Author: aomurasakiai
Warnings: Shounen Ai, mostly Relena POV (in an "un-bashing" way)
Pairings: Relena/Heero, Heero/Duo/Heero
Spoilers: Series and EW
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: This is… really different from my usual writing. Mainly it revolves Relena and a certain quote that I've spent a lot of time thinking on. It's extremely fast paced (just flies through the series and EW). Hope you enjoy?
Dedication: Um… to people who like to see Relena in a different light? (big shrug)

Setting Him Free (1/1)

['The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, nor touched but are felt in the heart.']

Relena smiled as she read another short but sweet quote sent from Noin. The older woman was apparently a hopeless romantic and became even more so when she married Zechs a few months before. Ever since then, Relena would receive e-mails filled with love quotes such as the ones she had printed out and was currently reading.

['If you love someone, set him free. If he comes back, he was and always will be yours. If he never returns, he was never yours to begin with.']

Cerulean blue eyes became nostalgic as a slender finger traced over the words. It was a common quote, probably predating the After Colony Era. Something one shouldn't ponder over because it was supposed to make sense. But it didn't. Not in her circumstances anyway.

During the First Eve War, Relena did harbor an… attachment to a certain cobalt blue eyed Gundam pilot. From the time she first pulled off Heero Yuy's helmet on the sandy beach, she had grown interested him. Living in a "prim and proper" lifestyle ever since the day she was born had grown tiresome and his rebelliousness intrigued her. She wanted to break away from the chains that the high-class society had unintentionally placed on her, even if it was just for a moment.

Perhaps that was the reason Relena protected Heero from getting shot again by Duo Maxwell, even though he was technically the "Good Samaritan" who saved her first. For the first time, she acted against what society expected from her… by saving a supposed terrorist.

Then, so soon after that, her father was murdered. Relena's reality shattered with the sudden truth revealed from the dying man's mouth. At that moment she desperately needed someone to steady her life. Heero immediately came into her mind and it was then that she started to believe that she loved him. Relena clung onto him, in thoughts most of the time, and began to grow strong… strong enough to stand up for her pacifist ideals against the many leaders who had opposed them. Heero just being there, just living, gave her that strength. And when he blasted off to fight against her brother, she was scared she'd lose that strength he'd unknowingly given her if he died.

Despite her fears, Heero did live through to the end of the war but immediately afterward, had disappeared from her life. Still Relena managed to remain strong without him and it had surprised her. Maybe she didn't need him as much as she had once thought. The Second Eve War proved that. Although she trusted in Heero to the point that she was unworried about him aiming Zero's beam saber where she was situated, Relena didn't feel the pull she had felt when she'd first met him. When he collapsed after "shooting" the already bleeding Mariemaia, she had rushed forth to keep him from hitting the ground.

Relena had held him close, feeling relieved and thanking him silently. Then Duo had appeared once again and knelt down, gently brushing unruly locks away from Heero's brow. Surprised, she saw the tenderness in the violet eyes and the affectionate way he whispered "baka" to the unconscious teen. She had blinked. Duo seemed to be rather… in love? Women's intuition was never wrong. How did she miss this?

Looking down at the relaxed face of Heero Yuy, she knew why. But now, seeing the face of a boy who obviously cared for the young ex-pilot more than she knew, she smiled, albeit sadly. She had reached out to take Duo's hand and shifted Heero into his arms, causing him to look up in shock. Reassuringly she told him to just love him because he deserved that and more.

She had let Heero go… had set him free.

A solid knock on her door brought Relena out of her musings and she quickly reached for a tissue to wipe her suspiciously damp eyes. Once presentable, she folded her hands on her desk.

"Come in," she called. The door opened to reveal the very two people she had been thinking about. Heero walked in, one hand holding onto Duo's and the other holding an envelope. Both of them looked extremely happy (though Duo seemed a bit nervous) and it made Relena smile. The unruly haired Japanese held out the envelope, addressed to her and she took it, looking at it carefully.

"It's an invitation to our wedding," Heero told her.

"We hope you can come," Duo said. She laughed softly.

"Of course! My work isn't all that urgent. I will clear that day just for the both of you." Both of them smiled and she couldn't help but smile back. When they both left, she opened the envelope to pull out the fancy invitation. Tears began to build in her eyes, none of regret but all of joy.

She had set him free that day, but him returning never meant he was hers. It just meant he cared for her enough to come back.

Owari