Author's Note: Well, hello! This is twilightshadow, but I've changed my name to Goldberry so don't be alarmed!! It's still the same person! After the last chapter, a few of you expressed complete confusion as to what is going on. So I shall enlightened you!!! Here is a summary so far:

Relena is in love with Heero. Heero is love with Relena. Prince Henry holds Zechs hostage. Prince Henry is also in love with Relena. Prince Henry uses Zechs as leverage to get what he wants from Relena. Relena breaks up with Heero to spare him and agrees to meet the Prince in the tower at midnight. Relena plans to seduce the Prince so he will let her brother go. Noin knows about this meeting from her brother and goes to find Heero in an effort to save Relena. Noin can't find him. Sally goes to Zechs as a favor to Noin and watches over him. Time runs out and Relena ascends the tower to the waiting Prince.

Got it? Good.

On with the show...

And Storms May Collide

Chapter Seven: Lightning Flares

The clock struck twelve.

Relena felt a chill crawl up her spine but she ignored it and tried to concentrate, though she was hindered at every turn. The gown she wore seemed bent on constricting her breathing and her curled hair seemed very heavy on top of her head. The atmosphere in the tower was cold and depressing, the only light coming from flickering candles whose flames yielded no heat. The table in the middle of the room was no different. It was set for two, the plates at opposite ends, the huge chairs draped with black silk. Indeed, the very room seemed to made of darkness.

But what scared her the most was the bed.

It was a monstrosity in itself, big enough to hold at least five people comfortably with a black transparent canopy high over head and curtains to match. Red rose petals had been strewn over the covers, and a bottle of red wine sat cooling in an ice bucket to the side. It seemed everything was ready for a perfect seduction.

Her eyes turned to the Prince who was watching her with hungry eyes, causing her breath to quicken in her chest, a reaction that only served to draw his attention to her breasts. He, himself, was dressed in black with silver etched into the fabric, his blonde hair a startling contrast to his choice of clothes. In his hand was a velvet black box that he held out to her, a small smile on his thin lips.

"For you, my princess."

Inside was a sparkling diamond necklace that looked like lace in the dim light. It was beautiful, and something she would have never chosen for herself. Smiling slightly at him, she handed him the necklace and pulled tendrils of hair away from her neck.

"Would you please?" she asked, her voice low and soothing, her thoughts revolving around Milliardo. In her hands, she held the power of his life and she could not fail him. Would not.

Henry grinned and came to stand behind her, his breath whispering over her skin as he clasped the necklace around her neck, her throat ringed in stars. As she planned, he could not resist the sight of the bare skin of her back and laid kisses on her skin.

She closed her eyes, imagining another man's kisses.

It was a moment before she realized he had spoken.

"Heero? You mean that actor?" She forced her voice to reflect astonishment as she turned to look at him. "You cannot believe that I would consort with a peasant!" She laughed, "Oh, my prince, he has feelings for me which I indulge because of his talents. My father wants this play to be perfect and we need Heero. But," she moved closer to him, gazing at him through her long smoky lashes, "once the play is over, we'll no longer need him."

Henry smiled, "And then I'll have you for myself."

She gave him a seductive glance. "You already do," she answered, and let him kiss her.

* * * *

Heero was singing to himself.

It was a rare thing when the actor sang from his heart, so Duo made no sudden movements, and didn't so much as blink when Quatre arrived and began to play his violin, his music meshing with Heero's voice to create a solo that seem made of heartbreak.

Heero moved across the stage woodenly, his dark blue eyes full of pain, his voice reflecting the condition of his soul. Words drifted through the air and pulled at Duo, their meaning becoming like ice to the writer.

Why does my heart cry?

Feelings I can't fight

He moved to the doors of Rosedawn and threw them open, the sound echoing through the theater. It was raining outside and lighting flashed through the sky, creating an odd counter beat to Heero's melancholy song.

Without knowing why, he raised his eyes to the top most tower of the Sanq Palace and almost stepped back as he found Relena and the Prince standing on the sheltered balcony.

Kissing.

You're free to leave me

but just don't deceive me

and please...

believe me when I say

I love you...

* * * *

The Prince released her lips and started down her neck to her collarbone, his kisses demanding and rough, taking pleasure without giving any. She let him do as he pleased, her heart safely locked away where he could not find it.

Without thought, she looked towards the theater and gasped aloud when her eyes locked with Heero's. For one terrible instant, she read the pain and betrayal in his beautiful eyes and it threatened to tear her apart on the spot. But then he did something that sent a bolt of agony straight through her soul.

He looked away.

Pulling his gaze from hers, he turned and began walking down the street. Away from the palace, away from the theater.

Away from her.

Something in her shattered and a word left her lips before she could stop it.

"No."

The Prince lifted his head from her skin and met her fearful gaze, his own expression growing angry. His hand tightened on her arm.

