Healing A Broken Heart

Chapter Three

By Melville's Best Friend

She was sore. It hurt to move, it hurt to breathe, and it hurt when she thought about why it hurt. She slumped over her bed and groaned.

"Why does it hurt this badly inside? There's no reason for me to feel anything towards her...As far as I'm concerned we never were friends." Her self-reassurance wasn't helping her. "Maybe", she spoke aloud, "I should give this all up. Maybe I should learn how to love again..." she glanced over at the teddy Heero had once given her. It was in the far corner of the room. She walked over to it and picked it up. She smiled. It still smelled like him. She caressed the smooth fur, and traced a finger to its inanimate eye. "I gave him all the love I had to offer. And... that wasn't enough... He still left." "It will be no different this time." She put the bear down. "He'll still leave me, and I'll be right back where I started, and no one will be able to pick up the pieces of my heart." She looked at the bear once more before going into the shower. "Love is just a game."

She had to go back to work today. The new diplomatic position of which she was 'ever so fond' was starting today. She was the new Peace representative of the world. She actually wanted to go back. It would take her mind off of all that had been happening at home. Her servants had to fix her hair, which was in a very elaborate braided ponytail, and she had chosen an outfit to wear. She wore a dress that complimented her features very well. The low neck line showed a flash of cleavage, and around her neck she wore a dark blue gem stone, to take attention away from her chest. The sleeves covered her arms, and tapered off at the end, so that one couldn't see her hands. A golden waist liner was the only ostentatious garment she had on, and below that, the blue dress seemed to swim. She looked stunning. She, however, didn't even care to look at herself. She had to give a speech for her "welcome party" when she arrived at the capitol.

She was escorted to her limo, and helped inside. Her eyes were closed when the door was shut, but she had the suspicion someone was watching her. She opened her eyes to meet Heero's. She looked at him for a moment, then glanced outside. The car had started, and was on its way to the meeting. She looked out the window to see the ocean. It was all too peaceful. She ended the peace by speaking.

"Why haven't you left?"

"I've been hired. I can't leave."

"Fine. You're fired."

"You're not my boss."

"Then who, may I ask, hired you?"

"The convention."

She sweat dropped. They delegates obviously thought her new job would be difficult. With the number of threats she was receiving, she didn't doubt their actions.

"When will you leave?" she asked, her eyes looking straight into his soul. He looked back at her, completely astonished. Although she had no pain in her voice, her eyes gave her sorrow away the second he looked at them. She turned away.

"I'll leave when my job is finished."

"That's rather ambiguous, don't you think?"

"We're here."

The two exited the limo, and she was escorted from then on.

"This is sooooo boring. Why do we all have to be here? It's a waste of time." Duo complained. The pilots were stationed around the halls of the capitol, where they could keep an easy eye on Relena. Quatre sounded over his walkie-talkie. "Duo, keep the line clear for an emergency."

"This is an emergency. I am about to kill myself out of boredom." The line went silent. "I hate all of you." Duo whined. He looked down at Relena, who was being bombarded with delegates. He listened in on his earpiece.

"Lady Dorlain, we need to get started right away. These people are dying. They have no protection from these attackers. Will you please?" a tall man begged.

"Yes, please. You need to head out tomorrow. This should take no time." Another started.

"It seems my vacation really is over. Gentlemen, I'll fulfill my duty, and take the trip first thing tomorrow. I think you should excuse me, however. I will need all the rest I can get." She left the building quickly, and in no time she was home. She started packing for her trip when Quatre came into her room. He cleared his throat, waiting for her to finish folding her last garment.  She sighed.  She turned to face him, and placed an incredibly domineering look on her face.

"Yes?"

"Three of us have to go back to Preventer HQ. There's a crisis going on up there that we have to look into" he stated.  She continued to look at him. "Duo and Heero will accompany you on your trip tomorrow." She glared at him.

"Are you finished?"

"Look, Relena, I.."

"Captain Winner, I have a lot of packing to do, so if you don't mind, I should like to do it alone." She turned away, and kept packing. He sighed and left the room. She sighed as well. "That was your best friend, you know." She ignored herself, and kept packing. She was interrupted by a hologram message, cutting edge technology. It was Himiko.

"Hey there, Lena! How are you!"

"How in the world did you get my code for this message?"

