Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Sunshine ❯ Chapter 1

Author: Keiran
Title: Sunshine 1/1
Rating: R
Genre: Tragedy, Angst, I think.
Pairings: all past 1+2+1, R+1
Warnings: Past Relena-bashing (you'll see what I mean), mentions RFO. Shounen-ai (who's surprised?)

Notes: Another strange story by me. It's an alternative to `My Sweet Child'. ^___^

xxXXXxx

It was a beautiful day, even though the morning seemed gloomy. The sunlight, marred by an occasional cloud, filtered through tender green leaves, giving the whole street a glow only achievable in late spring, when all the flowers bloomed and the leaves on the trees were still young and tender. The esteemed Vice-Foreign Minister Relena Peacecraft sat in a small café, moving the spoon in lazy circles in her cup, gazing solemnly at the people that walked past her.

She was content, in many ways. She was proud of her work, of her reputation - people had stopped perceiving her as the teenaged Queen of the World some time ago, now recognizing the Vice-Foreign Minister instead, a respect she deserved for all of her hard work. She was glad about that. Finally, she was a person, not a symbol. She paid for it, of course - she shot a glance in the reflective surface of the window of the café, noting the small wrinkles around her eyes and the worry lines on her forehead. She was still as attractive as a thirty-nine year old woman could be, but there was no use in denying the fact that she was indeed getting older.

Her eighteen year old daughter and twin sons two years younger were an undeniable proof of the passing years.

She was happy. But there was still one thing that bothered her. Had she done enough to earn forgiveness? Logically, she knew that there were few people on the planet who devoted themselves to the common good, as she had, but she still wondered. Would she ever be forgiven?

Tomorrow, the 15th of April, would be an anniversary. Just like every year, for two decades, she would meet with all of the remaining Gundam pilots under the cherry tree, to pay their respects to the people they had all lost.

Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell.

The source of her nightmares. They plagued her in death, just as she had done to them in life. Relena sighed. She was young then, a teenager. Not that it was any excuse for her behavior, but still. Her childish crush on Heero grew with time, turning into an obsession - she followed him, despite her demanding job, showing up at his apartment, anything that fell under harassment basically. When, during one of her unannounced visits, she found out about the relationship between Heero and Duo, something inside her broke. She was no longer a teenager with a crush. She was a scorned woman, one who wouldn't hesitate to use anything in her power to get revenge. And she was indeed powerful. Putting out a campaign against homosexuality was the least she felt she could do.

The young couple had fled, but as a government official there hardly was a place where she couldn't find them; the famous Gundam pilots, who had saved the Earth, were bound to be recognized. The endless cycle wore them out in the end - lack of sleep due to constant phone calls, stress, malnutrition even. In truth it wasn't so much the harassment that hurt them - it was the fact that she was once considered a friend by both of them. A distant friend, but one nonetheless.

For the longest time Relena kept telling herself that it was not suicide; that thought was the only thing that kept her sane for weeks after her twentieth birthday. She clung to the hope that it was an accident, not a conscious decision.

When they had found the car on the bottom of a bay in Sanq, with the two of them curled around each other tightly, Relena was close to losing her mind. The Earth Sphere and the Colonies were in mourning, everyone assumed that the minister simply grieved for the demise of her two friends. She was, after all, an expert in stalking; nobody but her and a couple of trusted (and well paid) people knew.

The only consolation for her was the fact that indeed every shred of evidence pointed towards an accident rather than suicide. A lorry driver fell asleep behind the wheel, lulled by the steady beat of rain against the windows, hitting the smaller car on the narrow road. On every other road they probably would have survived, injured, but not severely - the car would have swerved and turned a couple of times, but as it was, the impact was strong enough to render both men incapable of straining action. The blue car plummeted into the sea below, the door on either side jammed.

The tragedy was a turning point for Relena. For weeks she dared not walk out her room, plagued by constant nightmares of Heero swerving the wheel to avoid a direct hit, shooting of the steep cliff and diving towards the dark water. She dreamt of him turning to Duo, blood swelling in both their mouths as they hit the sea; their last kiss, last embrace and finally a painful, suffocating death.

It was always hard to admit to a mistake, even more so when the guilt was so strong. When Relena finally emerged from her chamber, she was a different person, everyone could see that. She matured, both emotionally and physically - she lost a lot of weight, refusing most meals. The Queen of the World died during that time.

She had worked relentlessly ever since then, pausing only long enough to get married and give birth to her children, managing, to everyone's utmost surprise, to balance her career and private life. She knew it was worth it. But still, she couldn't stop wondering…

"Ma'am?" A cheerful voice startled her out of her musings. She immediately smiled at the talker.

"I'm sorry, I spaced out. Can I help you?" She looked into the laughing face of a slender nineteen year old boy, framed with longish, dark blonde bordering on brown, hair. His dark blue eyes twinkled with both amusement, which seemed to be a constant feature on the handsome face, and awe.

"You're Minister Peacecraft, aren't you?" he asked. She nodded, smiling slightly. It soothed her somehow that this boy was obviously excited to be speaking to her. "Wow! My name is Elisha. I know I'm about to sound very stupid right now, but I really, really wanted to thank you." The minister blinked.

"What for?"

"For pushing through the legislation allowing gay couples to marry and adopt children. It wouldn't have made any difference if anyone else had done it, cause people would still have protested. Now I know my mum won't be disappointed about me having a boyfriend rather than a girlfriend, see? She adores kids." The boy grinned at her again. Relena felt warmness spread thorough her chest.

"Thank you," she whispered, bowing her head. "It makes me glad to hear it." Elisha smiled widely, just as another boy, about the same age, joined him. His hand automatically encircled the slightly smaller boy's waist, resting on his hip.

"This is my boyfriend, Mrs. Peacecraft, Tadeus." The other boy, of similar build and roughly the same size, offered her a polite nod, but she could see he was thrilled as well. Her eyes strayed onto the short dark hair and steely bronze eyes. "We're so glad to have met you here," Elisha continued, as his companion smiled slightly and nodded in agreement. "We're grateful, the both of us. Well, the fellow five percent of humanity probably is too." He laughed cheerfully then, bringing a smile onto his companion's stoic face and to Relena's as well. She continued to watch the couple as they bid their goodbyes and hand in hand wandered off, on a date most likely. She could see Elisha chattering animatedly while Tadeus nodded and offered a wry grin every once in a while. She stared after them, an unreadable expression on her face.

That's how her children found her minutes later, sitting over a cup of coffee, staring into space with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes.

"Mom? Are you okay?" the girl asked, concerned. She couldn't remember her mother crying, ever. But the older woman shook her head and smiled brilliantly, a smile that none of her kids had ever seen before - a true, happy smile, without the ever-present, underlying sadness.

"Yes, I am," she answered, moving her gaze to her daughter's cerulean eyes and smiling brightly again. "Shall we go then?" She urged them on, gazing once more down the street to where the couple earlier had disappeared. She smiled one more time, before running to catch up with her children.

Behind her the street bathed in the glorious sunshine; all the clouds had disappeared from the sky.

***The End***