TENDRILS OF DESTINY
CHAPTER NINE
Heero Yuy exited the hangar of L3, still clad in a dark suit and tie. His surroundings seemed strange and translucent as he walked through an odd mist that seemed to have seeped into his vision. Darkness swirled through his mind, and evanescent figures slipped in and out of his grasp.
Through all of this, he managed to trek to the man control building, escorted by two strange women; they had replaced his Mobile Dolls. He watched vapidly as ranks of females, all wearing identical green uniforms (of NATURE, he assumed), filed into shuttles to be evacuated. His Amazons flanked him, leading him to a door of a small, commonplace building and stopped, nodding and turning to follow their companions. The woman inside the building and Heero were the only humans to be left on L3.
A pleasant directory sat on the large desk in the main hall. He gazed at it for a moment before the man ascended the stairs, his eyes glinting with a strange bright light. Two huge oak double doors greeted him indifferently at his final destination. He gazed at them, and they stood before his vision, commanding and yet so wieldy. Placing his left hand against the juncture between the doors, he opened both wings, his gun ready in his right palm.
She pulled the zero system helmet from her head, smiling softly and setting it to the side. She spoke as if they had seen each other the day before. "I realized," she murmured, a faint blush tainting her white cheeks, "I didn't need to be in the control room to actually work the system, and I feel rather foolish."
Heero raised his gun, pointing it at her heart, his gaze steady, though tears streamed down his cheeks.
"Heero?" she whispered. Her gaze met his, full of longing though they stood only several meters apart in the room.
His heart swelled and the pain crested, though not from a knife at his breast. "Relena?"
She hesitantly approached, reaching out, and her fingers grazed the skin of his face. His deep, azure gaze was cut off as he closed his eyes, reveling at her touch.
"It's been so long??" She was cut off when he suddenly clasped her tightly in his arms. Slowly, her form melted in his warm embrace. He drew back, smiling for the first time in so long. As he gazed into her eyes, he remembered.
It was like waking up from a dream. The thick, swirling black fog that always seemed to encompass his mind, his memory, lifted and rolled away, simply leaving white, empty patches where it had been. Instead of each memory being walled off in blackness, Heero could look straight through his mind with only slight gaps here and there. And as he focused, the gaps filled in.
* * * *
He rolled over in the warmth of the sheets, reaching out a hand to brush across her delicate face. Relena's eyes opened and stared up at him with immeasurable love and devotion. He knew his own eyes reflected hers.
"I love you," she whispered. He gazed at her face, flushed pink from their exertions, at her hair, tousled blonde that spread messily across the pillows, at the blue eyes, still carrying soft tears from their activity, and she was beautiful.
He leaned forward to nuzzle her neck and then gently trail kisses to her ear, smiling against her skin when she giggled. Upon reaching his destination, Heero murmured those words he knew she craved to hear from his lips. And they rejoiced in their love.
Their happiness continued for days on end, each lover completely secure in the other's mind, heart, and soul. Then, Heero got the phone call.
Trowa's soft voice traveled over the buzzing instrument, soft and mournful. "The doctors found a cancerous tumor."
Heero felt something tight and cold begin to strangle his throat, pressing his Adam's Apple upward painfully. "Can it be removed?" he gasped.
"It's in her brain. And it is very large."
Heero lowered his head, gazing at the carved oak of the table in his apartment. Relena had bought it for him; she felt it was unnatural for someone to have a kitchen without a table. "Can it be removed?" he asked again, his voice now grating deeply in pain.
"They're going to try," Trowa answered calmly. His irreverence to the situation grated painfully at Heero's nerves.
"What is the chance she'll??" He could not go on.
"Not a very large percentage," came the dull reply.
Several weeks later, Heero Yuy found himself holding Relena's small hand. The white of the hospital contrasted his emotions, a vivid red-violet, almost neon in its pain.
"You'll be fine. Have hope. We'll pull through this together. Believe?" Oddly enough, it was she that spoke to him.
The doctor approached three, maybe forty hours later. Heero wasn't able to tell the time anymore. It didn't matter at all. The doctor, slowly shaking his head, opened his lips to speak, but his voice erupted as a deep, steady hum. Heero stood dumbly against he wall of the white hospital hall. He turned away and left all the occupants of the room still and silent.
At Duo's house, the soldier cleaned his gun, carefully dissembling and assembling the parts. He loaded the clip and components, his movements accurate and professional. With a sigh of sadness, he pulled the rigger. The bullet entered the left side of his brain. Darkness came, and it stayed, but there was no peace. He fell into the darkness and it consumed him, but there was no peace. He was still alive. Why didn't it all just end there? Why not before? Why not now? Why so much later did he have to exist?
* * * *
He remembered. Finally, he remembered. "God?" he whispered, trailing his fingers gently across the soft smooth skin of her cheek. He smiled. It was bittersweet, for he held his memories tightly, reveling in their beautiful past, and at he same time, he knew their future was gone. But he smiled anyway, for her.
Then, his smile was wiped away as he gazed down at the silver letter-opener in his chest. Her fingers slipped from the hilt before they were soiled by the blood that sprouted on his white shirt. "The only way I can ever have you is in death." She turned and strode around the large desk at the back of the room. "You have three minutes to live, Heero."
He took a painful breath and realized why he was there. "Why are you?doing this?"
"You already know, darling. You hear it. You've heard it since you tried to end your life last year."
"How can you hear it?" he questioned out of curiosity.
"They let me," she murmured, her blue eyes shining painfully bright. "Let me tell you how: A year ago, I was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in my brain?though you already know this. Treatment was impossible?except for a?drug?discovered on one of Quatre's meteors. This drug?neag?, is emitted by the first alien race humans have yet discovered. Mags?they're called that, I think. Small, grub-like creatures that secrete a liquid used to induce higher?thinking in humans. It triggers a section of the brain, awakens it, I suppose. Mags are a parasitic race, needing another organism in order to survive for long periods of time. These Mags, they thought, could be inserted in my head. They would eat away the unhealthy tissue and replace it themselves. In turn, I would supply them energy and an environment. As they produce neag?, the fluid circulates through my body. Right now, I am overloaded. During these times, I see the most visions. They show me?beautiful and terrible things. But?all I ever wanted to see was you. And they only showed you in death. So now you know. Are you gonna kill me?"
Slowly his expression relaxed as he gazed at her, sitting so sweetly and supremely in her leather chair. "Yeah."
Then she smiled as he carefully walked around the desk, his body stiff in pain, and fell down upon her, the tip of his gun resting over her heart. Gently, his lips met hers and he nuzzled her neck before meeting her eyes. "I love you," she murmured.
"I love you," he responded as he pulled the trigger. Her body jerked momentarily under his, then those soft eyes glazed up into his, the light gradually fading. Her blood, violet in its darkness, spilled over her white gown. A soft smile graced her lips. "Music?" she whispered, then died.
"I hear it."
The soft beautiful song of bittersweet love played through his mind before he let out one exhausted breath and met her on the other side.
[AN]-- Damn. That was just weird... And way too dramatic!
I am so happy it's finally over! 
[Some taps paxbanana's shoulder]--"You have to do an epilogue."
Well, it's almost over.
Thankyou everyone who has read this! 
I'm definitely not lying now that I say I'm not putting out the epilogue until holiday break! R&R!