"A Life's Time"

Written By: Zazu

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. Any characters outside of those you recognize from Gundam Wing are my own, especially Lily. If you know of anyone or anything that looks like an existing character, event, or idea, it is purely a coincidence.

Archive: Gundam Wing Diaries

Rating: M (Mature) Rated for language and citrus.

Pairings: 1=2, mention of 3+4

Notes: Beta-read by ShenLong Deb...thank you! This was written for Under The Bridge's 2006, the Colour and the Shape, a 1=2 Contest. The ideas within are completely fictional. An unbeta-ed version was submitted for the contest, thus if you read this on the Under The Bridge website, the contents (namely grammar) will be different.

/blah/ denotes thoughts

Warnings: This story involves mature themes, war, and death of a main protagonist.

Summary: After a mysterious disappearance for six and a half years, Heero Yuy finds Duo Maxwell on L2, bringing the news that they are needed at Preventers to stop an impending uprising. At Preventers, Duo finds not only Wufei, but another person, a child named Lily, who must now work with them in attempt to stop the faction from taking over the peace they had fought for over six years ago. Must sacrifices be made for every battle and every war?

Completed: July 1, 2006

"A Life's Time "

Chapter 14

"Red, we're close enough to scan the fighters on base security." The man commanding the hawk squadron switched on his scanner. The four fighters were leaving the base area in attempt to keep them further, no doubt to prevent the explosions from hurting the base.

"Take care of them first, then the base," Red commanded.

"Red!" But to their surprise, the five fighters wasted no time taking out four of the ten enemies.

"Sir?!" The Hawk Commander was alarmed. "They're well-trained."

"Of course, dimwit," Red cursed; he hadn't expected them to act so fast. "Why else would there only be five to protect the base?!" /Why aren't there more? How would they have known I would only concentrate on battle?/

The AI spoke to him. "Each fighter acting on it's own." It started. "The most offensive one is racing to throw our fighters off balance and attack."

Red knew that style. "Fighter down sir! Five left!" the Hawk Commander called as he tried to take down the quick moving fighter. They began a game of tag.

"Focus on that fighter," Red commanded the AI.

"Missiles, left. Swerve up to follow."

"Missiles left, it's coming after you if you go up!" Red repeated. The Hawk Commander flipped up to avoid those missiles, but like the AI predicted, the fighter was hot on his tail.

Only a suicidal pilot, or an extremely well-trained one with extreme reaction time, would move that quickly.

Red glared at the screen. "Heero Yuy!"

"Red?!" The Hawk Commander was surprised. "Yuy is dead!"

"The man on your tail is Yuy!"

The Hawk Commander paled. Heero Yuy had trained him. Of course he would know each and every one of his moves, tricks, weaknesses and strengths. It did not occur to him that Heero would not know it was he within that enemy plane.

Heero cursed as one of the Preventers fighters exploded and he swerved his fighter, leaving the leading fighter to take down one of the less skilled to alleviate the pressure on his team mates.

"Go for the base!" Red commanded.

"Red!" The Hawk Commander swerved and moved in toward the base. Heero cursed. That plane would have a scanner! He took down one of the enemy fighters and raced after the leading enemy fighter. He pulled up the communication with Une.

"Commander, evacuate the north missile launcher! I'm going to shoot it up and catch the enemy in that explosion!"

A moment later, a response. "Done."

Red watched as the scans began on the base, disregarding the useless information of the first few floors as the scanner swept the area. "Come on," he breathed.

Heero swerved away from behind the enemy fighter, causing the Hawk Commander to wonder what he was doing. Red was neglecting to tell him what Heero was planning. "Red, sir?!" he asked, panicked.

"Shit!" Red turned his attention back to the AI. "Hawk back off, he's going to-" His words were useless as Heero gunned down the missiles area and it exploded into a vertical column of flames that the lead fighter flew directly into. Seeing that the evacuated men from the missile launcher were immediately seeing to the fire before it consumed the base, Heero turned his fighter around to help his fellow defenders.

****

Duo was getting tired of the same moves over and over. Lily was telling him and Wufei how to battle; and while it allowed them to take down every fighter there was, she was frankly taking away from the fun of things.

