"I can't believe you agreed to this for us!" Duo protested. "Without 
even asking us first!" 

"The injustice of it all!" Wufei protested, in agreement with Duo. 
"Yuy, what were you thinking?!" 

"We are soldiers," Heero replied, matter-of-factly. "There is no 
place for us in this era of peace. This is the best way." 

"For you, maybe," Duo sulked, "but did it ever occur to you that 
maybe us others four might want to enjoy the peace we fought for?" 

Wufei was the first to feel the sting of the needle 

Trowa turned and shared a silent smile with Quatre. He was 
frightened, but he didn't want to upset the beautiful arabian boy he 
loved so completely. 

Quatre smiled back, sensing everything Trowa had tried to hide. It 
made him love the unibanged pilot even more. "I love you, Trowa." he 
whispered as Trowa felt the needle pierce his arm. 

A moment later, as another needle left his own arm, Quatre joined his 
beloved in slumber. 

It was Duo's turn next. 

"I just want to go on record here and say that this really sucks, 
Heero! I don't know what you were thinking when you agreed to this, 
but I'm not happy about..." his head lolled forward as the nurse 
withdrew the needle from his arm. 

Heero had only seconds to enjoy the silence before he, too, lost 
consciousness. 

Each of the five young pilots was placed in a cryostasis chamber and 
then placed within a satellite. It was launched into space, sent to 
orbit a small moon in the Andromeda galaxy. 

The war Heero had wanted them preserved to fight in started the very 
next day, but the facility was destroyed before it could retrieve 
them, and so they were left adrift. 

-CHAPTER 1- 

"Lexx, is that what I think it is?" 

"It is another fractal core, Stan." Lexx replied. "Do you wish me to 
fly through it?" 

"Yes!" Xev nodded, enthusiastically. "Tell it to fly through. This is 
our ticket out of the Dark Zone!" 

"What if we're killed?" Stan asked. 

"If you're killed, no big loss." 790 would've shrugged if he'd had a 
body. "But if my Xev dies, the universe will go dark and cold, the 
stars will fall from the heavens, and all the angels will weep at her 
passing." 

"We'll be fine." Xev insisted. "Come on, Stanley. Who knows how 
desperate the women on the other side of that fractal core might be? 
Maybe even desperate enough to want you?" 

"Lexx," Stanley said, "take us through that fractal core." 

"As you command, Stan." Lexx complied. 

"Where are we?" Xev asked, once they had recovered from passing 
throught the core. 

"Lexx?" Stan asked. 

"There is no information in my databanks about this dimension." Lexx 
replied.  "However, my sensors are picking up a small vessel 
orbitting a nearby moon. It has five lifeforms on it. All male." 

Stan withered in disappointment, but Xev was beaming from ear to ear 
at the thought of taking some handsome stranger into her arms... and 
perhaps into other parts of her as well. 

"No," Stan shook his head, seeing the look on her face. "Forget it. 
Absolutely not. I mean it, Xev." 

"Okay... if you're scared, I understand." Xev shrugged. 

"I'm not scared." Stan protested. "Fine. you want to see how not 
scared I am. Lexx bring that ship on board." 

"As you command, Stan." 

Xev raced to the Lexx's docking bay, where the ship would most likely 
be once Lexx had retrieved it, stopping off at the cryochamber to 
awaken Kai as a precaution. 

They stepped into the cryoship. Xev looked at each of the sleeping 
pilots. 

"They're just babies." she said. "I wonder what they're doing here." 

"There is one way to find out." Kai reminded her. 

Xev nodded and instructed 790 to thaw the five young boys. 

Heero drew his gun, leapt neatly over the projectile Kai shot 
reflexively from his brace, and pressed the muzzle to Kai's forehead. 
"Who are you?" He asked, darkly. 

"I am Kai. This is Xev Bellringer of B3K. The robot head is called 
790." 

"We're from the Cluster." Xev explained. 

"Never heard of any of those places." Heero kept his gun trained on 
Kai. 

"You have excellent reflexes." Kai noted. "It is only a rare few who 
can dodge my brace." 

A low, deep, sensuous moan from one of the other now-open cryotubes 
caught their attention. They all turned to see the blonde youth 
writhing, slowly, his fingertips exploring his own body as he let out 
a long, needful, moan of pure desire. The display was turning Xev on, 
but she shook her head. "Too young." she told herself. 

The unibanged pilot opened his eyes and saw the display his young 
lover was putting on. Quatre's straining erection caught his eye and 
held it like some erotic snakecharmer. He moved, quietly, over to the 
blond pilot and placed a gentle kiss upon his lips. 

Quatre's eyes opened and he blushed a deep red as he realized he was 
stark naked in front of three people.. well, two people and a robot 
head... he'd never met before. He hurriedly put his clothes back on. 

"That was quite a display." Xev told him. "Your boyfriend is very 
lucky." 

"That's not how he usually acts." Trowa told her. "In fact, that's 
very unusual for him." 

"I sense the moods of those around me." Quatre explained. "Through my 
uchu-no-kokoro. My Space-Heart." 

"Then, you must've been sensing the love-slave program." Xev 
realized. "It's probably the most sensual thing you ever felt." 

"No, it isn't." Quatre admitted. "Normally, I could've withstood it, 
but I was half-asleep." 

"The love-slave programming causes a person to become addicted to 
sexual contact." Xev told Quatre. "Their body craves penetration and 
they lust is increased at least twentyfold." 

