Author's Note: Konnichiwa miiiiinnaaaaaaaaa!!! ^________^ *sparkle sparkle*

Psyche: Aaaauuuhhhhhhh!! ::sobs:: She's..... cheerful! Wahhhhh!!! ;_;

Thalia: What are you so happy about, dearie?

Weeeellllllll... I just got back from vacation. I got a bunch of fun clothes, a Fushigi Yuugi tape, the third Outlaw Star DVD, and a groovy new CD! ^_^ I'm happyhappyhappyhappyhappy!!! * ^____^ * *sparkle sparkle*

Eros: ::whispering to Thalia:: Psst! You distract her while I hide all the sugar and caffeine.

Thalia: Ryoukai.

Psyche: How ~could~ you go and get all happy?! We're supposed to be writing a weird/horror/angst-ish fic, here!

Weird I can do. * ^_^ * *sparkle sparkle*

Thalia: -_-;; We know.

Eros: ::hiding candy and soda:: I've got a bad feeling...


Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing. Don't sue.




PART ELEVEN




Wufei stretched himself out across the dark astral plane, a thin red cord trailing behind him back to the shield around Duo. He had his "feelers" out, by now used to not having an even remotely human form. Hundreds of red tendrils spread around his core; they waved back and forth as he searched.

* It's out here somewhere. I know it. *

And yet it evaded him. He wriggled his feelers in frustration before sending them farther. The entity was too big to hide. It's energy signature would reveal itself soon. Then, he resolved with grim determination, he'd get Quatre back and retrieve his own body before this got even further out of hand. With both Duo's and Heero's newly-discovered abilities, and neither knowing even how to perform a basic shield, they were at serious risk. And Wufei would ~not~ let this mob of ghosts harm them. He would be strong; he would defeat his enemy.

* Duo, you may have your doubts about my talents, but I shall accomplish at least this much. *

He felt a twinge at the end of one of his roving pseudopod.

*(There!)*

Instantly he transferred his awareness to that point. Just ahead of him the thing writhed and roiled, blacker than the mere absence of light. It was hideous, wrong. Wufei paused out of its range, evaluating what he could sense. Now that he knew something of what he was dealing with, he could detect the nuances between souls. He would have growled, if he'd had vocal cords. He should have realized this sooner. It seemed obvious now.

* But what drew them here? *

He brooded a bit before gathering himself. The answer lay somewhere within the entity, and he wasn't going to be able to find it by sitting and staring at it. He'd have to penetrate it and search. The thought filled him with disgust; the energy it gave off was psychic sludge, the waste emotions of hundreds, maybe thousands, of angry mad souls. It made him wish he could take a long shower and scrub himself clean. But he had no choice. This was the only way.

He hardened a shield around himself, sparing just enough energy to keep the line back to Duo intact, and then dove into the mass. The weak spirits recoiled from him as he passed, a bullet through jello. He felt their shock and anger and ignored it, going deeper. He had surprised them and they didn't have the presence of mind to retaliate, at lest not yet. He sent a pulse of energy out like a bubble around him. The mob was driven back, giving him room to establish himself. When he was grounded by Duo and by his own will, he sent probing tentacles out once again, this time searching for anything abnormal.

* Hah. Looking for abnormalities within an abnormality. *

The spirits were recovering now, pressing themselves up against the bubble, which distorted and stretched. He kept a careful eye on this while he sent more and more veins of his own red energy into the darkness. These in turn split into smaller and smaller veins, into so many that he could feel the entire mass of souls.

* But where's Quatre? *

A particularly ambitious spirit reached for him, its energy surprisingly coherent. Around it, the others began to do the same. The protective energy strained and stretched even more. Wufei rippled with dismay. He could leave just yet. He hadn't found Quatre or any answers. Just a moment more -

The bubble burst.

He didn't even have time to follow the anchor cord out before the sea of dead crashed down on him.




Time runs different in the astral plane. Minutes there are hours, days, maybe even months in the physical. Or just the opposite could happen, hours in the astral plane passing in seconds on the physical. Duo discovered that the former was more likely.

Wufei had been right about it taking a long time to explain to Heero and Trowa what was going on. By the time everyone's curiosity was satisfied, it was dawn. None of them could sleep, so they had breakfast instead. Trowa started his watch over Quatre, looking slightly less worried than before now that he knew something was being done, while Heero and Duo went out to the hangar to get to work on Shenlong.

As hard as it was to concentrate while being surrounded by energy, Duo found himself coping with tasks fairly well. Heero was taking care of cockpit adjustments while he, Duo, soldered the armor where it was damaged. He watched the sparks through a full welding visor and the gloves Heero had been wearing the other day.

