[Gundam Wing fanfiction] Checkmate
Title: Checkmate
Prompt: Nov. 5, 2008 ~ but not without considerable regret
Fandom: Gundam Wing
Character/Pairing: Treize Kushrenada, past 13x6 (Treize/Zechs)
Rating: PG
Summary: Even the most carefully laid plans can go astray.
A/N: Companion to the piece I wrote yesterday, found here.
Posted to 31_days
~*~
Once upon a time, there was a prince with white-blond hair and clear blue eyes and a wide, bright grin.
Treize knew he had existed, because he could remember, though he thought perhaps that now he was the only one who did. Certainly, the prince himself had faded over time, those blue eyes had clouded and the smile become tight, jaded.
The prince had even felt it necessary to hide himself away behind a cold, cruel mask.
Treize stood looking out the window at the grey, overcast skies. Though his expression betrayed nothing, his eyes were hooded and pensive. Somewhere out there was Zechs Merquise and his Tallgeese, fighting for a dead nation and a fading ideal.
It wasn't that Treize didn't admire his drive, or understand what he was trying to do. On the contrary, Treize's belief was that if anyone could resurrect Sanc, Zechs could.
But still, Treize wished he could have kept the blond close, protected him from the brutality that was modern politics. As Treize's second, Zechs had been free to carry out Treize's orders, and act on his own when he saw fit, letting Treize handle the strategic political maneuvering. But if Zechs intended to take a figurehead role and revive Sanc, he would have to learn the game of politics, the maneuvering and machinations of others.
Politics was a lot like chess, and no matter how diligently Treize tried to teach him the game, Zechs had never had the patience for it.
And Treize knew that in the struggle to raise Sanc, the laughing prince he'd once known would truly die.
That damned Merquise mask had changed him already, slowly bit by bit over the years, so slowly that even Treize himself hadn't noticed until Milliardo was already mostly gone. He was still regal, still royal, but the spark and spirit Treize had known was changing, being tempered into a blade of bitterness and revenge.
It was never supposed to happen this way. Treize had thought everything through a thousand times, it was supposed to work. They were supposed to be able to support each other, raise Sanc together so that Treize could go on playing the diplomat and Zechs wouldn't have to dirty his hands. But between the Gundams and all the damned in-fighting, Treize could feel that carefully sculpted plan slipping through his fingers, and he knew that very soon Zechs would be out of his reach. Probably forever.
And so, Treize persisted in calling him Milliardo, even when he insisted on being called Zechs. Because he didn't want to forget, even if Zechs did, how things used to be. He'd always been good at planning and strategies, and Treize could see the writing in the stars of where things might go. He could see how much Zechs was changing, and there was nothing more he could do.
Treize would always mourn that prince's smile.
Prompt: Nov. 5, 2008 ~ but not without considerable regret
Fandom: Gundam Wing
Character/Pairing: Treize Kushrenada, past 13x6 (Treize/Zechs)
Rating: PG
Summary: Even the most carefully laid plans can go astray.
A/N: Companion to the piece I wrote yesterday, found here.
Posted to 31_days
~*~
Once upon a time, there was a prince with white-blond hair and clear blue eyes and a wide, bright grin.
Treize knew he had existed, because he could remember, though he thought perhaps that now he was the only one who did. Certainly, the prince himself had faded over time, those blue eyes had clouded and the smile become tight, jaded.
The prince had even felt it necessary to hide himself away behind a cold, cruel mask.
Treize stood looking out the window at the grey, overcast skies. Though his expression betrayed nothing, his eyes were hooded and pensive. Somewhere out there was Zechs Merquise and his Tallgeese, fighting for a dead nation and a fading ideal.
It wasn't that Treize didn't admire his drive, or understand what he was trying to do. On the contrary, Treize's belief was that if anyone could resurrect Sanc, Zechs could.
But still, Treize wished he could have kept the blond close, protected him from the brutality that was modern politics. As Treize's second, Zechs had been free to carry out Treize's orders, and act on his own when he saw fit, letting Treize handle the strategic political maneuvering. But if Zechs intended to take a figurehead role and revive Sanc, he would have to learn the game of politics, the maneuvering and machinations of others.
Politics was a lot like chess, and no matter how diligently Treize tried to teach him the game, Zechs had never had the patience for it.
And Treize knew that in the struggle to raise Sanc, the laughing prince he'd once known would truly die.
That damned Merquise mask had changed him already, slowly bit by bit over the years, so slowly that even Treize himself hadn't noticed until Milliardo was already mostly gone. He was still regal, still royal, but the spark and spirit Treize had known was changing, being tempered into a blade of bitterness and revenge.
It was never supposed to happen this way. Treize had thought everything through a thousand times, it was supposed to work. They were supposed to be able to support each other, raise Sanc together so that Treize could go on playing the diplomat and Zechs wouldn't have to dirty his hands. But between the Gundams and all the damned in-fighting, Treize could feel that carefully sculpted plan slipping through his fingers, and he knew that very soon Zechs would be out of his reach. Probably forever.
And so, Treize persisted in calling him Milliardo, even when he insisted on being called Zechs. Because he didn't want to forget, even if Zechs did, how things used to be. He'd always been good at planning and strategies, and Treize could see the writing in the stars of where things might go. He could see how much Zechs was changing, and there was nothing more he could do.
Treize would always mourn that prince's smile.