Nothing Lasts Forever
An epic set one minute after the Mariemaia Incident by Clifton G. McJames
At first, none of them understood, but slowly, realization dawned on the three Gundam pilots and their two allies. As the five watched, soldiers poured out the opposing Mobile Suits and began lighting fires, into which they threw their Mariemaia hats and guns. A sudden sense of wonderment came over Quatre, and he clicked the com button and radioed to Duo, "Is…is it over?"
"Must be," Duo said uncertainly. "I got a lock on Wing-ZERO. All in favor of checking it out, say 'hell, yeah.'"
As one, Deathscythe Hell, Heavyarms, Sandrock, Tallgeese III, and the White Taurus moved away from the frozen Serpent Suits and slowly made their way across the Brussels compound until they came upon the completely destroyed remains of Wing-ZERO. The body, for the most part, had remained intact, but both legs, one arm, and all sets of wings were missing.
"I'm getting nothing on scan," Trowa said. "It's cold as ice. Even the core is completely dead."
"So ZERO is finally gone," Zechs whispered in his quiet, barely audible voice.
"Any signs of Heero..?" Duo asked hesitantly; he had run his own scans and turned nothing up. Trowa paused, and said, "Nothing. But the cockpit door is opened. Maybe he bailed out…"
"Guys…I don't think…" Noin started, but Zechs cut her off, saying, "You don't know Heero Yuy."
"He's alive," said a new voice, and the pilots all turned and saw the Nataku standing behind them. "He is unconscious and as we speak he is being brought up to the surface to get medical treatment."
"Medical treatment for what?" Trowa asked.
"Yeah—is he still in one piece?" Duo chimed in.
"Yes," Wufei answered. "He collapsed after he tried to kill Mariemaia. The base doctor thinks its exhaustion."
"I coulda toldya that," Duo said. "The guy hadn't slept in almost three days."
"So…what does that mean, then?" Quatre asked in a shaky voice. "Did we win?"
"In a way…I think we all won, somehow," Zechs said, his eyes sparkling as he gazed into space. "We all know it was Dekim at the center of this entire mess. He is gone now, and the world he destroyed can now truly be rebuilt."
"Huh," Duo said. "I guess I never quite thought of it that way."
"Here comes Heero," Wufei said, and sure enough, a team of people ran out of the emergency hatch that led into the bunker, some carrying a stretcher with the unconscious Heero Yuy. Another stretcher appeared also, carrying the crumpled remains of a little girl.
"Who's that?" Duo asked.
"Mariemaia," Zechs said. "What happened to her?"
"Dekim tried to shoot Relena, but Mariemaia threw herself in front of the bullet," Wufei said. "They…they aren't sure if she'll make it."
"Hmm. She's a Khushrenada. She'll live," Zechs said, with firm certainty in his voice.
The pilots watched on as the somewhat defeated form of Relena Peacecraft-Darlian made her way out of the ruined capital, covered in a blanket. She looked up at the Gundams and the Mobile Suits, and smiled a faint smile. Trowa looked over at the Deathscythe Hell and said, "Not much point for us to stay here…perhaps we'd better be off."
"Not just yet," Zechs said.
"There are still riots in the main part of the city. I'm sure we can take care of them," Noin said.
"'Take care of them'?" Duo asked.
"Noin is right. We should do our best to break up the riots. However…I wonder where all those people came from?" Zechs asked.
"What people?" Trowa asked.
"There," Quatre said, pointing Sandrock's hand towards the south. Sure enough, there was a mass of people standing near the south gates leading into the capitol base.
"Dorothy Catalonia," Wufei said. "She organized a peaceful protest…oddly enough; she did so around Nataku's feet."
The Tallgeese III moved away from the group, and in doing so, formed a circle. The hatch beneath he Mobile Suit's chest opened, and Zechs climbed onto the safety line and lowered himself to the ground. The others followed suit, gathering in the middle of the ring of suits, and looked around them. The world felt oddly different than it had just minutes ago. Mariemaia soldiers were running here and there, Serpent suits were shutting down one by one, and to top it off, a light snow began to fall upon Brussels. The pilots looked skyward, looking at the snow in wonder. The riots were starting to die down; Dorothy was making sure nothing serious got started. Zechs looked at his allies, and, putting his arm around Lucrezia Noin's shoulders, said, "We'll be going now."
