Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Gundam Diaries 2 ❯ Chapter 1

Title: Gundam Diaries 2 ~ Duo 1/??

Author: Makoto Sagara
Series: Gundam Wing
Archive: The usual suspects; anywhere else, please ask first.
Category: Angst, Action

Pairings: 2x5, 3x4, 1x?, D+?
Rating: T
Warnings: Shonen ai, language, angst, sap, slightly AU
Disclaimers: I make no money, so suing is pointless. If you think I own GW, then you need to see someone. I have the number to a nice doctor... Oh, SALLY!

Author's Notes: Jeez, I was seriously considering shelving the idea for this sequel. I mean, it's been years since I finished GD and Come Back, Wufei. I was seriously thinking that I could live if I didn't start this project back up, but then I talked to Rainy-chan, and she kinda poked and poked and poked and poked at me to get back to working on this. Lots of things happened and I lost the first version, but that's probably for the best since it made me reread the original projects and rethink the way I wanted to work on it. Remember, reviewing is good for your health!

Symbols: _blah_ emphasized thought
*~*~* Major change of scene
*~~~* Minor change of scene

August 3rd, AC 195… 23:41:29

Three months after the end of the war… Two months since Wufei returned from his self-imposed exile. It feels like an eternity since I've written in this thing. How strange it all seems since Relena hung herself in that jail cell in Nepal.

Seems Heero has been working with the Doctors to dismantle OZ's security databases. Quatre is working full-time at WEI and Trowa's with him as the head of security. I have heard a few times from Rashid, Auda and Abdul of the Maguanac Corps, and they seem to be happy in one of the WEI facilities located on the Arabian Peninsula. Zechs, who we all thought was dead after the whole mess with Libra and White Fang, has resurfaced and is working in his sister's memory, with Dorothy Catalonia and Lucrezia Noin of all people, to reestablish goodwill throughout the Earth Sphere. Believe it or not, Lady Une and Sally Po are starting up a paramilitary group they've deemed `The Preventers' since the demise of OZ, the Alliance, and the colonies' rebel forces.

Wufei and I have been with Howie and the Sweepers on Peacemillion. We are currently docked somewhere off the coast of Hawaii, where we're taking in the sun and shade while we salvage some mobile suits from the Pacific Ocean. I don't know what happened to Heavyarms or Sandrock while their pilots are working all the time. It's slipped my mind to ask my friends. But, Altron and Deathscythe Hell are sitting pretty on the ship's deck. Sometimes, we go out and use our Gundams, pretty pieces of scrap metal that they are now, to help bring up some of the bigger hauls, but most of the time, they sit out in the sun and collect dust.

I dunno what's happened to Heero truthfully. It seems he's disappeared. Une's contacted me a few times, asking about him, but I have to tell her the same thing over and over. I haven't seen the Perfect Soldier since he hugged me after peace was declared. Of course, I decked him for touching me so carelessly. And Q had to hold me back before I shot him when I found out Wufei left shortly after that happened. Since then, nothing from `Ro.

Actually, though, something strange did happen a few days ago. Hilde Schebeiker, this girl I met on the moonbase ages ago, sent me an email. In it, she'd asked me if I was interested in starting up a scrap yard on L2. I talked about it with Wufei, who shrugged and said it would only be like what we were doing here but on L2.

Things with Wufei have been comfortably calm since his return. He told me he was in some shithole town in Iowa, of all places, working a crappy job so he didn't have to think about how he felt about the end of the war. I was a little hurt at first, but after thinking things over, I realized that I haven't dealt with what the end of the war means to me either. We've both received invitations for Lady Une about joining the Preventers, with permission to bring our mobile suits and the enticement of being able to use our Gundams if the mission requires it. I told her that I'd let her know. Wufei hung up on her. That was what prompted the whole of this mess beginning now.

“Fei-bebi, did you have to hang up on Une?”

“Yes, Duo, I did,” he said curtly. He looked up from his laptop, where he was typing furiously, and leveled his black eyes on me as I sat on our bed. “I don't want to fight anymore.”

I nodded because, really, I understood. We were now normal sixteen year old boys, as far as the records were concerned. Une, Zechs, Dorothy and a few privileged others knew about the fact that the five of us had been the mysterious Gundam terrorists of the war, but they were cool with helping us keep that under wraps. “Howard's been talking to me about going back to school, for real this time. I was, uh, considering that as well.”

He smiled warmly at me and took my right hand into one of his own, rubbing the back with his thumb. “I'd like to finish my education as well. Have you thought about university at all?”

“Truthfully, it was enough for me if I even lived to see the end of the war,” I said with a grimace. He got up from the desk and sat next to me. I put my head against his shoulder and relaxed a bit into the familiar feel of my lover so close to me. “School, university, life, it was all a big fucking question mark about whether I got to see it or not.”

“I think it was like that for all of us,” Wufei replied sadly. “While I was away, I thought about maybe going back to school, but it just never happened because I…” He stopped and I looked up at him questioningly. “If I did that, it meant trying to forget about you and our friends.”

