Takeo - Welcome to chapter three of Etherian Knights!
Duo - Warnings, none. I so love being the Prince of Darkness!

Chapter Three : The Innocent.

Nataku darted out of the sky and into a pool of water. In it, a boy floated, barely breathing. Alarmed, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him to the surface. She smiled kindly as the boy began to cough up the water lounged in his chest. Almond shaped eyes opened revealing obsidian depths plagued with fear and pain.

"It's all right my child, you are safe." Nataku said as she brushed long silk locks away from the beautiful face. She would have sworn that this being was a girl, but by the clothes, and a closer inspection of the being, she corrected her analysis. The boy got up and looked at the stranger with something akin to anger in his eyes.

"Did you kill my wife?" he asked as he pulled out a sword, light from an unseen socre reflecting into Nataku's eyes. Nataku stood.

"I guess you can hold me responsible. Your wife Merian, she believed that she was me. Her family has come in contact with the Etherians, from eras ago. I believe that her descendant, Yoshi, had been watching the ongoing war between the Angelus and Daemons." Nataku said, her face calm as she faced the angry boy. He lowered his sword, pain in his eyes.

"She would never let me look at the book. She said that evil possessed that book. What was in it? I would like to know." The boy said. Nataku smiled. This boy did not want to harm her, his gentleness and kindness shone through despite his tough exterior.

"I will tell you all in due time. What is your name?" Nataku asked as she gestured for the boy to sit.

"My name is Chnag WuFei." WuFei said as he bowed to the fairy. Nataku smiled.

"I am Nataku, the manifestation of justice. WuFei. I can not stay here too long. I was connected with Merian because she possessed the book that keeps me alive. She was the only one who saw me, and to make a long story short, Shingami, a daemon, the Prince of Darkness was reborn because the colonies, are the five rings of power that were needed for him to be reborn, along with his generals. Merian possessed the book that held the key to Shingami's imprisonment.

But apparently, Yoshi's book also contained a prophecy written by Shingami, and it has come to pass. The Angelus' have spent centuries trying to kill him, but, " you cannot kill death," as Shingami has said in the past, and so far, he's been right. Merian might have left the key to Shingami's destruction somewhere in your memory since you were closest to her as she read the book. I have to go, since I can no longer exist once the book is gone. I feel Merian's need to protect you, and I can not. I have failed you both." Nataku said as a crystal tear slid down her cheek.

"You haven't failed us. I don't know a lot about you, but please, I will be fine on my own Nataku-sama. Your presence comforts me. I did not love Merian, but I cared for her. If you must leave, tell her that for me." WuFei said as he hugged the fairy. Nataku nodded.

"Please, be careful." Nataku said as she started fading, tears shimmering.

"Before you leave, are all the angelus and daemons awakened?" WuFei asked.

"Yes, I believe so. The head angel, his name is Levis, or you can call him Silentum. WuFei, if you are looking for a way to end this, I feel that you will, and somehow, I'll find a way to be at your side. I know you can do it. I'm entrusting the pursuit of justice to you. You are innocent and pure, your conscience is neutral, so you can be the only one who can safely decide who will be the one to blame for this new war. I am sure that the Arch of Angelus already distrust me since I have always been neutral. Watch out for them." Nataku said. She placed a kiss on WuFei's forehead and disappeared in a shimmer of starlight. WuFei looked around. The lake had vanished; he was back on L5 in his room.

"Merian, I will do what you and Nataku have given me to do, but please, I do not want to fight." WuFei whispered as he bowed his head. He got up and packed a few of his possessions. WuFei bowed his head and almost fell over as something slammed against the colony. He ran outside, back pack thrown over his shoulder. People were running in one direction, murmuring worriedly, absolute calm on their faces.

" WuFei, come over here." A man's voice shouted. WuFei looked up and his eyes narrowed. It was the doctor that was training him to use a gundam. All around me I am forced to fight, why Nataku? WuFei silenced his thoughts and doubts and put on his mask of confidence as he ran towards the doctor. The doctor smiled as he led WuFei into the bowels of L5. Everyone on the colony was gathered there as the doctor led WuFei before them and the leaders of the clan.

"Master Long." WuFei said with a bow to the leader of the colony and his clan. The old man smiled.

" WuFei, you are our last hope. Unlike the other colonies, we are very aware of what is happening to us. We are under attack by Daemons from Earth. The Earth has not sent them; we are sur eof this. But the Earth is in peril as well. Since we were forced to leave the Earth, we are connected to both the Earth and space. I believe that since you are the last of our clan, you should fight this evil with your honor. We present this gundam, the Shenlong as a gift of our appreciation for your effort. We are going to blow up this colony, we do not want those daemons to have the pleasure of killing us." Master Long said with a grave nod. WuFei nodded. He would do this if it meant this much to them.

