Disclaimer: I forgot to add this to my last few chapters! Just want to reiterate I do not own Gundam Wing in any way!
Authoresses Note: Here's the next installment. Thank you for my reviewers for such good reviews and good suggestions the last few chapters. Its inspired me and given me the confidence I needed! Here you go--I hope everyone's confidence in me and the enjoyment of this story continues!
It all came crashing back—he felt anger, rage, panic, desperateness, madness, insanity, vengeance, worry, but wait…was that…love?
But how could that be?
'Trowa is dead. He can't be calling me. He can't ever call me again. I won't ever see his smile again, those green eyes,' Quatre reminded himself, despair threatening to entirely overwhelm him—although he wasn't quite sure if despair hadn't already done that.
Yet there it was. This feeling of love.
Quatre took a slight part of his mind and reached out. There was the strong, familiar, tingling presence of Trowa, Duo, Heero, and Wufei, and he became confused—and immediately wary.
Was this the enemy trying to trick him in order to drop his guard?
Quatre started to breath quick in confusion and grief.
He must be going mad—he had watched them die! Reaching out slightly further to solve this mystery, he found where the feeling was coming from.
He sighed in utter relief when he heard Trowa's mental plea-- realizing their deaths had only been an illusion. All he wanted to do was cry out in euphoria. 'They're not dead. They're alive!' Quatre sang to himself, becoming almost dizzy with his elation.
Concentrating, he figured out what the Sentinel still standing before him had done. Hidden behind the illusion was a force field holding his four friends prisoner. Their deaths weren't real—they were all very much alive, yet kept from Quatre's sight.
Suddenly fear overtook him again. Would he be actually able to see Trowa again? Hold Trowa again? Quatre wished he could be certain. He had no idea what was happening to his body. It had simply…happened. What if he couldn't regain control?
Pulling his head forward with effort, he looked with glowing lavender eyes towards where he knew his friends to be.
'Trowa, I love you. Always remember that,' he telepathically linked to Trowa. He felt Trowa's surprise and rising panic, but Quatre only gave a smile before moving his head back up to stare at the sky. 'I'm sorry I had to do that. I just needed to say it once more…in case,' Quatre thought privately to himself.
Quatre wanted to focus on only Trowa, Duo, Heero, and Wufei. Focus on the fact that they were alive. But his focus was quickly broken when the Sentinel, his undistracted opponent shot at him with a telepathic offensive.
Bringing his attention back to the Sentinel in a flash, he strengthened his shield at the last moment to deflect the attack.
"I must get through this," Quatre grunted with clenched teeth.
He finally allowed himself to now actually feel what was happening. Controlling all of the forces flowing through his body was a novel experience and now he had to fight through it—learn how to mold it to his use. At first, when he thought his friends, his family, were dead, he had gone blank—he could no longer think, he could no longer breathe, he could no longer find a reason to live. Suddenly something in his mind had broken—the barrier blocking his telepathic powers was suddenly gone; shattered like a china plate dropped on a stone floor multiplied by ten. The telepathic emotions suddenly came raging back all at once.
When that had happened, Quatre merely allowed those powers to flow through him—if it killed him, so be it. At that time, he thought his friends and beloved to be dead. All he had to live for was already gone, what was the point? His only mission was to destroy the enemy—at that point if it cost him his life, he would accept it. Maybe somehow…if it was possible…he could join his loved ones in the afterlife.
But now, he realized Trowa, Duo, Heero, and Wufei were alive. Although hidden from his sight, alive.
Now death was certainly not an option. Destroying the enemy was still his mission, but living was the top priority. For this reason, he now fought to keep his mind under his control and trying to control these strange new telepathic forces from running rampant.
Flinging his hands outward, he annihilated the barrier that was separating him from the enemy. Shards of the barrier scattered everywhere like large pieces of bluish-purple glass, but vanished before hitting the ground. There was now nothing between him and the enemy.
'It's best if the others are kept behind that force field—will keep them safe,' Quatre thought to himself. 'I have no clue what I might do.'
"My, my. My pet is showing some attitude," the Sentinel mocked, yet a hint of fear was transparent in his voice. Searching Quatre's mind, futilely trying to read him, he was met by nearly impenetrable telepathic shielding. However, Quatre's elation was so close to the surface, he hadn't yet shielded it yet.
Seething, the Sentinel realized this levitating blonde youth in front of him had realized his friends weren't truly dead. To conserve energy, he would need to drop the illusion of the blonde's dead friends. It no longer caused him agonizing pain—therefore it was useless.
Lowering his hand, the illusion of the boy's death disappeared and the living youths could be seen. They were still kept behind the shield though. He knew if he dropped it, they would be immediately upon him. Taking care of this one levitating youth with barely controlled telepathic energy would be enough without having to hold off four other fully capable people.