“How do you figure?”

“I very well wouldn't have been able to register under my own name, would I?”

“I guess not…” I sighed heavily. “Howie offered to pay for me to go back to school. You too, for that matter.”

Wufei chuckled, a warm rumble that traveled throughout his chest. “I take it that I've been officially-unofficially adopted as a Sweeper then?”

“Well, you've been pulling your weight here as well as any other member of the crew.” I got up and paced our room casually. “Besides, since you returned, you've been extra nice to everyone. Don't think Howie hasn't noticed that.” I was stopped by warm hands resting on my hips and dragging me until I faced him.

“Duo, we should talk about… him.”

“We don't have to, `Fei.” I looked down at my lover and saw that his jaw was clenched. Just thinking about the subject had him tense. “He's gone.”

“Wrong, Duo, he's missing. He has been since you cold-cocked him.”

“He tried to kiss me!” I sighed. “Again. I thought that he'd learned his lesson after the fight you two had and I got injured.”

“He realized that he cared for you beyond a friend,” he said through clenched teeth.

“I don't care! He had his chance and he hit me!” I pushed Wufei onto his back and straddled his hips. “I don't want him. I want you. All the time.” I leaned over to place a searing kiss on his lips, but a bang on the door interrupted us.

“Kid, Chang, I want to talk to you both,” Howard said through the door. “Put on some damn clothes.”

I smiled and got off of Wufei while he grumbled something about Howard's mother. “We're dressed. Come on in, Howie.”

My mentor, friend, and father figure entered our room in his normal uniform of hideous Hawaiian shirt, shorts, sandals and large sunglasses. “Thank God that you are. I swear you two are worse than rabbits.” He sat down at the desk and looked at the two of us. “Look, I know you two are still recovering from all this shit…” He flushed a bit before continuing. “But, I want you both to go back to school. You're teenagers. You should be interacting with kids your own age - and just not with the other pilots. I like Blondie and the Banged Wonder, but they are far from normal.”

I smiled at the nicknames our friends had been given by the crew. “We were actually talking about that.”

“And?”

“I'm seriously considering it, but, Howie, you don't have to pay for me. I have my own money saved up.”

“Shut up, Kid. You're my dumbass charge, and I will pay for your schooling.” His glasses slid down his nose and he looked us both over carefully with his bright blue eyes. “You too, Wufei, you're mine now since you don't got a colony to go back to anymore.”

Wufei smiled tightly as he remembered how L5 blew up during the war. “I appreciated the sentiment, Howard, but…”

“Don't give me that bullshit. I will pay. I want… Shit… Look… You are part of my crew. I've offered this to a couple of other people, but I think the two of you are probably the most likely to do well. If you want to go to university afterwards, great, I'll take care of that too. If not, at least finish high school.” He stood up from the chair and pushed his sunglasses back up the bridge of his nose. “I expect a favorable answer in the next few days.”

When we were alone again, Wufei sighed heavily and looked out at the bright oceanic view of our windows. “We don't have much of a choice, do we?”

“Not unless you want to have to leave Peacemillion and go live with Q and T.”

“Ugh,” he groaned. “Didn't we do enough of that during the war?”

“I guess, but you're acting like this is something bad.” I smiled and ran my hands down his firm body. “Why don't we talk about this later?” I kissed his jawline, feeling his body relax under my touch. “I can think of a few other million things I'd rather do right now.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A few hours later, I placed a call to Quatre's office in Cairo, hoping he was still at that branch of WEI since I'd spoken to him three days before. The phone was answered by a cheery Muslim woman named Larmina. “Oh, hello Mr. Maxwell, Mr. Winner is in a meeting right now. Would you like to talk to Mr. Barton?”

“Trowa's not with Quatre?”

“Oh, well, Mr. Barton just got out of a meeting himself.”

“Yeah, that'd be perfect, Larmina. But, I gotta say that you're looking especially pretty today.”

She blushed and smiled. “My husband told me that today too.”

“Good, otherwise, I'd tell Jamar to get his eyes checked.”

She giggled like a schoolgirl and blushed a little more. “Let me just connect you to Mr. Barton's office.”

The screen switched to a rather ragged looking Trowa. He looked up and I could see one green eye level at my image. “I thought I asked you to not flirt with the office staff,” he said as he went back to looking down at something on his desk.

“Aw, but she was awfully cute today,” I quipped. “But you look not happy. What's up?”

“I'm really starting to hate peace. All the meetings are making me realize how stupid people are.”

I snorted in reply. “You sound like `Fei.”

“How is he, by the way?”

“Aw, he's good. It's his shift out on deck.” I grimaced as I got to the point of my call. “T, have you or Q talked to Heero lately?”

“Not since his email last week.” His head shot up to stare at me carefully. “Why?”

