Tapestry - Chapter 26
After Treize left, Wufei and I stared at the doorway for a good three minutes, both a little spooked, watching to make sure he wasn't going to reappear as silently as he appeared. When he didn't, we finished our breakfast; but to tell the truth, neither one of us had any appetite. I found myself peeking over at the doorway, not trusting that Treize was well and truly gone. Wufei was doing the same thing; our gazes caught each other several times, then skittered away.
Excellent. Now, not only did we share living space, we shared paranoia as well.
Wufei's eyelids drooped and his head bobbed toward his chest. He made a valiant effort to stay awake, but his lids kept drifting shut all the same.
"Wufei. Why not lay down for a little while? There's no need for us to go anywhere right now." I kept my voice quiet, calm, non-threatening, and casually stood up. Ready to catch and steady him, if he needed it.
He was silent for a moment. "....Very well," he finally answered. When he stood, he wobbled for a moment, then caught his balance and walked over to the bed. He sat on the edge, pulled off his slippers and lay down, allowing me to tuck the comforter around him.
"I'm sure you're fine, Wufei, but I don't want you to get a chill. We really should keep your muscles warm so they don't spasm."
He nodded, sleepy, his eyes closing like a small child's. "O - okay," he murmured, obviously bone-weary.
Leaning over, I felt his forehead, then the back of his neck. Good - his skin wasn't clammy anymore. He was simply exhausted, and the best thing for him to do was exactly what he was doing - sleep.
"Rest, Wufei. You rest. I'll be right here."
He murmured something unintelligible and rolled over, sleep claiming him immediately.
I sighed and watched him, thinking. He was fifteen - just fifteen. What was I doing when I was fifteen? I was finishing high school, starting a few premed classes, happily on my way to becoming a doctor, something I was sure I wanted to do. He, on the other hand, had already been married and widowed, had fought in the war and become a prisoner - and now, through no fault of his own, some maniac wanted to -
"Sally."
That familiar voice ripped through my reverie. I glanced up, shocked, to see Trowa standing in the doorway, his face partially hidden in shadow, looking more like a ghost than the unsophisticated gundam pilot I knew.
"Quickly, Sally. You must come with me. We have no more time."
What do you do when an apparition tells you that you must do something? Do you do it, with no questions asked? Not if you're me, you don't.
I walked over to the doorway, frowning a little. "Trowa - Trowa, is that really you? Trowa, what in the hell are you talking about? I can't leave Wufei. How did you get IN here?" I squinted, trying to see his face in the gloom, keeping my voice pitched even and low, not to disturb Wufei. "Duo told me you were in France. Are you all right?"
He looked back, his visible eye dark and enigmatic. "Come with me, Sally. Quickly, now. Time is limited."
Never mind that there was fog in the hall; whatever it was, it had no odor, and seemed to disappear and reappear for no reason that I knew. It stretched in both directions as far as I could see; and for a moment, green fog wafted like wings from the back of Trowa's shoulders.
"What the hell is all this fog doing in the hall? What's going on?" My eyes felt as if they were getting larger and larger; the longer I stared, the stranger I felt. "Talk to me, Trowa. What are you talking about? Where do you want to go? What's going on here?"
He gazed at me for a moment, then turned and strode down the hallway, his walk smooth and soundless. Apparently, he wasn't going to answer my questions standing in the doorway.
"Trowa-!"
Frustrated, I trotted after him. It was a challenge to keep up.
Things didn't look quite the same after he passed them, either. The walls - something was wrong with the walls after he passed them. They were off a bit, distorted in some subtle way. I couldn't quite place it, but they were, I knew it. It was something I could see out of the corner of my eye, not when I looked at them head-on.
Gods, I groaned to myself, was I dreaming again? I hadn't dreamt this much in years, and suddenly, in one week, I couldn't seem to STOP dreaming. It was terribly disturbing.
"You're not dreaming," Trowa said without looking back.
I stared at the back of his head and blinked. Suddenly, the pilot of 03 has become a mind reader? "What....?"
~~You are not dreaming.~~
I stopped walking and stared at him, my mouth slightly open, my eyes very wide. Trowa, however, walked up to the next doorway on the left, opened the door and walked through it, then held it open, pointedly waiting for me to follow him.
~~Well ....?~~
Okay. He was - SPEAKING to me - in my mind?
Impossible. That. Was. Impossible.
But I had to make sure. ~~You - are speaking to me - in my mind?~~
~~Yes. Will you come into this room, please? We have very little time, and a lot of information for you to assimilate.~~
I stared at him, trying for the 'of course I'm calm, people speak to me in my head every day' expression. He stared back at me, very matter-of-fact, with the 'you're not fooling me one bit Sally Po, I know what you're REALLY feeling but we don't have time for that now' expression on HIS face.
It crossed my mind that if he could speak to me in my mind, there was little use in running away from him. There clearly wasn't any choice at all. I thought I smiled, but probably just ended up making an odd, twisted face as I walked past him into the room.
"I don't understand this, Trowa." I was out of my depth, and knew it. Putting a brave face on things didn't change that one bit.
"I know," he responded; and as I watched, the door shut by itself. "You're just going to have to deal."
"Oh," I said, staring at the door, my voice a little weak. "Okay..."
"There are several things you need to understand. First - events occurring here are happening on a spiritual as well as a physical level. You suspected this. Because of your current, unique position, you will have to accept it. Second -"
I interrupted him, a little frantic. "Wait. Wait. What? What are you saying, 'my current, unique position? What the hell are you talking about? And what do you mean, I suspected it? I most certainly did NOT! I have NO idea what -"
*"Sally."*
I shut up immediately. The tone of his voice was - different. Awesome. Cold, but not angry. It was hard to describe. He was tilting his head, too, as if listening to something else, and then nodded.
"Very well. I will show you. Do not panic."
Almost scowling, I retorted, "Trowa, why would I panic? I'm a medical doctor, remember? I've seen bone and guts laid bare so many times that I'd prefer to forget -"
Without warning, Trowa's body disappeared. In its place was ... something else. Something .... otherworldly.
I gasped and could hardly breathe as I looked at him, he was so foreign. His shape was humanoid - mostly. He had a huge lantern jaw jutting out past the rest of his face, and skin that really wasn't skin - it was more like an exoskeleton. A weird, sickly, green light came from him, as if he was the source, and he had these wings - wings! - that were jointed, and huge, and translucent, and green, and spread out. They went on, and on, and on .... I couldn't see the end of them, they were so massive.
And cold. He was so, so, so, cold ....
I staggered, panted and stared, and caught myself against a large chair. In the next blink of an eye, Trowa was back to normal, watching me, his gaze calm and steady. I, however, was not; it took me a full two minutes to regain the use of my voice. During that time, we simply stared at each other as I clung to the back of the chair, my legs shaking.
"Oh." I swallowed again when I could finally speak, feeling blood drain away from my face. "That's what you meant by 'spiritual."
"I am not human," Trowa said evenly.
Oh no kidding, I thought faintly.
Just in case you didn't get that, my snarky inner voice quipped.
Now many of Trowa's odd little quirks made sense. His own lack of emotion; his lack of understanding of anyone else's emotion; his preference of his own company, being a loner.
Gods - and now he was speaking to me again, right in my face, the way some people talk to those who speak a foreign language, and I really wasn't getting it at all. I was still having trouble with the 'I am not human' part, and he wanted to move on.
"Sally, you must listen. I am a Fate. The last Fate of this world. But that is not important. The only thing important for you to understand is this."
He took a step closer to me, literally breathing into my face, and looked straight into my eyes, deadly serious.
"There are two things which control the flow of time for humans - one is the written, which we Fates know. We keep that in balance and we can adjust that. The other is the Written." This 'Written' was obviously more important, because when he said it, his face took on a totally different expression and his tone was slightly more ponderous. He definitely said it with Capital Letters.
"Only Jouten knows what is in the Written. That one cannot be changed." He gave me a measured look, and nodded. "My job is to maintain the written as much as I can. Currently, it is out of balance."
"So ... you have to fix it?"
"Correct. That is why I exist."
"Well ... then ..." I shrugged a little and gave him a defensive smile. The image of jointed wings that went on forever in either direction was burned into my mind, and I was ... understandably nervous. "Fix it. I'm not stopping you."
