A thousand words

Mwu x Murrue

"I promise I'll come back, Murrue. I'll come back to you," Mwu laid his hand on Murrue's flushed cheek. "And when I do, I'll have victory at hand."

She had seen Commander LaFlaga ride the Strike Gundam and battle their adversaries so many times in order to protect the Archangel, and in her heart, she knew that he'd always return safely. But what was with this time that made her go to him and see him off? No reason at all. She just felt she had to.

Mwu lowered his head and placed his lips on hers into a long, lingering kiss. Murrue returned this gesture and kissed him back. He wrapped his strong arms around slender body. He held her close and warm. So very close that Murrue could even feel his heart beating fast. So very warm though the docking area was one of the coldest places in the whole ship, she felt as though she was bathed in sunlight. Murrue was quite taken aback by his actions then. He would always hold her when he had the chance. But it was never this intense. Never this needy. It was almost as if those loving moments were the last they were going to share.

How she wished for time to stop at that very moment. For a few seconds, Murrue felt as though heaven was hers to touch. His arms hungered for the touch of her skin against his. She, whose heart has been left frigid by past love's lost, has been melted by his mere words so sweet and reassuring.

I know that you're hiding things

Using gentle words to shelter me.

Your words were like a dream.

But dreams could never fool me

Not that easily.

In the blink of an eye, the Strike Gundam was right in front of the Archangel. He was going to take the blow. The Lohengrinn's ruthless laser surged into the already damaged body of the mobile suit, saving the Archangel from certain destruction.

"I knew I can make the impossible possible…" and with those words Mwu LaFlaga, the infamous Hawk of Endymion, was swallowed up in the blinding light of the Lohengrinn.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Murrue cried in agony. Tears flooded her eyes. Her knees felt so weak that she almost fell from her seat on the bridge of the Archangel.

"I'll come back", your voice passes me.

Memories grow but I'm tough.

Time that's returned that got away.

I should have yelled don't go, with tears in my eyes

And now I can't do a thing.

HE IS GONE. No matter how hard she cried. How many tears she shed. No Mwu LaFlaga would return to her. The Hawk of Endymion has flown into a place even farther than the edge of the galaxy. Into some place where she won't be able to reach him.

"Why?" tears rolling down her cheeks to her pillows. "Why did you break your promise, Mwu?"

"Why did you leave me?"

Since then, Murrue has been crying herself to sleep. She would ponder on the memories of the times he was still with her.

"There are still so many things I haven't said…" she sobbed. "I was going to tell you when you've returned from that fight…But how am I supposed to tell you now?"

I couldn't say those thousand words.

I'll send them to your distant back

As wings.

Those thousand words I couldn't say.

Will lean against your injured back

And embrace you.

Daylight. Murrue gets up of bed. Does her daily regime. She will have to face the world with the strength that is expected of her. She was, after all, Captain Murrue Ramius of the Archangel. Military people don't cry. They do not show unnecessary emotions, especially grief for a comrade's loss. So she works hard to be the strong military woman she knew she was, pretending that Mwu's death was something she had gotten over.

"What?" Murrue exclaimed. "What do you mean supplies won't be arriving 'til next week?"

"Apologies, Captain," said the supply manager. "I suggest you do not take this angrily."

"I'm not angry!" she insisted. "I'm just…"

"You know, you look a lot prettier when you're angry," Mwu remarked with his usual roguish grin.

Murrue felt her cheeks flush red. She knew he was only doing that just so she would take it easy but somewhere in the back of her head, she was flattered. That is what happens all the time. One moment she's angry, the next second, she is captivated by the adorably irritating pilot.

She was usually the calm one, but there are times when her temper is cut short. Mwu was quite aware of that. And so he would do something about it. He would compliment her with the disarmingly charming smile and she would be in his command. She would ease out, just as he wanted her to be.

"Captain?" the supply manager, waving his hand in front of her face. "Captain, can you hear me?"

Murrue snapped out of the flashback. She was daydreaming again, "oh, I'm okay."

"What happened, Captain?" he asked. "A moment ago you were scolding me but the next thing I knew, you froze in your place and your eyes went blank."

"Was I?" she asked in absent-minded disbelief.

"Yes, ma'am," the supply manager replied. "That is what happens when one drifts off into daydream. You weren't daydreaming, were you ma'am?"

Murrue fell silent.

"Oh!" the soldier straightened up. "I know I'm not authorized to meddle with your affairs, ma'am! My apologies!"

"No, it's okay, soldier," she replied. "I wasn't daydreaming at all. I just remembered something…"

The dream isn't over yet.

Though I often say I can forget

I still relive that day.

"You've been there with me all the way"

I still hear you say.

Murrue loved watching the sunrise from the bay. To witness the slow but sure transition from darkness to light was a most wonderful sight to her. But she was certain that it would have been more breathtaking if Mwu was beside her watching it. In fact, it would have been heaven on earth. They shared a few sunrises together; each and every one was more memorable than the previous.

"I once heard that sunrises are the best times to make wishes in Earth," Mwu said, one time they were together. He had just recovered from a battle with the Zaft Forces.

"They are?" Murrue asked him, cuddling close to him.

"Yeah," he replied, stroking Murrue's wavy, brown hair. "They said that during sunsets, the angels return to heaven by following the direction of the sunrise. If you face the sun while praying for your heart's desire, the angels are sure to hear it!"

"That's nice," she said. "What's your wish, then?"

"My wish?" he smirked, naughtily. And then he faced the sun, and closed his eyes shut.

Murrue smiled at this sight. Mwu looked so much like a young boy asking Santa to grant him his Christmas present. She turned to face the sun as well and muttered in her heart her most fervent wish.

"Murrue…"

She looked up her beloved Mwu and the next thing she knew, his lips melded on hers. Murrue's marigold eyes widened with shock but soon returned the kiss. Their lips moved in perfect unison. As if they were actually one with each other.

"My wish is granted," Mwu whispered softly in her ear.

With those words, Murrue's already flushed cheeks turned scarlet.

"Errr…Okay, now that I had my wish," Mwu, sensing that Murrue was becoming awkward with all the sudden events, changed the topic. "What's your wish?"

She stared at his ocean-blue eyes. Tired as they may be from the past enemy encounter, they were also fixed on hers.

"It's a secret," she smiled.

Mwu looked quite disappointed, "hey that's not fair! You knew mine already!"

"You'll know mine someday," she said.

But those happy times by the deck are over. And they would never return again. The one to whom her wish was directed to is gone. Mwu LaFlaga will never be able to know what her wish was. Nor will he be able to grant it. All the things she wanted to say. The thousand words of her most fervent wish. Will never be spoken. Will never be known.

Can you hear them?

Those thousand words.

Will lean against your tired back

and embrace you.

Those thousand words I couldn't say.

Lalalala...

I'll send them to your back

as wings.

Can you hear them?

Those thousand words.

Lalalala...

They'll lean against your back

Lalalalala...

The End