His White Queen

Author's note: I do not own Gundam Wing or its characters. This is for the 30 Kisses challenge using list eta. This is set during Zechs and Noin's time at Lake Victoria. Theme 16: Drug.

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                                            His White Queen

Zechs frowned at the board, concentrating on his opponent’s move. He leaned back against his bed. There were only a few moves open at this point. Well, only a few good moves. On the other side of the chess board, Noin sprawled across the floor, his pillow tucked under her arms. She worried her bottom lip with her teeth as she moved her bishop to capture his castle. That left his queen vulnerable.

Her mind was one of the things he most admired. Noin was brilliant. There was no denying that. Even here among the elite officers in training, there were few who could keep a pace of her academically, and other than himself, they were all older students. Even in her weakest subjects, she surpassed most of their class. But there was more than just her grasp of the academics. Noin worked with people with an ease he envied. When they had group projects, she was invariably chosen as leader because she knew how to get the team to work together.

He moved his queen to a more secure position. There was more to her than his mind. Zechs would admit to he had been paying much more attention to his best friend’s form lately. Over the past few months Noin had started to fill out, and added to her already fair face, other students were beginning to notice as well. It was her eyes that caught the most attention. Their soft violet was unusual enough, but when combined with her fair skin and raven locks, they were arresting.

Zechs would admit some jealously about the recent attention. She was his after all, both by the contract signed by their parents and by her own choice. At least, he knew he had been her first kiss. Part of him couldn’t blame the others for taking an interest in her. Beautiful and intelligent, Noin also had heart. She was the one their classmates turned to when they were homesick or had some other matter of the heart that they needed advice on.

She really was something special. Despite everything she had been through, Noin was so without anger and hate. Oh, he knew that things made her angry, but she didn’t hold onto it. He wasn’t sure what drove her, her affection for him or her love of space, but whatever it was, it seemed much purer than his own quest for vengeance. And in some ways, it gave him hope. If Noin could go through all that he had without becoming consumed with hatred and anger, maybe one day when things had changed he would be able to let go of his as well.

Noin was everything to him in ways that Relena was not. Relena was his duty and his responsibility. As much as he loved her, he also knew that he would never really be a part of her life. Not after what he would have to do to give her a real future. Relena would never be truly safe in an Alliance controlled world. But Noin was his future as much as she was his past. Zechs knew that she would be better off without him, but he honestly didn’t think she would allow herself to be left behind. Her loyalty wasn’t really to the Sanc Kingdom or the ideals of total pacifism but to him. He had tried to keep some distance between them when he had found her their first year at Victoria.

It hadn’t worked. In part it was because she wouldn’t let him keep himself aloof from her. She had down everything in her power to make herself a part of his life. And he had let her. The truth of the matter was he didn’t want to let her slip away. He had never met anyone who knew him so well. She was addictive. He enjoyed the fact that they worked together seamlessly. He enjoyed her company above all others. Zechs couldn’t imagine doing without her.

“Checkmate,” her voice came.

He looked up to see a soft smile.

“Where was your mind? That was far too easy.”

He plucked her queen from the board, rolling the white wood in his fingers. “Just thinking.”