Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Hokkyokusei: The North Star ❯ Shadows of the Past ( Chapter 10 )

Shadows of the Past

"How many do you think are on there, Maxi?" He looked up from his papers to see his little sister staring hard at the dandelion fluff she clutched in her small fists. Brushing back his choppy muddy brown hair out of his face, he rolled his dark blue eyes and absently twirled his drawing pencil in his still too-small-for-his-taste fingers.

"I don't know, Matte," he replied impatiently. "And how many times have I told you not to bother me when I'm working on something?"

The six-year old snorted indignantly, the silver-gray fluff in her hand quivering in fear on the stem. Her violet-blue eyes glared out at her older brother through lengthy messy purple bangs. "Oh, come on. You haven't moved for the past five minutes. You've got drawing block."

"I do not and that is not a word. Just stop bothering me, all right?"

"Fine, but then I'll tell Mommy that you've been drawing before you've finished your homework."

He didn't even blink at the obvious blackmail, concentrating solely on the very blank paper in front of him. "You tell Mommy that and I'll tell Dad that you've been stealing stuff from the junkyard to build your go-cart."

"But then he'll make me stop helping out then!"

"Yeah, and Mom'll make me stop drawing. So don't you dare."

"That's not fair!"

"Life's not fair. Get over it. It stuck me with a bratty little sister like you, but you don't see me complaining about it all the time."

"Hmph! You're not nice, Maxi."

The boy rolled his eyes and gathered up his drawing pad, standing up from their place on the hill and brushing off grass from his jeans. "I'm going up to the roof to get some peace and quiet. You stay here and if Mom or Dad comes, tell them I'm doing homework or something in my room." An insulted Matte leapt up from her comfortable position on the ground and frowned furiously.

"Hey! You can't tell me what to do! I wanna go with you!"

"Too bad. I'm older than you and a lot smarter, so I can tell you whatever I want to. And if you don't stay here, I'll stop chasing away the monsters under your bed." The little girl pouted and plopped back down on the lush green grass.

Drei Maxwell sighed with relief and made his way carefully down the grassy hill set behind his parent's office building, not bothering to look back at his sulking little sister. A small breeze brushed through his slightly too long hair. The colony was awfully peaceful today, he thought, marveling at the beauty of the day like only a child who had fewer worries than a pet dog could.

Slipping through the back door and sneaking past the old and wrinkled secretary with ease, he raced up the stairs to the flat roof of the building. Both he and Matte had loved to hide out there after school, when they didn't want to go home and so were stuck with nothing to do at the office building. It was the best place because of the view and because they could do things that they weren't supposed to. After a tiring five minutes of climbing the massive amounts of steps, he finally reached the steel door and threw it open, the cool air kissing his warm cheeks. Excited as ever, he looked out over the place where the roof dropped off and there was nothing but air. The feeling of being almost at the top of the world and looking out into the vast buildings and parks in the colony was amazing. It never ceased to give him shivers of excitement.

A pity that they were technically outlawed from the roof on safety reasons. All the more reason to sneak up there as much as they did. He and Matte had always been a team. Tight as a knot, as their mother often told them, though the 'annoying little sister' had always bugged him beyond all belief. When one of them got into trouble, the other would jump into the brawl so that they would never be alone. It was the unspoken pact between them ever since they had runaway together from their nanny in the park when he had been two and Matte about one.

The only reason that he remembered it was because his Dad had always told and retold the story when they had done yet another 'stupid stunt' or so he called them. Heck, Maxi had only slipped off of the roof once, only a couple of months ago, and that had been when it was raining like cats and dogs outside. Matte had bet with him that he couldn't have been struck by lightening even if he went outside and so he had gone and the thunder had scared him so that he had slipped and almost fell. He'd luckily grabbed hold of the drainpipe in the nick of time and Matte had gone for help. He still flinched at the memory of the shouting session that they'd gotten after that. Technically, he was still grounded from that and would be until the age of eighty. As always, his parents, or at least his mother had forgotten about it. His dad probably remembered, but didn't want no one in his right mind wanted his eardrums deafened with the screams that would come from Hilde Schbeiker Maxwell.

