Part I Laoshi Fei

"Cowards!" The young boy clenched his fists, his nails hurting his skin. "Get away from me, all of you cowards!"

The boy closed his eyes, the sting unbearable. He raised his hands, trying to cover his eyes from the sand the other boy was kicking at him. He cursed himself, as he began to cough. The other boy laughed. Hearing the other kid mock him, Wu Fei forced himself to stop, closing his hand tighter around his small sword.

Shuan Ho laughed wickedly, his lips curling, his slanted eyes flashing evil. He kicked sand at him again. "Looser!"

The sand didn't hurt him like the boy's words did. Shuan Ho smiled, knowing that his words hurt the little boy. Wu fei lowered his head. Shuan Ho had proven to be a better fighter. A better man than him. He closed his eyes, telling his mind to stay calm, that the other boy wanted him to loose his temper. He wouldn't get anything from this.

Shuan Ho smiled wider. He bowed low, mocking the boy with a small gesture with his sword. He laughed again, as he turned and joined his friends and walked away coldly.

Wu Fei swung his sword at the sandy floor, embedding it in it. He clenched his fists harder. "Next time, I win," he shouted at the boys. "I'll return over and over to challenge you!" Shuan Ho didn't look back.

The wind picked up, the sand blowing over his bare feet. The sounds of bitter laughter rang in his ears. Wu Fei bowed his head lower, his ponytail swinging down his neck. Days. He had spent days training for this fight, and still he had lost. What had it mattered that he had spent hours at night sweating as he practised? all for nothing. Shuan Ho had won. The boy was better than him, more prepared, more concentrated. Wu Fei felt his heart about to brake. Why?

He shook his head, making his thoughts go away. He frowned. He must put this new scars behind him, make the pain subside. He turned around, his shoulders not quite steady. A shamed man.

The smell of the flowers outside her house made his nose cringe. He ran his hand over it, thinking about the many times he's been to this house. The familiar scent of its modesty and its aged beauty. He stares up at the hanging green vines. A beauty marred by the oppression of the ones that in a past had been their safety.

A lot had changed since the Federation had become what they are today. Obasan seemed to remember a time before this oppression that he would never understand.

He frowned, removing his pilot goggles. She would never know about his actions. He would choose when to tell her.

The house was quiet, the old woman's small rooms adorned with her natural flowers silent. He stood in the living room, listening to the chimes in the windows, looking at the paper lanterns in the back porch. Swinging back and forth in the breeze. Wu Fei bowed reverently at the small shrine that the old lady kept by the door. he walked softly, his bare feet treading quietly on the wooden floor. He could not hear Obasan. He held his breath wondering if she was all right. He heard that many people had been hurt in the last Federation patrolling. He bit his lip. Those people should have never gone against them. They were weak compared to the soldiers. He bit his lips harder, hoping that Obasan had been wiser and had stayed in her house.

He frowned as he entered the old woman's room. It was dark, the long curtains flowing in the wind over her bed. Wu Fei gasped, his voice echoing in the room.

"Shao erzi,"

The old woman was in the small garden that lead outside her room. The young boy walked outside, joining her. Obasan smiled at the child, running her hand on his cheek. She smiled as he bowed respectfully.

"Goodness child," she said. "Times are rough and you come to visit me?" Wu Fei smiled at her. He bowed again, his pony tail bouncing.

"Anything to see you, Obasan." The old woman held him close to her breasts affectively, stroking his pony tail. He smiled, feeling her warmth, smelling her maternal scent. It was worth going all the troubles a child faces trying to get through the city of the colony these days. He had wanted to see her.

She had cared for him since he was a baby. He had hated to have been separated from her when his family moved from the Ling Chen district to the west side of the colony.

"I hope that you have been a good boy, shao," she said. He nodded. "How about you help me water these golden Verdolaga flowers and then we can have tea and some fresh baked cookies?" She picked the bucket of soil by her side.

