DISCLAIMER: Why do I keep writing a disclaimer? Thanks to everyone who reviews! Not just this fic but my other ones as well! A HUGE THANK YOU to all of you! Have a smiley face! ^_^

Anywho! This is a TRIBUTE to one GREAT fanfic writer and all-round nice person – JAID SKYWALKER (THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for finishing ‘On the Wild Frontier’! I LOVED IT!).  Well they do say the best form of flattery is imitation! ^_~

In the tradition of Jaid’s opening and closing paragraphs in ‘Wild Frontier’! :

JB: I’ve always wanted to do a chat thingie with my muses!

JA (annoying bratty little sister): Uh, Hello! You don’t have muses! Just voices in your delusional mind! (cackles insanely…insanity runs in this family ^_~)

JB: Shut up! Those voices write these fics, you know!

JA: So you admit you hear voices! Ha! I knew it! (more insane laughing)

JB: Didn’t I lock in you in a mental bin in ‘Dedicated to Sanh’? (shameless plug, ^_^)

JA: *sigh* that never works, you ninny!

JB: Don’t call me a ninny!

JA: NINNY! NINNY! NINNY!

Major punch up under way…

Bethany: Um…hello JB and JA?  Remember people are trying to read Joy to My Life! *mumbles angrily* Though I don’t know WHY…Its so unfair! Why does Dorothy get all the magical powers! I’m family too!

JA and JB: *collective sweatdrop*

JB: Uhhh…sorry about that people! (waves to the readers who haven’t left yet) Umm…Bethany could you please go back to your cell, your still supposed to be a prisoner.

Bethany: *more angry mumbling* fine, fine.  I’m going to talk to my manager about this…I DESERVE to be the star!…

JA: *points to her hapless big sister* Only you would create a character that has their own manager.  I told you we could’ve used Maree or Sanh but NO, we had to use –

CLUNK! BANG! THUD!

JB kicks frying pan under her bed and drags JA’s unconscious body into the laundry room, locking the door behind her…

JB: *innocent look* What?! ^_^ Hope everyone enjoys Chapter Three!

         ************************

Joy to My Life

Chapter 3: Where Did All the Safe Places Go?

By: J.B. Santiago

This <italics> indicates flashbacks

This ‘italics’ indicates thought-speak

         - Milan, Earth – Real Time -<

Trowa watched the commercial plane travel down the runway, gradually accelerating upwards.  He continued to watch it until it disappeared from his window view.  The morning sun reflected off the windows, warm light cascaded downwards onto Milan International Airport.

“They’ll be safe, Trowa.”  Quatre said soothingly to his best friend, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.  “Catherine and Midii will be safer on the Colonies.”

Trowa just nodded and headed towards the exit, Quatre falling in step with him.  They made their way outside to one of the Preventer jets that would take them and the others to Luxemburg Hall to meet up with Sally and Wufei.  Careful to block their ears from the booming jet engines, they boarded the plane; the door sealing shut once they had both gotten in.  Trowa took the last seat; sitting behind Hilde and Duo.  The two sat as close together as the seats made possible – they hadn’t even argued about going – if one went the other would come as well.  Sitting opposite to them was Relena and Heero.  Those two, on the other hand, had argued.  Heero was adamant that Relena would not come with them even if she held the power of Green.  Relena had other ideas.  She wasn’t going sit back this time, not if she could be useful somehow.  Trowa smiled ever so slightly, the look on Heero’s face when Relena refused to listen to him was priceless.  Trowa buckled his seatbelt as the captain’s voice boomed out of the intercom.  In a few minutes they would be in the air just as Cathie and Midii were now.  Trowa had agreed wholeheartedly with Dorothy to get Cathie as far away from the danger as possible.  When she had said Midii should accompany Cathie, he had almost hastily said ‘no’ but then questions would be asked and he didn’t want everyone to know about the real Midii Une – the Midii Une he knew or thought he did.  He didn’t know why he was hiding her past from his friends; he didn’t know why the more he thought about Cathie with Midii he felt his sister would be safer.  It was Quatre who had booked the commercial flight to Montreal, where Cathie and Midii would then board a private shuttle to one of Quatre’s homes on Colony L4. Trowa shook his head slightly, staring down the aisle where he could see Quatre leaning towards Dorothy, not speaking although they looked like they were conversing.  With Dorothy somehow gaining magical powers and Quatre’s own unique ability to feel what others were feeling, Trowa guessed that they might be able to communicate without words.  He turned his attention to outside his window as the plane began to tilt, ascending into the sky.

