Disclaimer: Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written.
AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.
Chapter 23: Grand Theft… Satellite?
Two waking and sleeping cycles after Harry had basically kidnapped Quatre's father, Duo and Quatre worked together to disrupt the security cameras watching over the various zones of space surrounding the colony and satellite while Harry charmed Dogstar, Dragonstar, and Northstar to have the appearance of the normal OZ Taurus suits. Their plan to steal the satellite involved placing the blame squarely back on OZ to make it look like the organization had simply been giving the Colony empty platitudes in order to get them to let their guard down so they could steal the satellite.
Zayeed had returned home and locked himself in his house; giving the appearance that he'd accepted the council's decision and was content to fade into the background while in truth he was waiting for them to come running to him after the satellite was 'stolen'. Une's spaceship had left the colony only sixteen hours before, leaving them with the promise that she'd be sending someone to 'deal' with the satellite upgrades so that they could start manufacturing the mobile dolls and other weapons. The plan they had come up with used her promise as a basis for OZ's supposed duplicity and would allow it to look like Une had planned to steal it all along since the suits would be seen 'dealing' with the satellite.
Zayeed had given the pilots everything they would need in order to release the satellite from its moorings along with a safe place to where it could be taken. Trowa would be picking up Quatre and Duo in the shuttle after the council approached Zayeed to help them save their precious satellite and the trio would be 'sent' after the thieves in order to 'retrieve' it but will instead help abscond with the satellite and haul it to a safe location to protect it from OZ.
"Ready to go, Taliesin?" Heero asked as he floated into the cargo bay as Harry resized the last mobile suit and anchored it to the open bay doors with a weak sticking charm to keep it from floating off; a task that had been made difficult due to the cumbersome spacesuit he was wearing and the need for skin to wand contact.
Harry nodded and gently launched himself towards the disguised Dogstar while Heero made his way to Northstar; Wufei having already climbed into Dragonstar before Harry had moved the suit out of the shuttle. Harry slipped into his seat and engaged his suit as he slipped into magical stealth mode before switching to flight mode. A glance up at his screen showed his brothers disappearing from his visual feed at the same time as two gray blips representing the cloaked suits appeared beside the green one that represented his own suit on the grid map that represented the section of space that they were currently occupying.
As one, the three of them slipped away from the shuttle in order to line up on their anticipated approach to the colony and the satellite they were about to jack. A sly, slightly feral grin passed over Harry's face as he felt his anticipation spike at the thought of landing yet another blow against OZ. Coiled around his neck inside of the suit, Seth hissed the tune of a familiar science-fiction movie's theme song that he'd learned from Harry and Harry couldn't help but hum along as he guided his suit through the vacuum of space with relative ease. An hour and a half later, a beep sounded and Harry glanced at grid map to find that they'd just crossed paths with a couple of OZ shuttle carrying a platoon of mobile dolls and OZ engineers heading towards L4 guarded by a dozen dolls and two pilots in suits.
"We've got company, Zero-One," Harry called over their comm. link.
"Already saw them, One-Three; Zero-Five and I will engage the two piloted suits and commandeer the dolls while you shut down the shuttle's systems. Zero-Two, what's the ETA on the camera feed regarding sector eight-five?"
"Camera feeds for sector eight-five have been looped; you're clear ta engage da enemy," Duo announced a beat later.
"Roger that, Zero-One and Two; disabling shuttle now."
Harry pulled up hard and flipped his suit vertically in order to switch directions in an instant and barrel rolled in order to right himself before he spun back around in a wide circle so that he was hovering directly above the OZ shuttle. He then removed his right glove so he could pull his wand out of the holster that he'd moved to his right arm and inserted it into the special grove on the door of the cockpit that was linked to the magical amplifier he'd created and installed. Giving the wand a half turn, Harry locked it into place and began channeling his magic into both the wand and the diamond amplifier before casting an overpowered stunning spell that washed over the entire shuttle and shorted out the shuttle's systems instantly.
Harry then shifted his eyes to the grid map and watched as the red lights representing the OZ piloted suits blinked out simultaneously as Wufei and Heero demolished the two piloted suits while still in stealth mode so that the two pilots would not be able to report what had happened back to Une before they died. The twelve mobile dolls were then quickly taken over by Wufei who had created (with the help of Duo) a Trojan virus specifically designed to steal command of the mobile dolls; the only glitch was that they had to remove the pilot or computer in direct control of the dolls before they could take them over.
Once Wufei passed on confirmation that he'd gained control of the mobile dolls, Heero joined Harry to deal with the shuttle. Harry had Dogstar grab hold of the drifting spacecraft while Heero dropped out of stealth mode, exited his suit, and used the manual override to open the shuttle's cargo bay doors so he could slip inside and deal with the pilots and crew. Harry felt sick knowing his adopted brother would most likely kill the men and women inside of the shuttle instead of simply capturing them; that's if they hadn't died due to exposure the moment Harry disabled the shuttle. He shoved the feeling aside though as he focused on his task which was basically standing guard over Northstar and the shuttle while his brother was vulnerable inside the spacecraft dealing with the crew.
Twenty minutes later, Heero slipped out from the open bay, closed the bay door, and climbed back into his suit and Harry breathed a sigh of relief since it appeared that his brother was unharmed. Wufei had finished reprogramming the mobile dolls at the same time, having striped their on-board computers of all previous commands and inserting new orders into the unmanned suits. At Heero's signal, Harry released the shuttle and transformed Dogstar back into flight mode before repositioning his suit directly over the roof of the shuttle and casting a temporary sticking charm onto the shuttle's roof through the amplifier. He then settled Dogstar into place on the roof of the shuttle and spent a moment making certain that he wouldn't become separated from the shuttle once he began moving.
Just eight minutes later, Heero gave Duo the all clear to restore the Colony's external cameras back to real time as he and Wufei fell into formation with the mobile dolls while Harry invisibly maneuvered the shuttle. Two hours after the initial contact with the enemy, they were within hailing distance of the Colony and Heero used an electronic voice modifier to disguise his voice as he contacted the Colony and informed them that he was there for the satellite. They were soon given clearance and shifted their course to bring them directly to the satellite in question. Harry steered the commandeered shuttle into the docking station inside of the satellite and carefully canceled the sticking charm before he slipped invisibly out of the docking bay and performed a wide sweep around the satellite, checking for civilians working on the surface.
"This is One-Three, the satellite's surface is clear," Harry called over the secure line they were using.
"Roger that, One-Three, prepare to drop stealth mode in order to connect the tow cables to the satellite," Wufei replied as he entered the heart of the satellite in order to clear all of the civilians from inside with the help of the commandeered dolls while Heero took up his station where the satellite connected to the colony. Ten minutes later, he announced, "All stations inside have been shut off and the workers are in the process of being evacuated."