Just the thought of his formidable mother finding out about their occasional trips to the roof gave him the shivers. Of course that could have been from the cool wind air and the sudden drop of temperature. Looking around, Maxi suddenly realized that the synthesized light was almost completely faded from the sky and it was obviously getting late. All around him were his drawing papers, scattered by the wind all over the roof when he had been daydreaming. There were about thirty sheets of drawing paper and it would take him forever to pick them all up.

"Damn."

The curse slipped out of his mouth before he could help himself. "Mommy says that you shouldn't say bad words, Maxi. That was a bad word, you're gonna get inta a lotta trouble now." He whirled around at the sound of his sister's familiarly annoying voice and snarled menacingly.

"I told you not to follow me!"

"I don't hafta always listen to you. And Mommy told me to go find you, since it's getting so late. She's downstairs now, talkin' to Laurel."

"Double damn."

"Maxi! That was another bad word, you're gonna be in a whole lotta trouble now!" He rolled his usually cheerful blue eyes and started scrambling around the roof, frantically picking up papers.

"Come and help me, Matte, otherwise we're both gonna be in a whole lot of sh- trouble." The little girl sighed wearily, as if she was ages older than him, and bent to help him. The lights of the sky had slipped away, darkness enfolding them when they'd finally gathered all the sheets and the city was beginning to come alive with lights.

"Maxi, this is so pretty! Can't we stay and watch for a while?"

"Sorry, Matte, but we can't. We gotta get back downstairs, before Mom comes up to check for us." He tucked the collected papers back into a small bag and started for the exit door. But Matte didn't budge, mesmerized by the twinkling lights in the distance. The sound of a motorcycle puttering to a stop somewhere nearby diverted his attention for a moment, but then Maxi ground his teeth in frustration and went to grab his sister by the shoulders, shaking her a little.

"Stop it, Maxi! I wanna stay!"

"I don't care what you want, let's go!" He shoved at his little sister and she fell over with a shriek of pain. She then lay, sprawled on the floor, bawling her eyes out. "Oh, stop it, Matte. It didn't hurt that much, now get up and get going!"

A quiet click sounded to their right and they both froze immediately. Maxi held his breath and slowly turned to see who or what was there. A dark figure stood in the shadows, what little light there was reflected the metal object, in his or her hand, as a gun. Maxi gulped, panic beginning to rise in his throat. But before he could shout for help, a woman's calm voice came from the shadow. "Now what could you two rugrats be doing on the roof at this time of night?" When tense silence ensued her seemingly rhetorical question, Maxi saw the glint of white teeth in the darkness and another quiet click as the mysterious woman uncocked her gun, slipping it back into her front pocket. "Don't worry, darlings, I won't shoot two innocents unless there is very good cause for it. Now, please explain, I don't have all day here."

"This is our building, we're allowed to be up here," Maxi said, hesitating a little and slowly sidling over to block his purple-haired sister from sight. Even though the gun was gone, he wouldn't trust anyone he couldn't see clearly with the chance of hurting his little sister. "What're you doing up here?"

"I highly doubt that you're actually allowed to be on a roof in the middle of the night, but I'll let that slide. I'm up here for my own reasons. You two should be skidaddling now, it's pretty late and your mother will be wondering your whereabouts." He was close enough to Matte then to clamp a hand over her protests before they began and started to pull her towards the exit door.

"Right."

The woman's dark figure turned her back on them, as if to leave the way she came and paused for a moment. "Oh and if you tell anyone, I'll have to come after you. Just wanted to let you know." Maxi gulped at the cheerfully sent threat. Those were the worst, he knew. His father often gave them to him and Matte, so he would know that very well.

"Oh, of course, ma'am. Um, bye."

"Bye-bye." Though neither the boy nor his sister had heard it as they slammed and bolted the iron door behind them. The woman chuckled softly as she heard the arguing that ensued behind the locked door. The wind whistled softly in her ears as it blew by and she blinked, her expression sobering quickly. She turned back to the view over the colony and took in the coming darkness and the beginning of the nightlife in the nearby city.

