11:11

By: Spooks

~ ~ ~ ~

The road wound into the distance like a lethargic snake, the dimming of the twilight sky drowsy in its mixture of colors. Duo's fingers gripped the steering wheel tightly as he forced his eyes to stay open. Blinking blearily, he felt his head nod slightly. The wheel turned in his hands before he jerked it, stopping the car from wandering off the road and onto the soft shoulder. It was only a matter of minutes before the road and the never-ending blank green scenery was again lulling him into a dreamlike trance. His eyes drooped and the car wandered slightly. He could see a large tree just ahead, its trunk growing ever larger in his field of vision even as he tried to keep his eyes from closing…

Then he noticed the light gray smoke pouring from underneath the hood of the car, the engine light suddenly coming on in a strobe of red.

"Damn it!" Duo's voice rang through the silent car. He was suddenly completely alert, and his cry had managed to wake up all four of his passengers. The American pulled the vehicle over to the side of the road in front of the large tree, squinting in the twilight as he eased onto the gravel of the shoulder.

"Duo?" Quatre asked from the passenger seat. He stretched his back and rubbed his bleary eyes. "What happened?"

"There's smoke coming from under the hood, and the engine light is flashing," the American replied, putting the car into park. "I knew we shouldn't have rented this damn thing. I could have stolen us a better one."

"Then we would have been arrested," Wufei muttered as he piled out of the back of the car, following Heero. The Chinese teen had been sitting in the center of the backseat. Its seatbelt was broken, and they had been rotating who had to ride in the unbelted seat.

"And that would have went over well with Une," Trowa said dryly.

"I told you, if we had only waited a day, I could have convinced Iria to wire me some money and we could have bought a car, but no, you wanted to head out today. Adventure and intrigue and fun spontaneous road trip, huh, Duo?" Quatre added.

"Shush. Okay, so you were right. I was wrong. Such things do happen occasionally," the longhaired teenager replied, opening the car door.

Everyone piled out of the car and gathered around Heero as he carefully lifted the hood. Thick smoke and steam wafted up from the engine casing, causing the boys to cough. A quick survey of the damage told them all they needed to know. The poor car was dead. The water pump had busted, spewing liquid all over the hot engine. With the loss of the circulating coolant, the engine had overheated quickly. It would take a new water pump to fix the vehicle.

"How far back was the last off turnoff, Duo?" Heero asked, letting the hood fall back down with a dull metallic thud.

"Fifteen miles or so," Duo replied. He circled back around the car and leaned in the open window, pulling out a map and a flashlight. In the darkening twilight he studied the tiny squiggles of roads and rivers. "And the nearest one ahead is twelve miles, although there is a small town in a valley just to our north. It's about three or four miles, but it's probably really hard to get to judging by the looks of the terrain. I think we're officially in the middle of nowhere."

Quatre pulled his cell phone out his shirt pocket. "I'll call the rental place."

A few minutes later determined that the rental place was closed and was obviously not concerned about the possibility of renting a genuine wreck to five former terrorists. It was strange, especially since the rental company promised 24-hour roadside assistance. Such things happen, they decided. After a brief discussion, they decided to wait with the car and call again in the morning. Normally they would have started off towards the nearest bit of civilization, but no one really wanted to leave the car behind.

It would have been morning by the time anyone they could have otherwise contacted would have been able to reach them, so they decided to make the best of the situation and have an impromptu campout by the carcass of the car. In the morning, though, they were going to express their extreme displeasure to the rental place. Oh yes.

A few days ago Duo had taken a wild hair and decided he wanted to go on a road trip. He had been watching some old movies and reading some books and articles about life on the road. The idea climbed into his brain and held on for dear life, instilling in the longhaired teenager the intense desire to drive around America to look at weird attractions, like the world's largest toilet, the ten foot tall rubber band ball, and (Viva!) Las Vegas. So after flurrying around the Preventers' office and begging Une for time off for all of them, he had managed to drag the other former pilots along with him for company.

None of the young men would have admitted it out loud, but they were all conspicuously aware that they had been robbed of a normal childhood, and thereby, were deprived of many normal teenage experiences, such as the joy (and pain) of the infamous Road Trip. During the war they had been able to indulge fractionally on the infrequent occasions that two or more of them had met up outside the battlefield. There were those rare times then that they had just been almost like normal boys hanging out, but the threat of death always loomed over them, dampening the scene even as it unfolded. And so they had happily allowed themselves to be convinced.

Little preparation meant more fun in Duo's opinion, and they had left that morning with their beat up (now dead) rent-a-car and bags containing only the lightest luggage and most necessary supplies. So they settled down in the grass beside the road, laying out a few all-purpose travel blankets. After exhausting half of the small supply of food they had packed, the five teenagers just sat there and talked, passing time quickly in the cool air of the windy night.

In the distance, a quiet rumble of thunder pealed, causing the five young men to look up at the sky that had seemed to have grown dark a bit too quickly. A short while ago the wind had picked up in earnest and thick clouds had smothered the stars. It was just a matter of time before it would begin to rain.

"See, Duo, it's Murphy's Law," Wufei said, looking critically up at the black sky. "By not preparing well or buying any sort of portable shelter, it became inevitable that we would breakdown, get stuck at the side of the road, and then rained upon."

"Murphy's Law?" Heero asked, raising one thick eyebrow.

"Yeah, the thing that says if you drop toast it'll always land butter side down," Duo explained. "And well, I think we've all made it clear that we didn't prepare well for this. I thought that was supposed to be the point."

"Hey, what's that?" Quatre asked suddenly, pointing off in the distance towards a flicker of soft light that had just seemed to appear.

"A house?" Trowa guessed.

"Doesn't look too far, maybe they'll let us sleep in their basement or something, out of the rain," Duo suggested.

Heero shrugged, assessing the situation. He didn't particularly want to spend the night soaked and shivering, huddled together with the other guys against the elements. "We could push the car further off the road. It should be fine for the night."

"Great! Let's do it," Duo chirped, hopping to his feet.

"Just wait, I'll bet that house belongs to some psychopathic thrill killer that sharpens spoons in his bathroom for the very intent of scooping flesh out of the bellies of stranded motorists," Wufei muttered darkly as they pushed the car off the shoulder till its front bumper was snug against the tree.

"Ew, Wufei, EW. I guess in that case we'd just have to kick his ass and run away," Duo joked. "Besides, this is the kind of harmless type of adventure people our age are supposed to have. The great thing about us doing this is that we can defend ourselves and still have fun."

"Sure," the Chinese boy just sighed.

A few minutes later they were trekking through tall grass in the direction of the distant windows' light. They carried some of their more vital supplies, including the few valuables they had taken along. They were also well armed, but they left their guns and most of their knives snug in their bags. Old habits die hard, but sometimes can change over time.

The wind was now gusting sharply, and as they tromped through the underbrush they fell silent, each focusing on the task at hand, their eyes straining to focus on their footing with the meager glow of the flashlights. Soon the lit windows of the building were much clearer; the closer they got the more colorful the luminance became. The thunder rolled, much louder and nearer than before. They hurried, getting closer and closer to the colorful beacon.

"Hey, it's a church," Duo realized, faltering for a second. "Damnit."

