Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Somewhere in Between ❯ Anniversary ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Author's Note: I did upload this chapter earlier, but took it down for major editing… * Sorry *
Confusion: I you are confused as to the timeline of events in this fic, please look at the explanation/timeline attached (last chapter
Disclaimer: I own none of the Gundam Wing characters or any information from the show used in this fic. The ideas though are my own.
This is an HY/RP story.
Please review!
Enjoy!

Somewhere in Between
~Phoenixstar

Anniversary


Approximately 1 year earlier…


~~~


He stood on the street corner, head twisting this way and that. To any passer-by he looked like a visitor, lost in a new world, yet he had lived in this city for many years. It wasn't the city he was lost in, it was life...
It was the anniversary of her leaving, the anniversary of him losing himself, and the anniversary of when living a new life truly began. Here he stood on the corner, watching as the people pushed by, hurrying through life, realising how, in all this time he still didn't know any better than he had before. This day was one of the few that he allowed himself to truly wallow in the past. He knew, from the advice of others and personal experience that it was best to allow some time for memories, but in a new life, the future is all that should matter.
The dirty city air was somewhat refreshing for him. It was as if the dirt and smog that he was sharing with the other millions of inhabitants helped him fit in, helped in be normal in a common way. He checked his watch and cursed at himself, he would be late if he didn't hurry up. Leaving the corner behind he strolled ahead, disappearing into the massive crowds that fought their way down the sidewalk.


~~~


He watched her disappear down the sidewalk, heels clicking rhythmically along with the sway of her hips. He hated to see her go if only for a day. She turned slightly at one point, braving the bashing shoulders of the other pedestrians, and looked back at him, a small promising smile hanging on her lips. He might have smiled back if they were alone, or if he wasn't sharing his attention with the surroundings. The twenty meters from here to the car where Pegan waited was too long, too full of the danger to which she was so obviously ignorant. He wanted her to either stay with him or hurry up, preferring of course the later but knowing of course that she had work to do, just as he did. Adults didn't have the free range of time their childhood selves did. Of course they had never really gotten much chance to have normal childhoods anyways.
Smirking at his disapproving grin she turned and walked over to the car, looking back at him one last time before shutting the door behind her. Letting go a sigh of relief he hadn't be consciously holding he watched as the car disappeared into traffic, then he turned and jogged off, he was going to be late again.


~~~


The room was small, but he didn't mind the space. The windows along two sides let the light stream in and dissolved and feeling of claustrophobia, which the room was sure to spark if it were just four walls and a door. It was the office that most would kill for, that corner office that signified importance, yet the room meant nothing to him; nothing apart from the fact that he could see the apartment from there. His office building was tall, towering over the streets where little toy cars and bustling ants went about their daily lives. And if he looked out, just on the horizon, beside the hill and park that rose up to meet it, there was a building, grey, dirty and old like every other. The only thing that made it extraordinary was the memories it's walls kept hidden away, the memories of happiness; the happiness that they had shared.
Hmmm... Memories were so sweet sometimes. He leaned back in his chair until abrupt knocking from the door, startled him into realising that he was supposed to be working. He quickly waved his hand across the desk, spreading the neatly stacked papers into a not-so-organised mess and fished through his drawer for a pen, a pencil, anything to make him look the hard worker he was. The door creaked open slowly, and a small woman with mousy brown hair and the most unflattering round-framed glasses stuck her head if checking first then easing her slim frame through the space. She looked at him bright eyed, in awe or fear he could never decide.
"You know, one of these days you should learn to walk into a room without looking like you are trying to sneak into it,'' he smirked slightly at the sight of her surprised face and the faint blush that crept into her cheeks.
"I'm sorry Hee… Mr. Yuy, but I thought I had permission to come in," she squeaked. He gave a small throaty laugh.
"That you did, which is exactly all the more reason to come into the room normally," he started to set out his laptop as she fidgeted in front of his desk, shifting the papers in her hands nervously. "So what is it this morning?" he looked up over his laptop at her. She wasted no time in starting to recite off the information on the said sheets.
"Well, first of all there was that bomb near here yesterday." He grunted in acknowledgement.
"Yes, I heard about that in the news, did they catch who did it?" He already knew the answer; the preventors were too good to let one terrorist get away unknown.
"Yes, they have him in custody I think. I don't know if he has been transferred yet. Rumour has it that he thought that the building was our headquarters," she gave a small laugh thinking that this was funny, but seeing his grim face she stopped and continued reading. "And there is a meeting with Mr. Maxwell tomorrow that I thought you might want to know about." She watched his face expectantly, trying to gauge his reaction. He was simply typing away at his computer. She shrugged her shoulders in a mixture of confusion and disappointment in his lack of attention and continued, "yes, well here's what they want to discuss with us," she placed some folders gently on the top of the desk, being sure to not disturb the mess. "It's the usual routine check-up to make sure we are staying within out boundaries and not getting any ideas of world domination." She smiled and looked up and him, folding and unfolding her now free arms.
"Hn," was his only reply and seeing this was the extent of the answer to which she could expect she turned and 'snuck' out of the room again, letting the door click gently after her. He looked up from the screen and looked out at where she had been standing and blinked, trying to recall anything she had said past her apology. 'One of these days,' he figured, 'I really ought to start paying attention to what she says.' He turned back to the screen and continued typing, scanning with half attention the lists that consumed the page.


After a few hours had past and nothing extraordinary had arisen from the given lists he started rearranging the papers on his desk into neat little piles, making sure that they were properly aligned and flattened in a seemingly compulsive way. When he came to the folders he opened them and started flipping through them, not bothering to read what they said. He was placing the list back down when a picture fell out onto his desk.
He picked it up hesitantly, holding it softly in his hand as if it were an age-old artefact. He slowly trailed his fingers down the glossy picture front leaving streaks of oil from his fingers on it. He didn't notice that, but turned and looked out the window at the distant building. Lord how he missed her. His breath seemed to stick in his throat and his pulse quickened ever so slightly.
"Relena..."


