And He Doth Descended Into the Depths of Heaven
-Part Nine-
Kuriyamimizu

© The same as always

Okay, atashi-chan, I've done all the editing I could. If I missed anything, blame it on stylistics.
Jita
(My editor, all bow before her)

Kuri holds up a new sign: More Gundam Boy torture ahead, MUCH more shonen ai and tons of WEIRD SHIT!!!!

*DUO POV *

I awoke to the new morning, refreshed, relaxed and feeling better than I had in months. Without opening my eyes, I noted that there was a small weight on my feet. Opening my eyes gave me the view of Alex sitting against the foot board of my bed, staring at me. Something that always bothered me about my demon was the fact that she had little lines running down and up from her eyes, much like clown makeup. I never liked clowns. Except for Trowa perhaps; the rest gave me the chills. One could always tell that their cheerful smiles and bright colors were only a façade.

I shook my head and got my bangs out of my face. A fraction of a second after shaking my head, I regretted it, seeing that most likely I would receive punishment in the form of a migraine. No such thing happened. I smiled jubilantly and pulled on my pants and boots. As I laced my heavy duty footwear, a tune found its way out of my mouth in the form of whistle. I was feeling great this morning. Over on my right, Heero was still asleep. He looked like he was having a nightmare. God knows that I know about those. I decided to let him rise on his own and went to go and claim the shower for myself before anyone else got to the hot water.

When I looked over on the nightstand, my laptop was blinking. I sighed and went over to check it. After punching in the ludicrously lame prerequisites, I got a text message informing me that I was Heero’s wingman this morning. After reading that, I grinned at my luck. I’d gotten up before soldier boy had!

Five minutes later Heero sat bolt upright, his eyes glassy. The sheen on his face was sweat. It must have been one hell of a dream. Upon watching Heero rise, I decided to bypass the shower completely. I didn’t need it. I left Heero to it and stepped downstairs with Alex trailing me like an invisible shadow.

Dorthy sipped at a cup of coffee and sighed, wondering for the first time that day if some people were inherently evil. Maxwell had just jaunted down, taken some pills and had breakfast with a grin on his face. Her table mates Quatre and Trowa were a wreck. Both had dark circles under their eyes and were beginning to get the look of hunted deer. She hadnWufei had cycled through earlier. Everyone had apparently had a rough night, or so she ’t seen Heero yet, and gathered. Thinking of herself, her night had been relatively tranquil, except for a feeling of extreme uneasiness that had woken her around three in the morning.

Quatre laid his head down on the table and looked as if he were going to pass out where he laid. Trowa added another bit of crème to his coffee and then shook the Arab’s shoulder.

"Quatre, wake up."

"Mmnf!"

Trowa sighed and doggedly kept shaking the small boy until he was awake. "C’mon!"

After a moment of watching the scene Dorthy noted with interest that Trowa wasn’t looking at the boy he was shaking. He was looking out of the window and the expression on his face made him look like he’d seen a ghost. When she looked out the window, her own face drained of color.

"I see what you see."

For some odd reason, she could almost feel the hilt of a phantom sword in her palm as her fingers tightened reflexively around something that was not there. She wanted to go out and kill it, whatever it was. When the beast found both Trowa and Dorthy looking at it, it made a ducking motion with its head, almost as if to say ‘I’m right here, come and get me.’ Then it faded like the rippling mist of the morning.

Heero came down and poured himself a cup of coffee. Duo had seated himself on a counter and was munching happily on a granola bar. Heero glared at Dorthy and then at Trowa.

"What’s she doing here?"

Trowa answered promptly as if he were expecting the question. "I was told to pick her up as an accessory in an upcoming mission."

Heero looked wary then let Trowa’s statement go unchallenged. He shrugged and took a long swig of his coffee, draining the cup. After leaving the cup on the table and staring into the distance for a little while, he looked over to Duo.

"You’re on mission with me this morning."

Duo nodded cheerfully, booted feet swinging and dog tags, which he almost never wore, chiming. He finished off his granola bar and grinned over at Heero.

"Yeah, I know. I got the message this morning from he of the huge nose."