She slipped back over the roof, onto the side of the office building. With practiced ease, she swung silently into an open window on the second floor. Quickly rubbing her hands over her chilled arms, she chuckled some more, murmuring softly to herself, "Cute kids."

"Thanks," a low dangerous voice replied in the darkness. The woman froze and the voice laughed grimly. "So you thought no one was here. Too bad for you. Don't try anything stupid, I don't want to shoot anyone with my kids around. I'm on a 'weapons are bad' crusade and using one would definitely be a no-no." The woman smirked.

"You haven't changed a bit, Maxwell."

The man's cornflower blue eyes narrowed in interest. "Well, I see I'm at a disadvantage. You know me, but I can't seem to place you."

"Oh, now I'm hurt, Duo. But not surprised. I'm not supposed to be remembered." And then faster than he could aim the gun in his hand, the woman whirled, a small dagger flying out and knocking the weapon out of his hand and straight into the light switch on the wall behind him. Duo blinked in reflex as his eyes burned at the sudden brightening of the room. When he looked back at the anonymous woman who had barged into his office, she pointed a firearm of her own at him.

"I just hate it when the tables turn like that," he sighed, raising his hands in defeat. "Especially when I'm on the wrong side of the table." Looking beyond the steely gunpoint, he saw a faintly familiar face twist into a smile for a second. In the too youthful face, he saw deep indigo blue eyes, a bronzed complexion framed by dark tresses. Those traits weren't the likeliest combination, so they were easy enough to place.

And he had to crack a grin. "Well, well, well. How long has it been, ol' friend?"

She smiled crookedly in return, though not lowering her weapon an inch. "Hmm, I'd say at least a good decade or so since we met. Makes you feel your age, doesn't it?" Duo feigned a confused look.

"Age? What age? I never age." That gained him an amused chuckle though no yielding of weapons. "And I thought you didn't use firearms." Her smile broadened.

"I don't." And she aimed straight between Duo's eyes, which widened with the realization of what she was about to do, and she squeezed the trigger. The gun clicked quietly, signally the empty cartridge. Duo almost fainted with relief as she laughed heartily and tossed the phony gun to him.

"Oh, you think that's so funny, don't you? Well, I hope you get a heart attack from laughing at my poor state of mind. It's completely shattered now, I hope you know."

"It wasn't before? I must be losing my touch."

"Hardy har har. You get funnier every time we meet under the usual circumstances, Cal." She laughed a light, enchanting laugh and strode over to darken the room with a flick of the light switch. After plucking her dagger out of the wall above the switch, she plopped down on a chair without invitation. He shook his brown haired head in resignation and sat across from her at his desk, carefully pulling his braid over his shoulder so he wouldn't end up sitting on it.

"Those are the most unusual circumstances possible, Maxwell." She grinned at him, but he arched an eyebrow in reply. She gave a little sigh and rolled her eyes, "I know you're wondering about what I'm here for, but that's such a morose topic. Seen your kids, so I don't need to ask about 'em, but I'm going to have to say that they're exact replicas of you. Miniaturized, of course, but still you."

Duo shrugged, not bothering to bug her about her reasons, because he already knew that it wouldn't be any use. "I could take that as a compliment, but Hilde would probably hear with her supermom powers and make me disappear again."

"Ah, Hilde. Don't think she remembers me from the wedding, but she was a very beautiful bride."

"I'll give you her thanks and my agreement. She was even better on the wedding night. Just a joke, just a joke!" He laughed as Cal flicked a paper clip at him. "I didn't think that you made it to our wedding. It was pretty small ceremony, I would've seen you."

"You forget, my survival's depended on my ability to disappear into the crowd. I gave up on that invisibility thing, though."

"Aw, too bad. I could've sold it to you cheap, after the war," he replied only slightly sardonically.

"Okay, fine, fine. If you're going to put up that sulking attitude, then I'll tell you already." She considered him for a moment. "But I can tell you right now, you're not going to like this news."

"Eh, I got used to bad news a long time ago. Just stop drawing it out."

"Well, to put it simply: you're in danger."

