The Pilot and the Soldier
					Chapter 2 -
				   Finding one's way.


	After wandering around the streets of Tokyo for hours, Duo and Wu 
Fei found a place to make camp. 
	"Of course we *would* have to come back and make camp at the 
airfield!" Duo screamed out over the empty lot. Wu Fei had left to try 
and break into one of the concession stands that had been around 
earlier, and he had been gone for several minutes. 
	Their worst fear was confirmed shortly after they left the 
airfield. Somehow, they weren't in the year AC 197, but instead found 
themselves in the year 2000. The old Gregorian calendar hadn't been used
in almost 200 years, and neither pilot was really sure how many years 
before the After Colony calendar that the year 2000 was. To make matters
worse, it was very highly likely that even the most advanced technology 
in this day and age would be primitive to that of the Gundam. And that 
wasn't even the big issue. Now the two pilots had to figure out how to 
get back to the right place and time, if that was even possible. How do 
you ask someone about this kind of thing? It's not like time travel was 
possible, even in their time. 
	Duo's condition had deteriorated several times over just in the 
last few hours, both mentally and physically. The sun had gone down, it 
was starting to get cold, and now Duo was afraid he was getting sick. He
sneezed randomly, and would wipe his nose on his sleeve. The small tent 
that had been put up did nothing to stop the wind that constantly blew 
across the field, so Duo walked around outside with his clothes pulled 
around him tightly. He was walking around in darkness, save for the 
lights on the horizon and the full moon in the sky. He was beginning to 
feel hopeless in the entire situation. He was afraid of dying here, away
from his friends, away from Hilde... 
	Thinking of her really confused him. In a way, he was really happy
with her, but something had been nagging him for a long time. Was she 
really who he wanted to spend the rest of his life with? He was just 
sixteen, after all, but had found himself on the verge of proposing to 
her numerous times. Was that really what he had wanted? He'd never had a
girlfriend before her, and their relationship was still a strange one, 
since she had been on 'the other side' before. Mistrust tainted their 
relationship on many occasions. Some of his older friends had warned him
that the relationship would fail because of the undeniable fact that she
and Duo had once been enemies. No matter how he might deny it, no matter
how much he tell himself that he loved her, he knew that he would always
have a shade of mistrust at the very least somewhere in his mind. And 
all of that only even mattered if he could get back to her again, if he 
could just hold her in his arms again... but all that was gone forever, 
as far as he knew. 
	He had long since stopped walking, staring off down the airfield 
at nothing in particular. He started to wish that he could fly, and just
take off like a plane, and fly somewhere else, somewhere warm, where he 
had a bed to sleep in, and his friends around him. He was slowly getting
more feverish, and he was beginning to hallucinate. He knew that this 
would happen, but he no longer cared. Without treatment, he would die, 
and that suited him just fine. There was nothing for him. Nothing had 
any value to him anymore. Everything was nothing more than the surface 
he saw, and nothing deeper. Life was as two dimensional as the cartoons 
that he loved so much. 
	And this time he couldn't turn the TV off.

