Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Lean On Me ❯ Make New Friends, But Keep The Old ( Chapter 9 )

Authors Note: Did I leave you hanging? Well, here is the next chapter, so you don't have to wait any longer. Remember, I do not own GW, but I do own the characters: Riley, Vienna, Katana…and all the others you have never head of.

Disclaimer: I don't own it…

Chapter Nine

Duo looked down at his watch for the umpteenth time within twenty minutes as he paced the floor. Meiran watched him pass her again.

"Duo, please sit down," she pleaded with him. "You are making the rest of us nervous, even if there is nothing to worry about."

Duo spun around. "They have been gone for over two hours! Isn't that something worth worrying over?"

Quatre stood and pulled Duo to the seat he had been sitting in. "Sit down and rest. Vienna should be fine with Heero, and you know that."

"You're right," Duo said. "I'm the optimist. I shouldn't be worrying." He smiled brightly and leaned back heavily into the chair. "Thanks, Quatre." He closed his eyes to sleep.

Quatre sighed and sat down on the couch next to Trowa. Trowa glanced at him, but then looked away again to stare at the far wall.

It was quiet for a minute or two, when Duo suddenly leapt up from the chair and exclaimed, "I'm going to go searching for them." He dashed off across the room to the hall.

Meiran jumped up and dragged him back into the living room. "I don't think so, Duo. If they want to return, they will, but until then, let them get away and do what they want to without having to worry about you popping up and spoiling something."

Duo dropped onto the floor and sat there dejectedly.

They heard the front door open and the sound of people walking to the living room.

"Hello?" someone called out. Vienna soon appeared in the doorway. She smiled when she saw everyone. "Hey guys."

Duo jumped up and smiled happily. "You're back!"

Vienna laughed. "Of course I would come back. Where else would I go?"

Heero walked up behind her; Vienna stepped aside so he could pass.

Meiran smiled at her sister-in-law. "Where have you two been?" she asked.

Vienna shrugged, walking over to sit by Trowa on the couch. "We were mainly at the park talking."

Duo sat in an empty chair by the window. "Well, at least you two weren't kidnapped by Katana or someone."

"Of course not," Vienna said.

Quatre laughed. "Is that what you thought, Duo?"

Duo shrugged. "I dunno. My mind can wander."

Heero rolled his eyes at his friends comment.

Vienna sighed and leaned back in her seat. "I'm so tired. I haven't slept for hours."

Duo yawned. "Ya, you're right. I'm pooped out." He stood and stretched. "I'm gonna hit the sack, even if it is early in the morning. I'll see you all later."

Vienna dropped her head into her hands. "I wanna drop dead just so I can sleep," she mumbled.

From across the room, Heero offered, "You can sleep in my bed if you want. I'm not tired."

Vienna looked at him sleepily. "Thanks. What room is yours?"

"Second door on the left."

"Got ya." Vienna stood and walked from the room.

Once she had gone, Meiran burst out angrily, "I can't believe this!"

Trowa looked up at her. "Can't believe what?"

"What she is going through!" Meiran exclaimed. "I mean, first she loses her best friend Riley, and as if that isn't enough torment, now she has to live with the guilt of causing Trowa heartache, and the idea that she is being tracked down by a group of killers and traitors who want to use her for a weapon. I have no idea what she is going through, but it has to be worse than I can ever imagine."

Quatre nodded sympathetically. "You're right. Poor Vienna. I never really thought of that."

Heero walked over to the small group and sat down in a single chair. "She is stronger than she looks," he said. Everyone looked at him in surprise. He went on. "She and I talked in the park for awhile, and I found more about her than anyone. Probably not as much as Riley, but enough."

Meiran frowned. "What are you getting at, Heero?"

"I'm saying you need to give her more credit. Yes, she has more pain than most people right now, but she is doing better than any of you would have done," he said with defiance.

Quatre held up his hands. "Okay, Heero, we got it. You don't have to bite our heads off."

