*The Third Act is Beginning*
Paato Chuenchiseban;
*Serrudo akkuto o hajimatteimasu*
Part Twenty-seven;
*The Third Act is Beginning*
Paato Chuenchiseban;
*Serrudo akkuto o hajimatteimasu*
Say, when they're in love,
does everyone get this lonely?
Say, do they embrace the pain
that's even deeper than the darkness?
nee aishitara
daremo ga konna kodoku
ni naru no?
nee kurayami yori mo
fukai kurushimi dakishimete'ru
no?
It's all been so that we
can shine,
I just know it!
nanimo ka mo ga futari
kagayaku tame
kitto
I... I love you.
I'm gazing at you with my heart.
I... I believe in you.
even on the coldest night.
kimi wo kimi wo aishite'ru
kokoro de mitsumete-iru
kimi wo kimi wo shinjite'ru
samui yoru mo
I call out to you now with my tears.
I don't need promises or such things,
because of the precious
strength that you've given me.
namida de ima yobikakeru
yakusoku nado iranai
kimi ga kureta taisetsu na
tsuyosa dakara
[##]
She would show them. She would show them all.
How dare they do that to her colonies. They were her home. Be they Gundams or Alliance, or even Oz itself, she wouldn't let them disturb the peace she'd come here to find.
Zettai ni...
War was not the way to peace.
And Hilde was going to fight as hard as she could to make them see that.
[Zettai ni = something like 'absolutely']
[##]
Quatre ran into his father's office, to find him standing at the window shouting at the mob below.
[##]
Precision. Discipline. Perfection.
Deft hands pierced the air. The only sound was the rustling of white cloth.
These hands grasped the forearm of his opponent and with a sharp outcry. Said opponent hit the mats on his back. As the opponent rolled and lifted himself back to his feet, the white cloth rustled again, as a leg snapped into the air and nearly sent him sprawling again. A flurry of cloth and before the opponent knew it, the palm of one of those masterful hands hit him square in the chin. He hit the mats again and stayed down.
Wufei watched without expression, waiting for the student to get up. When he did, they bowed to each other with quiet thank-yous and left the practice area at opposite sides. At the edge, Wufei adjusted his coat and then wandered into the dim corridors of the dojo. So quiet. There was hardly anyone left.
He was too restless to meditate; waiting for Nataku to be repaired. He paused at one point and looked out at Master Lo's garden. He remembered playing there when he was a boy. It hadn't really been all that long ago, now that he thought about it. But it felt like centuries... even longer.
Sometimes it felt like he'd always been a warrior: always been the Solitary Dragon. By most standards, Wufei was still young. But even so, he felt like he'd lived enough life to suit him.
Afterall, who was he if he wasn't fighting? What happened when his war reached its end?
If it reached its end.
There was no reaching back to the past. Wufei had been a boy, a scholar, and a warrior already. What came next?
[##]
Quatre watched in horror as a pair of Leos came up behind the mob carrying rifles. Between the mob and the appearance of the Mobile Suits, Winner was being goaded. He was being pressured, pushed, trapped... but to what end?
[##]
A small child sat sniffling beneath a tree. She was covered in scrapes and bruises, her indigo hair mussed and tumbling over her head haphazardly.
Itai yo, she informed him when he came upon her.
[It hurts]
Smiling, he knelt down before her and repeated gently, Itai?
She nodded.
What were you trying to do?
I wanted to reach the sky.
He looked upwards, at the impressively tall tree. It was easily one of the tallest in the forest surrounding their home. But the taller branches were touched with disease. They bore no leaves, nor weight. Not even hers. Still, it was a long fall if she'd made it that high.
But I couldn't do it, she continued, through sobs that were half hiccups.
He looked back at her, sympathetically. I couldn't do it, tousan. I failed. She wiped at her nose with the back of her hand.
He reached over and brushed her hair back down to the back of her head. You can't climb trees to touch the sky, Narachan.
I can't?
Iie, he picked her up and tossed her into the air, you have to fly!
She smiled when he caught her. Then I will fly. She sat on his broad
shoulders and reached her small hands to the expanse of blue sky, and the
enticing clouds that lazily tiptoed across the day. With absolute affirmation,
she repeated, I will fly. All the way to the stars!
Sally gently brushed the sweat-soaked bangs from Nara's face.
We really should take her to a hospital, one of the soldiers stated worriedly. We don't have the supplies or the facilities to help her.
She's a fugitive, and so are we, Sally countered, much as she hated to admit the truth, there's nothing we can do that won't endanger her life more. The older woman reached down and kissed the burning forehead of the other. All we can do is hope, and wait.
[##]
Onore, Winner! We won't tolerate you keeping the satellite for yourself!
We know you're working with the Alliance against us!
Go back to Earth where you belong!
Quatre gasped. His father would never--
[##]
There is a Japanese proverb that goes: 'Saru mono wa hibi ni utoshi': We will forget the people left along the way. This relates to the English phrase 'out of sight, out of mind.'
The Human Race has forgotten Peace. In these times of war and trouble, we have left peace in the past, and therefore forgotten it. But only time will tell if we can find our way again: and even so, it is humanity itself in the end who decides.
