Wings
/*You are a poor little rich girl who clearly despise your social
inferiors.*/
God, that hurts. I am sure I was flinching when Tyr Marison said that.
If Hilde hadn't squeezed my hand underneath the table, I think I would
have ran away. I wanted to ran away so badly when he said that because
there is nothing I can say to defend myself. He's right, and it
stings.
All my life I lived in shining castles with servants running about
taking care of things for me. In school, all of my so called friends
admired me for my position, not for who I am. I am just a spoiled
little girl playing politics.
War I can understand; power, I deal with everyday; death is one my
best friends. but what do I know of poverty? What do I know of
people's struggling to pay bills and raise their children? Statistic.
all I have is a bunch of numbers of how many people lives below the
poverty line. I have never seen those people, and I'm not sure if they
even want my sympathy.
My fingers play with the resignation letter in my hand. It's been
nearly two years since the last battle. The game is no longer a matter
of war and peace, now we must deal with the crumbled social structures
and fight against the poverty the war left behind. For two years, I
have fought this uphill battle, but is it really my place? Sometimes I
feel as if I'm trying to fly without wings and I just keep on
falling...
I hear knocks on my door.
"Come in," I stuff the letter into my drawer.
"Hey," Hilde lets herself in, "Are you okay?"
"Yes," I reply a little too quickly. I can see Hilde is not convinced.
"Good, because we are going out. Given the little incident with the
minister of L1, it wasn't hard to get you the rest of the day off,"
Hilde throws something at me.
I catch it. It's a pink shirt and a pair jeans.
"Where we are going your clothing just isn't going to do," Hilde tells
me as she sits herself on my bed.
I raise my eyebrows slightly, "Where are we going?"
"Do you trust me?" Hilde stares at me with those intense blue eyes of
hers.
I smile, "Of course."
"Then put those on. I'm dying to see you in jeans!" Hilde points to
the pants in my hand.
I study the jeans for a moment. I have never worn jeans.
Slowly, I take off my skirt. Hilde watches me with anticipation as I
pull on the jeans. The jeans are tighter than I imagined. It is like
wearing a second skin. Strangely enough, I can still move freely in
them.
"Now the shirt," Hilde prompts me.
I pull my blouse over my shoulder, and put on the pink shirt. The
shirt is also tighter than it appeared. It is also shorter than I
thought, part of my midriff is exposed. I also suddenly notice that
the shirt reads 'It's hard being a princess'.
I throw a sharp glance at Hilde.
"That's the only shirt I had in your size," Hilde shrugged innocently.
She takes me by the hand, and starts to drag me off to destination
unknown.
"Don't you have to change too?" I ask her.
"Nope." Hilde is wearing a loose white shirt and jeans.
"How come." I start to question the fairness of our clothing, but the
words die in my throat.
Hilde is taking me out on her motorcycle. She has never offered to
take me anywhere on her motorcycle before.
Hilde must have seen the surprise in my eyes, "I didn't think you
wanted to ride a motorcycle, but I guess I was wrong." Hilde hands me
a bright red helmet as she snaps on a black helmet.
"Get on," Hilde invites me as she straddles on to the bike. Quickly, I
secure the hamlet on my head and join her.
"Hang on tight," She warns me, as the engine start in a loud boom.
Like a rocket, the motorcycle shoots out of the parking lot.
I can feel my hair flying behind me like a golden cape.
There is something oddly liberating about riding a motorcycle. We are
going so fast that I think if I just stretch out my arms I can fly.
The scenery rolls by us like colorful twirls. I feel as if I'm in the
middle of an impressionist painting.
Too soon, the ride ended, and I find myself at a metro station.
"It's too far to ride," Hilde explains, and I feel a bit disappointed.
"Ever ridden the public metro before?" Hilde asks as she locks her
motorcycle.
I shake my head, "I usually travel by a private." I stop myself,
wondering just how spoiled I sounded.
Hilde does not question me further, she simply grabs hold of my hand
and pulls me into a sea of humanity.
I think the first thing that surprises me is the smell. From cheap
perfume, to body odor, to fried food, a thousand scents attack me at
once. I have never been so physically close to so many people before,
and for a moment, I feel almost disoriented.
