AN: ;____; I feel lonely. But I love this chapter. Because I would like to change my scenes within chapters, next chapter will be longer than the rest. So look forward to that while you study for finals or are on spring break or when you're off from work and all that fun stuff.

Trowa

"Are you alright?"

"Fine."

"You didn't talk much this morning."

"Right."

"You didn't come to me in the night."

You didn't want me to come to you, not in the way I wanted... "Too sleepy."

"You're lying."

Of course I was lying. That jerky didn't last me an hour. After he said good-night, I was sure that he wouldn't open the door even if I screamed bloody murder from stomach pains, so I never tried, but, in what I guess would be called distress, I began to eat compulsively, choking and hardly tasting anything. The hatchlings kicked in fury, trying to claw out their way from the pit of my stomach, becoming abnormally feisty when I finished the bowl. A massive migraine struck me and a flood of nausea let loose. I didn't throw up- I don't think the hatchlings would have allowed it- but I couldn't lie down because that only made it worse, that and other thoughts kept me from sleeping all night. It wasn't the thought of dying, necessarily, but that Heero didn't think I needed to know if I was going to die, as if it didn't matter to him of I died. At least, I wanted to fuck him before I die, and not whoever that organization of his was 'saving' me for. I don't know why I wanted to, just that I did.

It felt right.

But I didn't know him from a dong on a whale, so why would I feel like that? Why would it bring my thoughts to utter frustration? Yesterday, Heero said it was hormones, but I hadn't felt like that with anyone, not even on Milliardo Peacecraft's strong back. And he smelled delicious and his hair was gorgeous. Was he my type? Probably not... He didn't seem too bright, a wet match at an elite school like Barton Academy-

"The school!" I shouted.

What in the hell was I thinking? What's wrong with me?

Heero jumped in driving, swerving way too far to the left for a certain Jeep's taste, who honked, and Heero gave him the universal sign of affection, honking back. He looked at me, admonishing, "You shouldn't shout. It could cause an accident."

"The school," I repeated, "What's the news saying about it?" And what about you flipping someone off?

"Don't know."

"You're all into technology, don't you have a TV in here?"

"I do, but it will distract me from driving."

"Then why have it?"

"I wanted to see if I could install and and make it work..."

Miraculously, a blush bloomed on his face.

"It was a foolish waste," he said, mostly to himself.

"Not if you enjoyed it."

He looked at me, lips twitching. "Next time.."

"Hm?"

"Next time, when I'm not so distracted by thoughts in my head, I'll let you watch television in here."

So distracted by thoughts (why did he say in his head, as if thoughts could be anywhere else)? What was he thinking of, I wanted to ask, but instead I said, "What channels do you have?"

"What I wanted was to install a machine that would turn to the channel you think of, but I haven't mastered it. So basically, there are thousands of channels to surf through by remote."

"Nh."

"Hn. We're almost there."

'There' meant Treize Kushrenada's place, the large red or orange-headed demon. It was the blond demon's idea to meet up, though Heero had told him that their goals were different and that, though all the Orbs had an impact on the other ones, they were still separate groups. In other words, they should watch each other from afar and not try to work together. The blond demon-Quatre- had been silent for a time before he told Heero that Duo was now able to control B-level powers, whatever that meant. Heero was then all ears, but at the same time scolding Quatre for not showing any restraint. Somehow, they believed it was better for us not to use our powers. Then Quatre, in a voice I couldn't quite hear from across the table, said that he got a map; the rest was nothing but whispers to me, but seemed to be of great interest to Heero. He agreed to meet that morning. Quatre said that Treize wanted them to meet at his place.

