Wild Side

by Maria Rocket

***

[Author's Notes: Gah, I *finally* finished this! And in time for Halloween, too! ^_^ Whew, now that I've got this monster off my chest, I can get back to Gundam Apoc an' my other projects. ^^ Be warned, this fic is VERY VERY VERY weird... It's a werewolf story, but it's really more an attempt at a mystery than at horror. Well, attempt is the word. ^^;; Yie, this is gonna be painfully bad. ^^; Anyhoo, we've got yaoi alert on account of Quatre/Trowa, an' there's also some Duo/Hilde. (Careful of lemony material regarding both couples.) Even though Hilde isn't actually in this fic...(you'll hafta read to see what I mean). =(

Duo: Whew, if she was, then she'd be the werewolf.

Hilde: What!?!?

Duo: Eep! Well, you would! Being the werewolf is the cool part! ::growls suggestively at her::

Hilde: ::giggle::

Duo: That's why I get to be the werewolf!

Hilde: You've certainly got enough hair for the part...

Heero: Wait a minute, the author said I was the werewolf.

Duo: ::blinks:: No, that was her sister, talking about your eyebrows.

Heero: ::deathglare:: No, I'm sure I got the part of the werewolf!

Trowa: Ahem...

Quatre: ::coughs quietly:: I thought I was supposed to be the werewolf.

Trowa: No, Quatre, I'm the werewolf.

Quatre: o.o;

Trowa: ::creeps up on Quatre:: All the better to...

Duo: HEY! Get a room! ....And I know I'm the werewolf! Cuz I'm the author's favorite! ^__^

Quatre: Are not! Are not! I'm her favorite!

Heero: You're all delusional.

Trowa: ::crosses arms:: I'm telling you guys, I'm the werewolf.

Hilde: ::looks very confused::

Wufei: You idiots...just check the script! ::whips out the script and flips through it:: Huh? This says Rashid is the werewolf!

Quatre: AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!! O_O

Duo: ::grumbles:: That can't be right.

Wufei: Of course not. Because I get to be the werewolf and claw your freakin' huge eyes out, Maxwell. Justice at last!

Hilde: Though it would explain that freaky hairdo...

Trowa: Let me see that script...

Relena: ::suddenly pops up and burns the script:: No spoiling! C'mon Hilde, we have to work the set! ::shoos the boys into the fic::

G-boys: ::walk into their fic places, still pouting over who gets to be the werewolf::

Umm...yeeah, well, my insanity aside, on with the fic! ^^; ]

***

***

His head pounding, Quatre squeezed the bridge of his nose for a moment and closed his eyes. His nerves were a complete wreck. He knew one of them was lying about something. Turning around, he faced the four boys sitting on his couch. Behind them, windows that took up the entire back wall allowed the moonlight to pour in over them, illuminating the otherwise dark scene with an eerie glow.

"I want the truth." Quatre's eyes darted coldly between each of the other boys. His teammates, his friends. "I don't care about this werewolf business. I just want to know who did it and why. Who killed Rashid!?" He wrung his hands together tightly, trying to keep them from shaking.

Clenching and unclenching at the material of his black slacks, Duo was fuming on the couch. He continually gave nervous glances back towards the sky beyond the windows, muttering under his breath. "Quatre, it's a damned full moon out there! Can't this interrogation wait until we get out of here!?" He was shaking like a leaf in the wind.

"What's the matter Maxwell?" Wufei looked at the braided boy suspiciously. "Guilty conscious have you on the spot?"

Duo's eyes widened, and his lips parted momentarily in disbelief. Then he collected himself and glared at Wufei. "I've told all of you, I didn't do anything!"

"Duo...you were caught redhanded. Literally." Heero turned his eyes to look at Duo passively. Though they were all surprised at the tense quality of his voice. "What do you expect us to think?"

"I can't believe...!" Duo sputtered. "Heero, you actually think I killed Rashid!? I'm tellin' ya there's somethin' goin' on around here!"

"A werewolf?" Trowa asked quietly. He was sitting on the edge of the couch, his legs crossed. Glancing back at them, there was actually an amused smile on his lips. "Duo, what we saw was nothing more than a large wildcat. They're common in this area of South America."

"Damn it Trowa, that was no freakin' wildcat!" Duo snapped, and almost lunged off the couch at him. But he gripped the couch beneath him, shaking with emotion.

Duo hadn't been himself for a few days now. Quatre turned his eyes onto the pilot whose black shirt hung open at the neck. His white priest's collar had mysteriously disappeared shortly after his arrival. Like one possessed, he had become increasingly paranoid lately. Of course the recent events had everyone on edge.

On the opposite side of the scale, Heero seemed almost unfazed by what was going on. Though the strain was beginning to show in his voice, and his eyes were troubled. Ever since the strange things had started, Heero had been prowling around the grounds at night. So far he hadn't discovered any answers.

Quatre turned his searching blue eyes on Wufei. The Chinese boy sat scowling, bathed in moonlight. Quatre felt a wave of nausea. Like himself, Wufei was eyeing the others like a nervous animal. He had kept to himself during the first few days, but now he almost never let any of them out of his sight. After what had happened with Rashid, he seemed determined to break Duo.

Feeling eyes on him, Quatre already knew who was watching him before he even turned his head to look back. Trowa was watching him again with those glittering emerald eyes. There was an almost feral light in them, and Quatre felt a delicious, yet chilling shiver go through him. Normally, he wouldn't mind Trowa's gaze at all. But there had been something strange about him lately that made Quatre uneasy. He was keeping something from him. Quatre's eyes remained locked with Trowa's, wondering what was so terrible that his soulmate would keep it so hidden from him. And Quatre was afraid. He didn't want to think the obvious answer, he refused to believe it.

The blonde tore his gaze away towards the now bickering Duo and Wufei. He felt his soul burning with churning emotions, and the rage built up inside of him. "SHUT UP!" Quatre yelled angrily as loud as he could. Even Heero raised his eyebrows in surprise.

***

It had all started innocently enough. Quatre had invited them all down to his estate in South America to relax get caught up. Quatre himself had only arrived a few days earlier to make sure the place was ready for them. One by one they arrived on the same day. Everyone had seemed normal enough, and there was an overall cheerful atmosphere.

That was before nightfall.

It was night, and Duo was in bed. He was sleeping peacefully, hugging his pillow. Outside crickets were chirping their usual song. Then they suddenly stopped. If Duo had been awake, he would have heard the rustling and crunching of leaves and brush outside his window. If he had been awake, he would have seen the big black shadow that rose up against the moonlight and peered in the window. If he had been awake, he would have seen the big claw-like hand that came up to the window and met the glass with a click. If he had been awake, he would have probably been hysterical. But he was asleep and snoring in peaceful ignorance.

The claws on the window scraped down the glass, and something snarled.

"Hilde...?" Duo mumbled into his pillow and turned his head at the noise. His hand drifted out across the bed, and he frowned upon finding it empty. He lifted his head of loose chestnut brown hair, opened his eyes, and looked around. Whatever had been at the window had disappeared.

Then Duo remembered where he was, and that Hilde was still back in the colonies. He set his head back on the pillow with a sigh. "I wish you had come Hilde," he mumbled. She had stayed behind since she felt it would be weird being the only girl there. Duo hadn't been able to persuade her, and she insisted he go do some 'male bonding.' Duo snorted. 'Heero's still as pleasant as a block of ice, Wufei just trains or reads all day, Quatre isn't exactly a party animal, and Trowa barely speaks.' Duo closed his eyes. 'Yeah, they're my friends, but they're not you, Hilde. I'm bored.'

Somewhere outside the window, something made a whining noise. Duo's eyes went wide, and shifted towards the window. Curious, he slipped out of bed and crept over towards the window. He glanced around, but it was too dark to see. Something whined again.

"Huh?" In a move that he would later consider stupid, and blame on his being half asleep, he opened the window and stuck his head out. "Hey, is someone out here?" He called. Crickets chirped.

Then suddenly something shot out of the darkness and seized Duo by the hair. The boy's violet eyes went as wide as they got as he gasped and tried to pull back in fright. But in one swift movement, Duo was yanked out the window, screaming.

Then all was silent. The crickets had stopped chirping again.

Out in the bushes surrounding Quatre's estate, Duo struggled madly against whatever was holding him down. Finally he managed to kick his captor off, and scrambled away with a loud shout. He could hear something following him.

A few moments later, the outside lights flashed on. With a cry, Duo whirled around to face whatever was coming. His cry strangled in his throat as he registered what he was seeing. He blinked in surprise and almost broke into hysterics.

"Hee...Heero!?"

Standing there wearing nothing more than the leaves cluttering his hair, was Heero. He did not look particularly pleased. If Duo didn't know any better, he'd say Heero was blushing, but Heero didn't strike him as the blushing type. The other boy just muttered something about prowlers, then went and climbed back through the window to his bedroom, which was next to Duo's.

Duo was still blinking after him in confusion, when he heard the crunching of leaves. He turned to see Trowa walking towards him from around the corner of the house. He appeared calm at first glance, but his eyes were in shadow, and Duo thought he could see him shaking slightly. His green robe was ripped and completely torn apart in some places. There were also stains that looked suspiciously like blood to Duo.

"Man, Trowa, what happened to you!?" Duo gaped, noticing that his friend's jawline and throat were scratched up as well.

Trowa glanced blankly at Duo, then turned his eyes to look around the yard. "I fell into some bushes back there. What are you doing out here? I thought I heard someone screaming."

"Heero dragged me out here," Duo explained, giving Trowa a skeptical look. "I think we were both hearing something out here."

"Hmm... Probably just the local wildlife."

"Maybe..."

"What's going on out here?" Quatre turned the corner wearing a blue robe, rubbing his eyes. He stopped and looked between Trowa in his ripped up robe, and Duo still wearing his regular clothes that he apparently had fallen asleep in from their wrinkled state.

Trowa's eyes widened. "Uh, Quatre, what are you doing out here?"

"This is turnin' into a regular picnic," Duo snickered. "Should we go wake up Wufei too?"

"Trowa...you're hurt!" Quatre gasped and ran forward to check Trowa over. However, Trowa just took him by the arms and led him back towards the house. "Trowa?"

"I'm fine. We shouldn't be out here at night." There was a tense quality to his voice.

"But..."

"Yeah, guess I'll turn back in too," Duo raised a still suspicious eyebrow towards Trowa. "See you guys in the mornin'." He turned to climb back in his window while Trowa and Quatre headed back around the house.

After shutting the window behind him, Duo began taking off his clothes to sleep more comfortably. As he did, he realized that the white priest collar usually at his neck was missing. With a blink, he turned back towards the window. He must have somehow lost it during his scuffle with Heero, but he didn't feel like going back out there to find it in the dark. He grimaced, feeling a pain on his neck as he ran his hand over the spot where the collar had been. Pulling his hand away, he saw a little bit of blood.

Cursing Heero's strangeness, Duo pulled off his black shirt along with the rest of his clothes and settled down to bed. He just hoped that the rest of the nights there wouldn't be as weird. As he lay there, he heard the sound of someone walking incessantly upstairs, but it faded away as he drifted into sleep.

***

The next morning, Heero walked downstairs where everyone was quietly eating breakfast. He sat down with his plate next to Duo. He didn't say anything himself, but he was surprised when the braided pilot remained quiet. He usually couldn't get anywhere near him without getting exposed to an overly cheerful verbal blast. Heero wondered if Duo had actually been offended by his mistake last night, and glanced over.

Duo's eyes were threatening to close, and his head bobbed with the effort of staying up. He propped one hand beneath his chin to help, but it would slide down as he started to fade out again with a snore.

"Looks like Duo didn't sleep very well," Quatre observed with a bit of worry. "He's going to need a nap." He glanced over at Trowa, who was eating very quietly, though he also looked tired. "Both of you." He sighed.

Trowa just stared into his oatmeal with a vague expression. His green eyes almost seemed anxious. Then they hardened as he slowly turned his spoon in the mush. The others didn't really pay much attention, especially Duo, who was ready to fall asleep in his own breakfast. But Quatre watched Trowa with increasing worry. Trowa started shoveling the food into his mouth again as he noticed Quatre start to say something.

Then Wufei finally came down the stairs. He took a quick glance around the table and tilted his head slightly. "Well, this is a pleasant morning. Someone die?" He smirked and sat down.

Trowa abruptly stood and left the table. "I think I'm going to take that nap now. See you all later."

Quatre blinked after him. "Okay..."

Before anyone else could say anything, there was a clattering sound, and a splash. Those still at the table turned to see Duo sleeping peacefully with his head next to his bowl of tipped over cereal. With a grumble, Heero removed the bowl and set to cleaning up the mess.

***

Quietly sliding the bedroom door open, Quatre peered inside. His blue eyes sought out the bed first, but finding nothing there, searched the shadows. The room was empty however, and with a small frown, he stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

As he walked inside, he could hear the water running in the shower in the room's bathroom. The door was open, and glancing in, he could see Trowa's silhouette behind the rippling glass of the shower. He paused there for a moment in contemplation, then turned away towards the bed. He was about to sit down, when he saw what looked like Trowa's green turtleneck just beneath the bed. He reached down and pulled it out. It was Trowa's shirt, and it was ripped in two down the front of it. He frowned, wondering what could have possibly done the damage, or if Trowa had done it himself for some reason. Feeling the worry nagging at him again, he dropped it and kicked it back under the bed. Shoving his worry away as well, feeling silly about it, he fell back heavily on the plushy blue comforter on the bed.

The others had scattered about the house. He wasn't sure why, but everyone seemed tense or tired that day. Probably had to do with the fact that they had all been up so late the night before. Or maybe it was just jetlag. He closed his eyes, remembering how strange it had been to find everyone up and about in the middle of the night. He still wasn't sure what had happened to Trowa. He had claimed to have fallen into some bushes, but he had looked such a fright, Quatre could have sworn he'd been attacked. But Trowa wouldn't change his story.

Something about it disturbed Quatre though. Lying there, waiting for Trowa to come out of the shower, he drifted off to sleep. He hadn't even realized it until he felt himself waking up at a cold touch on his flat stomach. It shocked and tickled him, and he sat up laughing.

He turned to see Trowa sitting there in nothing but a towel around his waist smiling at him. Quatre gave him a mock scowl. "Hey, that was cold!" He reached out and removed Trowa's hand, which was still cold and wrinkled from the shower, from beneath his shirt. Then his expression turned to concern as his gaze dropped to Trowa's chest. There were five ugly red slashes trailing across his chest, and various marks along his shoulder and neck. They were so new, Quatre was surprised they weren't bleeding. His eyes wide with shock and sympathy, he reached out and gingerly ran his fingertips over the marks, running them down Trowa's chest. "Trowa..."

"It's okay," Trowa frowned and quickly got off the bed and headed towards the closet. He pulled out a sweater and pulled it on before turning around again. "It's not as bad as it looks."

"Are you sure, Trowa? That really looks like something clawed at you!" Suddenly Quatre remembered something. "I heard wolves howling last night. Did one attack you and you're just not telling me?"

"Wolves...?" The taller boy turned and stared at Quatre with a strange expression. For a moment he stuttered, then turned to continue dressing. "I don't think there's any wolves in this area...but it might have been some other animal. Nothing attacked me Quatre. The only one attacked last night was Duo, and that was only Heero."

"Heero?" Quatre gave Trowa a bewildered look and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, seems Heero thought there was a prowler and attacked Duo by mistake." Trowa scrubbed at his hair with the towel, trying to stop the water that was dripping down onto his sweater.

"Hmm." The corner of Quatre's mouth quirked in thought. "That's weird. I just hope every night isn't like that." He looked back at Trowa, still suspicious. "Come here. I want a closer look."

Pulling the towel off his head, Trowa turned to face Quatre. His green eyes looked very uncertain. He leaned back against the dresser. "Quatre...I just got out of the shower."

"I just want to get a closer look at whatever the heck you did to yourself last night," Quatre chuckled. He moved off the bed towards Trowa. He stopped in his tracks when he noticed Trowa startle slightly, and bump back against the dresser. The blonde's mouth opened in definite shock. Trowa was hiding it well, but he could feel the fear radiating from him. "Trowa? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just think you're making too big a deal over nothing." There was a small hostile tone to his voice.

