23-September-2001
Title: An Honorable Enemy Part 3/8
Author: Enigma
Written: August - September, 2001
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: {wait and see}
Category: Angst, Mild Shonen Ai, Friendship, Morality, Squick, OOC
Enigma Story Category: G-Boys High Adventure!
Archive: GW Addiction, Sweet&Sweet
Warnings: Angst, very mild shonen ai, friendship, morality, squick, sermonizing on the treatment of prisoners of war, language, plot-related OOC, etc.
Reference Point: In case you don't recognize the OZ pilot, he appears in Episode 13 teamed with Lt. Alex and while he appears to be a real bastard there, I envision him differently here. The action in this fic fits into the series timeline between Episodes 10 and 12.
Disclaimers: I don't own any of the GW Universe. I'm not making any money off this story. It's written out of love, so please don't sue me.
Notes: When captured and badly beaten by OZ, Wufei's existence hangs in the balance. What could possibly motivate an enemy pilot to risk his own life to save him?
//thoughts//
As they passed a small village, the dark-skinned pilot decided to hurry up and find them a hiding spot since his run of good luck might not last forever. A small abandoned farm building seemed promising and he drove towards it, pleased to see a lean-to beside it that he could conceal the truck under even as he noted the burned out remains of what must have been a house.
"Their loss is our gain, Wufei. Looks like our luck is holding out after all," Mueller mentioned to the silent youth on the seat beside him as he pulled off the road and under the lean-to as planned.
After shutting off the engine, the renegade Specials pilot climbed out and went to see if the small building would be suitable or not. Glad to have a safe refuge for himself as well as the injured boy, Mueller rummaged through what he had assumed was just a storage shed and found some cans of food left as well as a substantial stack of blankets, and old clothes as well as a few tarps.
Frowning, he looked around and asked rhetorically, "Why the hell is all this in here?" then answered his own question as he spotted a washing machine in a corner. "Ah, I guess this was their laundry room? Or maybe a pantry? Maybe both? Either way, this is an even better place for us with all of this in it and as long as that bastard Tuberov doesn't come looking for us way out here, we should be set for a few days at least. That is, if the kid doesn't get sick from those injuries. Hell, I should've thought of that sooner and maybe tried to get some medicine or something, but there's no way I was going to take the risk."
Now worried about his companion, Mueller returned to the lean-to and carefully moved the still unconscious body from the passenger's seat of the truck into the shed, nestling Wufei down into a hastily assembled pile of tarps and blankets.
Looking around the room to familiarize himself with their temporary new home, Mueller spotted a light switch that he assumed would operate the single naked bulb that hung from the ceiling. Realizing it was a faint hope, he gave the switch a try and wasn't surprised by the continued semi-darkness.
"Ah, well, that was a little too much to ask for, now wasn't it?" He shrugged his shoulders and then smirked as he noted two curtain-covered windows, "Those ought to let enough sunlight in during the day and having that light on at night would be a dead giveaway that this place isn't deserted any more. I'll figure something out later."
Leaving Wufei in the relative comfort of the makeshift bed, he went back outside to stretch tarps over the truck, effectively hiding it from anyone who was simply driving past. Once confident that they were concealed from all but a building-by-building search, Mueller took a moment to open the back of the stolen truck searching for anything they could use in their current situation.
"Well, ain't this handy?" He smiled with relief as he lifted a first-aid kit out of the welter of electronics repair equipment he'd found, then went back to searching for more. A glint of matte black caught the corner of his eye and Mueller pushed aside a box full of assorted batteries and small parts to discover a laptop computer. "All right! It's one of the new direct satellite uplinks that I heard about while I was still in training. Instructor Noin said that those of us in Specials would get first shot at these babies, who knew I'd get one this way?"
After taking another moment to identify a few other things he'd come back for later, Mueller gathered up the first-aid kit as well as the laptop and made his way back inside.
Some of Mueller's good mood drifted away from him as he stepped back into the shed and he stopped to look at the youth who was now in his care. "Well, Wufei, I got us away from that bastard Tuberov but now we're in the middle of nowhere and it might take me a bit of doing to find us a way back to civilization later. I guess the first order of business will be to take care of as many of your injuries as I can on my own."
