Hello everyone, yes I'm back and I have a new chapter up, I've decided to continue in the same format that I've been using before, but this time I've made the separate parts longer. If you haven't read the prologue yet, you don't have to read it, but it may give some better insight on this first chapter. Sorry for the long wait, I was going through somewhat of a personal crisis and got kind of depressed and just never got around to writing this until now. I hope you like it and remember, please read, enjoy, and review, but don't flame. Use constructive criticism if you don't like it.
Before Ten Years After: Chapter 1
Before A Husband and a Nightmare
As the sun rose above the horizon, it sent a shaft of light down through an open window, illuminating the figure seated at a small silver cosmetics table. Relena double checked herself in the mirror and adjusted the scarf around her neck. Today was just another business meeting just another proposal to be excepted or rejected another treaty made or broken. Since the war had ended life seemed to slow down for her. There was no more fighting, no more bloodshed, no more war, and no more Heero. This later thought lingered in her mind like a cloud that refused to clear up after the rain had ended. Now that it had been over a year since she had last seen him for real, her life seemed so empty. Sometime she thought she would see him in the crowds she was addressing or in the shadows during her visits to foreign countries, but whenever she attempted to actually find him, he seemed to disappear into thin air. It was like he was now only a figment of her imagination, an illusion, a specter of the past coming back to haunt her just enough so she wouldn't forget him. Her girlish crush for him had disappeared during this period of absence from one another. What she felt for him now felt more passionate, and at sometimes was at the point of lust. There would be no more chasing after him though, no not anymore, that was the past, that life had disappeared with the last sign of war over a year ago. For now she would simply hold his image in her mind like a page of a book that has such a brilliant poem, that you can't help but read it over and over again, never bothering find out if there might be even better poems beyond that page of life. Looking at herself in the mirror one last time she left the mansion and seated herself in the waiting limousine.
Before A Priest and a Haunted Heart
A faint breeze blew the curtains of the open window creating the affect of a ghost trying to get back to its home and the people it loves. Realizing that the wind was causing a draft in the room and that she did not want to catch cold, Hilde walked over to the window and shut it, clasping in shut with the lock. She shivered slightly in the still cool air that the window had allowed in the house. Duo had already gotten up; it was odd for him to be up before her. Most of the time she was showered, dressed, and had breakfast on the table before he even begun to stretch to awareness. Oh, well she thought, he must have some important business this morning, I'll just eat a quick breakfast and go find him. Over the past year, the business the two of them ran together had grown and now drew a fairly descent profit, well at least enough for the two of them to live comfortably on. Neither of them cared that much for the finer things in life and what they had was more than enough for them both. The business wasn't the only thing that had grown this past year, they're relationship had taken a much more romantic and passionate turn of late. It wasn't unusually for him to come home and greet her with a kiss, or for them to attempt a romantic dinner followed by a movie that they would watch curled up in each other arms. They had made out, but it never went any farther than that. Amazingly it had been Duo who kept them from actually making love to each other. He had told her that all though he was not a practicing Catholic, in this church it was a sin to do such things outside of marriage, and he would at least follow this commandment for the sake of the memory of Father Maxwell and Sister Helen. It had only been recently that Duo had divulged the story of his child hood to her, the pain the suffering, and the deaths that went along with it. That night she had held him tight until dawn letting him release years of tears that he had held back since childhood. That night she had found another side to her Duo, no only was he Shinigami, but also an angel whose wings had been torn to shreds from one tragedy after another. Realizing that she had let her thoughts get away with her, Hilde poured herself a cup of coffee and went off to find her angel, her devil, and her lover.
Before A Brother and A Broken Heart
The knife cut through the air like a streak of silver lighting. Nothing could make it go off course and the crowd stared in silent awe at the spectacle before them. At last it came to a halt on the target board, only millimeters away from the neck of Trowa Barton. Catherine bowed to the crowd and as if some signal had been give they cheered in a sudden uproar of applause. She heard the ringleader announce her name and that of Trowa, and they stood in the spotlight hand in hand in the afterglow of the crowd's reaction. When the spotlight finally left them to focus on the next act, she let out a sigh of relief, that final knife had gone way to close to Trowa if had landed a centimeter to the left it would have pierced his jugular vein in his neck. This hadn't gotten any reaction from Trowa though; he always managed to keep his stony expressions during the entire routine. Heck, she could probably actually hit him with the knife and still would stand there with the same stony mask on his face. She had to admit though; he was easing up a little recently though. Sometime he favored with one of his oh so hot smiles that would send shivers down her spine. Maybe it was good that he didn't make any expressions during these routines, one of those smiles just might sent one of her knifes a little more far to the left than intended. By the time she came out of her reverie her and Trowa had made they're way back to their trailers that were next to each other. It was then that she noticed he was looking at her and was giving her one of those smiles. She wanted to hit him for looking so good and at the same time being such a nice guy. Instead she decided to see if she could get a reaction out of him and placed a quick peck on his cheek and waved goodnight to him in a flirty school girl manner on her way to the trailer. He just stood there like she had just thrown a knife at him. Catherine giggled to herself as she closed the door behind her.
