Chapter 2 - One promise kept
They drove in silence. She was leaning against the window on the passenger's side and he was driving with his eyes staring straight at the road, only their minds were else where. She sighed exasperatingly and closed her eyes. He echoed her sigh and made a right turn at an intersection. He never thought he would actually fulfill his role as the God of Death, yet in a few minutes he would have to watch a future bride suffer her loss in a emotional break down, and he would be blamed for as the cause of her pain. He didn't want to be the carrier of bad news, but he found no other way to escape his role.
They were meant to be, he thought. After all these years, they finally found their way together and fate had to pull them apart at the end. Hadn't they been through enough adversities already? They deserved to live happily ever after, the fairy tale wasn't suppose to end this way. He resented his friend's obdurate nature, he couldn't see why Heero made that decision. So what, it was only paralysis. The only thing that really mattered was he didn't die. He was still alive, and they could still be together. Then why would he throw all his happiness away just because this minor imperfection of his? Imperfection, a term that was foreign to his vocabulary when describing Heero. I still couldn't understand him, He sighed. If he truly loved her, he shouldn't feel this way; then again, he would. Duo made the final turn before stopping at Relena's driveway.
" You are going to tell her he's dead, aren't you?" Hilde said looking out the window. Her tone was soft and depressing.
" Yeah." His voice was low. " I have no other choice, Hilde."
" Yes you do." She turned to face him. " You have a choice, and that is to tell the truth."
" I wish that I could, but I can't." He shook his head miserably. " You've seen how he acted, let's just grant him his wish. We don't want him to hurt himself, and he will if we don't tell the lie."
" No." She said firmly." We'll be helping him if we tell the truth. You know as well as I do that she is the only one who can help him. He won't hurt himself, Duo. He was only overreacting. I say we tell her the truth and bring her to the hospital to see him."
" We can't, Hilde. Heero has made his decision, no one can change it including her." He looked at the house and continued. " He was serious back at the hospital, trust me Hilde. He must have his reasons."
" His reasons! What about her?" She objected. " What about her, Duo? Do you guys even care about her at all? She'll be crashed if we tell her the lie."
" We all care for her, especially him. But I have promised him before we left the hospital, I'm not going to let him down. If this is what he wants, then I'll help him all the way, even if I hate his decision." He reasoned.
" You won't break a promise, but you'll lie instead? Duo, Heero doesn't know what he wants." She knew she was losing the argument.
" Hilde, Heero has made up his mind, and I respect his decision no matter how wrong it is. He is my friend."
" She is your friend too, you know." It was softly spoken.
" I know. She is strong, she'll be ok." He told himself. " I never wanted to hurt her, Hilde."
A brief silence past between them.
" I won't stop you, Duo. I just hope this is the right thing to do."
" Come on, let's go before I lose my nerves." He opened the door and got out. She followed behind him.
She was going through the guest list of the wedding before she heard a knock on the door. It had been two days since Heero left, her heart raced wishing that it was him at the door.
" Coming." She ran down the stairs to the door and opened it in one swift motion.
" Hello!" She greeted them with enthusiasm as she looked over their shoulders searching for a third guest." Duo, where is Heero?" She questioned him.
" He is-"
" He's still at the office, isn't he. He just had to finish typing the report and make everything perfect." She smiled at them. " I'll call him later, I guess."
" Relena-" Duo was interrupted by her again.
" Not now, Duo. Hilde, you've got to see my dress, I just picked it up at the bridal shop; Of course I had to call in sick and cancel all of my meetings today." She said while dragging Hilde with her to the living room. Hilde gave Duo a reluctant look before she could say anything to stop Relena.
" Look, isn't it beautiful." Relena said while spinning around with her wedding dress. " Just don't tell Heero yet. I want to surprise him on the day of the wedding."
" Relena, listen to me for a second, please." Duo demanded with a serious tone. He had no expression on his face. Hilde was quiet too, she motioned Relena to look at Duo.
" What's wrong, Duo?" She asked.
" Relena, it's about Heero." He paused searching for the right words to say. " He is...He's... Heero is gone." He said the last part in one breath.
" What do you mean by that?" She felt her stomach stir with an uneasy feeling. " Gone?"
" He's dead, Relena. The mission caused his life. He didn't make it out of the explosion in the enemy's base. Trowa and I saw him get killed. I'm sorry." He whispered to her in a gentle voice. Duo Maxwell had just lied for the first time in his life.
" Dead?" She felt that someone had just stabbed her heart with a sharp knife.
" I'm sorry."
