by zapenstap
The story of Mandred is an interesting one. His relationship to the Gundam Pilot 01 is more interesting yet, for considering the importance Master Mandred has played throughout the history and in present times, the relationship is not only a strange one, but a clear demonstration to any who had doubts on his character and true loyalties. It was for this relationship that he was finally brought to trial.
Mandred knew Heero Yuy when he was a child, the only one who knew his real name and the only one who knew his real parents. In addition to this, they share a similar history, though Mandred spoke little on this subject to any who knew him in the relevant setting, referring to it in his peculiar manner only as "an experience time out of mind." The story of Mandred's life will not be told here, though allusions to it may be made. Rather, it is his part in Heero's life that is of particular interest.
Heero Yuy, an orphan after the death of his immediate family by result of war casualties, was raised from childhood by an assassin. He was later taken in by Dr J and trained to be the pilot of Wing Gundam in a desperate assault strategy against the Earth on behalf of the Colonies and for eventual peace. Heero was taught only enough of life skills to complete this mission, but throughout his struggles regained some of his humanity and formed tentative relationships. After the war, which came to be called the Eve Wars by some and Treize's War by others, Heero Yuy, Gundam Pilot 01, vanished from the scene the day of Relena Darilan's birthday. Following this adventure was the rise and fall of Mariemaia Barton-Kushrenada, in which the combined efforts of the Gundam Pilots and the Preventors held off a second threat of the Earth's destruction.
By this time, it could be seen that Heero was pulling away from his relations, regressing from his improved state and reverting slowly back to the way he had been at the beginning of the war. It wasn't long before Heero disappeared completely, severing all contact, and was not heard from since by any who knew him well or fought along side him. Of these, Relena Darilan is said to be most concerned, though her life for the next two years was a blur of political reformation, leaving her little time to pursue the whereabouts of Gundam Pilot 01. Rather, it was Duo Maxwell, Gundam Pilot 02, who grew most interested in locating Heero Yuy. After much effort, he managed to do so, but Heero was little pleased with this intervention. Duo perceived his mood to be dark and hostile, full of old demons and distractions. Heero related his desire for seclusion but Duo was persistent in his companionship. He feared Heero's dark emotional state was leading him to a greater depression and self-loathing in which he might resolve take his own life without the aid of war as an excuse. At Duo's insistence, Heero embarked on several trips to both Earth and other colonies to interact with the people he knew, but aside from occasional lapses into good humor, he improved little and his thoughts were directed increasingly inward.
It was during one of these trips to Earth that the story really begins.
Quatre Raerba Winner, Gundam Pilot 04, and Relena Darilan had arranged
a conference between them on the excuse of business, and seeing the opportunity,
Duo persuaded Heero to travel to Earth in order to see these old friends
again. Both Relena and Quatre were acutely conscious of Heero's melancholy
and so welcomed both Duo and Heero with all the cheer they could muster
in light of their heavy responsibilities. Duo arranged an extended
trip, as Quatre would be staying in the Cinq Kingdom Castle for some time.
At first, Heero seemed cheered by the companionship, but he spoke little,
especially to Relena, and often took long walks in the palace grounds where
the others had difficulty finding him. It was during one of
these walks, when the others were all in the castle, that something entirely
unexpected occurred.
Scribes of Sileen, Elneira
Relena and Quatre looked up from the table as Duo entered, closing the door softly behind him. Relena set down her teacup softly and turned her gaze from the window that looked out over the gardens. She sighed. Sometimes Heero walked in those gardens, but not today. Duo had already been all over the grounds looking for him and he didn't look his usual bright self, so he must not have had any luck
"Didn't find him, huh, Duo?" Quatre said softly, voicing Relena's thoughts. "Where does he go when he disappears?"
"I don't know," Duo said with an air of truthfulness, "but I'm worried to tell you the truth."