"Trowa, the way you're acting, I don't think it's nothing." Quatre's lips tightened, trying not to feed back Trowa's emotion. Instead, he moved forward and took ahold of his sweater. "Now just let me see."

Before he could pull the sweater up, Trowa grabbed him by the arms and pushed him back onto the bed. Then he held him down, causing Quatre to gasp. They were so close, their noses nearly touched. Quatre couldn't help but feel a little turned on by how intensely Trowa's green eyes were staring into his, but he was still worried.

"What do you remember about last night?" Trowa asked quietly. Their bodies were pressed together so tightly on the bed, he could feel Quatre trembling beneath him.

Quatre swallowed. "Uh... Well, Duo spilled punch on the rug, then he broke the vacuum cleaner trying to clean it, then he vacuumed Heero's ammo, and.."

Trowa blinked. "No...after that."

"We played Battlesuit, and Heero destroyed all your mobilesuits two times in a row..."

Trowa's eyes narrowed slightly. "No, Quatre. After everyone went to bed."

"Oh..." Quatre smiled sheepishly. By this time, Quatre was starting to lose interest in talking, and his hands crept up around Trowa's torso. "Um...I think it went something like this..." He closed his eyes and tilted his head up just a little to kiss Trowa hungrily. He felt Trowa react with a jolt, but his kiss was soon returned as they crushed deeper into the bed.

Feeling Quatre's arms tighten around him, Trowa responded with a low animal-like growl deep in his throat. He moved down to kiss Quatre's throat, working at undoing the buttons there. Everything else was momentarily forgotten as he felt Quatre's hips shifting restlessly beneath him, and his sweater being tugged up.

In a daze of passion, Quatre was looking up at the ceiling, but he was focused on Trowa's mouth caressing his chest, lower and lower, button by button. His eyes clenched closed with emotion, and he grasped at Trowa, his hands spasming slightly. All he could hear was Trowa's excited breathing coupled with his own uneven gasps.

"OHH...!" Quatre suddenly gasped sharply and jerked his head back, his legs splaying out on the bed. "Tro...wa... I love you..." He squirmed breathlessly for what seemed like an eternity of sweet torture. Then he tensed with a loud groan.

Suddenly, Trowa yelped and jumped away from the bed. He fell back against the dresser again, knocking over a few picture frames. Quatre propped himself up in a confused haze, his blood still pounding, and his senses still tingling with delicious wild fire. "Trowa...?" He gulped for air.

For a moment, Trowa seemed to be somewhere else, his eyes wide and terrified. Then he slowly focused on Quatre. "What...else...do you remember?" He breathed.

Regaining some control of himself, Quatre ran a hand back through his blonde hair and frowned at Trowa. "What else?" He couldn't grasp at the moment what Trowa could possibly be talking about.

"From last night." Trowa was shaking, though it was hard to say why from the spooked look on his face.

"Well..." Quatre pulled his buttons back together a bit. "I think we went to sleep." He frowned. "Then I woke up and you were gone. I found you outside with Duo, looking like something went and mauled you!"

"You don't remember anything else?" Trowa lowered his head, gazing up at Quatre from beneath his hair. He had calmed down, but was watching Quatre with that intense look again.

"No, nothing." Quatre sighed. "I wish you'd tell me what's wrong. You're worrying me."

Trowa shook his head. "I think I'm just nervous. With wild animals, prowlers, and Heero jumping people in the middle of the night, I'm just a little edgy."

"You need to relax, maybe," Quatre smiled sweetly as he slid off the bed and sat on his heels across from Trowa. He leaned forward and placed his hands on Trowa's arms. Moving him gently, Quatre pulled him into his arms and let the taller boy sag against him. Under his weight, the blonde realized for the first time how tired Trowa was.

After Trowa allowed him to move them back onto the bed, he almost immediately fell asleep. Stroking the coppery hair, Quatre held his precious sleeper, feeling a little drowzy himself from Trowa's earlier attentions to him. Quatre tucked Trowa to himself as he closed his eyes.

He felt sure Trowa still wasn't telling him everything, but he clearly wasn't ready to tell him what was bothering him. The memory of the marks on his chest convinced Quatre to have a little talk with Duo later.

***

"Heero, if I keep floating here, what are the odds of some space rock falling from the sky and hitting me?"

Duo was floating around on his back in Quatre's pool. He was wearing black swimming trunks, and his braid floated in the water behind him, curving around as if it were a sea snake. Duo paddled with one arm and swung about in the water to face the side of the pool, where Heero was sitting reading a book. Heero was dressed in his usual attire of green tanktop and black spandex shorts. But in addition to that, he was also wearing a rather large sunhat, and some silly looking applications of sunscreen. He merely turned another page in his book, ignoring Duo.

Duo raised an eyebrow. "Hey, I should take a picture of you like that and send it to Relena. Bet she'd get a kick outta it!"

At this, Heero looked up from his book and glared at Duo. "Do it, and die."

"Hah! Made you talk!" Duo smirked triumphantly.

Heero's eyes narrowed. "Hopefully, that space rock will have a 100% success rate."

Duo just stuck his tongue out at the boy in the sunhat and dove underwater. He was swimming towards the other side of the pool beneath the water when the back patio door opened.

Quatre and Trowa walked out wearing swim trunks. Trowa, who was also wearing a pair of sunglasses, headed towards where Heero was sitting. He lay a towel in the shaded area just beyond Heero and lay down. He started talking to Heero, but Quatre couldn't hear what they were saying. He went towards the other end of the pool, where Duo was still submerged.

The blonde sat on the edge of the pool for a few minutes, expecting Duo to come up soon. When he didn't, he dropped into the pool himself, a bit worried. He was about to dive down and take a look, when Duo burst out of the water, gasping for air. He checked his water-proof watch and then grinned up at Quatre.

"Broke my record!"

"Oh, so that's what you were doing..." Quatre trailed off, noticing the reddish marks along the side of Duo's neck that reached down to his chest. They reminded him of what he'd seen on Trowa.

"Hey, you okay?" Duo blinked, noticing the color drain from Quatre's cheeks.

"Duo, what happened to you last night?" Quatre pointed to his neck. "Trowa's been acting strange, and I can't get anything out of him."

"Hmm..." Duo rubbed his neck with a frown. "Dunno what happened to Trowa. He sure looked a mess though. I made the mistake of opening my window last night, and Heero jumped me. And he had no clothes on! Geez, only Heero would go wandering around outside in the nude..."

Unfortunately, this was nothing new to Quatre. "Was there anything else that happened? All I really remember is hearing wolves last night. I'm not sure, but I think Trowa might have been attacked by one last night and just isn't telling me."

"Wolves? Around here?" Duo grinned.

"Yeah...that's what it sounded like anyway."

"Oooh...like this?" Then suddenly Duo threw his head back and let out a very loud, long, and mournful howl. It was so realistic, that everyone at the pool turned and stared at him.

"Y-Yeah...exactly like that!" Quatre felt the hair rising all over his body with a tingling sensation. "Did you...?"

"Nah, didn't hear a thing," Duo laughed. "I do a good impression though! Scares the hell outta folks on the colonies who don't know any better about wild animals than what they see in the movies or tv." He said with an evil grin.

"I mean, was that you doing that last night?" Quatre frowned slightly.

"Nope, not me, Quat. I haven't done much howling since Hilde stayed behind on the colonies, if you catch my drift," he winked and backstroked towards the middle of the pool. Then he looked at his watch, took a deep breath, and dove beneath the sparkling blue surface of the water once again.

Kicking away from the side of the pool, Quatre was headed across the pool towards Heero and Trowa, when he saw the bushes surrounding the pool moving. He stopped, and looked up to see Wufei stumble towards them. They all turned and stared, too shocked to move for several moments.

Bright red blood soaked Wufei's normally white clothing. It dripped from his hands to the concrete. He was breathing heavily, in shuddering rasps. His entire body was shaking, and his black eyes were wide with shock. "B-Blood...everywhere..."

"Wufei! What happened?" Quatre cried, swimming for the edge of the pool as fast as he could. "Are you hurt?"

Heero and Trowa were already advancing on him. As if sensing something amiss, Duo resurfaced and followed after Quatre. "God, Wufei!" He gasped. "What the hell happened!?"

"This isn't your blood," Heero noted calmly, looking him over. He couldn't find even a scratch. He looked Wufei in the eye. "Talk."

"Back in the stables," Wufei finally managed, glancing over his shoulder. "Your horse, Quatre...it's..."

Realizing what Wufei was trying to say, Quatre ran off in the direction of the horse stables. He could hear the others following him, but he didn't slow down. His attention was on the trail of blood on the grass. It led all the way into the horse stables. He smelled the heavy odor before he saw the dark mass lying inside the smashed in stall door.

"A-Allah..." Quatre cupped his hands to his hands and mouth. Recoiling in horror, disgust, and grief, he stepped back into someone. Recognizing the touch of hands on his shoulders, he turned and hid his face in Trowa's chest.

"Man...somethin' butchered it..." Duo gasped at the sight of what had once been a horse.

"What is it?" Wufei asked Heero, who was kneeling next to the splintered and broken stall door.

"Whatever came in here just smashed on through." Heero narrowed his eyes. "Looks like that horse has been dead at least since last night... Wufei, what were you doing in here?"

"I was just walking around," Wufei rubbed his hands onto his pants uneasily. "When I saw the door like that, I came in to see what had happened, and I slipped on all that," he nodded towards the bloody hay lining the bottom of the stall.

"Looks like a wild animal broke in here." Trowa glanced over at Heero. "Must have been starving to be desperate enough to break down the door like that."

His suddenly wide eyes filled with suspicious curiosity, Quatre raised his head to look up at Trowa. The taller one didn't look back at him. He merely gave the back of Quatre's neck beneath his hand a gentle squeeze. Quatre could feel his heart racing beneath his own chest.

'Are you afraid, Trowa?' Quatre thought to himself.

"An animal?" Duo pressed his lips together and looked thoughtful. "Hey, I wonder if that chubbyquatre thing is behind this..."

"Huh!?" Quatre turned and gave Duo a bewildered look.

"You mean 'chupacabra,'" Trowa muttered.

"Chupacabra?" Wufei looked between Duo and Trowa. "Sounds like something from a mexican fastfood menu."

"Chupacabra, spanish for 'goat sucker.'" Heero recited in monotone. "It's a small being with big red eyes that attacks animals, usually livestock, goats, for example, hence the name. It sucks them dry like a vampire. Most commonly sighted in latin america." He ran his fingertips over the broken wood, then stood. His blue eyes looked up from beneath his dark hair towards the others. "No mythical creature did this."

Duo nodded. "Yeah, you're right." He wiped the blood on his feet into the hay with a slightly disgusted look. "No way a chupa woulda left this much blood."

"Maxwell, you idiot!" Wufei snapped.

"What!?" Duo turned his wide, confused eyes on Wufei.

"Poor Bluebell," Quatre sobbed. "She was such a good horse."

Hearing the front door of the stables creak, they all turned around. Heero pulled out a gun and aimed it, though no one could tell where he'd gotten it from. At the click of his gun, the figure standing at the doorway stopped. It was Rashid.

"Err..." The towering man glanced between them and the stables. "I'm very sorry, Master Quatre. I found Bluebell this morning, and was hoping to have this cleaned up before you found it. I'd hoped to make the news as painless as possible."

"It's okay, Rashid," Quatre sniffled. "Please make sure she's buried properly."

"Of course," Rashid nodded somberly.

***

A few hours later, Bluebell the horse was removed. Inside the dark stable, Rashid was scrubbing out the inside of the bloody stall, when he heard the sound of hay crunching underfoot. He turned around to see a small figure standing next to the fallen stall door.

"Can I help you?"

"I don't think so." It was Wufei. He had since changed into clean clothes, though now he was wearing a dark blue tanktop, black shorts, and sandals. "But we both know that horse wasn't killed by any jungle animal."

There was a chilling silence.

"What makes you say that?" Rashid asked in a low rumble. He turned back to scrubbing the stall.

"Only a starving animal would have been desperate enough to break into a stall, that's true. But if it really was starving, there's no way it would have been strong enough to take down a horse in prime condition. The weak only fair well against the weak. That horse was strong." Wufei tested the broken wood beneath his foot. "Whatever killed it was stronger. Much stronger."

"Don't tell me you believe in chupacabras," Rashid sounded amused.

"No," Wufei frowned, hating being made light of. "But I do believe you're not telling me something, Rashid. You're not a very good liar."

"Is that so? Then what do you think happened here?"

Cold black eyes burned into Rashid's back. When the silence became painful, Rashid turned his head and returned the glare. Beyond words, there was only harsh truth in their eyes. Then Wufei smiled wickedly.

"We all have our monsters, lurking just beneath the surface. And they're not the least bit mythical." Wufei glanced to the side, obscuring his face in shadow. "And no one can keep them secret forever. I don't know what you know, or what you think you know... But I will find out eventually."

With a snort, Rashid turned away, and went back to his work. He ignored the boy who continued to stand there with glittering black eyes.

***

Later in the day, Duo lost himself in Quatre's vast library. It was hours before anyone even realized how quiet it was. When he didn't come running at a shout, Quatre, Heero, and Trowa began to search for him. They tried to get Wufei to help in the search, but he refused to leave his room to 'chase after Maxwell.'

Heero found him first. The braided pilot had his nose buried in a book, which prompted the Wing pilot to make an off-hand comment about the other's reading abilities.

"Hey, just because I don't live on the written word alone, like some people...!" Duo retorted. "I'll bet I read better than you can, Heero!"

"Duo?" Quatre made his way over, followed by Trowa. "What have you been doing? We were worried!"

"I've just been doing a little reading," Duo grinned. "And I think I know what would go around killing horses."

"Huh?" Quatre blinked. "What?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He held up the book and showed them a ridiculous looking picture of a shaggy creature with giant fangs and glowing eyes. "Remember that howling you heard last night? It's a werewolf!"

There was a collective groan.

Duo gave them all an exasperated look. "I really wish you guys would quit that! I'm serious here! I mean, there's no wolves in this area! We're obviously dealing with a man-wolf here!" He looked thoughtful for a moment. "I considered vampires for a while, but that couldn't be the answer any more than the chupacabra. The scene was way too messy."

Quatre stared at him with saucer-like blue eyes. Trowa looked extremely pale. Heero, his face usually expressionless, looked like he was trying to restrain himself from either going into a rage, or breaking into hysterics, which made him look very strange. His face turning red, he suddenly grabbed the book from Duo and smacked him over the head with it.

"OW!"

"Duo, there are no vampires, no chupacabras, and no werewolves," Heero said calmly, not reflecting his face at all. "Most likely it was some jungle animal, considering the corpse was partially eaten.

"Why won't you guys ever take me seriously?" Duo grumbled.

They all stared at him.

Duo sighed.

***

That night, the house fell into a calm once more. Trowa had retreated into the television room to settle down into the large plush couch there. He didn't turn on the television. He just sat in the dark with his eyes closed. Someone came and climbed into his lap when he was almost asleep.

"Quat," he whispered, recognizing his soft scent. Arms encircled his neck, and he felt cool silk settle on his cheek. He lifted his hand to stroke the head resting against his neck. His other arm gathered Quatre closer to him.

The rhythm of their hearts beating together, and their breathing had nearly lulled them both to sleep, when they felt something jar the couch. Then there was a click, and the sound of the television chattering to life. The two lovers frowned and squinted their eyes open.

Duo was sitting next to them, clutching a remote and a tv guide. His smiling violet eyes darted over to them, as if noticing them for the first time. "Whoops...sorry guys, there's somethin' comin' on that I wanna see..."

Trowa felt Quatre turn and sigh against his neck. He was considering picking up Quatre and leaving the room, when Heero walked in and sat on the other end of the couch. He was wearing only his black spandex and a pair of pink fuzzy bunny slippers. Everyone turned and stared at him.

Heero glared back at them. "What?"

"Uh...nothing," Quatre and Trowa mumbled at the same time.

