He planted his feet firmly onto the ground, his strong arms made contact with the front of the vehicle and his firm foothold slid backwards several meters. The heel of his foot came to rest near the small boy who stood transfixed with a mixture of horror and awe. The teenage driver of the hotrod looked just as bewildered but couldn�t see the force that had stopped his progress. Poseidon, the golden arch, looked down at the sandy-haired child patiently, �Go on, get out of the street.� Not needing to be told twice, the little boy scooped up his black and white ball and scampered back onto the grass. He beamed at him from there as the mighty arch let the car go and watched it squeal out of sight, its tires leaving behind the smell of burnt rubber. Massive golden tipped wings glinting in the sun; Poseidon turned to the cluster of awe struck boys, �Don�t run in the street from now on, huh?� He was suddenly filled with the urgent need to return to heaven; he was being summoned. Leaving the wide-eyed children behind, Poseidon spread his impressive wings and took to the sky to answer the summoning, only part of him knowing what waited in store for him. If only he could make his body stop its actions and stay in earth�s realm, why couldn�t he just remain where he was? Soon after take-off, the archangel had passed through the barrier of heaven and earth and continued to ascend at a steady rate. The clouds parted and a holy light highlighted his blonde hair as he made his landing on the golden paved street.
Poseidon was well respected in heaven as a powerful and gracious arch with troops that were unmatched by any others. It surprised him when the first face he saw was twisted into a scowl. The face belonged to Raphael, one of the five original arches that God first brought into being. His words had an edge to them as he spoke, �You failed to collect the child�s soul, Poseidon. You directly disobeyed your orders.� The younger angel narrowed his bright golden eyes, �The child had no reason to be killed, he�d done nothing wrong!� Both of Poseidon�s arms were suddenly seize by two angelic berserkers, creatures with blank eyes and razor edged wings. Raphael leaned closer to the well-built angel; his words just as harsh as before, �For disobeying, you will have both of your wings removed.� His eyes grew wide with fear, his retort losing its strength, �That is too great of a punishment for keeping a child alive! You can�t do this to me!� The green tinged arch shrugged, �I am sorry to see it happen Poseidon, you are one of our best fighters, but it was you who disobeyed the rules.� He directed the last of his words to the guards on either side of Poseidon, �Take him to the main square, the angel that will complete the task should already be waiting.� As he was being dragged along the gold paved streets, throngs of lower level angels gathered on the sidewalks to see what the excitement was about. He saw eyes of many colors, but none that were under him. He soon figured out where the golden eyed angels were gathered.
High level angels that kept anyone from getting too close ringed the square. They were spread from wingtip to wingtip with their wings extended to full length. Giving several of the guardians problems was a hoard of golden-haired angels that were continually pressing on the living wall. His soldiers were shouting many questions, �What�d he do?� �What�s going on?� �Why are they doing this?� These angels were the only ones that seem to have any sympathy for the arch. As he was forced to kneel on the cobble stone street, a different angel shoving his was hastily through the crowd caught his eye. The angel had immense amounts of worry and anger in his bright blue eyes, Poseidon instantly recognized him as Apollo. Another angelic being clothed in black stepped forward carrying a sharp sword in one hand. The usually fearless arch began to tremble slightly but refused to tear his eyes from Apollo, he mouthed the word �stop� as the lovely angel attempted to fight his way past the perimeter. The sword was raised high and the gold arch could hear his paramour�s shouts, �Poseidon!� This one word ripped him out of terror and he settled into the comfortable feel of battle.
