Aedia
The silence is as suffocating as the eternal darkness she lived in. The flight to Switzerland was so quiet, Aedia thought it might have been a funeral procession instead of a light. An hour into the flight, she silence drummed at her senses making her wish she'd purchased business class or economy just to be surrounded by some sort of life. She hummed the first few bars of Fear closing her eyes during the chorus she began to sing softly to herself. Hiroshi quickly squeezed her wrist, the chair sounded as he leaned towards her to whisper in her ear. "You're bringing attention to yourself."
She nodded quietly and reached above her head for the stewardess button. She felt his arm raise and snapped, "I'll do it." She was happy when the button dinged. A few minutes later, she asked the stewardess for headphones. He asked her for a pillow and a blanket. The silence continued between them until the stewardess returned.
"Those aren't mine." She heard Hiroshi tell the woman.
"I thought you might want to help her -"
"If she needs help she'll ask for it." She felt a pillow placed behind her head and he blanket thrown across her lap. She extended her hand for the headphones and smiled as she felt a perfectly manicured hand press them into her own reluctantly. "Thank you."
Aedia quickly opened the head phone and placed each one unto her ears relieving the suffocating silence. She searched her arm rest for the plug, she felt him direct her finger towards the plug and smiled her thanks. She felt overwhelmed as classical music filled her. She woke up in silence. The sounds of classical music or rock music met her ears. No guards changing post or talking quietly outside her door. No Trieze yelling outside her window for her to have tea with him in the garden.
No Trieze. She bit her lip as she mumbled it softly under her breath. She sensed Hiroshi tense beside her and imagined he was looking around to see if anyone else had heard. She didn't care. She woke up to find out it was a year later and her wondeous older brother had died in the war. She found out by accident and didn't receive the details until Leslie had managed to sneak away from her position as Head Preventer. Leslie had brought her a copy of the final televised battle between Marq, who was dead as well, and a Gundam Pilot called Heero Yuy. She didn't want to see it. She wanted to yell and did at Leslie. "Why didn't you save him?" Over and Over she demanded an answer from Leslie - the one person in the world that loved her brother as much as she did. Who held her as she shouted accusations. She cried apologies to Leslie for hours. They cried together.
A month later Mareimaia came puppetted by the deceitful Barton Family. She remembered Mareimaia when she was an infant...her niece was the last thing she saw. She said good night to the toddler and went to bed waking up again blind and burned - compliments of the Barton Family. Bastards.
At least she had a piece of her family, Mareimaia was alive. Aedia let the music overwhelm her and drifted away with it. The plane station, if that what you could call the music offered by the airlines Smetana "the Moldau". When she lost her vision she discovered a new atmosphere of creativity within her. Classical music inspired the most creative thoughts to bloom from her heart. She was her own television with her eyes closes. She felt her begin to conduct with her left hand. Hiroshi grabbed her hand again and placed it down on her wrist. This made Aedia smile.
Leslie had chosen well for her bodyguard. She remembered the file she read, the fingered her way quickly passed his appearance and towards the personal characteristics. He was a type A person, organized, precise and meticulously detailed. That's all Leslie wrote about him. Ten short lines that told her nothing except that he was one hell of a soldier that didn't know how to relax. His age had surprised her when she reached his cover story, Yukishiro, Hiroshi age 18. She laughed when Leslie had arranged it that they would be married, the plan was brilliant and a piece of him wanted to ask what he thought of being "married" at 18 to a 17 year old handicap. She wanted to ask him that so bad.
"Put your seat belt on we're landing in Germany." Hiroshi whispered in her ear causing her to jump.
"We are?" She felt her headphones removed and felt the blanket removed from her body. She reached for her seatbelt and fastened it as waited to hear the pilots announcement. "Did they say why we're landing?"
"Engine problems." He answered quickly. She heard the click of his own seat belt. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, "We're catching a private charter from here to France." She nodded and reached into her pocket to pull out chewing gum. She didn't want her ears to pop as they descended. The silence once again suffocated her. The occassional breaks of btching and moaning from the other passengers helped her to relax a bit. She sense him staring at her but didn't turn towards him.
When the plane landed she quickly unfastened herself. He did the same and quickly reached into the overhead compartment for his bags. She reached out her hand and he grabbed it helping her up quickly and down the isle the stewardess was telling them to exit down. "We'll borrow plane from a friend of mine."
