The land runs out to the sea -It's a narrow neck of land -
Where weird and grim the Standing Stones
In a circle where they stand
-Lyrics to 'Standing Stones' performed by Loreena McKennitt
Elements of Great Design Part 32
Heero reached into the satchel at his hip to grip the sphere inside before he even knew that he had commanded the movement of his hand. Such was the instinct of a Fighter when they were aware that there was danger. As his glistening armor wrapped around him, he removed his thick blade at the same time that his friends took hold of their own weapons.
Just behind him, Duo swung his scythe upward so that its dipped metal hovered over his braided head like a gleaming halo. From his onyx sheath, Wufei revealed his Carver knife while Anna nooked an arrow to her bow string. Already in his full Dragoon armor, Trowa's staff was held in a tight fist and Quatre balanced his twin, curved blades in either of his hands.
As Howard rose, the very air around them and the rocks at their feet trembled in the wake of a rising roar. At first, the sound grew so loud and so quickly that it was nearly impossible to believe that it was caused by voices raised in roars, snarls and howls... but when the clamor became almost deafening, there was no question.
With the extension of the Elder's right hand, a mist appeared in the shape of a protective dome around the Alliance seconds before the hoard of hundreds strong befalling them charged up into view.
"Get your bearings!" the old man shouted over the noise. "This shield will not last as I need to harness as much of my power for offensive strikes as possible!"
Well prepared to take on their surrounding enemies, the worldly entities gave firm nods that they all understood. And that came not a moment too soon as the dome took a few dozen blade strikes with the arrival of the demonic army.
Their red eyes burning with madness and their foaming mouths leaving smears of vapor and saliva on the 'glass,' the beasts used everything at their disposal from their weapons to the claws on their hands to break through in a crazed frenzy.
Swallowing roughly, Heero took an unconscious step closer to Duo's side. This being the first time that the Fighter had come to face-to-face with the horrific beasts on the other side of the veil, he felt his first real shiver of fear run down his spine as he gripped the hilt of his lifted blade in both hands and shifted his feet to plant them more steadily into the loose rocks beneath him.
Equally taken aback by the ferocity of the dark force that was coming down on them, the Black Mage took up the last space between them so that their shoulders could touch.
"Oh, it's only a couple hundred monsters. Nothing we can't handle, right, 'Ro?" Maxwell attempted to comment in a jest, but his snickered words revealed his nerves. Unable to trust his own voice, the Romefeller native nodded shallowly as he continued to stare at the demons directly ahead of them.
Quatre muttered under his breath to his lover, "Thank the Creator I've had time to work on my hand-to-hand combat with you and Duo." To the snapping jaws only inches before him, he fought his body's urge to shake and held onto his resolve. Beyond the screen of his alertness, he took hold of both his white magic and his aquatic powers.
Gently touching the blonde Keeper's arm with his free hand, Trowa urged softly, "Just try and stay close to me, dear one. I'll make sure that none of them get close to you."
Snorting indignantly, Winner's pride kicked in and he flashed the Dragoon a warning glare. "Maybe you will be the one in need of my protection," he smirked darkly. "I promise that I will not be an easy target for them by any means."
Barton snickered in his satisfaction that his sentiment had the effect he had intended to bring on. Now confident that his soul mate was more than ready to handle the onslaught, he grinned back in kind, "Then I will do my best to stay out of your way." Nodding, the White Mage grunted and focused back on the threat on the other side of the dome.
Having had faced this sort of assault from Mariemaia's soldiers before, Wufei and Anna were especially calm as they glared heatedly without so much as a bead of sweat on their brows.
Bow raised and the first of her arrows pulled back on the string, the redhead already had her intended mark fixed as she told her friends, "Ogres have thick skin, but they are vulnerable under their arms and their necks. Gremlins are fast and can bore their claws into your flesh to remove organs, so cleave them to shreds before they get that close to you. As for the behemoths, avoid their charge at all costs and aim between their eyes for the quickest way to take them out."
She added with a smirk over her shoulder, "Of course, if you'd rather just use your powers to take as many out as possible that works too." That light-hearted comment served to relieve at least a little of the tension as her friends snickered and shook their heads in amusement.
