Standard disclaimer about me not owning Gundam Wing or it's characters. As well I don't own the Stay video or anything to do with any movies or U2.

AN:I know I've still got all the couples stories to write for AC 202 but this idea has been nagging at me since I first started that story so I'm going to write it. It is inspired by the U2 video Stay, which in turn was inspired by the Wim Wenders' movie 'Wings of Desire'. Many of you will be familiar with the movie based on 'Wings of Desire' called 'City of Angels'. While the stories behind the video and the two movies are all different the basic premise is the same, angels watching over humans. This story follows the same premise that all the Gundam pilots are angels watching humans build or destroy their lives. This particuliar story focuses on Trowa.

Trowa was of a class of angels known as Watchers. They silently drifted through the world watching the rise and fall of civilizations, they observed as human emotion blossomed and developed into something beautiful, or twisted and burned into something desolate and destructive. Along with his other silent brothers he quietly bore witness to mankind's neverending struggle to achieve the enlightenment and rightousness of their Creator.

Always Trowa had stood outside and peered into the human world observing the triumps and sorrows, but never had he felt a part of it until now. The little girl was looking at him. Her ice blue eyes were round and frightened and she looked at him pleadingly to stop the nightmare she had awoken to. The humans were engaging in another of their meaningless wars, and this little girl was about to become one of the countless victims of the darkside of human nature. He watched with her as her parents were dragged within her line of sight and summarily executed. He listened with her as the soldiers decided her fate, "What about the rugrat?" "We're to bring her with us. Apparently the Commander has plans for her."

Trowa listened to her silent prayer as she scampered under her bed. He didn't turn away from her scream as one of the soldiers grabbed her little white ankle and dragged her out. The other soldier slapped her and told her to shut up. She did as she was told, and the whole time she stared at Trowa. When one of the soldiers picked her up, her pale blond hair fell in her eyes and white delicate hands hurridely pushed it away to again meet his eyes as she silently begged for help. Trowa stood motionless as she was carried from the room, his hands buried deep within his black coat formed into strange little balls. He withdrew them to find his hands had become fists. He stared at them in wonder and with shock registered that the reason behind the formation of these bodily weapons was a never before experianced feeling of frustration and helplessness.

Heero lay in the grassy field staring up at the clouds passing over his head as Trowa finished his story. He was silent for a long time until finally Trowa showed his impatience, "Well?" Heero sat up and eyed his unusually unsettled friend, "I think it was bound to happen at some point, though you've taken longer than most." Trowa raised a questioning eyebrow, and Heero explained. "Almost all Watchers experiance it at least once. They see something or someone that they wish to get involved with. They feel connected to a moment or a person, some even pursue it, but most do what you're going to do. Forget it."

Trowa stood up and faced Heero, "You don't understand, she was looking right at me. I know she saw me, and she was asking for my help." Heero lay back down to watch the clouds, "Trowa you've been watching them since they started walking the Earth, you know very well that we can't interfere. I realize you're not exactly like Quatre who is always falling in love, but at some point something was going to affect you. Maybe she did see you. Sometimes children can, but more likely she was in shock and was just staring at nothing, either way it makes no difference. My advise is to forget it. There are lots of things to watch."

Emotions buried for so long struggled to be heard within Trowa, "We used to feel as strongly as they did. Quatre still does. When did we become so cold?" Heero gave this question some deep thought, "We've been watching so long, and they can be so horrible that our armour naturally became stonger to protect us. We aren't souless, quite the opposite. God wouldn't have sent us to witness so many sorrows without some kind of protection. Their tears would break us."

Trowa nodded and started to walk away when another question caused him to call back, "Has it ever happened to you?" Heero's eyes darkened and he was silent barely a moment before he called back, "No." Trowa noticed the hesitation, it was his job to notice, but he didn't comment on it and continued back to the city.

Trowa paused in his journey to observe an unfolding battle. He watched as a young man in a blue jacket and auburn hair rallied his troups with one of the more inspirational speeches Trowa had ever heard. A young woman with a rose in her hand gazed up at him with adoration clear in her eyes before she turned to carry out her hero's orders. Trowa continued on to the other side where an engimatic young man with flowing blond hair was also gathering his forces. 'With such awe inspiring leaders, this war might last longer than most.'he thought. Of course even if it didn't eventually another would spring up to replace it. Humans so briefly enjoyed periods of peace, only long enough for them to forget the pains of destruction.

He continued on his way, watching a mother try to protect her children from the oncoming storm, a young man telling his family good bye as he left to fight for the "cause", and a young teenager mourning the loss of her father. It was here that he found Quatre. He was watching her intently as she stood alone in the rain, hypnotized by the fresh grave in front of her. He often fell in love with a particuliar human and watched them until the day they died and he could accompany them to heaven, but he always came back alone. Trowa stood silently beside him and watched.

