Disclaimer: Wow!  I updated! Hehehehe…please don’t hate me!  Hate this crappy chapter! Yeah, that would be better…Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed!!! Doubly thankful that everyone’s so patient! Eternal thanks to Anne for beta-reading! Okies…onto chapter 8!

Joy to My Life

Chapter 8: The Past Happens

By: J.B. Santiago

  Unknown Place – Unknown Time –

The sky was a picturesque blue, the grass was the perfect shade of green; the mountains provided the ideal backdrop.  She was in a meadow.  A scene from the ‘Sound of Music’ popped into her mind, unwanted.  Dorothy shivered involuntarily.  She was never going to watch one of Bethany’s favourite movies again.  She turned to the time machine, which she had hastily covered with leaves, sticks and anything else that could disguise a bunch of wires, a keyboard, screen and a not so comfortable seat.  'Where the hell am I?' She thought, suddenly realising that she couldn't hear Quatre's thoughts alongside hers.  "Quatre…" she breathed out his name, a clouded look came over her as she thought of how they had parted.  Would that be the last time she saw him?  "Don't think like that, Dorothy!" She chastised herself loudly.  A rustling sound near her shook her out of her dazed state and she stealthily (well as stealthily as someone who just got out of a time jump could) crept towards the sound.  She found herself behind a thornbush on a semi-cliff overlooking more jagged rock faces.

"Lavi!" A voice whined irritably.  Dorothy watched as a young blond woman crossed her arms over her chest and pouted cutely, all the while floating a couple of metres off the ground.  "This is ridiculous!  Even mother told you, that you were being paranoid! Lavi! Come on!  Could we please leave this place?!  I hate being in the Earth wilderness, nothing at all like Joir!"

Another blond woman folded her arms across her chest and stared down imperiously at the woman who was talking to her.  "Little sister." She said in a voice used to dealing with unreasonable younger siblings.  "There is something here. Keioa, I can feel it!  If the Elders, the Heads of Council and even mother can't feel it, doesn't mean there isn't something here!"

A red glow emitted from both of them but that wasn't what made Dorothy's blood run cold.  It wasn't the realisation that she was in the past, where the Greater Council were still all-powerful or that she had just seen two people from the Red Council or that the world of Joir was still there.  No, it was the realisation that the younger blond woman pouting at her big sister was the woman she had met and 'freed' from the Darkness.

  ****************************

  - Subspace - Real Time -

Sparks erratically flew from where the portal and time machine had been.  Scorch marks surrounded the immediate area and the smell of burnt plastic wafted in the lab.  The Pods were still standing, not even the mini-tornado moved them much.  Quatre stood  where the time machine had been.  His hands clenched into fists, an angry frown marred his features.  Heero had tied up the two Black Council members with leftover wire, although Bethany doubted they would be moving anytime soon as the Gold power kept them comatose.  Duo had used the SeekerSystem to track down the two other unconscious members and was in the process of dragging their sorry butts back to the lab, with Heero's help.  Relena was comforting Catherine while Trowa watched over a sleeping Midii.  Bethany wondered if Dorothy was ok…'Of course she is!' Bethany shook her head, annoyed with herself.  'Dorothy's fine.  The machine worked fine.  I wonder where she is - ' Her eyes widened in fear.  "OM MY GOD!"  She screamed, her hand automatically covering her mouth in shock as she remembered what she had done to the time machine.

"What, Bethany!? What!?" In an instant Quatre had grasped her arms and shook her forcefully, a wild look in his eyes.

Everyone awake stared at the two, a mixture of fear and confusion showing in their faces.  Her breathing became laboured and she struggled out of Quatre's hold almost colliding with the main control panels.  "No…please don't be…" She rapidly typed on the keys on the panel.  All the screens showed the time machine through 3D graphs, Bethany almost punching the keys in her heightened state, until she found what she was looking for.  "No…" 

Quatre whirled Bethany around to face him, not realising his painful death-grip hold on her shoulder.  "What is it, Bethany?"  His voice low and not at all a voice Quatre used often.

