Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Past Meets Present ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Contrary to popular belief, Chang Meiran did not die that day on L5. She was close to death, though. The only place where she could receive the medical attention she needed was on L2. And so Meiran was sent. Her condition was kept from her husband who thought her dead. And on the place he thought her buried, the teen swore to avenge her.

It was planned to tell him that she was alive. But, unfortunately, the few that knew of her existence died when the colony was destroyed. And so we pick up the story of Chang Wufei and Meiran in their twenty-first year of life.

“Oh come on! It’s your 21st birthday. You gotta come and get drunk with us!” Duo Maxwell, self proclaimed God of Death, Shinigami, and aged 21 years said to one of his best friends, Heero Yuy. In actuality, Heero, Duo, and one of their other friends, the quiet clown known as Trowa Barton, had no idea when their actual birthday’s were. So, forced by Quatre Raberba Winner, they each chose a day, choosing to make their birth year the same as Quatre’s. This also made them the same age as the Solitary Dragon, Chang Wufei.

Heero was the youngest of the quintet. At least, that’s what his birth date made him. Quatre and Trowa were both nearing their twenty second birthday’s, a fact that made Heero wonder what had possessed him to make his day of birth in December. Quatre and Trowa’s were both about a month after Heero’s. Wufei’s was also nearing, his in February. Duo though, his was in the middle of summer. Apparently, he couldn’t stand the cold and didn’t know what had made the others to make theirs in the winter.

The Perfect Soldier grunted, knowing nothing would stop the God of Death. “Fine, we’ll go to wherever you seem to want to go.”

Duo grinned, the other three not quite sure as to what they had just heard. Heero Yuy agreeing to go to a bar with Duo Maxwell? It was unheard of!

“Are you feeling well?” Quatre asked. Heero shot the blond Arabian a look that clearly read that yes, he was fine. It was just to shut Duo up.

Quatre nodded and the other two saw the look Heero had given him. It made sense. If they didn’t go along with Duo, who knew what trouble he might get into? That was a question none of them wanted to know the answer to.

“Quatre, I know you don’t like the cold, but isn’t that going a little too far?” Trowa asked when seeing Quatre minutes later. The said man shook his head. Two thick sweaters, a down coat, a wool scarf, and a matching wool hat was just fine. Looking at his other friends, Quatre didn’t care that he was the most dressed, the others choosing just to wear coats, maybe a hat or a scarf depending on the person.

Heero rolled his eyes, walking out the door and into the cold. The others followed, choosing to remain quiet with the exception of Duo. That is until Heero chose to give him a death threat.

“You’d never kill me and you know it,” Duo argued.

“I can and will if you do not shut up,” growled Heero. Trowa just looked at the two, the argument an old one.

“Please, can we just hurry up and get to this new bar of yours?” Quatre intervened, annoyed. Duo stopped and turned to looked at the blond.

“It’s not a bar. In fact, it’s actually a pretty nice restaurant. A Chinese one at that,” Duo replied, adjusting his hat so it wasn’t in his eyes. If he had taken the time to look at his Chinese friend, he might have noticed the man’s eyebrows raise in interest.

Duo’s eyes glinted as he added, “The girls will be there, too.”

He meant, as everyone knew, Relena Peacecraft, Heero’s once stalker who had turned out to be a nice person once she stopped stalking him, Hilde Schbeiker, whom had become very close to the guys, Catherine Bloom, the girl that thought of Trowa as her long lost brother, Triton Bloom and very protective of the green-eyed man, and finally, Sally Po, the half Chinese, half American woman who was unsure of how she felt about Wufei.

“Hey, new girl, table of nine for you in section 5!” Someone yelled out in the busy kitchens. The Chinese girl nodded and headed out, forcing a smile onto her face. She had just started working at the place but was adjusting well. It helped that she was of Chinese origin, one of the last survivors of L5 and adapted quickly to wherever she was placed.

“Hello, I am your waitress for the evening,” she told the table, looking around at it’s occupants. Closest to her was a man with short, somewhat spiky blond hair. Looking at him, she realized he was Quatre Winner, head of the Winner family. Next to him sat a tall, brown haired man with one large band that covered his a large portion of his face. A blond haired woman was seated next to him, her hair in curls. She looked somewhat Chinese but was definitely not full-blooded like Meiran herself was. Seated to the right of the woman sat another woman, this one with dark gray hair who was talking about scrap metals with the man seated at the end of the table. His hair was in a long braid, noted Meiran.

On the other side of the table, a woman with curly brown hair with a protective nature sat across from Mr. Winner. She looked somewhat familiar to Meiran. It took her a moment to realize she was on the poster for the circus that was in town. To her left, a silent man with spiky brown hair was drinking his glass of water. He had a dangerous look to him, she decided. On the man’s other side, a young, blond woman was seated, talking to the her companion. Meiran knew in an instant that this was the Vice Foreign Minister, Relena Peacecraft. And finally, seated at the end of the table next to the braided man, an unhappy looking Chinese man sat. His hair, quite long for a male’s, though definitely not as long as the braided man’s, was pulled back in a ponytail.

