Please Note: My former username was Gray02 but I have changed it to my current username for consistency reasons.
Mild Warning: Mentions suicide, please read at your own discretion.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.
The Portrait
A.C. 224 January 25th
8:00 a.m.
Sanc Kingdom, Peacecraft Estate
Helena stifled a moan as she tried to get up from bed. The bullet wounds and bruises were taking their time to heal, and still caused some pain. A fact she would not admit to her younger siblings. She had never received such extensive damage as she had prior to this last mission and recuperation was taking longer than she had hoped. All her muscles felt like hot butter, on the verge of collapse as she forced herself up. However she counted her blessings that she had acquired more movement compared to the last month. During the initial week of her release from the hospital she couldn't even sit up much less walk because of the blows that decorated her back. At least according to her sister the darkness of those bruises had waned.
The gunshots had been from far distance, which was the only reason she was alive now, but even at far range they managed to inflict enough harm. According to Dr. Po she had even greater luck that a bullet didn't sever her spine. No matter how advanced their technology had come, spine injuries could still be fatal and almost irreversible.
After two months, under critical treatment and physical therapy, Helena managed to get herself out of bed, walk, do simple exercises. Much to the chagrin of her brother Odin, who would prefer she lay in bed 24/7 until she was fully recovered. Helena knew if she allowed that she would become weak. Unaccustomed to pain and how to manage it. In the long run she saw this as a valuable opportunity to test her strength and see what her capabilities were with the limitations her body had for now.
Saying these thoughts aloud to her siblings would upset them, so she let them continue thinking it was her stubborn nature that would prohibit them from forcing to remain in bed. Although they didn't really need to force her. When they asked, or when a worried glance was cast to her she yielded and rested as much as she could. She wasn't so prideful that she would neglect her body totally, or that of the concern of the people she wanted to defend in the first place.
However today, she was arising for a completely different reason.
A request via letter, a very formal method in her opinion, had arrived not too long ago when she was still in her early stages of recovery. A request to speak to her specifically. There were less than a handful of people outside of Helena's circle of family, friends, and comrades that would be able to meet with her in current state. However when Odin informed her of the writer she made an exception.
Their visitor had to have a thorough background check, regardless of their famousness. A requirement not only by her family but also of the Royal Sanc Security Service, Preventer, and ESUN. Helena thought it was excessive, but she didn't protest it. She was at minimal strength and clearly not able to fight someone off if need be.
After she had refreshed herself in the bathroom and pulled out her aikidoka, there was a knock on her door and she called for them to ender. Vivette strode in and quickly noted her slow movement putting on her garment and helped her. Without missing a beat she chatted away about everything that was going on about herself, Joseph, Marcus, their schooling, and her recent trip with Odin. Odin was already beginning his internship with the Foreign Ministry branch of the ESUN. He had to go through all the qualification rounds, Odin tried to do everything he could to withhold mentioning his heritage so he would hired on skill not name. And he was hired.
Everyone learned about his Peacecraft lineage afterword, and if word didn't get around then when Odin brought Vivette to his delegate meeting to Japan they all knew now. Vivette looked exactly like their mother when she was 15. Vivette then whispered that she "sort of" snuck out of their designated hotel and went to compete in video game tournament. That was something Helena had expected. It would have been uncommon for Vivette to stay settled in one place without a distraction. Coupled with her master skill of tactical gaming in a country that all but supplied the products she loved to play, it was going to be enevitable.
"Did you get caught?" Helena asked.
"Nope. Only Odin followed me, and no one recognized him." Vivette chirped.
"Good."
"You should tell that at him. He was so mad." She giggled. "Especially when I made him dye his hair."
"Why did you have to do that?" She could picture her brother none too pleased of chasing after Vivette. Although Helena suspected he didn't really mind tracking their younger sister down when she got the urge to behave on instinct.
"He kept saying we would be recognized and that we needed to leave," Vivette rolled her eyes. "So I bought a temporary hair dye spray, his hair was only a few shades darker. Not a big deal."
"What tournament was it?"
"It was the Quetzalcoatl Resurrection Tournament! The hardest game in that series and the 20 best players on Earth were there."
That gave her pause for thought. "How did you enter if the 20 players were already selected?"
"They gave the audience a chance to play against one of the players and I won! So I got a slot and then I had to play against this girl from Korea. . ."
