Disclaimer: The characters belong to Sotsu, Sunrise, Bandai Entertainment, I neither claim them nor certainly make any money off them!
Pairing: 6x2
Rating: Lemony in places
Time Setting: Post-series, three years later (minus events in Ground Zero, Blind Target, Endless Waltz as when I started this, I hadn't seen or read about these yet)
Summary: A chance meeting leads to the recovery of a wounded heart.
There was little communication as the three former soldiers boarded the shuttle to C-125, and no one even looked at each other much. Duo wanted badly to sit with Zechs, be close to him, but the man had withdrawn deep into himself. Likely he wouldn't have noticed Duo. So Duo had backed off.
Five minutes later, however, he couldn't stand it anymore. He plopped down in the seat next to Zechs, the braid waving in the zero-g gravity. "Zechs, I know you want some space right now, but I gotta talk to you for a minute..."
The blond man, who'd been staring vacantly into space, merely nodded.
"I'm sorry I freaked on you like that," Duo hurried to explain, his heart pounding. "Man, here I make you promise not to run from me, then I turn around and bolt on you!"
"It's all right, Duo," Zechs murmured quietly. "It's perfectly understandable that you would run from me."
Duo pounded his fists on his thigh and made a rude noise. "I didn't mean it like that! You're so worried about hurting me; did you ever give a thought to how it might hurt me to see *you* hurting?"
"Yes. It would be best if you kept away from me."
"No, it *wouldn't*," Duo snapped emphatically. "I would be best if you let me in, if you let me share it. Together we can deal with anything." He ached to touch him, even just on the arm, but he didn't think it would be welcome right now. Instead, Duo folded his arms and stuffed his fists under them.
Zechs did not reply right away, and he still stared at nothing, his eyes unfocused. Finally he whispered, "Please... I would like to be alone. We only have a couple hours and I need to plan how I'm going to handle this."
"But, Heero..."
"Heero isn't me. I alone can undo what has been done. I must."
Duo recognized the coiled energy behind those words, and shivered, knowing that Zechs Merquise, no, *Commander* Milliardo Peacecraft would deal harshly with those who stole from the Foundation to build mobile suits. And everything within Duo Maxwell ached to assist him. "Yeah, okay - and I need to get ready, too, if I'm going to be your bodyguard."
To his surprise, Zechs reacted a little at that. "Bodyguard..."
"You do know your life is in danger? Heero said he can't handle protecting you on his own, so..."
"My life... is in danger. Of course," Zechs said quietly. "Very well. Please, excuse me."
Duo nodded, wanting to kiss him, give him a hug, anything to make him feel better. [I just want to heal him, help him get his heart and soul back,] he thought as he forced himself to get up and go elsewhere, give Zechs his space. [And once I do that, then I'll just spend the rest of my life loving him. Yeah, that's the plan!]
In the back of the shuttle, while on a search for coffee, Duo ran across Heero. "Hey, Heero, any java around?"
The reticent, dark-haired boy hooked a thumb in the direction of the tiny galley. "It's not bad," he murmured. Heero was leaning up against a wall, one arm folded over his chest, the other hand holding a mostly empty mug.
Duo popped into the galley for a moment and then came back to hold up the same wall, a steaming mug in his hand. "Ohhhh, I need this... so, Heero, what's the plan, eh?"
Heero was staring straight ahead. "We confront Ginger Lyons. I want to get back into the database, do some more intensive digging around. We'll see from there."
"Right," Duo murmured, taking a long swallow from the mug. He sighed, enjoying the warmth. He was always cold in space.
"So," Heero ventured quietly a moment later, "You're in love with him."
Duo tensed. "You got a problem with that?"
"Of course not." Heero glanced over finally. "In fact, I think you're just what he needs."
"You do?" Duo was startled. Heero could say the damnedest things sometimes. "Huh, never thought I'd hear you say something like that." Suddenly Duo felt irritated; he scowled at the other boy. "Hey, you're the original Mr. Antisocial - what would you know about a person being good for another?"
Heero's dark brows pulled together. "I'm not anti-social, Duo, I'm just focused when I'm working."
"Which is constantly," Duo muttered, glaring at him over the edge of his mug.
"I just know that your persistence is what Zechs needs to break him out of his pattern of self-hatred," Heero returned, ignoring the comment. "He's clearly remorseful for the past, although you really can't blame him for all of what he blames himself for."
"Meaning?"
Heero shrugged. "Normally I would never consider a machine as good or evil, but that Epyon was the closest thing to a demonic mobile suit I've ever seen. After the first time I flew it, I was a shuddering mess; I'd literally fallen out of it at Treize's feet. He muttered something about being disappointed in me, and all I could think was 'fuck you, Khushrenada'." Heero emptied his mug. "Zechs ought to be blaming me for the fall of the Sank Kingdom, not himself. I was more of a nuisance than a help, flying that monster. If I'd been able to control that thing, I might have made the difference."
Duo gaped at the other boy; not only was Heero Yuy actually sharing something with him, but he was admitting that something had made him weak. "So, ah, you think Epyon did something to his mind?"
Another shrug, then Heero was setting the empty mug down before folding his arms again. "Could be," he murmured. "All I know is I couldn't wait to get rid of Epyon. It made me feel... soiled."
"You didn't see what he did to the OZ Barge," Duo murmured. "I can believe that Epyon made him slice it up like a tin can." He shuddered. "I just want him to stop dwelling on that stuff. It's past, and he's himself again. Zechs really is a good man, Heero."