"No?" He questioned, rage clear in his voice. Frightened, she leapt away from him but he caught her arm and threw her to the floor, anger making him dangerous and powerful. Shuddering, she was paralyzed as he reached down and ripped his necklace from her throat, raising an instant welt and causing her to cry out.

* * * *

Why does my heart cry?

Feelings I can't fight...

* * * *

Relena rose to her feet only to be slammed onto her stomach against the table. Breath whistled out of her lungs but she could feel nothing but the Prince's hands as he ripped at the laces of her dress and plunged his hands down her loosened bodice, his fingers kneading her breasts painfully. Tears dripped down her face but she could find no energy to defend herself. He was too strong.

* * * *

You're free to leave me

but just don't deceive me

and please...

* * * *

Relena crashed onto the bed and the Prince released her, the pins falling from her hair to let it fall around her like a glory of sunlight. Henry sneered and slapped her as she tried to slide off the bed, crushing her wrists as he held her in place.

"And now you really will be mine."

Relena screamed.

* * * *

believe me when I say

* * * *

The Prince loosened his belt and lightning flashed through the room.

* * * *

I love you...

* * * *

There was a muffled thud and the Prince suddenly toppled forward landing heavily over Relena, causing her to scream again. It took her a moment to realize that he wasn't moving, and that, in fact, blood was streaming from the back of his head.

Looking over his shoulder, her bloodshot eyes searched the darkness and found a shadow that was not a shadow. He came forward, a blood-splattered cudgel in his hand, and pulled the Prince's limp body off hers, freeing her. She sat up, relief giving strength to a voice torn by her cries.

"Trowa."

* * * *

Heero stared out the cracked glass of a window in the tiny room of a local inn. It was a place he had rented to be away from everything, a place he came to be alone and to think. The others knew of it but they let him be, knowing the oddities of his character. Now he could only watch the rain and feel the shattered remains of a heart he had only recently discovered he had.

So.

It was the Prince.

He was the reason Relena had refused to see him anymore. She was in love with him, had been toying with the peasant brat that just happened to love her. She had probably used hundreds of men just like him, using her beauty and voice to win them.

He shook his head.

Even in his anger and grief he could not believe that. Though he had been tricked, he knew Relena could never do those things. She was made of light and stars. She was not a temptress. Perhaps she had genuinely fallen in love with this Prince. He had never spoken to the man, only seen him at rehearsals and meal at the Palace. Perhaps it was best if she married a man of royal blood and not a son of nobody-knows-whom. Perhaps she would be happy with him.

Perhaps.

Perhaps he would die from seeing the Prince's lips on her hers, embracing on the balcony.

Abruptly the door flew open, and he turned, ready to lash out at whoever had come to disturb him. Instead, the words died on his lips. For Trowa stood there...

...and Relena.

Her dress was in tatters and Trowa's cloak hung around her shoulders to shield her barely covered skin. Her hair was mussed and there were bruises on her arms and legs, not to mention the ones on her cheeks bones. Blood trickled down a broken lip and blended with the tears she could not stop crying.

His mind took this all in in an instant and his blood ran cold.

Without a word she flung herself into his arms, her body shaking with sobs and fright. Without realizing what he was doing, his arms closed about her, engulfing her in warmth and love, cradling her to his chest as if nothing was wrong between them. He barely noticed as Trowa softly closed the door.

"Heero, I'm so sorry," she said, her voice barely understandable between wild sobs. "I didn't want to, but he said he would kill him! And then I saw you and I couldn't go through with it! I couldn't! And then he hit me and...and..." She shuddered in his arms and he held her more tightly as she wept, clinging to his shirt. He smoothed her hair and whispered soothingly in her ear, trying to calm her hysterics. From what she had said, he concluded that she had told the Prince 'no' and he had reacted by trying to rape her, but he couldn't understand the rest. Who did the Prince want to kill and why was Relena involved?

It was in this moment that he realized he had already forgiven her.

* * * *

The Prince hissed as one of his servants dabbed at the cut in his scalp and growled under his breath. Anger gleamed in his eyes and in every line of his body.

"I will not allow her to get away with this. She cannot defy me!"

The Captain of his guards nodded. "What are your orders, my lord?"

Henry sneered. "I want Prince Milliardo dead before sunrise and I want the peasant actor, Heero, brought before me." A feral grin crossed his face. "Alive."

No one defied him and lived.

No one.

tbc.....

* * * *

*cringes* you aren't going to throw vegetable at me, are you? I mean, I did give you a chapter, after all!! Sorry about the cliffhanger, I just couldn't resist! I love torture...ah...I mean...suspense!!!

Finals are over and so I will have much more time to write! Keep looking for chapters and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!! Thanks so much for reading!!!!

*huggles*

Goldberry

please review...