by Arithkenshin
Disclaimer: Stop rubbing it in, I don't own them, just playing.
Notes: *glomps* Sol. thanks again hon, for everything, not limited to infinite patience and bounce company while writing. *hugs* CYT btw. *hugs* Casey, *hugs* Trowacko and *hugs* Makoto
A faint shudder passed through Blight and its surrounds. It made Duo shiver in his haven and break from his recuperation. He frowned. Something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. It was like a ripple that shouldn't have been there.
Duo stood up, letting his unbound hair cascade down his back. He splayed his hands to either side and stared at the domed ceiling briefly before closing his eyes. The aethyr seemed to be silent, so he let his mind roam, giving it freedom to find whatever it was.
There was nothing though, just a strengthening of the Archangel's shields. Duo's frown deepened. He knew that something was amiss, and it was starting to get on his nerves. His scrying delved a little deeper, determined to find something, anything to assuage his unease.
Then his awareness came across - there was no other word for it - a void. Duo grimaced. Sure, there were blank spots, from which he couldn't glean information, but a void was something else. It was constructed through power, wiping information off the planes and out of the aethyr, so that no trace could be found. Something had just happened.and Duo had no idea what it was.
He tapped into his foresight with barely a thought and began sorting through the myriad of possibilities, trying to glean a possible cause for his disquiet. The shadows wove themselves around his limbs, purring as he extended his power. Instead of distracting him, they leant him familiarity. They helped him centre and focus, because their very nature was his power, and their temperament his blood.
Duo growled in frustration. He wasn't being blocked, that would have been too unsophisticated a term for it. Instead, it was more like he was sliding off. He couldn't get as good a grip as he wanted, or as well as he should have been able to.
The shadows tensed, alerting him to a presence. Duo's face creased in annoyance as he cocked his head to one side, focusing on what it was that was upsetting his pets. A slightly irritated thought brushed his mind, tinged with amusement. Duo grinned, a playfully sinister expression.
His mind still browsing the aethyr, Duo turned another part of his awareness to the person trying to enter the room. It was amusing to say the least, and it was entertaining to see how far they'd go.
There was an exasperated curse, followed by a heavy sigh of resignation. "You and your damn games are going to drive me insane one day." Duo chuckled and released the hold the shadows had on the door.
He continued to sift through the planes, trying to locate that illusive clue that he needed. His affinity to Blight was unusually magnified, and he pondered the reasoning. Duo thought it would have to have something to do with most of them already being in residence.
An annoyed voice spoke from behind him, still containing an underlying tone of amusement. "You're lucky Doro isn't your durmanis you know. She'd have gone feral on you by now."
Duo chuckled. "If you weren't so damn stubborn, Hilde, you could have morphed and slipped through the door."
He felt her shrug good-naturedly. "I'm lazy. Deal with it."
Duo regarded her with wry amusement out of the corner of his eye. "I dealt with that a long time ago."
"Prick."
"Bitch."
"Compliments, compliments, Duo." She winked at him, shifting uneasily. It gave away the fact that something was actually on her mind, and Duo sighed.
He released his hold on the planes and his gift. The confusion that scrying had brought him was grating on his nerves. Hilde was a welcome diversion; they hadn't really talked to each other lately. He was insatiably curious as to what was on her mind and he knew her well enough to know it was nothing trivial. Petty things didn't unsettle Hilde. In fact, she rarely sought him out, but she was stubborn, and he knew that appearing to be eager would make her tease him with the information, regardless of how important what she wanted to talk about was.
He crossed his arms, smoothly coming out of the stance he had been in, and turned to face her fully. "So." His voice was a bored drawl. "You actually made the effort to get up and come to see me, just to dazzle me with your witty repartee?"
Her short blue hair fanned in the gentle breeze as Hilde threw her head back and laughed. "Touché, Duo. I'll pay that one."
Duo raised an eyebrow, allowing a grin to pass over his face. "You couldn't pay me enough, Hilde. Now spill. please."
Her eyes were still twinkling, but her body had tensed. "Because you asked so nicely." She took a deep breath, eyes darting around the habitat. Duo was mildly astounded to see that she seemed nervous, though her voice betrayed none of that when she spoke.
"They've thrown a shield up."
Duo snorted. "I'm aware of this. Don't tell me that's all you came to tell me?"
"No, it isn't. oh almighty one." Her voice was sarcastic, but became subdued as she continued. "I can't . reach our contacts."
Duo's eyes narrowed and he stepped closer to her, all traces of relaxation gone. His eyes grew distant for a split second, before a frown creased his face. "I can't . sense them anymore. That shield is fucking air tight."
Raphael's eyebrows rose with disdain as he saw the man dragged in by his brother's servants and he reached out a hand to halt Michael, fury etched onto his face. "You never learn, do you?" His voice was soft and yet the anger was palpable.