______________________________________________________________________________________


	It had taken Ami almost two hours to convince Usagi that it would 
be best if she went alone, but she finally managed to make the future 
queen understand that she'd be all right. 
	In truth, she just didn't want to attract a lot of attention. It 
seemed likely to her that there would be someone near that large robot, 
be it one of the pilots or someone else. She didn't want to run the risk
of being seen by anyone. 
	The gates were closed as she had expected them to be, but didn't 
find it terribly difficult to scale the chain-link fence. It was just 
falling down the other side that didn't feel that great. She picked 
herself up off of the ground and dusted herself off, then jogged in the 
direction of the mobile suit. 
	The moonlight was bright out this way, so she had no trouble 
seeing things around her. She could see that the Mobile Suit was still 
standing there, unmoved since she had been there that afternoon. As she 
got closer, she saw someone standing at the feet of the robot. As she 
got closer, she was able to recognize who it was. 
	"Maxwell-kun?" she asked timidly as she got closer. 
	He didn't respond, he just kept staring out into space. He could 
tell that the pilot was getting sick. His skin looked as pale as the 
moonlight that shined on him. 
	"Are you all right, Maxwell-kun?" She touched his shoulder. 
	Duo flinched and fell away from Ami's touch, then looked at her. 
	"Hilde...?" He asked, reaching out to touch her face. 
	Ami was frozen in place, unable to step out of the way of Duo's 
touch. Who was this Hilde? Someone he knew from where he came from? As 
Duo's hand caressed her skin, she could feel the heat in his skin. He 
was burning up! At that realization, she stepped back, just a little out
of his reach. 
	"I'm not Hilde," she said. 
	"Hilde..." Duo said. It seemed that Ami's words weren't reaching 
him, and he continued to try to reach for her.
	Ami took another step back, and another, until she was practically
running from Duo. He was extremely sick, whatever the case was, and he 
could potentially be dangerous. She had seen people hallucinate like this before, and she had no desire to become fuel for his 
hallucinations. 
	Duo moved incredibly quickly and had soon managed to catch Ami. He
held onto her as though she were a porcelain doll, and the shock of 
being held so tenderly, even by one so sick, made Ami pause for a moment
before trying to break free again. She broke loose and ran again, but 
this time was knocked forward, as Duo landed on top of her. 
	"Help!" she screamed, but it seemed helpless. Who would be on the 
airfield this time of night? She was beginning to get scared, and 
entertained the thought of using her Senshi powers, but she didn't want 
to hurt someone who was already sick. Duo didn't seem to be trying to 
hurt her, but, just the same, she couldn't let this continue to happen. 
	"Hilde... I'm sorry..." he whispered into her ear. "There was 
nothing I could do..." The pilot was crying. 
	Suddenly, the pilot was no longer on her, and his crying turned 
into screams of rage. She tried to get up, but was kicked in the 
stomach. She fell back to the ground in pain, and fought the urge to 
throw up the dinner she had eaten over at Usagi's. Out of the corner of 
her eye, she could see Duo getting ready to kick her again, and braced 
herself for the kick. But it never came. She heard him yelp in pain and 
surprise, and looked up. 
	Wu Fei had tackled Duo to the ground. 
	"What the hell are you doing, Duo!?" the Chinese boy screamed. 
	Duo didn't answer, but swung a punch at Wu Fei's face. Wu Fei sat 
there and took the punch. He spit out blood, but stayed on top of the 
pilot, and pinned his arms to the ground. Ami sat there, staring at the 
two, frozen in place. What had happened? 
	After several minutes of struggling, Duo passed out, breathing 
irrationally. 
	"He's burning up," Wu Fei mumbled to himself. He stood up, and 
turned around to face Ami. "You're one of the ones from earlier, are you
not?" 
	Ami nodded, too dazed to answer. 
	"Why did you come back here?"
	"To investigate this robot," she said, looking at the ground. 
	"And you got hurt. That was a very dangerous thing to do. You're 
lucky that I was on my way back here. I'll answer your questions, on two
conditions."
	Ami nodded again, glad to see that Wu Fei wasn't always as much of
a hard-ass as he had seemed to be earlier.
	"One, you help me take care of Duo. As you could probably tell, 
he's extremely sick. Two, after this is done, you never come back here." 
	Ami stood up and walked over to Duo, who was still lying on the 
ground. She knelt beside him and felt his forehead. The heat was almost 
searing to her hand in the cold night air. "Let's take care of him, 
first," Ami said. "We need to get him somewhere warm, if not to a 
hospital."
	Wu Fei nodded. "But where can we take him? It's not exactly like 
we know anybody around here." 
	"I can think of a couple of friends who have the spare room to 
keep him, and probably you as well," she said. 
	"Well, it would be greatly appreciated," Wu Fei said. Ami 
absent-mindedly noted that she had yet to see this boy smile. "Oh, by 
the way, I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Chang Wu Fei," he 
said, slightly bowing. 
	"Watashi wa Mizuno Ami desu," the girl said, returning the bow as 
best she could. 
	Wu Fei removed the jacket he'd been wearing and used it to try to 
help cover Duo up, then he picked him up and tried to carry him as best 
he could in the direction of the gates from the airfield.
	"How far away is this friend?" Wu Fei puffed after they had 
managed to get through the gate. 
	"She's not very far away," Ami said, grinning a little bit. 
	Wu Fei moaned. "Well, so long as she's suffer able, I guess it's 
all right. Can't have Duo dying on me." 

