Warning: takes place shortly after Relena's Ep Zero
Note: Sixth in the Pagan For Hire series, written for Pagan month at gw_ozzies. It's probably best if you know the general points of Relena's Ep Zero, but all you really need to know is that Relena was held hostage, and our pretty Zechs in the spiffiest sunglasses known to mankind saved her life. Aren't they the cutest siblings ever? Damaged, but kyoot. But anyway... I didn't actually re-read the manga to write this, so if anything I said is wrong, you can hit me over the head with a hammer. Pooh!
Summary: After a scare that nearly claims Relena's life, Pagan decides to teach the princess a little self-defense.
"I met a knight today," she said.
Pagan, ever the mother hen where the heirs of Sanq were concerned, hung over Relena, checking every inch of her skin for injury. But aside from a light bruising and a little toughening up, the princess hadn't a mark on her.
She smiled at him, and pushed him away. "Pagan," she said again, trying to catch his attention from her otherwise should-have-been dead body. "I said I met a knight today. He fell from the sky."
Pagan lifted a gray brow at her.
She nodded like the strange girl that she was. Contrary to expectations, the violence only seemed to excite her after she discovered that she was still alive--Pagan thought that if she was so bored being the daughter of a foreign vice minister, she should find another hobby before she figured out that she wasn't the daughter of a foreign vice minister at all. The more danger she put herself in, the more likely she'd figure it out.
But she continued to smile, glancing out the window into the garden. Earlier, there had been an attack on the city, and one of them had gotten into the Darlian estate. The man had attempted to use Relena as a hostage, but somehow, she'd gotten away. It was said that a soldier had come down and saved her life, but Pagan had not been told to whom he owed his thanks.
A knight that fell from the sky.
"What did he look like? This knight?"
"Long blond hair, blue eyes, and these glasses that covered half of his face." She frowned, glancing back at him, and Pagan's heart skipped a few beats.
"Actually," she said, oblivious to his unease, "He looked kind of familiar."
Damn. Pagan stopped himself from falling into the floor where he stood, and closed the distance between them, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms in attempt to radiate causality. "Did he?" Stay calm, old man.
Relena shrugged again, frowning now. "Yes. He did. He called me a princess..."
Pagan tried to smile, brushing the hair from her eyes. "You are a princess," he said.
She laughed at him. "Of course."
And the moment passed.
**
"You can't."
"I must," Pagan said.
Darlian was furious, eyes darting around his office to be sure of solitude even though he knew his adopted daughter was away at school. "You cannot. Relena is the last hope that Sanq has left! You cannot give her a gun and stain her hands as you have done to her brother--"
"Her brother is the only reason she is still alive."
"Her brother is a baron of OZ! OZ, Pagan!" Darlian waved a fist, as if trying to convey the disgrace he felt. Then he sighed, unwilling to go there. "I cannot change what has been done to the prince, but I can keep the princess's innocence! She is my daughter. You will not train her in your warfare."
"It is not warfare, Darlian, it is protection! Do you think this is the last of the threats against her life?" When Darlian tried to interrupt, Pagan held up a hand. "The older she gets, the harder it is to hide the truth from her."
"She's hardly thirteen--"
"She has her mother's wit, and she knows, somewhere in her heart, that we have been lying to her. Someday, she will know who she is... and when she does, she will gain many enemies. It is best that we teach her to defend herself now while she still trusts us to protect her!"
"No." If it was one thing that could be said about Darlian, it was that he was very stubborn man. "Absolutely not. Milliard would roll in his grave if I let you give that girl a gun!"
"The King would want his daughter alive."
"Damn you, Pagan!" Darlian slammed his fist on his desk, and several knick-knacks tumbled over from the brunt of his rage. "Do you not think that I want the best for her? I know that she is in danger, but she's a Peacecraft. One of them is already tainted. I won't let you stain the other one."
Pagan had the decency to swallow the memory, reminded once again that it was his own fault the two had ever been separated. But the old man did not regret his actions, and there was nothing he could do to change it otherwise. What was done, was done.
Pagan would not let the children be killed in this war without a fight. He knew Relena needed to be protected, and to protect her, she needed to learn to protect herself. Her brother would not always be there to fall from the sky and save her life.
"Giving her a gun does not stain her hands," he said.
Darlian snorted, the old politics shining back into his eyes. "It might as well."
Milliardo Peacecraft the First had been a very inspiring man, and he had bred some very inspiring followers. If the King was religion, Darlian was a religious zealot.
This was the kind of thing that Pagan hated. "You know that she must be taught, Darlian. Let me teach her self-defense, or attend her funeral. Your choice."
Pagan knew the words were harsh, but they hadn't been uncalled for. It was the truth. He stood his ground, arms folded, ancient eyes glaring at his old acquaintance with everything that he had.
Darlian was torn between rage and knowledge of the inevitable. They'd both known that this time would come, when Darlian had to accept that his adopted daughter carried a fate higher than either of them, and that someday, it would have to be carried out. Darlian had known from the very day he'd decided to let Relena forget, that she would someday remember again, and hate him terribly for it.
He stared right into Pagan's eyes, as if trying to say what he couldn't put into words--he knew exactly what had to be done. It just went against everything that he stood for.
But lucky for him, Pagan had no such qualms about honor. Pagan did whatever he had to do.
The spell broke, and Darlian collapsed into his chair, too aggravated to bother. "Fine," he said, waving another hand. "Do that thing you do. I don't want to know."
Pagan did not smile. He bowed like the butler that he was.
"Understood."
**
"Does father know?"
Relena had been suspicious upon Pagan's announcement that she would be learning self-defense, arms crossed before her, brow arched in that firm manner of a woman. She might have been young, but she was growing up quickly.
"Yes," Pagan said. "Of course."
He tried to guide her to the car, but Relena didn't budge. "There's something you're not telling me."
This is when Pagan tried not to panic. He smiled at her as reassuring as possible, and motioned her into the car yet again. "Don't be silly, princess. Come."
She shook her head. "No, there's something..." She squinted at him, studying the hard lines of his face.
Don't panic.
And then she grinned almost rebelliously. "He really doesn't know, does he?" Pagan stared. He tried to think of the right thing to say, but she laughed, and tugged his arm. "Pagan, you wonder! I knew it. Father would never agree to such a thing."
He lifted a brow at her, smiling uncomfortably. "Alright," he said. "I'm caught. Are you willing?"
"Oh yes!" She was practically jumping in the air. Pagan had told her that they were going to the gym, and she was acting like it was the circus. He didn't understand girls. This one in particular. "Father will hate it." Relena tended to enjoy doing the things that her so-called father hated.
Which was all well and good, because Pagan would have done it whether her so-called father hated it or not.