In the Desert

by Qt-chan

Usagi had been abandoned by her childhood friend who'd left her with a single kiss in remembrance...Years later he comes back for her, but what can he do when his murderous and more or less demonic friends seek her love too?

6. Dead or Alive

Akbar By Qt-chan

Chapter 6

Usagi stared straight into Wufei's eyes in brain-numbed shock. "I'm going to be what?" She repeated, paralyzed in place. Wufei's tongue touched against the tips of his fangs in agitation, "You're going to play leader." His voice was a sibilant whisper that nosed through the thick silence and into Usagi's ear. Her face paled dramatically and she sunk back into her bed, clinging fiercely to her sheets. "I can't believe it!" Usagi said softly as she stared up at the ceiling, "I don't believe this is actually happening...I mean, I can't wait to start!" She finally exploded. The sleek Hurda hesitated for only a second before he closed the gap between him and Usagi. Usagi had launched upright the second that Wufei had begun to move towards her, something inside of her was buzzing in alarm. But she didn't move an inch as Wufei's hand brushed across her cheek and then planted itself onto her forehead. Wufei's eyes sparked with the heat of his magic as he forced his magic into Usagi's mind.

The canyon leaders all took a defensive step forwards when they heard Usagi's sharp gasp break the tense silence. Wufei, whose eyes were glowing a deep red, twisted his head around at the sound of the canyon leaders. "Get out." Wufei snapped his head back around as he felt the heat of Usagi's forehead begin to leave his hand. Usagi slumped back into her crumpled sheets, unconscious. Wufei saw the crescent moon on Usagi's forehead just before he put his hand back onto her forehead.

The leaders glanced at each other, unsure of what they should do. It was a few minutes later before they finally decided to leave Wufei, with one of his legs pushed in-between Usagi's and his body hovering just over hers, to himself.

As soon as Wufei heard the canyon leaders leave he entered into Usagi's mind. Wufei had never really mastered seeing into people's minds but it didn't seem to matter with Usagi. Her mind was full of color and light and the crystals magic was constantly around Wufei, buzzing in his ear and tickling his skin as it examined him. "Usagi, are you still alive?" Wufei called out as a unicorn skipped across the vast misty floor just a few feet in front of him. "Usagi, where is the crystal?" He asked, he needed to know where the crystal was in Usagi's body...if she happened to die he would know where to start cutting.

'Why would you need to know something like that?'

Wufei was suddenly blinded by an explosion of light. The Hurda felt his muscles bunch up in surprise when he felt a very solid hand close onto his. Blinking his eyes open he turned to find Usagi at his side. Her blue eyes seemed to have be bigger and even bluer in the image that she had cast of herself in her own mind. "I can't look at it." Usagi said, she was wincing as she pointed her finger forwards, past Wufei. Wufei felt his mouth fall open as his squinted eyes finally landed on the source of the burning, caustic light.

'You're not allowed in here.' Wufei shot a quizzical glance at Usagi to see if she had spoken but Usagi had disappeared. Wufei's body shuddered as the air in his lungs was sucked out and he was abruptly thrown into the misty space of Usagi's mind. Wufei flew through what felt like miles of mist before he opened his eyes to Usagi's wide-awake, alert eyes. Wufei frowned when he realized that he had just been thrown out of Usagi's mind.

"Did you do that?" Usagi mumbled, blushing a strawberry red. It was then that Wufei fully realized the position that he was in. Pulling himself off of her immediately Wufei wiped the sweat from his forehead with a shaking hand.

"I needed to find out where the crystal was."

"Inside of me, of course." Usagi said delicately as she pulled her decidedly protective sheets over her sparsely clothed body.

"I know that, but where inside of you. The crystal's obviously just a part of you now, isn't it Usagi?"

Usagi shrugged her shoulders, glancing nervously at the wall, "I guess so." She said, plucking at her sheets.

Wufei's eyes narrowed, "How long did you know?"

"Know what?" Usagi asked, still plucking at her sheets and staring at the wall.

"Know that the crystal had taken over your body!" Wufei nearly snarled. Usagi jumped at the tone of Wufei's voice. Gathering the sheets closer to her Usagi pulled up her feet inside the sheets so that she was completely encased in the sheets up to her nose.

"Well Usagi?" Wufei said, pressing her for an answer.

Usagi took a deep breath before she peeped out her answer, "For awhile now."

"Why didn't you tell us? Do you know what this means?" Wufei barked out. Usagi shook her head slowly, "I didn't think it'd be a good thing if someone wanted the crystal and it was...well, a part of me, you know."

Wufei visibly shook with anger as he climbed back onto Usagi's bed. He ripped the sheets away from her body and threw them onto the floor. Usagi was already red in the cheeks as Wufei thrust his face closer to hers. "You better get ready, your army's waiting for you." Studying her face for just a minute Wufei pulled slowly away from her. There was a beat of silence between the two before Wufei's brows turned back down and he rapped out another command to Usagi, "Get dressed already! We need to leave." With that he turned and swept out of her room. Usagi made sure that Wufei was out of hearing distance before she opened the palm of her hand and spoke.

"Is everything okay?" She whispered to the air just above her opened palm. The air above her palm rippled and then thickened into a sliver of white mist that twisted into a nearly translucent, crystallized miniature double of Usagi.

"Well I suppose our secrets out now...just be more careful, they want us now that they know that we're connected."

Usagi stared at the miniature of her, "All I have to do is get you back to the other crystals right?"

"Right Usagi," the miniature smiled lightly, "then I leave you and give life back to the desert, because that's what we seven crystals are, just a bundle of solid life energy."

Usagi shivered a little as she imagined the difficulty of what the crystal had just told her. The little crystalline miniature reached down and touched Usagi's thumb, "Don't worry, I'm here for you...it's been a long time since I've been able to speak because I usually don't bond with my holder but I'm much stronger, we're much stronger together like this. And we'll defeat whoever we have to." Usagi obediently nodded her head, but her spine was tingling in nervousness.

Wufei's black cloak flared out behind him as he made his way through the abandoned corridors of the rebels. The image of the throbbing gold light pulsing through the magic's shadow in time with Usagi's heart kept playing over and over in Wufei's eye. This certainly complicated things for the Hurda's. He reached Heero's room several minutes later. It was just as empty as it usually was, except that the crude drawer that held all of Heero's and Duo's clothes lay open and empty.

Duo opened a dozy eye as soon as Wufei had stepped into the room. He had his hands folded beneath his gleaming brown hair and was the picture of laziness. "What're you doing here Prince? Coming to give the lower's some packing advice?"

Duo was hardly surprised when Wufei ignored him totally and began to speak to Heero. "Heero, she's been infected."

Both of Duo's eyes opened at this news, he was wide awake now. This was something that he would need to know.

Heero's steady hands paused in their movement and then fell limply back to his sides. He straightened to his full height and let his heavy gaze fall onto Wufei.

"Are you sure?" Heero asked quietly.

Wufei glanced back into the empty hallway to make sure that they were safe from being overhead before he continued. "Of course I'm sure, my magic is refined enough to tell."

Heero's eyes fell to the floor and then glazed over as he went deep into thought. Wufei watched Heero with a keen eye, he had never met a wraith like Heero Yuy. The Dragon prince knew that the crystal's magic that was infused in Heero's body was partially the reason for the exceptional realness of the Heero Yuy in front of him, but it still couldn't explain the strange goodness that was inside of the wraith. Heero said that all that was left in this part of his former self was evil, but somehow Wufei found that difficult to believe.

"Have you told Quatre any of this?" Heero asked abruptly.

Wufei shook his head, "No, I haven't had the chance to."

"Don't, it would only draw him off course. I will teach her how to control her magic, but neither of you are to say a word of her condition to Trowa or Quatre."

"Why not tell Trowa?" Duo asked innocently as he stretched his sleepy body.

"Because I have a feeling." Heero said briefly before he turned back to his knapsack. Duo rolled his eyes, "Well I guess that answers it all." Duo stretched again before morphing into the sand-colored body of a cat. Loping out of the room he hissed as he passed by Wufei. Wufei however, wasn't satisfied by the answer, "Why not? Both of them have proved trustworthy, especially Trowa."

