He carried the bundle upstairs and felt a familiar twinge in the back of his head, *Merry Christmas Cassandra!* The presence radiated the warmth of happiness, the blonde had come to understand her feelings like second nature. *Merry Christmas, Apollo. You�re in a good mood today.* He grinned, *As are you, what do you want to talk about?* Her feelings changed and swirled like colored light in water, *I wrote some more poems. I�d like to read them to you.*
Trowa rested his head on Amber�s shoulder as she worked furiously on Christmas dinner. Worry creased his brow as she had to stop and cough every few minutes, �I think you�re getting sick.� She dismissed the farfetched idea with a wave of her spatula. Fine beads of perspiration dotted her forehead, though her watcher was well aware that it wasn�t from exertion. Without another word, he went in search of Jess, whom he found watching Duo play his new video game, �Jess? I think you need to come finish dinner, Amber�s coming down with something.� The freckled girl nodded, �I�ll be down in a minute, you can go ahead and make her rest.�
The silencer returned to the side of his other half and took her cooking utensil. A hand on her forehead told him all he needed to know and he scooped her off her feet. �What are you doing?! Put me down!� He only honored her wish when he had her over the couch, �You have a fever, you�re not staying on your feet.� Putting her down gently, pilot three pulled the throw blanket off the arm of the chair and covered her. Amber fought him briefly but began to understand that maybe he was right, �But dinner�s not done!� �Jess is finishing it.�
After attempting to think of another excuse, she gave up, �Alright, you win. Since I�m probably not going to leave the couch, shall we open presents?� Trowa picked up the small gift wrapped box on the coffee table marked with his name, �I assume this one�s from you?� She nodded but fell into a fit of body wrenching coughs. Triton fetched her a glass of water that soothed the spasm to a halt, �If this keeps up, you�re going to the doctor.� She silently agreed as she downed the tap water. Setting the glass aside, Amber gave him a weak smile, �I�m fine, open your gift.� He did so slowly, keeping a wary eye on her.
A finely carved silver ring depicting a lion�s head sat inside the small box. Two emeralds were set into the creature�s eyes, glittering with a material life. Triton slid it onto his ring finger with an admiring gaze, �Wow that�s really neat. Where�d you get it?� She only smiled. Leaving it in place, he picked her back up, �My gift�s outside. You know that space in the garden that you didn�t know how to fill? I found something for it.� A blast of cold hit them as he pushed open the door, but was quickly adjusted to. In the center of the plant utopia sat a fountain with four lions spouting water from their open mouths. Strangely, it fit perfectly into the scene. Amber gasped faintly and hugged him; �It�s wonderful! Thank you.� Another fit seized her that left her panting weakly; �I�m not going to argue with you on the whole doctor thing.�
By the time dinner rolled around, the illness had taken her words, let alone allow her to eat, so Trowa took her upstairs to her bedroom. As he put her to bed, she had a fit that left blood in her hands. She clasped them together to hide it from Triton. He tucked her in carefully and felt her forehead; �Your fever has gone up.� With a cringe, he went to get a wet washcloth. He placed the cloth on her head and sat in the chair he�d pulled up beside the bed.
Her condition steadily worsened as the night wore on, forcing Trowa to put her in the cool, running water of her shower to take down her body heat. The fever slowly decreased as Trowa held her in the stream, �Hang on Amber.� Blood trickled from between her lips, causing his heart to skip a beat, �Oh God.� A sharp tone sparked a fury in his soul, �He won�t help you.� He instantly recognized the presence as well as the sardonic tone, �This is your doing, isn�t it Thanatos?!� A crude laughter filled the air, fueling his anger, �Her soul is mine Poseidon. You won�t be able to save her from this, fool.� His searching eyes found the shadow that was out of place; he took note of its location.