"Still not the most sensual thing I've felt." Quatre replied. 

"Oh?" Xev's curiosity was piqued. "Then what is?" 

Quatre looked over at the still slumbering Duo. 

"He is." 

-CHAPTER 2- 

"Who is he?" Xev asked. 

"Shinigami the Beautiful," Quatre replied, his voice laden with 
desire. "The God of Death." 

"God of Death?" Xev raised an eyebrow. "Kai... maybe he can help 
you." 

"I do not think so." Kai sounded doubtful. 

"Well, it can't hurt to ask." Xev reasoned. She went over to the 
serene figure and was about to awaken him with a kiss when she felt a 
gun at her temple. 

"Lady, I'm the only one who kisses him." Heero told her. 

"Of course." Xev backed away. "Please? We need to speak to him." 

Heero pressed his lips to Duo's in a tender kiss. Duo responded 
instantly, pressing himself against Heero and returning the kiss with 
a deep moan of pleasure. He pulled Heero even closer, opening his 
mouth slightly, his and Heero's tongues clashing with a passion that 
could not be denied. 

"Duo," Heero broke the kiss as Duo began to tug down his spandex 
shorts, "we have company." 

"Oh, man!" Duo sighed, more annoyed than embarrassed. He looked at 
Xev and 790 and gave them a cheerful greeting. Then his gaze fell 
upon Kai. "You're dead." 

Kai nodded. "That is correct." 

"We were hoping you could help Kai." Xev told him. "We understand 
you're the God of Death." 

"That's right. The one and only Shinigami at your service." Duo 
laughed. 

"Can you restore Kai?" Xev asked. 

"Do not trouble yourself." Kai interrrupted.  "The dead have no need 
of such things." 

"I'm the God of Death, not the God of Life." Duo apologized. "But 
maybe he doesn't need to be restored. Maybe what he really needs is 
to get a few misconceptions out of  his head. You're wrong, Kai. 
About the dead having no needs. They do have needs just as we do. You 
ignore your needs and desires. You convince yourself that they are 
not there. But they are there. You do have them. If you have the 
courage to seek them out, Quatre can help you find them." 

"I have no such need." Kai insisted. 

"When you are ready, then." Duo smiled.  "For now, how about a lift 
back to Earth?" 

"Earth?" Kai asked. 

"Our home planet." Quatre explained. "It's such a beautiful place." 
He looked down at his feet, seemingly worried. 

"You seem troubled."  Xev noticed. "What's wrong?" 

"Rashid... my retainer. Is he alive back on Earth. How much time has 
gone by? I've never been truly alone." 

"And you still aren't." Trowa reminded him. 

-CHAPTER 3- 
 

Quatre smiled. "Thanks, Trowa." he told the other boy as he placed a 
loving and grateful kiss upon the unibanged boy's lips. 

The five pilots followed Xev to the bridge of the Lexx. 

"Oh no." Stan moaned as he saw the five teenagers. 

Quatre bounded forward, glad of the opportunity to make a new friend. 
"My name is Quatre Raberba Winner." he told the older man. "Don't 
worry. Everything will be all right." 

Stan blinked. "How did you know I was worried?" he asked.  He'd been 
trying to look as casual as possible. 

"My Space-Heart told me." Quatre told Stan 

"Your Space-Heart?" Stan asked. "What's that?" 

"My empathy for all living things." Quatre explained.  "For example, 
I know that while you are in love, it is not with who you think." 

"Come again?" Stan blinked. 

"You were raised by strict people who conditioned you to believe you 
should act in certain ways. Some of these were contrary to how you 
felt, how you still feel in your deepest heart. But now you fear 
these feelings, or rather the memory of the abuse inflicted upon you 
because of them." 

Stan closed his eyes, memories flooding back. Lips upon his, tucked 
in a warm embrace. Being found and dragged away from the boy he was 
with. The punishment that followed, a beating and a torture unlike 
any before or since. Made worse by the fact that Stan felt he'd done 
nothing wrong. He'd been in love. That's what counted, right? Even if 
it was... 

Stan's eyes flew open. "No." he shook his head. "No I refuse to 
believe it." 

"I only showed you what's in your heart." Quatre told him. "It's 
okay. You won't be hurt for showing your true feelings here. And you 
hurt yourself by denying them." 

Stan looked at Quatre, and saw no guile in the boy's eyes. This boy 
was the first being he'd ever met whom he found he could trust 
completely. 

"It was humiliating." he recalled his punishment. "And it wasn't 
fair. Just because he was a boy. When we met again, years later, it 
was so hard to work with him. I thought it was because we were so 
different. But it wasn't. It was because my feelings for him still 
lingered." He fell silent, unsure of what to say next. 

"Only now you were afraid to act on them." Quatre prompted. 

"I was terrified to." Stan agreed. "He was punished, too. I guess 
that's why he decided to rebel. He wanted to make sure others 
wouldn't be punished for loving with the System felt was the wrong 
people." 

Realization came into Xev's eyes. "Stan? Are you talking about 
Thoden?" 

Stan nodded. "Yeah." he said, his eyes damp with the tears of fond 
memories.  "And now I'm in love with his assassin." It felt so good 
to say it, like a tremendous weight being lifted from him. 

Xev raised an eyebrow. "You're... in love with Kai?" 

Stan nodded. "I guess I have been for some time." 

(tbc...)