Gundam Fantasy

Chapter Six

Staring down the old priest he awaited the answer as to why his element was changed. All he got from his mentor was a cold and rather heartless laugh as he reached past the out-stretched hand. J covered Heero's face with his aged hand and chanted something rather softly. It had felt to the newly reborn man as if the entire room was spinning out of control before seeing as all went black. Sleep had over taken the young man but it was not to be the most peaceful of slumbers.

* * *

Heero twitched as he came to the realization that he was dreaming again. Even with that knowledge there was little comfort to be had. He was unable to control the dream, which meant one of two things. Either the dream was being supplied from an outside source, or the dream was an echo or the harshness of reality. Though not knowing exactly which it had been frustrated him greatly.

"Lady Peacecraft…" the young Mage knelt before the princess of his land. "There is news from the Northern Land of Tsï kung, Treize and his Demon Dolls have attacked again."

The elegant young lady rose, the weariness of such news reflecting in her eyes. But such a thing had little effect on her natural grace. "And will Lord Po agree to sign the treaty?"

Heero looked down, his gaze already giving away what he hesitated to say to the young princess. He knew the answer would only further upset her in these affairs but his loyalty was hers and she had asked for the answer. Sighing with heavy regret, he spoke to the graceful woman before him.

"He will not My Lady. He insists that his armies will be enough and that your treaty is nothing but a plot to unseat him."

Relena signed and stepped off of the dais walking towards the young man before her. "Rise My Heero… you have served me well this day."

Heero rose from his knee, but his countenance remained crestfallen. "I do not think so my lady…"

Relena brought her hand up to his cheek stroking it gently, coaxing him to look upon her face. "You have done well Heero. It is Lord Po who disappoints me."

"My Lady someone will see us." The emotionless Mage felt his face grow warm at such a tender touch from the woman he was with.

Relena smiled sweetly at his words knowing that he had her best intentions at heart. "There is no one here my love and I wouldn't care if they did." She leaned up and kissed his lips softly before speaking to him in a tender way. "I love you."

Heero relaxed giving into his feelings and returned his princess' kiss. Her lips were warm and soft and how he missed kissing them. She was there with him and that's all that mattered. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, as he began holding her close never wanting to let her go as he lightly closed his eyes once again. Heero's eyes opened as he wished to look upon the face of his beloved and found himself staring into a set of amethyst eyes.

Heero screamed sitting up sharply as the violet-eyed man pulled away. The initial shock of seeing Duo that close and realizing that the lips he enjoyed touching, belonged to another man was more then he could handle.

"Your Relena is gone Heero. She has been dead for 100 years." Duo wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and snorted with annoyance at being pulled in like he had. "Yuck! You've got to stop dreaming of her."

Heero rolled to the side and held his face in his hands trying to get over the horror at kissing another man. "Let me go back! Why did you bring me back?"

* * *

Heero sat by the window alone in his room as he had in days passed. He remained there watching the day's activities in silence and seclusion. A week earlier he had been told that he had been resurrected and that the time between his life now, and his death then, had been 150 years. Princess, no, Empress Relena had told him so and the old Priest had also told him, even the rather annoying Fire Mage made a slight remark about it. Heero remembered him, the old man, somehow from his earlier life it and it puzzled him as to how he had never left. His thoughts and memories had been coming back to him slowly, some pleasant, others often ones he did not wish to remember. He heard yelling outside his window and saw one of the four young Mages' that had brought him back to life.

It was the braid-haired Fire Mage.

Duo, that's his name. Heero remembered though he wished he had not at times. What's he doing?

The spirited lad took a stance, just beyond the patio wall outside and below Heero's room. With one hand on his hip, he used the other to flip his wild fiery braid back over his shoulder. As he continued to egg on his unseen opponent, his gesturing grew more and more flamboyant. As he whipped them around, his hands began to glow an unnatural shade of red and orange as flames leapt from his fingertips. Duo was yelling challenges at the person that Heero still couldn't see under the scaffolding. Heero looked on, his interest drawn towards the events of outside by the wild freedom that Duo radiated.

Mages were trained to be serious about their craft, yet Duo was completely opposite to everything Heero had ever known. He took life around him in stride, with so little care or worry that it amazed Heero that Duo hadn't fallen before his own carelessness.

