Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Colonist Labour Camp no. 125 ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

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!), OOC (I try my best, but sometimes they just slip out of character…), 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: Sorry I took a while to update! ^^;;

thewarriorkai - Yep, poor Hilde! I spent ages begging the OZ officers not to kill her… We'll have to see if they give in. Although knowing my plot bunnies…

Bombayoni - Thanks for reviewing again ^^ Heh, I forgot Noventa even existed… So that's a no, then. Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough… Well, better late than never, at least.

 

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By the time `dinner' was over, 09 was in bitter tears and 04 was biting his lip and tongue to stop himself doing the same. He was so far succeeding, to 03's pride.

 

Swearing darkly under his breath in Mandarin, 05 walked on the left side of 04 and 09 (04 had his arm around 09's shoulders to comfort her) and 03 walked on the right to try and shield the two from any OZ officers that might decide to pick on them.

 

The officers escorting them seemed a little too amused at something; they constantly nudged each other and snickered, looking at the boys and sneering. 03 didn't like to think too hard on what their cruel minds dwelled on.

 

Once outside their cell, 04 gave 09 a last pat on the shoulders and she headed on towards her own cell.

 

Fumbling with the keys, Corporal Acht (1) managed to find and insert the right one, turning it with an almost chilling click. He turned and grinned broadly at the three teenagers. “I almost feel sorry for you,” he said, mock-conspiratorially. “Your new roommate isn't very friendly. I hope he doesn't cause any unfortunate accidents whilst in there with you.”

 

04 frowned, and then his eyebrows rose in realisation. The colonist with a braid… glancing swiftly at 03 and 05, he could see that the same thought had occurred to them, although with 03, anyone other than 04 (and possibly 05 too) wouldn't have been able to spot it.

 

Corporal Acht pulled the door open abruptly, shoving 05 and 04 roughly inside, sending in 03 almost straight afterwards. He pushed hastily on the door, shoving it almost closed again, so that just a crack of light was visible from outside. This was accomplished in the space of three or so seconds, and just in time. A blur of motion could be seen as a boy hurled himself bodily at Acht, slamming himself into the door instead. “LEMME OUTTA HERE!!” he screamed, blazing rage and hatred swirling madly in his voice.

04 and 05 started backing away just a little, and 03 followed suit after a moment's pause.

 

“No chance!” Acht's voice replied mockingly. “You're stuck in there forever, right where you belong. Though how you're able to stand up after the beating you got is beyond me…”

 

At the verbal reminder of his beating, the boy yelled wordlessly and slammed his shoulder into the metal door, but by that time it had been pushed firmly shut again, sealing off the artificial lighting.

 

“Motherfucking son of a bitch-cunt!” the boy swore creatively. He placed his hands on the door and braced himself against them, letting his head hang in between his arms. Then he abruptly spun around, his long braid whipping the door. 05 didn't exactly flinch as such at the sudden movement, he just tensed his muscles as though preparing for a fight.

 

But he needn't have bothered. Gone was the twisted snarl of animalistic anger, gone the demonic loathing in the boy's eyes. In their place was a friendly, amiable grin and harmlessly inquisitive eyes which, the others could see now, were a very peculiar shade of violet.

 

“Hi there!” the boy said, tilting his head a little to the side. “I'm Duo Maxwell. I run and I hide, but I never tell a lie. Pleased ta meetcha!” He stuck out his hand.

 

There was a few seconds of bewildered and apprehensive silence from the three others. The boy - Duo Maxwell - was evidently unstable. Either that or he had a serious case of MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder). Which counted as unstable anyway.

 

“… 4603.” 05 was surprised when 03 was the first to respond in a likewise friendly manner; he'd expected it to be 04.

 

“Heh, nice ta meetcha, 4603.” The braided colonist shook 03's hand firmly. “But seriously, what's ya name?”

 

03 blinked. “I don't have a name. None of us do. What's your number?”

 

Now it was Duo Maxwell's turn to blink. “Ya can't be serious, righ'?” he ventured. “O' course ya have names. Just cos OZ gave ya numbers, it don't mean ya don't have names no more.”