"Let go…" She sniffled a little as tears formed in her jade coloured eyes after Quatre released her from his grip.  Quatre blinked a few times, as he realised how out of control he was acting.  Bethany wouldn't look at him straight in the eyes and that frightened him more than he would've liked to acknowledge.  'Dorothy will come back.  Dorothy will come back.' That single thought kept repeating itself over and over in his mind.

"The time machine…" Bethany said, more to the floor than anyone in the lab.  "…It's on random.  Whatever time she sets it won’t go to that time.  It will not be able to come back here." 

Quatre didn't hear the alarmed sounds from his friends or the broken sobs coming from Bethany.  He felt terrifyingly empty.  Dorothy was lost to him.  Her thoughts didn't intertwine with his.  Her heartbeat wasn't in tune with his.  She was gone…

"NO!"  Quatre didn't care how frightening he looked or how scared some people in the room seemed of him.  He set his stare at Bethany.  "You made the damn machine!  I know you can fix this!  Fix it!"  His hands shook her shoulders desperately, before a strangled sob escaped his lips and he fell to his knees, tears flowing freely down his face.

"I'm so…sorry…" Bethany sobbed out.  It was her fault.  This was all her fault.  Dorothy was stuck somewhere in time and she had no idea how to get her back.  She stared at the three Pods.  She had made those killing machines.  People were dead because of her.  All because of her.  How could she fix this?  She couldn't.  All she could do was make time-jumping, soul sucking, power sucking machines that didn't do the world any good.

"Hello?  Hello?  Can anyone hear me?"  A voice crackled out of the screen speakers.  "Hello?  Duo?  Anyone?"

"Hilde?!"  Duo dropped the man he was tying up and jumped to his feet, yelling out his wife's name.  "Hilde!?  I can hear you!"

Everyone looked around, trying to find where the sound was coming from.

"Hello?  Damn this!  Sally, no one is answering!" The speakers crackled even more.

Duo rushed to the panels and frantically looked for a mic to talk into.  Bethany stood next to him; sniffling back tears and shakily pressed a few buttons to reveal a mic.  "Hil-de?"

"Hello?! Bethany?  Is that you?"

'They must have opened the connection to all the labs.' Thought Bethany, as she typed in a few codes to open the connection onto the screen.  What she saw was unexpected.  'They're in the old lab?  Why?' She repeated the thought out loud to the three people now on the screens.

"This is the old lab?  That's what we thought as well.  The new lab got destroyed by…something we don't know but it came from the portal."  Wufei answered.

"Is everyone ok?" asked Sally, looking at the group in Subspace.  After she had said it she realised that Dorothy was missing and Quatre was crying while Bethany didn't look too happy either. 'Oh no…' she thought as Hilde and Wufei noticed as well.

Bethany gave a shaky sigh, about to explain everything when she stopped in confused.  "How did you open the old lab?  It's not like the new one."

Hilde shrugged after quick looks from Wufei and Sally.  "By accident really.  We figured out how to turn the keys until everything turned on."  She stared quizzically at Bethany whose cheeks were tear streaked but a thoughtful expression was firmly placed on her face.

"The Power balance…" She muttered to herself.  "The machine is powered by the old powers!" A plan was forming in her mind, sadness forgotten as she rushed to the Pods.  She pressed a series of buttons and all three Pods opened simultaneously, letting go of the three dead Black council members.  Stepping into one of the Pods as surprised voices gave a shout to her, she pressed on a side panel and a keypad popped out.  Typing on it furiously, she prayed feverishly that this was the answer.  "C'mon, c'mon…" She stood still for a few seconds not moving, waiting for that sound.  A hiss emitted from the Pods, as compressed air was let out, creating a cloud of white smoke that quickly dissipated into the atmosphere.  She closed her eyes briefly, thanking God that it had worked. 

"What are you doing, Bethany?"  Relena asked, now comforting Quatre as well as Catherine.

Bethany opened her eyes, to reveal no more tears.  "The old powers are powering that time machine.  What they - ", she pointed to the screens showing Hilde, Sally and Wufei, " - turned on the old lab using keys that need to be turned according to Power balance.  That's what we need to bring the time machine back here.  To bring Dorothy back here."

