Arc II, Chapter 53

The week passed unbearably slow after Duo had left.

Daily meetings with the Prince were useful only for the innovative strategies he offered, minimizing risk to the soldiers of our militia and ensuring our forces would be well-supplied once we entered direct conflict with Romefeller. He'd offered to lead some of our forces to Lagrange in order to reinforce the border against the Kingdom of Oz, a move I could appreciate more given that it was a longer journey than the one we'd have to make to Sanc's border with Romefeller.

In all honesty, though, these strategy meetings could have been condensed into a shorter timeframe, or given directly to Trowa to pass on to me. Quatre had hypothesized that though Prince Milliardo seemed genuinely happy to have his sister back, there was no denying the destabilizing effect she had on her older brother and his place in the imperial court. Perhaps to reassert himself in a role more suited to his interests - battle - he was taking more initiative to help us in our defense against Romefeller.

I had considered leaving early, in spite of orders, but there was one meeting I wanted to have before I left the Capital. I did not consider it an invitation to a tea party, despite how the letter had presented itself; this was more like an agreement to a duel that didn't use swords.

Just past noon today, I would be sitting across from the Crown Princess herself.

Towa had spoken with both Quatre and Wufei about what he'd heard of Duo's conversation with Relena Peacecraft, though neither could guess at what information the Princess was working off of when it came to my husband. I refused to hear anything about Duo that hinted at an ability that defied normal conventions, and had to shut down Quatre the few times he'd attempted to bring it up.

While all three were well aware of the Harvester religion, they truly knew little about it. My own exposure was limited to what I'd learned from watching Duo and his family members, or from the sparse few times when I'd travel through the Maxwell province. Followers were preoccupied with death, as both an end of existence and as an omnipresent entity; Relena referring to it in the way she had could have meant anything.

I would have known.

"We may not have," Trowa had countered placidly. His argument laid in the fact that before the greenhouse fire had taken away Duo's memories, Duo had done all sorts of things to keep us at arm's length. Every ruckus he caused, every insult he spit, every fling he claimed to have and every gold coin he spent- all of it served as a distraction from something he did intend to keep secret.

I couldn't stand this idea. I couldn't bear to look back through every memory I had of Duo, comb through it with the same fanatical zeal I had when trying to guess at enemy movements while at war. I didn't want to look at Duo and think: what are you hiding?

This is why I had to have this conversation with Princess Relena. She may be clever enough to plan her own reintroduction into the imperial family, but she'd used my husband to further her own ends and then called him into doubt in his own mind. Once I figured out what her end goal was, I could tell Duo and the others that she was nothing more than another aristocrat obsessed with climbing the social ladder and set them back at ease.

After my meeting with the Prince to once more allocate the appropriate resources for the upcoming conflict and decide numbers for each border, I'd stayed in the imperial palace to wait until my appointment with the Princess. Most of the loitering nobles who worked or passed the time within the castle gave me a wide berth, but they kept their dissatisfied grumbles about my presence to a minimum given the newly-revealed status of my husband's association with the heir to the throne.

I'd just made it to the expansive gardens when Solo found me. His presence here was not surprising; for all his venomous tongue when it came to the Prince, he still worked diligently at his job and meticulously maintained his image as another subordinate in the imperial court. Duke Maxwell was still healthy and sharp in wit, but eventually he would step down to give his son the title; Solo would continue to work and train under his father's watch until then, even if he'd surpassed him in skill years ago.

For one - Duke Maxwell had never been as nosy.

"You sent my brother away to meet with the Princess?"

I sent a glare that had made lesser men cower in fear, but Solo only stared back at me with a maniac's gleam in his eye. My father had always believed Solo to be an impeccable role model: he acted excellently in both his public role as a ducal heir and his private role as an interrogator. My father never seemed to see the cruelty that sharpened Solo Maxwell's smile.

"My husband," I clarified with biting cold. "Had to return home in order to prepare for the winter. I am meeting with the Princess out of courtesy."

Solo laughed softly, the sound of it a mix of relief and mockery. It is exactly because he acted like this that I could not fully understand Duo's prophetic dream. Whether the Maxwell family was led by the current Duke Solus or handed off to Solo, their attachment to Duo was not so weak as to disappear the moment the Princess appeared.

"And she is a childhood friend of Duo's, is she not?" I continued.