Trowa frowned. "Heero, what's up with you? You never cared for anyone's feelings before, so why Vienna?"

Heero stared at him for a moment, before shrugging. He leaned back and closed his eyes, blocking the others out of his view and mind.

Noin sighed in boredom as another hour ticked by without anything new going on. The day had had no developments, and so Noin had told the soldiers on duty to break away from the control room, and she, instead, took over. But that was an hour ago, before she got bored out of her mind.

She stretched, bending back in her chair, and then straightened again. She yawned and cracked her knuckles. She blinked once before looking to the screens: nothing showed anything of importance or mystery. "Another day of boredom," she muttered.

A knock sounded on the control room door and then opened. "Lieutenant Noin, I've brought some coffee for you."

Noin smiled back at the soldier behind her. "Thanks, Benny. Bring it over here."

Benny walked forward and handed Noin her mug of coffee. She took a sip and almost burnt her tongue. She gasped and set the mug on a table nearby. Benny smiled down at her and then backed out of the room.

Noin waited for it to cool down before taking another sip. She sighed with delight and set it back on the table. She leaned forward and started using the computers to search the blackness of space for anything of interest. She had been searching for no more than five minutes, when a reading came up. She brought the image up close and then asked the computer to identify it.

"Human life form 1," the computers monotone voice said. "Human life form 2 found one mile north."

Noin's eyes widened and she leapt up. She pushed down a red button and a score of soldiers trouped into the control room.

"Human life forms have been found drifting in space," Noin exclaimed hurriedly. "Get a team and get out there ASAP! I want them in the infirmary alive."

Vienna walked the length of Heero's room slowly, thinking as she walked. So much had been going on, she just couldn't sort them out. Talking to Heero had helped a lot, but he was Heero, and Heero was not the type to feel sorry for someone, or anything like that. Vienna paused. She did not want anyone to pity her. She hated that. It showed they thought she was weak and defenseless. "Just like Meiran thinks," she said aloud. "Meiran pities me more than anyone." She frowned at her reflection in a mirror near the bed. Her reflection turned, and instead she saw Meiran's face staring back at her.

She shook her head and the image disappeared. A headache was forming, and Vienna was forced to sit down at Heero's desk chair. She leaned against the table, her head in her hands. She was so tired, but she just did not want to get up. And so, she fell asleep at the desk.

Vienna awoke early the next morning feeling quite refreshed. She sat up in the bed and stretched. She froze: she was in a bed. She sprang from the bed and looked around. She was still in Heero's room, that was obvious, but she had fallen asleep at his desk, not in his bed. She frowned, but shook of the feeling, and made the bed again. She stood before the mirror and used her fingers for a comb.

"Vienna, are you awake?"

Vienna jumped slightly. "Uh, yeah Meiran."

The door opened and Meiran stepped inside. She smiled at Vienna and shut the door. "How are you doing?" she asked.

"Fine. I feel much better." Vienna's thoughts of Meiran came back to mind, but she shoved them to the back of her mind.

Meiran laughed. "I would hope so. You slept all afternoon and night yesterday. You went to bed at nine a.m., slept through the rest of the day, and now you wake up."

Vienna smiled. "I didn't know I slept that long."

"Well, you did," Meiran said. She walked to the bed and set an entire outfit on the bed. "Take a shower and get dressed in these."

"Oh, thanks."

Meiran was about to leave when Vienna called to her, "Mer, do you know if anyone came in here last night?"

Meiran thought a moment. "Yeah, actually. Heero did. He said he needed to get something from his room, but he was gone for more than five minutes."

Vienna nodded slowly. "Okay then. So, where did he sleep?"

Meiran smiled. "In the living room on the couch. Trowa and Quatre returned to the circus, and I went back to my apartment."

Vienna stared at her. "I was left here alone!? With two guys?"

"Yeah, but you slept the whole time, so it doesn't matter now." She walked to the door. "Hurry and shower. I'm gonna make breakfast."

Vienna waited until her friend left and then gathered the clothing and headed for the connected bathroom.

