Disclaimer: Zip. Zilch. Zero. That's my bank account, so it's pretty worthless suing me over using Gundam Wing. I love everyone who has reviewed! Thanks, thanks, thanks!! This is a monster long chapter; hope you like!
Special thanks goes to Anne, who keeps making sure I don't have so many plot holes! You deserve a medal! (But I don't know how to draw one so just know you deserve one! ^_^)
THIS IS THE REVISED VERSION!
The Colours of Life
Chapter 6: Jumping and Inter-Dimensional Travelling
By: J.B. Santiago
- Subspace – Real Time –
"I'm next." Nanashi said despondently. Catherine just sat there in silent terror. Those soldiers – those monsters – had just taken out the 22nd Sacrifice. The man had finally shown some sort of life by trying to fight back, kicking and screaming to no avail. Catherine continued to stare into the dark. She couldn't get the faces of those men out of her head. Their black eyes with white pupils and their translucent skin. Their clothes made them blend into the dark surroundings. They never said anything. They just forcefully took what they wanted and left. She shuddered, tears freely pouring down her face. She was going to die. 'I'm so sorry Trowa.' Catherine hugged her legs more tightly, rocking lightly to and fro.
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- Paris, Earth – Real Time –
Relena sat at the conference table for the Peace Summit Talks. She tried to listen to what the delegate was saying but she couldn't. He could of said pink, purple anteater elephant and she would have agreed. How could she listen when her fiancé and closest friends were fighting a supernatural being, they knew nothing about? She sighed inwardly. She blinked as tears began to form as she remembered the goodbyes Heero had said before he left for Florence. 'No - not goodbye. Just see you soon.' She bit the bottom of her lip. It wouldn't do for the Vice Foreign Minister to not pay attention to her work. 'Heero is fine and he'll be back and everyone will be okay.' She repeated the mantra in her head, smiling politely to the talking delegate. One of the glass windows shattered. Glass sprayed everywhere and Relena and the others in the room, dived under the table to shelter themselves from the falling debris and the shower of bullets. Relena gritted her teeth. 'Can't I have a meeting that doesn't end in gunfire?' She crawled to a secret door Heero had told her about - an escape route. Other delegates followed her example, all exiting through this door. The passage led to the gardens and hedge maze. Once the delegates opened the door to the outside they scattered as more gunfire was heard. 'Argh! This is ridiculous!' She ran through the maze, never running into a dead end. She finally reached the middle of the maze and was about to go to the left when she felt a cold barrel point to her head. Turning around to see her assailant, her eyes widened as she saw him. His eyes completely black aside from the white pupils; skin so pale it seemed translucent and they were covered from head to toe in black. The only thing not covered was his face. He sneered. "Your power is needed for the Darkness."
Then a shot reverberated through the maze.
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- Subspace – Real time –
"I see the fortress." Heero said, putting the binocular-looking device back into his pocket. "It's heavily guarded; all around, from what I can see. I don't think the direct approach would be wise."
"How much time do we have left?" asked Trowa, his voice not showing any worry but his hand was showing white knuckles as he gripped the mic to his mouth.
"Less than 15 hours. Precisely 14 hours, 26 minutes before they…" Bethany trailed off, when she realised she was about to say 'before they kill Catherine.' They had less than 15 hours to break through the fortress, save Catherine and defeat the Darkness. Bethany tried not to think of how hopeless this situation was getting; it wasn't working. "Heero, I know this sounds crazy but I think the direct approach would be the best approach."
Duo cut in before Heero could reply, "Uh, Bethany, you're not here to see how heavily guarded this place is. So I don't think you should tell us battle strategy." He wasn't about to go get himself killed, not when he had Hilde to come home to.
"That's true, Duo but you don't need to kill all the soldiers guarding the place. You just have to get into the fortress to shut them out. There will be fewer soldiers in the fortress, and they'll be mostly in the portal room. All you really need is a big diversion in front to get into the fortress." Bethany reasoned, ignoring the disbelieving looks Sally and Hilde were giving her.
"Sure, we'll just barge right in front, using a diversion to get us inside. Ah, what diversion!? These plasma bubble shield thingies can't withstand a full on assault of bullets! It's suicide!" Duo was now flailing his arms around.
"How many grenades do you guys have left?" persisted Bethany.
"Listen, onna, I don't think you under - " Wufei began but she cut him off.
"HOW many grenades do you have left!?" Bethany was now gripping the panel, as she gritted out the sentence.
"About 30…34. Why?" asked Trowa.
"Ok…That's good. Each grenade contains not just the normal ingredients that make it go 'Boom' but a liquid called x-921. Not your average grenade, now is it? Anyway, you can see there is a thin rubber around the circumference. Turn the grenade, left twice, then right once, then left three times, fully. You should here a small click, when you do, you can pull the grenade apart. The one with the pin is the normal grenade. The other half contains x-921. This is your diversion." Bethany said triumphantly.
