Deep in the winter
Amidst falling snow
High in the air Where the bells they all toll
And now all around me I feel you still here
-Lyrics to 'The Never-Ending Road' performed by Loreena McKennitt
Elements of Great Design Part 44
"Dear Creator," Heero breathed, wide-eyed as he stared ahead at the dozens of violet beams bouncing and reflecting off of the many ice caps that were laid out before him and Trowa. While the compass had helped for a couple of twists and turns leading up to the bend where they were currently standing, now they had a maze of possible directions to go.
And still Mariemaia's forces were slipping through the initial defense of dragons and the remainder of the Alliance that had stayed behind to hold off as many of their enemies as they could.
Spinning his staff overhead, Barton brought it to a sudden stop, its sharp-tipped end pointed at the string of demons approaching and sent off a curved, physical blade of air that literally sliced them in two at their middles. "I am going to have to rely on my instincts to feel the pull of my stone," he informed his 'brother' as he turned to face him. "Otherwise, this will be more difficult than searching for a needle in a haystack."
Yuy thought it a proper comparison, given the tall and jagged ice structures around that were every bit like giant strands of hay. Nodding firmly, he tightened his hand around the hilt of his sword and said, "Alright. Lead the way."
At that, Trowa turned in to face what remained before them. Closing his emerald eyes, he quieted his mind to simply feel the tingling, warm sensation that had only grown in him since the Alliance had begun their search for the Air Stone. Within seconds, he had a definite path to take. He opened his eyes again with a surprised gasp and called, "This way!"
Fast as he could have traveled thanks to his powers, the Dragoon was not about to risk sailing into uncharted territory with who knew what potential dangers waiting. And so, erring on the side of caution, he ran as fast as his human form would allow with the Fighter right behind as an explosion filled the air several miles behind them, beyond the rises that they had passed long ago...
Though the crash would have had anyone else trembling in its wake, the two warriors took comfort in knowing that it was their teammates holding back Chaos' creation. So long as those blasts continued, there was relief in the realization that the others were holding on and doing their part.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"That damned thing just doesn't want to come down," Anna hissed through her teeth, nooking a fresh arrow of flame and taking aim at the sparking nozzle. Like every other time, her effort fell just short of its mark when an ice blue beam fired forth to intercept it. The brilliant burst that came from the impact lingered along with the crash that had the redhead's' eardrums popping from the intensity.
Shifting into a fireball before the dark clouds dispersed, Chang darted back behind one of the glaciers to reunite with Duo, Quatre and Wufei. "Are we still onto Heero and Trowa?" she panted when she materialized.
Grunting in response, the black wolf that had rushed to her side pointed with his long muzzle to the gap in the rises before them. Gently running a hand through his furry head, the Fire Keeper smirked, "Good work, love. Just keep us on their scent so that we stay close enough to rush in and help if they need us."
Quatre raised his ducked head to watch the contraption flying a few feet away from them scan the grounds for its targets. "So long as we keep that Air Blaster from realizing that two of us are missing, we should be able to keep it from ever searching for the others," he commented in all but a whisper while easily falling into the name that he and his comrades had come up with for their great opponent. "The longer they have to search for the Air Stone, the better their chance of reaching it without too much resistance."
Wiping away the beads of sweat that dampened his brow, Duo muttered under his breath, "Let's keep our fingers crossed. That thing seems to only be getting smarter the longer we have to deal with it."
As though to personally prove that point, the so nicknamed Air Blaster turned its lower sphere to bring its bottom half with the nozzle in the direction that its enemies must have taken refuge. The eye glowed and shot a long beam for a direct hit to the jagged ice rise just behind the huddled Alliance before they had time to realize the strike was coming.
Surprised cries and howls escaping the group as they found themselves suddenly in the wake of a massive avalanche of sharp, glass-like shards, the team broke off to charge in opposite directions for new cover.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Using only his instincts, Trowa continued to lead Heero through the maze of a land in the skies. Every step he took, the feeling that he followed only grew and so did his certainty that he knew exactly where they needed to go. All the while, Mariemaia's lone surviving soldiers would try to catch them by surprise by coming from nowhere without warning only to be cut down by Yuy.
The sound of the last explosion from the Air Blaster was loud enough to vibrate the air around the Keeper and the Fighter. taken aback by the force, the pair froze in their tracks and spun around, their eyes enlarged in fright. "That... was pretty close," Heero murmured in such a way that it was as if he was unconsciously worried that Chaos' machine would pick up his voice.