Confused looks all around the room as they tried to make sense of what Bethany had said.  "How are you going to do that?" Heero spoke up for the first time since the whole time machine 'incident'.

"The Power balance!" She replied, looking at everyone with a 'you-should-know-this look'.  "I need all the colours!  I have Red, Relena has Green, Midii has Gold, we have four members of Black and - " She stopped short as she realisedd there were no Blue members left.  She frowned before continuing, "…and we have Catherine.  She can substitute for Blue, she IS carrying the old powers.  All we need to do is use the Pods - "

"Are you crazy?!"  said Duo incredulously.  "These, these Pods, suck the souls out of people.  See the three dead people at your feet?!"  Duo flailed his arms around, muttering, "crazy, completely crazy…"

Bethany sighed impatiently.  "I'm not trying to power a time machine!  I'm trying to create a beacon for the old powers in the time machine to follow so it wont go somewhere else!  The old powers are attracted to each other, like the north and south magnets are.  If we have a concentration of all the old powers we could pull the time machine back here!"  She looked at Quatre who was listening to her intently.  "I need to modify the Pods so we can do this…and we'll also need someone to be connected to the portal - like the time machine was…" She stepped out of the Pod and walked to Quatre, kneeling beside him.  "If you're connected to the portal we could channel all the energy through you to the portal.  You have the old power in you because of Dorothy.  It would increase our chances of getting her back…"  Bethany trailed off.  What she was suggesting sounded so implausible.  The calculations alone would take forever but she needed to do something - anything.

Quatre nodded slowly.  "What do we need to do?"

Encouraged, Bethany began telling everyone her plan.

  *************************

Unknown Place - Unknown Time -

The two blond women had left shortly after their little conversation.  She had run after that.  She didn't know how far she had run but it didn't matter.  Dorothy stumbled against a huge tree root and she leaned heavily against the rough bark, to keep her from falling.  She had run straight into a forest, sunlight wafting through the canopy giving the place dim lighting.  She had travelled into the past where the Darkness hadn't been unleashed…but now Emeline was here and she was carrying the Darkness.  Was this how it was unleashed?  Was this why her kind never saw it coming?  Dorothy clenched and unclenched her fists trying to control her breathing.  What the hell was she going to do?  Was it supposed to happen like this?  Had this already happened?  Dorothy pressed her clenched fists hard against the sides of her head, trying to stop the vertigo. 

"That doesn't help, dear."

Dorothy swirled around to come face to face with Emeline Noventa.  'She looks so much like Sylvia.' Mused Dorothy, even as she felt the Green Power pick her up and slam her against a giant tree.

A cruel smile lit Emeline's features.  She shook her head admonishingly.  "What is it with you Red?  First that little brat of a cousin of yours, somehow sends me to this place and now you're here trying to stop me from what is rightfully mine."  She laughed lightly, disappearing from Dorothy's line of sight before reappearing behind Dorothy's fallen form.  "You're in a forest.  My forte.  Not yours."  With that, Emeline proved her point, literally using Dorothy as a pinball and the forest as the pinball machine.  Dorothy fought the urge to scream as her body hit yet another tree.  Blood dribbled down her face; Emeline was throwing her around so quickly that she couldn't even begin to think of healing.  A sickening crack was heard and she couldn't hold it any longer.  She let out an ear-piercing scream as her left shoulder dislocated and her forearm dangled at a dangerous angle. 

"Hmmm…I was waiting for that."  Emeline just smiled at her as she lifted Dorothy up by her dislocated shoulder.  Dorothy gave a small cry as the Green Power seeped into her arm.  "I don't want you dead, yet.  I'm about to destroy this pathetic little world and you’re my captive audience."  Her eyes narrowed into slits.  "This time there will be no mistakes." 

A black vine snaked around Dorothy's good arm and pulled her upwards as more vines wrapped themselves around her legs and mid-section.  She found herself suspended a few metres off the ground.  Dorothy gasped for breath as the Green Power wrapped around the vines.  'At least they stop me from moving my arm,' she thought sarcastically.  "Em…Emeline…fight this."  She rasped out.  The trees around her seemed to get taller and wider, as if they were building an airtight cage around her.

