Disclaimer: I’ve decided this is also OOC.  Don’t own that show, (you know which one).  I’m giving a rose @--&---- to all my lovely reviewees! Thanks again!

THIS IS THE REVISED VERSION!

The Colours of Life

Chapter 4.2: A Letter Opener and a Can of Worms

By: J.B. Santiago

Quatre’s eyes widened as Bethany stabbed Dorothy’s hand. “No!”  He was up on his feet and tackling Bethany who had wrenched out the letter opener from Dorothy’s hand and had looked like she was about to stab her again.  He heard several clicks around the room as the other pilots all trained their guns on Bethany.  Quatre grabbed onto the letter opener, as Bethany raised her arms in surrender.  She gave everyone an impish grin.  “Dorothy are you ok?”  Quatre knelt besides Dorothy, who was gripping her right hand, which was steadily gushing out blood, soaking the tips of her white sleeves. 

Ignoring him and the concerned sounds from others in the room, Dorothy stood up and glared at her cousin. “Vacca!” Bethany grin just got bigger.

“Will someone explain what the hell is going on?!?!  Why’d she just stab blondie here, for?  What does this have to do with that bloody emblem!”  Duo had had it up to here with this craziness; his gun still trained at Bethany’s head.

Dorothy gazed around the room.  She avoided looking at Quatre, who was still in a kneeling position by the armchair.  “Everything, Mr Maxwell.”  She held up her bloody hand. “This has everything to do with it.”  Duo was about to answer back when a slight glow coming from Dorothy’s hand stopped him short.  Her hand began to pulse a red light, enveloping her entire hand, then it stopped and everyone in the room blinked as an afterimage of red light blinded their eyes.  Quatre stood up slowly, inches away from Dorothy.  He reached out and touched the hand Bethany had stabbed.  There was no blood.  No scar.  Just a perfectly manicured hand.  Dorothy snatched her hand away from him.  Quatre tried to make eye contact with her but she diverted her eyes. “How…?”

Bethany looked at all the astonished faces. She smirked before speaking, “I figured, you wouldn’t have believed me if I just told you, so I thought a demonstration first would be more helpful.”  She folded her arms across her chest.  “I think it would better if you all took a seat.”  She raised an eyebrow as the other pilots save Quatre, didn’t sit and put their guns down. “Ok, then.  If you want it that way.”  Shrugging casually she walked back to the table and sat on it.  She gave a cold stare to Dorothy. “That - ” indicating her hand, “-was for throwing me out of the balcony at my sorority party.”

Dorothy returned the glare, before sitting back down on the armchair. “I was saving you from making a complete fool of yourself.”

“Saving me?! I broke THREE ribs!  Do you have any idea how painful it is to HEAL broken bones!” Bethany pushed herself off the table and had placed her hands on her hips, in a classic temper tantrum pose.

“I wasn’t the one who drank three bottles of vodka mixed with whiskey!” Dorothy had also stood up, giving her cousin a glare that could freeze hell.

Before they could start an all out bitch fight, Relena yelled, “ENOUGH!” Both blonds stared at the normally placid Vice Foreign Minister incredulously.  “PLEASE, one of you, any one, just tell us what is GOING ON!  Heero, Duo, everyone please put down your weapons.”

Everyone complied with Relena, as it would have been really foolish not to at this point.  “Bethany, Dorothy, please tell us what is going on.”

The two looked at each other, before Dorothy nodded slightly and Bethany gave a small smile. “Ok, Miss Relena.  It’s like this.  What you just saw Dorothy do was heal.  You see, a very, very, VERY long time ago, there were these people that had, for better lack of a word, magical powers.  These people were categorized by their ‘magical’ abilities.  People who could move mountains, for example were Green.  People who could cause tidal waves, were Blue.  People who could make light even in the darkest cave, were Gold.  People who could block out the sun, albeit only for a little while, were Black.  And people who could heal – who could take away death, were Red.”  Bethany looked at the faces around her.  They believed her.  She continued, “Anyway, these people had a longer lifespan than humans and had began to use humans as pawns – playthings – to be used and discarded whenever they felt like it.  Before long they had degenerated into depravity.  They were so sure of themselves, so uncaring but not all of them were like this.  Some were smart enough to realise they had to stop this vicious cycle before they destroyed the world.”  Bethany paused, about to start again when Dorothy continued for her.

“So they fought.  A war so disastrous that it nearly wiped out their kind and most of the human population as well.  It was a war no one could win.  They saw what they had done to Earth and resolved never to let anything like that happen again.  They created another world, one that was linked to Earth but a link that only went one way.  If Earth died so would this world they made but if this new world died Earth wouldn’t be affected.  Therefore they went about restoring Earth, using their powers for the sake of others and not just for themselves.”  Dorothy’s face vague, as if she was remembering a distant memory. 

