Hi there! Waves Thank you for reading my story! Well heres chapter two. This is kinda speedy if I do say so myself. This is what the third day and already updated. I think I'm doing pretty well! grins Well hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: Whattaya mean "disclaimer"? I OWN Gundam Wing. Waaaaah! The men in white coats are coming ot take me away agian! Nooooooooo I don't wanna go to the speacial hospitle!

She's Not There

In another room in another house the same topic was being discussed. Relena was the subject of the heated argument between the currently dating Chang Wufei and Sally Po.

"I-I just can't believe she ignored us and continued on with it!" Wufei shouted, slamming a fist on the marble counter of the kitchen. "Did she not hear a single word that we said?"

"Even if she hadn't, she didn't miss anything," Sally said slowly. "I mean its not like we offered any real arguments," she hurried to finish.

"Yuy," Wufei ground out, "This is all his fault!"

"Wufei, please don't say that. Heero was just, he was just scared," Sally grimaced the moment the word left her mouth. She had said the wrong thing.

Wufei began to pace, clenching his fists and teeth. "To be scared," Wufei swallowed hard before continuing, "I have learned is alright, it shows that we are human and can feel pain," he turned his gaze to Sally. "I was terrified that time you had the accident." Sally's four-wheeler had taken a spill and left her in the mountains in critical condition. It had taken the doctors word and quite a bit of convincing on Sally's part before he would let her do anything.

Sally's expression softened and she moved to stand before him. She breathed his name as she reached her hands to his face. But he turned away to continue to rant.

"But he wasn't just scared, he was a coward. If he had been scared, it would have simply proved he was human, an accomplishment for Heeo Yuy," Wufei shook his head fiercely, then continued on, "But he let someone else be placed in serious danger because of his fear. That is unforgivable." He ground out before leaving Sally in the kitchen staring after him sadly.

The young blonde man breathed deeply as he put his hand down to open the heavy car door. He paid close attention to the plain upholstery, more than anything so simple merited on such and important day. He blinked his eyes rapidly to dispel any tears.

"Be strong, Little One," Trowa murmured, leaning over Quatre to open the door. "It's nearly over."

"But that's what I'm afraid of!" Quatres face crumpled. "This is the last time I will be able to see her face," Quatre bit his lip and stepped out of the car onto the corner. He diverted his eyes from the great stone church before him, "And it won't really be her."

Trowa nodded in understanding as he stepped out, closing the door behind him. He then nodded to his left. "Duo and Hilde have just arrived, they are over there," he spoke softly.

Quatre nodded slightly and waved to Hilde. He took a deep breath and then walked towards the couple. Trowa walked beside him, silent but comforting. Duos gaze was clouded, his mind seeing something else as he shook the blonde Arabics hand. Hilde returned Quatres warn hug, and they stood that way, holding each other tightly and crying silently.

Trowa stood uncomfortably to the side. Though Duo had not shown any anger or animosity to suggest he still meant what he had said earlier; neither had he shown any signs of forgiveness. Now. Trowa need not have worried. Duos mind was far from on the conversation that morning. He was remembering the last conversation he had with Relena.

She gasped and turned quickly at the tug on her arm. The heat of anger quickly replaced shock. Her eyes burned, but her voice was cold when she spoke.

"Let me go Duo," Relena hissed through clenched teeth.

Hilde stepped out from the shadow cast by the doorway to the parlor. "Listen, just listen to what we have to say," she pleaded. She begged with her eyes as well as her face.

"Before you make a mistake that ruins your life," Duo finished for his fiancée, releasing Relenas wrist.

The sound of a car door slamming brought Duo out his memories and had Quatre and Hilde breaking apart to see the new arrivals. Trowa nodded to Wufei and Sally as they approached. Wufeis face held a look of stoic defiance, and Sally's held a stubborn attempt at the same. The moment she saw Hilde and Quatre, there cheeks still wet with tears, she lost her composer and stumbled into their embrace and all were crying again. This time a feeling of shame and fault had Quatres tears flowing faster.

Relena spun on her heel, glaring at the one person she believed she could count on in this argument.

"Quatre! Tell them they are all mad," she demanded, a slight disbelieving smile on her face.

Quatres blue eyes widened, his mouth opening to form words. He closed his mouth again, abruptly enough to cause his teeth to make a sound when they came together. His eyes glanced to the taller man standing beside him.

Bells tolling set the last layer of despair over the broken friends as they finally turned to face the church. The thoughts of all strayed from the reason they were here. Duo thought of how much simpler the church he had grown up in was, Quatre admired the gothic architecture and Hilde could not help but admire how well the grey stone reflected their mood.

Shadows moved behind the stained glass panels before the ornate double doors were opened. AS one the six friends moved towards the gateway to even more pain and loss. Air, heavy with the scent of incense deadened the sound of Quatres few sobs before he could control them. Dust motes floated in the multi-colored light that streamed from the kaleidoscope of glass windows.

Trowa moved closer to his "Little One" in silent support. He looked down to watch his lovers face in the light. All he could do was clench his teeth at the pain he saw clearly written there.

Trowa wrapped his arm around Quatre, supporting his lover. He nodded slightly and turned his gaze back to the fuming young woman before him.

"Quatre?" Relena asked, her voice loosing conviction. She clasped her hands in front of her and stared at them as she held them at her waist.

Wufei and Sally led the way to the very last row. No expense had been spared for the president and the entire church was decorated with the most expensive of materials. Everyone pointedly looked away from the front where the priest would stand as they took a seat. 'This is really happening,' Wufei thought and his mind drifted from there to other things.

From the couch beside Quatre, a slightly disheveled Chinese man stood. He glared at all of his companions and then turned his heated gaze to Relena.

"I refuse to believe that you are blinded, so weak that you can not see what is perfectly clear to all of us here."

