"Active markings can't be broken's simply," I explain, tracing my finger around one of the pictures. "Bad shit can happen, dependin' what it's 'poseta do in th'firs' place."
"You broke the one in Lady Winner's home with no repercussions," Wufei points out, and I shrug.
"It don't have no power t'it. Th'only 'repercussion' I had was a fuckin' headache. Breakin' somethin' like tha' thing in Relena's attic would prob'ly be worse, 'specially since I can't see a point'n doin' somethin' so… childish."
"Could Ms. Darlian have done it in one of her less… lucid moments?" Wufei hedges, trying to be polite in his mentioning of my—no, of Serena's daughter. It's still hard to separate my own feelings from hers, since we merged too closely for Heero's liking. It had been a source of teasing for Chang, but after I broke down crying about how cruel he was being to my kids, he backed off. A lot. I wonder how much of that had to do with it annoying Heero.
"That's a good thought," I admit, though I know that's not what happened. The marking in the attic was before Relena was possessed by Serena; it was the cause of Serena's presence. Someone wanted her there, wanted to force Zechs to change through his mother's influence. The pictures appearing as they did were just a side-effect of the unnatural power near them.
"Why are you so interested in it anyways?" Wufei asks, and I grin, placing a slip of paper to save the page in the book.
"For being fuckin' freaky artwork, I kinda wanna sorta remake the effects. I really like the 'Baby Vase' myself. Think it'll look good above the desk?" I wonder, framing a section of the wall between extended fingers, making Wufei shudder. I cackle loudly.
Just another day in the office.
Sure enough, moments later Heero's office door slams open, revealing the rather irate presence of our esteemed employer.
"While I am glad you two have finally managed to learn to get along," he grinds out, teeth clenched, "would you get back to work?"
"What work?" I snap back, waving a hand over my empty desk. "I ran out of work to do!"
"Then make some up!"
"Why don't you?!" I slam my hands on the table, rising to my feet. I am not in the mood to deal with Heero's pissy attitude, and I'm not afraid to let him know it. Wufei's hand is on my arm, trying to pull me back into my seat.
"Am I interrupting something?" I hear a familiar voice ask, amusement evident in his voice. I spin around, giving a dark glare at the smirking Trowa-fucking-Barton, before flipping him off and shoving past him. I grab my jacket, heading to the door.
"I'm going home. Call me if you have any fucking work for me to do."
I don't go straight back to my apartment though, instead taking a long walk around the downtown area to cool my head. Regaining my temper, I finally wander back to my area of residence, exploiting a bit of finger-work and expertise to get me some grub at a food stall on the side of the road. I also pick up a 36 pack of cheap beer for the road.
Old habits die hard.
Five minutes at home has one can empty, a second halfway gone. Fifteen minutes at home has me hauling my half-drunk ass back to the office, an overnight bag slung over my shoulder, as apparently Heero found work for me to do.
Bastard.
I get to the office with little problem – I am rather talented with drunk mobility – and maneuver the stairs and door with no problems. Once I'm inside though, I stumble noticeably. The main culprit for my sudden lurch of reality is the bag that someone messily left in front of the door. The second culprit is the hand that grabs my chin, tilting my face up and into a much-too-bright light.
"Not even an hour," Heero mutters, dropping my face. I fall against him, using him as leverage to get back upright. He seems to ignore his sudden promotion to a wall, instead reaching onto my desk and grabbing a mug.
"Ye' y'kneeeew I's b'drun…." I drawl, stumbling again as he moves away from me. I'm an expert at walking around drunk. Not so much at talking, obviously. It's always my giveaway.
"Given that you tend to keep a steady pattern of behavior, I figure when you left, you did not immediately head home; instead, you borrowed funds to obtain a meal and low-quality alcohol before heading home, where a quarter-hour passed before I informed you to reach the office. This left you fifteen minutes since the time the alcohol was purchased and the time of the phone call for you to consume twelve cans out of the thirty-six you prefer to purchase." I stare dumbly at Heero, my brain scrambling to catch up and translate his speech into something that actually makes sense.
"Arr'ya stalkin' me?" I wonder aloud, staring at the man like he holds the answer to the universe. He snorts, pressing the mug into my hands.
"As I said, you have a habit of repetitive destructive behavior. Stalking you is unnecessary."
"Bu'm s'in'resss'n," I whine, choking as Heero lifts my hands and forces some of the vile liquid into my mouth. I try to spit it back out, but he holds his hands over my mouth, plugging my nose while he's at it. While I struggle to free myself from the fool who's trying to kill me, Wufei walks past and picks up the bag.
"Make sure he drinks it all. It will detox his system quickly, leaving him mostly sober by the time we reach our destination."
"My pleasure," Heero responds, and Wufei walks away, muttering under his breath. Not quietly enough though, because I catch his words quite well despite my struggle to survive.
"Sadistic bastard."
"I hate you," I grumble from my spot in the back seat. I'm curled up in a ball, my arms clutching my stomach miserably. I'm pretty sure that Wufei's hitting each and every pothole on the way up the mountain, the asshole. I'm sure Heero's pointing them out, sadistic bastard. I'm sure they also made all the fucking birds shriek at the top of their little fucking lungs.
Fuckers. All of them!