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- Unknown Place – Unknown Time –
'What?' Keioa thought. She was supposed to be dead, wasn't she? She had jumped into the Darkness, all her energy being enough to seal the Darkness in Joir. Why wasn't she dead?
"Because you sealed me in here."
The voice, if you could call it a voice, seemed to come from the inside of her mind but at the same time it seemed to emanate from all around her. Keioa couldn't see anything but she could feel a presence, cold and definitely not inviting. She didn't get it. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. She should be dead.
A deep rumbling sound emanated around her. Keioa's eyes widened when she realised it was laughter of some sort.
"I can hear your thoughts. So very loud and clear." The laughter sounded again, becoming more and more human sounding. "You cannot hide anything from me."
Keioa steeled her nerves. "It doesn't matter what you do to me! You'll never be able to get out of this place!" She tried to look defiant but it was hard since she was floating in nothingness.
It laughed again. "I will get out. Thanks to you." It laughed again, the noise stretched out everywhere. Keioa could feel it in her bones.
"What?" Until then, the fear had been minimal but now she was becoming increasingly fearful.
"Your energy closed the portal, but your energy will get me out." The voice had taken on a raspy sound as it explained how it would use her. "I will channel all my power into you and you will find me a willing soul and an army I will have at my command. I will touch Earth again and this time I will win."
Keioa shook her trembling head. "N-no! You'll never use me! No! Never!" She said still defiant.
The Darkness seemed to go silent. As if it was contemplating what she said. Then it spoke, "Do you wish to see your sister?"
Surprised at the question, Keioa narrowed her eyes. "See my sister? What do you mean?"
"I can show you the world, what is happening right now."
Before she could reply back, a pool of liquid materialised next to her and she couldn't help but peer into it. Her eyes widened when she saw Lavirea smiling at someone she couldn't see. She could hear no sound but her sister laughed and looked happy. Keioa smiled. She was relieved Lavirea hadn't gone and blamed herself for what she had done. 'That's why I jumped into the Darkness – I wanted my sister to be happy.' She reached out to touch the pool when another person came into view then her hand stopped cold. Beijn. The man she loved with all her being. The man who said he loved her back. That man was kissing her sister. Keioa's mouth gapped open. "What? How? When is this happening?" She asked the Darkness, momentarily forgetting her fear of it.
"When? Now of course. I cannot show the future, only the present." It's voice taking a deceptively calm tone. "They seem very happy, don't they? With you gone, I guess they're much more happier."
Keioa tore her eyes away from the pool. She stared into the blackness. "That's not true…Your LYING!" She pushed herself away from the pool, floating nowhere.
"Why do you think your sisters thoughts of jumping into the portal were the only thoughts you felt? How convenient. They look like such a happy couple." The voice had a distinct snickering sound to it now.
"No…" Keioa kept shaking her head. "No…you're lying! Shut up! Lavi would never do that to me…No…" The liquid pool seemed to float nearer to her, showing images of Lavirea and Beijn together. "Leave me alone!"
"Leave you alone? You are in me." It laughed again. "You will never leave." More liquid pools materialised showing her sister, Beijn, her friends happy, alive, forgetting her…Keioa tried to close her eyes but the images burnt into he mind. 'No…'
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- Florence, Earth – Real Time -
"Reporting to you live, from Paris at the Summit Peace Talks where several delegates were brutally shot down by an unknown terrorist group - " One of the squares on the screen blared out.
"What?!" All three of them yelled at the screen, their excitement at finally having a plan, short-lived.
" – most prominent delegate killed was the Vice Foreign Minister, Relena Darlian. Her body was found in the maze, a shot to the head - "
"Oh my God. Oh my God. Relena…" Hilde sat stunned as the reporter continued to tell of the horrific events that had just transpired.
Sally pressed her trembling hands together. "We-we have to tell Heero."
Bethany tore her eyes away from the screen, "No!" she yelled at Sally. "We can't tell him."
"What do you mean, Bethany!? Relena is his fiancée…was her fiancée. Oh God." Hilde began to weep.
Sally pressed the on button for the mic. "Heero…"
Bethany quickly typed in a code to seal off any communication to the gang in subspace. "No, you can't tell him."
Sally's eyes grew wider, her face becoming distorted with anger. "Open the lines! He deserves to know! Open the Goddamn lines!" She slapped Bethany hard on the face. "Open the Lines!"
Bethany placed a hand on the cheek Sally slapped, her eyes brimming with tears. She shook her head. "He doesn't need to know - "
"Like hell, he doesn't need to know!" Hilde's face stained with tears as she tried to open the lines of communication to the others.
Bethany started again. "He doesn't need to know because I can bring her back."
