Author's Note: The title of this chapter is the name of a song by Killswitch Engage, which I believe fits this chapter in its entirety. Be prepared as I believe this is Xavien at his finest and believe me, people will die today. Also, I want to mention there's a new OC, one by Kibin Okami by the name of Pike Verso who finally gets his introduction into the story. Tell me how I did KO because I want, no need, your input. On one last note, this is my longest chapter ever produced to date, oneshots not withstanding. Without further ado, enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Kibin Okami's Pike Verso.

Warning: language, violence, death

When Darkness Falls

"There had better be a good explanation for this," Noventa grumbled as he got into the jeep that had been sent to escort him to the military base that was about an hour's drive from his estate. He was not happy that his precious time with his granddaughter and that intriguing boy had been interrupted and by Trieze of all people!

Was it too hard to ask for a semi-competent man to handle things while he took some much needed R&R?

The driver remained silent, an odd trait for someone who should be used to his presence. Noventa frowned at the man beside him but refrained from saying anything. Now that he took a good look at the man, he was much larger than the personnel that he was used to dealing with on a daily basis and since when did the army allow pony tails?

He was just about to pose his question to the soldier when he felt something hard, thin, and metallic press up against his throat. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he was being held against his will by a knife and his driver wasn't doing anything about this.

"Do you know how much of a pain in the ass you can be?" a voice breathed into his ear, hot air wafting over the fleshy protrusion.

Noventa frowned at the sound of that familiar voice. He was sure he had heard it from somewhere before but it was a bit hard trying to pinpoint it, especially since the owner of the voice had a very sharp blade pressed against his neck.

The voice then spoke up again, speaking to the driver, "Malkov, pull over and fix the rearview mirror up there, would you?"

Malkov obeyed the owner of the voice immediately, slowing the jeep down and pulling over, placing his large hand on the elongated mirror that was attached to windshield and turning it so that the Admiral could get a good look at just who held his life in his hands.

"Xavien," Noventa uttered, spitting the name out as if it was a curse. "Have you lost your mind? You have gone too far, pulling this little stunt."

"By all means, this is no stunt," Xavien said into his ear. "You see, for some time now, you have been putting a client of mine under a lot of pressure. At the rate things are going, he'll have a coronary or an ulcer before this is all said and done and I can't have his health jeopardized, not just yet anyway."

"And just what, pray tell, am I doing to stress your 'client' so much?" Noventa deadpanned.

"Sticking your nose in places it shouldn't be," Xavien replied. "Tell me, does the name Project Maxwell mean anything to you?"

Noventa narrowed his eyes. "I take it Septum's in on this as well?"

"Quite right."

"And the 'emergency' at the base, it's just some ploy to get me out in the open. There's nothing going on over there at all."

"I wouldn't say that necessarily. You see, right now that base is experiencing some…operational difficulties, that is if Mordred is not too busy making their lives a living hell."

"You won't get away with this," Noventa stated. "People will notice that I'm missing. You'll be harming yourselves more going through with this than just telling me what I wanted to know in the first place."

"Au contraire, Admiral," Xavien admonished. "I don't think that'll be a problem, not at all. Malkov, if you will turn the mirror again."

Obeying his employer once more, Malkov changed the angle of the mirror and the sight that Noventa could now see caused his eyes to open wide. He opened his mouth to demand what was going on just as a massive boom of thunder erupted overhead and Xavien slid his knife back.

As blood streamed from the man's slit throat, Xavien continued to speak into his ear, "Do you see the futility of standing against me now, Admiral? You underestimated the power that is Project Maxwell for the last time and now…you pay the price for your interference." Chuckling, he added, "Don't be scared, you won't be alone for long. I'll be paying a little visit to Sylvia to inform her about her loss, then I'll send her to join you. Perhaps you two can share a coffin? That is, if there's anything left when I'm through with her."

Struggling with all his might, Noventa finally lost the battle and his grip on life broke, his eyes glazing over in death.

Chuckling once more, Xavien said, "Turn the car around. We mustn't keep the missus waiting."

