Step Inside the Circle Part 5

Though he wasn't prone to panicking, Wufei was getting a bit hysterical.

As terrifying as Quatre had looked only moments before, it was a different matter altogether as his 'normal' appearance reasserted itself. The claws were gone, the tattoos were receding...

And yet they weren't. He turned on the car's overhead light to get a better look, and drew in a deep, horrified breath.

The patterns of his tattoos were still visible, but in reverse, as though the serpent's blood had burned all the skin that wasn't covered with the mystical symbols and left it an angry, oozing sort of red. The remnants of his borrowed clothing hung off Quatre's shoulders and hips in burned tatters, and the burns themselves... Wufei felt ill, just looking at it, and the smell of burned flesh was not helping to settle him, either.

The blond was beginning to shiver, and every time he moved, a light whimper of pain escaped his lips. Wufei's hands shook - he didn't know what to do. He couldn't see many places where he could touch the other man to give him comfort without hurting him more, but he couldn't turn away and leave him to suffer!

The door next to him was wrenched open from the outside - Wufei yelped, but calmed immediately as Trowa shot him a concerned look. "How is he?" "I... I don't know," Wufei whispered, cradling the blond's head in his lap as Trowa turned back around and began speaking rapidly.

A louder whimper forced its way past Quatre's lips - Wufei immediately turned his full attention back to the injured man. It looked like he was fighting his way back to consciousness, but with burns this severe...

Trowa opened the door on the far-side and climbed in, neatly avoiding where Kahn was curled up on the floor, licking his wounded leg. Green eyes widened in fear as he got a good look at Quatre. "Goddess Who Gave Us Life... Heero!"

Both Duo and Heero looked up from where they were climbing into the car's front seats, and Heero turned as much as he could, concerned. "How bad is it, Gwydion?"

Trowa's hands were shaking as he reached for the blond and ran gentle hands over his face. "He's... oh, Quatre..."

"Concentrate, Druid," Heero growled, throwing the car into gear. "Remember who and what you are. Or do you need me to heal him?"

Trowa flinched, but nodded, closing his eyes for a short moment. He took a deep breath and opened them again - calm and controlled. "Thank you, my lord. You are right."

The snakes around his wrists came to life once more as Trowa said, "Wufei - hand him to me."

From the front passenger seat, Duo turned, eyes wide and scared. "Quatre." He reached back with one hand as Trowa began chanting, and touched the slim blond's burned shoulder. Red light enveloped the injured man, and a high-pitched scream was torn from his throat.

Trowa's eyes glowed green and flashed for a short moment before he drew his hands back, then reached out again, more tentatively than before. "Quatre? Open your eyes, little one," he murmured as the red light faded and the glow began to recede from the Banshee's body.

Even Heero seemed to be holding his breath as they waited for the blond to respond.

Blue eyes blinked open slowly. Quatre was clearly disorientated as he blinked up at Trowa and Wufei, who hovered over him anxiously. But a low whine and a lick to his hand from Kahn brought him back to the present. "We... we all made it okay?"

"Everyone except you, Bean Sidhe," Trowa said softly, smiling fully in relief.

Quatre smiled right back at him. "How bad would it sound if I said that was fun?"

Wufei sputtered incoherently for a moment. "Fun?! You call getting third degree burns all over your body fun?!"

Quatre lifted one arm and stared at it - the markings were still red and irritated, but no more so than a sunburn. "Trowa healed me well. My thanks, Gwydion."

"With a little assistance," Trowa said, shooting a look at Duo.

The two shared a small smile and, watching in the rear view mirror, Heero grinned widely. "You had us worried."

It took some effort to get the Banshee sitting up properly, and he seemed somewhat dizzy once it was accomplished. "I had me worried, Greine. I've never faced... well, I'll know better next time than to face a bloody dragon without body armour ever again."

Heero grunted. "His blood would have burned right through it. You did very well."

Duo pulled off his jacket and passed it back. "Here - you're going to get cold like that."

Quatre accepted the jacket gratefully. "Goddess, I'm tired."

"As well you should be!" Trowa declared, taking hold of one of the Banshee's hands once he'd finished zipping up the jacket. "Hell, you should still be flat on your back."

