Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Broken Reflections ❯ Silent Goodbyes ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Broken Reflections by Angel Barton

• Chapter Five: Silent Goodbyes •

"Well, that certainly was strange," muttered Duo. He had watched the silent exchange with rapt attention. I wonder if they know each other, he thought. He tried not to smile as the two engaged in a clash of wills. The boy narrowed his eyes ominously, but the brunette didn't even bat an eyelash. He shook his head in amusement and stepped between the pair.
"All right, enough is enough," he said cautiously as he looked from one to the other, trying to figure out what had just happened. The boy shook himself out of his trance as the girl glanced up at Duo. "What was that all about?" the braided boy asked aloud. The girl closed her eyes for a moment, then looked back at the two boys with her incredibly blue gaze. "Do you have a computer available?" she asked, purpose evident in her tone.
Duo was disappointed to say the least. He had been hoping to find out her name, who she was, where she came from, whether she had a boyfriend… anything! Oh well, I guess that'll have to do for now. He sighed. "Yeah there's one down the hall…"
Heero looked on silently as Duo filled the strange girl in the directions. Who is she? was the only thing he could think of. God, it was driving him crazy! Heero Yuy, the Perfect Soldier, baffled by a enigmatic young girl. The very thought made him frown. He glanced up at her as she turned and silently walked out the door. Who indeed…
• • •
Later that evening, as Duo and Heero argued in the hanger, the strange girl sat typing away at the computer terminal. Her face, eerily lit by the blushish white light from the screen, showed a hint of concern. She spoke quietly as she typed. "Mission complete. Be advised: primary mission integritiy possibly breached. Have made contact with two pilots: Wing's pilot, Heero Yuy, and the pilot of a Gundam called Deathsycthe, a Duo Maxwell. Both suits damaged. Repairs necessary. Awaiting orders."
She sent the message and waited for the reply. She was the picture of tranquility, eyes closed, lost in thought…
A few minutes later, the screen flashed and she shook herself out of her musings. She read the words as they scrolled across the monitor. "Mission integrity intact. New orders as follow." She memorized her instructions and sent her response. "Mission accepted."
• • •
Within the shadows of his cockpit, the pilot of the Gundam Heavyarms tightened his fingers around the trigger of his control stick and looked down as the barrel of his suit's massive machine gun spun empty. He flipped a switch and the gun slid off and crashed to the ground in a cloud of dust. The panels covering the suit's chest swung open in preparation for another hail of bullets, but it never came. The guns' empty chambers clicked as they spun, and the pilot closed the panels.
"He's out of bullets!" exclaimed a voice from within one of the OZ Aries MS surrounding the strange Gundam.
"Don't let your guard down," warned the troop's commander. Walker knew very well that even though their enemy's firepower had been depleted, he was still very much a threat.
But the brash young soldier paid no mind to his warning and roared away from the Specials defense line shouting, "I'll show you what the Specials are made of!"
"You fool! We can't afford a mistake at this point!" yelled Walker. He turned and watched in disbelief as the single Mobile Suit advanced on the target.
Trowa closed his eyes as he watched the Aries bear down upon him. "That was fast," he muttered to himself. "Surprise, surprise." His viewscreen darkened as the suit rose in front of him and prepared to strike. Suddenly, a hole appeared in the Aries' head as a bright light lanced through the suit and it exploded into a ball of fire and twisted metal.
Almost as if on cue, lines of advancing desert-colored opened fire on the unsuspecting Specials. Walker watched in horror as suit after suit burst into firey clouds as they were bombarded with the hail of gunfire. In a move both out of both desperation and revenge, he launched his suit into the air and ripped into this new threat with his own weapons. "Come get me, you monsters!" he raged as he watched a white and black suit came towards him with surprising speed. Before he could retaliate, the suit's pilot clamped his machine's heat shorters around Walker's Mobile Suit. "I wanted to find out what this thing could handle…"said Walker as he steeled himself for what was to come.
