Haunted Part 8

Answers

By

Sailor Janus

The five Preventers and Hotaru sat around a table in the conference room, each with a hot cup of tea or coffee in front of them and several pads of paper and pens. Quatre sat at the head of the table, playing the part of the leader as usual.

"Okay, I think the best way to start is for Hotaru to tell us everything she can remember," the blonde suggested. "That way we can possibly piece things together."

The teenaged girl sighed and clasped her hands together on the table. "I don't really know where to begin."

"Well, try to do the best you can."

Hotaru took a deep breath and recounted the day she went home and found the strange men threatening her father before they killed him and then her escape as they tried to bring about her demise as well. By the time she was done, the entire room was silent. It wasn't for a long time before someone even attempted to speak.

"Well, given what Hotaru has told us, it sounds like perhaps, Professor Tomoe was working on something and either his assassins wanted it or it was more dangerous than he perceived it to be. Either way brought about his death," Trowa said calmly.

"Right. And they wanted to kill Hotaru because she was an eyewitness," Quatre nodded in agreement.

Heero however frowned. "That still doesn't explain why she's hearing voices and seems to go on a self-destruct mode." He paused and shook his head as he studied the girl. Then a horrible thought struck him. "Unless Hotaru is the reason why Tomoe was murdered."

"What? But why?" Duo stared in horror at his comrade's idea.

Trowa however seemed to understand where the Perfect Soldier was going with this. "Of course. That would explain why he wanted her trained by the Preventers. She's the main asset to whatever brought about his death."

"I don't think I understand either," Hotaru said quietly.

"You are the reason why your father was killed, Hotaru. He was trying to protect you for some reason and he was discovered," Heero reasoned. "However that does not explain why you seem to want to self destruct."

"The best place to start would be at the heart of the matter. Professor Tomoe's laboratory," The green eyed young man said, gaining nods of agreement from the others.

The next day the five ex-Gundam pilots and Hotaru returned to the center point of the teenaged girl's nightmares. Tomoe Laboratories. The large building was vacant and had a rather moldy appearance. What was once a glowing white building now was gray and dim. Several windows were broken. The only visible color was from the graffiti left by either gangs or bored teenagers.

"Definitely one of your fixer uppers." Duo gave a low whistle, raising his eyebrows at the rundown building.

Hotaru shivered slightly but didn't say a word as she approached the doors. The teenaged girl swallowed thickly and retrieved a key from her pocket. Her hand shook as she turned the lock with a soundly click, and twisted the doorknob. Stiffly she gave the door a shove and it squeaked open.

What are you doing?

Is it safe?

We better run.

Where are you going?

Father!

You're not the one we want.

Where are you?

Help…

Hotaru.

"Hotaru?"

The dark haired girl's head snapped up meeting Heero Yuy's cool blue eyes. She shuffled her feet and bit her lip. "Sorry. Did I space out?"

"Like an astronaut," Duo said, giving her an odd look.

Quatre placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It'll be okay, Hotaru. We'll all be right beside you."

She gave him an appreciative nod then rubbed her arms. She flinched at the glass-littered floor but moved past it heading towards the laboratory.

Trowa gave Heero a skeptical look. "Do you think she can handle this?"

"She's going to have to if she wants her answers."

"Right."

"She's still going to have a lot to deal with," Wufei said, as they trailed after the girl. "If anything else, this place must haunt her."

The conversation was interrupted by a sudden blood-curdling scream. Without hesitation, the five young men took off in the direction down the narrow, dirty hall. It wasn't until they had reached the very end did they find Hotaru sitting limply on the floor.

They skidded to a stop and looked at the teenaged girl in bewilderment as she clutched her head. The room she was in was completely ransacked, filled with broken glass and spilled vials that had long since dried up. Heero took a step closer to the girl and realized that she was staring at the blank wall, her face contorted in fear.

"Hotaru? What is it?" He lightly touched her shoulder but she didn't respond. Instead she drew her hands to her face and covered her ears.

"Please don't..." she cried out, her voice broken through her sobbing. Abruptly she fell limply to her hands, crying uncontrollably. "You can't!"

"Can't what?" Quatre's eyes widened as he glanced around the room. "What happened Hotaru?"

She however didn't respond as she clawed at the floor. "Don't." Her voice weakened and she closed her eyes for a moment then blinked as if confused. "What- why am I on the floor?"