"Well, maybe there are people in there that can direct us to some shelter. We've come this far, why not go on?" Wufei reasoned, waving his flashlight for emphasis. The beam danced a surreal jig through the darkness of the night.

Heero shrugged and continued onward, making the decision for everyone. The nearer they got to the church, the odder it looked. The peeling white paint of the building was only vaguely visible in the glow of the seemingly random stained glass patterns of colored light that streamed from the windows. There were indistinct shapes peppering the land around the church. Not much was visible in the gloomy night, only the obscure flashes the approaching lightning provided any luminance, and it wasn't enough to clearly see the building and its surrounding land.

As the five hurried closer they heard the rain start to fall, approaching from a distance with a quiet pattering of fat rain drops on soft soil. A moment later the deluge was upon them, causing the group to break into a brisk jog for the church, their flashlight beams weaving dull patterns as they jogged. When they were about a hundred yards from the illuminated building, they had to dodge around jutting tombstones. The church was surrounded by a graveyard.

By the time they reached the church's door, they were soaked and slightly muddy. They paused under the eave of the small protective awning over the entrance. The five soaked teenagers panted softly and looked at each other, experiencing a collective moment of indecision. Deciding to take the initiative, Duo stepped forward, grasped the rusted iron door handle, and pulled. The door didn't budge for a moment, then creaked open about an inch before sticking again. While Quatre took the flashlight from Duo's hand, Heero set his own torch down and helped the American. Both young men grunted with effort as the heavy wooden portal finally sighed and swung open.

Thumbing off their flashlights, they stepped onto the threshold of the church. The Preventers looked warily around before venturing further into the foyer. The walls were bare save some ancient and graffiti-marred murals, and the non-patterned stained glass looked black and lifeless from the inside of the church. As they stepped inside their wet shoes gathered clumps of thick dust and ancient dirt, clearing the dust but leaving and dirty tracks as their shoes also shed mud. It appeared that the building was deserted.

"Why are the lights on? It looks like no one's been here for years," Quatre asked as he handed Duo back his flashlight.

At that exact moment the lights went out, plunging the group into sudden darkness.

"Now look at that, Kat, you jinxed it," Duo muttered, turning his light on and shining it up at the rafters as they wandered into the actual chapel. One by one their lights flickered back on and they fanned out into the room.

The old boards creaked as they tiptoed over them. All the pews had been removed, giving the chapel area a vacant feel. Outside a bolt of lightning struck, shining a brief bit of light in through the multi-colored windows; its subsequent roar of thunder shook the windowpanes even as the strobe faded. Shadows danced around as the teenagers swung their flashlight beams into every dark corner. The altar had been removed from the old church, and there was a dark impression of a cross above the nave, probably the result of light bleaching the peeling paint when a crucifix had graced the wall. Trowa wandered up and looked around the nave area, shining his light up into the arched decorative vaults surrounding the altar area. Above the main entrance, at the back of the church, there was a choir loft.

Suddenly Wufei cleared his throat. "Look up at the lights."

Four beams of light joined Wufei's in illuminating the hanging fixtures. There were no light bulbs in the fixtures.

"There must be hidden sources of light," Heero declared, moving his beam around, focusing particularly on the empty choir loft.

"None that I can see," Duo whispered, suddenly feeling a chill race up and down the curved track of his spine. "That is really weird."

"Yeah," Quatre agreed. "Maybe we should stay in the outer area of the building, back in the narthex. It's a little, ah, too warm and stuffy in this part."

Wordlessly nodding, the group quickly made their way back into the foyer area. No one had really thought the chapel area was warm…it just felt strange. Of course, not one of the boys was going to admit that. It just wasn't kosher for a group of semi-retired soldiers to be scared by a deserted building.

Plopping down on the floor in front of the open doors, the five settled down to watch the storm. The way the lightning danced around the jutting and broken tombstones outside created an interesting tableau that bordered on frightening. The wind gushed coolly into the building, causing the boys to shiver slightly as the moving air collided with their damp skin and clothing.

Finally the storm passed and the wind died down. "What time is it?" Duo asked suddenly.

"Nine," Heero grunted as he checked his watch.

"Do you guys want to stay here for the night?" Quatre asked.

"I don't think anyone around here would mind," Wufei replied dryly, nodding his head towards the graveyard outside.

A loud thump came from the chapel.

"Holy shit!" Duo cried. "Gah, the timing on that was almost scary."

"Almost," Trowa muttered, taking a half step towards the entrance to the chapel.

Tentatively the group bunched together and peered into the main part of the church. Looking around, they could see nothing different from their first survey of the room. Then, right above them, the loud thump came again, causing them to jump.

"Okay. I'm starting to get nervous here," Duo whispered. "That came from the loft. Who volunteers to see what it is?"

"It was your idea, Maxwell," Wufei replied, grinning nervously.

"Oh, that's not fair," Duo protested. "Someone come with me? Please?"

"I'll go with you," Heero offered, rolling his eyes. "Pansy."

"Aw, thanks! I'm a pretty flower!" Duo shot back sarcastically. "And if you're so tough, Mr. Soldier, why don't you go up there alone?"

"Not a chance. Let's go," Heero replied, smirking.

Then a soft sighing sound slipped through the air accompanied by the unmistakable sound of footsteps in the loft above them. As one the former pilots stepped completely back into the narthex, keeping in a coordinated pattern. A few nervous glances and raised eyebrows was all the communication necessary. The creaking footsteps sounded again, thumping softly and stirring a film of dust and flakes of paint from the ceiling. Then…a quiet metallic roll. Someone was in the loft.

"There're the stairs," Duo said as he pulled open a narrow wooden door. He shone his light inside, illuminating a small circular stairwell. Cobwebs lined the tiny passageway, and small spiders scuttled away from the offensive beam of light. "Hello?"

Sighing, Duo plunged into the spiraling narrow stairwell, creeping up and trying to peer around the curving corner of the passage. Heero followed silently, also trying to see around the curved edge. Slowly the pair ascended, their flashlight beams stabbing into the darkness and reflecting slightly off the many sticky cobwebs that lined the small winding staircase. Underneath their quiet feet the stairs protested loudly.

Wufei, Quatre, and Trowa all stood at the base of the stairwell, taking positions to simultaneously guard the archway into the chapel, the outer door to the outside, and the stairs leading up to the loft. The three teenagers exchanged wary glances and fiddled nervously, their hands inching towards the minimal weapons they were carrying. Something about the old church was unsettling, and while the footsteps and thumps weren't inherently threatening, their sudden occurrence in the supposedly empty building gave them enough reason to be anxious. The other two boys' footsteps creaked up to the top of the staircase, and a settling of the wood above the loft entrance indicated that they had stopped.

Meanwhile, Duo and Heero had stepped to either side of the top of the stairs, having successfully crept up the winding case. Scanning the loft quickly, both breathed audible sighs of relief. There was no one there.

"Well, I feel stupid. Do you think it was just the building settling?" Duo whispered, shining his flashlight down at his feet.

Heero shrugged minutely. He shone his light around the dusty loft, illuminating a few stacks of old wooden pews covered with yet more spider webs. Duo moved forward, running a finger over the dirty leg of one bench. Underneath his boots the old floor creaked and protested loudly.

