Local Boy in a Photograph
Rating: - PG
Pairing: - Suggested 3x4, and 3x6
Disclaimer:- I do not own, nor claim to own anything to do with the Gundam Universe. The song 'Local Boy in a Photograph is the property of the Stereophonics. I make no money from this, and I mean no harm so please keep the nasty lawyers away.
Summery:- Quatre is dead, and Trowa's not taking it so well. Zechs tries to help.
There's no mistake
I smell that smell
It's that time of year again
I can taste the air
The clocks go back
Railway track
Something blocks the line again
And the train runs late for the first time
(Zechs' POV)
It's summertime in the Sank kingdom, and tragedy has struck. Quatre Raberba Winner is dead. His death has melted the ice even on my cold heart.
I watch the four pilots sitting on the bank of the slow river, escapees of the wake currently being held at the palace. We gave him a royal funeral, and the heart of the gundams lies at rest in the forth plot across from Treize. There's a row of them there, plots we picked out to be buried in when the time came, the Gundam Pilots, Treize and Me. It's a comfort to know that eventually I will be buried only a little way from the young man I considered a friend and the one man I had considered my brother. A strange comfort, given, but real enough to allow me to think. There's a heavy weight in my chest, my old companions, Guilt and Grief. But for once I'll wager that their burden is heavier than mine.
Trowa looks wretched. I wonder if he's slept since it happened? Judging by the shadows around his eyes he hasn't. Wufei told me that Trowa had been there, watched that train slam into their missing companion. Quatre must be at peace, someone as...as...good, as him must be. And he did not die in vain, that child will live a long life because of him. She got a broken arm from landing so hard on the side; he got killed for saving her.
I stroll quietly down towards them, carrying a case of various alchaholic drinks I liberated from the catering staff in my arms. I've got a feeling they might be glad of it. Wufei, my new partner in the preventers since Noin and I divorced, gives me a curt nod and reaches for a bottle. The next thing I know is Duo Maxwell hanging over my shoulder, one arm apparently hugging me and the other grabbing for a bottle.
"Zechs, old pal, you're a mind reader!" and he's gone again, returning to dangling his feet in the river, swinging his legs.
Heero and Trowa haven't moved. I doubt whether the latter has even realised I'm here, Trowa really is a mess. Gods, is he crying? No, he's sobbing. I wince, handing Heero a random bottle I move to Trowa despite my brother-in-law's grasp on my wrist. Damn Heero and his tact now. Setting the case down I take my time finding the strongest beverage available. Maybe Trowa'll knock himself out and he can finally get some sleep, all that crying must be taking the strength out of him.
Tapping him gently on the shoulder I offer him the bottle and a handkerchief from my pocket. He takes both, gripping my fingers briefly in thanks and I grip back, smiling sadly. I know his pain; it took me a year to recover from seeing Treize killed before my eyes. He knows, I could see it in his eyes when he looked up at me. He put the pieces together and came up with the completed puzzle.
Pebble beach
We're underneath
A pier just been painted red
Where I heard the news for the first time
And, all the friends lay down the flowers
Sit on the banks and drink for hours
Talk of the way they saw him last
Local boy in the photograph
Today
(Trowa's POV)
He's gone, he's gone, he's really gone. It hurts so damn much, and why is my face wet? Am I crying? Oh, I am. The others are nearby, I'm sure Heero convinced them to come so I wouldn't do anything stupid. God it hurts. For the first few days after Qu - he died, I couldn't feel anything, nothing, not a thing. When I told his sisters, they cried on my shoulder and asked me if I would organise the funeral, and I felt absolutely nothing. Until yesterday when the little girl and her father turned up on Relena's doorstep.
"Is there anything we can do? Anything at all?"
"How's your daughter?"
"She's fine, broke her arm, but when I think of what might have happened, I really don't think of that as serious."
"That's good. Quatre would have been happy to know that. Where's your wife?"
"In the hospital, she's in labour but insisted that I bring Laura down here with me. I think she wants to name the baby after your friend, if it's a boy. Said that it was the only thing she could think of to do."
I smiled at him and he smiled sadly back.
"Thank you." I told him "You can't know how much that means."
"Are you sure there's nothing we can do for you?"
"Just remember him, that's all I ask. You'd better get back to your wife."
"But the funeral..."
"His headstone will still be here years from now, but the birth of your child will only come once. Go."
The little girl, Laura, hugged me before she left before running after her father down the steps. And that's when it happened. I cracked. It hit me that he really was gone and wasn't coming back. Ever. A pressure built up inside me and then the pain. Wet trails coursed my face. It was Wufei and Duo that found me sobbing by the door.
