Wing Warriors

Abby Ebon

It was alike to five blind men reaching for a whole, and finding sight. In the back of his mind Wufei had wondered why things had gone the way they had- why had they been taken to a future timeline that knew nothing of technology? Why bring them back together? Why put them in the ancient past?

Collectively they had known they were needed for a war of sorts. Having been scattered showed there was no war – at least not one that the Avatars had warned of. So why take them to this place in the timeline of all the ones to choose from?

Now they knew.

It was the only one where they had a slim chance of stopping this from happening.

A God could be created, but not uncreated- only weakened and overpowered by other Gods and Goddesses. A deal between the Gods and Goddesses of this timeline (likely having learned from the past) did not allow them to act directly against each other – and other then 'advice' and 'help', they could not interfere with mortals. (This the Companions had shared with them, and reluctantly Amensa had agreed with them)

Mortals could interfere with mortals- and thus interfere with Gods and Goddesses.

When a mortal was worshiped or feared by other mortals, which for hundreds of years after people had dared not say her name- even going so far as to destroy any mention of her that was power.

Power usually only reserved for Gods and Goddesses – but when transferred to a mortal, and the mortal believing herself since childhood to be a Goddess. She became a Goddess after death.

Such an event was rare – Gods and Goddesses were usually born of mortals' collective consciousness, and as long as they were known by a few scattered individuals- even if only in mythology, survived – weakened, but 'alive'.

In Ancient Egypt the Royal Family were believed to be the reincarnations of Gods and Goddesses in Ancient Egypt. A Pharaoh's actions in life were often associated with certain Gods and Goddesses – at times a great man or woman would be thought of as a living God or Goddess – and so in memory they never died.

This was the case, the pilots had watched as in Ancient Egypt the Pharaoh-King Merenre II was killed by his subjects and for possibly the first time a woman rose to power, she was Pharaoh-Queen Nitocris and secretly vowed vengeance for her husband.

Painstakingly, she ordered an underground channel from the Nile River to be built, and a chamber that would connect to the channel, to serve as a death-trap for the guilty. She carefully found out the names and living places of those who had killed her beloved. While under her reign, despite her plot, she was loved – her beauty inspiring many artists and poets.

For she was "braver then all the men of her time, the most beautiful of all women, and fair skinned with red cheeks'. During the dozen years of her reign she hosted varies events, at times for no apparent reason- at times to celebrate a great battle victory. So that when she sprang her trap, her husbands' murderers wouldn't suspect it, would think it merely a celebration declared by a woman's whimsy.

However, one night it was sprung, and when the 'honored' guests arrived, Nitocris secretly ordered the channel opened. It may be likely that the builders of this channel were also at the celebration, so they might never know what they built until it was too late- and would thus never be able to say what had happened for-sure.

None the less 'guilty' or 'innocent' all at the grand celebration were drowned by the rushing waters of the Nile. Soon after killing the very citizens she was sworn to protect, and to escape the vengeance of Egypt's citizens, Pharaoh-Queen Nitocris committed suicide.

Her death helped to throw Egypt into chaos for a number of years, as local leaders and religious officials threatened became more powerful then the Pharaoh, eventually the state of the Old Kingdom collapsed only to return in the Middle Kingdom.

The twelve watched as the Pharaoh-Queen Nitocris joined with the Goddess Sekhmet. As a Goddess of healing and destruction she lived on – yet her consort Ptah, a god of rebirth, 'died' when Egypt faded from power. They watched her struggle to maintain her balance, and fail, becoming what she had hated "evil".

The Nitocris element of her struggled forth and gained control of what was left of Sekhmet. Nitocris was 'born again' in a time where Gods and Goddesses were weak, for technology and science ruled.

She planted a part of herself into a man, to both better understand this new world, and to create an Avatar to change the world while the Gods and Goddesses of old slept, weak, and unable to stop her.

This man was Dekim Barton- and from their timeline.

Things seemed to rush foreword from there –as if the Gods and Goddesses were unsure of what happened from there.

It was their future- or, at least Dekim's and a confused Nitocris-Sekhmet's twisted version of it. All of them 'felt' the differences.

--

Heero Saw technology made useless by Mages as they warred on Earth (though he didn't know why they fought), and Saw the thousands die in the Colonies as a result. Shaking with rage he Saw himself face Dekim alone - and fail.

Then he Saw something that he knew already, yet still gave him hope, the Doctors had hidden the Gundams away, like the ancient Chinese had done with the terracotta warriors.

