Title: Two Worlds
Author: Lyndaura
Author's Notes: Finally, back to something interesting that actually ADVANCES the plot. Reader beware, there is going to be a lot of plot for the next few chapters, so hoped you enjoyed your relief from angst and weirdness!
Chapter 15:
~The Rising of Dusk~
"You ready?" Sage peered into the boys' room. It had been half an hour since she had left them to prepare for their mission. Duo leapt towards the door, and then regretted it, his pants were quite restraining and he found himself swallowing the pain.
"Ouch," Wufei muttered, then went back to a strange fruit in his hand as he continued his conversation with Luke.
"You have to be careful with those pants," Sage informed too late. Duo sat down on one of the three beds and took a deep breath.
"Are we leaving?" Trowa looked at the setting Suns. He had never realized how late it was.
"Yeah, we are," Sage smiled, but remained hidden behind the door.
"Come on, you have to show us what you look like," Duo encouraged. That was all the prompting that Sage need, and she slid out from behind the door and into the room in full view.
Her top was tied up around her neck and only went down to just under her breasts, it was triangular and a metallic silver. Her shorts, or lack thereof, were black and showed everything she had to offer. Her hair which had once been long, was now cut to her chin line and flipped outward from her head rebelliously.
"Who cut your hair?" Duo asked as he saw her blush. She looked even more attractive then in her traditional Fairy garments.
"Katara," Sage looked at the wall, but her smile never faded. She was shy about the drastic change, but she loved it and everyone saw.
"Where is she?" Heero stepped into the conversation.
"She said that she would meet us there, come on, I know the way," Sage winked at Duo, but then quickly left the room, Duo, Trowa and Heero trailing.
"Where is she?" Sage asked herself in frustration. The four of them had been looking for Katara for the last ten minutes, but there was no trace of her.
"Where is who?" Katara smiled as the four turned to face her. All of them were outside of the club, and they could feel the bass through the ground, a full twenty meters away from the door.
"You!" Sage wrapped her arms around Katara and squeezed hard, but Katara didn't respond, she only turned her gaze to Heero and smile. He look sexier than ever.
Heero couldn't believe the difference in Katara. She was clothed in a pink glitter halter top with a short black skirt and high heels. Although Heero refused to admit it to himself, he noticed that her bust had at least doubled.
"Lets go in, Dusk is probably already there," Katara bounded ahead of them to the bouncer at the doorway.
"How old?" the tall and muscular man asked in a deep and angry voice.
"Does it matter?" Katara asked and took a hold of his hand. A wave of energy rushed past the group, and the bouncer lost his hard face.
"No, go on in, and your friends too," he spoke as his eyes glazed over and he lost all emotion in his voice.
"Well, come on!" Katara shouted back to them. Shrugging, they all followed her into the dark room.
It was cramped inside and the only source of lights were the flashing strobe lights and laser beams that danced across the ceiling. Different colours and smells flooded their senses as the techno beat and heavy bass filled their systems.
"All this was imported from Earth," Katara managed to shout over the music.
"How do we know which one is Dusk?" Duo asked the others.
"This club doesn't let magic users in, so she'll be the only other magic user besides Sage and I in here," Katara winked at Heero, but the others missed the action.
"That doesn't help me much," Duo groaned.
"Don't worry, you'll know her," Katara grabbed Sage's hand and pulled her off into the crowd.
//: I am going to make this as painful as possible. ://
The thought didn't even sound like Katara's, it was as if someone had implanted the thought and spoke it for her. It just didn't sound right amidst the other thoughts roaming her mind.
"So, do you see anyone?" Duo asked as he watched two girls straddling both legs of a man as they dance erotically to the beat, "I wouldn't mind some of that," Duo smiled and nudged Heero in the ribs.
"We're on a mission," Heero looked at scornfully Duo.
"So! Let's have fun!" Duo took Heero's arms and swayed his hips to the beat, but Heero only stood still, not quite knowing what to do, "Don't tell me you don't know how to dance..." Duo began, but he knew what Heero would do, "Come on, let me show you."
