kira_castaway

Cosmic Castaway

By Kira Ashkelon

The war was finally over, but Lady Une regretted that she was not allowed
to go with it. Half of her spirit had died today... but it could be
renewed. Something else had happened on this day, four years earlier. A
child was born... her child... and his. Her name was Anna, Anna
Khushrenada. She was born four years before her father's death, a father
that never knew anything of her. Une had meant to tell him, after the war,
once they were officially engaged. In a second the dream was shattered...
her entire life... except for Anna.

She was fast asleep when Une stepped into her four-year-old's bedroom.
"She has some temperature, I am afraid, My Lady," her nurse, Hineraukatauri,
said in her slow, simple English. Hine was from a Polynesian colony that
had been destroyed earlier on. She was one of the very few survivors,
thanks to Lady Une. Hine was then ten, now fifteen, and more than eager to
repay Une for saving her life. She had taken care of Anna since she was
born, and the only living soul to know of her existence.

Une nodded gently and entered Anna's room. She sat on the edge of Anna's
bed and brushed a long strand of light brown hair that had strewn across her
face. Droplets of sweat beaded her hot forehead, her eyebrows knitted in
pain. Hine walked in carrying a bowl of hot water and a rag. "I will stay
with her if you want, My Lady."

Une shook her head. "I would rather look after her myself." Hine nodded
and laid the bowl down on the nightstand by the bed. "You may go, Hine."

"Thank you, My Lady." She bobbed a curtsy and left.

Une took the rag and dipped it in the water, wringing it as she lifted it
out again. She placed the rag on Anna's forehead, then stroked the side of
each cheek, whispering, "Your father knows about you now, dear one, and he
will always be with you."
******************************************************************
Three years, and another death. Mariemaya had been ill the entire two
years that she lived with Une, and finally she died. It was peaceful,
though, and she was satisfied with her life. She had said on her deathbed,
"Thank you, Mother. Please kiss my sister on the cheek for me and tell her
I love her. I love you, too." She passed away with a smile.

Anna was outside crying in Hine's arms when Une walked out. "Will... will
she be alright?" she sniffed.

Une smiled at her and pulled her close. "Yes, Anna. She is at peace now."

Anna understood, and smiled as more tears rolled down her face. Une held
her close, thinking back through Mariemaya's life. How when she'd first
arrived Anna climbed onto her lap, and said, "Hello, Sister! It's nice to
meet you!" They had always gotten along so well. And now, that was also
over.
******************************************************************

Heero, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, Zechs, Sally, and Noin (who was now Merquise)
sat in the rather large dining hall of Quatre's incredibly large house.
They rarely had chances to speak anymore, but every now and then, Quatre,
being the socialite that he is, arranged some sort of meeting.

"Too bad Duo couldn't come," Quatre said. "I don't think he's been quite
the same since Hilde left him a year ago, as if the accident wasn't bad
enough. Imagine... losing an eye and most depth perception along with
it...."

"Yes, it would have been better if he had died," Wufei said casually.

Sally smiled and rolled her eyes as she looked over to Lucrezia, who was
now seven months pregnant. Zechs wouldn't hardly let her stand in one spot
without him being right by her side. Not that Lucrezia minded...

"I'll contact him," Heero said, getting up, grabbing his computer, and
hurrying off to a corner. He couldn't ever sit still and talk leisurely.
Such a busy person.

Lucrezia sighed and rubbed a hand down her stomach. "Why is Miss Relena
not here?"

Quatre grinned and said, "Heero refused to come if she did."

"Understood." She looked away sadly. "I... had asked Anne to come...
she's been going through a lot lately since Mariemaya died a week ago, I
thought it would do her some good to get her out of the house."

"Where is she living now?" Quatre asked.

"She lives with her maid, Hine, in a large house in the Blue Mountains of
Australia. I went to visit her there a few days ago... she seemed to be
doing better than expected. It was strange though, I thought I heard
another voice from somewhere mixed with Hine's... Oh well. Probably not.
It sounded very young, but Anne didn't have any children besides
Mariemaya... that I knew of anyway."
*****************************************************************

"Heero, eh? I'll show up later if I wanna, and if I don't, I won't."

Duo shut down the computer before anything else could happen. He walked
out of his room quickly, heading for the bar on this small junk yard colony.
So many people came here that belonged nowhere else. He sort of felt that
way now. The best part was that the rest of everything was so far away.
The war had hardly affected these people at all, except that many more
people had begun working there to escape the conflicts.

He sat at the bar and ordered three sakes right away. A new acquaintance
of his looked at him and grinned. "Thanks for buyin' me a drink, Mate!"

"No, Gabe, they're mine."

Gabe laughed. "You drink like an Aussi! I'm proud! I might as well have
a drink too while I'm here. Bartender! One whatever this loser next to
me's having!"

While they were waiting, a face Duo had never seen before came into the
room... a rather beat up face that he wouldn't have forgotten. It looked as
if it was one huge burned bruise. Beyond that he had blue eyes, and scruffy
blond hair. "Uh... Gabe? Who's that guy?"

Duo forgot one rule of life: Never ask an Australian something that you'd
like to keep discreet.

"Eh? Oh! Ajax! Come 'ere, Mate!" Gabe shouted, waving the man over. "I
wancha to meet my friend 'ere, Duo!"

Ajax smiled timidly and nodded in greeting.

"We found Ajax about three years ago, in some random floating debris.
Considering how banged up what was actually left of cockpit was, it's
amazing he's still alive. Anyway, when he finally woke up a week later, he
didn't remember anything! Not even his name! He didn't even know there was
a war going on!" Gabe explained, as he took a gulp of the sake the bartender
had placed before him. "Ick! How can you drink this stuff, Maxwell?
Bartender! Get me some Victoria Bitter!"

Ajax cleared his throat nervously as he ordered a glass of water. "How
long you off for, Mate? Hour or so?" Gabe asked.

"Only thirty minutes," he answered. Something about that voice...

"Come on! Let's sing, ay? Please!"

Duo rolled his eye. "Is that all you ever think about? That guitar and
your music?"

"Ay, it's better than a shuttle! Easier to hold close..." Gabe laughed
with a wink.

Duo sighed sadly. "I used to have something much better than that piece of
junk, a few things really..."

Gabe turned back to Ajax and said, "So yes or no?"

"No, I'm really too tired."

"That's because you overwork yourself, Mate! You've already repaid all of
your debts, why not start working only seven hours or so? It's gotta be
better than only getting seven hours time off out of the entire day!"

"You exaggerate."

"Hardly. Just one song, please?"

"If it will shut you up."

"Lose my head to the chemical freeway
Comin' up on overload
In a mystic new dimension
Purify and sanctify me
What, so I'm in no end game
Move my piece right off the board
Losing sure is easy so I am no more

"But I'm not broken, in my dream I win
In here I'm nothing, a Cosmic Castaway

"In my head I'm a chemical dreamer
Speed up to burn out mode
Comin' up in the 5th dimension
Beautify don't crucify me, yeah
So I need no mind game poisoning my lonely soul
Losing sure is easy so I am no more

"But I'm not broken, in my dream I win
And I take over, coz I'm no loser
And I'm in and you're not, bad dreams don't stop
But I'm all screwed up, a Cosmic Castaway
a Cosmic Castaway, a Cosmic Castaway

"And I want but have not
Bad dreams, lust thoughts
In here with no pain, you hurt me again
And I want but have none
I should beat the alien
But here I'm no one, a Cosmic Castaway
a Cosmic Castaway, a Cosmic Castaway
a Cosmic Castaway "

"Ajax! Boy! Get back here, now!"

