Title: Awakenings
Characters/Pairing: Shinji, Roxas, Quatre, ensemble. Various yaoi and het pairings.
Rating: PG
Summary: Post-KH2. Crossover with Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gundam Wing, and FF7: Advent Children; familiarity with all source media is not necessary. Post-End of Evangelion, anime timeline, but with some elements from the manga. Post-series Gundam Wing, no-movie AU. When Shinji Ikari met the three strange teens with mysterious weapons called Keyblades, he didn't expect that he would be able to wield one as well, nor did he expect to be taken on a journey to various worlds, stopping the threat of the Heartless and finding the Awakened. For a boy who only wants to be at peace, how will he deal with this strange new set of circumstances? When the threads of the past interweave with the events of the present, what future will he make?
A/N: This idea has been rolling around in my head for a very long time. This is the Kingdom Hearts universe told from an outsider's point of view, so familiarity with the games is not necessary, although there will be spoilers for at least KH1 and KH2. Familiarity with Gundam Wing is not necessary, either, but it helps. This entire fic was plotted out before BBS or Coded came out in Japan.

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Awakenings
~Chapter 8~
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It wasn't long before they encountered more Preventers, but thankfully, these ones let them advance towards the palace with much less protestation. Either it was due to Heero, Wufei, and Quatre wearing their Preventer jackets as well, or the Preventers at the spaceport had sent a message ahead, but these Preventers were completely deferential to those three. A few of them had looked askance at the others because no one had their keyblades out yet, especially Kairi and Asuka, but Quatre had managed to wave them off with a smile and a mention of a classified mission. After that, Shinji and the rest were simply bid good luck as they continued on their way. They'd only been walking for ten minutes, however, when Riku suddenly stopped in his tracks and summoned his keyblade into his hand.

"They're close," he said, and Sora and Kairi nodded, summoning their keyblades as well. Shinji, who'd been walking near Riku, couldn't see any Heartless, but figured that Riku probably knew what he was talking about and called Hedgehog's Dilemma to his hand. From the other end of the group, closer to where Sora and Kairi were, he saw Asuka do the same with her keyblade and Wufei with what looked like a semiautomatic.

"How can you tell?" Heero, who was on the other side of Riku, asked. He had a smaller gun in his hand, and was looking around, frowning, but didn't seem to be able to find the Heartless. Quatre, on Shinji's other side with his keyblade out as well, seemed to be looking for them also.

"I can smell them," Riku replied, looking in a particular direction slightly off to his left.

"…Smellthem?" Quatre asked, slightly concerned.

"It's a thing," Riku said, and didn't elaborate because at that moment, two groups of Heartless rushed out and them, one from the stand of trees Riku had been looking at and another closer towards the other end of the group.

If Shinji hadn't known any better, the Heartless on this world seemed like some type of robot to him. Ranging from four to five feet, some flying and some remaining on the ground, they had blocky limbs, and in tones of brown and green and gray, something like a cross between something used for military surveillance and a mecha cartoon. The cockpit area had a symbol like a black heart covered in red vines on the front, and there was that same dulled, golden glow coming from the eyes peeking out of the armored helms. Those eyes had fixated on all the humans, and the Heartless began running and flying towards them. Heero, who had already begun firing at them, made a frustrated noise at the lack of effect his bullets seemed to be having, and backed up slightly.

"Were you planning on telling us about them before or afterthey started trying to surround us?" Heero asked Riku.

"We haven't been on this world before," Riku shot back, as their half of the group spread out a little, to give enough room to both swing the keyblades and give Heero some range, for the time being at least. "They're harder to pinpoint if they're a new type. I hope you brought a bigger gun with you." He was probably referring to the fact that Heero was digging with his free hand through the duffel bag on his back. It was only a second or two before Heero took out a gun that was indeed bigger, and comfortably closer to the size of the one Wufei was using at the other end.

"This big enough?" Heero asked, and fired a few rounds into one of the Heartless, which made it stumble back, dazed, and also had the secondary effect of making Quatre chuckle.

"It's a start," Riku replied, smirking. But a start was apparently not enough; while Heero's shots stunned the Heartless and made it easier for Shinji, Riku, or Quatre to finish them off, the Heartless didn't seem to be suffering much permanent damage from them. The others couldn't be everywhere at once, either, and when one of the blocky, mechanical Heartless jetted too close to Heero, he was forced to try and hit it with the butt of the gun. But instead of another partially-dazed Heartless or unfortunately-injured Heero, there was a bright flash of light, one that meant only one thing. The Heartless stumbled back from it, and when the spots left Shinji's vision, Heero's gun was gone, and in its place was a keyblade.

"What about this one?" Heero asked. Much like Heero himself, the keyblade was simple, forceful, and very effective. The shaft was some sort of glowing, green beam, and the silver-gray teeth were like the barrels of two giant cannons. The hand-guards were two simple, red curves, and at the end of the chain was single, white feather. Heero swung his keyblade at a Heartless, and there was a very satisfying noise that sounded similar to metal being crumpled.

