Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Love Among the Ruins ❯ Another Day Dawning ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I never have and I never will own Gundam Wing. I'm not that fortunate. :P And of course, the "negative content" in this story isn't too much different from PG-13 movies.

Pairings: 1xR? 2xH? 1xH? This will be a mystery to the end. ^_^

Surprises: There are some. That's all there is to it. ^_^

Genres: Drama, angst, some fluff, and other delightful things.

Warnings: Since this is an operafic, my characters will be even more emotional than they would be as in the original series, so they might be OOC.

AN: A shout out to my beta Daniel, and everyone else who reviewed my fics. Thanks for the love. ^_^

The brackets indicate opera libretto. At the end of each chapter I'll list the name of the aria the lyrics originated, name of opera, and composer.

Gundam Wing: Love Among the Ruins

Act 2: Another Day Dawning

By Sailor Celaeno

Relena sat quietly at her chair. Heero was in the corner watching her and everyone else in the room. He was still so close. She wanted to feel his hand in hers. What was it that made her think these things. Her heart pounded in chest.

[And I liked you from the first moment I set my eyes on you.]

The conference hall became too stifling. "What makes my heart feel like this?" she thought. Relena felt a breeze through her hair, making it fly.

[I am like the moon goddess, the little goddess of the moon]

"Relena."

Relena turned to the sound of her name. Those deep, silent eyes stared at her. She loved those eyes. They made her flutter like butterfly wings. "Yes Heero?" she asid with a calm, soft voice.

[You are tall and strong.]

Heero approached her. There was a scent of aftershave. He was so very close. He leaned close to her. She could almost feel the warmth as he spoke. "Are you cold?"

"Huh?" she asked as though she was emerging from a deep sleep.

Heero wrapped his arms around her shoulders. He rubbed his hands up and down her arms, briskly, but carefully. "You're shivering. I was concerned."

"Was that all?" she wanted to ask him. "I'm… uh…" She held onto his shoulder.

"Relena…"

*****

Relena remembered feeling warmth on her forehead. She opened her eyes. She saw Heero wiping his hands from putting the compress on her forehead. Duo was also nearby along with Hilde. "Hey Princess," Duo gave her a friendly wink.

Relena quietly laughed. It was sweet of him to come for a visit. "Hi Duo…" she said with a quiet voice.

Duo sat down on the side of her bed. He patted her hand. "Don't you worry your pretty head about anything. The world will still spin and everything, while you go get better," he offered her a reassuring smile.

Hilde noticed a slight grimace from Heero at Duo's comment. She smiled inwardly. She knew Duo's feelings, and Relena's as well. However Heero was another matter, and she was more convinced that he was more in love than he'd admit.

Relena smiled back. "Thank you."

"No problem." Duo and Hilde said their goodbyes a few minutes later. Heero stayed behind. He occassionally looked at Relena as she talked mirthfully with Duo. Her face got rosier.

[What a frozen little hand, let me warm it for you.]

She seemed so happy lying in her bed. Relena looked at Heero. "It was nice of Duo and Hilde to visit."

"They insisted on seeing you."

"It was sweet of them." Relena looked at her heart's desire. "Is something the matter?"

[It's a moonlit night, and the moon is near us.]

"The moon is out," he replied.

Relena frowned slightly. He wanted to change subjects, but she couldn't help herself. "Open the window."

Heero nodded. He pulled open the curtains and opened the window. The moon was bright in the sky, almost beckoning lovers to gaze deeply at its luminous calm.

[O moon high up in the deep, deep sky]

"It's beautiful tonight. I wish I could go outside," sighed Relena.

"You can't. You're still sick."

Relena looked at him. "Then…" She sat up in her bed. "Then why did you open the window?"

Heero walked to the bed. He sat down and leaned closed to her. "You like looking at the moon. I thought that would make you happy."

Relena just looked into his eyes. "They are such a beautiful blue," she thought to herself.

Heero looked at her. "Relena…" was she heard him say as he pressed his lips against hers. She remembered wrapping her arms behind his neck. Her fingers ran through his tousled hair. His arms were wrapped around her, clinging onto her as though he was afraid she was a bird that would fly away. The last concious thought Relena had was Heero pushing them both onto the bed. Still kissing her… still holding her. Soon wandered off, enjoying other sensations.

[Come along, come. Cast all your fears out of you heart!]