"Yeah," Heero muttered, shoving off from the wall. "I can see that." He strolled away, leaving Duo to his thoughts.
The day/night cycle on C-125 was just shifting into day when Milliardo Peacecraft strode into the Peacegarden Orphanage with his two bodyguards at his side. Though neither boy carried a visible weapon, Heero had assured him that they could apply deadly force if necessary.
"Mr. Peacecraft!" Ginger Lyons exclaimed, her hands flying up to her cheeks in surprise. She glanced around hastily, her eyes widening as the two young men - that Maxwell was one! - were quickly checking the lobby for other people. "If I'd known you were coming..."
"Then we wouldn't have been able to surprise you, would we?" Zechs murmured, pushing open her office door.
The woman paled in shock, then abruptly pushed ahead of him to get to her computer before he did. To her further shock, she was tackled by one of the boys in a flying leap, his long braid flipping up in the air. "Oh!"
"Not a good idea to make sudden moves around trained assassins, Miss Lyons," Duo muttered, sitting on her back, her wrists crossed and in his grasp. "We don't like things like that."
Zechs and Heero were already at the computer. "I'll just need a few minutes," Heero murmured, tapping in the new passwords. Zechs nodded, then fished a tiny transmitter detector from a pocket and began checking the office over.
"What... what are you doing? Mr. P...Peacecraft?" Ginger wailed from her prone position. "Please, let me explain..."
"Oh, you're going to explain all right. Duo, please let Miss Lyons up off the floor. Keep her restrained, but bring her in here where I can keep an eye on her. Then stand guard at the door."
"Yes, sir," Duo grinned, getting up of the orphanage administrator's back. But he clapped handcuffs on her and escorted her into the office, shoving her into a chair beside the desk. Then, whistling, he went to take his post at the door.
"I'm in," Heero reported, his eyes riveted to the screen, fingers flying over the keys. "Hmmm, I'll need more passwords, it looks like." He pulled out a data disk and slipped it into a slot.
Ginger Lyons, gasping, stared in horror at the computer screen. "You... you found it!"
"Yes, but then I don't suppose you knew this agent of the EarthSphere Unified Nation Justice Department was their top hacker," Zechs murmured, his voice cold. He sat down, satisfied that the room was secure, then turned to look at her finally. "Ginger... why? How could you take money from the children?"
She broke down sobbing abruptly. "I... I didn't want to! He said it was for their future, for their freedom in the colonies!"
He. The Gardener. [We'll get to that in a moment,] Zechs thought. As soon as he'd walked in, it was like he had stepped back into his uniform as an OZ Colonel again, coming to check on a badly run base, ready to run his men through their paces. On one level he was relieved he could still rise to the occasion at need, and on another level he was dismayed it came back to him so easily. "The money was diverted to start a war!" Zechs countered, unsympathetic to her distress.
"W...what?" Ginger gaped at him, startled. "A w...war?"
"Oh, come on, you can't mean to say you didn't realize?" Zechs was contemptuous of her protestations of innocence. "Look at this..." He pointed to the listings that Heero had shown him. "MS allocations... these are funds set aside specifically for the building of mobile suits. Those are machines of war, Miss Lyons!"
"Oh, my God, is *that* what it meant?" Ginger was still sobbing, shaking in the chair. "I didn't give it a thought..."
"Of course not. The Gardener didn't give you a reason to question his actions," Zechs snapped bitterly.
"Just a moment more... there, I'm in," Heero murmured. "This is their base... hmmm, ten Virgos, those could start a little insurrection with no problem... let me see what I can do about that..."
Duo glanced over from the door, grinning. "He's the best, all right!"
Zechs sighed, nodding. "So I've heard, and now I believe. I'm going to owe you hugely for this, Heero."
The dark-haired boy glanced over his shoulder at the older man, then gave him a sly grin - a scary thing indeed. "Yeah? Well, I intend to collect, trust me." Heero gave Duo a look, then went back to his hacking.
[What did he look at *me* for?] Duo wondered, frowning.
"Virgos... those are mobile suits? They've really built them?" Ginger was asking, her voice trembling. "Mr. Peacecraft, I love the children and I would never hurt them. I truly did not have any idea how he was going to use the money, just that it was for the colonies' independence."
"Now you know," Zechs muttered, frowning at the damning evidence on the screen. As he watched, Heero carefully set about disabling the mobile suit systems through the internal network system on the base.
Ginger straightened, knowing she was in a very bad position and that she had to find a way to redeem herself somehow. "I will tell you everything I know, Mr. Peacecraft," she said hastily. "Especially about the meeting."
Zechs looked at her again. "Meeting?"
She nodded firmly. "The White Fang is holding a meeting in an hour to discuss a... transition." She took a deep breath. "Sir, they still consider you their leader, but the Gardener wants to take it over himself."
"I was right," Heero muttered. "Your life *is* in danger... Peacecraft."
"Thank you for your caution," Zechs replied, sighing. "Indeed... now, who's this Gardener fellow?"
Ginger swallowed with difficulty, then bowed her head. "Danzer Quinze. But you must not go - it would be dangerous!"
"Ah, I wondered if it could be him," Zechs said, getting up, giving her a tight smile. "And I certainly will go. This is my organization, after all. And if I'm the leader of the White Fang in their eyes, even after all this time... so be it." His eyes grew cold at this last.