Progress: 7 of 14
General Notes: Sigh, I believe I screwed up the drink, as in I described a martini different from the one that Heero ordered. Dang. Well, thanks Leia for pointing it out…Anyway, new chapter here. Really, really short, but yea. Glad you guys are enjoying the story, and as usual, please read and review. If you haven't guessed already, I crave the feedback!
Music: When you say you love me – somebody; Division by Zero Error – Daisuke Asakura; Ningyo Hime – Tanaka Rie; Sincerely Ever Dream – Dream; My Immortal – Evanescence; Starry Sky – HAL; Emptiness – Natalie Imbrulia; Lacrimosa - Sweetbox

Chapter Seven: Peacecraft Mansion

Heero threw the quilt covering him in a hurry before sitting up, eyes swerving around, taking in every aspect of the room he was in. It was only moments later that he realized he was at Trowa's apartment, sleeping on the lounge room couch. His tense posture relaxed slightly, but refused to go completely lax. For a moment, he sat in complete silence, his gaze fixed on the view outside the window just across the room. It was late morning, possibly an hour or so before noon. A glance at the digital clock on the wall told him it was ten-twenty. Heero yawned slightly, disappointed with himself at having slept for so long. He had a task to accomplish, not to mention at least one person hot on his tail. There definitely was no time in the equation for him to be sleeping in.

He rolled of the couch in one fluid movement, making no noise at all during the process. Heero stretched quickly, bringing his sleeping muscles and tendons back to life. The apartment was mostly silent, until Heero heard the sound of newspapers rustling not so far away in the direction of Trowa's room. Without another thought, Heero walked across the lounge and down a small corridor before reaching Trowa's door. He nudged it open slowly, purposefully letting the door creak to announce his arrival. Inside, Trowa looked up from the newspaper he had been reading, and after realizing it was Heero, smiled.

'Morning.' He greeted as Heero walked in, taking a seat on the edge of Trowa's bed. The bedroom was small, barely large enough to contain the single bed, desk, narrow bookshelf and a small chair. Despite it, Trowa still managed to furnish it and keep everything in such order that the room appeared almost spacious.

'Morning.' Heero returned. 'My thanks for letting me stay the night.'

'Welcome.' Trowa replied, waving a hand as if it was nothing. 'I enjoy having some company, and you have good taste in music, so, how could I refuse.'

'Still, I am very grateful.' Both men had engaged in a rather enjoyable conversation the previous night about music and famous composers. Trowa was glad for some company and a person with similar tastes in classical music, and Heero had been surprised at his own knowledge on the subject. He had drunk a total of eight gin martinis, an amount that would have made any other man tip over, according to Trowa, and discovered that he liked the beverage, even if it did burn him to drink it. At some point, Trowa had asked Heero if he lived nearby, and the blue-eyed man had quickly made up a story about visiting a relative in hospital and staying at a hotel. Trowa had demanded that Heero spend the night at his apartment instead, insisting that it was no problem. The blue-eyed man had not wanted to intrude, but the small amount of cash in his pocket pressed him to take advantage of the situation. 'Anything interesting?'

'Hardly,' Trowa folded up the newspaper and offered it to Heero, who accepted it with a nod of thanks. 'Just the usual report of the conference between the Earth Sphere and the Colonies; some rich guy who died from a stroke, of whose three sons are now fighting for his inheritance, and something about the old Peacecraft estate.'

'Peacecraft?' Heero repeated the word as he flipped through the paper, searching for the page Trowa had been talking about. There was something highly familiar about the word, although he could not figure out what. He finally found the article on the fourth page, under a large, colored picture of a grand, white mansion on the top of a small hill. Under it, the words: "Peacecraft Mansion Under Debate" caught his attention.

'Yea, don't tell me you haven't heard of them.' Trowa looked surprised. 'The Peacecraft mansion was home to the foreign minister Relena Peacecraft, her husband and her son before they were ambushed, but this was years ago. Now, people don't know what to do with the mansion anymore, since there were no wills or relatives.'

'Really?' Heero found this information interesting, although he could not tell why. 'I'm sorry, I lived in a very small town in Japan, and we were a little ignorant about foreign affairs.'

'Ah.' Trowa looked thoughtful for a moment. 'Well, the details about the Peacecraft assassination weren't really clear. Just one night, they all apparently got ambushed and were killed. It was unusual, because the Peacecraft compound had surprisingly few guards. The guards were all killed, the Peacecraft son and husband were shot, and Relena fell into a coma which the doctors say she won't ever wake up from.'

'So she's in a hospital?'

'Yea, pretty much.' Trowa scratched his head. 'Her body's still alive, but her mind is dead, so they can't really do anything about it. She's also the foreign minister, or was, so they can't really cut off her life support, even if they know she won't wake up again. But you know what's strange?' Trowa gave Heero an imploring look. 'Even after Relena married, she kept her maiden name, and her son took after her when he was born.'

'That's not that unusual is it?' Heero asked distractedly, eyes fixed on the picture again.

