"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 9

"Wufei!"

Wufei had barely stepped through the elevator's doors when Lily flung her arms around his waist, burying her face into his stomach. He managed a glare at the smiling Sally, grinning Duo, and even the smirking Heero, before he looked down at the girl.

"Lily," he returned the greeting, for a lack of other things to say. He had to tug lightly on her arms before she stepped back and immediately her hands rose to her face, wiping her tears. Alarmed, Wufei knelt, placing his helmet on the floor. "What's wrong Lily?" he asked.

"I'm so glad you're back," Lily sniffled, rubbing the tears from her eyes. "But I'm so selfish, Fei, so many others have died today and all I can feel is happy that you're back," she sobbed.

Wufei turned to Sally, unsure of what to say. Taking her cue, Sally knelt and placed a hand on Lily's shoulder before pulling the little girl's hands from her face.

"Lily, don't rub your eyes so hard, it's bad for them," she admonished lightly. "Listen to me, Lily."

With a hiccup, the girl lifted her head and stopped rubbing her eyes, even though she continued to sniffle and her tears continued to run.

"Everyone out there did their best today," Sally started. "And in a battle like that, it's inevitable that some people get hurt and some people die. It's normal that you feel relieved and happy that someone you know is safe from battle. Everyone that stood out there today knew the possible consequences and fought for what they believe is a better future for their friends and family. They died for that better future, fighting for what they believe in; and while it is sad, it cannot be stopped."

Lily sniffled and nodded. "I understand." She wiped the tears from her eyes. "I have to tell you something though."

"What is it?" Sally asked kindly.

"I just understood something," she hiccuped. "The AI is designed to keep a permanent scan on a person and that was why only a few of the fighters had those scanners."

"What do you mean, permanent scan?" Wufei asked, wiping the tears from her cheeks as Lily tried to get herself under control.

"When the AI took a scan of someone, it predicted their next move. I didn't...the computer offered that variable but I didn't realize what it meant. When it manages to predict the next move, it also manages to predict the one after it and after that too. I don't think the other person realized that either, until now. One scan of Wufei," Lily hiccuped again, "and the AI would be able to tell everything about him, every move, one after another, until the time it chooses to stop, or is stopped."

"Hang on a moment," Heero cut in. "You mean to say that if the boss of the faction wanted to, he could predict right now that Wufei is coming back to report to us."

A dawning of understanding hit the five of them.

"Shit," Duo swore.

"Watch your language,” Wufei warned. "Okay." He straightened. "I came here intending to get some rest before the debriefing. I'll do that now. I had contact with the leader who called himself Red, and he said that the next battle will be the last one, two weeks from now. From now until then, we will have no contact. Any discussion will go through someone who has not been scanned and as long as the New Intelligence doesn't know of you three, you are now going to be our best bet to win this."

"No contact!" Lily grabbed Wufei's shirt. "What do you mean?"

"This means that you will consult Rika every time you leave a room and find out where Sally, me, or anyone else involved in the battle today is. You will avoid them at all costs and we will communicate through Lady Une. You are to give this report to Lady Une no matter how scary you think she is Lily. Do you understand?"

"But-" Lily understood. "Two whole weeks?" she asked in a small voice.

Wufei suddenly pulled the girl into a fierce hug. "Stay with Duo and Heero," he murmured. "We won't be able to communicate." He neglected to remind the girl that two weeks was the deadline that determined whether or not they would win this mini war.

"But-" Lily hugged him back fiercely. "I can't even see you?"

"Probably shouldn't, Lily," Wufei whispered. "Go now." He released her, but the girl didn't let go. "Lily, please."

"Be careful, okay?" she whispered. "You have to."

"I will be careful," he promised, giving her another squeeze. She returned it and released him, her eyes shiny with new tears. "Stay with Duo and Heero," Wufei repeated before picking up his helmet once more.

"Be careful, Lily." Sally also hugged the girl. "Just pretend you're on vacation."

Lily nodded. "Okay. I'll miss you." She hugged the woman back.