Wu Fei laughed. he loved her cookies. He frowned, letting her walk before him. He pulled his long shirt over his waist. he bit his lip, hoping Obasan wouldn't notice what he carried there. He cursed for bringing them with him, but there had been no time for returning them back home and run all the way to her house. The lab was so far away from both houses. He ran his palms on his face. He hoped his grandmother wouldn't notice the strange reddish colour around his cheeks and eyes, nor the small marks on his wrists. He shook his head softly. Obasan wasn't looking for those things. She was just happy that her grandson had come visit her.

Wu Fei sent those guilty thoughts to the back of his mind. He followed her closely, smiling at her as she watered the plants kindly. Each bud bending under the water. He stared up at her face. Her arms were as strong as they had always been. Like when she had cared for him when he was a baby. Her white hair hung down her back in a long braid. Her long red Chinese dress moved softly as she walked slowly across the garden. She was just as he remembered her to be.

She seemed fine in her easy manner, watering the plants. He felt his cheeks colour in shame. He had ran all the way to her home's door steps believing that she was sick or hurt. He startled. She was talking to him.

She was telling him about the small seedlings she was growing. He smiled, watching her take the small seeds tenderly. The smell of greenery soft in the air. Driving away the sickening smell of metallic chrome from the lab that he could still smell.

Wu Fei went to her side, wanting to help her. The Old Woman let him have the a small shovel so that he could help her bury some new seedlings. Obasan removed the soil carefully, placing it over the plants. Wu Fei imitated her, his child's face brightening as she told him how to do it right. He tried not to dig too much soil, covering the seeds kindly, like his Obasan.

His grandmother stood back, laughing as he bit his lip, trying desperately not to mess up. She smiled wide as the boy got on his heels, reaching up to the plants. She lowered her eyes sadly.

She had noticed the strange smell in the boy, the marks on his white skin, the way his eyes moved, the way he was breathing. She frowned sadly. She didn't have to see the things he carried on his waist. She knew. Wu Fei didn't notice how she was looking at them as if they hurt her eyes.

"Wu Fei san," she said. the boy turned to her, noticing the sad tone in her voice. He dropped the shovel, gasping silently. Obasan had seen them. She turned from him, going back inside her house, her shoulders hunched. The small boy closed his eyes, willing the look she gave him to leave.

He walked inside his head bowed. She was walking hurriedly, like when she is disappointed, to her small living room. She stood before the huge statues she kept before the windows, looking at them, her eyes glazed. Wu Fei felt his head hurt. She sighed heavily, turning to him.

"Shao, times are dangerous," she said. "There is so much grief in the colonies, and you have turned foolish."

Wu Fei wanted to speak, but a child only listens as his elders speak. He felt Shuan Ho's defeat again, hard in his chest. He wanted to rip the goggles apart. Obasan was talking again, her voice passionate. "I thought you had become a man."

The boy bit his lip, his eyesight clouding. He raised his eyes, hoping Obasan would see how he felt in them." You came here to see that I was safe? Well, shao, I am safer than you. I can take care of myself unlike what the others in the family say. I am strong woman."

Wu Fei bowed his head again, his eyes hurting. His heart racing madly. He had thought she was hurt, lowered her to the state of a weakling. Her, who was older and wiser than him. He was a fool. He dropped to the wooden floor, kneeling before her, ashamed to be such a grandson not to trust his elders. Obasan closed his eyes as he kneeled. She stopped talking, her eyes sad. The boy bowed his head low over the floor. She walked closer to him, her slow pace soft on the wood, her bare feet wrinkled. He closed his eyes tight. She reached down to touch his shoulders. He startled.

He raised his head. Her eyes searched his soul, her eyebrows lifted alarmingly. "Who is making you do this, shao?"

He gasped looking at her eyes, seeking to drive away the fear she was giving him. He drew back from her touch, his eyes wide. She gasped. She felt her heart rip to pieces as she saw a strange new madness in his eyes. A feverish look in them. He frowned at her, his eyes wild. "I want to do this, Obasan!"

She cried out to him, as he got up with an agility she had never seen his master. He didn't listen, turning away from her. She reached for him, her old wrinkled hands groping after his fast movements. The house felt hot now. He closed his eyes, and ran outside the room. Down the wooden steps. Away from her. Away from her pitiful eyes, his bare feet burning in the hot sand. She lowered her hands, a small tear trailing down her cheek.