The voice of one of the working directors startled the three of them. Ajax
glanced at his watch and said, "It's only been ten minutes..."

"It's an emergency! Hurry up!"

Duo watched as Ajax hurried out. He knew this person somehow... the
voice... the eyes....
******************************************************************

Ajax dragged the banged up escape capsule behind his junk collector.
Somehow it had managed to float this far out to space, but when hailed no
one responded. Either it was empty, or maybe this type didn't have that
sort of device, or, which Ajax most feared, someone was injured and wasn't
capable of responding. That would be how Ajax was found, except this
capsule wasn't nearly that wrecked.

As he landed and was able to inspect it, it seemed to have no more than
minimal external damage. He looked around until he found the entry, but it
was jammed shut. He tried a few gadgets at it, but nothing worked. All he
had left to try was melting a hole in it, which could be dangerous were
someone passed out against the door on the other side. Then again, if he
didn't, the person could die of suffocation were that out, if they weren't
already dead. He went ahead with the melting, first yelling, "Stand back!"
in case whoever was in there could hear.

A few minutes later, a clean circle was punched in the door, and he climbed
through to look around. In the corner he saw a small huddled form, her
shoulders trembling. She was crying softly as she lifted her face just
enough to look at him.

"Dear child..." he whispered, "You can't be older than eight! Are you
okay?"

"I'm seven..." she sniffled. "My name is Anna Khushrenada, and I'm lost."

He walked over and gently touched her cheek. "You feel really hot, you're
probably sick. You look very pale. When was the last time you ate?"

"I don't know. Probably three days ago, but I've lost track of time along
with everything else."

"Come with me and I'll get you something to eat."

"I can't get up."

Ajax smiled as he leaned down and gathered her in his arms, carrying her
out of the capsule. As they emerged into the light, he realized that she
wore a short pleated white skirt, a navy blue shirt, and an official looking
scarlet jacket which was far too big for her, as it was meant for an adult.
And something about her face looked familiar...

"Sir, I need to take her to get something to eat." The director nodded to
Ajax and looked at the girl thoughtfully as they passed.

When Ajax entered with the girl in his arms, Gabe and Duo watched curiously
as he gently placed Anna in a seat and ordered her food and water.

"Who's the girl?" Gabe asked. Duo only stared at that all too familiar
jacket.

"Her name is Anna Khushrenada."

"Khushrenada?!" Duo yelled.

"Yeah... Do you know a Khushrenada?"

Gabe laughed at Duo's disbelieving expression. "He doesn't remember all
that."

Ajax shrugged. "Whatever. Do you guys think you could look after her a
while? I've really got to get back to work."

"Yeah, me too, but at least I'm not a workaholic like some people I know,"
Gabe said. "You're good with kids, aren't you, Duo?"

"Sure, why not."

"Good. See ya later, Mate!"

Duo sat next to Anna as she practically inhaled an entire cheese pizza. "A
little bit hungry, Kid?"

"Yeah." She sat back and looked at him curiously. "Why do you have that
patch over your eye?"

"I lost it... trying to put down some people who were trying to do bad
things to the colonies about a year or two ago..."

"Oh! The war! My mommy and daddy were both in the war, but my daddy
died..."

Duo looked down at the girl as a thought suddenly struck him. "You're
father is Treize Khushrenada, yeah?"

"Yes, sir."

"Don't call me 'sir,' it makes me feel old. Anyway, is your mom Lady Une?"

"Uh... she's Mommy."

"Alright... Let's try this again. Does that jacket you're wearing belong
to your mother?"

"Yeah! She always wears it when she has to go do something official-like."

"I never knew those two had a kid... I'll be damned..."

"What's 'damned?'"

"You shouldn't say that, Kid."

"But you said it."

"All the more reason for you not to." Duo couldn't help but smile at that
absolutely befuddled expression only a little innocent child can perfect
with sincerity. Then he began thinking back to his conversation with
Heero... If Zechs and Noin were there, then they would be able to return the
girl to Une. Problem solved. "You up to a little trip, Kid?"

"I can walk now that I've eaten, sure!"

"No, I mean in my shuttle."

Her lip pooched out in a pout and her blue eyes seemed to quadruple in
size. "I don't wanna go back to space! It's cold and scary!!"

((And somewhere in the galaxy Zechs says, "Space. It's so quiet," and Kira
says, "Nobody will hear you scream."))

He laughed and hugged her around the shoulders. "Don't worry, Kid! I know
how to pilot it. We'll be fine!"

She looked at him very distrustingly. "You promise?"

"I promise."

"Cross your heart?"

"And hope to die! After all, I am the God of Death!"

"You're weird."

"Yeah... that too... Come on, I have to go get my stuff and we can be on
our way in about thirty minutes."

"Where are we going?"

"I'm going to go talk to one of your mom's friends, and she'll be able to
take you home!"

A smile spread across her face and that childish sparkle of excitement
glistened in her eyes as she leapt at him and hugged him around the waist.
"Thank you, Mr. Duo, sir!"

"Please, it's just 'Duo.'"
******************************************************************
"Be careful with that, Ajax, there's a big chunk of space junk, ay, Mate?"
smiled Gabe. "Sure you can handle it yourself?"

"That's why I have you here watching my back to make sure no rabid space
debris comes up and bites me," Ajax said as he hopped into the cockpit of a
larger junk collector. It was a bit more durable and capable of going
farther were something reported, but this ship had walked right into their
hands. It wasn't wrecked hardly at all, yet there were no signs of life on
it either. It was of a different design none had ever seen before, made of
no recognizable metal. The elegant design of it almost seemed to be made of
some sort of wood or other natural material, were it possible. Probably
with a little fixing up they could sell it off at a nice price.

Gabe sat down at the computer console in front of the huge screen, now
focusing on the ship they had jokingly named Lady Space Yacht. He shifted
uncomfortably as Ajax took off. "Why does something just not feel good
right now..." Gabe had made it his duty to watch out for Ajax. Not only
was he the one that found him and pulled him out of space, but he needed to
keep him safe for other reasons.

The junk collector appeared on the screen, dwarfed by the Lady Space Yacht,
allowing the collector to process the dimensions. They were good machines,
just a little out-of-date....

"Stand up with your hands behind your head," an all too calm masculine
voice said from behind Gabe as the barrel of what he assumed to be some sort
of fire arm dug between his shoulder blades.

He did as he was told as his captor said, "Now turn around and face me. No
trying to be clever, it won't work."

Gabe turned around slowly, trying to get the right amount of fear in his
eyes to make the look halfway believable.

A tall young man, probably in his mid twenties, stood before him wearing
some sort of uniform, but nothing he recognized. His long blond hair was
all pulled back into a ponytail except for two strands hanging on his
forehead. Though he wore a calm smile, his blue eyes flashed with mischief
and eagerness. Amazingly, he looked exactly like Treize Khushrenada with a
different hairstyle, and a much harsher character. "Now that you're out of
the way, I only have to wait a few more seconds for his tractor beam to
connect... Now!" he yelled to what seemed like air.