And that was the last reprieve before action needed to be taken against the wild fray awaiting them.
When the situation at hand caught back up, the Earth Keeper took the lead and quickly fell to his knees to slam a fist against the ground at his feet to send a massive earthquake beyond the shield that rocked the monsters from their feet in the wake of the shockwaves. At the opening that provided, Howard raised his hand and cried to the others, "Here we go!" The flick of his wrist called off the dome while the first lines of attackers managed to get back to their feet.
Taking the next strike, Anna set her arrow aflame and spun as she set it free. At its mercy as it soared forward, the projectile became five times its original size as its flames grew. Swooping around in a perfect circle, it set the first couple lines of aggressors ablaze to the bellows and shrieks of their agony in the consumption of their haggard flesh.
Instantly alive at their brother and sister's examples, the rest of the Alliance took hold of their courage and unleashed everything at their disposal. Duo opened his right hand and raised it over his head to send forth an onslaught of dark lightning bolts that shot through the next surge of beasts that pushed aside and trampled their burning comrades. Singed down to their very cores, those wracked creatures collapsed in convulsing heaps.
Still, the rest of Mariemaia's army pushed forth at the risk of whatever it was that might be unleashed upon them next. Several managed to break through the blinding rays of Quatre's white magic, only to be cut down by Heero's blade as the Fighter walked the ring to take on those lucky few. Grunting and crying with every precise stab that he made against his opponents, he danced and spun with the grace of his training in spite of never having taken on such threats.
If there were ever a challenger that Yuy could not get to, Wufei was able to handle them with the combination of his martial arts punches and kicks followed by a nick of his knife that killed the beasts at the cut of their thick skin.
Glaring up to the skies, Quatre called forth thick and dark clouds that blocked the sun and opened up to pour surges of rain upon only the army. Water gathered and rose into waves where it landed to force those in their way over the ledges of the ridge to plunge to their death.
Meanwhile, Trowa leapt from rock-to-rock to flip and hover on the air before coming down with his spear to remove a limb here and a head there. If ever his lover's attempts were unsuccessful in pushing their dangers over the ledges, a strong gust brought on by his gift finished the job.
In dodging the charge of a behemoth, Duo sank the curved blade of his scythe into its hide as it passed. Before there was time for the four-legged demon to feel the bite inflicted, the braided mage's violet eyes glowed and his magic shot through his instrument to claim the life of the giant.
"Say hello to my father," the son of Death sneered as he freed his blade. Automatically spinning to dodge an ogre that attempted to catch him from behind, his eyes continued to glow as one swing of his scythe brought another swift end to one of Mariemaia's puppets.
All around, the sounds of the battle over the roar of the elements being used filled the atmosphere. Blade clanging against steel, screams and groans of effort, everything had become one large noise that was difficult to decipher in the thick of the fight.
Where cracks appeared to swallow the monsters whole, walls of fire on the tail feathers of arrows rose to claim masses of others. Blinding sheets of rain made visibility a difficult luxury for the monsters that were easily lifted into the heavens by the invisible grip of the air that launched them to their demises.
Black and white magic worked together to create an impenetrable collaboration. Every hand-held weapon in the possession of the Alliance came into use to bring down the very close and present challengers that managed to reach them. Bloodied both by the rare hit that got to them as well as the dark remnants of the ghouls that they had claimed, the world entities were just beginning to feel the fatigue creep into their human forms after nearly an hour of endless killing to not be killed.
Sensing their slowed labors, Howard crushed the skull of a prone ogre at his feet with his staff and glared at what still remained of the forces that would never tire in their desire to destroy the Alliance. Both hands wrapping around his rod, he raised it over his head and a brilliant bulb of light appeared at its hooked zenith. That sphere cur through the dimness brought on by the clouds and cascaded a tremor of energy in a ring that pulsated out to the dark army.
That seemingly harmless line of light ripped every beast that it touched, causing them to fall to their knees and drop their weapons with chilling howls of pain as their bodies shook uncontrollably before they completely vanished from the world in the next blink of an eye. From the first lines of offense to the last, the whole of the army including the fallen bodies evaporated from the face of the Epyon Ridge as though they had never existed.
