Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Broken Wing ❯ Broken Wing - Epilogue ( Epilogue )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Authors Notes will be at the end



Authors Notes will be at the end. Arigatou.

Disclaimer: The last time! It's the last time I have to say it! WHOOPIE!!! Ahem: Neither Gundam Wing nor Sailormoon are mine. Thank you. ::takes a bow::


"If with a broken wing
she still sings; she keeps an eye
on the sky…
With a broken wing
She carries her dreams
Man you ought to see her fly."

~~ Martina McBride, With a Broken Wing


Broken Wing - Epilogue



Duo yawned and plopped down on his couch, remote control in his hand an instant after he hit the plush, green surface. He reached in long, languid movements over his head towards the end table where his soda sat patiently waiting to be consumed. Which he did in that manner reserved for members of the male species: in one large gulp. Then he resumed his activity of channel surfing through the myriad of channels his television set had to offer him.
Six months. Six months since that day he had walked out of Usagi's room. He hadn't seen her since. Setsuna had made good on her offer to take Usagi away before she could say goodbye. Quatre was hurt, but with Trowa beside him he got over it quickly. The rest were a little stung as well, but none of them would show it. Especially Wufei and Hiiro.
It took Duo a while, but he finally understood why Usagi had slapped him. She agreed with Setsuna, and hadn't expected to see any of them, especially not him. And she hadn't expected such a raw confession. And . . . as Trowa had tried to tell him on that long ago day in a forest clearing . . . she was in love with someone else. So she had seen him off in a way she thought would be less painful. By hurting him. She slapped him, making him angry, so he wasn't so sad to see her go. Also, it had been a way of rejecting his affection and offer without having to say the words aloud. She couldn't have said such hurtful words aloud, now he knew.
"Today, Vice Minister Darlian presented Lucrezia Noin of the Preventers, former officer in the OZ organization, with a special medal for loyalty . . ."
He tuned out the rest of the news program. It was the only thing remotely interesting on, but he didn't care to see anything dealing with the people, places, or things that reminded him of the war and of Usagi.
A knock at the door elicited a deep growl from him, followed by a weary sigh. If it was another door-to-door salesman . . .
"Alright already! I'm comin'!" He yelled as his visitor knocked again. Grumbling the entire way, strings of hair falling loose from his braid, Duo trudged to the door and swung it open, prepared to chase away a middle-aged, balding man with a briefcase.
"Ohayo gozimasu, Duo." Setsuna's maroon eyes peered down at him, sparkling with some sort of secret amusement, "I hope you remember that much of what Usagi-chan taught you."
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Just as direct as ever, I see. Good." She smoothed down the front of her rather civilian looking dark purple shirt, which was a lovely long-sleeved garment made from velveteen or some similar fabric. "I'm here," she said, drawling out the words in a seeming attempt to torture him, "to take you somewhere. To let you see something."
"Oh no!" He backed away from her, cornering himself into his apartment where he couldn't escape, "Knowing you, you'd take me to the Spanish Inquisition or something! And I'd get burned as a witch! No thank you!"
"Nothing so dramatic, Duo. In fact, we don't even have to leave the colony. You've been living so close to them all this time, and you never even realized."
"Them? Who's them?" He narrowed his eyes, trying to decide whether she was serious or if this were some sort of mind game. And just WHAT business did the Guardian of Time have in showing up unannounced randomly on his doorstep anyway?!?
"If you come with me, you'll see." She offered him an ever-so-sweet smile, the type that was likely to have him believing everything she said. If he didn't already know her for what she was. But, damn her, she'd aroused his curiosity.