"When am I not?"

Cala took his dark humor into stride, seeing his blue eyes flash in acknowledgment of her warning. "Never. But this time it's not all about you. I'm more worried about Hilde and your kids." That last part finally caught his full and undivided attention, his eyes narrowing and his stance stiffening.

"I see. Exactly what do you mean by danger?"

"Can't help you there."

"What?!"

"Sorry, Maxwell. I really can't. I don't know much as it is, and the details that I do know, wouldn't help you in any way." He groaned and massaged his temples.

"If it were anyone but you, I would be pounding the living daylights out of you for that information."

"I know."

"Can you at least tell me what's going on?"

"Nope, no can do. I can tell you that there has already been an attempt made on one of your colleagues' lives. And there are others expected to occur."

"Yeah, I heard about that cutting of the rope thing from Quatre. He didn't think it was much of a coincidence, either. The question is, who's next? And will whoever it was try to strike Trowa again?"

"I'm not sure. All I can say is that the Winner has heightened his personal security and that of his fiancée's, who is now living with him. He is also preparing to alert the Chang's over in the L4 colony. My suggestion to you is to keep a low profile and make sure that your children are never alone. The chances of kidnapping are higher when they're alone, since they are fairly defenseless."

"And they would be leverage against me."

"The same goes for your wife. Try to keep them under constant surveillance from either you or one of your more trusted people."

He tried to look surprised and offended, his big blue eyes widening innocently. "People? Are you implying that I have a network of information sources built into the wide expanse of this colony and a couple other neighboring ones?" His reply naturally sparked a glint of humor in her demeanor.

"I'm not implying, why the hell would I imply? I know, Maxwell. Didn't I tell you that it was my job to know everything?"

"Eh, you kind of missed that point."

The sound of quick footsteps bounding up the stairs and the door banging open, caught them both by surprise and froze them in their separate places. Bright light burst into the room as a cheerful, purple-haired woman entered the room, whistling absently as she leafed through the papers in her hand, heading towards the desk, not paying the least attention to the frozen figures of Duo and Cala.

"Hilde?" Duo's voice came out as a squeak of surprise and the woman, brushed her choppy violet bangs out of her face, to look at him, mild interest and blatant curiosity sparkling on her face.

"Oh, hey, Duo. Didn't know you were still here." Her bright blue eyes slid over to see Cala's startled face and they narrowed slightly in suspicion, though she seemed to hold herself off from jumping to any inappropriate conclusions. "Am I interrupting something? Sorry, the lights were off, I didn't think anyone was here."

Cala blinked, she hadn't been caught in a jam like this one for a while, but she regained her composure quickly enough. "Mrs. Maxwell? It's so nice to meet you, after hearing so much about you." She stood up quickly, to graciously shake the other woman's hand. "I was just speaking to your husband about a business deal of some minor importance and he repeatedly mentioned reference to your name."

"Really?" Pleasure mixed with confusion and slight suspicion sparkled onto her face. "It wasn't anything bad, was it?"

"Oh, no! Of course not! By the way, my name is Arrise Singh. I'm a junior representative of the Winner-Abassi Incorporated."

The suspicious glint in Hilde's eyes did not dull in the least. "And what does the Winner-Abassi Incorporated have business with my husband about?"

The ol' dame didn't miss a thing, Cala thought with a tinge of admiration.

"Trivial matters, Mrs. Maxwell. Mr. Winner is planning on investing some money into new technology and I was here to negotiate some preliminary prices on more rare pieces of old hardware. As a junior representative, I don't get very many interesting assignments, but this one I jumped on. Imagine meeting two of the heroes of the colonies and Earth! Isn't it just my lucky day?"

"Well, I'm sure it is, Miss Singh." Cala didn't miss the patronizing tone and her eyes glittered sharply in reply, though Hilde failed to notice it as she railed on heightened by the praise from the younger woman. "I'm surprised to see such a young woman as yourself be placed in such a high executive position as representative for the Abassi-Winner Incorporated. That's quite a big achievement for someone your age. You're only, what, seventeen or eighteen at most?"