I don't remember much of the service, save for getting up to speak, to tell them all what a wonderful person he was. To tell them how good was my closest friend. To try and show them how pure was my brother. I remember that it was Une that helped me back to the pews when I couldn't hold myself up any longer, and I remember thinking that yes, she understood this. She and Zechs, they understood. They understood this feeling that there was nothing left, nothing at all but the pain. The helplessness. Yes, they understood, and understand. If he were here now, Quatre would probably smile understandingly and tell me not to be sad. But if he were here now, this wouldn't be an issue so it's several kinds of pointless to think about it.
Something warm touches my shoulder and I see Zechs standing just behind me. I hadn't noticed him before, but he's here and offering me both a means to forget and a means to dry my face. I can't thank him properly, so I grip his hand briefly, hoping he understands that I can't speak, not right now. Of course he does, he's not a fool. The soft rustle of his coat reaches my ears and I find him sitting next to me, not talking, not shooting looks of concern at me, not fidgeting, uncomfortable at being so close to a man who's grieving. Just sitting there, and with my fogged and exhausted mind, I suppose it's in case I need him for any reason. I already have three guards to make sure I don't do anything stupid. Opening the bottle, I take a long swig, feeling the fiery alchahol blazing a trail along my throat
He'll always be twenty-three
Yet the train runs on and on
Past the place they found his clothing
How about that? How about that? How about that?
Hours have passed, and the sun is sinking over the palace grounds, granting everything, - the trees, the graceful arc of the stairs, the drunken forms of five ex-pilots near the river - a beautiful golden hue. At some point, they've all congregated on the very edge of the water, lying together. If they moved only a little it could be said that they were lying side by side. But of course they didn't. Trowa, lying in the middle of his guards, had drunk himself to sleep some time previously. His soft snores were carried away by a soft summer breeze and the muted tinkling of the river. They'd all been relived when that soft sound had begun.
"Quatre would have liked this." Wufei said confidently, raising himself onto his elbows and not caring that he was staining his white mourning suit with mud. It hadn't occurred to him that Duo was wearing the exact same thing as him, only in the western black, either. "All of us together like this. Here."
"Yeah, Q-man would have loved it. Bet he's sitting up on his cloud grinning his ears off. But you know what Freddy said, don't ya guys?" Duo chuckled elbowing the darker pilot next to him. His smile was subdued though, and Heero turned his head away from the braided pilot. "Come on He-Chan. You know it."
"'One By One," Zechs sang softly, practically breathing the song under his breath. "Only the good die young'." He stopped, realising the silence that had fallen once more as the three conscious Gundam pilots stared at him. With a small shrug of his shoulders he sat upright and turned his attention to Trowa to avoid their gaze and postpone any questions. "I'm going to take him up to his room. Relena will be sending out the search party if someone doesn't stop her, anyway."
"Two birds, one stone, eh?" Duo asked, only to receive a sharp smack across the back of his head to shut him up. Grumbling, he glared at Heero and an amused Wufei before settling back down.
Together they watched in silence as he shook Trowa into some semblance of wakefulness and dragged him to his feet. They said nothing as the uni-banged pilot grabbed the front of Zechs' dark suit like a man drowning, and he somehow managed to pull himself against the broad chest with his head buried in the older man's shoulder. They continued to watch as the only blonde in their midst dragged him away towards the great mansion beyond the small hill, holding Trowa close out of necessity to keep the slighter boy upright. When they'd gone on their stumbling way beyond the rise, Duo turned to Wufei with a quirked eyebrow and a playful smile on his face.
"You think Quatre planned that?"
"Don't be stupid, Maxwell." Wufei scowled at him, brushing off his suit. Duo looked offended by the habitual insult for once. "Quatre didn't plan it. He just knew it would happen."
Duo cracked a small smile and punched Wufei in the arm, prompting the young oriental man to punch him back. Laughing violet eyes narrowed at the oriental boy, and with a war cry of his own launched himself at him. Wufei failed to move out of the way and got pinned under a squirming American who dug his fingers into his ribs, tickling him.
"Damn you Maxwell." Wufei barked out from between his laughter, he struggled to repay the favour and eventually got Duo to roll off him and away from tickling hands. A friendly scuffle broke out between them as they continued battling each other with words and bodies. A resigned sigh escaped Heero Yuy who still stared at the fluffy white clouds above them, carefully ignoring the other two.
"I hope you're happy with yourself." He murmured, a small smile tugging at his lips. Although he would never tell anyone this, he would have sworn on anything you'd care to name that he'd heard a modest chuckle answering back on the breeze.
There's no mistake,
I smell that smell,
It's that time of year again,
I can taste the air
The clocks go back,
Railway track...
Something's blocked the line again,
And the train runs late for the first time today...
And all the friends lay down the flowers,
Sit on the banks and drink for hours,
Talk of the way they saw him last,
Local boy in the photograph...
Today
He's gone away.