Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or its characters
"It is not time that changes man, nor knowledge;
the only thing that can change someone's mind is love."
– Paulo Coelho
It was not a Christmas winter, but a rainy summer afternoon when she gained her freedom.
Dorothy turned her face towards the sky and tasted the rain. Her blue dress clung around her legs. Her hair turned a darker shade of sunshine as the angry clouds gathered above.
If this is what freedom feels like…
First she drew circles in the puddle with her feet. Then she started to whirl about in a waltz that only she could hear. The sky rumbled above her.
One, two, three. One, two, three.
She wiped the rain from her eyes and laughed. In this deluge, nobody in their right mind would be thinking of visiting a park. Except, of course, for her. She had always been an exception. She had always been exceptional.
Exceptional? Dorothy faltered in her lonely dance. To whom?
If this is what freedom feels like…
"Dorothy?"
She jumped at the voice. The wonderful rain suddenly felt like cold lead upon her shoulders. She turned and saw him in all his ridiculous sweetness, green umbrella in one hand. Green as his eyes. Green as paradise. Green as the devil himself.
"Dorothy?" He asked again as he approached her. She stood frozen, feeling the raindrops cease as his umbrella sheltered her. He felt impossibly close. Too close.
"What are you doing here?" She asked coldly.
He grinned cheekily at her. "I should be asking you the same question."
She smiled. "I belong here." She stepped back, out from under his umbrella, into the rain.
He shook his head. "Aren't you tired of pretending Dorothy?" He pulled her to him, hugging her. She did not return his embrace.
"This is not freedom." She murmured. A flash of lightning lit up the sky. She felt warm in his one-armed embrace, but did she belong there?
"Dorothy..."
"No." She pulled away from him, stepping back into the rain. "This is what I want." She spread her arms and threw back her head. "This. Freedom from you. Freedom from everyone–"
"What you want isn't freedom Dorothy!" He exclaimed. "What you want is a severed tie from everyone who loves you-"
"Yes! Precisely! Yes! Because if being with you wouldn't spell out freedom, then why should I bother?"
"Because you know how it would be otherwise." Quatre looked at her pleadingly. "Dorothy, you know I would do anything for you."
"Then do this: give up."
"And then? Should we both keep pretending?"
Dorothy hesitated.
"Dorothy, why are you doing this?"
"Because it would never work!"
"How would it never work?"
"We're too different, Quatre." Rainwater was pouring down her face, getting to her eyes. She blinked them away. She touched his stomach, feeling the scar that she inflicted there so long ago.
But Quatre simply shrugged and took her hand. "Opposites attract."
"I cannot make you happy."
"I'm happiest when I'm with you."
She looked down and wrapped her arms around herself. "I'm not a free woman."
At this, Quatre took a step forward, but she moved away from him.
"Dorothy… I love you."
"I know."
They stood there for a moment. And then Quatre threw his umbrella away and took her in his arms again. This time, Dorothy threw her arms around him and embraced him tightly.
If this is what freedom feels like…
He pulled away and kissed her deeply. She sighed with pleasure, but she reluctantly opened her eyes and smoothed the passionate creases from his brow. He opened his eyes and pulled away from their kiss.
"I don't like stereotypes." Dorothy said, "Especially the corny ones."
"I don't care about stereotypes." He touched her forehead with his as he caressed her cheek. "Stay with me Dorothy."
"You know what they say: Men are like roses, spewing all kinds of blossom from their lips. But we have to watch out for the pricks."
"I'm more of a daisy than a rose though."
"Pansy." She closed her eyes and breathed in his scent, all of him.
Quatre lifted her chin. "Stay with me."
Dorothy looked deep into his eyes. There was honesty there. And love. A deep, yearning to love her in the boundless way that she knew he was capable of. It frightened her. She knew that she would never be worthy of such affection.
He frowned. "You deserve the world Dorothy."
There it was again, his ability to read her like an open book. She pressed her ears against his heart. How could this creature know her thoughts before her mind had even finished forming them?
She heard his heart stir a little faster. Stay with me.
If this is what freedom feels like…
The sky rumbled above them. Dorothy slowly counted to ten. Could she afford to take the chance?
She lifted her head from his chest and kissed her answer onto his lips.
The End
A/N: Ahh well, you know. Fluff, in a symbolic prose.