15 Dec 2000
Next chapter - crucial insight is gained.
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.
PAIRINGS: 6X9 AND 13X6
WARNING: sap, Relena ^_~
Relena was fretting in her sitting room. There were many things she could have been fretting about, but one thing and one thing only worried at her mind - her brother. She was thinking back to all the wrong-headed things Miriald had done, even since she had known him, which hadn't been long. He had been a soldier for OZ, fought against Heero and those other gundam pilots for Treize's sake, had hurt Heero badly in Siberia, leading her to wonder if the boy was even alive. Then he had had the nerve to ask Heero to battle him again - a fight to the death in the middle of a war about peace and justice.
Crossing her arms and staring sternly out at the fog, she murmured, "Well he was lucky Heero took pity on him at the South Pole. Lucky I came and broke up that fight in time, otherwise he would've been killed."
It had only gotten worse from that point, of course. He had left Treize and OZ, had fought against them, which was a good thing, certainly, but he had kept planning on fighting Heero - of killing him - even when she'd relinquished control of Sank to Dermail. It could have been completely non-violent if he's only stayed away from the country. He didn't seem to see how her decision to surrender to Romefeller, was the only one possible for a true Peacecraft to make.
Then of course, the worst thing of all - becoming leader of the White Fang and threatening Heero, and the entire earth as well, with his plans. All because he was angry. His gesture at the end, to agree to die in place of Heero was one of the few wise decision he'd made in the whole war, although she was, of course, grateful he *hadn't* died. No, it all showed a pattern or reckless behavior on his part. The best decisions he'd ever made involved Noin - agreeing to go to Mars with her, and agreeing to marry her. Why couldn't he *see* that simple fact?
She frowned for a moment and then looked sad. "You know," she said softly to herself, "I never looked at it this way, but perhaps he acts like this because he didn't grow up in the kind of loving family that I did. Surely that's bound to make a person tend to be unstable..."
Sighing she turned away from the window and sat down on a pale rose colored sofa. "He'd better not do something foolish this time," she muttered under her breath. "He's done that more than once, hasn't he?"
"Done what?"
Relena whirled around, startled by the voice that came from behind her. Zechs stood in the doorway, head tilted to one side, looking at her appraisingly.
She stared back at him somewhat sternly. "Brother, this has got to stop. You need to respect Noin's feelings and keep your promise to her. We're all in this... this state of suspended animation because of *your* indecisiveness and it simply has to *stop*!"
"I have made a decision, Relena," Zechs murmured, feeling perversely pleased at the startled expression she gave. "I'm going to talk to Noin about it first, though, before I say anything to anyone else. I've looked for her, but Sally says she thinks she went out for a walk. So I'm going to bed and I'll talk to her first thing in the morning. You'll have to stay in suspended animation until then, I'm afraid. Good night." With that, he turned and walked away, leaving a stunned sibling in his wake.
"Well, it seems like there won't be any parlor games and brandy tonight."
Sally smiled over at Howard, who was sitting at a small writing desk in the drawing room, slowly and carefully taking apart Relena's watch with a set of tiny screwdrivers he always carried in his pocket. "Are you really disappointed about that, Howard?" she said, trying to hide a smile.
He didn't look up, just went on removing screws and gears. "Me? Disappointed? Nope, not at all. I just wondered. I shoulda known the Peacecraft's wouldn't do things like normal royalty would."
Sally couldn't help laughing. "And have you been to many palace weekends, Howard?" she said amiably.
He looked at her, glasses down at the tip of his nose. "Now don't play stupid on me Sally. You know what I mean. No one's around, are they? So what's happening? And where are my hostess' manners, I ask you? I was looking forward to that brandy..."
Sally pushed the remote button to call for the butler. "*I'll* get you some brandy. Howard," she said dryly and shook her head. "Relena is worried about Zechs - you can't expect her to be a vision of hospitality right now."