Duo's voice had been lost in the sound and sweat, but Heero knew that Duo wanted to show him how to dance, but frankly, he was scared and almost embarrassed at the thought of dancing with Duo. What had happened to Trowa? He needed some excuse to stop this, he couldn't handle dancing, not with Duo and...
Duo grabbed Heero's hips and swayed them to beat slightly, "Like this," Duo tried to shout, but Heero's found his ears reddening by the second and his whole body pulled away from the touch.
Duo sighed and stopped his movements, then retreated back to the wall, "You are such a downer."
"We're not here to dance," Heero tried to defend himself, but it was impossible, the moment was lost and the two were back to searching the crowds.
"What do you think she meant by we'll know when we see her?" Duo asked Heero as he leaned against the brick and crossed his arms.
Heero was about to say something when suddenly there was a whir of light and then his felt something warm pressed against his mouth. Heero was startled and in a state of shock for a moment, as he felt something familiar tickle his lips.
Heero's body began to tingle slightly, and he could taste the vodka on her tongue.
//: You're kissing a stranger. ://
//: And you're loving it. ://
Duo's mouth fell open, and may have been lying on the ground as the gorgeous blond consumed Heero's lips with her own.
All of Heero's world disappeared into the mouth of the girl. He could feel everything about her, the way her leg brushed up against his, and the way that her stomach pressed against his own...
"Heero, what the..." Duo was stopped as he felt his own mouth taken by a mysterious force. He could feel her body pressing him against the wall, and her hand traveling up his shirt. Her fingers danced across his chest in erotic patterns as she deepened the kiss and forced her tongue further into his mouth, making everything inside of him tingle with excitement. The action sent a rush of hormones through him and he melted into her.
"Teju," the girl that had pinned Heero to wall giggled and popped some gum back into her mouth, she winked at Heero and tilted her head to one side in an innocent way, "Kela Osti," the girl waved for her 'friend' to follow.
The girl that had kissed Duo so strongly, finally broke the kiss, yet just as she pulled away, she grabbed his face again and gave him another soft kiss. Duo tried to hold onto her sweet lips, but she left him standing in complete awe. The two friends giggled and the second girl blew a kiss to Duo before the two of them faded into the surrounding crowd.
Duo tried to regain the breath that the girl had stolen from him, his mind still consumed with her lips. The only words that he could possibly get out were, "Wow."
Do you see anyone? Katara mentally asked Sage as the two of them found themselves surrounding by sweaty and attractive males of all species.
I don't see her, and I can't sense her. Do you think that she has a shield in place? Sage asked as a man wrapped his hand around her neck and pressed his body against her back. He was whispering something that sounded sexy and seducing in her ear in a foreign language, but Sage drowned herself in his words anyway. She needed some release. Soon her whole world would fall apart, and she knew it.
Maybe we are searching for the wrong type of energy.
What are you talking about? There is only one kind of energy that can be manipulated.
No there isn't. That is the common one, but what about the Ancients? They used at least three.
Ancients? They died out a long time ago...
I don't think you understand. She is from Helta, the last known residence of the Ancients. She may still have some of their blood in her.
It's a long shot...
I think it might explain why we can't find her.
She just might not be here--
No, she IS here, I know it. I just don't know where.
Katara cut off the conversation as she caught sight of Trowa making his way through the crowd.
"You found her," Katara pried herself away from the hungry males and smiled, she knew bringing Trowa was a good idea, someone like Luke would never understand.
"She's by the bar," Trowa replied and then lead the girls to the other side of the club. The whole wall of the room was a long bar with bottles of every imaginable liquor lined up by the dozens.
Heero and Duo were waiting nearby and joined the group.
"What do you suggest we do now?" Duo asked simply. There was no need to ask which one of the many people at the bar was her. They all knew. She was sitting alone in the corner with a white coat and short platinum blond hair outlining her face. Extending from her side was a long sword in a white sheath.
"I suggest that we talk to her," Katara ignored the surprise painted on Duo's face.
