28-Jul-2001
Title: Here There Be Dragons 20/??
Author: Lasha Lee (anakerie@cinci.rr.com)
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. Blah blah blah.
Warnings: Angsty. Bad language.
Pairings: 1x2, 5 x oc, oc + oc
Notes: Okay, guys, I'm moving tomorrow. (The violence where I live has gotten way out of hand. I'm moving to a trailer park in the country where my biggest risk will be being trampled by a run-away cow) It's going to be about a week before I have net access again. If I'm lucky. Hopefully when I get back I'll have several parts to post together.
Jazz began to shake and only remained standing because of Linra holding tightly to his hand. "What have I done?" he whispered softly.
"They haven't gotten control of the government yet." Nela was continuing. "The Deran army was taken by surprise but they're managing to hold their own so far. How long this will last we're not sure. The only thing we have going in our favor is that the Wronith weaponry is on par with our own, and not superior. They've never had any real enemies so they've never developed it to it's full potential."
"Why DERA?" Heero managed to ask. "SETA is the one they have prior claim to, according to what Vire said."
"Because we were expecting them here." Nela explained. "We were prepared for them. Dera was not."
"Nela..." Duo said, trying to fight down the urge to panic. "Our children are on Dera. We have a seven year old and a four year old. Wufei's children are two. His wife is blind. Is there any way to get to them?"
"No shuttle would have a chance of making it through. The Wronith would shoot it down on sight. Communication with the planet is blocked out so there's no way to contact them."
Denea, Jazz thought, who was a mother not only to her own twins, but to her late friend's daughters and himself and Luke as well. Rosemary, a tiny copy of Linra who had inherited her mother's love of the human mind. Luke, who greatest joy in life was trying to be just like Jazz. Fiery little Meishel and gentle Shan, his shadows since their birth. Because of his arrogance, his ignorance, his belief that his words alone could persuade the Wronith to leave them in peace, his family might very well die. "No." His eyes welled with tears. This was a nightmare, it had to be.
"We're flying out our forces this evening." Nela was saying. "We have some new aircrafts; the problem is that we have very few pilots trained in them yet. We're going to do an emergency VR training session. None of our people are trained for space battles; neither are the Deran forces. But we don't have to time train everyone completely."
"I am trained." Wufei spoke up for the first time, his face hard as stone."Give me a ship. No force in this universe can keep me from reaching my wife and the children."
"Ditto." Duo nodded. "The Wronith don't know who they're fucking with here. Threatening my kids is the last thing they'll ever do!"
"Once a soldier, always a soldier. I'm looking forward to this." Heero smiled grimly. "Let's see these planes of yours."
"I know how to fly a plane." Jazz interjected.
Duo immediately shook his head. "Flying a plane and fighting in a battle are two different things. No, Jazz. I won't allow it."
"Pops!"
"NO!" Heero's voice boomed. "And that's the END of it. I won't take a chance of one of us getting killed because we're too busy trying to protect you to concentrate on what we're doing. This isn't a game, Jazz! This is war. People are going to die!"
"Jazz, he's right. An inexperienced fighter would do more harm than good. It's bad enough that our own soldiers aren't as well trained as we'd like." Nela tried to calm the boy down.
"I did this! It's my fault, and you won't let me do anything about it?"
"Jazz, we don't have time for this." Wufei snapped. "It's not your fault but we don't have time to stand here arguing. Take us to the base, Nela."
Duo turned to Jazz and Linra, his face paler than Jazz had ever seen it.
"Listen to me. If you've never listened to me do it now. If we fail; if Heero and I don't come back from this, you two are to get on a shuttle to Earth. Trowa and Quatre are there and they'll look after you."
Jazz was shaking his head. "Don't talk like that!"
"I've never lied to you, Jason. Yes, I called you Jason. That's your name. Your mother loved that name even if you don't, and it's the best way I know to get your attention. War makes not promises, no guarantees. Whatever happens, I need to know that you're safe."
Jazz forced himself to nod, and Duo smiled. "That's my boy. And I have every intention of coming back. We still have a lot of years to go; I'm going to be there to spoil my grandchildren, and their children. I love you both; you're my daughter, Linra, as much as Jazz is my son." He squeezed their hands and pushed them together. "Look out for each other."
Heero touched Linra's shoulder. "I promised your parents I'd take good care of their girls. No one is taking Rosemary from us without a fight. I promise."
Wufei moved to stand before the teenagers. His fingers closed on Jazz's arm.
"I remember coming to L2 not long after you were born, and sneaking into your nursery to watch you sleep. Even as tiny as you were, I could see the intelligence in your eyes, and the kindness, and the devil. I picked you up my last night there and I took you outside, and I asked Nataku to protect you. It doesn't matter that you don't believe in her; I do. She guards you as she guards my own children, because she knows that I love you as my own. And she will see to it that I return from this battle, because she knows that you need my influence to counteract all the bad traits you've picked up from your father."
Jazz hugged his godfather, fighting back tears. "You guys better get going." He said gruffly. "Kick ass, okay?"
"You know we will. Some things you never lose your knack for." Duo stared at Jazz and Linra, burning their images into his head. He tried not to let himself think that this might be the last time he saw them.
Jazz stood there watching, as in a daze, the adults vanish into the transporter.
"Tell me this is NOT happening." Linra said softly.
"It's happening." Jazz replied. "And it's NOT happening without me."
"What are you talking about?"
Jazz was heading toward the computer, typing quickly. "I'm finding that training program. I'm going to do the VR myself, and get my hands on one of those planes."
"Jazz, no!"
"I got Dera into this and I'm getting her out of it." Jazz continued to type. "No matter what they say. If my dad dies up there, then I'm dying with him. We're a team. That's what he always taught me. Time to show him how well I learned. Who designed their security, a trained chimp? I could have hacked this when I was four!" He muttered.
