Disclaimer: the only Gundam Wing I own is two posters and three books, so don't sue.

Author's Note: This is AU so they might be a little OOC but since I like them the way they are I'll try and leave their personalities mostly intact. I'm very much 3+4, 1+R, and 2+H so if any of that offends you don't read. Of course no one but me will probably read it anyway…

Gundam-less Wing By Wodenschild

Every action has an equal but opposite reaction: Newton's first law.

Long before Operation Meteor there was a colonist who promoted peace named Heero Yuy. As is well known an assassin killed him and peace fell apart. Then the Peacecraft family rose on Earth advocating total pacifism and they were destroyed, their children scattering, to rise again. But what if in another time, another place that first assassin failed? What if Heero Yuy, the pacifist, had lived? Would peace have been achieved earlier? Would the Gundams, or their pilots be needed at all?

Episode One: A new beginning

Relena shifted her position on the plane and sighed. "Father?"

King Alexander Peacecraft looked up from several forms towards his only daughter. "Yes, my dear?"

"Was it really necessary for me to accompany you on this trip?"

He leaned back into his seat sighing. "Yes. Your brother Millardo has not the patience or the ambition to lead our people, and in truth the Earth in pacifism. He wishes to remain in the background, indeed he much prefers the role of protector than savior. As his father I must respect that, but our country NEEDS leadership and as painful as this may be, Relena you have a natural skill at it."

Relena took a minute to process this information. "So I must give up my life for the world?" She finally said slowly. "But what about Duo?"

Alexander laughed. "Duo? I love the boy dearly, but he is pure mischief. Plus, no matter that your mother and I adopted him and raised him for the past seven years, he is still seen as an outsider. He would have the world at war in five days."

Relena smiled at that. "That is true enough, subtle he is not." Her smile dimmed. "So it falls to me then…"

Alexander grasped her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. "I have faith that you can do what is needed. You have all the makings of a true leader, Relena. Your mother would have been very proud of you."

"Thank you father." Relena replied quietly.

Sanq Kingdom

Duo wandered around the palace whistling, his long braid swinging behind him. "Master Duo!" Wincing Duo turned to face the Peacecraft butler, Pargan. "Yo, Par-man, what's up?" Duo said smiling.

"How many times have I asked you to wash up after working on those infernal contraptions?" Pargan scolded as he lead the filthy Duo to the kitchen. "You most likely left a trail of soot behind you."

"Actually it's grease." Duo pointed out earning him a glare. Sighing he followed the older man into the kitchen and submitted to being washed.

"I don't know why you insist on working on them, that is why King Alexander has handymen."

"'Cause it's fun?" Duo offered, that earned him a baleful stare. "Anyway, do you know when Lena's coming back? It's weird being here by myself."

"Master Millardo is home from France." Pargan pointed out.

"Yeah, but he's no fun." Duo said laughing.

"Oh really? Is that anyway to talk to your older, bigger brother?" Millardo said lazily from the doorway.

Duo turned and grinned at him. "Aw, your not so big, it's just that your hair takes up so much room."

Millardo gave Duo's two foot long braid an absent tug. "Look who's talking. So where's Relena?"

Duo rolled his eyes. "Dad took the princess off on one of his business trips. They'll be home in a couple of weeks. I hope."

Millardo sighed. "I was afraid of that. Looks like Father was serious."

"About what?"

"Training Relena to take over ruling the kingdom, and his place as Foreign Minister to the colonies."

Duo gave him a puzzled look. "You serious? I thought those things usually go to first borns? Or at least males?"

"Normally yes, but he knows that I have no interest in leading people. Anyway, I have been reviewing the security system and some things have been changed, why?"

Duo grinned. "That's due to our new head of security, a Lt. Noin. Runs a very tight ship if you know what I mean. Said our system was a bit lacking in areas."

Millardo bristled, as Duo knew he would. "I designed that system myself!"

