And here is the epilogue!
I hope you all like this so far! I had sooo much fun writing it!
Nikki :-P
Name: Carnival Night (the
epilogue)
Couples: 2+3
Time: The end of Endless Waltz (rewritten a little)
Rating: PG
Warning: Shounen-ai, mild curses
Key:
*Thought*
~(-Point of View-)~
~Time~
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or it's characters.
Carnival Night
The
Epilogue
~The End of Endless Waltz~
~(-Duo-)~
"Good bye, old buddy" I say as I push the detonator.
Deathscythe, Heavyarms and Sandrock glow a bright red before disintegrating into nothing.
The three of us stand, watching the dust clear as the wind blows it away. I hear Quatre sigh to my left.
"It's finally over," he breathes.
"I guess so," I say quietly. "I won't miss it though, not a bit, I'm glad it's over"
"We all are" Quatre says quietly.
I glance over to Trowa, standing at the edge of the cliff, watching the last of the dust blow away.
We'd never talked about what happened, he'd never mentioned it and I was afraid...afraid he'd forgotten, or regretted it. It had kept me up late at night. I had meant every word I'd said. I would have found him. I would have gone back. All the battles I'd fought after our day together were for him, I fought for my promise, I fought to make the world peaceful, for us. But now...now it felt like a dream, an illusion I had made for myself, a reason to keep fighting in those meaningless wars, to take on the suicide missions, all for him, all for my dream of him, for us.
We stand in silence a moment longer, afraid that if we leave it will truly be over, not the war but our friendships. Will we ever even see each other again? It scares me to think that I won't see them again, or even very often, I need them, though I don't like to admit it. I've always told myself that I could make new friends, but I don't want new friends, they wouldn't understand...not like my fellow ex-pilots did...
And Trowa...what about Trowa? Could I even bare not to ever see him again? The thought sends shivers down my spine.
"My shuttle leaves soon" Quatre whispers.
My gut wrenches.
"You sure you can't stay a little longer?" I ask.
He shakes his head.
"I've delayed too long already, my work is piling up as we speak," he sounds sad, remorseful.
"Can I come visit ya sometime?" I ask hopefully. I'm not sure what I'll do if he says no.
He smiles warmly, a look of relief on his face.
"I'd love that Duo!" He says. "And you too Trowa!" he says, peering past me at our silent companion.
I'm shocked when Trowa smiles slightly.
"Thank you Quatre," he says.
Quatre smiles even brighter.
"I have to go, good bye. I'll see you again soon?"
I nod. "ASAP Q-man!"
He smiles and hugs me.
"I can't wait," he whispers in my ear.
He walks over to Trowa and hugs him too, murmuring something I can't hear. Trowa looks at me briefly and nods. Quatre smiles and walks away, waving before getting into the awaiting limo.
I wave back until I can't see his car anymore. Sighing, I turn back to the spot where our Gundams used to stand.
"Yep" I say. "It's all over"
I gather all my courage and turn to Trowa, putting on a half smirk. He's already watching me.
"So? What now? Where are you going to go?" I ask.
Trowa shrugs and looks to the same spot I had been looking. His eyes never wavering as he stares at the ground.
*He isn't afraid of heights anymore* I almost laughed. *I wonder how he managed that...*
"I don't know," he says softly. "I was planning on going back to the circus. What about you?"
I shrug.
"I'll probably go back to the shop with Hilde"
"Hilde...she was the one that brought the disk wasn't she? With the information on Libra?"
I smile.
"You remembered"
He made a soft 'hm' in his throat.
"She was brave," he said. "That information helped a lot. And...She really seemed to care for you"
I chuckle softly.
"She's a sweet kid," I breathe.
"So this is it then?" I ask after a few moments. "Will we ever see each other again?"
I really tried to not sound desperate or too hopeful. I failed, miserably.
Trowa turns to me, something flickering in his eyes for a moment.
"Yes" he says, looking away again. "We will probably meet at Quatre's"
"Right..."
*Damn! Stomp all over my hopes will ya?*
"I'll see around then..." I say.
