Coming Through the Rye
By Shannon the Twisted Link Worshiper
~ Part XX ~
Thrilling Cities
Sora banged impatiently on Heero's door early one morning, sunlight dumping through the window in glorious beams like she had never seen before in that particular corner of the world. It had been quite an arduous week since the whole incident with Cawdor. Not long after the incident, the cops had shown up to take control of the situation until a few representatives could show up from Preventers and haul Cawdor off. Heero had not managed to kill Cawdor with his attack—he had not been strong enough with his new wound in addition to those from the motorcycle besides only managed to tear at him with a pair of scissors. In any case, Duo had managed to slink off right after that, avoiding as many people as possible. No one had seen him since. No one was quite sure if Heero knew what had happened to the braided Shinigami, and though Sora was pretty sure that he knew more than he was letting on, she was beginning to feel like things were going to go back to the same boring way they always were. At this rate, there seemed like there was nothing she could do but go with it, and while part of her welcomed it, part of her was sad and longing for the adventure Duo Maxwell seemed to drag along in a suitcase where ever he went.
"Heero Yuy, are you awake?" she shouted impatiently as she rapped the door again. There was no answer from within. "Oh dammit Heero, this is stupid!" she gave the door a much more satisfying pound, not even realizing that it had slid open with the force of her fist as she was so absorbed in admonishing Heero for oversleeping. "Both you and I know that you never miss a single hour of a single"—she suddenly realized she was standing in front of an open door. "Heero?" she asked tentatively as she took a small step into the familiar dormitory. What she found shocked, frightened and excited her.
The place was dead, completely empty, like it had never been the two-year home of a boy named Heero Yuy. She walked to the center of the room and slowly did a three-sixty turn about the room, taking everything in. Both beds were neatly made, the sheets pulled tightly over the plump mattresses, sitting contentedly in the wooden twin frames. There was no longer the masculine clutter of clothes and just plain 'stuff' littering the floor. The desk was empty of that ever-present laptop, the stacks of books Heero had kept lining the floor beside said desk gone. Through the barely open bathroom door, she could just see that the sink was no longer home to that blue toothbrush of Heero's, or his generic store brand toothpaste. Her eyes finally settled on the bed pushed up against the far wall that Heero had once claimed as his own. The bedside table housed only the lamp that had always lived there, the box proclaiming 'Could you believe in heaven, if heaven was all you had?' that had been filled with memories of Duo no longer there. And the familiar book that always seemed to sit there was no longer there either. With an almost heavy heart, she turned to look at the wall over the bed, knowing just what she would find. No longer was the wall covered with the myriad of photographs that had captured the heart of Heero Yuy on paper. No longer did the sad and joyous mementos of a harder time adorn that bland white wall. All that was left was a scattering of thumbtacks and minute holes, and a piece of loose-leaf paper pinned unceremoniously to the wall with a small red pushpin. She leaned over the bed, afraid to disturb the perfect military standard-made bed beneath her, took the note off the wall and set to reading it, right there in the middle of the room.
Sora,
I know you are probably not going to be happy with this, but this is what has to happen. Duo and I are leaving, if you haven't already guessed by the state of things around here. You knew he was only going to stay for a limited period of time anyway, and I suppose you figured that I would probably end up going with him when he was ready to go. We're like the wind, you know. We've wiped our files—this school will never remember either of us. It's nothing new, really. I don't think there's a place we've been able to stay for very long before. But you know, I think that I'm going to try and go to college and Duo's got plans to open a dance studio or perhaps even do some acting. We have futures that just—(here the ink was run a little bit with what seemed to be a splotch or two of genuine Yuy-tears, which to Sora were a rare and beautiful gift)—just aren't here. If there's anything either of us regrets about leaving, it's leaving a friend like you. But knowing you, you're going to worry about it—don't. We know how to take care of ourselves and we've decided that it's time for both of us to live. We'll never be that far apart. We're all under the same sky, the same sun. With every light—you're never alone.