“I got another call from Lady Une asking about him.” I sighed as I remembered the conversation I'd had Wufei earlier. “Plus, `Fei is stressing that we talk about what happened before he left. I'd rather not.”

“You're wishing that Quatre had let you shoot him then?”

“Well, hell yes… You blame me?”

“Not particularly, but I think the ass-kicking you gave him was plenty enough.” He smiled briefly. “Besides, Wufei came back, didn't he?”

“Your logic pisses me off.”

“Why's that?”

“Because it's logical…” I sighed. “Howie's offering to pay for us to go back to school. I'm thinking of going.”

“Well, I wish someone would do that for me.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose in an effort to fight off a headache. “However, I've been talking to Quatre about maybe going back to school ourselves.”

“I heard that Fatima is getting married. Is that true?”

Trowa groaned. “Yes, sister number thirteen is getting married in two months. Her dowry was kinda small, comparatively speaking. I guess that the fact that she's a Winner outweighs the fact that her brother is a homosexual.”

“Did they really bring that up? I mean, I know his family is rather… traditional… but they don't care about that do they?”

“Oh, yes, yes, they care. And they brought it up in the negotiations.” My friend gave up trying to look his papers over and leaned back in his cushy chair. “Rashid and Iria had to bite that bullet in order to keep Quatre from severing the talks after the first ten minutes. I think that calling him a poofter to his face was the last straw.”

“He didn't tell me that… Why does she want to get married to that guy anyway?”

“It's a very good match, really. She loves him. He loves her. His family is pretty into the political scene in Arabia, so Quatre had to suck up some pride to make his sister happy.” He sighed heavily.

We chatted for a few more minutes, but were interrupted by a rather rushed looking assistant coming in and having a nervous breakdown. Not one for dealing with other people's neuroses, I said my goodbyes and hung up the phone.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

That was three days ago. A day after that, I got a strange email that made me blink a few times. It came through my old war address, one that I hadn't used in ages and was talking to G about getting rid of. I read and reread it a few times, trying to figure out what it meant. Wufei came in during the third go-through, growled, and went back out of the room. Yeah, it was from Heero.

To: Shinigami@Death.org
From: Sender Unknown

Date: August 1st, AC 195 23:14:55
Subject: (none)

Duo, I am safe and alive. Stop trying to track me down. Tell Une that I have no desire to work with her or the other pilots in her organization. The Doctors and I are taking down the old wartime communication structure. So after today, this email address will no longer exist. I know that this shouldn't bother you, since you have three other addresses that you use. Again, I'm fine. Don't worry. Tell the others that I said hello.

~ 01

--- End message ---

I quickly forwarded the email to Quatre and Trowa, jumped up from my computer and went to find my boyfriend. Peacemillion is large, but there were only a few places that Wufei would go to get some space - the deck to practice his katas, the galley to cook his own meals (real treat since Cookie-girl killed anyone else who got in her kitchen), or Altron's cockpit. I checked with Cookie, who told me she hadn't seen my `boy toy' since breakfast, and the deck was relatively clear since we didn't have any salvaging scheduled, which left me with the last option. I stood at the foot of Wufei's Gundam and listened. Sure enough, there was Beethoven wafting from the speakers.

I banged on Altron's foot a few times and yelled his name, waiting for him to open the hatch. But, I think he was too upset or the music was too loud to hear me. So, instead of letting it drop, like I knew he wanted me to do, I hopped into `Scythe's cockpit and hailed him through the comm system. He ignored the first and second hails, but the third he answered with a growl.

“Are you going to talk to me?”

“There's nothing to discuss,” he said.

“Bullshit, Wu-fei. You know better than I do that that line isn't going to work on me.” I sighed at the tight look in his eyes and the way his jaw was clenching. “What is it?” He remained silent. “Dammit, Fei, we talked about this. I don't want him. And I know you trust me, so what is it?”

“I don't trust him,” he answered finally. “Why is he sending you an email all of a sudden?”

“Because after the last time I spoke to Lady Une, I left a message with Professor G that she was looking for us to join the Preventers.” I squeezed my eyes shut on an impending headache. “Are you done being a jealous jerk?”

“I am not—”

“Yeah, you are, but it's cute, underneath the annoying closing yourself off from me.” I smiled as his cheeks flamed briefly. “Come on. We've got a few hours to swim before Howie expects us for dinner.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

That was two days ago. Things have been quiet since then, but an announcement over the news channels that just ran an hour ago has changed things completely. The UESN has just proclaimed Zechs Marquise/ Milliardo Peacecraft as the new interim Vice-Foreign Minister until the elections can be held in four months. Something tells me that our time of quiet peace is about to end.

Wufei hasn't spoken since he heard the news, and Quatre and Trowa have been pretty silent on that front too. And of course, no one's heard anything from Heero. But, I have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that's not going away.

Is it so wrong to just want to stay out of it all? Isn't there any returning to a peace that we all fought so hard for? I just don't know anymore.

Until next time ~

~ Duo Maxwell