Chapter II- Escape

Makoto’s face paled underneath the silver mask. She had faces youmas and unspeakable evil without flinching but now faced with a different kind of danger. She had been blasted at, killed and hurt in so many ways but never was the victim of a common evil.

"Put that gun down. She’s with us," she heard Rei said. Makoto saw that her friends and four other men were laying down on some beanbags. Then she turned her attention back to the boy with the gun that threatened her life. Those cold Prussian eyes pierced her soul. But before she could study his face more he put the gun down and took a seat in a beanbag.

"Who are you miss?" Quatra asked politely. "Um…yeah introductions," Rei started. "Makoto. That’s Quatra who is being nice to you…the only nice one in the group. The boy with the bang is Trowa…doesn’t talk much. Then the one with the braid is Duo. And the boy with the gun is Heero. Yup, that’s about it. Guys meet Makoto Kino. Makoto meet the guys," Rei said. "Weak onna, aren’t you forgetting about me?" Wufei sneered.

Makoto’s temper stared to flare. She didn’t like the way he was referring to her closest friend. Minako saw the look on her face. "She’s gonna blow," she said. "What do you mean?" Duo asked. "Watch. She’s worse then Rei."

"What did you say?" Makoto asked. "You heard me. You weak onna. Are you deaf or something?" Wufei asked completely oblivious to the look of murder in Makoto’s eyes.

In a couple of seconds Makoto had Wufei by the collar and held him against the wall. "Don’t you ever, ever call any woman weak or I’ll personally take your words and shove them up your ass you chauvinistic self-centered pig!" she said in a voice barely above a whisper. Letting go abruptly Wufei stumbled back to his beanbag and sat down. Makoto snorted and took the only seat available, near the gun toting maniac.

"I needed that. I’ve been holding all that anger in. That’s what you get for living with Rei and Minako," she mumbled. "Is there anybody else in the house?" Trowa asked. "No, just us three." "Makoto if you heard me scream earlier how come you didn’t hear gunshots?" Minako asked curiously. "Oh, I thought you were trying to make a potion again. Wait did I hear you correctly gunshots? Why was there gunshots?"

"Well…just a misunderstanding," Rei said and gave Makoto a look saying she’d explain everything later. "Why’d you call me? I am busy you know. I don’t have time to entertain guests. Especially rude ones," she said coldly directing her last comment to Heero.

"Well we kind of said you’d um…give a fortune telling," Rei said timidly. Makoto was angry at being volunteered for anything but if it would get them out of her home sooner. "The real fortune telling. I have a feeling they need it…even if it might not be accurate," Minako added.

Makoto was puzzled, as was everybody else. She knew what they meant but not why. Her powers to tell the future were complicated. She saw hundreds of possible futures and usually was able to discern the right one. But telling a person’s future as opposed to telling the future of the world was more complicated. It involved blood and she had never done it before though she knew how to…in theory. Minako must have sensed something about the boys that required a truthful telling not some white lies.

"Um…ok. Who’s the lucky bastard that gets their future told?" Makoto asked sarcastically, her mood spoiled by the visitors. "I guess I’m the lucky bastard," Heero said with equal sarcasm from his seat next to her. Makoto was annoyed and angered. Why should she do anything for him when he tried to kill her? "Come on Makoto. You didn’t forget how to do it right?" Rei taunted. "I did not forget," she said indignantly. "It’s just that…never mind, lets get this over with."

Makoto kneeled in front of Heero’s seat. She pulled a long knife out of what appeared to be midair. Heero’s eyes widened but otherwise his face retained its cold demeanor. Makoto took Heero’s right hand and held the knife above his index finger. He snatched his hand away. "Hold it right there? Are you trying to kill me? Put the knife down or omae wa korosu," he said.

Makoto sighed. "It’s part of the reading. I need a drop of your blood. Don’t worry, I won’t kill you. You have my word for it. Now give me back your hand or go away. I have more important things to do," she snapped. Heero reluctantly gave his hand back to Makoto. She took her knife and made a tiny cut on his index finger. "Kami, I hope he isn’t squeamish," she thought humorously. She dropped his hand and took off the green glove from her right hand.

Heero’s eyes widened again as he saw her hand. It was covered in beautiful green ivy tattoos. "Is that why they keep the cloaks on? All she has is a tattoo on her hand," he thought. She rolled up her sleeve revealing more of the pattern. The ivy vine seemed to shift into different patterns. All of the other pilots gasped as they saw the tattoo, they were watching as well. Makoto took the knife and plunged it into her arm…or at least attempted to. The vines shifted to cover the spot where the knife would have hit, forming a shield.

