07-Mar-2004
Title: Tetractys
Author: Sol, but archived as Zefyr on FF & MM
Chapter 04 "Yesod, I" --- ONGOING
Story Started: 21 Dec 2003
Genre: Semi-AU, AU-in-AU, Drama, Sci Fi
Pairings: Wait and see.
Rated: R for the time being
Archived: fanfiction.net and gwaddiction.com
Warnings: Violence, language, adult situations, butchered scientific theory
Archiving: Ask permission for each story separately, please.
Critiques: Always welcome, especially constructive.
Happy birthday, Maldoror! :D
Wufei stepped forward, his gaze moving back and forth between a stunned Heero and the young woman, whose smile had gone from hopeful to worried. Duo had moved forward as well, Wufei noticed, with a wide smile that faltered when the young woman didn't take her eyes off Heero. Duo frowned lightly and moved to bump shoulders with Heero, a subtle reminder that made the shorter Japanese man move back within their ranks. Wufei sighed, not sure what was going on, and glanced at Quatre.
"Miss," Quatre said, leaving the question hanging.
"Lena," the woman said. "Lena Darlian." She gave a little bow, which seemed more like an abbreviated curtsey to Wufei. Lena smiled, holding out her hands. "I'd shake hands, but I'm filthy." Her hands were dirty, her nails chopped short with grease and dirt trapped under the edges. Lena wiped her hands on her jeans, and gave Quatre a smile. "Quatre Raberba Winner, right?"
Quatre frowned. "Just Quatre."
"Just Quatre," Lena repeated dutifully, but her eyes seemed to sparkle in the beacon's bright light. She turned to Duo. "Duo...hey."
"Hey, gorgeous," Duo said, his voice soft.
"Do you still play baseball?" Lena looked shy, her age dropping away from her, and Wufei could see a younger woman suddenly peering out of Lena's face.
"No," Duo replied, with a wry smile. "Basketball."
"Ah. Bet you won every time."
Wufei could've sworn Duo just barely stopped himself from kicking at the dirt with a foot. He was tempted to snort. Duo hadn't acted like an adolescent... Wufei sighed. He couldn't recall Duo ever acting like a kid, but he could see how Lena made it hard not to be shy. She was so... self-aware, and yet delicate, at the same time.
"Naaaaa," Duo drawled, putting a hand to the back of his head as he beamed at her. Suddenly Wufei could see the young man he'd met ten years before, in that wretched prison. "Only when it was me 'n Heero playing the rest of 'em."
Lena laughed, a bright sound, and winked at Duo. She turned to Trowa. "Trowa Barton?"
Trowa nodded, giving her a stiff bow. His body language would have been impossible to read as other than polite interest, but Wufei could see the stiffness in the shoulders, and the slight lean towards Duo and Heero, seeking reassurance. Lena's smile faded, when Trowa said nothing else, but she turned to Wufei with another smile back in place.
"You must be... " Her smile was tight, and Wufei wondered if the beacon were too bright. Her eyes seemed to glitter.
"Wufei," he said.
Her breath seemed to catch, and she smiled again, a broad, open smile that seemed on the verge of laughter. "Well, then, I guess we should head on---"
"Wait," Quatre said. "What about Viveka?"
Lena stepped behind the tent, reappearing with a small pack over her shoulders. Her lips were pressed in a thin line. "Viveka... won't be joining us."
"That's obvious," Quatre said, ice creeping into his tone. "But where is she?"
"Nowhere," Lena said, not quite meeting their eyes. "She... she won't be coming back."
"She was left behind?" Duo cocked his head at Lena.
"No." Lena shifted the pack on her shoulders, turning away from them a little as she picked up the beacon. "She... she chose to be your gateway. When the gateway was gone... so was she." Her shoulders straightened, and she lowered a shield on the beacon so it only shone forward, and raised it up to light her way. "Come on, then. Haven't got all the time in the world."
Wufei exchanged a look with Trowa, and they watched as Quatre took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he swayed in place. Wufei touched Quatre, briefly, but sensed his partner was fully aware Lena was speaking something she knew to be truth. And from Quatre's pained expression, it was something that grieved Lena far more deeply than her calm countenance revealed. Duo was watching, and tugged Heero forward, whose eyes were still fixed on Lena. Trowa watched them go, and sighed, trudging behind them with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders hunched. Quatre took another minute to center himself, nodding as Wufei waited. A heartbeat of silence, and the two began following the rest, and the single point of light ahead that bounced and danced among the cavern's heights.
