Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Shinigami's Stage; Behind the Jester's Mask ❯ Chapter ten ( Chapter 10 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Date posted: Sunday, November 7, 2004
Chapter warnings: Extreme funniness and language. A lot of cuss words a head. I'm just that way. (-- shrugs --)
Pairings: 1x2 :: 3x4 :: 5x? Still a surprise.


Shinigami's Stage: Behind the Jester's Mask
By: Mira Watanabe


:.: Chapter Ten :.:
Day Three of the Reunion:

Friday, May 28, AC 201
Age: 21

………………………… ;……………….

Today was going to be a better day, or so they hoped. Boy were they wrong. It was a Friday, a Physical Training day for Sam and Eric.

Since they when to bed early last night, they had to get up early that morning. After being dragged out of bed like a sack of potatoes, they were made to eat a breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon, sausage, and hash browns. Drinks were chosen between coffee, tea, and orange juice. Then morning warm-ups were executed with Wufei showing the boys some easy Chinese type warm-ups in the Living room. Solo and Nataku joined them.

Johnathan was making phone calls this time. Duo was doing the dishes and Harry took refuge in the upstairs Sitting room since the Living room was occupied. Cathy and Iran were sitting at the bar talking to Quatre and Trowa. Heero stood by the baby chair entertaining Chi. How could he resist that cute smile? He looked over to Duo who was just finish up with the dishes. She reminded him so much of that braided baka…

Duo looked up, caught Heero's eye, and smiled, "She isn't giving you any trouble is she?" Heero shook his head, messing up his already mussed chocolate colored hair. "Okay," said Duo.

Chi made faces, banging her bowl loudly. She didn't like being ignored obviously. Heero took away the dish and she gave him a mean glair. He paused, taken by surprise, before flicking her nose, "Keep practicing Chibi." Chi made a face at the new name, not knowing what it meant, and then laughed, "Chibi!"

After falling from some weird position Wu showed him, Solo laughed, "You got it right, Heero!"

Heero just looked at him. Duo walked out of the kitchen, "That is what I named her from. I couldn't decide between Chibi and Chicklet, so I named her Chi." Duo shrugged.

Solo was still laughing on the floor, "Duks, she is so going to kick your ass when she finds out the meanings to her name. With you as her father, we're going to have another Tasha on our hands! I can see it all now… Chi will be going to Pre-K and teachers will be calling nonstop about how much trouble she got into that day. Beating up all the other kindergartners, putting sand down someone's pants…"

Sam and Eric snickered while moving to the next position in their warm-ups with ease. Duo had the grace to blush.

Iran looked up from her conversation, "So what are we going to do today? From what I gather from this family so far, it is going to be fast paced and exciting."

"Aw, you know us so well already!" Duo and Solo chorused in unison.

Johnathan entered the room grinning and shaking his head, "Ready to go?"


The outside was warm, still the start of summer. It was a little after early morning, about 9:30. The sun was out without a cloud in the clear blue sky. Trees were alive with the callings of birds. Its branches were full of green, green leaves. Kids were out playing ball or hop scotch while parents were out talking to neighbors. Even the roads were crowded with people driving to work.

The trip wasn't very long as the red van stopped in the parking lot in front of a sign flashing halogen lights' proclaiming the place, "The Night," even thought it was still the beginning of the day. Walking to the metal doors they could see a piece of white paper taped to it telling them of the times it was opened during each day of the week and in bold letters it said… "The only place with indoor paintball fighting played in the dark!"

Duo had been humming the Pop Goes the Weasel song since they entered the car and kept at it as the 13 of them entered the large building. Chi was had been excluded from the gang and whisked off to Tasha's because she was too small to join.

"Would you stop that?!" Everyone yelled at Duo, whom immediately started over again at a faster pace.

Heero reached forward and tugged Duo's braid a little bit. He made and "eep" sound and gave Heero a playful violet-eyed glair. "Ne Heeero, "Duo drawn, "You want to play ruff, let's play ruff." Heero raised and eyebrow in inquiry. Duo didn't answer his non-verbal question; instead he grinned and turned to the front desk where Solo was talking to a nice looking blond chick.