I did want to know how much Solo and Duke Maxwell had known. If the Princess truly was a childhood friend of Duo's, then that meant the arrangement had been between the two families; Solo would have been well aware of their relationship. Given Duo's delicate state prior to his introduction to noble society, they would have scrutinized Relena intensely to ensure his safety. Had the Maxwell family been aware of her true lineage in the same way as her adoptive family, Duke Darlian?

Solo's light violet eyes assessed me for a short moment. "That's right," he eventually agreed, the smile back on his face. "His dear friend that he kept secret from everyone, including his beloved husband."

Another pointed rebuke. I ignored it. "And you? Did he also keep it secret from you?"

"I know all of my little brother's secrets, Duke Yuy," Solo answered idly, finally turning away. In the cold and dead garden, he suddenly looked very similar to Duo; the resemblance lay in the wry twist of his smile that was more bitter than sweet. "Even the ones he doesn't know himself."

The words could be in reference to anything. I had no clear idea on how much, exactly, Duke Maxwell and his heir knew about Wing or anything similar. Wufei had once remarked that the Maxwell family's history was tied as closely and intimately into the origin of Sanc as both the Peacecraft's and the Yuy's - but their religion set them apart, too entangled in the shade of death that they became estranged upon inception.

Solo had already begun to walk away, and I set out in the opposite direction towards the Princess's wing of the castle. Her maids found me soon enough as I stalked through the ornate halls, Pagan appearing in their midst in order to lead me to where the meeting would take place.

I was grateful I wasn't led back out to the garden or to a parlor room, but instead to what looked to be the Princess's official study. It signalled to me that this was not a social visit or her trying to turn this into some sort of informal conversation; rather, by taking place in her study, this granted it a level of formality and significance.

It meant the Princess was not taking this lightly.

Relena sat behind the large, opulent desk, paperwork scattered about the top that yielded various information at a glance. Many may have doubted her proficiency if they believed her story at face-value, but the story that could be gleaned from the papers she had been perusing painted a much different picture than that of a ignorant girl who had just learned about her heritage and was just now starting her royal education.

I had been privy to enough about the duties and responsibilities of the imperial heir through sheer exposure to Prince Milliardo. While he'd been gifted in many ways, it was obvious his preference and interest lay in more military-oriented affairs; he had a vested interest in Sanc's military prowess and the knight order. He still completed his fair share of duties regarding diplomacy and bureucratic affairs, but the Queen remarked that he did not have the best hand at it, sometimes allowing past grudges or current relationships to cloud his judgment.

It appeared Princess Relena had no such qualms or deficiencies. She'd been handed over reports about Sanc's various diplomatic affairs practically wholesale, and she'd doubtlessly soon be deployed to deal with the various trade offers, truces, and domestic disputes that Prince Milliardo had delegated to less reliable people.

"Thank you for coming, Duke Yuy," Relena greeted me with a smile. It was the sort of polite smile I'd seen her wear as she socialized across the grand hall, dancing with one aristocrat or another to trade pleasantries.

I immediately disliked it, but gave her a cordial bow as appropriate.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" she offered graciously, motioning to the tea set Pagan had pushed in earlier before leaving the room. We were the only ones currently in the room; had I been unmarried, it would have been considered inappropriate, so I was glad no one made a fuss since I was very obviously taken.

"Get to the point," I told her.

Despite her gentle appearance, she wasn't at all perturbed by my abrupt nature. This was indicative of her real nature to me: someone not easily swayed, who could greet any situation with a calm demeanor and calculative eyes. I didn't quite like it - but I could see how she may have befriended Duo.

Instead of 'getting on with it', the Princess poured out two cups of tea. Only once I'd been given my own cup - that I swore not to touch - and she'd added two cubes of sugar to her own did she finally meet my eyes. The calm wasn't surprising, but the vague air of dislike was confusing; we'd had very few conversations to warrant the contempt, after all.

"I wanted to meet with you to set some things straight," she began, after taking a small sip from her tea. It was a strong floral blend, I could smell it from here- roses, or at least predominantly so. "And because something tells me that if I want to get through to Duo, I will first need to talk to you."

I glared at her but didn't reply. It was best she did most of the talking here; I didn't want to admit to something, thereby putting myself or Duo in jeopardy. She seemed to have expected this, sitting her teacup down to stare into for a long breath.

