Sorry about the delay. This was supposed to be up last Sunday (well, the Sunday before that actually, but then my sister came a'knocking.), but something happened to… not sure what to call it… the scripture that I usually use for chapters to be posted on the net: it disappeared last week and now has mysteriously decided to reappear again. I'm seriously stumped.

This chapter will be more choppy than even the others, and it might be a bit boring for you, but not all chapters can be filled with action, and there's knowledge here that you readers need plus we get to see what most of them are up to at the moment. However corny it may read. The choppiness should diminish over the next few chapters hopefully.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or Sailor Moon. I haven't even visited the country that they originate from. Current rumours claim they are owned by a certain Yoshiyuki Tomino and Naoko Takeuchi. I'm not one to gossip -

-

-

-

Part 9: Sacrifice

"Any luck?"

"Sigh. No."

Duo slumps across the table. "Ah, come on…! We've been searching for weeks! Heero's probably found her by now."

Quatre frowns. "I wouldn't think so. He'd be back by now then."

"Get back to reading," Wufei barks, flipping through his own ancient tome.


"Flight GH-9875 to the L2 Colonies, Quadrant Alpha, is boarding now, please report to Gate 35X…"

She wasn't on L1.


"Miss Relena?"

"Yes Otto, I just got the strangest call. Do we have any books on butterflies?"

The butler frowns thoughtfully. "We might, miss; shall I get them?"

"Yes please." Relena gazes thoughtfully out her office window. 'What are you up to, Dorothy?'


"Forgive me, Lady, but I was under the impression that this was Agent Yuy's mission."

"I'm not asking you to work with 01, his mission is solely to capture the subject; it's a search and retrieve mission. The other pilots are privately investigating the phenomena of the 'Butterfly' in the Chang-clans library. What I need you to do is find out where she came from. Retrace her steps if you have to, but it is paramount that we discover her origins. The Preventers cannot have more people with her powers traipsing the Earth. Will you help us, Zechs?"

The blonde shakes his head in thought. "I'll require the help of Noin."

"Done."


"Man, this sucks! We're getting nowhere!"

"Settle down, Duo, we're all frustrated," the blonde chides. Looking over to his companion, he asks, "Are you finding anything of use, Wufei?"

The Chinese rubs his temples tiredly. "No. Nataku, it's like reading backwards the ramblings of a senile old onna!"

Trowa's eye glitters with humour, "I believe your 'onna's are a bunch of old male scholars; but they seem to know more wives tales than the average old crone." He grins.

"Injustice," Wufei grumbles.


The wheels rumble as the flight takes off. The mechanical sound of machinery folding is heard next to the creek of closing pods.

"Would you like a drink with your meal, sir?"

"Hn."

It's going to be a long trip.


A hand clutches at her heart. Looking to the artificial sky, she frowns. 'Something's coming.'


"Hey! What are those bunch of books over there, Wu-chan?"

"Hmm? Don't call me Wu-chan," the scholar murmurs distractedly before glancing over at the excited rogue. He sneers, "Oh those." He returns his attention to the dusty book in front of him, "That's just the diaries of a demented old hermit. Ignore them; he died insane."

The American frowns thoughtfully down at the musty books, "Ya' know? I think I'll just take a look at them, anyway."

"Do as you wish, Maxwell."

The library goes silent once again.


…I believe Fate is a river; a river so wide, you cannot see the other side. It must be that big, to cover the destiny of all living beings. An infinite number of streams that join together to form the circumstances of our lives on this world. After all, water is life. Fate is fluid; you will always have a choice.

But some things are set in stone. Even in a river there are certain rocks that, whatever paths you take, will not be overcome; some water will always flow past and crash against them. These are the events that will happen, no matter what. The reasons they happen, the people they effect, may change, but they will happen…


"Hey, this book is pretty interesting, Wufie. Are you sure this guy's a nutter?"

Onyx eyes glare irritably at him. "Chang Beilong claimed to be a great magician and had unlocked the mystic secrets of flying with spirits, when in reality he was a loony old fool that smoked medicinal herbs and shamed our family ancestors by jumping off a cliff while on a high and falling to his death. He was the village idiot and he died an imbeciles death." The teenager snorts disgustedly, "Fly indeed. Humph."

"But Wufei," Quatre cautions, "That girl, she flew."

The Asian teen remains stubbornly silent.

"There are many things that are left unexplained on this Earth. Perhaps we should consider magic," Trowa eyes Wufei calmly.

Wufei grumbles, "I don't believe in magic."

"And yet, we've all experienced its touch," the brunette states serenely, glancing pointedly at the blushing Arabian.

"Well… yes, but—" Wufei splutters.

