"This Beautiful Life"

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or its characters

Rating: R

Warnings: Romance & Friendship

Pairings: 2x5, others will be present but subtle.

Summary: 3 years after cutting ties with everyone from the war, WuFei Chang gets into a car accident in his way home from a company Christmas party and wakes up to another life.

"This Beautiful Life"

Chapter 16

After construction of the colonies, a lot of business moved to the stars with laborers and much of Earth's natural resources became preserved for the elite to enjoy. Epicenters of business still existed, however, compressed into small corners of the Earth with concrete landscapes and towering skyscrapers.

Bergonia began as such an epicenter with information-based businesses like law firms, research and development departments for major corporations, as well as banking and accounting firms like Hinkley&Deluth. Originally Bergonia didn't have any residential areas, the idea was that people would live in the countryside and commute to work. After the colonies, competition became fierce, and people moved into the city to meet demanding deadlines and schedules. Bergonia grew into the countryside, and became a sprawling city with a population three times the size of the colony WuFei grew up on in about one fifth of the space.

In front of Hinkley&Deluth, WuFei climbed out the taxi Duo had called for him back at their house. Duo had already paid the driver and also made sure to give WuFei a wallet of cash, saying, "hopefully it'll be enough". There was also a piece of paper in the wallet with the house vid-phone number and their address. WuFei had waited outside for the taxi to arrive. He couldn't take Duo's silence.

Hinkley&Deluth's main office was a five story building lined with seven foot tall panes of black glass from the ground to the top of the tower where their name was emblazoned in gold. WuFei stared up at the building for several minutes, people pushing past around him in business attire, carrying briefcases and laptops, cups of coffee, and talking on mobile phones. The taxi drove off and with it left any chance of reconsidering.

Over a year and half ago, WuFei recalled standing outside of that building feeling much the same as he did in that moment. Small, insignificant, and out of place. As though the building were a blackhole that might swallow him whole. He had left his bike parked out front next to a meter and came back to a ticket. He'd gotten lost in the corridors searching for his office. He'd sat through the most humiliating orientation where he'd been called out for his casual dress: loose blue tee and white linen slacks, breathable and easy to maneuver in. Just in case. They told him he needed a suit, and he had tried to explain that he couldn't fight in a suit, but they didn't understand.

WuFei entered the building. He felt eyes on him at once. He was a young man dressed down in leisure clothes, a bandage visible on his cheek, a hobble in his step. He made his way to the front counter, polished black granite, swooping six feet across the room. A white haired woman with red lipstick wearing a headset held a finger up to him indicating he needed to wait a moment. She typed on a computer in front of her, and "uh-huh", "mm-hmm", "yes, yes", until she pressed a button on the phone and her eyes finally went to WuFei's. He knew her, he'd seen her countless times walking through that front door over the course of a year, but he'd never known her name. He'd head straight to the security point, wag his badge at the officer and step through their scanner.

"Do you have an appointment?" she asked.

He hesitated. What had he planned on saying? He glanced around, feeling a sudden nervousness coming on. He recognized faces, rooms, he could imagine step for step the route to his office, but he didn't know anyone and everything felt strange and disjointed. Even his memory of working there felt out of place.

"Excuse me, sir, do you have an appointment?" she repeated, strumming her French manicured nails on the countertop.

"I...I was wondering," he pulled himself straight, balled his hand into a fist and clenched his jaw. He fumbled for his wallet and was glad to find his badge in there, where he'd always kept it before, and felt somehow stronger and sure of himself, "I'm an officer of the Preventers. I need to know if there is or ever has been a WuFei Chang working here."

He faltered a bit on the final words, feeling somewhat idiotic asking the question. The woman's features had morphed from mildly annoyed to at once respectful and attentive.

"Of course, officer, sir, one moment, please," she set to typing at her computer, and after a minute or two said, "There's no WuFei Chang working here at present, sir, but we do have a Tamara Chang and a Liu Chang."

"And previously?" he asked, shoving his wallet back into his pocket.

"I'll have to contact HR for that information," she said. She punched a few numbers, "Hello, Marsha, I have an officer here from the Preventers. He wants to know if we've ever had a WuFei Chang in our employ," she listened for a moment, "Oh, mm-hmm...sure, give me one sec," she pressed a button on the phone and returned her attention to WuFei, "May I ask what this is concerning?"

WuFei frowned, damn legal.

"It's an ongoing investigation. I cannot disclose any information," he said.

"I see. Ah...well, I'm so sorry, Hinkley&Deluth are fully prepared to cooperate with the Preventers, however, we cannot release information pertaining to past or current employees without the appropriate warrant," she scrunched her nose, her lip curling into an uncomfortable smile, "Do you...have a warrant?"

"I just need to know if he worked here. It's considered public information and thus not illegal to disclose," WuFei said.

The woman nodded, seeming relieved, as she returned to the phone, "He says he just wants to know if a WuFei Chang worked here. He says it's not illegal to say so." She waited a few seconds, nodded, and said to WuFei, "No. We've never had a WuFei Chang here before."

WuFei let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He gave a short nod, excused himself and limped from the building. Outside, he choked in large gulps of air. He didn't know what he'd expected and couldn't explain why the answers she'd given him left him feeling as though a weight had dropped from his shoulders. He composed himself, noting the concerned looks passer-bys were giving him.