Duo just arched one of his eyebrows. 'I think being away from Relena is starting to decay his mind,' he thought to himself. 'I wonder how long it'll be until I start going around in a beret...' He shook the thought off and went back to channel surfing.

"Are you going to watch something or break Quatre's remote?" Heero growled after a few minutes.

"Hey, Quatre gets over three thousand channels, since his satellite dish picks up everything on Earth and the colonies! It's gonna take me a while to find the channel!" Duo protested.

"You don't have to click through every channel to get there, you know," Quatre reached out for the remote.

"Wait! I've found it!" Duo yelled and dropped the remote.

A grating howl came from the television set. On screen was a big full moon. Trowa looked from the screen to Duo. "Exactly what are we watching?"

"Blood of the Werewolf!"

Immediately, Trowa picked up Quatre, surprising the smaller boy, and went upstairs. Heero slouched in his seat for a moment. Then he draped an arm over his face and fell asleep. Duo tugged on his braid and shrugged. "You guys have no taste."

***

Later that night, Duo was the last one to go to bed. Like the night before, it was deceptively quiet. As he drifted off to sleep though, Duo swore that he would not open the window that night, no matter what. Heero could run around Quatre's property in his birthday suit all by himself. Violet eyes clouded over, and closed, transporting the boy into restless sleep. Strange dreams played through his mind...

A dark doorway. Duo stared into it, wondering where he was. All around him was darkness, except for the doorway, which he could only see because a thin blue aura surrounded it. He wasn't afraid, and he walked into it.

Then suddenly he was outside of himself. He knew this because he was looking at himself standing on a dirt path in a dark forest. It was a very dusty forest, filled with shadows. Very little light breached the vast canopy of leaves. Where he stood, he was very sure the forest went on forever.

Duo looked back at himself. He was wearing his usual braid, black boots, and priest clothes. But he was also wearing a blood red cape with a matching hood that hid most of his face in the darkness, with only the tips of his chestnut colored bangs poking out from under it. Then suddenly he wasn't outside of himself anymore, and he was skipping along the path, his red cape flapping out behind him.

"Where are you going, little boy?"

"Me?" Duo stopped, seeing someone leaning against a tree just a few feet up the trail. He smiled. It was Wufei in dark brown pants, black boots, and a hunter's jacket. In his hand was an ancient rifle that held Duo's curiousity, and he stared at it.

"Yes, you. Where are you going by yourself? Don't you know this forest is dangerous? A fairy could enchant you, or worse, a wolf could gobble you up."

"I don't know where I'm going... Hey, since when do you care what happens to me, Wufei?" Duo asked, still skipping along.

"I'm a huntsman, I'm supposed to watch out for idiots like you, Maxwell."

"Well, don't worry about me! The God of Death can take care of himself!" And with that, Duo skipped on by, and deeper into the dark forest. It wasn't long before he lost the trail completely.

Occasionally tripping over the thick underbrush, Duo soon grew tired. His cape was constantly getting caught on twigs. Finally he collapsed, right into a circle of toadstools, crushing them flat. A huge cloud of spores flew into the air, and he began coughing violently.

Then he was outside of himself again. Somewhere beneath the dark shrubbery of the forest, he watched himself flailing on the ground with hungry eyes. There was a snarling sound, coming from within him.

"Hey! That wasn't nice!" A small voice cried.

Back in his own body, Duo glanced down. There were several bright green leafy plants around him, but he couldn't see anyone around who could have spoken. Feeling a chill, he glanced back towards where he had been watching himself a moment before. Out there was a part of the forest that was so shadowed, that he could see nothing but blackness. Though he thought he saw a small glint of light...

"Get off! You'll crush them all!"

"Huh!?" Duo looked down again. Down in the plants, he saw a small fluorescent blue glow on one of the bright green plants. At first he thought it was just light reflecting off the dewy surface, but as he leaned in and looked closer...

"Don't get so close! I'm warning you...I don't want to hurt you!" Squeaked an incredibly tiny, and luminous Quatre. He was sitting on one of the leaves, crouched on his hands and feet, looking very frightened. The small leaf was a vast plain to the little elf. That's what Duo supposed he must be, since he could barely make out delicate pointed ears. All Quatre was wearing was an exotic weave of color and light around his waist, that Duo guessed must be composed of some sort of plant and flower life. Otherwise, he looked just like Quatre appeared to him everyday, so Duo just smiled.

"Quatre! You look like you shrunk in the wash!"

"I didn't shrink, this is my natural size!" Quatre huffed. "You're just too big! And you're stepping all over my natural resource toadstools! If you don't stop, I'll have to sue you!"

"Sheesh, someone woke up on the wrong side of the dandelions this morning," Duo snickered. "I'm sorry, I'm just a little lost, I think."

"You had better not be stepping on my dandelions too," another voice piped up coldly from the same leaves. One of the leaves above Quatre shivered slightly, as if a breeze had gone by. But the air was still.

On closer inspection, Duo noticed another glow on the leaf right above Quatre, a green glow. Once he'd seen it, he was able to make out another tiny elf, though slightly bigger than Quatre, not that it really mattered much when one was that small... It was Trowa, also with small pointed ears, sitting crosslegged with his hands on his knees, and giving Duo a hard glare. He was wearing a similar shimmering weave around his waist as Quatre, but his had several bright red featherings in it, that appeared to be made of real red feathers. There were also tufts of red feather fluff tangled into his amber hair.

"Whoa, you too, Trowa?" Duo laughed. "I can't believe it, I'm finally bigger than you are!"

The tiny Trowa just watched him with a dangerous gleam in his emerald eyes. The glow around him of the same color flared noticably. In a blurred movement, he flung up his outstretched hand, releasing what looked like a storm of glitter at Duo.

Gagging at the onslaught, Duo tried jumping away. Instead, he only staggered and pitched forward as his head suddenly felt as if it had detached from his body was spinning towards the ground... Then he lurched towards his knees, clutching at his head, willing the world to stay still. And finally it did.

Duo opened his eyes and looked down. The good thing was that the elves were gone. He looked himself over. And he seemed just fine. His violet eyes darted from side to side. However, the world seemed to have turned completely green. The ground beneath him was like a giant green piece of plastic. He nearly fell onto the slippy surface getting to his feet. But there was a buzzing sound, and he lifted off the ground before he could fall.

"Wha?" Duo panicked when he couldn't get his feet back down. He was suspended in the air, and the more frightened he became, the higher he went. "What the hell is going on!? Put me down!"

Then he turned his head to try to see what was buzzing so loudly in his ears. His breath caught in his throat. Wings like that of a dragonfly were whirring on his back, from either side of his red cape. He touched the tips of his now pointed ears to confirm his suspicions.

"Oh God! He turned me into a fairy!" Duo yelled.

A flash of green light dropped onto him, knocking him roughly to the ground. Duo felt a heavy pain on his chest and back, as he was slammed down. His thin as plastic wrap, prism-like wings twitched uselessly on either side of him. Then he froze when he saw a glittery face with deadly emerald eyes staring down into his.

"Now that I've cut you down to size," Trowa said quietly and ominously, "you will answer for your crimes."

Realizing that the elf was now bigger than he was, and apparently stronger, Duo gulped. "Now Trowa...they were only a bunch of pizza toppings..." He began laughing nervously. Trowa did not look amused.

"Trowa! Don't hurt him!" Quatre ran up behind them.

Trowa looked back at Quatre, and his expression softened slightly. "Quatre, he must be punished. It is the law."

"Yeah..." Quatre frowned. "But..." His bright blue eyes widened and he bounded closer. "The fairy queen should be the one to judge him!" He gave Trowa a pleading look.

Trowa just stared back. Then he closed his eyes with an annoyed expression, and then turned back towards Duo. "You've been momentarily spared, thanks to Quatre." He moved away from Duo and stood in one graceful movement. "But you may wish I had done away with you. The fairy queen can be merciful...but she can also be exceedingly cruel."

"C'mon guys, it was just an accident!" Duo complained, standing carefully. His pants were soaked with dew, and he wiped at them in a useless effort to dry them off.

"Tell it to queenie," Quatre giggled evilly.

"Since she's the queen, she'll be expecting you," Trowa said, moving behind Quatre and casually draping himself over the shorter elf's shoulders. "In the deep forest," he crossed an arm across Quatre's chest and pointed towards the dark woods beyond them.

"And what if I just refuse to go!?"

"Then you can just stay a fairy here in the forest forever," Trowa closed his eyes and played with Quatre's hair. Then he opened them again and smiled darkly at the braided fairy. "Or at least until a spider or something eats you. Fairies with no magic don't survive very long in these woods," he chuckled with malicious glee.

"Sorry, that's just how it is," Quatre chuckled along with Trowa.

"Damn, damn, dammmnnnn...." Duo gritted his teeth, and looked back at the dark woods. A chill went through him. It was far off the trail, and he knew there was something evil out there. "So, I don't have a choice, do I?" He turned back towards the elves. "Can this fairy queen turn me back to normal?"

"Right as rain!" Quatre chirped. "That is, if she decides you're innocent."

"But if she finds you guilty..." Trowa added, "you'll be lucky if she kills you."

"Swell." Duo muttered. He walked away from them, and nearly slipped making his way towards the edge of the leaf. On the ragged edge, he peered over at the frighteningly high drop. "How the hell am I supposed to get down from here?" He had wings, but was too nervous to try using them again. It was a big risk, and he was daring, not stupid.

"Simple." Trowa moved away from Quatre and went over to where Duo was kneeling on the edge of the leaf. Then he put a foot between the fairy's wings, and kicked him off.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Duo screamed as he dropped.

"Fly! Move your wings!" Quatre yelled down at him.

Duo was too panicked to concentrate on flying. So he fell. He suddenly stopped screaming when he unexpectedly latched onto one of the glowing things whisking through the air. They were all over the place, and up until now, he hadn't paid any real attention to them. Now that he had it firmly in his grasp, however, and he had stopped falling, he saw what they were.

Squinting through the rainbow glow, he saw that it was a fairy wearing a blue flowerpetals around her chest and waist. Unnaturally tiny bluebells wreathed around her long shimmering blonde hair. She scowled down at him and buzzed her iridescent red butterfly wings in annoyance.

"Get your hands off me!" Dorothy shouted, kicking Duo off her foot. Then she flew away in a jagged trail of red light.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Duo screamed again, falling once more.

Above, Quatre watched nervously.

"Is he dead yet?" Trowa asked with little interest, lying back on the leaf with his eyes closed and his arms behind his head.

"Not yet... I'm surprised he's still falling."

"Fairies are light." Trowa yawned. "They're airheads."

A berry suddenly fell from the sky and smashed into Trowa's head. He didn't open his eyes, but he frowned deeply, swiping the berry away, and the red mush out of his hair. "Fairies," he grumbled.

"Hello Dorothy!" Quatre waved happily at a speck of light above their heads.

Meanwhile, Duo was still falling.

"Damn, I must have been up really high," Duo blinked, finally calming down. "Guess I'd better try out my wings." So he did. He willed himself to go up, and suddenly he felt the vibration behind him, and a whirring sound. He yelped as he shot up into the air faster than he expected to. He went up so fast, he zoomed up right past Quatre, making the elf's blonde bangs fly up away from his face.

"Huh?" Quatre flinched. Then he tilted his head to look up. "Trowa! He's flying!"

"Drat..." Trowa sighed.

Quatre glared back him.

"Err...I mean, goodie."

Quatre raised an eyebrow, then just shook his head.

After a few sharp up and down turns, Duo finally flew towards the dark side of the woods. He just kept flying, since he still didn't really know where he was going. "I hope this place has road signs to the fairy queen," Duo muttered. It was so dark, he was afraid of knocking into a tree, but he didn't want to slow down.

He felt like he was being followed.

Suddenly he was outside of his body again. He was rushing through bushes and long grass on all fours, in near darkness. Everything felt more real than it had before. Cold wind blew through his fur, and he could hear what sounded like the buzzing of insects, the rustle of feathers, the crunching of leaves and twigs beneath his paws, and other woodsy noises. He could smell something too... Up ahead, he could smell fear. And he was starving.

With a gasp, Duo spun up into the air, suddenly back in his own fairy body again. He whirled around, his eyes wide. Violet eyes searched up and down. But he could see nothing out there among the trees. Nervously, he looked around to see if there were any other fairies around. None of the dancing lights he'd seen in the rest of the woods were here. There was only darkness and a musty smell.

Duo pulled his red hood over his head and drew the cloak close around himself. It was cold. Then he saw a dark object waving among the ferns. A dark, furry, fluffy tail.

The fairy wanted to fly away, but he didn't move. Two tufted dark ears the same color as the tail popped out of the ferns as well. Those were followed by a mess of dark hair, and two steely blue eyes. The wolf's eyes narrowed, and two shoulders hunched up as if preparing to pounce.

"I'll eat you," he growled.

"Heero!?" Duo gasped.

"No." Heero stalked forward on all fours, one shoulder in front of the other, fingers splayed. He snarled. "I am Heerrrrrooooooooooooooo!" He threw back his head and howled.

"Aw, c'mon..." Duo blanched, seeing that other than the strange new furry appendages, the zero one pilot was once again in the nude. "I thought wolves were supposed to have fur!"

Heero glared up at him. "Prepare to die, mini-meat."

"Uhhh..." Seeing Heero suddenly spring up at him, Duo screamed and started flying as fast as he could. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" He zigged and zagged around trees, but Heero was still coming up fast behind him. Duo tried going higher, but he heard the wolf jump into the branches of the trees, bark and branches scraping and snapping.

Duo's violet eyes watered and wobbled. "Help! Somebody help me! AAAAAAHHH!!!" He screamed yet again as a huge shadow appeared in front of him. A deafening roar filled the air, and there was a flash of light. Duo went spinning to the forest floor.

An angry growl went up from Heero before he turned and ran away. Duo knew he wouldn't stay away, but he was glad he was gone for the moment. He tried standing up where he was on a blade of grass. Miraculously, he wasn't hurt. He was feeling his wings for injury, when he saw a huge shadow pass over him, making the woods even darker.

"What did I tell you? Now you're cursed." Wufei smirked down at him. "I saved you this time, but unless you can free yourself from whatever spell the pixies put on you, you're as good as dead. Wolves can sense weakness."

"Yeah, yeah, you told me so," Duo pouted.

"Yes, I did." Wufei slung his rifle over his shoulder. "Watch out, Maxwell. That wolf could be anywhere. Absolutely anywhere." He glanced down at the tiny fairy with his black eyes and smiled. Light glinted from a sharp fang-like tooth in his mouth, then he stomped away whistling an eerie tune.

Duo stared after him, feeling uneasy. "Creepy."

Alone once more, Duo continued to fly deeper and deeper into the dark dark forest of really really weird and creepy stuff. After a while, he began to notice a soft, sweet scent in the air. He dove through a tangle of hanging moss, into a clearing. Looking down, he saw he was skimming across a vast silver pool.

Catching his reflection in the perfectly still mirror surface, he stopped and hovered in midair. Then he set his feet down on the skin of the water, as if he were standing there, and looked around. He gave a low whistle.

"Oooh, impressive." He set off again with a renewed burst of speed, dragging one foot behind him in the water, sending small waves in his wake. "This is better than jet ski!"

Suddenly his foot was tugged down sharply, dragging him from the air into the water. He cried out in shock and splashed around. His wings were wet and useless. Coughing, he soon found that he wasn't sinking any further. He froze. Something was still touching his ankle.

Whatever it was moved up his leg. Then it slid up higher... Duo swallowed. For some reason he couldn't pull away. He made an involuntary noise of surprise and protest as it traveled across his groin. Then it crept up higher, to his stomach. When it reached his chest, he could finally see what it was.

A delicate hand, with fingers reaching out towards him. With a frown, he found the strength to move, and snatched that hand away in a tight grip. He lifted a curious eyebrow at the hand so small in his grasp. Slowly pulling it up, a long slender arm followed it. Then a head of raven black hair, with water streaming from the ends of the short locks. Beneath a circle of silver, intercrossed with streaks of rainbow lights, arctic blue eyes locked with his own. It was a girl fairy wearing a long flowing violet gown, which billowed out in the water. She gave a sweep of her massive, iridescent blue butterfly wings, and rose up to meet him. She smiled mischievously at him.