Sally and Hilde stopped hitting the panels. "What?" they said in unison.
"There is something like the transportation link which can travel through time. Well sort of…" Bethany said, rubbing her cheek gently.
"Travel through time, sort of? A time machine?" Sally said, sceptically.
"Sort of, because well…it's a theory I have and I haven't fully completed it." Bethany pressed a set of numbers on the panel and another screen pushed back to reveal another room.
"A theory? Never been proven? Just open the lines, we need to tell Heero that…" Sally couldn't finish the sentence.
Bethany pulled out a laptop from the room, the other two following her into that room. She connected it to a device on the far wall. Opening it up she typed in more codes before the wall to her right opened up to reveal a black seat with an array of wires and different sets of keyboards attached around it. Sitting on the seat she looked at the other two. "Here." She gave Sally a card. "This will open the lines. Don't tell him yet. If I don't come back in half an hour, tell Dorothy I'm dead too."
Hilde stared at Bethany. "Are you mad!? Don't get yourself killed as well!"
"Hilde, thanks for caring but if there is any way I can help is by doing this." She looked at Sally. "Please don't tell them. Don't open the lines until five minutes has gone by."
Sally nodded. "Come back, ok?"
Bethany flashed them a lopsided smile. She took out another card. "Attach this to the main computer; it's a program that will decode the security in the fortress." 'Hopefully.' She thought as she pressed a series of buttons and certain lights began to flash red. "Move back!" She yelled before the machine began to hover and more lights began to flash. The two moved to the opposite wall as they watched Bethany, strapped to a chair, vanish into thin air. The only thing left was an afterimage of the lights.
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- Subspace – Real Time –
Dorothy watched as the pilots took apart their grenades. This diversion needed to be big. She hoped Bethany was right about this, if she wasn't…stopping that train of thought her sight wondered over to Quatre's. She quickly turned away as his eyes began to weave that magical affect it seemed to have on her. She smirked, 'I'm the one with magical powers and his gaze alone makes me think it's magical.' Although she tried not to think about it, the conversation they had had early in the morning kept replaying in her mind.
Quatre hesitantly walked over to Dorothy's side as she got up to lean on the palms of her hands. "Miss Dorothy - "
"Aren't you supposed to be on guard, Mr Winner?" The fear had left her face and had been replaced with its usual smirk, her voice condescending and bland at the same time.
"What's wrong, Miss Dorothy?" Quatre ignored the façade; he could feel a whirl of emotions rushing around Dorothy.
Dorothy broke off eye contact. A few more seconds of staring into those deep pools of blue and she would have blurted out her entire soul to him. 'What's left of it; anyway.' She thought bitterly, before defiantly staring back at those eyes. "Wrong? The only thing wrong is you not doing your job. Now if you would be so kind - " She turned to lie back onto the ground when she felt a strong yet gentle hand grab her shoulders and spun her around.
Please, Miss Dorothy. You can talk to me." He stared intently at her beautiful eyes, willing her on silently through his eyes.
Dorothy felt hot liquid begin to form in her eyes. She couldn't believe it, after six years and he could still make her cry. She shook her head fiercely, 'No! I can't let him know what control he has over me.' Dorothy forcefully shoved Quatre's hands from her shoulders. "Please refrain from touching me again, Mr Winner." She said her voice hard and her eyes unforgiving.
"Please, Dorothy, I want to help you..." The rest of what Quatre was going to say died in his throat as Dorothy's eyes took on an icy glare.
"Help? You can't even guard us against possible ambush! How could you possibly help?!" Her voice rose a few degrees and several people stirred in their sleep.
Quatre unclasped another grenade. The other pilots had already finished. He just couldn't think clearly, after that conversation with Dorothy early in the morning.
Quatre could feel her retreating more and more into her shell. He summoned up all his courage and asked her a question, "What are you so afraid of?"
'How do you keep surprising me, Quatre?' Dorothy turned her attention back onto the task at hand but in the back of her mind, the conversation kept going.
Dorothy blinked at the unexpected question. She had been expecting him to mumble an apology and go back to guarding. 'What did he mean, afraid of? Afraid of the Darkness? Afraid of dying in this desolate place? Afraid of losing more people she knew – friends? Or afraid of him? Was she afraid of him? No. She was afraid of what he could see…' She shivered involuntarily, was she afraid of so many things? No, not possible. She was Dorothy Catalonia. She wasn't afraid. "Liar." She darted a glance at the fortress a little over a mile away.
Wufei fastened the half grenade onto the gun. The other pilots were doing the same while the councillors were gathering energy into their key or code. The only two who weren't really doing what they were supposed to do were Quatre and that eyebrow freak onna of his. Wufei rolled his eyes, as the two stole a glance at each other before going about their business. Everyone was supposed to be focussing on the mission, not making googly eyes at each other. "Why don't they just do it already, save us a whole lot of trouble." He grumbled to himself.
