Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ I. The Great Escape ❯ Inherrent Freedoms ( Chapter 6 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Inherrent Freedoms

I had leeched the money from my watched account at a library internet lounge first thing. I’d followed this up by creating a new account at a bank that was supposed to be hacker-proof. Claims like this were misleading, because all it meant was that no money was moved unless you were there in person to do it, and they had a retinal scan for the key, and a thumbprint as a quick-and-easy.

Actually, that meant I could withdraw up to seven hundred dollars a day at any ATM that had a finger-print scanner, which was cool.

Anyway, living the way I had been for the last three years of my damned life, I hadn’t spent much more money than to get myself new non-military issue jeans—for some reason that had been a problem, but I could get normal shirts. The shirts were okay as long as they were funny or useful. If I got one because I liked it there was the demand of why I hadn’t just gotten more military issue.

Brewing issues aside, I informed the nice bank people that I had some enemies who might try to break my account, so my special password was going to be Nassmax. They’d been confused by that, and I hadn’t bothered to explain that it was a form of my wife’s name.

At any rate, I bought Nassaiya two outfits, including under-things, and Vasu two outfits with under-things. That left us about fifty bucks to get supper and me a new set of under-things, and one pair of tennis-shoes.

I wasn’t going to bother with more until we were out of Brazil entirely. I liked the country, and was liking it even more as our evening progressed, but it held far too many dangers for me.

I’d bought myself a hamburger, but this hadn’t appealed so much to my family. They’d opted for chicken things, and had been very confused when it came breaded. They didn’t use breading much at all, so they were wary, but they’d ended up enjoying it.

It was nine at night.

I stretched more as I looked over the city, wondering if my hope was bad. Just living this life right now was renewing my faith in more than myself. I’d been so down at points that I just…figured the rest of the world had to be going to shit, too. At least, it was a cold place with no hope for anyone…but I couldn’t bear it, so I decided to run and see. I could live up to the world if I could get into it, so I’d started to run.

Actually, that was when he’d started to hit me.

It was so weird, because those relationships usually implied being mates or partners of some sort. We’d slept in our own beds in our own rooms, and it wasn’t like he never brought girls to his room, but if he noticed me looking he got pissy with me. He never said anything to me about it, but if he saw my attention wandering after a maid or something, that maid or whatever would be fired in fairly short order.

Once I’d realized that, I’d just kind of given up…that was when I’d tried to run, really. My life had always been hard, and this was just a different aspect of it. Running had made it worse, but running had also made it more necessary to leave.

He probably would kill me if he caught me this time, and kill poor Nassaiya to be carrying an I.D. with my name on it.

I’d put her in more danger than she deserved, she and Vasu would have been twenty million times safer if they’d stayed back with Indra…and then Djara.

She hadn’t come with me.

I moved forward to lean against the glass, watching cars flying by below me.

When we got to Salvador, we were going directly to the American embassy. I’d say she was my wife and I wanted him as my son, and I was in fear of my life. I’d get in, and I’d be safe from him…and then I’d start the process of getting their passports. I’d legally adopt Vasu and they’d legally have my name. The military would verify the marriage with several documents, and then we’d be married for real. She’d be my wife.

He wasn’t going to hurt her, and he wasn’t going to subvert her son. That life was my past, and like everything else in my past, it was done and over with.

I was not going to give up now, when I’d come so far.

…I’d kill him first.

- -

Heero walked into the little hut as Natalie consoled her mother. They were both crying, and the other little girl was staring at him with hard eyes as she sat on one of the beds. The various soldiers were searching the premise, but Natalie had said Duo was staying with her mother.

Heero saw something at the girl’s feet, and noticed that she was trembling as she glared directly back at him. She was a cute kid. She’d look like her sister when she got older.

“Mr. Yuy, please!” Natalie wailed as he leaned over. She hadn’t realized what he’d do when he arrived at the place. She hadn’t realized that her mother refusing to speak would get the woman backhanded, or that Indra would be held by Winner and Barton while Yuy hit him. Now, he was with Narsi, and Natalie was realizing she’d made the biggest mistake of her life.

Heero grabbed the thing he’d seen by the girl’s feet before turning to display it to Natalie, who started crying more.

It was Duo’s braid.

Heero studied the thing with a bit of disgust before noting the girl’s eyes were uncertain. He smiled slightly at her, tickling her face with the end—she pulled away. “Oh, fine,” he muttered dismissively to her.