‘Trowa seems ok about leaving his sister and her friend on the Colonies.  Rashid and the other Maguanacs are going to protect them…Are you ok, Dorothy?’ Quatre gently asked telepathically, placing a warm hand over Dorothy’s on the armrest.

‘They’ve got my cousin and I have no idea why! Of course I’m not alright!’ Dorothy let out an angry sigh before smiling apologetically at the man sitting beside her.  ‘I apologise Quatre.  I’m not angry with you.  I – its just that, everything was going right and now…’ She trailed off, gazing into Quatre’s azure eyes.  ‘…What am I going to do?  I don’t know how to use these – these ‘powers’! Hmph. I almost wish we could settle this with a good old fashioned duel.’  A small smile crept up onto her face as Quatre blushed, his free hand unconsciously covering where she had stabbed him all those years ago.

‘We’ll find a way, Dorothy.  I’m sure Bethany is safe.  They wouldn’t have gone to such trouble if they wanted to hurt her,’ reassured Quatre, returning the smile; squeezing Dorothy’s hand in comfort.

‘I hope you’re right.’ She glanced out the window, as the plane resumed a horizontal position in the sky.

‘Do you think we’ll find anything useful in Luxemburg Hall?’ Quatre asked.

Dorothy shook her head slightly, ‘I doubt the Black Council would leave any helpful clues.  Preventers would have already combed the place.  The best thing to do would be to talk to Sally and Wufei and go from there.’

“Ok.” Quatre whispered, leaning in closer, kissing her on the forehead.  He could feel her emotions so strongly – anger, guilt, fear – he didn’t know what to do but to be there for her.  He embraced her, ignoring the armrest, holding her tightly to him.

         *************************

   - Subspace – Real Time -

Bethany stole a glance at the large screen displayed in the right side of the room she was in.  The screen was divided into two sections.  In one section, she could see her grandparents in their family home in Hawaii.  In the other she could see her older brother in a meeting for the company he worked for.  They were alive and well, completely oblivious to the fact that their granddaughter and sister was being held by magic wielding megalomaniacs in Subspace and it was only her presence in Subspace that kept them alive.  When she had asked them to show her Dorothy and her friends, Alessio had almost beaten her to a pulp.  The only thing that stopped him was his father who explained to Bethany that Dorothy and her friends had somehow managed to elude the SeekerSystem – the Black Council’s pride and joy in the technological field in the now obliterated Greater Council.  The SeekerSystem or SS was able to find anyone in a 50kilometre radius away from the machine and transmit images of their location, position, exactly what they were doing, onto large screens.  Now with the Black power fuelling them they could find anyone anywhere on Earth and Outer Space.  BUT they couldn’t find Dorothy, which gave Bethany a small ray of hope of being saved.  She sighed inwardly, returning back to her task of building that infernal time machine.  The lab she was in was an exact replica of her underground base.  She didn’t want to know how they could have replicated it down to such minute details except for the escape routes.  She brought up her blueprints of the time machine onto the large screen in front of her.  It had taken her awhile to put everything together again since she had deleted all the files.  She hadn’t told Mario that she had only partially completed the time machine theory and that one time when she had gone back in time to save Relena the machine had broken down completely, leaving them in a time limbo.  She didn’t want to risk him finding that out and hurting her family.  Bethany squinted at the control panel screen.  Her eyes were killing her.  She’d been working for almost eight hours straight and her fingers had cramped up hours ago.  She gazed wearily at her ‘guards’ who were blocking the only way out.  The two men stood there glaring back at her.  Every two hours or so two other men would take over.  She recognised all of them as belonging to the Black Council.  There were the three Locandro brothers – Steven (who was particularly nasty every time he was on guard duty), Adam and Mark; the Di Cartelli family, consisting of Lucas Di Cartelli and his cousin, James Di Cartelli.  The last family in the Black Council aside from the Head family (the Luciano family) was the Saladino family – the father Augustus Sr and his two sons, Caesar and Augustus Jr, and nephew Nicholas.  Bethany remembered going to her first Council meeting when she was eighteen (the year she found out Dorothy was alive and when a letter written by her mother was given to her on her eighteenth birthday explaining everything about the Greater Council) and seeing the Black Council for the first time – they were the largest contingent in the Greater Council and they all reminded her of the Mafia.  Bethany went back to staring at the screen, blinking tired eyes as the memories came back to her.  She hadn’t been far off with the description of ‘Mafia’ for the Black Council.

