16 Jun 2000
DISCLAIMER: All Gundam Wing characters are property of Sunrise, Bandai Visuals, Sotsu Agency, and Asahi TV. This work is not written for profit, but for entertainment purposes only.
Pairing: 13x6/6x13
WARNING: YAOI - heavy shonen-ai; sap; a moment of truth
A soft, warm breeze had picked up and was rustling the leaves - the only sound, now, in the small graveyard. Zechs looked down at the man in his arms, fingers running over cheeks dry of any tears. "Shall we go back and let them know this is completely unacceptable?" he said softly. "Shall we go back and fight?"
Treize was tired now -- so very tired, and he sensed that he'd only be free of that sort of draining, dragging tiredness for perhaps another year before it set in permanently. "Yes," he murmured, kissing Zechs' cheek gently. "Thank you for finding me. I need you, my friend -- you give me strength... Yes, let us go back and fight."
The two officers walked slowly back to the house. As they did, Zechs found himself looking closely at the grounds - the gardens, the outbuildings, everything that made the Khushrenada estate what it was. /I'll be damned if that bastard will get his hands on this... I'll kill him before I see that happen./
Mr. Dmitriov was on the back terrace when they got there. "It appears that the cousins have talked and that they have an answer to the challenge on the codicil." He looked down at the ground, unable to meet Treize's eyes. "I am so sorry about this, sir. I knew it would come to something like this, that's why I begged him to remove the blasted thing." He looked up, finally, and put a hand on Treize's shoulder. "I'll do everything I can to make sure that whatever they want to do is strictly legal. But that's about the extent of my powers." Sadly, he turned and walked back into the house.
Zechs reached out and squeezed Treize's hand. "There *will* be a way, Treize. There *has* to be a way."
Treize held on to Zechs' hand. "I'll try -- at least let me yell at them if they're so damned determined to do it."
The tiredness lingered around his eyes, along with a sadness that made him look older than he had before, as his gaze touched everything they passed as if memorizing it all for a last time. Then Treize let go of Zechs' hand, slowly, before heading into the house.
As everyone assembled once more around the long table, Nikolai walked by Treize. His expression was one of complete contempt as he leaned over, resting one hand on the table, the other on the back of his cousin's chair. His voice was low, so that only Treize could hear it. "Did you really think that I'd let someone like you have this estate if there was the slightest chance that I could stop you? You're a disgrace to the family, Treize - you and your pretty little boys. I'm just glad your father recognized you for what your were and allowed us to prevent a complete pervert from taking control here. And we will take control, Treize. Believe me, we will."
"Oh, so you're just doing this to spite me?" Treize said, loud enough so that the entire table could hear. He turned a cool blue gaze on Charlotte. The only other possible cohort Irina and Nikolai could bully into doing what they wanted. "You, too? Do you hate me just as much as Nikolai does?"
Charlotte looked stricken. Her face went beet red and she tried to stammer out a reply, but failed miserably.
Nikolai straightened up. "Well, since you want this to be public, so be it. Of course Charlotte's in with us. Oh, I suppose she could of gone with the other two cousins." Nikolai gave a contemptuous smirk to Vanya and Alexei, who cowered further back in their chairs. "But we all know how the three of them get on, now don't we? Not at all! So the three of us have settled on a little... arrangement. It's over Treize. We're going to make you homeless."
Two things happened then. First, Zechs stood up, glaring at Nikolai, and said, "Oh no you won't..." Then Dmitriov rose, and scowled over at Nikolai. "That will be quite enough from you, young man! Now go to your seat at once, or I'll pack up and this will all wait for another time, when the Count agrees to it!"
Treize silently thanked the gods for Zechs and Dmitriov.
"Nikolai, why do you say that *I* am a disgrace to the family? Let us think for a moment, cousin -- who is is that has brought the name of this family back to life, back into the eyes of the world? Who is it that holds a *job*, and works with dedication for the Federation and the specials? Certainly not you, cousin. Your goal in life is to drag the Khushrenada name back down into the mud that you yourself are in. What can you accuse me off that is so wrong, aside from not pandering to your whims -- what have I done that deserves having my family backstab me?"
The relatives looked on in awe. This was certainly something to be savored and memorized so that it could be retold over countless teas with friends and neighbors.