The dark-skinned young man laughed softly as he moved to place the first aid kit next to Wufei and then added off-handedly, "Shit, who knew how handy the Alliance policy of putting these things in all of their repair trucks would turn out to be? Oh well, let me see if the water is still running in here or not, okay?"
The tendency to keep talking to the unconscious teen was one that the Aries pilot never even stopped to think about.
The only child of a South African banker of Dutch descent and his wife of Namibian descent, Mueller had grown up in Johannesburg playing alone for hours on end talking to himself so he wouldn't feel quite so lonely. It didn't always work, but it gave the boy whose appearance was a unique blend of his parents' genetic backgrounds the lighter spirit that was so obviously helping him to cope with the current situation. [1]
Slipping off the blood-stained jacket he'd been wearing since the unexpected events of the morning, Mueller felt more comfortable in his white shirt and tailored uniform pants ignoring the boots he'd worn since setting out from Beijing for what was to have been a routine trip to another OZ base.
If his partner Lt. Alex hadn't been on assignment in Seoul, the slightly older man would've accompanied him to Shanghai and Mueller had little doubt that everything would've been different. Knowing the Cancer pilot as well as he did, Mueller knew that the zealous blond officer would've been glad to help capture Wufei but he would never have gone along with the treasonous actions that Mueller had taken afterwards. Single-mindedly focused on achieving Treize Khushrenada's ideals, Alex would never have allowed either of them to jeopardize their mission for the sake of an enemy soldier, especially not the one that had brought disgrace to their beloved mentor, Lucrezia Noin.
"Alex," Mueller mumbled to himself as he checked the utility sink by the washing machine and trying to open a stuck spigot, "When I finally get ahold of you just don't ask me too many questions, okay? I hate to lie to you, but damn it all to hell, this kid didn't deserve to be mistreated and killed by that lunatic!"
Allowing some of his anger from his earlier conversation with Tuberov to return, Mueller unwittingly found the extra strength needed to twist the jammed knob open, releasing a sudden flow of ice-cold water. "All right! Now that's more like it! As close as we are to that village, I'm going to assume this is safe to drink and I can use it to clean up Wufei. Speaking of whom, I'd best see if I can wake him up. If I remember my first aid training correctly, someone with a concussion needs that every so often just to see if they even can still wake up."
Pushing the morbid thought of what he might do if he failed to awaken the younger boy, Mueller turned to more practical matters. Within a few minutes, he had a basin of fresh cold water and some towels laid out next to the first aid kit. Rolling up his sleeves and hoping for the best, he finally pulled away the rough blanket that he'd wrapped the injured boy in before they escaped the base and took another look at the injuries he could see, relieved that they didn't look any worse than before.
Assuming that it might be a good idea to do it while his patient was unable to feel the pain, Mueller slipped Wufei's shoes off then gently grasped the obviously injured left ankle and manipulated it ever so carefully, trying to determine its status. The worried brunette was so focused on the fact that he didn't feel any broken bones rubbing against each other that the cry that suddenly erupted caught him off guard.
"Itae!" Coffee-dark eyes were wide with agony and glistening with confused moisture as they searched for understanding of the unexpected situation. Some of the earlier haze had returned to Wufei's mind and he looked at the back of the enemy soldier kneeling over him and knew that was the person causing him pain but he failed to recognize Mueller as friend instead of foe.
Frantic, the ShenLong pilot reached out one hand in search of anything he could use for self-defense, but before he could hurt either himself with the ill-advised actions or the man near him, Mueller turned quickly with a warm and apologetic smile on his face.
"Wufei! You're awake! Thank god!" He slid closer and reached out a hand to touch the confused boy's shoulder, silently urging him to stop trying to reach whatever it was he thought he wanted. "Sorry about that, I was checking your ankle. Um, how do you feel?"
"I feel like hell," he answered honestly, then narrowed his eyes briefly. Despite the concussion, Wufei's thoughts came back into focus and he relaxed perceptibly as he asked with a pained sigh, "Where are we, Mueller? Did we make it out of there or did we get caught like I assumed we would?"
"Oh ye of little faith!" The darker-skinned of the two grinned cheekily, "Of course I got us out of there, kid! Found us a nice little hideaway, too, so you're stuck with me for awhile, Wufei, like it or not."