What's wrong, Heero? Relena thought to herself silently, turning back to the window sadly. Why don't you talk to us, to me? We want to help. But she knew also that there was little or nothing she could do except offer a listening ear and a sympathetic heart, but then, maybe that was all he needed. She could not know when she neither saw him nor spoke to him. He grew hostile when she tried to show her concern, and it didn't help that she loved him beyond all bounds and couldn't reveal it for fear of scaring him away forever. He was lost in darkness and thus so was she. It has to do with your past, doesn't it? she thought fretfully. I could kill Dr. J, and any of those who hurt you. She was the only one who had been told some of Heero's past--even Duo didn't know anything--but avenging Heero's lost childhood was not her place, and as far as she knew, all those people were already dead anyway. She took another sip of her tea, but it tasted stale.
*****
The clerk at the front desk in the lobby of the Cinq Kingdom Castle gave a start when a tall, confident stranger entered the building, walking in even-measured strides, his gaze sweeping the room in one all-encompassing glance. Unconsciously, the clerk sat straighter in his chair, for it seemed to him that this was a man of great importance and high acclaim. Yet even looking at his face, the clerk was not so certain, for there seemed to be a lack of self-awareness about him, or rather a lack of pride, for the man certainly seemed aware of who and where he was. The stranger was good looking, though his features were plain, brown hair, brown eyes, and he seemed to be both young and old, at least thirty judging by his face and body, but much older judging by the wisdom reflected in his eyes. As soon as the clerk took notice of him, their eyes met and the clerk was favored with a small smile that, though it showed no teeth, was perhaps the warmest, equalizing smile the clerk had ever received from a stranger.
"Can I help you, sir?" the clerk asked, standing as he would for an important delegate and then sitting again in some confusion.
"Is Relena Darilan in?" the stranger inquired politely, approaching the desk easily in a direct, but somewhat distracted manner.
"Vice Foreign Minister Darilan is at a meeting with Master Quatre Winner, sir," the clerk replied. "But if you have an appointment I can announce your arrival. May I ask your name and business, sir?"
The stranger regarded him in silence for a moment. "My name is Mandred, but I do not have an appointment. Could you page her anyway?"
"Last name and business sir?" Teh clerk prompted.
"Just Mandred, and my business is of a personal nature. I just need to speak with her briefly."
The clerk fidgeted, but let the question drop. He did not want to refuse, but the request was against policy. "I'm sorry, Master Mandred. Would you like to schedule an appointment for later with Miss Darilan? It's possible she's not yet booked for the day."
Mandred laughed lightly, mirthfully, not in a mocking way. "Seventeen and possibly not booked? Well, don't bother yourself. I will find where she is on my own." The clerk half opened his mouth to protest, but Mandred continued without pause. "I assure you that she is in no danger. I carry no weapons and mean her no harm. I only wish to speak to Miss Darilan, Mr. Winner and Mr. Maxwell before I continue with my errand here. I am an old acquaintance of an acquaintance of theirs." The clerk watched with mouth agape as Mandred walked past the front desk and climbed the stairs before he sat back down in some confusion.
As a precaution, he buzzed Sally Po's office.
"This is Sally. Is there a problem at the front desk?"
"Miss Po," the clerk stammered. "A stranger by the name of Mandred is wandering about the castle looking for Miss Relena."
There was a pause at the other end of the line. "All right. Did he seem dangerous?"
"No, Miss Po. He just, well, I don't really know what to make of him. He just walked in. I..."
"That's all right. We'll find him."
So the clerk sat back in his chair. He didn't know why, but he didn't think the Preventors would be able to find this Mandred, whoever he was, and whatever his errand.
*****
Duo shut the door to the conference room behind him softly. Quatre and Relena had work to do, even if they didn't really have to do it together. He paused out in the hall for a moment. Now would be a great time to find Heero and go do something, if he knew where the guy was. Which he didn't.
"Duo Maxwell? Gundam Pilot 02?"
Duo whirled around and stopped with his hand behind his head, grinning, staring up at the broad chest and face of a strange man with soft brown eyes that seemed to latch onto his face and file away everything about him with a mere glance. Duo swallowed. "Yeah, that's me, the God of Death at your service!"
