22-Oct-2001
Title: Shadows and Reflections: The Parallel World of Gundam Wing (Prologue)
Author: Katana Rey
Warnings: AU, OOC, Shonen-ai (various pairings later)
Rating: PG 13
Notes: The adventure starts approximately one and half years after 'Endless Waltz'. The Gundam pilots would be in their late teens, about 18 to 19 years of age.
Quatre stared blankly at the round silver object held out to him for inspection, wondering what he was supposed to say or do.
He had been surprised, and pleased when his secretary had told him of Duo's call, the last time he had seen one of his old friends had been over a month ago, at the fundraising dinner where he ran into an uncomfortable looking Wufei, who had escorted Sally Po to the same function. The pair made a handsome couple, the dark blue silk tie and waistband of Wufei's tuxedo complementing the deep blue velvet gown Sally was wearing . He hadn't seen Duo in almost a year, the once daily emails growing less frequent till they stopped altogether, as Quatre lost himself in the hectic work schedule of running a multi-planetary corporation.
Quatre felt mild disappointment when Duo waved aside his enthusiastic greeting impatiently and immediately launched into his request for Quatre's assistance in examining an unusual object that he had discovered in the latest shipment of the salvage. When Duo showed him the actual object in question, Quatre was rendered speechless, his usual diplomacy deserting him as he tried to think of an appropriate response.
'Well?' Duo repeated again impatiently - Quatre felt a surge of memories overwhelm him at the sight of the familiar confident grin on the amused boy's face - tossing the round ball like object from one hand to another as he spoke. 'What do you think? Would you like me to bring it by Winner Tech Research Centre?'
Quatre smiled hesitantly, quelling his misgivings and nodded automatically. '... of course.' He couldn't tear his eyes from the frog like bulging eyes which had snapped open and the wide gaping mouth that opened wide in a broad smile, as Duo continued to toss the object to and fro. The creature looked as if he was enjoying being played with, Quatre thought as he said out loud, 'why don't you bring that... whatever it is... and we'll take a look at it. When can you bring it over?'
Duo crinkled his brow in careful thought, absently tossing the silver object to his side, where it rolled to a stop next to a partially disassembled mobile suit beam rifle, the energy register glowing a soft green, indicating that its power cell was still intact.
'I'm a little busy this week, so I'll book a flight on the shuttle for next week... I'll let you know when the booking's confirmed, okay? Oh and by the way Quatre, Heero said that he'd be dropping by sometime tomorrow to take a look at this guy as well. Shall I ask him to come along as well?'
Quatre widened his eyes slightly, surprised by mention of the Japanese pilot's interest in the object. He felt mildly discomfited as he realised that he had not been the first to be told of Duo's discovery.
'Of course, Duo. I'd love to see Heero again...'
Quatre trailed off hesitantly when he saw Duo narrow his eyes suspiciously at his enthusiastic reply and once again felt himself floundering, puzzled by the difference in the way Duo talked to him now, compared to the easy banter he used to share with him in the past.
'Of course...' Duo replied with a sardonic glint in his purple coloured eyes. 'I'll be sure to tell Heero how much you missed him.' He finished shortly.
'So... who else have you told about this...' Quatre flushed faintly, feeling embarrassed as he searched frantically through his memory for the name of the wretched object.
'Widget.' Duo said with an amused grin, adding with a shrug. 'Just you and Heero, and the other two, of course. Trowa wasn't really interested and as for Wufei,' Duo chuckled briefly as he remembered the way the indignant Chinese had berated him for wasting his time on frivolous trinkets. 'Well, he wasn't too impressed. But Heero thought that it might be worth taking a closer look at Widget, especially after I told him that it ate his motorbike.' Duo finished with an outrageous grin, his eyes dancing at the thought of the blank expression on Heero's face when he told him about the loss of his favourite bike. 'Mind you, Heero did suggest that the best way to learn more about Widget is by taking it apart, but I decided that it deserved another chance and I remembered hearing on the news about your new R & D Centre on Earth, so...'
Quatre relaxed slightly as he felt more at ease with the flow of the conversation.
'And I'm glad you called.' He replied, his voice warming with genuine happiness at the thought of meeting his old friends. 'Why don't you and... Duo?' Quatre broke off sharply as Duo's attention was distracted by something happening off screen.
While Quatre was talking, Duo had heard a crunching noise in the background and had turned his head reflexively, catching sight of Widget gobbling up his way through the large mass of the beam rifle. He cried out involuntarily when he saw Widget stretching its mouth around the still active power-cell of the rifle and lunged forward, not hearing Quatre cry out his name behind him as he broke into a run.
Quatre watched the empty screen in mounting concern as minutes passed and Duo failed to reappear. Then a brilliant flash of light enveloped the screen, forcing the blond boy to turn away from the blinding burst of energy. When Quatre returned his attention to the screen, blinking painfully to clear the spot filled vision, the screen was filled with fuzzy lines and the image of Duo's office had disappeared. After frantically trying to re-establish contact with Duo for the next half hour, Quatre decided to contact Hilde, Duo's partner and ask her to find out what had happened.