It was only a few minutes later when Solo came back to the group with four groups of different colored wristbands, "Okay, there are going to be three people per a group of four groups. Reds are me, Johnathan, and Nataku. Blues are Duo, Heero, Sam n' Eric. Sam and Eric act as one person since they are so small." The boys made offended 'hey's. "Oranges are Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei. Greens are Harry, Catherine, and Iran," he handed them their color; "Bands are to be worn on your left wrist. Any questions?"

"What are the rules inside the game," Wufei asked while snapping his band close.

"Those rules are simple," Solo grinned then like the cat that stole the cream and got away with it, "There are no rules." He pointed towards a wall with lined doors, each one yard apart form the other, "Everyone goes to the door with their color striped on it. Behind each door are the arsenals you'll use. Every room has the same items, but each room contains a door that leads to a different place in to the main room."

Solo walked away, waving at them from behind him, "Get dressed ladies. The party doesn't end until the bell rings. May the best man win!"

Duo laughed while shaking his head, "He just has to do that every time someone new comes along,"

Duo, Heero, Sam and Eric walked through the Blues' door. Behind the door was a big room with rows upon rows of firearms and automatics, all equipped with different paintball clips with blue paint in each little ball. The room was all black with dim light that made everything glow faintly. A surreal quality, almost.

Duo took them to a closet that held body armor. The armor was the best of its class, a type not even in the market yet thanks to Solo's connections in getting it sooner. The material was thin, light weight, and very flexible. Very maneuverable. There was a stitching on the right pocket. It was small but readable with cursive lettering saying, "Air." Very appropriate.

Getting undress and into the black body armor that resembled a swim suit was steadily becoming embarrassing since it called for help. Duo and Heero took turns getting the other dressed while Sam and Eric did the same. Same size made things easier. Each person decided to put on the long black leather coat that touched floor. Then each went their separate ways to browse, all of them looking like kids in a candy store.

Duo strapped a gun resealing a sawed off shotgun around his shoulder under the jacket. He picked up extra ammo and stuck it in a pocket. Two hand guns went backwards behind his neck in a holster made for just that. Small one-shot guns were strapped to his arms and forearms, four total; two to each arm. More guns went around his shoulders, waist, thighs, and ankles. He put on some light weight boots that wouldn't hinder his speed, secured his weapons and was ready to go.

He was a bit excessive with all the weapons, but you never know, it was good to be safe even if you didn't use but one of the guns. The fun part was that each strapped gun holster he used had an apartment for ammo. The solid black belt contained most of the ammo bags thought, four holsters for guns and four packs for heavy ammo. All of them were easy accessible with a clear draw, no resistance or interference. No knives were provided though because it was too dangerous for a simple paintball fight. Simple, ha! These guns looked like the real thing baby! They were all treated with care, oiled and spoiled!

So everyone was dressed and equipped the same, loaded to the core with arsenals. The only difference between the four was that Duo and Sam held automatics, and Heero and Eric had something close to a sniper. All were geared up with a shit load of ammunition. The last thing put on was a helmet that had a glass frontal shield and built-in walky-talky - cryptic so no one could listen in. Eric was the one to pick up the single black briefcase.

They all went through the back door. Behind the door laid a hallway that stretched out before them, dark with dim black-lights. You couldn't see but a yard in front of you, but there was plenty of space on either side for two to three people to walk side by side. They walked until they hit a fork in the road.

"This is so that the regulars don't memorize the floor plan," Duo informed Heero unnecessarily, shrugging. "Hn," grunted Heero. Duo grinned.

Duo took them to left road, walked a little way, hit another fork, walked thought the right lane, hit a three way fork, walked though the middle lane, hit another fork, walked though the right lane…

Duo stopped walking then and put a hand on Heero's shoulder, "Slow down at this point and keep a look out. Up ahead other lanes from other groups start to emerge with ours. Confrontation with the others is not likely, but it happens." Heero nodded and raised his gun. Sam and Eric already had theirs at ready, knowing the way they took from past experience.

As Duo had said, the next hall had a road that leading towards them, coming up from behind. They did guard, rolled on the floor in a crouch, and stood still in that position, and tryed to see through the dark. No one. They did the same routine three times before they got to the main room, never crossing paths with anyone.

