POSTED: 8/29/00
REVISED: 12/27/00
AUTHOR: Jay / carboxylated@yahoo.com
ARCHIVE: Gundam Wing Addiction (Tyr), Desolation Angels (Ashura, if
she wants it)
[Full fiction index @ http://www.geocities.com/fenris_wolf0]
Disclaimer: Scroll down (invariably at the bottom)
Title: Eden
Category: AU, yaoi, shonen ai, angst, horror
Timeline: Adapted Post-EW (Treize is alive to serve my purposes...
^^)
Pairings: 1+2, 3+4, 5+13, 6+9
Rating/Warning: R. Violent, and graphic descriptions of what is best
describe as "icky" situations. AU somewhat confusing, especially with flashbacks
and whatnot. YAOI = little anime boys snuggling. You've been warned.
Feedback: Craved, desired, wanted, coveted, yearned for, wished for,
and longed for. C&C will be repaid with dancing G-boys, my endless
adoration, as well as a nice slice of karma.
/... .../ = thoughts
"Oh, well, doesn't he look darling asleep," Lucas smiled munificently. "The famous pilot of Gundam Shenlong, slumbering like a babe."
"You killed me," Treize said calmly and deliberately, like a man who was trying to explain the collapse of the universe to himself.
"Many times." Lucas looked amused. "You were always with Samuel--"
"Samuel?" The name tasted strange in Treize's mouth.
"But you weren't there for the beginning of everything, little star. Not the first time I tasted his dying blood."
"No," he replied wearily. "I am just a man, after all."
"But innately stubborn, so it seems. How many lives have you spent, drawn to his light?"
"Ever since the first awakening..."
"Was it a choice?"
"No. A-- compulsion."
Lucas walked over to Treize, looking at the slim man thoughtfully. "I could end it for you," he offered. "Go to your peace forever. Never have to die like this again."
"No thank you," Treize said blithely. "I hear adrenaline is good for the blood."
Lucas' eyes lit up. "So it is! I think that might explain the taste. Well, I suppose I'll have to kill you." He sighed. "You, I'm afraid, are no fun."
"Am I, now?" Treize said softly.
An iron grip on his neck answered him. He was raised, slowly, until his boots dangled just barely above the ground.
Lucas' eyes held what might have been sympathy. "Yes. Mortals die so easily. No fight! No fun..." he murmured, and tightened his grip.
"What else can you remember?" Quatre's voice was sharp, his tone aggravated. It was unlike him. just as unlike as the worry that creased Trowa's brow.
Duo laughed weakly. "Plenty of dying," he said dryly. "Nothing particularly pleasant. I feel like I'm missing the big picture, though."
"Matthias."
Duo swerved his head, cocking an eyebrow at Heero, who only shrugged. "I'm trying it out."
"Save it," snapped Quatre. "Right now, I-- *we*-- need answers."
"Quatre?" Trowa's voice cut through the blond's fury.
His shoulders sagged. "Yes?"
"What about Wufei? If all four of us remember this... then maybe he remembers something too."
/Samuel./
Quatre blinked at the voice inside his head.
"I'll call his room," Heero said, walking over and flipping on the communicator.
Duo hovered over his shoulder and chimed in, "As long as he and Treize aren't... ahem... busy."
"Hn." He punched in the room number. Static. Static.
"Lucas." The name came out in a sharp hiss.
The heartshaped face was almost impossibly beautiful, surrounded by dark hair, with jeweled eyes set above a handsome nose. Rose lips parted to speak.
"Gavrie, how good to see you."
"My name is Heero," the boy responded, flatly. "Where's Wufei?"
Lucas gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "Whatever you like, little brother. Samuel is safe. For the moment."
Heero's heart pounded in his chest. "It's you," he murmured.
Lucas beamed. "You *do* remember! I thought maybe you'd forgotten me..." He looked hurt, before laughing. "You didn't seem to recognize me before."
"Lucas?" Duo's voice was incredulous. "No... it was something... else..."
