Past Ghosts Part 3 by K.T.

[blackrose]

Read the previous chapters here:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

WARNING: Angst. Death.

PART III

Two months later...

The heart monitor beeped slowly, a continuous noise of promised life. The respirator had been wheeled into the corner four weeks ago and sat as silent as the patient lying on the bed. Heero Yuy had been the occupant of that bed for over one-thousand, two-hundred and seventy-hours. In all that time, he had neither awakened from the self-induced coma, nor had stirred from his position by his own physical effort. Indeed, he lay like a corpse.

Duo sat beside the hospital bed, flipping through a...er, magazine. He let out a whistle at one particular page.

"You shouldn?t fill your mind with such empty garbage." A hoarse voice told him.

Duo started and then stared down at his blue eyed friend.

"Somebody get a nurse in here!" Duo darted for the door, shouting at the top of his lungs. "He?s awake! He?s awake!"

He turned, a bright grin stretching from ear-to-ear slapped on his face.

"We thought you?d never wake up!" Then he scratched his head. "Well, not all of us. Sally, Noin, and Dorthy said you?d pull through." He shook his head, his grin lowering on one side until it was lopsided. "How do you do it, man? You got all these women on you like a rash and I can?t even get attention for a shot in the arm."

Heero didn?t respond. He merely turned his head away to look out the window.

"What day is it?"

"Hm? Sunday...I think. You been out for quite some time, my friend."

Heero looked at him, his eyes empty.

Duo understood.

"We had a beautiful funeral for her." He felt his eyes tearing up just at the thought and uncharacteristically but quickly thrust away his emotion, lest it be seen in front of his friend. "You wouldn?t believe it, man...over four billion people sent flowers or cards to the funeral site. I didn?t even know there were that many people living!"

He let out a hoarse chuckle and wiped at his now with his sleeve.

"Ah, God, Heero. She was something."

The blue eyed man winced slightly, his face contorting and, more quickly, relaxing.

"I don?t want to live, Duo."

Duo stared gravely at his friend.

"I know."

Heero nodded slowly and turned, once again, to face the window.

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One week later...

Sabriel Aerran gave Sally Po a grateful smile.

"I?m glad you came to me." Sally told the weary looking girl.

Sabriel felt the tape over the bridge of her nose pull taught as her smile widened.

"She would have wanted it this way."

Sally nodded gravely.

"We?ll do everything we can...for her."

Sabriel gave a small wave, shutting off the private vid-phone.

She sighed. Here was yet another secret she had to keep, for no one must ever know....

"Sabriel! Sabriel!"

The red head stood and moved toward the study door.

"Here." She called.

A small girl came squeaking in, her leg braces clacking together. She shuffled forward, her small body thrown at the tall young woman.

"You can?t leave! You can?t! Everyone is leaving! Why? Why does everyone have to go away from me?!"

Sabriel held the sobbing Marimai to her, her own heart weary from sadness.

" ?Throughout life, all things must change; to something new, something strange?." She quoted softly.

Marimai pulled back slightly, her baby face streaked with tears.

"But why does everything always change for the worst?!"

Sabriel knelt down, holding the younger girl?s upper arms.

"Do you truly believe that, Marimai? Do you believe that everything Relena Darlian fought for, that PEACE, was a change for the worse? Do you believe that Quatre should have died to protect Relena? Do believe that one of the secretary?s should have died to save Relena?"

Marimai stared down into the depth-less eyes of the woman kneeling before her. She was so much like Relena...it hurt. And yet, somehow, Marimai was sure that Relena was stronger than Sabriel. Just as Relena had been stronger than any of the Gundam Pilots, or the enemies she had fought during the wars. Relena had been stronger than anything...stronger than war itself...

"All life is equal, Marimai. Don?t you ever forget that."

The soft words were spoken with a gentle firmness and Marimai gasped a little sob as she nodded, her light blue eyes searched by dark, golden ones.

The older red head stood to her feet and moved out the door. Marimai was aware that she was leaving. Sabriel wouldn?t tell anyone either. She was too much like Heero, or even Trowa, in that sense.

Marimai leaned against the near-by plush chair and sank to the floor, her legs v-spread, her chin sinking to her chest as she cried.

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Catherine, Trowa, Quatre, Duo, Hilde, Wufei, Noin, Milliardo, Marimai, Une, Dorthy, Mrs. Darlian, Pagan, and Heero all stood in the expansive living room of the Peacecraft estate.

"I called you all here to ask your opinions on what I should do." Milliardo spoke, his voice rough with pride for what he was about to do. "I know that Relena would want her...legacy to live on...but I can?t help feeling that I?m not the right person to be an advocate for peace."

"Humph." Wufei said, his arms folded tightly across his chest. "Are you too much of a coward, Peacecraft?"

Milliardo hung his head slightly.

"I just don?t think that I can live up to the person she was..."

"So you?re just going to give up!" Wufei blazed, his eyes burning into the taller, older man?s. "You?re going to allow everything she worked for...everything WE worked for...to die out? Because you can?t take the pressure?!"

