Let's see how things turn out, shall we?

Enjoy

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Chapter 6

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"My brother... He's my brother..."

It was the tenth time he said those words to himself, but it still sounded too surreal.

Instead of perching himself on the roof to mull over his problems, Zechs found himself leaning against the trunk of a large ash tree that was at the far corner of the hospital's parking lot. It was roughly a hundred yards away from the main entrance, and was quiet other than the light hum of traffic that passed through the lot. He had been tempted to just leave the area all together and return to his apartment to sleep off the shock.

But he couldn't. He couldn't bring himself to leave. Not after what he knew now.

So he opted to brood under the silent comfort of the only tree in the parking lot. His thoughts had been racing the moment he left Quatre's room, but that was only succeeding in giving him a massive headache. He had to force himself to stop and steadily try to break things down so he could address each subject calmly. To process the fact that his mother had not only succeeded in running away, but gave birth to another son before she died happily in the safe care of the other man that loved her.

Somehow the longer he thought about it to more it seemed to comfort him. His mother was able to die happy. He knew she had to be if she made it all the way to the Winner estate. He knew that the head of the Winner family took care of her because he knew how much he had loved her.

'But she left me behind...' That fact still bothered him somewhat.

Why was he left behind? He could have been spared the horror of watching his home burning to the ground. He could have avoided the fate of a soldier had his mother only taken him with her.

More than likely he and Quatre could have grown up together in a loving home under the care of the Winner family. They never would have been in the war. The lightning count wouldn't have existed. Treize probably wouldn't have succeeded in over throwing the Alliance. There wouldn't have been a White Fang. Operation meteor would have probably gone through with the original plan, and the Gundams would have been short one pilot if Quatre had grown up knowing the truth.

That led to the results of those changes flying through his head. The war would still be going. Noin would have died following Treize's orders to the letter. Une would still be a twisted brutal commander. Relena wouldn't have survived everything. Sally would still be an Alliance officer. And the gundam pilots would have never joined forces without Quatre, so their chances of survival would have been incredibly low.

'If only mother had taken me with her... But how long would that happiness have lasted once the war hit its peak..? Would those Alliance pacifists have changed anything...? No... Treize would have still killed them without me. Maybe.. Maybe Treize could have won without me...?' He didn't want to think that he was the sole reason for his former commander's downfall, but he certainly didn't do much to prevent it.

It bothered him to think of what his and Quatre's happiness would have cost from that one decision. So many people could have died, and the war wouldn't have ended. All from his mother simply taking him with her.

"Of course that's only one version... I could be completely wrong.." he muttered. Zechs knew that there were too many possibilities to think of. There was no point dwelling over what didn't happen.

So he focused on what did happen. His father had lied to him. Quatre's adopted father lied to him as well, but Master Winner erased any connection he had to the Peacecraft family. Quatre grew up in a nearly normal life style, but Zechs wasn't granted that luxury.

His mind wandered to how his father taught him to hate his own brother. Zechs knew he couldn't deny Quatre any longer. The pieces fit together too perfectly. No one else knew that King Peacecraft abused his wife other than Master Winner. He recalled the last heated argument that occurred between the two pacifists, and found himself wanting to know now more than ever what the head of the Winner family meant.

What had his father done?

What was the reason for all this madness?

What would force his mother to run away and leave him behind?

Why think to save Quatre and not him?

It made a twinge of jealously sting at his heart, but he immediately scolded himself for it. "None of this was Quatre's fault.. I can't blame him for everything anymore... If anything it was both our fathers.. They lied to us... They manipulated us... But why? Dammit, why did they treat us like puppets?"

Zechs was becoming irritated the longer he thought about it. It was taking all of his self control to not direct that anger towards his younger brother. "Father... You pushed this prejudice too well into me... I can't get angry without thinking it's Quatre's fault anymore..." he whispered. The shame he felt from admitting it was overwhelming. He was really trying to stop himself, but it was almost painful.

It was sinister, really. The more he worked through the truth the more Zechs finally understood just how twisted a man his father really was. "You wanted me to continue the abuse you dealt to mother by forcing me to abuse my younger brother... How could you...? Quatre is your son... Did you think that it was Winner's child...? Did you want me to abuse the Winner heir...?"

He knew he would never get an answer, but he asked the questions anyway. He had to attempt to solve them himself before he could even think of facing his long lost brother. One thing he knew was that were was no way to believe that Quatre and the head of the Winner family looked related. There wasn't a single feature even remotely similar.

