27 Nov 2000
The next chapter - an extended dream sequence and Sally mops up the aftermath of Treize.
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: shonen-ai implied
Zechs was dreaming. He was in a churchyard, dressed in his wedding clothes, about to enter the church to marry Noin. He could see the small side door up ahead of him, and he knew Howard, his best man, waited inside. The day was gray and a heavy mist had fallen, making the churchyard and its ancient graves look ominous and mystical.
He ran his gaze over the headstones and saw a recent one, a soft glowing white stone standing out against the older grays. Walking towards it, the mist parted for a moment and he read the name engraved there:
Treize Khushrenada, b. A.C.171 d. A.C.195 at the hand of his Beloved Friend, Miriald Peacecraft
Zechs felt the blood draining away from his head, a sudden dizzyness dropping him to his knees beside the grave. "Treize," he whispered the misty earth below him, "It... It didn't happen the way I wanted it to, Treize... I was supposed to die, too. You weren't supposed to go alone..." Trembling fingers reached out to touch the dying grass, then knotted themselves in it as though trying to pull up the sod that covered Treize's burial place.
He could feel hot tears coursing down his cheeks now, falling delicately onto the white rose on the lapel of his morning coat. "It wasn't supposed to happen this way!!" he screamed, tugging at the grass. "I was suppose to go with you!!"
He could hear his own choked sobs filling the misty churchyard, could feel the futility of simply being alive - an emotion he'd thought he finally chased down and killed on Mars. Yet here it was, in full force.
Faintly, he heard the sound of the church door opening. Howard was calling to him and there was organ music floating out over the graves. "Treize..." he whispered in a broken voice, and then Howard was there, offering him a hand, and he rose and walked to the church.
Inside it was dim, candlelit, and Noin was already waiting at the altar. /Oh, God! I missed her entrance! She must have felt terrible coming in, walking to the altar without a groom waiting for her. How could I have done such a terrible thing! I have to make it up to her... somehow./
She looked up as he entered, face awash with equal parts of relief and radiance. /Do I look that way, when I look at her? She deserves that. She deserves someone who can love the way she loves... Is that me?/ He tried to smile, still feeling tears on his face, and for a moment became wild with worry that she would see them and ask him why he was crying. She didn't seem to notice them at all, though. Not the tears, and not his grass-stained fingers when he offered her his arm. It was almost as if she were looking at someone else...
They walked the few steps up to the altar proper, where a solemn-faced priest stood waiting, and knelt before him. He could feel the weight of the people in the pews behind him, though he hadn't seen a single face clearly when he'd walked in. /I want to take comfort in this,/ he told himself. /This weight... this tradition... maybe this will keep me from falling off the edge of the world.../
His body was trembling, but he could feel Noin next to him, her steady calm a much-needed assurance that he was doing the right thing. The priest began to speak the words of the wedding mass and Noin squeezed his arm. For one moment, everything seemed to fall into place.
That was when he heard it. The sound, coming from the churchyard outside.
It was faint at first, a soft moan of wind through the lindens that surrounded the place, perhaps. But if grew louder, steadily, and began to take on the aspect of a human voice, though its words were unclear to him. The funny thing was, no one else seemed to notice it at all.
He turned his head back to the priest, and tried hard to concentrate on what the cleric was saying, but the voice grew louder. /Why isn't anyone noticing? Someone could be in trouble out there and no one is seeing to it? Do I have to do it? Do I have to stop my own wedding and go out to see what's wrong?/
Suddenly a loud pounding was heard on the small side door to the church, the one he and Howard had come through. It made Zechs jump, but still no one moved. Only Noin took notice and looked over at him, her face beautiful and comforting as she again gave his arm a gentle squeeze. "It'll be over soon," she whispered. "Don't worry."
His eyes strayed from her face to the church door, and the pounding started again, making him look up at the priest, eyes beseeching. /Please do something about this! Make it stop or see what he needs, but *please* do something!/
/He?/
Surely Zechs had thought the word, but to whom did it refer? A man was outside the church door, he knew that as well as he knew the name of his bride, but which man?
Then he heard the voice again. Not loud, just strong enough to come through the door from outside - a soft tenor that was as familiar to him as his own voice was.
"Miriald!"
The mass was going on, but his eyes were now riveted to the door. /Why is Treize calling me? I hear his voice, he's calling my name, but it isn't possible. I *know* that./
"Miriald!" the call came again, not louder, just more determined. The the door to the churchyard swung open and gray, misty light filled the gloom of the church. They all shrank back against it, accustomed as they were to the dimness.
