Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ New Beginnings ❯ War Revalations ( Chapter 4 )

Title: New Beginnings
Author: Something Like Human
Rating: PG
Warnings: YAOI (2x5x2), slight spoilers to GW, EW, and EpiZero
Disclaimer: Human doesn't own Gundam.
A/N: Again, my fics are based off the manga, so blame inconsistencies on that.

Also, this is NOT part of the "The Storm Arc". It is entirely its own work, it just so happens to have the same main pairing. Sorry for the confusion!

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I look at my family for a moment; they are all waiting for me to answer my brother. I am really not excited about telling them that we are indeed Preventers. I guess I could take a page out of Maxwell's book and just tell them the truth. He always conveniently forgets to tell people that although he never lies, he does not commit to telling the whole truth.

"Yes, Mei-Ling is correct," I admit. "We are both Preventers. That is how we ended up here."

I did not lie; I just told them a version of the truth and then gave them more information than what was asked for so that perhaps they will lead the conversation elsewhere. I have learned a lot from my partner since the war. He is a lot like Barton in that everything he says has a distinct purpose. Trowa usually only speaks when it is important that he informs someone of something or seeks information. Maxwell opens his trap when he wants to tell you something, ask about something, distract you, or persuade you. I am hoping that I will distract them.

"But," my mother starts. Somehow I think that I should leave the verbal distracting up to Maxwell from now on. She seems a bit upset. "You are still so young, how did you ever get to be Preventers?"

"We just happened to be at the right place at the right time when they needed people like us," my partner explains. "They had spots to fill and we were talented enough to fill them."

"So you're saying that they let people as young as you two defend peace all over the world." My brother asks in disbelief. He is staring hard at Maxwell like he does not think he is telling the truth. Of course, from his perspective of not knowing Duo, that would be a very logical assumption. He does not look like he is one of the most dangerous people in the world, with his smiling face and beautiful-yet-unique hair.

"Well, yeah," he replied. "You'd be surprised at who all make up the ranks of Preventers….ex-Ozzies, ex-soldiers, mobile suit pilots; new recruits…There are a lot of young people although I believe we are among the youngest."

"That's reassuring…" Seung mumbles causing Maxwell to laugh.

"And here I thought since 'Fei has absolutely no sense of humor that his whole family would be the same! But at least you have mastered sarcasm!"

"Maxwell!"

Jai Li started giggling at us.

"What's so funny, Li-li?" I ask her as I reach over to tickle her a bit. She squirms and giggles even more. I can hear the rest of my family chuckle at us as I continue to tickle my baby sister. I am so engrossed in making her squirm that the hands on my sides startle me and I let out quite an undignified yelp of my own as I am tickled. Looking back is hard as I'm trying not to laugh but I see that it is Seung who is my assailant. Jai Li escapes as I try to squirm out of my big brother's grasp. When I cannot get away, I do what I have always wanted to do: I flip my big brother over the back of the couch and pounce on him. Since he is a few years older than me, he was always much bigger than I when we were kids. Then again, I also was not much of a fighter when Seung was living at home so even though he is still taller and heavier than me, my technique is that much better.

"Boys!" Mother reprimands sounding like she did when I was about six. "Either quit or take it outside. No fighting in the house!"

Seung and I look at each other and chuckle. I get up and give him a hand up. Once standing, I notice that Maxwell is shaking his head and laughing at me.

"This is great, can I be adopted?" He asks my mother as he wipes his eyes.

"What? The diving over furniture and constant mayhem in this nutty family?" Seung suggests. "If we were still kids, Momma would make us do extra chores for antics like that. And Father would have reprimanded us on poor technique and made us practice more!"

"Well, that and the closeness you guys all have."

"You're not close to your family?" Mei-Ling asks my partner.

"Never had a family, actually. I spent some time in an orphanage back on L2," he explains glazing over the truth, as he is so apt to do. "But that's the closest thing I've had to a family. Well, that and my friends now, WuFei included."

I pat him on the shoulder as I move to sit back down on the couch. He smiles at me and looks back to my family. They are all regarding him after what he said. I hope they see in him what I do: That he is a great person no matter what his family background is.

"Poor dear! You're an orphan?" My mother gushes. "How horrible that must have been for you - especially during the war! You must have been so lonely."

"Well, ma'am, that's kinda what got WuFei and I to become friends," he explains. "We met around the time the colony was destroyed and he thought he lost his family also. From that, we kinda started talking and became friends…regardless of how different we appeared."

"No offense, Mr. Maxwell," my brother replied. "But you don't exactly seem like…um…"

"I don't look like what you think a Preventer should nor do I look like someone WuFei would be friends with?"

"Bluntly, yeah."

We both chuckled. "I get that a lot." He replied. "Of course, I also get mistaken for a girl a lot too. So I can't really be offended by how people perceive me."

