Part 10

Quatre woke up the next morning to find his room empty, Trowa was already gone and probably in the library, browsing through the books. Standing up he stretched and walked over to the wardrobe in the room, to look though the robes for something to wear. Unfortunately what he found were mostly fancy blue robes, nothing looking ordinary or in any other color. He frowned deeply as he moved about the clothing, which were all various shades of blue.

Vaguely his mind remembered his own wardrobe in the room he'd been given in Konan. At the time he hadn't looked through it, electing to stay in his school uniform for comfort's sake, but now he wondered if it was like this. Would they have been all red?

Quatre sighed and finally chose a simple outfit of lose fitting light blue pants with a green tunic type shirt, tying it off with a dark blue sash. He really wished he still had his school uniform but when Trowa had taken him he'd been wearing the outfit of the Priest of Suzaku, and they'd gotten rid of that almost right away. Quatre frowned and walked back over to the bed, trying to decide what to do now.

A light knock sounded on his door and it slid open, a manservant entering with a tray of food. "Your breakfast, Master Quatre."

Quatre looked up in surprise and met a set of familiar violet eyes. His own eyes widened and his jaw dropped as he looked at the boy who had just entered the room and was now shutting the door behind him. He wore simple, servant style clothing, his long hair pulled into a braid, which strangely enough gave the impression of him having a tail. Before Duo could say anything Quatre jumped up and rushed over to him, wrapping the boy in a tight embrace.

"Oh Duo, I am so happy to see you!" He cried quietly, knowing that yelling would draw attention.

"Oy! Quatre, nice to see you too. Let go or you're gonna strangle me."

Quatre chuckled and backed off, allowing Duo to set the tray of food safely on the floor and take a few deep breaths. "What are you doing here?" The blond asked excitedly.

"Checking up on you of course. When those Kuto warriors kidnapped you we got worried. So I'm here to make sure you're ok."

Quatre frowned and took a seat on the bed. "Duo… I can't go back to Konan with you."

Duo raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly. "You wanna stay here with him don't you?"

"It's not just that. Duo… I…" Quatre sighed. "Don't take this the wrong way but I don't know who to trust. I mean I know Zechs tried to kill me but then again so did Heero when we first met. Trowa and I talked and he had a very good point. I'm in a completely different world that I know nothing about and I have a better chance of surviving this if I stay with Trowa. So… I'm staying here."

Duo took a seat next to Quatre and ran a hand through his own bangs. "That makes sense. Look, Quatre, I am here to bring you back-"

"Duo…"

"But I won't if you don't want to go. I understand what you mean about not being able to trust anyone, believe me I've been there. Not that I've been to another world but, you know what I mean."

Quatre glanced up at Duo. "So what are you going to do?"

"Oh that's easy enough. I'll stay here, and help you, just in case. See I'm supposed to rescue you and the Suzaku scroll, but if you don't want to be rescued that's fine. So I'll just stay around in the palace and make sure you don't get yourself killed or anything like that."

"And Trowa?"

Duo grinned. "Heh, yeah. I'll watch over him too, don't worry. Now I better get going or they are going to suspect something. Here, take this." Duo dug into his pocket and pulled out a small dagger, it was old but well kept. "Keep it with you at all times, just in case. That Suzaku power of yours might not always appear so it'd be a good idea to keep with you."

Quatre nodded and took the dagger, placing it safely folded from sight within his robes. "Thanks Duo."

Duo stood up and nodded. "See you around kid." He walked to the door and slid it open. "Oh, and your friend is in the library if you were looking for him."

"Thanks again."

Duo gave a short wave and disappeared out the door, sliding it shut behind him. Quatre stood up from the bed and walked over to the tray of food. Picking it up he walked to the door and slid it open with his foot. Smiling slightly he carried the food toward the library.

**

Zechs glanced up from his chair and looked into the shadows in his dark room. He sat at a small table, looking over one of the many scrolls he'd taken from the library, studying various information about the four gods. Unfortunately he was still not able to find any information on Kiryn, and he had exhausted most of his resources within Kuto.

The candle near him flickered and he squinted into the shadows, trying to make out the shapes around him. Narrowing his eyes he watched as a figure folded itself out of the shadows and became that of a shapely young female dressed in long flowing pieces of clothing, a dancers outfit of perfectly matched pink and purple. The girl's almond shaped eyes blinked once and the room became lighter, the shadows receding to the corners despite the lack of light causing them to do so. Tilting her head she nodded a greeting to Zechs.

"Ah, Merian, I had not expected you so early." Zechs said, rolling the scroll before him closed.

"Expected or not, I am here. My Lady is displeased, Zechs. She was told there would be results by the next moon. Where is the Priest?"

"He is here."

Merian's eyes narrowed and she took a few steps closer to Zechs, the long pieces of cloth floating around her body as if they were alive. "Then why have you not brought him to us? We know you already possess the Priest of Suzaku, so why have you not brought forth the next stage of the plan?"

"The time is not right," he replied smoothly.

"That is not for you to decide," she replied icily.

