By Veronica Bridges
WuFei hated to admit it, but he was bored. He had always prided himself on his resourcefulness in finding something to do. He could never understand why it was that Duo was always complaining about boredom, and doing whatever he could to annoy the other pilots to alleviate it. Today, however, even Maxwell’s incessant prattle would be a welcome distraction. His throat constricted suddenly at the possibility that he may never see his comrades again. He had met many interesting individuals on this strange planet, but he still missed his friends.
WuFei’s ears had recently healed and he had spent the morning riding in Nataku listening to the wildlife as they continued their trek. But, all he heard was birds. The voices of the birds began to run together, nearly lulling him to sleep. They sounded the same as the birds he had heard a half an hour ago, and an hour before that, and the hour before that. Even the voices of the people he was traveling with seemed monotonous. He tried looking around at the terrain, but it didn’t look all that different than what he had seen all day. Double checking to make sure he had the speakers turned down from the last time he had listened to music, he pulled out the box of CDs Duo had left him. Flipping through them, he found one he had not noticed before. There was a letter taped to the front of it in Duo’s handwriting.
‘Hey Fei – Man!
Whatcha been up to? You’ve been gone on missions so much lately we haven’t had any time to hang out. I know, I know, you’re probably thinking something along the lines of ‘Maxwell, we do not hang out. You simply won’t leave,’ or something to that effect. Whatever you say man, I know you like me.‘
WuFei looked up from the letter he was reading, wiped the tears away that were threatening to fall, and smiled. He knew Duo well enough to know what he was doing. The two men were the best of friends, and were always making those sorts of jokes, usually around the other pilots, who never seemed to quite understand how two people who were supposedly so different can get along so well. They didn't realize just how alike the two pilots really were. Wiping his eyes once more, WuFei resumed reading . . .
‘Anyway, I’m hurt; you haven’t even opened these CDs I gave you yet. Imagine my pouty face where I cross my arms over my chest, duck my head, and stick out my bottom lip, and you’ll see what I’m doing right now. I know you haven’t ‘cause they're all in exactly the same places they were before. I know you’re meticulous and pay close attention to detail, but not even you’re that good, man. Anyway, I was looking through my stuff, and I thought you’d like this lady. I have a copy of this in ‘Scythe and my personal collection. I found out about her cause at the start of the war Heero and I were at some school, and the History class we were in was having a music appreciation unit. I didn’t even get to stay through the whole unit. Damned war. I think out of all the schools I got stuck in, and I all the homework I had to force myself to do so I wouldn’t ‘arouse suspicion’ or some bull like that, I think that was the only time I actually kept a syllabus after I left. There’s some cool tunes out there man. It’s too bad it took this damned war for me to find out about them. But what can you do huh? It’s kind of hard to be musically literate where I come from you know? You don’t really hear all that much of it sleeping under overhangs on the streets of L2. Have you ever listened to the music from Quatre’s people? The class was teaching multicultural music in addition to historical stuff. I was surprised they actually included his music. It has these cool little finger cymbals all throughout that go so fast it’s hard to tell the difference between one clang and another. Zils, I think their called. I have no idea if I’m spelling that right or not. Cool little instrument. Native American tribal music’s pretty cool too. But that’s not my point. Can you believe I ramble just as much when I write as I do when I talk? This lady’s pretty cool. I thought you’d like her stuff. I got you the greatest hits album so you could hear everything she was most famous for. Lemme know what you think. I like them all except her version of Eleanor Rigby. I gave you a Beatles album too, their version’s way better. Tell me what you think. Hey what do you think about my playing her stuff over the loudspeaker in the next battle? How much would it screw with their heads if I go slicing ‘em in half to Respect or something like that? Tell me what you think, Aretha’s an awesome lady. Talk to you later, Wu – man.
Big old hugs from your good buddy,
Maxwell
P.S. To get the proper effect, you have to say ‘Maxwell’ in that grumpy, annoyed, growlly way that only you can do.
P.P.S. Check out what I left for you in the cabinet behind your chair. ‘
WuFei found himself chuckling as a tear rolled down his cheek. He read through the letter one last time, popped the Aretha Franklin CD in, and decided to check behind his chair. "Nataku, when the hell did I leave you alone long enough for him to do this?"
Behind his pilot’s chair, he found a plastic bag full of chocolate bars, ‘they’re probably too hot and melted to be any good by now’ he reasoned and continued digging through the cubby hole. Duo had given him a couple of tablets of drawing paper, and a couple of boxes of excellent quality artist pencils. He also gave WuFei a portable CD player with headphones, batteries, and a battery powered recharging unit. In the back, nearly missed, were a small stuffed dragon, and another letter.
‘Hey Wu – man,
What’d you think of your birthday present? You never told me when your real birthday was, so I just made one up. I meant to give you this stuff in person after your last mission, but Relena changed those plans. Quatre was on a solo mission at the same time as you were. Trowa, Heero and I were all sharing a safehouse, recuperating. I was doing some repair work to ‘Scythe and I just happened to look into my screen just in time to see a big pink limo turning a corner and heading up the street to the house. Of course, it’s dangerous to have her find us, so I called the others and we all took off. ‘Scythe actually flew right over that monstrosity. I felt kinda bad when I saw the look on her face through the screen, but then I remembered all the times she’s put us all into danger with that stupid obsession of hers. You know, if she gave up, she could probably be a pretty cool lady. But I doubt that will ever happen. Sometimes I think I’d rather have to put up with trying to get gum out of my braid than her, but, then I remember how damned hard that is, and Relena, at least if she really pisses me off I can just walk away, for a little while that is.
Anyway, I just got a mission, so I gotta go, I’ll talk to you when I can ‘Fei. Do something nice for yourself for your birthday, I don’t know when it is, but hey, we’re in the middle of a war, take two birthdays, nobody will care. We have no idea when this damn thing will be over, and we’re just kids. Give the campaign for justice a break for a few hours, you work just as hard as the rest of us and deserve it just as much as we do. Duty calls.
The God of Death is off to wreak some havoc.
Your bud,
Duo
P.S. I know you’re not into stuffed animals, but I thought it was just too cute, and I thought you could probably use something to keep you company on all those solo missions you always have.
Bye – bye! ‘
For the second time that day WuFei had tears in his eyes as he worried about the whereabouts of his friends. He wondered what was happening with the war, and if Duo and the others had made it out of the battle safely. With a shake of his head, he tried to change the directions his thoughts were taking him, and concentrate on the music, which, surprisingly, he was enjoying.
As the day came to a close and the group of travelers stopped for the night, WuFei hopped down from the cockpit of Nataku and went to help set up camp for the night. He had been listening to CDs all day, and one song in particular had stayed in his mind. He sang aloud, in English. The travelers looked at him quizzically because he was singing a song in one of his languages, surprising because they had gotten used to hearing them speak in theirs since he had received the gift of tongues.
Through their mental link, only Karthan was able to understand what he was saying. Then he couldn’t stop laughing. This earned him some strange looks from people nearby.
Naiya asked "What’s he saying? I was only able to pick up a little of his language when he was staying with us, and that wasn’t part of it." Uthmar was nearby and nodded his agreement.
"You don’t even want to know," was all he could manage to gasp out between giggles.
WuFei, completely oblivious to this, continued to sing, ". . . You make me feel like a natural woman. . ." as he finished with helping to set up camp.
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