A Matter of Heart: Heirs to the Legacy
By: Andrea Readwolf
Email: andrea_readwolf @hotmail.com
Rating: YA/Mature
Families: YMC Fam (Yuy-Maxwell-Chang Family: Trinity, Mara Jade, and Dylan);
Winner Fam (Quatre + Trowa, Triton&Tristan, and little sis Calista)
Peacecraft Family (Zechs Marquise/Milliard + Lucrezia/Noin Peacecraft, Kit/Katarynna, Adrian, and Nicolette/Nicole)
Mazzolla Family (Mariemeia + Jake Mazzolla {OC}, Julien)
Catalonia-Dorian Family (Dorothy Catalonia + Relena Dorian, Regina)
Une-Po Family (Lady Une + Sally Po, Marie Une*, Michael Braddocks, Mark Braddocks, Matthew Braddocks)
Archive: Yes-- www.gwaddiction.com
Warnings: The following story contains scenes that are humorous, sappy,
fluff, with Incoherence, random PoV switching, and Sexual innuendos abound.
Original Characters are presented; all characters are IC according to the
author's interpretation of them. Mainly heterosexual situations, with hints
of YAOI and YURI.
Spoilers: Previous Matter of Heart Series Arc stories: "Dance of the Heart"
Arc and "Oh Baby, Baby" Arc. Built off of "Traditions".
Feedback: C&C is always welcomed and adored.
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and its characters belong to Bandai, Sunrise
and Sotsu Agency and are only being used for non-profit entertainment
purposes. References to printed texts, films, sitcoms, musical
pieces, and/or other fanfictions don't belong to the author either.
Original Characters, including but not limited too, the Berh
Siblings, Jake Mazzolla and "the chibis", are original and hence, the
author's own creation.
Notes: This is the story of the children, the nine children of the 6
gundam pilots (Heero--Zechs) plus the grandchild of Treize
Khushrenada. This story will not focus primarily on the characters
from the series, but rather, the generation after them. This story is
not for all die-hard fans, but runs along the lines of a more
original piece.
***These stories and the ideas contained within are copyright of the author. No reprinting or posting without permission of said author.***
~Sanc Kingdom, June 16, 227~
To suggest Adrian Peacecraft was mildly nervous the night before his coronation as King of Sanc would have been a grave understatement. His family and close friends had joined him in the pacifist nation two nights ago. Amid the chaos and clamor of excitement, Trinity's presence was like a balm to his soul. Together, hand-in-hand the young couple walked the gardens of Sank, strolled the quaint city, and met the masses. The calm, sweet soul by his side eased his first meetings with the people whose lives he was to rule over, and for that, he would be eternally grateful to her - even if he wasn't already madly in love with her and grateful she'd agreed to marry him.
Still, even Trinity's calm reassurance could not calm Adrian the night before the big event, and the young heir to the Sanc Kingdom spent the long night awake and worrying. The morning's lightening hours found the young man in one of the many rooms on the first floor, staring at one of the many paintings on the wall.
The door to the room opened and Adrian looked over his shoulder at the newcomer before looking back at the painting. "He looks like you," he told his father.
Zechs Merquise didn't need to step up next to his son to know which painting the boy referred to; but he did it anyway. "My father, your grandfather," he informed his son. "The last king to rule Sanc before today."
"You wear your hair like him, except for the beard," Adrian noted. "And your eyes; they both hold the same spark of stubborn determination."
Zechs smiled at his son's soft dig. "I have few memories of him. He died when I was only six."
Adrian's heart panged for his father. It was one thing not to have known a grandfather - quite another not to know a father. He couldn't imagine what his life would have been like without his father's guiding influence. Without the elder man's determination to do right and make amends to deeds that had occurred long before Adrian had been born. Deeds he only vaguely understood, no matter how many times they might have been repeated to him.
"Why?" the son asked, not for the first time. "Why didn't you return?"
A heavy burdened sigh tore from the older man's chest. "Too many deeds irreversible," Zechs answered wearily. "My hands were too stained with blood for me to lead a pacifist nation. My soul would not have stood for it."
