Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Colonist Labour Camp no. 125 ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: Do I look like I own Gundam Wing to you? Ok, I am Japanese, but no. Seriously, I do not own the Gundam boys, and I certainly have nothing worth suing me for. ^^

Rating: R for safety, but this may change later.

Warnings: Um, good question. Shounen-ai/yaoi, violence, general cruelty all round. Language, angst (can't do without the angst!), um… I think that's it. I'll be adding to this list as I go along, probably, so keep an eye on it people!

Pairings: Ooh, secret. ^_~

Author's notes: Thankyou SO much to thewarriorkai, who is my first EVER reviewer!! *Throws muffins* There you go, you wonderful person you! Keep right on hounding, darlin'. And I am honoured to be on your favourites list ^___^ Everyone else, please do review and tell me what you think. Reviews do make me write faster, honest! As I said before, title suggestions are appreciated ^^;;

Author's notes 2: Ok, I changed this chapter around a little, cos I thought of a slightly better idea. ^^

 

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03 only permitted himself a sigh once he was safely inside the small room he lived in. Well, spent his nights in anyway. He ached all over, especially down his muscular arms, which quivered slightly from strain and exhaustion.

 

The tall boy sat on top of the worn blanket that he slept under most nights (everyone he shared the room with would take it in turns to give their blanket to 3077, who didn't have one) and stretched his legs and upper body, hoping to stop the aches from worsening.

 

He glanced up as the door opened and two of his roommates appeared, both looking weary, tired, in pain. Three people shared the room, besides 03. 3077 was a twelve year old girl, but the other two were boys of 03's age. One of them was, by incredible and happy chance, 03's best friend from the colonies. He was from L5 originally, but had moved to L3 when his wife from an arranged marriage became a `casualty of war', as OZ called the citizens they massacred. He was Chinese, and so got picked on a little worse than perhaps some of the Caucasian colonists.

 

03 admired the strength his friend had. Like himself, 4505 hid his feelings very well indeed, but 03 sometimes couldn't help but let the mask slip, and let anger or resentment flash across his face before managing to regain it. He'd never, ever seen 4505 do so. Not only that, but 4505 occasionally managed to look serene and peaceful while working. 03 had asked him once how he was able to do so amidst such suffering and injustice, but 4505 had simply told him something about “meditating” and “waiting for the right moment”.

 

The other boy was 3904, and he came from the L4 colony. With his blonde hair, blue eyes and pale skin, it was hard to believe that he was of Arabic origin. But apparently he was descended from Northern Egyptian people, some of whom did have blonde hair, etc. (1)

 

03 and 05 met 04 the day they'd first been taken into this Labour Camp. They'd turned the corner of a corridor in the living quarters, walking side by side as close as they could without hampering each other, nearly fainting with gratitude that they had been able to stay together. And they were greeted by a shy smile and compassionate aquamarine eyes.

 

Since then, the three had been firm friends. 04 was as kindly as he appeared, but much stronger. If 03 was completely honest, he would have to admit that he didn't think 04 would last two weeks.

 

But he did. And the next two weeks after that, and after that, until 03 and 05 finally accepted that 04 was pretty much as tough as they were, and wouldn't die in a hurry. Provided he kept his head down, that is.

 

“Hello, 03,” 04 sighed, smiling tiredly and letting his legs fall from underneath him so that he was seated on his own blanket. “How was your day?”

 

“Shit,” 03 replied briefly. “I dug. You?”

 

04 nodded sympathetically. “I was on metal work today. I think I was making either mobile suit parts, or really pointless children's toys.”

 

03 allowed a very small smile to grace his elegant features. He was constantly grateful for 04's ability to make him feel better simply by making a tiny joke, even if it wasn't particularly funny. He nodded at 3077 kindly. “Ok, 77?”

 

77 looked up from where she was lying on her stomach, resting her head on her arms. “Yeah, m'fine,” she said quietly. “Just tired, that's all.”

 

04 looked at 77 and chewed his lower lip worriedly. He glanced at 03 and smiled sadly. `Poor thing,' he mouthed. 03 nodded and leant back against the concrete wall. “Where's 05?” he asked, frowning a little.

 

“I'm not sure,” was the less than heartening reply. “He passed me in the factory this morning at around ten. I think he was delivering something. But he was definitely digging for the rest of the day, on the other side of the camp. He'll be back soon.” 04 smiled at his joint-best friend reassuringly. `He'll be fine,' that smile said.

 

Right on cue, the steel door opened and 05 walked inside gracefully, without so much as a hint of a limp, soreness or anything that implied he'd been working all day. 03 resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

 

“Evening, 05,” 04 said cheerfully, giving 03 an `I-told-you-so' look.