"Wufei." Quatre admonished the Chinese man. "We are here to support Milliardo, not tear into him like a pack of angry wolves."

Trowa hid a smile while Duo gave Heero a sheepish grin.

His grin faded when he noticed that Heero wasn?t there. The braided pilot looked around before realizing that Heero wasn?t even in the room.

He stepped behind the ring of people and walked from the room as Noin and Wufei began laying into each other.

Duo wandered into the next room, his hands stuffed into his pockets, his eyes large as he looked around. He came to a stairway and stumbled up it.

His gaze roamed the hallway as he tip-toed down it, senses alert.

A noise.

Duo froze, his whole body goose-bumping. He heard something break. Another crash.

Duo?s body suddenly clicked into gear as he ran down the rest of the long hall, his ears listening for the room the sounds were coming from.

He found it, burst in...and stared around at an expansive white, pink, and gold bedroom.

It was obviously a female?s room, the canopy bed?s posts wrapped in silks and ...

"Ahh!" Duo ducked as a candle holder was thrown at his head. He dived to the floor scrambling to the other side of the bed. His eyes peeked carefully over the edge of the bed and he stared at the back of a bent over Heero.

The blue eyed ex-pilot was rummaging through a mahogany desk, pulling drawers out and throwing things over his shoulder.

Duo stood cautiously, and, once certain no more projectiles were hurtling his way, climbed over the large bed and sat on the edge, his legs swinging off the end.

"Whatch-ya doin?" He pipped.

The Japanese pilot whipped around to glower at him.

"Get...off...her...bed." He said through clenched teeth.

Duo quietly complied, his eyes somber and wide.

Heero moved to the bathroom, crashes echoing out of the white doorway. Duo shifted his weight, uncertain on what he should do...and uncertain on what exactly Heero was doing.

"Can I help?" He asked when the older boy came out.

Heero looked at him with a startled statement, as if he?d forgotten Duo was even there. Then he ran a hand through his, already tousled locks, exposing the bandage clinging to his temple.

Blowing out a long, loud breath, Heero rubbed his face wearily before stumbling over to the bed and slumping down onto its edge.

"She slept here, Duo. Right here."

Duo looked away. He couldn?t stand it. He?d never seen Heero show this much...or this many emotions, ever.

"Right here." The Japanese boy whispered again. Then he fell back onto the bed, his arms wrapped around his frame.

Duo shuffled his feet again, his uncertainty growing. He only knew he couldn?t take another death...that...none of the others could take another death.

"Heero?"

The blue eyed young man didn?t move, but Duo was used to the other man?s lack of response.

"You aren?t going to try to kill yourself again...are you?"

Silence encased them and Duo swallowed the rock sized lump growing in his throat.

"?Cause if you do...I swear I will never stop hating you ?till the die I die."

Heero blinked, the words of his friend registering slowly with his focused mind. Duo...

Duo would hate him...?

The blue eyed man sat up slowly, his gaze meeting Duo?s violet one. He shivered. He couldn?t help it. Meeting the love in his friend?s eyes was like being re-connected with life. Like being plugged in to an electrical socket...

Duo moved just as slowly as Heero had and sat down next to the other man. They sat still, both thoughtful, both hesitant.

"I know you loved her...but there are others you must love as well...and others who love you." Duo said slowly.

Heero listened avidly, his mind soaking in this strange look into Duo Maxwell. He sat back a little when Duo turned his head to look at him.

Their eyes met and held.

"Um...you guys?" A hesitant voice came from the doorway and both young men their eyes to look at Quatre and Trowa who stood on the threshold to Relena?s room.

Duo tried a grin. He waved a hand, motioning for them to come in when Wufei also appeared.

The three other men entered and Quatre sat on the other side of Heero. Wufei sat in the window seat next to the bed and Trowa sat in the desk chair backwards. They were silent for a moment before squeaky leg braces stopped at the door.

The five men looked toward the small red-headed girl and she gaze back solemnly, her eyes wide and wise.

She moved toward them slowly, each step a noisy, painful reminder of a time they had spent with the sandy haired angel who now dwelled in their upper-most thoughts.

She stopped at the end of the bed and reached out with one slim, childish hand to hold one of the canopy posts to her.

Duo looked at the child for a moment before noticing the mess Heero had made of Relena?s room. He frowned.

"Heero, what were you looking for?" Quatre?s voice startled them all, but mostly Duo who had just opened his mouth to ask the same thing.

Heero looked down at his hands, staring at their strong, calloused fingers.

"I gave something to her. Something I don?t want anyone else to have." He looked up, his voice deepening in anger. "It was meant only for her!"

Everyone else found they couldn?t meet the Zero pilot?s turbulent gaze. Every one except Marimai.

She moved forward once again, her gait slow, painfully aware of their gazes on her. She held out a slim, small white hand, a circlet of white, gold, and silver gleaming on her flat palm.

Heero stared at the ring he had given to Relena.