The assholes up front just ignore my accusations. It doesn't stop me from giving them though. Oh no, if I have to suffer, so do they. At one point, Wufei asked Heero if they should just push me out of the car and down the cliff to the side of us, but Heero vetoed that idea.
"I'd have to do the paperwork."
I'm not sure if he meant the paperwork for my death, or the paperwork back at the office that Heero and Wufei happily dump on me. Probably both. Asshole.
By the time we actually reach the mountain-top-residence, I'm over the worst of the hangover and in a much better mood. So I get out of the car, enjoying the view for a few moments before helping bring in boxes.
"Feeling better?" Heero asks, handing me a box. I nod, rubbing at my eyes.
"Headache, but sober. Y'know I wasn' plannin' on goin' back in t'day, tha's why I drank…"
"I assumed that when you left. However, Trowa Barton had brought work for us to do, via Quatre Winner's connections."
"Oh. I forgot he was there," I muse, trying to keep my speech from slurring. The alcohol still in my system isn't helping me, but my slurred speech annoys Heero and Wufei if I let it degrade too much.
"I assumed that much."
"Y'know, you assume a lot. Assuming only makes an ass out of you and me," I remind him, using the old rhyme to prove my point. Heero shakes his head.
"I fare well when I assume. You tend to turn out being the ass in the situation."
"Gee, buddy, you're so kind. I think an ice chip just broke off my heart," I note, my voice flat. A pen smacks the side of my head in retaliation.
"You have a heart? I didn't realize that," Wufei comments, setting down his own box. So far, I haven't seen the owners of the place, making me wonder if it's been abandoned. I give a small sniff, frowning.
"I have a heart! It's just misplaced at the moment, taking a vacation, on hiatus, hiding…" I trail off, my eyes having caught a flicker of something out of the corner of my vision. I try to focus on it, unsure of what it is I actually saw. A hand on my neck, fingers brushing the loose hairs that escaped my braid, a whisper in my ear helping me focus.
"Concentrate. What do you see?"
Heero's voice is soft, soothing, and undemanding. There's no pressure, no urgent demand to figure it out. I let myself relax, the something coming back into view. For several moments, the features are unclear, but I can make out a mass of blue.
"What do you see?"
"Blue. Shit ton of blue… clothes?"
"Who's wearing it?" Heero asks, fingers tangling in the base of my hair. I tilt my head, watching the blue clothes sway back and forth on the porch swing.
"A young girl. Little. Red hair… Just a child. So sad, she's so young," I mutter, leaning against Heero. My arms itch. I want to scratch them.
"Don't scratch yourself. How old is the girl?" I feel a caress along the back of my ear, and I tilt my head again, eyes drifting partially closed. I don't take my eyes off of her though, still studying her intently.
"No more than eight. She's well-fed. High-class, or upper-middle. No trash to her, well-bred."
"Does she hurt?" A brush of air against the shell of my ear, warm and soothing. I reach out, my hand hovering over her image, blocking her from my sight.
"Yes," I moan, hand clenching, I can see her, as if encased in my fist. Her head appears above, her legs below. The overlapping vision feels as if I'm clutching her soul tight, though she's not really in my grasp.
"How much?" I shudder, closing my eyes. I don't need to watch her anymore. She's in my head.
"So much. So much pain…"
"Ssh, it's okay. We're going to help you."
"Okay," I breathe, tired and drained. I see her hopeful eyes stare back at me, and I make her a promise.
"We will help you."
My mind goes blank, along with my vision. I feel Heero's hand on me, but soon that vanishes too. I'm just tired. So tired.
I float in the void, sleeping but not. Time doesn't matter, the vast emptiness that resides around and inside me a familiar, welcoming place. It's like being home, back where I belong. But I can't stay here forever. I never can. Reality is soon tingling at my senses, sounds and sensation coming together to drag me back to awareness, soon followed by a dim light growing bigger. I wince at the harsh light before it is turned off, and a quiet whisper reaches me.
"How are you feeling?"
"'ired," I slur, my mouth not having quite caught up with the rest of me. My lips are tingling, reminding me of the time I found out I'm allergic to Solo's chapstick. I feel my world shifting, a cool, waxy object being pressed into my rigid fingers. I glance down at the cup of water, staring at it with a definite lack of comprehension.
"Drink it," Heero mutters, and I tilt it up automatically. Some of the water goes into my mouth while the rest goes over my neck and shirt.
"Oops," I mumble, patting heavily at my chest. Heero grips my hands, placing them back down at my sides.
"I apologize. I should not have let her sink so far into you. I was unprepared for the rate of synchronization between your two souls."
"Huh?"
"You absorbed her too fast."
"Oh. S'okay, it happens," I tell him, managing to pull my shirt off and toss it to the side. I'm feeling much more awake now as I dig through my bag for a clean shirt. The moonlight shining through the grimy windows gives me a general sense of how long I've been out.
"Is this what happened with Serena? I assumed that you had prolonged contact with her, but now I am thinking otherwise," Heero continues talking, and I snicker.
"What did I tell you? Assuming makes an ass out of you," I tease. I have the air knocked out of my lungs as Heero lets me drop back onto the bed, standing up.
"You've obviously recovered. Be ready for work come morning."
"Aye aye, boss man!" I salute, rolling onto my side and curling up. It doesn't take long to fall back asleep, and I briefly hope to go back to the dark place I was at before waking.
"Good morning!"
