Disclaimer: I do not own GS/GSD or any of these characters

Once upon a time, there lived a princess. This princess was as beautiful and kind as all princesses should be, but her life was far from the charmed lives princesses live in movies. You see, this princess had never found her prince charming. Instead, she'd been trapped in an arranged marriage to a man she did not love and who did not love her.

Princess Cagalli Yula Seiran of Orb cringed as she dabbed concealer over the swolen area just beneath her left eye.

Wearing makeup was something she'd never done before her marriage. In the past year, she'd become quite adept at using makeup to hide the bruises left by her absusive husband.

After she finished, Cagalli stepped back to check the final result. The bruise was still faintly visible beneath her makeup if someone really looked for it, but she was satisfied no one would notice it. And if anyone did remark on it, she'd just do what she always did: lie. She'd make up a story about tripping in the dark and hitting it against the corner of her nightstand or something similar.

Frowning, she let her hair down and arranged her bangs to help conceal the mark. Better. Much better.

Whoever said all princesses lived happily ever after should be shot.

When her mother read those fairy tales to her as a child, she'd always taken comfort in the fact that all princesses lived happily ever after. That was not so in her case.

Sure, she'd led a charmed life up to a point. She'd grown up in the palace with both parents doting on her and her twin brother. All that had come crashing down around her when King Uzumi and his wife both tragically died in a car accident when she and Kira were only sixteen.

The King's advisor, Unato Seiran, had taken over the kingdom for a brief period then until Kira reached eighteen and was able to rule the kingdom himself.

Those two years had passed Cagalli by in a blur. She'd still been numb from the loss of her parents. All she remembered was the war with the neighboring kingdom of Zaft and Unato's insistence before he abdicated the throne that she wed his son, Yuna. He'd told her that her father had agreed to the marriage before his death...and she'd believed him. She knew now that her father would never have arranged her marriage to such a monster, but it was too late. The deed had been done.

After checking her reflection once more, Cagalli picked up her hand bag and exited the room. She was already late for lunch with the royal couple.

In a nearby kingdom, there lived a young, handsome knight. This knight had been given a special mission by his King that would cause the paths of the two to cross.

Four figures crossed the open hall leading towards the Zaft docking bay.

"Don't get yourself killed, Zala," one of the men said as they drew nearer to the aircraft. "When I become the commander of this team, it's going to be because the Council chose me over you, not because you went off and got yourself killed."

"Right, Yzak. I'll try to remember that." Athrun never took his hot-headed team mate's remarks to heart. Sure, they'd had their share of fights, but every member of this team had proven their loyalty time and time again.

"But I thought we were at peace with Orb? It shouldn't be that dangerous." one of the other two men pointed out.

"Right, but that doesn't mean there still aren't a few fanatics out there who will always blame Zaft for what happened. We can't be too careful." the fourth replied.

Aside from Athrun and Yzak, there were two more members of their team: Dearka Elsman and Nicol Amalfi. The four made up the elite security squad formed by the king, Siegel Clyne, after the war had ended. All four of them had fought in the war against Orb and were now considered heroes in their kingdom, Zaft.

Of the other three men, only one would be accompanying Athrun on this trip. That man was Dearka Elsman. The other two were to remain here and protect the King in case anything should happen. If their mission should go astray, it could lead to another war and no one wanted it to come to that. However, it was vital that they get as much information as they could on the recent assassination attempts on their princess...and in this case, that meant going undercover.

Athrun had been selected by the King himself for this mission because of his connection to the target. It was true that the two countries had been at peace with eachother for over a year now, but it would still be a mistake to announce his real reason for travelling to Orb at this time.

Dearka, on the other hand, had been selected to accompany Athrun after Nicol had elected to stay closer to home and Yzak had pointedly remarked that he wouldn't go anywhere with Athrun. Besides, Yzak's arrogance would prevent him from successfully accomplishing his part in this mission.

And so, Athrun and Dearka were preparing to depart for Orb within the hour. They'd already arranged for a meeting with the royal couple as well as the princess and her husband upon their arrival. If all went well, they would be back home within the week.

But neither the Princess or the Knight could have foreseen the events that were about to unfold.