Title: Two Worlds

Author: Lyndaura

Author's Notes: Its almost done... and thanks to all of the people that visited my site http://www.oocities.org/gwobsession3000/ and keep sending in the fics!!! Don't forget to vote for me too!

Two Worlds

Chapter 19 - Ancient

For a moment, everyone was frozen. Dragon. The dark shadow grew larger as it came closer. It was by far the largest dragon any of them had seen.

It loomed closer and Heero could feel Peace tense in his arms. He looked down at her, and she had a look of desperate determination in her eyes. Heero was mystified as to what she could possibly do. The dragon was coming closer at impossible speeds, and no one was given time to react.

"Back!" Dusk shouted at the beast as it landed gracefully several hundred yards away from them. It was several times larger than the dragon that they had seen before. It was pure white and its eyes shone with yellow vengeance. The animal stalked closer to them, but never touched any of them.

"Luke, can you control it?" Katara asked over the sound of the reptile's growls. Luke shrugged and reached for his staff. He summoned the power within him, but as he reached out into the animal's mind, he snapped back to reality.

"It has a conscious mind, I can't control it," he spoke softly.

"What? Dragon's are the only magic-using animal that doesn't have a conscious mind," Katara glared at the beast, whose eyes only shone back with hatred.

"How can that be?" Quatre asked confused as the animal took a giant step closer.

"Ancient magic," Dusk whispered to herself, "Ancient magic!" She repeated it, yelling for the others to hear.

Dusk took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment, trying to find whatever Ancient magic she had within her to speak to it.

//: I am an Ancient descendant and I am searching for my Ancestors. ://

//: You seek what is not here child. ://

//: At least may I see the scrolls? The fate of the world depends on if I can find those scrolls. ://

There was a pause and Dusk drew in a deep breath. The fireworks that exploded inside her were amazing. Calling upon the energy was causing it to grow and spawn inside of her. It was devouring her and consuming everything, it was invigorating, as if bringing life to what seemed dead.

//: Who is following you? ://

//: No one is following us, we are alone. ://

//: There is an army following you. One that is very powerful wishes the same thing as you. ://

"Is Terra following us?" Dusk asked suddenly. Everyone looked at one another, "Is there anyway to know for certain?"

Katara closed her eyes and everyone else stared intently at her. All in confusion. They had not heard the mental conversation between the dragon and Dusk.

Heero held tightly onto Peace as she gripped his hands. She was shaking, but he guessed it was from the cold, because her face was as stone cold as ever. Her heart beat was slow and steady, but her eyes didn't seem as distant anymore. They were more human.

"She is at the bottom of the mountains, she is approaching quickly. We have to find the scrolls before she does," Katara informed after a moment's concentration.

Dusk turned to the mighty dragon that was waiting patiently for them.

//: PLEASE! ://

//: I will bring you to the Ancients for them to deal with you, but I can not promise that they will be hospitable. ://

//: Understood. Thank you. ://

The dragon turned slowly and then began to run, a moment later it was airborne.

"What just happened?" Duo asked confused.

"I talked to the dragon," Dusk explained, "Because it used Ancient magic, I was able to speak to it using what little magic I have."

"Okay, and I couldn't hear it, why?" Duo asked again, the group following the dragon's lead at a furious pace.

"I did it telepathically," Dusk called back as she ran through the snow.

"Oh, telepathically," Duo rolled his eyes. How was he supposed to know that?

The dragon occasionally glanced back to make sure that they were able to keep up with him. In a few minutes, the storm began to clear, and the temperatures began to rise. The mountain range was still thick with snow, making traveling hard, but the group knew that the Ancients knew that they were coming, and they had stopped the storm. Whether the Ancients meant well or not was still something not to be assumed.

Heero rode steadily as the dragon guided slowly. Peace still held firmly onto his arms. He tried to decipher the expression on her face, but he could only tell that she was becoming more anxious by the minute. Somehow Heero couldn't bring himself to believe that she was only scared because of the dragon. She had been fearless at its presence, and now that it was far ahead of them, only a dark figure in the sky, and she was scared.

Heero could feel the electricity in the air. Everything was charged with magic and power. They were so near he could feel it. Which was impossible because he was not supposed to be sensitive to Ancient magic unless he was part Ancient. Which was impossible.