"What Wufei? I didn't quite hear you?" Sally 's voice plainly stating that she had heard him. He didn't answer her, turning off his earpiece, before realising how silly that would be and turned it back on. He rolled his eyes again as Quatre fumbled with the grenades. He had heard some of their conversation; he was mediating and they were talking loud enough for him to hear it. He wasn't eavesdropping; it wasn't his fault they talked loudly…
Quatre fastened on the last grenade to his gun, quickly darting a glance at Dorothy's face, looking expressionless so unlike when they were talking.
Quatre saw the look of fear return on her face. He turned to look at what she was looking at and then back at her. 'What was it?' He thought as he gently took her hand and murmured, "Please, I want to help."
Dorothy slowly turned towards him her blue-grey eyes meeting his aquamarine ones. Her face conveying emotions she couldn't put to words. They held the gaze for what seemed like an eternity, before she broke it off, looking at the hand he held. She whispered something inaudible, still staring at his hand over hers.
"Dorothy?" He said softly, questioningly, wanting her to repeat what she had said audibly. She continued to stare at their hands before she slowly slid her hand from his warm touch. She turned away from him, her face becoming its normal calm façade. She kept her vision straight, looking at the fortress in the distance. "I'm scared to lose. Lose to the Darkness. Lose Catherine. Lose anyone else." She didn't add, 'I'm scared to lose you.' But her eyes were betraying that thought, and she'd be damned if he knew that, so she kept staring into the distance.
Quatre was taken aback at Dorothy's answer. He hadn't expected her to answer and to answer so honestly, so open. His heart pounded harder, its sound making it hard for him to hear anything. His hands felt sweaty all of a sudden but he still reached out to her, tenderly hugging her to him. He tightened his grip on her when she placed her arm around his chest, still not looking at him. He could smell her strawberry scented hair, her porcelain skin inches from his lips.
Dorothy suddenly pulled out of the embrace. Her eyes showing confusion as she finally looked into his eyes. Quatre still held onto her, though they were further apart, his dark aquamarine eyes always shining with compassion…love. Dorothy felt emotions she had been trying to push down for so long surface all at the same time. The code that glowed a dull red around her began to brighten as it fed on her emotions. They continued to stare intently at each other, the red glow spreading around them. Then she kissed him.
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- Paris, Earth – Real Time –
Bethany almost threw up her lunch. Sitting very still in the chair she looked straight ahead. She was in the gardens where the Peace talks were being held. Slowly moving to look at her co-ordinates she was about half an hour before that news telecast was going to be broadcasted. Carefully getting out of the chair with its wires, screens and keyboards all giving small sparks and weird whirring noises, she was about to turn on her Tracker when she heard the gunfire. 'Crap!' She ran towards the maze, ignoring the sickening feeling she was getting. Relena would be running through the maze, any minute now. Standing near the entrance to the middle of the maze she waited. Her eyebrows shot up when she saw the hedges begin to move. 'What the -?' Then Relena came running towards her, the hedges behind her going back to normal.
"Bethany?! What are you doing here?"
She gave Relena an amazed look. Shaking her head, "No time to explain, follow -?" Her words were cut off when bullets were fired in their direction. The bullets melted into the blue-ish bubble shield. Bethany, using her body as a shield pushed Relena towards where the machine was. Reaching the machine with the Darkness soldiers hot on their trail she quickly pressed a series of complicated sequences of codes pushing Relena into the seat, while she hung onto the frame of the chair. "Come on, come on," she muttered to the contraption. Bullets hit the shield and the machine, causing more sparks to fly. The machine began to hover, lights flashing everywhere before it disappeared leaving only an afterimage.
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The gang were less than a mile from the fortress. Duo felt really uneasy and Hilde sounded strange, talking to him like she was about to burst out crying. The grenades containing x-921 were carefully loaded into his gun, but Bethany had said not to fire them until they were close to the fortress. 'This diversion better work.' He thought looking around for any possible dangers. The dimensional haze was thickening and it was getting harder to see clearly. His shield suddenly flared up as gunshots was sprayed all over the place. 'Shit!' He ducked and ran behind a tree stump. Bethany had said these shields could only take a certain number of hits before they began to fail. He unhooked one of the normal grenades from their holders and threw it in the direction of where the shots were being fired. He could see the other pilots and William doing the same. The other Councillors were sheltering behind other tree stumps, conserving their energy for the really big fight with the Darkness. He was running out on normal grenades and the bullets weren't stopping. He looked at the others, they seemed to have more grenades, he could run over to Wufei and take some of his – His train of thought stopped when he saw a blackness make it's way towards Sylvia who was concentrating on the battle in front of her. "Sylvia! Behind YOU!" He yelled, running towards her, ignoring the bullets, intent on saving Sylvia from the Net.