~ Heero Yuy
Sora was biting her lip, trying hard to be strong like Heero had requested of her. She was so preoccupied with doing so that she almost missed the postscript that had been scrawled in another hand. Unlike Heero's very neat, somewhat slanted lettering, these words were written with characters that seemed to bear to resemblance to each other, every line full of personality and oddity.
PS ~ If you ever need a pal, look us up. We're heading out for the Big Apple, good old NYC. Heero owes me a show or two and they're doing a revival of an old sexy show called 'Chicago.' Maybe you can pop over and we'll get the other boys to all go see it with us?
She laughed a little at that, and in that moment, she realized that she did not need to believe in heaven. She had so much more than just heaven to believe in already.
"See ya in another life, Lady," Duo said, looking up at the expressionless face of the Virgin statue in the chapel. He kissed the palm of his free hand (the other was supporting a certain feline) and laid it on her feet, giving the statue another quick nod before turning on his heel and meeting Heero out in the hall. His lover was leaning against the opposite wall, totally absorbed in the same-old-same-old.
"Finished there?" Heero asked nonchalantly, as he looked up at the braided ex-pilot. He was standing there clad in his usual black leather, the brown ball of fuzz known as Pocky, cuddled up in one arm. "You sure take a long time in a chapel for someone who doesn't believe in God."
"Well you sure spend a lot of time with that," Duo said, pointing to the book, "for someone who doesn't like to read."
Rolling his eyes at the totally absurd comment, he went back to the book, following Duo down the hall, looking up from his book only enough to make sure he did not walk into anything. It was an early Saturday morning and most everyone was either still asleep or busy at breakfast. No one would see them leave. No one would miss them. No one would care.
They were out on the front steps of the school, slowly making their way down to the driveway that would eventually wander off the campus and out towards their new lives together. Heero was still totally lost in 'The Catcher in the Rye.' He was on the last chapter, and upon completing the book, he would officially have read it one more time than Duo.
"Hey, Heero, look," he vaguely registered Duo saying into his ear. It was not until the chestnut haired boy had taken to tugging on his sleeve that he looked up. Following the trail of Duo's pointing finger, he followed it up to an open window on the second floor of the school. He could see Sora leaning out of the window, waving like mad after them a wild goodbye. For a moment, he thought he could see the morning sun setting a faint sparkle to the tears in her eyes as she watched them slowly turn and walk down the drive.
Duo was pulling him down the driveway again, away from the school. He sent one last look over at Sora and gave her a little smile and a curt nod of farewell before his eyes fell quickly to the book once again, reading the last sentence of the book with renewed strength.
{Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.}
Taking over, we're taking over.
Throw the weight up off your shoulders now,
That we can show our love.
It's almost over, it's almost over.
No more war and no more soldiers,
To stand against His love.
Away with all the troubles that you've made.
Away with waiting for another day.
Away….
Look Ma, the sun is shining on me,
Impatient, in love and aching to be.
Could you believe in Heaven,
If Heaven was all you had?
We're taking over, we're taking over.
Throw away your four-leafed clovers,
And stand beside this love.
Away with everything you've grown to hate.
Away with everything that holds you safe.
Away….
And every light I've found,
Is every light that's shining down on me.
I'm never alone.
Look Ma, the sun is shining down on me,
Taking my time to do as I please.
Could you believe in Heaven,
If Heaven was all you had?
The sun is beaming, radiating,
All the love we are creating.
We are creating….
And every light I've found,
Is every light that's shining down on me.
I'm never alone.
OWARI
{A/N} The song is by the Smashing Pumpkins, in case you care. It's called With Every Light. Finally finished! That's all she wrote. Please, please, please review or let me know what you think. I really went through hell with this story so I would love to know that it is at least appreciated or something. Feel free to tell me whatever you'd like, unless it's a bitch about the pairing or something like that. Okay, next project, step right up!