.

"Of course we're gonna come back. Now that I know where you are I promise I'll do my best to stop by once in awhile. We're a group, remember?"

Duo kept smiling, though the tears were closer than he wanted to admit. Yet he refused to cry. The others didn't need to see him cry, for he was their example. If he was strong, they might be as well. On the way back to their orphanage however, he had to comfort a silently sobbing Saria. It was then when that question came back to him. Who had sent him this? And who knew where the children were or even whom to look for? Wasn't that all classified information? And who had the money to hire a car such as this?

#*~*#

This is the place where I, as writer, will interfere. So far you have been following Duo's life and parts of the lives of those he hangs out with. However, now I would like to shift my point of view to another scenery that I would describe as rather. . . interesting, as an almost forgotten event is to be repeated again, only this time with slightly different developments in the end.

From the limousine driving Duo and Saria we go a few days ahead and into the room of a certain young blonde named Quatre R. Winner and there we see him play his violin.

Quatre's music wasn't sad today, but it wasn't happy either. He always played the music that suited his mood and right now he felt content. Christmas had been great. Heero had gotten him different flavors of tea, not a very personal present, but this was Heero they were speaking of. For that boy, this was a great present. And besides, Quatre DID love tea.

Duo's present was kinda obvious as well. Quatre was always borrowing his computer game; he was just addicted to Tetris and he was set on getting h the high-score. This new computer game was even better. It had 9 different games with different levels and most of them were as addictive as Tetris. He'd been up and playing till four in the morning first day he had it! He loved it!

But the most unexpected present had come from Wufei. He'd felt a little disappointed when Heero had said he hadn't bought a present for Quatre yet. Not because he had to go with Heero now, knowing somewhere deep down that Duo had wanted to go with Heero -yes, it was obvious to anybody in the orphanage except for the two themselves that they liked each other VERY much- but he felt a little left out knowing that the other boy didn't know what to do with Quatre.

Then why was his present the greatest shock, one would ask? Because he'd thought Wufei had a certain dislike of Quatre. He'd always felt some kind of tension between Wufei and him whenever they were alone. But this present he had given him would force them to spend time together so that was proof Wufei didn't really hate him, wasn't it? Being accepted was hard, but Quatre currently felt real close to getting there.

Self defence lessons! That was something Quatre expected to never get! The down thing was that he'd have to get up early every morning except on sundays for they practised from 6.30 till 7.30, but that didn't matter. He'd had 3 lessons so far and he'd felt a lot less clumsy this morning than he had the first morning. Besides that, the lessons were funny as well ans the two of them were now scheming plans to get Heero and Duo together. Quatre couldn't wait till new years eve when they were going out!

But he'd have to wait just a few more days until it was time for that plan to be put into action.

So now he had decided to put the computer game away for a change and he was playing on his violin. The beautiful sound filled his room with music and Quatre's thoughts trailed off to nowhere in particular when he suddnely heard a flute had joined him, the same flute he'd heard the other day. This was it. This was the moment he had been waiting for! He hadn't pushed his door shut on purpose so all he had to do was walk over there and open the door (with his foot, doh!) to see who it was.

Quatre did just that. He moved to the door, dancing on the motion of the music and pushed it open with his foot. Who he saw standing there, leaning against the wall near the corner, eyes closed his hands on the flute, playing along with a small smile on his face was no one other than...

Trowa Barton!

He played music? He played the flute? No way. . . Quatre was so shocked he completely forgot to continue playing. Trowa's eyes shot open at the sudden stop of music and he stared up at Quatre, eyes in shock. The greenest eyes he'd ever seen locked with Quatre's own and it seemed to take an eternity before they moved away.

Trowa, realizing he'd been caught, wheeled around and stormed off before Quatre could do anything to stop him.

"No wait!" Quatre quickly followed the youth, but when he rounded the corner where Trowa had disappeared, the taller one was no where in sight.

Quatre sighed. No matter how Trowa had acted in the past, he had to admit the boy was pretty good. And they sounded so good tgether! Could they perhaps. . .? No way! That would never be. Trowa might have changed a little. . . Okay, a lot, but he was still always Trowa, the one that who had made a great deal out of making his life a hell.

He decided it would be best to forget about this. Or at least not to mention any of it to the other boys. He knew how they'd act.

~ T.B.C. ~

Okay, so that was a strange scene here, but hey, I am the writer, I am the one to say what's going on! I hope to continue this story a.s.a.p. again. I'm sorry for the readers I have probably lost, but oh well, it IS my own fault, isn't it?

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