Heero turned back around with a sort of tense energy about him, "His brother was just killed."

"What does that have to do with anything? He knew that his brother was just in the way, that he would have ruined our plans." Wufei retorted testily.

"He was his brother; they no doubt grew up together. People don't forget things like that." Heero murmured. Wufei narrowed his eyes, "If you're blaming me you know you would have done the same thing as I did, so what are you trying to say Heero Yuy?" Wufei's hand fell to his sword hilt.

"I'm not trying to accuse you of anything Chang, I'm just telling you that they were brothers and there's no doubt in my mind that Adaron's death will be affecting Trowa in one way or another. I'm just telling you why you shouldn't go around telling Trowa certain weaknesses of ours." Heero said stonily, the tense air about him seemed to have broken and slipped away as he spoke.

Wufei straightened at that bit of information, "What do you mean, one of our weaknesses? With the magic directly plugged into Usagi's system she has complete control over it. She's more powerful than you even." Wufei was half-expecting some kind of harsh retort from Heero but the wraith just sighed.

"Not yet she doesn't." Heero said softly, "She doesn't know the full extent of her powers, she doesn't know that the crystal's main purpose is to release the magic inside of it. And now to do that Usagi will have to sacrifice herself to its need." Heero held out his hands in front of him. A translucent image of a crystal appeared in Heero's hands, "That's the only reason I'm still partly alive. I didn't to release the magic in the crystal, so it wouldn't let me die...I don't want Usagi, Quatre, or Trowa to know any of this though. They'll only interfere."

Wufei couldn't help his lips from curling into a smile at the comment, "Quatre especially, I'll keep an eye on the lovesick fool...When are you going to begin training her then?"

"On the journey to the new rebel campsite, there'll be no other time to do it." Heero closed his hands together and the image of the crystal vanished. Wufei nodded his head and exited the room, confident of his motive once again. Heero waited for Wufei to leave before he returned to his packing. The wraith wanted so much to just take Usagi's crystal and be rid of all of the Hurda's so that he could continue on with his first plan, but Usagi's bondage with the crystal made things especially difficult for him now. He should have just killed her like he had wanted to in the dungeon cell. Heero slid his empty clothes drawer shut with a light tap, he would find a way to get Usagi's crystal though. He was immortal after all.

Duo was surprised when he entered Usagi's room and found it empty. Hurrying out of the passageway he held his tail up high, he was excited at the prospect of traveling. Weaving in-between the hard-heeled boots of the rebels Duo finally managed to find a window and, with an easy grace, pounced out from it. He landed in the huge litter-box that was the desert. Daintily lifting his paws he shook them one by one and began to trek forwards again. The cat's large ears picked up on snatches of conversation as he passed the swelling rebel ranks.

With the supreme confidence of a cat, Duo jauntily passed by another group of bleary-eyed rebels. Perhaps it was Duo's jaunty walk or maybe it was because of the desert cat's peculiar brown tail waving back and forth like a flag that alerted the attention of the canyon boy, either way, Duo wasn't aware of the boy creeping towards him. Duo had a split second to register the whistling sound of something flying through the air before there was a soft WHUMP as a net hit the ground, swallowing Duo whole. There was a cry of triumph as a teenage boy sped up the line of amassing rebels towards his prize. He deftly collected the corners of the net and pulled them together so that the spitting cat couldn't escape. No matter how hard the cat wriggled and hissed it couldn't shove itself through one of the square apertures in the net. The cat's violet eyes swung their lantern-like gaze to the boy who had caught him.

The boy felt his mouth open in shock when he saw the malicious violet eyes of the cat. He'd never seen a cat with violet eyes before and it caught him off guard. Duo, sensing the temporary surprise of the boy, shoved his back legs against the netting, hoping that he'd be able to wrench the net out of the boy's grip. His legs hardly gave the sort of surprising push that Duo had wanted because they had slipped off the thin netting and shot through the square holes. The boy broke out into laughter at the sight.

"Rowan, what're you doing?" Another boy called as he heard Rowan's familiar bark-like laughter.

Rowan turned his head from the cat and motioned for his friend to join him. "Look at what I caught!" He said, proudly holding the swaying net up.

Rowan was soon accompanied by his friend who ogled at the amethyst eyes set in the cat's delicate head. Rowan was pleased that his friend was impressed but became less so when his friend pulled out a blunt, but serviceable, dagger.

"Well, are you gonna gut it 'afore we leave? It'll only take a second or two." He said as he stretched his wiry hands forward. Duo swiped at the boys hands with a furious claw, causing the boy to jump backwards from the ferocity of the attack. Rowan's brows came together and he wrenched the knife out of the boys' hands. "My mum said that cats were good, they get rid of the rats. Why would I want to get rid of this one?"

"Isn't it obvious? It's wild, look at the long legs it has, besides, you could keep its eyes if you want." His friend said back shortly, he lunged for Rowan. The two scuffled for a moment, ending with Rowan wheeling backwards with the net swinging violently in his hands. His friend had managed to capture his dagger back from Rowan's firm grip.

Rowan was panting from the skirmish but he just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'm not going to let you kill this cat, you stupid meathead! ...I mean look at its eyes, it'd be a shame to kill something like this." Rowan twisted his net clockwise so that he could catch another glance at the cat's marvelous eyes. Rowan glanced at his friend and yelled in surprise when he saw his friend drawing back his dagger. Rowan couldn't have done anything in the split second that it took his friend to ram his dagger forwards through the net and efficiently stab the defenseless cat in the hind leg.

A split second later some of the rebel's had to stop and cover their ears as an ear splitting yowl rent the air.

Duo had had enough, being caught was one thing, but being stabbed was another. His violet eyes were dancing with electric rage as his legs began to shed their fur and grow gray, leathery skin. There was an explosion of growth from the little cat as its legs grew to the size of barrels. The net snapped and Rowan and his friend fell backwards in horror as the little cat grew to enormous proportions. It grew to be at least three times taller than the boys with feet as thick as wine barrels. The two adolescents found themselves staring up at a fully grown Umiron. The massive tree-trunk legs tapered only slightly at its foot which was much like the foot, or claw, of a hawk. The Umiron's body and head were far above the reach of the boy's and their daggers, the only thing that was in reachable distance to the two was the blunt snout of the Umiron which was bristling with spikes of bleached bone. The desert had ways of breeding animals into monsters.

The rebels who had calmly been passing the two arguing boys were now sending out worried shouts of advice to the gawking boys. Its snout which was used to ripping cactus's right out of the ground, was swaying dangerously close to the two frightened boys. There was a ridge of pointed backbones protruding from the Umiron's thick hide as it stomped about on the sand. Rowan's friend picked himself up and fled from the creature, leaving Rowan lying prone on the ground, he had been hit in the side by the Umiron. The Umiron's violet eyes immediately turned in the direction of Rowan's fleeing friend. His snout hurtled forwards and grazed the boy's back.

There was a worried shout from the crowd of canyon rebels as the boy was thrown off of his feet and knocked into the nearest dune. The boy's body didn't move from his landing hole in the sand. Rowan who couldn't believe that he was bleeding, stared at his blood as it seeped from his side. He was going to die, he just knew it. Rowan flinched when the Umiron's shadow turned back and fell onto him. Rowan dared to glance up into the far-away gaze of the towering monster. He was surprised to see what he thought was concern in the Umiron's violet eyes...violet, just like the cat, Rowan thought. He felt his mind lurch as it was staggered by the amazing spectacle of the Umiron shrinking and taking the shape of a white cobra. Slithering forwards the cobra reached the boy's side and gently sank its dripping fangs into the boy's side.

Rowan had been paralyzed at the sight of the white snake, a creature that secreted a poison that could eat through a creature's intestines with a single drop. And now the monstrosity was sinking its fangs into his side. He was going to die! Rowan's wide eyes stared down at his killer and noticed the violet eyes once again. After a time a canyon warrior knelt slowly down next to Rowan. "Don't move." The man said, barely moving his lips, the dune that the boy had tumbled down into was lined with rebels who were armed to the teeth.