“Are you ready to order?” Meiran asked the table. She had to smile when the braided man opened his menu and gulped.

“Hey, you can translate this, right?” She heard him ask the Chinese man.

“Are you such an idiot that you booked reservations at a place where you can’t even read the menus?” Asked the Chinese man, an amused tone in his voice.

“Hey, I didn’t know that the menus were in Chinese!” Maxwell retorted. He looked at his friend, trying to read his face. Meiran was doing the same, liking this guy already. But, he was taking a long time to answer the first man.

“Any day now would be fine.” Apparently she wasn’t the only one to notice the Chinese man was taking a long time. The Chinese man glared at the woman sitting across from him and turned back to the menu.

Meiran watched in fascination as he said each word slowly, as if the language hadn’t been used in a long time. When he was finished, he turned to the man next to him and replied that yes, he could read the menu. Quickly reading off what was on it, the others ordered what they thought sounded best.

Meiran hurried off, taking the orders to the kitchen. Stepping inside, Meiran felt like she was home again back on L5. The kitchen smelt just like her mother’s kitchen had.

Soon, she was heading back to the table of nine, pushing a cart because there was so much food to take. Hopefully, she’d be getting a good tip tonight. It wasn’t like the group couldn’t afford it, well at least two of them. Her face was one big smile as she walked over to her table. Setting the proper food in front of each person, she began to head back into the kitchen. Feeling something on her arm, she turned and saw the braided man.

“What’s your name?” He asked, violet eyes sparkling. Meiran looked at him and answered, “Mei.”

“Think I could get your number?” He said, giving her puppy dog eyes. Somewhat used to this, Meiran rolled her eyes.

“Maxwell, do you have to hit on every woman?” Twitched the man next to him. The braided man turned to his friend and grinned. “Not every woman, just the pretty ones.”

This made Meiran blush. No man had ever called her pretty. Not even her husband. Turning to Maxwell, she replied, “Maybe. Talk to me when you go to leave. Then we’ll see.”

And with that, she left. She came back occasionally, checking to see if the people needed anything. A few drinks needed refilled but that was about it. Close to an hour later, the group got up to leave.

True to her word, Meiran came back and gave the braided man her number, telling herself he’d probably never call her. When she cleared the table, she was pleasantly surprised to find a large tip.

“Are you sure you should have lead that poor woman on like that?” Hilde asked Duo. The two had become close, like siblings, over the years. It was no small fact between the two that the woman secretly had her eye on the stoic pilot, Heero Yuy. Why? Duo couldn’t figure it out for the life of him. And Hilde didn’t know the answer, either.

“Nah. I’ll call her. She seemed like a nice woman,” he replied, yawning. Just then, a pink limo pulled up, drawing Relena away from the group. Hilde called a cab which picked her up a few moments after Relena’s limo had left and Sally Po went with her. Trowa walked with Catherine back to where the circus was staying, telling the guys he would be staying with her that night. This left the four men walking back to their home.

They didn’t speak on the way there and headed to their separate rooms when they arrived in the medium sized house. Quatre noted as he lay down in his bed that the place felt cold without Trowa there. He turned over, looking at Trowa’s empty spot on the bed. Shaking his head, the Arabian flipped over to look at the wall.

Duo couldn’t sleep despite his yawning. This annoyed Heero, who shared the room with him. With Prussian blue eyes, he glared at Shinigami one last time before heading to sleep. Across the hall, Wufei was reading a book, hoping it would lull him into slumber.

The next morning, the quartet woke to the smell of something cooking. Heero, being the first up, went down and saw Trowa silently making something. Heading straight to the cup cabinet, Heero noted that the silent pilot was making scrambled eggs. He looked at the other pilot, nodding to him. Trowa returned the motion.

That was the way the two would normally greet each other in the morning, not needing words like a certain other pilot. Who happened to walk in at that exact moment.

“Hey guys,” Duo grumbled, making a beeline for the coffee pot Heero was currently using. Giving a ‘Hn’ to newest addition, Heero surrendered the pot. Trowa turned off the stove, sitting down at the table, eating his eggs. Heero and Duo just drank their coffee. Mornings usually went this way, quiet and peaceful until Duo finished his second cup.

Wufei came down next. He joined them around the table, maintaining the silence. A little while later, Quatre joined them, sleep still clinging to him though if you didn’t really know him, you wouldn’t be able to know. And the morning passed by pretty silently.

“Hello?” Meiran answered her phone, wondering who would be calling her. She desperately hoped it wasn’t Xin Xin’s school. That girl could be such a handful at times, thought the mother with a small smile.

“Hey,” a familiar voice replied. It was the braided man from the night before. Before she realized it, Meiran had a smile on her face larger than the one before. “Listen,” she heard him say. “If you aren’t busy, what do you say about going out to get something to eat?”