Linra paused and then nodded. "I'm coming with you."
"No." He said automatically. "It's too dangerous. Here we go." He clicked on the program.
"Excuse me? Your father taught me to fly a plane. I'm just as good a pilot as you are, hot shot!"
"That's not the point. I don't want you in danger."
"You hypocrite! It's okay for YOU to risk your life but not me? In case you've forgotten, my baby sister is on that planet! She's probably scared to death right now. I'm taking a plane too. Just try and stop me."
Jazz looked up from the computer. "What if you get hurt?" He stood up and pulled her close, pressing his lips against Linra's. "I can't lose you..." And he heard his father's voice echo in the room, saying those same words to him. And he understood what Duo had been trying to tell him the night before. It was one thing to risk one's own life; but quite another to know that someone you loved was doing the same thing. Had his parents felt like this when he had ran away? This frustrated and helpless? This weak?
He felt a burst of warmth suddenly, as if unseen arms were around him, holding him tightly. From the invisible presence he felt a surge of strength. And in the silence of the room, he could hear words whispered into his ear.
Linra was looking at him curiously and he nodded. "This may sound nuts, but my mother wants me to stop acting like a chauvinist lunkhead and be grateful for the help."
"Thanks Mrs. Maxwell. I owe you one." Linra smiled. "Is that program done downloading yet?"
"Just about... there, finished." Jazz handed her a helmet. "Let's get moving on this."
Three women stood in the living room watching them. Two had short black hair, the other long. The long haired one was the youngest; her features forever that of the teenage girl she had once been. And it was she who paced nervously around the room.
"You're welcome, sweety." One of them spoke to Linra, knowing the girl couldn't hear her. "Just keep an eye on him; make sure he doesn't start acting like a fool."
"And you don't act like a fool either." The other woman ordered Linra. "If you even thinking about flying that plane the way you used to do stunts on that hoverboard behind my back..."
"What time is it?" the youngest of the three asked.
"A few hours to go."
"Damn. I want this over with." She shook her hair back. "It's been far too long since I've had a good battle."
"You know we're limited in what we can do."
"So we will do what we can." The girl returned. "NO ONE will harm Denea or those children." Her eyes flashed.
"You like her, don't you? Denea?" Sheld asked, smiling.
The girl nodded. "She makes him happy. She makes him smile and laugh. How could I not love her for that?"
Hilde was standing over Jazz. "Look how big he's gotten. He was such a little baby; and such a scrawny little boy. Something in the air of Dera must have really agreed with him.
"He's a very handsome young man. Linra couldn't have picked a better mate."
"She keeps him line." Hilde agreed. "She knows how to handle him when he starts getting too... too..." she searched for the right word. "Maxwell." she said at last, and Sheld laughed.
"Those men will be giving women grey hair for generations." The older woman sighed. "First, though, we have to get them through today."
"We have help. The others are ready to do their part."
In the basement of a farmhouse, far away from Seta, Denea leaned against a wall holding her children close. Luke and Rosemary flanked her sides. So far it had been quite; no noises or bombs or explosions since the invasion had began.
"Mama?" She heard Meishel say. "I want Baba."
"I know. Baba will be home soon." Denea promised, and her hand brushed against the neuralizer at her waist. Would it do her any good? She felt Shan sigh and her resolve hardened. It would give her children time to run if it came down to it.
Meishel leaned against her mother's arm. "Will Nataku help us?" She asked.
Denea was not a religious woman. She believed that humans were on their own; dependant only on each other for their survival, and that praying to unseen forces was a waste of time and effort, and an excuse to keep people from feeling responsible for their own victories or failures.
Still, she had pledged to Wufei knowing that his faith was strong, that he believed in his goddess with all of his heart and soul, and she had never judged him for it. And she had not objected to his desire to teach his beliefs to their children, knowing that when they were older they would make their own decisions about what was real and what was fantasy.
She hugged Meishel. "Why don't you ask her? Right now your Baba is probably asking her to keep us safe; why don't you say a prayer as well?"
Meishel bowed her head, trying to remember the words her father used.
Time passed, and she raised her head to realize that her twin, her mother, and the other children had drifted asleep. And she was bored. There wasn't much to do in the cellar and it smelled funny.
There was a small alcove set into the wall, used for storing cans, and right now it was empty. She wandered over to it, and that was when she saw the man.
He looked odd. Her brow furrowed thoughtfully. She could see the wall of the cellar through him. People weren't supposed to look like that. Still, she thought, he was pretty.
He smiled at her and got on his knees so that they were on eye-level.
"Hello there, Meishel. What are you doing?"
"Just looking 'round."
His gaze was tender. "You should stay close to your Mama. If she wakes up and can't find you she'll be worried."
"Baba's coming home soon." She assured him.
"You bet he is. Your Baba wants to see you again very badly. But he can't be with your Mama right now so he needs you and your brother to protect her for him."
"Do you know Baba?"
He smiled, and reached to touch her hair. She couldn't feel his fingers, but she felt warmth. "For a long time now. Come on."
He walked her back to her mother and she climbed again on Denea's lap.
"Sleep, little dragon." He whispered softly. "Save your strength."
She gave him a drowsy smile.
He watched her drift off, her thumb creeping into her mouth.
He touched Shan's tiny hand, admiring the long, slender fingers. The little boy whimpered in his sleep, and his eyelids twitched. He was too young to understand the danger his family was in completely, but he sensed it and it invaded his dreams.
"Hurry, my friend." He muttered. "I'll do all I can here, but they need you."
And he heard a sound like thunder, and knew it was not. The battle was growing closer.
End Chapter 20
(:./lasha/dragons20)
