"Sensus Divinitatis"

Written By: The Plotting Housewife

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing belongs to Bandai, Sotsu and associated Parties. This work is written for pleasure not profit.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Ghosts, Demons, Apocalypse, Major character death, blood, gore, violence

Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, 5x6

Summary: It begins with a prophecy and ends with Judgement Day. What happens in between will determine the fate of the human race. The murders of the Gundam Pilots was only the catalyst. The beginning of the end.

" Sensus Divinitatis"

Chapter 9:June 23rd, AC 206, 10:58am

Relena trudged through the saturated forest, exhaustion pulling at her limbs. A thick mist had settled over the landscape making it difficult for her to determine which way she was going. The temptation to just throw in the towel and give herself over to the elements was getting stronger with every wavering step. Only a tiny flame of self-preservation that refused to go out, kept her going. 

She'd passed about a dozen homes in her wanderings. Every single one met the same fate as her own, reduced to a pile of rubble in the quake. She stopped at each one in the hopes she'd find a survivor. She'd called out, straining her ears for a cry, a shout, a whimper, but was met with only silence. 

Now, lost in the woods, she was cold, damp, and hungry, but still she kept moving. She needed to find shelter before nightfall. Though it was June, the temps were lower than normal and since she was also soaked to the bone, exposure was a big risk. 

The rain had died down somewhat, but the air was wet and misty. She was assaulted with tiny droplets of moisture, preventing her wet skin, clothes, and hair from drying. The sky was heavy with thick, dark clouds that moved rapidly across her line of sight whenever she looked up, blinking against the little pinpricks of water.

She had no idea what time it was and with the dark skies, she couldn't even begin to guess. It seemed almost sundown, but somewhere deep inside, her internal clock was telling her it was only late morning. Though it felt as if she'd been walking for days, weeks. 

The chilly wetness moved quickly into her chest with each breath she took and a raw feeling began to develop and spread. An irritated tickle in her throat made her cough, probably from inhaling all the dust and plaster when

her house collapsed. She hacked up a rather nasty glob of mucus and spat it to the side as she stumbled along the uneven ground. Not very ladylike, but Relena was beyond such trivial matters. Now, she could probably add pneumonia to her list of bad fortune.

Another spasm seized her lungs and she bent at the waist and coughed again, the sound rattling through her body and bouncing off the trees. She leaned against a nearby birch to rest. She was so tired. Without even realizing it, she'd slid down the length of the trunk until her backside hit the ground. Her dirty legs were splayed out before her, her arms hung limply by her sides. Before she knew it, her head lolled and she dozed. 

A short time later, she jerked awake suddenly, not sure what had jarred her. She looked around, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Just a dense, dark forest. The fog had thickened and it was getting hard to see past twenty, or thirty feet in any direction. Relena was overwhelmed with panic. She was going to die out here. Alone. She wanted to run for safety, but everything looked the same as far as the eye could see and right now, that wasn't very far. The bleak landscape was cold and unforgiving and she'd never felt more out of place and desolate in her entire life. Maybe she was the only person left in the world. 

But that was ludicrous. There were thirteen billion people on the Earth. No, this was a disaster. A terrible, horrible natural disaster, but the world was still here. And if the world was still here, then people, people just like her, were still here. She just had to get out of this gloomy labyrinth and find them.

Relena looked down at her motionless legs. Alright, move. C'mon, let's get up and find some help. But her limbs apparently weren't on board. They gave a pathetic twitch and she glared at them, annoyed. Come on, Relena. Get your ass up and find some help or you are going to die out here all by yourself. Do you want that? No, so let's give it another try!

This time it worked and she bent her knees, getting her feet under her. She used the tree trunk for support and pulled herself up. She coughed again and stepped forward, using the next tree to help her along. She limped along this way until she felt strong enough to walk on her own. 

She wandered directionless for a while, not knowing if she was walking in circles. She stopped to rest against a large oak, or elm every now and then, her coughs echoed through the forest. The atmosphere reminded her of the ghost stories she and her friends used to tell each other as kids. 

Another coughing fit wracked her frame and she paused to gather her bearings. She ached all the way down to her bones. Closing her eyes, Relena lifted her face to the sky. The tiny pinpoints of rain stinging her skin helped alert her sluggish senses. A thought crossed her mind and she felt ridiculous even considering it. But desperate times called for desperate measures. Steeling herself and feeling rather silly, she coughed to clear her lungs and called out.

"Heero! Hee - guys? Are you there?"

Relena waited. Silence. She cleared her throat and tried again.

"Heero! Duo! Quatre? Can you hear me? Are you here with me?" Still nothing. 

"Damn it. Thanks for being there when I actually need you." She muttered, ticked off now. She carefully stepped over piles of sticks and branches, almost losing her footing. Behind her, a loud crack echoed off the tree trunks. Relena stopped and whipped around, her eyes squinting, looking for the elusive forms of the deceased pilots. She saw nothing. 

