Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, or any of the characters. I'm writing this story fro my personal amusement, and the amusement of Gundam Wing fans that read it.

Author's Note: This takes place after everything, Endless Waltz already happened. There may be some slight OOC (Out Of Character) in this fic.

~Mysterious Ways~

~Chapter one~


Quatre Rebarba Winner stood in the doorway of a club. He came here to find Duo, one of his fellow gundam pilots, and one of his best friends. He wore khaki pants, and a red shirt with a jean jacket over it. He felt an odd presence in the air... as if a vampire was around. He looked around for Duo, wanting to find his friend and leave. Clubs made him nervous... no, the people *in* the clubs made him nervous. 'Why does Duo come here so often?' Quatre asked himself. He was an Empath... and had a knack for sensing things... unnatural things. He spotted Duo over talking to some girls, no doubt charming them all at the same time.

"Hey Duo!" Quatre called, not wanting to intrude. Duo didn't hear him. He walked up and tapped him on the shoulder. "Duo..."

"Oh hey! Great timing!" Duo said, pulling Quatre forward, and turning to the girls again. "Ladies, this is one of my friends, Quatre."

"Hi. Duo...we need to leave... there's something...wrong here..."

"Relax! What's gonna happen to us in the middle of a crowd of people?" Duo tried to loosen Quatre up.

".... A lot could..." Quatre started. He felt the air seem to get thicker, which meant one of the undead was really close by. Quatre glanced around nervously. "Let's just go Duo... you do this every time."

"Alright, alright.... 'Scuse me ladies." Duo was dressed in his usual black, priest-like outfit. He grabbed his duster from the chair, and followed Quatre outside. "Hey, what's been making you so jumpy lately?" Duo asked Quatre.

"......I don't know..." Quatre answered. "Maybe I'm just being too cautious." Quatre and Duo headed down the block. Storm clouds had been building overhead. They were as black as the night sky. Lightning flashed a crossed the sky, causing Quatre and Duo to look up and notice the coming storm. The first big drops came down warningly, and then it suddenly started to pour. Quatre and Duo ducked into an alley, where they were slightly sheltered from the rain.

"Gundam pilots..." Quatre turned towards the sound, seeing about 5 people standing there. Quatre put his hand to his pistol, expecting trouble. As a gundam pilot, he was taught to always expect the worst. Duo acted casual.

"So....you guys have an appointment to get your asses kicked? 'Cuz if you don't..."

"Silence mortal..." one of them hissed, "...Leave and we'll leave you alone. We want nothing to do with you...If you don't leave, we'll make a corpse out of you."

"....." Duo hesitated slightly, then grabbed his gun, pulled it out, and shot at the people. They swarmed at him and Quatre. He heard Quatre fire his gun. Duo and Quatre took two of the five down. The other three kept coming. Duo ran out of bullets, and backed off to get another clip in. One of them tackled him, and his gun skitted out of reach. The vampire grabbed Duo's head, and started banging it against the ground.

Quatre, meanwhile, had shot one of the two attacking him, but it didn't die. He saw the other two, which he and Duo had shot, get up and hiss, coming after him and Duo. Lightning flashed, and thunder cracked close overhead. Quatre freed himself from the vampire, knocking it back into two of the others. He kicked the one off Duo, and pulled Duo along. They ran out into the rain. After about 6 blocks, they stopped. Quatre couldn't sense their...unnatural presence anymore.

"Now what?" Quatre asked.

"I don't..." Duo stopped. Darkness seemed to be closing in on them. From every direction, it got closer, and closer. "...What the hell is that?!" It wrapped around the two gundam pilots. Quatre didn't seem to notice it though.

"What's what?" Quatre asked, looking around. Duo waved his arms, trying to get it away. Above, lightning flashed again, this time lighting up the whole area. Duo closed his eyes, blinded by the bright flash. Then he felt electricity jolting through him...as if he had touched an exposed wire. It hurt for a second...but then stopped. Quatre was looking at him, with worry in his eyes.

