Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Delusions of Normalcy ❯ Drum us Up ( Chapter 1 )

Author: Arithion/Arithkenshin

Email: arithkenshin@yahoo.co.uk

Title: Delusions of Normalcy

Rating: R (PG13 this chapter)

Warnings: language, mild Angst, slightly AU (EW not a factor at this time)

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I don't get any money from this… just a time-sink

Set: End of Series

Summary: When the war ends, just how much of the peace that they fought for have the pilots won for themselves?

Notes: If you wish to Archive, please ask. Thanks to Sol for betaing and encouraging me to dust this one off. Thanks to Casey for reinforcing that.

Delusions of Normalcy:

Drum us Up

Cheers of triumph echoed from the crowd outside. Five young men stood away from the windows, trying very hard to ignore the mass of people outside. Hands were nervously clasped, hair twirled and, in one case, a long rope of braid, chewed upon. Thoughtful looks bordering on apprehensive crossed each of their faces.

Heralded by some as heroes, others saw the Gundam Pilots as terrorists, and others went farther, calling them cold-hearted murderers. It didn't seem to matter to the latter factions that without the five young men they were so cruelly judging, there would have never even been a chance at peace; for earth, or the colonies.

For the five youths, this was the day of reckoning. This was the day they would find out exactly what their fight for freedom had won for themselves. Slightly bitter about the whole incident, it chafed at them that they could understand how some members of society could be so very scared of them. Yet they were just older than children, but they had never had a childhood, never had the chance to grow up like children should, never experienced the freedom of a 14 year old shooting his first goal in soccer and getting carried away on his team mates' shoulders. They had never been young.

The authorities had to decide what to do with them. Would they be permitted to move amongst civilians like the normal people that they weren't? Would they be put into a detention centre for juvenile lawbreakers? They had, between them all, killed a few hundred thousand people, and destroyed billions of dollars of equipment. Blowing up a colony will do that….

They had been called to the state Preventer's building, in order to receive further instructions about what it was that they would be doing, about where it was that their lives would be going from now on.

It really chafed.

"This is ridiculous! It's not like we can't take care of ourselves!" Quatre spoke quietly, a strange sheen in his eyes, something akin to fear, but not quite.

"Naawww, Quatre. You assume too much. Don't ya know?"

"Be serious for once in your life, Duo!"

"Oh, but I am, Quatre. You don't know me well enough to make that claim. Can you seriously say that you are fit for being let back out into civilisation… around people who are no longer fighting a war?"

The blond pilot blanched a little. "We are human beings, Duo. They can't take that away from us. Without us…"

"Yes, without us this, without us that; without us and our gullibility Marshal Noventa would still be alive, a whole colony of people wouldn't have been evacuated and…Well, I am pretty sure that the officials are going to be sick and tired of hearing `without us' if we don't watch ourselves." Duo's eyes were scanning what he could see of the gatherings outside the window, not seeing or perhaps refusing to see the hurt that briefly passed over two of his comrades' faces.

"That is so like you, you---"

Quatre's words were cut off by Wufei's interruption.

"Maxwell is right." It seemed the admission was practically dragged from Wufei's throat, and Quatre blinked at the Chinese man.

The green-eyed youth made a sudden move, an unexpected one that had the other four reaching for a concealed weapon of some kind. "See, point proven. We are not normal, Quatre. We do not have normal capabilities, training, reaction times or methods. And we were not authorised like normal people who kill in a war. We were rebels… and the fear in these people is the fear that we could perhaps take things into our own hands yet again."

"Yeah, what happens when we get bored?" A smirk flitted across the American's face, full of mischief. "Just think of what we could get up to if they don't keep an eye on us. Hell, just think of how hard its going to be for them to keep us anywhere we don't want to be." That smirk turned into a grin… "This could end up being a hell of a lot of fun."

An exasperated grunt came from Heero, who looked up through his messy hair, observing the violet-eyed youth. "And you would wonder why they would think these things. You and your big mouth are going to get us locked behind gundanium. "

"Naaaa, Heero, that ain't going to happen. We're of too much use to them, and they know it… and you can be sure they'll use that." Duo was chuckling. "Who knows, maybe I'll even play along."

"Can you never be serious, Maxwell?" Wufei's voice was exasperated as well.

A smile crossed Duo's face. "Of course I can Wufei, but where is the fun in that?"

