The Garden (part 3 of 3)
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2003 10:05 pm
I thought I'd give you a bit of a change of pace in the middle of all these die-Heero-die drabbles (which, by the way, I am loving- I think it's a human impulse to want to see Heero in pain). So, here's the final chapter of The Garden, which I hope you have all enjoyed. So, with no further ado besides the disclaimer, here goes.
Disclaimer: Let me check my pockets: hmm, loose change, movie ticket stub, wallet . . . nope! No Gundam Wing or Roses by Moonlight! Must not be mine!
Snafoo! Okay, now I'm done.
---
The Garden, part 3
by Eienvine
In later years, Heero could never be sure how much time he had spent in the garden, be it minutes or days. There, under the enchanted moonlight, moving from rose to rose, Heero lived a thousand different lives. He saw himself at every age, living on every different continent and colony. He saw himself growing old in the country with his six children and dying alone in a dingy flat. He saw himself in a hundred different occupations: doctor, lawyer, businessman, vagrant, criminal, thief. He saw himself with a hundred different women. Everything blended into a swirl of thoughts and images: laughter on a sunlit lake, doleful eyes in a dark alley, the murmuring of a watching crowd. Some visions tempted him and others repulsed him, but he never found one he was perfectly happy with.
Heero didn?t know how much time had passed when he finally straightened, stretching his arms. The rose he?d just smelled had been singularly annoying: himself at dinner with a redhead, clad in a tight black dress, who kept running her foot up and down his leg and smiling suggestively.
He had worked his way toward the back of the garden and, though he hadn?t noticed, the strange dark-haired woman had followed him there. A thought suddenly occurred to him, and he turned to face her.
?Odin was here, in your garden?? he asked. She nodded.
Heero thought a moment. ?And he chose a flower?? Another nod. ?What did his flower show??
?I do not know,? she replied. ?I do not see what you do in the roses. I do know, however, that Odin told me when I first met him that he wanted to be the greatest soldier in the world.?
Heero frowned. ?But he ended up as an assassin- and then he died,? he said. The woman?s eyes grew sad. ?We make choices, but we cannot always tell where those choices take us. It is a chance everyone must take.?
Something in her words struck a chord within him, and it was with some uncertainty that he turned back to the garden, looking for a rosebush he hadn?t tried yet.
Then, his eyes moved to the back of the garden. There, washed with the moonlight, stood something he had noticed earlier; a lattice archway, covered in dark leaves, forming a canopy over a stone bench. The bench, he could now see, was covered with carved Grecian figures and words in a language he couldn?t read. He glanced up and paused. He?d thought the rosebush above the bench had no blossoms, but now, standing up close, he could see a single pink rose, growing high on the arch.
The solitary rose seemed to be calling to him, and Heero found himself walking toward the bench. The flower was out of his reach, however, even when he stood on the bench. Undeterred, he grabbed at the lattice arch and, after testing its strength, began to climb.
When he was still a few feet from the rose, Heero found the arch was swaying dangerously, and he was forced to halt his ascent. The rose glowed in the moonlight just an arm?s reach away. He shifted his weight and, pulling himself up carefully, reached out to grasp the rose. To get his face to it, he had to lay uncomfortably across the arch. Ignoring his discomfort, he brought the blossom to his face, closed his eyes, and inhaled the rose?s sweet scent.
With a contented sigh, Duo pushed himself up from his seat on the porch step and stretched his arms behind his head, sending his braid swinging. ?It was nice talkin? to you, Heero,? he grinned, ?but I?ve got to get back to the wife, and so,? he punched Heero lightly on the shoulder, ?do you.?
Heero stood as well and walked his friend to his car. ?Thanks for coming over,? he said in usual low voice. ?I?ll see you at work on Monday.?
Duo saluted from the driver?s seat. ?Bright and early!? he replied, then drove away into the cool night air.
When Duo?s car had turned the corner, Heero turned and walked back into the mansion, yawning. It had been a long day at the Preventers office, and he would be glad to fall into bed. After brushing his teeth and pulling on a pair of pajama bottoms, he moved around the house with his usual silent grace, checking the security. When he was finally satisfied, he went back upstairs to the bedroom.
He was ready to collapse into bed, but when he reached the bedroom door, he paused. His wife was walking across the room, her long blonde hair falling down the back of her nightgown. A smile formed on his lips. Heavens, how he loved her. She looked up and, seeing him at the door, smiled fondly, then went back to turning down the covers.
Heero walked in and pulled the door shut. ?How are you doing?? he asked her. ?We?re both fine,? she replied, smiling, and placed a hand to her stomach. ?The doctor said we?re both perfectly healthy.? Heero let a proud smile cross his face. ?He?ll be a strong boy,? he said, his voice soft. She looked at him, frowning a little. ?Girl.?