"Zero-Two here; preparin' ta loop cameras monitoring da satellite. Hold your positions for five minutes ta avoid breakin' your routine startin'… now," Duo stated from his position inside of the colony.
Harry slid his suit into his preassigned position hovering directly over the top of the rear of satellite. After six minutes had passed (all of them holding an extra minute just in case), Harry dropped down to the back side of the satellite, dropped out of stealth mode, and reverted to suit mode so he could grab hold of the satellite. He then slipped on the glove he'd removed earlier, checked to make certain his spacesuit was properly functioning, and shut down the life support system and artificial gravity systems inside Dogstar before he unbuckled his harness and opened the door.
Once outside the suit, he climbed hand over hand until he was hovering beside a hidden compartment in Dogstar's left leg and tapped it just shy of the exact center with the side of his fist to unlock the door. He then reached in and pulled out a thick cable that was about twenty feet long before closing the door to the compartment. Draping the cable over his shoulder, Harry turned towards the satellite and kicked off gently so he could propel himself across the short distance. He spent the next fifteen minutes attaching the long cable onto the satellite, taking care to make certain it was securely attached.
It was a task made extra difficult due to the tendency of the free end of the cable to float and flop around as Harry worked in combination with the bulky gloves he wore over his hands. Once it was in place, he drifted back to his suit and pulled out the next cable and set about hooking it into place; the process going a little smoother as he learned from his earlier mistakes. He repeated the process an additional eight times until all ten cables were firmly locked into place; the total procedure taking just over two hours.
"Tow cables have been affixed to the back of the satellite," Harry announced as he pulled himself back into his suit, shut the door to the cockpit, and buckled himself back into his chair before reengaging both the artificial gravity and the life support systems. "Moving forward to provide cover for decoupling sequence now, ETA is forty seconds."
"Good job, One-Three; Zero-Two please disable the loops for the external cameras, reengage real time security surveillance, and disrupt internal cameras in thirty seconds," Heero ordered as he prepared to start the next phase of their plan.
"Copy that, Zero-One."
Inside of the satellite, Wufei had the dolls sweep the facility to make certain no civilians remained behind before he ordered six of them to take up six of the ten tow cables that Harry had attached to the satellite. He then moved up beside Heero as they waited for the all clear to be given so that they could start the decoupling sequence that held the satellite moored to the colony. The moment Duo confirmed that the exterior cameras were once again live while the internal cameras were now being looped; Heero exited his suit and began shutting the giant entrance doors leading into the heart of the colony before disengaging the clamps that fastened the satellite to the colony.
This was the most dangerous part of their plan since there was a chance that Heero could be killed before he could finish and return to the safety of his mobile suit. Harry slipped forward imperceptibly; it would be his job to protect Heero the moment the satellite pulled away from the colony while Wufei would be guarding him from inside so that the blue eyed pilot could finish without worrying about fighting off those that would attempt to stop him. Harry saw the yellow dots indicating a small group of old Alliance mobile suits had been deployed and Harry moved to intercept them. They pulled up sharply as Harry cut them off and immediately began yelling questions and commands at Harry.
"Stand down and return to your posts; we are following Lady Une's orders to commandeer this satellite facility as agreed by your council," Harry ordered after switching on the voice synthesizer to disguise his voice and switching on his external speakers. "I repeat, stand down and return to your posts. Failure to comply will result in immediate termination."
Harry nearly threw up as he cut the connection as the situation sharply reminding him of his brief stint in the hands of OZ, his mind and body both recoiling from his rather empty threat since he'd simply disable their suits and send them back towards the colony. There was still a chance one of them could die though and it bothered Harry to know if one of them did die he'd be responsible for the death of a potential innocent. Taking a deep breath in order to keep himself centered, Harry pulled out and began charging the beam rifle that his suit was originally equipped with in order to appear ready to carry out his threat. Two of the pilots complied, heading back towards the hanger they had exited from while the other four rushed forward intent on attacking Harry.
"Idiots," Harry muttered as he fired a warning shot that scattered the four suits.
They didn't take the hint though and Harry began systematically destroying the suits, taking care not to hit any of the systems that would cause the suits to explode and kill the pilots inside. It didn't take him long to remove all four suits from the fight as there'd been no cause for him to worry about taking any damage. He still felt more than a little sick over the thought that he'd attacked the Colony's defenders though; men and women who were not his enemies.
Shaking his head, knowing that if he really had been an OZ soldier than those four pilots would be dead, Harry pulled back away from the downed suits as reinforcements poured out of the hanger where the other two pilots had disappeared. He was pleased to note that they didn't seem to want to attack him as they retrieved their comrades instead. By that time, Heero had finished uncoupling the satellite, engaged the satellite's engines, and had returned to his suit before he and Wufei exited the satellite and headed around to the rear so they could each take up the tow cable in order to help tow the facility away from the colony.
Harry in the mean time continued to provide protection and to maintain a visible threat. Shortly after that, their magically altered shuttle that he knew would be carrying Duo, Trowa, and Quatre slipped out of the hanger and rapidly approached Harry, who charged his rifle yet again even as his mind screamed obscenities for even pretending to target his family.
"Halt! You will not be permitted to interfere with the transfer of this satellite; the council agreed to the terms of the treaty. Any attempt to prevent us from continuing our task will result in your immediate termination," Harry ordered tightly, his need to play his part warring with his emotions over threatening his brothers.
"This is Zayeed Winner, head of the Winner Corporation which is the registered owner of the satellite you are attempting to remove. The agreement made by the council was for the satellite to be used to manufacture a specific list of equipment as provided by Ambassador Une; there was no agreement for said satellite to be removed from our Colony. That satellite is vital to the livelihood of this Colony and we insist that you replace it immediately and contact Ambassador Une so that we might discuss the apparent changes she made to the treaty that was signed by our council."
"Irrelevant. My orders are to insure that the satellite is moved to its new location so that production can begin on the requisitioned equipment. It is no concern of mine whether you knew the facility would be relocated before you signed the treaty. If you have a problem with that you should contact Colonel Une yourself and take it up with her."
"We will most assuredly speak with Ambassador Une regarding the duplicity; however in the mean time I demand that you return the satellite to its former position until this matter has been resolved."
"I'm not authorized to negotiate with you nor am I at liberty to ignore my orders. Please remove yourselves from the vicinity or I shall be forced to fire. Any further attempts to prevent us from carrying out our jobs will be met with necessary force."
What followed was a spectacular twenty minute long mock battle that was choreographed to appear deadly real; during which half of Harry's attention was focused entirely on not vomit inside of his suit. Harry kept his showmanship to a minimum, avoiding showing off too many of his tricks or his suit's full capabilities and keeping more in line to a true Taurus's abilities. Even with that handicap it was plain to see that he was a talented pilot though.