When they were down the stairs she reached into her pocket and pulled out her retractable walking stick. She held it in front of her, she felt better having it out when they were moving. She wasn't familiar with the area and with so many people she felt clumsy. "Make sure the pilot knows how to get to Province Rive en Fleurs. There's a private airport in the province."
She allowed him to lead her through the crowd and into the terminal once they entered it. The smell of sweating bodies was nauseating to her. She listened to the sounds around her as he weaved her in and out of the groups of people. She felt herself pressed against a wall and heard his parka open, then his cell phone as he turned it on and dialed. She moved a few feet away from him to keep from listening to his conversation. She listened to the tones of his voice, it was a deep timbre filled with assertiveness and complete certainty. "Sexy," she said to herself.
"Thank you." She heard someone answer her. The voice was male and seemed to stop in front of her. "Are you staying in-"
"Hey, sweetheart, we have to get going." Hiroshi told her grabbing her arm. She felt herself gently pulled back through the groups of people. This walk was longer and the sounds seemed to grow at some points. "We'll take a cab to the plane. The pilot is familiar with the area you mention. Will someone be there to pick us up when we land?"
"I just have to make a phone call. I'll do it once we know our ETA to the landing strip." She answered him. "You don't like talking much do you?" He didn't answer. "Its very lovely there though you won't see much until the spring." She told him happily filling the silence he would have left between them. She heard the automatic doors slid open in front of them and shuddered as the winter frost kissed her skin. She pulled her scarf around her face and waited. Around her she heard people whistle, shout and what sounded like slushing of snow beneath feet for a cab. She felt herself pulled and gently tucked into a cab. "I am not a cripple."
He said nothing again to her. He pushed their bags beside her sliding in after them. "WSE landing strip please."
"What did you just say?" She asked as she reached for the handle on the door. "Why WSE?"
Hiroshi didn't answer her and silently as the car started to pull away. She felt herself tense as the car seemed to speed away quickly. The trip to the landing strip seemed ridiculously short her hands clenching and unclenching. She wasn't ready to deal with them and Leslie had assured her that Hiroshi knew nothing about the situation. He would know eventually, the man was brilliant otherwise Leslie wouldn't have hired him. If she was discovered things would go bad quickly and she needed someone who was quick on their feet.
She brought her hand to her forehead and rubbed it. "My life just gets harder." When the car stopped she quickly got out and stood on the otherside of the door. She listened as Hiroshi spoke to someone, probably the cabdriver and then heard him open the door shuffling the bags and himself out of the cab.
"Sir, we received a message from Master Quatre. We have the plane ready for you. If you'll just step unto this transport it will take you there." A voice just to the left of her told Hiroshi. She used her stick and started towards that voice, "Oh, please allow me to help you, Miss."
"This is my wife, Edie." Hiroshi introduced her to the person who gently took her hand and kiss it.
"It is my fondest pleasure to meet you, Madame." She felt the man carefully lead her into the transport.
"Merci." She answered graciously. "I am honored to meet a gentleman such as yourself." She said automatically. Hiroshi entered behind her and she felt the vehicle pull off, "Have a nice day."
"Can I ask you a question?" She whispered in his ear after a while. He didn't answer. "Did you fight in the war?" She felt him tense but he still didn't answer. "Were you in space with my brother? If you are, would you be willing to answer some of my questions?" When he still said nothing she pulled away and leaned back in her chair. She sighed and scratched her head - this wig was making her crazy, so were the contacts she was wearing. The makeup on her hands and face weren't helping either. She would wait until they were in the plane when removed them.
"I'm not." He answered her they stopped. She felt herself pulled out on his side and rushed quickly across hard ground. The slight crunch beneath her boots let her know that they salted recently. She would love to see snow again or just white. Maybe if she asked him he would describe it to her. She needed to make him much more articulate if she intended to take him around the world. "How soon before we take off?" He asked.
"We just finished fueling and we're getting exact directions to this location. Its appears to be in the middle of no where."
"That's not true. Its just a very small province. Its not any major trade route but its a still a lovely area. There's two towns there one Blanc Epais and the other Fuyant Dans, they by-"
"That should be enough for you to find it." Hiroshi interrupted her. she heard him ascend up metal stairs and frowned. "Five steps."
