Jaid: Chapter two! I’d like to thank funniebones 2k (can I just call you Crazy reggie? it’s easier to type…) and Galyn for suggesting chapter titles! And I’d also like to say that no, I am not going trough a Lord of the Rings withdrawal; this idea was formed nearly a year before I saw the movie, but since I was busy with other things, I never elaborated on it. Now, on to Chapter 2!

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Chapter Two

            “You don’t do it that way. It goes this way!”

            “I LIKE it this way!!”

            Quatre sighed wearily as he watched Duo and Dorco argue over how to set up camp. Deathscythe was sleeping; it seemed to be the dragon’s favorite pastime. Quatre shook his head, trying to get it clear of all the ill temperament in the air. Not succeeding, he picked up his bow, calmly notched an arrow, took aim and let it fly. It landed right between Dorco and Duo who were crouching over something. They both looked at the arrow and Duo gulped. It had barely missed his hand. He followed Dorco’s gaze to where Quatre was standing, with a small, calm smile on his face.

            “What in blazes are you thinking?” Dorco demanded. Quatre cocked his head and raised an eyebrow.

            “You know, it’s amazing the entire country side doesn’t know we’re here, between his complaining and your shouting.” he commented. Duo’s face flushed.

            “Look, I don’t complain!”

            Dorco snorted and Duo glared at him. “You want to make something of that, pal?” he asked in a dangerous tone.

            “Stop!” Quatre stepped forward, the smile gone. In it’s place was a look of stern command. “If the two of you cannot work together, I will boot you two out and do it myself!” He looked around and sighed. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea.”

            “No.” Dorco protested. “You’re still not well, Quatre.”

            “Well enough.” the elf answered and began setting up wood for a fire. Duo frowned and watched him closely. He had noticed the other’s lack of breath and slight limp the other day, and he had always assumed the paleness came of being a Wood Elf. Quatre looked and met Duo’s violet eyes.

            “Something wrong?”

            “No.” Duo stood. “I’ll go get some water I guess.”

            Quatre nodded. “Good idea.”

*  *  *

            Five winged beasts stood waiting, Mariemeia beside them. Each were very different: Tallgeese, a great gray wolf with silver wings; Nataku, a black winged panther; Katarina, a golden lioness with white wings;  Wing, a black Pegasus, and Sophfan, a brown panther with black wings. They were all as big as regular horses at least. Each wizard came forward and claimed his or her beast. Trieze merely stood next to Tallgeese, Mariemeia at his side. The others mounted and gave their salute to Trieze, before flying away.

            Trieze had sent them to different regions. WuFei and Sally to Men; Heero and Relena to the Dwarves and Elves. They would have to get the races to work together. As for him, he was heading out to investigate for himself just what exactly was going on.

*  *  *

            “Where is she!?” an outraged Lord Peacecraft demanded. Lady Peacecraft winced slightly, while Dorothy merely sighed and looked out of the window in a bored fashion.

            “I’ve already told you we don’t know.” Lady Peacecraft said, feeling like she wasn’t getting through to her husband. “Millardo, just calm down!”

            Lord Peacecraft stopped pacing. Whenever Lucrezia used his real name instead of his childhood nickname, he was in trouble. He turned to his eldest daughter.

            “Dorothy, do you know where she is?”

            Dorothy looked at him innocently. “No idea.” Then she went back to staring out of the window in a bored fashion, successfully conveying the idea that she had better things to do than watch her parents argue again.

            “Hello?”

            Relena entered the room cheeks pink from running. She had quickly changed out of her wizard’s garb and had hurried to the throne room.

            “Relena, where have you been-“ Millardo suddenly stopped and Relena had a sudden horrible feeling as she turned. Heero stood there, one eyebrow raised and arms crossed. Relena felt a blush come over cheeks. Millardo choked.

            “Who is this?” Lucrezia asked.

            “The wizard Heero Yuy.” Relena said quickly. “Heero, these are my parents.”

            Lucrezia smiled. “Welcome, Mage. We offer you the hospitality of our home.” She nodded her head slightly and nudged her husband hard. He managed to “welcome” Heero somewhat. Dorothy raised an eyebrow as her parents left the room.