"Hilde...?" Duo finally managed to squeak.

With a slight inclination of the head, she reached up and pushed back the red hood he was wearing. Her hands drifted through his hair for a moment before sliding down his cheeks. Duo almost closed his eyes.

"I am Hilde, queen of the fairies," she said softly. "And you've been sent to be judged by me."

"You're the queen!?" Duo's mouth fell open, his eyes now very wide open. He suddenly felt very weak, and if he hadn't been floating, he was sure he would have fallen to his knees.

A light swirled up around them, and he knew she was surrounded by magic. He wanted to hold her, but didn't know if this Hilde would know him. She didn't look cruel to him, but he'd seen Hilde in a bad mood before. "I've missed you..." He whispered. The light was becoming brighter, and he prepared for the worst.

"Duo, you big lug. I haven't gone anywhere."

Like a splash of paint, soft blue light blotted out Duo's vision. His apprehension fled from his mind, and he lunged out into space. "Hilde!"

A breezy caress encircled him like flowing, laughing silk. "I'm always here with you, Duo, don't you know that?" Hilde's voice echoed like crystal within his mind.

Suddenly weightless, Duo felt as if all the air had been sucked out of his lungs, but for some reason it wasn't at all discomforting. His legs gave out from under him, and he fell back into the water, and it engulfed him. Water whistled past his ears, as he fell through seemingly endless bubbles of darkness and light. Finally, he landed on his back on cool softness.

With a gasp, Duo was breathing again. There was no water, just the damp grass that he could feel beneath his bare arms. Grass? Opening his eyes, he glanced around at the now normal sized trees surrounding him. Gripping the grass beneath his fingers, he smiled, realizing he was now his regular size again. Shimmering light caught the corner of his eye.

"Huh? Why do I still have wings?" Duo pushed himself up on his elbows.

"Oh, I'm not done judging you yet," Hilde giggled, pushing him back down as she materialized over him in a blue light. "You will answer for your crimes." Now human-sized herself, Hilde lay atop him as if he were a rug.

"What..." Duo gulped as her hands slid up his chest and began untying his cape and hood. "What are you doing?"

The red cape and hood slid off, and Hilde's hands slid up to cradle his face. Duo was finding it harder to stay still. "I've decided that you're guilty." She smiled darkly.

Duo paled at her words. Then in the next instant, he completely flushed as all the fairy girl's clothing disappeared in a silvery glimmer. As she slowly descended into his wide violet eyes, several thoughts went through him.

'Damn Duo, you do realize that you're dreaming... Hilde isn't really here... God, she smells like her shampoo...' Duo couldn't help the shiver that went through him as her face disappeared against his neck. Her black hair rustled by his ear.

His eyes closed into amethyst cresents, liquid with desire. Somehow she merely brushed his shirt away, and her kisses made their way to his chest, sending tingles through to his very core. Duo moaned, unable to resist any longer.

He took her face and kissed her greedily. Somehow, even in this dream, he knew it was his Hilde. His salvation, his goddess. The one he loved with a passion not even death could dispel.

A finger drew gently down his cheek. Duo closed his eyes in delight, moving his face against her touch. When her other hand trailed down his thigh, his eyes blinked back open. Now his pants were missing too. His eyes met Hilde's again, and she gave him a secret smile, her blue eyes glowing softly, like stars.

Duo gasped as she moved onto him, her hands moving to slide up onto his shoulders. He cried out in anguish and passion as she moved on him again and again, unable to move, locked in place by her magic. He wanted to touch her, but the fairy queen was merciless in her punishment.

Finally, it all became too much. Crying out in ecstacy, Duo arched against her, and his head tossed back. As he did, he caught sight of two eyes watching them from the darkness. Duo trembled again, but this time from fear.

"Hilde!"

He still couldn't move. Hilde only laughed, tracing his bare chest with rainbow colored fairydust. The thing in the darkness snarled with large fangs, and the two eyes glowed an evil red.

Duo tried to struggle, tried to warn Hilde, but it was no use. Nearly crying in terror, he screamed. And screamed even louder, when he hurled himself from the darkness and attacked the two playful lovers with an ear-shattering howl and a clash of snapping fangs.

The world scattered into Hilde's fairy dust.

Duo turned around with a gasp of fright. "Who?"

The thing in the darkness grinned a sharp-toothed grin at him. It had dark brown hair. It was Heero. "I am the perfect predator. You... are lunch." He licked his lips and crouched.

Duo screamed louder than before as Heero lunged at him. Then the dream shattered again, into reality. But the fear didn't go away.

Screaming and drenched with sweat, Duo opened his eyes. He was horrified to see that Heero was still there, his face hovering over him in the darkness. "Wake up! Wake up!" Duo screamed as loud as he could, his violet eyes wide and near tears. He struggled to get up, but Heero held him down firmly by the arms.

"You ARE awake! Calm down!" Heero narrowed his eyes at him. "It's just me."

"Exactly!" Duo gasped, shaking, but coming to grips as his eyes adjusted to the dark. He was back in his room in Quatre's mansion in South America. With a grimace and a groan, he realized he was a sticky mess, but definitely awake. He relaxed and his head fell back into his pillow.

Squinting, Duo furrowed his brows as he happened to glance further down at Heero, who was still holding him down. After rolling his eyes, he closed them with an exasperated sigh. His mouth twisted up in irritation. "Dammit Heero, is your spandex too tight these days or something? What's your aversion to wearing clothes lately!?"

"My clothes fit fine. I simply don't sleep in them."

"You're not asleep! You're sitting on me!" Duo growled. "Get off!"

Heero half climbed off of Duo, and was half pushed off the bed. At this moment, the door opened. Switching on the light as he entered, Trowa took in the scene and halted in the doorway. Despite the block in the doorway, Quatre squeezed in around him. Then he froze as well.

"Uhh... We heard screaming..." Quatre stuttered. He hadn't seen Heero jump off the bed as Trowa had. But he did see Heero buck naked, and in the bed, Duo was so sweaty, his hair was wet and sticking to his face. He didn't want to think about that suspicious looking stain on the blanket...

"Why is everybody in my room in the middle of the night!?" Duo yelled angrily, clutching at his blanket. He had a fierce blush.

"Like Quatre said," Trowa explained, "we heard you screaming. I certainly would have preferred to stay in bed, but Quatre wanted to make sure you weren't being chewed alive by some bloodsucking monster," he finished with a straight face.

"I've been checking the grounds," Heero said, seemingly unconcerned with his appearance. "I thought I heard someone wandering around outside again. When I heard Duo screaming, I came back here. His window was already open, so I came in that way." He cast a glance around the room. "However, Duo was only having some nightmare, so I woke him up to stop him from screaming."

"You didn't have to jump on me!" Duo fumed.

"When I tried to wake you up, you attacked me in your sleep. I had to hold you down." Heero moved towards the window.

"Well, all that aside, is everyone okay?" Quatre asked.

"I guess," Duo sighed, pulling his loose hair back behind his ears. "I was having the freakiest dreams though." He looked up and pointed at Quatre. "And you were there..." He moved his finger towards Trowa. "And you were there..." With a dour expression, he swung his finger accusingly towards Heero. "And you were there!"

"And Toto too, I'll bet," Heero added dryly. "I'm going to bed now."

"No Toto, but Dorothy was there!" Duo glared at Heero.

After Heero had departed out the window, Quatre looked back towards Duo. "Really? Was Wufei there too?" Clearly having heard enough, Trowa left the room, while Quatre went over to the closet.

"Yeah," Duo mumbled. "Sorry about all this, Quatre."

"It's okay," Quatre smiled as he retrieved clean bedding from the closet and set it at the foot of the bed. "Guess the nights are just going to be interesting around here."

"That's one way of putting it... 'Nite, Quatre."

"Goodnight, Duo." Quatre said softly, closing the door behind him.

Finally alone, Duo peeled himself out of bed. Before heading over to the bathroom, he made extra sure to close and lock the window. It wasn't until he was in the middle of a cold shower that he remembered that he had closed the window before going to bed that evening. He didn't sleep the rest of that night. The next morning, he had Quatre move him into one of the second floor rooms. A room without windows.

***

It was still morning when Trowa stepped out onto the back patio for some fresh air. Instead of fresh air, he was greeted by a rank, stifling smell. He didn't have to go far to find the source of the stink. Among the buzzing of flies, a bloody mangled corpse littered the grass. Whatever it had been was large, probably a cow.

His fists clenching at his sides, Trowa closed his eyes. "Not again," he whispered in a strained voice. "I thought I had this under control..."

Footsteps came up behind him. "Damn... Looks like it went through a blender!" Duo stopped and glanced up at Trowa. "I'm telling you...something very wrong is goin' on around here."

"Quatre," Heero called from the doorway, "you've got another dead animal out here."

Turning around hastily, Trowa moved past Heero and tried to intercept Quatre. "No, don't come out here, Quatre. It's..."

"Trowa!" Quatre sighed and dodged Trowa's efforts. "It's okay." He ran a hand back through his hair as he joined Duo in inspecting the mess. "Poor animal... Must've been dragged here from one of the ranches in the area. What could be doing this?"

Duo opened his mouth to say something, but Heero quickly glared over at him. "Don't even think about saying it."

"Okay, I won't." Duo narrowed his eyes at Heero, then widened them again when he looked down at the remains of the cow. "I will, however, bring your attention to the big clawmarks in that sucker." He pointed towards the gouges in the side of one intact piece. Then he clawed at the air. "Whatever did that was something nasty."

"Duo, will you give it a rest?" Trowa suddenly turned, almost threateningly, on the braided boy.

"Aw, hell, Trowa," Duo's face twisted sourly. The dark bags under his eyes gave him an almost demonic look. "Why don't you make me? I'm getting sick and tired of everyone giving me crap."

It appeared that Trowa was about to take up Duo's challenge, when a hand clamped down on his arm. Quatre pushed Trowa to the side, placing himself between the two. "Stop it, both of you."

"Sorry, Quatre." Duo turned away. "Guess I'm just a little tired. If everyone's gonna be so touchy, I'll go back inside." With a half wave, he walked back into the house. He didn't even look up as Rashid came out at the same time.

"Oh, not again," Rashid grumbled. "That's it, I'm installing better security around here. Whatever's doing this needs to be dealt with."

Quatre looked up at Rashid. "This is getting rather gruesome."

"What sort of security are you talking about installing?" Heero asked as Rashid turned back towards the house. He followed after the towering man, with Quatre close behind.

Left alone, Trowa continued to stare out at the carnage. It was, as Quatre said, rather gruesome. But he knew it could be far worse. Feeling eyes on him, he turned and lifted his head over his shoulder. Sitting in a window far above him, Wufei was staring down at him with his brows knitted together. Trowa's jaw clenched slightly, feeling irritated, as if the other pilot had somehow intruded on his thoughts. Without saying a word, he headed inside and out of Wufei's view.

***

Sitting back in the dark plushy chair, Quatre slowly opened his eyes. It was late afternoon, and the dark coolness of the library was a welcome retreat. He had ended up spending most of the day with Rashid, setting up a new security system, and although Heero seemed to have enjoyed himself in his own peculiar way, Quatre had wished the week had gotten off to a better start.

His reflective aquamarine eyes flickered to the side. There was Trowa in the doorway, watching him again. A small smile automatically came to Quatre's lips. He loved finding him there.

Though he would have liked it even better if Trowa would actually get a little closer. He didn't acknowledge him any further. Since the day before, Trowa had been sneaking around him that way, but everytime Quatre caught him there, if he spoke to him or moved towards him, he would sneak off again. It took nothing short of chasing him down and tackling the taller boy to the floor.

Quatre's smile became sultry at the memory. As if on cue, Trowa's eyes widened slightly, and he whisked away from the door and out of sight. With a huff, Quatre sank back into his chair. He'd never known Trowa to actively play hard to get before, and he wasn't sure what to make of his current strange behavior.

Suddenly Duo ran up from the recesses of the library and slammed a large book on the small desk next to Quatre's chair. The blonde boy gripped the armrests of his chair nervously as the braided one began to laugh maniacally.

Speaking of strange behavior...

Duo sprung over to Quatre and pushed him back in the chair. Then he pushed his blonde hair back from his face and leaned in very close. Duo seemed to stare him right in the eyes, an intent look on his face. Quatre swallowed hard and his eyes widened. He squirmed back in his seat.

"Uh...Duo?"

"Yeah?" Duo's violet eyes popped back down to meet Quatre's look.

"What are you doing!?"

"Hmmm..." Duo reached out to the side and switched on a lamp. He gave Quatre one last hard look, then jumped back. "Just makin' sure you're human, Quatre. Not to worry, looks like you're clear."

Oh, yes. The gundam pilots were all perfectly sane. Quatre stared at Duo with huge, slightly frightened eyes. He nodded slowly. "Duo...why wouldn't I be human? Duo!?"

Quatre looked over the side of his chair calling out Duo's name. Duo was already running out the door. His curiosity getting the better of him, Quatre ran out after him. Down the stairs they ran, and into the gym room...

"Duo!?" Heero yelled, clearly surprised.

Quatre stopped inside the gym room to find Duo bending over one of the weight machines. For the moment, he had Heero trapped there. Duo pulled at Heero's hair and stared at his face, just as he had done to Quatre. But this time, he put one finger between Heero's eyes and rubbed slightly.

With an annoyed growl, Heero pushed Duo away and stood up. Duo might have fallen to the ground, but predicting Heero's reaction, Quatre was already in position to catch the falling pilot. Though Heero threw Duo so hard, Quatre's foot skidded back with a squeaking sound across the linoleum floor as he took the boy's weight.

"Duo, what's this all about?" Quatre asked with a sigh, setting his catch back on his feet. He almost hated to ask, since he was pretty sure what it was about. He rubbed the side of his head, feeling the small twinge of an impending headache.

"It was in that book in your library, Quat," Duo explained, still eyeing Heero as if he expected him to rip his face off at any moment. "One of the ways to tell if a person's a werewolf is if their eyebrows grow together. And I'm not sure what to make of Heero here...his eyebrows are kinda connected, and he's got those bushy things on the ends..."

"Will you leave me alone if I tweeze?" Heero sat back down on the weight machine and brushed his bangs back down.

"Maybe..." Duo spotted Trowa hanging out in the doorway. He was watching Quatre again. Then the Heavyarms pilot noticed Duo advancing on him. "Hey, Trowa, let's see what you've got behind those bangs!"

Trowa ran like a scared rabbit. Duo sped out after him, yelling at the top of his lungs. Shaking his head, Quatre decided he didn't want to get involved this time. Instead, he sat down next to Heero, who was busy lifting weights again.

"Heero, could you do me a big favor and not go anywhere near Duo tonight? Maybe if he gets one good night of sleep, he'll calm down a little." Quatre rubbed at his eyes.

"Agreed."

"It's amazing how hyper Maxwell acts, considering how tired he obviously is," Wufei noted.

"Wufei! I didn't see you there," Quatre blinked in surprise. Wufei was sitting on a nearby mat. "You're probably the only one of us that doesn't look half asleep. But then, I haven't seen you at all the past two nights. You must sleep like a rock, especially with Duo's screaming last night."

"What was Maxwell screaming about?"

"Monsters under his bed," Heero snorted.

"It's the monsters inside the head he should be worried about." Wufei lay back on the mat and started doing pull-ups.

"Do you actually believe all this, Wufei?" Quatre asked in surprise.

"I believe what I see."

"Whatever that means," Heero mumbled. He glanced over at Quatre. "Maybe you should get some rest. You don't look so good."

Quatre nodded tiredly. "Yeah, that's not a bad idea. See you guys later." He left the gym room and headed towards his bedroom. As he passed the hall, he noticed Rashid standing there, staring into a mirror. His face was disturbed, and there was something unnatural about his eyes. What it was, Quatre couldn't place.

"Rashid?" Quatre stepped into the hall. "Are you okay?"

Startled, Rashid glanced down at the small blonde. "I'm just wondering if the security is enough. It may not be safe for you to remain here."