"Do you regret it?" Adrian had to know. "Not returning?"
Zechs's answer was immediate. "Not for a minute." He smiled at his son's puzzlement. "This country, though in my blood, held nothing but pain and sorrow. It's a misery I couldn't face daily. You, your sisters. You are my salvation. I don't regret a decision that has been made since the day you were born."
Before. Before they were born, yes. Yes, there were lots of things Zechs regretted.
He hesitated only a moment before reaching out and laying a hand on his son's shoulder. "He was a good man; a good and kind and fair king, and the people loved him. You are like him. You are good and kind and fair; the people already speak highly of you. You will be a good king."
It was probably the highest praise Adrian could ever receive from his father. He swallowed it down, buried it in his heart to keep it always.
Tristan cornered Mara Jade in the library.
She knew it was foolish to continue trying to hide from him. Even if Sanc was a bit larger than New Hope City, and the palace was at least five times as large as Whispering Pines. Tristan had an uncanny knack of knowing where she was. She was tired of expending so much energy on a silly thing such as hiding from a boy. So she stopped.
The library was quite a natural place for her to be. Only last night, she and her father, Wufei, had been in here, inspecting the quality and quantity of the tombs.
"You can always tell the stature of a man by the books he surrounds himself with," Wufei told her sagely.
"But, Papa," she replied, "These books aren't Adrian's - they're the palace's."
"It does not matter," Wufei had insisted. "These books tell me that the former rulers of this kingdom-" and here he'd pulled a book randomly from the shelves and read the title. "Romantics," he announced with obvious disgust.
She laughed at her father and took the book from him - and ended up reading it, too. A little sappy romance with a happy ending always had the desired effect of leaving her in a good - if sappy - mood.
So perhaps she let Tristan find her there, curled up with a good solid tomb of Confucius. Maybe she even wanted him to find her. Who knows? In any case, he did find her, and confront her.
"You've been purposefully avoiding me." It wasn't a question - just a bit out, angry statement as he stood inside the library door, staring at her.
She didn't bother looking. "Yes," she replied calmly, turning a page.
"Why?" he cried, closing the distance between the door and the settee she was sitting on in long, even strides.
She did look at him now, dark eyes glancing over the edge of the heavy tomb, drinking in thirstily the sight of him in his formal suit, ready for the coronation. "You annoyed me," she told him as honestly as she could. He had - she just wasn't sure exactly why he had.
"Because of what I told the reporter at lunch that day."
Yes, yes. That's why. It hurt me.
"I'm sorry," he said before she could voice a reply, and his voice cracked. Startled eyes flew off the page and to his face. Suddenly that face wasn't so far away, hovering before hers as he fell to his knees beside the settee. "I'm sorry I hurt you," he whispered, reaching out to take her hand with one of his, while the other gently touched her cheek. She realized she was crying again and cursed silently.
Dammit! Dammit! Stop crying! Damn you for making me cry!
"Shh," he whispered, leaning forward and pressing his lips to hers. "Please don't avoid me again. Yell at me, hit me, curse me up and down until you're blue in the face if you'd like, but please don't avoid me."
She was in his arms, or he was in hers - she wasn't sure which, stretched out along the settee as they were, and suddenly she felt his tongue sweep along her lips as their kisses deepened. A tiny thrill of electricity raced through her. He'd never kissed her like this before. Willingly, her lips parted and his tongue slipped inside her mouth.
It was strange, but almost immediately she decided she liked it. All too soon she was returning his kisses for as good as she got, and their two young bodies pressed together. Hands were roaming freely, touching everything, everywhere they could reach. She was all a bundle of raw energy, compounding, expanding into him when suddenly he moaned and pulled away.
"You're sister's looking for you," he mumble against her lips, unwilling to stop kissing and touching her.
"Hmmm?"
"Trinity," he gasped, finally forcing himself away by rolling off the settee and onto the floor. She looked at him, stunned both by his actions and the sudden lack of warmth caused by them. "She needs you."
