Phoenix Rising

Chapter 1: Into the Woods

(Writer: Nashie-chan)

Disclaimer: We do not own Sailor Moon or Gundam Wing, and owned by Naoko Takeuchi and Bandai, respectively. This fanfiction was created for the amusment of the writers, and we do not make any profit off of it, no matter how poor and desperate we are.

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When Kia woke up, she heard birds.

It wasn't unusual to hear sparrows chirping cheerfully before the sun came up, and she was sure that it would have been perfectly normal. But something in her dream-shaken mind told her that something was not quite right. The part of her that was still asleep commanded the awakening part of her to forget about it and deal with it in the morning.

Morning…morning.

Kia opened her eyes.

And sat straight up in disbelief.

She looked around at her surroundings, her mouth agape in shock. For a moment, her stunned brain tried to reason with her, but she forcefully did not listen to it. Let me have a few seconds of downright panic first before Jo wakes up, she thought in a daze, climbing to her feet. Her friend, still sleeping a few feet next to her, shifted in the throes of the last strands of a dream. Besides, she'll probably react worse…

Kia sat back down, lotus position, and folded her hands in her lap. Something was telling her that there was something hugely wrong about this, other than the obvious, and she wasn't quite sure how she knew that. However it was turning out, she wasn't too happy with her current situation, and she felt a bit of blank nostalgia rise up within her stomach.

The birds had just begun to cease their chirping when Josefina let out a low mumble in her sleep, and turned over onto her stomach. "Kia…didja open th'window or sumhin…" Her words were slurred, but at least she wasn't mumbling in Spanish, as she had a habit of doing whenever she woke up from a deep sleep. Kia remained mute, hoping that her silence would provoke her friend into waking up. She just sat patiently, a growing sense of worry building within her, and she shivered.

Josefina finally let out a groan of protest, and opened her eyes blearily to glare at Kia, who let herself smile faintly. If she knew Josefina as well as she thought, it would only take a few moments for her to realize something was not quite right. Josefina, in turn, sat up, still obviously in the state between dreaming and waking, and she frowned uncertainly at Kia. "What are you smiling at?"

"Jo, what are you sleeping on?"

"My bed…?" The girl sounded a bit confused, looking down to wonder why in the world her friend would ask her such a mundane question. Her mind didn't quite register the fact that instead of blankets and a mattress beneath her, there was lush, verdant grass sprouting from the ground. She stared at it for a moment before looking around at her surroundings. Huge red trees that she had only seen at Yellowstone, a canopy of blue-green leaves overhead, a gray-blue sky, pale sunlight creating patches of warmth on the grass…

Kia watched as Josefina took one final assessment of the area, pinched herself, and then watched as the latina's eyes flew open in surprise and panic.

"We've been kidnapped!" Before Josefina could even begin to rant and go into full-fledged Josefina-panic, Kia held up a hand to stop the inevitable rant. Times like this did not call for panic.

"Kidnapped, Jo?" she said reasonably, trying to keep doubt from trickling into her voice. "Think about it – we aren't exactly rich or have political connections in any way." It was faulty reasoning – from statistics, Kia knew that anyone could be kidnapped, no matter who their parents were or how much money they had. But hopefully, Josefina hadn't read those statistics, and would simply put trust in her friend's words.

But it didn't see that Josefina had ever heard her. Her pretty face crumpled in fright. "Oh, god…kidnapped…oh, my god…just like in the movies…" Kia felt something twist in her stomach, but she wasn't quite sure if it was because of pity or annoyance. Either way, she sighed, scooting over to her friend, and patting her on the shoulder, whispering comforting to words to her. This was all too familiar, whenever in the middle of the night, a child awoke her with a cry of fright from nightmares real and imaginary, and only the presence of a sister could sooth fears of the monsters that tormented that child's mind.

But Josefina didn't cry. No, Josefina never cried. She could throw the most delirious of tantrums and fits of panic, but she never cried. So after a few moments on consolation, she peered around at her surroundings again, eyes narrowing as she tried to solve the puzzle of why and how they had ended up in the middle of a forest somewhere.

