Chapter Fifteen: A Noble Idea
*"Duo, how could you!" Trowa moaned.
"I didn't realize it! I'm sorry! Did you think I meant to screw up? Did you think I wanted to ruin this for Hiiro? He was hell bent on getting to the fifties… all I ever wanted was for the Perfect Soldier to be happy, to relax. If I had meant to screw up, I would have put him in the sixties, or the seventies, and made him either a hippie or a disco king! I swear it was an accident!" Duo ranted. His face was obviously pained with an intense sense of guilt.
"It's okay Duo, we understand it was an accident." Hilde cradled him in her arms. But Duo shoved her off and stood, stalking off to his room and slamming the door shut. "I'm going to go in after him." Hilde told the rest of the group as they watched their usually cheerful partner struggle with his mistake.
"It's partially my fault." Quatre sighed. "I didn't even think about building a way to return the people home once they had traveled time at all. I should have thought of all of the possibilities, all of the scenarios. But I didn't even see such a key aspect of time travel—the return method! We don't even know if it worked… for all we know, Hiiro and that woman were killed trying to go somewhere through time. This was just a mistake in general."
"Don't say that Quat dear heart. You didn't know. No one could have known."
"Three months they've been out there! Three!"
"And like I said Quat, no one could have known!" Dorothy tried in vain to sooth Quatre. But the blonde followed Duo's example and stood to leave, Dorothy following close behind.
"We'll dismantle the machine Monday morning, when Quatre and Duo have calmed down enough to help. They'll want to be a part of it." Trowa told everyone else who was still sitting around the table. Wufei nodded, Sally heaved a sigh, and Catherine rubbed her arms.
"What do you say we set it right, just for the weekend? At least we can think that Hiiro and Serena somehow got to see the fifties." She suggested. Trowa nodded.
"Alright Cathy."
"A noble idea." Wufei tipped his head in acknowledgement, and Sally grinned slightly.
"To Hiiro and Serena, may they live happily ever after in the fifties, at least in spirit!" She cheered through blurry eyes. Trowa punched into the machine 1954, and for a moment they stood still in memory of their friends. Then they shut the lights off and walked out of the room, knowing that this would be the last weekend they could ever claim they had a time machine.
)(
Suddenly and without warning, Hiiro and Serena were slammed together with a large amount of force. Dimply both were aware that around them the world was spinning, but out of pure shock neither made any attempt to do anything. Just as quickly as they had been jolted together, they began to slow down an in immense rate, only long enough to pause and take a good look around themselves. No longer was there a lush green forest around them—only a strange, empty space with millions of light flashes twinkling on and off rapidly.
Just as it seemed their ride was over, they were hit with a strong acceleration again. As they spun, gravity called them, ripping and pulling at them, threatening to rip them into shreds if they let it get a hold of them. Hiiro made as strong an effort as possible to get his bearings and grab onto Serena, who was shrieking in silent terror. Pulling her towards him, he held onto her tight, clasping her to his chest and trying to protect her as best he could from forces he could not see. As they spun, they only became dizzier and completely nauseous together. Finally they were thrown, almost as if they had been spat, into a sunny pine forest from the blacked hole they had been traveling through.
Hiiro slowly groaned, and felt Serena roll herself off of his chest and onto the ground beside him. Once his stomach had settled, he managed to pick himself up far enough off of the ground so he could survey his surroundings. By the time his vision had cleared, he had a fleeting thought—where had the soldiers gone? He and Serena must have disappeared just as they had opened fire on them. Pure luck that they had suddenly been transported away from the area.
Then again, luck was only skill properly applied. There had to be some reason they had simply, teleported, if that was even what it really was. His ears picked up the sound of Serena getting sick, and he looked over in concern.
"Serena?" The woman was on all fours, what little gruel she had eaten in the German base was being regurgitated onto the forest floor. Finally she was able to stop gagging and sit up, breathing heavily and wiping her forehead. "Sick?"
"I don't usually get sick." She informed him crossly. "But that time traveling gravity…"
"We did jump time again then, didn't we?" Hiiro cut her off. She nodded.
"I'm never that sick unless we jump time."
"We've only jumped twice, how do you know it was that and not your injuries? Comas can affect even your constitution if you've been in them long enough, which you have."
"No, it was time travel. That gravity feeling, the feeling that you're so heavy that even though you're heaving your chest up and down you can't breathe, the feeling like you're going to be flattened permanently against nothing in an abyss. I will never forget that feeling. We definitely jumped time." She shuddered, but kept her head bent down low.
"We just missed becoming target practice. Luck." He muttered.
"Luck is only skill properly applied. Something else must have affected us." Despite all of his efforts to retain his Perfect Soldier persona, Hiiro grinned at her words. They somehow fit all too perfectly.
"What year are we in?"
"Until we get to some form of civilization, I'll have no idea. We're obviously still in France, in the same forest we were as when we were first transported. Recognized the trees?"
"We're back to square one." Hiiro grumbled.
"It appears that way." Serena shook her head.
"Let's go. North again? Towards the Channel?"
"Or we could go northeast. The largest city in France should only be a few days or so away walking, if you set our pace. And I don't believe we'll have any more problems with soldiers from wars."
"Knowing our properly applied skill, we're probably going to get trapped behind enemy lines in World War One." Hiiro muttered. Serena smiled lightly.
"You have a sense of humor."
"Only after the situation is so bizarre that there's nothing left to do." He explained. Serena lightly giggled, and he stopped to look at her. "You can laugh."
"Don't tell." She looked at him seriously. "I only laugh when the situation is so atypical that there's nothing left to do."
