AC 197 September 9th.
"Oniisan, how are you today?"
Zech smiled. "As you see I am fine. Hopefully you are too."
"Oh, I've never felt better."
The man raised and eyebrow at his sister on the communicator screen. The smugness in her face did not escape his eyes as well. "Relena, you do look so happy. What happened?"
The girl grinned widely, much to her brother's horror. She must be up to something. "Well… I have a good news. But before that, I was wondering," she paused, "Do you happen to know a woman named Heiwa Rei?"
Zechs frowned. "Err… I believe I knew that name somewhere…."
"Um… how about William Peacecraft?"
"He was our uncle," the man said matter-of-factly. "_You_ should know about that too."
"I know, I know."
"What does the woman have to do with Uncle William?"
"One more question. Do you know that Uncle William has sons?"
"A son, you mean. I remember the boy. He used to live in the palace too. His name is Zwey. He's the same age as you are, I believe. He too disappeared years ago."
"No, I did mean sons. Two, to be correct."
Zechs stared at her curiously. "Does this have something to do with your news?"
"Yes." Relena's grin went wider.
Zechs tapped his fingers on the side of the control panel impatiently. "I'm waiting."
"You know, the boy has a twin brother and that twin brother came to me this morning." Her grin could not be any wider. "Guess who he is?"
"Who?"
"Heero."
Zechs eyes jolted out of their holes. "You can't be serious!"
Relena's grin didn't even falter a bit. "And guess who Zwey turns out to be?"
"With the fact that the Perfect Soldier is actually my cousin, I shouldn't be too surprised. Who?"
"Duo Maxwell."
His jaw hit the control panel.
The girl giggled and started to explain everything from Heiwa Rei's arrival to Heero's shocking revelation. Of course, she also added to him the fact that the boy had actually passed out when he had found out about the identity of his brother, much to Zech's amusement.
"…Relena?"
"Yes?"
"I think you should run a background check on the rest of the pilots, to make sure they aren't actually another cousins of us or maybe even nephews."
"You know, I actually did."
"You did?" Zechs eyed his sister curiously. "Aaaand?"
Relena grinned smugly. "You'll be surprised."
"So when are you going to bring me to him?" Rei tugged on her son's jacket tightly.
"I will, I will." Heero tried to pry himself off her. "Just give me some time to explain it to him."
"But Heero," the woman wailed. "I want to see hi~~~m."
"For crying out loud, Mother. You're forty already. Stop acting like a spoiled brat!"
"But Hee~~~~ro~~~!!!"
"URUSAAAAI!!" With that, the boy shrugged himself free and quickly escaped from his mother. As he jumped to his jeep, he could still hear her wailing 'Hee~~~ro~~~'. And he had used to think Relena as the worst. "What have I done in my past life to deserve this?" He muttered to himself.
But it wasn't actually her fault that she acted the way she was. He knew that she was totally nervous. He was too. The fact that Duo, the best friend he had ever had in his miserable life turned out to be his brother, _twin_ brother nonetheless, had bothered him to the edge. He simply did not know how to present this news to the braided boy. He was afraid of the other's reaction.
Actually he was surprised by his own reaction the day before. To pass out in front of Relena. K'so! That was so humiliating. Hopefully the damn boy would not pass out instantly after hearing the news.
"Heero!" The braided boy exclaimed as he opened the door. "Man, I haven't seen you for months! I miss you so much, especially your constant typing and your Yuy Glare o' Doom ™."
Heero glared at him.
The boy laughed. "Yep, just like that! The ol' Perfect Soldier. Come on in!"
Heero stepped into the small house. Inside, he saw a girl he immediately recognized as… "Hilde."
The girl looked up from her work and grinned. "Well well well! Look who's here!"
"I have no time for games okay," Heero sourly said as the two tried to start babbling. He turned to the ex-pilot and said, "I need to talk with you, _privately_."
Duo raised his eyebrows. "What? Ninmu again? Hey, man. The war is over by now and I'm not in the Preventers… though if it's interesting enough maybe I'll just-"
"Duo."
"What?"
"Shut up."
The boy shook his head in defeat. "You haven't changed at all."
After Hilde left, Duo walked to the refrigerator and pulled out two bottles of beer. "So," he said while opening the bottle with a bottle opener, "What's the business?"
Heero waited until the boy set the bottles on the table before he replied, "I'm not good on words, so I'll just be blunt with you." He took a deep breath and went on. "Duo Maxwell, I… am your brother." He could swear he heard a dramatic music on the background as he said the last sentence. Nah, must be his fantasy. Too much TV was not good for his health.
Duo looked perplexed. And suddenly….
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" The boy was bursting out laughter. He fell and rolled on the floor, still laughing while holding his stomach. "Hee… Heero!! I can't believe it! You finally joke! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!! Stop! You're killing me! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAH!!!!"
Heero glared at him. "Duo, I'm not joking."
"Yeah damn straight right!" The boy was on his feet again, though the trace of his laughter was still existing.
"I'm not joking, Duo." Heero began to tell his story, as detail as he could. By the time he finished the braided boy looked very amused.
"But Heero," he said, "I've found my dad already and he'd not dead. Get it? My dad isn't dead."
Now Heero's confused. "Huh?"
Duo ran to the stairs, saying, "I know it's surprising, but I actually met him one day and only a blind would dare to say we're not related." Heero could hear him crying out, "Oh, Da~~~d! My friend's here and I think he wants to mee'cha!"
Heero's eyes couldn't get any bigger when he saw the man Duo called 'Dad'. He'snotgoingtofaintagainhe'snotgoingtofaintagainhe'snotgoingtofaintagain, he kept on repeating the litany in his head over and over as he felt himself ogling at…
William Peacecraft, the man who was supposed to be dead fifteen years ago.
~tbc~
Hime D.