Hereafter

CHAPTER 3

March Madness Prompt #2

"Snowed In"

A few days after the Mariemaia incident of AC 196, Heero Yuy woke up in a hospital bed to find Relena Darlian sitting beside him, asleep with her head turned sideways on the mattress. Her hair was down. She had taken off her jacket but still wore a ruffled blouse, skirt, and heels. She had come to visit him after a full day of work and fell asleep at his bedside.

Without thinking, he had reached out and touched her head. He found he liked the way her hair felt—fine, wispy, and warm. He pushed a stray tendril away from her cheek.

"Oh," she said sleepily, waking up. "Oh, Heero. I'm sorry. It was snowing, so I thought I had better stay."

He turned to look out the window. Fat, heavy snowflakes fell in a deluge of white. The flurry was so thick, he could not make out the buildings and the bottom of the window was caked in snow. After a Christmas where an attempt to drop a colony on the Earth was thwarted, it seemed fitting. The world beyond this room would be utterly transformed by drifts of snow piled high—a fresh clean slate.

He turned back to his visitor. Relena did not quite look at him. Her eyes were on her hands. She seemed slightly embarrassed. Heero realized he was sitting up shirtless in the hospital bed with an IV drip in his arm.

It wasn't the first time he had woken up after the incident. Director Une had told him everything that happened. He had destroyed the bunker, but Wing Zero had come apart at the seams. He had entered the compound with a gun and tried to kill Mariemaia on foot, but it turned out to be unnecessary. The brainwashed child had already been shot but was alive. They were apparently recuperating in the same hospital.

Une had also told him about Relena. Relena had caught him when he collapsed. She had come every day to see him…

He reached out to touch her cheek. She started, looking up at him. Her eyes were a luminous green blue today, framed by pale lashes. He noticed they sometimes changed color. There was a red mark on her cheek from where the sheets of his bed had made a light impression in her skin.

"Thank you," he said.

He put more meaning into those two words than he had ever put into any words before. Her expression told him she understood. Her eyes widened slightly, taking in the full meaning. She knew exactly what he was thanking her for. She clasped his hand in both of hers and pulled it to her face.

He smiled and touched her head again with his free hand, softly stroking her hair. He finished with what he had meant to ask her before he learned she has been kidnapped, the incident that kicked of the Mariemaia rebellion.

"Do you want to be my girlfriend?"

He had been a little surprised when she started to cry.

But through the tears—tears she claimed were happy—he kissed her for the first time.

Ash fell like snow.

Heero had stopped screaming Relena's name. It finally hit him. The silence.

He could not stop shaking. His throat felt raw. His lips were cracked and dry. The dust that had been a whirling maelstrom following the initial blast was now settling. His shoes were covered it. The grass was gray with it. The air as still saturated in floating particles that made everything look hazy, but he could see the full destruction of the building now.

Could anything be alive under that mountain of steel and stone?

He wiped his face with his hands, though he knew he was only smearing the dust around. His eyes were wet, though he did not remember tears. He felt too dry for tears, too dry and dirty and empty. His arms were vibrating like he was holding a jackhammer.

The adrenaline rush was nauseating. This wasn't like battle rush, which had been exciting sometimes, even when it was scary. This was different. He couldn't do anything with this energy. Where was his Wing Gundam? If he had Wing, he could clear this rubble. If Relena was alive somewhere in that mound of stone and ash, he could find her. He could save her.

But Wing Zero was in pieces at the bottom of the ocean.

He still could not hear. At least, his hearing was reduced, like listening to a far away conversation through layers of cotton. He thought maybe he heard sirens somewhere. First responders would be coming soon. They had to.

He took a step forward, down the hill, toward the rubble. Dust puffed up around his every step. He would move every rock by hand. He would do everything he could, everything he had to…

Trowa grabbed his shoulder.

Heero turned. He shrugged Trowa off, angry that anyone would stop him. But Trowa shoved something in front of Heero's face. Heero found himself staring at a phone screen. Black words flashed across white.

First, he saw Trowa's question to an unlabeled number:

Can't hear. Who is this?

And then the answer.

Dorothy. I'm with Quatre. Please help us! We are trapped.

Heero's heart hammered. Dorothy? Dorothy! Dorothy had been in the room with Relena. Dorothy and Quatre were alive in that rubble? Where?

Heero gave Trowa a curt nod and they both began to sprint down the hill. They were nearly halfway down when Heero saw another figure trudging up the hill toward them through the fluttering dust. She was carrying a duffle bag. There were cuts and bruises on her face. But he recognized her. His heart leapt.

It was Sally Po.