After a ten-minute shower, she dressed, and entered the kitchen five minutes later. She smiled happily as she took a seat at the table, the aroma of pancakes and bacon causing her to realize just how hungry she was.

Meiran flipped a pancake onto a plate and shoved the plate across the table to Vienna. Vienna dug in, finishing it all within three minutes.

"Dang, girl!" Meiran exclaimed. "You must have been hungry."

Vienna laughed. "Well, I skipped breakfast, lunch, and dinner yesterday."

Meiran shrugged. "Point taken."

"Yummy, something smells great," Duo chirped, walking into the kitchen and dropping in the chair across from Vienna. "Good morning, Vienna. Glad you are joining us for a meal today."

Vienna forced a smile. "Har-har, very funny."

Meiran served Duo, made a plate for herself, and sat down next to Vienna. She glanced at Duo and her eyes widened. Duo sat there, hunched over his plate, eating like a starving pig. "Duo, are you even tasting the food?" she asked.

Duo paused for a moment and nodded. "Itch delifisious," he said.

The girls looked at each other. "What did he say?" Vienna wanted to know.

Behind her, Heero said, "He said it's delicious."

Meiran smiled at him. "Oh, hi Heero. Make yourself a plate."

Heero walked to the counter, piled his plate with a little of everything, and sat down with the others.

"How did you know what he said?" Meiran asked him.

Heero shrugged. "After living with him you get used to him talking like that."

Duo said through his full mouth, "Yeth, but yur fud ithn't as gud ith dis."

The girls looked to Heero for the interpretation. "He basically said my food isn't as good as this."

"Oohh…" the girls nodded.

Suddenly, Vienna gasped. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed.

Meiran frowned. "What is it, Vienna?"

Vienna jumped up and ran from the room. She returned, holding a piece of paper in her hand. "Heero, can I borrow your phone?" she asked.

Heero pointed to the phone hanging on the wall.

"Thanks." Vienna grabbed the phone, unfolded the paper, and started dialing. Everyone at the table was watching her, trying to figure out whom she was calling. "How could I forget?" she mumbled to herself, the phone ringing.

On the other line, it picked up, and a sleepy voice said, "Who's there?"

Vienna smiled, the sleepy voice reminding her of Riley in the morning. "Is this Midii Une?" Vienna asked.

An expression of recognition came over Meiran. Vienna had told her about Midii some time earlier.

The girl on the other line replied, "This is she. Who is this?"

"This is Vienna Chang."

"Oh! Hi!" Midii exclaimed, suddenly very awake. "I've been waiting for your call for the past few days."

"I'm sorry. I got sidetracked."

"Oh, its perfectly okay," Midii said. "And how are you?"

"I'm fine actually, considering what's been going on." Vienna then realized Midii had no clue what she meant. Then she remembered Midii probably had no idea Riley was gone forever.

"And how is Riley? Is she doing okay?"

Vienna bit her lip. "Um, that's a topic I want to tell you in person, if you don't mind."

Midii hesitated. "Um, sure, okay. You sound as if something terrible has happened."

Vienna glanced at her friends sitting at the table. Meiran and Duo were talking, but Heero was watching her, as if trying to listen in. She sighed. "It would be easy if you came to where I am staying, Midii. Would you mind coming over?"

"That's fine. Let me have your address and I'll be right over."

"Okay, hang on." Vienna covered the mouthpiece and asked Heero, "What's your address?"

Heero told her and Vienna referred it to Midii. They hung up and Vienna leaned against the wall for support. She sighed and tucked the paper into her back pocket. "A friend of Riley's is coming over," she said. "That's okay, right?"

Heero nodded. "As long as you know you can trust her."

Vienna nodded. "If she is a friend of Riley's, then she's a friend of mine."

"Who's coming over again?" Duo asked.

Vienna sat back down at the table. "Her name is Midi Une. She was friends with Riley for some time before Riley was instructed to stop contacting her."

Duo smiled. "Cool!"