"I thought you liked child creativity, baby girl," he commented as he executed tactic seven under her command.

"Soon," she assured him. He blinked; he hadn't actually meant it. As long as they would win the battle and with as few losses as possible, he didn't care. He could have any and all the fun he wanted on a sims when it didn't involve other human life.

"Don't be reckless," Wufei warned him. Duo stuck his tongue out and flipped his fighter neatly, adding little touches to his moves even though he followed the number orders that Lily was giving them.

"Incoming fleet four," Lily gasped. The enemy wasn't waiting any longer. "Eagle One said there should only be four fleets!" But it was a fleet of nearly a hundred.

Wufei cursed. Their third fleet had joined them, but they were outnumbered. "Fleet four and five!" he called as he mentally calculated that the two extra fleets would put them at a thirty-man advantage. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. He didn't want to send out the sixth and final fleet until necessary.

"Eagle One, status?" Duo asked as he neatly flipped by a beam and avoided yet another. The enemy fire was getting thicker.

"Eagle One, nest is safe," Heero's voice replied. "Joining Dragon and Shinigami." There was a pause. "Red is mine."

Wufei and Duo simply continued to follow Lily's instructions.

*****

In his own fighter, one of his fourth and final fleet, Red tapped various buttons as he waited for the AI to finish scanning the newly joined fleets of the Preventers. These were the fighters he expected would act as they saw fit, leaving him to interpret what his men could do and to command them if heavy damage was incoming.

"I want twenty fighters trying to take down those two know-it-alls!" he commanded. "First twenty of fleet four!"

"Red!" The chorus of men recognizing his command was loud and he watched as they separated and aimed for the men.

Red would use his ace now. "AI commands, link to fleet four." He smiled as his radar picked up on the incoming fighter he knew was Heero Yuy's.

Lily saw the hitch and change in the data scrolling up on her laptop.

"Commander!" She pulled off her headset to speak to Lady Une. "Their AI is now speaking directly with each fighter of their fourth fleet. All one hundred of them, most likely including Red himself!" She pointed to the radar where Heero's fighter was flying under the majority of the fighters and another fighter was headed at him. "That's Red." She lifted her ear piece again. "Eagle One, Red incoming."

"Roger that."

"All one hundred of them?!" Lady Une gasped.

"Lady Une, I will no longer be commanding Dragon and Shinigami. I'm on the same wavelength as their AI, but I can read the variables faster. I'm going to cut in and falsify the commands at random. First the twenty aimed at Dragon and Shinigami, then the rest. Unless Eagle One's in trouble, I'll leave him to his own battle."

Lady Une knew they had no choice now but to follow Lily's idea. "You're in command," she said softly. "I'll take over Rika and surveillance."

"Roger that." Lily turned back to her laptop and removed Heero's from her lap. Poising her hands over the keyboard, she spoke clearly into her ear piece.

"Dragon and Shinigami," she said. "Child creativity is a go. God speed."

Duo blinked at the change in command, wondering what was really going on, not that he had a way of knowing; the fighters were firing intensely and it was taking a lot of concentration to follow the numbered tactics and avoid their fire. "Roger that, baby girl," he answered, a sly grin settling in. Shinigami was about to fly.

Wufei simply nodded at the command. "Roger that, baby girl," he said softly. Breaking away from his previous mindset of using only certain moves, he began to let his own training and fighting style take over again and began his battle anew.

Heero gave a half smile at the child creativity comment, but it fell away the moment he lit on a fighter he was sure belonged to Red. Reminding himself that the man had the AI, he knew he would have to proceed carefully, quickly and accurately.

A communication request beeped at him as Red's fighter stilled and he stilled his fighter as well.

"Heero Yuy," Red snarled at him.

"Red," Heero nodded. "Or should I say, boss?" he asked.

"You know of our AI," Red growled. "And you still advised your men to come out to battle. You have lost many men at the cost of mine. But this will be my fight with you, Perfect Soldier," Red leered at him. "I will give you a fair and honorable fight. For my men will use the AI to defeat your men and I will use my own skills!" With that, Red's fighter blasted towards his. Heero followed the tactic and swept upwards to avoid the fired shots.

