Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Eris and the Lady Gemini ❯ Eris and the Lady Gemini ( Chapter 1 )

Title: Eris and the Lady Gemini

Rating: pg-13

Shoujo-ai/yuri warning: Relena and Lady Une

*Nocturne

**Help me Breathe

***No Connection

All songs by Sophie B. Hawkins

Gundam Wing does not belong to me just borrowing

Note: Please read and review. I'm curious to know your opinion, if only because I'm not sure how this worked out.

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* Born of anger and despair

Who will strangle me

Who will untangle my hair*

The faucet squeaked on and the pipes rumbled before a steady stream of water emerged. Her small hands cupped the chilled liquid and then quickly she splashed it onto her face. Droplets fell from her pale face onto the collar of her jacket as she stared blankly at her reflection. Dark blue eyes looking back at her observing all the noticeable flaws, making her feel ugly beneath the shallow florescent lights of the restroom.

She tilted her head to view her profile, a graceless hand tracing her jaw line. She was positively retched, unforgivably thin, and she felt like the walking dead. But no one saw that really. Everyone still observed her as what she was before her duties kept her from such simple pleasures as sleep and a good meal. Her deterioration was hardly purposeful, though a very select group would argue otherwise.

She blinked. The lights, the lights made her look worse than she was, but she understood the message her failing reflection was sending. And she was bound and determined to take it to heart.

A sigh escaped her and she leaned forward on the sink. Two more days and she would be free of everything she was. Two more days and she would just be Relena Peacecraft Darlain, rich girl. Then she could kill Vice Minister Relena, Ambassador Relena, Dignitary Relena, and Princess and Queen Relena all in one blow. Ten years of effort would show its worth and she could lay the ghosts of her fathers to rest.

She shut her eyes, taking a deep breath, and then buttoned her jacket, her pristine white and gold embroidered uniform that reflected her status. Honey blonde hair respectfully pulled back into a ponytail with an aristocratic black velvet bow, she found herself smirking at how oddly appropriate it was for her to leave the political stage wearing the very costume she had worn for her entrance. That life long ago when she had been a princess.

Relena dusted the shoulders and lapels of her jacket before turning and exiting the restroom. Charging back into the hell of the Grand Conference to find her end.

**Out of her mouth she comes in rages

Like Vesuvius in heat

She runs ahead of her intentions

Though she's programmed for defeat**

The Grand Conference was the last stage in a ten-year effort to bring Earth and the colonies to a "perfect peace". Within the walls of the last nine conferences laws and policies had been written, torn apart, rebuilt, approved and denied countless times over. It was a month long meeting of the heads of all nations and the colonies to come to their final agreements and sign a universal treaty that would lie in affect for over one hundred years.

Relena was slouching into her chair as for the millionth time some ambassador from one of the outer colonies unleashed a rampaging speech of disagreement to a policy that had been agreed upon three years earlier. She listened to the booming banter from those that did not approve of his outburst and those who agreed, and those whom were interjecting with statements that had nothing to do with anything being discussed. After a minute or so she sat back up gathering all her documents and belongs, and shoved them into her leather briefcase.

The room suddenly fell silent as she stood from her place at the head of the conference.

"Vice Minister Darlain", a hefty voice said almost apologetically. "Where are you going?"

Relena hunched over her little space, sniffed and spoke into the microphone to address the question, "I'm retiring to my room Ambassador." Her eyes wandered over the baffled faces that met her. "And before it is questioned let me state very clearly for the record of this conference that I am here to preside over and sign the final universal treaty. From the level of bickering amongst the other dignitaries it is plainly obvious that the past ten years and nine other conferences have meant nothing." She stood up straight, a softly stern expression on her worn face, hidden by her knack for claiming attention. "There are two days left to this Grand Conference ladies and gentlemen. Two days and I am greatly discouraged by the actions presented to me here. If you are not prepared to agree on a single policy or law then I suggest we end this conference now and extend this plan for two more years", she paused to take in the awe with which she was being watched. "Of course in that time I hope everyone is prepared to face the consequences of what waiting will do to our nations and colonies. The longer we fight ladies and gentleman the more time outside groups have to insight rebellion and destroy the peace we have all worked so hard to secure."