Vivette went into detail about each of her opponents as she finished helping her dress. Helena already concluded that her sister had won. Vivette was an expert player in any game, and if it was a tactical game, well she could be quite malicious for such an innocent looking girl. However Helena had only been slightly wrong in her assumption, Vivette won 1st Runner Up. Vivette mumbled that if she had won first place she would have garnered more attention and at the time she had thought about how Odin and her may have been caught.
Helena smiled. Despite Vivette's tendency to get in all sorts of peculiar situations, she did consider her other sibling's feelings and respected their opinions. Without asking her to Vivette left for her bathroom and returned with a brush. Helena didn't pay much mind to the maintenance of her hair. Unlike Vivette who always tried to take care of her golden locks.
As Vivette reached mid length with the brush she felt the brush's teeth catch on a knot. "Your probably have a bunch of these." Vivette sighed.
"Yup."
Vivette sighed again but carried on and informed her about what troubles Joseph had gotten into. Joseph had been slipping again in his class work, but in his defense Vivette explained that his class was on the chapter of the Eve Wars, specifically their mother.
"They make her sound like a completely different person than who she was." Vivette clicked her tongue in mild annoyance. "She was human not a saint."
"You can't fault them completely. She did change the world to such an extent that makes her surreal." Their mother was Vivette's age when she got involved in politics, became the head of the Sanc kingdom, and later ruler of the world. How could they not idolize her? Or hate her in some cases.
"We were the ones to know what she liked and didn't. Her habits and hobbies. That's why they're always asking us about her. They want to know more."
"Still kind of rude though."
"Indeed it is." Helena smiled to her sister.
Vivette finished and asked if she wanted it braided or anything. She declined and kept it down, she wouldn't be leaving the Peacecraft estate for the meeting so she wouldn't have to fight the wind either. Vivette helped her up and guided her to the study room. She and Odin had gone through their growth spurts respectively. So now Helena towered over her younger siblings, but it was likely the triplets would soon follow. Eventually.
With their steady pace it didn't take them long to reach the study room. Marcus was already there, and had prepared their common breakfast, pancakes. He, along with Vivette, helped her into her seat. She didn't let her back touch the seat, even a light tap would send her pain receptors afire unless she gradually eased into it. Vivette immediately scarfed down her plate, pancakes were her favorite dish, and she pitied anyone that thought it smart to steal her pancakes. Marcus precut her pancakes and handed her her plate. Helena sometimes worried for her youngest brother, especially after what happened to her. He was prone to have strong nightmares and panic attacks that he tried to hide, most of those nightmares had to do with their parent's disappearance and rumored deaths. She could only imagine what he was thinking as he saw her in Preventer's ICU. She couldn't check on him at night to see how he was going either with her wounds healiing.
'Thank you Marcus,' she signed to him as she finished her meal.
'No problem,' he gave her a soft smile.
If nothing else, she didn't worry about Marcus' ability to cook.
'Did Odin go with Joseph?' she asked.
'Yes, Alexander and Oma went too.' He signed back.
Helena thought they agreed to make this a quiet affair. If the media picked up that a famous artist was in Sanc kingdom their meeting was sure to be found out. She trusted their guest to be discreet and not attract attention but her family traveling anywhere required guards, and those were not discreet.
"It's okay," Vivette said aloud. "They just went to pick her up from the private airport. No one will know they were there."
"People will notice the SUVs though." Because if they were in one, four would follow for security.
"That's why they went underground." Vivette motioned with her hand before taking another bite of her pancakes.
Helena maintained her composure but internally she was caught off guard. Only her immediate family members and their personal guards knew about the underground tunnel that connected the Peacecraft estate to the private airport used by high ranking government officials. Odin or her grandmother must have approved of the decision. A ping noise came from Vivette and she lifted her phone.
"Looks like they're here."
Right on cue Peggy came in and asked if she could take the dishes. Marcus helped her stack the dishes on the cart while Vivette hurriedly finished her last pancakes. Peggy asked if she needed anything else and Helena just asked for two glasses of water, just in case their guest would need it. Peggy nodded and went on her way.
'Do you want us to stay?' Marcus signed to her.
She had also considered that. Helena did want them there, to speak with the artist that had drawn their mother. Nonetheless, she would respect their of only meeting her.
"No I'll be alright."
He nodded but remained by her side while Vivette waited by the open door, joined soon by Peggy. She heard footsteps, two sets of heels. Vivette and Peggy greeted the entourage and entered together. When Odin passed through the door he gave her a quick look.
From what she could interpret, he was at ease with their guest, yet that spark of alertness never left his eyes. Right behind him came their grandmother, who immediately walked over to her and touched her face.
"How are you feeling dear?" She scanned her face and Helena tried to subtlety pull away to keep an eye on the door.