A split second passed, and they both started laughing. Heero put his arms around his wife and pulled her down on the bed. Burying his face in her hair, he breathed her scent in deeply, and as he drifted off to sleep, he murmured her name . . .
?Relena.? Heero?s eyes drifted open, and he realized with a start that he was still in the garden, stretched uncomfortably over a rosebush, with a strange woman watching him in amusement. Shaking his head to clear it, he looked back at the rose with a feeling in his chest he hadn?t felt for a long time. Having abandoning Relena four years before, he wouldn?t have thought seeing her could have affected him the way it had. That?s why you left! screamed the part of his mind that was still entrenched in the real world. You wanted to get away from your feelings for her. You wanted freedom. You didn?t want to be burdened with a relationship- with her.
His mind?s logic, however, could not banish the feelings the sight of her had stirred within him. He stared at the stars above him, realization dawning in his mind and heart. He?d thought that, by leaving, he could make himself stop feeling the way he did for her, but if anything, the absence had just made him love her more. His eyes widened. Had he really just thought that? A bittersweet smile crossed his face. It was true. He loved her- had for the last four years and longer. ?I love her,? he whispered to night sky, a smile on his face.
He knew what he wanted. When he?d left her, he?d thought all he wanted in life was freedom. Now, after four years alone, he knew all he wanted in life was her . . . Relena. He looked back at the flower and smiled. It offered everything he wanted, everything he needed to be happy for the rest of his life and forever. It was perfect. He had chosen.
His hand was on the stem of the rose, prepared to pick it and gain lifelong happiness, but suddenly his hand faltered. He thought of Odin, and of what the woman had said. How did he really know this rose was perfect?
Another thought, one that had been nagging at him all night, came to the fore of his mind. ?If I pick this,? he asked, still on the arch, ?Relena will love me? We?ll get married?? ?If that is what the rose showed you,? the woman on the ground below him replied, ?that is what will happen.?
Heero frowned a little. ?This rose can make Relena love me?? The woman nodded, and Heero felt truly unsettled. ?Relena will only love me because the rose made her??
For the first time that evening, the woman frowned. ?You will get what you want. Why does it matter how it happens??
Heero cast a long, lingering look at the rose, then released it and turned back to the woman. ?I want it to be her choice.? Turning away, he climbed slowly down the arch, picking his way carefully down through the leaves, away from the one rose he truly wanted and the one rose he refused to pick, a feeling of sadness settling onto his chest like a lead weight.
Still, he thought to himself, it was an informative visit. The garden had shown him a world of possibilities he had never considered, and had proved to him that perhaps he wasn?t doomed to remain in his present situation. The roses had showed him so many opportunities within his reach . . .
In that moment, a thought occurred to him, and he jumped the rest of the way down and turned to the woman, suddenly very eager. ?Your garden shows possibilities, right?? he asked. She nodded, looking confused. ?So there is a possibility that I will end up the way the rose showed?? he pressed. Her brows furrowed. ?I suppose so, but-?
He turned away, feeling hope swelling inside him. ?Then I have a chance with Relena, without your roses.?
The woman raised an eyebrow. ?Then you choose . . .? ?Not to choose,? he replied. ?Not yet. Not here.? He began to walk away. ?Where are you going?? she asked. Heero looked back with a faint smile on his face. ?The Sanc Kingdom.?
?Are you sure?? the woman asked. ?You were lucky to get this one chance in my garden. You will not get another.? Heero looked down, frowning, but then nodded. ?I?m sure.? He smirked a little. ?But thanks for the offer. It was . . . enlightening. I never would have known I have so many opportunities-? here he looked down- ?that I have . . . a chance . . . with her.? He looked back up, his eyes serious. ?Thank you.?
The woman stared at him a long moment, a serious look on her face; then, suddenly, she smiled. ?You are wise, Heero Yuy,? she said, sounding amused and pleased. ?Wiser than most mortals. I hope your quest goes well for you.?
Blinking in surprise, Heero nodded his thanks. The woman raised her arms to gesture at the arch they had entered through. ?There is the way back to your world. Go well, and choose wisely. Perhaps . . . perhaps we shall meet again, you and I.?
?Maybe,? Heero replied, and was surprised to find his reply less monotonous than usual. Then, turning away from the woman, he walked across the enchanted garden, under the moonlit archway, and into the world beyond.
fin
---
The end! Did you like it? I hope that you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it- and I hope it was 1xR-ish enough for you. A special thank you to all those who reviewed- you guys are great; in fact, you - you are the reason my heart has a song, you- you are the reason that I carry on; don't you know that I love you? But how can I tell in you in only a song that . . . right, I don't think anybody actually knows that song. Where were we? Ummm . . . the end! And please, review and tell me if all my time spent was worth it! I'm done. We out.