"First, let me introduce myself to you- not as the Princess, but as Relena, a friend of Duo's." Her smile turned a little sardonic, her eyes a little distant. "Though perhaps you may find it hard to believe me, since Duo would sooner bite off his own tongue than explain this to you."

My glare deepened, but to the Princess's credit, she did not cower. "Are you someone he should be ashamed about?"

Her eyes met mine - unyielding and patient. "It's telling that you think only shame would keep him quiet. Do you think so little of him?"

Once again, I could see the parts of her that would appeal to Duo. He had that same way of turning your own words against you, his pretty tongue full of acid if he caught even a hint of aggression against him. Relena Peacecraft clearly learned the same skill, though where Duo's voice turned icy and his stare furious, she spoke with the measured calm of someone stacking stones to crush the prone form beneath.

"Don't twist my words to attack my husband," I told her, voice inflectionless in my ire.

She stared at me as if to parse some underlying meaning to the words, but before I could decide to follow up with my own question, she nodded in acceptance. "I apologize," she said, sounding sincere. "I can admit that when it comes to Duo, I become so focused on protecting him that I will assume the worst and can say things too harshly."

"He is not yours to protect."

The smile she gave me in response was startling in how genuine it looked. "That may be true, but I will still try all the same," she replied in good humor. "But this is where I believe our goals align, Duke - you want to protect Duo, and so do I."

Relena opened one of her desk drawers, pulling out a semi-thick wad of scrolls rolled up together. She handed it to me without opening it, eyes expectant. I took it with a little trepidation, untying it and pulling it open to skim the contents, but was immediately arrested by the words themselves.

Not the information - but the handwriting.

"It's an investigative report from Duo," Relena went on to explain, knowing I'd been able to recognize my husband's script. "This report details the rising problem of the slave trade that has only recently been talked about, though many misattribute its origin to Armonia. Duo figured out that it really originated from the Clark province - and from Count Clark in particular."

I had read the reports from Quatre, Hilde, and Commander Broden about their dealings with the slave trade that had expanded into the Yuy province. Duo had seemed to stumble into those messes time and time again, completely by accident - but the report made in his own hand clearly outlined how Count Clark and his three sons, including Trant Clark, were involved in abetting the slave trade, and had even invested in the criminal organization masquerading as a merchant guild to get it running.

According to the information given, Trant Clark had been especially boastful about it; he'd spent untold amounts of money just to buy himself into Duo's favor, and all of that wealth stemmed from his dealings with the slave trade. Duo had noted not only the expensive transactions with money that the Clark family simply should not have, but also any trips taken, lists of possible meeting locations, and suspected slaver routes and sites.

"This is one of many reports. He met with Trant Clark because he suspected him," Relena said, words painfully gentle as my eyes scoured the words for something they were not able to give me; namely, a reason as to why. "There have been other people before - dishonest merchants, corrupt bureaucrats, and similar scum - that he tried to take care of by himself. I think he stocked his closets full of merchandise he took from them before they were dealt with, either by local authorities or by whatever means he chose to employ at the time. It was easier to gather evidence if they believed you were on their side."

The papers wrinkled in my hands. My emotions were tangled in my chest, the information almost too hard to process but impossible to not think about. Duo's tendency to investigate matters by himself wasn't wholly surprising, at least not after the greenhouse fire when he seemed so unconcerned with his own safety; the idea that he'd always been like that but chose to hide it was more worrying.

Duo had put himself in harm's way and I had been none the wiser. I had fooled myself into thinking he was safe at home, adorning himself in pretty attire and fancy jewels, playing around with other men, wasting money on useless ventures or questionable vacations - but instead, he'd been talking to those who had no qualms about selling or killing people to keep them quiet about their own perversions and greed.

Duo had sat next to Trant Clark, had leaned into his side and whispered nonsense into his ear - but that was all nothing more than an act to get more information? As he allowed Trant Clark to wrap an arm around his waist, had he been wondering why I had never done anything - to understand, to help him, to figure out why he'd bother wasting his time with someone so far below him that it would have been obvious to anyone but me, blinded by envy and my own pitiful hurt?

Relena's gentle tone lapsed into pensive worry. "I have never asked it of him," she said softly. "But I think Duo never could turn away from a problem if there was even a slim chance he could help fix it."