"A little too close for comfort," Barton agreed just as softly. Raising his right hand, he called forth his gift to bring a strong gust of wind that pushed away at the snow on the ice behind them to cover their footprints. He faced the soldier and stated, "Best to be safe than sorry." Not about to argue that logic, Yuy ran after the Dragoon to resume their hunt.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Growling lowly under his breath, Quatre glared heatedly up at the Air Blaster from the small cave that he had taken refuge in. At the last of his patience, he pushed himself up from the cold ground from which he had lain on his stomach and got to his feet. Feeling the intense energy from the Water Stone at his hip, he slowly stalked out into the open while the 'eye' was turned away from him.
The corner of his lip curling up in a menacing smirk, the White Mage conjured up both his elemental gifts as well as his light magic to create a pulsating within himself that grew rapidly. Finding the courage that he never knew could come from him up to that moment, Winner opened his gritting teeth and shouted up at the cause of his ire, "Hey!"
"Hey!" another voice cried at the very same moment. But it had come too late for Quatre to stop the tidal wave that he unleashed seconds before the nozzle spun to face him. Hearing the unexpected outburst, the Air Buster looked away from the first attack to take in the second in the form of a charging wall of fire. Both incredibly high surges closed in fast on the device from opposite sides of the battlefield.
At the last possible moment, the weapon's spheres revolved so rapidly that they steamed to carry itself in an invisible streak straight up for miles to narrowly miss being taken out by the dangers that collided violently. Because of the addition of the white magic and the Water stone, the wave crashed through the otherwise impressive seal of flames and continued to pushed on its course.
Standing on the other side, Anna's widened eyes eased with the frustrated sigh that escaped her. Arms sagging heavily at her sides as she took in the water coming straight for her and knowing that there was no escaping its hit, she groaned, "Oh... no..."
The words left her just before the impact that nearly knocked her from her feet. Were she not a Keeper, herself, she would have easily been killed. Instead, when the powerful wave passed, the archer stood in the exact came spot with the same frustrated stance and expression as every inch of her dropped thick drops.
Beside himself, Quatre ran across the field in a frantic rush to his 'sister.' Duo and Wufei hurried into the scene to join the White Mage as he cried, "Anna! Anna, I am so sorry! Are you alright?" Sliding to a halt with the others before the redhead, he gasped and paled at the drenched and displeased state. Well aware of how much the thief hated getting wet, the White Mage frowned deeply, "Words... cannot express how sorry-"
Anna cut him off at a sharp raise of her hand, the expression on her face unchanged as she reassured flatly, "No need for apologies, Quat. I stepped out with just as little warning."
Raising the temperature of her body considerably, the water evaporated from her skin and hair in a plume of white vapor that rose and faded from sight until she was bone dry once more. Unable to help himself, Wufei rumbled with a deep chuckle as he closed the distance between himself and his mate to rub against her side in relief.
Completely losing his own resolve at the wolf's snickering, Duo gave into the laughter that he had been holding back. To the half-hearted glare that the Fire Keeper gave him, he pointed at her and managed between his fits, "You... should have... seen yourself! You... looked like... a drowned rat!" Unlocking the hard bite on his bottom lip, Winner's concern melted away as he, too, broke into uncontrollable hysterics.
Rolling her eyes, Chang did her best to appear angry at the lot, but a few giggles and the hint of a smile gave away to her amusement. "Yea, yea, yea," she smirked, "laugh it up, boys." When she raised her head, she froze with a sharp gasp and the brief break in the tension that had mounted was over as quickly as it had come on as the rest of the team followed her widened gaze.
Over a mile above them, the Air Buster hovered silently. How long it had actually been since the device's return did not matter... it was that its 'eye' was watching them with keen interest before it scanned the land around them that did. Two key players were missing from the Alliance. And now Chaos' machine was perfectly aware of that...
...just as it knew where the Air Stone was... and thus where its remaining targets were heading.
When the Air Buster made a sharp turn to face the south-west Duo glared and snapped under his breath, "Damn it." Working to quickly remedy their mistake, he swiped at the air and sent a powerful blast of black magic in hundreds of streaked tentacles meant to grip the contraption and bring it down.
Those finger-like stretches were milliseconds from capturing their intended target that seemingly vanished into thin air as it flew off.
Calling off his gift, the Black Mage hissed, "I knew that thing was smarter than it seemed."
"And now it's onto Heero and Trowa!" Quatre cried.
Unclenching her fists at her sides, Anna hissed, "Well, we'll just have to beat it to them." At that, her whole body ignited until she was a massive fireball. Darting ahead of the lot, she caught Wufei up so that he would be protected in her care from the flames and they faded from sight beyond the ice rises.
His aquamarine eyes meeting Duo's gaze, Winner urged, "Hang on." Such was all the warning that the son of Shinigami had before his 'brother' seemingly melted into a surge of water that swept him off his feet to carry him across the frozen land as quickly as any natural wave. The startled shout that he made from the abrupt feeling of being swept away shifted quickly into an excited laugh as Maxwell cheered, "Awesome!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"We have to be getting close," Heero mused aloud as he pulled his blade from the thick ogre neck that he had nearly severed. It was the last of a long string of soldiers that he and the Dragoon had encountered after a series of dizzying bends and twists through the frozen world around them.
