Most people have a cow.
Aug. 2nd, 2006 05:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
keire_keI love using religion in my fics. Even though I tend to scare people with my views, like I did with our captain during the sailing trip. I've had wine and then a beer (which speaks volumes, seeing as I cannot swallow a beer unless I'm drunk), and he was a good *fingers twitch* Catholic boy. *grins* I scared him good. I bet he was deathly afraid when the storm broke out later.
I'm not leaving you with that cliffie! Aren't you happy? I'll be disappearing for about a week tomorrow. *grins*
Just when did the world get so disjointed, Heero wondered. He couldn’t move a muscle, but strangely, that was okay. He felt heavy, as if he was waking up from a very long alcohol-induced sleep, yet he could hear just fine. Someone was pounding on the door insistently, several someones by the sound of it, letting themselves in when all else failed.
“Heero!”
Quatre? Heero wanted to ask. How did you know where I live? Then he remembered, the slender blond was psychic. Must be rubbing off on me, he thought dazedly, this whole psychic thing. I wonder what will Duo say…
Wait.
“Duo!” The name escaped his mouth, followed by a coughing fit. The world returned to its proper shape.
“Easy. You’ll be fine.” An unfamiliar hand offered him a glass of water. “Drink slowly.” The water slid down his throat, easing the cough. It helped him focus.
“What the fuck happened?” he rasped out. Silence answered him. He looked around, at the apologetic and concerned expressions Trowa and Quatre were wearing, and grim determination on the stranger’s face.
“Duo happened, I’m afraid,” the latter said. “Turns out we had the Antichrist under our very noses.”
“What? No, that’s not possible!” Duo? No way he was the Antichrist. “And who the hell are you?”
“This is Wufei Chang,” Quatre said quietly. “He’s a scholar. History of religions and occultism.” The dark-haired man nodded curtly.
“Another freak?”
“Strictly speaking yes, another freak,” Wufei answered a tad stiffly.
“What’s this bullshit about Duo being the Antichrist again?” Heero’s head was aching like he was hit with a mallet. Then he remembered – walls do tend to have that effect. “Shit. He threw me across the room.”
“Without even touching you,” Quatre supplemented. “Which would imply he’s at least aware of what he is, at best. At worst, he’s ready to get the End started. I had another vision, I’m afraid. Rather explicit,” he added seeing Heero’s round eyes. “Duo is one of my best friends, I like to keep tabs on him.”
“Well, isn’t this embarrassing,” the officer muttered, rubbing his neck.
“Still, something is not right.” Heero looked at Quatre again.
“You mean except Duo suddenly being the evil incarnate?”
“You’re still alive,” Trowa said bluntly.
“Oh, thank you very fucking much. I really wish I wasn’t, at the moment.”
“Heero, be reasonable for a second. Duo knows just about everything about my visions, and I told him today that you will kill the Antichrist.”
“You’re saying he should have killed me.”
“Or have you possessed. Don’t know why he didn’t do that, actually, most demons would think it’s a brilliant strategic move,” Wufei wondered aloud, tapping his chin.
“That’s a good question,” Quatre picked up the thread. “Do you carry any amulets? Anything to prevent a possession?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Did you ever participate in a ritual? Anything which could have attracted a supernatural force?” Heero opened his mouth to deny, but stopped himself. When Duo’d showed him the Hellfire earlier, something in his memory stirred.
“I was in a church during a fire once, when I was ten. I don’t remember much, but I remember my shirt catching fire. I dosed it with holy water. I think- I mean, now I’m pretty sure that was Hellfire.” The two freaks looked at each other.
“That’s one mystery solved. A lifetime of protection against possession and most supernatural influence,” Wufei said. “Perfect balance.”
“Usually a mark left by either holy water or Hellfire fades as soon as the contact is broken,” Quatre hastened to explain to the other two. “But if someone is touched by both at the same time, they leave a combined, permanent mark. Which would mean that you, Heero, are immune to both demonic and angelic influences.”
“Was that why Duo couldn’t kill me?”
“No. Killing wouldn’t be a problem.”
“I feel better already,” Heero muttered.
