From Afar
By: Icicle Raindream
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Gundam Wing characters, therefore I am making no profit from this story. Enjoy! Tell me what you think!
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I saw it from afar.
The wind seemed to gather strength just at that moment, whipping through my hair. I teetered and almost fell back, but my eye was attached to something shining and bright down below. It was like the wind was an omen of what had come, and my steady gaze held my feet firmly planted to the concrete.
Until I realized what had actually happened.
The tires squealed, leaving huge black track marks on the rocky street, kicking up sharp pebbles as it sped away. A voice streaked through the air, crying out a name. The voice belonged to me, and yet I didn't know it.
I fumbled for the steps, feet pounding, one after the other, slapping endlessly against the stone, clapping loudly through my ears, the wind blowing my hair back, my skirt swishing around my legs, my eyes blurry, full of liquid, my throat tight, screaming a name, one single solitary word as if the word was the only thing to keep the world from ending. A desperate attempt to act as a bandage, to heal broken wounds and hearts and bones, to keep the terror from spreading through the veins. Of course I didn't know about the terror at first, all I could feel were my feet striking the ground, sending shockwaves of pain through my legs until I reached the ground, where he was waiting.
My knees…cut and sore and bleeding as they crashed to the pavement. I crawled on them, feeling the skin peel back and more blood ooze. What were those cuts I had? Trivial things. Nothing could ever compare to what was before me.
He stood over me—Quatre—with his big bright eyes, brimming with unspilled tears. He was unsure of what to do, as was Trowa at his side. Trowa's hair blocked his face, yet one emerald eye held more compassion that I ever could've guessed one person could feel for another. Did he care more than I did? I couldn't even decide.
Instead of dwelling on idiotic, unimportant things like that, I pulled him towards me; cradled his head in my lap. My hands were shaking so hard, wracked with tremors that I had no hope of calming. My throat was squeezing unrelentlessly, trying to restrict my voice from breaking free and uttering his name softly.
"Heero…"
The soft brown locks of his messy hair scattered across my lap, the tingle of the tendrils made my legs ache. My own eyes burned, caught on fire with tender tears; as they descended my cheeks burst into flames; the salty water seeped into his shirt, which blew contentedly in the wind, one overly starched white lapel brushing against his smooth cheek.
Those icy blue pools stared up at me, opening the window of the room that kept Heero's soul. I could see every inch of the pain that was scratched into his soul, his mind, down in the dark depths of his heart. Peaceful heart…
"No, Heero," I told him as his eyes began to flutter violently. My hands grasped his cheeks lovingly and angrily at the same time, and the flash caught my eye again.
I reached across his little body and yanked the dart out of his muscular arm, watching as the blood stained his shirt as it ran from the tiny puncture wound.
A choked cry from behind startled me, and a sob shot through my throat, seeking the outside air, to be heard, to be known, to be recognized as absolute agony. I was looking into his eyes, he was telling me something with them…trying to say something.
His mouth fell open; he was almost completely immobilized around his mouth, and he so desperately wanted to say something. The whispers weren't loud enough for me to hear over the intense rapid beating of my heart and I leaned closer to deduce his mouthing at me.
His hand shockingly rose, searching for my face, five fingers in constant turmoil, trembling with the poison that flowed through his blood. I pushed my cheek into his hand, wishing it would take the shaking away from him and dispose of it forever. Instead I shook along with it, gasping breaths coming from my lips. My ears burned with anticipation of his words, what he so arrogantly wanted to tell me. He was arrogant, in every way a boy could be. He was determined to speak somehow through the rot that was clotting his veins.
I could hear his voice trying to surface, trying to get past the lump of poison that was collected in his throat and mouth. He tried several times, but nothing would work. He simply couldn't talk, but he wasn't giving up, I could see it in his eyes.
His hand traveled from my cheek to my hair, and I felt it tugging on my braid, pulling me closer to his face even as I cried, the weeping loud and uncontrollable. I could feel his breath on my face, ragged, jerky breaths…one of them would be his last, I knew.
My lips contacted his forehead, the smooth tan skin, cool with the dying wind. My eyes clenched shut as I pushed my lips against him, the tears running in rivulets over my mouth onto his head. He nodded slightly as I pulled away, his hand dropped to his stomach, where the other was already waiting…and then Heero Yuy took his last breath of smog polluted Earth air and died.
The name stayed on his lips even as his lungs deflated for the last time, and the word he was so desperately determined to say to me was forced out into the afternoon, ready to attack those presumptuous ears of mine.
It's funny, but I never thought of my name as beautiful or anything special until I heard him say it. The way the music intertwined with his voice as he spoke captivated me, and as he said my name for the final time, the sonnet of his words was collected and stored in my brain, where I would keep it always.
And even as I screamed out loud, frightening poor Quatre into harder tears, I felt a peace within Heero…it settled over him like a sheet of icy snow after an avalanche. Those big cobalt eyes were closed forever, the image of my face stamped onto them for Heero to remember as his spirit left his body with me.
I rocked it; the small lifeless body sitting on my lap in the middle of the road on a blustery sunny day. His name repeatedly passed over my lips, and four shadows behind me stepped closer, their heads bowed in respect, the gravel splattered with brave tears…tears for the courageous warrior who always swore that life was cheap, yet risked his living essence every day to protect it for innocent people.
The situation almost became too much for me to handle, and as I backed away, I placed his head gently onto the road, supporting his neck, running my eyes over the curves that were Heero Yuy's extraordinary face. I scooted backward until my back came upon a pair of legs, and my hands grabbed the ankles of the person, whose hand was carefully placed atop my head. Duo.
The four Gundam pilots watched with me as Heero's head lolled to the side, his eyes shut tight in relief. I saw it from afar—the one single tear that escaped his eyelashes, that clung for dear life on them for a second, then gently rolled down his warm cheek as the wind picked up again. My hair blew into my face and my eyes closed, and that was the last I ever saw of Heero Yuy.