Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine, never has been mine, and never will be mine, but I can dream.

Modern Magic

By Crystalite

Part Three

Quatre woke with a start when a hand grabbed his shoulder and shook him.

"Hey! sougishiki appu(1), we're here." A voice told him.

Quatre groggily opened his eyes. "Wha-??" He mumbled confusedly. Through the sleepy haze that filled his eyes, he saw Trowa in the front passenger seat turned around looking at him.

Trowa gave him a small smile, "You awake now?"

Quatre yawned. "Yes, I am now." He righted himself from where he had slumped over during his sleep.

"Good," Trowa turned back around, "now wake Duo up, would you?"

Quatre gave a quick nod and looked to Duo who was seated next to him. The 'god of death' was sound asleep slumped over his arm rest. His back rose and fell in time to his steady breathing. Quatre reached over and softly touched his cheek.

Duo promptly responded with a shutter as goose-bumps pricked his skin.

"Wake up." Quatre called in a soft voice. Duo moaned in reply and turned his face to Quatre. Quatre urged him up. "We're here, you gotta get up now."

Duo reluctantly sat up, rubbing the goose-bumps away from where Quatre had tickled him. "Honto?"(2) He asked.

Quatre nodded and Duo peaked out the window to see a large castle, or what was left of it anyway.

The majority of it was still standing, but in many places the wooden roof had caved in or rotted away. The stone walls had large holes in it from where enemies long ago had attacked it. The great gargoyles that had once been threatening, were now crumbling and falling apart. The lawn, though neatly kept, needed color and the garden needed new fountains. The castle had been tended to by people who intended to keep the ruin in one piece, but it was evident that it had seen better times.

"So this is the place?" Duo questioned.

"Hai.(3)" Wufei answered.

Duo stared at it a moment to take in the full picture. "But it's so big, and falling apart. How are we ever going to find the book in this mess???"

"We'll find away... or else we'll learn to put up with Heero and have to fight one man less." Trowa stated.

Duo bowed his head, closing his eyes. "...and I know who'll have to be the one to take care of him,..." He mumbled then, opening his eyes he said louder, "Me!" He abruptly raised his head. "We better find that book, NOW!!!"

* * * * *

Chibi-Heero sucked in his breath. She was standing so close. He forced himself to be perfectly still. His heart was pounding, and she was so close, he was surprised she couldn't hear it. But then maybe she could, maybe she was just playing with him, like a cat with a mouse.

Catherine giggled, watching Chibi-Heero out of the corner of her eyes. "Where could he be?" She asked out loud, making sure he could hear her. "I don't see him out here anywhere." She turned her back to his hiding spot under the bushes. "Maybe he went inside." She announced to the air around her. She turned and trotted back to the front door.

The second she was gone from sight, Chibi-Heero felt his body relax. She hadn't seen him! Now all he had to do was get to the base. He glanced toward the door and then ran. Catherine, who was watching him from the window, giggled and then jumped out the door.

"I see you, Yoiku!" She called.

Chibi-Heero yelled in surprise and instantly changed directions. Catherine was quick to chase him which was, as Duo had discovered (the hard way, might I add), not a good idea. Chibi-Heero, determined to win the game, darted under the bushes and kept going with out even slowing down. Catherine was unable to do that and she had to go around the bushes, causing her to fall behind. Small though he was, Chibi-Heero was now as determined to win as he usually was to complete a mission. And we all know that when he gets that determined, he isn't going to let anything stop him... too bad Catherine doesn't know that.

