Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Rewinding Time ❯ Chapter 2

Title: Rewinding Time

Author: Skeren Dreamera

Archive: http://www.gundam-wing-fanfiction.net, www.Fanfiction.net, www.mediaminer.org, www.afallenangel.net/makotosagara/frames/fanfiction.html (All under Skeren Dreamera)

Category: Uncertain, definitely AU

Pairings: none at the current time

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, so please, don't sue me for this universe rearrangement.

Rating: PG currently

Spoilers: Duo's Episode Zero stuff, fall of Sanq, Darlian's death

Warnings: Relena is permanently OOC for this story.

Contact: Mickeofas@yahoo.com

Notes: I know, I took forever to get this far. Thank you to all those reviewers who said something, any guesses as to the owner of the feminine blue eyes at the beginning of chapter one?

.

Chapter two

"You selfish, overbearing, overachieving bastard! Leave me alone!" This was all said from a highly outraged female as she stormed down the hall of her current school.

"Rena! I didn't mean for him to do it, I swear!" This was from the person currently following the girl in question.

Relena spun in place, bringing her brother to a standstill as she swept her furious gaze over him, heedless of the crowd that was watching them. They'd decided on a public boarding school this time, and that meant both Relena and Duo got to live on campus. "You didn't mean it? How you could you not have meant it? He crawled into my bed Duo!" This was punctuated by a stomp of her foot.

"How was I to know he'd take it so seriously? I swear I didn't think he'd actually try something like that!" Duo held up his hands in a placating gesture as he inched closer to his infuriated sibling.

"I don't believe this..." Relena shook her head, spinning to look at the crowd of onlookers they'd drawn during the morning shouting match. Oops. In direct response to the curious looks, she glared, grabbing Duo's wrist, and yanking him off towards the girl's dorm.

There was a flurry of snickering as they passed, Duo hanging his head a little in hopes of calming the blonde. "C'mon Rena, I'm sorry. We've only known him a couple months, y'know." Duo felt himself being yanked into Relena's room, and winced as he heard the slam.

"And in those months, you know the boy has become completely creepy!" Relena crossed her arms over her crimson t-shirt, glaring at the braided teen in front of her.

"Now wait a sec. He hasn't been that bad! Usually he doesn't even talk to you, or anything!" Duo looked up immediately. He'd gotten rather fond of the stoic boy that they'd kidnapped, and he found the three of them made a really good team.

"Duo. He stares at me. Constantly. I feel like I have a magnet attached to me that has a direct connection to his eyes." Relena huffed, blushing a little as she remembered the scene she'd woken up to. She couldn't believe Duo had suggested he give her a wake up kiss...

"He only looks though! He's been good! I know if you minded so much you would have knocked his lights out by now!" Duo crossed his arms as well now, nodding at Relena in a gesture that almost indicated 'so there.'

Relena huffed, unable to deny it. "Never do it again or I'll knock your lights out!" She shook her fist at him threateningly to punctuate her point.

Duo smirked, moving to her door so her could get back to his room to get dressed. "Love you too, sis!" He then ran out the door, leaving Relena to shake her head and sigh.

-______________-

Quatre had been called off on a separate mission not long after he'd met Trowa, leaving him to return just to find his houseguest gone without a trace upon his return. It had been bad luck in his opinion, but there was nothing he could do about it by then. Instead, Quatre managed to work himself out from under the watchful eyes of the Maguanacs long enough for him to go on a spy mission. It wasn't one that was assigned. No, this was a personal matter. Why the hell was Milliardo on Earth?

Quatre followed Milliardo's movements as he ducked away from the speaker platform. He knew the taller blonde hated standing around while his guardian gave speeches. He'd confided in him when they were children that Darlian wasn't his original father. It had been hard to believe, but there was no denying the lack of physical resemblance between the two... Quatre shook off his thoughts, knowing that now was not the time. Quatre looked through a vent and found an empty room, slipping out of the air system carefully.