The man's eyebrows rose, subtle humor dancing across his eyes. "God of Death? Do you really believe that?"
"Wha..?" Duo said, blinking. What the heck was that supposed to mean? "I don't know. Who are you?"
The stranger proffered his hand and Duo shook it uncertainly, not really sure why he was being given such a formal introduction. "My name is Mandred," the stranger said with an air of business without losing a personal touch. "I'm here for Heero, but I wished to meet with his friends first."
Duo pulled his hand away slowly, eyebrows drawing low in puzzlement. He'd heard that name before... He resisted the urge to rap his skull to help him think. "Mandred, eh?" Then it came to him. "Hey! Aren't you that guy who sent that Felicia chick on that diamond heist mission?" She'd been a squirrely sort of person, dragging him into danger after some jewels, handing him over to the enemy and then slipping away with a few off-handed remarks after he rescued himself, with a little help from Hilde. But she had mentioned taking orders from someone named Mandred, and called her missions errands. He hadn't seen her since, or that blonde guy Coran who had been with her the first time they met. So this was Mandred? Duo would have expected someone older, and much more cold.
Mandred stared at him in mild surprise. "Felicia has done a few favors for me. What do you know about it?"
Duo's heart raced with the revelation. "Hey, man," Duo said, poking a finger at him. "You got me and that girl in some serious trouble!"
"You weren't involved. Or you shouldn't have been," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "Felicia can take care of herself. Your interference would only make it harder and more dangerous for her. If I were you, I wouldn't admit to being there."
Duo opened his mouth again, but nothing came out. Mandred smiled at him, amusement in his eyes. "Relena is in this room?"
"Yeah," Duo said uncertainly, still lost in his own thoughts. "With Quatre." He shook himself to alert status as Mandred put a hand on the doorknob. "Hey, wait for me! I'm not leaving you alone with them!"
Mandred had already opened the door and stepped inside. To Duo's surprise, he held it open for Duo to follow.
Relena looked up at them from her chair. She had been staring out the window again. "Who's this, Duo?" she asked. "I don't think I know you, sir," she said politely, standing.
"My name is Mandred," he replied. "I seem to be saying that a lot lately. I am here to see Heero. You look much different in person than you do on the projector screens, Miss Darilan."
"Are you from the colonies?" Quatre asked.
"I am from a great many places, Mr. Winner, the colonies not least among them. I am here to retrieve Heero, but I wished to meet you three first."
"Retrieve him?" Relena said somewhat sharply. "What do you mean by retrieve him? He is not a parcel or package you can just pick up."
"You're feistier than your PR lets on," he chuckled softly to himself but still audible to them. "But without need. After all, parents pick up their children from school all the time."
"This is not a school, Heero is not a child, and you are not his father...are you?" Relena shot back without hesitation before faltering some at the end. Duo felt his spine go cold. Surely not...
Mandred laughed. "You're quick-witted too, but hasty. Be careful. No, I'm not his father." Duo let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. Until Mandred continued: "But this used to be a school, Heero is technically a child until he turns eighteen, and I do have legal guardianship over his person until that date."
There was a moment of shocked silence. Duo stared at nothing, dumbfounded, his throat constricted in shocked amazement.
"L...Legal guardianship?" Relean repeated. "How?"
"But no one even knows Heero's birthday," Duo protested desparately.
"I do," Mandred told Duo simply. "I have legal papers. I knew his parents and managed to get guardianship over him through that relation. I also have papers under his new name, which was quite a hassle and is partly reason for my delay. You may see them if you need further proof."
"Heero has parents?" Duo said with some surprise, as if the idea had never occurred to him. He had always thought of Heero as a wayward wanderer like himself, caught up in affairs, prevailing on his own skill and determination, not as someone with papers, parents, and a past.
"Of course he has parents," Mandred replied. "But they are long dead now. He knows that. He doesn't know I knew them."