"So father knew.... Father knew he was my full blooded brother... But why didn't I see it...? How can I explain why I hated him...? Do I still hate him?" he asked himself quietly.

Still finding no answers, Zechs let out a deep sigh. His gaze drifted up to the clouds that were lazily floating by in the clear blue sky. It was a nice late spring day, and it was so warm that Zechs was almost tempted to pull off his preventers jacket. He glanced at the right sleeve of his jacket and saw a few splotches of Quatre's blood still on the cuff.

How long had he stuck around the hospital? He couldn't remember if he had even returned to his apartment for the new clothes he was in. It made him wonder if he should return to HQ for a little while to check on how Noin and Heero were coming along with the investigations. It would give him time to clear his head and focus on something else.

Then there was Relena who was still trying to get security to approve of the rescheduled press conference she had promised before all this drama occurred.

"Shit.. I'm going to have to tell Relena that she's only my half sister... Wait..." Zechs suddenly frowned as a thought occurred to him. "That makes Quatre the rightful crown prince to the Sanc kingdom... What's left of it anyway... And there's our mother's royal blood to consider... Damn, how is he going to handle all this...?" His own reaction to the truth was running away to collect himself.

Now that he was thinking calmly he had no idea how the wounded and fragile state Quatre was in would handle such a traumatic blow. "To find out your entire life was a lie... He's completely human... He wasn't a lab project... That means.. He.. He was naturally a prodigy... He was placed through so much abuse and prejudice when he was a natural human all this time..."

He had little time to begin feeling sympathy for his younger brother when his cell phone suddenly began vibrating in his pocket. He fished it out, but was surprised when he saw the name on the display screen.

"What the..." He flipped it open and held it up to his ear. "What is it, Sally?"

-"Zechs! I need you to get back to the hospital now! Quatre's missing!"-

"Missing?!" Zechs barely said the word before he immediately took off towards the hospital entrance. "What do you mean?!"

-"He must have been awake and heard everything that was said earlier. I'm in his room now... His pillow is wet, so he had to be crying... He even took his IV and catheter out, but there's no sign of where he could have gone... Zechs, he shouldn't be moving at all! He could rupture something, then we really would have to do the transplant!"-

"Have you told any of the others yet?"

-"No, he's too upset to have that many people hunting him down. It would be best that you find him, Zechs. That way you can settle things between you. I figure once he comes to terms with you he'll be able to handle it with everyone else."-

Zechs had hoped to have more time to come to terms with himself first, but that couldn't be helped. He had a brother to look after. "Alright, Sally, I'm almost at the main entrance. I'll begin looking for him floor by floor. But if I can't find him in the hospital we'll have to tell the others."

-"I understand. I'll do my best to stall everyone until you call me. Please hurry. He must be in a great deal of physical pain by now."-

"Probably not as bad as he's hurting emotionally, Sally.. I'll call you when I've finished looking for him." He didn't bother to wait for a reply as he snapped his phone closed and replaced it in his pocket.

Just when he thought things were bad, Quatre had to find out the truth in the worst possible way. "And I called him a cheap copy.... Dammit.. What the hell am I going to say to him if I do find him...?"

He knew that if he was in his younger brother's situation the last person he would want to see would be the person that caused him nothing but torment for the past seven years. "I'm all he really has though... None of his adopted family can help him through this... Quatre probably feels betrayed by all of them... I know I would... I do..." he muttered as his pace towards the entrance slowed.

Quatre needed time to think. Just like he did. "Well.. If he's really my brother then the first place I should look is..." His head lifted towards the top of the building.

He abruptly stopped when he saw a solitary figure grasping at the chainlink fence around the roof looking straight down at him. The sight made a faint smirk form on his face. "Heh... Looks like he is my brother..."

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His breath was uneven and shaky as he forced himself to sit on of one of the large AC units on the rooftop. Having to lean heavily on his left hip, Quatre fought the urge to clutch at the bandages that were wrapped thick around his right side. It felt like his entire torso was on fire. Every brush against his skin felt like a punch, and he could feel every staple that held his skin together move with every breath he took. It was enough to make him choke back the blood laced bile that kept threatening to come out.

He felt sick, but not because he was moving barely two weeks after intensive surgery. He felt like his heart had been ripped out, and nothing was left but a gaping void.

His family.

His past.

His very birth.

