Lee awoke to a faint growling sound near her ear. She could feel a weight on her chest and she moaned as she opened her eyes.
When she did, she came face to face with a pair of piercing yellow eyes.
Lee jumped a bit until she studied the creature. It was a dragon!
Lee gasped with excitement and looked over at the broken shell of the egg she had.
"You hatched!" She cried excitedly. She sat up and looked at the tiny creature. It looked like a lizard, and was no bigger than a kitten. But it had a long neck and two tiny wings protruding from its scaly back. Its body was chubby, and covered in green scales. The skin on its wings was deep crimson, and the scales turned golden under its belly and up the bottom of its neck.
Its yellow eyes had thin, black, diamond-shaped pupils, and it had short, stubby horns sticking out from the back of its head, which were also crimson in color.
"Oh wow! You’re so cute!" She scooped it up in her arms and cradled it like a baby. The baby dragon seemed pleased as it curled up in her arms.
Lee scrambled out of bed and ran downstairs into the kitchen, where everyone else was already waiting.
"Look guys!" She cried, "It hatched!" She bounced over to the able and proudly displayed the newborn dragon.
"It’s so small," Trowa commented.
"Quatre! Is it a boy or a girl?" Lee asked urgently.
"Let me see," Quatre offered. He took the dragon from Lee and inspected it. "It’s a healthy female." Quatre smiled. "She’s a beauty."
"What in the world is that!" Leonie cried as she came up from the basement level. She looked the baby dragon over suspiciously.
"It’s a baby dragon!" Lee said happily.
"A DRAGON!" Leonie cried.
"A dragon! Where?" Pretz came bounding up the stairs. He looked at the small lizard and squealed with delight. "Where’d you get it?"
"I hatched it," Lee said proudly.
"You hatched a dragon? Are you crazy?" Leonie squawked. "Those things are dangerous!"
"She’s only a baby," Lee protested. "And she won’t hurt anybody unless I tell her to. She thinks I’m her mother."
Leonie sighed, "She is kinda cute, but…"
"I’m sure she won’t hurt anyone, Leonie," Quatre assured the woman. "So Lee, why don’t you give her a name?"
Lee thought for a moment. "I’ll call her…Siren."
"Works for me," Trowa sighed; Heero grunted and Wufei was indifferent. Quatre smiled with enthusiasm; "It’s a great name."
"Thanks, Quatre." Lee let Siren climb onto the table and inspect her food. "So what do you feed a baby dragon?" Lee wondered.
"Well, it usually drinks milk from the mother for the first few weeks." Quatre said.
"Milk! Do you have any milk we could give her?" Lee asked Leonie.
Leonie sighed. "Come with me, child, I’ll see what I can do for the little monster."
Lee gave the woman a crooked smile and followed her to get some milk.
As they left the table and the guys, Leonie started a conversation. "I talked to your betrothed last night." She said.
Lee gasped, "Duo, he came?"
Leonie nodded.
"He didn’t…hurt you, did he?"
"Of course not," Leonie smiled, "I don’t think he would hurt the mother of his fiancée."
"So he…he knew. I mean, he thinks you’re my mother as well?"
"Of course he knew. He’s the Dark Lord after all. Lee, why can you still not accept the fact?"
"I’m sorry," Lee mumbled. "It’s just that everything is very confusing right now. I don’t know what to believe anymore."
Leonie smiled as she filled a bottle with milk for Siren. She handed it to Lee before she continued speaking. "I know it must be hard to you, to be discovering so many hidden things about yourself. But perhaps then, you could just humor me for a while?"
Lee smiled at this, "Of course, I would be happy to think of you as my mother, Leonie. But I’m not sure if I can believe it’s really true."
"Understood,"
"I’m leaving today, you know. And when, and if I ever see you again, I may not be the same person." Lee warned her.
"Of course you’ll be the same person. Just because you have someone else sleeping inside your body, doesn’t mean that you aren’t really who you think you are."
"You think so?"
"Of course, the sleeping deity inside you is doing just that: sleeping. You are still Lee, my daughter, this deity has no effect on who you are or where you came from."
"Thanks…mother…that was what I was worried about."
Leonie smiled and led her back to the dining area. Lee was a bit quieter now, as she fed Siren, who drank greedily.
"I suppose you will all be leaving soon," Leonie smiled. "I can’t let you go without making you have the proper supplies though."
"Thanks, but no thanks, Leonie.” Heero said, "We’ll do just fine. You don’t need to…"
"Nonsense, I never let any of my houseguests leave without seeing that they’re ready for their trip. I’ll make you some food for your journey, and get you some milk for little Siren there, too."
