Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Prisoner of War ❯ Surprises ( Chapter 21 )

Note: It's been a while since I've updated, but here I am. I know I've been neglecting this mediaminer account, but I've been working on TLM a lot lately. Well . . . I still don't own Gundam Wing as you know. The pairings still are 1+2+1, 3+4+3, and 5+? That's about it. I hope you like!

Prisoner of War 21

"Well?" the Chinese man demanded, scorching glare fixated on the girl, "What the Hell do you think you're doing here, onna?"

She fired a glare of her own, "The name's Sally. Surely you haven't forgotten?" she mocked with a snort. "And I'll explain everything when you let me come inside. It's freezing out here, you know."

By then Quatre had quickly skidded down the stairs in curiosity, Trowa followed in a calmer pace. "Sally!" he shouted in amazement as he stared frozenly at her unexpected appearance.

"Glad to see someone remembered," she smiled. "Hi, Quatre."

The blonde Arabic shook off the shock and scrambled to the door, "Come in. It's below freezing out there!" he ushered her in though he desperately wondered why she was here. `For all we know this could be just a coincidence,' he bit his lip however even as they all congregated in the kitchen.

"Would you like some tea?" he offered hastily, already busying himself to make some.

"Yes, thank you," she accepted gratefully. "I suppose you're all wondering why I'm here . . ." she sighed. `Can't back out now, Sally. Get a grip.'

Wufei openly released a loud snort. "Now, that you're inside. Care to explain yourself?"

Her confidence faltered, and Sally took a deep breath of air, "I know that you're Gundam pilots." Never once did smoky sapphire leave Wufei's face as she spoke.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Wufei denied roughly. "Us terrorists?"

Quatre froze in mid-pour, but he caught himself before the cool water spilled across the countertop. Wufei had glanced away, and Trowa had managed to keep his shock in check. Silence intruded the warm home, interrupted by Sally's sigh.

"I think you do," she murmured softly, chuckling slightly, massaging her temples. "You're last mission? Heero falling into that trap. Duo saved him the last minute . . ."

The pilots remained silent, "I saw it. I hacked into your files on accident, and I saw your vid screens. I was shocked that you are so young, and it definitely opened my eyes to a lot more than I expected. I didn't know what to feel -"

"Why are you here?" Quatre asked, voice slightly cracking. His grip on the fragile china tightened as he turned to face Sally. Stray bangs remained unbrushed from his eyes; she had hit a nerve.

Pleading blue lowered, "I'm sorry," she murmured with sincerity. "I have to warn you. Oz has some sort of plan - some kind of trap. I don't know what it is, but I don't want any of you to get hurt by it."

Impassive green peered at her quietly, "How do you expect us to trust you?" `There's a great chance she's lying.'

"You'll just have to believe me," she reflected her pleading gaze back at the Chinese pilot. "I'm not lying." `You have to believe me.'

"You're in a dangerous position, onna," his eyes flashed with a little less fire. "I could kill you right here and now."

"Well, yes," the blonde agreed, "but regardless of whether I die or not the plan is still there. In the end you'll see I was telling the complete and honest truth, but to be right wasn't why I came. I was hoping to do something right after seeing both sides."

"You haven't seen both sides," Wufei retorted. "You're an Oz soldier. That's why the man called you major in that inn, and one battle you saw will not change that fact."

She smiled faintly, "I never said that my official rank and side has changed. And I know I don't know very much about how you pilots live your lives, but I want this war to end just as much as you do - I want the right side to win."

"There are no winners in war," Quatre sighed softly. `The more she talks the more sincere she seems. And we have to make a decision soon before Heero gets back because Allah knows what he'll do. He'll do whatever is necessary to complete the mission.'

"Search me," she suggested simply. "Search me, my things, the surrounding area. I've got nothing to hide and no place to go." She challenged them, sitting back in her chair.

Wufei tried to stare her down, obsidian shooting shards of ice at her. A minute passed - then two - then ten. "Oh for the love of Nataku!" he scowled as she smiled, victorious. "Barton and I will take care of this."

Mutely, Trowa stripped searched the girl without so much as a blink of an eye, and Wufei left to retrieve more equipment from the hangars. When the European seemed satisfied, the black-haired boy had returned, running a metal detector over her body. The thorough search ended fruitless, but all three pilots were relieved. Sally even found some relief of her own.

Trowa and Wufei proceeded to exit the home, but the green-eyed pilot shot one last look at Quatre before leaving.

"I'll look after Sally," the Arabic offered with a smile and a moment later the front door clicked shut.

