AC 180
"Fuyuka, wake up!" Her husband sat by her bed, holding her hand. "It's not all your fault."
A man with a large nose and a bandage on his face walked into the room. "Shinobu, how is she?"
The brown-haired, blue-eyed man turned to look at him, then relaxed when he saw who it was. "Professor Giuliani, I thought that... "
"A mere flesh wound. Luckily, the car bomb malfunctioned."
"How are the others, Drs. Johnston and Samuels?"
"Johnston lost a hand and his eyes were damaged. Samuels got hit in the face... He'll live, though."
Shinobu frowned. "I'm glad the others weren't there."
"It was a good thing she insisted on going to the bathroom one more time before leaving. The bomb was timed from what I heard. What happened to her? They didn't... "
"When she heard that you were all injured, she put her hands over her face and cried out that she was the worst because not only was she ineffective, she was putting everyone else in danger. Then she fainted. I don't think she ... wants to face any more of this. She's been unconscious since then. Her blood pressure's been high and she's been running a fever. I'm afraid for her and the baby. If she loses the baby, I'm afraid what that'll do to her. She's lost so much as it is. Her brother died, then her best childhood friend Quatrina Winner died just a few weeks ago, just after giving birth. One more loss... "
AC 200
Heero sat by the hospital bed, waiting for Duo's fever to break. We should never have become Preventers, he thought. We've done more than enough. If we weren't Preventers, we wouldn't been sent to Mars on a mission, right before an outbreak of plague broke out. Damn people, if they want to fight so much, then the hell with them!!
He took Duo's hand between his own and said, "Duo, listen to me, you're going to pull out of this one. You're going to play a joke on Death, slip away and open your eyes. You're going to open that big mouth and joke about how you fooled him. Duo... Not just for me, but for the baby. She's waiting for us on L4, waiting to be born. You can't leave now."
Is this heaven, thought Fuyuka. She stood alone in an endless field of knee-length grass. While it was bright and warm, the sun was nowhere to be seen. I didn't think heaven would be such a lonely place as a light breeze caused the grass to rustle and ripple like the ocean. At least here, I can't hurt anybody and nobody can hurt me, she thought. Then she put her hand on her swollen belly. My poor child, she thought. You died before you ever truly lived. Then she mused, Am I going to be pregnant for all eternity?
"Oh, ojosan!"
She turned to see a man standing several meters away from her. He was dressed in a green uniform that was different from the military uniforms she'd seen. But it was his face that attracted her attention. He had a broad, sincere smile and bright violet eyes. He also had a long, brown braid slung over one shoulder. He radiated good cheer and friendliness, standing with his hands on his hips. "Who are you?" she asked.
"I am Duo Maxwell. "What's your name?"
"My name is Fuyuka Yuy."
"Fuyuka Yuy?" Duo said. I've heard that name before. But where, he thought.
"Yes, I'm the sister of Heero Yuy, the slain peace activist. Surely, you've heard about him." Surely, he can't be forgotten so quickly, she thought. Not after all he tried to do.
"You're the sister of Heero Yuy?" he said. I remember, he thought, Heero told me about that dream he had that one Christmas. There was a small beautiful woman with black hair and brown eyes named Fuyuka, whose face he couldn't forget. She's my mother, he had said. Then he told me that he wanted to name the baby after her once he had found out the baby was a girl. If that's so, then the baby this woman's carrying is Heero! What is she doing here?!
"Yes." Then she sighed then tried to sit down.
Duo held her and eased her to the ground. "There you go."
"Do you know where we are?" Fuyuka said.
"I really don't know," said Duo. "But before I got here, I remember being driven to the hospital. I was just burning up. How about you?"
"I... don't remember anything after I fainted." She paused, unsure whether to tell this stranger more, but something about him made her feel strangely at ease with him. "It was right after I talked to several delegates from the other colonies. What a sight I must've been to them! A woman, already into her third trimester, barely five feet tall, trying to fill her brother's shoes. Then the explosion happened. I heard it, then Shinobu ran in. He told me that Johnston, Samuels and Gallo were all hit by shrapnel from the car bomb. I couldn't take any more. I suddenly felt so tired... "
"Hey, it's understandable. Pregnancy is a trial without having to deal with all that," said Duo, rubbing her back. "I have a friend named Sally who's pregnant and she's been pretty wiped out by it."
"But the thing is I wonder... "
"Wonder what?"
"Wonder if I should bother going back."