Gabe glanced over his shoulder as he slowly worked his hand down the collar
of his shirt... finally touching the handle of a small dagger, but plenty
big enough to distract this inconvenience. Yes, it was convenient placement
for a dagger, but considering how people generally tell you to put your
hands behind your head when they are trying to get you, it is logical. On
the screen Gabe saw a sort of shimmer next to the yacht...

A cloaked ship.

Fortunately, this person had made one mistake: he had overestimated the
power of Ajax's junk collector. What he mistook as the tractor beam
connecting was really nothing more than a rough reading and a jump to allow
the connection process to begin. It wasn't too late just yet.

In a split second, Gabe pulled the dagger out of its hidden sheath, buried
it deep in the man's side while ducking to dodge the laser flying over his
head, then turned around and banged a fist on the transmission button.
"Ajax! Someone's out there with you! I don't know what they want, but you
need to get out of there!"

"Gabe, but there's no-"

"Go!"

Gabe was very pleased to see Ajax following his advice and flying off. At
least he'd be safe from these losers for a while. He turned back to the man
crouching on the floor. He glared at Gabe with cold eyes. "This isn't over
yet," he grumbled as she disappeared into thin air.

Gabe stared at the spot the man disappeared from, as if to be sure he
wasn't coming back. He didn't act surprised at the sudden disappearance
though. He checked the screen again to see the yacht being dragged off,
most likely by the once again cloaked ship. It was gone within minutes.

"What's taking so long?" asked the director gruffly as he ambled through
the door.

Gabe turned and smiled. "Let's go get a drink, ay?"
*****************************************************************

"I hope you don't mind, but I brought a guest," Duo said, as he walked in
to join Heero, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, Sally, Zechs, and Lucrezia.

"You get a new girl, Duo?" Sally joked.

"You could say that. I'm really just dumping her off on Zechs and Noin."

"Can anyone just call me Lucrezia?!?"

"Eeeep. Mood swings."

"SHUT UP!!!"

Blink. Blink. Blink.

"Okay, anyway, I would like to introduce all of you to Miss Anna
Khushrenada!" he said, standing aside to reveal the girl dressed in her
mother's scarlet jacket.

"Khushrenada?!" everyone said as they stood up and stared at her. She was
quick to shrink behind Duo, nervously wringing his braid in her hands. He
told them the story he had pieced together.

"I just can't believe she never told anyone," Lucrezia murmured. "I can't
believe she never told me! I'm her best friend! No one must have known!
But I do remember that time she sort of disappeared for a few months, saying
there was some family business she needed to take care of. Oh, wasn't it,
though! And now she has a little girl..." she stopped talking and smiled
gently at the child. "Why did you leave home, Anna? Do you want to go
back?"

"Oh, yes! More than anything! I... I don't really know why I left. Mommy
just told me to get in that capsule and she sent it off. She promised that
I'd be alright, and I was! But I don't know why I needed to go..."

Lucrezia nodded solemnly. "Sounds like she's in some sort of trouble...
I'm going to go check on her."

"I'll come too," said all six gundam pilots in unison.

Sally grinned and said, "I think they're bored.."

Soon they were all on their way to the Blue Mountains of Australia,
carrying Wing Zero and Sandrock in case the situation proved their use
necessary.
******************************************************************

"Treize Khushrenada is dead! How many times will you force me to say
that?" Lady Une asked from the cell she was confined to.

The man before looked as if he could have been Treize Khushrenada's twin.
He said, "I know that my brother is not dead! It is impossible for him to
die at such a young age. Besides, I saw him."

Two fresh tears fell down her cheeks. "Why are you so cruel? What are you
gaining from tormenting me this way?"

"I am only recalling him. He was unwilling to fulfill his duties here,
because of certain female interference by yourself, and now I will force him
to come home."

"What is the point of taking me?"

"Because he loves you. If he knows you are in danger, he will come."

Une breathed a sigh of relief. They didn't know about Anna.
******************************************************************

Back in Australia, at Une's house, Hineraukatauri slowly regained
consciousness as the door was repeatedly beaten. She stood up and stumbled
to it, overjoyed to see Lucrezia standing there with Anna in hand. "Lady
Lucrezia, you can help, ae?"

"Help...?"

"They take her away! Say they get Treize if they have her. But they do
not have Little Anna, thank the gods!"

Hine remembered very little. She remembered that there had been some sort
of sound that might have been a ship, but she didn't see it herself. Heero
brought out his computer and used it to scan the area for technology. There
was a small bit not too far from the house, but probably not enough for a
real ship. Still, it was a start. If that failed them, they would have to
do things the old fashioned way: just start looking.

Within a mile of the house, Duo stopped short as he saw one of the larger
junk collectors he had grown accustomed to seeing at the collector colony.
It was so old, he couldn't figure any other place it could be from. He ran
up to it and shouted, "Hey! Anyone in there?"

There was a gentle cough as a familiar beaten face peeked out from behind
the collector. "Duo! You have no idea how glad I am to see you..."

"Ajax!" Anna squealed happily as she ran over to him and latched onto his
leg.

"Hey, Anna! Glad to see you healthy again."

Zechs and Lucrezia stared at Ajax as he told Duo how he'd gotten there.
They felt as if they were looking at a ghost. They threw a glance at each
other, but neither was eager to voice their thoughts.

They were not lucky enough to run across anything else promising, so they
took to their preferred methods of travel and dispersed, Quatre in Sandrock,
Heero in Wing Zero, Trowa with Wufei and Sally in their shuttle, Zechs and
Lucrezia in their's, and (much against his will) Duo in his shuttle with
little Anna. Ajax also went with Duo because he didn't know anyone else
anyway. They all split up to search various areas of possibilities from
what few clues they got from Hine.

Duo, Ajax, and Anna had been flying for hours with nothing interesting
happening, nor had any of the others contacted them with any news, positive
or negative. Anna sulked back in her seat and started to cry.

"Hey, it's okay, Kid!" Ajax said. "We'll find your mother, I promise."

"I hope so... I hope she's okay too. I don't want those horrible people
hurting her... She's kind of helpless without me."

Duo smirked and said over his shoulder from the pilot's seat, "I'm pretty
sure your mom can take care of herself."

"You'd be surprised."

"Hey, what's that?"

Duo increased the size of the shot of the outside area which Ajax referred
to. It looked as if some sort of small shuttle had stopped and was floating
aimlessly in space. The ship itself seemed to be made of something very
different from anything Duo had seen before. Ajax said that it looked very
similar to the design of the large ship he and Gabriel were pulling in when
he was warned to get out as fast as he could. Duo nodded, and tried to set
up a transmission.

Finally, after a few minutes of nothing more that static, a face appeared
on the screen. It was the face of a very beautiful woman, probably in her
early twenties. She had blonde hair and deep blue eyes that seemed to
capture anything around her. She wore a loose dress of all black, and a
sort of Egyptian style necklace with an eye on it carved from some sort of
blue stone, as well as many other stones and gems on various strings.
Somewhere behind her something squawked, sounding very much like a bird.
"Hello," she said, very calmly. "My name is Isis. Why do you wish to talk
to me, sir?"