“A break would be beneficial to you, it seems…”

Bethany jumped slightly at the voice behind her.  She swirled around on the swivel chair to come face to face with the bottom of a black silk tie.  Her tired eyes worked their way up to the face with the black tie around its neck.  “Mr Luciano.  Trying to scare me wont make me work faster.”

Mario Luciano Sr leered at her.  “Please -,” his voice dripped with artificial sweeteners, “ - call me Mario.  I see you’re working hard.  Although your work rate has dropped in the last hour or so.”

Bethany glared at the man, “Well, Mario.  That happens when you work eight hours straight.”  She gasped as his hand suddenly appeared around her neck.

Mario squeezed tighter; he could snap her neck in two so easily.  He stared into her light jade eyes sparkling with fear before letting go, Bethany immediately holding her neck and gasping for air.  “You’re right, Miss Bethany.”  He snapped his fingers and one of the guards, James Di Cartelli, walked up to him.  “Take our guest back to her room.  She needs all the rest she can get.”

James nodded, half dragging Bethany towards the door and down to the lower level to her cell.  Mario watched as they disappeared, the other guard, Adam Locandro, following them.

Mario closed his eyes, pressing a hand to his temple, images of the wrecked Luxemburg Hall flashed in his mind.  A twisted smile crossed his face.  “Alessio!” He bellowed, as his son materialised in front of him in a puff of black.

“Yes, father?”

“They are at Luxemburg Hall.  Go and do the job you should have accomplished already!”  Mario sneered at his son.

Alessio was nonplussed.  “But father, how can you be sure - ”

“Are you questioning me?!”

Alessio straightened up; he knew when to stop.  “No, father.  I will leave immediately.”  He disappeared in more Black smoke.

Mario turned back to the computer screens.  All of them projected an image against a blue background.  “Soon.”  Mario blinked, tearing his eyes away from the hypnotic pull of what was before him.  ‘Yes, soon,’ he thought disappearing in a cloud of black.

         *************************

  - Remains of Luxemburg Hall, Earth – Real Time -

“Wow.  This place looks like it was nuked by Wing Zero’s beam cannon.” Duo said to no one in particular.  They had arrived twenty minutes ago and were going through what remained of the Hall; the Greater Council were going to meet in.  The old building had crumpled completely, giving no resistance to the bombs that rocketed through its hallowed walls.

“The sleeping quarters blew up first, a series of five explosions that would have killed anyone in there and if it didn’t the ceiling falling on top of them would have done it.” Wufei explained mechanically.  The group followed him as he walked further into the smouldering rubble, like a morbid tour group. “The Great Hall was detonated second - three explosions, then the dining hall, conference room and foyer were reduced to ruins with successive explosions.”  He stopped where the foyer had been a day ago.  Relena could make out the outline of a chandelier, now all charred and black, smoke coming out of its metal frame.  Her headaches were coming back again.  She breathed in deeply, coughing as she inhaled ash, not helping her headache in any way.

“How many casualties?” asked Heero.  He was on edge, looking for any signs of threat to Relena.

“The 26 members of Romefeller and seven Preventers patrolling the perimeter and guarding inside as well.”

Dorothy shook her head and spoke for the first time since arriving on ground zero, “No.  Not 26 people.  There were 15 members in there.  The Black Council is the one responsible for this.  Only they would have the ability to bypass your security; only they would be so bold – so cruel to destroy the Greater Council; only they would do this.”  Dorothy clenched a fist, unclenching suddenly, when she saw Red power begin to form in her hand.  Quatre wrapped his hand around hers, glancing sideways, making sure no one else had seen it.

