Title: Tiles
Author: kc-chan ([email protected] )
Rating: PG-13 to R; this part- PG13
Warning: Language, Violence, yaoi, Angst, AU, possible OOC, lemon later on.
++SPECIAL WARNING++ real chants are used here folks, I take no responsibility if you happen to use them and you get hurt/injured. I personally don't mess around with things I have no control over. No daemons were summoned during the scripting of this fic. In fact, I don't think I want to test them. Three rules to life- never be around before, during, or after a daemon summoning.
PAIRINGS: 6x5/5x6 ; 1x2/2x1; 3x4/4x3 ;13x6 ; M+5 ; & 2x11.
++SPOILERS++: to be safe I'll say the entire series especially Blind target, Episode Zero manga, and Endless Waltz..
ARCHIVE www.wired-dna.net ; www.fanfiction.net um... whoever has previous okays take it. anyone else please email me (not like I am going to say no or anything. . .)
DISCLAIMER: not mine. . . please don't sue. Only borrowing them.
Thanks to my beta-ers- Cheshire-san , Lilie-san, and Aya-chan for all their wonderful help and translating help! I love you!!! ::glomps::
COMMENTS: that would be nice.

This part dedicated to: Trixie-san; Cheshire-san; Azzie; Red Pearl-san; Steelsong-san; Bearilou ; Lilie-san; Nana-chan; Brenda-san; Krimie-san ; Zoisite NightDragon; DragonMage-san; Aya-chan; Nightfall-san; Dina-san; Da Black Cat ; Luna Tiger; blackskye ; maderr ; Phoenix and whomever else I have missed who have replied and given words of encouragement (and threats to write faster ^^;;). Thank-you!!

Tiles
Part 5

By: kc-chan

The lush plains rushed past the window, the swift pace blurring the details of the land. Mountains fell down to glades and hills back to more moutainy terrain. Rivers and lakes, plateaus. Alternating highland and lowlands. If he had been looking, he would have found it breath taking, a moment stolen from one of his deeper meditations. The lithe Chinese boy, however, sat with wire rimmed glasses perched upon his curved nose, his black eyes concentrating on faxes and a mountain of international and bureaucratic paperwork. There were times he really wished that he had a secretary.

Setting aside some of the latest faxes, he switched the papers for the other set next to him. According to the Pskov database and the information he drew from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the woman was in their files. Several times.

Biting his lip in deep contemplation, the Chinese boy sighed. At least twelve different alternate names she had had aliases under, not mentioning the almost innumerable unaccounted for projects done by her services.

She wasn't Eglantine Delmare.

But with all but one guard dead, it would be highly unlikely to gain more information. Unless, they turned up more evidence at the manor. Rubbing absently at the back of his neck, his eyes were straining to stay focused. The aspirin wasn't helping his continuous headache, which seemed to delight in thumping in his skull.

He turned to tapping his pencil, a nervous gesture he hated to give into, but he was frustrated. Having written up everything he could remember about his encounter, he had left on the train to Dresden with a feeling of uneasiness. The police in Pskov had only limited sources, and while he had requested a team from the Russian Preventer's Headquarters branch be sent, the nearest one was in Tallinn or Kiev. They would be arriving later that evening, and even then he wasn't sure what they would be able to accomplish a full scale search that would prove to be fruitful in helping him in any real manner.

Growling slightly, he brushed his hand through the black silk strands that had been slipping in front of his eyes. Why didn't anything ever go the way he planned it to?

The murder in Paris was still mulling in the furthest trenches of his mind, knowing that he had to give Sally a call about those blood samples, they had files to work through on that case, he'd been kidnapped for a day, and last but not least, he had the paperwork to file on his reasons he had to open fire on his targets. Maybe he could bump some of the paperwork off on his blonde partner... Yet... For some reason his mind kept bringing up the murder case in Paris. "But how could a string of eight or so murders in a ballroom in Paris be connected to that woman?" he murmured, eyes running over her case file. "She is one woman. One person could not kill that many people at once!"

"Still as pig-headed as ever, Scholar," a familiar jibe chuckled, as the young girl's voice reached his ears. Reaching forward, she tapped the side of his glasses, hands ghosting over his loose black hair. "I like the new look. I dare say that your hair has grown longer than mine."

Black eyes finally looked up, directly into hers, as if he knew where her presence would have been. "Aren't you suppose to come and bother me during the wee hours of the morning, riddling my soul with guilt and my thoughts with blood?" he asked, humorously.

She leaned back, tapping her slim finger against her chin in thought. "No, that would give you a reason to blame me for everything."

"Onna!" Wufei growled softly, peering over his glasses to glare at his dead wife.

"Master of the obvious." She snorted, then leaned forward to look at the papers around her husband. "Ohhhhh! Want to know a secret?"

"Huh?" the boy asked, glasses slipping down the bridge of his nose.

Reaching forward, Meiren pushed them back up. "You want to know a secret?" Ignoring his blank, yet slightly superior look she grinned. "You're closer than you think."

"Can't you go haunt someone else? Or at lease show up at more climatical points in my life?" Wufei sighed, grabbing back a stack of papers his dead wife was looking through.

Remaining silent, Meiren blinked at him.

With another sigh he rolled his eyes and looked at her. "There. You have my full attention, Meiren."

"Xian zai she me shi hou, ben lu." Meiren murmured under her breath. <1>

"I heard that."

"I hoped you would have." She smiled innocently. Pointing to the files she asked, "How are the two connected?"

"They are not. Delmare has nothing to do with Paris."

"Are to. Paris involved what? You can't tell me you didn't feel it."

"What are you talking about?"

"Majik!"

"Feihua." He retorted automatically. <2>

Which was followed by her knocking up side the head. "Says the man talking to his dead wife."

"..." his mouth opened, but no reply came out.

"My point."

"Majik doesn't exist," he tried, somehow feeling that he was going to loose in the end. At her disapproving look, he sighed in defeat. "Fine. Going with your theory, Delmare went to Paris, killed some people at a ball. My question is why...Wait. In order to lure us to Paris..."

"You to Paris."

"Me to Paris... It doesn't flow Meiren." He sighed, black eyes warming up to chocolate brown as he looked at her.

"Maybe not yet... But I have to look out for you." She whispered, brushing up close to him, breathing his scent. "Wo hen xiang ni."