And so we were going. I ate the jerky. After a night's fasting, the hatchlings were screaming for it, probably eating each other. Sounds like what demon babies would do. Heero gave me a look from the corner of his eye, one that said, You little liar. More evidence could be seen around the eyes, which were bagged down by tiredness. My body and mind were tired. Mostly what I wanted was sweet, sweet sleep, but a large part of me underneath was curious to how the three demons would interact with one another. The other two didn't seem as serious as Heero, and he seemed to be nervous period. He had paced around the kitchen table, as if truly regretting his decision to go. Before leaving, I took a shower and put on his clothes. He was about the same size as me, that, or he always had tight-fitting clothes. Somewhere else he took a shower and we met in the living room clean, dressed in black, and Heero hadn't combed his hair and looked too tense.

Several of the residents, about eight or nine, there at the apartments were gathered in the lot, checking out Heero's car. They were black, and dressed stereotypically so. One of them must have run out of those gown-like white tees and wore just a triple-X large instead so that you could see his pants at his knees and the boxers in between. They had enough jewerly and nice enough cars of their own that I wondered why they lived here in the Southern end of town.

"Hey, white dude!" one of them called, addressing Heero, but all of them looking intently at me. Heero, his keys already out, narrowed his eyes at the leader, who wore a diamond studded replica of a pair of spinners. "Got a... Whatchu call it..?"

"Proposal," said his light-skinned friend. He was bald, and seemed to be watching me most carefully.

The leader nodded. "I'm B-Rad, from Bradly. Just wanna know if you interested in about five grand."

"For free, yes," said Heero, completely straight-faced.

The ghetto group began to laugh, knocking each other on the forearms, except the bald, light-skinned one. That one was giving me goosebumps, and the wind blew a little harder all of a sudden. Hunger kicked me in the guts.

"No, seriously," B-Rad continued, bringing the laughter to a halt. "You see, a couple my friends including ol' Shine right here wants... Well, they want a piece of that ass you got."

"Me?"

They began laughing again, this time even bald Shine cracked a tight-lipped smile. The wind blew harder; the strongest hatchling was biting heads. B-Rad, still laughing, told him, "Naw, nigga, you can break us, receivin' or given. What we want, especially Shine,"-Why did he have to emphasize the weird one so much?-"is green-eyes ova' tha'. You know.. Just a get together."

Get together, my ass.

"If I said I wasn't interested, what would you say?" Heero asked.

Shine answered by baring his teeth- Gigantic, sharp, perfectly white teeth. Looked like a fucking shark. And I bet they shone like diamonds in better light. I suddenly realized that they didn't call him Shine because he was bald but because his teeth were a row of jewelled fangs. I also noticed that he, and the others, for that matter, were not smiled at exactly the same time. Though the others in the group didn't have such large teeth, theirs were no less odd rows as well. B-Rad's teeth were perfectly omnivorous, plain white squares.

The next gust of wind blew some of them off balance.

"Woah, woah, calm the bitch down before he starts a tornado!" I didn't know who said that; the wind blew too hard and I was looking at Heero.

"Stay behind me," Heero told me. I went right behind his narrow back, feeling a lot more relieved when he pulled out a pair of guns so black that I could hardly discern the particular shapes of the handle or barrel. Shine stretched his jaws, showing another perfectly even row of sharp teeth behind the first ones. When he closed his mouth, so did the rest of them.

"Look, we just want a little taste of it. That's all. Shine here wants to go all the way, you know, like sex, and you can watch, but the rest of us just want to be in the...the general atmosphere." B-Rad crossed his arms. I could tell he was losing patience. The others were tapping or fidgeting anxiously. Shine continued to stare at me over Heero's shoulder.

"Not interested," he said. "You can feel him perfectly right now."

"You know that ain't what we want! Let us suck some of that power straight. And let Shine fuck him- come on, white boy, we all the same on the inside."

"I'm nothing like you mutated Leeches."

"We prefer to be called Vampires. It has a better ring to it, Incubus," Shine snarled, in a voice smoother than dark chocolate. If he didn't want to rape me, I would have figured him a decent, attractive guy. "Unlike Bradly, I have no intention of compromising for the rest of eternity. We came to earth to try out one of the Orbs. Either I have him now, or I'll kill you later, possibly in the next five seconds."

