"An Oldie But a Goodie" by: the archduke

disclaimer: I don't own GW, but I do own Samantha. I also don't own this premise. It belongs to the owners of "It's a Wonderful Life".

Chapter 7

Heero recognized the place he was in now. It was one of the Winner mining satellites, in the mechanical area to be exact. He remembered when Quatre had taken all of the pilots on a tour shortly after the war with Mariemaia. Instead of wearing the suit he had on when he was at the circus with Trowa, Heero now had on a mechanics jumpsuit, with grease all over his clothes.

"Winner satellite must mean I'm here to see Quatre. After Wufei and Trowa it'll be nice to see a friendly face. Out of all of the pilots, Quatre would be the most unchanged. He is just too kind." Heero hoped that what he was thinking was indeed the truth.

With the loud grinding and humming of the large machines preventing him from asking anyone questions pertaining to Quatre, Heero slowly made his way around the area, looking for anything that might inform him of his friend's location. A scream coming from one of the catwalks high above caught Heero's attention, and he was shocked at what he found.

"You stupid girl! How dare you!" There was the unmistakable sound of a slap and the girl screamed out in pain once more. Heero did not know who the girl was, but he recognized the one doing the slapping. The once pacifistic Quatre Winner was slapping an unarmed girl around.

"I told you never to go into my study! You stupid whore!" He grabbed the frightened girl by the collar and threw her over the catwalk, her screams only silenced once she hit the ground. Heero stared at the body on the ground, and then up at Quatre. The blonde was smiling menacingly, with a look of pleasure on his face.

He turned around and said to a person that Heero could not see, "Go find me another whore. I broke this one." Quatre laughed a cold laugh, then pointed to the body. "And have someone clean this up. It might stain the floor."

"Jesus, that man gets colder and colder each day. That's the third girl in the past two weeks that he's killed. No wonder even Treize is afraid of him."

Heero paid close attention to the conversation that was taking place between two workers. He had to find out more about Quatre.

"Got that right. I thought that living in the only place not controlled by OZ would be great, thinking that the stories about Mr. Winner couldn't be true. They were just too gruesome to believe. Now give me OZ anyday over this hell."

"If we could leave I would board the first shuttle out of here," the first man said. "But Mr. Winner prevents any person from leaving here. And with no communication to the outside, we're trapped like rats."

A third man entered the conversation, and Heero recognized him as Quatre's servant Rasheed. "Master Quatre wasn't always like this, you know. It was that damn war that made him crazy. After his father died, his mind just stopped its normal functioning, and that damn Zero system on his Gundam didn't help it any. He went from the kind boy I helped raise, to this killing machine we know now." There was a moment of silence before Rasheed continued. "I just wish someone had helped him before he had gone completely over the edge. But there was no one."

Heero hung his head in shame and felt as if he were going to throw up. Wufei and Trowa, he could deal with, they chose the paths they ended up on, but Quatre, it wasn't fair. Insanity had robbed him of his kindness, his compassion, the very elements that made Quatre the person he was. He didn't have a choice in the matter, it was something beyond his control that had led him here, led him to become a tyrant and a murderer.

When Heero lifted his head he was no longer on the Winner mining satellite, but back on the banks of that river once more. Samantha was staring up at him, with an understanding look on her face.

"It's hard, isn't it Heero? You thought that your life was worthless, but just look at how your friends would turn out. You made a difference in their lives, never forget that. You are important Heero, so very, very important."

Samantha stared at Heero, and she could tell by his eyes that he was not yet convinced. She sighed, then said, "You still have some more people to see, Heero, so you can fully grasp just how much you mean to your friends. We aren't done yet."