"You know this is insane, don't you?" Duo asked as Heero walked over to the bed and examined it's contents with a critical eye. He'd raided the armory earlier, and now had a very large collection of knives and short-bladed swords lying out on the bed. His own personal collection was on the chair, but he'd wanted to supplement it tonight with some extras. "This is completely suicidal. You're going to get yourself killed."
Once Quatre had announced that they were going to strike, there remained the little question of 'how'. An outright strike seemed like a very bad idea, given the number of mages that the enemy currently possessed. They needed to eliminate some of them before they could think about attacking in force.
Heero had suggested that as long as they had a very well-trained and capable assassin at their disposal, they might as well use those skills. That had instantly touched off an argument, because Duo was heavily opposed to any plan that would almost certainly get Heero killed. Quatre had finally gotten them calmed down enough to suggest that they try to find a way that it wouldn't be virtual suicide, and then work from there.
It had taken over a week, but they'd managed to pull everything together. Wufei knew of a spell that would pierce the protective shield over the enemy camp, and more importantly, it would do it without the enemy ever finding out. Quatre was going to shield him while he was in the camp so that no one sensed his presence. Heero could do a lot of damage in a couple of hours, and then (hopefully) slip out undetected. If not, he was prepared to fight his way out.
He was currently dressed entirely in black, and there was a mask lying on the bed as well. As he looked carefully over the knives and selected the best of the lot, quickly concealing them on his body, Duo continued to talk.
"Actually, I'm a fine one to be talking," Duo muttered to himself. Heero cast a curious look in his direction, but continued his preparations. "This is entirely insane. We're going to get ourselves killed."
*That* got his attention, and Heero abruptly swung around. "What?"
"Good. I was wondering if you were even listening to me," Duo remarked as he stepped up to the bed, eyeing the knives himself. He picked up a very short throwing knife and examined the edge thoughtfully before lifting it up and down a few times, testing the weight.
"What?" Heero repeated.
"I'm coming with you," Duo told him calmly, slipping the knife back into it's sheath and setting it aside. "Quatre's going to shield you, Trowa will shield me."
"No."
A dagger suddenly appeared, quivering slightly where it was stuck in the wood of the doorframe just past Heero's head. He hadn't even seen the movement, and Duo had another knife ready. "What was that?" Duo asked mildly, testing the edge with a finger and then healing the cut on his thumb that testing produced. "Are you the only one around here that's allowed to risk his neck in suicidal ventures?"
Heero glared at him, unable to come up with a suitable argument against Duo coming along with him. While it was true that Duo did not have the official training that he had, he was talented. Heero didn't know exactly how Duo had come to be so good with knives, or the various other instruments he'd seen him use against the enemy, and wasn't sure he wanted to know, either. Duo was also better than anyone else in their group at sneaking around, and that could be a major advantage here. No, the reason he had now for not wanting Duo along was purely emotional, and that was unacceptable.
So he settled for glaring at Duo as he selected a number of small knives and strapped two of them into customized sheaths on his wrists, then hid the rest of them in various places on her person. He was, as usual, dressed entirely in black, so that shouldn't be a problem. "You have to do something about your face," he pointed out. Duo's skin, even after all these months spent battling in the desert, was still very fair, and it would show in the slightest bit of moonlight. And there was no way that a mask would work, not with that mass of hair.
"I'll rub some soot on it before we leave," Duo said, taking out a long object wrapped in black cloth and with some ropes attached to it. As Heero watched, Duo slung it over his back and fixed it there with a rope over one shoulder, across his chest, and to his opposite hip, much like a quiver of arrows would be.
"What's that?"
"It's a weapon. Come on, Quatre wants to talk to us before we go." Duo turned to leave, but Heero caught his arm.
"You don't have to do this."
Duo smiled at him, running a hand through his hair. "Actually, I do, but that's beside the point. The point is that I want to do this. I'm just a little irritated with them right now, and I want to kill some Ozzies. It's about time they met Shinigami."
Heero looked at him very carefully at this last statement. He'd heard Duo refer to himself by his 'secret name' a number of times, but it was only in the last few days that those referrals hadn't been accompanied by a large amount of anger and self-loathing. He was glad that was gone, but he didn't completely trust that Duo was 'OK', no matter what he said. He'd dismissed what Zechs had done pretty easily - well, after that first initial 'discussion' they'd had - and that made Heero suspicious.
Duo noticed his stare, and his grin widened. "Seriously, Heero, I want to do this. And if you think I'm letting you sneak into the enemy camp without me there to back you up..." he let the sentence trail off, then moved swiftly through the door. Heero followed him.
They found Quatre in a small chamber that looked like it had been used as a study. He was standing in front of a small wooden chest, and even in the dim torchlight it was obvious that his face was pale. "Are you ready?" he asked after a few seconds.
"Whenever you guys are, we're set," Duo said promptly, and Quatre nodded, looking down at the chest in front of him. "What'd ya want to see us for?"
"I have something to give to you," Quatre said, opening the chest, and withdrawing something from within. Then he very carefully closed the chest, locked it, and then hid it in a niche in the wall that was covered by a painting. "Here," he said, holding out two small vials, each partially filled with a brownish powder.
"What's this?" Duo asked, taking one and examining it.
"Poison," Quatre replied with a slight sigh. "Back when I was my father's heir, he gave me some... instruction... about these matters. He hated the necessity, but he wasn't stupid - we have to know what these are, how they are used, how to defend against them..." he shook his head slightly. "Sorry. If you get a chance, pour one of those into any of the cooking pots they use, preferably a clean, empty one, although if you can't find one of those, dump it into one with food in it."
"What'll it do?" Duo asked as he tucked the vial away.
"If you get it into a clean pot, it will coat the surface and affect the next several batches of food cooked in that pot, even if it's washed. If you get it in food, it will only affect the one batch."
"And what affect would that be?" Duo asked, raising an eyebrow.
Quatre took a deep breath and let it out. "It will kill anyone who eats more than a mouthful out of the food."
Duo let out a low whistle. "Your dad didn't mess around," he remarked admiringly.
"No, he didn't. Are you two ready?"
"Just gotta get some dirt for my face and I'll be set," Duo offered. Quatre looked confused, but didn't choose to comment.
----------------------------------------------------
Wufei settled himself cross-legged on the floor, on top of a large cushion, trying to get as comfortable as possible. They were probably going to be in position for several hours, at least, and he did not want his physical body to cause any distraction. Nearby, Quatre was laying on a bed, with Trowa lying beside him. Both held large crystals in their hands - they would use those crystals to pull in and channel Heero and Duo's powers, so that they wouldn't be detected while in the enemy camp.