* * * * *

Wufei glanced around his new surroundings. He was searching around in the overrun garden. It was trimmed up but still needed a LOT of work. There were weeds filling all the flower-beds and the stone birdbaths were crumbling. There were signs that the garden had once been huge, and incredibly beautiful, it was still huge, just not the latter. Wufei wondered back to the main part of it which was basically just a large circular clearing with an immense fountain in the middle. There was a stone walkway that lead up to it and all around it. In the grass were flower beds that, although looked better then most of the others, were still pretty far from healthy. Wufei walked up to the fountain and looked in at his reflection. Glossy back eyes looked back at him from the water. 'This is too weird. Even though it already happened, it's still hard to believe. No one's going to believe this.' A small gold colored fish swam up to him then darted away causing ripples in his reflection. 'I still don't think leaving Heero-chan with Catherine was such a good idea. He might tell her something like what's really going on. I think we should have brought him with us. There's no telling what kind of trouble he can get into.'

Wufei sighed as another reflection appeared behind his.

"Have you found it?"

"Ie(4)." Wufei answered. "You?"

Trowa moved into view. "No, not yet, still no word from Duo or Quatre either."

Wufei gave no reply and Trowa moved on, going back in the direction of the cottages that were built around the ruin. The cottages had been for servants in the days that the ruin was still used. When Trowa was out of view, Wufei got up to continue his rounds of the outside. 'I hope Duo-san is having better luck than us.'

* * * * *

Duo frantically ran into the museum. The other three pilots were looking around the ruin, while Duo went from one museum to the next, to be sure that no one else had already found it. This was the third one, the first two had failed to offered him help in anyway. Hopefully there would be something more here, 'Actually, I don't want to find it here. If I find the second book in a museum, then I'm sure they would never let us have it. And without it we'll never save Heero.' Duo thought. He pondered this a moment when he suddenly realized that the clerk behind the information desk was trying to ask him something.

Duo blinked. "Oh, gomen nausi(5) What were you saying?" Duo asked, his face reddened slightly.

The clerk, a young woman, nodded. "I understand. I asked if you needed any help finding anything."

Duo paused then nodded. "Actually, I'm looking for something that is really old."

The lady raised an eyebrow giving him a funny look and Duo suddenly came across the realization of how stupid that sounded in a museum.

"I, I mean, I'm looking for a *book* that is really old." No, it still sounded like a stupid thing to say... Duo sweatdroped.

The lady said nothing and Duo was about to tell her never mind, he'd just wonder around when she stopped him by saying, "How old is it?"

'Hey! She's actually gonna help me. The other museums coulda least done that...' He thought to himself. "Um... it was supposedly found near that ruin. It's like got spells in it or somin'." 'Better to play dumb.' Duo decided. 'especially since I've already made a fool of myself'

"Um... I think I might be able to help you." She stated. Duo blinked looking befuddled while she turned and called to one of her co-workers to take her place. She climbed out from behind the desk and led everyone's favorite braid-boy off to a less crowded part of the museum.

* * * * *

Quatre sneezed for the 6th time in a row. All this mildew and dust made it feel like an allergy season from Hell. He sighed rubbing the back of his hand across his nose. He was standing in the middle of a large room. Across the far wall was a row of glassless windows which were the only source of light. Actually, they weren't really even windows. Slits in the stone wall was more like it. There was a large wooden banquette table in the room and he guessed this had been a feasting room, an obvious conclusion since the room next to it had to be the remains of a kitchen. The damp wood of the table ranked something awful.

There was nothing there that seemed to him to be an hiding place for a book, and he gave a sigh that was filled with tiredness and desperation. It was past noon and they, no HE had promised Catherine that they'd be back for Hee-um YOIKU before sundown. If they didn't find the book by then, then they would have to come back to continue their search for it tomorrow. And he was positive Catherine would get suspicious if they asked her to watch Yoiku for two days in a row. No other girl, or boy for that matter, would take Yoiku, least, not that he could think of. Quatre suddenly found himself daydreaming about what was the worst that could happen if Chibi-Heero was left in the hands of one of his many sisters. But it was too violent a scene and he aborted it for the more amusing thought of Rabid or the other Montes trying to take care of a child. A smile lit his face before he suddenly snapped out of it and forced himself to forget the thought and move into another room.