Disclaimer: Let me check my pockets: hmm, loose change, movie ticket stub, wallet . . . nope! No Gundam Wing or Roses by Moonlight! Must not be mine!
Snafoo! Okay, now I'm done.
---
The Garden, part 3
by Eienvine
In later years, Heero could never be sure how much time he had spent in the garden, be it minutes or days. There, under the enchanted moonlight, moving from rose to rose, Heero lived a thousand different lives. He saw himself at every age, living on every different continent and colony. He saw himself growing old in the country with his six children and dying alone in a dingy flat. He saw himself in a hundred different occupations: doctor, lawyer, businessman, vagrant, criminal, thief. He saw himself with a hundred different women. Everything blended into a swirl of thoughts and images: laughter on a sunlit lake, doleful eyes in a dark alley, the murmuring of a watching crowd. Some visions tempted him and others repulsed him, but he never found one he was perfectly happy with.
Heero didn?t know how much time had passed when he finally straightened, stretching his arms. The rose he?d just smelled had been singularly annoying: himself at dinner with a redhead, clad in a tight black dress, who kept running her foot up and down his leg and smiling suggestively.
He had worked his way toward the back of the garden and, though he hadn?t noticed, the strange dark-haired woman had followed him there. A thought suddenly occurred to him, and he turned to face her.
?Odin was here, in your garden?? he asked. She nodded.
Heero thought a moment. ?And he chose a flower?? Another nod. ?What did his flower show??
?I do not know,? she replied. ?I do not see what you do in the roses. I do know, however, that Odin told me when I first met him that he wanted to be the greatest soldier in the world.?
Heero frowned. ?But he ended up as an assassin- and then he died,? he said. The woman?s eyes grew sad. ?We make choices, but we cannot always tell where those choices take us. It is a chance everyone must take.?
Something in her words struck a chord within him, and it was with some uncertainty that he turned back to the garden, looking for a rosebush he hadn?t tried yet.
Then, his eyes moved to the back of the garden. There, washed with the moonlight, stood something he had noticed earlier; a lattice archway, covered in dark leaves, forming a canopy over a stone bench. The bench, he could now see, was covered with carved Grecian figures and words in a language he couldn?t read. He glanced up and paused. He?d thought the rosebush above the bench had no blossoms, but now, standing up close, he could see a single pink rose, growing high on the arch.
The solitary rose seemed to be calling to him, and Heero found himself walking toward the bench. The flower was out of his reach, however, even when he stood on the bench. Undeterred, he grabbed at the lattice arch and, after testing its strength, began to climb.
When he was still a few feet from the rose, Heero found the arch was swaying dangerously, and he was forced to halt his ascent. The rose glowed in the moonlight just an arm?s reach away. He shifted his weight and, pulling himself up carefully, reached out to grasp the rose. To get his face to it, he had to lay uncomfortably across the arch. Ignoring his discomfort, he brought the blossom to his face, closed his eyes, and inhaled the rose?s sweet scent.
With a contented sigh, Duo pushed himself up from his seat on the porch step and stretched his arms behind his head, sending his braid swinging. ?It was nice talkin? to you, Heero,? he grinned, ?but I?ve got to get back to the wife, and so,? he punched Heero lightly on the shoulder, ?do you.?
Heero stood as well and walked his friend to his car. ?Thanks for coming over,? he said in usual low voice. ?I?ll see you at work on Monday.?
Duo saluted from the driver?s seat. ?Bright and early!? he replied, then drove away into the cool night air.
When Duo?s car had turned the corner, Heero turned and walked back into the mansion, yawning. It had been a long day at the Preventers office, and he would be glad to fall into bed. After brushing his teeth and pulling on a pair of pajama bottoms, he moved around the house with his usual silent grace, checking the security. When he was finally satisfied, he went back upstairs to the bedroom.
He was ready to collapse into bed, but when he reached the bedroom door, he paused. His wife was walking across the room, her long blonde hair falling down the back of her nightgown. A smile formed on his lips. Heavens, how he loved her. She looked up and, seeing him at the door, smiled fondly, then went back to turning down the covers.
Heero walked in and pulled the door shut. ?How are you doing?? he asked her. ?We?re both fine,? she replied, smiling, and placed a hand to her stomach. ?The doctor said we?re both perfectly healthy.? Heero let a proud smile cross his face. ?He?ll be a strong boy,? he said, his voice soft. She looked at him, frowning a little. ?Girl.?
A split second passed, and they both started laughing. Heero put his arms around his wife and pulled her down on the bed. Burying his face in her hair, he breathed her scent in deeply, and as he drifted off to sleep, he murmured her name . . .
