Cracked Reflections 5/5+ Epilogue & Prologue
        Tattered Dreams
Rating: R
Series: Gundam Wing
Genre: AU/Angst
Pairings: 1x2x1 (background), 3+4+3 (suggested), 5xMerian
Spoilers: Yes, but only of you can recognize the changes. (Can't
say more or I'll ruin the story.)
Warnings: Het, Yaoi, Death, Angst
By Moon Faery
Archived: (eventually at) Moon Faery's Garden
(http://www.geocities.com/moon_faerys_garden/); FFN
(http://www.fanfiction.net); Kiss of Death [my new site!]
(https://www.angelfire.com/gundam/kissofdeath/); anywhere
else that asks nicely.

Disclaimer: A statement created solely to save one's ass
from becoming lawn for the proverbial legal mower. I do not
own Gundam Wing, nor does anyone I know own it. However,
this story line and plot are MINE. (Holds fic close to
her.) Grrrr....

Author Notes: No yaoi in this part. No YAOI in this part. No matter
how many times I say it, I STILL can't believe it... I must be ill.
(wanders off to check her temperature)

*** AC 196 ***

        "You're WHAT?!" Wufei slammed his fist down onto the
table, staring at the slender Chinese girl sitting across from
him. His wife of two years never ceased to amaze him, but this
was beyond anything he had ever thought possible. "Merian, please
tell me this is a joke." Behind wire rim glasses, jet colored
eyes stared at Merian pleadingly.

        She brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and smiled
serenely. "Wufei, I'm surprised that you hadn't noticed before,"
Merian teased him gently, standing up to wrap her scholarly
husband in a hug from behind, nibbling gently on his ear. "Is it
really so much of a surprise? The way we-"

        She was cut off by a blushing Wufei. "Yes is IS!" he
yelped, turning around to glare at his wife. She knew what that
ear nibble did to him, and was undoubtedly using it to get her
way. Unfortunately, it was working. "Couldn't you have at least
talked to me first?" he asked softly, pulling her close.

        Merian laughed and snuggled into his arms, rubbing her
nose into his loose white shirt. "I didn't exactly have a choice
with the timing, Wu," she giggled, pressing a quick kiss against
his cheek.

        Wufei was silent for a long moment. "You don't have to
go through with this, you know," he finally whispered into her
hair. "There are... options..."

        "I know." The admission was almost in audible. "But I
want to." Merian looked up at her husband with smiling eyes.
Grabbing his hand, she pressed it against her lower abdomen,
which was just beginning to show her condition. "Say hello to
your baby, Wu."

        His knees gave out. Wufei found himself kneeling on the
floor, pressing his forehead against his wife's stomach. Tears
tracked their way down his cheeks, catching on the bottoms rims
of his glasses and glittering in the false sunlight that shone
through the window. "Hello," he murmured around the lump in his
throat to the tiny life they had created. "Hello."

*** April 16 AC 197 ***
        "Damn it, somebody tell me what the HELL'S GOING ON?!"
Wufei roared at a hapless nurse, who just happened to be walking
by at the time. He gripped the front of her uniform and pulled
the poor woman closer until they were nose to nose. In the
background, a woman screamed in pain. "What's happening to my
wife?"

        The nurse pushed at his chest, fear flashing in her green
eyes. "Please, Mr. Chang, I don't know..." She pried at the
death-grip he had on her shirt. "Please, I can't help you if you
don't let me go!"

        Wufei let go, sending the nurse stumbling back. She
looked up into his furious eyes and scurried off. The worried
young man resumed his pacing.

        As the time passed, the screams that shook the walls of
the waiting room got louder and more intense. It seemed like it
dragged on for days, but four hours after he accosted the nurse,
they stopped. Wufei spun around as a doctor entered the empty
room and coughed, dark eyes downcast.

        "Chang Wufei?" he asked softly.

        Wufei nodded, something unnameable clawing at the pit of
his stomach. "Yes?"

        "They're twins," the doctor began, a forced smiled
touching his lips briefly. "Two healthy babies, a boy and a
girl."

        "What about Merian?" he demanded, knees starting to
shake. 'Something is wrong,' his subconscious screamed. 'Wrong
wrong WRONG!'

        The silence echoed in the room as the physician met his
eyes for the first time, tears glittering in their corners.

        "No." His shining black hair flew through the air as
Wufei shook his head in denial, steadily increasing the speed
until it felt like his neck was going to break in two.

        "We tried everything we could, but we lost her," the
doctor murmured, looking away. "I'm very sorry for your loss."

        "No." Wufei slid down into a chair, leaning forward until
his forehead pressed against his knees. "No, no no,
nonononoNONONONONONOOOOO!" His scream shook through the delivery
ward of the L5 hospital, mingling faintly with two small cries of
new life.