"I have not come to that part as yet. Do you have any questions about point number one?"
"No. I ...no." I stepped back slightly after his response, a little overwhelmed by the situation.
"Do not run away, Sally. We do not have time to play a game like that."
I froze, staring at him. I hadn't been consciously thinking about it. I just wanted a little space between us.
"I - I wasn't going to, Trowa," I promised. My voice sounded thin and reedy. Weak. I hated that.
"Number two." Maybe I was imagining it, but I thought he was looking at me with a little compassion. "There are beings who are outside the written, who were made that way, or became that way by not dying when they were supposed to die. They are called anankha. They can affect the ebb and flow of time as we know it, and can help or hinder the way time flows in our timeline."
"Okay," I said cautiously, looking at him. I didn't understand why he was telling me this. He hadn't told me why I needed to know this.
"Wufei should have died when he was an infant, but he did not."
I stared at him. He stared back calmly and continued.
"Ninety-nine percent of those born with the dragon's blood die in infancy. He was supposed to die, but he did not."
"Wufei - should have -" I blinked, digesting what he said. "Dragon's blood? Do you mean to say that - that - the legend is ... true?"
"Yes." Trowa was oh so calm. "That one, and many others, are true. Almost all the ancient gods are now gone - fled or destroyed. Seiyruu remains, because his children remain. Or more specifically, his Child. Wufei is the only one who carries the blood at this time."
I was speechless. "That's - that's incredible," I finally whispered.
"Not really. Questions?"
He was just so - freaking - calm. "How - how - does this affect Wufei?" My mind was spinning. I was pushing myself to retain this information and not shut down.
"Specifically speaking, it means his soul is not really that of a human - although he is a perfect hybrid. But the dragon has yet to awaken."
I blinked. "Wha - he's ... he's ... not ... human?"
Trowa pushed a steaming cup of tea into my hand. "Of course not."
"Thank you," I said automatically, wondering where on earth it came from.
"He is mostly human. He can be killed as a human. Take blood transfusions. Fall in love, have a family, all as a human. But his soul is not human."
"I think I'm going to sit down, if you don't mind." My legs gave out under me, and I sank down on the floor, holding my tea. I thanked all the gods I knew that it didn't spill.
Trowa sat down next to me, folding his legs under him naturally, sitting quite close, leaning toward me.
"More questions?" he asked, looking serious. "Details?"
"Um ... is he - is he the only one ... outside the written? The only ... anankha? "
"No. Although -"
I laughed, a little bitterly. Of course not. "I didn't think so. Who else?"
" - he is the only one who currently falls under the category of human. The other person you know is Treize Khushrenada."
I stared at him, clutching my cup, not trying to hide my expression of dismay. Fear. Ohgods.
~~Treize?~~
"He is not human at all."
I continued to stare, not moving, not blinking, just ... staring. Surprise, surprise.
Everything I told Wufei that night was true? Gads.
Treize isn't human? No. Treize. Isn't. Human.
Numb, I wondered if life could possibly become any more bizarre.
He was still speaking. " ... the other gundam pilots are all very important to the written. All of them will change the face of history. However, Treize does not belong here. He is not in the written, and not within my control."
"Not .... human? And ... and ... he - shouldn't be here? But then ... if not here, then where ...?"
"He should have been destroyed a long time ago, but - he was not." Trowa said that oh so calmly, with such little emphasis that it was frightening. "And hence, he became outside the written. So now, he does what he wants."
"He ... destroyed ... what ... ?" I whispered. I felt my eyes growing larger by the second.
Trowa hesitated again, as if listening to something, then nodded again. "I will show you." He leaned forward and touched my forehead with cool fingers. "Forgive me," he said, his voice even. "My spirit is cold."
As he spoke, something that felt like ice water splashed though my veins, pumping into my arms, legs and through my heart; and suddenly, we weren't in the Mediterranean house anymore.
I looked around; I was next to Trowa and was holding his hand. We were outside, above a green, mountainous land that something in my head told me was China. It wasn't the China I knew, though - it was China of long ago, a China I had never seen. There was no technology; I saw a small peasant village, bordered by rice paddies and cattle. We were close enough to see the faces of the people in the village, and I was shocked to see that most of the people had dark hair and features like Wufei.
"These are your ancestors." Trowa casually pointed to a family.
"Mine?" I gaped at the villagers, blinking. The differences between those people and me were extreme. If I stood next to one of them, you would never guess that we were related at all.
Trowa glanced at me. "You will need proof. This is not a dream, Sally Po."
So saying, he touched my shoulder and we were flying rapidly through the air, away from the village, over the mountains, into a small, verdant valley. There was another village there - but this one bore little resemblance to the first. Whereas the first one was small, quaint and pastorale, this one was magnificent. Every line, every wall was clean and beautiful; decorations were on the rooftops and along the statues that dotted every path.
"The Dragon Clan," Trowa murmured in my ear. He brought us down into the village; to my surprise, no one noticed us at all. Trowa took my arm and led me past several of the smaller houses to the largest most elaborate home in the village.
We walked inside. It was cool, deserted and still, except for the man seated at the head of a table in the far room, next to a large picture window. He was gazing out the window, but hearing our approach, turned and gave us an inquiring stare with dark eyes, eyes that reminded me of Wufei. He was wearing embroidered silk, patterns sewn on material that was expensive and beautiful, patterns that Treize had given to Wufei to wear; in fact, this man was an older version of Wufei. I drew in my breath and could not help staring, even though I knew it was rude. The resemblance was simply so fantastic, so incredible, I could hardly believe it.
"So, Taru. Again, you come?"
Trowa bowed very low, pulling me with him, respectful. "Seiyruu-sama."
My heart beat faster as I looked at the floor, and I tried not to tremble. I was in the presence of a god.
As I studied the bare floorboards under my feet, I wondered - what does one say to a god? My knowledge of them was sketchy at best. I was a firm believer in science; that belief had been handed to me from my parents, and, I suspect, handed to them from their parents. Theories were very nice; scientific theories even more so. I tended to consider scientific theories a bit more generously than I did anything that had been colored with a religious taint. Gods and goddesses and such, I felt, were only man's way to explain the inexplicable until he used his brain and discovered the means to the real truth - science and technology.
Of course, that was until now. Now I was feeling very exposed and small and alone - and very, very, human and fragile. Science and technology weren't going to help me here.
A small, stubborn part shrieked from the back of my brain that I really WAS dreaming, and this was just the aftereffects of the drug Treize had given me, and why wasn't I just walking OUT of there...? The rest of my brain ignored that, however; it was patently illogical, given that I had not fallen asleep when Trowa found me, and I didn't know where I was.
" ... a saint?"
"She currently protects the last of your line," Trowa replied, drawing me up with him, extremely calm and collected.
I stared up at him. A saint? Good gods, I wasn't a saint, not in any sense of the word - at least not any sense of the word that I knew. Not unless there was a non-religious aspect that was hidden from me.
Seiryuu looked pained at Trowa's words. "Ah ... the last? So it comes to that eventually, does it?"
"Perhaps. Perhaps not."
A small smile crossed Seiryuu's face - and for some reason, I felt that was all I was likely to see from him in terms of humor. "And you won't tell me, hmm?"
"The Written is for Jouten alone to know."
Seiryuu gave a dark chuckle and looked over at me. "Let me see this saint, Taru."
As Trowa pulled on my arm, gently tugging me forward, there was the sudden sound of giggling from another room. Three young children - none of them any older than seven - ran into the room, robes swirling around them, and pounced on Seiryuu, braids bobbing, merrily giggling and laughing the entire time.
Trowa stopped me, putting his arm out to bar my way. I waited behind him, silently watching Seiryuu smiling and laughing with them, speaking in a dialect of Mandarin I'd never heard, then sending them off to play.
It was a lovely scene, tender, familial, loving - but something was missing, and I couldn't put my finger on exactly what it was.
"None of those?" Trowa asked.
"No. Only my daughter carries the seed, but she will have no more. Now. The saint."
I was pulled forward again. I hesitated only a moment before allowing myself to be led forward and placed directly in front of Seiryuu.
He looked exactly like Wufei - exactly - with one exception. His eyes were emerald green, not onyx black.
I looked up, expecting him to speak to me. Instead, I felt him engulf me; that was the only way to describe it - and communicate with me without speaking.
