Author's Note: I really don't have much to say…thank you SO SO MUCH all of you who have reviewed thus far!! You make my day and I get extremely happy over reviews! Okay, now read and then review! ^__^
Disclaimer: I own nuttin'.
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Can Love Conquer All?
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Chapter Five: The Monarchy
It was March of AC 199, and the Peacecraft monarchy was finally becoming official. Having finally finished all his work with Preventers, Zechs wanted to take over the Peacecraft monarchy, as he was originally intended to, now that he had nothing else left in his life. Relena, on the other hand, also wanted to reclaim the throne. Unfortunately for her, Heero hated politics with a passion and wanted absolutely nothing to do with them. So here she sat in a stuffy meeting room with Milliardo, Heero, Pagan, Hilde, and Duo, trying to figure out the best way to solve the issue at hand.
"There shouldn't be a question to it," Milliardo argued. "Relena, you want the monarchy, but Yuy wants nothing to do with it. It makes sense for you to leave it be and go make a life for yourself elsewhere. I have nobody else to please in life, so it doesn't matter if I take on this job or not."
"But brother," Relena argued in return, "the monarchy can only continue through an heir, and since you aren't married there isn't much chance of the Peacecraft line continuing on." Relena was rather annoyed with the whole thing. They'd already been arguing the point for several hours, and no new headway had been made. Everyone was tired and exhausted, but nobody was willing to leave until a solution had been reached.
Milliardo appraised Relena with his ice blue eyes for a few minutes before he spoke. "I'm still young, Relena, not yet twenty-three. There's plenty of time to worry about that. Shoving that aside, I've been trained for this since I was just a boy, and you haven't."
Relena felt like they were going in circles. How many times had this been argued now? Two? Ten? Twenty? "You've also been trained in the art of war, Milliardo. The Peacecrafts are pacifists."
"You aren't even a Peacecraft! You're a freaking Yuy! And what about your husband, eh? He's as warlike as they come!"
Relena slammed her face down on the table, never mind the stinging in her nose. They were getting nowhere and they all new it. If this kept up, they'd spend the rest of their natural lives trying to decide the outcome of this, and by then it wouldn't matter anymore because they'd all be dead and some other country would swallow up the Sanq Kingdom.
Looking at Pagan wearily, Relena asked, "What is your view on this, Pagan?"
The elderly man looked back and forth between Relena and Milliardo, giving them each considering looks before he spoke. "Before I say what I have to say, what do Masters Heero and Duo and Lady Hilde have to say?"
Relena rotated her head to peer at her husband, best friend and her husband's best friend. Heero spoke first. "I hate politics," he grunted. Oh great. That was such a large help it would solve the problem right then and there. Relena resisted the urge to slap him with all her might.
Duo and Hilde shared looks before Duo spoke. "Hilde agrees with me when I say that some compromise should be reached."
"Oh really," Relena and Milliardo said sarcastically as one. Duo slammed his face down on the tabletop as Relena had done mere moments before. By the shout he gave off, obviously his nose had also been damaged.
Hilde patted Duo's back comfortably before she spoke. The seven month pregnant woman had been very supportive through the entire ordeal for everyone. Even despite her many bathroom breaks, Hilde had willingly listened with an open mind when everybody else was ready to strangle the nearest person they could reach. "What Duo meant to say was that a compromise should be reached that can make everybody happy. Something to satisfy both parties, and yet is completely fair. Do you all understand what I'm getting at?"
Pagan nodded at Hilde. "That's exactly the line of thought I have, Miss Hilde. In my honest opinion, the best way to solve this is exactly what you said. I think, that to satisfy both parties, we could have a double monarchy."
"What?" Milliardo asked, voicing Relena's thoughts. "What on Earth are you talking about?" (A/N: BTW, they're on Earth in the Sanq Kingdom.)
"A double monarchy," Pagan repeated. "The best way to do it would to be one year Lady Relena is Queen, and Master Heero has to suffer through her politics. The next year they drop the monarchy and head off to please Heero in whatever way he so desires, and Master Milliardo takes over as King for a year. You can do whatever you wish to, Master Milliardo, during the year in which Lady Relena is queen."
The more she tossed the idea about in her head and let it take form and shape, the more Relena decided she loved it. Pagan was right, it was the perfect decision! It would satisfy everybody, and be more than fair to both parties. She couldn't have come up with a better solution herself. Well, for that matter, she hadn't even been able to come up with a solution… "I love it," Relena announced. "Nothing would be more perfect." Milliardo nodded his assent, as did Heero. With a grin, Relena joyfully announced, "Then it's settled! One year I'll be reigning queen, and the next Milliardo will be reigning king. We can both be coronated at the same time, and one of us will drop the title and crown for the year that the other is reigning monarch. Two weeks today can be the coronation date!" Milliardo shared a rare smile with her as everyone cheered. For the first time since last September when Miss Noin had left, he look more than halfway happy. Oh Milliardo, Relena thought, her heart going out to him. She remembered very well every time Heero hadn't been anywhere near her, and how much it had ached her heart. She truly felt Milliardo's pain. And it certainly didn't help any that he had been mad at Lucrezia since Thanksgiving. Even during Christmas he hadn't been willing to talk about her.