Sally Po stood in the doorway, a faintly worried expression on her face. Behind her he could clearly see the huge body of the Manguanac leader, who looked just as concerned as he watched Quatre's preparations.
"Keep an eye on the desert," Quatre was instructing them. "Duo and Heero may need some cover coming back, and we may be otherwise occupied."
"We'll take care of it, Master Quatre," Rashid pledged, glancing at Sally, who didn't appear to notice.
Wufei was doing his best to ignore her presence, but he was aware, not only of her eyes on him, but of Quatre and Trowa's. Finally he gave into the inevitable with a sigh and turned to look at Sally. His eyes met hers, and he felt his heart lurch. This is entirely ridiculous, he told himself, but he didn't seem to be listening. He pressed his lips together and swallowed. "Well?" he asked sharply, inwardly wincing at the way it sounded.
There was little expression on her face, but she more than made up for that with the concern in her eyes as she spoke. "Please be careful, Wufei."
His heart lurched again when she spoke his name, and in his irritation with himself, he responded without thinking. "Woman! I know..." he abruptly cut himself off when he saw the hurt in her eyes. "Sally," he immediately corrected himself, then realized that there was absolutely no way to gracefully get out of this. He swallowed again, then said stiffly, "We will be careful."
The faintest traces of a smile could be seen at the corners of her mouth now, even though her eyes remained concerned. She gave them all a quick nod and then left the room, closing the heavy door behind her.
Wufei glanced at the other two. Quatre was staring at him with wide eyes, hints of a smug, pleased smile playing around the corners of his mouth. Trowa was just staring at him, but Wufei detected hints of surprise in his features. He glared at both of them, thanking whoever was listening that Duo hadn't been present to witness that incident. He'd never have heard the end of that.
"Wufei..." Quatre said slowly, his smile broadening.
"What?" Wufei snapped, his glare intensifying.
"I'm glad for you," Quatre told him simply, before lying back down again. Trowa hadn't sat up, but his expression was somewhat thoughtful as he regarded Wufei for a minute before relaxing and closing his eyes.
:Are you ready?: Quatre asked him.
:Just a moment,: he replied, taking several deep breaths to bring himself back to the level of calm and concentration that would be necessary to successfully complete this spell. He had spent several days searching through his predecessor's memories to find a spell that might possibly accomplish what they needed it to - namely, to break a hole in the shield that protected the enemy camp, a hole large enough for a person to sneak through but one that wouldn't alert them that anything was wrong.
The spell he had finally found would serve all of those purposes, the major problem being that the spell in question required vast amounts of power from the caster, and more power the longer the hole was to be kept open. Their predecessors had never thought to use their powers this way, never mounted attacks on the invaders, choosing to respond entirely defensively. Their current plan was a major departure from the strategy used in the last war, and the only one of it's kind so far.
In a few seconds Wufei had reached the necessary frame of mind and said, :I am ready.:
:I've told them,: Quatre said after a few seconds. :Go whenever you want.:
Wufei took one last look at his companions before sinking even further into the light trance he'd put himself in, and letting the elements of the spell flow across the top of his mind.
--------------------------------------------
Duo had known that Heero had to be one of the best assassins out there - he knew enough about his love to know that there was no possible way he would accept anything less from himself, but he'd never actually seen Heero in action before. Now he saw him doing what he'd been trained to do practically since his birth, and Duo was impressed. Very impressed.
Duo had learned to be a killer as a way of life, a method of survival, but he'd never had any official training. Anything that gave him an advantage he kept, anything that put him at a disadvantage he never used again. So much of what he did with his magic was instinctual anyway, that he never really missed the lack of formal training - until now. Now, seeing a person who was actually trained for this stuff... every motion Heero made was pure efficiency - designed to get the maximum out of every strike.
They'd gotten through the shield without any problems - there was no indication that the Ozzies even knew their shield had been attacked, much less that it had been breached and they now had two of the enemy running around camp. Too bad for them.
They worked their way through several tents that housed the Ozzies. The possessed men hadn't moved at all in their sleep, so the lack of movement now that they were dead probably wouldn't cause a fuss until morning. He supposed that there were a few advantages to having an enemy army that was being controlled by beings from another world - in a normal army, there would have been a lot more late-night activity, which could have been problematic. Treize - the head demon guy - hadn't even bothered to post guards, relying on the shields to protect the camp. Again, too bad for them.
He could never say later what it was that caused him to freeze in place, although he was quite grateful for it when, a second later, an older man with glowing white eyes walked past without even glancing in his direction. Duo found himself holding his breath and let it out slowly as the man walked into a small tent. His eyes automatically went to Heero's - Heero had frozen at exactly the same instant he had, he might have heard the mage walking up, or maybe he'd seen Duo freeze, or maybe he'd had the same hunch that Duo had. Probably not that last one, he didn't believe in trusting something so nebulous as his gut, even if his instincts were probably better than most humans.
Now Duo saw Heero's eyes flicker to the small one-man tent, and with a sinking feeling in *his* gut, he knew what Heero wanted to do. It was a good thing that they'd spent so much time together and been working as a team for so long - they'd gotten to the point where the mental communication was unnecessary for coordinating their actions. Now that they were in the enemy camp, they couldn't risk using even the little bit of power used for mental communication, they had to remain completely silent. It was funny, after all the time they'd spent learning to control their powers, now they were stuck not being able to use them at all.
He felt Heero's eyes still on him and mentally cursed himself for his carelessness. Now was not the time to let his mind wander - he'd need all of his wits right here to have a chance at getting out of this alive. And he had the strong suspicion that if he messed up, Heero would either find some way to resurrect him or to follow him so that he could scold him for his carelessness.
Duo looked at the tent himself, carefully weighing the options. No one had said it outright, but the people they were really here to kill were the mages, and as many of them as possible. The regular soldiers they could kill by the score in normal battles, but the mages almost never risked themselves - they were the primary target.
The problem was that they were also much more dangerous than the poor mind-controlled humans. They had magic, and only one demon apiece controlling them. They didn't know what it would do to the demon on the other side to have the mage they were controlling killed. It might kill the demon, or just kick him out of this world. If the demon was somehow in good enough condition to warn the others of it's kind about what had happened, they were about to be in a lot of trouble.
Still, now was as good a time as any to find out if this was going to work - they were still pretty close to the edge of the camp, and they'd killed most of the soldiers between it and their current position. And Duo did want to kill some of the mages. He gave Heero a quick nod, controlling his face so that his normal grin didn't give him away - white teeth would stand out pretty well in the darkness.
