Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Merging Causes Problems ❯ Recouping and Regrouping ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter Five: Recouping and Regrouping


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Tony Draeger
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Chapter Five: Recouping and Regrouping



*Dark. Dark and
cold. Dark and cold and lonely. Creeped out. All of these things described how
Serena felt as she lay on the hard floor of the school gym. No one else was up,
there was no way, and it was just too late at night. But Serena couldn't sleep.
She kept replaying in her mind the meeting with Chaos over and over again. She
felt guilty that she hadn't destroyed Chaos. She had truly thought Chaos was
dead, but she had thought wrong. What was she going to do? She couldn't protect
Sammy and Mika and Mrs. Kenner, not to mention the new boys. 'Then again,' she
thought, 'it doesn't seem like I'll have to. They're wise to Chaos, and no one
in Tokyo ever knew about her before. How could they know? And what was that
earthquake. It was like she made two cities merge with one another. Is that
possible? And the boys had never heard of the youma, but I thought that
everyone in the world knew about Tokyo's problems with them, I mean, it's
considered a safety hazard to travel to Tokyo, they even tell people on the
planes. So why don't they know?' Serena sat up in her makeshift bed and sighed.

"What's
wrong?" Asked a voice. She turned and saw the five boys she had just been
thinking about sitting around the fire. Why were they all still up?

"Nothing, I
just can't sleep."

"Is that
Chaos lady giving you nightmares? Never fear, oh beautiful damsel, for I shall
save you from that wicked old witch!" Proclaimed Duo, standing and
pointing his finger towards the ceiling. Serena laughed lightly.

"That's fine
with me, kind knight, but you're going to need more than armor to protect you
from that witch. How come you're all still up?"

"We thought
we'd stand watch while you all slept." Answered Trowa.

"So none of
you get any sleep? That's not fair to you guys. Why don't you all go lay down,
I'll keep watch, seeing as how I can't sleep anyway."

"And, onna,
if a youma, or whatever, was to come during the night, how would you fight
it?" Asked Wufei with a snarl. Ok, so he still didn't like her. But that
would change soon, right? Serena hoped.

"I would
first punch it, then kick it, and by that time, you would all be up to help me,
so I really wouldn't have a problem."

"You? A weak
onna? Punch and kick? You can't, you don't know how."

"Oh no? And
how do you know I don't know how? For your information, when I was younger,
guys picked on me all the time. Guys that were much bigger than you. Until I
met my friend Lita, I just let them, but she taught me some self -defense. I'll
bet I'm as good as you."

"Oh, you
think you're as good as me? Listen
onna, I've been training my whole life as a fighter. There's no way..."

"Why would
you have to train you're whole life to be a fighter?" Serena asked,
thoughtfully.

"Never
mind."

"Please? I
want to know."

"It doesn't
matter." Said Trowa.

"Yes, Serena.
Why don't you go back to bed?" Said Quatre.

"You don't
trust me." She knew they weren't telling her something about themselves,
and thought that if she drilled them long enough, maybe they would tell her.

"No, we
don't." Everyone's head turned as Hiiro spoke. " You trust us too
easily, Serenity." Hiiro had been waiting for just the right moment to say
something to her, and it looked like this was it. He wanted to find out what
her connection with Chaos was. Of course, she was probably too smart to fall
for this trick, but he would try anything. Funny, he thought she looked even
more beautiful in the firelight then she had in the light of the setting sun.
Oh well, more important things to think of now.

"Serenity?
Why did you call me that?" Asked Serena with a nervous laugh.

"Isn't that
what Chaos called you? Do you trust us enough to tell us?"

"That's
blackmail!"

"And? If you
don't tell us your secrets, why should we tell you ours?"

"You
shouldn't, but I thought that maybe, oh, you're so cold."

"Hnn.
Talk."

"I wouldn't
tell you if we were the last people alive on this planet. So there." She
stuck her tongue out at him. Hiiro thought she was cute when she was mad, the
way her eyes sparked with fire, the way her face lit up with a glow that made
her seem powerful, and then she stuck her tongue out just for the full effect.
'I'm losing it.' He thought. Suddenly, a loud booming sound was heard
throughout the hallway, making everyone jump, especially Serena.