Makoto grunted her frustration. Muttering some inaudible words under her breath the vines parted. Makoto slashed a long gash on her arm. Blood immediately poured out. Heero expected her to cry out in pain but she only clenched her teeth. Dropping the knife she grabbed Heero’s index finger and held it above her self-inflicted wound. A single drop of blood fell onto Makoto’s wound.

She looked directly into Heero’s eyes and looked at him accusingly before she passed out. Heero caught her before she fell. "What the hell is going on here?" Duo asked. Quatra looked as if he was attempting to wake her up. "Don’t, leave her. She’ll be okay. Just move her onto the floor and stand back. Do not touch her. If you do then just like you broke my concentration you will break hers and hers could be fatal. We’ve never done this before…we heard about this process but I never thought she would actually try it. She usually did a less accurate palm reading. She must really want to help you to go though all of this," Rei said mysteriously.

Heero was really confused and thought the whole thing was a hoax. But he still followed Rei’s directions and set her down on the floor. He considered taking off her mask to see what she really looked like but didn’t. "Well, this should be entertaining," he thought.

But then Makoto started to shiver and twitch.

****^__~******(Makoto’s Vision presented in Mako-vision)*******~__^******

I opened my eyes and found myself in the time weave void. In front and around me was the never-ending tapestry of time. It wasn’t my body that was there but my spirit. "Now where is now…" Using my inner power I found the stitch that represented the events that were currently taking place. And it wasn’t easy; I had to fly to it. Heero’s stitch was tightly ‘sewn’ in with four other ones that I knew with my power, were Wufei, Duo, Quatra and Trowa and also three more that were tightly sewn in that were of myself, Mina and Rei. "What do I have to do with all of this?" I quickly concentrated on my task at hand. Another stitch was loosely sewn in with that of a woman…I had a quick image of her. She had dirty blood hair, blue eyes and…the image vanished before she had a chance to study it more.

"It’s not like I care…but what is her connection to Heero and the Gundam pilots. Well, I better hurry up or my body will bleed to death." I went ahead for about a day and a half worth of future as I did the possibilities multiplied. (Like a < the right now broadening out to further in the future). I pinpointed the two out of the thousands of most likely possibilities out of a one-day projection using my power. I was sure that one of these would come too be, after all I had awhile to practice. "Now to look at these stitches. At least I’ll find why these boys are so important. Their future seems to effect the whole time line." I touched the first threads.

<Vision>

I appeared in what seemed to be a battlefield…no a military base. There were bright lights that I could tell were gunfire. Thousands of Mobile Suits surrounded 5 different ones and were ganging up on them. All hope seemed lost. I feel angry though. Mobile Suits still must exist. Amy’s prototype Mobile suits aided Selene in her betrayal. I wondered who were the pilots. Then it clicked. "Those are the boys in the mobile suits. They’re getting killed! Kami, they’re the good guys. I can feel it!" I yelled. Nobody heard me seeing as it was only a vision. "Get the Gundams!" voiced an enemy over the intercom.

</Vision>

I appeared back at the time weave. "I won’t allow that to happen! Please let the other vision be better. Please let them live." I tentatively touched the other stitch.

<Vision>

I was in the hallways of some palace. "Well this is nice." I walked around slowly. Then I came across the open double doors of some stateroom. Inside was a really long wooden meeting table filled with lots of chairs and at the corner was a grandfather clock. At the head of the table was a large throne. A woman sat there…the same woman from my vision earlier. She was working on signing some papers. The grandfather clock struck 4:00 in the afternoon.

We were the only people in the room…for the moment. I heard the sounds of gunshots in the hallway. About fifty armed men burst in the room through different entrances. The woman stood up. "You can’t just barge in here like this. Do you know who I am? I am Relena Peacecraft. I am Queen of the Earth!" she said. I snorted. As if that would stop them. One of the men stepped forwards and pulled at the Queen roughly. She nearly tripped on her skirts.

Then five boys stepped into the room. I recognized them immediately. Heero, Trowa, Quatra, Duo and Wufei. They held guns in their hands. "Look, it’s those boys Relena hired to be her body guards. What are you going to do little boys? Run along home to your mommies. We have a job to carry out," one of the men said.

