Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Past Meets Present ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Right at the top of the page, her full name was stated. Chang Meiran. Looking at Duo, he demanded he hand over the papers. Seeing the look in Wufei’s eyes, Duo handed the pile over. Quatre had already threatened him for who knew what reason. No need to get Wufei even more riled up than he already was.

Going through Mei’s papers quickly, he found what he was looking for. Her birth certificate. It was written in Chinese but it didn’t take him long to translate it. It must have been her original birth certificate though. Because, the name was different. Ron Meiran.

That was his wife’s maiden name. It was looking like this Mei was either an imposter or his wife, alive. He wanted it to be the latter. When he thought she had died, he realized how much he had actually come to care for her and now that she was gone, it didn’t feel right. But, if she was actually alive?

Skimming the certificate, he found Mei’s birth year to be a year after his. That fit with Meiran. She had been a year younger than he had. The girl had barely started bleeding when her family had decided it was time for her to be wed. And, he noted, looking at the thing again, she was born on L5. The exact location was not listed, just like on his own.

Setting the papers down, he leaned back and sighed. Rubbing his temples, he realized he was getting a headache. Giving so much blood and then reading quite a bit without his glasses had done that to him. Wufei got up and went into the bathroom, getting the bottle of Ibuprofen out. He took it with a little water to ease the tablet down. Sighing again, he looked at himself in the mirror, so many questions racing through his mind.

Hearing the door slam, the four men in the living room wondered why Wufei had just left. Joining Heero and Trowa, Quatre saw that they held Xin Xin’s birth certificate. Unlike her mother’s, it was in English. And listed for father was Chang Wufei.

Meiran yawned, sitting down on her couch. She had just gotten home and was debating whether or not she should just go to sleep or get something to eat. Before she could make up her mind, she heard someone ringing her doorbell.

The young woman yawned again as she made her way over to see who it was. Looking through the peephole, she found that it was the man who saved her daughter. Opening the door, forcing herself to look happy, Meiran greeted him.

“Are you the heir to the Dragon Clan?”

“Are you stalking me?” That was Meiran.

“And are you or are you not, married to Chang Wufei?” After a few moments, Meiran began to speak.

“I have only one question. How the hell do you know that?”

Looking at his face, she realized he had a pleased look on it. And it kind of creped her out. Yet, she also found herself curious as to why he was so pleased. But it still scared her in a way. “Sir, I think it would be best if you left.”

She closed the door, only to hear him yell.

“Open the door Nataku!”

Meiran’s eyes widened. She hadn’t called herself that since her daughter was born. She opened the door wide and looked at him. And he at her.

“How in the world do you know so much about me? I only met you a few days ago,” Meiran told him, just standing in her doorway. Putting her hand on her hip, she waited.

He opened his mouth to say something when suddenly Wufei’s pager going off interrupted them. Looking at it, he asked her if he could borrow her link.

“Only if you tell me why you know so much afterwards,” Meiran made him promise. Showing him where to go, Meiran was told to stay out of the room, thoroughly pissing her off. He walked out moments later; not saying a word other than he had to leave now and would talk to her later.

And so he left as quickly as he came.

“Goddammit!” Meiran yelled after he left, kicking the wall. “Ow.” Glaring at it, she went to bed, taking care not to hit her hurt foot.

Wufei stopped by his home, quickly picking up a small bag for times like this when he had a mission at the drop of a hat. Hollering to his friends, he told them that he’d be back in a few days. This didn’t shock any of them. The group was used to Wufei needing to leave at any moment to work on an assignment with the Preventors.

Wufei silently made his way to the shuttle docks where Sally would be waiting for him. She didn’t tell him much, only that there was a new mission and he needed to pack for a few days, oh, and that the shuttle left in an hour.

Making it there quickly, he found Sally Po waiting for him, a small bag over her shoulder. She didn’t say much when he made his way over to her. Following her onto a small private shuttle, he found Lady Une and Lucrezia Noin already seated. He had a bad feeling about this mission already.

After the shuttle took off, Lady Une looked at the group in front of her. “Zechs Merquise will be meeting us on Mars.” Wufei didn’t need to look to know that this made Noin happy.

“Just what exactly is this mission?” Wufei got straight to the point, feeling a bit cranky. Une looked at him approvingly and replied, “recently, we received word of a growing resistance faction. It already has over 1,000 members, both male and female. Normally, we wouldn’t send so many of our top agents in, but I believe that this case is a very high priority.”

Wufei couldn’t help but feel a small ego boost at Lady’s Une’s words. She considered him to be one of the Preventor’s top agents. He already knew that he was, but still, to hear it from the leader herself, well, that just made it even better.

Une coughed, grabbing his attention once more. “Now, since this group is mostly Chinese, you and Sally Po will be the only ones that will be sent in. Noin and Zechs will be your connection to us and one of you is to report to one of them once a week. Understood?”