�The disease will tear her up from the inside-out. By the time it�s done, she will have been dead hours, or at least she will be when it�s done eating her lungs. Your powers are to heal and manipulate the elements, I researched something that would leave you helpless in the matter.� Un-shown panic settled in Trowa�s mind as he turned back to his suffering soul mate. A shadow of her pain had made itself comfortable in his chest, throbbing a steadily in increasing intensity. The voice pushed at his faltering tolerance of the whole situation, breaking Poseidon�s attempt to think of a solution, �You should just let the fever do her in, it would save her so much pain.� Trowa growled sharply, �Shut up!� Some faint hope tugged impatiently to be noticed, channeling all of my energy into her could destroy the virus, I could also heal the damage that�s already been done. It was only a half-baked idea, but it was all he had to hold onto. Placing his hands just below her collarbones, he snatched at the thread of gold he needed. The power began to grow exponentially as he continued to call desperately for it. Trowa could feel the disease and targeted it. I t resisted his attempts, though the flesh it had destroyed reproduced itself to its original state. Amber�s labored breath steadied and evened, the pain Triton felt lessening. It wasn�t enough, Poseidon opened the wells of his abilities, drawing strength from every corner of his being. A golden aura shrouded his body, his hair dancing with the flow of energy. Sweat broke out across his skin with the exertion, but there still wasn�t enough.
Thanatos had backed against the wall, the shadow he�d been hiding in completely obliterated by Poseidon�s aura. The power surge was incredible, not even Michael had channeled and focused so much energy into a single point. The angel of death wondered if the fallen�s body could hold up much longer under the condition it was in. The virus began to fall under Trowa�s malicious assault, slowly. With a scream so laden with power that it shook the foundations of the house, he released his last reserve. The pale blue paint on the walls near him blackened, then peeled away as his energy peaked. The infection lost it�s hold, disintegrating in the gold. Triton turned on the dark angel huddling in the corner, his eyes nearly the intensity of the sun, �You will not try to take her life again!� Neither noticed the faint sound of the glass shattering in the next room from the radiation of celestial power. Thanatos doubled over as the concentration of energy hit him, agony washed over him in a wave. When the power faded, nothing remained of the dark angel�s physical body as the soul was flittering angrily back to Heaven. Trowa dropped his energy back into its catacombs and felt sudden exhaustion replace it. He managed to hold out long enough against it to check Amber�s fever and pulse before passing out on the floor.
Pilot six shivered and reached instinctively for the blanket at the end of her bed, her fingers hit tile. She slowly opened her gray-green eyes and blinked water out of them, �What? Why the hell is the shower on?! And why am I in it?� Amber sat forward and shoved the knob into the off position. Shivering slightly, she stood in the slick tub and stripped off her numbing pajamas. A sweater and jeans soon began to return feeling to her limbs and, for the first time, noticed the damage done to her room. None of the furniture had moved, though the glass had all been blown out. The paint in her bathroom had peeled and one of the walls had spider-web cracking radiating from a single focal point. Amber ran her finger across the cracks and left it alone for the time being. A gentle shake administered to Triton�s shoulder only got a groan from him, but a second opened his weary eyes. He smiled at her, �You ok?� She nodded and sank down beside him, �What exactly happened last night? I don�t remember to much after I started coughing up blood�Trowa, what�s glowing behind your hair?� She brushed the hair from his face and found his right eye a bright shade of sapphire.
Quatre blinked his sky blue gaze slowly, �Everyone felt that power surge, if not celestially, then physically. You shook the whole house. What were you doing, anyway?� Trowa sighed, �Not something Heero would be pleased with.� The noble of the desert shook his head, �Feel fortunate then, because he�s spending Christmas with Relena. Though I�d bet that could�ve been noticed from miles away. Your mortal body seems to have broken down a little, your eye turning gold like that. When you surged to that peak, I felt another presence diminish, but it was no one I recognized. Who was that?� The silence that followed did nothing to ease Quatre�s curiosity. �I�m afraid that he�s a person that is fairly important in Heaven, though isn�t really appreciated here.� �So Thanatos returned then?� Another span of quiet answered his question, which pilot four took as a yes, �And you killed him?� More silence stretched out. Quatre breathed out a strained lung-full of air, �If he finds out, you�re definitely in trouble.� Trowa broke his lack of words, �Thanks, that really helps.�
