Disclaimer: Sigh...the usual;)
Author's Notes: I can't think of any more ways to thank everyone
for their continued support of this story, as well as all the
sweet birthday wishes. You are a fabulous audience;) PS: I apologize
for this chapter being so short.
****
To Dance Beneath the Diamond Sky
by Kristen Elizabeth
****
"I danced from the moment I could stand." -Anna Pavlova
"Thousands of emotions well up inside of me throughout the
day. They are released when I dance." -Unknown
****
Duo had just finished rinsing out his waist-long hair when he
heard his name being shouted over the noise of the shower. He
turned off the water and stepped out. After securing one towel
around his waist and another around his hair, he poked his head
out of the bathroom.
His mother stood in the hallway, holding out the phone. "It's
a girl named Relena."
Smiling weakly, Duo took the phone and retreated into his bedroom.
Making sure that his blinds were pulled, he let the towel around
his waist fall. "Hello?" he said into the phone.
"Duo, hi." Relena's voice was high and breathless. "I'm
sorry to bother you."
"Not a bother, princess." Balancing the phone between
his shoulder and ear, Duo reached into a drawer for a pair of
faded plaid boxers. "Didja miss me in class?"
"You and Hilde." There was a pause. "How is she?"
Duo sat down on the edge of his bed with a sigh. "They told
her earlier...she won't ever dance again, princess."
"Oh god!" Relena cried. "Oh god...I was hoping...that
she would be all right."
"She will be. Just not right enough to ever dance."
Duo unwound the towel on his head; a damp chestnut mass spilled
onto his bare back. "Don't ask me how she's taking it; she
hasn't spoken since they told her."
Relena sniffed, an audible attempt to keep her tears at bay. "I
wish there was something I could do for her. I know she doesn't
like me, but..."
"Hilde doesn't dislike you, princess. She's just..."
He started dragging a comb through his wet locks. "You gotta
understand. Hilde grew up in Brooklyn. Her dad died when she was
eight and left nothing. Her mom's been working two jobs, sometimes
three ever since. Hilde started working to help with the bills
when she was fourteen. The only thing good thing in her life has
been her dancing; she's been doing it since she was five at a
community center. I met her when we both got into the Conservatory."
Duo took a breath. "The rest of us....you, me, Yuy....we
have things to fall back on. Hilde doesn't. Dancing is...was her
way out."
"There's no way she'll be able to do it again?"
"That's what they're saying," he replied. "I'm
heading back to the hospital for a few hours. Even if she isn't
up to talking about it, I have a feeling she'll need something
to cry against." Duo attempted a smile. "I intend to
offer her my shoulder."
Relena made a soft sound of amusement. "You know, Hilde might
not realize it, but dancing isn't the only good thing she has
in her life. She has you."
Duo shook his head. "Shucks, little swan lady...." After
a moment, he frowned. "Say, what's going on with the workshop?
They're not canceling it, are they?"
There was hesitation on the other end. "No. They want to
re-cast Odette, though."
"Ah, good." Duo tossed his comb aside. "Who'd they
pick?"
Relena delicately cleared her throat. "You'll probably want
to sit down for this one."
****
The sun streaming through the window of the hospital and playing
across the narrow bed and the girl curled up in it was mocking.
It should have been raining, snowing, hailing...anything but the
annoying warmth and cheerfulness of the afternoon sunlight.
Hilde closed her eyes to block out the rays. There was no one
there at the moment to close the blinds; she would have to endure
it for now. Her left leg throbbed, just one small part of her
overall misery. She reached for the button to call a nurse, but
let her hand fall before it could do so. The pain reminded her
that she was still alive.
There was a knock on the door. Hilde turned her head; perhaps
whoever it was would just leave. She would have no such luck.
A moment later, the door opened and Duo burst in carrying a huge
arrangement of daises and lilies.
"Hi, babe!" His voice was overly energetic, as though
he were trying to make up for the melancholy that saturated the
room. Approaching her bed, he bent down and kissed her forehead.
"Picked these up on my way over here. Do you like?"
Hilde said nothing.
"Okay." Duo set the flowers down on the little tray
beside her bed and shrugged out of his leather jacket. "Next
time...roses." There was a moment's pause. "How are
you feeling, baby?" She lifted her shoulders. "Better,
eh?" Duo winked. "Good! At this rate, you'll be out
of this place in no time."
When she still didn't acknowledge him, he walked to the window,
seeming to revel in the sunlight that Hilde despised. "It's
so gorgeous outside. I wonder how much I'd have to give the nurses
before they'd let me take you out there...." He turned back
around. "Interested?" Hilde shook her head.
Duo hesitated, but only for a half-second. "Do you need anything?
I could turn the TV on...I could get you more Jello....more kisses...."
He sighed. "Perform an Irish jig? Just talk to me, Hilde.
Please."
She closed her eyes again. "There's nothing you can do for
me," she finally said. "There's nothing anyone can do
for me."