"Patience, Gwydion, there's time for that later," Quatre whispered to him, for his ears only. Wufei choked, though, and quickly looked away. He'd assumed so much about the two from their behaviour around one another, but he hadn't expected confirmation of it, and certainly not coming from the angelic-looking - well, now that he no longer had claws and glowing eyes - Quatre.

"Wufei?"

He looked up to see Duo half-twisted around in his seat to give him that damned beseeching look. "You okay, Duo?"

"I'm fine, but..." Duo looked down at himself, incredulously. "I'm... untouched, but I know I was..." He looked over at Heero, and noticed the man was similarly - suspiciously - clear of any injuries. "I'm not hurt, and Heero isn't either. Why?"

Heero merely smirked. Trowa rolled his eyes at the man. "Because you are full-blooded and Heero is half-blooded. It's... rather difficult to damage one of you."

Duo turned wide eyes on the other man in the front seat. "You're also a... Tuatha de Danaan? Really?"

"Only by half," Heero replied. "My mother was a Japanese exchange student who fell in love with a mysterious man she met at Oxford. He was a Tuath."

"Wow." Duo took a moment to digest that, but then turned back to look at Wufei again. "Is Kahn..."

Trowa smiled and patted the dog on the head. "He's fine, Duo, all healed. And a brave boy, to boot." The dog whined and licked the druid's hand before uttering a small bark.

Duo sighed in relief and relaxed back into his seat bonelessly. "I'm so sorry..."

Heero shot him a glance, eyes narrowed. "You didn't do this - Balor did. And to involve innocent bystanders..."

Wufei went cold. "God - what will everyone think? They'll assume that Duo and I..."

"No, they won't."

Everyone who could turned to look at Trowa, who stared out the window and up at a sickle moon. "While I was trying to... shield them, I also managed to persuade everyone in your town... They won't know why a teacher and a pub employee are not there, but they will have no memory of you, either. It was the best I could do at such short notice."

"You... you erased our lives?!" Wufei asked incredulously. "How... I can't believe this! I was happy for the first time since Meiran died, dammit! You can't have..."

Quatre turned his sorrowful eyes on the Chinese man. "And what would you do, instead? How would you explain that your best friend disappeared, your street was melted and torn to bits, and then you disappeared for a spell, as well? They don't remember either of you - it's safer that way. For them. Could you imagine if Treize went back again when we weren't there to protect these people you seem to care about so much?"

Everyone went silent, and the silence stretched past minutes into what seemed like hours as one by one, the exhausted men fell asleep.

As he drove, Heero darted a glance at the man sharing the front seat with him. Duo was still awake, though he hadn't spoken, even when told his life as he knew it was definitively over. He was just staring out the window, despondently, and that bothered Heero for some reason. "My Lord..."

"I am no lord," Duo ground out, still not turning to look at anyone. In his lap, his hands grasped at his long braid of hair and twisted it savagely.

Heero reached over and pulled the braid free, and Duo finally turned to look at him with angry, stormy eyes. "Leave me alone."

Heero's eyes seemed to glow, though, and Duo only had a moment to curse that stupid trick that all of them seemed to have mastered before he found he could not turn away. "I know what you're thinking. This Treize, or Balor if you wish, is a cunning creature. Even if you had not gone to safety at Wufei's he would have been a target. The fact that you went to him... you probably saved his life."

"And in doing so, destroyed it," Duo said softly. "He's the closest thing I have to a family; I never wanted to hurt him."

Heero glanced back in the rear view mirror - all three of his other passengers were still asleep. He sighed. "We are... we are not normal people, Duo. Our souls have in past lives shaped the very fabric of the world, so that even now change and turmoil seem attracted to us. The best we can do is to protect those we care for to the best of our ability and hold them dear to our hearts."

Duo tore his eyes away, but turned back to Heero only a moment later. "Balor took someone and something important to you, too. We'll make him pay for it, Heero. No matter what it takes. I don't like the idea - I hate violence. And when I hit him today..." Duo shuddered. "I somehow just knew what to do, and part of me felt so good doing it. Then the rest..."

Heero pulled over to the side of the road and turned to look at the other man in full, their faces illuminated by the moon hanging overhead. "I know who you are. It's there - it's just at the edge of my mind, but when I try to reach for it, it's gone. But it is you - a part of you. I know how strange this must all feel, but you have to accept it, Duo, or you and those close to you will suffer for it. Like it or not, you are who and what you are."

"That doesn't help, Heero."