Wufei stared at her, surprised. “What was that?” He pointed to Dorothy’s hand.

“I acquired the Red power when Alessio Luciano tried to kill us yesterday but not before he kidnapped Bethany.” Dorothy stared at Wufei’s disbelieving face. “I think it would be better if I explained this in one go, where’s Sally?” They hadn’t seen the woman since arriving at the ruins.

Wufei nodded, going back into soldier mode, “She’s at the hospital treating people who suffered minor injuries from the blast.  We’ll take one of the trucks.”  He motioned them to follow, leading the gang to a Preventer truck.  He gunned the engine, heading towards the Mercy Sisters Hospital.

Alessio walked past a Preventer unnoticed.  With the building sending up so much smoke into the atmosphere, daylight was nonexistent.  He could walk around the grounds undetected using the Black power, which was being fuelled by having no light.  He pushed over a Preventer who was analysing the debris.  He laughed loudly (though no one could here it) as the Preventer looked around wildly for the person who did that and finding no one, blushed furiously hoping no one had seen him fall.  “Pathetic human.” Scoffed Alessio. He continued to prowl the grounds, looking for any signs of that blasted blonde.  “Argh! This is stupid!” He kicked at the metal frame of what looked like a chandelier.  Father wasn’t thinking when he sent him here.  Alessio blew some ash in another Preventers face, causing them to sputter and hack as the offending ash went in their windpipe and up their nose.  At least he could have some fun with these pathetic humans.  Alessio froze abruptly.  He had walked a few steps away from the chandelier and he had felt it.  The Red power.  He scanned the area quickly moving forward then stopping again.  He frowned then stepped back again.  He felt the Red power again.  He dropped to his knees, digging at the ground.  ‘What am I doing?’ He thought, shaking his head at digging at the debris.  He stood up and moved around where he felt the power.  It was only in that one place and it was getting fainter. ‘How did the Red power get in this spot? …Unless this was power residue from someone using the power earlier…then she had been here!’ Alessio face contorted into a smile.  Hmmm…so father wasn’t completely losing it.  He could almost smell victory.  He headed for the Preventer’s main control tent.  He knew that Chang Wufei was part of the Preventer team that was supposed to guard Luxemburg Hall.  “Time to have a little chat, with an old friend,” Alessio murmured to himself, laughing as he pushed another Preventer into the ruins.

         *************************

  - Mercy Sisters Hospital, Earth – Real Time -

Sally wiped the sweat off her brow, as she stitched up a sleeping Preventer’s arm.  This Preventer had been struck by falling debris, about twenty metres away from the Hall.  He would be ok, receiving only a broken leg and glass embedded into his arm.  She had lost count, hours ago on how many patients she had treated.  She thanked the heavens this hospital, so close to the Hall, had been relatively empty and were able to take in such an influx of wounded people. 

“Dr. Po, you should rest.  You’ve been such a wonderful help but it would be to your benefit if you take a break.” A person behind her softly said.

Sally smiled at the nurse, standing in the doorframe.  “I think you’re right.  Well he’s done.  I’ll be in the cafeteria if you need me.”

The nurse smiled back and nodded, leaving Sally to go back to her rounds.  Sally sighed and stretched, rubbing her sore neck.  She walked out of the room and into the Staff lounge, placing the borrowed white coat and stethoscope on the round Formica table. Stretching once more she headed to the elevators.

The elevator opened and the gang poured out, meeting a surprised Sally down the hall.  Relena stayed inside the elevator her headache getting worse.  She pressed another level and the doors began to close.

Heero looked to his side, expecting Relena to be there, when she wasn’t, he whipped around back to the elevator just in time to see Relena mouth, ‘Cafeteria’ before the doors slid shut.

“Relena.”  He rushed forward pressing the button.

“Hey buddy.  Relax.  She just went to the cafeteria.”  Duo had also seen Relena say ‘cafeteria’.  He placed a firm hand on Heero’s shoulder. “C’mon, she’ll be ok.”