Rowan wanted to cry out that it was too late to be saved anyway but he soon realized that he was in the more capable hands of a Hurda, not one of his fellow canyon members. Trowa pulled down the black silk that covered his mouth and slowly reached forwards to press his thumb against the back of the snake's head to unlock the viper's jaws from the boys' side. The cobra thrashed its body out of Trowa's grip and immediately recoiled and rose up threateningly towards Trowa. Rowan heard a scream of terror escape his throat when he stared into the slanted eyes of the swaying cobra.

Trowa's eyes narrowed instantly when he spotted the violet eyes on the cobra. Trowa's lips thinned into a narrow line, "Duo, what do you think you're doing, the rebels aren't going to like that you just poisoned this boy."

Rowan turned to fully take in the owner of this smooth voice, this aristocratic, rich, voice. It would be the last one he would hear before he was going to die, he thought faintly. Then, as if defying the notion of death Rowan struggled to raise his upper body off of the ground. He was shocked when he rose up without the slightest twinge of pain.

The cobra had stopped swaying and was staring solemnly at Rowan's wound. The cobra bent its head to the side ever so slightly, making Rowan think the perverse thought that the cobra was examining his wound.

"Well if that's what you were doing..." Trowa stood up and lifted the silk cloth up over his lips once again, "You scared the rest of the rebels, why don't you go and heal the other boy now?" Trowa said tersely, looking straight at the cobra.

Rowan stared up in amazement at the Hurda, "Sir," Rowan implored, "That's a snake, snakes don't talk."

Trowa sighed, "Duo, change back now." Trowa commanded. Rowan frowned and turned back to the snake. His mouth fell open as he witnessed yet another warped growth. The pearly skin of the cobra began to fall away and turn a healthy pink. The snake grew limbs and its tail regressed. Slanted eyes grew wide open and soon Duo stood before the awestruck boy.

"You're a shifter!" Rowan cried out in shock.

Duo smirked and winked, "Never, ever, touch a funny-eye'd animal. No cat has violet eyes like mine, that's how you can tell if it's a normal cat or not. So don't touch any animals with purple eyes." He said kindly. Duo knelt down next to the boy and touched his side. Rowan's skin flinched at the touch but after Rowan met Duo's serious gaze he let the shifter touch his wound. It suddenly occurred to Rowan that he had stopped bleeding so he glanced down at his side and found his skin to be clear of any sort of wound.

"How'd you do that?" Rowan asked in polite curiosity, he had already forgotten that he had just been about to 'die'.

Duo glanced at the boy in surprise, "Aren't you disgusted by the fact that I'm a shifter, boy?"

Rowan's eyes narrowed, "I'm not a boy, and, and..." Rowan stared into Duo's eyes, he felt warmth radiating from them, "And," Rowan began more firmly, "you're not like how my parents made shifters out to be."

Duo smiled in appreciation of the comment, "I'm glad I stitched you up, that white cobra may be dangerous in your intestines but if you manage to tame it, which takes years, its venom can close any wound and clear it of any sort of poison...but of course the white cobra is rare." Duo turned his head to gaze at the other boy who was now being tended to by several canyon woman. Duo's mouth tightened into a thin line, "So that's the one that stabbed me?"

Rowan swallowed nervously, "He honestly didn't mean it sir, I mean I," Rowan was cut off as Trowa roughly hauled him to his feet. "There's no use trying to convince him otherwise." Trowa said softly to Rowan as they watched Duo stalk towards Rowan's fallen friend.

Rowan's friend watched Duo with round eyes. Breaking into a sweat, he clutched at the women tending him. Duo didn't even glance at the frightened women surrounding the boy.

"If you ever, ever stab another cat like that I'll see to it personally that you get gutted." Duo reached forwards and took the dagger out of the boy's pale, pale hands. Leaning forwards Duo traced an invisible line right up the boy's stomach to his throat. "First you have to split the skin, right down the belly." Duo said quietly, leaving an irritated red mark up the boy's belly. The knife tickled the frightened teenager but he didn't dare move. Duo made an abrupt slashing motion across the boy's neck, "Then you slit the throat. That's how you gut an animal you idiot, quick and clean." The boy nearly peed in his pants, he'd never be able to look at cats quite same after this experience. Throwing the dagger aside Duo glared at the boy, "Next time you see a purple-eyed animal I suggest you stay away from it." With that said, Duo transformed into the body of a magnificent white stallion that turned to pound away across the sand.

Usagi stood at the head of the long procession of Slayers, alone. She stood on the top of a dune staring down at the milling rebels, fear shrouded her. 'How am I supposed to lead these people? What were they thinking?' She thought worriedly. Looking up into the sky for a solution, or for some peace, Usagi began to pray for herself. Her hair was whipped back by a strong wind as she continued to pray fervently. Her eyes snapped open only when she felt a hot gust of air blow onto the back of her neck. Whirling around Usagi came face to face with the broad nose of a white horse.

Usagi was too stiff with astonishment to do anything besides draw in a startled breath. Catching sight of the violet eyes in the horse's head Usagi immediately understood.

"Duo?" She said in amazement.

The proud horse tossed its head and arrogantly swished its tail. Usagi slowly reached out and ran her hand down the back of the horse. Its skin was silky smooth.

'So what do you think of your steed?' Usagi's eyes instantly turned towards Duo's.

"How'd you do that?" She said out loud.

'Do what?' Duo's voice echoed inside of Usagi's head.

"That!" Usagi said, stepping away from Duo.

'Oh, you mean talk in your head?'

Usagi nodded, eyeing Duo curiously.

'Just simple magic. Horses can't exactly talk, you know, so this is the only way we can communicate.'

"How do I do it?" Usagi asked shyly as she extended an arm to rest on the thick neck.

'I'll leave the magic lessons up to Heero and Wufei, they're good at that.' Duo half knelt onto the sand, 'Well, get on now, we've gotta start going already.'

Usagi, with trepidation, mounted the smooth back of the horse. She found that the silky coat of the horse was now something to dread as she slipped rather suddenly into place.

"Duo, I don't like this!" Usagi said in fear, clutching onto the horse's mane. Duo turned his head to look at Usagi and nickered.

'Alright, alright, I'll give you a coat you can grip.' Duo closed his eyes and concentrated, it was only seconds later that his coat turned a light yellow color while his mane and tail became black and his legs were socked in the midnight color too.

'Hold on Usagi.'

Usagi's eyes widened, "What're you going to do?" Usagi's thighs tightened around the horse's ample sides just as he reared up onto his hind legs and let out a ringing neigh. Usagi felt the tingling of adrenaline as it flooded her veins. She grabbed hunks of Duo's mane in desperation, trying to stay on him as he struck out at the air. When Usagi's steed had crashed back down onto the sand she was almost half way off of the horse. Duo shook her back into position and rapped out quick directions.

'Sit up straight, don't make them think you don't even know how to ride!' Duo said sharply, standing beautifully squared under her, 'Tell them we have to go!'

Usagi sat up straight and tried to still her quivering body, it was then that Duo decided to rear up again and let out his ground-shaking neigh.

'Alright, I got their attention, now tell them its time to go! Tell them to form into four rows with woman and children in the center.'

Apprehensively, and out of breath, Usagi ordered the canyon rebels to do what she had been told to do. She was almost surprised when the rag-tag bunch actually followed her directions. Plucking courage from the scene of orderliness, Usagi raised her voice again to tell the rebels that it was finally time to, "Move out!"

The canyon rebels were finally on their way, the only thing that would be able to follow their tracks was the dust. They were going to finally finish this war, with their deaths or OZ's.

