Relena Darlian Peacecraft applied her lipstick carefully inspecting her reflection in her dresser mirror. She knew she looked lovely, she had been planning for this ball for months, there was no way Heero could ignore her tonight, not when she looked this good. There was a knock at her door and Relena turned as her maid walked through the door bobbing a quick curtsy.
"Highness, the circus is about to begin its march down the main street," the maid informed Relena excitedly who smiled happily running onto her balcony to watch the procession below, eagerly searching the many faces.
Then she saw him. Trowa was performing acrobatic tricks with the rest of the acrobats and as he passed by beneath the balcony Trowa happened to look up and was floored by Relena's slim form standing there. He hadn't seen her in close to eight years, ever since the end of the war. Trowa had put back on his clown suit and toured the Sanq Kingdom with the royal circus, after the war that was just what the people needed. The last time he had seen her Relena was a skinny, clumsy teenager forever trailing after Heero. Now she was older, like he was, in their mid twenties, and she seemed so much more mature, which was a surprising change. Relena looks so different, perhaps she has finally grown up, Trowa thought to himself admiring her beauty from afar where he stood in the crowd.
When Trowa actually smiled up at her and Relena waved down at him excitedly, blushing a little that he had acknowledge her.
-Trowa looks so different, he looks older and more serious, but of course Trowa was always serious, but he seems…so different somehow, its like I have never seen him before, he looks so handsome,- Relena thought a little shocked that she was thinking of Trowa in this way when she had never thought about him like that before.
Trowa returned her wave before continuing on his way following the procession knowing he would see Relena later at the ball, and hopefully some of his old comrades as well.
"Trowa Barton is one of the old Gundam Pilot's isn't he? Wow, he is so brave and handsome," Relena's maid sighed dreamily and Relena blushed a little for she had been thinking the exact same thing, much to her surprise.
"Indeed," she murmured a little embarrassed and the maid continued, "All the Gundam Pilot's were gorgeous, Duo, Wufei, Quatre, Heero, I wonder where they are now…do you think they will come to the ball tonight"
"I hope so," Relena said thinking of the five Gundam Pilot's wondering where they were at that moment.
Heero stood immobile beside the door to the ballroom watching as happy couples danced passed him giggling and talking. He watched them unfeeling and uncaring, they were nothing to him, nothing at all. Ever since the Gundam's had finally defeated the Oz, Heero had been working as a bodyguard for Relena, and he had been forced to go to many balls like this one, as well as conferences and meetings and whatever else required the Princess' presence. It was all becoming rather boring for him, and he knew the time would come when he would pack away his uniform and disappear for good, to where he didn't know. He had started feeling this pulling on his heart, telling him that the journey wasn't over, that he had so much more to accomplish before he would feel truly content. He knew he couldn't find it here in the palace, and he knew for sure he couldn't find what he was looking for in a life with Relena. She was a sweet girl, but he didn't love her and so didn't want to lead her on when he felt nothing but duty for her. If only she could see he wasn't the man for her, he would never be the man for her.
Heero's attention was taken when he heard a familiar loud voice that he hadn't heard in years.
"Ladies, ladies, Shingami has arrived!" Duo Maxwell strolled onto the scene winking to a group of girls who blushed prettily giggling as Duo walked passed and blew them a kiss.
"Duo," Heero greeted the pilot of Deathscythe Hell without much enthusiasm and Duo gave him a pearly grin and pulled the unsuspecting Perfect Soldier into a huge bear hug laughing.
"Its good to see you too Heero, people just don't ignore me the way you do," Duo said not at all put out when Heero pushed him away glaring furiously. Duo knew that Heero wouldn't do anything to him, after everything that had happened they were still comrades, and they were also friends, even though Heero would never admit it out loud.
Duo flicked his braid behind him and beamed at the crowd, feeling a sudden twitch of self-pity when he thought of Hilde, and vaguely he wondered where she was and what she was doing on a night so highly decorated as this. When the war had finished Duo had quit his job and took up a quiet job in a scrap metal yard in a small simple town where he had hoped to happily live out his days in peace. Unfortunately that life was not what Hilde was looking for. She wanted action like there had been in the Gundam days and after two years of trying to make it work, Hilde and Duo had said their goodbyes and she had left. He heard a year or so later Hilde had married a lieutenant of some description and was working at the military base with him. He was happy for her, but he had never felt so alone, which was why he was so glad to see Heero again. Duo scanned a group of girls who wandered passed but didn't feel the need to go after any of them. He wanted someone special, who made his head turn, and he knew he would find her one day, if he was patient.