"Fight what, dear?" Emeline's bright green eyes shone a startling colour as she began murmuring something in an ancient tongue.  Dorothy tried to answer but it was just too much.  The pain was overbearing.  She couldn't handle it anymore and Dorothy slipped into unconsciousness.

'Who are you?'

Dorothy blinked in surprise as a pale face materialised in front of her.  She did a 360-degree turn, taking in her surroundings.  She wasn't in the forest anymore but a place with millions and millions of different colours swirling around her. 

'Your eyes are blue.  That's impossible.'  Dorothy continued to stare at her psychedelic surroundings, ignoring the face that was talking to her.

'Can you be a lost soul?' The face stared at Dorothy quizzically before suddenly forming into a standing person with glowing red eyes and shiny blond flowing hair.  Dorothy's mind kicked in then as she realised she was staring at one of the women she had seen earlier.  That girl she had seen in the Darkness had called her Lavi…right?

'You know my name?' The woman said.  'How did you get in here?'

Realising she had said the woman's name out loud, Dorothy replied, 'I saw you on Earth.'

The woman - Lavi, frowned suspiciously at Dorothy but didn't move threateningly towards her.  'Then you must be a lost soul.  Only souls can see my kind on Earth unless we want to be seen…but you are in human form, in here…' Before Dorothy could answer back, Lavi suddenly moved forward, in a flash of red she ran through Dorothy.  The millions of colours around them froze; everything seemed to stop. 

'That…power…what IS that?'

Dorothy let out the a shallow breath as she felt herself capable of moving again.  She looked behind her to find Lavi slumped over, her red eyes dimly glowing, looking at Dorothy in shock, awe, fear and so many other emotions, not possible for a human to show.  Lavi repeated her question, a little bit more demanding even though she was the one worn out.  'What IS that power?'

Dorothy didn't understand.  What power?  She felt as if an anvil was being pushed against her chest.  She was about to answer when she felt herself being viciously tugged back to consciousness…

"Now, now.  I can't have you asleep while I destroy Joir." Emeline removed her hand from Dorothy's forehead.  "This time Joir goes first, not Earth."

"Emeline. Stop this.  I know you can fight it." Dorothy breathed out.  The anvil feeling was still present only this time it seemed rather comforting.

Emeline just smiled at her cruelly.  She leaned forward until their noses were nearly touching.  She closed her eyes and instead of bright green orbs when she opened them, Dorothy found herself staring at a bottomless pit of Darkness.  Too late, Red child.  A deep hissing sound came out of Emeline's mouth.  The forest became so silent, there was no wind, sunlight seemed non-existent as the Darkness finally spoke.  Then Emeline blinked again, her eyes a brilliant green and her voice light and airy.  She smiled again at Dorothy who was so still, it didn't look like she was breathing.  Emeline moved away from her and continued to speak in that ancient tongue before she had to wake Dorothy.

"No."

Emeline stopped in mid-sentence and turned amusedly at Dorothy.  Bright green eyes met fiery red ones.  Emeline looked at Dorothy, surprised.  Before she could react the Red Power pushed her hundreds of metres backwards until she came skidding to a halt in the meadow outside the forest.  Emeline stood up, shakily trying to get her bearings.  'So the little bitch is finally controlling her powers. No matter.' She thought as she began to gather power around her from the earth.  An emerald colour shield grew bigger and bigger around her as she waited for Dorothy to emerge from the forest.  She didn't have to wait long.  Dorothy appeared into view, just outside where the forest began and the meadow ended; the Red powers had healed her completely.

"Stop this Emeline."

A hollow laugh escaped Emeline's lips, "Was that little hit supposed to scare me, Dorothy?" She was about to laugh again but Dorothy beat her to it.