He didn't know if it was Duo or Trowa piloting the shuttle but whoever it was had no problem keeping up with Harry's almost routine maneuvers but that was to be expected since all five pilots had helped train him in the first place. Whoever was manning the weapons on the shuttle knew what they were doing as well and more often than not Harry's off target attacks were met by the shuttle's retaliation and lit up the blackness of space with vivid explosions.
At the end of the battle, Harry appeared to finally take out the shuttle to those who'd been monitoring the space battle from the Colony. In truth, the moment the large explosion had washed over the shuttle the pilot had engaged the stealth mode (Harry having charged it with magic earlier) and slipped around to hide behind the satellite where Harry would later hook the shuttle up to the final set of tow cables. Harry slipped back into a defensive stance as he monitored both the satellite's progress and the Colony in front of him; his hands shaking as he fought to stay calm after the intense battle.
He would have preferred being assigned a different job during their heist but Harry's skills outside of the Taurus were still rather limited when it came to dealing with space technology which meant it would have been a greater risk to have him release the shuttle. He could have taken Wufei's place and controlled the dolls they'd commandeered but Wufei would have been the one to step in to finish Heero's job if Heero had been captured or killed by the Colony's defenders. And because he was so short he stood out even more than the rest of the teens which meant he'd have been noticed if he'd tried taking one of the tasks inside of the Colony.
Only the thought that he was helping get one over on OZ kept him from falling apart completely over the fact that he'd just been firing on those he considered family. Well, that and the fact that his brothers had been counting on him to perform the job they'd assigned him; the thought of disappointing them or appearing weak in their eyes helping him to push through the negative emotions that were assaulting him. Taking a couple of deep breaths, Harry calmed his inner turmoil as he reminded himself that the worst was over and that his brothers we re all fine. The sound of Seth's humming hisses as he sang yet another sci-fi theme song helped as well; the snake's antics never failing to bring a smile to Harry's face.
The thirty minutes was spent tensely monitoring the grid map and his immediate surroundings for any indication that the Colony was sending another squad of mobile suits to attack. Harry also kept a close eye on the satellite as it slowly pulled away from the Colony. Each time his eyes calculated the distance between satellite and Colony, he silently wished the manufacturing facility could be moved faster but he knew that without a larger ship they had no chance of throwing enough power into their engines to haul the thing any faster – even with the satellite's engines engaged.
"There's been a change of plans, One-Three," Duo called over the radio out of the blue approximately forty-five minutes after the shuttle's apparent destruction. "Da council has decided ta destroy da satellite instead of allowin' 'OZ' ta take it and Zero-Four has been unable ta talk them out of it. Do ya think it's possible for ya ta protect da satellite from their beam cannons and make it look like they destroyed it?"
"How is Zero-Four trying to talk them out of destroying the satellite if Zero-Four was with you Zero-Two?" Harry inquired with a frown. "And I don't know if I could completely block a large scale attack from the Colony and put up the illusion barrier to make it look as if the satellite has been destroyed."
"Zero-Four was ordered ta remain inside of da Colony by his commandin' officer, who took his place," Duo explained; his coded words telling Harry that Zayeed had purposefully switched places with Quatre for some reason. "If you're gonna take a go at it, ya need ta be quick about it 'cause they won't wait much longer."
"If I do manage to pull it off that would be it for me, Zero-Two; I'll be too exhausted to remain conscious once the illusion has run its course. That means we've only got one chance and if it doesn't work; you'll all need to scatter because I don't know if the suits or the space shuttle could withstand an explosion that large even with all of the protective wards I placed on them. There's also a chance they might fire their weapons a second time and I don't think even the blood wards could withstand a direct hit from even one canon."
"Do what you can to protect the satellite and one of us will pick you up once the satellite is out of direct sight of the colony," Heero ordered after fifteen seconds of silence. "Make certain you engage the stealth mode at some point in case you pass out so that you don't leave yourself vulnerable."
"Understood, One-Three out," Harry replied as he pulled off both gloves so he could charge the stealth system with his left hand while he wrapped his right hand around the handle of his wand that was still sticking out of the suit's door in order to charge the amplifier once more.
Once he knew the stealth controls were charged, Harry replaced his left glove and moved his left hand to the flight controls while he continued to charge the amplifier with his magic. Inside of the special pocket of the button down shirt he wore, his wings snapped open and closed in agitation as his level of anxiety rose as he watched the beam cannons of the colony powering up. His hands began shaking again as he tried not to think of what would happen to him, or worse to his brothers, if the shield should fail since he was in the direct line of fire and the only thing standing between the Colony's weapons and the satellite (and therefore his brothers).
As he watched the tell-tale glow light up around the nozzles of the cannons signaling the weapons had been fired, Harry took a deep breath to steady his hands and sent a quick prayer to whatever gods were listening as he waited until the last possible second to cast the strongest shield he knew; "Contego Maxima!"
Without even bothering to watch the large, shimmering white shield snap into existence; Harry hit the thrusters on the left side of his suit just long enough to snap him around one hundred and eighty degrees in order to face the satellite. He then shot forward for several meters in order to put a bit of distance between his suit and his shield as he kept one eye on the monitor that showed the beams racing towards his shield. At the same time he began pulling forth the magic he would need to cast the misdirectional ward that would hide the satellite from the visual scanners of the colony.
He could have just disillusioned the satellite but that would have meant shutting its systems down completely, which would have been counter productive at that point. Just seconds before the attack landed on his shield, Harry stopped his forward momentum, cast the misdirectional ward, and engaged the magical stealth mode on his suit in order to hide his presence. He watched the barrier illusion form even as close to one hundred blasts from the beam cannons impacted upon his shield and exploded with enough force that the shockwave shredded the shield and slammed into Dogstar as it spread out.
Harry's hand slipped on his wand but didn't completely let go, which caused the barrier to waver momentarily before re-solidifying as Harry quickly corrected his grip on his wand and continued to steadily pour his magic into the barrier. His eyes flew to his internal system readout and cursed long and loud when he found that his life support system, his communication system, and his temperature control system had been taken out by the backlash of magic and heat from the explosion caused when the barrage of heavy fire impacted upon his shield and overwhelmed them.
Worse yet was the fact that the associated charms with the life support and temperature regulation had also been destabilized and they were on the verge of collapse; meaning he was soon going to be short on oxygen and it was going to get real cold, real soon. The outer casing on the back of Dogstar had also taken some minor heat damage because he'd been so close to the explosion; leaving his suit further crippled. Swallowing his frustration, Harry pulled his eyes from the systems readout and watched the blip that represented the satellite move steadily (if rather slowly) away from the colony on the map grid.
His luck continued to hold for five precious minutes before the two weakened charms unraveled and left him to the non-existent mercies of space. Icy coldness washed over Harry's right hand and up his arm as the warmth inside of his suit was rapidly sucked away by the frozen emptiness of space but he dared not let go of his wand (or release the barrier) until he knew the satellite was safely out of view (just another three minutes until it could slip behind an asteroid). Less than two minutes later, Harry was shivering and he could barely keep his eyes open as the cold, the rapidly dwindling oxygen supply (the spacesuit he was wearing only able to produce so much oxygen and heat and most of that was being leaked out through the unsealed right arm), and his exhaustion began pulling him under.