Duo cringed once more at the thought of responding to "sir." He
straightened up and stared back into her beautiful eyes. "I am Duo Maxwell,
and we thought you were stranded. Are you?"

She paused for a moment, inspecting him closely before she responded a
little more assuredly, "Yes, I am. Are you going to help me?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

"If you'll tell me where you're from."

She smirked slightly as she bowed her head and peered up at him
mysteriously from just below her eyelashes. "Then I suppose you will have
to leave me here, for I cannot tell yet."

"You could die if you just sit there, ya know."

"No, I won't."

Anna watched the woman curiously from the back, while Ajax, who sat in the
front but was just out of view, seemed quite captivated by her. "Duo," he
said, "I think we should take her anyway..."

"I don't know if we can trust her."

"If she knows anything about the people who seemed to be after me, who
knows, she might know something about the people who took this Lady Une."

Duo looked back to the screen at the woman Isis who seemed to be waiting
very patiently for some outcome. "We're looking for someone, so we won't be
able to take you anywhere and leave you. You'll just have to tag along, and
we may even get you to help us. Got that?"

"If you insist." Her calm expression never changed.

"Alright... then... we'll get everything ready on this side. You've got a
suit, don't you?"

"Sure, I do."

"Good."

A while later, Isis entered the cockpit and passenger area. She was still
dressed in her black dress and necklaces, so Duo just figured she had made a
point to change back before coming in.

Anna turned to her and smiled as she walked in. "Hello! I'm Anna
Khushrenada!"

Isis raised a curious eyebrow at the child. "Is... that so...? I... can
tell now that you mention it."

Ajax peered out from behind his chair, and his eyes met Isis'. Her calm
expression grew a bit more surprised for a moment before a slight smile
appeared at her lips. "And... who are you?"

"I'm Ajax," he answered, very friendly. He thought he knew her from
somewhere, but he didn't know how he would have...

"Are you really?" she asked. Ajax thought this was a most curious
question. She only smiled and shook her head. "We'll find out when we get
Lady Une back."

Duo snapped around to face her so quickly he made his neck crack. "OW!
Uh... What did you say about Lady Une?"

"That's who you're trying to save, isn't it?"

"Well... Uh... yeah... but how did you know?"

"I just know."

Duo opened his mouth to ask another question when he heard that horrible
squawking again, but this time from the other side of the door. "Oh, I
suppose Horus is ready to join us," Isis said as she opened the door,
allowing a sleek falcon to slide in. He squawked to announce his presence
then came to rest on Isis' shoulder.

Duo looked most unhappy with this new addition. "Oh, no... No birds...
It's got to go..."

"What do you expect me to do with him, sir? Let him float out into outer
space?" She smirked as she gently stroked the falcon's wing. "Not that
he'd mind it too much, but he's been rather reluctant to leave my side
lately."

Horus, acting as if he desired to prove a point, hopped off of Isis'
shoulder and fluttered onto Ajax's, who smiled at the bird and also stroked
it. Anna reached over to touch it, but Horus was just out of reach. Ajax
grinned and bent a little closer until Anna could easily pet the falcon's
wing. "He's really pretty," Anna said in awe.

"Yes, he is. And a very strange pet, Miss Isis," Ajax added.

Isis nodded, never changing her expression of calm cool. "You'd be
surprised. You like him, don't you?"

"Yes! Of course! Horus... Isis... Where have I heard those names
before?"

"Horus... Isis..." Isis began, almost mockingly were it not for her
composure, "Osiris... Seth.... Nephthys... Tefenet.... Anubis.... the list
goes on and on."

"Anubis is the Egyptian jackal god!" Anna said triumphantly. "I saw a
pretty picture of him in a book Mommy got me for Christmas!"

"Very good, Little One, but you will learn much more about them than any
book can tell you soon enough..."

"Huh?"

Isis smiled slightly at Anna, then held her arm out, which seemed to be a
familiar signal to Horus for him to return to her. Duo winced as the
falcon's sharp talons seemed to dig deep into Isis' skin. "Doesn't that
hurt?"

"No, not at all."

Duo blinked his one eye at her disbelievingly, but shrugged and stared
ahead of him as if determined not to make too much out of it, or out of
anything Isis talked about. She certainly was an odd one.

Finally everything calmed down a bit, but just when Duo had gotten quite
comfortable with the silence, another crisis occurred. The shuttle began to
quiver slowly, as if it wanted to shake apart, then began losing power to
certain areas, one of those being navigation, another, the oxygen supply.
The shuttle lurched in various directions, speeding up and slowing down
sporadically for about ten minutes. Duo did the best he knew to do and hit
the controls as hard as he could, succeeding in nothing but saying a few
explicatives. By the time he finally did manage to gain control, they were
hopelessly lost, and the ship still rattled ominously while the oxygen
decreased steadily. He turned around to make sure everyone was alright, and
was somewhat surprised to see that Isis had dozed off, while Anna clung to
Ajax crying. "Figures," he mumbled. "Leave it to a woman like her to go to
sleep at the worst time possible."

Isis' eyes opened almost immediately after his complaint, and gazed
steadily into his. "Perhaps it would be a little more productive to try to
solve the problem instead of beating up your machinery and cursing at it."

"What? Do you have any better idea, Miss Goddess?"

"If you must have a last name for me, it is Ennead, and yes, I do have a
better idea."

"Oh really, Your Excellency Space Goddess Isis Ennead? And what might that
be? Enlighten me, please."

"We could land on that small planet over there."

"Small planet? There's no small planet over there! I just..." Duo
started, as he whirled around to face the screen.... and was greeted with
the looming image of a small rocky planet very near to them. "It wasn't
there before... It wasn't... How did that...?"

"Don't talk, Mr. Maxwell. You are using up all the oxygen, and I am afraid
the scarcity thereof is making you a little... tipsy..."

Duo felt himself bristle indignantly, but ignored her insults and
accusations and turned the ship towards the planet. "We may be no better
off once we get there, you know. We probably won't even be able to breathe
there."

"It's better than dying a slow painful death on board a dead shuttle.
Besides, I've been there before, it is perfectly capable of supporting human
life."

"Sure it is... I mean look at all those rivers and lakes," Duo said quite
sarcastically, as they neared the planet. It looked more and more like one
huge rock the closer they got to it.

Anna managed to take a peep at the screen as well, once she was finally
able to ever so slightly turn her head a bit from Ajax to see. "I think it
will be fine..."

Duo blinked at Anna curiously, surprised at hearing her so confident of a
sudden. "And why do you think that?" he asked gently.

"Because I believe Isis."

"That's reassuring," Duo grumbled as they got ever closer. Suddenly the
engine lurched, and the shuttle began to spin. Luckily... or unluckily,
depending on your view... they had already entered the planet's atmosphere,
and were quickly united with the rock hard ground.

