Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Remember when... ❯ Remember when... ( Prologue )

We do not own the rights to GW! Never have and never will!

Warnings: Angst, language, slight OOC

Archived at: AFF, MM, and www.templeofthegoddess.com

Remember when…prologue by Sparkling Diamond PG-SSM & Saiyajin_Raven69

265 A.C.

It had been seventy years since peace had settled across the colonies and Earth. Mars was now colonized with hundreds of thousands of workers and families living peacefully there. More colonies were added amongst the stars. The small tight knit group of people that made it out of the war was now dwindling.

Photo albums upon photo albums were piled next to a large bed, a withered hand taking the next one off the top to flip the pages. A smile touched the old man's face as he saw the youthful faces smiling back at him. With a deep sigh, he turned to the next page. Most of them were dead…

'We used to be so young…' He thought, glancing at a group picture taken just after the war.

'So hard to believe it now. We lost Noin in the spring of 201. Lady Une and Sally in the fall of 223. Trowa passed just a few years back from cancer… along with Zechs. That was one of the hardest years we had to bear. To lose a lover and a best friend. Quatre didn't take the death of his other half very well, but he's here. Wufei and Heero? I'm not sure how long until they pass, or myself for that matter. We're old. We never thought we'd see the tender age of sixteen, but here we are, old and frail looking.'

"Duo?"

"Yeah, Wu?" Duo turned from the stack of albums, adjusting his glasses to see his long time friend and lover. He smiled slightly, watching Wufei come into the room with his cane clicking on the hard wood of the flooring.

"What are you doing? Looking at those old pictures again?" Wufei shook his head, his fine, loose hair lofting softly over his shoulders.

"Yes. I just wanted to remember." The once braided man answered, turning his face back to the photographs.

"What did you want to remember?" The man with salt and pepper hair asked, sitting down next to the violet-eyed man. Duo merely shook his head. Did he really need a reason to look back through the years?

"You remember this picture? We were all down at the lake, and that goose chased Heero into the water?" Duo let out a snicker, pointing to a photo of a drenched, and angry looking Heero as he stumbled back up onto the shore. One moment in time, immortalized forever.

"You wouldn't let him live that down." Wufei smiled at the memory. "I like this picture, here." He pointed to a picture on the next page of six men surrounded by small smiling faces. Even though there was only one biological child in the bunch, the children that were reared by the Gundam pilots were all happy, carefree, and special in their own way. Each of them the pride and joy of their fathers' lives.

"We've had a full life, Wu. We made it through the wars. We found each other when we didn't think there was anyone who could possibly understand us. We found love in another soul that made our circle complete. We made it through diaper changes, and 3 a.m. feedings. We patched up all the bumps, bruises and scraped knees of childhood. We survived the first dates, and the horrible talks about the female body. We watched them graduate one by one. We walked our girls down the aisle. We've watched as our friends and loved ones died…" Duo's voice cracked slightly, but he smiled as he flipped the page.

"And it was worth every second of our lives. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world." Wufei whispered, his wrinkled hand seeking out to grasp Duo's.

"You're right, I wouldn't trade my life for anything. I think I made the best of it…"

"We made the best of it, Duo. You, Heero and myself. Don't you forget that." Duo nodded at the slight squeeze of his hand. He wouldn't forget. He placed down the album that sat in his lap before twisting to look at Wufei.

"Do you remember when….?"