There was a crack of thunder and Heero saw Duo's expression suddenly change. He threw his hands up over his head and face and created a barrier that just barely deflected an immense bolt of lightening. Duo doubled over laughing and mockingly pointed fingers. His laughter came to an abrupt halt when he realized his hair was sticking on end due to the static caused by the lightening strike. Eyes flashing a deeper purple, the fire Mage dropped his barrier and launched a barrage of his own.

"Look what you did to my hair!" Heero heard Duo scream as a volley of fireballs splashed into the wall at the far end of the courtyard.

"It suits you!" Heero heard someone say and the voice slowly registered to him. It was the Lightening Mage, as he fired off another round of electrical bursts, shattering cobblestones and splitting a nearby tree in two. From across the courtyard, Heero saw two figures running and dodging their way through the never-ending melee, in the attempt to stop the squabbling Mages.

Heero watched as the two remaining Mages came running up, each grabbing onto the two disagreeing Mages. The smaller of the two, Quatre, was talking with Duo, who seemed indifferent to what was going on. He was letting Quatre's words roll off him as he made faces at the dark-haired man on the other end of the yard.

The taller Mage, Trowa, was doing his best to calm Wufei, but it wasn't really working. The Northern Mage pointed an accusing finger toward the chestnut-haired Fire Mage - accusing him of disrespect, as Trowa held him with arms clasped around each shoulder. Wufei kicked and struggled against Trowa's iron grip, but found his efforts to be a waste of energy. Slumping back against Trowa he conceded his defeat at least for the present time.

Heero mused to himself as he watched the four Mages interacting with one another.

Do these four young men actually know what is being asked of them? That there is the chance that they could all be killed come the inevitable battle with our unknown enemy?

His thoughts were drawn back to more immediate problems as he heard Trowa shout in pain. Looking down he watched as Wufei kicked up over his head, landing his right foot squarely into Trowa's jaw, staggering him backwards. Grabbing Trowa's arm, he threw the taller man over his shoulder, Wufei hauled back and decked Trowa. Trowa's lanky limbs relaxed immediately as he was knocked unconscious.

Wufei leapt over the fallen man and plowed passed Quatre, pushing him to the side, who was still preoccupied with the mischievous Duo. The dark haired Mage buried his shoulder in the braided Mage's gut, and wrapped his arms around Duo's waist, throwing the two of them to the ground. Duo bit at the Lightening Mage's arms and scratched at his neatly tied hair, pulling it out of the band that held it. And continued to do so as he struggled to get up and away from the other man. From Heero's point of view, it had seemed that this squabble was to go from just another minor argument to a full blown duel, a duel that would end up hurting far more then simple and childish pride.

Quatre's shrill cry suddenly echoed through the courtyard. Duo stood and looked over to where the gently young man was looking and saw the crumpled heap that was Trowa. Flames began to flare up in a circle around Duo's feet. His eyes darkened in anger and he clenched his fists tightly as the flames leapt around his body enveloping him in an impassable glow.

"How dare you hurt another in an argument in which they are not involved!" Duo's voice held an odd tone, and the words coming from his mouth shocked everyone that heard them.

"You... you...you insolent..." Wufei was so furious that he could barely speak. His face burned with anger and shame that he had stooped to use a cheap shot against an ally. A bolt of white lighting shot down from the heavens, engulfing the black haired Mage and he rose up in its beam. He could feel energy all around him and wrapped it like a cloak around himself. "Nataku, my heart, come to me."

Wufei's eyes snapped opened as he heard the Dragon Spirit's response. "But why not? Is he not deserving of punishment for his indiscretions? Well then if you won't help me then I will do this on my own." So saying, the Lightening Mage gathered all the energy around him into a condensed ball.

Duo's body burned brilliantly in the gloaming, as he waited for his opponent.

* * *

As Heero watched them from the shadows of his room, he closed his eyes and moved onto the window's ledge. He concentrated slightly before kicking his feet over the edge, still keeping his eyes shut to the world around him. For if anyone had seen him jump from his window, they would have seen something quite miraculous as a pair of white wings immerged from his back and as his landed softy on the ground below, Heero's wings suddenly disappeared.

"Quatre." The Wind Mage became startled at the sound of Heero's voice then looked back to see the resurrected mage walking forward. "I'll need your help to break them up."

