Falling Apart; Chapter 1
"Relena! Relena! Hey! Did you hear? There’s two guys fighting by the dumpster! Come on or you’re going to miss it!" Hilde hollered. Relena winced, fighting something boys always got into. Especially The Crew. Ridiculous as it was, she too knew how to fight. Noin was concerned about her safety, so she ensured it by teaching her for the past two years. At the age of seventeen she wasn’t so helpless anymore.
"Sure, whatever," Relena replied in boredom, why not see who it was this time? Relena and Hilde ran across the field and found a growing crowd around two guys. One was…Heero…and Wufei. Duo was standing right in back of Heero being his confidant as always, cheering him on. Wufei must have said something to tick Heero that bad. Relena coolly squished through people reaching Duo.
"Hey! Lena! What’s up?" Duo exclaimed glad to see. Heero was about to make his triumph once and for all. Hilde finally came and jumped on Duo smacking on her best French kisses. Relena sighed and looked at Heero. The two had started encircling each other.
"Heero..." Relena whispered barely audible, but Heero’s head shot up and he stared at her. His face showed complete shock, unfortunately, Wufei used this and knocked him down hard.
"Still obeying your woman I see," Wufei sneered kicking Heero’s stomach. Wufei snickered and grabbed him by the collar punching him blood squirted everywhere. Heero finally got back to focus and knocked Wufei a few times making him bleed too. The crowd cheered. Trowa stood leaning by a post watching the fight in boredom, it was a very common thing in their Crew anyway. Quatre was the only one who actually didn’t fight at all, the nicest of them all. Quatre earned his place with them, obviously because he was a Gundam Pilot and they knew what was capable of him. Only The Crew knew about them being pilots and along with the their girls who were involved in the war.
"Go Heero! Kick Wufei’s um butt!" Relena shouted, unbelieving what she just said. Heero looked at her in amazement once more getting knocked down.
"Humph, you know women gets you distracted Yuy," Wufei hissed, but this time Heero didn’t get up. Relena panicked, Wufei was going to offer his final blow and she knew for a fact that it wasn’t going to be pretty. The crowd had gotten quiet, even Duo, which was a miracle. Relena quickly jumped in front of Heero, with Wufei’s blow Relena was down. Blood was trickling from her mouth and nose. At that moment Relena realeased all her anger and disappointment in life on Wufei. She managed to pull Wufei’s arm back twisting it and flipped him over.
The crowd just stared at her in disbelief, a perfectly calm person such a Relena had just knocked down Wufei an ill-tempered guy! Relena stumbled but stood firmly over Wufei. Her training wasn’t for a waste of time after all. Duo and Hilde quickly ran over and helped her and Heero to Catherine and Trowa’s house near by the street. Heero was in bad condition, Relena smiled weakly as she thought how Noin would be proud of her and how Millardo will kill her.
Everyone had rushed Heero into Trowa’s room. Sally had come bursting into the room with her medical kit. She was furious with Wufei; she evidently had gotten to Wufei first. She was the school nurse and she intended to stay there until the Gundam Pilots go off to college.
Dorothy stayed unlike the others and fussed over how Relena was hurt. It was annoying as hell. Relena frowned at Dorothy and pushed herself away from Dorothy so she wouldn’t lean on her anymore. Relena’s eyes became unreadable.
"Please, Miss Relena, you’re hurt," Dorothy whimpered. Relena smiled at Dorothy, at times she could be so stubborn, but caring. Relena shook her head.
"No, Dorothy and please, call me Relena or better yet call me Lena," Relena addressed. Relena limped towards the front door and opened it, until Dorothy let out a plea.
"Dorothy?" Relena asked as she stopped walking, "Do you know why I took that blow for Heero?" Dorothy didn’t reply, but Relena kept on going.
"I did it, because he wouldn’t get hurt, now, you know all those people fussing over him right now? I want you to be there too. He needs everyone he can get right now. If you try to stop me, then my bruises and injuries were made in vain. Since I can’t be there, I want you to take care of him for me," Relena foretold. Dorothy nodded in agreement and turned to leave.
"Thank you for understanding Dorothy," Relena whispered and shut the door gently behind her. It was going to be a long walk before she gets home. She was grateful though, Pegan had always driven her, but now she can smell the fresh air and enjoy the scenery. She wondered in confusion why did she take that blow? They weren’t the best of friends anymore. They had just started to grow apart. She had just gotten used to him and focused on her academic skills. They were friends for awhile, but now she was different and she knew that. She stopped and looked around. The beach, it was the very same one where she had first seen him laying there. She could remember it as if it was just yesterday. She opened the gate and sat on the soft sand.
Heero…how long has it been? He hasn’t changed a bit, always quiet and cold to others. They were friends two years ago, but they just drifted apart as if they had never met before. Strange how things have changed within two years. He was her crush from the beginning, now she isn’t even sure of herself any longer. Her thoughts were interrupted.
"It’s been a long time, Relena," at that voice she knew it was none other than Quatre. He came by and sat next to her gazing at the beautiful shade of the sky.
"Too long, two years," Relena replied without taking her eyes off of the sky. Quatre nodded, he was always there for her out of the Gundam Pilots. Whenever she was gone, he had always known where to look for her. It was amazing how much he knew about her.
"Do you still love him?" Quatre questioned staring at her with seriousness in his turquoise eyes. There was a flash a pain in her eyes but it disappeared. She didn’t reply. She just blankly looked at the sky and the ocean for awhile before she answered him.
"No, I don’t think so. It’s just friendship now," Relena lied, in truth, she didn’t really know, she wasn’t sure of herself. Quatre looked a little stunned but recovered in a minute or two.
Quatre and the others knew that Relena loved Heero, but for the past year they had doubted it each day. Relena had changed. At first they thought it was love or something, now maybe it was just an innocent crush. She used to follow him around and tried to talk to him. Now, now she just waves and says hi. She didn’t try talking to him and she didn’t cry at night holding that bear that Heero had given her. She stopped talking about him and stopped hoping that he’d take her out someday. She just stopped. She changed drastically. He knew Relena was hiding something, but he didn’t want to pry. Maybe she had just given up on Heero, but Quatre knew better than that. Something was amiss.
Relena abruptly stood up and started to walk by the water, wetting her feet as Quatre followed her. She turned around to Quatre giving him a sad smile.
"Quatre, would you please excuse me, I must be going," Relena addressed picking up her shoes.
"Would you like a ride?" Quatre offered politely smiling at her. She frowned and looked at the sand below her.
"No thank you Quatre. I would like to walk and look at the scenery. She turned around and started to walk to the gate. Quatre watched her as he stood there, until she wasn’t in sight.
"Is it too late?" Quatre asked to nobody in particular. He walked away taking one last glimpse of the ocean. He climbed into the limousine and left with guilt hanging onto his heart. Relena walked and walked, the streets and corners never seem to end. She clutched her stomach in pain as she ran towards the nearest gutter and vomited out blood. It wasn’t normal red blood it was black. Relena panicked, but everything became a blur and out of focused as she collapsed in the middle of the street with black blood trickling out of the corner of her mouth. Somewhere down the street a man in a black coat smirked.