"Whoa, hey," Duo suddenly piped, his voice rising in volume.

"What?" Heero whispered back, wincing slightly as his footfalls caused loud creaks in the floorboards.

Duo shone his flashlight up at the back wall of the loft. A huge, multifaceted pipe organ dominated the space. Blanketed in thick cobwebs and coated with dust, it was still obvious that the instrument had once been well kept, a much-loved treasure to the congregation of the small abandoned church.

"Tell me how we didn't see this thing from the chapel? Did we just miss it?"

Heero blinked once, then focused the beam of his flashlight on the lengths of the pipes jutting almost up to the ceiling. "I have no idea."

~ ~ ~ ~

Downstairs, Trowa was leaning against the narthex wall, Quatre was looking outside, and Wufei's eyes were darting around the dark corners of the foyer and past the dark arch that lead to the chapel. Above the trio, the ceiling pealed off light waves of dust and flaking paint as Duo and Heero's footsteps traversed the loft.

"I don't like this," Quatre suddenly said, turning away from the outer doorway and stepping further into the little entrance hall. "Something isn't right."

"I agree," Wufei whispered as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I feel as though we are trespassing."

Trowa nodded, pushing off from the wall. The three boys met in the center of the room. The ceiling above them creaked as someone walked across the choir loft floor.

"Well, I guess there is no one up there, otherwise I'm sure Duo would have been yelling down to us," Quatre spoke quietly. Just then an icy breeze ruffled the blond's hair.

The door to the outside slammed suddenly, the loud unexpected bang echoing throughout the small building. All three boys downstairs jumped in surprise, whirling towards the closed portal.

~ ~ ~ ~

"Eh, strange things, huh?" Duo muttered, not really expecting an answer from the Japanese boy, just thinking out loud.

"Maybe you and I just missed it. Perhaps one of the others noticed?" Heero suggested quietly, his eyes flashing in the backwash of the flashlight beam. His breath wheezed slightly as he took a deep pull of air.

"Maybe," the American replied in a thoughtful whisper. He raised his voice, strode to the edge of the choir loft, leaned slightly over the balcony railing, and shone his light down at the chapel floor below. He blinked as a brief bout of pain coursed through his torso, disappearing before he could focus on it further. "Hey, guys?"

~ ~ ~ ~

Downstairs Quatre, Wufei, and Trowa backed away from the now closed door. Moving into the chapel area, they heard Duo's voice echo from up in the loft.

"Yeah, did you hear that?" Quatre called up.

"What?" Duo hissed back down. "Hear what?"

"The door just slammed shut. Must have been the wind but it was damn loud," Wufei replied.

"What are you talking about? We didn't hear anything," Duo said, looking over at Heero. The Japanese boy just raised one eyebrow.

"Look," Trowa broke in quietly, nodding his head towards the foyer area.

"W-well--" Quatre stuttered.

The door was open.

"Odd," Wufei whispered, his dark eyes suddenly very wide. For a moment he felt the world around him twist, the edges of his vision rotating slightly with the door as its winding origin. He blinked again and the sensation was gone.

"O…kay," Duo said, leaning against the railing. "Anyway, did any of you guys notice this big freakin' pipe organ up here?"

"Organ?" Quatre asked, stepping further into the chapel to have a better view of the back wall of the choir loft. As an afterthought he grabbed Wufei's and Trowa's sleeves and hauled them along with him.

"Yeah, that one," Duo replied, shining his flashlight against the huge vaulting instrument's pipes.

"Oh, of course, that one," Wufei muttered darkly before raising his voice. "No, I did not see that in my initial visual sweep of the building."

"Nor did I," Trowa added.

Quatre just shook his head.

"Well, neither did we," Heero said. "I find it very hard to believe that all five of us missed it. The only conclusion that remains is that it was not here earlier."

"What?" Duo drawled, turning to look incredulously at his partner.

Heero shrugged. "Strange noises, footsteps, slamming doors, and appearing pipe organs," he listed dryly, a deep rasp punctuating his voice before he cleared his throat.

"So, are you saying we should go back and sleep at the car? It's not raining anymore," Duo asked.

"Sounds like a plan," Wufei stated.

In agreement, the three downstairs walked back into the narthex and were met by the two from the loft. As a group they gathered their few bags and headed out the open church door, out into the damp night. Flashlights bobbing as they hurried back in the direction of the road, the five tried to ignore the thickening fog as they dodged around mud puddles and protruding gravestones.

"You know, I'm beginning to think the whole world is against us," Duo joked as he jumped over a patch of mud and landed into an even larger dirty puddle. "Damnit."

"Well, I would venture to say that this was all your fault in the first place, but I won't bother," Wufei replied. "These flashlights aren't really helping much, are they?"

"No. Fog is a colloid, it just bounces the light back," Heero stated.

"But turning them off would be even worse," Quatre added, absently rubbing a sudden ache that had sprouted in his forehead, above his right eye.

For a few more minutes they tromped through the dense fog. A cool wind was blowing in sharp gusts, ruffling their clothes and hair as they picked around the grave markers in the seemingly never-ending cemetery. Soon they were huddled within a few feet of each other as they walked; the fog was now so thick that they could barely see where they were going. It was as though a dark gray cloud was moving with them, constantly pressing down and moving in, keeping them wandering throughout the churchyard in a looping, confused path.

"We're not getting anywhere," Trowa observed, halting. "We've been moving for about twenty minutes and we are still not out of the graveyard. It only took us fifteen to get to the church from the car, and only a minute to run through the cemetery itself."

"Well, it's not as though this fog is helping," Duo replied, wrinkling his nose as he sniffed the damp thickness of the air.

"True," Heero grunted.

"Let's give it a few more minutes," Quatre suggested. He knew that the others wouldn't admit that they didn't want to go back to the church, so he saved them the embarrassment by speaking up.

"All right," Trowa nodded, starting to walk again.

They trudged along for a little while. They had spaced themselves into a single file line, Trowa leading, followed by Quatre, then Heero, then Duo, with Wufei keeping rear guard so to speak. Staying within a few feet of each other, the group collectively felt as though they were starting to make progress.

Wufei, for one, was beginning to feel a bit foolish. While the events that had transpired in the small church had been random and seemingly inexplicable, he still should not have let himself be affected by superstitions. With this in mind, he let the line in front of him gain a slightly greater lead. Wufei wanted to test himself, and as he watched Duo's braid bounce in the swirl of dark fog, he felt himself relax. He was still strong. Taking a deep breath, the Chinese boy tilted his head back and stopped walking. Counting to five before he started moving again, he congratulated himself on a victory against his nagging fear.

Of course, this elation faded quickly when he realized he had lost the others. Walking more quickly, he forced his breathing to remain calm. He shone his flashlight around and peered frantically into the murk around him, trying desperately to catch a glimpse of any vague movement. It was a strain on his vision, though, because even while the night was very dark, the fog was white, creating a swirling cottony concealment that cloaked the world in a surreal cowl. Wufei felt a stab of pure fear. He felt so alone all of a sudden, isolated from anything and everything familiar. The night was an alien landscape of vague shapes and curling fog.

