Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Love Among the Ruins ❯ Lonely Hearts ( Chapter 9 )

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 9: Lonely Hearts

By Sailor Celaeno

[My heart opens to your voice]

"It was some time before I saw Duo again. I wondered he was doing, but I couldn't do much about it. Heero and I tried to live our life together, and we did. It wasn't perfect, but we did all right. We ate lunch together, we saw movies, and every other thing that any couple did together. But we were still torn about Duo and Relena. We loved each other, but Duo and Relena were never far from our minds… or our hearts. I would still remember Duo's voice and I felt like my heart would leap to the sound of it. Then I'd remember that it was over between Duo and me. I'd remember Heero," Hilde said reflectively as she continued her story to the doctor.

*****

[So trembles my heart]

Heero and Hilde sat quietly on the grassy hill watching the clouds float by. It was a day off, which was rare enough and they were spending the day together. "Don't you wish you could just reach out and touch one of them? I wished that when I was young," Hilde said with a relaxed tone.

"I see," was all Heero said.

Hilde wanted to hear more from the ex-Gundam pilot today. It wasn't like him to be so silent around her. "What did you dream about when you were young?"

Heero replied with a serious, though sad tone, "I wished I had a name."

"Oh Heero… I didn't mean…" Hilde began to apologize.

"Don't worry about it, Hilde. I only talked about it to Relena…" Heero sighed. "It's been a long while since I thought about that. I never had a name. I got Heero Yuy as a code name from Doctor J. Before I met him I was known as Odin Lowe Junior. Even that name wasn't mine. Before I met Odin Lowe, I had no name. My memories before Odin are hazy, but I never remembered a name. I've always gone without a real name for myself."

Hilde nodded. "Names are important. They are more than an identity. They mean someone loved you enough to give you a name. I think Heero Yuy suits you."

"I don't know about that. In an ironic way it's appropriate," Heero replied.

"Don't think that way. You've brought peace for the Earth and the colonies," countered Hilde.

"It was Relena that showed me a different path to bring that peace," Heero frowned.

[Let your voice speak again]

Hilde frowned as well. Once again Heero was thinking of her. "You still love her don't you?"

"Why are you so jealous?"

"Why are you still thinking about her while you're with me?" Hilde sat up with an angry expression.

"Same reason why you still think about Duo," Heero returned hotly. "You love him. I love her, but we still love each other, don't we?"

Hilde got up onto her feet. "I'm wondering if it's still worth having this relationship. I ruined one because of this relationship, and it's become clear that this isn't working."

"What are you saying? We should break up and try to make things work with Duo and Relena? It's not going to happen. We can't go back to the way things were just because things aren't going well," Heero shouted in frustration.

"Isn't it obvious Heero? It's just not working. We can't make something work when it's clearly falling apart."

"I'm not ending this relationship just because you say it isn't working," he argued.

Hilde turned around and glared at him. "I see. It's my fault you broke up with Relena. You chose to love me!"

"You chose to love me too! You were always jealous even before we were together. You were jealous of Relena." Heero noticed Hilde turn away.

"That's absolutely ridiculous!" Hilde started walking away.

"Is it? I saw the way you look at Relena sometimes. When I talk to her, I noticed the way you look at her. Just like when Duo talks to her, there's this jealous look you have in your eyes," Heero continued with his accusations.

"Like you aren't jealous of them," Hilde retorted.

"What?" Heero's eyes had a spark of annoyance.

"You heard me, Yuy. I know you're jealous of them too. Don't you accuse me of jealousy when you're jealous too! You're such a hypocrite. Why did you leave her if you're so in love with her?"

"Because you are alive!" he shouted as he turned away from her.

"Huh?" Hilde replied softly. "What do you mean?"

"Relena loved me because I was her support. She could always count on me to watch her and feel like a complete person. I loved her because she made me embrace life. I only lived for my mission. Once the mission ended I would have no other purpose. Protecting her life became my mission. When I watched you and Duo together, I was jealous that you two knew what life was about. It's about being in the moment and embracing what life offers you. I envied him because of that. You have that strong love of life. Relena is always bound to her duties, and she had no room to live. Her love was beautiful. I couldn't help myself. Her love wasn't enough. It was a fire that couldn't keep me warm anymore." He had a sad lilt in his voice.

"What changed? I see that spark when you look her," Hilde replied.

