AN: okay, okay, I've got a couple of other things to work on, but this idea came into my head during my week of fever, and my muse refused to leave me alone until I typed it out. So here we are. I know, two things that I said I don't like to write, AU and something that has a decent plot, but like I said, my muse won't leave me alone...

Disclaimer: I'd love to own, but sadly, I don't...

Warning: this fic may contain character OOCness, angst, and bits of melodrama, read at your own risk. You have been warned.

"The course of true love never did run smoothly"
- A Midsummer Night's Dream

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"Hey Murrue-san, come play with us!" a young voice called from the far side of the beach.

Murrue Ramius looked around at the toys littered in the sand and the water and sighed. "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up later!" she called back. She watched with a serene smile as she watched the orphan children disappear around a rock formation with Lacus and Kira.

She hummed a tune as she bent down and started picking up the toys and placing them in a pile on the beach. She laughed to herself as she thought that she must've looked like a mother picking up after her children. She never really thought of herself as a mother. Well, there was once, before the war ended, when…

She bit her lip and stopped her train of thoughts. Then she quickly shook her head to clear that gloomy thought. It had been little over a year since the war ended, but she still occasionally thought about him. But every time her mind took her back, she'd quickly shove those thoughts away. He and what had happened at that last battle was at the top of her list of things not to think about.

Presently, she was visiting the house on the beach that Lacus, Kira, Kira's mother, Reverend Malchio, and the orphan children had been living in since the end of the war. They had invited her over for lunch, and since she had the day off, she accepted their offer.

She picked up some of the toys and walked into the house. It was after lunch, Reverend Malchio went to visit a friend, and Kira's mother was with the children, so currently the house was empty. Murrue dumped the toys into a sink and washed them carefully before placing them in the toy chest. It was so quiet in here. It kind of reminded her of her own little house that she'd found after the war. She sighed again and started humming. The silence was starting to make her think about things that she didn't want to again.

When she was done, she walked onto the beach again. There were still some toys left on the beach, as she couldn't carry them all at once. She picked up the remaining plastic shovels and pails and was about to head to the house when she thought she heard a faint voice calling her name. She looked around, but nobody else was there. She shook her head and continued on; it must've been just her imagination.

But the sound came again, louder this time. Did it sound a bit out of breath? And, she gasped inwardly, it seemed that she'd heard this voice somewhere before.

She shook her head without checking, telling herself that she was just imagining it. Even though it'd been quite some time, she still occasionally saw and heard illusions that her mind created.

"Murrue!" it came again from behind her, unmistakable this time.

She stopped in her tracks and gasped audibly as she started shaking. She recognized that voice. But, but it couldn't be, there was no way!

Slowly, she turned around and promptly dropped the toys in her arms. The plastic objects hit the sand with a dull thud.

Her mouth dropped open and she closed her eyes. No, it couldn't be, this was just another one of her illusions, it couldn't be real, right? But when she opened her eyes again, the illusion was still there. She froze to the spot and felt her heart start to pound.

No way, this can't be real!

For standing there, a few feet in front of her, was a ghost from her past: Mwu La Flaga. He looked just the way he had when he left her, and had his roguish grin on his scarred face.

(...to be continued...)

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