I turn and start to walk away, my heart aching for me to say
something, anything.
"Do you know how long it took me to convince them I didn't have a secret girlfriend?" Trowa calls after me.
I stop mid-step.
"W-what?" I ask, turning to face him.
He turns away from the cliff, facing me with a small hint of a smile on his lips.
"I had to tell Catherine who you were to stop her from pestering me"
"You remember?" I ask, flushing red when my voice cracks.
He turns away again, wrapping his arms around himself.
"It took me months after my recovery to remember, or to put two and two together anyway. And then after that...I wasn't sure...Were you just pretending to help me get my memory back? Then I realized that it didn't matter to me, that no matter what, I could still hold that memory and at least pretend it was real. But it became too much. I planed out how to tell you...How to ask you...I've finally given up, I can't keep it to myself anymore, I need to know"
He turned to me again, a single green eye -damn that bang of his!- piercing into mine.
"Duo, do you remember? Did it mean anything to you? Were you...those things you said, the things you did...were they..." he swallows. "I need to know if what you told me was the truth"
I thought a moment, thinking my words over carefully.
"I went back the second time to bring back your memory" I began. "But it hurt you Trowa, I saw it, and I…I couldn't do it. But when we were together I saw something in you Trowa. That day we lived in peace, the war was far away, for a moment I didn't care. I'd begun to forget what it was like to feel carefree, to take a break and just live for a moment. That day with you gave me hope, I felt peace for one day, with you. I saw how much you truly enjoyed your life, how much you loved your sister, your life away from war, and you reminded me what I was fighting for. And I think I..."
*Oh god! I almost said it! I almost told him I loved him... *
"...I saw the real you Trowa, with out the pretence of war, without death and guilt, I saw you, one I'd never even thought was there. But you hide yourself away Tro', you won't let anyone see that because if you did, you might get hurt. You've learned to only keep company with yourself, you didn't think you needed anyone else. That day I saw you, the real you, the one who wanted companionship, who wanted peace. I fought so you could free that part of yourself again"
Trowa is still watching me, through my whole speech I struggled to keep eye contact. I'd waited too long for that, I wouldn't back down that easily.
Trowa is the one to break it, looking to his side at nothing in particular. I wait for him to speak, afraid that I'd said too much, that he hadn't meant what I thought he'd meant.
"That day..." He says quietly. "I fell in love with you, the true you. The whole day you were with me, you didn't seem worried about appearance. You were off in your own thoughts, you would look sad, confused, happy...and not that 'come on Heero cheer up' crap you put on in front of the others, you truly felt happy sometimes. When I came back and I saw you again, you were different...you said I hid myself away, but you did the same, you pretended to be happy, pretended you weren't scared, pretended that the war didn't bother you... I fought so you wouldn't have to pretend anymore"
He looks back at me slowly. I can see the fear and surprise and fear in his eyes, like he just realized what he said. I'd never thought I would see the day when Trowa spoke before he thought about what he was saying.
"I love you," he says quietly, more to himself then to me.
I swallow and bow my head, trying to calm the swell of emotion in my heart.
"I fought for you," I say. "I bleed for you, everything I've done since that day has been for you. I love you too, Trowa"
I look up and smile.
"And who'd have known you could be so god damn sweet?"
Trowa breathes out slowly, bites his lip and looks away.
I laugh lightly and look down.
"You know Trowa, the traditional thing to do when someone says they love you, is kiss"
He chuckles.
"Yes, I guess you're right" he says.
I look up, he's watching me. For a moment I'm not sure what to do, my stomach doesn't seem to want to stay in one place and my heart is beating so fast that again I wonder if I can have a heart attack this young. He's walking over to me, and to my surprise I've already started walking to him, when did that happen? It doesn't matter anyway. We're less then a foot away now, standing in front of each other, unsure of what to do next. He raises a shaking hand-
*He's nervous too*
-and places it on the side of my face, rubbing his thumb across my cheek for a moment before leaning down.
