Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Hey, I found this....
I found this and I thought I'd post it. It's not finished, but if people like it, then I just might. Here's chapter one.

Namless Gundam Fic:

Chapter one
Duo was suddenly aware of his surroundings. He had no idea how long he had been swimming in the sea of unconsciousness. He kept his eyes closed. He had no idea where he was or what had happened to him. He remembered his Gundam being damaged and just barely escaping a fight where he had been alone and vastly out numbered. He must have hit his head on the roof of his cockpit or something, it hurt like Hades, but he couldn't remember.
With his eyes still closed, Duo took stock of his situation as best he could. He was laying on something soft and squishy, a couch, by the feel of it. That meant he must be in somebody's house, though who's he had no idea. He was also aware that he had bandages around his head, his left leg, and his ribs. It could be worse, he told himself, at least he wasn't in enemy hands. Just in the home of some innocent bystander he might have to kill, depending on how much they had seen. What a wonderful mess he'd gotten himself into.
Marlena paused in the doorway between the living room and kitchen, soup bowl in hand. The boy on her couch wasn't stirring, but she could tell he was awake. It was about time too. He'd been laying there, unconscious, for almost a whole day and she had been starting to worry. She went back into the kitchen and dished up a second bowl of soup for him and returned to the living room.
"It's good to see you're finally awake.", she said. The boy, realizing she already knew he was awake, opened his eyes and looked at her. He tried to sit up, but the strain was too much.
"Hey, take it easy. You got pretty banged up. You need to rest. Here, have some soup."
Duo accepted the bowl of soup from the nameless girl and sniffed it experimentally. It didn't seem poisoned and it actually smelled quite delicious. Duo couldn't remember the last time he had a decent home cooked meal. He realized that he was, indeed, very hungry and proceeded to devour the soup as quickly as his prone position would allow. He noticed, out of the corner of his eye, that she wasn't touching hers.
Marlena carefully observed the boy in front of her. He couldn't be much older then seventeen. She had found him in the small forest outside the city. It had been her day off and she was out hiking. She'd been wandering well off the beaten path when she had spotted him lying on the forest floor. She'd had the most difficult time carrying him back to her car. She'd utterly exhausted herself doing it. Fortunately for her, she was in good shape, if not the best.
What had really puzzled her even more was the huge mobile suit she had seen, not far from his prone form. For this reason, she had decided not to take him to the hospital. He wasn't your average teenager that was for sure. If the mobile suit was his, that meant he was a soldier of some kind, though for whom, she had no idea. She knew she was five kinds of insane to take him home with her, but she also knew she just couldn't leave him there and she couldn't risk putting him in danger by taking him to the hospital.
Duo finished off his meal and looked back up at his benefactress. "Thanks for the soup," he said, handing her the empty bowl. She took it and placed it in the sink then continued to regard him silently.
"So what's your name? I mean I'd like to know who I have to be grateful to."
"Marlena Gottfried. What's yours?"
"Duo Maxwell. Pleased to meet you."
There was another period of awkward silence. Duo regarded Marlena coolly. She was a good four inches shorter then he, about four foot ten, he guessed, with a dark olive complexion and large dark brown eyes. Her hair was the same shade of brown and fell, smooth and straight, all the way down to her ankles. She was dressed in what appeared to be a nurse's uniform. Her figure was extremely slender and fragile looking.
"You got yourself hurt pretty badly", she finally spoke.
"So it seems.", Duo groaned as he tried to shift positions
"You aren't well enough to move yet, so you'd better stay here for a while."
"It doesn't seem I like I have much choice, but thanks lady."
Marlena grunted in reply "I'm going to the store. Don't wreck the place while I'm gone." With that she was out the door.
Duo looked around the empty apartment, confused. He'd never been left alone in a strange person's place before. His eyes rested on the end table where Marlena's purse was laying and wondered what she planned on doing at the store without it. Unable to suppress his curiosity he managed to right himself with considerable effort and grab a hold of it. He went straight for the wallet and began riffling through it. He knew it was not very polite, but, despite all his charm, Marlena was still more then a little standoffish. She probably wouldn't offer anymore information about herself then she already had and this was the only way he could think of to get it.
The first thing Duo found was Marlena's ID. Sure enough, the name on it read Marlena Gottfried. According to the birth date she was 19 years old. Next he looked at the photos it contained. A picture of an older man and woman caught his attention. They bore a slight resemblance to Marlena. Her parents, he assumed. There was also a picture of her next to a young man who looked slightly older, a boyfriend maybe? Or a brother, perhaps? Duo frowned. Whoever he was, he wasn't very attractive. There were credit cards and cash in the wallet as well, about 60(denomination)s worth. He didn't take any of it though. It wouldn't have been polite.
After putting the wallet back Duo commenced going through the remaining contents of the purse. It was pretty much all boring stuff. A tube of lipstick, a compact, breath mints, several pens, and her checkbook. Curiosity satisfied, he placed the purse back on the end table exactly where he had found it. He noticed her soup bowl was sitting there completely untouched. He was still hungry and if she didn't want it, well he couldn't just let good food go to waste, now could he?
