Julieybolt@cs.com

Standard disclaimers...ect...

FORGOTTEN SOUL
Epiloge

"Heero?  You okay, pal?"

For the entire flight back to the Preventers Headquarters, Heero had been sitting with his head down and his elbows resting on his knees, and he still hadn't moved since they had left the New Romefeller to burn itself out.  It was beginning to worry the braided pilot sitting next to him, and Duo leaned over to look Heero in the face.

"Yo, Heero.  What's the matter?"

He fully expected a flat "nothing," or to be completely ignored.  Instead, Heero let out a small, barely audible sigh, and hung his head even lower.

"I still don't know why you and the others came back for me."

"Baka!"  Duo suddenly shocked both Heero and himself by slapping the other boy upside the head.  Heero jerked up to glare at Duo, who tried to mask his action by acting indignant.  "You think we're that unforgiving?  We've ALL done things we've regretted, Heero; heck, we even fought each other on opposite sides of the war!  So quit feeling sorry for yourself and get your act together.  The others will get over this.  I think you should too."

Heero dropped his head again, leaving a frustrated Duo thinking he would ignore the whole lecture.  But Heero's next words surprised him, though thery were so soft he barely heard them over the roar of the wind.

"Duo......thanks."

Duo shrugged and mumbled something about block headed bakas.  The two partners were silent then, while the brilliant lights of the Preventers headquarters suddenly gleamed in the distance.

************************

"Releena, shouldn't you come in now?  It's getting cold."   

Releena glanced back at Noin and stubbornly shook her head.  She had been standing on the runway ever since Heero left, gazing up at the sky for any trace of him or the others.  Sally had informed Noin and Milliardo as to what had happened, and both had been furious, not at Heero, but at the New Romefeller.  And although Zeches did mention once of how he was going to strangle Heero Yuy, it was obvious he didn't mean it; most of his anger was directed elsewhere.

Noin sighed worridly and left the young foreign minister alone again.  Releena barely heard her leave.  Heero would be back, she told herself.  And she would be waiting right here when he did.

Finally, her patience was rewarded.  She heard the roar of the mobile suit long before it appeared on the horizon, gleaming like a distant shooting star.  As the suit began to land, and Noin Milliardo and Sally Po rushed onto the runway to greet it, she could clearly see the five gundam pilots looking back at her--Duo, with his infectious grin, waving madly with his braid swinging in the wind; Trowa, watching her calmly with just a hint of his easy smile; Wufei, amrs crossed over his chest and acting like the whole adventure had just been another day; Quatre, with his bright eyes and innocent demeanor....

...and gazing at her from behind a whooping, hollering Duo, his brilliant blue eyes fixed solely on her alone...

"Heero," Releena whispered.

The suit touched down, and the five gundam pilots leaped off it to the ground.  They were instantly surrounded by Noin, Sally, and Zeches.  Releena didn't move from where she was standing.  Almost immediately, a lone figure melted out of the chattering, noisy crowd and faced her, his expression hesitant and unsure.  After a moment of deliberation, he began walking.  When he was about a yard away, he suddenly stopped.

The wind that had been blowing across the runway whipped at Heero's bangs and tugged at his clothes.  His gaze met hers, and for just a moment, there was just the two of them out on that runway; everyone else had disappeared.  An unspoken question glimmered in the depths of Heero's deep blue eyes, and just a hint of fear as he tilted his head slightly to one side, his steady gaze never leaving her.

"Releena."  Somehow, his soft voice carried to her over the roar of everything else; and with it a thousand emotions in that one spoken word.  Fear that she would  reject him for what he had done; that he disgusted her for being what he was: an instrament of war.  Exhaustion.  Self-hatred.  Bitter regret.  But love burned like a cold fire in his eyes, searing and intense, consuming everything else.  He was waiting for her, she realized; still afraid she would turn him away after everything that had happened.  he wouldn't move until he was sure of where he stood.  He was giving her the choice to continue loving the soldier of war, or to sever all ties with him and his bloody past.  Releena smiled to herself.  She already knew the answer to that question.

Shaking her head, she gave a small sigh at his stubborness, crossed the last few feet that separated  them, and hugged him so tightly she heard him grunt both in surprise and astonishment.  His arms went around her immediately and he buried his face in her hair, letting out a long, shaky sigh.  

It was finally over.

Pulling back slightly, Heero gazed into her face, stroking her cheek with one rough, battle scarred hand.  "I never got to thank you," he said, his voice little above a whisper.

Releena cocked her head, frowning slightly.  "For what, Heero?"

He took her hand, and moved it over his chest, to where she could feel his heart beating steadily under her fingertips.  "This," he murmured, his eyes so intense she felt like she could drown in them.  Her own heart skipped a beat, then threatened to stop altogether.  

"Heero..."

He kissed her then, silencing anything she might've said.  She wrapped her arms around her neck, felt his arms encircle her waist to pull her close, and felt pure contentment.  

A loud, familiar whoop interrupted them suddenly, and they broke apart to see Duo grinning at them a few yards away.  Behind the braided pilot, everyone else was watching the pair with varying degrees of happiness or embarresment.  Releena flushed, and gently tried to back away, expecting Heero to release her.  To her surprise, he simply held her closer while giving Duo his famous Death Glare.  The other pilot gulped a bit and backed away.

"Duo..."  Heero growled in his most menacing voice.

"Nani, Heero?"

Heero smirked.  "Find a girlfriend," he said, shocking everyone in the immediate vicinity, including himself.  Duo blinked, rendered speechless, for once in his life, and Heero laughed inwardly.  Suddenly, he became aware of the adoration in the eyes of the girl he held, and gave her a real, genuine smile from the bottom of his heart.  

'I'm learning, Releena.  Thank you for taking the time to teach me.'

And with that, the cold, surly pilot of Wing Zero, the mecenary without a soul,  the Perfect Soldier,  simply turned around, ignoring everyone who watched, and picked up where he had left off.

Owari.