Can peace truly be gotten out of war? It only creates an endless cycle of hatred. Grudges born of defeat, arrogance born of victory, and the third party, who is only there to play. History is a repeating story of upheavals, triumphs, and devastating losses. Those seeking peace are usually the victims in it all. They are more often than not the very victims of themselves.
There is no escaping the fact that the human race lives to fight. We are fighting animals. Animals with souls that seek after and yearn for fulfillment.
Which is more fulfilling? The adrenaline rush and bloodlust of battle, or the calming serenity, laced with the apprehension of when the next battle will be, that comes with the fleeting moments of peace?
The teacher respectfully cleared her throat. Thank you very much, Maxwell-kun, she said, standing and cutting him off in the middle of his speech. A more appropriate topic would have been more appreciated for your introduction. I think you've frightened the other students.
They should be frightened... Please accept my apologies, sensei, Hiiro bowed and took his seat. What else can they do, after all, but watch the battle unfold and crescendo all around them?
[##]
It's been like this for awhile, Iria informed him quietly, Ever since Oz took control of the colonies. They've convinced the people that the Winner Corporation is hoarding resources from the asteroid.
But it's not true. It's not true at all.
[##]
Defeat and depression had set in, but he wouldn't cry. He couldn't. He'd cried too many times to do it now. Reality took hold of Duo Maxwell. A soldier without a weapon was still a soldier; a Gundam pilot without a Gundam... well, that didn't matter.
He'd seen it, in the eyes of the other pilots: of the Oz pilots. That look of sympathy that told him they felt for him. That they understood his pain.
That they were still human. He'd even thought for a moment that he'd seen it in hers.
I'll save her alright, he muttered into the darkness, reaffirming that impossible promise, whether she likes it or not.
[##]
No, it's not true... Quatre repeated, his eyes on the Leos, It's what Oz wants the people to think, so that they can get the resources... He squinted in the brilliant light of the colony, out at the crowd and the Mobile Suits that were invading his father's precious peace. I could use my new Gundam, but... that would only make the situation worse...
[##]
Trowa stood at the window overlooking the stars. He held his back straight and his hands fisted in the small of it, right at the belt. It was the posture of a soldier, one he hadn't taken in a long time. Funny, he didn't feel any less of a soldier when he wasn't like this. In fact--
The door opened and Lady Une entered.
Trowa Barton.... desu ka?
The softer tone... the polite question.... Trowa turned and found himself presented with a completely different Lady Une.
She sat, and offered him the seat across from her. Dumbfounded by the complete change, Trowa sat, still keeping his back straight, still alert.
Lady Une opened a folder and smiled at him. There are rumors going around the other soldiers that you're too good. They think you are a Gundam pilot.
I understand the basis for that suspicion, but I assure you that I am not what they say.
She smiled warmly at him. I didn't think that you were. You're a good addition to Oz, Trowa Barton. I've decided to put you immediately into a special project. She stood. I can't offer you a Gundam, but... Trowa was beginning to find the warm smile more eerie than the cold one the other Lady Une often offered. ... but, I can offer you something better.
[##]
Quatre was floored when Winner turned and ran from the window.
[##]
Zechs walked out to the railing overlooking the main deck and watched Howard's crew. Epyon was lying out across the whole deck; its burgundy skin gleaming shades of red and purple in the bright ocean sun.
It's a beautiful machine, Howard commented, coming up beside Zechs and leaning against the railing. Treize Kush Renada is a brilliant man, to figure out the specs of a Gundam from the little information he would have had.
Yeah, said Zechs absently.
How are you feeling?
Better, Zechs said, I'd like to leave as soon as possible.
Where would you go? Howard looked at him directly: a piercing gaze even through the sunglasses that were perpetually perched on his nose. He tilted his head and looked at the taller man over the rims. We're outfitting Epyon with space boosters for you.
Why are you doing that?
That's where you're going, isn't it? Howard shoved his hands in his pockets and wandered towards the stairs.
The wind tossed Zechs' hair and he turned his gaze to the sky. Hiiro Yui had gone to Outer Space... why shouldn't he?
[##]
Quatre and Iria followed their father through the back corridors, through the passage to the space dock... and in a different shuttle than he, all the way to the resource meteorite that was the cause of so much trouble for the Winner family.
Otousan!! Quatre shouted over the com.
Quatre... Winner's voice was sad, lifeless, without hope. It brought tears to the young boy's eyes, even before the words that followed, I'm sorry, forgive me... maybe you are the better man than I...
**
[Eeek!! Will Quatre's father suffer the same fate as he did in the series? Is Quatre going to go crazy? Will Trowa be forced to work with Evil Hilde? Will Zechs go to space? Is Nara going to die? (like I haven't been asking ~that~ for the last ten or so chapters...) GAH!! So many questions! So little time! Find out in chapter 28 of Gundam Wing Mugen no Dansu!]
[Written by Inseiko, 2001]
[Song: Yakusoku wa Iranai by Maaya Sakamoto OP for Vision of Escaflowne
[Lyrics taken from J
Lyrics Translation Archive with permission from the translator]