Petra: This is it! YESSSSSSSS!
Kati: cheers wildly
Petra: I did it! I finished the story!
Kati: Yay!
Petra: This is it, guys, the last installment on this series. This has gone on for SOOOO long!
Kati: It's taken forever!
Petra: But it's finally done.
Kati: We're sorry that it took so long.
Petra: And we're sorry that it's not as good as we'd have liked it to be.
Kati: But it's not horrid either... at least, I don't think it is.
Petra: Also, there's a method behind all the madness that is this story, goddesses and all.
Kati: See, orignally this story was going to tie into 'Oathbound,' once we got that rewritten...
Petra: But then we never really got around to rewriting it so... shrug
Kati: We hope that you enjoyed the story, even if it could have used improvement.
Petra: Thank you for reading.
DEDICATED: For the gundam pilots; I would set them free of their memories and guilt if I could.
WARNING: Shonen-ai. Angst. Endings. Finally!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Gundam Wing (and thus, I do not own Heero and Duo). However, I did create the necklaces and the tale behind him. I also created the goddesses, who are loosely based off of my friends.
IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ MY MY PROFILE FOR IMPORTANT INFORMATION!
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If You Could: The Other Half
"This is one of those moments, you know, those moments that you'll keep for the rest of your life, buried just below the surface. And you'll pull them out every once and a while when you're feeling nostalgic, and you'll remember them with a sad smile and a warm feeling in your chest." -Rzrblade33; A Dream Worth Keeping (GW)
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Later that night, after dinner, they lay gazing at the stars, talking quietly, hands touching but not being held. Suddenly, Heero let out a gasp and, grabbing Duo's hand, whispered, "Look. Two shooting stars."
Duo looked to where the other boy was pointing and, sure enough, two shooting stars, side by side, streaked across the sky, disappearing into the darkness that they had appeared from. "Two wishes. One for each of us."
Heero smiled and nodded, closing his eyes. 'Please, whatever higher being is out there, whatever happens next, whatever the boy I love says, let him be happy, even if it's not with me.' He opened his eyes to see Duo staring at him.
"What'd you wish for?" Duo asked, his voice low.
Heero shook his head, simply looking at Duo, watching as the moonlight made his violet eyes appear unearthly and his hair almost silver. "Kokoro…" Heero whispered, brushing his fingers down Duo's cheek. Then, slowly, he moved so that he was propped above Duo, his shoulder length hair falling around his face like a curtain. "Ai shiteru, koibito, ai shiteru." And Heero bent down and kissed the American.
It was a simple kiss, just a press of closed lips against closed lips, both people inexperienced, neither knowing exactly what to do. It was better than either had dreamed, though. It tasted like fireworks, ice, hot, heaven, hell, peace and war, all at once. It was wild and tame and so much more than they could ever have imagined. When Heero drew back he simply looked at the beautiful creature below him for a long moment before finally saying, "In Japan there are two ways of saying 'I love you'. One is 'suki da' and it is between girlfriends and boyfriends who will probably never get married or couples that are just dating for fun." Heero paused, wondering if he was doing the right thing. "The other is 'ai shiteru' and it is said between serious couples, it's pretty much like saying 'I love you forever'…"
Heero's words, before he had kissed Duo, echoed in Duo's head. There was no hesitation in his voice as Duo responded, "Ai shiteru, Hee-chan, with all my heart, I love you!" Heero bent down and gave Duo another kiss and, this time, when he came up a beautiful smile crossed his lips and his eyes shone with love.
Duo felt tears filling his eyes, the happiness inside him over brimming his heart, and he looked down, his eyes widening as something dangled before his eyes. On a silver chain hung a beautiful dolphin pendant, jumping out of glass water that was shaped in a lopsided half triangle. With trembling fingers he picked both up… and placed them together.
A blinding flash of gold and silver made them squeeze their eyes shut. When they opened them, they were standing in what appeared to be their forest except… there were no city lights… and they were surrounded in a white mist to the point where they could only see five steps in front of them.
"You did it… despite all the odds, you did it!" Heero turned in surprise to see Artemis, Aphrodite, and Athena. All three women were smiling happily, but their eyes were almost sad…
"Arte-chan… what…?" Heero said, holding Duo's hand a little tighter than he needed to.
"Odin-chan," Athena said, as Artemis turned to Aphrodite and started to cry. "We're here to say good-bye."
"Good-bye! But… what…" Heero didn't understand. Duo squeezed his hand reassuringly and, when the other boy turned toward him, Duo smiled, trying to comfort his love.
"Odin-chan, we used more energy that we thought we had and now we're going to whatever is next," Athena wasn't crying but Heero could see she wanted to. "Don't worry, though, we've lived longer than we wanted to and now, we go on."
"Who, what, are you?" Duo asked, watching the hurt in Heero's eyes and wishing he could do something to make it go away.
Athena looked back at Artemis who nodded, just once, and then Athena turned back to them and answered, "We are named what we are."
Duo stared at them in confusion and Heero asked, "Athena?"
Duo's eyes widened as he realized what she was saying. "You are you. You are your name… you're goddesses!" Heero turned to Duo in shock and then to the three women.
Athena nodded and then she walked over to them and hugged them both. "Be happy. Once the war is over, and it will be over, do what you've always wanted to do and then begin to bring real peace to the world." Suddenly the memory of Artemis and what she said overwhelmed him: 'The war will never end.' She had said. 'Oh yes, this war in particular will end one day but… hate, fear, the hurting of other people, it will never stop, not in this world… but, I promise you, upon the grave of my father's father, you will see another world where it will happen and, though the cost will be great and the toll will be harder than you can imagine, in the end, it will be worth it to see a world truly, once and for all, at peace.'
