[The bright light is lying down
Earth and the sea and the sky
Is at rest with the ocean
And the days go by]
      --- Lyrics to 'Planets of the Universe' performed by Stevie Nicks

Ray of Hope Part 24

Opening the closet in his bedroom, Heero took out the nicest shirt and black slacks that he owned. The pressed gray shirt was simple, but dressy enough for the occasion. Finishing the look were his shiny, black dress shoes. When he was dressed, he appraised himself in the mirror above his dresser. Running a hand through his unruly hair, he was satisfied enough with his appearance and stepped from the room.

Duo was already out at the lighthouse going about his chores with the assistance of Zechs and Solo. As he descended the stairs, the young sailor felt bad at not being forthcoming with his plans to his partner, but he couldn't bring himself to broach the subject. Noin was the only person that he felt comfortable going to.

Quietly waiting by the front door, the young mother smiled, "You clean up well." In her simple, motherly ways, she helped the Japanese youth straighten the front of his shirt.

With a small smile, Heero nodded his appreciation. "Thanks for covering for me," he said quietly. His smile faded as he looked away. "I don't want to keep this from Duo."

A small smile tugged at Noin's lips as she shrugged, "I understand why you are. When the time's right, I know that you'll tell him." Reassured by that, Heero turned and hugged the young woman tightly. Gently kissing his head as she held him, she whispered, "You better get going. The service starts in less than a half hour."

Gently pulling back, Heero swallowed hard as he tried to muster the last of his courage to carry his plans out. With one last grin of gratitude to Noin, he turned and focused on putting one foot in front of the other as he stepped outside.

*   *   *   *   *   *

Sighing deeply, Heero stared up to the tall, white steeple of Saint David's Church. The Friday morning was lovely, as predicted by the weatherman the day prior. There was a steady, warm breeze that was also right on schedule. Despite the quaint, welcoming picture that the church made, the young sailor couldn't help but tug nervously at the collar of his simple, gray shirt.

With a deep breath, Heero knew that he was only stalling from what he knew he had to do. As he straightened, he breathed out in a deep sigh. Running a hand through his blowing, unruly hair, the Japanese youth climbed the front steps to the tall, white doors. His hand gripped on the gold handlebar, he pulled the door open and stepped quietly inside.

The funeral service was already well underway. Slowly stepping into the main room, Heero watched as the balding priest in his green robes stood before the opened casket to shake the gold incense chalice, its smoke rising into the air. Several people, nearly all of them in black, filled the first five isles on either side of the church. Occasionally, over the chanting of the priest, there was a small whimper or sniffle from the small crowd.

Contenting himself to watching from afar, the young sailor slipping into the last pew at the right of the church. The awkwardness at being at the funeral subsided before long as he listened to the sermon. Keeping his focus on the ceremony itself, Heero settled comfortable in his seat as he went completely unnoticed by any of Septum's surviving relatives. There was a surreal sense of peace that he had not expected.

At the conclusion of the funeral, Heero stepped out of Saint David's and followed the procession to the graveyard from a safe distance. As he watched the remainder of the funeral from the bottom of the hill where Septum was to be buried, he witnessed the lowering of the casket into the ground. Finally, after a few more prayers and words from the family, the small crowd parted from the grassy hill. Tears were dried and hands were held as the gathered family moved back to their cars.

When the last limo drove off, the sailor climbed the abandoned hill. It would be at least an hour before the crew would be arriving to bury the hole that had been dug up. That was what Heero was counting on for this moment. While before he had been debating on going through with this, he knew this was something that he needed to do.

Reaching the top of the hill, he read the simple tombstone at the head of the grave. 'Septum Trent Loving Husband, Brother and Son AC158-AC201' Even in death, Septum refused to have it recognized that he was a father. And that had solidified Heero's resolve, his blood boiling and his fists clenching at his sides.

As he looked down to the casket at the bottom of the deep hole before him, the Japanese teenager frowned deeply, "I'm here on behalf of your son. At first, he was debating whether or not to come here, but seeing how you and your family wrote him off even after you passed on, I'm glad that he didn't."

His hands relaxing a bit at his sides, Heero chuckled deeply and shook his head, "You know, as angry as I want to be with you for all of the pain that you caused Duo with how you so easily erased him from your life, I'm actually starting to realized that I feel bad for you more than I am mad at you. You had a gift and you willingly threw it away. Most parents would kill for the chance to raise someone like your son, but you tossed him aside. He loved you, and loves you still, but that just wasn't enough for you."

Small tears filled Heero's eyes as he said brokenly, "Your son gave me a reason to live again, when I lost everything. Even if I could remember everything about my past, I know that I would never have known anyone as caring or wonderful as your son." A few stray tears rolled down his face as he went on, "He saved my life by doing more than just pulling me from the ocean when I crashed here."

Roughly, he wiped his tears away with his eyes still staring down to the casket. "And I am far from the only person who knows how good a person Duo is," the sailor stated quietly. "There is hardly a person on this island who wouldn't go out of their way to take care of him, protect him and all because they know he would do the same for them without thinking twice.

