NOTE: this is long, because it was fun to write.

BUT, I know nothing, absolutely nothing about Wicca culture, Chinese shamanism, spirituality or the French language. All these things were Google researched so I'm sincerely sorry if I totally messed up any concepts or the French I used xDDD. I'm sorry! This was a ridiculous plot bunny that I wanted to make a tad more realistic. It can be blamed on my festering cold and watching horror films on the TV during my sickness xD. So then, with my apology in writing, enjoy anyway!


It's a Matter of the Heart: Gundam Wing Drabbles

Prompt 16: Past

Hilde wonders who drugged their coffees this morning and thought of this stupid plan.

Wait. . . . . . .Duo.

Standing in front of the abandoned old mental asylum, eight people were looking up into the ominous windowless openings and the now open doorway.

"This is illegal, we could get arrested Duo! Like, legit in trouble for breaking and entering!" She hung to his sleeve for dear life, hoping that some freak occurrence will suddenly bring him to his senses.

"Who's gonna mind, Dee? The ghosts?" He laughed at her foolishness, rubbing her jacket clad shoulder with gusto. He found this all a big joke, but Hilde wasn't as relaxed as most of the party seemed to be. Her grandmother was a Wicca, and though in this day and age superstition seemed irrational, she knew the current unwelcoming presences her grandmother had taught her to avoid should not be challenged. Hilde didn't dare voice her fears, however, for fear of being ridiculed and exposed.

The only relief she could gather was that her friend and classmate, Middie, seemed just as uncomfortable as she felt. The blonde was twirling a short lock of hair rapidly, while running her eyes all around the group and occasionally back to the old building. Her eyebrows were angled downward in a frown, and her other hand was firmly clasped to her gymnast boyfriend's arm. Trowa, conversely, seemed unperturbed by the circumstances, though he said he'd only do this to humor Duo, and then receive his reward.

Duo had, brilliantly as always, told their group about the haunted asylum during lunch today, explaining the weird incidents people experienced from the neighborhood ghosts stuck there. And deeming it completely harmless, seeing as he was an atheist, he wanted to investigate and use his research as his senior paper. Then, after a well placed comment from Hilde and Quatre, he brought upon them a challenge. Investigate the asylum with him and prove your fearlessness, or refuse the challenge and be labeled a coward. At this point everyone readily accepted, not seeking to ruin their reputation the last year of their high school careers.

Heero, her classmate from 3A, agreed with Duo under the condition that he could also use the topic as part of his already started paper. His secret sweetheart and her best mate, Relena, was also on the wagon after some coercing from the dastardly Duo. Trowa, Quatre and Dorothy to different degrees all gave the affirmative, though Trowa bargained his presence only if Duo would get his competition pictures out of the yearbook; that and Middie's agreement, for the two had a date premeditated that evening. Middie reluctantly agreed, saying that she didn't want to ruin Trowa's fun and that her brothers would never be able to locate her if her date took place in a abandoned hospital. Hilde had caved after that, seeing as she her reputation painted her as fearless.

The only contrary response came from Wufei, their enigmatic and spiritual friend. Wufei hadn't spoken since Duo started his tale, and only commented after the voting between the others had concluded.

"I wouldn't do this Maxwell. Spirits, especially those who had their lives taken from them before their time, are often hazardous and manipulative. Whether or not you feel they exist, crossing them won't be in your favor. It may even cost you your life." Hilde could remember chills overtaking her after Wufei spoke. He rose from their lunch gather in the courtyard, and pointedly looked her straight in the eye before leaving them, she recalled.

That look had haunted her all day, and she almost sensed a warning passed to her from the Chinese student. She felt it violently now, as she glanced back at the darkened structure. So many feelings were telling her this was wrong and that she should bolt. But the possibility of something befalling her friends prevented her from running. If she ran and they got hurt, Hilde would never absolve herself for not attempting to stop this madness.

"So, let's do this people!" Duo, with Hilde still hanging on, gestured to them and started into the shadowy and broken doorway. Looking backward to her classmates, she noted Dorothy following with an air of boldness, with Heero in hot pursuit. Relena played tag along to catch up to Heero, grabbing Quatre's arm in the process to pull him with her. Finally in the last traces of moonlight, Hilde saw Trowa coaxing Middie forward as the girl had fearful doe eyes and was whispering quickly. Turning back to the front, Hilde was thankful for Duo's flashlights shining the way as she slipped her arm around his torso.

