"Thank you" I say feeling sad all of a sudden. I didn't really need to say it, but I appreciate Heero coming here and being so supportive when he has so many reasons to be sad himself. –The war will always haunt him- He stares at me once more with a concerned and slightly confused look as the snow falls relentlessly on the world....." "What's wrong?" –I'm worried about you.....- Suddenly I know what to do, what I really want to do, to pay him back for his kindness. I slip my hand out of his grip and move a step forward, my feet crunching audibly on the snow. I reach my arms up to rest crisscrossed behind his neck, leaning my head to the side and resting my cheek against his. A warmth spread through me against the cold of the snow, and I feel him grow tense. I know I surprised him, I know I broke some sort of unspoken rule between us, but.....He gradually relaxes and I smile, a real smile. I know he can feel it against his face. "Thank you Heero" I wonder if he'd ever really know how much I was indebted to him, throughout the war, and even now, he's been saving me. He relaxes in my arms finally, and rests his own awkwardly around my back, gently, in response.

Days pass on. I find myself back in that familiar spacious hall with the bright spotlight shining. Talking about the future with the people listening to me. My voice, and the voices of others like me, fills the silence. So that soldiers like Heero, and civilians like me, never have to face the silence. There will always be answers to questions, ends to wars, and an unsure world to repair and give guidance to. Without guidance for the lost there is no recovery, and no hope. I needed to learn that in order to move forward. Heero has guided me, and in return I will guide him, and others, to a new future.