Serena heard the
noise, and was taken completely by surprise. She jumped and landed in the arms
of the person closest to her. Shuddering, she held on tightly. Why, oh, why in
the heavens did it have to rain tonight of all nights. It was bad enough that
her friends were gone, her mother and father were gone, her home was gone, but
now this? She whimpered and hung on even tighter if it was possible.

Hiiro looked down,
seeing the very same girl that had only just told him she wouldn't trust him no
matter what holding onto him. It was like she was scared of the thunder. Why
would she be scared of the thunder? As a second string of large booms rang
through the air, he felt her hold on even tighter. She seemed so helpless. He
reached his arms around her and pulled he in closer in an awkward hug. She
didn't seem to mind because she only dug her head into his chest more and
whimpered. It was only then that he noticed her arms were icy cold. He
remembered her giving her little brother her jacket earlier, and knew she had
probably been cold for a while. Even Quatre had said he was cold, and he had
been sitting next to the fire.

Serena was just
beginning to feel warm when she was pushed away from the person who had been
hugging her. She saw Hiiro moving down and away from her and tears welled up in
her eyes. Was she really that repulsive that he couldn't hug her? As the tears
began to fall, another crash of thunder and lighting raced through her eyes.
She closed her eyes and prayed it would all be over soon. Then she felt a heavy
piece of cloth draped over her shoulders and looked behind her. She saw Hiiro
placing a blanket around her, and then felt him pulling her onto the ground
with him. She sat down on his lap snuggled up to him, and closed her eyes.

Hiiro watched the
small girl's tears fall and knew he had to do something. A frown didn't suit
her face. He knew she was tired, hell, he was tired, so he thought that maybe
if he got her to sit down, she might fall asleep. He hadn't counted on her
sitting in his lap, it just sort of happened. 'Well, no reason to argue.' He
thought as he settled down underneath her and closed his eyes. Feeling her
breathing even out and become slower, he knew she was asleep, and it didn't
take long before he was as well.

As the rain
continued to beat upon the roof of the building, four guys stared at the most
unusual sight they had ever seen.

"When we get
back home, Yui goes in for a CAT scan, who's with me?" Asked Wufei
quietly.

"I think he's
fallen for her." Said Quatre decidedly.

"Ah, man! And
I was going to ask for her number! She's gorgeous." Said Duo.