When Hilde finally managed to get back to him three hours later, her face drawn with worry and fear, she told him that Duo was gone, that her partner was nowhere to be found in the Colony. Hilde added that she had already called Heero and told him of the disappearance, and that Heero had told her that he'd be departing for the Colony immediately on hearing the news.
Quatre talked to Hilde for a while, trying to calm her fears, as well as his own, and learned that Wufei was also on his way to the Colony, changing his plans to visit a nearby Colony when Hilde had called. Quatre asked her not to touch anything in Duo's office, adding that he was also arranging to fly out on the next day, then his cheeks flushing with awkward embarrassment, requested Heero's contact number. Hilde's startled eyes betrayed her surprise that he needed to ask her, but she made no comments and gave Quatre the number for Heero's private comm-line.
'Tell Heero that I'll be waiting at home when you speak to him.' Hilde said briefly, her face grey from worry and fear over her partner's loss. 'He can collect the key to the yard then...' she bit her lips, trying to hide her unspoken fear that Duo may never come back. 'I don't...' Hilde couldn't hide her misery as she looked around the familiar untidy pile of objects strewn all over Duo's office, her body tensing visibly as her eyes fell on the blinking eyes of the round silver ball that seemed to be leering at her. 'I don't want to be here... not now...'
Quatre nodded in mute sympathy, he wished that he could tell her that Duo would be found, and returned to them, safe and sound, but he couldn't. He couldn't mouth empty reassurances that he himself didn't believe in. He still didn't understand exactly what had happened to Duo, but he suspected that it had something to do with the innocuous looking creature, Widget and said as much to Heero, when the agitated Japanese pressed him to remember the exact sequence of events from the time when Duo had broken off his conversation to his screen going blank.
'From what Duo told me, Widget is some kind of a matter-energy converter, but there was no indication, till now, of what all that energy was needed for...' Heero said, a frown wrinkling his smooth brow as he tried to pierce together all the information leading to Duo's disappearance. 'Assuming that Widget was responsible for his disappearance, I'd guess that somehow it is capable of transporting physical matter from one place to another. The question is, to where?'
Quatre nodded in agreement as he picked up the thread of Heero's thoughts. 'Given that Duo should have contacted me by now if he was anywhere within the solar system...' Quatre grimaced, not wanting to follow that line of thought any further.
Heero shrugged, refusing to give up his hope that his friend was somewhere, safe and waiting for him. 'I think that if Widget is responsible, we need to find out where it sent Duo, then if we can figure out how to duplicate the same set of conditions, follow him to whereever he went and bring him back. If...', Heero sighed wryly, adding, 'at that stage, we know how to use Widget to get back home.'
'We'll find him Heero.' Quatre said confidently, his eyes brimming with excitement as he thought through Heero's conjecture. 'Given that Widget is using energy to generate a rift in the space continiuum, I can figure out how to find out where it sent Duo, by determining the exact phase variance of the energy field generated Widget at the time of Duo's disappearance.'
The two boys continued to converse for a while longer, discussing the list of equipments Quatre would need to bring. Heero, insisting on going through every single item that might possibly be useful in their quest to find their friend. As he stared at the preoccupied Japanese, absently noting the way Heero's unruly dark brown hair fall untidily over the steel blue eyes, softened with unvoiced worry, Quatre experienced a sharp pang of loneliness. He had sensed a distance between himself and the two pilots during his short conversations, the uncomfortable sensation of the gulf yawning between himself and the others being, he admitted to himself, of his own making. Still, he had envied the easy, casual way in which Heero and Duo had spoken of each other, and of Wufei, indicating a familiar closeness based on regular and constant contact. Quatre felt disheartened, asking himself with regret, since when had he grown so far apart from them that he questioned every nuance of their speech and body language?
Quatre picked up the gilt framed picture of the five boys, all wearing the same uniform and sighed ruefully as he stared at the bright smile on his younger self, a casual arm thrown around the smiling boy who stood next to him, the thick chestnut braid dropping over one shoulder, holding out a hand with his fingers making a V sign. He smiled slightly as he traced the outline of the quiet, solemn faced boy in the middle with his arms hanging down his sides, amused as always by the mutinous glare in the large blue eyes staring out of the thick dark brown fringe. He had argued with Heero for over an hour, trying to persuade silent boy to agree to take the group picture. Heero had given in only when Duo, tired of listening to Quatre's never ending list of arguments, went over to the stubborn boy and grabbed him by the arm and told him that he was going to be in the picture, one way or another. Trowa had agreed to talk Wufei into joining in, though Quatre never did find out exactly what he said that made the uncooperative Chinese give in so quickly. In the photo, Trowa had a faint smile lurking in the corners of his mouth, and the tranquil green eyes held a spark of smug amusement. While Quatre had privately suspected that he could detect a hint of sulky annoyance in the onyx coloured eyes.
