Title: Meanders of Fate
Author: reen - [email protected]
Archive: Soldier of Death
Pairing: 1+2, 1x2/2x1, hints of 3x4x3, 5xS?
Overall Warnings: yaoi, fantasy AU, angst, death, mentioning of rape & abuse, lemon, do not read it if you are particularly fond of Relena.
Author's Notes: It's totally AU and OOC. The boys [minus Duo] are older then they appear in the series. Beware of insane Relenas ^_^;; and preggy gw boys. Ok, one boy.
Meanders of Fate
by r.e.e.n.
.1.
"Where the hell is she!?!!!"
Dead silence answered the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Elthion as he paced before the altar waiting for a bride that was late for ten minutes by now. They were in the royal chapel. It was a huge structure in the east wing of the royal palace, with its architecture resembling more a cathedral. But even then it was not heard of for the royal wedding to take place there. Usually it was the Celestial Cathedral, the largest and most beautiful temple in the entire country. But he had wanted it to be as small as possible event which meant only a couple of hundred guests and not practically the entire nation including the visitors from adjoining countries. And now he was paying a price for his stubbornness.
"Heero... Calm down... Maybe something happened... Maybe she's got ill or something. I'll send someone to check on her..."
Quatre was as usual trying to find a reasonable answer. Heero shook his head. For someone who was supposed to be a marvellous strategist and was in fact his closest friend and advisor, not to mention a powerful empath, Quatre was sometimes incredibly naive. He had to much trust in people and their good intentions.
"Don't bother Quatre. It's obvious she's playing with me. Testing my patience and at the same time taking her little revenge for not agreeing to her plan of that huge wedding she was planning earlier... Like I had nothing else to do then entertain a throng of quest and spend enormous amounts of money on them. It will be time to do this during the Coronation..." he scowled. "And now she wants to show me how much she's hurt... Like something could hurt Relena Peacecraft..."
"Heero...!" Quatre was a little shocked. True he had heard she wasn't at all the innocent and compassionate princess she wanted everyone to believe but to think she could do something like this now... he just couldn't believe. He had warned Heero not to marry her earlier but the prince wasn't listening. He was doing this only because ha had to. His twenty-first birthday were coming...
Quatre sighed. Heero didn't care. He had simply ordered to announce the royal ball for the Crown Prince to find his future consort and all the men and women of noble blood from the entire kingdom and its feudal duchies came to the capital to participate in the most important event in almost three decades and try their luck. How many of them would laugh if they heard what really happened to make the ruler of Sank Kingdom their future Queen? He himself didn't approve of pointing at the first person in sight, announcing her Royal Bride and then storming out to his chambers without even exchanging a word with the person of his choice. And Heero did just that. Saying it was for the best, that he didn't need to love the person to secure himself an heir... The lack of love was also a reason he had chosen a woman. Heero didn't want to give himself to someone he didn't love and he certainly didn't believe he could find someone to love him just for himself and not for who he was.
"Quatre is right, Heero..." Wufei, also his friend and advisor said after hearing their little conversation. "You're paying now for your carelessness. You shouldn't have chosen her just like that without knowing who and what kind of person she was. She's to rule by your side..." Seeing Quatre's bewildered expression he added. "Everyone could guess what you were thinking just by looking at you, Quatre...as usual."
"Hey..!" Quatre almost blushed and shot Wufei a glare that unfortunately couldn't rivalled with Heero's famous ones and that was what Wufei was used to. Sighing the blond man gave up.
Heero started pacing again, face set in a cold mask. "I don't intend to let her rule this kingdom with me, Wufei. She may be a 'Peace Princess' but she had no idea how to rule a country. Just look at Sank Kingdom... No decent army, no protected borders, no nothing. If I wasn't so occupied in the West..." He stopped abruptly. Wufei certainly didn't want to be reminded about those events. He shook his had. "Forget about it."
He shot a look towards the wedding guests. They, too, were getting impatient. They were whispering and giving him a meaningful glances from time to time looking at the door the princess should have came through already. He shook his head. This day will be the source of all the most important and interesting rumours for a very long time... unless he will do something about it. He looked at his friends again and for a moment wished Trowa was here. True, he would probably scold him more then Wufei and Quatre together already did, and only with his glare alone, but he would help him to decide what to do with this situation... without feelings or honour involved. But he wasn't here so Heero had to solve this problem alone and no way in hell will he let some conceited princess humiliate him before this crowd.
"If she thinks she can humiliate me before these people she's ahead of a big surprise. If I don't see her going through that door in five minutes the wedding's cancelled!" He said laud enough for everyone to hear. The hum of conversation died down immediately. Everyone just stared. His two friends, too. That was something they weren't prepared for. But they understood. At least he could see understanding on most of their faces. Some were indignant but most of the women and some men looked very pleased. For sure because it meant they would get a second chance.
Quatre was first to regain his composure. "Heero, you can't...!"
"The hell I can't!!" Heero growled. He closed his eyes for a moment and took couple of deep breaths. He knew Quatre was right. He couldn't cancel this wedding, because today was he last day of the twenty-first year of his life... //Fuck the legends, fuck the customs and most of all fuck that stupid law!!!// But he would end it. Tomorrow, when it's all is over he would take care of this. He couldn't do it for himself but at least his children won't have to go through something like that. Forcing into marriage before the twenty-first birthday. With no love, 'cause how could he find someone in such a short period of time, only for securing the royal family a successor or an alliance. He could end it... He would end it...! And he will start right now. So he couldn't cancel the wedding... Fine! However, that didn't mean he would marry that bitch. She thought there was no way out of this for him. She was dead wrong. There were hundreds of young people here ready to take her place. And he had all day to choose one of them, but it will not be the princess of Sank.
"Fine, Quatre! I won't cancel the wedding but even so if she's not here in ONE minute, now, I'll marry the first person to take my fancy...!!" He turned his back on them and looked expectantly at the door silently hoping this stupid girl would be arrogant enough to let him wait at least half an hour. He glared at the door as if he wanted to force them never to open when suddenly his eyes caught the sight of a boy entering the chapel through the left side-door. He was short, clad entirely in black with chestnut hair and big eyes of colour unidentified from Heero's position. Looking closer he spotted a long braid that reached past the boy's waist. Enchanted his eyes traced after the boy as he silently and quickly neared the altar through the left aisle...
//Beautiful...//
His heart constricted. The hell with Lady Relena...
He had found his chosen...
[ part .2. ]