"Leave them
alone. If she trusts him, she'll trust us all, and when she does, she'll tell
us about Chaos." Said Trowa. With that, the four pilots sat down, once
again in silence, to watch for Chaos' return.

~~~###~~~

Mrs. Kenner awoke
to the sound of heavy snoring. She looked around and found her daughter Mika
sleeping next to Sammy. She smiled at the sight. The couple was just so cute!
They were perfect for each other. 'Of course, it's only their first love, and
they're so young... but still.' She sighed. Looking around for the rest of her
'kids', she realized something. She wasn't in control of the situation. In a
group of children where she was the only adult, she was not making any of the
decisions, not helping, not making any rules, and yet they were doing much
better than they would be if she was. The thought almost scared her. If she
wasn't in control, who was? Sammy and Mika weren't, and the new boys seemed to
follow Serena's ideas and she theirs. It was like a mutual leadership between
the group of boys and the girl Serena. Suddenly she felt safe, and wondered why
when she knew that they were only children. Her eyes landed on the group of
boys near the fire. Two of them, Wufei and Trowa, were up cooking breakfast for
the group, and she could see the other two, Duo and Quatre, sleeping near by.
She then saw Serena and Hiiro, Serena asleep on his lap with a blanket wrapping
her shoulders. They looked good together, when Hiiro wasn't scowling. She got
up and joined the cooking boys, adding in her knowledge of food to their
'recipe.' She learned that both were somewhat skilled in the art of cooking, as
she and had found Quatre was last might when they had cooked dinner. It was
nice to see that some guys could still cook.

"Mrs. Kenner,
how long have you known Serena?" Asked Trowa.

"Well, I met
her at a doll show about a year ago. My daughter and I make dolls, and Serena
brought her younger brother over so he could see Mika's dolls. Mika was
attacked by a youma that day, and Serena and Sammy both saw Sailor Moon come to
her rescue. Mika loves to tell that story."

"She was
attacked? Why?" Asked Wufei.

"I don't
know. No one knows why people are attacked by the youma, they just do. Put more
spice in."

"How much
more?"

"About..."


Hiiro woke to find
a sleeping girl upon his lap. Not that he minded, he felt warm and comfortable,
and had slept the best he had ever slept the night before because of it. He saw
her eyes fluttering, then opening and staring at him. She smiled.

"Morning."
She said.

"Morning.
Sleep well?" He asked, with a smirk on his face.

"Yup. You're
comfy, you know that?"

"Never
thought about it."

"Well,
anyway. Sorry I jumped on you like that last night."

"Hnn. Scared
of thunder?"

"Yeah. I
don't know, it's just, creepy. You know, I'm also sorry I yelled at you last night
too. The whole Chaos/Serenity thing is a really sore topic. I might tell you
later."

"Hnn."

"I said I was
sorry."

"Alright.
Hungry?" He asked. He knew he was getting somewhere with her, but felt
almost ashamed that he was using guilt to get there.

"One thing
you'll learn about me: I'm always hungry!" She said with a giant smile.
She jumped off of his lap and moved in closer to the fire, where she said good
morning to Mrs. Kenner and to the four boys who were now up. Hiiro just grunted
at them.

"Did you two
sleep well?" Teased Duo. "I'm sure Hiiro's lap was very nice,
especially after you two had that huge fight and you said you would never trust
him, Serena."

"Yeah, well,
me and thunder never got along well." She said, partially blushing.

"Fight? But
Serena, you went to bed before me, and you hadn't fought with anyone."
Said Mrs. Kenner.

"I, well, um,
I couldn't sleep last night, and when I woke up, the boys were all around the
fire talking, so I started talking to them, and one thing lead to another, and
then the thunder, and then, well, I fell asleep."

"Oh. Are you
all mad at each other now?"

"No. Well, at
least Hiiro and I aren't mad at each other anymore. I'm not mad at the other
guys either, but I don't know how they feel about the situation."

"Miss.
Serena, we weren't mad to begin with. Wufei was just teasing you like he teases
everyone, and Hiiro, well, I guess you and he fixed things."

"Thanks,
Quatre, but you've forgotten, its just Serena." She gave him a smile.
" So what's for breakfast? I'm starved."

"Well,
there's these canned peaches, or the beans. We're cooking the beans now, so
you'll have to wait just a bit longer."

"Beans for
breakfast? Ew. We should go to the arcade and see if Andy can dig us up
something more than halfway decent to eat."

"The arcade?
But it was probably destroyed in the earthquake." Said Mrs. Kenner.

"No, I was
there during the earthquake, and it was fine, just a bit shaken up. Three other
buildings landed around it, but it wasn't crushed. Besides, I want to make sure
Andy and Nicky and Rita are alright."

"Who are
these people and what is an arcade?" Asked Trowa.

"An arcade?
You don't know what an arcade is? Geez, I thought everyone knew what it was.
Even my mom and dad knew what it was. It's a place where teenagers like us go
to hang out after school. There are video games, food, and really cute
waiters." Answered Serena cheerfully. The arcade was second to none.
"As for Andy, well, he's one of my best friends, my old boyfriend's best
friend, and the guy who owns the arcade. As for Rita and Nicky, Rita is his
wife, and Nicky is his son."

"He's our age
and he owns his own business and has a son an a wife?" Asked Duo, awed.

"Kind of. He
and Rita are older than me, and their son is four. He's the cutest little boy
ever!"

"So he's
what, twenty-three years old?" Said Quatre

"No, he's
twenty-two years old, but you were close. Rita is actually two years older than
him."

"That makes
you only...?" Asked Wufei.

"Fifteen."

"Huh? You're
only fifteen?" Said Duo.

"Yeah. Why?
You're all about sixteen, right?"

"Well, all of
us are seventeen, but Hiiro is the youngest. He just turned seventeen three
months ago. The oldest of us is Trowa, and he'll be eighteen in five
months." Said Duo; clarifying the whole age mess they had gotten
themselves into.

"That makes
sense." Said Mrs. Kenner. "You've all forgotten me, but I thought I
would just throw in my two sense and tell you all that I'm thirty-nine."

"Mrs. Kenner,
we would never forget you!" Cried Serena, half joking and half serious.

"Dear, Mrs.
Kenner makes me feel older than I am, and in this situation, I think it would
be alright if you called me Marie."

"Alright,
Marie." Said Serena, then both the mother and the girl began to laugh.
Hiiro stared at them. He had kept silent throughout the entire conversation,
and now was completely lost. Why were they laughing? Didn't they understand the
seriousness of the situation? There was a crazy woman on the loose, and these
two were laughing and talking like old friends. He almost blew an inner fuse
thinking about it, but then watched the two again. Unexpectedly, he lost his
anger and the emotion was replaced with a feeling of peace. The two were
laughing. So what? Let them be happy, it will be a moment short lived; and of
course, he loved the look on Serena's face when she smiled. 'Not again.' He
thought to himself. 'She'll be my downfall.'

"Are we going
to the arcade or not? I'm hungry." Said Sammy. He and Mika had woken up in
time to hear about the beans for breakfast and were hoping they would go to the
arcade instead.

"Well? How
about it?" Asked Serena. She watched the boys all look to Hiiro. 'Huh. The
youngest, and they all look to him for direction. It's like he's the leader of
their group. Just like me. I'm the youngest and I have to be the leader. I
wonder if he fights a lot. I wonder if he ever gets tired of it if he does.'
Serena brought herself out of her reverie to stare at Hiiro like the others.
After all, a little pressure never hurt anyone before.

Hiiro suddenly
felt eight pairs of eyes on him. He did the math. That was sixteen eyes. All
focused on him. Waiting for his answer. He looked at each of them. He crumbled.
"Yeah, we're going to the arcade. Pack the stuff up."

"Good choice
Hiiro my man! Boy oh boy were you going to get it if you said no! I would have
gone crazy! I mean..."

"Omea wa
Koruso Maxwell." Hiiro pointed his gun at Duo. Serena saw the situation,
and decided to help Duo to live to see the next day.

"Hiiro, would
you come here and help me put out the fire? Please?" At her voice, Hiiro's
hand with his gun wavered, then dropped to his side. He put his gun away and
walked to Serena, where they began throwing dirt and rubble onto the fire. So
he let Duo live another day. Oh well.

Duo sighed heavily
as he saw Hiiro's gun hand go down and heard the safety engage on the gun.
'That Serena sure worked wonders with that guy' He thought 'He's getting soft.
Hell, if she had said that to me, I would have put down my gun too. Oh well, so
much for the Perfect Soldier living the bachelor lifestyle with me.' He
thought, then began helping clean up.