She used her stick to find the steps as Hiroshi let her go. There was a thin rail on the side and helped her balance. "Is there a bathroom on board?"
"On the left to the back." The pilot told her.
She lead herself down towards. She found it and searched for the handle. An arm reached behind her and opened it. "Don't be too long."
"Merci." She quickly stepped inside and closed the door behind her. She used her stick to find the toilet, sink and towel rack (?). She rested her stick against the toilet. She checked if the toilet had a seat and closed it once she found that it had. She threw her gloves on the tiolet seat. She reached up and removed the hat placing there as well. She then removed the pins from the blonde wig that was attached to the skin cap that kept it in place. She removed the skin cap and shook her hairs down her back, it was much longer than she remembered falling down her back just above her bottom. She hated how fast her hair grew and couldn't wait to cut it. She placed the pins in the cap and folded everything into the wig and dropped it unto the closed toilet. She washed her hands carefully before starting to removed her contacts, being blind was enough of an optical problem for her she didn't need a sty or pink eye. She removed the first contact placing it under water so it would dissolve into solution and then did the same to the left one. She blinked a couple of times hoping to tear up and moisten her eyes. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a foaming face cloth package, removing the clothe and ran it under the water. She started washing her hands and wrists removing the make up that was applied to make her skin appear darker. They told her the make up would come right off with the water and foam so she hoped that it would work. She rinsed her hand and rubbed them to see if any inch of her skin felt any different than the rest. Her hands hand always been soft despite the caluses from wielding a sword. She cupped water into her hands and threw it into her face before taking another foaming face clothe from it package wetting it and cleaning her face scrubbing throughly until it started to get a bit irritated. She closed her eyes to keep the foam from burning and remove the eyes make up that had been applied. She hated make up but had been putting it on so long to hide herself that it became routine...she was happy to finally have that routine end. Aedia Yukishiro didn't need to wear make up to hid behind the image of Eden Kushranada, even if that marriage wasn't real. She wondered what she looked like. In her pictures her hair was brown and her eyes seemed a wierd blue, she always wondered if she still looked the same under the make up.
She's ask Hiroshi, maybe he'd answer her this time.
She rinsed the foam from her face and reached over to her left in search of a towel from the rack. As she dried her face she wondered if there was a shower on this small plane as well. "This towel is way too big for a hand towel." Thank God it smelled clean, she thought as she tried to hand it back the way she found it on the rack.
"Pilot's ready."
"Okay." She answered reaching for the clothes she left in the sink intending to flush them down the toilet. She picked up her gloves, hat and the wig lifting off the toilet seat. She threw the clothes in with her other hand and they automatically flushed. She shrugged and put the toilet seat down. She grabbed her stick and found the door opening it. She heard Hiroshi stop typing and start to unbuckled himself. "Sorry it took me a while to clean all the make up off my face. Did I get it off?"
"Make u-" Hiroshi seemed to choke on something.
"Are you okay? Pilot!" She started to call to the front.
"Yes?" The pilot called back.
"Its nothing." Hiroshi answered getting up and walking towards her. She felt him pull her towards the seats and seat her on the inside.
"You choked." She reminded him as she buckled herself in.
"You just startled me." She heard him settle himself in a seat and buckle in. "You reminded me of someone."
"A friend of yours?" She asked. Hiroshi didn't answer her so she called to the pilot. "We're ready, pilot. How long will it take to get there?"
"Two hours." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a cell phone. It only had four numbers. The first one, Leslie, the second, her doctor and the third the body guards guarding her niece. The fourth would belong to Hiroshi. "Its me Eden. I'll be arriving in two hours at the landing strip. I want a car to meet us there." She hung up the phone and put it away. "I'm going to take a nap." She closed her eyes attempting to avoid the silence that would exist between them.
"Looks exactly like him." She heard Hiroshi mumble under his breath. She knew he was trying to be silent but he didn't know about her hearing. She allowed herself to relax but his words rang in her head.Him, she thought. The only him I could look like is...
Maybe, she thought happiness filling her heart, maybe he's alive. She'd been looking for so long...maybe Hiroshi knew him.
Aedia fell asleep this time hoping.