Disclaimer:
All Gundam Wing characters belong to Sotsu Agency Sunrise and Bandai. I do own this little
fanfic though.
Prince Miliardo danced with every female present in the room, including the four bride candidates. Catherine was delighted to dance with such a good dancer, and Dorothy was enjoying herself. Sally knew she was off the hook, so she did not hide the fact that she really couldn't dance and stepped on the Prince a few times. Miliardo did not mind, he was rather fond of his new friend to let that bother him. Sylvia, on the other hand, was an entirely different matter. She tried her best to impress the Prince and the royal guests, and attempted to flirt with the tall, handsome Miliardo with what she thought to be the most beautiful smiles and gestures.
Duo was obliged to dance with every woman and have some royalty-to-royalty talks with the aristocratic guests from the Sanc Court. He would much rather stayed with his beloved Hilde, but as things would have it, he couldn't. While he danced with the four candidates, he was also observing each one of them. Frankly, he did not think any of them fitting to be the woman in Zechs' life. He wondered what King Peacecraft could have been thinking when he picked these four from over one hundred applicants, especially that Sylvia Noventa. Everything about her was so fake and pretentious. Having an equally grand background, Dorothy was a lot more modest and polite, not to mention true to her feelings.
Heero was stiff when he danced, except when his partner was Relena. He felt ok around Hilde because he's known her for a long time. Same went for Wufei. He swung his dance partners around the dance floor in a robot-like fashion, not wanting to do any real moving. It's only when he danced with Sally that he seemed to be a little more human. Noin was, of course, fine with all the dancing. The only problem she had was Sylvia, who took an unliking to her, and purposely stepped on her several times with her high heels.
Since the Princesses were not required to join the royalty chats, they provided shelter for those who did not want to dance. Heero sticked close to Relena and danced with her whenever someone else approached him to avoid contact with other women. Wufei felt helpless for a brief moment, then he decided to seek refuge in Sally's company. Noin kept her promise to Duo and stayed with Hilde all night. Hilde knew of her real identity and therefore was comfortable being around her. Without their knowing, Heero eyed the pair suspiciously from time to time, wondering about the connection between Duo and Noin, and why was it the over-protective Duo would allow another man to be with Hilde. The braided young man had never let any man, not even him or Wufei, to spend time alone with Hilde. A hypothesis formed in Heero's brain as he looked closely at the tall platinum-black haired guard. He would confirm his suspicion later.
"So why are you here anyway, Noin?" Hilde asked when they were a good distance away from the main crowd.
Noin glanced around to make sure no one was within hearing range. "My parents arranged some marriage meeting for me, so I ran away, taking my usual disguise."
"When are you planning to go back?"
"As long as I can keep them from finding me." Noin sighed. "I have a feeling that this would be my last freedom before I am bonded by marriage to a stranger."
"Aw, don't be so pessimistic." Hilde patted Noin on the back. "I am sure you'll find the love of your life like I did."
"Thanks, Hilde." Noin smiled at her future sister-in-law.
While the two women talked in a corner of the ballroom, a pair of ice blue eyes was drawn to them involuntarily, particularly on the deep blue-eyed guard.
"Noin..." Zechs found himself saying the name under his breath and was horrified. 'Stop that, Miliardo! You are just pretending to have a crush on Noin, it's not real. You are not in love with him! You are a normal guy, get a hold of yourself!' He scolded himself. 'I know... and I wouldn't do this if I can help it.' Zechs cast another look at Noin. 'Look at him. He is everything I've always wanted in my mate... Why does Noin have to be a man?'
The evening ball concluded successfully without any problem, and most people had a good time. After the ball ended, the guests were leaving. The Chancellor of Sanc, who was one of the judges, was the last to leave. Before he left, however, he took the Prince aside.
"Prince Miliardo, my compliment for the fine evening." The Chancellor said.
"Thank you." Miliardo said politely in reply. "What did you think?"
"To be honest, none of them suits you, but Dorothy Catalonia scores highest in my humble opinion."
"Dorothy?" Miliardo asked unenthusiastically. He did not even have a chance to greet Noin tonight, and he certainly could not go on with his acting before the guests, not when most of them knew him well and would spoil his plan.
"Who was the person that Princess Hilde was with tonight?" The Chancellor asked.
Miliardo did not expect such a question, but he answered quietly. "That's Noin. Wufei hired him to help protecting the ladies during the conference."
"He seemed close to Princess Hilde. I was surprised Baron Duo didn't react to that."
"I heard that he's an old acquaintance of Duo."
"Is that so?" The Chancellor thought for a moment, trying to grasp the vague idea in his head. Failing to do so, he decided to think the whole thing over on the way back. "I guess I should get going now." He bowed and turned to leave, then he stopped mid-stride. "What did you say his name was?"
"Noin. Noin Eclair."
"Oh." The man nodded. "Well, good night, my dear Prince." Somehow Noin reminded him of someone else. Someone with the same last name. But that someone else only had a daughter, so it must had been a coincidence.
By noon the next day, it was almost official that Sylvia Noventa detested Noin. When other people were not watching, she would glare or growl at Noin, and she hurled insults at her whenever possible. Noin's reaction to this special attention was ignorance. She had enough on her hand to deal with the Prince already. She was not going to jump into another pit.