            “You do move on quickly, Lena.” she said smoothly, standing and walking fluidly to the door. “But,” she added over her shoulder. “I did think you would’ve waited for Quatre a little longer.”

            Relena glared at her sister’s retreating back. Heero mentally sighed and wondered how he had gotten involved with an Elven Princess in the first place.

*  *  *

            Lady Mieran Long stood shakily, coughing up blood. She stood, blinking her dark eyes as she scanned the burnt horizon. A few hours, and some of the greatest warriors had been destroyed. Stumbling, she tried to walk a few steps when there was a shout.

            “Mieran!”

            It was WuFei. Mieran smiled and then collapsed. WuFei sprang forward and gently lowered her to the ground. She began to cough again.

            “It’s been awhile cousin.” she said.

            “Don’t talk.” he ordered. Sally came forward.

            “I can help her.” she said softly. “But you need to get out of the way.” WuFei scowled but moved.

            “I have some herbs in my bag.” Sally continued. “WuFei, would you…?”

            He nodded and walked over to Sally’s mount. Sally looked at her young patient.

            “Don’t worry.” she told Mieran. “You’re going to be fine.”

*  *  *

            They had made good time, Duo thought. He looked around at the woods. He had never really seen a place like this. It was amazing. Some trees were so high, that you couldn’t see where they ended! Duo grinned.

            “Hurry up, lazy elf!” Dorco shouted at him. Duo’s grin faded and he was about to come up with an amazingly sarcastic reply when Quatre stopped short.

            “What’s wrong?” the other two asked.

            “There’s something wrong.” Quatre began to look around, eyes wide. “Something’s missing…no, something was taken. I can feel evil but…” his voice trailed off and Duo’s sharp ears picked up the sound of hoarse shouts.

            “Wonderful.” Duo commented. “Syrch. You guys always have this much fun?”

            Dorco growled something under his breath. Deathscythe sat cocking his head. “No good.” he said.

            “What’s no good?” Quatre asked.

            “Syrch. They’re no good to eat.” Deathscythe said gloomily. Quatre bit back the urge to laugh. No need to get hysterical at a time like this. he thought, a little shakily. Memories were coming back, hard and fast. He was having a difficult time dividing reality and his own mind’s images when something hard slammed into him.

            “You just going to stand there and let ‘em use you as target practice?” Duo demanded angrily. Quatre blinked then groaned in pain, his hand going to his side. Duo dragged him behind some boulders. “You okay?”

            Quatre shook his head. “I’ll be fine, just give me a minute- Duo! Look out!” Quatre pushed him away as a syrch narrowly missed Duo’s head with a war club. Seconds later, the same syrch fell, an arrow through his throat. Duo grabbed his scythe and grinned. There was some un-natural bent in Dark Elves that made them love the adrenaline rush of battle. Beside him, he heard Quatre whispering in elvish, some sort of prayer or poem. He caught the word Relena, but was too concentrated on getting rid of his enemies.

*  *  *

            WuFei watched as Meiran shivered with fever, then went on walking to Sally. More survivors had been found and he and Sally had their hands full trying to make them comfortable. Nataku and Sophfan and worked on burying bodies, as well as they could.

            “Here.” WuFei handed Sally some plants. “There’s more if you need them.”

            “No, this should be fine.” she answered absentmindedly, bending over a child. WuFei felt sick; the child’s right arm had been completely crushed. The little boy was no more than five. He turned away to go help Nataku and Sophfan.

*  *  *

            Relena walked up. Heero stood at the balcony, watching the waterfalls below. Relena stood next to him, and they both were silent for a while.

            “I’m sorry.” she finally said. Heero turned to her with an inquisitive look in his eyes.

            “I’m sorry about your treatment. My people are not used to mortals.” she apologized. Heero shrugged.

            “I’m fine. As for them being impolite…well, I can live with that. It’s not like I care.” He told her. Relena nodded, still looking at the waterfalls, one hand unconsciously clasping her pendant.

            “Who’s Quatre?” Heero asked. Relena, startled out of her reverie, looked at him.

            “What?”

            “Who’s Quatre?” Heero asked again. Relena’s cheeks turned a faint pink.

            “He’s the youngest son of the King of Theintoviel.” Relena said. “He used to visit this place with his mother; she was a native of Sank.”