The blonde pilot set down two steamy cups of herbal tea, accented with jasmine. "Thank you," Sally murmured softly. "I know it's hard to even give me this chance."

Quatre granted her a sweet smile in return and took a sip of tea, "You really do seem sincere . . . Even Wufei is somewhat convinced."

She grinned back, "But what about when Heero comes back? I don't think he'll be too happy about this. Might not live for very long," she mused more to herself than anyone else.

The Gundam pilot laughed, "I'm sure Duo will be able to drag him away until he's calmed down. Anyway, Trowa already contacted him about an unidentified female sneaking around the house."

"So he'll be prepared?" she joked though her ears had perked about the mention of Duo - dragging Heero off somewhere to calm him down. `I wonder . . .'

"He's always prepared, but unfortunately he can't just leave school without some unwanted attention. With any luck he'll think you're Relena and won't be too worried about it being a potential threat."

"Peacecraft?" she asked, astonished. "I had no idea she knows Heero of all people."

"Yes," the teen hesitated, "she tends to follow him around a lot. Wufei has met her a few times, too, when she was looking for Heero. She's very drawn to him even with that cold exterior; actually I think that's what makes her want to get close to him."

"You seem to believe me and my intentions," she observed. "Otherwise you wouldn't be talking so openly about your friends," Sally smiled, grateful.

"I feel it in my space-heart," he nodded and looked at her for a moment, then resumed staring out the window.

"Duo's the same way with Heero, isn't he? Except Heero's also drawn to him. It's like they wonder how the other could be so different than themselves," she smirked at his surprise. "Of course they're a lot more alike than either would care to admit."

Quatre closed his mouth and just smiled, "So far everyone has noticed except them.

"Love is blind," Sally agreed, drinking her tea. "I don't think it's love quite yet, but it's definitely something very deep. And the attraction is more than definitely there."

"Maybe after today . . ." he raised an eyebrow, sneaking a look at the Oz soldier and smiled mysteriously. "Wufei got them to talk again, and I think one day will do wonders for those two."

"So why aren't you at school?" she inquired as a change of topic. She fully intended to backtrack to Heero and Duo of course, but there was later. "I hacked some files and saw that three of you had called in sick . . ." `Might as well reveal all.'

A tranquil look, "We - Trowa and I were just informing Wufei of the idea of Heero and Duo being more than just friends."

She grinned mischievously at him, "Playing cupid?"

"Well, why do you think they have the same schedule?" he raised an eyebrow though sheepish about sneaking around his friends. They sat in silence as minutes slipped by, immersed in personal thoughts. "What's this plan?"

Sally closed her eyes, "I don't know, but I haven't gotten new orders since that last battle - and you know what they say about it being calmest before the storm. I just wanted you to be prepared for anything that is to come . . ." she sighed a little. "And - you boys really caught my attention. I started to wonder about you. I wondered if you are really my enemy, the world's enemy.

"Something snapped the moment I saw your faces . . . It took me a month of deliberation until I decided what I was going to do. Even then - even now I'm not quite sure," she laughed at her own stupidity. "I just thought I had to meet you pilots again."

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A period of confusion, organized chaos - Heero braced himself for the assaulting noise of the cafeteria. Lunch was always like this, and his comrade always seemed to be a part of it, so alive and happy as he chatted with "friends." But the outgoing pilot distanced himself from them so well that they never noticed.

His loyalties never strayed, sticking like glue to his friends. The five had always sat at a booth, squeezing themselves in the limited space alone. Quatre and Duo would make conversation, occasionally getting a grunt or two from the others. It suited all of them perfectly, but today - there would be two available seats for anyone to sit at. `And who wouldn't want to be around Duo? He draws everyone in like moths to a single flame.' There were three - if the squeezing option seemed acceptable.

Heero allowed himself to be dragged into the chicken line. It served - chicken - every single day, every week, every year. Duo gave him a broad smile, chattering on about whatever topic registered in his mind. The Japanese youth found the edges of his lips quirking into a faint smirk as he watched the violet-eyed pilot.

"Aww! Come on, Heero. Loosen up!" he commanded as he did everyday, but today the other soldier felt intent to comply.

"I am loose," he replied, imitating usual annoyance, crossing arms firmly.

"Sure," sarcasm dripped from his mouth, "compared to who? Dead people? Nah, even they relax."

"Hey, Maxwell!" a tall blonde freshman waved slightly in greeting, giving Heero a curt nod good-naturedly.