"Heero! Duo! Its been a long time," Quatre came upon the two Gundam Pilots he had time to nod first at Heero before he found himself in a bear hug with Duo who laughed happily, glad that they were all together again. It reminded all of them of the good old days when they were fighting for peace and justice against the OZ.
Quatre smiled gently as his gaze rested on his two friends. It had been far too long. After the war, and Quatre's father's death, Quatre had gained control of his father's billion-dollar business and was running it quite well. He had been present when more that half of his 29 sisters had been wed and was very proud and happy for all of them. It had been work, work, work for Quatre since day one of the end of the war and he barely had time for anything, especially hanging with any of his old friends or looking for love. Quatre was just glad he would finally be able to relax, at least for a day or two, and maybe meet a girl that he actually really liked. That thought made Quatre smile and Duo nudged him winking outrageously.
"What are you thinking about?" Duo asked teasingly and Quatre laughed embarrassed and Duo chuckled at the discomfort he caused, loving that he was centre of attention as always.
"Look at all of you, acting like a bunch of giggling Onna's," Wufei commented strolling upon the scene glancing at them with distaste, his nose up in the air. The proud Chinaman hadn't changed much at all.
When the war was over Wufei had retreated to a temple to study and train and his persistence and endurance had inspired many young men who had lost their families in the war to come and train with him. Before Wufei knew it, he had a clan of his own, a clan of men just like him, strong, stubborn and destined to defend the injustice of the world. The clan had filled the space of his lost family somewhat and he respected each and every member of his clan, he would die for them. He hadn't had that much luck with women either. It seemed women frowned on the way he treated them and so he was searching for a woman who would have the guts and pride to stand up to him. He had yet to find her and feared he probably never would, especially if Relena's was their idol. Duo grinned cheekily at Wufei knowing that the Chinaman had missed him terribly, or at least Duo liked to think so.
"Aww Wuffie…you know you missed me," Duo sidled up to Wufei and managed to pat Wufei on the head before Wufei slapped his hands away with a grunt of warning.
"I missed you like a toothache," Wufei spat back, although there wasn't really any animosity in his words until he said darkly, "call me Wuffie again and you loose your braid"
Duo grabbed his braid cautiously and looked back at Wufei to flutter his eyelashes at the Chinese man who fumed.
"Sure thing Wu-man," Duo replied obnoxiously and Wufei reached for his katana but then he remembered the guards had made him leave it at the door and that made him even more angry.
"Maxwell this is injustice!" Wufei cursed the cheerful pilot shaking his fist and as Trowa came upon the scene he couldn't believe how little things had changed between them, even after all these years.
There was Duo and Wufei arguing as they always did, Duo grinning, Wufei looking like a thundercloud, Quatre was looking a little embarrassed, opening his mouth to try and break up the disagreement and then there was Heero who eyed Wufei and Duo with much disinterest.
"Some things never change," Trowa said quietly and Duo saw him and gave a loud whoop that embarrassed all of them except Heero who wouldn't stoop to feeling embarrassed when he barely felt at all.
"Gundam Pilot's together again! Yeah!" Duo cried out punching the air with his fist and Quatre buried his face in his hands as most of the crowd turned their way and stared.
"Duo you are embarrassing sometimes," Quatre said quietly his face beet red but Duo didn't seem at all put out. In fact he puffed out his chest proudly.
"All part of my charm," he assured the blonde pilot cockily and Wufei snorted with contempt.
"What charm?"
Luckily they were saved from a dispute by the change of music and everyone turned to stare as Relena made her grad entrance. As she descended the stairs there were ooo's and ahh's as they gazed upon her looking so beautiful in a red dress that showed off her slim, toned figure to perfection with a daring cleavage line and a split that nearly reached her hip. Quatre blushed and averted his eyes while Wufei rolled his eyes to the sky wondering why an onna was the centre of attention. Duo's mouth fell open in shock then he gave a slow whistle of appreciation while Trowa merely stared with admiration, never having seen anyone so beautiful in his life. Relena searched the crowd for Heero and when she spotted his dominant form in the crowd she smiled his way brightly hoping she would see a change in him and hoping against hope he would finally realise that he loved her as she loved him. Heero looked as though he felt her gaze upon him and he looked up, straight at her and in an unmistakable action he turned his head to stare out into the crowd. Relena could almost feel her heart break, but she held back any feelings she might have had as she greeted the crowd with a smile.