"That's not important. What are you packing for?"

"I have to go to a peace conference in South America."

"How do you feel?"

"I'm incredibly sore, and yourself?"

"Gee, Lena I'm touched you though about me."

"Is there a reason you called, Himiko?"

"I just want you to be careful. I hear Talea's free."

Relena dropped her clothes.

"She's what?"

"That's what I said. It seems she escaped from prison, and has found a new job offer. I don't want her job to be you."

"The most ruthless bounty-hunter against the world's highest ranking fighter shouldn't be difficult." She looked at Himiko. "Thank you for the head's up. I'll take precautions." She ended the connection.

She cursed under her breath. This wasn't good. She'd had encounters with Talea before, and each time, she'd barely come out with her life. She finished packing and went to find Heero. She found him working on security measures for her trip. "I want you to put everything you have into this." He looked at her. A gleam in his eye showed her his confusion. "I want this to be smooth. I have doubts that this can be pulled off." She paused for a moment to remember her encounters with Talea. She was brought out of her thoughts by Duo, who had heard everything from a corner in the room. "Don't worry about it. We're taking all the necessary precautions, Lena."

"That might not be good enough." She replied.

"Do you wanna' share your thoughts with the class, there, Rel?" joked Duo.

She looked at the two men. There was no way they could shield her if she was Talea's target. She couldn't shake, however, the thought of them getting hurt. "Make sure you protect yourselves as well." She stated before she went upstairs.

"Heero, did she just..."

"Yeah.  We're making progress."

She entered the plane. It was actually a jet. She could see her pilot sitting before her as she sat down. She hated being able to see the pilot. It drove her mad. She always pictured them reading "So, You Want to be a Pilot' when she thought about it. She was put at ease, however when Heero entered. He wasn't one to do any job half way.  She knew he had done all she'd asked and more. He sat next to her.

"You're nervous."

"Is it that obvious?" she inquired.

He held her hand, and looked into her eyes. She widened hers, and slowly let them close. She allowed his hand to stay.

They hadn't been flying long. They were somewhere over a jungle when Heero went to check on the pilot. Relena could hear them clearly, regardless of Duo's chattering to Quatre on a visual e-mail.

"What do you mean?" she heard Heero ask.

"I mean there's no way of telling where we are. The plane's scanner is broken," the pilot answered.

"Can you get a link of where we are at all? Can you contact your HQ?"

"I can try... Guys, this is Roger, over.... This is flight 113 to base, over... Base can you hear me? It's not working..."   Talea....she's coming...

"Heero, we need to get out of here now." Relena screamed. He looked at her with questioning eyes, and then nodded.  "Land" Heero told the pilot.

"I'd love to, but there's no clearing." He answered.

Relena was getting frantic. She grabbed Duo's laptop, and did a data analysis of the plane. She traced the flight for traces of unidentified metal. Duh, Relena, you moron. Heero would've caught traces of a bomb. That can only mean... "We're gonna' get shot down!" she screamed at Heero. "What?" he replied. Just then, her assumption came true, as the plane was hit. She fell to the ground, Duo had shielded her with his body. She looked up towards the pilot's area. It was in flames. "Heero... HEERO!" she screamed. "We need to get out of here." She looked behind her. He had obviously escaped, and already had a chute on. "There are only two. I could only save that many. The rest are with the pilot." She could barely hear him, she coughing so much smoke. The fact that he had been able to get out of there was astonishing to her. Her eyes watered with the amount of smoke, and she felt herself starting to faint. A pair of strong arms hoisted her up, and the next thing she knew, she was falling. She lost consciousness when they hit the ground.

She woke with a cold rag on her head. She slowly sat up, and her eyes met Duo's. Her eyes widened. "Where is everyone? Is everyone okay? Where are we?" she darted up, only to have her head throb in restraint.

"Hold on, Relena. Everything's okay. You had a pretty heavy dose of all that smoke. It's a wonder you made it safely off the plane." Duo stated. He tried to get her to sit down. She kept trying to walk, but with no avail. "Lena, will you please sit down? I don't want to have to make you, but I will."

"Where are Heero and the pilot?" she questioned. Duo shifted his gaze. Her eyes widened.