Squaring his shoulder and furrowing his brow, Wufei strode forward quickly, ignoring the small splashes of mud as he advanced. Then one foot hit a particularly slick patch of mud. Wufei felt his stomach pitch as he lost his balance. Wind-milling his arms erratically, Wufei's feet skidded deep furrows in thick mud as he fought to regain his equilibrium. It was futile though, and in a moment he was toppling forward. Twisting, he saw that he was falling right into a rectangular, deep hole.

An open grave.

Letting out an involuntary yelp of surprise, Wufei fell six feet straight down to splash into the deep mud at the bottom of the grave. The Chinese teenager pulled himself up carefully, taking big fistfuls of wet soil from the shoveled dirt walls. He shuddered as he felt wet, wiggling earthworms crawl between his fingers and against the sensitive palms of his hands. Wufei was forced to brace his feet on either side of the rectangle of slippery mud in order not to fall down again. Groaning quietly, the Chinese teen tried to climb up and out of the hole, but found that every time he tried he just succeeded in knocking more soaked dirt into the open grave and on top of him. To make matters worse, he had lost his flashlight before he had fallen down into the deep hole. It was getting hard to breathe; he felt as though the stink of the mud was trying to physically invade his nostrils. Sighing and rubbing at his nose, he swallowed his pride.

"Help? Help! I'm stuck!" He shouted, feeling very stupid. Here he had been trying to prove his fortitude and now here he was, stuck in an open grave covered with mud and crawling worms. The irony did not escape him. He continued to yell, and after a few minutes he was starting to feel rather nervous again. He was cold, wet, filthy, trapped in a dark hole, and his friends didn't know where he was. Just when he was considering hauling off and screaming like a girl, he heard Duo's answering shout.

A few minutes later, the other guys homed in on him, and four heads popped from the each of the four sides of the rectangular hole, and four sets of eyes peered down at muddy, soaked Wufei. Four teenagers started snickering, and the fifth rolled his eyes.

"Shut up and help me out of here," Wufei finally demanded, holding up a hand.

"How the hell did you manage to fall down there in the first place, Wu?" Duo asked as Heero grabbed Wufei's arm and hauled him up.

"I fell behind, and in my haste to catch up I just didn't see it," the Chinese boy replied grumpily. He bit his lip and wiped his dirty hands on his dirty clothes. Seeing that it didn't help matters in the least, he huffed, then looked up, a rather sheepish look in his dark eyes. "Thanks for finding me."

"Well, you know, when you get yourself lost you should speak up a bit more quickly," Duo admonished, smacking Wufei lightly on the back. "You should have spoken up as soon as you noticed that we were too far ahead."

"Well…"

"Oh, wait, I forgot. It's dishonorable to ask for help without trying to help yourself," Duo groaned.

"Exactly," Wufei confirmed, grateful that Duo had given him a way to end the conversation and also retain some dignity. He glanced back down at the ground. "How far did we move away from that blasted hole?"

"What are you talking about? We haven't moved," Duo replied, his voice trailing off as he looked down at were the open grave should have been.

The ground was whole and undisturbed.

"How the hell?" Duo blurted out, his voice suddenly returning full force. Looking around, the other Preventers were equally bewildered, although they showed it in a variety of subtle ways, like how Heero rolling the flashlight in his hands, or the way Quatre started cracking his knuckles. For a long moment they stared at the place where the hole should have been, then at each other.

"It's ten fifteen," Heero announced suddenly. "We've been wandering in the fog for over forty minutes. Perhaps we should go back to the church. I'm sure that what we experienced before will not reoccur."

"Right," Quatre nodded, not sounding too sure, but glad to be taking some sort of action. The others nodded their agreement as well.

After finding Wufei's flashlight, they headed in the approximate direction they thought the deserted church might have been. Within five minutes they were standing in the archway, the dark foyer seeming to yawn menacingly at them. Sitting down in a little huddle, they put their things in the center of their circle and turned off all but one of the flashlights. For a few minutes they made meaningless conversation, then lapsed into silence.

"You know what my sister Darla used to do to me?" Quatre suddenly spoke up. "She used to tell me these really creepy ghost stories and try to get me all freaked out. Of course, I always tried to act brave, pretend that it didn't bother me. Then she'd always turn and smile at me, her face a picture of serenity. She said that at 11:11 PM I'd see for myself. Supposedly, at 11:11 everyone can see the dead."

"Yeah, I've heard that," Duo nodded, leaning forward. "It's weird, I had forgotten about that completely…Great time to remember when we're all stuck in a haunted church, huh? Oops." The American covered his mouth quickly, his eyes wide. He hadn't meant to say that last part.

"Haunted?" Heero asked as he carefully twisted to stretch his back. His ribs were aching for some indiscernible reason. "That's the word for it?"

"I, uh, I guess," Duo replied.

"11:11," Trowa repeated thoughtfully.

"What time--" Wufei started.

"Ten thirty," Heero broke in.

"Hmmm. Guess we'll find out in forty-one minutes whether it's true, eh, Q?" Duo joked, his eyes darting around the dark narthex. The ceiling above them creaked loudly, and the shuffling sound of footsteps in the loft upstairs was again unmistakable; the soft noises were now accompanied by an indistinct rolling sound that was akin to marbles skittering on linoleum.

For a long moment no one said anything.

"I don't like this," Wufei muttered.

"Join the club," Duo grinned faintly as he scooted closer towards the center of their little circle. "We should make t-shirts. I can see it now, 'Former terrorists freaked out by random noises and disappearing stuff.'"

Nervous, forced smiles were his only answer. The five teenagers stared at the flashlight shining upwards in the middle of their huddle. The beam was fading with each slowly passing minute, the blackness of the little building and the fog outside hiding the night sky created an oppressive, heavy feeling of isolation. The silence was only punctuated by their subdued breathing. Dust swirled in the yellowing glow of the flashlight, and each subtle shift of movement that tightened their little huddle caused the onyx shadows to dance like demented phantoms. The stifling, crushing air smelled musty and damp from the obvious age of the wood and the mud from the storm. An icy breeze occasionally stirred the mounting tension, but after it was gone the arduous feeling would return twice as severe as before.

"What time is--" Quatre started to ask.

"Ten thirty five."

"Oh."

"This sucks," Duo said suddenly, climbing to his feet.

"What are you doing?" Heero asked him, watching as the longhaired American paced the length of the narthex. There was a slight wheeze in his voice.

"I don't know," Duo replied, whirling and going to lean against the entrance to the chapel area, his back now facing the others. He stood there for a moment, letting his eyes go slightly unfocused as he peered into the empty gloom of the chapel. Slumping heavily against the archway, which creaked in protest, Duo let his eyes slide shut as he took a long, deep breath, an unnatural ache plaguing the muscles in his arms and shoulders. A cool wind swirled from behind him, coming through the open doorway in a light gust that ruffled his bangs. In annoyance, he opened his eyes and pushed his hair back away his face. With another sigh he gave the chapel one last cursory glance, intending to return to his seat on the floor. He stumbled as he did a fast double take, his balance thrown slightly with the sudden movement that interrupted the pivoting of his feet.

