Saotoshi, nekomoongirl, DrkNuriko, you da peeps, man. This one's for you.
Repent All Ye Sinners
A GWing Fanfic by Miaka Kennyuuki
Repent (3/?)
Solution
The San Andreas Public Library was fairly empty when the pilots arrived. Over the next two hours it filled up. To the point that even the social Duo was ready to request a separate room for them. Once acquired, their research went much more smoothly.
"I found something about the angry Earth Mother," said Quatre, holding up a book that looked to be fairly old.
"Earth Mother? I thought it was Mother Earth?" Wufei said, flipping slowly through his selection of myths and legends.
"It's the same thing," Trowa said. "Mother Earth and Earth Mother in almost every language are translated the same." Heero nodded, confirming Trowa's statement.
"This site contains a full translation of the original Nordic variation of the prophecy concerning the Knights of Atonement, and their relationship to the angered Earth Mother," Wing's pilot said, gesturing at his laptop. All the pilots crowded around the slightly dented machine to see the page.
"Thank Hades for GoogleSearch, ne?" Duo said, laughing. Quatre and Trowa nodded. They scanned the site, which surprisingly had all the information they needed, then hooked up the laptop to a printer and made copies of everything.
"Look at this," Quatre said, snatching up one of the newly printed sheets. "It says here that 'the Earth Mother protects Mankind, and Mankind protects Her in exchange.' But in the event that Mankind doesn't do its duty to the Earth Mother…"
"Lemme guess. Dead people. Blood, gore, carnage, Armageddon. The usual, right?" Duo said, looking bored.
"It says here that an ancient nomadic tribe called the Helewas made a pact with the Earth Mother. If She protected them all their days, they would in turn protect Her. This went on for thousands of years, the Helewas and the Earth living in harmony," Trowa said.
"Then the belief that land had value came into play," Wufei continued, scanning another sheet of paper. "British, Spanish, French, they populated the world, drove the Helewas out, and reestablished themselves in the space left. They didn't appreciate the Earth Mother, and began destroying trees and digging up land without Her express permission."
"Floods, fire storms, hurricanes, anything the Earth Mother could do to those people, She did. For a while the people appreciated her, and things went back to the way they were," Duo read. "But then the first colony was built, and the people began to leave the Earth. Memories of the Earth Mother faded around the same time as Mobile Suits began development."
"With every pitched battle, the Earth Mother gained more scars, more wounds, and more holes. But She decided to hold back and give Mankind a chance to redeem itself. She forgave them everything, as long as they didn't damage her heart, according to the new agreement with the earlier invaders," Heero provided from his place at the laptop.
"But we failed in that," Quatre whispered. "The Earth's core must be Her heart. It's like Trowa said, we sent the weapons down into Her heart, and it pains Her."
"Didn't She demand a price in exchange for this injustice?" Wufei asked. "Trowa said that 'we must heal Her, or She will get rid of that which hurts Her'. What must we do to heal Her and avoid having to pay the price?"
"It says it right here," Trowa said. "To appease the Earth Mother, one must bring forth the Knights of Atonement and send them to Her realm. There She will tell them what must be done to right the wrong committed by Mankind. If this is not done, She will take the price agreed upon by the Helewas. The lives of Mankind."
"So someone must find these Knights and send them to someplace to do something?" Duo asked. "Any vaguer and I'd think I was listening to an evil Overlord outline his plan for world domination."
"That still doesn't explain who the Knights of Atonement are," Quatre said.
"According to this, they are 'the ones who willingly atone for the sins of Mankind," Heero said. "They sacrifice themselves to the people."
"Kinda like us," Duo said. "Anyway, we gotta find someone willin' to throw themselves into an abyss of uncertainty in the name of Mankind? Ain't gonna happen, my friends. Mankind is goin' to hell in a hand basket, and there ain't much we can do about it."
Wufei watched Duo strangely for about a minute, then shook his head and looked down at the paper in his hand. Another minute and he looked up again. "Duo, did you know that when you are confused your L2 accent comes back full force?" he asked.
Duo looked surprised. "Really? I didn't notice. Usually I tilt back toward my British, ya know? But I guess the situation calls for a bit of the old me." He scanned the paper he was holding. "Most freaky shit need a bit of street to straighten it out."
"Enough," said Quatre. "We have a task to accomplish, then we must go home and rest. G expects us at 10am tomorrow morning."
"Sir!" the other pilots said, saluting loosely. Though Quatre was small, blond and innocent looking, he was their leader and a hard ass when it came to getting stuff done. Not many would cross him. Even Duo had a healthy level of restraint where Quatre was concerned.
The pilots began going through the documents again, murmuring here and there at interesting things. Finally, a librarian came and told them that the library would be closing in a few minutes. Exhausted but well-informed and ready for the meeting with G and the others the next morning, the pilots filed out and headed home.
Once home, Quatre washed up quickly then headed to his room. Duo threw all his clothes on the floor and curled up under his favorite fluffy Alice in Chains blanket. Heero carefully put away his laptop, folded his clothes and got into his bed wearing only his spandex shorts. Wufei did a few quick breathing exercises before he changed into old style sleeping clothes and sprawled out on the bed. Everyone slowly fell asleep at the same time.
Everyone but Trowa, who sat on the roof, contemplating his role in all they had researched.
TBC