Wufei nodded, as did Sally Po. “Good. Now, I suggest you try to get some sleep,” Une finished.

Keeping himself from yawning, Wufei did just that. When he woke, he found himself feeling quite a bit better. His body had replaced quite a bit of the blood he had given away by this time. The blood that had saved, he couldn’t think it. He was having a hard time believing that he had a daughter. That his wife was still alive. It was almost too much to take in.

Scratch that almost. It was too much.

“Hey,” he heard Sally’s voice say. He turned to face her. “Is something bothering you?” She asked, concerned.

“No,” he lied. She opened her mouth to say something but he stormed off, joining Zechs who was waiting for them.

“Someday, he’ll realize that he’s in love with you like you are with him,” Lucrezia Noin said, putting a hand on Sally’s shoulder.

“I know. It’s just, he can be so frustrating at times,” Sally Po grinned.

Lucrezia waved the air, saying, “don’t worry. It took Zechs years to figure out how he felt about me.”

Sally caught sight of Noin’s small engagement ring her fiancee had bought and smiled. “Men.”

The two women looked at each other and laughed as they walked towards the two male agents. As they neared, Millardo Peacecraft, commonly called Zechs Merquise, turned to the short man. “Any idea why they’re laughing?”

Wufei shook his head, muttering something about women. If Zechs didn’t know better, he would have guessed that the Chinese man had something completely different from the mission on his mind. But, Wufei was one of those people that focused entirely on the mission at hand and nothing else. He had learned that a year before when the two were assigned together on a different mission.

Meiran woke up the next morning in her bed; feeling like a truck had run her over. That or like she had been in an exploding mobile suit. She winced at the memory. She had only been a month pregnant with her daughter and hadn’t even known it then.

During her short marriage, Meiran and her husband had only had sex a few times, to satisfy their families. If they went too long without doing so, both would be taken apart and scolded, told that they needed to keep the Dragon line going. And then, that night, the two would do so and then not touch each other until the next time they were forced to. It had been a loveless marriage indeed.

And yet, Meiran had still found herself wishing her husband was there. She had, grudgingly, grown to respect him and after she found her colony destroyed, her husband along with it, she found herself missing his presence. They had been against each other, but when push came to shove, the duo would team up and defeat whoever bothered them. And, it worked against all except their respective Clan heads.

Getting up, she quickly showered and headed off for work. It was a busy day and Meiran never got a chance to call the hospital to check on her daughter.

Exhausted, Meiran made her way up the stairs to her apartment. She could hear a couple arguing. This was normal. The building was one of those that attracted a lot of people with problems. A lot of those were financial ones.

Which reminded Meiran that she was two weeks overdue on rent.

So, she was not surprised to see her landlady standing outside her apartment. Waving, Meiran invited the woman in.

“No, I can’t stay long,” replied the woman. Meiran sighed. “I’m guessing this isn’t a social visit.”

“No, it’s not,” her landlady answered. “Listen, I know you’re having problems and that your daughter is in the hospital, but I need your rent by tomorrow or else I have to kick you two out.”

Meiran nodded. She knew this in her heart. As the woman went to leave, she turned to Meiran and said, “I’m sorry. But I need to think about my own kids.”

The landlady left and Meiran went inside, going to sleep instantly. When she woke the next morning, someone was knocking on her door. She got up and walked to the door, opening it, fully expecting the landlady to be on the other side.

“Miss Mei,” she heard a soft male voice say. Her eyes widened. Standing here in her doorway was Quatre Raberba Winner.
“Come in,” she told him, stepping aside in an instant. He obliged, looking around at the small apartment in interest. The place wasn’t big. Meiran and her daughter shared a room and bed. A small bathroom was next to the bedroom and the kitchen was also a living room. The place was quite cramped and quite bare. The apartment was furnished, so Meiran had no furniture of her own.

“Would you like a cup of tea? I have only green tea at the moment, though,” she offered. He nodded and followed her into the kitchen part of the room.

Sitting down, he watched as she quickly made the tea, pouring it into two small cups that looked much like Wufei’s, only with dragons instead of phoenixes. After taking a drink he looked at her and asked a question.

“Yes, of course you can visit Xin Xin, though I’m not sure how long she’ll be in the hospital,” Meiran told him sorrowfully.

“What do you mean?” Quatre asked, concerned. Meiran sighed, and replied, “We’ve got almost no money left. Xin Xin’s hospitable bills cost so much and I don’t even have enough to pay rent.”

Quatre looked around the place. Finally, he turned to his hostess and said, “I can help.”

A/N: Yay, I finished another chapter. This story is definitely fun to write, but it’s been really hard at times to. But I’ve written the three chapters so far in about five days. Almost every free moment has been dedicated to writing this and I really enjoy the way it’s turning out. I own nothing in this fic except Xin Xin.