A triumphant sneer was all that crossed the pale Archangel's face; even the golden waves falling down his back seemed to shine with the conquest. "I've learned more than you can conceive of, Raphael." The tone was slightly mocking as the pale golden angel made to push past his brother.
Raphael stood steady, green eyes flashing angrily. "Why bother?" He gestured at the disappearing form of the captive. "They don't even know where he is. This is not the way you are supposed to play the game."
Blue eyes flashed dangerously. "If I hadn't used such hasty judgement last time, there wouldn't have been a game left to play." Impatient hands propelled the Wind Archangel out of the way. Michael turned to look at his brother, veiled derision in his voice. "Your choice was made a long time ago, Raphael. You'd do well to remember whose side you're on."
Green eyes blazed momentarily silver as wind whipped through the hall. "Damn you, Michael. Damn you."
Michael's laugh was cruel, and his voice void of warmth when he spoke. "We weren't the ones who were damned, Raphael. Remember that."
The echo that reverberated through the atmosphere almost made Quatre fall off the window ledge, but he regained his balance with a soft curse. His eyes unfocused as he tried to trace the source of his shock, but all he could feel were ripples in what should have been smooth aethyr. He frowned, wondering if he should use the one gift he had, that he truly despised. It wasn't that it wasn't useful; it was just damn annoying sometimes. He sighed as he realised that it was better to be safe than sorry.
The golden Fallen lowered his barrier and let his feelings bleed into the aethyr. It was a way for him to pick up on feelings and motivations, which normal scrying couldn't reach. The gift was something he often refused to use, since he felt that it made him biased in certain areas. Sometimes it was called for, and sometimes it was appropriate. He was just lucky he could control it well enough.
As he glossed through the planes, Quatre slipped deeper into trance. He needed all of his concentration to sift through the information he was gathering. Sometimes it was hard for him to differentiate through the multitude of emotions floating through the planes. It was easy to get carried away with them, but a few millennia of training had given him a certain apathy towards that which he was not seeking. That was the only way he could maintain a grip on sanity when sifting. His grip on sanity was tenuous enough as it was. A grin creased his face.
The grin didn't stay for long and another frown replaced it. He couldn't quite describe it, but there was a void in the planes at the point where the Archangels should have been, which probably meant that they were now aware of the Fallen's presence. A wave of frustration engulfed him, deepening his trance so that he was startled when a voice spoke.
"You're broadcasting, Quatre." The voice mocked him slightly, taunting him.
This time he wasn't shocked enough to almost lose his balance on the window ledge. Instead, he scowled and didn't try to hide the impatience in his voice. "What do you want, Dorothy?"
The woman shrugged, her strange ice blue eyes glowing an eerie white. Her lips curled with wry amusement. "Duo'll be here in a minute. You know how he worries when you transmit your emotions."
"You're deriving far too much pleasure from this."
White-blond hair bobbed as Dorothy shrugged. "I'm bored.no, that isn't it. I'm restless. Its much more entertaining to come and talk to you." She was grinning as she finished speaking.
Quatre laughed, some of the tension leaking from his body. He looked across the room at her, thoughtfully weighing his next words. "Not even you believe that. You're here to see how far you can rile me up today."
She had the grace to blush, but her answer remained smooth. "Why ever would I do that?"
"Because its what you do." Quatre smirked and got up from the window ledge. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms before continuing. "And I warn you, I am not in the mood today."
Dorothy scowled as the retort she was about to utter died on her lips. Duo entered the room in a whirlwind of shadows.
Hilde watched as Duo's gaze flickered between Dorothy and Quatre. The tension leaked out of Duo's shoulders and Hilde leaned against the door in silent observation.
"Quatre." Duo was hesitating. Hilde could tell that he wasn't too sure if Quatre was all right. Duo's relationship with his lover's durmanis had never been the most amicable.
Quatre looked like he was ready to get annoyed, but as he glanced at Duo, his face softened a little. "I'm fine, Duo. I got a little deeper into trance than I expected."
The longhaired Fallen relaxed visibly, before his expression became serious and he looked sharply at Quatre. "Trance? What did you find?"
It looked like Quatre had been hoping to avoid the issue. And when he spoke, even Hilde's jaw dropped open in shock as the apprehension levels in the room rose once more.
"They know we're back."
Trowa was content to lie in bed with his soul mate simply holding him. He had begun to doubt it would ever happen again. But something had awoken him, and he wasn't sure what it was. To honest, he really didn't care. Duo and Quatre would take care of whatever it was, and should it be serious, he was sure they would come and get him.
Green eyes glanced lazily around the room, taking in the way the sunlight made the room glow in soft golden-orange tones. He felt warmed and at ease, and he tried to ignore the itching in his back caused by the regrowth of his wings. Trowa shuddered slightly at the thought of regrowing his wings the way Duo had. Although pain never really bothered the green-eyed man, he wouldn't volunteer for getting his wings back the hard way. It made Trowa's respect for the longhaired Fallen rise a notch.
