Episode 12:
Depression of Spirits
The year is After Colony 216. After Venus' declaration of war, the World Nation scrambles to prepare itself. In the meantime, the Gundam pilots gather on Mars to take control of new Gundams to help combat the Venusian menace.
"MOM!!!" She
shouted, Sally bursting in followed by Quatre shortly after the shout.
"He's waking up!"
"Wha-Where?" Wufei sat up slowly, one hand pressed
to his forehead. Meiran promptly threw her arms around him.
"Daddy! I'm so sorry!" Meiran cried, but smiled
at the same time, thankful her father had woken up. Wufei blinked.
"My... daughter?" He looked lost, "I... don't
remember..."
Meiran stared. She let go
of Wufei and stepped back, studying him. 'Don't remember'?? Any
happiness she had felt mere seconds ago when he'd woken up died.
Sally stared as well. He doesn't... remember-?
"Wufei-?"
".... Is that my name?" Wufei blinked. Fresh tears
filled Meiran's eyes as she watched silently.
"Y-yes... You don't remember? You're Wufei Chang..."
Sally put a hand on her daughter's shoulder, "This is your daughter Meiran...
Don't you remember her? Or me?"
"I'll... go get the doctor..." Quatre glanced at
Sally, who was on the verge of tears now. He quietly left the room.
".... no... Should I?"
"... Yes... I'm Sally, your wife. Meiran is our
daughter. You don't remember at all??" Sally sat down in the chair by the
bed.
"I don't remember anything."
"...." Meiran stared at the ground. She couldn't
stand to hear much more of this. It really is my fault... he'd have
remembered if I hadn't been such an idiot... the whole thing wouldn't have
happened and this wouldn't have happened... I'm sorry, Mom... It should
have been me... It'd would have been fitting... Meiran headed for the
door.
"I'll be in my room..." She almost choked on her
words and silently slipped out. Wufei watched the door close, confused.
"Why is she upset? Was it something I did?" He blinked.
Sally wiped her eyes.
"No... It's ... I think she's blaming herself...
for this."
"Most patients recover from
these cases of amnesia within weeks depending on the cause of it." The
doctor explained to the group gathered in the room and the still confused
Wufei, "I relatively sure this could have been prevented had he been wearing
a helmet, but there's no guarantee. It's best you take him home in a few
weeks once his ribs had mended more."
"You don't remember cutting my braid??" Duo twitched.
Wufei shook his head and raised an eyebrow.
"I cut your hair?"
"YES. You cut my beautiful and long hair!"
"... I should have cut more off."
"Whaaaat!?" Duo sputtered angrily, then crossed
his arms, "Well I guess some things just don't change."
"Settle down, Duo. He doesn't remember anything.
Take it easy on him." Sally sighed, "Or you'll wish you don't remember
anything when I'm through with you."
The God of Death shut up. (For now.)
"Has anybody seen Meiran?" Sally frowned.
"I saw her go into her dorm room. She sounded like
she was crying." Shino leaned against the wall.
"Speakin' of missing people..." Duo looked around,
"Where's Trowa? I haven't seen him since sometime yesterday." Since
the bar... Hmm... Where is that Tiffany?? I bet she has something to do
with it... Maybe she kidnapped him- "OW!"
"You had that 'look' on your face, Uncle Duo." Shino
put his gun away after whacking Duo with it.
"So instead of threatening to shoot people with
it, you WHACK people with it!?" Duo rubbed his head.
"Siduri is the one who threatens to shoot people."
Shino reminded.
"But you're HEERO'S SON. You should be the one threatening
to shoot people!"
"I'm also RELENA'S SON." Shino sweatdropped slightly,
"Advocate of total pacifism!"
"Oh yeah... THEN WHY ARE YOU CARRYING A GUN!?"
"Dad gave it to me as a birthday present." Shino
shrugged.
"Note to self- I am not letting my child receive
any birthday presents from Uncle Heero!" Duo made a face.
"Oh yeah, you're going to be a daddy. Have fun dealing
with Hilde. Noin was unbearable-" Milliardo begun. Noin elbowed him.
Wufei stared at these weird people who claimed to
be his friends. They were.... strange.
Elsewhere, back in the hangar,
more specifically, in Tiffany's office... Trowa woke up and immediately
wished he hadn't. His hangover was, to say the least, immense. His
head pounded and even the dim light in the office was too much. He was
fairly sure that self-detonation would be a more pleasant experience than
this. He'd have to ask Heero about it sometime and find out just which
was worse. The only sound in the room was that of someone snoring softly.
Tiffany was sound asleep in her chair, still pulled
up next to the couch. There was a knock on the door. Trowa winced as the
sound rang in his ears, making his headache worse.
"HEY! HEY! TIFF! ARE YOU IN THERE!?!?" Momoko voice
exclaimed, quite loudly from the other side of the door. Tiffany twitched
in her sleep.
"HELLLLLOOOOO!!?!?!? DON'T MAKE ME COME IN THERE!
YO! TIFFANY! PMS TO TIFFANY!" Moe continued to shout. Trowa winced again.
"I'M COMING IN!!" Momoko barged in, "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOOHOHOHOHOHO!!!!!!!!!!"
