CHAPTER XVI- One Death

A/N: This is it…the final chapter. It took a LOT of caffeine to write this.

Relena was seated composedly at Quatre's desk, her blue-green eyes focused on the blond Arabian boy with an intensity that reminded the young businessman of a certain suicidal pilot. She carried herself differently than she had before, with more confidence and certainty, but sadness glittered in her eyes and she sat poised like a statue.

He broke the stony silence by pouring them both a cup of tea.

"How are you, Relena?" he asked carefully. He had a deep respect for this woman, and if he Trowa hadn't been so kind or Heero so possessive, he might have been tempted to try his luck at winning her heart.

"Not very good, old friend," she took a deep breath, "But I didn't come here to reminisce."

"I know.'

"Quatre, you and I both know who has been controlling the ESUN from the beginning. I believe your corporation has more hold over the senate than the president."

He arched an eyebrow, "My father was very generous in campaign contributions."

Relena nodded, "The Mafia has been infiltrating the mining corporations for years. Not even Winner Industries is uncorrupt."

Quatre sighed and put down his cup, "Don't I know it."

"However, the center force of the Mafia has just been destroyed-"

"By highly unorthodox means," Quatre interceded.

"Indeed, however, they will fall now in a matter of weeks. Senator Jour has just lost his bid for the election." Relena looked out of the window, "Remember how it was before, Quatre? We didn't have to worry about consequences or opinions, just the truth. 'Right' and 'wrong' was black and white then. Now everything I see is gray," she took a sip of her tea and almost spat it out. Quatre had very…interesting tastes, "I didn't come here to philosophize, my friend. What I came here to say was that I need you to pull in your favors."

"Relena-sama!" he said formally, "That goes against everything-"

"I know."

Her eyes were cold and distant.

"I know."

And slowly she explained her desperate plan.

And he understood and agreed with what had to be done.

He understood, but it still hurt like hell.

A composed young man pressed a few buttons on his dilapidated shuttle's main panel, raising the engine output to the maximum speed. He neared an abandoned colony on an abandoned asteroid, maneuvering the spacecraft into the nearest shuttle bay.

The facility that he was arriving at was not the same one at which he had been trained, but it had the same feel, the look of barren calculation and keen intelligence. The memories that were barraging his mind were constant and painful, and adrenaline surged through his body.

"Unidentified shuttle, what are you doing?"

There was silence.

"Unidentified shuttle, we have children down here-"

Children?

Had that crazy old man once again twisted the lives of children for his own means?

He opened the link, "Acknowledged," he looked down to the space control officer, the picture of burning menace, "I will not hurt anyone as long as they don't get in my way."

The man who had the great misfortune to witness this passion would have nightmares for the rest of his life. However, Relena Darlian was looking out the window of yet another transport at that moment with exactly the same degree of emotion, and if the stars had eyes, they would probably have had been trembling.

But stars did not have emotions. Nothing seemed to have emotion anymore.

Heero departed from the shuttle armed with the reserve gun cache located in a small panel by the cockpit. The guns were not for show. He was read y to kill to stop the monstrosity Doctor J had once again created.

There were a couple of nervous soldiers by the door, holding the guns in their hands as if they had no clue how to use them.

Fear was man's first weapon against the darkness.

He moved forward. They stood their ground.

Doctor J had never tolerated cowards.

But they did not fire. Heero Yuy had that effect on people.

Six clean shots were all it took to fell them, all minor wounds that would not kill them.

Heero Yuy had made a promise.

A promise was all that was keeping him from tearing them apart and littering the pristine floors with their mutilated remains.

He did not do such a barbaric thing, but his fury was so great that it shone in his eyes.

He discharged the magazine on the gun and refilled it with another.

Doctor J had dared to twist the lives of children once again. Like the insane piper from the old fairytales who had enchanted the children away from the city, like a puppeteer using human marionettes.

Heero Yuy could have stopped this diplomatically, perhaps even had Doctor J arrested.

But Heero Yuy only knew violence. He was familiar with it. He knew how to work a violent situation to his advantage. He couldn't do that with words.

So he moved on, moved deeper into the hellish perfection of the base to the inner sanctum where Doctor J would remain.

Doctor J wasn't a coward either.

He was just overly devoted to his cause.

So Heero was not surprised when he found that man, twisted and warped by machinery and by his own deformed body, leaning over a counsel, typing.

"You couldn't kill me then, and you can't kill me now." He said calmly, bringing a cup of cold coffee to his lips. He said the words in Japanese, the tones graceful and flowing even for such ugly words, even when they came out of such ugly lips.