"Don't tell me you're getting spooked too!" Quatre smiled. "I'm sure there's nothing serious to worry about. And besides, these things only happen at night, and no animal can get into the house at night."

"Maybe."

"You go get some rest Rashid," Quatre suggested. "I'm going to do just that, before I go and collapse."

Rashid nodded. "Later, perhaps."

***

"C'mon Trowa, come down from there!"

Duo squinted up into branches of the tall white, skeleton-like tree. Beneath the bloody light of the setting sun, he could barely make out the form of the tall gundam pilot hiding in the deep shadows among the branches. Since driving Trowa up the tree, Duo had been stuck down there. The trunk was too smooth and high to climb, and he was still clueless as to how Trowa had managed to get all the way up there.

"Not until you promise to leave me alone."

"Aw, Trowa!"

"I assure you, my eyebrows do not grow together," Trowa told him gruffly. "And I do not grow fur when the moon is full."

"So? According to Quatre's 'Big Book of Werewolves'," Duo held up the large hardcover volume, "that full moon stuff is all baloney. You werewolves can change whenever you wanna!"

"I am not a werewolf!"

"That's what you think..." Duo narrowed his eyes up Trowa. "Sometimes werewolves don't even know they're werewolves...they completely blank it out! Sometimes it takes a few weird incidents to clue them in."

"In that case, you could be a werewolf yourself, and never even know it," Wufei walked up behind Duo. The braided pilot frowned at him.

"Hey, if I was a werewolf, I think I'd have noticed it by now."

"He's got a point, Duo." Trowa called down from the tree. "After all, the strange activity these past two nights have revolved around you."

"I wasn't the one wandering around in a bloody robe!" Duo then turned to frown at Wufei. "And we haven't seen you at all the past two nights! Hiding a hair growth problem!?"

"Getting a little touchy now?" Wufei narrowed his eyes.

"I am not touchy!" Duo snapped.

"And what brought on this sudden interest in werewolves?" Trowa raised a slim eyebrow. "What happened to the chupacabra theory?"

"Maybe he knows something we don't?" Wufei almost smirked.

Duo growled. "Maybe I do! Just wait and see, Wufei!" He stalked away, clutching his book.

***

That night it was very quiet. There were no disturbances, and no screaming. Until the shocking crash of broken glass vibrated through the guest quarters. For several minutes, it was confusion in the dark.

Quatre went running down the hallway. He met Duo, who was just stepping out of his room. "Duo, did that noise come from your room?"

Duo shook his head. "Not my room. But it sounded like it was on this floor." He glanced back at Trowa and Heero following Quatre. Thankfully, Heero had actually taken time to pull on some shorts this time. "Another night of this, eh, guys?"

"It's Wufei's room," Heero ran past them and pushed open Wufei's door. He flicked on the light and moved to the side.

"Damn!" Wufei glared at them, then looked back towards his shattered window. "It's gone!"

"What's gone?" Quatre asked, making a face at all the broken glass.

"Hell if I know!" Wufei jumped around the glass and looked out the window. He turned his head around to glare at Duo. "If this is some sort of prank, Maxwell, I swear..."

"I didn't do this!" Duo yelled back at him. "And everyone else sleeps on the first floor! If anyone has any explaining to do, it's you!"

Wufei was about to snap back at him, then caught sight of something on the windowsil. He pulled it up and stared at it. Then he scowled back at Duo. "You had nothing to do with this, huh? Then what the hell is this!?" He held up a tuft of brown hair. "You practically threatened me yesterday! Who else would be crazy enough to do this!?"

"I don't know!" Duo waved his arms out in exasperation. "But it wasn't me! And that's not my hair!"

Wufei looked from Duo to Heero and Trowa. "Well, it has to match one of you. And I just want to know what's going on here."

"Please Duo," Quatre sighed, before the other could speak, "please don't say it's werewolf fur. Pleeease." He gave him a weary look.

"No need, you just said it for me."

Quatre closed his eyes with a grimace. Then he turned and left the room, rubbing at his temples. Trowa glared at Duo and quickly followed after Quatre. Wufei, Heero, and Duo were left in the room.

"Wufei, seriously now," Heero gave him a hard stare. "Did you see what did this?"

"Afraid not. It was too dark."

"If we're dealing with a person here, why did they choose to break in through your window?" Heero seemed to be talking to himself. "But if we are dealing with some animal, then there would be no reason. But then what creature is doing all this?" He pointed at Duo without looking at him. "No comment from you."

"Oh, sure, squirrel from hell decided to pay Wufei a visit," Duo grumbled as he left the room.

Wufei and Heero looked blankly at each other, then stared after where Duo had been a moment before. Wufei moved into Duo's old room on the first floor that very night.

***

The next morning, Quatre walked down through the house by himself. Everything was quiet, and the sunlight drifting through the windows felt false to him somehow. Something was not right.

As he opened the front door and stepped out into the fresh morning air, the sound of the wood creaking open and even his own footsteps on the pavement seemed louder than usual. Almost disturbingly so. He strolled out onto the dewy grass. It was such a peaceful day.

His nerves were shot.

What's wrong? With each step, he was shaking more and more. Then he turned the corner of the house and froze with a gasp. "Oh no... Rashid, no!" Suddenly clutching at his chest, he staggered forward.

Then everything went black.

***

"I think he's coming around."

"Man, I didn't know he was so stressed out. It musta been too much for him, poor guy."

"Quatre...?"

Quatre stirred at the soft touch on his cheek. "Tro...?"

"I'm here, Quatre. How are you feeling?"

Opening his eyes, Quatre saw Trowa, Duo, Wufei, and Heero hovering around him. He flinched at the sudden brightness and rubbed at his eyes. "Ill." Then his eyes widened as he remembered what he'd seen. "Oh!" He sat up and looked around frantically.

Trowa was trying to calm him down, when Rashid walked into the room. "The police have finally left." He looked down at Quatre sorrowfully. "I'm sorry you had to see that, Master Quatre."

"All that blood..." Quatre swallowed. "Who was it, Rashid?"

"The groundskeeper. He came in earlier than usual this morning, probably before sunrise. It's likely whatever's been attacking the animals lately caught him off guard."

"Oh Allah, no..." Quatre's eyes widened in horror. "Rashid, we've got to..."

"I've already dismissed the rest of the staff on the grounds. I strongly suggest you and your friends leave as well. It just isn't safe here anymore." Rashid glanced out towards the window.

Heero turned without a word and headed down the hall. It was so sudden, that everyone stared after him in surprised. Duo frowned and chased after him. "Hey, going already?"

"No. I want a look at the security tapes."

***

Light from the screen flashed over Heero's face, casting him in bleached light one moment, and deep shadow the next. Holding his finger down on the button on the VCR, he frowned deeply. On screen was the same view of the yard around the side of the house. Speeded up, a small bird or squirrel popped onto the scene every once in a while, but otherwise, it was virtually unchanging darkness. Then the tape broke into a storm of static.

"That's it?" Quatre leaned over Heero's shoulder. "What happened?"

Heero increased the speed, and suddenly the monitor blinked back to life, now bright daylight. On screen, a mess of red could be seen in the corner of the screen, and what remained of the groundskeeper was lying in the yard. Quatre recoiled from the screen, and Heero switched it off.

"At least three hours have been erased from this tape. And I believe a few of the others have been edited as well." Heero cast a stern look at everyone surrounding him.

No one spoke for a moment. Then Duo looked up at Heero with a grave expression. "The only people around here that knew about the new security cameras are in this room."

Heero nodded.

"Wait..." Quatre rubbed at his neck nervously. "Isn't it possible the security cameras just malfunctioned somehow? We did set them up only yesterday."

"Highly unlikely." Heero rewound the tape. "I helped install the system myself."

Duo rolled his eyes. "You're not infallible, Heero."

Heero only grunted in reply.

Wufei's eyes turned towards Trowa, who was leaning, almost sitting back against the wall with his arms tight around himself. Every minute or so, his eyes would shift anxiously towards Quatre. Then he noticed Wufei looking at him, and he gave him a brief snarl-like expression before glancing away dispassionately. "I think Rashid has the right idea. I think we should just leave this place. No good can come from staying here."

"Trowa, a man is dead!" Quatre gave Trowa a truly pained expression. "I can't believe one of us is responsible, but I don't think I can leave until I find out what's going on." With a flinch, he rubbed at the bridge of his nose between his eyes. "But I am going to get an aspirin and take a nap before tonight. My head is killing me." He left the room, and Trowa immediately slid out after him.

Wufei watched them go with a scowl. "Quatre may not believe it, but I definitely think something's not right here."

"Y'think?" Duo mumbled, watching on as Heero reexamined the tape frame by frame.

"If you must all insist on staying, then I'm going to go call in some assistance," Rashid shook his head heavily as he went out the door. "But I think this course of action is a major mistake."

Duo and Wufei watched him leave for a few moments, then glanced back at where Heero was silently glued to the screen. He didn't even seem to be blinking. "Well," Duo mused, "Rashid can do that, and you guys can play detective, but when people start dying in mysterious gruesome ways, the God of Death knows better than to play his cards. I'm outta here."

As he turned on his heel to leave as the others had done, but turned back in surprise when his shoulder was jerked back. He blinked his large violet eyes in bewilderment at Wufei. Then the Chinese pilot removed his hand and crossed his arms, inclining his head towards Duo with an earnestly serious manner.

"Duo, let me see that werewolf book."

Duo's jaw dropped in disbelief. Whether it was because Wufei had asked for the werewolf book, or that he'd called him by his first name for once, was unknown. He just slowly nodded.

"Sure."

***

Even in the dark, curtained room, the heat of midday could be felt simmering through the air. Trowa entered the bedroom and quietly closed the door behind him. With two soft steps, he approached the curled form sleeping on the bed. His eyes hungrily traced the bared skin. Quatre had stripped down to his boxers because of the heat.

The bed creaked as he kneeled onto it, and he ran his hand across Quatre's arm down to his elbow. The blonde boy's breath caught in his sleep. Desire raged through Trowa at the sound, and he pulled his sweater up over his head, and quickly discarded it. His footwear followed, then his hands went feverishly to his jeans.

He paused, hearing his own harsh breathing loud in the room. No, this isn't a good time, he thought to himself. Now every time is a risk, and I can't endanger him now. I wish I could take him away from here. But he would never understand, unless... No. He must never know.

Slowly, the jeans were removed as well. Trowa lay behind Quatre and gathered him into his arms. Still asleep, Quatre shivered. Then he turned and huddled into Trowa's embrace. Trowa bit back a groan as his body delighted at the contact. His hips shifted restlessly against Quatre's when he felt the blonde's slender leg slide up his, curling up behind his thigh. Trowa swallowed hard, wondering how Quatre could still be sleeping. He felt as though he might burn a hole into Quatre's stomach like a hot poker.

Quatre only shivered again and retreated deeper into Trowa's embrace, one arm encircling his waist.

Trowa kissed Quatre's brow lovingly. "I'll always love you, no matter what," he whispered. "And I'll protect you, at any cost."

***

Dark eyes flickered towards the windows. It was a pleasant, yet warm day outside. Within the library, there was an almost constant overtone of gloom. Wufei looked back down at the open volume in his hands. He still couldn't believe he was actually reading the nonsense. But something had been bothering him since the beginning of the week, and he couldn't shake the overwhelming suspicions that continually came over him. And that same feeling was starting to hint off to him that as ridiculous and as far-fetched as it seemed, the werewolf book he now held had something to do with it all.

Shaking his short ponytail from side to side, Wufei turned the book over in his hands, giving it a confounded look. "What the hell does it mean?"

Duo stepped up behind him. "You have to open it to read it, Wufei."

"I've already read it!" Wufei dropped it onto a desk in disgust. "And as far as I can tell, it's all nonsense." He jabbed a finger at it. "But somehow this is important!"

Duo looked down at the book, and back at Wufei curiously. "Uh, I thought Quatre was the one with the voices in his head."

"It's not voices! Just these stupid feelings I keep getting! Something's wrong with people around here! And Trowa especially keeps giving me these creepy feelings!"

"Voices, feelings, same difference." He blinked, then raised an eyebrow at Wufei with an evil grin. "So, you're having feelings for Trowa, are you? I don't think Quatre'll take too kindly to that..."

"Not those kinds of feelings, you idiot!" Wufei seethed. "Creepy feelings! Like he's hiding something. And Rashid is just as bad, but at least he isn't acting like some wild animal lately, like Trowa is. We're all hiding things to some extent, but there's something unnatural in the air..." He forced himself to calm down. "All I know is that there's definitely something going down, and I'm getting out of here first thing tomorrow morning."

***

It was late afternoon when a knock at the door stirred Quatre awake. He yawned, then smiled sweetly at finding Trowa asleep with his arms around him. He rolled the sleeping boy onto his back and leaned over to kiss his lips lightly.

He was badly tempted to stay there, when the knocking came again, more urgently than before. Gently untangling himself from Trowa, he went to check the door. He opened it only the tinest bit to peek out, since he was still only in his boxer shorts.

"Heero?"

The steely blue-eyed soldier almost looked bored, expect that his eyes seemed larger than usual. He inclined his head ever so slightly. "I've found something on the tape. You might want to take a look."

***

After getting dressed, Quatre and Trowa went down to the room where Heero had already gathered the others around the glowing screen. Heero had his arms crossed calmly. Despite the slight tremble and flush to his face, Wufei looked like he was trying to glare through the screen. Duo's eyes were as big as saucers, and his mouth kept opening and closing. Rashid just looked very grim.

Quatre squeezed between Duo and Wufei and squinted at the dark image on the screen. "What... What is that?"

Trowa peered over the other side of Heero's shoulder, and immediately turned as white as a sheet. His hands started to shake. He quickly jammed them into his pockets. "H-Heero? What...?"

"I missed it the first time, but I found this image on one of the last frames before the erasure," Heero tapped the screen. "I'm guessing this is what's responsible for the killings."

"But what is it?" Quatre asked, giving it a puzzled look. Leaning in closer, he could see a large brown-furred animal with a long snout rearing up slightly in the corner of the camera. "It kinda looks like a wolf... But that's the strangest wolf I've ever seen."

"Werewolf..." Wufei muttered.

Everyone looked at Wufei in shock.

Heero tilted his head. "You too, Wufei?"

Duo might have smiled, but he was still too shaken.

Quatre chuckled. "It's just some animal. This has all been unfortunate, but I feel better knowing none of us were responsible. It makes sense, really."

"Yes," Heero agreed. Swiveling around in his chair, he looked up at Quatre. "But animals don't erase evidence."

"Most animals," Duo added.

Quatre frowned and shook his head like he was trying to shake something out of his hair. "Guys, this is crazy talk... You're suggesting that one of us turns into a wolf! It just doesn't happen!"

"I'm not suggesting anything like that." Heero looked back towards the strange image on the screen. "I am suggesting that something's still very wrong here."

Trowa stared at the screen. Then his green eyes narrowed darkly beneath his hair. "It has brown fur..." he half whispered.

Duo glanced at Trowa, then back at the screen. "Hey, you're right. Just like Wufei had in his room! If it tried breaking in that time, maybe it got in again unnoticed somehow?"

"Perhaps..." Trowa murmured thoughtfully.

"Whatever it is, I'd feel a lot better if you and your guests were to leave here, Master Quatre." Rashid implored once again.

Looking away from the screen, Trowa looked up at Rashid. His eyes still narrowed, he stared at the towering man. If he noticed, Rashid ignored him, looking towards Quatre's response.

Quatre sighed. "I don't know, Rashid. I'll think about it. Maybe if we can get some kind of wildlife specialist out here to help us with this problem..."

"You do that," Duo backed away from the group. "No offence Quat-man, but I'm going to pack my bags."

After Duo left the room, Heero looked up at Quatre and grunted.

Tearing his eyes away from Trowa, the blonde boy looked questioningly down at Heero. "Find something else?"

"No." Tugging at the straps of his tanktop, Heero leaned back in the chair. "Do you have any beef jerky around here?"

