Note: Once again not much of a difference, just some more tweaks here and there.
Near Sanq Kingdom Memorial
Relena stepped back into the car, bouquet of flowers in hand. Heero started the car and drove towards the destination. Heero looked over at Relena who was clutching the flowers.
“What kind are they?”
Relena looked at him, “Zechs never did tell me what his favorite kind was, so I brought a mixture of flowers. Do you think there good enough?”
Heero smiled, “They look nice, I’m sure they be fine.”
They continued to drive until they reached a set of gates that were opened. The sign above said, “Sanq Kingdom Memorial”.
They parked the car and walked past a memorial of all the other soldiers that fell during the battle with Kale.
“So many lives lost…” Thought Heero.
They continued to walk past the graves until they reached a decorated Gravestone.
Here lies Zechs Merquise, devoted warrior for peace and justice
May his Heart, Spirit and Soul forever be with us
Relena kneeled down and placed the flowers on the grave. She traced the outline of the engravings and wept quietly. Heero placed a hand on her shoulder and permitted himself to shed a few tears. As he looked at the gravestone, he saw various items indicating that the others had arrived earlier. But one item caught his eye; it was a letter, from Noin.
“Noin… I haven’t seen her since…”
Heero’s thoughts drifted back to the funeral. The funeral, he could remember it like it was yesterday.
Flashback
Heero just sat in his chair as he stared at the coffin filled with Zechs personal items. Everyone from the Preventer’s had shown up for the funeral, including Lady Une. Heero looked over at Duo and Hilde. Hilde had her head buried in Duo’s shoulder as she wept aloud. Duo had one hand on Hilde’s shoulder; his own face was buried in the other hand as tears ran down it freely. Trowa and Catherine both held each other in their arms as tears rolled down their cheeks. Wu-Fei wrapped his arms around Sally in an attempted to comfort her, but a heavy flow of tears flew down his face too. Noin, accompanied by a teary eyed Quatre, slowly walked up to the coffin. She wore a black dress with a black veil hanging over her face. When she reached the coffin, she placed a hand on it, and collapsed to the ground with a sob. Quatre knelt beside her and offered any sort of comfort he could to her. Heero stood up from his seat, took a deep breath, and began to speak the eulogy.
“Everybody in life wants to be remembered for something. They want to leave a legacy behind, so that future generations will be proud of them and their accomplishments.”
Heero looked down at the coffin, “Zechs… words can not do justice for what you did… You didn’t just save our lives… you saved all of earth and space. You sacrificed yourself to assure that future generations wouldn’t have to go through what we went through.”
Heero placed a hand on the coffin, “Zechs… you were my brother, and though we were once enemies, you were my most trusted friend and ally… I’m proud that I can call you my brother.”
Heero’s voice began to croak, “I…I know that you’re looking down on all of us… and that you’ll always be with us. So I’ll try to make you proud, I’ll try to live a life that you’d want me to.”
Tears now began to fall down his face, “Zechs…I still miss you, I loved you, we all did, you were are family, are brother… and I’ll never forget that. Zechs I… oh god…”
Heero put a hand over his face and wept aloud. Relena walked up to him and held him as tears came down his face. After awhile, Heero slowly broke the hug. And with tears still running down his face, he kneeled down, and kissed the coffin.
After the preacher said a few words, there was a moment of silence as the coffin was slowly lowered into the ground. Afterwards, each of the guests walked up to the coffin, and said a little prayer. Then one by one, they left until just the Gundam Pilots remained. Heero took one last look at the coffin and then to the sky. He knew Zechs was up there watching, waiting…
End Flashback
“Heero.”
Heero snapped out of his trance and looked at Relena, “What is it?”
Relena sighed, “It’s been almost an hour, we should get going soon.”
Heero nodded, “Yeah,” He looked at the coffin and ran his hands on it., “Goodbye Zechs.”
Heero rose to his feet, “Let’s go.”
Heero took Relena by the hand and they began to walk out of the cemetery.
“Heero… my god, is that you?”
Heero quickly spun around and stared at the face of Duo Maxwell.
End Ch 2