What visible space Hilde could see was dusty. The large entrance and hallway was filthy, motes flying up as they shuffled around. The grand staircase to the left, once most likely a beautiful piece of architecture, had cracks and gapping holes in the marble, with the steps in no better condition. Cobwebs covered all corners, and even filled the cracks in the staircase and walls. As they ambled, crunches could be heard from the broken glass and chipped paint flakes everywhere. An occasional broken metal pipe or sheet was about, alongside furniture in various states of disarray.

A shout was heard as Relena encountered a dismembered chair, hitting her knee into the seat that lay on its side and protruded its two and a half legs. Stumbling into it further, Relena would have fallen had Quatre not clutched her arm to belay the tumble.

"Everything ok?" Heero questioned her from the far left, where he had bent over to examine some browned papers. It seemed he had started collecting the fragile sheets before the disruption.

"Y-yes. Sorry, I thought I saw a cat or something scurry away from the top of the stairs and lost myself for a moment." She patted Quatre's arm in thanks and opted to collect her golden locks into a low ponytail.

"Yes, I thought I saw something run up there too," Quatre added, running his flashlight over the top of the barely visible stairs. Nobody gave an affirmative to if there was any further movement.

Hilde could feel the burning chill as ice shivered through spine. Something was up there and whatever it was, it wasn't friendly. Her trained eyes searched for the tell tale signs of trouble, but nothing other than the flimsy strands of cobwebs hung in the still air above the stairs.

"Then let's go check it out! Nothing down here that's gonna be fun to write about, right buddy?" He addressed Heero who arrived at her side with a neutral expression, and her classmate merely shrugged. Hilde felt the tug of his arm as he started making his way over and the nervousness in her stomach bubbled with anxiety.

"Duo, don't be stupid! Those damaged stairs could start breaking under our feet, and you don't even know if the floorboards upstairs will hold up! Let's just get out of here before anyone gets hurt!" She let herself take a haughty tone, but didn't know how long her persona would remain undisclosed.

"Come on Dee, they're obviously broken but it's marble. I doubt we'll fall there and this place isn't that bad where we'd start falling through floorboards-"

"Maybe Hilde is right." Everyone's eyes travel to Middie who hasn't taken her orbs off the location Relena and Quatre had pointed out movement. Trowa, in turn, hadn't bothered with reconnaissance and let his gaze linger solely on his troubled girlfriend.

"Middie?" he asked quietly beside her. Everyone could hear his concerned tone in the stillness of the sanatorium. She seemed to have snapped out of her ravine for she shook her head and observed the confused gazes of all around her.

"Sorry! I just mean, you can never be too sure in a place like this. I think we should all stick to the first floor and prevent any potential injuries. After all, who'd want to be the one to explain why we needed medical assistance in an abandoned asylum right?" Her awkward laughter somewhat soothed the tension building in the air, but the midnight haired tomboy knew at that moment that Middie was no ordinary girl. She sensed something wrong just as much as Hilde did.

Ease settled into the party as the majority agreed to stay on the first floor for their own safety. However, Duo had proclaimed that, with or without them, he would still venture upward if nothing of interest could be found on the main level. She supposed she would fight that battle when it arrived, so Hilde let herself be taken forward into the omnipotent darkness with less stress. It felt somewhat better the further they moved into this particular portion of the institution.

Dorothy happily tapped the wall as they moved, the repeated thump-thump settling into a sort of background music for the visitors. Her fingers left an odd echo that seemed to ring out further ahead of them, but no one was yet annoyed enough to protest. Relena had kept close to Hilde and looped her free arm to insistently drag her away from her boyfriend. She obviously wanted some emotional support but Heero was either too unapproachable at the moment or Relena wanted girl time with her. Either way, the feisty teen felt it wasn't the right sentiment for this eerie situation. Maybe it was just Hilde's imagination but the air rang with a dropping sense of comfort and a bizarre, almost wispy creak from the occasional ceiling corner.

They had started popping their heads into a few rooms with little treasure found, though Heero continued to drop down and search for aged delicate papers scattered on the floor. Maybe they were records or newsprints? Old articles were always good resource material, Hilde supposed. Her focus continued to remain on the plummeting feeling of safety and the rattling noises that cropped up here and there. Quatre, being the courteous individual he was, opted to help Heero with his task, but the persistent collection of browned paper was irritating the journey's instigator.

