Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Rituals ❯ Part 11 ( Chapter 13 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters.

Thank you so much for the feedback you've sent me so far. I love you all!

As already stated, this story screws the timeline. In further stories in my little `arc', I might catch up on it again, especially in the final stories.

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Rituals - Part 11 by Maaya

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When I woke up, it was because of the soft smattering of keys from a computer keyboard. After a little while of blinking, I sat up on the couch and located Wufei, who sat on the edge of his bed, laptop perched on his knees. A cord went from the computer to a wall socket that looked the worst for wear.

Duo was still asleep, curled into the usual ball-like form underneath his pillows, and a hasty look at my watch told me I hadn't been asleep for very long. I thought about trying to go back to sleep again, but decided against it; I felt too awake despite the short period of sleep. But then, I had slept a little in the alley too, although I now doubted it had been more than fifteen minutes. However, I would probably not be able to sleep even if I tried.

"What are you doing?" I asked Wufei instead. He didn't jump, so I guessed he had been aware of that I was awake.

He didn't avert his eyes from the screen. "I sent an email to Winner and Barton to tell them I had completed the mission. They haven't answered yet."

"When did you send the mail?"

"Before you arrived."

I could see a small frown between his eyes, but if it was from frustration or worry I do not know. Probably a little bit of both. "Do you think they have evacuated the safe-house?" What I meant was `do you think something have happened to make them unable to answer?'

"There's no way of knowing."

I didn't answer orally to that, but quietly instead, in the form of a nod.

We sat like that in silence for a while before Wufei spoke up again, curious. "What happened on the mission?"

His question didn't surprise me. In fact, I had expected it, but was yet not certain what to answer. So I just told him what I knew, starting with how we got into the base and stopping after briefly describing how we had escaped the chaos that followed.

When I was done, Wufei's frown had deepened. "So judging from what Maxwell was indicating, he was not the one who planted the biological bomb that went off."

"I don't think we even brought any biological bombs," I stated, hating the `I think' in the sentence. `I think' was not a fact, only an assessment. And facts were what we needed the most right now.

He shifted the laptop a little and a hand rose to rub at his forehead in a still tired gesture. "The only one who could possibly have had the time to plant the bomb is the female soldier you killed. The one from L2."

"She was a spy." It dawned upon me. "Or a traitor." Now when I thought about - had time to think about it, I felt angry at how I hadn't realized it earlier. "The information I needed wasn't on the computer. She must have erased it and planted the bombs."

He sat and glared at the screen for a while, obviously deep in thoughts, before starting to type again.

"What are you doing?" I had to ask, standing up and walking over to the bed. For some reason, I couldn't help but feel it would be awkward to sit down beside him near enough to see what he was doing, so I just stood in front of him uncertainly before deciding to walk around the bed and sit down behind him instead. It felt stupid, but better.

He moved a little to the side to give me a better view of the screen. "Writing to Master O. We can't do anything about the failed mission or bring back the woman who was killed. But the biological bomb could have contained *anything*."

I could see where he was going with this. With anything, he meant that it could be everything from itching powder to dangerous poison killing me and Duo slowly from inside. "So you are asking him for a doctor." I finished for him. He nodded.

"Normal doctors will ask questions. Master O has probably some kind of contact that . . ."

A little beeping sound was heard, and a sign read `one new message' in the lower right corner. Without completing his sentence, Wufei moved his fingers on the touching pad to click on the sign.

The message *was* from O. Wufei moved a little more to indicate for me that I was allowed to read too, and I did. It was short and contained positive information, though if you read between the lines, you could trace the hints of disapproval that we needed a doctor in the first place. He knew of one who was close to this area and who also had field-experience. Trustworthy, he said, someone who we could hopefully take great benefit from in the future.

Further, he asked about our location and such, so he could send it to his contacted doctor. Wufei answered with a short mail where he included the name of the motel and also the room number. I approved of that; it would have seemed suspicious if someone else came asking about our room without knowing any specifications. I suspected that the girl was someone who liked to gossip and tittle-tattle.

When he had done that, I stood up to move over to the bathroom - I hadn't showered since before the mission, only washed my hands and face in the basin - and was feeling sweaty and uncomfortably sordid. In the doorway, I suddenly remembered something and turned back to face Wufei again.

"Don't tell Duo the woman was from L2, or that she was -" I stopped myself before I said `on our side' as we didn't know for sure. Instead, I continued with something else. "- against OZ."

He looked at me with a certain . . . *sizing*, narrowed glare that I had already seen him give many times duing the short time I had knew him. I think he hesitated a little before saying, "Fine, I won't", but couldn't be too sure. Then he turned to stare at the laptop screen again, and I closed the bathroom door behind me.

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Duo was bored. I could see it clearly. He had woken up, realized his throat was still very sore and his voice very weak, that half his face was covered in large anti-bacterial band-aids, and that his knee was stiff and in pain. He hadn't expressed any of this orally, but the frown between his eyes and grim, clenched jaw spoke for itself.

I watched him sit in his bed and stare at the local news on the television (that worked, by the way). OZ hadn't announced anything about the base; they were probably trying to hide it.

After my shower; I had remembered that our backpacks, in which we had stored a change of clothes and food along with the explosives, were back in the base - in form of ash. So I had been forced to dress in my sweaty and dirty clothes again and my clean state of body made me realize just *how* sweaty and dirty they were.

So Duo was bored and, though I didn't like to admit it, so was I. The worst thing about this war is the wait. I'd imagine that the worst thing about any war is the wait, because it makes you think, get nervous, and worst of all; question things. Question what you are fighting for, question oneself, question faith . . . everything.