Orin's smile was devilish as he examined himself in his floor-length mirror. He could hardly believe the image in front of him. In place of the wizened, graying, and feeble body that Orin used to inhabit was a sleek, youthful, and crafty-eyed man. His diamond encrusted rings were no longer stuck onto his bloated fingers but could be slipped off and on his thin finger with ease. Such simple things were noticed by Orin's critical eyes; having an eye for the meticulous facts was what had made Orin the magus that he was. And he wasn't just about to give up on his tried and true method. Now that he had regained his youth, Orin realized that he could go beyond what he had been before. Orin could be the one to reinstall OZ's hold on the desert lands; he could be the one to rule it all. This was all thanks to the crystals, which now resided inside of his body. The mystic crystals had given him back his vision, his youth, and more power than he could ever have imagined having. It was his second chance at life.

Squeezing his lithe fingers into a fist Orin reveled in being able to watch beads of the crystal's phenomenal power outlining his fist, reacting to his prideful emotion. The strength in just one of his fists was enough to turn this castle into rubble. The thought practically drove Orin into whoops of insane delight. Turning back to his handsome figure standing in the mirror Orin's grin began to fade. His earlier failure at capturing Usagi troubled him. The night of his failure he had thrown a tantrum of the most violent kind. Furniture and other decorative objects lay around the room like the broken hulls of grounded ships.

Orin just couldn't understand how he had failed in his mission to crush those few magic-wielding rebels. 'How is it possible that that bitch defeated me when she only had one crystal locked inside of her? Are the crystals inside of me weaker than hers?' Orin's brilliant, but frustrated, mind pondered those two questions over and over again. Seconds later his mind banished the former thought, all seven crystals had an equal amount of magic stored in them, there was no way that one crystal was stronger than the other. Orin wearily waved his hand across the surface of the mirror and his reflection wavered before disappearing completely. The picture that had replaced Orin's reflection was an image from his memory of that night when Usagi had unexpectedly defeated him.

The large, stone room in the canyon rebel's hide-out was perfectly detailed according to Orin's accurate memory. Starting from when he had broken into the canyon room through the help of that foolish Shifter, Orin watched his memory replay before his eyes. As Orin reached the end of his memory he saw Usagi standing before him with her crescent moon emblazoned on her forehead. He slowed his memory to a standstill so that he could study his enemy.

Snorting in derision, Orin failed to see how Adaron had been attracted to her. She was obviously a commoner. She might have a pretty body but she was too babyish, Orin would have wanted someone with a more refined figure. So much for making her his concubine, Orin thought. Sighing, Orin started his memory up again and watched as it played in front of him. Heero suddenly came out of nowhere and entered into Orin's line of vision, therefore entering into Orin's memory. In the memory, which was replaying before Orin's eyes, the magus could clearly see how Heero had reached forwards and gripped Usagi's shoulder in his hand just as her beam of light doubled in size and power, driving Orin back. Orin waved his hand and the memory came to another stand still. For a moment Orin couldn't believe what had just passed through his mind, but there was no doubting it. With another wave of his hand Orin made the memory disappear and another one come onto the mirror's reflective surface. This memory was of when the wraith, Heero, had first revealed himself to Orin in his laboratory. The memory was fast-forwarded until the magus came up to the scene where Heero had pulled down his shirt collar and revealed his glowing mark, the mark of Auri-un, to him.

Orin gaped in amazement, everything had just come together in his mind. The facts, the information collided together into a seamless plan for the magus. He fell forwards onto his mirror and wheezed with crazed laughter. He couldn't believe that he hadn't realized this key fact earlier. Slapping the mirror's surface in unrestrained mirth he broke out into another howling fit of laughter. 'Oh Gods!' Orin thought between each bark of laughter, 'This is just too rich! This is just too easy!'

Several minutes later Orin was slumped against his mirror, he had collapsed onto the floor in his triumphant moment. Chuckling to himself every now and then Orin let out a contented sigh. "Heero Yuy, I had almost forgotten you." Orin heaved himself back to his feet and languidly made his way over to the dusty bookshelf across the room. The books were one of the only things in the room which hadn't been destroyed in Orin's fit of rage. Orin paused in his thoughts because he had heard the tell-tale POP of a wraith magicking itself into his laboratory.

"My lord?" A timid voice called out from behind Orin's locked chamber doors, his laboratory was connected to his bed chambers.

"What?" Orin snapped in impatience, ever since Ashati had been reduced to ash, the wraith's had been annoyingly docile and obedient to Orin.

"I am here to dress you." The wraith bashfully called back through the door.

Orin quickly rose up and straightened his robes. "Come in."

The wraith, who was tiny by wraith standards, entered the room holding Orin's clothing in her arms. Orin carelessly held his arms out and allowed the wraith to dress him. As the wraith proceeded to dress the renewed magus, his mind began to work furiously. The mark was only on a few wraiths, all of which had died, including Ashati, except for Heero. The mark was there to identify the wraith as a creator and keeper of a crystal. Orin had things to worry about now, if Heero gave Usagi his crystal, allowing himself to die, Usagi would have the same amount of power as Orin. The magus's upper lip curled in distaste, 'That cannot happen.'

The wraith squeaked in surprise when Orin abruptly snatched the remaining clothes out of her hands and shoved her out of his room. Striding over to his mirror again, he tapped it once so that he could see into the throne room of OZ. The mirror immediately centered onto the stiff and silent figure that sat in the throne. Orin's upper lip curled upwards again, but with disgust, at the sight of Treize still sitting at his throne. His right side was empty, that was where Adaron had sat, and his left side was empty, that was where Trowa had sat. Both had been announced as dead, killed by an assassin.

Treize wasn't just about to let Orin spring control over the castle by letting the entire OZ faculty know that Orin was more powerful than Treize. Trowa had been dead to Treize ever since Adaron had secretly revealed that Trowa bore the mark of the Hurda. So it came as no real blow when Trowa had abandoned his family for the Hurda's. The only wound that Treize bore from that apocalyptical night was Adaron's death. His only true son had been killed, slaughtered...Treize's gloved hand tightened into a fist, Trowa was the cause.

Only Treize and Orin knew the actual events of what had happened the night Adaron had been killed. That was why no one in the castle understood the sudden enmity between the king and his magus. There was nothing that the king of OZ could do to punish his magus so he kept the matter silent. Things had come out of his hands and into Orin's. Treize didn't know what card the magus had up his sleeve but one thing was for sure, Treize was completely and utterly alone.

Resting his forehead against his hot fingers, Treize thought of his other son, his bastard son who had left him. '...Trowa...,' Treize's lips tightened into a thin line, 'Both my sons have left me in one way or another.' The people had begun to mutter that the kingdom of OZ was beginning to crumble; the thought certainly pressed on Treize's mind. It was only a matter of time before Orin decided to stop playing this charade and take over the throne, but how could Treize escape, alive, and with followers? The thought ate at Treize, he knew that someday someone would defeat the power-swollen, egoistic magus, but until that day, how would Treize Kushrenada stay alive? That was the question.

His soldiers would no doubt stay with whoever was on the throne, not the actual ruler. They were here for Treize's protection only because he paid them. Only a few people knew Treize well enough to know that he didn't and wouldn't regret his persecution of the desert cities though. Treize wasn't a man made for regretting, he was made to coldly calculate the facts and chances. "This," Treize had said once to his magus, "is the way to rule kingdoms." Without a drop of pity inside of himself, Treize stretched OZ all across the desert; stealing the desert's peace...but now OZ was beginning to deteriorate. With no heirs and the very sure possibility of Orin taking over the throne, Treize was trapped. He wasn't quite sure what path or plan he should be making.

The friendless ruler's thoughts were interrupted by the startling crash of the throne room doors being flung open. The soldiers that lined the room jumped in surprise, they had been woken from their usual afternoon doze.

Orin swept into the room with the airs of a rich raja. He was dressed for the part too. Clothed in the richest and finest silks, he easily out-dressed Treize who was in his sharp military blue suit. The magus's spindly fingers sparkled with gems and precious jewels that caught the guards' eyes. He looked more like the king than the exhausted Treize. The soldiers were astonished by the show of wealth from the magus. They were even more startled when they saw how youthful and young the magus looked. Something had definitely changed, it was like Treize and Orin had switched bodies or something. The soldiers wouldn't be able to puzzle it out though, they hardly had the minds to worry about such a thing.