"Don't trust this guy, Relena, Quatre," Duo warned. "He's not what he seems." He turned a suspicious glare on the stranger. "If you knew Heero's parents, where have you been all his life? Besides, after that "errand" you sent Felicia on, I wouldn't trust you for a second!"
"As for where I have been, that is a long story," Mandred said. "I came across Heero when he was about six. I did not know he was alive, but because of the situation at the time, I thought I could do little to help him. Because of my hesitation I lost him again. I have since been looking for him, ten years now, and I am weary of the search. He was not easy to find, especially since he changed his name."
Duo was silent. Relena spoke up. "But Heero lived with Dr. J ten years ago," she said quietly. "He's been training to be a gundam pilot since he was very young. You couldn't have known him then."
"You are well informed. I am glad, but I wonder if Heero knows how much you know? I lived with Dr. J too, if that satisfies you. I was with him before Heero was, and Heero's coming there was a coincidence not to my liking. It was not my choice to train Heero, but he had already had extensive training before he arrived. I will tell you I was shocked to see him and saddened by what he had already lost, but he did not know me. He still doesn't. He will remember me as Mandred from Project Wing Gundam, Operation Meteor, not as Mandred, friend of his mother's."
"What do you know of Operation Meteor?" Quatre asked darkly.
Mandred spoke to him directly and respectfully. "That it was a very flawed plan, and one I very much wanted to prevent. That was part of my purpose for working with Dr J, and though all the scientists did abandon it, they would not abandon the war. I had little personal involvement with any of those decisions, though. My main focus was on Wing and its young pilot. Dr J grew angry at my growing influence over Heero and stole him away. I didn't relocate him again until the gundams came to earth, and then I waited. After the war, it seemed Heero had much improved, so I decided to let him live his life without bringing myself in it to resurrect old shadows. Only now it seems those shadows have returned on their own. So I have come back. It is my mission to finish what I began, to dispel these old ghosts if I am able and he is willing. I must take Heero away with me, and teach him things he never learned. He must deal with someone who already knows what he struggles with, and of those, I am the only one left, and I actually care. You will have to entrust him to me. I fear I can not help him without your blessing, and I can not have the lot of you trying to rescue him at every turn."
Relena retook her seat and Duo just plopped himself down on the floor. He was confounded, utterly confounded. What were they supposed to do? It seemed this Mandred guy would be taking Heero away. "Will we be able to see him?" Duo whispered. He felt utterly helpless. Heero was going to have a parent of sorts. He would probably live in a house and eat three meals a day with the same people and live in the same neighborhood and go to the same school everyday... or would he be running "errands" for this guy? Duo grew suspicious again.
"Perhaps, after a little time," Mandred said. "I do not want to isolate him again, but he needs some time to sort things out for himself before he can interact with the rest of you."
"What about the errands?" Duo demanded. "The last thing Heero needs is more missions."
Mandred regarded him silently for a moment. "I think you're wrong. Heero ought to do missions, but do not fear, he won't while he stays with me. He needs to first change his perspective."
Duo opened his mouth to protest.
Relena stirred, shaking her head. "I understand," she interjected quietly, "Heero ought to do missions because he is so good at them. That is his gift in this life. He is someone everybody can believe in. He is so strong, but," and here she hesitated, the worry plain in the crinkle of her brow, "he always plans to die. He does not believe in himself."
"Yes," Mandred agreed softly, and she looked up at him in some small amazement. "As I said, he needs to change his perspective. Fighting, soldiering, shouldn't be about dying, it should be about living. But we will talk no more of this. If you now all understand and are in at least partial agreement, I wish to see Heero."
"We don't know where he is," Quatre informed him.
"He's in the garden," Relena said softly, glancing out the window. "Reading."
Duo shook himself out of a trance. Oh, so now he was in the garden? "I'll go get him," Duo said, twisting to his feet. "Boy, I don't know what I'm going to tell him, though."