Duo's hand shot out and grabbed the side of the archway, his knuckles turning white from the force of his grip on the old wood. A shot of pain lanced through his left shoulder down to his right hip, disappearing an instant later. He stared into the gloom, and spoke without turning away from the larger room, his voice a slightly higher pitch than normal. "Hey, guys? Could someone hand me a flashlight?"

"Why?" Wufei asked, a hint of worried annoyance tainting his voice as he handed Duo one of their flashlights.

Without a word, Duo thumbed the flashlight on and shone the beam into the chapel area, the light bouncing off the little wisps of fog that had crept in through the open doorway. Stabbing the beam into the darkest corners of the chapel first, finally the American finally settled the light on an object sitting in the front of the church, settled off-center and to the right of the middle of the bare nave.

It was a church pew.

"Wait…" Quatre spoke up suddenly as he came up to peer over Wufei's shoulder. "That definitely wasn't there before."

"Nope, sure wasn't," Duo shook his head, long braid bouncing against his back from the sheer force of the movement.

"Did you just notice it, or was it there when you first leaned in the archway here?" Heero asked.

"It wasn't there when I first stood here. I closed my eyes for a second, and when I opened them…well, there it was," Duo answered as he turned sideways in the archway, refusing to put neither the door to the outside nor the chapel at his back.

"Are you sure?" Trowa asked. He stepped forward, halting almost immediately as he fought a sudden wave of dizziness.

"Positive."

Five heads swiveled again to look at the bench sitting so innocently in the otherwise empty chapel.

"I really, really do not like this," Quatre whispered, his right eye blinking erratically.

Another cold breeze rushed through the open doorway, causing the group to shudder almost in unison as they turned to look back at the outside world still swimming with fog.

"Should we even bother wandering around out there again?" Duo wondered out loud.

Wufei looked down at his muddy clothes, wishing that when they had taken the "valuables" from the car with them that they had thought about bringing a change of clothing. "Um, No."

"Ah well, what can we do then? Nothing, that's what. I say we just sit here, stay alert, and hope that nothing rises from those graves out there and eats our eyes out at 11:11," Duo rambled, striding back to where he had been sitting before. He stood there for a second, crossed his arms, and plopped down on the floor so hard that he caused a little cloud of dust to rise up and surround him for a moment. He sneezed, feeling another deep pulse of pain in his shoulder.

Shrugging Wufei walked over and sat down as well. In less than ten seconds the others had settled down, well, as settled as they could be while still jumping at every single cool gust of wind that blew through the doorway.

Heero looked down at his watch to check the time.

10:45

A split second later all five teenagers were on their feet and standing in a circle, back to back as they surveyed their surroundings with shaking flashlight beams and nervous stares. Eyes dodged through the darkness and glared into the swirling fog, peering past the dust and paint flakes that were raining down from the ceiling. The sounds had came from above them, in the choir loft.

Then Wufei flicked his light up over the wall of the narthex, in which they had spent the last twenty minutes and in which they were now standing in their nervous huddle. The Chinese teen cleared his throat. "Wasn't there graffiti on these walls?"

"Yes--Oh. Shit," Duo replied, his voice tapering down to a whisper.

The walls had been peppered with layers upon layers of spray paint and marred with numerous chinks and random holes. At least, they had been. Now the walls were beautifully painted with murals of an almost surreal quality spanning the area around them. There wasn't a scene or a specific picture, just colors and shapes that implied warmth and soothed quiet serenity. Above the entrance to the chapel were the words, "Choose wisely your path, for if you do not choose, it will be chosen for you."

"This is getting a bit too strange for my tastes," Trowa muttered, kicking the now polished and clean floor. He had to catch himself from falling as another sudden wave of dizziness hit him.

"Oh, ya think?" Duo shot back sarcastically, a nervous reaction as he shone his light around at floor that had been dusty only a few seconds before.

"Should we check on those noises?" Quatre whispered, his fingers clenching around the handle of his flashlight.

"What could it hurt?" Heero replied with a question of his own.

"A lot," Wufei put in as he shuffled sideways to the entrance to the chapel, his dark eyes glancing up at the bright words painted above the archway. He directed his flashlight's beam. "Look at this."

For a long minute they looked at the lines of pews now filling the front of the chapel.

"Not good," Heero stated.

"Thanks for that brilliant observation," Duo mumbled as he worried his lower lip.

"It's ten fifty. Let's get the hell out of here," the Japanese youth continued, ignoring Duo's little remark.

"Roger that," Trowa agreed.

Duo nodded once as he glanced back into the chapel.

"Let's go, I don't care if we all fall into open graves," Quatre said seriously, quirking a look at muddy Wufei.

"If you had fallen in you'd know how ridiculous your statement just was," Wufei replied, his frown deepening. "Let's get going."

"Don't tell me," Duo started, covering his eyes with his left hand. "The door just slammed, didn't it?"

"Uh-huh," Quatre confirmed, nodding his head so hard that his fine blond bangs flopped against his forehead. He winced.

"I told you not to tell me," Duo sighed, peeking out from between his fingers. "Damnit."

Meanwhile Heero had stalked over to the door and was pushing against it, his back braced against the now smooth and clean wood as his sneakers skidded slightly from the force of his pushes backwards. The hinges didn't even creak.

Before long the others had joined the Japanese Preventer and were pushing against the door with all their combined might. To no one's surprise, it didn't budge.

"There has to be another way out," Wufei finally puffed, giving up.

"Right," Heero agreed, a bit out of breath and not sounding terribly convincing. His ribs felt like they were on fire.

"Okay, fine, I'll go look," Duo declared suddenly, snatching his flashlight from the floor and stalking loudly right to the center of the chapel. He stood there for a minute, glaring fiercely as he swung the flashlight in looping circles and random patterns. All traces of fear gone, he let out a quiet but enraged growl and furiously kicked the pew he was standing beside.

"Surprise! It's a one room chapel with no other doors. I bet the fire marshal of where-ever-the-hell-we-are closed this church because it was a hazard," Duo spat out as he strode back into the narthex. "And another thing, the pipe organ is all shiny now, too."

Four pairs of eyes blinked at the American with various degrees of shock, confusion, and worry. The world had taken on a surreally heavy quality, and it was from either Duo's sudden change in mood, the news about the organ, the fact that they were now trapped in a very dark church that frequented mysterious noises and appearing objects, or a combination of everything.

They definitely didn't belong there.

Heero stepped forward and gently, but firmly, grabbed the back of Duo's neck. "Calm down."

The American literally slumped right where he stood. "Sorry."

"Time check?" Quatre asked.

"Five till eleven," Heero replied immediately, glancing down at his wrist quickly, then bringing his suspicious gaze up to travel the walls of the chapel.

"A quick assessment of this situation shows no suitable means of escape," Trowa stated quietly. "Now the question we must face is who is doing these things. If we knew that, then we might be able to find a way out of this."

"It's not a person, nor an animal," Wufei said after a moment of silence. "Although it's irrational, I'd say we've stumbled onto something here."

"Yeah, a haunted country church," Quatre added, his voice faint but carrying strongly as he directed his flashlight over the now complete set of pews. The last few had appeared when they weren't looking. "I used to be fascinated with supernatural things, ghosts and the like. There's been scientific studies done on a lot of haunted places."