He never told me. It was a pitiable defense - why would Duo ever tell me anything? I had been so preoccupied by my own position, blind to everything he did. If I was someone he could trust, I would have figured out on my own that he would never lower himself to accepting Trant Clark's affections, even if his goal was just to hurt me.

Relena was watching me, and when she spoke up, it was with a quiet curiosity I learned to associate with cats baiting a hungry mouse. "Don't you want to know how Duo learned so much about this? Or about how he knew about others like this?"

I didn't look up from the papers; Duo's meticulous handwriting stared back up at me, carefully-written script about possible pathways the slave traders could use to gain footholds in nearby provinces, the Yuy capital among such locations. "...Subterfuge? He convinced them he was an interested client, and..."

Solo Maxwell sometimes used that method. Had he taught his little brother to follow in his footsteps? ...Had he known Duo was doing all of this? It seemed impossible for him not to, but in that same vein - I should have known as well. If I had even a shred of capability in me, I would have at least suspected Duo of doing something like this.

Trowa's words came back to me, as did Professor G's: how well could Duo lie?

"Partly," Relena agreed, still watching me. "But there's only so much he could learn in his position. It's not as if he's free to act and move as he likes - between the surveillance of his family and your own trackers, he's never acted suspiciously, right? So isn't it strange that he's able to get this much information without anyone knowing?"

She was building up to something, based on her tone. I felt that ball of iron sink in my gut, the weight of my combined worries and suspicions. Trowa's words hung in the forefront of my mind, but memories flickered through my recollection like puzzle pieces being slotted together, passing moments and infrequent gestures I had attributed to oddities borne from a family dynamic I could not understand and a religion entirely removed from my own.

Duo had odd little quirks. They were endearing to me because they were part of Duo, but the others had occasionally mentioned them in the past with a sense of confusion or mere curiosity. In peaceable moments, Duo could be observed to be simply lost in thought, distracted from prior conversations or activities despite being in the midst of them only seconds before. In more contentious moments, he'd remark on things he should not have known, bits and pieces of personal history used as a means to draw blood when his temper raged. We had attributed it to his familial relations, to conclusions made by extrapolating court gossip- to anything but what it actually had been, it seems.

"You asked him if he could still see the dead," I repeated, tone blank.

Relena stared back at - not surprised, not alarmed. Her expectant eyes and calm demeanor felt like a dagger to the heart, because it meant that she was not taken aback by the words. Not only was she fully expecting me to have known she'd spoken them, but that I would also understand them.

And horribly, I did.

"Duo has a gift," Relena began delicately, eyes never leaving me. They looked a vile blue in her face, her soft tone like silken poison because that's how little I wanted to hear it in this moment. I forced myself to listen, because I'd turned away in ignorance long enough. "He would never call it that, but..."

Relena seemingly steeled herself, though her gaze had turned back to her now cold tea. "Duo could see the dead. Not in the way followers of the Harvester perceive Death and the dead, but rather he could interact with... Well, he called them their 'ghosts', the..."

"Remnants of who once lived," I clarified dully. Duke Maxwell had tried to explain the concept to me, in the early days of my engagement to Duo; perhaps he'd been trying to train me to see the signs. Ghosts were a combination of memories and soul, seemingly omnipresent in any space a person had tread during their life, remaining there until they'd finally reached the cycle of reincarnation.

Relena nodded. "Yes, exactly," she agreed. "He said they're everywhere, but most merely pass him by on their journeys. Some would speak with him unprompted - not out of revenge or anger, Duo said ghosts don't... Don't really feel things, not like the living do, but sometimes they'd get stuck and he could talk to them."

Relena's eyes looked over the crumpled notes still held in my hands. "And sometimes, Duo could...ask things of them, and because the dead have no concept of secrets, they will tell him everything he wants to know." She smiled, but her eyes did not. "He said the real trick was figuring out what questions to ask."

I had killed many people in my defense of Sanc, in my capacity as the general of the kingdom's militia. Had all those people I'd murdered followed me home, had they whispered the atrocities I'd committed into Duo's ears since the moment we'd met? If so, it was no wonder he had hated me, that he could hardly stand being in the same room with me. He had been made unwilling receiver to every ghost cursing my continued existence.

I felt my hands slacken, the papers falling free to the floor as my next thought suddenly occurred to me. "The fire... Had he planned to... I have killed so many already..."

