Hoo boy. I'm seriously considering putting up the chapter right after this one, considering where it leaves off. Give me a few hours to angst over it.
Enjoy!
Part 24: Together at the Well
"How did they get past the perimeter guards?" Wufei asked as he drew out his mask, running one hand absently over the symbol carved into the inside of the forehead – the Gundam symbol.
"Look," Quatre pointed. "They're taking advantage of the fact that the groups haven't all figured out how to coordinate yet. There's a gap between the earthbenders from the city and that set of lookouts from somewhere else. The soldiers assume the earthbenders are using their earth sense, and the earthbenders are busy building fortifications."
"How would they know about the gap?" Duo wanted to know.
"Quinze," Heero said flatly. "He's in the city. Une's information said as much."
"Quinze?" Quatre's forehead creased as he thought, then his face widened in surprise. "He's here? Oh, that is not good."
"Why?" Trowa asked.
"Later. If we have time," Quatre shook his head and drew out his own mask. "They're mostly firebenders down there, I'd guess from the balloon, but if Quinze is behind this, that's a Black Lotus force and they'll have at least one good earthbender."
"So we should not approach them from the ground," Heero concluded. "We would run the risk of being seen anyway."
"Obviously," Wufei said. He was already moving towards Triton. "So we attack from above."
"Hey, Trowa, buddy?" Duo asked as the five clambered aboard the still saddle-less sky bison. "You all set with the airbending thing?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Well, we're gonna be, you know, in the air." Duo sighed. "We're all thinking it. We go up really high and drop down onto the balloon and they'll never even see us coming. But that means Trowa here has to airbend us all down."
"He'll be fine," that was Heero. The earthbender looked intently at Trowa for a moment and nodded once. "We'll be fine. He is strong."
Quatre had managed to clamber aboard Triton without letting go of Sandrock, but now he tossed the hawk into the air beside Kai and the other four hawks. "Trowa, you just need them to read the currents ahead of us, right?"
The airbender looked momentarily surprised before he simply nodded. "Yes. If they dive first, they'll show me where to bend."
"Then let's go." Heero donned his mask and pulled from a pocket a length of metal that he wrapped around his waist with a gesture. Noin had given it to him, actually, as something she knew Zechs often carried into battle. It was nothing but a length of strong, dense metal, but in the hands of an expert metalbender it could become a sword or a rope or a series of flying projectiles or a shield – whatever he needed in the blink of an eye.
Trowa slid his own mask over his face, watching where Quatre was already securing his two shotels, Duo seemed to have no water on him but then had never needed any, and Wufei already had his sword tied tightly to his side. He ran a hand over Triton's head gently, and a sub-vocal rumble told him the sky bison was content and unafraid, a feeling they shared. The return of his memories had not happened all in one dramatic flash, but slowly, like air wearing down a mountain. Trowa could not really recall that transition, but he knew how empty he had been when his mind had been a void and how full he was now that he knew. Now that he had seen Heero bend a mountain pass, or Wufei shout up at a crowd of enemies, or Duo laugh in the surf, or Quatre triumph in pai sho – now he knew why they were Gundams and why he belonged here.
Trowa guided Triton high in the sky, using some convenient clouds to conceal them in the dark – even at night, a sky bison's white fur was hard to hide. When they were well up, so far they might be confused for a low-hanging cloud themselves, he took a deep breath. The cold air blew insistently up here, twisting and driving forward. To bring the five of them, without Triton, down on target, would take all the skill he had ever possessed.
The hawks that had accompanied them followed Heavyarms when Trowa signaled the orange hawk and they began to dive straight down. Trowa squeezed Triton's head with his knees in a silent signal, and the bison tipped forward, plunging his five riders into free-fall.
Trowa was pleased but not surprised that none of the other four made so much as a sound as they began to fall. Trowa pulled his arms close to his body to just fall for an instant, though it felt so much longer – it allowed him to gauge the wind for himself and get used to the other four around him. They were arranged in a rough circle, a little more spread out than he wanted. A flick of a hand and the winds pulled them close. No one made a sound, but they seemed to understand him anyway. Trowa, a little ahead of the rest, felt a hand latch onto his left ankle and then, a moment later, another to his right. He didn't need to glance backwards to know that they had linked themselves together to ease his way.