Needless to say that it was unbearably hot.

* Welding in the Sahara in protective gear and black clothes. Not fun. * he thought wryly. * Wonder what Wu's up to. *

He could feel the power gathering. It made his skin prickle. He shifted on the suspended scaffold, which was really just an oversized swing, and adjusted his grip on the soldering iron. Whatever Wufei was gearing up for was bound to be big.

* I just hope the baka doesn't do something stupid. * He cought this train of thought and smiled wryly. * Ch'! Like I'm one to talk. *

"Oi! Duo!"

Duo stopped soldering and raised the visor as he twisted to look up at the cockpit.

"Yeah?"

"Do you have a needle-nose pliers?" Heero asked, wiping his brow with the back of his hand.

"Sure do. You need it?" Duo asked, grinning because he knew he was being difficult.

"Aa." Heero replied, not giving him the satisfaction of being annoyed. He sighed.

"Be right there."

He stowed the soldering iron and peeled the gloves from his sweaty hands before grabbing the pliers from his tool kit. He leapt from the scaffolding and shinnied up to the cockpit with practiced ease. He was just pulling himself onto the boarding platform when the wave of psychic trauma hit.

Three things happened, if not at once then in every close succession. The shield around him popped like a soap bubble. He lost his grip on the platform and started to fall. Heero lunged forward onto his stomach, catching Duo's arm in the nick of time.

"Wufei, you idiot," Duo mumbled through the sudden migraine he had.




The spirits could not break through his shield, no matter how many pressed against it. He was reeling from the recoil of the anchor cord when it'd snapped, and he tried to get his bearings enough to break free from the entity. But there was an inexhaustible supply of ghosts restraining him. He was losing his carefully stored energy faster than he'd anticipated and was no closer to escape than before.

*(STOP STRUGGLING!)* commanded a painfully loud mindvoice of thousands.

He didn't bother to stop or reply. He pulsed his energy again, trying to gain some time. The press of insane spirits was lifted, but the same cohesive, self-contained spirit passed through without even disturbing the reddish membrane. Wufei would have cried out in surprise, and released another pulse of energy to drive this one back. The spirit wasn't even phased.

*(I TOLD YOU TO STOP STRUGGLING!)* Its mindvoice, while still earshattering, was singular. Wufei knew then that this was the source, the leader.

*(Kisama! Where is Quatre?)* he demanded furiously.

*(WITH US. WE ARE KEEPING HIM.)* the spirit said.

*(Like hell you are!)*

*(FOOL. YOU CANNOT DEFEAT US.)*

*(Show me Quatre, now!)*

*(VERY WELL. SEE HOW POWERLESS YOU ARE.)*

The blackness covering the spirit melted away like mist. Wufei looked on with dawning horror as a creature emerged. It was veined with hundreds of colors. There was no way to tell what its base aura was, and at its core was the bright aquamarine of Quatre's life-force. The thing gave an amused ripple.

*(Ancestors preserve us. You're an energy vampire. An eater of souls.)* Wufei realized hollowly, feeling sick.




Heero heaved Duo onto the platform in front of the cockpit. His heart was racing, probably trying to make up for the moment it had stopped when Duo had begun to fall. He took deep breaths and told himself to be calm. The danger was over. He mustn't give himself away.

"What happened?" he asked in what he hoped was a normal tone.

"The shield Wu put on me is gone," Duo grit out, his eyes squeezed shut and his face screwed into a mask of pain. "And Wu is in deep shit. I think whatever he tried to do to the - er - "entity" failed. Spectacularly."

"Sou ka."

"He said before he left that I was supposed to anchor him. Lot of help ~I~ was."

"Hn."

Duo continued to lie on the platform as Heero got up.

"Heero?"

"Aa?" Heero looked down at him uncertainly.

"Could you... um..." he broke off, his face coloring darkly. "This is embarrassing... but, um... I don't think I can walk at the moment, and this is not the most comfortable of places..."

"You want me to carry you?"

".......Um......"

Heero gazed at him for a moment. Duo wouldn't meet his eyes.

* He hates being helpless as much as I do. *

Realizing this, he knew the strength it must have taken for Duo to ask for help. Not that the American would see it as strength... Heero gave a single nod and bent to help Duo up. He put Duo's arms around his shoulders and wrapped his own arm around Duo's waist. He grabbed a safety cable with his free hand. He'd been foregoing the cords after his fall, but now it was the only way to get down.