"You okay? You just blanked out for a second..." Quatre jerked his head up. The vamps were back. Before he even got a chance to react, two vampires had him pinned to the ground. He grunted, and tried to get them off. They were ice-cold to touch, and the mere presence of one sent a shiver down his spine. A light mist started to gather around him. He suddenly felt a twinge of pain in his neck. The vampires who were holding him leaped back in surprise.

"You know who you're messing with? The God of Death! That's who!" Duo attacked one of the vampires, using the cross he always wore as a weapon. The vampire hissed in pain and struggled to get away from Duo. It suddenly started to rain harder, and then it started to hail. Hail pelted the vampires, but only a few hit Duo. "...What the hell....?"

"We'll see you again, mortals!" one of them hissed, and they all ran off. Duo turned to see Quatre leaning up against the wall, with his hands on his knees. "Quatre?...." Duo approached Quatre. He looked paler than usual, and he was breathing hard. "Come on, let's get you dry." Duo helped Quatre back to his house, the rain was still pouring down on them, but the hail had stopped. 'Odd...' Duo thought...

~*~*~

Heero Yuy shivered in the rain. He was headed to Quatre's house. He had just gotten a call from Duo, telling him to come over right away, pilots meeting. He walked out a crossed the bridge. The rain pounded down on him harder than ever. A strong gust of wind knocked him sideways, into the rail. The rail was weak, and couldn't hold his weight. Before he knew it, he was plunged into the river. He gasped at the freezing cold water, and the river's current caught him. It dragged him under. He struggled against it, but it was no use. Everything started to go black. The cold water numbed his body, and he felt his forehead tingle. He made one last effort to break free, and he did! The current suddenly released him. He swam quickly to the shore, and collapsed on it, gasping for breath. After a few minutes, he headed for Quatre's again, shivering against the cold.

~*~*~

Trowa Barton ran towards Quatre's house. Duo had just called, and had said something about vampires, and him and Quatre being attacked. He was worried about his friends. He ran down the street, and turned, cutting through the woods. He ran up an incline, and tripped over a root at the top. He curled into a ball, as he was hurdled down the hill. About half way down, something cut him, and he uncurled slightly. He felt a tingling feeling in his arm, but ignored it. He fell through the midst of thorns, and finally came to a stop at the bottom of the hill. Cut, and bruised, he limped slightly the rest of the way to Quatre's mansion.

~*~*~

Chang Wufei headed out the door of his apartment building. He just got a message on his answering machine about Duo, Quatre, and vampires. He dashed through the rain, getting as little wet as possible, dodging under and out of little overhangs. He ran a crossed the street, passing a car accident. One of the drivers was out on the street, obviously stunned. Wufei spotted the other in the car, unconscious. He sprinted towards the car and pulled the woman out, and to safety. He went back to the car, checking to see if there was anyone else there. He spotted gas leaking out of the car, and sparks ignited the gas. The car exploded with Wufei inside. He was thrown back, landing on the grass next to the road. Wufei groaned and sat up. Pain laced through his body. It was the worst on his back. It felt like it was on fire, which was a possibility. He lay down and rolled on the grass. The pain went away almost instantly. He got up and left as and ambulance and a few police cars showed up.

~*~*~

Quatre got up and answered the door. He and Duo had gotten home about a half an hour ago. Trowa stood in the doorway.

"What happened to you?" Quatre asked looking at Trowa with concern. He was scratched up, and caked with mud.

"I fell down a hill." Trowa told him, and took the towel Duo handed him. "So what's the big emergency?"

"Let's wait until the others get here so we don't have to repeat ourselves." Duo suggested. He was fidgety. Earlier, he had been playing with his braid, and now he was pacing back and forth, his braid swishing behind him. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang again. It was Heero.

"Thanks for coming so quickly Heero." Quatre greeted.

"Hn......." Heero came in, took the towel Duo handed him, and sat down.

"Typical...." Duo muttered.

Quatre was staring at him as he paced, back and forth a crossed the floor in front of him. 'Man...He's gonna ware a hole in the floor...' Quatre thought.