“And I can’t think of a reason for him not to,” the blond said softly. “I just doesn’t make sense!”
“Does it mean he can still be brought back? Exorcised or something?”
“You cannot exorcise people,” Wufei broke in, slightly irritated. “You exorcise demons out of people. The Antichrist is not a case of possession, he is fully human and fully demonic.”
“I’m doing the math and coming up with some strange solutions here,” Heero said frowning.
“It worked for Jesus, it’s only just that it works for his counterpart.”
“Splendid.” So Duo wasn’t kidding when he mentioned the logic being ravaged viciously. “If he is the devil, or whatever, how come none of you noticed?” he glared at everyone accusingly.
“Don’t look at me, I’m just a bodyguard,” Trowa said.
“According to most sources, the Antichrist would have powers to hide his presence from everyone, even unconsciously, unless he chose to reveal it.” Wufei might have looked like a martial artist, in his gi, or whatever it was called, Heero reflected, but he sure sounded like a scholar. Any minute and he’d start quoting references with page numbers. “That is mentioned or hinted at in several sources, including the first letter of St. John, chapter…” Right on cue.
“Spare me,” the detective said sourly. “The way I see it, Antichrists should have some identifying features. Sociopathy, psychological disorders, cruelty to animals, communications issues-”
“It’s not quite so simple, Heero. Human psychology doesn’t necessarily apply to the supernatural,” Quatre explained. “Even though I agree, there should be some indications, like…” He fell silent, his face paling.
“Like what?”
“Increase in the amount of possessions in the vicinity, both angelic and demonic. Natural phenomena,” Wufei finished. “I can’t say anything about the latter, but the former… I believe the expression is ‘duh’.”
“It’s his job, searching for demons. He took it seriously,” Trowa countered. “You have the Sight too, you should know both demons and angels are around a lot of the time. If that was the only indicator, you should be suspected too.”
“Yes, but I wasn’t brought up by a demon and an angel,” Wufei said smugly. Heero wanted to hit him, for the “quod erat demonstrandum” tone, until his brain registered the words.
The room fell into silence.
“What?” Heero asked cautiously. He noticed that Trowa’s expression seemed pretty surprised too.
“He didn’t exactly go around announcing it,” Quatre said. “But as far as I know, Solo found him somewhere on the streets, alone, when he was maybe three. I will never understand just why he took him in, but he did. After a while they came here, stayed with Howard, until Duo was eight. Then he went to father Maxwell’s orphanage.”
“Oh.” A brain cell sizzled. “You mentioned him being brought up by a demon and an angel…?”
“Solo and Howard, respectively.” An image of a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, greying goatee and sunglasses did a cancan across Heero’s mind. Suddenly Solo’s earlier remark made sense.
“Oh.”
“There is a story there, but I don’t know the details, I’m afraid.”
“I’m not sure I want to,” Wufei muttered. “Good thing they let Duo go to an orphanage, they were hopeless at childrearing.”
“No they weren’t! He turned out okay.”
“First of all, last time I checked, beer and wine is not what toddlers should be fed. Secondly, if by ‘okay’ you understand speaking seven languages, Latin, ancient Greek and Aramaic included, before learning how to read, I congratulate you.”
“Excuse me,” Heero felt obliged to speak up, “I don’t mean to interrupt, but don’t we have an apocalypse on our hands?”
“You think this is off-topic?” Trowa asked, helping the detective up. “You should see Duo and Wufei banter.”
“I can imagine. What do we do now?”
“We have to stop the apocalypse, of course.” Heero knew he should ask “how?”, but he had that horrible feeling he already knew. “I know how you feel about it, but flaming sulphur raining from the sky is not exactly what the humanity needs, to be better folk.” Heero shook his head. It’s not like he wanted flaming sulphur particularly, hell no. Just…
“I know,” he said instead. “I know.” He straightened. “How do we find him?”
“Megiddo would be an obvious place to start,” Wufei said with a shrug.
“As in Israel? How do we get to Israel in time?”
“He has to get there too, remember? He doesn’t have that much of a head start.”
“No, just super demon powers. Fucking brilliant.”
