Started: March 1, 2001 Finished: March 1, 2001 Disclaimer: Yes, I'm back. I am... *dramatic voice* the G-wing Boys' baby- sitter!!! As well as being the babysitter for my cousin... yes! My male cousin was born yesterday!! *gives a happy shriek* I got to go see him today!!! 1+2/2+1... although it *might* be neglected for a few parts due to the plot. Hey! I want a action/adventure as well as a romance!! AU, and TWT. Comments... _please_. I'm working very hard on this fic... Imminent Fate, part 10 Shamera sitafire@hotmail.com It was only the next day when Heero realized there was something wrong. Duo was too quiet. Even with the events going on, Duo was unusually full of energy, still able to fidget around while people were making plans. It could be that there was something to do with the library trip that he had taken all yesterday. But nothing could have gone wrong in a library, could it? Duo looked a bit shocked as Heero stood next to the desk he was doing homework on. Violet orbs met his for a moment before looking back to his papers, as if trying to hide something. "Yeah, Heero?" "What's wrong?" The boy demanded, not backing down at Duo's posture. Although Heero realized that everyone needed their own personal space some- times, he was not going to let Duo get away with hiding something from him. They didn't hide anything from each other. Not before, especially not now. Duo didn't pause in his math equations, still working them out by hand as the teacher had requested as he replied, "I'm fine. Stop worrying." Heero, now getting a little frustrated at how Duo was ignoring him, seized the pencil as it was moving and lifted it above his head to make sure that he had Duo's attention. Duo stopped looking at the paper and glared at Heero, a scowl very evident on his face. He turned the chair to face his partner and crossed his arms in a very childish way and snapped, "What?" Heero seethed inwardly at how Duo was acting, but remained calm in outward appearance. "Something's bothering you." He was concerned about Duo, although at the moment he could not be forced to admit it. Duo sighed, his posture relaxing in the slightest. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it. Just saw something I didn't like much in the library. Someone in the books." "Aa." An historical person that he didn't like, perhaps? Duo raised an eyebrow. "It's nothing. I'm just in a pissed mood. Can I have my pencil back now?" Heero was about to answer when Quatre called the two of them from downstairs. They both looked towards the source of the sound and Duo got up, he and Heero walking down the stairs together. Zechs was standing there, mask securely on his head and looking frazzeled none the less. Quatre was sitting on a chair on the other side of the room, looking pissed at the blonde OZ fighter. Duo blinked. Trowa was standing besides Quatre, stoic as usual. Wufei was actually looking from one person to the other, an amused expression graced his face. "What's going on here?" he asked, at the end of the stairs, one hand still on the wooden railing. Zechs turned towards the sound of his voice. "Aa. Maxwell. You are needed for our experiament to call the Angels." Duo nodded, not going any closer, throwing a nervous glance at Quatre, who looked like he was about the go Zero system on them. "Right. What kind of an experiament? I hope you know that I'm not the kind to just sit around and let you dissect me." Zechs frowned. "I'm aware of that. But I was informed," he waved a hand at the three pilots sitting in the corner to tell *who* it was that he was informed by, "that you were able to see the shadow creatures clearly?" Duo turned a nasty look on the three, but managed to keep his venum down to a certain level. "I don't see how it has to do with anything. You said that all of us had a special ability to see things. Besides, Quatre can also see them clearly." Now Zechs had a small smile on his face that made Duo suspicious. It was the kind of smile one got when they knew they were going to win and had to explain that to your opponent. "Ahh, but dear 04 passed out with the others back at the 'party' that you told me about. Only you and the pilot 01 remained concious. Now, I would suspect both of you of having more otherworldly talent than the rest if I had also not heard that Yuy cannot see those creatures- he can merely pinpoint their location because he sees a blurr or a dark cloud." "I don't like it," Quatre spoke up from where he sat. The two faced him. "Is it because you don't trust me? I thought I covered that tw-" "It's not that." Quatre interrupted, his voice hard. "Experiament is not a word to be using on your allies." the tone was mocking. "And especially when you refuse to tell us where the experiament will be taken and what will be going on. Maybe," poor Quatre's voice was raising with every word, "we would take it better if you told us something useful!!!" Duo winced, seeing Trowa step in to try and calm Quatre down. The Winner pilot sure was upset this time. But they couldn't really do anything about it. They had to help Zechs before more and more souls jump the cliff. He and Treize wouldn't hurt him, would they? They were honorable... enough that Wufei admitted them much credit. That meant that they wouldn't backstab him if he went. "Don't