Kalis Journey-Chapter Five: The Meeting with Evil
Author's Note: yaoi warning in effect(Duo+Heero)
"So, where am I now? Back in my cell?" Kalli asked as if she were bored.
Gates laughed. "No. We are in your mind Kalli."
"Oh? So what is this place I'm in?"
"It's the cell you made for yourself due to years of my training. You've never lived outside of it."
"Oh really?"
Kalli went to the door and tried to open it. But it was locked.
"See? I have already defeated you Kalli."
"You defeat me when I die."
"It's time you learned some truths Kalli. The world isn't the place for you."
"How do you figure?" Kalli sat in the corner of her cell, looking around as Gates spoke.
"The world is full of emotion. No one can live without their emotions, young Princess. Fear, friendship, hate, anger, sadness, love and joy make the world go round. You see, you can't have love without hate, peace without war, you may be emotionless now but one of these days they'll come flooding back to you. And you'll die."
"But why?" Kalli said as she leapt to her feet. "That doesn't make sense. I can't love anyone, so no one loves me back. I can't be hurt by emotions I can't feel."
"Is that a tone of anger I hear in your voice Kalli?"
Kalli's eyes narrowed. "You're wrong. You have never been right once Gates, I doubt it'll start now."
A sudden pain rose in Kalli's chest. It wasn't much, but Kalli felt the burning sensation rising into her throat. She backed up against the wall, swallowing hard, trying to make the burning stop. Gates chuckled.
"And so it starts, young Kalli. Your years of unemotional stress are over. Today marks your downfall."
Kalli slid down the wall, falling on her knees. "This is a fight you can't win. The resistance will stop you and your dark magic."
Gates chuckled more. "What you don't know young Kalli is that your resistance no longer exists."
"What?"
"Yes, it is hard for a resistance to resist when they can't even control their own actions."
Trowa carried the unconscious Quatre out of the room. Heero and Duo helped Wufei along the corridor, Wufei protesting nearly the entire way.
"I hope Quatre will be okay," Duo said, looking over at him laying limp in Trowa's arms.
"What happened?" Heero asked.
"We went into the room to search for Kalli." Wufei explained. "Waiting inside was a tall man. He looked really strange, short black hair, glinting black eyes, very tall, probably six feet. He raised his hand and said something, I don't remember what it was. But after that, Quatre went crazy and began attacking us. I think the man slipped past us while we tried to calm Quatre down."
"Huh, so that must be that dark magic everyone's been talking about." Duo said.
"Guess so." Heero replied.
They came to the large area where the resistance usually gathered to talk, learn and play. But instead, everyone left in the resistance were standing in a group, staring at the boys. At the head of the group stood a tall man, black hair shining, black eyes sparkling.
"Damn it." Duo cursed.
The man laughed. "So I see you killed your comrade, or at least knocked him senseless."
"Actually we broke your stupid spell asshole." Duo sneered.
"What did you do to Kalli?" Heero demanded.
The man yawned, tossing an envelope at their feet. "President Gates has a certian interest in you five. I don't see why he doesn't just let me destroy you."
He began to walk away, the resistance followed him.
"No," Heero said. He let Wufei go and drew his gun, aiming it at the man. "Omae o korosu,"
"Bukate baka ne," the man said. He waved his hand and the gun flew out of Heero's grip.
The entire group turned and left the boys staring after them.
"What was that?" Duo asked.
"What?" Heero snapped as he picked up the envelope.
"What the jerk said,"
"Japanese."
"Okay. What's in the envelope?"
Heero brought it over to them and opened it. Inside was a letter. Heero read it out loud.
"I've known about the attack on me by the resistance. Come find my base and your friends, Princess Kalli is waiting there for you to witness her destruction. Careful now, no one is part of the resistance anymore. You boys will be completely on your own. Your mission; come to my base and witness Kalli's death. I shall be waiting." Heero dropped the letter. "It's signed President Gates."
"Gates is weak," Wufei growled. "Too weak to face us himself, he has to attack those weaker than him."
"He has Kalli." Duo said. "We've got to go help her."
Trowa nodded. "I'm sure Quatre will agree."
Heero smirked. "Mission accepted."