Bethany nodded her head. “They built a society in the new world.  Each magical power was given a Council.  Five in total.  The Red, the Blue, the Gold, the Green and the Black.  The five Councils, all together – made up the Greater Council, which was broken up into three parts, the Elders, the Inner Council and the Outer Council.  The Elders were senior representatives chosen by the whole Council.  The Inner Council consisted of the family that ruled a specific Colour.  The Outer Council was pretty much the people who weren’t part of the ruling family or an Elder.  They would only interfere on Earth if a majority of the Greater Council agreed,” She was interrupted by a click as a safety lock went back on.

“What does this have to do with my sister?” Trowa’s eyes still scarily, emotional.

“I’m getting to that. Sheesh…Look, anyway, these people pretty much lived in peace for a really long time and they became complacent and when the Darkness hit them, it took them by surprise.”  Bethany rushed out. “The Darkness is pretty much what it sounds like.  It devoured Earth in the form of plagues, wars, you name it; its whole purpose is to end.  End life, end the world; end anything and everything.”

“But it didn’t, because were still here, right?” Duo asked. ‘This gets crazier by the minute,’ he thought.

Dorothy nodded. “It didn’t end everything because what was left of the Council defeated it with their ‘power’.  They sealed it away using the five keys and codes that had been made to create the new world.  They - ” She was interrupted by a loud explosion.

“What the - ” Wufei didn’t finish as gunfire broke out all over the house.  “Everyone DOWN!”

Heero shielded Relena with his body as he frantically looked around. ‘Where were they shooting from?!’

“Merda!  Everyone follow me!”  Dorothy signalled as she began crawling towards the bookshelf.  Everyone obeyed as they barely avoided bullets whizzing past them.  Dorothy pushed a book and a panel opened, quickly punching in a code and placing her hand on the scanner the bookshelf opened a small square chute.  “Go!”

Heero pushed Relena in. While Hilde, Sally and Bethany followed. Duo went next while Trowa, Wufei and Heero went down as well.  Quatre yelled at Dorothy, “Hurry up and go!”

She shook her head as another bullet ricocheted off the bookshelf.  “No, go I need to do something.” 

Quatre stared at her determined eyes and nodded. ‘Come out alive.’ He thought.

Dorothy watched as he disappeared down the chute.  Turning towards the panel, she punched in another code before sliding down the chute.  Soldiers ran in just as Dorothy slid down the chute.  Opening fire onto the closing chute they didn’t notice the panel closing, its controls flashing a brilliant red.

*****************

“Sir, The code and key have escaped.  There were more people than ex - ” the soldier didn’t finish as the Villa behind him, exploded.

“Soldier, how many men were in that house?” Asked the non-descript man.

“Uhh…20 men sir!” The soldier had to tear himself away from the monstrous flames that seemed to touch the night sky.

“Get whoever is left out of here.  I want no traces of us.”

“Yes sir!” The soldier hurried off to do his master’s bidding.

The man stared at the flames.  They taunted him.  He smiled.  He would show them.  He would show them how powerful the Darkness really was.

****************

“Where are we?”  Hilde helped up Bethany, while the others picked themselves up from the stainless steel floor.  They looked at their surroundings.  It was an underground base surrounded by wall-to-wall computers; there were four mammoth screens on each wall, each showing a different thing.  One screen showed the Villa alight in a ball of flames.

“Sheesh, Dorothy.  I hope you’re insured.” Murmured Bethany, shaking her head as the others gathered to watch the place they were just in burn.

“Where is she? Dorothy?! Dorothy!?”  Quatre looked around worriedly. “Where is she?”

Everyone looked at each other and back up at the screen.  Bethany ran up to the chute they had fallen from.  She stared up into it, willing Dorothy to come out.  And she did. Thump.  Dorothy fell awkwardly on Bethany, causing both of them to fall to the floor in a heap.

“Damn it Dorothy, when’d you get so heavy?” Bethany tried to get Dorothy off her but Dorothy didn’t move.  “Dory, stop being - ” She stopped when she felt it.  Sticky and wet she looked at her hand and her eyes widened in horror.  Blood. “Oh my God! Dorothy!”

The others ran to where the two lay.  Quatre seeing the blood on Bethany’s hand, quickly but gently rolled Dorothy off Bethany.  Now everyone could see it.  A bullet wound was situated in Dorothy’s right shoulder.  Quatre looked at the wound and then at her right hand then back at the wound. “Why isn’t she healing?!” his voice frenetic.