Quatre ignored him until she turned to leave. Quatre moved to follow her but stopped a moment to turn back to Trowa, "Coming?" He nodded and followed Quatre to the car waiting for the young woman. They sat across from her and Quatre leaned over to trace the outline of her face with his hand, "She's turning to marble right in front of us. Even now." Trowa shook his head in wonder, "How do you do it? How do you feel so deeply for them?" Quatre frowned at his friend, "How can you not? They can be so beautiful and strong, radient and timid. There are so many colours to them that I'm constantly surprised." Quatre gazed closely at his friend and then released a gentle smile, "You've felt something for one of them." Trowa looked out the window, "Yes. A little girl." Quatre turned back to his current love and moved to sit beside her, "Well why aren't you watching her?" Trowa shrugged, "There are lots of things to watch." Quatre smiled at his friend again, "You've been talking with Heero. Well I hope you don't take to heart all he says. There's more to Heero than meets the eye lately." Trowa nodded, "Yes I noticed."

The car stopped and the girl got out. Quatre followed but Trowa stayed behind, content to sit alone with his thoughts. 'Have I been missing something? Do I only see the pain and hurt because that's what I'm looking for?' Trowa shook away the thought and headed for the beach. The ancient and timeless sound of the ocean rushing to meet the land could help him answer his questions.

'Quatre was right, they are beautiful, but a creature can be both beautiful and cruel. Why am I afraid of that little girl?' The sun rose and set countless times as he finally confronted the true issue at hand and at last found his answer. 'Because it's been so long since I've felt anything that I've forgotten what it's like. I don't understand, and I fear what I don't understand.' Trowa stood up from the postion he had taken in the sand. He looked down at it and wondered what it felt like. With everything in this world, he could look, but he couldn't touch. Trowa set out to look for the girl, he wanted to remember what it was like to feel things, and she held the key.

Walking into the city he noticed signs of rebuilding and happy people. These were the trademarks of a people who had learned the lessons that war taught and were embracing the gift of peace. 'Hmm, I was on the beach longer than I thought. It will take longer to find her.'

But it didn't. Walking towards him came the little girl who had troubled him, grown now into a woman. Of course she didn't notice him, but the remarkable thing was that she didn't notice anyone. She walked with her head down and her arms wrapped around her. Her pale blond hair surrounded her and hid her face. Almost instinctively the other people sensed her pain and shyed away from her. She didn't notice, her path was straight and careless, and Trowa followed.

She stopped at a bus stop and finally lifted her head. Trowa's emotions were immediate and numerous; pity, guilt, longing and fear. Her eyes were dead, she was a breathing tradegy and he feared that somehow he was responsible for harming this precious creature. She got on the bus and sat down, he sat next to her, but lost sight of her eyes when she turned to look out the window. Once they had been bright and alive. Bright with fear but at least that was something. Now they were the absence of all things. He followed her home but left her at the door. He needed to find out what had happened to her and though he hadn't been watching, someone had.

Heero probably knew, but would disapprove, so Trowa sought out Duo and found him in a small sparse apartment sitting on the end of a bed. He looked up when Trowa entered, "Hey, I thought I might see you soon, Quatre said one of them had finally gotten to you. What took you so long?" Trowa sat down next to Duo, "I had some thinking to do. Can you tell me what happened to her?" A small sound from the head of bed caught Duo's attention and he held up his hand to quiet Trowa, "Hold on for a sec." Trowa looked to the raven haired girl sleeping in the bed. Her face scrunched up and then suddenly, "HACHOO!" She settled down into a deeper sleep and Duo chuckled softly, "I love it when she does that!" He turned his attention back to Trowa, "Her? You've got to be more specific than her." Trowa knew that Duo knew exactly who he was talking about, but decided to humour him. "She appears to be in her early 20's but when I first saw her she was around 10. She's from this area. She is small and thin with pale blond hair and icey blue eyes. Dead eyes. Tell me why."

Duo removed his notebook and when he found what he was looking for his cheerful attitude dampened. "Ah, yes. Midii Une. A gentle soul forced into a lifestyle someone as delicate as her couldn't withstand. Now her early years were innocent enough but someone started another war and her parents had the unlucky combination of being against the war, and having the power to stop it, so they were killed. She was trained as a spy, and training was not exactly a pleasant experiance for a sheltered and innocent little girl. Despite the hardships she endured she's always kept a certain amount of that innocence with her, which is why she is hurting so much now. She can't forget what she was forced to do to people during the war, the betrayals she was forced to commit. She is constantly punishing herself." Duo closed the notebook and looked up at his friend, "I think she might be lost." Trowa stood up and shook his head, "No, I have to see for myself." He left Duo without another word to return to the girl, no Midii.