Jinni whined when he came back, and he looked to see the other pilots were experiencing the same flashes has he had. He wondered what they saw…

--

As Duo watched, with clenched fists, as the ruins the Colonies are were changing, shifting into something familiar, yet just out of reach. Then he felt as if he'd been shoved, the breath whooshing out of him.

He found himself on the streets of L2 again. It was a back alley, trash scattered around it, and people with wary eyes watching each other – they didn't seem to notice him. He glanced down and found himself see-though, ghost-like.

"Creepy….."Even his voice echoed with a dreamlike quality. Duo shuddered and resolved not to speak to anyone- from their non-reactive reactions he didn't think they could hear or see him… which was kind of cool- but not so much if it was forever, he didn't want to test to see if he could move things just yet.

Duo flipped his braid (at least he could move is hair…), and headed out of the alley, uncomfortable, and hopping this wasn't as real as it appeared. His goals were simple, find the other pilots- and get the hell out of Dodge.

As Duo pressed onto the street he found it empty. That was wrong- there was always someone on the L2 streets; solders, shoppers, whores, street-rats - someone. A door opened a ways down, and Duo ran to it.

There was a woman entering her home, she was rather plump- harmless looking, her arms loaded down with groceries, but Duo noticed something odd around her wrist- there was a green colored ribbon with red edges on each side. She looked saddened, but otherwise harmless- apparently no-one else thought so. The alley-dwellers murmured softly amongst each other when her door shut, something that did not bid well for the woman.

Duo saw the state of her home- windows had been smashed, but thorny planets –and a few that looked dangerous or deadly, guarded her home. Vines crawled along the walls, and spread over the windows. It wasn't normal planet behavior- and everyone on the streets knew it.

Duo watched, and things sped up, like someone had hit the fast-foreword button. It may have been months or weeks in the future- but Duo saw what happened to the woman. The people mustered their courage, attacked, and killed her. Painted over her door was an ominous warning; 'do not suffer a witch to live'.

Duo felt sick.

So he went to the port bay, where ships landed and took off from L2. He saw women, men, babes and small children held by teens, being loaded onto ships. All of them had ribbons on their necks or wrists (like the woman) different colored, but all red rimmed.

There was a smug crowd gathered a short distance away they reminded him of the alley-people. Sartra had told him of magic, how it was after a long dormant period was suddenly changing Valdemar.

Could it be possible that these people had shown sudden signs of it?

Was that why they were being taken away?

It seemed likely. Duo wanted to know where the people were taken, and so when they loaded, he went unseen with them.

His suspicions were confirmed on the craft, they spoke in hushed whispers of their magic, and of fire-starting, or plant-growing – anything seemed to be better when magic was involved. It came as a hefty price- they were unwelcome among 'normal' people.

The Earth and Colonies had decided to put the magical people on Earth – for Earth's own people were developing it, and for some reason the Colonies had fewer magically-inclined people.

On the Colonies they had been marked, and killed, and now they were going to Earth. Duo couldn't help but wonder what had happened – why had things gotten so out of control? The others saw things much the same- changed drastically in a matter of a hundred years instead of millenniums.

Duo was thrown out of the 'dream vision' clutching Sartra, a helpless tear escaping his cheek as he hid his face in her soft pelt. Magic had erupted unexpectedly on Earth, caused by Nitocris in Sekhmet's form, and the people on the Colonies had suffered for it.

--

Trowa was forced by something unseen to use a Gift he didn't know he had. Powered by the unseen force he used his animal-empathy. He saw Earth's magic violently and unnaturally erupt- like a volcano.

From an animal's perspective, he saw that this was happening too soon. Magic flowed like the ocean tide- usually predictable… unless mankind intervened but this breed of mankind did not know of magic as previous generations had.

The violent, forceful, magic had spread quickly to the animals of Earth, and they were changed. Most did not survive the change, but those who did were smarter and more dangerous then their predecessors.

Still mankind experimented on the magic-changed creatures to make use of them- or to make them 'better' in that Mages opinion.

This utter disrespect for animals enraged him, and Trowa found himself clutching a purring (if slightly squashed) Amensa.

--

As Wufei watched Duo's and Trowa's expressions suddenly slacken, then return with hollow eyes and rage in their eyes, he wondered how.

Then he knew.

He knew a lot.

He knew in the same way that Trowa and Duo had, only without seeing or feeling it. He knew of the abandoned biological weapons, which lay dormant and yet still lethal underground.