It didn't take her long to reach a reasonable conclusion. "This doesn't look like California. Even those trees aren't big enough…" Kia blinked uncertainly at Josefina's abrupt change in attitude. It shouldn't have really surprised her, but given the circumstances…

"No. It doesn't."

"And we had an alarm system!" Josefina exclaimed, jumping to her feet so quickly, Kia nearly fell over. She glared up at her friend, who didn't seem to notice. "Why didn't Roberto come to our rescue?"

Well, while she's ranting, at least she's calm. Kia climbed to her feet as well, wiggling her bare toes uncomfortably in the grass. She was never one for nature, but at least the grass was lush enough and warm enough to be comfortable. She looked around the area with Josefina, and crossed her arms contemplatively. "And if we actually were kidnapped, how come there aren't people making sure we stay here?" She looked around. "Wouldn't it be a bit more wise if they kept us somewhere where there weren't so many escape exits…like, I don't know, an actual room? Or a building at least?"

Josefina nodded in agreement. "And where's the mafia car?" Her brow furrowed in frustration. "I can't believe we've been kidnapped by people who don't even know how to do it right! I mean, didn't they ever see The Sopranos?"

"Jo, it isn't always a mafia car…sometimes it's a van or some other unremarkable car." Kia tried not to sound exasperated. Leave it Josefina to reach some outlandish, improbable conclusion. She looked down at the grass, looking for some sort of ransom note or other clue as to where their location was, as Josefina looked heavenwards, craning her neck up to see if there were any snipers hiding in the trees.

After a few moments of the silence, Josefina quietly murmured, "We've been abducted."

Now that was something out of the blue. Kia stared at her as if she had just announced that was planning a coup d'etat of the French government. "What?" At that Josefina pointed towards the sky. After having not spotted any snipers or men in expensive black Gucci suits, she had noticed something very peculiar about the sky. Kia followed her finger, and peered up at the slate-blue sky with a confused frown on her face. Then she saw it.

The moon was green.

Not a bright neon green or a dark rosebush green. It was actually very pale, a timid, but its color was still very obviously different from the silver and peach moon Kia was used to seeing. And it was very large. Much too large, even if one took into account any atmospheric gases that could sometimes distorted the moon's true size. And the fact that it was so apparent in obvious daytime unsettled her.

"I'm no astrologer or anything, but I don't think the moon is supposed to be that color," Josefina muttered.

"Astronomer."

"Huh?"

"Astrologer is someone who uses the path of the stars and planets to foretell the future. An astronomer relies more on science than myth and magic." Josefina made a face at her, and Kia just blinked innocence. "Well, it's true." Josefina threw her hands up their air.

"Well how do explain the fact that we're obviously on a different planet! We've been abducted!"

Kia struggled not to roll her eyes. "And the aliens decided to just drop us off on a planet that happens to very similar to Earth? I don't think so…and I'm sure we would have remembered at least part of the abduction…"

"Then where are we?"

"I'd say…we're completely lost, without a single clue on where we are, or even how we got here." Josefina did not look amused at Kia's stating of the obvious, and Kia gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry. But maybe we should look for someone who might know where we are. Hopefully, they'll be friendly…"

"And not little green men."

"Are you still on that bit?"

They continued their friendly, if tense banter as they randomly picked a direction and started to walk in that direction. Kia hoped that whoever they ran into, if they ran into anybody would be reasonable and nice. The moon that loomed just above their heads seemed to be like a heavy burden on their shoulders, and it made Kia tense. Truth be told, as much as she tried to be calm for Josefina's sake, something about the entire situation made her wary. The green moon, the chirping of birds that were nowhere to be seen, the overall tension that the forest seemed to carry – it was almost too abnormal even for her.

Josefina glanced over at her friend, who had fallen into a thoughtful silence. The redhead was more accepting of these types of changes than she was, especially one as weird as this. I swear, it's either the mafia or aliens…or aliens that are part of the mafia…or some secret government conspiracy! But I bet Kia wouldn't think so…weirder things have happened though…for someone who believes in magic, she sure can have no imagination sometimes…

Lost in her own thoughts, Josefina didn't notice Kia halt all of a sudden, and she nearly collided into the girl's back. Before she could open her mouth to yell, Kia put two fingers up to her mouth to shush her. Josefina frowned at her, and was about to ask what Kia was doing, when she heard muffled voices talking a few dozen meters away. Her eyes widened. "The mafia?"

