As Heero sat in the gently rocking van, his mind drifted, fragmented pieces of conversations floating through his consciousness.

*Quatre, I can see my enemies clearly now. If you become my enemy, I'll destroy you.*

Had he really said that to the one he loved? It had been what felt like ages ago that he'd spoken those words. Closing his eyes, Heero's head laid back against the wall behind him, ignoring the five guards who were with him. All of them were smart enough to stay out of the pilot's reach with their weapons at the ready. Chains and locks weren't always a reassurance against one who had been raised to kill, especially if the person in question was the so-called 'Perfect Soldier'.

*Quatre, I will destroy you.*

After the madness of the ZERO system. Yes, he had said that, perhaps repeatedly. At the time, it had seemed the only thing that might break past the insanity that had been awakened in the blonde. Even as he had sat poised, he had mentally prayed to any deity that would hear him not to force his hand in this. With one life that of Quatre's, stacked up against all of those within the colony he wasn't sure if he could do it. The needs of the many didn't always outweigh the needs of the one, not when he needed that one.

*You'll die, Heero. But I don't want to kill my friends. Please, get away, Heero!*

Quatre kill. That was a thought he couldn't make solid in his mind at times. It was easy to forget sometimes that this was a person who piloted a Gundam, cut down mobile dolls and other heavy artillery like they were paper tigers, and had destroyed an entire colony. That angelic face tended to make one forget that at times. But it was for that same person that he sat here now, in chains and under guard to be imprisoned for the rest of his natural life. It was for Quatre.

*Life is cheap… especially mine…*

That was the plain and simple truth in Heero's eyes, reminded to him once more as he remained still with his eyes closed and a picture of Quatre and Trowa in his mind. They couldn't take that away from him with barren walls and a cell. No one could ever take those moments from him. Relena must have stepped in on his behalf that he had been allowed to keep his wedding band on. Even after a year, the winding strands of white, rose, and yellow gold still shone as they had when new. It was a sign of his promise to both of his lovers to love, honour, and now protect them both.

He couldn't break that vow now, even though he had seen Quatre plunge the katana blade into the back of Chang Wufei to kill him.

*Life is cheap… especially mine…* he repeated to himself in silence.



In the darkness of Une's office within Preventer Headquarters, the cold blue light shed from a laptop washed the room in its luminescence. Lady Une herself sat before it, tapping away on the keys as she went over the case one last time.

Chang Wufei: Dead from a single thrust of his own blade from behind. The force of impact was so great that it literally speared him to the desk before him. Given that the owner cherished the weapon, it can only be assumed that it was freely given to the murderer or that it was stolen beforehand. Heero Yuy's fingerprints covered the hilt of the blade, the marks dried in blood found to be that of Trowa Barton, Quatre Winner, Chang Wufei, and Duo Maxwell.

Trowa Barton: Dead from loss of blood from numerous lacerations to his body. A gun had been found in his hand, ballistics showing that the bullet dug out of Heero Yuy was fired from this weapon. Theory is that he fired the weapon once in self-defense after the attacker had sliced him numerous times.

Duo Maxwell: Missing, presumed dead. Roughly half a pint of this victim's blood was found splattered across Heero Yuy's bedroom floor as well as trace amounts on the tarp stowed in Yuy's car trunk. At present, his body has not been recovered, nor is there any information leading to his whereabouts.

Quatre Winner: Missing, presumed dead. Large amounts of his blood were discovered on sheets taken from Heero Yuy's bed, along with semen matching that of Heero Yuy. Handcuffs found in a locked box at the back of Heero's Yuy's closet also contained trace amounts of his blood. At present, there are no leads to where his body has been disposed of or his whereabouts if he is still alive.

Une pressed her fingers to her temples, trying to keep the headache at bay. Long hours of staring at this information all day and night since the disaster had happened were responsible for the nightly migraines. Something wasn't ringing right here. Heero Yuy was a trained Gundam pilot, a fact that worked both for and against him. He would have had more sense than to leave a scene this sloppy behind, yet he also would have possessed the cold heartedness to stab one former teammate in the back as well as cut the other until he bled to death. Heero had been found on the floor in a state of shock with the bullet fired from Barton's gun in him, but Une knew he could have taken more punishment than a single shot and kept going. If it was mental shock, then why? Finally realizing what he'd done? That didn't fit in with her reasoning on the former pilot of 01, not if he had committed these murders in the first place.