He jerked his head towards the back of the tent, and saw Heero's slight nod of agreement. Only a fool would enter a dark tent through the flap facing the main tent - the light from the fires alone would be sure to wake the occupant, and then that same light would outline your figure in the doorway. No, it was a much better idea to slip around back. If they could, they'd pull up one of the stakes in the ground and slip under one edge of the tent, if that wasn't an option, they could always slit a hole in the back.
Duo began to creep towards the back of the tent.
------------------------------------------
Killing the mage was relatively easy, and no alarm was raised, so they continued on their bloody work. It was Heero who finally called a halt to the slaughter, right after he'd managed to dump the poison he carried into a just-cleaned pot the size of a small tub. But Duo was the one who really made good use of the poison, though - he managed to deposit his bottle into a much smaller pot of soup that was obviously headed for the officer's quarters. In this army, officers meant mages.
Heero decided to withdraw immediately after that - they'd killed close to a dozen mages, one at a time, but Duo's poison had a better chance at killing many of them than they did, and he didn't want anything to interrupt their meal, especially not word of their work that night. Besides, dawn was nearing, and he wanted both of them very clear of the camp before it became light enough to see.
He'd kept a careful eye on Duo the entire time, but seen nothing alarming. Duo wasn't happy with what they'd done, but he wasn't going to let it stop him. That was normal. Heero admitted, to himself, that he was more than a little relieved by that, although he still wasn't sure if he should trust this.
They slipped back around to where Wufei had created the hole in the shield and were stepped through it. Then it was all open ground to the shielded fortress, although they were careful to continue moving silently, and to keep an eye out for any pursuers.
Rashid and Sally met them at the door, and immediately took them up to the room where Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei still remained in trances. That was one of the major dangers to them - they were all almost completely immersed in trances, either working on containing vast amounts of power (Trowa and Quatre) or working on spells of such intricacy that a moment's distraction could be disastrous (Wufei). In short, they needed to have the two of them come back in order to be roused. Wufei probably would have come out of it on his own, eventually, and he might have been able to help the others, but it would have been difficult, to say the least.
Heero immediately walked over to the bed and lay a hand on the crystal in Quatre's hands. Immediately he felt the power that Quatre had been holding racing through his body, and without him willing it, his wings appeared behind him. His lips twitched downward in a frown as he glanced back at the white feathers behind him, and his irritation increased as he noticed that although Duo had recovered his power with the same surge, *his* wings hadn't popped out.
Quatre stirred quietly and then opened his eyes. Heero pointedly ignored the fact that the first thing he did was grope blindly for Trowa's hand, even as he was still struggling to bring himself back to full consciousness. After a few seconds, however, he woke up completely and sat up. He looked around the room, taking in Heero and Duo's condition - tired, but whole; Trowa's condition - still waking up; and Wufei's condition - still in a deep trance; and came to a quick decision. He rolled off the bed and quickly made his way over to Wufei, laying a hand on his shoulder. Heero felt the slightest surge of energy, then Wufei blinked his eyes once and stood up with no indication of any disorientation.
"How did it go?" Quatre asked, not bothering to offer a hand to Wufei. They knew from previous experience that he wouldn't accept it, anyway.
"Mission completed," Heero responded automatically, before he could stop himself. He'd been doing his best to divorce himself from the mannerisms that Odin had trained into him, but he slipped sometimes.
"I need numbers," Quatre said quietly, half-closing his eyes as he returned to the bed, twining his fingers around Trowa's.
Heero paused a moment to stare at Quatre before beginning the calculations in his head. He'd never have believe that Quatre could be capable of this type of thinking when he'd first met him - even at the beginning of the war he hadn't seemed so cold-blooded. Of course, it would be a lot more convincing if he didn't look half-sick when he was having these discussions.
They'd cut their way through seven tents, each with between fifty and seventy-five soldiers in them, and probably killed a dozen more or two as they moved through the camp, in order to cover their tracks. "We killed about five hundred soldiers," he reported, "and ten of their mages."
Quatre's eyes widened slightly when he heard the numbers. The five hundred soldiers were incidental - they killed that many every battle or two - but the ten mages, that was a fairly large fraction of all of the mages at Treize's disposal, and much better than they'd done in all the months of fighting.
"But Heero didn't even tell you the good news, yet," Duo cut in. He was still wearing the soot he'd smeared on his face for the night raid, so his teeth appeared startlingly white in his face as he flashed them a grin. "We had some fun with that poison. He dumped his in a pot that they use for serving gruel to the regular soldiers, poor saps."
Quatre paled slightly and swallowed, but nodded approvingly. "How about you?"
"I managed to sneak up and dump it in a pot of soup - good soup - headed for the mages. If it's half as deadly as you said, we ought to have a bunch less of them in a couple of hours."
Quatre nodded again. He still looked like he was going to throw up, but that didn't stop him from saying, "That's good, very good." He half-closed his eyes again, then said, "You'd better get some rest while you can."
"Good, because I could sleep for a week... while we can?" Duo suddenly cut himself off, eyeing Quatre suspiciously. "What do you mean, while we can?"
"They'll attack in a couple of hours, probably as soon as they've discovered the dead bodies," Quatre stated matter-of-factly. "And if for some reason they don't, they will the second mages start dropping from the poison."
"Great," Duo grimaced. "OK, Quatre... You know that I trust you, right? But if you don't mind telling me, where did this come from?"
Quatre blinked in surprise, apparently he still hadn't figured out that he tended to think several steps ahead of the rest of them (with the possible exception of Wufei) in these situations. "They have to," he responded, then elaborated. "Their only advantage is their numbers. They have many times the number of soldiers, and they have a large numbers advantage with mages, as well. They need it. You know how much more powerful we are then all but a few of them. Treize can probably stand up to us on his own, and Zechs, but they're the only ones. And they can stand up to us one on one, there are five of us. The only reason that they can threaten us at all, hold up shields that can withstand our attacks, maintain their hold over the soldiers... the only reason they can do any of that is because of their numbers. There were... how many, maybe fifty mages among them? We've killed a fifth of their forces, and we may kill even more as the sun comes up. Even if we don't kill any more of them, they can't keep up everything they've been doing without more mages, and we've got most of them protected here. They can't even send any of their people through - you saw the only type that can survive the journey, they're little more than animals. This will be their last chance," he said with careful emphasis.
"So that's a good thing, right?" Duo asked.
Quatre visibly winced. "Yes and no. If we manage to survive this battle, we have a very good shot at winning, really winning, driving them back permanently. But they'll throw everything they have at us tomorrow, including the magic attacks that they've held back on because they're so draining. It will be... difficult." He swallowed.