Ajax held on to Anna the entire way down, and, being directly next to the
door, was quick to get out with the child clinging tightly to his neck,
praying that Isis was correct in her assertion. He stepped out testingly,
and was very surprised to feel hardly any difference on this small,
uncharted planet than how he would feel walking on Earth. The air seemed
perfect, though there wasn't a single sign of vegetation anywhere among the
neverending landscape of rocks. The falcon, Horus, flew out after him, but
Isis and Duo were not yet in sight. He looked down at Anna, who still had
her eyes tightly shut, her small body trembling in his arms. "Are you
alright, Anna?"

"Y-y-yeah... I think so... Is Duo out yet?"

Ajax sighed and stared into the smoky wreck, but he could not see any sign
of the other two. "I need to go look for them... You stay here, okay?
Right here. Don't go anywhere, do you understand?"

"Of course, Sir."

Ajax looked at her skeptically, but finally forced himself to turn his back
on her, and was very glad to see that Horus, almost knowingly, stayed behind
with Anna.

He stepped back inside, hearing muffled voices coming from the controls.
"Duo, is that you?"

"He's here!" Isis answered. "Give him a minute, he will be fine. He was a
bit injured in the crash."

"A bit?!" shouted Duo's voice. "I broke my leg, I swear!"

"I know you swear. But don't. We can fix it."

"No. I will not be a Heero Yuy and reset my own broken leg. I'm too much
of a baby! It'll hurt! No! Waaah!"

Ajax smirked and said, "Well, since you two seem to have everything settled
here, I'm going back out with Anna to keep her out of trouble."
******************************************************************

"Isis... really... there's nothing that we can do... we're just stuck here
now, and we're all gonna die."

"You really are a baby," Isis said, smiling. "I can fix it, I just need
you to calm down and cooperate."

"It's a broken leg! Broken legs just don't heal in five minutes!"

"No, they can heal in about thirty seconds if you'll calm down and help me
out, okay?"

"How do you plan to heal it in thirty seconds? That's absolutely ridic..."

"Shhh...." she whispered, placing an index finger at his lips to silence
him. "Close your eyes, and pretend there is no pain." She rested two more
fingers against his lips as they parted slightly, to make sure that he
wouldn't speak up again. "Do whatever you need to, pretend you are on
vacation somewhere relaxing, or just sleeping. It doesn't matter, as long
as you are calm. I cannot work otherwise."

Duo did as he was told, though he sighed frustratedly to express his
disapproval, and kept his eye open. Isis laid her hands on his leg,
applying the smallest amount of pressure, enough for Duo to feel, but not
enough to add extra pain. Then she began humming to herself, and one of the
necklaces that she wore around her neck, the bluish crystal sphere, clouded
and radiated a pale glow. A small buzz came from it, a sound that itself
almost created a kind of warmth. He felt it as he grew weary and groggy, as
one would feel on a drowsy summer afternoon. He seemed to fade in and out
of consciousness...

"Duo? Is that better?"

His eye snapped back open and he looked into Isis' beautiful blue eyes,
filled with concern. "Huh? Alright...? Sure... Why not..."

"Your leg..."

"Leg? Oh right! The..." he looked down at his leg, very confused. "It...
it doesn't hurt... not at all... like nothing ever happened."

Isis nodded and sighed as if relieved. "Good. Then let's go, I'm sure we
have plenty of walking to do."

They walked back out to where Ajax and Anna had been, but were immediately
concerned when all they saw was Ajax walking around frantically running his
hand through his scruffy blond hair. "She's gone... I was only away for a
second, and now she's gone..."

Isis nodded calmly as Duo began to search, though there was little to
search in this area except rocks and more rocks. He glared back at her and
snapped, "What? Not worried? Who knows what might have happened to her!
She could be kidnapped or dying or eaten..."

"Horus is with her."

"You put a lot of faith in that stupid bird."

"Ajax trusted him enough to watch over her."

Ajax looked over at her timidly and said, "I'm beginning to regret that,
too."

"You shouldn't. He will be back soon, and then we will be able to find
her, and possibly Lady Une as well."

As if on cue, Horus flew towards them quickly from the direction of a
large, rocky mountain, and came to rest on Isis' shoulder.

"That was convenient," Duo muttered.

"Do you know where Anna is, Horus?" she asked the bird, ignoring Duo.

"Is she safe?" Ajax asked.

"Did she fall in the well again?" Duo asked.

Horus fluttered off of Isis' shoulder and moved to the top of Duo's head,
picking at Duo's hair with his talons. "EEK! Not the hair! I'll stop!!
Really! Just don't do anything to the hair!"

Horus flew off again and seemed swooped back towards the mountain. "I take
it we need to head that way," Ajax said with a step forward. "I hope this
bird is as trustworthy as you seem to think it is, Miss Ennead."

"Don't worry, he's never failed me before."
*****************************************************************
They stood just inside of a well-concealed cave. Along the walls were
various technological contraptions, none like Duo had ever seen. Ajax
stared at it curiously, as one stares at something which makes them recall
the traces of a lost dream. Isis looked completely beyond them, as if
listening for something. "Where in the worlds does technology like this
come from?" Duo asked.

"Shhh...." Isis hissed and crouched down behind a jagged rock, yanking Duo
down by his braid, and Ajax following suit with little persuasion.
"Someone's coming."

Two men were walking down the hall perpendicular to the one they were in.
Duo, Isis, and Ajax couldn't see them, but could hear everything they said
perfectly.

"...So they're really saying that Osiris is dead? I wouldn't think it
possible..."

"Perhaps Master Seth is only being optimistic. I think he is laying low
for the right time to strike."

"But wouldn't he come for that human woman?"

"That was Master Seth's idea. But since he has not come, perhaps he really
is dead. That would be nice. The universe would be much easier to take
over that way..."

And they were gone.

"That was the most random dialogue I think I've ever heard in my entire
life," Duo mumbled.

"SHHH!" hissed Isis and Ajax.

"We have to be careful," Isis continued in a very soft whisper. "If we
could hear them that well from this distance, then someone will also be able
to hear us easily if we are too loud."

"What do you suggest we do?" Ajax asked. "We have to get back Anna... If
she really is here.." He shuddered and looked away. "She's probably so
scared..."

Isis smiled and placed a gentle hand on his cheek. "Don't worry, we'll get
her back. It would be best if we split up in to two groups."

"Wouldn't three be better?" Duo asked.

"No, because you are going to get yourself captured if we let you off by
yourself, and what good would that do us?"

Duo crossed his legs and arms and leaned back against the stony wall,
determined not to strangle her.

Ajax smirked and asked, "Then how shall we split?"

"I will go with Duo, and you go with Horus. I trust you by yourself, you
know what to do."

Ajax blinked at her curiously. "Do I?"

She nodded with an assuring smile. "Trust me. You do. Now while you are
looking for Anna, also keep an eye out for any prison blocks or something,
because if we find Lady Une, it is very likely we will find Anna. A child
always has a sixth sense about her parents, and will probably go straight to
her mother if at all possible. And in turn, you should be able to go
straight to her."