Little girls did no harm.

He turned back to the old woman, studying her with interest. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know,” she returned, looking away.

“Where did he go?”

“He didn’t say.”

“You lied to us last time I was here,” he noted.

“No, I lied,” the brother said levelly. “I told you…and Narsi.”

Heero glanced at the girl again, remembering her trying to insist that he wasn’t there. “She is blameless.”

She blinked at him.

He dismissed her, crossing the hut to toss the braid to Quatre, raising eyebrows.

“I wonder if he works without his braid,” Quatre mused, studying both ends of the thing. He changed his focus from the braid to the man Trowa was still holding…and looped the thing around his throat.

Indra didn’t react.

“I’m very disappointed in all of you,” Heero announced, moving out the door to look them all over. “I have no use for liars.”

The rest of the members of the little group looked away. No one spoke.

“He’s twice the man you are,” Indra hissed at Heero. “He helped the widows and taught the young…fished for families that were not his. He didn’t come with men to make us obey. He helped us.”

Heero looked to Quatre, rolling his eyes.

Quatre tightened the braid, causing the man to choke.

“Indra!” Natalie darted across the area to her brother, prying at the braid as she looked to Quatre with tearful eyes.

“Where did he go?” Heero asked louder, looking everyone over. “Where is he?”

“He didn’t say,” the old woman persisted. She stood then, moving to the table inside the hut to grab a piece of paper.

“Winner,” Heero snapped his fingers at the guy, who let the braid loose again.

Indra gasped for breath as Natalie tried to pry the braid from around his neck at all.

“He said to give you this,” the old woman muttered, passing the piece of paper over before moving to sit in her chair again.

“You okay, mama?” Indra muttered.

“Hush,” she soothed, making a gesture at him.

Heero read the note a few times before tsking in disgust…and backhanding the woman.

“Mr. Yuy!” Natalie started crying again, moving to kneel at his feet, looking up to his eyes. “Please…my family did nothing wrong…”

“They sheltered him, they helped him…he’s gone because of them.”

“I don’t know about that,” Wufei muttered, moving up the dock as he smoked another cigarette. He tossed the thing into the water as he passed next to Trowa and made the man let go by the action coupled with exhaling in his face. Indra pulled away from Winner as well, tossing the shorn braid down the dock.

“You checked this village yourself,” Heero noted, watching him levelly. He moved forward, standing eye to eye with the Chinese man. “Did you lie?”

“Challenge me, Yuy,” Wufei whispered back. “Do it.”

“I should have you killed for this,” Heero hissed.

“You’d have me killed, but I’d kill you myself,” Wufei retorted.

Heero’s eyes narrowed.

“This village did nothing wrong but help a lone man,” Wufei noted in a growl. “They didn’t realize he was who you were looking for at first. He probably cut the braid off before he got here. Leave the people in peace. Your little girlfriend is going to lose faith in you.”

Heero looked to Natalie, who was crying as she sat where he’d left her. She looked ashamed and scared.

The other little girl was standing in the door to the hut, watching with hard eyes.

“Let’s get out of here,” Heero ordered darkly. “When did he leave?” he asked the man.

“This morning,” Indra replied, looking up to him. “Before dawn.”

“Was he alone?”

Indra nodded.

Wufei looked the occupants of the village over, taking a mental count of the people. There weren’t enough children and there weren’t enough women. Further, in one of the little row-boats the villagers would make, there was no way Duo would have made it to change his account over in the time allotted to him according to the man’s story.

“No lies?” he asked, meeting Indra’s eyes. “Are you lying?”

“No,” Indra returned, looking directly back at him with the same hardness the little girl had. “No lies.”

“Let’s go,” Wufei ordered to his friends. “Kill them,” he added to the soldiers, starting down the dock.

Natalie wailed.

“Wait!” Heero ordered irritably to the soldiers as the click of weapons echoed over the area. “We can’t just kill them, Wufei.”

“Why not? They helped him escape,” Wufei met Heero’s eyes, glad the man didn’t have enough mental faculty left to note the deception.

“They just helped him,” Heero snapped. “And it’s Natalie’s family. We can’t just kill them off.”

Natalie started crying more, moving forward to cling to one of his leg’s, thanking him repeatedly.