~~~


"Does he know?" Silence hung in the air, painfully sharp and uncomfortable. "Please tell me you told him? This isn't fair you know. I should be off collecting scrap metal and machines but here I am, taking a break as a favour for the Lady and I get stuck with this. It's not my job…"
"Well, we figured that it would be better coming from you… You know, because you guys know each other better than we know him." Duo shot a look over his shoulder, making no attempt to show that he was unhappy with the situation.
"So that's why you brought me here?" he continued. "So I am not coming here for a check-up after all? I've come here to be the bearer of bad news? Ever heard the phrase 'shoot the messenger'? And I can guarantee you I'll not be looking too pretty when the news gets out. I'd probably be better shooting myself now; save myself the grief." He threw up his hands in exasperation and collapsed into the chair. "How the hell did it happen?" he said quietly his head now resting in his hands. "How?"
"No, one knows really. They caught him though." He paused looking through some papers on his desk. "Lady tried talking to him earlier. I don't know what to say. All he said is that he meant to destroy the Preventors building, and if she's likely to believe him, then so am I. Don't ask me, but you can talk to him if you want. We just want to blame him, or at least I know I do, but truth of the matter is that it's just a tragedy isn't it?" From behind his hands, Duo's muffled voice answered,
"Tragedy… Ha! You have no idea. For his sake, if you're right about his intentions, he'd better be under the best security, though I doubt that will help him any."
"Yeah, I already talked to Lady and she said that they applied to transfer him. Even if everyone knows where he is going it buys us some time to talk to Heero at least."
"Well, you better have hope that this Heero's got more patience then he used to and that he hasn't found out already." He paused and looked up at Wufei. "And for my sake I don't know whether it's better to hope he does or doesn't know. Whether I'd rather try to break the news or stop a homicidal gundam pilot is not an easy choice damnit." He stood up; slamming his clenched fist on the desk. Through his anger Wufei could see the pain and tears gathering at the sides of his eyes.
"You, never know how'll he'll react."
"You got that right, and I don't want to be the one to deal with it."
"He might have gotten over what happened before." At this Duo let out a dry and tired laugh. An angry sort of smile touched his face for a moment or two.
"Yeah, if only things were that simple…" Wufei hung his head. This was going to be hard for all of them. For Duo it would be difficult; for Heero it would be near impossible. As Duo walked out of the room Wufei could barely make out the words mumbled under his breath.
"Why did I ever decide to call myself god of death?"


~~~

Heero walked down the street slowly; head down turned, watching the cracks in the pavement pass beneath his feet. Behind him his shadow lay long and eerie, flickering in the faint orange light of the street lamps. The constant clicking of his shoes kept a steady pace as he walked alone, hands shoved in his pockets reminded him of how lonely things could be.
'So long, it's been so long.'
He only looked up to take stock of his surroundings when he noticed the great trees in the park looming every closer, their towering heights reaching upwards into the dark sky.
'Such a beautiful sky tonight.' He stood, head titled back looking up at the sky with a melancholy expression plaguing his features, but in the darkness no one was ever the wiser of it. So strange it seemed to him that after all he had been through, after all he had been that now he could look up at the sky and see it as just that; a black canvas with little twinkle lights poking through, cheerfully reminding them that there was so much more out there then they could ever imagine. If it weren't for the memories of all that he had been that kept poking at his mind he would had figured he was normal, your average guy taking a moment to enjoy nature. He shrugged his shoulders; space would always mean something more to him than that. He looked back up one last time, moving his eyes every so slightly to he left, seeing the dull grey building, only visible at the base where the street lights touched it, rising up to meet the lonely sky.
Shoving his hands back in his pockets he continued walking along the sidewalk.
Tap... Tap... Tap... "So lonely; this time of night is so lonely..."


