Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Past Meets Present ❯ Chapter 11 ( Chapter 11 )

“Sir, are you all right?” A woman’s voice was asking him. Opening his eyes slightly, he groaned when the light hit them. He instantly closed his eyes and waited a few moments before cautiously reopening them. The light still hurt but not as bad as before. After five minutes or so, the light no longer hurt and he was able to look around.

“Where am I?” His voice croaked out. He could hear footsteps of someone walking and turned to face that direction.

“You’re at the hospital of St. John the Baptist,” the newcomer replied. He was just out of the young man’s line of vision. Blinking, the bedridden man realized the woman standing next to him was an elderly nurse, probably late thirties to early forties.

“Nurse Jen, you are needed at the Nurses’ Station;” he heard the intercom say. The woman left; he presumed her to be the nurse wanted.

“Well then,” the doctor began, clapping his hands to get the young man’s attention. “Let’s see what’s wrong with you.”

“Why am I here?” The young man asked as the doctor checked him over. The other man wrote something down on a notepad as he answered, “A couple of teens found you and brought you in. They didn’t know what was wrong but one of them thought you might have a concussion and a sprained ankle.”

“Oh,” answered the patient as he waited for the doctor to finish. About fifteen minutes later, the doctor was done and told the other man that he’d be back in a little bit.

Not having any thing to do, the young man turned on his room’s TV, the other bed empty. Almost immediately, the news popped up where a woman was talking about something that had happened recently.

“And in other news, the fire and explosion that took place three weeks ago has finally been explained. We are feeding you live footage right now of the Preventor’s leader, a Miss Une.”

It switched over to a young woman, probably in her mid twenties, standing on a podium, and waiting. After a few moments she began to speak.

“The explosion that caused the devasting fire three weeks ago is at fault of the Preventor’s. Five of our top agents were sent to recover two hostages who had been taken in revenge for a recent mission.”

She stopped for a moment and shuffled some papers. Then she began again. “One of our agents, Preventor Chang, was among the five and has been reported missing. We are assuming he was killed though if you have seen him, report the sighting to our headquarters immediately. That is all.”

The screen flipped back to the earlier woman. The woman blinked and said, “That was short but very informational. And that’s all we have for now. Please tune in at noon to receive more of today’s current events.”

Meiran stretched out on her husband’s bed. He had been missing for three weeks now and the four guys as well as she were all certain Wufei was dead. Only Xin Xin held out the belief that her father was alive. Earlier that day, Lady Une had held a short press conference.

Meiran had the day off and the house was quiet. Xin Xin had no school for the day, it being Saturday and all. Trowa had to go into work today. Heero was gone off to who knows where. And Quatre had taken Xin Xin out to a museum. Duo had tagged along so now, Meiran was the only one left in the house. Suddenly, the phone rang.

“Hello?” She asked, not knowing who was on the other end. “Who is this? Never mind probably one of Quatre’s sisters. Is Duo there?” A female voice said quickly.

“No, Duo is not here. May I ask who is calling?” Meiran replied. “Hilde Schbeiker,” the other woman answered.

“Okay, I’ll tell him you called then,” Meiran said as she went to hang up the phone. Suddenly, Hilde’s voice called out for her to wait.

“You’re Mei, right?”

“Yes,” Meiran answered. “Cool, I’ve wanted to meet you. Can I come over?” The German woman wondered.

“Umm, I guess so,” the Chinese woman replied. The German winked and told the other that she’d be over soon. Sure enough, within an hour, the doorbell was ringing.

“Hi, Hilde Schbeiker,” the newcomer said, sticking out her hand.

“Chang Mei” answered the young mother. Hilde looked at her oddly. “Are you related to Wufei?” She wondered. Hilde watched her new friend who nodded.

“You must be taking his absence hard then.”

“Kind of. There’s just so much going on that I haven‘t really had time to think,” Meiran admitted. The other woman nodded. “I was like that when my parents died.”

“You’re an orphan as well?” Meiran asked with slight surprise. Hilde nodded. “OZ killed them when I was younger.”

All was quiet between the two until Hilde asked a question. “My family, no my clan, lived on L5-A0206 and killed themselves during the war to escape being controlled by the military.”