~~Who are you?~~
He did something so that I felt him; his essence, or something. He was so much larger than me, so much MORE, that it even hurt to think about it. He surrounded me completely.
~~I ... I'm ... Sally Po.~~
~~Yes, yes, I know. But WHO are you?~~
As he spoke, it felt as though he was exploring my entire body and psyche, not just my nerves and synapses. He was exploring ALL of me; my mind, my body, my soul. Seiryuu wanted an answer to his question, and he wasn't going to be satisfied with my small, inadequate replies.
Limp in front of him, I could do nothing but stare while he took me over to satisfy his curiosity, poking and prodding into places in my soul I knew nothing about.
Gods.
Finally, he spoke again, rumbling through me. ~~You protect my Child?~~
I was gaping in stupefied amazement. I could feel this man inside my fingernails; he knew the secrets of my soul, and now he wanted to know if I thought I protected Wufei? He didn't know?
Not only were the gods crazy; apparently, they had problems with their short term memories as well.
I couldn't refuse to answer him, though. ~~Yes. Yes, I protect him. As much as I can. I want to see him mature, grow whole. ~~
Seiryuu smiled gently at me, then turned to Trowa. "Taru - she was not prepared for this. You have grown slovenly in your old age," he teased lightly. He looked at me again for a moment.
~~And that is an acceptable goal, Sally Po.~~
"I am not slovenly," Trowa replied. "Your last remaining Child is anankha."
Seiryuu slowly faced Trowa, blinked once, and burst into laughter.
"Anankha. So. My Child bucks you, Taru."
"Yes."
"He is not happy with that, Sally Po." Seiryuu glanced at me, still chuckling. "You are not the first he has brought to me. It is - odd, this living in time that you humans do. I used to think I would go mad, if forced to do it. It is so much slower than seeing everything at once." He glanced outside, through the picture window. The children who invaded the house and pounced on Seiryuu moments before were now laughing and shrieking merrily with each other, running madly outside. "Now, I don't believe I wish to ever give it up."
"You will," Trowa said, impassive.
"So you say," he sighed.
"I don't understand," I said, softly, more to myself than anyone else.
Seiryuu paused. "What don't you understand, Sally Po?" he asked, without looking back at me.
"Why - why did you call me a saint? I'm no saint -"
He moved his head, his expression mirroring that of Wufei when Wufei was slightly amused. "You really didn't prepare her at all, Taru," he said, slightly chiding.
"There was no time." Trowa's tone was mild, but had a defensive edge to it.
"What does she know?"
"Enough."
Seiryuu laughed softly. "Fates. Utterly useless for information." He looked at me and leaned forward, patting a chair. "Sit."
I immediately sat down.
"I would offer you tea, but it doesn't exist anymore, so it would be pointless." He was definitely amused by something or another in that remark.
I blinked. "What do you mean, it doesn't exist anymore?" I looked at Trowa, confused. "Where are we?"
"In the past," he replied.
"This is the past," Seiryuu continued, his voice calm and soothing. "It has already happened. However, because I am outside of time, I interact with you as if you were in the present. No one else can see of hear you."
Bewildered didn't come close to explaining how I felt. "But ... but ... what about the children?"
Seiryuu looked sad. "They have long since grown old, died, and turned to dust. All things pass." His look turned sadder yet. "It is ... one of the unique things about being human."
"Which you are not." Trowa apparently felt it was his duty to remind Seiryuu that he was NOT human, nor would he ever BE human.
"And you do not approve. Taru, I don't care."
"You will. When she dies."
"So you say." Seiryuu closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. "The last of my children, you say?"
"Yes. At present."
"Then she will know. Come with me, saint."
He turned and led us back through round doorways and latticed walls, to a bedroom that was draped with red and gold silk, luxuriant without being ostentatious. There was a woman in the bed; she was very pregnant and very beautiful. Her face, in repose, was lovely. She was sleeping, charcoal dark eyelashes sweeping across her cheeks.
"My Lily," Seiryuu breathed. "The reason for which I came into Time and took on human form. The reason for which I stay."
"She was your bride..?" I asked, wondering.
"Is my bride," he corrected me. "I am here, as well as in the present with you."
Trowa watched his face. "She will die."
"So you say," Seiyruu whispered.
"You will leave Time them."
"Yes, I know. But I will come for my Children."
"You have. Consistently."
Seiryuu gave me a slightly wry look. "I do not know the written because I am in Time. Taru enjoys reminding me of that."
"Then," I started slowly, "you can't know the written when you're actually part of it?"
"No. You may know the written if you are not human, but that is not my place. I cannot know that."
Seiryuu looked at the sleeping woman with absolute devotion on his face. I decided he seemed to have no problem living with his place in the Plan.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, feeling for him.
"It is long done. Not all the children I have produced are MY children - carry my blood. On occasion, it skips whole generations. Those who are mine are visibly so, of course."
I looked at him, not understanding. He said that as if it was supposed to mean something to me. In fact, he was looking at me in an expectant way. It was supposed to mean something to me ...?
"Well ... Wufei does look like you ..." I ventured.
"Her Sight is asleep," Trowa broke in, explaining, looking a little guilty.
Seiryuu glanced from me to Trowa and back.
"Are things ... that bad?" he asked Trowa, looking at him again, his tone gentler.
"You will see."
He sighed. "Very well. Take her out and awaken her Sight."
I looked at Trowa, confused. "Did I say something wrong?"
"No, Sally Po. You said nothing wrong." Seiryuu turned back and glanced at his wife one more time with an adoring expression, then turned with Trowa and walked toward the main room. I followed them, wondering.
"You are not the first to have been brought to me as I said, Sally Po, and you will likely not be the last. But he is going out of order." We stood in the main room of the house, one that was bare of furnishings other than two exquisite rugs covering the hardwood floor and four straight backed chairs surrounding an elegantly lacquered table.
"I'm a bit out of my depth," I said, shaking my head.
"You are a saint. What is meant by that, simply, is that you are pure of spirit. Do not think in human terms - they stole the term from us and corrupted it, badly."
I blinked. "Who? Who stole it - do you mean humans?"
Seiryuu smiled a little. "Not important. Taru, wake her up."
"Yes, he meant humans. Look at me, please."
Obediently, I turned my face up to Trowa's.
"I showed you your ancestors. They are there, so close to this mountain range that belongs to the dragon clan, because they are special. They carry what you humans sometimes call second sight."
I stared. "My - ancestors?"
"Correct. They were, and are, healers of both body and soul."
"I - I'm a doctor -"
"Of course you are. Your heritage would permit nothing else. And you carry the sight, although you do not know it. Plus, your purity of spirit makes you a saint. I will show you what this means. Please hold still."
I did. I held as still as possible, still looking up at Trowa.
But I wasn't prepared for what happened next. He bent down and kissed me, right on the lips.
I was shocked. And he took advantage of that by opening his lips, which pushed mine open, too.
That's where any parallel to normal kissing ended, and extreme weirdness began.
The last time Trowa touched me, he apologized because his essence was cold. In fact, he said, "Forgive me - my spirit is cold." There was no warning this time, and I don't know if it would have helped or not.
That coldness slid into my body, tracing paths through my arms, my legs, my heart and lungs, my brain, every organ and limb I had simultaneously. And this time, it brought sight AND sound with it, and was so overwhelming it actually hurt - and it hurt badly. I was seeing and hearing everything in the world at once; I knew everything; when, what, how, why things happened ... and I thought I was going to go mad.
Then it stopped, and everything was still. I realized that he had stopped kissing me; in fact, he had let go and had stepped back a pace. Now Trowa was peering at me, watching closely for ... something. Some kind of reaction? I didn't know. The only thing I knew was that there was no pain - finally, everything felt normal.
Normal? Well ... maybe not. Not quite normal.
I felt things. I could feel Seiryuu's children outside, their happiness and glee; I felt his wife and her unborn child in the other room, sleeping quietly. And there was an enormous presence - something that was staggeringly large, something so terribly big that it was frightening, standing just behind me. Waiting.
"You should look at him. He does not hide his essence, as I do."
Slowly, I turned around and looked. It was incredible.