"Take this, Lily." Wufei suddenly pulled a necklace from around his neck. He kissed it and slipped it over the girl's head before he turned swiftly to walk down the hall to his dorm. Lily fingered the necklace, watching his retreating figure. With another pat on her head, Sally turned to walk down the hallway.

"Sally, give this to Wufei for me." Lily struggled to tug the necklace from around her own neck, untangling it from her hair. "It's the locket from my Mama," she said softly. Sally took it with a nod, knowing that the girl never took the necklace off.

"Come on, Lily." Duo knelt. "Let's go speak to Lady Une now. It's important."

"Will he be okay?" Lily asked, looking at Duo. "He gave me his good luck charm." She held up the long necklace on which a piece of jade hung.

"You gave him your lucky charm, didn't you?" Duo remembered the soft tone in which the girl had mentioned her mother in her dreams to him. Lily nodded in answer. "Then he will do his best. He has to give that back to you, doesn't he?"

Lily nodded and Duo studied the chain.

"I'll be," he muttered. "Check this out, Heero." He lifted the girl into his arms then showed the necklace to the Japanese man.

"Gundanium," Heero said, touching the necklace.

"Probably from his own," Duo murmured as he pressed the button for the elevator. "You, Lilykins, are one lucky girl."

Lily only managed a small smile before she leaned her head down on Duo's shoulder, trying to seek comfort from his warmth. Duo glanced at Heero, who returned the eye contact before turning his gaze to the girl.

Suddenly, both men realized that despite Lily's teasing of Wufei, she thought the world of him. The upcoming two weeks, they would soon realize, had just gotten harder.

*****

"So we communicate only via Lady Une," Heero confirmed with the girl sitting on his bed. "And anything you have to tell to Wufei, you do it through Lady Une, but only important things."

Lily nodded. After she had explained the long-lasting effects of being scanned by the AI, Lady Une had gone silent before she began to bark out orders. The agents who were at the battle both actively or on the submarines were to be quarantined in the subs if they were staying there, between the protective custody rooms as well as the far end of the dormitories. Lady Une was not about to risk those who had been on standby; they had no idea whether or not the opposing AI had managed to scan the people on those subs which had surfaced at the time of battle. Other agents would interact with them to throw the guise that they knew of the AI. Mealtime hours were separated and to be strictly observed, and training time in simulators would be properly divided and also observed. In the case of an emergency breach, those who had been at the first battle would be the front line while those that had not would be the back up.

Lady Une herself, along with Wufei, would discuss further battle tactics while Duo, Heero, and Lily were to continue working on the AI. Any progress would be reported to Lady Une and no knowledge of the AI would be passed on to anyone else. Battle plans would be explained if Lady Une found it necessary and these orders would be observed until the last battle ended.

"You know, I just remembered something that Wufei said." Duo sat next to the girl. "He said that you were to report to Lady Une no matter how scary you think she is. What's the story behind that?"

"Wufei let me read some files about the war when he tried to work out the extent of my ability to read and remember things. Then I read about Colonel Une and Lady Une. She's not scary, I guess, and you don't see much of her Colonel personality now, but then when she's giving orders, like earlier, it does show through, a little," Lily answered, swinging her feet so that her heels tapped lightly on the drawer under the bed. She looked up. "So when do I go back to work?"

"Everyone is moving around getting settled now," Heero answered. "So we'll stay here for a couple hours, then get to work."

Lily nodded, staring at the ground.

"Hey, don't be like that, Lily." Duo ruffled her hair. "You make it seem like you don't like to be around Heero and I."

She shook her head. "It's not that," she murmured. "I'm just trying to figure out how to make a wide scanner like theirs and how we... how Wufei and them can fight the battle with as little damage as possible."

Duo glanced at Heero, who was frowning at his laptop even though the screen was black. "What's wrong, Heero?"

"Just had a thought," Heero answered. "But I'll need to go over a few things first."

Lily yawned. "Can I take a nap, Heero?" she asked, giving him a look. Heero nodded.

"You want to stay here?" he asked in reply.

Lily toed off her shoes and curled up under the blankets, assuming from Heero's question that he wouldn't mind her staying or using his bed. Duo pulled the blanket a little higher before he turned back to Heero.

