"You shouldn't have given up so easily."
Lucrezia's eyes flickered over to the other end of the room where her husband sat, stiffly facing a projection of Relena on his computer monitor. She refrained from rolling them at his back.
Relena's gaze tightened onscreen, irritation marking her features where none had been before.
"I didn't 'give up' on anything, Milliardo," she answered curtly. "It's not as simple as you think."
Her elder brother frowned at her reply, matching their expressions.
"You let a talk show host get the better of you, and then you distanced yourself from a perfectly reasonable proposal just to win some favour with the public and the media," he countered, his frown deepening with every word he spoke. "What else is that besides 'giving in'?"
Relena's expression—once so easy to read in her teenage years, when she'd been more malleable to her brother's advice—hardened, and her back stiffened.
"I don't expect you to understand, or to agree with, every decision I make," she said, her tone cold. "But I had hoped that you would act more amiably towards me when we haven't spoken in over three months, brother."
Milliardo held her stare for a moment before looking away; nonetheless, it was difficult for Lucrezia to tell, from her standpoint, if what Relena had said had gotten to him at all.
However, when his eyes finally returned to the screen, they had hardly changed.
"Does it matter if I greet you warmly or not?" he asked. "As your brother, I feel it is my responsibility to advise you from time to time, especially when it relates to the terraformation of Mars."
Relena's lip twitched as she fought to maintain her chilly demeanour. "Well, it does matter to me," she said, a touch of hurt entering her voice, "and although I appreciate your advice, Milliardo, I do not appreciate being castigated as if I were a child."
"Then don't be childish," he snapped back, his brow furrowing. "Stand up for what you believe in, and—"
"Zechs, that's quite enough."
Milliardo and Relena both started at the sound of Lucrezia's voice as it broke through the heated conversation, and a silence fell upon the room. She motioned her husband over to where she sat on the couch of their small orbiter home, gesturing to Relena as he walked over.
"Give us a moment," she said to her sister-in-law, who only nodded quietly.
Lucrezia eyed Milliardo with unbidden annoyance as he stood by her, watching as she rested her hands firmly on her hips to make known her bad mood.
"Zechs, you haven't seen your sister in three months," she chided him in just above a whisper, punctuating the end. "Can't you be a bit more civil towards her, please?"
Milliardo met her accusing stare without any remorse in his own. "She needs someone to tell her the truth," he said plainly. "Her staff at ESUN and the Mars Committee members are all spineless in the face of poor opinion polls—she must have consultation with outsiders if this project is to succeed."
Lucrezia's expression eased, but only slightly. "Perhaps, but you cannot just dismiss her entire team as 'spineless' to her face, much less expect her to respect your advice if you force it upon her in this matter," she told him, raising her eyebrow when he continued to look unrepentant. "You must be more conciliatory, Zechs."
He frowned again, but it was not as deep—nor as indignant—as before, and Lucrezia sighed internally, claiming that as a small victory.
"I suppose," he admitted after a minute, though his voice betrayed no sense of defeat.
YOU ARE READING
Slow Burn
Fanfiction[Gundam Wing A/C; a 1xR series of vignettes post-Endless Waltz.] He had always been conscious of the fact that she—Relena Darlian Peacecraft, Queen of the World—loved him, and him alone. And yet that was the problem, since he could never give her wh...