Katara rode up beside Heero, "I don't know what to think, I don't know what we are going to find."

"Neither do I, expect the unexpected," Heero lamely tried to advise her. She was so beautiful and sweet. Heero felt his heart leap, but he also felt Peace dig her fingernails into his skin. Heero just clenched his teeth as he felt her draw blood.

"Heero!" Katara shouted as she saw that Peace was hurting him, "You're bleeding!"

Heero merely shrugged, "I think she's scared."

"Doesn't it hurt?" Heero was loving the attention, not that he would ever say. But he loved this woman more than anything else, and he had brought her back. She had shown him things that no one else could ever show him, and now that she better, he could actually think of spending more time with her. If both of them survived the mission.

"Hn," Heero grunted. He was never much of a talker, despite the emotions running wildly through his mind, body and soul.

"Is your back okay now?" Katara asked with the utmost concern. Heero smiled inwardly. She was so amazing. He didn't care about anything else, he just wanted to drown himself in her eyes.

"Hurts," Heero admitted. And it did. The beast inside him was constantly ripping at his insides, and every movement aggravated it, but he could handle it. If he didn't pass out.

"I should ask Dusk about that later, I have never seen a mark do that before. It shouldn't be doing that," Katara shook her head.

"Hn," Heero didn't really care. He would deal with it, he was more interested in something else, "Katara?" Katara perked her attention and looked at him intently, "What happened when I brought you back? Are you back to health now?" Heero had been wondering what had really happened, all he knew was that something had come out of him and then she was alive, and that was enough for him, but if only for the sake of curiosity, he needed to know.

"Well, the pronouns are going to get so screwed up, but I'll try to explain," Katara giggled softly, and it was honey to Heero's ears, "I, as in Katara and Emily were ripped completely apart, and without each other, they...we...die, and so when you brought me back, you brought us back. As one whole," Katara tried to explain.

"So you died because you're two parts were completely separated, and you can't live without either one, and so then when I brought you back, you were one person?" Heero didn't understand when the merger had taken place, or how he had done it, but he had experienced so much that he could not explain, he guessed that it was better not to think about it anymore.

"Essentially yes," Katara nodded with a laugh.

Heero was snapped out of his love-daze when he felt another sharp pain shoot up his arm. He glanced down at Peace, and she was glaring at him. What was her problem?

"Are you okay sweetie?" Katara asked. She went to touch Peace, but Peace recoiled.

"She doesn't really liked to be touched," Heero tried to explain Peace's behaviour, but he was at a loss. She was acting rather odd. Did Terra or the Ancients have something to do with it?

"I think I see the Dragon landing," Dusk called to them, and their attention was once again drawn to other places. Katara and Heero watched as the dragon landed solidly on the rock and waited.

It took a few minutes before they were able to catch up to the reptile, but when they did, they saw that it landed in front of a huge entrance to a deep cave. The entrance stood at least twenty feet tall, and forty feet wide. The dragon waited till they were all dismounted before it started to talk to Dusk.

//: This is the door to the Ancient's home. When you go in, you are at mercy of the Ancients, do not expect them to be the Ancients of the past. They have changed along with the rest of the world. ://

//: Thank you for everything that you have done. I wish you luck, and power where ever you go. You are a wise dragon. ://

//: Thank you. And tell Wufei that I admire his strength and honor. And that I wish to speak to him before he goes in. ://

Dusk's face contorted into pure confusion for a split second, but she only bowed to the dragon and approached Wufei.

"Wufei, may I speak to you in private?" Dusk asked, trying to decide what to say to him.

Wufei nodded and let Dusk lead him away from the group as the rest looked on with interest.

"Do you have some connections with dragons?" Dusk whispered softly.

Wufei took a moment to consider his answer before he spoke, "I am the last member of the Dragon Clan. It is said that we are descendants of dragons," Wufei glared at Dusk, expecting her disbelief, but she only smiled at him.

"Makes sense, because the dragon over there wants to talk to you, and he says that he admires your strength and honor," Dusk smiled and pointed at the dragon.

Wufei was speechless as Dusk walked back to the group with an extra bounce in her step.