A grateful smile tried to force its way to Wufei's lips despite the pain and he said, "Then you have my thanks." He wanted to add something more about wondering why an enemy soldier would risk so much for his benefit but instead a deep and tremulous moan unexpectedly forced its way past his lips and he groaned, "Gods, I think my head is going to explode."
"I doubt that," Mueller said with a frown even as he moved to carefully place a wet cloth over the blood encrusted side of the Chinese boy's face, gently beginning to cleanse the area around the wound and wondering if it would need stitches. "It hurts because you've got a concussion, Wufei, so just lay still and let me get this gash cleaned up and see what it might need."
Wufei bit back a sudden wave of nausea as the vertigo he'd experienced earlier tried to return as his head was moved from side to side as it was cleansed of blood. Forcing the bile back into his stomach, he gasped and then opened pain-filled eyes and asked, "How bad is it? I think that having my head explode might hurt less than this does anyway." The last sentence was added in a wry tone that was the best he could do to ask for pain relief without saying it directly, something his pride was not going to allow easily.
"Oh, you'll live, tough guy," Mueller smiled half-heartedly and patted him on the shoulder even as he scrounged in the first aid kit before pulling out some drugs and a suturing kit. Turning back to Wufei with a sadder smile, he gave him a few pills that included powerful pain relievers, muscle relaxants, broad spectrum antibiotics, and a sedative with a cup of water. "Here, take these, I'm going to have to stitch this thing up and it won't feel good while I do it. Might as well start knocking the pain back before I do it, okay?"
Frowning at the variety of colors and sizes of the pills, Wufei looked up at him and asked, "Do I want to know what all of these are or not? It looks like a handful of candy like this."
Mueller was again surprised by the boy's words and laughed out loud as he shook his head, "Nah, there's no reason to worry over what they all are since you'll probably just forget. I've got the packages here in case you want to ask me that again when I'm sure you'll remember it."
He chuckled as Wufei obediently swallowed them and remarked in amusement, "'Candy' he says," brown eyes rolled with amusement, "and here I woulda guessed that wasn't something you'd have much experience with."
"Oh?" Wufei asked with tired curiosity, "Why do you say that? Don't I look young enough to eat candy or something?"
"Oh, you look young enough all right," Mueller nearly growled, his earlier anger about Tuberov's cruel plans seeping into his words and then regretting it after he saw a look of hurt cross Wufei's face. "Hey, I'm sorry, that wasn't directed at you, Wufei, I've got a lot on my mind and it just kinda slipped out. Sorry."
Ordinarily Wufei would have nodded in understanding, but since any movement of his head at all sent waves of pain through him he just said, "That's all right, Mueller. I'm not myself right now anyway." The agony was wearing down his internal control and he admitted with a groan, "Gods, this hurts like hell!"
The dark-skinned OZ pilot glanced at him with compassion and then offered, "I bet it does, but I need to figure out a way to deal with that ankle of yours. I'm pretty sure it's sprained and not broken but it still needs treatment. Think you can cope with me putting an ice pack on it with an Ace bandage?"
"Ice? Where'd you find ice in here?" Wufei scanned the room in confusion for the first time and then added, "Where *are* we anyway? Is this a house or what?" >"I think it's an abandoned farm building of some sort, Wufei," Mueller answered, popping the cartridge within one of the "instant ice" packs that he'd found in the first aid kit and showing it to Wufei who felt foolish for having asked. The older teen continued, "We're in the countryside somewhere outside Shanghai, but I have no clue where we are other than that. It doesn't really matter as long as no one finds us until you're up to traveling *and* I find a safe place for you to go. As for me, well, sooner or later I'm going back to OZ if I can."
Wufei frowned, not at the pain that was streaking through him as Mueller pushed his pants leg up and applied the ice as planned, but at the realization that both of them were in great danger, yet he kept his concerns to himself for the moment.
When the treatment of the injured ankle was complete, Mueller turned back to him and saw the look of concentration on his face and asked, "What is it? What's wrong now, Wufei?"
Forcing back the fuzziness in his mind that indicated the drugs were already taking effect, the younger man said worriedly, "But, Mueller, you can't go back to them! They'll kill you after what you did. Wasn't that treason? Helping a prisoner escape and all?"