"Just tell him I am here," Mandred said. "You will have difficulty enough just with that. He thinks I'm dead."
Duo left the room, letting the door thud against his heels. Once in the hall, he realized he was shaking. Man! That that guy would just walk in announce he had some weird connection to Heero's past, not to mention possession of him... Duo vaguely remembered Heero's reaction at the last assassination attempt on Relena, when Felicia and her friend Coran had mentioned Mandred's name. Heero had probably just thought it a name, but it had shaken him. This was too bizarre. And all that stuff about Heero's past too. Growing up with the scientists? How had Relena known about that? He doubted Heero would have told her. It made him shiver just thinking about it; at least he (Duo) had been someone old enough to judge right from wrong when he came into his training. He had had a reason for fighting.
He made his way to the gardens lost in thought. Once outside, he looked up to see if Relena was watching them. She wasn't, but he could see the back of her head. She seemed in deep conversation with Mandred. Quatre was looking out the window now, though.
Sitting on a bench beside a bed of flowers was Heero, a book opened on his knee. He didn't appear to be really reading it. His eyes had a vacant expression as he stared blankly at a pair of butterflies across the path. He was dressed in proper attire, blue slacks and a white dress shirt. His coat lay folded on the bench beside him.
"What do you want?" Heero said suddenly, darkly, swinging deep blue eyes in his direction.
Duo managed a sickly grin. "Uh...nothin' much. We just saw you out here and thought maybe you wanted to come up."
"Quatre and Relena are trying to have a conference," he said, turning back to his book. "They don't need me. They could probably do without you too."
All this gloom and hostility... it made him angry, and it frightened him. Duo put his fists on his hips and tried to put life and energy into his words. "Ya' know somethin'? I don't get you. You think Relena and Quatre really need to have a conference? I'm sure whatever mutual business they have could have been sorted out through the mail. Quatre came here to visit and you damn well know it. You're just trying to avoid everybody."
"Maybe I am."
"Maybe you shouldn't. We're all just trying to be friends here. You shouldn't brush us off like that, especially Relena. She's been really nice to you and you just continue to ignore her."
"Relena and I have different lives," Heero said coldly, practically. "She doesn't need me. And I don't need her." He snapped his book shut. "I wish you would stop trying to force me to be social. I'm not like you." He stood up and began to walk away.
"Heero!" Duo called out. "Why did you never tell me you grew up with Dr. J and Mandred?"
Heero stopped and then turned just his head, surprise melting in an instant, replaced by that all-too-familiar death glare. "It's not your concern. Nothing about my life is your concern. Dr. J and Mandred are dead."
"How did Mandred die?" Duo risked asking.
Heero paused. "I killed him."
"You..."
"I detonated the building he was in." Something funny was going on with Heero's expression as he said it. It was like a winter chill had possessed his face, but there was pain in his eyes, a sorrow deeper than the depths of the earth. Duo stared, swallowing, wondering if that was most emotion he had ever seen in Heero's face. An instant later and it was gone. Heero's eyes were as cool as ice. "Where'd you learn any of that anyway? Did Relena tell you?" He sounded angry.
"No," Duo said. "I didn't know she even knew. Heero..." and he paused, not sure how to continue. Well, he might as well just say it like the guy suggested. "Mandred's not dead. He's here, in the conference room, asking for you."
Heero's expression was one of complete shock for several heartbeats. "That's not funny, Duo."
"It's not a joke!" Duo exclaimed in earnest.. "Do I sound like my usual joking self? This is serious. Come on, I'll show you."
Heero followed in some bewilderment.
When they reached the conference room, Duo paused. Heero said nothing, but walked right past him through the door. Duo followed on his heels. He stopped dead in the doorway. Duo could feel the tension in the air, the stunned shock, like lighting crackling.
"Well, Heero is it now?" Mandred said smoothly, standing from where he had been sitting across from Relena and Quatre. "That is what you call yourself now, correct? Well, whatever your name might be, it seems I've found you at last. We're leaving soon."
