cozzybob (cozzybob) wrote in cozzybabbles, @ 2007-08-13 06:29:00 |
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Entry tags: | 13x6, bod, gen, treize, zechs |
[GW] Never Forget
Never Forget
by cozzybob
Rated: PG-13
Pair: Zechs and Treize
Warning: gore, blood, angst, mention of death, mentions of religious ideas. Pre-war.
Note: For the beat_of_destiny community on LJ, theme #3 "never" for the character Zechs Marquise. Heh, these are going faster than I expected! My Zechs muse is going nuts over this, you'll have to forgive me. ;D
Summary: Milliardo Peacecraft finds his new name, and relives some painful memories in the process.
"Treize?"
They both sat under a large cypress tree in the Kushrenada gardens, admiring the scents and scenery. It had been nearly two years since Sanc's downfall, and for the first time since that night, Milliardo found himself at peace. Or rather, as far as at peace as one could get when his entire life had dwindled down to revenge, waiting and memories. But that was fine. With Treize, Milliardo could forget.
Treize only looked at him, his eyebrow raised. There was a strange light in his eyes, almost regretful, as he watched his friend brooding.
"Do you believe in heaven, Treize?"
Treize smiled faintly. "I'm an atheist."
Milliardo leaned back on his hands and stared up at the cloudy, stormy sky. It was going to rain soon, he could smell it in the air. "I do," he said quietly, "...but I don't believe in God."
Treize raised an eyebrow and Milliardo sighed, still staring up at that endless blue expanse of everything. He wondered how great it would be to fly up there and lose himself, to just revel in the wind as it whipped around him and fought against him as he'd fly higher and higher and higher--
He shook his head. What he'd give to have wings. "I also believe in hell, but I don't believe in the devil."
"How so?" Treize sounded both amused and curious.
Milliardo shrugged and collapsed back against the tree, staring straight ahead. "It's a place I've seen. It lives right here." He pointed at his head. "When people die, I see it. They go there."
Treize looked at him with that strange light in his eyes again. He said nothing.
"My mother, when she... before they..." Milliardo swallowed hard and stared at his hand, which was fisted into the Earth, as if digging for answers that did not exist. "She told me to run." He snorted, smiling darkly. "But I didn't. I stayed, because I knew that if I left her, she would go away and I'd never see her again. Funny, that. I stayed and I still never saw her again."
There was silence for a while.
"Milliard, you don't have to--"
"He murdered them right in front of me." His voice was emotionless. "He used a sword. He looked at me and smiled, Treize, and then he cut off my father's head. He took his time with my mother. He played with her. He cut off her arms, first, then he stabbed her and cut open her gut. He had laughed when her insides fell out. He thought it was funny." Milliard shuddered, but his face was absolutely still. "When he was done, there was blood everywhere. More blood than I've ever seen in my life--on him, on me, on the men watching and grinning like a bunch of sick madmen. There was a man holding me back, I remember. And I heard someone screaming, but it took me forever to find out it was me. I was screaming myself hoarse. My throat had hurt, and all I could smell was blood. It was all over me. All over everything." He shook his head, as if clearing his thoughts.
He looked at Treize. "Do you know what he said? That man? Do you know what he told me, Treize?"
Treize was very worried. He shook his head.
Milliardo looked up at the sky again, and a single raindrop fell on his cheek. It looked remarkably like a tear, and he didn't wipe it away. "He walked up to me with that bloody sword and the gore dressing his clothes, his breath like death itself, and he told me, while his men held me back... I was struggling, I wanted to kill him, and I was still screaming, I was more angry than I'd ever been in my life. But then he looked at me with that sadistic smile and he said, 'Never forget.' And then he hit me, and I fell unconscious. I woke up in the fire... and you were there..."
Treize gingerly held his hand just before Milliardo's shoulder. He wanted to touch so badly, to console, but he couldn't. He knew he wouldn't dare.
Milliardo saw his hand and smiled, though he leaned away. "I didn't forget. I'm never going to forget. With you, I almost can, but I don't want to forget, Treize. I want to remember. I'm going to kill him, and I want to remember why when I finally do it."
Treize nodded. He knew.
Milliardo sighed and shook furiously. "Will you help me, Treize?"
"Of course," Treize said.
There was a rough silence and more raindrops were hitting them now. They could hear the beat of the rain hitting the leaves, the grass, the ground. "It's raining," the older boy said. "We should go inside."
He stood up and held out his hand, but Milliardo was still staring up at the sky. He didn't move. He shook his head. "I like it out here. I'll come when the storm comes. It's only a drizzle right now."
Treize nodded. He waited.
And then suddenly, Milliardo spoke with a dark smile on his face, one that made Treize shudder. "I found a name," he said. "Just now."
"Name?"
"I'll need a new one if I'm going to Victoria. The Alliance would never take me if they knew that I was the heir of a dead country that they murdered." He huffed dryly. "The name Peacecraft frightens them."
Treize gave his friend a long, calculating stare as the rain began to pour around them. The wet and the cold seemed so far away. He knew this moment was very important. "What is the name, then?"
"Zechs," he said, and smiled again in that horrifying way Treize hated. "German for six. My mother was German. I was six when she and my father were murdered. Never forget, right?"
"And what of the last name?"
His smile, so dark and frightening, grew to a grin. His eyes were nothing but fire, even in the blur of the rain, which was now a downpour. Milliardo--Zechs--stood up and took his hand. They began walking back to the house.
"That's easy," he said with a terrible laugh. "I was a Marquise when they killed me."
Treize muttered the name under his breath as he followed his friend into shelter. Zechs Marquise. What a terribly beautiful name.
Note: I read somewhere that Zechs really was a marquise and not a prince when Sank fell. I can't remember where, but it said it in some sort of official document or something. I know I saw it. I wish I could be more specific, but... oh well. That's my theory, anyway. It doesn't mean that he's not a prince, because he is, it just means that he hasn't been officially crowned one, I guess. I dunno. I have no idea how royalty works, says the dumb American. You'll have to forgive me. ^^;