It took Quatre only a few seconds of brushing himself off to realize where he was, his gaze lifting to the door as it opened, then slowly turning to look around as he took in the startled expression on the woman's face. There was a woman only a little taller than himself standing there, bag in hand. She had her hair back in a braided twist, wire frame glasses, and a red with gold uniform. It only took Quatre a few seconds to comprehend what he had done. The empty room had been the ladies room.

"I am so sorry! I didn't mean to!" Quatre turned bright red as he sidled past the woman, who looked more than a little unnerved by his presence. He didn't even stop to think it could have been anything but him being a guy. He'd dressed in his normal outfit so he'd fit in better if he had a chance to see Milliardo, so there was no reason for anyone to suspect him.

The woman turned, following his progress out of the room with her eyes before the red-faced teen scurried out the door, heading after his old friend. The woman in question turned back to her bag, pulling out a little blue compact to set the bomb that lay within it. She simply hoped the boy wouldn't realize what was happening in time to be able to recognize her.

Quatre caught up to Milliardo a few seconds later, but he didn't stop moving, instead latching onto his arm and pulling the longer teen along behind him. "What do you think you're doing?" Milliardo sounded a little startled, but after a few seconds of being yanked unceremoniously along outside, he realized who was doing the pulling. "Cat?"

Quatre just shook his head, continuing to pull Milliardo along away from the building. He finally stopped when they reached the park across the street, having skillfully dodged the media. "What are you doing on Earth?"

Milliardo shook his head. "I came with father..." He didn't get past that before there was an explosion, both teens diving for the ground as debris exploded outward.

Quatre pushed Milliardo further back into the tree line as he rose, refusing to allow the significantly taller teen to approach the smoldering building. "No! Miri, you can't be seen now, what if someone is lurking around to pick you off?" Quatre could feel Milliardo starting to shake, and he steered him back. He knew his heart brother would never show his grief.

"There's no way he could have survived that..." Milliardo's voice was a whisper, and his eyes locked onto a figure that was near them, icy eyes running over the man dressed in uniform as the woman that Quatre had intercepted in the bathroom approached.

"Treize-sama, it's done." The woman was looking around, clearly expecting to see news crews arriving any moment.

The man, Treize, nodded. "It is a shame it must be done this way. We should depart before our presence is questioned. It is doubtful there would be survivors. Come Lady, let us be on our way."

The woman that had simply been called Lady, nodded, and the pair got into a car not far away. The two blondes attentively watched as they drove away. They wouldn't be forgotten.

Quatre finally released Milliardo from his death grip on his arm, allowing the other to move forward a bit. "You heard them Miri. There wouldn't be any survivors of an explosion set up like that... Come with me. We won't let the world know you're alive yet."

Milliardo shook his head, closing his hands into fists as he turned to Quatre. "How can you be so calm? My father was in there!"

Quatre let out a deep breath, taking one of the taller blonde's fists in hand and uncurling it before he started to walk backwards quickly, pulling. "Getting upset won't do a damn thing. I know your father was in there! I know. I can feel your pain... You know that. Just... Come on, we have some things that we need to talk about."

-_____________-

Milliardo ended up being led to the other side of the park. There, Quatre went shopping for hair-ties, sunglasses, a hat, and a coat for Milliardo. This left the taller teen with a long ponytail down the back of his new black coat, while the hat and glasses obscured his face. He really didn't like this though. He was used to facing up to the problems that came with his life, and he hated always having to hide. He was lucky that his father had ever let him even be friends with Quatre at all. That was one thing he could thank the smaller blonde's father for. But now... Now he was trying to understand why his little brother wasn't in a panic. No, he was being skillfully led through the city by one Quatre Winner, who seemed to have some goal in mind that he could only guess at.

"Cat." Milliardo tried to tug his hand out of the steel grip that it had been imprisoned in for the last hour. Realizing he was being ignored, he dug his heels in, forcing them to come to a grinding halt. "Cat! Where are we going?"