"Wo ye hen xiang ni." He whispered back, closing his eyes just to bask in her being so near. <3>

The Chinese boy could feel her smile against his cheek as a butterfly kiss touched it. "Yeah, but at least you got a sexy, tall blonde looking after you now. I might even admit to being slightly jealous of him for the attention you give him!" And with a chuckle she disappeared.

Black eyes widened impossibly and a faint blush streaked across his bronze cheeks. "Meiren!!" Lips fell into a pout, and he grabbed for the first stack of papers. Something Meiren made him think about actually made his instincts scream. He was getting closer to something, but yet it still evaded his grasp.

Pushing his eyes away from the blurring black and white lines, he removed his glasses to set them on the empty seat beside him. Pinching the bridge of his nose, the Chinese boy gritted his teeth as another wave of pounding started, only this time a slightly more... /concrete/.

Dizziness poured over him as the pounding began to swell to some unknown tempo. Wrapping his arms around himself tightly, Wufei clutched his arms hard enough to tear through the skin.

Lips opened up as onyx eyes squinted closed. "Zechs..."

~~~~~~'~~@@~~'~~~~~~

Their train pulled into a fairly crowded station only arriving slightly late. Stepping off the three of them were greeted by a woman wearing a Preventer's uniform.

With a salute she stepped forward. "Lady?"

"At ease," Anne dismissed. "What is the problem? I did not request escorts."

"Your assistance is requested at the High European branch, mame," the girl replied.

"I believe I left a council more than capable of running basic policy in my absence. Why is it that I am needed?" she asked, pressing her glasses up on her nose.

"They didn't say. Commander Noin merely requested that you get back to her on a secure line."

Zech's eyes blinked. "Why don't you go to the local office, Lady."

"We'll get Wuffie and meet'cha back there in what, an hour tops?" Duo added.

With a curt nod, Anne agreed. "She wouldn't have called unless something required my personal attention." Turning to follow the girl, she headed off the platform and into the city.

~~~~~~'~~@@~~'~~~~~~

The sun hid behind the clouds as two lone figures waited on the open platform. "Pretty dead for a train station," the American commented, leaning back against one of the large black beams of the station.

"It's only our platform, Maxwell, that is dead," the blonde replied, brushing a few loose strands into a low ponytail. "Besides, I just had a hunch Wufei would like to have someone here waiting for him. You could have gone on with Lady Une to the local Preventer's Office."

"And have been bored to death by waiting for her to finish faxing and phoning? I think not." The boy scoffed, shifting from his position to peer over the platform.

"She is the *head* of the organization, Maxwell." Blue eyes intently watching the boy across from him.

"Thank you for the reminder, Blondie," came the retort.

Choosing to be polite and ignore the boy's sarcasm, Zechs opted instead to remain civil. ""Any sign of the train?"

"About three miles down the track. It'll be here in a few minutes."

"Aa."

The boy turned to regard the tall man. "You look like you have something on your mind."

"I have a lot of things on my mind, Duo."

"Such as? That is if you are allowed to disclose them."

Not quite able to stop his eyes from rolling, the Prince smiled. "Nothing very important, I assure you. Work related. Boring stuff."

Quirking his head to the side, Duo grinned. "Sometimes that's the best stuff."

"Hn."

Silence bore on for some long minutes, before Zechs cleared his throat. At the sight of the American's eyes on him, he smiled. "It just dawned on me."

"That?"

The blonde paused as the train rushed in to the station, slowly coming to a halt. Grinning, he moved towards the braided boy. "That Wufei hates riding trains."

"Wha-?"

Whatever the American was going to say it was cut short as a recognizable head sleeked in raven black hair stepped off the train. Black eyes looking around hesitantly for anyone of familiar face. Duo's breath sucked in as he immediately noticed a slight difference in his friend's features. Somehow, Wufei seemed more... feline. Not that the boy never had a cat-like grace and agility, but his onyx orbs seemed larger, more slanted... Grace exhumed from every curve of the Chinese boy, even if he didn't realize it.

"Wufei!" Duo shout, waving both hands frantically, even as he rushed over to his friend. Seeing that the Chinese youth had noticed him, the American rushed forward.

A polite nod was all the black eyed boy offered, and walked past his friend with out a word. Privately he was hoping that the American would leave him alone. Whatever was ailing him, was growing worse, and the thought of the recent deaths at his hands made him uneasy.

Violet orbs watched as his former teammate walk past him, without the slightest inclination of replying. Biting back the retort. Duo noticed the rigid stance of the boy. The hardness in the eyes, the clipped way he was walking, and the usual tightness that had been absent from Wufei for a few months.

Whatever had happened, Duo decided, it had been bad. Wufei had returned in a matter of a day to his normal habits of old.

Not to be discouraged, the American picked up his pace to catch up with the Asian youth. "So, any exciting news to tell?"

Wufei paused, and turned his head to regard the boy next to him. "Read the report if you want to know, Maxwell." And continued his swift pace to his partner.

"What the hell..." Duo murmured. The frankness of the words had not hit as hard as the phrase. He knew it too well. It was the infamous words the black haired boy use to mutter after every mission to him during the first war. That was not settling easy with his stomach.

Zechs noted as well the severe and stern look of his approaching partner. Locking his eyes with the smaller man's, Zechs asked, "Are you alright, Wufei?"

With a dark glare the boy nodded. "Hn."

Even if he was use to the contrariness of his partner, Zechs still was slightly off put at the sharp and clipped tones the boy was replying in. It was as if the whole process of helping the boy trust and live had shattered in twenty-four hours.

Reaching forward, the blonde man gripped the bronze arm, sufficiently stopping the Chinese youth. Drawing the smaller man closer, but not close enough to be touching him, Zechs smiled. "I wasn't talking down to you, Chang, and I know the last few hours have probably been rough on you, but try not to take it out on Duo. He was merely concerned for your safety. We all were."

Wufei blinked when the man paused. It actually upset him that Zechs was calling him by his last name, something that Zechs rarely did. At least with him...

Pulling himself from his own thoughts, Zech's unconsciously reached out and ran his hand through the black strands of loose hair. "Whatever happened, I am sure it was beyond your control. Don't let it eat at you." Tilting the boy's chin up, he smiled. "I am just glad you're alright."

The Chinese boy bit his lip as a sensation lying somewhere between lust and pain danced along his spine. What confused him was his slight shift forward to rest his head against the man's chest. Had his barriers so completely disappeared in the last few months that he was beyond any form of control?