"Matthias," Lucas drawled. "How good to see you! Of course, I have adapted my name, just as you have. And who's that behind you? Thane? Reyhan?"
"Trowa and Quatre," Duo corrected stubbornly. "What do you want?"
"You haven't figured it out yet?" His hideous words were at odds with his angelic face. "I want you to die-- all of you."
"Where's Wufei?" Heero demanded again.
"Sleeping," Lucas smirked. "I did come with the intent to kill him, but his little lover did keep me occupied--"
"Treize!"
"--is still alive. Well, for the moment. He *is* unconscious, but he'll wake. You interrupted me in the middle of my fun."
"Why?"
"Why did I almost kill him? Why did I stop? Why am I hunting you?" The lips curved into another haunting smile. "Let me see... because it's always a joy killing him, but it's far more amusing toying with you. And-- why am I hunting you? Little one, surely you know that."
Duo made a face. "You want our blood. Yadda yadda yadda. What are you-- a vampire?"
There was a long silence before a low chuckling sounded from the screen. Before long, Lucas was shaking with mirth. "A vampire!" he crowed, howling with laughter. "Oh, my, that's good... that's very good."
"Educated guess," muttered Duo.
"Well." Lucas paused to wipe away some tears. "I think the idea is about right, but the mechanics and details are wrong. Vampires are imaginary. I, however, am very, very real."
"But you need us-- our--" Quatre fumbled for the words. "Blood sacrifice."
"Blood is the price for paradise."
"But it's only ours," Trowa said, quietly. "Why?"
Lucas shrugged. "I won't hand you all the answers."
"I've hated you since the day I was created," Trowa said, suddenly, wonderingly.
"You all have." Lucas looked surprised at their revelation. "You were made to hate me, made to destroy me. That was your purpose, little brothers. You almost succeeded, the very first time. I changed the rules, though. I changed the conditions. I altered history by bleeding you, killing you." His eyes sparkled. "Damning you."
"Oh, I've faced worse," Duo sneered.
"Have you? What have you faced, little death-god? Do you even think you know the face of whom you imitate? You think *you* know death?" Lucas snarled. "Your petty little wars-- your OZ and White Fang were just repeats of things that have already occurred in history. That was nothing. Mankind survived those wars, like they survived yours. But mine! My war, I, who have weakened nations, flown with a third, destroyed the heavens-- faced worse? You're looking at the undoing of the universe, little brother. You exist on my whim."
Lightning cracked outside.
"You're in my territory, boy. Playing by my rules. This City is nothing but a concrete jungle. Have you noticed the feel in the air? It's corruption and fear... the people here live by my law... the law of nature itself. You're either the Hunter..." The lights flickered. "Or the Hunted. And you'll never be safe. I'm everywhere. Everyone."
The power went off at the exact moment someone pounded on their door.
"K'so!" Heero swore and walked towards the door.
"What are you doing?" Duo said, horrified. "He could be out there!"
A muffled voice said, "Heero? Duo? Are Quatre and Trowa with you? It's Lucy! You have to let me in! Your friends are with me! We need to talk about what's going on!"
Noin's voice cut in. "Boys?"
Heero unlocked and opened the door. He wasted no time in pulling Lucy in. "Where have you brought us?" he whispered, voice half-menacing and half-afraid.
"There's no time for this!" The urgency in Trowa's voice snapped into Heero's mind. "We need to get Wufei and Treize out of there! That... Lucas is in there!"
Lucy gently pried Heero's fingers off her shoulder and sighed. "I... see. Your other friends are in danger."
Heero tried to make his voice level. "My other friends could be dead."
Lucy bit her lip. "The power's off... I..." Her voice hardened. "This doesn't *happen* here... it's a controlled climate! We *control* the weather... it doesn't storm!"
"Lucy..." Noin placed a hand on the girl's trembling shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"We can't get in," she said bleakly. "With the power off, even the master key can't open the door. The doors can only be opened manually."
"Don't you have backup power? We need to communicate with Earth to get a shuttle. We need to get *out* of this place."