“Hello everyone.  She went to the cafeteria?  I was going to go there as well.”  Sally said behind them.  “We’ll meet her down there, then.”

The gang nodded and entered the elevator again.

Relena walked down the quiet corridor.  She wasn’t on the floor where the cafeteria was.  Hell, she didn’t even know what floor she was on but something; something was pulling her here.  She reached the end of the corridor with the window view of the city; two doors on either side of her were closed.  She turned to the left door and slowly pushed it open, closing the door behind her.  She sat in the uncomfortable plastic chair next to the sleeping patient.  She stared at the patient who was wrapped nearly from head to toe in bandages.  ‘Why am I here?’ Relena thought, gazing at the patient.  She leaned in closer, trying to get a better look at the person.  She couldn’t even tell if they were female or male.  Letting out a sigh, she rubbed her temples, trying to sooth out the annoying headache.  She stood up slowly, “I’m losing it.” Shaking her head she took a step towards the door before her mind exploded in pain, causing her to stagger backwards into the beeping machines, before she fell to the floor unconscious.

“She’s not here.”  Heero headed towards the staircase.

“Hey, wait!”  Duo exclaimed, throwing the others an apologetic smile, “You guys tell those two everything.  I’ll go help find ojousan.”

“I’ll come with you, Duo.” Hilde didn’t want to be too far away from Duo and besides had already heard the whole story.

I’ll help too.” Said Trowa, heading for the elevator.

Sally watched as the gang was reduced to four.  She looked at Dorothy and Quatre expectantly, “Ok.  So what’s going on here?”

Sally and Wufei sat quietly as Dorothy and Quatre told them everything that had happened from when Sally had called Bethany.

         ********************

  - Subspace, Earth – Real Time -

Bethany blinked as a pair of rough hands dragged her to her feet.  “C’mon!  Up you get!  The boss wants you working again.”

Bethany groaned, “I’ve barely had over an hour to rest.  You can’t be serious?!”

She received a slap across the face from her guard, Nicholas Saladino, a burly young man, with black hair and eyes.  “Shut up and move!”  He twisted her arms behind her back and continued to push her forward.

Bethany bit her tongue as her body began to heal the tiny cut Nicholas had given her from a ring on his hand.  ‘Relax, Bethany, breath.  Think of something else…like a double choc mocha ice-cream covered in dark chocolate.’  Bethany sighed inwardly as she felt her stomach grumble at the thought.  ‘Ok, don’t think of food.’  She’d been in this blasted fortress about three Subspace days or about a day in real hours and the only thing they’d served her was bad imitation gruel, water and more cuts and bruises to last her two lifetimes.  Although, part of her mind reasoned, you wouldn’t have so many bruises if you’d just keep your mouth shut.

“Here we are, Miss” Nicholas pushed her into the lab, standing imposingly in the doorframe.

Bethany gave him a sideways glare before sitting on the swivel chair, the screens showing exactly the same thing when she had left it an hour ago.  The theory was nearly finished soon she would be able to build it.  She leant on the panel, her hand pushing back her fringe, resting on her forehead.  ‘Dorothy, where are you?’ she thought, ‘I don’t know how to delay this any longer.’  She looked at the screens, ‘I wonder where they put the generators to run this lab.’ She thought offhandedly.  Sighing she began to type.  Humming ‘La Donna e Mobile’ she typed in the energy figures.

“AAHHH!”  Bethany screamed suddenly getting up so fast the chair fell backwards.  “That’s it!”  She did a little jig on the spot stopping only when she was face to face with Nicholas.

“Get. Back. To. Work!” He yelled to her face. 

Bethany just smiled at him impishly.  “Aye, aye, captain!”  She mock saluted him, picked up her chair and began typing furiously on the panel.

Nicholas stared at her suspiciously before walking back to guard the door.  Bethany glanced as he walked away from her.  Yes, energy was the key.  She smiled at the screen in front of her.

         **************************

   - Winner Estate, Colony L4 – Real Time -

Catherine soaked up the breathtaking beauty of one of Quatre’s homes.  Even with it being on a colony where everything was man-made, this place seemed so natural.  It was two in the afternoon on Colony L4, the sun was shining; the fountains glistened in the light, plant life sprouted everywhere, animal life co-existed happily with everything there. 