Lena was struggling with not turning around and staring at the five men, suspecting that shining a single point of light on them would not make them feel entirely comfortable. She wasn't sure if anything would make them entirely comfortable. Even arrayed around her, in the cavern, their body language said they were at ease, but she could feel shifts and movements of tension underneath.
The path was familiar enough she didn't need to pay her feet much mind, from all the times she'd taken point-guard between missions, waiting to see if one of their teams would return a message. So far, one world was chaos, destruction. Another was peaceful, with no colonies, and no Gundams. A third had yielded two scientists. Viveka and Anil were the fourth team, and the last. Lena had argued for hours against another try, but Doro and Cat were against her. When Viveka and Anil weighed in as volunteers, the argument became moot.
Lena squared her shoulders. Viveka and Anil were now justified, absolved of any doubts; their grieving could end in peace. I hope, Lena told herself, unwilling to let herself become lost in expectations. I hope they've found it, she said, and had to swallow a sob. Seeking a distraction, she let the beacon sway as she took an unmarked tunnel, knowing the path as well as her own Gundam.
Seeing Heero was a shock, although she'd been braced for the possibility. He was taller than her, now, topping her five-foot-seven by two or three inches. Duo was several inches taller than Heero, and Trowa and Quatre were easily six-two. Lena stifled a giggle, remembering the Quatre Winner she'd met in Sanq, only five-foot-two and slender, with delicate hands and an open, cheerful face. This Quatre had broad shoulders and long legs, but his blue eyes were still sharp, and his hair was still a shock of white-blond, falling into his eyes. Trowa's auburn hair still fell over his eyes, and he had filled out from the lanky mercenary Lena remembered in Antarctica. And Duo! Lena rolled her eyes. He still had that crazy braid, and those huge blue eyes, but now he was graceful, despite being clearly the skinniest of the five.
And the last... Wufei, the only pilot she'd never met. Meiran had only talked about him, once or twice when the rest of them had managed to get the woman drunk enough, but none of Meiran's memories fit the lethal-looking young man. He was level with Heero's height, his black hair pulled back in a long ponytail, his eyes narrowed and assessing. She'd felt pinned to the spot when he'd studied her, as though he could look right through her. It gave Lena the shivers, and she sighed, taking another branch in the endless caverns as the group wended their way towards the base.
A voice up ahead was the first warning, and Heero started, alerting Duo and Trowa, who slowed. Lena hadn't caught the sound yet, but a moment later a figure swung into view, carrying something in its arms.
"Lena," the voice cried. Female, and lower-pitched. "Was just coming to bring you---holy fuck."
"Doro," Lena replied. "Meet the new members of the team." She stepped out of the way, shuttering the beacon so it didn't shine directly into anyone's eyes. "Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei."
"Holy fuck," the woman repeated, then smiled, a sharp look that made Duo tense instinctively. "Pleased to have you on board." She glanced down at the bag in her arms. "In that case, we can eat back at base." Doro turned, and Duo caught a flash of long blonde hair, just to the woman's waist. It was pulled back in a low ponytail, banded at her shoulder blades. A few whisps had loosened, floating around her shoulders as Lena picked up the beacon to walk alongside Doro.
"I don't... " Duo started to say, but Heero caught his hand, squeezing tightly.
Duo sighed and nodded, letting the hand drop. Another hundred feet of walking through the twisted tunnel, and the walls suddenly became smooth, reinforced concrete. The ground was flat and even beneath their boots. Duo immediately took Heero's hand again. Lights appeared overhead at even intervals, and Lena shut off the beacon, leaving it against the wall. They passed several doors, and Doro didn't hesitate as she pushed open the third door, ushering them in.
"Come on, we'll have lunch and fill you in," she said.
They followed her, Duo's eyes picking out the additional doors in the walls, before he was distracted by the openness of the ceiling. A broad beam of sunlight flooded the center of the room, making the fluorescent lights redundant. Heero gravitated immediately to the table, his face turned up to the light shaft.
"We bounce it down through a higher tunnel near the surface," Doro said. "Not everyone can handle extended periods underground, so there are several rooms like this." She set the bag down on the table and began unpacking. "If you're wondering, one of those doors leads to a restroom, if you need the facilities. The other is a supply closet."