"How?" Heero taunted, a real taunting voice! It was pure cockiness, never knew it existed in him. "You feel the winds he's generating. If you try to attack, you'll be blown right back into your car."

"True," he hissed. "But you can't follow him around forever. I'll catch him alone, and I'll fuck him to death."

The others didn't like this idea quite so much. B-Rad, probably second-in-command to him, told him quietly, "We don't want to get involved with the higher-ups too much, Shine. We agreed on that, didn't we?"

"It was a joke."

Of course it was. There's always jokes about fucking people to death. . .

Abruptly, he opened the door to his car. "We'll leave for now." Like clockwork, the others followed suit, going to their specific vehicles. B-Rad was in the passenger seat of Shine's Cadillac Escalade, waving good-bye in such a friendly way my winds died down. Afterwards, Heero pushed me in the car and gave me jerky. We didn't speak of Shine and his gang or his threats, but, now that I think about it, that was what was probably on Heero's mind. Offhandedly, in a manner that completely slipped his mind because, for once, he didn't voice his regret on it, he reached over and rubbed my stomach. The hatchlings quieted down almost immediately, and I ate in piece for awhile, but when they began to move again Heero didn't offer his hand.

I would have liked it very much, but if I were to call him on it, he would most likely fight harder against that instinct in the future. I'd rather not cut the golden goose, and let him arbitrarily give relief. Finally, we were at the opposite end of town, North End (there was North End, East Coast, West Side, and South Park) but most of the cars- including my sister's when we passed by my house- were gone. I could only guess that they were all parked around the ruins of Barton Academy. Most likely they had erected a podium and chairs and had an extemporaneous city meeting right there in the lot. Anyone who couldn't be bothered or couldn't get a car to the spectacle were probably watching the local news like the last minutes of American Idol.

Soon we came to the now open gated estate of Treize Kushrenada. I remembered this house in the paper, around 5 million dollars, mostly because of the garden and pool in the back. The inside must be gorgeous, especially with all the special features: jacuzzi, several fireplaces, marble stairs and pillars, floor-to-ceiling windows, and, of course, it was settled on a gentle hill. As we rode up, I could see further and further out, almost to the edge of East Coast. You had to love those trimmed hedges making almost a second gate, the first having closed behind us automatically.

We went up to the large white oak door.

Before anyone answered, we heard a dull roar near us.

"What's that?" I asked, though I really didn't care. Heero took out his guns.

Whatever it was underground hit underneath the sidewalk, then found freedom near us, in the grass: two heads, one blond, one chest-nut brown, both surprisingly immaculate as if they were dirt-repellent. The dirt probably pushed them up; there was no digging, just a gentle slide upwards. Quatre had his arms around Duo like a life raft.

"Hey, guys!" greeted Duo, wearing nothing but jeans and a wifebeater. He rubbed his head painfully, then looked at Quatre, who had just let go of him. He was rubbing his face. "You all right?"

"No! That was horrible, Duo! It was the worse idea I've ever acceded to."

"First of all, I don't know what acceded means. Second, come on! That was loads of fun."

Quatre shook his head in denial. "What would have happened if you didn't recover after you kept getting tired out."

"It didn't happen, so why worry about it?"

"We're running the way back."

"What if you trip or if you get hit?"

Quatre ignored him, bowing to both of us in a friendly greeting. He eyed my bag of sustenance and wrinkled his eyebrows in worry. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Fine."

He frowned. Something in his sympathetic eyes told me that he knew I was not fine, but he didn't pry.

Now Heero looked at me; I knocked on the door again. After a few minutes of that futile effort, Duo brought up the fact that there was a doorbell. Heero narrowed his eyes at it, as if it were at fault that he forgot such things as buzzers even existed, and pressed it once. The usual school song rung throughout.