“If you ask me,” Quatre said visibly irritated, “I would start looking at Mirror Street. But please, don’t let me interrupt. I only get remarkably accurate visions, of course.”
Heero and Wufei looked at the blond, while Trowa placed a hand on his shoulder. There was a barely visible smirk on the bodyguard’s face.
“That does make it easier,” the black-haired man conceded eventually. Then he turned to Heero. “We haven’t much time.”
“I know,” the policeman answered quietly, picking up the gun he was admiring earlier. The headache was still there, but it was dissipating, thanks to the sudden burst of adrenaline. “I know.”
edit: They are making His Dark Materials movies. The first is coming out in 2007, apparently. I wonder how much of the plot will be left, when they wash out the religious stuff to placate Hollywood.
If you need me, I'll be sulking in the corner.
I'm not leaving you with that cliffie! Aren't you happy? I'll be disappearing for about a week tomorrow. *grins*
Just when did the world get so disjointed, Heero wondered. He couldn’t move a muscle, but strangely, that was okay. He felt heavy, as if he was waking up from a very long alcohol-induced sleep, yet he could hear just fine. Someone was pounding on the door insistently, several someones by the sound of it, letting themselves in when all else failed.
“Heero!”
Quatre? Heero wanted to ask. How did you know where I live? Then he remembered, the slender blond was psychic. Must be rubbing off on me, he thought dazedly, this whole psychic thing. I wonder what will Duo say…
Wait.
“Duo!” The name escaped his mouth, followed by a coughing fit. The world returned to its proper shape.
“Easy. You’ll be fine.” An unfamiliar hand offered him a glass of water. “Drink slowly.” The water slid down his throat, easing the cough. It helped him focus.
“What the fuck happened?” he rasped out. Silence answered him. He looked around, at the apologetic and concerned expressions Trowa and Quatre were wearing, and grim determination on the stranger’s face.
“Duo happened, I’m afraid,” the latter said. “Turns out we had the Antichrist under our very noses.”
“What? No, that’s not possible!” Duo? No way he was the Antichrist. “And who the hell are you?”
“This is Wufei Chang,” Quatre said quietly. “He’s a scholar. History of religions and occultism.” The dark-haired man nodded curtly.
“Another freak?”
“Strictly speaking yes, another freak,” Wufei answered a tad stiffly.
“What’s this bullshit about Duo being the Antichrist again?” Heero’s head was aching like he was hit with a mallet. Then he remembered – walls do tend to have that effect. “Shit. He threw me across the room.”
“Without even touching you,” Quatre supplemented. “Which would imply he’s at least aware of what he is, at best. At worst, he’s ready to get the End started. I had another vision, I’m afraid. Rather explicit,” he added seeing Heero’s round eyes. “Duo is one of my best friends, I like to keep tabs on him.”
“Well, isn’t this embarrassing,” the officer muttered, rubbing his neck.
“Still, something is not right.” Heero looked at Quatre again.
“You mean except Duo suddenly being the evil incarnate?”
“You’re still alive,” Trowa said bluntly.
“Oh, thank you very fucking much. I really wish I wasn’t, at the moment.”
“Heero, be reasonable for a second. Duo knows just about everything about my visions, and I told him today that you will kill the Antichrist.”
“You’re saying he should have killed me.”
“Or have you possessed. Don’t know why he didn’t do that, actually, most demons would think it’s a brilliant strategic move,” Wufei wondered aloud, tapping his chin.
“That’s a good question,” Quatre picked up the thread. “Do you carry any amulets? Anything to prevent a possession?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Did you ever participate in a ritual? Anything which could have attracted a supernatural force?” Heero opened his mouth to deny, but stopped himself. When Duo’d showed him the Hellfire earlier, something in his memory stirred.
“I was in a church during a fire once, when I was ten. I don’t remember much, but I remember my shirt catching fire. I dosed it with holy water. I think- I mean, now I’m pretty sure that was Hellfire.” The two freaks looked at each other.
“That’s one mystery solved. A lifetime of protection against possession and most supernatural influence,” Wufei said. “Perfect balance.”
