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.
Upon reaching Colony C-125, Heero and Trowa went immediately to the police, their credentials getting them immediate access to all preliminary reports and investigations. Then Heero asked to talk with Danzer Quinze.
The former "Gardener" was, as expected, sullen but when he recognized the young man who had been with Peacecraft at the White Fang meeting, he blanched.
"That's right," Heero said in a low, cold voice, hands on his hips as he began to pace back and forth before the man. Trowa stood on guard behind Danzer, his gun at the ready, pointed at the ceiling. "You know who I am, don't you, Danzer? Or rather... you know what I was..."
Danzer looked frustrated. "You're a Gundam pilot!! But how can you be with that... that *government*? You should know how the colonies pine for independence!"
"I know no such thing," Heero retorted venomously. "I fought for the colonies to end oppression by the Alliance forces, and later to end OZ's control. Those causes are now resolved! The White Fang was started to protest OZ's use of the colonies as factories to build mobile dolls. OZ is gone - why, then, isn't the White Fang?"
The man looked both angry and bewildered. "The Earth doesn't understand the colonies..."
"Which is why," Trowa broke in suddenly, "we're with the government, showing them what the colonies are like. We already bring the colonies' perspective to Earthlings."
Danzer scowled at the other young man. "You're one, too?"
"We are the champions of the colonies, not you," Heero snapped. "Why can't you accept it?"
"Isn't the Gundam the symbol of the White Fang?" Trowa asked with obvious derision.
To their surprise, the man visibly shuddered. Heero narrowed his eyes at him; the reaction was similar to what he and Duo had witnessed in the meeting that day when Zechs had revealed them to be Gundam pilots. [Why do they revere the Gundam so? It's just a machine...]
"Yes, it's the symbol," Danzer said in a small voice. He peered up at Heero, staring at him with a mixture of fear and anguish. "What... are you going to do to me?"
Heero looked up and exchanged a glance with Trowa. [Nothing wrong with holy fear,] Heero thought with irony. He looked back at Danzer. "Do you know that Denis Unter has kidnapped a child trying to spring your scrawny ass?" he retorted, his voice a shade from a snarl. "A child! And you people want to lead the colonies!"
Danzer flushed. "I didn't tell him to do that..."
"We will not deal with kidnappers. Once we find Unter, we will kill him and his associates." Heero let that sink in; of course he didn't mean it literally. [Their useless dreams must die.] Then he added icily, "You should know something about the boy that Unter took."
The captive man flinched. "D...don't..."
Heero would be relentless... about this. "The boy hasn't accepted the end of the war, Danzer," he persisted, leaning in close to the man, his dark blue-gray eyes narrowed. "OZ killed his family. The boy stole a mobile suit and nearly got himself killed. He is a little vessel of unleashed violence... would you turn *him* into a weapon?" [Like I was turned...]
"No, I don't see..."
"We Gundam pilots," Trowa spoke up. "We're pretty good, aren't we?"
"The best," Danzer admitted humbly.
"How do you think we got that way?" Heero picked it up. "That boy's name is Judo, a name he gave himself. That boy... is me..."
"And me..." Trowa murmured, bowing his head.
"Little forged weapons, crafted from early childhood to become bearers of Death with a fearsome machine that cannot be destroyed... that's what you revere! That's what you want the colonies to be like?"
"I..."
"Then," Heero finished angrily, "you're no better than OZ!"
"I... I don't know what you're talking about!" Danzer yelled back. He was desperately confused. Gundam pilots, telling him he was no better than OZ!
"Sure, you do," Trowa countered smoothly. "What do you want for your future, Danzer? What do the colonies want? Competition? Separation? Think carefully, now - don't many people in the colonies have family on Earth still? Did you really want to destroy the Earth?"
"Peacecraft..."
"Whom you and your father recruited..." Heero shot back. "You're not getting away from the truth that easily. Taking a man at the end of his rope, suffering from depression, is not my idea of a wise decision. And besides, look at what he's done since the war? How many children have *you* helped, Danzer?"
Trowa looked over at his lover; he hadn't had much chance to talk to Heero about Zechs, but it was clear that Heero now believed in him. [Interesting...]
Danzer Quinze sat with his head in his hands. "The children... I..."
Heero saw he was beginning to crack a little. He pulled over a chair and sat before the man. "Danzer, tell us about the Dark Moon."
The man glowered. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"What is the Dark Moon doing for the suffering children, Danzer?" Trowa asked quietly. "Or are the children to be sacrificed?"
"What?" His head came up.
"There is no more military occupation of the colonies, Danzer. Your grievances have already been presented to the Minister of Outer Space. What's the big deal here?" Heero asked impatiently.
"Minister...?" The man's face went pale. "I... I don't understand."
"Weren't you listening at all during that meeting?" Heero was growing angry again. All he could see were the big, dark eyes of the boy who looked so much like himself as a child, a boy who was now in the custody of dangerous terrorists like Denis Unter. "I said then that I would act as liaison between the Peacecraft Foundation - and the colonies -and the Ministry of Outer Space. I already have - what I was able to learn from the former White Fang I have already presented to the Minister. Don't you get it? The war is OVER... and now there are peaceful means to getting what the colonies need!"
"The Dark Moon is not needed," Trowa explained, though he threw a glance at Heero, concerned about his vehemence. "There is no need for weapons of mass destruction any longer."