The main room was like a double-decker maze with a lot of goodies added in. You had secret doors and hiding places in the walls, floors, and ceilings. Corners were sharp and uninviting in the dark. You had boxes to hide behind, either for a sneak attach or refuge. Plus a whole bunch more. One being fake pop up men to bouncing out of shadows and hidden panels all made to scare you, lasers with little alert sirens and flashing red lights and spot lights. Heat detectors, motion detectors, cameras, hidden rooms, cardboard security men doing rounds on motorized wheels, spot lights moving back and forth thought some areas, a big barren field with moving spotlights to run through when you fell suicidal…. The works.

Heero smirked at the coverage the game contained on real battle. Already loving it.

So the game was on with the most unlimited amount of boundaries, there were none.

They took to the shadows instantly, choosing to hide behind a large block like crate. Heero had his gun across the surface of the block in a half crouch, keeping guard. Duo surprised him by opening a latch in the block with silver pins. He hadn't known the latch was there to begin with. You just couldn't see much in the dark.

Duo pulled out a black cover and tossed it to Sam. "Sam, Eric, find out where everyone is at," his voice came though the mike loud and clear.

The boys nodded. Eric sat in the corner between the block and wall, and then took out a sleek laptop from the briefcase. Sam sat down beside him and threw the blanket over them, blocking the screen light from view. No typing was heard but you knew they were working on Duo's order.

Duo looked down his body at the heave weaponry and frowned. He pulled out two modified black duffle bags from the block and finally closed it shut. He striped all the guns away and secured them in one of the bags. They were limiting his mobility, and he needed that. All he kept on him was the sawed off mock shot gun and the two hand guns on his belt. The bag was thrown over his shoulders like a back pack.

He tossed the other bag to Heero and took guard with the shot gun, grinning like a mad man, but this wasn't his Shinigami's grin that would kill anyone on site. More like a, "Man, I'm loving this!" kind of thrill. Heero striped and kept two guns, one for long range and one for short range, and one special piece for the snip. He too put the duffle bag over his shoulders before joining Duo to scan the shadows. Not two minutes later the boys came out of hiding.

Duo smirked, "You're getting faster." Both boys smirked back, pleased.

Sam took point since the snip Eric had wasn't meant for up close and personal. Eric kept the blanket with him in his briefcase for later use. Heero switched guns behind his coat and joined the others in being guard.

A small movement to the left made them crouch down slowly. Everyone went still, watchful to all around them. Nothing was heard but a bullet was seen as it soared over Eric's head. He smirked and in one fluid movement he twisted to the left while bringing out his own silent shooter, putting away the snip, and shot the dark blindly. A thump indicated a hit somewhere, but it wasn't certain if it hit a person or an object. Another shoot was made at them that nearly got Sam's shoulder. He frowned, it was too off. He wasn't sure if that was good or bad thing yet.

Heero scooted them all to the left side, everyone still crouching low. Another shoot, another near miss. This one was too close for comfort.

Eric whispered across their channel, "This is where the Greens are located." The Greens were Harry, Cathy, and Iran.

Duo chuckled, "Damn Harry, you're getting worse."

Eric shook his head, "No, I think it's the Catherine chick."

Duo pale after coming up with a different alternation. He whispered harshly, "Shit. She could be baiting us into a trap with all these near misses. Harry could never do that."

Eric nodded, "Yeah."

Another shot, another miss. Heero was getting irrigated. What a waste of ammunition. He brought out the special piece he kept on him and chipped it to the snip. He was in luck when he stumbled upon this particular extra toy; it was so well hidden in the arsenal room. He aimed through the night scope, searched the area and shot at a hermit poorly hidden behind a low concrete fence. He found another one and shot again. There was no third, guess Eric really did get that first one.

Eric gave him a look that said, 'I know what you're thinking, you thought I missed.' Heero's answer to that was a smirk, 'Never doubted you for a minute.' Eric rolled his eyes upward, 'Yeah right.' Heero chuckled. Duo looked from one to the other as they talked without words, "Okay…"

Sam took point again and was immediately squished like a bug by someone falling down from a ceiling hatch.