The blonde Arabian pilot leaned forward withing his cockpit as he whispered an remorseful "Sorry." His words were lost in the defening explosion that followed.
• • •
Duo shook his head in increduously as he walked towards the hanger door. Beyond it could be heard the clank of metal and the hiss of a blowtorch. He pushed open the steel door and peered into the cavernous room. There he was, standing by his Gundam, trying to accomplish the impossible. There's no way he's gonna be able to fix that thing. Parts are kind of a necessity when it comes to fixing something that's broken, unlike that girl with her leg…besides, it's 2:30 in the morning. "Man, what the heck's he thinking?" he wondered aloud. He yawned loudly and turned away muttering, "I'm sacking it."
The dark-haired boy continued his work without sparing a glance. I bet that braided baka never shuts that mouth of his. One of these days, someone's going to stick a barrel in it. He shook his head as he reached up to finish welding the broken paneling back onto Wing Gundam's frame. You sure took a beating, Zero. If it hadn't been for that girl you would have… Heero's thoughts drifted off as he realized what he was saying. Even if that girl hadn't appeared, Zero would have ended up in this state or worse… by his hand.
His mind wandered back to his earlier confrontation with her. He remebered himself falling in a sort of stupor as he gazed into those pools of crystaline blue. He had yearned to find something hidded in their depths, some clue as to her identity, her purpose. All he had found, however, was a wall. She's well trained. But by who, and why?
He tensed suddenly. Something nearby had triggered his well-honed senses. Without moving, he strained his ears. Nothing. No footsteps or tell-tale breathing to signify an unnoticed visitor. He turned to look into the shadows behind him, willing his eyes to pierce the inky blackness settled into the corners of the room. Shimatta…
His eyes snapped to the far wall. Something had moved in the darkness. He raised his blowtorch and watched as its light reflected faintly from two points hidden in the shadows. Heero looked on as the figure partially stepped out from the gloom in acknowledgement to being spotted. He frowned as the girl's eyes danced in the flame's weak light, sparkling dots of brightness in a face that melted into the darkness at its edges. Her eyes met his and held him. What is she doing here? he thought dimly.
Heero had no idea how long they stared at each other, unmoving. It could have been hours or merely seconds. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she slowly closed her eyes as she turned and was swallowed once more by the impenetrable shadows. The breath that he had unknowingly held in when he first met her eyes came out in a whoosh. He shook his head and looked down. "What the heck am I doing?" he whispered fiercely. I'm allowing her to distract me from my mission. Idiot! He tightened his grip on the torch's handle. Never again, he promised himself. He looked back at the spot where she had disappeared, determination in his eyes. Never again…
From the darkness, Rei paused to watch the Japanese boy return to his task before slipping quietly into the night.
• • •
Sunlight glinted blindingly off the numerous MS crowded onto the airfield. On one side, forty desert-colored models backed the large white and black suit as it faced off against a very similar-looking suit. Silence hung in a thick blanket over the assembled machines, a drastic change from the raging battle that had ensued earlier.
It was broken by a hesitantly questioning voice from one of the brownish suits. "Master Quatre…"
"I don't need any help," responded the small blonde in the white suit.
"It seems he's used up all his bullets," came the voice again.
A tight, worried smile forced itself onto Quatre's face. "That pilot isn't relying on any sort of firearms."
From the back of the base came a sudden roar as a sleek jet launched itself into the sky.
The blonde boy looked to his side screen exclaiming, "There goes an OZ aircraft!" He realized his mistake as soon as he had made it. He gritted his teeth as he looked back to his foe and braced himself for the attack that was sure to come.
Trowa took the other pilot's moment of distraction to his advantage as he flipped the switch that swung out the blade on his suit's right forearm and charged the unprepared white suit. He grunted with the effort of manipulating Heavy Arms in the lightning-fast rush and swung the blade upward to hit his enemy's suit under its left arm.