"You’re very kind," Quatre said, "But we really don’t want to inconvenience you."
"Don’t be so polite, it’s OK to accept gifts from people you know."
Quatre smiled, "All right, Leonie."
Leonie smirked with triumph; "I’ll get the things ready."
"You know, I just noticed that Lee and Leonie look a lot alike." Trowa said as he watched the woman hand Lee some supplies for the trip.
"They do," Heero agreed.
Wufei snorted. "What does it matter? Someone tell that onna to hurry up! We need to keep moving if we want to beat the vampires to the Devil’s lair!"
"Problem, we don’t even know where the Devil’s Lair is." Quatre pointed out.
"Why would you want to go to the Devil’s Lair?" Leonie asked, as she approached them to see them off. Lee was close behind, getting on her stag with Siren in her backpack, her tiny head peeking out of the top.
"To stop the prophecy of the vampires from coming true. We need to find the dagger that was hidden there.”
"There are rumors of that place, you know. They say it’s somewhere near the Great Pools."
"Yes, we know that, woman." Wufei sighed.
"Well be careful," Leonie warned them. "There are strange enchantments and vampires and all sorts of harmful things swarming around that place. But once you get close, Lee should be able to lead you. That is, if she really is the deity of prophesy."
"How…how would you know about that?" Trowa asked.
"I told her," Lee said as she joined the group. "Now if you don’t mind, I don’t appreciate being left out of conversations. Especially when they include me."
Wufei grumbled something but didn’t say anything more.
"We should get a move on," Heero sighed. "At this rate we’ll never reach the Great Pools."
"I agree," Lee said, "Let’s go."
"Thank you very much for you hospitality, Leonie." Heero said. Leonie smiled and nodded.
"Get out of here, we’re all counting on you to succeed."
The rest of the group said their briefs thanks to the woman and waved goodbye as they headed down the road.
"She was a nice woman," Quatre commented.
"Yeah," Trowa agreed. Wufei snorted again and Heero said nothing. Lee also didn’t comment, she was too busy thinking about her future, and the undeniable possibility that Leonie could very well be her biological mother.
The trip to the Great Pools was a little boring. They rode in silence. Everyone had their own private thoughts about what was going to happen.
"I guess the King was wrong about the theory of the prophecy coming true when the planets align." Quatre sighed.
"But the timing was right," Heero added.
"Huh, coincidence," Wufei mumbled. Lee remained silent. "But I wonder who the other one was?"
"What?" Trowa asked; Lee and the others also looked up at him.
"The other girl, the one Howard originally thought was the deity."
Heero shrugged, "What do we care? We have the real one, that’s all we need."
Lee snorted and glared at him. "Oh, so now I’m just a tool to you, am I?" She snarled.
"That’s not what I meant."
"Yes you did. And how do you even know if I am this stupid deity? I don’t even know!"
"Lee, calm down. You know Heero didn’t mean it like that." Quatre said evenly.
Lee ignored him, "What would you guys do if I just decided not to use this dagger and destroy this dark dragon? What if I just walked away from this right now!"
"You can’t do that, Lee," Heero growled, "You wouldn’t last one day on your own."
"Well good! Because I’m tired of all this anyway! It would be so much easier for me to just end this right now! The fact is, I’m doing you guys a huge favor by letting you cart me all over this crazy planet of yours!"
"Stupid woman," Wufei snapped, "We’ve been doing you a favor by putting up with you and your stupidity!"
"Stupidity! I’m guessing you’ve never been transported to another world you’ve never heard of before without anyone asking you before, now have you?"
"That is irrelevant, woman!"
Lee grit her teeth and trotted her stag next to Wufei. "Irrelevant! Say that again."
"You’ve done nothing but complain since you got here, and you have no right to! It would be easier for all of us if we just killed you and let the deity be reborn again into someone more tolerable!"
"That’s it!" Lee jumped off the stag and onto Wufei, knocking him to the ground. She pinned him down and punched him in the face, instantly wiping off his cocky smirk. Lee was in such a rage, that she continued to pound his face until Heero and Trowa finally managed to pull her off. But still, Quatre had to help them to hold her back.
To their surprise, Wufei actually started to laugh!
"Crazy woman!" He chuckled. "You rage shows your weakness! And your strength reveals your true self! How can you not be the deity?"
Lee glowered at him, and her eyes seemed to take on a preternatural glow.
Wufei studied her for a moment before he picked himself up and got back on his stag. "We should keep going." He said as he wiped the blood away from his nose. "We still have a long distance to travel."