Everyone who knew the joke rolled their eyes, and Dorthy looked confused. Duo looked over at her and smiled.

"Hi, Dorthy. What are you doing here?"

She noted the way that he shot a quick glance over to Quatre, who was being oblivious to the world. Then, just as quickly, his violet eyes came back over to focus on her. She noted quietly that he seemed to have lost some weight since she had last see him. It wasn’t her business to ask, though.

"I’m here to help Barton with something. How are you, Maxwell?"

Duo looked thoughtfully amused for a moment. As she looked at the lithe boy, she realized that she could very easily be looking at a demon sitting on the counter. He had the same air about him and raw power within him. It made her shiver; the worst part of the whole situation was that the others didn’t realize the danger that she sensed out of the instinct of self-preservation.

"I’ve been better. I’ve been worse. I think okay would be the best word for my current condition. And you, Ms. Catalonia?"

Dorthy smiled her most disarming smile. "Happy to be here."

Now that she looked, all of the pilots were holding something. She was stuck in a powerhouse of latent psychic and kinetic energy. The most depressing fact was that most likely none of them save Winner even knew it. She watched slightly amused as Duo strapped a gun holster to his ankle and grinned.

Heero had finished eating by then and had regressed back into the upper levels of the house to get his flight suit on. Maxwell had come down fully outfitted. It was amusing to watch the two interact. Heero seemed to be the stoic and distant one, where Duo was open and friendly. She supposed that the old saying really was true and that opposites do attract. After the duo of pilots had left, she rose and started to gather up the dishes. If any of her guesses were correct, then most likely the dishes would sit there for several hours if someone didn’t do something about them at that time. Quatre was asleep on the tabletop, and Trowa was reading the paper with no outward interest in doing housework. He said nothing when she started clearing dishes except, "Leave my cup please."

She smiled, hiding the sharp retort that she felt inching up her throat.

"That’s fine; however, I expect extra for housework, I AM NOT a maid."

Trowa nodded. She sighed and went to work on the dishes.

*Heero POV *

The sky was fairly clear, except for the mist that was covering in the ground that day. I continue to be very grateful for living close to the place where our gundams are. I don’t mind riding out to them, but it’s just nice out of convenience’s sake. Having the mechas close to us saves time, so that we don’t waste the same on our missions. Duo’s following me on his motorcycle. I don’t understand why he keeps the particular model that he has. He could easily trade it in for a newer model that was faster and easier on the gas.

Yet he tenaciously clung onto the piece of metal like it was something akin to a childhood friend. At the speed that they were going, Heero couldn’t get a word in edgewise until they were to the place where the mechas were stowed.

Upon arrival, Duo pulled off his helmet grinning and came up, awaiting further instructions.

* DUO POV *

I pulled off my helmet, confidant that my usual, jaunty, cheerful smile was there to greet Heero. When I saw him give me his usual scowl, I knew that the mask was perfect.

"So, what are we doing today, Heero?"

Heero sighed, pulling out a mission itinerary out of some God-forsaken pocket and unfolding it.

"Well, so far, our objectives are simply to destroy one of the minor sites on the base that’s just east of here. We have to knock out the generator and cause a little mayhem. It’s the kind of stuff that you seem to specialize in."

I grinned, proud to be good at something.

"Yeah. I guess I can do that stuff."

Heero looked slightly distant and then continued, "After we do that, in the confusion ensuing after we blow the generator, we have to steal a space carrier and get into space."

I frowned, looking confused. “I never got any information about that. I just got a little note saying that I’m your wingman -“

At that thought, I trailed off silence. Being his wingman would mean that logically I would be flying with him - in space. At the thought of space, I got nervous. When in orbit, I would have no time to nap, no time to rest. When in space, one has to be constantly alert. I wasn’t aware that the low groan of distress was audible. I was wrong because seconds later I watched Heero perk up as if he were a hound on the sound of a fox treading lightly through the bushes.

“What?”

I was quick to smile and reassure. “N - nothing.”

“What’s wrong with you?”

I raised my hands into the air defensively. “I said nothing. I just remembered that I forgot to file a report and send it to he of the giant nose.”