Quatre whirled, hearing the forceful tone in the voice of his dearest friend. In that second he could believe the secret that Milliardo had told him when he was eight. That he would be a king when he was grown. Milliardo was grown now, and Quatre found there was no way he could deny the fierce look on his face as anything but that of a king ready to go into battle. He was grieving, Quatre was sure of it, but it didn't show, only the demand etched onto that aristocratic face was visible. "I can't tell you here, you have to see."

"No, tell me, or we go not a step farther." The words were said through gritted teeth, and Milliardo braced himself against Quatre's tug.

"Remember those trips I couldn't tell you about? I'm going to show you." Quatre nearly fell as Milliardo stepped into him, but he was caught by the taller teen before he could hit the floor.

"Lead on, then. Lead on." Milliardo then let himself be pulled along into the crowd of the city.

-_____________-

"Don't you think you're being a little hard on the guy?" Duo regretted the question the second his fingers were nearly smashed under a pile of books that Relena had slammed on the desk in front of him.

"No. He came back with you hurt Duo! How am I supposed to not be mad about that?" Relena glowered at Duo, who inched back in his seat under the evil look.

"C'mon Rena it wasn't that bad. It was just a little bullet wound!" Duo waved his hand dissmissively, holding off most of a wince as he flexed the injured muscles in his upper arm. "It's not like he did it. He couldn't have done a damn thing to have stopped the injury, short of getting us killed in there."

"Yeah?" Relena looked closely at Duo, who gave a cautious nod. "Okay then, I'm going on the next mission, you need a break."

Duo immediately choked, and had to have Relena pound on his back before he could breath properly again. "No, I don't think so! I can't let you do that, and you know it!"

Relena looked back, her eyebrows raising into her hairline. "You can't tell me yes or no. I'm going, and there isn't a thing you can do to stop me. Argument over."

Duo would have growled if he thought that would get through to Relena, but he knew it was useless. She was even more stubborn than he was, and he practically defined stubbornness. He instead just watched as his practically suicidal sibling left the room. Not long after, a thoroughly bewildered Heero came into the room, looking back over his shoulder, as though he'd receive the answers if he just looked hard enough. "Come in here for a specific reason, man?"

Heero swung his attention to the braided teen he'd just been told he had to talk to. Maxwells were baffling creatures. This was a conclusion that Heero was starting to realize with far too much clarity. "Relena told me to."

Duo rolled his eyes, before gesturing to Heero to sit near him. Relena could be so melodramatic sometimes, and he could just tell her approach to Heero had been. "Rena is going to insist on taking my place in the next mission."

The reaction was actually rather calm, considering how Heero would usually react when the girl in question was involved. Maybe it was shock. "What?"

Duo nodded a bit. "Yeah, I don't think I'll be able to talk her out of this one." Duo waited, moving a little in place as Heero just stared at him in silence after his announcement. He started to get defensive, he knew Rena could do it, he just didn't want her to. "What? What is so freaky? We were both trained, y'know."

"Why would you let her?" Heero's eyes slowly focused, his normal façade dropping firmly into place to hide his expression as he spoke, only the barest wisp of disbelief apparent.

"She's determined, man. If I don't let her go when I'm in good health to go save her, how the Hel could I go save her once I'm beaten into submission?" Duo crossed his arms, only giving a little flinch as the bullet wound pulled.

"Fine..." Heero moved to get up, before realizing something. "Duo... I think she already left."

-_____________-

Relena studied the building that she was going to get her information from, and she frowned. There were more guards than she believed there would be, according to that e-mail. Howard was trying to keep them up to date, but between him, J, and G, they still couldn't manage to be right all the time. That was completely okay. Not even their esteemed guardians were perfect.

Instead of cursing the misinformation, she just shook her head, adjusting her outfit carefully. Not long after they got to Earth, they decided that if they were going to do a mission together, they'd look as alike as possible without losing their own unique color associations. That way they'd be harder to identify as being separate people. This was how Relena ended up with a black cap pulled low over her eyes, while in a black priest outfit that had a red shirt instead of white, and a single braid down her back.