After consuming the second bowl of soup he laid himself back down and started thinking. He had no idea where his fellow gundam pilots were, or how he could reach them. He needed his Gundam repaired, too, only he had no idea where he'd left it. He supposed he could ask Marlena if he could use her phone, but she was probably the type who would insist he keep still until he was fully recovered. He had to admit that resting sounded nice, but he wasn't sure if that was going to be possible. And of course there was still the question of how much she had seen and how he was going to deal with her if she had seen too much. He really didn't feel like killing anyone, especially someone who was taking care of him. It seemed very ungrateful somehow.
Marlena muttered curses to herself as she drove aimlessly around the city. The light from the street lamps reflected off the wet pavement of the street. She had no intention of going to the store and never had. She was being stupid, she told herself, terminally stupid. What on earth had she been thinking bringing home such a potentially dangerous person. Granted he wasn't very dangerous at the moment, but still, what about when he was feel better? She doubted he would want any witnesses. He may be a boy, but if he was trained as a soldier it would be easy for him to kill her.
Marlena slammed on her breaks and did a U-turn. Several drives honked and shouted angrily at her, but she didn't care. She had to get home before that punk made off with all her money and credit cards. That must have been what he was after and she had just been so, so stupid. She drove like a maniac all the way back to her apartment. She fumbled with her keys to open the door. It took her a while, but she finally threw open the door and stood on the threshold. She half expected it to be blow to bits. What she saw was her apartment, just as she had left it, save Duo, who was still laying on her couch asleep. He woke with a start, surprised at her dramatic entry.
"What's the matter lady?" he asked, noticing the rather unattractive expression her face had twisted into.
Marlena merely gave him an even sourer look. "Don't call me lady", she snapped, "Makes me feel old." With that she stormed into her bedroom and shut the door. She seemed to contain an awful lot of rage for such a small woman.
"What's her problem?" Duo muttered to himself as he hunted around the couch cushions for the remote control.
Duo had been watching t.v. for about an hour when he was startled by a loud crash from Marlena's room. He winced and decided it would be best not to investigate. Whatever was wrong, that woman was definitely in a bad mood. He wasn't really afraid she would hurt him, but angry women could be very scary all the same. So he decided to mind his own business and not get involved in another person's troubles.
A few moments later Marlena came storming out of her room and seized the broom and dustpan that had been leaning in a corner in the kitchen. She stomped to her room and came back a few minutes later the dust pan containing broken glass, the remains of what looked like a broken picture frame, and fragments of a torn up photograph. Once again Duo kept his thoughts to himself.
Much to his surprise, after tossing the contents of the dustpan into the waste bin, Marlena sat herself down on the floor in front of the couch. He decided to fix his entire attention on the program he had been watching, so as not to attract her notice. His plan was working until he heard to sobbing. He risked a tentative glance in her direction and saw that she was weeping violently with her face in her hands.
Unsure what to do, Duo finally settled on pulling his handkerchief out of his pocket and offering it to her. She took it and dried her tears, wiped her nose and held it out to him. Duo stared at it; it was soaked with her tears and covered in snot and mascara. "Uh, you keep it," he told her. Marlena gave him a weak smile and pocketed the handkerchief. Her mascara had run, giving her dark circles under her eyes, but she was still more attractive then she had been when she was angry.
Marlena got up and headed to the bathroom. Duo wondered, now more then ever, what was going on with her, but there was no way he was about to ask for fear of getting his head bitten off. Nobody he had ever meet was this moody on a regular basis. He sighed, picked up the remote and changed the channel.
Marlena stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. She had cleaned her face and redone her makeup, but she still felt like she looked worn and haggard. Her mother had come to see her yesterday and had remarked on it. Marlena had told her that it was because she was having difficulty handling working at the hospital and going to school at the same time, which was a lie. She didn't feel ready to tell her parents about the breakup yet. They both loved Brad and been looking forward to having him for a son-in-law.
Just the thought of Brad almost made her start crying again. It had only been four days since her boyfriend of over a year had told her that he'd been seeing another woman for months, so she supposed it was normal to feel extremely emotional, but that thought didn't make her feel any better. What she really wanted, right now, was to be alone. With a house guest, however, that wasn't possible. The best she could do was hole up in her room and try her best to ignore the blaring of the television.
Marlena curled up on her bed and turned on the radio to help drown out the noise coming from the living room. She looked across the room at the wall she had thrown Brad's photo against in a fit of anger. Since he broke up with her, it seemed the only emotions she could feel were, alternately, anger and sadness. It was like one big, unpleasant, rollercoster ride. And just when she was feeling emotionally crippled she had another problem dropped in her lap. True, she hadn't been forced to help the boy, but just leaving him there would go against a few of her most basic beliefs, so she was stuck with him.
After watching t.v. for a few more hours, Duo sighed and turned it off. He knew he couldn't stay here for long and he vowed to himself that as soon as he could get off Marlena's couch, he would get back into action. Where ever his gudam was he hoped it was safe. One thing he absolutely had to do tomorrow was question her about how much she knew. It would have to be done carefully, so as not to give away anymore information about himself. He decided, with a yawn, that he would think about it later, right now, he needed to sleep.

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