Author’s Note: Thanks to everyone who has stuck around this long for this series. This fic, like the others, follows the story of Gundam Wing, this time focussing on Endless Waltz obviously. But unlike Love is a Battlefield I’m going to really deviate from the actual storyline and go off on my own although some parts will be similar.
Ordinary World
Written by/Copyright: Duran Duran, © 1993 Publisher Music Ltd.
Came in from a rainy Thursday
on the avenue
thought I heard you talking softly
I turned on the lights, the TV
and the radio
still I can't escape the ghost of you
What has happened to it all?
Crazy, some'd say
Where is the life that I recognize?
gone away
But I won't cry for yesterday
there's an ordinary world
Somehow I have to find
and as I try to make my way
to the ordinary world
I will learn to survive
Passion or coincidence
once prompted you to say
"Pride will tear us both apart"
Well now pride's gone out the window
cross the rooftops
run away
left me in the vacuum of my heart
What is happening to me?
Crazy, some'd say
Where is my friend when I need you most?
Gone away
but I won't cry for yesterday
there's an ordinary world
somehow I have to find
and as I try to make my way
to the ordinary world
I will learn to survive
Papers in the roadside
tell of suffering and greed
here today, forgot tomorrow
here besides the news
of holy war and holy need
ours is just a little sorrowed talk
And I don't cry for yesterday
there's an ordinary world
Somehow I have to find
and as I try to make my way
to the ordinary world
I will learn to survive
Ordinary World
by Midii Une
. . . after Love is a Battlefield
Chapter One
Professor Elizabeth Evans, President of the Khushrenada Peace Studies Foundation, studied the latest reports. Someone was definitely putting together a weapons arsenal in space, somewhere near the L3 colony cluster. She frowned at the satellite data and put in an emergency call to Lady Une.
“I see,” Lady Une said, in her usual deceptively calm voice. “I’ll let you know what is decided. Continue the investigation. Thank you Liz.”
Liz sighed and looked out the large window behind her desk. She pressed her forehead against the cool glass. In a heartbeat everything could fall apart, no one knew that better than her. Elizabeth Evans. Linnea Lang. Whatever name she went by, she was still the same person, with the same experiences. And her experiences were telling her that this meant trouble. She wondered impatiently how long it would take Lady Une to get back to her, hopefully it would only be a matter of hours.
She opened her top desk drawer and her gaze fell on a small bunch of dried forget-me-nots. Now definitely wasn’t the time to let her mind wander, but . . .
(Six months earlier)
She passed through the crowd of students at the University, answering questions, shaking hands and shaking off the occasional cold stare. Most of them had received her speech well. Public speaking was a form of therapy for her. Only through informing people about the horrors of past wars could future conflicts be avoided. Still, she felt and looked older than her 17 years. She could hardly believe herself that she was still that young, that less than two years before she had been a student, of sorts, herself. A student with a secret occupation -- constructing a Gundam mobile suit.
She stepped out of the crowded auditorium, closed her eyes and leaned against the wall in a dark, quiet hallway. She opened them again at a soft touch on her shoulder. “Linnea? It’s really you, isn’t it?” a strangely gentle voice asked.
She stared and her eyes started to fill with tears, but she hastily blinked them back. She let him pull her into his arms, slowly starting to believe that at least this one friend had forgiven her. She should have known he would be the one. He could always forgive anyone anything.
“Quatre,” she whispered, leaning into him.
Quatre held her close, inhaling the scent of her hair. Remembering a time when she had held him in exactly the same way. Forgiving him for sins he thought could never be forgiven. He had begun to think he would never find her again and then suddenly here she was. He pulled away from her a little and tilted her face up to his with his hand. She smiled as she looked up.
“You’ve gotten taller,” she observed.
“Why have you been hiding?” he asked, ignoring her comment. “From me. From Duo.”
As he spoke that name she pulled herself totally away from him and in a gesture that was new to her since he’d last seen her, she turned her back and wrapped her arms around herself defensively.