This last comment further confused Ajax, but he nodded and decided not to
further question it. Isis hadn't let them down yet, so why should he start
doubting her now.
******************************************************************

Duo and Isis slipped down another corridor, getting further lost in the
neverending labyrinth which this cave seemed to be. Finally they came to a
room which Isis seemed to be quite interested in, filled with what looked
like the equivalent to computer consoles for that sort of technology. She
hurried over to one and quickly began working at it. Duo watched over her
shoulder, and could not even begin to understand what she was doing. Not
only was there no sort of keyboard, but no screen, no controls, no nothing
except for a half of a blue sphere emerging from the center of the seemingly
wooden console, which Isis' fingers traced along and tapped against, her
eyes closed in deep concentration. Finally they opened again and she got up
and yanked on his sleeve. "Follow me, I've found the prison blocks."

"Wha?!? How?"

"Don't ask questions, we don't have time. Just follow me."

Without any hesitations Isis moved gracefully from place to place, dodging
every guard and turning every corner as if she knew exactly where she was
going. Duo, not quite so gracefully, followed. "Did you write down
directions or something? I sure didn't see a map or anything..."

"I memorized it."

"Memorized off of what?? There wasn't a picture or words or nothin'!"

"Shh...."

They ducked behind an out-thrust boulder just as two guards walked by, both
wearing uniforms of all black, and carrying weapons that Duo had never seen
before. "Master Seth says there's something down here messing with the
system, but I don't see anything..."

"You hardly looked," said the other, walking over to the console to inspect
it. "If it's who I think it is, she wouldn't have left any fingerprints or
anything. She knows how to keep them off of our technology, the little
ghost..." He walked around more when his inpection of the console seemed to
fail him, and Duo began getting very nervous. "But if they were just here,
they couldn't have gotten far. The shield here should confine her to this
area, so she couldn't have just disappeared as is her usual way."

Duo and Isis held their breath as the guards came closer and closer. She
placed a firm hand on his arm and said in a voice which was barely even a
whisper, "Be calm. They sense fear."

"They'll find us anyway...."

"Yes, and that's what we're waiting for. But we have to wait for just the
right time, or they will be able to communicate with everyone else that
we're here."

"They're getting closer...."

"I know. Now be quiet and let me do my work."

Duo hated feeling helpless more than anything, but knowing nothing about
this foreign realm of technology into which he had entered made him almost
completely dependent upon Isis, who seemed much more comfortable with it.
He wanted to know where it came from, where she came from...

Isis bowed her head and narrowed her eyes straight at the two guards as
they came ever closer, almost glaring at them. Her hands wrapped around the
eye around her neck, which almost seemed to glow and hum.

The guards immediately turned there attention to where the two were hidden.
"What is that hum? You don't think she put something into the system
to..."

"There's no way she could have done anything so complicated without someone
knowing by now. She didn't have enough time..."

"Then what is that noise?"

They came closer and closer, but with every step they took, Isis slowly
began to uncoil her right hand from around the eye, leaving the left tightly
clenched.

"It sounds like it's coming from behind that rock..."

"Yes, Genius, it does."

"Very funny.... What if it's some sort of explosive?"

"Would it matter?"

"I don't know! She might have found some super human weapon!"

"Humans don't make super weapons you idi..."

But they could not continue their conversation, because just at that moment
Isis stood straight up, her right hand outstretched to them, and a bolt of
yellow light burst from her fingers and wrapped itself around each of them,
knocking them out immediately. They fell to the ground without even so much
as a short cry of surprise.

Duo walked over to them and examined them. "Did you kill 'em?"

"No, that is unnecessary."

"Maybe you think it is, but what if they wake up and tell someone?"

"They shouldn't be able to wake up for at least an hour. If it takes us
that long to find Anna, then it'll probably be too late anyway."

Duo sighed and stood up tall next to Isis, who suddenly seemed very close
to him. It was the first time he noticed her build really.... a rather
impressive build, at that. He looked into her face, only inches from his
own... And took a step back. There was something so familiar there... And
something else not quite so familiar but incredibly attractive. It was
driving him absolutely insane. "So what do we do next? You gonna take us
to the cells?"

"Of course, but we'll be a little less conspicuous if we look like we
belong here."

"Oh, really? And how do you plan to accomplish that?"

Isis nudged one of the unconscious bodies with her toe and said, "He looks
about your size."

Duo blinked. "Ooooh... We're gonna do the overdone switch-with-the-guards
thing. Right. Got it." Then he looked at the other guard, whose rather
stout figure did not match Isis' in the slightest. "Uh... so what are you
going to do?"

"Alter."

"You don't have time to sew it up! That's a lot of material to chop off
and..."

"No, not the uniform. Me."

Duo blinked a little bit more, his usual pastime. "How... exactly do you
plan on doing that?"

"It's hard to explain. Just watch, and don't freak out. What you see now
is the real me, what you are about to see is a desperate measure so we don't
get caught before we should be."

"You're not really planning on getting caught, are you?"

"Hopefully not, but it will probably be unavoidable. Now don't talk to me,
this takes a lot of concentration."

Once again she knelt down and placed a hand on her necklace, and another
upon the plump guard. Her skin began to glow and form into a metallic
liquid, until suddenly her entire being, clothes and everything, was nothing
but a misshapen ball of silver, which eventually ended appearing to be the
exact replica of the guard.

Duo didn't know quite what to make of her... or him... "Uh... do you do
this normally?"

"Like I said, only when I have to." The voice sounded exactly like the one
that had spoken in the hallway first.

"You're... not exactly human, are you...."

"No, not exactly. Now come on, we have to find Anna and get out of here as
soon as possible."

Isis moved quickly through the various hallways, again seeming to be very
comfortable with her/his surroundings. It was everything Duo could do to
keep up with her/him.

Finally, Isis seemed to be slowing down, as she/he turned to Duo and said,
"The prison block is just around the corner. There will probably be guards
there if that is where they are keeping Lady Une and possibly even Anna."

"What do you mean 'If?' If that's not where they're keeping them, then
where else could they possibly be?"

Isis smirked and said, "We'll just have to hope that Ajax and Horus have
better luck, won't we?"

They walked casually around the corner, and were somewhat surprised not to
come face to face with a number of guards. Quite the opposite, not a soul
stood in the area, no guards or prisoners.

"That was pointless," Duo groaned.

Isis bowed her head and transformed back into her usual self with much
ease. "No, it wasn't. Now we just have to wait."

"Wait for what?"

"For Osiris."
*****************************************************************

"If there was only a normal computer around I could probably get in to it
and figure out where the prison blocks are..." Ajax murmured quietly to
himself, trying to stay out of sight of any passer-byes. Horus flew either
just next to his shoulder, or occasionally landed on it, responding with a
quiet cry. "That seems to be impossible... even though..." He stopped and
traced his hand along the wall, then along a few of the stations which
appeared to be consoles for computers. If they were any sort of technology,
it was nothing that Ajax had dealt with at the junkyard. But it was still
familiar... Somehow....

He knew he had to give up on the computers, but didn't know exactly how to
go about his search beyond that, and after about half an hour of searching,
he began to be very discouraged. He sat down with his back against the
stony wall, close to giving up and accepting failure. Horus swooped down
onto his shoulder and nipped his ear. "Hey, it's not my fault!" Ajax said,
somewhat annoyed as he swished the bird away. "I don't know what to do for
her... It's not that I want her to stay lost of course... Not at all...
The poor girl is probably terrified... Without her mother... or father...
or even Duo to look after her... Especially if these people have captured
her..." His voice trailed off and he sighed wearily. "I wish there was
just something I could do..." He leaned his head against the wall. After
his adventures with this search, and his frantic get-away from the junkyard,
he felt very weary. His head felt like it had doubled in size, and it
became quite a chore to keep his eyelids open....

