Disclaimer: Don't own the series, blah blah. Okay, I haven't written anything in a while so if it sounds a little off. . .um. . .yeah. And I'm sick so that causes for a little lack in judgement now and then, but this is basically what is suppose to happen. . .XD Yes, it's a freakish turn in events but it all ties together in the end, trust me. . .. Oh yes, and there's quotes from the movies "On the Line" and "Moulin Rouge" in this chapter, which I love but did not create. Just so you know. . .

Chapter 23

"Well, how are we suppose to help them?" Chang asked, getting annoyed.

"Maybe we're going at this all wrong, maybe we're not strong enough to physically fight them but. . .perhaps mentally. . ." Trowa suggested.

"No more chess, please. . ."

"No, I mean go into their minds! I'm sure they're not stable with two people going in the same body, we can do this!"

"We can try. . .we should test it on Milleena first while someone distracts Hechel." Quatre said.

"Got it." Trowa turned and used his powers to create the illusion of an opponent, luring Hechel to follow it away from Milleena. Eagerly, Hechel leapt at the creature, trying to bring it down so it could claw it to death.

"Now!" Chang said. Duo and Quatre joined powers with him and entered Milleena's mind, causing it to let out a shriek and catch Hechel's attention.

No, follow me. . .Trowa thought, using his powers to make his illusion almost real, whacking Hechel on the back of the head. This infuriated it and it raced after the speedy chimera, trying in dismay to bring it down. While Trowa played war with Hechel, the others battled to get into Milleena's mind.

"No, get out of our head!" Milleena screamed, holding its head and shaking back and forth violently.

"This. . .is for your own. . .good!" Duo grit his teeth, finally breaking through its powerful mind barrier. His eyes glazed over and he fell to his knees, staring blankly into space.

"Duo? DUO!" Quatre exclaimed.

"No, keep trying!" Chang said, forcing Quatre to forget about Duo. Deep within Duo's mind, his subconscious was sucked into Milleena's black hole of thoughts, getting tossed and turned about by the shock waves of Chang and Quatre's efforts. As he tried to sift through the confusion, he spotted two bodies trapped within a bubble of light, blinded as to the world around them. Cautiously, he approached it and tried to touch the outside. It immediately threw him back, causing him to summersault past various neural commands. Shaking it off, he stared at the impervious sphere containing his friends and thought, How did they get in there? I have to find a way to break them out! But. . .how. . .Hey, guys, can you hear me! Duo called to them repeatedly but they didn't seem to notice him. He began to fly around in circles, using extravagant hand gestures and movements to make his presence known. They still did not flinch. He stopped inches from the wall, staring in and thinking, Man, what are they doing? They're just sitting in there holding hands! This is NO time for bonding and singing songs, why can't I reach them! He flew back a few feet and built up a ball of energy, throwing it at the sphere. The attack was immediately repelled back at him and he ducked, nearly being knocked unconscious.

Woah. . .okay, so I can't use my powers on it. . .maybe I can crush it. . .He used his mind to increase the pressure around the bubble, trying to cause it to shatter. But the bubble resisted all his attacks. In frustration, he cursed and screamed at it, saying, If you don't open, I'll. . .I'll. . .I'll do something to you! GAH, would you PLEASE give me my friends back!

"No."

Oh, well then I'll just have to-wait, what? Who said that!

"I did."

Who's I? Duo looked around for the voice he heard echo through their thoughts but saw nothing different.

"I am I. Who are you?"

Oh. . .well, my name's Duo-wait a minute, I'm not gonna have a chat with something that's using my friends to kill my girl! I demand you free Relena and Milliardo right now!

"And what if I don't?"

Then. . .I'll. . .I'll. . .

"You've been saying that frequently. Do you have a stutter?"

No I don't have a stutter! Listen. . .whatever you are, I don't know why you're doing this but it's wrong and it has to stop!

"Why?"

Because, you're hurting innocent people! This isn't our world, you'll disrupt everything!

"I can't go home."

Why not!

"The germ does not physically exist there."

I would appreciate it if you didn't refer to Rachel as a germ! What's your beef with her anyway!

"One like me lives in her that the assassin has awoken, he will destroy our world."

He?

"Gabriel-Loki."

Is that the name of that other thing out there?

"No, that is the germ and assassin combined, it is a virus called Hechel."