"Wu Fei..."

The child screamed his fingers clawing at the arms of the metal chair as the electrical shocks burnt him. He snarled, his hand brushing his black hair out from his eyes, concentrating on doing better. The incredible speed that the machine was reaching made it impossible for his arms to control the rotating seat. He cursed, tasting blood as his teeth broke his tongue.

He screamed again as his back slammed into the metal seat.

He lay limp, letting the spinning machine move freely, his arms and mind tried to concentrate. His eyes lost their focus. He closed them, his brows knitting together in anger.

He gasped, releasing a small scream as the machine stopped, the impact smashing him him forwards into the steering mechanism. He yelled as the bar that held him in place gave way and he dropped to the ground. Hard, solid in his face. He lay there strangely numb and shaken.

"The rotating motion of the machine sickens you child?" The old man came closer to him. His shoe heels clanking loudly in the floor. He reached down to help the young boy to his feet, steadying him.

The boy leaned into him grasping the professor's white lab coat. He felt nausea coming on strong.

"You have to master it completely or I wont be able to put you in the cockpit model. You have become weak after all the way you had come, child." The old man brushed the boy's messy hair back from his face. He pulled the boy's hair out of the messed up pony tail and combed it with his fingers. He re did the ponytail.

Wu Fei wanted to speak, to tell the professor that the machine was fine, that he could master it soon enough, that it didn't matter how much his bones threatened to brake, how much his insides hurt. He'd master it. The old man helped him to a seat next to the simulator. The old man stood before him looking at the boy's shaking body, noting scientifically all the changes he was going through. He was disappointed in Wu Fei's performance.

"The Mobile Suit is going to be a lot more than that spinning machine. It's going to be harder, nerve jutting."

Wu Fei raised his head in defiance. He was fully aware of what the Suit would be. He gritted his teeth, his eyes angered. His body refused to become hard. He frowned. The professor would have to apply stronger chemicals on him, make him harder. He pulled at the skin in his arm feeling it like rubber. The surface cells peeled off in layers. The professor put his hand on his shoulders.

"Something in your head is blocking your abilities, " he said. "Whatever it is, take it out. In this you have to be strong, forget the things you know-"

Wu Fei gasped. He frowned. "I am strong professor! Trust me!"

The old man's eyes glowed with a strange light. He smiled, a bit wickedly, his lip twitching. "Wakateru yo" The old man crossed his arms over his chest. Wu fei clenched his fists, getting up from the seat.

"Put me on the machine again," he said.

The old man turned around and lead the boy back to the simulator. He looked back at the boy. Wu fei reached a hand up to steady himself with the machine's body. He felt his head spinning, the floor dancing beneath his feet, the walls twisting. The air smelled putrid, his bones felt weak, his belly hurt. He gripped the machine's harness, ready to get on it again. He doubled over in pain.

The professor smiled to himself as the boy's body twisted over convulsing as he wretched on the floor his arms wrapped over his belly.

He bent down and pulled the boy straight, pulling him closer to his body. He reached down and cleaned the boy's mouth with his lab coat. The boy's body danced dizzily on his arms. Wu Fei looked up at his face, his eyes sunk in dark pits.

"Go home, Wu Fei-"

It must have been something that Ching's mifan had caused him. Or maybe it was that he had eaten too many dangao. He held on to the small bathroom sink as his body shook with convulsions. He threw up again. His head hurt so much and every time he bent over, the room shifted.

"Wu Fei, are you ok in there?"

He startled. His aunt knocked on the door again. The knocks seemed to loud, to shrill, like glass shattering. The boy covered his ears. He his senses have become too keen. The woman knocked again. He closed his eyes willing the pain to go away. He opened the door.

"You don't look too good, Wu Fei san," she said. She ran a hand over his brow. "At least you don't have a fever. Did you eat too much?" He lowered his eyes, slightly irritated. Ching was talking too loud. Her perfume was too penetrating.

