All the King's Men [gen, one-shot, PG-13]

[Omnicat]

Title: All the King?s Men

Author: Omnicat

Rating: PG-13 / K+

Genre: General, Angst?

Spoilers & Desirable Foreknowledge: Episodes 1 through 31 of the anime.

Warnings: Late Night Symbolism-Tripping. Ye be warned.

Pairings: Hints of Lucrezia Noin x Milliardo Peacecraft.

Soundtrack: None.

Disclaimer: I did not create Gundam Wing, do not claim to, and do not steal any of the true creators? profits by writing things based on their work. Really, no need to go suing me.

Summary: Late at night, a young Princess roams amidst the old ruins of her new Kingdom, looking for the future.

Author?s Note: Set somewhere during episode 31 or between episode 30 and 31, after Quatre and Heero?s arrival in Sank, but before Heero?s battle to defend the refugees. Inspired by GW500 theme 220; All the King?s Men. Hence also the title.



<center>II--o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o--O--o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o--II

All the King?s Men

II--o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o--O--o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o--II</center>



It was strange to be walking here, amidst the ruins that would soon no longer be ruins. In the shadowed hallways, where wind and dust still had free play even while the signs of renovation were scattered liberally, she felt like a ghost, a mirage left over from times long past.

Ironic, Relena supposed, coming from one of the two only survivors.

The request to restore the Palace had been issued by a brother she could not remember, Milliardo, and she had felt strangely detached from the project. A wish to rebuild the kingdom of peace, coming from a soldier waging war to avenge its destruction? Before coming here it had made no sense to her, but she was beginning to understand. The longing for that which was no longer there was almost unbearable.

Moon and stars casting a faint sheen of blue light, the Palace was a looming maze of gaping arches, hollow chambers, piles of rubble and skeletal scaffolds. Dark shapes stretched and squatted everywhere, like pillars of salt frozen amidst the destruction.

This place, scorched and barren and desolate, had once been her home, but she could not feel any life in it, only ripples of loss and sorrow. The wish for peace this Kingdom was known for resonated in her bones; it had drawn her first into the wake of confusion left by the gundam pilots and now here, but the anticipatory thrum had dissolved into a throbbing ache upon seeing the ruins of her heritage, the failure of her ancestors, who had left her the world as it was today.

The Palace intimidated her. Made her feel guilty, cowardly. She was supposed to be the Princess of this nation now, its steward in absence of the rightful king, its protector against outside threat and the keeper of its values. Fear, reluctance and doubt had no place in the Lady Peacecraft, not while her country needed her.

Would this be her fate, too? To be mowed down by those she refused to draw arms against, have her remains be set alight and turned to ashes?

What had they been thinking? The answer to that seemed to her a falling star, a bright light to guide her and grant her one true wish if only she could catch it, but it slipped through her fingers every time she thought to have spotted its glow at the edges of her mind.

She couldn?t let it end like this, not again. There was a limit to the amount of times mankind could fail to catch the stars when they fell. No matter how brilliant their shine, they were not unbreakable, and they were few, so few...

Turning on her heel, hair fanning out in the chilly autumn air and flimsy nightgown fluttering around her knees, Relena retraced her steps through the darkness, every footfall stirring up echoes between the crumbling remains of history. Her path brought her to a grand portrait, a black void in the shadows of the night. She could not see the picture, but she felt a man with long hair toss a silver helmet at its feet, Noin - my dear Imperial Guard - gaze longingly up at the face, and remembered Duo?s daredevil grin, and the green-eyed voice from Antarctica, and Quatre?s sad eyes.

And then a woman stood there, long brown-blonde hair and clear blue eyes undimmed by the lack of light. Her splendid robe was blackened and tattered, but her back was straight and her chin held high. Her own face, but older, wiser, without a trace of hesitation, a baby clutched to her chest.

Mother?

?Relena??

She whipped around.

Heero. Eyes as blue as the night sky above, bright like the stars he was Prince over. His gaze lingered on the living shadows behind her for just a moment, then bore straight into hers.

Her absence had caused a stir. She needed to go back.

Carefully worded, perfectly distant and impartial. Empty words? No, but she didn?t think she could bear it if the blazing fire he practiced such painstaking temperance over was extinguished in blood.

Relena nodded, her decision taken. She let Heero drape a traditional coat over her shoulders and without looking back, followed him to whatever the morning would bring.