A familiar touch against his face... A soft, gentle, loving voice... A
kiss... A woman crying... A battle lost... A child... A child living...
A child dead... A woman still crying... A child in her arms... A scared
child... A dark room... A dark figure standing near by... A dark voice
laughing... A woman... A child...

Ajax's eyes snapped open and he sat up straight. He looked around quickly,
to be sure no one had walked by since he had drifted. No one was there
except for the ever-faithful Horus, standing motionless on the ground in
front of him.

Ajax stood up, his eyes staring determinedly before him. He saw nothing
but the goal, no matter how far away it was or how impossible it would be to
reach it. He had to reach Anna... He had to reach Anne...

....Anne...?

He walked forward, his mind telling him he had no idea where he was going,
but his instincts... his heart... his soul... telling him otherwise. He let
the latter lead him forward. He never saw who or what he passed by, he just
passed by it. It wasn't important. Nothing was important except for the
goal.

Time seemed unreal, or perhaps another part of the unimportant. When he
vaguely came back to himself, he was standing in front of a chamber, two
tall golden doors wide open, leading into a dark room.

A dark room...

He stepped inside, and the doors swung shut, leaving Horus on the other
side of them. There was nothing to see by inside except for a very dim
light, given off by a few candles placed about the room. They made the air
thick with a strong scent of oils and incense. There was no sound, and yet
he felt a very strong presence... a few, really. Two were comforting and
warm, while the other, the strongest, felt like ice. He took another step
forward and gazed around the room, finding it difficult to see much of
anything. "Anna...?" he called out.

A dark laugh broke the absolute silence, coming from an almost pitch black
corner which Ajax could only make out now that he knew something was there.
He saw a tall, dark figure. Next to him was a huddled figure of something
else, which seemed to be crying....

"Anna!"

He hurried over to her, and realized as he got closer that the huddled
figure was really made up of two. Anna looked up at him, but remained where
she was, in the arms of a woman...

A woman that Ajax knew very well....

His pace quickened, but before he could reach them the dark figure pulled a
weapon out from beneath his robes and threw it at Ajax.

Ajax looked at the energy blade as it neared him, held up a hand, and
stopped it in mid-air. Then he took the blaster from his own belt and shot
the dark figure in the chest. The lights in the room became brighter, and
stayed brighter as the figure took one step back, held his hand over the
would, and once he removed it, it was completely healed. In the new light,
Ajax could see the man, and knew him immediately as well. Everything was
clearer now. The dreams from the past few years... They all came together.

The man pushed his long, blond hair out from in front of his intense blue
eyes as he said darkly, "Enough pretending, Osiris. Or shall I say Treize?"

But Ajax was looking past him, at the woman with her child. Une looked at
him for the fist time at the mention of Treize's name. The moment her eyes
met his, she knew.

It was Treize Khushrenada.

He walked slowly over to her, past the other man who now let him by, as one
would who wants to near a deer but is so afraid of causing her to run. He
knelt down at eye-level with her and asked, "Are you real? I have seen you
so many times in my dreams, only to reach out, open my eyes, and find it
only a figment of my imagination. Please tell me you are real." She
blushed as two tears rolled down her cheeks and she fell into his open arms,
lifting her head for a moment to give him a loving kiss.

Anna stood back and blinked at them. "Does this mean Ajax is my daddy?
Cool!"

The man circled the reunited family as a wolf would its prey, eying them
hungrily and dangerously. "Yes, child. And would you like to know the best
part of it? Now that I've got both of you together now, it will be easier
to get rid of the entire problem at once."

"Leave her alone, Seth," Treize said seriously, helping Une to her feet and
holding her close to him.

"Oh, so now you remember my name! And have you checked a mirror lately?
Those bruises seem to be clearing up nicely. Amazing what a pitiful thing
like love and devotion can do. I had hoped you'd evolved beyond that."

"What are you doing here? Why do you have Anne and what do you want with
Anna?" His gaze fell upon is child and his eyes softened.

"Brother, you did not follow through. You were distracted by these human
controversies and emotions, so I took matters into my own hands as I
promised I would were you to fail."

"Seth... you didn't... you can't..."

"The seed has been planted, Osiris. All over this galaxy, in every piece
of even the remotest of civilized places. All it takes now is a little
loving care to get the humans dropping like... what are they called again?
Ah, yes... flies."

"Why are you waiting, then? What did you need me for?" Treize asked,
almost angry and losing his usual calm composure.

"Because for the past few years, we have tried, but something was
overriding our command, not allowing the virus to do its duty. I thought it
was you, that somehow your long term connection with humanity had somehow
enabled you to control things from our world here. But now I see that I
gave you far too much credit. You are not capable of that. The only thing
that would be could only be a perfect mix between our world and this, and
the only thing that fits that description is none other than your wonderful
daughter, Anna. Only recently did we discover that you even had a daughter.
We had originally only meant to take your mate here in hopes of drawing
you in. Fortunately for us, we were able to solve two problems at once."

Anna only stood there, blinking at Seth with that adorable confused look
once more. "I haven't been stopping anything... not on purpose..."

"Exactly. Not on purpose," Seth snapped. "Being the mutt that you are,
you have power capable of stopping anything that is a large scale threat in
your pitiful galaxy."

"I'm surprised that you consider the extinction of humanity 'large
scale,'" Treize grumbled.

"By population only, dear brother. Not significance. Especially since
they are on the territory that we need."

Une stood next to Anna and pulled her close, afraid that Seth might try
something. Not that she knew how to defend Anna against whatever he was.
She looked at Treize helplessly and asked, "What are you that you could
survive an explosion as you did? That you consider yourselves so far above
humanity?"

"We are... from another galaxy. We have evolved almost beyond the point of
mortality. We can only be killed by the strongest of weapons. As you can
see, not even a direct slice through my body from Wufei's gundam was able to
kill me."

"But why does he want to kill all of humanity? Do you have a part in
this?"

He closed his eyes and bowed his head sadly. "I did originally. Our two
species vary so much that someone needed to spend time here to figure out
how the human mind and emotions worked, and then to figure out their
weaknesses so as to be able to destroy them and take over their territory.
What better time to discover these aspects of humanity than during war?
Anyhow, I was appointed this duty, but it had an unexpected effect on me. I
became fascinated with humanity, and then..." He paused and smiled faintly
at Une. "Then I fell in love..."

She returned the smile with the slightest of blushes as she asked, "Yes,
but why destroy humanity for the territory? There's got to be more space
out there than just this..."

"I wouldn't expect you to understand, human," Seth interrupted. "This
space... and the few things which you have accomplished here... are needed.
And as we are the superior species, we will take everything from you pitiful
humans, including your lives. In any case, I'd love to chat longer, but we
have business to attend to." He held an open hand out, and suddenly a force
pulled Anna away from her mother and over to Seth.