~~~


Heero turned the key gently in the lock, listening as it clicked, once... twice. He opened it slowly, trying his best to be as quiet as possible. He was well aware that it was late, so he wasn't going to start making lots of unnecessary noise. Shutting the door behind him he looked down the hall, his eyes trailing across the mess on the floor. Picking up the mail and stepping over various shoes and other bits of apparel he made his way the kitchen.
'Hn. Must have left the light on again.' He moved into the room, automatically dropping the mail on the kitchen table before moving over to the fridge.
"Hey Heero," she said cheerfully swinging round the doorway and into the kitchen, giving a slight twirl, arms out stretched. "Home so late again today." She ran over and hopped up onto the counter, studying his hard-set face as he looked through the fridge. "Gesh, someone's grumpy today!" He grunted and she merely shrugged, still smiling. "Yeah, I know, no groceries! I promise I'll find the time to run out this week. There are leftover in the oven if you want them."
He moved over to the stove, crouching down to see exactly what it was that was in there. He turned his nose up ever so slightly as the sight of the, rather inventive dinner. He turned, took a glass from the cupboard and proceeded to pour himself a drink, watching her all the while.
"I'll take that as a, 'no thanks, I'll buy my own food on the way to work tomorrow,' huh?" He looked at her and cocked an eyebrow. She laughed a little, her sweet high-pitched giggle filling the room. "One of these days you'll have to learn to trust me." She leaned over and gave him a small peck on the cheek. He, much to her surprise brought his hands up and cupped her face between them.
"I trust you Relena," he whispered, a playful smirk on his face. Moving his lips to her ear he continued, "I'm just not so sure I trust your cooking." Her body trembled with the feel of his hot breath of her neck. She was frozen for a moment before taking a swipe at him arm.
"Hey, that's not nice you know," she chided, hopping off the counter.
"Yes, I think we already established that," he turned setting his glass down in the sink. Following a staged cough from behind, he turned and smirked before moving the glass from the sink to the dishwasher.
"Better."
"Hmmm..." He said moving up towards her, locking his arms around her waist. "Your stuff in the hall isn't much better." She blushed a bit and was about to protest when he covered her lips with his. He could feel the smile of hers against them and pulled her tighter...


~~~


"Damn," he muttered breathlessly sitting up in bed. "Late, going to be late." Heero bounced out of bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he moved to the bathroom, clad only in his boxers. He managed to pull on his normal work clothes while brushing his teeth, cursing as he got some toothpaste on the jacket. After changing into clean clothes he grabbed his bag, laptop and all, and dashed for the door. No time for coffee this morning. He was late enough as it was.


He arrived at the top of the stairs, panting heavily. He was not out of shape, but the half an hour run from his house to work was tiring on even the fittest of people, especially if they were running as fast as he was. Just his luck too that the elevator happened to be out of order as well. He strode straight to his office, trying to ignore the questioning looks from others. Passing his secretary he ran his fingers through his dishevelled hair before giving her a nod to follow him.
Once the door clicked into place behind them he turned to face the small woman, trembling slightly at the imposing figure of her boss; cranky and breathless, with his clothes messed up and a wild look in his eyes.
"How long has he been waiting," he barely managed to keep himself from snapping, instead his words came out as a low growl. The small lady pushed her glasses up on her nose before glancing at the clock on the wall.