*** June AC 197 ***
        An elderly oriental woman wearing a white fighting gi and
a frilly pink apron maneuvered her way through the study door,
balancing a tray on one hand and a knee while she worked the
knob. "Wufei, I brought you some soup."

        "Hn," Wufei grunted, not even looking up from his view
out the window. His skin was sallow, and the way his bones
protruded slightly made it obvious that he hadn't been eating.
"Thank you, Aunt Tai," he murmured, mustering a faint smile.

        Tai set the tray down on a stool and settled down beside
her nephew in law on the window seat, resting a tiny hand on his
knee. "Wufei," she stared, and then shook her head. "This won't
be easy, but it's been two months. She's not coming back."

        Wufei sighed and turned to look at her with pain tinged
eyes. "I know that Aunt. I've known it for a while now."

        She was quiet for a moment. "Then why..?"

        "Am I still in mourning?" Wufei finished for her,
bitterness etching a line between his brows. "I loved her, Aunt.
Why should I not mourn my wife's passing?"

        "Because there are two infants in the nursery who haven't
seen their father in over a week," she answered gently. "Both
miniature replicas of the love you lost." Patting his knee, Tai
stood. "You're in pain, child, but don't let it hurt the ones who
deserve it least."

        He watched her walk out of the room, eyes flat. After
several long moments, Wufei stood and left his study. On the
desk, the soup started to cool.

*** September 16 AC 197 (Time: 1130 hours) ***
        Wufei laughed as his daughter, Lian, stared somberly at
the bowl of cereal that was on her head. Next to her, her brother
Liang burbled and drummed his chubby little fists on the counter.
It had been the hardest thing he'd ever done on that day in June,
to pull himself away from his grief and visit his children. But
he had done it, and now he enjoyed the results. It still hurt,
looking into their little eyes and seeing his wife staring back
at him, but he was learning to accept it a little more every day.

        It was the six month anniversary of the twin's birth.
Aunt Tai decided that it was time for their first visit to
Merian's grave. She had offered to take Wufei as well, but he had
refused.

        Helping to wash the babies up after their meal, Wufei
couldn't help but ponder about the changes his life had undergone
since that day in June. Tai, old as she was, had become a second
mother to him, and his children had done much to heal the hole
left by Merian's death.

        "Wufei, are you sure..?" Tai began to ask for the fifth
time, looking up at her nephew in law with worried black eyes.

        He smiled sadly back at her. "No thank you, Aunt."

        Tai surprised him by reaching up and hugging him. "I
understand."

*** September 16 AC 197 (Time: 1526 hours) ***
        Wufei was the only one at home when the vidphone rang.
Frowning, he picked up the receiver. His black eyes widened
slightly as the screen blinked to life, showing an oriental man
in a white lab coat on the other end of the connection. An ID tag
was attached to his pocket, naming him Dr. Xi-Wang.

        "Chang Wufei?" the doctor asked carefully, face
expressionless.

        His stomach freezing into an icy knot, Wufei managed to
nod shakily. "I am he."

        "Mr. Chang, I'm afraid there's been an accident..."

*** October AC 200 ***
        Two people peered through a tiny window set in a barred
and locked door. One of them, a woman in a dark blue suit, shook
her head sadly and looked away. "He's not improving."

        The other person stared at her, aghast. He flipped long
black bangs out of his eyes and glared. "Erika, give him time!"

        "He's been here for three years, Mike!" Erika argued,
waving a file under Mike's nose. "Every doctor who's seen him
says the same thing. It's permanent!"

        He snarled at her. "So you'll just put him to sleep, like
an animal?" he asked, straightening his shoulders. His eyes
snapped brown fire as he faced off against the woman.

        "He is an animal," she told him softly, touching his
shoulder. Her blue eyes stared pleadingly into his. "It's the
law, and it's the only human thing to do."

        "Humane-?!" Mike sputtered.

        "Yes, humane. Look into that room, and tell me that you
honestly think there's still hope for him."

        Mike looked down at the hand on his shoulder, and then
through the glass. His shoulders sagged. "I can't..."

        "I thought so." Erika took one last glance inside the
room before turning away.

        "WAIT!" Mike yelled after her. "If you lost your wife and
kids the way he did, wouldn't you be-"

        "Like he is?" Erika interrupted, twisting around.
"Practically comatose? Completely out of reality?" She didn't
even stop to think about her reply. "No, I wouldn't. I'm stronger
than that." She resumed her march down the hallway, pausing to
mark the words 'scheduled for euthanasia' on a clipboard before
leaving.

        Mike stared through the glass at the forlorn figure
huddled in a corner of the room, staring blankly at a wall.

        "I'm sorry, Wufei," the young orderly said. "I tried to
save you."

        Wufei just kept staring at the wall.
***

04 <--- Previous Chapter - Next Chapter ---> Epilogue

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