She sighed regretfully and turned to walk out of the room. And as she did a slow and steady applause built behind her. It rumbled in her chest and forced her to face the crowd again. She raised her hands calming the crowd.

"I admire the applause but such things are meaningless unless they are meant." She swallowed and concluded with, "As moderator I am concluding today's proceedings. In the morning if you have not found a way to agree then I will have no choice but to cancel proceedings and extend this conference out another year. I hope… it will not come to that."

Relena Peacecraft Darlain made her exit then. Brushing past the praise taking the stairs down to meet her car. She wondered if those she knew at the conference were clapping as well. Was her lost pilot in the crowd admiring her resolve? Was her lost lover smirking devilishly waiting feverishly for the moment she could confront Relena about her speech? Where the others watching the event even now as it was replayed on the news? Would her words cause any of them to clamor to remove her from power she no longer wanted?

Most of the questions would be answered with a no, and the one question that would be answered with a yes she didn't deserve any longer. Love affairs like politics she managed to ruin in pretty colors and false promises. Her fist clenched the handle to her briefcase tightly; turning her knuckles white as she moved through the building and crowds of people to a secret exit that led to her car.

Relena shoved the door open to greet her driver and Preventor escort with a grimace. Her escort held the door open for her and she fell into the plush leather interior like a sinking ship. She wanted to close her eyes, but managed to stay awake for the drive over to her hotel to take some calls and answer questions from a few extremely over apologetic world leaders, and snack on some crackers. Her young Preventor escort watched her with distinguished awe. Another soldier lost to the false charm and poise of her presence.

**By the hunger and the hatred

The prostitution of her nature

She has given and forgiven**

The hotel was thankfully void of reporters, but then the Preventor agency had a near perfect record for keeping secrets from the press. Relena ended her last call as she stepped out of the car. Nodding her thanks to the driver she brushed a few misplaced strands of hair from her face and began the slow saunter into the hotel lobby. The escort followed her obediently until she reached the elevator to her suite at which point another officer took over the duty.

By the time she reached her suite near the top of the hotel Relena was ready to slip into a coma and never wake. It had been a long and tedious day, with nothing to show but how impossible politicians were and always would be. Nothing was going to change. It hardly mattered to her any longer but it would matter to many when she retired from her position as Vice Foreign Minister. She allowed herself to become vaguely concerned about what would happen when she stepped down as the poster girl for peace.

The elevator hopped slightly as the doors opened. Yet another young Preventor greeting her and unlocking her suite. Security was extremely tight around her at all times and not at her request. It was the other world leaders that feared for her safety, as if peace could not be achieved if Relena Peacecraft Darlain were taken out by a bullet. The rather horrid thought that absolute peace might be achieved by her assassination flitted over her mind making her smile. The old call in her heart for something dark waking briefly before the demand for sleep shook her from her revelry.

There were no guards in her room. For that she was more than grateful. The door shut behind her and Relena quickly took herself to the bedroom, only bothering to remove her jacket before sliding into the bed, briefcase thrown to the side without care.

As her eyes shut she wished. And knowing her wish wouldn't come true; sleep claimed her and sent her dreams that were purposely cruel. Reminders of the things she lived through, the things that had promised and never delivered.

***I'm tired of waking up

I'm sick of rolling off the bus

I want to sleep forever

In the lies I've made***

She woke at nine in the evening to the sound of someone rapping at her bedroom door. She hoped it wasn't an overly panicked guard as she groggily stepped over to the bedroom door and slid it open a few inches. It wasn't a guard but it was a Preventor, the icy and stolid queen of protection Lady Une.

Relena bit back her want to curse, switched on the light and opened the door fully. She was certain she looked impressive with her hair tangled around her shoulders, blue eyes angry from waking and slightly crusted with sleep.