"Sure. You said it's not far, right?"
"Correct."
"Then lead on."
Setsuna turned and began walking, trusting Duo to follow her without a backward glance. He did, only then realizing what a mess his hair was in. Ah well, it wasn't as if he was going to see people he KNEW. Then again . . . considering Setsuna and who she was, one never could be certain. So he spent the time walking getting his hair back into some semblance of neat. It was a good thing too, because not long after he finished Setsuna stopped before the door to another of the colony's personal apartments. She didn't even bother to ring the bell, she simply walked right inside and beckoned him to follow after. The former Deathscythe pilots gulped and took a tentative step inside, violet eyes sweeping the room.
There appeared to be a party in progress. Hell, at least I can get something to drink if I need it. The room was decked out in white and silver crepe streamers with matching balloons tied and taped to every available surface. Over on the far wall a long table was set up with bowls of chips, vegetables, dips, and crackers. On one side of that stood a smaller, round table with a white cake, and on the other side was a matching table with a smaller, pink cake. Milling around in all of this food and finery were one man and seven women, one of whom he recognized.
"Duo!" called Mizuno Ami, waving her arm in the air. She looked odd and out of place for a moment, then Duo realized she wasn't wearing her white lab coat. He gulped and walked over to her, as she and Setsuna seemed to want him to do. "Duo, let me introduce my friends." Ami turned and proceeded to point at the three women surrounding her each in turn, "This is Hino Rei," she indicated a stunning woman with violet eyes much like his own and long, raven-colored hair, "Kino Makoto," the tall woman with the brown ponytail and startling green eyes nodded to him, "and Aino Minako," the blonde, blue-eyed woman flashed him a winning smile, and his heart ached. She resembled Usagi so much. "You'll of course remember the name rule Usagi-chan taught you."
"Huh? Oh." That's right . . . family names came before personal names. "Who are they?" he asked of the other three; one of the girls looked much younger than the rest here.
"Oh, minna, will you come over here please?" Ami addressed the small group and they dutifully filed over, although the two oldest looked unhappy about being asked to join the others. "This is Duo. If you would be so kind as to introduce yourselves?"
"I'm Tomoe Hotaru," said the youngest, dipping her full body slightly in a graceful half-curtsey. "A pleasure." Her eyes sparkled with some secret knowledge and Duo shuddered. Those eyes unnerved him.
"Keioh Michiru," said the teal-haired woman, her dark blue eyes soft and kind. She carried herself with a sophisticated refinement and there was nothing less than elegance in her smile.
"Tenoh Haruka," said the last in a gruff, distrusting voice and with a start Duo realized that this wasn't a man, but yet another woman. Haruka offered him her hand and nearly crushed his in her grip. "We've heard a lot about you, Duo Maxwell." And she didn't seem to be too happy about what she'd heard.
"What's going on here?" He stole a glance at Setsuna, who merely smiled and remained silent.
"Duo-kun."
He froze. His breath caught and a shiver coursed through his body. That voice . . . that voice! Oh, he should have realized . . . Setsuna was an old friend of hers, and so was Ami. These women must be the others she had talked about, the friends and protectors . . . that meant . . .
"Aren't you going to tell me hello at least?" The owner of that soft voice moved into his view, and Duo swallowed the lost breath in an attempt to find a new one.
It was Usagi, but older and different. She had grown, taller by perhaps a foot but not much more. Her eyes were a deeper, clearer blue than he remembered, much more like sapphires than the topazes of before. And her hair . . . the wonderful streamers of sun-gold that had once feathered around her small face had changed into an ethereal silver-white. The face, untouched by the time that he knew had passed for her, nevertheless showed invisible signs of the aging she had undergone and the trials she had seen. Four-thousand years of rule and life were written in the paleness of her cheeks and the delicacy of her smile.
