29 year-old Relena put down her book and sighed deeply. She shaded her eyes, looking down the hilltop behind her old school. It was getting colder by the minute, since dusk was slowly creeping up.
She returned to the book she was reading, glancing at Heero, whose head was pillowed on her lap. Smiling to herself, she ran a hand through her husband's short brown hair. He had fallen asleep in the middle of his book. Relena smoothed out her long sandy-brown ponytail.
'Husband…' Relena Peacecraft-Yuy leaned back on the tree behind her, recalling the years gone by.
******
"Class, I am happy to announce that a former student will be joining our class again." The teacher's voice and whom she was introducing was of no interest to Relena. It had been a few months after her release from Mariemeia. She had returned to her old school to continue her studies, while performing her duties as a Peacecraft.
Relena stared out of the window near her, not listening to her teacher, and not caring. For some reason, even though she wanted to put him out of her head, images of Heero Yuy kept coming back to her, each mental picture more vivid than the last.
"Hello, Relena." A painfully familiar monotonous voice jolted her from her thoughts.
She turned her head to look at the speaker, almost falling from her chair, her heart suddenly missing a few beats.
Heero. He was standing there beside her, pulling out the chair to the desk beside hers. His face was again a cold, distant mask, showing no emotion.
'But his eyes', Relena could remember his eyes, bright and shining, vague excitement dancing in them.
******
"You're probably wondering why I'm here." Heero said, his voice steady, firm, no emotion escaping
It was the end of the day; the students were going home or were making their way to the dormitories. It was Friday, and the students were looking forward to the weekend.
Heero and Relena were sitting on benches located in the park behind the vast estate of the school, one of the isolated spots in the school grounds. Relena nodded,
"Yes. Where were you?" she asked, softly. 'I was worried sick about you…' she thought. Heero breathed out and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
"I didn't have a place to go to, after the war was over, so, I went back to Dr. J. I thought maybe he could find some sort of work for me, so I could live on my own or something." He said.
Relena remained quiet, listening to him.
"Dr. J was like a father to me. Even in training. He said, now that the war was over, he would like to repay my services. Since war took almost everything from me, Dr. J wanted a chance to try and give them back to me. He wanted to give my life back."
He continued, "So, here I am. He's the one sending me to school, but he thinks because of my training, I might be skipped ahead more than once."
Relena nodded slowly, "Yes, I think you will be. But that will give you an earlier start on a new life, Heero. Aren't you happy with that?"
Heero remained silent, not looking at her.
Relena sighed, "Where are you staying, Heero?"
Heero straightened up, still gazing at the distance; "I have my own place, Relena. An apartment a few blocks down."
Relena brushed her hair out of her face, "Heero, you have everything you want or could want. You have a fresh start to a new life, home, and friends…"
Above, the sky darkened rapidly as they heard thunder rumbling in the distance.
"We'd better go inside the school." Heero said, standing up. Relena followed suit.
They began to walk slowly towards the school in silence. It was a good 30-minute walk to the main building, with small gazebos scattered along their path.
They hadn't walked half of the distance when heavy rain started pouring down, quickly drenching Heero and Relena.
"Come on! We'll have to hurry!" Relena cried, breaking into a run.
Heero sprinted after her, shielding his face with his hand. He stopped when he noticed a small gazebo nearby.
"Relena!" he called, "Over there!" He grabbed Relena's hand, leading her towards the gazebo.
******
Heero ran a hand though his fast drying hair, shaking off droplets of water. Brushing off water from his coat, he sat down on the benches encircling the inside of the gazebo. Strong winds made him shiver for a moment, then quickly shook it off.
Relena was still standing up, staring out at the fast falling storm, almost in a trance. Lightning flashed, jolting Relena back to the present.
"Heero…?" she said, as she moved towards him, sitting down nearby.
For a few minutes, they sat in silence, watching the rain outside. Until Heero noticed Relena rubbing her arms briskly. She leaned forward, hugging herself, breathing hard.
'Cold…' Heero thought to himself, 'She's cold, Heero…' He knew she was trying not to complain of the cold winds.
Fighting off the instinctive urge to just ignore her, Heero removed his passably dry coat.
"Here." He said, putting it around Relena's shoulders and straightening her up.
Thousands of thoughts were flying in and out of his head, most of them scattered and chaotic. He couldn't pull them together. He caught fleeting glimpses of his floating thoughts.
One part was telling him to leave, that the soldier was rapidly fading inside of him. That he should not let his emotions escape him. Another part told him this was right.
Heero was pulled back into reality as Relena immediately stopped shivering and looked in surprise at Heero. This was unexpected. And Heero's arms were still around her.
She smiled and nodded, "Thanks…" Not able to resist the temptation, she leaned down on Heero, resting her head on his chest, while her hands found their way around his waist.
Heero's eyes grew wide, then softened as he held her tighter to him. He had never experienced something like this…and he was loving it. Enjoying the feeling of Relena near him, holding him…
Words were obsolete right now; feelings were growing stronger, as the hard soldier in him melted away…
A flash of lightning startled them. Heero felt Relena's heartbeat jump. She sat up suddenly, releasing their hold on each other.
"Relena…?" Heero said, with a questioning look.
She shook her head, as if saying 'it was nothing', before leaning back on the back of her seat, pulling Heero's coat around her.