"Jeez, nothing but decommissioned paper and defunct junk in here. This is totally turning into a waste of my time! Whoever said this place was haunted obviously feared his own shadow or something!" The braided teenager kicked a rusty stool into a nearby wall and winced when the seat crashed through the decaying wood. This place really was falling to pieces.

"Hey, check it out Duo. There's something in there." Quatre, ever the proper sort, crouched down to take in the damage Duo had caused with his little tantrum. In the streams of the flashlights Hilde made out a curious glint in his eye at the finding as her boyfriend squatted down to investigate.

"Huh, you're right. I wonder what that is? Let me reach in and pull it out. . ." Before anyone could berate him for the foolishness of such an act, he already stuck his arm into the wall opening after he tugged the chair free and began moving it around within the blackened depths.

"Oh! I got it, let's bring home the bacon. . ." He tried hauling out whatever was in his grasp, but the stiff object didn't want to budge. At his request, Heero and Quatre grasped his back to pull him, along with his plunder, out with more force. A portion of the wall shuttered and torn under their combined efforts and out came Duo and his prize.

Many voices screamed.

"OH SHIT!"

"It's a body, a dead body!"

"Get it off, GET IT OFF!"

"Oh my lord!"

"Aaaahhhhhhhh!"

Hilde fell onto her bottom and scooted backward on the dusty, littered floor yelling out 'I told you this was a bad idea'. She only stopped when she bumped into a pair of legs, and looked up to find Dorothy staring horrified into her hand, hyperventilating. Her infamous grey brows knitted down in revulsion, and the midnight haired teen was surprised something like this would set her off. The blonde usually loved creepy and jostling events like these, but she obviously found the dead body Duo tossed off of him disturbing.

"I-it's ok Dor, I mean it's n-not ok, but it's a dead person so it c-can't hurt us. . ." Her perturbed laugh tapered off as she saw the other girl shake her head in a negative. Instead of verbally replying, Dorothy flipped the hand she examined to face Hilde and nothing could keep the girl from shrieking out.

"Oh shit! It's blood, you're bleeding Dorothy!" Everyone now had backed up together into a tight circle and unanimously looked at the long haired blonde's hand. Quatre quickly took the back of her hand into his own and questioned her with worry as Hilde stood up to get closer.

"Dorothy, what happened? When did you cut yourself?" Her head again slowly motioned left to right in a negative response as she spoke. Hilde was disgusted at the browning liquid pooled in her fingers and palm before a thought ran through her. Browning blood? Drying blood?

"It's not mine, my hands don't hurt from a cut or anything. B-but I was t-tapping the walls . . ."

The flashlights in Trowa and Heero's hands immediately bounced to the walls and their horror could only amplify at the random splatters and streaks of drying blood trailed over portions of the partitions. A palm print here and there attributed to where Dorothy had innocently played her drumming game. Relena couldn't contain her disgust as she screamed again and buried her face into her palms to calm her rattled nerves.

"S-someone was killed! And stuffed in a wall! How gruesome, it's just inhumane!" Relena sniffled and Middie took the cue to gently rub her back. "And there's blood when apparently this place has been abandoned for decades! There could be a serial killer hiding in here! I want to leave!" Duo remained silent as he shone his flashlight all around the room to note any other harrowing features they clearly overlooked.

How could they miss something as obvious as blood stained walls? Was their attention that fixated on the floor that something like this could be distracted from? Hilde was ready to shout to Hell and back about leaving, but others apparently felt just as eager.

"I'm done. This isn't something to joke with guys. I'm taking Dorothy home, and I think it'd be best if we all followed suit-" He is cut off by the addressed girl as she turned on her heel and ran out into the decrepit hallway, her Mary Janes clicked against the different materials scattered around and slowly disappeared.

"Dorothy!" The blonde Arabic teen didn't bother to wait as he took off after his distressed girlfriend, ignoring the shouts of the others to not separate. Having no choice left to them, the remaining six exited their current room and shuffled quickly down their traveled path. The lights that bounced on the corridors showed them that their obliviousness was vast; there were smudges here too of matted blood that they hadn't bothered to see. Relena hiccuped in torment at the sight as they ran, to which surprisingly Heero was unaccepting of; Hilde saw he grasped her hand in his own so they could remain together as they went.

Eventually they reached the atrium of the asylum, their entry point, but saw neither of the blonds present. Their flashlights shined onto every available portion, but their friends were not present in the chilly, silent, and dilapidated foyer.