The lady of course waited patiently for Relena to gather her senses, a bare smile on her pink lips as she stood.

Relena and Lady Une were hardly ever in the same room together. It was not a point of coincidence but one of deep and scalding resentment, bad blood that neither found the time to resolve. Even after the incident with Mariemea the two did not see eye to eye. And Relena was aware that most, if not all the uncomfortable spaces surrounding her and Une were a direct result of her own inability to forgive. Worse was the knowledge that the lady fully accepted the blame that Relena presented. Worse and cutting the ex-princess with every moment she was near the Preventor was the knowledge that Une fully expected to be treated poorly. It was very hard to hate a woman who had and still atoned for her past sins.

More alert she shot the lady a questioning glance, not knowing how to take the polite nod that followed.

"One of the colonies leaders has planned a small party. I was asked to see if you would attend", Une stated crisply.

"Why were you asked? It doesn't seem fitting someone of your rank."

"Maybe not, but Mr. Winner was adamant that I ask you personally."

Relena felt a chuckle lingering her throat but swallowed it down; "It's very nice of Quatre to think of me, but no. I've nothing to wear and besides… I am very behind on my work."

"And sleep", the lady added gently.

Blue eyes narrowed with bordered anger. And hazelnut brown eyes merely met the disdain with calm resolve.

"I will let Mr. Winner know you not be attending", Une stated turning to leave.

Relena would have loved to blame her fatigue for what she said next but knew she couldn't. The lady stopped dead in her tracks, and then she found the momentum to face the ex-princess.

"What was that?"

The blonde winced. "I know you heard me", she whispered softly. "And I haven't an excuse for that sort of language."

An eyebrow perked as the lady stepped further into the room. "And you aren't apologizing either."

Une tucked her shoulder length brown hair behind her left ear. It was a nervous gesture that caught Relena off guard.

The lady cleared her throat before softly mentioning, "I think we need to talk."

"I've nothing to say."

"But you do", Une replied swiftly, gently. "You've plenty or was that little bite all?" She shut her eyes briefly. "How would you see me punished for the past Ms. Darlain?"

She didn't have an answer, just a dreadful feeling in the pit of her stomach.

**A silent woman parts her lips

To speak before she ought

She makes a cross of her emotions

And panic of her thoughts**

Relena hated the quiet. It was always a prelude something dark and of her own doing. Perverted and twisted wants constantly battling her heart and she was at a loss at how sate them. Because her hate for the lady was not formed of so simple a thing as her father's assassination, nor of how his death laid the course to ruin her boring life as a rebellious teenager. No the lady was everything Relena could want in an enemy and everything she wanted and convinced herself she needed in a lover.

And it was true those she loved most dearly, and took to her bed were either fickle reminders of the innocence she had once been, or cold to the touch. In her most long-term relationship her lover was bitingly cruel with an instinct for the type of battles Relena was never allowed to admit she understood. The type of person the ex-princess could never hope to hide from, but ultimately just another person who could not fulfill her need to be cut up and hallowed out like the porcelain doll she thought herself.

Yes, just a ragged piece of flesh used to site the evils of the world. An angelic face to inspire soldiers and create wars for peace. Such a terribly sad doll easily propped up and moved around…And now that she was older…Now that she was fully in control of everything she said and did, the strides she made towards ultimate peace felt bizarrely crushing.

She sat on the corner of her bed still too tired to keep her noble stance. Une stood patiently a constant reminder of what she never had, closure, and… redemption. The lady was still paying for her past, but Relena… Her eyes shut as she fought back her tears. She wished she wasn't so tired. It would have been easier to hide.

The ex-princess hated Une for everything she could not forgive of herself. She had committed sins as well. She had done things she should not have. Things that cost people their lives and never once had she been asked to atone. No she was billed a hero just as the pilots were, the generals, and rebels.

Relena looked over at Une and could see the older woman preparing to speak. She couldn't allow it.