"And don't forget that funky thing Heero did," Duo chirps smugly. "If that weren't magic, then I don't know what is… And say, aren't you Chinese known for your hocus pocus n' spirits n' stuff?" he gloats.

"Fine!" Wufei growls, "We'll look at the less scientific books as well."

Duo blows a raspberry.

"MAXWELL!"


…But the river of Fate faces many perils. Should it grow too wild, the river will flood, destroying all in it's path. The river would become an ocean of chaos, and all that the gods have blessed us with: structure, order, culture and civilization will be lost in the cacophony of primal confusion, and we would revert to the concentrated matter that was once this cosmos.

And yet, should the river grow too docile, the water will become stagnant, and no longer will there be a river but a still lake. No more life could grow and soon, all lives would perish and the world would end.

It is a precarious balance that our future depends on…


"Usagi! I'm going out; do you want to come!"

The blonde turns around, smiling sweetly, "No thank you! Working!"

"Man, Usagi! You're always working!" the other girl smiles, closing the door behind her.

Watching sadly the other leave, she returns to her work. 'Will it find me, if I hide?'


…In eons past, scholars, wise men and mystics have debated on the occurrences of the 'Butterfly', a mystical warrior who is always born in times of peace. Together they have formed the Chaos Theory to explain the effect this warrior has on the world:

It is thought that the flapping of a single butterfly's wing today produces a tiny change in the state of the atmosphere. Over a period of time, what the atmosphere actually does diverges from what it would have done, like a rock creating ripples in a pond. So, in a month's time, a tornado that would have devastated the Indonesian coast doesn't happen. Or maybe one that wasn't going to happen, does.

This 'Butterfly' is theorized to be born into a human family, and often lies dormant until puberty when their full powers develop and are unleashed. Before puberty, they often lead an unusual life, preparing them for their future harsh lives, forging them into formidable fighters to ensure their survival. As their powers grow, the surrounding people begin to notice the effects. Slowly, like a building ripple, the 'Butterfly' draws chaos, altering the destinies of everyone they touch, changing Fate until their power consumes them, leaving behind a wake of chaos and destruction…


"Hey! I think I'm on to something! This old coot just mentioned 'Butterflies'!"

Chairs are knocked over as the rest crowd around him.


…I have dedicated my life to the study of these mystical beings, and through them have discovered a pattern that has allowed me to develop my ideas about the 'Children of Fate' and the theoretical river that is our destinies into a theory that I believe to be sound…


"Child of Fate?"

"Shh! Keep reading!"


…Scholars have obtained recordings all over the continent of past 'Butterflies' that have surfaced, writings of the chaos they have brought with them and the revolutions they have started, destroying the peace and order of past empires. There is a distinct consistency of the 'Butterfly' only emerging in times of peace and prosperity, altering the fate of prosperous civilisations and leading them to ruin, Atlantis being a possible example.

Yet, my close scrutiny of history has revealed that more warriors have been born than have been documented, and that these anonymous heroes, born in times of strife and great uncertainty, are unregistered 'Butterflies', missed because of their anonymity in war…


"We are about to arrive on L2, Alpha Quadrant. Please fasten your seatbelts…"

Click.

"Is this your first time on L2, sir?"

Glare.

"Eh…I hope you have a pleasant visit, sir. We look forward to travelling with you again."


"I've investigated what little there was to find on her. She doesn't seem to have succeeded in remaining inconspicuous, which leaves me wondering where she could have possibly managed to hide without raising suspicion."

Une straightens. "What did you find?"

"She was transferred to the civilian Preventers Office through the Foreign Affairs Centre when they could not acquire a translator to the puzzling language she spoke. They, in turn, found her wandering dishevelled down the streets of Sanq without any form of identification or ways of communication. The trail leads further on, directly to an old graveyard, disturbingly close to Main Headquarters and then vanishes into thin air. It's as if she didn't exists before then. It's a dead end. The only one that could reveal any more of her origins would be Yuy."

"Agent 01? Why?"

"Because sources state he must have been the one that first encountered her. He was sighted leaving the premises shortly after she left, before proceeding to Winner's estate from the exact same direction as her. He couldn't have missed her."

"…"

Zechs shifts uncomfortably.

"Anything else?" Une prods sharply.

The former royalty hesitates, looking at Noin. "It is thought that the female spoke the archaic language of Nihongo."

"…"

"The language of ancient Japanese, long extinct by now. Yuy's mother tongue."

"…"

"Lady?"

"You may leave, Zechs."


"So, what does that mean? Are there a bunch of super powered humans running around on Earth?"

Whack.

"OW!"