Vienna raised her eyebrows at him. "Right."

Meiran rolled her eyes. "Ignore him."

"I always do," Vienna commented casually.

"Hey!" Duo cried out.

Vienna and Meiran started laughing.

They all moved into the living room to wait; Duo and Meiran turned on the TV, and Vienna and Heero stayed at his laptop to try to find out as much information as he could.

Duo flipped through each channel, but nothing appealed to him. He gave up in defeat, settling with the news for Meiran. Meiran became absorbed in the news, so Duo was left on his own. He was more than happy to answer the doorbell when it rang half an hour after Vienna's phone call. He led in a blonde, blue-eyed girl into the living room, and Vienna looked up and smiled.

"You must be Midii," Vienna said, walking to her, her hand held out.

Midii took her hand and shook it. "Yeah, that's me." She glanced at Heero, Duo, and then Meiran. "Do you live with all these guys?"

Vienna shook her head. "Not really. I'm normally with Riley."

Midii brightened. "Where is Riley? I've been dying to see her again." She looked past Vienna's shoulder.

"Um, that's what I wanted to talk to you about, Midii. Let's sit down first."

Midii did, but she could tell by Vienna's tone of voice the news wasn't good. "Is she okay? I've been wondering about her ever since you called."

Vienna scratched her head. "To put it bluntly, Riley died in a cave-in around a month ago," Vienna said.

Midii blinked. "In a cave-in?" She wanted to laugh. When they had been younger Riley would always brag of how she would die fighting, or at least standing up for something she believed in. But a cave-in?

Vienna watched Midii carefully. Midii sat there, not moving or talking. She was expressionless. "I wish I had known."

The ringing of the phone interrupted them, but the girls did not make any move to get it. Meiran stood to answer it. She had been gone for five minutes when she ran back into the living room wildly. "We gotta move," she said to all of them.

Vienna stood. "What's wrong, Meiran?"

"One of your friends called. I think her name is Lucretzia Noin? Well, she said she found two human forms drifting in space yesterday. She sent a team to get them, and when they arrived at the Preventers base, she identified one of them as WuFei Chang, and the other was a girl she couldn't identify, but she knew they had been together, since their space suits were identical."

They all jumped up. "Did they say what she looked like?" Heero asked.

Meiran shook her head. "She only said that she was a girl, and that they were both still unconscious, but breathing, and she wanted you all to come down ASAP."

Duo grabbed his coat from the back of the couch. "Well, lets move people! Next stop, earth!"

Vienna dropped into the shuttle seat in a heap after walking all over the shuttle port with the others searching for their shuttle, and almost missing it. Midii sat down next to her, Heero and Duo sat in front of them, and Meiran sat behind them all. They had picked up Trowa, Cathrine, and Quatre on the way to the port, since they would want to know what was going on, and be there too. Cathrine joined Meiran, and Trowa and Quatre sat behind Cathrine and Meiran.

Vienna glanced out the window, the memory of her dream the last time she had been on a shuttle coming to mind. She could still hear Riley thanking her, and Dr. J criticizing her. She frowned and looked away from the window.

"Are you okay?" Midii asked beside her.

Vienna looked at her and smiled forcefully. "Yeah, I was just remembering something."

"Oh," Midii brushed her blonde hair aside, and glanced back at Trowa and Quatre. Vienna followed her gaze and smiled.

"Midii, do you like one of them?" she asked.

Midii sat back in her seat and looked at Vienna quizzically. "No."

Vienna smirked. "Why don't I believe you?"

Midii glared at her. "Well, you should."

Vienna licked her lips. "Okay, whatever." She leaned toward Midii and whispered in her ear, "Which one do you think is cute?"

Midii looked at Vienna blankly. "I don't like either one of them, it's just that the one with the long brown bangs looks very familiar, but I can't place why."

Vienna smirked. "That's actually Riley's brother. And the girl with the wavy red-brown hair, that's Cathrine, their older sister."