Leaning heavily against nearby rocks or collapsing all together, the spent Alliance panted heavily as Quatre waved his hands to the skies. At his silent command, the sun broke through the clearing clouds that quickly dispersed to reveal a clear day once more. Both exhausted and in disbelief over the swift removal of their enemies, the lot slowly turned to land their wide eyes on the old man in their midst.
His unruly hair even more mussed from the fight, Heero climbed back to his feet and managed between his catching his breath, "How... in the hell... are you... Elders not... the ones to face.... Mariemaia?" Also wondering that very thing, his teammates got their bearings and listened closely to whatever the answer might be.
A sad smile curling his lips, Howard replied, "We have looked to every possible outcome that may come out of the war... we looked to any and all that could rise against the child and her vile uncle. In every scenario, we were shown that if the six of you alone do not take her on alone, the war would be lost. We Elders will still rise and fight where we can. However, the fate of Gaia solely falls on the Alliance."
"No pressure there," Duo snorted, wincing as he brushed back his long bangs to find a bleeding hairline gash along his brow. Wiping away the crimson streak on his hand along his loose, black pants, he frowned, "What we just went up against was only a taste of what that girl could set against us and we hardly managed to hold our own."
The old man took a seat upon one of the flat rocks, reminding kindly, "You will not be alone. Already, there is a considerable start to a rebel force that is holding strong. Their numbers will only grow. They will soon be joined by myself and my fellow Elders to aid in their cause. We will take on the brunt of the child's army to give you a way into her stronghold when you arrive ready with the Elemental Stones."
His head tilting, he smirked, "For this being your first real fight together, I must say that you handled yourselves remarkably. And you will only become stronger from this point on the more experience you have in dealing with Mariemaia's soldiers."
Unable to help but feel reassured by that, the team exchanged glances and shallow nods. Slowly pushing themselves upright, they all moved to have a chance to first reconnect with their respective partners. Exchanging tight embraces and soft kisses that solidified all to be well, they took that comfort in to settle themselves after their intense ordeal.
"Thank you for staying out of my way," Quatre smirked to Trowa before they enveloped each other. Laughing, the Dragoon rained kisses along his lover's face by means of making his praise over how his dear Water had fared known.
One of the more shaken up of the group was Heero... who had never before experienced anything like what he had just endured. In all of his days as a Fighter, nothing could have possibly prepared him for taking on a mass of Abaddon's demons. And it had shaken him to the deepest recesses of his soul.
Killing... it was necessary for his own survival and for the good of Gaia... but it was not as easy a thing to do as Life had thought it would be.
Duo was quick to see his best friend's state despite how strong Yuy appeared to be and quickly closed the distance between them to pull the soldier into a fierce hug. The moment those strong arms wrapped around him, the second he recognized the oddly rejuvenating scent of Death, the Fighter's cobalt eyes misted over and he clung on just as tightly.
"I am so damned proud of you, 'Ro," Maxwell whispered to the ear by his lips. "You did what you had to do. I know that it was hard, but you couldn't have been better back there." Gently pressing a kiss against Life's temple when the other entity trembled, he urged, "Just let all of it go. I'll help get you through this."
A shaky sigh leaving him, Heero nodded against the shoulder that he had buried his face in. Overwhelmingly grateful that his partner was not only still alive but there to be his rock in that brief falter in his strength, he murmured the only words that he believed to be the most appropriate in summing everything that he was feeling. "I love you."
Slowly pulling back just enough to appraise the heart-shaped face watching him, he frowned deeply as he really took in the long gash across the son of Shinigami's brow. Ghosting his fingers along the wound, he wiped away a fresh line of blood as he asked softly in concern, "Are you alright?"
His violet eyes rolling, Duo snorted, "I hardly know it's there. Trust me, I've had way worse than this over the years in this body." Not at all about to doubt that, Yuy lowered his hand and dropped any further display of worry. To his pleasant surprise, the braided youth leaned in to claim his lips in a passionate kiss that he was all too happy to soak in and reciprocate as their eyes drifted closed and their arms held fast to one another again.