"Don't you see", She began the soft sparks in her tone reaching new levels of diplomacy and righteousness though she never strived for it. "Despite what I just said, it is not about how I would have you punished."

The lady's eyes were wide with momentary shock, but quickly eased back to soft understanding. "When this conference through Ms. Darlain… I would like to discuss this matter further."

She could hardly believe her ears. Une was letting her off the hook.

The preventor nodded quickly on her way out of the suite to deliver the rejected invitation. Leaving Relena with little but the chance to gather her thoughts. With a deep breath the Vice Foreign Minister Relena Peacecraft Darlain made way to her desk. She had not been lying when she mentioned she had work to do. Another listless evening began as she hunched over paperwork and survived deadening phone calls. Half way through her tenth call the doorbell rang and a Preventor wheeled in something from the hotel kitchen. She wanted to understand the meaning of the gesture as she looked over the tray and the exquisite meal she had not ordered.

**She looks out of her window

At the changes in the sky

She never wants to leave her sanctuary

Bedroom books and lies**

The secluded conference room looked over the small bay the Grand Conference was located near. Relena watched, as dusk swept across a pale blue sky, secretly wishing she could be in a red convertible racing across the orange rust colored bridge the locals called 'golden'.

It was a small room big enough for exactly six people. She was currently alone but it wasn't to last. As her tired blue eyes focused on the beat of the water rolling and tossing in the bay, ships caught on the choppy waves, the door opened behind her and a few people filtered in.

"The documents are all prepared and ready Vice Foreign Minister Darlain", A voice boomed. "Shall we proceed?"

She turned to face the men who had entered the room, glancing briefly at the eloquently scripted universal treaty sitting on the table. She smiled grimily and sat down, the others followed suit. Her blue eyes flitted over the document, siting signatures and approvals from all the colonies and nations represented at the conference. It was done.

She felt the other's watching her, and obliged to comfort them she grinned. Taking a pen in her hand to set the treaty in motion officially, just as she would do publicly in a few hours.

"I'm happy everyone finally agreed", she muttered racing her pen across the paper and sealing the deal.

Everyone in the room clapped.

She felt…ill.

"Hope you are prepared for this in a few more hours", one of the plumper dignitaries rang happily.

"I am."

"And will you be accepting the nomination", he asked.

Relena was confused, "What nomination?"

"To be the head of council for the Universal Nations?"

Her stomach flipped. She cleared her throat and scratchily replied, "No, I will not be accepting."

"Oh." The man sounded oddly disappointed.

The others rumbled their disappointment as they exited the room. Relena watched them go, sitting in the numbed shock of what had been said. Swallowed hard and then noticed she was not alone in the room.

Her eyes meet those of the lady with slight shock but then her expression washed to untouched and she slouched into her seat.

"They don't know do they", the lady asked in her usual polite and exact tone.

"No they don't."

"When will they know?"

"After the public treaty has been signed and I've completed my task."

"I see."

The lady was seconds from the door but Relena caught her.

"Une… We can…We can talk this evening if you are available."

"Of course. By the way", she called over her shoulder exiting the room, "Just because you are retiring does not mean you can go unescorted."

Relena shut her eyes, "I know… I know…"

The conference ended as she expected it to. All applause and discouragement from the masses as she announced her retirement. Safe in her suite she refused all calls but one, ignoring the desperate pleas of those that wanted to see her bound to her role and duties forever. Tired and weak she wondered why she had agreed to meet with Une that evening. And then she found the answer and she hated herself even more.

** Out of her passion breaks the stillness

Of a solitary mind

A strict devotion to the rhythm

With a substitute for time**

Her dark blue eyes watched the flash of the red light on her hotel phone and her ears twitched at the small beep from her personal phone. The flash and the beep sight and sound reminders of what she did not wish to face. Reporters and politicians chomping at the bit to hear directly from her own lips why she was retiring and Relena knew if she answered them as they called, her bitter and mocking tone would not be easily or lightly taken.