He wished he voice didn't come out as weak as it did. "I...I...Zechs.... I..."

Another hand touched his back, it was the American. "Shhhhh. It happens." Duo had a feeling about what had happened and he vowed to get a look at the report ASAP. To him it sounded like the boy he would see once in a while during the first war. The boy who was quick to kill with a sword, but hesitant to assassinate with a gun.

"But I killed people- civilians! It's not the guards, but I shot a girl at point-blank! I promised I wouldn't kill! I promised it was behind me!" he whispered out through clenched teeth. Blood and ghosts of the dead whispering in his thoughts, claiming him slowly.

"And sometimes..." Duo whispered back, hand reaching out to cup the boy's face. He had seen the guilt that had once been harbored to the boy, and he was damned to let the Chinese youth slip back into spiraling depression.

Black eyes blinked away tears that weren't there. Black eyes flickered over violet, and his tongue ran over his lip, moistening it. "And sometimes those fuckers need to die." A small smile grew on his frown.

At Zechs' strange look, Duo grinned. "The philosophy of the great Duo Maxwell, Blondie! Learn it and live it!"

"Except the one about when life gets tough, blow up Heero." Wufei chuckled, smile now sitting firmly on his lips. Somehow he just felt better being around them and as much as he wished he could pull away, he found that he couldn't. That in a few short months these two, more than the others, had pulled him into their lives and weren't going to let him fall. It was a nice feeling. Almost as nice as Zechs' hand brushing through his hair. Wufei identified the long missed feeling.

He felt *safe*.

Duo blinked innocently as they headed off the platform and towards the car. "Blow? Heero? More like Heero blows me, Wu-chan! Besides, been there, done that."

"And obviously liked it well enough to go back for repeat performances." Zechs smiled, winking over his shoulder.

The American coughed and chuckled, "You are definitely getting better, Zechsie. Looks like the ol' Maxwell charm is rubbing off on you!"

As they neared the car, something in two of them twitched. Rather like a familiar feeling that all terrorists get when something in the air is off. Duo held up a hand, as if he were merely checking out the sun. He turned slowly, taking in all the rooftops as he did so, until he was facing the other two.

Wufei scanned the sidewalks filled with the sounds of people bustling about, focusing his attention, he pulled away the noise and movement, the Germanic language, and carefully skimmed through the crowds.

Zechs, though a soldier and apt fighter, was not a terrorist by training or by trade and therefore only could feel something off with the air. He could not, however, have ever predicted the gunman's position with a few glances over the buildings and crowds. Luckily, Wufei pulled him down as the bullets rang out. The grunt next to them was obviously the American.

"02. 05?" Duo hissed out, fingers already on his silencer, clear eyes waiting for the next round to come.

"05, Wufei muttered back. Looking down, he noticed he was on top of Zechs.

"I'm quite fine as well." The blonde Prince smiled, his own hand on his gun.

Rolling off the taller man with grace, the Chinese youth clicked the safety off his gun. "Positions?"

"Rooftop. Three over from the clock tower. Two of them," the violet eyed teen replied, tense. "Come on you fuckers... Fire again. Shinigami is back in the house."

Twenty seconds rolled by.

"Cover me," was the only warning gave as the American sprinted out from their position from behind a car into the open square.

"What the hell is he doing?!" Zechs hissed in disbelief.

"Terrorism 101, Marquise," Wufei grunted and took aim. "Clock tower one."

The boy was talking as if he had a head set on communicating with the others. Blue eyes blinked back as the Chinese boy took his first shot. Wufei, without looking held up a finger and let it fall quickly. Zechs watched as the American pulled the same stunt again. This time running out from behind the garbage can. Slowly nodding at whatever Wufei's gesture meant, the braided boy turned and sprinted out into the open again.

It was amazing watching them fight so up close and this time on his side. The infamous Deathscythe's pilot was as stealthy as his machine, if not more so. A second shot followed by a third kept him focused. His knuckles white around his own gun, he caught the next gesture from the boy. Whatever code they were using, Zechs made a personal note to find out.

His own eyes narrowed as a member of the screaming crowd reached into his lapel. "Fuck."

"Zechs?" Wufei whispered, a sweat rolling down his cheek.

"Fuck." He rolled and took aim. Whatever god rolling over Dresden was blessing him today as the shot cleared its way, catching no civilians only the third gunman in the hand as his gun was pulled out.

"Clear," Duo shouted, and Zechs moved from his crouch, firearm still aimed at the man's head.

"Halt!" Zechs shouted, and amazingly the entire crowd froze in place. Then again, he bemused, he *did* have a gun pointed in their general direction.

By this time, the American was also training his gun at the crowd, while the rear was covered by the Chinese youth. "Heben Sie Ihre H�nde hoch. Sie im schwarzen Mantel, mit der blutenden Hand." Zechs commanded. <4>

The said man rushed forward. Pushing through the crowd.

"Shit," The braided pilot grunted, turning and trying to get a clear aim without taking down the civilians in open fire.

As the man burst through the crowd, and another man burst from a car as it sped into the square, plowing through the crowds. The shouts of panic turned rapidly into shrieks of hysteria. Wufei turned and aimed at the driver, missing the former target leave the group of people. Aiming, the youth fired rapidly, sprinting to the side to avoid being run over.

"Chang!" the American screamed as his bullet only nicked the terrorist. The aim was dead clear. They had pulled and lured them away from their true target. The oncoming black import hit a row of car, flipped, skidded and burst into smoke and flames. The Chinese boy panted, wiping the sweat from his eyes, and heard his name.

Zechs grunted and took his own aim as his shoes pounded against the brick of the courtyard. "Wufei! Down!"

As the black haired boy hit the pavement a shower of bullets flew around him. He had never heard the blonde use that tone before, it was interesting. "I can definitely see why his soldiers obeyed him." The tone the man had used left nothing open for discussion with his command. And quite frankly, Wufei was sure that was the only reason he had obeyed it.

"Clear," Duo grunted, skidding to a halt by his friend. "You okay?"

Pushing himself up, the Chinese teen nodded. "Fine." Looking over at his partner who stopped next to him. "Thanks."

"This sucks," the braided boy growled. "Do you know what this means?"

"That someone really wants Wufei at any cost?" Zechs replied, offering a hand to the black eyed boy, which was graciously taken.

"NO! It means I've now got paperwork to do!" the American cried out.