I shoot out of bed, rolling into a crouch with my knife unsheathed. Startled blue eyes meet my own half-aware ones, and I lower my arm as I place the voice with the face.
"You're that lying son-of-a-bitch. Winner, right?"
My insult seems to slide right over him, as he just smiles brightly at me.
"Yes. It's been a while, Duo."
"Not long enough," I cheerfully counter, and the lack of reaction makes me wonder if the man's missing several screws in his brain. Not that I'm overflowing with them myself, but I can at least recognize when someone's being an ass. Even if that person's me.
"Heero and Wufei are down in the kitchen if you would like to join them. They have set up base there, as there are no residents to conflict with," he continues, offering me a hand. I ignore it, standing up and sheathing my knife. I don't lock it into the holster though, just in case.
I don't trust him. No one's that fuckin' cheerful when involved with the occult.
The walk down to the kitchen is filled with amiable chatter, which is more accurate if amiable means he did the talking and I pretended to listen. I walk next to him, not willing to expose my back, but not willing to walk behind him, showing him as better than me.
No one is better than me. I'm insulted to even think about it.
I'm quite content to abandon Quatre when we step through the large arch separating the kitchen from the rest of the house. True to his word, Heero and Wufei have taken over the kitchen, making it look less like a place to cook and more like a recent drop-off of a computer store robbery. I really hope that the doohickey hooked into the laptop was not the coffee maker at some point, or else someone is dying.
My plans to murder the evildoers is derailed by a mug being shoved into my hand, a familiar and welcoming scent fading my worries away. Ignoring the blistering heat of the ambrosia, I gulp down half the mug in my first breath, slowing down only to acknowledge the fact that delicate electronics are in my presence. I like living, thank you very much, and I am very well aware that spilling coffee on Heero's laptop will end my life quicker than I can picture it happening.
"Do you even have blood, or did you replace it all with pure caffeine?" Wufei asks, handing me a second cup before taking the empty one away. I work through this one much more leisurely, savouring the deliciousness of the heavenly java.
If I haven't made it clear, I'm not a morning person. It was one of the first things Heero and Wufei learned about me. It didn't take them long either, which gave them tons of kudo points.
My recent encounter with the little dead girl, along with the lack of wonderful coffee in my body, made me blissfully unaware of a presence I would have loved to remain blissfully unaware of.
"Life in the office must be interesting," Barton comments, and it takes all of my expert beer-guzzling skills to not choke or spit out my coffee.
"Does your business profit at all when the amount of coffee is considered?"
"Employee benefits comes from employee funding," Heero remarks, not even looking up from the screen. I look at Heero confused, and Wufei clarifies the vagueness of my employer.
"The coffee fund comes from your paycheck. He's not jipping you like you always accuse him of."
"The fuck?!" The liquid ambrosia suddenly tastes like poison, and I set my cup down with a bitter glare at the muddy substance sucking up my income.
"If you cut your alcohol funds, it would make up the difference in the coffee funds," Heero points out as well. I give him a sneer, crossing my arms.
"No way in any level of hell will that ever happen."
"Then you will remain destitute for the remainder of your existence," Heero retorts, looking up from the screen. I stick my tongue out, letting my reaction to that fact show.
I honestly don't give a shit. I don't even have a real identity, so having anyplace better than what I have now is impossible to begin with, saving my beer money for something that can never happen is pointless. Heero rolls his eyes before going back to... whatever it is he's doing.
"So what's the plan? Creepy Little Redhead's waiting for us to save her soul, what's step 1?"
"Her name's a good place to start," Barton remarks blandly, flipping a page in the book he's reading. I tilt my head sideways to read the spine.
'A Lesson in Torture and Mayhem.'
Fuckin' weirdo. I'll have to borrow that after he's done.
"Barton's correct. Information on the spirit, along with the cause and timeframe of her death is most desirable. It makes interactions and possible exorcism techniques more controllable and predictable."
I tilt my head backwards, closing my eyes. The image - which I'm worried might be forever burned into my mind's eye - of the little girl in blue comes up, as it has each time my eyes are closed. I haven't told Heero, because he's already overreacting to the whole possessed-in-a-couple-seconds issue. I honestly think he's more insulted that his assumption was wrong than the fact that I sucked the girl's soul into my head so quickly.
Asshole.
'Mariemaia,' a little voice whispers inside my ear. The creepiest part is that it's not from the outside of my ear coming in, but more the opposite; more like someone speaking in my eardrum out to the world. 'Grandpa calls me Maya-mi.'
"Her name's Mariemaia. Her grandfather nicknamed her Mayami," I helpfully input, and Heero snorts.
"You're still possessed, aren't you?"
"If you mean 'Is there a fuckin' creepy little girl inside my head still?' then yes, I am," I answer cheerfully, and a clatter of tableware draws my attention to the fifth occupant of the kitchen.
And damn, I almost forgot about him too.
"You're possessed?!" Quatre repeats, horror evident in his body and voice. Instead of whistling my appreciation of the talented act, I instead give a condescending shrug and grin in return.
"When am I not possessed?"
"Good question," Wufei notes. "Usually if not possessed by a ghost, you're possessed by an insane amount of idiocy."
"Wow buddy, I felt the love from here. Come 'ere and gimme a hug!" I tease, leaning over the table and latching onto the Chinese man. The undignified squawk that escapes his mouth is so worth the punch to the jaw, followed by the thick spine of a book to the back of my brains.
