Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Magicians of Gundam Wing ❯ Reunion! ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter 8: Reunion!

Quatre stuck his head into the lounge where a dozen or so of his sisters were relaxing.

“Have any of you seen Roku?” Quatre inquired.

“Oh, he's right here,” Mirabel replied. She pointed at a pretty little girl with long black hair hanging loose around her shoulders.

The little girl bore a strong resemblance to Roku. She grinned at Quatre.

“What the…?!” Quatre gasped

“Now don't get upset, Quatre!” Mirabel said. “We were just talking about how we missed having little sisters to look after, now that we're all grown, and how if Roku were a girl we could have fun doing his hair like we used to do with each other, and he just changed sexes for us.” She smiled affectionately at Roku. “He's such a sweet child.”

Quatre stared. “Uh, yeah, I guess so…”

“Don't worry, Mama,” Roku said. “I can change back when I want to. It's easy.”

Quatre shook his head. “I just don't understand how this comes so easily to you. I spent months studying and practicing, and you just seem to know how to do things.”

Roku shrugged. “I don't know either. But when I think about something, I just know how to do it, that's all.”

“No wonder Merlin was afraid of you.”

“Merlin was afraid of Roku?” Mirabel exclaimed in surprise.

“Yeah. He said Roku was a natural wizard and that made him very dangerous.”

“Roku? Dangerous?” Mirabel snorted. “The man didn't know what he was talking about.”

“Well, in his defense,” said Quatre, “he was presented with a talking tiger whose mother was a man and who was born knowing how to do magic. Under the circumstances, I think he can be forgiven for being concerned.”

“Maybe.”

“Anyway, Roku, I wanted to let you know: I just got word that Papa Duo and Papa Heero are on their way here. Seems like Heero's still trying to hide out from Vice Minister Darlian and she doesn't have any reason to drop in here like she does the colonies. He was hiding out with Duo and Hildy, but she found him. They should arrive in an hour or so.”

“Oh goody!” Roku clapped her hands and giggled. “I miss my Papas.” She tipped her head to one side and smiled.

Quatre smiled back. “You sure are a cute little girl. But I think you better pick one sex and stick with it or you're going to confuse a lot of people.”

“It's kind of fun being a girl.”

“Only because you haven't hit puberty!” one sister quipped. The others all laughed.

Roku laughed too. “Ok. How's this?” He shimmered into his tiger form and sat neatly with his tail around his feet.

Two of Quatre's sisters immediately knelt down next to him to stroke his fur.

“Oh, you're so cute!” they squealed. “Your fur is so soft.”

Roku purred happily, flopped over onto his side and rolled onto his back so they could reach his belly.

“Now you've done it!” Quatre said with a grin. “He loves having his belly rubbed.”

The two women giggled and rubbed his belly. Roku waggled his paws.

“You are going to get so spoiled,” Quatre groaned. “I'll let you know when Duo and Heero arrive.”

“Ok,” Roku purred with his eyes closed and a contented smile on his face.

Just over an hour later, Quatre, Roku and a few of Quatre's sisters met Heero and Duo in the hanger. The two young men had hitched a ride on a supply shuttle, so everyone had to vacate the hanger quickly so the shuttle could be unloaded.

Duo scooped Roku up in his arms on the way out. “Hey scamp! I missed you. What have you been up to?”

Roku, in human form because they were in public, kissed Duo on the cheek. “I missed you too, Papa Duo! Mama and I have been doing all kinds of stuff. We went to the desert to meet Mama's friends and I got to fly the plane, but Mama wouldn't let me land it, and I played in the desert and caught all kinds of stuff, but I let it go so I can't show you, and Mama said I could drive a mobile suit, so I did and made really big footprints, but I was careful not to step on anything. The food was really good and it was spicy, but I liked it. We stayed there for a whole week almost and then we came here, and oh, Mama let me fly the shuttle a little on the way. It's different from flying the plane but really fun. So then we kind of told my aunties all about everything, so Mama and I have been showing them how we can do stuff and they think it's really neat.”

Duo stared. “You kind of told your aunties everything?” He looked at Quatre. “How much everything?”

“Umm…” Quatre mumbled. “Pretty much all of it.”

“ALL of it?”

Quatre flushed. “About Roku, anyway. It's not that big a deal.”

