I wasn't asleep for very long, which was surprising considering my earlier ‘activities.' Since I was awake, I went ahead and looked out the window again, taking in the moon and the snow. The moon was shining brightly, and there weren't any indications of dawn coming soon. The crows weren't about tonight, but I was expecting that since that was a part of the deal with Krahe. No crows at night. I didn't have a problem with them during the day, because at least we could see what they were doing if they were up to something. At night we were just too vulnerable to take that risk.

I could tell by Trowa's breathing that he was awake, but lying still with his eyes closed. His breath ran lightly across my chest where his head rested, and I could feel him squeeze me ever so slightly. I guess he wasn't able to sleep either. Closing my eyes again, I ran my hand through his hair, mindful of my arm. How he was lying, his head rested on the side of my uninjured arm. He didn't want to put pressure on it I suppose, not that I cared. If it meant having him next to me, I would gladly accept the pain.

He started to run his hand along my side, rubbing away any soreness that could've been there. I continued running my fingers through his hair, and for a while we did only that. It was a comfortableness I think only people in love can have with each other. We weren't ashamed of anything we did. We didn't care what anyone thought of us, and it was to the point where Treize Khushrenada reincarnated could've walked into the room wearing the batman suit while tap dancing and singing songs from Sesame Street. I wouldn't have batted an eyelash. I was content.

"Quatre?"

I glanced down to my chest and stared at Trowa for a second. I love his eyes so much, the way they're peering at me now through his bangs. For as long as I live, I will never forget his eyes. "Yes Trowa?"

"What are you trying to do?" He lifted himself off of my chest and laid closer to me, on my shoulder. I noticed that his voice was back to his and not Krahe's anymore. But at the same time, I think Krahe ‘released' Trowa some time ago.

"What do you mean what am I trying to do?"

"Relena knows something," he said gently. "Dorothy and I were talking to her, trying to find out what's really going on. Ever since the attack, it's been very peaceful. Dorothy doesn't remember all of what happened, but she remembers waking up on the floor and knew for a fact that Krahe wasn't the one who put her down there." He gave me an accusing look.

I tried not to smile, but I couldn't help it. I smirked just a teensy bit. "Is she mad at me?"

"No," he chuckled. "She's glad you had it in you actually. But she wants to know what you two are planning, and so do I."

"We aren't planning anything."

"I know you," he said, sitting up on his elbow and turning my head to look me in the face. "I know you're doing something to save us all. It's nice that you and Relena are working together, but we want to help too. You don't have to do this all on your own, and she doesn't understand what's going on. Please let me help."

"I can't," I said, turning my head away from his face. "I can't."

"But she can?" He was hurt. I could tell.

"It's not like that Trowa." I looked back at him. "She only knows because--"

"Because you were unable to make it otherwise," he completed for me.

"Yes."

"So you're still up to something and yet you won't tell me." He rolled off of me and moved to the edge of the bed. "You can sleep with me but you can't trust me."

"No Trowa, that's not it." I scooted over to him and wrapped my arm around him. "It's just that, I don't want you or the others in harm's way. Plus it's a safety issue. If Krahe doesn't know what I'm up to, and you all don't know either, then he can't get the information from anyone except me. That way you all can still get out of here. See? It has nothing to do with trust. I don't want you hurt. Like tonight for example, how did he possess you? Why were you wearing my ring and Duo's cross?"

He stiffened at the question but didn't answer, and I knew he heard me. "Trowa, please. Did he force it on you? Did he threaten to harm me or any of the others? If he did I need to know. That's going to change things if that's the case--"

"Not exactly," he quietly replied. "It was just...well...I came down to check on you. You were sleeping and I was worried because...because he was sitting there next to you, watching you sleep."

My hold tightened on Trowa, even though I tried to act as if it didn't affect me. I didn't realize that Krahe would get that close. I was also uncomfortable with the fact that he would get that close to me when I was asleep. Anything could have happened.

I came out of my musings when I felt something wrap itself around me, and jumped before I realized that it was Trowa. He managed to turn himself in my arms and was holding me to his chest. I gripped him even tighter and buried my face into his shoulder as a fear that I couldn't quite place uncurled itself in my mind. I was paranoid that everything I was trying to do would blow up in my face. Even though I had a plan, it was obvious that I couldn't do anything to control Krahe's behavior. "What happened then?" I asked into his shoulder.

