Duo woke up from what was possibly the strangest dream he had ever had in his entire life. Sure he'd had some pretty whacked dreams before but this one took the cake, not really for it's subject matter or setting, although that was a tripy setting, but because it was soo weird and so Real at the same time. If it weren't for the fact that Duo woke up in Quatre's armchair where he'd fallen asleep he'd have sworn it Was real. Duo yawned and stretched his arms to the ceiling, lying a few moments in the warm sun streaming in from the window before getting up and heading towards the kitchen where soft voices whispered quietly. Quatre smiled up at Duo from his seat at the table, inviting him to sit. Trowa was making coffee and Wufei and Heero sat brooding over empty mugs. They all looked very tired. Duo sat and Quatre resumed his conversation with Heero.

"I know it's a mission but do you really think it's safe?" Quatre looked worried.

"It's a mission, you said yourself they had the right codes." Heero reminded the Arab, doing little to calm his ragged nerves.

"Yes, but something just doesn't fell right about this." Quatre sighed and sipped at his tea.

"It's a mission." Heero reiterated turning his eyes back to the empty mug before him. Trowa took his mug and filled it with the hot brew, then filled Wufei's mug and Duo's before pouring himself one and sitting down by Quatre.

"There's no use in questioning it. We'll just be careful when and if we get confirmation." Trowa was always the logical one. Duo filled his mug half with milk and half with sugar before taking in the much needed caffeine. He didn't like the way the conversation was going.

"Man, I had the weirdest dream last night." Duo laughed, trying to change the subject. Quatre looked up with a small smile.

"You too?" He laughed wearily before his eyes fell slowly to his cup.

"Yea, we were in this strange round room with red curtains and a chess board for a floor," He laughed leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes to the warm desert sun. He didn't notice the others' strange looks, emerald eyes closing tight against the vision, long lashes twitch over ebon orbs, cobalt eyes flash and Aquamarine pools quiver slightly. "There were these weird guys there too, one of ‘em took Heero's gun and then told us we had to fight some sort of Ragnorock."

"Ragnarok." Trowa whispered softly. Duo opened his eyes and gazed questioningly at the four.

"What?"

"You know Duo, it's funny but I had the same dream last night." Quatre smiled trying to put away the odd feelings of foreboding, and the look in Trowa's eyes. Heero's laptop beeped from the counter and he got up to check it.

"Really? Wow, that's weird. Hey Wu-man, did you have that dream too?" Duo grinned wide at the Chinese boy.

"It's Wu-Fei!" he fumed "And it doesn't much matter what I dream-"

"It wasn't a dream." Heero's voice broke in from the corner as he sat heavily in his chair hanging his head low over his steaming mug.

"Nani!?"

"It wasn't a dream." Heero sighed turning the laptop screen to facet the four. The message was simple, new orders from the same set of codes that brought them there, a set of coordinates, a password and an order to await further instruction at the rondezvou point, signed Sariel.

"No, it can't be..." Wufei was the first to break the silence.

"It is." Heero confirmed.

"But the Ragnarok is a myth." Trowa almost whispered not willing to say it very loud. "Isn't it?" he gazed up at the others, deep hidden pain surfacing only when they gave no answer. He cast his eyes back down and sighed, all emotion drained from his tired face, old mask firmly in place he spoke in a steady voice, "We should get ready then." Trowa stood and left, Quatre looked after him but stayed at the table sipping his tea as the others scattered to pack.

* * *

"What do you plan to do once you get there?" a quiet voice asked softly from the canopy of the ancient tree. A tall man looked up to the leaves his long silver hair wavered slightly in an unseen wind.

"I plan to stop them." he answered the shadows.

"Really, Shateiel [1], I had expected more from you." the tree laughed in reply.

"I care little for what You expect, Belial [2]." the man hissed to the voice turning sharply away. The shadow dropped and stood before the man, long sable curls falling about the shoulders, hooked wings spread wide.

"She meant that much to you then, Shateiel?" Belial asked. Shateiel looked down to Belial a faint smile spreading across his lips.