"You don't remember!" Duo gaped completely thunderstruck when she shook her head. "I can tell this is going to be REALLY stressful already."

Hotaru wiped her face off and climbed to her shaky feet. She swallowed thickly as her violet eyes fell upon the stained floor of the room. "Dad didn't come in here that much. Usually when he did, he would always come out very solemn and depressed."

"I wonder why. Did something bad happen in here?" The blonde Preventer stepped further into the small laboratory.

"I don't know. I can't remember."

Trowa moved past Quatre, scanning the perimeter of the room as if hunting for something. "Then that leave us only one option, to search and perhaps we'll find some answers to our questions."

"Somehow I had a feeling you'd say that," Duo sighed then followed after. "I'll guess I'll take the slimy green corner."

"No, Duo. You, Quatre, and Hotaru need to come with me. Trowa and Wufei can handle this section," Heero said as he headed off down the hallway.

The braided haired American blinked then shrugged. "Whatever you say, Heero."

Wufei however scowled at the Perfect Soldier's back. "Just what does he think he's doing? It makes more sense to cover one area at a time that way we don't miss anything."

The L3 Preventer glanced at the door as the others left the room. "I really don't know, but he's probably plotting something. There does seem to have been more going on behind these walls than meets the eye."

The two remaining teens exchanged glances then began their search.

The solid thud of footsteps was the only sound throughout the narrow hallway as the Preventers walked in silence. Hotaru's violet eyes seemed wider than usual as she shifted her gaze sporadically from one direction to another as if anticipating something or someone would leap out of the shadows and attack. Heero silently watched her behavior and questioned it mutely.

"Where are we going, Heero?" Duo winced as his voice seemed to bounce off the walls. He scratched the back of his head and shuddered. "This place gives me the creeps."

"To a place where I suspect Professor Tomoe had frequented the most," the Perfect Soldier replied.

The girl at his side nervously bit his lip. "Then we need his private laboratory."

"Do you know where that is, Hotaru?" Quatre looked at her with interest.

"It-it's to the left….down this hallway." She dropped her head as tears threatened to flood her eyes. "It's where he was killed."

The three young men glanced wordlessly at the dark haired girl. It was evident that the memories of it still pained her.

A sudden gasp escaped Hotaru's throat as her violet eyes darkened with fear. Her pale skin grew even more translucent and she abruptly froze in her tracks.

"Hotaru?" Heero withdrew a gun from under his jacket and scanned their surroundings, but didn't find a threat.

Duo lowered his gun as well and looked at his comrades. "She seems to be freaking again."

The Arabian gaped then shook his head, just as stupefied to Hotaru's reactions as his two friends. "Maybe she's reliving it all over again?"

The scientist's daughter however ran into one of the offices without a single word then let out a blood-curdling scream. The three ex-pilots quickly sprinted after her and stopped dead at the sight of the shattered room stained in blood. Bullet holes marred the walls and glass littered floor.

"DADDY!" Hotaru kneeled in front of a large bloodstain and sobbed. "Why, why did you have to kill him?" She slowly looked up and inhaled sharply. "No…. please don't." She rose to shaky legs staring at something that the other three Preventers couldn't see. "I…I don't know what you are talking about!"

"Hotaru…" Quatre moved to step closer to her but was pulled back by Heero.

"Don't. There is no telling what she may do," He whispered without removing his steely blue gaze from the teenaged girl.

"This is really creepy," Duo gasped, staring in horror as Hotaru's eyes widen even more so in terror.

"PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!" She screamed and ducked then spun towards the door and bolted out of the room.

"We better follow," Heero growled as he took off after her, Duo and Quatre close at his heels.

It didn't wasn't too hard to find Hotaru as she tore through the halls. Heero frowned at the sight of bloodstains on the floor.

"Hotaru! Don't! It's not real!" Quatre cried out, fear tainting his voice.

The Perfect Soldier scowled at the blonde's reaction, then realized exactly what the frightened girl was planning to do. "Shit. Duo, Quatre, get downstairs as fast as you can. I'm going to try to stop her."

Good luck, Heero," Duo nodded as he and the blonde sprinted in the other direction.

"Hotaru!" Heero picked up his speed silently pleading that Hotaru was not about to do what they suspected her of doing. 'It's only logical if she feels trapped.'