---

Dark shadows stole towards the mansion, crossing the expanse of the estate itself and heading for the front entrance. Most of these shadows were black-clothed men, each one holding either a standard M-16 assault rifle or a banana-clip Uzi. They held up positions on either side of the door and motioned for another dark figure to come. This figure was much smaller than the armed men mainly due to his lanky frame that wasn't helped at all by the skin-tight black uniform he wore. The youth who the men deferred to eyed the intricate design that was the door handle and lock and with a slightly creepy smirk, he said to himself, "Lovely."

Touching the bare skin of his hand against the door ornament, an automatic click was heard and the doors opened for the men. The youth was the first to cross over the threshold and into the lighted interior of the mansion, revealing his bleached pure white hair that spiked in all directions messily and steel blue eyes that didn't seem to be all there as he took in his surroundings.

As the armed men behind him trickled in behind him, the boy known as Pike Verso sniffed the air, smiling lazily to himself as he located his one true passion, his only joy in this truly bleak world. His steps were casual and almost lazy as he headed down a random hallway without a second thought. He passed door after door without paying any thought to them before coming to a stop in front of two large doors that he opened harshly. Stepping into the large room, his eyes gazed lovingly at the sight of sculptures and statues that were the secret pride of the late Admiral Noventa.

"Beautiful," he whispered in hushed tones as he approached a particular sculpture of an Ancient Roman warrior. He trailed his fingers lightly against the marble, his body quivering in delight as he felt the energies within the artwork. Few truly understood how much energy and attention it took to craft such works of beauty; only a handful knew that artworks themselves held spiritual energies from the very artist himself but Pike was one of those handful of people. Unlike the rest of that handful, though, he could not only touch this residual energy but he wielded it in a very skillful manner.

His hands suddenly spasmed and jolted against the smooth stone and the statue shuddered, the marble shifting and allowing the lifelike figure to move which it did. It stood before Pike stoically, waiting whatever its master willed for it to do.

"See if you can find the mistress of this house," Pike instructed, his voice naturally soft. "Give her my regards before you send her off into oblivion."

The statue nodded, understanding all that its master required for her and began to take heavy yet unexpectedly soft steps, none of its movements jerking but smooth and fluid like it was an actual human being. The statue headed for the staircase that would lead it to the second floor, intent on fulfilling its master's will.

Outside, the incoming storm slowly blew overhead, thunder rumbling within the dark, cloudy masses.

---

The jeep pulled up to the mansion and Xavien stared outside the tinted windows expectantly as one of his men approached the vehicle.

"We've found the weapon," the man reported, much to the businessman's satisfaction.

"I'll deal with it myself," Xavien stated, an evil smirk growing on his face. "Tell me, where exactly is it hiding?"

---

A sudden urge to go to the bathroom had Kisari up and about, taking care of her business in a tired fashion. Tonight had been quite a night for her and Sylvia, unexpected of course, but quite enjoyable. She felt slightly sore but she couldn't let that bring her down, not tonight.

As she stepped out of the bathroom, she froze in her tracks and had to rub her eyes in disbelief at what she thought she saw. Blinking them, the milky-white vision of seeing one of Sylvia's grandfather's statues walking down the hallway was not dispelled in anyway and was it her imagination or was that thing going into Sylvia's room?

---

Sylvia found herself waking up, unsettled for some reason. How could that be when she had gone to bed earlier feeling exhausted yet so relieved? She opened her bleary eyes and stared though the darkness of her room up at her ceiling as if it held all the answers to her questions.

Huh, why did she get the feeling she was being watched? Was it Kisari trying to freak her out again or was it Duo coming into her room for some unknown reason? She didn't care if it was; all she wanted was to go back to her beauty sleep!

Turning her head to the side slightly, she frowned as she noticed a ghostly white form standing right next to her bed, blank eyes staring down at her emotionlessly. What the…? What was this? Was she experiencing a mirage or something? Her mind was probably playing tricks on her because there was no way in hell one of her grandfather's statues was in her room.

The white apparition lifted a hand that she watched sleepily, not comprehending what it meant, not even when it fell down and found its way into her face. The stone fist caved her head in and continued straight through the mattress before it stopped, blood spilling down it and staining the once white marble blood red.