After fifteen heartbeats, Trowa began to bend the air. The hawks below showed him where sudden gusts were and he was able to keep them from being blown off-course. But the most important thing was slowing them down and controlling their momentum – even crashing into the balloon rather than the ship below it without intervention would be fatal at this speed. It wasn't the sort of thing they taught in the temples, not the sort of thing any normal airbender would know how to do. But Trowa had learned to breathe the air from the sky bison. Just because he couldn't fly didn't mean he couldn't soar.
Trowa made the final adjustment, swinging all five of them around the side of the balloon before spilling them forward like leaves thrown by the wind into a window. They hit the deck of the balloon's ship fighting.
It was not one of the huge war-machines that could carry more than one hundred soldiers and mechanics at a time, but a size smaller than that had been developed more for transport than war. It was probably crewed by a small number and carrying forty or so, certainly a problem if they got all the way into the heart of Republic City, but not nearly the same kind of problem alone in the air with the Gundams. With the five of them spread out across the deck, the first wave of surprised Black Lotus fighters fell before they even understood their ambush had been ambushed.
Duo looked up from the fight, a dagger red with death in one hand, to assess the situation. Trowa, Heero, and Wufei had charged below-decks to handle the soldiers that had not yet been alerted to danger and, from the sounds of it, were neatly cleaning out the airship. At the other end of the deck, Quatre was working his way to the small metal room where the captain must be steering.
"Shinigami!" he called just as Duo looked over. "We've got a problem!"
Duo wasted no time, rolling his shoulder as he sprinted over – it felt stiff and sore from the bloodbending that had been his opening move. He skidded to a stop beside Quatre and immediately saw what had alarmed his friend. The captain had barricaded himself in, and was in the process of turning the airship sharply to the left. He appeared committed to crashing it into the nearest tall building, probably killing everybody aboard in the process, in an attempt to fulfill at least some part of his mission. There was no glass they could break to get in, just a narrow slit through which they could barely make out the man's form moving quickly at the controls.
"Can you adjust the rudder?" Quatre asked, pointing backwards. Duo flicked a glance over before shaking his head.
"It won't help. We're on course to hit now. We'd have to break it loose from the apparatus first, and I'm not a metalbender. And there's no time to go find that stubborn rockhead!"
"Then bloodbend the captain," Quatre commanded. "Make him turn it himself and we can get Heero to fix it later."
"I already bloodbended when we landed," Duo said with a sinking feeling. His mind raced. "We could get off ourselves, but we won't find the others in time to warn them. They could be anywhere down in that maze of corridors!"
"There's no choice," Quatre's voice was cold. "You have to bloodbend the captain and steer the ship using him until we get the others back together or we will crash and they won't even know it's coming! They'll be unprepared and defenseless!"
"I can't!" Duo exclaimed, glaring pure death at Quatre. "I told you – I'm out!"
"You're not!" Quatre replied, getting right in the bloodbender's face. "You told me once it was like emptying a well and you had to let it fill back up."
Quatre grabbed for Duo's bare left arm and cinched both his hands around it.
"Go to the well again," he commanded. "You will find what you need." And he closed his eyes.
Duo looked towards the looming building, and listened to where the others fought for their lives with a muted clanging and shouting from below, and felt warmth like sunlight begin to spill through him. Energy, enough energy to bloodbend a dozen men, pouring into him from Quatre's heart. He couldn't help it – he threw back his head and laughed.
"You really do work miracles, Cat!"
-==OOO==-
Treize stopped outside the pavilion for less time to hesitate than it took to breathe before striding forward. It was his right to enter without being announced, and he intended to use it.
The black pavilion was not remarkably grand, all things considered, but it was high and lit with fire at every join of the tarpaulin to the metal frame. At the far end, a scaled-down version of the Fire Throne sat, ringed by flame. Fire Lord Dermail perched upon it like a spirit of shadow amidst the fire, Dorothy looking oddly pale and ethereal beside him. Spread out before them was a map of the immediate area, Republic City and the surrounding Earth Kingdom lands.