“I’m not hiding,” she protested, almost hiding the little catch in her voice. “Peace is still precarious as you know and Lady Une and I thought it best to take a few precautions and not advertise my actual identity. If anyone really wanted to find me, it wouldn’t be hard.”
They both looked at the floor awkwardly for a moment before he felt a tug on his arm and looked up to see a glimpse of the old Linnea before him.
“Come on, Quatre,” she said cheerfully. “Take me out for a cup of coffee and tell me what you’re doing now?”
“Some things never change,” he said, smiling back at her and taking her hand. “Coffee it is.”
Linnea dropped the tiny flowers and closed the desk drawer, trying to concentrate on the issue at hand, wondering if the avalance could be stopped before it became a disaster.
***
Tania, Professor Evans’ secretary, looked up as someone entered the outer office. The corners of her mouth turned up flirtatiously as a good-looking, enigmatic stranger walked in.
“I need to speak with . . . Professor Evans. Tell her it’s important that it’s . . . . an old friend,” he said.
Tania shook her head but smiled at him brightly. “I’m so sorry, she’s in the middle of an important video conference. Please wait and I’ll see if I can get you in.”
She was momentarily afraid that the young man would burst into the office without permission, but she relaxed when he turned and began to study the life-size oil portrait of Treize Khushrenada which hung on one wall. Underneath the portrait was a huge bowl of perfect Peace roses, sitting on a polished mahogany table.
Tania noticed that the video conference with Lady Une was over and buzzed her boss. “You have a visitor without an appointment but he says it’s urgent,” the secretary reported. Liz sighed and was about to tell the girl to get rid of him, she had her hands full as it was. “He says he’s an old friend,” the bubbly Tania chatted on. Her voice lowered to a whisper, “he’s handsome too, shall I send him in?”
Liz tapped a finger to her lips in consideration. Quatre wouldn’t, he had promised. Still, it had been six months and if he had heard about this trouble . . . Part of her hoped it was him, she needed a friend right now, and just maybe she was ready for more.
Outside the door, Tania wondered what Liz could be thinking. She never did show any interest in men, handsome or otherwise, which was strange. She was still so very young and very pretty. She always looked striking with her smooth pale blonde hair and her all-black wardrobe. There were rumors was that she had been involved with the late world leader, Treize Khushrenada, which was why she always wore black and never went out. Tania wished she knew the truth, what a great story that would be and Tania loved gossip. She let her gaze move to the portrait on the wall, and sighed. What a handsome man Treize Khushrenada had been. She was startled out of her reverie when Liz asked her to send the young man in.
Linnea stood with her back to the door, silhouetted against the floor to ceiling window that overlooked the green lawn and omnipresent rose gardens. Like an unstoppable avalanche things were starting to happen again, they’d only had their ordinary world for a year.
“If it isn’t Linnea Lang,” a vaguely familiar voice stated. Without turning around she answered, “I’m sorry, you must be misinformed. I am Professor Evans.”
She heard footsteps and a hand reached out to spin her around. He pried her fist open and touched the scar which slashed across her right palm. “I never forget my enemy,” Wufei said, scowling at her.
Linnea pulled her hand away. “Linnea Lang is gone. I’m not that person anymore. Why are you here? You know something about the threat to this peace?”
“It means that you’re in danger. That’s why I came. I’ve been keeping tabs on you,” Wufei answered. She raised an eyebrow at him and her violet eyes sparkled with a hint of mischief. She struggled to repress a feeling of excitement, the ordinary world had been somewhat boring.
“And who are you to keep tabs on me? Are you my guardian angel or my parole officer? As you can see I promote peace now. Peace through knowledge and the study of the past. Lady Une has been informed of the threat in space and I’m sure she’ll act accordingly.”
“You’re coming with me to space.” Wufei said.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said. “I’m needed here during this situation. You have nothing to worry about. I will never construct a mobile suit again, not for anyone.”
“I’m not taking no for an answer. I’m not even asking for your opinion, Linnea,” he said, stressing the name.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Linnea asked as Wufei attached a cable to the foot of her desk and yanked the window open. “We’re leaving. Hold on,” he muttered as he grabbed her around the waist and holding onto the cable jumped out the fourth story office window. She barely contained a shriek and wound her arms tightly around his neck as they landed with a thud on the ground. “Now, run,” he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her after him.
