AC 197 September 10th.
The man stared at him in surprise. "Re… Rei?" he stammered.
"You are supposed to be DEAD!" Heero exclaimed in horror. "Relena said so!" Being an ex-soldier, he might not be scared of anything, but unknown by anyone, the thing Heero feared the most in the whole wild world was a ghost and he was convinced he was seeing one right now.
The so-called 'dead man' looked dumbfounded. "I'm not a ghost. See? I can touch you." He reached out and pinched the boy's cheek.
Heero stared warily at him and the fingers pinching his cheek before he finally managed to convince himself that he was not dealing with a ghost or spirit or whatever people may call.
"You…," the man started again. "You're not Rei…. But you do look like her. I remember my oldest son looking like her." He paused. "…Do you happen to be…."
Heero stared at the man's blue eyes. Those eyes were Duo's eyes, but he could also see himself there. "Yes… I guess so…. That was what Mother told me."
The man smiled.
Heero gasped as he was suddenly pulled into his father's deep embrace. //What is… this feeling….// He felt his eyes wet. Not again! He would not cry he would not cry he would not cry he would not cry…. However, his attempt failed miserably. He sagged deeper into the man's embrace deciding that for once a while it'd be okay to ball his eyes out like that.
However, the scene was not prolonged. A low sigh and a thud startled them. They turned to see Duo, sprawled unconscious on the floor.
William raised an eyebrow and commented. "It must have hit him just now."
Rubbing his sore eyes with the back of his hand, Heero muttered, "Ano baka."
Two months later, Zechs, Noin, and their six months old baby boy, Zwolf arrived in Sank Kingdom Palace, coming all the way from Mars. Relena had invited them to join the celebration of the reunion of the Peacecrafts and the wedding of William Peacecraft and Heiwa Rei. She also invited the other important people she and her cousins knew, like Quatre and his sisters, Trowa, Wufei, Dorothy, Catherine, Sally, Une, Hirde, and many others, including the scientists.
"Imagine that our parents had to wait seventeen years before they finally got married," Duo commented as he smugly observed the newly weds surrounded by their guests.
"And they still wouldn't be married if you hadn't forced Father to propose to Mother," Heero accused in a disgruntled sound.
"Why Hee-chan!" Duo clutched at his chest melancholically. "You're not saying that you're not happy to see them finally engaged in one harmonic family, are you?"
"I would be a lot happier if he actually had done it on his own initiative," the sullen boy glared at his twin before he broke out a smirk, "It would be… much more interesting… considering Father as such a shy person."
The braided boy made a shocked face. He suddenly shrieked, "AAAARRGGHH!!! MAYDAY MAYDAY!! HELP!! SOS!! HEE-CHAN IS ACTUALLY BEING EVIL!! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!"
Heero grabbed the boy and stuffed the end of his braid into his mouth. "Shut up, baka! And stop calling me Hee-chan."
Duo spitted the braid out and grinned. "Oh, but you like it, don'cha? Hee-chan."
"Duoooo!!"
"They are such a fine pair of siblings, aren't they? How sweet," Quatre commented as he witnessed the dark-haired boy chasing his twin brother around the hall they were using for the party.
"Who would have known that they are brothers?" Wufei fumed. "_I_ still can't believe that they are."
"But they do have a lot in common," the Arabian boy said. "Don't you think, Trowa?"
The silent brunette nodded in approval.
"Everybody!"
The three ex-pilot looked up to the small stage in the hall. Relena was standing there with a microphone in her hand.
"I wonder what Relena's going to say," Quatre pondered.
Trowa noticed that Wufei looked away and whistled off key. "…..?"
"Ladies and Gentlemen," Relena started. The air of happiness was obvious around her. "First of all, I'd like to congratulate the newly weds, I hope your marriage will forever be in God's blessing."
The guests cheered and applauded.
Relena continued, "I would like to announce a little news to you all," she was grinning ear to ear. "A happy news."
"And that is?" Duo, under Heero's tackle, asked.
"My boyfriend has proposed! We are going to get married next year!"
All the guests were surprised. They cheered in surprise and delight, being happy for their Princess.
"Relena-sama!" Dorothy exclaimed. "May we know who the lucky gentleman is?"
The girl blushed before she finally smiled and nodded. "Alright." She took a deep breath and called out. "Wu~~~fe~~~i! Would you come up here to the stage?"
"WUFEI??!!!!" Heero and Duo burst out in pure shock.
Quatre and Trowa stared incredulously at the blushing Chinese who was also grinning ear to ear.
Zech slapped his forehead and groaned, "I absolutely _can't_ believe this!"
Noin, Une, and Sally simply sweat-dropped.
Dorothy frowned. "Is that the best you can get? Even I can get better guys than Chang Wufei."
Catherine and Hirde laughed hysterically.
"Good work, Chang Wufei!!" Master O and the other drunken scientists shouted in cahoots.
"Oi, Hee-chan!" Duo whispered, still half-shocked by the news. "If Wu marries Relena, doesn't that mean he's gonna be our cousin-in-law?"
Heero grimaced.
After the party, the ex-pilots siege Relena and Wufei.
"Okay, Relena," Zech raided. "That's the first surprise you promised me. What's next?"
"You mean there are more?" Duo asked the blonde man incredulously.
"You heard the man, Relena," Quatre snapped, dangerously close to Zero state due to the overwhelming shock. "So SPILL!"
"But I was aiming the shock to Cousin Heero only," the girl whined. "What's wrong with that?"
"You shocked the Hell out of us as well," Trowa stated matter-of-factly in his usual monotone.
Relena withered under the glare of five pairs of eyes. "Okay, guys. I'll tell." She took a deep breath before she blurted, "Well, I was curious on how incidentally Heero and Duo are twins and how they are related to me so I decided to make a research on each of the origins of each of you, then later I found out that Trowa is supposed to be Triton Bloom who's Catherine Bloom's missing brother and I also found out that they are the children of Esmeralda Bloom who used to be Esmeralda Peacecraft, a cousin of my father, then I also found out that Quatre's grandmother was actually also another Peacecraft, so that means that all this time, we are all one big family…," in one breath.
It was silence before finally the words sipped into the ex-pilots' brains. But when it did…
"WWHHAAAAAAAATTT??!!!!!" The chorus was estimated more than 1000 decibels loud.
Trowa gaped. "Catherine is my sister? My mother is a Peacecraft? So Heero and Duo are my cousins? And Quatre too?" The brunette went terribly dizzy and decided that fainting was one of his best alternatives. So he fell, out cold on the floor.
Duo sweat-dropped, "Gee…. I guess that's too much for him to handle."
"For me too."
Duo jumped at the sight of a Zero System Quatre behind him. "AAAAAARRGHHH!!! SOMEBODY SAVE MEEEEE!!!!"
Zech glared at his sister. "Now you did it, Relena."
Relena grinned. "That was just three surprises. Would anybody like some more?"
~tbc~
Hime D.