Orin sauntered up to Treize and mock-bowed to the tense monarch, "My Lord, why do you look so worried?"

Treize wasn't sure if he had more trouble accepting the grandiose figure in front of him or the fact that his time had finally drawn to a close. Clenching his hands into fists he calmly rose up from his throne and descended the stairs. He didn't even look at Orin as he passed by the beaming magus, Treize didn't want to allow the magus the chance to try something. The soldiers that stood around the room were watching in bewilderment, rumors flew back into their minds. 'Was it true that Orin had killed Adaron, or that the king had no control over his magus anymore? Was any of it true?' The gossip hungry soldiers didn't even know the half of it; all they could do is guess at what was playing around in the two twisted minds. Orin's eyes had narrowed dangerously at the sign of arrogance from Treize. His features had darkened and made the formerly handsome face, ugly.

"So is that it Treize? You think you can just walk gracefully out of this room without a mark on your pride!" Orin snarled. He swept around so that he could capture Treize's retreating figure. Looking like an angry bulldog, Orin made a cutting motion with his hand. Magic sparked through the air and threw Treize to the floor. Orin let his tensed features relax slightly, this was the sort of exit he had envisioned for Treize.

The surrounding soldiers gasped at the scene, they could hardly believe what was happening. Clanking forwards in their heavy armor, they rushed to pick up and defend their king.

"Don't move!" Orin spat out. The guards were immediately flung back to their usual places around the throne-room, frozen in place by Orin's magic. Orin instantly turned his attention back to the fallen king. Waving his hand lazily, Orin swung Treize up into the air and locked his limbs in place. Treize's lip was cut and swelling but he still looked dismissively past Orin. The magus rolled his eyes, "Do you always have to be so arrogant Treize?" With a lethargic move Orin had Treize hanging upside down in the air. Treize's crown and sword fell with a clang onto the cold marble floor. "Should I undress you and leave you in the nude?" Orin asked, chuckling to himself.

Treize's crystal eyes met Orin's, "You were once a great magus Orin."

Orin's eyes widened in temporary bemusement, "You're right, once I was great, but now I'm a god, literally. Now, I am the ruler of OZ." Orin was going to say more but a distant sound, a clattering of feet on marble, snared his attention. It was only a brief moment that he had his attention turned away from Treize, but it was enough to give Treize the idea that something, or someone, was coming. When Orin turned his eyes back onto the dangling king he had a fierce grin on his face.

"Well, well...If I had known you'd had the faithful service of such...gifted men, I would've saved your humiliation for them too. But seeing as I'm already started, I'll just quickly wrap this up." Orin strode forwards and placed his hand onto Treize's chest. Murmuring words under his breath he felt a slight thrill in his body when he grasped the full measure of his magic. It surged through his body like a torrent of raging water. The spell must have felt like a stab to Treize.

Orin's hand was glowing a sickly green color. The glowing green light rapidly spread to encase Treize's body. Once the magic had covered every inch of Treize's body the glowing ooze disappeared. Orin snapped his fingers and watched in fierce pleasure as Treize yelled in pain. A brand of interlinked chains glowed red-hot on the side of Treize's neck. Treize's body was released from the spell and he fell to the ground without any sort of warning. Treize could only gasp in air as pain lanced through his shoulders and head which had broken his fall. His neck felt like it was in a collar of fire, the brand was already beaded with blood.

Just then the Dragon Clan burst through the doors. Their leader stepped up to yell out a spell but found that his hands were planted at his sides and that his lips were sealed shut. The proud Clan warriors were locked in place too, they hadn't even been given the chance to say a spell against Orin.

Orin strolled up to the members of the Dragon Clan with a smirk on his face. "Honestly, how long did you think it'd be before I would be more powerful than you, hmm?" Orin asked the Clan's king. Orin privileged the older man by unsealing his lips.

"You filthy bastard, you stole the crystals! Now I know why Wufei turned against OZ!" His voice was so choked by rage that his words were thundering around the throne room.

Orin chortled at the announcement, "Don't worry, he'll be dead soon. Meanwhile, I'll bind you all, including you Treize, to this castle, you now all work for me."

"Over my dead body." The Clan leader hissed venomously, his eyes began to glow as life came back into his body.

Orin grimaced at the show of defiance, he would no longer tolerate such behavior. He was reigning king now, and nobody would stop him. Orin's opened hand immediately closed into a crushing fist that glowed with purple magic. The Dragon Monarch was outlined in purple light as the spell closed in around him. He had a moment to scream before his body was mashed together like a tomato.

Orich, the Dragon Clan's magus, let out a gasp of horror. "You bastard!" He yelled, his anger gave strength to his bottled up magic, freeing him from Orin's holding spell. In two strides Orich had leapt onto Orin and was throttling the young magus. The magic inside of Orin burst out of him at the attack. Orich was thrown against the far wall while Orin scrambled to his feet.

"How dare you!" Orin spat, "You think you can just go about and defeat me! I have the power of the crystals inside of me Orich, a power that is far greater than yours! You can't possibly defeat me!" Orin yelled out as he buffeted the wounded magus with magic.

Orich's pained eyes burned holes into Orin, "Don't forget what the crystals real purpose is Orin."

Orin snarled at Orich in unbridled hate, "You think you know everything Orich, but I am the one who has the power, I am the one who can destroy you." Orin waved his hand in an elaborate emotion and an iron collar appeared onto Orich's throat. The collar clamped down onto Orich's neck and began to squeeze the life out of him. Orin stood in front of Orich, watching as the man clawed at his bleeding throat, he was merciless.

Orin pulled Orich up so that he could whisper into the dying magus's ear, "Now Orich, what magus will be powerful enough to stop me?" As Orich's eyes rolled back into his head, the last thing that he saw was Orin's face, grinning back at him.

Orin dropped the heavy body as soon as he knew that it was completely and utterly lifeless. Not even taking the time to wipe the blood from his hands Orin strode up to Treize and slapped him across the face. "Now look at what you've done Treize, you've gotten your little friends killed."

Treize's shallow breaths became shaky with rage, "I will never bow to you."

Orin shrugged his shoulders, "It's too bad Treize that I'd rather see you suffer a million lives than to die, otherwise I'd kill you on the spot." Orin said a word and the rest of the Dragon clan flew against the walls and was instantly chained to the wall. Treize however found himself chained to the floor in a kneeling position. The metallic restrains were so tightly and precisely put that Treize couldn't budge an inch from the kneeling position. Orin snickered, "You see Treize, I already have you bowing to OZ's real lord."

Staring around himself Orin gave a sigh of satisfaction, "Now I just have one more little thing to deal with." Looking around the room Orin finally found the Asiatic person he was looking for. Walking up to the Dragon Clan general, Orin couldn't help but smile at the man's furious attempts to lash out at him.

"Come now, that's no way to treat your new ruler."

The general spat at Orin, the spit landed on Orin's cheek. For a moment it looked like Orin was going to explode but he just wiped the spit away and took a step closer to the burly man. The man took in a breath of surprise as Orin spit on him, except that Orin's spit congealed into a goose that covered the man's nose and mouth. Convulsing for air the man's eyes rolled back and forth in his head as he struggled for air. Orin only released the man from the spell when he was an inch from death.

"Tell me, how do you control your dragons?" Orin waited a second before he sent his magic cutting through the man's scalp. Blood trickled down the defeated general's face as he shook in pain.

"Tell me." Orin murmured, a smile tugging at his lips.

The night sky whirled in a circle above Rei's head as she spun around and around. The stars, in Rei's amethyst eyes, were trailing after her outspread hands, their tails leaving streaks of light to outline their path. With each new revolution Rei began another prayer. 'Please help me to prove myself to Wufei...Please help Wufei to forgive me...Please help me.' She said, letting her mind's voice spill outwards into the lonely desert. When she at last sank down onto the cool sand she watched the stars continue hurtling through space in a dizzying circle above her. Closing her lavender eyes she let out a whimper of anguish. This was all her fault, all of the rebels and Usagi herself, were in danger now because of her ignorance. The weight of the knowledge had been enough to silence Rei for the entire long and dusty day.