She wanted to scoff at the few old men that were her colleagues who said she was too young to retire. She wanted to be cruel and make remarks no one thought her capable of. Remind those old men of her age and the childhood she lost… the childhood she allowed to be ripped from her.

Relena sank into her chair and moved her focus to the night sky and the barely visible stars. Her mind refused to be still, filling her with too many things that begged for attention. A primary thought being Une and another being someone she missed only when she was acting too reflective…Dorothy Catalonia. The ex-princess tried to imagine what Dorothy would say if the blonde goddess were actually still on speaking terms with her. Her jaw clenched.

Of all the things she'd ever destroyed it was her affair with Dorothy she regretted the most. Relena would never say it was love, even though that was what she cried when Dorothy left. It was never love; it was always just a dark side of lust. A self imposed punishment that turned on her, because what began as Dorothy putting Relena in her place became Relena torturing the goddess with the weight of her soul.

She missed the fights that they had the conflict that wound from the political arena into the bedroom. All the things Relena could never say were present in Dorothy's very being. It was gone though. She broke it drowning in her need for something darker, always something darker. And there was a rhythm to that darkness, an echo that pointed in one direction. Even if that direction was no longer blacker than pitch but growing into colors like the dawn.

From behind she heard the door click open and she did not turn to see who it was. She already knew.

"Are you happier now", the voice of a lady wrapped up Relena's spine, making beautiful her more base and hated emotions.

Relena didn't move but she sighed as she answered, "Wait a few days I'll let you know."

"Perhaps we should not talk tonight."

"No time like the present to wipe away the bad blood", her breath felt uneven.

"I never expect you to forgive me."

"I know and now I won't be a politician so there isn't a reason for me to pretend to be civil to you."

Relena could feel Une moving closer, and so the ex-princess stood up and stepped away to the cool of the window. Her nervous breathing fogging the glass, stretching the colors of the lights outside.

"Do you know what you did when you followed your orders to kill my father", Relena stated just when she was sure Une was close enough too touch. Just when she was sure she could step back and into the lady's arms. "You unleashed the monster that is Relena Peacecraft Darlain."

"Are you a monster? I thought you were a great leader, the world thinks-"

"The world is blind!" She turned quickly. Eye to eye with the woman she had once wanted to kill, ruin and make suffer. "The world does not see anything I am."

"No you are right. The world knows nothing about you", Une replied back softly. "Would you really want the world to know who Relena Darlain really is? They'd crucify you if they knew." A cold realization rested on Une's shoulders, hazelnut colored eyes wide with shock, voice still lost in an eerie calm, "But you always wanted that didn't you?"

"Perceptive." Her tone bit. Blue eyes avoiding the penetrating glare from the lady.

"And so being responsible for unleashing you upon the world should I be the one to recapture you?"

"What would be the point? I'm finished. I've bowed out and I'm done."

Relena wasn't sure what was going to happen. Things were far too raw between her and the lady. The air was heavy around her, darker sides tugging at her as she continued to avoid the lady's eyes. If she looked again into those brown eyes she was afraid of what she would fall into. Consequences playing in her mind but never taking hold. All she knew, all she could feel was the weight of the air and what was her vile want, a pulse of expectation.

**Help me

Help me

Help me

Breathe**

There was a pull in the air that was rather indescribable, one of hate, one of heat, something of want, of lust building within Relena's chest. It suffocated her reason, and killed her chances to hide. Vulnerable beneath the lady's glare the ex-princess wondered if Une knew exactly what she was trying to deny.

"Maybe you should sleep", the lady finally said. "You look tired."

It was Une's reserved calm that goaded Relena the most. She assumed it was a skill built from years in the military, but then…perhaps it was experience that kept the lady from revealing all her intentions.

"I've been tired for years… But I'm not sure I can ever rest."

"Still waiting for something", Une asked. "Something you can't let go of but aren't sure you want to taste?"

She shook her head, blue eyes slowly rising to greet Une's. "No, I know what I want."

"Then what stops you from taking it?"