Scanning back over the long columns of information, she paused at the newest bits added. Winner's skin had been recovered from beneath Chang's nails. A frown settled on the Lady's face as she leaned back in her chair. Another loose end that wasn't tying up right. Under Barton's or Yuy's could have been understood, but beneath Chang's? Flipping back through the information, she paused at Barton's autopsy report as well before blinking in faint surprise. There had been no gunpowder burns on Barton's hand. When a person fired a gun, a soft cloud of soot particles from unburned carbon particles came from the weapon. It was always found on the hand of the person who had fired the weapon as well as that of the victim if it was at a close range. Flipping back to the hospital's report on Heero Yuy, that dusky smudge had been present on him as well as the particles of gunpowder that had literally been blasted into his skin along with the slug from the closeness of the shooter.

"Which means Trowa Barton was not the shooter," she murmured to herself.

Flipping to the media files, she watched them through again. Little had been picked up by the security cameras at Winner Estate the night of the murders. The interior cameras were all focused on expensive works of art or the vaults. The only one that had captured anything of use had been the one in the garage that showed Heero carrying what was assumed to be Duo Maxwell's body to his car. Only the long braid swinging free from within the wrapped up tarp gave them a hint of what was within. Watching the way he carelessly dumped the body into the trunk brought a line of tightness to Une's lips. Now there was the cold and uncaring pilot of 01 that she knew. Then she saw it. Snapping a hand down on the mouse, she backed the video up, replaying it frame by frame. Enlarging and sharpening the picture showed her the most out of place thing she had seen in the entire investigation.

Heero Yuy was smiling before he shut the trunk.




It was well after midnight when servants woke Relena, Millardo, and Noin, telling all three that their presence was requested immediately at the main shuttle bay for the Preventers immediately. By the time one am came about, the trio had arrived to find Lady Une stalking back and forth outside of a shuttle that was readying to depart. With her hair down, she was greatly changed from the woman they encountered long ago, the great Fiery Une. Agitation showed in her expression but not the coldness of before.

Millardo Peacecraft stifled a yawn as he rubbed his eyes once more, trying to look fully awake at least. Midnight calls hadn't been seen for him since the time of the war. Peace had the habit of making him lazy, he supposed. "Lady Une, I think I speak for all of us when I ask what is going on?"

Brought out of her thoughts, Une straightened her back into the imperious woman that had all known before. When given a mission, she had been as dangerous as any of the Gundam pilots. "We've put an innocent man in prison, and we need to go get the one person who can prove that he's innocent as well as help us capture the real murderers. We're going to Luxembourgh Estate. The shuttle is ready to go when you are."

Three blank stares met this announcement from Noin, Relena, and Millardo. Luxembourgh Estate had been Treize Khushrenda's home, one long abandoned since his death at the end of the war. As far as any of them knew, it was still empty and tended only by a caretaker or two that kept the house free of intruders and the grounds neatened. Relena stepped beside her brother as she watched the other woman, trying to register all the information at once. The innocent man could only be Heero. All of them knew how Une had been slaving away on this case, determined for some reason to prove that it hadn't been Heero's doing, but what could be gained by going to Treize's old home and who were the real murderers? Was it a brand of temporary madness? She had been deeply in love with Khushrenda if what half of Noin had told her was true. "Lady Une, there's no one at Luxembourgh Estate…"

Une sighed, shaking her head slowly. "Just come with me. I need all three of you for this. Heero Yuy did not murder his teammates if I'm right, although you might wish it were he later. Please. Just trust me."

Lucrezia Noin moved forward first, ruffling her hair and yawning as she boarded the shuttle. "If there's a chance, I'm willing to take it. Lead on, Lady."

The German woman's relief was clear as at least one of them was willing to go. She watched Millardo and Relena exchange silent glances before the elder shrugged and both of them went aboard. Twisting her hands together, Une took a deep breath. Part of her hoped that she was wrong and that Heero Yuy had done this. It was a part of herself that she was deeply ashamed of, knowing it was cowardice, but it was there just the same. Pulling the shuttle door closed after her, Lady Une settled down for the ride.