Quatre moved his eyes to see the barrier holding his friends from view, drop. He allowed himself a smile at seeing them alive.
'Let's just get this over with quick. No more of this,' Quatre furrowed his brow in determination, focusing his attention at the last remaining Sentinel.
Quatre gave a knowing grin when he found he could easily pierce through his opponents mental shields and read his thoughts.
'I've never had this much power before,' Quatre marveled to himself. 'Let's hope I can do it justice and defeat this monster.'
Sifting through the Sentinels thoughts, he could tell the strange man was still over-confident; not ready to give up. He had had over three centuries of practice at warfare—one telepath with barely controllable powers shouldn't be able to destroy him.
'He thinks I'm too much of a wild card. If he let the others go, he's not quite sure if he could handle all of us. I'm almost glad—I wouldn't want to accidentally hurt one of them,' Quatre mentally spoke to himself.
'He doesn't know what to do,' Quatre noticed. 'For once I have the upper hand. I think…I know what I need to do.'
Closing his eyes, he relaxed his body and let these tumultuous feelings take control. It seemed easier than trying to fight them.
Somewhat in a hypnotic trance, Quatre raised once of his hands toward the sky, while one remained parallel to the ground. He somehow was not surprised when lightning struck his hand yet he felt no huge jolt of electricity. It felt like it was…supposed to happen.
Nearly effortlessly, he threw his hand down and palm out, shot the lightning at his enemy. The lightning flew quick and true towards its target. Suddenly realizing what he had managed to do, Quatre was utterly shocked he had done that.
Raising his hand, he prepared to do it again.
The enemy, watching the attack in formulation, threw up his hands directly in front of him, palms facing the attack, and erected a barrier. The electrical bolt hit the invisible wall and rebounded in different directions, illuminating the whole sky.
The boys stuck behind the force field had to shield their eyes from the light. They pulled their hands back from their faces quickly though to watch the battle continue in front of them.
Pounding on the force field had brought them nowhere, so now they stood there, palms up against the bluish purple static-y wall. A loud crack of thunder caused the ground to shake.
They watched as attack after attack was thrown between both opponents. Both struck up force fields, parried, attacked. Thunderous sounds crashed as both equally powerful sides clashed. Long agonizing minutes passed as they could do nothing but watch.
"I don't think he can't do this much longer," Trowa whispered worriedly. Each boy looked closely at the blond to see his face drawn and paling considerably. It was hard to see any closer features—he was too far away.
"What do you think is happening? I had no idea he was capable of such power," Wufei asked the question everyone was silently thinking.
Trowa gently shook his head, his reddish brown hair swaying side to side. "I don't know," Trowa answered in despair.
"He never knew what that 'family technique' thing was right?" Duo asked tentatively.
"What are you trying to get at Duo?" Wufei asked.
"I mean, this couldn't be his family technique, right?" Duo answered with another question.
"He was never taught how to use it. His father passed before he could teach him. He never even knew what his family technique was," Trowa stated somewhat frustrated—not specifically at Duo, but at the whole situation in general.
The boys continued to watch in silence, mulling over what could possibly be causing this.
"He's had his telepathy tampered with so much. Perhaps this is a…side effect, for lack of a better word," Wufei suggested, watching and wincing at a shot Quatre barely deflected.
Trowa, already pressed up against their barrier with his palms flat against it, rested his forehead on it. "This is making me realize just how much I don't know about Quatre's telepathy," he admitted regretfully.
"It's basically always been something we've just accepted I guess," Duo replied, with a hint of regret in his voice as well.
"If we knew more, perhaps we'd have more answers to what the hell is happening to him!" Trowa said in frustration.
"We can't focus on what we don't know. What do we know?" Heero urged, not letting his stoic expression drop from his face. Trowa simply closed his eyes and exhaled in a deep sigh.
"Nothing," Trowa stated sadly. "As much as you hate to admit Heero, we have no idea what is happening."
'How much more can he handle?' Wufei speculated to himself, looking out once again on the battle. He didn't want to say it aloud and distress Trowa any more than he already was.
"Look at him! He's not going to last much longer like that. We have to get out of here and help him!" Trowa burst out, frustrated and angry.
"We're trying. Just hold on," Wufei responded and then he whispered, "You hold on too Quatre."
'He's blocking my every move,' Quatre thought angrily. 'I'm just not powerful enough. Damn it," he thought clenching his teeth. 'I don't know how long I can stay this way.' All of the nerves along Quatre's arm were starting to tingle from the jolts of electricity. 'Think Quatre, think.'