In the hectic days that had followed their struggles against Mariemaia, Quatre had found himself drifting apart from the other pilots, as he was forced to deal with one crisis after another. Eventually, even Duo stopped calling, as Quatre came up with one excuse after another for failing to make yet another get together. Quatre knew that if he lost Duo, if he were to lose any of his friends, he would be losing an irreplaceable part of himself... this time, he swore to himself, nothing would stand in the way of being with his friends...
'I told him not to meddle with that stupid looking thing...'
Wufei scowled, masking his deep fear that he would never see his friend again with poorly disguised irritation.
Heero sighed, not bothering to respond, knowing that Wufei was as worried about Duo as he was. When he had arrived at the salvage yard, he found Wufei waiting for him, the black eyes burning with frustration and aimless anger. Heero had been listening to Wufei raging on for the last hour, letting his friend vent his rage over their helplessness to find Duo, or even to know what had happened to him.
He was just glad that Wufei had headed straight for the yard without first stopping at Hilde's apartment, Heero had been shocked at the deep worry lines in Hilde's pale face when she opened the door. He had always known that the pretty girl had feelings for Duo, but he hadn't realised just how deep or strong they were, till he looked into the devastated dark eyes and saw her despair. Hilde passed him the key to the yard wordlessly and Heero found himself hesitating in front of the open door, unwilling to leave her alone with her pain. Managing a wan smile, Hilde told him, her voice drained of emotion, that Trowa would be arriving on the next shuttle, and be at the yard in another five hours. She had always appreciated Heero's small acts of kindness towards her, knowing that he felt genuine sympathy for her in her helpless love for the exuberant American.
'Catherine is coming with Trowa.' Hilde said, and saw the dark blue eyes brighten with relief at the thought of the gentle young woman. 'I'll be all right Heero. Really.' She smiled bravely and on an impulse, hugged the handsome boy in wordless gratitude. 'Go... Wufei should be there by now. Please...' Hilde pleaded, 'I'm counting on you and your friends to find Duo and bring him back.'
Heero stood mutely in the doorway, weighing his need to go to the salvage yard as quickly as possible with his sense of responsibility towards Hilde, wondering if he should stay with her until Trowa and Catherine arrived but Hilde insisted that she'd be all right and told him to go. Heero stopped to take one final look at the pale faced girl, her dark eyes glittering with unshed tears. Feeling awkward and clumsy, Heero blurted out impulsively, surrendering to his desire to give the grieving girl a tiny spark of hope to hold on to.
'Take care of yourself Hilde. I'll bring him back. I promise.'
Heero left quickly before the overwhelmed girl could say anything in response. As he left Hilde's apartment, Heero had sworn to himself that he would do everything in his power to keep his promise. He sighed heavily as he continued to search through the rubble of half melted metal and plastic, desperate to find the one thing that would make it possible for him to find his friend.
Wufei looked around the untidy office with a dark scowl, marring the porcelain perfection of his feature, disapproving of the sheer amount of junk piled around Duo's desk, and on the chairs. He had spoken loudly against waiting for Quatre's arrival before they went into the office but now, looking around the desolate room, he admitted to himself privately, that Heero had probably been right when he pointed out that without Quatre and the specialised equipment he would bring, they were probably wasting their time.
Wufei hated feeling helpless and burned with the need to do something, anything, instead of just standing around uselessly in Duo's office, waiting for Heero to finish digging through the metal junk-heap. When the Japanese pilot stood up with a satisfied grunt, a silver round ball in his hands, Wufei bit back an angry curse as he recognised the big bulging eyes staring up at Heero, studying his bearer with child like curiosity.
'Heero, get away from that cursed thing...'
Wufei shouted, the pitch of his voice rising in panic, even as he sprang forward to take Widget out of Heero's hands, by force if necessary and slammed to a halt as the creature opened its mouth, the wide grin threatening to split itself in half, and spoke. 'What in the world...' Wufei whispered under his breath as he listened in stunned amazement to the croaking voice issuing from the little metal ball-like object.
' ...friends?'
Wufei stared at the metal creature in stunned amazement, and at Heero, who didn't look in the slightest bit surprised by the fact that Widget was able to talk.
'Duo never mentioned anything about this?'
Wufei asked, a faint hint of annoyance tinging his voice as he looked at Heero for an answer.
Heero's lips quivered slightly, and the Japanese spoke mildly, knowing how much Wufei hated being left out of anything.
'He only told me this morning. He would have spoken to you but he wanted to talk to Quatre first I think. Duo was so excited when he spoke to me...' Heero's voice trailed off, his face shadowed by doubt and fear as he remembered the look of happy anticipation in Duo's eyes, the last time he had spoken to him. 'Besides which,' Heero's voice lightening, the Japanese looked at the worried Chinese, a gleam of mischief lighting his eyes. 'Duo's still annoyed with you for telling him not to bother you with a poor excuse for an all purpose rubbish-bin.' Heero grinned as Wufei blushed in abashed embarrassment and annoyance at having his ill chosen words flung back at him.