Kalli slowly opened her eyes. The burning pain dissapeared, but now one of the walls of her cell were missing.
"What's going on?" Kalli wondered, standing up to peer out of her cell for the first time.
What she saw was black. No floor, ceiling or other walls, just an endless feild of darkness. She walked around a bit, trying to look at everything in a logical view but found it near to impossible. She turned back to where her cell was and found it gone. A strange wave of something resembling fear washed over her. A chuckle filled the air.
"Your emotional wall is down. You've felt the beginnings of anger, now you are feeling a delightful emotion called despair." Gates said, his voice annoyingly soothing and calm.
"Where am I?" Kalli demanded.
"I've told you before, in your own mind Kalli."
"I don't see how that can be,"
A sudden square of white light appeared before her. She looked into it and saw the corridor outside the meeting room. She could still hear Beazin talking, but she had felt the meeting no longer concerned her. It took Kalli a moment to realize that the white square was like a television screen, she was looking out her own eyes. Then a dark figure loomed in the hallway. It raised a hand towards Kalli, but didn't attack. Kalli had demanded the figure to reveal itself, but when it didn't comply she attacked. Before she could get within a foot of the figure, a horrible sense of vertigo fell over her. She fought it as long as she could, but it weakened then finally overcame her.
The screen flickered, then focused on President Gates. He and his workers were in a room, Kalli was tied up in a chair. The workers connected wires to her head and body, another handed Gates a headpiece.
"This will allow you to enter her mind. We designed it to your specifications Mr. President, sir," the worker said.
"Excellent." Gates said.
"So you put me in this thing," Kalli said. "I really am in my own mind. But my mind is logical, so why is everything around me in this place illogical?"
"The human mind is illogical Kalli. You have become logical by putting yourself in a box. When logic can't overcome illogic, both schools of thought are destroyed." Kalli looked stunned, she clutched at her chest and swayed where she stood. "You see? Slowly your body is deteriorating,"
"Wait a minute," Kalli said, breathing hard. "If this is all in my mind, how come I feel pain?"
"Your mind is connected to your body my dear. Whatever happens here will be happening to your body."
"Oh," Kalli was on her knees again, the pain rising. Her fear was the culprit this time. "I know you better than you think Gates. You have another reason for me to be here."
"I can't fool you Kalli. Yes, I did bring you here for more reason than to watch you suffer. I don't believe anyone should die without knowing the truths of their pasts."
"What's that supossed to mean?"
"What you know about your parents, for the most part, is all a lie."
Kalli struggled to her feet, just barely succeding. "So they weren't the rulers of Kallis? It still doesn't make you right for the way you run this sorry government."
"Oh no, don't worry little princess, you still are the "rightful ruler" of Planet Kalis. Yes indeed your parent were the rulers of this soverignty, but it's not true that their deaths were accidental."
"So you killed them, makes sense."
"Yes my dear. You are quite bright, aren't you."
Suddenly the darkness around her shuddered, like a pebble being dropped in a pond. The darkness slowly became light and she found herself in a room. It was a nursery. Decorated with pink and silver walls, a neat pile of stuffed animals on a small chair and table. A navy-blue and silver, very ellegant-looking crib was placed on one side near the large window. The lacey drapes had been pulled back to allow sunlight and warmth into the little room. It all seemed very cozy, peaceful, innocent. The noises that were growing outside the room weren't. Kalli looked to the doors as they suddenly burst open. A group of strong men pushed two people into the room.
One had already been rendered unconscious. It was a thin man, skin very dark, his brown hair was short and closely cropped around his face. He wore a red and gold uniform, white gloves encased his hands and he wore shining cobalt boots.
The other was a woman, she screamed and cursed at the men. But even in her rage she still looked like a queen in her navy-blue and silver gown. It matched the crib. Her silver tiara lay askew atop her golden brown hair. She wore no shoes or gloves. Her dark blue eyes were alight with fire.
"Mom? Dad?" Kalli wondered.
"You lay one more hand on my family I swear to the gods I will-" the queen screamed.
"Shut up!" A man yelled, slapping her across her face.
"Don't you touch her!" Kalli suddenly screamed, rushing forward toward the man who hit her mother. She ignored the horrible bursting pain in her chest when she ran through the man and stumbled onto the floor. She could hear Gates laugh.