Didn’t he realize that if Wufei hadn’t said it, he would have? Didn’t he note that it would have been done without a second thought?

Heero disgusted Wufei extremely.

“Can we take him?” Quatre asked, indicating Indra.

“Take him?” Natalie asked, turning her tear streak face to him. “What do you mean?”
“I’m bored,” Quatre returned. “He looks like fun.”

“That’s my brother!” she insisted.

“You’d be done with him in an hour,” Wufei snapped. “Leave the man in peace. Go grab the braid.”

The order distracted Quatre instantly to the thing before he ran to pick it up and show it to Wufei proudly before looking back to Heero with a grin.

“Let’s go,” Heero ordered, pulling Natalie to her feet. “We need to get to Manaus. It’ll take until dawn, but we’ll reach it before him.”

Wufei looked back to Indra as the man looked away.

If Duo played his cards right, he should already be gone.

He headed for the boat.

- -

“Local time is twelve noon,” the pilot muttered over the intercom. “Winds east by northeast at twenty-seven kilometers per hour with scattered clouds and no obvious likelihood of rain. I hope you enjoyed your flight, I certainly tried to make it smooth. Thank you for choosing Fly Brazil, and we hope to see you again. Please wait for the air-craft to come to a full and complete stop before unbuckling and moving around the cabin. Again, thanks for your business, and I hope you have a wonderful day.”

The speaker clicked off.

I yawned, scooping Vasu up as he blinked at me tiredly. Nassaiya had gathered the bags we’d brought. She and Vasu had clothing in their bags, but mine was just the blankets. We’d left everything else behind at the village, and our old nasty clothes in the garbage bin at the motel.

“Let’s go,” I urged, taking my bag from her since it was the largest, then turned and bulled my way up the isle with course ‘excuse me’s to the people in my path. Vasu had his face pressed into my shoulder, so I assumed the figured he was upset, because no one said a word against us.

“Have a nice day,” the stewardess muttered, petting Vasu’s head as we passed.

“Thank you,” Nassaiya muttered, catching my hand quickly as we started up the walk.

I could see it now. He probably found the passenger manifest by now and had guards waiting around the exit here. No one would question his word. We were very instrumental in winning the wars, and three and a half years of peace could be tested with barely any effort at all.

We moved into the airport main, and I was glad that I’d gotten Nass new clothes. She’d insisted on keeping the skirt I’d gotten her before, but she’d been entirely indifferent to the rest of the things she’d had.

The relief I felt when no one was waiting for us was…beyond all compare.

- -

“He used his name?” Wufei asked blankly as he studied the manifest in disbelief.

Of all the stupid things Duo could have done…

“Let me see that,” Heero snapped, yanking the paper away before Wufei could properly protest. He stared at it a long moment, then looked to the woman. “What is this…Nassaiya Maxwell?”

“That was his wife, sir,” she returned. “And their little boy,” she indicated the name below.

“He’s not married,” Heero snapped.

“Yes, sir,” she argued calmly. “He had all the proper paperwork for all three of them.”

Heero’s eyes narrowed. He couldn’t believe that Duo’d gone and gotten married. He’d been gone five months and a day…and he’d gotten married! It was her fault he hadn’t come back, then…

“I bet you it’s a cover,” Trowa noted. “I bet you he picked up some slut and her kid.”

The woman started to open her mouth to argue they were natives with proper paperwork, but the look Wufei directed at her made her fall silent.

“This flight stopped at…four cities,” Heero noted, looking up to her. “Where’s the rest of the information?”
“I’m sorry,” she returned with a frown. “We don’t have that information on our computers.”

“Where did he get off, then?” Heero snapped.

“I’m…I couldn’t say,” she looked embarrassed. “When the flight lands it’ll do a name catalogue of who is still on board, but…it won’t reach it’s end point until about six this evening.”

“That’s too long,” Heero snapped. He slammed a hand against the desk. “How did he get here that fast?”

“Badgering the woman will get us nowhere,” Wufei noted. “We’ll have to think this out.”

Heero popped his neck irritably, gesturing a dismissal at the woman before turning with the manifest toward the entrance of the building.

“Have a…good day,” she muttered, blinking after them.

Wufei met her eyes again, then herded the group to their waiting car as Heero thought out-loud. The paper said four cities, and the number of people exiting the plain. It had a mark about how many would get on at each port, but no more names that those who’d started in Manaus.