~~~###~~~

"What a mess.
It was so neat yesterday." Said Serena. The 'group' as she had begun
calling them, were all walking down the main street in downtown Tokyo. The
place was a total wreck. Rubble, crashed cars, fire hydrants broken, people
wandering aimlessly, trash, and just about anything anyone could possibly think
of lay around in the streets and on the
sidewalk.

"Serena,
where's the arcade? I can't see it." Asked Sammy from his place next to
her.

"It's
in-between three huge buildings, but it's... there it is!" She exclaimed.
She pointed to a tiny building, and Sammy and Mika ran ahead of the rest f the
group to the place. The others all took more time in getting to the entrance.

"Seweena!"
Once again, her legs were engulfed in a large bear hug.

"Hey Nicky!
How are you? Did you survive the earthquake alright?"

"Yes. Me and
Daddy ran outside to see the buildings shake. Mommy got stuck upstairs."

"Is your
mommy ok?" Serena asked worriedly.

"Mommy is
still stuck. Daddy won't leave her. I'm hungry."

"I'll bet you
are. She picked the little boy up and handed him to Mrs. Kenner. "Marie,
would you see if you can find something for the kids to eat? I'm going to go
see what's wrong with Andrew and Rita."

"Alright, but
take someone else with you Serena."

" Yui and I
will go. The rest of you can wait down here. Onna, show us the way, would
you?" Said Wufei.

"Sure, follow
me." She said, and began leading them through the back door. They went up
some stairs and came to a small platform in which sat a man with blonde hair in
front of a door.

"Sere! I'm
glad you're ok. How's the rest of your family?"

"Sammy's ok.
My parents are dead though."

"I'm sorry
Sere. Both Darien and your parents in a month."

"It's ok
Andy. Is Rita in there?"

"Yeah, and I
can't get to her. I've tried everything. Sere, she could be hurt, even dying,
and I can't get to her. What do I
do?" He broke down, his face buried in his hands.