"Time to get this show on the road, girl." Relena nodded to herself, then set off towards the base, unaware of the other person that was doing exactly the same thing as she was, just on the opposite side of the base, and dressed in white. That was the thing that ruined the entire plan. For both of them.

-_____________-

It had taken all of half an hour after bringing Milliardo to his gundam before the taller blonde had demanded to know everything. It was even worse due to the fact that he wanted to know if it was possible for him to join the fight in some way. In his frustration, Quatre did the only thing he could think of, he shoved Milliardo into his gundam and took them both to the Maguanacs. It was proving to have been a very large mistake.

"Master Quatre..." Rashid leaned into Quatre's main sitting room as he spoke, bringing the small blonde's attention to him. "I do not believe that you will be able to keep Master Milliardo away from the hanger. He is proving to be incredibly persistent. He also seems to have a natural talent around the mobile suits."

Quatre groaned, thumping his head down on the desk as he heard the news. He hadn't really considered that Milliardo's interests in technology would come into play. See... it was times like this that he felt like an idiot. Of course Milliardo would gravitate to the large machines that Darlian had spent his entire life keeping him away from. Quatre had heard the complaints often enough to have known better.

"Would you prefer for us to continue to keep him from the hanger, Master Quatre?" Rashid understood the little blonde's frustration, having shared it for the last week. The moment that Milliardo had discovered the number of mobile suits, he had thrown himself into studying them. They practically had to pry him away with a crowbar. And they were willing to bend to Quatre's wishes to an extent, though they could only go so far to keep the tall blonde from the machines without locking him up.

Quatre shook his head on the desk, sighing. "Don't bother to try, Rashid. He's been interested in the things since I first met him. As long as he doesn't try to fly one, just leave him alone." The words were muffled, but fully understandable.

Rashid shook his head, backing out of the room and returning to the hanger to talk to the other Maguanacs about the change of actions regarding their guest. Now that Quatre was no longer persistent in keeping the older teen away from the machines, then a pair of the more enthusiastic members of the corps could start teaching him what was what properly. If nothing else, then he would prove to be a very ingenious mechanic.

-_____________-

"This is all your fault." Relena glared across the cell they'd been in for the last two days at the oriental boy across from her.

Said boy, Wufei, cracked his eyes open from the meditative state he'd once again fallen into. He then decided the best way to get his point across was to glare at the cause of his annoyance. "You tripped the alarms, not I."

"It wouldn't have happened if I hadn't thought you were a guard." Relena leaned back on the wall behind her, arms crossed on her chest as she returned the glare, unwilling to lose the ongoing argument. It had toned don't from when they'd first been tossed in, but neither was all that happy with the situation.

"You wouldn't have thought I was a guard, if you knew what you were doing." Wufei closed his eyes against the indignant sound that came from Relena, smirking in victory.

"I know what I'm doing! It's your fault we're in this cell, because you were the one that made noise when you saw me." Relena snapped her mouth shut when the door opened a second later. Two sets of eyes flicked open to regard the pair of people standing in the doorway. Of course, Relena recognized the two boys as their rescuers. "It's about time!"

Wufei slowly got to his feet, watching the girl that had been badgering him tackle another figure, one that was dressed in almost identical clothing, in a hug. She was pushed back a second later so he could scrutinize her for injuries. "You might want to postpone your greetings."

Duo released Relena immediately, twisting to see who the owner of the rather sardonic voice could be, eyes slightly narrowed as he hunted around the dark cell. "You're right. Introductions can come later, for now, we have a rescue to finish." After a brief second of debate, gunfire erupted off to his left and Duo tossed Wufei a gun, choice made. Getting another from Heero, he passed it quickly over to Relena, making sure she was armed. "C'mon you two, time to go."