A sharp pain radiating out from his right ear brought Harry awake enough to register his surroundings as an angry hiss sounded in his ear; Seth had bitten down on his ear lobe, pinching the sensitive tissue between his upper and lower jaw without piercing the skin with his fangs, 'Sleep later, speaker; the cold is burning and we will both die if you don't do something now.'
'Ss… sorry, Ss…Seth,' Harry replied in parseltongue as he pulled his near frozen hand from his wand, dropping the barrier he could no longer maintain, and fumbled to put on his right glove.
Once the glove was snapped into place, the suit's internal temperature regulation system began functioning properly and the suit slowly began warming up. Harry was still feeling near frozen though, his right hand and arm all the way up to his elbow almost burning from the cold since it hadn't been properly protected like the rest of his body. If not for his magic, he would have been dead the instant the charms had failed. As it was, just mere seconds later, Harry was pulled down into his mindscape as his body fell unconscious.
"Lovely," Harry muttered as he stared around at the desolate landscape that was his mind. "At least the former blackness I always used to experience when unconscious was less depressing." A side effect of learning how to access his inner mind was that once he knew how to reach his mindscape he would never again lose complete consciousness when his body shut down. His magic would automatically pull his consciousness into his inner mind as a form of protection against mental intrusions during the period of physical vulnerability.
One of the reasons that learning Occlumency was highly regulated in magical Britain was because that same protective instinct that was triggered by physical distress or failure could lock a person inside of their mind permanently. Frank and Alice Longbottom were two prime examples of the dangers of knowing Occlumency as both former aurors had been permanently trapped within their mindscapes because of the severe nerve damage that their body had sustained due to prolonged exposure to the Cruciatus Curse. Though it was possible that there had been outside influence in their case since Dumbledore had been manipulating the Longbottom family right alongside the Potter family.
Sighing, Harry glanced around at the ruined mindscape that was his inner mind and headed over to the small section he'd previously been working to repair. Knowing there was really nothing else to do until his body recovered from the extreme exposure to the cold and his magical exhaustion, Harry picked up where he'd last left off on the much needed repairs.
Trowa picked himself up off the ground from where he'd landed when the shockwave from the huge explosion rocked the entire shuttle (and everything else with a hundred mile radius of the explosion). Dusting himself off, he returned to his seat and began running an internal systems check while he half listened to Duo checking in with the others to make certain everyone was alright (noting that a few of the minor systems had been damaged). In the co-pilot's seat, Zayeed Winner was staring off in the direction in which the explosion had taken place.
"Zero-One, Zero-Five, and One-Three, please report your current status."
"Zero-One reporting; my current status is operational, minimal damage to the outer casing of my suit was sustained when Northstar bounced against the satellite from the force of the shockwave and my navigational systems have been shorted out but it will not interfere with the mission."
"Zero-Five confirming operational status; artificial gravity system and external scanners sustained minor damage but it will not pose any real problems. All others systems are fully functional."
"Understood, Zero-One and Five; let us know if your status changes," Duo replied before disengaging the comm. unit to allow Taliesin to check in. He began frowning when the silence continued for far longer than it should have. "One-Three, please report your current status."
After another five minutes of radio silence passed, the tension in the shuttle rose and Duo and Trowa exchanged a worried glance as they recalled Harry's uncertainty about whether or not he'd be able to fully stop the attack. Apparently Heero was feeling the same tension as the blue-eyed pilot barked out a sharp order through the communication link.
"One-Three you are being ordered to report your current status immediately."
"Something's wrong," Trowa announced pensively as even Heero's order drew no response from Harry. "Taliesin would never disobey a direct order from Heero; not unless he was physically unable."
"One-Three? Taliesin?" Heero called out before a steady stream of curses flooded the comm. system.
"He still shows up on da scanner, it's most likely he is just unconscious; he did warn us that tryin' ta stop da attack and hide our escape would exhaust him," Duo optimistically pointed out as he stared at the gray blip on the grid map that represented the hidden Dogstar.
"There's something wrong with Taliesin, I can feel his pain and it doesn't feel like simple exhaustion," Quatre interjected suddenly in a voice laced with pain.
"I'm going out there. I'll attach the cables to the shuttle before I make my way to where Taliesin is stranded," Trowa stated the moment Quatre finished speaking.
"Dogstar might be compromised," Duo stated quietly as he studiously avoided looking at the green eyed teen. "If both Dragonstar and Northstar sustained minor damage from da shockwave it is probable that Dogstar would have sustained some damage as well since he was far closer ta da explosion."
"All the more reason for me to get to him as quickly as possible," Trowa grimly tossed back as he grabbed his helmet and gloves before heading towards the cargo bay.
"I'm securing a transport shuttle; the council has granted me diplomatic status in order to negotiate with the other Colonies for aide due to the loss of the satellite facility. They've also given me permission to search for survivors in the hopes that any of you survived the destruction of the shuttle."
"Roger that, Zero-Four," Duo replied as Trowa paused in the doorway to hear the rest of the conversation. "Zero-Three will be headin' towards Dogstar once our shuttle has been connected ta da tow cables so that he can secure da suit for loadin' and determine One-Three's status. Please pick them up when ya reach their position." Duo turned to Trowa as he ended the transmission to add, "Take Superstar and Rockstar with ya, Trowa; so da two of ya will have alternate transport in case Harry unconsciously releases any of his magic while ya are on da non-warded shuttle."
Trowa nodded but didn't bother to reply as he turned away from the cockpit, jammed on his helmet, and secured it in place before slipping on the gloves. He stepped into the pressurized chamber separating the passenger section of the shuttle from the cargo bay, shut the door behind him, and grabbed two of the jet packs that they had stored there and immediately slipped one on before attaching the second one to his suit with a thin cable so he could fit it to Harry's spacesuit in case they had to abandon Dogstar. Next he released the restraints holding his and Quatre's shrunken Taurus suits in place and clipped them onto separate cables and waited for the green light that would indicate it was safe for him to enter the open cargo bay. He felt impatience bubbling up inside of him as he watched the red light and waited for it to turn green with impatience.
"Don't bother worrying about securing the shuttle to the satellite, Zero-Three," Heero declared as Trowa opened the door to the cargo bay and propelled himself towards the open bay doors the moment the light turned green. "I will take care of it myself so that you are free to help One-Three without wasting any more time."
"Understood," Trowa barked sharply as he fired up the thrusters on the jet-pack and quickly propelled himself up out of the shuttle's cargo bay and headed towards where he knew Harry's last position had been according to the grid map. "Zero-Two I'm going to need you to guide me to him verbally as I'm flying blind out here and I don't want to take a chance on passing him by mistake."