"If I didn't know you better, Bel, I'd think that was sympathy I heard." Shateiel laughed taking Belial's pale face in his hands, the demon smiled.

"But you do... you know me all too well." Belial pulled away, "And I know you."

"Then you'll come?" Shateiel asked simply.

"Yes, I'll come." Belial smiled wide, a strange and malicious smile.

* * *

The Gundam pilots accepted their new mission much the same way as one would accept the turning of the seasons, it couldn't be stopped., for better or worse it was inevitable. There was little they could do about it, it was fated. So on the morning they set out across the desert. The coordinates to the rondezvou were deep in the desert wasteland to the east, half a day's ride through dangerous terrain and shifting unmapped sands. At the Maganacs behest the pilots stopped at a small village on the edge of the inner desert, for supplies and a guide.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Wufei glanced about the small hut warily.

"This is where Rasid said to go, I think." Quatre knew Umm Sayhun [3] was a small, poor village but he had never conceived of this. Salt pools lined the streets where no venders sat on dusty rugs selling their homemade wares or laboriously gown herbs. Camels stood tied to posts and shaggy dogs ran after small children in the streets. The smell was more the Quatre cared to handle and the young Arab wanted nothing more than to get out Jordan, and soon.

"You know Rasid?" a deep voice asked from inside the hut.

"Yes." Quatre replied looking for the speaker. A man stepped out into the light, a tall, thin man not much older than they, dark hair framed his pale face and covered his downcast eyes.

"You must be Master Quatre then."

"Yes," the Arab smiled "And that's Heero over there, this is Trowa, and Wufei" the boy tilted his head to the others. "and this is... Duo?" Quatre stared at the spot Duo had stood seconds before, he wasn't there. "Duo?" Quatre raised his voice slightly over the noisy street. Heero glared to a shop a few meters away.

"Duo no baka, get over here!" the Japanese boy snapped producing the American pilot's smiling face from behind the silk curtain of the old shop.

"Oi, Heero, I'm coming. Isn't this place just cool!?" Duo chirped bouncing up to the irate Heero.

"Duo." Quatre called the American.

"So, what'd ya want, Quat?" Duo turned to Quatre. The Arab sighed and turned to the young man. He introduced him to the American, Duo raised an eyebrow to the boy then returned his empty stare with a lopsided grin.

"We were told we could find a guide through the desert here." Trowa got right to the point.

"The caravan's already left," The young man stated flatly. Quatre's face fell as a deep scowl spread across Heero's.

"You could always take them, Drae." a young girl smiled up from behind one of the camels tied outside the hut.

"I don't think they'll want my help." he tilted his head to her.

"We need a guide," Quatre answered, "any will do, please if you could help."

"There's a price you know." the young man turned back.

"I can pay."

"Very well." the boy smiled a shallow little grin "My name is Draelan del'Arn." he extended his hand.

* * *

"This sucks." a sharp whine pierced Astarte's meditations.

"Dammit, Loki, if you don't shut up and go away I'm really going to have to do something about it!" The slender malak [4] reached for her blade casting a devilish glare to her younger brother. A strong hand stayed her assault.

"Not yet my love, not yet." Astarte cast a startled glance up to the voice.

"Gadreel[5]!" she cooed meeting the deep crimson eyes that smiled down on her.

"Yes, my dear. It's good to see you out of that stone prison, at least for a while." the tall man smiled warmly down on her his deep red silken shirt contrasting the bright green of the forest around them and his black pants and boots matching the tone of his hair and smile.

"What do you mean for a while? We're out, forever!" Astarte smiled in triumph.

"You don't actually think that the Powers will let Urd release you?" Gadreel smiled. "No, my dear, you've left one prison for another, you're just as trapped here as you were there, only now it's a bigger cell."

"You mean we still can't go home?" Astarte's voice fell and her eyes narrowed.

"And who's fault is that?" Raziel sneered from behind a large oak tree.

"Why Raz, I had thought you would have cut your wings by now what with being trapped away from your God so long and all." Gadreel mocked the fallen angel.

"My father has forsaken me, I won't wallow in self pity for that, nor will I ever forget who's fault it was." Raziel glared at the Seraphim.