"Oh, yeah?" Duo mumbled, curiosity edging his voice. "These studies find anything?"

"Well…" Quatre began, running a finger along the smooth mahogany of the pew he was standing beside. With a shudder he turned slightly and started edging back towards the narthex. "Can we go to the back again? I know it's darker, but at least we'd be more closed in, have less places to watch."

So the group moved back to where they had laid their things down, only to discover that their bags were gone. No one was really surprised, and after a quick search of the room, no trace of their belongings was found. Settling into a tight huddle, the group turned and looked expectantly at Quatre.

"A lot of things those studies found could be captured on video and in pictures, but other things sometimes happened in these haunted places, things that couldn't be explained easily. For instance, weird lights, odd noises, apparitions, and that kind of stuff," the blond spilled out. "One thing is for certain, in most places something was happening that was unexplainable. There was ample evidence to that, but what still remains a mystery is just what causes those things. Sometimes weird stuff happens in a place of great tragedy, like a battlefield or an insane asylum, other times it might be a house where someone had died a painful death. Like maybe the spirit was give a choice to stay or to move on, and they chose to stay."

"Interesting, but it doesn't help much," Wufei broke in impatiently, his eyes following the shadows cast by their flashlights.

"There are a few theories to explain certain phenomenon, like ghosts. A lot of scientists began to think that the apparitions were imprints on time that somehow managed to be seen during certain conditions, like a mirage, others thought everything could be explained away as residual subconscious psychic manifestations," Quatre whispered quickly.

"What do you think?" Trowa asked.

The blond bowed his head. "I'm getting a strange feeling from this place. I don't know what's going on, but I feel like I'm being pulled towards something. I don't know whether it's a good or a bad pull, though. I can tell you one thing, I do not think what's happening here is just a mirage through time. In fact, I'm not even sure if here is a real place."

"What can we possibly do?" Heero demanded suddenly.

"Wait," Trowa answered.

"Yeah, we're trapped, whatever is going to happen is gonna happen no matter what," Duo sighed, tracing his fingertips over the smooth clean floor. A thick silence settled over the group, so oppressive that the only sound that could be heard was the soft but precise ticking of Heero's wristwatch.

The lights flickered on.

"AHH!" Came the collective yelps of surprise as the former pilots squinted in the sudden brightness.

Scrambling to their feet, the frightened young men backed up against the wall, falling into a pseudo-line that was really more of a huddle. With the bright incandescent light came a sudden flood of sound, various voices and laughs crescendoing quickly then echoing throughout the small building, shaking the lovely painted walls and momentarily quaking the shiny floor right through the soles of their shoes. Instinct drove the group to fall into battle crouches, but also kept them somewhat closer together than they would normally be in a combat situation. Eyes still not adjusted to the bright light, the loud voices that poured around them and into the chapel created a surrealistic atmosphere that made the ground almost seem to roll and pitch beneath their feet.

Trowa glanced at his friends, his calculating cool green gaze taking everything in quickly even as he braced one hand against the subtly vibrating wall. Duo was squinting behind one raised hand, the other clutching a knife he had pulled out of his boot. Heero was at Duo's back, arms up in a defensive posture that could quickly turn into an offensive stance. Wufei had his back to the wall, his eyes apparently already adjusted as he looked back at Trowa with an obviously frightened but steady expression. Finally the tall man looked at the blond crouched behind him.

Quatre had dropped down to his knees and was clutching at his heart, gasping as his right eye twitched slightly. "I can feel them!" The Arabian's voice was thick. "They're, they're happy? Happy to be here…"

Abruptly the voices stopped flowing around them, although the sounds of laughter and mumbled conversation could still be heard in the chapel beyond. Immediately Trowa helped Quatre stand, and their small group looked at each other silently.

"Time?" Trowa heard himself ask hollowly.

"Eleven," Heero clipped out.

Duo edged along the wall of the narthex, sliding along and moving ultimately towards the entrance arch to the chapel. Before anyone could stop him, he peered into the main part of the church. The American stood there, watched the empty room and listened to the voices echoing in the chamber, then turned back to the rest of the unfortunate group.

"There's an altar, and a podium, and no one's in there that I can see," he reported, eyes so wide that they seemed to take up half his face. His pupils were tiny pinpricks of black in a wide sea of violet-blue. The ache lancing across his chest flared.

"They don't feel malicious," Quatre whispered, leaning slightly on Trowa for both support and a small measure of comfort. "They feel, well, almost welcoming."

Wufei nodded. "Although I certainly do not have the same sort of empathy you do, Quatre, but I don't feel particularly threatened, just confused at the moment. I can't say that I'm happy to be here, though."

"Yeah, that's about sums it up," Duo agreed, his knife already back in its place back inside his boot.

"I don't like this," Heero argued, suddenly feeling short of air. He took a ragged breath. "There are just too many variables."

"It's the fear of the unknown. We have no idea what's going to happen, if anything," Trowa said calmly. Although he was trying not to let it influence him, he felt a strange compulsion pushing him to go look into the chapel.

Feet shuffled over the floor, and shoes shed bits of dried mud and clumps of wet grass. The group of young men found themselves standing in the archway to the main part of the church. The voices, some of them soft and lilting, others sweet, some nasal, others deep, combined together and spoke in languages incomprehensible from the sheer clutter of words. Children's laughter combined with throaty rumbling laughs of men, peppering the invisible congregation's cacophony with bright chords of joy.

Rows of well-polished dark mahogany pews lined the chapel, aisles leading up to a simple cloth-draped table, the altar. The wooden flooring was a lighter color of wood, also polished but scuffed slightly, as though people had been walking over it regularly. The stained glass windows reflected light in places, but mostly looked flat and dull. The cream color of the walls all but glowed with the bright luminance coming from the light fixtures. Everything about the church seemed welcoming, but an underlying seriousness accompanied the implicit serenity.

Heels thudding dully, the group of stranded Preventers moved forward as a single unit, keeping together but also moving to the center of the large room. In the midst of the happy voices and restored church, the thick smell of wax suddenly invaded the room. Tall white candles had appeared at either end of the altar, burning brightly. Just as their attention had been fixed on the candles, the organ struck a stirring note and filled the building with its strong tones, overlaying the voices and hushing them considerably. It was as though the possessors of the voices were listening.

Not daring to say anything, Duo grabbed Heero's wrist and checked the time.

11:05

The door to the outside swung open beyond the narthex.

A soft feminine voice seemed to coil around them. "Welcome to St. Francis..."

All the other voices silenced, as did the chords that had been pouring from the organ. It was completely silent, a jarring contrast that was more unsettling than any loud noises could have been.

Jerking around, swiveling until they were once again back to back, the former pilots exchanged tense words.

"Let's get the hell out!" Duo whispered fiercely.

"What if they're just playing with us?" Wufei whispered back.

"We're welcome here, but I don't know if I want to be welcome here," Quatre muttered as he rubbed his forehead. "Leave?"

"I think we should," Trowa nodded. "This is…an unstable situation."