"He is currently sittin' approximately sixty-two miles out from da colony three points shy of twelve o'clock based upon your current position."
With Duo providing verbal corrections on his course every few minutes, Trowa sped off towards the temperamental pint-sized teen that he had come to consider his little brother. Worry ate at him but he didn't allow that worry to cloud his mind because any delay or mistake could potentially put his brother at risk. He saw a shuttle exiting one of the colony's various hangers and hoped that it was Quatre piloting the ship and not one of the colonists. Confirmation that it was indeed his fellow Gundam pilot manning the shuttle came a minute later through his comm. link at the same time he made contact with the unseen suit.
"Zero-Three this is Zero-Four, please confirm when you have successfully made contact with Dogstar."
Trowa ignored the request for a moment as he used the limited scanners on his spacesuit to perform an initial scan on the invisible suit, when the scan finished his heart rose up into the back of his throat as he read through the results. When he finally managed to give Quatre a response, his voice cracked under the weight of his emotions, "Contact has been made; initial scans indicate extensive damage to several internal systems including both the life support and temperature control systems. Scanner has been unable to pick up any signs of life."
"He's not gone, I can still feel him," Quatre countered after a long minute of silence had passed. "I'm maneuvering in below your position now; please prepare to guide Dogstar into the cargo bay."
Trowa sighed in relief as he released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding over the welcome news that his scan hadn't meant what he thought it meant. He watched Quatre maneuver the shuttle into place below him as the shuttle bay doors began opening. Keeping one hand on the suit, Trowa worked his way up to the head of the mobile suit in order to shift it horizontal so that it would be easier to maneuver the invisible machine into the bay without causing damage to either the suit (not that that would be all that easy with the protective spells in place) or the shuttle.
Twenty minutes later, Trowa grabbed a coil of nylon ropes from the supplies that were secured to the shuttle's walls after securing the shrunken suits and both jet-packs on the clamps fused to the wall (to prevent them from floating away). He then he waited impatiently for the cargo bay doors to close all the way so he could activate the bay's life support and artificial gravity systems so he pull Harry out of the suit and get him the medical care he undoubtedly needed.
The artificial gravity had barely taken effect before Trowa was scrambling over the unseen surface of the suit towards where he knew the cockpit door should be sitting. Once he found the hidden catch to open the door, Trowa hesitated for a brief second before he pulled open the door and cursed as he saw the thick layer of hoarfrost covering everything inside of the suit as what little oxygen that had been trapped inside the suit when the temperature regulation system (and charm) failed, froze. The sight of Harry trapped beneath an untouched layer of the ice crystals made it difficult for Trowa to swallow as he dropped down inside the cockpit and began breaking apart the ice that had grown over Harry's harness.
He soon had Harry free of the harness and he attached the rope around Harry's chest beneath his armpits before climbing out of the cockpit so he could haul Harry out. He then shifted the unresponsive teen into his arms and carefully made his way to the edge of the suit intending to use the rope to lower him to the floor and found Quatre's older sister watching him. He ordered her to slip on a pair of protect gloves before lowering Harry down into her arms and waited for her to stand back before he jumped down from the still invisible suit. Once on the floor, Trowa took Harry back and carried him up into the passenger section and laid him down on the floor.
Trowa then pulled his helmet off so he could clearly see what he was doing before he proceeded to strip Harry out of his ice covered suit. Iria flinched back and let out a short scream when Seth popped out from beneath the neck of the suit when Trowa removed Harry's helmet (the older woman having never seen the cobra previously). The snake flared his hood sluggishly and hissed out a weak warning before seemingly recognizing Trowa as it immediately (if slowly) coiled around Trowa's arm and worked his way up to the neck of the suit and the green eyed pilot shivered when the snake's unnaturally chilled body slipped beneath his shirt seeking his body heat.
As the snake settled itself down around his waist, Trowa returned to pulling off Harry's suit; his eyes lingering on Harry's extremely pale complexion and purplish blue lips. When he removed the glove and sleeve of the spacesuit from Harry's right hand he cursed when he took in the bluish-white tint and the scattering of raw, red sores that reached from the tips of Harry's fingers and disappeared beneath the edge of his shirt sleeve (extending all the way up to his elbow through he didn't know it yet).
"He's suffering from hypothermia and frostbite," Iria softly stated as she moved up and reached out to pull Harry's outer shirt off. "We'll need to warm him up both quickly and gradually so as not to send him into shock. The best way to do that is through sharing body heat through skin to skin contact."
"I'll undress him in a bit," Trowa softly stated as he stopped her from unknowingly releasing Harry's wings. "If you can trade places with Quatre; I'll need his help."
"I'm a doctor, I think I am far more qualified to handle this than you are and the kid hasn't got anything I haven't seen before," Iria snapped out with a frown.
"I'm well aware of your credentials, doctor, but I've been personally overseeing Harry's health since he came to be in our care and I'm not about to pass him off to someone else now," Trowa countered stubbornly. "Trust me… it is best that you allow Quatre and I to deal with him right now because if Taliesin wakes up in a state of partial undress in front of a virtual stranger he's going to panic and if that happens it won't be pretty." And I seriously doubt you've ever come across anyone quite like our little brother, Trowa finished in his mind as his thoughts immediately went to Harry's wings.
Trowa watched Iria stalk off in frustration and sighed in relief because he hadn't seriously thought that she was going to listen to him there for a moment. Five minutes later, Quatre joined him looking as if he'd just had his ears blistered from an angry verbal rebuke which Trowa suspected might have indeed happened.
"Can you get into Dogstar and raid his supply cupboards to find that emergency potions kit he put together in the event that he needed immediate medical help and couldn't access his trunks? Make certain you put on at least your gloves before you climb up on the suit; there was hoarfrost in the cockpit when I finally pried the door open. I also need you to gather up as many blankets and pillows as you can carry as well as grab two sleeping bags from the shuttle's stores."
"I'll be back as soon as I can with everything."
Trowa checked Harry's vitals before lying down beside him and pulling him close to offer a small measure of warmth while he waited for Quatre to return. The moment he heard footsteps approaching, Trowa sat up and picked Harry up to set him in the nearest chair before he began putting together a makeshift bed. He started by spreading the pillows out on the floor to create a buffer between the floor and the bed, next he put down one of the sleeping bags, and then spread three of the blankets over top of it.
Trowa then transferred Harry from the chair into the center of the blankets and, with Quatre's help, striped him out of his pants before cutting away Harry's undershirt without taking off the over shirt in order to avoid his wings getting in the way. Another three blankets were then settled over-top of Harry before the second sleeping bag was spread on top. Lastly, Trowa zipped the two sleeping bags together so that none of the covers would get knocked off accidentally and instructed Quatre to stripe down to his boxers and crawl in beside Harry.