The doorbell rang again, but before Quatre could answer it, the door opened, and Wufei let himself in. "This had better be good blondie..." Wufei muttered and sat down. Quatre stared at Wufei, his clothes were torn in several places, but the look on Wufei's face warned Quatre not to ask.

"Okay, the reason Quatre and I called you here, was because we were attacked by vampires..." Duo started.

Wufei scoffed, "There's no such thing."

"It's true. We don't know why they attacked us though..." Quatre continued. "Did anything happen that was...out of the ordinary to you guys tonight? We got attacked by vampires, and then it started to hail...The hail pelted the vampires, and when they left, it stopped hailing..."

"You left out the darkness part..." Duo commented. Quatre looked at him quizzically. "I don't think you saw it...but when we got away from the vampires for a few minutes...and this..." Duo hesitated, searching for the right word to use, "...this black mist came upon us, and just wrapped around me. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face! I felt some pain in my shoulder for no more then a second, and then it was gone. A minute later, I could see fine...and Quatre was looking at me like I was crazy."

"You felt something like that too?" Quatre asked, surprised. "I mean, I saw some mist gather around me...and then I felt pain in my neck..." Quatre looked at Heero, Trowa, and Wufei. "Did anything like that happen to any of you?"

Trowa nodded, "Yea...I hurt myself when I fell down the hill..."

"Did it feel like a sharp pain, and then suddenly go away?" Quatre asked quizzically. Trowa nodded again.

"Yea, in my arm..." Trowa absentmindedly rubbed his arm.

"I felt something like that too...but it might have just been because my body was numb." Heero added. The others gave him they're full attention. "Lets just say I fell in the river." Heero refused to say anything else.

"What about you Wu-man?" Duo asked.

"...First of all, my name is *NOT* Wu-man...it's WUFEI!" Wufei glared at Duo, then continued. "Well, there was a car accident near my apartment...and I saved a woman from the car. I went to check to see if anyone else was there, and the car exploded..."


"With you inside?" Quatre asked.

"Duh..."

"Hmm..." Quatre turned to Heero, "You have any......" Quatre's mouth hung open in shock, staring at Heero. The others noticed his sudden stop, and looked at him, then looked at Heero. They all had the same reaction except Duo. Duo started to laugh his head off. Heero raised an eyebrow curiously.

"What's up with you Maxwell?" Heero asked. Quatre went and got a mirror and gave it to Heero. Heero showed no emotion on his face, but if you looked into his eyes, you could see the emotion that he hid. A mixture of shock and surprise was shown in his eyes. There was a light blue crystal in the middle of his forehead. It was diamond-shaped, but had depth to it. And there was a pool of what looked like water below the ice crystal. It looked like a lake...and then it moved. As if it *was* a lake, and something fell into it, causing ripples to extend over the 'lake', that rippling movement came from the base of the crystal.

"...Everyone felt the same thing...right?.......There should be marks on us too then." Quatre concluded. Duo, and Trowa nodded in response. Wufei looked less convinced, but nodded after a moment of silence. They started to examine themselves, looking in obvious places. They discovered Trowa's next. It was a fully bloomed black rose. It was about 5 inches long, on his left, inner forearm. It looked so real, that the thorns on the stem looked sharp and pointy, compared to the soft look of the pedals. Once, Duo swore it moved somehow. Next they found Quatre's. There was a lightning bolt on his left collarbone, and there was something that looked like golden mist hanging around it. They stared at it for a little bit, and saw the mist seem to shift around the lightning bolt.

"Cool...Duo was entranced by the mist.

"Duo...Duo....DUO!!!" Duo jumped and looked at Quatre.

"Huh?" Duo shook his head and looked Quatre in the face. "What?" A puzzled look crossed his face. When he didn't get an answer, he shrugged it off, and started hunting for a mark on himself like Quatres', Heeros', and Trowas'. He didn't find one.