"It's alright
Andy. I brought some new friends. They'll get Rita out. Then you can use your
doctor knowledge and help her if she's hurt. Why don't you come over here with
me and let Hiiro and Wufei go to work?" he nodded, and moved on the stairs,
where Serena met him with a giant hug. He cried into her shoulder as the boys
went to work retrieving his wife. Five minutes later after getting fed up with
the lock on the door, Hiiro brought out his gun and shot it, knocking the
entire lock off with one blow.

"Good
thinking Yui." Complimented Wufei.

"Is he always
this trigger happy?" Asked Andrew.

"Yes."
Said both Serena and Wufei together. Serena giggled, and Wufei glared slightly.
After getting the lock off, they had no problem getting into the apartment and
began searching for the woman. They found her unconscious lying next to the
bed. Without moving her, the boys carefully examined her. She was alive, and
other than the bump on her head ok. Wufei left to tell Serena and Andrew.

"We found
her." Wufei told the two on the stairs gruffly. "She's alive, but
can't be moved. She's not badly hurt
either, just knocked out."

"Can I see
her? I want to see her. I need to see her!" Andrew almost went berserk
wanting to see Rita.

"Andrew, go
downstairs. I'll see her first, then you can see her, when you're a little
calmer."

"But
Sere..."

"Go."
She ordered him softly. He left.

"Why did you
make him leave?" Asked Wufei.

"It's never
easy to see the ones you love hurt, but when it's bad, and the person is
hysterical like he was, it make the whole situation even worse."

"I see. Come
on onna." Wufei lead her to Andrew and Rita's bedroom, where she found
that Hiiro had moved her to the bed. She raced over to her and checked her
pulse, then her breathing,, and finally checked to see if she could find her
eyes.

"How do you
know what you're doing onna?" Asked Wufei.

"I used to
work at the hospital. I was a candy striper there." The boys gave her
dubious looks. "Striper, not stripper. I went around cheering up the
patients. I was there so often that the nurses and doctors started teaching me
how to check patients for symptoms and give shots and little things like
that."

"Oh."
Was all both of them could say.

"If you get
me a wash cloth, I can clean her head and bandage it. Then Andrew can come up
and see her."

"I'll get the
wash cloth." Said Wufei, as he headed down the stairs. People like the
unconscious woman were naturally weak, but it sickened him to see them this
helpless.

"Will she be
alright?" Hiiro asked Serena.

"I honestly
don't know. For all I know, she could wake up in three minutes perfect. Or, she
could wake up in three months with amnesia. Or she could never wake up again.
Selene, oh, I don't know! When did everything become so hard?"

"When Chaos
decided to wreck the Congressional Meeting."

"She
what? What's a Congressional
Meeting?"

"Chaos came
in and broke up the meeting. The Congressional Meeting is where the delegates
of all of the countries of Earth and the colonies of space send their
representatives to speak of peace agreements with each other. It's been that
way since after the War of AC 196. Don't you pay attention to the news?"
He asked, slightly annoyed she didn't know what was going on in the world.

"War of AC
196? When was that? I mean, how could that effect today? And what colonies of
space? There are no colonies in space!" Hiiro narrowed his eyes.

"It's no
joke. Stop pretending to be stupid. The War of AC 196 happened two, almost
three years ago. Don't you remember hearing about Queen Relena, OZ, Romefeller
Foundation, or the Gundam Pilots?"

"No! There
was no war two years ago! And what is OZ? Or the other two things you
mentioned? There haven't been any wars since WWII in 1942! And it's not AC 198,
or whatever you think it is, it's the year 2001!"

"2001,
WWII?"

"Yeah. Are
you alright? What were you talking about?" Now they both knew something
was drastically wrong. Just then, Wufei decided to return with the washcloth
and bandages. Serena thought of a question for him. "Wufei? What year is
it?"

"Year? Baka
onna! It's AC 198." Serena and Hiiro exchanged glances.

"We need to
talk. You, me, Wufei, and the other three. Soon." Said Hiiro.

"I for one
completely agree. And this time, no secrets. You tell me how long you've been
so trigger -happy and how you met Chaos, and I'll tell you why she called me
Serenity. Deal?"

"Deal."
He agreed. Just then, Rita began to wake up.

"Serena?
Where's Andrew? Are he and Nicky alright?"

"Yes
Rita, they're ok. Everyone will be ok."*