Title: Maybe (creative, aren’t I?)

By: Singe

Email: [email protected]

Rating: PG

If I had one single wish I’d go back to the moment I kissed You goodbye

Duo ducked into the remains of a building, pulling a teenage female in roughly behind him. Their hiding spot was one of the few places that hadn’t caught on fire, yet. The Maxwell church along with most of its inhabitants, were destroyed, but the mobile suits still remained. Waiting to kill any survivors that might come staggering out of the chaos.

"Should we wait, or run?" the female spoke with a slight trace of fear in her voice. Duo looked at her and then back at the still hovering suits, who now, one by one, were slowly leaving the ruins of what was once his life. He sighed and moved deeper into the building before he sat and leaned on a fallen support pillar.

"I don’t know, babe. I just don’t know." he said wearily and closed his eyes. After a moment, he felt a warm pressure on his shoulder and opened one eye to see her head resting there. They staid like that for several moments, silent, before smoke began to gather in their hiding spot and the roar of an approaching fire caused him to speak.

"Damn."

"I think that decides it." the female said before standing and moving to peer out the hole through which they had entered to look for mobile suits. Duo’s eyes snapped open at the statement and he immediately stood.

"What kind of chance do you think you’ll have out there?" he demanded angrily and spun her to face him. He knew she was right, that they had to run, but couldn’t they wait a little longer, until it was safer?

"What kind of chance do we have in here? This place is gonna burn, Duo, just like the other buildings, and we have to leave before then. Now is our best chance." she replied after a moment of searching his violet eyes.

"It’s only our best chance if we separate."

"Duo…"

"I know. I know…" he said defeated and ran a hand over his face. "We can’t just pick a direction and go, though. We need to have some sort of plan."

After a moment of studying the locations of the retreating suits and where the path to freedom was obscured by fire, they both knew in what way they would run and their destinations. The two turned and looked at the other simultaneously and slowly moved closer until his lips captured hers.

When they parted, she moved closer to the ‘door’ before looking at him again. She nodded once, flashed him a smile, and then took off into the battlefield.

No matter how hard I try I can’t live without you in my life

After the massacre at the church he never saw her again. He became a Gundam pilot for revenge, and to find her. When the end of the war came, and he still had found no sign that she had survived, depression slowly overtook him. He remained cheerful and carefree on the outside, but on the inside, he was slowly dieing.

Eventually he began to feel another emotion inside of him. Anger. All of the pilots had become widely known after the war. She had probably heard of him, so why not try to contact him? This thought had sometimes entered his mind during battle, and caused him to be more vicious, making him spill blood when he sometimes could have avoided it.

Maybe you’ll say you still want me Maybe you’ll say that you don’t

Now that the war was over, he hated himself for that. She hated killing, in anyway, even if it was because of the war. Well, at least she did when he knew her. What would she say to him if she knew of all lives he had taken needlessly? If he found her again, would she just walk away, and out of his life again? Would she still love him? Did she now?

Maybe we said it was over But baby, I just can’t let you go

When the two had run in different directions that night, they both new that they mat never see the other again. They had no other choice besides going together, which would probably drawn attention to them and therefore, killed them. Dou had told himself this countless times over the years. He accepted it. But why did it hurt so much still? He had Hilde, yeah, but she didn’t fill the empty void inside him that had been there as long as he could remember. She had done it so easily, and so completely, that when she left, it came back, emptier than before.

I walk around, trying to understand

Where we went wrong

The night that was the destruction of his life and the beginning of his one as a Gundam pilot only lasted a couple of hours, but it seemed like it was an eternity. It had replayed itself over and over in his mind, day and night. And eventually it drove him to do something he had thought he never would. Return to the sight of where the Maxwell Church had once stood.

The site had been cleaned up, of course, but no new buildings had been erected. A memorial and a graveyard for the 245 people who had died filled the space that had once been his home.

And I can’t pretend it wasn’t me And it wasn’t you But I’m convinced we gave up to soon

He looked around, not seeing the graves of his friends and the closest thing to family that he ever had. In his mind he saw how it was that night, the fire, fallen buildings, and the mobile suits. He knew what he was looking for; he’d been looking for it for the last couple of years. A way they could have both escaped, together. Once again, he didn’t find it.

Why did he even bother, anyway? It was in the past and there was nothing he could do to change it now. He sighed and closed his eyes. Why had he even came here?

Nothing left to lose

After losing you

Not finding an answer to that question either, he began to walk through the graveyard, stopping to look and give a short prayer to those he knew and some he didn’t. ‘Maybe that’s it,’ he thought, ‘maybe I came to look if she was buried here.’

There’s nothing I can’t take

As soon as the thought entered his mind, he realized that he had been unconsciously preparing to see her name on one of the slabs of stone. He had grown basically immune to death, but could he handle it if he found her here? Dead? Dou thought that he would be able to, but he never had to find out.

When I come for you Don’t tell me I’m too late

Dou raised his head from the silent prayer he had just given for Sister Helen, the nun who had first braided his hair. He sighed and turned around started to leave, deciding it would be better if he thought she was still alive and didn’t love him instead of knowing she was dead. He stepped out of the gates that guarded the cemetery and looked up at the setting sun.

He was about to stop a cab, but something told him to turn and take one last look. Almost against his will, he did. The sight he saw made him freeze. A woman was walking through the gates he had just come from into the cemetery with an armful of roses. His eyes widened and he inhaled sharply, not expecting to see what he did. It was her.

By now she had passed through the gates and was walking down a row of tombstones, occasionally stopping to lay a rose down and say something. He entered the cemetery again and watched her for several moments in shock. He slowly started to move closer, so that he could here what she was saying. ‘Oh, gods.’ he thought, ‘It is her.’

He walked up behind her as she finished praying to and stood from where she had been crouching. She turned to continue down the row and froze when she saw him blocking her path. Her eyes widen and her mouth opened, but no words came.

He took one step closer and extended a hand as if to touch her face, but thought better of it and let it drop to his side. They stood in silence; examining the effects time had made on the other. Finally, Dou couldn’t stand it anymore and he whispered one single word: her name.

"Makoto."