"Well, we just stared at each other. I didn't want to risk him hurting you, or vanishing with you like he did with Duo," he said softly into my hair. "I just stood on the stairs and stared at him, as he stared at me and played with a strand of your hair. I was so afraid that he would take you away from me. After a while, I couldn't take it anymore. I turned and went back upstairs to get Wufei and Heero, since it seems that my presence doesn't affect him at all. When I arrived at the door, your ring was on the necklace with the cross, hanging on the doorknob. I didn't know how they got in, but when I picked it up to get rid of them, I felt a presence behind me."

"Oh no," I whispered into his neck, inhaling his scent in an effort to calm myself down.

He held me tighter. "I turned and saw him standing behind me. Before I could react, he faded into the air, but at the same time I felt a...strangeness inside of me. Against my will, I put the necklace and the ring on, got the candle, and came halfway downstairs to find you. The rest you know."

I absently rubbed his chest, trying my best to memorize the way his skin felt against my hand. "What does it feel like? To be possessed I mean?" I didn't like asking that, but at the same time I was curious. He did that to Duo, but I never found out how he did it.

"The best way to describe it, I guess, would be to say that it felt like I was drowning."

I tilted my head back to look him in the face. "Felt like you were drowning?"

"Yeah. I felt this...coldness. It started from my feet and worked its way up. I couldn't move. I only stood there frozen stiff and shook from the cold. It continued to rise, making my muscles tense up worse until it reached my head. Then I couldn't breathe and it became dark. I was floating, and I couldn't find the top or the bottom. I didn't know which direction was up honestly. Then my eyes opened but it was odd because they opened without me doing it." He bit his lip and made soothing motions on my back. "I wasn't drowning anymore, but I was trapped behind something that I couldn't see or break. I could feel my body moving, but the effort wasn't made from me. I guess you can say it's like a puppet master pulling on your strings to make you move. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, it does." I held onto Trowa tighter, and he squeezed me closer to him. Trowa was just like Duo. Maybe. He didn't really attract Krahe's presence, as Duo and I did, but at the same time he didn't seem to repel it either. I knew that this whole soul thing was more complicated than any of us had thought of, but at the same time there were a few inconsistencies and other things that just didn't fit. There were exceptions to every rule, but I couldn't afford such exceptions.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," I said. "I just want to enjoy you." We didn't talk after that. We just held each other in our arms. Right before I fell asleep though, I saw over Trowa's shoulder that Krahe was in the room, looking at me with something close to betrayal. I closed my eyes, shutting him out of my mind.

‘You started this, but I'm finishing it,' I said mentally before I fell asleep.

***

/...I'm not giving up. I know Wufei. He's always been strong./

/He's strong Sally, but not invincible./

/I'm leaving, permission granted or not./

/Permission granted. Just where are you headed though?/

/I don't know why, but something's telling me to go to Moscow.../

/...Moscow.../

Moscow.

I woke up with a start. It took me a few seconds for my eyes to focus, because the rising sun's rays were shining directly into my face. But a hand landing on my shoulder caused me to focus on a set of vividly green eyes looking at me with worry.

Not a bad way to start the morning. Not at all.

"Quatre, what is it?"

"It's alright," I said quickly, planting a firm kiss on Trowa's lips. Yum. "I just had another dream. Sally and the others are fine. They're back with Lady Une. I heard them talking, and Sally is headed for Moscow. She can be met there."

Trowa raised both eyebrows, although his face stayed neutral. I've always wondered how he did that. "You heard them talking in a dream? Then Quatre, that's it. It's only a dream."

"No. I don't understand how, but I can hear what they're doing. I have to tell Wufei that she's alright. He's been worried ever since her plane crashed--"

"Her plane crashed?"

I couldn't believe he said that. "Yes! Remember her plane crashed when...oh no, you were never told, were you?" I dropped my chin to my chest. I totally forgot to tell him and Heero about their plane crashing. It was times like these where I wanted to jump off of a cliff headfirst. I couldn't do that, so I settled for throwing the pillow over my face and trying to strangle myself to death.

Trowa rescued me when he peeled the pillow away. "Quatre, what are you doing?"

"Nothing," I sighed, looking to the sun again for answers. This would really benefit us, even though Sally wasn't going to be here as quickly as I hoped. It would be two days before she even got to Earth, then maybe another day or two before she arrived to Russia, then more time before she even tracked down where we were in Moscow. But I had an idea. I've always been the best strategist, and this time wouldn't be any different.

"Trowa, wake the others. We have to leave in a couple of minutes."