---

There was a storm coming but Duo took no heed of it was he sat alone on a couch in Nathan's office. His mind was in turmoil as he still tried to process just what had occurred only an hour or so ago. He tried reaching out to his other self but damn it, his other self was such a heavy sleeper that it wasn't funny. It was like Isley all over again except there was no Isley and he wasn't in any danger.

Thunder boomed just outside, rattling the large window in Nathan's office and Duo flinched impulsively. Other than that, he remained still, attempting to sort out all the conflicting emotions warring within him. Sylvia and Kisari…he still didn't get why they had snuck into his room and he had no idea what they were doing but he admitted that it had felt good for some unknown reason that was just beyond him. Why had it felt like it had? And why did it make him feel so…dirty? This was so confusing that it was making his head hurt…

He wrapped his arms around himself, trying to give comfort to himself and wishing wholeheartedly that Solo was here. Solo knew a lot about stuff and he should know what had happened earlier was called. He had not felt so alone in a long time, not since back at that horrible place that he and Solo had escaped from.

Lightning streaked across the night sky outside, followed one second later by another boom of thunder that masked the sound of the door opening. While he wasn't aware of someone else joining him in Nathan's office, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up at the familiar sensation of eyes boring into him. With his body as tense as it was, it was no surprise that he was trembling which only increased as the door was shut quietly with an almost deafening yet soft click. Soft footsteps carried the newcomer closer and closer to him and soon Duo's trembling became more like shivers as he had a gut feeling he knew who this was and it was the last person on Earth that he wanted to see again.

A smooth and well-groomed hand patted his head, fingers digging through his long, chestnut hair before leaving like a wisp as the newcomer circled behind the couch. He came into sight from Duo's right and headed towards the couch opposite of him, taking a seat on it in a casual manner and watching him with his all too cruel eyes.

His fears fully realized, Duo felt himself paralyze under the gaze of the two different colored eyes, one brown and one green. The man across from him crossed a leg over the other and rested his arms on top of the back of the couch, never taking his eyes off the braided boy for an instant.

"Did you really think that you could escape me, 11085?" Xavien inquired with an air of nonchalance.

And there were the dreaded words.

Duo didn't say anything; what could he say? He lowered his eyes, not wanting to look straight at Xavien but not willing to entice his anger but blatantly looking in another direction. He could feel his other self beginning to stir but at this point he highly doubted that he would be able to do anything in this situation. Despite being the bolder, more aggressive side of him, Reaper was always a bit cautious when it came to be being in the physical presence of this man. To give himself a form of comfort, he took hold of his braid and fiddled with it, trying to will away all the stress he was experiencing.

If Xavien had been expecting some sort of answer, he didn't show it. In fact, he probably was expecting this reaction from the braided boy since this was how he was back at the underground facility. Taking the initiative again, he said, "I'm afraid that I've kept your leash too loose for too long and that, I will admit, is my fault. I let you spend too much time with 12093 and look at what it's done to you. Convinced you to go off on some wild scheme for what? Freedom? Escape? I'm just dieing to know exactly what was going through 12093's mind. Then again, 12093 would know what those tasted like since he was human once upon a time…"

Duo blinked and tightened his grip on the end of his braid. "He is human," he mumbled defiantly. "I am human too. James said so."

This time it was Xavien who blinked, even as thunder boomed from outside. "James? You mean Maxwell? You actually found him?" Noticing Duo's body tensing with each question, Xavien smirked inwardly. "My, my, what a surprise. Well, we'll get back to him later, when you're more willing to be open. But honestly, human? He actually told you that? He couldn't be further from the truth, at least for you."

"You're a liar," Duo whispered heatedly.

"Now that just hurts," Xavien mock-pouted as he brought a hand to his chest as if he was affronted. "No really, it does, after all I've done for you too. Hell, I gave you my own seed to bring you life! You should be honored that half of the blood that runs through your veins belongs to me."

"No," Duo whimpered, curling up on himself as he tightened his grip on his braid, trying to denying the accusation this man was throwing at him.