Casually Katara strolled up to the woman and smiled, "Hey, are you Dusk?" Katara asked the girl before the others could even catch up to her.
"Who are you?" the woman refused to turn to face her interrogator.
"Well, I am someone who is in need of your service," Katara was about to use her powers when she got a bolt of pain through her head.
"Magic users aren't allowed in here," the girl tsked.
"Then why are you in here?" Katara asked giggling, she could handle the pain, she had lived through much worse.
"What service are you looking for?" Dusk turned and faced Katara. Katara nearly gasped. Dusk had no pupils, merely white orbs of deepness for eyes.
Katara shook herself and refocused, "We need some information."
"About the stones," Dusk shook her head, "I already talked to your boss."
"Boss? We don't work for the Fallen Angels if that is what you mean," Katara informed as the others stood behind her, with the blasting music, she hadn't even noticed that they had arrived and were listening to the conversation.
"Well, whoever you are, I don't know anything," Dusk shook her head and took quick shot of the alcohol that was left in her glass.
"We aren't trying to merge the Two Worlds, we are trying to stop it, we need your help," Dusk raised an eyebrow to Katara and smiled.
"You don't take no for an answer. I like you. What do you need to know," Dusk asked as she leaned against the wall and let them see her white t-shirt and jeans that looked like they were sewn together from eight different other pants.
"Where to find it and how to destroy it," Katara told Dusk, but Dusk was interrupted as gunshot rang out over the pounding music which was promptly stopped.
"What was that?" Duo asked just as a swarm of bullets wisped past his face and broke the bottles of various drinks lined against the back wall.
"Get down," Dusk cried as they all hit the ground, instinctively covering their heads with their hands as glass shattered over the floor. The liquid along the ground began to run thick with crimson blood.
"Fallen Angels," Katara whispered as more gun shot was heard, and wood splintered everywhere around them. People were screaming in every corner of the room as they huddled together, trying to get out of the view of the terrorists.
They all could feel the adrenaline pulsate in their veins, the rush of fear and uncertainty overcame them as the bullets flew above them.
"What do they want?" Dusk asked as she turned to Katara.
"Our lives," Katara shouted back over the mourning wails of distressed friends and screams of pain from victims.
"Quick, come with me," Dusk grabbed Katara's arm and hauled her behind the bar counter. The others slithered along the ground following them, "Back here," Dusk breathed. As soon as the words had left her mouth there was a cascade of glass and liquor around them once again. A woman screamed with agony shouting someone's name, but it was drowned out with more gunfire.
"We have to do something!" Heero called back as he saw the massacre before him.
"They are all as good as dead now, we have to worry about ourselves!" Dusk looked to him, the emptiness in her eyes chilling to the bone.
"Katara, can you do anything?" Trowa asked, trying to think of something.
"They are from Fallen Angels, I have no power over them. If I did, then Terra would be dead by now," Katara sneered in disgust. She was so weak and she was slowly fading away, she knew that even Sage could feel it.
The rest of the group remained in silence as Dusk shushed them. There had been a brief relent in the rapid gunfire. Dusk narrow her eyes and felt the ground. Her heartbeat quicken and her whole body felt like it was going to implode. Her mind rushed as the thoughts of death and stench of blood filled her nostrils.
"What..." Duo furrowed his eyebrows trying to decipher Dusk's face, but just as he was about to say more she shot up and ran to the wall nearby.
"Get her!" They heard and unidentified voice call, there was a pounding of footsteps and then the boots were near them.
All of them had lost sight of Dusk and couldn't see her. It seemed as if she had disappeared into thin air. It was almost as frustrating for them as it was for the soldiers who were trying to find her.
"That is impossible, she couldn't just vanish!" a man called angrily, Heero could nearly HEAR the spit flying from his mouth.
The men were so close, they were a few feet away, near the end of the counter. Duo felt so unsafe there. One move and the Fallen Angels would be alerted to their presence and they would all be dead. But if there was one thing that Duo was good at, it was stealth. None of them could even breathe as the soldiers yelled at each other and began to riddle the wall with bullets.