Midii looked back over her seat quickly to get a look at the two of them. Cathrine smiled at her. Midii smiled back and dropped back into the seat. She looked at Vienna with a weird look on her face. "This is crazy. I never knew Riley had a brother and sister."

Vienna nodded. "Yeah, she did. Trowa is older than her by two years, and I think Cathrine is older by four."

Midii nodded. "Hm. And if you really want to know, yes, I do think Riley's brother is sort of cute, though that doesn't mean I have a crush on him, which I don't."

Vienna giggled, but then stopped. "Did I just giggle?" she asked Midii.

Midii nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"I hate it when I do that. I sound like Relena." Her face twisted into a grimace. "I hate that prissy princess. She's all too haughty and girly. Ugh!"

Midii laughed, causing Duo to turn around.

"What's so funny back here?" he asked.

"Nothing, Maxwell," Vienna said.

Duo glared at her. "Your brother calls me that, and just him calling me that is enough, so quit it!"

Vienna's eyes twinkled. "I can call you Maxwell if I want to, Maxwell." The expression Duo gave her was enough to please her. "All right, Maxwell. I'll stop."

"Girls," Duo muttered, turning back around, his braid falling over the chair to their side.

Midii smiled. "Hey Duo, you're forgetting something." She grabbed hold of Duo's braid and yanked.

"Oww-ow-ow!" Duo yelped. "Leggo my braid!"

The girls laughed mercilessly, but Midii still let go of Duo's braid.

Heero rolled his eyes, a hint of a smile forming. At least Vienna is enjoying herself, he thought.

They arrived at the Preventers base around twelve the next day, and Noin was waiting for them. She greeted Vienna with a hug, for their last visit Noin had grown to like Vienna as a good friend.

"Hey, Noin," Vienna greeted. Cathrine and Midii and Meiran walked up behind her and smiled at Noin.

Noin smiled back at them. "Who are your friends?"

Vienna pointed to her friends. "That is Midii Une, Meiran Chang, and Cathrine Barton."

Noin nodded. "Yeah, I've met Cathrine. And, did you say Meiran Chang?" Meiran smiled and nodded. Noin's brow furrowed. "But wasn't that…"

Meiran rolled her eyes. "Yes people, that's me: WuFei's long-lost wife. What, is that my official title now?"

Noin nodded again. "He'll be glad to see you then," she said, purposefully ignoring the sarcastic remark.

Meiran shrugged. "He might, he might not. It all depends on his mood, I guess."

"Let's get going then," Noin said to them all. "Maybe you can identify the mystery girl."

They started down the hall for the infirmary where WuFei was being kept, and as they rounded a corner, shouting could be heard. Vienna hurried forward to the infirmary and pushed open the door a crack. The shouting was distinct and coming from inside.

"Go on in," Noin said to her.

Meiran grabbed Vienna's wrist and dragged her into the infirmary. Inside, the room was completely white, consisting of carts and shelves lined with different bottles and medicines. A stiff, metal bed was set in the center of the room, and at that moment WuFei was sitting on it, glaring at a woman dressed in a lab coat. Her hair was twisted into two low ponytails, and each was draped over a shoulder. She looked up when they entered and frowned. "You aren't allowed in here," she said to them.

"Oh-" Vienna started, but Noin stepped inside behind her.

"It's all right, Sally, they're with me," Noin said.

"Hello, Noin." Sally glanced at WuFei again as he rambled on. "I hope you're here to help me out."

"Maybe, in a way. I brought the pilots and a few of their friends here with me."

WuFei looked back at everyone crowding the door and his eyes widened. "What the-"

Meiran looked at WuFei quickly and then to Vienna. "He hasn't changed much."

Vienna shrugged. "No, not really. His attitude is still the same."

WuFei watched the two of them carefully and when Vienna thought his eyes couldn't get much bigger, they did. He tried to say something, but he couldn't: he was stupefied, and his jaw dropped to the floor.

Meiran smiled. "Miss me, honey?" WuFei's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fainted.