Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Rituals ❯ Part 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any if its characters. This is just a mere fan fiction. I don't earn any kind of many from writing this.

*******

Rituals - Part 3 by Maaya

*******

I waited for nearly three hours for Duo to come back so I could go to the gundams and check Wing's arm unaccompanied. When those one hundred and eighty minutes had passed with no sign of the braided pilot, I decided that I couldn't afford to wait any longer.

What could I do at the safe house anyway? There was nothing to do, and nothing to work with. I couldn't even work on my lap top as it was still in Wing's cockpit.

Just as I was on my way to open the front door, I realized that maybe I should tell someone were I was going. After a moment of searching through the house, I found Wufei calmly sitting in the sofa, still deeply engrossed in whatever play by Shakespeare he had now reached. He looked up when I entered the room, questioning.

"I'm going to 'Wing." I answered his unspoken question and he just nodded before looking down in his book again

It was quite cold outside (not really surprising as the temperature inside was a reflection of the one on the inside) and rather windy. It was that kind that blew through fabric, as well as my own skin.

Is it possible to become permanently blue from cold? It sure felt that way right then as I walked past tall trees waving threateningly in the strong wind. Still, it was these threes that made it possible for us to hide our gundams here. They were high enough to prevent anything to be seen from above if we landed in lying positions. The trees also prevented me from seeing large bits of the sky, something I was quite thankful of.

Even after being on earth for about a month, that great canopy of heaven was still making me uncomfortable. The knowledge of how unprotected it was up above made me feel almost. . . uncertain. Is that the word? On the edge?

I wonder if the others feel the same.

Finally reaching the gundams, I could note that Duo wasn't there. So either, he was in Deathscythe's cockpit, or I had been waiting unnecessarily. Don't know what I would prefer.

I went to work on 'Wing, sadly finding out that there wasn't much I could do about that arm. Not having the tools needed, no material made it possible for me to do anything of use. Something in the network seemed to be off.

Great.

Don't you just hate flaming hot metal shreds in the network?

After having come to that realization, I settled in the cockpit, leaning backwards in the pilots' chair. My muscles seemed to relax by themselves and I reached out with a strangely idle hand to check the connections and statistic. To my utter surprise, I could note that Deathscythe was connected and the COM link was on, so I switched channels until I reached that special one.

I'm not sure how to describe my reaction to the sight that met me. Maybe surprise along with shock, or pity together with awe. Maybe even everything mixed together to an unnamed emotion I can't even begin to describe.

Emotions? Of course I have them. Who in the whole, wide world doesn't? My teachings from Odin told me to act on my emotions, but the newer, much longer and advanced lessons had told me not to let emotions affect judgement and doings.

I saw Duo Maxwell, joker as well as Shinigami, sit in the cockpit, leaned back and hugging his knees tightly to his chest like a scared little child - deep asleep. He breathing was even. But it wasn't the fact he was sleeping that surprised me, it was the expression in his calm face, off-guard-ish and very, very . . . young.

Usually, he had that cool, smirking expression but the current one he wore was different enough to make me wonder; who is Duo Maxwell?

My brain supplied me with an immediate answer; gundam pilot 02 of Deathscythe. Stealth, infiltration and demolition expert. Long hair, black clothes. Joker of the 'gang'. Suddenly, I felt myself in a zero-point in which I wasn't sure what to think anymore. I was on unfamiliar ground, trying to analyze something entirely different from simple facts.

I'm no expert in psychology or even human in general and I'm definitely no good at reading them. And now it seems like I've been partnered with one of the very complex kind. He huddled, hugging his knees harder.

And then he opened his eyes.

I was close to jump in surprise as we stared into each others eyes. I wondered what the hell he was thinking right now.

There was something odd in that moment, something awkward as we stared at each other without moving. I knew that I could easily close the connection but for some reason, I hesitated with my hand hovering over the button.

He let a hand run through his chestnut bangs and yawned. "Heero? What are you doing?" Then he grinned and continued, cheekily. "Checking me out?"

"I am controlling the connections with the gundams." I replied and resisted the urge to push the button and let his face disappear from the screen.

He looked vaguely embarrassed. "Oh - I see." Pause. "Why are you here?"

I answered sternly. "Checking up on 'Wing."

"But I thought. . . " He trailed off and I wondered what he had been on his way to say. He didn't continue though, so I let the subject descend to the ground slowly. "Well, how's it going then?"

"Fine." I grunted out in a way that sounded annoyed enough to tell him exactly how 'fine' it was really going. His facial expression told me he didn't believe my words for a second but he didn't press the subject, just said 'kay' and looked down on something in his control panel. I watched how he worked for several second before finally reaching out and shutting our connection off.

