The Rise of the Golden Phoenix

A/N - I know there seems to be a lot of loop holes in the fic. I wanted to wait to later chapters to explain the AU they live in. I hope it is worth the wait. Sorry for taking so long to update this story; blame it on life and the art world. So many art shows and so much wine and cheese. 8D

Read, Relax and Review…

“…” Talking
‘…’ Thoughts
//…// Flashbacks

The Rise of the Golden Phoenix Part 6
by Markanovanlink


The sun burned its midday rays onto the exposed skin of a lifeless figure. A figure that at one time was the Golden Prince of Sandrock. The sunlight made his golden hair shine, but its light also shown the blue tinting of his lips.

Trowa closed his eyes as he stood up. Heero watched him move away from the body and stare off in the distance. The Prince of War slowly turned his cobalt eyes towards violet ones.

Duo felt trapped in Heero’s glaze. He felt drawn to those eyes but torn at the heart. After what seemed like an hour, he torn his eyes away from Heero’s and approached Trowa. He put his hand on Trowa’s shoulder and whispered something into his ear. When Trowa became tense under his hand, he let go and turned towards Shinigami.

Shinigami started to stare in the same direction as Trowa. His huge bat wings spread out as he started to growl. ‘What now?’ Duo thought to himself as he tried to see what had his hell beast so riled up. He could see it too; in the distance was a ball of fire heading straight for them. “What the hell is that?”

Heero came to stand next to Duo while Wufei stood behind. Shinigami folded his wings and walked behind Wufei with a small whimper escaping his throat. Duo was shocked; whatever this was had his pet spooked.

Trowa narrowed his eyes as he tried to reach out to the fiery ball. ‘What are you?’ The ball of fire stopped in the distance while the earth beneath their feet shook. All the warriors fell to their knees as a voice boomed through their very souls.

“I am the final stage of the Trinity.” Just as the ominous voice ended a huge gust of wind blew the warriors and Shinigami across the sand like leaves. Trowa was the first to his feet when he realized the beast was going for Quatre’s body.

They all had been blown some feet away from the fallen Prince. Trowa ran towards him hopping over the body so he could be in-between the fiery beast and Quatre. Trowa extended both his arms outward and yelled at the beast. “You can not have him!”

“It is not your choice to make.” The ball of fire turned into a phoenix and started to head for Trowa. Duo screamed as the bird of fire seem to burn right through his friend. Trowa slowly fell face first into the sand as the creature passed through his body like he wasn’t even there. After his body hit the sand, his medallion started to glow as Nanashi emerged from it.

Nanashi flapped powerful wings of golden fur and feathers as he pounced on the phoenix. The phoenix moved out of the griffin’s path and into the air. Nanashi gave chase and tried to scratch the bird with his powerful feline paws; only to have them singed. He ignored the pain and continued his attack on the phoenix. Nanashi took in a deep breath and blew out a bright sonic wave of energy shaped like a boomerang. When the energy wave hit the bird of fire, a loud boom was heard. The Phoenix stumbled in its flight but continue to maneuver defensively against the griffin.

Shinigami ran pass the fallen soldiers as they were getting up. He flew in the air to help Nanashi fight the beast. Both Wufei’s and Heero’s medallions started to glow as their own creatures emerged. Wing and Nataku flew towards the phoenix, while Heero and Wufei stood at awe as the four creatures engaged in battle.

Duo was the only one to go for Trowa as they watched the battle unfold before their eyes. “Trowa wake up. Open your eyes buddy.” He started to shake his fallen comrade. Trowa’s eyes slowly opened as he looked into the worried face of his friend.

“Duo, am I dead?”

“No, I decided you should live a few minutes longer.” He said with a smirk. “But it looks like that bird might not be after our pets get done with it.” Trowa turned his attention to the direction Duo’s eyes pointed.

The four powerful beasts had surrounded the fiery creature by maneuvering in swirling circular rotations. As each beast made their rotation, they would attack at close range. Nanashi would open his strong yellow beck and screech out sonic waves at the fiery monster’s head while Wing used her horns to summon lighting bolts to strike the beast’s back. Shinigami’s black flames attacked the beast from the left while Nataku’s white flames attacked from the right.

The Golden Phoenix was tired of playing games with them and let out a ear shattering shriek that caused the soldiers to grab their heads with their hands. The four powerful creatures started to fall from the sky. One by one they crashed into the dry terrain. When the shrieking stopped, the soldiers look on in horror as their great companions laid unmoving in the sand.

