Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Blue Lightening ❯ Returning to L2 ( Chapter 4 )

(AN: I just realized that I didn't put a date on the last “present day” chapter. Damn, now I need to figure out what it is!)

AC 196

Shuttle ports were all the same, full of queues and screaming children. He got strange looks from officials going through the port, and was eventually pulled aside.

“Uh, Sir?”

“Is something wrong?”

“Uh, your ID,” the worker, a thin man with short black hair said, smiling nervously. Duo wasn't sure if the nervousness was due to him or part of the man's natural disposition.

“It's recent, I know.”

“Oh, that's fine; a lot of people's documentation was destroyed in the war.”

“Then what's the problem?”

“You don't have any extra details, other than your stats and the fact that you exist. It's the policy to offer you the opportunity of amending that. If you want.”

“Amending?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Uh, what do you mean?” Duo asked, completely confused.

“Well, you have no contact details. No next of kin. No place of origin,” the man pointed out, twisting a ring on his finger.

“Oh! Uh, sure, if you have a database or something, I can add those.”

He was guided to a terminal behind a nearby desk, and the worker pulled up the program needed. Duo slid himself behind the keyboard and began to type with a speed that had the man's jaw drop.

It wasn't hard, he just left the fields that he didn't feel like answering. For a contact number he put Quatre's office. If it was a legitimate call, they would forward it to his phone. In the field marked `next of kin' he quickly filled out the names of all of the other ex-pilots. He named L2 as his place of origin and marked himself down as an organ donor. He added in his blood type for good measure.

“Uh, you type very fast.”

“Mmm. I'm done.”

“Uh, you haven't filled in an address.”

Duo gave the man an assessing glance, but he appeared to have no ulterior motive. “I don't currently have one, and the last place I was living in, um, the inhabitants probably wouldn't thank me for splashing their address everywhere.”

“Oh, um, ok.”

“Is that everywhere?” Duo asked, letting just a hint of Shinigami into his smile. He had spent far too much time in this place, and he wanted to find a hotel and some food.

“Yes, of course, Sir.”

“Have a good one.”

“Uh, thank you sir.”

 

Duo left the shuttleport with a spring in his step and a smile on his face. Ahhh, L2. The familiar smells of garbage and wet pavement. The weather system permanently set on “warm with occasional drizzle”. The people walking by with worn clothes and tired expressions. The cheerful children playing in the street.

Whistling an old Earth tune, Duo sauntered into the first arms shop he saw and began looking over their collection of knives. His ceramic lock picks had come through customs with him, and his gun was in his duffle, next to his hastily issued gun license, as the government realized that there was no way that any of the pilots would be going anywhere unarmed, and letting them do it legally would save them more paperwork in the long run. Of course, it helped that they had all put their names down on the Preventer's `call if absolute emergency' list and so Une had managed to smooth the way after a stupid guard had tried to take Heero's gun away from him.

The shop had a nice storm sheath knife, 14cm blade with a nylon sheath and a compartment in the handle. The `tanto' style knife next to it also caught his attention. Well, this was L2. You can never have too many knives. And his gun could probably do with some more ammo too…

Duo wasn't sure why he was gearing himself up. He didn't intend to fight. Of course, he knew from experience that intentions rarely counted for anything. Was he intending a trip to the slums? The war pension that the government (read: Relena) had given to all five pilots was enough for him to live reasonably comfortably in L2, even if it wouldn't have supported a stray kitten elsewhere in the UN.

Plus he had all those hacked OZ funds. Ooh, laptop. Will need a new one of those. Duo paid for the knives and a few clips of ammo, before whistling his way out. He passed a computer store, but didn't go in; expensive equipment could wait for a time when he had a base to move out of. There was no point buying something without being sure that you'd have the power to run it or the ability to keep it safe - without lugging it around with you, which could sometimes be the most hazardous course of action after all. Fights and laptops didn't mix well, almost as badly as beer and keyboards.

Now, a motel for the night? A hotel? B&B? Rent an apartment? Find a homeless shelter? Cardboard box? The periodic drizzle had started, and he really didn't feel like searching in dumpsters. Maybe under a bridge? Duo found his feet leading him down old familiar alleyways, until he stood in front of an old burnt out building.

Old ghosts stopped him from going up.

Duo stood, getting steadily soggier, until the drizzle stopped. He didn't dare go any further; the ruins of Maxwell Church were three blocks hubside.

He had passed a run down hotel on his way there. Duo backtracked and pushed open the creaky door. The air inside was cool and dry.

“Uh, hello?” he called into the silence.

