Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Rituals ❯ Part 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: Don't own 'Gundam Wing' or any of its characters. It all belongs to Sunrise, Bandai, etc.

Genres/Warnings: Heero POV, PG-13, language, violence, etc.

*cough cough* This is the first time I've tried to write something like a gundam fight so.. don't be *too hard* on me, please? C&C is welcome though. And I know it's pathetic that I haven't written something like this before, since GW is an *action*-show. *Gundam* action show.

This is a sequel to "Friendship", but it can stand pretty much alone anyway. Some references to "Friendship" though. I also hate what I did to Wufei in this soon to be series - he's my fav. character after Duo but I can't seem to avoid bashing him ever so slightly..

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Rituals - Part 1 by Maaya

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Peering out of the window, I felt a wave of depression come tumbling towards me as if it had wanted to come to me and to me only. At the thought, I snorted, but couldn't shake out of the uncomfortable cold feeling I was completely soaked in. It was still dark outside as the sun hadn't begun to rise just yet and mist surrounded 'Wing where we were placed, hidden in the depths of the forest.

I knew that the other gundams were around me in carefully planned positions but it was impossible for me to spot them as they were all behind me, and I couldn't move 'Wing as it could endanger our cover. This was our first mission together, all five of us, and it was also the one we were ending our stay at the school with.

I can't say that our stay together were very informative in the other pilots' skills, traits or goals, but it was a beginning of what Dr. J was probably planning: to know as much as possible about each other. It was necessary, he told me through a mail, especially in critical situations where you had to act on emotions and gut feelings, not simple knowledge or logic.

Such as captures, hostages and savings.

It's extremely important to know, or at least have an idea about how your team mate is going to react in situations like that.

Letting my eyes flick over to the small digital numbers in the control panel's left side, I read that the clock was 03:42. I had another half an hour left before I should prepare myself for the attack.

Clicking the COM link in function, I spoke out loud to my team mates, almost jumping to the sound of my own voice as it sounded calmer but louder than expected.

"Half an hour left until preparations start."

"Confirmed." It was only Winner who bothered to answer me with a real word, the others settled with grunts or 'aaa's. Well, everyone but Maxwell that will say.

"Yeah, sure, okay, got it.."

He did probably rattle on, finding more words for 'yes' than most people probably could probably ever think of, but I closed the link before I could hear anything else.

I leaned back in my seat, unable to relax, as I thought about what I had learnt about my fellow pilots.

Chang is a loner, and I pity him since he had to share a room with Maxwell. I guess that there was quite a personality crash between the two of them. He is also smart but ignorant, I have a feeling that you have to be a really good friend of his to make him care enough to help you, warn you and so on. He sees the world in two shades and those are black and grey. For him there is justice and bias, in whereas he fights for justice.

Barton and I had shared a room for four weeks but he is still the one I knew the least about. He is a soldier, plain and simple, and I doubt that he has ever been anything else. I'd guess that in a way he is rather like me, emotionally and otherwise. He cares about the mission first and foremost, but can also care about people though it's hard to come through his shell and make him care for one.

Winner is strategic, honest, polite, wealthy and logical, though also considerate and caring. He does also know a great lot about emotions after having that 'space heart'. I'm skeptical about it all, but he *did* actually feel what Maxwell was feeling during that time, so I can only assume and hope that it wasn't a lucky shot..

Maxwell. I'm still wondering about how he managed to get into that situation he was in, it's obvious that he was scared - no, more than scared, when we found him. He was close to terrified. I'm also curious about why he didn't fight back - that teacher was a lot weaker than any OZ soldier and still, he was too scared to fight. It makes me wonder sometimes.

I know that he is a thief, and a break in-expert, and that makes me wonder too. At the first sight of him you'd think that he was a normal teenager whose only worries were acne and girlfriends until he somehow managed to fall into G's hands and became a gundam pilot.

It's absurd, I know, but admit that you'd think that too.

