Key:
They all watched as the five young men carried the casket to the entrance of the church. The ceremony had gone well with much to say for the fallen young man. So many had died but it would not be felt for them as much as this one.
Tears rolled down her eyes as she thought about the words that had just been spoken about him. The feelings he left behind within her were much more than she thought she could handle.
=I Love You= she whispered as the young man pulled away from the lead and took her hand in his. She followed him, hesitant to go where she knew they were taking him.
//“I’ll be back for you. Don’t ever doubt that.”
“This is war. What if something happens…” she cried, looking into his eyes.
“If something happens, don’t doubt that I loved you. Don’t doubt that I will always be here,” he replied, holding his hand over her heart.
“Treize… don’t go…”//
“Don’t go,” she whispered again as tears fell further down her face and the sobs began to take over once more.
Zechs pulled her closer and held her, walking her out the door and helping her into the awaiting limousine that would take her to the cemetery grounds where they would bury her best friend.
~~~*~~~
Hilde stared out the window, watching as the rain fell in soft rivulets on the window, pelting it gently with giant raindrops. Even the heavens cried on this day, she thought softly. So many had given up their lives for this war and so many had no choice. They had been bombed and could only use a certain amount of tactile defenses. They never even saw it coming. Was he a hero in this? Had he bravely sacrificed his life? He was military… of course he did. He did so by just going out there.
//The air was muggy outside so she decided to go inside. It was then that she saw three cars turn onto her street. From a distance, they were merely ‘cars’ but as they pulled closer, she realized what they were and what had happened. As she watched them move ever so slowly down the street, she heard her phone ring and took a deep breath. She went back into her house.
“Hello?”
“Hilde… turn on your TV.”
Hilde didn’t want to. She sighed and picked up the remote, holding it as she contemplated on doing what she was told.
“Just tell me what happened,” she requested softly.
“I can’t. My brother is on his way…”
Hilde sighed as the tears began to well up in her eyes. Relena never held anything in so this had to be more difficult than just something trivial. With a flip of the button, the television was turned on. Her screen was filled with burning buildings and people running. Bullets had been sprayed and could be seen as a camera man ran down the street. He was talking about a building that had just been struck and had shown signs of collapsing before them.//
Zechs turned to her and watched as she panned it all out in her minds eye. He knew what she was thinking because his mind was filled with the same thing.
//“Hilde… open the door…”
Hilde sat on the couch, her hand over her mouth as tears fell in complete force, sobs trying to break the gates of her emotion. She couldn’t even do that. The banging on the door was not even registering in her mind as she watched the commotion and upheaval that was going on, Live on the screen in front of her.
“HILDE,” Zechs yelled and had finally broke the door. She hadn’t even realized that she had locked it when she came in.
“He’s gone…” she whispered and looked up at the officer who was now standing beside her. “They’ve… God… He’s gone, isn’t he…”
Zechs reached out his arms to her and held her as she stood into his embrace.
“Yes.”
“I TOLD him Not to go…” she cried, pounding a fist into Zechs’ chest. “Gooooodddd…” she cried out and tried to pull away from him but he would not let her go.
“Miss Hilde,” another young man spoke. “Captain Kushrenada wanted you to have this…” he said as he offered her a box gently placed on top of an American flag.
Hilde pulled away from Zechs and walked over to the offering, taking it into her hands.
“Leave us,” Zechs spoke and the young man saluted on his way out. “He didn’t die slowly,” Zechs whispered as he ushered her to sit. “He gave this to me last night and asked that I deliver it to you.”
Hilde took the envelope Zechs held in his hand and stared at it.
“He knew he was going to die,” she said and looked up.
Zechs said nothing. What could he say to that? Hilde had a gift of knowing these things. He didn’t.//
~~~*~~~
The priest had just spoken the words that would release Treize’s soul from its endless journey in this world. Hilde sighed. She knew that he would come back but it was hard letting him go in this life. He was everything to her. Everything she was was because of him; because he had taught her to be who she had become.
“Yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil for Thou art with me…”# she heard and watched as he sprinkled holy water onto the casket.
*
“Does anyone have further to add,” he asked to which Zechs stood up.
“I do,” he said.
The priest stepped aside as Zechs walked to the head of the site.
“Treize had a gift of giving. He was not selfish, he was not violent toward men in general. Even to his enemy he would give the shirt off his back if it meant that the other person would be shielded from the cold or rain. He was an excellent man and a brave soldier. He was my friend…”
Hilde stared at the casket in front of her, listening to Zechs’ words but not paying attention. She could still see his face when he left.
//“Don’t go,” she whispered again.
Treize reached down, grabbing her face in his hands and staring into her eyes.
“I have to. This is what I joined for. I’m not going to die in battle and if I do…” he stared at her, wiping the tears that fell from her eyes with his thumb. “YOU are worth it.”//
That was the last kiss he’d ever give her and she knew it then. He held her in a warm embrace and captured her heart, entwining it with his. Unconsciously, she placed her hand at the spot on her forehead where he had tenderly placed a kiss and more tears fell.