Seiryuu was standing behind me, looking the same as he did when I walked into his home. But woven in and around his body, so much so that it was a living, breathing, part of him, was a full grown, translucent dragon. Its shiny, bright orange scales were beautiful; the long scales along its spine flexed slowly as he breathed, every movement shooting a prism of light into a different direction. The dragon's deep faceted jade green eyes regarded me, unblinking.
"So now you see me?" Seiryuu asked.
"It's ... magnificent ... " I trailed off, awestruck.
Seiryuu favored me with an amused look. The dragon tossed his head and snorted.
"It is?" Seiryuu asked with a smile. "I am."
"You are looking at his soul, Sally Po," Trowa murmured.
I felt my face getting warm. "Oh - I - beg your pardon," I said, watching the different hues of orange and gold race across along the dragon's scales as he shifted position, "but ... you're beautiful ..." As I tilted my head, I realized I could see the small table at the back of the room right through the dragon's body.
"Yes. I am," Seiryuu said, amused. "All my children are."
Almost by its own volition, my hand reached out to touch his side. Immediately, a low, rumbling sound issued from the dragon's throat; that sound was familiar to me, too. Something that wasn't exactly threatening, really, just a warning; and with it came a feeling I knew, a feeling that happened every now and then. That prickly, uncomfortable feeling I had when I did something I knew I shouldn't do. Apparently, there was a reason for it.
"Do not touch me," Seiryuu said. "You would be destroyed."
I drew my hand back quickly, my eyes wide.
He looked at me, a small, speculative gleam in his eyes. "Do not hide your hand, Sally Po. Hold it out, and look at it."
Hesitantly, I held my right hand out in front of myself and looked down at it. Around my arm, wrist and fingers, at least six inches wide on all sides, was a soft, powder blue light. I passed my left hand over my fingers, barely touching them - and I felt a warm, tingling sensation as my hand passed through the light, the light spilling between each finger. It emanated from my skin, and was such a beautiful color; it almost looked like mist.
"What - what is that?"
"Your soul. Your aura, really, since human souls do not stretch beyond their bodies, but their auras do. It's simply what your soul gives off." Seiryuu smiled at me, his dark eyes gentle.
"Everyone has this?" I examined my hand and arm in awe, blinking. It seemed absolutely incredible that suddenly I could see this - this manifestation of my soul. But this physical manifestation has far reaching implications for me, farther than I wanted to pursue at that point. My faith and belief had been placed squarely in what I could see, and touch, and measure - and that certainly wasn't my soul, or anyone else's, for that matter. This was getting a little too personal.
"Every...? Ah, I see. No, Sally Po. Humans do. Some non-humans do. However, it is mostly a human thing."
"You - you do not?" I glanced quickly at Trowa.
"Do you see one, Sally?"
"No. But I feel something ..." I answered, frowning a little. It was strange. I could not see anything, but I had the feeling of something ... immense. Not the same type of feeling from Seiryuu, but large, all the same.
"Different. You feel. This is good." Trowa nodded at me, looking pleased.
"Look at the window, please, Sally Po," directed Seiryuu.
I turned to look, and caught Trowa frowning at Seiryuu.
"Since you skimped on her education, Taru, I am doing it for you." Seiryuu raised an eyebrow at Trowa, very definitely amused.
Turning my attention to the people outside, I watched the children race around outside with each other and then run around the adults trying to supervise them. All the people outside had auras of differing shapes, sizes, and colors - but I noticed that not one of them had an aura of solid color, nor one that was as wide as mine. Not one was in the shape of an animal, or a dragon, either, as Seiryuu's was.
"They - they're all different - yet none are like mine, nor yours," I said, nodding to Seiryuu.
"Correct," he rumbled, seemingly pleased that I had noticed. "'Normal' people have auras that barely go beyond their skin." He pointed at a woman standing near the back of the garden. "See the servant in the green silk? She is very nice, but not Important. Her aura is barely an inch wide. That is the norm." He gestured to everyone outside. "None of these are truly my Children, or their auras would be different as well, if they were awake."
I frowned a little, looking outside, then down at my own hand. "But ... but mine is wider ..."
"Yes," he agreed, nodding, "because you are Important. Come with me." He gestured back toward the bedroom and walked in that direction, expecting me to follow.
I did, wondering. Important? Important to what? I wasn't important, not really. People had been trained to take my place in case I was captured by OZ; I specifically made sure I wasn't important to the organization, not in that way. I wanted everyone to go on if anything ever happened to me.
Following Seiryuu, I saw the light from the room twist and bend around his body, throwing him into silhouette, before I drew close. For a fleeting moment, I wondered if there was a fire in there - then I realized the light was golden. Seiryuu opened the door; golden light streamed through the door, so much so that it was almost blinding. I couldn't see the ends of this aura, it was all just light ...
"You see why I fell in love with her," Seiryuu murmured softly, next to me.
I nodded, squinting, holding up my hand. "She is beautiful. And the light - her aura is so - lovely. Calming. Restful - "
"Mine," he breathed, adoration in his voice.
"Fool," Trowa sighed.
"You are no better," Seiryuu said with a dry look toward Trowa.
"I have done nothing."
"You have chosen to be near him."
Trowa was silent, looking at Seiryuu.
I decided that my silence was the better part of valor, and chose to be silent. Besides, I was fairly sure I knew who Seiryuu meant.
"Those who are important ... have greater auras," Seiryuu continued, turning to me as if our conversation had never been interrupted. "The magnitude of their souls is shown in their auras. The colors indicate their nature. The solidity indicates purity - the sureness of mind and heart, a solidity of person."
"So - so that's why you called me a saint," I said, blinking in surprise. "Treize called me the same thing. Does that mean that he -"
"We are out of time," Trowa announced. And suddenly, I wasn't there anymore - in fact, the room was spinning, things were melting together, it was cold, and I didn't know where I was at all.
But I did hear Seiryuu's parting words in my head:
~~Take good care of my Child, Sally Po - or else you will see me again when I come to take his soul as he dies, and I will not be pleased.~~
I felt real pain. "I will take care of him, Seiyruu," I promised, whispering. I had no idea how I was going to keep that promise, but I knew I had to try - I had to keep Wufei safe. I protected Seiryuu's Child, after all.
When next I opened my eyes, Trowa and I were together in the same room in Treize's mansion, this time standing next to the windows, looking out over the lawn. I had no idea how much time had passed since we started; I felt a little woozy and tired.
"I have taken too much time," Trowa said, glancing over at the door. He patted my shoulder and gave me the ghost of a smile, his eyes dark and serious. "We will speak later."
"Trowa, wait. What -"
- and he was gone. No smoke, no flash of light, nothing like that. Just ... gone. Disappeared. One moment there, the next ... not.
I stared at the spot in front of the window where he had been, trying to force myself to visualize him there again, when the door was flung open.
"So there you are."
I whirled around and stared at the Special who strode into the room, his gun slung across his back. Staring at me, he growled into his shoulder microphone, "Found her. No problems. She was just in one of the upstairs libraries."
"...I ..." I couldn't think of anything to say as I watched him clomp across the room, small, nondescript colors flaring around his wrist and fingers. His aura was so weak that it barely reached through his clothing. It was waving, undulating slightly, and looked slightly fuzzy.
"Let somebody know where you're going the next time. The kid was looking for you." He frowned, stepped back and waited for me to leave the room. No chance for me to tell him that I'd be there in a moment, or right away.
"Wufei was looking for me?"
"Yeah. The kid." He nodded sharply as we walked down the hall toward Wufei's room, escorting me as far as his door, making sure I was there and that I knocked before turning smartly on his heel and leaving.
"Wufei? Are you there?"
Opening the door, Wufei appeared, dressed in orange silk, and looked at me in undisguised relief. "Sally. Come here. Now." He drew me into the room, pulling on my wrist, led me over to a chair in front of the video cabinet. "Sit down and look at this," he ordered, pushing me into the chair as he pointed the remote at the cabinet.
"What am I looking at?"
Rather than staring at the vidfeed, I stared covertly at Wufei. I was amazed at the aura encircling him. There was no dragon, at least none that I could see; but his aura was swirling red and black, not quite as thick as mine, with edges of purple that reminded me of bruising. All in all, it was impressive. Something about it, though, struck me as unhealthy. As I peered at him, I could see his pallor was very pale and his eyes looked huge.
"Wufei - Wufei, what's wrong? What am I looking at?"
"War," he answered, his gaze fastened to the viewscreen.