"U-Usagi-chan . . . no, you're not Usagi. You're NeoQueen Serenity."
"I was, but that was a long time ago for me, you know that Duo. Now I'm just Serenity."
"You're not gonna hit me for calling you Usagi?" he joked, rather weakly indeed, and a thin laugh ensued.
"No. We've stopped using those suffixes. The times changed on us and we had to follow them no matter how hard we tried."
"So, uh, what's the point in bringing me here anyway?" To torture me? he thought, but did not add.
"I don't-" Serenity was interrupted by the sound of the door sliding open and two sets of footsteps.
"Sere? We're home!" The voice was male, deep and powerful. Duo cursed inwardly and stepped back, disappearing into the crowd of women around him. He knew who this man must be. His suspicion was confirmed by the celestially bright smile that lit Serenity's face and the high octave her voice reached.
"ENDY!!!!!"
The former queen dashed across the room with all of the vibrancy and abandon that Duo remembered in Usagi. Waiting for her were the open arms of a tall, muscular man with thick black hair and shining midnight blue eyes. His skin was bronzed, but it was obviously a suntan and not his natural shade. His smile widened as his arms closed about Serenity's slender waist.
"I don't know why you insisted I stay on the Earthsphere for all this time, but I am SO glad to be home."
"Mama!" cried a high-pitched, insistent voice from Endymion's other side, "Mama look! I got full marks for all of my classes for the past two semesters!" The two parted, showing a small, pretty face flushed pink with excitement and pride. The face very much resembled that of Serenity; the girl even had the same hairstyle, although her hair was a sickening shade of cotton-candy pink to match her cheeks. The girl looked to be about his own age, maybe a year or two younger. Serenity grabbed the piece of paper the girl was waving about and began jumping up and down inside Endymion's arms, clearly as excited as the pink-haired one.
"That's amazing, Chibiusa!! Look, Endy, did you see her grades?!?"
"Serenity always gets excited over her daughter's grades," Ami whispered into his ear, "because her own grades when she was in school were horrible. Chibiusa has never made anything except straight A's, but you'd think she'd broken the sound barrier every time she comes home from school." The twin screechings of two excited odango atama's filled the room. "Maybe she has . . ." Ami added, trying to discreetly cover her ears.
Her daughter . . .
Duo fought down a lump of jealousy and anger that has coalesced in his throat. So this was the man Usagi loved so much, the one she had slapped him for, the one she wanted to get back to so quickly. No wonder, he was handsome and tall, and obviously older than she was, not younger like himself. And . . . as much as Duo hated to admit it, Endymion loved her. The feeling burned in his eyes every time he looked at the shining silver queen. She had the love of a good man, and an intelligent daughter to be proud of. Duo watched the three, the small but happy family, and knew that there was no reason for Usagi to have stayed with him when she had this waiting for her back in her own time. Perhaps not right then, but ahead of her.
He moved over to Setsuna and scowled.
"You've tortured me enough, Guardian. I'm leaving." Turning to make good on his threat, Duo felt the iron grip of Setsuna fall on his shoulder.
"Not yet, Duo. You've seen only the surface."
"Wha-"
Laughter interrupted his angry shout and he dared to glance over his shoulder. Serenity, her husband and daughter, and her group of protective friends, were all sharing stories about the former queen's long-ago school days. The laughter had come from everyone except Serenity, whose face was bright red with indignation. She was shouting something about once making a B on a math quiz. Rei shot back with "Yeah, the one miracle you were allotted for your lifetime!" There was more laughter, but it quickly died down as all of their faces became taught with some memory.