*****

Lily tuned out any and all sounds around her and it felt as if she was back inside the Dark Room again. Just like the way she could read something once and remember every word, every detail, she remembered the variables and statistics of each scan done for the Preventers agents. Although she didn't know any of the battle tactics that had been planned, she now knew what each fighter was going to do, when they would do it and how they would do it. Reading Duo's moves, she used Heero's hacking skills to override the AI's communication port that was connected with the fighters of the fourth enemy fleet. BR>
As the AI spoke the information of what Duo's next move was into her muted speaker, she quickly typed an alternative that would put the enemies in a vulnerable position. Shinigami moved quicker than the men could consider the AI and she repeated the same tactic, switching the communication port to feed the false information to the ten fighters geared towards Wufei as the AI fed the correct information into her muted speakers once again. Realizing that Red was no longer paying attention to his men, Lily made sure that the ten fighters geared towards Wufei and Duo had decreased significantly before she continued the tactic on various other fourth fleet fighters to the ones that according to the Preventer’s AI scans would cause the most damage.

She began to sweat profusely as she tried to comprehend all the variables and possibilities and her fingers began to ache from typing too quickly. She closed her eyes and ducked her head, no longer needing to see the screen or the variables.

She had become the AI of the Preventers and the enemy.

*****

Duo wondered why the fighters that were clearly trying to take him down were acting rather recklessly. A glance at the other screens and seeing the occasional Preventers fighter burst into flame, was a clear enough answer that the enemy AI was functioning. So why were they acting so strangely?

"Shinigami, you seeing what I'm seeing?" Wufei asked.

"I'm seeing some pretty stupid moves, but I'm not any more informed than you are, Dragon." Duo moved in true Shinigami style, zipping close between the enemy fighters and taking light damage in order to inflict greater damage.

"You're not in a Gundam," Wufei chastised him. "Watch it."

"You're just scared that I might wreck Preventers property," Duo sang. He became serious as one of the four remaining enemy fighters on his tail skinned close, risking his own explosion by grazing Duo's right wing. He flipped his fighter vertical and dropped it, but not before letting out a few shots and sending the enemy fighter into the doom he seemed to want so badly. But it was not without a price. His fighter flipped out of control and Duo struggled to pull it up as the alarm claxons rang.

"Shinigami!" Wufei called sharply.

"I got it!" Duo grit his teeth, straightening his plane before it dipped into the ocean and making a wide swoop under the belly of the main warfare, chased quickly by the three on his tail. "I'm okay!"

"What did I say about reckless?"

"I wasn't reckless, the enemy was!"

"Blame it on the enemy," Wufei couldn't help but taunt. They stopped conversing as it became apparent that whilst they were trying to deal with the ten fighters each, the eighty other that made up the enemy fleet four were easily picking off Preventers fighters.

"Come on, Shinigami," Wufei said grimly as he gunned down a fighter. "We have to hurry."

"Roger that, Dragon." Duo risked a glance at Heero's fighter, engaged in its own duel with Red. He prayed that Heero would be all right, then turned his attention to his own battle.

*****

"Lily," Lady Une whispered, watching as the girl typed rapidly, her shoulders hunched. She knelt and reached over to wipe the sweat from the girl's forehead, noticing that her skin was clammy and cold. She suddenly realized that the girl was in Dark Room mode, even without the glasses. The information she was reading was running behind her own eyelids. Keying the frequency to Duo, Wufei and Heero, she spoke.

"Baby girl is overriding the enemy AI as much as possible. Make short work of the fourth fleet. Hurry." She didn't command the last word; she pleaded it. "She's moving swiftly into overdrive."

The words effectively doused the three men in cold water. It was dangerous for Lily to go into overdrive. It was dangerous for them too. Without her overriding some of the AI, their fleet would be taking much more damage. Angered by the thought of the girl in danger, Duo and Wufei tried to work even quicker for the kill. Changing his own tactics, Heero concentrated on moving amongst the other enemy fighters instead of in his own duel space with Red, and killing off the enemy fighters first and making Red chase him.