After Treize left, Wufei and I stared at the doorway for a good three minutes, both a little spooked, watching to make sure he wasn't going to reappear as silently as he appeared. When he didn't, we finished our breakfast; but to tell the truth, neither one of us had any appetite. I found myself peeking over at the doorway, not trusting that Treize was well and truly gone. Wufei was doing the same thing; our gazes caught each other several times, then skittered away.
Excellent. Now, not only did we share living space, we shared paranoia as well.
Wufei's eyelids drooped and his head bobbed toward his chest. He made a valiant effort to stay awake, but his lids kept drifting shut all the same.
"Wufei. Why not lay down for a little while? There's no need for us to go anywhere right now." I kept my voice quiet, calm, non-threatening, and casually stood up. Ready to catch and steady him, if he needed it.
He was silent for a moment. "....Very well," he finally answered. When he stood, he wobbled for a moment, then caught his balance and walked over to the bed. He sat on the edge, pulled off his slippers and lay down, allowing me to tuck the comforter around him.
"I'm sure you're fine, Wufei, but I don't want you to get a chill. We really should keep your muscles warm so they don't spasm."
He nodded, sleepy, his eyes closing like a small child's. "O - okay," he murmured, obviously bone-weary.
Leaning over, I felt his forehead, then the back of his neck. Good - his skin wasn't clammy anymore. He was simply exhausted, and the best thing for him to do was exactly what he was doing - sleep.
"Rest, Wufei. You rest. I'll be right here."
He murmured something unintelligible and rolled over, sleep claiming him immediately.
I sighed and watched him, thinking. He was fifteen - just fifteen. What was I doing when I was fifteen? I was finishing high school, starting a few premed classes, happily on my way to becoming a doctor, something I was sure I wanted to do. He, on the other hand, had already been married and widowed, had fought in the war and become a prisoner - and now, through no fault of his own, some maniac wanted to -
"Sally."
That familiar voice ripped through my reverie. I glanced up, shocked, to see Trowa standing in the doorway, his face partially hidden in shadow, looking more like a ghost than the unsophisticated gundam pilot I knew.
"Quickly, Sally. You must come with me. We have no more time."
What do you do when an apparition tells you that you must do something? Do you do it, with no questions asked? Not if you're me, you don't.
I walked over to the doorway, frowning a little. "Trowa - Trowa, is that really you? Trowa, what in the hell are you talking about? I can't leave Wufei. How did you get IN here?" I squinted, trying to see his face in the gloom, keeping my voice pitched even and low, not to disturb Wufei. "Duo told me you were in France. Are you all right?"
He looked back, his visible eye dark and enigmatic. "Come with me, Sally. Quickly, now. Time is limited."
Never mind that there was fog in the hall; whatever it was, it had no odor, and seemed to disappear and reappear for no reason that I knew. It stretched in both directions as far as I could see; and for a moment, green fog wafted like wings from the back of Trowa's shoulders.
"What the hell is all this fog doing in the hall? What's going on?" My eyes felt as if they were getting larger and larger; the longer I stared, the stranger I felt. "Talk to me, Trowa. What are you talking about? Where do you want to go? What's going on here?"
He gazed at me for a moment, then turned and strode down the hallway, his walk smooth and soundless. Apparently, he wasn't going to answer my questions standing in the doorway.
"Trowa-!"
Frustrated, I trotted after him. It was a challenge to keep up.
Things didn't look quite the same after he passed them, either. The walls - something was wrong with the walls after he passed them. They were off a bit, distorted in some subtle way. I couldn't quite place it, but they were, I knew it. It was something I could see out of the corner of my eye, not when I looked at them head-on.
Gods, I groaned to myself, was I dreaming again? I hadn't dreamt this much in years, and suddenly, in one week, I couldn't seem to STOP dreaming. It was terribly disturbing.
"You're not dreaming," Trowa said without looking back.
I stared at the back of his head and blinked. Suddenly, the pilot of 03 has become a mind reader? "What....?"
~~You are not dreaming.~~
I stopped walking and stared at him, my mouth slightly open, my eyes very wide. Trowa, however, walked up to the next doorway on the left, opened the door and walked through it, then held it open, pointedly waiting for me to follow him.
~~Well ....?~~
Okay. He was - SPEAKING to me - in my mind?
Impossible. That. Was. Impossible.
But I had to make sure. ~~You - are speaking to me - in my mind?~~
~~Yes. Will you come into this room, please? We have very little time, and a lot of information for you to assimilate.~~
I stared at him, trying for the 'of course I'm calm, people speak to me in my head every day' expression. He stared back at me, very matter-of-fact, with the 'you're not fooling me one bit Sally Po, I know what you're REALLY feeling but we don't have time for that now' expression on HIS face.
It crossed my mind that if he could speak to me in my mind, there was little use in running away from him. There clearly wasn't any choice at all. I thought I smiled, but probably just ended up making an odd, twisted face as I walked past him into the room.
"I don't understand this, Trowa." I was out of my depth, and knew it. Putting a brave face on things didn't change that one bit.
"I know," he responded; and as I watched, the door shut by itself. "You're just going to have to deal."
"Oh," I said, staring at the door, my voice a little weak. "Okay..."
"There are several things you need to understand. First - events occurring here are happening on a spiritual as well as a physical level. You suspected this. Because of your current, unique position, you will have to accept it. Second -"
I interrupted him, a little frantic. "Wait. Wait. What? What are you saying, 'my current, unique position? What the hell are you talking about? And what do you mean, I suspected it? I most certainly did NOT! I have NO idea what -"
*"Sally."*
I shut up immediately. The tone of his voice was - different. Awesome. Cold, but not angry. It was hard to describe. He was tilting his head, too, as if listening to something else, and then nodded.
"Very well. I will show you. Do not panic."
Almost scowling, I retorted, "Trowa, why would I panic? I'm a medical doctor, remember? I've seen bone and guts laid bare so many times that I'd prefer to forget -"
Without warning, Trowa's body disappeared. In its place was ... something else. Something .... otherworldly.
I gasped and could hardly breathe as I looked at him, he was so foreign. His shape was humanoid - mostly. He had a huge lantern jaw jutting out past the rest of his face, and skin that really wasn't skin - it was more like an exoskeleton. A weird, sickly, green light came from him, as if he was the source, and he had these wings - wings! - that were jointed, and huge, and translucent, and green, and spread out. They went on, and on, and on .... I couldn't see the end of them, they were so massive.
And cold. He was so, so, so, cold ....
I staggered, panted and stared, and caught myself against a large chair. In the next blink of an eye, Trowa was back to normal, watching me, his gaze calm and steady. I, however, was not; it took me a full two minutes to regain the use of my voice. During that time, we simply stared at each other as I clung to the back of the chair, my legs shaking.
"Oh." I swallowed again when I could finally speak, feeling blood drain away from my face. "That's what you meant by 'spiritual."
"I am not human," Trowa said evenly.
Oh no kidding, I thought faintly.
Just in case you didn't get that, my snarky inner voice quipped.
Now many of Trowa's odd little quirks made sense. His own lack of emotion; his lack of understanding of anyone else's emotion; his preference of his own company, being a loner.
Gods - and now he was speaking to me again, right in my face, the way some people talk to those who speak a foreign language, and I really wasn't getting it at all. I was still having trouble with the 'I am not human' part, and he wanted to move on.
"Sally, you must listen. I am a Fate. The last Fate of this world. But that is not important. The only thing important for you to understand is this."
He took a step closer to me, literally breathing into my face, and looked straight into my eyes, deadly serious.
"There are two things which control the flow of time for humans - one is the written, which we Fates know. We keep that in balance and we can adjust that. The other is the Written." This 'Written' was obviously more important, because when he said it, his face took on a totally different expression and his tone was slightly more ponderous. He definitely said it with Capital Letters.
"Only Jouten knows what is in the Written. That one cannot be changed." He gave me a measured look, and nodded. "My job is to maintain the written as much as I can. Currently, it is out of balance."
"So ... you have to fix it?"
"Correct. That is why I exist."
"Well ... then ..." I shrugged a little and gave him a defensive smile. The image of jointed wings that went on forever in either direction was burned into my mind, and I was ... understandably nervous. "Fix it. I'm not stopping you."
"I have not come to that part as yet. Do you have any questions about point number one?"
