10 Nov 2000
The next chapter - Noin and Treize: the confrontation.
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: implied yaoinbsp;
Noin could feel her fists clenching and deliberately tried to relax them. "You're right, Treize - we *do* need to talk. About Zechs, about the wedding, about all of it."
"There is a path through there that circles the palace," Treize murmured smoothly, "shall we take it?"
"Certainly," the dark-haired woman replied. Her features were tight, voice dripping with tension and for several minutes silence reigned between them, their footsteps muffled by the warmth of the afternoon.
"The way I see this," Treize began, "is that we are competitors - rivals for the heart of Miriald Peacecraft, but not enemies in the true sense. We share something very vital in our love for him and I would suggest that we look at this as a duel."
They had reached a fork in the path, in the center of which was a bronze sun dial, the shadow of it falling nearly to six. He walked around the far side of it, then turned and face Noin with both of his hands on the timepiece.
"There is no need for animosity between us, Miss Noin. We are both here for the same reason: to persuade Miriald to choose us as his partner. You will do everything you can to persuade him to come to your side, and I will do the same for myself. No doubt one of us will win and one of us will lose, but we can still be civilized towards each other, can we not?" /But he's *mine,* dear lady, and I shall have him, make no mistake about that./
He smiled easily at her and awaited an answer.
"Was it civilized to interrupt my wedding rehearsal in the way you did?" Noin shot back. "Was it *civilized* to come here after 5 years, *just* when I'm about to marry Zechs, and *now* tell everyone that you plan to take him away from me? Tell me that's civilized behavior, General!"
Treize rested his chin casually on an elbow. "I see nothing in that that is barbaric," he said calmly. "The fact is that until just a month or so ago I was in no shape to do anything. My recovery has been long and very painful. I was in a coma for nearly a year, and it took three hard years of therapy after that for me to be able to move normally.
It was only a year ago that I discovered that Miriald has also lived through that war - and the other one, which I was only told about - and it's been only 5 months since I managed to find out that Zechs was on Mars, with you. I certainly couldn't have made the trip out there. So, as I was, finally, feeling stronger, and given that I heard that you had proposed to him, naturally I felt it imperative that I speak with him - at least let him know I was still alive... "
"He agreed to marry *me*, Treize," Noin broke in. "I asked him and he gave me his answer. I think it's time you accepted the fact that he's moved on with his life. *I* want him to be happy - can you really tell me, truthfully, that he was *happy* with you, Treize? Because if he was, then why did he leave you?"
The former general felt a wave of anger pass through him, tinged with the tiniest bit of doubt, but being the master politician he was, none of it showed outwardly.
"Miriald left me because he sensed the change in Romefeller's policies and he could no longer agree with them. Both of us knew that OZ was being pulled in an entirely inappropriate direction by my uncle and the other members of the board. At the time, Zechs tied me closely to Romefeller and it was only *after* he left and had been in space for some time, that he realized I wasn't his enemy."
Noin had crossed her arms and leveled a piercing stare at her rival. "He wanted you dead, Treize. How can you deny that?"
"Oh, I don't deny *that*, dear lady - no, it's just that he had reached a point of despair after seeing his homeland destroyed for a second time and watching his sister give it all up without much of a fight at all. He'd spent his entire life fighting for that nation, and she let it die in a matter of minutes. *That's* what drove Miriald to despair about the possibility of peace."
"Yes," Noin said bitterly, "and then *you* took over." She took a moment to look around at the glow of plants and trees in the setting sun. "Admit it -you would have destroyed this place too, if you'd been in charge over Dermail. And I think Zechs knows that."
"Well," Treize said, "if Miriald *does* think that way then it's all the more urgent that I talk to him about that."
Noin ran a hand through her hair and paced around the small circle of path they were in. "Pardon me for saying so, *General*, but with *all* due respect, there's no *need* for you to talk to him - about *anything*! He believes what he believes and he doesn't need you coming in and persuading him that what happened between the two of you, or even between OZ and Sank, didn't *really* happen. And what makes matters worse is, I *bet* you'd be able to do it!"
Treize smiled to himself. He'd been searching, mentally, for a chink in the armor of her protest and now he'd found it. "You *did* say the he agreed to marry you and that it's *you* he cares for, yes?"
"Yes, I did." Noin said confidently.
"Well, if that's the case, there's really no *reason* he would change his mind - about me or what I think, correct?"
"Correct..." Noin frowned, the man was going somewhere with this, making her agree to things one at a time so that he could say something outrageous at the end and get her to concede. The thought made her furious. "What about it?" she insisted.
"Well, it's just that," Treize waved a hand gracefully. "I see no reason for you to be so upset about me talking with Miriald. It's clear from what you say that he wouldn't be affected by me in the least." His chin went back to his fist on the sundial as he gazed calmly at his former lieutenant. "What is it that you think is going to happen if I meet with him, Lucrezia?"
She was silent for a moment, too angry, too worried to say a thing. Then she felt her fists clench again. "You would think that after everything you went through at the end of the war *and* after it, you'd give up playing these little games of yours. All you do is manipulate people to do what you want them to do, but do you *care* at all about what Zechs wants?"
She took a step closer to him, hands on her hips. "Do you know he wants a good, meaningful life? Children to carry on his name? Someone who won't toy with him but who'll be there for him when he needs it? Well *I* can give him all of that, Treize. *You* can't give him that stable, secure life. *You* can't give him children and a home like I can. So stop thinking of yourself for a change and let him *go*!"
For the first time since they'd met up in the garden, Treize's stare changed to something other than bemused. He straightened up to his full height, a piercing, sapphire gaze fixed on Noin's face. "And tell me, dear lady, when you're in bed with him, begetting all those children, whose name will he be moaning as he impregnates you - yours? Or mine?"
Her face had gone white and when she didn't reply, he gave her an elaborate bow, turned on his heels, and headed off away from the palace and into the gardens beyond.
End of Part 10
(:./kumiko/rosen10)