Both turned their eyes to him as he snapped a full bow at the entrance before taking a place on the other side of his father from Dorothy.
"Prince Treize," Dermail greeted his younger child warily. "I did not expect you here so soon."
"I was fortunate to be near enough to your location to prevent delay," Treize spoke politely.
"Treize," the Fire Lord's voice grew deeper and more threatening, "why have you come?"
"Is not the Fire Nation preparing to make war upon Republic City?" Treize replied, looking stalwartly ahead and not even shifting his eyes to the side to see his father. "My place is here, lending my strength to the battle for our people."
"I heard a rumor that you intend to betray us, Uncle Treize," Dorothy said almost cheerfully from the other side of the Fire Lord.
"If that were true," Treize said, "I would have come here merely to die. But I assure you, I have much more important concerns than my own death, so I propose that your sources are mistaken about my treason."
"Death is a gift given at birth." Dorothy shrugged. "I'm sure you know that, Uncle. What I'm not sure of is your loyalty. Can we be certain that your mind has not been twisted by your unnecessary friendship with those from the Earth Kingdom?"
"I give you both my word of honor that my loyalty is to the Fire Nation. I serve no other."
"Very well," Dermail said. Dorothy took in a sharp breath as though she was going to argue, but he silenced her with a gesture. "I know my son's many weaknesses, but he is honorable. If this is his word, we may trust it. And if he betrays us, kill him."
"Yes, Grandfather."
"Then, Treize, it is time you lent your considerable strategic mind to our task. Here is the land and the positions of our forces," the Fire Lord gestured. "When the last of our soldiers arrive, we will be facing a battle on two fronts against formidable odds."
"Is it truly necessary to attack both at once?" Treize asked. "It would seem a more reasonable plan to defeat them in turns."
"No. I will not allow our enemies to remain for any longer than necessary," Dermail shook his head. With a controlled jet of flame he pushed one of the little metal figures across the map. "The Earth Kingdom will not help Republic City, and it is likely they will turn on one another before we defeat either. It will weaken them."
"And if we defeat them both here and now, then what, father?" Treize asked carefully. "Obviously we take Republic City as our own, but what of the Earth Kingdom? Do we continue over the remains of their army to Ba Sing Se to bring down the wall as we did so long ago?"
"Perhaps," the Fire Lord stroked his beard. "Certainly we will annex these lands and any within our grasp. But while Dorothy and I continue forward with the march of our nation, I will leave it to you to subdue the traitors in our midst back home. Subdue them or destroy them."
"The more we battle with our own people, the more may grow desperate enough to fight," Treize said reasonably.
"I don't care!" the Fire Lord clenched his hands into fists. "The people of the Fire Nation will bow or die. I will make war on Capital Island itself if I have to, but this world will bow, as much of it as I can hold! The people whisper such fears in the dark of their hearts. I will show them what they should fear!"
"Grandfather..." Dorothy began.
"They call it 'The Fire Lord's War' even though it was 200 years ago!" he roared. "If the world is going to see us as monsters and conquerors, I think we should earn that reputation!"
"Yes, Fire Lord," Dorothy actually bowed where she sat before straightening up and beginning to lay out a very clever battle strategy.
When the Fire Lord dismissed them somewhat later, Treize stopped Dorothy as she walked towards her own pavilion.
"Why do you side with him, Dorothy? I see in your eyes that you believe his plan to dominate the world is unwise."
Dorothy delicately raised a forked eyebrow before giving a canny smile. "Men and women are savages, Uncle Treize. They kill and fight and they don't care." She turned towards Republic City, hidden by the ridge but its presence remained. "If the world cannot live divided into its nations, be they Four or four-hundred, then they must be forced to live under one power that will keep them from their own evil by any means necessary."
"You would make war to prevent war?" Treize asked.
"I will make war to ensure peace," Dorothy said. "There is a wise man who taught me that violence is the only answer. When all lands are Fire Nation, when all rebellion is burned away, people will stop killing one another. It is the only way."