"What... what do you mean?" Duo said. "You can't stay here. Why would you want to stay here? There's nothing here." Then he saw the despair and a tiredness that was from more than mere physical exhaustion.
"Because if I stay here, nobody else will get hurt because of me."
"Don't be stupid!" he snapped. "If you stay here, everybody who loves you will miss you. Do you want to subject them to that kind of pain?" I know that pain, he thought, it's worse than anything.
"What do you know?! They are probably dead because of me. Even if they're not, how can I face them?"
"They're not dead." At least not during your time, he thought. And not because of you.
"How do you know?"
"Because I'm from AC 200."
She blinked and stared at him. "What?"
Duo's face lost its smile and all the cheeriness vanished. I know why I'm here now, he thought. I know what I have to do. "Listen to me carefully, Fuyuka Yuy. You have to go back. There're so many people who depend on you. Your son depends on you."
She gasped. "How did you know?"
"I know. I know him."
Fuyuka turned away for a second, then put a protective hand on her belly. "When I got pregnant, I didn't know for over a month. I had become so stressed my periods became irregular. When I found out, I wasn't sure I should continue the pregnancy. But Shinobu really, really wanted this baby. He told me that the future would always be uncertain that I couldn't put off having a life. I wanted this child, but how could I bring him into such a world especially when I knew that I was going to be in danger? I could get him hurt or make him an orphan. Either way, I wouldn't have done right by him."
"What changed your mind? It's obvious you did."
"Quatrina Winner, my best friend since high school. She told me that if anything should happen to me that her husband promised to take care of him. Then she told me that she had a feeling, a vision that she'd gotten from... "
"Her uchuu no kokoro," whispered Duo.
Fuyuka startled and looked at him with wonder. "Yes, that's the exact words that she used. How?"
"I know her son. His name is Quatre and he's got the exact same knack." She's starting to believe, he thought. Good.
Fuyuka finally smiled at him. "So, a little piece of her did survive after all." Then she said, "You know what she told me. She told me that this baby was important, that this child was the heart of the universe. Crazy, huh? But her hunches always turned out right and she told me that he'd see the peace my brother died for. Duo?"
"Yes?"
"Do you know my son?"
Duo smiled at that. "Yes, I do."
"How do you know him? What is he like? What about the colonies?" Fuyuka said in a rush. Then she paused, "Maybe I'm not supposed to know."
"I think that's why we're here right now. Fuyuka, I want you to listen to me very carefully."
"All right. But first tell me about my son."
"Heero's... "
"Heero's his name?"
"You didn't name him that?"
"Well, we haven't exactly decided on a name," admitted Fuyuka a little sheepishly. "The doctors and the rest wanted us to name him after them."
Duo laughed at that. "Oh, that's just too much."
Then Fuyuka laughed a little, too. "Yeah, I guess it is kinda funny."
"You know the first time I saw you, I didn't see the resemblance. He's got brown hair and blue eyes, but you've both got the same smile. He's tougher than anything and really quiet, but when you really need him, he'll go through hell for you. He's one of the smartest guys I know and the sweetest."
"How do you know him?" she said, smiling.
Crap, Duo thought. She's not going to like this part at all. "Um, you see we met during the war. We were soldiers on the behalf of the colonists... "
Shock descended on her face. "Soldiers?"
"Yes."
"How did he end up a soldier? I want to know everything."
"We were both fifteen... " Duo then slowly began to tell her about the cold, hard boy he had met on that pier so long ago and all the battles, the pain and the trials he went through. It took a very long time...
"What a terrible, horrible life... " she said, her whole body shaking. She put her hand over her mouth as if she was about to retch.
Shit, he thought, I should've told her that Heero led a happy, happy life. But I couldn't lie to her about this. She has the right to know. "But after the war ended, it got a lot better for everyone. There was finally peace. A lot of things wouldn't have been possible without him."
"But what about him? Who gives a damn about him?!" she yelled angrily. "Heroes are quickly forgotten. I know. I've seen it happen. I can't do this to him. I can't make him hold up the world!"
"I give a damn about him! I wouldn't have married him if I didn't!" Then he gasped. God damn it, he thought. I shouldn't have said it that way.
Her eyes widened and her mouth parted. "You what?"
"We got married, a few years after the war. It's true."
She turned away, quietly.
"Please. I'm sorry to have sprung it on you this way."
"How did this happen?"
"What?"
"How did you and my son fall in love?"
Duo countered, "How did you and your husband fall in love?"