The Japanese man smirked as he pulled back onto the highway. "It will in time. Go to sleep, my Lord."

"I don't want to sleep." Duo frowned out the window. "Where are we going, anyway?"

Heero finally smiled in the moonlight. "You'll see soon enough."

~*~

It was just before dawn when the car pulled off the highway again, this time onto a dirt road that lead straight out into an overgrown field. Duo jolted awake at his side - he'd been sleeping fitfully, and had only barely been aware of it when Trowa took over the driving from Heero. The druid looked calm and well rested, and Duo envied him that. "Where are we?"

The green-eyed man spared him a glance and another of those small, half smiles of his. "We're almost to the port. Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, sure... port? This ain't a port, Trowa. It's an unused cornfield."

"It'll do." The druid pulled the SUV over and shut off the engine. "Wake up, people. We're here."

As they all climbed out of the car, Duo knelt and allowed Kahn to lick his face before he hugged the beast, burying his face in his fur. "I got to keep you, at least. Good boy - good dog."

Wufei knelt next to them and scratched behind Kahn's ears. "He saved my life, Maxwell."

"Thank God." Duo gave his friend a smile that was tinted by apprehension. "I got to keep both of you."

Wufei returned his smile and punched him in the shoulder.

Quatre grimaced as he finally got a look at himself in the early morning light. "I look like crap - scratch that, I look like five week old roadkill. Trowa, you could have at least done something about my clothes!"

The druid gave him an indulgent smirk. "I was rather more worried about your body, Quatre. The clothing is replaceable."

Heero cleared his throat. "It's time. Everyone gather close." He reached inside his collar and pulled out what looked like a large crystalline amulet on a silver chain. He paced a small circle around them with 27 measured steps, muttering under his breath, before he stopped in its dead centre and began speaking out loud:

"I am the light on the mountain,
I am the breath of the sea,
I am the fire of the sky.
Hear me, Belenos - I am Greine of the Dagda's Blood."

Thunder clashed overhead three times before Trowa stepped forward:

"I am the song of the past,
I am the wind of the future,
I am the stag amongst the trees. Hear me, Belenos - I am Gwydion."

Three more crashes of thunder sounded as the horizon began to turn pink, and Quatre stepped up in turn:

"I am darkness and shadow,
I am light and air,
I am the Eagle monarch of the sky.
Hear me, Belenos - I am Bean Sidhe."

Thunder crashed three more times before the sun peeked over the tall grasses far to the east. Heero quickly manoeuvred the small group into a circle, and they linked hands. Duo and Wufei jerked as they felt something akin to an electric current running into them, flowing to the lilt of Trowa's voice in their heads:

"Grant us access to the Gate of the Summerland- And shine Your holy blessing upon us and our road home."

As the sun finally touched their faces, golden light seemed to envelop the group. Glimmering in the sunlight, their tattoos flared to life, and even Wufei could feel the power flowing through them, surrounded on either side by Trowa and Heero.

As the light flared even brighter around him, Duo could have sworn he saw a pair of golden eyes smiling at him as a voice whispered in his ear, "Welcome home, my Lord."

Moments later, the small field was again empty of people, and the thunder roared out three more times before falling silent. Somewhere overhead, a bird began to sing.

~*~

Wufei opened his eyes again and gaped in shock.

They were standing on a clean, earthen lane in a grove of ancient alder and ash trees, surrounding an oak that clearly outdated even the oldest of the other trees by at least several hundred years. Sunlight filtered down through changing leaves and branches and took on a reddish-golden hue as it bathed them in warmth to counter the chilly autumn air.

Trowa smiled. "It is over - it is done." He stomped his foot three times.

Chimes sounded over their heads as a light wind stirred the branches of the trees, and they all turned as one to face a procession of people heading in their direction.

Duo stared about him with wide eyes, clinging tightly to Quatre and Heero's hands without realising it. This place - while he had no memory of any such place, it was familiar to him, everything about it, from the taste of the air to the chimes sounding around them.

A lady garbed in silver-white stood at the front of the procession, ringed by three other women, all dressed in dark grey and hooded. As she drew nearer, Heero, Quatre and Trowa fell to one knee and bowed their heads. Duo and Wufei shared a look of surprise and shock.

"Rise, my friends," she said in a voice that matched the sparkling blue of her eyes. "It seems you have met with interesting times in your travels."