______________________________________________________________________________________


	"No way!" Makoto screamed at Ami. 
	"But Makoto... Duo's really sick, and we don't have anywhere else 
to take him!" said the smaller girl, making a motion for her to keep her
voice down. 
	"I don't object to that Duo guy being over here if it's just 
because he's sick, but there's no way I'm letting that Chinese pig sleep
under the same roof as me!" Her voice had gotten quiet but grew louder 
with each consecutive word. 
	"How about if he apologized?" Ami asked. 
	"Ha! You get him to apologize, I'll cook dinner for you for the 
next month," Makoto said, taking a seat on her bed. 
	Ami peeked out the door to Makoto's bedroom. As soon as she had 
gotten there with the two pilots, Makoto was going off like a machine 
gun. It took almost five minutes for Ami to get Makoto back to her 
bedroom so Wu Fei could at least set Duo down. 
	Duo was still breathing irrationally, but seemed to have calmed 
down some. Wu Fei was sitting on the floor, adjacent to the couch where 
he had set Duo, meditating in the lotus position. Ami subconsciously 
rubbed her stomach, lightly feeling the area that would bruise violently
soon. She flinched as her hand passed over the spot where Duo's foot had
hit her the hardest. 
	"What happened to you?" Makoto asked, concern in her voice. 
	"Nothing," Ami said passively. 
	"That wasn't a flinch of 'nothing'. If Wu Fei did something to 
you, I swear, Ami..."
	"Wu Fei didn't do anything. In fact, he's offered to completely 
explain the Mobile Suit and anything else he can in exchange for helping
Duo get better. Please, Makoto, at least try to be tolerable. I don't 
think Wu Fei's thrilled to be here himself."
	"He should be grateful I've let him stay here this long. Why'd he 
have to come along, anyway?"
	"I think he's more concerned about Duo than he is about whatever 
qualms you have with him, Makoto. He looks deep in meditation. It's 
probably been a long day for him, and he's probably a little sick 
himself, and he's got to be tired after carrying him all the way here." 
	"Okay, Ami, okay. You win. I'll let them both stay. But if I have 
any problems with-" Makoto was cut off as Ami grabbed her in a tight 
hug. 
	"Thanks, Makoto," she said. 
	"Uhhh... sure," Makoto said, lightly returning the embrace. 
	"I'd better go out and start seeing to Duo," she said as she let 
go. 
	"Yeah, you probably should. If you want to stay here overnight, 
the guest room's free." Makoto said, yawning. 
	"No... I'm going to move Duo there. He doesn't need to be on a 
couch, as sick as he is." 
	"Well, okay. The other room is open, too, if you want to sleep 
there. Wu Fei can have the couch, if he wants somewhere to sleep. Other 
than that, though, I'm going to bed. I have an early day tomorrow," 
Makoto said, removing her clothes. 
	"Okay, then. Tell Usagi or Minako to get my work for me for the 
next couple of days. I don't know how likely it is I'll be going to 
school. I'll call my mom later and let her know I'm staying over here." 
	Makoto peeled the covers to her bed back and climbed in. "I'll do 
that. Don't stay up with him too long, Ami. You don't need to get sick, 
too." 
	"I won't. Good night, Makoto," she said, opening the door. 
	"Night..." Makoto said as Ami closed the door behind her. 