Heero expression was something to see. Duo had never seen him so surprised, so bewildered, so at loss for words. Emotions tripped and tumbled across his face in waves. "Mandred? I..." He sounded flustered! If it hadn't been such a big deal, Duo would have laughed. As it was, he just leaped out of the way.
Mandred was across the room and standing in front of Heero before anyone had time to say or do much of anything. Before Heero could react, Mandred had his head in his hands, peering deeply into his eyes. To Duo's wonder, Heero stood completely motionless. He didn't think he'd ever seen anyone stand so close to Heero before without being bidden, but now Heero sttod like a frozen rabbit, staring up into Mandred's face in utter disbelief. "Well, your health is good," Mandred murmured, releasing him and stepping back, "but you are not really very well, are you? Things have been left undone and they haunt you still." Heero's mouth worked silently for a second, his eyes wide and staring. "What was the first lesson?" Mandred prompted.
"Always follow through," Heero said almost automatically. He still seemed in a state of bafflement, not quite believing anything that was happening around him. He looked like a child, new to the world and amazed by all he saw.
"Good," Mandred said. "You do remember that much, at least."
"Lessons?" Relena murmured worriedly. Heero's eyes drifted to her and he swallowed. Emotion was still skittish on his face. He might have flushed.
"Good principles," Mandred informed her. "Though some of them were twisted." He looked back at Heero. "Whatever possessed you to "follow through" with self-detonation a year ago on Dr. J's orders? You almost gave me a heart attack. It's a good thing you're sturdy."
Heero said nothing. He still appeared to be in some form of shock. His eyes tore from Relena and stared back at Mandred. Finally, he managed. "I thought you were dead."
"I'm harder to kill than you are, but Dr. J didn't know that. Point in fact, having you believe you destroyed me was enough of a test. But I won't forgive him for that, not for the order nor the intention of it. No one needs to be that calloused." He put his hands on Heero's shoulders, and to Duo's surprise, Heero didn't move, though he tensed up. Mandred looked right into Heero's eyes, as if he were trying to see Heero's thoughts. Maybe he succeeded. "All right," he said softly, stepping back and raising his voice. "I encourage you to say goodbye to your friends if it pleases you. I don't suppose you have any things? Probably nothing that wouldn't fit in a box."
"He's got a change of clothes and a gun," Duo drawled.
Mandred nodded. "That's what I supposed. Bring them with you if you like, though you will not need either. I have bought you new things, and there will be no need of guns where we are going."
"Where are we going?" Heero asked. He didn't seem upset or reluctant, just bewildered.
"To the colonies," Mandred replied, opening the door, "since that is where you are originally from. I bought a small house. You will have your own room. I've also already enrolled you in a school."
"As Heero Yuy?" Heero demanded. "In the colonies, that's..."
"Everybody already knows," Mandred said smoothly. "You're quite famous, but you knew that. You also seem to like Heero, so you will continue to be called that. You need to settle on a name. No more of these identity changes for domestic living."
"What if I don't want to go with you?" Heero said. He seemed to be regaining his cool back, his features setting stubbornly. "I'm free now." But he didn't sound like he meant it.
"I'm not going to make you captive," Mandred replied. "But I do have legal claims on you. I know you as Heero Yuy, and I knew you under your other name. I also knew your mother." Heero stared at him, dumbfounded once more. This time, his face really did flush. His mouth parted, but Mandred over-rode him. "You will come. Are you going to say goodbye?"
Heero turned slowly, collecting himself, looking intently at each of them. "Goodbye," he said simply.
"Heero," Relena called lightly. "Will I see you again?"
"Yeah," Duo echoed. Quatre nodded.
"I don't know," Heero replied slowly, looking at her with the most peculiar expression. His gaze lingered on all of them. "I don't know anything."
Mandred regarded him silently for a moment and then led him out of the room.
Reviews?????? I'm warning you now, this is a very strange, original fic, and something I've worked very hard on.