Treize ran over and tried to snatch her back, but was beaten when Seth
grabbed her wrist with one hand and held a knife to her throat with the
other, as he said to her, "You may have some of the powers as I do, but you
are far less experienced. And you will be easily killed by this blade, made
of a metal from my own home, capable of killing one of my own purebred
species. Are you ready to die, Precious...?"

Just as the knife tightened against her throat, a rumble began just outside
of the cavern, and suddenly the golden doors blocking the entrance gave
way...

....and Sandrock burst through from the other side, with no one inside of
the cockpit, but Duo and Isis following it frantically on foot, and, in
addition to the party, Quatre. "I don't know what's wrong with him! He
just randomly started walking away while I was searching here, I promise I
didn't set him on a strange system! I swear!"

Seth jumped away from Anna as soon as the door had collapsed, leaving her
unharmed. She walked slowly over to Sandrock, staring at it as if in a
trance. Sandrock knelt down before her, then powered down. She shook her
head then looked back at her parents and Seth.

Treize smiled proudly while Seth seemed completely confused. "She is the
perfect mix, isn't she? Humans have always had an understanding and control
over technology that we never have, while we are much more capable of
physical, natural, and psychological control. Anna, being both, can control
machinery with a simple thought."

"It... it isn't possible..." Seth stuttered.

"And because of this control, she should be able to destroy the virus you
have created."

"She doesn't know how."

"I will help her, don't worry, dear brother." Treize knelt down in front
of Anna, holding both of her hands in his. "My precious child, you have
been able to hold off the destruction of humanity for this long... Now that
you know what sort of power you possess, you must stop Seth from ever being
able to release his created fatal virus."

Anna nodded and closer her eyes. "What do I do?"

"Imagine a danger... you have felt it before, but now you should know what
it is... there will be many of them.. very far away from one another... do
you feel them...?"

"I do."

Seth rushed at Anna angrily, but Sandrock once again powered to life and
stepped towards him. He stopped and glared at Anna.

Treize turned back to her and whispered, "Now kill them... Imagine each of
these dangers fading... weakening... and they will die..."

"Don't, Anna!" Seth called. "Stay with me! Work with me and I promise you
more power and glory than you could ever imagine with these pitiful humans!"

She knitted her brow and held her father's hand tighter as she gave a
determined nod, falling deeper in thought. After a minute droplets of sweat
glistened along her hairline. At the same time, Seth fell to his knees and
began to tremble. Soon his very being began to fade.

Treize grinned. "She considers you a danger. She's going to get rid of
you, Brother."

"I... I'm getting tired, Father..." she whimpered.

Isis took a few steps towards her. Seth saw this, and with all the
strength he still had he threw a burst of energy at her and collapsed on the
ground.

Isis stumbled backwards with a cry.

"Dammit!" Duo shouted, as he ran over to her and caught her just before she
hit the ground. "Are you hurt badly? Isis... talk to me... Please..."

"Father...." Anna whispered again, her voice getting fainter.

"Hold on just a little longer, Love. Then it will be over, and we can go
home together, and be together forever."

"We'll be a family?" she whispered, opening her eyes slightly, her pale
lips trembling. "You promise?"

"I promise."

Anna nodded, closed her eyes, and gripped her father's hand even tighter.

Seth began to fade even more. He glared at Treize and said, "I'm going
home... but don't think this is over. This galaxy will be mine." He
disappeared completely of his own accord.

Not long after that, Anna opened her eyes and smiled. "They're gone," she
said, just before collapsing in Treize's arms, exhausted.

Treize smiled and hugged her gently. "You're wonderful, Anna..."

Une walked over to them, her eyes rimmed with tears. Treize stood up with
Anna in one arm and hugged Une with the other. "Australia, huh? That is an
interesting choice..."

She smiled and shrugged. "It's out of the way..."

"I like it..." Anna mumbled, hardly conscious but not wanting to miss out
on the excitement.

Quatre walked over to where Duo knelt on the ground, holding Isis in his
arms. "How is she...?"

Her blue eyes opened, but their usual spark seemed to be missing. Duo held
her closer and whispered, "You're alright, then... You're alive, anyway..."

A tear fell down her cheek as she held up the string of one of her
necklaces. "I knew it... I knew he hit that one..."

"Hit what? What are you talking about? The necklace?" Duo laughed and
hugged her again. "Hey, it's just a necklace! Jewelry can be replaced!"

"No, you don't understand... It..." She broke off with a deep sigh.
"This will sound very strange, but these necklaces are what keep me alive
and functioning. Some of them are used for stronger powers such as
transformations, yes, but many are used just to keep me alive. That one...
that one was the one that gave me the ability to have children..."

Quatre walked away from the possible couple with a smile, as Duo held her
and rocked her, trying to comfort her by telling her what a wonderful,
perfect person she was. "Maybe they'll make it a double-wedding," he
thought to himself, as he walked somewhat timidly over to where Treize, Une,
and Anna were.

Anna saw him coming, and her pale face turned a much brighter red.

"That was very brave of you, Miss Anna," Quatre said, with a short, polite
bow.

"Oh.. eh heh... that? That was... was child's play!"

He smirked and nodded. "I'll bet it was, but next time you want to play
like a child, can you borrow some other guy's gundam?"

She blushed and nodded, then whispered to her mother as he walked over to
Sandrock, "He's really cute..."

Treize and Une exchanged an adoring parents' look, as Quatre looked back
from Sandrock's open cockpit and asked, "Exactly how are you getting back?
Duo told me that the shuttle you came in was sort of... well... wrecked..."

Isis, now to her feet and calmer than before, said, "Don't worry about
that, Mr. Winner. My brother, Osiris, and I have a way for us to get home."

"If you insist. I'll contact the others and we can meet back at my place.
Good luck!" he said as he disappeared into his cockpit, then flew away.

Duo only could blink back and forth from Isis to Treize, or maybe it was
Osiris. "Your... brother...?"

"Yes, can't you see the resemblance?"

"Uh... yeah, but I was trying to deny it."

Anna, now very much over her exhaustion with all the excitement of meeting
a cute boy, said, "Hey, in the myths, isn't Horus the child of Osiris and
Isis?"

Treize and Isis sort of grinned at eachother as Isis said, "That's just the
messed up way the Egyptians thought when they met us at that time. They had
to put some explanation on the events which happened, so I guess that was
the best they came up with. But no... Horus is not our child, though we
did create him together..."

With that statement she whistled, and a giant mechanical bird flew in
through the open doors.

Duo's jaw dropped. "That's... Horus...?"

"Yes. He's a regular falcon usually just because he's easier to carry
around that way."

"I'll bet."

"And don't worry. There's plenty of room onboard. Let's go!"
****************************************************************

Two months later, the party gathered at the Khushrenada home in Australia
after the wedding ceremony. Most everything was the same, except Lucrezia
was carrying a two week old girl, and Zechs was carrying the girl's twin
brother. Anna played with them the entire time (except for the few minutes
she spent talking to Quatre here and there), and every now and again would
say something along the lines of, "I hope I get a little baby brother or
sister soon..." just loud enough so that her parents would overhear.

"It'll be sooner than you think, Love," Une mumbled to herself once, with a
slight smirk.

Treize turned to her and tilted his head curiously. "What was that, My
Lady?"

"Oh, nothing."

~End