It was totally worth it.
I recorded it on my phone. If he gets pissed, he can blame Heero for getting me one. Blackmail, anyone?
Trowa sets his book down, picking up my discarded coffee cup and taking a sip. I have the insane urge to tackle him to the ground and wrestle the cup back, but instead settle for stealing his book and flipping to a random page. When he speaks, I still feel my skin crawl, despite knowing he's in the room this time. I keep forgetting he's there, honestly. Blends in with the tacky wallpaper too much.
"Now that we have a first name, and a possible relative, we should find out what we can about her life, and in turn her death. Why is she still here? What business would a small child have to remain on this plane of existence?"
"Children spirits are often the victims of brutal murders. They are confused and scared, unsure of what happened or why. They remain behind to try to solve it, or to look for someone who can save them, unaware of the fact that they have already passed on from the world of the living," Wufei answers Trowa, sounding more like he's reading the answer from Webster's Encyclopedia of Supernatural Thingies.
"Suzie's kid had a self-imposed mission," I remind him. "She might be feelin' the need to pass a message on to th'guy who'll listen."
"Observation noted," Heero interrupts. "Right now we are only certain of one thing. She's dead, still here, and needs to pass on. That is our job. She can go willingly, or we will forcefully evict her from existence."
"Don't be crass," Quatre scolds, pushing food onto the empty plates that had been spread out while we were arguing. "That's to be the last possible measure. I want any other options exhausted before that notion is considered. While I acknowledge that you are the leading experts in your field, might I remind you that I am the one funding this project, as well as hiring you for your expertise?"
I glance at Wufei, raising an eyebrow. He rolls his eyes, simplifying the mumbo-jumbo that had dribbled out of the rich-ass-man's mouth.
"Plan Z, in layman's terms. We're holding that final option for a last ditch effort."
"Ah, gotcha."
The pressure that had been steadily building behind my eyes fades away, and I relax back into my chair. Heero's eyes on me don't go unnoticed, but I don't give into the silent demand to tell him what just happened with Creepy Dead Girl.
'Please don't make me leave. I can't go until Daddy says I can.'
"Who's your pops?" I ask quietly, going unheard over the argument that broke out again. Trowa glances over at me. Okay, maybe not-so-unheard. But he ain't drawing attention to the fact that I've gone nuts and started talking to myself, so I'll let his blatant eavesdropping slide, for now.
'My daddy's my daddy, silly,' she answers, the innocence of a six-year-old missing the point of the question. I huff, shaking my head.
"What do other people call your dad?"
'Your Excellency!' she says, mimicking a simpering, weak voice. One that sounds way too much like my old boss.
"That doesn't help me, love," I murmur, amusement lacing my words. Trowa raises a brow in question, and I mimic a scribble with my fingers. He pushes an abandoned notebook at me, handing me a pen right after.
'Dad - Excellency - no name?' I jot down, listening to the little girl ramble on about all the many wonderful things Grandpa told her about Daddy.
"Hey, love, did Daddy own this house, or was it Grandpa?"
'Daddy did. Grandpa pretended it was his, but it was really Daddy's. Grandpa was stupid about it a lot.'
"I bet he was," I agree. "Is your Grandpa around this dump still?"
'No, Grandpa went to the bright place,' she answers me, her voice quieting. 'I wanted to go there too, but the... the thing wouldn't let me! It kept making me come back here. I don't want to be here, but Daddy isn't letting me go past the thing yet."
"What does the thing look like?" I'm trying to write as fast as she's rambling, which is hard to understand through her ghostly sobs. The 'thing' scares her, and I get why.
Some asshole bound her to the house. The asshole's probably her father, from the sounds of it. He better hope I don't find his sorry excuse of an ass and beat it to death for his daughter's pain.
I hate my life. Instead of spending my weekend vegging out on my bed and drinking myself into a nice state of oblivion, I'm crawling through the dilapidated ruins of a former manor with the last person on the face of this planet I want to be with. I'm not even sure what the hell we're looking for, but I really, really hope it isn't a corpse.
"I don't see anything here," Trowa calls down, and I tap his shin to let him know I'm about to drop his ass. He steps forward as I duck my head, backing up in the same move. He smoothly lands in a crouch in front of me, glittering green eyes staring up at me smugly.
Showoff.
"Move your freakishly tall ass out of the way. We still have..." I glance at the mass of scribbles on the crumpled sheet, locating the number I want. "Fifty-eight areas to look at."
"Great, shouldn't take long," Trowa remarks. I resist the urge to break his perfect little nose, and instead shove the paper back into my pocket. I doubt by the time we get halfway done that it will be readable.
"Why does it have to be a manor?" I whine, trying desperately to ignore the things that are clinging to my braid. "Why can't it be an abandoned one-room shack on a small island, that someone recently cleaned? You know, and while they're at it, they can leave little post-it notes pointing the way to whatever the fuck we're tryin' to find!" I snarl, turning around and waving a hand at the stubborn mess of spiderweb I just passed through. "Fuckin' piece of shit!"
"Calm down," Trowa snorts, obviously amused. He steps close, grabbing my hand to stop my mad fight against the air. He pulls a thin cloth out of his jeans pocket, running it down the length of my braid with a gentle grip. I try not to show how quickly the gesture made my knees turn to jelly, but the smugness burning in those stab-able green eyes shows how much I utterly failed at it.