***

Lying back on his bed, Quatre stared up into the darkness. It was night once more, and he had already decided that Rashid was probably right. If it was an animal, the best thing to do would be to get out of harms way and let it be. He turned his head towards the window, which just looked like a rectangle of blackness. Would it come back tonight?

Or for that matter, would Trowa? With a sigh, Quatre turned onto his side. What a vacation this had been. He hoped Trowa would stay with him when they left tomorrow. The last few days hadn't been nearly enough for him, and far from restful. He also hoped getting away from there would bring some normalcy back to the green-eyed boy.

Trowa had taken off again an hour ago, and still hadn't returned. He wondered what Trowa could be doing. He supposed he might be talking to one of the others. Everyone was staying put in their rooms that night. Except for Heero, who seemed determined to stay up with the security system to catch another look at that animal.

With a yawn, Quatre stretched out on the bed. Allah, he wanted Trowa to come back. His eyes settled on the soft black screen of the television. He'd tried watching it to pass the time, but he'd turned it off when the light started bothering his eyes. He did not want another headache. He wanted Trowa back, and he wanted to rip the clothes off that hard athletic body...

A tiny enraptured smile crossed his features as he let his daydream carry him away. Only to be suddenly wiped away a moment later as a shriek ripped through the silence.

"Duo!?"

Jumping out of bed, he ran out into the hall. Looking down the hall, he saw that the door to Rashid's room was swung wide open. Hearing the pounding of feet, he turned to see Heero and Wufei running up the stairs. He ran towards the open room, but Heero was faster, and reached it first. At the doorway, he stopped, the tip of his yellow sneaker skidding into thick blood.

"Duo?" Heero's face twisted in disbelief.

Quatre stood beside Heero, and stopped as well. He could hear Wufei gasp behind him, but he was too busy trying to hold himself up. Quatre's blue eyes widened and shimmered. He felt like he was going to throw up, or maybe pass out again, his head was spinning.

It was worse than that morning. Quatre didn't see the furniture broken and thrown around the room, or the busted window with part of the frame torn off. He didn't see Duo crouched there, shaking in the middle of it all with a horrified look on his face, his hands smeared with blood. It wasn't Duo's blood. It belonged to the man lying on the floor, half naked with deep gouges in his chest. He wasn't moving at all.

"Rashid!" Quatre cried, rushing into the room. He went to his knees next to Rashid. He gingerly shook the still form, but it was no use. The man he'd looked to as a second father was dead. "No!"

Even as Quatre was still crying on the floor, Heero and Wufei dragged Duo up off the floor and slammed him against the wall. Duo was too shocked for a moment to react. Only the voices snapped him out of it.

"Maxwell, you bastard! I should have known you'd be the one to snap!"

"What!? You don't think I killed him!?" Duo struggled against them.

Heero's grip didn't budge. "Duo, what the hell happened then?"

"I don't know!" Duo spat, his violet eyes boiling. "He was dead when I got here a minute ago! I was trying to get some sleep, and I thought Rashid had his tv on too loud..." His voice trailed off.

After a hard stare, Heero let Duo go. "You'd better not be lying. Because if you are, I'll find out."

"It's the truth!" Duo pushed Wufei off. "God..." He held his bloody hands away from himself as if afraid of them. "I didn't think I'd find this..."

The three looked down at the grief-stricken Quatre. It looked like Quatre was in genuine pain, and Duo had to look away. He was suddenly very glad Hilde wasn't there after all. Noticing something, he made a soft noise of surprise and glanced around the room.

"Hey. Where's Trowa?"

Quatre finally looked up at that, his face wet with tears. His eyes widened. "T-Trowa?" He lurched to his feet and turned around. "He's been gone over an hour..." Suddenly he ran from the room, yelling urgently. "Trowa! Trowa, where are you!?"

Crying out Trowa's name the entire time, sounding more hysterical by the moment, Quatre started searching the house frantically. He ignored the other three following him, calling out as well. His heart was racing hard in his chest, and he couldn't stop shaking. Where was Trowa? Time seemed to slow down as he dreaded finding him around the next corner, crumpled, lifeless, and smeared with red...

With a sharp cry, he stumbled to a halt, clutching at his chest as fresh tears streamed down his face. He nearly collapsed to the floor, when he felt a pair of strong arms catch around him and lift him back up. His blue eyes turned around, wide and bright. With what looked like a tortured grimace, he spun around with what sounded like a wail.

"Trowa!" Burying his face in his shoulder, Quatre clutched Trowa fiercely to himself. The taller boy grunted in discomfort as he momentarily had the wind knocked out of him. Feeling Quatre shaking as he cried, Trowa ran his hand through his blonde hair, trying to comfort him.

"Calm down," he whispered. "Everything's going to be alright."

"But Trowa," whimpered Quatre, "whatever's out there killed Rashid!"

"I don't think what killed Rashid is outside anymore," Wufei stood a few feet behind Quatre. Duo and Heero came up behind him, also staring warily at Trowa, who was barechested and wet.

Hearing Wufei's voice, Quatre looked up, and blinked in surprise, noticing for the first time that Trowa's hair was soaking wet, dripping down over his face. "Trowa...?"

Trowa acknowledged their stares with a stare of his own. "I was out in the pool. What happened to Rashid?"

"Trowa." Heero's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Maybe you could tell us."

"Heero!" Quatre gasped.

Trowa slipped away from Quatre and moved to sit on the couch. He crossed his arms and looked back up at them from beneath his hair. "I didn't kill Rashid."

"The hell you didn't!" Duo was shaking. "You really expect us to believe you decided to take a swim in the dark while there's God knows what out there killing people!?"

"Yes."

Duo looked like he was ready to burst into hysterics again, when Quatre shoved him over onto another one of the couches. "Calm down!" He ordered sharply, his eyes flashing angrily. "Accusing each other like this is getting us nowhere!"

Surprised, Duo stared at Quatre. Then he frowned and nodded. "Sorry, Quat. But that thing's getting closer, I can feel it!" His eyes turned towards the windows behind them. "Damn...it's a full moon, too."

Shaking his head, Wufei also fell down onto the couch. "You shouldn't be accusing anyone, Maxwell. You're the most suspicious one among us."

"I told you what happened!" Duo clenched his fists.

"Yes. And I was in the security room." Heero sat on the other side of the couch and looked over at all the others. "Fact is, we're the only ones on the grounds. No one, human or animal could've passed over the security lines I set without my knowing about it. And nothing has."

"Your point, Heero?" Trowa turned from staring at Quatre, over to the blue-eyed Japanese boy.

"Whoever killed Rashid is in this room."

"It can't..." Quatre looked pleadingly at Heero, whose statement remained firm.

"It can." Wufei looked at those around him, and settled on Duo with steely eyes. "Now the real questions are who, and why?"

So the questions thickened around them, and each considered the others with nervous suspicion. Accusations began to fly between them, until the tension became to much. And finally, it snapped.

***

"SHUT UP!!!" Quatre yelled. He glared at each of them. He could feel the fear too clearly, and the fact that his friends were turning on each others throats like that was almost more painful than he could bear. Except... His eyes turned curiously towards Trowa again.

Trowa wasn't afraid like the others. There was fear, but not mortal fear, like what consumed the others. Why wasn't he afraid? Quatre's eyes shimmered. No, no, no! It couldn't be true! Not Trowa!

Still shocked from Quatre's outburst, everyone was still staring at him. Then Duo slowly leaned forward with a look of curious concern. "Quatre, you don't look so hot."

Hot? Hot!? He was burning up!

Seething, Quatre glared over at Duo. "I told you to shut the hell up!"

Abruptly, Trowa stood up, his eyes wide. "Quatre, please, calm down...!" He moved towards Quatre, but when the blonde whipped his face around to send the same glare at him, he stopped dead in his tracks.

Quatre's eyes were an unnatural shade of bright green.

"No, God, no..." Trowa whispered, shaking where he stood.

Missing this, Duo stood as well with an expression of extreme suffering. "Trowa, is there something you feel like telling us now?"

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!!" Quatre screamed again, clutching at his head. "My head is splitting! Shut the hell up!!!"

This time, everyone stood up, sensing the wrongness in the room. Duo turned from Trowa, towards Quatre, his eyes wide with fear. "Quatre...?"

Heero edged away as Trowa tried approaching Quatre, who seemed to be trying to retreat, holding his head in agony. "Quatre, listen to me. It'll stop hurting if you calm down. Please, Quatre..." Trowa slowly reached out to touch the shuddering boy.

With a sickening feeling, Trowa knew it was already too late. He winced as Quatre released an ear-shattering scream. This was bad. Extremely bad.

Trowa backed off as Quatre crashed to his knees. There was only one thing he could do now. He moved in front of Quatre and turned to the others. "Get out of here now!"

"What's going on!?" Heero demanded.

"I think we'd better do what he says," Wufei was already backing towards the door.

Duo's eyes were rounder than anyone had ever seen them before. The violet orbs were quivering with terror. "My God... It's Quatre!"

Gasping in pain, Quatre merely quivered as his golden hair spread down to the rest of his body in a shimmering wave. As he pitched forward, his face twisted, and his mouth wide in a silent scream, revealing a set of very sharp fangs.

"Damnit, RUN!!!" Trowa grabbed Duo roughly by the arm, and started pushing them out. But they all seemed to be utterly paralyzed.

Twisting and crying on the floor, Quatre's form beneath the fur grew and changed as if it were nothing more than silly putty. The back of his shirt and vest split cleanly down the middle, revealing a shock of thick golden fur. Only when he finally lifted his head was his form clearly defined. It was the head of a wolf, snarling at them with eerie blue human eyes. Quatre's eyes.

Seeing what was coming, Trowa shoved the others back to life. In the corner of his sight, he saw the wolf lunge towards them. Only to instantly fall flat, his back legs constricted by khaki slacks. As the wolf turned to rip at the hinderance, the others finally broke into a run. They burst out into the patio and started running around the pool.

"Trowa, did you know about this!?" Duo hissed, nearly slipping into the pool. They were trailing after Trowa, though there really wasn't anywhere to run to. There was nothing but rainforest for miles around.

Trowa just nodded, seeing the pale flash of fur come rushing out onto the patio after them. "We need to split up. He'll have a harder time coming after us that way. Duo, follow me, Heero and Wufei head out into the woods."

Wufei looked ready to protest, but with the growling thing coming after them, there wasn't much time for talk. Heero grabbed him and ran so fast, he nearly dragged Wufei into the woods. Meanwhile, Trowa and Duo ran towards the stables. Trowa started yelling, and as he guessed it would, that caused Quatre to come gunning after him and Duo.

"Great, we're the bait!?"

"Just keep moving! I don't think he can hold that form very long. If we stay alive long enough, he might just change back."

Still running as fast as he could, weaving around the stablegrounds after Trowa, Duo looked back. He could see a big bushy tail making its way around the fences. "Trowa...!"

"Run!" Trowa pushed Duo ahead of him as they ran into the stables. Then he quickly turned around and bolted the doors shut behind them. He could hear the wolf breaking through the fence just outside.

"I don't think that's going to keep him out," Duo panted, backing into the back of the stall. He turned to glance worriedly at the door behind him, then angrily at Trowa, who was staring wide-eyed at the way they'd come in. "Damnit, Trowa, why didn't you tell us Quatre was a werewolf!?"

Trowa's eyes stayed fixed on the door, which was shuddering and cracking as it was repeatedly slammed into. There was the sharp sound of wood ripping, and the flakes of it floated beneath the door. "I didn't want him to know," he choked. "He doesn't know what he is. He's so sensitive... I only wanted to protect him. I... I was afraid if he knew, the knowledge would kill him."

"Kill HIM!?" Duo gaped at Trowa. "He's gonna kill US!"

"Well, if you hadn't started all that finger pointing, he wouldn't have gotten this upset!" Trowa snapped and turned on Duo. "It has nothing to do with the damned moon, it only happens when he's really emotional! I had him calm, but noooo! You all had to layer the stress on him!"

"Well, you didn't have to go around actin' all weird, makin' me suspicious!" Duo roughly pushed Trowa back with both hands.

"You'd act weird too if your lover started turning into a wolf everytime he got too excited! Think about that!" Trowa yelled and pushed Duo back, almost shoving him to the ground. "When he says he has a headache, it's no goddamned laughing matter!"

With a sharp crack of splintered wood, the stable door burst open. Duo and Trowa broke away from their argument and threw themselves at the back door. Beyond was a large field, filled with shadow and moonlight. Duo went speeding across it, and but Trowa suddenly hestitated. It was too quiet. Something was not right.

Turning around, Trowa searched the darkness for signs of movement. It didn't look as though they were being chased anymore. Trowa was wondering if Quatre had changed back, when suddenly something very heavy knocked him hard to the ground. Then came searing agony, and he couldn't help crying out in pain. The werewolf had sunk his fangs into his shoulder.

Desperate to get away, Trowa kicked back with his heel as hard as he could. He heard the creature give a yelp of pain and flinch away. Trowa flung himself to his feet and ran. But after a few steps, he whirled around again. He faced the werewolf. He knew he couldn't run forever. He would have to face this eventually, one way or another. He couldn't ignore it any longer.

"Quatre..." Trowa whispered, as the golden-furred wolf stalked towards him. Bright fangs reflected in the moonlight.

"Trowa!"

He could hear Duo yelling at him in the distance. He didn't respond. If Duo knew what was good for him, he'd run and get away while he still could. There was nothing he could do for them now.

"Trowa, run! He's going to kill you!" Duo yelled again, his voice coming closer. There was a metallic click. Then a shot roared by, that actually caused the werewolf to cringe and flatten itself close to the ground for a moment. Then it snarled angrily.

"Oh damn..." Duo hissed.

Still watching the werewolf, Trowa could see the muscles bundle and tense beneath the fur. He was expecting it to jump, and it did. But he wasn't expecting to see it fly past him. He turned in shock, realizing that it was going right for Duo's throat. The braided boy was still clutching his gun, but too terrified to move.

"No!" Faster than he thought he could move, Trowa leapt out and seized the werewolf. Holding onto it as hard as he could, they collided to the ground just inches away from Duo. The werewolf struggled to shake Trowa off, growling and shaking, but he would not budge.

"Trowa...!" Duo gasped, jumping back a few steps. He was pale, realizing just how close to being mauled by a werewolf he'd come. His hands were shaking as he pointed the gun once again, trying to aim beneath Trowa to hit the wolf.

Trowa's eyes widened. "No! Duo, you'll kill Quatre!"

"He isn't Quatre anymore!" Duo cried. "We have to kill him! It's the only way!"

"He's still Quatre." Trowa glared up at him. "If you kill him, you'll have to kill me too."

Duo was speechless.

"Get out of here! I can't hold him like this forever!" Trowa was dragging his feet in the dirt, straining to hold the werewolf down. He had given up trying to shake off Trowa, and was now trying to go after Duo again.

"But what about you!?"

Trowa's eyes narrowed up at Duo as his muscles trembled around the fur they embraced. "If this is how I must die, then I accept it. Leave me..."

Duo shook his head, but he dared not refuse the look in those dark green eyes. Throwing his gun to the ground near Trowa, he turned and ran. He disappeared into the darkness within seconds. That left only Trowa and the werewolf.

Trowa held on, listening to the werewolf's snarls grow more and more frenzied. Then it sounded as if the creature was screaming. Unable to endure it any longer, Trowa let go, pushing himself backwards. He landed back on the ground, his body trembling from the effort he'd made. In the next instant, he was flat on his back, heavy paws holding him down. He grunted in pain, but made no other sound.

Feeling hot breath on his face, Trowa opened his eyes. Shock went through him. He was staring into Quatre's familiar big blue eyes. Refusing to look at the rest of that face, Trowa focused on those still very human eyes. He'd been here before, that first night...

It had been the middle of the night, and everything was dark. And hot. Very hot, and very sultry. That, however, had nothing to do with the tropical weather outside.

It had been at least a month since Trowa had seen Quatre, between his circus tours, and Quatre's corporation. Far too long. He had been dying to touch his blonde angel since his arrival that morning, and waiting until nightfall had been torment. The moment the door had closed behind them, Quatre had practically thrown him onto the bed. Now Quatre's mouth was claiming his, making him dizzy with pleasure. Small enraptured sounds squeaked from deep in his throat as he clutched Quatre to him, dragging his fingers up through the golden hair.