“He’d have gone to Fortaleza,” Heero muttered.

“Why do you say that?” Wufei asked dryly. He didn’t know if Heero realized Duo was running from him or not.

“He’ll want to hit the American embassy there. They’ll take him wherever he wants to go.”

“So we should go back to base?” Wufei muttered, checking for cars in the rear-view mirror. He was driving.

Heero snorted.

“We need him,” Quatre noted in a very subdued voice from the backseat. “He can’t go away.”

The expression on Heero’s face was agreement.

Duo was getting away, and he wasn’t coming back.

Wufei refrained from snorting, pulling out a cigarette from the back and setting it between his lips.

“What are you thinking, Fei?” Trowa asked, studying the guy curiously.

“We need to get out an A.P.B. to Fortaleza.”

“What if he didn’t go there?”

“We’ll figure that out when it comes back negative.”

“But that’d just give him more time.”

“If he’s not there he’ll be moving faster than we are,” Wufei snapped irritably. “If he’s not there, we’ve probably lost him.”

“I’ll find him,” Heero growled tightly.

“Besides,” Quatre added in that same subdued tone—when they’d gotten into the city, Quatre had seemed to wilt. “What else do we have to do?”

“It’s not that easy!” Heero shouted, turning on him. “It’s not that simple!”

“It isn’t, is it?” Quatre asked, then sighed and leaned against the car door.

Heero settled.

“But it is.”

Wufei rolled his eyes.

“Hurry up and get to H.Q.,” Heero snapped.

- -

“Hey,” I muttered happily to the man in the guard-shack as a sense of relief washed over me—after all the shit…. “I need sanctuary.”

The man stared at me.

“Here,” I slid my passport to him and watched him blink at it, then look up to me again in confusion. “For my wife and son,” I added. “I fear for my life.”

The words with the as-valid-as-he-could tell papers made him hit the button.

I pushed through the gate into the enclosed waiting area, waiting for Nassaiya to get through before setting Vasu down. The initial immigrants to the United States probably felt like this when they reached Ellis Island, with that statue looming over them promising freedom…

The gate closed behind me with an ominous click, and I moved us to the inner gate, indicating for the pair to sit there before moving to the desk-door-thing.

“You are an American citizen, sir?” the guy added, moving through that as he studied my passport.

“I am,” I agreed, passing him my I.D. “Can we speed this up, please? I’d love to be properly on U.S. soil.”

“There is procedure,” he reminded me, studying the I.D. before frowning at me. “Well, I believe you’re who you tell me you are…and that verifies your citizenship…but your wife? You have your marriage certificate?”

“She’s a native from the basin,” I returned. “The village leader blessed us.”

He blinked at that.

“I’m a class five-A sergeant,” I noted, blinking at him. “My rights are listed under the fourth paragraph of the Convention of Nanchang in one-nine-eight.”

He blinked at me.

“It states I have the right to marry in any state or province. The girl has my name, and so does the boy.”

“But no certificate?”

“No, but if you can bring your general here, he’ll verify what I’ve said.”

“The Convention of…Nanchang,” he mused. “That’s the one dealing with you pilots, right?”

I nodded.

“Pilots?” Nassaiya asked blankly.

The guard turned to his radio as an A.P.B. for…me…was announced over all air-waves.

“I’ve claimed sanctuary,” I noted, studying his eyes. “I’m in fear of my life.”

He grinned slightly at that, hitting a button on the inside of his shack.

Was that it? Was that the end? It had all come down to the claim of sanctuary working. It’d had all come down to me believing the government of my birth-colony would protect me on some level. I didn’t know if claiming sanctuary would work or not…if there was some other procedure to follow…

“Welcome to the U.S., Maxwell family,” he muttered with that same grin. “I’ll escort you to the consulate as soon as a replacement meets me.” The gate popped open, and I stared at the ground beyond in a long moment in disbelief.

…I was safe. I’d taken Nassaiya to actual safety…I’d gotten away from Heero…

I followed my wife into the gated area as a soldier came running from somewhere and flashed me a grin as he passed.

“What?” Nassaiya asked quietly.

“This way, please,” the guard muttered, gesturing toward a sidewalk. “No need to rush, of course, but the consulate will be expecting us and it’d be rude to keep him waiting.”

…I was free.