Disclaimer: Mobile Suit Gundam Wing is property of Bandai, Sunrise and Sotsu. Peter Pan is property of J.M. Barrie, Disney & Universal.
The flesh at the base of his neck was burning and his stomach decided to cartwheel in uncontrolled spasms.
What Angelina left unspoken was that she wanted to be in Wendy's place. She wanted this Peter to ask her for stories. She wanted this Peter to see her and only her.
Angelina was in love with Peter.
"Who's Peter?" he repeated over the current topic of discussion.
The girl froze, her smile melting from her lips. She pulled a fist to her chest, eyes fixed on the table. "Peter was a boy I knew. He was..." she breathed, voice soft enough to be almost nonexistent. Her blue, blue eyes moved up to catch his in a quiescent gaze. "He was everything to me.
"I told you before that I was a fool who clung to empty dreams. He didn't want me. He loved Wendy and I hated her for that. The anger and the desire for that which I would never possess are what drove my mother to dismiss me. I left to try and forget him."
The scalding fingers of what could only be jealousy scraped down the pilot's breast, rending his heart into tatters, freeing the ugly beast within. "Where is this Peter now?" he spit out like a bite of rotten flesh.
"Why do you want to know?"
Because I'll destroy him for hurting you!
"You going to beat him up?" The serene expression remained, but the inflection was bitterly sarcastic.
"It was a thought," he admitted.
"And why would you do that?" Angelina asked, all traces of bitterness vanished.
Well, it would definitely make him feel a lot better. He broke the gaze, thrashing for an appropriate response, groping for some assistance from-
At some point, Maxwell had fled. "A real man would never cause a woman to cry."
She gave a tiny smile that didn't reach her eyes. "That isn't your concern. He didn't make me cry. I did, all on my own."
He swallowed back that it was his concern. She was right. It wasn't any of his business, but that realization didn't still the churning of his insides.
"Peter's dead," she said suddenly. "He died a long time ago. I never told him and he went on with his life. I wasn't there, but I know he died happy."
Considering Angelina couldn't be more than fourteen, that last statement was cryptic enough to knock the jealousy right out of his system.
"You don't have to protect me, you know. I was doing just fine surviving before you came into my life."
She was doing just fine surviving? Wufei gently slid up the right sleeve of her shirt to expose an ugly tattoo, fingers brushing across the coded black lines. "This is not 'doing just fine' and you shouldn't have to just survive. Like everyone else you have a right to live and be happy and like everyone else the only way to accomplish that is to allow yourself to be protected. I've failed once-- more than once-- in my mission to protect the innocent. I refuse to fail again." His hold slipped to her fingers.