Her eyes lit up. "The generators are on the ground floor... we need to go now. I can turn on the power. My father's the only one with the codes for outside communication, though. We can go up to his office after. I... I'm sure he's there."
Quatre nodded sharply. "Right. Noin and I will go with you. Zechs, Heero-- go to Wufei's room and wait outside."
Lucy silently passed her card to Heero. "Master key. The lights will go on and you can get in."
Quatre spoke up again. "The rest of you stay in here. This room has been established as our base. We will meet back in no more than twenty minutes. Let's go."
Noin's face would have been amused if the situation weren't so serious.
/Of course the elevators don't work. That's why I'm going down two dozen flights of stairs./ She almost sighed in relief when she spotted a sign that signaled the end of their journey.
The three made their way through the darkness until Lucy stopped in front of a door and began punching in a series of numbers and letters.
"I thought all power was out," Quatre said.
"There's backup for the backup, so to speak. Our central computers are always online, but the energy can only support a handful of applications," Lucy replied.
The door beeped. "Access code match." It slid open.
A computer screen, lighting up the keys of the control panel, dimly lit the room. Lucy immediately sat down and began typing, clicking, and keying in codes. "Right," she said finally, and hit one final key. The lights flickered on.
Quatre checked his watch. "We have ten minutes."
Lucy's face was serious. "Okay, now we go to my father's office. He needs to make an announcement before the people panic because of the blackout. And he can contact Earth for you."
Quatre nodded. "I understand. Let's go. Where would he be?"
"Probably his office. Thirtieth floor."
Noin groaned. Lucy flashed her a smile. "We've got elevators this time." She glanced down at her shoes and made a face. "High heels weren't made for sprinting, I guess."
"Come on, let's move out."
"You got it, Commander Winner."
Noin watched Lucy key in another set of codes. The doors to her father's office slid open.
The lights were off. She frowned before flicking on the switch.
The sight almost made her retch. She heard Quatre murmur, "Oh, Allah..." Time slowed for a moment, even for her, a soldier used to death and dying.
/Oh my dear God... so much blood.../
Lucy's agonized scream echoed in the room.
"Daddy!" Her strangled sob was ripped from her throat.
"Lucy--" Quatre's eyes were pained.
She ran to the opposite end of the room and knelt in front of the wall, watching, horrified, even as blood still slicked down the wood siding. Something light and red fluttered down, and brushed her face: a rose petal.
Her father hung, crucified ten feet up in the air, nails driven through his hands and feet. His mouth was open, filled with large roses. A thorn protruded through one cheek.
"Oh my... daddy... please... please... no..." Lucy only cried more, rocking herself. "Who would... daddy... don't be gone... I need you..."
"We need to get her out of here." Quatre's voice was thick with torture and anguish.
/No one deserves to die this way./
An inner voice cut in. /Except for whoever did this to him./
Noin whispered, "Lucy... we have to go..."
Lucy's green eyes flamed. "I won't leave him. Not like this."
"There's nothing you can do for him," she said gently.
"I won't go!" The raw pain in her voice sliced into Noin's heart. She saw no other choice. Bracing herself, she walked forward, spinning Lucy around, and punched her, a solid crack to the jaw. Lucy crumpled to the ground. Quatre walked forward and gathered her up. "Let's go."
"We still need to make the announcement. The last thing we need is a riot."
They both glanced at the computer screen. "It's on," Quatre said, puzzled.
Noin walked over. Everything was on. She flipped on the microphone on the desk in front of her.
"Testing, testing."
The echoes rang throughout the room, the hotel, and Eden.
"Citizens of Eden: please do not panic. An unexpected storm caused a short power failure, but backup power is functional and running. Please stay inside a building until the storm abates or a further announcement has been made. Thank you."
She clicked off the microphone and checked. "I thought she said we could contact Earth with this thing." Quatre leaned over her shoulder, careful not to drop Lucy.
"Click on the third icon. Outside lines."
