Disclaimer: GW = not mine.

Author's Note: Response to a challenge issued by Angela. :) A short series which will feature four or five ficlets.

Catalysts
by mistress amethyst une

Atmospheric Entry

A meteoroid can be the size of a grain of sand or a huge hunk of rock. Still, no matter how big or small, it instantaneously becomes a meteor once it touches another body's atmosphere. In that atmosphere, it catches fire, becomes enveloped in an abrasive heat that wears it down. At this point, it becomes a streak of light, an object of wonder for any sentient life form that happens to spot it from the body's surface. Even as it serves as a spectacle, it find itself burning into nothingness. Sometimes, the meteor is big and hits the surface with such force that the landscape is forever changed by a crater, a sign that disaster can fall from the heavens. More often than not, the meteor is a mere pebble that disintegrates in the atmosphere, leaving no trace. Then there's the middle ground: meteorites that hardly leave a dent yet survive the fire and falling.

Having participated in Operation Meteor by disguising himself and his Gundam as a shooting star, Heero Yuy is definitely some form of meteorite.

At least, Relena sometimes thinks so.

He survived the war, burned bright during that trial by fire. During those tumultuous times, she often found herself admiring his strength, thoroughly amazed by this young boy who sought to transform the world around him just as she did. On the eve of the final battle, he predicted that he would burn out brightly, helping bring about a new age of peace with his demise.

Things did not go exactly as planned.

Relena considers Heero a meteorite not solely because Operation Meteor evokes such a metaphor. Some say Heero has the disposition of a rock. Relena begs to differ. Rocks are ordinary. Meteorites are special, scarred in a way nothing else can be. They evoke a sense of wonder in everyone, not just the occasional geologist. Still, these space rocks aren't exactly eager to tell you about themselves. One has to see more than just the surface to learn a meteorite's secrets.

Relena does admit that speaking to him is sometimes comparable to speaking to a rock. A rock with ears. Somehow, she feels like he listens though it would be so much easier if it was more apparent. There is so much she still does not know about him. She often wonders why he stays with her, protecting her despite his original threat to kill her. He is a meteor in that sense as well, shocking her with his callousness, coming into her life and changing it forever. Definitely not a pebble. If he leaves, she knows for sure that there will always be a certain emptiness to her, a figurative emotional crater.

She supposes he stays because he's drawn to her. It's not conceit on her part to admit this. Even if she doesn't understand why, it's an undeniable fact that he keeps coming to her, still burning as brightly as he did in battle. The war is over but his eyes still bear that same passionate glow. What is it that still keeps him aflame like this? Why does he still seem to be fighting?

She should have known the answer when their lips first met, closing the empty air between them, bringing him forever into her atmosphere.

First ficlet done. Forgive the messiness of my analogies. I tried my best. :( The prompt for this was "fireball." According to the International Astronomical Union, a fireball is a meteor brighter than any of the planets. :)