DISCLAIMER:  This chapter is violent.  It is.  I think.  ^__^  GW is mine in an AU somewhere but not here.  Hmmm…what else…? Oh!  THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed chapter five!  Yeah!  I got past fifty reviews for chapter five! Yeah! ^__^ It was really nice of everyone! This chapter is for you guys! (Well, obviously since its not like I write for my own enjoyment or anything ~_^)  This hasn't been beta-read so mistakes will be abundant.  Oh! And…ummm…well I was just thinking… (JA: well that's a first.   JB: will you go away!) anyway,  I was just WONDERING since this is chapter SIX, all those kind readers out there would give me four (or more if you want ^_^) reviews so I could have sixty reviews for chapter 6!  Okies….I'm guessing you people want to read the fic now, right?

You know I never mentioned it before but "bold" indicates the Darkness is speaking.

'italics' indicates thought-speak (is there a better word for this?)

Joy to My Life

Chapter 6: It Has Begun.

By: J.B. Santiago

  - Luxemburg, Earth - Real Time -

"Argh!  Nothing's working!" Hilde exhaled loudly, kicking a piece of twisted metal in front of her.  Sally silently agreed with her, as she sifted through more broken glass and electrical wires.  She glanced at Wufei who had stopped going through the debris and was staring curiously at something.

"Did you find something, Wufei?"

Sally and Hilde walked towards Wufei's hunched up form.  They followed his gaze until both of them were staring at a button.  It was small, round and blinking a dull red.  It had been under the main control panel, sitting on a square pillar, surrounded by broken glass.

"What do you think it does?" asked Hilde, her fingers suddenly itching to press the button.

"I don't know, but there's only one way to find out."  Sally reached out to press the blinking button when Wufei grabbed her hand.

"You just can't go press things.  That button could blow this whole place up."

"Why would they put a self-detonating button underneath the main control panel?" Sally reasoned, anxious to do something than just sift through debris.

Wufei glared at her.  "Listen Sally.  We don't know what were dealing with here.  You just can't go press red blinking buttons!"

Hilde suppressed a giggle, as a vein on Wufei's forehead began to protrude outwards.  Sally and Wufei squared off, each trying to intimidate the other. 

"Wufei.  That is the one thing working in this wreck.  It must have some useful purpose!"

"Useful in destroying evidence!  Have some sense, onna!"

Before they could argue further, a soft click was heard and they both turned to the button that was now under Hilde's forefinger.

"Oops."

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

  - Subspace - Real Time -

A laugh echoed down the dark corridors.  Heero stood, not moving but not by choice.  An invisible force kept him frozen there, unable to reach for his gun, as Steven Locandro laughed at him. 

"Hmm…can't fight back, huh?"  Steven threw back his head and laughed even louder.  Sweat beads rolled freely down Heero's face as he tried with all his might to reach for his gun, to no avail.  Relena stood behind him, leaning heavily against his back.

"Omae o korosu."  He gritted out, as he felt the invisible force close around him, choking him.

Steven suddenly stopped laughing.  He glared at Heero.  He was supposed to be suffering!  Instead Heero just glared right back at him.

An evil grin crawled across his face.  "No, I think you'll die first!"  He balled his hand into a fist and made as if he was about to strike at Heero, even though they were standing two metres apart.  Heero felt like the wind was knocked out of him before he hurtled backwards into Relena, his body nearly crushing hers against the wall.

"Relena!"  Ignoring the pain, he rolled to face her.  Relena's eyes were closed, her breath was shallow and she was unconscious.  An animalistic cry escaped from Heero's mouth as he grabbed his gun to shoot it at Steven.  Sounds of bones cracking were heard; Heero glanced at his hand that held the gun.  Steven had broken three of his fingers and his body wouldn't move from the kneeling position he was in.

Steven shook a finger at him,  "Tsk, tsk."  He raised both hands up and Heero flew upwards, hitting the high ceiling and staying there.