"I'm fine Oma." But her words didn't deter her efforts to catch the slightest wince if she moved. Satisfied, finally, she stepped aside and Helena was able to see the instigator of this whole meeting.
A petite girl, or woman, closer inspection showed she was in her late 30s or early 40s. Thick curly hair styled into a bob, little or no makeup, healthy tan with a shade of rouge on her lips. Minimalist fashion.
Yanin Nom appeared plain, easily overlooked, that is what her intent. Yanin's work was known throughout Earth, Mars, and the Colonies. To capture human emotions at her master level she needed to blend or better said disappear from the vigilance of her subjects.
Yanin greeted her, a bit too formally as she bowed. "It's an honor to meet all of you," she said with a slight accent.
"Mrs. Nom," Helena nodded to her, but felt the need to correct the introduction. "Please do not bow to me or anyone here. My family hasn't formally gone by the Peacecraft name since the days of my mother's young adult years." Helena lifted herself, she heard the others shift to help her but she managed on her own. She took the few steps that separated them and offered her hand to Mrs. Nom.
"I would much prefer this greeting."
Yanin's eyes widened for a moment, till she smiled and shook her hand.
When Helena turned around she reassured her family she would be fine and that they could leave her for the time being. She could tell by their slow shuffle they wanted to stay and overhear what would occur. It's not like they would have to wait long, she would tell them everything when Yanin left. Odin shut the door behind him and she waited till she could no longer hear their footsteps.
"I'd rather avoid unnecessary small talk Mrs. Yanin." Helena pulled out the letter she received from the black-haired artist. "Why the urgency to see me?"
Yanin sat across from her, a coffe table separating them. "I'm not good with words Mrs. Helena. Forgive me if I cannot talk very fast to explain."
"I'm in no rush. Take your time."
Yanin reached down to her large leather bag and pulled something out. "May I?" she motioned to show her a book.
Helena nodded.
Yanin moved closer, sitting on the couch beside her and handed her the leather-bound book. Opening it she saw it was a sketch book, a dated one as she found that some of the sketches were 29 years old. As she flipped through the pages Yanin began to explain her objective.
"As you know I met your mother a long time ago." A fog of reminiscence settle over her features. "Sometime it feels like it only happened yesterday, hours, minutes. It is almost impossible to forget her eyes."
Helena reached the part in her book of a familiar sketch, one that would become the famous painting currently on display in the Sanc Pacem Altor Museum. The painting rarely left the country unless it was for a major charity event. Helena switched her gaze to Yanin, who appeared relaxed.
"You met her twice during your completion of this."
"Actually I met her two more times. But it is best that I start with the first time I met her." Yanin leaned back on the couch. "The books would say I was threatened by Romefeller to paint your mother, that was only half the truth. There was a lack of skilled artist during that time, as you know all the artist who protested against the Earth Sphere and later Romefeller. . . Were executed or banished." She cast her eyes down. A shadow seemed to pass over her.
Helena remembered reading about the large scale extermination or expulsion of artist, sculptors, journalist, and film directors. Regardless of prominence or station. They were either framed or false charges of disturbing the peace were brought upon them. They went to jail, and were never seen again. All those the United Earth Sphere or Romefeller found to be a threat to revealing the truth or beginning a revolt. It took a couple of years after the Eve Wars to learn the full-scale crimes that they had committed against the innocent. Some of those people had to have been Yanin's friends.
After a moment of silence Yanin forged on. "I learned to paint differently because of them, to that I will give them credit. And I kept painting, even when I had to risk buying material from the black market. I couldn't stop even when my remaining family members begged me to."
"How did they find you?"
Yanin gave a weak somber smile. "Eventually I was caught. Dragged out of my home. I still remember my mother's sobbing, my sisters screaming. They told me it was a neighbor who informed them." She shook her head. "Sometimes your neighbors, no matter how close, may always succumb to fear. I do not blame them for it."
Helena didn't know if she could have been so forgiving, seeing any of her brothers or sister being taken away from her. It brought unwanted memories back, which she let play out but detached herself from. This wasn't the time to recall the past.
"Europe was very different for me. So many languages!" she chuckled a bit. "It felt like a blender. I never missed my home, my country Chile, more than when I was here in Europe."
Yanin went on to let her know that as she stated earlier, Romefeller's threat was only half truth. The full truth was that they threatened her family and friends, not her directly. The last thing Romefeller wanted at the time was potential leak of another artist murdered, so the artist family would have been substituted. This was a common tactic done by the privileged members of the Romefeller foundation, and it still infuriated her. More so because she knows some of its members are still out and running free than admitting their crimes.
