Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Wherever You Will Go ❯ Calm ( Chapter 9 )

Okay guys, a Duo-centric chapter this one. Please all READ AND REVIEW, and tell me what you think, okay? Cool. ^v^

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"OZ ID card? Check. Detonator?…check. Bomb…?" The braided boy carefully calculated the weight of the duffel bag, idly shuffling its contents about in order to find everything he needed for his mission. "And check!" he added, giggling. "Are these guys going to get a hiding or what!"

A lot cheerier than he had been before; in his ideal frame of mind for this mission, Duo walked down the busy, foreign street with an air of someone who had just taken the weight of the world off his shoulders. He had calmed down somewhat since he'd hid his gundam in the brush out of the city, and had even now begun to think a lot more rationally towards the argument from the night before.

…Though it's not like Heero acted that way when he bitched at me, Duo thought huffily. Even at the inner most mention of the other boy's name, the braided pilot felt his hackles rising in bubbling anger; though again he somehow suppressed the urge to scream in frustration.

He looked up and around in an effort to calm his quarrelling emotions; looking for anything to quell his turmoil…an image; something calm. Nothing presented itself as a viable option for his focus, and uncharacteristically annoyed once again, he raised his eyes to the heavens…

What met his eyes from above took his breath away, and not for the first time he found that he had forgotten just how beautiful earth really was; could really be. Unlike the bustling, smoggy and definitely polluted and ugly streets that he found himself walking on now, the contrasting scene from above caught his attention instantly, stopping him in his hurried tracks.

The garden that had, foremost glued Duo's eyes to that very spot, spoke volumes for the possibilities of such a polluted city. Trees, shrubs, and other green beautifying scenery cascaded over a second storey terrace from above, reaching out to the streets, highways and causeways below from behind a restraining trellace. In amongst them, beautiful flowers of all kinds drifted in and out of the full and elegantly placed leaves, adding reds, yellows, violets and startling white hues to the kaleidoscopic heaven above. Garden statues and Greek creeper-covered columns reached their arms upward, toward the cloudless blue sky, in an effort to grasp onto the sunny day; hoping to make it never change.

However, this was only part of what had caught the braided pilot's attention.

From what he could see on the corner to the heavens where he stood, the sun had just shone its glimmering head out into the open. Here, and everywhere; on, around, and above the angelic garden, an array of birds flew in sweeping arks in the broad expanse of sky, diving and twirling in a timeless dance. But it was not where they flew that made Deathscythe's pilot smile; it was how.

The birds; parakeets, doves, pigeons, and other species that for the life of him he could not name, swooped up and around, circling in a cyclic movements; their outstretched wings reaching for purchase on the warm breeze. They were, Duo realised, flying for freedom. The only thing that stopped them in their flight were the barriers of the buildings - the busy walls that were raised day in, day out; higher and higher into the invaded sky that was their home.

The birds sailed upwards then downward in a vivid pattern, winning brief victory and freedom from the binding walls that was their cell, before sinking down again into the confines of their territory. …Like us, Duo thought with a sad shake of his head. Fighting to get free and fighting for freedom - their place in the skies. Always seeming to go backwards instead of forwards, gaining their footing little by little until they get time and power enough to strike a blow. The braided boy laughed short and bitter-sweetly for a brief time, before it was drowned out by the oncoming, bustling trucks that were escaping from the confines of the traffic lights down the street.

"The story of my life," he muttered, before dragging his eyes away and turning to go on. But just as he was about to put his next food down, and step out onto the gap in the traffic on the road, something light bounced off his down-turned head, before landing on his shoulder, and finally settling on the worn concrete by his feet.

Picking it up, he recognised it as a perfect white rose - flawless only in the fact that it was out of its element, cut a hand-span down the stem by something sharp. Looking up, he noticed an old woman leaning over the gap in the thin trellace. She was thin - almost waif-like, and in turn, she was looking down at him with a sympathetic glance, that told him it had been her that had dropped the rose.

"Sorry love," she yelled, barely audible above the bustle in the traffic. She held up a pair of scissors and waved them at him in something akin to a silent explanation. "The little bugger slipped out of these before I could catch him." She snipped the scissors in demonstration. "You alright? Didn't get caught by the thorns did you? Damned thing that is…"

The woman said something else, but the horn of a passing truck drowned out what she was about to say.

"It's okay, I'm fine," Duo called up. "It's a lovely garden!"

A frown crossed her wrinkly face, and she pursed her lips in concentration before asking him to repeat himself. He did, and was met with a startling change. Years came off her complexion, and the furrows in her face disappeared, as a breeze whipped her loose white hair from her face.

"Why thank you, honey," she crowed in adoration, as her face lit up. "Keep the rose, you look like you need it. It's good luck - go on, have it."

Duo opened his mouth in a thank you, but before he could reply she disappeared from his view, and seemed to hide behind the terrace's border.

"Thank you," he whispered softly, before looking back to the flower. Despite the early season of spring, the rose was fully flowered and unblemished and unmarred by any imperfection. Its delicate petals flared outwards in an open-armed extent, and again Duo found himself smiling earnestly, and for more than a brief instant.

Deciding he had better head on to the OZ base where he was 'employed', Duo realised he only had a few blocks to go before he was there. And so he left, twirling the flower between his fingers, glimpsing a last glance at the birds and the garden before he crossed the road, and rounded the corner out of sight.

From the garden it took him little time to get to the base; a couple more blocks and a shortcut, and he was at the front entrance.

From where he stood he could see little of the building's layout, but he knew at least one thing: it shouldn't still be standing. The blast that Duo had set; the blast that was supposed to have gone off with a bang big enough to rock the entire district had been weakened, and no matter where Duo looked, he could see no obvious damage, or evidence of their blast.

Damn you, Heero. All that work gone to waste…

"Ah well," he sighed. "Better late than never." And with that, the braided boy stalked off, the anticipation of what was to come worrying him. Within twenty metres of the base, he changed his walk to suit his position; imitating the walks of those with a much higher rank and an air of authority. By five metres he was fishing through his bag for his fake ID. By one metre it was out and ready, and his false smile bearing wickedness was plastered on his masked face. He looked down at the rose still in his hand, remembering what the old lady had said about the flower being good luck, and his smile grew larger and more earnest; employee of the month, here I come, he laughed internally.

"Good morning, sir," a rusty voice greeted him, obviously tired of the same old line. "Your card please?"

Duo looked up into the eyes of one very fat employee master, and handed over his card. Only one thought crossed his mind as he fidgeted nervously with the tightly-clasped rose: Oh please, let this damned thing work…just let one thing go right for me…

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OKAY! This chapter is kind of a fill in, and here is where I think I'm getting myself into a bit of a bad habit. Though anyway, I also think that Duo maybe needed a little bit of a light relief - thus I gave it to him. Anyway, as always, PLEASE REVIEW!…as I could always do with people's opinions and criticism.

Cheers!

§kaara!