'Well, children tend to take after their fathers.' Trowa looked distant for a moment. 'Unless they never had a father to begin with.'

'I suppose.' Heero muttered, eyes still fixed on the picture. The mansion looked very similar from the one he had seen in his memory, and he was willing to bet that there was a pavilion in the garden. Making up his mind, he told Trowa that he was going to go see his sick relative. The brunet nodded at that, and reminded Heero to return in the evening. The blue-eyed man nodded at that, unable to resist such an offer. With another nod, Heero turned and left.

It was twelve o'clock noon when Heero finally made his way to the Peacecraft mansion with a wad of documents slung over his shoulder in an ugly little sachet he bought at the two-dollar store. He had done some research along the way, and had found that the Peacecrafts had been murdered just over two years ago. One thing he had found strange was that the husband was never mentioned properly, and the articles he had collected had contained no true detail about what had happened to the husband. They were all written in such a way that implied Mr. Peacecraft (or whatever his name was) was dead, however, Heero had seen past the shroud the articles wove, and decided that the husband was probably never killed. Although that brought him to the question of why he was not killed, or why it was not reported that he was not killed. Perhaps he was dead, but Heero thought that the chances of that were highly unlikely. The articles had gone into some pretty graphic detail about Relena's death, and the son Xander's demise, but the husband had only been mentioned in passing. If that was not an indication about the weird mystery behind the husband, then Heero did not know what was.

The mansion was surrounded by a eight-foot high brick wall, separating only at the drive way to give room for a elegant black gate. There was a small security pad on the wall next to the gate, although it was so covered in dust, Heero guessed it had not been used in years. He brushed off the dust quickly before flipping open the lid to reveal a number pad, just like the one back at the laboratory. His fingers then moved on its own accord as it had done before, pressing a sequence of numbers with practiced ease. The pad emitted a high beeping sound, before the LCD panel at the top flickered and spelt the word "welcome" before the gate swung open. Heero entered quickly after a look around, and strode swiftly up the driveway, hearing the gates snap shut behind him.

He met a similar keypad when he reached the front door, which he opened as he had at the gate. The message that flickered across was different however, and said in bold letters: "Welcome, Mr. H. Yuy" before the door clicked open. Heero continued staring at the screen for a moment, almost entranced by the words. Mr. H. Yuy. Mr. Heero Yuy. He was Heero Yuy! But what did that mean? That he was a frequent visitor of the house, such that he had his own set of number keys? Or that he lived at the house? With a head full of questions, Heero tore his gaze from the panel and walked inside, closing the front door behind him.

He found himself in a grand entrance hall. The ceilings were high up, and beautiful chandeliers shone down, seeming to have turned on when the door opened. He had not walked more than a few paces before he reached a large atrium, the ceiling of which was far taller than the previous hall. It seemed as if the chamber opened to the heavens, with the large ceiling of glass above. Heero could see the moody sky outside, still a swirling mass of gray despite the rain last night. Pulling his gaze down, Heero took in the two staircases on either side of the atrium, leading to a second level hallway. Between the stairs was a large hallway that led further down the house, although Heero could not see what was at the end.

The voice of a little boy filled his mind, jolting him out of his revere. He looked around quickly, but saw nobody. Still, he could still hear the little boy's voice. It was muffled, and incoherent, but it was there, coming from the hallway before him. Without another thought, Heero dashed down the hall, watching the lights light up around him as he went. He stumbled into another large hall, this time furnished with a grand dining table in the center. The room was lined with windows, all looking outside into the garden. One glance at it showed Heero the one object he had wanted to see.

The white pavilion.

Moving awkwardly, Heero strode to a door on the other side, opening it wide to step outside. A white pavilion stood not so far away, at the edge of a grand lake, currently a stony pewter color. He lumbered forwards, his legs suddenly feeling like lead. Heero could not understand why, for although the sight of the pavilion set his mind into recalling the memory, he could feel nothing else. But he knew there was something here, something valuable. He stumbled into the pavilion, taking notice of the glass chairs and the stone table. There were no chess pieces, no chess board, and no broken glasses on the floor. But there was no denying that this was the pavilion from his memory.

The boy's voice filled his mind again, snagging onto Heero's attention and refusing to let go. Somehow, he knew that there was no little boy around, simply his mind regurgitating the information it once knew. There was a jumble of voices, mostly the little boy's. He was saying something, but Heero could not understand the words. Then there was a small chuckle, a feminine chuckle, mingled with the sound of the little boy laughing, before Heero found himself staring into a pair of bright, blue eyes.

'What do you think papa?'

There was the sound of glass smashing, mingled with a loud thump as a man fell to his knees. Heero Yuy was unconscious before he hit the ground.

Endnotes:

Really, really short chapter, but what can I say, my muse just left the building, and I'm not even going to try to write without it. We learnt some interesting things about Heero in this chapter, and I think the 1x2 fans are probably going to choke me to death for the implications in this chapter. Well…sorry, but it had to happen for the story to work. Well, Relena is dead…sort of, so no worries on that front! Ya, and as usual, please review!

Assassin