Not having anything better to do, Meiran agreed. It would give her something to do and her daughter wasn’t to come back for another three hours. She didn’t have to go to work tonight, it was her night off. The only plans she had for the night was taking her daughter to the circus.

“So, Mei, are you going to the circus that’s in town tonight?” Duo asked. Right at the beginning of the meal, he had introduced himself. Meiran nodded, telling him that was her only plan for the evening. “Cool. You’ll have to sit with me and my friends. We’ve got some of the best seats in the house. My buddy Trowa used to be a clown in this particular one and Catherine is the knife thrower.” Duo smiled at the Chinese woman in front of him.

She was beaming. “Xin Xin will love that.”

“Xin Xin?” Duo asked, curious. He noted that Mei hesitated before answering.

“Yes, my six year old daughter.”

“That’s even better. I love kids!” Duo told her. He saw her eyes brighten. Taking a guess, he assumed her to be a single mother. Asking her, he found that to be correct.

Hours later, Meiran walked up to the large circus tent. Next to her was a small girl, hair pulled back in pigtails. Duo was standing there, waiting for the two. When they reached him, he squatted down, looking the girl in the eyes.

It was all he could do from making a sound. This little girl had Wufei’s eyes.

Introducing himself, he lead them to their seats. The others from the previous night were already seated with the exception of the tall man with the unibang and the curly haired brunette. The show started soon, Trowa performing in the show. The whole thing enraptured both mother and child, giving Duo a chance to look at the young girl.

He could see plenty of Mei in the girl. But there was a lot of someone else in the girl. Someone that looked very similar to Wufei. The child looked kind of like a female version of his friend, in child form. Yes, there was a lot of Mei in the girl, but still.

“Niáng, can I pet a lion?” Quatre heard the little girl ask as the audience was leaving. The Arabian smiled, giving the girl’s mother a wink and told the girl, “I think I can arrange that. You see,” he went on, “I’m really good friends with the clown that feeds the animals.”

Xin Xin’s eyes widened and giggled happily. Taking the man’s hand, she skipped off with him towards the tall clown with one bang. Mei watched them for a moment, sighing.

“He won’t let anything happen to your daughter,” she heard a male voice say. Turning around, she saw it was the Chinese man.

Meiran nodded, but told him, “It’s just, she has a medical condition. Her blood is too thin. Times like these are rare. I‘m afraid my daughter will probably die soon.”

She felt tears starting in her eyes. Wiping them away, she apologized. “I’m sorry for being so weak. It’s just, I can’t bear the thought of losing her. She’s all I have.”

“No, that’s not weak. I might have thought you weak years ago, but I’m different now. I think that you’re actual strong for carrying on the burden,” he replied. She offered a weak smile to him.

“You know, I never caught your name.”

“Wufei,” he answered. Meiran’s heart skipped a beat and her face must have shown something because he looked at her oddly.

“That was my husband’s name,” she breathed. Shaking her head, she looked and saw her daughter coming back with, grin plastered on her small face. Her daughter looked like she had had a great time but yawned. Meiran scooped her up, holding the girl close. Taking the bus home, Meiran grew tired from the day’s events.

The next morning, Meiran sighed happily. Getting up to go wake her daughter, she found the young girl cold, not even shivering, she was so cold. Almost like a corpse. But, Meiran could see her daughter’s chest rising and falling. In an instant, she knew what was happening. Her daughter was starting to die.

Racing to the phone, she called an ambulance. She raced back to her daughter, wrapping the girl up in a blanket, taking her down the stairs, thanking her ancestors her daughter was such a small and light girl. The ambulance was pulling up as she ran outside. Handing her daughter over, Meiran hopped into the vehicle. The medical staff asked her all the questions they normally did and she answered them, holding Xin Xin’s hand the whole time.

The staff made her stay in the waiting room but she knew what was going on the other side. They were doing everything they could to save her daughter. But, Meiran didn’t have the same blood type as Xin Xin. Her daughter had rare blood that few had.

She looked at her hands as if they held the answers. And noticed Duo’s phone number written on her palm. Hope surged through her. Maybe he or one of his friends might have the right type!

“Hello?” She heard a groggy voice answer the phone.

“Is Duo there?” She asked.

“No, he and the others left to see the circus off. Why?” Questioned the voice.

“Oh. Well, maybe you can help me. It’s Mei. My daughter’s dying.”

A/N: Wow, nice cliff hanger, huh? I like how this is going though. Oh, and the man Meiran’s talking to if Wufei. Just a little heads up. But, isn’t that a great way to wake up though, to answer the phone and find out a kid’s dying.

This is my first Gundam Wing series and it’s looking like it’s going to be quite serious. I own nothing in the fic but Xin Xin.

Chinese Glossary

Xin Xin- Faith

Niáng- The Chinese word for mother when used by a young child.