"Please everyone, continue to enjoy the party," she invite everyone and the music started again as couples paired up and started dancing again.
"Phew, how good does Relena look, if you're not careful someone is going to steal her from right under your nose," Duo teased Heero, laughing when Heero snorted and looked away.
The pilots bar Heero and Trowa laughed, Heero didn't because he wasn't amused and Trowa didn't laugh because oddly enough the idea of Heero and Relena disturbed him. They all fell silent when Relena came upon them smiling graciously.
"Hello, its good to see you all," Relena said sweetly her eyes resting eagerly on Heero but he refused to even look at her.
"Princess," they all murmured looking from Heero to Relena knowing what was going to happen next.
"Heero, I was wondering if you would like to dance?" Relena asked boldly and Heero finally gave her his full attention glancing at her disdainfully.
"I don't dance, Trowa does," he said simply and Relena felt her voice choke up bowing her head and she felt tears threatening to fall, until she felt someone spinning her away and looked up to find herself in Trowa's strong arms. His eyes were on the crowd but his arms were tight around her, guiding her gracefully around the room.
"Why do you always punish yourself with dreams of Heero? You know he will always treat you this way," Trowa asked softly in his quiet way and Relena bit her lip looking away, resting her head upon Trowa's shoulder as they danced, causing quite a sensation as they danced quite well together.
"I love him Trowa," Relena said simply peering up at Trowa's impassive face but he didn't look down at her. Trowa knew if he did that, he wouldn't be able to keep himself together. He almost hated Heero for the way he could make Relena dance on a string for him. Trowa would have given anything to be the one Relena came up to but it wasn't he she was interested in, it wasn't he she loved, it was Heero. It was always Heero.
Relena couldn't figure out why Trowa was acting so strange, why he couldn't bring himself to look at her and she reached out unconsciously to touch his cheek when the music suddenly stopped and Trowa pulled away from her leaving her standing alone in the crowd staring after him confused.
"And now, the late King and Queen of the Sanq Kingdom have left a video to be viewed today, on the twenty-first birthday of their daughter, Princess Relena," an announcers voice came over the speaker and the crowd clapped as a hologram of the late King and Queen came into view. Relena hadn't seen this video before and so was eager to learn what her parents had wanted to tell her in death that they couldn't tell her in life.
The Gundam Pilot's all came together to watch the hologram and Heero was gazing curiously at Trowa who ignored him completely Heero wondering why his fellow pilot had even bothered to dance with the pitiful little princess. Everyone fell silent as the king in the hologram started to speak.
"People of the Sanq Kingdom, by the time you view this the Queen and I hope that there is now peace once again in the Kingdom, on this day we have much to tell all you good people. But first to our lovely daughter Relena, happy birthday my child, may it be a happy one. As your parents we had always hoped to do the right thing by you and so now we feel that you and the people are old enough to learn the truth. The truth is that…" the king broke off as the queen touched his arm and he bestowed on her a gentle smile as she took up the tale.
"That I was never able to have any children, something in my biological makeup forbade such a miracle and so we decided to adopt children to make up for the ones we would never have. We adopted Milliadros first, he was a perfect little child and we thought we would be content with our little boy but then I received a summons from Crystal Tokyo, from one of Neo Queen Serenity's Court. They wanted us to adopt a princess, one of the children, and after talking it over we decided to adopt again, our little Princess Relena. So perfect and beautiful. Even though you are not our own son and daughter, we love the both of you just as if you were our own children," the queen broke off here to press a hand to her mouth as she sniffed proudly then continued, "some of you may be asking why we passed the kingdom over Milladros to Relena. As a member of royalty Relena has more of a right to the throne of any Kingdom, Relena has a valid claim that could not be disputed; we hope that all of you accept our decision, Relena is a strong leader and will lead you well. Trust in her, for we do."
Relena felt the world start spinning and as she crumbled into a heap on the floor she heard people yelling,
"Someone attend to the princess."