“You need not be concerned, Mr. Maxwell,” Mirabel said. “You may rely on our discretion. You know that most of us are scientists or physicians and we are fascinated by the abilities that Quatre and Roku demonstrate.”

Duo squinted at her for a moment and then looked relieved. “I guess it's ok.” He leaned toward Heero and whispered, “Our secrets are still in the bag, but you better keep those sprites under control.”

Heero frowned but said nothing.

“Papa Duo, do you want your stuff back?”

Duo grinned sheepishly at Quatre's suspicious stare. “No, Roku, that's ok. I'll get it from you later. Is it lunch time yet? I'm hungry.”

“Me, too!” Roku immediately agreed.

“You two are always hungry,” Quatre said.

“It's been hours since breakfast!” Duo complained.

“We had a snack on the shuttle,” Heero remarked.

“That was a while ago, too.”

“Yeah, a good hour, at least.”

“That's a long time. And it was a small snack.”

Heero rolled his eyes.

Mirabel smiled. “They'll be serving lunch to the workers in the mess hall in about an hour, but we have our own kitchen if you'd like to make something right now.”

“We could make a snack now and then have lunch in the mess hall,” Roku said. “I like eating in the mess hall. They have pudding!” His eyes sparkled. “I like pudding, especially chocolate.”

“Good idea, Roku,” said Duo. “A snack and then lunch sounds perfect to me.” He winked at Quatre and tickled Roku's side. “You don't get the pudding all over your face do you?”

“Only a little.”

“Oh, yeah!” Quatre said with an exaggerated nod. “There are large patches of skin still showing when he's finished.”

“Skin?” Heero questioned.

Roku nodded gravely. “I stay a little boy when I'm where the workers can see me.”

“Probably a good idea.”

“That's what Mama said.”

Duo put Roku down. “If you'll just show me the way to the kitchen, Miss Winner, Roku and I can whip up a little something for a snack to tide us over till lunch time.”

“Of course, Mr. Maxwell. Come this way.”

“Call me Duo. I get gray hairs every time someone calls me Mister.”

Mirabel chuckled. “Very well, Duo.”

Mirabel stayed to help Duo and Roku make their snack, although she mostly just watched. She sat with Heero and Quatre at the large kitchen table while Duo and Roku ate.

“They call that a snack?” Mirabel whispered to Quatre.

“It's dangerous to leave them alone with food,” Quatre whispered back. “The rest of us would starve.”

“I think you're right.” She turned to Heero. “Did you also enjoy your sojourn in the past, Mr. Yuy?”

“Call me Heero. And yes, it was quite interesting.”

She studied him curiously. “Did you acquire any, ah, skills, like Quatre did?”

Heero shrugged. “I learned to joust.”

“Don't be so modest, Heero!” Duo interrupted. “Tell her how you were knighted by King Arthur himself. We should all be calling him Sir Heero.”

Mirabel's eyes widened. “Really? That's amazing! You must be very skilled, Heero.”

“It's fighting,” Duo said. “There's nothing Heero's not good at when it comes to fighting.”

“But to be knighted by King Arthur! That's not something any other living person can claim.”

“That's true,” Heero said.

“Do you want to see his armor?” Roku asked.

Quatre stared. “You have Heero's armor?”

“Sure. I put it in my storage place before we left. I thought Papa Heero would want to keep it. It was made for him after all.”

Heero looked genuinely surprised. “That was very thoughtful of you, Roku. I did sort of regret leaving it behind.”

“I would very much like to see it later,” Mirabel said excitedly. “This is absolutely fascinating.” Then she paused. “What do you mean by storage place?”

“Oh, crap!” Quatre exclaimed.

“Oops!” said Roku. “I forgot we hadn't mentioned that.”

“It's all right, Roku. It was bound to come out sooner or later.”

Mirabel looked from one to the other. “So what is it?”

“Um… It's kind of hard to explain,” Quatre began.

“It's where I put stuff,” Roku said. He reached under his left arm and pulled out a book. “Papa Duo bought me this book when we were on the Quest.”

Mirabel's eyes went wide. “Where did you get that from?”

“My storage place.”

“And where is that, exactly?”

“Well…”

“It's inter-dimensional,” Quatre explained. “We're not really sure where it is or how big it is, but it's always attached to Roku and stuff put in it is weightless. It also might be outside of time, because food doesn't spoil there either.”

Mirabel's mouth fell open. “H… how…” she stammered.