Lee grumbled something as she mounted her own stag. Siren squawked her disapproval at the disturbance as Lee accidentally kicked the bag tied to the stag’s back. She started off again in the direction they were headed, just ahead of the other four. She stayed away from the group for the rest of the day’s journey. She needed some time to vent and cool off.
Howard had just returned from his trip to the Capital of the Sank Kingdom, New Port City. With him, he had a guest who was going to stay in his castle for a while for her own protection. Of course, he had a hard time convincing her father to come with him, but with some level-headed guidance, and a little bit of magic, he managed to get her away. The girl was the other he had called from Earth, off her vacation. She was the false deity; the one he had first mistaken for the true deity.
And it was an honest mistake on his part. Even the best made mistakes from time to time, and any better of a wizard probably would have made the same mistake he did, and how could he not?
The false deity fit the part perfectly. And she was from Mythrill as well. The legends clearly stated that the deity had to be from Mythrill. The idea that the girl he didn’t think was the deity really was the deity was astounding, a mere fluke. He had called on her only by random. But then again, he had come to learn that nothing ever happened by accident.
"Howard, I would like to know why I’m here." The girl said to him.
"Not to worry, if all goes well, you’ll be back home in no time at all." Howard smiled at the pretty young woman.
"But Sir…"
"Relax, Princess Relena. I promise you, this is only for your protection."
"Can’t you at least tell me what this is about?"
Howard shook his head. "Afraid not, you’ll just have to trust me."
"Fine," Relena sighed.
Howard chuckled, "How about I show you to a room then? Most of this old castle is pretty cold, but I’ll give you a nice warm one in the tower, OK?"
"Yes, that will be fine." Relena sighed.
"Well then, follow me Princess."
For the next three days, Lee did not see or talk to Duo, and as they got closer and closer to the Great Pools and the Devil’s Lair, she could feel herself getting more and more restless. Quatre and Trowa tried to keep her occupied by pointing out sprites and wood nymphs and other new creatures. But Lee didn’t care very much: not about the strange magical creatures, or about the fact than Duo had not shown his face in several days. Maybe he’s given up and forgotten about me forever, Lee thought hopefully, then I won’t have to marry him. But still, Lee felt a pang of guilt and betrayal; Duo had become an accepted part of her routine.
It was now their fourth day of traveling since they had met Leonie in the tiny settlement, and Heero promised another three days before they got to the Great Pools. Lee was getting sore from all the riding she was doing. She rolled out her bedding under her makeshift tent and crawled in. Siren crawled around the tent for a while before curling up next to Lee under the blanket. Lee smiled as the tiny dragon yawned widely and ended it with a quiet little ‘squeak’. Siren clapped her lips (if dragons have lips) together a few times and put her head down and fell asleep.
Lee thought she was the cutest thing she had ever seen. She wondered what her mother would say if she came home with a pet dragon. Leonie, the one who claimed to be her real mother, hadn’t responded well, but had accepted the small creature. Now, her mother on Earth was a different story.
She dropped her head down to the pillow and started to fall asleep instantly. She was so sore and exhausted that it wasn’t hard to find comfort, even on the hard ground. She didn’t even care anymore. All she wanted was to sleep.
But, it appeared that she would not be allowed to sleep at the moment. Siren suddenly jumped up and started squawking at something.
Lee groaned and told her to shut up, but Siren kept squawking and growling at some unknown source of disruption.
"Come on Siren, I want to sleep." Lee grumbled.
"Yeah Siren, let the poor girl get some sleep, you silly dragon."
Lee gasped at the familiar voice and jumped up. She found herself string right into a pair of violet orbs.
"Duo," She choked out.
"That’s right babe, did you miss me?"
Lee was unable to respond; she didn’t know how to.
"Well," Duo said when he realized he wasn’t going to get an answer, "I’m going to flatter myself and take that as a ‘yes’."
"You came back," Lee observed. "I’m sorry for what I said Duo."
"S’okay." Duo replied. "I’m used to it by now."
"Are you still mad at me?"
"No, I don’t hold grudges for any longer than a day."
"But then…why were you gone for so long?"
"So you did miss me! I didn’t leave. I came every single night, but I didn’t want to wake you up. So I just watched you."
"You watched me sleep?’
"Yeah, you know you’re really pretty when you sleep."
Lee blushed and looked away, trying to hide her face from Duo. She found herself watching Siren. The dragon seemed unusually comfortable around Duo. She stroked her a few times before Siren ran over to Duo and nuzzled his hand.
"Well, hello to you too, Siren."
"How did you know her name was Siren?" Lee wondered, "And how does she know you?"