'He said that if he told you about Widget talking, all you'd say is,' Heero deepened his voice slightly, trying to imitate the flippant way Duo spoke, 'huh, so the rubbish bin can talk, obviously whoever built it has the same twisted sense of humour as you. And I'm telling you again, don't waste my time, Maxwell.' He grinned as Wufei muttered darkly about words being taken out of context and added with a hint of smug amusement, 'and then Duo said that he would make you eat your words.'
Wufei snorted in disdain and turned his attention to the wide eyed Widget, noticing the way the bulging eyes of the little ball-shaped object tracked from one speaker to the next as they spoke, almost as if it understood everything they said. He knotted his eyebrows in puzzlement as he found himself idly wondering how something without any ears could actually listen, but decided against bothering Heero with such mundane trivialities.
Wufei opened his mouth to tell Heero to put Widget down one more time, only to watch with a gaping mouth as Widget flew up from Heero's hand and hovered in the air, keeping its round eyes fixed on the intense blue eyes scrutinising its every movement.
'Where is my friend?'
Heero spoke to the round object, taking care to speak in a soft and gentle voice, deciding not to treat it as a potential hostile and praying silently that he was making the right choice.
Behind Heero's back, Wufei started to move forward, then hesitated as Widget turned around to look at him, attracted by his movement. He found it hard to take the round creature seriously, the frog like appearance of its 'face' endowing Widget with the charm of the ridiculous. Wufei curled his hand around the gun at his side, he didn't know whether he should wait and let Heero continue in his attempt to communicate with the creature or give in to the impulse to simply shot it. But if Heero was right about Widget being their only hope for rescuing Duo, where-ever he was... he hated dealing with the unknown, in his opinion, anything you didn't know was a danger until proven otherwise.
'friend...' Widget sighed and giggled to itself mischievously. '...friend gone...'
'Yes.'
Heero answered thoughtfully, his eyes fixed on the hovering creature as he thought rapidly over possible options, trying to decide which one was the most likely to get Duo back. Widget was obviously sentient, though he didn't know to what degree and equally obviously, was responsible for Duo's disappearance. And since Widget had sent Duo somewhere... Heero's mouth tightened, his eyes blazing with grim determination as he decided to take the simplest course of action.
'My friend is gone. Where did you take him?' Heero asked gently, keeping his voice low and calm.
'...friend...'
Widget answered with a blissful smile.
Wufei fought back the urge to scream at the round metal object, gritting his teeth as he obeyed the warning flash in Heero's eyes and remained silent. He wished that he could think of a better idea than trying to persuade the silly looking metal creature to cooperate with them but he couldn't, and Wufei had to admit that at least Heero seemed to know what he was doing... involuntarily Wufei found himself crossing his fingers surreptitiously behind his back...
'Widget take friend...'
Widget asked hopefully, a big smile adorning his froglike face.
Heero hesitated momentarily, then gave a firm nod.
'Yes. Take us to our friend Widget. Now.'
Heero bit back an involuntary cry, his eyes dazzled by the brilliant white light that razed the darkness from the small yard, shooting upwards to create a pillar of pure light that illuminated the night sky of the Colony. He and Wufei watched in silent wonder, their arms raised to shield their unprotected eyes, staring at Widget, its body glowing with white hot heat as it rose further up into the air; then two metal bars expanded out of the orb's body, creating a thin archway with a shimmering curtain of rainbow lights that pulled outwards to the surrounding metal frame, exposing an empty blackness in its middle.
'You aren't going through that.'
Wufei spoke flatly and Heero turned around to face his angry friend, a faint warmth stirring in his chest at the visible agitation etched on the pale gold mask glaring at him. He looked down and stared at the tightly gripping hand around his forearm until Wufei slowly released him, a faint flush colouring Wufei's pale cheeks.
'You don't know that Duo is on the other side.' Wufei spoke again, his voice roughened with strong emotions. 'If you go through that, we might end up with two people to look for, instead of just one. It's not safe Heero.'
'You've changed since the war.' Heero said, unexpectedly changing the topic, 'you never used to worry about whether the mission was dangerous or not. Back then, the only things you cared about were honour and duty. And justice... whatever you thought that was. It's not like you to put your own safety over the mission objective. Don't you think that finding him is worth any risk?'
Wufei stiffened, his back snapping to attention as he bit back an angry retort, swallowing his wounded pride.