Only this time, the encounters with the Mariemaia forces came on the warriors' terms as opposed to having their foes clamoring after them. Any Fighter worth his salt would know that to be a defensive strategy to defend whatever it was they wished to protect. And high up in the air as they were, there was only one thing that would have been of the beasts' interest to secure.
Turning the last corner that had been blocked to them, Yuy and Barton came to a grinding stop at the sight that awaited them.
Breaths hitching in their throats and eyes widening, the pair gazed on the familiar sight of a glowing abstract of a man streaked across the top of an impressive 'mountain' of rock and ice. And at the foot of the structure bearing the Elder's remains was none other than the Air Stone suspended above its shimmering, ornate pedestal of glass.
It took a moment for the Air Keeper to remember to breathe as he remained frozen with the familiar awe at being so close to his personalized weapon. Unlike the vibrant perch beneath it, the large, emerald-cut stone was black and void of any sign of life.
Swallowing roughly, Trowa took a step forward only to narrowly miss having his leg cut off by a powerful, focused laser beam that sliced a perfect line in the ground where his foot was about to settle.
Their heads up, the young warriors watched in shock as Chaos' creation soared into view. "No. Not now," the Dragoon growled deeply under his breath. Raising his hands to have them form the shape of a pyramid high over his head, a cyclone flew through the center to make a straight flight for the devise.
Like so many other failed attempts before, that strike was no different. As though to taunt the Keeper, the Air Buster moved at the last second to safety.
Never before had Heero felt as helpless as he did in that moment, being well out of range to be of any real help in bringing their obstacle down and not being gifted with some ability that he could use that might make a difference.
Knowing that Trowa would have his hands full enough in trying to hold off their challenger while trying to rush for his Elemental Stone which only he could touch, there was little that the soldier could do but stay huddled behind his friend and mutter under his breath, "Come on, guys. Where are you?"
A few more shots were fired by the Air Buster which Barton had bounce off a shield of air that he created. Then, the 'eye' of the machine sparked more intensely than it ever had before in preparation to deliver a devastating blow.
Emerald eyes wide, the Dragoon swallowed roughly and urged the teenager behind him, "Get ready to run. I don't know how much good that is going to do, but we cannot just stand here and hope that I am strong enough to hold that next blast off."
This was very likely the end. Yuy knew that. After experiencing a very near brush with death once that day already, it appeared as though he was about to have another as he stared in horror through the nearly blinding light aimed for him and the Keeper.
"Over here!" a familiar voice echoed off the ice sculptures around, the loud shout of it startling the pair in the opening. The sound of grinding motors and gears rose from the contraption and it turned to find a certain braided Black Mage standing far to its left.
Before either Heero or Trowa could react, the device's nozzle zooming in on the unwanted quest, it sent off a blast that shot through the glass reflection that it had thought to be the son of Shinigami. Ice rained down in piercing shards that rang out brightly in their hail.
His heart in his throat, the Fighter slammed a hand over his chest and caught his breath after the scare of seeing his lover so exposed to their threat. Just as the Air Buster had been fooled, everything had happened so fast that he, too, had believed that he was about to witness Maxwell's end.
Instead, the hooded Mage stepped out of his hiding place at the opposite end of the ice rise that had born his likeness. "Looks like you're not exactly as smart as we are," he smirked to himself. Raising his scythe, he cast a black torrent of smoke.
Just as the machine was about to fly off in its dodge of the attack, a rally of burning arrows rained upward at it along with long daggers of ice that it had to dance through.
Throughout its maneuvering, a few hits were taken and the Air Buster frantically spun its nozzle around to find dozens of reflections of its targets in the ice peaks. Humming and wheezing in its desperation, its spheres rattled with energy every time it took a blow.
"Better get a move on, Trowa!" Anna called as she ran between the returned fire to change the position of her reflections. "I don't think that we're going to have the upper hand here for long!" Spinning on her heels as she came to a sliding stop, she nooked another arrow that she set ablaze and released it.
If a machine were capable of appearing frustrated, it was the Air Buster in how it scanned around for its actual intended marks. Finally, unable to come to a clear picture of where the Alliance was, it simply went on a rampage of explosive strikes that took out pillar after pillar of ice.
Suddenly underneath the fallout of those shards and beams, Trowa did not have enough time to bring up a shield to protect his charge when a streak of black fur leapt out of the oblivion to knock the stunned Fighter off his feet to roll away from the potential harm.