"Don’t forget Lee, I have still been coming to see you every night and she’s gotten used to me. As for her name, you just told me."
"Hm," Lee slid down into her bed again and stared up at the top of her tent. She wanted to be able to see the stars, but she felt safer inside the tent, even though it was impossible to be any safer under the thin layer of fabric than under the stars.
"You look tired," Duo said as he slipped under the tent next to her.
"I am," Lee responded, "We’ve been riding for three days now."
"That’s rough. You must be really sore. You need a massage."
"Yeah," Lee agreed, she didn’t realize until it was too late that he was offering.
"Lie on your stomach." Duo instructed. It was to late for her to back out, so Lee obeyed and rolled onto her stomach. Duo moved to get closer to her and sat up a bit.
Slowly and expertly, his hands found the tense spot around her neck and shoulders and began to work them. Despite herself, Lee let out a moan of approval. She could almost see Duo smirk, but at the moment she didn’t care at all. She could already feel her body turning to jelly. Duo worked his way down her back, and Lee shivered when he reached the bare skin on her lower back. (Don’t forget, she’s wearing a cut-off shirt) Duo didn’t falter at all.
"Do you feel better yet?" He asked.
"Much better," Lee moaned. She didn’t know why she said that; she didn’t want him to stop.
"Huh," Duo chuckled, but to her surprise, he didn’t stop. His hands began to move back up and they slipped under her shirt. His cold hands felt so good on her tense muscles, and she was already mush, so Lee hardly cared. Lee closed her eyes and enjoyed the relaxing feel of his fingers working out the knots in her shoulders. Soon she was falling asleep.
Duo stopped and slid down next to her.
"Lee?"
"Hm?"
"Do you hate me?"
Lee opened her eyes and stared at him for a moment. That was a question she had asked herself many times before. Did she hate Duo? He had never done anything to hurt her. If anything, he had been nicer to her than anyone. But she was afraid of him; was that reason enough to hate him? Lee thought for a moment, and the answer came to her.
"No, I don’t hate you, Duo."
"Well, are you afraid of me?"
"I was, but not so much anymore."
Duo smirked. "Would you be insulted if I kissed you right now?"
"No, but I might slap you." Lee said with a glare.
Duo laughed, "I think I’ll risk it." He turned her a bit with a simple, light touch of his hand, and leaned forward. Lee could hardly move. He was finally going to do it, she was about to be kissed by a vampire, and she couldn’t stop it! Lee felt powerless to move. Damn him for turning her into putty first! She felt weak, and she wasn’t sure if it was because of the massage or because Duo was about to kiss her.
She shut her eyes tightly as his face got close. Duo’s lips captured hers, and they were warmer than she expected.
He was gentle as he slowly forced her mouth open and slipped his tongue inside. He carefully explored her mouth, and Lee gasped as a sudden, alien sensation crept down her spine and seemed to envelop her. There was some sort of strange recognition in his kiss, and she responded to it. But even as she did so, she felt as if something were taking over her body. Her arms flung around him, as if by their own accord, and Lee suddenly felt like she was drowning, being pushed down by some other force.
She was completely unaware that Duo was having a similar feeling. He could sense her desperation as she was being pulled away and some one, something else took over. All of a sudden, it was painful, and Duo pulled back while gasping for breath. Lee fell down and buried her head in her pillow, also gasped. She looked like she was in pain.
Siren jumped up and started squawking and growling at Lee.
Lee lay sprawled on the ground, half pushed up on her elbows. She grabbed at her chest and looked at Duo pleadingly.
"Help me," She choked. Then she suddenly cried out in pain. Duo jumped to help her, but Lee passed out.
"Lee! Lee! Are you OK? Lee, answer me!" He picked her up and pulled her into his lap. He held her against his chest and cradled her, until she moaned and opened her eyes. There was something different there, in her eyes. Duo knew immediately that this was not Lee.
"Who-who are you?"
The new person lying in his arms smiled weakly. It was Lee’s body, but this person was not she. "I am the deity of light, and I have finally awakened from my slumber."
Screaming from Princess Relena’s room awakened Howard. He jumped out of bed and headed to the top of the tower. He stopped in the doorway of her room and saw Relena thrashing violently.
"Princess! Are you alright?" Howard cried over the noise she was making. There was a sudden wave that shot out from her body, and all the lanterns in the castle went out. Relena fell back down onto the bed and Howard gathered his courage and approached her.
"Princess?"
Her eyes snapped open and she glared at him. "Princess?" She growled and then she laughed deviously. "I am not your Princess."
"Well then, who are you?"
The new woman glared dangerously at him and Howard shrank back. He could feel the power emanating from her. She had incredible dark magic.