'In case you haven't noticed, Heero, we are no longer at war. What is it that Relena says all the time in her speechs? That this is the dawn of a new era. A time when we finally learn what it is like to live in peace. To celebrate the preciousness of each and every individual life, and to discover enrichment and joy through our diversity, instead of being used to further the causes of conflict. Well, you know something Heero? She's right. Yes, my safety is important to me, Heero. And so is yours. And Duo's. Wasn't that what we fought for? So we could live in a world that values and cares for the sanctity of one individual life? Damn it. I'm worried about Duo as well, but what good are we going to be to him, if we plunge headlong into that thing, without a clue about what we are doing or where we are going to end up?'
Heero stared back mutely, knowing in his heart that Wufei was right but he was desperate, especially since he had no idea whether or not they could get Widget to duplicate its actions when Quatre finally arrived. He thought frantically, once again racing through the possible consequences of his choice then stopped, his eyes frozen on Widget as the rainbow lights slowly expanded inwards from the metal diameter, swallowing up the black emptiness that represented his hope for rescuing his friend.
In an instant Heero acted, adroitly dodging the hand that Wufei flung out, as the Chinese boy suddenly realised his intent, and pushed forward with his feet, flying through the air and falling headfirst, arms cirled protectively around his face, into the blackness in the middle of Widget's arch.
'... friend... gone...'
Widget smiled smugly at Wufei and even as the angry boy lunged forward with an anguished cry, the arch vanished in a glittering shower of light and sparks as it crumbled into metal bits at the feet of the Chinese pilot, who stared in stunned silence at the round silver object rolling happily to his feet. Wufei stared bitterly at Widget, its innocuous appearance belying what he had just witnessed, and swore furiously to himself about the cursed stubbornness and stupidity of his friends, barely managing to restrain his impulse to kick the helpless looking creature.
'... friend?' Widget crooned softly to Wufei as he picked it up from the floor and unceremoniously deposited it amongst the clutter of papers and other junk, strewn over Duo's desk.
'I'll give you friend.. you treacherous...'
Wufei bit off the rest of his comment, settling for an indistinct curse to vent his temper. He pulled the tie from his hair and ran his hands through the sleek black locks in distraction, the raven strands falling in disarray over his face as he thought about how he was going to explain to his friends that he had stood by and watched helplessly while Heero jumped into the unknown doorway created by the ridiculous looking creature.
Quatre studied the smiling creature thoughtfully, his eyes switching between the happily hovering creature and the slowly spinning three dimensional holographic image of Widget's inner structure, closely examining the readouts on the nature of the unusual energy fields that surrounded its inner works. It had taken over three week to finally figure out that Wiget was somehow managing to convert the enormous energy generated when it converted the mass it had 'ingested', to creating a vortex that ripped a temporary hole in the space continuum, creating a bridge between their world and for want of a better word, other dimensions. Widget didn't actually transport matter from one location to another, it transformed it, changing the energy matrix binding the molecules of every object which passed through the gateway it created, so that it was no longer a part of this universe, being attuned to the physical laws of another reality.
He rubbed the temples of his forehead, feeling tired and desperately worried about his lost friends. It had been a terrible shock to find that they had not only lost Duo but Heero as well, and Quatre couldn't help feeling responsible for the whole mess. If only he had managed to get to the Colony earlier... he should have left the minute Hilde had told him of Duo's disappearance instead of taking the time to organise his business affairs to cover his absence... Quatre stopped himself as his thoughts spun round and round on the same wheel of self-blame and guilt that had tormented him from the time he arrived at the salvage yard.
He looked up, a gentle smile lighting his face as a steaming cup of hot chocolate appeared at his side.
'Thank you Catherine.'
He wrapped his hands around the hot mug, taking comfort from the sweet liquid as he sipped slowly. Quatre didn't know how he would have coped in the past three weeks if she hadn't been there. Hilde had been almost hysterical when she learned of Heero's disappearance, blaming herself bitterly for his impulsive act. Quatre winced as he remembered the angry recriminations hurled at him by Hilde, feeling that there was some justice in her accusations that he had allowed himself to place his duty to business and to the Colonies, before his friendship with Duo and the others. But the cold silence that had fallen over his quiet friend while Hilde had raged against him had been worse, leaving an aching desolation in his heart. Quatre had been deeply grateful to Catherine who had stepped forward, when it was clear that her brother could not, or would not be defending his friend, trying to calm the overwrought girl and reassuring Quatre that he wasn't to blame in any way for what happened with Duo, or Heero.
Ever since their arrival, Trowa had been closeted with Wufei, carrying on a non-stop discussion in low voices, their conversations halting whenever he entered the room and Quatre had felt hurt by their seeming rejection of his company.
Until Quatre finally discovered why his friends had acted wary and distant around him when he received a call from Rashid, requesting him to return immediately to Earth to take care of an emergency situation involving the latest Colony building project.
'I want you to leave behind the scanning equipment when you return to Earth.'
Wufei said bluntly, his eyes remaining hard and cold as he observed the look of worry on Quatre's face when he closed the link to Rashid.
