Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Fushigi Otome ❯ Dance Of The Unicorn ( Chapter 5 )

Minerva stared at the girl in the mirror, adjusting her hair to a desired style. She never hated her looks, she wasn't at all ugly. She liked the way her eyes changed from blue to green sometimes. Her stomach maybe stuck out with baby fat and her face was covered in pimples, but she imagined if she had made the effort maybe it wouldn't be so bad, and most of those pimples had seemed to clear up now. It was really her life she hated the most, she said such stupid things. Her voice was terrible, it was always too low. The eyes expecially, always seemed to betray her. Minerva had always felt that her eyes gave away the most, all the sadness, the fear, the truth. That was why it was so hard to lie, she just knew if she looked in their eyes they could tell she wasn't being truthful and if she looked away, it only gave her away more. No one had really cared for her, she was just too stupid, an idiot, that little voice in the back of her mind, telling her that she was being dumb and childish. She couldn't disagree with that voice, it was always right. Sighing she gathered all her hair and began to braid it. The effort was harder then it actually looked. Her fingers were not entirely flexible with such thick curls and she kept getting one strand tangled with the other. Finally she just gave up, brushed it and left it the way it was.

"Thanks for loaning me your clothes."

Hilde smiled, peering into the room. "We can go shopping for you later. Does it fit alright?"

Duo looked in. "If it's too tight you can borrow mine again."

Hilde scowled. "Duo get out! Girls only."

"Ow! hey!"

Minerva gave a weak smile, the braided pilot couldn't help but lighten her mood. "It's okay, I'm decent."

"See Hilde? Duo Maxwell is never that indecent."

Minerva turned around, facing the raven haired girl and braided boy. "It's really alright, I have no money for clothing."

Duo smiled. "Think nothing of it."

"No!" Her sudden outburst surprised the two. "I won't accept any more of your charity! It's bad enough I'm staying here free, and you paid my hospital bill. The only reason I'm alive here is because of you! Not that it would have really mattered if I died again, but I will not let you support me any further. I'll get a job and pay my own way, but I will not accept more charity!"

Duo and Hilde stared for a moment, unblinking. Finally Duo cleared his throat and spoke. "Could always use another hand at the salvage yard."

***********************

Minerva swung her braid back over her shoulder again as she sorted through the mountain of scrap. She found that after it had been wetted down, her hair was a lot easier to braid. Her usual style was too exy to be caught among the scraps and she refused to cut it, braiding was the best option.

She picked up a shard of metel, slippping it over to study the writing. Numbers, digits. Her eyes viewed the edges, so sharp, it looked so much like the edges of a knife, like the knife she had used. Immediatly she dropped it, picking up a discarded piece of electronic instead. She didn't need to think about that anymore, she didn't belong to that world any longer.

"Duo?"

The former Deathscythe pilot looked up from his mountain of scrap and made his way over to Minerva. He wore a pair of old jeans and black jacket, specifically for diffing around the salvage yard. Minerva's own clothing was basicly new, Hilde had no old clothing to spare and Duo's wardrobe was a little too loose to wear without them getting caught. Her recently purchased jeans and t-shirt now sporteda number of stains and holes for being too careless, it was no longer new. Duo finally made it up to Minerva's mountain. "Yea?"

She held out the small electronc device. "What about this?"

Duo took the device, turning it over in his hands as he examined it. "Yea it'll work. Why don't you turn in for the night, it's been a long day."

Minerva nodded, jumping off the heap and sliding down until she hit the ground. "Thanks Duo!"

She gave a quick wave and then broke into a run for home. Home, it still sounded so strange to her. The fact that she was living in a place she had always dreamed of, but maybe this was the dream? It didn't matter, she was still stuck and this blessed fantasy.

******************

The light stung her eyes, everything was a bright white as she became aware of the familiar beeping of the monitors. The sounds of a hospital echoed in her ears as she heard the shallow breathing of someone beside her.

"Miss, your daughter is in a coma."

"What are you trying to tell me?"

"Perhaps if we had gotten to her in time but..she's lost too much blood already. We're running more tests but we have no idea when she'll wake up if she ever will."

"What? No!"

Mother? Mother don't cry, I'm better now everything will be okay

The sobbing sounded in her ears. Her mother, she was crying.

I didn't want to hurt you mom, I just wanted it to be over. I'm sorry mom. Mom I'm sorry.

Her eyes shot open, gasping and nearly relieved that she was now facing a familiar darkness. Her hand fumbled for the light and she found that she was back in her room, back in Duo and Hilde's home. A dream, thats all it was. So why did her wrists hurt? Slowly her gaze lowered to her hands, the usual blue patterned sheets were stained red. Her hands were covered in blood and from her wrists it gushed like a faucet. She bit her lip, trying to hold back the pain, the confusion. Finally she just gave into her fear and screamed.

"Min! Minerva!"

Light flooded through again as she opened her eyes. The image of Duo blurred into view. The braided boy was shaking her. "Minerva wake up."

"Duo."

"You were screaming, you had a nightmare."

She stared at Duo a few moments, taking in a few ragged breaths. Her eyes were like the chestnut haired boy had never seen before, wide with fear and confusion. He watched as Minerva gazed down at her hands again and began to sob. Duo's eyes widened in surprise but he embraced te girl in a hug, allowing the tears to fall. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright, it was only a dream."

"Ther..blood all over....I jus..wanted it over..sorry..I'm..sorry mom..sorry...."

*********************

After a good deal of sobbing Minerva had fallen asleep almost immediatly. Now the only sound that echoed through the Schbeiker house was the clacking of keys on a computer. Duo stared at the glowing screen, not taking his eyes off as he grabbed his soda and took a sip, setting it aside with five other empty cans. He stood up and grabbed another soda, popping the top before slipping back into his chair. He stared at the screen, continueing to type and finally closing the program. Wufei's codename had just been changed to Wufflekins.

Sighing he glannced at his screen, searching through the database. Sally Po had been right when there was nothing on the girl. He had searched for hours only to find a forty year old Minerva from earth and another barely five years old. He had begun to search through battle records, missing persons, anything that might possess any information about an eighteen year old girl with dark brown hair. So far he had come up with squat, Minerva's past seemed to be more burried then Trowa's.

Sighing he moved the mouse and went to check mail. His amusment perked when he opened an e-mail from Heero.

Duo,

I know it was you. If I ever find out you programmed a picture of Relena to kiss the screen every time I log on again I will kill you.

Duo smirked, the programing had been one of his greatest pranks. Every time Heero got onto his E-mail it was programmed with a pop-up picture of Relena who popped up little hearts and then ran toward the screen her lips in a large puckering kiss. It wasn't his fault Heero hadn't enjoyed it.

Shrugging he moved onto the next E-mail from Quatre. Probably something about Minerva's hospital bill.

Duo,

How are you? I hope you and Hilde are well. What happened to that girl with Pneumonia, is she alright now? I'm planning on holding a party next week and I'm inviting everyone. All are welcome to bring guests and showing up early is welcome.

Send me an E-mail if you'll be attending along with the number of guests I can expect.

Quatre

Duo grinned. Quatre was determined not to lose touch with everyone after the war. Inviting everyone meant everyone from Dorothy to Heero. Even Wufei showed up, mostly because Sally made him come and he couldn't refuse either way. Heero would come out of obligation, so would Trowa. He cracked his knuckles and began to enter his reply.

Quatre,

Me and Hilde will of course come. We'll be bringing one extra person this time. You'd probably remember her. Your the one who paid her hospital bill. Just give the location and time, we'll be there.

Duo

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