Duo was caught up with the sight when he felt something touch his arm. He shot his head to what was touching him, his heart caught in his throat, preventing any scream from coming forth.
The sight was enough for his stomach to join his heart when he saw Dusk leaning THROUGH the wall. Her full upper body was in the room, but her body stopped at the wall. Dusk drew her index finger to her lips and then tugged on Duo's arm lightly. The others had now seen the oddity of Dusk halfway in the room, like some kind of poltergeist.
Duo let himself be pulled towards the wall, but he hesitated when she attempted to pull him further.
//: Trust me. ://
The thought felt alien in his mind. Duo was still unsure but Dusk's face pleaded with Duo to come with her.
Finally Duo let himself be pulled through the wall. It was an amazing experience as he felt the wall pass through his body. When he got on the other side he felt like he was outside his body peering in on himself. When he looked to Dusk, she was already back through the wall, pulling Heero out.
"Frig, I just went THROUGH a wall," Duo's mouth lay open as Heero glared at him, "Can this night get any better?"
"You just witnessed several hundred civilians murdered, and you think that this night can't get any better?" Heero growled.
"Wow, didn't think you would get so offended by death Yuy," Duo snarled back. Now it was Heero's turn to have his mouth lay open. How could Duo talk about the death of innocents so freely? Was Duo more jaded to the destruction of others that he didn't care anymore? It was impossible, they had spent a year fighting for peace so there would have to be no more killing, there was no way that Duo could take death lightly, perhaps his own life, and the life of his enemies, but these were... innocent civilians... these were not soldiers that were prepared to die, how could Duo not be affected by the screams of agonizing family members and friends?
"Lighten up, we're alive," Duo giggled drunkenly, "And look at the stars, aren't they beautiful tonight?" Duo outstretched his arms and twirled in a tiny circle.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Heero shouted as the last person was pulled through.
Katara stepped in front of Heero, "Relax, I can handle it."
"You did this?" Heero pointed to Duo twirling in a circle in the middle of the deserted street.
"Yes," Katara shook her head, "It was just to relax him, he wasn't going to go through the wall, and plus, the situation needed him calm," Katara turned and traveled to Duo and lay a hand lightly on Duo's shoulder, "Shh now, you're fine."
"You put a spell on Duo..." When Luke had said that Katara was far more liberal with her powers, Heero had no idea what he meant. She was out of control. Had she put a spell on Luke? On himself? What if everything he felt for her was just another spell? What happened if going through his soul was just an illusion. How could he even trust himself anymore with Katara using her power on whoever she saw.
"Don't be mad," Katara stroked his cheek.
Heero felt his mind blur, "Stop it," Heero commanded and Katara was forced to withdraw her hand from him. The effect was instantaneous. His mind sharpened more than it had been before, and he could feel the hyper awareness that he had experienced when he first got his new power came back.
"At least let us talk about this later." Katara turned and saw Dusk pulling the last person, Trowa, out.
"Fine," Heero knew that they couldn't spend time bickering when their lives were in danger. He knew that even thinking of a relationship, psychical or emotional was stupid and ignorant. Relationships never did any good on the battlefield.
"They're coming," Dusk whispered, "I think they may have seen me."
"We have to hurry," Duo had snapped out of his happy daze and was now running down the street at full sprint.
"You can't run, they have magic and one of them has a gun, you'll die if you don't face them," Dusk called after him. Duo stopped and turned, she had a point, but he had no magic, he couldn't even sense the energy like Quatre. He was useless.
"What can I do?" Duo turned to Dusk and asked.
"Why don't you use that stealth of yours, I'm sure you can think of something creative," Dusk told him as the soldiers began to round a nearby corner, ready for action. Duo tried not to think about how Dusk knew that he had excellent stealth skills and merely positioned himself for a fight.
Seeing the imminent danger, Dusk leapt higher in the air than humanly possible and clung to one of the walls of a building.