______________________________________________________________________________________


	No sooner, it seemed, had Makoto closed her eyes to fall asleep, 
that she opened them again. *Did I even fall asleep?* She rolled over 
and looked at the clock. 2:53 AM. *Great... this will make the day go 
really smoothly. Might as well get some water while I'm up.* 
	She got up from the bed but stood there in silence. She had just 
remembered that she had three house-guests, and was listening to see if 
there was any difference in the sound - to see if someone was making a 
noise that could have woken her up. There was nothing. Absolute silence 
and stillness, all around. A respite from the exciting day. 
	Makoto tiptoed over to her door and peeked out. Wu Fei was sitting
lotus style in front of the couch, back perfectly arched, deep in 
meditation, as still and serene as the night itself. He could have very 
easily been mistaken for a statue. His breathing was barely audible, 
even to Makoto's trained ear. She opened her door and stepped out. *At 
least the jerk's quiet when other people are trying to sleep. I wonder 
if he ever sleeps himself. Meditating for so long like that after a hard
day was never very appealing to me. Is he imposing that on himself as 
atonement?*
	She moved with a feral grace, quickly and quietly, across the 
living room floor, so not to disturb Wu Fei. *I wouldn't be happy with 
unnatural outside noises while meditating if they could have been 
otherwised helped. I guess, if nothing else, I should give him that 
courtesy.* Even so, she still half expected the Chinese boy to suddenly 
pop out of his meditating/sleeping state and start yelling at her about 
her inferiority. 
	Even the faintest idea made her blood boil. She couldn't believe 
his blatant disrespect. *He hasn't even apologized, and now I'm putting 
him and his friend up like they're old friends! Why did I let Ami talk 
me into this?* She grabbed her glass from the kitchen counter - next to 
the sink, where she always left it for getting a late night drink of 
water - and filled it from a jug of water that she kept in the 
refrigerator. She had started filling jugs of water when she got her 
water purifier. She had had it for years now, and it wasn't as fast as 
it used to be. It also prevented her from making any unnecessary noise. 
	From her place in the kitchen, she listened to the house again, 
sipping bit by bit on the glass of water, letting herself get drowsy 
again so she could fall back to sleep when she returned to bed. Near 
her, she could now more easily pick up on Wu Fei's light breathing. 
Beyond that, from the guest bedroom, she could hear a slightly labored 
breathing that she assumed belonged to that Duo person. Also in that 
room, she could hear a very light snoring. She smiled to herself. *Poor 
Doctor Ami must have fallen asleep back there. Sitting up, too, from the
sounds of it. She'll probably wake up on her own in a few minutes.*
	She finished her glass of water, and gently set it back down in 
it's usual spot near the sink. With that same feral-like grace and 
speed, she moved back across the living room to her door. Before opening
it, she looked back at Wu Fei, studying his face closely. *I wonder if 
that frown ever leaves his face. Probably thinks he's above everyone 
else. The arrogant jerk.* She turned back around to her door and opened 
it. 
	"I'm not completely ungrateful." Those words froze Makoto in 
place. "Thank you. If not for me, for Duo. He's the only person I have 
here I can trust. I'm sorry." 
	Makoto turned around to look at Wu Fei again. He hadn't moved the 
slightest muscle, still looking as though chiseled from stone, but that 
had unmistakably been his voice. She stepped backwards through her door 
and closed it, then turned and walked to the bed. 
	Calmly, she lay down in the bed, and rested her head on the 
pillow. 
	But sleep would not come again for her tonight. 