Noin. Lucrezia Noin.
An idea sprang up into Relena's mind. She was thankful the others took her sudden joyful grin for happiness over the newly decided monarchy. Oh, if only this worked out, it truly would be a momentous event… Even as she rejoiced over their decision, Relena set her mind to work on figuring out the best way to go about her plan. Oh how momentous an event it would be…
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Noin's Vidphone kept ringing and ringing. With a moan she crawled out of bed and went to answer her call. It was only nine-thirty at night, but she had been in bed for a good hour already. She had been up late last night and up early this morning, adding some finishing touches to the local green house so it would be able to house plants in a decent temperature instead of freezing them almost instantaneously when night came. She was exhausted, but this could be an important call. It's what she got for being number two in the Mars Terraformation Project.
Clicking the view screen on, Noin was surprised to see Relena Yuy's face take up the screen. "Relena! Hi. How'd you find out my number?" (A/N: Do they use numbers? *shrug*)
Relena smiled her Peacecraft smile. "Sometimes it comes in handy to be the Vice Foreign Minister and the future Queen of the Sanq Kingdom." Noin started to let out a laugh, but it was interrupted by a jaw-cracking yawn. "I'm sorry, Miss Noin, did I wake you?" Relena asked, concern filling her voice and face.
Noin shook her head in response, then changed it to a shake-nod. "Yes, actually you did. But don't worry about it."
"It's only nine-thirty. Are you okay, Miss Noin?"
Noin yawned again. "Call me Lucrezia, Relena, or just Noin. Miss Noin sounds too formal. I'm just fine, don't worry about it. I was up late last night and up early this morning working on our blasted greenhouse, that's all. I'm just exhausted."
The look of concern didn't completely leave Relena's face. "Then I'll be brief." Relena explained the situation of the Monarchy, and the solution they had come to. "And you see, Noin, the coronation ceremony is to be held two weeks from today. I know you and my brother are having problems right now, but Noin, it would mean the world to me, and I'm sure to him, if you would make it for the ceremony. Please, Lu, for us. As friends."
Noin stared blankly at Relena. Zechs? Actually go and see him? She wasn't sure if she could manage that, not with the condition their relationship was in. "Er, Relena, you know I'd love to, but we've got a big thing going on in two weeks, and since I'm supervising it, I need to be here," Noin lied. Relena held her posture just fine, but Noin could see how her eyes crumbled to ashes.
Softly, Relena asked, "Are you sure?" Fearing to trust her voice, Noin just nodded, hoping and praying Relena would drop the subject. "If that's how you feel," Relena said heavily. "Well, you can't say I didn't try."
Noin desperately wanted to get away from this subject before she burst into tears. "So," she asked with a cheeriness she didn't feel, "how is everybody doing?"
Solemn eyes regarded her. "For the most part, just fine. Duo and Hilde are taking a seminar on how to be parents. At nineteen, Duo's flipping out about bringing a baby into their family. He's restarted their junkyard, did you know that? Now that things with the Preventers have all but died, most of the ex-Gundam pilots are finding new jobs. Duo's got the junkyard, Heero's doing nothing at the moment because I won't let him, but he's trying desperately to find some job here on Earth out in the middle of nowhere where he can take us during my off year; Quatre's still running the family business in his own way. He finally proposed to Catherine, at Christmas time, and their wedding will take place in a month. Wufei eloped with Sally in February, surprising us all, and they're happily married. He still works for the Preventers, and intends to stay there until Mars opens to the public. He and Sally want to live where you built up a place habitable for humans. Trowa and Midii's baby was born two days ago, a gorgeous little boy they named Shawn. Trowa's currently working for Quatre, but I think he and Midii want to change professions to something where they can travel around a lot. Zechs quit with the Preventers and is preparing for his job as king of Sanq, as am I. That's pretty much all there is to report here."
Noin felt more than a little upset by most of this news. She was supposed to be there for all her friends, helping them laugh their way through life. Already she had missed the birth of the Barton's baby, and her best friend's wedding. That was what probably stung the most. She and Sally were very close, and she found it disheartening that Sally had ran off to get married and hadn't even warned her. Then again, why should she? Nobody knew how to contact Noin, despite the fact that they all knew she was on Mars. It served her right, for taking off on them like that.
Tears ran down her cheeks, and she didn't realize it until Relena said something.
"No, Relena, I—I'm just fine. If you'll excuse me, I need to go now. Tell everyone I say hi." With that parting, Noin turned off the Vidphone and headed to her living room to collapse on the couch in tears. Was her job really worth losing all her friends over?
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A/N: That took a different turn there at the end. Maybe I should write more stories that I don't know where I'm going with. They seem to work out, and I actually seem to write them down. Anybody remember how I said this story was forming around one line? Yeah, well that one line happened in the first few paragraphs of chapter one. And look where I am now. Wow. *the entire world falls down dead at a faint* Celeste, stop laughing!
Thank you for your many reviews. They keep me happy and let me know my story isn't being wasted!