Heero thought that was massive understatement if he'd ever heard it, but decided that the others probably knew that too, so he didn't comment, except to grunt affirmatively.
"We may want to consider leaving the troops behind tomorrow," Wufei mused.
"What?" Quatre turned his head to stare at Wufei.
"If they have lost people... will lose more, it may be worth our while to preserve all of our energy for ourselves. If this is their last attack, they will use magic, not steel, and we will not be able to defend your men from that sort of concentrated attack," Wufei told him. "We can defend ourselves, and fight back."
Quatre's eyes went distant for a second, then he nodded his head. "You're right. I wouldn't have thought of that," he said self-deprecatingly. "I'll tell them." He sighed. "They're not going to be happy," he murmured to himself.
"They'll be alive," Wufei pointed out. "Don't spend too long arguing with them, you need your rest. They will obey you, or we'll put them to sleep for the duration of that battle."
And with that diplomatic comment, he spun and stalked out of the small room, headed for his own quarters.
"I don't know if I'd mention that threat to them, but he's right," Duo said ruefully, then yawned. "And I'm going to go sleep for as long as I can. Wake me if anyone dies," he remarked cheerfully, then followed Wufei out the door. Heero paused long enough to give the rest of them a curt nod, then followed Duo. He wanted Duo next to him for the next few hours, even if they weren't awake.
-----------------------------------------
The promised attack came that morning, just a few hours short of noon, which argued that Treize had waited until his mages started dropping from the poison Duo had introduced to their food. They hadn't managed to get Treize, unfortunately, but the loss of his mages apparently panicked the invaders, who immediately launched a mostly-suicidal attack against the shields with the common soldiers.
It was during that initial attack that Quatre managed to convince his men not to follow them out onto the field. Well, maybe 'convince' wasn't exactly the right word for what happened. Mostly Quatre stood quietly as the Manguanacs surrounded him and protested that he couldn't go out to fight without them there to protect him, as if he was totally incapable of taking care of himself. Trowa watched in amusement as his love calmly listened to all the accusations, then patiently explained how it would be more dangerous for him if they were out in the field with him, that he might be distracted at a critical moment if they were attacked magically in the middle of the battle. Then, with that earnest, adorable, irresistible look on his face (and Trowa knew now that Quatre was aware of exactly how manipulative he was), he pleaded with them to stay behind so that he could devote all of his attention to the coming battle. With a plea like that, they didn't have a chance.
All of that was made even more entertaining by the fact that Trowa was also listening to Quatre conducting an entirely different conversation with the others at the same time, discussing possible attacks Treize would use, and going over every counter-spell they collectively knew. Trowa saw Rashid and Sally (both of whom absented themselves from the argument) watching Quatre very carefully, but other than that there was no sign that anyone suspected what he was doing.
The result was a foregone conclusion, anyway. Despite what Wufei had said, none of them expected that Quatre wouldn't be able to convince his men to do what he wanted, especially if he believed it was really in their own self-interest.
They were sitting quietly while the troops threw themselves at the shield in droves, waiting for the real attack to come.
Suddenly the entire fortress shook, right down to the stones of it's foundation. If it hadn't been made to withstand both attacks and sandstorms, they probably would have been sitting in a pile of rubble. As it was, Quatre lost his footing, and only Trowa's lightening-fast reflexes saved him from a fall. Quatre stood up, looked around at the various furnishings that had been disturbed, and said, "I think we'd better get out there."
He stood up, his sword already in hand. He looked at Trowa. :Are you ready?: he asked privately.
Trowa allowed a hint of a smile to appear on his face, just enough so that Quatre would see it. Quatre smiled briefly in return, then closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, obviously preparing himself for what was coming. Then he opened them, and though he searched, Trowa could find no hint of fear in those clear blue eyes. There was an almost unearthly calm there, and as he looked around, Trowa saw that that same calm seemed to have enveloped the others.
Himself included, he realized after a few seconds. It was just that it was so close to his normal behavior that he hadn't noticed it until now.
I wonder what's going on? he thought, and then realized that even that thought was oddly abstracted and distant. He was used to feeling this way, but this was taking it to extremes. :Quatre?: he asked, not even bothering to phrase a question. Quatre would have the best shot at all of them at understanding what was going on, and he would automatically pull the information from his mind.
It had occurred to him, on occasion, that most people would be very offended by having someone dip into their thoughts at any moment, that maybe he should be offended, too, but he didn't mind. Not if it was Quatre. He never felt the least bit as if Quatre was violating his privacy, in fact, the thought hadn't even occurred to him until Duo had made some comment to that effect. He thought that it was because Quatre truly didn't mean anything, it was just the way his mind worked. He never pried, or tried to figure out other people's secretes, he just pulled bits of information from people's minds so that he could understand them better. As far as Trowa was concerned, there was nothing invasive about it, it was just the same as Quatre continually asking for clarifications about what people said. This way just cut out a lot of unnecessary talking.
:It's the world,: Quatre said after a moment, his voice tinged with wonder. Trowa could tell from the 'tone' of his voice that he was including all of them in the conversation.
:What is, Quatre?: Duo asked. His normally-manic voice was also calm, although he didn't seem to have noticed it yet.
:Look at us. We're not the least bit nervous.:
Trowa saw Duo glance around at the rest of them, then his eyes widened slightly. :Well, what do you know, you're right.: Duo was silent for a minute, his eyes narrowed in concentration, then he said, :I can't even get pissed off right now about this. What's going on?:
:It's the world itself. It's kind of... well, not taking us over, but just... influencing us, making sure we're ready. We've got all the power it can give us, now it's up to us.: Quatre shrugged slightly. :It's our destiny.:
Trowa could almost see Duo considering that, trying to find something wrong with it. He finally gave up and shrugged. :I guess she's just trying to protect her investment,: he said.
Another shudder ran through the stone walls. This time Quatre remained standing on his own. He threw a quick glance around the room, then smiled. "It's time."
Heero grunted agreement, Duo grinned in response, and Trowa found himself nodding in unison with Wufei.
Wufei was the first out the door, followed closely by Duo and Heero. Trowa hesitated a moment longer, turning to look at Quatre. "Quatre? I... I never said it. I know that you know, but... I love you."
Quatre's eyes lit up, and despite the worry etched in every line of his face, he smiled brilliantly, and gave Trowa a quick hug. "I did know, but thank you for telling me. Are you ready now?"
Trowa nodded. He had every intention of surviving the next battle, but he'd seen too much fighting to be able to deny the possibility that something might happen, and he didn't want to go into this battle without saying it at least once.
They headed out after the others, to the battle that waited outside.