"Remember what I have taught you Chang." The doctor said.

"Thank you everyone. But I still say that what you are doing is wrong. I am no fighter." WuFei said as he got into the gundam. He bowed his head as the hatch closed, sealing him away from everyone else.

" Lord Shingami, the people of the colony have sent something straight for us." Verrere said as her elegant eyebrows arched up, black wings against space. Shingami watched the approaching force.

"That's a gundam! You mean that all five doctors survived the plague that those damned angelus' sent us?" Shingami asked. His violet orbs watched in excitement as the gundam stood tall, the sun's distant rays shinning off its body.

Master Long bowed his head as he pushed the button.

"Master, the colony, it's exploding!" Crudelis said with a gleam in his eyes. Shingami shook his head.

"They have done the right thing. Someone must have known that Merian was there. They know!" Shingami said with a shriek as the explosion blasted all through six daemons, the heat a welcome rush. The gundam had seemed to shed silent tears and had blasted off straight to the Earth.

"Master, I believe that, we should go to Earth now with the gundams. Silentum must be there as well." Illusio said with a frown.

"Very well." Shingami said as he spread his wings. He and his generals followed suite, calling up shields as they plunged straight through the Earth's atmosphere to the vicinity of the gundam's descent.

Silentum's eyes shot open as he felt two massive forces collide into the Earth somewhere.

"Heero, two forces have just crashed into Asia, a distant between them. They have arrived. All five gundams are on Earth, and the L5 colony was just destroyed. The Dragon clan is no more, neither is Merian nor Nataku." Lady Une reported as she scanned the computer that Sally had helped her create. Treize stood up.

"We do not know how Nataku died?" he asked of Lady Une, who shook her head, taking off her glasses. Relena gazed out the window of the café that all five angels were sitting in, their secret identities hidden.

"Heero, I believe that Nataku is at peace." She said as she shut blue eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks. Heero patted her hand from across the table.

"Nataku has never does anything without a reason." He replied.

"If you ask me, I think that we, that is, angels and demons alike are in some serious trouble. The remaining gundams that landed, apart from yours Heero, we do not know which sides that they're on." Sally said with a shake of her braided locks.

"Then, we must head at once to Asia, using our own means and track those daemons down. We can't let them destroy another colony." Heero said as he stood. All nodded and it was agreed, Heero used his gundam, Treize and Une their private aircraft, Relena, her father's craft and Sally, a medical plane.

WuFei got out of his gundam, his lithe form swinging dangerously about as the cable lowered him to the ground. He had landed in a very grassy area and had used a camouflage net to hide Shenlong. He looked at his map for the nearest town and sighed. For a brief moment, his eyes welled with tears. He went off into the forest and built three mounds and decorated them with flowers.

"Merian, you will always be my like my sister, my colony, I will never forget your sacrifice, and Nataku, please, become the soul of my gundam. It is a gift from you all and, yet I wish not to fight, but for you all, I will give my life." WuFei said with bows to them. He took off his white shirt and pants and slipped on a pair of jeans and a jacket. He tied his long hair in a ponytail and looked all around him before he began making his way through the woods. A minute later, mininature crashes echoed in the woods. The six daemons had landed,their leader Shingami frowning.

"All of you, go and get some rest. I will look for the pilot of the gundam." Shingami said as he dismissed his generals with a wave of his hand. They nodded.

"Master?" Deceptus asked as he took off his mask. Shingami nodded again. The other daemons departed, leaving Deceptus with Shingami.

"What have you to ask of me?" Shingami asked in a light tone.

"You look very worried." Deceptus said asked as he placed comforting hands on Shingami's shoulders. Shingami looked up, something sparkling n his eyes.

"Dece-kun, I can feel it, this war, it's different. I know it will be bigger and things will change." Shingami said with a smile in his face. I can feel it; the presence is so strong…

"Hai, my Lord. Then I will let you continue your search, but please do not strain yourself. We need you to lead us." Deceptus said with a light hearted grin.

"Sure. You can't kill death." Shingami said with a laugh as he took to the sky, braid swishing behind him.

"You know something, and you won't tell us, but we shall still wait." Deceptus said as he too departed.

WuFei smiled thankfully as a man in a truck offered to give him a lift into town. For once in that turbulent day, WuFei shut his eyes in a light sleep that alleviated some of his pain from his heart.

End of chapter three.

Takeo - Finally, the party can start.
WuFei - Party? Are you crazed?!