He knew of the great warships, radioactive submarines, airplanes, space ships, and torpedoes abandoned in the sea- instead of being properly disposed of. He knew all this could be unleashed upon the people by whatever they were to fight without warning- and easily kill them…

The dishonor of it, that this being; not-man, not-god was going to change time to suit its wants and needs- that innocent people could (and very likely would) be killed on a command infuriated him. The whirlwind of emotions subsided and he knew that this being had to be brought under control by - and he knew he was the key.

He found himself back in 'reality' (if the Moon-paths could be called such) with Huang digging her claws into his shoulder; she let out a little coo when he 'returned', and he reassured himself and her with a calming touch. Nitocris may not have meant to, but in creating Dekim's seed of power, she had created a monster she could not kill, and had no control over.

--

Quatre, 'Felt' much the same as Duo had 'Saw', only on Earth. Normal people were shunned, and sent to the Colonies, where they belittled the 'type' of people who had forced them away from Earth.

It was alike to an endless ring- and he saw that technology among those with magic was being shunned. A war broke, and the people who won were those with more magic then the other 'lesser gifts'.

In the war the advanced technology that allowed space travel was forgotten- and so were the Colonies- to his horror. The world was ruled by magic, and some civilizations like the cities of ancient Rome and Egypt sprung up- but those with Mind Gifts were shunned by those with the magical or Mage Gift.

He saw how the world then had been shaped.

Then the others (including Senta, which he was relieved to see) joined him to witness something unpredicted- the return of the Avatar's.

AN: I admit I was a bit stumped on how to continue this; I usually 'fly by the seat of my pants' when I write- so I called in some help for this one. So a big thanks must go out to Firehedgehog- thank you for fishing out the details to my vague notions; who put it most simply;

Fire: '…so pretty much, you have no clue what happens in the past after the pilots were forced far into the future' – the answer then is the same as now.

Me: 'yeah, pretty much'.

But I have direction- and an end….I think… well, wish me luck!

I don't usually write to any particular reviewer on this, but 'Anonymous Void' who reviewed (you guessed it, anonymously- I know terrible pun…) asked about why Amensa was female, when all pervious Son of the Suns (before Solaris) are supposedly male. That is supposedly true- if only in Karsite. Here's a spoiler for you- Vkandis is worshiped in Iftel (under a different name, yes, still him though), and they have a 'Son of the Sun' too. So far Lackey hasn't said that Iftel hasn't had a few female 'Son of the Sun' before Solaris. I'm fairly sure there have been. Who says one of them couldn't have become a Firecat? Just a thought….Now, onto the history/mythology…

Why I think she could have 'become' a Goddess in mythology?

This is simple enough, a lion-headed Goddess by the name of Sekhmet. This Goddess is a bewildering mix of "good" and "evil" entities. She is by far one of the oldest known deities, for instance she represents the searing heat of the mid-day dessert sun. Despite this she is a healer, known for curing diseases and adverting plagues. She became patron for Physicians and Healers, and just as she was "lady of terrors" she was "lady of life". Associated with Hathor and Mut (who sometimes took the form of a lion) yet mentioned in the Book of the Dead – she was "The one who loves Ma'at (balance/justice) and Detests Evil" and one of the Goddesses who held "The Eye of Ra" title it is interesting to note that only Goddess held "The Eye of Ra" title and all were in some way associated with the cat, "The Eye of Ra" were defenders of Ra. Imagine that females defending the all powerful Sun God.

The main reason she is so feared is because as "The Eye of Ra" the fields ran with human blood because of her. The sight of the carnage caused Ra to repent. He ordered her to stop, but she was in a blood lust and would not listen. So Ra poured 7,000 jugs of beer and pomegranate juice (which stained the beer blood red) in her path. She gorged on the "blood" and became so drunk she slept for three days. When she awoke, her blood lust had dissipated, and humanity was saved.

Sekhmet´s main cult centre was in Memphis (Men Nefer) where she was worshipped as "the destroyer" alongside her consort Ptah (the creator) and Nefertum (the healer). She was also known as the "Lady of Pestilence" and the "Red Lady" (indicating her alignment with the desert) and it was thought that she could send plagues against those who angered her. When the centre of power shifted from Memphis to Thebes during the New Kingdom the Theban Triad (Amun, Mut, Khonsu) Sekhmet´s attributes were absorbed into that of Mut.

Please note, "The Eye of Ra" is not "The Eye of Horus", also known as the Wadjet. I am not responsible for separating ancient myths from beliefs made popular by Hollywood movies. If you say I'm wrong simply because it's not 'true' according to popular belief, I have more then just that one site that'll back me on these myths/facts…At last count I have over fifty Egyptian/Mythological references, including published works.