Trowa then turned his attention to the box of potions and pulled out the guide that Harry had written out with detailed instructions for each and every one of the meticulously labeled potions inside. It took him a few minutes of careful consideration to determine which potions would do the most good based upon Harry's current condition before he pulled out three small vials, one small jar, and a roll of bandages. Cracking open the jar (which held a bluish-green paste that was labeled as Cold Cream), Trowa had Quatre lift Harry's frostbitten right hand and arm out of the blankets and carefully began spreading the paste over Harry's near-frozen hand and arm. He then wiped his hands off on his pants, grabbed the roll of gauze, and securely wrapped Harry's arm all the way up to the middle of his upper arm to prevent the strange cream from being wiped off.
Next, he tucked Harry's arm back beneath the blankets and helped Quatre sit Harry up enough so they could feed him the potions, starting with a Rejuvenating Potion that would help deal with Harry's magical exhaustion as his magic would be needed to help speed up the healing process. Following that he gave the unresponsive wizard a general healing draught that should help counteract the hypothermia and a mild pain relieving potion that would ease the discomfort of both the frostbite and renewed circulation as his body returned to a more normal temperature.
He then packed up the potions case, shucked his own clothes (carefully so as not to startle Seth who was wrapped around his waist), and crawled in beside Harry on the opposite side of Quatre. The cobra giving a hissing complaint before moving to curl up against Trowa's back as Trowa curled up right beside Harry's ice cold body while Quatre pressed closer from the other side. Resting his chin on top of Harry's head, Trowa closed his eyes and prayed that the potions would do their job and hoped that Harry didn't panic too badly when he woke up and found himself in such a vulnerable position.
Harry sat back and sighed as he glanced around his mindscape. It felt like he'd been in his mind forever and he was more than a little tired of the endless destruction. He'd cleaned up a fair portion of his inner mind and repaired some of the damage but he'd been working on it non-stop since he'd been pulled into his mind because he had nothing else to do. What he needed was a real break and some sleep so that his body could heal and his mind could rest. Sighing a second time, Harry bent down to pick up another discarded bit of… something that he couldn't quite identify and carried it over to where he'd been sorting all of the various junk he'd found.
He took another long look around his inner mind and couldn't help but feel proud of how much he'd gotten done even if he'd much rather not have been in his mind for so long. Nearly a quarter of his mindscape had been repaired of the damage done to it and cleared of debris; though it still looked pretty bleak and barren it didn't look quite as bad as the parts he'd not yet worked on. He then stared back at the piles of identifiable and unidentifiable junk and wondered what he was going to do with all of it. Some of what he'd been collecting were bits and pieces of damaged memories, some of them represented old discarded hopes and lost dreams, and quite a few were pieces of the nightmares that often haunted him.
While he was contemplating the orderly mess, Harry tried to recall what he'd read in the two Mind Magics books about repairing a damaged mindscape. He'd studied that particular section extensively once he'd discovered the state of his inner mind because making a mistake could create all kinds of mental problems and Harry had enough of those without giving himself a split personality or something worse. A portion of text from My Mind is My Fortress floated through his mind shortly after he began concentrating on recalling the information and Harry took a moment to examine it.
To repair a damaged mindscape one should remember that the best way to fix that which
is broken is to build something new out of the ruins. A new forest will be reborn out of the
ashes of a forest fire through the seeds that remain from that which was lost.
"Build something new? What should I build though?" Harry mused thoughtfully as he allowed the memory of the written words to fade and returned his eyes once more to the desolate landscape of his inner mind. Another small section from the book made itself known as if Harry had called it into being simply by asking his questions.
Your mindscape is a representation of who you are as a person and should therefore be a
reflection of who you see yourself as in addition to whom you wish to someday be. It is also
suggested that you stick to what you know best since if you can't recognize what you've
built then it would be far too easy to lose yourself within your own mind.
Harry frowned as he thought about what made him who he was and who he thought he wanted to be. As he struggled within himself a memory rose up out of the depths of his mind and he turned to watch the scene play out. A wistful smile danced about his lips as he watched himself joking around with Trowa during one of their performances from the time they spent with the circus. Before the full memory could play out, it changed and he was now watching an older memory of himself hiding in a tree staring wishfully at the kids and their parents laughing as they wandered through a traveling carnival that had come to Little Whinging one summer.
In the second memory, he couldn't help but notice how his younger self's eyes were drawn time and time again to the House of Mirrors and the people stuck inside trying to find their way out. That brought forth a fragment from one of Cathy's books of magic tricks that she'd let him borrow back before she knew he was a wizard.
To give your tricks an appearance of true magic once you've mastered the slight of hand
technique; you should consider using smoke and mirrors to draw the eyes of your audience
away from what you are doing. Coaxing them to see only what you want them to see.
"Smoke and mirrors," Harry murmured to himself with a nod. "Ironic and very fitting; seeing as how I am constantly pretending to be something I am not. I also try to disguise my magic with tricks to make it seem as if I am not doing anything special when in fact I am."
With a new direction in which to focus his energy, Harry picked up a random piece of debris from the discarded pile of damaged memories, old hopes, lost dreams, and nightmares and set about building the foundation of what would become his House of Mirrors. He hadn't actually gotten all that much done when he felt a gentle tug on his mind and turning, suddenly found himself waking up in his body for the first time since he'd lost consciousness after attempting to protect the satellite from the Colony. The first thing he noticed was how warm and comfortable he was in comparison to the stark coldness he recalled from before (even if he still felt chilled). The second thing he noticed was the constant ache of pins and needles stabbing into his right hand and arm as someone smeared an icy coldness over his fingers, hand, wrist, and arm.
"No touch," Harry weakly ordered as he attempted to tug his hand free only to feel someone grab hold of his upper arm in order to hold him still.
"Relax, Taliesin, we're almost finished."
"Cathy…?"
"No, I'm Iria; Quatre's older sister."
Forcing his eyes open, Harry blinked up at the woman in question before he glanced down to where she was holding his arm. His eyes then trailed over to the hands that were still spreading a bluish-green cream over the skin of his hand and wrist and followed those up until he was looking at Trowa who was in turn intently staring at Harry's hand as he worked. It was at that point he became aware of a warm presence pressed up against his back, an arm around his waist, and someone's legs entwined with his; quickly recognizing the feel of bare skin pressed up against his. He tensed and whined low in his throat as he instinctively started to struggle in an effort to free himself only to freeze when a familiar and comforting voice sounded near his ear.
"Easy, Taliesin; no one is going to hurt you and I have no intention of taking advantage of you," Quatre assured him as he reached out and carded his fingers through Harry's hair. "We were afraid to let you sleep alone because your body couldn't seem to generate any heat of its own after you came so close to freezing to death when Dogstar's internal systems were damaged. It didn't help that you have no body fat to help keep your body insulated."