While she set out the meal, Duo and the others took their turns at the facility. Duo noticed while washing his hands that the left-hand tap was cold, and the right-hand tap was hot. Back in the main room, Heero was standing by the table, his face again uplifted, but he was watching Doro and Lena from under his eyelashes. Trowa had chosen a position where he could see the door, and Quatre and Wufei had arranged themselves at his side. Doro moved opposite them, so her left shoulder faced the door, and Lena took up position at Doro's right shoulder. It amused Duo, as though they were two teams arranging themselves on the opposites sides of a conference table. Doro set out several drink boxes, shoving them across the table.
Quatre sat first, and the rest of the team followed his lead, accepting the drinks. They waited until Doro and Lena served themselves from the container of chicken and salad, before taking small helpings. The room was quiet as the seven ate, until Doro finished her chicken and delicately set it down. She wiped her fingers on a napkin, then patted at her mouth. Pushing her plate to the side, she leaned her elbows on the table, watching the five men as they finished off their own meals.
"Ten years ago," she began, "Operation Meteor was begun by the Barton Foundation. Wing crashed down at the J.A.P. point, and washed up at on the shores at Repulse Bay, near Hong Kong. Sandrock and Heavyarms made appearances shortly after that, as did Deathscythe and Na... Shenlong."
Duo wondered if Wufei had caught the slip.
Doro continued without pause. "While Deathscythe attempted to salvage Wing, 01 interrupted the process, and 02 shot 01." She glanced around, and Duo shrugged a little. Old history, his gesture said, and Doro arched one eyebrow. "01 was captured and taken into custody, where 02 rescued him. Shortly after that, Zechs Marquise was given Tallgeese, and then Sandrock and Heavyarms showed up in... " Doro frowned.
"Corsica," Lena interjected firmly, and took up the narrative. "In March of that year, I went with my father to L1, where an assassination attempt on his life was successful." She sighed, and old pain flashed across her face. "I met Dr. J, then, and returned to earth on my own."
An attempt that killed our world's Relena, Duo thought, ... and Heero's first friend.
"A month after that, Treize set his trap for the Gundams," Doro said. "04, however, managed to convince 01 to hold back, and Treize's plan failed. The building was attacked instead, killing Treize."
Duo blinked. Heero's head came up, his gaze sharp. Quatre's gasp was audible.
"Septem dissolved Oz and took over Romefeller," Doro said, her tone wistful. "03 and 05 followed Septem to Treize's ship. Une was attempting to have the base self-destruct, but 01 stopped it. 03 found Une, and... " She shook her head. "Whatever they said, we don't know, and... " Her lips curled, somewhere between a snarl and a rueful smile.
"The next trap, arranged by Une and Septem," Lena said, "was an ambush. Une held the colonies hostage, Dr. J surrendered, and Pilot 01 self-destructed." She dropped her eyes, and Duo nudged Heero, knowing the man's intent gaze was fixed on Lena, unnerving her, which didn't surprise Duo. Lena cleared her throat politely. "His self-destruction was successful."
The statement fell like a bombshell in the room, and Duo knew his face had gone white from shock. Self-destructed? Heero had often longed for it, during those first months, but it was still foreign to think that another Heero had succeeded. Heero was frozen beside him, but Duo could feel the man vibrating in place, and Duo swallowed hard. He knew the rest were now listening intently; if Doro had doubted her audience before, she had their attention now.
What would have happened, Duo thought, if we hadn't been surrounded at the North Pacific Base? What would have happened if those last Leos hadn't... He pushed the thoughts away. He'd been over them enough, in the year after the war ended. He didn't need to resurrect old ghosts now, even if that ghost was another version of himself.
"When Zechs attempted to withdraw from Romefeller," Doro continued, "he was killed during a skirmish. Noin had taken the remnants of Wing to Antarctica on Zechs' request. And Lena, meanwhile, tracked down Pilot 03 and brought him to Antarctica."
"Why?" Quatre's voice was puzzled. "The Relena Darlian I've heard of was a pacifist. A bystander."
"Not in this world," Lena replied, her voice harsh. "I went to Antarctica, and 03 taught me to use the Gundam. It's taken me years to be as good as... the original pilot, but he had years of training before me."