"Onegai, Ching sama," he said in a low voice. her shook his head. He walked back to the living room where the rest of the family was assembled. Ching shook her head smiling. She never understood the boy.

Some of his cousins were playing a small ball game by the garden door. He sat with them, trying to forget. Ling, the eldest greeted him and welcomed him into the game. Yi Yi, smiled at him, glad to see his cousin after so long.

Ching frowned. Her father called her attention to the table. Ojisan was congratulating her fine cooking. She smiled, barely listening to the old man. She was looking at her nephew. She noticed the boy was acting a bit strange. She frowned. He seemed a lot keener to each little noise. His eyes narrowed as if in pain at the minimal sounds, the other kids talking. She served her guests some more baicai filling her plates like a robot.

Wu Fei, she noticed, acted faster, more alert, than any of the two boys. He didn't miss any of the times his turn came. He was quicker, almost feral, and ten times more astute, it seemed to her. When his turn was over, though, he'd close his eyes as if he were extremely tired. His lips parted slightly. She shook her head. she must be seeing things because she was worried over him. She turned her attention back to Ojisan.

She stopped pouring the food, her gaze falling on Obasan. The old lady, still and silent, was looking at Wu Fei intently just like she had been doing a few moments ago. The old woman's face had an expression of pain.

Ching gasped silently, her attention grabbed by the kid's again. Ling was shaking Wu Fei's shoulders intently, trying to make the boy snap up. Wu Fei raised his hands quickly pushing the small boy away. He snarled. Yi Yi frowned drawing away from him slightly worried. Wu Fei lowered his eyes, his face blushing, his eyes refocusing on his cousins. Ling crossed his arms, angry at him, but Wu Fei didn't seem to be aware of the boy's anger, or what he had done.

Ching was about to leave her place by the table and walk over and stop her children from quarrelling with the boy when she heard Obasan's voice. The young woman turned to look at the old lady.

"Leave them be, Ching san," The young lady nodded, accepting the older woman's wise advise.

Ling talked loudly, his eyes angry, asking Wu Fei what was wrong with him. Wu Fei wasn't paying attention to the boy, his face twisting as if something was hurting him. Ling's voice hurt his ears. The boy brought his hands to his ears. Yi Yi whimpered, scared by Wu Fei's actions. He looked like a mad man. Ling drew back from him.

"Ting!" Wu Fei screamed his voice harsh. "Your screams are hurting me, Ling!" He tried to get away from the two boys, drawing backwards. Both boys gasped letting him get away.

Ching gasped, her heart hurting. The boy's yelling had caught the adult's attention. Wu Fei lowered his head, realizing that he had screamed, feeling his family looking at him. He felt his cheeks colour. Their soft gasps were like sharp scratches on a board to him. He gritted his teeth and ran from the living room. His cousins looked at him worried.

Ching was about to cry out when Ojisan got up from his chair, pushing the table forward slightly, his face worried.

"Wu Fei shao...?"

The young woman brought her hand to her mouth, her brows knitted. She turned to see what Obasan would say, but as she turned to look at the old lady, she gasped.

The old woman was not in her seat.

He slammed his head into the mattress, the hard surface driving the noise in his head away. He felt hot tears slide down his cheeks. He brushed them away, ashamed that he'd managed to cry. He got down and reached under his bed bringing out a small metal box.

He opened it carefully and sat down on the floor next to it. He took out the long needle inside and a small silver bottle. He bit his lip, working with agility, filling the needle with the reddish liquid inside the bottle. Careful not to spill it, his hands worked with dexterity. He frowned.

The professor had warned him that the effect of the drug would wear off leaving behind terrible pain. He had warned him to keep injecting himself often or the chemical wouldn't work. His head was spinning just like when he had gotten on the Mobile Suit's cockpit. He gritted his teeth. He needed to become stronger or else he'd never be able to drive Nactac. his colony, the professor, none of them needed a weak man. his mind, his body, his whole self must become stronger- even if it hurts. He moaned softly as the hot fluid broke into his veins. His senses quieted down, the noise residing.