"How do you-"
"Tri told-" he began and then stopped, smiling at her confused expression. "Don't worry about it. You should go to your sister though. She's almost as nervous as Adrian is about this whole coronation-thing."
Tristan stood and then pulled Mara Jade up, pulling her into his arms and holding her tight. "We can talk more tonight," he promised before letting go. Seeing her arched look his smile broadened. "Yes, talk," he said, adding before she was out of earshot, "among other things."
The whole ordeal was a matter of pompoustry, taking over three hours to complete. It, unfortunately, didn't end after the Steward of Sanc placed the crown in Adrian's hands. No, the whole grandiose affair lasted the entire procession to the church, the special mass, the handing over of the crown, the actual coronation where Adrian got to actually put the darn thing on, more masses and prayers, the recession, followed by the reception back at the palace.
From eleven o'clock in the morning until five o'clock that afternoon when the last guest had filtered through the receiving line, Adrian was on rigid display. It was another two hours and a half of polite circulation before he could excuse himself into a private chamber. Miraculously, his close friends and loved ones materialized shortly thereafter in the room with him.
Trinity was at his side, sliding into his lap and melting into his arms almost immediately. Dylan locked the door behind him and Calista, twirling a giggling Nicole inside. "It's over," Adrian sighed with relief, finally having a chance to loosen the darn restricting cloth around his neck - was he really expected to wear this stuff regularly?
"Ah, you wish," Triton laughed, shifting a tumbler-full of amber liquid into his friend's hand. "For you, it is just beginning. For *us*, it is over. We get to go home tomorrow. This is your home now."
"And a lovely home it is," Calista told them. "Three hundred seventy-two rooms in all."
"Can I stay with you?" Nicole asked, running over and jumping up into her brother's lap on the other side of Trinity.
Adrian sank a hand in the golden waves of his little sister and ruffled her hair. "I don't think so," he laughed. "You have school, and you wouldn't want to miss your dance classes, would you?" He smiled when the girl shook her head adamantly before leaning against him contentedly. He would miss spending time with his little sister most of all, he thought.
"Now, you can't be a stranger and all just because you've up and made yourself a king," Tristan teased his friend, taking a seat across from the trio in a strikingly similar way - Mara Jade leaning against Tristan's one side as his little sister leaned against the other.
Dylan sat on the floor, leaning back against Callie's legs. Adrian's older sister Kit and Triton sat in armchairs across from each other. Together, the lot of them made a rough squared-circle of sorts. Adrian smiled. He hoped that somehow, despite them all growing up and moving away and on in life, they managed to keep this circle between them. This closeness.
There was a soft knock at the door, and Nicole jumped up to unlock and answer it. "I'm not intruding, am I?" Julian Mazzolla asked nervously, eyeing the group of them.
Adrian's smile broadened. "Not at all. Come on in and join us," he commissioned, waving the boy in.
Now their circle was complete.
End Part 10
Andrea + Readwolf: {happy sigh}
ANDREA: Mara Jade and Tristan made up; isn't that wonderful? {all
starry-eyed}*___*
READWOLF: I bet that means there'll be sex soon! {gleeful grin}
MARA JADE: O.O Sex? Who?
TRISTAN: {grinning} Us, hopefully!
ADRIAN: You're not even engaged yet! If there's going to be anyone having
sex, it's gonna be me and Trinity.
TRINITY: Says who? o.O?
ADRIAN: !__!;;
TRISTAN: ^___^v
TRITON: You know, it *could* be ME and K--
KIT: Don't even suggest it!
TRITON: !__!;;
TRISTAN: Better luck next time, bro!
ANDREA: {to READWOLF} Should we tell 'em?
READWOLF: {munching on pocky} Tell 'em what?
ANDREA: {blinkblinkblink} where'd you get pocky from?
READWOLF: the new store down the street, why?
ANDREA: GIVE ME!!!!!!!!
CHIBIS: ~___~;;
Andrea Readwolf
Please send comments to: andrea_readwolf@hotmail.com