"I assure you, when it comes to this, I do not lie," Xavien said flippantly. "I remember quite well harvesting Helen's eggs since, in order to create life, you need both gamete cells and I couldn't just have anyone donate their sperm. You see, you're a part of something larger than you can imagine, something that was created from the union of one of the most beautiful persons I have ever met and I myself. From your conception, you have grown from the inside of a test tube, soaking in and absorbing the wondrous substance that is Solution 1051. You have never known what it is to be inside a womb; you never were given life in the typical fashion. From the beginning you have been nothing more than a weapon, a tool of war that I can wield at any moment I choose.

"But I gave you too much free reign and now look at you. The poster child of Project Maxwell malfunctioning in such a disgraceful manner! I had always known that 12093 was defective from the beginning and it's my fault for not removing you from his presence when I had the chance."

"Stop it," Duo pleaded, clasping his hands over his ears, one hand still holding on to his braid. He didn't want to believe any of it, didn't want to put any credibility into what this horrible man was saying. He wanted to fade into the darkness of his mind and let his other self handle this but Reaper was being uncooperative and refusing to come out for some reason.

"The truth is hard, isn't it?" Xavien said mercilessly. "Helen was the same way after she made her involuntary donation. She had the same look on her face, just as you do now; in fact, you look so much like her that you might as well be her twin! Funny thing, last I heard, she became a nun before simply vanishing off the map. James probably had something to do with that but her usefulness to me was at its end a long time ago."

Wait, a nun? Could he be talking about…Sister Helen? The most beautiful person in the world? He couldn't mean the same person, he just couldn't!

"Such distress you are in, it's like sweet caviar!" Xavien commented as he stood up from his seat, his form towering over the balled up figure that was Duo. Moving to circle around the couch opposite him, Xavien continued, "Unfortunately, I'm not here to savor your emotional misery and while I'd like to leave you in your current state, that is not possible at this time. Fortunately I thought ahead far enough to give you a reset button, so to speak."

---

Standing between a few trees on the outskirts of the Noventa estate, an armed XAI employee was in the midst of doing his job when he suddenly jolted and fell to the ground, his body twitching before lying still, a sharp, metal protrusion sticking out from his neck.

Emerging from the foliage, dark-clad, new arrivals began to stream in with their own agenda…

---

What was he talking about? Re…set…button? What did that mean?

His confusion must've been obvious but Xavien seemed not to take any heed of it as he stalked around the braided boy like he was a slab of meat, enjoying this moment to its fullest.

"You'd be surprised how powerful the mind is," he said conversationally as he stopped himself just behind Duo and let his finger begin petting the chestnut locks as if the braided boy was a pet. "It's so complex yet if you know how to manipulate it, it's easy to mold. However, ever since your 'conception,' you have proved quite a nasty challenge to deal with in that regard, not that I mind challenges."

Duo was becoming confused and he clutched his braid tighter as he remained frozen in his seat.

"Having Disassociate Identity Disorder was not one of the things I had expected to deal with but then again it made employing Pavlovian classical conditioning methods a nice challenge with interesting results. Had to focus all of the training on just one of your personalities but that's the thing with having three of them. You still have two to work with if the first one doesn't pan out. Fortunately, there was no need to go beyond the first personality since it adapted so well to the training."

Wait. What did he mean by three? There was only two in his head, him and Reaper! Unless…unless he was talking about that other thing in his head, the one that took over whenever he heard certain words in a certain order with a certain tune…

"Do you understand now?" Xavien questioned, his fingers suddenly biting into his scalp, his fingers tugging the roots of his hair painfully. "I know you better than you know yourself; I know all the little details that you're too naïve to understand. I made you and you belong to me, body and mind. All I need to do is say the beginning verse of Jeepers Creepers and you become nothing more than a mindless, robotic killing machine! It's foolish of you to try and reach for something that you never had in the first place or will you ever."

Duo had a death grip on his braid and he could feel Reaper finally acting along with that third personality as the words Jeepers Creepers was mentioned, both preparing to move to the forefront and take over. He was filling up with relief that his other was going to handle this and he could feel the tenseness of his muscles lessening. But there was that other him and that only served to counteract the relief he felt with Reaper being so close to taking over.