"Get that stupid grin off your face. This is supposed to be a serious occasion for us. They'll think you're up to something." Heero turned, back tense, awaiting their summons into the conference room that had been locked for hours now.

"Ahhh, Heero, but I am only serious when I kill. You don't want me to kill you now, do you?" Duo's voice had changed, low and seductively dangerous, almost hypnotic. On a stranger that tone would make them almost beg Duo to kill them.

Back still turned to the longhaired man, Heero grunted a little. "At the moment, I do not think you realise how tempting that sounds…"

Out of the four men standing behind Heero in shock, an almost evil grin spread over only one of their faces.

#*#

An officer in Preventer's uniform entered where they were waiting and beckoned them into the conference room.

"Well, here we go, I guess. Ooooh, eerie, maybe I should be whistling the death march." And Duo pursed up his lips to start whistling, before Trowa smacked a hand over his mouth.

"Don't be stupid, Duo. You have more brain cells than to antagonise so willingly." Trowa ignored Duo's responding glare as he continued. "Just wait until we know our fate, before you piss them off… okay?"

A feral gleam in his eyes, Duo laughed. "Sure thing, Trowa. Great minds must think alike."

What could be said to have been a slight smile passed over Trowa's face, as they entered the room.

An unfamiliar man stood before the door once they had entered, and motioned them to sit. All but one of them remained standing, politely declining with a brief shake of their heads. Duo collapsed into the nearest chair and rested his feet on the table, his sharp gaze catching everything as he surveyed the room.

"No, thanks," he said as he was looked at rather pointedly, and chose to interpret the look that he was receiving other than what it truly was. "No, really, I am perfectly comfortable, although I am a little thirsty. Could you maybe? Oh great…" Leaning forward he procured himself a glass and proceeded to pour water into it. Taking a large gulp he licked his lips. "Oh, that is so much better! So," he said, stretching the sound out in a sarcastic manner. "Just why are we here?"

Quatre was trying desperately not to laugh. He couldn't believe that Duo was being so brash, and while it let some of the tension leak out of his own body, Quatre could feel it rising in the rest of the room.

Taking a slight step forward Trowa came to rest behind Duo, and laid a hand almost imperceptibly on the louder boys' shoulder. In that one touch, Trowa told his comrade to tone things down a little and stop being so over the top, at least until they had determined what their fates were going to be.

Fighting the instinctive fighting response to the unexpected touch, Duo smiled and fell silent, grinning at the table of executioners. Duo wondered mildly if they would become the executionees. He almost laughed out loud, but remembered he had to keep his humour in check, at least for the time being.

Lady Une was one of the people present, although a stressed frown creased her brow. Vaguely the pilots recalled having been told that she would be the director for this new `peace keeping' force.

The man that they did not know was the one to speak however. "Pilot 01, Gundam Wing Zero, Heero Yuy? "Heero did nothing to acknowledge his name other than a silent nod of his head, those blue depths unsettling in their intensity. The man cleared his throat. "Pilot 02, Gundam Deathscythe Hell, Duo Maxwell?" Raising a hand and waving at the man, Duo deliberately didn't hide the large yawn he was currently undertaking. But his eyes still never left the man, his gaze alert, assessing, dangerous.

The list continued. "Pilot 03, Gundam Heavyarms, Trowa Barton?" Trowa shrugged, and spoke from his standpoint behind Duo.

"If you need to give me a name, then that will suffice."

Looking as if he had not expected any of the pilots to speak, the man gathered his wits and moved on. Duo noticed that his hands were shaking, and that grin started to play along Duo's lips again.

"Pilot 04, Gundam Sandrock, Quatre Winner?" The blond followed Heero's example and simply nodded. Despite having annihilated a colony, standing in this room and being… scrutinised wasn't making Quatre feel comfortable. In fact, it was making him feel … anger.

"Pilot 05, Gundam Altron, Wufei Chang?"

Duo could hear it already, and shielded his ears.

"Chang Wufei! Learn how to respect different cultures, thank you very much!"

The man blanched and sat down, motioning to the white haired man that had until then not said a single word. He was in robes that Heero seemed to remember from ancient legal traditions on earth: a judge. A frown creased Heero's face.

The man spoke, in a commanding, almost regal voice, with an accent that none of them could place. His diction excellent, it almost compelled them to listen to him.

"Viewing each of your, shall we say, unique files, it has been decided that you are far too advanced to simply be placed in a school and with a foster family. The way that you have all lived your lives for the past year and a half would make any integration into a normal family far from possible. Each of you has rebellious features and destructive tendencies." The man shifted positions and cleared his throat after taking a gulp of water.