By this time Heero was striding up the aisle towards the gaping exit and the dark night beyond. Hurrying to catch up, the other four were forced to skid to a halt when Heero stopped suddenly at the portal to the outside.

"Why did you stop?!" Duo cried out, looking at Heero as though the Japanese man had grown another head. The sudden halt had sent another stab of inexplicable agony shooting across his chest.

"Look, something isn't right out there," Heero glared into the night, pointing towards the nearest parts of the graveyard. He dropped his hand almost immediately. He couldn't hold it up, his ribs were screaming at him.

"Flashlight!" Wufei demanded with a shaky voice, holding out his hand. Immediately Duo yanked the light from his belt and handed it over. With trembling hands Wufei shone the beam out into the darkness, past where the residual glow from the church stopped. The fog was thinner now, but the cemetery looked considerably altered. Specifically, the five glaringly obvious rectangular holes at the nearest edge of the graveyard were what had changed.

"No-fuckin-way, you don't think--" Duo started, then shut his mouth abruptly. "What the hell is going on here?!"

Heero checked his watch again as the organ started playing once more and the voices resumed their activity back in the chapel. As a group they had been standing just inside the narthex, a few feet from the door. Therefore when it slammed shut they were only startled, not hurt.

The same lilting voice wound around them, speaking sweet tones. "It's good that we could get you here so quickly."

Glances that were bordering on terrified passed between the group. The strange peaceful feeling that had pervaded their senses earlier was quickly evaporating, replacing itself quickly with mounting panic. Enough was enough.

"Look, maybe this is still someone screwing with us," Duo rambled. "Maybe these weird voices are just recordings, but that organ…I don't think you could fake that. It sounds genuine, and there is no way to have a setup that operates all those stops, pedals, and keyboards. Whoever is messing with us has to be up there!"

"I don't think--" Heero started, but before he could finish Duo was bounding up the stairs to the choir loft.

Wufei was already dashing after Duo, disappearing quickly around the corner of the spiral case. With a loaded glance, Heero looked at Quatre, then Trowa, and together they turned as well, intent on heading for the loft as well.

"Wait!" Quatre stopped them. "I'll go into the chapel to look and see if I can watch Duo from there!"

Heero nodded as Trowa peeled off and followed the blond. The Japanese teen then fairly leapt to the stairwell, throwing all caution aside as he took the now very solid and cobweb-free stairs three at a time. It was 11:10.

When he reached the top of the stairs Heero came to a skidding halt, his eyes darting all over the small area in frantic patterns. The loft had also been lined with polished wooden benches, each with little blue books stacked towards one end. Wufei was actually in the process of picking one up, while Duo was staring dumbfounded at the organ. The keyboards, stops, and pedals were all still, but rich music still poured from the tall polished pipes. The phantom sounds seemed to have no connection with the real world, giving of the music same otherworldly sense the voices downstairs possessed. Then Heero realized that there were also very faint whispers coming from the loft area as well.

Downstairs Quatre and Trowa had filed into one of the pews near the front of the chapel. They looked around at the subtle changes that had come over the room since they had last observed it. The same little blue books from the loft were also stacked at the end of the benches downstairs. The altar area had acquired some subtle decorations, and the walls of the chapel itself were no longer sporting faded paint, but new, vibrant colors. The whispering that surrounded them had died down considerably, and when the organ suddenly stopped playing, the subsequent silence was almost palpable.

Confusion and fear now plain on his face, Trowa had picked up one of the blue books and was rifling through the pages. "Music, I think," he whispered, breaking the hush. "It's some kind of strange language, and I don't recognize the clef."

"What?" Quatre asked, more out of reflex than anything. He turned and saw Wufei leaning over the edge of the loft's railing, a little book in his hand too.

"I think they're some kind of songs!" The Chinese teen yelled down, his voice echoing in the chamber.

Immediately a multitude of voices hushed him, then fell silent.

Looking considerably startled by his direct interaction with the voices, Wufei almost dropped his book over the railing.

Duo, barely in view from where Quatre and Trowa were standing downstairs, stepped forward towards the railing, walking past Heero. Duo's wide eyes were fixed on the altar area, and as he raised one arm to point at the wall behind the cloth-covered table, his quiet voice carried through the thick silence. "Look."

A large wooden cross was now hanging on the wall at the back of the nave, right over where the paint had been still bright when they had first entered the church. For a second it seemed to morph, then a flicker of other various symbols from a multitude of other religions shuttered over the cross in a kind of psychic overlay. It was as though they only saw what they wanted to…

A thought struck them all then, an almost audible clicking of the last piece of the puzzle as it fit into place. Before anyone could ask, Heero was looking down at his watch. The second hand was at the eleven.

"Five seconds!"

Irrational panic coursed through the five boys, and before they knew what they were doing, they were bolting towards the narthex. It was as though forces beyond their control were driving them towards the back of the church, as though they would be safe if they were together. Safety in numbers and safety with friends, in the unfamiliar and unnatural surroundings it was instinct that drove them. Heero only made it halfway down the stairs, with Duo and Wufei still in the loft. Trowa and Quatre made it only half way up the main aisle, hindered by having to shuffle sideways out of the row they had been standing in. They hurried…

But it was too late. The second hand clicked five times, and in the stuttering cession of a heartbeat, the world blinked.

~ ~ ~ ~

Quatre found himself standing with Trowa in one of the back pews. In every other pew, in front and to each side of them, sat a multitude of people dressed in a wide range of clothing styles. Young and old, all colors of skin and hair and eyes, men and women, they all stood side by side, whispering and murmuring to each other as they passed out the little books. Quatre felt himself move, taking the book that was passed to him from Trowa.

Looking up at his companion, Quatre felt a strange stab in his heart. Something was wrong here, but he couldn't quite place exactly why he felt that way. He was content, happy even, but he wasn't in control of himself. Trowa looked down at him with a calm expression, but the taller man's eyes reflected Quatre's own inner turmoil. Narrowing his aquamarine eyes to narrow slits, the Arabian felt discontent worm its way into his heart. Something was looming at the edge of his mind, but he couldn’t quite grasp what it was.

Both he and Trowa turned to look up at the choir loft when the organ began to play.

~ ~ ~ ~

Up in the loft Duo watched with fascination as his hands danced over the stops and keys of the organ, his feet moving the pedals in time with the music that flowed out of him from somewhere inside himself that he didn't even know existed. The pedals, they were so much like a car's, but with vastly different results. Amused and pleased, he wondered when he had learned how to play the complicated pipe organ. The feeling of creation elated him, and he hummed in time to the melody he didn't recognize even as it sprang from the big instrument at his command.

Looking over his shoulder, Duo watched as Wufei stood with the other people in the choir benches. Like the other people, Wufei had a book, and as the American felt a strange tug at his soul, the choir, including Wufei, started to sing.

Duo smiled.

~ ~ ~ ~

As the Chinese young man opened his mouth and let a song he did not recognize flow from his mouth, he smiled faintly. Wufei's voice melded with the men, women, and children of the choir, singing together.

But something was wrong.

