This started as a discussion on the GWML... but I'm not giving anything away. 
 Oh!  And if you don't know what happens to Treize at the end of the series, 
don't read this fic!  It's premise is one big spoiler...
~~~
Ghost in the Machine    Prologue and Part 1
    by The Prince of Dragons
~~~
    Wufei lay sprawled on his bed, reading a physics book.  �Gods, three 
years, three damn years since the war has ended.  It seems like forever.�  
Needless to say, his mind was not on his schoolwork.  He stood up to pace for 
a few moments before sitting back down on the edge of his bed.  Well at least 
his roommate, Issei was out today, on a date.  That meant Wufei could be 
alone with his thoughts.  Although that might not be such a good thing... 
What could he do to take his mind off of the depressing thoughts his mind had 
been turning to?  A small sigh escaped his lips as he drifted back in time 
again, remembering the events of so many years past.  Meiran�s death, 
Treize�s fate, Heero�s suicide after the war, they all added up to a burden 
Wufei wasn�t sure he could carry.  Another sigh when he picked up a pillow, 
not even knowing why, then tossing it back down on the bed for lack of 
anything better to do.  This whole life was pointless, he was a soldier 
trying to go back to a previous life.  Finally Wufei settled down in front of 
his computer, turning it on.  He had friends on the net that he could talk 
with much more ease and less of the control that he filled the rest of his 
life with.  He smiled as the mail flag appeared.  The subject line simply 
read "Open, IMPORTANT information", but that was normal for his friends, they 
didn�t care about manners, just that he read their e-mails.  He opened the 
mail.
    "Oh.  Oh god!" Wufei stammered, backing away from the computer, knocking 
over his chair in fear.  "This can�t be!  Someone, someone has to be playing 
a bad joke on me!  Yeah, that�s it, that�s what it *has* to be!"  Panic 
tinged with an emotion he didn�t want to acknowledge, hope, rose up around 
him, the Chinese boy swayed on his feet a few moments before everything 
became fuzzily dark, and he collapsed.

    Darkness receded slowly as Wufei felt himself being shaken. "Wufei!  
Wufei!  Wake up already!"  Onyx eyes gradually opened and blinked up into 
silver.
    "What happened?" Wufei whispered, hoping that what his memory was 
insisting was truth, was merely a bad dream.
    Issei shrugged.  "Not a clue.  When I got back you were lying in front of 
the computer, out cold."  The former pilot blinked comically, absorbing the 
fact that he had passed out.  Hell, he hadn�t even passed out during the war, 
unless it had to do with injuries.  He stood, brushing imaginary dirt off of 
his clothes.  A quick glance at his computer showed the message still 
displayed.  Closing it down quickly, Wufei saved the mail for later reading.  
"So what was that?" Issei wanted to know, "Nothing I know of has ever 
affected you the way that did."  The other boy looked up at his roommate and 
gave him a fair approximation of the glare Heero Yuy used to give everyone.  
It didn�t intimidate Issei at all.  ""Spill, Fei."
    Groaning, Wufei cursed himself for a fool.  If Issei was anything, it was 
curious, and he wouldn�t get any peace until Issei knew the reason for his 
fainting spell.  "I got an e-mail." His announcement got an annoyed look.  
"From Treize Khushrenanda."  The look morphed into a puzzled one.
    "That name sounds faintly familiar, but I can�t remember where I heard 
it.  Care to elaborate?"  Raven eyes stared at Issei in shock.   For a few 
moments all Wufei could do was gape incredulously at his friend.  His mouth 
opened and closed a few time before he managed to get his voice working again.
    "You mean you don�t remember?" the ex-pilot squeaked.  Calming down a 
bit, his voice returned to normal.  "Didn�t you pay attention at all during 
the war?"  At his roommate�s shrug, he sweatdropped, wondering briefly how 
Issei could be so oblivious.  "Treize Khushrenada was the head of OZ, you 
know, the organization that staged the coup over the Earth Federation a few 
years ago.  He had a large hand in the outcome of the war," Wufei explained. 
Issei nodded, his friend�s clarification jogging his memory.  "Oh yeah," he 
said, in quiet introspection, "but I thought he died."
Wufei�s face crumpled momentarily.  "So did I," the pilot-turned-scholar 
murmured soberly.

    "So someone is playing a bad prank," Issei decided, "but," a thought 
blind-sided the cheerful boy, "how would you know Treize well enough for 
someone to pull a stunt like this, anyway?"  Wufei flushed darkly and turned 
away with a few mumbled curses.  "Oh ho ho.  Nevermind, I can guess," Issei 
teased.  The other turned and glared a few daggers in his supposed friend�s 
direction.  The ex-gundam pilot muttered something about wars, bad karma, and 
severely neurotic roommates before turning his attention back to the 
computer.  A few typed commands and more than infrequent expletives later, a 
trace was sent off.  "You have illegal tracer software on our computer?  Why 
am I not surprised?" Issei laughed, leaning over Wufei�s shoulder to better 
see what his companion was doing.
    The now-scholar stood, forcing the other to stumble backwards before his 
head was hit on Wufei�s shoulder.  Shutting down the computer, the Chinese 
boy gave Issei another hard glare.  "I�m going out.  It�s nowhere that you�d 
want to follow, so don�t even ask."  Wufei grabbed a pair of well worn, 
ripped, and ragged jeans and a white tunic with a ruby dragon embroidered on 
the front, marching into the bathroom to change.  He was out of the bathroom 
and out of the apartment before Issei could open his mouth again.