"If you continue reading, we'll all see where this is going…"


…Like the proven fact of physics: that every force must have a counterforce; I believe these unrecorded heroes are the anti-Butterflies, and that with the Butterflies, together, would form a separate race of super humans: the 'Children of Fate'.

Incorporating the idea of a river of Fate, I believe the Children are a flaw or hiccup in the system that occurs when the river is straying too far off course from its equilibrium. The Children are best explained as being born not in the river, as are all things else, but on the land or rocks surrounding it. Thus, they are not a part of the river, and are unbound to the destiny of the world, yet still belong in the world, and affect it when they enter the streams, altering the course of every one they touch.

The Butterfly would be born in times when there is order and monotony, and the river threatens to fall stagnant. The massive concentration of order she would be born with would act as a magnet and draw towards her huge quantities of chaos, forcing change and reviving the river. While the anti-Butterfly would be born in a war torn world, feeding on chaos and restoring balance to the raging river, acting as a dampener to slow it down.

Both are polar opposites of each other, one the yin to the others yang; and yet as a people they would be identical, the only difference being the essence of chaos corresponding to the essence of order in each of them, the result of the imbalance of the river at the time they were born. Both would stand out from regular humans with their perfection—


"Shit! Do you think—!"

"Oh Allah! Yes, it would explain so much…"


—with superior senses and intellect. They would be stronger and more resilient with a greater aptitude for the battlefield; born a savant within martial and mystical arts, they would exhibit accelerated mastering and learning, and would quickly become the ultimate warrior, capable of near impossible feats.

However, the reasoning behind their superior evolution quickly becomes obvious. To ensure their survival, so that they may guide the river back on track, they must remain alive long enough to fulfil their task. One must tame the chaos to bring order, the other must feed it and still survive.

Sadly, tragedy often follows in the Children's wake. The Butterfly, prone to chaos, will die isolated in the madness that surrounds her, either by the events themselves, spun out of control; or by the hands of a victim, out of angered retaliation. The anti-Butterfly will complete his mission and find himself stranded in a world of order, a hero of war, yet unable to conform to or comprehend the peace and people surrounding him, needing the essence of chaos to remain stable. They resort most often to suicide as a means of escape rather than suffering the agonising ravishing of withdrawal that will kill them in the end.

Immune to Destiny, the Children are fated to die horrible deaths. The Children always die young, misunderstood, forgotten and alone, because at any time the river can only produce one Child of Fate. A single sacrificial lamb, meant to save the world…


Silence reigned before Quatre spoke:

"You know, I thought it was a bit odd how Heero said goodbye. He's never done that before…"

Trowa shakes his head, "He didn't say goodbye, he said Sayonara."

The blonde glances at the rest of them hopefully, "And what does that mean?"

Wufei glares at the book morosely. "Goodbye for forever."

"Fuck!" Duo punches the wall as the others watch Wufei sombrely.

"I think we just sentenced Yuy to death."

-

-

-

-

Praeceps:

I suppose I've disappointed a lot since nothing happened in this chapter, but I believed it to be nessessary. Time will tell.

About the comment Heero made last chapter about Wufei is: I needed someone to have possible knowledge about magic, and Wufei fitted the description. He's Chinese and a scholar, however pragmatic and scientific his own frame of mind may be. Of course, he won't admit to such things as we just saw…

Next chapter we blow Relena's mind (er… don't take that literaly) and see lots (well, hear lots) about Usagi. And no… points of view are not random, and they can be misleading.

Many seemed concerned with my use of 'iya' instead of 'iie'; the two sites that I use for translating both translate 'iya' as a genuine more informal form of 'iie'. I've seen it used in many other stories on this site, but if they all are wrong then I'll apologies.

Thanks to 'John Steppenwolf' for the authors. I actually DO read all my reviews (except a few that I sometime miss, because forgets to pass them on to me for some stupid reason, and I don't see them until I take a trip down memory lane. Angry huff.) and apologies that I didn't alter my disclaimer sooner, but while I read them, I don't memorise them, and I hadn't updated for several months, so: I forgot. I'm sorry.

Asking for reviews about your opinions of my story and then not reading them, seems a bit silly to me. (Er… just in case I come off as obnoxious, that's not the impression I'm trying make. Though I DO tend to frustrate people. Timid smile.)

Oh! And any spelling mistakes can be blamed on incompetent English teachers, and/or my spell-check program, because I, myself, am PERFECT! (or to amend that statement: I am MORE perfect than my father, who claims to be the paragon of perfection. I refuse to be outdone! I may have lost the battle of height, but THIS I refuse to give ground on!) (This seems sad, coming from a twenty year old.)

Well that was all, for today at least, toodles! ;-D