Title: Killing Morpheus

Author: Ryoko no Shinigami

For warnings, pairings, notes, etc, see Chapter One.

Chapter Two: Scheming Dreamer

For hours, Zechs had been sitting in his room at the Lake Victoria base, plotting the demise of the man/God Trieze Kushrinada, the man who created dreams. He had made and discarded many plans during that time, but none of them seemed good enough. Not one of them was perfect.

Every single one of them had one fatal flaw. Zechs was a skilled fighter, trained since boyhood to take on any opponent. He was strong, and fast, and utterly amoral. The problem was that Treize had been trained in the same way. He had always been stronger, faster, more powerful. Even while Zechs clung to the foolish ideals of boyhood, Treize had seen the folly of morals, and had moved on.

There was no way Zechs could trust himself to take on Treize alone. An assassin was another idea, but under Treize, Zechs had learned that you could trust no one. Even if he did manage to find a compatent assassin, he had no way of knowing whether or not he was already in Treizes' employ.

For one wild, brief moment, Zechs had thought of enlisting the aid of the Gundam pilots. Surely, if there was anyone who hated Treize as much as he did, it was them. But that was foolish, and he knew it. They wouldn't trust him, and there was no way he could assure them that it was not a trap. Besides, Treizes' men were on constant lookout for those five. No, what Zechs needed was a way to get to Treize that he wasn't expecting, a way that could get him close enough to strike without warning. But to get that close, he'd practically have to be in Treizes' very bed.

Treizes' bed. Few people knew that the young, handsome Colonel was in the habit of frequenting his commanding officers' quarters on business that was surely not regulation. Their little affair had been kept very, very quiet, because Treize feared dissention among the other troops, that their leaders favorite was also his bedmate, and because he knew that Zechs would make a lovely target for anyone wishing to hurt Romefeller's leader. Besides, he knew that Zechs' reputation would be tarnished by such ugly rumors. No, all in all, it was far better to keep a tight lid on that particular secret.

Zechs leaned back in his chair, eyes closed. Treize had been so busy recently with those pesky Gundam pilots, he had barely had time for Zechs over the last few months. Even when they did have time alone, Treize was preoccupied, thinking constantly over new battle strategies, where the Gundams would strike next, and who was best to take care of the job. Zechs had been insanely jealous of those five, the only ones in all those years who could take Treizes' mind from him completely. He had to fight to get Treize to pay attention to him, and more often than not, he failed. But it was better not to think of that.

Better to think instead of the times before the Gundams had shown up, when Romefeller and OZ were the unquestioned rulers of the earth and colonies. When Treize had been happy, only occasionally worried by a rebel uprising. Things had been sweeter then.

It was true, things hadn't been perfect, even then. But the ones who were angered by Romefeller's rule hadn't had the power to fight back, and the ones who opposed them were killed and forgotten, just like that.

Zechs had been so much happier then. Treize had been busy, true, so had he, but they had had much more time together. Often they would have days at a time with nothing to do, when they would retreat to one of the less populated bases to be alone. For days on end, they saw no one but each other, and cared nothing for the outside world. But those times were too quickly over, always ended by something that needed Treizes' immediate attention, calling him away from Zechs' bed and his arms again.

It wasn't like Zechs had nothing to do, though. He was a busy member of both Romefeller and OZ, a high ranking officer with duties of his own. He was as busy as Treize, and to be fair, it was just as often his responsibilities that separated them as Treizes'.

But the Gundam pilots had changed all that. Now, neither Zechs nor Treize had enough room to breathe, much less time to spend together. And as proud as Zechs was that his lover was strong and brave enough to confront such a menace, he was hurt and angry that even in their rare times together, Treize seemed too tense and preoccupied to sit still, his head too full of plans to make conversation.

And when Zechs had been given orders to destroy the remains of Gundam Zero One, he had disobeyed without knowing why he did so. He told himself that it was because he was captivated by the mysterious, dark haired pilot, who reminded him so much of Treize when he was young, and it was true. But he also knew that it was because he was bored, and alone, and angry at Treize for ignoring him.

And now it had all blown up in his face. Treize hadn't court marshaled him, thank God, or discharged him from his duty, but he had made it clear to Zechs that he would be under close supervision, and that he would no longer be in the loop about the top-secret plans as he used to be.

And that stung. Zechs was by now used to being his leaders favorite, used to being part of the elite group of officers. He knew he deserved to be respected, because he was a good strategist and pilot, and because his troops delighted in following him. But Treize had treated him as though it was only through favors that he had achieved his success. That wasn't true, Zechs knew, and the thought that Treize might think that made him see red.

As Zechs drifted in an almost-sleep, sitting in the soft chair in his comfortable officers quarters, his mind strayed from its angry musings to those of happier times, times before Treize became so distant.

He remembered kisses, and soft embraces in Treizes' room at night. He saw how Treize looked at him, eyes full of love and pride. He had always been so proud of the way Zechs made his own way to the top, of the way he worked so hard to make Treize praise him.

He remembered how they laughed together after they boarded a shuttle to some far-away base, just as Noin's shuttle touched down on the landing strip they had left. When Noin's advances towards Zechs became more troublesome, they could always have her dispatched elsewhere. They both knew it was cruel humor, but Zechs always made sure Noin got placed where her talents were needed, and where she would be appreciated. Unwelcome advances or not, she was still his friend.

At least Lady Une had been easier. Her devotion towards Treize bordered on obsession, and she dared not do anything to displease him. She viewed Zechs with acute distaste and loathing, but she never got in their way. She probably thought that Zechs was merely diverting to Mr. Treize, and that eventually, Treize would cast him away and realize that she was just who he had been looking for all those years.

And then Zechs' thoughts took a decidedly more erotic turn. Treizes' caresses in the dark, the things he whispered in his ear, the passion that Zechs sometimes feared would engulf him.

Suddenly, Zechs opened his eyes and knew how he could bring about Treizes' downfall. It was a perfect plan, utterly simple, and he didn't know how he had overlooked it before. And the best part was, it would be Treize doing himself in, at little risk to Zechs himself. How utterly marvelous.

The proverbial Morpheus was going to die.