*****

Relena was still. Never moving, always silent like she had been for over a month. She was asleep. Heero stared at her through the glass window. He could remember laughing, smiling, giving him looks of life and hope.

[One happy day, you appeared to me.]

She deserved better. Hell, even Duo deserved better. He probably died

hating them both. "I wouldn't blame you. I wouldn't fucking blame you."

He watched Relena sleeping peacefully. She was an angel, almost impossible to be real. But he knew better than that. She was flesh and blood. She was so soft in his arms. She was halfway in Life and halfway to Death.

[And from this day, trembling, I have lived in that unspoken love,]

Love… "Do I love Relena?" He touched the window. He felt the cold plastic window and his fingers slid as he stared at her. Relena… Relena… "If I could hear you… even for you to say you hate me, I want to hear you."

But… he loved Hilde. Hilde was free, and she had a giving spirit. He admired her courage and her spirit. That was something to love.

[in that love that animates the world]

But those final words. Relena's final words. In his hands were the cold, emotionless words. She has a heart, but her heart grew cold to him. "… you don't know what you really want…" she said. Such cold words, from such a tender spirit. "… I'm making the decision for you."

[mysterious, proud, pain and delight to the heart]

Cruel… cruel… silence. Heero walked away from her window. "She doesn't want me."

*****

Hilde had settled down and drank the water from his water cooler. She took a deep breath. "I guess I really needed to take that off my chest. It buried my heart for so long."

Dr. Carlyle nodded. "Now, Hilde. Tell me what happened afterwards. After you were talking to Minister Dorlian."

Hilde took another deep breath. She could almost hear Duo's voice softly speaking to her. A calming touch his fingers on her face. She could almost feel the long, soft hair flowing freely from his braid.

*****

Sunday mornings were without a doubt the best time of the whole week. Hilde felt the sunlight creep into the bedroom. How warm it felt with the light approach with gentle fingers of yellow sunlight. The blankets were so wonderful against her skin. She reached to touch Duo's unbound hair. Hilde loved touching his hair. It felt like silk in her hands. Such a wonderful river of brown through her fingers.

[On the sacred river which flows, calmly and serenely]

Hilde didn't want to leave that bed.

Duo soon stirred at the loving touch. He yawned and looked up. "Morning sunshine."

"Morning to you too," she said with a smile dancing on her face.

[This is the time when your face smiles]

Duo looked at Hilde with a dreamy look on his face. "Something on your mind?"

Hilde touched his bangs and the side of his face. "I was thinking about how much I love Sunday mornings."

Duo took her hand and planted light kisses. "Really…" he wrapped his arms around her in an embrace.

[Dome made of jasmine, entwined with the rose together]

Hilde gasped softly as Duo grabbed her in lover's embrace. He said in between kisses, "And… why… is… that?"

[Both in flower, a fresh morning, call us together.]

"Because… I…" She was silenced as he captured her mouth with his own.

Duo freed her, "Because what?"

Hilde replied with half-hooded eyes, "Because I wake and you're here with me."

[On the bank covered with flowers, laughing through the morning, Let us descend together.]

Duo looked at her face with devilish eyes. "That's best damn answer." He disappeared under the sheets. Hilde soon laughed and moaned to the sensations Duo left her with.

*****

"So Hilde, where should we pick up in your narrative?" Dr. Carlyle asked. "You left off after you were on the beach with Minister Dorlian."

[Where are the lovely memories of sweetness and pleasure?]

Hilde nodded. Her mind was clearing again. She had grown obsessive of those memories. Memories of love that was beautiful, but their love grew dark. "Yeah. You're right." Hilde leaned back on the couch and sighed a little. "Well I guess I'll pick up at the ball in Paris. That was a few days later after the beach…"

To be Continued…

AN: Once again, I'd like to give credit to the operas and the composers whose libretto have inspired this chapter.

1) "Bimbi Dagli Occhi" from "Madama Butterfly" by Giacomo Puccini

2) "Che gelida manina" from "La Boheme" by Giacomo Puccini

3) "Pisen Rusalky O Mesiku" from "Rusalka" by Antonin Dvorak

4) "Un Di Felice" from "La Traviata" by Giuseppe Verdi.

5) "Viens, Mallika" from "Lakme" by Leo Delibes

6) "Dove sono i bei momenti" from "Nozze di Figaro"/"The Marriage of Figaro" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart