Angel
Heero knelt down and gently placed the puppy in the hole that he had dug. It hurt; the little girl was innocent, and had been sweet and kind, and now she was dead. The only thing for him to do was to bury her puppy, the only thing that could be found of the little girl. He didn't even know her name! Heero's chest tightened as he filled the hole with soil and placed the flower on top. 'In memory of the little girl and her puppy...' he thought silently in place of a prayer before getting up and turning away. As he started back to the base, he felt the wind brush against his skin. But then it stopped, just like that. If Heero had been paying closer attention, if he had not been wrapped up in so much of his misery, then he would've noticed the girl with wings, looking at him with sad eyes.
***
"Oi! Heero! What're you thinking about?" asked Duo, perched on his elbows and looking at the boy.
"I'm working on the new mission," Heero replied.
"No you're not...you've been staring at the computer for the past eight minutes!"
The Japanese pilot turned to face the American loudmouth. "Duo, lemme ask you something."
"Go ahead!"
"Do you believe in guardian angels?"
Duo was taken aback. He just sat there on the bed, his mind boggled. 'Am I hearing right?' he thought to himself. 'Why would he be asking about guardian angels, of all things?' The usually talkative boy stared at Heero, still trying to sort out the question. "Guardian angels?" he finally managed to ask.
"That's what I said."
"Well, sometimes. I'd say yes, actually, 'cause I mean, it couldn't have been all luck when I escaped those hundred times or so!" Duo replied. Actually, he'd never thought about angels before; god, sure, but not guardian angels. Oh well, at least he was as honest as he could be while coming up with an answer right there on the spot.
"Oh." Heero turned back to his computer and resumed his typing, though the thought still bothered him. For some reason, he'd suddenly remembered the little girl and the many times his life had been saved by some unknown force. 'The wind...was it just my imagination, or was it an angel?' he wondered. All he knew was that normal breezes didn't last for only 5 seconds and have a feathery touch. Once again, if Heero had been paying attention, he would've seen the girl as she stood there, watching him.
***
The new mission wasn't hard- the instructions were to blow up the Oz base on L6, where Treize had supposedly stored hundreds of Leos. As Heero got into his Gundam, he would've sworn that he saw something shimmer nearby. 'Could it be the angel?' he wondered 'Actually, is there really an angel?'
'Yes, Heero, I really am here. The angel...' the girl thought back, though Heero never got the message.
Wing 1 flew out the hold with Death Scythe following close behind and the others somewhere nearby. The five Gundams flew over to the colony, where the Leos were supposed to be. What they didn't know was that it was a trap; there really were Leos, but Treize had inserted them all with bomb set to go off when they detected the gundamian. As the pilots neared the base, the Leos blew up just like they had been programmed to and blasted the Gundams with fire. Wing 1, which was in the lead, got the full impact and started to fall, its wings damaged and the cockpit in flames. Inside, the alarm was blaring, but Heero didn't hear, being unconscious and all.
The angel, who had been nearby the whole time, floated into the cockpit where Heero was and gently took his hands off the controls. She couldn't do anything to help him by herself, though, so she flew over to Sandrock and somehow managed to give Quatre a message about Heero. "Guys, I have a feeling Heero's not dead!" he exclaimed, guiding his Gundam toward Wing 1. Duo was surprised, but Death Scythe followed close behind. The two soon reached Wing 1, which was held in place by the angel. They each grabbed one of the Gundam's mechanical hands and started to lug it back to the safety of L2.
***
"Will he be alright?" asked Duo anxiously as the doctor stepped out of Heero's room.
The doctor smiled. "Yes, Heero will live. He's a lucky boy...normally, an impact like that would've killed him!"
"Or maybe it was the angel," muttered Duo under his breath, remembering the conversation that he and Heero had had two days ago.
The angel smiled and flew through the door, knowing her job was done for now.