Okay, that was it. Trowa's tolerance limit had been
thoroughly exceeded.
"Will you shut the hell up!?" He snapped at the
pink haired idiot. Momoko blinked and looked around.
"Oh. I thought you'd be back in your room on campus
by now!!"
"If you are going to talk, talk quietly!" Trowa
muttered.
"Oh! She's still asleep even after all that yelling
I did?? She must be exhausted to not wake up to the Naga Laugh! She hates
that laugh.... Dunno why..."
"I think I do." Trowa glared at Momoko, who continued.
"But why is she so exhausted!?!?!? You two weren't
DOING anything, were you!?!?!!?"
"GET OUT! GET OUT NOW BEFORE I KILL SOMEONE! PREFERABLY
YOU!" Trowa finally yelled, Not Happy. Moe was out in a big hurry.
"GOMEN NAAAAAAAASAAAAAIIIIIII!!!" Moe could be heard
screeching clear across the hangar.
"What was that about, Moe?" Shannon blinked.
"Boy... He sounded pissed. What did you do to the
poor guy??" Jeanie glanced at the super deformed Momoko who was hiding
behind her.
"Huh? Trowa's still in her office?" Kiandra sweatdropped
slightly, "Maybe they-"
"He threatened to kill me when I brought that up!"
Momoko flailed her arms.
"For the love of Shimeki... The guy has a hangover.
MAJOR headache. You NAGA LAUGHED." Shannon sweatdropped.
"Small WONDER he threatened to kill you. If I was
that hung over I'D have threatened to kill you. AND probably followed through!"
Stephanie razzed Momoko.
"The hell was that about?" Tiffany mumbled, not
all the way awake yet.
"... I think I just traumatized one of your co-workers."
Trowa sounded very annoyed. That in itself woke Tiffany up the rest of
the way.
"Eh? Which one?"
"The annoying one." Trowa mumbled.
"That doesn't narrow it down much."
"The one with the loud annoying laugh."
"Okaaaay.... That narrows it down to three." Tiffany
sweatdropped.
"The pink haired one."
"Ooooh..... Momoko... What did she want anyways?
It's only 6 AM, that's too early to be up... " Tiffany twitched and opened
her office door.
"Hi Tiff!" Momoko waved from behind Jeanie on the
other side of the hangar.
"Momoko! What's the big idea barging into my office?"
"I wanted to tell you we're done! Well... We're
still working on Altron and Milliardo's new suit, but all the others we
started on are complete. Finished! Kicking @$$ ready! Capable of mass amounts
of destruction, and they all look really cool too!"
"... It couldn't have waited until 8?" Tiffany sweatdropped
slightly. Jenna ran in.
"Hey! BREAKFAST! AND NEWS!"
"DON'T YELL, DAMNIT!" Trowa snapped from inside
the office.
".... ahem. Anyways, it's news about Wufei."
"HOW'S WUFFIE-CHAN!?!?" Kiandra bounded up.
"WILL YOU PEOPLE STOP YELLING!?!?!?" Trowa was going
from Not Happy to Pissed Off.
"Keep it down, you guys." Tiffany sighed, "So how
is he doing?"
"He doesn't remember jack sh*t!" Jenna smiled for
some unknown and probably disturbing reason.
"He has amnesia?" Trowa emerged from the depths
of the office, still looking like hell.
"WUFFIE-CHAN HAS AMNESIA!?!?!?" Kiandra sniffled,
"HEY! MAYBE HE'S AVAILABLE! OW!"
Stephanie retrieved her trusty wrench.
"Will you stop yelling?????" Trowa glared at Kiandra.
"Yep!" Jenna set down her tray full of food, "Doesn't
remember a thing from what I heard."
Momoko wandered over.
"JUST CAUSE YOU GOT WASTED AND HAVE A HANGOVER IS
NO REASON TO BE SO CRANKY AND TAKE IT OUT ON US!! IT'S NOT OUR FAULT -
eh-heh..... Shutting up now." Moe abruptly changed her tune as she found
herself staring down the business end of a pistol held by none other than
a very annoyed Trowa. (Authors: Where'd he get it from? Maybe he hid it
in his hair.) Tiffany blinked.
"Um... please don't shoot my co-worker... at least
wait until we're done building the other Gundams... then feel free to."
"Tiffanyyyyy!" Moe hid behind Jeanie again. Tiffany
ignored her.
"I'm going to have you send
just a few more attack forces to Mars soon, Kwannon." Nimeesha stirred
her coffee, "It's quite a long distance, so we can't launch an effective
assault, but the forces we'll be sending will merely be for appearance
while our main forces build up here."
"And after awhile we're going to stop sending them?"
Kwannon blinked.
"Exactly."
"Won't they attack us then?"
"It's a long distance for them too, even with their
high speed carriers. We're going to wait until our orbit takes us in front
of the Earth."
"So we're going to attack Earth instead?"
"Not quite. I'm surprised you haven't seen what
we need to do first. Once we stop sending the attack forces to Mars, we
will be supposedly pausing the war to try to negotiate. You'll be sent
to the Earth as our ambassador, along with my daughter, Tiana. It will
be a good learning experience for her." Nimeesha sipped her coffee, "As
for my two sons, they are the best pilots we have."