She swept off, head thrown back proudly. Treize sighed.
"Oh, Dorothy. How little you understand."
-==OOO==-
"You shouldn't be here," Zechs said without even looking up.
A portion of his wall shifted a little. The advantage of being earthbenders was that the army of the Earth Kingdom never needed to travel with accommodations or furniture – they simply produced it wherever they stopped for the night. It helped them move more quickly, which is how in only a matter of weeks a portion of the army was already within striking distance of Republic City.
"I know," came a beloved voice, and Noin stepped out of the wall.
"I have a door, you know," Zechs gestured, one corner of his mouth turning up in amusement.
"And guards outside it," Noin returned. "With all the building and preparing, nobody's going to notice one person only earthbending such a tiny amount."
She crossed the room to stand at Zechs's elbow and moved as if to touch him, but stopping just short. "I've missed you."
"And I you, my dear Noin." Zechs met her hand in midair and brought it to his lips for a soft kiss.
"Relena doesn't know I came," Noin said. "I had to see you."
"Is she well?"
"She is. She's brave and she's doing her best. Darlian would be very, very proud of her."
"I knew she would do well. I didn't realize I would test her so much, though," Zechs said ruefully. "You realize I'm going to have to attack Republic City in this war?"
"Yes. I understood your message." Noin squeezed Zechs's hand tightly. "It's Septum, isn't it?"
"Yes. And I can't get near him without raising suspicions. For now, I fear I will have to play his game."
"To what end?" Noin demanded. "Why not move against him now?"
"It would look like a coup, no better than the Dai Li imprisoning the Earth King in The Fire Lord's War. I would never regain the trust of the army. And if I lose that, I cannot keep them from annihilating Republic City."
"It won't be that easy," Noin returned. "We're not defenseless. And we have a few surprises."
"Good," Zechs looked at her seriously. "Use them. All of them. Stop us, Noin. Stop me and stop Septum and stop Treize, if you can. The madness must stop here and now or the world will die in fire and ice and stone."
"We know, Zechs." Noin closed her eyes for a moment before she reached out and touched his jaw tenderly. "Relena won't fight, won't even advocate fighting. And for that, the world has come to protect her. Including a few old friends. We won't let peace die. Just..." she tipped her head so she could see his eyes clearly through his mask, "don't you die either. You must be there to rebuild what you destroy, Zechs. Promise me."
"Noin, I..."
"Promise me."
"I would die to end this war. That is more important than my own life."
"Death is not the only way to win, Zechs. You'll do a lot more good alive." Noin stroked along his throat and tangled her fingers in his long hair. "Please. Please try. If not for me, for Relena."
"You would be enough for me, Noin," Zechs sighed under her touch. "But I fear we may need a miracle to save us all from ourselves."
"Trust me," Noin smiled. "If I can survive Dorothy following me around for weeks, anything is possible." Then she sobered. "I choose to believe in hope, Zechs."
"Believe it for me, then," he said sadly. "And I'll join you there if I can."
-==OOO==-
In the end, the airship did not crash. Duo bloodbended the captain into steering it to the top of the Gundams' own hilltop, where the Maganacs were waiting for them, summoned by Quatre. The few survivors were taken away to be imprisoned in Republic City, and the bodies were removed for burial. The Maganacs also had a thick packet of pages for Quatre, which Rashid handed over solemnly.
Heero, Duo, Trowa, and Wufei all worked at breaking down the airship, converting it into a fair observation post and a small house that could overlook the area. The thin metal walls were easy to bend and change, and though they tended to echo a little bit, they were a better-fortified position than Heero's beginning earthworks when he and Wufei had claimed the hill.
The Maganacs set up camp around the Gundam buildings, adding a grim yet cheerful air to the whole place. But after the desert-dwellers had shared their food and supplies with the Gundams, Quatre drew Wufei aside.
"There's something you need to know," he said. "Something about the Order."
Of course, right then Duo popped up, the other two a few steps behind. "Are we keeping secrets again, Cattie?" he asked wryly.
Quatre blushed but Wufei shook his head. "No. If this is business of the Order, it is for all of us."
