Letters
Letters
By BlackRose, 2001

I own nothing at all from Gundam Wings, more's the pity. This ficlet is just for fun!


L-1, AC 195

Relena raised a hand, stiffling a small yawn surrepticiously against her palm. She really didn't like to travel, and it seemed she had done nothing else since... well, since forever, it sometimes felt. Absently brushing back loose strands of her hair, she rubbed at eyes that felt too heavy to be held open and bit back another yawn.

"Vice Foreign Minister Dorlan?"

The breathless voice of Colony Representative Derouve jerked her upright. Sleep, or the lack of it, was swept aside beneath a politely pleasant smile as she turned to face the man. "Yes?" she asked, even as she heaved an internal sigh in anticipation of the extended farewells that she had tried so hard to avoid.

"Are you going back to Earth?" Derouve asked as he drew up beside her, his face an almost comical mask of dismay.

Relena fixed the smile firmly in place, tempering it with just the right amount of practiced regret. "Yes. I'd like to show the Mars terraforming project to the Earth Representatives as quickly as possible."

The man's face fell. "But we had planned a party for your birthday."

She couldn't quite hide the wince that his words brought. A quick, startled moment of thought proved he was right - it was indeed her birthday. She had completely forgotten in the midst of everything else. Only stern discipline kept a laugh from bursting forth, but the laughter held little mirth. Her birthday... imagine that. Her sweet sixteen, and she, who a year before had been able to think of little else besides, now felt immensely more aged than a single year could account for. Surely she couldn't be sixteen. She felt more like forty.

Reaching out, she impulsively placed a light hand on the man's arm. "I'm very sorry," she said, and found to her own surprise that she meant it. She was sorry to rob him of the innocent joy of a young girl's birthday party, when she could no longer find any trace of that girl in herself. Her smile trembled for a moment, but to his eyes it was only the expression of a child putting on a brave front in the face of disappointment. "It was kind of you to think of it, but we all have to put our duties first."

He was disappointed, but understanding. She let him escort her to the shuttle and accepted a card and a small, festively wrapped box in lieu of anything more elaborate. They bowed and shook hands at the foot of the shuttle stairs, Derouve repeating his ernest wishes that Relena might return soon. She smiled, assuring him that it was a possibility, but the smile faded as soon as she had safely turned away, wearily climbing the stairs.

Maybe, just maybe, she could sleep on the flight to Earth. She doubted it would help - there wasn't possibly enough sleep in all the known universe - but at least it sounded reassuring.

The inside of the shuttle was a familiar wash of steralized scents and almost too cool air. Relena trailed her hand along the top of the rows as she walked down the aisle to her seat. A man in the overalls of a maintenance worker brushed past her on his way out, bumping her slightly.

"Excuse me."

"That's alright," Relena responded automatically, but the man was already past her. Sighing, Relena counted along the rows, finding her seat.

When she first caught sight of it, her instinctive reactions were varied. Once, she would have felt nothing but curiosity and delight. Now... now, she realized with dismay, her first thought was whether or not the small thing on her seat represented a threat. Was it safe? Was it boobytrapped somehow?

It was beyond rediculous. From her seat where it sat propped, the dark chocolate brown bear seemed to agree. Relena had to smile. It was a small little stuffed bear, with a card set between its stubby little legs. Probably another gift from the Colony Representatives. It was sweet of them, really. Bending, she caught hold of the card, opening it up to read it.

Her heart stopped for one horrible moment in her chest, then lurched painfully back to life.

How? When? Oh dear god, she had missed... no, no she hadn't! Scrambling, heart pounding, Relena flung herself across the row of seats to the shuttle window.

He was there, halfway across the shuttle hanger. He'd taken off the cap that went with his maintenance worker uniform, letting the disarrayed dark hair beneath free, and she would have recognized him anywhere. Relena pounded her fist against the window, knowing it was hopeless. He couldn't possibly hear her.

"Heero! HEERO!"

Impossibly, he paused. Hesitated, then turned. Eyes of the darkest blue looked up, and for one moment, across the width of the hanger, their gazes met.

Smiling, Relena held up the card and deliberately ripped it down the middle. Those eyes would be able to see her - she spoke clearly, knowing he could read the words on her lips. "Next time, give it to me in person!"

She thought he smiled, just a little. The tinniest curve of his lips, as he looked at her. Then he turned away again and kept walking.

Gasping, Relena collapsed back down in her seat. She was going to start crying or giggling, and if she started either she wouldn't be able to stop. Scooping up the little stuffed bear, she clutched it tight, its fur velvet soft against her cheek.

A card with her name on it. Three little words, signed with a single initial, as though she might ever mistake who they came from. Relena smiled, a heartfelt expression of real pleasure as she sat down, the stuffed bear with its absurd bow hugged tight to her chest. Heero would come back. He had to. He had said so.



Omae o korosu
~ H