Bang!  Steven howled in pain, as a bullet tore through his left shoulder.  He threw energy at the general direction of the bullet, slamming Duo into the wall behind him, dislocating his shoulder, his gun sliding away from him.  Steven turned his attention to his bleeding shoulder, he cursed as he tried to gather energy to teleport…but he forgot one thing.  The shot had caused him to lose concentration, the power holding Heero to the ceiling evaporated causing Heero to fall, giving the former Gundam pilot enough time to land, roll, switch hands and fire five bullets into Steven's head.  Steven's body landed in a heap, blood everywhere and Black Power poured out of him, seeping into the cracks of the floor.

Heero walked gingerly towards the body.  He checked to make sure Steven was dead before checking on Relena's condition.  "Relena…" he carefully lifted her up after making sure she hadn't broken any bones and walked towards Duo.  Placing her gently next to Duo, Heero gave Duo a small, thankful smile examining Duo's shoulder.

"Oww…Goddamn this hurts!" Duo winced as Heero checked his dislocated shoulder.  "Don't even think of popping it back into place!"

Heero ignored his comments and stared at him seriously.  "Then do it yourself."

Duo blanched at the idea, shaking his head as vigorously as he could with a dislocated shoulder.  "I think I'm getting used to the pain."

"Fine.  We need to get Relena out of here."

"Agreed.  I think getting out of here is a brilliant idea!"

Heero nodded and sniffed the air.  "You use Pantene Pro V." 

Duo stared at him in surprise before nodding, "…Yeah, actually I do.  How'd you - AHHH!"  Heero had just yanked Duo's shoulder back into place.  Duo glared at him.  "Last time I go save your life!"

Heero just gave him his usual indifferent look and gently carried Relena up.

"Hey Heero!  Wait up!"  Duo tentatively got up, grabbed his gun and followed the Perfect Soldier.

It moved.  Catherine screamed louder.  The dead body had moved!  The bright room seemed to get brighter.

A rough sound escaped from the body and Catherine's kind heart took over.  Biting down the urge to scream again, she cautiously held out a hand over the body.  A groan was heard and Catherine's hand recoiled back in fear.  'Come on Cathie.' She willed herself to touch the back of the body, finding it surprisingly warm.  Gaining more confidence she gently rolled over the body so she could see the person's face.

"Alessio!?"  Catherine scooted backwards in fear, eyes wide at the person who was lying so helpless in front of her.  The last time she had seen him, he had thrown her in a lab with Bethany and Midii.  He definitely didn't look like the pathetic person he was now.  Alessio looked up at her, his dark eyes cloudy, his skin so white against his black clothing. 

"…help me…"

Catherine continued to stare at him surprised.  This was the man who with Trowa had saved her from the Darkness.  This was the man who had kidnapped her from Quatre's estate.  This was the man who had put her in a dark, dank cell.  Now, the roles had reversed somewhat.  It was she who had power over him.  Catherine did the one thing that seemed right in her mind.  She helped him.

"Can you get up?"  She glanced at his body.  He didn't seem to have anything broken or bleeding. 

"…the…room…" Alessio rasped out before falling into unconsciousness again.

'The room?'  The fear in Catherine began to build up again.  What was in the room that was causing so much pain to Alessio?  Her eyes darted to and fro, searching for anything incriminating.  The only thing she could see was a very bright room.  It almost glowed…Her eyes widened as she realised that the room WAS glowing - glowing gold.  The events that had brought her here came rushing back to her.  When she had been thrown into that pool of glowing colours, by that man - Mario - yes, that's what Bethany had called him; she had glowed all different colours.  Catherine dimly took into account that she was still glowing.  She collected her thoughts again as she remembered what had happened to Midii.  Midii had glowed Gold.  She had shot out Gold power at Mario who shot Black power back at her.  She was getting a headache.  Catherine shook her head, trying to remember what happened after.  Mario had tried to hurt her with that Black power but Midii had thrown Gold power at her as well and now she was in this bright gold room with a half-dead Alessio.  Then it clicked.  The room was Gold.  Alessio had the Black power.  That's why Alessio was so weak!  The Gold power - whatever it was - affected the Black power!  Catherine felt a little relieved, the Gold power couldn't hurt her, on the contrary, it made her feel safe.  Alessio on the other hand…

"Alessio!  Alessio, come on.  Wake up!"  She said, nudging him gently.  When she got no reply, Catherine shook him a little forcefully.  "Alessio! Come on!  We need to get you out of here." 