Hilde's hand firmly holds on to me, and guides me forward.
After several minutes of pushing and shoving we finally arrive at our
train. Hilde leads me inside and forces a bit of breathing space for
me near the door.
"Are you going to tell me where we are going yet?" I ask her.
"To visit a friend of mine," Hilde smiles.
The train starts moving with a sharp jolt, hurdling me into Hilde. As
if she anticipates it, Hilde catches me with open arms.
There were so many people in the train, I don't think I would have
fallen even if she hadn't caught me. Wall to wall, lined with people,
so no one will fall on the ground.
I stayed in Hilde's arms for a moment, trying to let her smell cleanse
the smell of mildew near me.
"If you keep on breathing on my neck, I'm going to forgo the platonic
friendship deal we made," Hilde whispers.
I pull back slightly, but still close enough to smell her.
"How long will it take to get there?" I change the topic. This is not
a time to deal with our mixed emotions.
"About a hour," Hilde replies, allowing the tension to drain from the
air.
The rhyme of the train's motion hypnotize me as we stood there in
silence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It amazes me how quickly that hour passed as Hilde pushes me out of
the train. The metro station here is quite different from the one we
started from. The walls were covered with bright colored graffiti.
I turn to Hilde in surprise.
"Welcome to the other half of the world," Hilde's voice is soft.
I spin around in a full circle, absorbing the graffiti and the ran
down station. I am in another world.
"Come on, we'll be late," Hilde tells me, as she takes my hand and
begins to leave the station.
Even though it is only early evening, various neon lights are already
competing for attention on the street. Most of the stores on the
streets are closed. Heavy metal gates and iron bars secured every door
and window.
My hand tightened around Hilde's. I hate to admit it, but I know I
would be scared if Hilde isn't here with me.
Hilde puts her arms around my shoulders, "This, Relena, is one of the
poorest neighborhood on Earth."
I nod, not knowing how to respond to her.
"The poverty Marison talked about on L1 doesn't get much worse than
this," Hilde continues as she keeps on walking, knowing exactly where
she is going.
I follow without comments.
We make a left turn and suddenly we are a facing a row of houses
instead of a commercial area.
Hilde stops in front of an old house covered in crusted blue paint,
"We are here."
She presses a small button by the door.
The door opens and the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my
entire life stood there. I hear myself gasp, but I can't help it. Her
skin looks like smooth dark chocolate. Black liquid silk frames her
almond shape face. A pair of dark jewels crowns her face.
"You are late!" the dark beauty chides Hilde.
"Nice to see you too, Ani!" Hilde embraces the woman warmly.
A small child of four or five peaks out her head from behind Ani, she
spots me, and waves.
Feebly, I wave back.
"This must be the girlfriend we have heard so much about!" Ani turns
to me.
I feel myself turn red.
"Not girl friend, just a friend," Hilde tries to clarify, "A friend
I've been trying to seduce ."
Ani pulls me into the house with her hand, "She's kind of cute. Wonder
how long it would take her to crumble to our Lancelot's charms."
I'm blushing. I know I'm blushing. I try to concentrate on the house
instead. The inside of the house is very different from the outside.
Although the floral wall paper is turning yellow and slowly pealing
off, the house is very clean, not a speck of dust. It is one of the
most colorful houses I have ever been in. Rainbow colored blankets
decorated ancient couches.
The girl comes to my rescue, "Do you want to go play with my dolls?
You look like Bambi."
I look to Hilde.
She laughs, "You don't need my permission to go play. I need to help
Ani with dinner anyway."
Before I know it, the girl pulls me to her room and sits me on a chair
designed for a four year old.
"My name is Relena, what's your name?" I ask her as she scrambles to
find her dolls.
"I'm Zoey," she smiles brightly at me, "Is it really hard to be a
princess?"
I start to blush again when I realize that she is referring to my
shirt and not who I am. I laugh, "No, not that hard."
"Good, because I want to be a princess when I grow up," Zoey speaks
with conviction.
"Oh?"
"Yep," Zoey seems determined, "Mommy says I'm smart enough to be one.
I can already read!"
"I noticed," I wiggle around slightly in my chair, "Very impressive."