"No. I ...no." I stepped back slightly after his response, a little overwhelmed by the situation.
"Do not run away, Sally. We do not have time to play a game like that."
I froze, staring at him. I hadn't been consciously thinking about it. I just wanted a little space between us.
"I - I wasn't going to, Trowa," I promised. My voice sounded thin and reedy. Weak. I hated that.
"Number two." Maybe I was imagining it, but I thought he was looking at me with a little compassion. "There are beings who are outside the written, who were made that way, or became that way by not dying when they were supposed to die. They are called anankha. They can affect the ebb and flow of time as we know it, and can help or hinder the way time flows in our timeline."
"Okay," I said cautiously, looking at him. I didn't understand why he was telling me this. He hadn't told me why I needed to know this.
"Wufei should have died when he was an infant, but he did not."
I stared at him. He stared back calmly and continued.
"Ninety-nine percent of those born with the dragon's blood die in infancy. He was supposed to die, but he did not."
"Wufei - should have -" I blinked, digesting what he said. "Dragon's blood? Do you mean to say that - that - the legend is ... true?"
"Yes." Trowa was oh so calm. "That one, and many others, are true. Almost all the ancient gods are now gone - fled or destroyed. Seiyruu remains, because his children remain. Or more specifically, his Child. Wufei is the only one who carries the blood at this time."
I was speechless. "That's - that's incredible," I finally whispered.
"Not really. Questions?"
He was just so - freaking - calm. "How - how - does this affect Wufei?" My mind was spinning. I was pushing myself to retain this information and not shut down.
"Specifically speaking, it means his soul is not really that of a human - although he is a perfect hybrid. But the dragon has yet to awaken."
I blinked. "Wha - he's ... he's ... not ... human?"
Trowa pushed a steaming cup of tea into my hand. "Of course not."
"Thank you," I said automatically, wondering where on earth it came from.
"He is mostly human. He can be killed as a human. Take blood transfusions. Fall in love, have a family, all as a human. But his soul is not human."
"I think I'm going to sit down, if you don't mind." My legs gave out under me, and I sank down on the floor, holding my tea. I thanked all the gods I knew that it didn't spill.
Trowa sat down next to me, folding his legs under him naturally, sitting quite close, leaning toward me.
"More questions?" he asked, looking serious. "Details?"
"Um ... is he - is he the only one ... outside the written? The only ... anankha? "
"No. Although -"
I laughed, a little bitterly. Of course not. "I didn't think so. Who else?"
" - he is the only one who currently falls under the category of human. The other person you know is Treize Khushrenada."
I stared at him, clutching my cup, not trying to hide my expression of dismay. Fear. Ohgods.
~~Treize?~~
"He is not human at all."
I continued to stare, not moving, not blinking, just ... staring. Surprise, surprise.
Everything I told Wufei that night was true? Gads.
Treize isn't human? No. Treize. Isn't. Human.
Numb, I wondered if life could possibly become any more bizarre.
He was still speaking. " ... the other gundam pilots are all very important to the written. All of them will change the face of history. However, Treize does not belong here. He is not in the written, and not within my control."
"Not .... human? And ... and ... he - shouldn't be here? But then ... if not here, then where ...?"
"He should have been destroyed a long time ago, but - he was not." Trowa said that oh so calmly, with such little emphasis that it was frightening. "And hence, he became outside the written. So now, he does what he wants."
"He ... destroyed ... what ... ?" I whispered. I felt my eyes growing larger by the second.
Trowa hesitated again, as if listening to something, then nodded again. "I will show you." He leaned forward and touched my forehead with cool fingers. "Forgive me," he said, his voice even. "My spirit is cold."
As he spoke, something that felt like ice water splashed though my veins, pumping into my arms, legs and through my heart; and suddenly, we weren't in the Mediterranean house anymore.
I looked around; I was next to Trowa and was holding his hand. We were outside, above a green, mountainous land that something in my head told me was China. It wasn't the China I knew, though - it was China of long ago, a China I had never seen. There was no technology; I saw a small peasant village, bordered by rice paddies and cattle. We were close enough to see the faces of the people in the village, and I was shocked to see that most of the people had dark hair and features like Wufei.
"These are your ancestors." Trowa casually pointed to a family.
"Mine?" I gaped at the villagers, blinking. The differences between those people and me were extreme. If I stood next to one of them, you would never guess that we were related at all.
Trowa glanced at me. "You will need proof. This is not a dream, Sally Po."
So saying, he touched my shoulder and we were flying rapidly through the air, away from the village, over the mountains, into a small, verdant valley. There was another village there - but this one bore little resemblance to the first. Whereas the first one was small, quaint and pastorale, this one was magnificent. Every line, every wall was clean and beautiful; decorations were on the rooftops and along the statues that dotted every path.
"The Dragon Clan," Trowa murmured in my ear. He brought us down into the village; to my surprise, no one noticed us at all. Trowa took my arm and led me past several of the smaller houses to the largest most elaborate home in the village.
We walked inside. It was cool, deserted and still, except for the man seated at the head of a table in the far room, next to a large picture window. He was gazing out the window, but hearing our approach, turned and gave us an inquiring stare with dark eyes, eyes that reminded me of Wufei. He was wearing embroidered silk, patterns sewn on material that was expensive and beautiful, patterns that Treize had given to Wufei to wear; in fact, this man was an older version of Wufei. I drew in my breath and could not help staring, even though I knew it was rude. The resemblance was simply so fantastic, so incredible, I could hardly believe it.
"So, Taru. Again, you come?"
Trowa bowed very low, pulling me with him, respectful. "Seiyruu-sama."
My heart beat faster as I looked at the floor, and I tried not to tremble. I was in the presence of a god.
As I studied the bare floorboards under my feet, I wondered - what does one say to a god? My knowledge of them was sketchy at best. I was a firm believer in science; that belief had been handed to me from my parents, and, I suspect, handed to them from their parents. Theories were very nice; scientific theories even more so. I tended to consider scientific theories a bit more generously than I did anything that had been colored with a religious taint. Gods and goddesses and such, I felt, were only man's way to explain the inexplicable until he used his brain and discovered the means to the real truth - science and technology.
Of course, that was until now. Now I was feeling very exposed and small and alone - and very, very, human and fragile. Science and technology weren't going to help me here.
A small, stubborn part shrieked from the back of my brain that I really WAS dreaming, and this was just the aftereffects of the drug Treize had given me, and why wasn't I just walking OUT of there...? The rest of my brain ignored that, however; it was patently illogical, given that I had not fallen asleep when Trowa found me, and I didn't know where I was.
" ... a saint?"
"She currently protects the last of your line," Trowa replied, drawing me up with him, extremely calm and collected.
I stared up at him. A saint? Good gods, I wasn't a saint, not in any sense of the word - at least not any sense of the word that I knew. Not unless there was a non-religious aspect that was hidden from me.
Seiryuu looked pained at Trowa's words. "Ah ... the last? So it comes to that eventually, does it?"
"Perhaps. Perhaps not."
A small smile crossed Seiryuu's face - and for some reason, I felt that was all I was likely to see from him in terms of humor. "And you won't tell me, hmm?"
"The Written is for Jouten alone to know."
Seiryuu gave a dark chuckle and looked over at me. "Let me see this saint, Taru."
As Trowa pulled on my arm, gently tugging me forward, there was the sudden sound of giggling from another room. Three young children - none of them any older than seven - ran into the room, robes swirling around them, and pounced on Seiryuu, braids bobbing, merrily giggling and laughing the entire time.
Trowa stopped me, putting his arm out to bar my way. I waited behind him, silently watching Seiryuu smiling and laughing with them, speaking in a dialect of Mandarin I'd never heard, then sending them off to play.
It was a lovely scene, tender, familial, loving - but something was missing, and I couldn't put my finger on exactly what it was.
"None of those?" Trowa asked.
"No. Only my daughter carries the seed, but she will have no more. Now. The saint."
I was pulled forward again. I hesitated only a moment before allowing myself to be led forward and placed directly in front of Seiryuu.
He looked exactly like Wufei - exactly - with one exception. His eyes were emerald green, not onyx black.
I looked up, expecting him to speak to me. Instead, I felt him engulf me; that was the only way to describe it - and communicate with me without speaking.