There was a round of nods, and after a few shots to scatter the guards, Heero gestured that it was all clear. The four could slip out into the base a few seconds later. After two days of capture, in the case of Relena, and the new member added into the mix, you'd think they'd have trouble coordinating their efforts. Instead, it was like they'd trained together for years. It was the start of yet another adjustment to the team.

-____________-

Relena eyed Duo, well aware that his congenial manner would disintegrate the moment he had a few minutes to chew her out. Her bruises likely wouldn't make his fussing any less either. Knowing Duo, they'd likely make him even more upset than he was already. Rather than trying to read her brother's mind, she turned her attention to the pair of Asian boys who were trying to glare each other into submission. Introductions were definitely in order.

"Okay, if you two would stop your staring contest for a minute, then I could introduce everyone, to everyone else." Relena waited until she had the full attention of the boys, including her brother. She wasn't looking forward to explaining how she managed to get caught on her first mission. "Okay, I am Relena Maxwell, as all of you know. That's my brother, Duo, and that guy over there is Heero Yuy. This new guy in white, and the all too snug ponytail, is Chang Wufei." Relena gestured to each in turn, then finally let herself sit down on the dusty couch. This safe house wasn't really all that great, but she'd seen worse.

Wufei inclined his head, watching the three others in the room as Relena practically collapsed from exhaustion. "You might want to tend to the girl's injuries."

Duo had turned to look at Wufei right as the boy spoke, and immediately turned his attention back to his sister. He cursed as he realized that the new guy was right. "Damn it Rena! This is why I didn't want you to go on any missions without me. You're all banged up..." Duo moved to his bag, digging out a first aid kit as Relena took off her hat, then started to undo the overshirt she wore.

"I think they cracked a rib. Other than that, I'm pretty much okay, just some severe bruising." Relena shrugged out of her undershirt next, leaving her in just a sports bra. This action resulted in both Heero and Wufei turning an impressive red as they spun to face another direction. Duo was completely unaffected. "You got that bruise cream I found?"

Well, maybe not entirely affected, he was still in mad mother hen mode. Duo growled under his breath as he saw the boot print across Relena's left side, the mark going right across an old scar. "Damn it! You are never going to go on a mission without me again! How could you let them do this to you?" He swabbed at the wound, noting the skin had broken a bit, and he carefully wrapped her torso in bandages so the rib could heal.

"It wasn't a matter of let, it was a matter of being unable to outrun the bastards." Relena released a breath once Duo had finished with the wrapping, turning her head so he could tend to the black eye. "At least they never looked close enough to realize I was a girl. My boyish features come in handy for something."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Duo gave her an incredulous look, handing her a clean shirt before he started to dab at the bruises on her jaw. He'd apparently forgotten that they had a highly interested audience of two that was listening to the entire exchange. "I'm supposed to take care of you, Rena! You're my baby sister, for ever and always."

"You don't know that I'm younger than you. I'm pretty sure we're the same age actually... I'm supposed to take care of you D, not the other way around. I don't care what you remember, you need to be taken care of!" Relena hissed out a breath as Duo rubbed the cream into her jaw. "Not so hard, damn it!"

"I'm not the one that got the snot beaten out of me during my first information run." Duo lowered his voice, finally managing to calm down once Relena's injuries had all been tended to. He was sure she was safe now, so he didn't have to be quite so anxious.

"No, you just got shot on the most recent one. I'd rather be bruised then holy." Relena stuck out her tongue in a distinctly childish gesture, then waved her hand at the two boys that had finally turned around. "While you're playing nurse, wrestle the guy who made me set off the alarms into showing you his own mess of bruises."

Duo blushed slightly as he realized that her words meant that the little argument had been overheard. The he turned he got to see dark, amused eyes watching them both. "Right then. Feiers, correct? Okay, lets see your damage."

Wufei glared at Duo immediately. "No, it is Wufei, Chang Wufei. Do not get it wrong again." He made no move to reveal his bruises, so Duo commenced on lightly pressing his way across Wufei's ribs and stomach. Seeing no horrible reactions, aside from a few winces, Duo started to tend the marks that adorned the Asian boy's face. If there were no damaged bones, then he wouldn't make Wufei strip.

