White | Silver | Black
"Don't you think it's a wonderful idea?" a youthful female voice shatters the early morning silence.
Zee lifts his head and frowns. The solitude he seeks in this cemetery is proving elusive.
"No." The answering male voice is gruff, abrupt and strangely familiar. "Nobody in their right mind would come here at this time of morning, on this day after the celebrations of yesterday."
Looking about, Zee notices the man leaning quietly against the trunk of an oak nearby. At his raised eyebrow, the chestnut head nods slightly. He slowly rises to his feet.
"Exactly!" is the vehement rejoinder from beyond the crest of the hill. "No one's accused him of being in his right mind for longer than I've known you! So this plan is perfect." The girl's tone drops an octave and teases, "Is the widdle dwagon just a widdle bit hung over?"
The crunch of strides on snow gets louder. "Of course not," the man replies with an obvious lack of conviction.
"We can still slip away," Max whispers, his own approach silent.
Zee feels arms wrap around his waist as a cheek is pressed into his back, between his shoulder blades. He sighs softly, twining his fingers with those of the hands holding him and leaning into the man behind him. He keeps his gaze on the gravestones before them.
"I think you might be," a redhead is insisting as the couple rounds a bush. "I was c... Oh!" She falls silent, her eyes widening as bright pink stains her cheeks.
"Maxwell," Wufei says in response to the grin of the shorter man. "May I introduce Miss Mariemaia Khushrenada?" With a hand resting in the small of her back, he bows slightly. "Marie, His Royal Highness, Prince Milliardo Peacecraft, and I'm sure you remember Mr Duo Maxwell."
"Mr!" A rich chuckle fills the air. "Just Duo will do, Marie. I wouldn't know a formality if it bit me in the arse!" Duo winks at the blushing redhead. "Oh my, you've grown in the last few years."
"I prefer Zee these days," the Prince says softly as he turns to face the couple, "especially when among friends." He feels the pressure around his hands and forces a smile, a mere stretch of his lips.
Marie curtsies and inclines her head, the colour on her cheeks slowly fading. "It's an honour and a pleasure to finally meet you in person, your highness," she says with quiet dignity before holding out her hand. The exhilaration in her eyes dies slowly as Zee merely stares at her. She looks down, notices his white knuckled grip on Duo's hands and pales. "I... uh... I..." Her offer of a handshake falls to her side and she moves to step back, but the pressure of Wufei's hand on her spine keeps her in place.
"So Fei, had a lot to drink last night?" Duo asks, his smile wide and his tone light.
"Too much," Wufei mumbles in reply. "Heero challenged me to that drinking game you're so fond of and tried drinking..." He smirks. "He tried drinking me under the table last night."
Duo laughs. "The two of you must have been up half the night. I bet you don't remember who won!"
"I wouldn't accept a bet against a sure thing," Wufei grumbles with as much dignity as he can muster.
"Well, Marie, did you manage to stay up late enough to see who won?" Duo grins and looks expectantly at the girl.
Marie blinks and gathers herself. "Of course, I did!" she exclaims. "I was the judge," she informs him in all seriousness. "Heero fell off his chair first, about half a drink before the Dragon slid under the table."
"To help Heero up, I'm sure," Duo adds, winking at Wufei, who was looking at passing clouds.
"No," Marie says, shaking her head. "He was snoring just as loudly."
"Then it's a wonder you managed to get him here this early today." Duo's voice carries a hint of the laughter in his violet eyes. The girl meets his gaze directly and smiles.
"A mere hangover is hardly an obstacle to a determined Khushrenada," Zee says, so softly that they almost don't hear him.
Duo sighs and bumps his forehead against Zee's back a few times, while Wufei glares at the tall blond.
"Am I very like him?" Marie asks, as she straightens her posture, her jaw set in a hard line.
"I don't know," Zee replies, studying her face. The false, frozen smile is gone; only a curiously appraising look remains in his icy blue eyes. "I don't know who you are. You look like him, very much as I remember him at your age, except for the hair."
"Did I remind you of him when..." Marie falters, unable to complete her question.
"No," Zee answered, a genuinely rueful smile touching his face. "You reminded me of me. You seemed to be trying to be whom you thought your father wanted you to be, to fulfil his ambitions and avenge him. That... that was what I had tried to do. That was Milliardo Peacecraft trying to live up to his father's expectations and failing miserably. Treize was always his own man, subject only to his own ambitions and ideals. All his schemes and dreams were his own and he accepted full responsibility for them all, even when they went horribly wrong."
Marie's breaths are coming in short gasps, her eyes glistening too brightly. "Do you hate me?" she asks softly.
Duo closes his eyes in Zee's prolonged silence while Wufei watches the girl with a veiled intensity.
"I might resent you," Zee admits eventually. "I might resent him for not telling me about you, but I don't hate you. I don't know you well enough to either hate or love you. It just... hurts to be reminded of a past best forgotten. He was being unfaithful to me when you were conceived, how could I not resent you? A rational part of me might say that it's not your fault. It has nothing to do with you, really, but as you so aptly put it, I haven't been 'in my right mind' for the longest time... at least where Treize is concerned. I'm sorry; I have nothing for you that you might want."
Cornflower blue eyes spark with a sudden fire. "I just want a chance to get to know the man my father loved."
"You'll never have that chance," Zee tells her gently. "That man died with your father."
"Then what are you doing here?" Marie demands, tears spilling over her lashes.
Zee releases Duo's hands and steps out of his embrace. "Somethings need to be said in person," he says as his thumb brushes moisture from Marie's cheek. "I came to say goodbye... to them both."
"Papa really is dead, isn't he?" Marie asks with a small sniffle.
A dark onyx gaze meets a deep violet one across the short distance.
"I have no evidence to the contrary," Zee replies and gathers her in his arms. "Let him go and be your own person. That's who he'd want you to be." After the brief hug, he sets her back on her feet and stuffs his hands in his pockets.
"Aunt Une is always saying that, but she doesn't mean it." Marie blows her nose on Wufei's offered handkerchief.
"Well, I mean it, because only then might you remind me of him in the way I like to remember him best." Zee looks down at the headstones. His fringe falls forward to hide his eyes. "As it is, you remind me too much of the boy I was. Such reminders make me... uncomfortable," he confesses.
Marie notices Duo slipping a hand into one of the Prince's pockets. "I see."
"I hope so."
"I'm quite sure I do," Marie insists.
Zee has nothing more to say. After a last, sad, look backward, he turns and they walk away from the graves.
Marie and her Dragon watch them leave in silence.
The End
Addendum | Home | Max's Diner