//: She looks like Spider man. :// Duo thought with a chuckle, //: Now if only I could I find a way to get their weapons from them. Where are you when I need you Deathscythe old buddy? ://
The men began to split off into groups, each taking one of the group members, but strangely, none of them paid any attention to Sage.
//: I am so sorry. ://
Three men began assaulting Trowa. Gracefully, Trowa dodged the oncoming wall of bullets by jumping into the air, crossing his arms tight against his chest he spun and flew across the closing gap of the soldiers. Landing behind them, he began quick kicks and punches to the backs of the soldiers, a few of them had turned in time, but Trowa dodged their weaponry. But despite Trowa's best efforts there were too many of them, and he was only human, although he found that he had an increased sense of intuition.
Katara had charged full force and tried to distract the men so Trowa could have a better chance of surviving the onslaught of attacks. She pulled a gun and silencer from her bra and with deft precision and speed she screwed on the silencer and aimed the gun at the opponents one by one she aimed at the men, but she was struggling to hit her targets without killing Trowa, who was in the midst of the battle.
Katara screamed as a bullet pierced her side, and she feel to one knee. Katara felt her shoulder jerk backwards as another projectile made contact. Katara cried out a second time, but whipped her gun out again and shot her enemy, but just as he fell, another man took his place.
Dusk who had been watching the fight from the safe height of the building fought her own moral battle within her. It was not her fight, and she shouldn't have gotten involved, rescuing them in the first place, but she was involved now, and they needed help, after all, it was not as if there cause was unjust.
Finding resolution, Dusk held an outstretched arm and let out a horrible shriek as the air around her began to charge with electricity. The cry attracted the attention of one of the soldiers. Dusk stared him down, and waited for the right moment, she took no joy in what she was about to do, but she knew that she needed to do it, for the sake of both worlds.
Dusk could feel every emotion radiating from the man's soul. He was thinking about his death, and how he hated the smell of it, not the morals behind it, but the way that after a battle he would try to get the stench of it out of his clothes, but they would never smell the same, and how even his hair smelled like the icy metallic death that he brought to so many each day. Dusk could feel the hatred building up inside of him. He hated his wife, he hated his brother, he hated the way his victims always acted so cocky, even though he knew that he was so much stronger than them. He hated the way that he had never got the promotion that he was promised a year ago.
Dusk let a tear slide down her face, his life had been wasted on hatred and wishing for things that he would never get. Why didn't he use his life for something worth while and look at what he had and just... smile. Dusk could feel the pang of guilt that she felt every time she took another person's life. He had a family, and had once felt love, and he even felt bad for what he did in his own way, but he would never see his friends or family again. She was robbing a wife of her husband, she could even see her collapsing to the ground crying when a soldier would deliver the sad news. The grief, the pain, what was left behind.
Dusk tried to block the pain as she summoned her energy. She knew what would happen if it wasn't done. She would gladly take the pain for the sacrifice that he would make in a few seconds.
//: Do you even realize you're already dead? ://
The sky seemed to divide as white light pierced the air. Everything stopped as the heat blasted past everyone. The electricity in the air charged and the smell of burnt flesh intoxicated the air as the lightening bolt held to the ground for a moment, burning the hopes, dreams and aspirations of the hateful man that had tried to kill Dusk as if she were another peasant.
When the lightening passed, Duo realized that he was on the ground, and in immense pain. As he rose to his stunned feet, he saw that the everyone else was also dazed from the powerful attack. Duo rushed to the shadows of the building, taking the reorientation time to sneak up behind one of the slower enemies. Duo was waiting for the right moment when he saw the battles already beginning again, most taking notice, but not dwelling on the black hole that was left from where a man used to stand.
Heero was the first to recover and punched a soldier in the face, hard. Trowa was also in the centre of another battle and Katara was trying to use her magic to confuse the opposition. Duo jumped his combatant from the back by surprise. Taking this to his advantage, he pried the gun from the man's hands and then shot him in the temple without thinking twice. Duo saw Heero fighting off an especially skilled hand to hand opponent who seemed to possess super human strength, yet strangely, Heero seemed to be handling the man fairly well, but still taking it as his duty to do his friend a favour, Duo raised the gun, took aim and...