"Wufei," Quatre said a little urgently, "it's also about your family."
The firebender froze, his dark eyes widening slightly. But he shook his head again. "I have no family. Share your information openly."
So Quatre led the others into the small house they would share, sighing. He handed Wufei a piece of paper.
"This was sent to me by a contact in the Order. It went to my father rather than myself or I would have known long ago." He closed his eyes. "I'm sorry."
Wufei looked at the parchment as though he could burn it with just his gaze.
"What is it?" Heero asked, not coldly, but matter-of-factly.
"It is...from my uncle," Wufei said softly. "He died. He was murdered by the Black Lotus."
"No, he wasn't," Quatre said sadly. "It wasn't the Order of the Black Lotus. It was the Order of the White Lotus."
"You mean the guys we worked for killed his uncle?" Duo sprang up, angrily. "Why? What for?"
"We had learned they were not all well-intentioned, but to murder..." Trowa's even voice was tight with fury.
"This is a letter from my uncle," Wufei said too softly. "He suggests that he knows he is going to die, and that I must find the correct path and follow it. He asks you," he looked at Quatre, "to do him a final favor as a member of the Order and teach me to..." he trailed off and crumpled the paper.
"What?" Heero asked.
"Nothing. It doesn't make sense."
"Wufei," Quatre said, reaching out to touch his arm, and not surprised when Wufei pulled away, "you know it wasn't me. You know I didn't have anything to do with this. And I would have told you if I had known. By the time that message arrived at Omashu, it was weeks too late."
"How can I trust any of you?" Wufei turned on him, irate. "I extended the slightest trust to the Order, and I was already wary of their motives, and now I learn this! Who else is part of this madness?"
"No one," Heero said solidly. "We are not the Order. We are Gundams."
"You were Order once," he spat. "Perhaps I should not be a Gundam either, if this is the honor of those who consort with murderers!"
"Hey, if you can't tell the difference between us and those ratdogs," Duo sneered, "you know where the door is! We don't need somebody who isn't going to be in this all the way with us!"
"Stop it!" Quatre's voice cut through the noise, startling them into silence. "We can't...we can't let ourselves be torn apart this way!"
"Quatre, you're wrong this time– " Wufei began.
"No." Quatre's eyes blazed and suddenly the very air was charged by the power of his focus and intensity. "No, you are going to listen to me now."
"Cat..." Duo tipped his head, face creasing in confusion.
"Sit down!" the yellow-haired fighter ordered in the same voice that always sent the Maganacs running to obey. A voice not made of polite smiles and gentle patience, but of steel and pain and unrelenting will. "Sit down and listen!"
After a surprised moment, all four did as commanded. Quatre's hands were clenched and his shoulders were taut. His eyes darted around rapidly before he ducked his head out of the shelter. They could hear him call for Rashid, who was only a few paces away.
"Clear the area. Nobody is to overhear and nobody comes anywhere near us until I give the all clear. Now move."
Through the thin walls, they could hear men scrambling to follow the sharp, unusually harsh orders. Quatre did not turn back to face the four of them until the sounds of people moving around had faded. He looked not at them, but beyond them.
"Quatre," Trowa said softly, "what...?"
"Two years before the coordinated full moon attack that began this," he interrupted as he stared through them, "you each began working with a different old man who claimed he represented the Order of the White Lotus. For some of you," he glanced towards Heero, "you took orders and asked no questions. For others," he tipped his head to Wufei, "it was a more reluctant alliance. But you all became part of this fight two years ago."
He finally pinned them with a burning gaze. "And you all did that because sometime before that, years before, something happened to you. You lost someone you cared about, or you witnessed our enemies in action. Something changed you forever and drove you to this fight. And now here we are."
Quatre closed his eyes and let out a sharp breath. "What you didn't know, what you couldn't have known, was that whatever you experienced that brought you to that point was a setup. You were betrayed then as Wufei was betrayed now."
Their reactions were immediate. Wufei was on his feet, face contorted in rage. Duo instinctively reached for his weapons. Heero dug his fingers into the ground. Trowa went utterly still.
