It all started with the dream, an endless void of swirling black. He could only remember bits and pieces, but they were more than enough to scare him-and he wasn't easily scared. There were flashes of light, crimson streaks. There were two eyes of red and gold that sent shivers down his spine. And, seeming quite out of place, there was Relena.

…Relena… The Queen of the World. The perfect one. What was her place amongst the figments of his nightmare? If she was to die soon… No. That thought couldn't be; that thought had to be pushed back…back into the furthest recesses of his mind. She couldn't die yet, not Relena. The world still needed her.

However, despite his hardest, he couldn't keep her away from his thoughts. It wasn't so much the fear of her dying, not exactly. It was something else, something in her expression. It was that cold and distant look she had had, as she turned around, her blue eyes soulless. And that smile…the smile that wasn't… a twist of her lips that somehow seemed abnormal, inhuman.

For some reason he couldn't place, when she'd turned around and looked at him, she had sent fear shooting down him; fear that overtook even the fear of the ghostly eyes that had belonged to the Beast. And he wasn't easily scared.