Author's Note: Kat, I hope you enjoyed a bit of Wufei. I promise that he's more involved in this as the plot goes along. I apologize for the short chapter last time, but this should make up for it. This kind of helps some of the plot unfold, but only a bit; it's about to get crazier boys and girls.

Disclaimer: If I owned Gundam Wing, they'd all be toast.

She was so distracted in her teaching and the students could tell, not wanting to pay attention themselves. She elected that the day be a free day to talk about any piece of British literature that the students wanted, they chose to discuss the latest episodes of the Real World while Roddy sat at her desk idly eyeing the book that the strange man had given her the night before. She slid her fingers slightly over the leather cover and down the worn spine. The book was so old and dusty that the cover words had been rubbed off. The only way to find the identity of the book was to open it and she wasn't ready to do that.

The man seemed strange, yet she felt safe in his presence like she knew he wasn't going to hurt her. His eyes, though they were dark and almost lifeless, held a dangerous innocence much like that of Mr. Barton's. And the strange man knew about her apparition, who incidentally hadn't appeared in almost a week since her encounter with the man. The man also knew about her dreams, which had miraculously gone away after getting the book. But the book frightened her for some reason unknown.

The shrill sound of the last bell sounded and she excused her class. She quickly straightened the desks and packed up so that she could leave the building before every other teacher cleared out. She'd noticed that most of the teachers didn't stay at the school that late at night, and even more of them didn't arrive until about the same time as the students. It was as if someone wasn't telling her something. Most schools had after school programs, OLIC didn't. Most schools had club meetings and sport team practices, OLIC didn't. The students rarely did anything wrong and the teachers; well the teachers were a different story. They were undoubtedly cliquish; Jina, Heero, and Duo all surrounded one another, shunning Quatre and Trowa to be with each other. Not only did they shun one another, they down right hated each other, treating each other unkindly as if they were high school students. Strangely enough, though she was kind to both groups equally, both accepted her and both treated her with equal benevolence. She quickly packed her bag and grabbed her keys to lock the door behind her, turning off the lights and stepping into the hallway, she saw the strange man that she'd met a week earlier coming down the hallway. She quickly ducked back into her room and watched through the small peephole what he was doing.

He walked towards Mr. Barton's room and knocked on the door. Trowa peaked his head out and smirked, letting the Chinese man in. Roddy could slightly see that there was third party in the room as Trowa closed the door behind them both. Sighing with relief, she opened her door quietly and locked it behind her, starting down the hallway. Her mind reeled with skepticism as to what the three people could be up to. Was there some strange joke being played on her? Were the teachers just being rude? What about the apparition? It was curiosity that killed the cat and it also caused Roddy to turn and sneak up to Trowa's door and lean her head silently against it.

Wondrous sounds filled her ears that of innocent rejoicing, melodic speech, and valiant music resonated all over the room and vibrated through the thick, wooden door. The sound calmed her, made her feel wistful and almost airy. She smiled contentedly and leaned her head closer against the door. The smooth whispers continued and she realized that they were speaking in a language that wasn't English, yet she understood it. They were talking in riddles almost like the strange man was talking those nights before.

Suddenly, a wave of panic washed over her, fear struck her like an arrow to a bull's-eye. She started to shake all over like she had in front of the apparition and a deep chill sent shivers all over her body. She stood, grabbed her things and started quickly down the hallway, trying to feel safe like she had before. Reaching the first floor and feeling a bit better after her flight, she, instead of heading for her car and driving away from the school, decided to go to the church that was connected to the school.

She'd only been in the Church of the Immaculate Conception once and the beauty of the place had struck her so deeply that she felt almost compelled to fall in reverence to its splendor. Even in her second visit, the magnificence of the church wasn't lost on her. When one walked into the church they were greeted with the slightest hint of pale, pink marble. Everywhere she stepped, the pink marble followed her, under her feet, on the walls, the stout pillars that were scattered throughout. Splashes of bold reds and muted gold plate were the other colors that accompanied the marble, but they were not as splendid as the soft, warm hue of the marble.