Had Duo planned to immolate himself to escape all the ghosts I'd dredged up in my position?

Relena's brows furrowed in confusion for a moment before understanding dawned, surprise smoothing her face into something almost kind. "Oh- no, no, that's not... Duo never mentioned anything specific about the ghosts around you or in the Yuy province. You fought almost all of your battles abroad; the paths of their ghosts wouldn't reach so far, I would think."

A sharp but fleeting sense of relief shot through me.

"The fire was something different," Relena said, and again, that sense of trepidation sunk into me. At my expectant glare, she only raised an eyebrow. "Do you think this is an interrogation? I have been giving you information one-sidedly, not to mention this information was a secret held by someone very dear to me. I think I can expect a little in return now."

I couldn't help but think Duo would have handled this barter for information better. "You seem to think you know my husband better than I do," I told her, knowing damn well that my tone would have had Duo teasing me about sounding mulish. "What could I possibly know that you don't?"

Relena's stare was unblinking. "For one- why the first person I have ever trusted doesn't seem to know me?"

I stared back at her in silence. There were too many possibilities, and even a hint of a reaction could be enough to confirm the truth for her. Her interactions with Duo had been limited since our return to the Capital, but perhaps they'd talked just enough while alone together on that balcony for her to at least suspect something. Trowa had been able to overhear the entire conversation, but if they really were childhood friends and close confidants, there would be nuances to how they interacted that only they themselves knew.

An emotion too complicated to gauge flickered over the Princess's face. "...I told you that Duo would never call his ability a gift, didn't I?" she asked, the non-sequitur jarring and giving me a brief struggle to keep up. "He hated it. I think he was scared of it, or... Or scared of something related to it, at least."

Relena's attention never turned away from me, not even as she recalled the past. "Dealing with the dead drained him," she said. "...And you. You drained him."

I flinched; Relena did not care enough to stop.

"He was tired," she continued, a soft fury in her tone that was sharper than any blade. "He was lonely. His husband never seemed interested in him, he had no friends to speak to without having to defend himself or his spouse, and the only things he'd been allowed to do were shop and lay about like a house plant."

For a moment, I saw more of a similarity in her to Duo than I did to her actual blood-related brother; Relena's words were carefully-curated poison. "Do you know how terrible it must have been, to have only the dead for company?"

I had often received reports on Duo's movements, and it had been noted how often he spent time in the greenhouse. I'd initially been happy at the news; I'd built it for him, after all, a wedding present so that the Yuy estate could feel a little more like home to him. I'd never stepped inside after it had been built and inspected, wanting to give Duo his privacy in a space built just for him - but now I couldn't help but wonder if there was more to it than just his love for flowers. If those times where I'd heard him speaking while within the greenhouse had not been him conversing with the plants - but with the dead.

She let silence lapse for a moment, organizing her thoughts. "I knew about Duo's ability. Duo knew about my actual lineage. We shared our secrets because they were too heavy to keep to ourselves.

"I said the fire was something different, but I may be wrong because I'm not confident I have the full picture anymore," Relena continued, her tone clinical. "You must know it was preplanned by now - Commander Barton was eavesdropping, wasn't he? The Duo I know wouldn't have allowed that, which means that the one I spoke to isn't the Duo I am familiar with."

Relena's eyes were steady, but in contrast, her hands trembled from where she had them wrapped around her teacup. "Duke Yuy, I can at least confirm this: I have never wanted to harm Duo. I love him - he is dearer to me than family, and one of the most important people in my life," she said. "The greenhouse fire was never meant to hurt him."

Unfiltered rage rang through me in an instant, drying me throat and lighting my eyes. "Was it you?"

"No," Relena answered immediately. "I have neither the means nor the inclination. But I know what it was intended to do, because it was something we discussed when Duo's mood sunk."

Her lips twisted down at the corners. "It was a harebrained idea, one of many that I disliked because it meant relying on something I would have preferred never to call on," she admitted. "But Duo always had different ideas, and he doesn't exactly fear the same things most people do."

If Duo did not want to kill himself, then- I asked hoarsely, "Then what was the fire?"

"A barter."

The word seemed to ring in my ears. It was incomprehensible; what deal could be struck in a burning greenhouse while Duo was alone?