Mueller shrugged his shoulders and commented, "Yeah, it was *if* they figure out it was me that got you out of there instead of you just escaping on your own. But I'll think of something, don't worry about it. It was my decision to rescue you and I don't regret it for even a moment. Now, let me check your ribs, okay? They still hurting?"
"Huh? Oh, right. Yeah, they feel awful," Wufei looked at him with a glazed expression then pulled his tanktop up to allow Mueller easier access and he groaned as they discovered together that the bones seemed to be bruised but not broken. The smaller teen hissed in pain as Mueller applied some numbing cream to the area hoping that that combined with the pain killers would be enough for now and then gently pulled the shirt back down.
"So far so good," Mueller smiled encouragingly, "You're pretty tough for a kid, Wufei."
Wufei snorted in annoyance as the drugs loosened his control over what he did and didn't say to the enemy soldier and he remarked crossly, "I'm a Gundam pilot, baka, of course I'm 'pretty tough'!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, though, realization hit the Chinese boy and dark eyes rolled in their sockets as he groaned in self-directed anger then spluttered, "Oh hell, I didn't mean to say that! Um, does that make a difference, Mueller? I mean, you said you wanted to go back to OZ and now that you know, well, does this mean you'll go ahead and take me back after all? There's probably a price on my head and all, so…"
Angry and relieved all at the same time, Mueller interrupted him, "No, Wufei, I am *not* taking you back, so just relax. Besides, I was fairly certain I knew who you were when you were captured. Look, I think the drugs are getting to you, so how about you just lay still and let me stitch this up okay?"
The South African teen leaned over to remove the clean damp cloth he'd left on top of the head wound and wiped away the fresh blood that had gathered there. Of course, Mueller never mentioned that he was now even more glad that he'd taken the steps that he had certain that Tuberov would've destroyed the young man he was coming to consider a friend in spite of his trying not to.
Abashed, Wufei acquiesced, "Sure. Um, sorry about that, you've put everything on the line for me already and that was stupid and, well, I…"
"Wufei!" Mueller insisted gently, "Would you just be quiet? Even without knowing you very well I can tell this is mostly the drugs talking and if you'd just stop running off at the mouth you might not tell me anything else I either shouldn't know or don't want to know, okay?"
"Okay, I'll be quiet." Wufei answered contritely before yawning a couple times and blinking sleepily at Mueller, coffee-dark eyes growing heavy and sliding shut slowly, "Go ahead and do those stitches, I can't feel much right now. I'll probably fall asleep while you do that."
"Good," the brunette smiled kindly and patted him on the shoulder before threading the needle with the sterile silk from the kit, "You get some rest and I'll take care of everything else. I'll wake you if there's an emergency or something, but let's hope there isn't one."
A soft murmur of agreement came back to him as Wufei did indeed drift into a drug-induced haze that led to a deep and dreamless sleep.
Knowing the other boy was sleeping let Mueller relax a little as he tugged the severed skin back together and began the slow process of putting in over a dozen small stitches to close the gash. When the task was complete, he applied antibiotics and gauze, the bright white of the bandage against the pale bronze of Wufei's skin bothered him and Mueller commented to himself, "As soon as you're up to it, we need to get some protein into you, kiddo. I'm really glad you don't need blood or anything, but you need something for your body to use to heal."
After straightening up the mess he'd created, as well as placing a number of warm blankets carefully over the sleeping youth, Mueller stood and retrieved the laptop he'd found. Booting it up, he turned to the crucial tasks of figuring out how to find a safe refuge for his companion and then a way to be able to return to OZ himself even as he kept an eye on the dwindling sunlight and the condition of his patient. Thoughts as to how to safely continue to use the artificial light without giving away the fact that the supposedly vacant building was occupied ran in the back of his mind even as he started searching for even a vague clue to the solutions they both needed.
It was going to be a long night.
End Part 3
Author's Notes:
1. As to Mueller's background, Ryoko and I have discussed it any number of times and we each arrived at different ways to explain it. My version is based on South Africa and hers on India as described in the chilling "Predator and Prey" which can be read in the Rose Garden of Sweet&Sweet, the special spot for non-5x3x5 GW pairings:
http://www.angelfire.com/anime/saotomechan/sweetxsweet/rosegarden/am_predator_prey.txt
Enigma
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