A few hours later, the shuttle touched down on the landing pad on Luxembourgh Estate, the four passengers disembarking and gazing up at what had been the home of Treize Khushrenda. Even now, it was still well cared for and magnificent in its own right. It brought to mind dignity, tradition, and had the strange charm of the palaces in old romance novels. The figure that came striding towards them completed the Gothic air of the mansion as well as put three of them into a stunned shock.

Treize Khushrenda appeared to have changed little since last they had all seen him and heard him, his last act a suicide. Deceptively lazy eyes of sapphire settled on Millardo's platinum once as Treize half smirked, half smiled and turned to Relena to kiss her hand. She wasn't doing any better than her brother, watching with a lost wonderment as the dead man touched his lips to the back of her hand. Squeezing Noin's hand in his own, Millardo faltered in his attempt to smile, "This isn't the other side, you know."

Bass laughter with a seductive edge rolled from Treize as he nodded and shrugged, taking Une's hand for the same kiss, giving the woman a raised brow of inquiry before turning back to the blonde man. "It is the other side of war though. Peace is the other side of the same coin."

Noin broke her shock long enough to shake her head in denial, "You're dead."

"So I've been told."

"How? We saw you. We recovered your body…"

"Lieutenant Noin, for as long as you have known me, have you ever known me not to have a backup plan? Cyborg technology is amazing; especially when you have enough people on the inside to make sure that an autopsy is not done to discover the truth. It was the war to end all wars after all. I never said I would walk out on the winning side," Treize replied softly before stepped back and folding his arms over his chest.

Relena's mind whirled and churned, feeling as if she had been shoved into a hurricane. Treize was alive? How long had Une known this and kept it a secret? "What… Kami-sama… what the hell is going on?"

Treize glanced to Une at his side, that secretive smile tugging at his lips once more, "You can dress her up, make her the overseer of peace for the world, and she's still the girl in roses that took a potshot at you under it all, isn't she, my Lady?"

Struggling to keep her dignity, Relena glared at Treize, the man merely smiling at her still in that infuriating manner. He had tricked them all, and now he stood here laughing about it. She wanted nothing more than to try to hit him, hurt him as he had them. With her nails cutting half moons into her palms, Relena regained her control, reminded that she was a pacifist, even against one she had blamed for a good deal of what had happened to the colonies and planet. "Why are we here, Une?"

Treize glanced at the woman on his arm as well, curiosity filling him on the unexpected visit. She did occasionally come to see him when time permitted, and she could slip away without being noticed, but bringing others was something she had never done. "I admit that I'd like to know that as well, my Lady."

Une struggled within for a few moments, trying to think of the best way to ask what had to be. "Treize, did you reactivate Project Falling Meteor?"

The ginger haired man arched a brow at her question, releasing her hand from his own. Surprise filtered through his mask of gentility before it slid back into place. "No, I have not. I take it this is related to what I've been hearing on the news reports?"

"I need you to look at a clip of the security cameras from Winner Estate if you will. All of you need to see it really," Une murmured, holding out the CD to Khushrenda.

Strong fingers took the small case from her, studying the disc within. Project Falling Meteor. There was one of his plots he'd hoped never to hear of again. As if at a distance, he could hear Zechs… now Millardo… as well as Lucrezia and Relena asking questions of Une that she was patiently answering. Project Falling Meteor. It had been perhaps his greatest plan and his worst failure all at the same time. When he'd heard about Heero's murder spree, he'd never connected the two. Now, here it was, back to haunt him like a forgotten spectre. How easily could his hands merely shattered the frail disc within them, letting him turn his back and deny everything? Responsibility wouldn't let him do that even as he longed to turn away and say he couldn't help them. Lifting his head, Treize straightened his spine and took matters as he always had, upfront and head on. "We need to go to Corsica. I'll watch this on the way. If you're right, Lady Une, then we can't delay anymore."

Millardo caught onto Treize's arm as the former leader turned towards the shuttle. Platinum blue eyes narrowed to slits as he sought to meet the other's, "There's nothing at Corsica. It was destroyed."

Treize's faint smile carried both tones of sadness as well as a strange melancholy as he nodded. "Yes, it was, but just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not there. Some of the greatest secrets of the war still lie buried beneath the debris of bases or floating in space, waiting to be found. It seems someone has found one of ours. I'll explain on the way. There's a lot you need to hear of projects only a few knew about as well as the ZERO system. We don't have time to waste standing here, Millardo, even if I am pleased to see you without your mask. Time is short, and I get the feeling it's growing shorter."