Lena: Well. Hmn.

Hordes: (whine)

Lena: I don’t know…

Wufei: Bwa ha ha! (Clutches side) Oh, god, I love thatpart!

TV: …must answer me these questions three…

Quatre, Duo and Heero: Oo! It’s that part? (The three make a beeline for the TV)

Lena: Ah, ah, ah! You’ve got story work to do!

Q, D & H: Awwwwwww… (Make adorable puppy lips)

Lena: You can all watch after the story’s finished, okay?

Hordes: (insistent whine)

Lena: Hush! You’re asking for trouble!

Hordes: (subside)

Q, D & H: Well…okay. (Head off for story production studio)

Lena: Hn! Very good! Oh, and Wu, honey?

Wufei: Hmn?

TV: Blue! No…yellooooooooooo…

Lena: You’re coming in today. Come on.

Wufei: But… (Makes the most adorable puppy lip Lena hasever seen)

Lena: Awwwwwww…*.* Okay, you can finish the movie first.

Wufei: Yay! (Goes back to watching TV)

TV: …what is this business about sparrows?…

Hordes: (wait patiently)

TV: …well, you have to know these things when you’re king,you know…

Quatre shivered in the cool night air and gripped more tightly to the thick fur of Heero’s back. Sometimes it was possible to wish for the awful summer heat that he had lived with for so long. The idea to attempt conversation with either of the other two popped into his head a few times, but he knew better than to even consider such a thing for very long, let alone attempt it.

Admittedly, Duo was very chatty when things were normal- arguably, things were nowhere near normal at the moment. The almatomi was tensing with each second that passed, and the blond feared for what might happen to Trowa before they reached the hunter.

Randomly, Heero came skidding to a stop, head poking out through foliage into empty space. Both the riders attempted to look out over his shoulder, but he recoiled from what was beyond the leafy green as though burned. Swallowing, Quatre slid off of the furry back, not missing the hint of disgust in Heero’s beastial eyes. Duo remained where he was, staring idly into the stems and veins of the leaves before him, hands gripped tightly into fists. The fire lizard shook its head and sat down, which succeeded in removing the boy from his back, at least.

The fire lizard drew into itself, reforming into the human Heero that Quatre had grown so accustomed to. The two of them exchanged uncertain looks and went to kneel on either side of the braided boy. He didn’treact.

“Duo?” Heero asked, baritone voice lower than usual. Quatre found himself looking up in surprise. Was it possible that-? No. Never. Heero couldn’t be… “Duo, are you going to be all right?” The violet eyes didn’t even blink.

“Heero, you should check to see where Trowa is. Maybe that’ll help.” Though Heero looked about to argue, and extremely defensive, the blond saw a hurt look deep within the cobalt blue eyes. Heero didn’t want to admit to himself that Duo and Trowa were together. “Please, Heero,” And of a sudden, the hurt was invisible and the informela had become a small tiger and was peeking out beyond the foliage again.

Quatre turned back to the shell-shocked boy.

“Duo, Trowa’s nearby. We need you to help us find him again, remember? We need your help. Trowa does.” Slowly, red-rimmed violet globes turned to rest on him, something akin to pity in those eyes.

“You have no idea,” Duo began, his voice choked. “How much he needs my help. You don’t even know where he is.” The baritone voice that brooked no argument contradicted him.

“Yes I do. He’s right here- but you’ll want to kill something.” Laughing brokenly, a light flashing in his eyes, Duo crawled over to where Heero sat, following the informela’s example. Quatre did the same, worried to the core, but still lingering on the safety of his sister. It occurred to him that she could be in as much danger as they, maybe even more, and be defenseless…

“There…th-there is no god…” The strangled sound of Duo’s voice pulled him forcibly back into the present situation, and he finally looked out of the foliage. And then he had to look down.

The ground swept away an inch beyond the edge of the foliage, perfectly smooth to the point that it was obviously unnatural. A bowl that stretched beyond human sight confronted their bewildered eyes, with a winding staircase leading down to the bottom. The bottom of the bowl had several caves as well, that led out to the center pavilion, a flat stretch of ground in between sweeping walls. A stretch of ground that could easily have allowed three full-grown smoker dragons landing space and wing room was, in itself, shocking. The fact that it had obviously been created by some odd force, and fairly recently, was more disturbing than that. Still worse was what was in the bowl, standing on the smooth, solid ground.

A pyre of human bodies were piled in a circle around a pillar of ruby, and a long, slowly shuffling line wound around and around the pyre, seven times encircling it and seven times protecting it from an attack. The line consisted of humans only, Heero confirmed silently, and at the head, next to the pyre, was a black-haired boy who wielded a wickedly curved dagger, which was dripping blood. As a single entity, they turned away from the sight a moment, each stifling his urge to scream and rampage and be sick forweeks after.