"About twenty minutes," she squeaked. She never got a reply because he was out of the room in a flash. Running her fingers through her hair she breathed a sigh of relief, shrugged and headed back to her desk to continue working.


He swung the doors to the conference room open, narrowed eyes scanning the room. He stood; looking out the window over the city. Hearing his entrance he turned and their eyes met, in a moment of piercing judgement.
"Nice to see you too Heero. Still not a morning person huh?"
"Hn. So Lady sent you to 'check up' on me this time?"
"Hey look Heero, this wasn't my choice okay!" he threw up his hands defensively. 'Does he know?' "I'm here because she trusts me and I know for one that I can use the money." 'Please say he doesn't know, please say he doesn't know…'
"Fine, I'll trust you Maxwell, but this had not be another trick to 'see how I am doing." Duo gave a short rhetorical laugh.
"No, this isn't a joke." 'If only it was a joke. I'd pull it and run the hell away from here.'
"Fine, let's go back to my office then," Heero held open the door and motioned for Duo to go through. On the way back to his office Heero seemed to loosen up a little. He asked about Hilde and the business, nothing specific just the usual, general questions about how life was going. Even being friends didn't mean they saw each other much. To Duo he still seemed uptight, and it disturbed him. 'Argh! I can't tell if he knows or not. Maybe he's just paranoid or tired…' It was almost as if not being sure was worse than knowing for sure one-way or the other. At least then he could plan how to approach and deal with the conversation. 'If he doesn't know…'
"Duo?"
"Huh?" he looked up.
"Duo, you've been standing outside my office here for two minutes. Want to come in or not?"
"Oh," he laughed uneasily, trying to boast a broad smile, "yeah sorry. I guess I drifted off there huh?" Heero moved aside for Duo to pass him and go into the small office. His eyes narrows he passed. Something did not feel right here.
"Duo stood by the window and looked out over the city. "Quite some view you've got here huh?" Heero's face seemed to soften a little, although from what emotion Duo couldn't tell.
"Yes. Yes it is." Heero shut the door and went over to his desk which he promptly sat down behind. Duo looked around the office, walking over to admire the bookcase. He let his eyes roam over the bookcase, his gaze finally setting on an overturned picture frame. Turning it over he froze. For at least the five hundredth time that day he wondered, 'does he know?'. He looked at the picture and could feel the tears pooling in the corners of his eyes. Desperate for them not to fall he turned his head only to be greeted with the scowling face of Heero Yuy. For once he was thankful for Heero's glare for it gave him an excuse to put the picture back down. He immediately walked over to one of the chairs opposite Heero's desk and sat down.
"So, where do we start then Duo?" Heero said starting to look over his desk for the files he had been given the day before, watching Duo out of the corner of his eye while he friend rubbed his eyes furiously to keep the tears away.
"Did… Did you read the papers that Lady Une sent out?"
"Ugh, no I didn't."
"Did you get them?" 'Maybe he didn't get them. Maybe he hasn't heard.'
"Yeah, I got them yesterday," he paused, extracting the files from the piles of paper that littered his desk. 'Oh, this isn't going to be easy.' "Why, what did they say?"
"Well that one there," he pointed to the top one, "is about the checking procedures and all that, that I am supposed to do and what you have to do to help me."
"Hn. And the other?" He moved the top one aside.
"Well, it's about Relena." Heero head snapped up and his eyes narrowed dangerously.
"What about Relena?"
"And the bomb yesterday…" It didn't matter what Duo said after this point; Heero wasn't listening anymore. In fact Duo didn't even know if he was Heero anymore, but he didn't have time to think about it as he came face to face with an entity so terrifying that Duo was almost scared to the point of meeting his namesake. 'Damn. Guess he didn't know…'