Then I went ahead and did what I guess Duo was also doing - checking the statistics. It was rather good considering, I guess as good as possible.

I felt surprisingly light-hearted from the fact that I had still most of my ammo left when I climbed out of the cockpit and down Wing's body. Duo came up behind me and followed as I walked towards the safe house.

He grinned where he was walking on my side, talking animatedly with wide gestures. He was on what I would later call 'the rush'. It was that kind of energy he got after having slept for more than three hours, a short moment of childish energy that filled him from head to toe. "I wonder if someone has bought some suppl. . . huh?"

I looked up to study his face in surprise as he suddenly stopped. Following his gaze, I was finally met by the sight of his outstretched, open palm. He had this. . . strange expression of something akin to wonder and surprise in his widened eyes. Then they flew up to stare at the small bits of sky visible between branches of trees.

My eyes followed his and we stared together for a moment of silence up at a depressing, cloudy sky. The base was a very dark shade of grey I had never seen before and underneath it was feathery, light grayish clouds swirling around quickly enough for me to see how they changed shapes. It was a fascinating king of sight, unlike everything I had ever seen before. The clouds on the colony were always the same shade of white. White, always white.

And then I felt it too.

Something mildly cold, just a small droplet of clear liquid, fell to rest on my left cheek. I let a hand rise and touch the water hesitantly with my fingers, before letting it fall to my side again. The finger was covered in transparent water and I stared at it for a moment without time, during which I could see Duo in the corner of my eyes, standing completely still by my side.

Rain.

I had never seen real rain before. Snow, sure, but never, ever rain. Colony L1 had regular periods, once a week and I wasn't allowed to go outside then. We kept hidden in the small place we had in a basement, or stayed at the ship Dr. J had. Those short times I spent at the rich colonies, I was never fortunate enough to see it.

I let my fingers wander to my mouth and I tested the liquid, as if to assure myself of that it really was clean, fresh water. For some reason, I was surprised to note that it was.

Duo was still staring up at the sky, childish wonder mixed with surprise visible in his wide eyes.

He is from L2, isn't he? Pilot 02 from L2, in Lagrange point to America. No wonder rain was a surprise to him.

Then another droplet fell, and another. And another one, and even more.

Before either of us had the chance to react and much less say anything, we found ourselves standing in the middle of a thick drizzle.

I had to remind myself to breathe - inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. . . slowly. . .

Then Duo said. "It's raining." He snickered from badly hidden excitement, sounding almost nervous. "Talk about stating the obvious, huh?"

"Yes." My hair was getting heavy from wetness and big drops fell from by bangs upon my nose. I didn't care about wiping them away.

A strange, *sweet* smell hung in the air together with the water, completely unfamiliar to my nostrils. Was this the smell of rain?

Duo turned to me again. "Looks like we're gonna get rather wet, eh?" He was grinning.

"Yes."

Then he grabbed my arm (I stiffened at the surprising contact but forced myself to relax) and drug me out through the woods in a refreshing wonder for natural miracles. And I let myself be led.

*******

I, even after long training with Dr. J, was breathing heavily by the time we reached the safe house together, wet and Duo still gripping my arm tightly with a hand. For some reason, the contact made me smile a little, but I hid it under heavy bangs.

He had kept a quite fast pace for having an injured knee and I found myself being impressed.

"I've never seen rain before." He exclaimed and showed his own dripping wet bangs out of his eyes with a happy grin. "It was fun!"

"Yes." I agreed and he stopped for a second, looking at me strangely, before grinning again, wider than before.

"You neither? I thought I was like, the only person on earth who hadn't seen it."

"Rain came regularly on L1. I was never there when it happened."

"Oh." He sobered and grabbed his braid that was resting innocently on his shoulder and wringed the water out from it. The drops fell into a puddle of water. I didn't hear as they hit the surface because of the rain's sprinkle. "What about snow then? I've heard it's quite usual on L1. Was that controlled as well?

Dr. J had explained it for me when I had asked him the exactly same question as younger and I'm almost sure I repeated his words. "Winter made the generators freeze and the precipitation system became irregular."

Duo's face approved of the explanation, but was mildly thoughtful. Did my face ever look like that? Did I bite my lip and wrinkled my forehead in concentration?

A question that had been lurking in my mind for a while was suddenly past my lips. "Why did you sleep in your gundam?"

"Deathscythe." He corrected me without thinking. "It's better that way. Why did you watch me while I was sleeping?" An impish grin tugged his lips upwards at the final question he said.

I opened my mouth to tell him I hadn't done such I thing when I realized that I actually *had* and closed it again. "Hn."

He grinned at me as he reached out with a hand to open the door. "Whatever."

*******

TBC

*******