* * * * *

Duo stared at the picture hanging on the wall before him. It was a tapestry, of dragons, or some other flying beast. It was a dull greenish-blueish but it's eyes, that seemed to stare at Duo, where a brilliant blood-red. It's mouth, full of pointed teeth, was pulled into something close to a smirk, and it seemed to be mocking Duo. Something he found very disturbing since it was not alive.

"This," The clerk announced bring Duo back to reality, "Is from that ruin you mentioned. It was in the feasting room."

"Nice..." Duo commented without the tiniest bit of interest.

The woman frowned a tad, disappointed to find that Duo didn't care.

"Um," Duo broke in "I really only need to see the book." She eyed him carefully and Duo quickly added, "Its for a school project."

She paused then turned and waved a hand at the room they were in and announced. "Well every thing that was found at that ruin is in this room."

Duo nodded in sincere appreciation. "Domo arigatou gozaimas(6). I can handle it from here."

She issued him another curious stare and Duo responded with a sweet, innocent smile. The clerk turned and left.

Duo breathed a sigh of relief. That woman was unnerving the way she would stare at you. 'Oh well, she's gone. Now to get to work...'

* * * * *

Quatre flopped down to the floor of the room with a exasperated sigh. This self-assigned mission was absolutely infuriating. He could find nothing, nothing at all.

"Anything?" A voice asked from behind him.

Quatre didn't need to turn around to confirm that it was Trowa that had found him. "No. Nothing. Nothing at all." Quatre's voice showed his anger at failing.

Trowa sighed. "Wufei and I found the same." There was a pause and then Trowa went on to fill Quatre in on everything. "I checked the cottages all thrice, AND the area around them. Wufei's had no luck in the garden. I have no clue what Duo's up to..."

Quatre lowered his eyes to his feet. His eyes traced the outline of his shoes. Trowa remained silent, taking in the details of the room.

It was small, small that is, compared to the other sleeping rooms. The floors were wooden, and there were no windows, only three small candles. The roof was crumbling and a small section of it had fallen to the floor in the corner allowing some sunlight to shine into the otherwise dull room. The bed was not much more than a thin pad, laid out on the floor. A unstable looking dresser sat against one of the other walls and two tapestries hung opposite of that. The cloth was faded but Trowa could barely make out the image of a crucifix on one, the other was that of a woman being hung.

'Pleasant' Trowa thought with bitter sarcasm. "What do you suppose this room was for?" He questioned.

Quatre shrugged, uninterested.

"It looks sort of like a sleeping room." Trowa went on, "But it's underground. All the other sleeping rooms are up on the third and forth story."

Quatre grimaced. "Not much of a sleeping room." He commented patting the thin mat.

Trowa's eyes wondered back to the tapestry of the dyeing woman."Yeah, I wouldn't sleep well staring at an image of a bloody woman being slaughtered." He gave an involuntary shudder. He had fought enough battles that death did not bother him, but even so, the picture still made him feel uneasy.

Quatre didn't notice. He was playing with the floorboards, tracing his finger around them, absentmindedly. "What will happen to Heero-chan?" He asked.

Now Trowa winced. "Do you have to ask?"

Quatre didn't respond. A silence fell upon the two. Trowa shifted in the quiet. He was about to go back downstairs and start his own search of the castle--purely from need to do something rather than distrust for Quatre--when he noticed the shorter boy was staring at something on the ground. "Quatre..." The question was evident in his voice but Quatre still did not respond to him.

After a long moment Quatre mumbled something along the lines of "..no dirt..." and Trowa had to think a moment to confirm that he had heard correctly.

"No dirt???" Trowa questioned.

Quatre looked up at him finally. The blond pointed at some floorboards. "They have no dirt between them like the others."

Trowa blinked and noticed that Quatre was right, however, WHY that was important, he didn't know. He was on the verge of telling Quatre to go to the van and get some sleep since he apparently didn't get enough last night, when it hit him. There was no dirt there because it had been moved, and no one would take such care about dirt unless there was a reason.