'Wha..' Quatre faltered in surprise as he stared at his friends, who stood defensively in front of the equipment strewn all over Duo's Office. 'I'm not going anywhere.' Quatre stated firmly, his eyes widening as he saw the unmistakable look of relief exchanging between Trowa and Wufei. 'You... you thought that I'd leave you...' Quatre stammered, feeling a sudden pang as mixed feelings of guilt and anger warred in his chest, 'you can't seriously think that I'd leave now. Not when we're so close to finding them!'
Trowa's voice was soft, his eyes warming as he looked into the Quatre's large blue eyes, feeling a deep sense of remorse when he saw the depth of hurt they had unthinkingly inflicted on their friend.
'I'm sorry Quatre... it's just that...'
'We weren't sure how long we could count on you.' Wufei finished Trowa's sentence, the black eyes still hard with cold suspicion. 'You haven't exactly had a lot of time for us in the past year. And since your business was so important... we figured that...'
'That I'll bail out when it came to a choice between my work and you?' Quatre asked, bristling with righteous outrage. 'Damn it Wufei, I would trust you with my life. If it came to a choice between my work and my friends... it's not even a choice. I'd be at your side in an instant. I know that I've been thoughtless in putting my work first all the time, but I don't deserve to be questioned like this. You don't have the right to decide for me. And I'm staying. I'll be here as long as it took to get both of them back. To hell with my responsibilities to Winner Tech and to hell with you.'
Wufei stared at the furious eyes burning into him and nodded in silent apology, holding out his hand in a gesture of renewed trust, waiting silently until his angry friend slowly took his hand, their fingers clasping together in a wordless promise. Trowa came forward and placed his hand over the clenched hands, a glimmering smile shining in the emerald green eyes.
Quatre was grateful that the misunderstanding between him and his friends had finally been cleared. Based on his findings, getting Heero and Duo back was going to be harder than he had first anticipated and in the days to come, they'd need to rely on each other, more than ever. Once he had finished his preliminary findings, Quatre had been appalled by the implications of his discovery and had checked and rechecked his data, before he accepted the painful dilemma Widget had placed them in. He had asked the other two to join him in Duo's office, to tell them of the terrible choice they were going to have to make.
Wufei felt his heart thudding against his ribcage as he listened to Quatre explain about how he had managed to finally figure out the energy signatures that indicated the particular dimensions leading from the portals generated by Widget and tried to suppress his surging hope, fear filling him as he stared into Quatre's guilt ridden eyes. He felt Trowa's hand tightening over his own as the blond boy finished his explanations in a dry, distant voice.
'... what we have to do now, is to decide which one we're going to go after first, Heero or Duo? And before you make that decision, there's something else that you need to be aware of. My scans of the two dimensions have indicated that somehow the portal leading to Heero's world is unstable. I don't know what's causing the energy fluctuations my sensors are picking up, but it appears that the energy signature of the world Heero has gone to, is in a state of continuous flux and if I lose the current lock, I might not be able to find it again.'
'What if we separate into two groups? Between the three of us, we should be able to go to both Heero and Duo's worlds simultaneously...' Trowa suggested, the uncertainty in his voice being the only indication of the chaotic tempest of emotions tearing inside him.
Quatre shook his head in despair, his eyes dropping to the floor, not wanting to see the look of painful disappointment in his friends' eyes as he explained.
'I can't just open the portal to Heero's world and hope that he'll come back though, I'll have to go through myself and look for him. And take Widget with me. Once there, I should be able to recalibrate Widget to go to Duo's world. If I send either or both of you into Duo's world without me, then run into unforseen problems in Heero's world...'
Wufei nodded, sparing the blond boy from having to spell out the possible consequences.
'So... we go for Heero first.' He clenched his fist, looking up with renewed determination and hope in the onyx-black eyes as he spoke confidently. 'Then, with his help, we'll find Duo and bring them both back.' Wufei grinned suddenly as he added, 'you do know that Duo's never going to forgive us for putting him second, don't you?'
A small round metallic object burped softly to itself and blinked its large eyes solemnly, slowly waking from its long slumber by the warmth of the hands cradling it gently. It opened its mouth slightly, wearing a grin that threatened to split the little object in two, as it stared back at the pretty violet eyes staring at it in fascination and amusement.
'Oy, Hirde!'
Duo turned and slid down the heaped junk, still holding on the funny looking thing that he had found as he was inventorying their recent additions. A pretty black haired girl turned around with an indulgent smile, as the tall man started running towards her, his heavy brown braid flying out behind him. She wondered what he had found this time, last time he had gotten this excited, they had almost lost the entire colony, when Duo's tinkering with the beautiful doll had activated the dangerous android. It had taken the assistance of the Preventers, as well as the loan of Tallgeese operated by Zechs, before the lovely killing machine was finally stopped. And if Quatre hadn't argued so passionately on Duo's behalf, not to mention agree to pay for the hefty fines, both she and Duo would have been booted out of the Colony by the justifiably angry mob, who had stormed their junk yard when the mysterious machine who called herself Alita had finally been destroyed.