Bang.
The soldier fell to the ground and Heero was instantly onto another enemy, sending a flurry of fists flying. Duo shook his head, "What no thank you?" Duo asked himself and then felt a sharp pain in his head.
//: Damn bastard punched me. I have a gun, doesn't he know better? ://
Duo quickly recovered and tripped the attacker before he could react. The attacker hit the ground with a satisfying 'thud'. Duo took the moment to shoot the man, making a neat little red circle in his forehead, watching his eyes carefully, Duo saw them go lifeless and glazed.
Trowa had been trying to fight off the three men at once, but they were trained well and kept the steady flow of punches and kicks coming faster than he could handle. His mind was thinking faster than his body could react, and the attacks hit him more often than he could handle, with every kick and jab that made contact, he became less focused and slower, unlike them, who only snapped back and began again.
Without knowing what was happening, three swift white movements later, two of his attackers were on the ground dying and a mass of sobbing white lay near him.
//: You must kill your emotions before you kill someone else. :// Trowa thought sourly before he continued his much more fair and easy fight against the one opponent.
Duo looked to the other matches to see who needed his help but he was overcome with another soldier. There was no end to the on coming attacks. Duo kicked the man off of him and rolled away and then Duo positioned himself in a crouch. Duo aimed his gun and let another bullet rip through the air.
Duo began panting heavily and then looked around. He could see everyone busy around him, struggling against the strong warriors. Duo then noticed that Sage wasn't in the midst of the chaos surrounding him. Had she been killed? Duo frantically looked for her, and her wings, she would have had to let out her wings by now...
Finally, he saw her, standing near the end of the street, perfectly still, not helping anyone, or even planning an attack, she just stood there, watching her friends suffer as they were beaten by the soldiers. In the background, Duo could hear a water magic attack explode near Trowa, Duo turned to see if his friend was killed, but Trowa was still fighting his way through the crafty fighters.
Duo turned back to Sage, and called to her, but she didn't seem to hear him, she was so entranced with the war occurring before her, "Sage! Sage!" Duo thought at first that she was under some sort of spell that left her in a trance, but finally she turned to face Duo, "Help us!" Duo shouted but Sage only looked down at the ground. What was wrong with her? "Sage!"
"I'm sorry Duo," Sage mouthed as her tortured eyes conveyed the message. She wasn't going to fight with them.
Everything inside Sage screamed at her. Katara had been her friend for so long, and they were doing what was right, but her life, the life of her families. She had already lost her whole race because of her disobedience, she could not lose her own life now, she had come too far and made too many sacrifices.
Sage could feel her mother's voice cry in agony inside her. They all hated her. Her ancestors had gotten over the disbelief of what she had done and now were making her feel as much pain as they could possibly inflict. Sage could only stand, watching the consequences of her actions.
"It doesn't make sense," Duo mumbled to himself when someone hit him from behind. White dots sparkled in front of his eyes, and the gun that he was holding was knocked out of his grasp. "Shit.."
"Die you bastard," the man cried as he shot a fire ball at Duo's head. Duo could feel his body tense up, ready for impact, but a moment later, he was surprised to find that he was still alive, and the soldier was on the ground nearby, unconscious, but not dead.
"Sage?" Duo turned to Sage, surely she had saved him... but her face only displayed shock. She had not been expecting the outcome either. Duo then turned to the others, but they were so caught up in their own life or death fights that none of them had even noticed Duo's crisis, not that he blamed them.
//: Shut up. All of you. ://
Duo turned back to Sage, but she had turned her tortured image into a coldness that scared Duo. She had never truly been cold, but now, she was lifeless.