Again, it was quiet as both women wondered why they had just told a complete stranger so much about their pasts. And then, Hilde got a good idea. “Why don’t you and I get out of this house and do a little shopping?”

“Hmm,” Meiran said, thinking. As long as she didn’t spend too much, she would okay. There was a definite benefit to living in this house. The Preventors’ or Quatre paid all groceries and bills. “I guess,” she told the other woman. “As long as I don’t spend too much, things should be fine.”

Hilde smiled and hooked arms with her newfound friend. They walked out together, waiting for Meiran to lock the door before getting into Hilde’s vehicle, a small Jeep. Sitting down next to her friend, Meiran waited for the petite woman to start it up and take them from the house.

“So, are you having fun?” Quatre turned to his young companion. Xin Xin nodded. Then, she spotted something and began to walk fast. Both men had to run a little to catch up with their young charge as she made her way through the crowd.

And then, she suddenly stopped. Xin Xin looked up at the display she had seen on the Eve Wars.

“What’s that?” She turned to her caretakers’ and asked. She was pointing to six-foot tall creations.

“The Gundams,” they both replied. Xin Xin watched as each man walked over to one of the things and stared. Duo went to the first one to the right of the one in front. Quatre went to the one behind Duo.

Curious, the girl walked over to the first one and read its nameplate. “Wing Zero, piloted by 0-1.”

She moved onto the one Duo stood in front of. “Deathscythe, piloted by -”

“Pilot 0-2,” Duo finished. “Well, buddy, it’s been awhile,” he went on, patting the creation lightly. It was lucky for them that the display was interactive and people were allowed to touch the items. Xin Xin walked over to Quatre.

“Sandrock, piloted by 0-4,” she said to herself, reading the brass plate. She moved onto the other side and began on the first thing to the left of Wing Zero. “Heavyarms, piloted by 0-3.”

Xin Xin walked to the final thing and read its plate. “Nataku, piloted by 0-5.” It took her a few moments to realize what the thing’s name was.

“Quatre, Duo, do you know why this thing’s name is Nataku?” She asked. Both men looked up and at each other. And then they turned to face the daughter of their friend. They joined her and Duo knelt to face the young girl.

“Well,” he began. “These things are called Gundams.”

“And there were five young boys who piloted them,” Quatre continued. Duo nodded and went on. “And the five boys and five Gundams worked to destroy their enemies. In fact,” he said with a slight smirk, “if anyone saw a Gundam, they died.”

“But why’s this one’s name Nataku?” Xin Xin asked, more forcefully this time. Both men had to take a moment to think on that before Quatre started.

“Well, the pilot was a Chinese man,” he told her. Xin Xin’s eyes brightened. “Do you think I could meet him?” She asked excitedly. The two men looked at each other again, not quite knowing how to break the news to the young girl.

“Well,” Quatre began, “you already have. You see, the five pilots were Heero, Trowa, the two of us, and your father.”

Xin Xin’s face beamed with pride. “Then, this was my Die’s?” She asked, wanting confirmation. The two ex-pilots’ nodded. She turned to the model of Nataku. “Well then, until my Die returns to take care of you, I’ll do it,” she told the machine.

Quatre reached out for the girl and touched her on the shoulder. “Xin Xin, your father will probably not be coming back. There was an explosion and he most likely got caught in it,” he told the girl, his heart breaking.

“I know,” the girl said weakly. “But, I won’t give up hope!” The young girl told her caretaker, eyes brimming with tears. “I won’t.”

She ran off into a large crowd before either man could do a thing.

“Hey, little girl, why are you crying?” A woman’s voice asked. Xin Xin looked up from her spot in the corner of the bathroom. A tall, pretty woman with black hair that looked purplish-blue knelt down in front of her.

“Because, my Die’s alive. He is,” she answered. The woman asked Xin Xin what the word Die meant.

“Daddy,” the little girl choked out, starting to tear up again. Lucrezia Noin scooped the girl up and gave her a hug.

“Well, who are you here with? I’ll bet you that they’re really worried about you,” Noin told this little girl who couldn’t be older than five. Xin Xin wiped her tears away and nodded. Noin set her back down and accepted the child’s hand when she offered it.

“So, what’s your name? I’m Lucrezia;” the older woman introduced herself as she watched the girl take a drink of water.