The younger woman smiled, though there was a touch of irony in it that caught Hilde's attention. "The nail on the head, Mrs. Maxwell. But it's not only me, I'm sure. There's a lot of family connections in the company."

"Well, that must be convenient," Hilde said and then without a pause for thought, went right on, "I just wanted to ask you a question, sorry if it seems a little out of place. But I couldn't help but notice that beauty of a motorbike that's parked on the curb, an exact replica of the racing classic that Trent Albrick won the Serisson Grand Prix with last year, even though it wasn't his bike, and I was wondering whose it was. Yours, right?"

A genuine grin sparked on Cala's face. "Yes, it's mine. It's the actual one that won, as a matter of fact. I lent it to Trent for the race, since his bike had broken down. But how would you know about that?"

Duo opened his mouth to answer for his wife, but she easily dropped her stack of papers 'gently' onto his lap and he snapped his mouth shut with a gasp of surprise. "My wonderful husband and I do a little team racing on the side as a hobby, especially during the spring, when we take a few weeks off for a couple races. We're the title-holders of the annual dual race at the Rockefeller Cross. It's a great family sport, though I refuse to allow the children to participate just yet. The crashes are dangerous and Matte is so small, I don't think that she can handle that type of danger yet. She likes to help out with the junkyard, but I don't think she's ready for an actual working machine under her." Duo made a dubious face at her last statement that was quickly wiped away when Hilde turned to hand him a pen to sign some of the forms in his lap.

Indigo shaded eyes sparkled with amusement. "That seems awfully exciting. I feel that I should congratulate you on your wins, but from what I've read, you refused to let them get published in any magazines, so you must feel that congratulations are not in order. Perhaps you'll allow me to compliment your beautiful children, instead."

"Go right ahead." The proud mother beamed. "But don't let this idiot of a husband of mine take all the credit for it. He thinks that they take after him, but that's only the bad, disobedient parts of 'em." Duo rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything, as he leafed through the papers in his lap. Hilde caught the motion and affectionately made a move to pull her husband's long plait of hair. He, of course, moved reflexively away, saving his beloved braid from disaster. "Remind me to tell you about the time that they sneaked up to the roof during a thunderstorm and Maxi almost fell off," she added after laughingly smooching Duo's cheek.

The inevitable cliché that suited the situation was 'cute couple', but even then it was an understatement. They just fit together somehow, complementing each other perfectly.

A flash of envy darted across Cala's face, completely missed by the flirting pair across from her, before the familiar amusement returned to her expression. "I think I've heard about the park incident from Duo, already." Comical confusion struck Duo's face.

"When did I tell you this?"

"You tell it to everyone, Duo."

"I do?"

"Duo…" the groan rolled off Hilde's tongue with well-worn ease and she seemed to give up on the sanity of her better half, turning back to her guest. "By the way, how exactly did you see the kids, Miss Singh? They're supposed to be safely tucked away somewhere, at least from what Duo's told me."

"Oh, really? Last I saw," her eyes shifted towards Duo who was suddenly looking panic-stricken and violently shaking his head in a no, "they were safely tucked away on the roof of the building." A dangerous widening of purple eyes followed by an angry narrowing didn't prevent Cala from going on. "I was just wondering-"

"Mathilde Tiga Maxwell and Drei Maxwell, you two are in some major trouble," roared Hilde Schbeiker Maxwell over her shoulder. Frantic scrambling to escape obvious doom could be heard behind the closed door. And Duo cringed while Cala chuckled amusedly.

"Well, I see you two are going to have your hands very full, I'll be on my way. I thank you both for your time and I'll get back to Mr. Maxwell on the order." With that, Cala exited out of the open door, throwing a wink at the fearful Duo over her shoulder.

Hilde turned to her husband, her demeanor transforming from the angry punisher to the glowing woman, still shining from the compliments she had just received. "What a nice young woman. And I thought that the younger generation was going downhill with all the prostitution and lies that have been going around these days. I even read in the newspaper that people are pretending to be or do something they're not just for money or some other devious reason. Isn't that just horrible, Duo?"

Her husband could only grin and shrug in response.