Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Cries of an Undead Soldier ❯ Alive ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter Two

Alive

 

Treize groaned back to life…literally. He looked up at the sky, shielding his eyes against the glare of the sun. He couldn't believe it…not long ago he had been dead, truly dead, and now he was back on earth and alive. As he looked around, he noticed a grave marker and so, slowly, rose into a sitting position to read it.

 

In dedication to…

 

A wonderful leader

A good friend

And a strong personality

 

Treize Kushrenada

May Your Soul Rest In The Peace You Fought To Achieve

 

Treize swallowed as he read that, but smiled nonetheless. Lady Une…he would have to see her one last time before he was taken from earth again. He rose to his feet, noting that he was in his normal uniform, which would most certainly look strange, but it was all he had. Just as he stepped away from his own grave marker, he heard footsteps and a moment later a figure came into view. Treize's eyes widened slightly…it was Chang Wufei. It seemed he went unnoticed, so he slowly backed away, eyes locked on the young man. Wufei had aged four years and yet he hadn't changed very much. But all Treize's thoughts disappeared as Wufei knelt down beside his grave marker, laying a single red rose on the stone.

 

“I pay my respects once more, Treize, as I do every year. Coming here reminds me of why I fought all those years ago and makes me appreciate what the Earth Sphere United Nation now has. We have peace, Treize, you did not fight in total vain.” Wufei drew a picture from his pocket and, if Treize could've seen it, he would've discovered it was a picture of himself- Treize Kushrenada- taken from the news some time back. It was crumpled and torn around the edges, but the way Wufei ran a finger over the picture made Treize's breath catch. “You stupid bastard…went and threw yourself on Nataku's trident. That's not fighting fair, you know.” Wufei laughed softly, though tightly, and tucked the picture back in his pocket before putting his hands before him in a praying way. He clapped his hands together twice and bowed low. “Until next year, Treize. Rest well, you baka of a bastard.” Treize watched Wufei go and slowly followed him, eyes locked on the petite man.

 

As he walked towards the graveyard's gate, Wufei could've sworn he heard footsteps following him. But as he paused, the footsteps stopped and, as he turned around, nobody was there. Lucky for Treize, trees and larger monuments and tombstones were scattered in just the right places for him to hide. Wufei just kept walking, ignoring the tingling feeling that he often got when being watched or followed. He reached his car and silently climbed in, starting up the engine while Treize watched the small black vehicle go roaring down the road, back towards the city. With a sigh, Treize followed. He had no transportation and…he groaned softly…no money. How was he to buy a new outfit without any money? With a soft grunt of annoyance, he dug his hands into his pockets to find a wade of bills in his pocket. How had they gotten there? He shrugged and kept walking, since the city was a fair distance off and he was on foot whether he liked it or not.

 

***

 

Along the way, Treize shed his uniform coat, casting it carelessly into some bushes, and found a small stream where he dipped his head in carelessly, scrubbing at the once well-molded ginger locks, removing the hair gel without a care. He was Treize Kushrenada, very true, but he was no longer Commander Treize or His Excellency, Treize…he was just Treize. Once the gel was washed down stream, Treize looked at his reflection and rather liked what he saw. His hair was roughish and fell in all directions, partially hiding one of his elegantly curved eyebrows and teasingly brushing at the corner of one of his eyes. He liked the look and, with a satisfied smirk on his face, he continued on towards the town, following the road with his hands dug deep into his pockets and his booted feet crushing grass and stubble brush. Treize chuckled at a thought.

 

“I might just love this new life so much I won't want to go…but that just wouldn't work, would it? The entire Earth Sphere United Nation probably knows I'm dead. And Zechs…what happened to Milliardo? Lady Une? What is she doing now? Wufei…? Does he help in keeping the peace that he, Treize, and he, Wufei, fought to achieve? Treize just shook his head and shrugged, he would find out all he needed to know soon enough. First he had to get into the city, then get some new clothes, and then hunt down Lady Une. With thoughts still whirring through his head, Treize was surprised when he stumbled into the city.