______________________________________________________________________________________


	Ami groggily opened her eyes. It was still dark in the room, which
hopefully meant that she hadn't been asleep too long. She looked at the 
clock on the stand next the chair she was sitting in, did some math in 
her head, and decided that it was about time for her to take Duo's 
temperature again. 
	She had taken his temperature after Wu Fei got him stripped and 
situated in the bed. He had been almost in the danger zone. 103.8. Still
dangerous, but something Ami was fairly certain she could take care of 
without having to try to get him into a hospital.
	And so she had made a late night trip to a pharmacy, where she 
picked up various over-the-counter medicines. Wu Fei had left when she 
did, but he was going the opposite direction - back to the airfield. She
had told him that Makoto had agreed to let him stay at her apartment, 
but he wasn't going to stay at the airfield. He was going to recollect 
the items that he'd left there, and said he'd be back as soon as he 
could. 
	Ami returned to Makoto's apartment with a small bag full of 
medicines - aspirin for the fever, some cough syrup, some vitamin C, and 
various other things to try to make her 'patient' a little more 
comfortable and help him recover. 
	It wasn't long after that that Wu Fei returned, carrying a large 
bag that appeared to be full of books. On the bag was stenciled in 
"XXXG-01A". Curiosity tugged at her mind, but she pushed it away. 
	She gingerly placed the thermometer in Duo's mouth and started 
counting to herself, forcing her to stay awake at least long enough to 
get an accurate reading. The thermometer beeped for attention after a 
minute or so, and she pulled it from Duo's mouth and turned on a lamp to
read it. 103.2. Not much better, but the fever seemed to be going down. 
	Next to the bed was a small basin with some cold water in it. She 
took a rag from it and wrung it out, then wiped his forehead and around 
his cheeks. 
	Not long before she had fallen asleep the first time, she'd had a 
chance to look at the spot on her abdomen where she had been kicked. The
area was dark blue and mottled with a little bit of red. She had put 
some cream on it to help it heal. Even now, she was getting more sore. 
	Despite all that, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. She 
didn't know anything about him, but if his apologies to this Hilde were 
any indication, some great tragedy had befallen him. She had always had 
a soft heart for people in bad situations. She knew that she could 
forgive him for what had happened, and it was probably best that it 
remain a secret. Wu Fei probably knew about it, but she doubted that Duo
would remember, and she dare not tell any of her friends about it. 
	She sat back down in her chair, and looked at the clock again. 
*It's getting near 3:30... I need to go on to bed and get some sleep. 
But I don't want to leave him alone in here.* She stood up again and 
walked over to the door and looked out. Wu Fei was back in meditation 
again. *Maybe he could...*
	"Go on to bed, Mizuno-san. Even the most talented doctor needs 
sleep. I'll watch him," Wu Fei said, never once opening his eyes or 
moving from that position. 
	Needless to say, Ami was quite shocked, and started to decline the
offer, remembering how much he'd done today, too, but her fatigue 
eventually won out, and she retired to the other bedroom, falling to her
bed and into a deep slumber before she could remove her clothes. 

______________________________________________________________________________________


	Falling. That was the best way to describe the feeling. 
	Duo didn't quite know where he was, but he felt a familiar 
presence, something reassuring him, something guiding him. Something 
safe, like a mother's embrace after being woken by a nightmare. 
	He couldn't move. His body would not respond to his command, as 
though he'd done something to forfeit the right to do so, some 
unspeakable evil...
	but he was forgiven for it.
	He tried to look around, but everywhere, he could see nothing. 
Something was being hidden from him. That was making him angry. Again, 
he tried to move. Again, he failed. 
	Something caressed his face. It felt cool, almost refreshing. But,
once again, when he tried to move, he was still painfully unable to 
control his own body. 
	There was a small commotion nearby, and suddenly the protected 
feeling he was relishing was gone- no. Not gone, just not next to him, 
anymore. He could still feel the presence, but it was blocked, like a 
wall was between him and his protector. 
	He detected another presence, a much sterner, less forgiving one, 
but somehow more protective than the other presence. He knew who this 
was! With an elated joy, he tried to move again, but still could not. 
But instead found that he could talk. 
	"Wu Fei?" His voice came out weak as he'd expected it to. 
	"You should be asleep, Duo," came the reply after a moment of 
silence. Duo could tell that his friend was relieved and surprised at 
the same time, but had quickly suppressed those feelings. 
	"I've been asleep for so long, Wu Fei. I want to get up, I want to
move around, but I can't." 
	"I'm not surprised." That statement was tinged in fear. Duo didn't
like that. "You're extremely sick, Duo. What is the last memory you 
have?" 
	"I was staring at the moon at the airfield, then I sorta... Fell 
asleep, it seems. But that feels like days ago! Am I still really that 
sick?" 
	"That was only yesterday, Duo. No more than six or eight hours 
ago, at most." 
	"Where are we, Wu Fei?" 
	"That's not important right now. All I can say is that we owe 
someone a huge favor. You just work on getting better. We'll have all 
the time in the world to fix things later," Wu Fei said, with a 
sentiment that seemed a little too caring for what Duo had come to know 
from him. 
	"Okay... just one other question," Duo said. He was beginning to 
feel drowsy again, despite all his efforts to move or to stay awake. 
	"What?" 
	"Why is it that I can talk but can't move anything else? And why 
is it that I can feel people's emotions?"
	"Duo... you're not talking. I never explained meditation to you 
fully, did I?" Wu Fei seemed a little amused at that, but not in a 
condescending way. 
	"Ummm... no. How can I not be talking?"
	"The state that your body is in presumably won't allow you to 
completely awake, and so your mind is attempting other methods of 
communication. I have been in meditation all night, waiting for 
something like this. I don't know the details, but I heard once, a long 
time ago, that only certain people can do this, talk through their minds
to another, and once they do it once, they're always attune to the other,
like a brother. So, whether or not I like it, it seems that you and I are
'brothers'. As for feeling emotions, that's the only other thing you can
do when you're meditating this deeply."
	Duo felt immensely reassured. He was afraid he was losing his 
mind. But with that rush of relief, he felt Wu Fei's exhaustion as well 
as his own, and soon fell asleep again. 