I judged Heero’s reaction carefully as he thought about it. Apparently he had too much on his mind to think about simple things. He let me off unchallenged. I sighed and hoped that our space venture wouldn’t take too long. As Heero was walking toward Wing Zero, I felt something tug on my hair. I pulled a gun and got ready to deliver swift justice when I looked to see what was tugging. Alex was there, her usual, neutral expression on her face. In one hand, she held up a small ziplock bag. Inside were held my meds, several Advil, Tylenol, and some antacids too. I blinked, and then it dawned on me that I hadn’t bothered to grab those because I had thought I would be in this evening. I looked at her with a fairly incredulous look on my face if I’m any good at judging my own moods.

“Are you allowed to do that, chibi? Are you allowed to bring things for me?”

/My purpose is to ensure that you survive. Don’t forget to take your meds, or else I can’t do my job./

I almost laughed when I realized that I had a four-year-old scolding me. I nodded to her and winked.

“I’ll be flying Deathscythe today. I hope Heero’s not my only backup.”

She faded out of view completely, but I knew she was there.

/I’m always around, Duo. Of course I’ll be with you when you fly this afternoon./

Dorthy stared out of the large bay window in contemplation and sighed slightly. There was a large storm gathering. She’d always had the ability to sense storms as they slowly approached, gathering force. Anyone could tell that there was a storm brewing outside, but most likely there would still be idle speculation as to if it would pass over or not. She knew for a fact that the storm above them would not pass over. She was just appreciative that Duo and Heero would be flying off planet soon. If they were to wait much longer, then they wouldn’t be able to get out of the atmosphere without some work. For some reason, she didn’t think that Duo looked up to the challenge.

At the table, Quatre was still passed out. Trowa was sitting at his side, calmly reading a book. On an offhanded thought, Dorthy threw a barrier over Quatre, strengthening the barrier that he naturally put up to deflect psychic attacks. Being sensitive, she had learned long ago that damage could be taken in more than one sense and that sometimes the attack could be the taking over of the self.

Trowa’s eyes snapped up from his book in the same time that Dorthy turned from the window. Simultaneously, they looked around the room, searching for the silent threat. Something had shifted in the air, and the sense of something old and nasty returning pervaded their minds. Silence reigned in the kitchen for a few more minutes. The only sounds were those of the neighbors leaving their house as their car pulled out of the driveway and the sounds of thunder in the distance.

Dorthy was the first one to sense that something was going to happen. In the next sixty seconds, three things happened. Dorthy yelled, “ON THE LEFT!”, Trowa threw his copy of War and Peace at the back of Quatre’s head, and the room dropped ten degrees. In the following time after those sixty seconds, chaos reigned.

Dorthy stared concentrating at the copy of War and Peace keeping it in the air by sheer force of will. Trowa stared with dull shock at the kitchen knife that had embedded itself within the hard cover of the book. Dorthy spoke from her place on the windowsill, her voice strained.

“Mr. Barton, if you would be so kind as to pick up the book. I’m about to drop it.”

Trowa reached out mechanically and picked up the book. Dorthy continued to reinforce the field around Quatre, and through that, she sensed something else happening entirely. Her eyes glazed over as she watched a scene that no one else could see. She was only dimly aware that Trowa was calling her name in the background.

In the foyer of the kitchen, where Duo had stood last night in his indecision, there was a fight happening. A griffin and an angel were beating the hell out of each other. And the griffin was winning. With what looked like a last ditch effort, the small girl with bright golden eyes and shredded wings formed a blindingly bright sword in her hand. With a cry, she rammed it into the breast of the beast. It screamed, and the sound echoed throughout the whole house. However the little girl had been fighting a loosing battle. Even as the demon regressed to wherever it was that it had come from, the little girl dropped to her knees clutching one of her shoulders.

Dorthy snapped back into reality as soon as she heard Trowa exclaim, “Brynn!”

The little girl that she thought only she could see was lying on the floor in a growing pool of blood. A quick glance over to Quatre told her that he was pretty much dead to the world. Trowa had risen by that time and gone over to the fallen girl’s side. She was incoherent, and her eyes were slightly glazed but unerringly set on Quatre. She was determined to watch him until her end. Dorthy flicked her eyes up to the other standing in the background.