/Time./ Duo thought. /Again, with the time. We don't have enough time!/

"Fifty fighters of the fourth fleet left." Lady Une counted. "Come on." She turned to watch Lily, still typing rapidly. She couldn't risk stopping her right now; if Lily couldn't get back to the task, they would for sure be doomed. She opened the communication to all ports.

"Preventers Agents!" she called out to them. "Don't give up," she simply stated.

"Sixth fleet, requesting to fly out." The commander's face appeared on Lady Une's control panel. "Please, Commander," he added.

Lady Une glanced at Lily, then nodded curtly. "Sixth fleet, take out the earlier fleets."

"Ma'am!" The image vanished.

It didn't take long for the last fifty, fresh fighters, to join the battle. With Red concentrating on Heero Yuy and not considering the AI readings of the newcomers, the new fleet worked to take out as many of the enemy that was not of the fourth fleet. Half of the fleet consisted of agents trained in solo battle, each having honed their own distinct style. Fresh in battle in comparison, the enemy numbers suddenly lowered much more quickly.

Lily gasped as she was forced to stop typing, her brain moving into a black out where she couldn't understand any more. Lady Une was there, holding her by the shoulders as she clutched her head.

"No, not now!" Lily pleaded to herself. "Just a little more, just forty more."

"Lily," Lady Une whispered, knowing there was no more she could say. She wanted to make the girl stop for her own sake and to ask the girl to keep at it for the agents out on the battlefield. To her, it was a lose-lose situation.

"Please, Lady Une," Lily whispered. "I need...I need to talk to Heero."

Lady Une fixed the headset around the girl's ear and Lily took a deep breath, her eyes still closed.

"Eagle One." Lily tried to stop her voice from shaking as she opened her eyes, blinking rapidly to focus them as she studied the satellite that tracked Heero's movements. She focused on Red’s data. "Red's going to use the AI. You need to take him out now. Then we will request a surrender and hope they will buy it."

"Roger that." Heero didn't dare to ask the girl how she was as he swerved his plane around, pulling up above the battle area, ready to duel Red once and for all. He waited for instructions.

"I'm going to trim his wing for balance."

"He's going to tilt his fighter to use his wing's tip to jar you. Tilt a three-sixty spin when you pass over. I've overridden the AI to just indicate you will trim his wing. Fire immediately."

"Roger," Heero complied.

Red expected to be able to tip Heero's plane and send him off balance so he could gun the other man down as he tried to re-balance the fighter. Nothing prepared him for the move that caused his fighter to take shots in the belly.

"He's going to come straight for you. Fly up so that he has to follow and loop behind him, then drop left, turn back and send your missiles out."

"Roger." Heero followed the moves, watching as Red anticipated his loop and circle horizontally to try and gun him down again. The shots hit water as Heero brought his fighter to the left as Lily asked him to and he fired his missiles.

"Yuy!" Red screamed; he didn’t understand why his AI’s predictions were wrong. That was the last cry Heero heard before Red's fighter exploded. Red's fighter had been the main port of the enemy AI and now, all redirections ceased and the remaining pilots had no more AI to support them. Under Lady Une's command, the Preventers fleets backed away and Wufei requested communication with all of the remaining fifty fighters.

"Your leader has failed!" he cried. "Do you surrender?"

An array of things happened. Several of the fighters merely dropped into the sea in an act of suicide. Many flew recklessly into Preventers fighters, trying to take out one more of their opposition in their suicide attempt. Others tried to turn tail and flee, while about ten remained still, signaling their surrender. The sacrificial suicide attempts were halted as those fighters were immediately shot down and the fleeing fighters were similarly shot down. The ten that remained still were guided down to a Preventers submarine where the pilots were taken into immediate custody.

Heero's fighter, along with Duo's and Wufei's, made their way back to base.

*****

"Lily!" Duo's shout as he careened into the control room caused the girl to look up from her seat. Almost immediately, he snatched her up and spun her around before pulling her into a crushing hug.

"Duo, you smell." Her words were muffled by his flight suit.

