Differentia

Part Seven-End A New

"Now, we are standing on the threshold of a new era. War no longer has a place in our society and we enter the time of peace. Many nations had contributed to this new order, thus with great gratitude I thank the United States of America, Spain, the nations of the Arabian Peninsula, China, Germany, Italy, the kingdom of Sank and the new born nation of the Unified Earth Satellites, formally known as the colonies and Lunar Base.

These countries were the first to commit to a hopefully someday planet wide Alliance of peace, understanding and faith in mankind that has made this era possible. The nations taking part in this alliance have agreed never to take arms against their fellow members. I believe this alliance-"

"What exactly do these nations intend to do when they have a dispute?"

I barely stopped myself from glaring. It was the largest, most important speech of my career, and right at a crucial part, that bastard from Romafeller tried to make me look bad. "The very purpose of this alliance is to stop disputes. When the members find they can not find a mutually agreeable compromise, a third and unbiased party will enter to mediate the conflict. Thus, the more members of the alliance, the more wars will be prevented."

That interruption cost me a lot of my concentration. You'd think the chairman of Romafeller would have more professional courtesy than to just ask questions in the middle of a speech, weren't those meant for a debate? I just BSed the rest of my speech, and I think I might have contradicted myself a few times. I'm sure Romafeller would have a field day reducing public confidence in me with that.

Needless to say, when I left the conference, I was not in the best of moods. I was already somewhat jumpy and when I felt an arm slip around my waist and another clamp over my mouth, I was ready to kick who ever held me from behind in the head. Until I heard some laughing that is. The person behind me swung me around so that I was facing the laugher.

My eyes widened. Hilde. Last I knew she was with-

Instantly, I was left go and spun around, to be face to face with Duo Maxwell.

"Duo! Hilde! How have you two been? Is everyone okay? Have you heard from Miss Noin or my brother? How did the fighting end?"

Duo held his hands up. "Whoa, Lena, one question at a time! We're fine, yes, no and long story. That answer everything?"

I gave Duo a huge hug. "You guys have to tell me everything!"

"We will, we will," Duo said as I pulled away from him. "But first, do you know where we could get a bite to eat? I'm starved." Hilde and I looked at each other and rolled out eyes.

"And then," Duo said as he swallowed a bite of pizza, "we found out the Treize Faction's headquarters was in Luxembourg, so we all met up there for one big battle to end all battles and right before we got to much into it, ol' Treize himself opened the hatch of his suit. Naturally, the Faction stopped dead in their tracks right there. And before you knew it, BAM! It's all over! They gave up, just like that. They thought they were fightin' for what their 'leader' believed in, but it turned out he was with us, so they were too."

"One more question," I said, smiling now that I knew the conflict had finally ended not because of force, but showing one solitary man's face. Peace really isn't as hard to achieve as the proponents of war would lead the public to think. "How did you get the name 'White Fang?'"

"Zechs thought it sounded cool," Hilde said, answering as Duo stuffed cheese into his mouth.

Duo gulped his food down and took a long sip of cola to wash it down. "It does," Duo defended. "Yeah, we're White Fang, we're badasses," he said laughing.

"Seriously," I said, "He thought it sounded cool?"

"Aww, he's 19, Lena, let 'im act like it once in a while," Duo said.

"When was the last time you saw any of the others?" I asked.

"About a month ago," Hilde said. "We all went our separate ways once all of the Treize Faction's mobile suits had been confiscated. Duo and I headed back out to L2 to see how the colony, er, I guess it's a county now, is. That's where we were when the announcement that the colonies were becoming a nation was made."

"A lot can change with just a little time," I mused. "Still, I'm glad it doesn't look like there will any more fighting for a while."

"Cheers to that," Duo said, holding up his cola.

"Cheers," Hilde and I echoed.

My life turned upside down the day I turned fifteen. Previous to that say, I was just the Vice Minister's 'spoiled daughter.' Death threats, murder attempts, Gundam pilots, loosing the only family I'd ever known and gaining my biological one, becoming royalty, and leader of the world's first line of defense, the events that led to all that happened when I was fifteen. Fifteen, I had no knowledge of the world outside my posh private school, and yet I was thrown head first into the real world; a world where people expected me to lead them by the virtue of my name.

I like to think I did a good job, that I did everything I could have done. I like to think that I didn't hide behind the values of the Peacecraft name and that pacifism is a cause one can believe in.

I led OZ for five years. When I left, the former military organization was know more of a negotiation team. We didn't condone fighting when there was a despute, we sent teams to talk things over and came to a mutually agreeable conclusion. It took me five years to make that a reality, and when it was, I saw my time had ended.

It was rather sad to see that my life's work ended when I was twenty; I'd always heard that it was better for your life to end before you life's work. I was happy in a way, though. I finally had time for all the living I'd missed out on in my teen years.

I changed my name and disappeared, much like the Gundam pilots had after the fighting. They were my muses, I guess you could say. My inspiration.

I must have been about twenty-two one day when I got the feeling that someone was following me. Whenever I turned around, everything just seemed so normal, though. It was kind of hard to believe.

And then I saw him.

"Zoe Marquise?" he asked with a slight chuckle.

I shrugged. "It felt only right. Z. Marquise."

He nodded. "Yeah, I guess. How is ol' Milli anyway?"

I shrugged again. "The only things I know of him are what's on the news."

"You don't keep in touch with your own brother?"

"If I did, it would be that much easier to find me, and I don't want to be found. When I was a Dorlian, I was the Vice Minister's daughter, that's it. Nothing more, nothing less to anyone but myself. When I was a Peacecraft, I was a symbol of peace just like every other member of the family. Pacifism was almost a pre-requisite. Now, I'm a Marquise and I'm free to do what I wish. What good is peace if people don't have the freedom to live?"

"Your last name doesn't make you who you are."

"Yes, it does. Those other names made me a symbol; this one makes me a person."

"You were always a person, a strong, confident, beautiful person who made the world as we know it the way it is."

I smiled ruefully. "You don't know how much I cried."

He chewed on his bottom lip a bit before saying "Do you still cry, when you think about it? I can go if the memories make you sad, or something."

"No, it's been too long as it is. And besides, you never made me anything but happy." He smiled at that and pulled the old back cap off of his head, and placed it roughly on mine. As we walked away together, with our arms looped around one another, he remarked "Do I have to call you 'Zoe' or is 'Lena' still okay?"

I sighed, it was a happy sigh though. "You can call me whatever you want, Duo."

"Great, cuz if you want, I have a another last name you could try..."

"Hmm?"

"How does 'Relena Maxwell' sound to you? I think it rolls off the tongue rather well, don't you think?"

"It does have a nice ring to it," I mused.

"I've got a nice ring, too," he said, "but that's for you."

Only then did I notice he'd been holding my hand the entire conversation. And he was right; it was a nice ring. And I was more than happy to wear it.

Author Notes: Well, that's it for my AU. The title of this chapter makes no sense, but it's a play on words from part one 'Begin A New.' I think I'll be sticking to one parts for a while now, these series are kind of hard. Speaking of series, I may do a sequel to 'In the Nic of Time.' So if you see 'The Gundam Ryuusei' that's it! ^_^