Setting: Just after the AC-195 war. Possibly AU, but it’s worked in so it doesn’t warp the TV storyline.

Pairings: 3x4, 1+2, Kreigan+5, 13x6

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: Violence, possible OOC? lemon, angst. No NCS - you’ll see why I had to point that out. Several OCs but they don’t necessarily play a big part.

Disclaimers: The only characters here that I own are any alter egos, Kazimiriel, Machiavel, Sarrow and Malvad and a few other characters that’ll pop up. Characters I don’t own include: Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, Zechs, Treize and any other good ones in fact.

Also, I would like to note that I am not Christian - anybody that wants to know why can pick one of two courses of action, either accept the fact that I’m a Mahayanist or email me and prepare for a very complex credo - and I’d like to add that this is just a story. If anything in it offends anyone, I apologize very sincerely.

Rough Peace - Part 9

About two hours later, the night was starting to set in and, having been walking for almost seven hours and having last slept more than twenty-four hours ago, the five pilots were starting to feel the strain of the day’s exertion.

Heero stifled a yawn as they finally reached the western entrance to the Dagmar district where Quatre’s brother was living and Duo leant his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder. Heero smiled and ran his hand through the silky chestnut braid, educing a contented moan from the American boy.

“Duo?” Heero whispered softly.

The braided boy looked up and murmured, “mmm hmm?”

Heero smiled and shook his head. “When you first met me, um, did you know? I mean, had you got any idea how you felt about me?”

Duo stood up straight and took his lover’s hand again. “Bear in mind that the first time we met, I shot you,” he replied with a sluggish grin. “I wouldn’t say it was love at first sight exactly but… once we started talking… okay so you were a stubborn ass, bad example. But I knew you had a soul in there somewhere.”

“I was a total idiot, wasn’t I?” Heero remarked amusedly.

“But hey,” Duo began, breaking off to give Heero a quick kiss. “All behind us now, right? I think we’re better people than to dwell on old stuff like that.”

The five Gundams continued to walk through the city on aching feet and soon found that sleep deprivation brought a kind of temporary depression with it. Wufei, in particular, was having a struggle with his emotions. His feelings for Kreigan that he’d been trying to push to the back of his mind, only seemed to be intensifying with the demon’s absence.

Wufei wasn’t too sure whether demons could put curses on people, Quatre had said something about metaphysics. But there was a difference between metaphysics and impossible magic. And these feeling certainly didn’t feel forced. Wufei knew he didn’t feel helpless in any way, he could easily tell that these emotions were completely voluntary and that made things ten times worse.

‘There’s no such thing as love at first sight,’ Wufei told himself as they wandered deeper into the heart of Niravaana, ‘that kind of attitude is totally absurd. Maybe this actually is some kind of bizarre fear, I didn’t know how to deal with the situation so I translated the confusion into something a little more tangible.’

‘But if that’s the case, why am I so convinced that I’m in love with this guy?’ Wufei continued to think the problem to death until Quatre finally told them they were where they needed to be.

Wufei had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he hadn’t even noticed somebody else had joined them. A slightly more agreeable somebody else, by the sounds of things.

Quatre certainly seemed happy to see him. “Kazimiriel! Oh thank God you’re okay!” he exclaimed, throwing his arms around his brother, doing away with some of the formalities considering the circumstances.

The taller angel wrapped his wings kindly around his little brother, “I’m glad you made it home safely,” Quatre’s brother said. “Come in, you must be exhausted.” He lead them into the house and had them sit down in the front room. They were all so tired that even Heero couldn’t resist letting out a grateful sigh as he collapsed into the cushions.

“Renfredriel, may I speak with you a moment?” Kazimiriel asked quietly. “Bring Trowa too, he should know as much about everything as possible. It’ll make your time together easier.”

Quatre frowned ‘Our time together? What’s that supposed to mean?’ he wondered as they left Heero, Duo and Wufei alone in a separate room. “What’s going on, Kazimiriel?” Quatre asked the minute they were out of earshot of the three remaining pilots.

His brother sat down opposite the Sandrock pilot and his lover and launched into an explanation. “Remember what we discussed a few years back, just before you went to Earth and the colonies?”

Quatre nodded, “About the possibility of a rift while I was away… but there’s always a chance that that could happen,” he argued reasonably. “It’s no more likely to happen whether someone is out of Niravaana or not. Even then, the chances are slim. Almost zero. Are you telling me that’s what’s happened?”

Kazimiriel nodded, “I’m afraid so,” he replied gravely, shooting glances at Trowa every now and then to make sure he was keeping up with the conversation. “What is basically happening now is that the physical atmospheres between our realms is being worn very thin, this mean demons and evil spirits can easily pass into Niravaana. We’ve been trying to repair the damage but we first need someone to go to Enfero and find out what’s been planned.”

Trowa raised an eyebrow, “You want us to do that?”

The Power looked at the Heavyarms pilot accusingly. “Yes. Since Renfredriel, or Quatre as you know him, was out of the eighth dimension when this happened, he is the only one who can now travel through our territories independent of metaphysical law. Naturally, we need to speak with all of you humans about this but I thought you should be given preferential treatment.”

“Let me get this straight,” Quatre began again, holding his head. “Prince Machiavel and his court have ripped Oblivion’s framework apart? It didn’t look any different to me.”

Kazimiriel shrugged and swept his wings back. “It’s been very skillfully done. The rift isn’t so much in the sky as in the essence of the environment.”