______________________________________________________________________________________


	Makoto nearly fell over laughing when she came out of her room to 
find Wu Fei sprawled all over the couch, snoring, after the dignified 
front he had maintained last night. She probably would have laughed, 
too, if she had managed to fall back asleep. She pondered the thought of
just skipping school this morning to rest, but figured that once Wu Fei 
woke up, he'd probably cause problems. She grabbed her book bag and 
walked back to the rooms where her other guests were sleeping. She 
looked into the guest room, and saw Duo lying on the bed. He seemed to 
be finally resting like he should, if the telltale snoring was any 
indication. She closed the door then went to the other room to check on 
Ami. She had fallen asleep as soon as she'd come into the room, it 
seemed. 
	Ami looked exhausted as well - lines of worry and concern crossed 
her face even in her sleeping hours. Makoto smiled down at her sleeping 
friend. "I told you not to stay up too late. Baka." She pulled some 
covers over Ami and then left the room. 
	As she reentered the living room, she noticed that Wu Fei was no 
longer on the couch. *He musta had to use the bathroom.* She walked on 
into the kitchen to make her lunch but found a bento box already 
prepared. She was a little startled to see that, and cautiously picked 
up the box. She smelled it. Whoever prepared it at least knew what they 
were doing. *Did Ami fix my lunch, too?* 
	It was about this time that Wu Fei emerged from the rest room. 
There was some water dripping from his face. He looked as exhausted as 
Ami did. He looked at her, but she looked away. *No way. Did he fix 
this?*
	"I'll try to be out of your house before you get home this 
afternoon," Wu Fei said. "Though I doubt Duo will be in the condition to
leave just yet."
	Now it was Makoto's turn to say something. She was embarrassed at 
the situation. "Ummm... that's okay, really. You don't have to leave." 
	"No, it's probably better. I made a fool out of myself yesterday, 
then had to turn around and get help from you. I've shamed myself. I do 
not deserve your hospitality." 
	Makoto looked Wu Fei in the eyes this time. There was nothing 
mocking about his expression; he truly felt that he should not remain 
here. "Don't worry about it. It happens," Makoto said. 
	Now Wu Fei's scowl returned. "No. Just let Duo stay here while I 
tend to my business, that's all I ask." 
	"But what of the deal?" 
	The mocking look returned to his eyes. "What, are you afraid that 
I will not keep my word? Listen, woman-"
	"Okay, fine. If you want to stay somewhere else when I've offered 
my place to you, that's up to you. I won't stop you." Makoto's anger was
flaring up, and she did *not* want to get into a fight before school. 
	She grabbed the bento box and stormed out the door. She then 
stopped, looked over her shoulder, and said, "Thanks for the lunch, Wu 
Fei." 