He walked along the streets, searching for something familiar. He'd never spent much time in the city, at least, not in the remembered life he'd had there. He would go to work and go home, stopping at restaurants in between to grab pick up but hurrying to his destinations.

Hiding.

In his apartment, in his office. He'd hide in the most confined places. Keep his windows closed, doors closed, curtains drawn, so he didn't have to see the world beyond.

After a few blocks, WuFei's leg began to ache. He flagged down another taxi and told them Grenedier Towers. He knew the drive, watched the city rush by as he waited. He paid the driver with a few paper bills from his wallet and walked into the front lobby of his remembered home, brushing past the doorman – like the woman at Hinkley&Deluth, he'd seen numerous times but never knew the man's name.

Grenedier Towers was a top of the line luxury apartment suites. The lobby was lavish with a crystal chandelier and glittering mother of pearl floors. It felt cold and sterile, and reeked of hospital fumes. A concierge at the front desk eyed WuFei as an interloper – he certainly looked like one. WuFei realized, in those three years he remembered living there, he'd never really looked at the lobby. He'd never paid attention to the details of that place: several potted fake fichus, a pristine gold trim, the distant ding of the elevator chime. It may as well be the waiting room of a hospital. It didn't feel warm, inviting. It didn't smell of apple spice and sweet vanilla. It didn't look like a place where people lived. It didn't look like home.

He approached the concierge and received an annoyed expression similar to the woman from Hinkey&Deluth. He thought to show his badge again, but decided it wouldn't help here. The people that rented at Grenedier Towers were wealthy, or well off anyways. They were the kinds of people that could afford a house, but they preferred working, so their office looked lived in and their house was a suite at Grenedier Towers.

"I'm looking for a place to live. I'd like to tour one of your dwellings," WuFei said. He didn't know what he was hoping to accomplish.

"I'm not sure this place is right for you," the concierge replied, eying WuFei's bandages.

WuFei recalled receiving the same treatment a year ago. At the time, he threatened the man behind the counter with bodily harm and had to return later with a letter from his employer stating his position with them and his contracted salary. He'd never been good at less direct routes of getting what he wanted. The other pilots excelled at using subtler methods of subterfuge: Heero would hack into a system and plant a fake profile to be deleted later, Trowa would adopt a new persona, Quatre had his diplomatic skills and trustfund, and Duo would use his charm, if that failed, he'd just break in.

WuFei attempted to channel Duo, fixing an easy smile onto his face and leaning against the counter with a casual countenance as though he belonged there, as though he owned the place and everyone worshipped the ground he walked on – if they didn't, they soon would.

"I understand why you would think that. I'm a mess, right now. It's been a hell of a week. I just took a position at Hinkley&Deluth, you know, the large financial moguls – they have shareholdings across the galaxy, right? They scouted me straight out of an academy on X9-01873, in the L1 cluster. Not my first pick for school, I mean, who wants to go to university in space? But my father sent me, top rated business school, right? He practically had to buy a stadium to get me in, too. As soon as I touch down, I'm heading into the city to find a place to live before I start at my new job, this was a week before I'm supposed to start mind you, and some jackass slams on his brakes in front of me and I total my new convertible. My father can buy me a new one, but now I look like this. I got out of the hospital two days ago, I don't have any of my clothes yet, and I need a place to live – I start work tomorrow," WuFei took a deep breath, looked up with pleading eyes, "Could you help a guy out here?"

The concierge introduced WuFei to a leasing agent in two inch high heels and a pencil skirt. She took WuFei to the second floor where their model unit was on display.

"Do you know how many bedrooms you're looking for?" she asked.

"I haven't decided yet," WuFei said, watching impatient as she unlocked the door. They stepped inside the unit.

The unit was mocked up with new, untouched furnishings. A black leather sofa, felted violets in a plain white vase on a short coffee table. Aside from small touches like the flower, this may as well have been WuFei's apartment. Furniture not yet broken in, empty kitchen, the bed made with perfect creases in a modest bedspread. There were no pictures hung on the walls save a framed print of a famous photograph bought on sale for ten dollars from the home goods store. Nothing to indicate an actual person resided there. The smell, again, sterile and mechanic.

It was almost suffocating being in this place. Thinking of those three years. Three lonely years. That man from the Christmas party flashed in front of WuFei's memories.

I think you're lying. I think you are lonely.

Lonely didn't even cover it. WuFei had spent those years deconstructing every part of himself. Disseminating the pieces that made him who he was until he was all but gone from existence. When he died, who would remember him? Susan, his boss's flirtatious secretary? No, she'd move on to the next young accountant to start working there.

WuFei thought of standing at the Winner Christmas party, drink in hand, watching as though through a window the other Gundam pilots mingle with one another. That loneliness, it had started there. He could see them, he couldn't touch them, couldn't speak to them, couldn't be part of them. And then Duo showed up and confirmed every fear he had, that the wall he saw was real and they'd built it to keep him out. He didn't want a life in those three years, because the one he wanted he didn't think he could have.

"Did you want to take a look around?" the woman asked.

"I need to leave," WuFei told her, turned and hurried from the room. He took the staircase down, he needed to feel air pumping into his lungs or he feared he might suffocate.

~ * ~

Chapter 17

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