"Yeah, I know." Duo said still grinning. "Why don't you go tell Lt. Noin, I do believe that Noin should be making rounds about now." Millardo stalked off, furious.

Pargan shook his head reproachfully at Duo. "You could have mentioned that Lt. Noin was a very attractive woman."

"Why? Millardo will find out for himself, and it's more fun this way. Say since we're in the kitchen anyway, how about some food?" Duo said grinning. Pargan sighed and turned to the stove.

Lt. Luzencia Noin nodded to a guardsman as she passed, smiling slightly at the way he automatically straightened upon sighting her. Whistling softly she turned the corner and straight into a wall of male. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry." Noin said with an off-hand smile. Raising her head her smile faltered at the face her eyes met. Wow!

Millardo waved off the apology and brushed off his jacket. "My own fault. I know this is a blind corner." Placing a political smile on face he faced the woman, and swallowed tightly. "Millardo Peacecraft."

"I know." Noin said with a grin. "Your picture's all over. Lucrezia Noin."

"Lucrezia, that's a nice name…Wait! Noin? Lt. Noin?"

"Yup." She said shrugging. "That would be me."

His eyes narrowed. "What exactly was wrong with my security system? It's worked for five years."

Noin sighed and rolled her eyes. "That's because no one's tried to break-in in three. Look, the basic system was fine, but when you take into account that one of the two most influential men in the universe lives here, it becomes less then fine."

Millardo growled. "I know that. He IS my father! But I still don't see what was so wrong with the current system!"

"I know. And that's the problem. As your new head of security it's my job to see the problems. I'm sure lots of the left over warmongers would love to kill off King Peacecraft and the prodigal son, I'm here to see that doesn't happen. Now if you'll excuse me, I have rounds to finish." Noin said. She walked around him before stopping. "Oh and Millardo? I hate being called Lucrezia."

Millardo stared after her fuming. What an arrogant little…gorgeous…uh, strike that last thought.

Noin wandered into the kitchen for a cup of coffee and found Duo demolishing a ham. She raised her eyebrow. "You going to eat all that?"

Duo glanced up and grinned. "Nah, just most of it. Care to join me?"

Noin shrugged. "Why not? So is your brother always like that?"

Duo grinned. "Ah, so you've met the immovable force. Millardo can be cool, but the man needs to loosen up!"

"Not like you of course." Noin said with a grin.

Duo grinned back. "Righto!"

"So I've now met two thirds of the Peacecraft children, what's Relena like?"

"Lena's the best. She's really quiet, very solemn but don't let that fool you, she can be worse than me with pranks." Duo sighed. "She's very serious and calm, thinks everything through, ya know? But when she smiles, it lights up the room."

Noin was quiet. "She sounds wonderful. You must love her very much."

Duo, in a rare moment of seriousness, said. "Yeah, I do. How could I not? She saved me."

"Well she certainly doesn't sound like her brothers!" Noin said breaking the silence.

Duo laughingly agreed.

"Relena, come I want you to met some people." Alexander said motioning to her. "This is Heero Yuy, one of our greatest allies in outer space."

"A pleasure."

"Thank you, Mr. Yuy, the pleasure is all mine." Relena said bowing. "I've studied your speeches, they're wonderful."

Heero smiled. "Why thank you my dear. It's refreshing to find someone so young with an interest in politics."

Alexander smiled. "Yes, I'm very proud of my daughter. Oh there's Mr. Winner. Come Relena, I should introduce you."

"A pleasure Mr. Yuy." Relena said softly. Heero nodded his head and watched them walk off.

"Simon." Heero Yuy said to a nearby aide.

"Yes sir?"

"I do believe we've met the future leader of the universe." Heero said smiling. "Please clear some time in my schedule. I plan on taking the boy to the Sanq Kingdom."

"Of course sir."

Across the room King Peacecraft was in deep conversation with Mr. Winner. "Pacifism is the only true road to peace!" Mr. Winner insisted.