"To put you in detention centres as war criminals would be dissatisfactory to those who support you. They would cause a commotion if they thought that you had been done away with, and to be honest, at this point in time, we could probably do without that. Apart from those facts, I do not think that we could successfully build a compound that would be capable of holding any or all of you for any protracted amounts of time."

"This leaves us with the last option, which is probably less appealing for you, and yet for us it is the perfect solution that we have already decided to introduce in some stages." Duo could have sworn that the man's eyes flickered towards Une and the longhaired man's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. "Of course," the judge continued, "this is not an invitation. It is either this, or an alternative I have not yet wanted to formulate."

Heero's patience had never been the best. "That would be?"

A sigh escaped the man's lips. "You will be recruited to the Preventers. Just like any cadet you will be put through training. However in your cases, you will be given specific training to enhance your already enhanced abilities. You will be younger than those cadets that come to us, of which the average age is usually twenty. You have too much field experience and reflexes that would be dangerous to fellow pupils if we first insisted that you go back to high school and then college."

His eyes narrowed and he leaned forwards. "You do not have a choice in this. It is the only way all factions will be happy. Those that adore you will see that you have given yourselves to helping further maintain the peace. Those that cry for your blood will be satisfied that you have a life of servitude. And we will get five agents, or at least temporary agents, straight away."

"And how might we benefit?" Trowa wasn't sure that he liked the idea.

"You are allowed to live, allowed to learn, allowed to follow the training that comes naturally to you, and above all, you will become qualified to such an extent that you will be very well taken care of all of the time." The man looked as if he was waiting for a response.

Always willing to oblige, Duo spoke up.

"No, no, old man. Frankly, considering that I could very easily take care of myself in some way shape or form, that is not enough reward for me…not nearly enough incentive to look forward to this life of `servitude' as you so nicely put it. So it's not what you are getting out of using us like an old dishcloth. What do we get out of this?"

Paling a little, the older man looked at the pilots in front of him. All five faces were drawn and had a slight edge to them. They didn't seem impressed.

"You will have to attend the same classes as all other cadets. Naturally, considering your talents, there are some that you will be able to skip, due to the fact that you are to further your own skills instead of learning the basics. However there are also some, shall we say, domestic classes that you will be required to take." He held up his hand to forestall the words he knew were forming on the American's tongue. "Now let me explain. You are all soldiers. You are in a somewhat more difficult situation than other people of your age."

Duo suppressed a laugh that somehow came out like a loud snort and grinned up at the man, allowing him to continue.

"As we have already stated, it would not be possible to integrate you into society as you are right now. Some of you have trigger reflexes that would end up with anyone disturbing you unexpectedly being placed in hospital. Then there are the violent tendencies and your analytical ability and tendency to observe every situation as hostile. We could go on about the reasons all day…"

"But we do not have all day, so would you kindly get to the point?" Wufei was tapping his foot lightly, annoyance clearly showing on his face.

"You will receive classes, and instruction, in how to go about a normal life style."

There was silence as all five pilots considered what it was that was being said to them.

"Normal." Heero was, as ever, suspicious. "Define normal.

"Normal, as in being able to cook real food. Normal, as in being able to go shopping without kneecapping the person who accidentally hits into your trolley from behind. Normal, as in being able to function eventually in day to day society."

"I thought you said that we were in servitude…" Quatre's expression had a do-not-screw-with-me look to it. Considering his normal amiability, the coldness in his face was quite effective.

"I said that it would please the factions which do not like you, to think that you are in servitude. Although everything possible will be done to have a general idea of your whereabouts at all stages, you will have the same freedoms as every other Preventer. You will have days off, you can visit family or friends; you can start to develop a life, which I am fairly sure none of you have properly had before."

"And all we have to do for this is? Roll over and fetch?" Trowa's voice was dry, questioning, and suspicious.

"You need to excel in your training. You need to prove wrong the people that did not want to give you this chance."

"Well, that's all just fine and dandy! Nice to see you're in the same boat too, Une, old chum." He winked at her, ignoring her startled face. "So, if that's all…"

The man leant back and regarded the five young men before him. "Your assignments will be sent to you by registered mail. You have two weeks in which to get the things you need together, at which time you will be expected to report to Preventers Headquarters to be briefed and given orientation."