"I'm glad to see we've got our priorities straight, Maxwell."

"Shove it, Chang," Duo replied and stuck his tongue out. " And it wasn't like I asked them to plow through a crowd of people." Already dialing head quarters for reinforcements to the area, he looked up and added, "And if I remember correctly arson and crowd control isn't my jurisdiction." He looked over at the blonde Preventer with a smirk.

"Don't get cocky because I'll end up spending my lunch hour typing up my top ten reasons why my partner had to shoot at a clock tower report, Maxwell."

With a sly grin the Chinese boy held up two fingers and his thumb. Duo grinned and nodded in Zechs' direction. "He don't got a clue, does he?"

"Huh?" the blonde asked intelligently. "You're telling me the only person dead is the man we shot and the person in the bonfire who my partner so lovingly sent to his death?"

"Gee, thank you, Zechs. You certainly know how to flatter a man," the said boy snorted, brushing hair from his eyes. "Never shot the driver."

"The hand signals, Zechs? The first one got it in the stomach, down and probably in a lot of pain. The second grabbed the bullet in his shoulder and his leg. Wu-man probably blew out his kneecap." The American paused to flip his trade mark braid over his shoulder. "And what about the car, Wu? Not dead my ass!" the American snorted, twirling his gun and slipping out of sight.

"I never touched him. I shot the engine and the tires."

"I think we'll put that in the report. Blame inertia and gravity for the rest." Zechs chuckled. "There was only one problem about that row of cars."

"That being?"

"That's where I parked the rental."

"Oh."

~~~~~~'~~@@~~'~~~~~~

The American winced as they entered the local Preventer's branch. From the lobby they could hear the harsh, loud voice of their commander. "I really, really don't think I want to be here."

Wufei and Zechs mutely nodded, all three of them tossing their ids onto the front desk. "We're with Lady Une, but there isn't any need to interrupt her just yet."

The man at the front desk nodded in what looked like to be relief. "Your clear."

"Thanks, buddy!" The braided boy grinned, picking up his id and heading towards the hallway from where his boss's voice echoed.

Zechs was the one to open the conference room door after their knocking failed to gain admittance or even attention. "Lady? Sorry to interrupt, is this a bad moment?"

Anne paused from the group surrounding the conference table and a small screen lit up with a connection to their headquarters. "No. Come in. Is Chang alright?"

Stepping into the room and brushing past the tall blonde, the Chinese boy nodded. "Fine, Lady." He pulled some papers from his bag. "This is all the information available at the time. My report is forthcoming. Unfortunately Madame Delmare is going to cause a problem."

With a sigh, Anne sunk into the leather chair and leaned one arm on the oak conference table. "I am glad to see you are fine. Any new complications I should be informed of?"

"We had a slight... encounter... that I believe the locals are arriving at now," Zechs replied, leaning against the closed door.

Duo nodded. "This time it was fairly obvious who they were after."

Resting back, Lady Une paused a few moments before standing and addressing the conference screen. "Commander Noin, I will be going out on the next available train, expect me within an hour and a half."

"Yes, Lady!" Noin nodded before she cut her connection.

Turning to the other Preventers in the room, she added, "You are dismissed, thank you for your efficient work. My compliments to the staff. I'll give you my instructions before I depart. I will need one of your secretaries to get me a seat on the next available train out."

"Understood. Lady." A middle aged woman smiled, ushering the others from the room, before bowing her own head and closing the door as she departed from the room.

The room was silent for a few minutes before the brown haired woman spoke again, "Chang? I know I should pull you from the front and place you into protection..." She paused seeing the protest appear on his features. "But, knowing what you are, and more specifically capable of, I'm assigning Marquise and Maxwell to your personal attention."

The Chinese boy bit his lip to keep from complaining. It was obvious that someone wanted him, and they didn't seem above taking out others to get to him. "Understood."

Lady Une gained a nod from Zechs and the American. "Good. Zechs, you three will visit your friend, see if there is anything to be learned about Madame Delmare."

"I thought Wu said they had captured her in Pskov," Duo questioned.

"He implied otherwise. Care to explain?" Brown eyes turned to the black haired boy.

"It was an alias she used. And after escaping from a low to no security building, I would safely assume that the real Delmare would have been more cautious," he explained.

"That and we were opened fired upon leaving the train station. In broad daylight," Zechs added, rubbing the bridge of his noise. "They definitely were ready to kill anybody to get Wufei."

"And that includes us," Duo added, violet eyes still very sharp. "I am going to call Heero tonight, I want my koi to take extra precautions to hide our files deeper as well as Blondie's. Hee-chan may be able to tell us if anybody has poked around our files as well."

Une nodded. "Then call him now on a secure line. He and Trowa are guarding Miss Peacecraft tonight at the Alliance Conference."

"I'll be back in about ten minutes." He nodded. "Meet you guys in the lobby."

As the American left the conference room, Zechs pulled out his cell phone. "I'm going to call the Marquise Preruet de Billaud. Tell him we were delayed.

~~~~~~`'~~@@~~'~~~~~

Duo walked into the computer room, connected off the Preventer's database. Looking up, he checked that no one else was in the room. Scooting his chair back, he locked the door so he wouldn't be disturbed.

Sliding under the system's desk, he pulled a small device from his backpack and disconnected the system from the wall, reconnecting through the scrambler and the new set of wiring he spliced to it. Placing the device into the jack, he crawled back out and into the chair. Hacking into the system's mainframe, he established an outside connection to the networks.

Humming a tune while he cracked the Preventer's systems from the outside, he slipped into the systems and merely waited for the tracker to locate his lover.

The system gave a ring and a voice picked up over the speaker phone attached to the system, "Yuy."

Picking up the phone, Duo grinned and replied, "Hey, sexy. Miss me?"

"Duo." The Japanese boy's voice softened some.

"How's the Queen of the World doing?"

"Fine."

"Tro-kun's there with you?"

"And Winner."

"Groovy! Listen, we had a terrorist-botch up attack on us today. And before you go marching over here to Germany, we're fine. Dandy. But they seem dead set on hunting down Wuffie."

"Shit."

"My thoughts exactly. Have to make this short before your security systems on the Preventer's lines catch up with me. I need you to not only pull all of our files from the systems, I need you to pull Zechsie's as well."

"Ryoukai," the Japanese boy acknowledged.