"Hey, Kelmer! You want to help me out with Heero here? He's so neutral," Duo frowned disapprovingly before breaking into a grin, eyes sparkling. He seemed happier than he had been in a long time.

"Hmm," with creased brow, Kelmer good-naturedly surveyed the `problem.' "That's a tough one. I don't think he's the type that likes to change. Maybe you ought to leave him alone, huh?" he grinned again, slapped Duo on the back before making his exit.

"He's right, you know," Heero told the braided student in all seriousness.

Duo was about to make a grand retort when he was interrupted rudely by a large, dark-skinned hand, pushing through the crowd. More specifically it tried to push Heero aside in vain. The perfect soldier was still perfectly centered, and it was the hand's owner that fell back a little. Beady eyes bulged before flashing in anger.

"What the Hell? Bitch, move!" he fumed, nostrils flaring out.

"Watch it, Sean," Duo warned lowly, quietly.

Prussian blue as cold as ever flicked over at Heero's assaulter, deciding it wasn't even worth the effort. He scooted over slightly and murmured a harsh, "Omae o korosu," to Sean as he passed.

Words died in his throat the instant black clashed with blue. However Heero just smirked, the closest thing to a smile he could manage. The harsh clips of blue softened slightly. It was subtle, but the message was delivered. Sean's surprised expression turned into a grin as he let loose a chuckle. "You aight, Yuy."

Duo could only gape at his friend in utter shock, rendered completely speechless. "You shut up," he leaned in to give the idiot a short whisper.

One hand clasped his chin and crisply shut it. "Heero!" The braided pilot sputtered. "God, I never thought I'd live to see the day that you'd do - do - that!" he settled for those words, smiling in admiration. "There's hope after all!" he laughed.

`You look good smiling. Do you know that?' "Regular fries, please," Heero requested the lunch lady, gaze still following Duo's movements.

Currently the American was digging through a pile of cookies in search of the biggest one. Heero smirked and tossed a cookie on his friend's tray. Duo looked up and grinned at him, paying for both of their lunches, while Heero grabbed a breaded chicken sandwich.

They sat their red trays at the usual lunching spot and slipped into the cushioned seats. Heero efficiently unwrapped his sandwich and proceeded to eat, popping open his carton of chocolate milk with the other hand. Duo was inhaling the contents of his rather sumptuous lunch. One, twelve-piece container of Chicken nuggets disappeared quickly along with a cup of curly fries. He gulped down his cherry coke before turning his attention to the cookie.

"Slow down," Heero advised him, a hint of amusement glinting in midnight blue.

Duo stuck his tongue out at the soldier regardless, "Well, I want to get done soon, so we can go out in the courtyard. And yes, you're coming whether you like it or not." He gave a firm nod but laughed at Heero's quirked eyebrow.

"Hn," the pilot glanced away, out the window. "I would say the peace and quiet would be nice -" he trailed off.

"Hey! I can be quiet. I'm not so annoying and loud and talkative all the time," the American pouted, picking out a fry.

"I know." The simple sentence confused Duo, and Heero knew it. It was part of the reason why he said it - to make the other pilot feel as confused as he was. It was a selfish and stupid reason, but the urge was still there in the end. The other part of the reason was that it was true. In fact that's what makes Duo so confusing to him.

By then the dark-haired teen had finished off the remnants of his meal and sat quietly. His comrade was also polishing off his tray. He gave a bright smile, "Ready to go?"

"Hn," the grunt was interpreted as a yes as both students walked to the trash bins, dumping in trash and throwing their trays on top.

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"Nothing," Wufei muttered. "Barton. What about you?"

The clown walked over calmly, past Wufei. "Nothing. Let's head back." `She's either telling the truth or taking a huge risk. I doubt it's the latter, but you never know.'

"I suppose you're right," he sighed but half-relieved they didn't find anything. `So we wasted a few hours and found assurance.'

* * *

"Hey!" Quatre greeted the other pilots with a bright smile. "How'd it go?"

"Judging by that look on your face you already know," Wufei grumbled to himself. "Well, onna," he turned to face Sally, "I guess you're not lying. Unless you're taking an enormous risk."

She grinned, smoky blue shimmered, "So I can stay?" she asked hopefully to everyone, but she remained looking at Wufei, seeking for the withdrawn man's approval.

"Of course," the Arabic responded. "We'll be happy to have you as our guest, especially since you have no other place to go."

`You're really riding on this, aren't you? To place so much trust in a group of terrorists . . . Who are you?' The Chinese soldier scrutinized the major with a frown. Her large eyes stared back at him, unblinkingly.

