I feel a gentle poke, poke on my arm. I'm stirring. Why am I stirring? Huh? What happened? Did I fall asleep? I open my eyes abruptly, trying to remember where I am. I turn to my left and Duo is sitting there smiling at me. I feel quite cheery all of the sudden.

"You fell asleep for a while!" He exclaimed rubbing his chin a bit, "Can you believe it, we're almost there. Earth, Julie… Did you ever think we'd be back on Earth?" Reality set in as I watched his excited facial expressions with each spoken word. In those short moments after waking from a dream, I find it harder to recall what reality is. We're still pilots, fighting in a never-ending war. I'd much rather be the princess I was dreaming about just a few instants ago. Instead, I am the bloody battle ridden princess fighting for unattainable peace. I forget that nuance of myself sometimes. I by no means had the chance to act as princess that I am, unlike my sister Relena. I was never meant to be a fitting puzzle piece into royal anyway...

"Earth…" I let that word escape my lips and my gaze follows to the shuttle window. We're almost on ground. Duo is still looking at me with his big puppy dog eyes. He wants something, I can tell.

"Before Quatre picks us up, why don't we enjoy some good ol' real earth air? I swear all this processed stuff has been sending my senses into a rage!" I cannot help but giggle at him; he does make me feel better. I'm still foggy from my dream, at least that is what I want to believe, but I nod in agreement.

The shuttle lands swiftly and we are the first to get off the shuttle. You'd think the security from the colonies into earth would be incredibly tight, but it's the complete opposite. Earth had to lessen many of it's strict border control after the war ended. Apparently there are more important matters to attend to then the safety of Earth citizens. The colonies, however, would never allow such a thing to happen. The Earth hasn't become a barren wasteland yet, makes me question what really goes on down here…

I walk behind Duo as we exit the shuttle station onto the busy city streets. Duo stretches his arms out wide and breathes in deep. He turns to look at me, but doesn't say anything. With one look he makes my heart melt… damn him.

"Where to? You know Quatre will be here any minute, he's always early after all." I bring myself to stand beside him. He's still gazing out into the world around us. He seems rather reckless; he must not have slept on the ride. I follow his gaze out into the crowds before us.

"Well…" He breathed, still watching all the commotion of the city, "Thinking of that already, I told Quatre to pick us up at the wrong station, so-o-o… we have to walk anyway!" I give a sort of body-tensed jerk as he finished his sentence. How does he still surprise me with the things he does? I slowly turn my head to look at him and I find him staring back at me. I merely wrinkle my nose at him, to which he gives me a silent 'what?' followed by a big grin. He then opens his arm, like a gentleman escort, and flashes his winning smile at me.

"Shall we?" He asks in a polite tone. I smack his arm before I slide my own through. After all, I can't resist such a man with magnificent charm. How does he do this? How can he simply steal my heart for his own and never let go? I'm captive and I love it.

"You're going to get us in trouble, you know!" I coolly say as we begin walking. He was already taking no notice of my words. I follow in suit. My eyes rapidly go every which way as I take in the scenery before me. The busy body people, the piercing sounds from cars, the exorbitant buildings, and that real sky… Taking it all in is like a sense overload. Nothing like the real deal…

My mind feels a bit dizzy trying to process all this information. However, I find this 'real air' to be overall unsatisfactory. It's too bona fide, it that makes any sense, but it creates such a different feeling. Doesn't do much for me, that's all. I find myself gripping Duo's arm harder and I nudge in closer to him. I must have brought him out of his blissful state, since I felt his arm tense up. As we reach the entrance to a park nearby, I hold back a fighting urge to tackle him. I want to lay peaceful in the grass again, pretend we are on L2 and watch the clouds go by. I wonder if anyone else gets that feeling of being trapped inside your own body; unable to do the movements you crave to do. Lack of spontaneous movements makes me rather unhappy. I want to say something to Duo, but I finding myself at a loss of words. I spot a long white limo in the distance on the other side of the park. Quatre, he's always riding in a luxurious way.

When did we stop walking? Duo's standing in front of me with his big violet eyes staring and I can't remember what just happened. He's giving me a look.

"Are you alright?" He usually doesn't question me, but he has an unease look on his face. I smile at him with a natural glow. How else am I supposed to react to a question like that?

"What do you mean?" I say in a bit too cheerful. He'll see right throu-

"Come on, Julie…" Duo said sliding his hands in his pockets and rocking back on his heels. He gets nervous when he poses questions like that, and his eyes get bigger as he looked at the ground below him. I let out a nervous laugh and play with the long ends of my hair.

"I just feel a little light headed, that's all!" I lied. Well, it's not a lie per say… in fact; I'm not sure why I said what I said. I guess brushing off the topic of myself in a natural sounding way, isn't a skill of mine. He rubbed the brim of his nose and I instantaneously felt bad. He's bad at showing how concerned he gets sometimes and I love him for trying. I grab a hold of the front of his shirt and he brings his gaze to look at mine. He lets out a small 'hm?' sound, one I could die for.

"I'm okay." I breath with a nod. He doesn't need to worry about me; we've got much more pressing matters ahead of us today after all. I push onto my toes and give him a quick kiss on the lips. Once he relaxes, a devilish grin forms on my lips.

"… Race ya!" I stick out my tongue and head for the limo. I hear a form of an 'o ho ho!' sound escape him and suddenly I feel an arm wrap around my waist pull me back and suddenly my feet lift the ground. Before I know it I'm slung over his shoulder and he is casually walking forward. All I can see is his well firm derrière and the ground below.

"Aaa! Put me down!" I laugh, such a joy-filled laugh as he starts humming to himself, ignoring my pleas. I couldn't stop laughing. I knew this would be the last real heartfelt laugh I'd be able to get for a while…

I might as well let it all out...

Forgetting the gundams and forgetting our lives as pilots would be torture. That is how we live and we cannot deny such a fact. This boy is a part of me just like I am a part of him. Without them, we are left nothing but shards of our self. Shards of memories that are not whole. If we forget this than we are forgetting ourselves. I do not want to live in a shadow of a broken person. I want to fight on.

That is what I believe in and that is what I want to fight for. I believe the others feel that part of their soul burning as well.