Trowa walked into the darkend house where he knew she lived. It was shabby, but it was clean. He walked through the house till he came to the bedroom and found her asleep next to a brute of a man. She was curled up on one tiny corner of the bed with a huge, hairy arm draped across her possively. She was shivering in her sleep as she had almost no blankets covering her. Trowa looked at her visible discomfort with a feeling of futility. He knelt beside her and reached out to touch her hair, but recieved no feeling from it. He ran his hand over her face and lips, down her shivering arm. He knelt beside her till morning, willing her to open her eyes and see him like she had so many years ago.

When she finally did awake it was due to the blaring alarm situated on a small table beside her head. She reached out blindly to turn it off, and he placed his hand upon her head again to hear what she was thinking, 'Another day, why do I even wake up anymore? I know what is waiting for me. But I'd better get up, I don't want to deal with Andre today.' Trowa removed her hand and watched as she preformed what looked like her daily morning ritual. She put on a bathrobe and made her way to the kitchen to start breakfast. Not long after the man who he assumed must be Andre sleepily entered the kitchen and sat down at the table. Just as he did she turned to put a plate of food in front of him. As she released the plate to turn back to her cooking her grabbed her arm and tugged. She turned around to see what he wanted. "What's this?" he asked irritated. She shrugged, "Your usual breakfast." He shook his head in disgust "Does my usual breakfast usually contain toast this light? Don't start your bullshit, you know I'm leaving tonight. Do I need to teach you a lesson before I go?" Midii answered in a resigned voice, "No." Andre threw the toast across the room, "Then make me some toast."

Midii turned around to do as he bid and Trowa placed a hand on Andre's shoulder to hear his thoughts, 'Whacked out bitch. She knows I hate my job and I've got to leave on a two week stint today, why does she always start fucking around when I'm in a bad move. She better watch it today.' Trowa removed his hand with disgust. Being in Midii's presence had brought on one emotion after another, though sadly so far they had all been distasteful. How had she ever hooked up with this animal? He didn't want to seek out another to tell him, he couldn't bear to leave her alone with this man. He never should have left her to begin with.

The day carried on much as it had begun with Midii preforming menial tasks at Andre's bidding and always putting him first. Despite her work he continually found fault with her labours and hovered over her all day seemingly with the purpose to harasses her. Finally Midii broke and showed her impatience. She threw aside the laundry she had been folding and stalked to the door. But of course Andre was there to meet her. He had been waiting for this moment all day. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" "Out." was her curt reply. Andre's face twisted into a snarl, "Like hell you are! I need clean clothes for my trip, so turn your stupid ass around and finish folding and then packing my clothes!" Trowa rejoiced as he watched anger float to the surface of Midii's eyes, "You're perfectly capable, you do it."

The sharp sound of flesh meeting flesh rang through the room as Andre slapped her with such force that she flew backward and landed on the ground. Midii brought up a hand to touch her already swelling cheek and then looked up at Andre who was standing over her, "Get up." Midii did so and Andre leaned so close to her that spittle from his words hit her face, "Now finish my laundry." Midii's pride won out barely as she weakly responded, "No."

None of this was a surprise to Trowa. He had witnessed this scene countless times before, but nonetheless he still felt pain, outrage and a consuming anger when Andre brought his fist up and then landed a heavy blow to Midii's stomach. The beating was just getting started. Trowa placed a hand on Andre's back to hear how he could be justifying this and heard nothing. There was nothing but a rage blowing through Andre's mind. Trowa sat down on the floor behind Midii and held her as Andre delivered a last few kicks for good measure. Sweaty and still pissed off, but tired he finally stopped and screamed at her, "You bring this shit upon yourself Midii! Why do you always have to piss me off! I'm going for a drink, when I get home, you'd better have my shit together!"

Through all of this Midii's mind had also been empty, but now she opened up just a crack and started to cry. She remained lying on the floor with the same thought constantly flying through her mind, "It's only what I deserve. It's just what I deserve after all I've done." Slowly she picked herself up and made for the bathroom to view the damage and take care of the few cuts. Trowa followed with his hand on her arm and noticed how she avoided her eyes in the mirror. "If he knew who I really was he would leave me alone. It's bad when he's here but it's worse when I'm on my own. It's too quiet, and too often my mind wanders to the past." Anger was building in Midii as she caught her eye in the mirror and froze. She leaned forward to look into her eyes, "Liar! Judas!" she screamed at herself, and then hissed "Murderer." Her arm flew out violently and smashed the mirror. The violence over she started picking the slivers of glass out of her arm.