"Much better," Riku said, looking very pleased. Sora and Kairi, at the other end of the battle, noticed what was going on with Heero and high-fived each other. Riding on the enthusiasm of another powerful fighter, Asuka let loose a fireball from her keyblade, which burnt one of the Heartless she was fighting into a puff of black smoke. Now that the flash from Heero's keyblade's first appearance had died down, Shinji's group dove back into the battle against the Heartless.

"Was yours a robot, too?" Shinji asked, as they fought, then corrected himself. "Mobile suit, I mean."

"Wing," was all Heero said in response, which Shinji figured meant yes. He saw Quatre turn to look at Heero.

"…JustWing," Quatre asked, somewhat hesitantly, "or…?"

"Just Wing," Heero reassured him, and it was obvious that it was a reassurance because Quatre looked much less worried, now that Heero had clarified that point for him. "No ZERO." A pause, then, "It feels better that way."

"What's ZERO?" Riku asked. His tone of voice was deliberately casual, but when Shinji looked at his face, it was obvious that Riku was suddenly very interested. Heero and Quatre shared a look, and then Heero began speaking.

"ZERO System was a program," he said, "that was put into some of the mobile suits during the Eve Wars, including a few of the Gundams." Heero's face was deadly serious, and he swung his keyblade forcefully at one of the Heartless. "It was designed to transmit battle data directly to your consciousness, and made you faster, able to calculate and strategize better. But it messed up your head." Then, Heero turned his full attention back to the Heartless, apparently having said all he thought was necessary. Quatre was frowning too, now, and he was sorrowful as he continued where Heero had left off.

"It made you think that everyone was an enemy," Quatre explained. "You were faster and smarter and more powerful, but the same restraints that had held those things back were also what kept you from getting out of control. You'd just go berserk and try to destroy everything." He kept talking, but turned as he was fighting to face away from Riku and Heero; only Shinji caught a glimpse of some kind of immense sorrow emanating from Quatre. "Lots of people lost their lives because of it, whole colonies even." Heero, apparently aware of this sorrow nonetheless, picked up again when it was Quatre's turn to fall silent.

"Some of us ended up using it, but it was only near the end of the war that it actually became effective." He continued attacking the Heartless, whose numbers looked like they were finally beginning to dwindle, but his strikes were calmer and more efficient, forceful only as much as they needed to be. "I could use it to fight on my own, and Quatre could strategize and direct with it, but I don't think any of us were able to master it fully. It was necessary to end the war, but it's better now that we don't have to." They didlook like they felt better; even Shinji could tell that.

"I see," was all Riku said in response, looking at Heero carefully. Shinji didn't really blame him; he wasn't sure what could be said about a system that sounded so dangerous. It sounded a little like when the EVA had gone berserk, and that had been terrifying.

"Do you?" Heero responded. It was both like and not like their banter from earlier: some type of challenge, but this time with much higher stakes.

"Was it something like this?" Riku asked, and then pulled his left arm back sharply, from the elbow, then shot it forward, a large, blue-black ball of fire whizzing past Heero to slam into the remaining few Heartless and incinerate them in mere moments.

"Yes," Heero said, after a few moments of silence, nostrils flaring from the grayish smoke left in the wake of the fireball. The smoke from Riku's attack was the same color as the smoke left behind when a Heartless was defeated. "You can control it fully?"

"It's only partially about control," Riku responded, cryptically. "It's also about what you're protecting with it." There was another moment of silence in which Heero and Riku looked at each other, and then Heero, of all reactions, let out a short laugh.

"Right," Heero said. Riku nodded at him, and then turned back to Shinji and Quatre.

"Let's finish," he said, then turned and dashed over to where Sora, Kairi, Asuka, and Wufei were finishing up the last of the Heartless on their side. By the time Shinji had gotten there himself, along with Heero and Quatre, all the Heartless were defeated. Wufei nodded at Heero and Quatre.

"You can have the rest of my ammo," Heero said, the hint of a smile on his face.

"Good," Wufei responded. "I'm the one that has to write that blasted report for Une afterwards, anyway, and she's going to be picky about details."

"Now," Sora said, grinning, "let's finish getting to the palace." Everyone else was in agreement as well, so the group continued down the road leading towards both the ruins and whoever was controlling these Heartless.

It wasn't long, though, before they ran into more trouble. Their group had just come over a ridge, and Shinji thought he could finally see what looked like a large palace just a little way ahead, large portions of it crumbling and battered by artillery, with the overgrown remains of a garden off to one side. Walking directly inside was impossible, though, because there was another group of Heartless, directly between them and the ruins. Fortunately, there was also a small group of Preventers trying to fight them off, but from the looks of things, they were faring poorly and had begun to fall back. Wufei, apparently still annoyed that the Preventers at the base had taken so long to get around to acknowledging him, went up to the nearest one who was holding some sort of radio and a handgun instead of a larger firearm, and demanded to be briefed on the situation. His tone of voice left no room for argument.