"It was then that Une began arguing for peace," Doro said. She studied each of the men in turn, as though weighing what else to say. "She was taken prisoner, and escaped with the help of the Treize faction, a group of soldiers loyal to Treize's memory. 03 and 02 went to space, where 03 infiltrated Septem's force. He was... killed while undercover. 02 and 04 escaped." She seemed reluctant to say more.
Trowa's hands were white-knuckled under the table, and Duo knew the other men were as lost and stunned as he. His mind was reeling. None of this had happened. None of this was possible. He'd joined Heero's fight, but the two of them still weren't enough, and they'd rotted out the rest of the month, until the three other Gundams were outnumbered and outflanked at the Victoria Base. And then had begun a year of hell... he forced his mind to focus on Doro's words.
"Oz, under Septem, invaded the Sanq kingdom, where Lena had taken refuge while performing the last repairs on Wing. Sandrock joined her... and was killed during the battle. I took over Sandrock, when 04 fell," Doro added quietly. "02 was captured to use as a test subject for the system 04 designed... and he survived the test. We don't know what happened, or what he did. We only know he and the Gundam were destroyed."
"His friend Hilde came to us, to take his place," Lena explained. "And then... it was only the five of us."
"Five," Wufei said. "You've not mentioned 05 in all of this."
"Meiran," Doro replied, nodding. "She was the only lucky one, but she kept her head down. When the colony self-destructed, she... her heart was gone, for a long time."
"Meiran," Wufei breathed, his eyes wide. "She was the fifth---no," he broke off, shaking his head.
"Her husband died when the colony was attacked," Lena said gently. "When the colony self-destructed, it didn't free her. It trapped her... and she only returned once Po tracked her down and brought her to the Peacemillion."
"The what?" Duo raised his eyebrows.
"The Sweeper's ship," Doro told him. "We gathered there, trying to stop the Libra, taken over by White Fang. We did... but... " She shrugged. "We stopped the large groups. We couldn't stop their splinter into a hundred small groups, all fighting for control."
"There was a type of peace, afterwards... for everyone but us." Lena snorted in a very unladylike fashion. "Martial law is more like it. We fled, we hid, we stored our Gundams and licked our wounds. And then... the Barton Foundation tried again, three years later, with Treize's daughter. And they... were successful."
"Tried Operation Meteor?" Quatre's eyes were wide.
"They've never dropped anything," Lena said. "L2 willingly evacuated and self-destructed rather than be used."
Duo felt his gut drop. His home. The one he hadn't seen in ten years, and now there was no hope... and it's not even my home, he thought bitterly. But it would've been nice to fool myself, for a little while.
"They don't need to drop anything," Doro said. "They have all the power. Legions of Go, Ju, Ma, Yang... "
"The worst are the Long," Lena said, quietly. "I'll take five Ho any day, over two Long."
Wufei shifted in his seat, catching Duo's attention. "Dog, Pig, Horse, Ram... " His voice was faint, as though trying to recall words long buried.
"Something like that," Doro replied, waving one hand dismissively. "General Bundt's corps from Old Beijing are on the team, from what the Fates tell us. Ho and Long are the worst, though. They're both Temurah."
"They're what?" Duo couldn't keep silent any longer. "Back up. What are you talking about? What about the Leos, the Virgos, the Tauruses... "
"Gone," Doro said, a bit sharply. "It's been ten years. You think they're going to sit on their laurels, and think that's good enough?" She shook her head. "We're using technology ten years' past, and they're way ahead of us. All our Gundams are now Temurah, too, but that's still not enough, with the scavenging we've had to do to keep it all in shape."
"And the cannibalizing for the latest," Lena whispered. She sighed, and sat up, meeting Doro's look with an even stare. "None of this is going to help them. We need to take them to Bay 2, and let them see for themselves."
"We should---"
"No, now," Lena said, and stood up. Duo was surprised to see Doro gave way gracefully, standing up as well, as though no flash of disagreement had passed between the two women. The five men stood as one group, and Lena led the way, leaving Doro behind to clean the remains. "This way, gentlemen," she said, politely, but her face was closed-off.
Duo trailed behind the group, studying the walls, memorizing the corridors as they threaded their way down endless twists and turns. Despite the appearance of a concrete world, the layout was complex enough to hint at the origins of underground volcanic tunnels. Up ahead, Lena pushed open a set of double doors, and Duo could hear Quatre and Wufei gasp as they followed her in. Nervous, Duo glanced behind them, checking the empty corridor one last time before joining the other men. That was when he turned around, looking across the cavernous bunker, and saw them.