Catching at their courage, they turned back.

They watched on in disgust as the next victim stepped up to the knife bearer, and stood, perfectly calm, as he carved the heart from the man’s chest. Once the body fell dead, a trio of Caterwauls came forth, two taking the body, and one placing the heart in a silver jar. Upon closer inspection, the trio at the edge of the bowl could see an outer circle of the silver jars stretching almost entirely around the bottom of the bowl, and they saw the Caterwaul with the man’s heart place that particular silver jar somewhere along that line.

Duo’s hands clawed in the dust as the line shuffled along, and finally, urgently, Duo whispered to the informela,

“H-Heero? Is Trowa still…” Duo swallowed, hard, and batted Quatre’s hand away. “Is he alive?” The informela slipped into a half-reptilian, half-human form, sniffed, and nodded.

Breathing a sigh of relief, the braided boy returned his eyes to the plain below them, searching for his beloved.

“Heero, what can we do about the Caterwauls?” A shrug rippled through the scales that covered the informela’sshoulders.

“Pick them off one by one. I’m probably the only creature here who can do that.” Duo hissed at them and waved with his hand; curious, they returned to their vantage point, quieting. The rhythmic slaughter had ceased, and now the entire human assembly was standing still. The Caterwauls busily dragged a loud, clattering chain around, first clamping the black haired boy’s wrists and feet, then moving on down the line. Since they were all working together at the chain, Heero could make an estimate- maybe one hundred fifteen Caterwauls at the most, maybe only about eighty-five if he was lucky. Enough to kill him only towards the end,hopefully.

“Looks like at least hundred. I can take them.” The other two turned to him, eyes wide, and shook their heads, and Duo grabbed his arm, squeezing painfully to attract the other’s attention.

Angry blue eyes turned on him and Duo pointed his shaking finger at the far side of the clearing, where the staircase both began and ended. A lone figure, seemingly human, was descending, nearly halfway down already. The almatomi was pale, his eyes locked on that figure, and as it came closer the gender became apparent. Upon reaching the bottom of the bowl, the woman called in a high, harsh voice for the Caterwauls. The group on the edge of the bowl shuddered at her voice- it sent chills up their spines.

Three of the strangely graceful beasts came over quickly, bowing and trembling and generally cowering before the woman. Heero snarled something that sounded like ‘defend your pride’, but Quatre had a tight grip on the other boy, preventing any giveaways or their whereabouts.

“Take me to the pyre!” The woman screeched, and the three Caterwauls straightened and began hurrying her through the rings of humans, pushing aside all the people there. The strange thing was, the humans were just standing there, and when an unfortunate man or woman was shoved aside, he or she just sat wherever the landing point was, as though hypnotized. The remaining Caterwauls finished chaining all the humans, moving more quickly now that the woman was there. When she reached the pyre and ruby pillar, the womancried out once again.

“Awaken, Fools!” Heero and Duo snarled together, the blond almanade demonstrating amazing strength as they pulled at him. “And scream for me.” Somehow, the incontinuity of what she had said stopped the two boys in their sudden urge to rage in without thinking.

The trio watched as all the people staggered a bit, seeming to regain their bearings. They had been perfectly still and silent before, but now as one they began screaming, many people tried to run, and the chains which had been so cleverly used prevented the panic from growing into dangerous mass hysteria. They were terrified; they weren’t going to kill each other quicker by running around for very long.

The black haired boy who had been using the dagger lunged at the woman, hindered as he was by the chains, to her great amusement. She must have said something to the boy, because the change was immediate; he became quite docile, and looked as though he had no hopeleft.

“She’s had him for a long time,” Heero confirmed quietly, looking unusually emotional. Not in the way that he wanted to kill something, either- it was all the more terrible because it was affecting the informela so already. Duo shuddered in disgust at the woman and continued searching for Trowa, until he realized that he was looking for the wrong thing. If everyone else was screaming, try to find the one silent person. If everyone else would be moving, find the one who would be still as night. It only took a moment to find his beloved hunter thinking in that way. He was standing not so far away from the black haired boy. His heart lurched when he realized how close Trowa was to the front of the sacrificial line.

“Who is she?” Heero wondered, his eyes narrowing as he focused on the woman. Duo shuddered again, remembering the sound of her voice. Both the others turned to him hopefully,and he nodded.

“I think I know. Brown hair, brown eyes. Fairly tall.” The blue eyes widened slightly, and Heero growled at him.

“You’re scaring me.” Quatre glanced back down at the bowl and tugged on both their sleeves.