"Maybe it wouldn't be right."

"Maybe… maybe you're relying too much on opinions that do not exist at the moment?"

Looking into the lady's eyes there was a spark she had only ever felt once in her life. It was one of those telling moments when it was clear someone knew her…everything about her and didn't care. Saw the darkness, the rage, the hurt little girl who never got her revenge, who was never punished for her petty sins, and the destruction she had hoped to bury. She wanted to know how it was possible and why…Why it was always the ones that started as enemies that held the power to do so.

The air around them was stale and stagnant; the kind of silence Relena hated taking over to prove a point. After what felt like too long being read and dissected the ex-princess took a step forward and the lady met her. Her uncertain mind lost hold and emotion took control. Heavy with a heart undone by the devastating beat of war Relena found the lady's lips willing to accept her advances. Willing to return what she could and the diplomat wasn't sure there was a word for it.

They stood there near the window fogged over with cold condensation, lost in the dark, still in a rhythm their tongues had decided. Every second more intensely bruising until at last the lady broke the kiss, her arms wound tightly about Relena's waist.

"I can't promise to destroy you with my lips Relena. I can't promise to punish you thus", Une whispered almost hoarsely. "Even if you're punishing me as well."

"I don't need your promise lady… all I need is a night… a week…"

"A night", the lady replied as her lips made way to crash upon those below her. "Just a night."

**Though the truth is less unclear now

They have won a thousand battles

They have wrung their own demise**

The bedroom walls echoed their passion as they fell to the bed. With each touch and caress a new torment was revealed. And it was the young woman who had been a princess, a queen, a diplomat and who still was a lonely child that cried the most. Tears falling from her eyes because the lady was so brutally gentle, so unsparingly kind the way she kissed, the way she took but did not rob. Tears falling because she knew her own lips punished, and ripped, but her revenge, the hurt she caused was forgiven again and again.

Finally quiet in each other's arms Relena could reflect on what she had done. She should have been happy. She finally had what she wanted. She was free from her duty, she had claimed her revenge, and her heart was a slow dying ember. The lightest weight would destroy her. But the warmth felt in the softness of the lady's touch squashed any happiness that was derived from receiving her wishes.

Her eyes shut tight as Une held her closer. The whisper of the lady's breath upon her neck lulling her to sleep and the fear that one night would be just that.

**Generations like the water

Shape the face of every stone

A pedigree's an invitation

To discover you're alone**

Relena kept herself from crying when she woke alone. Packed her things quickly and made a few phone calls as she waited for the bellhops and her escorts to gather her things and secure the area for her departure. She released a prepared statement to the press regarding her retirement as well. It would not quiet any rumors, or defeat the continuing questions but it would at least calm the waters of the paparazzi for a moment or two.

A call came up stating that her car was ready. She sniffed hiding her eyes from the world behind a pair of sunglasses with green lenses. Picked up her briefcase and followed her escort to the parking garage.

Concrete and cold she waited patiently as her car pulled around, looking over the marked parking spaces with some amusement. She was standing between D11 and 1H it was an curious way to mark spots and she shook her head as she realized she was focusing on the frivolous to avoid what she felt inside. And inside she was an emotional maelstrom.

Her escort held the door to her car open and she blindly fell in. When she was finally home she considered trading her limo for something a little sporty, maybe a nice little red convertible. The car began to move and she was too busy watching the buildings roll past to acknowledge her new escort. Hardly startled when she brought her attention around and met with hazelnut brown eyes.

"You said one night"; Relena whispered removing her sunglasses.

"I did."

"Then why-"

"Because you still need an escort." The lady replied and then added, "Besides I've been known to change my mind."

"Concerning?"

"Princesses who became monsters."

"Ah."

"And the revenge they never received for shooting roses off the lapels of graceless ladies."

Blue eyes shut and she slouched into her seat. She wanted to grin but found it hard to do as the lady slid closer to her. Relena fell asleep safe in the embrace of what she loved…the very heart of discord.

End…