"Here they are!" Zoey finally finds her dolls. She proudly displays
two hand sew dolls in front of my face. One of the dolls is light
colored with yellow yarn for hair, while the other is dark colored
with brown colored hair. Both dolls have a little lopsided halo on
their had, and little white wings on its back. "Aunt Hilde made them
for me for my birthday. She said these were my guardian angels."
"Hilde made these?" I am thoroughly impressed as I pick up one of the
blonde doll.
"Yep," Zoey lovingly stroked her dolls. "Aunt Hilde won me Baba too."
She points happily to a man sized Teddy bear on her small bed.
I guess this is where Hilde spends some of her spare time. Evidently,
there is a lot of things I don't know about my best friend.
"Wanna play a game?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Dinner's ready." Hilde walks in the door without knocking and finds
Zoey, the powerful witch, enchanting me with a large jewel.
"You guys are having fun," Hilde snickers.
"Up!" She commands as she watches Zoey get up from on top of me.
"Hand over the pencil sharpener," Hilde holds out her hand to Zoey.
Reluctantly the witch surrenders her jewel.
"Wash your hands," Hilde orders us, as we file into the bathroom. The
bathroom is clean like the rest of the house, but it is the size of a
broom closet. The faucet turns on with a loud moan.
"We were just getting to the good part!" Zoey complains.
"Dinner first," Hilde explains, "Your Mom made lasagna."
Almost immediately Zoey finished washing her hands and half leaps into
the kitchen.
Hilde and I follow suit.
The small kitchen is filled with the smells of fresh cooking.
"Dig in," Ani urges us as she places plate full of lasagna in front of
us.
Hilde immediately stuffs her face into the plate. Zoey quickly
imitates.
"Would you believe that she's older than me?" Ani points to Hilde with
a smile.
I smile back. Suddenly it hits me. if Ani is younger than Hilde it
means.
"I had Zoey when I was fifteen," Ani answers before I could even
finish my thought.
I am speechless. fifteen. I suddenly feel like the scum of the earth.
When I was fifteen I thought I had rough. Ani had a baby when she was
fifteen.
"Don't feel bad about it," Ani laughed, "I don't. My baby is worth
it."
At that moment Zoey looks up from her plate and smiled with tomatoes
in her teeth.
"How did you mange to." I ask. but the word aren't coming out right.
"Hilde sents me money every week," Ani smiles affectionately at Hilde,
"Along with letters of encouragement."
I turn to Hilde and sincerely hoping that my mouth is not open in
shock.
"She's been helping me out these past few years, like she always has,"
Ani grows more radiant as she talks about Hilde.
"Not really," it's Hilde's turn to blush, "Ani stop accepting money
from me about two years ago."
"That's because I finally got a job, baby," Ani pats Hilde on the
back, "I can't rely on you to support me forever."
"My mommy works at the flower shop," Zoey adds helpfully between
bites.
"It's a temporary thing," Ani explains, "Since the public child care
center opened on the West Side, I actually have some time to try to
finish some school."
"The child care center and the flower shop is funded by Code 12.3..."
Hilde tells me. Code 12.3. my code.
"The teachers is very impressed by how smart Zoey is," Hilde
continues, "She's applying the Peacecraft scholarship for Zoey."
The trust I set up...
"So, what do you do, Relena?" Ani asks me.
"She's a princess," Zoey answers for me.
Ani laughs, "That must be a tough job."
"It is," Hilde 's voice is steady as our eyes meet across the table.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The train is mostly empty, and we found seats near the door. I guess
most people don't catch the last train.
"Did you have fun?" Hilde talks into my hair. I am so tired, I am
practically falling asleep on top of her.
"Yes," I whisper.
"The negations with L2 starts tomorrow. I think Kary Hyuy dislikes you
more than Tyr Marison does," Hilde warns me, "Are you scared?"
"Terrified."
"Are you going to stay and fight?" Hilde puts her arms around me.
"I am now," I snuggle against Hilde's warm embrace, "Thank you for the
wings."
"You're welcome."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More notes:
I got Hyuy's permission to use her name whenever I want to! ^______^
Also if you did read "Knight in Shining Armor", Zoey is named after
the Zoey Hilde and Ani knew in childhood.
You know, I'm starting a Relena, Hilde epic. Expect more!
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