Insert sarcasm here: Great… Just great


End Chapter: To Be Continued.


REALLY LONGAnnoying Author's Notes: I hope you read all of this… Please.

MWAHAHAHA! I ended this chapter horrible didn't I? I bet you want to know who that was huh? This is what I have to say to that. TS. Wait until the next chapter!

Damn, you guys are getting really close to the end of how much I have written down on paper. I'm still doing chapter 12! I have but 2 pages written out of 8 pages to do! I had changed my mind as to what I was going to write down and put some angsty stuff there instead. It makes me a bit emotional distress just reading it, so I keep stopping and putting it off. The next chapters after that is the same way and continues to all the chapters that makes up that day. (-- pout --) I'm pulling heart strings here and it's making me depressed.

I hope you like this chapter. It was really fun to make. I made this chapter specifically for all those warriors out there that love a little bit of fighting in a story, a battle of sorts. I hope it pleases you.

Some were wondering why the last chapter came in so late, about two weeks late. Well I never had any time to type it up. Those last two weeks of October were really hard on me. My school was coming to the end of the second 6 week period and my teachers were storming me to death. I had little to no sleep. On the weekend I was either studying or sleeping the day off. I was booked solid and tired. (-- pout --) I spent one day relaxing after that and typed up the chapter right after that. So it was all good. I try to post each chapter right at the dead line. That dead line being the day the review mark is hit.

Typing up chapters takes me a while. I am really, really slow. This being because I hate typing and I edit most of my stuff while I type. Sure I re-read thought each chapter and fix some things there, but when I start typing it all up I re-edit everything, even add things in. Some people talk about my bad grammar… Well I all I have to say is that I'm typing so damn fast to try and finish and get it out to you guys that I stumble over many words. Like when I finally have the time to re-read the things I've typed I keep finding horrible run-ons. I even have to read these run-ons many times to understand what I meant. I think I use the coma ( , ) too much... Blah.

So guys, do you want to know what's going on with the chapters? Are you interested in what's taking me so long? Do you just what to know what I'm doing? Well I have this cool yahoo group you can go to. Soon there will be my own personal website, but it will be a while since I cannot seem to find the time to build it and I haven't a clue how to build it. Anyway, join my group, I post all the time as to how things are going along. I also ask for help… But there is like 6 people there…. (-- cries --) … Okay so the group is called Broken Wings - Gw. You can find the address on my profile.


Upcoming Story! And how I make a story!

I've been working on my next story. Lol. I bet some of you are going, "Oh no, now it'll be longer till updates come." Will not necessarily. The story is just in the planning stages and won't be coming out until December 19. Lol, that's my birthday! Some of ya'll are probably wonder why I'm starting this story so soon, ne? Well believe it or not, stories take a while to make. Not only does it take about an average of 3 months to plan, but also many, many months to write the chapters down on paper. Then editing takes one month. All together, that is a looong time.

Shinigami's Stage took me over 4 months to plan out. Right now I'm still taking those plans and putting them on paper. The next story I've started just last week. Okay now do the math. How long until December? … Not too far away once you think about it. Oh well. I'm already in the Christmas spirit. The outside is finally getting cold. And I'm just in the right mood, so I don't think the planning stages to this story will take very long. It is going to be a short story of about 12 chapters or so anyway. Bah! I only have a very basic plan down! I've made roles to all the characters; all I need is to find out how to get Quatre and Trowa together. They need their own little plot! But I'm obsessively into only Heero and Duo… more like just Duo… but this is going to be a 1x2 Christmas story.

So I'm guessing you guys want to know what this story is called, ne? Okay so it's called, "The Non-Believer." Very cliché… damn… Okay, anyway. The summery; Duo, a fallen angel, is the last hope to save the Christmas holiday. All he has to do is get Heero Yuy to believe before the week is up. (-- smiles --) Fun! (Insert sarcasm here: ) Sure, but I still don't know how to get Heero to believe! And that is the main part! I mean there is lots of Christmas goodies and stuff, like a lemon, but there is no solution! There is no way I can get him to believe! GAH! I put some great humor to the story and some great surprises, but I still cannot get Heero to believe! I fixed up some background info and I'll just have to work from that. If nothing else works, I'll going into the story blind. Blind writing is simply no knowing much as to what is going to happen - you just put a pencil to the paper and write.