Sylvia turned around but it was too late, the Net had already gotten a hold of her.
"No, Duo! Don't touch her!" Dorothy ran into the running Duo, both tumbling to the ground. Everyone watched as the Net swallowed Sylvia and dissipated into nothingness again. The gunfire stopped as soon as the Net disappeared.
Duo pushed Dorothy off him. "Why'd you do that for!? I could've saved her! Now the Darkness has another one of you!"
Dorothy glared at him. "If you touched her, the Net would of taken you as well. You don't carry any power so you're light, easy to devour." She brushed herself off, walking towards Myra, who was leaning against a tree shell-shocked, looking at the spot where her cousin had been.
Veronica spoke softly behind Duo. "She just saved your life, Mr Maxwell." She walked up to Myra who was now crying to Dorothy and hugged the girl. She knew what she was going through.
"We've lost a key. Now they have two keys and three codes. We're even now." Alessio said giving Duo a sideways glance before walking away from everyone.
"Duo, are you ok?" Hilde's worried voice brought him back to reality.
"Yeah, babe. I'm ok." He said into the mic, not very convincingly.
"Maxwell, you tried." Wufei nodded his head; that was the closest thing he could come up with that didn't sound contrite. Quatre gave him a pat on the shoulder, giving him a weary grin before heading towards Myra, to give her his condolences.
"We need to keep moving. We're running out of time." Heero said in his monotone voice.
Quatre was about to object, when Myra interrupted him. "Yes, I think we should keep going." Dorothy gave her a questioning look and Myra nodded again. "I want to get out of this place as soon as possible and the only way out is to defeat the Darkness."
Heero nodded and everyone set off once more towards the fortress. Albeit a little more frightened and defeated than before.
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"Sir, they are less than a mile away. We have equal amounts of keys and codes. Their shields will not last for much longer. Will you give the order to exterminate them once they reach the doors?"
The man nodded. "Yes. Kill them all once they get to the doors."
The soldier saluted and left the room. He walked towards the portal room. The portal was open now, unstable but open. With the last two sacrifices about to be killed in less than 13 hours, the Darkness would be able to break free from its prison and then he would finally get what he deserved. Darkness. Total Darkness.
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- Time –
Relena threw up everything she had eaten for lunch and breakfast. Bethany ignored the vomit and dragged Relena away from the machine before it blew up on them. An eternity seemed to pass before Relena slowly got up from her lying position. She looked at Bethany and tried not to notice the place they were in, was constantly moving. Then she realised what had happened to that thing she had been sitting on. She could see a few bits and pieces of it, all singed and smoking.
"Lucky we got out before it exploded, hmm, Miss Relena?"
"Bethany…Bethany where are we?" Relena bit down on her lip she could still taste bile in her throat but she was trying to bite down on her hysterical fear that was bubbling up inside her.
"It seems we are in a time-limbo." Bethany helped Relena up to her feet as they both stared at their surroundings. Everywhere they looked they could see a blue-green substance all around them. Bethany hesitantly reached out to touch the substance and it sent a ripple through the whole area. An image popped up and began to look like a train, as more images joined the first image, giving it an image-train look.
"Oh my God…" She whispered softly, looking at a particular image, "That's when my parents were about to go board the plane that…" She let go of Relena and started to walk into the blue-green substance that contained the image of a plane and people.
Relena grabbed Bethany's arm, "What are you doing?"
Bethany stared at the arm Relena was holding onto, her eyes had a wild look to them. "I'm going to stop my parents from getting on that plane. I won't let them die again." She shook Relena's hand off her arm and continued towards the image.
Relena realising what she was about to do, lunged at her, knocking her down onto the ever-changing floor. "No, Bethany! You can't change the past, you can't…" Her words died off when she saw the images of her father. Her foster father. She saw Lady Une place her compact-bomb next to the door. "No…" She hurriedly got up and began to rush into the image.
Bethany tackled her from behind. "No way, Relena! You're right, don't turn back on your words now!"
"Bethany let go of me! You don't understand! I need to save my father - "
"No, I understand perfectly." Bethany pressed down on Relena as they struggled to get the upper hand. "Saving you from death is enough tampering with the future."
Relena stopped moving. "I died?" She remembered the bullets flying everywhere. She had died? That machine they were in must have been a time machine. But now they were in limbo. She held her head in her hands this was getting to be too much.
"No, you didn't die. When I went back to get you, you didn't die by a bullet to your head. However, I don't know if we'll survive this place." Now they just both looked at each other wearily. "We're way over our heads."
Relena nodded, she didn't know what to say. She should be dead but she was in some time limbo where she was about to go save her father from getting killed. She looked back at Bethany who was giving her a funny look, as if she had just remembered something.