"This is but a memory my child." Gates said, continuing his laughter.
But his laughter began to grow, then he seemed more closer than Kalli thought. Then the men parted to allow a tall, powerfully built man forward.
It was a fifteen-years younger President Gates. A malicious look was in his eyes. The king was beginning to come around again, the wife held onto him.
"You can do what you want with me," the king said in a soft, dangerous tone. "But touch our Kalli or my wife and I will-"
"Idle threats your highness," Gates interrupted. "Merely, idle threats. What use are you two if you're dead?"
He snapped his fingers and the men roughly picked up the royal couple. They brought in two chairs and soon the king and queen were tied and gagged to them.
Kalli, meanwhile, watched in horror, clutching her heart, privately praying this would end soon.
The king and queen were also watching in horror. The men began pouring a liquid all over them and the room. Their muffled screams were terrified. Suddenly, another scream sounded in the room. It came from the little crib facing the window, the only thing untouched by Gates' men thus far. Gates slowly walked over and peered in.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Gates said slowly. He reached in and picked up the screaming baby girl, who only screamed louder. Gates looks furious. "Shut up." He slapped the baby's mouth, which only made the infant cry harder.
Kalli watched the queen as she began to cry, the king looked pleading.
"I believe his highness has something to say," Gates said, nodding to one of his men.
The man stepped forward and pulled down the cloth tied to the king's mouth.
"Please Gates, please spare my daughter. Give her to one of the peasants I beg of you," he pleaded.
President Gates looked amused. He held the baby at arms length, examining her. Kalli could see a cruel coldness glaze over his eyes.
"I don't believe in telling lies to those about to die, your majesty." Gates said. "But no, I don't think I'll spare your daughter."
"Then, then what will you do to her?" The king stammered. "How can you kill such an innocent?"
"Innocence means nothing." Gates snapped. "No, I shall bring up the girl as my faithful warrior. Goodbye your majesties. Your, "accident", will go down in Planet Kalis' history."
Kalli watched helplessly as President Gates carried the screaming infant away, a fire was lit and the room went into flames. She turned and closed her ears, trying to block out the agonized screams of her parents as they met their dooms.
"Nooooooo!!!!!" Kalli began screaming when she thought she couldn't take it anymore. "Stop it! STOP IT!!!"
She fell to her knees, she wasn't sure what she was feeling anymore. The pain in her chest rose high and sharp, dark thoughts began to cloud her mind and smoke blocked her vision. She fell over, tears in her eyes, and hit the ground.
Then everything melted away. The room, the fire, the burning bodies of her parents. Kalli lay in the black void that was her own mind.
Outside her mind, in the room where she was held prisoner, Gates smiled.
"Such a great warrior she became," Gates murmured. "Too bad I have to break her down just to build her up once again."
Quatre had finally awoken and he listened carefully as the others explained what had happened. He blushed slightly when hearing of his rampage and went scarlet as Trowa explained how the spell was broken.
"So I wasn't dreaming," Wufei muttered. "Jesus,"
"Okay, so Kalli's been kidnapped." Quatre said quickly. "What do we do now?"
"We have to find the base that Gates is holding her. Shouldn't be too hard, Beazin has told us where it is." Heero said.
"But what if the information she was getting was wrong?" Wufei asked.
"Doubt it, these guys seem to be pretty smart." Quatre said. "We can just use the plan Beazin told us about."
"Our only problem is that the base is like a maze. We weren't informed of how to get around because it wasn't necessary before." Heero pointed out. "But whatever we do we better do it quickly or else-"
Heero was stopped by Quatre raising his hand slightly. He looked worried. Heero followed Quatre's eyes next to him where Duo sat. Duo was staring into space, his face pale, his lips moving but no sound coming out.
"Hey, Duo?" Heero said, nudging him slightly. He didn't move. "Duo?" Duo didn't even acknowledge him. His eyes slowly started rolling back. "Hey Duo! Snap out of it!"
Heero started shaking Duo hard. Quatre stood and seperated the two.
"Heero back off a minute," Quatre said, still looking at their friend. "I think he's sensing something. Remember that we have magic powers now too,"
"This is stupid," Wufei muttered.