“We don't know how he does it.”

“I learned it from Papa Heero.”

Heero held up his hands. “Don't look at me. I just like to keep a few spare knives hidden about my person. Roku was the one who started storing away anything he found laying about.”

“S… So what all do you have in there?” Mirabel asked in astonishment.

“You don't want to know,” Duo said quickly.

“You mean you don't want me to know what he's lugging around for you,” Quatre grumbled with a frown.

“I have all kinds of stuff,” Roku said cheerfully. “Some of it's mine; some of it's Papa Duo's; I have Papa Heero's armor; there's some food; I still have that cute little wine jug from when we had the picnic when Papa Heero and Papa Wu-Fei killed all those men; there are a couple of books; some charcoal and slate from my lessons; some coins; my spare clothes; a couple of ribbons for my hair and my brush; I have an extra bottle of oil for Papa Wu-Fei's back; I have the jar with Papa Wu-Fei's scales from when he shed the first time; I have the cloak that I wear when I have to be a boy and it's cold; there are some toys; there's a snake skin I found in the desert; and a ball of string.”

Mirabel stared.

“He wanted to put a mobile suit in there,” Quatre muttered to the others.

Heero pursed his lips and nodded. “Very practical.”

“Would it have fit?” Duo asked.

“I think I would have had to shrink it,” Roku said.

“Oh, yeah?”

“You're not helping,” said Quatre. “I told him no.”

Mirabel was opening and closing her mouth without making any noise. Finally, she managed to get something out. “You can shrink a mobile suit?” She looked rather alarmed.

“I think so, but Mama wouldn't let me try.”

“That's… That's… amazing.”

“Now you know why Merlin was afraid of him,” Quatre said.

“Yes, I daresay,” Mirabel replied faintly.

Another sister came into the kitchen. “Quatre, one of your friends just called to say he would be arriving shortly. A gentleman named Trowa Barton.”

“Trowa's here? I didn't know he was coming.”

Duo leaned over and whispered loudly to Heero, “I bet he didn't smile like that when he heard we were coming.”

“Trowa is special,” Heero replied. He lifted an eyebrow at Quatre.

Quatre stuck his tongue out. “I'm just glad to have a guest with some class,” he said archly. “It sounds like he'll arrive just in time for lunch.”

“Class AND timing,” Duo laughed.

They were indeed in the mess hall having lunch when Trowa arrived.

“Hello, everyone,” Trowa said as he joined them. “It's good to see you, although I didn't know Heero and Duo would be here.”

“We just arrived ourselves,” Duo replied. He lowered his voice. “We're hiding out from Relena. She keeps tracking Heero down.”

Heero groaned.

“That woman has some kind of Heero-radar,” Trowa laughed. “She must have marked him, like the sprites.”

“That's not funny,” Heero growled.

“Did you have a good time at the circus?” Quatre asked.

“Yes, I did. It was good to see Catherine again.” He smiled at Quatre. “I missed you and Roku, though.” He patted Roku on the head. “How have you been?”

“I've been having lots of fun, Papa Trowa.”

“Good.” Trowa looked pointedly at Quatre. “Do you have time to talk privately later? There's something I want to get caught up on.”

Duo, who unfortunately was talking a drink at this particular moment, nearly choked. “Can you keep those thoughts inside your own head?” he spluttered. “That image was just way too graphic.”

Trowa grinned. “Sorry!”

“I think you better spend some time with me this afternoon, Roku,” Duo continued. “I get the distinct impression...” he dabbed at his wet shirt with a napkin, “that your Mama and Papa Trowa want to be alone.”

“Ok.”

Duo looked around at the workers eating at neighboring tables. “Maybe we can get a game of some kind going. Dice or cards or something.”

Quatre sighed. “Please do not fleece my family's employees of all their hard-earned cash.”

“Me? Fleece?” Duo put on an innocent expression which fooled no one. He held up one hand and put the other over his heart. “I promise to use nothing but my native abilities while engaging in games of chance with others.”

Quatre closed his eyes and shook his head mournfully. “I should probably not allow this.”

“Trust me, Quatre! It'll be fine.”

“Now I know I should not allow this.”

“Don't worry about it, Quatre,” Trowa said. “How much can he win in one afternoon?” He leaned forward and touched Quatre's arm. “I really would like to see you alone now.”

