Title:  "Scars"

Author: Demeter

Disclaimer: All rights and privileges to Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing are trademarks and property of Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and associated parties. All characters belong to them, and all stories, relationships, ideas are fiction, in no way related to the original storyline. The story, the relationships and original characters within the fic are copyright of the author Demeter.

Part Three: Angel's Fury

A family is never far behind in the footsteps of a lost spirit. Relena feels alone, yet calls upon no one for help. Noins and Zechs both worry for the increasingly-distant Relena. They devise a plan to help a broken heart. Only, are they too late?

~*~*~*~*~*~

Noins marched through the halls briskly and efficiently, causing all in her path to scurry away in fear and awe. She banged into the room where Milliardo Peacecraft held his council, and he looked up, his blond hair braided much like Duo's, in surprise, at his wife, the normally calm Lucrezia Noins.

"Is there something wrong, sweetheart?" He asked, his voice mild.

"You have to get Relena to stop working! She hasn't taken a break since the Centennial Ball, and that was weeks ago! She refuses to eat more than she has to, she never refuses to attend a party, even though we both know she hates them! And Lord knows, there have been enough to run her ragged!" Her breath came out of her in short pants, giving way to real worry, evident in her dark eyes. They were anxious for the girl she considered her own sister, and knew naught for what to do.

Milliardo stood up, and walked swiftly toward his wife, his steps smooth. Wrapping his long arms around her waist, he held her close, his chin on top of her head. Breathing in the scent of her shampoo, he murmured softly, "I know. I've seen her. But, unless she takes the actions herself, regardless of what we say or do, she'll just plow through her work." His beautiful eyes were twisted with worry for his imouto. The only two to ever break through his shell had been Noins and Relena. No person was as important to him as those two, and he dreaded the idea of losing them.

Noin's eyes flashed, before bursting out, "It's all Heero's fault. If he weren't such a cold bastard, Relena wouldn't be so depressed. She then wouldn't be trying to drown herself in her work! Look at the state she's in! She's becoming skin and bones!" Her dark eyes grew even more anxious and she clenched her fist as though she wanted to knock someone out with it. Unconsciously, her hand came down to her stomach, where a life was flourishing, and rubbing it slightly, she bit her lip.

Milliardo regarded her with worry, before saying slowly, "There really is nothing we can do. We can't make Heero love her, and we can't repair the damage he did, or we think he did, to Relena. She has to stand up herself, and understand that there is life after him; that her love is really just infatuation."

He paused, before pushing ahead.

"Regardless of how we feel, unless she takes the initiative to get better, and to learn to live again, there is nothing that will help cure her." He frowned and absently let his fingers flutter over her stomach. "Don't go worrying yourself too much. Relena has handled far worse catastrophes in her life than this one. She'll pull through.  I know she will."

Noins gave him a tiny smile, but the smile did not reach her eyes, as she worried in her heart. How would Milliardo, as a man, know of the deep wells of feeling, women had? Relena did not feel any less because she was a politician; she felt all the more. She had to bury her emotions for the public, and there was no other way of releasing them, but showing them wholeheartedly to Heero.

Noin nestled herself into Milliardo's arms and she felt tears prick the corners of her eyes. She was surprised to find herself crying; after all, she was a soldier, and soldiers, no matter the situation, never cried. Biting her lip to hold back the tears, she looked up at Milliardo, and said slowly, "I don't think it's that simple, Zechs. She loved him, even if it was partly out of desperation in being caught in a gilded cage; she still felt strong emotions. To have it cruelly wrenched away, taken so suddenly, it would destroy even the strongest of people. And she lost to Duo, a guy she knew and loved!"

"What do you propose I do?"

"Perhaps Relena needs a heart-to-heart with the guys."

"A heart-to-heart? Lucy, you know this is the GUNDAM PILOTS you're talking about."

"How about we let them take her to the ocean for a day? Maybe being where she enjoys life the most will help her spirits."

"The beach. I don't know if it that's a good idea. After all, that's where she met him."

Noins twisted her hands anxiously. She knew the story well, better than Relena almost. The girl had repeated the tale so many times, Noins wondered sometimes whether it should be set into history, as the moment "The Queen of the World met her Prince!" She had laughed when the thought had first arrived. Now, to the caring, older woman, it was just a horrible meeting of a luckless fate. "Oh, I know, but maybe she'll understand she fell in love with the image of him, and not really HIM."

Milliardo regarded his wife with his blue eyes, so much like Relena's. He looked intently out the window, and then sighed. Heero had never been his favorite person, and now, to actually call him and ASK the stern pilot, whether he would or would not take Relena to the beach was an idea he did not relish. Hoping he wasn't making a mistake, he nodded his head, and went to the screen, called Dorothy first to command her back from the colony, and then phoned in the pilots for the next order.

~*~ Part Three ~*~

~*~ FINIS ~*~