"DOROTHY! QUATRE!" Duo bellowed out. He was shushed by a few people but he rebuked them fiercely. "I don't give a damn anymore about this place! We need to find them and skedaddle! I want nothing to do with blood and dead bodies!"

"It was your idea to come here in the first place genius!" Hilde couldn't help the anger that seeped into her. She tried to warn him of the stupidity of this activity hadn't she?

"Please don't yell Hilde. Let's just find them and get out of here." Middie's distraught tone rang out to her, agreeing with her internal sentiment but seeing reason in a logical evacuation. Trowa, Heero and a whimpering Relena all consented to the thought.

"Right, sorry for being the idiot I am Dee, blah blah blah, I'll apologize later! DOROTHY! QUATRE!" he shouted again.

"They're not answering. Do you think they went out to the courtyard?" Trowa quietly questioned Heero, but his friend replied that they would hear the racket and respond to them if they were just outside.

"And this place is huge, if they went further inside the asylum, they very well might not hear us calling to them through padded rooms and sound proof halls." Relena's interpretation met with understanding and consensus. At this point something within Hilde froze; she could physically feel the air temperature fall, but inside her senses roared for safety, protection, anything that kept whatever was in this place as far as possible from her. Her heartbeat pounded miles a minute, and she couldn't help it as she latched onto Duo's shoulder to drag him with her toward the exit.

"Hilde? What are you doing-"

"We're all getting out of here RIGHT NOW!" Her voice reverberated throughout the expansive hallway, but Relena wouldn't have that.

"Hilde! We can't just leave them! They're our friends, and what if they're hurt? This place is dangerous!" She didn't wait for a reply as she brushed passed the others to cry out their friends' names down the main floor hallway they just exited. Heero sped after her without hesitation and spoke to them all on his way.

"Check upstairs and stay together. If you don't find anything, we'll meet outside in twenty minutes. Worst case, we're calling the police." The brunette's authoritative voice didn't leave room for argument and then he was gone in an instant with his bouncing flashlight down the hall.

No! Hilde's heart stopped as two more of her friends ventured into the dark pulsing abyss that was getting more sinister by the minute. This wasn't supposed to happen; wasn't the first rule of horror films never to separate or else run the risk of dying?

It's a role reversal as Duo has grasped her fingers and shifted alongside Trowa and an equally distressed Middie to start up the cracked marble stairs. They reach the top step when it hit her that they voluntarily moved closer to threatening presence and she ripped her hand from his to angrily shout.

"No, I'm not going there! It. . .it doesn't feel right! I told you this was stupid but I won't be dragged into this anymore!" Her short locks shook with her rapid head swishing, until delicate fingers clutched her elbow. When she steadied her head and focused on the face, she could only deeply breath with apprehension. The two slid down to the dusty floor, with one girl clutched to the other in a strange reassurance.

"Hilde, it's ok. I feel it too, but it can't hurt us. You're a Wicca aren't you? So am I, my mother comes from a French family of sorcières, we study many of the same spiritual practices." She smiled ruefully at Hilde, probably uncomfortable at admitting such a thing under these circumstances. But the petite tomboy had never felt better than having an ally at this moment.

"Whatever is here, it's dark, but so long as we chant we can keep anything harmful at bay. The main thing is to get our friends out of here in one piece. Can we do that, together?"

"Hey what weird stuff are you two on about? Wiccas? Ain't that some sort of new age hocus pocus?" Duo got unceremoniously jabbed in the ribs by Trowa, who crouched down to Middie's level.

"Why didn't you say something was lurking around? You just said there were restless, harmless orbs present." Whoa. So Trowa was in the know about spiritual matters?

Hilde supposed she shouldn't be surprised; Middie and Trowa were the most intimate amongst their pack of seniors, and this was definitely something that needed to be discussed with any future partners. Hilde herself was aware of how difficult it could be explaining ritual icons and herbs integrated into her lifestyle along with bouts of random spacing out and 'seeing' things. She'd tried to avoid doing and mentioning anything to Duo the passed year of their relationship whenever he visited her home.

"I-I didn't want to worry anyone. And nothing was around until we entered the atrium. Even then, as soon as I started tracing it, it vanished. It only steadily showed up when Duo started messing around with the hospital." Here her braided boyfriend started to protest, but was silenced by the unusually shaken Trowa.