Quatre noticed a dark spot on Duo's white shirt, and tugged on his collar a little. "Duo, take off your shirt." Duo looked at him funny, then complied. There was the marking. It was a scythe with a mist like Quatre's...except it was black with a purplish tint. It also moved, swirling around the scythe. Duo put his shirt back on, and they all looked at Wufei. He scowled.

"There's *NO* way I'm taking off MY shirt!" Wufei crossed his arms and scowled at Duo, who looked like he was trying to figure out how to get Wufei's shirt off successfully, and still live.

"......Well...why don't you just lift up the back and see if you have a marking too?" Quatre suggested.

"............" Wufei sighed and pulled up the back of his shirt. The others gasped at what they saw.

"It's...It's a pheniox.....a very *BIG* pheniox...."

"How big?"

"........Hey Wu-man! It covers all of your back! Hey! It moved!!!" Duo yelled. Quatre rubbed his ear and took a step away from Duo.

"It's not moving Maxwell..." Heero countered. Just then Quatre saw it move.

"It did...it's like flames in a campfire..." Quatre blinked and shook his head. "Okay... So why is it that each of us have a marking where we have no idea where they came from, and they weren't there yesterday..." Quatre paused to think.

"Well...maybe each symbol represents our inner strength..." Trowa added. "Like Duo's. He claims he's the God of Death, and his symbol is of a scythe, with darkness seeming to close in around it."

"Yea...but his is the only one that makes sense if you put it that way....I mean, what does a crystal have to do with Heero? Or A black rose and Trowa, Quatre's light/lightning bolt, and my pheniox?" Wufei asked.


"Well..." Glass shattering interrupted Trowa. Heero was instantly on his feet, as were the other pilots. In a matter of seconds, they were surrounded by...

"Not the neck biters again!" Duo exclaimed.

"Relinquish the blond...." one of the vampires hissed. Trowa glanced at Quatre, surprised that they wanted him.

"I don't think so buddy, blondie stays with us!" Duo whipped out his pistols and aimed them at the closest vamp's near him. All the pilots stood back to back, surrounded by the vampires.

".......Attack..." the vampire whispered. All the vampires advanced at the same time. Duo emptied his clips into two of the vampires, causing them to fall to the floor.

"All right! They do die.....Oh...why do I even bother...." Duo grimaced as the vampires got up, nursing their wounds as they healed. "Heero!" Duo yelled, then took off between the wounded vamps. The injured ones started to go after him, but the lead vamp called them back.

"Let him go, the braided one is not who we want." He was the only vampire who hadn't attacked yet. He just watched. Heero kept an untrusting, trained eye on the vamp. Wufei slashed at the vampires with his twin katanas. He got sliced sideways, beheading one of them. It screamed and all that was left was a pile of ash. Trowa was having difficulty, simply because he didn't have a gun or anything else that could be used as a weapon. He used various objects in the room to help him. He snatched a vase off a stand and slammed it into the vamp's face. He hissed and punched Trowa.

"Trowa!" Trowa turned to the voice, just in time to catch one of Wufei's katana's. He spun and beheaded the vampire in one sweep. It disenigrated. He heard it's scream mingle with another.

Quatre cried out as something took a hold of his hair, and yanked. He impaled the vampire in front of him with his dagger. It screamed, but didn't die. After a second it smiled and pulled his dagger out of it. Quatre elbowed the vampire in the stomach, and got a hold of its hand. He flipped it over him into the vampire now wielding his dagger.

"That's enough!" the one vampire who wasn't fighting spoke. In one swift movement, he grabbed Quatre's arm and twisted it behind his back. Quatre started to retaliate, but the vampire laughed and captured his other arm easily. He slammed Quatre into the wall. "We have our prey!" The vampire called to his companions. Just then Duo showed up again and beheaded two vampires with his scythe, grinning.

"You aren't taking Quatre anywhere." Heero told him, his voice and face emotionless. He stood blocking the doorway. Wufei and Trowa were between him and the windows, and scythe-happy Duo was between him and the other exit. The vampire snickered.

"You really think you can stop me foolish mortals?" He laughed out loud. He released one of Quatre's arms and grabbed his hair, jerking his head to the side and started to bite down on his neck.