“She needs to be conscious to heal!  Oh crap, Dorothy!  Wake up!!”  Bethany placed her hand on the wound, hoping to stop the blood from flowing. Using her other hand she slapped Dorothy’s face – hard. “Damn you, wake up!” She was about to slap her again when a voice stopped her.

“Stop that…” It hurt to talk, hell her whole body was screaming at her but Dorothy still opened her eyes.  “Help me up.”  She commanded weakly.  Bethany complied as Dorothy began to glow that same pulsing red, only her shoulder was glowing.  “God, I hate getting shot.” She muttered.  Her body had returned to its normal state of functioning.  ‘Blood stains are so hard to get out of white clothes, she thought darkly as she noted half her shirt was covered in blood.

“Are you ok, Dorothy?”  Relena looked at the blood before turning her concerned eyes to her.

“Yes, I’m fine Miss Relena.”  She spread her arms wide, eagle style, “Welcome to my underground base.”

         *****************

Catherine groaned as she tried to get up but found the slightest movement made her head spin and bile rose in her throat.  ‘Ok then, I’ll just lay still.’ She thought, as she pushed down the feeling of vomiting lunch.  The place she was in was completely dark but she could hear shuffling sounds.

“Don’t try to move, ok? I’m going to give you something that will stop the headaches.”  A figure knelt beside Catherine. “Open your mouth.”

Catherine hesitated before doing what the voice said.  She felt a thick liquid fill her mouth, quickly swallowing the stuff so as not to choke. Catherine felt the liquid burn inside her mouth for an instant and then the dizziness began to subside at once. Catherine turned towards the person who had given her the liquid. “Thanks…Uhh…Where are we?” She knew someone was there but she still couldn’t even see an outline.

“No idea.” The figure placed a hand on Cathie’s arm. “But I’ll be able to tell you why you are in here a few moments.”

Catherine’s face scrunched up into a confused look, “What do yo - ” Then the room lit up.  Catherine blinked a few times to get used to the sudden light.  It wasn’t really that bright, it was a single light bulb in a huge room.  Catherine looked at her surroundings.  The room she was in consisted of four beds that were lined up against the wall, a toilet in the corner and a small table in the middle of the room.  She noticed that aside from herself and the person next to her, there were two more people in the room.  A man and a woman each were hugging themselves on different beds.  She turned to the person next to her.  She was on the short side, with shoulder length blond hair and in the dim light, Catherine couldn’t tell what colour her eyes were.  The woman spoke, “They turn on the lights for an hour every four hours.  They’ll be giving us food through that opening there.” She pointed to a wall opposite the beds.

Catherine nodded numbly. “What did you mean, that you’d be able to tell me why I’m here in a few moments?”

“Look at your left palm.  That’s why you’re here.” Replied the blond.

Catherine obeyed and her eyes widened as she saw what was on her palm.  A neat circular emblem had been branded into her palm.  However, it didn’t hurt, she couldn’t feel any pain.  Bringing her hand up to her face for closer examination, she could see a number. ‘24?’ She thought.

“I’m 23.  Those two over there are 22 and 21.  There are others but they’re in different rooms.  I don’t know what it means but I doubt it’s a good thing.”  The woman gave Catherine a glass. “Here it has more of that stuff in it.  Drink all of it so the headaches wont come back.”

Catherine nodded in thanks taking the glass and sipping a little of it. She shook a little. ‘Crap. I’ve been kidnapped and branded.  Oh Trowa, where are you?  I hope you’re ok.’

Catherine glanced up at the woman.  “Thank you.  My name is Catherine.  Please call me Cathie.  What’s your name?” She smiled weakly.

The woman blinked back at her, as if she had expected Catherine to start hugging herself and rocking back and forth like the other two in the room. She nodded. “Your welcome. My name…I have no name.  But if you must call me something, call me Nanashi.”

         *****************

“So you can heal bullet wounds as well?  What else can you do?”  Wufei stared at Dorothy, expectantly.

“Lets get out of the control room first, ok?  I wanna sit down, I feel a bit shaky.” Replied Bethany.  Dorothy nodded at her.  She walked to a panel, typed in something and a door opened.  Everyone walked out of the control room and into a long hallway. “We can talk in the kitchen area.”  Duo brightened at that. ‘All this hocus pocus, getting shot thing, has me starved.’  He held Hilde’s hand tightly as the group made their way to the kitchen area. 

