Evergreen
Epilogue
by 0083
Love and eternity are two small words that fail to
describe the immensity of their true meaning.
Thirty years passed and Heero never left Duo's side.
Their friends brought him food, shelter and anything
else he might require during that time, their sorrow
for him and Duo palpable with each visit. Each were
leading happy lives, but every day when they visited
Heero by the evergreen, they would feel the damning
sorrow.
Heero watched as the seasons turned and as his friends
grew older. He saw the joy that Quatre and Trowa had,
growing brighter each year. He saw Wufei find the
woman of his dreams, a spitfire of a girl named
Meiran, and saw them have children and grandchildren.
He saw Sally become a local doctor of renown, a
respected member of the community. He saw Hilde
gleefully torment and love her husband and children,
showering them with affection and her awful cooking.
He saw their lives pass before his eyes as he remained
with Duo.
His friends knew better than to try to convince him to
leave his beloved and for that, he was grateful. Each
day, he talked to his lover, telling him about their
friends, their lives and their trials in life. Each
day, he told Duo how much he loved him, miss him.
Each day, he bathed himself in Duo's tears, letting
his own wash through the evergreen.
Thirty years passed like so until one day, Heero felt
his body dying underneath the sorrow and the pain.
His body was disintegrating, his soul was battered and
his heart was growing weaker with the ache. Soon, he
would die and leave Duo, an option that he could not
entertain.
"Please," Heero pleaded with anyone that would listen,
"please don't take me away from him. Please let me be
with him."
His vision faded, his hearing dimmed. And yet, he
could not give up on Duo.
"I can't leave you. I won't. I will forever be by
your side. I love you.."
The tears from the evergreen soaked him, baptizing him
in sorrow and longing.
"Then be with him, Heero."
Heero turned to the voice that had spoken, but he
could no longer make out the face. Even the voice was
distorted, his hearing having dimmed too far for him
to recognize it.
Relena could only shed silent tears as Heero feebly
raised his head and rested it against the evergreen.
She could feel the torment of the lovers, each
radiating a kind of longing that she could not imagine
was possible. Thirty years was so short to gods, but
could any of them live through the pain even for that
short time?
"I will make sure that you're with him."
Relena was graced with a joyous smile from Heero's
gaunt face. He had heard her.
"Say the words, Heero. I know you remember them."
A nod of confirmation was all she needed to begin the
ritual of binding Heero's soul to Duo's. Without a
word, Relena handed Heero a small band resembling a
ring bearing the intricate symbols of the gods. It
was the final treasure of the Fates, the Binder.
Holding the ring in his hand, Heero intoned the words
with his rusty voice, clinging tight to the evergreen.
"Duo.. With the blood of my blood and the bone of my
bones, I become one with you."
The light that shone from the ring blinded Relena.
"With this ring, I thee wed."
A powerful beam of light wrapped itself around Heero's
body.
"With my body, I thee worship."
The light enveloped the evergreen.
"With my soul, I thee love."
The light flared intensely and shot to the heavens.
Relena could not see anything, but somehow, she
imagined that she saw Heero smile one last time.
When the light dissipated, Heero's body was gone, but
a vine with dusky red leaves was curling around the
evergreen lovingly, intimately twined with the bark
and leaves in a silent communion. They were
intertwined so closely that it was hard to see where
the vine ended and where the tree began.
For a moment, Relena doubted if she did the right
thing, but her doubts faded as she looked upon the
evergreen.
The eyes no longer wept. Instead of the sorrow and
the longing, the eyes radiated a completeness, an
absolute joy.
Finally, Heero and Duo had found each other again.
notes:
you didn't think i'd let it end without them
somehow ending up together did you? if you did, well,
can't say shame on you because i've been known to do
some nasty angsty things to the boys.. and i forgot
the disclaimer on the parts (cya form incomplete!) but
you all know i don't own gwboys..
anyway, notes.
Raduleum is a bastardization of rado (latin) that
means to scratch out, to erase. i tried to squish it
into an accusative form for noun's sake.
Metanilim, a horrendous mess of greek, for
transformation to nothing. i thought it fit.
the words Heero speaks with the Binder.. it's a very
old wedding vow, originated by the highly passionate
scotsmen. gotta love them. i used it because i love
the resonance behind the words and the hint of
eternity present. it fits as well.
and why evergreen? well, in wedding tradition, it was
common for the recently married to jump over the
evergreen branch if there was no thresh-hold to carry
the bride over. a ritual of sorts, but i like the
symbolism. evergreen, eternally the same and never
changing, but a catalyst in a way for all kinds of
change. okay, i don't make sense.
and yes, this was a loose adaptation of apollo and
daphne's love gone wrong story.
i hope you liked what i did. if not, send me a
critique.
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