Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Band Wars ❯ Beginning to fit together ( Chapter 2 )

It had been nearly a month since the five former teen-soldiers had decided to form their own rock band. They had taken to the new hobby with interest and the ambition to be successful wasn't forgotten. They had worked like animals to complete four other songs. Hobby wasn't a good word. None of them had truly realized how addictive creating music was until Trowa happened to stumble into the music room in their home. They had lots of fun and though it had begun as a meager pastime it had grown into a passion. They stayed up late into the night getting that solo just right or tweaking this one lyric to fit like a puzzle piece.

 

Into the third week the boys had decided to try to get a gig. After looking at the local clubs they realized that the war had inevitably made them far too famous to try anything small. If they wanted to be serious about it they would have to get a record deal. Quatre offered to just pay for it all himself, but they rejected the idea wanting to really prove to themselves that they could make it.

 

However, if they wanted to prove they could make it they would have to hide the fact that they were the already popular Gundam pilots. If a record producer found this out they might sign them based on their popularity alone. That wouldn't prove anything.

 

So Quatre purchased what was necessary to turn the music room into a studio and they recorded their four songs. They then sent in the demo CD to Earthly Beat Records with the band's name listed only.

 

The five were anxious about the answer they were going to get, even the more inclusive of the bunch.

 

After a week, they got their reply. Nervous, Quatre refused to hit the button on the keyboard to open the message. Impatient, Wufei pushed him aside and slammed his finger down on `Enter'. The video email enclosed revealed a young brunette female, presumably a secretary. She began to speak.

 

“Hello, and congratulations! Your songs have been reviewed and considered good enough for Earthly Beat Records to produce. The company CEO would like to meet you next Friday at four o'clock, today being Wednesday, June 7. Don't be late and again, congratulations.”

 

“Yes!” Quatre and Duo shouted in joy. Though the other boys didn't say anything they looked at each other and allowed small smiles to grace their lips.

 

The day to meet the record company CEO came and the boys arrived on time. The secretary from the video email ushered them into a typically large corporate boardroom. The room had a long rectangular table in the center surrounded by a number of empty chairs and one large leather chair at the table's head facing away from them. This chair then spun around to face them, the person occupying it not waiting for the room's visitors to sit down.

 

The person in the chair was none other than Mariemaia Khushrenada.

 

“What the hell!?” screamed Wufei.

 

“I guess I will be employing you once again, Wufei,” the little girl said with an almost innocent smile and a slightly maniacal laugh.

 

Quatre tucked his golden bangs behind his ears; an old idiosyncrasy. “Ms. Mariemaia? You run Earthly Beat Records? But-”

 

“How in the hell did that happen?!” Duo questioned, cutting off Quatre's more dignified approach.

 

With a look of slight frustration towards Duo's tone, Mariemaia answered, “After I recovered from my grandfa…that man's gun shot, I got bored with the strict and eventful schedule Lady Une imposed upon me. Not that I'm ungrateful or anything, I think of Lady Une like a second mother. However, I have come to realize that while I am a child and by no means capable of participating in war, I still live in this world of adults. So in my desolation I searched for a means of entertainment and some level of power. I wanted to be constructive rather than destructive.” She paused a moment before continuing.

 

“As I searched I would invariably listen to music. Then it dawned upon me that I could run a company dedicated to helping young minstrels spread their songs to the world. So I used the money stored away for me by my father, Treize Khushrenada, to start this little enterprise. Now, it's my turn to ask you a question. I had no idea the musicians behind that demo were you. My question is: are you all-talented young men seriously asking me to produce you? Mr. Winner, I know for a fact you could produce a million bands, let alone one.”

 

The boys had taken their seats for Mariemaia's little speech. Duo tried to pick his nose and Heero slapped him in the back of the head. Mariemaia giggled with amusement.

 

Quatre filled Mariemaia in on the reasoning behind the demo CD and she sat back smiling.

 

“Alright then, boys. If you want to ride this pony I'll make sure it's fed. I will only do this, however, if you acknowledge that I alone, am your manager and get 10% of the profits.”

 

Duo jaw-dropped. “No way in Hell, you little…”

 

“Duo! I'm sorry, Ms. Mariemaia. Yes, you can have 10%. Money was never an issue anyway,” Quatre answered the diminutive redhead.

 

“Good…” the child grinned devilishly. “We will start recording first thing tomorrow.”

 

After going over the legal mumbo jumbo and giving Mariemaia their private phone number the five boys said their goodbyes; Duo agitated nevertheless, and went home.

 

Once home, an apologetic Duo confronted his friends. “I'm sorry I argued about Mariemaia's cut of cash. I know you're rich Quat and we all have our private stashes from the war. It's just that this is the first, you know, legit job I've ever had and I smelling the green I worked for is important to me. Sure, I can hack into some Trump's account and take what I want but I don't know, being a thief gets old, ya' know what I mean?”

 

Duo looked so sincere the others couldn't help but cave, at least in their own ways.

 

“You idiot! That is very just motivation -if there is such a thing- for you're outburst. I for one, forgive you, Maxwell,” Wufei announced.

 

“Thanks Fei,” Duo said, glad to be so well received by his proud friend.

 

“Shut up,” the strong-hearted boy replied, trying not to appear too understanding. Too much compassion might look bad.

 

“Duo, don't worry about it. That made perfect sense. What's one more outburst from the great Shinigami?” Heero said with his regular monotone, ending it with a tiny bit of sarcasm.

 

Duo laughed.

 

“Yeah, Duo! It's okay. I'm glad you told us,” Quatre said.

 

Trowa nodded in agreement, not wanting to be redundant.

 

“Okay, moving on…” Duo said, trying to change the subject from what he saw as overreacting on his part.

 

Trowa said he was going to go practice bass in his room, feeling that improvement was still needed although he was doing great so far and then went to his room. Heero muttered something about wanting to research the Australian Penguin and then promptly went to his own room, leaving three confused youths in his wake. Duo, lazy as he was, plomped down on the couch to watch television and seemed to completely forget about Quatre and Wufei. Wufei went to the warehouse's personal gym to work out and Quatre gave in to the madness and plomped on down next to Duo.

 

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Trowa's quarters had been furnished at his request in the colors of Heavyarms. He wasn't overly sentimental; he just acknowledged that the machine had been a big part of his life. The other ex-pilots had followed his example in terms of room decoration and while Trowa's room reflected his bright red and golden Gundam, Heero's was red, blue and yellow, Quatre's was black and golden, Duo's was black with a bit of white, and Wufei's was green with a bit of red. Trowa liked his room and took comfort in it.

 

Sitting on his bed, Trowa glanced up at the picture of his adoptive sister, Catherine, and the rest of the circus. After the war, Trowa had returned to them but after a while he just didn't feel free to make his own decisions and live his own life with Catherine mothering and smothering him like she did. He presumed the others had had similar situations with their post-war lives because after a few months Quatre had suggested living together and they all agreed, even the reluctant loner, Wufei.

 

Trowa had tried to call Catherine every once in a while but she never picked up. When he left he had tried to explain to her that he didn't hate her or anything, but she just wouldn't listen. Somehow, she ended up hurt and angry, refusing to speak with him.

 

Honestly, Trowa missed Cathy. She was the only family he had other than Quatre and the rest of them. With the other Gundam pilots it was different though. They really were close friends that shared an intimate bond because of their unique pasts and that wasn't about to change. It wasn't the same though. They were all wounded warriors who had learned to take care of each other and need each other, but Catherine was normal; not perfect but normal. And he missed her.

 

He picked up the burgundy bass guitar that he had taken from the music room into his own and began to pluck the strings. This afternoon, it was a sad song.

 

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The Australian Penguin line had been a lie. Heero knew that inspiring confusion was one of the best ways to keep a low profile. In actuality, Heero was sitting at the desk in his room tapping away rigorously at his laptop. Penguins were nowhere to be seen.

 

Heero had actually been keeping tabs on Vice Foreign Minister, Relena Darlian. Checking backgrounds on her bodyguards, security officers, co-workers, that sort of thing. He also tried to keep up to date on what was going on in her life. What conference she would be going to this week, what her agenda would be today. He wasn't really stalking her; he wasn't obsessed. It was just that Relena had been the first person to worry about him; the first person to care about his well-being, despite his gruff and anti-social behavior. She had helped him get back a bit of his humanity. He felt he owed her something.

 

So he would make sure she was all right and taken care of. He didn't love her; at least he didn't think he did. He wasn't sure. All he knew was that he worried about her and felt it was his duty to protect her and watch out for her. There was something there. He didn't save her life that first time for nothing. At first, he tortured himself, trying to figure out why would jeopardize his cover like that; why he would save her. Over time, however, he excused it away as his latent conscience rising to the surface and nothing more for no other reason. There couldn't be another reason could there?