"Baby..." Duo crossed back over to the bed and sat on
the edge, taking her hand in his despite her efforts to pull away.
"If I could, I'd bargain with God and get him to rip up *my*
ankle so you could dance forever. But I can't. The only things
I've got are daisies and kisses and that Irish jig. If you don't
want any of that, just tell me and I'll get out of your hair."
Hilde's cornflower eyes flooded with hot tears. Her hand tightened
around his. "Why was it me, Duo? I have tried so hard...I've
done everything right when my whole life has been so wrong...
So, what did I do to deserve this? That's what you can do for
me. Tell me why this is happening to me!!"
"Maybe..." He looked down at their joined hands. "Maybe
there's something else in your life that you're supposed to do...that
you never would have if everything had gone to plan."
She wasn't quite ready to accept that yet. After looking away
for a long time, she turned her gaze back onto him. "What
are they doing about the workshop?"
Duo cleared his throat. "Do you like the flowers here, by
your bed? Or maybe they'd do better in the sun. I could drag the
tray thing over there and..."
Hilde frowned. "Duo, I asked you a question."
"I wonder if they have green Jello again; I could get you
some. Have I ever shown you my Jurassic Park Jello trick? It's
basically just that thing the girl did to make her spoon jiggle
when she saw that raptor coming towards the..."
"Duo!" Hilde raised the back of her bed up a bit more.
"The workshop?"
He sighed before rubbing his eyes. "Hilde-baby...I'm torn.
I'm afraid that if I tell you, it'll just make it all the worse
for you to..."
"Please, Duo." Her eyes were wet. "I need to know."
After a second's contemplation, Duo brought her hand up to his
lips, as though the gesture would cushion the shock of the news.
"They want to re-cast Odette." Hilde's fingers tightened
around his hand. "And they want Relena."
The minutes of silence that followed were unbearable. Rather than
wait for her reaction, whatever it might have been, Duo plunged
on. "It's your part, babe. No one's denying that, especially
not Relena." He paused. "It could be worse. They could
want Cata-lonely-a. I mean, at least it's someone we like."
Duo tried one more time with a simple, "I'm so sorry, baby."
He was about to try again when Hilde spoke in a soft, wounded
voice. "Am I that easily replaced?"
"No one could ever replace you," he immediately replied.
Hilde bit her lip, digging down into the flesh until she nearly
broke the skin. "How am I supposed to react to this? What
would be the graceful way to accept it? Is there one? Because
all I want to do right now is grab something and..." Her
fingers squeezed his; he winced slightly. "Not only have
I lost everything that I've tried for my whole life, I've lost
it to someone who couldn't dance her way out of a paper bag! "
"That's a little..."
"A little what, Duo?" Her teary eyes narrowed. "A
little harsh? A little unfair? What do you want from me? I'm not
just going to shrug my shoulders and say 'that's life'."
She released his hand with more force than necessary. "I
hate her!!" she cried. "She took it from me...when she
already has so much..."
Duo reached to embrace her, grabbing her wrists when she struggled
against his arms. "You can hate the situation. You can hate
Treize. You can hate Millardo. Hell....you can hate me if it makes
you feel any better. But Relena is just as shocked and just as
upset as you are about all of this. Do you think she wanted this?"
"Of course she wanted this!" Hilde gave him the look
she generally reserved for drunk people on the subways and fundamentalist
Christians. "Are you an idiot? Every single girl in that
class *loved* watching me fall, thinking they'd be the one picked
to take my place. Relena's no different! In fact, she's worse,
because she never would have gotten it if she weren't the director's
sainted little..."
"Stop it!" Duo's violet eyes flashed. "You have
no idea what you're talking about! You're hurt and you have every
right to be angry. But taking it out on Relena....there's no point
in doing that. She doesn't deserve your hate."
Hilde's leg throbbed, distracting her momentarily. The enormity
of the day caught up with her in the space of a second. Her anger
melted into the stream of her sorrow and self-pity. Tears came
faster; her shoulders sagged under the weight of too much feeling.
"It's not fair!" she screamed, sobbing. "It's all
gone...everything!! My whole life is over!"
Duo climbed into her bed to pull her further into his arms. She
protested but only for a second; after a moment, she collapsed
against him, her sobs muffled by his chest. He stroked her short
curls, rocking her gently as she continued to cry. "It's
going to be okay," he whispered, dropping a kiss onto the
top of her head. "I'm here."
She shook her head against the warmth of his body. At the moment,
it wasn't enough.
****
Relena had her foot propped up on the low bench that ran between
the rows of lockers in the girls changing room and was adjusting
her pink tights when she heard the voices. Three girls changing
into their leotards in the next row over; she had seen them when
she had arrived.
Apparently, they hadn't seen her.
"I just don't get it. Why her?" One girl whom she didn't
recognize asked out loud.