______________________________________________________________________________________


	Ami woke up and looked at the clock. *Nine AM,* she thought. *I 
guess that's enough sleep. I should go and check on Duo now.*
	She got up and sat on the edge of the bed, wondering for a moment 
how she got under the covers, when she barely remembered even getting 
into the room before falling asleep, but thought little else of it, and 
went to the rest room to clean up, then went into the guest room to check
on her patient. 
	She was pleasantly surprised to find him resting comfortably, his 
breathing slow and regular, snoring every once in a while. She giggled a 
bit to herself, but stopped as even just giggling made her sore bruise 
hurt more. She groaned, but ignored it. 
	She placed a hand on Duo's head. His skin was clammy, but it 
didn't feel nearly as hot as it did last night. She grabbed the 
washcloth from the basin of water and wrung it out and wiped his 
forehead again, and stuck the thermometer in his mouth. 
	The thermometer registered quite a bit more quickly this morning 
than it did last night. She pulled it out, looked at it, and sighed in 
relief. His fever had fallen to 101.5, and would probably break in 
another two or three days. A recovery of this kind was astonishing, 
especially as sick as he was. She sat in her chair and leaned back, 
watching the pilot sleep. In her mind, she tried to figure out what he 
had that had made him so sick so quickly. 
	She remembered that he looked as though he'd been in the storm 
that blew through yesterday, and the clothes that were hung from the 
back of another chair proved that, with salt traces running all along 
the inside of the clothes, and the fact that his leather jacket felt 
damp. That would take days to dry completely. But, even in those 
conditions, even with the exposure that he'd probably had, he shouldn't
have gotten anything worse than a severe cold. 
	She heard a noise behind her, and turned around. Wu Fei was 
standing in the door. 
	"Ohayoo Gozaimasu, Chang-san," Ami said, trying her best to sound 
cheerful. 
	"Ossu," Wu Fei grunted. 
	Ami wasn't going to waste time in asking questions. "Do you know 
of anything that could have made Maxwell-kun so sick?"
	Wu Fei was silent for a moment, turning the question over in his 
mind, thinking about anything unusual. Then he answered. "He should have
only had a bad cold, from what happened yesterday. A part of that is my 
fault - I literally dumped him into the rain storm that came through. 
Although..." he said, walking around to take the chair adjacent to 
Ami's, "I'd say that it got so bad due to his mental condition. Duo's 
always tried to project himself as having a cool head, never letting 
anything get to him. I think that when we got here, something snapped, 
and all the problems he'd been denying or hiding from for so long came 
flooding to him like a dam had been busted. He probably then lost hope, 
and his mind made his sickness that much worse. That would also go to 
explain that episode that ended up in you getting kicked in the stomach.
Did he say anything before that happened?" 
	Ami bit her lip and looked down at the ground for a moment, 
weighing her response carefully. "He said something... about 'Hilde'..."
	Wu Fei studied her for a moment. "I should have seen it before. 
You do bear a striking resemblance to her. Maybe in his confusion he 
thought you were her."
	"But... does he love this Hilde person?"
	"I really don't know. I didn't spend much time paying attention to
him or anyone else back home, for that matter." 
	"Back home? You mean the 'Sanq Kingdom'?"
	Wu Fei looked up at her, startled. "How do you know of the Sanq 
Kingdom?"
	"Maxwell-kun showed us his ID." 
	"Oh..." Wu Fei looked back down. "This is going to sound 
completely absurd, but it seems that my friend and I have been displaced
from our own time. From what we can tell, we're from the future. We 
don't know how far in the future... we no longer use the Gregorian 
calendar, and haven't in many years. The year that we come from is After
Colony year 197." 
	Ami looked down again. *That's impossible... Unless this is way 
after the Crystal Millenium...* "Perhaps we should look for a common 
reference point, maybe then we could figure out how far in the future 
you're from." 
	Wu Fei sat back in his chair. "Agreed. Most of the history I know 
is about war... so maybe if you could tell me about the last major 
conflict, I'll be able to guess the difference." 
	Ami nodded, and thought for a moment. Japan hadn't been in a war 
since... "World War II?" she asked. 
	Wu Fei looked confused for a moment. "You must mean the ancient 
war. That was over four hundred years ago, I think." 
	"Here, it only ended just over fifty years ago. It looks as though
you're from about three hundred fifty years in the future." Ami didn't 
like that. That would be during the Crystal Millennium. What was going to
happen? Was it going to fail? That's impossible!
	Wu Fei looked as hopeless as Ami felt. This show of emotions 
shocked Ami. It seems that now that he knows how far back he is, it 
feels hopeless. 
	"So what about the future?" Ami asked, tentatively trying to probe
for any information that might tell her about the Senshi's fate.
	"Well..." Wu Fei said with a sigh, "In the future, a lot of us 
live in space. I used to live on Colony L2, with my wife, Nataku. But 
she died, and I became a Gundam Pilot to fight for peace... like my wife
did."
	Ami stared at him in shock. This guy couldn't be any older than 
she was, and he'd already been married once? And that wife was dead. And
at this age, he was also a pilot? 
	"War was common between Earth and the Colonies. We'd just ended 
one major war not long ago..." Wu Fei continued, staring off into space.
"And I found myself living on Earth after it ended. It's a nice place...
on the surface, it doesn't look any different than this place does.. But
the technology is vastly more advanced, I'm afraid to say. So much so, 
Tokyo as you know it today would seem like a large backwater village."
	"But how did you come to wind up here?" Ami was pressing for 
something that might have to do with Setsuna. If Setsuna was behind 
this, there could very well be something that they could do to preserve 
their future. 
	Wu Fei told his story, about Touji, the man who was called 
'Chaos'. Ami could feel her throat tighten and lump as he recalled the 
details. 
	"And *how*, exactly, we got here, I don't know, but I think that 
it had something to do with Touji." Now Wu Fei looked at Ami. "Are you 
all right? You look sick." 
	Ami got to her feet, mumbled that she was fine, and ran to the 
rest room, where she proceeded to wretch into the toilet. She quickly 
regained her composure and stood up, but her mind was racing. *Chaos!? 
NO! It's impossible! We destroyed Chaos, didn't we? Please tell me that 
we did!* She could feel the bile rising in her stomach again, but forced
it back down. She splashed water on her face, dried it, and walked back 
to the other room. Wu Fei was still sitting there, with a spooked 
expression on his face. 
	"Wu Fei?" she asked from the door. 
	"I've gotta go," he said, standing up. 
	"Where? I've got other questions..." she said, trying to tail him.
He grabbed the bag that wasn't marked with a serial number, and headed 
for the door. 
	"Duo can tell you everything you need to know when he wakes up. 
The books in that bag go to Shenlong, my Gundam."
	"Where are you going? When will you get back?" 
	"I don't know when I'll be back, but I've got someone to meet," 
said the pilot, as he walked out the door and shut it behind him. 