Just then we were interrupted by my little sister, "Momma, can I go watch TV?"

We all looked at her, Duo and I in confusion. What could be so important that it would infringe upon a reunion with long lost relatives?

"Please? The princess is on!!!" Jai Li gave her best attempt at puppy-dog eyes to Mother and I almost laughed out loud. My sister was a charmer.

"Oh all right, I know how much you like to watch her," my mothers conceded.

"Who does she want to see?" I asked still slightly confused.

Maxwell beat them to an explanation. "'Lena's giving a speech tonight. We completely forgot! I was going to set a tape for it so we could watch Lena and her boy-toy!"

"Maxwell!" I scolded at the 'boy toy" comment. Sometimes Duo can be so uncouth.

"Boy-toy?" Seung inquired looking thoroughly confused.

"Yeah, Relena's chief security officer and personal body guard," Duo answered.

"It's on!!!" Jai Li hollered from the other room. We all went in to watch the speech. Duo and I stood behind everyone and scanned the image on the screen for familiar faces.

"Isn't she pretty, Momma?" Jai Li asked. "I want to be like her when I grow up!"

Maxwell chuckled. "At least she isn't wearing pink any more!"

"Enough with the pink comments," I chided. "Yuy almost beat you up the last time you referred to her as Princess Pink."

"Who?" Seung asked looking at me for an explanation.

Duo walked forward to the television and pointed to someone standing just to the right of the podium where Relena was speaking from. "Heero Yuy, personal body guard to Relena Dorlian Peacecraft and private boy-toy as well."

"Stop it with the boy-toy bit, Maxwell, there is a child in the room!" I reprimanded.

"You know him?" Seung asked.

"Boy-toy? Does that mean that he's her boyfriend?" Jai Li interrupts with wistful enthusiasm.

"Umm…Yeah." I blanket the answer. "We met him around the same time we met each other. Sometimes we work with him with the Preventers. And yes, they are in a relationship."

"Finally, Lena sure did chase him enough before she caught him."

"You know the Princess?" Jai-Li exclaimed. She was so excited she almost seemed to be bouncing.

"Yeppers, little Miss," Duo explained. "I met her the same day I met Heero."

I start laughing. I had only heard the story from three different perspectives many times each and it was still funny. "It seems that Heero had his gun pulled on Relena because she startled him," again only a version of the truth. "And Duo happened upon the scene and thought he would defend the girl, who he did not know was Relena Dorlian - for she had not even found out yet that she was the Peacecraft Princess. Duo proceeds to shoot the gun away from Heero and when he charges him, Duo shoots and grazes Heero in the arm and the leg. Then it all gets funny. Relena, for some reason that I've yet to understand, bandages Heero up and gave poor Duo the verbal thrashing of his life."

Wiping his eye with mirth, my partner finishes the story, "Yeah, somehow I save the damsel in distress and I was the bad guy. Pretty confusing for my first day in the war!"

I looked around at my family when I realized when no one was laughing. In fact, everyone but my little sister looked slightly angry at us while the little girl was looking worried. "What? Did we say something wrong?" I can hear Maxwell ask.

"We don't discuss the war," Seung explained harshly. "You should remember that Wu Fei. Our family was peaceful and our father was against the war entirely."

"Did you fight in the war, Mr. Maxwell?" my mother asked in a cold voice. I had never heard her speak like that.

"I cannot lie, Ma'am. I fought in the war."

There was a deafening silence in the house for what seemed like an eternity. I just watched my family as they regarded my mother. She was looking at Duo like he had just signed his own death warrant. I guess you could say that he had in a way. Admitting that you were involved in the war was admitting that you fought and killed people. Those were things that my family did not condone. It had been part of my reasoning for fighting so hard to get out of piloting Nataku. My father had despised war and I kept thinking about how angry he would be to find out that I was fighting in it. Now that he was dead… Oh gods. He died in the war, which would make everyone in my family despise the war even more now.

"Wu Fei," my mother starts. "I want your friend to leave and to understand that any murdering soldier - I do not care which side for they all were murderers - is not welcome in our home."

Maxwell looked at me sadly and started for the door. I grabbed his arm and made him stay put. "Mother, if you are making my friend leave, then I will have to leave also. I am sorry but the circumstances being what they were; I had no other choice but to fight."

"Then leave as well," my mother replied as she looked away from us. I walked out of the room with Maxwell beside me. While we were putting our shoes on, I could hear Jai-Li protesting that she still wanted to see me. Seung reprimanded her and I could hear the little girl whimper. Maxwell ushered me out the door and closed it behind us.

"You can talk to them again when they calm down," he explained. "They don't want to understand right now. Give them time."

It was not much reassurance. Maxwell did not know how stubborn my family was. I let him know that.

He just laughed at me. "I know exactly how stubborn they are. And I would have to say that you're the pot calling the kettle black."

I just hoped he was right.

Tbc.