Reminder: there are two different people named Relena, but the princess is always going to be referred to as Princess Relena and one that's not the princess is going to be plain old Relena, Miss Relena or Lena. Just to make things more confusing, they both look the same. ^_^

Oh yeah, one more thing: Noin appears in this chapter. She is referred to as "he," but keep in mind that she is not a guy in this story. I'll explain why it's like that at the end of the chapter.

Relena heard the soft footsteps of someone walking up behind her. "He didn't come back today either," she whispered.

"I know," the elder woman said. "It's getting late and you missed dinner again."

"The war ended last week," she fought to keep her voice steady as she turned to face her housekeeper, "Mrs. Yui, Heero was supposed to be back by now." She turned to face her housekeeper.

"He's supposed to be back by now, but I don't think he will."

"But he promised." Relena lost the struggle to maintain her composure and started to cry.

"Promises don't always last forever, Miss Relena." She tried to comfort the young lady. "Heero promised me that when he came back, he would get married and that I would have some grandchildren soon." She smiled as she remembered the day Heero left, "he was so happy and proud. He said that he'd come back as a war hero." Relena stopped crying.

"Heero always kept his promises. He'll be back tomorrow. I'm sure of it."

"Miss Relena," Heero's mother gently tried to convince Relena that it was hopeless, "stop being in denial. When the letters stopped coming, I knew that he wasn't ever going to come back. Back then I had accepted the fact that my son has---"

"NO!!" Relena screamed. "No!! He's going to come back. In my heart I know that he's still alive. I'll wait forever if I have to." She ran away from her unable to endure any more of the housekeeper's words.

At the party, the guests were merrily dancing away or chatting happily. Duo was busy chatting with this dark-haired girl named Hilde, and Quatre was chatting with his father's business partners and clients. Three boys were sitting in distant dark corner away from the rest of the guests. Duo stopped flirting for a second to join his three comrades in battle.

"Hey guys," he said, "lighten up. This party is for us, you know. Don't want the royals to think we're ungrateful."

"Idiot," Wufei sneered. "Think what you want to think." Duo didn't quite understand. "The party is in honor of Princess Relena's brother, Milliardo, who died in combat."

"But he's dead. He can't enjoy the party."

"……."

"Well, if you three want to stay in the corner and sulk, be my guest." Duo left to look for that girl again.

"Have any of you decided on where you're going after the party?" Wufei asked.

"I'm going to stay here with Princess Relena," Heero replied. "I promised I'd protect her."

"I guess," Trowa said, "that would be best. You're her knight in shining armor after all. I've decided that I'm going to travel with my sister. As long as people still like our shows, we'll be okay." His sister is the star of a play called Enchanted Dance and along with the rest of the cast, travels from area to area performing. Trowa had been separated from his sister at a young age, and he was raised to be a child soldier. Somehow they had found each other during the war, and she found a spot for him in the play. Trowa looked at Wufei. "You were the most worried about what comes after the war. Have decided on anything?"

"I don't know yet. I'll just go wherever, do whatever. Basically take each day one step at a time, and see where I end up." Wufei had left his village to fight in the war vowing to bring honor to his family. He promised his wife that when he comes back, their future child's father would be a hero. However, a year ago, the city was burned to the ground and no one appeared to have survived.

Princess Relena remained in her room after the party started. She did feel this was right. Her father and mother believed that a party in honor of their late son would help everyone remember what great man he was: Prince Milliardo Peacecraft left the comfort of the palace for the cold, cruel battlefied and sacrificed his life to his country. However the young princess believed that now people would associate her brother's death with festivities. She put on her pink dress (the one that Heero liked) and made her way down to the main hall for the party.

Miss Relena had wandered around for a while; she didn't exactly want to go home yet. I'm just being delusional, she thought to herself. What am I doing to myself? Everyday, I get up and go out to the lake. Every night I come home, alone, and disappointed. I know deep inside that Heero isn't coming back, and yet, I keep on hoping. She wandered into the city. Her father warned her not to go there after dark, but she didn't care. She just wanted to get out.

"Hey there," a strange voice from behind her said, "what's a nice girl like you doin out here so late?"

"What's it to you?"

"I'm just lookin out for the ladies."

"What do you want?"

"Nothin, honest. Jeez, you try to help someone out and they treat you like shit."

"I'm sorry," she apologized to the stranger, "I'm just not in a good mood today."

"S'alright." He took a step closer to her and whispered, "you should head on home as soon as you can. This place isn't exactly……friendly when the lights go out. If your one of those girls who thinks she can take care of herself, I suggest you carry a weapon with you. And stay away from that place called Heaven's Blood at the end of this here's alley."

"O……..k….."

"hmmmm….. I can just tell; I shouldn't have said nothing. You're goin to check it out aren't ya? Don't say I didn't warn ya." And he left.

"That was……odd….." she said to herself. "Heaven's Blood…….. I've heard of that place before……. I wonder why it has such a bad reputation."

"Pssst, Zechs," a voice whispered to the man sitting in the corner of the cell. His platinum blond hair was stained with his own blood. Some parts of shirtless body were caked in dry blood while others were still damp with wet blood where he received his new lashes that day. He slowly opened his tired eyes and saw his savior trying to pick the lock with a needle.

"Noin." His lips managed to say as he kept his eyes on him. Though not as hurt as he was, Noin had a black eye and a bruised lower lip. "What did they do to you?"

"Nothing compared to what they did to you," he came in and set down the basket. "I gotta get back before they find out I'm missing. Eat whatever you can ok?"

"Noin?"

"Yes?"

"Why are we still alive? The others captured with us have all been killed by them. What kind of deal did you make with them? Why were we spared?"

"Spared…." Noin chuckled, "funny choice of words Zechs. At this rate, you're going to bleed to death. And I ….. I …," she started to say under her breath, "sometimes I think I should have killed myself."

"What's that, Noin? What's wrong? What kind of deal did you make with them?"

"Let's just say it's my little secret. Get some rest, Zechs." As he left, Noin thought to himself, "This isn't working. They're not going any easier on Zechs. The only reason he's still alive while the others aren't is that he's much stronger."

Just a little clarification: Noin is not a guy in my story, Zechs doesn't know it yet. Basically in my story, women weren't allowed to fight in the war, so Noin dressed up as a guy so she could fight. Even thought the war is over, at this point nobody is supposed to know that she's a girl yet. So I'm not going to refer to her as "she" until they find out.