Zechs stood up and frowned, placing the scroll on the shelf with the others. "Tell, your Lady not to worry, Merian. We have both Priests and it shall stay that way. However neither will themselves be controlled, we are working to remedy that situation. Also, we still do not have another integral part to this plan." He turned and looked to her with narrowed eyes. "We still miss the very key for summoning Kirin."

A thin smile slid across Merian's face at that. "That, Zechs, shall easily be taken care of. The monk knows how to call Kirin, and I will… fetch him when the time is right. But first you must bring the priests and priestess to Sairou."

Zechs frowned, quickly growing impatient with the dancing girl. "They will be there before the next moon, that is a promise."

Merian nodded. "Until the next moon then." The shadows around her returned, filling the room with darkness. "Be wary, Zechs, of displeasing her." Merian's voice faded out into the darkness as Zechs extinguished the candle before him.

Hissing to himself he stalked out of the room and down the hall. "She has right to be wary of me."

He walked down the hall with a determined pace and stopped at a large door which marked the servants' quarters. Sliding it open he scanned the group of people and his eyes finally set on a female about his age with long brown hair hanging down to frame her face.

"Anne."

"Yes, Lord Zechs."

"Bring Treize to the shrine, along with Noin. Immediately."

The woman nodded and quickly hurried from the room.

Meanwhile Duo watched from the background as Zechs slid the door shut again. His disguise had worked; the Kuto General hadn't recognized him. But now he had to find a way of following them and listening in to the conversation in the shrine, which would be harder. Grinning to himself he set out of the room and went to search the palace for the best place to listen in.

**

Treize glanced up from his chair by the window, where he gazed out into the garden. A knock on his bolted door brought him back to the real world and he turned as it slowly slid open, to reveal the servant girl, Anne, bowing before him.

"My Lord, the General wishes to see you in the shrine."

Treize stood and nodded, giving a sigh of relief. "It will do me some good to finally get out of this room, I suppose."

Anne smiled lightly and nodded. "I must retrieve Lady Noin, will you be all right by yourself?"

"Yes, thank you, Anne."

The servant girl blushed slightly before retreating down the hall to Noin's chambers. Meanwhile Treize stretched and straightened his robes, which had become wrinkled from sitting and gazing out the window for so long. Despite the fact that no one acknowledged him as the true prince of this empire he still wished to look his best. His father and the rest of the rules be damned, he would look his part, even if he was a bastard child. Holding himself up he walked down the hall with an air of elegance, heading straight for the shrine at a leisurely pace.

It was a rare time when he was allowed out of his room for any reason. His father, being quite ashamed of his bastard son, kept him locked away from all eyes. If it weren't for Zechs' considerable amount of power in the empire he would never be able to leave the room, luckily though Zechs had use of him and summoned him quite often. Granted Treize could leave the room almost any time he wished, thanks to the power Seriyu had awarded him, but he did not wish to advertise this fact. Better to save that trump card for when it was truly needed.

Moving down the hall he reached the door the same time Noin did and both nodded a greeting to each other.

Reaching forward Treize pushed open the doors to the shrine, and both stepped into the room, shutting the doors behind them. The room they now stood in was covered wall to wall with thick, rich tapestries of bright blue, showing a pictorial battle between two gods: Suzaku and Seriyu. It was an age-old story, of the two opposing gods of water and fire as they fought endlessly over the world and the humans. In the end both had been sealed away by their respective Priestesses, never to wreak such havoc again. Treize dropped on his knees upon entering the shrine, as did Noin.

Treize lifted his hand and a blue symbol blazed to life there. "Scorpious, the Scorpion."

Noin touched her lips lightly, which blazed blue, a different symbol appearing there. "Virgo, the Virgin."

Zechs entered the shrine behind them and knelt down, though only on one knee. Exposing his shoulder from under his robes and armor his own symbol appeared. "Sagittarius, the Archer."

All three stood up in unison and stepped farther into the room, toward the large stone statue of their guardian god. Noin and Treize turned to face Zechs, waiting for him to speak.

"Merian has appeared, early. The Priestess of Byakko wishes to know when the Priest of Seriyu will be ready for the summoning. In short, when will your mask complete its job?"

Noin glanced to Treize, who nodded for her to answer. "That depends on how often he wears it. The pattern has already begun to fork, which means the task is almost complete, but not entirely. A couple more days should do the trick."

Zechs frowned deeply. "We do not have that long. You must speed up the process."

Treize rubbed his chin in thought. "It is just a theory, but perhaps by adding Lady Noin's… talent we could finish the job. After all, does the mask not take his powers first?"

Zechs raised an eyebrow. "Clear out his memories as well?"

"Yes," Treize said with a nod. "That would also render him useless against us while we call Seriyu."

Zechs thought on this for a moment then looked to Noin. "Can it be done?"

"Easily," Noin replied. "Whenever you wish. However I recommend we give the mask one more day, to let it completely absorb his powers. Then I will take it from there."

"Agreed. Dismissed."

Both turned to leave the room but Zechs caught Treize's shoulder, causing the older man to stop. "I will have the servant girl leave your door unlocked just in case. When this is finished we will need to call Seriyu, I want you to be ready."

Treize nodded. "I will await your orders in my room."