"This is getting us nowhere," Heero muttered, straightening. He faced Trowa and nodded toward the door. "I want to call Zechs, see what he wants us to do."
Trowa nodded and faced him, crossing his arms over his chest. "What are you *prepared* to do?"
Heero met his gaze intently. "More than a little boy's life is at stake here. Judo is already messed up over the war - his soul is at risk! I'm prepared to do quite a lot to prevent that!"
Trowa actually smiled. "Must be quite a kid..."
"You have no idea..." Heero glanced back at Danzer, who was staring at them both. "Danzer, you might consider telling us where the Dark Moon is. If Mr. Peacecraft gives me the go-ahead to do what I'd like to do to you, you're going to be real unhappy with me. I bet you don't know this, but most of us Gundam pilots were trained as professional assassins and terrorists to a degree you can't even imagine." He gave Trowa a rather evil smirk, then the two ex-pilots turned on a heel as one and walked out of the room, leaving Danzer Quinze speechless and gaping at them.
Zechs answered the call from C-125 immediately when it came in. "Peacecraft, here," he murmured, then relaxed to see Heero's face on the monitor. "Heero... can you tell me anything yet?" He and Duo had only come in about five minutes earlier. As he sat down before his computer, Duo laid a hand on his shoulder, standing to the side.
Heero looked long at the blond man on his screen before replying, giving his "brother" a glance. "Duo, I gotta give you credit - I wasn't sure even you could calm him down with that news."
Duo shrugged and gave a half-hearted attempt at a smirk. "Hey, I'm good! But really, I mainly had to hold onto him a lot to keep him from running off."
"I'm right here, my friends," Zechs responded with a sigh. "And I *am* calm. Um, Heero?"
"Right," Heero replied tersely. "Danzer isn't talking yet. I want to use more persuasive methods."
Zechs's pale blue eyes widened. Then he understood, perfectly. [Heero identifies with that boy! Judo, in fact, looks like he could even be Heero's son. Heero would do anything to save the boy, keep him from becoming more conflicted... just as a father would. But the cost...] The eyes hardened. [These rebels... their cause is meaningless. They needlessly risk *children*.] "Do what you must," he replied finally, his voice low and bitter.
Duo's mouth went dry, hearing his lover speak in such a manner. [If he commits to something he's going to regret later, I'm the one who will have to pick up the pieces. But we have to find Judo...] Suddenly he had an idea. "No. This can be done without violence. Zechs, you're not going to like this, but I have a solution that will keep you from hating yourself later."
To his relief, Zechs's gaze softened as he looked up at his lover. "What do you have in mind, Duo?"
[Whew, he's actually going to listen to me,] Duo thought, steeling himself. [Here goes...] "Danzer Quinze will change his mind when he's made to talk to one of the very children his actions have hurt... a child his so-called vision of the future was meant for."
"What?" Zechs exclaimed indignantly. "I will not subject one of my children to such as him!"
All three former Gundam pilots took note of the words he'd chosen: "*my* children". [He *does* care for them, all of them,] Duo thought, his heart singing for the changes in this man with whom he'd fallen in love. "I don't mean just anyone, Zechs," he countered, his hand tight on the other's shoulder. "The children, as you've often said, should not have to know about such things, very true!! But I'm thinking of one other that we're both acquainted with who already knows..."
"Deener," Zechs breathed, shaking his head. "She, any of them, have been through enough already. I cannot..."
"I think I met her, haven't I?" Heero spoke up abruptly. "Duo, you and I talked about her - you said she was empathic, like Quatre?"
"I'll say," Duo replied, thinking of how that one little nine-year-old girl could read him like a book. "She just *knows* things. It's amazing."
"Zechs, there's a chance she could persuade Danzer to talk," Heero commented. "It might be best if I didn't have to use any of my... methods. In this case."
"Ask her," Duo added softly.
"No," Zechs answered firmly. "She's..." [She's like a daughter to me...]
"She's a survivor, Zechs," Duo commented quietly. "Like me... like Heero and Trowa... one of those lucky kids who will come out on top every time, who handles the worst that life can hand her and just keeps on coming... we're a special breed, you know, we survivors. How the hell do you think we've lived through all we have lived through? Hilde was another one - though her number came up finally. But the rest of us -hell, look at yourself! And what about Relena? You couldn't keep her from the truth about life and she's turned out just fine!"
[Relena...!] Zechs bowed his head for a moment. [I wanted to protect her... if not for Heero she'd have died on Libra... but what guts to come out to Libra in the first place and face me like that. Deener has that kind of moxie...]
"Ask her, Heart," Duo whispered, slipping an arm around his shoulders.
Zechs sighed heavily. "Heero, how are we doing for time?"
"Thirty-three hours to go."
"Good - I think we can meet you there at the detention facility on C-125 in two. See you then."
Once that connection was closed, Zechs called Kausch to tell him what was going on, then he made a call for a private shuttle. Finished, he stood and turned to his lover. "All right - but I want to ask her in person. Then we need to get the hell over there."
"Now we're getting somewhere," Duo replied with relief, but when Zechs would turn to go, he pulled him back and slipped his arms around his neck. "For luck, my Heart," he murmured and kissed him.
Feeling a sudden, painful twinge of love, Zechs responded by hugging Duo tight and kissing him back deeply. Then he straightened and looked deep into his eyes. "Love you, Angel," he whispered. "I couldn't face this without you."
Then they were gone, returning to Peacegarden.