'What is it this time Duo?' Hirde called back, her hands on her hips as she regarded little round object that was grinning at her from the hands of the excited man with amusement. She had to admit that the little thing was kind of cute. 'Well, it looks quite harmless anyways.' She commented lightly as she held out her hand for the white ball like shape.
Brrrrriiiiing.
Quatre stuffed his face in the pillow and grabbed wildly for the alarm clock.
Brrriiiiiing. Brrrrriiiiiiiing.
He started to curse as he forced opened bleary eyes and dragged himself to the edge of the bed, desperate to silence that awful ringing.
'Yes.' He snapped crossly, thinking that he really had to remember to pull out the plug before he went to sleep.
'This is the most incredible thing that I've ever seen. I'm coming to see you. I want you to get all the others together now. And try not to let anyone else know. Shhhh. This is so cooooool.' The voice broke off abruptly as its owner started to chortle uncontrollably.
Quatre rolled his eyes as he realized who was calling him in the middle of the night. Who else would it be? He reminded himself sourly remembering the amount that he had to fork out last time he got a call from Duo.
'Duo, do you realize what time it is here on Earth?' He spoke acidly, feeling bad tempered.
'Time?' Duo shrieked in his ear, forcing Quatre to wince painfully away from the receiver, 'Who care about time! This is the most incredible discovery of our times. I can't believe that someone just threw him away like this. Man. This is the greatest. Look Quo, I'm busy right now. Just do what I said, okay? Get all the guys together. Your place. Ill 'be on the first shuttle out.'
Quatre stared at the silent phone in his hand and counted silently up to twenty then slammed the phone back and dug back under his doona, swearing loudly as he tossed and wriggled, trying to tuck the bedclothes snugly around himself. He swore that he was going to… wait a minute. Quatre's eyes snapped open suddenly. Did Duo say something about a discovery? The blond man paled as he remembered the last time his friend had 'found' something. Oh no. Not again, Quatre groaned as he struggled out of the snug cocoon. And this time, he said he was bringing it here, to his home. Quatre looked around his stylish bedroom with concern as he remembered the smoking ruin that had been left after Alitas rampa'ge. He decided that he would do as Duo asked and assemble the other Gundam pilots. So that they could help him to kill Duo before he destroyed his home.
'You call this an emergency! I was on a mission you idiot! I can't believe you made me waste my time on this, this…' Wufei choked and shook an outraged finger at the little object that was staring at him with frightened looking eyes. 'Whatever the hell this is.'
Trowa sighed and folded his arms, leaning casually against the mantelpiece as he waited for Wufei, Duo and Quatre to calm down. Quatre was glaring at Duo accusingly as he tried to fend off a furious Wufei who had exploded when he had finally learned why he had been summoned. Duo had passed the little object, he had dubbed it Widget, surreptitiously to Heero, who was now examining it with considerable interest, so that Duo could have both hands free as he tried to placate both Wufei and Quatre.
'Look, I asked Q to bring all you guys here because, well,' Duo spread his arms expansively, forcing Wufei to duck out of the way of his frailing arms, 'you are like my family.' He beamed at them, feeling warm and generous. 'I found Widget but I'm willing to share him with the rest of you. Okay?'
'Share what?' Quatre growled bitterly as he gave a nasty look at Heero who had started to play with the round object, tossing it lightly from one hand to another, as Widget giggled happily. 'It's junk. That's why it was on your place. Remember? And anyway, what are we going to do with it?' He added sarcastically as Duo opened his mouth to protest. 'Don't you think we're a little old to be playing with toys?'
Duo pouted sullenly, as Quatre continued to lecture him on his lack of responsibility and immature behaviour. He glowered at the uncharacteristically vitriolic blond and reminded himself not to talk to him in the future until after Quatre had his morning tea. He glanced back at Heero who seemed quite absorbed with Widget, putting it down on his lap and starting to examine its outside shell very carefully, and sighed morosely as he realized that help wasn't going to be coming from that quarter for a while at least. He looked at Wufei who was glaring at him with his arms folded, waiting impatiently for Quatre to finish so that he can launch into his lecture and the corners of his mouth drooped further. Man, these guys have no sense of humour, Duo thought rebelliously. He peeked a glimpse at Trowa, and gave up when he noticed that the tall youth was totally focused on Heero and Widget. Doomed. I'm doomed. Duo thought mournfully as he waited for Quatre, who still hadn't run out of things to say to him, about his behaviour, about his attitude, and so on and so on.
Heero was fascinated by the little object, who crooned and giggled as he looked it over. This Widget appeared sentient, but at the current stage of Federated Worlds Union (FWU)'s technological development, artificial intelligence was not yet possible. He remembered how Duo had explained that he had seen Widget 'eating' the microwave oven and wondered what else it liked to eat. He was pretty sure that he could get his hands on a beam rifle, this was Quatre's estate after all and the Magnacs all had
their mecha still….
