Love is not a fairy tale
By: Ame-san
Chapter 4
" There," He tucked in the bed sheets and smoothed the wrinkles on the blanket. " The bed is all made, what else do you need, buddy?" He glanced at the figure in the wheel chair by the window.
" No. I don't need anything." Heero stared numbly at the world outside. " Thank you."
" Sure thing." Duo took a step toward his friend but then decided it was best for the both of them to keep their distance. " Hey, if you need anything, just call us ok? Hilde and I will be down stairs and ..." There was no point for him to continue. Slowly Duo walked to the door and opened it quietly.
" Why are you doing this?" Heero's voice brought him to a halt. " You don't have to do this, Duo. I don't need this kind of care."
" What are you saying, buddy?" His eyes moistened upon hearing those words, but all he could do was to stand helplessly by the door and watch his friend drift away from reality. " Stop being so stubborn, Heero. You know that you can't possibly take care of yourself in this state."
" It's not your duty." He said with cold dignity and kept his frozen vigil at the fragile glass window.
" Well, tough. I am making this my duty." Duo stepped out of the room and closed the wooden door. He ran a hand through his hair and proceeded down the stairs where he saw Hilde sitting on the couch and staring right into his violet eyes.
" Is he ok?" She asked.
He shook his head and sat down next to her. She pulled him into an embrace and kissed him on the cheek. " Tell me this isn't real, Duo."
" I can't, Hilde. I can't."
" What is he going to do from now on?"
" I don't know."
" This was a mistake. It was a mistake not telling Relena the truth. They both deserve better than this, and it was our fault. We were so stupid; this whole ordeal is stupid. We could have done something but all we did was to make them more miserable. Duo, we could have stopped all this; we could have changed everything. " Her voice was broken and coarse.
" No, we couldn't have." He was calm.
" Then we can do it now. It's not too late." She urged him.
" No. We can't just go see her now and tell the truth when only five weeks ago we told her that he was dead. What do you think that will do to her?" He warned.
" She's going to be happy, that's what it will to do to her." She refused to believe his words.
" No, she's going to hate him and us. She's going to hate us for lying to her and putting her through all these pains when we knew it was going to destroy her. " Duo stood up and grabbed his jacket nearby. " We've made a mistake that cannot be reversed. All we can do now is to leave them alone. Just let them be, at least for now. It'll be over soon and they'll get on with their lives."
" You think that he'll come to some senses?"
" He will, but probably it will be too late to change anything. Hilde, some things in this world are just not meant to be. " Duo stared at the direction of the stairs. " I'm going to the Preventers, Hil, look after him ok? Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
" How stupid can it be than what he is doing now?"
He didn't answer.
****
Acceptance was the hardest but also the most common thing she had to face in her life. First, the truth surrounding her birth, then her father's assassination, and now Heero's death. It seemed to her that every person she had ever loved was destined to leave her, not even when they had promised to stay. She tried crying, but tears could not solve anything. All that left for her was her work and her ideals and possibly world peace. What was the point of fighting so hard when in the end she was doomed to live alone and die alone?
" Miss Relena, you have a visitor from The Preventers." Her secretary informed her via vid-phone. " It's Mr. Barton."
" Thank you Jenny. Please send him in." She robbed her temple and forced a diplomatic smile on her face.
The doors opened quietly, and a tall and dark figure in Preventer's uniform appeared in her office. He stood in the shadows and waited for her welcome. For a second there, she thought it was Heero's ghost standing at the entrance.
" Trowa, hi. May I ask-"
" Lady Une assigned me here as the head of security. " He never had any problems pretending in front of people.
She sighed and shook her head. " You are taking over his job, aren't you? "
" Yes." He walked into the light where she could see his face.
" I approve. Heero probably would have chosen you as a replacement too. " She looked down at her papers. " When do you start, Trowa?"
" Today."
" Well, do as you like with the security. I trust you." She nodded at him. " Is there anything else?"
" No. " He answered and began retreating toward the door.
She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply congratulating herself on another well performed act.
" Relena?" She was startled to find Trowa still standing in her office.
"Stop pretending." His head was down.
" Trowa...?"
He was gone.
****
" What do you mean it's not finished?" Duo asked in surprise. " The base was destroyed, Heero died, and you are telling me our mission was not even completed?!" Colonel Une shook her head at his outburst. " That cost his life, his LIFE!" He had to keep up with the lie.
" I'm sorry, but we were tricked. The base was just a decoy. The real weapons are located on L3, not at all on Earth. Our inside source just contacted us today and hinted that there is a great possibility that the ETO is somehow behind the production of the unwanted weaponry flowing in the black market. The amount has been limited but we cannot risk anything at this point. Any militant group can get their hands on them if we are not careful." She told him.
" The ETO?"
" The European Trade Organization."
" What do they want supporting the creation of weapons? What's in it for them?" He questioned. " I thought they have pretty much all the money they want in the world."
" There is no such thing as enough. They probably want more power."
" And they have ruined two lives in the process. " Duo muttered under his breath. " It's all because of some damn money."
" I'm sorry." She could only offer her condolence and nothing else.
" So what do you want me to do?"
" Wufei and Sally have already left for L3 to look more into the location of the weapon storage. As for you, I want you to go to Sicily and meet with Sylvia Noventa."
" Who is she?"
