The Blue, Velvet Box

Relena let out a small sigh as she

leaned against the railing of the small

balcony and gazed out across the

beautiful scenery of the Sanq Kingdom.

Her honey blonde hair was suddenly

blown across her face by a slightly

chilled air, drying the tears that spilled

from her sea-green eyes, but not

stopping the memories that caused

them.

Relena entered her office to find

Heero staring sadly at a small-framed

photograph of them that she kept on

her desk. His face my still have housed

the mask of the Perfect Solider, but his

eyes gave away every ounce of his

pain and sadness.

"Heero, is something wrong?"

The ex-gundam pilot sighed and ran

a calloused hand through his messy,

chocolate brown hair as he looked up at

her with his deep prussian blue eyes.

"I..ummm.. have some bad

news."
The smile on the young woman's

face slowly faded into a frown as she

stepped closer to the hansom man in

front of her.

"What's going on?"

"I've been assigned a mission. I

have to leave at 1400."

Relena let out a cry of horror. A

mission? Now?

"Heero you can't go. Please, don't

leave me. I don't want to loose you

again."

The expression on his face
softened slightly as he, with out another

word, stepped forward and took her in his arms.

"I'm sorry Relena, but I have to

go. If I don't, war could break out all

over again, shattering the peace that fought so hard for."

The young woman tried desperately

not to cry but failed miserably.

"Please, just promise that you'll

come back to me."

Heero pulled away from their

embrace and stared deeply into her

beautiful sea-green eyes. He smiled

slightly and kissed her on the cheek

before pulling her back into his arms.

"I promise."

In the back round, a clock chimed

twelve as Relena slow backed away

from the banister and wiped several

tears from her eyes. She was about to

reenter her room when something

suddenly caught her attention. A

brilliant, blue-white star falling gracefully

from the heavens. She smiled sadly as

she returned to her room, remembering

an old legend her father had told her

about when a star falls it means

someone has died.

Upon entering her bedroom,

Relena almost mechanically strode

over to her bed, picked up her brush,

and slowly began taming her wild

blonde tresses. A slight breeze

suddenly ruffled her hair, making her

realize that the door leading to her

balcony was open.

'Strange' she thought, 'I could

have sworn that I had shut these.'

The young woman slowly turned

back around in hopes of returning to

her bed, when she let out a cry of shock

from what she found instead. There,

sitting in the exact spot she had just

occupied, was the one man that had

consumed her every thought of that

night.

"Heero."

The young man sitting on her bed

gave her a small smile as he rose to his

feet and walked swiftly to where she

stood. His deep blue eyes were filled

with pain and a sadness that Relena

had never seen before. 'Why is he

upset? He made it back, just like he

promised.'

"Relena.I.I wanted to give this

to you before I left but I just couldn't

work up the courage to do so." He

slipped a hand into his pocket and

pulled out a small, blue velvet box.

"Close your eyes."

The excited young woman smiled

and did as she was told. Several

moments later she felt Heero slip the

ring onto her finger as he placed a

gentle kiss on her lips and pulled her

into his arms.

"I love you so much Relena. I'm

sorry that I had to break my promise."

She opened her eyes and stared

at her love with deep confusion etched

on her face.

"What do you mean?"

He smiled sadly at her once more as

he pulled away from their embrace,

taking several steps backward towards

the balcony. Relena was about to

pursue him when the door leading into

her room from the hall suddenly burst

open, revealing a very distressed

Pagan waiting behind it.

"Miss Relena is everything

alright? I thought I heard a scream."

She smirked slightly at her butler

as she lightly shook her head.

"Everything is fine, I was just

talking to..." She turned in order to

motion toward Heero, but found only an

empty space in front of her.

"myself....."

The next day, Relena was sitting

in her office attempting to complete at

least a part of the mountains of paper

work that covered her desk, but found

that she couldn't concentrate long

enough to do so. Her thoughts

continually returned to the events of the

night before as her eyes kept

wondering back to gaze upon the

beautiful diamond ring that now resided

on her finger.