"What do we need to do? Can you find Dorothy and Quatre?" Middie shook her head as she glanced to Hilde. Of course, Hilde couldn't pick up on anything in this dangerous environment either. She hadn't been able to feel anything besides that ominous presence since they arrived here earlier this evening. It seemed that while her quiet blonde friend could sense people and extreme spiritual pressure changes, Hilde was more attuned to presences and their intentions.

"Okay, here's deal," she said with refreshed confidence. "We'll search the rooms individually as far as we can. If something," she glared here at Duo who was muttering about ridiculous magic hoo-ha, "appears, we regroup. Whatever I sense isn't very welcoming."

The three closest to the floor rose to be level with Duo and started meticulously searching the rooms for their two blonde companions. They end up much farther into the questionable asylum than Hilde liked on their search, but with Middie keeping a second pair of eyes and ears open for trouble, the petite girl relaxed her normal tension in favor of trying to remember the different mantras her grandmother had taught for protection. In her normal everyday life, Hilde had little use for defensive prayers so she often scoffed at her elder for instilling such practices. Today, however, she only hoped that nothing would bring about their use.

Entering another one of the shabby patient's rooms, they shined light into every possible crevasse of the room in hopes of finding their targets but are left again without success. With a heavy sigh they made to exit when suddenly the air stirred with a otherworldly hiss. Both the girls shot their heads upward searching for a source, but nothing could be located. Duo is the first to notice their lapse, and caught Trowa's arm to prevent separation.

"Hey now, weren't you the one who said stick to-" The thought isn't completed as a rumbling overtook the small room and wailing suddenly pealed out. The entire party grasped their bodies in pain, whether from the sound or the emotional clairvoyance depended on the person. Hilde's eyes watered from the sheer volume of people moaning so her attention could not perceive the rattling and deterioration of the floor beneath her.

"Hilde!" Her name was called, but only when she saw Middie's terrified expression at failing to catch her hand did she realize that her frame was falling towards the firm ground of the lower deck through the splintered floorboards of the patient's room. Her screamed echoed throughout the institution as pain engulfed her and sent her comatose.

When she awoke, her entire body wracked with pain, but nothing seemed broken. Her fall obviously could have been far worse as she slowly rose and felt wood and other objects slide off of her back. Some sense of balance regained, Hilde winced as she felt her head. Her hand returned with a few streaks of red liquid coated on her fingers, and she cursed this damn place.

Looking for direction or a sign of her friends, Hilde felt panic assault her as she noted this strange room with a single door in which she had landed. Following her entrance from above, she looked into the darkness for anyone higher than her. How long had she laid in the rubble below without response? Were her friends trying to find a way to get down here safely? Did they escape unharmed or were they possibly. . .dead?

"DUO! MIDDIE! TROWA! ARE YOU UP THERE?" She wanted nothing more to hear an agitated retort to her comment but silence was her only companion. Well, not quite. Perhaps her drop had caused a lapse of judgment or her spiritual enemy had been recently roused by her rumbling shouts because she didn't feel that prodding threat until just a moment ago in her presence. Turning slowly into the darkness with her eyes adjusted slightly, Hilde saw nothing but felt baleful waves emanating from nearby.

And then it was there. It's face was ghostly white, eyelids pulled back so the eye whites overwhelmed the irises. Only strings of hair stuck arbitrarily out from the balding head and numerous cuts and lesions marred its face underneath the streams of blood pooled in his hallowed features. Hilde stopped breathing altogether.

"Aaaaahhhhhhh!"

Pushing herself backward, she tripped over the debris but continued to drive herself farther from the spirit. Her jeans incessantly caught on wood splinters, protruding nails and other debris, but her thoughts were elsewhere. This . . .thing ricocheted, no pulsed, its miserable energies around angrily and Hilde knew if she didn't flee this instant she'd be devoured by it. Her grandmother had told of stories where spirits possessed and murdered living beings under their unabated wrath. Her grandmother!

"Whatever evil comes to me here, I cast you back, I have no fear. With the speed of wind and the dark of night, May all of your harboring take flight. With the swiftness of the sea, And all the power found in me, As I will so mote it be!" The charged words were clearly effective as the being in front of her twisted in revulsion and Hilde dared not look back as she shot forward and made her way miraculously through the rubble to the door she'd seen.