"Yes... They are. Are you going to involve them
in this too, Mrs. Pembroke-?"
"They'd involve themselves anyway. So I'm just making
sure they involve themselves in the right way. They'll be coming with you
to Earth and from there, they will go to Mars." Nimeesha smiled, "After
all, if we can't destroy or steal their Gundams, we'll just have to make
our own."
Kwannon nodded, understanding. Despite her own skills,
Nimeesha could still out plan her at just about anything.
"I see."
"So how do ya think Meiran's
gonna do? You think she's still gonna pilot Seiryuu?" Siduri flopped down
on his bed.
"I don't know." Shino sighed and laid back on his
bed, "It's a really sad state of affairs, isn't it? I mean, the peace was
supposed to last."
"It didn't. It's all Venus' fault, man. Or at least,
somebody there. It was their governess who declared war. Man... I don't
think I like women. Both my sister and Meiran hit me, and now this governess
starting up a war..."
"Your mother is woman."
"AND SHE'S THE ONE WHO HAS ME CLEANING TOILETS!"
Siduri threw his pillow at Shino, who caught it easily.
"You didn't have to help your sister steal the Tallgeese!
I wonder where she is anyways?" Shino tossed the pillow back and pondered.
"She's supposed to write meeeeee." Siduri complained.
"That would give away where she is, dummy." Shino
sweatdropped slightly.
"Ya know... I think I can describe this whole situation
with two words." Siduri grinned.
"Eh?"
"It SUCKS!!" Siduri shouted. Shino nodded agreement.
"People forget how awful war is, I guess. I mean...
a lot of the veterans from the whole thing with OZ and White Fang are getting
on in years and a lot of them died in the war."
"Yeah... sucks." Siduri put his headphones on. Shino
sighed, not noticing this.
"People forget and they get ambitious again... And
when ambitious people come to power, they'll use any dirty tactics they
can to get more than they should. I admit, Venus is probably a harsh environment,
being isolated for about half the year on the opposite side of the sun
from the Earth, but still... I don't see how starting a war is going to
help them. And where did they get the suits they have? Did their governess
force people to build them or what? Maybe that's where some of the emergency
money went... And how many people on Venus really want a war? Their governess
is probably just using them and lying to them like OZ did back when Dad
and everybody else was fighting. You know what I mean, Sid?" Shino looked
over at his cousin, who was apparently completely oblivious and head banging
to his music, "..........."
Siduri looked up.
"HUH? You say somethin', Shino??"
Shino sighed and shook his head, "Nevermind."
Siduri shrugged and went back to head banging.
Sally had stayed up with
Wufei telling him about.... well... him. Their marriage, their daughter,
and what she knew about his past. She was leaving to head back to work
today. She wanted to stay with Wufei, but duty called. With the war brewing,
the Preventers needed everyone that they could get.
"Meiran?" Sally knocked on the dorm room door. It
opened slowly.
"...Yeah, Mom?" Meiran looked tired. Her black hair
was unbrushed and her eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep and undoubtedly
crying.
"I have to go back to work now... Are you going
to be all right?"
"... Yeah... I'll be fine..." Meiran brushed some
of her hair out of her face. Sally set down her suitcase and hugged her
daughter. Meiran didn't really move, she was too tired.
"... Take care of your father and then come home,
okay?"
Meiran nodded slightly, "... You better go or you'll
miss your shuttle, Mom..."
"I know... Oh... The PMS said Seiryuu is finished."
Sally let go and picked up her suitcase, "Be careful, Meiran."
"Yeah... You too."
Sally walked away. Wars are always the hardest
on the children.
Meiran walked into
the hangar. The PMS and Milliardo were talking about setting up a small
celebration for the completion of the suits, or rather, the PMS was trying
to talk Milliardo into it.
"Aw come on! We can go to Keetia's! It's not expensive
or anything! Keetia might even let us have the party on the house!"
"... We'll see. We have more important things to
deal with right now-"
"As if boosting everybody's morale isn't important???"
Stephanie made a face. Meiran ignored them and perched up in Seiryuu's
cockpit, wondering if she should take it out for a 'test drive'.
"It'll be fuuuuuuuun!" Jeanie squealed.
"Yeah! Pleeeeease???" Jenna smiled sweetly.
"Besides, everybody's been so serious. Gotta loosen
up a bit. Wufei will get better!"
"Yeah! Let's focus on what's going right, not what's
going wrong!"
"All right already! We'll see!" Milliardo sweatdropped.
"So that's a yes??" Shannon grinned.
"We'll see!" Milliardo excused himself and escaped
the hangar full of crazies.
"Send them out." Kwannon
commanded, "And remember, it doesn't matter if the battle is won. Just
fight as best you can. Try and blow up those Gundams if you can. If they
order you to surrender... " Kwannon sighed, "Follow your judgment." She
shut off the comm.
"Nice way of covering up the fact not one of them
will make it out alive." Nimeesha noted.
Continued In Gundam Wing: A New Era, Episode 13:
"Enter
The Gundams"