“I'm abdicating my responsibility to my employees,” Quatre moaned. He stood up. “Let's go, Trowa. I don't want to see this.”

That night at dinner, Quatre hung his head guiltily and refused to meet the eyes of the many employees who were slumped dejectedly over their dinner trays, casting unhappy glances in Duo's direction. Duo, on the other hand, was happily devouring his food, chuckling gleefully between mouthfuls.

“How could I let this happen?” Quatre groaned. “Did anyone manage to hold onto any of their salary?”

“I think some people did, Mama. I made Papa Duo switch to dice after a couple of hours.”

“The damage was already done, though,” Heero added.

“Can I help it if people think about their cards when they look at them?”

“Reading minds during a card game is cheating!” Quatre declared.

Duo blinked innocently at him. “I tried not to.”

“Oh, that makes it all better! I should make you return all of it before someone starts a riot.”

“Tell you what,” said Duo. “I'll let them win some of it back from me after dinner.”

Quatre glared at him. “You better let them win most of it back.”

“Ok! Ok! Geez!”

“I think I'll come watch you.”

“Do you have to?” Trowa interrupted. “I was hoping we could continue our conversation from this afternoon.”

“Conversation?” Duo questioned with a raised eyebrow. “That's a new word for it. But speaking of that, maybe Heero and I could have a conversation, too, before I let people win their money back.”

Heero started. “How did I get involved in this discussion?”

“You didn't sneak off soon enough, Papa Heero.”

“I think you're right.”

“I think I'll go visit Aunt Mirabel while the rest of you are being naughty.” Roku slipped out of his seat and trotted over to where Mirabel was sitting. She held out her arms to him and he climbed into her lap.

“You don't suppose he'll mention anything?” Duo asked nervously.

“No. I don't so,” Quatre said. He frowned at Duo again. “But you better not be trying to avoid returning their money by dallying with Heero.”

“No, sir!” Duo saluted and jumped to his feet. “Just a quickie and I'll get right back to the reverse gambling. I promise.”

“A quickie?” Heero sighed. “You may as well not expect anything before morning, Quatre. See you at breakfast.” He trailed Duo out of the mess hall.

Trowa took Quatre's hand. “Can we go, too?”

Quatre smiled. “All right.”

Duo did not stay with Heero all night, but the gambling did not go quite as planned. In fact, even more people than before were looking unhappy at breakfast and there was a lot of grumbling.

“What the hell did you do, Duo?!” Quatre demanded. “You said you were going to let them win their money back!”

“I was trying! Is it my fault if these people suck at dice?”

“Dammit, Duo!”

Mirabel appeared and came to sit at their table. She had a worried look on her face. “Quatre, there is quite a bit of unhappy talk regarding your friend Duo.” She favored Duo with an apologetic smile. “How long are your guests planning to stay?”

“Hopefully not too much longer,” said a familiar voice and every turned in surprise.

“Papa Wu-Fei!” Roku shouted. He bounded over and leaped into Wu-Fei's arms. “I didn't know you were coming!”

“We just arrived,” Wu-Fei replied. He gave Roku a hug and put him down. Sally Po was standing beside Wu-Fei with a big smile and she patted Roku on the head.

“Hey, Sally!” Duo said.

“Hi, Duo. Up to your usual tricks, I see.”

Duo grinned sheepishly. “Well…”

“Our arrival appears to be timely,” Sally continued. “Lady Une sent us to fetch you. She'd like us all to join Zechs Merquise and Lucretzia Noin on Mars to help with the terra-forming.”

“Why us?” Heero demanded.

“Things have gotten rather lively around the space stations since your little… excursion. She's hoping things will calm down if you're out of sight for a while.”

“And she also wants to get Relena back on Earth,” Wu-Fei added. “There's a rumor she's planning to pay a social call on the Winner family and people are starting to speculate about what that might mean.”

Heero went pale. “Oh, no!” He jumped to his feet. “How soon can we leave?”

“If the Winners can spare us some fuel, we can leave for Mars right away.”

Heero turned pleadingly to Mirabel. “You have extra fuel, right?” He grabbed Duo's arm. “Duo can pay for it.”

“What?!” Duo exclaimed.

“Of course,” Mirabel said. “We'll be happy to help.”

“Good. The sooner we escape the Earth Sphere, the better.”

“Do you think Mars will be far enough?” Wu-Fei said dryly.

“I sure as hell hope so!”