Fortunately, it held. They touched down somewhat awkwardly; Heero had to compensate like mad to keep them from falling over. Then he lifted Duo off the ground and balanced him carefully over his shoulder, keeping his arm around the slim boy's waist to make sure he didn't drop him.

"Oh man, this is sooooo humiliating. If you tell anyone about this, Heero, I swear I'll - "

"Urusai. No one is going to hold it against you," Heero interrupted gruffly, not knowing what he was trying to convey.

"Still, it's not exactly dignified, and I'm not even unconscious as an excuse." Duo continued glumly as Heero went up the metal staircase to the exit.

"I can knock you unconscious if you want me to," he offered.

"No!" Duo said hurriedly, then paused. "Um... Heero?"

"Aa?"

"Was that a... nah, couldn't a been."




Wufei recoiled from the thing in horror. This was the soul of a psychic who'd died and ~deliberately~ chosen not to cross over. It was a thing that absorbed the souls of others into itself to survive on the astral plane. It was a monster. And it fit, the pieces of the puzzle tumbling into place. It had lured the lost souls here with its innate psychic ability, and then controlled them with it. And whenever it needed an energy boost it would just devour a soul or two. Wufei shuddered, his aura flaring colors of loathing and hate.

*(YES, YOU SEE NOW.)* chuckled the thing.

*(You... you evil creature)* Wufei said, fear for his friends creeping into his heart.

*(NO MORE EVIL THAN YOU. I KILL TO SURVIVE.)*

*(You are already dead. You aren't supposed to survive.)*

All that came in response was a sickening wave of amusement. Wufei rippled uneasily.

*(YET I AM SURVIVING. IF YOU ARE SO WEAK TO LET YOUR LIFE STOP AT DEATH, THEN YOU AREN'T WORTHY OF YOUR GUNDAM.)*

That brought Wufei up short.

*(What? How do you know about the gundams?)*

*(FROM THIS CAPTIVE OF MINE.)*

Wufei watched Quatre's fading core. *(What are you saying?)*

*(I AM ~HIS~ CREATION, GUNDAM PILOT.)* the thing replied, "laughing" as the young psychic broadcast his shock. *(HE DIDN'T KNOW ME, BUT HE KILLED ME. I COULD FEEL HIM AS I DIED. I KNEW HE WAS EASY MEAT.)*

*(What are you talking about?)*

*(I WAS THE BEST IN MY CLASS AT THE ACADEMY. I THOUGHT I COULD TAKE YOU DAMN GUNDAMS DOWN. BUT THE WEAKEST ONE OF YOU KILLED ME.)*

*(You... were an OZ soldier?)*

A bitter wave washed over the incredulous Chinese boy.

*(YES. I AM PSYCHIC AS WELL. I MANAGED TO SAVE MYSELF BY LATCHING ONTO YOUR FRIEND. FROM HIM I LEARNED OF YOU OTHERS. THROUGH HIM I MANIPULATED HIS MISSIONS, HIS MEN.)*

*(What are you talking about?)* Wufei asked, though the beginnings of understanding were already budding in his mind. * Please say I'm wrong. This is just too strange, even for me. *

*(YOU ARE BEING STUPID. WHO DO YOU THINK LET HIM KNOW WHERE TO INTERCEPT THE MOBILE SUIT PARTS? WHO SAVED HIM FROM MISSIONS OF CERTAIN DOOM? I DID. I NEEDED HIM TO SURVIVE, UNTIL I HAD GATHERED ENOUGH MINIONS.)*

Here the energy vampire paused, giving off smug, cruel emotions. *(I LET THEM HAVE HIM FOR A WHILE. IT KEPT THEM AMUSED. NOW I AM FREE TO ABSORB HIS ESSENCE AND TAKE FULL OWNERSHIP OF HIS BODY.)*

*(I see. You had this whole thing planned out. We were your targets, even in death.)* Wufei had met obsessive spirits before, but this was over-the-top.

*(YES. THIS WILL BE OZ'S TRIUMPH. I ONLY WISH THAT TREIZE-SAMA WOULD KNOW OF THIS.)*

*(You're completely insane.)*

*(SILENCE. YOUR COMPANIONS WILL COME AFTER YOU AND THIS ONE. I SHALL BE REVENGED, IN THE NAME OF OZ!)*




END PART ELEVEN



So, whaddaya think of ~that~? ^_^ Revenge of the OZ red-shirts!

Thalia, Eros, and Psyche: ............O_O;;;..............

Sorry so short, minna-san! Gotta get started on my homework!

Eros: REEEEEVVVVVIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEWWW!!!!!