Well, that took longer than I thought it would, and I didn't get nearly as far as I wanted to, but it's long enough. The next chapter will have the big battle. It may be a bit delayed (even more so than usual - grimace) because I'm moving back to school. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this one!
Marika 8/16/01
Once Quatre had announced that they were going to strike, there remained the little question of 'how'. An outright strike seemed like a very bad idea, given the number of mages that the enemy currently possessed. They needed to eliminate some of them before they could think about attacking in force.
Heero had suggested that as long as they had a very well-trained and capable assassin at their disposal, they might as well use those skills. That had instantly touched off an argument, because Duo was heavily opposed to any plan that would almost certainly get Heero killed. Quatre had finally gotten them calmed down enough to suggest that they try to find a way that it wouldn't be virtual suicide, and then work from there.
It had taken over a week, but they'd managed to pull everything together. Wufei knew of a spell that would pierce the protective shield over the enemy camp, and more importantly, it would do it without the enemy ever finding out. Quatre was going to shield him while he was in the camp so that no one sensed his presence. Heero could do a lot of damage in a couple of hours, and then (hopefully) slip out undetected. If not, he was prepared to fight his way out.
He was currently dressed entirely in black, and there was a mask lying on the bed as well. As he looked carefully over the knives and selected the best of the lot, quickly concealing them on his body, Duo continued to talk.
"Actually, I'm a fine one to be talking," Duo muttered to himself. Heero cast a curious look in his direction, but continued his preparations. "This is entirely insane. We're going to get ourselves killed."
*That* got his attention, and Heero abruptly swung around. "What?"
"Good. I was wondering if you were even listening to me," Duo remarked as he stepped up to the bed, eyeing the knives himself. He picked up a very short throwing knife and examined the edge thoughtfully before lifting it up and down a few times, testing the weight.
"What?" Heero repeated.
"I'm coming with you," Duo told him calmly, slipping the knife back into it's sheath and setting it aside. "Quatre's going to shield you, Trowa will shield me."
"No."
A dagger suddenly appeared, quivering slightly where it was stuck in the wood of the doorframe just past Heero's head. He hadn't even seen the movement, and Duo had another knife ready. "What was that?" Duo asked mildly, testing the edge with a finger and then healing the cut on his thumb that testing produced. "Are you the only one around here that's allowed to risk his neck in suicidal ventures?"
Heero glared at him, unable to come up with a suitable argument against Duo coming along with him. While it was true that Duo did not have the official training that he had, he was talented. Heero didn't know exactly how Duo had come to be so good with knives, or the various other instruments he'd seen him use against the enemy, and wasn't sure he wanted to know, either. Duo was also better than anyone else in their group at sneaking around, and that could be a major advantage here. No, the reason he had now for not wanting Duo along was purely emotional, and that was unacceptable.
So he settled for glaring at Duo as he selected a number of small knives and strapped two of them into customized sheaths on his wrists, then hid the rest of them in various places on her person. He was, as usual, dressed entirely in black, so that shouldn't be a problem. "You have to do something about your face," he pointed out. Duo's skin, even after all these months spent battling in the desert, was still very fair, and it would show in the slightest bit of moonlight. And there was no way that a mask would work, not with that mass of hair.
"I'll rub some soot on it before we leave," Duo said, taking out a long object wrapped in black cloth and with some ropes attached to it. As Heero watched, Duo slung it over his back and fixed it there with a rope over one shoulder, across his chest, and to his opposite hip, much like a quiver of arrows would be.
"What's that?"
"It's a weapon. Come on, Quatre wants to talk to us before we go." Duo turned to leave, but Heero caught his arm.
"You don't have to do this."
Duo smiled at him, running a hand through his hair. "Actually, I do, but that's beside the point. The point is that I want to do this. I'm just a little irritated with them right now, and I want to kill some Ozzies. It's about time they met Shinigami."
Heero looked at him very carefully at this last statement. He'd heard Duo refer to himself by his 'secret name' a number of times, but it was only in the last few days that those referrals hadn't been accompanied by a large amount of anger and self-loathing. He was glad that was gone, but he didn't completely trust that Duo was 'OK', no matter what he said. He'd dismissed what Zechs had done pretty easily - well, after that first initial 'discussion' they'd had - and that made Heero suspicious.
Duo noticed his stare, and his grin widened. "Seriously, Heero, I want to do this. And if you think I'm letting you sneak into the enemy camp without me there to back you up..." he let the sentence trail off, then moved swiftly through the door. Heero followed him.
They found Quatre in a small chamber that looked like it had been used as a study. He was standing in front of a small wooden chest, and even in the dim torchlight it was obvious that his face was pale. "Are you ready?" he asked after a few seconds.
"Whenever you guys are, we're set," Duo said promptly, and Quatre nodded, looking down at the chest in front of him. "What'd ya want to see us for?"
"I have something to give to you," Quatre said, opening the chest, and withdrawing something from within. Then he very carefully closed the chest, locked it, and then hid it in a niche in the wall that was covered by a painting. "Here," he said, holding out two small vials, each partially filled with a brownish powder.
"What's this?" Duo asked, taking one and examining it.
"Poison," Quatre replied with a slight sigh. "Back when I was my father's heir, he gave me some... instruction... about these matters. He hated the necessity, but he wasn't stupid - we have to know what these are, how they are used, how to defend against them..." he shook his head slightly. "Sorry. If you get a chance, pour one of those into any of the cooking pots they use, preferably a clean, empty one, although if you can't find one of those, dump it into one with food in it."
"What'll it do?" Duo asked as he tucked the vial away.
"If you get it into a clean pot, it will coat the surface and affect the next several batches of food cooked in that pot, even if it's washed. If you get it in food, it will only affect the one batch."
"And what affect would that be?" Duo asked, raising an eyebrow.
Quatre took a deep breath and let it out. "It will kill anyone who eats more than a mouthful out of the food."
Duo let out a low whistle. "Your dad didn't mess around," he remarked admiringly.
"No, he didn't. Are you two ready?"
"Just gotta get some dirt for my face and I'll be set," Duo offered. Quatre looked confused, but didn't choose to comment.
----------------------------------------------------
Wufei settled himself cross-legged on the floor, on top of a large cushion, trying to get as comfortable as possible. They were probably going to be in position for several hours, at least, and he did not want his physical body to cause any distraction. Nearby, Quatre was laying on a bed, with Trowa lying beside him. Both held large crystals in their hands - they would use those crystals to pull in and channel Heero and Duo's powers, so that they wouldn't be detected while in the enemy camp.
Sally Po stood in the doorway, a faintly worried expression on her face. Behind her he could clearly see the huge body of the Manguanac leader, who looked just as concerned as he watched Quatre's preparations.