When they came back up for the air that they greedily gulped down a blissful eternity later, Maxwell had a warm smile on his face as he pressed their foreheads together. "As for your earlier sentiment," he all but whispered, "I love you, too." Chuckling quietly, Yuy placed their swollen mouths together for a chaste kiss of appreciation.
At the sound of a throat clearing, the pair spun around to see Quatre waving at them with a sheepish smile on his face. "Sorry to interrupt," he commented sincerely. Gesturing to the gash on the Black Mage, he stated, "But I would feel a lot better if I can tend to your wounds now."
Never one to like being fussed over, Duo took his friend's insistence in stride since he knew that he had one of the nastier looking injuries of the team. Taking a seat, he graciously accepted the use of white magic to leave perfectly unblemished skin at its touch. One-by-one, the rest of the Alliance sat before their blonde friend to be treated in kind.
Once everyone was seen to and had their opportunity to assess the rest of their teammates, the 'family' returned to sit in their comfortable ring. Quietly laughing and sharing some of their points of view from the fight, the young warriors complimented everyone's efforts as well as some of the more impressive displays of their powers. All the while, the Elder looked on and listened with a weary smile on his face.
Wufei happened to glance over and paused at how distracted and sad his descendant appeared. "Howard?" he frowned deeply, "You seem troubled. Is something wrong?" All of the little discussions that had been taking place up until then came to an abrupt halt as the other entities focused back on the white-haired host.
"There is still one very serious matter that we need to discuss before you leave," the old White Mage sighed deeply. "And it is something that I have been dreading in my having to share it." Blinking and swallowing roughly, the Alliance remained still and silent in waiting for whatever had their ally so worried.
Rather than try to think up an easy way to announce it, Howard drew a deep breath and informed his audience, "Two nights ago, I had a vision that I wish I had never seen. In it, six brave figures stood tall and true against Mariemaia before their images were blanked by clouds of dust and dirt kicked up from their violent struggle." Biting his lip, he slowly scanned the lot before him as he said in a husky whisper, "When the smoke cleared, only five of those remained and the outcome of the fight was otherwise unclear to me."
Versed in understanding visions thanks to his training in the ways of white magic, Quatre turned rigid with a sharp gasp that rushed into his lungs. "D-Dear Creator," he breathed, wide-eyed and pale as he shivered. "This... this was a decisive vision. A vision that no amount of changes in the universe or choices made by free will between now and then might shift?" he questioned, even though he already had a strong feeling to what the answer would be.
Time... life itself seemed to stop as the rest of the Alliance held their breath. Even the gentle breeze had come to a halt along with any other natural stirring that should have been seen or heard. Hands between the pairs shifted to link on tightly as the clear message that was being sent to them set in.
A single shallow nod was all the immediate response that Howard could make, his gray eyes shimmering. Finally managing to clear his throat, he found his voice enough to say, "Gaia's fate remains uncertain. However, there is no question that one of you will fall... either along the way to challenging Mariemaia or when you actually come face-to-face with her."
Strangled gasps filled the air. Slapping a hand over her mouth to cut off the sob that wracked her, Anna looked through the unshed tears in her eyes as she shook her head to her grandchild. "It cannot be true," she breathed behind her tight fingers. Desperately, she lowered her hand and cried, "It cannot be true!" All around, the couples wrapped their arms tightly around each other as their own eyes watered over while their bodies trembled.
"I wish that I could tell you it was not... more than I have ever wished for anything," the Elder replied softly. "However, there is no doubt to it. For some reason, our Creator showed me that grim reality. Somehow, it is meant to be used as a tool to help you. I do not know in what way that may be, but we all know that He has a reason to all that He does. These things are not for us to understand, only to accept and do what we must to see His will through."
Accept. That was the one word that resonated the most for the team. Accept that they would not all come out of the war together. One of them would be lost... which one did not matter as the death of any of them was an unbearable thought. They were family in every sense of the term regardless of their being a blood bond between them. What they had went far deeper than that anyway.