"How...? I didn't hear you on the stairs. When did you get here?" Quatre queried, as he tended to a purpling bruise on Trowa's cheek. He was inwardly thankful that Wufei's punches did not do more damage then minor bruising. "It will be fine in a day or so Trowa, but it will sting for a little while." Trowa nodded in response from where he was still seated on the ground.

"Quatre, if we let them continue like this, they will destroy this entire castle and quite possibly themselves at the same time. I'll need your wind to separate them and move them to a safer area. Trowa, if you feel up to it, I'll need you to immobilize them with your freeze spells." The two Mages nodded in agreement as Heero outlined his plan to them in a calm manner.

Quatre ran to the center of the courtyard, just barely missing being hit by various balls of projectile energy on several occasions. From his stance in the center of the yard he looked up and saw both Fire and Lightening Mages encompassed in their respective elements, darting back and forth as their battle worked its way higher and higher. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Empress Relena being reluctantly escorted away from the turret she was on.

Thank the Gods… if she were to get injured by their foolishness… we would all have Hell to pay. Quatre thought to himself before returning to the task at hand.

He focused on a small storm that had been reported to be brewing on the very borders of the capital. Quatre called out to the wind and began to pull it toward him. Within seconds the evening sky turned black with storm clouds. Quatre closed his eyes concentrating on the gale winds that circled around him. He felt them lift him from the ground as if he where gifted with wings. Opening his eyes, the Wind Mage released his power on the two unsuspecting Mages above him. He commanded the windstorm to crash down upon Duo and Wufei forcing them to the earth. The two Mages hit the ground hard, the air in their lungs forced out, stunning them but only for the time being. From where they had landed, they where laying only several yards from where Heero and Trowa waited.

"Now, Trowa!" The two disoriented Mages heard Quatre yell but could make no sudden move as they where still stunned from the fall.

Trowa stepped forward and concentrated at the new task at hand. His hands began to glow with a blue tint, as he used the moisture that was in the air around him for his spell. He cast his hands toward the Fire and Lightening Mages pinning them in a layer of ice before they could get up and start their battle once again.

Now it was Heero's turn to end this foolish battle once and for all. He calmly walked up to where the trapped Mages fought to free themselves from their ice prison.

"What is the meaning of this!" Yelled Wufei. "Release me at once!"

"I will not be kept like this!" Duo also cried, the ice around him already starting to melt.

"You two have just a little too much energy to be wasting it on each other." Heero spoke in an eerie calm, as he held his arms out at his side. Reaching down to his belt, Heero unsheathed the dagger that he always kept with him from since the moment it was returned to him by his old mentor.

The two imprisoned Mages looked on in unwavering horror as Heero casually drew the blade across first one then his second wrist. The wrappings that were normal part of Heero's outfit suddenly uncoiled sinuously from each arm, and snaked out towards the two confined men to ensnare them both.

Quatre gently landed beside Trowa and the two watched as Heero's wrappings eerily reached out toward both immobile men, as the ice that held them broke away. In the blink of an eye the bandages wrapped themselves around the arms and chest of Duo and Wufei, holding them fast. Within seconds the two Mages ceased their struggling and fell quiet. As the bandages removed themselves, they revealed that both men were unconscious where they lay.

Quatre moved over to check Heero's arms, to examine him carefully and was shocked to find that the cuts, that had been so fresh just moments before, were now completely healed. There wasn't even a trace of scarring.

"How can that be?" Quatre asked in great surprise, as he began looking into Heero's face. "Even my healing skills can't heal such severe damage without some scarring. And it was so fast!"

"My original abilities lay in the earth element when I lived before. But it seems that since I have been resurrected, my powers now have gained a tighter focus. Thanks to the old Priest." It was the way he said it that held venom in his tone. "Humans were said to have been created from the earth, so with that in mind it makes sense that now I can control the body through Blood Magick. I can heal myself by drawing on either my own strength and energy or the energy of others. It's much faster I've found, to take the energy from others."

"I see," Quatre mused with peaked interest. "That would explain what happened at your shrine when the wrappings latched themselves onto Duo. You drew strength from him." Quatre looked over at the two passed out Mages and sighed worriedly. "Will these two be okay?"