Zechs had sat back down and Nikolai had begun to walk to his chair when Treize spoke. At the question, Nikolai whirled around and stared gleefully first at Treize, then at Zechs. "Shall we tell everyone, then? Your dirty little secret, *cos'?* Shall we ask them if they want a moral degenerate in charge of the family estate?" He slid his glance over to Zechs, whose eyes threw daggers at him, and laughed. "No, let's cut to the cream, Treize. Why don't you tell them what you and your little friend do when you're behind closed doors? That should give them the information necessary to judge for themselves what to think of you."
"You dishonorable cur!" Zechs was on his feet again. "How can you possibly think to use something like *that* against Treize when two out of the three times you and I have seen each other you've ended up pawing me! You can't have it both ways, Nikolai. It can't be moral degeneration in Treize but just a way to get a cheap thrill for you!"
Nikolai was staring at the blond, his mouth open. And Charlotte was staring, too.
A smile touched at Treize's lips, and his voice was calm. "What do we do behind closed doors, Zechs? It's certainly far better than any of Nikolai's malicious molestations -- do you forget, Nikolai, that I am friends with many officers throughout the world? Do I need to tell the family about your police record in the Crimea? My 'dirty little secret' isn't as dirty as some of those that belong to other members of this family, nor do I care if it's a secret or *not*."
"Good for you, Uncle!" Dorothy broke out, before she received 'the look' from her father.
Zechs sat down slowly, continuing to glare at Nikolai as if he were a dangerous substance about to explode. Nikolai himself, however, remained standing and scowling at Treize.
"It doesn't really matter now, does it? Your father provided the opportunity to have you removed from this house, and the three of us have seen to it that it'll be done." He sat down in his chair, a look of self-satisfaction on his face. "Do get on with it, Dmitriov," he drawled, his eyes never leaving Treize's. "Let's get this over with."
The solicitor cleared his throat and shook his head slightly, pulling three legal-sized papers from his briefcase and handing one to each of the cousins. "I'll need you three to sign these. They state that you have freely chosen to activate the codicil and that you understand its terms." He sat back then, and waited.
Zechs' heart was pounding. /This can't happen. I won't let it. There has to be something.../ He looked up and saw Charlotte staring at him, a strange look on her face. Putting everything he could into his gaze, he silently pleaded with her to reconsider. They stared at each other for several moments when the solicitor interrupted them.
/I'm lost,/ Treize thought, mind already resolved to the happenings. /Judgmental, and hateful -- my family. How nice to know that even they won't stand behind you... And Father. Did you really see them as so much better than your own son? I suppose so./
Nikolai and Irina had signed the forms and handed them back to Dmitriov and now he spoke to Charlotte. "Miss Charlotte? I'll need your paper, please." Yet another plea was made with azure eyes.
Charlotte picked up the pen and brought the paper towards her. Zechs wanted to scream at her, shake her, do anything to make her see reason. But the choice was hers and hers alone to make. Under the table, he reached for Treize's hand.
And Treize caught it, the returning grasp tight.
"So nice to see that greed can overpower one's love of family," Treize said bitterly.
/No Charlotte... don't do this to him... don't break his heart... please!/Zechs watched the young woman as she took up the pen and paper. Nikolai continued to smirk at Treize.
/Yes, yes, you win, you bastard,/ Treize sighed internally, watching Charlotte with a tense frame.
Charlotte held the pen over the signature line for several moments and then stood, in her own awkward, inimitable way, and walked down to where Mr. Dmitriov sat. He looked up at her with a puzzled expression and she offered him the pen and paper. When he took them, she walked back to her seat, smiling first at Zechs and then at Treize.
For a moment, Nikolai was completely speechless.
Treize's returning smile was gleaming, as he let go of Zechs' hand to rise to his feet; and he hugged Charlotte.
"You bitch!!" The voice was Irina's. "You traitorous little bitch!!"
"Charlotte don't be ridiculous," Nikolai snapped. Take this damn paper and sign it like you said you would."
Charlotte, whose face was scarlet red under Treize's arms, managed a muffled reply. "I never said I would sign it. I just didn't say I wouldn't."
Zechs was on his feet now too, and as Trieze released the young woman he grabbed hold of her and whispered, "Thank you! Oh God, *thank you!*"
Dmitriov had a broad grin on his face, shaking his head and watching Charlotte be hugged within an inch of her life. The other relatives were watching, too - and buzzing to themselves behind their gloved hands. It had all been glorious entertainment.