"So what did you have in mind?" Duo asked after a few minutes when he could tell by Lily's even breathing that she was asleep.

"Rika, dim lights," Heero commanded first. The lights dimmed slightly and Heero turned on his laptop. Duo moved closer as Heero sat down in front of the brightened screen. "In the battle earlier, the agents had a formation to start with that they stuck to with pretty much no other thoughts. We managed to eliminate five of the enemy fighters because they hadn't yet completed their full scan. The element of surprise is on our side."

Duo nodded, following Heero's analysis and report. "Then they started to pick things up, but they didn't just kill our fighters, when they could have like I did when I got readings off you in the test run."

Heero nodded. "They were instructed to toy with us," he said darkly.

"Fuck," Duo cursed. "The only reason we won then was that-"

"Was that Lily told them to break formation. The enemy didn't expect that, because each of the agents expected themselves to simply follow the formation, over and over. Again, element of surprise. We surprised both our agents and the enemy, and since they had no reading of us, they couldn't predict that we would give that order."

"And we won because the enemy didn't realize they had a, as Lily called it, permanent scan."

"And the person on the other end wasn't prepared to interpret that onslaught of data before his fighters were eliminated."

"But any of Lily's scans would be useless now," Duo pointed out. "Anyone she scanned is...well, dead." At that, the two men lapsed into silence.

Heero's laptop suddenly beeped. "Une's new schedule is out."

"Is it?" Duo leaned close to study it. "So in another hour we'll be out of quarantine, then we can grab some lunch and then you guys can get to work and I'll go to the sims."

Heero nodded. "Sounds good." He turned to look at Lily, but his lips met the corner of Duo's mouth instead. He pulled back and Duo raised an eyebrow.

"You're going to do more than that, aren't you?" he asked quietly, a sly look in his eyes. Heero smirked.

"Guess so, since you asked so nicely." He reached behind Duo's head and pulled him close. Duo's tongue tried to seek entrance into Heero's mouth and their two tongues sparred for a moment, tasting each other.

Duo tasted like heaven to Heero. He was warm and the scent of his shampoo was distinct. Heero could feel Duo's hand slide into his hair as he turned the chair so he could face the American. Releasing Duo's neck, he tugged at the other man's thighs until Duo was straddling him.

To Duo, Heero's touch was like fire and ice at the same time. It seared through him in hot pleasure, but each touch made his spine tingle like the feeling just before a shiver. He loved it and craved it.

Having accomplished settling Duo in his lap, Heero's hands rested on Duo's hips for a moment before they tugged the shirt loose from the jeans and touched his skin. Duo shivered this time as he drank in Heero's kiss, his own hand trailing down to tease Heero's nipples. Heero broke the kiss and let his lips and tongue play over Duo's jaw and down his neck as Duo's head fell back and he moaned quietly. He could feel Heero's hands slide up his shirt to tease and play with his nipples and he arched his back to the touch. As he did so, his hips shifted closer to Heero and they pushed together for contact. Duo rocked his hips again and Heero rested his head against Duo's shoulder as he felt the pleasure sear through him. Taking his chance, Duo kissed Heero's forehead, then pushed his head back as he dove in for a taste of Heero's neck. His hands began to unbutton Heero's shirt; he didn't understand why Heero had been so adamant in staying in uniform when Lily had decided to change into what she called comfy clothes and Duo himself had followed suit.

Lily. Duo suddenly remembered. Still, he wanted to mark Heero first. Two of the buttons undone, he pushed the shirt aside and sucked on the skin of Heero's shoulder where the clothes that Heero wore would cover the mark. His hips were still moving and he was rapidly losing the train of thought that was telling him he should stop. Heero moaned and the thought rolled further into the recesses of his mind.

Heero felt Duo's lips tease along his neck and he could feel the other man unbuttoning his shirt. His breath hitched when Duo sucked hard on his shoulder; surely, he was going to leave a mark. Their hips worked together and Heero dropped his hands from Duo's chest. There would be time to explore later, for now, he just wanted more of the hardness pressing against him. His hands slipped around Duo's slim waist and into the back pocket of Duo's jeans. He pulled the man's hips close as he lifted his own and he leaned forward to press his torso against Duo's, his lips burying into the other man's neck as he moaned.