?Relena.? Heero?s eyes drifted open, and he realized with a start that he was still in the garden, stretched uncomfortably over a rosebush, with a strange woman watching him in amusement. Shaking his head to clear it, he looked back at the rose with a feeling in his chest he hadn?t felt for a long time. Having abandoning Relena four years before, he wouldn?t have thought seeing her could have affected him the way it had. That?s why you left! screamed the part of his mind that was still entrenched in the real world. You wanted to get away from your feelings for her. You wanted freedom. You didn?t want to be burdened with a relationship- with her.
His mind?s logic, however, could not banish the feelings the sight of her had stirred within him. He stared at the stars above him, realization dawning in his mind and heart. He?d thought that, by leaving, he could make himself stop feeling the way he did for her, but if anything, the absence had just made him love her more. His eyes widened. Had he really just thought that? A bittersweet smile crossed his face. It was true. He loved her- had for the last four years and longer. ?I love her,? he whispered to night sky, a smile on his face.
He knew what he wanted. When he?d left her, he?d thought all he wanted in life was freedom. Now, after four years alone, he knew all he wanted in life was her . . . Relena. He looked back at the flower and smiled. It offered everything he wanted, everything he needed to be happy for the rest of his life and forever. It was perfect. He had chosen.
His hand was on the stem of the rose, prepared to pick it and gain lifelong happiness, but suddenly his hand faltered. He thought of Odin, and of what the woman had said. How did he really know this rose was perfect?
Another thought, one that had been nagging at him all night, came to the fore of his mind. ?If I pick this,? he asked, still on the arch, ?Relena will love me? We?ll get married?? ?If that is what the rose showed you,? the woman on the ground below him replied, ?that is what will happen.?
Heero frowned a little. ?This rose can make Relena love me?? The woman nodded, and Heero felt truly unsettled. ?Relena will only love me because the rose made her??
For the first time that evening, the woman frowned. ?You will get what you want. Why does it matter how it happens??
Heero cast a long, lingering look at the rose, then released it and turned back to the woman. ?I want it to be her choice.? Turning away, he climbed slowly down the arch, picking his way carefully down through the leaves, away from the one rose he truly wanted and the one rose he refused to pick, a feeling of sadness settling onto his chest like a lead weight.
Still, he thought to himself, it was an informative visit. The garden had shown him a world of possibilities he had never considered, and had proved to him that perhaps he wasn?t doomed to remain in his present situation. The roses had showed him so many opportunities within his reach . . .
In that moment, a thought occurred to him, and he jumped the rest of the way down and turned to the woman, suddenly very eager. ?Your garden shows possibilities, right?? he asked. She nodded, looking confused. ?So there is a possibility that I will end up the way the rose showed?? he pressed. Her brows furrowed. ?I suppose so, but-?
He turned away, feeling hope swelling inside him. ?Then I have a chance with Relena, without your roses.?
The woman raised an eyebrow. ?Then you choose . . .? ?Not to choose,? he replied. ?Not yet. Not here.? He began to walk away. ?Where are you going?? she asked. Heero looked back with a faint smile on his face. ?The Sanc Kingdom.?
?Are you sure?? the woman asked. ?You were lucky to get this one chance in my garden. You will not get another.? Heero looked down, frowning, but then nodded. ?I?m sure.? He smirked a little. ?But thanks for the offer. It was . . . enlightening. I never would have known I have so many opportunities-? here he looked down- ?that I have . . . a chance . . . with her.? He looked back up, his eyes serious. ?Thank you.?
The woman stared at him a long moment, a serious look on her face; then, suddenly, she smiled. ?You are wise, Heero Yuy,? she said, sounding amused and pleased. ?Wiser than most mortals. I hope your quest goes well for you.?
Blinking in surprise, Heero nodded his thanks. The woman raised her arms to gesture at the arch they had entered through. ?There is the way back to your world. Go well, and choose wisely. Perhaps . . . perhaps we shall meet again, you and I.?
?Maybe,? Heero replied, and was surprised to find his reply less monotonous than usual. Then, turning away from the woman, he walked across the enchanted garden, under the moonlit archway, and into the world beyond.
fin
---
The end! Did you like it? I hope that you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it- and I hope it was 1xR-ish enough for you. A special thank you to all those who reviewed- you guys are great; in fact, you - you are the reason my heart has a song, you- you are the reason that I carry on; don't you know that I love you? But how can I tell in you in only a song that . . . right, I don't think anybody actually knows that song. Where were we? Ummm . . . the end! And please, review and tell me if all my time spent was worth it! I'm done. We out.
n. 
Of course you love Relene, Heero you dummy!