"All a lie.... Why.. Why did they lie to me....?" Quatre lifted his head to look at the sky above. "You.. You let me be treated like a freak of nature... Like I was a monster created in a lab... You didn't even try to comfort me... All you said was that I had to be stronger..."

The utter indifference that his father dealt his abuse was what had made him so resentful to begin with. Now it seemed that it wasn't because he didn't care, but because he was hiding the truth from him. However that hidden truth seemed to deal more damage to his broken heart than the cold watchful eyes that his father kept over him.

But he couldn't be angry. Not with his other sisters. "No... Only Jade, Lana and Iria knew... The rest of them believe I'm their brother... They were lied to as well.. The truth wouldn't bother them... I suppose I shouldn't let it bother me... But it still hurts so fucking badly..." he mumbled to himself brokenly.

He had thought that being someone born from a lab gave him a special connection with the maguanacs as well, but it seemed as if that connection was all in his head. "No... No, they're my brothers.. No matter where I come from, they wouldn't reject me for this... We've been through too much... Fought beside one another... Risked everything to ensure everyone made it out alive... I'm a maguanac to them... That's all that matters..." he reasoned with himself to keep his emotions tempered.

Reasoning was the only thing he had left to keep himself from going into a complete breakdown. That quick tactical imagination was now trying to find the logic in why this had happened. The ways it developed, and perhaps what his father was thinking when he decided to keep his mother a secret from not only him, but from everyone involved. It made him wonder if it was under his mother's request, or if this was all his father's doing. In the end he knew he couldn't figure it out because he had no knowledge whatsoever of his mother.

That was another thing that bothered him. Jade and Lana hadn't divulged that much information about her. All he knew was that he looked like her, and she was abused before he was born. That wasn't a very detailed description of the person that supposedly brought him into the world. He briefly pondered if perhaps this was just his pain riddled mind producing hallucinations.

Maybe he was just hearing things in a post traumatic delirium. "Heh.. No.. Me denying it is the real delirium talking... Dammit.. I.. I can't handle this..." he finally admitted to himself.

It was too much. Everything he knew about himself was a work of fiction. He was a natural human. He had no specially engineered gifts. His sixth sense that he depended on and developed over the course of the war, his tactical genius, his abnormal physical endurance. All of it was his own. He wasn't a creation, he was simply a fluke.

His eyes narrowed when he thought of that. Now he was left in a bitter mood. "Great.. Either way, I'm still a freak... Which is less obnoxious? Being engineered to be beyond human abilities, or just being born that way?" he asked himself on a slight growl.

Thoughts of the torment he endured taunted him, but what made it worse was realizing that it didn't even apply to him. He suffered through it for nothing. "But... If I didn't... Who would have stood up for the others...? My sisters.. The Maguanacs... Did he not tell me so I wouldn't look at my family differently? So I could understand what they had to go through?" It made sense, but it still seemed too cruel.

His right hand reached up slowly and gripped at his hair tightly. "I don't understand... I.. I deserved the right to know about my own mother... Didn't I...? He could have told me she was his wife... I could have at least known she existed.... Would it have changed things that drastically?"

"Probably...."

His breath hitching at the deep voice, Quatre slowly glanced over his shoulder. "Wh-what to you want...?" he asked warily on sight of the expressionless pale face that was watching him.

The fear that he clearly saw in the aqua eyes made Zechs' chest tighten. He was the one causing that fear, and it tore into him so badly. Just how far had he carried out their father's will? "I want to finally talk with my brother..." he started quietly.

Those words made Quatre frown deeply, but he forced himself to turn away. "So you believe them...?"

"It's hard not to.... They knew things that they only could if they had met my mother... Our mother..." Zechs told him so they could both begin accepting it.

If Zechs now believed it that meant it had to be true. Quatre found himself slumping forward slightly as he let his right hand lightly settle over the bandages that covered his incisions. Even the faint touch hurt like hell, but he wanted it to hurt now. It was the only thing that let him know that this was really happening. "That's why you hated me....? Because you thought I was a cheap copy... A doll engineered to torment you...?"

Zechs bowed his head slightly when he heard the heartache in his brother's words. "That's what father told me... You weren't the only one that was lied to..." He took a few steps towards where the younger blonde sat. "I can't begin to know what you went through.. To be honest, I really don't want to... But... But the truth is that I was taught to hate you... From the moment you were born..."

"So.. It wasn't anything I did..." Quatre mumbled.