"Something wrong, Duo?" he asks, leaning in enough to brush his lips across the shell of my ear as he speaks. I flush against my will, wishing that we weren't in such a small crawlspace, since I can't back away from him. My body's already pressed against one wall, with his taking up the space of the opposite wall. Did I mention these crawlspaces were meant for only one person at a time? And that Trowa's freakishly tall? Like... beanstalkish tall?
Is it me, or is it getting warmer in here?
"It's just you," he answers, making me belatedly realize I said that aloud. A hand toying with the edge of my tee distracts me from the embarrassment, my focus zoning in on the slight brush of his skin against my hip.
"D-don't, we have a house-" My voice jumps higher than Wufei trying to reach the tea on the top of the cupboard as a finger slides into the waistband of my pants. I swore there was more space in this hallway, does Trowa need to be pressed right up against me so tightly?
"No one even knows we're searching up here," he reminds me, the heat of his breath against my neck. Wait, when did his head move downwards? "They're still busy arguing out the end-case results in the kitchen, if you recall."
"O-oh yeah-" I moan, and I'm not quite sure I'm answering the non-question he just said. The hand trailing along the back of my thigh, plus the light suction on my neck, has me quite unsure of many things, including what we're doing up here in the first place.
"So easily stimulated. Is that why you drink so much?" he asks, and oddly enough the obvious jibe at my alcoholism doesn't break the mood. I nod, humming in agreement.
"D-d-deadens... it..." I gasp. "C-can't b-bear..."
'Someone's coming,' Mayami's voice breaks into the heated haze surrounding my coherent thoughts, and it works as a much better bucket of ice than Trowa's remark on my drinking habits. I push him away, panting harshly. The heated look in his eyes makes it hard to not go back into his grasp.
"S-someone's co- on their way up," I breathe, trying to regain my breath. I don't think implying someone coming (when that's what I really want to do right now) will help diffuse the situation.
'Daddy at least does this in a proper room,' Mayami scolds, and I flush deep red, mortified of the fact that I'm getting scolded by a little girl on sexual discreetness. This has to be wrong on so many levels.
When I point this out to Trowa, I wonder to myself if my brain didn't turn all the way back on yet. He breaks out laughing, leaning back against his wall and clutching his stomach while I pray to any deity I can remember that the ground will open up and swallow me, or have the roof collapse and kill me-
"When you two are finished, please clean up and make yourselves presentable. While I am glad you are attempting to overcome your differences, sexual conduct with clients is frowned upon, Duo," Heero breaks into my rapidly deteriorating train of thought, quickly resetting it and multiplying my wishes to include Trowa.
He's the one who started this whole mess. Of course I get blamed for it. Asshole.
"Next time you receive information this vital to the investigation, I would recommend you not go vigilante."
I slouch in my chair, avoiding making eye contact with Heero. Trowa's leaning against the wall behind me, and I resist the urge to see if Heero's cutting remarks are affecting him as much as they are me. But then again, Trowa doesn't owe his current state of existence to the dick, so he probably doesn't give a shit, which from the last few times I met him fits his profile exactly.
Why am I surrounded by so many assholes?
"As we were working on a plan of execution, you two wander off into a haunted and possibly dangerous residence with no tools to aid you in case of a deadly encounter. Which you then abandon for fornicating in a very unhygienic location."
I debate rising to my defense, but my throat seems to have abandoned me halfway through that last reprimand, along with any shred of dignity or pride I could have ever had. Trowa, standing behind me still, snickers. He stops at a dark look from Heero though, going silent once more.
'Aha! Even he can't avoid the effects of the Heero Glare,' I cheer in my head, a giggle from Mayami resounding around my skull in turn. My humour and good cheer vanishes to quickly be replaced by mortification again. I forgot a little dead kid's listening to this too.
I'm now sort of wishing I'll die on this case. I don't think I can face up to this again, especially if Wufei finds out.
"Do not let me catch you behaving in such a manner again," Heero finishes, letting his arms fall to his sides. I can't find it in me to relax though as a whole new look is turned on me, the look I really hate when we're in the office.
Damn it, I'm gonna have the shit job, aren't I?
I hate my life.
'No, that isn't him,' Mayami says, sounding as bored as I feel. We've been assigned to look at any picture related to her house, hoping to come across an image of her dad or grandpa. It's been well over six hours, and no one Mayami can remember has shown up yet.
"Can you be forgetting faces?" I ask her seriously, because a) I'm fuckin' bored out of my mind, and b) There aren't many pictures left. Actually, I think we've looked at this one four times now.
'I'd never forget my daddy's face!' she shrieks, and I clamp my hands over my ears instinctively. It would have worked much better if the sound was coming from the right sides.
"Okay okay, calm down midget," I mutter, flipping to the next picture. I quickly go to flip it again, but a little high-pitched squeal has my hand frozen.
Holy fucking bat-shit, she just took over my arm!
'Daddy! That's Daddy! Look Duo, you found him!'
I turn the picture over, and quickly drop the paper. The name scrawled on the back has my insides freezing over, and I close my eyes in despair.
Why can't my past vanish as easily as my ex-boss?
I hate my life.