"Grouchy, grouchy. Ah well, I would be too if I got stuck in one of those cells for a couple days. They did feed you guys at least, right?" Duo said this calmly, seeing Heero move to fuss over Relena out of the corner of his eye.

"Yes, we were given one meal early during what I presume was this morning." Wufei looked up at Duo as the teen moved back, noting that he appeared to be the same height, simply slimmer. "How is it you have those two with you?" Wufei nodded to where Relena was trying to make Heero leave her alone, his fussing clearly turning rather annoying to her.

"Well, the girl is my sister, I'd never dream of leaving her behind. The other one is my current partner. We work pretty good together now that he's gotten it through his head that he doesn't have to work alone all the time." Duo shrugged. "You care to join the team? We don't have a name or anything like that, but I think it might interest you..."

Wufei scoffed immediately. "What interest would I have in joining your little group here?"

Duo rolled his eyes, sitting back on his heels as he set the medical kit aside. "First of all, that would stop us from meeting up this way again. Secondly, it would really be better for all involved if we teamed up and pooled our resources and information. If we're effective now, just think of how affective we'll be if we hook up together. We can take on bigger jobs and stuff. Think about it before you make up your mind."

Wufei considered Duo for a long moment before nodding slightly. He was ready to allow for the idea, deciding that he should think it over before choosing to stay or go. "I'll consider it."

-_____________-

Noin had caught wind of the prisoners that the South Georgia base had acquired, and she arrived just in time to watch the place go up in flames. She was furious. It had definitely sounded like her rival was one of those captured. One an Asian teen with dark eyes, black hair, and white formal clothing, the other a teen of the same size with blue eyes, a long braid, and a priest outfit. There was little doubt from her that the Asian was Chang Wufei. She had some vengeance to take out of that boy's hide, and she had been coming to get it.

She was thwarted though, as she saw the South Georgia place fall into ruin, the escapees making sure that all information on the base about them went down when they left. They just wouldn't be gundam pilots had they done any less to defend their identities.

She was just sure of one thing. If Chang Wufei could get caught, that made him fallible, and that meant that she would be able to get back at him for what he had done. It's not as though she had any other goal to pursue. First, she had to convince Otto to allow her near his most prized possession, an old suit he'd found a month before that he had been fixing up. He'd mentioned it to her before, but she hadn't really considered it until she'd watched the base, where the pair had been captives at, go up in flames.

"Chang Wufei. You are going to suffer for killing my students. They weren't soldiers yet, and you had no right to kill them in their sleep!" After she made that promise to the ruins, the woman turned to walk away, plans falling into place. She just had to do a few things correctly, and she could have what she wanted.

-_____________-

Treize walked out before the camera and cleared his throat. He was preparing for the first of many important speeches he would be giving in the near future. It didn't matter how short they ended up being, or how long, just so long as they got across the message that he needed them to present to the public. He just hoped that this particular speech wouldn't be one he would soon come to regret as he had so many. "I, General Treize Khushrenada, am announcing the separation of the military organization called the Order of the Zodiac, also referred to as OZ, from the Alliance. We are against the corruption that has overtaken the previous forces, and as I speak, those who are part of the order are dealing with the corruption in their own ways. Those who are in OZ, you know who you are, and what it means to be part of these honorable ranks. Those who are not, I will not bar you from joining me if you are willing to take up the ways of valor. That's all I had to say, for the actions of my soldiers can speak for themselves. Thank you." Treize stepped back from the podium with his head held high, before turning and flicking off the comm signal that had been in transmission. "Lady Une... Have I really done the right thing?"

Une nodded slightly, offering Treize a glass of water as she made him sit down. "Treize-sama you've done what you believed was best. Your plan will succeed. You'll see."

Treize gave a bitter laugh, then looked around the little transmission room. "Of course, but at what cost, dear Lady? At what cost will it all end?"

To be continued.