Treize immediately threw open the door, engulfing me in an unreasonably tight hug. He was very warm and the hatchlings squirmed happily in his embrace, his silk button-down dress shirt was pleasing to feel. It was the same tranquility that came with Heero's touch. Did demons have that sort of power over these demon babies? It would make sense.

Treize snatched the jerky out of my hand and threw it over his shoulder, presumably into a trash can, and then escorted us inside.

"You will not devour that mess here," he said smoothly, and hand on the small of my back. He looked over his shoulder at Heero, who was glaring with all his might, with such ferocious intensity I was compelled to give Treize a worried glance. Treize lifted an eyebrow, telling him, "If you're jealous, you're more than welcome to provide the support yourself, just for today."

"My orders entail-"

"Yes, a diet of certain violence-inducing meats and all sorts of maniacal ingredients. But it is going to kill him in the long run, so why not give him some relief? I don't plan on dismally going over vague ideas today as our wards sit like dolls on strings." He waved us to the table, obviously ready to get the show on the road. Somehow the outside door lead right into the dining room. Setting breakfast was a tall, auburn-haired woman dressed in a blue blouse and denim skirt in black flats. There were a lot of bread and jams, red juice in pitchers, stacks of pancakes with different flavored syrups, some fruit, some meats, and cheeses. For once, everything smelled delicious, my stomach rumbled normally. I was certainly feeling the lemon wedges, wrapped in the toast, with blueberry jam all over it. Never had it before, but I am so sure it would taste delightful.

Treize patted me into a chair. "Look, real food. And it'll fill you better than human food or... jerky combined."

"So what kinda food is this?" Duo asked, settling himself on a chair next to Milliardo Peacecraft. He had on a light-blue sweater and looked so distant you could easily mistake him for being mentally challenged. Duo saw this, screwing his eyebrows. "What's wrong with him?"

Milliardo slowly turned his eyes to Duo, staring. After awhile, when Duo realized that he was not going to look away, he looked at Treize and asked the same question.

"Well," Treize said, smiling a fake grin, "There's some things in Milliardo's memory that we wish for him to forget. Unfortunately, the subconscious does not allow for forgetting anything permanently, so time and again he remembers bits and pieces until sometimes he gets the whole picture. He was extremely close last night."

"How close?" Heero inquired, settling himself next to me. He gave me a look, then placed his hand on my stomach, rubbing firmly. It felt so wonderful, I think I purred.

"Close enough that he managed to escape the house armed with around the city's supply of water to destroy a certain man's house. In cases like those, my dear Orb carriers,"-He nodded to me and Duo, twice, as we sat on opposite sides-"we would have to physically harm him, train his mind, if you will, to try not to remember unless he wants to be hurt again. In some cases all it takes is a simple bite, others, like last night, we would have an all-out battle right in the middle of the street whereas I would have to rip a few limbs and send a very special bullet through his brain."

"He doesn't look like he got beat up like that." Duo finally made eye contact with Milliardo. The blond smiled slowly, nodding for no particular reason.

"My dear Lady Une healed him, of course. It is one of her vast amounts of specialties." He gave the woman a kiss on the cheek, which reddened only for a moment before turning back to a regular color. "And to answer your earlier question. Our food is imported straight from Hell itself. As being such beings as half-breed demons, these foods are more to your liking than regular human food. Though they look the same, they are made from the wheat and rare meats of Gehenna itself."

"Wuuuu," Milliardo interrupted in a mellow voice, slowly looking up and down the table, staring particularly at the spot empty on his right side. From the looks of it, he was regaining his memories at a snail pace. "Wer Wu?"

"Where isWufei? He doesn't seem like the type to sleep in."

"Maybe you were too fierce last night, Your Excellency."

"Nonse-"

"You two had sex?!" Duo exclaimed. He jerked his thumb at Quatre, who became red at his outburst, poor thing. "This guy slept under the table so that we wouldn't sleep in the same bed and be tempted. I was so wired after all that work."