She favoured them all with a smile before she turned the full effect of her stare on Duo. He gulped - she was not overly beautiful, but she was striking and stately, with eyes that seemed to see right through him. He blushed under her stare, but held her glance as he sketched her a small bow. "My lady?"

"Welcome to our home, Duo Maxwell. And you, too, Chang Wufei," she said, looking in his direction. "I am Relena, Priestess of Danu, and this is the Holy Grove."

He stepped forward and reached out as if the shake her hand, only to be shoved back by one of the hooded women, who growled, "Do not come any closer."

He froze, eyes wide at the sheer menace the woman exuded.

"Morrigan, you forget your manners!" Heero snapped, stepping to Duo's side. "Do you not recognise one of the first-born when you see him?"

Duo turned to him. "Morrigan?"

The woman bowed and stepped back. "My apologies, Greine."

"Do not apologise to me - apologise to him."

Relena stepped forward, though, and put a calming hand on both the woman and Heero's arms. "There was no offence meant; these have been trying times for all of us, since Zechs' murder. I would ask you, Duo, to forgive a faithful guard's fervour."

"Sure, yeah," he said, throwing dark looks at the forbiddingly-tall figure of the Morrigan. The other two hooded figures remained silent and still.

Relena smiled again. "Let us get back to the House, then, shall we? There is much to be done before Samhain, if I'm not mistaken."

Duo's eyes bugged wide. "How did you know..."

Trowa chuckled. "There is little she does not see, Duo, you'll learn that very quickly around here." He handed Duo Kahn's leash and turned once more to bow reverently to the oak standing in the middle of the grove. "Come on - it's finally time to get you some of those answers you've been dying to hear."

~*~

Two hours later, Duo sighed with happiness as he squeezed the last of the hot water out of his hair and shut off the taps to his shower. He wasn't sure exactly what he'd been expecting as 'The House' of this Lady Relena, but it certainly wasn't the equivalent of a five-star hotel transformed into a private residence. The Lady disappeared through her own doorway, and he and Wufei had been whisked along to two adjoining suites of rooms. He'd refused to be seen to, though, until he made sure that Kahn was being well looked after. A tall, older man by the name of Howard had taken the dog into his care and promised to see him bathed, pampered, and fed. Having seen to his pet, Duo finally relented and let Heero show him back to his room.

He'd taken one look at the bathroom arrangements and quickly prayed that no one would need him for at least a half hour - showers like that he found waiting for him were things to be appreciated and enjoyed.

Wrapping himself in two fluffy towels, he padded out into the suite's bedroom, stretching his tense back. Clothes had been laid out for him - comfortable-looking blue jeans and a blue button-down shirt that, he noticed wryly, once again matched the colour of his tattoos. His boots, which had been grimy and scuffed following the attack just the night before, were clean and presentable. He smiled and reached for the clean clothes gratefully. "Wow - they even got the size right."

He had just finished brushing his hair free of knots when a knock sounded at his door. "Come in!" he yelled, hands flying to braid his still-damp tresses back from his face.

Duo looked up as Wufei walked in, also looking far more relaxed than he'd been in a while. The Chinese man raised an eyebrow at Duo's attire. "I see your room service was as efficient as mine."

The long-haired man grinned. "Yeah. Remind me to leave them a good tip." Wufei was wearing a pair of black jeans that hugged his body nicely, with a red sweater that emphasised his shoulders and athletic form. "Almost seems like they knew we were coming before we did, doesn't it?"

Wufei chuckled and sat down. "Trowa said it - there's apparently little this Lady Relena doesn't know. While it's a bit creepy that she knew what size shorts I wear before she met me, I'm not going to complain."

"Me, neither." Duo tied off the end of his braid, and sat heavily across from his friend. "They'd probably just laugh at us if we did complain. Man, this is completely nuts!"

Wufei nodded his agreement. "I, for one, would love to know where we are. This doesn't look like anyplace I've ever seen before."

Duo nodded, though his eyes took on something of a haunted look. "Wufei... I really am sorry for getting you into this. I never wanted..."

"Don't." Wufei stared at him expressionlessly for a long moment. "If I was still there - if I was alive, at least - I would have forgotten you by now, thanks to Trowa. You're all the family I have, Duo. I don't know what's going on and I can't say I'm too happy about it, but... I'm here. And you're here. Things could be much worse."

"Well said!"