"I think we've all gotten more than our fair share of miracles," Ami said quietly. The others all nodded in agreement. Duo wondered what could have made this rambunctious group sober so quickly. "Serenity saved our lives so many times . . ."
"Not nearly as many times as you've saved mine," the silver one replied, tearing up slightly.
"If not for you, I'd be dead long ago," murmured the little one, Hotaru. Michiru and Haruka looked somewhat uncomfortable. It was Michiru who finally spoke.
"And we'd be murderers."
"I wouldn't even exist," said Chibiusa, who took her mother's hand in her own and offered up a reassuring smile. There was something there . . . some old understanding between the two of them.
"I'd be alone," Endymion said, smoothing back a particularly ornery strand of silvery hair from Serenity's face.
"We'd all have been alone." Rei gave a small, uncertain smile that didn't seem to fit on her face. Duo thought that hers was a face that should be strong and confident, not timid. "We didn't always tell you how important you were to us, but without you we all would have been lost."
"It was more than just our vow to protect you, Serenity," continued Makoto, "your kindness drew us to you, and your loyalty. Your courage too; no matter how bad the situation was you were always there for us, even though you were afraid."
"You loved us before you knew us, because your soul remembered us from the Silver Millennium." Minako took her sobbing queen into her arms and gave her a tight hug. "When we became your friends and met each other, it was like coming home. We somehow knew we had found the parts of our lives that were missing, and you were the central part of that. You have always been and will always be our dearest friend."
Serenity nodded through her tears and sniffed cutely as her four closest friends comforted her. But the admissions weren't over yet. Hotaru had already thanked her, but there was more for the other two to say.
"Serenity, we didn't know it then, but you showed us our true mission, and gave us a new path." Michiru smiled. Serenity looked on her with wide-eyes, and it was obvious that even after all of the millennia that had passed, the queen still looked up to these last two women with nothing less than total awe and admiration. "If you had not shown us how to work with . . . our friends . . . we would have continued to fight alone."
"I would have been happy with that," Haruka muttered with a loving, sidelong glance at the elegant woman beside her. But soon her stern face broke into a smile as well. "I know I seemed the hardest to convince, but I knew then too how important you were, not just to us, but to Earth and the solar system." She shrugged and looked away. "You were a crybaby sometimes, but you did great."
"Arigatou, minna!" Serenity cried, reverting in her emotion to her old language. Tear-filled laughter erupted from her companions and they all began to speak in a flurry of Japanese in which Duo quickly got lost. Yet it didn't matter. He smiled.
"Setsuna."
"Yes?"
"I'm ready to go. I understand."
"Good."
He walked towards the door and the Guardian did not follow. Unlike him, she belonged here. No doubt she had something to say to Serenity as well, some thanks or admission of loyalty. Serenity was like that; people adored her and followed her without always knowing why at first. But inevitably they came to understand that she was simply the brightest star in the Heavens. At the door, Duo stopped and turned.
"Setsuna, will . .. eh . . . will I, I mean will we . . . you know . . .?"
"Perhaps." The Guardian replied with a mysterious smile. "Time is infinite. There may be a chance for you and your friends to cross paths with Usagi-chan again."
"But I shouldn't hold my breath, right?"
Setsuna only smiled again. Duo smirked and shook his head. She certainly was something else. They all were. Maybe he'd come back for a visit sometime. Then again, maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he didn't need to.
He stepped outside and suddenly felt lighter and happier than he had in a very long, lonely time.