Wufei lunged with his katana and cut the man that said it down. It was bloody. I had half a mind to turn away but I needed to know this. "I don’t suggest you hurt my men. I have your Queen Relena here," a man said. He was built. The man could have passed for a body builder. In fact all of them could. All of them were emitting a wave of energy that most humans didn’t posses.

The leader had a scar running across his cheek. He held a gun to Relena’s head. "Leave her alone," Quatra yelled. "If you so much as step this way I’ll blow her head off," Scar face (for lack of a name) said. Heero was deciding what to do. Relena was their responsibility. "Heero. Help me! He’s going to kill me! Take what ever you want just let me go!" Relena cried out.

Heero took a step forward. The man that held Relena saw this and laughed. "I told you not to do that," the man said. *Bang*

</Vision>

I was back in the void. "Well, damned if they do. Damned if they don’t. Well they’re in a pickle…This event is really important. It could change history completely if that Queen dies this early in the game. I can’t let that happen. Even if she does sound like a selfish prick. And I definitely can’t let those Gundam Pilots die, I don’t know why but we can’t. Maybe its time we interfered…" Then I felt my body pulling me back.

Little did she know that as she left her, own time strand was weaving closer to the Gundam pilots as well as with Mina and Rei’s.

*************(End of P.O.V.)*****************

Rei watched anxiously as Makoto opened her eyes. She quickly bandaged her arm. Then Makoto stumbled weakly to her beanbag. She looked at the Gundam Pilots with pity. Heero didn’t like people feeling pity for him.

"So, what did you see?" Duo asked the question that was on everybody’s mind. Makoto put her glove back on and appeared to be studying it for a moment. "Tell me," Heero demanded forcefully. Makoto spared one look back to the other Senshi. But she had to tell him…maybe it could help them…but she knew that it wouldn’t.

"…I know who you are. I know what you are. I shouldn’t even be telling you your future but hopefully it will divert disaster and I am a pessimist. Gundam Pilots you must abandon your foolish mission to destroy the base. I saw you all die. They somehow knew you’re coming. You probably have spies in the palace. If you do go then your Queen of the world, Relena dies. If you go then there will be nobody to defend her from an assassination…and maybe even then it won’t be enough. I am telling you this to prepare you for the inevitable. You must save your Queen. If she dies at this point in time then the time weave will collapse. Save her. Save your Queen," Makoto said.

Everybody in the room including Minako and Rei stood speechless at Makoto’s telling. "What are you talking about? What’s a Gundam?" Duo asked trying to lie even when earlier he said he never told lies. Makoto shook her head. "Do not presume to lie to me," she said. "In that case we can’t let you leave here alive. You know who we are," Heero said. Makoto looked up and saw five different guns pointed at her. ‘We have to get out of here alive. I only wanted to help,’ Makoto thought but knew she could not do anything…however Mina could.

Minako jump kicked Duo and took his gun. She pressed it against his head. Rei and Makoto stood behind Duo. "Drop the gun or Duo gets it…I always wanted to say that," Mina said with a small giggle. The pilots hesitated and dropped their guns on the ground. "Now we are going to get out of here. If you are smart you will listen to Makoto’s advice. She’s not lying," Rei said. "Let him go Mina. Rei use the smoke ball and we’ll do our thing," Makoto ordered, something she rarely did. Mina and Rei nodded. "You know, I don’t even know how to use a gun," Mina whispered in Duo’s ear. She pushed him forward and he stumbled on the Gundam pilots knocking them down.

In the confusion Mina, Makoto and Rei linked hands. Rei threw down a ball that exploded. Smoke filled the room. Heero stood and pulled another gun from somewhere (does he have a subspace pocket too? Where does he keep his guns?) and aimed at the spot where they last were and fired two shots. Seconds later there was nothing. Then a burst of light filled the room.

The smoke and light disappeared immediately along with the three women. "Where did they go?" Trowa asked. Heero didn’t know how they could have left after all they were blocking all three exits. "Impossible! How could they…"Duo began ranting. "Where do we go now?" Quatra asked. "The Palace," Heero said decisively ending that topic. He had a feeling that he couldn’t explain.

Heero left them to talk amongst themselves and walked to spot where they vanished. He bent over and examined the ground. There was a small puddle of blood on the ground…apparently he had hit one of them and strangely he felt sorry for it…

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<