"When I first saw Relena Peacecraft in person, it was at a meeting from a distance. Romefeller wanted me to begin studying her profile but didn't trust me to see her up close yet. I was surprised such a fragile girl was forced to carry the weight of the world. She didn't show it, but I could tell she was tired, her gaze wasn't always present." Yanin pursed her lip in recollection. "As if she was always in deep thought. I've never met a prisoner who didn't seem worried for herself as she was for something or someone else."
"She was worried for the people, and my father." Helena admitted.
Although short, her mother's reign as Queen of the World was popularized and dramatized to such an extent people thought she had forcibly bended Romefeller to her will. In reality Romefeller had bended on their own accord because their goals had been swayed to that of her mother's. She did not need to speak over others, walk away dramatically when she didn't want to listen to the members of Romefeller. Her mother had her beliefs and stuck to them, but she was open to the opinions of others as she acknowledged that she could be wrong.
"That doesn't surprise me." Yanin smiled. "Besides that, this is the part I came to see you for."
Helena waited, curious how this all came about through events of the past.
Yanin took a calm breath. "The day I was to paint your mother, she saved me. I thought the best way I was going to protest against Romefeller, was to end my life. For what they did to my friends, my Marco." She saw her hands clench in her lap. "I wouldn't let my hands become their tools."
Yanin further explained that she had intended to bleed out in the room designated for her to paint her mother. She had planned to slit her wrist in the midst of her painting, when everyone had their guard down. It was a plan she had toiled with the moment she stepped foot on European soil. But when her mother entered the room with an armed escort, Yanin's plot evaporated.
She briskly swiped away a tear and met her unwavering gaze. "She gave me the same look you're giving me now. Recognizing my pain but at the same time her eyes said 'we have to keep going, they do not own us.' And then your mother did something else," Yanin pointed to the sketch that was still on her lap. "That sketch was never meant to have happened. Your mother changed Romefeller's plans, instead of the extravagant setting they set out, Relena grabbed me by the hand and walked me to her office. She told me to draw whatever I wanted. So I painted her close up instead of a full body like Romefeller wished. It suited her better."
That made sense. Helena could imagine that her mother wanted to be seen up close to the people, have a connection with them. Instead of far away, out of reach, on a pedestal that no one was worthy to approach.
"I know your work has a great deal of subtle or hidden symbolism, I thought I had deciphered this a long time ago with my brothers and sister."
"The painting can be interpreted anyway. But in this case I will tell you what was going on while I sketched your mother. I believe at one point she was mentally gone from that room again. Not to escape. I did not see fear in her eyes, I saw her will. A force no man in that building would be able to sway or conquer. Your mother was being used as Romefeller's doll, seen as a traitor by some. Instead of dwelling on this, she only sought the peace she wanted to give to the world, at whatever expense it might cost her. Least that is what I felt. When I showed her the sketch she looked at it for about a minute before agreeing for me to continue."
"You truly are gifted in understanding people Mrs. Yanin." Helena was unmoved when others praised her mother. Due to the fact that they played her accomplishments as if it was easy. Nothing her mother did had been easy. She wasn't a saint she was human, as Vivette had stated, with unyielding determination. That was what the portrait showed. Her velvet clothed fingers interwind, her pure and earnest thoughts of how to unite the world, giving it a new beginning, another birth, symbolized with the white. A portion of her face left in the shadows to show the turbulent situations not only she but the people she represented were going through, yet the determination to bare the hardships and look ahead into the future. She wasn't basking in the light completely as those old paintings of royalty depicted, Relena, her mother, knew she couldn't accomplish her goal of true peace without the people. Her mother understood and wanted the people to know that the future was in their hands, they were the ones that would determine if they wanted peace or not. She did not want to be seen as the only beacon of peace. Yet, regardless if she wanted it or not, Relena was seen as the unwavering hope to instill peace during those times of subjugation.
"Thank you." She inclined her head to Helena. "It is a skill I have had to learn well. Now, when I painted that portrait it was actually done 5 years later."
Helena's brows rose for a second at the new information.
"Yes I know, once again the records show that I had hidden the painting away, or that I was unable to finish it with the transition in power and then the resolution of the war. In truth I never painted it till I met your mother the second time. She was 20 at the time, she had definitely grown to be a great leader by that point. And I came to her asking if I could finish the portrait on her terms. That is why she looks older in the portrait."