" Is it true? " She stared at Hilde who didn't utter a word save the look of grief on her face.
" It's true." Duo answered for her. " I'm really sorry."
Dead. She sank on to the floor and just stared in a daze. She didn't scream in sorrow, cry out in pain, or break down in grief. She just sat there motionless staring into space. Dead. How could he be dead? He said the mission was supposed to be easy. He would never leave me alone. He wouldn't. He had promised me to come back. How could he be gone? Heero would never break any of his promises. She brought her hands to her face and finally let the tears escape into quiet sobs.
" How could that happen? He promised me to come back. This isn't true." She spoke to herself. " We are supposed to be married. Heero wouldn't just leave me like that. He wouldn't."
Duo and Hilde watched their friend with equal amount of pain, but the truth never came out of their mouths. How they wanted to just tell her that it was only a lie, that Heero was still alive and he would return soon, yet they couldn't.
Hilde helped Relena up onto the couch and hugged her friend trying to comfort her, though she knew her efforts were in vain. Duo stood by the side, cursing silently at Heero's decision.
Her sobs died down after a while, she didn't want her friends to see her like this. She needed to be strong, Heero wouldn't want her to be weak. Heero. The thought of him made new fresh tears fell down. She brushed them away and looked at Hilde, who seemed to be crying too.
" Hilde." She said softly.
" Yeah, Relena?" Hilde didn't expect her friend to start talking this soon. " What is it?"
" How did you like my dress?" Tears were still falling from her face.
" What? What are you talking about?" She looked at her as if she were insane.
" My wedding dress, do you like it?" Relena said in a ghost of a voice.
" I.. I... Relena, you can't possibly go on with the plan now." She said disbelievingly. " Heero is gone. There's not going to be a wedding."
" Yes, there will be one." She was determined.
" Relena, you are not thinking clearly." Duo tried to put reason in her head.
" You are wrong, Duo. I'm fine, and there will be a wedding in three days." She nodded her head at Duo.
" Forgive me for saying this, Relena. You don't even have a groom, Heero is dead. You can't get married to him anymore. He's gone. Death is irreversible." Duo was worried about her. She was even more crazy than Heero.
" I know that, Duo. But I'm keeping my promise to him. I promised him that I will marry him and love him forever, even if he is gone now. I'm not going to break this promise. Can't you understand?" she said desperately.
" But he's dead."
" And he has broken his promises to you, hasn't he?" Hilde was really angry at Heero.
" I know he didn't keep his promises, but he didn't do it intentionally. I'm not going to let another promise be broken between us. I'm marrying him in three days." Her voice was final.
" Relena, please reconsider. There wouldn't be anything for you to marry to." Duo blamed Heero for her madness.
" I'll marry his tomb stone if that's what it takes. I have made my decision, there is nothing you could say to change my mind." She said firmly.
Duo felt like he was going to tear Heero Yuy into pieces, and he blamed himself for ever respecting his wishes. He thought of him as a coward. There he was wanting to break way from the marriage, Relena here would do anything to marry him. She would even marry to his tomb stone. His tomb stone! Duo hated hearing those words.
" Relena, you can't put yourself into this one sided marriage. You will be a widow if you do." Hilde's words were rather harsh. Heero, I hope you are happy, now. You are such a coward.
" Then I'll be the widow of Heero Yuy..."
Duo and Hilde gave up and they left after Relena said that she wanted to be alone for a while. Relena went back up the stairs in slow and heavy steps. She felt weary after what just too place. She lay on her bed curled up with her chin touching her knees. She stared at the empty side of the bed wishing he was there filling the spot with his warmth. But that was only a dream that could never come true. New tears were shed onto her already dried face. She didn't bother to wipe them away, letting them drop on her bed sheets. She felt lonely, cold and heart broken. She hadn't felt like that since the war, and that was nearly ten years ago. She had been so happy with him, her prince charming, that this new pain was slowly consuming her life. She almost hoped it would end her life because that way she would be reunited with him, forever. Heero, why did you have to go? Are you really dead? She still didn't believe that he was dead, a part of her somehow knew that he was still alive somewhere, but her logical mind told her it was only wistful thinking. Heero, are you really gone? Do you still love me? Then why did you leave me? Don't you want to be with we? I just want to see you again, please come back to me even if it's just your ghost. She pleaded silently until she fell into a deep slumber.
" Heero, do you believe in fairy tales?"
" No."
" Well, I do, because you are my prince charming."
" Relena, fairy tales don't exist in reality."
Why do you always have to be right, Heero?
Love is not a fairy tale - chapt 2
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goddesswing
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