[Thread] Let me think back, no, remember--

[preventerchang]

Characters: OU!Wufei, AU!Quatre, AU!Wufei
Where: a private examination room at the clinic
When: a little bit after the transfer of the kidnapping victims to the clinic
Summary: AU!Quatre peeks in on OU!Wufei to check how he's doing during the chaos at the clinic; AU!Wufei has bad timing
Warnings: mention of previous events, angst, possible arguing

Comments

[preventerchang]

Wufei had been about to extend a quiet greeting toQuatre when the man was thoroughly distracted by the approach of the female who had called his name. Wufei? Why was Winner calling his name down the hallway, when he was right--

He was about to remark on this with gentle irritation when she appeared, and he found himself frozen from the inside out, unable to speak, unable to even breathe. Winner had not meant him when he had spoken the name 'Wufei'.

Every denial and betrayal, every word he had ignored as delusional, every statement he had thrown into the faces of the allies he had met here suddenly ceased to be relevant. If she was here, and her name was Wufei, then anything at all was possible and he was more the fool for believing otherwise.

She was wearing her hair slightly differently, and her voice was blessedly unrecognizable, but Wufei knew exactly who she was -- in his world, and he wondered, with the small part of his brain that was not paralyzed with a shock that was bleeding further into horror with each moment that passed, how it had happened in whatever version of his reality that she came from, that the girl he had held dying in his arms nearly three years before had been born to his name, and was now being held in the arms of another.

The closeness between Winner and 'Wufei' was both obvious and terribly inappropriate, and nearly as shocking as the revelation of the identity of the person who claimed to be his female alternate. A small part of Wufei felt a sudden, unreasonable anger which he viciously pushed aside.

If he did not say something, Winner would notice his turmoil. Wufei cleared his throat, merely for effect, for the sound hurt as he made it. "I suppose you intend to skip the part involving introductions?" he asked, and was himself surprised at both the the harshness of the caustic tone his voice took on and the fact that it did not betray the inner shakiness he felt at all.

[05for_justice]

The voice was strange...familiar, almost. The tone was that of a kinsman, a member of the Long clan. So the double was here, was he?

She set a hand on her hip and turned her most appraising expression upon the man in the little exam room; but she couldn't help a small start of surprise. He was a kinsman. In fact, he almost looked like...

"Are any necessary?" she asked, keeping her voice even.

[preventerchang]

Wufei didn't miss her surprise, but he said nothing of it. He stared at her for a long moment, forgoing speaking while he studied her face, her body language; the things which were familiar but also strange. She moved the same way any in the Long clan would have, being raised to the warrior arts.

"No," he replied flatly. "We know each other well enough."

He focused on the indignation he'd felt, on the remembered sharp words and sarcasm they had traded over the PDAs; there was no reasoning with his confusion and shock, or the odd affection he felt towards the sudden vibrant memory of the girl whose spirit he had at last laid to rest.

He glanced towards Quatre, gaze traveling down to their joined hands. It was stupid to be irritated by this display, to feel the faintest hint of jealous betrayal, but he couldn't help himself. "I thought you'd better taste," he said, not sure which of them he was speaking to. "Or at the least, better discretion."

[05for_justice]

Wufei's eyes glowered a bit, through her expression remained cool. "As you can plainly see, Mister Winner has excellent taste. And my taste is my own business. As for discretion..." She shrugged. Perhaps she should have been more discreet, but she was tired and upset and his touch had been like warm light on a dark day. "I think we can be allowed some leeway, considering the circumstances." She squeezed Quatre's hand to give him some assurance.

[preventerchang]

"If you came here to do something, Winner, then do it, so that I do not need to see you here again," Wufei said, the words flat. "There are enough people in need of assistance that you should not bother with wasting your time on a third visit to someone whose welfare is of no import, when you should be attempting to take care of yourself, as you have obviously not."

The way the two stayed together, the protectiveness in the girl's eyes, their obvious closeness -- he had never, ever seen her act in such a way towards--

She was not the person she appeared to be. He should not be feeling such confused betrayal over this simple exchange.

Nataku had never acted towards him in such a manner that spoken of easy, shared affection, because they had never shared such a relationship. It was shocking to see her display it now, and to think that maybe, perhaps, she might have been capable of it. With a better man than himself.

This girl was Wufei, not Nataku. He had to hold onto that fact. He had buried Nataku, he had honored her memory, he had finally fulfilled her desire for a changed world. He had found her justice.

And still, the sight of this girl who wore Nataku's face and his own name had been enough to shake him to the core.

"I can see that clearly enough," he said, the words bitten out as he curled the fingers of one of his gauze-wrapped hands into a loose fist, grounding himself with the pain of the motion. "I simply have no desire to observe it."

[05for_justice]

"There's no need to either apologize for him or defend me," Wufei told Quatre. "I'm sure he's just surprised, is all." She was too.

She did slide her hand from Quatre's grasp though, crossing her arms and fixing her "double" with a hard glare. "But I don't want to make the patient uncomfortable," she added. "Maybe it would be better if I left."

[preventerchang]

Surprised. The description was so inadequate for what he was feeling that Wufei felt offended. Of course, she could hardly have any idea what it was like for him to be confronted with the vision of his dead w--

A terrible thought occurred to him, and he pulled it in, shut it down, and locked down every bit of emotion that he could with the aid of pain.

He stepped outside of the situation entirely, letting his anger and indignation run ice cold, calming himself by pushing it all away, divorcing himself from the too-close situation; letting himself slide into the objective viewpoint of the observer, who watched the reactions of all three of them with clinical detachment.

"I agree," he said.

[05for_justice]

"No," said Wufei. "We're obviously not. I'll be nearby," she told Quatre. She petted his shoulder gently before turning away, throwing one more dark glare at her supposed double as she did so.

[preventerchang]

The look Wufei directed back at his female alternate was calm and cold. He wasn't going to rise to it. Not this time. There was no point to it; either she was, or she wasn't. And she wasn't. He could not afford overreaction.

He turned his attention back towards Quatre, and the task at hand. He wanted this entire encounter over with. Now. "Well?" He asked, the word flat, frozen.

[preventerchang]

Wufei held completely still as Quatre touched him, a statue of a man. He had not expected the next time he saw Winner to be this way; he had thought that they would be able to have a civil conversation again, perhaps one that might touch on Wufei's questions from their earlier encounter. But the girl had derailed all of that.

Even when she'd left the room he was thinking about her, he realized. He was going to need to put some small effort into avoiding her if he wanted to continue his acquaintanceship with Winner. And that he did; the man was a valuable ally, even if he was not precisely a friend in the same manner that the Quatre Wufei knew from his own world was.

"I'm recovering well enough," he said.