Planning is horrible. You have to figure out where to begin. A story starts with a simple thought. All of mine starts with a title. Then you work from there. I'll use the story, "The Non-Believer" as an example. The story started off with the idea to start a Christmas story. Then I thought, well what kind of x-mas story? What is it about? What is going to happen? I wanted it to be a 1X2 romance, and I wanted it to start off with Christmas coming up fast. At first I thought, how about 28 days until x-mas and have it called 28 days? That idea was thrown away fast since I read a story called 28 days for an Inuyasha fan fiction. Then I thought 14 days. No go, I didn't like it and it would be a long story to write in a few months. Then I thought about calling it 7 days… Ummm well I think you know why that was thrown out. My story is not a horror flick and I sooo don't want people to associate it as one. So I used 7 days, one week, as a time line. Now it needed action. I have no clue as to how I came up with the idea of Heero being the non-believer and Duo a fallen angel… It just popped up and I went along with it.

So I had my idea, now I worked from it. I started with a pack of paper. I took a few sheets and wrote all the characters' names from Gundam Wing down on it, skipping 3 lines between them. The character sheet is so I know what each person's role... [Character Roles] …It takes up three sheets of paper. I took some more paper and I wrote [past] on one sheet and [questions] on another. I also have a [notes] page and [mini plot] page. I also have a very basic outline section of pages. The outline pages consist of a list of a few different topics; 3 turning points, 7 problems, and 4 ending outcomes. There will be more added to each list as I move along. I also have a very basic outline to the week's activities, which is supposed to name each day's main event… I haven't figured out what I want though. (-- pout --) Oops, I forgot to add the second thing I did after finding out the story's idea. Right after coming up with the idea, I wrote a list of what "makes up" Christmas. All I need is good Christmas activities. Pooh.

Story making is very hard and all that I have written down here is very basic. This is only the first three/four steps! (-- dizzy --) The next step is for me to plan each day from the minute the day starts to the minute is ends. Then I'll start to make the chapter outlines. After that I'll start writing each chapter down on paper with all its details. Then I'll read through and make some light editing on the paper and then edit again while I type it up. When the story is done being typed up I'll do all my final editing… Like I said, I'm still only in the beginning of a list of things to do. (-- cries --)

Anyway. Thanks to Avaanace for helping me think strait, and helping me come up with Quatre and Trowa's Roles. I really needed someone to talk to; it always helps me come up with ideas, although I tend to tell people some key things that make the story great… and spoil things… Oh well.

Jeez, I'm so excided right now I just might do some more planning today!


Finally, the end of all these notes! (Damn there are too many! It makes up a whole chapter of itself!)

I would also like to say this story is on two different servers; Fanfiction.net and MediaMiner.org. Please pass the word on to other fan fiction lovers.

PS; Put my on your Yahoo buddy list! I could use new friends! You can find my email address on my profile! Plus other things as well.


Coming up next; PT day part two! Who was it that squashed Sam?! (LMAO! You're going to love this!)

Damn this was a long chapter!

Here is my motto: Long chapters equal long reviews. This applies to all the stories I read. If I've read and reviewed your story, you would know this fact. All my reviews to long chapters are really long. So I like to put this to this chapter, be it useless rambling (I love to read those!) about a this story, another story like this, or simply begging for an update, I don't care. I also like questions because they make me see the things that confuse people and if I left something out. Most of these questions I put on a piece of paper and I mark them off as I answer them. All I ask is for people to stop asking the obvious questions like: Who is Chi's mother and what happened the three years Duo was missing… Actually those two are the only questions I don't want asked because they annoy the crap out of me…. So does guessing about the answers to those two questions. It bugs me when ya'll come really close to the answer. It also kind of discourages me. Makes me wonder if I'm being secretive enough, it also makes me want to change the outcome… And that's bad.

Review mark: 91 - or - 97 (Don't you love me. I gave you a horrible chiffy with a lot of pointless author's notes while I could be typing up the next chapter!)

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