A weak cough came from Alessio; he stared up at her through half-lidded eyes.  Catherine felt her heart give a small tug.  He looked so helpless.  She forced out a smile.  "Come on.  I'll get you out of this room."  Awkwardly trying to get him standing, they almost fell down in a heap, as his weight nearly crushed Catherine's lithe frame.  "That's…it…" She grunted encouragingly, as the two of them took one small step forward, Alessio nearly being dragged by Catherine.

'There's got to be an exit from this room.' She thought trying not to fall on her side from the heavy person she was half carrying, half dragging along.  The room had no defining outlines, it felt like every step they took, didn't get them closer to a wall; they were moving but staying in place at the same time.

'What am I going to do?' Catherine groaned inwardly as the two of them stumbled around the bright room.

         ***************************

   - Luxemburg, Earth - Real Time -

The trio held their breaths; the button under Hilde's forefinger had stopped blinking red and had turned a permanent bright orange.

More seconds ticked by, no one said a word, all-waiting for something to happen.

Hilde finally exhaled loudly, taking her finger off the button and shaking her head.  "Nothing happened."

"I don't hear anything either." Sally shook her head as well and laughed.  "Hmmm…well that was silly."  She smiled apologetically to Wufei who was still concentrating on the button.  He finally looked up at her and was about to return her smile when a small tremor shook them and the debris. The tremor lasted a few seconds before stopping. The three of them stood absolutely still, waiting for anything else.

Hilde was about to speak up again when the floor began to shake violently.  "Oh crap!"  She yelled diving behind a wreck, narrowly avoiding part of the ceiling falling on top of her.

"Watch out Wufei!"  Sally yelled, grabbing him to her as they hastily jumped away from the huge fault line that had appeared on the once clean marble floor.

"I told you the button was bad!" Wufei shouted at Sally who ignored him and hurried to Hilde's side. 

"You ok, Hilde?"

"Yeah, we need to get out of here!"

Nodding once, Sally held onto Hilde's hand as they avoided the gaping hole in the ground and the gaping whole above them.  "Wufei! Move!"

He didn't need to be told again.  They ran down the long corridor, towards the exits.  BOOM.  The trio came to a screeching halt in front of a steel door that had just slammed down in front of them, missing Wufei's nose by centimetres.  "What the-?"

BOOM.  BOOM.  BOOM.  Steel doors covered the other exits.  They turned back to where they had run from.  BOOM.

"This is not good." Hilde whispered as she, Sally and Wufei stared at their surroundings.  They were now trapped in a pentagon shaped room.  'At least its still bright.'  She thought just as the lights went out.  She cringed. 'Me and my big mouth.'

Wufei tightened his grip on Sally's hand.  He tried to gain his bearings in the darkness.  Steel doors surrounded them, they didn't have anything to pry them open and now the lights had turned off.  He resisted the urge to stomp his foot when a feeling of weightlessness came over him before disappearing as quickly as it had arrived.

"Were moving downwards."

"An elevator?"  Sally asked hopefully.  She couldn’t see their faces but she could tell Hilde was scared and that Wufei was tense.

No one answered her as whatever they were in, jolted to a stop.  A steel door cranked upwards, orange light streamed into the once dark room.

'Well, here goes nothing.' Thought Hilde as she timidly took a step forward into the orange room.

         ***************************

   - Subspace - Real Time -

'Stupid idiot.' Mario felt Steven's Black Power and soul vanish into the high-powered atmosphere around the fortress.  They still hadn't learnt how powerful they could be.  Unlike him.  He had mastered the Power.  Bullets wouldn't be able to hurt him and in a short time, nothing would be able to hurt him.

"The machine."

Mario shook away the thoughts of Steven's death.  He needed to get the time machine finished.  He would need two Black Council members.  The third member he had already gotten.  'Alessio…' he smirked, remembering the look his son had given him when he had locked him in the Gold room.

He summoned Adam and Mark Locandro.  'Might as well get rid of the entire family.' Mario thought evilly, eyeing the two men.  The idiots hadn't even realised their brother was dead.  The influx of Black Power didn't register in their thick skulls.  They thought too much like humans and not enough like powerful beings - higher than humans.

"Bring Bethany into the lab.  After she finishes the machine, contact me immediately."