"You have the shittiest case loads I've ever seen," I snarl, slamming the damned sheet of paper on the desk in front of Heero. He quickly reaches out to stop his glass from spilling over his precious equipment, and all the eyes in the room turn to focus on me.
Mayami's been very quiet since I found the picture. I don't mind, because I don't think I can take her childish enthusiasm at the moment. I'd blow my own brains out, and I like them where they are right now.
"First, Zechs Merquise, and now this?! Did I burn down a nunnery in a past life?!" I moan, dropping into the empty chair beside Heero and cradling my face. Heero picks up the paper, glancing at both sides before setting it back down.
"This complicates matters, I agree."
"Khushrenada," Quatre reads, and I visibly flinch.
"Treize Khushrenada, head crime lord over the entire southern continent. Makes Zechsy look like a sardine in a sea of whales, if you catch my drift," I mutter, and Wufei snorts.
"Don't you mean 'sharks?'"
"No, not big 'nuff," I mumble through my hands. "I'm talkin' 'bout fuckin' huge-ass whales."
"So, from what you've pieced together of the child's perspective and memories, along with the data, Treize Khushrenada bound his daughter's soul to this house?" Quatre cuts in, changing the subject.
"But I don't know why he'd do that, there's no reason for her to remain behind!" I shout, standing up and kicking my chair in frustration. "When binding the souls of those in the process of dying, or recently dead, there needs to be a motive, a reason, a why, and I don't have one!"
"Calm down," Heero demands, and I feel the anger burn away. Picking my chair up from where it landed, I slump back down into the seat, letting my head fall onto the solid surface of the table.
"That's what we need to figure out. Why would this man need to keep his daughter here, in a house he obviously abandoned? Why did she die? Why are we needed here?" Heero continues, his voice mellowing out from his outburst at me. I close my eyes.
Why?
Shimmering images overlap each other, a sea of noise and lights overwhelming my senses. I want to open my mouth and join the symphony of painful cries and moans, but my body isn't responding. I can faintly hear Mayami crying, her words lost in the blizzard of my dreams.
One shimmer stands out against the storms of my mind, a bold and solid force of red imprinted as deeply as Mayami is.
Why.
"-bleeding heavily-"
"-normal? This is not normal!-"
"-is for him, Winner, go get the bandages from the first-aid kit."
"He's coming to. Duo, can you hear us?"
"Nnngh," I moan, squeezing my eyes shut against the light over my face. I get no relief though, for the circle still burns brightly in my mind.
'Duo?! I'm scared! Make it go away!'
"Wha' there, love?" I stumble over my words, but Mayami understands me. Either that, or she's so freaked out she doesn't care what the fuck I'm saying.
'It's back! It's back! I can't do this again! Please, Duo! I want to go home!'
"It's here?" I wonder, having no clue what she's screaming about. The voices outside my head go silent, letting me hear the one inside much more easily.
'Daddy said I have to keep it safe. I can't let it take it. I can't go to heaven if it takes it! Please, Duo, help me protect it!'
"Calm down Mayami," I demand, and she sniffles, but stops rambling. "Tell me what all these 'its' are. I can't help you protect something I don't even know!"
'Daddy says there's an evil monster that eats little girls. It's trying to... to...' She starts crying again, and a cold, solid ball of unease forms in my throat. I clear it, and finally focus outside on my quiet observers. My next question, however, is still aimed at the little girl in my mind.
"Mayami, is your body still in this house?"
'Y-yeah. Daddy left it there after he was done. He said I have to keep me safe from it.'
"God fucking damn it all to god damn fucking hell!" I curse, throwing myself sideways and out of bed.
Hands grab me, forcing me to the ground. It takes several punches, bites, and a good few minutes of fighting to realize that it's not the mysterious unknown monster trying to stop me, it's my boss, coworker, and clients.
"Calm down, damn it! What's going on?!"
I stop fighting them, my breath still coming short. Mayami's panic is starting to seep into me, making it hard to think.
"Khushrenada killed his daughter," I gasp out, an odd pressure on my chest making it hard to speak. "Hid her body. Something is trying to get it. She's here to protect her body. Have to find her!" I struggle again, trying to get their hands off of me. Don't they get that we don't have time for this?!
"Stop and think for a moment, Duo! We don't know where the body is, or what the hell we're up against! We can't just let you run in there blindly on the emotions of a child!" I think Heero's shaking me, or else we're in the middle of the house collapsing. I'm not sure what's going on right now, honestly.
"There's no time, that thing is here!" I scream, clutching my head. I feel warm blood drip down my face, the trail running over my lips and igniting my hysterical panic again.
"Chang, take Barton and start scanning the residence! Winner, man the computer feeds and get everyone connected to a Com channel. I'll be with Duo until he either leads us to the end goal, or calms down enough to become useful. Time's against us, so now would be a good time to go!" The mad scramble at Heero's words doesn't seem to phase me.
The room seems to calm as the living presences leave my range of senses. Soon, it's just Heero, me, and Mayami, and Heero's crouched in front of me, staring into my eyes. Have I ever mentioned how fascinatingly blue his eyes are?
"Mariemaia, where is this being you speak of?"
'It's coming from the cellar,' she whimpers, and without my say-so, those same words spill out from my lips, little whimpering sounds included. Damn brat took my mouth over!
"Where is it going?" he asks her, and I feel myself responding, I feel her responding.