“Miss Catherine, Miss Midii, please follow me to your rooms.”  Abdul said with an exaggerated bow pointing towards the mansion.  Midii nodded politely, Catherine telling Abdul to just call her Cathie. 

Catching her reflection off the golden-framed mirror on the side of the wall beside her bedroom door, Midii paused and wrinkled her noise.   After not getting any sleep since Alessio had tried to kill Dorothy and Quatre, her appearance was to put it kindly, ‘scruffy’.  If she were being brutally honest it would have been ‘mobile-suit-pancake-with-moon-craters-on-the-side’.  Midii shook her head, ‘when did I become overly dramatic about my looks?’ she thought heading inside the extravagant bedroom. Placing her duffel bag on the bed she examined the room thoroughly.  A walk-in-closet, bathroom with spa, French doors leading to balcony, secret door behind bookcase (leading to the garage, she found out), king-size poster bed complete with rich purple covers and fluffy pillows.  Midii half expected a peppermint on the pillows.  The room was bright, sunlight streaming through the now open French windows.  The walls were decorated with a Monet (probably original, mused Midii) and a Picasso (also probably an original).  She stepped out onto the marble balcony, savouring the warmth from the filtered sun.  Leaning forward on the Romanesque railing, she spied several Maguanacs prowling the pristine grounds.  One of them saw her and smiled and waved.  Midii waved back awkwardly, realising that someone else was waving at the Maguanac.  Catherine smiled at Midii from across the adjoining balcony.  She watched as Midii gave a weak smile and walked back into her bedroom.  Catherine sighed.  She knew something was going on between Midii and her brother but what?!  Focusing on this and not the tumultuous events of the past night.  She sat on the railing, her back facing the garden maze.  Even with the warm air she still shivered involuntarily.  Catherine unconsciously traced the area of her leg Dorothy had magically healed the night before.  Memories of the time she was in Subspace, in a dank, dark cell waiting to die, kept replaying in her mind.  She never wanted to be in that situation ever again but…then why did she have doubts about being here?  Seeing Alessio, the same man who had helped her brother find her and Midii, trying to kill people she cared about was to say the least disconcerting.  She pushed off the balcony, jogging inside her room and out onto the mezzanine and down the spiral staircase.  She ran a little faster, reaching the garden maze in record time.  She continued to jog, running through the maze trying to clear her mind of silly thoughts.  Thoughts that said she shouldn’t be here.  That she should be with everyone else.  That she should be trying to help the man that helped save her life.

         *************************

         Meanwhile back in Subspace…

“Finished!” Bethany yelled out cheerfully, twirling her seat towards Nicholas who was standing at the door, arms crossed over his chest, glaring at the green-eyed blond annoyance (to him anyway).

“Good.” Said a voice behind her.

Bethany gave a little yelp, swinging the chair towards the voice; to see Mario Luciano Sr staring impassively at her.  “You know, I wont be any use to you if you give me a heart attack.”

“You have finished the theory.  Now build the machine.” He stated, still not giving any emotion.

Bethany not irked by Mario inclined her head towards Nicholas, “But first, I need to talk to you privately.”

Mario’s eyes narrowed slightly but he nodded and Nicholas bowed to his leader before disappearing, leaving Bethany and Mario all alone in the beeping replicated lab.  “Well?”

Bethany smiled at him innocently and pointed to the screens.  “Well you see, Mario.  When I first tested the time machine, it – too put it frankly, blew up on its first trip back.”  She pointed to a screen showing weird looking graphs, with bars going up and down, “I was using the equivalent of lightening to power it and that was only enough to send me to the past once.  It was only through pure luck and chance that Relena and I got back to the present.”  Bethany pressed a button and it showed more graphs only these ones overlapped each other perfectly.  “And since I didn’t want to be a cold, vicious person like yourself, I found the perfect energy source to power the time machine.”  Bethany smirked at Mario who was still impassive.  She pressed a series of buttons and all the screens showed the same thing.