Three Gundams.
Quatre thought his knees were going to give out. Sandrock was standing at the far end, its Gundam plates battered and worn, but the shotels were visible over the beast's shoulders, and the stance was still proud. "Oh... " He couldn't finish the sentence, and couldn't find the breath to try.
"Say," Duo's voice came from behind, then moved around Quatre as the man stepped forward, a quizzical look on his face. "Don't they seem... a bit shorter to you guys?" He trotted forward, until he was standing by Wing, and stared up at it, one hand behind his head as he considered the Gundam carefully. Duo shook his head, his braid whipping around him from the force. "No, no, I have not gotten that tall."
"He's right," Trowa said, as Heero joined Duo.
Quatre studied the two men, noting that Wing's cockpit wasn't much more than twenty-five feet off the ground. All told, the Gundam couldn't be more than---
"Forty feet," Lena said, her voice echoing in the hanger. "Give or take a bit. We've had to compress the size, to allow for more maneuverability, and lightened the weight from seven-point-one metric tons, in Wing's case, to six-point-eight."
"Quite a drop," Trowa said. Lena's eyebrows went up, startled at the man's voice, but she nodded perfunctorily. "Wing now has one Vulcan, and one machine cannon. The buster rifle has a firing capability of four, rather than the original three. I sacrificed one of the beam sabers for that."
"Hey, buddy," Duo was saying, and Lena laughed quietly.
"Hilde was right," she whispered to Quatre, in an aside. Before he could reply, she was moving forward to stand by Duo and Heero. "This is Deathscythe Hell, rebuilt after being destroyed in space during the Eve Wars. This version---" she patted the broad foot nearest her fondly, which was at her shoulder-level, "---also has a hyperjammer ECM system."
"Hyperjammer?" Trowa stared up at the Gundam.
"Stealth mode," Duo said, his tone reverent. "Dr G and I talked about it, but we didn't have time... "
"We've never gotten it to entirely work, I'm afraid," Lena said. "If you can figure it out, we're in your debt. Well," she said, pausing with a rueful smile, "more than already."
"We've not said yet whether we'll join you," Wufei pointed out, coming to stand alongside the group. Duo was already crawling up the Gundam's foot, seeking the button to lower the harness lift. There was a happy shout as Duo found it, quickly grabbing the rope and lifting away before anyone could stop him. Wufei sighed. "We'll be here all day."
"Not an engineer?" Lena glanced at him sideways, under her eyelashes.
Quatre answered instead. "Not us. Maxwell's still a techie, after all these years. The three of them would spend hours... " He trailed off, unwilling to speak of a life that was suddenly so far distant. Lena seemed to understand, and simply nodded as Quatre stepped up to Sandrock, staring up at the Gundam's cockpit.
"You can look, if you want," Lena offered. "They're not locked, since the Brazil group's had Howard running diagnostics."
"Howard!" Duo's shout echoed from the cockpit, and he leaned down, a cheerful grin on his face. "Does your Howard wear those godawful Hawaiian shirts, too?"
Quatre turned to see Lena's shoulders slump, before she strode across the hanger, returning with a small box about two feet on all sides. She set it down by Deathscythe's foot, lifted the top, and stepped away. The screen flipped up to reveal a keyboard, and had outlets on all sides for a variety of plug sizes. It was painted a lurid turquoise, with bright yellow flowers in a naïve manner. Lena stared at it for a second, then looked up at Duo's baffled expression.
"This is Howard," she said. "He was killed in a skirmish with the Sweepers, three years ago, but he'd created this diagnostic system... "
"Shit," Duo moaned, and he disappeared into the cockpit. Heero frowned, and grabbed the towrope, scaling the Gundam quickly and disappearing into the cockpit as well.
Quatre studied Lena for a second, noting the gun's shape at the base of her spine as she leant over to pick up Howard. When she turned, he stepped in her way, and Wufei and Trowa immediately flanked him, sensing his decision.
"Is there a way back?"
"There might be," she said, hesitating before setting the box back down. Lena ran a hand through her hair, and brought the bandana from her back pocket, tying it around her head. Quatre sensed she was stalling, but waited patiently. Lena sighed as she straightened the bandana, holding the hair from her face. "We'd need a person to send you, but we'd have to test it first. The equations differed on each, but we had no way to test to see if the same bend occurred each time, or if it was purely chance."