            Heero nodded his head. “Was he someone special?” Relena blushed even deeper.

            “I don’t think you have the rights to ask such a question, wizard or not!” She said angrily. Heero held up his hands in a peaceful manner.

            “I asked a simple question that’s all. From what your sister said, he was.”

            Relena looked down, tears threatening to flow down her cheeks. “Yes, he was.”

            “Was?”

            “He was exiled. He…he had been defiled. I have not seen him for thirty summers.” she whispered, swallowing hard. “I wasn’t even allowed to say good bye to him.”

            Heero was silent, his gaze on the waterfalls again. “You must have loved him very much.”

            “I still do.” Relena said. Heero nodded. In the shadows, Dorothy walked away, her normal smirk replaced by a sad thoughtful look.

*  *  *

            “Is it over?” Quatre asked, peeking over a boulder. Duo peeked up next to him. Deathscythe stood there, looking very pleased with himself.

            “I did it.” the black and gold dragon said.

            “Took you long enough!” Dorco shouted. Deathscythe snorted and waddled away.

            “Look, he did the best he could.” Duo angrily told the dwarf. Within minutes, they were locked in another argument. Quatre knew he should stop them, but something was pulling at the edge of his mind. Walking around and trying to avoid the charred bodies of syrch There, he gingerly picked up a leather traveling bag and opened it. A bright stream of light hit his face and he turned away, then reached in a grabbed it. A crystal was in his hand, so bright and pure and beautiful, that he could hardly believe it.

            “Dorco! Duo!” he cried. The two immediately stopped their argument and ran over.

            “What’s wrong?” Dorco asked. Quatre smiled.

            “Nothing, look!” Quatre held out the crystal, which was easily bigger than his hand. Duo stepped back blinking.

            “You feel it too, don’t you?” Quatre asked softly. “Because you’re an elf, you know what it means.”

            Dorco took it. “Remarkable.” he murmured, his skilled hands going over it. “A beautiful piece of work. Elvish, of course. Dwarves wouldn’t work on something like this. It’s not practical, unless you’d want it as a light source, but then you’d need some sort of handle or chain…” He continued to ramble to himself, while Quatre stood and walked over to Duo, who had his back to them.

            “Are you all right?” Quatre asked kindly, placing a hand on Duo’s shoulder.

            “Yeah, just a little shaken.” Duo admitted turning back around. “What is in that thing?”

            “I’m not sure, but, to me it felt wonderful. It felt like coming home after being away for decades. Or…” Quatre’s voice trailed off. Duo looked at him. He suddenly seemed drained but the peaceful, almost childish expression stayed.

            “Let’s go. I  can’t stare at these bodies anymore.” Quatre said quietly. Duo nodded and they left, Dorco following. He was still talking to myself.

*  *   *

            “That’s the situation.” Relena finished quietly. Beside her, Heero slightly nodded his approval. Dorothy had a calm mask, but Relena could only imagine how fast her mind was working. Lucrezia was staring blankly at her younger daughter while Millardo’s eye was twitching.

            “Mother, Father, please say something.” Relena begged.

            “Why didn’t you tell us before?” Lucrezia asked quietly, sounding hurt.

            “I don’t know.” Relena admitted. There was an awkward pause.

            “Well,” Millardo finally said, standing. “I guess we should figure out what we’re going to do.”

            “Heero and I have to warn the dwarves and the other elves.” Relena told him. “We need to leave soon.”

            Millardo nodded, a sad look coming into his eyes. He bent over and kissed his daughter’s head. “Be careful.” he whispered. Relena nodded. Millardo straitened and left the room. Lucrezia followed, but not before she cast a half sorrowful, half proud glance at Relena.

            “So, it falls into place.” Dorothy commented quietly. Relena looked up.

            “How long have you known?” she asked, falling into Elvish.

            “I’ve suspected a long time.” Dorothy answered, then stood. “You’d better get ready to go.” she said in Common tongue. “You’ll want to leave at first light.”

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Jaid: Thanx to all who review! *sniff* You guys are great. *blows nose*

Naga: Gee whiz, no need to start a hurricane…

Jaid: *throws her frying pan at him*