“Just a moment, dear!” came a cheery voice from somewhere in the back. A few minutes later, a diminutive woman with curly white hair bustled into view, carrying a pair of scissors. He could see knitting needles poking out of her apron pocket. She smiled at him. “What can I do for you? I see you got caught in the rain.”

“Um, have you got any vacancies?”

“Why, yes we do! There's one on the first floor, or the attic's open to renting.”

“What do you mean?”

The lady looked a little sad. “I had a nice young man living there, and he would help me fix this old place up a little in exchange for my cooking. But he left, he was saving to go to L3, and he finally made it. The basement is where I live, and the floors between the attic and basement are for guests.”

Duo was a little suspicious. Opportunities like this did not just drop into people's laps. The old lady peered into his face and laughed.

“I know, I know, you're thinking `this is too good to be true; where is she hiding the gun?' Aren't you?”

Duo smiled sheepishly. “Uh, yes.”

“I wouldn't have offered, only I recognised you.”

Duo stiffened. Crap! She knew that he was a Gundam pilot!

“You had a voice like a little angel! And I know that Sister Helen was so proud of you,” the lady continued, one hand going to the cross hanging around her neck.

Stop the colony! I want to get off! Duo suddenly felt extremely slow and stupid. Why was it so hard to think? “Sister… Sister Helen?”

“Yes. You're Duo, aren't you?”

“Yes… you remember me?”

“Of course I do! I used to bake cakes and cookies for you children, don't you remember? Well, I don't expect you do, you were rather young.”

Duo shook his head slowly. “No… I do remember now. Thank you.”

“So, will you take the room or the attic?”

“…attic?”

“Wonderful! I'll show you the way. We can discuss rent tomorrow. I'm sure you're tired, and there's stew on the stove. Unless you've already eaten?”

“Um, no, no I haven't.”

“All right, we'll get you fed up! This way.”

She led him up four flights of stairs to a long room with an oddly shaped ceiling. The floors were wooden and the walls faded up from blue to white. There were skylights rather than windows, and the light switch turned on wall lights rather than a main light.

“I'm afraid there isn't all that much furniture.”

“That's all right.”

A door at the far end he guessed led to a bathroom, and there was a small kitchen unit next to the entrance, with a counter, a sink, a small fridge-freezer and a two ring gas cooker. The main area of the room had a blue sofa and a coffee table. There were some bare shelves over the sofa and a twin bed in one corner. The other was taken up by more cupboards.

“There's a kettle in one of the cupboards in the kitchenette. I think there are still sheets in that cupboard over there. Bathroom's through the back door there, would you like to see that too?”

“Uh, ok.”

“Go on then!” she said with a laugh, pushing him a little. “I'll make the bed for you.”

The bathroom was all blue, with white and silver fixings. Technically it wasn't a bathroom, as there was a shower instead of a bath but Duo decided to let that slide. He returned to the main room and kicked the duffle under the bed. The rucksack went onto the coffee table. His host was waiting for him by the door to the stairs.

“Are you ready to eat?”

“Yes please. Um, what is your name?”

“Rosemary Evans. Don't call me Mrs. Evans whatever you do!”

“Thanks for the room. It's great.”

 

~*~

 

Duo woke with a start in the early hours of the morning. The room was dark, with shafts of light falling down from the skylights. The area around the bed was highlighted by the illumination of the moon. The window directly over the bed was in line with one of the colony windows, and he could see the stars.

“I suppose I should be grateful that I cannot see the moon,” he muttered into the silence.

Tugging the blankets up to his chin, he stared into space, toying with the idea of moving the bed so that the light would no longer bother him. But he was a soldier, he could sleep through anything, and the view wasn't so bad. Neither was waking up at `dawn', when the huge solar panels moved and the inside of the colony was flooded with the light of the sun.

It was no use, he had slept his quota and now he was wide awake. Duo climbed out of bed and tugged on a pair of jeans. The middle skylight looked climbable… it opened easily, sliding further up the slight incline of the roof, and the ledge was just within his reach. He pulled himself out easily, and sat on the tiles, staring at the lights of the colony. The area to his right was sleeping peacefully, but to his left he could see the burnt out building he had lived in with Solo and the gang. The streets there were painted with neon, garish and flashy. He could see people moving through gaps in the buildings. And there was one building that drew the eyes… blue searchlights lighting the front and the rear in shadow.

Blue Lightening.

 

 

 

 

(AN: ok, there are a few discrepancies between the Prologue and the `past' chapters. But I figure that Duo wouldn't have remembered everything straight away, it had been more than half a decade. ^^ This chapter is kinda short, sorry! I'll try to make the next one longer. Please review, it encourages me to write!)