While Duo tried to figure out what was wrong with Sage, Dusk struggled to her feet and saw the men around her. Six men had been killed so far. Six PEOPLE had had their lives stripped from them. Six families who would not have a son, brother, cousin, uncle, father, friend... it was too sad for words, they had torn apart dozens of lives in a matter of minutes, and they no one even gave one thought to it except her.
"Does anyone care?" Dusk shouted out, drawing attention to herself, "Does anyone care if I send another lightening bolt? Does anyone care if they die or someone else dies? How dare any of you even declare that you have souls!" In the time that it had taken for Dusk to say the short plea, another warrior, who was obviously the commander had sped towards her and was about to use a magical attack when Dusk raised her hand and he was frozen on the spot. "Tell them to retreat or I will kill you," another tear ran down Dusk's sorrowful face, but her white eyes telling nothing of the pain that they were burying deep inside. Her shaky and unsteady voice let him now of the moral and emotional battle within herself.
"Never," he managed to choke out before Dusk clenched her hand into a fist and another bolt of lightening shattered the street. The sound crashed through their spines and everyone was blown away by the power and brute force of the attack. Dusk looked to the fighters which had retreated from their battles, now that their commander was dead.
"Retreat!" the second in command shouted as he raced away, leaving Heero in a panting exhaustion. Quickly and without question, the other remained four soldiers left their own fights and followed, passing by Sage wordlessly.
Sage's stone cold face blinked once, taking one last look at her friends and then turned and caught up with her new comrades.
"The bitch is a traitor!" Katara's disgust was evident on her face, and the hatred that burned within her made her run after Sage.
//: But she isn't that surprised... :// Heero thought as Katara chased Sage before Dusk finally made an effort to stop her.
"Stop!" Dusk called after her, "Leave her be, you can have your chance another day."
Katara turned to snarled at Dusk, who did she think she was? Did she even know who she was talking to?
"We need to find Quatre and the others too," Duo reminded as they headed back to the inn, if they had sent a dozen soldiers to find them, what would they do to find Luke, Quatre, and Wufei?
"We're right here," Wufei pronounced as the beaten Chinese rode his horse towards them.
"Is anyone hurt?" Trowa asked as Luke and Quatre followed.
"Not bad," Quatre replied as he came up behind Wufei with his horse. Luke was the last, and immediately rushed to Katara's side.
"You're hurt," Luke tried to inspect Katara's shot shoulder and side, but Katara waved him off, "Can Sage heal it?"
"Sage is gone," Katara swallowed hard.
"Is she dead?" Luke asked, concern overtaking his eyes.
"No, she's a traitor, that's what she is," Katara snarled angrily, yet the hurt was still evident in her voice.
"Are you sure?" Luke asked in disbelief.
"I saw it with my own eyes," Katara spoke softly and then looked away. Heero raised an eyebrow at the scene before him. Something was off, something wasn't right, Katara wasn't acting right. He knew there was more than he was aware of.
Why was she doing this to him? She was so confusing and without pattern. She was so unpredictable, and he knew that most people would find that exciting, but not with the situation that he was in now, not when his life would be in her hands. He needed to trust her, and with her new liberal use of spells without telling people, Heero was losing his trust in her rapidly.
"Let's go, I know a place where we can stay the night just outside the city, they won't find us there, and you can organize yourselves," Dusk offered.
Luke mentally commanded the rest of the riderless horses to their assorted masters, but he kept his eyes on Katara. He was so concerned for her it was unnatural.
"Let's go," Dusk lead the group out of the city in silence. Everyone was so somber that no one cared to notice the beautiful stars overhead.
~End Chapter 15 - The Rising of Dusk~
Author's Notes: Am I screwing you up yet? Heeheehee... I am thinking that we are nearly done! Maybe 10 more chapters? Sound good? Good because I want to get this done by the end of January so that I can get my website started, that is right, I have a website, and although it is currently under MAJOR construction and has basically no fanfics, it is up and running, but it won't be on a search engine until the end of January/beginning of February. Well, if you want to check out what little I have done, its http://www.oocities.org/gwobsession3000/ Oh, and Pyro George says don't drink and drive! Happy New Years!