Disclaimer: Ppl, I’m sure you know I don’t own Gundam Wing or any of the original characters from the story. Rofis, however, is mine.
Time Line: This story starts a few weeks after Quatre had gone crazy with the ZERO and blasted up a colony.
Life beyond Life
Chapter 1
By : Yuy Ren
The canary landed on the oak tree with expertise. In it’s beak was a wiggling worm, waiting to be torn into pieces by the three baby birds underneath it. What could be going through its mind before eternal darkness surrounded it? Would it regret coming out of the safety of the underground? It stopped moving. Was it dead? No, the three predators had not yet touched it. Has it accepted its fate? No, it has no such thought. <It was a worm, > Rove reminded himself, running a hand through his long, auburn hair, <It had no such thought. Yet, its life seemed so expendable, as if it had no value…>
"Hey, Doofus!" cried a tall blonde boy from across the field from where Rove was sitting and began walking up to him with attitude. As usual, his group of "friends" followed him. They called themselves "the group of seven", which Rove thought was a disgrace to the ancient group of Canadian artists. *
"It’s Rofis, Brennan." Rove replied as calmly as he could. But a small quiver of fear still trembled out of his throat. He had always been afraid of this tall, muscular built 16-year-old. Somehow, Brennan and his friends always picked on him. Rofis tried to ignore him for a while, but Brennan constantly bothered him. Then the annoyance turned into violence and Rove went home with a bruise at least once per week.
"Rofis is too good a name for ya! Why don’t you just accept the fact that you don’t belong here and kick your little rear end out yerself before we’s gotta do it for ya!" Brennan taunted, circling Rove, making him shiver with fear. He wished he never came to this stupid colony in the L2 cluster, earth was so much more peaceful.
Rofis timed the circulating pattern around him and waited for the perfect moment to make a run for it. One… Two… Space. One… Two… Space. One… Two… Wind passing by in a whiz. "After the little intruder!" shouted Brennan and the group of seven chased after the boy.
Over the fence. Duck under the clothesline. Roll a garbage can towards his pursuers. A hand grabbing him and pulling him into the crevices between the buildings. A HAND!?! Before he could react, the other hand went over his mouth.
Rove stared at the darkness with frightened eyes, not daring to move. He remained silent as the group of seven rushed passed him and his kidnapper. There were shouts from the boys, then everything was silent.
The hand in front of his face was gone, replaced by a concerned face.
"Are you okay?" asked the face. It was a face of a young woman, a little older than he was. She had short dark hair that showed a hint of blue. Her eye color was indistinguishable in the darkness of the shadows.
Realizing that the boy was in shock, she relaxed and smiled, hoping he would do the same.
"Sorry about that." She said, the smile never leaving her face. "I thought you were in trouble and needed some help. Seven against one, doesn’t that seem a little unfair?" <not to mention they were older and stronger> she added mentally.
Snapping out of his shock, Rove remembered his manners.
"Sorry, I mean… Thanks. I really appreciated your help." he muttered as they walked out of the shadows and into the sunlight. That was when he got a real good look at her. She was about a year older, shorter than he was but she definitely looked wiser. Her eyes were filled with concern.
"I’m sorry for grabbing you like that" She apologized, gazing at her handprint still red on his right arm. "Oh, what am I doing! Hi!" She exclaimed happily, extending out her right arm "my name is Hilde. Hilde Schbeiker. So, what’s your name and why were those boys chasing you?
"The name’s Rofis Jayce Cablinor. Those guys always pick on me and chase me home from the Heero Yuy Academy!"
"Heero Yuy Academy!!!!?" Rove could tell she was impressed. "Aren’t you a little young?"
"I skipped two grades and got a scholarship for that school, which had brought me nothing but pain"
"Wow! So I’m talking to like, what? A genius?" She exclaimed, not hearing the second part of his sentence.
He shrugged
"Well, genius, let me walk you home!"
He shrugged again.
Taking that as a ‘sure’ she walked beside him, happily blabbing on about herself.
**********
Hilde had parted with Rove one block before he arrived to his. That gave him time to think. Talking to her had calmed him down and by the end of the conversation, he was surprised to find himself interested in what she was saying. He had learned a lot about her. She was 15 years old, one year older than he was. She used to volunteer in the military and wondered if he wanted to join her if she went back. He had refused because fighting was not his thing. He wondered briefly why people actually wanted to be engaged in battle, it seemed to meaningless, however, it would be nice if he were able to stand up to Brennan…
Yes, standing up to Brennan would be nice! He could almost imagine the shock on Brennan’s face if Rove was able punch him out. Rove smiled at the thought, but the smile turned into a shocked, unbelieving expression as he rounded the corner of his block.
It was gone.
The entire block was destroyed, he cursed at himself for not noticing. There must be at least 500 people encircling the rubble but he had not even noticed anything unusual till he was standing right in front of it. He cursed the Heero Yuy Academy out loud, that school believed a student should not be distracted from studies. Heck, if the entire colony burst into flames, the Academy would be the last to know!!
It’s his way. When he was focused on something, he would not notice his surroundings until he was done or it became so obvious a pig would notice.
He ran towards the rubble that was his block, his home. He ran towards the direction of his house, not caring about the protests that came from the officer behind him. His house was half gone, the side with the garage was still there. The garage door was open. Something moves inside it. Hope enlightened Rove’s heart as he raced toward the moving…something.
That something was his brother.
Alive. But not for long.
"Blake!" Rove cried as he knelt beside the dying figure "Blake, come on don’t die on me! You can’t, please!!! I promise I won’t call you all-brawn-no-brain again!!!"
Blake stirred, he opened his eyes the suddenly shut them again. The light was more than he could handle. Then the pain kicked in and so did his memory. Realizing that the someone shouting at him loudly was Rove, he tried speaking.
"R..R..Rouuff…?" He was having a hard time concentrating on his speech with the intense pain circulating through his body. "Rouve, is that you?"
If Rove hadn’t stopped yelling, he would have missed that soft voice.
"Yeah, it’s me! Come on Blake, I’ll get you a doctor!"
"No, there’s not enough time, I’m bleeding internally. Look…." He winced at the new pain as something cracked in his back. The pain was too overwhelming but the realization that he had to warn his brother overpowered it. "Look… there’s no time, just stay away from the authorities and change you name or something….. you’ll be safer" Finally, pain overpowered everything and he could feel himself drifting away as Rove’s voice became more distant.
"I’ll do no such thing! What are you talking about? Oh, tell me you’re all right!!!!" Rove whined, not processing anything that Blake had said.
<I’ll be all right, the thing is, will you be> were Blake’s last thought as he left this world.
TO BE CONTINUED
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Author’s note: I know this has nothing to do with the gundam pilots we all know and love, but they will come in and they will be a big part of this story. So don’t worry, the action and adventure of this fic is yet to come! But I had to introduce you to Rofis thoroughly and to the Heero Yuy Academy. It’ll be important. I’m sorry for making it short, but this is my 1st Fanfic…
* The "group of seven" is a group of Canadian artists that painted the geographical appearance of the west.