When she sat up again, brushing the loose sand off of her clothes as she did so, she tilted her head back so that she could glimpse the twilight stars overhead. The night sky had always been able to soothe Rei before. Its great expanse had continually reassured the princess that there were other places and other wonderful things in life that could happen to her. But the peaks of the surrounding dunes had captured the night sky in their gently arched points, interrupting what would have been an endless stretch of midnight blue and black. The sky seemed to be another finite beauty that was unreachable to all but the highest of peaks.

Cupping the desert sand in her hand, Rei watched as the sand trickled through her fingers. Each grain of sand was like a moment of Rei's life, each moment was as pointless and inconspicuous as all the rest. Rei picked up another handful of sand and let it slip through her fingers again, another analogy of her life. Then Rei heard the faintest of sounds. It was only for a moment, but the moment had lasted long enough for Rei to have heard the hushed sound of sand rushing down a dune. Rei's slender fist tightened so that the flow of sand in her fist was brought to a halt, she wasn't exactly sure if she was just being delusional. Rei slowly lifted her gaze from the desert floor and felt her heart skip a beat as her eyes spotted the back of a swiftly retreating figure. Rei's hand instantly opened wide, dumping the sand onto the ground. She had thought that she had seen the OZ crest on the retreating figure but she couldn't be sure. She wasn't about to sound the alarm to the entire rebel camp if the man turned out to be nothing more than a desert hare, so she rose up to investigate. Rei crept on all fours up the forbidding dune.

As she crawled up the dune she could feel the deep indents in the sand from the footsteps of someone or something that had passed by earlier. Her body had begun to tingle with adrenaline as she neared the top. Her ears had already begun to pick up on the all too familiar sound of a thousand pairs of feet tramping across the sand. Pursing her lips against the fear boiling up inside of her, Rei let her head peek out just above the dune's ridge. The glittering light of a thousand torches met Rei's stunned eyes. Her hand abruptly shot forwards as her wobbly balance on the tip of the dune became more apparent. Rei's cry of surprise was kept to a minimal squeak as a handful of disturbed sand slid down the dune to the feet of the receding OZ scout. The man abruptly stopped in his movements, watching as sand from behind him came trickling past. Whirling around the OZ scout spotted Rei just as she ducked her head back under the shelter of the dune.

Rei didn't try to hide the sound of her retreat as she heard the OZ soldier call out to the amassed legions just on the other side of the dune. She scrambled up the far dune, using her hands to help haul her up the steep, sliding surface. Her heart was hammering in her chest while her brain urged her to go faster. Being alive for long, Rei realized, was never a sure thing. The able-bodied OZ soldiers on the opposite dune practically flew up the hill of sand as they rushed forwards, still trying to carry on with their surprise attack. When they spotted Rei's struggling body near the top of the far dune they silently strung their bows.

Rei clambered to the top of the dune and lost no time in drawing her hands back to pantomime the motion of drawing an arrow to a bow. Without delay Rei's magic supplied a bow and arrow of fire into Rei's quaking hands. 'I pray that I'm not too late.' She thought as she loosed her fiery arrow. The flaming shaft soared straight up into the sky before bursting into a cloud of red hot flames. Rei felt a momentary smirk grace her features, she had done it, the rebels were warned. But then the crashing sound of thousands of soldiers rushing up the dune towards Rei made her realize that she was their very first target. Spinning around on the balls of her feet Rei was unprepared to see the mass of hard-eyed soldiers charging towards her but she held her ground, summoning her magic to her. If anything, Rei was going to make a dent in the number of OZ soldiers that the rebels were going to meet in battle.

Wufei's hands, which had been busy sharpening daggers, stilled, as ebony eyes traced a shadow of light that could be seen through the thin tent roof. Wufei sheathed his lethal weapons instantly, "Duo get up!" Wufei hissed, turning to the sleeping shifter. Duo, grumbling all the way, threw back his thin cover and reached for his clothes.

"What the hell is up now?" Duo asked, still bleary eyed.

"Would you just sound the damn alarm!" Wufei barked as he snapped back the tent flaps and stepped outside. Wufei felt a certain amount of relief when he saw that the rebels were already wide awake and running around. Wufei was pulling on his cloak when his eyes caught sight of Rei's familiar figure at the top of a far dune. Wufei felt his frown deepen until he saw the smudgy orange color of Rei's magic gathered in her fists. She was hurling balls of fire down at some unseen enemy without a breath of rest in-between.

Wufei's muscles began to tense as he continued to watch Rei fighting. He tried to relax them and save them for the battle but he couldn't stop himself. His feet had unconsciously turned him towards Rei and before he knew it he was running to her. His lungs hitched when he saw an arrow silently cut through the air like butter before plunging into Rei's exposed shoulder.

"No!" The word reverberated around Wufei. His calloused hands went to touch his traitorous lips in surprise. Wufei slowed to a complete stop and felt his mind lurch as the scene of the rebel camp and the desert came crashing back to Wufei. 'I do not have feelings for that simpleton.' Wufei couldn't help thinking to himself, reaffirming what he had felt earlier for Rei, which was nothing. Shaking his head to clear it of the picture of Rei's crumpling body, Wufei was about to turn straight back around and walk away but then he heard Rei's scream.

Gritting his teeth in anger Wufei twisted back around, 'Damn it Rei.' he thought brashly as he ran towards the fallen girl. It was then that the Hurda heard the roaring scream of the dragons. But Wufei could have cared less as he pushed past the panic stricken rebels to go and save Rei. The task seemed to fill him with more strength and speed with each forward step, filling him with the realization that his heart had already chosen what was more important for Wufei.

Outlined by the light of the torches, Wufei could see a man swinging his heavy sword up and above Rei's body. Wufei's magic coiled up like a spring, preparing itself for its master even though he had already lost hope of reaching Rei. She was too far away from him and it didn't seem like he was gaining any distance between them. The hulking body of Quatre's Dewolf suddenly leapt into Wufei's line of vision. The blotched-brown creature streaked up the dune faster than the wind and knocked the man to the ground with its body. Quatre's miniscule figure could be seen atop the back of the wolf as it scooped up the nearest group of soldiers in its jaws. The nearly translucent shield of magic that Quatre had around him and his Dewolf kept flaring with light as it was struck by hundreds of swords and arrows at the same time.

Later Wufei would realize that the soothing chill that had pumped through his blood would be relief. But at the moment all he could think about was how draining it must be for Quatre to sustain such a large shield around him and his Dewolf. The Asiatic Hurda was snatched from his thoughts and brought to a screeching halt when, in the distance, he heard a familiar scream. His head turned to see who could have made such a high-pitched sound, he was already dreading what his eyes would tell him. He easily spotted Usagi who had just come out of her grand tent. Her hands were held above her as a weak defense against the descending ball of flame.

Time came to a crushing stop as Wufei watched the mini sun come plunging down to the earth. The hot flames of the fireball reached out and wrapped around Usagi seconds before consuming her into its blazing mass. Wufei couldn't move an inch, his breath was coming out in ragged bursts. He suddenly became conscious of the fact that he had stretched out all of his magic to save Usagi, and all that was left of his tidal wave of magic was a glowing dome over her crumpled body. He had been too late, far too late to save her. The Hurda used his magic so that he could see Usagi's burned form quite clearly from where he was. His magic had partially saved the once-smiling girl but there was no doubt that she was dead. The gruesome red and white sores that covered Usagi's body oozed blood and pus. Her eyes were closed and her lungs were no longer filled with the breaths of life.

Wufei wiped the sweat from his brow and felt a blanket of complete and utter failure drape itself across his shoulders. The momentary feeling of failure was followed by a burning anger. Where were all the other Hurda's, where were Duo and Heero and Trowa. They had all helped to cause Usagi's death and it set Wufei's teeth on edge. The black-clad warrior stubbornly set his aching shoulders back so that he stood taller. Usagi had been the Hurda's last chance to obliterate OZ. 'Now,' Wufei thought, 'I might as well kill myself trying to destroy as much of OZ as I can.'