Trowa frowned as he saw the way Heero was cradling the little machine. He didn't know why but that thing made him feel nervous.
'You gave him what?'
Duo winced painfully as he ducked behind Heero, who was staring at the transformed Widget with fascination and protested, 'hey, I didn't do anything. This wasn't my idea.'
'I can't believe that you stole one of the beam rifles and fed it to that thing!' Quatre continued to rave hysterically, totally ignoring Duo, as he stared at the ruined mecha and the large hole in the hanger. He looked at Widget, who had now extended himself into a small arch, the size of a door and shook his head as he thought of the way he had dismissed it earlier. 'I should have known that Duo wouldn't find any simple harmless toys.' He muttered bitterly as he touched the thin metallic archway, then yelped loudly as Widget suddenly blazed with energy and he found himself being sucked inside the arch. 'What the he…….'
'Quatre.'
Duo called out in concern as he saw his friend vanish inside the archway, then he lunged as he felt a sudden movement at his side but he was too late. Heero was already inside and Duo pulled his hands together into a fervent prayer as without hesitation, he threw himself after him.
Trowa and Wufei looked at each other for a second before the Chinese pilot swore and ran inside the arch. Trowa looked at Widget suspiciously, was it smirking? Then with a shrug, the tall man walked serenely inside the arch, leaving the hanger deserted.
Widget opened its eyes happily, a wide beaming grin splitting it in half, and said. 'Mission Accomplished'.
'Oh Dorothy, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.'
'Shut up Toto.'
'Oooooh. You got the reference. I knew you loved watching old movies with Heero. Even though you liked to pretend you don't.'
'Shut up Duo.' Came a chorus as Quatre, Wufei, Trowa and Heero turned as one and glared at the unrepentant Duo, who simply sniggered loudly.
The five pilots were staring at a landscape out of fantasy, a pastoral world of green, where there wasn't a building in sight and trying to hide behind the lush trees, were beautiful, impossible creatures, staring at them with consternation and a little alarm.
'That horse has a horn.' Duo pointed in fascination. 'And look, that one, it's got wings. Wow. Look at it go!' He shielded his eyes and the wondrous creature suddenly sped out from its hiding place and took to the sky. 'This is so cool. I can't believe it.' He babbled happily as he tried to sneak up on the nervous unicorn who was giving him as very unpleasant glare. 'Here, horsey. Let's be friends. You are a pretty thing aren't you? And that horn. Boy, that does look sharp doesn't it?'
Heero reached out an arm and placed it as an obstacle in front of Duo, asking mildly when his friend looked at him curiously, 'Are you a virgin?'
Duo blushed and then he suddenly fluttered his eyelashes at Heero who merely snorted. 'Why I didn't know you cared, Heero.' He purred coyly as he started to lean in closely towards Heero who simply stepped back and gave him an exasperated look.
'The unicorn.' Heero said quietly, as though he expected Duo to understand what he meant. He sighed as Duo gave him a confused look and started to explain about the legend of the unicorn. Duo looked at the white horse who was still looking at him rather viciously and grinned weakly as he started backing away. Quatre gave Duo a dirty look as he passed him, still not too happy about having been dumped in this world and Wufei frowned disapprovingly at the white horse who was staring at Heero with considerable interest.
'I don't believe in unicorns.'
Duo giggled, 'I think that unicorn kinds of believes in you though, Wufei. Look at the way it's glaring at you. Maybe you should step away from Heero.' He snickered, as he saw the way the unicorn stared mournfully at the pilot of Wing Zero, who was determinedly ignoring its soulful stares. 'I think you've got a fan.'
Heero sighed and walked over to where Widget was lying on the ground, its eyes now closed in a facsimile of sleep, and he picked it up and turned it over, then with a shrug, he tucked it under his arm and started to walk down the path, leading into the forest.
'Hey, where are you going?' Duo called out, as Trowa simply fell in step beside Heero and the two started to walk away. 'Wait for me. For us.' He grabbed Quatre's hand and started trotting, gesturing at Wufei, who was still glaring at the unicorn hiding behind the tree, to follow. 'Don't just go off like that, you two.'
Heero looked at Trowa, who simply winked back at him from behind his heavy bang, and smiled slightly. Neither of the pilots had noticed that the unicorn had started to follow them, still trying to remain hidden behind trees. Wufei who had noticed the unicorn, frowned then shrugged, deciding that if Yuy and Barton wanted to pick up a big horse with a horn, that it was none of his business. Quatre was glaring at Duo's hand as he continued to be dragged through the forest. 'Next time I get a call from Duo,' Quatre promised himself silently, 'I'm just going to hang up.' He sighed heavily.
End Part 1
Please send comments to: apriori21@yahoo.com
On to Part 2
Back to the Series Index
Back to Katana's page