In one swift motion, he dodged the blade as it came crashing down and ripped it from the owner�s hands. Whirling nimbly and acting faster than the berserk guards could react to, the war hardened angel sliced the sword�s bearer in half. As he did so, the warm splash of blood brought him back to conscious thought. If he�d truly been in a dilemma before, he�d just multiplied that by a thousand. The angel that Poseidon had cut in two lay twitching on the gold path. He would not die, no one could die in heaven, but for inflicting damage one could get in vast amounts of trouble. The tall, powerful arch searched the watching crowd desperately, the onlookers now seemed to be filled with fear and had backed away from the perimeter. Raphael entered the circle through a break the angels had made for him, shaking his head slowly. His fierce green eyes turned upward and came to rest on the blood splattered angel that stood before him, the words Poseidon most feared slipped from his mouth, �You are no longer worthy to stay here, you will now seek refuge in Hell.� At the last word, black began to crawl across the white surfaces of Poseidon�s wings and the ground beneath his feet no longer seemed solid. The last face he saw before being swallowed by the darkness was the sweet innocent face of Apollo. The young, blue eyed angel had broken free of the guards that held him back and was dashing to stop the process. Then all that remained was darkness and the overwhelming feeling of hurtling down to an unknown destination�
Trowa shot up in bed, his breath coming out in ragged gasps. Tremors tore through him and sweat rolled down his face. He pulled his knees to his chest to stop his body from shaking and cast his gaze around the room slowly, why am I having that dream again? His dark green eyes came to rest on the digital clock on his nightstand; it read three fifteen am. Wishing it were later, the tall teenage pilot climbed unsteadily out of bed, still shaken by his nightmare. The silencer paused at the door; the thought of waking someone seemed too childish once he turned it over in his mind. He retreated back to his bed and stole another glance at the clock; two minutes had passed. Shit, and I can�t go downstairs for a beer if the girls are in the living room. He settled on cleaning his Gattling gun to calm his nerves and pulled the dangerous weapon from his closet. A thought came to mind that was so sudden and unexpected that Trowa jerked, go wake up Amber. It was a convincing whisper in the back of his mind that soothed him, she would understand, right? The fallen angel shook his head to clear it, mumbling as he did so, �Why would you think that she�d understand?�
Amber stirred ever so slightly under her cover of cotton and slowly raised her head from the floor. She groaned and rolled onto her back, curious as to what had awakened her. The answer deceived her as she peered groggily up the stairs. A light was seeping from underneath a door crevice, making her curiosity grow. Though she didn�t know the layout of the house, she knew who was awake, I wonder why Trowa�s up so late�She rolled onto her side and slipped back into a dreamless sleep, hugging her cover-less pillow tightly.
Early the next morning, Amber shook herself from sleep and shambled into the kitchen. There she proceeded to turn on the coffee maker and start a search for breakfast materials. Upon opening the pantry, pilot six found nothing edible but enough weaponry to arm a small infantry. Grumbling in frustration, she also checked the fridge but was just as disappointed with the results here. Three packages of C4 sat on the shelves along with a few beers and sodas, but no real food was to be found, �What, do they just not eat?!� She slammed the fridge shut and stormed off to find the nearest shower.
Duo came downstairs, yawning deeply; it wasn�t often that he was seen up before seven. The longhaired boy�s right eye was swollen nearly shut due to his quarrel with Amber the night before. He rubbed sleep out of both eyes gingerly as he entered the living room. The small redhead that he�d gotten up so early for was snoozing soundly on the couch but the place on the floor next to her was empty, save for the pillow and sheets. The smell of coffee assaulted his senses from the kitchen; he postponed waking Jess and instead headed for the cabinet with cups.
By the time Amber returned from her shower, Trowa had entered the kitchen as well and was watching Duo bounce off the walls with mild interest. She frowned as the darkly clad teenager ran around the island saying �Java� so quickly that the beginning of one word couldn�t be distinguished from the end of another. Her gray-green eyes fell on the tall, well built Latino beside her, �So, how many cups of coffee has he had?� Trowa had a slight look of fear on his face as pilot two stopped in front of the coffee maker to pour another cup, �Well, if he drinks that one, the count will be around five.� Amber gaped at him, �That crap is extra strength!� With the help of pilot three, Amber managed to wrestle the mug away from the overly hyper Duo. She also attempted to pop some sense into him with her gun but this Trowa stopped.
After some time, the death of darkness managed to escape from the huntress and slid into the living room. He sat down on the edge of the couch beside his sleeping love, before his hand ever made contact with her shoulder, Amber�s shout reached him, �Don�t you dare wake her up Duo or so help me, I will remove your manhood.� Duo pulled his hand away instantly with a shiver, �That�s a bit cruel.� Instead of shaking her awake, he resorted to the fact that people usually wake up if you stare at them for long amounts of time. His patience began to wear thin long before Jess ever stirred, which was only a few minutes after he�d thought of the idea. She rolled onto her back to peer up at Deathscythe Hell�s pilot questioningly, �What time is it?� The caffeine high pilot grinned widely, �About seven thirty!� The slender girl turned back over and buried her face in the pillow that had been provided to her, her words were muffled by the dense cotton-filled case, �It�s too early, go back to bed.� He began bounce on the couch cushions lightly, �I can�t go back to bed, I drank to much coffee, come on Jess, get up, get up, get up!� She groaned and grabbed him around the neck with one slim arm, pulling him down onto the couch beside her, �Go to sleep Duo.� Enjoying the close contact more than arguing with her, the god of death closed his amethyst eyes, �Okedokey.�
The ensuing day passed event-less. For a majority of the day, the large two-story house was fairly quiet being that it lacked the noisiest presence of all, Duo. Once Jess had gotten up, the two of them had taken off without word of their destination. It wasn�t until late in the evening that all pilots were home at once, the game began as Quatre�s suggestion. �Anyone for Monopoly?� It was an odd factor that everyone agreed to play, but with all minds together, it didn�t stay a friendly game of Monopoly for long. For around two hours, the seven pilots played without shedding any blood, but all were growing agitated as the night wore on. At long last, a majority of the players were tired of exchanging paper cash for pay so a different option was revealed.