Once everyone was comfortable (or semblance of comfortable) Bethany started telling them the story again. “When the Council locked away the Darkness, their powers were greatly diminished. So weakened were their powers that they were really like humans with certain extraordinary talents.  They integrated with the human population and that’s where we come in.” Bethany gestured to Dorothy. “We are direct descendents of the Red Council.  Our blood has the ability to heal wounds.  Cuts, bruises, gun wounds, you name it we can heal from it.  BUT as the powers were greatly weakened from the Darkness, we can only heal when we’re conscious, so if we get shot in the head or heart, we’ll die instantly like you guys, but anywhere else we can heal.”

“You can’t heal when you’re unconscious?”

Bethany shook her head. “Nope.”

“That’s how you knew that emblem said Darkness.  It still doesn’t explain why they took my sister.”  Trowa couldn’t take much more of this sitting around.  He had to find his sister.

“Mr Barton, they took your sister because she is a sacrifice.  That’s the term the Darkness has for them.  We refer to them as ‘Gate keepers’.  Inside each ‘gatekeeper’s’ soul is an energy that if released will open the portal to the Darkness.”  Dorothy said in a clipped tone. “They need 24 ‘gatekeepers’ to open the portal.  Your sister was the 24th gatekeeper. For every generation 24 gatekeepers are born but you can’t use one generation and another generation’s gatekeepers to open the portal.  They must come from the same generation.  Your sister was unlucky.” 

Trowa bristled at the use of past tense, when Dorothy was talking about Cathie.  “How much time left before they try to kill her?”

“She is the 24th. She will be the last one to die.  They kill four at a time.  Each group of four are killed on one day, every six hours.” Bethany whispered, her eyes fixed on the kitchen table.

“So I have five days to find her?”  Trowa nodded, before heading towards the door.  “Tell me how to get out of here.”

“No, wait, Mr Barton!  You can’t possibly defeat an army of Darkness soldiers.  This can’t be defeated in a mobile suit.  To fight the Darkness you need the Council.” Pleaded Bethany to the retreating form of Trowa.

Trowa turned around his eyes a hard green. “The Council?  Right now that’s you and her.” He pointed to Bethany and Dorothy.

Dorothy shook her head. “Don’t be stupid, Mr Barton.  Do you think the Council would just whither and die?  The Greater Council is the Romefeller Foundation.  More precisely five families from the Foundation are the Council.”

She tapped opened a com-link on the wall.  A screen opened up.  She opened transmission, and four squares appeared on the screen.  Each square showed a person’s head.

“We’ve heard the news, Miss Dorothy.  They have taken the Blue key and have taken the code as well.  The Blue Council has been effectively crippled.”  One of the people on the screen said.

Bethany cringed, “I’m so sorry to hear of your loss, William.”  She gave a sympathetic look to the blond man who had just spoken.

The other two on screen murmured their sympathies while the other began to rage. “See!  The Blue Council, already gone!  How are we to stop the Darkness, if we are one key down, already?!”

Dorothy replied coldly to the man who had spoken, “Mr Luciano, having a fit won’t serve us any good either.  They may have one key, but we have the other four.  We have six days before the portal is fully open and stable.  We must assemble the keys and the codes and defeat the Darkness on it’s own turf.  Quite simple, really.” She smirked at Mr Luciano.

“Simple?! You are - ” He didn’t finish as another person cut in.

“It may not be simple but that is what we must do.  Miss Dorothy, the key and code of the Green Council is in Florence.  I trust your judgement.”  With that the elderly woman speaking for the Green Council logged off.

“I agree with the Green Council.  I will send my key and code to Florence.  The Gold Council’s fate rests with the Red Council.  May God have mercy on our souls.”  The man for Gold Council logged off as well.

“Well Mr Luciano?  The Council majority has spoken.” Dorothy’s gaze never wavering from the screen.

Mr Luciano tried to stare her down but was unsuccessful.  “Vacca!  I will send my key and code to Florence.”  With a disgusted look he logged off.

The room was eerily quiet as everyone contemplated just what the hell they had gotten themselves into.  Duo looked around the room.  Heero was hugging Relena tightly; Quatre sat at the end of the table, staring at Dorothy who was still staring at the now closed screen.  Bethany seemed to be very interested in the texture of the table, while Wufei kept stealing glances at Sally and Trowa was still standing by the door.  Duo looked down at the figure he was holding strongly. ‘This was supposed to be the best anniversary gift.  Damn this stupid Darkness!’  He slammed his fist on the table, causing everyone to jump. “Well, what are you all waiting for?  Lets go kick some Darkness butt!”

         ******************

Person who is amazed she could revise so quickly:

I think this Chapter is growing on me.  This was the chapter I hated! But with a few tweaks here and there, I think it sounds kinda ok!

PLEASE R&R and C&C and now I’m really expecting FLAMES!!! Hello Anne, my all together best helpful beta reader! Thanks again to all who have reviewed especially mama-sama and Ayanami-chan!