"Let's go in," Dusk led the group into the cave while Wufei stayed behind.

Once inside the cave it was a completely different world. It was warmer, lighter, and the air was thicker. The rocks seemed to shimmer in the omnipresent light that seemed to have no source. The eight of them waited, but no sound or movement came from anywhere.

"Do you think we should knock?" Duo joked, but no one responded. Peace was clutching to Heero's leg with an iron grip. Heero doubted his own ability to pry her off. She was cutting off the circulation to his leg. She was starting to shake, and Heero knew that it was because she was scared.

"We should wait for Wufei before we continue," Dusk advised calmly.

"What is Wufei doing?" Katara asked curiously.

"Catching up on old business," Dusk smiled and then sat down on a protruding boulder.

"Chang," the Dragon's deep voice boomed.

"You can speak," Wufei had naturally assumed that because the creature had not spoken before, and Dusk had used telepathy, that it was incapable of speech.

"Yes, I can," the dragon nodded his head slowly, "I have wanted to meet you for the longest time."

"And I have been waiting for you," Wufei grinned inwardly. He was going to talk to a real dragon, the ancient stories were right. It was a relief. Although he hated to admit it, he had doubted that he had come from dragons many times. It seemed so fantastical, it couldn't be true, but now he was seeing that they were true. There was evidence talking to him at that very moment.

"You are the last of the Dragon Clan, and the last being on Earth or the colonies with any dragon blood. I understand if you wouldn't want to leave Earth, but we need you here. We need someone like you that can protect us. Mages and Sorcerers hunt us and fear us. We need a Dragon Guardian. Please, stay and help us," the dragon pleaded. It was slightly disturbing to Wufei, to have a dragon that was so large, plead for him to protect it, but it was also a great honor.

"I can not stay, I am not strong enough," Wufei stared into the deep eyes of the beast and saw the wisdom. How could he dare say that he was great enough to protect such a glorious and strong thing?

"But you are strong. You are strong willed, and behind every great leader there is a non-compromising opinion, and a strong will. Who ever accomplished anything by backing down? You think that you are weak, but you are strong, and when power was thrust upon you, you did not abuse it. I can honestly say that I have known very few that did not abuse their power, or become corrupt. In your feelings of inadequacy you have learned humility. You are pure and honest, and the dragons need that," the dragon's deep voice growled softly.

Wufei paused to consider what the dragon said, but before he could come to a decision the dragon began talking again, "Dragons can not speak, and therefore they have no voice, I have a voice because the Ancients gave me one, but the other dragons... they need someone to speak for them, to say the things that they yearn to say. You are the only one that they can speak to Chang. You have the blood of dragons in you, and therefore you are stronger and better than anyone else. You are the only one worthy of such a task, you are the dragons' last hope."

"If I survive this, I will stay," Wufei nodded his head, he was so overcome with gratitude and amazement. The experience was quite overwhelming. He didn't know what to think, or what to do, but he knew that his place was fighting, and he knew that he was needed. If he could be strong enough to protect the dragons...

"Before you go, you mustn't tell anyone of our conversation. You also should know that the stone is with the Ancients, they have been protecting it so no one would find it. They knew that the new King was trying to merge the two worlds, and so they hid it, away from where all other mages could find it. They will not show it to you right away, but you must press them. They have it, and you must destroy it. Terra is coming, and if she finds the Ancients, she will kill them all. You must protect the Ancients, destroy the stone, and kill Terra. She is the key to the Fallen Angels, and once she is gone, they will have no power, and both worlds will be safe again. Do you understand what I am asking of you and your friends?" the dragon asked.

"I understand," Wufei nodded his head.

"Then you must also understand that you must kill Katara."

Wufei's eyes burned for a moment. What was the old dragon saying? Katara had helped them, she was like a leader, he remembered how nice she had been the first time that they had met, and although he was always skeptical of Luke and Katara, he never imagined that the creature would ask of such a deed. The emotions of anger and disbelief overwhelmed him as the dragon stared him down. Why Katara? What did she do?

"Why Katara?" Wufei asked in astonishment. What was the dragon thinking?