Duo seemed to come off whatever cloud he was on, but very suddenly. He gasped and stood up, looking around frantically.
"Kalli's dead," he said quickly.
"What?!" His friends exclaimed.
"Maxwell what are you talking about?" Wufei demanded.
"I, well she's not dead. Not yet," Duo stammered, sweat breaking out on his forehead.
"You better sit." Trowa said.
Duo nodded a bit, letting Quatre help him back to his seat.
"But, but remember that dream I had before we came here? This was it, I remember it now," Duo asked.
"So this means what?" Quatre asked calmly.
Duo laughed a lttle, trying to put on his usual bravado. "Means I can get us through that maze of a base."
A couple of hours later, the boys had infiltrated the base and found their way around. Of course, it took a lot of Heero slamming Duo into nearby walls when they ran into dead ends.
"Hey Heero would you chill out!?" Duo protested after being thrown into yet another gray, metal wall.
Heero pulled Duo up by his shoulder. "Why are you leading us into dead end's Duo Maxwell?"
"Hey, I said I had a pretty good idea of how to get around here." Duo rubbed his head and gave Heero a menacing look. "I never said I knew the exact way."
"Enough you two," Quatre said, stepping between them. "Look, Beazin has told us that we'd have magic abilities in our own times. Perhaps we should begin trying to use them now."
"We have no time for magic tricks Winner." Wufei growled.
Quatre ignored him, taking a few steps away from them and stood still in the cold passage. He closed his eyes, let his head tilt back slightly and waited. He wondered if he could draw in the answers if he concentrated.
He suddenly gasped, clutching his chest. The Heart of Space was comfirming the fact that their friend was in trouble. Moreso than they could ever imagine.
"What is it?" Duo asked quickly.
"Kalli's mind is being messed with." Quatre said softly.
"How did you do that?" Trowa asked.
Quatre sighed. "If you guys could sit still for a moment and just let everything go, the answers will come to you too."
Heero raised an eyebrow. Trowa and Wufei exchanged silent glances. Duo gave a yawn and shrugged.
"Aw hell it couldn't hurt." Duo said.
Quatre smiled as Duo stepped up and followed the same pattern as him.
It was much longer before Duo reacted. He just gasped, but didn't say a word.
"Duo?" Heero whispered.
Duo turned his head only slightly to him, holding a hand towards him. Heero couldn't help stepping forward to take Duo's hand. When he did, it was like electricity running through his body. A sudden knowledge came to him, he soon could see what Duo saw. Between them both, they saw their way around the maze. With a sudden, small cry of pain Heero yanked his hand away from Duo's. He couldn't take the sensation anymore.
"What the hell was that?" Heero demanded between breaths.
Duo leaned over, resting his hands on his knees. "Your guess is as good as mine."
"You must have transfered knowledge Duo." Quatre said. "I've seen it done a few days ago."
"Okay, so you can see Kalli, Duo and I can see through the maze, what about these two?" Heero asked, indicating Wufei and Trowa, who still stood silent.
"I don't buy this magic stuff." Wufei said.
"That's right, you don't buy it. You just use it." Duo said, playfully punching Wufei's shoulder.
Wufei rubbed his shoulder ruefully. "Not like I know how,"
"Me neither." Trowa said.
"Oh you two, think with your hearts instead of your heads." Quatre said tolerantly.
"Come on guys, let's figure out the rest later. Kalli's in trouble." Duo said.
They continued through the maze with a better sense of direction than before. They knew they were getting close when they heard a couple of guards.
"How long do you think it will take for Gates to break her down?" One asked.
"I couldn't tell you." The other replied. "He seems pretty bent on her though,"
The boys decided they weren't interested in the rest of their conversation. They took out the guards with little problem. Five against two were good odds for them.
"That was a bit too easy," Duo mumbled, tossing back his braid.
"Well let's get Kalli out of here before Gates wises up to us." Quatre said.
"He-yah!" Wufei kicked the metal door open. Then he hopped on one foot for a minute.
"Are you okay?" Quatre asked as he and the others stifled giggles.
"Don't. Say. One. Damn. Word." Wufei muttered.
