Author's Note: I finally finished the second chapter! Terra and L.A. Une were nice enough to leave me comments that prompted me to write more to this story. In fact, I modeled the second chapter heavily off Terra's constructive criticism. Terra helped me see a slight mistake I had made with Treize's character because I haven't watched Gundam Wing in over three years. I hope this chapter is better. Thanks for the comments. L.A. Une, you rock for liking my story. Terra, keep the comments and criticism coming. I feel better when people both critique my story and say nice things about it.
Also made some changes to the first chapter based on Terra's comments. I feel better about the first chapter.
I also just finished my graduate school applications, so you can expect some stories in between financial aid applications and scholarships.
Disclaimer: I still don't own Gundam Wing. And I don't want to own Gundam Wing because the responsibility would be too great.
Guns and Roses: Blooming Battlefield
Several hours had passed since Ann had visited Treize. Since then, Treize had found the courage to pull back the curtains and reveal the afternoon sun. Rays of light darted cruelly toward each window, repelled by a shield of glass. The few beams of dusty light that managed to enter the room cast shadowy imprints of the windows' cross-shaped lattice work on the carpet. Underneath the slim layer of faint light, the carpet seemed to be crying out against the light's misuse of its personal space. Feeling similarly abused, Treize turned away from the folder he was examining, walking into the patch of light behind his desk. The imprint scattered, folding around Treize's lean form.
During the past few hours, Treize had numbly flipped through the file, routely absorbing its contents. With each new page Treize read, his anger toward Zechs increased. How could Zechs so casually send hundreds of mobile dolls and soldiers toward earth? And what was Zechs hoping to accomplish by attacking his forces so soon? Didn't Zechs realize that the battle would only be a huge fest of blood and gore, accompanied by a ballet of bullets and broken hearts? At this point, Treize was beginning to think that Zech's only goal was to punish Earth for its role in the war and to purge himself of his participation in Earth's downfall. After all, Treize knew Zechs too well to assume he would blindly throw his support behind a group of renegades bent on disrupting Earth's peaceful existence. It seemed more likely that Zech's confused identity was manifesting itself with renewed vigor. If anything, Treize was beginning to realize that Zechs might be using the final battle to merge Zechs the soldier with Miliardo the diplomat.
Treize knew that he would have a hard time convincing people that war was nothing more than the mass destruction of human fodder if Zechs was dealing with his personal nightmares on the battlefield. Could Treize show Earth that battles force soldiers through assembly lines of training, which rarely taught them to overcome the fear of dying preventing them from excelling? It would be difficult for Treize to move Earth's soul while Zechs was piecing together his humanity. Zech's quest to regain his sanity could overshadow Treize's goal and paint the war as a method for soldiers to rid themselves of impure memories and family connections. The last thing Treize wanted was for Earth to see Zechs rise wearily above the smoking remains of his former selves, turning his back on Earth because it had broken his spirit. Not only would Zechs become a martyr, but humanity would feel responsible for causing a war they had little connection to. People would grow sad and focus on themselves, spending more time becoming better people than understanding their role in perpetuating the strings guiding war's pointless tango.
There was only one thing left for Treize to do, and his heart ached thinking about it. Treize had avoided contemplating direct confrontation with Zechs because he felt his soldiers' deaths could better display his message. He had preferred to watch Zechs from afar, hoping that the several minute lead he had given Zechs after Otto's death would help him survive. The last thing Treize wanted was for Zechs to die at his hands, an unnecessary victim of two competing ideologies. Unfortunately, Treize knew from personal experience that Zechs' stubborn nature might prevent him from accomplishing his goal. To make matters worse, Treize had also watched Zech's personality grow increasingly unstable, a direct result of the different roles that Earth and outer space demanded he occupy. The time Treize had spent apart from Zechs had rendered him unable to predict Zech's alliance with the White Fang, reminding Trieze that he no longer fully understood his friend's motives. There seemed no way for Treize to avoid accounting for Zech's wildly fluctuating personality other than a climactic final battle between the two of them. It would be a showdown between a man fighting to regain his humanity and another human struggling to show the inhuman, pointless nature of war.
Trieze stared out the window, his hair shining a poignant shade of rotten chestnut under the sun's soft light. A slew of soldiers moved along the stretch of gray pavement marching around the base. Mobile dolls outfitted for space battle rolled slowly into transport planes, their black surfaces occasionally sparkling purposefully under a ray of sun. Treize could see Ann's petite form walking parallel to his office, her harsh steps indicating that all the kindness previously inhabiting her heart had disappeared. In the few hours that had passed, Ann had switched her blue jacket and miniskirt for her dark red military jacket. The same row of buttons adorning the front of Treize's jacket lined Ann's jacket, making her transformation seem tragic and severe. Two tight braids formed buns on either side of Ann's head, heightening her military demeanor. As far as Treize could see, the white gloves and white pants Ann was wearing were the only remnants of her soft, caring demeanor. They seemed like white roses in a field overgrown with Martian grass, too illogical for a soldier to wear around a base. Ann's signature rimless glasses frowned in the sun, casting severe glances at the other soldiers on the base each time the sun's rays slid on and off their surface.
It seemed sad that only a few hours ago, Ann had been standing demurely in Treize's room, her entire body casting an aura of uncertainty ill-suited to the woman now walking before him. Treize had often wondered why Ann had woken up after the shooting more broken and less in control of her emotions than she had been before the accident. What had caused Ann to lose the conviction with which she stood by his side?
In a way, Treize felt responsible for causing Ann to sacrifice her humanity and temporarily become a better soldier. While Trieze had wanted Ann to understand that her blind devotion to him was pointless, he hadn't wished for her to split her soul into two halves for his cause. It also saddened him deeply that Ann's initial understanding of his hatred of war had led to her near fatal conflict with Tuberov. Treize never wanted Ann to fight a war he thought she was ill suited for because she was only recently starting to appreciate Earth's beauty.
Throughout the war, Treize had kept Ann by his side because he felt she had no reason to fight. Ann's progression into a woman fighting for his sake had frightened him. Treize felt that the battles Ann fought would be meaningless until she stopped fighting for him and began sharing her beliefs with the world. Unfortunately, Ann's attempt to reconcile her appreciation for Earth with her desire to bring Treize's ideals to fruition left her unable to fight or understand her role in the war. Treize saw Ann withdraw from the battlefield into a coma, both her body and her mind falling into a state of chaos. Ann's struggle to regain her life and stop the war engulfed her existence, turning her into a diplomat capable of organizing solutions to problems that she couldn't overcome by herself.
Treize realized that Ann was becoming a foil to his beliefs, trying to stop the war for the same reasons he was continuing it. He knew that Ann would be more of a detriment to his cause if he let her fight, which was why he needed to keep her at his side during the entire battle. Worse come to worse, Ann could take over for him and end the battle if she felt his objectives were accomplished. Treize did feel like he owed Ann that much after forcing her to spend the entire war understanding his way of life.
Stepping away from the window, Treize opened the door. He quickly stilled his thoughts, readying himself for the speech he was about to give. The war couldn't wait any longer. It was finally time for him to end his friendship with Zechs.