Nicked and bleeding in a few places from the glass-like fragments that he had encountered in his daring charge, Wufei planted his four paws into the snow beneath him when he and Yuy ended their glide along the 'ground'. Back arched and fangs bared, the Keeper ignored his wounds and glared heatedly at the Air Buster while making it clear that he would remain the other boy's guardian by staying close.
The sight of the blood running down his friend's long, black legs was enough to snap Trowa out of his surprised stupor. That those thick runoffs of crimson belonged to her lover gave Anna pause with a sharp gasp while her enlarged eyes took in the gut wrenching sight. Meeting the Dragoon's gaze, she glared at him and bellowed, "Go, Barton, or I'll start taking aim at you if that's what it takes!"
Having all the motivation that he needed, the Air Keeper focused onto his weapon and shot forth with all of the speed of his gift pushing him forward even as Chaos' creation fired upon him. Quatre perfectly blocked a couple of close beams thanks to sheets of water that absorbed the hits. Another series of attempts were sucked into black holes courtesy of Duo's ability and those left behind were intercepted by blazing arrows.
Any beams fortunate enough to get through the Alliance's defenses were nowhere near close enough to the nearly invisible Dragoon.
When he felt himself reaching the extent of what he thought he was able to reach for speed, Trowa went for more to reach his prize. Paying no mind to the noises or sights around him, he remained trained on the emerald stone just within in his reach. At long last, with the upper back half of his uniform being ripped open by one very lucky near shot, Barton's hands wrapped around the sides of the Air Stone.
Once his outstretched fingers wrapped around the blackened rock, it came to life with a brilliant light that burst forth to consume it until it returned to its opaque form through which streaks of purples, silver and white swirled inside.
Gripping the base of the stone with both hands, the Dragoon spun and raised it overhead at a tilt directed at the Air Buster. At the brilliant shimmer that returned to his weapon, the machine came to an abrupt stop in both its flight and its firing as though it had come up against a barrier that had contained it at all corners.
A low growl escaping him as he thought out his assault, Barton watched as the air around the contraption closed in fast and tight to have the metal compress within itself. Sparks and piercing screeches from the warp of the steel were joined by the shattering glass of the spheres as the Air Buster was crumbled into a tight ball that soon became little more than tiny particles carried away on the breeze by the time the Air Keeper was finished.
Sprawled out and panting heavily from wherever they stood or lay across the battlefield, the rest of the Alliance stared up in wide-eyed awe at the demise of their nemesis. When the last bits of dust cleared away, so did the glistening particles of the Elder's abstract that had been painted against the highest pillar of ice. Those golden sparks swirled down to dance around a very fatigued Barton and his Elemental Stone before they rose up into the colorful heavens of sunset and beyond sight.
Laughing, Quatre sat up from the ground and let out a loud cheer as the first to break the silence and his 'brothers' soon followed suit. The black wolf of the pack lowered his head to lick at his bloodied right paw when Anna came sliding before him, breathing, "Wufei."
Hard as she tried to not allow her emotions to get the better of her, the Fire Keeper bit her lip against the sting of tears when she appraised the many cuts and gashes poking through the black fur that had been cut away. Body trembling, she carefully wrapped her arms around the beast's thick upper body as he sat on his back hindquarters for her. A soft, reassuring chuckle curled up from Chang's chest and he leaned heavily against his bride, closing his onyx eyes.
"I'll take care of this," Winner offered gently as he rested a hand on the thief's shoulder. Moving back just enough to give the White Mage room to work, Anna watched the glow of his hands in how they patched up every wound they touched without so much as a hint of pain in the wolf's onyx eyes.
Trowa beamed down at his weapon, watching as it shrank into the palm of his right hand at the same time that its pillar faded away. "Good to have you back," he greeted softly. Securing the stone in the small purse that he had at his hip, he lightly patted it. He reveled so much in his find that he did not know that his lover had snuck up behind him until the warmth of Quatre's magic ran down his back to close up the long, deep slash that ran down between his shoulder blades to end at his lower back.
At the end of the long embrace that they had shared, Heero and Duo were joined by the rest of the team as they all took in the breathtaking view of the glistening pillars still standing to take on the array of shades from the sunset.
Raising a hand, Winner smirked as the aid of his Water Stone brought forth swirls of liquid that Trowa froze with the air until every ice sculpture was rejuvenated as though nothing had ever happened to disrupt the hidden land.
Overwhelmed by both the beauty of his surroundings and the tight bond that he had with the warriors standing by as they had since the beginning of time, Yuy felt a small knot tighten in his throat. Clearing it away, he smiled to his 'family', "Two Elemental Stones down... two to go."
Their lips curling in smiles, the Alliance stared out to the north where the darkness that blackened the sky continued to wait for them.
TBC...
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