Treize nodded. "That's what using your powers do to you. And sex revs up your power levels. Too bad the bed brings Milliardo unwelcome memories."

At his name, Milliardo perked up, "Wu?"

The door to the other side of the table, opposite the door we came, swung open. It wasn't just Wufei who ironically just came through, but Wufei in nothing but a towel and wet hanging hair. He froze. Every muscle made itself prominent against his skin, multiple ripples of pale bronze skin trailing to the V hollow of his groin. Shutting his eyes, he asked stiffly, "Treize, I need clothes."

"Now, you didn't need any last night when we were in bed together."

Now brick-red all over, Wufei hissed, "I just need some clothes, Kushrenada."

"You need to be more creative, like Milliardo," advised Treize, also prompting Milliardo to call Wufei's nickname again, to look and nod for no particular reason once more, "Just think of the room or closet where your clothes might be. And what did I tell you about my name?"

Wufei turned around, opening the door to a brick wall. He growled, glaring over his shoulder.

"Correct! However, I just have to have you say my name again. The one we agreed on, Meine Liebe?"

"Kushrenada."

"Nope!"

"Kushrenada!"

"I just told you that's not it."

"My god..."

"Oh, so close!"

"Master Treize, dammit!" Wufei yelled, a puff of flame leaving his mouth. His eyes seemed to glow fiery as well. He closed and reopened the door angrily, this time to a room full of clothes. It was a long while of Treize grinning at us before Wufei joined the table for breakfast. Still smarting from his embarrassment and teasing (I would be too), he pushed Milliardo- with his chair- towards Treize, and switched his chair into the vacated spot, so that he sat between Milliardo and Duo, who sat next to Quatre, who sat across from Heero, who sat next to me, and Lady Une sat between me and Treize. The circular table still looked to be headed by Treize and Quatre on either 'ends', sort of opposing poles in that respect.

An awkward silence followed, only to be broken by my stomach growling in the most pleasing manner since I got pregnant. It was more of a... a mewling sound more than anything.

"I did make this food so that we could eat, Your Excellency," Lady Une commented with a smile. Treize stuck his tongue out between his fangs.

"Let's eat, then."

I don't think I ever moved faster. The whole bowl of lemon wedges were mine, though not so much as wrapped than trapped between two slices of toast with blueberry spread. As an afterthought, I added bacon and boiled egg yolks and salt. By then Wufei and Duo were watching me with confused looks, and Quatre was slightly disgusted, but I squished my wonderful sandwich together and took a bite of the most delicious breakfast I ever made. It was every good taste that you ever wanted all put together in one convenient package. Duo went green; I made another sandwich.

Still, they had appetites, and Wufei definitely had a thing against jelly and sausage grease, or at least for it falling on him, and he petted the sausage down with napkins and ate his pancakes with just butter. Duo, on the other hand, loved the stuff, and grape jelly, and slathered his toast, sausage, and eggs with it. With that kind of stomach, why couldn't he handle lemon wedges and bacon? Heero piled his plate with bread and sausage patties. Quatre was a little late at eating, as if he felt guilty for taking someone else's food, but eventually he took a bowl of fruit. Lady Une and Treize had no problem holding back- they took everything, but most definitely the cheeses, and made little cold cuts of them and the ham slices.

We ate in rather companiable silence, though even if we weren't demons and half-breeds, it would be a quite a crowd, four underage students, a middle-age man and his mistress, an attractive nerd, and a runaway. I grinned around my third sandwich, actually feeling stuffed a bit.

It was when there was nothing but bits of cheese and one sausage that we remembered Milliardo, who had watched the entire affair dumbly, and hadn't consumed a single thing. Wufei appraised him suddenly after slicing the last sausage carefully. Upon noticing his blank visage, he gave Treize an irritated look, not a surprised one, and no questions. I guess he knew the whole memory suppression routine. He calmly began feeding Milliardo his sliced sausage. The blond would not open his mouth.