He got up quickly and started to dress, giving me curious glances as I started to get dressed to map things out. I wasn't planning on leaving this soon, and I wasn't planning on teleporting everyone there either, but this opportunity presented itself and I wasn't going to let it pass. Especially after last night. What Krahe did to get Trowa in that situation was dirty and unfair. But we weren't going by fairness. He was proposing a proposition which, honestly in the business world, he could do. I did not like how he went about it though, and that by itself scared me enough to do this.

As I was hopping around the room trying to walk and tie my shoelaces, Trowa had finished getting dressed and shot out of the room to get everyone else. After I broke off another piece of the shoestring from being so frantic, I decided ‘screw this' and tucked what was left of it down into the shoe. I couldn't help myself. The thought that we were actually getting out of here was making me jittery. They were going to be safe if I could just do what I know I have to do.

As I started to leave the room, I spotted my Bowie, the ring and the cross lying on the floor, nearly underneath the bed. Knowing that it was a bad idea, I went ahead and picked them up, shoving the knife into one boot and the jewelry into the other. I ran out of the room and saw everyone congregating at the top of the staircase. I wanted to run away and hide by the way they all were looking at me, especially Duo. He was staring at me as if I was a targeted OZ soldier.

Ignoring that, I walked to the staircase, grabbing Duo and Relena each by the wrist, and started down the stairs with them in tow. I could hear the rest of them following us. I didn't notice until I got downstairs how cold it was inside the house. The windows had frost on them, tiny icicles developing where the window sill met the wall, and the fireplace wasn't going. In fact, when I exhaled I could see my breath fog in the air. It was freezing in here! Why didn't anyone say anything?

"Quatre."

I shook my head and turned to Wufei. Speaking of Wufei...

"Sally's alright. She's headed for Moscow. More than likely, she'll find us in a week." The look of inexplicable joy and relief that crossed his face nearly had me in tears. No matter how well I knew Wufei, he always found ways of surprising me. I guess that's a side that only Sally has seen of him, and I'll make sure she sees it again.

"We're leaving," I said. Now this time, instead of just Duo giving me a look, everybody else did. "We are! Duo, come here." Not waiting for him to move, I stomped up to him, grabbed him in a bear hug, closed my eyes and thought hard. It has been two years since we were at the train station, and I was trying to remember where we could make our ‘appearance' without anyone seeing us or us landing on the tracks when a train was coming. That would definitely defeat my purpose.

Feeling fairly safe, I cracked one eye open then the other, taking in our surroundings. We were right outside of the train station, just in front of the entrance. There were guards at the door, but they were talking so they didn't notice our appearance. Good enough for me. I released Duo and stepped away from him, giving him time to adjust to his new surroundings.

"Where the HELL are we?"

"This was where we got on the train to get to Moscow. But this time, you're not staying behind." I grabbed Duo by his shoulders and shoved him against the wall. "Stay here and don't move. I'll be right back." Stepping away from him, I closed my eyes, thought of Trowa, and the next thing I knew I was looking into a vivid set of green eyes. I whipped around and saw Relena standing there with an indiscernible look on her face. Guess she's my next victim.

"Let's go Relena," I said as I pulled her into my embrace. She didn't fight me on the physical level, but I could tell by the look in her eye that she did not trust me or what I was doing. "You can bitch at me later. We gotta go, now." I regret that Duo wasn't here to see the look on her face. Even I wished I had a camera. It was priceless.

I barely felt the snow underneath my feet when Relena was taken from my arms. I heard Duo tell her to hush and knew that she was safe, so once again and I released myself and wounded up back in front of Trowa. But this time he seemed to have an amused smirk on his face.

"What?"

"Oh nothing. You just have some snowflakes on your nose." He brushed them off with his index finger. "You looked so adorable."

I blew my breath through my bangs, exasperated. Here I am, one of the saviors of the galaxy, owner of the largest company in space, former gundam pilot, and all I am is adorable. He didn't say I was adorable last night....oh no, I've been around Duo too long. "Come on Heero, you're next. We can't leave those two alone for long."

He walked over to me and held me by my upper arms as I held onto his elbows. I gave him a quick smile and closed my eyes to transport us, but there was something wrong. As we were going to disappear, I felt Heero being...pulled, away from me. My eyes snapped open and I saw that Heero and I were holding hands tightly, with our arms at chest height. Whatever it was that was pulling him away from me was still trying, but our grips kept him from flying away. What I thought was especially strange was that we were still in the mansion in front of the fireplace. We hadn't gone anywhere.

"Odin, what's happening?" I whispered, forgetting that Dorothy was there.