Kia suppressed her urge to hit Josefina's arm. "I don't know." She looked around, and then began heading in the direction of the voices, trying to be as quiet as possible. "Just in case, be quiet!" Josefina, brown eyes wide in surprised and a bit a fear, nodded, and began creeping after Kia.

As they began to get closer, the voices became more distinctive. Josefina glanced at Kia. "What language is that? Martian? Italian?"

"Keep it down. And I think it's English."

Josefina made a face. "What kind of Marian speaks English?"

"Will you decide whether or not their mafia or aliens, please?" She snuck behind a tall bush, hoping that they hadn't been spotted due to Josefina's mumbling. The bush, fortunately, did not have any thorns, and was place snugly around a tree. Both she and Josefina were small enough to wedge themselves in the tight space between the bush. Kia squirmed uncomfortably so as not to rattle the bush and gain any unwanted attention. Even as Josefina quietly mumbled her discomforts, Kia peered out between the bushes, hoping her hair wouldn't attract any unwanted attention.

Josefina shifted uncomfortably. "Can you see anything? Little green men in Gucci suits?" Her voice was so quiet it was almost inaudible.

Kia frowned, peering through the thick bushes. She was almost at a disadvantage because she couldn't move her head or body as freely as she wanted to because of the condensed space. "Five guys. No Gucci suits." Josefina squirmed next to her, and tried to look through the pushes as well, trying to ignore the uncomfortably strain she was placing on her neck and spine. She looked at the five guys in question, and she nearly squealed as the implications of what she was seeing sunk in.

"Oh, my god! Kia, those are your guys!" There was no doubt about it – the five guys standing a few dozen feet away were without a doubt Kia's "imaginary" boys from the picture early from the evening. Kia's mouth dropped slightly as she tried to get a better look at what Josefina was claiming. Her stomach flipped in her stomach as thoughts began racing through her head. What in the world would this possibly mean? Suppressed subconscious memories?

Josefina didn't seem to think so. In fact, she was grinning wildly as she stared at the five specimen of the opposite sex. Kia wondered how in the world Josefina managed to intrigue other guys when she already had a steady boyfriend. She briefly wondered who the lucky victim of the week was, when she realized that Josefina was preparing to stand up. Horrified, she grabbed her friend's wrist, slamming her back to the ground before she could be seen and wrapped her hand over her friend's mouth. "What are you doing? We don't know if they're friendly or not!"

Josefina wrestled, but to no avail. Neither of them noticed how much they were rustling the bush. They also didn't notice that one of the boys had turned a suspicious glare in their general direction. They were too busy silently arguing to notice him pull a black metallic object from his jacket.

They did notice the gunshot that penetrated the afternoon calm.

Kia yelped loudly, instinctively tumbling backwards into the tree, simultaneously trying to flatten herself on the ground. Her heart pounded against her chest as if it were trying to free itself from fleshly constraints, and Kia felt her mouth go dry as she noticed a bullet hole just inches from where her and Josefina's heads had been. This can't be happening. Someone just SHOT at us? She spared a look over to where Josefina had doubled over, throwing her hands overhead. She heard her friend hysterically mutter something about the mafia, but the sound of blood rushing in Kia's ears prevented her from hearing exactly what the brunette was saying.

"Not reassuring," she thought, blankly wondering if maybe Josefina was right. But…the mafia? She shivered inside, and closed her eyes, trying to blank out how close death had been. "We could have died. We could have died…" That in itself was enough to keep her from focusing on the confusion occurring a few feet away.

"Exactly why did you do that? It could have been a squirrel."

"Squirrels don't yelp."

"They're also not much a threat to the perfect solider. Give me that." A pause. "Oi, you're mean."

"Don't aggravate him, Duo."

Kia felt an urgency to flee at that moment, and she yanked on the back of Josefina's shirt. The other girl lifted her head slightly, her face ashen from fear. Kia gestured for her to follow her away from the bush and to get as much distant between them and the crazed gunmen as fast as possible.

