Heero moaned in protest as light invaded his closed eyes, pushing him into consciousness. Slowly he opened his eyes, blinking from the brightness in the room. Confused, Heero turned his head so he could look around the hospital room. To his surprise, it was full of people. Women, all blonde, the other pilots, Trowa’s sister Catherine, Relena was there and with her stood Dorothy. A girl talking with Duo, Heero knew her as Hilde from a conversation with the braided Shinigami. Trowa was the first to notice that Heero was awake. Quietly the tallest pilot came to sit beside him. “How are you feeling?” Heero saw great concern in those dull green eyes as Trowa’s hand slid into his own. “Your eyes seem lighter somehow…almost green.” There was a slight pause but then Trowa shrugged it off. Heero looked at him. “I’m fine. Who are all these people?” He wondered softly, looking around the room. He spotted Sally come in and start talking to Wufei and Duo. “Quatre’s sisters.” Trowa replied. “His aunts and uncles and nieces, nephews, cousins and his father are in other rooms. This is only seven of Quatre’s sisters. Hold on.” Trowa got up and went over to one of the women. She seemed to be the calmest of them all and yet somehow Heero could sense that she felt the greatest lost. Suddenly something clicked in his memory as she approached him. -- “Iria? Why is Father always mad at me?” “He’s not mad at you Quatre. You just remind him of…your mother and it hurts him.” “My mother? But you’ve always been my mother.” “I know love, but I’m your big sister…hey, don’t cry. Baby, I still love you.” “Really?” “Of course! Oh, sweetie, I’ll always love you, you’re my most favorite brother in the whole wide universe!” “Iria! I’m your /only/ brother!” -- “So, you’re Heero Yuy.” A voice woke Heero from his thoughts. He looked up to find Quatre’s sister sitting beside him. She smiled as Heero nodded. “He always had good choice in people.” She said. “I’m Iria Winner.” Heero didn’t know what to say. Did this woman know that he had been the one at fault for her little brother’s death? “I’m sorry about what happened.” He finally whispered. “He had been protecting me…it’s my fault he’s d…gone.” He looked at the sheet on his bed. A hand quickly covered his own, making Heero look up into eyes almost the same color as Quatre’s. [1] “No, you mustn’t think that. Quatre made that choice, you had nothing to do with it.” Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears and Heero wanted to hug her, to comfort her. “Please, don’t let his death by in vain. He loved you very much and protected you because of that love.” She whispered. “Promise me that his death wasn’t in vain.” Heero swallowed as a tear rolled from his eye. “I promise.” He croaked and it made Iria happy. “Thank you.” She whispered as she got up. Before leaving the room, she gently kissed Heero’s forehead. Once the woman was gone everyone else disappeared as well. The only people who remained were the pilots and Sally. The doctor smiled at him. “When you sit up you’ll feel dizzy, but it should only last a few seconds.” She said gently. Heero nodded, then braced himself to sit up. Lights danced in front of his eyes as he closed them, not wanting to get sick. Once he was sitting up he felt himself leaning against something warm and comfortable. When he composed himself he looked up and saw that Trowa was the comfortable warmth. “Alright, let’s go.” Duo said. *** Heero lay back in the hospital bed. The room was purposely cast in darkness and it had been since they had come back from the funeral. The funeral had been very elegant and Heero knew that Relena had tried her hardest. The ceremony had been held in Relena’s estate and the entire room had been decorated with blue and yellow roses. It was an open casket, as she had said before and Heero had been surprised at how /normal/ the blonde boy looked. It was as if he were sleeping and the Wing pilot had half expected him to wake up. Quatre looked sophisticated in the black tux he had been dressed in, but Relena had made sure that little things had not been changed. His hair for one, looked like it always had. His father and half of his family had wanted it slicked back but Relena had been listening to Iria and Trowa’s requests. Another thing was a picture had been placed in one of Quatre’s pockets. It had been a picture of all five pilots together. It had been taken when they had all had some downtime and they had gone to visit the circus where Trowa hid most of the time. Next Heero noticed little things from each of the pilots. From Trowa was a ring, not an engagement ring of course, a promise ring. One symbolizing that their love would last forever, even if they were separated by death. To Heero’s surprise he spotted a cross around Quatre’s neck. He had looked at Duo questioningly, but the Deathscythe pilot had only smiled softly and shrugged. “I have nothing to give him.” Heero had whispered to Trowa, the Heavyarms pilot had only shrugged. “You’re alive, that’s all he ever wanted.” Trowa had replied, but still, it wasn’t enough for Heero. So quickly, Heero had taken of a necklace he wore. On the end dangled a star shaped from Gundanium. /This is a part of Wing Quatre, and with it I give you my heart./ He had kissed the cool metal and had laid it carefully on Quatre’s stilled chest, directly over his non-beating heart. Once the lid to the coffin was closed, Wufei had placed a figure of a crane on the closed lid. “The Chinese believe that the White Crane is an aerial transport of souls between this world and the next. We place a figure of the crane atop the coffin lid.” Wufei explained and Heero nodded. [2] Duo had given the eulogy very well. He had focused everything on the good side and talked about happy memories. He had never once mentioned being a pilot or the war and Heero found that it made him feel a little better. At least until the service ended. After the service they had gone to the airport to see the Winners - /all/ of them off. Duo had been complaining under his breath. Apparently Quatre had wanted to be cremated, but his father had wanted him buried. Not only that but Quatre had wanted his ashes spread out over the Earth. His father wanted him buried in the Winner family plot on the L4 colony. “A tool to the end.” Duo had said. Now Heero lay reliving the day over in his mind. He still couldn’t believe that Quatre was dead. Sure, he had seen the body, but it /had/ to be some kind of weird, sick joke. “It has to be.” He whispered. “You can’t be gone Quatre, you just can’t be dead.” Heero whispered into the darkness. He jumped when he heard a reply. “I /am/ dead Heero, but I’m not gone.” [1] I don’t know much about Iria and if her eye color is wrong, sorry. [2] The White Crane – this is true. Other notes: I know Quatre didn’t know that he had a mother…TWT? That goes for his father being dead too… |