Harry took a shaky breath as he tried not to think about his current state of undress and did his best to relax as he allowed Quatre to pull him close once more (his trust in Quatre helping to keep him from completely panicking). Trowa in the mean time had begun wrapping Harry's hand in gauze and Harry could already feel the pain receding as the healing cream numbed the nerves in his hand, wrist, and arm. Feeling safe with the knowledge that at least two of his brothers were watching over him, Harry drifted off to sleep a few minutes later for some much needed rest.
Two waking and sleeping cycles after he first woke up, Harry was sitting in the co-pilot's seat curled up in a couple of blankets with a mug of hot chocolate in his left hand and an open book sitting on his lap. Quatre was in the pilot's seat flying the shuttle, Iria was napping back in the passenger section, and Trowa was working on repairing the damage that Dogstar had taken when Harry's shield had failed to hold back the full force of the firepower that Colony L4 had unleashed in order to destroy the satellite. While he was mostly recovered from his most recent brush with death, Harry's body was still wracked with constant chills and his right hand and arm were in constant pain due to the permanent nerve damage he'd sustained from the frostbite.
"Are you warm enough?" Quatre inquired when he noticed Harry shiver and pull the covers closer.
Harry opened his mouth to give out his customary 'I'm fine' response only to pause as he shivered again and he sighed before answering, "No… even my wings ache from the chill."
"I thought you wove warming charms into those pockets you created."
"No, adding any more magic to the pockets destabilized everything and usually ended up causing the weave of the shirts to disintegrate completely. The warming charm wasn't really needed anyway."
"Do you think the fact that your wings are cold is the reason you feel as if you can't get warm? I seem to recall Trowa and Duo mentioning that they were oddly warm the few times they came into contact with them. I also remember you saying something about your wings generating warmth like the phoenix that healed you; do you know why they aren't doing so now? Also, since you told us that they were also influenced by the basilisk venom in your blood would the cold have had an adverse affect on them much like it had on both you and Seth?"
Harry stilled for a moment before another shiver wracked his body as he focused inwards on what he knew about his wings and compared that to what he knew about phoenixes and snakes in general. A minute later, he looked up at Quatre with worried eyes as he stated, "Both snakes and phoenixes require warmth to survive; the snakes seeking outside sources to warm their bodies because they can't generate their own while phoenixes generate near constant flames inside of their bodies. Even the slightest drop in temperature will affect a snake, slowing them down and making them sluggish, but usually phoenixes won't feel the cold. However, freezing a phoenix is one of the only ways to truly kill a phoenix without it being reborn because the internal flames, that allow it to be reborn out of its ashes, die the moment the phoenix is frozen."
"When was the last time you had a chance to take a good look at your wings and gave them a chance to breathe a bit?"
"Not since before we reached the colony. When I changed shirts after you guys finally let me out from beneath the blankets I was in too much of a hurry to get dressed to pay them much mind because I was so cold at the time."
"And you haven't wanted Iria to see them because you prefer hiding them from everyone; especially from those you don't know very well," Quatre deduced. "And we didn't even think to check on them when we first striped you out of your clothes in order to warm you up because we were far more concerned with taking care of your arm and warming up your body."
"Something like that… but for the most part I've not really thought about them much because I was too focused on trying to keep warm."
"No time like the present to rectify the matter. Who would you like to have on hand to help you in case you need a hand taking care of them since you can't use any active magic in this shuttle and we won't catch up to the others for at least another seventy-two hours? And don't even think about putting this off that long because for all we know the longer you ignore them the worse you're going to get."
"I… you won't be offended if I ask Trowa? I don't like the idea that someone besides me will have to touch them but he did that one time when I dropped my knives and knowing that might make it easier to bear if I don't have a choice."
"I understand and no I'm not offended."
Harry finished his hot chocolate, set his book side, pulled the blankets close around him, and headed back to the cargo bay to ask Trowa if he would mind helping him. He was met at the entrance to the chamber separating the passenger section from the cargo bay and he gave a half smile and shook his head, knowing that Quatre must have called Trowa over the comm. link to let the green-eyed pilot know what was going on and that Harry might need help. Trowa gave him a knowing smile in return as he closed the door and gestured for Harry to let out his wings.
Harry bit his lip and nodded reluctantly in response as he allowed the blankets to pool around his feet while he reached up and slipped off the button-up shirt he was wearing. As his wings slipped free of the hidden pocket there were two simultaneous gasps; one from Trowa as he took in the state of Harry's wings and one from Iria who'd woken up a few minutes earlier. Harry cringed over the fact that Iria now knew about his wings but was soon distracted when he too caught sight of his wings and he let out a soft whine as he immediately suspected that the magic in his wings that generated the heat they usually radiated had been severely drained during his recent ordeal in order to keep him alive; damaging in the wings in the process.
The normally shiny metallic black and green feather-like scales that made up his wings had turned a sickly black-gray and looked fairly frayed (like wet, wind torn feathers) and there were small bits of ice packed between the scales. They also felt far heavier than normal and were hanging so low the tips dragged on the ground, pulling uncomfortably at his shoulders. Swallowing thickly, Harry glanced up at Trowa with worried eyes as his wings sluggishly stretched outwards only to stop and fall limply from the pain as the ice between the scales pulled painfully on the scales.
"Iria, we can answer the questions I can see forming in your mind later," Trowa bluntly stated as he quickly crossed the floor to Harry's side. "Right now I'm going to need you to tell Quatre to set the shuttle on autopilot because I'm going to need both of you to help me again. Once you do that, please go fill up a large bucket with water that is about room temperature but failing that slightly cool to the touch is better than warm."
Iria didn't hesitate to do as ordered; too stunned by the fact that Harry had wings to protest. Quatre joined them a moment later, took one look at Harry's wings then glanced to Trowa waiting for the other teen to tell him what he needed.
"Quatre, grab the pillows, blankets, and sleeping bags we used earlier; we need to make him comfortable on the floor and start clearing the ice out from under the scales. After that I'd like you to bring me a handful of towels and start warming several more so that they are slightly warmer than room temperature."
Harry was only half listening to Trowa taking charge of the situation as he tentatively reached out and brushed a hand against his left wing only to wince when it felt like ice beneath his fingers. He turned his attention back to his brother when he heard Trowa call his name and woodenly moved forward to help the taller teen to set up a makeshift bed on the floor. Once the pillows and blankets were in position, Trowa had Harry lay down on his stomach and carefully wrapped his left wing in another blanket before moving around to Harry's right wing as Iria returned with the water.
"Quatre, I'm going to need you to hold his shoulders once I start working on his right wing in order to keep him from wriggling about. Iria, I'm going to need you to hold his legs for the same reason and please avoid brushing against either of his wings. Taliesin… I'm going to need you to relax as best you can; I know how much it bothers you for anyone to touch your wings but I need to clear out the ice before I can even start warming them up."
"I know, Trowa… just… just please be careful with how you shift the scales; they're stuck together because of the ice and if you move one it pulls painfully on all the others around it."