The computer prompted for a password.
"Shit," Quatre hissed. "We can't get in."
"So let's go already."
"What happened?" Duo looked at the still unconscious Lucy.
Quatre thought it best to leave out details. "Her father's dead."
Heero's eyes flashed. "Lucas?"
Quatre nodded. "Why not? The outside lines are password protected. You could hack into them and--"
"No." Heero's face was dangerously unemotional.
"What?"
"Didn't you hear him? He admitted that we were originally meant to destroy him. I'm guessing it was somewhat like Operation Meteor. I mean... the planning of it. I was trained to pilot that gundam. Someone made sure I could. Someone trained us then, to make sure we could defeat him."
"So why'd we lose?"
"We never lost. We're still here, aren't we? We'll die again and again until we win against him. It just took this long to get all of us here." His eyes held a faraway look. "Thousands of years, for one final battle."
"A battle with what ends in mind?"
"Him. His unmaking."
Quatre was still unconvinced. "But what would that do, Heero?"
Duo's voice was clipped, severe. "If his further existence is allowed, he'll disrupt the balance. We've kept him in check this long because there was only enough energy before to sustain him after the First Battle. Now, he has all five of us and what he gets from us will ensure that he'll be able to tip the balance of power in the universe."
"What *balance* of what *power*?" Quatre was clearly exasperated.
/He sounds like one of those crazy people who hug trees./
Duo's voice was distant. "After the First Battle, the force had been divided. On one hand, Chaos ruled. Chance. Half the universe is just chance. The other half was divided again, into the Unity of Good and Evil. The struggle between the two ensured the balance of Unity against Chaos. But if Lucas grows stronger, he can tip the scales, overcoming Good *and* Chaos until the only propelling force in the universe is Evil."
Quatre's voice was a careful monotone. "And we're the ones that tip the balance that the universe depends on."
"Yes."
"And you would know because?"
"You know too. You just don't remember."
On the bed, Treize moaned and sat up. "I'm alive?" His voice was groggy and unsteady. Wufei leapt up, and sat by him.
"You're alive, you stupid... stupid... man! You challenged him? What were you thinking! You should know better!"
"I should, little dragon." Treize smiled. "But I never do, now do I?"
"No time for this. What do you remember, Wufei?"
The Chinese boy answered automatically. "I remember being Xiao Long. I remember being sacrificed to a man who called himself Lucas."
Duo frowned. "Do you remember... the battle?"
Wufei shook his head. "Battle?"
Duo turned to Trowa. "Is it possible he's not one?"
Dorothy cut in. "Did he kill you himself?"
Wufei answered, surprised: "Yes, he did."
Relena nodded her head. "Then you're one of them."
"One of *what*?"
Trowa sighed. "We don't know, exactly."
Quatre turned his head to Relena and Dorothy's direction. "How do you know?"
Zechs winced. "I think it's time we talked... and exchanged our... experiences." There was a haunted look in his eyes that faded somewhat when Relena hugged him.
Heero nodded. "I'll begin. I... I think I was the first."
Wufei's voice was frustrated. "Why can't I remember?"
Dorothy scowled. "Let's... I don't know... hold a séance."
Relena's head shot up. "Maybe that's what we need to trigger them!"
"A séance?"
"No. I mean, we need to join together. Ah, our memories. There's always someone else in them... we're interwoven. Linked. There must be some way we can use that."
Duo plopped down between her and Dorothy, ignoring Heero's pointed glare. "Why not? We don't have much else to lose."
End Part 6
Oi! Here's a guide for who's who so far. (Numbered in order of lives.)
HEERO: Gavrie (1), Nathaniel (2)
DUO: Matthias (1), Abijah (2)
TROWA: Thane (1)
QUATRE: Reyhan (1)
WUFEI: Samuel (1), Xiao Long (2)
NOIN: Lucia (1)
ZECHS: Zeke (1)
RELENA: Tahirah (1)
DOROTHY: Iman (1)
TREIZE: Wuxing (1)
Jay
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