"I can't believe I didn't feel your power before. I'm usually pretty good at sensing powers in people but you alluded me. I must have mistaken your power for kindness." She gave a faraway look, "Hmm…Maybe Quatre has some sort of power too…" She chuckled lightly.
Relena gave her an Oh-crap-she's-gone-insane-look. "Uh, Bethany what are you talking about?"
"The Green Power. You have it. When the hedges moved to clear your path, I realised you must have had the power. Considering you only have a few choices from what power you can have since Red and Green are only inherit in the female genes and Blue and Black are inherit in the male genes while Gold can flow into any." Bethany rambled on.
Relena's eyes grew bigger when she realised what Bethany was saying. "You're telling me I have some sort of power? The Green Power?" She said disbelievingly.
Bethany nodded. "It explains why you can be so calm sometimes and so volatile the next - like nature. Green is mainly associated with Earth, plants and stuff. Ever had a plant? I bet it's not dead." She said smugly. "You would be a great asset to the Green Council."
"How, oh nevermind." Relena sighed. "What's the point of having powers if it wont help us get out of this place. She waved her hands about to emphasis her point.
Bethany was about to retort when she realised Relena was right. She leaned on her hand in a classic pose of thinking. "When you saw me walk towards the image of my parents, what did you think of?" She inquired her light jade eyes sparkling with renewed interest.
"What did I think of? I thought of my father, why?" Relena asked.
Bethany gave a wide smile. "This place is reflecting the things we want to change. If I think of the base in Florence and you think of Hilde and Sally and everyone, I think we'll be able to get out of this place."
Relena gave her a sceptical look before shrugging her shoulders. "Ok, lets give it a try."
Bethany thought of the moments right before she disappeared through a time warp in the base. Relena thought of everyone, mostly of Heero. A row of images began to appear. They both watched them keenly, until Bethany pointed to one of them, "That one! Lets go!"
They both stood up ready to jump into the image. Relena faced Bethany. "Do you think this will work?"
Bethany looked at the image slowly moving away from them. "Lets go and find out." They both nodded before jumping into the image sending the place rippling everywhere.
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"Hope this works," Duo muttered as the pilots plus William, fired the first rounds of x-921 grenades at the sky of subspace. A blue substance exploded out of the grenades showering the sky with blue light.
"Go, go, GO!" Heero motioned as everyone ran through the blue light. Gunshots were heard but it wasn't anywhere near where they were. "x-921 is a blue substance that creates an illusion of space. For example, if you were on the right side of the road and went through a x-921 atmosphere everyone outside that atmosphere would see you on the left side of the road. Depending on how much x-921 you have, makes the distance either further or closer apart." Bethany explained using the same voice a teacher would use explaining something new to her class. "You have enough of the substance to create an illusion of at least 50 metres. But the illusion lasts about sixty seconds so you need to work quickly to run into the fortress and keep the atmosphere up."
"Then what?" asked Wufei. "We get to the doors and they're not going to open with a few explosions." He looked at the fortress through binoculars. "That door looks like it's made of Gundanium."
Bethany replied, accentuating every word. "You're not going to blow it up. You are going to link me to the security panel and I'm going to open the door, using brain power not brawn power."
"How do you know a security panel is there?" inquired Heero.
Bethany let out a sigh. "Trust me, ok? There's a panel and I can hack into anything." She said it with such finality no one said anything after.
The gang fired more of the substance into the sky, running as they did so. Two more minutes and they would reach the doors, enough x-921 to get there. Then the hard part: getting into the actual fortress. The gang made it to the doors; they had 40 seconds before the atmosphere disappeared. Dorothy spoke urgently into her mic, "Bethany? We're at the doors; I'm going to uplink you now. Bethany?!"
Sally activated the card by inserting it into the main computer. "Dorothy the doors are being worked on." She replied into her mic, staring nervously at the screen.
"Where's Bethany?"
Sally and Hilde shared an anxious look. "She had to go get something." Hilde replied unconvincingly.
Dorothy narrowed her eyes but let it go, watching as the link to the security panel, began to decode the passwords to open the doors.
"Can it go any faster?! The atmosphere is beginning to thin!" Alessio said as he tensed his grip on his key.
"10…9…8…7…6…5…4…" Dorothy muttered. She was about to say '3' when the doors clicked open. "Everyone go!"
Inside the fortress, closing the doors closed before '1' was said. The gang broke off into pairs; this would give them more chances of finding Catherine. Trowa went with Alessio down a left passageway; Heero and Wufei went into the farthest passage to the left; Duo and Veronica went to an upper level, William and Myra went through a passageway to the right and Quatre and Dorothy went towards a passageway to the farthest right. The aim was to find Catherine first, then get to the portal room and destroy the Darkness. Easier said than done.