"I promise I will be extra careful. Go ahead and spread your right wing out as far as you comfortably can."
Harry extended the wing in question about halfway before the ice clinging to the scales began pulling on the scales and sending pain through the wing. He hissed a bit as he felt Trowa slide a few pillows beneath the wing to keep it off the floor and shivered when he felt Iria and Quatre putting weight on his legs and shoulder respectively. He held perfectly still though and actually sighed in relief as Trowa began using a wet towel to loosen the ice; the cool water feeling warm against the iciness clinging to his wings.
Three and a half hours later, Harry drifted off to sleep feeling far warmer than he had in days as Trowa finished wrapping his left wing in lightly warmed towels and covered it with another blanket. Just having the ice removed from between the scales had eased the constant chill he'd felt along with the bone deep ache that he'd not known he'd been feeling from his wings. Quatre, in the mean time, pulled his sister into the cockpit to answer some of the questions she had about Harry and the revelation that he had wings.
Harry woke up nearly two cycles later feeling almost completely normal aside from the uncomfortable itching of his wings and the persistent faint burning needles of pain that were the nerves in his right arm. Stifling a yawn, Harry pushed himself up onto his knees and began working to free his wings from the towels and blankets. Once the wings were clear, Harry stretched them out to the side and gave a few experimental flaps, lifting his feet a few inches off the floor, before he shook them out.
"You're shedding," Trowa announced with slight surprise from where he'd been sitting in one of the seats switching out components on one of the many damaged system boards from Dogstar while keeping watch over Harry at the same time.
Confused, Harry glanced down to where Trowa was staring and found dozens of clear casings with ragged and blackened edges. He then brought both of his wings forward so he could study them and noticed several healthy black and green feathery scales interspersed amongst the damaged scales. Running his fingers along the edge of one wing pulled free a few more casings to reveal the healthy scales beneath and Harry laughed and shook his head over the fact that he was shedding like snake.
Harry frowned for a moment then as he wondered why his wings hadn't shed the last time he'd injured one and if it had something to do with the fact this time they'd been injured by the cold instead of just being cut, if it was because it had been the entirety of both wings that had been damaged, or if maybe because the last time he'd injured one of them it had been when they were still so new and full of the magic that had created them. There was also the fact that the flow of magic through his wings had been disrupted when it had been redirected to save his life when he was exposed to the harsh conditions of space when Dogstar had been damaged.
"I suppose that would explain why my wings are all itchy," Harry commented after shaking away yet another mystery regarding his wings as he twitched his wings against the slightly uncomfortable itchy feeling. He then spent several minutes shaking his wings to knock free a few more of the loose sheds and watching the thin film-like sleeves drift to the floor. "I can honestly say I now understand why the snakes get so irritable when they go through their shedding cycle. It's a rather annoying feeling."
"I imagine it must feel much like a half-healed sunburn when the skin starts to peel. You look like you're feeling much better, are you feeling any lingering chills?"
"I feel great… no more chills and no more achiness in my wings. My arm still bothers me but I don't think there's anything that can be done for it. I'm just thankful I didn't lose it completely. I owe Seth my life as well; if not for him I'd have passed out with my right glove still off and I doubt all the magic in the world would have helped me survive inside of the frozen suit much longer with my spacesuit not working right because that glove was off."
"I will never complain about Seth's constant presence or question your sanity over bringing the cobra into space with you again," Trowa declared solemnly. "I'm also very glad that your wings weren't permanently damaged by the cold like the nerves in your right hand were; I was worried they would be when I first saw how damaged they were. Would you like some help removing the rest of the dead skin from your wings to relieve the itching?"
"Yes, please…? As much as I don't like anyone touching my wings the itching is going to drive me spare."
Trowa chuckled and set aside the system board he was working on and picked up one of the discarded towels in order to use it to gently coax the dead casings from the hard to reach spots on the back of Harry's wings while Harry pulled them free from the edges with his hands. When the last casing had been pulled free of his wings, Harry gathered them all up and meticulously vanished all but a small handful that he stored in his trunk (so they could later be tested for magical properties that could potentially be beneficial in potions). He could have just thrown them all away but his past experiences with Polyjuice Potion meant he was leery of leaving bits of himself laying around where an enemy could make use of it (as OZ had with his stolen blood due his brief stint as a prisoner).
Translations: Latin to English
Contego – to cover, shield, protect, defend
Maxima – A derivative of maximus (meaning large, great, or important) or maxime (meaning greatly, exceedingly, or to the highest degree) and implied to mean maximum. I'm not sure if this is fanon or canon but I've seen it in FanFiction and I think it was even in the movies.
Notes: Text Excerpts
All three excerpts that appear in this story were written by me and any resemblance to any actual text from any book or text is purely coincidental as I have never read any magic trick books, meditation books, and Occlumency doesn't really exist.
AN: Such a busy chapter this time again. We see both Zayeed and Iria saved (which definitely will have an impact on the entire Gundam verse as the effect ripples outwards. We also see that Harry's blood wards are not perfect and they can be breached. Seth has also proved himself a worthy space-snake. His entire being is owed to the fact that I saw him saving Harry in a non-conventional way and having him sing the theme songs from Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Futurama, Dr. Who, and other cool sci-fi shows/movies was just a bonus.
I also gave Wufei a bit more screen time in this chapter. Poor guy ends up side-lined most times because he is the hardest pilot for me to write. He's also not as close to Harry as the other four pilots right now and part of that is because I think he's feeling the guiltiest about dragging Harry into their war (he did protest the loudest in the beginning after all) but Harry will bring him around later (just think of him as a male McGonagall; caring but quiet and stern as well as set in his ways).
Next up; Harry's nerve damage. So far in the story I've allowed all of Harry's injuries to be solved with a quick fix (aside from his wings) and I needed to remind the troublesome wizard that magic can't fix/solve everything because he was getting cocky (he yelled at me for hours for damaging his wand arm). That won't be the last injury he gets but it will be the only one that leaves lasting damage aside from a scar or two I think. Next chapter is equally as long and will contain lots more action as the space arc continues to play out.
Last note and then I'm outta here since this chapter was over 11,000 words prior to my notes; omakes and missing moments. I have tons of author cuts that I am organizing into one-shots to show how things might have turned out differently in a few cases. I have also had requests for a few missing scenes to be written. I'll be tossing them up as a separate story once I have a few of them ready and after I get a couple of other things done. I'll let you know when once I have them organized and know what my schedule will be like for the rest of the year.
That said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and look forward to what you all have to say about it. Next chapter will be out either by Sunday or after the 4th as the unpleasantness needs to be faced again. Depends on how much I get done on Chaos and WWYR2 and how much stress builds up between now and Tuesday. ~ Jenn
12-03-12: This chapter has just been edited in order to fill in a minor plot hole that I was reminded about by Mist Shadow regarding Harry's wing sheddings. See last paragraph for the actual update. =)