Hall of Mirrors
She knew very well she was dreaming. She stored this fact away in a random filing cabinet in her mind. The room was black, save for a beam of light that seemed to come from nowhere, pointing straight down.
She walked forward, into the light. *Go iiiiin to the light! Go iiiiiin to the light!* She snickered and kept walking until she quite suddenly hit something invisible and very solid. She blinked, peering through smudged lenses. What was in front of her eyes was too blurry to see up close, so she backed off a few feet.
Quatre's face stared back at her. She blinked, her reflection blinked back. She waved a hand, Quatre waved back. Shaking her head, she reached out to touch the image. Her hands met with something smooth and flat, though warm. She walked to her right, keeping her hand on the invisible surface at all times.
Quatre's image did the same, so it almost appeared as if she and he were walking hand in hand. Suddenly, beside Quatre, Trowa appeared. She looked to her right and now Asuka walked with her. Heero, Duo and Wufei joined Quatre and Trowa, as Dan, Christy and Mel joined her and Asuka.
Quatre split off from the others, and soon walked with many young women, all with blond hair and eyes. Looking around, she saw she walked with her herd of brothers. She spotted her father, and ran to him, even as Quatre's image turned his head and walked away from his own father's image.
She saw Duo cradling a women in a nun's habit as Christy crouched beside the remains of her father and mother. She saw Asuka wandering around a base, spotting a large Gundam, as Trowa looked up at a red suit, while a blond man bled to death at his feet. She spotted Wufei cradling a young Chinese woman as Mel received word of Tzu's death. She saw Dan climb into a helicopter as his mother was torn away from him, as Heero knelt beside an older blond man, who whispered to him as he died.
Past images appeared. The woman Trowa had identified as Catherine threw knives and offered soup to distraught pilots, as Katerine commanded her suits forward. She saw Sally Po comfort and defend, even as Salina committed atrocities in the name of her cause. Madame Garnier and Une faced each other, each half-seeing the other, and Trei Petrenkovitch smoked a cheroot as Treize Kushrenada saluted with a sword. A young woman in pink cried out for peace as her darker counterpart perched on a Theo MS.
Faces swirled by, on both sides, the images no longer in any logical order. As half-familiar eyes flew by her vision, she heard words and phrases floating around her.
"... I saved the flowers, didn't I?..."
"The God of Death is back from Hell!"
"He thought -- he thought of you. Of forgiveness. And -- honor."
"You shouldn't be fighting at all!"
"Smile Trowa! Smile!"
"Here we go, Morkeleb."
"Always follow your emotions."
"Omae o korosu."
*I've spent every day since then hiding who I was.*
< Dan>
"The weak shouldn't be fighting!"
"He's my brother?"
"I want to be a threat. I won't let them ignore me next time."
"Learn to love them, as I have."
"Keep shining, brave warriors..."
"I serve my country best by not being the cause of a constitutional crisis.”
She clapped her hands over her ears, and it all vanished. She looked around, and the only thing she saw was a puddle on the ground. The water rippled, changing her face so it no longer looked like her own.
Jay sat up abruptly. She looked over at her sleeping roommate. Quatre slept peacefully. She stood, and put her robe over her pyjamas. She walked to the bathroom to splash water on her face, listening to the dull murmurs of human thoughts that prowled around the edges of her mind.
She looks up blearily at the mirror, and she saw a hazy, distorted image of herself.
"Dear lord, my reflection is warped, eh wot," she commented to herself. Her heart lurched and she fled to a comm unit.
"Jay lovie, it's three in the morning. Why are you awake?" asked a mild, Albion-accented voice. The speaker was a red-haired young woman, hair semi-tamed by an extremely fuzzy long braid. Tired blue-grey eyes peered out from thick, oval lenses.
"Kattie, I had a dream," Jay began.
"Our four little children will not be judged by the funkiness of their accents, but by the content of their character?" Kattie asked mildly. Jay smirked.
"Not quite. Do you remember the Appearance stories?" Jay asked, twirling a pen between two fingers.
"Indeed. People appearing from nowhere, which advanced our technology. What of it?"
"What about the idea of parallel dimensions. Mirror worlds, if you will."
"Jay lovie, unless you are more specific, I cannot help you. I will keep your little military secrets, you know that."
Jay nodded, and began. After she had finished, Kattie sat back. Long moments passed before she spoke.
"Jay, I believe you. But I need to talk to your guests to learn more. Ask your General Pet if it would be possible to bring in a foremost psychologist in the matter of such things- myself, of course- and I will help you."
Jay nodded, shutting the channel down. *Kattie will fix this.*
"Stepanopolous, for the last TIME- who the hell are you?!" Valeri yelled, without a pause. Christy blinked at the shift of focus.
Valeri's attention was focused solely on the red-haired woman approaching. She was wearing tight white leather pants and a black t-shirt that said in white writing 'Eye Exam', and a pair of large eyes were positioned squarely over her breasts. Over her arm, a white coat was slung, and in the other hand she had a suitcase. Her eyes were concealed by sunglasses.
"Who the hell are you?" he demanded again. She flashed him a smile.
"I am the very model of the modern major general, eh wot," she said brightly. Valeri moaned.
"Kattie!" squealed a familiar voice, and Jay came a-running, hugging the red-head enthusiastically. The red-head hugged back.
"Jay love, good to see you!" she said. Valeri stared at both, agog. Kattie smiled at Valeri. "I'm a mad doctor, don'tcha know?" She pulled on the jacket, which was a lab coat, and secured an ID badge.
"Katharine Macaulay, PhD in psychology..." he read aloud.
"That's me!" Kattie said brightly, hooking an arm through Jay's. "Goodbye Lieutenant..." She walked away, and he sighed as he read the words 'When you're this evil, they call you Mistress (Mister)' on the back.
"I do NOT need a shrink!" Duo exclaimed with finality. Pet looked unamused. Kattie, who was sitting on the General's desk arranging his pens, looked up at Duo and smiled.
"I am not a shrink. A shrew on occasion, a skink at times, but never a shrink. I am a psychologist."
Duo made a face. "Whatever."
Kattie's expression changed to one of great seriousness and she looked each of the Earthan Gundam Pilots in the eye. "Listen. We trust you. However, it is compulsory that each member of your team take a psychological evaluation, even if the summary results are ignored and shunted to a lonely filing cabinet. I expect to see you ALL in my office, as soon as possible. You may go now," Kattie said, waving imperiously.
Trei looked at her her. "Off my desk," he said plainly.
She hopped off and smiled brightly at him. "Righto!"
Trei puffed on a cheroot. "I know vhat four told me, but I want to hear vhat you have to say," Trei said.
Kattie nodded seriously.
"There are more than a few similarities between these two worlds. I hope to discover the extent of this similarity, as well as real psychological analysis. As cliched as this may sound, I think they all have 'issues'. Their persona are far too well developed."
Trei nodded. "I assume you vill not need much," he said, stubbing out the cheroot.
"No, only an office. I am carrying everything I need with me."
*flash*
"Julia, put them down, there's no TIME!"
"Raine, just the notes, we worked so hard-" a cut-off scream.
"No! Julia!"
"Kid, get in! The evac unit won't wait."
"Momma... Poppa...."
*flash*
"You should never have more than you can carry with you, wot."
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