Josefina was just beginning to sit up when a few branches were moved from overhead. Kia swallowed a panicked cry, and froze, her hand frozen stiff on Josefina's shirt. The boy, who couldn't have been any older than sixteen, peered down at the two girls. In the reasonable part of her mind, Kia remembered him as the one with the exuberant smile, both on his face and his glowing indigo eyes. Even now, despite the seriousness in the situation, and the tension that rested in her shivering heart, Kia still felt as if he were laughing at them somehow.

"Well, they're not dead," the boy said casually, grinning down at the two petrified girls. "Scared silly, but not dead." Josefina raised her head slightly to stare at the guy who was making fun of their predicament, and shuddered once she saw him.

"We aren't famous…we don't have any money," she murmured through slightly chattering teeth. "I hate the mafia." The boy grinned at them, looking as if he were trying to burst into laughter at that very moment.

"Heero, I think you scared them."

"It's not every day we get shot at," Kia muttered in reply, feeling a bit more courageous at the young man's laidback, genuinely friendly attitude. She studied his face – he looked as if he wore his heart on his sleeve, just as she had drawn him two days ago. But still…could she really trust someone who was friends with someone who shot at them for no apparent reason?

"Don't worry," the guy suddenly said, with a wink that obviously said he was a heartbreaker. "I'm the nice one."

Josefina, after having heard this brief exchange, decided his proclamation was enough for her, and she bolted upwards. "I've heard about stories where they make teenagers into Mafia hitmen!" The boy's sudden incredulous, stupefied look nearly made Kia burst into laughter, but she knew she would be the object of two glares if she did so.

She was saved from doing so when she heard a voice call out from behind the boy: "Duo! Are they alright?" Kia blinked. Duo? What a strange name for a boy…

The young man turned his attention away from the girls and towards his friends, who Kia supposed were still waiting for an answer. He put his hand behind his head, and made a face. "I think we can rule out the idea that they know anything. They're positively clueless." Josefina yelled in protest, but was cut off when another familiar face appeared next to the smiling brown-haired boy. Kia felt as if her ears turned red, but quickly tried to smother that feeling. It was the blonde one, the one who she felt an attraction even when he was only a drawing.

"Duo, stop teasing them," he chastised in a quiet voice. He turned his attention from his friend, and towards the girls, giving them a small, embarrassed smile. "You can come out. We're not going to hurt you." Kia frowned, not entirely believing that yet.

"Then what was the gunshot for?"

"Some of us are just a little edgy," he murmured, glancing over his shoulder. Kia raised one eyebrow slightly, not quite understanding why in the world a teenager who hardly looked older than her would be carrying a gun. She shivered, recalling the drawing of the one cold-eyed young man, with the impassive, icy glare. Were they all like that, and she was just mistaken by her first views?

Josefina, however, didn't seem to have any qualms about trusting the boys now that she knew they weren't part of the mafia. She jumped to her feet, and walked around the bush, hands on her hips. Now that she was in control of her emotions again, she looked ready to take on the world despite the fact that she was barefoot and still in her pajamas. Kia slowly rose to her feet, a little bit more self-conscious over her black pajamas, even though they covered up more than flesh than Josefina's oversized T-shirt.

"Do you know where we are?" Kia asked as she moved away from the bush. She risked a quick peek to where the other three guys were standing, but none of them seemed to be paying any attention to them. She let out a sigh of relief inwardly.

"We're here," came the cheerful reply to Kia's question. She gave the young man with the braid – Duo, she reminded herself mentally – an exasperated look. That much was obvious.

"I don't think that's the answer they were looking for," the blonde said with an exasperated smile of his own. Kia nodded in agreement, as Josefina scowled at Duo. The young man didn't seemed a bit fazed by other three's reactions.

"Well, as long as we all know where we aren't. That's a start."

"You don't know where here is either?" asked Kia, as the implications of Duo's statement sunk in. The blonde shook his head.

"Unfortunately no." Kia looked thoughtful.

"That's not good." She paused. "Did you just wake up here, too?"

"Not really."

"Not really?"

