She stood next to her father amongst all the rubble with her eyes shut as tightly as she could and with her fluffy pink scarf pressed firmly over her nose. She didn't understand why her father had insisted on taking her with him to the L2 colony after such a horrible massacre took place only days ago. The snow falling did nothing to diminish the heat of the still burning coals and the smell of death was still fresh in the air. It made her sick.
"Relena…" the little girl jump at her fathers touch. She looked up at him with tears swelling in her eyes. Mr. Darlin looked down at her with a soft look and then focused back onto the wreckage. "This is the only thing that war accomplishes," he said. "You need to look and see to understand that."
Relena forced her gaze back onto what remained of a little church. It had housed war orphans and had been run by a priest and nun. All of them were dead now. There was nothing left of it save a few walls and a broken crucifix. The face of Jesus had melted away.
Not being able to stand it anymore she buried her face into her fathers coat. He placed his arm around her and motioned for one of their escorts to take her away. Once they got to the limo she couldn't hold it anymore. She dropped to her knees and threw up all over what was left of the sidewalk. Disgusted, the man who had brought her walked away and left her sitting on the ground, vomit dripping down her chin, sobbing quietly.
That's when she heard that small sound that she'll never forget. It was the sound of someone crying. She looked back at all of the adults but none of them appeared to have noticed. She listened to it some more and then tried to see where it was coming from. It didn't sound like it was very far away, only down the street a little.
She stood up, took one more look back towards the church were her father was and then started off down the street, following the sound of a broken heart. She passed by a small side street that had the appearance of an alley. When she looked down she noticed small legs and feet poking out from behind a garbage can. She stood there for a few seconds sure that that was where the crying was coming from.
"Hello," she called out. The crying stopped and the legs disappeared behind the can. She walked down towards the person slowly. "Is anyone there?"
"GO AWAY!!!" the person behind the trashcan yelled. "Go away or I'll throw a rock at you." She stopped about three feet way from the can.
"Oh, well I'm not afraid of a rock," she said, sounding as confident as she could. She tried catching a glimpse of the person but they were really pressed against the wall or something because she couldn't get a good look. "Why don't you come out where I can see you?"
"Just go away," they said again.
"Was that you I heard crying?" she asked still trying to get a look.
"Boys don't cry," the little voice said.
"Well boys don't hide from girls either," she said matter-of-factly.
They were silent for a few minutes after that. She was ready to say something else when movement from behind the trashcan silenced her. What popped out from behind the garbage made her almost cry and laugh at the same time
He was a young boy, maybe only around her age, with long brown hair pulled back in a braid. He wore a priest robe and collar and he was dirty from head to toe. His violet eyes were red and puffy, a sign that he had been crying. He gave her a weary smug look and ducked back behind the garbage can. She walked over and crouched down in front of him, not even caring that she was wearing a skirt and he could probably see her pink panties.
"Why were you crying?" she asked.
He didn't say anything. He just sat there with his legs crossed staring at his hands. He looked tired, like he hadn't slept in days and he was really skinny to she noticed. She thought maybe he was sick. She reached her hand out and touched his forehead with her fingertips. He didn't even flinch.
"Do you hurt somewhere?" she asked.
He nodded his head.
"Where?" she asked. He looked like he was going to cry again.
"My stomach."
"Oh so you're hungry?" she reached into her coat pocket and pulled out half of a chocolate bar. She held it out to the boy, "Here you go. You can have this."
He stared at her for a few seconds like he hadn't heard what she said. He reached out and took the candy. After staring at it for a few more seconds his eyes swelled up and he held it to his chest.
"Oh! Are you alright?" she asked, afraid that he really was hurt somewhere.
"Thank you," he sobbed and then looked her in the eyes, "Thank you."
She was going to say more but then she heard her father call out for her, "Relena where are you?!"
She stood up and started to run towards his calls but then stopped and turned back to the boy.
"Are you going to be alright?" she asked.
The boy stood up and smiled at her sadly. "Yeah I think I will be now."
She smiled at him turned and ran towards her father's voice. When she reached the end of the street he was there, pulling her into a warm loving embrace.
"My goodness where on earth have you been? I was so worried," her father said not wanting to put her down. She looked back down at the trashcan but the boy was gone. She turned back to her father and kissed him on the forehead. "Relena…?"
"I think I understand now daddy," she said looking him in the eyes. "And I want to make it so that nobody has to cry anymore."
Mr. Darlin looked his daughter in the eyes and said, "Me too Relena…me too."