    Issei shook his head with a rueful grin.  "Nut," he muttered fondly, 
before turning to his own schoolwork.
    Outside, Wufei had caught a bus to a rather run down part of the city.  
As he signaled to the driver to let him off, she turned to him saying, 
"Honey, this is a bad part of town for a kid like you to be caught in this 
late at night.  Maybe you should..."
    With a wave of a thin, bronze-tanned hand, he cut her off.  "I can take 
care of myself, onna.  Don�t worry about me."  His glare was more effective 
on the bus driver than it had been on Issei; she nodded quickly and let him 
out before hurriedly driving off.
    Scanning up and down the street for any possible threats, the former 
soldier modified his stride to match the atmosphere of the neighborhood.  His 
simple, straightforward march gave way to a cocky saunter, his head held 
high.  Eventually, he reached the building he sought, accomplishing the feat 
without any large fights or violent encounters of any kind.  Knocking on the 
door, Wufei rapped three times fast than another two time slow.  The door 
swung open silently and the Chinese boy entered just as soundlessly.  Calmly, 
the Asian boy surveyed the room, looking for the one he needed desperately to 
speak to.  A shadow in the corner of the room stood, revealing itself as a 
tall young man, the same age as Wufei with brown hair styled into bangs 
covering half of his face.  "It�s been a while," Trowa murmured,  "but 
somehow I doubt this is a social call." 
Wufei almost smiled at that.  "It never is, is it? You�re the only one I can 
think of who�d understand my problem."  Quickly he outlined the issue.
    "You sent a tracer on the e-mail already, right?  What else do you need 
me for?" asked Trowa rhetorically.  Wufei sighed, looking embarrassed, face 
flushing. 
"I just need someone to be the voice of reason.  I�m not going to be able to 
think up a solution at the apartment, so..." He trailed off.
    " In other words," Trowa lifted an eyebrow, " you want to use me as a 
sounding board?"  His friend nodded, miserable.  " I�m not going to help you 
find whoever sent this."  The Chinese boy�s eyes widened in startlement.
    "Wha- why not?"  he asked.  The look in Trowa�s eyes said it all too 
well.  He wouldn�t help because these were Wufei�s ghosts, and Wufei was the 
one who had to face them. 
    "I faced my own phantoms when I left Quatre.  I won�t face yours for 
you."  After his little speech, Trowa turned and went back to typing rapidly 
at one of the laptops arrayed around the room, leaving Wufei with his mouth 
hanging open.  
    Taking a deep breath, the Chinese boy sighed.  "I won�t be able to change 
your mind, will I?"  Wufei shook his head wryly, "then I�ll update you on any 
further developments."  This brought a curt nod from the still typing boy, 
who was apparently too absorbed in his work to pay any additional attention 
to his former partner.  "Call me if you need help on another hacking job.  
And good luck on hooking that Xelloss guy."  With that last comment thrown 
over his shoulder, Wufei left.
    As he walked down the street the former Gundam pilot mentally traced back 
through the events of the past few years.  He reached his next destination 
too quickly to come to any conclusions, but that didn�t matter.  This was the 
place he came to think, after all.  Ducking swiftly into the doorway of a 
small, darkened club he nodded hellos to the small amount of people tucked 
away in booths and sitting at the bar.  Seating himself at the bar as well, 
the bartender, knowing Wufei well, pulled out a laptop and phone jack, 
handing them to the young man.  Wufei nodded his thanks and, with the ease of 
long practice, hooked up the laptop and accessed his tracer system.  He 
received a few stares as he recoiled violently, launching himself backwards 
off the worn crimson stool.  Wide eyes stared from a suddenly ashen 
countanance at the words revealed by the dim glow of the computer.  Shaking 
off a few offers of help, the boy stood and reseated himself in front of the 
computer, saving the information to a disk and slipping that into his pocket. 
 While the pale face displayed no emotion, inside Wufei was filled to 
spilling with turmoil.  Anger, fear, denial, and desire so powerful it was 
almost over whelming all warred for control over his mind.  �Treize is dead!  
But that was the address to one of his off-shore estates.  I remember killing 
him!  It�s possible he ejected before the suit exploded.�  Darkly radiant 
information scrolled down the screen of the laptop, standing out starkly 
against the dim, milky background.  All of it passed unregistered over 
Wufei�s unseeing eyes.  With a decisive click, he shut off the connection to 
the system and closed the laptop.  He had all the information he needed.
~~~

What do you think, minna?  I'm working on the next part, but since I'm in 
school, I have a ton of work to do. 
C&C is welcome, in fact, I'm begging you for it!  MSTs, chocolate covered 
bishounen, and other assorted presents are also welcome.

The Prince of Dragons
Over-tired and still writing!

Member of the Meeping Faction (Kuronue must MEEP!)(Wufei must MEEP!)
Keeper of SD Karasu and SD Neko Wufei
Keeper of Wufei's Honor
Keeper of Shizuru's Attitude
Wufei no Seishii
Treize no Seishii
Wufei no Itoshii
Karasu no Tsuma