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Disclaimer: I don?t own anything except the story as a whole.
Pairings: 1xR? 2xH? 1xH? This will be a mystery to the end. ^_^
Surprises: Of course there are! Don?t be ridiculous!
Genres: Drama, angst, and well? not much more I can say.
Warnings: It?s an operafic, so get the Kleenex and prepare your threats to get me to release more chapters. ^_^
AN: A shout out to my beta Daniel, and the reviewers. Thanks for the love. ^_^ The brackets indicate opera libretto.
Gundam Wing: Love Among the Ruins
Act 13: Solitaire
By Sailor Celaeno
[She appeared to me, full of love]
Heero made his return pilgrimage to the hospital. Like clockwork, he would appear and wait outside Relena?s hospital room. The nurses had learned that when the man with unruly, brown hair appeared by the minister?s room to avoid him unless he spoke first. The nurses speculated who he was. There grim expression on his face, the sad eyes he had as he watched Relena through the observation window at her door meant one thing. He was her lover. It didn?t matter that he was dating a cute woman with dark hair that accompanied him sometimes. It was obvious who the one he really loved is.
Heero didn?t know or give a damn about what everyone else thought. What matter was that Relena was now a vegetable because of him. ?Maybe I was the weak one. I thought that walking away from you wouldn?t be so difficult. It seems you were the one who had no trouble walking away, Relena.? He missed her smiling and talking to him. He didn?t need say much to let her know he was listening.
[which distresses me and breaks my heart]
She was silently in her hospital bed, serenely tormenting Heero without realizing it. Would she ever awaken? Would he ever see her familiar, blue eyes looking at him again?
*****
[to see you again]
?What did you do after you confronted him?? asked Dr. Carlyle.
?I wasn?t sure what else to do except help him,? she said softly.
?Help him? How?? Carlyle asked with some surprise.
?He didn?t want me to get involved, even during the war. But I was moved not just because I love Duo. I cared about what he cared about, the security of all people in the world. I could see that Mars would collapse to greater danger and violence than was already happening. He couldn?t let something bad happen. I always promised that I?d do what I could to help him win. I wasn?t about to back down from that. So I went after him.?
*****
The warehouse district of New Port City was not so different from any city on Earth. One of the main differences was that a glass dome was overhead, and beyond the dome was a rust-colored sky. The hope was that within several more decades, technology would advance far enough to allow a more hospitable environment that would allow people to live outside of domes. As of that moment, it was still a dream. Hilde was desperate and knew she had little chance of finding Duo in time, but she still needed to try. It would probably kill her not to do something.
As Hilde approached closer to the scene of the raid, she could here explosions that roared through the formerly quiet night. ?Duo?? She sped the car and she soon saw the flames leap high up towards the sky. Gunfire was scattered all over the place. Hilde had hers by her side. She quickly ran from the car and maneuvered herself into the gunfight.
?Whoa! Preventer Schbeiker!? she shouted at a man aiming at her. He clearly had a MOPS uniform on.
?Damn it! What?s Une doing sending one of her people into our business,? the man growled.
?I?m here for Duo Maxwell,? she said.
?Maxwell?? the man said with surprise as they both took cover from the whizzing bullets. They both fired, and in between offensive rounds, the man spoke again. ?You?re that girl??
?Uh?? Hilde asked in surprise.
?You?re that girl. Hilde, right??
Hilde nodded quickly before returning fire at some syndicate men. She hit one, but the fight continued.
?So? you?re the famous Hilde that Maxwell talks about.? The man seemed to scoff at the memory of Duo?s mentioning of Hilde. ?I see why he had a thing for you. You?re either gutsy, or stupid to chase after a guy to a hellhole gun fight like this.?
Hilde could hardly speak. ?He talks about me??
The remaining two men were finally hit. Hilde?s new partner gestured for her to follow. ?Yeah, the guy talks about you even though you broke the guy?s heart.? He glanced that Hilde looked a little sad. ?I?ll be blunt kid. I don?t give a fuck about how it happened. It?s in the past and this isn?t exactly the sort of time to talk about that sort of thing.?
?You?re right mister??
?Just call me Dash.?
[Don?t disappear]
?Dash, huh. Nice to meet you Dash.? They quickly raced towards the fire.
?It?s a raid gone bad,? Dash growled as people ran all over the place.
?Duo?? Hilde began tearing up.