"I'm not disagreeing, but I do see how there can be a time when resistance is necessary." Alexander said.

Winner sighed heavily. "Now you begin to sound like my son. Quatre insists that force can be a necessary thing."

Relena looked up at the mention of son. "He sounds like a very astute young man. Some people can not be reached through words alone."

Winner shook his head sadly. "I see I am outnumbered. But come, you should meet my son." He lead them over to where a young blond man stood. "Quatre, come here and meet the Peacecrafts."

"The Peacecrafts?" Quatre said curiously moving toward his father. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"And you Mr. Winner." Relena said smiling. "I'm Relena Peacecraft."

"Quatre Rababa Winner." Quatre said smiling. Their fathers moved off leaving them to talk.

"Actually I'm rather relieved to find someone else here, under the age of thirty." Relena confided.

Quatre smiled. "Me too, it makes a refreshing change. So Miss Relena, you live in the Sanq Kingdom?"

"Please call me Relena, Miss Relena makes me feel like your nanny. And yes I do my brother Duo and I live at the palace. Our brother Millardo alternates residences."

"And you must call me Quatre. I was not aware you had two brothers." Quatre said smiling.

Relena sighed softly. "Technically Duo is my adopted brother. He was an orphan on the L2 colony when we took him in. Our people love him, but I guess no one sees him as a true Peacecraft."

"Amazing. How did an orphan from L2 end up on Earth?" Quatre asked.

"Well it's a long story and…"

"It's a long night. And I don't think you want to talk to more representatives any more than I do." Quatre interrupted.

"Alright. Well, it really begins with my mother, she insisted on accompany Father on long trips, and when I was small I went as well. Millardo is four years older than I am and spent much of his time at a boarding school. When I was eight Father had a conference to attend on L2 so mother packed us up and we went with them. Millardo opted to stay with friends. While Father was busy with the conference Mother and I went shopping. I got separated and lost in the alleys on L2. I was alone and frightened, we may live in a world of peace, but there are still places that are extremely dangerous. Especially for a young girl. I was very lucky, just when a gang was about to jump me, a young boy grabbed me and took off.

"That was my first glimpse of Duo. He had recently been moved off the streets and into an orphanage. He had run away and came back to the streets in time to save me. Even then Duo had a real streak of honor. He knew he couldn't leave me there alone, and I wouldn't be able to survive on the streets so he took me back to the orphanage. He really hated going back. Everyone was really nice and Father Maxwell contacted my parents. Mother scolded me for running off and father thanked the priest. The next day when Mother took me to the park Duo showed up. Then the next and the next. He'd made it his mission to watch out for me. As he said, 'Without me Lena, you'd just get into trouble.' What I didn't know was that at the orphanage he was teased and alienated, so he ran away every day to play with me. When the conference was over, Mother took me back to the orphanage to say goodbye. I cried, because I didn't want to leave him. We did anyway. But halfway to Earth they found Duo in the cargo bay. He'd run away and gotten past security and on board the plane. When they found him Duo grinned and said that where Lena went he went. Who else could keep her out of trouble? Father laughed and said that Duo was right and how would he like to make it his permanent job? They adopted him and he moved right on in as if he lived there his whole life."

Quatre stared at her. "That's amazing. Your father is a very kind man."

Relena smiled. "Yes he is. Of course if you ask Duo he insists I saved him."

"And your brother didn't mind the new addition?"

Relena laughed. "You would have to know Millardo to understand. He was twelve when Duo came, just reaching puberty. Duo made it an interesting experience. They enjoy teasing each other and goaded one another. It's a very strange relationship but one with very deep connections."

Quatre smiled and shook his head. "I do believe I would like to meet them, they sound much more interesting then the people Father lets me visit."

"You'd be welcome any time Quatre." Relena said smiling. On impulse she leaned over and kissed his cheek. "You're a very good listener."

Quatre blushed slightly. "Thank you." Their fathers' observed the exchange with interest. They looked at one another and smiled.