"How did you use the children?" Heero growled, lifting his newly loaded gun to the man's face.

"Put that away. I made you what you are today."

There was no reply.

"Odin Lowe did not mean anything to you. He killed your family. I shaped you into the man that saved the world and the colonies. I made you into the man that Relena Peacecraft fell in love with."

"Darlian." He spat. "Her name is Relena Darlian."

"Ah, yes. I could never get rid of the considerate part of your personality," he taped a few keys on the keyboard and brought up a new file, "which is what made you so perfect."

"Shut up, old man, and show me what I came to see."

"The Machine," he said motioning to the screen with a fake limb, "I'm surprised you didn't find out earlier. You must have been too busy protecting your girlfriend."

"Among other things."

"Yes," Doctor J said mockingly, "Heero Yuy tried to forget war."

For the first time, the man turned to his former protegee, "And that was where you finally made a mistake. War is in your blood, Heero, and, like the drugs I addicted you too, you can't escape it. Violence is the solution to your problems, and I had to make you that way for the good of the colonies."

Fury overtook his senses, ironically proving Doctor J right. He shoved the elderly cripple up against the wall, dropping the gun as he held up the man with his two hands.

"You did it for the good of yourself! You think you are justified to use people because you can't do the job yourself! You wanted to make an impact on the world, but you couldn't do that alone! You needed someone to do that for you!" Heero was letting his emotions run rampant. Yasuo would have been very pleased, "You had me so drugged up, I was desperate! You fucked with my DNA…the only thing a person can claim to be theirs and theirs only!"

"Yes, and I should have known to alter the mitochondrial DNA as well to allow for best energy use, but I didn't think of it. Besides, then you wouldn't have been identifiable to anyone."

Heero dropped the man, "How dare you?" He reached down and picked up his gun, "Where are the children?"

Doctor J looked up. He couldn't understand Heero. He wouldn't. It was not comprehendible to a man who had always been certain he was correct.

Doctor J looked up from his position on the floor where Heero had dropped him. There would be no reasoning with the former Gundam pilot now, "There's only one left. Only one who could withstand the Machine-"

He pressed the gun to Doctor J's head, "Where?"

"Three levels down. Room 4032."

He looked up at the boy, almost sneering, "Would you kill me now?"

Heero Yuy sat up, "I don't need to make your heart stop beating to kill you."

"What do you mean?"

"I can let you live."

Doctor J was silent.

Heero's brow creased with confusion, "Good-bye."

"Wait!" the old man screamed

Heero turned on his heel and walked out.

"Wait-"

The door slid shut, but Heero Yuy waited outside until he heard the sound of a gunshot. Doctor J had taken his own life with the pocket revolver he always kept in his inner pocket.

And Heero Yuy had expected it.

This had been his revenge. He was supposed to be pleased. He found it odd to discover he was not.

Doctor J could never erase the caring side of Heero Yuy.

That's what had made him different.

An anchorwoman was staring at the camera, her expression grave. After the witty accidental music ended, she drew a breath to speak to her rapt listeners, "And the world is reeling with shock today as Senator Jour was arrested for abusing three human rights acts and for concealing facts from the ESUN and the public. The expected verdict will be an entire life memory wipe, but the trial will begin next month.

"In election news, the arrest of Senator Jour leaves two very talented candidates for the presidency, Senator Ariel Yuy and Senator Darrell Wayridge. They are practically tied in the polls, and these final days to Election Day will be the most decisive.

"In further news regarding Senator Jour's atrocious action, Candles were lit all over the large colonies and major Earth cities to remember the dead. Here in Geneva the road to the House of Commons was lined with flowers in commemoration of the innocent people who died on Mining Colony 4203.

"Blueprints and the locations of Senator Jour's weapons were located in his office, and a team of Preventers are en route right now to apprehend the base. Our prayers go out to them."

The anchorwoman was of African descent. Her dark skin and hair glowed under the TV bulbs.

"Meanwhile, a bill has been rushed to the Senate house for review. This piece of legislation will outline strict regulations for mining corporations, making healthcare and the right to a union official law. While this bill is very liberal and expensive, many of the more conservative senators are actually voicing their approval to it, a beautiful fact that tells us maybe we are really trying to work together for the betterment of humankind.

The anchorwoman suddenly smiled. It was not a made-for-TV smile or a small grin, it was a full-blown sign of enthusiasm. She paused before she went on, "Thankfully, Foreign Minister Relena Darlian has been found and appears quite fine. She says that she had been deeply disturbed by the event and that, now that the crisis has ended, she will be retiring yet again from office."