Blinking, Zechs could make out the silhouette of Treize Khushrenada, surrounded by mist that was beginning to creep into the church itself. "Treize?" he said softly, barely able to believe what he was seeing. He moved towards the man, but Noin pulled him back with a firm but gentle hand.
"Your vows, Zechs," she whispered, nodding towards the priest who was staring at him. "You need to say your vows."
"My vows?" he echoed, the words losing their meaning even as he said them. "But... Treize - he's over there... should we wait...?"
The priest was already reciting the traditional Catholic rite. "I, Zechs, take you, Noin, to be my wife."
Zechs looked back at Treize, who stared at him from the open doorway. "I -I, Zechs... take you -"
"Miriald!" Treize's voice came once again and the figure in the doorway held out his hand, but the priest was going on ahead.
"I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life. Mr. Marquise, why are you not saying your vows?"
"Zechs?" For the first time, Noin's voice held a note of worry. "Zechs, please concentrate!"
Zechs looked over at her. "But Noin, that's *Treize* over there. I need to talk to him before -"
"He isn't real, sweetheart!" Noin whispered, holding his arm more tightly. "You think you see him because he buried outside, but he's not really *here!*"
"Mr. Marquise! Say your vows!" the priest thundered.
"But... I -" He tried to make sense of things but he was getting hopelessly muddeled - couldn't remember what he was suppose to be doing, what he was suppose to say, and now the congregation behind him was beginning to murmur and shuffle impatiently. He had to think! But he couldn't!
"Miriald, open your eyes!"
With a hoarse shout, Zechs sat up, his eyes wide and staring, his body trembling violently. He was in the walled garden, naked but warm, and the sun had set leaving a dark blue evening sky just barely sparkled with stars. Drawing long, panting breaths, he heard the voice from the dream again, softer this time.
"Miri - come lie back down. You've been dreaming."
He turned, amazed to see Treize there next to him. Azure eyes stared long and hard at sapphire, and Zechs's hand reached up to ghost over Treize's cheek. "You're really here," he breathed. "You're here. You're alive..."
Treize kissed Zechs's fingertips and then pulled the blond man down, Zechs's head resting on the older man's shoulder. "Yes, dear friend - I'm alive. Very much so. I'm alive, and I want you so badly I can't give words to the feelings."
"But I... I have to take my vows... the priest told me -"
Treize reached over and put a finger against Zechs's lips. "Hush now. You don't need to think about that right now. You're here with me, and the rest of the world doesn't exist. Now come - let me kiss you..."
So saying, Treize pulled Zechs close, and suited the deed to the word.
Sally found Noin in her room. It was clear that she'd been crying, and crying hard. Crossing the room to the bed where the Italian woman sat, Sally took both of Noin's hands in hers. "Honey, what's wrong? Did you talk to Zechs? What happened?"
Noin looked up at her, and began crying again. "I *hate* that man! He's absolutely horrible - doesn't care about *anyone* but himself! And just makes it worse that he's so *smug* about everything! It's as if he knows how everything if going to turn out, how everyone is going to act. It's as if he thinks *he's* the one controlling everything, and what has he done to deserve any of it? *Nothing!"
Sally could only put an arm around the crying woman, waiting for the stream of words to stop. "You hate Zechs? Surely you don't mean that!"
Noin looked at her in confusion, then shook her head violently. "Not Zechs. I never found him. Treize! We ran into each other in the garden and... oh, Sally he was so... *certain* of things! He tried to get me to admit that I was worried about him talking to Zechs, and that the reason I was worried was that I wasn't sure that Zechs loved me." She grabbed a tissue from the box next to the bed.
"But that's ridiculous, honey. You *know* he loves you. He agreed to marry you, for God's sake!"
"It doesn't matter to Treize. It's as if he thinks Zechs just did that because he wasn't around, and now that he is, that promise means nothing." She ran a hand through her hair and stared out of the window. "As far as he's concerned, we're at square one, duking it out over who'll get Zechs. It's love AND war and all's fair, you know... So I can't count on the fact that Zechs promised me anything. All bets are off."
"That's ridiculous," Sally said. "He *did* promise you, and Zechs doesn't promise things lightly. You know that." She stood up and pulled Noin up with her. "Come on. You need to talk to the man himself and we're going to find him. There's no use feeling this bad until you know the bad thing is true."
Noin opened her mouth to protest, but Sally cut her off with a glance. "All right," she sighed. "Let's find Zechs."
End of Part 12
(:./kumiko/rosen12)