I'd dreamt of this constantly after our first kisses, his soft lips and sweet breath, tongue playing across my mouth, small caresses. It was exactly as I remembered, he's so soft and playful, it makes me smile since it countered his outward personality so much.
His arms wrap around my waist as he deepens the kiss, my arms going around his neck. I forget the cold wind, melting into his warmth, even as we break away for breath we stay close, still holding each other.
"This is nice and dandy Tro' but now what? What do we do now?" I whisper after a moment of silence.
"Come with me" he whispers in my ear.
I shake my head into the crook of his neck.
"I can't," I say. "I have the shop, I can't just leave it all to Hilde, she needs me"
"Can she juggle by any chance?" he asks.
I laugh and snuggle closer.
"No, but she makes killer ice cream sundaes"
"So will you come?" he asks then adds: "please"
I 'hm' softly and give him a squeeze.
"God yes!" I whisper. "I'd love to. I told you I'd kill to live at a circus"
He chuckles.
"Good" he breathes.
"But Tro'?"
"Yes?"
"We don't have to share a trailer with your sister, do we?"
Trowa chuckles and squeezes me a little tighter.
"No" he whispers.
"Good...Tro'?"
"Yes?"
"I love you"
"I love you too"
An End
And now for a Choice:
Have you ever read a fic and liked it, but the ending didn't fit your taste? Well here's your chance to decide on the end of this one! Now you can end above, all fluffy-happy-nice or you can read the lil' blurb below and maybe chuckle a bit. What you see down below is a lil' blurb of nonsense that I added for fun, it doesn't need to be there, it just is. You can decide if you want to read it or not!
The lil' other thing:
~(-Near by-)~
"Well it's about time!" Hilde whispers.
"Hush! They'll hear us!" Quatre whispers back.
"My leg is getting cramped, can we go now?" Heero grumbles.
"I agree," Wufei whispers. "I think they need their privacy anyway"
"Quiet! I can't hear what they're saying!" Hilde hisses.
"Did you hear something?" Duo asks from behind the bush they were hiding in.
All four eavesdroppers hold their breath.
"Must have been a squirrel," Duo says after a moment.
Silence...
"What are they doing?" Hilde whispers.
"I don't know," Quatre whispers back. "Why don't you look?"
"How did we get dragged into this?" Wufei whispers to Heero.
"Hilde promised ice cream," Heero whispers back.
"I can't! They'll see me!" Hilde whispers back to Quatre.
"This isn't worth it" Wufei whispers to Heero.
"I agree," Heero answers.
"Do you want to go?"
"Yeah"
Heero and Wufei stand up and start to walk away.
"Heero? Wufei? What are you guys doing behind that bush?" Duo asks, looking at them curiously.
Heero looks from the couple to Wufei to the bush were Hilde and Quatre are trying to keep from laughing.
"Getting ice cream" he says with a shrug before motioning to Wufei and walking away.
"What he said," Wufei says before following Heero.
Duo and Trowa just stare after them, confused about what just happened.
"Are you coming you two?" Heero calls back. "Or are you just going to stay in that bush all day? I think they want their privacy"
Quatre and Hilde stand, both blushing and wave to them before running after Wufei and Heero.
"What just-" Duo started.
"Don't ask" Trowa cut him off.
"Yeah, I think you're right"
After a moment Duo sighed and turned away from the place where the others had disappeared.
"You wanna join them?" he asks.
Trowa takes his hand and pulls him closer.
"In a moment"
The End
(Third times a charm!)
I did this before and I am again! One little thing I couldn't fit anywhere:
Trowa was always afraid of heights (in the fic). When he was young the mercenaries that took him in decided he had to work for his keep, therefore he had to fight. Now it's my belief that it would be hella hard to pilot a MS when you were afraid of heights! So they made him conquer his fear, and he learned to suppress it. But when Trowa lost his memory he forgot how to, therefore giving Duo an excuse to make a move!
Tada! There it is! So maybe it wasn't so little but anyway...
That was kinda long, sorry. Again, I hope you liked it! Even if you didn't I would like to know what you think! Anything you can think of to say would be greatly appreciated! Thanks again!
Nikki :-P