“Faster. Can’t you run faster?” Wufei said, silently cursing her slowness. “You’re really out of shape.”
“Well, peace and these damned high heels will do that to you,” Linnea said trying to put on the brakes.
“Hold it,” she said. “I said I’m not going with you. Was there a part of that you didn’t understand?” She tried desperately to loosen her hand from his grip. Wufei paused for a second and gripped her tightly by both arms and pulled her close, looking into her eyes, their noses almost touching. “And I told you that I wasn’t asking.”
Linnea swallowed nervously as she looked into those black eyes. She didn’t like what she saw there. And she started to realize that even though they had started out on the same side so long ago, he really was her enemy now. She had misunderstood his intentions entirely. The danger that he had mentioned earlier came from him.
***
“I couldn’t track down Wufei,” Quatre told the others regretfully. He and the three other former Gundam pilots had decided to celebrate the imminent arrival of the first anniversary of peace by destroying their mobile suits. It seemed safe enough now, there had been no further threats.
“You tried your best I’m sure Quatre,” Trowa said.
Heero nodded in an agreement, although it nagged at him that they were destroying the only means of fighting Shenlong Altron if it should fall into the wrong hands. As they often did, his thoughts turned to Relena. She was doing a wonderful job and this peace was a successful one mostly due to her influence. He knew deep inside that she must think of him often too. The answer to what to do about that still eluded him however.
Duo walked away from the others, he needed to say goodbye to DeathScythe. There wasn’t any need for a God of Death in this ordinary world, but that didn’t erase the good and the bad memories tied up in the Gundam. And it was his last link to Linnea. He touched the mobile suit and heard the crash of a champagne bottle and he was holding her again, kissing her as he slowly spun around in a chair. Where the hell are you Linnea, he wondered. I can’t make myself forget you.
Quatre appeared next to him. “You’re thinking about Linnea, aren’t you?” he asked. “I know she would think this is the right thing to do. Have you been in touch with her?”
“How in hell would I be in touch with her since she’s dropped out of sight like she has? I haven’t seen her since she left the Cinq Kingdom,” Duo said testily, annoyed at having had his mind read so easily. Then he looked at Quatre sharply. “But you have seen her, haven’t you? Why didn’t you tell me before this?”
Quatre paused a moment, trying to think how to answer. I know I promised I wouldn’t tell him where you were, he thought silently, but I don’t want to wait anymore. I want to start my life with you, if we’re going to be together.
“I ran into her by chance, about six months ago,” Quatre explained. “But she asked me not to tell you I’d seen her. She made me promise. She said she wasn’t ready to see you yet, didn’t know if she ever would be.”
He remembered how he had taken her in his arms finally that night and ignored the surprised look of protest on her face and kissed her as he had always wanted to. Quatre could have sworn she responded to it. He drew her close to him and his hands were on either side of her face, softly stroking back the loose hair so he could look into her eyes. Her eyelids fluttered closed as he pressed his forehead against hers and their noses brushed against each other, a tiny shiver ran through her as his hands ran softly down her face, brushing over her cheekbones and one of his thumbs touched her full lips gently before his hands continued downward over her neck and collarbone down to her waist, pulling her close to him so that every part of them was touching connected except for their lips. He could sense her holding her breath in anticipation, waiting for his lips to touch hers, they’d known each other so long, cared so much but their lips had never touched. His own breathing seemed to be more rapid than usual even as hers was so still, waiting . . .
He still felt her hands slip slowly up his back to link around his neck and pull him closer, felt her lips part under the pressure of his, then something had happened. She remembered Duo.
“I’m sorry,” she had whispered, pulling away from him and talking in broken sentences. “I’m not ready for this. The way we left it, Duo and I. I don’t even know if we’re really over. We must be over, but in my heart, I’m not sure, there’s a part still holding on. At least that’s how I feel.”
Linnea, there’s something you don’t know,” Quatre started.