Quatre was already pulling at the first board while Trowa was still making sense of it all. The wood protested being pulled up, due to the fact that it had been ages since it had last been moved. Trowa kneeled down to help and the rest of the boards came up easily.

When the planks had been--rather carelessly-- moved to the side, the two gundam pilots were pleasantly surprised to find a large leather-bound book with strange writing burned into the cover. A huge grin lit Quatre's face and even Trowa found himself smiling happily.

* * * * *

Duo moved away from the morbid tapestry toward another display stand. This one was a book, protected by a glass dome placed on top of it. It was the third of four books in the room and Duo found he had growing doubts that he would find the prize here. The book was opened to a place in the middle. Duo was faced with faded kanjis, the same in all the books. He couldn't make out anything and so he was forced to rely on the small placard posted next to it.

The short paragraph told Duo that the book was found in the castle ruin and that it contained spells and black magic that the ancient people of old seemed to believe so deeply in. Duo scorned that. Just because they found a 'magic book' didn't mean that everyone believed in, or that anyone had believed deeply in it. But as he read on, his heart began to beat faster. This was it. This was what he wanted, he was sure of it. A surge of adrenaline flowed through his veins, deepening his already intense excitement.

'Boy, won't the others be surprised?' Duo thought grinning.

* * * * *

Quatre practically tripped in his hast to tell Wufei the wonderful news. Trowa was much more composed, more self-controlled, but it showed in his eyes as well that he was just as glad the book had shown up. Quatre half-ran, half-fell down the stairs leading to the garden and spotted Wufei. Trowa followed closely.

"WUFEI!!!! We found it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Quatre's voice was filled with excitement and joy.

The black haired teen looked up at the sound of his name and stared at the two, not quiet comprehending what Quatre was yelling about. "Nani(7)????"

Quatre finally was next to the Senlong pilot and doubled over panting. Trowa came up behind him and breathlessly announced, "We found the book."

Wufei blinked in pleased surprise, then quickly narrowed his eyes at a young tourist couple that were nearby. Lowering his voice so no one else could hear he asked, "Does Maxwell know?"

Quatre fervently shook his head. "No, we just found it a minute or so ago. Besides, none of us has talked to Duo since he left."

"Hmm." Wufei seemed to be in deep thought. Abruptly he snapped to attention. "It's getting late. We need to find him and go...NOW!" He darted off in a direction aimed vaguely toward to the car and Trowa followed. Quatre took off after Trowa, the book still hugged tightly in his hands.

* * * * *

Duo wore a smug smile on his face as he walked out of the museum, the book hidden secretly on his body. It had been hard, but nothing Shinigami couldn't handle. He was exceptionally pleased with himself and was deciding how best to break the news to the other guys when Wufei's car drove up. Duo blinked and tried to compose himself to look like nothing was up. He wanted to surprise them. The car stopped and Trowa, who ended up next to him, rolled his window down.

Duo forced a cheerful smile. "Hey! Didja find it?"

Trowa solemnly nodded. "Hai(3), get in."

"Wha-??????" Duo was suddenly frozen in shock. "You...You did...?????"

Trowa slowly nodded, unable to understand why Duo couldn't seem to understand that. "Yes, we found it. Now get in so we can go home."

"D...Demo(8)-" Duo didn't get to finish as Quatre suddenly opened his door and yanked Duo inside. Duo was thrown face first into the seat and Wufei took off, burning rubber. Duo was temporally thrown into shock and they were already many miles gone before he recovered from enough to realize that something was very, very wrong.

-To be Continued-

(1) Wake up

(2) Really?

(3) Yes

(4) No

(5) Very sorry

(6) Thank you very much

(7) What?

(8) But

Okay, well, that's part three. Sorry it took longer to get out than I expected but with school and all...well I have an excuse. Anyway, I want to thank all the peeps that e-mailed me about this fic. I appreciate it more than you think. As usual, all questions comments, death threats for not getting this out sooner go to Crystalit3@AOL.com. Okay Bye!!

-Crystalite