 

“Evening,” 05 replied a little distractedly. “Did you hear about that colonist they found?”

 

04 frowned and looked at 03, who shook his head. “No, we haven't,” 04 said, curious. “They found some more? How did they manage to hide away for so long? It's been, what, just under a whole year now?”

 

05 shook his head. “It was just one. A teenage boy. And I have absolutely no idea how in hell he managed to evade OZ for so long. They've found him now though. He was in Spain somewhere, I didn't get to find out where exactly. Apparently he's going to be arriving in this camp tomorrow.”

 

The Arab nodded thoughtfully. “He must have had some very good friends. That, or he's just ridiculously good at hiding.”

 

“Yeah.” 05 huddled up against the wall; it was his turn to give 77 his blanket. “I hope OZ puts him in our living block, if not our room. Which won't happen, I'm sure. I'd like to see him, talk to him, find out how he managed to stay hidden for eleven months.”

 

04 smiled. “That would be nice,” he agreed. He looked over at 77, to see that the girl was lying flat on her back and had fallen fast asleep. He scooted over to the far wall (which wasn't really far at all) and settled in between 03 and 05. He suddenly coughed a couple of times and rubbed at his throat, wincing slightly.

 

03 frowned minutely in concern. “04? Ok?” he asked.

 

04 nodded. “Of course I am. Just a sore throat, that's all.”

 

03's frown deepened in suspicion. “You'd tell us if you were sick, right?” he probed.

 

The blonde boy sighed. “Ok, so maybe I'm just a tiny little bit ill,” he shrugged. “But really, it's fine.”

 

The Chinese youth frowned darkly, all thoughts of the newly captured colonist gone in an instant. “Ill? As in flu? Or as in you were hurt by those OZ bastards?”

 

04 shook his head. “No, I think it's just a cold or something. The officers are leaving me alone, thank goodness. It only started today; I sneezed a couple of times.”

 

03 watched the boy seated next to him with his piercing green eyes. “You'll be ok,” he said at last, with as much confidence as he could muster.

 

But he barely had enough for himself, and all three of them knew that something as simple as a cold was enough to kill someone coupled with the amount of labour they did, especially one as young as they were.

 

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03, 04 and 05 were all working together, which was a rare blessing. They were digging again, which was extremely unfair on 05 who had been digging for the past three days. It was hard enough to do it for two days running, let alone four. But of course there was nothing he could do except grit his teeth and bear it.

 

Both 05 and 03 kept a watchful eye on 04 whenever they could, but he seemed perfectly fine. He coughed once or twice, but his assurances of the previous night that he was fine seemed valid.

 

Suddenly the gates of the Labour Camp, the two rusty metal icons of imprisonment and death, swung open. Perhaps `suddenly and `swung' were the wrong words; they reluctantly ground forwards, persuaded by the OZ officer working the mechanical levers.

 

A few people stopped working for a moment, watching this highly unusual event, but hastily resumed it after being struck cruelly with guns, booted feet or any other convenient weapon. But everyone watched the gates out of the corners of their eyes.

 

Two OZ officers walked in, one on each side of their prisoner as an escort. 03 recognised the one on the left of the prisoner as Corporal Trant (2), a particularly vicious sadist who had left the camp about six months before, to every colonists' relief. The one on the right looked to be in his mid/late twenties. He wore the mark of a Colonel, amazing for one so young, but 03 didn't recognise him. And, judging by the brief glance of puzzlement he got from 04 and 05, they didn't either.

 

The prisoner himself was…

 

03 couldn't get a good enough look, as the boy suddenly and effectively created chaos.

 

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(1) Yeah, apparently this is true. *shrugs* I never knew there was such a thing as Arabic people who had blonde hair and blue eyes, but there are.

(2) What rank is Trant in the series? I can't for the life of me remember, and I'm lending my DVDs out… Can someone tell me and I'll change it? Thanks.

 

Sandy: Eh heh. ^_^;; I'm slightly unkind, aren't I? I'm not letting you know who the prisoner is. And I probably won't be posting the next chapter for a while… I somehow managed to push aside all my homework etc to produce two chapters in two days. I'm sorry to say that the chances of this happening again are very remote indeed. But I'll definitely try to get at LEAST one chapter per week out.

Please review! You'd make me very happy, and I will give you muffins, or any other confection you wish for ^___^

04: Wow. A whole two chapters, and your favourite character hasn't appeared yet…?! Oh, and can you please stop calling me 04? I'm a human being you know.

Sandy: Not in the eyes of OZ you're not. Fine, fine… I'll call you Quatre in the author's notes, ok?

Quatre: … Good enough. When will your favourite character be appearing then?

Sandy: You'll see. ^^