"Duo?" she pleaded with him. "Heero's fine. He went to go salvage some parts of the plane. We might be able to..." he was cut off by Relena. "And the pilot?" "Dead. I'm sorry, Relena." She fell to her knees. "Blast it." She dug her fingers into the dirt. "That woman...blast her.." "Relena?" Duo moved closer to her, and put an arm over her back. "Don't!" she cried, and stood up to meet his glance. "I don't need your sympathy. Save that for Roger. He's the one who risked his life for me." She sat on a root of a huge tree. Duo was about to say something to her when Heero showed up. She looked at him with no expression. "How grave is the situation?" she asked him. "We have no way to contact anyone, no one knows we've crashed yet, or where we are. They'll send a search party.." "But won't be able to find anything in miles upon miles of jungle. Our options?" she asked him. "We have to find a village, or a clearing on which we can write a message." He stated. "Guess you couldn't find any salvageable parts, huh?" asked Duo. "Nothing." Heero answered. "Finding a village or clearing could take days." She whispered. Heero heard her, and gazed in her direction. "At least you're dressed for it." He stated. It was true. She had dressed appropriately for an encounter with the jungle. She had on a sleeveless black turtleneck that exposed the majority of her midriff, and showed her well-toned torso. Her pants matched the spandex top, but were long and black. Combat- looking boots came up to the tips of her femurs. On the plane, she had covered it all with a long cloak. She had dressed for the heat of South America, and she was dealt the full blast.

"Get some rest. We'll need it for tomorrow." Stated Heero. The three sat around a fire Duo had built until they each dosed off. Relena woke later in the night, freezing. "A lot of good this outfit does at night." She couldn't see well enough to start another fire, so she hugged herself, shivering  the whole time. She had almost drifted to sleep when Heero's arms enwrapped her. She looked at him, startled. "What are you doing?" she hissed. "You're cold. If you'd rather me leave.." "No...no. I can deal with this for a night." She felt so comfortable in his arms, but inwardly berated herself for feeling anything towards him. She was heating up much faster than she had anticipated. She felt the heat travel from her stomach to her face, until she felt like her head was going to burst with fever. She shook her head to rid herself of the 'petty' emotions that were being generated from Heero, and only Heero. She startled him when she did so. "Is something wrong?" he asked. "Yes, actually." She turned around to look him in the eye. "You aren't doing this as a futile attempt to warm my heart are you?" she spat out. "...." She separated herself from him, and ran off. She was feeling all these feelings that she hadn't felt in so long. (A.N. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Feel, felt, feeling.. *bursts into song* feelings!!!! Oh, boy, that was funny...) Why was he doing this to her? It hurt to feel (A.N. hee hee) again...how could that be? She panted as she started to climb a tree. She rested on a limb, where she could see all around her. The wind met her heart as she began to sing...

"I'll follow the night...

Constant the light.. She looked into the heavens.

When will I begin to live again? She looked down at her hands, her veins seemed dry. She remembered the words she had spoken so long ago to herself: But I don't have a soul anymore...

One day I'll fly away-

Leave all this to yesterday. She had to move on with her life. She had to leave these feelings behind...

What more could your love do for me?

When will love be through with me?

Why live life from dream to dream

And dread the day when dreaming ends?"

She began to quickly climb the rest of the tree. She broke through the barrier, never missing a beat of her song. The wind played with her hair, and made her feel alive, somehow. A new life was going to emerge.

"One day I'll fly away!

Leave all this to yesterday!

Why live life from dream to dream?" She stopped. Her song was no longer as strong as the wind. She had to stop these false dreams before they got the better of her.

"And dread the day when dreaming ends."

"One day I'll fly away.

Fly, fly away..."

She descended a bit of the tree, but stopped from the bottom a few feet. She let her legs dangle over the side of the tree. "Love is just a game" she reassured herself.

Heero looked up at her from where he had listened to her song. He sighed, and hung his head. He was ready to throw in the towel.

Disclaimer: I don't own them. I also don't own the song in there. I was just listening to my Moulin Rouge cd, and I thought it fit. So, neither belong to me, sadly. So! That's chapter 3! I worked on this long and hard, so I hope you guys enjoy it. I loved writing it, so no matter what, no one can tell me it sucked. If I were reading this, I'd be getting a little irked at Relena. Anyway, thanx for reading my fic, and please, please, please, send some comments my way. They will always be appreciated.