Quatre met Wufei's rage calmly and put a hand on his chest. "Sit down, Wufei," he said evenly.
"Explain. Now." The firebender found himself backing down, even as he stared at Quatre. The empath waited until Wufei was sitting again before he spoke.
"Fifteen years ago, the Avatar was killed. On that day, the world seemed to fracture irrevocably. But a few crazy members of the Order of the Black Lotus decided that things had gone too far. They switched sides, joined the White Lotus, and became known as the Five. They realized that not all might be lost. They, like few others alive today, knew where the Avatar came from originally. They knew the Avatar might be able to return under the right circumstances. And they decided to ensure those circumstances would come to pass."
"But how?" Duo asked.
"I'll tell you the long story of how the first Avatar came to be another day," Quatre answered. "What you need to know now is that the Five began searching the world for the key people they intended to use to bring the Avatar back. But they didn't care who they hurt to get there. They didn't care if they ruined lives or which side of the war between White and Black Lotus they helped if it gave them what they ultimately wanted. They believed that the return of the Avatar was worth anything, any cost, no matter the evil they would commit."
Quatre's eyes fixed themselves on Wufei. "They started with you. As you grew up, tested again and again to see if you were the Avatar, they watched and waited until they could be certain whether it was you or Meiran they needed. Once they knew it was you, they leaked your location to our enemies to ensure you would be attacked and your heart filled with rage."
"Why me and not her?" Wufei ground out through his teeth.
"Because by then they had identified Heero and knew they could pair you with him," Quatre answered, turning to the earthbender. "Your training with Master Odin brought you to their attention. Odin found out about their plans for you, though, and tried to protect you. But when he died, probably betrayed by them, you fell into their control again."
He turned to Duo and Trowa. "I don't actually know exactly how or when they found you. But Solo's death? They made sure he taught you enough before killing him so you would have no one to keep you from following their path, Duo. Trowa, I'm not sure how you were identified. Maybe it happened when you were a baby, maybe it wasn't until the very end. But if I had to guess, I'd say it was early, and it was why you never had a home."
Quatre clenched his hands even more tightly, pacing agitatedly. "They leaked information to the Black Lotus, or they arranged assassinations, or they cut you off from the families you should have had. They ruined your lives, all four of you, to make sure you'd play their little game. They arranged the pieces around you as if they were building a perfect pai sho board, with no care for the damage it would do you. And they did it all because of one evil belief they carried."
Now he stopped and stared at Heero, waiting. The earthbender raised his head, understanding.
"That our purpose was to die," Heero said flatly.
"Yes. Exactly. The Five believed they needed to find four benders, one of each element, who were close enough in age as well as skill, highly powerful, of a similar mind and spirit, and all working towards the same aim. They believed that if you all died at near the same moment, the Avatar would just be reborn from you like a spring shooting from a seed. But they're wrong!"
Here Quatre turned away, shaking. When he spoke, there was a shudder in his voice.
"They were so close to being right, but they missed the last piece. They thought they could bring the Avatar back to life using Wufei, who would have been the next Avatar if Yuy hadn't been killed in his cosmic state. They thought they just had to surround him with the right people, that it would just happen as long as they could sort of stick him together with three other broken souls and kill them together. So they broke the rest of you to make sure your spirits would be equal parts pain and anger the way Wufei's was."
"Quatre," Trowa spoke up gently, "how do you know all this? How do you know what they wanted, and how do you know they're wrong?"
"I know what they wanted because I have been tracking them and their plans for a long time, even if I missed the worst of it until it was too late," he said wearily. "I know they're wrong because I just do. The Avatar was born of the elements in perfect harmony. Only perfect harmony can bring back another Avatar. Pain and suffering might draw the right souls together, but it isn't death that unites them. It's something much more important than that." Quatre didn't look up from where he hung his head.
"What aren't you telling us, Cat?" Duo's eyes narrowed.
Quatre sighed and dropped into a seated position, completing their circle.
"Those five members of the Order were partially right. But they didn't know that they were closer to the truth than they ever could have imagined. The future of the Avatar is here."