Une talks to Duo after Heero's funeral
"When did you know that this was going to happen?" said Duo, next to his hospital bed.
Heero looked up from the hospital bed. "From the beginning of my training." "What?"
"I'm sorry, Duo," he said, tears coming from his eyes. "That's why I've been so cold. I knew that even if I did survive the war, all the things that I had done to me would eventually catch up to me. I wanted revenge for Odin and I wanted the fighting to stop so badly that I didn't care at the time what experiments were done to me."
"Heero."
"You told me how you hated being abandoned by your parents, how Solo died, how Maxwell Church burned to the ground. When I heard that, I didn't want you to feel abandoned again. I didn't want you to mourn someone who was doomed, anyway. That's why I always left."
"You idiot! I wanted to be with you to the end! You should've told me!"
"I'm sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing."
"Duo... " Une said to the man curled up in his bed. She'd ordered the landlord to open the door to let her. She hadn't seen him for a month after Heero's funeral.
"Leave me alone," Duo said quietly.
"I can't do that... Everyone is worried about you."
"I said, GET OUT!" Duo threw a glass right by her head and it smashed into pieces on the wall behind her.
Une didn't even flinch. "Lying in bed won't help. You don't have to come back to work, but you do have to take care of yourself."
"What do you know?"
"Know? Know? I know exactly how you feel, Duo Maxwell!" A steely glint appeared in her eye. "I lost the man who was the most important to me, the man I know to be the greatest man who ever lived. I watched him die before my eyes and I could do nothing to help him. So, I know what you feel. Did you know that I offered a gun to Relena to put me out of my misery?"
Duo shook his head. "No, I didn't."
"I did. I felt so empty, like my soul had been ripped out of me. When I... when I went back to Earth, I stayed in my house and grieved for months. Everything reminded me of him. I had promised not to cry because he'd died the way he wanted to, but every morning, my pillow would be damp because I'd cried in my sleep."
"However, Sally and Noin came by to see me. They were worried about me. Even though we weren't strictly what I would call friends, they came by with a proposal. That proposal was the creation of the Preventers. I was one of the few people who had enough connections and information to make things happen. I couldn't let the peace that Treize-sama died for crumble. So, I used all my connections and access to funds to make it a reality. I found that when I worked, I found some relief from the pain in my heart. It was because I was beginning to live again, because I was doing something he'd want me to do."
"I can't do it anymore. I've done this too many times before."
"Too many people have died because of that war. I'm not going to let you become another casualty. I know that you and I fought on opposite sides during the first war and that we didn't talk very much afterwards. However, if you feel the need to talk to someone who understands a little, then call me at my home number." She wrote her phone number on a sheet of paper and put it on his pillow. "If not me, then at least one of your friends. They probably understand more than you think. Heero didn't want you to suffer like this, Duo. He was wrong in not telling you but he did it to spare you any more pain."
Duo was silent, but he seemed to be listening.
"I will see you again."
"When?" he asked.
"Soon." With that, she left the room.
It was cold outside, but clear. She saw a man on the corner selling flowers. She bought a bouquet of roses. Today is the anniversary of Treize-sama's death, she thought. I should visit his resting place and talk to him about all the things that have happened in the past year.
The End
(:./mk/grieving)