"I see." It confirmed a suspicion Odin had had. "Now that you have told me this where do I come into play with this?"
"I wish to paint your portrait."
The request so simply asked, still took her a moment to process. Helena was sure Yanin was aware that she rejected all mediums of getting her likeness in a portrait or sculpture by many artist regardless of their status. For good reasons as she much enjoyed her anonymity in public, and her work in Preventer could be endangered if too many people recognized her.
"Why?" Helena finally asked.
"Prior to meeting you I wasn't sure if I wanted to paint you. But now I am." Yanin reached out for the sketchbook. Helena gave it back to her and watched her flip through the pages till she found the one she was looking for. "This was you and if you flip to the next four pages you will see your family also."
The page showed her indeed, and her mother. Her mother was holding her, a toddler as she stood in the gardens. The next pages also showed her mother with her siblings around the same age she had been. Yet she couldn't recall ever meeting Yanin.
"Your mother was a private person, humble, but one day she called me asking for a favor. She told me her work was important, it would be remembered and hopefully be a guide for future generations to build on and make a better world. But what would her work amount to if her own family history was forgotten. So, I came and drew you all for her. I even showed her how to draw a little bit."
That would explain how her mother picked drawing, water coloring specifically, as a hobby.
"Mrs. Yanin I thank you for the kindness you showed my mother and for helping record our history but I'm afraid I cannot let a portrait be made of me."
"May I ask why?"
Helena bit the inside of her cheek before deciding that Yanin knew enough about her family to be quiet about certain details. "I work for Preventer, as a field agent. Anyone who saw your portrait of me would put my work at risk along with my family."
Yanin gave her a smile. "Mrs. Helena have you ever seen theses sketches of yourself or your siblings in any museum or art exhibition?"
"No."
"I am not painting this portrait for the world Mrs. Helena. As I never drew that portrait of your mother for the world in the first place. I am drawing it for me and your family. I would like to believe that the peace so many suffered for is still being honored and carried on in the next generation."
As Helena stared intently at Yanin, she remembered the injuries that coated her back. The pain she endured to protect a friend, the pain she accepted to safeguard her family, and the pain she inflicted to oppose those who wanted to dismantle her parent's legacy. Her actions, although self-serving, were also paying tribute to those who had fallen, whether on the battle field or off it.
Then she thought of all the possibilities of what her decision would intel. It was true those drawings of her when she was young had not surfaced, but she had never researched to confirm this. Yet her mother had wanted their history to be recorded, and she didn't imagine that her mother would want something gallantly done, as her own portrait showed her submission and opposition to fate.
"What happens when you die? Wouldn't your family inherit the portrait?" Helena asked. Her mother's portrait belonged to her grandmother officially and she and her siblings were the ones to inherit it after her passing.
"The portrait would be sent to you and your family and only made known to the public when you will it."
Helena sighed. Thinking of her final question. "Why me and not my brothers or sister? Vivette looks more like my mother."
Helena almost pulled her left hand back when Yanin took it between both of hers. Yanin stared straight at her. "Because as I told you before, I saw the same look in your eyes as I did hers. I know what you recently went through. You were willing to die to protect your comrades. As Relena was willing to die for the people. And as my Marco did."
Helena closed her eyes and let out a low breath. She understood.
"So long as the portrait remains out of view from the public, revealed when I am retired, only known to you and those you trust. I will accept."
"Thank you so much Mrs. Helena." Yanin dropped her hand and bowed her head.
"No. You contributed enough in the name of my mother's beliefs. I'm just returning the favor." Helena smiled.
Helena informed Yanin there would be a spring gala being held in the Sanc kingdom in March. If she would want to wait, she could paint her then. And hopefully she would be healed by that point.
"That would be perfectly fine with me." Yanin smiled happily.
"Good. Now I believe my siblings wish to speak to you, they are quite curious about you."
"I could tell." She laughed softly.
"Of course." Helena smirked.
A/N: Was very excited to finally have this posted! I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the Earth's system while Romefeller was in power and the ordinary citizens who would oppose them. This fic is definitely aimed at thanking those who stand up against any sort of oppression and having the courage to do so at the risk of losing. Yanin was a spur of the moment character who I loved writing about. The icon of Relena was actually drawn by Dark134 on Deviantart! I was already writing this fic prior to the completion of the artwork but was extremely motivated when I saw the finished piece!
Thank you for your patience everyone and I hope to have Part 2 of this completed when I have the drawing of Helena done as well. Hope any typos or incorrect grammar didn't ruin your experience reading this. Till next time!