Bandaged but better, Midii sat on the couch in the living room, starring into space with tears streaming down her face. Trowa sat on the small table across from her and gazed into her eyes. What he saw there frightened him. Duo had been wrong, she wasn't lost...yet. Looking into her eyes was like looking into a deep hole. At the very bottom was a small spark of life where Midii kept herself imprisoned, and she was digging deeper. If she went down much farther she would never find her way out.

Trowa placed his hand upon hers and leaned forward to kiss her tears. His actions shocked him but he didn't stop, "You let him hit you to feel alive. Oh no Midii, is that it?" Trowa hung his head shamefully, "I was the only one you cried out to for help, the only one you had left and I could do nothing. I should have at least stuck by you through it all, but I was scared and selfish. I left you alone." Trowa placed both hands on either side of Midii's face and looked deep into her eyes, "I promise I won't ever do that again. I won't leave you alone."

The sound of Midii's voice, unknowingly answering him shocked him more than anything ever had in all his strange and silent years, "With the demons I drown...one night would be enough...if he had stayed.¹" Midii's voice raised hysterically and she screamed "STAY!". Broken out of her trance she leaned forward with her arms wrapped around her and cried all the harder. Trowa wrapped his arms around her and frustratred, he lamented with her, "If you look, you'll see through me, and when you talk, you talk at me!" Trowa took her face in his hands again and leaned forward, "And when I touch you, you can't feel a thing. Faraway, but so close Midii, I'm so close." He closed the distance between them and kissed her.

She jerked her head away, unknowingly from an angelic kiss when the sound of the door opening caught her attention. Standing in the doorway, flowers in hand was a pathetic Andre. Midii stood to greet him and when he saw the injuries covering her, he rushed forward suddenly full of tenderness, "Oh Midii honey, I'm so sorry!" He wrapped her in his burly arms, "You didn't do anything wrong sweetheart, it was all me. I was in a bad mood, I shouldn't have taken it out on you!" He released her enough to look into her eyes and smiled at her as he thrust out the flowers proudly, "I got these for you." Midii took the flowers quietly, "Thank you." Andre grabbed the flowers back and started to whine, "Ah come on Midii, I said I was sorry." He lifted her chin up so she would meet his gaze and deceptively gentle smile, "And this was a little your fault. You know how much I hate my job, you knew I'd be in a bad mood today right?" Midii nodded and Andre dropped the flowers on the table so he could reach around her and grab Midii's backside, "So forgive me huh?" Midii gave him a small smile and nodded. Andre gushed his relief and started hugging and kissing her, "Ah Midii baby, I love you so much."

Trowa turned away as Andre lead Midii into the bedroom to show her just how much he loved her. Trowa's face darkened in disgust, "If you jump you will fall Midii, and if you call out, only I will hear you.¹" He walked out the door into the fading sunshine and sighed. He wasn't leaving her, but he couldn't stand to witness or listen to the sacrilage that was unfolding inside. These dark thoughts distracting him, he didn't notice Duo's excited approach. Lying a hand upon his shoulder to get his attention, Trowa finally noticed Duo's presence and his agitation, "What is it?" Duo was so excited he was almost jumping up and down, "You have to come with me, you'll never believe it!" Duo tried to drag Trowa away but he remained still, "No games Duo, what is it?" Duo turned back to Trowa disappointed, "You ruin all the good stuff. You know how rarely anything new happens." Trowa remained silent waiting for Duo's explanation. Duo shrugged, "I'll tell you, but you're still going to want to see it for yourself; Heero's fallen." Trowa was confused, "What do you mean fallen?" Duo laughed, "Yes it's been so long since anyone has done it that I had forgotten too. Come on." Trowa allowed himself to be lead away.

Trowa couldn't believe it. Laying on a bed and sleeping blissfully next to a beautiful woman was Heero. No longer an angel, he was a part of the human world. Trowa looked at Duo, "How?" Duo shrugged, "He wanted to be human so he just made the decision to fall and there you go." Duo laughed, "Can you believe it? He hasn't been human for a day and already he's a sinner. Huh, didn't take him long." Trowa dragged his eyes away from Heero to look to Duo for an explanation, "He's human?" Duo nodded solemenly, "Yes, and he can never be like us again. I hope it was worth it." Trowa lost interest in Duo's words as he turned back to watch Heero sleeping. One thought was in his mind, 'Midii'.

1. Stay from the Zooropa Album by U2. The words there aren't the actual lyrics but they are so close I had to make a footnote.

Now I haven't read a story like this before but the idea seems so obvious that I wouldn't be surprised to find it had been done hundreds of times already. Anyway here is my take on the situation. If this gets a good response I'll write one of these for the other pilots too. Please give me feedback at jaimelynn1978@yahoo.com.