Trowa wasn't sure what he'd find when searched through the rubble of the Palazzio. Scorch marks and various burns scrawled "fire" all over the walls, yet in the center of the mess laid Heero and Duo, unharmed and exhausted.
"No, Hee-chan...don't wanna go on a mission," Duo murmured as Trowa shook his shoulder gently.
He'd had plenty of time to think about it. Quatre had volunteered to go searching for the two boys, whatever their current status, and Trowa nearly had to threaten him back with a knife to keep him in bed. Some part of him knew it was irrational, but they were all doing irrational things now.
Looping one arm around both of the boys, he dragged them through the dust and dirt and broken bits of clay and glass. From the extent of the damage, he'd have to guess the fight had been... There were no words to describe the tile mosaics that patterned the remnants of the walls. Had it all been a sick joke?
The first panel was a clear depiction of an angel, long dark hair cascading over his back, falling to earth, the pieces of his halo in one hand. Several of the next few pictures Trowa didn't understand, and somehow he knew he wasn't meant to. That was okay; he was just a person now, not a soldier. He didn't have to study the meanings of things as if they held the key to his survival or defeat.
The Romafeller Foundation and the White Fang had destroyed each other in a space battle of epic proportions. Now all there was to do was pick up the pieces and move on.
He scanned quickly over some frames with Heero and Duo, standing in darkness, poised to fight. Clear comprehension dawned as he realized they were actually fighting the shadows. Unbidden, a shiver raced down his spine, its long tendrils reaching up to his ears and whispering forbidden secrets there. Images of the Japanese boy flashed in his vision; trembling slightly, he tightened his hold and began to walk again.
Not wanting any other epiphanies that might change his opinion of Heero or Duo, he closed his eyes against the walls and carried his friends out to safety, choosing ignorance over knowledge. Even fools knew that ignorance was bliss.
"So," Duo whispered huskily, leaning forward to rest his head on Heero's shoulder, his groin bumping lightly against Heero's spandex-clad butt. A return to the old and comforting; Duo was wearing his priest outfit, his black cap hiding his haunted eyes and starkly gaunt cheekbones. "Here we are." There they were indeed, on a steamliner from the Sanc Kingdom to Japan. Heero had suddenly developed a burning desire to understand his ancestry. That was fine with him. It gave them somewhere to go, away from the churning, blackened ocean their lives had become. Only now were the storms at last passing.
"She's gone, you know. She gave her life force." Duo didn't ask who. Heero's voice broke softly. "I mean, I know she was just a produce of arcane manipulation, the likes of which are supposed to be completely impossible--but I was kind of attached to her."
"Yeah." Holding out a hand, he pressed a handful of hard stones into Heero's scarred palm, fingers lingering on the rough skin a moment too long. "Found them in my pockets. Guess the gold got flash-fried, but diamonds... Hardest substance in the world."
The diamonds from his Key. He didn't ask where Duo had really gotten them from, and found he didn't want to know. He held them out over the ocean, letting his fingers spread wide. They trickled into the water below, --plink-- falling, glittery and --plink-- vicious, into the --plink-- foam until only one remained.
"Do you think it's really over?" Heero asked despairingly, as if even hope was too much to ask for.
"For us, it is." With that, he closed his eyes tightly and let the salt spray wash over his face, pretending that their single moment was really eternity, that they wouldn't have to get off the ship and start living again.
--Plink--.
End Epilogue One
Ariana
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