"No... You didn't do anything.. It was a prejudice that was forced on to me, but I have to admit I didn't try very hard to resist..." He stopped at the other side of the AC unit and looked on in concern at his brother's trembling back. "I... I wanted to hate you... I wanted to blame you for taking my mother away instead of father who drove her away... I never thought I would meet you, so it was easy to let it build over time..."

"And when you finally faced me you had somewhere to focus your anger..."

"Yeah..." Zechs felt horrid for having to admit this, but it had to be said. "Heero was probably the only thing keeping me from hunting you down back then... And when you defeated Dorothy I knew that I had made a mistake in not focusing my attention on you sooner..."

Quatre fiddled with the hem of the blue scrub top he was wearing and quietly thought over the older blonde's words. "Yet you followed my orders during the attack from the Barton foundation..." he pointed out quietly.

Remembering that night well, Zechs felt the knot in the pit of his stomach grow tighter. "That... That was so I could learn more about your tactics... Your thought process... I was hoping to find a way past them... I thought that perhaps if I worked along side you long enough I would figure out how to get the better of you..."

"All this time... You were trying to find a way to defeat me..." Quatre concluded, his mood growing darker by the second.

"Yes... And I still haven't... Seven years of studying you, and I never found anything..." Zechs rubbed at the back of his neck nervously. He wasn't liking where things were going in this conversation. He needed to divert it somehow. It was then that he noticed that Quatre was wearing a set of scrubs. "Where did you get the scrubs...?"

Quatre looked at the blue paper thin clothes he was in and couldn't stop the weak laugh that escaped him. "There's a storage closet right across the hall from my room... Wasn't that hard to get up here... Hard part was getting out of bed..."

Having to cringe at the thought of removing the catheter alone, Zechs found himself smirking and frowning at the same time. "You know you're not supposed to be moving around... Sally's terrified that you may rupture something."

The injured figure turned slightly to face his new found brother, wincing the entire time. Quatre was left breathing a bit harder when he finally looked into that cold gaze. After a silent moment he could see something else beyond the silent eyes. Fear?

"Would it be horrible of me to say that I could care less right now...?"

Zechs' expression softened as he carefully moved around the AC unit to stand in front his brother. "If anyone else heard you, probably.. But I understand... Still, you need to get back. Sally's afraid of your right kidney failing."

"So that shot was that bad, huh...?" Quatre mumbled as he pressed his hand a bit harder on his bandages.

"It grazed the lower edge of your liver, nicked part of your stomach, and tore through a small part of your kidney..." In truth Zechs was surprised that Quatre could move at all.

The news left Quatre very somber. "... That close to dying..?"

"Yeah... If you had lost anymore blood Sally thinks you would have suffered brain damage... You were very lucky..." Zechs pointed out calmly.

A rueful look formed on Quatre's face as he gave another laugh. "Heh.. I hear that a lot... Seem to have a knack for cheating death..." He trailed off as he looked into his brother's eyes. 'My brother... I... For some reason I can't bring myself to deny it...' "I guess I owe my life to you now...."

Zechs frowned deeply and shook his head. "No, Quatre.. You probably saved both Relena and myself when you took out that sniper..."

"Maybe... This means that Relena is my sister...?" Quatre asked, feeling very conflicted about that.

"Yes, but fortunately only a half sister. Father remarried barely a week after mother disappeared." Zechs' thoughts traveled to what he was pondering before he had been sent after his brother. "So really you're the true crown prince of the Sanc kingdom... Our mother was a duchess too, so you're entitled to something from her home village in Germany."

"Wait, I'm a prince now...?" Quatre questioned with a disbelieving look.

The raised eyebrow Quatre gave him made Zechs smirk. "Ironic, isn't it? Your codename's now the truth."

"More like disturbing.." Quatre muttered as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "You have any idea the scandal it would cause if this was made public...?"

"You don't want anyone else to know...?" Zechs asked in obvious surprise.

Quatre didn't hesitate to shake his head. "If it's at all possible... The only ones that know are Jade, Lana, the two of us and Sally...." He looked up into the confused pale blue eyes and smiled sadly. "They may have lied to me, but I'm still part of the Winner family... I'm not a Peacecraft no matter what kind of blood runs through me... My family is downstairs waiting for me..." he stated firmly.

For some reason those words stung a great deal deeper than Zechs thought they would. 'I shouldn't be surprised... Compared to the family down stairs, myself and Relena must seem like a horrid trade off...'