The small boy relaxed letting his body fall back on the paper wall next to his bed.

He gasped.

She gave a horrend cry, ripping the needle from his arm. She tossed it to the corner, her eyes wide with anguish. Wu Fei had no time to cry out as his grandmother's hand slapped his face. He stood still, his eyes wide, her form over him. Her was face full of grief as she stared at the place where the needle had been. It was now bleeding.

"How could you do this, shao?" She grabbed him by his shoulders, dragging him up from the floor. "You have betrayed your father's memory and your grandfather's trust. Do you realize what you have done, Wu shao? What is this venom that you are putting into your veins? This evil that they have caused you?"

Wu Fei whimpered, his thin arms limp by his side, his eyes in pain. "Ting xialai!" he begged. "Please, Obasan, let me go!" She released him.

A soft whimper escaped his mouth. He lowered his eyes, his face blushing horribly. His arm hurt. She stood before him quietly. Wu Fei rubbed his arm. She stepped towards him, her white braid bouncing as she moved. "Who is doing this evil to you, Wu shao?"

His eyes grew wide, scared. She pressed on, her wrinkled face angry. He lowered his eyes.

"It's... a secret project.. Obasan..."

"Secretly killing yourself? Is that it?"

"Obasan," he said. The child looked up at her. "I am fighting to free the colonies." He raised his hands holding towards her. She drew back, bringing her hands to her mouth, her face becoming pale. "I am working with scientists in a secret operation that will get the Federation to leave the colonies alone. I am training so that I can pilot my very own Mob-"

Her hand slap sent him crashing into his night table. The things on top of it fell as he hit it, scattering about the floor. The old woman stood before him, her hands clenched, her body shaking with grief. Wu Fei touched his cheek, his eyes filling with tears that he swallowed. He looked up at her. She shook her head, her eyes burning hideously at his, her voice like a cruel knife.

 "Urusanai!" she yelled, her voice ragged. "If one knows that he is going to loose, there is no point in fighting!"

The cold, unfeeling eyes of the huge machine looked down at him. Looming majestically above him with its huge frame and impressively built arms, it stood against the darkened metal walls of the empty hangar. It was quiet, like all the other machines in there.

The young boy leaned his head forwards, resting it on his arms folded over his upbrought legs. He closed his eyes tight, willing his mind to stop thinking. It wouldn't stop, punishing him. He heard heavy boot steps in the quiet halls outside the hangar doors. Every now and then, one of the rebels would open his or her door and exit his room. Wu Fei would raise his head, his now sharp hearing making out who he or she was. He'd wonder about what they were doing in their rooms. Probably working on the project, like they all were, sweating over his computer in his hot room. Sweating, his eyes full of vigour and anger as he plotted, created, dreamt about each perfectly planned point in the operation.

Wu Fei let his head fall again over his hands, closing his eyes.

If only Obasan would see the reason, Nactac," he said talking to the huge machine behind him.

The boy ran a hand on the leg of the machine, his dark eyes gleaming. the sound of another rebel walking down the hall came to his ears. He looked at the hangar doors. That reason moved all of this people that he's gotten used to being with towards taking this risk. It makes them go against sanity, against civility, to accomplish what they need. Freedom. He opened his mouth as he felt the word fall of his tongue. The price to get it would be great, but he was not a coward.

The hangar doors opened, one of the doors sliding apart. A thin man popped his head in through the opening. He smiled at the boy, whom he knew would be sitting in the dark room.

"Oi, Wu san," he yelled. The boy got up, brushing his thoughts aside. "Come on boy, the professor wants to see you. It's time."

Wu Fei ran to his side, his eyes exited. The man ran a hand over his head, drawing him near affectionately. They walked up the hall headed fro the professor's office silently.

It was time.

"Nactac Shenlong!"

The old man grabbed the young boy by the shoulders, gripping hard onto his small body. He yanked the boy, one swift brutal pull, free from the cockpit. The boy clawed at the man, swinging his arms back towards the driver's seat. The man snarled, taking him out of the cockpit forcefully.

