Pairings: 1xR, background 6x9
GW500 Prompt 227: Terminal
Comments: I don't regard this fic as anything approaching well-written. I haven't written anything in years, so it was a confidence-building exercise as much as anything else. Hopefully I'll finish it at some point, but I make no promises about that.
I took the idea from a prompt on an old LiveJournal community and decided to run with it. Constructive criticism is not only welcome but desired.
Disclaimer: If I owned Gundam Wing, I'd be raking in cash off model kits instead of searching for employment. All glory to Sunrise.
Final Distance
December, AC 204
He started shivering the moment he stepped into the portico.
December was always cold on L1, no doubt the work of some sentimental weather planner who felt the colonies were in need of some Christmas cheer. Looking out into the streets from under the shelter of the portico, Heero could see the first flakes of snow drifting down from the colony's artificial sky.
Thirty-seven minutes since the last time he'd heard her voice.
A navy van rolled up to the curb. He watched as a middle-aged woman, a honey-blond beauty, stepped out and extracted her three children from the backseat before waving away her dark-haired husband as he drove off to find a parking space in the building's crowded deck.
The woman must have noticed Heero's staring, because she she flashed Heero a nervous smile before leaving him alone in the entryway.
Heero's fists clenched, wrinkling the top of the small canvas bag in his left hand. It was the last thing he had grabbed before leaving, its single strap dangling limply by its side.
For a moment, he felt nothing but rage.
He barely registered the whoosh of the automatic doors behind him as Noin emerged in a heavy coat and scarf, her breath visible as little puffs of steam. A hooded lavender jacket was neatly-folded over one arm.
"Wait a minute, Heero," she said, as if he wasn't frozen to the concrete.
Heero didn't respond. He didn't look at her. Noin was standing next to him now, barely a foot away, but he heard her as if from a distance.
"Zechs is still clearing things up with the staff," she said. Things. "We'll leave together when he gets out." She reached out and laid a gloved hand on his shoulder. Heero brushed it away, glancing back at her as he did so. Noin was only four years older than he was -– a fact he often forgot, the way she tried so hard to shepherd them; both him and –-
But under the portico's faulty fluorescent lighting, she seemed to have aged, the dark circles under her eyes suddenly quite prominent. These had been hard years for all of them.
He looked away. A gust of wind blew westward, sending snow swirling into the portico. Heero squinted, closing his eyes against the chill and the moisture.
The bag in his hand felt so heavy...
And so ends the prologue. Please review and let me know what you think! I do plan on continuing this story, nervous as I am about it, and your feedback is appreciated.