Recognition suddenly overcame the woman’s face. "I know you!" She gasped. "You are that silly little wizard that helped my sister so long ago!"
"I don’t know what you mean!"
"Ha!" She laughed, "Where is she? Where is my sister?"
"Please Princess, lie back down and get some sleep. You’re not well…"
"I told you I’m not the Princess! Now tell me where the deity of light is or I’ll kill you." She grabbed Howard around his neck and held him up over her head. Howard’s hand flew to his neck to try and pull her hands away. What happened to Relena? This was not the sweet, naïve young girl she was only a few hours ago. Howard struggled to recite a spell, and the woman was thrown against the wall.
Relena screamed in frustration and leapt at him again. She pinned him to the ground and supplied a small knife from nowhere.
"Never mind you. You’ve gotten stronger since the last time we met, but you cannot defeat me. I will find my sister on my own!" She raised the knife above her head and plunged it deep into Howard’s heart. She smiled at the satisfying gurgling sound that escaped his throat just before he ceased to live. The possessed Relena stood up, smiling to herself, and walked calmly down the stairs and out into the open air.
"I can feel you my sister, you will not escape me again."
The Deity of Light was studying Duo for a moment. "The Dark Lord," She said, "Finally we meet, face to face."
"Y-you're the deity?" Duo stuttered.
"Yes," She still made no move to remove herself from his arms. "I have a faint memory of you from a long time ago but…"
"Hun? But what? How could you have met me before?"
She chuckled, "Silly man, you don't remember me?"
Duo shook his head.
"Ah well, I can't expect you to remember too much of your mortal years."
"When I was still human?"
She nodded, "The body I was inhabiting was killed just before you received mortal death. I tried to come out so I could save her, but I couldn't without the help of the Dark Lord."
Duo gasped, "Hilde…"
She nodded, "Yes I was reborn into the one you knew as Hilde. I really liked her, but she was so different from Lee! Which was why I was surprised when I found myself in Lee's body."
"What do you mean? Why do I have to play such a big part in this?"
The deity laughed, "You're almost as ignorant as you look,"
Duo tried to ignore the insult. "Since this prophecy has so much to do with the Dark Lord, don't you think it's only appropriate that you be the one to awaken the legendary deity of light?"
Duo's eyes narrowed as he thought. "But, I wasn't even a vampire when you were reborn the first time so…?"
"Oh yes, that issue. I suppose it's only fair that I tell you about that. As a deity, I have the power to predict the future. I knew that you would become the Dark Lord, so I was reborn into the one you would fall in love with. Because your love was the only thing that could awaken me."
"My…love? Is this another 'true love's first kiss' things in the fairy tales?"
She laughed again. "No! You have always loved Lee, haven't you?"
"I think so…"
"And when you kissed her, that was when Lee's love for you came out as well; even though it was only for a brief instance."
"She…she loves me? Wait a second, can she hear this conversation?"
The deity shook her head. "No, this is just between you and me. But I'm glad you understand that I am not Lee."
"Yeah, I get that much. But there are still a few more questions I want to ask you."
"Why don't I explain what's going on first?"
"Sure,"
"I was reborn into Hilde because you were going to become the Dark Lord and you were going to fall in love with her. But I wasn't on counting on being killed before I could awaken. Fortunately I was able to gather enough strength to hide myself again for another four hundred years. At that time, things moved kind of fast. You have to realize that I have no control over whom I was reborn into. Lee was quite a shock at first, but I soon came to love her myself, as well. But the vampires caught on quickly to whom I was reborn into, and they attacked. Lee's mother managed to take her to Earth to save her.
"When Howard brought myself and another from Earth, one was supposed to be the deity and the other, a decoy. At first, Lee was the decoy, but it was soon discovered that she held me within her, and not the other. But you know that much already. You fell in love with Lee, and brought me, finally out of my slumber. Now it is my mission to destroy the Dark Dragon my sister created so I can return home, and live as a deity once again."
"So, you're going to take us to the Devil's Lair, then, and kill the Dragon?"
"Yes,"
"That simple, hun?" Duo said sarcastically.
The deity laughed and finally sat up and looked around.
"So, is there something we can call you? 'Deity of Light' is kinda long."
"I have no name." The deity explained. "But I suppose you're right. You can just call me 'Light', OK?"
"I can work with that."
"You should get going, Duo. The sun will rise soon." Light said as she stepped out of the tent and looked around.
"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow night."
"Goodbye, Duo." Light smiled and watched him fly off. Now she had the task of explaining what was going on to the other four. She hoped they would be as understanding as Duo had been.