She walked slowly down the middle of the church; staring at the white, marble statues of the Virgin Mary. Her stone eyes looked confused, unsure, frightened as she stared down at the small Baby Jesus in her hands. The Virgin looked as if she felt exploited and manipulated and betrayed and all she got was this crying child and a Halo. Roddy had never noticed how miserable and cheerless Mary looked holding that amazing child. In her memories, the Virgin had always been a smiling, happy woman, willing to serve her Lord, when in reality, her visage was as cold and lifeless as the marble she'd been carved from.

"Serving the Lord is not always ideal," a strong baritone sounded from behind her. She turned sharply to see the jovial face of Father Maxwell. She blushed slightly from embarrassment.

"I'd never noticed how miserable she looks." Roddy replied, her eyes not tearing away from the statue.

"What brings you here this evening?" he asked, walking closer. She turned to look at him a smirk aligning her features.

"Divine counsel, I suppose."

"You've come to the right place. Is Confession what you seek?"

"I just needed to reaffirm myself."

"Then by all means, sit and stare at Her if she brings you peace." He waved his hand out in front of him towards a seat and she kindly took the pew to herself. He walked away, leaving her to stare at the Blessed Virgin. She felt like she had to read the book now. She pulled the large volume from her satchel and sighed. She fingered the front of it, running her digits sensually over the leather, feeling the coolness of the hide under her fingertips. Boldly she opened the volume and her head slightly jerked backwards as the title stared back at her from crumpled, yellow pages- The Bible. She gulped. The bold, black letters both confused and intrigued her. The strange man had given her the Bible as an explanation; what could this holy book possibly tell her that she didn't already know. She flipped through the pages carefully, biting back memories of Catholic school skirts and memorizing canon and verse. She continued to flip, until she reached the last book, Revelation. It was, to her, the most frightening book of them all, Apocrypha, her religion teacher had called it and she always refused to read it. She shook as she started on the first page.

Time passed and before she knew it, she had read to the 12th Chapter and it was entitled the Serpent and Woman. She started to read, the words flowing in her head like a river. Every word on that page reflected her dream, the dragon, the pregnancy; she was the woman. She slammed the book shut and it fell to the floor, shattering the general stillness of the church with a gaudy thud on the hard wood. She could do nothing but stare at the volume, tears welling in her eyes. She looked back up at the Blessed Virgin, only her face replaced that of the still stone. She couldn't take this anymore; Roddy jumped from the pew and ran for the exit of the church only to be caught by Heero and Father Maxwell, blocking both the exits.

They looked at her with predatory gleams in their eyes. The usual gentle eyes of both men were clouded by something even more sinister and ominous. She backed away slowly, realizing that they were blocking her in. She watched as both men bolted the doors and advanced on her. They're faces were even different, cloudy, devilish, extremely evil. Father Maxwell's usually happy face was turned into a grimace of delight, his violet eyes glowing a strange color of burgundy. Heero advanced upon her and she back away, bumping her knees against a pew and crashing to her butt on the wooden bench. She stood, quickly gaining her bearings and backed into the narrow slit of the pew, Heero and Duo forming a small line and walking creepily towards her.

"Is this some type of joke?" she asked, shakily finding her voice. There was no way to hide her panic; her voice held such a tremulous hum to it, that one could tell the emotions.

"Not at all," a voice from behind her sounded and she instantly felt the pain as razor sharp nails dug into her shoulders. The hands gripped her so forcefully that she couldn't move; she watched as trickles of blood started to stain her violet blouse.

"I think it's time that you sat," Jina said, pushing Roddy down hard onto the pew. Roddy fell to the bench, the thwack notifying her that this wasn't a dream.

Even Jina looked different, her nails bloodied, her eyes a reverberating gold, her incisors elongated, her hair laying about her shoulders. She looked frightening, like a beautiful demon. Roddy looked around to the men and watched as they guarded her left and behind her. Jina sat down next to her on her right, freeing her grip from her shoulder, but her chilling gaze steadfast.

"You don't understand, do you?" Jina asked, an evil smirk appearing on her face.

"Jina, what is this all about?"