The other girl looked like a ghost. Her liquid blue eyes were overrun with tears. Her face clearly implied that the other angel had been close to her. Idly Dorthy wondered why the friend hadn’t done anything, and then it made sense. Brynn, as Trowa had called the little girl, was Quatre’s guardian. The attack moments ago had been aimed at Quatre, and Stephanie couldn’t jump in, even though she saw that Brynn was failing. She closed her eyes and sent her silent condolences to the forlorn angel. An inevitable loss, albeit unfortunate.

Both Trowa and Dorthy blinked as Quatre rose from his position on the tabletop. The Quatre that they knew was still dead to the world; however, this was another aspect of the same person. The look on his face was calm and placid. Trowa had never seen that particular look before because he almost looked ethereal.

He took the small girl from Trowa and let her rest in his lap, unmindful of the blood spilling all over his clothing.

“Brynn?”

She looked up at him with fading gold eyes.

/Hai?/

Dorthy could hear her mental voice. She didn’t sound too good.

“You did well. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Both of the other people in the room had noted by this time that all of the little angel’s wounds had closed and the blood was gone. The damage had been done; however, it appeared that Quatre had no intention of letting her go in pain. He couldn’t let that happen to anyone and especially an angel.

/I tried, I wasn’t strong enough - it’s going to come back./

Quatre smiled at her. “You tried your best, and that’s all that was asked of you. I’m thankful to have had you, Brynn. You’re tired; rest now.”

She smiled as a tired child might; however, all of the watchers could see the cold depths of oblivion in her eyes. She snuggled closer to her protectorate and started to close her eyes, feeling safe for one time in her existence. After this time, she wouldn’t enter the loop again, for her soul had been wiped out. She was fading from existence completely.

Quatre leaned down and lightly kissed her closed eyelids. “Sleep well, little Brynn; you’re loved. Have a safe journey.”

It surprised neither Dorthy nor Trowa that by this time Quatre’s aura was glowing around him warmly. However, it almost knocked Wufei off his feet when he walked into the solemn scene. He stood in the doorway quietly, watching. Catalonia acknowledged him with a quirk of her rather exotic eyebrows, and then her attention went back to what was at hand.

Brynn had a small smile lurking on her lips as she began to disappear. It almost seemed routine for a guardian angel, and yet the air was one of extreme sadness. The one angel, Stephanie, was weeping profusely, her hands silently outreached to her dying friend. No one could quite describe exactly why it was that their hearts wrenched to the extent that it did, watching an angel cry. Eventually she sunk down on her knees next to her slowly disappearing friend and former brother, as solid as she was allowed to be and simply watched.

Stephanie’s eyes were the same as Quatre’s in that moment, deep, warm and yet cold, deep and unfathomable. When Brynn had completely faded from view, Quatre slumped forward on his way to the floor. He was intercepted before he hit the linoleum. The air of the room was very somber. Stephanie seemed to be glowing twice the amount that she ought to be for all of those that could see her at the time. It made sense to Dorthy; the little angel had just been entrusted with two lives instead of one, and therefore she needed more power; it was that simple. Trowa picked up Quatre with offhanded grace and carried him upstairs, silently followed by Stephanie.

Wufei greeted the somber happening with reverence that was due for the death of someone righteous. Brynn had been one of the righteous, and apparently so was he; even the righteous could fall. Dorthy looked over to him and smiled, almost a look of understanding on her part.

“Isn’t it an interesting twist to know that your life has been preordained, Wufei Chang?”

Instead of meeting Dorthy with a curt reply which was his first instinct, he actually replied conversationally, sensing that she knew what was going on as well as he did. “Well Dorthy, as you would know, now we’ve got two guards. We have the seer, who is currently unconscious, and then there’s me.”

Dorthy interjected, an amused smile on her lips. “You’re the dragon. You are justice, Wufei Chang. Ironic, isn’t it?”

Wufei shook his head. “I’m not Nataku. I have a part within, but I am not what cannot be.”

Dorthy sighed, and Wufei continued thinking aloud. “The only players missing are the key ones.” In a very quick amount of time, considering his previous mood, Wufei grew pale. “Maxwell and Yuy haven’t slept together, have they?”