"But now you don't have to worry about any of that any longer," Xavien said in a concluding voice. "The long overdue time to end this charade, your existence, has come at last."

Xavien relocated the hand that he had placed on Duo's head so that he grabbed hold of the end of Duo's braid. A knife slid out of his coat sleeve and with a hard slice, Xavien cut off the long braid, separating it from the brunet's head. The sudden loss in weight disrupted the equilibrium within the boy's head and the failsafe that had been programmed into him since his psychological conditioning training had been completed activated. Duo's eyes widened and darkened, as if all life in them had vanished without a trace.

Patting the body that had housed the multiple personality and would soon house another more pliant one, Xavien chuckled, circling around the couch to get a good look at his deactivated weapon, making sure that the failsafe had worked.

"Unlike your little friend, I at least have the option of starting over with you," Xavien spoke malevolently into the silence. "Get your rest while you can. You'll need it when I get you back to the base where we'll start your training all over again and this time, I will not allow your mind to fragment like it did last time. You will be my perfect weapon, just as you always were meant to be."

Just as he was in the midst of savoring this moment, one of his men suddenly burst into the office, spoiling the mood, much to the businessman's ire. "I thought I said no one was to interrupt me," he growled.

"Sir! There's a sit—" The man began but was cut off as a gunshot ripped through his body, blood splattering on the office door.

Eyes widening, Xavien abandoned his position in front of Duo and flipped the coffee table onto its side. He had just ducked under his makeshift cover just as an enemy combatant stood in the doorway and level a haze of bullets at the villain. When the gunman paused to reload, Xavien took the chance to take out his personal pistol and take a shot at the man, the bullet meeting with the man's bulletproof vest. While not injuring the other man, Xavien took the time his shot had bought him to move away from the bullet-riddled coffee table and hid behind the arm of the couch that he had sat on only minutes before.

By then, however, more unfamiliar armed men had arrived and while others were laying cover fire, another made his way to the comatose Duo and scooped him up, the boy's braid hanging loosely in his hand. Peeking his head out slightly, Xavien saw this and released a "No!" attracting the attention of the other armed man who began to level fire at the couch.

The couch shielded Xavien from the gunfire but he was beyond pissed at seeing his weapon be taken from him so easily. As the enemy men began to leave, he took a shot at the last one, nailing him in the base of his spine with his bullet and falling the unawares victim. At last, XAI personnel finally showed up and trained their weapons at the fallen enemy but they were too late to prevent 11085's abduction, something that rankled in Xavien's kiester.

Emerging from his hiding spot, he stalked towards the men and crouched next to the fallen one, his hand digging through the unrecognized outfit until it emerge with an ID badge, one with a recognized logo.

Snarling, Xavien took the knife he had used to cut 11085's braid and impaled it into the injured man's throat, ignoring the gurgling sounds as the man drowned in his own blood while a single word escaping his lips.

"Romafellor."

---

The Romafellor agents charged through the woods, one of the men carrying their precious load while the others fired occasional shots to keep the XAI forces from getting too close. Just as their rendezvous appeared, multiple vans ready to be filled with the surviving agents, a lucky shot was fired by XAI and took out the man holding Duo, the lifeless doll of a person falling onto the ground, his body cushioned by the grassy earth.

In no time, another Romafellor agent picked him up and carried him the rest of the way to the vans, his fate sealed as the door was slammed shut and the vehicle rocketed off.

---

Trowa's head snapped up.

Noticing this sudden movement, Solo asked, "What?"

Not watching his words, Trowa answered immediately, "I just felt Duo."

Frowning, Solo demanded, "Come again."

Realizing what he had just done, the unibanged young man groaned to himself, a noise that was muffled by the torrents of rain that had forced them into abandoned general store, one that had gone out of business due to its isolated location. After being chased away by a horde of zombies and across the desert in a haphazardly way only to come under fire from the very elements themselves, the group of three had to take cover quickly for the night. And now here they were, after Dorothy had messily patched them up using whatever materials she could find, and Trowa had found himself dropping the bomb.