The words echoed in Duo's head and he smiled, saying in agreement, "Yes, we will work to bring real peace and, someday, we will see a new world…" He untwined his hand from Heero and instead, wrapped it around the other boy's waist, Heero following suit.
Athena turned to Heero and said, "Be strong, everyone in the world needs you to be strong for them. That's a lot to ask, but you are the only person who can do it. We know you can do it." With another hug she began to walk off toward the mists and then stopped. "Oh yeah, I completely forgot. Say hi to that cutie Trowa for me!" With a quick blown kiss, she was gone.
Artemis suddenly came over and wrapped her arms around Heero. "Odin-chan!" For a minute she sobbed into Heero's shoulder and then she back away and, staring teary-eyed, hugged Duo also, Aphrodite following and hugged both of them also.
Then, they stepped back and simply looked at them, like proud parents. "Heero," Heero jumped at the sound of his name from Artemis lips, as she had never called him anything but Odin-chan. "Duo." Duo nodded, tightening his arm around the other's waist. "As you never knew you parents or grandparents, and as your unknown-number-of-great grandmothers, we want to wish you both a happy life."
"What?" "Nani?" Heero and Duo both said, looking at the two in confusion.
"Yep! That's right, you've got our blood flowing through your veins. How else do you think you were able to control the Gundams? Gundanium is the metal of the gods and you have to have their blood in you and a pure heart in order to control even a small piece of it." They both smiled and brushed a piece of hair out of their child's face. "We want you to know we'll always be there for you…"
"Where are you going…?" Heero asked, feeling a little lost. The person who had seemed like a mother to him was leaving.
Artemis shrugged. "We don't know. Hebe seems to think that we'll be reborn and I'd like to think that. Goddess, I hope so."
Aphrodite leaned over and whispered something in Artemis's ear before turning to the boys. "I need to go. Duo, I love you like a son. I will always be watching over you and, someday, you will get the same chance I'm getting. We will both be reborn and will be able to live without the burdens on our souls that we have." She turned to Heero. "Heero, you'd better take of Duo for me because, I'm warning you, if you hurt him, I don't care if I've forgotten everything, I will find out about it and, without knowing why, will seek you out to hurt you ten times worse." With that she walked away, the mist wrapping around her as though in a hug.
Artemis turned toward them and said, "Well, this is it. I love you both with all my heart. Will we meet again. Ja ne!"
"Ja ne! We will see you again! Never 'sayonara'!" Heero said, feeling tears leak down his face. And then, right in front of their eyes, she disappeared, leaving only the sweet smell of vanilla and, sooner than they wanted, the wind had wiped any trace of Artemis away from them. For a moment, the mist around them turned a light blue-green like that of Artemis's eyes, and then it was normal.
"No one will remember them… at least not as they were. They'll only be tales in storybooks and ways to look at the Greeks so they can ask questions like why they thought this or that," Duo said, feeling a great sorrow surround them.
"No… we will remember them and, I know, we will meet them again. That's why she said 'ja ne' instead of 'sayonara'. 'Ja ne' means 'we will meet again' while 'sayonara' is more of 'good-bye forever'," Heero said and then, gently, turned Duo's face toward his and kissed the American. This time the kiss was full of sadness, regrets, and 'what ifs', and both the young men could taste the other's tears.
When they opened their eyes they were back on the balcony, standing, embracing. They looked out at the sky and saw two shooting stars again. Heero turned and said, "Make a wish for both you and I."
Duo closed his eyes and whispered, "I wish that this war will be over without as much death as I fear that it will take and I wish that all the women who used to be goddesses will live happily ever after." Then, he turned to Heero and asked, "Where do we go from here?"
"We win the war and get peace…"
"And after 'happily ever after'?"
Heero smiled looking at the sky. He no longer cared that most of his life was shrouded from him. He no longer cared that tomorrow would be another day of war for the peace would be worth everything except for the deaths of the people who would die. He knew that he would meet Artemis and the others again. So, he smiled and laughed, drawing Duo into a tight embrace, and saying against the lips of the man he loved, "Anything we want."
The rest of their words were swept away as a great wind swept through the sleeping city and, far away, a baby with light blue-green eyes was born and, as she looked up at her father, she laughed while the earth smiled.
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IMPORTANT NOTE: For those of you that wish it, DUE TO MY SPORADIC postings, I am offering you, the readers, A MAILING LIST to sign up to. When I finally UPDATE, I will SEND OUT AN EMAIL informing those of you that are on the list that I have finally updated. I need you to EMAIL me, telling that you wish to sign up, and whether it's for ORIGINAL FICTION or FANFICTION. I WILL NOT accept those people that ask to be up on it in a review because I can't be sure that email is real. The mailing list will ALSO OFFER the TITLES of those works that I am posting, the COUPLES (if any) that are in it, which FANDOM it is from, and whether it is a SEQUEL to anything.
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Petra: Well, there it is, the ending!
Kati: Finally!
Petra: We hope you enjoyed the fic!
Kati: Thanks to those who stuck with this fic, you've been an uplifting help to the writing experience.
Petra: So, thanks:
GAELAN: Thank you for thinking that my fic is "beautiful and interesting" I'm very flattered. I like the idea of Heero starting anew, even though I don't know what he'd be like. And, yes, Duo is very hesitant; he's been hurt a lot of time by things Heero's done or said and he's scared.
DRAGEN EYEZ: laugh Yes, it's Relena! You've figured out my plot twist! Damn you! laugh
"I dream of a day when I can open my eyes, and my dreams won't disappear."
-Rose Marie Ledam
Petra Megami Assari
The Gentle Tiger Goddess