At some point Quatre's clothes peeled off, but Trowa didn't notice until he heard a sharp ripping coming from his chest. In his eagerness, Quatre had torn the sweater apart. Trowa thought he heard Quatre apologize in a strangely deep sounding husky voice. But the rest of the sweater was ripped off of the taller boy almost immediately. Sensing Quatre's urgency, he quickly undid and removed his own jeans, hoping to spare them.

However, as he did so, he heard another ripping sound. So much for his underwear. Quatre merely mumbled something about covering any expenses, and took possession of Trowa's body in a surge of passion.

Not that he minded one little bit, but Quatre's intense sexual hunger continued to surprise Trowa. He usually knew the blonde to be gentle and on the passive side. Now he held Trowa down in a fierce grip, loving his body in a violent manner. Fighting to hold out, Trowa wrestled the frantically rocking boy against him and rolled him onto his back.

Trowa was shocked when he looked into Quatre's panting face. His eyes appeared almost green in the darkness. And they only intensified the deep, feral lust eyeing Trowa like a predator. They really were green, Trowa realized. But Quatre had blue eyes...

Somewhere out in the night, something howled long and deep.

Deep within Quatre's now emerald eyes, something flashed. He bared his teeth in a wild grin, and arched sharply against Trowa. Throwing his head back, he gasped, his hands clenching and unclenching against Trowa's shoulder blades. Suddenly lost in his own little world of pleasure, it was a few moments before Trowa realized that Quatre was making strange, rather animal-like growling noises. He responded by moving his open mouth down the arch of Quatre's smooth neck, and curving his hands down to stroke the other arch of the small of Quatre's back.

A tiny pleasure sound warbled from Quatre, and it sounded so eerie, that Trowa got goosebumps. He paused for a moment to lift his head, gasping for breath. "Quatre?"

Next thing he knew, he was thrown backwards on the bed. When Quatre pushed him roughly onto his stomach, he began to protest, and tried to turn around. Then he felt soft hands reach beneath him on each side and caress his stomach, slowly sliding ever downward... He shuddered with pleasure and stayed still. This was the Quatre he knew. This was the Quatre who wouldn't hurt him...

Trowa relaxed once more as Quatre touched him gently. The blonde was placing loving kisses upon his well-muscled back in an intricate pattern. Then his grip tightened, and Trowa felt Quatre's weight on his back push him further down on the bed.

Feeling Quatre position himself behind him, an electric jolt of ecstacy buzzed through Trowa, and he nearly lost it right there just from his anticipation. Gasping for air, his eyes squeezed shut, he suddenly knew just how much he'd missed Quatre, and how much he wanted this. No, how much he 'needed' this.

Trowa gripped the blanket, quivering. When Quatre suddenly pulled away, the amber-haired boy choked back a cry of anguish. Hearing the bed creak, he turned around. "Q-Quatre...?"

There was a loud groan.

It came from Quatre, who was now huddled at the edge of the bed. He had a sickly look on his face. "Trowa..." he whimpered. "I...I don't feel so good... And my head hurts."

Trowa stared in disbelief. It almost sounded like a joke. Inching closer, he saw that Quatre really did look a little green, and not just around the eyes. He was also drenched in sweat, and though that wasn't very surprising with what they'd been doing, for some reason, it bothered Trowa.

Trying to shake off the raging need still screaming through his body, Trowa crawled over to see what was wrong with Quatre. "Maybe you've had too much excitement today," he said between gulps of air. His chest was heaving, and he couldn't stop the trembling. He wanted Quatre so much it was actually starting to hurt. But he only put a hand to Quatre's damp forehead and then left the bed to open the closet. "Better rest now before you really get sick."

After pulling two robes out of the closet, he went and slipped one of them on Quatre, who was starting to shake, as if he had the chills. Trowa put on the other robe and put his arms around Quatre, giving him a backrub.

"I'm sorry," Quatre said in a quavering voice. "It's just that I've been having these spells since coming to Earth..."

"You mean you've felt like this before? Why haven't you seen a doctor?" Trowa drew away and looked down at his lover worriedly.

"I don't know." Quatre almost closed his hazy looking green eyes. "It never used to be this distracting."

"Quatre, how long has this been going on?" The worry in Trowa's voice was now very easy to hear.

"Oh..." Quatre's head bobbed slightly. "I guess... Since the first time, when we all came to Earth." He turned towards Trowa with a drugged expression. "Trowa... Your eyes are really pretty, y'know that? All green...like the dark bottom of the sea...and shiny like lime jello." He pitched forward and draped himself over the taller boy with a giggle. "You look so yummy... I could just eat you alllll up."

Holding him, Trowa was now exceedingly worried. "Quatre... Did Instructor H give you any immunizations before you came to Earth?" He knew that without proper precautions, a trip to Earth could be deadly for a colonist. The colonies had wiped out many germs and viruses which were still common on Earth, and as a result, there was no immunity left among them. In a few tragic instances, a person visiting the Earth from the colonies had fallen ill and died from terrestial viruses that would hardly make an Earth born child cough.

"Of course he did. 'Sides, I had my shots long before that too..." Still shivering, Quatre moved back to face Trowa. His eyes were lidded, and he had the light of desire back in his eyes. "Don' worry... It comes and goes..."

"Ummph!" Trowa was shocked to find himself suddenly on his back again, Quatre practically devouring his mouth. As before, the blonde seemed almost possessed with lust. Trowa automatically responded to him, then frowned with a groan.

"Quatre, stop! You're not well!" Trowa pushed himself up and forced Quatre away by the arms. And he got a good look at the intense arousal in Quatre. "Quatre?"

"Please..." Quatre begged, straining to break Trowa's grip. His eyes filled with tears. "I... I don't know what's wrong with me... But I need..." He tried pushing against Trowa again, but it was of no use.

"Quatre," Trowa said softly, "something's wrong with you. Right now you need to rest, and tomorrow you're seeing a doctor, whether you like it or not."

"You don't want me," Quatre went limp, hung his head, and sobbed.

"It isn't that. I love you, Quatre. That's why I want you to sleep now, before you really wear yourself out." Slowly he slid his grip down Quatre's arms to hold his hands.

Quatre was quiet. Then he hunched over with another loud groan.

"Quatre?" Releasing his hands, Trowa reached out to brush aside Quatre's hair. The blonde's face whipped up.

"Leave me alone!" Quatre snarled. He lashed out at Trowa's chest and jumped off the bed.

For the briefest of moments Trowa was too shocked to move. The sting of pain made him look down. His robe was ripped across his chest, and a bright scarlet was seeping through. He touched himself gingerly. It felt as though he'd been struck with razors. Gaping, he pushed off the bed to face Quatre.

Tears streaking down his cheeks, the blonde boy was cowering on the floor. As Trowa moved towards him, he shrunk back into the shadows with a whimpering noise. Suddenly he gave a strangled gasp and lurched forward onto the floor.

Even as he reached out, Trowa froze where he stood. What Quatre had done had shocked him enough. He wasn't ready for what he saw. Golden fur the color of his hair was sprouting all over his body. It was dark, and it happened so quickly, Trowa thought he might be losing his mind. Suddenly Quatre was gone, and in his place was a wolf in Quatre's robe, growling at him.

"Q-Quatre?" Trowa stuttered, shaking in fright. When the wolf leaped and pinned him to the ground, he knew it was real. He didn't know what to do though, and lay there in silent misery. Was Quatre gone forever? Was it all his fault? And was he going to die like this? Trowa had imagined dying many times before, but he had never imagined anything like this.

Then the wolf opened its mouth, and Trowa got a close up look at some very big fangs. Not to mention a great big pink tongue, which assaulted his face. He flinched and turned his head away from the slobber.

"Ick."

Staring up again, Trowa saw Quatre's big eyes watching him almost mournfully. He seriously began questioning his sanity again when the wolf jumped off and began rolling around on his back, still watching Trowa with those watery blue eyes that just didn't look right on a wolf. One paw hung up in the air slightly.

Trowa slowly sat up and stared in disbelief. "You're... like a big dog!"

For a moment, he looked around. Should he take the opportunity to run? Should he go tell the others? Hearing Quatre give a small whine, he glanced back down. No, he still didn't know exactly what he was dealing with. Besides, he didn't know what he'd tell them.

Without thinking about what he was doing, he reached out and rubbed the wolf's furry stomach as if it were just any dog. The furry creature that had been Quatre relaxed under the touch, his eyes closing lazily. Trowa didn't notice, his mind racing, trying decide on what to do. After a minute, he broke away from his thoughts and blinked in surprise. Rubbing his hand over the surface once more, he felt soft skin. Looking down, he saw that Quatre was back to normal, asleep on his back.

Trowa trembled. He hadn't seen him change back. It was dark, but he thought that he would have noticed something. For a few minutes, he considered that he really had been hallucinating after all. But his chest still stung. Lifting his hand to his neck, he felt the scratches that went down to his chest. It had really happened.

"Trowa?"

The green-eyed boy looked down at Quatre. He couldn't stop shaking.

"Trowa?" Quatre asked again, looking confused, trying to focus on Trowa in the dark. He rubbed at his eyes and glanced around. He propped himself up on his elbows. "What are we doing on the floor?"

Trowa blinked. "You don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

Quatre was too tired to ask anymore questions as Trowa pulled him up and held him. "Nothing," Trowa sighed. "You'd better sleep now. It's late." The blonde said nothing as Trowa lay him back onto the bed. He was still half asleep, and in Trowa's arms, he quickly fell away again.

Sleep didn't come so easily to Trowa. He'd spent most of the night awake and pacing, his mind crying for answers. The only break had been Duo's strange misadventure out on the lawn.

Had Duo escaped? Trowa's mind snapped back to the present.

He couldn't tell. He could only see Quatre's eyes staring at him. Those eyes no longer looked angry. Just very confused. Trowa held still. He had learned how to control Quatre in that state over the past days, but he had never seen Quatre become that angry or transform that violently before. He didn't know if he could reach Quatre while he was that distressed. He was still in shock that Quatre had actually attacked him. Trowa swallowed hard.

Then he saw it. He wasn't sure whether to moan or laugh.

Quatre's tail was wagging ridiculously again.

"You..." Trowa couldn't help smiling. He slowly reached up. Now if he could just get up, he could pull this situation back together...

He had nearly managed to sit up, when he heard a loud roar. For a moment he was completely numb. He looked at the wolf, but he wasn't the source of the sound. In fact, his tail had drooped. Confused, Trowa reached out to him. Then he saw the crimson that stained the pale fur between his shoulders. Trowa's eyes went wide.

"No..."

The creature stumbled forward, and then fell, deadweight, into Trowa's arms. Trowa felt the form he held seem to shrink and melt in his grasp. It happened so fast, that by the time he looked down, he was holding Quatre, back to normal. Except for the gunshot wound in his back. Trowa fought back his tears as he gathered the half nude boy to himself.

"Quatre!"

His heart nearly skipped a beat when Quatre's blue eyes forced themselves open to stare at him. They were filled with tears. "T-Trowa... I... I..." He wheezed.

"Don't say it!" Trowa held onto him tighter, now ignoring the tears squeesing away down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry..." Quatre cried, then choked. "It's better this way..." he wheezed again before collapsing into unconsciousness against Trowa.

"No!" Trowa wailed into Quatre's hair. He remembered! He knew! No! No, it couldn't end like this! "No, it isn't better like this," he growled. "Quatre, I don't care! I still love you...damnit, don't leave me!" His voice cracked.

"Oh no..." It was Duo.

Hearing the click of a revolver, Trowa looked up. Next to Duo, who looked like a wreck, was Heero, lowering the gun in his hand. His face was unemotional rock. Trowa's own face, streaked with tears, was burning with hatred. He would have struck out at Heero, but he didn't dare let go of Quatre. He sat there, shaking with grief and rage.

"DAMN YOU!"

Heero just stood there. He only looked away when Wufei finally came running out of the dark forest. With him were two others. Trowa was too busy trying to revive Quatre again to care. But he recognized the voices of the two Maguanacs, Abdul and Ahmad.

"No... We're too late!" Ahmad cried.

"Don't give up that quickly!" Abdul ran over to where Trowa was supporting Quatre. "Let's get him back to the house. Someone call an ambulance, he's not dead yet!"

Wasting no more time, Trowa lifted Quatre and ran back towards the house. Everyone quickly followed, and Duo ran up to Abdul. "Hey, what are you guys doing here?"

"Rashid called us up this morning about all the trouble you guys have been having around here lately. We headed down as fast as we could." As they entered the house, he stopped and swore softly as Auda pulled Rashid's body down the hallway. "Rashid!"

"I'm getting him out of here," Auda struggled to lift the large man. "It's going to be hard enough for you to explain what's happened to Master Quatre." He glanced over to where Heero was on the phone calling for help, then back to the other Magaunacs. "Ahmad, help me here. Abdul..."

Abdul nodded grimly. "I'll handle the situation here."

As Rashid was taken away, Duo looked at Rashid, then down to the couch. Quatre lay still as Trowa desperately tried to stop the blonde from bleeding, ignoring his own wounded back. Duo's violet eyes turned back up towards the Magaunac in the dark sunglasses.

"Did you know too?"

For a moment, Abdul didn't answer. Then he gave a firm nod. "Don't worry, Quatre's going to live. He's one of ours, and we're not that easy to kill."

Quiet terror dawned on Duo's face as Abdul's words sunk in. Behind him, Wufei turned to look sharply at the dark Arab, a similar look on his face. Heero didn't turn around, but everyone heard the distinct clink of a revolver being reloaded.

***

The first thing Quatre felt was the dull throbbing pain at the back of his skull that threatened to spread to the back of his eyes. Then he awoke even further to the excruciating pain deep in his back, shooting throughout his body. It was awful, and he wanted to cry. But it wasn't nearly as bad as what he'd felt before...

Then the memories came back. He sobbed quietly, not wanting to open his eyes. He remembered losing control of himself and his body. Then losing control of his own mind, and almost killing Trowa. Now he understood why Trowa had been behaving so strangely, and what he had been keeping from him. He was a monster...

"No..." Quatre whimpered, feeling the pain flare up in his head again. "It can't be true..." Feeling a cold prick in his arm, his eyes shot open. He saw Abdul pull a syringe away from his arm.

"That'll help you relax," Abdul smiled. "I know you're going through a lot, but for your own good as well as everyone else's, you're going to have to learn to control your emotions. At least until we can get you back into space."

"Abdul?" Quatre stared at him, not exactly trusting what he was seeing. Glancing around his hospital bed, he saw the other gundam pilots were in the room as well. Heero was flipping through Quatre's medical charts towards the door. Wufei was leaning by the window, watching him with an intense curiosity. Duo was sitting in the chair next to where Abdul was standing next to the bed. Duo had a wide smile on his face, and from the way he was staring, Quatre suspected that he expected him to transform at any minute.

"Welcome back, Quatre!" Duo grinned. "We were worried about you for a while there!" He leaned in close. "It's a good thing I'm the God of Death, or you might have had me for dinner!"

Quatre paled.

"You're good... I never suspected a thing! So how long were you and Trowa planning on keeping us all in the dark?"

"I... I was in the dark too." Quatre blinked. He couldn't believe how well Duo was taking all this. But then, it was Duo.

"Quatre. Are you feeling okay?" Trowa asked softly. He touched Quatre's shoulder gently.

"Trowa..." Quatre turned his head to find Trowa sitting on the other side of the bed. His eyes filled with tears again. "I'm so sorry." He looked away. "It's all my fault. I've killed two people, and I was going to kill you. I'm a monster, you should have let me die..."

"You're not a monster!" Trowa took Quatre's hand firmly. "And you didn't kill Rashid. I did."

Everyone turned sharply to look at Trowa, who didn't look away from Quatre. Quatre's eyes quivered in pain. "Why?"

"Quatre, I learned what you were the first night in the house," Trowa began.

"That night...with the ripped up robe!" Duo exclaimed. "Quatre did that!?"