"Thanks, koi. Make sure it looks like we never existed. And let me know if anybody's been poking around them, especially Wu's."

"Understood. Call me if you need me."

"Love you, too!" Duo chuckled and hung up severing the line and fixing the system back to normal, with one slight difference. If anybody attempted to follow his tracks on the same system, it would have an unexplained total crash and the system would then be defunct.

~~~~~~`'~~@@~~'~~~~~

They shifted uncomfortably on the grand porch waiting for the door to be answered. "Your friend has either the world's slowest fucking doorman, Zechsie, or he stood us up."

Blonde brows furrowed in thought. "I called to tell him we were delayed right after we dropped Une off at the station to head back in. I talked to him, not to mention a servant should have received the door by now."

"Are you sure this is the right address?" Wufei asked.

"Positive."

"Well here's the plan. We go to the town, grab a late lunch cause I'm hungry, grab Hee-chan, give Une-i-kins a call to see if everything was worked out back at good ol' hq and then sally forth back here to pound on the doors till the police come and arrest us for loitering," Duo suggested, with a strange twinkle in his eyes.

"You mean we go, come back later, and then you'll pick open the door." Wufei snorted.

"Well, either that or I could ask Hee-chan to blow it up. I'm positive he keeps a beam rifle in his pants," Duo crowed, hopping off the steps and heading towards the car. "Come on! I'm *starved*!!!"

With a sigh, the two other Preventers followed in tow after the American.

~~~~~~`'~~@@~~'~~~~~

Une stalked through the main lobby of the Preventer's Headquarters, her feet pounding against the tiled floor as she headed towards the elevator. Anyone who might have been in her path, sprinted to remove themselves from it. Her eyes were dark and her expression grim.

Saint Anne had left and Lady Une was back.

The elevator opened, and she left the elevator, the remaining people inside breathing a sigh of relief. Passing her secretary she swiftly looked over at the middle aged man. "How long has she been in my office, Lieutenant Miles?"

"About ten minutes, she has been waiting for roughly three hours, mame," he replied, standing up and following long enough to place some files into her hands.

"Thank you. No phone calls until I am done, understood?"

"Yes, mame." The man nodded.

"Good." And walked past him, closing her office doors.

Her high back leather desk chair slowly turned around, a short, perky woman sat in it. Her legs crossed, a fairly large smile was playing on her lips. "Welcome back, Lady Une, glad you could make it on such short notice, and considering the circumstances."

"Hirde." The brown haired woman curtly nodded. "What do I owe this visit?"

She scrunched up her face in disdain. "Please, Lady Une, we may not know one another well, but I believe you have a question regarding my... whereabouts over the last few days?"

Taking a seat on the corner of her desk, Lady Une met the young girl's eyes. "Well, there are the rumors that you were dead, roughly about the same time you were making a visit here."

"Well, I did visit you."

"Who's the body then?"

"Me." Hirde paused before she let her smile widen. "Well, in a manner. I don't know who the girl was, but if you test the blood, it will be mine."

The taller woman blinked. "How-?"

"How indeed," a new voice replied, soft and erotic.

"Who-?" The brown haired woman turned to look behind for the source of the voice and came nose to nose with vibrant green eyes.

"Me. So sorry to have to do this, but I really can't have you being a bother," she spoke again, taking a step back allowing Lady Ann to witness the barrel of a gun pointing at her.

"Who the hell are you?!" she hissed, looking at the tall, slender Asian descendent woman.

"It doesn't really matter."

As the trigger was pulled and the bullet was shot, Anne swore not a sound was made as the metal ripped through her body. She crumpled towards the floor, eyes rolling back and blackness took over her vision.

"What...What did you do that for?!" Hirde shrieked in horror. "You never said anything about this?!"

"Well, I never trust people to tell them everything, just what they need to know." The Asian woman walked forward, her heels making no noise on the plush carpet. "She'll be fine. Our dear Lady Anne Une is a tough woman, she's been shot before and lived to tell the tale."

Blue eyes widened as the gun was aimed again.

"Unfortunately, you won't."

This time the shot was heard outside the office doors, but by the time they were opened the woman was gone. Two bodies laid prone in the room. The Lady's strewn on the floor, hair fluttered about her and her glasses laying crushed next to her.

Hirde's body laid face down on the desk which was now being stained by the ooze and blood pouring from the large whole in the girls forehead.

"Get med up here stat!!" Une's secretary screamed into the intercom.