The second girl was recognizable beyond a shadow of doubt. "Isn't
it obvious? She had to have fucked Treize," Dorothy Catalonia
replied.
"Oh, that is so tacky!" The third girl slammed a locker
door. "What a slut."
"It is pretty sad. I mean, her own brother didn't cast her
in anything better than the corps....I guess she figured she had
to go that extra mile." Dorothy laughed. "She probably
jumped Treize as soon as class was over after Hilde fell."
The third girl giggled. "If she hadn't done it earlier. How
do you think she got into the class in the first place? It certainly
couldn't have been her technique."
"What really makes me mad is that now she gets to dance with
Heero." The first girl sighed dramatically. "I have
done everything to get him to notice me and all I've ever gotten
was a vague nod."
"We're sure he's straight, right?" the third girl laughed.
"Oh...he's straight," Dorothy said with confidence in
her voice. "Believe me..." From her place leaning against
the lockers, Relena froze.
The first girl gasped. "Have you and Heero...?"
Dorothy pounded her toe shoes against the wooden bench. "It
was just this little summer thing in the Hamptons last year."
"Oh my god, you have to tell me *everything*!" the first
girl squealed. "Is he as good a kisser as you'd think?"
"Sweetie..." Dorothy's voice was low and experienced.
"He's good at it all." There was a pause. "I ran
into him at a this huge bonfire on the beach one weekend. Did
you know that his dad has this amazing house...well, that's not
really important. We started talking dance, but pretty soon he
was all over me. Well, I wasn't about to say no; you've seen the
bulge in his tights."
The third girl snorted. "Why do you think I keep coming to
class every day?"
Relena looked down at her hands; they were shaking. For once,
her brain and heart had the same thought....she needed to get
out of there. But she found she couldn't move as Dorothy continued
her story.
"He's one of those guys who just knows what to do,"
she went on. "I can't even remember how many times I came;
it was that damn good." She gave a content sigh.
"What happened once you got back to the city?" the first
girl asked.
Dorothy zipped up her bag. "That, darling, is private."
The third girl grumbled. "So unfair..." There was a
second's pause before, "Shit! We're going to be late!! Treize'll
freak!"
Relena held her breath as the girls scrambled out of the locker
room. When she thought the coast was clear, she slumped down to
the concrete floor. The new information about Heero had yet to
completely sink into her mind. The sound of a voice over her snapped
her to full attention.
"Did you like my story?" Dorothy asked, her arms smugly
crossed over her black leotard.
"Was it just that? A story?" Relena licked her dry lips.
Dorothy shook a manicured finger at her. "If I wanted to
lie about having fucked someone, I'd pick a more important, influential
partner. Your brother, for instance. I could totally ride that..."
Relena put her hands over her ears. "Please go away."
The other girl smiled wickedly. "You know you don't deserve
all of this, don't you? You're a second rate dancer trying to
fill shoes that are way too big for you. How are you going to
look trying to dance him? I'll tell you." She bent over slightly.
"Ridiculous." Relena closed her eyes and turned her
head. Dorothy straightened back up. "Think about that before
you step into the studio today."
Relena listened to the wooden clap of her toe shoes and the sound
of the locker room door slamming shut. A single tear slipped down
her cheek. She wasn't quite sure why though. Dorothy wasn't lying....about
any of it. She was an inferior dancer and she would look ridiculous
trying to dance with Heero.
And as for Heero...it wasn't as if he owed her anything. They
had only shared one full moon.
She wiped the evidence of the tear away from her smooth cheek
and stood back up. After slinging her bag over her back, she followed
the path Dorothy had taken out of the changing area. When she
emerged into the main hallway that led to the studios, Heero was
waiting for her. Leaning against the wall beside the door to the
girls dressing room, he looked like a rebel without a cause.
Relena refused to meet his eyes. "Why aren't you in class
warming up, Heero?"
He unfolded his arms and pushed off the wall. "I wanted to
talk to you before we got in there."
"About what?" She bit her tongue. **Do you think I'm
a bad choice for the role, too?**
Heero looked down at his scuffed rehearsal shoes. "Well...because
of all of this...we're going to have spend more time together.
You have so much catching up to do....I was thinking we should
ask Mr..."
She cut him off. "Listen, Heero. You don't have to bother
Treize."
He frowned. "Treize? What does he have to do with our science..."
But Relena had stopped listening to him. "And you don't have
to worry about being embarrassed by me during the workshop,"
she continued. "I don't know why my brother and Mr. Treize
decided to cast me, but it was obviously the biggest mistake they've
ever made."
"Relena..."
She shook her head. "You don't have to apologize to me, Heero.
I know my limitations. So, like I said, you don't have to worry
about anything."
"I don't?" Heero raised an eyebrow. "What are you
talking..."
"You don't have to worry..." Relena repeated. "...because
I have no intention of dragging you down with me." She took
a breath. "I'm not going to play Odette. They can just find
someone else."
****
To Be Continued