Sally sat next to Wufei, sliding as close as physically possible. Her hands began to shake and she clasped them tightly in her lap in an attempt to stop that shaking. Wufei reached a hand into her lap to hold both of her hands and she offered him a watery smile of gratitude as the shaking lessened. She then looked at the floor and was lost in her own memories of the night Wufei had just remembered.

Again from the couch someone stood. Her brown braids swing Sally rose to stand with and exasperated "Wufei" whispered under her breath. She then took her place in the unfolding argument.

"Relena, this is a bad idea," Sally shrugged apologetically, "He's a bad idea."

Duo watched in silence as the pews filled before them. He glared around at all the people that could not contain their chatter. His gaze darkened every time someone would mention Relenas name. Clearly, no one respected her as much as they claimed to; this certainly was not a time to gossip, anymore than it was a time to celebrate.

The great organ in the corner began to play a slow melody that would sound in every ones mind for quite sometime after the event. Everyone in the church stood to pay respect to Relena Dorelin, President.

And she walked down the isle, dressed in the greatest finery. Her white dress was heavily beaded with pearls, the cut forming nicely to her figure. Only Hilde and Sally noticed where it gaped the slightest amount where Relena had lost weight. The dress showed the peaches and cream expanse of her shoulders and upper chest, gracing the gentle swell of her breasts. She held her head high, revealing the slender column of her neck. The multi-colored light glimmered on the many diamond pins holding her hair in the braid beneath her long veil.

With her platinum blonde brother at her side, she walked, magnificent, down the isle to the priest and a man in a tux waiting at the alter. Again Duo was reminded of his last conversation with the beautiful bride as she walked past.

Relena, feeling betrayed turned her heated gaze back to Duo. She bit down on her lower lip and began to finger with the hem of her business suit jacket, looking down to the floor. She blinked rapidly before raising her aquamarine gaze to Duo gentle shade of purple.

Duo swallowed as he read something in Relenas eyes that did not bode well. "Princess?" he asked warily.

Relena cleared her throat and began. Her clearest, pacifist tones rang out.

"Though I value all of your opinions, as my friends," Relena glanced around the room. 'None of you are the one I need to hear this from,' she though. "None of you here are my body guard or my personal protector." Relena turned her hardened gaze, setting it fully back on Duo.

"No Princess, don't you say it," Duo barely breathed.

Relena reached the alter and the tall man already there grasped her hand. HE was tall his hair blonde. Not the golden blonde of Quatres or the platinum of Milardos, but a dirty sandy blonde. His eyes were hard, the blue of arctic ice. Built broader, he was not as lithe as the Gundam Pilots, with a different kind of strength.

Relena looked into his face and met the gaze of her groom. She wondered briefly, before she could shove the thought away, why his eyes were not Prussian blue instead. Banishing all thoughts of warm eyes over the icy ones beside her, she turned to the priest, to create the last wall between herself and Heero Yuy, who did not care enough to bring them down.

The priest began in monotones. Asking if Cis Caledri wished to take Relena Dorelin as his bride. With all the happy people in the rows of seating, six in the back tried to hold back tears of pain. One of them, Hilde, one of Relenas closest friends sought to take her mind anywhere but the ceremony ahead. Unfortunately, her mind fell on the last time everyone had spoken to Relena.

"If hero believes I am at any risk of coming to harm, have him tell me so and I will not even consider this," Relena continued with a cold smile.

Hilde gasped before nearly shouting, "But, but he's on a mission!" Hilde was not sure she believed herself in the fact that that was all that was keeping Heero away. Duo nodded vigorously and stunned silence was the answer from the other four.

The shifting in weight brought Hilde back to reality in time to realize that the priest had broken tradition and asked for objections before the "I do's". And Duo was standing to object. Hilde gasped as she realized she would not be able to stop the Shinogami with out creating a scene. Luckily for all concerned, Trowa still held his head and grabbed Duos forearm and held him in place struggling as he berated in a hushed voice.

"Is that what you want?" he asked heatedly, "To create a scene so that it is impossible for us ever to see her again? You piss off Calendri now and you really wont see her again."

Duo nodded in understanding and settled back, still tense. The disaster averted, Hilde turned her attention to the ceremony ahead for the first time.

Relena had experienced a moment of doubt when the priest asked for objections. As though Cis could feel it, he tightened his grip, almost painfully so. When Relena looked up however, he was smiling into her face. She sincerely hoped that no one would object, for the simple reason that the person she wanted to object never would.

"Have him answer by tomorrow evening this time. By phone or otherwise." Relena finished with that and left the room before anyone could argue the point further.

'Not that he would if her were here, in this house' a bitter voice whispered in the back of her conscience. Once she had left her parlor and her guests far enough behind, she ran. Storming up the stairs, she slammed the door and vaulted herself into her bed. That night she cried herself to sleep, still wearing the uncomfortable, few hundred-dollar suit.

"I do."

Relena swallowed before following her groom and answering the priest,

"I do."

In the last row, six people groaned or sobbed. Quatre cried into Trowas shoulder, Hilde collapsed sobbing heavily in Duos arms and Sally bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. Duo stroked Hildes back and buried his face in her soft hair, Wufei clenched his teeth until his jaw ached and Trowa left red welts in his palm from his fingernails where he had curled his hand into a fist.

From the open doors, unseen, someone watched. As Relena was wed, he turned on his heel, his mussed brown hair falling into his eyes. Walking all the way home he reached his door a little after noon. He walked in and began to pack. Stepping out of his door with a small pack slung over his shoulder, Heero Yuy headed for the nearest shuttle that would take him somewhere that he could disappear. Relena was married and she still had people to protect her in her friends. Heeero would distance himself, he would still watch her, but he would do so from afar.