Relena's features were still twisted, simultaneously pitying and judging me. "You saw the design and helped build the greenhouse yourself, didn't you? But you never noticed what it actually was designed to be?"

Professor G's architectural design flashed through my mind, followed sharply by what she'd just shared, and then understanding - and terror.

Relena nodded at the look now on my face. "You made him a giant Death's Door, and allowed the man who follows the God of Death to pray as he saw fit," she stated with ruthless calm. "Duo wanted to be rid of his gift to commune with the dead. Who better to barter for that than with the one with dominion over them?"

The fire was a means to an end. Duo had put himself in danger because he couldn't stand his own ability; he had been too scared to speak of it with me, because I had left him alone to only increase the amount of dead in the world he was walking. Perhaps he had even spoke with my late family members who had once walked the halls of the Yuy estate, had gleaned the secrets of my family line that I had refused to tell him.

Duo would never tell me his secrets, would never share his burdens - because I had never done so for him.

"I told him you loved him, you know."

My head whipped up in shock to stare at her. "What?"

"Duo was convinced you didn't care for him, past him being a boast-worthy trophy to be used," Relena explained. "He didn't ever seem to believe me, but I think it at least made him second-guess his initial convictions about you. Not that your behavior helped."

I really could not see how she and I ever ended up together in Duo's prophetic dream. This entire conversation just made me hate her more, her perceived help not withstanding. "Why were you helping me? It's not like you could know for sure."

She wasn't like Solo Maxwell or my friends, who had been in the perfect position to watch me fall more and more in love with Duo. I hardly recognized her from before our first meeting at the night market, and could only recall who she was after the fact because of her effect on Duo. Even her resemblance to the imperial line had not been enough to interest me, and we had no shared history between us.

Relena went quiet for a moment in rumination. "First, answer me this: after the fire, how did Duo change?" At my stubborn silence, she continued. "I already strongly suspect I know the answer, but I would like a confirmation. Duke Yuy - Duo's secrets are not the easiest things to deal with, and we could all be very well swept away if we can't manage them. I can't help you with that if I'm not even sure how much Duo knows about it."

So she had figured it out. "...He lost all of his memories from before the greenhouse fire," I said. "Though he's started to recall some of it now."

Relena's expression wavered, something heavy in her gaze. "...His memory, then," she seemingly murmured to herself. "That's what he chose to give up. But why..."

She frowned in thought. "That must have been very difficult for him. I'm glad he now has the support he so desperately needed."

That was both a sincere well-wish and a reprimand. I made no comment on it, instead repeating, "Why did you help me? When it came to conveying me true feelings to Duo."

Relena released her teacup, eyes glancing between it and the teapot as if she were considering asking for a new one. It was a clear avoidance tactic; I guessed she was sharing more than she thought she would be now, but at this point, I needed to know everything. If it meant keeping Duo safe, I would swallow every bitter pill.

I could believe her now when she said that Duo was someone important to her. Relena Peacecraft had an air to her that was commanding, but not in the oppressive way of the Prince; rather, people felt compelled to answer to her call. Though I did not like her because she spoke of my husband in a way that made her sound too knowledgeable about the man I love, I could not say that I doubted her genuine feelings for him. She truly did seem to care about Duo, though thankfully not in a way that would have me trying to kill her for daring to think about him in the same way Otto thought about him.

In the end, she gave up on her tea, turning a resolute stare back to me. "I remember telling you during the invitation that I was not asking for your trust, but for your open mind," she started with careful hesitancy. "I would like you to remember that now."

I stared back at her. "You just told me that my husband engages in subterfuge to fight corruption, can see and talk to the dead, and set fire to his greenhouse in order to strike a deal with the God of Death. Exactly how open does my mind need to be for what you're about to tell me?"

"...Well see, now I feel a bit silly when you put it all out there like that."

I gave her an unimpressed look pulled right from Trowa's arsenal of non-expressions.

Relena sat straighter in her chair, making sure to match my eyes with confidence I could almost believe.

"I have prophetic dreams," she stated.

The words sent my thought process to a screeching halt.

"They come to me in the form of... Of a story, about the future," Relena hastened to explain. "I read all about our future in this dream. I didn't really believe it at first - I had just turned 10 when they started - and of course I would be the main character in my own dream. But then places I'd never visited or people I'd never met would appear in this dream, a perfect match to when I finally saw them when I was awake..."