Howard waved a hand in the air, commenting, "No great achievement comes without great sacrifice. That is one of the hardest truths in life. And we have never been in more need for such acts to be called upon." His lips curling in a small but reassuring smile, he added, "However, I have every hope that there is more to what that vision revealed than what appears on the surface. As clean-cut as it seems, I simply cannot believe that perhaps there is a deeper message in it."
Knowing that there was no possibility of their backing out of the war when so much counted on them, the members of the Alliance dried their eyes and took courage in the old Mage's sentiment. The Creator did work in mysterious ways. Perhaps what he passed on through Howard was a puzzle of sorts for them to work out.
"Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I have no intention of losing anyone here," Duo vowed to his soul mate and their 'siblings'. "Vision or not, I'll find a way to bargain with my father if I must to prevent any soul here from passing through his realm." Warm smiles and deep chuckles spread around the ring at that.
Trowa smirked, "If it even gets that far, Maxwell. I can't imagine everyone here not using everything they have to keep Mariemaia and her forces from harming us." Heads nodded in agreement, seconding the notion.
Relieved that his charges had regained their courage, Howard grinned, "You are going to need each other more than ever now that I fear Mariemaia might have an idea on how to find the Elemental Stones. No one but the wielders of those weapons may touch them and survive, but that does not mean she would not be able to have them guarded... heavily."
Nodding firmly, Heero replied confidently, "We'll take care of anything that gets in our way." More smirks and snickers rose from his friends. Reaching into his pouch to remove the clear compass, he held it up before himself as the sun rays shone through to cast off the multi-colored beams pointing to the stones.
"I think heading back the way we came would be the best call so that we can work our way back north, unless anyone here objects?" the Fighter announced. No one was about to argue the logic as it made the most sense.
That meant they would follow the deep blue beam. Quatre blinked his growing eyes and straightened himself as he stared in anticipation at the brilliant beacon.
Yuy met the White Mage's gaze, smiling, "Then, Water it is."
* * * * * *
Later that day...
Howard embraced his noble ancestors as the last of the Alliance to bid his farewells to while the rest of the Alliance finished readying the horses. "It was an honor meeting you at last. I hope that we will meet again, great, great grand-" he was cut off when the redhead hugging him pulled back in a flash and held up a finger towards the end of his nose.
"Not a mention of the words 'great' or 'grandmother' again," Anna insisted. "I am far too young to be called that." His head falling back, Wufei howled with laughter that was chorused by the Elder's. Lightly slapping the pair of them on the arms, the thief shook her head and sighed.
When the last goodbyes were exchanged, including those between Chang and his 'brothers' before he returned to his cursed form, that left one final parting to be made. Earth turned to his bride as her eyes began to shimmer when they looked upon one another. Biting his lip, the Monk slowly closed the distance between them.
Easily lifting the archer into his arms high enough that she could wrap her legs around his waist and cling to his neck with her arms, Wufei held onto her with all his strength and buried his head in her hair-draped shoulder. "I love you, Anna," he breathed huskily.
"I love you, too, Wufei... so damned much," Fraise whispered back brokenly through her tears. Leaning back, they shared one last, deep kiss as the rest of the Alliance took in the heart-wrenching scene with watery gazes.
Against everything in her, Fire forced herself down to her feet and rested their foreheads together, their eyes never breaking. "I will continue to see you in my dreams until we are back here again," she smiled sadly.
Chang replied in kind, "Just as you have always been in mine." Pressing and holding a kiss against her forehead, he caught her back in his arms in one quick swoop that made her laugh as he carefully set her into ShenLong's saddle.
With a wink up to his wife as she took hold of the reins, Wufei called to the rest of the team. "Right. Let's go." Not wanting to prolong the newlyweds' pain, Heero nodded and gave a soft kick to Wing's flanks to lead the way down the side of the Epyon Ridge while Howard waved them off until they faded from his sight.
Several miles down the long and winding path that led to the world below, five tall shadows of mounted steeds and the smaller shape of a great wolf descended along the sides of the red-and-gold rocks surrounding the Alliance.
TBC...
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