Green eyes watched with delight as a curly blonde was rushed into the room, and the Preventer's Head Quarters ushered into mass hysteria. A small smile brushed across red tinted lips. "Now the fun begins."

~~~~~~`'~~@@~~'~~~~~

They stood at the door for the second time that day, Zechs raking a frustrated hand through his mane, Wufei glaring, and Duo pouting at the door.

"This is fucking weird, man!" Duo finally hissed, throwing his hands up in frustration.

Wufei merely shrugged and pushed his braided friend towards the door. "I think we should open it."

The blonde shrugged. "Might as well, if anything I'll think of an excuse later."

Pulling a pick from his hair, Duo grinned wildly. "Hello, babies! Didja miss your naughty daddy?"

"He... *coos* to his lock picks?" Zechs whispered, staring at the American applying his trade.

"So?" Wufei shrugged in reply.

"Nothing... It's interesting, that's all," the blonde meekly replied, very quickly finding a very interesting spot on the front door to admire.

"I talked to my Gundam, I know the other's did. Does that qualify as 'interesting' as well?" He thought of adding to his dead wife, but he decided against it for he was not quite ready to let them believe anything other than sane. Even if Meiren was standing by the rental car pretending to drive like a racer.

"That is normal. Talking to one's lock picks is loopy."

"I can hear you...." The American hummed, not bothering to look up from his work.

Wufei and Zechs continued bickering as if they hadn't even heard the braided haired boy. "Says the man who tried to blow up the world."

"I'm never going to live that down, am I?" The blonde sighed in defeat.

"Nope. Come on," Duo replied for the Chinese boy, yanking them both towards the door.

The three silently readied their guns, Zechs entering first, sliding into the dark foyer. He looked around, and stepped back to the wall. He flipped on the light switch blinking rapidly to see in the bright light.

"You had to turn on the lights?" Duo whispered, entering the foyer as well. Sighing, he shook his head. "Damn soldiers. Thank you Lightning Baron for announcing our entrance. No wonder you goons lost the war."

"Would you rather I stumble about in the dark, Maxwell?" Zechs asked, deciding to be polite and ignore that last gibe.

"Quit it, you two," Wufei hissed, slowly walking into the brightly lit entrance way.

"Wu-man, you've got to train the oz military academy out of him," Duo hissed back.

"Will you two stop it!" the Chinese boy hissed back, glaring at both his partner and the American.

Zechs stood up and headed towards the main hall. "Come on, obviously the butler had the day off."

"What? Maybe the old guy fell and broke his hip or something coming to answer the door." Duo grinned, whistling softly as their boots clapped softly against the tiles.

"I hate to break your illusion of aristocracy, Duo, but the Marquise de Billaud is only thirty-eight."

"Ruin my ideals why don't you!"

"Oh...fuck."

Duo blinked and looked over at the tall blonde. "Did Wu just say what I think he said?"

The said voice carried over to them from a door a few meters or so away from them. "You guys might want to get in here... And then, Zechs?"

"Hm?" the blonde replied, following after the American towards the room.

"You might want to book us passage back to headquarters,"
the black eyed boy replied.

"Why's tha- oh," the statement was cut short as the other two Preventer's entered the room and Zechs got his first sight of what was left of the library.

The leather couches lay in ruins, pages upon pages of manuscripts were torn apart and strewn about wherever. Blood spattered across the aging paper that formed a carpet of words across the tiled floor.

"I think we may have found the butler..." Duo said evenly, breaking the morbid silence that had descended on them by pointing to a piece of torso and arm draped across a low wing-backed chair. "And some more of him over there."

Carefully making his may through the library turned crime scene, the Sankian Prince looked for any visible sign of anyone's survival. Though that would have been pressing his luck as he finally noticed the Marquise clawed up under a large stack of notes and papers by the old writing desk. "Found him," Zechs announced, still wary of approaching anything without back up.

In an instant Wufei was next to him. "I suggest we leave now and head back to Dresden to call in some back up, Zechs. I don't like standing here in the open, especially since-"

"We're leaving now. Move it," Duo announced, violet eyes unusually hard as he readied his gun and headed towards the door.

The trip out of the house and into the car was a tension filled one, the entire journey, though exceedingly short, was filled with the sensation that they were being watched. Duo paused by the car, sparing a look at the Chinese boy.

With a nod, the black haired boy unlocked his weapon and fired at the driver's handle to the door. Zechs refrained from asking, but after his small partner and proceeded to fired open all the car's doors, he watched the American pick up a stick. Popping open the hood, duo jammed the stick into it, starting the engine up.

Violet eyes looked curious still. "Zechs, hand me that rock and then take a step back."

Silently, he handed the rock by his foot over to the braided boy. He moved to his left to stand near to his partner who silently watched Duo join them. "Get ready to sprint like hell," the Chinese boy whispered.

With a gentle toss, the rock was thrown into the opened car door, thumping onto the driver's seat. Three seconds passed.

A funnel of fire and smoke exploded from the vehicle, the small import discharging other small explosions, ripping the car apart violently. That was all the two former Gundam pilots needed, the three of them set off in a dead sprint towards the road.

"Hey, Wu?" Duo shouted over his shoulder.

"Nanda?"

"You haven't done anything to piss off fate lately, have you?"

"Do you want a list now or later?"

"Car!" Zechs yelled.

"Civilian car," The Chinese boy confirmed.

"Goody! Our ride back!" the American grinned.

A few minutes later, after Duo calmly convinced the driver at the end of his gun barrel to give them a lift back, the three were well on their way back to Dresden.

~~~~~~`'~~@@~~'~~~~~

"Anything wrong?" Trowa asked, leaning close to the Japanese boy.

"Duo thinks someone may be trying to access our files."

"Chang?"

"Didn't say but assume something happened." The blue eyed boy grunted. "Relena?"

"Talking to an ambassador from L2 and I believe Quatre," Trowa calmly replied, catching the understanding look in his lover's turquoise eyes. With the blonde's nod, the French boy smiled slightly. "He'll watch her, what to we need to do?"

"Watch Relena. I'm heading back to up our mainframe's security."

"Understood."

"Hn."

~~~~~~`'~~@@~~'~~~~~

Two hands slammed on the front desk. "WHAT?!"

Wufei restrained the American from mortally wounding their host's secretary. "Maxwell. Calm down."

Either choosing not to hear his friend's reasoning, or never had heard it the American reached forward and lifted the poor girl from her chair. "Stop stammering and spit it out. I'll give you three words. Start."

"Lady Une was shot," she cried out hysterically, landing with an audible thump as the braided haired boy dropped her.

"Fuck!"

Zechs watched the American plant a fist through the white plaster of the lobby. "I'll get us a train back, shall I?"

"That sounds like a plan. The sooner the better. Preferably before Duo remodels their lobby with his fists," Wufei replied, surprisingly calm after that announcement.

"Completely understood." The tall blonde nodded, lifting his phone to his ear. "Hallo? Ja...wann f�hrt der n�chste Zug nach..." <5>

~~~~~~`'~~@@~~'~~~~~

Sally flung her blood soaked gloves into the incinerator, turning to pick up her coffee mug. Her knuckles quickly turning white as she clutched it like a life line, never noticing as her friend joined her in the sterile room.

"The surgery went well."

Silence greeted Lucrezia's statement. Sighing and raking a hand through her short mop of hair, she collapsed in a nearby chair.

"She's resting across the hall. She... hasn't woke up yet, but they say it's all the drugs and painkillers they knocked into her." Pausing, the blue eyed woman watched the blonde haired woman for a long moment. "I think you should stay with her tonight."

Noin jumped as Sally's mug splintered as it crashed against the far wall. Brown eyes, blood shot from crying glared at her. "I should be with her. I should what?! I don't think so Noin!! I have no place in that room other than gathering evidence and if needed tagging up her dead body."

"She's not dead."

"I know that." Sally sniffled.

Standing and crossing the room, the smaller woman lifted her hands, cupping the Asian woman's face. "But I think she would want you there."

"But... It was nothing. I left her. A quick, convenient fuck while the whole L3 Colony affair was happening..."

"And I had a nice quick, convenient fuck from a certain blonde prince while staying on Mars. Jesus Sally! Listen to yourself! I knew going into this relationship this was going to happen..."

Instinctively, the doctor reached out and pulled the Mediterranean woman to her. "I *love* you."