At least, that's what Dr. J told me. He taught me how to control myself, but I never really understood just how frustrating it can be to sit in a room without anything to do and wait for the next mission, the next risk for death and failure. It's that kind of frustration that can be as dangerous as the battles and missions themselves, because it drives you crazy. The only enemy is yourself and if you have doubts . . . it can tear you apart.

But I didn't think it was doubt or even fear I could see in Duo's face, only the plain frustration I felt myself. He was chewing on his lower lip and staring at the TV-screen in forced concentration.

I welcomed the knock on the door when it came, even though it could mean enemies were coming as well as it could be friends.

We waited in hesitation, looking at each other, until a second knock came, and a third, slightly faster one, and I recognized the code that Master O had sent us. He hadn't been able to send us a name or a description of the doctor, because it was too dangerous if the message had been found by someone else. The code was a slight safe-word, better than nothing. But not certain if OZ had read the message.

I picked up the gun from the table and walked quietly towards the door. I hesitated with my hand on the handle for a second before grabbing it and flinging the door open, aiming the gun towards whoever would be standing outside.

There was a soft, not too surprised intake of air from the person, and I found myself standing with the gun aimed against a woman's face. She was taller than me, probably older too, and she had honey-blonde hair in two plaits that reached her shoulders on either side of her face. A pair of grey-ish blue eyes was looking steadily at the gun, before slowly averting and taking in me instead. She smiled slightly. "Heero Yuy, right? I think you've already been told who I am. Can I come in?"

She didn't seem affected by my glare, just smiled that little half-smile and waited for me to take the gun away from the aiming point between her eyes.

Slowly, I lowered the gun and stepped aside to allow her to enter. She did so, and I saw she carried a handy, not too small or too big, black duffel bag in her hand.

"Name?" Wufei questioned from behind me.

The woman didn't answer immediately; first she looked around in the room calmly, studied each one of us, and then sighed. I wasn't sure why. "Sally Po," she said. "What's the situation?"

I ignored her question and asked one of my own. "Who sent you?" We used code-names in the mails. If she knew O's `real' name, then we would have to trust her to be clean.

"Master O."

I tucked the gun into the waist band of my pants (a not too comfortable position) and nodded to Duo, who had been sitting on his bed, studying the whole scene with interest and some irritation, probably from not being able to participate or give his opinion. When she gave him her attention, he grinned and waved a little in a parody of being flirty. I snorted quietly.

She raised an eyebrow at the band-aids covering his face. "What's the problem? More than the damage in his face?"

"Biological bomb." Wufei said. He had taken his laptop out again and was typing frantically. My laptop was at the safe-house and I felt a slight wave of longing. Dr. J had trained me in resistance against drugs and becoming addicted to them, but never against computer addiction. That laptop was the only thing I always needed to take with me for missions, but could use for other things as well. Not that I had had a lot of time to do so lately. "We don't know what was in it. Damage is done to his throat as well. Yuy, we have a contact with Quatre."

The last words were directed to me and I walked over to him after giving Po a glare.

She raised her hand as if to protect herself, the gesture mocking me. "I do not hear anything of what's being said in this room." And with that, she walked over to the bathroom. I heard the sound of water as she rinsed her hands off.

Quatre's face was on the screen and judging from the background so was he in his gundam. He looked quite stressed. "Report." He said firmly.

I didn't have time to mull over the fact that he seemed much older and much more experienced now than he had appeared back at the safe-house. Eyes narrowed, wet bangs brushed back, made him look like . . . someone who knew his things. And well, he probably did. At least, I hoped so.

"Everyone's alive. 02 hurt. Mission-" I hated the continuation. "- failure."

Wufei's voice follower after mine. "Mission accomplished. You?"

He smiled and leaned back in the pilot's seat. "Everything's fine. The phone lines failed to work and I had to go to the gundams to contact you. I ran." He offered as an explanation to his wet state of clothes and hair. "And it was raining. You said Duo was hurt?"

I cast a look towards where Po was looking down Duo's throat. "He's alive. We have a doctor examining him right now."

"Is the doctor all right?"

"Recommended from Master O."

"Good. Take care. 04 out." He leaned forwards and closed the connection.

Meanwhile, Sally seemed to have finished examining Duo's throat and had begun to peel off the band-aids in his face. "Strong breathing mints are to recommend. It'd lessen the pain a little," she said. "You'll get your voice back after a couple of days. Don't strain it."

He gave her a nonchalant half-shrug and a disapproving frown that didn't express anything very well because his skin was pulled back when she peeled away the band-aids.

She continued, realizing that she had mine and Wufei's attention too. "Whatever was in that biological bomb, I can't see any signs that would prove to be threatening anymore. It was probably made to infect mucous membranes, but you were apparently not too close to it."

Duo and I both snorted soundlessly in unison.

Po continued to examine him, face and then knee before she could give us any positive news; the burns wouldn't scar and the knee wasn't worse than we had first thought. Then she left, and we were alone again, with only our thoughts and each other as company.

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TBC

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Okay, so not much is going to happen in these final chapters. I'm sorry about that, but hey, I'm the author so I have first dibs on deciding things, okay? *attempting to look authoritative*

. . . but honestly so do I not really like this chapter . . . ^_^;;

Next: A side story in Sally's POV. (I hope not *everyone* dislikes that but . . . I happen to like Sally a lot and wanted to write something in her POV for once. Besides, I thought it would be interesting to see how she viewed the gw-boys.)