Worst of all the beast had started to descend towards the Golden Prince. Before a sound could utter from Trowa’s lips, the Phoenix had burrowed itself into Quatre’s body causing a huge explosion.

The darkness that followed felt like a heavy blanket over his eyes. Struggling to regain control over them, he lifted his right hand and slowly massaged his temple. Distorted images perturbed his vision as he opened his lids. As his vision slowly cleared, he sat up and surveyed his surrounding.

Confusion radiated in his green eyes as they absorbed a landscape of wet wild grass, long leafy trees and a slightly rising fog. ‘What the…swamp, this is a swamp. How did I end up…the others…Duo!’ Trowa sprung up on his feet, only to have a wave of dizziness hit him. Struggling to maintain his balance, he searched franticly with his eyes for his comrades. “Duo…Wufei…Heero!”

The ground seemed to suck his feet in with every step he took. The heaviness of his brown leather boots came from the absorbed water of the mud and grass. He sighed in frustration as he continued to walk and call out their names.

He stopped and looked up at the dreary sky in thought. He felt alone. Truly alone. There was no Duo…pleasantly talking and smiling. There was no Wufei…judicially ranting and raving. There was no Heero…silently staring and hating. There was no one.

There was an emptiness he never noticed before. All his life, he wanted to be left alone. What about now? Alone felt scary. Ever since Duo offered him friendship, he clung to it and Duo. He never really noticed that he was even doing so. Was he trying to fill a void he didn’t know he had?

With a strong sigh, Trowa continued to walk through the swamp in search of his friends. A low moan caught his attention as he walked pass a weeping willow. “Duo?” He flew to the braided warrior’s side.

Duo rubbed his head as Trowa helped him up off the ground. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah I am fine, just a little sore.” Duo looked around in confusion before settling his questioning violets on Trowa. “Um, where is Heero and Wufei? Are they okay? Are they alive? What happened? Where are we? Is this a swamp? I hate swamps, they make my hair all puffy…”

“Shut up! You are making my headache worst!” Wufei yelled as Heero and him walked towards them.

“You know what Wufei, I am sick and tired of you being so rude. It is not my fault that something big, round and pointy crawled up and died in your…”

“Enough!” Heero’s voice boomed through the swamp causing Duo to throw his arms around Trowa’s neck in mock fear. Heero narrowed his eyes at them before turning away from everyone. “We need to find Wing and the others and get out of here. Somehow we ended up here, and if this place is what I think it is, we are in grave danger.”

Duo slowly let go of Trowa’s neck as a huge smirk came across his face. “Are you telling me that the Great Prince of War…is…how do you say…scared of a little swamp.”
Duo’s laughter caused Heero to turn around and glare at him. “Duo.” The warning tone in the sound of his name caused him to compose himself, only slightly. With a heavy sigh, Heero said, “This isn’t just any swamp. I think we are in the Swamp of Lost Souls.”

Wufei blew out a deep breath and watched the tiny fog he created with it float upwards and disappear. “This is the Swamp of Lost Souls.” His deep brown eyes took on a look of reminiscing sorrow. “I have been here before.”

“Um…sorry to sound so insincere, but what is so bad about this place?” Duo’s question was only met with silence. He sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

Trowa slowly laid a hand on Wufei’s shoulder as he asked Wufei if he was okay. The Ex Dragon Slayer nodded and then closed his eyes. “Long time ago, I was once married to the most alluring and strong woman of my clan. She was absolutely beautiful. War had ripped her away from me. When the war was over, I took a journey to find this place in hopes of her soul being here.

I was told that this swamp collected the rejected souls of Heaven and Hell. Souls that met their death before their time were turned away from both gates and travel to the Swamp of Lost Souls. I soon found out it wasn’t true. This place collects and traps the escaped souls of Hell. These souls fight each other in order to get possession of misguided mortals that happen upon this place so they can escape into the realm of the living.”

“Wow Wu, I never knew you were married.” Wufei gave Duo a murderous look and started walking away. Duo shrugged his shoulders again and followed. “Hey Wu, how did you get out of here?“

Wufei stopped walking and said, “ I didn’t.” He turned around and looked right into Heero’s eyes with a weak smile. “The God of War rescued me,” he closed his eyes and dropped his head in shame, “I have been indebted to him every since.”

Heero looked at Wufei in shock. He never knew any of this. He never asked Wufei how he become his father’s servant or anything about his past. Wufei was the first person he ever considered friend. So why hadn’t he cared enough to inquire about Wufei’s past. Before he could say anything, a ear piercing scream vibrated through the thick swamp air.