"Yea, well, you're not so hot yourself," he answered, pulling back to study her. "Are you all right?" he asked worriedly.

"Tired," she answered with a half smile. "Heero," she nodded to the Japanese man, then she squirmed, reaching for Wufei. "Wufei!"

"Lily." Wufei reached out to take the girl from Duo's grasp. She wrapped her arms tightly around him.

"I missed you so much!" she whispered.

"I missed you too," Wufei replied. "And thanks to you, we've succeeded." There would be much more clean up to do, including reports, funerals, debriefing and general wreckage clean up. But for now, they would have a chance to rest.

"I'm so glad you're all right, all of you." She pulled back, clasping his face in her hands and studying him. "I'm so glad!" She removed one hand and kissed his cheek before hugging him tightly once more.

"Oh, and Wufei doesn't smell," Duo snorted.

"He does, but I don't care," came Lily's muffled reply.

"Come on," Wufei nodded to Lady Une as he spoke. "Let's go get showered and then we can talk."

"Okay." Wufei carried the girl, followed by Heero and Duo, back towards their dorms. There, he pried the girl from his neck and sent her to get showered before he entered his own room to do the same. Heero gave Duo a look and the braided man followed his lover into Heero’s dorm. Once the door was closed, Heero and Duo were in each other’s arms.

"I was so afraid," Duo whispered. "So afraid I was going to lose you."

"Me too, Duo. And to think you were in battle much earlier than I was," Heero whispered. "If you do decide to stick to Preventers, I'm going to ask for a desk job with a computer, I swear."

Duo shook his head. "I'll be a Preventers mechanic. We'll only be field agents if we're needed, deal?"

"Deal."

"Gods I missed you." Duo pulled back to study Heero's face. "I don't think I can spend nights away from you."

"I don't think I intend to let that happen anymore." Heero caressed Duo's cheek. "Even if it means that I'll have to make the bed each morning."

"If the sheets don't have to be cleaned," Duo quipped. Heero raised an eyebrow and Duo's eyes narrowed slightly. "Kiss me, Heero Yuy."

"Gladly." Heero pressed his lips to Duo's, tasting the salty tang of the man's sweat on his lips. When they released each other a minute later, their bodies were close together.

"I need you, Heero." Duo lifted his hips, wrapping his arms around Heero's shoulders. "Please, Heero."

"I need you too, love," Heero whispered. "Come on, let's shower."

They explored each other's bodies once more in the shower, glad that the other had come through the battle relatively unscathed. Duo's hair was untied and the chestnut hair fell from its braid aided by Heero's hands before those hands took on the task of soaking them through and gently massaging Duo's scalp. Duo smiled at the attention as his hands moved to work shampoo into Heero's much shorter hair before they pressed their lips and bodies together once again, seeking more. As they moaned and panted their love for each other, their words partially obscured by the sound of the shower and the movements of their slick bodies against each other, they whispered their love and brought each other to completion.

Across the hall, Lily wrapped her towel around her cleaned body. She reached out to wipe the steam away from the mirror and looked at her own reflection.

/Time is scary, Duo,/ she thought as she looked at herself. /Time's scary when you know when it's going to end./

*****

They gathered in Heero's room after their shower. Heero and Duo sat on the bed as Duo dried his long hair while Lily sat on the chair with Wufei leaning on the desk behind her, drying her hair for her.

"I want to go out, Wufei." She tilted her head back to look at the Chinese man. "Please? I haven't gone out in ages."

"What do you have in mind?" Wufei asked, tilting her head back down so he could continue his task of drying her hair.

"I want to go to the amusement park and get some cotton candy!" Lily immediately said. "Duo said it melts in your mouth. It's yummy, I think."

"It is." Duo winked at the girl.

"Okay, amusement park it is."

"Tomorrow?" Lily asked hopefully. "I also want to buy a pet. Please Wufei? Some fish, or maybe a turtle? Nothing hard to keep."

He snorted. "You can't even dry your hair."

"I can too!" She reached up, but he gently pushed her hands away.

"We'll see about that, okay?"

"Okay." She was content with that answer. "But I really want to visit Mama. Do you think you could pull some strings?"