Duo opened yet another door that led to an empty dark room. Kicking the door he shook his head at Veronica before they continued on their way through the maze of doors and empty rooms. "Hilde, can you see anything on the screens?"
"Nothing Duo. The screens aren't able to penetrate through the fortress, I can't get anything but fuzzy pictures."
Duo groaned as he kicked yet another door leading into a dark empty room…
Heero walked carefully through the passageway. It reminded him of a corridor on a battleship with less lights. Wufei walked beside him eyeing all the doors, as if they would open suddenly. The lights suddenly dimmed and the passageway became almost pitch black. Turning on a flashlight attached to the gun, Heero and Wufei stopped, looking for any possible movements. A figure quickly ran away, further up the passageway. Heero nodded and he and Wufei gave chase…
William heard the sounds of footsteps heading towards where he and Myra were. Pulling Myra into a dark room they ran to the door opposite the one they entered, not realising that door was opening slowly…
'This is stupid, Dorothy.' She thought, stealing a glance at Quatre. 'End this now or you'll never concentrate on the task ahead.'
"Mr Winner, stop." She held out her hand and Quatre gave her a questioning look. Dorothy gave a sideways glance before giving Quatre her patent calm face. "Mr Winner, what happened this morning was a mistake. I wasn't in the right frame of mind, and I apologise for leading you into believing it meant something." She blinked her eyes a couple of times, to hide the fear she knew she would portray as she heard that voice again… "Liar."
Quatre wasn't convinced. "Then why can't you mention it, Dorothy? You're not the type of person to just kiss someone." He emphasised the word. He wasn't going to let her talk her way out of this. He knew she couldn't forget how she had cried into his shoulder, hugging him to her like her life depended on it.
Dorothy's eyes hardened, as she started walking forward again. "I doubt you thought I would be the type of person to have magical powers, either. Am I correct, Mr Winner?" She stopped suddenly at a large door.
Quatre quickened his pace to catch up with her, "Yes, that's true but I don't believe you when you say it didn't mean - " The rest of what he was saying faded away as he saw where Dorothy had stopped at. Five pillars in the shape of a circle surrounded the room. Each pillar was a different colour but only four of them glowed that colour. The Blue pillar glowed the brightest, with both the key and code embedded into it. The only one not glowing was the Red pillar. With each pillar glowing the portal would either close or open. In the middle of the pillar's circle was a whirlpool of colours, swirling in different directions, occasionally spewing out blackness.
"This is the portal room." Dorothy said awed at the sight in front of her. Gunfire sounded behind them, their blue shields protecting them from the shots. "We need to get back to the others!"
Quatre nodded, his gun emitting huge amounts of fire, burning Darkness Soldiers as they ran back in the direction they came from.
"How much time, left?" Trowa asked for the umpteenth time into his mic.
"About twelve hours." Replied Sally. She and Hilde still couldn't see anything on the screens except fuzzy lines.
"This is a dead end." A frustrated Alessio punched the wall just as a couple of soldiers walked past them. Trowa and Alessio stopped breathing as the soldiers continued on their way. 'Truly like zombies…' He shook his head exhaling loudly.
Trowa began to follow where the soldiers were headed. "Hey! Wait for me!" hissed Alessio as he tried to keep up with the quick pace of the ex-Gundam pilot. Trowa placed his fingers on his mouth to single for quiet. The soldiers went through a series of doors, closely followed by the two, until they reached a row of doors with a sliding panel attached to it. Opening the door furthest to them, they emerged with a blond woman kicking and screaming. Trowa's eyes widened when he heard someone yell "Let go of her! Let go of her!" He ran towards the soldiers, ready to scorch them; he had heard Cathie's voice. She was alive. The soldiers momentarily shocked seeing him, loosened their grip on the blond woman who kicked away from them as Trowa set them alight. Their bodies disintegrated quickly, turning into a pile of ash. He ignored all that and headed into the dimly lit room. Catherine stared at him in shock. Then she ran into him, hugging him like she would never let go. Her tears flowed freely onto his clothes as they stood there hugging. A tear rolled down his cheek. His Cathie was safe. She was safe and everything was ok again. "Trowa…" She whispered as she tightened her grip on her brother.
He didn't let go of her, whispering softly, "Cathie…we have to go. The others are here. We're going to get you out of here.
Catherine nodded, still crying and holding onto Trowa for dear life. They walked out of the cell, arms around each other. She looked gratefully at Alessio who stood awkwardly, avoiding the ashes. Then her trail of sight landed on Nanashi who was leaning on the wall. Catherine gave a watery smile. It was good to see her alive. "Nanashi, this is my brother, Trowa." She said proudly, not noticing Trowa's grip on her tighten.