~~Who are you?~~
He did something so that I felt him; his essence, or something. He was so much larger than me, so much MORE, that it even hurt to think about it. He surrounded me completely.
~~I ... I'm ... Sally Po.~~
~~Yes, yes, I know. But WHO are you?~~
As he spoke, it felt as though he was exploring my entire body and psyche, not just my nerves and synapses. He was exploring ALL of me; my mind, my body, my soul. Seiryuu wanted an answer to his question, and he wasn't going to be satisfied with my small, inadequate replies.
Limp in front of him, I could do nothing but stare while he took me over to satisfy his curiosity, poking and prodding into places in my soul I knew nothing about.
Gods.
Finally, he spoke again, rumbling through me. ~~You protect my Child?~~
I was gaping in stupefied amazement. I could feel this man inside my fingernails; he knew the secrets of my soul, and now he wanted to know if I thought I protected Wufei? He didn't know?
Not only were the gods crazy; apparently, they had problems with their short term memories as well.
I couldn't refuse to answer him, though. ~~Yes. Yes, I protect him. As much as I can. I want to see him mature, grow whole. ~~
Seiryuu smiled gently at me, then turned to Trowa. "Taru - she was not prepared for this. You have grown slovenly in your old age," he teased lightly. He looked at me again for a moment.
~~And that is an acceptable goal, Sally Po.~~
"I am not slovenly," Trowa replied. "Your last remaining Child is anankha."
Seiryuu slowly faced Trowa, blinked once, and burst into laughter.
"Anankha. So. My Child bucks you, Taru."
"Yes."
"He is not happy with that, Sally Po." Seiryuu glanced at me, still chuckling. "You are not the first he has brought to me. It is - odd, this living in time that you humans do. I used to think I would go mad, if forced to do it. It is so much slower than seeing everything at once." He glanced outside, through the picture window. The children who invaded the house and pounced on Seiryuu moments before were now laughing and shrieking merrily with each other, running madly outside. "Now, I don't believe I wish to ever give it up."
"You will," Trowa said, impassive.
"So you say," he sighed.
"I don't understand," I said, softly, more to myself than anyone else.
Seiryuu paused. "What don't you understand, Sally Po?" he asked, without looking back at me.
"Why - why did you call me a saint? I'm no saint -"
He moved his head, his expression mirroring that of Wufei when Wufei was slightly amused. "You really didn't prepare her at all, Taru," he said, slightly chiding.
"There was no time." Trowa's tone was mild, but had a defensive edge to it.
"What does she know?"
"Enough."
Seiryuu laughed softly. "Fates. Utterly useless for information." He looked at me and leaned forward, patting a chair. "Sit."
I immediately sat down.
"I would offer you tea, but it doesn't exist anymore, so it would be pointless." He was definitely amused by something or another in that remark.
I blinked. "What do you mean, it doesn't exist anymore?" I looked at Trowa, confused. "Where are we?"
"In the past," he replied.
"This is the past," Seiryuu continued, his voice calm and soothing. "It has already happened. However, because I am outside of time, I interact with you as if you were in the present. No one else can see of hear you."
Bewildered didn't come close to explaining how I felt. "But ... but ... what about the children?"
Seiryuu looked sad. "They have long since grown old, died, and turned to dust. All things pass." His look turned sadder yet. "It is ... one of the unique things about being human."
"Which you are not." Trowa apparently felt it was his duty to remind Seiryuu that he was NOT human, nor would he ever BE human.
"And you do not approve. Taru, I don't care."
"You will. When she dies."
"So you say." Seiryuu closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. "The last of my children, you say?"
"Yes. At present."
"Then she will know. Come with me, saint."
He turned and led us back through round doorways and latticed walls, to a bedroom that was draped with red and gold silk, luxuriant without being ostentatious. There was a woman in the bed; she was very pregnant and very beautiful. Her face, in repose, was lovely. She was sleeping, charcoal dark eyelashes sweeping across her cheeks.
"My Lily," Seiryuu breathed. "The reason for which I came into Time and took on human form. The reason for which I stay."
"She was your bride..?" I asked, wondering.
"Is my bride," he corrected me. "I am here, as well as in the present with you."
Trowa watched his face. "She will die."
"So you say," Seiyruu whispered.
"You will leave Time them."
"Yes, I know. But I will come for my Children."
"You have. Consistently."
Seiryuu gave me a slightly wry look. "I do not know the written because I am in Time. Taru enjoys reminding me of that."
"Then," I started slowly, "you can't know the written when you're actually part of it?"
"No. You may know the written if you are not human, but that is not my place. I cannot know that."
Seiryuu looked at the sleeping woman with absolute devotion on his face. I decided he seemed to have no problem living with his place in the Plan.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, feeling for him.
"It is long done. Not all the children I have produced are MY children - carry my blood. On occasion, it skips whole generations. Those who are mine are visibly so, of course."
I looked at him, not understanding. He said that as if it was supposed to mean something to me. In fact, he was looking at me in an expectant way. It was supposed to mean something to me ...?
"Well ... Wufei does look like you ..." I ventured.
"Her Sight is asleep," Trowa broke in, explaining, looking a little guilty.
Seiryuu glanced from me to Trowa and back.
"Are things ... that bad?" he asked Trowa, looking at him again, his tone gentler.
"You will see."
He sighed. "Very well. Take her out and awaken her Sight."
I looked at Trowa, confused. "Did I say something wrong?"
"No, Sally Po. You said nothing wrong." Seiryuu turned back and glanced at his wife one more time with an adoring expression, then turned with Trowa and walked toward the main room. I followed them, wondering.
"You are not the first to have been brought to me as I said, Sally Po, and you will likely not be the last. But he is going out of order." We stood in the main room of the house, one that was bare of furnishings other than two exquisite rugs covering the hardwood floor and four straight backed chairs surrounding an elegantly lacquered table.
"I'm a bit out of my depth," I said, shaking my head.
"You are a saint. What is meant by that, simply, is that you are pure of spirit. Do not think in human terms - they stole the term from us and corrupted it, badly."
I blinked. "Who? Who stole it - do you mean humans?"
Seiryuu smiled a little. "Not important. Taru, wake her up."
"Yes, he meant humans. Look at me, please."
Obediently, I turned my face up to Trowa's.
"I showed you your ancestors. They are there, so close to this mountain range that belongs to the dragon clan, because they are special. They carry what you humans sometimes call second sight."
I stared. "My - ancestors?"
"Correct. They were, and are, healers of both body and soul."
"I - I'm a doctor -"
"Of course you are. Your heritage would permit nothing else. And you carry the sight, although you do not know it. Plus, your purity of spirit makes you a saint. I will show you what this means. Please hold still."
I did. I held as still as possible, still looking up at Trowa.
But I wasn't prepared for what happened next. He bent down and kissed me, right on the lips.
I was shocked. And he took advantage of that by opening his lips, which pushed mine open, too.
That's where any parallel to normal kissing ended, and extreme weirdness began.
The last time Trowa touched me, he apologized because his essence was cold. In fact, he said, "Forgive me - my spirit is cold." There was no warning this time, and I don't know if it would have helped or not.
That coldness slid into my body, tracing paths through my arms, my legs, my heart and lungs, my brain, every organ and limb I had simultaneously. And this time, it brought sight AND sound with it, and was so overwhelming it actually hurt - and it hurt badly. I was seeing and hearing everything in the world at once; I knew everything; when, what, how, why things happened ... and I thought I was going to go mad.
Then it stopped, and everything was still. I realized that he had stopped kissing me; in fact, he had let go and had stepped back a pace. Now Trowa was peering at me, watching closely for ... something. Some kind of reaction? I didn't know. The only thing I knew was that there was no pain - finally, everything felt normal.
Normal? Well ... maybe not. Not quite normal.
I felt things. I could feel Seiryuu's children outside, their happiness and glee; I felt his wife and her unborn child in the other room, sleeping quietly. And there was an enormous presence - something that was staggeringly large, something so terribly big that it was frightening, standing just behind me. Waiting.
"You should look at him. He does not hide his essence, as I do."
Slowly, I turned around and looked. It was incredible.