Now it was Howard's turn to shake his head. "She shouldn't waste her time. Zechs can take care of himself. He'll figure things out eventually. He's one of those folks that learn lessons slowly, but really learns them well."
"Howard," Sally said, looking over at him with affection, "sometimes I think you should have been a Buddhist monk."
"Nearly was," he said, looking up and winking at her, "but they threatened to take away my socket wrenches."
Noin felt her way through the fog and reached the house, finding herself at the French doors of Relena's office. After seeing Sally on the second floor, she had gotten dressed and gone out for a walk. She hadn't expected the fog to be that bad, however. It had taken her awhile to figure out just where she was in relation to the palace itself. The fog gave the palace an eerie, deserted look, as if something terrible had happened and everyone inside had gone away to see what it was. She shook off a developing blue mood as best she could and stepped inside the doors.
She saw Relena sitting on the sofa, one hand clutched to her chest and a look of misery on her face. "Relena?" she asked, closing the doors behind her. "Relena is something wrong?"
The girl looked up and tried to smile at her, flicking away tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. "No! Nothing's wrong! I was just... just thinking. About the past. It sometimes makes me a bit weepy. Foolish I know..."
"Not foolish at all," Noin said soothingly as she came and sat beside the younger woman. "You have lots of happy memories in your past. That's a wonderful gift to have, you know."
"Yes," Relena agreed softly. "Yes it is, but... I just realized... Miriald doesn't have the same kinds of happy memories that I do. He had no one to care for him, no one to love him after our kingdom fell... after father died." She was lost in thought for a moment, trying to imagine what that day so many years ago must have been like. Then she remembered Noin and her cheeks reddened. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't be talking this way!"
"Don't be sorry, Relena. I agree with you. His childhood was very difficult after Sank fell into the hands of the Alliance. It affected him - deeply." She sat back and let her gaze drift out the window to where the fog pressed softly against the panes. "That's part of why I fell in love with him," she said quietly. "He was so strong looking, so smart and confident, and yet... there was something about him that had more of the little lost prince to it than the invincible ace he convinced everyone else - that he was. I guess the problem was that he never quite convinced himself. That left him vulnerable, and it made me love him even more than I would have already."
"You really do love him, Noin," Relena murmured. "I've never seen anyone more in love than you are."
Noin smiled, a bit sadly. "It's true... there are times I think I would do anything in the world for him... /Like now for instance.../
Relena frowned unhappily and stared at her hands, folded neatly in her lap. "I hadn't thought of that before, though - how my brother had no one to love growing up. Not like I did, with my... mother and father... how lonely and sad it must have been for him."
She went on, talking about her privileged childhood and the love that her adoptive parents had shown her, but Noin had stopped listening. She was staring out the window, into the fog, turning an idea over in her mind. An idea that could - no, perhaps *must* - change everything. "Now I understand it," she whispered almost soundlessly to herself as Relena talked. "It makes sense now..."
"Come love - the fog is making you shiver. And I want you in my bed... in my arms..."
"You have the most amazing way of getting what you want, don't you?"
"Yes. I suppose I do. And of course, I only ever want the very best."
"You knew I'd give in to you, didn't you? You knew all the time."
"No, my dear friend, I did not. I began that way, to be sure, but... let's just say I came to have my doubts."
"You? Doubts? That's impossible. If you ever doubted yourself, why... you'd probably disappear in a puff of smoke. Your personality couldn't stand the shock. Heh heh..."
"This newfound impudence is interesting on you. There are... aspects of it that suggest some very delightful images in my mind."
"Images?"
"Mmm, yes... You, and myself of course... and your impudence... which would need to be... *corrected*, would it not?"
"Now wait just one moment -"
"Oh, yes, I think the next 50 or 60 years or so hold *great* promise. *Great* promise..."
"Damn... ooh, do that again..."
End of Part 17
(:./kumiko/rosen17)