______________________________________________________________________________________


	Makoto came home from school more exhausted than she thought she'd 
be. She dropped her book bag and fell face-first onto the couch as soon 
as she could. Usagi and Minako had been absolutely relentless with their 
questions from the second she told them to collect Ami's assignments for 
her. 
	"What were the new guys like?"
	"Did you kill that Chinese boy?"
	"Did you get to walk around in that robot?"
	Then the questions got absolutely ridiculous.
	"Why isn't Ami here? Did Ami sleep with Maxwell-san?" 
	"Why are you so tired? Did you sleep with Chang-san?" 
	Minako had almost lost some teeth for that one. Makoto thought 
about it for a moment, though. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, and all, but
she didn't want to date another chauvinist. And something about Wu Fei 
just set her blood to boiling every time she thought of him. 
	She could hear some rustling in the back, and got up to go check 
it out. It was in the guest room. She opened the door and looked in to 
find Ami situated among several large open books with a notepad that was
rapidly filling up with notes. On the bed, Ami's patient continued to 
sleep restfully, not appearing to have budged an inch since she saw him 
this morning. 
	Ami looked up and made eye contact with Makoto. She knew in a 
second that something was wrong with Ami, but didn't know what. "Ami? 
What's wrong?" 
	"Oh.. Makoto... I'm just.. ummm... taking some notes," she said, 
shuffling a small stack of papers. 
	It suddenly dawned on her. Ami was trying to stop thinking about 
something, so she was keeping herself as busy as she could. Makoto had 
seen the girl do it before. "Now what's happened?" Makoto asked, taking 
a seat in the room. 
	"Ummm... it's nothing, Makoto. Really."
	"You know I don't believe that, Ami. I know you too well." 
	"Makoto..." Tears were already forming in her eyes. 
	"What is it?" Makoto asked, moving down to the floor next to her 
friend. 
	"It's a long story... please call Usagi and the rest of the 
Senshi..." 
	"But why?" 
	"It looks like we haven't yet finished our fight..."


			[End Chapter Two]

To Be Continued . . .