Breathing in her lover's scent, Lucrezia pulled away slightly. "Look, we've had a tough day. You especially. I have complete faith in our relationship, I think that if anything, we'll have to invest in a new set of toys. But, at least for tonight, stay with her."

With a hiccup, Sally nodded.

"Good. She just needs someone there. If his Excellency was still alive. It would have been him. But since he isn't... Anne needs someone." Noin grinned, leaning up and pressing a sweet kiss to her lover's lips. "At least for tonight."

"You'll be all right?"

"I can stay with Zechs tonight."

Pressing a chaste kiss to her black haired lover's lips, Sally grinned slightly. "I love you."

"Love you, too."

~~~~~~`'~~@@~~'~~~~~

It was well into the wee hours of the morning when they finally arrived in Switzerland. Stumbling out of the train, a few bags less thanks to an explosion, they walked across the platform.

"Hn," a familiar voice greeted their ears, turning their heads to meet it.

"Oi, hey, Hee-koi." Duo grinned, waving to his disgruntled lover.

"You look like shit," the Japanese boy greeted him back.

Sticking out his tongue, the American chuckled and welcomed his lover's shoulder to rest on. "I have had one *hell* of a trip. Days of hell. Did I ever tell you how exciting a life our lil' Wu lives?"

"Shut up, Maxwell." The said boy sighed, black eyes blinking slowly.

"Come on, I'll give you all a lift home."

"Don't they need us at HQ?" Duo asked, walking alongside Heero to the boy's car.

"Sally and some other's are handling things currently. Tomorrow there's a briefing at 9 am, so you all might want to get some rest," another voice replied, greeting them as they reached Heero's car in the nearly empty parking lot.

"Hello, Lu." Zechs smiled.

"I'm gonna give you and Wufei a lift, you guys live closer to me than Heero." She grinned, grabbing their bags and tossing them into her trunk.

"Thank you."

"See you guys tomorrow!" Duo waved, stumbling into his love's sports car. "Me? I'm gonna let Hee-chan drag my comatose prone body up to our apartment. Night!"

Wufei blinked, feeling only slightly uneasy. Nodding, he slipped into the back seat of Noin's SUV. "Thank you for the ride."

"Not a problem," she replied, glancing back at the Chinese boy.

"You staying with me tonight?" Zechs asked her quietly.

"Sally's staying with Anne tonight at the emergency ward, running things through the night," Noin replied. Looking back, she watched the Chinese boy gazing out the window.

Zechs caught her looking and glanced back himself. "You just want to crash at my place?"

Black eyes blinked, a rampage of thoughts rumbled through his sleepy mind before he answered nonchalantly, "No. I'd rather just crash at my own place, if it's not out of your way."

"Not at all," she replied, pulling onto the highway and driving towards their apartments.

Zechs said nothing but glance one more time over his shoulder before facing forward until they reached the tall apartment building his partner lived in.

Grabbing his bag, he nodded quickly to the two of them. "Thank you for the ride. Nine am?"

"Yeah. You sure you don't want to stay with us tonight?" Noin tried one more time.

Black eyes were dead as he replied over his shoulder heading towards the buildings front door, "I'm positive."

"Night, then..." Zechs called, unsure if the boy even heard him as the glass door closed.

"I'm sure he's fine, just tired," Lucrezia replied to the unvoiced question.

"I'm just worried, what if someone tries to get him tonight?"

"He's a Gundam pilot. He's one of the five best trained people in the world. I pity the person who would try."

"I suppose you're right," he mumbled as she pulled onto the road again. "I'll just remind him to call me the minute something happens."

~~~~~~`'~~@@~~'~~~~~

As Wufei entered his dark apartment, he heard a familiar voice on his machine, "-anything happens, you know where to reach me. My cell will be on as well." And the machine beeped.

With a repressed sigh, the Chinese boy closed his door, disliking how the clicking of the lock echoed in his small front hall. Toeing off his shoes, he dropped his bag on the step up into his living room.

He blinked back the sob crawling into his throat. Loneliness set in harshly tonight, perhaps the sight of seeing Duo and Heero going home *together*... Or the fact that Zechs...

"It's not my business!" he berated himself, walking into his kitchen and flipping on the light. "It's not that I care. I know she and him have been screwing each other. For years!"

He opened his refrigerator in frustration. "It shouldn't bother me!!"

"Well, obviously it does," a familiar voice replied, popping out of nowhere.

"I don't need this right now, Meiren. Just... just go away," he mumbled, not bothering to even look at her.

"No."

"Go."

"Why don't you just admit you are upset that she was there?"

The fridge door slammed shut as he turned to glare at her. "I'm not upset."

"Yes, you are!"

"It's none of my business who he fucks, Meiren!" he yelled at her, black eyes dark and furious.

"You *do* care, Wufei! That's my whole point! You care!" she screamed back, marching forward to look him in the eye. "You're upset she came and got you. You are upset that he is going into his apartment at this very moment, pressing his lips against hers-"

"Shut up!" he screamed back, storming away from her, heading back into his living room.

"Face the facts, husband! You are jealous of her. You hate the fact she is probably going to tumble into bed with him tonight-" she pressed on, following him, even as he tossed his shirt into his bathroom.

"It's none of my business!!" he cried out, walking back into the kitchen in his uniform cargo pants and nothing else.

"Tumble into bed with him tonight while you nurse a cup of coffee and continue to sulk!" she continued, raising her voice over his.

He slammed the white coffee mug on the kitchen counter, whirling around to glare at her. "I am not sulking! I'm having a cup of coffee then I am going to go to bed."

"*Alone*," she growled back, temper flaring.

"Yes. Alone. Happy?" he spit back, if he could he probably would have tossed her out of his apartment, but since that was a moot effort, he continued to scream at her.

"No." She frowned at his back. Ghosting forward she wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her face into his back. "No, husband, I am not happy. I am living out my afterlife haunting my husband and making him more miserable."

His fingers gripped the counter as he felt a cool breeze tickle his back. The sensation was different, but the position familiar. "Ni mei rang wo nan guo, Mei." he spoke softly in their native tongue.

When she didn't reply, he turned around and looked down at her. "Ni bu hui rang wo nan guo de." <6>

"You are miserable, Wufei. I can see it. I can feel it! You are letting loneliness eat away at you. You fight it by pretending not to care. By closing your heart..." chocking back a small sob. "Whatever force ruined you during the war is back to haunt you, husband. It hurt to think that my death caused you to alienate the world."