The anchorwoman stopped then, and a slight frown crossed her face as she pressed a well-manicured finger to her ear-piece, "News just in, ladies and gentlemen, the preventers have found Senator Jour's weapon. It has been reported disconnected and the guards unconscious- none of them in critical condition. Unfortunately, the chief scientist in charge of the operation was found dead, and the preventers are considering it a suicide death. Two survivors were found, Mr. Heero Yuy, sister to Senator Ariel Yuy and the one responsible to taking down the base, and a young unidentified boy. They will both be hospitalized for trauma.

"I repeat-"

The woman watching the program flipped channels to a stand up comedy show.

"That Relena! First she's in office, then she's out of office, and then she's back in again! Will somebody please shake this girl and tell her that insane mood swings are for high school, not for politics?"

She turned it off in disgust. Relena Darlian stood up, bones cracking, and walked to the kitchen sink to throw away the remains of her dinner. The people would never know how many senators were bribed for that bill to go to congress, or that it could never have been done without Senator Jour's act of violence. At least Heero was safe…

A familiar beeping sound filled the hall of her apartment in Geneva, and the finally politically retired Relena Darlian sighed. The crisis had ended, so there should be no reason to blackmail her, right?

She was not expecting the face of her brother. His icy blue eyes were blazing, and his hair was mussed.

"Milliardo, did you hear the news?"

He nodded, "And what's more, Ariel's ratings have just gone through the roof. Her brother just protected the world again. At this rate, she gets the presidency."

Relena sat down, all business once more, "Should I voice my support of Wayridge?"

"No, it's too late. Just being vocal in your support won't be enough this close to Election Day, and the vice president has already been chosen, so you can't run." Milliardo drew a deep breath, "I see only one way to draw attention back to Wayridge. You're an excellent actress, my sister, and I think you can pull it off. Relena, I know this means deceiving a lot of people and I know that you…well, won't be very happy, but you did say that you would do anything for your people-"

When he had finished, Relena was crying, "Not that…not that.."

Milliardo leaned forward, "Which is more important to you? Your happiness or your people's?"

The lights were flickering in the corridor, casting a soft yellow glow on the red interior of the passage. Relena stepped out into the hall with her gentle footsteps, and Heero froze at her approach. He turned his back to her, staring at the embroidered carpet.

"Hello, Lady Wayridge," He said formally, placing the barrier between them so that he would not forget who she had become.

There was a choking sound behind him, and he knew she was holding back tears, "Heero, don’t do this."

"I have accepted a position with the preventers in L1," He said coldly, "and have gained guardianship of Tyrone. I finally have a life waiting for me."

"Heero, I had no idea they were planning this. What was I supposed to do?" she wasn’t holding back the tears anymore. He glanced back at her and saw them cascade down her cheeks. He forgot the formal hairstyle and the elegant brocade of her gown. For that one moment she was just a girl and he was just a boy. It hurt too much. She took a deep breath, "I’m still young, Heero. We’re both only eighteen. President Wayridge is…my husband is far older. I will one day be a widow."

Heero turned and glared at her, "How could you even think about that?"

She sighed, trembling with pent up emotion, "I need to, Heero. Darrell is a kind and gentle man, but I can never love him. Every time he touches me I can only think of you. Every time I lay beside him, I pretend it is with you that I share my bed. I don’t know if I can do this…"

Her voice wavered, and he stepped up to her carefully, placing a hand on her wet cheek, "You are very strong."

She closed her eyes, "Only when I’m beside you."

He leaned closer, "Likewise."

And he indulged their mutual fantasy one last time, kissing her with his entire heart. Finally it ended and she looked up at him with her vibrant blue eyes.

"I thought I could escape this web, love…"

He pressed his forehead against hers, brown hair mixing with blond, "It isn’t our time yet. You have to survive, Relena. We have to wait a little longer."

She bit her lip, "You won’t lose yourself, will you? You mustn’t give up your artwork, or your strength. Don’t rely on drugs-"

He hugged her tightly, breathing in the smell of her hair, and remembering the pains of the past, "Never…never…"

There was a rustle at the far end of the corridor, and they pulled apart nervously.

He brushed her lips with his finger, a phantom kiss, and she reciprocated.

"Until later," Relena sighed, drinking in the sight of him.

He said nothing.

They parted ways.

A/N: Well, you ASKED for a third part. Second books are never supposed to have happy endings.