"Bet I know the place better than you do by the time I get here…" The grin on Duo's face was predatory, showing just how much he needed a challenge. It made the judge realise that it seemed they had been correct in their assessment of that youth at least.

"You are all… accepting of the arrangements then I take it?" Four slight nods greeted him, and he looked at Duo, who was watching him thoughtfully.

Standing up, Duo stretched. "Well, don't know about the others, but I'll play along like the good guy I am." He turned and began to walk towards the door, before pausing and turning back. "I don't know about the others in this situation either, but I get bored easy. Hyperactive nature, you know. I'll play, as long as I don't get bored." He paused, and grinned, his voice dropping to a caress. "You wouldn't like me when I'm bored."

In the blink of an eye he was gone, followed almost imperceptibly by the rest of his comrades. The feeling left in the room was heavy.

"Have we done the right thing?"

"Of course we have. They will prove to be invaluable…"

Une lowered her head. She hated young people being caught up in the crap Zechs, Sally and herself were already screwed in. She just hoped that the Gundam Pilots really could adapt, or else she was going to have to put them through hell.

#*#

"Can we stay here for the two weeks, Quatre?" Heero was standing in the rather small entranceway to the house they were currently in.

"Well, we should be able to. It's a Winner Corporation House. It isn't quite finished, and therefore won't be put up for rent for another few weeks. I'll call to make sure, but it should be all right until we are due to move into the Preventers' Quarters."

"Don't let us put you out, Winner." Wufei crossed his arms, waiting for Quatre to get off the telephone.

Duo was the only one in the room when Quatre was phoning, having had no compunctions about walking into the lounge room and throwing himself on the couch.

As Quatre put the receiver down, he shot Duo an almost unreadable look. It could have been grateful, and as such, Duo chose to interpret it that way.

"We can stay. The house has fifteen days on it before it gets opened for display, if you can put up with a little noise…"

"Sure." Trowa walked into the living room, surveying it with a quick glance. "You own the Winner Corporation now, Quatre?"

Quatre stepped in front of the window and glanced out before answering. "Technically, I guess."

"Elaborate." Heero stood with his back to the wall and arms crossed, taking in everything, ready to move at a moment's notice.

"Technically I am the heir, but there are other shareholders. There is a board of directors. It's not like I waltz in and take over. I'm sixteen. What do I actually know about running a Corporation? Theory is one thing. My father never got around to the practical side of things."

Trowa nodded. "How does this arrangement sit with you then?"

Quatre looked up at the green-eyed youth. "I don't know yet. I want to see what area I get `assigned' to first. Once I know that, I think I will know better how to feel. At the moment I am still feeling a little aggravated that they seem to think that we need this type of decision made for us."

"We are… different, Winner." Wufei's eyes wandered idly over the landscape outside the windows. "We would be a danger to normal people."

"Would we really?" There was a hint of desperation in those blue-green eyes. "I had training. Maybe not as intense as you, but I would like to think that I still have some self control."

Duo raised himself up on an elbow, looking over at Quatre lazily. "You do, Quatre. We all do. It's just that we have a little too much of it. We have heightened senses, probably didn't help that we used that freaking Zero system. These senses kind of make it dangerous for people who are not used to moving around people like us."

"I know… I just guess I don't want to understand. Does that make sense?" The blond plopped himself on the armchair next to the couch. "I would like to think that we could just be normal like that!" He snapped his fingers. "But I don't think that's ever going to be possible, now."

A grin crossed the American's face again. "Hell, Quatre, think of it like this. We just put in a hell of a lot of time and a hell of a lot of work, to save the world and all that jazz. Now we're going to get some training and some excitement out of whatever it is that the lovely people at the Preventers will have for us to do. We will get some semblance of normalcy into our lives…eventually, maybe, if we want to…I know that I for one, like myself the way I am."

Trowa's face was thoughtful. "I guess we'll find out just what they have in store for us when we find out what we are all `specialising' in."

"Something about all this is just…peculiar." A frown marred the Chinese man's face.

Heero was making his way up the stairs, bag slung over his shoulder. "This will take some getting used to. I grew up in this war."

As the rest started to leave the room, Trowa muttered under his breath. "Now we just need to grow up the rest of the way…"

#*#

This story came about for several reasons, and because of questions I had about the reality of what would happen to the pilots after the One Year War. I was hesitant about posting it, but several friends assured me of bodily harm if I didn't, so here it is. Feedback is greatly appreciated, as always.

~Arith