"Keep an eye on the desert," Quatre was instructing them. "Duo and Heero may need some cover coming back, and we may be otherwise occupied."
"We'll take care of it, Master Quatre," Rashid pledged, glancing at Sally, who didn't appear to notice.
Wufei was doing his best to ignore her presence, but he was aware, not only of her eyes on him, but of Quatre and Trowa's. Finally he gave into the inevitable with a sigh and turned to look at Sally. His eyes met hers, and he felt his heart lurch. This is entirely ridiculous, he told himself, but he didn't seem to be listening. He pressed his lips together and swallowed. "Well?" he asked sharply, inwardly wincing at the way it sounded.
There was little expression on her face, but she more than made up for that with the concern in her eyes as she spoke. "Please be careful, Wufei."
His heart lurched again when she spoke his name, and in his irritation with himself, he responded without thinking. "Woman! I know..." he abruptly cut himself off when he saw the hurt in her eyes. "Sally," he immediately corrected himself, then realized that there was absolutely no way to gracefully get out of this. He swallowed again, then said stiffly, "We will be careful."
The faintest traces of a smile could be seen at the corners of her mouth now, even though her eyes remained concerned. She gave them all a quick nod and then left the room, closing the heavy door behind her.
Wufei glanced at the other two. Quatre was staring at him with wide eyes, hints of a smug, pleased smile playing around the corners of his mouth. Trowa was just staring at him, but Wufei detected hints of surprise in his features. He glared at both of them, thanking whoever was listening that Duo hadn't been present to witness that incident. He'd never have heard the end of that.
"Wufei..." Quatre said slowly, his smile broadening.
"What?" Wufei snapped, his glare intensifying.
"I'm glad for you," Quatre told him simply, before lying back down again. Trowa hadn't sat up, but his expression was somewhat thoughtful as he regarded Wufei for a minute before relaxing and closing his eyes.
:Are you ready?: Quatre asked him.
:Just a moment,: he replied, taking several deep breaths to bring himself back to the level of calm and concentration that would be necessary to successfully complete this spell. He had spent several days searching through his predecessor's memories to find a spell that might possibly accomplish what they needed it to - namely, to break a hole in the shield that protected the enemy camp, a hole large enough for a person to sneak through but one that wouldn't alert them that anything was wrong.
The spell he had finally found would serve all of those purposes, the major problem being that the spell in question required vast amounts of power from the caster, and more power the longer the hole was to be kept open. Their predecessors had never thought to use their powers this way, never mounted attacks on the invaders, choosing to respond entirely defensively. Their current plan was a major departure from the strategy used in the last war, and the only one of it's kind so far.
In a few seconds Wufei had reached the necessary frame of mind and said, :I am ready.:
:I've told them,: Quatre said after a few seconds. :Go whenever you want.:
Wufei took one last look at his companions before sinking even further into the light trance he'd put himself in, and letting the elements of the spell flow across the top of his mind.
--------------------------------------------
Duo had known that Heero had to be one of the best assassins out there - he knew enough about his love to know that there was no possible way he would accept anything less from himself, but he'd never actually seen Heero in action before. Now he saw him doing what he'd been trained to do practically since his birth, and Duo was impressed. Very impressed.
Duo had learned to be a killer as a way of life, a method of survival, but he'd never had any official training. Anything that gave him an advantage he kept, anything that put him at a disadvantage he never used again. So much of what he did with his magic was instinctual anyway, that he never really missed the lack of formal training - until now. Now, seeing a person who was actually trained for this stuff... every motion Heero made was pure efficiency - designed to get the maximum out of every strike.
They'd gotten through the shield without any problems - there was no indication that the Ozzies even knew their shield had been attacked, much less that it had been breached and they now had two of the enemy running around camp. Too bad for them.
They worked their way through several tents that housed the Ozzies. The possessed men hadn't moved at all in their sleep, so the lack of movement now that they were dead probably wouldn't cause a fuss until morning. He supposed that there were a few advantages to having an enemy army that was being controlled by beings from another world - in a normal army, there would have been a lot more late-night activity, which could have been problematic. Treize - the head demon guy - hadn't even bothered to post guards, relying on the shields to protect the camp. Again, too bad for them.
He could never say later what it was that caused him to freeze in place, although he was quite grateful for it when, a second later, an older man with glowing white eyes walked past without even glancing in his direction. Duo found himself holding his breath and let it out slowly as the man walked into a small tent. His eyes automatically went to Heero's - Heero had frozen at exactly the same instant he had, he might have heard the mage walking up, or maybe he'd seen Duo freeze, or maybe he'd had the same hunch that Duo had. Probably not that last one, he didn't believe in trusting something so nebulous as his gut, even if his instincts were probably better than most humans.
Now Duo saw Heero's eyes flicker to the small one-man tent, and with a sinking feeling in *his* gut, he knew what Heero wanted to do. It was a good thing that they'd spent so much time together and been working as a team for so long - they'd gotten to the point where the mental communication was unnecessary for coordinating their actions. Now that they were in the enemy camp, they couldn't risk using even the little bit of power used for mental communication, they had to remain completely silent. It was funny, after all the time they'd spent learning to control their powers, now they were stuck not being able to use them at all.
He felt Heero's eyes still on him and mentally cursed himself for his carelessness. Now was not the time to let his mind wander - he'd need all of his wits right here to have a chance at getting out of this alive. And he had the strong suspicion that if he messed up, Heero would either find some way to resurrect him or to follow him so that he could scold him for his carelessness.
Duo looked at the tent himself, carefully weighing the options. No one had said it outright, but the people they were really here to kill were the mages, and as many of them as possible. The regular soldiers they could kill by the score in normal battles, but the mages almost never risked themselves - they were the primary target.
The problem was that they were also much more dangerous than the poor mind-controlled humans. They had magic, and only one demon apiece controlling them. They didn't know what it would do to the demon on the other side to have the mage they were controlling killed. It might kill the demon, or just kick him out of this world. If the demon was somehow in good enough condition to warn the others of it's kind about what had happened, they were about to be in a lot of trouble.
Still, now was as good a time as any to find out if this was going to work - they were still pretty close to the edge of the camp, and they'd killed most of the soldiers between it and their current position. And Duo did want to kill some of the mages. He gave Heero a quick nod, controlling his face so that his normal grin didn't give him away - white teeth would stand out pretty well in the darkness.
He jerked his head towards the back of the tent, and saw Heero's slight nod of agreement. Only a fool would enter a dark tent through the flap facing the main tent - the light from the fires alone would be sure to wake the occupant, and then that same light would outline your figure in the doorway. No, it was a much better idea to slip around back. If they could, they'd pull up one of the stakes in the ground and slip under one edge of the tent, if that wasn't an option, they could always slit a hole in the back.