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do…which is just about anything," Duo called after them as they walked away. Noin rested her head on Zech's shoulder as they walked, and Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei were left to ponder what would now happen in this very, very different world.
When Heero Yuy opened his eyes again, he could tell he was lying down; there were cheap foam ceiling tiles above him. He heard a steady beeping and looked to his left; there were medical monitors that had all sorts of wires that all ran from the machines to him. His eyes swept the very standard looking hospital room until they landed on Relena Darlian. He looked at her, unfazed, and said, "It is over now."
"Yes," she said, eyes shining. "Yes, it's over."
"I am…I am free," he said in a strange voice. He had the most peculiar feeling now: was it happiness? Could his humanity be returning to him?
"Yes, Heero. You are free."
"Relena," he said. "I feel…I feel different."
"What? What's wrong?" she asked, eyes lighting up in alarm.
"No, not like that. I feel…" he searched for the right word, and said, "wonderment."
"Oh, Heero," Relena said, smiling. Tears were rolling down her face.
"Don't," Heero said, raising a soar arm to wipe the tears away. His hand paused on her cheek, and again, the devoid-of-all-human-qualities Heero Yuy felt strange. Was it…love?
Was he capable of that?
He blinked. "What are you even doing here? Doesn't the ESUN want you under lock and key?"
"No," Relena said, taking his hand and putting it back on the bed. "It's been a few days since it happened. We're in the Sanq Kingdom now."
"Hmm," Heero said. He looked toward the window, watching the trees outside sway gently in the breeze. "The next few days…weeks, even…will be rough," he said plainly. "You'll be under a lot of scrutiny. Are you going to be alright?"
"Yes, I'll be fine. I've handled worse," Relena said lightly, in a strong voice. "I'm worried about you right now. And…I wanted to say thank you. For saving me."
Heero blinked. "I didn't. I nearly killed you."
"No," Relena said. "I had just about given up, which is exactly what Dekim wanted me to do. He had the Gundams cornered, and he knew he could kill them, just like that, if he gave the word. And then…and then, you appeared, out of the blue, and called his bluff. You destroyed him, and everything he stood for."
"I destroyed him. I didn't kill him," Heero whispered, almost bitterly.
"Heero, he is dead. He is dead! You can go on with your life now—"
"What life?" Heero asked suddenly. "He took me from my home when I was three. He gave me to a man called Dr. J. and J. turned me into this…machine. You know, when I was twelve, they took me back to my parents? Made me execute them—as a test? There I was, twelve years old, holding a Magnum .44, and I just blinked and blew their brains all over the wall. And he put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Excellent. Well done, my boy.' And then, as the final gesture, they named me, their killing machine, after an advocate of peace…the real Heero Yuy. Their former leader. Heero Yuy."
Heero sighed, rolled over onto his side and said, "My real name…I can't even remember it. At first, all they called me was 01-A. Wing was 01-B. Can you believe that? A codename, like I was just a piece of machinery. Well…I guess I was."
"Heero," Relena said.
"My life is a lie, Relena," Heero said. "This world is different now…and I feel left behind."
"You aren't left behind, Heero!" Relena cried. "There are people who know you! They call your name and ask of your help and guidance—they count on you when the time has come for a hero—and they love you with all their hearts."
Heero looked at her. She was crying again.
"At least…I do," she said.
"You what?" Heero asked.
Relena leaned over and hugged him. "I love you, Heero Yuy," she whispered in his ear. She let him go, and said, "When you decide what you want to do with your life…you know where to find me. You always do."
She rose and walked out without another word. Heero looked at the ceiling again, and his thoughts faded into an uncomfortable sleep.
"…Names are something other people give you. It's not something you should worry about," Duo said, feeling very wise at the moment as he turned to look at Trowa. Trowa nodded thoughtfully, and said, "Yeah…you're right, Duo."