Unlike before, Relena seemed almost jittery, like she was rushing to get the words out. Through the static panic in my own mind, I wondered how often she had tried to share this story and got laughed at or dismissed. "I would also 'read' about things I'd never know about, family secrets that no one could guess at. Like..."

"Like Duo's ability to see the dead," I finished hollowly.

She winced. "Yes, like that. But it wasn't... It wasn't that I was reading about their past; I was reading about their future."

Relena's gaze dropped back down to her teacup. "That's how I knew I was really Relena Peacecraft. That's why I knew what you really felt for Duo without ever having to talk to you." Her eyes shuttered about, recalling something unpleasant. "It wasn't a pleasant future, but no one ever believed me until Duo."

She shook herself out of her ruminations. "I knew I had to take steps to avoid it. I was even trying to avoid you, thinking that could help, but it seems there are some paths and meetings that can't be avoided," she said with a lightly bitter tone. "But there are things that even I can do, and it's already headed in a better direction than the original story. Duo and Lady Meilan are still alive, for one."

That sent a jolt of warning through me. "What do you mean?"

"The dream is part of the reason I never wanted Duo to use the greenhouse to barter," Relena explained. "I don't know his motives in my dream - since in it, we didn't know each other - but he passed away during the fire. Lady Meilan passed away soon after him, as a direct result."

A direct result? I didn't see the relation, but there was a more pressing matter at the moment. "You said it was a story - did it have a name?"

Something in my tone must have alerted her, because Relena's expression contorted in wary concern.

Duo had told us the name of the novel he'd read only once, but it stuck with me because given the brief overview he'd given of it - the name had not made sense. From Duo's description, the book had read more like a fantastical tale than some sort of historical record, giving it more of a story-telling element; if it was a true novel, then the name should have some sort of meaning to the story. The name of the novel had been foreboding, given our current conflicts with the Alliance, which had made it easy to remember a name like-

"Endless Waltz," Relena said. "It's called Endless Waltz. Why did you want to know the name?"

I scowled. "Because Duo is having the same prophetic dream."

That stunned Relena into silence.

Was this really a prophetic dream? Perhaps Duo had simply heard all of this from Relena, and after the shock of the greenhouse fire, his mind had somehow assimilated it into his memory, confusing her fantastical tales for his genuine memories. But if that were the case, then there shouldn't be that many correct guesses at this future.

Perhaps Duo's work trying to investigate the complicated web of corruption in Sanc had given him enough knowledge to fill in the gaps and make educated guesses, misattributing it to a story he'd heard from his childhood friend. Perhaps Duo couldn't see the dead, but was merely affected by the combination of his secrets and Relena Peacecraft's lies-

"The same? What do you mean, the same?" Relena demanded.

I glowered at her. "He's under the impression he's read the same book. He told us about him...in the greenhouse fire, about Meilan dying in Ishigaki and the King of Oz being assassinated, then you and I getting-" I stopped abruptly, not wanting to say the words out loud.

That seemed to be enough for Relena, whose eyes had progressively widened as I went on. "...Us getting married," she finished weakly. I was mildly relieved to see she looked just as horrified. "...Wait, you said the King of Oz was assassinated?"

That gave me pause. "Yes. Duo said he was murdered by his concubine. Was that not the same in the 'story' you read?"

Relena's long stare was disconcerting. Confusion was steadily giving way to a growing understanding, though her features had begun to pale as she processed my words more and more. "Killed by his concubine," she echoed faintly. "That's... That's not correct, but it's not wrong either."

I stared at her. "What does that mean?"

"Treize Khushrenada was said to have been killed by one of his concubines near the beginning of the story, but that was a lie pushed by Romefeller to gain total control of their Alliance. They pin the blame on Sanc and declare all-out war after usurping control of Oz," she explained with growing trepidation. "However, Treize Khushrenada isn't dead - he doesn't die until much later, and I would be physically present when he does. Duo would know that if he read the same story I had. "

So they'd had similar but not identical prophetic dreams?

Relena words were coming to a head. "Unless... Unless he's only read so far. Because from what you've just said, it sounds like he's only read up to the first book."

"The first book?" I repeated in confusion.

"Endless Waltz," Relena enunciated clearly, horror bright in her eyes. "Is a trilogy."