Project
Story by: Cessy Angel

He lay there, smiling. His head leaned against the cold cemented wall while his hands lay on the floor, holding a sharp piece of glass that was slowly cutting through his flesh as he continued to close his hand tighter and tighter on the piece. His eyes hadn't closed for a while, they were burning. But he just couldn't stop looking and the wine-red mass that lay in the corner of the small room.

"My... hands... they're... sticky." He whispered. He let his feet slide on the floor, letting the blood seep into the fabric of his pants. Now he could clearly see the face, horrified blue eyes continued to peer at him, his mouth open, but only saliva and blood ran out of it.

Only thirty minutes earlier that same face had looked at him menacingly, commanding him to give all his money. Those same hands that are laying on the floor had sliced a deep cut into his neck. But now... they didn't move. Dead as puppet without strings.

Finally, Duo's eyes closed and he lost consciousness.

Shinigami... why won't you leave me alone?

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Quatre and Heero were home alone. Wufei and Trowa had gone out for a while but were expected back soon. Something about a meeting, although the gundam boys had agreed long ago to never go on another mission. They were currently living at one of Quatre's mansions, in Europe. Night had just fallen on the hot summer night.

The mansion was quiet. Two weeks ago their companion had left for space for a break from earth itself, but he had not returned for a week now. Although the boys would much rather think that he was okay, they had their doubts. Day after day, they hoped for some information on where he might be.

The phone rang. Quatre answered.

It was the police.

A low voiced policeman told Quatre that he should come to the office at once, for questioning. After hanging up, Quatre looked at Heero worriedly. They both nodded, without a word. No words needed to be spoken, they had the faintest idea that it would involve their missing friend.

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Upon arriving at the station a tall man with short black hair had greeted them and brought them to his office, where he closed and locked the door. He explained to them that one of their 'friends' was found in an abandoned house just out of town.

"Now, we only found information on how contacting you by looking through the suspect's wallet. So I'm assuming that you are the ones who were either expecting him or had seen him recently. Am I right?"

They both nodded. They knew who he was talking about, and they feared for what the policeman would ask them next, or what he would inform them of. What could have Duo done?

"Well, then. I have a couple of pictures I would like you to see. Usually we wouldn't ask for outside help, but we're completely baffled over this one." He opened a file and took a few pictures out, but didn't hand them out yet. He eyed them for a minute, a look of disgust passing over his face. "To tell you right now, these pictures aren't pretty."

He threw them on the desk, and Quatre gasped and looked away, while Heero took the pictures and examined them closer.

The first picture was of a man, covered in blood. He lay in the corner of a room, his head resting against his shoulder and both hands extending as if to reach something. His legs, or what was left of them, had been sliced throughly. They were nothing more than a mass of flesh and bones. A long cut ran from the man's hips to his back, deep enough, and pieces of glass were still stuck in the body.

"This man's name is Vincent Key, he's the leader of a gang of murderers who are wanted in four countries. We have been searching for years." The policeman spoke up, sighing, and he whispered in a low voice. "I have no idea how... a single person could have done this to him."

Heero looked up. "We don't know this man." But he was afraid to know who had mutilated the man. Deep inside, he hoped it would be someone they didn't know. No, he didn't want to get involved into anything.

But the policeman, with a grim look on his face took another photograph and placed it in Heero's hand. On the picture, was a young boy with long dark brown hair, his face was pale, blood covering his neck, and he wore nothing more than a torn-up black top and leather pants. His arms, covered with cuts lay on each side of his body, one hand holding a piece of glass, with blood pouring all over the floor.

Heero didn't say anything. Quatre looked at the picture, horrified.

"Is... is the boy alright?!" Quatre put both hands on the desk and looked at the policeman desperately.

"Where did you bring him after you found him?" Heero asked, patient, yet a little shocked at the same time. He wanted to ask a barrage of questions, but he knew most of them couldn't be answered.

The policeman sighed, and leaned back on his chair. "We took him to the hospital as soon as we found him, to take care of his wounds. We tried to interrogate him, but he just didn't respond. We brought in a psychiatrist, and all he said about the boy was that he was insane, suffering from grave depression, and that there were signs that he might be obsessive-compulsive. There's just nothing we can do until he snaps out of it."

"Okay... can we go see him in the hospital? Maybe we could help." Quatre closed his eyes and whispered something that the others didn't hear. Heero nodded to the policeman, assuring him that Quatre would be alright.

"Sure. Just go to the Dumont hospital, and tell them that officer Finn sent you. They shouldn't give you any trouble. And please, if you find out anything, please tell us. Either that or we'll came once in a while to ask if anything happened. Now, don't forget, you hear?"

"Yes sir." Then both Quatre and Heero rose up and went outside.

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"Heero... what do you think about this?" Quatre asked, clearly disturbed.

"I say we call Wufei and Trowa, tell them to go to the Dumont hospital as fast as they can, and we'll see in what state Duo really is in." Heero looked back at Quatre. "Don't worry, he can't possibly be that bad."

Heero felt like screaming, to just clutch his head and rock himself, assuring himself that Duo would be fine. He wanted to walk into that hospital room and see Duo laughing, laughing because it was all a big joke. Then Heero could handle it.

"I hope you're right, Heero..."

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Since Heero and Quatre had arrived to the hospital long before Wufei and Trowa, they went ahead and asked to see their injured friend. The nurse didn't seem to have any obligation, directed them to which room he was being kept in.

When they came to the room, a short and old doctor had came out of the room. He looked at both of them, and smiled weakly, his big dark brown eyes a little sad.

"Are you the two boys that officer Finn sent?" He nodded. "Well, your friend in here is healing from his physical injuries, although the cut in his hand may take some time to heal. Some injuries were made before the accident, possibly self-hurt. As for his mental health... well, I'll let you see for yourselves. Just go inside, he's harmless. Call a nurse if you need anything."

Heero sighed and told the doctor that they would. The doctor left and left Heero and Quatre to go into the room by themselves. Heero still wanted to ask a few questions, but it looked like the doctor was already being called.

He reached the handle and opened the door. The room was almost completely dark, except for a small lamp in the corner giving away a faint light throwing a shadow throughout the room. Heero found the light switch and turned it on. The lights from the ceiling cleared the room.

Duo sat there, his back against the wall of the bed, his head bowed and his hair laying all around him. He wore one of the hospital's gowns and he was bandaged all over his arms, hands and his neck. He didn't show any motion when the light was turned on.

Quatre and Heero stepped inside the room and Quatre closed the door behind them. Heero stepped closer to the bed and bend down to have a better look of Duo's face.

His violet eyes were open, but they were completely blank. His mouth was half-open and he seemed to be whispering something, but Heero couldn't hear so he came closer. Suddenly Duo's voice became louder, it sounded just like a puppet's voice. So small. Without emotion.

"My hands are sticky. Shinigami, why won't you clean my hands? I don't want to be dirty. Clean my hands. Please. Clean my hands. Clean my hands... Oh, why won't you clean my hands? They're sticky..."

Quatre and Heero gave each other a worried glance, and then Duo's head rolled to one side, and his eyes seemed to have fixed on the two boys.

"Will you clean my hands? The nurses and doctors don't want to. They say my hands are clean. But I can still feel the blood on them. Clean my hands, please..."

Duo's eyes rolled back into his head and he screamed.

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Author's note: Erm, yeah. I wrote this first part pretty fast, so please don't mind how crappy it's written. I wanted to write a story like this for a long time. Yep. Heck, who doesn't like a angsty Duo story? Probably shounen-ai later on. Well, of course. It's me you're talking about. So anywho. Please review! ^^