Heero touched his chest gently, the place where Relena had earlier rested. He remembered the feeling he had then. It was still strong.
Relena's voice broke through, "Heero," She started, "I asked you before, and you never answered: 'Aren't you happy with your life right now?' Dr. J gave you a chance to a new future for yourself, I say take that chance, Heero."
Heero remained silent, thoughtful. He was gazing at her, her words sinking in.
Finally, he shook his head, clearing his thoughts. "I want to take that chance. But I don't want a future for myself…" he started.
Relena frowned, "Then what…?" she asked, softly.
Again, for the second time, Heero put his arms around and pulled her towards him, resting his chin on the top of her head.
Relena grew stiff with surprise, then let herself be pulled into his embrace, putting a hand over his chest, feeling his heart and slipping the other around his waist.
The feelings were stronger than ever now in Heero and he could say them in words.
"Ai shiteru…" he whispered, and the once perfect soldier vanished, Heero hoped forever.
Relena looked up to him, her eyes shining. Then she leaned forward, their lips meeting. Relena closed her eyes slowly, her heart almost full to bursting.
Time stood still for a moment, then ended when Heero broke off.
"I want a future…with you."
******
Relena smiled to herself, pushing a few stray strands of Heero's brown hair out of his forehead. Heero had been right. Because of his past training, he had been accelerated a few times, so he had graduated earlier than her.
After college, he had been recruited by Sally Po and Chang Wufei to work in the military. His skills had been excellent; Heero had been raised from one rank to the next, until he was beside Sally and Wufei ranking as General.
Shortly after Relena graduated, Heero had proposed to her, now that he had a firm hold on life. After that…
"Mama!" A small voice brought Relena back to the present. She looked up to see 8 year-old Odin and 5 year-old Helena run up to them.
Scrambling up the hill, Odin stumbled on the grass, Helena laughing at her brother as he got up. Relena gazed at her son. Odin was a smaller version of Heero, except for his eyes. Heero had said they were her eyes, bright blue eyes.
"Mama, can we go home now? I think it's going to rain." He said, looking up at the slowly darkening sky.
Helena ran up to her mother and tugged at her hand, "C'mon, mommy." Helena on the other hand, bore a striking resemblance to her. As Odin had his mother's eyes, Helena inherited her father's deep prussian blue eyes, which were almost always serious.
"Alright, Odin, wake up you father, and we'll go now." Relena said, nodding at Heero, still asleep on her lap.
Odin groaned, rolling his eyes, "Okay, okay, " he went over to Heero and started shaking his dad's shoulder. Gently at first, then growing stronger.
"Dad! Hey Dad, wake up!" Odin said.
Heero woke up with a start, sitting up. "Wha…?Alright, alright, I'm awake." He said, rubbing the back of his head.
Relena smiled, massaging Heero's shoulders, "Your son wants to go home now, Heero. And I think we'd better, too. Looks like rain." She said.
Heero looked up, nodded then stood up, helping Relena stand as well. "Alright. Let's go." He said, bending down to pick up Helena.
"No, daddy. I think Odin wants to race." She said, slipping out of Heero's reach, and running after her brother.
"Be careful, sweetie!" Relena called after her.
Odin ran on ahead, enjoying the slope of the hill, using the inclination to run faster. Helena caught up with him.
Heero and Relena walked slowly behind, enjoying what was left of the day.
******
Halfway through the park, Odin noticed it was starting to rain. Stopping in his tracks, he looked up to see the small droplets getting bigger.
"Oh, great. Rain." Odin said, looked back to his parents and sister, running towards him. He looked around, trying to find some sort of shelter.
"Mama, Dad! Over there!" --- pointed over to his left, then proceeded to run towards it. Helena dashed towards him, loving the feeling of rain falling down.
Heero and Relena raced to their son. Heero looked over to where Odin was pointing. And stopped, stiffening as memories returned to him.
Odin and Helena were running towards a gazebo. The gazebo. The very same gazebo he and Relena…
Heero turned to look at Relena, smiling at her. She felt the same, her eyes shining bright.
Together, they ran for cover, joining their children inside.
******
Heero looked out of the gazebo, gazing out at the falling rain. Had it really been 12 years since that day he held Relena in this same gazebo?
Relena was sitting down next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. Helena was asleep on her lap, clutching Relena's hand tightly. She softly stroked her daughter's head, smoothing out Helena's short sandy-brown hair.
Odin was sitting down next to his father, trying hard to keep awake. Finally his head drooped and he leaned against his father.
Heero turned to kiss Relena's forehead, looking down on Helena, then at Odin. Finally he sighed and hid leaned his cheek on the top of Relena's head.
He remained awake for a while, thinking.
'The last time I was here. I had nothing. I come back after so many years, and I have a family, a wife and kids, a home, love…everything I want.'
Now that he thought about it, his past as a Gundam pilot seemed non-existent now. It was a past he knew he would lose as time goes by. He was a different person now. The cold, heartless killer, Heero had been, melted away when Relena came into his life. Odin's arrival had taught him how to smile and enjoy life. And he had released his laughter, when Helena came into his world.
Heero settled back into his seat, placing one arm around Relena, and the other around Odin. This was his life. This was his future.
Outside, the rain continued falling. This time, it seemed more peaceful, calmer to him than before.
END
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