Hotaru ran as quickly as she could away from her invisible attackers. She briefly whipped her head around and screamed then just as Heero had almost grasped a hold of her arm, she leapt through the already shattered glass of a large window and plummeted to the street below.

"HOTARU!" Heero shouted as she fell from the two-story building, narrowly missing the concrete and instead landed in a mass of dead bushes. He leaned over the edge, to find Duo and Quatre quickly approaching the fallen girl who seemed to be in pain.

"Holy crap. Did she jump?" Duo looked up at the broken window, only to find Heero's back disappearing in the distance.

"Hotaru! Hotaru, are you okay?" Quatre kneeled next to the girl and winced at the sight of cuts and scratches marring her skin and the rips on her clothing.

Violet eyes fluttered open with a pained groan. "What happened?" She touched her face and winced. "Last time I was lying here, there were large flowers and leaves that softened my fall."

"You didn't break anything, did you?"

Hotaru bit her lip and shook her head. "I may have twisted my ankle though. It hurts. What happened?"

"You were reliving the day your father was murdered," Heero replied as he approached the group. He moved closer to Hotaru and leaned over her, picking up something from the ground. He looked from her to the object and held it out. "A disk?"

She shifted her gaze to Perfect Soldier's hand and started at the sight of a tiny green disk. She blinked and frowned. "I-I don't remember."

Duo looked at it as well. "Does it work?"

"There's only one way to find out." Heero handed the disk to Quatre. "But first I think we need to get her out of here. We can come back later, once her wounds are cleaned up. Until then I want to find out what is on this disk."

Hotaru glanced down at the firmly wrapped bandaged on her arms. A small blush crept up on her cheeks as she recalled Heero scooping her out of the bushes and carrying her to the car. She drew a deep breath and sighed. "How do I keep getting myself into these predicaments?"

She tugged at the strap of her olive green tank top. It was one of Preventers' uniform tops, but she didn't mind since her own shirt was torn from the sharp twigs and branches. She sat cross-legged on the bed and pulled a pillow to her lap. Hotaru still felt a great amount of confusion over everything, but at least for now, she felt a little bit safe.

'Was I the one that left the disk in the bushes?' She cursed her bad memory. It seemed like no matter how hard she tried to be normal; something always goes wrong. Hotaru leaned forward and bit her lip. Something was wrong. She could feel it, but it was hard to figure out what.

RUN, HOTARU!

What about you?

I'll catch up. Please, don't worry about me.

The dark haired teen gritted her teeth, trying to shut out the disembodied voices that seemed to haunt her like invisible specters. "Why can't I remember?"

"Remember what?"

Hotaru gasped and lifted her head meeting the deep blue eyes of the Perfect Soldier. She swallowed thickly and dropped her head a few inches. "I'm not sure. I can hear voices…. But it's not like before…. It's like they are memories or something. I just don't know what they really are or why I'm hearing them."

Heero nodded in understanding, fingering the small disk in his hand. "When you have time, I would like you to try to decipher this disk. It appears that it's encrypted in a code that you may recognize. Once that has been taken care of, perhaps we will have more pieces we need for this puzzle."

"I'm sorry, but I don't feel up to it right now."

"Don't push yourself."

The girl looked back up and blinked. Why would that matter? Aren't you mission driven?"

"Yes, but I prefer to have whoever I work with mentally intact…. Duo doesn't count of course."

Hotaru laughed. "He'd probably say the same about you." She paused a moment and studied the white comforter. "Why do you care? I know I was a mission, but even if Lady Une hadn't told you to help me, would you still?" She raised her violet eyes to Heero's blue ones in query.

He paused a moment as if contemplating the very answer. After what seemed like forever, he finally replied. "Yes."

"Why?"

Heero drew a breath and sat down on the edge of the bed, staring off into the pale walls. "I don't know."

"What do you mean?"

He rose to his feet, the disk still in hand. "You should rest. We can discuss this later."

"But-"

"We'll discuss this later," Heero said firmly as he headed out of the door.

"Thank you, Heero."

He paused a moment then nodded before making his exit.

Hotaru sighed and flopped backwards on the bed, her head spinning with unanswered questions that seemed to continue to build. A few moments later she was finally sound asleep.

Author's Notes: Writer's Block has been such hell lately but at least I finally got this chapter done. Hopefully I can get this story finished sometime.

My birthday gift to all of you. I hope you enjoyed it.