"I don't know," Wufei sighed. "I'll have to look into that as well."

"Okay. Thank you, Wufei."

"Anything else you want to do?" Duo asked.

"I recall that you wanted to meet Trowa and Quatre," Heero pointed out.

"Yea!" Lily shifted excitedly in her seat. "But I'm hungry now. Can we eat?"

Duo burst out laughing. "You beat me to the hungry comment!"

"What?" she smiled. "I'm a growing little girl."

"Okay." Wufei gave her hair one last pat dry. "Dinner it is." He straightened from his place against the desk. "Then we'll get on the video phone and talk to Quatre and Trowa, okay?"

"Okay," Lily smiled.

*****

Much later that night, Lily entered Wufei's room when he opened the door. "Can I stay with you, Wufei?"

"Yes," Wufei nodded, lifting the girl up to study her. "You look very tired." He touched her forehead. "You're a little warm."

"I'm okay," she smiled. "I was just being active in Duo and Heero's room when I kissed them goodnight," she admitted. "That's probably why."

He nodded. "I was about to turn in."

"Sounds good." She hugged him. "So we can really go get some cotton candy tomorrow?"

"Promise." He smiled although she couldn't see it. She wiggled from his grasp and went to his desk, grabbing a piece of paper and scribbling something onto it.

"What is that?" he asked.

"Something for you to read in the morning." She smiled, and hugged him, gazing adoringly up at him. "I'm so glad you're here, Wufei," she said sincerely. "Really." She released him and pulled his necklace over her neck. "Here, I'll give this back now."

Wufei smiled, remembering that he had purchased a similar piece of jade for the girl, intending to give it to her on her birthday next month. He accepted the necklace and returned her locket to her, slipping it over her head. She tucked it under her shirt and patted it, then hopped into the bed. "Be my teddy bear?" she asked with a cute smile.

Wufei nodded, long having adjusted to the way she asked to be held. He had thought it would be awkward at first, but surprisingly, it hadn't been. /Who would have thought?/ he wondered once again as he tucked the girl in and let her slip her arm around him. /That I, Chang Wufei, having killed so many men, would be able to offer some form of comfort to this small child?/ He caressed her cheek and she smiled. /Nataku, let me grant her wish to see her mother,/ he prayed.

"You want to go to the park for some swings tomorrow?" Wufei asked quietly. Lily yawned.

"I've no time," she whispered. Wufei blinked at her words, then smiled, realizing that the girl was already half asleep. It had been a very, very long day.

"Goodnight, Lily," he whispered. "May Nataku grant you the sweetest dreams."

"Goodnight, Wufei." She slipped into slumber.

*****

Duo stumbled out of bed at the request of entry for Wufei early the next morning.

"Damn it Wufei, what couldn't wait past five in the morning after we fought a war yesterday?" he asked as the door opened. Wufei was cradling Lily in his arms and Heero drew his hands through his messy hair as he walked up behind Duo. Noticing the girl, Heero found it strange that Rika had neglected to mention that the girl was there.

"You want us to take Lily?" Duo asked with a yawn. Wufei did not speak and his eyes were averted. "We don't mind, right Heero?" Duo reached for the girl, but Wufei's grasp tightened. "Wufei?"

Heero caught Duo's wrist, staring at the girl, just as Duo's hand touched Lily's neck. Duo glanced at Heero, then saw the man staring at the girl. He followed the gaze to the slightly smiling face, and traced the gaze to the girl's chest.

It was still.

Slowly, Duo's hand slid from the girl's neck to her nose. She wasn't breathing.

"Oh God, no." Duo stepped back into Heero. "This must be some sick joke." He looked at Wufei, then Heero. "Right? She's just holding her breath. Come on Lilykins, it's not funny." He shook the girl, but Wufei only clutched her tighter. He lifted his onyx eyes to meet Duo's violet ones, then Heero's cobalt ones. Dimly, Heero understood that Rika had not sensed a life signal from Lily, and thus did not mention that Lily was at the door.

"She's gone," Wufei whispered.

And the tears began to fall.

~ * ~

Chapter 15

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