“Usually a mark left by either holy water or Hellfire fades as soon as the contact is broken,” Quatre hastened to explain to the other two. “But if someone is touched by both at the same time, they leave a combined, permanent mark. Which would mean that you, Heero, are immune to both demonic and angelic influences.”
“Was that why Duo couldn’t kill me?”
“No. Killing wouldn’t be a problem.”
“I feel better already,” Heero muttered.
“And I can’t think of a reason for him not to,” the blond said softly. “I just doesn’t make sense!”
“Does it mean he can still be brought back? Exorcised or something?”
“You cannot exorcise people,” Wufei broke in, slightly irritated. “You exorcise demons out of people. The Antichrist is not a case of possession, he is fully human and fully demonic.”
“I’m doing the math and coming up with some strange solutions here,” Heero said frowning.
“It worked for Jesus, it’s only just that it works for his counterpart.”
“Splendid.” So Duo wasn’t kidding when he mentioned the logic being ravaged viciously. “If he is the devil, or whatever, how come none of you noticed?” he glared at everyone accusingly.
“Don’t look at me, I’m just a bodyguard,” Trowa said.
“According to most sources, the Antichrist would have powers to hide his presence from everyone, even unconsciously, unless he chose to reveal it.” Wufei might have looked like a martial artist, in his gi, or whatever it was called, Heero reflected, but he sure sounded like a scholar. Any minute and he’d start quoting references with page numbers. “That is mentioned or hinted at in several sources, including the first letter of St. John, chapter…” Right on cue.
“Spare me,” the detective said sourly. “The way I see it, Antichrists should have some identifying features. Sociopathy, psychological disorders, cruelty to animals, communications issues-”
“It’s not quite so simple, Heero. Human psychology doesn’t necessarily apply to the supernatural,” Quatre explained. “Even though I agree, there should be some indications, like…” He fell silent, his face paling.
“Like what?”
“Increase in the amount of possessions in the vicinity, both angelic and demonic. Natural phenomena,” Wufei finished. “I can’t say anything about the latter, but the former… I believe the expression is ‘duh’.”
“It’s his job, searching for demons. He took it seriously,” Trowa countered. “You have the Sight too, you should know both demons and angels are around a lot of the time. If that was the only indicator, you should be suspected too.”
“Yes, but I wasn’t brought up by a demon and an angel,” Wufei said smugly. Heero wanted to hit him, for the “quod erat demonstrandum” tone, until his brain registered the words.
The room fell into silence.
“What?” Heero asked cautiously. He noticed that Trowa’s expression seemed pretty surprised too.
“He didn’t exactly go around announcing it,” Quatre said. “But as far as I know, Solo found him somewhere on the streets, alone, when he was maybe three. I will never understand just why he took him in, but he did. After a while they came here, stayed with Howard, until Duo was eight. Then he went to father Maxwell’s orphanage.”
“Oh.” A brain cell sizzled. “You mentioned him being brought up by a demon and an angel…?”
“Solo and Howard, respectively.” An image of a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, greying goatee and sunglasses did a cancan across Heero’s mind. Suddenly Solo’s earlier remark made sense.
“Oh.”
“There is a story there, but I don’t know the details, I’m afraid.”
“I’m not sure I want to,” Wufei muttered. “Good thing they let Duo go to an orphanage, they were hopeless at childrearing.”
“No they weren’t! He turned out okay.”
“First of all, last time I checked, beer and wine is not what toddlers should be fed. Secondly, if by ‘okay’ you understand speaking seven languages, Latin, ancient Greek and Aramaic included, before learning how to read, I congratulate you.”
“Excuse me,” Heero felt obliged to speak up, “I don’t mean to interrupt, but don’t we have an apocalypse on our hands?”
“You think this is off-topic?” Trowa asked, helping the detective up. “You should see Duo and Wufei banter.”
“I can imagine. What do we do now?”
“We have to stop the apocalypse, of course.” Heero knew he should ask “how?”, but he had that horrible feeling he already knew. “I know how you feel about it, but flaming sulphur raining from the sky is not exactly what the humanity needs, to be better folk.” Heero shook his head. It’s not like he wanted flaming sulphur particularly, hell no. Just…
“I know,” he said instead. “I know.” He straightened. “How do we find him?”