"She is not who you think she is. She is not who anyone thinks she is. She is full of deception and trickery. You must kill her before she carries out her true intentions. Do you understand?" the dragon became very forceful in tone, but made no move toward Wufei.

"No," Wufei shook his head, "Why should I trust you?"

"Because we are blood, and with the Ancient power, I can see more than you can. She is not who she seems. I can not force you to carry out such a mission, and I know that you do not want to, but when this battle is over, you will understand."

"You're wrong," Wufei knew that Katara was in this for real. When he had first seen her more aggressive side at the castle, he had been afraid, but he knew that she lashed out because she would never merge the two worlds, she was strong and she was doing what she thought was right. He had seen her with Luke and the way that she treated Peace and the others, especially Heero, and she was kind and gentle. She was always looking out for other people. She had never really given him any reason to suspect that she was betraying the team. If anything, the way that Katara had reacted to Sage's betrayal only showed how much it infuriated her. She would never try to backstab or betray anyone in the group. She had sacrificed and fought too much for it to be a joke. She died. She would not have made that sacrifice unless she honest and true.

"I hope I am," the dragon bowed his head, "Goodbye Chang."

"Goodbye," Wufei bowed and then entered the cave.

While Wufei had been talking to the dragon, the group had been waiting for him.

"What do you think Wufei is talking about out there?" Duo asked, nervously looking around him. It looked like no one had been there for years.

"I can't imagine," Katara shrugged her shoulders, "While we are waiting, I wanted to ask you something Dusk."

Dusk was caught off guard, and she looked at Katara with a quizzical glance.

"Heero contracted a mark of a ghost, and it seems to be doing some odd things," Katara pointed to Heero's back. Underneath the coat, no one could see, but there were huge scars left by the tear of muscle and skin tissue.

"So I've noticed," Dusk crossed her arms and furrowed her eyebrows as she walked over to Heero to examine him.

"I was thinking that you could offer some explanation, I have never seen anything like it, but maybe you have, or you could use your vast kinds of magic to find out what the hell is wrong with him."

"If you put it that way," Dusk rolled her eyes and then turned her attention to Heero, "Would you mind if I took a look?"

"Hn," Heero slid off his jacket. He looked at the growth that was Peace. She reluctantly backed away from his leg, but she never left his side, she was getting more scared and anxious by the moment, and it was worrying Heero, but he had to stay focused. He slowly and carefully took off the layers of clothing, till he had a bare back.

Heero was getting tired. He had been feeling really tired after he witnessed Relena being killed. He didn't want to think about that now though, if he did, he would breakdown and he wouldn't be able to do what he had to do. He tried to push it to the back of his mind. He had a mission, he had to save two worlds and the colonies, he couldn't think of her.

As Dusk saw the scars, she ran her fingers over the tissue, and dried blood, "This is amazing," she felt the animal inside him move slowly, Heero tried not to flinch in protest, but Dusk only became more fascinated, ignoring Heero's pain, "When does it come out?"

"Whenever it wants to," Heero answered softly. It was true, he had no control over it.

"Interesting... and then last time it came out was when you brought Katara back?" Dusk asked with a statement.

"Yeah," Heero clenched his teeth as he felt Dusk's power go flow through him, examining, studying and invading him.

"This is truly remarkable, I can't believe it," Dusk gasped as she drew her hand away.

"What?" Heero asked, a tinge of fear in his voice. He didn't know if he wanted to hear what she had to say. Katara's face was even more panic stricken, she didn't know if she wanted to hear either.

"How long have you had this?" Dusk asked amazed.

"A day or two," Heero answered, "Why?"

"That can't be," Dusk shook her head, "Unless..."

"Would you shut up and just tell us what's going on?" Katara interrupted.

"Heero, this is going to sound weird, but have you been around a lot of death lately?" Dusk asked, her eyes narrowing. The whiteness still cold and undecipherable.

Duo snickered, but Heero ignored it, "I guess."

