Reunion
A whole year. It hadn’t even occurred to him, actually, until midmorning. He’d been here a year and two days. January 30th, he’d fallen out of the sky and washed ashore on an island from which there was no escape and a year and two days later, it was… Well, it was more home than Earth had ever been, before. Almost as much home as L2 had been, and it certainly felt like home, with Polly and Quatre here, now, and Jim and the Times staff and Shep’s crew that he was building with, now, and the shrimp boat even though Forest was gone and… Everything. Everyone.
He gotten up early, earlier than Polly, even, and though he wasn’t due anywhere for a while, had some routine maintenance to look at on the press, he felt awake and almost anxious. A year without fighting, without scrambling desperately for survival. A year with killing a single person, a whole year gone without blood on his hands. He had a woman he loved and a damn pet and coworkers that, despite being from various worlds and point in time, were still more normal than other Gundam pilots. Or Sweepers.
Duo wasn’t plagued with thoughts of Earth anymore. He wasn’t worried about the future, there. Hell, he wasn’t even worried about the future, here. Everything was… okay. He maybe missed little things, sometimes, some people, on rare occasions, but that was okay. He’d had that at home, anyway.
The sun was up and the sky was light, but the place where the sand met the tree line was still cooler, shadowy. But something glinted. It was a distance off, and barely anything but….There was something abnormal in the shadow. Duo squinted at it, still strolling. It wasn’t until he started along the straight of the beach that the bottom dropped out of his stomach and he came to a dead halt, mouth falling open, staring in awe at the huddled form on the beach, silhouetted against the bright blue of the ocean and the sand.
“….Death…scythe…?” he whispered, and continued to stare until his eyes began to water. He squeezed them shut, blinked hard, pulled a double take.
Still there. Hunched, eyes dark, the faintest gleam of green in their depths, shields up, kneeling among the palm trees.
Duo stood in the still of the morning for an extended moment, then whooped loud enough to be heard possibly for miles, and ran pell-mell for the shadowy figure, laughing his head off.
[Duo’s found his second item after his first full year on the island! (dated to tomorrow, technically, but I wanted to get it up tonight). It is this. The specifications are here, but basically it’s 16 meters (about 50 feet) tall, has a giant black staff over its shoulder and is kind of scary to look at. It also has a lot of guns on it. Feel free to get to it before Duo does, to have been there already, or to hear the ruckus and come over to be like ‘wtf’.]
He gotten up early, earlier than Polly, even, and though he wasn’t due anywhere for a while, had some routine maintenance to look at on the press, he felt awake and almost anxious. A year without fighting, without scrambling desperately for survival. A year with killing a single person, a whole year gone without blood on his hands. He had a woman he loved and a damn pet and coworkers that, despite being from various worlds and point in time, were still more normal than other Gundam pilots. Or Sweepers.
Duo wasn’t plagued with thoughts of Earth anymore. He wasn’t worried about the future, there. Hell, he wasn’t even worried about the future, here. Everything was… okay. He maybe missed little things, sometimes, some people, on rare occasions, but that was okay. He’d had that at home, anyway.
The sun was up and the sky was light, but the place where the sand met the tree line was still cooler, shadowy. But something glinted. It was a distance off, and barely anything but….There was something abnormal in the shadow. Duo squinted at it, still strolling. It wasn’t until he started along the straight of the beach that the bottom dropped out of his stomach and he came to a dead halt, mouth falling open, staring in awe at the huddled form on the beach, silhouetted against the bright blue of the ocean and the sand.
“….Death…scythe…?” he whispered, and continued to stare until his eyes began to water. He squeezed them shut, blinked hard, pulled a double take.
Still there. Hunched, eyes dark, the faintest gleam of green in their depths, shields up, kneeling among the palm trees.
Duo stood in the still of the morning for an extended moment, then whooped loud enough to be heard possibly for miles, and ran pell-mell for the shadowy figure, laughing his head off.
[Duo’s found his second item after his first full year on the island! (dated to tomorrow, technically, but I wanted to get it up tonight). It is this. The specifications are here, but basically it’s 16 meters (about 50 feet) tall, has a giant black staff over its shoulder and is kind of scary to look at. It also has a lot of guns on it. Feel free to get to it before Duo does, to have been there already, or to hear the ruckus and come over to be like ‘wtf’.]