Reinforcing the shields around his thoughts to keep his enemy from reading his thoughts and strategy, he took a moment to look at his surroundings. The weather was his ally right now. The random bursts of lightning and thunder were distracting and dangerous even if they weren't channeled through him. He had a feeling the weather was somehow his doing yet he didn't exactly know how.
His opponent was still holding up the force field, keeping his friends at bay in order to keep them from attacking. The Sentinel was only just able to ward off Quatre's attacks—if there were the other four attacking him at once, the enemy would have no chance.
'That might be exactly what I need. If I can release my friends, it might give us the chance we need,' Quatre strategized.
Quatre summoned another lightning bolt to his hands. Feigning throwing it at his enemy, he swiftly turned to the side and unleashed the majority of the electricity at the force field protecting his friends. At the exact moment he yelled and thought telepathically, "GET DOWN!"
He had no clue if they would make it out alive. But right now it was his only choice—their only chance.
The others saw the jolt coming and heard the warning. Grabbing each other, they threw themselves against the opposite wall. Curling up in protective balls, they covered their ears and faces. The lightning burst over the force field in a brilliant flash of light. It danced over the surface of the bowl shaped force field, but it somehow had no effect, yet it gave Quatre the distraction he needed.
The enemy, seeing the lightning flowing toward his force field, threw more of his power at protecting it. He knew the jolt from Quatre's lightning would break the force field and free his friends. He couldn't allow that. Yet he failed to realize that by adding power to the force field, he would be taking away his defensive power against Quatre's blasts.
Quatre had based his whole plan on this reaction. He caught this moment of weakness and summoned another lightning bolt towards him. It flashed down from the sky and struck him—yet he molded it to his use.
Either this was the most lightning he had captured or this whole battle was finally taking its toll on him, but this jolt felt like it ran through his bones and his muscles. It flickered off his blond hair and made it stand on end. He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth.
Opening his eyes, he strained to pull his arm down from its position holding the lightning, turned upwards toward the sky. Bringing his other hand in, he let the electricity flow between both palms, taking only a few precious seconds that he had before the Sentinel retaliated. Finding the exact moment, he threw the electricity at his enemy.
The blast flew straight through the air and the Sentinel threw up a defense shield. However, he was pushed back a few feet even though he had thought he had found a firm stance. The extreme power from Quatre's blast illuminated the whole sky once again—it shot over the Sentinel's bowl shaped force field and completely covered it. As a last ditch effort, unable to retaliate, the Sentinel pushed as much reinforcement as he could into his shield.
Quatre felt the Sentinel strengthen his shield and he put even more effort into his lightning jolt. He was so close—so close to finishing this. Finally, it was as if something someone had been pushing on for a long time suddenly gave way. With a yell, Quatre pushed the last remaining ounce of extra energy into strengthening his offensive.
Quatre's power finally proved to be more powerful.
The power of the lightning inundated and collapsed the Sentinel's shield with a loud static crack—effectively annihilating the man hidden underneath.
Once it overcame the Sentinel's shield, nothing hindered the power of the lightning from continuing its trajectory—towards the castle. With a crash, the lightning hit the castle with such a force that each stone was shattered. Stones, mortar, and debris flew in each direction resulting from the explosion and once strong rock walls crumbled to the ground.
Many of the rocks bounced off the force field containing four extremely surprised boys. The aftershock from the castle being destroyed shook the ground as if a powerful earthquake had hit. Each boy was thrown to the rough dirt and gravel ground.
Picking themselves up, with their mouths agape they stared in astonishment. The castle was no more than bits of rubble, the enemy was now just a black ash stain on the dirt, and the three guards were no more.
It was finally over.
The threat was gone. With eyes closed, chin nearly against his chest, Quatre began descending. His toes touched first and gently his heels also flattened on the ground. Still standing but slumped over, his arms slowly came down to rest at his sides. All of his weight finally settled upon the ground. He stumbled half a step forward. Barely having the strength, Quatre forced his head up from his chest and wearily opened his eyes.
'Why….is….everything in…slow motion,' his overtaxed brain tried to process. His slowly dulling blue eyes watched as his friends fought their way to him. Rain lightly began to fall as the clouds became gray instead of deathly black.
'I-I tried….I wanted to stay…I am…so…sorry,' Quatre linked with the others for perhaps the last time. Quatre felt everything the others did—their anguish, despair, frustration, desperation. Giving them a weary, regretful smile, Quatre collapsed to the ground—
--and all telepathic links were broken.
Authoresses Note: I'm re-writing the whole ending of the story. I had initially ended it at one point ( a little later on) but I decided it was too abrupt and didn't close up some of the loose ends. So this is just a notice that updates might come a little slow! I'll try to be quick however! Hope you enjoyed--until next time take care everyone!