Both men spun as the female voice that had spoken let out a giggle. The woman standing in the doorway was no older than they were, perhaps a bit younger, with bright blue eyes under her short, bluish-black hair. They realised with a jolt that she had to be one of the hooded woman from the Grove - she still wore her grey cloak, but with the hood thrown back. Somehow, she seemed much less forbidding now, wearing a smile.

She gave them a small bow. "My name is Hilde. Lady Relena requested that I bring you for the evening salutations and meal. Would you care to follow me?"

Duo shook off his shock at her youth, and scrambled to his feet. "Pleased to meet you - my name is Duo Maxwell..."

She laughed again. "Everyone here knows who you are, and yet we don't know who you are yet, my Lord. But you are welcome here. And you, too, Mr. Chang. We are all very curious about the both of you, to be honest."

The two men followed her out the door, sharing a look of surprise. This one wasn't at all like the other woman - the Morrigan, as she'd been named. Which reminded them...

Wufei asked, "I'm sorry - you said your name is Hilde? Are you somehow related to the other woman - the Morrigan?"

She stopped and sighed, but turned to face them with a steady look in her eyes. "She is my blood sister and one of the other two who share my soul, yes. There are three of us, and we are called the Aspects."

"Aspects?" Duo asked.

Hilde nodded and turned to continue walking. "We are her Ladyship's personal guards and priestesses, the triple aspects of the War Goddess. You will meet our third at the Salutations. Come along."

They had no choice but to follow.

The sunlight was already waning by the time they made it out of the House, and both men were disorientated by it. By Wufei's calculation, it should only have been just past mid-day... It only brought it closer to home that they were in an alien place and time.

Hilde pulled up her hood and went silent as they joined a gathering crowd of people - a crowd which parted down the centre to allow them to pass as they approached. Duo felt eyes on him and fought to remain calm. His tattoos, though hidden as Quatre had taught him, were tingling on his skin. Greedily, he sought out Trowa, Quatre and Heero from the crowd - they stood at the Lady's side, waiting for him.

Relena beckoned Duo to her side - she now also wore a cloak, though hers was the deepest blue, as if to match the night sky behind its field of stars. She stood at the centre of a small, wooden bridge over a frolicking stream - Duo recognised it was part of the pathway from the Grove they'd seen earlier that day. At her signal, Trowa stepped forward to her other side. He was now clad in green from head to toe, and carrying a staff made of some pale wood, liberally carved, though Duo did not have the time to examine it close enough to see what had been carved there. He pulled a pouch from one of his many pockets and, whispering something over it, emptied it into the water.

Duo once again felt the Druid's lilting voice running in his mind, though he did not understand the words - he closed his eyes and allowed the words to flow over and through him, like the water under the bridge. Relena's voice joined with Trowa's, and he sucked in a deep breath. It was...

A benediction. A plea for protection. A salutation to...

"Bila," he whispered, hearing the name in his mind. The opposite of the caring, beneficent force he'd touched for that brief moment that morning, back where he'd come from. "Protect us from the evil of the night." Several of the watchers gasped in surprise.

At his side, he felt Relena's approving smile.

Sunlight flared on the water as the sun began to sink into the hills beyond the groves surrounding Relena's House.

Heero materialized at his side and gave him a small bow. "My lord."

Duo raised an eyebrow. "Did I do something wrong, Heero?"

The man smiled ever so slightly. "Not at all. Did Maeva tell you the purpose of our ceremony?"

"Who?"

Heero grunted. "Hilde, then. Your guide."

"Hilde? No - I just... I heard them in my head, and it made sense." Duo shrugged. "I'm sorry if I disturbed a ritual, or something..."

"No, you made it more meaningful, though," Relena said, taking his arm. "You present quite a puzzle, Duo Maxwell, but one I hope we will be able to solve, perhaps even tonight. But for now..." She drew him with her back down the path. "How about some dinner?"

"Will Quatre and Trowa be there? And Wufei?" Duo asked, seeing them talking with Wufei.

Heero nodded. "Of course. With your leave, Trowa will tell the story of how he 'found' you to the whole company. It has been a long time since he had such a good, new tale to spin."

Duo looked over at the half-blood and found the man was giving him a reserved, little smile - he smiled back. "Sounds good. Lead on!"

Relena and Heero lead him back to the House, and the beginnings of a small party waiting for them inside.

TBC...

 

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