"Aw, man. We forgot all about him, didn't we," Duo stated rather than asked. "Here, see if he wants my cheese. I shouldn't be eating the stuff anyway. Lactose." The rest of us didn't have anything to give, and even I did, I wouldn't have given it.

Treize saw Quatre's guilty face. "Now, it's nothing, it's nothing. I have plenty. That will probably be enough."

"Then can we get right to business then?" Heero offered. His countenance was the first relaxed I have ever seen him. In a somewhat heart-stopping gesture, he passed me a tender glance. "Do you feel alright?"

"Fine."

Quatre smiled, and seeing his smile made me aware that I was actually telling the truth this time.

"Mmm... Good," Milliardo said, having randomly opened his mouth to say, "J," then Wufei stuffed his mouth.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Wufei chided, giving him another sausage. This time Milliardo ate it, eyes intent on the task of taking the food and chewing it.

He swallowed before asking, "Wer J? ...No.. Wers...Where is J?" He cocked his head to the side. "Doc J? Doc Door..."

"Doctor?" helped Wufei.

He nodded energetically- I saw Heero stiffen- "Doctor J. Where is Doctor J?" Milliardo took another bite.

Heero leaned forward on his forearms. "Treize. What did he say before we arrived?"

"Well... It was quite incomprehensible." A light lit in his eyes. "He said... Wo Twoe..."

"As in... Where's Trowa."

"Just now he said... Wer Wu... Where's Wufei. And Wufei came right through the door."

"Hey, you don't think he's seeing the future, do you?" Quatre whispered. "Or is it just coincidences?"

Heero shook his head, standing up quickly. "I don't think it's-" There was a loud squeal from Heero's phone in his pocket.

Quickly, Treize spat, "I'm cloaking us for as long as possible. Don't speak any of you." He gave a glance at Milliardo, but he only chewed his sausage thoughtfully.

Seconds later, an old man appeared through the floorof Treize's mansion. Heero dropped to one knee. Who could only be Doctor J ignored him for the moment, assessing me instead. He was short, probably no bigger than four-and-a-half feet, weird goggles for eyes, a three-pronged hook for a right hand, the other curved around a simple had nothing but a mane of hair in the back of his head and a small thin mustache. He looked like a doctor in his white lab-coat. All he needed was a fancy accent to complete the look.

Instead, he had that grandfatherly voice, withered and wise-sounding. But it was such a polished sort of speech, that my nerves were worn against it. The hatchlings twisted uncomfortably, as if disliking this presence.

"Heero, Heero, Heero," he tsked. "What is this? They seem so calm." Heero said nothing. "I haven't had an inch of your usually mile-long reports, so I could only surmise that you haven't run any of the tests. Did you fuck him?"

"No, sir," he answered quietly.

"Rise."

Once Heero was on his feet, J backhanded him with more than just fist-power. A wave of energy turned his head away and his mouth red, but he stayed on his feet. The doctor was obviously displeased with this and hit him once more to get him on the ground so to beat him again and again and again, cracking the floor through in loud angry snaps. In twisted agony the hatchlings began to howl in my stomach, screaming when a bone was broken.

I stayed silent.

There was a broken cough, but it didn't sound like Heero. He was silent. J didn't notice. I looked then at the other end of the table, the one which Doctor and Heero could apparently walk through. Treize was having trouble keeping up with these tricks. What he could easily do around humans now took all of his being with Heero's boss. His face was screwed in pure concentration, blood running from his nose, mouth, eyes, and ears. Next to him, the same afflictions pained Lady Une as she did her best to help.

"Don't look away, boy!" J directed at me, giving the bloody and battered Heero another behemoth kick. "I see this regular demonic breakfast. I bet your hatchlings are happy as clams, aren't they? With you two fucking, who knows what physiological state they are in now!"

"We haven't had sex," I asserted, and to give the truth a better foundation, I then added, "But it wasn't for lack of my trying."