Duo snorted. "Is there an echo? We just sort of…came here." He blinked uncertainly, and scratched his head. "The whole hocus-pocus stuff included. Which explains why Mr. Shoot-First-Ask-Later reacted like he did." He glanced over at the other three, more directly at the young man in the black jacket. Kia didn't follow his gaze, remembering the feelings evoked whenever she glanced at the cold young man who had nearly killed her or Josefina.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" Josefina demanded. "I swear, this sounds like some governmental Roswell thing." Kia crossed her arms, and tapped her fingers against her elbows in a contemplative rhythm. She suddenly looked up at Josefina, a thoughtful, slightly worried look on her face.

"So you think that woman will show up too?" The blonde boy blinked.

"What woman?" Kia blushed, and gave an apologetic shrug.

"A woman with a really short skirt, long dark hair, and a weird staff." Kia noticed that the two boys went oddly quiet, sharing unnerved looks before glancing at their three companions. She wondered if they had seen her, or if they knew her. She shook her head. "It was a long shot. A very long shot."

"You saw her too?" That snapped Kia out of her thoughts, and she stared at the blonde in surprise.

"Not…exactly. So, you did see her…?" Duo sighed.

"Unfortunately, yeah. She was the one that did the little hocus pocus thing with that silver staff."

"And then there was a kinda swirly vortex thing?"

Duo and the blonde shared looks.

"It's nice to know that the pajama-clad girls know what they're talking about." The new voice startled both Josefina and Kia, and they spun around to face the condescending glare of the Chinese youth, the one Kia remembered with the arrogant, superior light in his black eyes.

The blonde gave him a frown. "Wufei…"

"Ah, he's just cranky," Duo teased. Kia rolled her eyes to the canopy of leaves overhead, and thought, if I see that lop-eared rabbit…

Josefina made a face, and looked over at Wufei, a dark look in her deep brown eyes. "Do you have any better ideas, Mr. Know-It-All?" The young man didn't ever spare her a look.

"Well, when it comes to talking to people who obviously don't know anything, I have lots of better ideas."

Josefina scowled. "Such as?"

"Not standing here and talking about it." Duo snorted, and gave the Asian youth a smirking look.

"Great idea. Let's just walk around pointlessly." He ignored Wufei's glare, and turned to Kia and Josefina, a smile on his face. "Well, are we off to follow Wuffle's idea?" Josefina sniggered as Wufei turned a furious glare to the back of Duo's head, but the cheerful young man ignored it. Kia managed to hide a smile – just like she imagined.

"By the way, as long as we're going to be traveling with one another, we might as well know each other's names," Kia suggested with a timid smile, sparing a glance towards the three aloof members of their tiny, lost group. Josefina blinked.

"You mean, you didn't name them?" Kia shrugged.

"Just one, two, three, four, and five…" Duo snorted, as if he were trying to hold in a laugh, but he managed to keep a straight face as he sent the two girls another dazzling smile. Wow, that smile is almost always on, Kia thought in a daze.

"Well, I'm Duo Maxwell. I may run, I may hide, but I never tell a lie!" Josefina rolled her eyes at the little statement, and probably would have said something had Kia not interrupted her at that moment.

"I'm Kia McCawley, and this is Josefina Ramirez."

The blonde smiled. "I'm Quatre Raberba Winner. Pleased to meet you formally." He gave a slight bow towards the two girls, and once again, Josefina was stopped from remarking about the boys' antics by one of the silent members of the group.

"Trowa Barton." Kia glanced over at him, but he had already finished speaking by them. She barely registered Wufei introducing himself, and Duo telling them that they could call him 'Wuffles', resulting in Wufei glaring murder towards the other boy.

This is too weird – all of this happened because of my drawing…? But I never drew a world or a forest…maybe Josefina and I are trapped within my sketchbook…? I thought this only happened in those silly B-rated movies Josefina watches…

Duo turned to the last member of the group. "C'mon. You can do it. Just open your mouth and work the vocal cords." The young man with the sharp blue eyes frowned at Duo with uncanny calmness, before giving a slight shrug of one shoulder.

"Heero Yuy."

"It's like pulling teeth sometimes."

Kia snapped out of her reverie, still avoiding eye contact with the one who called himself 'Heero'. "Okay, then. So, which way are we going?"

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