Part 1

***

There was a moment of uncertain and undecided silence when Duo first awoke in the darkness. He felt disconnected from his body, each move of his fingers as he drummed them on the soft surface he slept on registering individually in his mind. The harder he concentrated, his eyes shut, his thoughts dead, the more control he had of each increment of motion his body exerted.

Slowly he began to come into consciousness, his eyes fluttering and opening wide to take in the pitch surroundings; Duo sat up. Unable to control the smallest motion of his eyes, they lolled to one side focusing on his index finger. It was twitching on it's own, more visible to him at a distance in the dark than it had ever before in any lighting right before his face. He was fascinated with his own body... and unable move the muscles that controlled his eyes.

"It's a strange sensation, is it not?"

Duo continued to stare at his own hand, bemused and excited by the change in his body. "Sensation?" What sensation? He was numb and his finger was spasming. As if a puppets strings had been cut, he fell back limply into the fabric that had cradled him while he slept.

"Sleep Duo... you're all alone... and you're far beyond help."

***

Quatre scanned the horizon the whole district was muted. Somewhere nearby, he had heard Heero screaming Duo's name. He could discern his friends fading signatures in the general vicinity of this area, but anything beyond that was out of his reach. "Heero?" He called, his mind grabbing at the falling threads. "Heero?"

Duo...

There it was again, Heero was here. Duo...! Quatre let his mind feel out for his friend's, and felt a sharp pierce in his neck, and bile rise in his throat. He was seeing Duo through Heero's eyes, and experiencing each pain Duo felt. Images where over lapping before his eyes, a mixture of emotions from two separate sources filling his heart until they joined in the room where one fell quiet.

The church... So much time has passed... Where was Heero? A young man... Duo was choking...Crying... wanting Heero to help... not wanting him to die trying... forcing himself to stay silent...Gathering strength to fight the attacker...His gaze was on Heero running into the room... then on the face of the aggressor...

A beautiful girl hiding in the curtains... Heero hearing Duo scream... His feet fumbling for a footing on the old small steps as he ran towards the source...Duo on the floor... entangled in the arms of a young man... His face palling...His glassy eyes... Blood...Duo turns his head upwards, his mouth parting as his body shivers... His eyes fall shut...

Quatre's gut wrenched, and the ground pulled out from under him. Grabbing the curb, he pulled himself up onto the sidewalk, stretching his body out to its full length. His stomach was heaving.

"Quatre!?" Wufei dropped down next to his friend, scooping his tense body into his arms.

"Duo is..."

Distracted Wufei looked up at the doors of the colossal church brooding above, Heero was in the doorway his face starch and wet. "Duo is dead."

"What, where is his body?"

Heero glanced back towards the darkened entrance, "She took it with her..."

---^-^---TBC---^-^---

Ending Author Note: I was thinking about updating this story in small increments like this, that way the task of a chapter isn't so daunting. Fuck, yes, I know. ^-~ On the bright side, updates will be more frequent. Please once again, if there are any errors that are so heinous as to interrupt the flow of the writing lemme know. LoL! And I do not mean comments like, "Yeah, I see something wrong with your writing... hehe... YOUR WRITING!" LoL! Lets try to keep it within the things I can help.