Sighing, he said, "I've found Duo, or at least he touched a plant and they told me."

"Ya mean you can talk ta some green thing miles away from here and ya didn't even think ta tell me?" Solo growled.

"Not initially, no," Trowa answered. "It takes some time to get the word spread out and no, I'm not talking to 'some green thing miles away from here.' They're speaking to me by passing along the information to other plants. It takes a while and Duo is some distance away from here so—"

"I don't understand a freakin' word your sayin' but if your saying you know where Duo is, ya better put your money where ya mouth is," Solo cut in.

"That's certainly a blunt way to put it," Dorothy muttered, wrapping her arms around her knees and pressing them closely to her body in an attempt to keep warm."

---

The house was under attack, of that Kisari was certain. It was a miracle that she was still alive, especially with all those men shooting at each other and wrecking the place. And if that wasn't all, Sylvia was dead with a statue's arm going through her head! She had vomited at the sight, something that even her desensitized mind couldn't handle.

She had fled but had managed to keep up a coherent frame of mind as the gunfights began and she knew that she needed to hide else she'd become another casualty. Despite putting up a tough girl front to all strangers that she met, even she knew that you didn't try and pull something like that to a guy with a gun.

So she hid in a hall closet.

Unfortunately, she couldn't get the door to close fully so she had a nice peek out into the hallway. But that wasn't all, no, this closet just happened to be cluttered with all of the documents and papers that Sylvia's grandfather kept and couldn't bear to throw away because he was a pack rat. She was practically being shoved out by discarded paperwork but she was a stubborn girl and she resisted with all her might.

It was quiet now but she wasn't about to venture forth yet. Who knew if those men were still out there, waiting to jump and kill her?

After a few minutes and nothing happening, her rapidly beating heart began to slow down and she began to think that she was alone now. However, that belief was soon corrected as a voice bellowed, "WHAT?!"

Her body jolted, shifting some stacks of paper that threatened to collapse on her but managed to hold on. Were those people still here?!

"How, oh how, could you have let them get away with 11085?!" the loud voice continued to yell. "What the hell am I paying you people for if you can't accomplish a simple seek-and-capture mission? I don't care if those men were from the army, you shouldn't have let them get away!"

Strange. Though loud, the voice sounded as if it was nearby for some reason. It wasn't moving, or at least she didn't think it was moving, but it still made her anxious. She was getting paper cuts just by sitting in this oversized file cabinet!

A thumping sound caught her attention and it took her a couple seconds to recognize it as someone kicking the wall, most likely the man who was screaming his lungs out. A stack of papers then toppled onto her lap, the papers sliding down and pressing against the door, opening it slightly by about an inch but the creaking of the door hinges forced her to freeze.

There was silence out there for a tense minute which was ended by someone muttering, dismissing the noise. At that, Kisari leaned back further into the closet, feeling with relief that she hadn't been discovered.

Then all the stacks of papers collapsed on top of her and burst out of the closet door. As the noise from the disaster began to die off, Kisari groaned out an "Ow," her body recovering from almost being crushed by a mountain of useless papers.

A hand grabbed her wrist roughly and dragged her out of the mess with no kindness in any of the actions. Kisari found herself running into a well-dressed man who was glaring down at her with two different colored eyes that were filled with such an intense hatred that she visibly flinched back. She could only back away so far as the man had yet to let go of her wrist.

Turning towards two dark-clad men and a short boy with white hair, he ordered, "I want you to locate 11085's location immediately. I'll take of this little rat first and when we leave, I want to know where Romafellor is taking it, understood? Now go."

The men and boy left quickly and the well-dressed man dragged her down the hallway after him, stopping in front of Sylvia's grandfather's office and shoving her into the room. Slamming and locking the doors shut behind him, the man took out a blood stained knife and looked down at the petrified girl with an unholy light in his eyes.

"Please try not to break too quickly," the man said casually. "I have a lot of steam to release and you're going to help me."

Her pain filled screams filled the room but would go unanswered and unheeded.