`You've met your match, Wufei,' Quatre mused silently, `again . . .' "It's time to make lunch," he announced, shooing everyone out of the kitchen.

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(Flashback)

"Snow . . ." the boy breathed in awe, gingerly brushing his numb fingers across the shimmering powder.

"I knew you'd like it," Heero stood by smiling, squatting down to join his companion.

"How?" violet eyes lifted up in wonder. "I mean it doesn't snow in the colonies."

"I met a man that had some kind of machine that can produce snow. He let me have it since it was broken. And I managed to fix some of the wiring," he grinned as a pair of arms launched at him, embracing the six-year old at the same time knocking both into the snow.

"I love you, Heero!" the braided youth smiled cheekily, so happy, so alive. `I can't believe he did this for me.'

"Love you, too," he laughed. "You look good when you smile . . ." He reached out to brush away a chunk of snow from chestnut locks.

(End)

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Duo sighed, `Good times, good times . . . Life in the streets wasn't so bad with you around. Fighting isn't so bad with you.' He felt so old, jaded by life experiences even at a mere fifteen. Sneaking a glance at Heero, he felt his heartstrings tug slightly, aching a little. `Smile, Heero. Why can't you just fucking smile? You're so wonderful beneath that mask. I know you are. You deserve to be happy, but instead you're stuck in the middle of an endless war.'

Suddenly he found Prussian blue shooting straight into his eyes, staring back intensely - yet still unreadable. Arms crossed, hair perfectly messy, Heero had stood silently the whole time, secretly watching the American marvel at the snowfall. No emotions rolled across the barren expression. A sudden draft breezed by, flakes of snow rolled with the slight wind, casting a look of mist across the floors of cobblestone. And the day passed by like the breeze, quickly but with a strange atmosphere.

* * *

Exhaustingly, the doors of the bus squeezed open as Duo hopped off the vehicle onto the concrete sidewalk. Heero followed, and the two walked back home, not knowing what exactly to expect. Trowa had informed them at school that the "intrusion problem was taken care of." Warily, the Japanese pilot cracked open the front door.

"Hello, Heero, Duo," Quatre chose that moment to walk to the foyer, smiling. "How was school?"

"Heero scared the Hell outta me at lunch," Duo smirked, dumping his backpack down on the floor. "But I'm more curious about this intruder of yours . . . It's not Relena, is it?" he questioned with dread.

The blonde laughed, "No, it's not Relena, but we all know her."

"Who is it?" Heero asked, stepping onto the plush carpet. "Is she in the house right now?"

"You remember about a month ago, at that inn?" Quatre smiled nervously. "It's Sally. And yes, she's in the house, but before you get your gun out - I think you should hear an explanation."

"Hn," Heero grunted. "If you say you have the problem taken care of . . . then there's no need for my gun. Not yet anyway. I'll deal with this after Duo and I finish homework, and we brought you yours." He withdrew a stack of papers and deposited the material into Quatre's hands.

"You can borrow my algebra book, but otherwise I think you're fine," Duo smiled. "I'd love to see Sally again, but you know," he smirked, "duty calls!"

Quatre was left confused. `What happened to them today?' Slowly confusion morphed into mischief, `Hmm . . . very interesting. Duo's actually doing his homework first, and Heero's less mission oriented and more trusting . . . They really do bring out the best in each other.' He grinned even as he walked back to where the others congregated.

"Well? How did they take it?" Wufei asked curiously, frowning at the smile plastered firmly on the pilot's face. `Where are they?'

His smile broadened, "They didn't . . . Heero said that if we said we had the problem taken care of, he doesn't have a reason to worry. He said he'd deal with it later, after homework. And for some reason Duo said he'd love to stay and chat, but he has homework . . . It was really weird."

"Maxwell??? That baka is thinking about doing homework first thing? That's - unbelievable! And Yuy trusting us like that? What's going on," dark eye narrowed in suspicion. "And quit smiling, Winner." He scowled.

"It only means our plan's going to work better," he replied easily. "And yes, it is strange, but I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing."

Trowa smiled faintly, "I agree with Quatre."

"Me, too!" Sally grinned. "I knew there was something going on between those two."

"Yeah," he grudgingly joined the majority opinion. "We'll see."

"Oh, and here," Quatre dropped the stack of homework with a thud on the coffee table, standing back in satisfaction. "There's our homework for the day. We should do it now before we have to make it up along with tomorrow's work load."

"So what do you have?" Sally leaned over and inspected the papers, riffling through them briefly with a furrowed brow. Her lean fingers divided it into three parts afterwards and handed each pilot a stack. "You had a lab in honors bio. How are you going to make up that?"