Dorthy looked incredulous. “You’re the one that’s been here, not I! I have no clue!”

Wufei stared glassy eyed into the distance where the thunderclouds were beginning to grow black. “There’s a storm coming.”

Dorthy laughed mirthlessly. “Yeah, and it’s going to be raining heads, wings, feathers and blood.”

Trowa looked on with concern for Quatre, who was lying completely still beneath a blanket. The little Arab was barely breathing. Back in the kitchen, he had been channeling his previous self, if Trowa’s memories from the time served correctly. He wasn’t going to leave, but the way that Stephanie was sitting on the bed was an indication that she needed to speak with her oniisan. He backed off to a respectful distance and made a mental note to himself that he needed to speak with Dorthy about reading auras and about boosting other people’s.

Stephanie leaned in closer to the older brother that she used to have and tried to see into his mind. That last experience had been too much for him; he’d taken Brynn to the other side. Now he was very, very tired. Yet she needed to talk to him; otherwise she didn’t think that she was going to make it through the day. She had wished desperately many other times that she could talk to her brother like they used to. Now, technically, she wasn’t supposed to, but that wasn’t going to stop her. Brynn had been her best friend.

She closed her eyes and surrendered herself to the blackness around her. Her wings slowly folded to cover her as she laid on the bed next to her brother. She wanted to talk and just about the only way now would be to talk to him in his mind’s eye. To do that she would have to do a little concentrating. She winked over at Trowa when he looked at her quizzically. He nodded once and then went back to being alert. Silently, Stephanie slipped into her brother’s mind, her own eyes closing to see in turn with an entirely different set of eyes.

Quatre was there; it would just take him a minute to meet her. She glanced appreciatively at her surroundings. Quatre had a very deeply complex imagination. From her presence, the landscape had changed from flat desert to a vast floor of water. She was performing the actual impossibility of standing on water, her fine, corn-silk hair billowing out slightly in a breeze caused by his fanciful mind. At her feet, there were water lilies in bloom. She breathed in the scent and smiled. After a moment, Quatre appeared to her, barefoot but in his usual dressy-casual clothing. He smiled at her warmly, welcoming her both in the sense of being face-to-face, as well as welcoming her into his soul.

She smiled back and bowed slightly. “Ohayoo. Been a while, eh?”

Quatre nodded, not yet stirred to speak. She looked around her and laughed, a ringing sound that had always reminded him of bells.

“I never imagined that your mind was so - pretty.”

Quatre laughed, a gentle sound that she hadn’t heard him make in a long time. “I made it pretty for you, chibi.”

Stephanie planted her hands on her hips defiantly. “I am not chibi! I grew!”

Quatre smiled at her, a brotherly protective smile, reminiscent of older days. “Just remembering”, he said softly.

She smiled, enhancing her already beautiful features. Her wings unfurled and then furled again, and one of her feathers floated over in front of his face.

“Oniichan, I’m going to be guarding you now.”

Quatre nodded. “I’m aware of that.”

Stephanie looked down. “It was sad about that.” For a moment the small angel was silent, and then she continued. “She died inochigakede.” (1)

Quatre nodded solemnly. “I know, in pursuit of my life.”

Stephanie smiled, but tears brimmed in her eyes. “She was my best friend.”

The look on his face clearly illustrated his unhappiness at their collective loss. For a moment, there was only silence between them. Stephanie smiled slowly.

“I’ve got to do a good job with you, oniichan. I don’t want you fading away too.”

Quatre looked at the phantom tears lurking in her eyes and walked forward a few steps to give Stephanie the comfort that she needed. He had missed talking with her so. It had been two whole years since she had died. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t even know how she had died; he just knew that she had. When he looked up at her again, her liquid blue eyes were watching him.

“Stephie, I have some things to ask you.”

She smiled warmly. “Ask me anything that you want. We have a while to catch up.”

Trowa watched the two silently, knowing that it was a wonderful thing that they could talk once again. It was too often that many pairs of siblings were separated by war. Even if it was an interesting way, the fact that they could talk and catch up was a blessing.

-End Part Nine

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