Quatre gasped, and tried to fight back. A brilliant golden light suddenly filled the room. The vampires hissed and covered their eyes. Trowa, Duo, Heero, and Wufei shielded their eyes as well. The vampire who was about to bite Quatre hissed more and backed away, holding his face. The light subsided a little, and they saw Quatre was lifted off the floor, his head back. Sparks filled the room, and soon became full-blown lightning...the source of them being Quatre. The vamp who had tried to bite Quatre gestured to the few other vamps left. They left as quickly as they could.

"This doesn't change anything!" The lead vamp called back to them. Quatre suddenly stopped glowing, and his feet touched the ground again. He gasped and collapsed.

"Quatre..." the gundam pilots gathered around Quatre and got him onto a couch.

"He has no actual...wounds...but he's exhausted..." Trowa said after a few minutes.

"Odd..."

"Hn..." Heero remained silent. 'All of us have a mark like Quatre does...which means that we all have a power of some sort...hmm...Quatre's symbol is a lightning bolt...and the room was just filled with them recently...but none of us gundam pilots were hit....'

"Well, I say we all get some sleep. After all, we're no good dead-tired." Duo said with a smile.

"Maxwell, that's one of the few smart things I've heard you say all night." Wufei told him. Heero and Trowa carried Quatre into his room and laid him down, then went to their own rooms to think over what had happened this very odd day.

~*~*~

Quatre moaned. He opened his eyes to bright afternoon sunlight beaming in his face. He was lying on his bed, and his balcony door was open wide, letting the sunlight in, dazzling him. He got up and changed, then looked outside. Duo was out there with Heero. They were practicing shooting arrows, why, he didn't know.

He walked out into the main room, after having a quick shower and changing into some fresh clothes. Wufei was meditating on the floor, and Trowa was reading a book...something about vampires. Trowa looked up as Quatre entered the room.

"You okay?" he asked.

Quatre nodded, "Yeah... I feel fine." Duo and Heero came inside and sat down.

"We've got to plan out our next move...we know the neck-biters want Quatre...but we don't know *why* they want him...."

"Maybe they like rich blood?" Duo suggested, "Or maybe because he's so sweet..." Duo ducked as a throw pillow came flying at him.

"Do you remember....exactly what happened Quatre?" Heero asked.

Quatre thought a moment. "Well....I remember the vampires coming...and trying to separate us...They chased Duo out of the room... One of them grabbed me from behind." Quatre fell silent in thought. "Well, I don't remember anything after that except Duo yelling 'The God of Death is here!'"

Trowa, Wufei, Heero, & Duo looked at each other. "Quatre...are you sure you don't remember anything after that?" Trowa asked.

Quatre frowned. "What happened after that? You tell me."

"Well...the vamp's wanted you...just you." Trowa told him.

"Hey! It's like those vampires we ran into earlier Quatre...remember, they said 'relinquish the blonde' or something like that," Duo remarked.

"Yes...but why would the supernatural want Quatre?" Wufei questioned.

"Well you know...they weren't exactly trying to kill us...they might have wanted all of us, but Quatre's just their first victim...Hell, all of us are irresistible!" Duo exclaimed.

Quatre smiled at Duo's attitude. He knew something wasn't right about all of this...

"I think you're a few feet short of your braid there Maxwell..." Wufei commented.

"No, he's right," Heero said.

"About which part?" Trowa said, his eyebrows raised (not like you could tell with his bangs).

"The part about them wanting Quatre."

Wufei sighed. "Fine, you argue. I'm getting my sleep."

"You need your beauty sleep Wu-man?" Duo asked, a grin spreading slowly a crossed his face. "Or is it past your bedtime?"

Wufei's eye's narrowed. "Huh...onna..." Wufei left before Duo could respond.

"He called me a woman!" Duo jumped up and raced down the hallway after Wufei.

~*~*~

So, did you like it? ^_^ I hope so…If I get enough reviews, I'll write more…and believe me…you want me to put out the next chapter…..^_^

~Akira~