Broken Wing- The End


**Authors Notes: Oh wow. I can't believe it. After over a year of writing and working and whining and deliberations and changes to the original plot . . . I'm actually done. Broken Wing is finished. EEEEEK!!! Okies, sorries, I had to get that out. I feel better now. Looking back, I don't really remember how I first came upon the idea for Broken Wing. I do remember that the entire story was originally supposed to revolve around the Alpha Gundam, and Usagi was supposed to fight in the final battle. As you all can see, it didn't quite turn out that way. The thanks for why this was changed will be covered in the thank you section. Most of you probably would have preferred that Usagi fought in Alpha in the battle, but personally, I like this ending better. Usagi also was originally supposed to be something of a trainer for them, a leader like she was to the Senshi. However, that idea got scrapped soon enough as well, for the simple reason that I could never see the Gundam Boys ever following Usagi as a leader, no matter how much they came to like her as a friend. Then I realized that she might not HAVE to lead them. Her just being there and interacting with them and changing their perceptions of their friendships just might be enough.
A question I know is going to come up is this: Will there be a sequel? The answer is: Yes, most likely. Actually, I have ideas for two more stories to be set in the universe created by Broken Wing, so this will actually be a trilogy. The sequel will be called Mended Wing, and will reverse the roles. In other words, it will take the Gundam Boys and place them in the past, in Usagi's time. However, Mended Wing will NOT be my next fanfic. There are still some things I need to work out for it. Anything other than that I am not at liberty to say!
So, Sailorcelestial, what WILL your next fanfic be then? Well, my next fanfic will be titled Wayward, and it's a straight Gundam Wing fanfic. No Sailormoon, no any other anime. Just the characters from Gundam Wing. Except Hilde. I was actually supposed to kill Hilde in chapter 20 of BW, but I never got around to it. She just didn't seem important enough to mention, let alone kill. Sorry for those of you who like her. ::shrugs::
Now for my thankies list:
Trenchcoat Man: Thank you so, so, so much for convincing me not to make Broken Wing revolve around Alpha. It would have sucked. My muse, my backstage helper person, my person to stop me when I started writing something else and stick my nose back into Broken Wing and say WRITE! NOW! You who read every chapter after I posted it, even though you read most of it before hand any way. Also, thanks for reminding me about White Fang and the Zero System in chapter 20. That would have been bad. And, as much as it annoyed me at the time, thanks for making me promise not to start anything else until I finished Broken Wing. Oh, and one more thing. Aishiteru.
Marika Webster: Crikey, me arm! SHAOLIN WAAAH!!! Okies, I know I didn't spell that right, but who really cares except you, ne? Hehe. I know Trenchcoat Man and I drove you insane talking about Gundam Wing for months straight, but it was worth it to finally get you obsessed. And now look at you! A GW fanfic author in your own right! ::sniffs:: I'm so proud! Anyone who doesn't read your fics is a sad, sad person indeed. Even the ones NOT about Gundam Wing. Hehehe. Wuvoos!
VeeBees: We've had our differences, and we've had our fights. We haven't spoken recently as much as we used to, but I still consider you my friend. If you're reading this, GAH! I NEED HELP WITH DREAM INFINITY!
Rashaka-chan: THANK YOU! You are the reason I was able to finish Broken Wing. If not for you, I would still be stuck on chapter 20 and wallowing around in a pool of self-pity wondering what in the Earthsphere to do. No, I didn't need your summaries of the following episodes after all, but the one you did give me was the hammer that broke that damn writer's block. It was a nasty one too. Really big. Huge.
Dee-chan: When you finally get this far, teehee, tell me what you think. Was I evil? Should I be hit by a bus? Or should Mrs. Barnyard be hit by a bus? I think the latter.
Usagi Asia Maxwell: Didn't you annoy me about chapter 20 when I started saying I was writing it again? ::grins:: Thanks for that!
Usa-chan: Aw, c'mon, you know what a brilliant and amazing genius you are, you don't need me to tell you. You might not have had a direct effect on Broken Wing, but you kept writing your own great fics . . . pumping them out so fast one would have thought you just had nothing else at ALL to do except write . . . that I realized that it was taking me over a year to get ONE fanfic written! So, here it is, the finished product.
Everyone Else: There are so many other people who had an effect on Broken Wing, either directly or indirectly, I can't possibly name them all. Don't feel bad if your name wasn't mentioned. Please! I'LL feel bad and start to cry! Because ALL of you inspired me to finish BW! Only my fellow fanfic authors know how much the readers truly inspire the authors. Without you guys, without your numerous and encouraging reviews, I would have dumped Broken Wing a long time ago with the thought that my writing sucked and I never would be able to write anything worthwhile. You guys let me know that someone WAS reading my work, someone WAS liking it, and someone DID want more. I hope, one day (soon, hopefully), to be a professional author. Finishing Broken Wing gives me so much confidence in my ability to do this, and it is thanks to all of you. I hope that you all will return for my future stories, and will continue to support me with your great reviews. Thank you.

~~**Sailorcelestial**~~