"She asked me to hold this for her until you guys could announce...um...she said since she didn?t get to have a ring bearer, that I could be the ring ?holder?." she swallowed as Heero?s narrowed gaze met her frightened one.

His hand reached out and gripped her wrist, drawing her toward him until she stood between his legs, her own thighs pressed against the bed.

Duo?s brain finally registered what Marimai?s words meant and he felt a pain constrict in his chest; cut off his breathing.

"You married her?!" He gasped.

Quatre was staring at the blue-eyed young man as the Zero pilot drew the red haired child up onto his lap. Then his own light-blue gaze met Wufei?s incredulous dark one.

Trowa stared at both Heero and the young girl he held. Heero met his gaze and Trowa stood, shoving the desk chair out of his way. The tall circus performer towered over the younger man and then Trowa stuck out his hand.

"Congratulations." He said, both serious and sincere.

Heero threw back his head and gave a quick bark of harsh laughter. He gripped the tall man?s hand with his own free one and they shook.

"Stop by some time." Trowa spoke what he knew Heero would never willingly do.

Quatre watched the man?s retreating back as the clown left the room. Wufei, too, moved for the doorway.

He stopped but didn?t turn.

"I know that I do not understand your pain, Yuy. But I, too, have felt the pain of lost...love." "I know." Heero said hoarsely.

Quatre looked at Heero, his gaze so overwhelmingly caring that Heero actually thought he might cry.

"You are always welcome, Heero." Quatre leaned over and pressed both Marimai and Heero to him.

Heero touched the blond?s shoulder lightly before the slightly younger man stood up. He smiled at Marimai and met Duo?s gaze.

"That goes for you as well, Duo."

The braided pilot nodded.

Marimai shifted her weight on Heero?s lap and rested her head against his shoulder. She felt childish and silly doing this...but thought that maybe it would comfort him. He looked so...so terribly lost.

Duo leaned back on his hands and shook his head.

"They all had guessed." He stated disbelievingly. "They just came up to confirm it...and me...I was clueless..."

Heero looked down at the top of Marimai?s head and lightly touched her hair, brushing it to one side. She turned her face into his neck and then drew away, looking up at him with sorrow filled eyes.

"You?re going to go away too, aren?t you."

Heero didn?t deny it. She sighed and wriggled off him. He left his hand on her back until she was steady and then drew it away as she moved toward the door. She turned in the doorway.

"You won?t go without saying good-bye....?"

Heero smiled slightly, a smile that held no amusement.

"Good-bye."

Marimai smiled wryly, an older look which startled both young men, on her face.

"Good-bye, Heero."

She ran her hand along the door trim as she left the room.

Duo stood as well, but made no move to leave. He knelt in the window seat, looking out over the front of Relena?s estate.

"What are you gonna do now?"

Heero?s eyes fixed on the wedding band held between his fore-finger and thumb. He sighed.

"I don?t know."

"Come back with me."

Their eyes met. Heero looked away.

"I can?t."

Duo opened his mouth, thought better of it, and nodded instead.

"Duo?"

The braided boy remained silent, waiting.

"I miss her."

The zero-two pilot slid off the window seat and stood before his friend. Duo reached down, drew the older man off the bed and into his own strong arms.

Heero stood still for a moment before brining his arms up and holding Duo to him. He felt tears sting his eyes before they spilled out, trailing down his cheeks.

Duo felt a burning sensation in his own eyes as tears overflowed and dripped off his cheeks.

Another pair of strong arms enfolded them into their embrace. Heero and Duo pulled back slightly to look up at Trowa.

More hands came and gripped Heero and Duo?s shoulders from the other side.

Wufei.

Arms wrapped around Heero?s neck and Quatre gave the zero-pilot a watery smile.

Someone bumped into his hip and hair tickled his elbow as Heero glanced down at Marimai who was now attached to his waist.

"Remember, Heero," Trowa told the young man. "You don?t have to face this alone."

"We?re here for you, Heero." Quatre choked.

"Everyone feels sorrow, Heero. It is only human...it is only right." Wufei told the young man, tears glinting in his obsidian eyes.

"I love you." Duo told him softly.

"Me too." Marimai echoed.

"I love you too, Heero." Quatre informed him.

"And I." Wufei said gruffly.

Trowa met the blue-eyed young man?s gaze and smiled, a loving, full, smile.

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AN: Okay, I know the ending was really long, but there?s a reason why. You see, there are two more add-ons to this...er...series I guess you could call it. I know that you may think this is a really dumb story and so on, but it makes me....want to write. Like when I feel I have writer?s block...I can always work on my G-fic and...WALLAH! I can go on!

Anyway, the next one takes place over the next eight years, but it misses four years that are smack dab in the middle of the story and that?s where the other fic with pick up and end. So, if you?re confused, don?t worry! (grins) so am I!

Okay, enough with the babbling. Hope you enjoyed and didn?t feel like it was too much of a waste of your time.

Thanx,

K.T.

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