 

“We were given a drug,” 04 offered shyly. “It erased the memories we had of our names and colonists who were sensitive to the drug lost some memories of their family, friends, even lives.”

 

Duo Maxwell frowned. “No kiddin'?” he said. “How the hell can they do that? The mind's a complicated thing, there ain't no way they could do somethin' like that…” he trailed off, looking thoughtful. “Huh, so that's what the spiker was.”

 

“Spiker?” 04 echoed, looking puzzled. “What's a spiker?”

 

“An injection,” Duo clarified, grinning. “Seems I'm immune, huh? Good fer me.”

 

He walked over towards the three nameless boys. Duo had a bouncy, energetic gait that seemed to compensate for his lack of height; he was only about 5 foot 6 at the most, which was a good two inches shorter than even 04, who was 5 foot 8-and-a-bit. He stopped about a metre and a half away from them, sitting down suddenly and leaning back against the wall, putting his hands behind his head and looking up at 03. “What did ya say ya number was?” he asked.

 

“4603,” 03 recited. “Or just 03.”

 

“We call each other by the last two digits in our numbers,” 04 explained, smiling gently, still looking a little shy and wary. “What's your number?”

 

“Ooh, toughie. 2531402,” Duo chuckled. “Hope I still remember that in the mornin', huh?”

 

Sitting down a metre away from Duo, 04 asked, “May we call you 02? I don't think I can remember your full number.”

 

Duo shook his head emphatically. “Nuh uh. No can do. OZ calls me by a number. I'm a human being with a name, and I'm gonna use it thankyou very much.”

 

“But… but we're not allowed to have names…” 04 said uncertainly.

 

Duo laughed, a merry and sincere sound that warmed 03 somewhere deep inside. He also sat down, next to 04 but not by the wall.

 

“Allowed schmallowed,” he replied cheerfully. “If ya my enemy, ya can call me by my number. If ya my friend, or at least ya don't got no hostile feelin's towards me, than ya call me Duo. Or Maxwell at the very, very least. Kapeesh?”

 

“Um…” 04 looked helplessly at 03 and 05.

 

“Sure,” 03 said unexpectedly. 04 gaped at him in surprise. “I think you're right. You're incredibly lucky to still have your name, and I won't take that away from you.”

 

The already large grin grew both in size and sincerity. “Thanks man,” Duo said, a little softer than his previous tone. “I'm jus' sorry I can't do the same fer you.” He paused, then brightened, suddenly looking excited. “Hey, hang on a sec!” he exclaimed, sitting up straight. “There was a document in a computer, a really, really long one, and the fuckers who did me over put my name, age an' number inta it. If ya tell me ya numbers, I bet I could find out ya real names!” Duo gabbled excitedly.

 

There was a split second pause, then 04 and 05 said, “No!” firmly, and in perfect unison.

 

“You'll be caught and killed!” 05 snapped. “It's not worth the risk.”

 

“Aww, didn't know ya cared,” Duo said in a goofy voice, batting his eyelashes teasingly. “Come on, I ain't gonna get caught. Sneakin' around is what I do best. I'm real good at it too, honest ta God!” he said, placing a hand over his heart melodramatically. “Duo Maxwell never lies.”

 

“No!” 05 barked. “And that is absolutely final!”

 

Looking amused, Duo answered, “And ya really think ya can stop me?”

 

05 started to say something, but he stopped. There was an odd glow in Duo's eyes that set 05's instincts bristling. It was a very faint shadow of how Duo's eyes were when he was attacking the door and screaming profanities at Corporal Acht. 05 suspected that had he been close enough when he had first seen Duo enter the camp, he would have seen the same then too.

 

“Heh. Wise,” was Duo's only comment before the shadow was gone, vanished like a bad dream. 05 became even more convinced that Duo wasn't entirely mentally sound. “Don't ya wanna know what ya names are? Ya'd probably get back all the memories ya lost with ya name too,” Duo continued persuading as though nothing had happened.

 

“Fine, but if you get caught, don't blame us,” 05 sniffed haughtily. He got up and went over to his blanket, tucking himself underneath it with the air of a cat who'd just had its fur ruffled.