Quatre and Trowa, now finally up to date with the current situation, left Kazimiriel and went to explain the necessary details to the other Gundams. Heero and Duo seemed to be doing their best to understand whilst Wufei was openly confused.

They were all about to leave again before Kazimiriel spoke up. “Renfredriel, be careful with the lemurays around your wing.”

“Oh no, I forgot,” Quatre sighed, closing the front door. “Does anybody have any injuries?”

Duo tilted his head, “What do you mean? I think all our feet are hanging off but other than that, we’re fine.”

“I just mean very recent scarring,” Quatre continued as they sat back down. “The lemurays are small bird-like creatures that feed off of divine or human blood. They have very sensitive nasal receptors so recent scars or rips in your skin would attract them in swarms and they’d go after all of us.”

Heero and Trowa instantly looked across the room and exchanged somber looks. Heero shook his head, “I’m sorry about this,” he remarked as he and Trowa rolled up their left sleeves to reveal almost identical scarring on the forearms.

“It was a couple of days ago,” Heero continued, “when we were working on our Gundams. The door to the docking bay malfunctioned and the glass got broken. When we both walked through, our arms got caught.”

Quatre grasped at Trowa’s hand desperately. “Then… you have to stay here.”

“What!?” Duo interjected stubbornly. “C’mon they’re strong guys, they’d be okay… right?” he added uncertainly, a little intimidated by the prospect of losing Heero’s support.

“They may well be, but nothing can compare to the strength of these things,” Quatre replied, feeling more sickened by the minute. “If Gundanium could bleed, the Gundams would be easy prey for these animals. Even if they want to come… I can let them. It wouldn’t just put them in danger, it would be us too and it’s just not worth the risk that they might not see us.”

Duo reluctantly resigned himself to the fact that he would have to go without his lover and hugged intimately him without a second thought for who was watching them.

Heero sighed and put his arms carefully around the braided boy. “Be careful, Duo. This place isn’t like home don’t get ahead of yourself.”

“You mean don’t be a cocky moron, right?” Duo laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m just gonna follow Quatre’s lead. He seems to know stuff round here.” Heero smiled and gave his boyfriend a kiss on the cheek before actually letting him leave.

After a similarly heartfelt exchange, Quatre unwillingly parted with Trowa and opened the front door. “Kazimiriel, would you take them to the Sanhedrin, please?” Quatre asked over his shoulder, “They may not be my favorite people in the universe, but Heero and Trowa will be safer there.”

Quatre quickly pulled Wufei to the side before they left. “Listen, I know this sounds silly but I’d understand if you said you didn’t want to come,” he began kindly, when considering Wufei’s contact with Kreigan. “I wouldn’t say anything.”

Wufei shook his head, “What do you take me for, Winner?” he snapped angrily. “I’m not quite as weak as all that. Besides, I couldn’t let you and Duo go to that place alone, could I?”

“Well, theoretically you could,” Quatre said, leading the three of them out of the door. “But I appreciate the fact that you won’t.”

When they reached the gates of Niravaana again, Quatre stopped to hand them both another drink. Duo looked at it suspiciously when taking into account what their last drink had done to them.

“What is this stuff?” Wufei asked as Quatre gulped down his own.

The angel laughed at their looks on their faces. “Don’t worry, this time around it’s actually a good effect,” he replied amusedly. “The scientific name is extidraffeine,” he began as Duo took a tentative sip, “but most people just call it phantom blood.”

Quatre really should have seen it coming and either just kept his mouth shut or waited until Duo had swallowed the mouthful, but he didn’t and instantly regretted it as the braided boy spat it out and stuck his tongue out.

“Blood!” Duo yelled, “What the hell have you got us drinkin’? And *you* can stopped laughing!” he added, pointing at a smirking Altron pilot.

Wufei took a deep breath and managed to keep a straight-ish face. “I’m not laughing,” he insisted adamantly. “That was a cough, not a laugh.”

Quatre shook his head and stifled his own laughter. “It’s not actually phantom blood,” he said sincerely. “It just gets called that because it’s the same color. You know, like ketchup getting called monkey blood.”

“Phantom blood is green?” Duo said with a laugh, drinking down the rest of it. “Like an octopus? Cool. Tastes like mango juice. So, what does it actually do?”

“It’s like extremely strong caffeine,” Quatre explained. “There’s only a small drop of it in there because it’s so dehydrating, but it’ll make you feel as if you’ve had a full night’s sleep.”

Wufei rubbed his forehead. “This is completely safe?” he asked as the drink sent a stabbing pain through his head, “It feels a little… toxic.”

Quatre frowned. “It shouldn’t be,” he said, stepping forward to take Wufei’s pulse. “Unless you take anything like aspirin on a regular basis, even then it would have to be-”

“Does a 75mg dose once a day to thin blood count?” Wufei interrupted, feeling his heart rate accelerate to an almost impossible pace.

Duo bit his lip, “Is Wufei gonna be alright?” he asked Quatre anxiously, as the Chinese pilot didn’t seem to be able to answer himself.

Quatre put his arm around a barely semi-conscious Wufei for support. “He’ll be fine,” the angel sighed. “But the extidraffeine reacted with the aspirin he’s been taking. His pulse’ll be a bit quick for a while and he’ll probably be out for an hour or so.” He picked Wufei up off the floor and spread his wings. “Do you mind if I fly there?”

“You can fly?” Duo asked incredulously. “Is there no end to your coolness? Sure, I don’t mind. So long as you don’t go too fast so I can keep up.”

TBC…

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