Duo began to creep towards the back of the tent.
------------------------------------------
Killing the mage was relatively easy, and no alarm was raised, so they continued on their bloody work. It was Heero who finally called a halt to the slaughter, right after he'd managed to dump the poison he carried into a just-cleaned pot the size of a small tub. But Duo was the one who really made good use of the poison, though - he managed to deposit his bottle into a much smaller pot of soup that was obviously headed for the officer's quarters. In this army, officers meant mages.
Heero decided to withdraw immediately after that - they'd killed close to a dozen mages, one at a time, but Duo's poison had a better chance at killing many of them than they did, and he didn't want anything to interrupt their meal, especially not word of their work that night. Besides, dawn was nearing, and he wanted both of them very clear of the camp before it became light enough to see.
He'd kept a careful eye on Duo the entire time, but seen nothing alarming. Duo wasn't happy with what they'd done, but he wasn't going to let it stop him. That was normal. Heero admitted, to himself, that he was more than a little relieved by that, although he still wasn't sure if he should trust this.
They slipped back around to where Wufei had created the hole in the shield and were stepped through it. Then it was all open ground to the shielded fortress, although they were careful to continue moving silently, and to keep an eye out for any pursuers.
Rashid and Sally met them at the door, and immediately took them up to the room where Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei still remained in trances. That was one of the major dangers to them - they were all almost completely immersed in trances, either working on containing vast amounts of power (Trowa and Quatre) or working on spells of such intricacy that a moment's distraction could be disastrous (Wufei). In short, they needed to have the two of them come back in order to be roused. Wufei probably would have come out of it on his own, eventually, and he might have been able to help the others, but it would have been difficult, to say the least.
Heero immediately walked over to the bed and lay a hand on the crystal in Quatre's hands. Immediately he felt the power that Quatre had been holding racing through his body, and without him willing it, his wings appeared behind him. His lips twitched downward in a frown as he glanced back at the white feathers behind him, and his irritation increased as he noticed that although Duo had recovered his power with the same surge, *his* wings hadn't popped out.
Quatre stirred quietly and then opened his eyes. Heero pointedly ignored the fact that the first thing he did was grope blindly for Trowa's hand, even as he was still struggling to bring himself back to full consciousness. After a few seconds, however, he woke up completely and sat up. He looked around the room, taking in Heero and Duo's condition - tired, but whole; Trowa's condition - still waking up; and Wufei's condition - still in a deep trance; and came to a quick decision. He rolled off the bed and quickly made his way over to Wufei, laying a hand on his shoulder. Heero felt the slightest surge of energy, then Wufei blinked his eyes once and stood up with no indication of any disorientation.
"How did it go?" Quatre asked, not bothering to offer a hand to Wufei. They knew from previous experience that he wouldn't accept it, anyway.
"Mission completed," Heero responded automatically, before he could stop himself. He'd been doing his best to divorce himself from the mannerisms that Odin had trained into him, but he slipped sometimes.
"I need numbers," Quatre said quietly, half-closing his eyes as he returned to the bed, twining his fingers around Trowa's.
Heero paused a moment to stare at Quatre before beginning the calculations in his head. He'd never have believe that Quatre could be capable of this type of thinking when he'd first met him - even at the beginning of the war he hadn't seemed so cold-blooded. Of course, it would be a lot more convincing if he didn't look half-sick when he was having these discussions.
They'd cut their way through seven tents, each with between fifty and seventy-five soldiers in them, and probably killed a dozen more or two as they moved through the camp, in order to cover their tracks. "We killed about five hundred soldiers," he reported, "and ten of their mages."
Quatre's eyes widened slightly when he heard the numbers. The five hundred soldiers were incidental - they killed that many every battle or two - but the ten mages, that was a fairly large fraction of all of the mages at Treize's disposal, and much better than they'd done in all the months of fighting.
"But Heero didn't even tell you the good news, yet," Duo cut in. He was still wearing the soot he'd smeared on his face for the night raid, so his teeth appeared startlingly white in his face as he flashed them a grin. "We had some fun with that poison. He dumped his in a pot that they use for serving gruel to the regular soldiers, poor saps."
Quatre paled slightly and swallowed, but nodded approvingly. "How about you?"
"I managed to sneak up and dump it in a pot of soup - good soup - headed for the mages. If it's half as deadly as you said, we ought to have a bunch less of them in a couple of hours."
Quatre nodded again. He still looked like he was going to throw up, but that didn't stop him from saying, "That's good, very good." He half-closed his eyes again, then said, "You'd better get some rest while you can."
"Good, because I could sleep for a week... while we can?" Duo suddenly cut himself off, eyeing Quatre suspiciously. "What do you mean, while we can?"
"They'll attack in a couple of hours, probably as soon as they've discovered the dead bodies," Quatre stated matter-of-factly. "And if for some reason they don't, they will the second mages start dropping from the poison."
"Great," Duo grimaced. "OK, Quatre... You know that I trust you, right? But if you don't mind telling me, where did this come from?"
Quatre blinked in surprise, apparently he still hadn't figured out that he tended to think several steps ahead of the rest of them (with the possible exception of Wufei) in these situations. "They have to," he responded, then elaborated. "Their only advantage is their numbers. They have many times the number of soldiers, and they have a large numbers advantage with mages, as well. They need it. You know how much more powerful we are then all but a few of them. Treize can probably stand up to us on his own, and Zechs, but they're the only ones. And they can stand up to us one on one, there are five of us. The only reason that they can threaten us at all, hold up shields that can withstand our attacks, maintain their hold over the soldiers... the only reason they can do any of that is because of their numbers. There were... how many, maybe fifty mages among them? We've killed a fifth of their forces, and we may kill even more as the sun comes up. Even if we don't kill any more of them, they can't keep up everything they've been doing without more mages, and we've got most of them protected here. They can't even send any of their people through - you saw the only type that can survive the journey, they're little more than animals. This will be their last chance," he said with careful emphasis.
"So that's a good thing, right?" Duo asked.
Quatre visibly winced. "Yes and no. If we manage to survive this battle, we have a very good shot at winning, really winning, driving them back permanently. But they'll throw everything they have at us tomorrow, including the magic attacks that they've held back on because they're so draining. It will be... difficult." He swallowed.
Heero thought that was massive understatement if he'd ever heard it, but decided that the others probably knew that too, so he didn't comment, except to grunt affirmatively.
"We may want to consider leaving the troops behind tomorrow," Wufei mused.