"You ok?" Noin glanced up surprisingly when she heard the words. It was Heero.
"Yeah." She quickly answered, hoping he did not notice the paleness and cold sweats.
"Are you sure?" Heero narrowed his eyes. "You don't look well. I can change Duo's shift with yours so you can rest a bit before going out." Before Noin could object, the brown- haired young man held up a hand. "You are taking the second shift with me tonight and that's final." With that, he turned and walked away, leaving Noin dumbfounded at the spot.
Contrary to Heero's hope, Noin felt more sickly as time passed. By the time she went out with Heero to guard, her stomach was churning like tempest, and she could hardly keep her vigil up. She heard Heero's voice, but she couldn't make out what he was saying. Without notice, Noin collapsed.
Heero's super-quick reflex kept Noin from hitting the ground before he realized what was happening. He adjusted the position of his hands with slightly widened eyes as he touched something soft, like a woman's body. Even though he hadn't gotten any statements from Noin, Heero thought he had the answer to his doubts. Noin was a woman, that's why Duo trusted her with Hilde, and that's why Duo and Wufei was so protective over the guard when Miliardo approached her. The Perfect Guard ran into the building with the unconscious Noin in his arms. Heero pounded on Sally's door anxiously. If he remembered right, Sally was a doctor. She would know what to do.
Before Sally answered the door, Heero's pounding woke the light sleepers. Wufei, Duo, and Miliardo popped their heads out to see what was going on simultaneously. Upon seeing the unconscious guard, they rushed up to Heero, inquiring what happened. Sally opened the door in time to catch four men surrounding Noin. She gasped and kneeled down to examine her.
After a few seconds of checking, the medical woman looked up. "Noin's been poisoned. Take him into my room and lie him down while I get some medicines."
All three men extended their hands, but Heero did not let go and carried Noin into the room. Three pairs of eyes stared at the back of Heero with wide eyes, and they quickly followed before Sally closed the door.
"How is he?" Heero was the first to ask out of the four after Sally was done.
"I've given him some medication to help stabilize his conditions, but he won't be able to recover until a few days later." Sally tucked Noin in gently. "What I don't get is how he got poisoned without anyone noticing, or anyone else being poisoned as well."
"He's been pale all day." Miliardo said. "It must had been a slow reacting poison."
Wufei froze suddenly, then he ran out the room and returned within a few moments with Noin's water bottle in hand. It's a regular water bottle, and every guard was issued one.
Sally opened the lid and inhaled deeply, trying to distinguish the smell. "It's in the water alright, and it's light, too. That's why he didn't suspect anything. As he took in more of these, he got poisoned slowly."
"But who would try to do something like this to Noin?" Miliardo frowned. "If it's the Romefeller people, they would have done it to me or one of the candidates instead."
The room suddenly fell silent, and everyone looked at the Prince. Heero said in his usual monotone voice after some pause. "Because you made Noin appeared to be the most important person to you, Zechs." The other three people nodded solemnly.
Zechs was shocked as he digested what Heero had just said. "It's... me?"
"I don't know what you were trying to prove, but it made Noin the target." Heero stated.
"So you've noticed, Heero." Wufei cast him a meaningful glance.
Heero nodded. "I've managed to gather enough bits and pieces to shape it out. The only thing I haven't figured out is the relationship between him and Duo."
"Gee, you're really sharp, Heero." The braided young man shook his head. "I'll tell you the answer after this whole thing is over, ok?"
"Fine." was the answer.
"Is it ok for me to stay here tonight?" Miliardo asked quietly. "I feel bad putting him through this because of me."
He seemed genuinely concerned, but letting him stay would be risky. He might found out the real identity of Noin. Sally considered the options and declined. "You need to get some rest. Remember, if Romefeller did this, then they are sure to act pretty soon. I'll stay with Noin."
"The lady's got a point." Duo agreed. "What do you know? They might even strike first thing tomorrow morning."
"Keep yourselves alert and be on your guards for the next few days." Sally said as she ushered the guys out. "Good night. You can come back in the morning, Noin needs some rest."
Once they were in the hallway, Heero went outside to resume his vigil, leaving the other three talking in the lobby.
"I am so sorry..." Miliardo lowered his head.
Duo patted him on the back. "We are not without fault, too. It's our job to keep the Romefeller people from doing things like these."
"I think it's time to cancel the plan." Wufei said. "If our enemy is deceived thus, then it should be enough for the bride candidates. Further acting is not necessary."
"You are right. I won't put Noin into such danger again." Miliardo said as if to assure himself.
"Ok, now let's go back to sleep." Duo put on a more cheerful face. "That Sally girl did warn us against a Romefeller ambush."
"You don't seem worried, Duo." Wufei frowned slightly. "Even Heero showed more anxiety than you did back there."
"Noin's much tougher than any poison. He won't be defeated this easily." Duo had a very confident expression on his face. "Besides, I'll avenge him. Whoever did this to Noin is going to pay big time!" Even with the bright smile, Duo's eyes conveyed murder as he said this.
The three returned to their rooms with occupied minds. It wasn't until the first ray of sunlight broke out that they closed their eyes and fell asleep. They slept with heavy hearts and worries, and what Sally predicted came a lot sooner than they expected.