 

So this is peace… Thought Treize. The city was bustling and noisy, but the noise was not fearful or nervous…it was relaxed and amiable, it was normal city chatter, and Treize couldn't remember the last time he had heard it. Now to find a place to get some new clothes and loose these formal and most unordinary clothes, especially the boots which, Treize admitted, weren't as great as he once thought them to be. Despite a few strange looks he got, everything went well. He tried to keep his head ducked, hiding his face, and soon stumbled across a small clothing store, so he quickly entered. He was glad to see the lighting was rather dim, despite the fact the clothes looked like fairly good quality. He automatically started to browse the store, glancing at a few pieces of clothing that interested him while picking up something else. Once he had a good armload of clothing he moved off to the fitting room to try everything on. It was a good hour and a half before he finally was out of the store. He had changed their once paying for his new clothes, pulling on a loose, navy blue t-shirt, a pair of well-fitted black jeans, and a pair of black suede `skater' shoes. He didn't think he looked horrible, not at all.

 

Now…where to find Lady Une? Or maybe I should find a place to stay first? Nah, Lady Une. Treize struck out once more, trying to shorten his normally long strides so he looked a little more casual and also tried to take the almost natural stiffness from his back. He figured he looked as casual and calm as he possibly could, so decided to stop at one more store very quickly. He slipped into the rather small shop and started to browse. He needed a watch and a hat wouldn't exactly be a bad thing. He soon picked out a rather bulky, black digital watch and left without a hat, having found that caps just didn't suit him. He paused as he came upon a huge news-screen that the entire city watched for news during the day. On it…was Lady Une. He listened to her talk with deaf ears, never catching a word, but as his ears did open, he heard mention about something called Preventers. Since he had nothing else to go by, he found the nearest phone booth and searched the number for Preventers main offices and was glad to find it was in this city.

 

Yes…I shall call and find out all I possibly can. He quickly called the main desk and, naturally, a secretary picked up.

 

“Preventers offices, how may I help you?”

 

“Good day, I was wondering if it is at all possible to get a word with Lady Une.”

 

“I'm afraid Lady Une is busy at the moment and not taking any calls. You'll have to try back later or make an appointment.”

 

“What is the earliest appointment I could get?”

 

“Tomorrow afternoon sometime.” Treize disliked the prim sounding voice of the obviously young secretary and so snarled softly.

 

“Could you please tell Lady Une, and I mean now, that this is highly important and if I cannot speak with her today it could well be an even bigger problem.” The tone of his voice must've done something, because the secretary murmured a fearful `one moment' and disappeared.

 

“Lady Une is on the line sir.”

 

“Thank you.” Treize smiled into the receiver and waited patiently for the line to switch over.

 

“Lady Une speaking.” Same old Une, Treize grinned again.

 

“Good afternoon Lady Une, it has been a while.” Treize continued to grin as silence reigned for a long moment before Une's unsure voice was heard once more.

“You sound awfully familiar…but it can't be…”

 

“Who do you think this is Lady Une?” He leaned against the glass box, glad that the vid-phone was currently set to audio only.

 

“Commander Treize…?”

 

“Very good, I see you are as smart, if not smarter, than ever Lady.”

 

“But…how…you were…you were killed by Chang!” Treize chuckled softly, deftly flicking the switch on the communiqué console so that it became visual. He saw surprise and fear in Une's eyes, but continued to just smile.

 

“This is not the place or way I would like to discuss this Lady Une. Can I get together with you, today?”

 

“Where are you? I'll send a car around for you!” Treize looked around and, since he couldn't see any street signs, said the name of the stores nearest him.

 

“I am in the booth across the street from the Shamrock Café and the store behind me is…Anime World.” Treize paused, shaking his head softly. Very strange, very strange indeed.