A piercing scream tore the silence of the night. Rebel soldiers turned to look upwards and were greeted by the sight of scaly bellies twisting and twining through the night air.

Wufei's eyes slowly lifted towards the skies to gaze upon Usagi's killers. Twenty or so of the dragons were circling above the camp, throwing down balls of flame that were as big as houses. Wufei let out a cry of anger and frustration as he drew his sword. An arrow came hissing through the air and narrowly missed Wufei's ear. Two more arrows flew through the air towards Wufei; they didn't even make it close to their target. Turning around, Wufei didn't even need to utter a word to send the arrows spinning backwards, straight into the owners' chests. Wufei let out a snarl of rage, his fangs glinted in the firelight. Soldiers were now pouring past Quatre and his Dewolf, fighting the pair only when they needed to.

The soldiers had realized that the Dewolf, which was practically bristling with arrows, and its master was no match for the pure number of soldiers that was there. So the OZ elite ignored the exhausted pair and streamed past to the battlefield.

Even from the distance Wufei could see the Dewolf continually trying to attack the soldiers who no longer paid attention. Quatre's body was no longer on top of his Dewolf, he had fallen sometime during the minute it had taken Wufei to see Usagi eaten by the ball of flame. Wufei's expert eyes were swift at picking out the stumbling form of Quatre. He was several feet from his Dewolf, dragging himself and Rei away from the soldiers as they surged around the lone wolf. Wufei used his magic to help him race across the sand to the bedraggled figure. He didn't care if he was using up all his energy just to race across the stupid sand to see how the pair were doing, it didn't matter anymore.

Quatre let out a moan as he collapsed onto the sand. His sweat was sticking to his forehead as he tried to drag Rei next to him. His ear was pressed to the sand as his body denied him the right to move, it was just too tired. The thudding of feet against the sand alerted Quatre. He wearily inched his face upwards so that he could see whose pounding feet were flying towards him. When he saw Wufei, Quatre couldn't help the sigh of satisfaction that escaped him. When Wufei finally had crossed the distance between him and Quatre he was disappointed to see how weary his friend was. Wufei yanked the concealing black cloth down from Quatre's face and was glad to at least see that he wasn't injured too much. "What happened?" Wufei rapped out.

Quatre let out a strangled laugh, "Didn't you see?" Quatre struggled for more air, Wufei gently eased the winding black cloth from Quatre's laboring throat.

"No," Wufei heard his voice soften slightly, "Usagi's dead Quatre."

Quatre pitched feebly upwards, "What? What're you talking about? I just left her with Heero!"

Wufei felt a pinprick of pity, "Usagi get hit by dragon fire, I saw her burned body afterwards, Quatre. She's dead..." Wufei's voice trailed away as the enormity of the event hit him yet again.

Quatre shook his head, refusing to believe, "It was someone else, it couldn't have been Usagi." Quatre peered desperately into Wufei's eyes before shoving him away in disgust. "Why don't you help Rei for a change while I go and find Usagi." Quatre stumbled to his feet.

Wufei glanced down and felt a grudging wave of comfort when he saw Rei's alert eyes on him.

"Go, you need to save her!" Rei mumbled as she clamped a hand onto her bleeding shoulder. Wufei ground his teeth before he reached forwards and slung Rei into his arms, "I can't just leave you out here." He said harshly. Turning to meet Quatre's eye Wufei tightened his hold on Rei, "I saw what I saw Quatre."

Quatre's eyes narrowed dangerously at the comment, "Shut up Wufei, you've been blind all your life so I don't expect you to have things suddenly in focus." The biting remark was so uncharacteristic, so unexpected from everyone, even Quatre, that the two stood in stunned silence for a moment. Then Wufei shook his head to clear it for a second time that night. "Don't let your pain get in the way." Wufei's voice was low, "The dragons aren't going to be under Orin's control for long, you better use the time I'm giving you wisely. I won't be able to hold back Orin's spell for long." Wufei proclaimed before he turned away from Quatre.

Quatre rubbed his grimy face and let loose a shaky breath. 'She's not dead.' Quatre said to himself. He whistled for his Dewolf, unsure of whether or not he really wanted to enter into the battle now. The Dewolf leapt clear of the line of soldiers and raced towards its master, glad to be free of the harrying job. Quatre pulled himself onto his Dewolf's back with shaking arms, "It's time to fight." Quatre said, goading the Dewolf forwards. The Dewolf threw back his head and howled to the sky before rocketing his body towards the battle. Blood and sand flew behind the Dewolf as his body stretched out and lowered itself to the sand. The world practically turned under the Dewolf's feet as he charged into the flaming battle scene.

Wufei ran several feet away from where he had met Quatre. He stopped at a dune that was safe from the main battle. He gently lowered Rei to the ground, his head twisting around so that he could keep the dragons in the corner of his eye. "What're you doing?" Rei asked weakly, "You need to go help Usagi or else OZ will never be defeated!" Rei murmured as she tried to shove Wufei away from her.

Wufei snorted, "We are going to help her...if you help me."

Rei studied Wufei's face quizzically before she slowly extended her hand, "What do you need me to do?"

Wufei clasped hands with Rei, "I just need to borrow your magic."

Rei shrugged her shoulders, "Sure, I don't have a lot of it though."

Wufei took Rei's other hand in his; he knelt on the sand in front of Rei. "That doesn't matter." Wufei studied Rei's dirt streaked face, "Are you ready?" Rei could only nod her head, she had no idea what she was supposed to be ready for. "I guess so." She replied, shrugging her shoulders. Wufei lifted their clasped hands above his head and tilted his head back. Closing his eyes, Wufei wet his lips and began the spell.

A coal black dragon came to a whirling halt; he hovered in the sky as if frozen in place. The dragon's misted eyes began to clear and lose the film that had been placed there. The graceful serpentine neck reared up into the sky and surveyed the burning buildings below with a new interest. 'Wufei?' The dragon's voice rippled through the minds of the rebels until its voice finally came to his master. 'What has happened? Why am I here?' The dragon asked as it hovered in the sky, unperturbed by the scenes of murder below.

'You were tricked into coming here.' Wufei's voice came clearly into the dragon's mind, 'OZ's magus, Orin, was able to find the spell to control you."

The dragon let out a cloud of caustic smoke from his nostrils, if there was one thing that dragon's hated the most, it was being controlled. 'What shall I do?'

Down on the ground Wufei felt the frown on his face begin to ease away, 'Wake your brothers and sisters from this spell. Turn them against OZ...Arith, thank you.' Wufei's voice whispered softly, 'My cause is already lost though.'

The dragon's massive wings spread outwards like splayed fingers, 'I don't know about that, but I do know that I can break through this stupid magus's spell. You humans never understand the extent of our dragon magic.' Arith's swan-like neck bulged momentarily as a blue ball of magic worked its way up Arith's throat. The jet black claws twitched as he spit out the brilliant blue orb, it hung in the air like an enormous dewdrop before it burst into millions of sparkling lights. The shattering sound of the spell was like the keening scream of a harpy.

Quatre covered his ears when the scream reached him. It was like a pig squeal except a thousand times higher. Quatre could feel the shudder of discomfort from his Dewolf. Its ears were laid flat back against his head, trying to shut out the awful sound. The Hurda let his hands fall from his ears, feeling guilty. His Dewolf shouldn't have to suffer through all of this, it was Quatre's job to go and save Usagi. "Stop," Quatre called out softly, "I'll go on from here, you can go." Quatre called out as he slid down from his Dewolf's back.

The Dewolf turned his great, big, furry head around to stare at his master. His ears launched upwards like springs at the words. 'I'm not leaving you here master, are you insane? You could be killed by one of those damn, conceited dragons.' The creature's eyes were wide with animosity, 'I'm not leaving you alone this time loner.'

Quatre frowned at the word, "I've been in worse situations, now leave me alone." Quatre snapped, he was getting to be more than irked by being called a loner. Because he wasn't, Quatre thought, he wanted to be with Usagi...loners just wanted to be alone, right?