The laugh contained no mirth and was short-lived.  Dorothy shook her head, "No, but this will."  She placed both hands, palms millimetres from her chest and closed her red eyes.  Taking this as an opportunity to strike albeit weakly, Emeline shot out a small energy ball at Dorothy, that dissipated metres from Dorothy, a red force field protecting her.  Dorothy didn't even flinch.  Emeline watched in cautious fascination as Dorothy's hands began to pulse Red, the light spreading until it covered her as a whole.  Then she slowly moved her hands outwards, in two clenched fists bound together.  This movement seemed to attract the Red away from her body and into her hands like a veil being pulled from a statue.  Dorothy's left hand opened, palm facing Emeline while her right hand - still a fist - began to move away from it.

Emeline narrowed her eyes as she saw an intricately carved handle form in Dorothy's right fist, then a shiny blade gleamed mockingly at her from Dorothy's open left palm.  She was carrying the Key of Life.  Dorothy held the long blade that had formed inside the Darkness when the five Colour Keys came together.  Something cold and evil stirred uneasily inside Emeline.

The Key.  Emeline pushed back the voices and emotions and threw a green orb at Dorothy with a furious war cry.  Dorothy stared calmly at it, as if watching a shooting star and not a deadly energy orb.  She lifted the Key just as the orb was about to hit her and the Key absorbed the blast, turning the blade a brilliant green before the power emanated outwards towards Emeline.

All around them the Green Power spread making the meadow suddenly spring to life with plants and life-forms not meant to exist there.

"Emeline.  I know you're in there.  Fight the Darkness." 

I wont be defeated.

Dorothy just shook her head and the Key began to glow.

"No!" Emeline gritted her teeth.  This was not going to happen.  Her iris dilated, her eyes an almost black green, her lips moved whispering the final incantation that would open the gate into Joir.  All the trees in the forest were ripped out from their roots as the ground begun to crack and open up to reveal molten rock.

Dorothy stumbled forward, stabbing the ground with the key trying to keep her balance as the ground shook violently.  Magna shot out from the cracks spraying the clear sky with reds and oranges. 

An animalistic scream seemed to drown out the earth's wails for a few moments.  Dorothy saw Emeline disappearing into a huge hole that had appeared behind her.

"No!"  Dorothy, ignoring the huge divides being created and the lava everywhere ran forward jumping almost 20 metres into the hole as it closed.

Then everything became quiet, as suddenly as the earth had begun to explode, it stopped.  The trees that had been floating above the ground crashed back to earth.  The ground stopped splitting and the molten rock began to cool down as the once clear sky turned gray and rain started to pour down.

            *********************

  - Subspace - Real Time -

"We need to re-wire the Pods to connect to us then to Quatre then to the time portal entrance."  Bethany instructed to Heero through a microphone set attached to her.  She was leading the others capable of holding the old powers to where the Pool was.  She held out a palm sized SeekerSystem with her right hand as she navigated the moving maze to the lower floors of the fortress.

"There it is."

The group of five stared at what Midii was pointing at.  Bethany nodded in confirmation after a quick look at the SeekerSystem.  "Ok.  Who wants to go first?"

"I'll go."  Midii nodded o the four, her gaze lingering a little longer at Trowa whose facial expression she still couldn't read.  Walking to the edge of the Pool; she paused taking a deep breath before sticking a foot out and feel forwards into the Pool.  No sound was heard and the gang watched amazed as the dark Pool turned into liquefied gold.  Midii felt the ache wash away as her body began to absorb the old powers.  She floated upwards to where the others were.  Her hair looked like solidified gold, her eyes were gold before returning to their normal blue/gray colour as she landed gently at the foot of the Pool staring at the gang.

"Wow."  Bethany didn't know what else to say.  "Uh, ok Cathie you want to go next?"

Catherine nodded solemnly as she gave a parting look to Midii who was being watched like a hawk by her brother.  Bethany had explained to Trowa and everyone else that Catherine could substitute for the missing Blue power even though it was a male power because she was a Gatekeeper.  She could hold the old powers and if the now modified Pods could take that power it would be a huge boost that could be vital part in bringing Dorothy back to the present.  Catherine hadn't objected although Trowa had reservations he didn't stop her.  Stepping into the Pool, the same way Midii had entered.  She felt the old powers swirl around her; a few seconds of feeling like she was suffocating passed and rose upwards.  A strong hand grabbed onto her glowing one and pulled her up.