“Megiddo would be an obvious place to start,” Wufei said with a shrug.
“As in Israel? How do we get to Israel in time?”
“He has to get there too, remember? He doesn’t have that much of a head start.”
“No, just super demon powers. Fucking brilliant.”
“If you ask me,” Quatre said visibly irritated, “I would start looking at Mirror Street. But please, don’t let me interrupt. I only get remarkably accurate visions, of course.”
Heero and Wufei looked at the blond, while Trowa placed a hand on his shoulder. There was a barely visible smirk on the bodyguard’s face.
“That does make it easier,” the black-haired man conceded eventually. Then he turned to Heero. “We haven’t much time.”
“I know,” the policeman answered quietly, picking up the gun he was admiring earlier. The headache was still there, but it was dissipating, thanks to the sudden burst of adrenaline. “I know.”
edit: They are making His Dark Materials movies. The first is coming out in 2007, apparently. I wonder how much of the plot will be left, when they wash out the religious stuff to placate Hollywood.
If you need me, I'll be sulking in the corner.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-08-02 03:44 pm (UTC)LEAVING for a WEEK?! That's like a cliffhanger in itself!! D:
no subject
Date: 2006-08-02 04:07 pm (UTC)*insert evil laughter here*
no subject
Date: 2006-08-02 04:50 pm (UTC)Have a safe trip and I'll be looking for more when you get back!
no subject
Date: 2006-08-02 06:16 pm (UTC)*huggles* Thanks!
no subject
Date: 2006-08-02 05:27 pm (UTC)HA! I knew it was Duo (though it was kinda obvious by the end of last chapter) I hope Heero doesn't have to kill Duo though I'm sure you will make it all work out somehow. I always amuses me how well Heero deals with the entire situation, Normal people would either be having a mental break down or be making fools of themselves. I never felt that from Heero though. Way to go!
Have fun away and I hope you get lots of rest.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-02 06:20 pm (UTC)*evil grin* I get the feeling I overdo these reactions sometimes. I mean, it would be normal for people to freak out, wouldn't it? But sullen resignation somehow works for Heero. ^____^
Thank you!
no subject
Date: 2006-08-02 06:32 pm (UTC)OOh and I forgot to say this last time. I like you use of Religion in your fic. Probably because I enjoy hopelessly twisting religion my self. I think it comes from going to a Catholic Highschool. At least now I know that you won't be offended by my crackpot religious theories. I was planing on sending them to you along with your gift (which I have but have not sent) since I can't draw T_T
Also: T.T I shudder to think of what they will do to His Dark Materials. I love those books so much and am very scared at the moment.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-02 07:01 pm (UTC)*grins* Good to hear not everyone will desert me, when I get started on religion in One Death to Go. I love crackpot religious theories! *is giddy* I cannot wait!
I cannot express how much I loved these books. They were just about everything I could want. Best compliment ever, I never wanted to write fanfics for them, because they are, quite simply, perfect. <3 About the movie thing: a while ago I came across this (http://www.bridgetothestars.net/index.php?d=commentaries&p=panperplex). It makes you cry and laugh at the same time, because I'm afraid this is what we can expect...
no subject
Date: 2006-08-02 07:21 pm (UTC)Yes. My embarrassment for the characters knows no bounds sometimes. I often have to stop reading (for a while) because I can't stand it. Never had that problem with your storied though. I was actually quite surprised. When characters are put into new situations that usually brings out my embarrassment factor full force but it didn't with Hellfire. I was quite pleased.
And don't worry I will never desert you. I can't wait for more of One Death to Go. I will try to get your gift off soon, but I have something else I want to get and it will have to wait till september T_T
no subject
Date: 2006-08-03 12:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-09 07:12 pm (UTC)*beams* Heero will figure something out, I'm sure he will. Or else something will get figured out for him. *smirks*
no subject
Date: 2006-08-03 07:47 am (UTC)I love snarky Quatre at the end of this part. ^______^
Have fun while you're away!
no subject
Date: 2006-08-09 07:18 pm (UTC)Thank you!