The body behind him stirred and Trowa could feel the tension snap back into the body as Wufei familiarised himself. Only a little of that tension leaked out as the arms tightened their hold on Trowa. Then they were withdrawn, leaving Trowa feeling a dull ache with the loss of the warmth they had given him. He twisted onto his back, ignoring the slight pain from his wings, and looked at Wufei. His expression was carefully impassive, not wanting to give away the hope inside him.
Wufei's face was thoughtful and he sat with his knees pulled tightly to his chest. He managed a tight smile in Trowa's direction, easing his aching heart. Wufei opened his mouth, then closed it, confusion was apparent on his face. Trowa waited silently for Wufei to speak.
"This." Wufei gestured vaguely to the entire room, "is still all new to me. I find myself conflicted. If I remember correctly you are a very patient soul.will you wait?"
The question hung in the air and Trowa considered it. He could barely hear the anxiety in Wufei's voice, but it was there. The man didn't usually ask for anything, and so Trowa was acutely aware of just how much Wufei had pushed aside to ask him that question.
Trowa knew his answer was cryptic, but it was an answer he would typically give. "I always have."
And Wufei smiled.
Zechs felt like he was floating. It was as if he was there, but wasn't really aware. Was he dreaming? Was he awake? He tried to gain his bearings in the room he was in. As he tried to move, he realised that there was a harness around his chest. A frown crossed his face as he tried to figure out its purpose. It wasn't until he tried to move and instead ended up swinging, that he realised he was suspended by the harness. Either it was a really warped dream, or an even stranger reality.
His head felt heavy, as if it was full of something. The feeling was worse than when he drank too much, as well as being completely different. He definitely had a hangover, but it wasn't from alcohol. His mood was scattered, as were his thoughts, and Zechs couldn't get his brain to focus on anything coherently.
He moved his head slightly so as not to sway the harness too much. The room, from what he could see, was large. The floor seemed to be covered in a mist that rose through the room and tickled at his feet. Had it been any other setting, he probably would have laughed. As it was though, Zechs found it unsettling.
His mind was waking up, becoming more and more aware of his surroundings and the strange noises he could hear but not place. His eyes traversed the rest of the room, slowly trying to take in what he could see and comprehend something. anything.
When he started to recognise the noises surrounding him, he began to wish that he couldn't. There were moans, but not of pleasure. Screams echoed through the room, gradually growing louder. It was the begging that was the worst though; the pleas of mercy followed by dulled cries and the ripping of flesh. The pain was almost tangible and made his skin stand on air as the eerie noises woke visuals in him he would have preferred to suppress.
Then Zechs made the mistake of looking down towards where he thought the ground might be. What he saw in the swirling mists made him wish he hadn't looked. It turned his stomach to a heaving mess, the visions splashing across his eyes despite his efforts to look away.
Bodies littered the floor. Some were still whole, but given what was being done to them, they wouldn't be so for long. There were others lying on the ground, writing in pain, limbs barely attached by a tendon of flesh; entrails hanging out of gutted abdomen's leaving slimy trails in the wake of the clawing figures.
The bodies dragged themselves across the floor, fingers gashing open as the only way to gain a hold on the surface and move. They didn't move fast enough, and Zechs heaved dryly once more as the creatures caught up to those trying to flee, and finished their work.
One of those constructs looked up at him and grinned. There was sinew caught in between its teeth from where it had fed on its last victim. The clawed hands were covered in congealing blood and viscera. A hand rose to its lips and the thing sucked on its fingers, licking each one clean, before breaking the gaze with which it held Zechs mesmerised. It made Zechs want to gag; made him wish he were free of his restraints so that he could at least put an end to the suffering the creatures were causing.
Just as suddenly as the vision had appeared, it disappeared. Zechs blinked, not quite wanting to believe that it may have been a hallucination. He could still smell the death and pain in the air, could still hear the moans and cries of tortured agony. The pictures of the flailing souls seemed to be embedded in his retinas as he tried valiantly to clear his head of the pictures by closing his eyes.
When he opened them again and looked down once more, the mist was swirling innocently at his feet, as if it had never left. A soft cackle emerged from his throat as he seriously considered whether or not he had lost his sanity.
A sliver of light entered the room, playing over the mist. He followed the line of light to a door that had been opened a crack. His heart almost stopped as he took in the figure standing in the doorway, curiously peeking inside the room, like it shouldn't be.
The door closed once more and Zechs shook his head, not wanting to believe what he had just seen. It all had to be an illusion of some sort, didn't it? Where was he? Where had Michael taken him? And how the hell could that person at the door have been who he was achingly sure that it was? It just wasn't possible, was it? Zechs was definitely beginning to doubt his sanity.
Relena had drowned over two years ago, along with the rest of his family.
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