"Guys! Could you help me please? I'm lost!" She paused. More silence. Then another snapping sound ricocheted off her right ear and she turned towards the sound. She peered through the fog into the endless rows of trees. There! She saw him. He was fuzzy, but he was there. 

"Heero! I need your help, please! I'm lost and I can't find my way!" Heero stared at her for a moment, then his head turned to the right. Relena followed his line of sight and spotted Quatre, standing not thirty feet away. The blond spirit watched her for a few seconds, then turned and walked away.

"Wait! Please! Don't leave!" 

Quatre paused and turned, looking at her over his shoulder. His arm lifted in a follow me gesture, then he turned back around and began walking again. Relena glanced at Heero. He was still there and pointing in the direction Quatre was walking. Relena nodded and started jogging after the blond. 

Strangely, he disappeared by the time she caught up to him, but looking ahead, she now saw Duo standing in the distance. He made the same gesture and continued on. One by one, the pilots appeared and disappeared and Relena felt like she was playing some twisted ghost version of Whack-a-Mole. But they were leading her somewhere and she trusted them. They had been her best friends. 

She followed them through the woods, probably another two, or three miles until the pilot she was currently following, Trowa, stopped suddenly. He turned back to her and pointed. Relena's eyes tracked the line of his blurry finger and spotted a dim light, almost like firelight, deep within the trees. Was someone back there? Was there a house?

She glanced back at Trowa, but he'd disappeared along with the other four. She was alone again. The boys had been odd at the best of times when they were alive. They were even weirder now that they were dead. Shaking her head, she walked towards the light in the hopes that she would finally find some help. 

A few hundred feet up, there was a cottage situated among a small clearing, surrounded by weeping willows. A small hand-made picket fence curved around from a lush looking shade garden to the back of the house. The windows were lit with candles and a warm glow emanated from inside. Relena's bones ached with how cozy it looked and the thought of a warm bath, dry clothes, and hot food made her whimper.

Too desperate to care if the person who lived there was a homicidal maniac, she stepped around to the wooden front door and knocked. "Hello? Is anyone home? I don't mean you any harm. I'm - I'm lost and I need help. Please?" 

Silence, and then the unmistakable sound of shuffling feet approached the door. It cracked open and a dark eye peered out. Relena smiled politely, trying to seem as nonthreatening as possible which really wasn't a feat. She raised her hand and waved in greeting. 

"Hi. I'm sorry to bother you. My name is Relena. My house collapsed in the earthquake and I've been walking in the woods all day looking for help. I got -" She coughed so hard it vibrated in her chest painfully. "I got lost. You're the first house I found that's still standing. Could you help me please?" 

"Are you alone, or are there others with you?" The voice was definitely male and the visible eye darted around for any sign of others hiding nearby. 

Relena shook her head. "No, it's just me. You're the first person I found alive since the quake." She coughed again. 

The eye narrowed, studying her, looking for what, Relena couldn't tell. He must have decided she was safe enough because the door swung open a moment later, revealing a rather short, petite man with dark hair and olive skin. "That cough doesn't sound good. Come in, come in. Let's get you out of the rain." The man moved aside to make room for Relena to step inside. The entryway was narrow, but she could already feel the heat from inside the cottage and her knees almost gave out in relief. 

The man caught her before she could drop. "Whoa! You alright there? Here, sit. Rest for a bit. Then you can clean up and get into something dry. I live alone so I don't have any women's clothing, I'm afraid."

Relena shook her head, coughing. "I could wear a potato sack and be a happy camper right now. Thank you, sir." 

"Name's Ginetti. Albert Ginetti. Pleased to make your acquaintance. What did you say your name was?"

"Relena. Peacecraft." She watched Ginetti for a reaction. 

Predictably, his eyes widened. "Peacecraft! Well, I must say, I wasn't expecting company of such nobility. Forgive my modest dwelling, it's a bit of a mess."

Relena waved her hand. "Please, no need to fuss! We are just two people of equal footing, nothing more, nothing less. And your home is absolutely beautiful!" 

Ginetti blushed. "Well, thank you. It's pretty self suff -" He was interrupted as Relena began coughing violently. She leaned forward holding onto a small table for support as her lungs spasmed. "Okay. We need to do something about this cough. First things first, let's get you warm and dry." 

He helped her to her feet and led her to a small bathroom. There was a deep tub in the corner and Relena almost cried at the prospect of a hot bath. 

"Here. Take all the time you need. Towels are over here." Ginetti opened the door of a small cabinet revealing a stack of fluffy towels. "I'll leave some warm clothes outside the door. It locks, so you don't have to worry about me barging in. Come out when you're ready and I'll fix you up some soup and tea with herbs for that cough. I grow all my own herbs, lots of medicinal properties they have."

"Thank you, Mr. Ginetti. You are a life-saver!"

"Friends call me Albert. I'd be honored to consider you among them." Ginetti bowed slightly and closed the door behind him. 

Relena let out a sigh of relief. She closed her eyes and tipped her head back, a small smile on her face. She knew her friends wouldn't let her down. 

"Thanks, guys. I owe you one."

~ * ~

Chapter 10

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