The two men bowed to their superior and went off to do his bidding.  He turned to the SeekerSystem.  He could see Dorothy and Quatre running through a corridor.  He dismissed the thought of attacking her now.  The Red Power had somehow manifested in her and he wasn't about to check if she could wield it.  Not yet; not until he had the perfect shield.  Bethany.  When she finished the time machine he would bring her to Dorothy…A cruel smile lit up his face.  Yes, he would enjoy killing them both.

Midii gazed at the man walking in front of her.  He held her hand tightly; tight enough that it had gone numb.  They hadn't spoken a word since she had told him about Catherine.  Trowa had just lapsed into silence, his eyes had hardened and no emotion passed through them.  He had silently taken her hand and now they were walking through endless dim corridors.  She blinked away the tears, wiping away the ones that escaped down her cheeks with her free hand.  Did he blame her for Catherine's death?  She didn't know and all this confusion and pain and heartache were feeding the Gold Power in her.  She couldn't control the glow; it dimmed then brightened then dimmed again. 

"Get up!"

Trowa and Midii froze on the spot.  Midii recognized the voice.  It was one of those men.  'Bethany.' She thought.  Trowa pushed her behind him. He leaned carefully against the wall, trying to peek around the corner.

"Stupid butana!" 

Midii looked at herself desperately, as the fear made her glow even brighter.  'No! Please not now!'

"What the…" A new voice muttered.

Trowa looked at Midii's glowing form and quickly assessed the situation.  In a spilt second, he had pushed himself away from Midii, pointed the gun in the direction of the two voices and fired one shot before he was hurled backwards into the wall behind him.

Power overflowed from Midii as she saw Trowa crumble to the ground.  "NO!"  With all the energy she could hold she threw it all at the direction of the voices.  The corridor lit up brightly for what seemed like an eternity until all that was left was an afterimage.  Midii fell to her knees, exhausted.  In front of her lay three bodies.  One didn't move at all, Black power seeping out of it.  The body a few feet away from it twitched as Gold power surrounded it.  The third body lay still as well, but it glowed a dull red.  A groan behind her, tore her sight from the morbid picture in front of her.

"Trowa."  She stayed rooted to the floor, as Trowa gingerly picked himself up and walked towards her.  He fell beside her, his hands reaching out and touching her face.  Blue-gray orbs met one emerald orb.  Everything faded away until it was just them sitting there.  He was so relieved His lips parted slightly and Midii forgot everything and leaned ever so slightly towards him -

"Owww…owie…" Bethany lifted her head to see Midii and Trowa staring at her.  A memory of this happening before vaguely wandered in her mind before what had just occurred hit her like a ton of bricks.  She stared in shock at the dead body of Adam Locandro and the twitching body of Mark Locandro.  Propping herself up with her arms, she felt two pairs of hands help her up.  A deliriously happy smile crossed Bethany's face as she looked at Trowa then Midii.  She'd been rescued!  Tears of relief bubbled up and she flung herself at Trowa and Midii, engaging both of them in an impromptu group hug. 

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you!"  She babbled out.  "Where are the others?  Did they get Cathie?"

The happy relief Bethany felt evaporated, as the room temperature seemed to drop 10 degrees.  The wide grin shrank back, as the silence from both of them told her the story.  She looked at Midii who didn't meet her eyes and Trowa who wasn't looking at anything in particular.

"We need to find the others." Bethany jumped a little as Trowa spoke quietly.  It had seemed like an eternity had past since someone has spoken.  The two women nodded and Trowa held on to Midii's hand while Midii's held Bethany's hand.

'I hate silence.' Bethany thought as they walked single file through the dark shifting corridors.  She looked at her two silent companions.  Trowa was in the lead, strikingly alert for any danger that might jump out at them.  Midii looked more subdued, a dull glow emitted from her.  Bethany stared at her a little more closely.  "You know, Midii.  There's never been a Gatekeeper who was a Council member before."

The two in front of her stopped walking and Midii gave her a questioning look while Trowa surveyed the surroundings.