"I'll ruin you for this, Charlotte. I swear I will!" Nikolai moved towards the young woman menacingly.
In a flash, Treize had his service revolver drawn and aimed at Nikolai. "You'll what, cousin? You'll do *what*?"
"Shoot him, Uncle!" Dorothy crowed, encouraging Treize.
He looked to the girl, then back, calmly, to Nikolai. "Even the children want you dead. Perhaps you should think on the way you act."
There was a hush in the room for a moment as they watched what Nikolai would do, now that he was facing down the barrel of a gun.
Then, finally, the silence was broken by a querulous old voice - a great aunt of Treize's. "Oh shut up, Nikolai. You lost. Let's get on with this so we can go and eat."
Nikolai sank into his chair.
Treize let out a rough laugh. Yes, yes, THAT was his family. Calm. Unshakeable in whatever it was that they each believed in.
"Yes, let us eat," Treize murmured, putting the gun back into his holster on the inside on his pant's waist. "You all know where the dining hall is, of course -- the buffet is likely already being served."
Mr. Dmitriov stood. "Yes, well - I do believe that's all the business we have here." He stuffed the papers, two signed and one unsigned, into his briefcase and clicked it shut. As most of the relatives rose and began moving towards the dining room, Nikolai and Irina glared sullenly at the solicitor as he crossed the room to Treize. Then both rose at once and stalked out towards the front door of the house.
"A most satisfactory result, sir," the solicitor said, reaching out a hand to Treize. Then, more quietly, he said, "You know, I wouldn't put it past your father to have added the damn thing on purpose, knowing those five wouldn't be able to work out a plan. But in any case, I am thrilled it worked out the way it did." He smiled down at Charlotte, excused himself, and was gone.
"What made you decide not to do it?" Zechs asked Charlotte softly.
/And what made you decide to stand up for me like you did?/ Treize mused.
She would have blushed, if her face had not been beet red already. Instead, she just looked down at her feet and stammered, "T...Treize... I... well I just couldn't do anything to make him that unhappy." She looked up at her cousin. "This place just wouldn't be the same if you weren't master here. Even *I* know that much. Besides..." She giggled, a somewhat unflattering sound, and hid her face behind her hands. "I knew that if you were unhappy, Treize, then Zechs would be unhappy too. Watching both of you across the table, well... it was an easy decision, really."
A faint, faint flush ghosted over Treize's face, along with a smile. "Well, Charlotte, I'm *very* glad you came to the decision you did. If there's anything you can think of so that I can properly show my gratitude..." He trailed off, waiting for her to say something -- to say that he was elated would have been an utter understatement. The elation rose even further as his other relations began to filter out of the room. That incident would provide entertainment for the Khushrenada line for years to come.
Charlotte waved a large hand clumsily. "No, no - your father was more than generous to me. I don't need more except..." Her cheeks flushed a mottled red and she covered her face again.
Zechs smiled over at Treize and then looked down at the embarrassed girl. "Oh, come now, Charlotte - you can tell us."
She peeked up at him, then over at Treize. "Maybe you could just invite me back sometime. When you two are here. Oh, dear God I can't believe I just *said* that!!" She waved her hands helplessly and then dashed out of the room. Zechs turned and watched her retreating figure, then turned and blinked at Treize, a bewildered expression on his face.
Treize suppressed the urge to burst into laughter. "Zechs, I do believe my cousin has a crush. On both of us," he stated with amusement.
"Oh..." Zechs said, looking back the way Charlotte had run. "What a sweet girl." He smiled and then turned to Treize. "You did it! You fended off the coup successfully! This place was never meant to be in the hands of someone like Nikolai. It's yours. That's the way it *should* be."
Treize's expression was one of relief. "Thankfully -- no coup is so hard as when it strikes so close to your heart."
"I can't even begin to imagine what you were going through," Zechs said softly. "I just thank God it's over." He smiled again, the relief in Treize's eyes making him feel as if a great weight had been lifted from him. "Are you hungry?" he asked. "Did you want to join them in the dining room?"
A soft sigh left Treize. "Yes, for just a little while -- before I run them off."
Zechs stood back to let Treize lead the way and they headed towards the dining room.
End of Part 12
(:./kumiko/bblood19)