Before A Widower and a Lonely Heart
The clouds seemed to reflect the mood of the girl kneeling in the middle of the graveyard. They were both looking gray and murky at the moment. Dorothy laid the last flower on the grave of her parents' before moving on to where her grandfather was buried. As much as she had denied caring that they were not there for her before, she could never stop coming back to these graves. Maybe it was because there was no longer a war and she no longer had anything to do, maybe it was because there was no one to home anymore besides bustling servants, or may because it was that she was lonely and wanted to be close to the ones that only now she realized she had cared so dearly for her and had given her that same love in return although through her eyes it had not seemed as much. She said a prayer, and then got up to leave. It began to drizzle and she wished that she had brought an umbrella with her after all. The rain got heavier and all at once she began to cry. It wasn't because of the fact that she was going to get all wet, or because she missed these people so much, it was because of the sudden realization of how much of her life she had wasted. All these years she had thought she had been an advocate of war, and told her self how much she loved to fight or to witness fighting and killing that came with war. The tears streamed down her face more quickly and freely now, just as the rain had gotten harder. In the recent years since the war with the colonies had ended, Dorothy seemed to find her self in this state of emotions often. She knew it would do her no good to cry, that it would not bring back her life. It would not fix the things that went wrong all those years that she had lived with a hardened heart. It would not make her parents come back to life. But it seemed to free her soul just a little, relieve the tension that had existed for so long. So, many tearless years had gone by unnoticed, and now she would not stop herself. She sank back down to the grave of her grandfather and curled herself into a fetal position. Allowing her to cry freely. All of the sudden the rain above her seemed to stop. She looked up to see a welcoming face holding a green umbrella above her head and an extended hand to help her up. At that same moment, the tears that had been streaming down her face also disappeared. She grasped the hand like there was no tomorrow and all at once she found herself smiling. Maybe all had not been lost after all.
Before a Father and A Lover
The room was filled with complete silence; the only thing that could be heard was the faint buzz of the fluorescent lights that illuminated the otherwise dark room. It seemed like the world had been like this for the past couple of years. Since peace had finally been achieved there seemed to be less and less for the preventers to do, A year ago they would've normally been at least a few assignments a week, now they were lucky if they got one. Sally yawned as she looked through the last of the papers she had just finished filling in. It was the final copy of a report for an assignment her and Wufei had gone on at least two maybe three weeks ago. She yawned again and took a sip from the now cold cup of coffee. She heard a grunt come from the only other occupant in the room. It was her partner Wufei. All of the sudden he exploded with rage. What is the point of us even being her women! We've had so little to do that we have nothing to do but file papers for an expedition we went on two and a half weeks ago. I don't see why they don't just shut down the preventers. Zechs and Noin left 6 months a go when they got married, and despite the fact that there is less people there is still no more work for those of us that are still her. If it wasn't for my sense of honor I would leave right now and refuse to come back until they have some real assignments to do. Why should I waste my time with a job that is doing nothing. This does not serve any form of justice, it is all just a waste of time. When we do even get an assignment these days, it consists of checking out a threat, that half the time ends up being written by some amateur criminal who was to scared to have ever even followed through with it. Sally drowned out what Wufei was saying and let her thoughts wander. She had heard this same speech from him it seemed like every day for the past year. Why didn't he just quit, heck she might just do that, if she had to listen to him rant about not having anything to do again. Finally, extremely sick of what he was saying, she just screamed at the top of her lungs, she didn't say anything she just screamed. Then stopped and stared at him. He had stopped talking abruptly when he had heard the unexpected disturbance and looked to see what was wrong with her. All of the sudden, Sally got an almost cruel idea in her mind. Why not, now that she had his attention. She let herself go limp and collapsed to the floor. Sally watched through half closed lids as he came over to her and checked her pulse, he then went on to see if she was still breathing, as he did this she held her breath. She saw his reaction when he didn't feel her breathing and he bent down to perform mouth to mouth recitation As he brought his head down, Sally grabbed his neck and planted a kissing square on his mouth. When he finally realized what she had done, he left the room fuming mad and muttering obscenities under his breath. Sally just smiled to herself as she remembered the brief taste of his lips from when she had just kissed him. As he left the room, Sally yelled after him half laughing: "Wufei I'm ashamed of you, kissing me without even asking, just for future notice you're welcome any time that you want" Wufei just grunted and slammed the door behind him.
Well did you like it, I don't know what it, but I always seem to make the Wufei and Sally part the longest, oh well. Once, again I would appreciate no comments concerning the whole thing about Trowa and Catherine, whether or not they are related. Please tell me what you think and if you have any ideas on how things should happen that lead to my other story "Ten Years After". I'm always open to suggestions and I would love to hear your opinions. Thanks for reading,
Teresa aka Relena Yuy