What language was he singing? The words on the paper, the notes on the page in the book seemed to swim before his very eyes. The tone of the song was joyous, welcoming, but seemed to carry a very somber countermelody. Blinking, he felt something on his cheek, but when he reached up to brush it away, he felt nothing but his own slightly cool flesh. The strange pressure was still there, laying over the tops of his ears and across his cheeks. Wasn't there something he should be noticing? A nagging sense of epiphany flitted to the forefront of his mind, and he forced his voice to stop the song.

Putting down his book, he walked to the edge of the choir loft, leaned over the railing and looked down at the strange congregation.

He did not belong here.

~ ~ ~ ~

Heero hurried into the back of the chapel, his head ducked slightly as he tried to remain inconspicuous. He felt as though he were late. The organ was playing already and he was without a place to rest himself before…before what? Sliding into a pew beside Quatre, he nodded once at Trowa, then down at the blond, before turning to look back up at the choir loft.

He could see Duo playing the organ. Wait, how was that possible? The organ's base shouldn't be visible from this far back, he should be barely able to see the front row of singers. Blinking, Heero realized he could no longer see Duo, but only what he should have been able to, the front ranks of the choir. Heero shook his head slightly. Had he only imagined it?

He felt so out of place.

~ ~ ~ ~

Trowa could read the confusion on Heero's and Quatre's faces. He knew that something wasn't right, but he couldn't seem to remember what it was. It was that same feeling he had when he had amnesia. Frustrating. Furrowing his brow, Trowa groaned mentally. He should be happy. This was where he should be, right?

Maybe not. He really didn't think so. He should be…somewhere else. But where?

He felt a band of pain tighten around his skull. As the people around him began to join the choir in song, Trowa felt a wave of dizziness overwhelm him.

~ ~ ~ ~

Quatre grabbed Trowa's arm as the tall man stumbled. The sense of wrongness Quatre had been feeling coursed through him again, much stronger than before. He had a bit of trouble, then, helping Trowa, because at that instant Quatre felt something red and warm drip into his right eye. Heero had to catch him even as he helped Trowa to sit in the pew. Reaching up to touch his forehead, Quatre's hand came down stained crimson. He was bleeding.

The people around them sang on, rapturously ignoring the Preventers' distress. They looked blissful, certain, and wholly ready for what was to come.

Heero felt his heart begin to race, his ribs now aching terribly. He was short of breath. The disorientation he had been feeling tripled in strength, and in a surreal moment he looked up, watching as Wufei suddenly pitched forward, falling over the choir loft's railing.

Wufei felt his heart leap into his throat as he hurtled over the rail, as though something had thrown him forward and up over the barrier. He felt as if torn from a dream, and before he could hit the ground the world went black.

Duo, still in at the organ, turned again to glance at Wufei. His eyes widened as he watched his friend disappear over the edge of the railing. His foot suddenly slamming down on one of the organ's pedals, Duo's hands jarred down on a keyboard, causing a horrible dissonance to pour from the pipes. The world seemed to shudder around Duo, rotating finely at the edges of his vision. He blinked in sudden pain as his chest began to ache.

And still, the people sang.

Downstairs, Heero had leapt from his place to try and somehow break Wufei's fall. The look of stark disbelief and terror that had taken the Chinese boy's features had struck something in Heero, and before he had realized it he was moving. But just as Wufei was about to hit Heero, the falling boy had suddenly disappeared.

Stumbling forward, Heero lost his balance. He skidded along the smooth flooring, sliding towards the archway between the chapel and the narthex. But before he could hit, however, he blinked and was gone.

Quatre's attention was divided between helping Trowa lie down on the pew, Wufei falling, and Heero running. When Wufei vanished, then Heero suddenly disappeared, he felt a connection come together in his mind. Earlier that night, they had been driving…everything came together... Smiling slightly, Quatre closed his eyes.

Trowa watched with incredulous eyes as Quatre just suddenly disappeared. The sense of confusion and being out of place grew stronger, and as he looked up from where he lay, the people in the area around him moved slightly, allowing him to make eye contact with Duo, who was leaning over the edge of the choir loft railing.

Duo stared down at Trowa, confusion racing through his mind and taking away any semblance of calm control. Desperately he chewed on his lower lip. The pain in his chest ached, a line that when from his left shoulder to his opposite hip, a tender soreness lancing through his system. Around him, the happy people sang on, and Duo got the distinct feeling that time was becoming very short.

Trowa felt an inner tug, as though he were being pulled by an invisible string. Giving in to the pull, he let himself be carried from this place he did not yet belong.

Duo blinked and Trowa was gone. Whirling, the American looked hard at the members of the choir. They were visibly glowing, and the lights of the church were growing brighter and brighter with each passing second. It wanted to take him away…

Duo closed his eyes tightly against the intruding glare. It was beautiful, but he didn't want to look at it. Now was not the time.

~ ~ ~ ~

BEEP BEEP BEEP…

Duo's eyes snapped open. He found himself staring up at a spotless white ceiling, fluorescent lights impossibly bright, invasive and almost as annoying as the electronic beep coming from behind his left shoulder. He tried to sit up, but stopped when he felt a gentle hand touch his shoulder.

"It's okay, you're in St. Francis's, a hospital," a soft feminine voice spoke. It was the same one from the church. Wait? What? Had that really happened? Duo looked up at the woman, showing her an utterly confused expression.

The nurse chuckled. "You fell asleep at the wheel. Don't worry, everyone is fine, although you're all very lucky we could get you here so quickly. Your friend was thrown through the windshield and might have had a rough time of it. Good thing he landed in a patch of soft mud," the woman gestured to the next bed over. Duo turned his head slightly, to see Wufei staring over at him, oxygen tubes running over each ear to across his cheeks and under his nose.

His pants, sure enough, were caked with mud.

"Huh?" Duo croaked out feebly, his voice dry and raspy. It hurt to talk. "Is everyone okay then?"

"Well, let's see," the nurse replied, checking the names on the papers in her hand. As she spoke she riffled through them, reading. "Mr. Winner had to have stitches on his forehead. He was cut by a piece of broken glass. Mr. Barton has a nice bump on his head, and probably a concussion. Mr. Chang's got a few nasty bruises and definitely a concussion, but is mostly fine, and Mr. Yuy over there has a few cracked ribs. As for you, well, you have a lovely bruise over your chest that looks just a like a seatbelt. Really, it's amazing that you five are still alive, never mind in such good condition. A miracle, perhaps? It's strange, though, you all had a bit of a spell earlier, but luckily it didn't last long. I'm glad you boys decided to stay with us." She smiled down at him, humming a melody that sounded strangely familiar.

Looking around, Duo saw Quatre's bed past Wufei's, and Trowa's past Quatre's. Trowa's bangs were pulled back, a large bandage wrapped around his forehead, but he seemed fine. Quatre had a patch of gauze taped over his right eye, his bangs falling limply over the white bandages. To the other side of Duo's bed from Wufei was Heero's. The Japanese man had bandages wrapping around his chest. Everyone was awake and looking slightly bewildered, confusion obvious in each of their expressions. Oh well, they'd talk about it later, that is, if there was anything to talk about at all.

Sighing, Duo started to close his eyes. A faint ticking caught his attention.

"Nurse?" He croaked.

"Yes?"

"What time is it?"

"11:12."

~ ~ ~ ~

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