"Hm, have it your way, you didn't Have to save her." Gadreel smiled dismissing the hatred in Raziel's eyes..

"What do you want?" Raziel snapped.

"Nothing really, just thought I would help you escape." Gadreel shrugged, "but if you don't want..."

"Help? What's in it for you?" Raziel interrupted.

"I get my Astarte back." Gadreel smiled cooly at the brother and sister then turned away, "besides, it would really piss Him off."

"You can get us out of here?" Loki grinned hopefully.

"Sure can little bud." Gadreel laughed tousling the boy's hair.

"How!?" Loki smiled wide, hopping up and down in anticipation. Raziel glared at them all.

"Oh, it's easy, quite simple really. The Key of Nastrond [6]." Gadreel smiled wickedly. Loki looked confused as did Astarte, Raziel's eyes flashed hatred before settling to a disinterested boil. He crossed his arms and awaited the Angel's treachery.

"The what?" Astarte questioned.

"The Key of Nastrond, one of the last great powers left in Assiah [7]. All you have to do is find it's broken pieces and bring them to me."

"I don't see how that's going to help us." Astarte glanced to her older brother's smug smile, he knew something.

"Bring it to me, or use it yourself if you want but I know how. There's enough power there to break the hold even Urd has over you, then you can go home- to Briah [8]." Gadreel smiled.

"Briah! Home, we can really go home! Oh, Astarte, Raz! We've gotta try it! I want to go home!" Loki burst out into tears of joy, of sorrow, of melodrama.

"Just find them and bring them to you?" Astarte questioned.

"Yes, bring them to me." Gadreel nodded.

"Where?"

* * *

The sun beat down on the small caravan as the made their way slowly through the desert sand. No one spoke, not even Duo broke the silence, after the first few hours he went hoarse in the dry air so now no one broke it. The sound was oppressing. The constant hum of flies and the howl of distant winds followed them into the golden heat. Trowa watched the sands shift under his horse's feet. The dunes reminded him of waves in a strange way, windblown peaks and valleys caught in time and capped by the mirage-like steam rising from their hot surface. They pressed on not really knowing where they were headed, through dangerous territory. The Bahr Bella Ma, the sea without water, as the natives called it, also the Bedoul Desert after the nomadic tribes that lived there. The Bedoul were an ancient people they had hunted and pirated these sands for thousands of years, before the wars, before the colonies, before even the advent of space exploration and they would probably still be there long after it's all gone, ancient things had a way of lasting.

"There." Drae called back to the pilots pointing across the dunes to the horizon, "Mughur an Nasara [9]." Trowa looked up to the tall dark rocks looming in the distance, he shivered.

"No good will come of this." he whispered to himself as the others picked up speed to reach the shadow of the mountains before nightfall.

"Your coordinates take you into the heart of Petra [10]." Drae told Quatre as he slowed to ride beside him, "It is forbidden to go there you know." He stated flatly.

"I know." Quatre replied, he knew enough about the Bedoul to know they regarded the ancient Nabataean city as a holy ground. "We won't ask you to lead us in." Drae cast his empty green eyes on the Arab, let them linger there a while before dropping back to the ground.

"I didn't expect you to." he breathed as he rode on ahead. Quatre watched the boy go, he could feel a strange... something from the shell of a man that lead them so far into this wasteland and he feared it. Just as he feared the very circumstance of their journey here and the significance of the coordinates. Quatre knew them well, they would take them straight to Al Deir [11], the legendary lost temple buried deep in the sands over a hundred years ago when the Arab nations fell. He feared what they might find there in the sand-filled halls of the timeless palace, feared what might find them.

[1] Angel of Silence
[2] Greater Demon of lies, fallen Angel
[3] Actual place
[4] Arabic for angel, also for demon
[5] Angel of light, can be equated with Satan
[6] Norse Mythos, Shore of Corpses
[7] In cabalistic cosmology, one of the lowest of the 4 worlds, "the world of making," or the world of action
[8] Garden of the Angels
[9] Actual place
[10] Actual place
[11] Actual place

Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing © Sunrise, Bandai, and Sotsu Agency.