�So what do you say to upping the stakes a little?� the question came from Duo�s mouth, catching everyone by surprise. Quatre caught on the quickest and decided to take his leave, �It�s getting late you guys, I�m going to go to bed.� The blonde Arabian got up from the table to excuse himself but pilot two stopped him, �but you haven�t heard my idea yet!� Quatre blinked at him blankly; �I don�t particularly want to hear�� He held his hand up and continued, �I propose that we play strip Monopoly.� The noble of the desert shook his head, �Who wants my property?� After five minutes of yelling and grabbing, Quatre was forced to deal out his property before going to bed.
The first clothing article lost was Wufei�s shirt, who wouldn�t give it up, �It�s unjustified, I shouldn�t have to give my shirt to a girl!� Jess held out her hand impatiently, �Come on Wufei, you landed on the water works and it�s mine, so fork it over.� The stubborn Chinese warrior wouldn�t yield and at long last, while Trowa sat on pilot five, Duo peeled the navy tank top off of him. Grinning with his victory, the death of darkness handed the shirt to Jess, �Thank you Duo.� Heero glanced over at solitary dragon as he replaced himself in his chair, �If you aren�t going to play right, then leave the table.� Pilot three heartily agreed with him as he rubbed a sore spot on his arm where Chang had hit him.
It wasn�t long before the game grew even more violent. Jess picked up the dice and rolled a two. She placed the little pewter Scottish dog on North Carolina Ave., a piece of Duo�s property. The brown-haired American grinned wickedly, �Tube top.� It was a simple statement that completely infuriated Amber, �What?! Why you little!� She started to get up, but Jess stopped her, �Chill, Amber, it�s just a game.� Upon saying this, she stripped off her camo-colored top and flung it at Duo, �Have fun!� He sat in complete shock for several moments before realizing that she was wearing a bra underneath. Amber was next, she rolled a three and placed her top hat on Marvin Gardens, Trowa didn�t waiver as he spoke, �Bra please.� The huntress stared at him in disbelief, �What?� His answer was the same, but few noticed the edges of his ears turning pink, �Bra.� Making several unusual movements, Amber pulled it out of her sleeve, �Here you pervert.� He would pay�
Pilot three landed on Amber�s property after rolling a six, Amber grinned, �Boxers, please.� The use of the word please as well as the reddening of Trowa�s neck caused laughter from the other male pilots, �Shut up you guys!� The next item she claimed was his pants, forcing him to cover himself with the green tank top he�d taken from Heero earlier. The game rolled on�
The short redhead landed on another of Duo�s pieces, she looked up at him tentatively, hoping desperately that he wouldn�t want her bra. Pilot two rubbed his chin for a moment or two as he pondered, �I think�I think I want�your shorts!� Jess breathed a sigh of relief and stood to pull them off. Amber nearly choked, �You son of a�� The remainder of words were drowned out by various catcalls as Jess began unbuttoning her shorts. Duo whistled loudly and started yelling, �Take it all off baby!� Responding to this was flying denim that slapped him in the face. Anger flaring, pilot six reached for her gun only to find that it wasn�t there. Heero was spinning it on his finger mindlessly; he�d confiscated it when she�d landed on Pacific Ave., one of his pieces of property. She growled and considered punching him instead, but the game continued, giving her no reason to�
By the end of the night, no one had possession of an original piece of clothing except Heero who still had both of his socks. No one would take those because of their horrible stench. Around four or five in the morning, Wufei lost his last piece of clothing and the game was concluded.