Duo rocked his hips forward roughly, feeling his blood sear within him and flow southward. "What the fuck are you doing to me Heero Yuy?" he growled, his teeth biting the man's earlobe lightly.

"Exactly what you're doing to me," Heero replied as he pulled the man's hips towards his again and lifted his own. They had settled into a rhythm, Heero suddenly realized. "Kiss me," he growled as a moan tried to force its way out. Duo complied with a fervor, crushing their lips together as their hips rocked together. They moaned against each other's lips and a rustle caught Duo's attention. Again he remembered that they weren't alone, but they were too close for him to stop. Breaking the kiss, he hugged the Japanese man close, whispering into his ear.

"Come for me lover, shh...I'm right here." He closed his eyes as they rocked together. Heero moaned into his ear, his hands pulling Duo closer if it were possible and he buried his eyes into Duo's neck, his moan of completion muffled by the man's shirt. Duo had to bite his lip as he shuddered to his own completion and he buried his eyes against Heero's shoulder, his hips jerking slightly as he came.

The moment his senses settled and he could feel his legs, he jumped up and pulled Heero up with him.

"Du-" Heero found his voice cut off as Duo's hand covered his mouth and he found himself bodily pushed towards the bathroom. Duo's hand released him before he peeked out and back in and pulled the door shut, leaning heavily against the wall since Heero was resting, panting, against the bathroom counter.

"Lily," Duo chuckled. "We forgot about Lily."

The flush on Heero's cheeks was priceless as the man groaned and squeezed his eyes shut upon realization. "Oh fuck," he cursed.

"Not quite," Duo quipped. "But she's still sleeping, I'm sure of it." He pressed their bodies together and kissed Heero thoroughly. "We need a change of clothes," he said when he pulled back. "Hop into the shower Heero, I'll grab us both something."

"Thanks," Heero managed. Duo slid the door open and entered the dark room again while Heero quickly stripped and got into the shower. Shaking his head, he rested his hand on the tile wall and leaned his forehead against it. /I can't believe we let that happen with Lily in the room,/ he groaned silently.

"Believe me, I'm thinking the exact same thing," Duo said with a chuckle. "So." He leveled his gaze at Heero's eyes before he deliberately let his eyes rake down Heero's naked back. "Got room in there?" he asked, tugging his t-shirt off. Heero smirked and reached to unbutton the jeans as Duo tugged the zipper down.

"Let's get you out of that mess." Heero watched as Duo kicked off his jeans.

"That's what you're around for, aren't you?" Duo paused, his thumbs hooked at the waist of his boxers. "Getting me out of messes?"

Heero tugged the boxers off and pulled Duo into the warm shower, pressing their bodies together.

"Been there," he smirked again, "done that."

*****

Lily slid the glasses over her eyes as she settled into her seat in the Dark Room. Heero watched as the girl slid them up on top of her head after a moment and attached herself to the status monitor, then slipped the glasses back down.

"Rika, commence reading."

"Affirmative, Lily."

Heero sat down and flipped open his own laptop. Lily had informed him as they made their way to the Dark Room that she wanted to do a review of the AI once more to find the hidden variables that she had not understood and see what they said about the permanent AI scan. While she did that, Heero kept an eye on her statistics as he tried to find a way to make a wide-range scanner. Two hours passed swiftly before Lily spoke up.

"Rika, stop reading."

"Secondary confirmation?"

"Stop reading."

"Affirmative, Lily." Lily pulled the glasses off.

"Take a-"

"Break and drink, I am," Lily cut him off, then cast him a sidelong glance. "Sorry." She shrugged with a slight smile. "I know how to read the variables now and from the scan I did of you, I just knew what you would say." She took a drink and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"You're tired," Heero said, glancing at her readings. "Your heart rate is elevated, more than usual."

Lily shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "But I know how the AI is working now, as long as we can get the wide scanner done."

"Tell me Lily." Heero put his laptop down and slid closer on his chair, turning the girl's chair to face him. He rest his hands on the armrests and leveled his stare at her. "How is the AI working?"

"It can work in a variety of ways. It does a scan of a person and then interprets whatever data it has. Brain waves, sweat glands, body heat, whatever. Then it uses a variety of variables and just figures out what the person is doing. When it figures out one thing, it does another and another. Because a human being's thought and action all comes after the body reacts. Like the brain signal comes first."

Heero shook his head. "When the faction leader, Red as Wufei said he introduced himself, used the AI on me, he had an ear piece. He heard the AI say something. The AI told him what I was going to do."

"They think you're dead, so they probably have discarded the information on you. Besides, they didn't know until now that they could do a permanent scan until they discard the information-"

"Why don't I hear anyone speaking?" Heero cut her off. "Why Lily? What did you do?"

Lily blinked at him, then looked away. He gently turned her back by the chin. "I need to know, Lily. You are telling us what is going on every time we use the AI. Why Lily?" He said the last two words in a harsher tone, hoping the girl would respond. Lily flinched and shrank back in the chair.

"We don't have the time or resources to create the full AI," she told him in a small voice. "So I studied the variables from the blueprints you gave me and when the waves come up, I just... I just understand. I don't know how to explain it Heero, I really don't."

Heero stared at her. "You've... you read the data and you became the AI?"

"I..." Lily faltered. "I never looked at it that way. It's just that... the variables flash by in my head, like an equation or something... and I just understand it. And I say what I understand." She blinked at him. "But what's wrong with that?"

Heero sighed and pulled back, running a hand through his hair. "I thought so Lily," he said quietly. "You aren't skilled in battle," he informed the curious and slightly afraid girl. "If you're the AI, we're a step behind."

"Step behind?" Lily asked. "What do you mean?"

"Red is skilled in battle. When the AI tells him something, he can think of instructions and pass them on to his men. You aren't skilled like he is. You'll need to explain things to someone else, who will then give the instructions."

"So teach me," Lily said softly. "I have two weeks. Feed me anything and everything from the strategy courses the trainees take. Access the locked files about the battles of the Gundams and let me read those. I always choose the best alternative possible, at least, I thought I did." She frowned.

"Is there any way you can make the AI?" Heero asked.

"No." Lily shook her head. "I'm not... informed," she said helplessly. "I read the blueprints, but while I can spew off the parts and the words, a lot of them and the procedures, mean nothing to me. If you gave me the blueprint of your Gundam, I would be able to tell you everything on it, but I wouldn't be able to build it. If you gave me a detailed document of how to build the Gundam, I'd be able to read it, and recite it back to you."

"But isn't that detailed procedure in the information I gave you?"

"It's everywhere. They built it slowly over six years. They took one procedure and kept changing it. It's like the Gundam example. I can recite it back to you, but I wouldn't be able to build it. I don't actually know the names of the parts nor what the instructions mean. Don't you understand, Heero? I can retain and use data, but... if it's not an equation like that, like decoding, I can't do anything else."

Heero cursed inwardly. "Is there any way you can tell me how to build the first one and give me the variables, since you can recite all of the blueprints?"

Lily nodded, then shook her head. "They cultivated the AI using DNA strands," she confessed. "They encoded genetics into a computer and I guess... taught it to understand the variables and speak them back out. You can't do that in two weeks Heero, or even three or four. You need more time."

"So you think it's all right that you just became the cultivated and encoded *computer*?" Heero asked. Lily turned away.

"What other way is there?" she asked softly. "Just... right now, I have to read anything and everything I can get my hands on regarding battle. Unless we have a way to scan their men, we don't have a way of intercepting them. Lady Une probably will plan to use other agents first, before the ones the faction has already scanned with the AI."

Heero turned his death glare against the computers before he forced his gaze to soften and turned back to the girl. "I'll speak to Lady Une now. I want you to go find Duo in the sims now."

"Okay Heero."

~ * ~

Chapter 10

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