"In my room. Daddy keeps it clean for me when he comes, but he can't come anymore. They watch here too closely, they don't let Daddy see me."
"Are you in your room too?"
"Yes Mr. Hero, I'm tucked in my bed, Shaggy and Silly tucked in with me too."
"Oh? And who are Shaggy and Silly?" He seems to be focusing on keeping her calm, from the sounds of it. Either that, or he holds a disturbing fascination with little girl's toys.
"My favourite dollies. Shaggy's a big fuzzy teddy bear, and Silly's a clown."
"Can you show me them? I'd love to see your room, Mariemaia," Heero holds his hands out, and my own unwillingly reach out and clasp them tightly. He pulls my unresisting body to our feet, letting us start leading him.
"Daddy was very sad when I died," Mayami's telling Heero. "He was so mad at Grandpa when he found out. He did the bad thing to Grandpa that Grandpa did to me. I think Daddy went a little silly in the head too, because after he finished being bad to Grandpa, he drew silly circles on both of us. Grandpa's not in his room though, Daddy tossed him in a box and put it away. He's in the cellar."
"Is that what you're supposed to be keeping yourself safe from?" Heero's a fuckin' good actor, because if I were in his place, I'd be making all sorts of faces at this sick story.
"Yeah, Daddy says it's very important. Grandpa made the bad thing come, and I died because of it. Daddy can't make it go away, but he made it so it can't go far from Grandpa, and that's why Grandpa's in time-out forever. But the thing isn't listening to Daddy anymore, and it can come to my room now. It scares me."
"Remember what Duo promised you, Mariemaia," Heero reminds her. "We're here to keep you safe. We'll help your Daddy do that, okay?"
"Okay Mr. Hero!"
Mayami's bedroom is in the attic. The walls are painted a light pink, with purple and grassy greens spread everywhere around it. Our body turns away from the bed, hands clutching at her chest. She squeezes her eyes shut, not wanting to see her body.
"Duo, I need your help," Heero calls to her, but Mayami shakes her head.
"Duo can't do it. He's stuck where I was, Mr. Hero."
"God damn it!" Heero curses, and presses down on the headset's mic switch.
"We're out of time here! We need to get this over with before Duo's gone!"
"She's taking over?!" Chang's voice sounds, audible even from Heero's headpiece. She sniffs, tears welling in her eyes.
"She's already taken over. Duo took her place inside his body. We need to get a move on it!"
"I found the other body- dear Lord protect us, what is this?!"
"What did you find, Barton?"
"This is so fucked up," Trowa curses, and a startled question she can't understand comes from Quatre.
"We have a god damn demon on our hands. This sick fuck summoned a demon in trade for his granddaughter's soul!"
"Which he never got," Heero realizes. "Which her father is trying to prevent. She might already be lost to him in life, but her soul can still move on to the afterlife. Without that, she'll cease to exist on any plane."
"Then why bind her here? Why not propel her into the other world?"
"He messed up. He doesn't know what the hell he's doing, so she's trapped to her body, and in turn the demon's trapped to the grandfather. We need to break the circles."
"We need Duo for that!"
"Well, Barton, he's not here! We'll make do without him for now!"
"I can do it," Wufei breaks in, and the com goes silent. "Duo's been explaining the summoning guidelines and markings to me, after the one we discovered in Relena's home."
"There was a circle in her home?" Quatre asks, and Heero cuts him off.
"Now is not the time for this. Wufei, join Barton down with the other circle. We must break them in the same moment."
"Won't that break the demon free too?" Quatre questions, and Heero grunts.
"That's why Wufei is down with the other body. He's the only trained exorcist on hand."
"That makes me feel safe," Trowa mutters. "I should have taken out that life insurance policy last month."
"Hey, do you even know how to break a circle, Heero?" Wufei suddenly asks, as if the thought just barely occurred to him.
"Go do your job, Chang! Or else you'll be adopting Mariemaia, I swear to all that Duo believes to be sacred."
"Mr. Hero, I'm sorry," Mayami sniffs, and Heero pats her shoulder.
"You didn't mean to. Can you try to make Duo change places with you again? I really need his help, child."
"I'll try. I don't know how we did it. He's being really quiet."
"Make him talk. Annoy the living shit out of him. Make him respond," Heero tells her sternly, and Mayami sniffs again, giving a determined nod.
"Yes sir! Grandpa said I was good at that!"
"Good girl," Heero mutters, turning back towards her dead body. She can't see it, because she has her back turned to it. She doesn't want to see herself dead. It's gross.
"Duo?! Duuuuuuuuuuo?! Mr. Grumpy Pants! Hey, stop ignoring me! I'm hungry, and I really need to pee! I don't know how to use your pee-pee Duo, I need you to use it for me! Please? I really gotta go! I want a snack, but my snack makes your tummy feel nasty! Make me a snack that your tummy likes, please?! Duo, I'm scared! Please come back! You promised to keep me safe, why aren't you here?! Duo?! Duo! Where are you Duo?!"
'God damn it you fuckin' brat, shut the fuck up already! Can't a guy get some sleep 'round here?!'
"Duo! Mr. Hero says I need to annoy the living shit out of you. What's that mean?"
'It means you're doing a very good job right now, and that Mr. Heero is going to die a very painful death.'
"Dying isn't fun Duo, don't make Mr. Hero do that."