worry, Quatre," he said soothingly, smiling just a bit as Trowa gave him a thankful look. "I'll be fine. If we can call the Angels in this round, then maybe we'll have to stop waiting around." God. Waiting around the house wondering what you should be doing at the moment for a few days was not fun. "I won't be satisfied until at least someone goes with you," Quatre shot back. Duo cringed. Apparently, Quatre's Z-system tendencies had not worn off yet. "Alright, alright," Duo muttered under his breath, and turned his head to look at Zechs. "What he said. Experiament or no?" "We need you there alone." Zechs insisted. "He's not going there alone!" Quatre snapped. "It's not like you can go," Zechs growled calmly. Duo looked back and forth. "Eh? What's he talking about, Quatre?" Quatre scowled as Zechs spoke for him, "One of the larger world companies are threatening to buy over te Winner Co. right now. It's been a source of annoyance for a while- but since the male heir could never meet with any of them, they took that as a sign of weakness and tried to scramble themselves into getting rid of the Winner Corps." Zechs turned to Quatre for confirmation. "Am I right?" Quatre's scowl only grew deeper. "Now 04 is needed to make peace between the two relations before his sisters blow up on the others. He's needed on L4 for the time being." "So someone else can go with him." Quatre said, not giving Zechs any more chances to talk. "Heero can go with him." Heero nodded to Quatre's idea. "Yeah, sure, why can't Heero come too?" Duo asked. Zechs looked plenty frustrated. "Because it's an ancient ritual that supposedly summons the spirit to help the Angels break through the barrier." The others could tell that there was either something more to that, or it wasn't completely true. "Duo isn't going without Heero." Quatre said stubbornly. "Especially when you only specified for Duo. If you had asked for any one of us, it would have been easier to believe what you said. But I'm not allowing you to call on any of us to do whatever you want to like lap dogs. Even if we *are* allies. You're relying on us, not the other way around." And so it was that two hours later Zechs finally admitted defeat and conceeded to having Heero along. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> "Here?" Heero gave a glare at Zechs, who stood in between the pilots and the door to the small shack that they had arrived at in the middle of the woods in town. Heero had been tense when they entered the woods, hoping against all hope that Zechs hadn't found the Gundams here, and had only relazed a little when they started walking the opposite direction from the mechas. Peace be damned- no one from the enemy was going near those Gundams without Heero knowing about it. "Yes, here." Zechs cast a look to Duo. "You have to go in without him from here. There's a sacred fire inside that cannot be touched by outside influences." Heero corssed his arms and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "bullshit" to Duo, but didn't comment other than that. "Fine." Duo's eyes flickered along the shack, looking at the one doored house. There were no windows nor other exits. Meaning, the door was the only way in or out. Not that Heero wouldn't be able to break the wood to pieces by himself.... Taking a deep breath, Duo stepped around Zechs and put a hand on the doorknob. It was surprisingly warm, considering how cold metal could be in the shade. Turning it halfway, Duo opened the door and slipped inside, trying to ignore the stare that Heero was giving him. Looking inside, the first thing Duo noticed was the cold. It was very cold in the room, in contrast to the doorknob and outside. It was like stepping from a hot desert into a shade cooled house. Except a little more so. The next thing he noticed was a great fire in the center of the room, and six people surrounding the fire in various colored robes. He heard Zechs also step in and the door close behind him. It was so _cold_. How could it be so cold when there was a roaring fire before him? "Duo Maxwell," the tallest robed one spoke. The voice told him it was a female, despite her wearing a thick army green robe. She sounded oddly familiar, as if he'd heard her voice once before. But it was enough for him to place the accent. "You are the one touched by Elysian?" Duo frowned, standing his ground. He narrowed his eyes, trying to peer into the heavy robe without seeming like doing so. He was sure he never talked to someone with this voice, but it was familiar like he'd heard it before. Recently. But after a moment he realized that she expected an answer from him. Looking to Zechs and seeing the man give a curt nodd, Duo said, "Yes." "Aa." The fire was making shadows dance across the colored hood, making Duo feel like he was in a odd dream. It was the same sort of feeling he had in the library, only more powerful. Especially when he was cold like that. "Then you have come to gain the right to the Holy Fire?" Again, Duo looked to Zechs for confirmation. "Yes." "Then you must be able to step in without any worries." Now Duo really wanted to know what was going on, and didn't care for Zechs's attitude anymore. "Step in? All I know is that whatever I'm going to do, it's to help souls. I hadn't felt a great need to