Seiryuu was standing behind me, looking the same as he did when I walked into his home. But woven in and around his body, so much so that it was a living, breathing, part of him, was a full grown, translucent dragon. Its shiny, bright orange scales were beautiful; the long scales along its spine flexed slowly as he breathed, every movement shooting a prism of light into a different direction. The dragon's deep faceted jade green eyes regarded me, unblinking.
"So now you see me?" Seiryuu asked.
"It's ... magnificent ... " I trailed off, awestruck.
Seiryuu favored me with an amused look. The dragon tossed his head and snorted.
"It is?" Seiryuu asked with a smile. "I am."
"You are looking at his soul, Sally Po," Trowa murmured.
I felt my face getting warm. "Oh - I - beg your pardon," I said, watching the different hues of orange and gold race across along the dragon's scales as he shifted position, "but ... you're beautiful ..." As I tilted my head, I realized I could see the small table at the back of the room right through the dragon's body.
"Yes. I am," Seiryuu said, amused. "All my children are."
Almost by its own volition, my hand reached out to touch his side. Immediately, a low, rumbling sound issued from the dragon's throat; that sound was familiar to me, too. Something that wasn't exactly threatening, really, just a warning; and with it came a feeling I knew, a feeling that happened every now and then. That prickly, uncomfortable feeling I had when I did something I knew I shouldn't do. Apparently, there was a reason for it.
"Do not touch me," Seiryuu said. "You would be destroyed."
I drew my hand back quickly, my eyes wide.
He looked at me, a small, speculative gleam in his eyes. "Do not hide your hand, Sally Po. Hold it out, and look at it."
Hesitantly, I held my right hand out in front of myself and looked down at it. Around my arm, wrist and fingers, at least six inches wide on all sides, was a soft, powder blue light. I passed my left hand over my fingers, barely touching them - and I felt a warm, tingling sensation as my hand passed through the light, the light spilling between each finger. It emanated from my skin, and was such a beautiful color; it almost looked like mist.
"What - what is that?"
"Your soul. Your aura, really, since human souls do not stretch beyond their bodies, but their auras do. It's simply what your soul gives off." Seiryuu smiled at me, his dark eyes gentle.
"Everyone has this?" I examined my hand and arm in awe, blinking. It seemed absolutely incredible that suddenly I could see this - this manifestation of my soul. But this physical manifestation has far reaching implications for me, farther than I wanted to pursue at that point. My faith and belief had been placed squarely in what I could see, and touch, and measure - and that certainly wasn't my soul, or anyone else's, for that matter. This was getting a little too personal.
"Every...? Ah, I see. No, Sally Po. Humans do. Some non-humans do. However, it is mostly a human thing."
"You - you do not?" I glanced quickly at Trowa.
"Do you see one, Sally?"
"No. But I feel something ..." I answered, frowning a little. It was strange. I could not see anything, but I had the feeling of something ... immense. Not the same type of feeling from Seiryuu, but large, all the same.
"Different. You feel. This is good." Trowa nodded at me, looking pleased.
"Look at the window, please, Sally Po," directed Seiryuu.
I turned to look, and caught Trowa frowning at Seiryuu.
"Since you skimped on her education, Taru, I am doing it for you." Seiryuu raised an eyebrow at Trowa, very definitely amused.
Turning my attention to the people outside, I watched the children race around outside with each other and then run around the adults trying to supervise them. All the people outside had auras of differing shapes, sizes, and colors - but I noticed that not one of them had an aura of solid color, nor one that was as wide as mine. Not one was in the shape of an animal, or a dragon, either, as Seiryuu's was.
"They - they're all different - yet none are like mine, nor yours," I said, nodding to Seiryuu.
"Correct," he rumbled, seemingly pleased that I had noticed. "'Normal' people have auras that barely go beyond their skin." He pointed at a woman standing near the back of the garden. "See the servant in the green silk? She is very nice, but not Important. Her aura is barely an inch wide. That is the norm." He gestured to everyone outside. "None of these are truly my Children, or their auras would be different as well, if they were awake."
I frowned a little, looking outside, then down at my own hand. "But ... but mine is wider ..."
"Yes," he agreed, nodding, "because you are Important. Come with me." He gestured back toward the bedroom and walked in that direction, expecting me to follow.
I did, wondering. Important? Important to what? I wasn't important, not really. People had been trained to take my place in case I was captured by OZ; I specifically made sure I wasn't important to the organization, not in that way. I wanted everyone to go on if anything ever happened to me.
Following Seiryuu, I saw the light from the room twist and bend around his body, throwing him into silhouette, before I drew close. For a fleeting moment, I wondered if there was a fire in there - then I realized the light was golden. Seiryuu opened the door; golden light streamed through the door, so much so that it was almost blinding. I couldn't see the ends of this aura, it was all just light ...
"You see why I fell in love with her," Seiryuu murmured softly, next to me.
I nodded, squinting, holding up my hand. "She is beautiful. And the light - her aura is so - lovely. Calming. Restful - "
"Mine," he breathed, adoration in his voice.
"Fool," Trowa sighed.
"You are no better," Seiryuu said with a dry look toward Trowa.
"I have done nothing."
"You have chosen to be near him."
Trowa was silent, looking at Seiryuu.
I decided that my silence was the better part of valor, and chose to be silent. Besides, I was fairly sure I knew who Seiryuu meant.
"Those who are important ... have greater auras," Seiryuu continued, turning to me as if our conversation had never been interrupted. "The magnitude of their souls is shown in their auras. The colors indicate their nature. The solidity indicates purity - the sureness of mind and heart, a solidity of person."
"So - so that's why you called me a saint," I said, blinking in surprise. "Treize called me the same thing. Does that mean that he -"
"We are out of time," Trowa announced. And suddenly, I wasn't there anymore - in fact, the room was spinning, things were melting together, it was cold, and I didn't know where I was at all.
But I did hear Seiryuu's parting words in my head:
~~Take good care of my Child, Sally Po - or else you will see me again when I come to take his soul as he dies, and I will not be pleased.~~
I felt real pain. "I will take care of him, Seiyruu," I promised, whispering. I had no idea how I was going to keep that promise, but I knew I had to try - I had to keep Wufei safe. I protected Seiryuu's Child, after all.
When next I opened my eyes, Trowa and I were together in the same room in Treize's mansion, this time standing next to the windows, looking out over the lawn. I had no idea how much time had passed since we started; I felt a little woozy and tired.
"I have taken too much time," Trowa said, glancing over at the door. He patted my shoulder and gave me the ghost of a smile, his eyes dark and serious. "We will speak later."
"Trowa, wait. What -"
- and he was gone. No smoke, no flash of light, nothing like that. Just ... gone. Disappeared. One moment there, the next ... not.
I stared at the spot in front of the window where he had been, trying to force myself to visualize him there again, when the door was flung open.
"So there you are."
I whirled around and stared at the Special who strode into the room, his gun slung across his back. Staring at me, he growled into his shoulder microphone, "Found her. No problems. She was just in one of the upstairs libraries."
"...I ..." I couldn't think of anything to say as I watched him clomp across the room, small, nondescript colors flaring around his wrist and fingers. His aura was so weak that it barely reached through his clothing. It was waving, undulating slightly, and looked slightly fuzzy.
"Let somebody know where you're going the next time. The kid was looking for you." He frowned, stepped back and waited for me to leave the room. No chance for me to tell him that I'd be there in a moment, or right away.
"Wufei was looking for me?"
"Yeah. The kid." He nodded sharply as we walked down the hall toward Wufei's room, escorting me as far as his door, making sure I was there and that I knocked before turning smartly on his heel and leaving.
"Wufei? Are you there?"
Opening the door, Wufei appeared, dressed in orange silk, and looked at me in undisguised relief. "Sally. Come here. Now." He drew me into the room, pulling on my wrist, led me over to a chair in front of the video cabinet. "Sit down and look at this," he ordered, pushing me into the chair as he pointed the remote at the cabinet.
"What am I looking at?"
Rather than staring at the vidfeed, I stared covertly at Wufei. I was amazed at the aura encircling him. There was no dragon, at least none that I could see; but his aura was swirling red and black, not quite as thick as mine, with edges of purple that reminded me of bruising. All in all, it was impressive. Something about it, though, struck me as unhealthy. As I peered at him, I could see his pallor was very pale and his eyes looked huge.
"Wufei - Wufei, what's wrong? What am I looking at?"
"War," he answered, his gaze fastened to the viewscreen.