“Look!” he hissed. They did as told. Below them, the woman was now standing next to the ruby pillar, which seemed to be faintly glowing. Even from as far away as they were, they could tell she was smiling maniacally. Over the screams, her harsh voice sounded again, and she sounded like she was inecstasy.

“YES! SCREAM FOR ME!” The screams became louder, more lingering, to the protests of the trio’s ears. “I AM YOUR END!” Heero and Quatre pulled the almatomi over behind the foliage again and regarded him within inquisitive, no-nonsense looks. He sighed, eyes closing. “She is called Lady Ann.”

“Be specific,” Heero growled. His eyes were dangerously light, faintly glowing just as the ruby pillar did. Had Quatre or Duo made note of this, they would have realized that their eyes were glowing as well.

“I work with her. She does the shifts that I don’t for the night in my area. I- I’ve always known she was strange. Angry, almost…like she thinks she has someone to get even with. I decided to avoid her long ago. She hates humankind so __much__.” The others looked faintly confused by the sorrow in his voice, and he shrugged. “It’s hard not to hate them, sometimes. It’s their fault we have to do what we do- because they’re the ones dying.”

Below them, the screams had grown more hysterical until the reverberating sounds were hurting the trio’s ears. Suddenly, that piercing voice called once more.

“SILENCE!” Immediately, there was. They rushed back over to the edge of the bowl, peering down in curiosity. A nervous tension stretched tighter and tighter in the silence as Lady Ann stepped forward through the rings of people, shoving through everyone until she reached Trowa- Duo froze. They stood eye to eye for a long time, and then she yelled athim.

“Why aren’t you screaming?” The boy stood as if unfazed, and the silent bowl picked up her voice even after she dropped it to a dangerously low pitch. “Do you not fear me? This is your death, boy; you will be finished before the day ends! Why don’t you scream?”

An expectant pause, and then what was distinctly Trowa’svoice:

“I am dead already.” Three pairs of eyes blinked in surprise. “I killed myself last year.” Enraged, she struck him across the head, effectively knocking the hunter unconscious. The boy slumped to the ground, and above, Heero grabbed at Duo’s mouth, silencing him, and Quatre grabbed at Duo’s legs, immobilizing him.

“We can’t!” They hissed at him. He couldn’t respond, but salty tears flowed from the almatomi’s eyes. Ann immediately called for screaming again, and in the midst of the terror stricken masses she got a few Caterwauls to come to where she stood and move the insolent boy as she told them, bringing him to the ruby pillar and tying him there with bloodstained rope. It wasn’t long before the green eyes fluttered open and again Lady Ann called for silence.

“You, boy.” Her voice began to rise in volume with every word, echoing harshly off the walls of the bowl. “I bind you with your own blood to my power!” A ragged almost-cheer came from the Caterwaul ranks, obviously expected but not in the least enthusiastic. “And I shall bind you with your name, boy,” The woman leaned in till her nose was touching the hunter’s nose, a superior smirk on her face. “Whether you give it to me willingly or not.” Duo found that he was still effectively restrained by the other two boys in hiding and tried not to scream at the woman.

Trowa’s eyes seemed to blaze as he lifted his head. “It is not mine to give.” Lady Ann didn’t respond.

Silently, she stood up straight and regarded him for aminute.

“Very well then.” Her left hand shot forward, grasping his throat. There was desperation on the boy’s face, but not much fear- presently, his eyes closed, his head fell, and the Lady spoke a question.

“What is your name?” For a long time, there was silence, uncomfortable and complete. Not even the winds blew.

“Trowa…” slowly, the head lifted. There was nothing in him. “Barton.” With a nod, Ann’s overwhelming power was gone, and the boy snapped back into himself, blinking and seeming to realize what must have happened. Trowa gritted his teeth, eyes never leaving the woman. Ann turned away to face the waiting crowd, wearing the same maniac smile.

“I bind Trowa Barton to my power with blood! So shall it be!” To the alarm of the trio at the top of the bowl, the crowd murmured in response.

“So shall it be.” Duo, who had been watching Trowa, noticed the look of plea and pain that flew across his face before the boy’s head dropped again, this time not lifting. The hunter had not, however, said the litany the rest of the crowd had. It seemed he was going to serve a differentpurpose.

Duo turned away, unable to watch any longer. The other two followed his example and waited.

“All right, we have to stop this. Now.” They nodded their agreement, and he continued. “Quatre, you have to find something to free all the humans- she’ll stop at nothing to do what she needs, but if they’re all freed at least there’ll be some mayhem. Heero, the Caterwauls. They have togo.”

“And you?” The almanade wondered.

“I’m killing her.” Duo offered a grim smile. “I’m killing her.”