"The hostiles closer to the palace are functioning more cohesively than any of the ones we were fighting before," the Preventer agent said. "We think they may be a new type of compact mobile doll, and we suspect their command center is in the palace, but…" he swallowed and looked nervously at the Heartless, "…they seem to be able to acquire fuel from, uh… biological sources. Frankly, sir, we're just trying not to get eaten." The Preventer seemed to be clinging to as much military jargon as he possibly could, but he was clearly very agitated.

"Reinforcements have arrived," Wufei, said. "Tell your squad to fall back to HQ." The preventer balked.

"Y-You can't just send us away so you can take over!" he spluttered. "There aren't even half as many of you! I'm not going to let a bunch of kids just waltzin and-"

"We're not kids," Sora interrupted; his keyblade was now in his hand. Considering that not being eatenwas a little more important than age in this particular situation, Shinji took out his own keyblade, and by the next time he looked at the others, they all had theirs out as well.

"Reinforcements," Heero repeated, his own keyblade glowing softly, "have arrived. Go back to HQ." The Preventer looked, if it were even possible, even more overwhelmed.

"I… shouldn't ask, should I?"

"No," Heero answered. The Preventer gave a little nod, and then ran off, talking animatedly into his radio. There was a cheer from the rest of the unit, and then they began falling back. The Heartless took this as their cue to attack the people that had remained, who were Shinji and the others. The preventer with the radio had been right about the Heartless' cohesiveness, too; the ones Shinji was fighting now seemed faster, more organized.

"Someone's directly controlling these Heartless," Riku said, "and from the degree of control, they're not very far away."

"From the palace?" Asuka asked.

"No," Riku answered, "closer." As if on that cue, the Heartless who had been fighting them stilled and moved back to form a circle around a dark, swirling portal. Out of the portal stepped a white-haired man in a black leather outfit, but to Shinji's surprise, this was not Loz. Maybe it was one of the "brothers" Loz had mentioned?

"I was hoping you'd show up eventually," the man smiled. He was built much leaner than Loz, and his long, white hair framed his thin face, reaching down his back; in his hands, two ornate, silver revolvers gleamed just as wickedly as his catlike green eyes. "It wouldn't have been any fun at all if one of my brothers had been the one to finish you nuisances off."

"That's not going to happen," Sora retorted as he, Riku, and Kairi slid into their battle stances. The white-haired man laughed.

"What, before any introductions have even been made?" he said. "I have been sent here with a very important message for you, and for this world, from someone very important indeed; it would be rude to attack a messenger before he has finished relaying his message, would it not?"

"What's the message?" Heero asked, voice clipped. Shinji could see his hand tightening its grip on his keyblade. The white-haired man smiled again.

"I, Yazoo, have been sent to relay a message from a mostimportant lady." His eyes followed Heero, Quatre, and Wufei as they tensed. "Soon, the whole world will know, but since you people will be dead before she announces it to the Earth and Colonies as a whole, she has deigned it fit to inform you now. As of this very moment, she has claimed the throne of the Sanc Kingdom, and in three days' time, she will arrive at the capital in Brussels to claim the title Queen of the World. It is only proper for her to follow in her father's footsteps and rule as she sees fit." He was clearly enjoying the reactions this produced in his audience, especially from Heero and Wufei.

"Who is it?" Quatre asked, as if he was dreading the answer. Shinji remembered what he had heard about the royalty here; hadn't Relenaruled Sanc Kingdom in the past? But Relena had been turned into a Heartless, so that was impossible. He was completely lost.

"Why, I can't believe you don't know," Yazoo smiled. "It's Mariemaia Kushrenada, of course."

"Kushrenada!" Wufei seemed the most shocked of all; did he know who this Mariemaia woman was?

"Yes," Yazoo replied. "Her father, Treize Kushrenada, fought bravely in the war that devastated this country and the world, and strove to bring harmony to the people. But his reign as King of the World was tragically cut short when he was slain by a rebel terrorist, and although the current President and the Preventers say that the war is over, the true peace Treize wished for could not be achieved." Wufei looked so angry, Shinji thought he might attack Yazoo on the spot, but Quatre gave him a look that stopped him from doing so, and although he was seething, Wufei remained where he was. "Mariemaia wants the world to know that she will not be satisfied with this false peace, and that with her ascension to the global stage and its throne, she will remake the world as her father intended." Then Yazoo gave a little bow. "That is the message I have been asked to deliver. Queen Mariemaia will be waiting for you in the palace throne room. Please try to remain alive until then." Then, another dark portal opened up behind him, and as Yazoo stepped backwards into it, the Heartless, who had been held back by his presence, suddenly burst forwards to attack once more, blocking off the portal that was now closed with glowing, golden eyes.