Two men approached Dash, with one supporting the other. ?Reg! Lee! Damn it??
?Dash! It?s a total mess in there. We barely made it out alive if it wasn?t for Duo?? groaned the more injured of the two men.
?Duo? Where is he?? Hilde asked fearfully.
?We heard lots of shouting further in the warehouse. Duo told us to hurry up and get out while he went to help the others inside. That?s as we heard out of him,? the other man spoke.
?Oh?? Hilde said quietly. Just as they finished their conversation, a spectacular explosion occurred.
?Shit!? shouted Dash. ?Damn it all!?
*****
[Those beautiful days are gone forever]
?The fires were put out after a couple of hours. Soon we all began digging around for bodies, and any evidence that could be used against the Martian syndicate. It took hours of digging. By then Heero had also come and?? Hilde began crying again.
?Yes Hilde??
?That was when we found??
*****
[cry out with their laments]
?Hilde?? Heero said gently as he touched her shoulder.
?Heero?? she said quietly.
?You?ve been awake almost 26 hours straight. Try to sleep,? Heero replied.
?I can?t? not without knowing where Duo is,? she looked sadly into his eyes.
Heero sighed. ?Don?t do this to yourself. This isn?t the slightest bit healthy. You?ve got to pull yourself together. Get some sleep.?
?I?ll never rest easy until??
Just then another agent ran in. ?We found something.?
Heero and Hilde raced outside to see a group of people huddled together looking at some debris that they were just uncovering. ?That?s all we could find?? Dash?s voice rose above the others.
?Yeah afraid so,? someone else replied.
Hilde approached. ?I??
?I think you?ll want this.? Dash approached her. He held two objects in his hands.
?I see,? Hilde replied with a brave face. She accepted Duo?s badge and gun. She waited for privacy to cry.
*****
Relena soon arrived a few, short hours later. She left her meetings to arrive on Mars and have a quick briefing of the situation before appearing at the private conference room where Heero and Hilde were also waiting. ?I can?t believe it,? she said when she entered the room.
?Relena,? Noin approached her sister-in-law. ?We?re glad that you?re here.?
?I ordered a flight to New Port as soon as I heard. I still can?t believe he?s gone??
?None of us can,? Noin nudged her head to Heero and Hilde. Hilde was sobbing on Heero?s shoulder.
?I see,? Relena frowned. ?I perfectly understand. We have a lot to discuss, Noin.?
?But what about???
Without looking at the couple again, Relena merely replied, ?They have each other. They?ll be fine without my interference.?
Noin and Relena walked away having an important conversation. Heero silently noticed Relena walking away. ?I wanted to talk to her,? he thought silently. He turned back to the sobbing woman by his side.
*****
[Time has fled]
?I have never known until later how much Heero wanted to talk to her. It seems that we both lost our opportunities that day. I lost Duo, and he lost his chance with Relena,? Hilde sighed as her story came to an especially sorrowful turn. ?That?s it. That?s how he died. He tried to save others. But if I hadn?t forced Duo away??
?You can?t prevent something you didn?t know would happen. Hilde, you love Duo dearly. You would never have harmed him that way. I want you to understand that we are only human. We love others and its not easy, but you didn?t really kill Duo. You regret his death because you can?t forgive yourself for hurting him. You have to learn to move on with your life. Blaming yourself won?t bring him nor will you be able live a constructive life. Do you think that you can open yourself enough to try?? Carlyle asked her.
?Maybe I could. But I don?t know how I can,? Hilde looked at her hands sadly.
?One day at a time Hilde. Just one day at a time,? the doctor said reassuringly.
Hilde sighed softly. ?Well, I guess all I have left to talk about it how Relena ended up in a coma.?
To be continued? Roll the credits!
1) ?M?Appari? from ?Martha? by Friedrich von Flotow
2) ?Le Fleur que tu m?avais jetee? from ?Carmen? from Georges Bizet
3) ?Song to the Moon? from ?Rusalka? by Antonin Dvorak
4) ?O Mimi tu piu non Torni? from ?La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini
5) ?Va Pensiero? from ?Nabucco? from Giuseppe Verdi
6) ?Recondita Armonia? from ?Tosca? by Giacomo Puccini
7) ?E Lucevan le stelle? from ?Tosca? by Giacomo Puccini
?Der Vogelf?nger bin ich ja? from ?The Magic Flue? by Wolfgang A. Mozart