The boys entered the room, then stopped and stared. They saw Kalli was strapped tightly to a chair. A strange device was on her head, the wires connecting to it fed information to a strange computer.
Heero went to the computer, studying the data that shown on the screens. Duo walked over to Kalli, the others looked on with concern.
"What's all this?" Wufei asked.
"They rigged her mind up to this machine. I can't tell what it does yet, never seen anything like it." Heero said.
"Well let's get her out of this thing!" Duo said, reaching for the headgear.
"What are you, nuts?" Trowa exclaimed, grabbing Duo's arms.
"You need to ask?" Wufei said.
"Duo, if this thing is connected to her mind, taking it off could kill her." Heero said.
Duo stared at them all for a moment, silent. Trowa let him go. They looked at Kalli, confused, not sure of what they could do now.
"She looks so helpless," Duo said softly, not being able to keep himself from taking her hand.
"She reminds me of one of my sisters." Quatre said.
Wufei and Trowa were silent.
"I feel so useless." Heero said.
"That's no way to talk Heero," Quatre said sympathetically. "I mean, what could any of us do? None of us could se-"
"Shhh," Trowa ordered suddenly.
They were all silent. They could hear a soft hissing. They glanced at each other, then at the door. It was already closed.
"How the hell?" Duo wondered.
Wufei went to the door and tried all he could to open it. His efforts were useless.
"Whoever locked this did it good. We didn't even hear it close." He said.
"Yeah, we were all too infatuated with Kalli." Duo muttered.
"Not me." Wufei replied quickly.
"No way." Heero said harshly.
"Oh come off it, the two of you." Quatre said, walking to the door. "We all admitted we love her one way or another. No use denying it now."
He stumbled a bit. Wufei stepped forward to steady him, looking at the boy quizically.
"The air is thinning, being replaced with sleeping gas I think." Quatre said softly. "You guys, we got to get out of here."
With a small sigh, Quatre went limp and fell into Wufei's arms. The others were still, realizing Quatre had been right. And there was no escape.
Trowa stepped forward and took Quatre in his arms. He sat down with the boy, stroking his blond hair for a moment before gazing up at the others.
"Only a matter of time." Trowa said softly.
The others could only nod, then wait.
Wufei went down next. Duo commented that if he wasn't trying to get out of there so hard he could have stayed awake longer. Trowa wasn't far behind, he had layed down next to Quatre, one arm around him, then drifted off to sleep.
Heero and Duo sat next to each other, silent.
"They're cute, aren't they?" Duo said, his voice light and serious. For once.
"Hn?"
"Trowa and Quatre."
"Hn,"
"Hey Heero?"
"Hn?"
"First of all, is that all you'll say?"
"Hn."
"Fine. Do you really love Relena?"
Heero shifted his weight. "Not so sure."
"Do you love Kalli?"
"I think so."
"I think love her too."
"Really?"
"Well, yeah." Duo stared at him. "You really don't like Relena do you?"
"Well, I do, but I think I love Kalli, but then again there's-," Heero cut himself off, resting his head against his knees. "Duo, I don't know anymore. I feel so lost. I failed this mission, I failed everyone, we might never get home, what if someone is stealing our Gundams as we sit rotting here? I'm just so lost. I don't know what I'm feeling anymore."
Duo blinked. "Are you trying to tell me you're gay or something?"
Heero let out a small, pathetic laugh. "Like I said Duo, I don't know. Maybe it's the gas."
When he heard no other comments, he looked up to find Duo's eyes in front of his.
"Maybe I can help make up your mind?" Duo whispered.
Without waiting for an answer, Duo leaned forward and brushed his lips against Heero's. Heero's body stiffened slightly, but then he suddenly wrapped his arms around the other boy and pulled him closer. Duo was expecting a surprised Heero, but wasn't prepared to be surprised himself. He melted into Heero's arms as their kiss deepened, wrapping his arms around his small waist.
The kiss was broken when Duo slumped into Heero's lap, unconscious. Heero straightened his legs in front of him, resting his back against the wall and he held Duo close. His fingers brushed through his bangs.
"Thank you for trying to help me find peace, Duo." Heero whispered to his friend. "Maybe I have found it."
Only moments later, Heero drifted off to dreamland as well.