Disclaimer: Mobile Suit Gundam Wing is property of Bandai, Sunrise and Sotsu. Peter Pan is property of J.M. Barrie, Disney & Universal.
The cheery inquiry was muffled, but out of place enough to yank Tinkerbell awake all at once. She froze from the unfamiliar atmosphere, mind frantically scanning her memories of the last two days. She had made her decision. She helped Wufei to escape and he had brought her along. Her heart soared. She was off of New Britain. She was free. She was-
The soaring crashed. Moira still possessed her wings. She would never be free.
"Never never," she mumbled into her pillow as another thought occurred to her. Wufei... It felt so right when he held her in his arms, so peaceful until he pushed her away. He didn't want her either. Just like...
She sat up, batting at her unaccustomed length of hair and taking a deep breath. This was no time to go all-moonstruck. There were already enough problems from the last time she'd permitted such a weakness. Hook-on-a-pogo-stick! That's why she lost her wings in the first place!
She was awake now and might as well make use of the daylight. The pixie established that the shirt she was sleeping in was indeed long enough to cover up everything and then wandered out of the guestroom toward the voices in the kitchen.
"Why'd you bring her with you? You had to know she'd be nothing but trouble." Well, excuse me, Mr. Duo! It's not like I asked to be here! "I know that you know that woman from New Britain is going to come looking for her." Her irritability subsided a bit as Tinkerbell realized that his tone was more one of confusion than hostility.
There was silence for a moment, then Wufei responded, "I don't really know." There was a sadness underlying that statement, like he was regretful of something. She snuck closer, peering through the crack of the door hinges.
Both boys were seated at opposite sides of the little round table, sipping tea. Wufei had a stack of papers at his left elbow, that he seemed intent on fingering every few seconds. Mr. Duo's side of the table was bare, save his teacup and saucer.
"Okay, then, why bring her here?"
"Where else should I have taken her? I have no idea where Trowa is right now, Heero would probably just kill her for good measure," Kill me? "And I certainly don't have any place safe for her to live."
"What about Quatre? I'm sure the Maganacs have enough room for one more. It only takes a few hours to get to Earth from here."
What were they talking about? Maganacs? Quatre? Why would someone want to kill her for good measure? Who was Wufei really?
"I don't trust him," Wufei mumbled.
"What was that?"
The Chinese boy gave his tea a hard glare. "I said, there's too many factors in the whole Maganac thing. I don't trust Quatre to keep her safe."
Why would he want to keep her safe? She was his enemy. Why would he take on that responsibility?
The American threw back his tea. "But you trust me?" he gasped out.
"Yes, Maxwell. I do."
The silence went on for several seconds with only a heartbeat in her ears meting out the time.
"Oi, Lina!" The pixie jumped. "You don't have to skulk about. C'mon in." Tinkerbell blushed at being discovered but, unlike the false gaiety of their last encounter, the braided boy's invitation sounded sincere.
Wufei gave the tiniest of starts and flipped over the stack of papers as the pixie made her way into the room and chose the chair opposite the door.
"Tea?" asked her host. She declined with a shake of the head. He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry I was such an ass to you." Tinkerbell felt her eyes go wide.
"Watch your language in the presence of a lady, Maxwell." It wasn't a request.
"Oh, sorry. Again." Mr. Duo covered Tinkerbell's hand with his own. "I may be an as-er-jerk, but I know you were standing outside that door long enough to have some questions. It's your turn to interrogate us."
She looked up and he was grinning, not that she'd ever seen him not grin. She did have questions, but-
"If we don't like the question we just won't answer. I never lie. Wufei on the other hand-" He paused under the Chinese boy's death glare. "Well, you get the idea. Go ahead."
She swallowed a lump of doubt, retroactively wishing she'd accepted the tea. "Who are you? I don't mean just your names. I mean, who are you really? What are you?"
"I'm Death!" replied Mr. Duo cheerily. "Shinigami!" Wufei reached over the table and smacked Death square in the head. "Ow! Damn man! That hurt!" He rubbed at the injury. "Why are you so intent on beating me today?"
The Chinese boy ignored the whining. "That is something we must decline to answer."
"Yeah, if we told ya, we'd have to kill ya!" supplied Mr. Duo with a thumbs-up.
Um... Okay... Were these two for real? They were acting like children. She took a mental step back. They were children. Up until now, they had acted in such an adult manner that the pixie failed to accept them as anything but what they presented to the world. Tinkerbell was sure they had been forced into this early adulthood by circumstances the world had presented them. This must be why so many children had found the path to Neverneverland. This was why so many chose to never grow up.
A hand waving madly centimeters in front of her nose pulled her out of her dissection. "Uh? Lina? We're not gonna kill you right now." Her host gave her another all-purpose smile as she met his eyes. "Maybe after dessert?"
This time the American managed to block the flying blow. He stuck out his tongue to rub in the victory.
Tinkerbell couldn't hold back a laugh at the sight of Wufei's fallen face. It was like he'd been denied the heavens, so distraught over a little blocked smack.
"Ha! She's giggling!" Mr. Duo clapped her on the shoulder. "That was all you, Wu-man!"
The look of devastation transformed into one of mirth. It was slight, and didn't involve anything so damming as an actual smile, but his eyes sparkled. "Weren't we supposed to be answering questions?" he managed past a half-hearted scowl.
The braided boy slapped a fist into his opposite hand. "I forgot! Please go ahead."
Tinkerbell knew that her line of questioning would eventually dwindle down to one all-encompassing question, but she was loath to screw up the courage to ask. Instead she settled on, "Who were all those people you kept mentioning? Katra? Hilo? The Maga- Magna- Somethings?"
"Quatre, Heero and Trowa are some friends of ours." Wufei enunciated the names carefully. "The Maganacs are part of a desert tribe of Arabia. They are Quatre's friends."
Arabia? The name sounded familiar. "Arabia? Is that like in 'Arabian Nights'?"
Wufei looked meaningfully to Mr. Duo. "Beats me!" he exclaimed. "What's 'Arabian Nights'?"
"It's a story about a thief named Ali Baba and there is magic and swordfights! Of all the stories the Wendy told, we liked that one the most. The Wendy would always tell that one if Peter asked. Actually, the Wendy would do anything that Peter asked." She broke off. The boys were staring.
"Who's Wendy?" asked Mr. Duo as Wufei simultaneously asked, "Who's Peter?"
The two sets of eyes stayed firmly locked on her face. "Just some people from my homeland." A little cough. "Aren't I supposed to be asking the questions?" she reasoned, weaseling her way out of the explanation.
An arm shot straight into the air. "Yes," replied the American.
Mr. Duo was really hamming it up, but she couldn't resist his schoolboy charm. "Then, why do you keep usurping my role?"
"It's more fun that way. Next question!"