"The day she told me to get out of her house. She said she loved me then and would always love me. Yet she told me to leave. I felt like a complete heel for hurting her. She needed me because in the end, I was her reminder that she's a human being. I was the one she could count on to make her be a real person. Not the Vice Foreign Minister, but to be Relena Dorlian, a woman that feels love and pain. I made her feel by breaking her heart. She's turning into stone because of me. I've killed her heart," Heero said with a frustrated attitude.

Hilde didn't look at him. "Maybe you should go talk to her."

"What?" he asked.

"Talk to her. It's only right that if you are still in love with her, you should talk to her. It's only fair if you can talk her while you can," she replied.

"But Hilde…"

"Trust me, Heero. You should talk to her while you have a chance to do that," Hilde said softly.

"Is that what you really want?" He touched her shoulders in a gentle, tender way.

"Do that, Heero."

*****

[If my dream came true]

Duo sat and read the morning paper at the mess hall when the sound of laughter and cheering made him look up. "Hey, what's up?" Duo waved at the group of young men.

"Hey Duo!" shouted a blond man, who oddly enough reminded Duo of Quatre.

"Simon! Why don't you guys join me?" Duo patted his table. "Got seats right here!"

"Sure! Come on!" he turned to the other men.

Soon four other men joined Duo. Simon Fairly was also a Preventer who had transferred to Mars. Coincidentally, he worked in the same floor as Duo and Hilde. He was a tall guy, about the same height Duo now was. He had blond hair, gentle blue eyes, but he was as extroverted as Duo. Felix Lorenz was another transferred Preventer with dull, red hair and an amazing sense of humor. They were "the Three Musketeers" of the MOPS Special Division. "So, ready for the raid guys?" Felix and Simon were going to bust an illegal weapons transport coming in that night. There was rumor that the transport cargo was worth nearly 3 million and would be a huge success in the ever dangerous war against the Martian Syndicates.

"You bet Duo. We're ready to kick mobster ass," smirked Felix.

"You watch your backs. You never know what they'll be up to," Duo said with some serious concern.

Simon and the others had somber expressions on their faces. "Yeah, sure thing Maxwell," replied Simon.

"Let's change the subject a little. If you could have one wish given to you right now, what would you wish for?" asked Felix.

A few of the guys said what they wanted. Felix said, "I sure could use a barbecue and a cold one right now. My dad had one ever weekend during the summer when I was a kid. I missed that," he said with the look of nostalgia on his face. His father had died when he was sixteen from a car accident.

"I kind of had a wish like that too. I wished I could have ma's wind chimes with me," Simon replied.

"Wind chimes?" asked Duo.

"They're these wind chimes with blue butterflies on 'em. Ma got 'em when she turned sixteen. It was a gift from my grandpa. She loved those chimes. She'd hang them outside the kitchen windows. I'd sit by the windows watching the clouds. Ma would be doing something, like making a pie, or something real tasty, you know? Then the breeze comes in and the chimes would jangle and stuff. She'd say `Listen to that Simon. The wind is singing. They're saying hello.' And I'd smile at her and watch the clouds again. Of course, Ma died a couple years ago. She got really sick and well, the chimes are gone." Simon ended his story.

"Gone? What do you mean?" Duo asked.

Simon just shrugged. "I dunno. They just disappeared. Don't know where Ma put them. What about you Duo?"

"I wished… I wanted to find a family. All I ever wanted was some people that said they cared about me and that I belonged with them. I was an orphan, and well… and when I was a kid, I tasted that feeling. I had that wish for a brief moment, but that ended. I still wish that."

Simon lifted up his root beer can. "Let's toast."

[Let us drink]

"What to drink to guys?" Duo said with his usual smile.

"To the fulfillment of wishes and dreams!" There was no questioning of that.

*****

"I often wondered what Duo would do now, if he could be here and give me advice. Would he have given me comfort for my time of confusion?" Hilde said quietly.

"You know him so well, what do you think?" was all Carlyle said.

"I'm still trying to figure it out."

To be continued…

1) "Mon coeur s'ouvre à la voix" from "Samson and Delila" by C. Saint-Saens

2) "Celeste Aida" from "Aida" by Giuseppe Verdi

3) "Libiamo, libiamo ne'lieti calici" from "La Traviata" by Giuseppe Verdi