The force was too much and one of his hands was finally ripped out of my grip. "I don't know," he answered back, just as softly. It was the most bizarre thing. We were both standing there just like normal, except that our hands were holding onto each other for dear life. I didn't understand. There was something going on that made me afraid to let go. I knew that if I did, Heero would never be seen again. He would be lost to me.

Just when I thought that the force would rip my arm off, Trowa's hand came down on our intertwined fingers and destroyed whatever was holding us. Both Heero and I fell forward onto the floor as if the strings that were holding us upright were cut. Trowa hoisted me up to my feet as Wufei helped Heero to his, all the while swearing.

"What in the hell was that? You two backed away from each other without your feet even moving!"

"I don't know Wu." I shrugged and turned to Heero. He gave me a blank look, so I turned back to Wufei. "I don't know how to explain it--"

"Take Dorothy. I'll do it."

"Fine." I turned to Dorothy at Heero's request, grabbed her elbows and before I knew it I was outside the train station, looking about to make sure that we still weren't seen. We weren't. Nodding once to Duo, I closed my eyes and again I was back at the mansion. I started to feel strange though. It might be strain, I'm not entirely sure. Maybe from trying to teleport with Heero and it not working wore me out. I couldn't tell. All I knew was that there seemed to be a prickling in my nerves that I don't remember feeling beforehand.

"What was he able to tell you?" I asked.

Trowa's face stayed neutral, even though Heero's and Wufei's eyes just about bugged out of their heads. "What do you mean what was he able to tell me?" Wufei asked. "He didn't even have a chance to take a breath and you're already back."

"Take him next."

"Okay Odin," I said, a little tiredly. I didn't expect all of this to wear me out so much. "Let's go Wufei. I'll explain the details later." Despite the dirty looks Wufei was throwing at me, he complied. Exhaling a deep breath, I closed my eyes and concentrated on moving us. But then things went wrong again. This time, nearly detrimental.

I don't know what happened, but as soon as I focused my will, the force that tried to pull Heero away from me returned with much more power than before. Wufei and I were being ripped apart from the inside out. Something was around my neck, stomach and wrists, pulling on me with a pain just below the physical. My eyes snapped open from the shock of it all, and I saw that we were only standing there with our arms extended, holding on but losing fast. Wufei's eyes were wide from pain, and I watched in fear as his fingers slipped one after another from my hand...

"WUFEI!"

Trowa touched our hands again, and whatever spell was over us broke. This time however, the force was so strong that instead of us falling down, we flew back. Trowa jumped behind me, therefore cushioning my fall when we were thrown against the floor. I sat up and quickly scrambled to my knees, making sure that Trowa was alright. "Trowa!"

"I'm fine," he said, sitting up. "I'm fine."

I couldn't help it. I hugged him. I held him as tightly as the law of matter and space would allow. I was afraid to try again. What if I tried to get Trowa to safety and the same thing happened, but much worse? Why was it that the others went along okay and I felt the world was about to end with them? I knew the answers to these questions. It was just a matter of plucking them out of my head.

"Quatre?"

I turned in the direction of Wufei's voice to see him, along with Heero, rising from the floor. It would appear as if Heero caught Wufei in the same manner Trowa caught me, except they managed to fly into the door. It also seems Heero hit his head again. "Yeah Wu?"

"Tell Sally that...that I love her. That I'll always love her."

I stood up on shaky legs, feeling a rage boil within me that I didn't know the source of. "You are going to tell her yourself. I'm making sure of it. I will not fail." I walked--determinately--over to Wufei and pushed him on the wall, pressing my body against his so that he couldn't move from under me. I wrapped my arms around him, holding onto them at the wrists, and had him do the same around me. I wound my legs around his, just about enveloping myself around him. I thought back to when we were here the first time, how I told Krahe that he wouldn't defeat me. I was wrong. He did defeat me. He has won the war, but this battle is mine, and I'm not going to let anyone take it away from me. "Hold onto me," I whispered fiercely into Wufei's ear, "and if you love me, don't let go."

I felt one sharp nod of his head, and closed my eyes to concentrate. The image of the train station was fresh in my mind. All I had to do was focus....

My body tensed as the force tried to pull us apart again. My fingers ached from the strain and my muscles shook from the exertion. I concentrated more as I felt Wufei begin to slide away from me, wanting to scream his name again as if that would stop this from happening. All of a sudden, he slipped from my chest to my waist, where I dug my fingers into his back in a vain attempt to hold on. But I was losing my grip. No! No no, don't! I can't lose you now! No, please!

WUFEI!

His legs were ripped from in between mine as my arms were torn from around him.

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