 

The fact that he had acquiesced showed just how badly he did actually want to know; 05 could be as stubborn as hell, especially over something like this. It made him a very good friend in that he would fight very hard to stop his friends doing anything that wasn't a good idea. He'd saved 03's life once by insisting that a coat 03 had spotted lying in the corridor belonged to one of the officers, even though it had no OZ insignia on it whatsoever. He had been correct and managed, after nearly twenty minutes of heated (on 05's side at least) argument, to convince 03 to leave it alone, thus saving 03's life. Had 03 taken the coat for extra warmth (it had been winter then), it would have been viewed as `stealing from authority' and he would surely have been killed.

 

“Great,” Duo beamed. “Ya'll have ya names back within the week, if I can manage it,” he promised. Then he yawned suddenly, stretching out his arms in front of him. “Man, I'm tired,” he said, his voice suddenly sounding sleepy. “Night.” And with that, he curled himself up into a ball and closed his large eyes, looking for all the world like an innocent young child.

 

03, 04 and 05 from under his blanket looked at one another uneasily. The boy had to be at least bipolar, if nothing else. Although that didn't seem to be the case, seeing as Duo was attempting sleep.

 

Raising an eyebrow a fraction of a centimetre, 03 shrugged and picked up his own shabby blanket. 04 followed suit, but then paused and frowned in concern at Duo. The cause for his concern was apparent after a moments scrutiny; Duo's breathing was shallow and irregular, and although he was curled up in a tight ball his arm could still be seen cradling his ribs. 03 recalled that Duo had been beaten, brutally if he was any judge of OZ, and had to be in quite a lot of pain.

 

“D-Duo?” 04 ventured. There was no reply from the boy with the braid, no sign that he'd heard. “Duo?” 04 tried again, a little louder. Still, nothing.

 

“He can't be asleep already, surely?” 04 said, incredulous.

 

“It's possible that he has a similar brand of meditation to myself,” 05 offered, though the look on his face clearly indicated that he didn't think Duo capable of learning such a complicated and hard-to-master skill.

 

04 shrugged. “Maybe,” he said. Crawling over on hands and knees, 04 carefully draped his blanket over the presumably sleeping boy. 03 tensed, ready to leap forward and propel 04 out of the way if necessary, but Duo didn't stir.

 

“There,” 04 murmured quietly. “He's too thin. He'll get cold.”

 

05 raised a sceptical eyebrow. “And you're not?” he asked pointedly.

 

The only answer he got was a shrug and a kindly smile, so typical of the mild, tender boy known as 3904.

 

“Do you think he'll really manage to get our names back?” 05 couldn't help but ask, a hopeful note chiming in his voice. He was lying down still, but had rolled over to face 03 and 04.

 

“It might be tricky, seeing as he only knows 03's number,” 04 pointed out, smiling.

 

03 gave an amused huff, then tossed his blanket to 04, who instantly threw it back. “No, I'll be fine, honest,” 04 insisted.

 

The green eyed youth shook his head firmly. “You're ill.”

 

05 blinked and scowled, furious that he'd forgotten about something so important. “Listen to 03,” he said, sitting up to better accentuate his glare. “You need warmth if you're to get better. And if you dare try to argue, I'll glare you into next week!” 05 threatened. It was actually a valid threat, as most of the colonists who knew 05 would tell you.

 

Aquamarine clashed with onyx, but after a few seconds 04 sighed and the aquamarine lowered, defeated. “Fine,” he grumbled. 05 looked smug and lay down again. “Night,” he said.

 

“Night. Thanks for the blanket, 03.”

 

“No problem. Be strong. Night.”

 

Silence took over the cell, and no-one saw a solitary glitter of moisture trickle out from under Duo's shut eyelids.

 

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(1) Inspector isn't in the OZ hierarchy in my little world, I'm afraid. ^_^

 

Sandy: Aww, my poor darling Duo! I love him so very much. Apologies for his language, he did grow up on the L2 streets you know. ^_^;;

Anyway, I just realised now that 09 would be Une, right? Noin should be 09, or something. Heh heh… I'll just go and change her number in my previous chapters… *Scurries off* Anyway, please review! ^^