Mario stared at the interlocking strands of dark matter being projected onto the screens.  It looked strangely familiar.  “What is that?”

“That,” Bethany said triumphantly, “is the old power.  Specifically the old power after it has been released through one of the Council members or more specifically, you; the Black Council.”  She smiled thinking, ‘now lets see how far you’re really willing to take this, Mario.’ 

Mario snorted.  “Hmph! So we power it!  All the better!”

“The amount of power, I’m talking about to send you back in time and get you back here safely is the equivalent of a hundred thunderstorms.”  She stood up suddenly, sending the swivel chair a few feet back.  She stared straight into the eyes of Mario’s prideful face.  “That equals at least three of the Black,” She held up at a hand to stop Mario from speaking, “That equals three of the Black dead.”

“Dead!?” Mario sputtered angrily.  “You said it is only the energy from them that can run it.  If their dead, the old powers wont go through them!”

Bethany just smiled sweetly, thoroughly savouring the taste of victory. “Oh, didn’t I mention that you need that persons soul as well?…hmm…I can’t believe I left that out…”  She said the last part sarcastically.

A large hand slammed against the panel, so hard that it rattled some of the bolted down equipment.  Mario began to emit Black energy, as Bethany stumbled backwards away from him, wondering if she went too far.  Then the energy vanished and Mario smiled evilly at her.  “Power and soul.  How quaint. So be it.”

Bethany stared at him incredulously, “You really are evil.  You’re going to kill your own Council?!  They wont follow you if you do! Don’t you see?! There are more of them; they’ll easily kill you!  You’re mad!”

He just laughed in response, the maddening look in his eyes never disappearing, “So you DO care about me.”  He laughed again, clicking his fingers loudly.  Nicholas appeared next to him.  “Nicholas, bring our guest back to her room.  She needs to rest after doing such excellent work.”  He laughed louder this time as Bethany, still staring at him unbelievingly; was carted off by Nicholas. 

Alone in the lab, Mario looked once more at the screens, still showing the same dark strands of matter.  “You cannot stop me, Bethany.”

His laughter seemed to shake the room.  A whispered word floated in the room, disappearing amidst the sounds of hysterical laughter.  “Soon.”

         ***********************

 - Winner Estate, Colony L4 – Real Time -

Midii tossed and turned in the king size, fluffy bed.  Even with all the lavish accoutrements of Quatre’s mansion she could not, for the life of her, sleep.  “Argh!”  She tossed the silk sheets off and headed downstairs towards the kitchen, silently, not bothering to turn on any lights on the way.  She found the kitchen easily, she was a spy after all; she had memorised the place already.  Opening the cellar door beside the kitchen, she carefully made her way down the wooden steps, the only light was a single light bulb but it was enough for Midii Une.  She lightly ran a finger through the rows of exquisite and expensive wines, pulling out a few to read the labels.  Finding one she liked near the end of the stacked rows, she went upstairs, back to the kitchen, to drink herself into sleep.  She wasn’t the only one with the same idea.

“Midii!  You startled me!” exclaimed Catherine who was holding a butter knife with her left hand, sliced bread, salami, ham and lettuce rested on her arms, a jar of mayo in her right hand and a whole cucumber rested under her chin.

Midii took in the sight of Catherine at three in the morning carrying the makings of a sandwich.  She suppressed a giggle and smiled at Cathie.  “Sorry, I didn’t know anyone else was awake.”  She grinned, “You make the sandwiches and I’ll pour the wine,” she said holding up the dusty bottle.

Catherine nodded, smiling back.  “Good idea.”  She placed all the ingredients with the other stuff on the kitchen table and in minutes had created two good-looking, great tasting sandwiches.  The two women sat down at the table and clinked glasses.  “Cheers.”  Both said, eating and drinking in silence for a few moments before Catherine spoke, “So.  What IS going on between you and my brother?”

Midii almost choked on the salami and ham, saving herself by taking great big gulps of red wine from the bottle.  “What do you mean?” she asked after drinking half the bottle.

Catherine just arched her eyebrows at Midii, “Awww, c’mon.  I see how you look at him and how he looks at you.  I’m his big sister, I know these things.”