"I mean, there's never been one recorded.  I mean, the Council members are human; some can't help having affairs." Bethany mentally slapped herself, for implying that Midii was borne from an illicit affair.  Midii raised an eyebrow at Bethany who stammered out, "Uh, I mean your family might be distantly related to a Gold Council member…Yeah!  Since Gold Power can flow through female or male genes."

Midii gave a small smile at her and Bethany sighed loudly.  "It's ok, Bethany…What do you mean the Gold Power can flow through male and female genes?"  They had started walking again, Bethany now beside Midii with Trowa still walking in front.

Bethany smiled back, glad that the silence had been replaced.  "Oh!  The old powers were broken up into five groups.  Red, Gold, Green, Blue and of course, Black."  She spit the last word out before continuing, "Red and Green can only flow through the female genes while Blue and Black can only flow through the male genes.  Gold can flow through both."

Midii nodded for her to continue, she also didn't like the enforced silence, her thoughts kept going back to Catherine and how stupid she had been in not realising what that, that monster was about to do.

"So your mother or father must have had the Gold Power, so that's why you have it." Bethany nodded away, not missing a beat in what she was saying.  "My mother had the Red Power, as did Dorothy's mother.  Our mothers got it from her mother and so on.  It can only be passed on from mother to daughter to daughter's daughter.  It can't be passed on from mother to son to son's daughter.  It's the same with the male oriented powers.  Only the roles reversed.  Father to son and so on."  Bethany took a deep breath after that and was about to say more when Lucas and James Di Cartelli appeared in front of them.

"Not again…"

'Are you ok?' Aquamarine eyes stared concernedly at Dorothy's pale blue ones.  She nodded, a little out of breath after non-stop running through the shifting corridors - which tried to turn them into pancakes - for what seemed like forever.  The walls had stopped moving a few minutes ago but they had kept moving forward just in case.

'You?'

Quatre nodded and motioned to a door where a brighter light than the ones down the corridor emanated from.  They cautiously walked towards it until they were right next to it.  They pressed against the wall and Quatre peeked into the room.

'What?' Dorothy stared in surprise at Quatre who had just given her the image of what he had seen.  'It can't be Bethany's lab.'  The both of them walked quietly into the room, taking in the panels, screens and weird looking metal pods next to a seat with a keyboard, levers and wires hanging out of it.

'How…?' Quatre turned to Dorothy who had walked towards one of the weird looking metal pods.  'Why did they replicate Bethany's lab?'

Dorothy just shook her head mystified by what she was looking at…it seemed to be drawing her closer.  The metal pod was taller than she was but it wasn't very roomy.  Someone could stand but not sit in there.  She inspected the buttons and the lever at the side.  She was about to step into the pod when a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

She turned and gazed inquiringly at Quatre who shook his head.  'There's something strange about all this…'

Dorothy was about to reply when a voice behind them spoke up.

"You've got the Red Power? Ha!  This is going to be fun."

The two of them came face to face with Nicholas Saladino who was building up Black Power in his hands.  In a spilt second he had thrown it at Quatre sending him flying across the room into on of the screens.  Dorothy dived and rolled sideways, avoiding the blast.

"No!"  She screamed; raw Red Power fluctuated in her as she felt Quatre fall into unconsciousness.  A furious roar erupted from her throat and she launched herself at Nicholas.  Nicholas hastily teleported behind her and the Red Power Dorothy had thrown hit one of the screens, spraying broken glass everywhere.

"Missed me you - " He didn't finish his sentence as the Red Power through him off-balance, backwards into one of the pods.  The pod's door automatically closed. 

Breathing heavily, Dorothy glared at Nicholas through the small viewing window.  He banged his fists at the glass and through Black Power at it but it didn't even scratch the window.  A soft whirring sound came from the pod and the buttons on the side began to glow one after the other.  Dorothy stared in fascination as the lever automatically pulled down right after all the buttons had lit up.  A muted scream came from the pod, as Nicholas felt his power being sucked out of him.

Dorothy stumbled back as she saw Nicholas writhe in pain as all his power and his soul was taken from him.  "Oh…my…God…" Dorothy couldn't take her eyes off the sight as Nicholas stopped twitching all of a sudden and his body slumped forward against the pod.  A loud jolt brought Dorothy back to reality as the Black Power and Nicholas' soul connected to the time machine and a portal in front of it began to open.