"What?" Quatre turned his head to stare at Wufei.
"If they have lost people... will lose more, it may be worth our while to preserve all of our energy for ourselves. If this is their last attack, they will use magic, not steel, and we will not be able to defend your men from that sort of concentrated attack," Wufei told him. "We can defend ourselves, and fight back."
Quatre's eyes went distant for a second, then he nodded his head. "You're right. I wouldn't have thought of that," he said self-deprecatingly. "I'll tell them." He sighed. "They're not going to be happy," he murmured to himself.
"They'll be alive," Wufei pointed out. "Don't spend too long arguing with them, you need your rest. They will obey you, or we'll put them to sleep for the duration of that battle."
And with that diplomatic comment, he spun and stalked out of the small room, headed for his own quarters.
"I don't know if I'd mention that threat to them, but he's right," Duo said ruefully, then yawned. "And I'm going to go sleep for as long as I can. Wake me if anyone dies," he remarked cheerfully, then followed Wufei out the door. Heero paused long enough to give the rest of them a curt nod, then followed Duo. He wanted Duo next to him for the next few hours, even if they weren't awake.
-----------------------------------------
The promised attack came that morning, just a few hours short of noon, which argued that Treize had waited until his mages started dropping from the poison Duo had introduced to their food. They hadn't managed to get Treize, unfortunately, but the loss of his mages apparently panicked the invaders, who immediately launched a mostly-suicidal attack against the shields with the common soldiers.
It was during that initial attack that Quatre managed to convince his men not to follow them out onto the field. Well, maybe 'convince' wasn't exactly the right word for what happened. Mostly Quatre stood quietly as the Manguanacs surrounded him and protested that he couldn't go out to fight without them there to protect him, as if he was totally incapable of taking care of himself. Trowa watched in amusement as his love calmly listened to all the accusations, then patiently explained how it would be more dangerous for him if they were out in the field with him, that he might be distracted at a critical moment if they were attacked magically in the middle of the battle. Then, with that earnest, adorable, irresistible look on his face (and Trowa knew now that Quatre was aware of exactly how manipulative he was), he pleaded with them to stay behind so that he could devote all of his attention to the coming battle. With a plea like that, they didn't have a chance.
All of that was made even more entertaining by the fact that Trowa was also listening to Quatre conducting an entirely different conversation with the others at the same time, discussing possible attacks Treize would use, and going over every counter-spell they collectively knew. Trowa saw Rashid and Sally (both of whom absented themselves from the argument) watching Quatre very carefully, but other than that there was no sign that anyone suspected what he was doing.
The result was a foregone conclusion, anyway. Despite what Wufei had said, none of them expected that Quatre wouldn't be able to convince his men to do what he wanted, especially if he believed it was really in their own self-interest.
They were sitting quietly while the troops threw themselves at the shield in droves, waiting for the real attack to come.
Suddenly the entire fortress shook, right down to the stones of it's foundation. If it hadn't been made to withstand both attacks and sandstorms, they probably would have been sitting in a pile of rubble. As it was, Quatre lost his footing, and only Trowa's lightening-fast reflexes saved him from a fall. Quatre stood up, looked around at the various furnishings that had been disturbed, and said, "I think we'd better get out there."
He stood up, his sword already in hand. He looked at Trowa. :Are you ready?: he asked privately.
Trowa allowed a hint of a smile to appear on his face, just enough so that Quatre would see it. Quatre smiled briefly in return, then closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, obviously preparing himself for what was coming. Then he opened them, and though he searched, Trowa could find no hint of fear in those clear blue eyes. There was an almost unearthly calm there, and as he looked around, Trowa saw that that same calm seemed to have enveloped the others.
Himself included, he realized after a few seconds. It was just that it was so close to his normal behavior that he hadn't noticed it until now.
I wonder what's going on? he thought, and then realized that even that thought was oddly abstracted and distant. He was used to feeling this way, but this was taking it to extremes. :Quatre?: he asked, not even bothering to phrase a question. Quatre would have the best shot at all of them at understanding what was going on, and he would automatically pull the information from his mind.
It had occurred to him, on occasion, that most people would be very offended by having someone dip into their thoughts at any moment, that maybe he should be offended, too, but he didn't mind. Not if it was Quatre. He never felt the least bit as if Quatre was violating his privacy, in fact, the thought hadn't even occurred to him until Duo had made some comment to that effect. He thought that it was because Quatre truly didn't mean anything, it was just the way his mind worked. He never pried, or tried to figure out other people's secretes, he just pulled bits of information from people's minds so that he could understand them better. As far as Trowa was concerned, there was nothing invasive about it, it was just the same as Quatre continually asking for clarifications about what people said. This way just cut out a lot of unnecessary talking.
:It's the world,: Quatre said after a moment, his voice tinged with wonder. Trowa could tell from the 'tone' of his voice that he was including all of them in the conversation.
:What is, Quatre?: Duo asked. His normally-manic voice was also calm, although he didn't seem to have noticed it yet.
:Look at us. We're not the least bit nervous.:
Trowa saw Duo glance around at the rest of them, then his eyes widened slightly. :Well, what do you know, you're right.: Duo was silent for a minute, his eyes narrowed in concentration, then he said, :I can't even get pissed off right now about this. What's going on?:
:It's the world itself. It's kind of... well, not taking us over, but just... influencing us, making sure we're ready. We've got all the power it can give us, now it's up to us.: Quatre shrugged slightly. :It's our destiny.:
Trowa could almost see Duo considering that, trying to find something wrong with it. He finally gave up and shrugged. :I guess she's just trying to protect her investment,: he said.
Another shudder ran through the stone walls. This time Quatre remained standing on his own. He threw a quick glance around the room, then smiled. "It's time."
Heero grunted agreement, Duo grinned in response, and Trowa found himself nodding in unison with Wufei.
Wufei was the first out the door, followed closely by Duo and Heero. Trowa hesitated a moment longer, turning to look at Quatre. "Quatre? I... I never said it. I know that you know, but... I love you."
Quatre's eyes lit up, and despite the worry etched in every line of his face, he smiled brilliantly, and gave Trowa a quick hug. "I did know, but thank you for telling me. Are you ready now?"
Trowa nodded. He had every intention of surviving the next battle, but he'd seen too much fighting to be able to deny the possibility that something might happen, and he didn't want to go into this battle without saying it at least once.
They headed out after the others, to the battle that waited outside.
Well, that took longer than I thought it would, and I didn't get nearly as far as I wanted to, but it's long enough. The next chapter will have the big battle. It may be a bit delayed (even more so than usual - grimace) because I'm moving back to school. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this one!
Marika 8/16/01