A sudden beeping sound hauled me out of my thoughts and my eyes flew to the digital clock once again. The red numbers were blinking wildly and I reached out to press the button to make the annoying sound stop. When that was done and over with, I moved my hand slightly to the right to push the COM link into working.

"This is 01 - Start preparations; mission start in fifteen minutes. Keep COM links 'on' from now on."

"03 - Yes."

"05 - Understood."

"04 - Confirmed."

There was a pause before Maxwell decided to answer, sounding far more enthusiastic than was normal. Did he always have to make himself stand out?

"02 - Got it!" I could tell from just his voice that he was grinning.

There was a complete silence again, which I used to check everything. Ammo, shields and weapons - everything was clear. I felt how my adrenaline began to run fast in my veins as I looked at the clock once again, the red numbers indicated that it was time to go. Trying to keep from grinning that grin that people said was 'freaky', I gripped the controls; they felt perfect - familiar and well shaped in my hands.

"Go." I said simply, knowing that the smirk on my lips was heard in my voice. I hope it didn't freak them out *too* much.

Suddenly, Sandrock was visible to my right and Heavyarms to my left as we broke out of the forest just in time too catch the first glint of the train caravan freighting mobile suits. Just like we had figured, the rail was guarded by even more suits and I saw how Barton raised his gun to load off some ammo into them. Just as I was about to do the same, Deathscythe was in front of me and swung its scythe in a deadly half circle, taking out two mobile suits at the same time.

"Anyone who sees me goes to HELL!" He screamed out loud, seemingly forgetting about our COM link as he swung the scythe once again. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as I needed them to focus on the battle; it was just so.. so Maxwell, to scream like that during battle. I heard a soft snort, though, from.. someone, presumably Barton, before I had the chance to take out *my* first mobile suit.

I blasted it in two and it exploded. It was clean, and the only thing that showed that there was a pilot in the suit was the short scream that had time to escape his lips before the explosion.

It's the screams that get to me the most though.

I destroyed another suit; this one didn't even have time to react before it exploded.

Under the loud battle sounds, a mix of explosions, screams and that special ringing in you ears, I could suddenly hear a voice speaking calm enough to make itself heard through the noise.

"I'm.. sorry."

It took a while before I realized that it was Quatre who had spoken and I turned around quickly, in time to see Sandrock destroy another mobile suit.

"I'm so.. sorry."

Another suit exploded.

"Please forgive me."

Yet another explosion, coloring the faint mist red, orange and yellow, the colors of a sunrise that never seemed to come.

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I shivered, forcing myself to ignore everything around me but the doll that I was currently fighting.. destroying. Thankfully, Winner kept quiet from now on, but well, as they say; from the frying pan into the fire. Isn't it

something like that?

"I'm going to kill YOUUUU!"

There was another flash from the green scythe before it swung around once again.

"Maxwell, keep quiet!"

Shen Long's arm shot out towards the train as it passed him, successfully destroying one of the rail road cars.

"Shinigami has come to you..!"

Deathscythe flung himself towards the train, cutting off half of the wagons with the scythe. He used another swing to blow them into something near to nothing.

"05 to 02 - shut up!"

I couldn't help it, but I started laughing now. Not at Chang and Maxwell, no, I was laughing because of the adrenaline, because of the fear combined with excitement and it gave me this strange feeling of something I couldn't escape. So I laughed. Simple as that.

"Fuck! Heero, what are you doing?!"

It was Maxwell, and he sounded almost.. panicked? scared? He was speaking

English, forgetting himself in the heat of the battle and I snapped out of it, at the sound if his voice and the power of an explosion that rocked me in the cockpit. "Damn!"

"Heero? Are you all right?"

I grunted an affirmative answer and tested 'Wing's controls again, after having lost grip of them. They were working all right, but the left arm felt.. strange somehow. As I didn't have time to reflect about it right now, I went out into the battle again.