The three pilots looked out at the large prairie that they had detonated the Gundams in and fell silent momentarily. Quatre shuffled his feet in the grass and Trowa gazed off into space. Duo finally let out a big breath of air and said, "Look…this thing is finally over. Do you know, when I first landed here, I wound up in New York? I was way off course. Howard nearly had a coronary. He hauled me and Deathscythe all the way out to France…hey, that's when I first met Heero, too. He was trying to blow something or the other up, and I had been running around under water…I'd found Wing and didn't know whose it was, so I was just gonna use it for spare parts, but there he was, him and Relena, for some reason…"
Duo sighed, and said, "The point is, when I first came here, I came to kill. I nearly killed Heero, even, if Relena hadn't saved him. Of course, we all became allies, eventually, but our mission was the same…to kill. But after we met each other…after we changed each other's lives…our mission changed. We no longer had to kill. We had to bring peace. We still did kill, unfortunately, but not this time. This time, it was almost as if we were finally, truly standing up to Dekim and saying, 'We don't have to do it your way anymore.'"
"It was like repentance," Trowa whispered.
"Exactly," Duo said. "And now, it's over. It's freaking over."
"If that's the case…will we ever see each other again?" Quatre asked uncertainly.
"I think…time will tell," Duo said, and he turned and walked away. "I gotta shuttle to catch…listen…if you guys are ever around L2…drop by, ok?"
"We sure will, Duo," Quatre called. Duo smiled and waved, and disappeared over the hill.
"…Mission: complete," Heero Yuy said a few hours later, in a crowded cross walk in the Sanq Kingdom. He was gazing at the sky, wondering vaguely if there was a heaven above his head, but more importantly, if the little girl was in that heaven, and if she was happy. He knew for certain he was not happy; no, in order for that to happen to him, he had to first find himself. And that meant picking up the fragments and trying to make something out of it.
He knew that Duo, Trowa, and Quatre would go back to their lives; Trowa would rejoin his circus troupe, Duo would go back to his scrap business, and Quatre would go back to being the head of the Winner Foundation. Heero had heard a rumor that Wufei had joined the agency Preventer; this, for Heero, was a statement of hope, for if Wufei could find a life beyond fighting; surely there was hope for him?
Heero blinked, and in an instant, he disappeared into a cloud of people and vanished from view.
Far above the Earth, Zechs Merquise and Lucrezia Noin piloted their shuttle out towards the moon. Noin looked at Zechs and said, "But if the mission doesn't go as planned…"
"No more talk about the mission, Noin," Zechs sighed. "I'm tired of going over it, thank you."
"Zechs…please…call me Lucrezia."
Zechs looked at her, and for a bit, there was silence between the two. Lucrezia finally cleared her throat and said, "From the moment we met, I've loved you, Miliardo, or Zechs, or whatever you want to be called. I waited through an agonizingly long year to see you again, hoping against hope you weren't dead…how did you escape?"
Zechs bowed his head, and said, "When Epyon struck Libra's core, I was not in the cockpit. I was in the main control room—I had hijacked the Mobile Doll control for the Mercrius and Veyette and reprogrammed it to the Epyon. Shortly afterwards, I stole away in a small shuttle, and let the world think I was dead while I plotted my return."
"Your return..?" Lucrezia asked.
"I was a villain, Lucrezia. A sinner. I didn't wish to return to the world with that image right after having led the White Fang into pointless battle. I…I was afraid. But now…I am here. With you…and that's all that matters."
Zechs closed his eyes and said, "We have a long ride. We'll need our rest."
Lucrezia looked at him for quite a while before finally muttering, "I never saw you as the villain, Zechs Merquise."
The shuttle rocketed away as the two slept in peace.
These tragic stories
Are finding salvation
And the young men are wiser
The leaders of nations
They have the will
They have the drive
All they must do now
Is keep the hope alive
The wars are all over
The battles all won
The day has been beaten
The new age has begun
We must have hope
For our people and our nations
That we might find peace
And we might find salvation.
CGM