Silhouetted by the Sea

Disclaimer: I don't remember coming up with them. Yeah....yeah, they're definitely not mine.

Author's Notes: It all started with a trip to Disney World. This was my very first AU story, something I'd been hesitant to do in the past. Now I have a couple of them to my name, but this remains one of my favorites. It's been re-vamped since it was banned from Fanfiction.net, so I hope you enjoy it!

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Silhouetted by the Sea
by Kristen Elizabeth

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1789
South Hampton, England

To her dismay, the sun had risen. As she opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling of the inn bedroom, she cursed the inevitability of time. This day had been bound to come, no matter how much she dreaded it.

As she was about to get out of bed, she got the strangest feeling someone was watching her from the shadows. When her chambermaid, Leah, appeared with her corset, Relena Peacecraft relaxed back into the down pillows. "Oh," she breathed. "It's only you."

The girl looked puzzled. "You're not ready to be dressed, Miss Relena."

"I'm sorry." Relena threw the covers off her legs and stood up. "Forgive me if I'm not ready to be trussed up and shipped off."

Leah set the corset down onto the bed. "Your brother wishes to see you before the ship sets sail. Everything is ready, Miss Relena. Except for you."

"You can dress me, Leah. You can fix my hair. My brother can place me on a ship and have his best men sail me across the sea, but I will *never* be ready to marry against my will."

"Relena." The calming voice of her sister in law floated in from the suite's drawing room. She appeared a moment later, dressed in a simple blue frock that brought out the same hue in her eyes. Baroness Lucrezia Peacecraft emanated compassion for her husband's sister. She held out her arms to Relena.

Relena stumbled into them. "Have you talked to Millardo? Have you convinced him not to make me go?" she asked a moment later.

Lucrezia gently stroked her sister in law's long, golden hair. "If there were anything I could do, you know I would. But your brother made this promise in battle to a man he considers a great friend. If he went back on it, he would sacrifice not only that friendship, but his honor and his dignity."

"It's nearly the nineteenth century," Relena snapped, pulling out of the embrace. "I wasn't entirely sure such things existed anymore."

"They do, very strongly, for your brother." Lucrezia sat on the bed gracefully, despite her seven months of pregnancy. "My heart is with you, Relena. If anyone had tried to make me marry a man I had never met, I would have reacted this exact way."

Relena played with the ties of her nightdress. "It was different for you. You've always known whom you wantedmarrmarry."

"But had I been forced to marry another..." Lucrezia looked down at her hands. "Well, needless to say, I would not have bent to my father's will easily."

"Anwon'won't bend to my brother's!" Relena declared. "I will not board that ship today. I will not sail to Barbados. And I will not be forced into a marriage with Treize Kushrenada! I don't care what promises my brother made!"

Lucrezia glanced at the silent chambermaid. "You may go, Leah. I will attend to her." The girl curtsied and made a hasty escape. "Relena. Is there someone else? Someone you long for?"

Relena looked up at the ornately painted ceiling. "There is no one...that I know of."

"But...?"

"It will sound silly if I say it out loud." Her brother's wife shook her head and indicated for her to continue. "I simply feel...as though there's something..." She hesitated. "Someone with whom I am supposed to be." Her eyes clouded over. "And it is *not* Lord Kushrenada."

Lucrezia tilted her head to one side. "Then who is it?"

"I'm not sure I have met him yet." Relena touched her fingers to her lips and closed her eyes. "But...I will know him when I see him."

"Relena." The older woman grasped her hands. "If you have not met him in England, than perhaps he is not here. Perhaps...you will have to go elsewhere in order to find him."

"And if I don't?"

Lucrezia lifted her slender shoulders. "Would it be so bad to be Lady Kushrenada?" The corners of her lips turned up. "I would have to curtsy to you."

"No, you wouldn't," Relena assured her. "Even if we ever met again, you would still be my sister."

Her brother's wife leaned forward as much as she could and kissed Relena's forehead. "And you will always be mine. This will not be the last time we meet. I promise you."

There were tears in both women's eyes. Relena, however, was not entirely resigned yet. "You need me here, Lu. For when the baby comes! I can't leave you like this!"