" A friend." Une had a crafty look on her face. " She's also a member of the ETO along with Catalonia. She might has access to some valuable information."
" Why not just ask Catalonia if information is what you want?"
" Dorothy has somewhat made a reputation for herself that puts her in a disadvantage. In other words, she's not trusted by the people of ETO even though she's part of the organization. Her ties to the Preventers don't help much either. Sylvia on the other hand is often overlooked and underestimated." Une explained.
" But can we trust her?"
" Yes. She too has ties to us, especially with the Vice Foreign Minister. Their friendship, however, is not known to many and that's why she's the perfect candidate. Besides, she has a very high sense of integrity."
" What makes you think that she's not in on all their machinations?"
" If I'm not mistaken, usually only the highest officials have access to plans of such kind. She, like many others, is only there to represent her country. Don't forget that she's always overlooked by them to consider her a threat."
He gathered the facts and sorted them in his head. " You want me to contact her in private, so she won't appear too suspicious in front of the other members, am I right?"
" More or less. Anyway, you will be leaving tomorrow, so get ready ASAP."
" Is this a solo mission?"
" Yes."
" How about Trowa? Why didn't you ask him? He knows Sicily better than me."
" He has been assigned as the head of security to the Vice Foreign Minister. That will be his job until further notice." Une paused and glanced at her watch. " Maxwell, are there anymore questions?"
" No ma'am."
****
Before his death, she could never wait to get home as quickly as possible, but now, she dreaded even the thought of going to an empty house. Not just any house, it was the house that they had bought together; it was part of him as well as it was part of her. The furniture, the carpet, the wall paper, the pictures around the house, everything little thing reminded her of him and pained her greatly. Her brother had suggested her to sell the place, and logically that would be the best thing to do for one to move on, but she just couldn't do it. It just wouldn't be right. She felt that if she were to sell the house she would have then given up on hope completely: the hope that he might still be alive or come back to visit her in his ghost form or... She had believed in miracles though Dorothy called her weak for believing in such superstition.
" Relena, there is a fine line between love and insanity and you have successfully crossed it." Dorothy had told her that on their last meeting few days ago. " Think about the things that you are doing right now and ask yourself if that blind love is truly worth your effort. Is it really necessary to hang on to some empty promises? You are not a child anymore, and stop being so naive. People break promises and people die whether you like it or not. You cannot hold on to anything in this life because when you die you lose everything. Just give yourself a break. "
" I know, but what if he's still out there somewhere? After all there was no body found." She tried to reason with her cynical friend.
" Because it disintegrated in the explosion. Barton and Maxwell were certain of it. They would never lie now, would they?" Dorothy said firmly.
" No."
That was it, she could not take it anymore. She was not going home today to that empty house and sob in her memory. She turned the wheel and drove in the direction of the Maxwell house. She needed to pour her heart out at someone and Hilde was the only person she could think of.
" Hilde! It's me, Relena!" She knocked on the rosewood colored door.
" Relena?" Hilde was caught off guard at the sound of her voice outside of her home. She quickly throw the paperwork in hand and hurried up the stairs while calling out to her friend to wait a second.
" I'll be right down!"
Softly she opened the door to Heero's room and peaked inside to see the ex-soldier reading by the window.
" Heero, move away from there." She whispered. " Relena's here."
" What?" He dropped the book.
" I didn't ask her to come, she just did." Without waiting to hear his response, she flew down the stairs and opened the door.
" Hi there, Relena!" She tried to smile. " What a surprise! Sorry it took me so long, I was cleaning upstairs."
" Hello, Hilde. You don't know how glad I am to see you." She came into the house and followed Hilde to the living room.
" I can't go back there, the house I mean. I just can't. It hurts too much, Hilde." She was about to break down right then and there. " He's everywhere. I just can't handle it, I can't."
" Relena..."
" I can't, I just can't. I don't want to pretend to be strong anymore. I can't, Hilde, I really can't." Tears trailed down her face despite her effort to keep herself from crying.
" I ... I need help...I..." She tried to take deep breaths to stop the sobs. " I..."
" Relena, just let it out. It's ok to cry out loud. I don't mind, just go ahead and cry." Hilde said soothingly.
She took her advice.
" You just sit there and let it go. I'll go get you some water, ok?" Hilde stood up and went into the kitchen. I'm sorry, Relena, I really am. I wish I can just say to you that Heero is right in this very house, alive and well. But I ...
He sat in the chair unable to move about in the room. His hands covered his ears trying hard to block the sound of her sobs. This is for the best. He kept telling himself that. This is right, this is the right thing to do. He almost believed in it.
There were so much tears, she didn't know she had that much left. Why couldn't her eyes just dry up like the desert so she wouldn't have to cry them out anymore. She hated not being able to control herself, especially her sadness, her pain. Nothing seemed to work until she saw the silver chain lying on the floor underneath a chair by the couch she was sitting upon. As if by instinct, she bent down and gathered the chain in her hands. It was hers. It was the same one she had given Heero to keep for good luck before he went on his mission.
Her necklace. How...
Hilde's footsteps disrupted her thoughts and she slid the chain into her shirt pocket.
" Here, drink this." She handed Relena a glass of water. " I'm here to listen if you are ready to talk."
" Yeah..." All she could think now was the silver necklace.
Heero...?
Love is not a fairy tale - chapt 4
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Angeldreams
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goddesswing
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Dark Mistress
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