"If that doesn't say something about him, I don't know what else would." He laughed bitterly, "But you gave up the opportunity to know that time and time again."

One of his fisted hands eased to run through his hair as he continued, "Wherever you are, I hope that you finally realize what you gave up and that you see what a mistake that was. I hope that you go on to see how happy Duo is, and has been without your help. And I swear that as long as it's within my power, he'll continue to be happy and loved the way that you could never make him."

Swallowing hard, Heero wiped at the last of his tears before concluding in a small whisper, "You never deserved such a special person in your life. I don't know what I did to deserve him in mine... but unlike you, I'm grateful for it and I won't be taking it for granted." He lowered his head and put his hands in his pockets as he turned away from the grave.

When he turned fully, he gasped sharply as his cobalt eyes widened. The lone person standing at the bottom of the hill looked up at him with an unreadable expression. "Wufei," Heero greeted with a firm nod as he slowly climbed down to stand before him.

Quickly looking away, the Chinese officer roughly cleared his throat to reply with a broken, "Heero." He cautiously wiped at his eyes without the sailor noticing before he turned back to meet his gaze. "Does Duo know that you're here?" he asked.

The sailor bit his lip and shook his head, "No. I didn't think that it was very appropriate to tell him. Eventually, I will... when he's ready to hear it." At that, Wufei gave a satisfied nod, but remained quiet. With a nervous, deep chuckle, Heero commented, "I certainly wasn't expecting to find you here this morning."

Gesturing to the top of the hill, Wufei replied, "I was coming to pay my respects, if that's what you could call it." He smirked and looked to the Japanese teenaged from the corner of his eye. "You beat me to it," he said quietly.

Heero resisted the urge to pull at the collar that felt like it was strangling him again. With a small shrug, he stated, "It's just something that I had to do."

There was a long moment of silence between the two young men that always had a tense friendship from the beginning. Finally, still looking up to the tombstone at the top of the hill, Wufei began, "Duo's always been like a brother to me. He's the reason Sally and I got together and she's the best thing that I have in my life. I always swore to look after him, keep him from anyone that could hurt him the way that his father did." His words drifted into little more than a whisper and he lowered his head.

Slowly raising his head at last, he met the cobalt eyes matching him. With a small smile, he extended his hand and told him, "You're a good man, Yuy. I'm glad that Duo finally has someone in his life that loves him the way that you do."

Blinking in surprise, Heero returned the friendly smile and shook his hand firmly with an appreciative nod. Wufei looked to his watch and offered, "I still have an hour before I have to visit the station. Why don't we go get something for lunch?"

"I'd like that," Heero answered.

*   *   *   *   *   *

"There you are," Officer Une grinned to Wufei as he entered her office later that afternoon. "How are things with the other station?"

With a snort, the Chinese young man shrugged, "No more news on that side of the island than there is here. Treize told me that you had tried to get a hold of me before I left a couple days ago."

Her brown eyes brightening, the young woman opened one of her desk drawers. Rising from her seat, she leaned forward to hand over the large yellow envelope. Officer Une grinned, "I believe that you've been waiting for this."

Wufei's black eyes widened at the comment and quickly looked down to the envelope with his name on it. "The missing person report," he realized aloud, unable to believe that he might actually be holding the answer to the questions that had plagued him for months. Une smiled and nodded excitedly.

A wide smile tugged at the Chinese officer's lips. Quickly rounding the desk, he lightly pecked the young woman on the cheek with an elated, "Thank you," before all but running from the office with the file in hand.

Treize looked up as his partner entered their shared office. At the look of anticipation on Wufei's face as he stared at the envelope in his hands, he stated, "Ah. The elusive missing person report. So we finally learn the identity of Odin."

"Yea," the raven-haired officer replied quietly, not really hearing him as he sat at his desk across from his partner's. Without looking, he opened one of his small drawers to remove the envelope opener there. For a long time, he sat there with the opener ready to cut through the fold.

Chuckling deeply, Treize asked, "Well? Aren't you going to open it?"

Wufei remained still as he thought back to that early afternoon at the graveyard. It was a great conflict for him-finally having the answers that he wanted regarding the sailor and knowing the stranger's good-hearted intentions for Duo. Had he been given the report even the day prior, he would have already torn through the envelope and revealed Heero's real identity.

It was his hesitancy that made up his mind.

The Chinese officer slowly lowered the letter opener and reopened his drawer. Opening the small box of matches there, he struck one of the small sticks against his desk. With the small flame, Wufei burnt the corners of the large envelope before dropping the burning report into the tin trashcan beside his desk. When there were only ashes left, he doused the flames with his bottle of water.

Blinking his wide eyes, Treize's shocked face melted into a small smile as he nodded firmly, "Good man."

With a deep grumble, Wufei glared at him, "Yea, yea. Just get back to work." The taller agent chuckled deeply in amusement but did as ordered. Focusing on his own pile of work, the dark-haired young man smiled in amusement to himself.

TBC...

 

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