Dorothy hurried towards Quatre's prone body, laying her hands to his mind; a red glow surrounded Quatre and he opened his eyes.

"What…?" Quatre stared at the sight behind Dorothy and gulped.  He grabbed her hand and they ran.

Mario's eyes snapped open.  Another one of his men had died.  He was about to teleport when the voices stopped him cold.

"It has begun."

A cruel smile spread across his face.  The time machine had been activated.  The end of the world had begun.

Catherine looked helplessly at Alessio's sickly form.  She had given up trying to walk and carry him as well and was now sitting in the very bright room waiting for…well anything really.

A raspy cough escaped Alessio's mouth.  "Alessio…Come on, we'll make it out of here." Catherine wrapped her arms around Alessio's shoulders, rubbing his side comfortingly.  She didn't know what else to do.  Him being close to her had somehow helped him a little.  She supposed it was because she was carrying some of the 'power' in her and he was being sustained through that because she had tried to walk by herself and when she came back he had gotten worse.  Alessio relaxed into her embrace and she wrapped her other arm around him.  She rocked gently to and fro, trying to lessen his pain as much as she could.  She had done this when Trowa had suffered amnesia and it had calmed his nightmares.  She stared upwards at the ever bright ceiling and squinted slightly the ceiling seemed to get brighter.

"Oh…" She shielded her face from the sudden bright light with her hand.  A thought of heaven flashed before her eyes as she suddenly felt calm.

"AHHH!"

A scream broke that thought as Catherine turned to who had screamed, her hold on Alessio tightening.  She blinked a few times; hoping against hope that what she saw in front of her wasn't a hallucination.  Standing there was Trowa hugging Midii close to him and Bethany laying flat on her back.

Midii had her eyes closed and the golden glow around her wasn't diminishing.  Trowa blinked at his surroundings, his eyes falling on Catherine and Alessio.

"Cathie…"

Midii collapsed in Trowa's arms and Bethany rolled onto her elbows to stare wide-eyed, in disbelief at Catherine.  A click was heard and Bethany looked up at Trowa who was holding up Midii with one arm and had a gun pointed at Alessio in the other hand.

"Cathie get away from him."

"No!  Trowa, no! Don't shoot!  He's in pain! He needs our help. Trowa, please, put down the gun."  Catherine pleaded to her younger brother, varying emotions both showing on their faces.  Trowa nodded at his sister and dropped the gun to his side.  He fell to his knees, taking Midii's sleeping form with him.  He laid her down gently and crawled towards his sister.

"Cathie…" Trowa reached Catherine who unceremoniously let go of Alessio and gave her brother a crushing hug.

         ***************************

         - Unknown Place – Unknown Time -<

“You can’t really be considering doing this!” The voice yelled again.  Relena gritted her teeth.  The dream again.

“It is our destiny and our right.  I will do this and I will do this with or without you.” The voice answered back again.  The voices were so familiar now.  There was no green haze and Relena walked steadily around the room, every step she took, brought her closer to the voices.  They were getting louder and clearer. 

“Consider what you’re doing!  Don’t be foolish!  The world has changed, you can’t possibly expect everything to go back the way it was!”

“We were meant to rule.  It is what was prophesied so long ago.  You cannot stop destiny and fate.”  Relena was so close she could feel it.  Relena waited a few moments as she waited for the green haze to fill the room again.  It didn't happen.  Surprised she walked closer and closer.

“I won’t be a part of this!  I will stop you, I’ll tell rest of them!”

Relena was now standing next to the two people but their faces were still not there. “Then I will have to make sure you can’t do that, then.”  “What…? You – you…we’re…But you’re my - ”

She saw them.  Their faces; just before the green haze took her again.  She had seen their faces.  She knew who they were.  She knew.

         ****************************

Person utterly sad that mini-break is finished and she only got One chapter done:

Hi everyone!  …ummm…so, what'd you guys think?  It's nearly finished! It's nearly finished! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!  Ummm…and there WILL be JOY in this fic…I just don't know where…BUT there will be Joy!  Uhh…R&R, C&C, flames and e-mail most welcome along with chocolates and assorted junk food.  ^__^  I will get to work on chapter 7 soon…hehehe…yeah, soon…