Hechel? And you're Milleena. . .

"No, that is the peace and hope combined, I live inside Relena."

This is so confusing. . .so you're like this. . .Gabriel thing? How are you so much better than it is?

"He. I am not evil."

Oh, well that explains everything. Actually, it doesn't. Who are you to judge whether he's the evil one and you're the good one? After all, you attacked him first, he's just playing with you!

"Gabriel-Loki is a demon spirit, he must be destroyed."

Yeah yeah, I heard you say that all already. If he's a demon, what are you?

"An Angel spirit."

Good for you. Look, I don't give a care about your stupid little fight but take it elsewhere!

"I have no choice, the chosen one shall die for the safety of everyone's futures."

For the safety of our futures! What are you talking about, Rachel wouldn't do anything to hurt us! Besides, we can help ourselves, I mean, we ended a war all by ourselves!

"You will be overpowered, I have no choice but to intervene and destroy the threat before it occurs."

No, wait! Can't you just. . .get rid of this guy without killing Rachel!

"They are part of each other, one in one. . .they must both die."

I can't let you do that!

"Why?"

Because, I love her!

"Love? What is love?"

What do you mean, 'what is love'? Love is what makes the world go around!

"I thought that was the gravitational pull of the sun."

Well, literally speaking. Okay, so love may not make the world go around, but it sure makes the ride worth while! Love lifts us up where we belong, all you need is love!

"All you need? Do you not require food or air when in this state of love?"

Of course you still need food and air, but that's not my point! Love is what keeps us alive, just knowing that there's someone else in the world that needs you in order to live, someone who would be alone without you. . .someone. . .to love.

"Love. . .I want to know more about this. . .love."

But you can't very well know about it if you kill people, that's not very loving. And you can't love unless you're human or at least like us! I mean, animals don't love, they just do it and make babies and die, that's it! But we can't go through life without knowing we were loved at least once by someone. . .

"I want to experience love. . .tell me how I can do this."

You have to be like us, not some voice in someone's head.

"Like you. . ." Suddenly, a brilliant light filled the thoughts of Relena and Milliardo and Duo was sent reeling back and out of their consciousness, falling back in reality and hitting the ground.

"Duo's back!" Slowly, Duo blinked open his eyes and stared up into a pair of large blue-green eyes looking deeply concerned.

"Q-Quatre?" Duo muttered, being helped up by his friend.

"We thought you'd be like that forever! What happened?" Quatre said, bringing his belt leg around behind Duo to help support his back.

"I. . .I saw them. . .Relena and Milliardo. But, there was someone else in there, some creature living inside Relena's mind. It was trying to kill Rachel cause there's something in her too like it. Wait, are they-"

"It's okay, they're back." Trowa stepped up, looking exhausted beyond all reason. Looking ahead, Duo saw two bodies laying side by side on the broken pavement, still unconscious. A few feet from them lay the other two in similar conditions.

"So. . .what now? Do we just leave?"

"We have to do something about all this damage, but so many people have seen us I don't know what to do. . ." Quatre said, looking worried.

"There's nothing we can do about being seen, all we can do is return the roads to how they used to be and hope they blame the sightings on the heat." Chang said, wiping a bit of sweat from his brow as he looked up toward the intense sun.

"None of us have enough energy to do that, all we can manage is teleporting home." Trowa muttered, wobbling slightly as he walked up to them.

"Then there is nothing we can do." Chang said.

"No, they'll think it was a terrorist attack! We can't let her planet fall to a war! What if this was our world, would you just leave things as they are?" Quatre protested strongly.

"Then you figure out how to change things back." Chang hissed, his hands on his hips as he glared at Quatre.

"I can return some of them to your world so you can safely return your own selves." Michael stepped up to them.

"You can do that?" Duo asked, looking up at him.

"How do you think I kidnapped your girlfriend. . ." Michael muttered before walking toward the bodies strewn about. Duo started toward Michael angrily but Quatre held him back, talking him down.

"Let's get this cleaned up and leave, I hear sirens approaching." Chang said, turning to the debris laying everywhere. He closed his eyes and focused hard on changing the scenery to its original standings, soon being joined by the other four's efforts. With their combined power, they managed to change everything back and still teleport home. When they arrived back at the capitol building, they found a second jet resting on the lawn by Heero's creation.