"Understood." Hiiro nodded, knowing full well what she meant. "Don't tell on my sense of humor."
"Understood." Serena smiled lightly, and Hiiro smirked. They stalked on, quite unsure of their direction, but both somehow loving the situation they had been thrown into more and more. Everything about it was so unusual that both couldn't help but wonder what the other would do next to surprise them.
Soon they reached a large clearing in the dense forest, and over a small ridge, Hiiro had spotted a small village. He had seen no warplanes, no soldiers or army trucks, but figured it was better to be safe than sorry and loaded his gun with a brand new clip.
"I can't believe you still have your bag. I lost mine when those Germans kidnapped me." Serena softly told him.
"I left my bag beside yours, and when you were kidnapped the first time, I grabbed them both. Then when we were captured the second time, I made sure to hide them and then returned for them when I learned you were awake. Both of them." Serena looked at him in awe at his words.
"You didn't!" She squeaked.
"I did." He nodded, bending his head so his hair would shade his eyes from her vision. "I didn't know if you had history books in it or not, and I wasn't about to let the Germans get their hands on that kind of knowledge. It's not heavy." Then he paused, and added: "Besides, I didn't know what else you might want that was in it."
"Thank you." Serena replied softly, still looking at him with great appreciation out of the corner of her eye. "Thank you so much. Are you sure it's not too heavy?"
"Yes." He shifted uncomfortably. He was happy she was pleased, but unused to the praise he was getting. It was almost, nice. They walked in companionable silence until they reached the village.
When they finally arrived, Hiiro found the occupants spoke French, and while he looked for someone with directions to a city Serena had said was called Paris, she evaluated the time they had been thrown into. And suddenly, she found it hard to breathe. Quickly Serena found and interrupted Hiiro and the man whom he had been speaking to.
"That man was willing to give us a ride to Paris, for free. He's going that way anyway." Hiiro told her, slightly annoyed.
"The date. It's May twenty-eighth."
"Yes." He began to become cross.
"May twenty-eighth, 1954. Hiiro, this is the fifties. This is what we originally came for!" Hiiro looked at her, unsure of whether she was serious or not. But the heated and excited expression that lingered on her face and deep within her electric blue eyes solved his questions.
"It is. We're here…" He muttered, disbelieving and letting it sink in all at the same time. "But we're in France."
"Where did you want to be Hiiro?" Serena asked quietly.
"United States."
"Paris has an international airport. Planes aren't big inventions for commercial use just yet, but I'm sure we can find someone willing…"
"Really?" His eyes looked so very hopeful that Serena smiled, and then brightly laughed.
"Really. Come on, let's see if we can't catch that man for his free ride." And the two took off after the man that was waiting close by for Hiiro's answer to his offer.
As they stepped off the airplane and into the airport, both soldier and historian gasped to themselves and opened their eyes larger, hoping to reassure themselves that what they saw was real. The building in front of them seemed too good to be true, and the smiling faces of the people laughing and chatting around them were a drastic change from the somber mood that had been overbearing in the forties.
Serena could hardly believe it. This was it. They were in the nineteen fifties! There was so much to think about, it was mind-boggling. But the most prominent thought that haunted her thoughts had to be why. She knew why she was there, but why had Hiiro wanted to come here so badly? She had always assumed he had had a reason, but now that they had finally arrived at their destination, she wondered what his motives really were.
Hiiro took in a deep breath of air and savored every second of it running in through his mouth and nostrils, filling his lungs to the maximum capacity, and then slowly exhaled it, not wanting to waste any of the sweet tasting freedom he had finally found. So long had he dreamed of this very moment. So long had he kept this hidden within himself, and now he could finally, at long last, have what he had wanted more than anything since he had been born.
"Sir? May I take your bag sir?" A porter approached them and offered to carry Hiiro's black bag. Hiiro's peaceful state of mind was shattered instantly, and he glared harshly and unforgiving at the man who had interrupted him. "Sorry…" The porter stammered and backed away slowly.
Serena could hardly believe that the man before her was the same as the one whom had saved her from a German base. He had been acting so much more… well; she hated to be cliché, but human, since they had gone through the ordeal, and now… He acted as if nothing had changed. He had slipped back into soldier mode, and she trembled at the thought of being trapped in a small, confined space with him. Earth was too constricting some times, it really was.
"Let's go." He robotically announced and began walking, without checking to see if she would begin following him.
"Okay." Serena nodded meekly. What could she do? History was supposed to be a way to study the development of humanity throughout the ages, but in all of her books, documentaries, and biographies she had never come across a character with such demons as this man. But history always repeated itself; surely there must have been an original man Hiiro had been copied from?
"We need a hotel Serena." Hiiro told her shortly. Glancing at her through the corner of his eye, he felt that remote guilt panging at him again. He knew that he had been rough with her since they had gotten off of the plane, but to have finally achieved something after dreaming of it for so long, and then have the moment ruined? Of course he was a little touchy about it!
"Call a porter and ask him to catch us a taxi. The driver will know of one." She softly explained. Hiiro began to hit himself internally. He had just sent a porter away! Grumbling under his breath, Hiiro poked the nearest man in uniform and asked him to call a taxi. Within seconds a yellow cab drove up to the curb where Hiiro and Serena were standing, and they slipped in.
"A hotel." Hiiro told the driver.
"A cheaper hotel." Serena added on. She knew how much money she had, but wanted to make sure it lasted as long as it could. Hiiro grimaced at her stinginess, but she shrugged it away easily. If he could become so cold in an instant, so could she. In fact, that was one thing she was good at. *
~~~They finally made it! Yey! Much love, Vixen~~~