Hello, peoples! I should have updated a LOT sooner, but I've lost the floppy disk with the first chapter on it and I want to keep all my chapters on the same disk. Well, THE STORY MUST GO ON! And, will somebody please tell me the correct spelling of Hildy's name? It's driving me up a wall! Also, Heero's memory in Endless Waltz about that mission gone wrong, I'm making it a reality, just in case anyone asks. Or was it already a reality and he was just reliving the memory in a dream….?
Disclaimer: What crack head in their right mind would think I own Gundam Wing? I own all original characters in this story, that is all.
Chapter 2: Memories
"Ooo, nice car, Heero!" Duo complemented as Heero turned off the car alarm and opened the door.
"And it's Duo-proof. Here." Heero tossed the keys over to Duo so he could unlock his door.
"Ha ha, very funny." Duo unlocked his door and got in. "Nice Pleather, Heero." Heero glared at him as he snatched the keys out of Duo's hand and put them in the ignition, and then said, "It's leather."
Heero had driven to the first stoplight before Duo responded, "Are you sure it is?"
"Duo, I can push you out of this car. While I'm driving it sixty miles an hour," Heero said. Duo grinned. "You wouldn't dare." Heero looked at him with his old emotionless expression.
"I'll be good now. I promise I won't make fun of your Pleather anymore." Duo heard his door unlock. "Okay, I'll quit, seriously!"
Heero locked Duo's door back. "That's better." Heero drove on, listening and occasionally nodding as Duo talked on and on about the girl he had been dancing with. Duo had been going on for at least a half an hour before Heero actually spoke to him again.
"What did you say her name was again?" he asked Duo, who smiled as he answered, "Her name is Shaylee. Shaylee Jamenson. And she didn't think I was drunk!" Heero eyes widened slightly, and he coughed unexpectedly.
"You okay?" Duo asked, looking at his friend. He had never known Heero to react like that to a name. "Hey, do you know her?"
Trying to look as though he had recovered from the shock, he cleared his throat and stared straight ahead at the road in front of him. "She's a rich girl, almost richer than Quatre. Her father is a descendant of the man who made the first computer chip."
"Wow, really? I wonder what she was doing there then?" Duo pondered as he put his arms behind his head and looked out the window, though he was really watching Heero out the corner of his eye.
Heero continued to look at the road, trying to make his face unreadable as possible, but Duo was an expert at reading expressions, even Heero's. When Heero wore his old emotionless expression, the only way Duo could figure out what he was thinking was how high a position his eyebrows were in and exactly how open Heero's eyes were. By now, Duo could read Heero, or anyone for that matter, like a book. The expression he saw now was the one Heero had when he was either deep in thought or remembering something from long ago. Without drawing Heero's attention, Duo looked harder at Heero's eyebrows. It wasn't a painful memory; it seemed like it was more perplexing if anything. Duo turned his attention away from Heero and back to outside the window, which showed that it was now raining a bit harder than a sprinkle. He knew he could get no more information from looking at Heero's face. He'd just have to pry at Heero a little later.
Heero stared hard at the road ahead of him as a memory played before his eyes like a movie. It was the memory of a mission gone wrong, where more than just his target was destroyed. Innocent people were killed, but a little girl he had just met that day was also murdered, and it was all because he didn't calculate one possibility. The most perplexing thing about the memory wasn't how he had made a mistake and killed all those people, but it was the strange phenomenon that occurred while he was among the burning buildings, still in shock and unable to move.
He had looked to the left of him for some unknown reason and had gasped as he saw a figure in the flames. At first he had thought he was just hallucinating, but he knew he was wrong as soon as the figure started to come closer and closer. It was walking out of the flames. As it approached, the figure took on a more feminine shape, and became clearer to him. He stared, bug-eyed the whole time, his mind screaming at him to leave before something happened to him, but his legs remained rooted to the spot, and his eyes were fixed on the girl, and on her own eyes, which were glowing red. His eyes moved for a split second to the strange symbol on her head, which appeared to be a circle with wings resembling a butterfly's.
Once out of the flames, he saw that she had long, sandy brown hair that was in a braid down her back. She appeared to be his age, and her skin looked as smooth as if she hadn't just walked through those flames. The only thing about her that seemed affected by the flames was her clothes, which had burned halfway off her body. She stopped walking only a few feet away from him. Her mystically glowing eyes which had captured his entire being looked at him, filled with a deep pain and sorrow.
And then she opened her mouth and whispered one single word to him, which had burned a hole right through his heart:
"Why?"
As unexpected as her appearance and her speech, her eyes ceased to glow and turned into a would-be bright green color, and she fell to the ground. Shocked, scared, mystified, and confused all at once, Heero kneeled down beside her, and with a shaky hand, touched her soft hair. She was real, no doubt about it. Heero began to shake uncontrollably now, and staggered away in a dazed fright from the girl's motionless body. Tears were now spilling out of his eyes, and he finally turned around and fled from the strange girl and the burning buildings.
Later, he had searched for information about the girl and discovered everything he could about her. He had intended to apologize in private to the girl's parents, but he never found the time, nor the courage to do so…
"Heero, you passed my apartment."
Heero snapped out of his sudden melancholy mood at the sound of Duo's voice. Heero looked in his rearview mirror and saw Duo's apartment building going farther away from them.
"You're right. Damn," he swore, angry for letting himself hint to Duo that something was wrong, although Duo already knew something was up. Heero turned around and headed back for Duo's apartment.
When Duo left the car, he left it knowing more than that something was wrong with Heero. He knew exactly what it was that was bothering the guy. He had saw Heero's memory, but he himself didn't know how he did…
Ooo, freaky happenings! Sorry to keep you people waiting so long, I have just been distracted lately. But, school will be out soon, so expect more quicker! Thanks for the reviews, and keep reviewing! Sayonara!