He turned away from the younger blonde and moved to the chainlink fence. "I understand... I saw how much they all care for you... Having twenty eight sisters and forty brothers is a very impressive family. I watched them all swear to not leave until you were well again."

That intrigued Quatre, but he was more puzzled by his brother's strange tone. "So they've stayed the entire time I've been here...?"

Zechs nodded as he stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets. "They've been telling each other stories about you to keep their spirits up. It was a bit surreal to see all those rugged men laughing with a group of classy looking women... Duo kept cracking up about how damn weird it looked." he added on a forced chuckle.

He didn't want to show how much this was hurting him. 'After everything I've done I don't deserve to be called brother by him...'

"Heh... Duo would..." Quatre mused as he gingerly lowered himself off the AC unit. Having most of his weight on his left leg, Quatre looked at his brother's back silently as he came to a decision. "I've always thought of Duo and Trowa like brothers too... And even Lucrezia like a sister..."

"That so..." Zechs trailed off when he felt a light grip encircle his left wrist. He turned and was surprised that Quatre had crossed the ten feet from the AC unit to the fence without making a sound. But what really shocked him was the small smile on the pale face. "Quatre..?"

Quatre's tired smile twitched wider. "If I can put up with that many adopted siblings... I don't see how one more could hurt..."

His pale eyes open wide, Zechs was at a loss. When he saw the honesty behind the bright aqua gaze he could barely believe it. "But.. I.. I've treated you like garbage.. The things I said, I-"

"You saved my life...." Quatre cut in softly. "As far as I'm concerned the fact you're here now more than makes up for that... I know that you didn't want to hurt me every time we fought... You only provoked me. You never lashed out at me physically..." A frown formed over his brow as his gaze turned beseeching. "Why...? Why did you always hold yourself back from hurting me...?"

Zechs nearly winced at the question, but he knew he had to be honest. "Because you do look like mother... I couldn't bring myself to hurt you... You were right at the concert hall. I wanted you to hurt me..."

"But why?"

"Because it felt like I was letting her get a chance at revenge..." he admitted to those familiar aqua depths. "You get that same intense look in your eyes as she did... And I needed to see that.. I convinced myself that by getting you to hurt me it would make up for every time father hurt her." Zechs finally bowed his head as his shame threatened to choke him. "But if she was able to see the torment that I put you through..."

Quatre was quick to take hold of his hands firmly to keep him grounded. "Zechs, it's okay now... All of that is in the past. I don't blame you. Like you said, you were lied to as well..."

His eyes locked onto the pale hands that were so similar to his own. He couldn't stop himself from holding onto them in return. "You're going to forgive me... Just like that..." Zechs whispered.

"Of course... You're my brother..." Quatre released his brother's larger right hand and had Zechs looked him in his eyes. "I need you, Zechs... I need you to tell me about our parents.... About our mother... What she looked like... How her voice sounded... What she loved.... I have so many questions to ask you."

That honest smile kept growing brighter, so Zechs couldn't stop the one that appeared on his own face. "That's easy..." He placed his right hand atop Quatre's head and ruffled his short locks almost affectionately. "She was exactly like you... In just about every way."

Noticing the hints of brotherly attention, Quatre found himself feeling a bit stronger than he had before. At least emotionally.

The pain in his side suddenly spiked and he winced hard as he clutched lightly at his injury. "Dammit this sucks..." he grunted through his gritted teeth.

Quickly, Zechs moved to Quatre's left side and held onto him firmly. "I think that's enough brotherly bonding for now... I'm going to help you back to your room so Sally can make sure you didn't hurt yourself with your disappearing act." he stated, leaving no room for protest.

"Heh.. If you've woken up in a hospital half dead as many times as I have you'd understand my hesitance to stick around..." Quatre chuckled weakly as he leaned on Zechs' strong frame.

"Considering that you have roughly 70 people crawling around this building waiting to hear you're okay I think you can afford to relax a bit." Zechs pointed out dryly as he helped Quatre limp his way to the stairwell door. "But I promise we'll pick a day to trade obscure war stories. I'm sure we both have plenty of them." he added with a smirk.

The idea made Quatre smile despite the pain. "I'd like that..."

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TBC

What?

You thought those two patching things up would be the ending?

Ha!

This is just the beginning!

Anywho, that's it for this episode, folks!

Later!