"That could explain it, you see the mark feeds off of... in a word... death. When things die, especially things with conscious minds, they give off energy, their lifeforce escapes it, and that's what the mark feeds off of, lifeforce. So by being around death, you are in fact feeding it. Usually it feeds off of its hosts lifeforce, but because you have been feeding it so well, it has grown, and is now integrated into your nervous, respiratory, skeletal, muscular, and digestive system. Removing it would kill you, and it. You are now a symbiotic being with it. It is so dependant on you that it has monitored your system so that if you are under extreme circumstances, it will try to protect you, so that it does not in turn die. According to what I see, it has a bullet imbedded into its wing. It took a bullet for you Heero, that's how much it relies on you. And at this point, I think you are relying on it as well. You seem to be tapping its power supply, since it has more than ample to share. Apparently, it also helped you to bring back Katara. It felt your pain when you lost her, and it helped you to bring her back. This is amazing, I have never seen anything like this. Usually a mark slowly destroys someone, but this is actually saving your life."

"That explains a lot," Katara gasped as soon as Dusk was finished.

"Hn," Heero felt a little overwhelmed. When had the creature taken a bullet for him? Heero tried to think, it was probably when they had gone after Sage. When they wings had come out, and Duo had seen them for the first time. It was still shocking to realize how much the creature was apart of him now. But it had helped him to bring his love back, how bad could the creature be for him?

"There is only one thing that scares me," Dusk spoke in the silence.

"What?" Heero asked quickly.

"The creature," Dusk shook her head, "It looks like it has fed on thousands of lives, how many people have you killed in the last few days?" Dusk looked at him, her eyes watering. He knew that she was quite serious about death, and taking the lives of others.

Heero tried to think back, but it was getting fuzzier in his head every second. When had he absorbed that many lives? There was the time that Katara had gone up against Terra and all the plants and animals had died around the area, "Katara, there was the time with Terra..." Heero narrowed his eyes.

"But that was only a few plants and animals," Katara tried not to think of when she had tried to sacrifice her life to kill Terra.

Heero tried to think of how many people he had killed when he went after Sage, he didn't want to think about it though. He didn't want to kill anymore, it was making him feel so dirty and tired again. He didn't want to keep doing that same thing. Pointlessly taking lives and only creating suffering, the very thing he was trying to stop. Heero tried not to picture Katara killing the guard that had been trying to rape Sage, and he didn't even want to think about how she had mauled Sage, Katara was a different person now. She wouldn't do that ever again.

Sage.

"There was Sage's stone," Heero struggled to sort through the information, but it was just so painful, the beast in his back screamed in protest. Peace had reattached herself to his leg, but Heero could barely feel the real world anymore.

"What about the stone?" Dusk asked quickly, she knew that she didn't want to know any details about their killing spree, it was so cruel she couldn't describe her anger and disgust against it, but she had to know what happened.

"I crushed Sage's stone, it contained the lifeforce of all the royal members of the Fairies for generations upon generations. There had to be at least ten thousand souls in there," Katara put her head in her hands as the tears came.

Dusk could feel the anger, sadness and pain rush over her. Katara was hurting so much because of what Sage had done to her. It must have felt like the ultimate insult to her, the worst kind of revenge and betrayal any friend could have given her.

Dusk wished she could comfort her, but she couldn't bring herself to even touch Katara. She was disgusted with everything that had been done. She hated the fact that they killed so liberally without feeling or care.

"That would explain it," Dusk nodded her head. She wished that she had kept her mouth shut. She didn't want to know anything that she had heard. But at least Heero hadn't killed thousands of people in two days, he had only witnessed the passing of souls. But it still sent shivers down her spine, and nausea overtook her stomach.

Everyone in the group was silent, Luke was already at Katara's side, comforting Katara's guilt and grief.

It was then that Wufei walked in. Everyone was very somber and Heero was topless. Wufei had no idea what to think had gone on while he was talking with his ancient ancestor. Wufei wisely kept his mouth closed and never asked what had taken place in his absence.

"Who are you?" a booming voice echoed through the large cave. Everyone's gaze turned to meet a tall male. His hair was pure white and nearly reached the floor. His robes her long, flowing and white. His eyes were pure white, and lacked any colouration.

"Who are you?" Luke stood strong and tall, approaching the mysterious male.

"I am the high priest of the Ancients."

~End Chapter 19~

Author's Tidbits: Well, where did all the plot go? That was longer than I thought it would be, and was completely pointless. There was no description, and Pyro George is beating me as I write for my incompetence. Hoped you liked it. ^_^

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