"They should be fine in an hour or so, although they will probably both feel a little drained for the next couple days."

* * *

Oshan entered Treize's sitting room and announced his presence. His voice was held tight as he tried to hide his nervousness. Anxiously his dark eyes shifted up towards his lord and then back down at the floor once again until his master spoke to him. The air in the room caused small goose bumps against his bare chest as he heard his Lord speak.

"Speak good messenger for you have always been the bearer of good tidings for me." Treize spoke very nonchalantly, all while leaning against the sidearm of his chair.

"Lord Treize, Empress Relena called for the Revival of the Earth Mage Heero Yuy, several days ago. It is said that he now sits beside her as a Royal Advisor and replaces the Mage that is missing for the Five God Protectors."

Treize sat up in his chair as he heard the news, his cloak rustling and shifting behind him as if it might be alive. Heero Yuy, revived? The demon repeated these words within his head and frowned at such news disapprovingly. The memory of the once dead mage from so long ago brought back much that left to be desired. Having detested how meddling that boy had been to him in the past. The still fresh thoughts of his rebirth lingered on and only further darken the look upon his face. The messenger before him gulped and tried unsuccessfully to hide the terror that was creeping over him like a shadow.

Getting up from his chair, Treize moved gracefully toward the hapless man, his movements reminding the human messenger of a great wild cat stalking its prey.

"My sweet boy, I do not find these tiding amusing. Nor do I enjoy lies coming from my best servants." Treize purred capturing the gaze of the messenger, his eyes where like that of a snake that would have been as it ensnared a small bird. Oshan found himself unable to move as his Master continued to speak, slowly narrowing his eyes at his servant. "Heero Yuy is dead."

Treize brought one hand up to caress the cheek of the young man while his other hand snaked out and his arm wrapped around the messenger's waist pulling him into the taller man. Treize whispered in the trembling human's ear and Oshan's eyes went wide with fear.

"You and yours have been my most loyal and… willing of servants, so I will give you one chance to makeup for this horrible joke you have told me." Treize suddenly bit into the right side of Oshan's throat as it became exposed to him, making a small yet deep gash in the side of his neck, spraying blood nearly everywhere. "You have roughly one hour before you lose too much blood to survive. But, if you please me in that time, I will spare your life."

With tears brimming in his eyes at the thought of his death, Oshan nodded his understanding and without hesitation began to remove his tunic and pants. Behind the closed doors to the master bedroom, he remained for the hour left in his life, doing all that he could to please his Lord and Master.

* * *

"That was wonderful my slave. You were very good." Treize remarked on the lad's more than successful attempts at submissiveness during the short time given. The Demon rested a clawed hand on the back of the young man's head and gently stroked Oshan's hair as he laid exhaust beside him. "Well, I really must get back to work. I have a war to wage against the Empress, after all." Treize quipped as he got up and pulled his cloak around himself.

The messenger raised one hand weakly in protest, nearly all his strength drained from his body. His lips moved but there was no sound, only the 'drip-drip' sound of blood escaping, falling to the sheets of Treize's bed.

Treize turned to look at his forlorn servant where he lay upon hearing such a gentle sound. "Oh my… I had forgotten. I said I would spare you, didn't I?" Treize let a small smile cross his lips and he laughed darkly. "Oops… I lied, but at least I won't destroy your Clan along with you." Oshan's eyes went wide with horror hearing at how he had been betrayed by his master. The young man could only watch as Treize called for another attendant. "Remove that from my sleeping quarters and dispose of it." He voice was cold and heartless.

Oshan tried desperately, swatting at and trying to push away from the hands that reached for him, grabbing at him roughly. But all was in vain as he felt himself being lifted from the bed by two attendants. They dragged him from the bedchamber rather uncaringly, his battered body dangling between them as they walked. The young man tried to get his bare-feet beneath his body but found he had lost all feeling. He was growing weaker his hour was surely up.

"My Lord please…" Oshan whispered pleadingly, "…I have served you well…" But his words fell on deaf ears as he was taken down the hall. The only thing the young man could hear as he was dragged along was the haunting dark laugh of the lord he once served with his life. But that life as the lives of many around him where seen to be nothing more then playthings in the eyes of the demon named Treize Kushrenada.

* * *