The child held on to the Gundam's door, crying to be put back inside. Another man, taller than the professor, came up to help the old man. He took the boy's arms, holding them tightly. The boy jerked his head backwards.

"Please, let me go! I want to drive him again!"

The professor jumped down from the huge machine, taking the boy with him. The other man closed the driver's door, locking it. The lights of the huge Gundam's eyes went off.

Wu Fei lowered his eyes sadly, calming down slowly. The professor still held him, but he wasn't paying attention to him. The old man was rutinarily checking his vital signs, his heart rate and blood pressure. Wu Fei bowed his head, disappointed that each time he got on the huge machine he always had to be taken out. It was a strange fascination what he felt behind the control mechanisms in the driver's seat.

He gritted his teeth as the professor injected some strange cold liquid into his arm. His dark eyes stared up at Nactac a small smile in his lips. The time would soon come when he would get to drive the huge machine all he wanted. He wanted that time to get here even if it meant going to earth, a new strange land to him. He wasn't afraid. He wouldn't be alone.

He needed to be strong for the sake of all of those that were looking at him from their places behind their machines and monitors. Looking at him from up stairs. All of the engineers and scientists, the people that have grown to be his family for the past few months. He smiled, his mind easing into a bliss as the fluid ran though his veins.

The professor held him close to his chest. The old man laughed. The boy looked up to his face quietly. The old man's reddened face burst with joy, smiling down at him.

"I'd say we're ready, Wu Fei," he said. The man standing next to him nodded, returning the needle they had used into its box. "I'd say we are more than ready to lounge Operation Meteor. What do you say, boy? Are you ready to go to Earth?"

The boy nodded, his pony tail bouncing. The men and women that had been looking at him from upstairs came down from their places. They now stood close, all of them gathered near the Gundam's leg. Close. The boy looked at each one of their faces, theirs looking at him, searching their souls. Their strong faces. All of them looked at each other, knowing that they were each other's hope. Maybe, each other's last hope.

Wu Fei jerked his head up in alarm. He gasped silently. Something was wrong.

"I think not, gentlemen," The voice in the shadows materialized in the form of a man, a heavy gun in his rams. Several more men stood behind him, their uniforms grey and green, their eyes dark with malice. The old scientist clenched his fists sensing the alarmed looks on his fellow scientists. One of the women snarled. Wu Fei gasped, gritting his teeth.

The man by the door cocked his gun once and smiled wickedly. behind him, his men smiled as well.

"Your petty attempts end here."

The fired shot broke the silence. Wu Fei watched as the men around him broke into action. The professor fired again, his eyes evil, taking one of the Federation soldiers down with his hot. The man leading them ran forward, his men spreading. There was a look of hatred in his eyes at what the doctor had done. He hadn't expected the doctor to be ready for an assault.

"Kill them!" he shouted. The soldiers rushed at the scientist, like maddened wolves, and opened fire.

Wu Fei ran towards the huge Mobile Suit, but he turned around in his run as he heard several shots next to him. From one of the railings, one of his friends had taken a shot at a incoming soldier. That same friend, a woman engineer, screamed as the soldier recoiled and opened fire on her. She couldn't duck on time and got hit in the neck, her blood spraying down from the rail. Wu Fei swallowed his grief, his soul screaming. The boy snarled as he saw the same soldier open fire on another scientist that was about to activate the central defence mechanisms. Her cries pierced the room as the intruder soldier emptied his gun on her body, laughing wickedly. Her hands clawed the wall, her blood mingled with the metal wall.

The little boy gasped as the professor jumped up the stairs calling his attention. Wu Fei snarled, ashamed that he'd just been standing without doing anything. The professor ran up the stairs, turning every now and then to open fire at his followers. He was screaming at one of his men up in the monitor area.

"They want to destroy our secret! They must leave this place alive. Open fire! Set fire to the complex!"

One of the rebels yelled, slamming down the mechanisms of the central defence, the electrical wireing that maneuvered the whole building. Some of the fuse boxes caught fire immediately. The soldiers kept on coming, their leader yelling that the scientist would suicide, but allow their project to escape.
 
 

Part II Laoshi
 

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