“Luh-cre-zah,” the girl sounded out. Said woman smiled, this child was cute. “My name is Xin Xin.”

“That’s a pretty name,” Lucrezia told Xin Xin. “Is it Chinese?”

Xin Xin nodded. “Just like me,” the girl announced. That caused Noin to laugh. The littlest Chang started to giggle as well. “Well then, what do you say we get something to drink while we look for whoever’s watching you?”

“Okay,” Xin Xin replied. “But, we need to wait for someone,” Noin added.

“Who?” Asked the curious child. “My boyfriend” replied the black haired adult. Xin Xin looked and saw a tall man walking towards them. “Is that him?” She asked, pointing. Noin looked and nodded.

“Hello, Lu,” the new man greeted her, kissing his fiance.

“Hi,” Xin Xin said shyly, hiding slightly behind Noin’s long legs. Millardo Peacecraft looked at the child then at Lucrezia Noin with a questioning look.

“I found her lost and alone,” Lucrezia whispered in his ear. “Oh,” he mumbled. He knelt down to look at the child.

“What’s your name little girl?” He asked. “Xin Xin” muttered the child, feeling shy.

“Well then, why don’t we go get that drink now that we’re all here,” Noin suggested, starting to walk away. Both man and child scrambled off to catch up with her.

While sitting in the food court, Zechs Merquise watched the child take a drink of her juice. Something about her seemed familiar. He wanted to say the girl looked like Chang and not just the fact she was Chinese.

“Duo, we’ve been looking for an hour now. I’m starting to think someone took her,” a familiar male voice said, entering the room.

“Don’t worry, Quat, we’ll find her. If we didn’t Mei’d kill us,” joked an equally familiar voice. He didn’t have to turn to know who it was. The two men were Duo Maxwell and Quatre Winner. And Zechs was willing to bet they were looking for the little girl sitting across from him.

Xin Xin looked up and around. She recognized those voices. “Duo! Quatre!” She yelled, running towards them, spilling her almost empty drink. Ice splattered onto the table with a little juice. This was quickly fixed with the swipe of a napkin, courtesy of Lucrezia Noin.

She ran straight up to them. The two people, who had been watching her, Preventors’ Merquise/Peacecraft and Noin, joined the three. “Hello,” Quatre greeted the two.

“Hey, how’s it going you two?” Duo said to them. Noin smiled and replied, “Good. Are you the ones watching Xin Xin?”

“Yeah,” Duo admitted, scratching the back of his head. “So, where’d you go, anyways?” He turned and asked the small child in front of him.

“I’m not telling,” Xin Xin replied. “Not until you admit my Die’s alive.”

Duo and Quatre exchanged looks. They couldn’t because he probably wasn’t. Xin Xin tapped her foot and said, “I’m waiting.”

“Kid, you are just as stubborn as your old man,” Duo told her. Noin and Zechs looked at Quatre, silently asking whom he was talking about. The Arabian glanced to Duo and Xin Xin who were just looking at each other.

“She’s Wufei’s daughter,” he quietly told them. It took them both a few moments to process this information and when they did, looks of shock were written on both of their faces.

“He has a child?” Noin asked incredously. Quatre nodded. “How long have you known?” Zechs questioned.

“Duo was the first to think there might be a connection and that was about a month and a half ago. I’ve known for sure for about a month,” Quatre replied.

“Does Chang know?” Was Zechs next question. Quatre nodded and answered, “Yeah, he found out right before his last official mission.”

“The Chinese infiltration,” Millardo Peacecraft confirmed. “What about her mother?” Noin butted in, talking about Xin Xin.

“Mei, Wufei’s wife of, I think, seven years,” Quatre replied.

“Where’s she at right now?” The Lighting Baron asked. “Duo and I are watching Xin Xin for her while she’s at our house,” Quatre mumbled.

“They’re living with you?” Noin muttered, looking at Quatre, eyebrow raised. He nodded but before he could speak, a loud crack resounding through the place.

A/N: And that’s the end of this chapter! Hey, people, I urge you to check out my Gundam Wing website. It’s really coming along and I’m sure some of you would like to have your fics archived there or have your favorite character answer a question you have!

I own nothing in this fic but little Xin Xin who became the star of the chapter if you ask me.