"Oh Trowa...!" Quatre sobbed. He could see the scratches on Trowa's neck and chest, exposed by the loose hospital gown he was wearing. And he could see part of the bandages applied for the new wounds Quatre had inflicted that night.

Trowa squeezed his hand, trying to comfort him. "Quatre, you could have done much worse, but you didn't. When you changed back, you didn't remember, and I knew you might react badly if you found out. I didn't want to cause you pain, and I thought I could control you. Maybe I did, I don't know. I thought maybe you were somehow getting out at night and causing those deaths. But when Heero found that image from the security monitor, I knew it wasn't you, because you had blonde fur, and the wolf caught on tape had brown fur. Rashid's behavior had me a little suspicious, but I wasn't really sure what to do. I thought, if nothing else, maybe I could confide in him, since he's always been close to you. But when I confronted him about it in his room, he seemed to snap. He transformed and attacked me. I had no choice but to defend myself."

"So Rashid was a werewolf as well?" Wufei looked from Trowa to Quatre in amazement. Then he looked up at Abdul. "And I'm guessing that you're a werewolf too? Tell me, are your kind this common, or is this all just a great big coincidence?"

Abdul chuckled and removed his sunglasses, folding them in his palms. "Very rare these days. As far as I know, the only ones left are descended from the Maguanac homeland. Those born there are immediately taken into our corps as soon as they're discovered." He smiled and waved the glasses slightly. "We tell people, even at home, that we call ourselves the family because we're all test-tube born. But the truth is, the bond we share is much closer than that."

"Like a pack," Duo narrowed his eyes in thought.

"Exactly," Abdul nodded, and turned to smile at Quatre. "And Rashid knew you were one of ours the first time we met you."

"But I thought you said the only ones left come from the Maguanac homeland," Wufei pointed out.

"My father," Quatre stared blankly at his sheets. "My father, my family originated in the Maguanac's country. He left the Earth when he was my age, to live in the colonies."

"Right," Abdul said slowly. "When your father first started changing, our corps tried helping him, like we always do. I wasn't with the corps yet myself, but Rashid told me that he didn't take it very well. Not well at all. He was a sensitive and kind boy, much like yourself, Master Quatre, and he couldn't accept what he was, and he wouldn't learn to control it, or see it in a positive light. He was grateful to the corps for supporting him, and he always supported us ever afterwards, but he simply wanted to forget about it. So he ran away into space."

Quatre clutched at his sheets and stared up at Abdul with wide eyes. "He never told me anything... He was almost never home, but still... I don't see how I couldn't have known!"

Abdul looked down at his sunglasses sadly. "We can't transform in space. We're not sure why. It's a curse to some of us, but to those like your father, who'd rather run from reality, it's a blessing."

"Are you saying..." Quatre's mouth fell open. "And my sisters too...!?"

"No," Abdul shook his head. "Only you. Your father went to a lot of trouble trying to rid the Winner family of our bloodlines. He nearly succeeded, too. I hear there were female wolves a long long time ago, but among those of our pack, the change is only passed to males, through males. So he made damn sure all his children were female."

"But what about Quatre?" Duo asked, leaning forward on his knees.

"Quatre's mother," Abdul sighed. "She knew the Winner family needed an heir, but she didn't know why Mr. Winner refused to consider having one, although the matter clearly troubled him. She loved him, so she took the decision from him, thinking that he would have no choice but to stop worrying once it was done. Without telling him, she conceived naturally, and Quatre was born. Sadly, it cost her life."

"My mother?" Quatre would have curled into himself, but his back hurt too much. "You mean, I'm not a test-tube baby?" He frowned and shook his head. Then he started to laugh miserably. "Allah... I'm not a test-tube baby... But I'm a damned werewolf!" He put a hand to his head. "This is some sick joke."

"I understand what you're feeling," Abdul said quietly, "but it's only the shock. I just wish we'd been able to break this to you in a less traumatic manner."

Quatre laughed again, shocks of pain going down his back. His face was twisted in agony. "Don't worry yourself, Abdul. I'm just glad I finally know why father would always look at me that way, why he never wanted to touch me... Why I was such a burden to him. I was a reminder of everything about himself that he hated."

"Master Quatre, don't talk like that!" Abdul grumbled.

"Well, it's true!" Quatre shot back. "I could never be the son that he wanted, because he never wanted me to begin with! I killed his wife, it's no wonder he couldn't stand me. I was just a monster to him, he didn't love me, he abandoned me when I needed him the most...!" He closed his eyes and burst into tears all over again.

Trowa stroked Quatre's hair, then let his fingers brush down his cheek. "Quatre, you're not a monster. And maybe I didn't know your father, but I don't think he hated you. I don't see how anyone could possibly hate you."

Quatre bowed his head, refusing to meet Trowa's eyes.

Behind them, the door quietly opened, and Ahmad entered the room. He took in the solemn scene and crept up silently. "It's good to see you looking better, Master Quatre," he greeted. Then pulling a white object from his vest, he tossed it at Duo. "And I think this is yours? I found it outside the house when we first arrived."

"My collar!" Duo beamed, and slid it back on.

"How's Rashid?" Abdul asked.

"Physically, you know Rashid," Ahmad replied. "Nothing gets him down. But I don't think his spirit's doing well."

"What?" Quatre gripped his sheets. Everyone else was at attention as well. "Do you mean Rashid's still alive!?"

"Sure he's still alive!" Abdul smirked. "As I said before, our kind aren't that easy to kill, and especially Rashid! Though he really hasn't been himself lately," he sighed. "A while back, he found out a few of his family members back home died during the war. We knew he wasn't taking it well, but he was trying to pretend he was fine." He shook his head with a tight-lipped expression. "I knew he shouldn't have come back down to Earth alone while he was in that condition, but he insisted he could handle himself...and who's gonna argue with Rashid?"

"I had no idea," Quatre noticed the faint expression of relief in Trowa's eyes. "I'm glad to hear he's going to be okay though. He is going to be okay, isn't he?"

"In time, I'm sure." Ahmad looked uneasy. "You think you'll be okay, Master Quatre?"

"I'm still reeling," Quatre closed his eyes briefly, then opened them to lock with Trowa's. His voice was tired and quiet. "Guess I'll have to wait and see."

***

Later that night, Trowa crept into Quatre's hospital room alone. He knew that the Maguanacs were never far away in the building, but the other pilots had retreated to the house to put things back in order for when Quatre was well enough to go back. Not that he would be staying for very long. He had already made it clear that he meant to go home to the colonies as soon as possible. Quatre seemed terrified of being on the planet, and the fear was saddening to see.

Sitting beside the small form in the bed, Trowa glanced out the window. Dark clouds billowed outside, an abyss of stars twinkling behind them. Quatre had always loved the Earth, but Trowa seriously doubted he would ever return after the next departure. His fingers drifted through the sleeping boy's wavy hair. Quatre grimaced in his sleep.

And would Quatre ever return to him, even in space? He saw Quatre curling away from him, even in sleep. Trowa gazed down at the peaceful form. He was a sleeping beauty, his starlit pale locks veiling his eyes, his gently pouting lips, soft and blush, begging to be kissed...

Feeling his body reacting, Trowa tore his eyes away with an deep involuntary intake of air. This only brought his attention to the rhythmic rise and fall of Quatre's chest. There was something very relaxing about watching it, but it led him to look back at Quatre's face again. That wonderfully gentle face, that had experienced and seen more pain than it ever should have. He knew Quatre hadn't been responsible for the tragedy back at the house. In all the confusion he had been unsure, but he had been certain that Quatre had been with him everytime he'd transformed. Now that he knew about Rashid, he knew that he had been right about Quatre. Quatre wasn't a monster. Now Trowa just had to make him believe it. But the Winner heir was so sad...

"No. I won't let you end up like your father," Trowa whispered, leaning down to cup Quatre's face in his hands. Unable to hold back any longer, he leaned in to caress those delicate lips with his own. Such a simple touch, but it made him feel like warm melted chocolate inside. And his lips, which normally felt like nothing much at all, were alive and electric, tingling with giddy pleasure at the contact. And all because it was Quatre.

Trowa finally drew back and looked down at his lover. Quatre's sleepy eyes were now open and watching him. Shadowy blue eyes, filled with a deep gratitude that surprised Trowa.

The emerald-eyed boy desperately wanted to hold him, but he couldn't. It would only cause Quatre pain from his injuries. So instead he took the hand nearest to him, as he had most of the day, and held it gently, stroking and caressing it. Then he leaned in to kiss Quatre again, silently rejoicing as the kiss was returned. It was several minutes until he could bring himself to stop.

Quatre didn't open his eyes, and his mouth was left partially open as his flushed lips trembled slightly. His face was an open portrait of desire. Yet tears pooled around his shut eyes.

Trowa reached out and dried his tears. "You have every right to be angry at me, considering everything I've done. But I did it all for you. Because I love all that you are." Seeing Quatre's shining eyes open, he couldn't help the tiny sweet smile from forming on his face. "You're still Quatre, just now you develop fur and a wagging tail every once in a while. Compared to your ZERO system personality, it's a piece of cake."

Fighting not to break into tears yet again, Quatre swallowed hard and pulled Trowa down into a hug that was almost too painful. But he held him for a long time, communicating how much he loved Trowa in the dark without words. And they both knew they would be okay.

***

A few months later, Duo found himself back on Earth. This time, on the Pacific coast. Santa Cruz, to be specific. He strolled down a rickety boardwalk near a small off-road beach, wishing he had more time to enjoy himself. It was overcast, grey, and the sand was cold, but the ocean spray was seducing him, just as it had when he'd first descended to Earth, and he'd first seen the vast rolling water.

It fascinated him more than anything else he'd seen on the planet. But he was here to look into a new business hookup with Howard, and Hilde was back home, waiting for word on whether or not he'd give it a greenlight. He didn't really have time for fun this trip. Duo's violet eyes, almost grey as everything else seemed beneath those dark ocean clouds, narrowed, remembering the last time he'd been down on Earth.

How could he forget? That's when he'd discovered that one of his best friends was a genuine werewolf. After getting over his shock, he'd been as fascinated by the discovery as he'd been of the ocean. He had stuck around for days, offering support, as well as being a general pest with his questions. When he had finally left for home, he'd promised not to tell anyone, not even Hilde, though he'd almost bubbled over a few times in his excitement.

On the other side of the spectrum, Heero had seemed the least impressed. Duo smirked to himself. Of course, for all they knew, Heero was a werewolf himself. "Sure would explain a few things," he mused to himself with a low chuckle. "Maybe if I really succeed at annoying him one of these days, I'll get him to slip up." Heero hadn't left until he'd gotten an explanation for the security tapes. It had turned out that Rashid himself had been behind the erasure, in an attempt to hide his werewolf identity, which had been running wild around the grounds. Although Heero had been the first to leave, he had at least apologized for the shootings, to everyone from Quatre to the Maguanacs. They seemed to have accepted it genuinely, but Trowa had still appeared miffed at the former Wing pilot.

Wufei had stayed only a little longer than Heero, but he had expressed almost as much interest as Duo had in Quatre's situation. Interestingly enough, he had ended up telling of a similar story of beastmen that had been passed down by his clan back when his colony still existed. He explained that those old stories had started coming to mind when the werewolf business at the house had started to get heavy. Though Wufei insisted that he was almost positive that those old stories were nothing but stories, Abdul had half-jokingly told him to look up the Corps if he should grow a tail one night.

And of course, Trowa had been Trowa. Quietly supportive of Quatre as always. Duo had been glad to see that the light Trowa had in his eyes for the blonde had not been diminished one bit despite all that had happened. They had still been together when Duo had finally departed.

Duo shivered slightly in the cold ocean wind. His braid was whipping around behind him as if it were alive. He squinted and scowled. He loved his work almost as much as he loved Hilde, but he wished he had time to spend at the beach. Oh well. He'd had his little walk, he would take what he could. Now it was time to get back to the car...

As he turned, he nearly jumped a mile with a yelp. Quatre was standing behind him on the boardwalk, smiling brightly, though the wind was chapping his light skin, making it rosy. Like Duo, he was wearing a jacket, but his was part of an expensive gray suit, while Duo's was black nylon.

"Quatre!?"

"Duo!" Quatre laughed. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Me!?" Duo reclaimed his cool. "I thought you were never coming back to Earth, remember?" He grinned widely. "Nice to see you've changed your mind."

"Yeah," Quatre tapped the heel of one leather shoe against the sand-encrusted wood of the boardwalk. "Trowa and the Maguanacs have been helping me a lot. And I like the Earth too much to stay away forever."

"So you guys doing alright?"

Quatre nodded. "I didn't think I'd be able to live with it at first, being a werewolf, but it doesn't really bother me anymore. I've always had to deal with being different, being an heir, being a gundam pilot, being homosexual, and just being Quatre Raberba Winner. This is just another one of those things. Life goes on."

"That it does. So, how did you find me out here anyway?"

"I wish I could say my space heart told me..." Sheepishly, Quatre, tapped at the tip of his nose. "But this time I just followed my nose. You're standing in the ocean's updraft here. I caught whiff of you while I was driving through town."

Duo blinked. "Geez! I don't smell that bad, do I?"

Quatre chuckled. "Nah, you just smell like Duo."

"You're not kidding, are you? You could smell me from across town!?"

"Yeah, just another one of those things, I guess," Quatre shrugged.

"Sheesh," Duo laughed. "That's somethin' else. So how's Trowa been lately?"

"Oh, he's good. In fact, I was hoping you might come along with me on my way back to the hotel. He's there, and I thought we could all catch up a little."

"Welll..." Duo glanced back at the ocean for a moment. "Aw, what the hell. Lead on, Quat!" He grinned and walked over to Quatre.

"Alright, let's go then!" Quatre grinned broadly, revealing what could only be tiny fangs. Then he turned and headed back towards the road where their cars were parked.

For a moment, Duo was paralyzed where he stood, his skin crawling with goosebumps. He supposed there were some things he'd never completely adjust to. Before Quatre could notice his hesitation, he ran after the young Winner heir. Behind him, the clouds dissolved just enough to allow for one bright beam of light to shine through and glitter on the ocean water beyond. It was a wonderful blue.

-------------------------------------

***

[Author's Afterword: You actually read the entire thing? Thanks! ^_^

Quatre: HAH HAH HAH!!! Told you guys I was the werewolf!

Duo: Bah, you hogged all the fun!

Wufei: Shut up, Duo. At least you got a huge dream sequence!

Heero: Hmph.

Trowa: Damn, I really thought I was the werewolf. Evil author likes to tease me, I think... ::flips through the taped-up script:: Hey, according to the footnotes, Quatre the werewolf was based on the author's pomeranian puppy. *snickers*

Duo: Pansy werewolf!

Quatre: I was not a pansy werewolf! ::cries...again!::

Heero: Pansy werewolf. ::nods::

Trowa: Sorry, Quatre, but you were a pansy werewolf.

Quatre: WAH!

Trowa: ::cuddles Quatre:: But you're MY pansy werewolf.

Quatre: ::howls:: ^_^

Wufei: All this weakness is making me sick. I'm going on to the next fic, with no werewolves, and no silly costumes!

Duo: ::evil grin and whispers to Trowa:: Wait until he hears about the 'Project' sequel the author's plannin'...mwahahahaha.

Hilde: ::pops up again in a witch hat:: Speakin' of costumes!

Duo: Hilde! ::glomps Hilde:: ^_^

Hilde: Hehehe! Halloween party! Everyone else is already there! Let's get some costumes and go!

Relena: Yeah! ::puts Heero in a dress, party pumps, a big sunhat and drags him off:: Let's go!

Heero: So YOU'RE to blame for all those weird scenes I had! O_O;

Rashid and the Maguanac Corps: PARTY!!! ::stampedes off the set in a storm of dust, and when it clears, only T&Q are still around::

Trowa: ::gives the trashed set one last look and hefts Quatre up over his shoulder:: Onward... Before Heero puts razors in the candy apples.

Quatre: Eep!

Trowa: ::puts on clown mask and runs after the others, bushy tail wagging behind him ^_~:: AAAAHHHHhhhhOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

::evil cackling:: Happy Halloween! ]