All three departed the room, closing the door and leaving it empty. A moment later Duo slipped out of the shadows nearest to the door. "Boy am I ever lucky those Kuto idiots didn't ward the entire room, otherwise I never would have been able to hear anything. I have to find Quatre."

**

Trowa sighed softly and set down the scroll, closing his eyes he rubbed his forehead. Quatre glanced up at him in worry.

"Any luck?" he asked quietly. Both were searching the scrolls in the library for clues, they had been all afternoon, but had found nothing. Quatre frowned when Trowa didn't answer him right away.

Finally Trowa shook his head.

Quatre set down the scroll he'd been looking over and walked over to his friend, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Are you all right? You look tired."

Trowa opened his eyes and glanced at the hand Quatre had placed on his shoulder, Quatre noticed this and quickly pulled it away, much to Trowa's disappointment. Trowa just shrugged though, his mind on other things. "I tried to sleep last night but couldn't."

"It was probably because you made yourself sleep on the floor. I know, how about you go get some rest and I'll keep looking. We can alternate, then we'll both get enough sleep."

Trowa glanced at his friend. "Are you sure? I thought you didn't want to be alone here."

The blond boy responded with a small smile. "I'll be fine. And I promise to wake you if I find anything."

He closed his eyes and thought some more. Quatre did have a point, he really felt like he needed sleep and it was affecting his concentration. But there was something else too… something he thought he was supposed to remember about one scroll in particular. Yet he dismissed the thought, not wanting to make his head ache more then it already did. Nodding to Quatre he stood up and started for the door, and that's when it hit him.

Dizziness swept through his body and the whole world seemed to lurch forward. Trowa threw his arms out to try and catch something as he tumbled forward. He hit the ground hard, Quatre racing up to him a second too late.

"Trowa?!"

Trowa pushed himself to his knees and took a few deep breaths, forcing his eyes to move back into focus. "It's nothing, I just… got a little dizzy."

Quatre bit his lip in worry. "Maybe I should walk you back to the room." Reaching down he took Trowa's hand and helped him to his feet. Trowa wavered slightly as the room tried to spin again, but this time Quatre held on to him, tight. The feeling passed and Trowa leaned on Quatre as they walked back to the room.

"Thanks," Trowa whispered as Quatre helped him into the bed.

"Don't worry about it. Get some sleep and I'll keep looking." Quatre smiled once more then stepped out of the room, sliding the door shut behind him.

Trowa lay there silently for a while, just looking at the closed door. Then he rolled over on his side and dug into the folds of his robe, pulling out the mask. Lightly he traced the outline of the two inter-linking dragons, then he placed the mask over his face. He sighed softly as the cool porcelain seemed to ease his headache. Closing his eyes he drifted to sleep with half of his face covered. And for once his sleep was actually peaceful, though it had no dreams at all. In fact, he slept like the dead.

**

Quatre returned to the library after helping Trowa into bed and took his seat once more with the scrolls. Rubbing his eyes he went back to scanning the page for any important information. But he was barely able to start reading when his head snapped up. He could have sworn he heard something yet he couldn't remember any sound…

He glanced toward the door of the library and saw a small girl standing there. It was Marimeia, and she flashed him a light smile as she timidly glanced around the room then stepped in. Quatre turned to face her.

"What are you doing here? I got the impression before that you weren't supposed to be running around."

The girl didn't answer; she only walked up to him and lay her head lightly on his shoulder, rubbing her cheek against his sleeve.

Quatre blinked and smiled. "All right, I won't bug you about it, you can stay if they don't catch you."

The girl nodded happily and pulled a chair over to the table. Climbing up on it she peered at the scrolls Quatre had laid out on the table. Her brows furrowed as she looked over them. After a moment she sat back and glanced around the room, looking deep in thought.

"Something wrong?" Quatre asked. He felt kind of silly talking to a girl who couldn't/refused to talk back, but in retrospect it wasn't any stranger then the other stuff that had happened to him recently. So instead he put his hesitations to rest.

Meanwhile Marimeia jumped off her chair and walked over to one of the shelves, looking over the scrolls. After a moment she glanced back at Quatre and pointed frantically to one shelf in particular. Quatre got out of his seat and went to see what she was pointing at. Oddly enough he found she was pointing at an empty spot. He frowned.

"There's nothing there," he half murmured.

Marimeia frowned and shook her head, pointing at the empty space again.

"Is there supposed to be something there?"

She nodded quickly. Then, with little warning, she rushed over to another shelf and pointed to another empty spot. Quatre watched as she moved around the library, pointing out a large amount of spaces that apparently were supposed to have scrolls. Slowly what she was trying to say occurred to him.

"Someone took all those scrolls and put them somewhere else?"

He was rewarded with a very small smile crossing the girl's lips, but it was worried at the same time. Quatre frowned and ran a hand through his hair. "I bet I know who took them too. It was Zechs wasn't it?"

The girl nodded once more, the smile completely disappearing.

"I have to tell Trowa!" Quatre started for the door, but paused and looked back at the girl. "You had better come with too."

Marimeia frowned and thought about it, but after a moment she nodded and followed Quatre out of the library and toward Trowa's room.

End of part 10