"Could a robot do it?" Trowa's voice was flat.
"Opening, possibly, but we'd need a person on the other end to collect the information, determine whether it's the same world, and send the information back. And in doing so, that would close the gate," she explained. "One opens, another closes." She closed her eyes, as if steeling herself, and Trowa shifted at Quatre's side. Lena smiled tightly, and opened her eyes. "Two of our number are imprisoned, and have been for a year now."
Duo climbed down from Deathsycthe, his face drawn, and Heero was only a minute behind, leaping down gracefully to stand at Duo's shoulder. Quatre watched them carefully, the minute lift of Duo's chin, and the tension in Heero's shoulder as they waited for Quatre's words.
"What's the current situation?" Quatre brought his eyes back to Lena.
"It's... " She made a face, and beckoned to them. "Follow me, and I'll show you."
Curious, Duo stepped forward immediately, and the rest of them fell in line as she headed to the end of the hangar. The broad double doors, as tall as a Gundam, were sealed and shut, but Lena turned left and headed into a stairwell, which wound up and around. The door at the top opened up, bringing them into a world of noise and light, almost startling after the silence and darkness of the hangar.
Three walls of huge flatscreens graced the front of the auditorium-sized room, with four rows of desks and control pits stepping down to the lowest level. They were standing at the top, and Quatre couldn't keep the shock off his face at seeing half the desk positions occupied with people chattering into headsets while typing or reviewing information on their screens. The main flatscreen currently showed a map of the world, with various lights and symbols flashing too quickly for Quatre to catch. The side screens were divided into six areas each, with each scrolling information and images just as rapidly.
"Control center for South America," Lena said, stepping down to the next level. "We have another in Northern Europe, and one in Singapore. The one in Kenya was destroyed five years ago, and we've never been able to rebuild our forces there."
Some of the people at the desks glanced up, and one woman waved. Lena nodded, and continued down, the men following behind her. Duo's eyes were as wide as saucers, and Trowa paused long enough to stare over one man's shoulder as the man completed a number of calculations, making notations on a clipboard. Quatre kept his focus on Lena, but remained relaxed enough to take in everything in his peripheral vision. Trowa joined them, standing close to Heero and Duo, and Quatre nodded in satisfaction as the two men moved to shield Trowa. Lines of tension were already showing up Trowa's face, and Heero's hands twitched as he regarded the people working steadily, paying them no mind.
Lena bent down over an empty desk, tapping several commands into the computer. She stood up with a grimace and hit a key. The main screen went black, then began playing what looked like a Gundam's battle record.
"This is from two months ago, received from Shenlong while in North Europe, over Old Italy," Lena said. "The battle was outside the ruins of Venice... with four Long."
"Long," Wufei breathed, and Quatre frowned. The picture was moving too fast, as the Gundam struggled to maneuver against several other shapes that darted in, struck, and backed out again, their Verniers blasting the image white from the heat.
Finally the image resolved itself, as the Gundam turned towards another mobile suit not far away. A blast from the Gundam's flamethrower shook the Mobile Suit, and it wavered before leaping upwards. As it did, the metallic gleam of wings spread out from behind it, and it contorted from a boxy humanoid shape into something roughly similar to Wing's bird-form. This form, however, kept its arms down, almost like claws, while the rest of the body folded up, leaving only a long tail and a set of two-level wings. The wings flapped, and the mobile suit arched, moving more fluidly than Quatre would have thought possible. Flames shot from the Mobile suit's headpiece, and the Gundam's image stuttered as Shenlong angled to dodge.
"The wings are verniers," Lena was saying quietly. "Double rows, which are calibrated in mid-flight by the pumping action of the wings."
"That's a Long," Doro said, coming up behind the first woman.
"Long," Trowa repeated, his eyes fixed on the screen.
"Yeah," Wufei said. The image on the screen focused for a second on one of the Longs, arcing as it twisted overhead of the Gundam, before flames shot forth. There was a brief instance of pure red, and the screen went dark. Wufei sighed, a long exhalation, before turning to Quatre.
Quatre raised an eyebrow at him.
"In this world," Doro said, "we fight dragons."
End Part 5
(:./sol/tetra5)