"Are you ok, Cathie?"  Trowa whispered in her ear as he hugged his sister.

She merely nodded; she would never get used to this.

"I guess it my turn…" Relena didn't wait for a reply as she walked purposefully to the Pool.  She didn't want to be a liability anymore.  As she entered, the Pool became a bright green, giving the room an eerie glow.  Relena opened her eyes she felt so incredibly powerful.  Then she felt it.  Emeline.  She gasped, oh my god she could feel Emeline's thoughts, feelings, every emotion.  It was as if the Pool held onto a record of every person who had entered it but you could only access the records of your respective Colour.  She didn't want to know.

Bethany jumped back as Relena almost hurtled into her.

"Relena! Are you ok? What happened?!"

Relena blinked a few times until her eyes had returned to her normal colour.  She straightened up staring into Bethany's eyes.  "It will get rid of this right?

"What?"

"The Pods, they'll completely take this power away, right?"

Bethany nodded confused and a little scared at Relena.  "Yeah, it should."

Relena let go of Bethany, nodding back.  "Good.  Because no one needs that power.  No one."

The gang just watched Relena warily.  Bethany walked hesitantly towards the now light green Pool.  It was turning back to its normal colour. 'C'mon Bethany.  Stop being such a scaredy cat.'  But after what had just happened to Relena…audibly gulping she stepped into the Pool.

"Ok Sal, turn it on." Directed Duo talking to one of the big screens in the duplicate lab.

Sally obliged, pulling down a lever Bethany had showed them half an hour ago.  She had said that it would create a power flow from where they were (in Luxemburg) to the fortress lab where Duo was now.  The lights flickered momentarily.  Duo motioned to Heero and he pushed a series of buttons and the area where the time portal had opened began to crackle with energy.

"Ok, now Quatre."

Quatre stepped forward into the area, wires held together by metal pads strapped to his hands.  He placed them where the time portal entrance had been.

"Quatre's in place, alright your turn guys."

Sally, Wufei and Hilde nodded in unison as they again placed their hands into the 'key' that had turned on the old lab.  They turned the key in sync, backwards this time, effectively channelling the power of the lab through the portal into Subspace straight to where Quatre was.  Electric power began to build up in the pads attached to Quatre and he felt a slight tingling sensation as a portal began to form in front of him - just as Bethany had said should happen.

"It's working!" Duo shouted over to Heero.  The silent question being, 'but will it bring back Dorothy?'

"Where are the others?!"

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

  - Joir - Unknown Time -

Dorothy stumbled onto the ground narrowly missing impaling herself with the Key of Life.  She stood up shakily and her breath caught in her throat.  She had seen this place before.  Paradise.  It had been a fleeting vision, the first time, when she had somehow ended up there and at that time she had been too busy trying to stay awake.  Joir.  Still so alive and breathtaking.  A scream broke Dorothy’s trance.  She ran towards the scream only to halt at the steps of a building reminiscent of the Colosseum.  She swallowed the bile that was threatening to rise in her throat.  In front of her had been a Council member.  Had being the operative word.  Dorothy couldn’t even tell if it had been a man or a woman, all she could see were tiny sparks of Green power surrounding the figure. 

Too late, Red child.

Swivelling around to face her tormentor, Dorothy saw Emeline disappear in a haze of Green.  Cursing, she ran to the spot Emeline had just been in and concentrated.  “C’mon, THINK Dorothy!” The old powers were considerably heightened in Joir than on Earth.  If Emeline could do that vanishing act so could she.  A Red haze surrounded her and with thoughts centred solely on Emeline she too, vanished.

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

Person who hasn’t written in almost two months!:

Ummm…this was actually a MUCH longer chapter 8, but then I realised it would be too long so I’ve separated it into two different chapters!  Hopefully ch.9 will be out in a few days…heh…please R&R, C&C, flame me, e-mail and all that!!

Thanks again for your patience and I hope this wasn’t such a sucky chapter!!!