Quatre reached out Sandrock's massive black hand to latch on to the other suit's shoulder as sparks showered from the damage that the other pilot had inflicted. He was caught off-guard as the suit slammed it's knee into his suit. In response, Quatre attempted to strike his enemy with Sandrock's fist, but it was caught within the iron grip of the other suit's hand. Suddenly, Quatre closed his eyes and smiled. "This isn't right…" he whispered quietly.
Trowa looked on quietly as his enemy ceased his attempts of retaliation.
"It's not.." said Quatre as he looked down. Abruptly, Sandrock's front hatch slid open and the small blonde pilot ran to the edge of the platform created by the doors. He spread his hands wide in a pleading gesture and, in a voice just as beseeching, said, "You and I shouldn't be fighting at each other!"
After a moment's pause, the hatch of the opposing suit opened. From the darkness of the cockpit emerged the machine's pilot, hands raised in a act of surrender. Quatre noted the impassive mask the young boy sported and smiled. "Put your hands down. I was the first one to surrender and come out, remember?"
• • •

Rei gunned the engine of the black motorcycle and roared out of the shipyard, the rubber tires spitting a shower of gravel and dirt behind her. The cool night wind whipped her hair as it spilled out from beneath her helmet like banner and brushed in a furious whisper over her body as she sped towards the cliff road that rose steadily above the sea.
She smiled breifly in spite of herself. The look on the boy's face as he had stared at her was priceless. She had purposely allowed him to see her, for she knew that if she had not moved, he would probably have never found her. Even with all your training, she thought. "Perfect Soldier" indeed…
As the broken yellow lines of the black road were gobbled by her tires, Rei's mind raced just as quickly as the machine underneath her. Scenes of her past came and went in short-lived flashes, but for all their brevity, they were as clear as the moment they had occured. Her conscience was bombarded with images of wires, needles, and electrical equiptment and the feelings of far-off pain and fading madness. But those things were of the past, a past that she would never be able to outrun no matter how fast she went.
Rei slowed her suicidal pace and pulled the bike off to a heavily wooded section beside the road. She looked up with keen eyes into the deep shadows between the reaching branches of the trees and allowed a wolfish grin to touch her lips. Well Doctor, she thought, it seems that your extra insurance hasn't lived up to it's standards. But don't worry, I won't betray your secret just yet. She paused as a small beam of moonlight caught a piece of cold black metal in its shimmering radiance. Just remember, every lab rat has its breaking point…

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Ohayo minna! This is the first "author's note" that I've done, so please just bear with my rambling ^_^. So, what do you think? Do you like it so far? I know that I'm just a loser with too much free time, but I'm actually kind of proud of this story. Yes, it is a little slow at the beginning because it's basically a retelling of the first few episodes, but I'm trying to base the story line around the actual series as much as I can. And I appoligize for my lack of skill in writing about MS battles. This is a new thing for me. And for all of you Relena fans out there, don't get mad because Heero didn't meet her on the beach and because I haven't written about her yet. You never know, she could pop up at any time *wink*.
I'm so glad that I get to start writing more about Rei. She's kind of the mysterious stranger now, but she'll reveal her character more and as the story progresses, which is good for those of you who are wondering how she knew the exact phrase that Heero said (I at least hope that some of you are wondering ^_^)
Oh, and I have to give a special thanks to my one and only tomodachi, Dilly-chan. She's the one that's kept me going with her frantic "What happens now?!" and her occasional death threats if I'm late on turing out another chapter. Dilly-chan, thanks so much for supporting this totally crazy impulse of mine and for being there when I needed help. You're my muse and the bestest buddy out there, both in the real world and the crazy mixed-up world in our heads. Moecha!!!
Well, I think that about covers it, now that I've completely bored you to death. Please please PLEASE send me some responses concerning this story! I would really like some constructive criticism, imput, or opinions. Like it or hate it, I don't care, just please send me some feedback so I will know whether or not to continue this seemingly endless story. All comments and flames are welcomed and apprieciated!!!!! Thanks for taking the time to read this! Until my next little blurb, ja ne!!!!
~ Angel Barton ( cheerzep03@aol.com or tsubasanokami1@aol.com )