Type K Part 18
Things most definitely had gone to Hell in a hand basket. Une hefted Zechs up as carefully as she could, dragging him away from the sizable hole left in the wall. Noin, why’d you have to do this?
The white-haired man groaned, his eyes fluttering shut as he passed out. Une sighed, laying him down, and then took a hold of his stained T-shirt, tearing it away from his stomach. She winced when she saw the wound. “There’s no way you’re surviving this, buddy.” The bullets had torn through his stomach and intestines, leaving entry holes the size of a nickel and exit holes the size of an orange. Une settled down on the floor by Zechs, taking the T-shirt scraps and bunching it up against his stomach to stem the blood flow even though it was an exercise in futility. She took up Zechs’s hand with her other free hand, squeezing it as she kneeled there, a compassionate look on her face.
Minutes passed, and Une’s mind wandered. She thought about Noin, the first time she’d met the girl. They’d been what, fourteen? Fifteen? Certainly not older than sixteen. Her heart leapt to her throat the first time she’d seen the willowy dark-haired girl, the only person in their unit whose eyes weren’t dead inside. She loved Noin. Une couldn’t question her faith in her lover; never had, and never would. She couldn’t help but wonder what things would have been like if Noin had not come back to her, instead staying with the man laying helpless here with his head in her lap.
Une remembered when Noin had been assigned the covert mission, and had been gone for months and months on end. I honestly thought I might never see her again. But she came back. She always comes back for me. However, Une couldn’t forget the look that had been in Noin’s eyes when she came back, the hollowness and grief. She’d loved another while she was gone. Une knew it but said nothing. All she cared about was that Noin was back and not going anywhere again. She’d promised, of course, after Une asked her to.
The brown-haired woman’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a low groan. She looked down and saw Zechs’s eyes open sluggishly. He mumbled something that sounded like, “Who…?”
“Une, Zechs. It’s Une,” she said, squeezing Zechs’s hand. How ironic that this man, this stranger, would die in her arms while the woman they both loved was God-knows-where.
“Une…” he winced. “Sorry…about everything.”
“Don’t be. It wasn’t fair to either of us.”
“I’m dying, aren’t I?”
She couldn’t lie to him, not now. “Yeah, Zechs. You are.”
He was silent for a few moments, eyes going cloudy with either pain or his final thoughts; Une didn’t know which. A sinking feeling flooded her as she gathered him up further into her lap, fighting back tears.
Why am I crying for him? I don’t even know him.
Une was surprised when Zechs’s eyes cleared and he looked up at her, suddenly coherent. There was a serene expression on his face.
“Une?”
“Yes?”
“It’s been a good fight, huh?”
“Yeah, it has.”
“Thank you.”
Une blinked. “For what?”
“For staying with me,” Zechs winced, his face scrunching up a little at the fiery pain roiling in his belly. “It’s good to know I won’t die alone.” Une couldn’t think of anything to say. The white-haired man began to heave violently, twisting in her lap as his body waged its last war for life. His gut leaked blood steadily, soaking Une’s pant leg and the floor.
“Tell her…” he whispered softly as he closed his eyes.
“What? Tell her what?”
*~*~*
The white-haired man’s lips curled in a weak smile. In his last thoughts he saw the young Noin again, in their bunk down in the barracks. She was smiling, laughing at some joke he told her. He didn’t remember the joke, or why she thought it was so funny. But she was laughing, and that made it all worth it, made his life worth something, made him worth something. He reached out a hand to touch her cheek one last time, to say goodbye before she left.
*~*~*
Une flinched when Zechs reached out a long-fingered hand and caressed her cheek with a lover’s touch, the way she touched Noin’s cheek when they were alone in their room. “Tell her what, Zechs?” she repeated, fighting the urge to remove the white-haired man’s hand.
*~*~*
It was imperative that he told her before he left. They didn’t have much time; soon the commander would wake everyone and they’d be going about their morning rounds. The other soldiers would stir. Noin still had to get back to her barracks before they got caught. Summoning all his courage, he said, “I love you…”
*~*~*
“Zechs, what are you talking about? You don’t even know me.”
“I love you, Noin. Forever.”
Une’s felt like she’d been dealt a blow. He was imagining he was dying in Noin’s arms!
Swallowing, Une bestowed the best mercy she knew on Zechs. She replied softly, “I love you, too, Zechs.”
*~*~*
Noin smiled at him, drawing him closer to him. “I love you, too, Zechs.” His heart raced at hearing those words repeated. It was true! She felt the same way as he did. Things would never be the same again. He’d never be alone again. Then she kissed him on the cheek and got up out of the bunk, waving to him a final time as she stole silently down the row of sleeping soldiers. She passed like a shade, swift and mysterious.
Zechs watched her go, and then smiled, feeling a warmth fill him. She loved him. She loved him! Gone for now, but he’d see her again very soon. Rolling over in his bunk, he buried his head in the pillow that still held her scent, and closed his eyes. He felt his limbs grow heavy with sleep, and a deep peacefulness washed over him. She loves me, and I love her, and nothing can ever separate us…
*~*~*
Une couldn’t stop a few warm drops of water from slipping down her cheeks as Zechs grew still in her lap. She pressed a finger against his wrist, searching for a pulse. Nothing. He was dead.
Closing his eyes with her fingers, she whispered, “Sleep well."
~TBC~
Kira Maxwell
On to Part 19!
Email: KiraxMaxwell@aol.com