"Short-minded human. I have big plans-"

"Yes, birth natural-killers so that you can rule over whatever tiny space of the great universe you wish for. Exceedingly brilliant plan, I might add."

Instead of hitting me, he struck Heero again. "That's where you are wrong, human. There should be at least five hatchlings in there, for the five great members of our scientific organization, including myself. We wish to birth bodies that aren't spiritually joined to the Elemental Orbs, but by genetics only. Then, we will easily remove the souls and replace them with our own. They would be born with natural power, yes, only if they are trained to use their powers at every moment because of deprivation and harsh environments. Or else they would be borntabula rasa.You see, I'm a very old man, and wish to be young again, but not lose the... amenities of old age."

"Like seniality? Did you take into account that such 'harsh environments' will kill me before they are born or that they would take to surviving 'off'' each other in order to survive, thus leaving one or more of you great members with his erectile dysfunctions and involuntary anal expulsions?"

Treize snorted, a wet, sickly sound. "Oh, Gott... Don't make me laugh, bitte."

Milliardo climbed on the table; Wufei tried to pull him back down, Milliardo got a good look at Treize's face, and finally he sat down. Treize was deathly pale; seconds later Une dropped to the floor.

"I... I 'elp.. Miwi help tw.. trick J," Milliardo stuttered, closing his own eyes, his Orb shining through his sweater. Whatever he was doing, it was taking an extraordinary amount of concentration.

To learn. It seemed actually doing to the task wasn't that much of a problem.. .

Treize's eyes sprang open, the color quickly returning to his face. In complete suprisiment he watched Milliardo easily take over the task of magically cloaking them. His blue eyes were now open, and no lack of color was shown. The spell must have been going correctly, for J didn't see the change of hands. He walked through the table again to me.

"I hope his concentration doesn't break," prayed Treize, staring at Milliardo.

"How is he doing it?" Une had awokened. "Nevermind. I'd rather not look a gift horse in the mouth."

"You don't need to look away from me, human," Doctor J told me, "I will not hurt you. But.. You do have a point. By the time you should be ready, you might be too sickly to give birth and there may be none a healthy hatchling left." He clicked his right hook on the top of his cane. "I guess Heero has been trying to tell us that all along. I guess... I guess we have been talking about it since your first assessments, which were downright disappointing, though not fault of your own." His fault seemed to say it was all his fault. "Hmmm... We shall go along with your initial wish, Heero. I liked Plan C of that procedure you proposed which entails no copulation."

Heero unsteadily got back to his knee. "Yes, sir."

His right elbow pointed forward. I thanked the powers above his bones weren't sticking out. A tear in his shirt revealed badly bruised ribs. How bad were his injuries where I couldn't see them?

"But I would like to up that dose of human organic shred to at least two ounces per day. It wouldn't do for their bodies not to be sufficiently challenged. Still, we would lose a vast amount of projected power this way, but I guess if we want new bodies, there's going to be some sacrifices."

"Yes, sir."

"The only experiment recapitulations I would need are the weekly reports. Don't be late."

"Yes," Heero said quietly. He froze when J placed the clawed hand on his shaggy head.

"I'm giving you untold amounts of leeway here, Heero. Don't disappoint me again." This time Heero didn't answer. Doctor J disappeared through the floor again.

What the hell was human organic shred? That was a question I believe Heero wouldn't answer even if I asked.

A strained silence passed where Heero set his elbow back into place. Milliardo fell asleep on the table for these few minutes, then abruptly awoke. He opened and closed his mouth, then opened, then closed it again. He looked at each of us until he finally realized that he had absolutely no idea what was going on. Instead, he accepted the sausage and cheese Wufei pushed over to him and waited for an explanation. He watched Une whisper dark charms over herself, and the blood on her disappeared; the same she did for Treize, then Heero. He had waved her away at first but his elbow cracked and he groaned. Une wouldn't hear another word, healing him immediately. With every sentence of dark magic, she grew more haggard looking.