'Sorry kiddo, I'm not making a promise I can't keep.'
"Mr. Hero needs you to help break the circles on my body."
A tingling sensation takes over our body, a rush of sensation knocking the strength from our knees. We collapse to a heap on the floor, a buzzing static overtaking my hearing.
"Duo?"
"God damn it, I need a beer," I moan, and a rather undesirable response comes from the com.
"I don't think you'll be allowed to drink it right now. Underage laws apply for small girls, you know."
"Shut the fuck up, Trowa!" I snap, pushing off the ground with shaky arms. I wobble, my legs threatening to start round two with the polished floor if not for a set of arms catching me underneath my own. My body is pulled against another with the strength to support me, and I relax into it.
"Thanks, Heero," I mumble, and he helps me over to the bed. I examine the circle crudely carved into the chest and stomach of my skull's tenant, and I swallow back the bile rising in my throat. Amazing dad or not, this was the work of a very sick motherfucker.
Which, now that I'm thinking much more clearly, suits the motherfucker I already knew.
"Wufei, can you hear me?" I ask, pressing and locking the speaker on my com. No point in switching it on and off when I need both hands to work.
"Loud and clear," is my response, and I hum.
"Okay, rememb'r what I was tellin' ya 'fore we took th'case?"
"Which part?"
"Lashback, rebound, that whole can of worms?" The line is quiet for a few breaths, before a muffled 'shit' is heard.
"We have to do this carefully, and in exact sync. Trowa, you need to help him. This is going to take more than two people. Heero, you're helpin' me on this end."
"Where do we start?"
"We're going backwards. First, we break the 'why' markings. That's located over the left section of the torso, right over the heart. Do you have a sharp fileting object on you?"
"Here," I hear Trowa mutter, and the sound of moving air and metal sounds the exchange.
"Carefully remove the thickest line from the center without disturbing the outer circle, or the two mirrored, curving lines inside. The little scratches around those don't matter so much."
I move as I speak, needing to keep in time with their movements as I explain what to do.
"Now, trash that piece and take the end of your knife and slice the circle in half, not along the line you just cut."
I do exactly as I just told Wufei to do, and I feel the first barrier fall.
"Okay, two more to go, and we have Hell unleashed on us. Trowa, do you have a lighter on you?"
"Yes."
"Get ready to use it when I say. Heero, that goes for you too. Here's one," I offer, handing over my own lighter. "Don't break it, I want it back after. So now, move down to the stomach where the nasty piece of work is. This is going to be a break-and-make, so as you gouge out any portion, Trowa needs to set fire right behind your cut. I'd recommend backing up ASAP when you finish. Just make sure the entire circle's sliced through, it needs two wounds on the outer rim."
I let my switchblade sink into her mummified stomach, feeling the heat of Solo's favourite Zippo burning against my hand. I yank the blade quickly through the small body, lifting the knife and throwing myself backwards as the resulting release of power shoots from her tiny body.
"Now Wufei, completely remove the last circle on the center of his chest, and Trowa, burn the fuckin' thing!"
I jump forward, ramming my blade into the center of her chest, piercing her brittle heart. I quickly twist my blade in a crude circle, yanking it back out with the decomposing chunk of sealed flesh attached. Tossing the blade to the ground, Heero tosses the lighter on top of the mass of Mayami's body, and I duck, covering my head with my arms as the final release of power is broken.
"Run, Mayami, run to that light as quickly as you can! We'll distract it for you."
'Thank you so much Duo! I love you,' she cries, and I give her the strongest mental hug I can imagine.
"Love ya too little brat. Now run!"
Her presence fades from me as a much more sinister one starts to form. I barely have time to get the words "Oh fuck no!" out of my mouth before I'm forcibly sent back to the dark place in my mind.
'I really hope they don't kill my body.'
I don't know how long I've been here in the darkness. Even though I'm aware of the fact that something big is going on outside of this place, I can't find it in me to care. Serena's here with me, and we've talked a little, not having the pressure of life, secrecy, or a case stopping us from meeting face-to-face like this.
"I thought you moved on," I had asked her, when I first noticed she was here with me. She just smiled, and never answered. I couldn't remember after that why I found that so important.
"I never did thank you properly for helping my children, or apologize for harming your body while residing in it."
"No biggie. You have a cool daughter, when she's not makin' me wanna strangle her."
"A parent's biggest frustration, the battle between love and annoyance. You carry a large amount of both within you, Duo."
"I don't have any love, not anymore."
Her smile was sad at that, and we were quiet for some time. She held me against her, and we basked in the darkness until she felt it was time to speak again.
"He wouldn't want to see you like this," she whispers to me. "He would want you to embrace your life, and move on from the pain of his mistakes."
"I can't, Serena. I have to live with it every day, there's no way I can move on from what he did."
"And you hate him for it."
"No!"
"But you do. You hate him, and you hate him because you still love him too. You hate him for making you feel so confused, and for putting you where you are now."
"I..."
"It's okay, Duo. It doesn't have to make sense, because it's how you feel."
"Why did he do this to me?"
"You'd have to ask him, only he will be able to answer that."
"I'll never be able to know, then. He died."
"Then you need to move on. You have so many good things happening, don't lose them by sticking to the past. Live, Duo. You need to live again."
The darkness gives me up, and I long to return to it as the pain of living overwhelms me again.
I really need to stop waking up like this.