“Treize…” she whispered and stood up. Taking one of the red roses, she held it to her nose, inhaling it’s scent. She turned to the crowd, Zechs stepping up to her side.
*
“He is not gone from us,” she whispered, “though his physical body be shielded under this wood.” She felt her tears trail giant paths down her cheeks as she turned to face the priest. “He lived a good life,” she whispered and turned to face Heero and Trowa and Lady Une who were at the front of the line opposite her. “He loved and he hated, he feared and he was strong. He was faithful to those he loved,” she stressed, glaring at Lady Une, though she could feel no contempt for the woman who had sought comfort in another man’s arms when Treize left. “He was my best friend,” she whispered softly and could only comprehend the tears that fell as sobs, once again, took over her body.
The rose in her hand pierced her flesh with it’s sharp thorn but she hadn’t noticed it until she opened her hand to drop the symbol of her friendship and love onto the casket as it was lowered into the ground. With her tears and a drop of her blood to seal his grave forever, she turned away from everyone and walked away. She could not watch them bury him. It was too painful.
~~~*~~~
The funeral had been well over a year ago. Hilde had grown up a little more since that time and had taken on more responsibility in her life. She and Zechs were to be married soon, though she knew not how that had happened.
Standing above Treize’s grave, she felt the wind brush its fingers through her hair and watched as the orange sun fell below a mist of gray clouds in the distance. The smell of autumn overwhelmed her as tree branches waved lightly and dropped their golden red leaves at her feet.
*
“I know you’re here with me,” she said. “You will see my marriage and you will be there when my babies are born. You weren’t supposed to leave me yet,” she whispered and looked down at his marker.
Treize Khushrenada
Loyalty and Honor
Severance from a World of Violence
From a distance he Remains.
The date and year of his birth and death were marked at the bottom, though it read departure and not death.
He had always told her she had the gift and would know when he was truly gone from her.
//“Believe in your heart and you will find the way.”//
“My darkness has come… it has fallen on me like a shadow left behind by the burden of all that has happened,” she whispered and turned around to face Zechs who had been walking slowly up to her, trying not to disturb her. “He’s leaving me soon,” she said and turned back away as tears fell.
*
Zechs reached for her, wrapping his arms around her waist and rubbing her belly gently. They had made love the night before, he, taking her for the first time, hoped that he had left his seed within her and that it would be a boy. Her loss was his, by means of association, by communal knowledge and by the companionship they both shared from this young man who died in his barracks due to a bombing that had occurred beyond the enemy target.
“He lives within you,” Zechs whispered in her ear.
Hilde turned up to look at her fiancé and stared at him a moment. This was true; he always had.
Tears fell down her cheeks again and she turned to face him, feeling his arms wrap around her and squeeze.
“I miss him,” she cried to which Zechs acknowledged her words by telling her he knew. “I told him not to go…”
“He had to, Hilde. There was no other way.”
Hilde nodded and turned back to the marker and looked down at the glass encased picture of a strong man in military uniform.
“To my Hilde-Girl with Love. TK”
She sighed and wiped her tears. Beneath his dedication of the picture was hers.
“May it be your journey on to light the day. When the night is overcome you may rise to find the sun. I will find you again. Love Always HS”
Turning away from the site, she grabbed Zechs’ hand and they walked down the hill together. The October sky had fallen dark on them and now encased them with shadows of the night and a soft wind that sent a shiver through her entire body. Hilde stopped and looked down at her feet, picking up a leaf that had blown into her path. She looked at it and held it up for Zechs to see. Zechs smiled and took it from her, twirling it in his fingers. He let go of it and watched as the wind took it and blew it away from them.
//“No matter where I go, You will always be with me and I will always be right here,” Treize whispered. “You take care of my little boy, for me,” he said.//
Hilde nodded that she would but it turned out that Une had lost their baby. She had a miscarriage two weeks after he left and had gone to someone else for comfort. She sighed as Zechs opened the door for her and then got in.
//Treize stood at the door and watched her as the tears fell from her eyes. He couldn’t leave her like that but he had no other choice.
*
Hilde nodded and wiped her tears as he walked out the door. In this life, he would not come back to her. His time with her was done now until they met again in the next one.
“I love you.”//
~~~*~~~
# Psalms 23:4
THE END
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(*)= lyrics
(=) = thoughts
(//) = memories
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May it be an evening star
Shines down upon you
May it be when darkness falls
Your heart will be true
You walk a lonely road
Oh! How far you are from home
*
Monie utùlië (darknesss has come)
Belive and you will find your way
Mornie alantië (darknesss has fallen)
A promise lives within you now
*
May it be the shadows call
Will fly away
May it be your journey on
To light the day
When the night is overcome
You may rise to find the sun
*
Monie utùlië (darknesss has come)
Belive and you will find your way
Mornie alantië (darknesss has fallen)
A promise lives within you now
*
“A promise lives within you now.”
*