Zechs Interlude: Happiness
Zechs Merquise was not having a good day. He was not having a good week. Or month. Honestly at this point it was looking like the year itself would be a wash.
Forgiveness for your sins is between you and your God, Millardo. It didn't surprise him that Trieze's voice haunted the halls of Mars. Much of the Treize Faction had rolled over into fighting for Mariemaia, but not all. Those that did not fight for Mariemaia ultimately formed the core of the Martian colonists. The presence of Trieze Kushrenada here was strong enough that Zechs would not have been surprised to discover Trieze's literal shadow somewhere in the cities along Valles Noctis or Hellas Plantia, or at the big military base and launch complex on Syria Planum.
Trieze's shadow was both blessing and curse, much as Zechs' relationship with Trieze had been in life. Zechs was respected, but not entirely trusted. That was better than...anywhere else, which tended to remember they had family he'd threatened by trying to drop Libra. And as one of the few who could reasonably claim to be Treize's spiritual heir, his word carried great weight with the citizens of Mars.
But I was a fool to drive Noin away. Of course she would return to the military. It was what she knew and understood. He had been groomed, long ago in his youth, to be many things, but Noin had come to OZ looking to fight. The last chance for military success and glory when the Alliance finally took formal control of the world, at the time. We were fools to think that. But then, we were fools to think the Eve Wars would be the end too it seems.
He'd seen her on the newscasts, smiling. The picture of her Taurus, still in the colors of the Sanq Kingdom, while they painted Gundam silhouettes on it was almost impossible to avoid. A long shot of the white, purple, and red suit with a gantry across it at chest height, then a tight zoom to where a visibly satisfied woman in overalls was painting in three and two half-silhouettes of the distinctive V-finned Gundam heads using a stencil He'd been struck by a moment of irrational envy, then, even though he'd never believed in the old tradition of painting on one's kills. Noin had been up-front about the battle on the newscasts; hard work, and bloody. A dozen and a half lost in the Colonial forces, roughly half her own pilots injured. But a threat that could have brought nations and armies to their knees never went quietly into the night.
Zechs Merquise might be discomforted to discover the role of nemesis to all things Gundam was no longer his. But he was also proud, damn it. No matter what a failure his plan to remove Noin from danger here on Mars had been since it only pushed her to danger elsewhere, she had done well. He had always known that Lucrezia Noin could be great, someone who could command the respect her family titles implied.
But Zechs had also known that Noin would only be great once she stepped out of his shadow. She may have chosen that place for herself, but it was not where she could be what she was capable of. Now that she had finally done it, she still wore his ring on the newscasts...and Zechs was unconvinced she should. Only with him a good ten light-minutes distant had Noin come into her own. She had even put some of his own nightmares to rest.
Epyon could no longer tempt or threaten him. Just as well. He had dreaded ever meeting that suit again, even as he had been seduced by the possibility. Power and certainty were not easy to let go, even when he knew how wrong they were.
Unless they were recovering it for me...surely they're not that foolish...
