"It really depends on how you look at it," Heero replied. "To you, this war is meaningless. All these deaths should be avoided. To Zekks, it's entirely different. To him, these deaths are inevitible. To him, the only real path of peace is through the road of warfare."
"And yours is?" she was almost afraid to ask, afraid of the answer.
"I'm only a soildier," was the answer. "I only know how to fight. We can only rely on you for the future."
"You don't really believe that."
He laughed a little. "You should know better then anyone. I almost destroyed you that one time. I could've done it with a pull of the trigger or the press of a button." He looked up. "It may sound strange to you but the fighters might want peace more then anyone else."
Relena could only blink. She had no reply.
"Wars are terrible. People die in them; everyone knows it, but to really understand it you must participate. It may sound like a paradox but sometimes I think that if I kill everyone that wants to kill me, then I'll just be able to stop fighting."
"But fighting only leads to more fighting," Relena argued. "Its just a cycle of violence. Someone will have to stop before the circle ends."
"I'd like to stop fighting," Heero said. "Killing, it's like a nightmare all your own. Fighting wounds your body, but killing; hurts the soul. It makes you feel less human."
"Then why don't you stop?" she asked. "You don't have to fight if you don't want to. Nobodys making you."
"There will still be fighting if I stop," he replied. "People may accuse fighters of being bloodthirsty, but in reality; they may be preventing the greater loss of life. If I stop fighting then others will have to replace me, others could be hurt. It's a terrible choice, but I'd much rather fight on my own."
"Then peace truley is a paradox," Relena looked at the ground. "To get people to stop their fighting, you might have to show them fighting firsthand. Only violence leads to more violence, and then will anything be accompliced?"
"Zekks believes that showing war as horrible as it is to everyone will stop fighting," Heero said. "You believe that by taking away all weapons and destroying the desire to fight will stop fighting. I don't know who is right, all what I know that is I must fight for what I believe in."
"Someone once told me that at the core of all wars is the ideals that you stand for, but then how can the ideal you stand for be peace?"
"Tell me, Relena, a sheperd kills a wolf to save his flock of sheep. In a way, the sheperd is fighting a war against the wolf. Is the violence in that act preventing more violence to be commited?" she nodded. "Its the same way with some people. Violence may be the only way to stop it from happening. Sometimes you must face a nightmarish present to get the desired future."
"Then real peace may be a paradox."