“I know about Hilde Schbeiker, I know all about her,” Linnea said, steeling herself from sobbing in his arms at the unfairness of it all.
“Then talk to him. Find out how you both feel. I want you, Linnea, I love you. You know that I’ve always loved you. From the minute I first saw you. Find Duo and say goodbye so we can all get on with our lives,” he had said and looking down at the flowerbed in the park he had seen a small bunch of tiny blue forget-me-nots. He picked them and pressed them into her hand.
“I’m going to wait until you know how you feel,” he said. “That’s not fair Quatre,” she protested. “Don’t put your life on hold for me.” “I want you to be my life. I can wait for that,” he said. “I’ve waited this long, haven’t I?”
Duo studied Quatre’s thoughtful face and realized something. “You’re in love with her, aren’t you?” he said, in a voice surprisingly devoid of emotion. Quatre nodded, “what about you? How do you feel about Linnea now?”
“Angry,” Duo said simply. “Angry at her for leaving, angry at myself for hurting her, angry at her for hiding from me and angry at myself for not finding her. Does that answer your question?”
Quatre pressed a business card into Duo’s hand. “I’m going with the Maganacs to launch the mobile suits toward the sun. Would you do me a favor and find Linnea?” Duo opened his hand and looked at the card and nodded. Professor Elizabeth Evans, President. Khushrenada Peace Studies Foundation.
Duo sighed. Treize. He should have known. He was dead but she still worked for him. Duo knew the image would come now and it did. How he hated it. Would it ever go away? Why had he ever read that stupid letter?
And he admitted to himself that he hadn’t cared then or now that she had she had created the Epyon for Treize, he only cared that she had let him kiss her. Damn Treize for being such a descriptive writer, from that mere dozen-or-so words Duo had been able to see the whole thing clearly and nothing could wipe the image of that kiss from his mind.
***
Wufei pushed Linnea into the space shuttle and slammed the hatch shut. “Sit down,” he ordered her and started pushing controls for lift off. “Like hell,” Linnea said, forgetting her earlier fear of him. He didn’t know her if he thought she would meekly sit there and let him take off with her. What had come over him, what was happening? He must be insane. She reached over the door to pull the emergency abort switch, if she could get it they wouldn’t be going anywhere and someone would stop him before he could hijack another shuttle.
He caught her motion out of the corner of his eye and he pulled her back just in time, barely restraining himself from smacking her. Her violet eyes blazed at him defiantly and he knew he didn’t have a choice. She was weak but she was also smart enough to stop him if he let he get the chance. Wufei hauled her up by the arm and slammed her hard into the seat and before she could get up he lashed her wrists together in front of her and then tied the ends to the arm rests. “Now stay put,” he said. “I wouldn’t bother pulling on those if I were you, I’m very good with knots.” “Wufei, why are you doing this? You bastard, let me go,” she hissed, ignoring his advice and tugging on the rope around her wrists. He ignored her and completed the takeoff procedures.
Finally he turned to face her. “It’s Operation Meteor. The real one this time,” he explained. “The whole thing was planned by Barton Conglomerate but Dr. J and the others took it out of the company’s hands two years ago. But Barton Conglomerate paid the bills, your bills for the DeathScythe and my colony’s bills for Nataku. They couldn’t locate the other scientists. But I knew where you were.”
She looked at him uncomprehendingly. “But surely the others aren’t in on this. Quatre can’t be! And not Duo,” she protested. “You’re right, of course, they’re not in on it. The idiots are destroying their Gundams as we speak,” Wufei said. He stood up and walked over to her and leaned in close.
“Mr. Barton wants you delivered, so I’m delivering. Hardly a mission worthy of a Gundam pilot, but a job is a job. After that you’re not my problem anymore.”
Next time on Ordinary World . . . sooooo it’s not so ordinary after all, that didn’t take long . . . Hilde wonders when Duo will come to his senses about their relationship . . . Tania’s romantic imagination runs away with her which jeapordizes Linnea’s chances of being rescued . . . Linnea has regrets concerning Quatre.