"I alienated the world," he whispered back, wishing that he could merely reach out and touch her... Cradle her cheek in his hand and brush away her tears. Anything to show her that he cared.

"And with him you became human! Because of Zechs, my dear husband, you are you again!!"

"He is a... friend. Nothing more Meiren," he dismissed.

"Ni ai ta" she whispered, ghosting a hand over his heart. <7>

"What?" he chocked out in surprise, a hand subconsciously trying to capture hers, only to ghost through it.

"You heard me."

"I don't love him, Meiren!" he hissed back, an ache rumbling threw his body.

"Yes. You. Do." She hit back.

He struggled to remain focus as his body began to ache. The whispering of touches ghosted along his body, even with Meiren standing away from him. The headache starting filtering back, thumping in his skull. "No. I. Don't! I don't care *who* Zechs is fucking!"

"Yes you do!" she hissed back, watching him set up the coffee maker, and pick up his mug. "You wished it was you who went home with him! You wished you had thought of it before she did."

"Stop it!" he shouted. "Stop it!"

Ignoring his demands, she pressed forward. "You already took him into your soul, Wufei!! You love him so much that it hurts you to constantly deny it!! You wish it was you in his bed tonight and not her!"

The white mug shattered on the pristine tiles of the kitchen floor. "Stop it! I don't care who he fucks! I don't fuck men! I am not a fag!"

She paused, watching him trembling, the white ceramic mug spread across the floor was testimony enough on how much her husband truly did care. "Yet you have no problem with your best friend being gay?"

"To each their own. I've been through too much with them to let that bother me. That does not mean I have to!" he growled back, falling back against the counter, gripping it like a life support. "Wo ai ni. Zhi you ni yi ge." <8>

"I am dead, husband. I am merely a figment of your loneliness." And before his tear filled eyes, thinned away into nothing.

"Meiren... Please..." he whispered, blinking as tears fell over his cheeks. The loneliness in the room swallowing him entirely. "I need you... I don't know where to go...What to do without you... Mei..."

A sob broke loose from his lungs. Blinking though tear filled eyes, he reached up to grab another mug when it hit. The circuits in the apartment blew, sending the room into darkness, the moonlight illuminating the room enough to see somewhat. He stumbled backwards, the shelf he was reaching to grab the mug from tumbling over, shattering dishes and glasses across his counter, spilling over onto the floor.

He grabbed his throbbing head, hissing as the air whispering about his body grew firmer. As if someone was touching him... caressing him. A gasp slipped his throat as he reached out to brace himself against the wall.

The touches became firmer, coiling around him, stroking his stomach, teasing his nipples. Sensations he had felt so long ago, so long they felt foreign. Wetness trailing around his neck, a firm nip on his ear...

<< "Stop!" >> he hissed to the empty, dark kitchen. The room spinning, his breathes growing ragged and heavy. Both his hands laid flat against the wall in hopes to support him, give him a founding in reality.

His panting grew, sweat shined along his body, his loose hair tumbling about his shoulders. It wasn't possible. What was happening was not possible. The whispered moans of a woman's voice he knew well crawled about him.

"Zechs! More! Please.... NOW!!"

"No. No. No!!!" he screamed back. "I am *not* experiencing this!! This is not happening!!"

Wavering in his stance, his body gave out its support as a hardness seemed to break his body in two. Hands caught him as he kneeled on the floor, pieces of severed china cutting into his flesh. "NO!!"

Tears cascaded down his cheeks as the strokes began to fill something within him, stretching him, teasing him. "Ancestors! Please!!" he sobbed into the floor. It *hurt*! Whether the fact of the sensation of a man filling him, or the fact that Zechs wasn't having sex with him but Noin and he was still feeling it.

A tug began to pull along his spine, his muscles growing tighter then they had ever done before. Pain swelled in him, his head pounded harder and harder. His mouth instinctively closed as canines stretched, the points pressing into his lower lip. Black eyes widening as droplets of blood spattered onto the white tiles.

The pounding and throbbing grew together in sync. Increasing until it felt like his head was erupting open. Blood gushed down the sides of his head, his fingers curling as the sound of his panting seemed to grow louder, trumpeting in his ears. Stretching, pulling, tugging harshly. He shrieked through his teeth as the feeling of fur teased as it brushed past his fingers.

Ripping his hands away in shock and partial disgust, he watched in horror as their tips sharpened and lengthened. He gripped the floor, hissing in surprise as they left marks on the hard tiles.

"Zechs!!!" he cried out as the stroking inside him grew more intense. "Zechs....."

His screams became sobs, tears falling, running with the blood on the sides of his head. His spine gave an audible crackle, before he felt as if his world was ending.

He crashed to the floor, black eyes glazed over with sheer shock and agony. A black, fur covered limb softy landed on the floor. Turning to his side, arms grasped around his body, and a tail curled between his legs he gave out one last sob.

The moonlight danced across the china speckled floor, large and small pieces tearing and pressing into his soft flesh as he laid upon the floor. The coldness seeping into his veins, black eyes watching hazily as tears mixed with the blood spatters on the whiteness. The feeling of blood still pouring through his opened wounds.

A sniffle trickled from him followed by a few last cries of pain and suffering. He was cold. He was in agony...

And worst of all he was alone.

That feeling had never been so distinct as it was at that moment when he could feel Zechs removed his penis from Noin, and therefore stripping him of any feeling of warmth.

Now alone, lying on his kitchen floor, he turned black eyes to the window. Fresh tears spilling over his cheeks, he silently cried until he could not muster the energy to.

Alone he laid. Black eyes looking at the white tiles until they too disappeared as inky unconsciousness stole him away, sinking him into blackness.

~owari.

Notes:
<1> About time you stubborn ass. (more or less... loosely translated.)
<2> Nonsense.
<3> I miss you.
I miss you too.
<4> Place your hands in the air. You in the black coat. With the bleeding hand.
<5> Hello? Yes...What's the earliest train heading out to...
<6> You aren't making me miserable, Mei.
You will never make me miserable.
<7> You love him.
<8> I love you. Only you.

Author's Notes:

So ends the first part of the Tiles arc. I am evilll~ 'Shades of Descent' will be the next part. You will have to wait for it, but it's coming. ^____^ and yes this is now offically an arc. ^^;;