"This is more than your puny, mortal mind will be able to comprehend." There was something in that sentence that struck Roddy as strange. It wasn't Jina's tone of voice, which had turned from a cheerful, glassy soprano to that of a frightening tenor. It wasn't the way she'd rasped the voice almost seductively into Roddy's ear. No, it was the simple word "mortal," that caught Roddy's attention.

"Mortal?" Roddy mouthed silently to herself, her eyes turning to that of the Blessed Virgin's statue and to her previous seat at the front of the church. Her things were still there; the book the Chinese man had given her was still there. Jina, smiling widely, stood from her place at the pew and closed her eyes.

"This is your destiny, to be a sacrifice for our lord. You will bring about our reign." Roddy looked at her with wide eyes and listened to her words. Jina had taken her guard down and it was time to take advantage. Gathering all of her strength and focusing all of her weight on her legs, Roddy, in one fluid motion, thrust herself over the high pew in front of her and then out of the pew towards her things. Roddy ran down the middle aisle, all three people after her quickly.  Grabbing her things and clutching them tightly to her chest, she backed up towards the statue of the Blessed Virgin and started to recite her Hail Mary.

"She won't save you," Duo said as he inched closer to her, Heero trailing him. Jina eyed Roddy with danger in her orbs, then her eyes shot to the book that was clutched tightly to her chest. Jina growled low.

"Who gave you that book?" Jina asked, speeding up her gait towards Roddy, who in turned backed completely into the base of the statue.

"What does it matter? You can get one anywhere."

"You don't understand the magnitude of what you hold!" Jina yelled, her pace getting faster still.

"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with me…" Roddy began her prayer again and clutched the Bible even closer to her body. Jina was getting closer and by the time the pale woman was only three feet away, Roddy was screaming her prayer and clutching the Bible with sweaty, nervous hands.

"It's as simple as this, Roddy. You can choose to be with us or you can die," Jina, Heero and Duo all three jumped towards her but were stopped by the falling of rubble from the top of the church. Large pieces of pink marble fell everywhere. The scene looked like rain as caulk, pink marble and the small flakes of gold fell destroyed from the ceiling of the church.

Jina watched in anger as a large creature, scathed in a blinding, white light fell from the ceiling and fell behind Roddy. Jina growled low and bared her fangs at the creature. Roddy stared in awe, her mind not being able to comprehend what had just happened. This creature was beautiful and frightening, white hair, burning red eyes, fluffy white wings, and two sets of arms. The eyes looked all too familiar to Roddy, but her human senses took over and she began to scream.

"She's not your whore," it spoke in a low, commanding voice as it grabbed Roddy with it's lower pair of arms and flew back towards the hole in the ceiling it had made earlier.

Higher and higher Roddy saw her feet fly from the ground; she clutched this being with all of her might, hoping that it wouldn't drop her, afraid that it would hurt her. She could do nothing but hold on and trust this strange being to save her. The night was dark, but it seemed to be illuminated by the beings beauty, by it's natural essence. Roddy closed her eyes as she felt them descend and when she reopened her eyes, her feet were planted safely on the ground. She let go of the creature quickly, her eyes still tightly shut.

"You are safe here with me," it said, the voice no heavier than a whisper but so commanding and so beautiful. She opened her eyes and stared at the creature, her mind taking more minutes to register before she let out a bloodcurdling scream.

"What? Who? How?!!!!" she yelled gibberish at the creature, moving to stand almost five feet away. The creature advanced slowly, trying to calm her but she only backed away.

"Please, Roddy, calm yourself, it's only me," the figure slowly started to change, red eyes softened into soft pools of emerald green, white hair darkened to that of familiar auburn, and two extra arms and a pair of wings disappeared into thin air leaving only the familiar features of Mr. Barton. Roddy was at a loss for words, her screaming stopping only long enough for her to witness this morph. She was silent as she walked towards the man, her eyes wide, and her mouth slack, amazed.

"Y-you're Tro…" the words didn't even finish as she lost all consciousness. He quickly caught her and grabbed her to him, trying to revive her.