Life is full of choices. For that reason there are many ways a person's life can turn out. The decision that I made led me to this place. Out of all the things that I have done in my life it was this last that I suppose that I regret the most, but I cannot turn back now. One could say that this is the route that my brother chose, turning my back on my heritage and the teachings of my family, but all I have done is run away.

      I believed and taught the principles of pacifism and I have been in many positions of power; diplomat, princess, queen, and then a politician, and all I ever did came to nothing. So I left everything. I traveled a long way after that; the first place I went was to the palace where my family once ruled. Then I was just looking for some answers and had not completely made up my mind about what to do. Standing there under the eyes of my ancestors I could feel the weight of our duty and I chose a different path. I walked out again without a word and drove away.

    On a different continent I found a town that was cliché for my story but it fit well enough. A small town where a woman's past does not matter. The newscasts about the famous pacifist politician Relena Dorlin resigning and then disappearing without a trace are largely ignored.  An old woman named Opal at a diner gave me a job, no questions asked. I think that she knows, but like the others she seems to understand.

    Time passes slowly in a small village like this one. People in small towns don't have much care for the world at large; it hardly affects them. Still, older workingwomen and middle-aged men at the bar have all the answers to the world's problems when they discuss what's happening on TV. Not all of these people are completely honest, some are thieves or drunks, but none of them would sit around wielding power over the fate of nations and the lives of millions of people with the detachment of one who could care less. Even those who are arrogant never act so superior that they would so callously throw away the lives of people they don't know.

      I have found a comfort in this new routine that I did not in all my hard work before. There are no abstract concepts to deal with in this work, just a small world where I rule every detail. I left behind everything that I had cared about and believed in but I find that this small town has somehow healed my wounds.

     I didn't expect to see him that evening. I was cleaning up the counters before closing as he walked in. He was older, we both are, and his hair had grown out some but his eyes were still the same vivid blue. I don't think that he had been expecting to see me either. "Relena" was all he said when he saw me, he sounded the same even after all these years, but I could tell that something was different about him. Something in his eyes that seemed worn out, not to mention the surprise in seeing me actually registered in his voice; he never was good at showing his feelings. I was the one who was not sure what to do. After hiding away for so long I hadn't thought of what to do if some piece of my past came back. "Heero."

     "Is he someone you know Relena?" Opal asked looking at me sideways. "You can go talk if you want, I can get this." I was grateful, Opal always seemed to know how people felt and what they needed to get going the instant before they did.

    We both took a seat in a corner of the café but I couldn't think of what to say. We sat there in an awkward silence for a while. What could we say after so many years? He started talking first, oddly enough, but we were skirting around the topic that needed answers. Zechs was still on Mars and he had finally married Noin.  Trowa and Quattre were trying to keep things stable in the colonies. Duo was had gone somewhere after the colony near him had been hit but it was hard to say where; it was always hard to tell his exact location when he was fighting. In the last rebellion the Preventers had been attacked directly, and not one of them had survived. I had heard about that last one on TV, but it had been part of a long list of tragedies repeating themselves on the news. Ever since that incident I had been replaying my decision over and over again. Maybe if I had stayed I could have prevented a tragedy like that one. I could see the question in his eyes too. Of course I knew that our meeting would have to come to this, why did I leave?

      "You left" he said finally stating the question as an undeniable statement of fact, and in that all the unanswered questions and all of my doubts.

      "Yeah" I reply, "I gave up. I'm sorry. You always knew that you were stronger then I was, you said you would fight this out longer than anyone, even me. I just couldn't take being a useless icon of an ideal that no one believed in."

      "There were people who believed in you. I know I underestimated you for a long time, but the reason I didn't kill Marlemeya was because I believed in you." he said softly, in a tone I had never imagined him using.

      "That was the problem, people believed in me but not my ideals. They thought I could fix everything but they weren't willing to give any ground to let me do it. I'm not a miracle worker. What's more, what would be the point of giving me power even then? If I had power people still wouldn't listen. Peace might've come for my lifetime but people still wouldn't understand. You said you trusted me but did that ever help? How long did I hold office? How many years of peace did we have in all that time? One, that's all, everything I did came to nothing. I'm tired of feeling so helpless."

     "I know you aren't a miracle worker, so you should never have expected to work miracles. You can't expect everyone to understand what you believe in, but you saved at least one life, maybe hundreds. Wasn't that enough of a success?"

      "I don't know." I have a hard time coming up with words now. All my reasons were there in my head but I can't seem to express them at all. I can barely think of how to continue, "I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders for so long.  I'm just not strong enough for it. I know I can't make up for my cowardice. It seems like I could never do enough to meet expectations. How did you ever hold on to your hope for so long?"

      "I didn't have hope." He replied.  "I just had my orders until I met you. Then I thought that maybe there was a way to make the world right because you believed it so strongly. I was in love with you." He looked away when he said that, sounding more resigned then anything.

     "I know, and I loved you too, but it's long past the time when we could have been together."

     "Was there ever a time?" he replied quietly. I didn't look at him as he stood up, and he didn't say anything more as he left. It would seem that he was walking out of my life forever but he left a number on the table. An open invitation; I had thought this town was healing my wounds, but I was only numb to the world outside. I stare at the numbers on the little scrap of paper for a long time. I have to make a decision, I can leave now or I'll end up dying in this place.  I have left my past behind but there is still a chance for a future, and it depends on whether or not I make a phone call.

   This story idea was haunting me so I typed it up. I am ashamed that I wrote something so dull and whiney but my friend has this odd idea that I can write, so here's the deal, review and we'll tally the good and bad reviews to decide which one of us is right. Any constructive reviews are welcome.