When she was done, Treize escorted her to the door, to a comfortable earth-colored room. She turned her face when he tried to kiss her lips. Treize smiled.

He sat back at the table, slamming his forehead onto the wood. "Hah!" he cried. "I do believe with the slightest sneeze we would have been dead, dear Quatre. Maybe Heero too."

"I would have been terminated," acknowledged Heero; he rubbed sweat from his face. "Fuck, that was just too close."

"What would have happened if he noticed us?" Wufei asked, still pale. We all were pale. I wish we were black, then I wouldn't be able to see the reflection of my fear so easily on their faces.

Treize pointed to himself, the door, Quatre, and Heero. "Dead. Trowa would be all right. You three would probably be impregnated as well. Lots of demon babies tested with variable factors and see which come out the best! Woo..."

"I don't want to talk anymore. I don't want to think," Quatre whispered. "We should leave."

"Nonsense. We shall hang out together, just for this Tuesday. Fortunately, I don't have direct supervision, so my superiors won't know I've abandoned the whole mental enslavement thing with these two just yet."

"You're insane! When they find out, you're-"

"I've had a thousand years to live my own life. Finally the cord is cut, the leash is gone-"

Heero interrupted him. "He's not feeling well. There's no way a high-class demon would abandon everything he's worked for just to serve his own personal lower-class demons."

"Like you," I said.

He abruptly changed the subject, per usual. "That proposal I made...It requires something.. extra...Rather, I would like to stay with you, Treize. The scientists won't recognize any of your energy wavelengths, but they would recognize mine in a second. Even with their rapid and immediate absorption of demonic powers, Orb carriers actually release energy around seventy-five percent of the time. Hatchlings only absorb. And those are my test results- the records of their absorptions." Heero was nervous again.

"You're losing me a bit on that end, but I think what you're saying is, in order to fool the doctors into thinking that you are notraising them as regular hatchlings, you wish to tamper with the experiments in a way untraceable to yourself. If Trowa stays with Duo and the others most of the time, the hatchlings will absorb Orb powers,"-Milliardo looked so completely lost, I laughed-"showing on Cathexis graphs a multitude of healthy, but uncontrollable waves- the symbol of powerful little demons. If I don't allow you to stay, you won't be able to give them- or Trowa- a healthy birth."

Heero was quiet, probably musing over my part. "Exactly."

"Well, then, of course you can stay."

Quatre proposed an argument, "What if they're too strong and can't have their souls removed?"

"They won't have to worry about that," Heero hissed. "Thank you, Treize."

"What about you, little Quatre?" Treize asked eagerly. "Your family won't be able to track you here. They have enough problems with that already since your powers aren't easily trackable."

I drifted from the conversation a bit, musing on what Heero said. If his bosses didn't need to worry, does that mean they weren't getting the hatchlings at all? If he was going through all the precautions to fool them, probably so.

"Can someone PLEASE tell me what's going on here?!" Milliardo cried.

But then what would he do with the hatchlings? Those thoughts led me to think about what they would be like, and how many were really there, and whether they are really hideous. Will I lay eggs? How much would it hurt if they burst through my stomach? I did not underestimate the pain of regular childbirth, but I couldn't shake the feeling that if my damn belly breaks open, it would be just a tiny bit more he had proposed this plan so long ago, then had he planned to have the hatchlings for himself before the present circumstances? I was suddenly eager to ask these questions, for I knew now that Heero was at least conspiring against his mission directors, and that I really didn't have a choice in giving birth.

What if they were the cutest things ever? Will they look like me? When will I begin to show to others? Why hadn't I asked any of these questions yet, instead of bitterly resenting the world for three months?

"TROWA!"

"What!?"

"That's unlike you to be zoned out," worried Heero, putting his hands to my face. Duo whistled.

"What is it?"

"Come on. We're going to the school."

I nodded, suddenly remembering the most important question: What is human organic shred?