Midii sat still and silent, looking at her half-eaten sandwich.  She turned to Catherine, who was looking at her expectantly.  Midii turned back to the sandwich.  Catherine stared at the girl beside her, she had always looked cautiously at the girls Trowa dated; she was his big sister after all.  But this girl seemed to already know Trowa; she wasn’t awed by his striking appearance – she almost seemed afraid of him.  Catherine placed her hand on the girl’s shoulder and said softly, “Hey, it’s ok if you don’t want to talk about it.”

Midii smiled gratefully at her, she was about to say ‘thank you’ when the sound of glass breaking was heard.

Midii stood up quickly, her spy instincts kicking in.  Catherine stood up as well albeit a bit shakily, “What was that?”

Midii didn’t answer, grabbing a steak knife from the counter and slowly walked towards where the sound came from.  Catherine followed behind her carrying a knife of her own.  “Cathie, what are you doing?  Stay in the kitchen, it’ll be safer.”

Catherine shook her head.  “No way am I going to be left in a huge room by myself.  Besides I throw knives for a living.”  She gave a determined smile to Midii, who seemed to be considering arguing back then let it slide.  “Ok, but stay close to me, ok?”

Cathie nodded, wondering what profession Midii was in, mentally reminding herself to ask later.  The two made their way up the stairs, Midii all the while, wondering where the Maguanacs were.  They spotted the broken window, the shards of glass glistened in the moonlight.  Midii peered cautiously out the window, seeing no one she turned to Catherine, “Cath - ” Midii stared in surprise.  Catherine was gone.  She had been standing right next to her just a few seconds ago.  “Catherine? Catherine where are you?”  She looked at the floor for any suspect footprints.  Nothing.  Where’d she go?  Midii looked back at the broken window then back to where Catherine had been standing.  A man stood in the same place.  She lunged at the intruder only to be covered in darkness.

Rashid looked down hallway, everything was in its place; nothing out of the ordinary.  He knocked on the door of Miss Catherine.  When he received no reply he opened the door slightly and called out her name.  Still not getting a response he opened the door fully and walked into the bedroom.  The bed was unkempt; no noise could be heard from the bathroom.

“Rashid!  Rashid!  Come quick!”  Abdul ran in the room, breathless, motioning for Rashid to follow.  “Miss Midii isn’t here and Aran says there’s something really strange on the surveillance cameras!”

Rashid followed the breathless man to the control room.  He gazed at the security screens.  “What is it?”

“Look.”  Aran pointed to one screen.  It showed the hallway where they had just been, only judging by the time on the upper right corner it was 3:27am.  A window broke and a few minutes later the two women came on screen.  Midii looked out the window and then –

“She disappeared!” Aran nodded to Rashid.  He paused the tape.  “Catherine just vanished.  I’ve replayed that over and over and nothing.  She just…disappears.”

Abdul gulped, “Then what happened to Miss Midii?”  He pointed to the frozen Midii on the screen.

Aran nodded impatiently, “I’m getting to that.  Hers is even stranger!”  He pressed play and the tape continued.   The three saw Midii look around her, then for some reason she lunged forward and vanished.

“Oh, Allah…” Abdul whispered, “She disappeared too.”

“And not only that!”  Aran nodded towards the screen, and Rashid and Abdul peered at it closely. Abdul swore.  Rashid barrelled out of the room already trying to think of a way to tell his master.  On the screen it showed the broken glass forming words, ‘the End is Near’ before the glass went back into the broken window, the cracks disappearing to reveal the perfect cool, clear glass.

         *******************

Person who can’t believe she’s actually started writing Chapter 4:

Can anyone else see the striking similarities to Colours of Life? ^_~ Well it IS the sequel!  A BIG THANK YOU to ANNE! I would also like to mention mama-sama, who not only reviews ALL the time but is still writing Detective Wing! (yeah! I will review soon! ^_^) Thanks again to all who read, and to everyone who reviews you make my day! ^_^ R&R, C&C, flames (at least something like a flame) and e-mail are MOST welcome and appreciated! Thanks again! …The word ‘Thank’ appeared eleven times throughout this fic! Hehe ^_^