"Hmm?" Quatre scanned over the sheet. "It's not a problem. We just looked at different things under a light microscope. We'll have to draw what we saw and answer some questions on each station."

"How are you going to draw what you see?" she inquired them.

The blonde soldier chuckled, "You wouldn't believe some of the files on our computers. Even if we don't remember what the cells look like, we can find pictures. If all else fails it's a two day lab, so we can draw tomorrow," he explained cheerfully and began to scribble answers down on the sheet after grabbing for a random pencil.

* * *

"Hey, guys!" Duo bounded downstairs.

"Shut up, Maxwell," Wufei scowled at the braided American. "You're too loud."

"Hi, Duo!" Sally grinned at the new edition to the room.

"Hey, Sally!" he smiled with a small waved. `Wufei's acting more like a bastard than usual.' "What's up? I mean I didn't expect to see you again - at least not like this." He had crossed the floor, gazing expectantly at the girl.

"An explanation sounds good," Heero had quietly scuffled from upstairs and placed an Algebra book on the coffee table.

"I know you're gundam pilots . . ." nervously, the words slipped out quickly. "Actually I know a lot of things I shouldn't know."

Her eyes glittered lightly at the last statement, meeting a rather suspicious pair of amethyst depths. "What do you mean? How did you know?"

Sally drew in a deep breath, eyes fluttering shut and open again after a moment of refocusing. "Well, I want you to know that I'm not a spy or anything, but I am part of Oz. I didn't come here to use you somehow to win the war for Oz . . . I came here to warn you about something actually. Oz is planning a trap."

"How do I know you're not part of it?" Heero challenged quietly, staring at the Major with deadly blue eyes.

"I saw your last mission. I saw pretty much everything after somehow accidentally hacking into your systems," eyes narrowed. Sally knew what they were thinking - how could someone accidentally hack into a gundam?

"She's telling the truth, guys," Quatre interrupted. "Trowa and Wufei hacked into her files and checked searched her, her things, the surrounding area. She's got nothing to hide and no backup with no place to go. The only tracker we found was the one she used to find us."

"So she's staying with us?" Duo inquired, brow furrowing. "How long?"

The girl smiled sheepishly, "I hadn't planned that far yet . . ." All of a sudden her reasons for coming out here seemed trivial, stupid, unimportant. Through clenched teeth, she hissed in a breath before laughing at herself. Silvery sapphire turned to look at all the gundam pilots, all waiting for her response. "I'm sorry. Everything just seems so stupid now, and I'm not sure to warn you is all I came for."

"What else?" the edge was lost in Wufei's voice.

"I guess after seeing the battle - and you pilots . . . I really wanted to meet you. You surprised me so much that night - it was a faceless enemy before, but now I wonder which side is really right," she explained in a slow murmur.

"I fight for what I believe in. To other people it may be wrong what I think or how I choose to achieve my goals, but it's my choice alone. It's not a matter of black and white," the monotony of his words couldn't deter their meaning as everyone else fell silent - awestruck by things coming from a supposably emotionless soldier.

Duo was more enraptured with Heero more than everyone else, staring at him unblinkingly with dark lilac eyes. A soft smile crept across his mouth, and he broke the silence gently, "Nothing's ever black and white. Even society can't pinpoint the lines never to cross for all of us."

"For me - I want to help you in any way possible, and I swear I'll do it. I'll help you win this war until I die or until it ends," raw determination glinted in cornflower blue. "I'm more sure than ever it's what I'm meant to do."

It was a day full of surprises indeed, slipping away stealthily into night.

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Hatter, the Mad- Conspiracies are fun . . . ^_______^ Well, okay, not *always,* but calling it conspiring reminds me of Julius Caesar. We're reading that play in English class right now. All these people were like wow, we read that sophomore year, not freshman ^_^;; Oh, well . . . Regular English is doing Romeo and Juliet. I'm glad you like it so far. If you're still reading this, which I probably should assume you're not. But thank you very much anyway for the review! I'm really working on 22 though. I just need to sort out counter attack.

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Derr . . . I'm done ^_^;; I'm kind of tired from last night. Mandi and Derek came over. We switched instruments and tried to play. The funniest would probably be Derek trying to play flute, hehe. So, forgive me for lack of enthusiasm. Well, I hope everyone like this! Long time no update, I know, and I'm sorry. Now I have to go map Central America for geography. If one of those classes wasn't enough . . . *grumbles and exits*