'What did he mean he broke his

promise?'

Her thoughts were suddenly

interrupted by a series of soft taps on

her door.

"Who is it?" she called.

Her secretary Kari, opened the

door and nervously poked her head

through.

"I'm sorry to bother you Miss

Peacecraft, but there are several young

men here to see you."

Relena inwardly smiled as she

caught traces of Duo's voice filtering in

from the hall, complaining about 'why it

was taking some god damn long.'

"Please show them to my office."

Kari gave her employer a

confused look but did as she was told,

returning a few moments later with Duo,

Quatra, Trowa and Wufei in tow, each

looking a little wore for the wear. Duo's

arm hung uselessly from a sling draped

around his neck as he nervously

scanned the room through a blackened

eye. Wufei walked with a slight limp as

he entered the room next to Quatra,

who sported several bruises that ran

along his arms and face and a set of

stitches hovering slightly above his left

eyebrow. Trowa was by far the worst

with his broken leg and stitches that

made Quatra's seem like paper cuts.

Relena let out a small cry of concern as

she rushed to her friends and helped

them find a seat in front of her desk.

"Oh my God what happened to

you guys?"

The four ex-pilots sitting in front of

her glanced nervously at one another

until they silently agreed that Duo

should be the one to speak.

"Relena, did Heero say anything to

you last night before he left?"

She nodded her head slightly with

a look of confusion etched on her face.

"Yeah, he said that he. he had a

mission and that it was very important.

He promised me that he would be back

soon though." She looked from one of

the young men to the next. "Why? Has

something happened?" A deep weight

settled in the pit of the young woman's

stomach as she took in the strange

looks of sadness that had crossed her

friend's faces at hearing her sentence.

"What happened?!"

Again the group of ex-pilots looked

to Shinigami to be the one to speak

once more.

"Relena the mission that Heero

was assigned.. it was...classified

as....suicidal."

The papers that she had kept

clutched in her hands the entire

conversation tumbled from Relena's

hands as she took in exactly what was

said.

"Wh..What do mean? He's

not.." She looked to them for an

answer but none of the young men in

front of her seemed to want to look

anywhere but the floor. She let out a

small gasp of disbelief as she collapsed

in a heap on the floor with her face n

her hands.

"He can't be gone. He promised

me..He promised." Quatra got up

from his chair and slowly knelt next to

the sobbing young woman and pulled

her into his arms.

"I'm sorry Relena. It's our fault. We

were captured and Heero came and

rescued us. Only.....they found us

as we were escaping. In order to get us

out..he....he self detonated" The

blonde young man reached into his

pocket and pulled out a small charred

box and handed it to Relena.

"We went back after everyone had

evacuated. When we found him..he

was....he was.." Tears began to

build up in Quarta's sea-green eyes as

Duo walked over and joined the pair on

the floor.

"He was barely alive. He told us to

give that to you. He loved you with all

his heart, and I know he never meant to

do this to you."

Relena nodded slightly as she

inspected the small box that was

handed to her. Out of curiosity she

opened it and found that the insides

resembled that of a ring box. She

quickly shut the container with a small

snap and frantically began scratching

away at its surface until a hint of deep

blue revealed itself through the gray

ash that covered the box. A few more

tears leaked out from the corners of her

eyes as Relena looked into Duo's violet

eyes in disbelief.

"When exactly did he die?"

Duo looked at her strangely before

replying. "Last night. Midnight."

Hey I know this wasn't one of my greater fics but I needed
something while I waited 4 a new idea to come 2 me 4 my Ronin
Warrior fic. If u flame me fine so b it, but I couldn't care
less. If u happened 2 like my fic then great mission
accomplished sorta. Anyways hope u read the rest of my fics some
day. Ja Ne
~~~~~Rekkaboziegirl~~~~~~~~~~