 

Relena wasn't unattractive. Ever so often his mind would drift back to that moment in the Eve Wars when he pretended he was about to kiss her and then sealed her space helmet and escaped into Wing Zero. At the time he had only been trying to get into Wing Zero's cockpit alone and without hurting her feelings. Thinking back, however, he wondered what it would have felt like. What would it have been like to kiss Relena Darlian?

 

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“Ninety-seven! Ninety-eight! Ninety-nine! Hundred!” Wufei counted with satisfaction. One hundred one handed pushups completed. He wiped the sweat off his brow

 

He had been working out for half an hour now. Crunches, squats, chin-ups, bicep curls, you name it. Wufei had taken to physical conditioning more than ever, even though there were no more wars to be fought. He needed it. He needed the challenge of no one and nothing but himself.

 

He was restless these days; always trying to do something. The life of a soldier had been the only life he had ever known and adapting to a peaceful world had been harder on Wufei then anyone else; no one knew. He couldn't allow himself to appear so weak when faced with peace. Come on, it was peace for crying out loud! Though he didn't show it, Wufei was in reality the most sensitive of the pilots. He hadn't wanted to fight. He had fought because he couldn't accept the thought of a universal society where his wife had to die. They may not have seen eye to eye, but Meilan's death was a wake up call. It told Wufei just how messed up things were, and he couldn't take it.

 

And here he was. The war over and little Wufei still had trouble sleeping at night. The new band had helped a lot, actually. Playing the drums again like he used to was calming in a way. At the same time he could vent all his frustrations, all his worries and no one knew it. Striking that snare and feeling that rhythm…it took all his negativity and all his hurt and turned it into something positive. This new outlet seemed to be almost therapeutic. It gave him hope that maybe he too, like Duo, could try to live legit.

 

He and Duo really were close, despite all appearances. He called him by his last name like everyone else, but that didn't change the fact that, to him at least, they had bonded in that OZ cell back in the day. Duo's cheerful nature, obnoxious attitude, and assertiveness were comforting to Wufei because Wufei knew that it was a mask just like the arrogance and machismo he himself wore. Wufei knew that Duo could see that as well and there was a silent understanding there. That understanding gave them both the strength to go on in the ever-changing world.

 

Although Wufei was working out now, he had noticed that he was working out less and less each day. He was getting calmer; mellowing out a bit. He was even sleeping soundly regularly. Yeah, the drumming outlet was helping little by little. Maybe Duo would even let Wufei try his hand at lyrics.

 

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Afternoon was gone and only evening remained. Quatre had grown tired of TV. “We've watched enough, Duo. Let's try to talk the others into….I don't know….hanging out,” he said.

 

“But the T-” Duo protested.

 

“We could mess around in the music room. You know work on the songs we already have or try to write something new,” Quatre persuaded.

 

“Ohhh fine,” Duo reluctantly agreed.

 

First, the two of them knocked on Trowa's door.

 

“Come in,” Trowa answered just loud enough to be heard and no louder. Quatre and Duo opened the door.

 

Quatre told him his idea and Trowa accepted, wanting to take his mind off his broken sibling relationship with Cathy.

 

Next on the agenda was Heero's room. They three of them knocked again and Heero called them in, closing his laptop. Once again, Quatre threw out his idea and Heero agreed. He did feel like playing guitar.

 

Lastly, was Wufei. They checked their personal gym, but Wufei was nowhere to be found. They searched the house and couldn't find him. As they were sweeping through the bedrooms section Wufei stepped out in different clothes that what he had been wearing and with wet hair.

 

“What?” he asked. “I had a shower. Hygiene is just as important as physical fitness, you know.”

 

The other four laughed and then Quatre proceeded to offer his invitation.

 

“Fine,” Wufei replied, deep down wanting to drum more than anything at the moment anyway.

 

So the five of them headed to the music room. Once there, they didn't really work on anything, but the result seemed to be a good one regardless. The boys ended up playing what ever came into their heads, often completely different songs at once. They joked and laughed and had fun in what was now their main hang-out, rather than the den.

 

Evening turned to night and the boys went to bed contented. They all wondered, however, what tomorrow would be like and none of them really knew, but it really seemed as though the pieces were beginning to fit together.

 

TBC

 

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Well, I know it's shorter than the first chapter and odds are, tomorrow I'll go over it again, add more and edit out the little mistakes as best I can. Sorry if it's taken a bit of a turn plot wise. I just wanted to start focusing on each character. Don't worry music will still be a big part of it and Quatre and Duo will get their spotlights. Anyway…please review