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Yet another explosion was heard as Shen Long destroyed yet another mobile suit. Thankfully it was empty, fresh out from the destroyed train that was now lying on the side, twisted once in an unnatural way. I could hear the heavy breaths coming from my team mates as they tried to keep from toppling over in pure exhaustion, and knew that I wasn't much better myself.

"This is 01 - Status?"

"03 - Clear."

"05 - Okay."

"02 - Umm, kinda good."

"04 - I'll be okay."

I raised one of my eyebrows. 'I'll be okay' didn't sound quite right - what had happened to Winner? I pushed it away for now - right now we had to disappear before more OZ soldiers came and could track us. We were going to a safe house, hidden in this very forest and were supposed to stay there until our next orders arrived. I said that to the others too, but was interrupted as Trowa spoke up.

"Quatre, how are you really?"

"I told you - I'll be okay."

"Quatre."

There was a pause in which I thought about what they had said. I had noticed that Winner, Barton and Maxwell were calling each other by their first names now, and had done that the latest days.

"Broken, or bruised ribs, that's all."

"Hey guys, as much as I hate to interrupt your conversation, shouldn't we head to the safe house now?" Maxwell's voice broke into their conversation and maybe it was just me, but I thought his voice sounded strained somehow. It was probably just my imagination though.

"You should use code numbers while talking in the COM link." I informed them, sharper than necessary. "We're heading back now. Winner, be careful with those ribs."

"04 - Yes."

"02 - Uhh, Heero?"

"Yes?"

"02 - Why aren't *you* using the code numbers?"

I really, desperately wanted to kill him as he had said that, and right after that, kill myself. Not knowing what to answer, I ignored him and took the lead towards the safe house.

It didn't take very long for us to arrive to the safe house, and when 'Wing and I was settled, I leaned back in my seat, closing my eyes and allowing myself to relax for a moment. I sat like that for a few seconds before reaching out with a tired hand and shutting the COM link off. Another moment later, I reached out and opened the hatch, and forced myself to get out of my gundam.

The first thing I saw was.. well.. trees and four gundams facing mine as we all stood in a circle. I knew that there should be a small cabin somewhere around here, but wasn't really sure where.

Chang and Barton were already outside their gundams, climbing down towards the ground, whilst Winner stood on his open hatch, clutching his stomach area with a resolute but pale expression in his face. Maxwell was making his way towards him.

As I was sure that he would help Winner down, I began climbing myself and it wasn't long before I was standing on real, solid ground. Vaguely, I remembered an old cartoon I'd seen in a shop window, where the character was kissing the ground after being on a flying object for a long time. I snorted softly at the thought and waited until Maxwell and Winner had reached the ground too.

Of course I could have gone without them but I figured that if I should get to know them as well as possible, I might as well start now.

"Hey, Heero! Are you waiting for nice lil' us? Can you help Quatre a bit, do you think?" Maxwell waved to me, and I was surprised to hear that he asked for help. Didn't take him for the type to do that, though I'd be even more surprised if it had been Wufei or Trowa.

Winner protested weakly. "Duo, I'm fine you know, only some broken ribs.."

"Yup, and we're gonna get them wrapped up as soon as possible."

Somehow I couldn't help but feeling slightly amused by their friendly argument. It was like they really knew each other quite well, as if they were brothers or something like that. Maxwell turned towards me, and for the first time, I noticed some dark bags under his eyes and the tiredness in them. He was pale too, and I wondered if he really was as fine as he'd said he was.

"Where is the safe house?"

"Follow Chang and Barton. They should have found it by now."

"Cool." He grinned, but I was unsure about exactly *what* he thought was cool so I ignored the statement. Instead, I put an arm under Winner's.. Quatre's to support him, bringing some weight away from Duo. They both smiled weakly towards me.

We walked on in a slow pace, all three of us was very quiet, even Maxwell - no Duo. I should learn to call them by their first names I guess, as they do with me already.