"The baby will be fine, although I'm sure he'd much rather meet his aunt sooner than later." She smiled through her tears. "He will meet you someday."

"Do you promise that, too?"

Lucrezia nodded. After a moment, she wiped her cheeks and struggled to her feet. "Now, you have to hurry. The ship sets sail at high tide."

"Forgive me, Lu."

"For what?"

"I will never forgive my brother for this."

Her brother's wife placed a hand on her swollen belly. "In time, Relena, you will. He does love you. Ever so much."

Relena reached for her corset. "And I love him. But I still won't forgive him. I am not his property to give to any man of his choosing." Her expression softened. "I do this only...for myself. For whatever is out there, waiting for me. Not for him."

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Her departure from the England of her birth passed all too swiftly. She stood at the ship's railing, surrounded by her trunks and watched the dock pull away from her. Her eyes locked with her brother's. He raised his hand, meaning only to wish her well. But to Relena, it was as though he was cutting her out of his life. Beside him, Lucrezia dabbed a handkerchief under her eyes, sobbing quietly against Millardo's shoulder.

She felt a hand on her arm belonging to her companion on the journey, Lucrezia's childhood friend and Relena's personal guardian, Baroness Sally Po.

"When we look back, we fail to look forwarshe she said, comfortingly.

Relena blinked and glanced at Sally. "You're right. Unfortunately..." She glanced back to the dock. The figures of her brother and his wife had become even smaller. Almost undistinguishable. "I look forward to nothing." She gathered her skirts. "Show me where my cabin is. I wish to be alone."

"For how long?" Sally asked.

"Until we reach America, if needs be." Relena turned on her heel and started below deck, a small train of brocaded silk following behind her.

Sally sighed and gave the shore a final look. The dock was gone now and even the land was becoming small. "Here's to...whatever may happen."

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Savannah, Georgia

"What have you brought us?"

The young girltoritorious for her slim figure that allowed her to sneak in and out of places no male could, handed the shadowed man a scroll of parchment paper. "The ship is called the *Lady Anne,* owned by Lord Treize Kushrenada. It was due to sail from Southampton this very afternoon." Hilde grinned. "It's destination is here, and then, to Kushrenada's plantation in Barbados."

Trowa Barton folded his arms over his coarse, woven shirt. "Who does it carry?"

"Only a crew of ten, supposedly," Hilde reported. "And two passengers. One is a Baroness, although her sympathy for us Americans in the war has rather brought down her social status, especially since her husband croaked a year ago." She paused. "The other is the sister of Baron Millardo Peacecraft, a very wealthy former officer in the British Army. They're traveling to Barbados so that the Baron's sister can marry Kushrenada." Hilde beamed at the amount of information she had been able to uncover.

"High possibility of jewels," Chang Wufei pointed out as he sharpened the blade of his sword.

"Not to mention the ship was reported to be loaded up with goods. Tea, silks..." Hilde looked at their leader. "It's what we've been waiting for, don't you think?"

Heero Yuy stepped out of the shadows, still studying the parchment. "When will they arrive?"

Trowa shrugged. "A month, give or take. Depends upon the winds."

"Ten against three," Heero mused.

Hilde protested. "Don't you mean four?"

Their leader nodded in acknowledgment. "Could we take the ship?"

"Of course!" Wufei stood up, brandishing his sword. "It would almost be hard to justify such an easy conquest."

Heero rolled up the parchment. "All right then. The *Lady Anne* it is." Hilde squealed in delight. "We'll wait until they start for Barbados. I want to attack in Carribean waters." The paper crumpled in his hand. "This might be a simple job, but I have a feeling...it will be an important one."

Hilde jumped up and down. "Aye! Because we're going to be rich!!"

"Yes." As the young girl continued her celebration and attempted to draw Trowa and Wufei into her enthusiasm, Heero slipped out of the commoom aom and onto the balcony. The black, night water of the Atlantic reflected the full moon, mesmerizing him with the shimmering spectacle. The sea was his home; it was to it, not to any motherly love, that Heero had been born. He had accepted, long ago, that the same oceans which saw his birth would also see his death. Would it be this raid or the next? He had no way of knowing.

But whatever his destiny was, he would only find it on the sea.

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To Be Continued