Fuyuka looked surprised, then thoughtful. "Shinobu was a friend of my brother ever since college. He helped my brother with his work. They wanted to change the world. For years, he didn't tell me how he felt. I thought that I was just someone he knew, someone to talk to. It was only after someone else became interested in me that he finally told me how he really felt. He'd been afraid before, he said, but he was even more afraid of losing me. Then after Heero died, I felt that if his life was to have any meaning that I should continue his work. Shinobu insisted on helping me. Bit by bit, I realized that this person would always have my best interests at heart. I could always depend on his kindness and support. That's why I married him."
Duo couldn't keep from smiling. No wonder, Heero's the way he is. His mother feels the weight of the world on her shoulders and his father didn't tell her how he felt until it was almost too late. Damn. "Maybe it's unmei, fate. First time I saw him, I can't explain it... he interested me. He kept surprising me. Not all the surprises were great, mind you like the time he ran off with parts from my Gundam and punched me in the stomach that one time. But the biggest surprise was when he asked me to marry him."
"Why did it surprise you?"
"Because I didn't know if he could leave the past behind him. If he was going to keep beating himself up for things that he had no control over. He was in the hospital after he'd destroyed Mariemeia's fortress. I came to visit him. I asked him what he was going to do now that all the Gundams were destroyed. He said he wasn't sure, but that no matter what he planned to do after all this, he wanted me to be with him. I said yes."
"You have no regrets."
"None."
"So what happened to him?"
"Right now, we're working with the Preventers to make sure that there won't be any more people who suffered the same way Heero and I did. We don't want any more wars. We both have a very personal reason to do this. We have a daughter on the way." He licked his lips, then said, "Fuyuka, Heero's happy, I promise you. He smiles and laughs now, and he's been visiting the nursery Quatre's set up on L4 every week just to see her develop. He used to think that there wasn't a future worth living for, but now he can't wait for it to come. Don't do it for the world or my sake or anybody else's sake, go back for his sake."
"Duo, Shinobu and I aren't there to see the future you're describing, are we?" Duo shook his head. "No, I don't think so."
She sighed. "That's what I thought. Duo, thank you for everything you've told me. I'll be going back."
"I just wish I didn't have to give you such bad news."
"I have peace of mind and that counts for a lot. If peace does come and my son gets to experience some measure of happiness, I can't ask for more."
Duo pulled her close and gave her a hug. "A lot of people are never recognized for all the stuff they do, but that doesn't mean that their work doesn't count any less than the people who are recognized. I think that with the time you do get to spend with Heero, you made an impression on him, an impression that survived all the things to come."
Suddenly, the grass around them separated from the ground and flew upwards, swirling around them.
AC 180
Fuyuka opened her eyes to see her husband sitting by her side. "Shinobu?" The blue eyes shined down at her, full of joy. "Fuyuka... I was afraid I'd lose the both of you."
"How are... "
"They're hurt, but they're going to be fine. You can visit them if you want, after you've fully recovered."
"I'd like that very much. I had a very strange dream. Very strange."
"You had a fever, it's not that uncommon."
"Yes... " Fuyuka said, closing her eyes. There's so much to tell him, but I doubt Shinobu'd believe me. But at least I know that Heero's happy and that all my hopes for him came true even if I never get to see it.
AC 200
Duo woke up to see Heero sleeping in his chair. He smiled and said, "Hey."
Heero's eyes opened suddenly, then softened and his mouth curled into a smile of relief. "About time you woke up," he said gruffly, but he reached out and held him.
"Hey, aren't you supposed to be looking for the terrorists?" Heero sat down, then said, "They got hit by the plague too. They're in the military prison hospital. Looks like we can go home early."
"Home ... Looks like we'll make it in time to see her delivered," said Duo.
"Yes."
"Heero... "
"What?"
Duo looked at Heero and thought, He's truly his mother's son. "Never mind. I'll tell you on the way back."
Epilogue
AC 181
"Take a look at mommy," said Shinobu holding the baby up so he could see his mother speaking before another group. She had already lost much of the weight she'd gained from her pregnancy and was very smart looking in her white suit.
Fuyuka glanced at her child and gave him a wistful smile before turning to the business at hand.
AC 201
"Come on, Fu, walk towards dad," said Duo, gently holding the baby up. "Come on."
The baby looked backwards toward Duo, then looked at Heero with his arms held out to her a couple meters away. On his face was a welcoming, gentle smile. Fuyuka then slowly walked towards Heero. She stumbled, but she got right back up. She continued slowly, unsteadily making her way.
The End
(:./mk/unmei2)