Even now, as the sun had risen, it was grey outside. Totally grey and cloudy in a depressing way. It was still though, no wind was blowing even the slightest and that made it really quiet and calm. Not a single sound was heard more than the creaking of dry twigs lying on the ground around us. I spotted a lonely, yellow leaf as it fell from a tree, landing only meters away from us.

It wasn't until we could see the safe house that I noticed something.. different in Duo's way of walking. He stepped very quickly on his left leg and took long ones with his right, making him sway up and down in a way that could only be described as he was limping. Quatre didn't seem to notice.

We had reached the cabin now, and for some reason so stood Chang.. Wufei and

Trowa outside, waiting for us, there was something sheepish about their expressions. Duo seemed to notice it too, because he looked at them both, questioning.

Wufei was the one who spoke up, and he looked directly at Duo as he did. "Uhh, do you have your skeleton keys here?"

I had been right, there *was* something sheepish with that expression, as well as in his voice too.

"Why?" Duo asked.

"The cabin is locked and we don't have the keys."

My braided team mate was suddenly grinning widely, giving Wufei with a pointing look. "See, I told you we'd need them sometime!"

I didn't even want to know.

He began digging in his braid, but before anyone of us had the chance to ask about it, he took out a small tool. Quatre gasped and Trowa snorted softly before he went to work, it only took him a few seconds to do it. He was grinning even wider as the door swung open and he held out a hand as if to show us that we should enter first. We did, and he followed close after.

"Am I good, or what?"

After a quick ransack, we could see that there was three bedrooms, so four of us would have to share with another. Given from the glares Wufei gave us, I guessed that he wanted to be the one to have the single room and we shrugged, accepting his wish.

He left us four standing, looking at each other, uncertain. As no one of us seemed to want to make a decision, I spoke up on a sudden impulse.

"I can share with Duo."

I found myself suddenly in the center of all attention as everyone seemed to stare at me as if I was an alien. Duo himself looked the most surprised and for some reason it annoyed me that they were this confused by that single decision..

"You really want that?" He asked, sounding both hopeful and skeptical as he studied me, looking at me up and down.

"Why not?"

"Okayyy." He visibly brightened. "Can we take the room to the left?"

Shrugging, I repeated. "Why not?"

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I woke up sometime after midnight, but at first I wasn't sure why, I didn't even know where I was. The only thing I knew was that I was lying in a rather hard bed, and that it was completely dark in the room.

What had happened?

Was I captured?

Had OZ..?

No I told myself, forcing myself to calm my breaths as I relaxed back into my pillow, no. We had left the school and carried out a mission, before going to a safe house in the middle of the woods. The woods. I thought about it for a while - maybe *that* was why I had woken up. It was entirely too quiet here, and dark. The last time I had been in a forest was when I was young, still training together with Odin.

Now with the memories of Odin in my mind, I relaxed again, though I didn't seem to be able to fall asleep. I could hear Duo's faint breaths in the bed beside mine and they could almost.. almost lull me to sleep again..

Breathing in..

Pause

Breathing out..

Pause

In..

Pause.

Out..

In..

Out..

I blinked awake again as his breaths became quicker and quicker, not having realized that I had breathed in the same rate as he had. I frowned at the much too fast pace he had now, and it only seemed too go faster and faster until..

After a specially heated inhale of air, the breaths stopped completely and I could almost imagine how his eyes had opened and was now staring up in the blackness surrounding him as well as it did with me. It had been a nightmare.

I lay there, listening as he seemed to calm down, before getting up, tumbling over his own bed, manage to make it out of the door, and close it behind him.

Then there was quiet again.

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TBC

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Ooookayyyy, this didn't turn out all that well.. *sigh* Anyone still interested in this? There's going to at least one other part if I don't decide that there'll be a long plot starting from here. If I do, then there'll be many more chapters.. but I'm not sure if I'm up to starting another series right now - three is more than enough.

How did my action scene turn out? *embarrassed*