"You're back! We weren't sure if you'd make it." Dexter said cheerfully, helping them to a seat on the lawn.

"When did you get here?" Quatre asked as he sat down with a moan.

"Shortly after you, we followed when you left, right after picking up Mike and Mike."

"Wait. . .where were they?" Duo asked, stretched out on the grass with a sigh.

"Funny story, actually. . .they were in the base when they came across this guy trying to cross some wires and cause a surge in the systems that could blow up the whole place. Well, they weren't keen on dying so they stopped him and planted their own bombs, as they had planned to do in the first place. Then they hightailed it and waited a safe distance from the explosion to be picked up."

"Guy? What guy?"

"Oh, that guy!" Dexter pointed to a small man laying on the grass by the women they had previously rescued.

"Professor Hearn, I thought he died. . ." Trowa said in surprise.

"He would have if they hadn't found him in time. Lucky thing, huh? It seems he's also familiar with the girls you found."

"They're his family, or what's left of it." Chris said, sitting by the group looking solemn and exhausted.

"Well. . .it's good that he's been reunited with his family." Quatre said softly, starting to fall asleep.

"I don't understand, what happened while I was in that thing's mind? It seems like everything just came to a stop as soon as I was forced out." Duo said, staring up at the sky in deep thought.

"I don't really know how to explain it, they just stopped moving and changed back into our friends. It was weird, they just gave up like that. . .why do you suppose they did?"

"I don't know. . .last thing I remember was talking to that thing about love and then. . ." Duo fainted off as his eyelids slowly closed over his eyes, his head rolling slightly to the side as he fell asleep.

"Talking about love? I think he lost it back there. . ." Chang mumbled, refusing to fall asleep on the grass like everyone else as he sat cross-legged, arms folded over his chest.

"Ugh, I have the worst headache. . .you wouldn't believe. . ." Quatre sat up slowly, his head throbbing as he rose. Sayla, sitting by his side, helped him remain upright as she said softly, "Shall I get you some Aleve, dear?"

"No, I'll be fine. . .eventually. . ."

"It's like having a hangover. . ." Duo commented as he had woke a few minutes before Quatre and was trying to gather his thoughts.

"Yeah, you'd know a lot about those, now wouldn't you." Chang mumbled, still awake from earlier but in mid meditation. With an indignant glare, Duo stared at Chang and said, "Would you stop being Mr. Macho and just pass out already!"

"I am just fine, besides, by staying awake I have been able to keep an eye on my wife." Chang shot back mildly.

"Eh? What's that suppose to mean!" Duo blinked in confusion, trying to get up as the world spun in protest.

"Your woman has been feeling quite ill while you've been sleeping like a baby." Duo grumbled a snide comment as he staggered to his feet.

"Where is she?"

"Inside with Relena and Heero." Chang sighed, glad for Duo to finally be out of earshot as he was snoring in his sleep, rather obnoxiously to add. Duo, as quick as drunken legs could go, ran into the capitol and called out for Rachel, roaming around the hallways until he found Heero sitting in the long hall to the guest quarters. Looking puzzled, Duo slowed his pace as he approached, saying, "Heero? What's wrong, where's Rachel?"

"In the bedroom with Relena." He simply replied. Duo reached to open the door when Heero grabbed his calf, startling him.

"Wha-" Duo stared down at him in surprise. The deeply distressed man gazed up at him with a disturbing emptiness in his once beautiful eyes.

"There's. . .something wrong with her. . .same as with Relena." Heero said, his voice almost lacking composure.

"What is it?" Heero's hand let go of Duo and dropped to the floor, its owner unresponsive. With a dumbfounded expression, Duo pushed open the door and entered the room quietly. He saw two forms lying on the bed, silent as death before him. Nervously, Duo ventured to stand by Rachel, kneeling as his cold hand gently touched her arm. She barely flinched.

Her skin is hot, she must be really sick. Duo figured as he placed both hands on her, concentrating his energy to heal her of her ailment. His attempts were in vain, as nothing happened.

"You can't heal her of this." Heero was standing in the doorway, his face paling a little every minute.

"Why not, I'm strong enough!" Duo protested. Heero shook his head as he said, "No, that has nothing to do with it."

"Then why can't I heal her?"

"Because, she's not sick. . .she's pregnant."