The overgrown animal remained rooted to the spot, 'I know where my loyalties lie.' His amber eyes bore holes into Quatre.

Quatre's brows scrunched together in momentary confusion. He would have asked what the Dewolf exactly meant by that statement but his eyes had just found the glittering dome of magic that lay protectively over Usagi's prone form. Everything the Dewolf had said to him was erased from his mind as he exploded into motion. The Dewolf's eyes widened as he witnessed the crushing hold that love had on his master. The Dewolf was only a second behind Quatre who was plunging heedlessly into the heat of the battle. He was the one who would see the smiling arc of a dagger hurtling towards his master. Lunging forwards the Dewolf caught the glittering blade in his jaws and snapped it in half. Quatre jerked to a stop as bits of metal rained down from the Dewolf's jaws and onto him.

'I told you, I'm not leaving you alone.' The Dewolf's voice was like a roar in Quatre's mind, 'Now wake up, you were almost killed because you weren't paying attention to anything but that idiot girl.'

Quatre suddenly looked pale in the firelight. Closing his eyes the Hurda rubbed his face vigorously. He tried to wake up from the spell that Usagi had over him, he tried to at least think of something besides Usagi for a few seconds, but he could hardly do that then he could give up on eating. His hand reached forwards and stroked the muzzle of his Dewolf. "I know...I'm sorry."

The Dewolf gently nudged Quatre into the direction of Usagi, who lay only a few feet away from them. Quatre's fist tightened onto the coarse hairs of the Dewolf's coat. He began to walk forwards, regretting his every step. Burnt skin had turned into a crusted, but smooth mummy-like mask over Usagi's face. She was bare to the entire world and her long hair, which had been enough to turn heads, was completely gone. Quatre's stomach abruptly clenched in a spasm of horror as his eyes took in every detail of the girl he had fallen in love with. Quatre covered his mouth but couldn't stop his stomach from hurling out his bile. The Dewolf only flicked his ear towards the sounds of Quatre vomiting. He was more interested in the twinkling wall of magic that stood in front of him.

'Quatre, what do you think this shield is made of?'

"Why the hell are you asking me about that?" Quatre asked as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve, "Don't you see what's inside it?"

The Dewolf pressed his wet nose against the shield and felt an electric jolt shiver its way down his spine. Quatre jumped in surprise when he heard the muffled clatter of arrows falling away from the Dewolf's skin. "You're healed..." Quatre could hardly believe it, but as his hand passed over the Dewolf's furry coat he couldn't detect any open wounds. Quatre's heart began to pound a little faster. His eyes trailed to Usagi's prone form and he felt his heart nearly burst. "Usagi!"

His blood stained hands clenched into fists as he continued to stare at her motionless body. Taking deep breaths he grabbed a fist of his Dewolf's ruff to steady himself, "I'm going to save her. She still lives." Quatre whispered to himself. Slowly, Quatre extended his hand out towards the shield. Quatre's hand was only centimeters away from the magical wall and could feel the living heat of the magic. Releasing his Dewolf Quatre stepped forwards and pushed his hand through the wall. His mouth fell open and his lungs hitched up as his air was taken from him. Quatre's eyes slid closed and he tilted his head back to revel in the feeling. The feeling of thousands of tiny fibers of magic coursing through him, healing him, was like standing in a warm rain shower. And all he wanted to do was to melt away, to just let go of the feeling of sore muscles.

'Master!'

The cry jolted Quatre's quickly scattering mind back together. Quatre could suddenly see Usagi from every direction, he was surrounding her. It was then that Quatre realized that he was being pulled apart. Every atom of his being was being eased away from Quatre's body and he was fading to become a part of the warm, magical shield wall. Shaking his head Quatre pulled his body forwards. His body pitched forwards with him, coming together as he regained his mind. Quatre fell onto the sand on the inside of the dome. His eyes immediately landed on Usagi's shiny red and black blistered hand. Holding the contents of his stomach in Quatre took Usagi's hand in his.

He didn't think he would ever forget the smell or the feel of Usagi as she lay there, dead to the world, stinking of burning skin. Taking a hold of Usagi's limp body, Quatre gently pulled her up until she was right next to the wall of the dome. Unfolding her curled fingers, Quatre extended just the tip of her finger so that it touched the magic.

Blue lights crackled over the surface of the dome as it began to throb. The magic was being pulled into Usagi who was, to the spell, unfinished. Quatre's heart leapt into his throat as he watched Usagi's body begin to heal. Easing Usagi out of his arms Quatre unhooked his cloak from around his neck and nestled it around Usagi's body. But as Quatre continued to watch he didn't see Usagi's chest suddenly jerk upwards with air or with renewed life. She continued to lie still as a rock on the sand floor. The dome had become even more translucent and had become smaller as it continued to flood into Usagi's broken body.

Quatre glanced upwards in desperation, that's when he saw the misty outline of Usagi.

"Usagi!"

The shadowy figure turned its head to Quatre, he wondered how he couldn't have seen it before. But when the figure turned its face to Quatre he instantly knew that it wasn't Usagi who was hovering at the roof of the dome. The shadow had no features on its face, just empty space. Quatre's mouth fell open in wonder as a tiny bud of light began to blossom from the forehead of the shadow. Crystal facets began to spread outwards from the shadows forehead like a web. The apparition's legs and arms became iced in the smooth, translucent exterior of a crystal. And inside the crystalline figure hovered an elegantly dressed body; a beautiful, slumbering Usagi.

Quatre stared at Usagi's sleeping face with shock before he turned back to the empty crystal face, "Give her back." He whispered, his mouth had gone dry, "Please, give her back!"

The crystallized shadow parted its lips and pictures, words, filled Quatre's mind.

'She is mine now.'

Quatre rose into a standing position, his hand on his sword, "She will never be yours!" He yelled.

The shadow smiled, and extended its hands to Quatre, 'Let me help you understand.' It said, its voice was smooth as silk. Quatre felt his hands rise up of their own accord, and stretch towards the perfectly chiseled crystal hands. The shadow's smile grew wider when its fingers finally were able to wrap around Quatre's trembling hands. As soon as Quatre had touched the glassy fingers his mind had shut down as his life, his energy, was sucked out of him.

The Dewolf who still stood outside of the shrinking magical dome flicked his ears forwards when he saw his master fall to his knees. Quatre's hands were still clasped in the alluring shadow's hands as the very last dredges of his energy were being taken from him. The Dewolf lunged forwards, through the warm shower of magic, to land nearly on top of Quatre. Clamping his jaw onto Quatre's shoulder the Dewolf yanked his master away from the crystalline shadow. The Dewolf felt his hindquarters tense as the dome wall passed through his body and Quatre's.

The glittering dome grew smaller and smaller until it was completely absorbed by Usagi's body. The Dewolf crouched over his cold master's body to give him warmth, warily watching the shadow as it floated towards Usagi. The shadow began to lose its crystallized skin as it neared Usagi. Soon it was nothing more than a nearly translucent double of Usagi. The sleeping form of Usagi that had been locked inside of the crystalline figure was released and drifted slowly down until it melted into the perfectly healed body of the real Usagi. The Dewolf's eyes widened as the shadow forced itself and the milky image of Usagi into the fully healed body without a backward glance towards the Dewolf or Quatre.

Usagi's chest jumped upwards as air rushed into her lungs. Her chest began to rise up and down evenly, she was alive. The Dewolf glanced down at his motionless master and felt a whine make its way out of his throat. Nudging his master the Dewolf whined again, 'Wake up.' He kept saying, 'Wake up...'

I know, aren't I so nice for just ending it here? Well I did give you 26 pages just now so um...read over it again and enjoy the rough drafty ness of the chapter yet again...I was too lazy to proofread 26 pages just like I was EXTREMELY lazy for not updating earlier, I'm very, very, sorry for that...hopefully the next chapter will be out in the next few days, the next week at the longest. I hoped you enjoyed it and that it wasn't too boring. Toodles, Qt-Chan