Nanashi looked up at Trowa's green eyes, turning away quickly mumbling a 'thank you' before continuing to look at the floor. Catherine nodded, her smile widening. "Come on. Let's get out of this hellhole."
Trowa nodded and Alessio had already begun to walk back to where they had started. Trowa gazed at the petite blond woman walking a little ahead of him and Catherine. 'Midii…?'
*********************
"They've gotten inside, sir. They fired some sort of substance into the atmosphere and most of the soldiers outside are dead."
"What?! Send everyone to the portal room. They must not get in there! Send out as many Nets as you can." The Man thumped his hand against the table.
"But-But sir, we need at least fifteen soldiers to operate a Net. We have enough to send out three Nets - "
"THREE!?"
"Yes and the portal is unstable, it's missing two Sacrifices." The soldier felt the Darkness inside him begin to boil, the Man was mad.
The Man gave him a fierce glare. Then his face brightened somewhat when he realised something. "On second thoughts, don't fight them. Let them reach the portal room. They will only help to open it." The Man gave an insane laugh and the soldier hurried away to do his bidding.
**********************
"AHH!" yelled Duo as someone hurtled into him as he opened another door, expecting an empty room. They fell on the floor with a loud thud, Veronica standing over them, brandishing her key. "Myra?" She helped the person who had fallen on top of Duo. "William? How'd you end up here?"
"I wanted to ask that same question." Said another voice from the room. Heero and Wufei walked out of the same room William and Myra had run out of. "It seems these passageways are like a maze." He smirked, helping Duo up. "I think we should head back to the front. Maybe the others have had better luck."
The group nodded in agreement heading back to where they had started.
"Don't you think it's strange that no soldiers have ambushed us? I mean Dorothy and Q-man said they were being shot at when they went in here." Duo asked Heero as the gang circled around the portal room. It had been a happy reunion seeing Catherine alive and well. They had also saved another Gatekeeper, which was a bonus. Although, Trowa had been acting a bit strange considering he had just saved his sister and the other Gatekeeper, Nanashi, seemed to be ready to jump out of her skin. Duo shrugged, 'Must be the place. Anything as creepy as this would freak out anybody.'
"The portal's unstable but the Darkness can still seep through it. We need to close it now." Dorothy headed towards the Red pillar, as the remaining Councillors went to their respective colours. The pilots with Catherine and Nanashi stood around the perimeter watching for any signs of soldiers. Their shield levels were close to being useless, a few more hits and then the bullets would penetrate. Dorothy stared at the whirlpool that was the portal into the Darkness. "We need to link, to be able to close the portal!" She yelled as the portal began to emit a high-pitched sound. The remaining Councillors held their arms out and their key or code began to glow, a thin line beginning to form, linking them to each other. The room began to get colder and a wind suddenly picked up but the Councillors stood their ground, their power beginning to grow. The portal began spewing out more blackness, spreading around the floor. Dorothy could feel the thoughts of the other Councillors as they channelled their energy into the pillars.
"You are too weak."
Dorothy gritted her teeth, snapping her head towards Myra, who was to the left of her. She had her eyes closed, concentrating all the Green Power into the pillar. She looked at William on her right. He was concentrating all the Blue power into his pillar. 'Didn't they hear that voice?' She closed her eyes willing herself to channel all her energy into the pillar.
"You are too weak. Half the power will not stop the Darkness."
Dorothy snapped her eyes open. The voice was right. With the powers only having one half of a key or code, they wouldn't have enough power to close the portal using the pillars…except Red…Red had both the key and code. Dorothy smiled as the realisation dawned on her. "Channel your power into the portal!" She screamed, gripping the key tightly as the code twirled around her more brightly.
"What!?" The Councillors chorused.
"Do it!" She began to inch closer towards the portal as the Councillors threw what was left of their power into the portal causing a wave of colours bouncing everywhere. She stopped moving closer to the portal and jogged back a few steps, still linked, her arms stretched out. Then with a yell she ran forward and jumped into the portal.
"NO!" Quatre ran forward to the portal, which was turning a shade of red and rapidly shrinking. He ignored all the yelling and launched himself into the shrinking portal. He landed with a dull thud on the crystalline floor where the portal had been seconds before. "No…"
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Person who is on a roll revising these chapters:
Ohmigod! I've killed Dorothy! Hehe…Wait…I also killed Relena, Bethany and Sylvia…Sheesh when I'm on a roll, I'm on a roll! I'm kidding! I love these characters! That's why I put them through hell…^_^ (literally) Some of you might be wondering why I would use such a clichéd plot device like a time machine…Because it's part of another story I'm writing (most probably the SEQUEL to TCoL) R&R, C&C, FLAMES and E-MAIL (setm_29@hotmail.com just in case you didn't know) would be nice, but you don't have to if you don't want to. (BUT it would be really nice of you to do so, ~_^)