 

“Right, there'll be a car around shortly to pick you up. I'm still not sure what to think about this Treize…it's so…so…”

 

“Outlandish?” Treize grinned and, without his normal goodbye, ended the communication. Sorry Lady, but there was little more to be said. He exited the booth, allowing the next person in, and moved to lean against the wall of the Anime World store. He ignored the looks he got, even the few looks of interest a few women here and there sent his way. He wasn't interested, he'd be leaving earth again soon enough and be going beyond space and, hopefully, to the other side…to heaven. Just then a plain black car came screeching around the corner and pulled up on the side of the walk. The driver's door opened and a young man popped out, Treize noticing the long chestnut braid as a pair of violet eyes hunted around for whoever he was looking for. Treize cautiously approached and saw a Preventers symbol barely visible on the side of the care, maybe only a shade lighter than the black, not even. Treize cleared his throat. “Excuse me? Did Lady Une send you?” The braided young man spun around and stumbled backwards as though struck.

 

“Holy shit!” Treize then put a name to a face and realized the man who was picking him up was none other than 02, Duo Maxwell.

 

“That just doesn't seem possible, but one who lives on the streets might just worship such a deity.” Treize smirked, noticing that Duo now seemed surprised and scared and amused. Soon, Duo was laughing.

 

“That was actually funny, and very amazing.” Duo circled the front of the car and opened the back seat only to have Treize throw his bag of clothes in and close the door.

 

“I can sit in the front seat.” Treize opened the passenger side door with a smirk, Duo shaking his head softly and holding out a hand to Treize.

 

“I'm Duo Maxwell by the way.” Treize turned and gripped the hand firmly, still grinning.

 

“And I'm Treize Kushrenada.” His voice was rather low in hopes nobody would hear and then he released Duo's hand and slipped into his seat, closing the door and deftly buckling his seatbelt. Duo was soon in the driver's seat and they were roaring down the street. “Has this type of speed been legalized?” Treize queried as he chuckled softly, watching other cars and people go flashing by, Duo shaking his head.

 

“No, but I'm a Preventer and Une seemed to want you there awful fast, so I'm hurrying.”

 

“Glad to see you are still dedicated. Tell me, out of curiosity, do the Gundams still survive?” Treize looked at duo, who had become suddenly somber and was shaking his head.

 

“They were destroyed once Marie gave in and ended her attempts to become Queen of the World. I'm not sure Tallgeese was destroyed, Zechs may have taken it to Mars with him.”

 

“Mars?” Treize looked up the sky; rather upset he would be unable to see Zechs before dying once and for all. He sighed rather sadly, but smiled nonetheless.

 

“Yeah, him and Noin went to Mars together. I can't remember if they took the Tallgeese or destroyed it. I know every other Gundam was destroyed though. The Wing ZERO, Deathscythe, Heavyarms, Sandrock, and Nataku…all destroyed.”

 

“So peace really has come?” Treize watched buildings fly past and noticed a tall building was looming before them.

 

“Yeah. Relena is the Vice-Foreign Minister and Lady Une leads Preventers, which is what helps to keep the peace.”

 

“Preventers sounds like a fine organization, I already support it.” Not that it helps or anything, thought Treize. He gripped at the dash as Duo took a very sharp turn and the car lurched to a stop.

 

“We're here! Everybody out!” Treize shook his head and extracted himself from the car, checking his watch quickly. 14:30 hours. Yes, his watch read military time, which was why he had bought it. Treize then pulled his bag of clothes from the back seat and followed Duo inside, keeping his head down and watching Duo's feet rather than letting his face be seen and recognized. Sooner than he had thought, Duo was knocking on a large pair of double doors.

 

“Who is it?” Une's familiar voice came from the opposite side.

 

“Duo and friend.” Duo trilled with a grin, Treize hearing Une's rather exasperated sigh.

 

“Come in.” Duo opened the doors wide and stepped to the side to allow Treize to enter. Treize was smiling and Une rose to her feet, looking very unsure.

 

“It is good to see you again Lady Une.”