protest," um, actually, that wasn't very true, "but now I want to know what you want me to do. I can't very well do anything if you don't tell me what's going on." The green robed one turned her head towards Zechs, who still stood frozen behind Duo and in front of the door. After a moment, she turned back to him and nodded. "I suppose you are to know what you are facing." With that, she gestured to another tall person in a red robe. "I'm sure you'd much rather like the others to explain that to you." Duo craned him head towards the other robed ones, most taller than he was and one shorter. Slowly, one by one, the robed figures seemed to sigh. "So much for dramatic," one of them muttered. Then, two black hoods came off to reveal tossled blond heads, both looking identical to each other and with a dark look on both faces. Duo stepped back despite himself. He knew them! Everyone in school knew them. They were very popular seniors in the high school, Selene and Demeter. And they were the cousins to- The owner of the red robe and the midnight blue one lowered their hoods and they both gave Duo a grim look. What the fuck?! Artemis and Diana??? <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> "You never told me you were touched by Elysian," Diana accused, her bright blue eyes glazed with a deep ache. "If we're friends, how come you never told us about this? I had to hear of it from Selene!" Duo was still in too much of a shock to really answer correctly, but he managed to stammer, "I don't even know what you're talking about..." Diana only scowled and crossed her arms, something that almost looked impossible with the thick blue robe that she was wearing. Artemis was standing besides her, their looks clashing until you both looked into their eyes to see a shallow betrayal reflected in both pairs. "Touched. By Elysian. It means that you have been affected by the Angel World in some way, like having an Angel grant your wish or having an alicorn to guard you." Diana said, her voice in monotone. "You have a lot of nerves hiding something like this, little boy," Demeter hissed, only held in check by her twin sister. They both looked a lot like Diana, except their hair was light enough to complete with Zechs. It gave them a more feral look than Diana's soft posture. Duo wrinkled his brows. "What are you guys?" Demeter hissed at that question, but the green robed one held a hand up to keep her from doing anything. "We are the decendents of the Old Ones," explained the one with the green robe. "Daughters of Hecate. Our duty is to test those who are touched by Elysian- to make sure that they are worthy enough to end up in the land which they are destined to go." there was a brief pause. "I believe you would call us Witches." Duo mentally counted to ten, letting the words digest. It wasn't that much of a surprise to him, considering the things he had been told and saw in the last few weeks. It was that he wasn't surprised that scared him. "We had reason not to tell you," Artemis interrupted his train of thought. "The entire school thinks that we're Wiccans, which is fine with us... but what we specialize in are dimensional travel... being able to move through the barriers of the Worlds to reach the other side for com- munication. There's people who knows about the Worlds and want to talk with their dead relatives sometimes. We can do the demon world easily. "But our real purpose is this. Creating Holy Fire. It purifys a person, but only a person with a strong enough will and destiny will be able to come out unchanged. If the person is too tainted by Death, that Barrier will be the one who throws the soul out to the Darkness." "The fire...?" Duo asked. "Is not the same as any other fire." Artemis completed, shooting a look to the rest of her family to make sure they didn't attack him out of vengance. "The power of this fire comes from the moon. That is what our names mean. Being able to command the Moon. Goddess of the Moon." she bit her lip uncertainly. "We can do communication easily, but a Holy Fire... it's something that none of us wanted to do again. That's why Demeter's so pissed off at you." Duo looked from one person to another, eyes finally resting on the two figures that were still robed. It was easy to guess now. The one in the green robe and had been talking to him must have been Leto. He had never talked to her before, but had heard her in another room while he was at the party. The one who hadn't said a word must be Pandora. "I don't understand." Duo said. "What did you want me to do? Purify my soul? It's not exactly as if you can douse me in gasoline and light me up. I'm not sure that 'Holy Fire' of yours would do me any good." Diana huffed. "We're not going to burn you, you idiot! All you have to do is _step_ in the fire." End part 10. Heh. That was fast. I know I didn't describe as much in this part than I did in the other parts. But I felt that I really needed to get to the point. It was dragging out too long- especially when I do have a plot going on! The concept of the fire was taken from book 2 of 'Daughters of the Moon'. I know I really ended this on a cliffhanger, but I'll write fast- I promise! *gets wistful* If only someone would comment again....! Alycilos: Dream on, 'Mera! *SMACK* Damn muse! I told you not to call me that!!