Without any concern as to her destination, Hilde let her feet fly for what could have been an eternity until her brain regained some composure. Whatever that was, it was her brooding monster in this sanitarium. And targeting her would clearly become a priority seeing as she was alone and a spiritually sensitive human. She needed to find an escape route and at least reach the atrium where she had access to the outdoors. If she could just get outside and call for help.

Help. What an idiot she was! She quickly fished for her cell phone but what came out of her pocket was not an electronic device; it was more of a square of smashed wiring and cracked glass. Of course her luck would have her plummet crush her only means of communication with her friends and the outside world.

Looking into the shadowy darkness, the midnight haired senior began to search for nameplates or identifiers that would help her ascent. She didn't feel the haunter in the area, but he wasn't quite vanished from her radar so Hilde kept to the walls and quietly made way down the endless hall.

If she recalled correctly, the room they were in before its collapse was west of their search and she had unconsciously turned east when she desperately departed from her encounter so eventually she'd reach one of the stairwells that would signal the first floor atrium if she fell that far. If she was still on an upper level, she'd hit the rail guarded banisters that rose high above the main level's floor, and somehow figure her way down. And then she's go find Heero and Relena, who'd be waiting outside for them probably with a police force after such a long time lapse, and they could light this place up and search for missing others.

It wasn't long until Hilde felt something off. Her walking was far deeper than expected inside this labyrinth and she had yet to reach any concluding walls. Where in the world was the main entry? Then she felt it again, her undesirable acquaintance. His force was not as far behind her as she'd like so Hilde bolted into a room and started counting off wards in her head to make her unnoticeable. It was his home base, Hilde knew, but she wouldn't dare get caught by this thing. She had to get out of this, even if she unfortunately couldn't locate her friends. No! That wouldn't happen!

It passed her room without successful detection and Hilde shuddered with relief. Though angry and violent, at least it wasn't the sort of poltergeist that was capable of barrier breaks. The girl with a pixie haircut backed slowly away from the door to gain some stability. Quite contrarily she again found herself falling as she slipped on wet liquid and collided with the surface of a metallic table. Cursing her clumsiness, she stilled when her hand brushed a smooth softness as she fixed herself.

In the darkness she stared relentlessly at the object, not sure whether to run or touch more of it. It's only when the object moved did Hilde yelp and tear away her appendage.

". . . Who's . . . there. . .?" A low murmur resounded. A familiar murmur.

"Middie!" Scuttling back to the metallic table and its occupant, Hilde let out a joyous cry as she gripped her friend's cold hand. She was alive, alive!

"Hil. . .de?" When the addressed girl squeezed her fingers gently, the blonde, who could not be seen in the darkness, spoke hoarsely. "You're. . . okay. . .You need . . . to run. It's . . . dangerous . . . he wants . . . blood . . ."

"Middie, what do you mean? That thing-that ghost that just tried to eat my face wants blood? Whose blood?" She knew from her companion's faint tone that she was hurt, but such a statement would send anyone on a confusion trip. Hilde slipped her hands under her friend's shoulders, but found she couldn't pull her up.

"Middie, get up! We need to get out of here. That spirit isn't too far off, and I don't wanna run the risk of it finding me again!" She tugged again at the limp body of the blonde, but failed to achieve anything other than grunts from her.

"Can't. . . restraints. He. . . wants blood. . . human blood. . . He's a ghoul. . . A poltergeist." Hilde started searching for the restraints as soon as Middie spoke of them; she felt one around the girl's torso and two on her hands so she started yanking at them with all her might. The leather was old, brittle in fact, and tore after a few pulls so Hilde grabbed her shoulders and helped her slip off the cold metallic table. She hissed when her feet touched the ground and told Hilde about the deep gash on her shorts clad leg. Using Hilde's jacket, they applied a tourniquet to the girl's thigh. Hilde realized what she slipped in before had to have been Middie's blood.

"Thanks. . ." she huffed quietly. The raven haired teen was shaken from her tone.

"Will you be alright? What happened to you? And where are the others. . .?" Middie, whose hand gripped Hilde's waist, tightened slightly in response. She didn't like that action.

"You fell. . . We couldn't see you . . . And you didn't. . . answer . . . when we yelled . . . So the guys . . . went to get. . . the emergency. . . fire hose. . . in the hall . . . to slide down. . . there . . ." It was getting harder for her to talk, but Hilde selfishly wanted details. She needed some facts to help her sanity. Instead she rubbed Middie's arm compassionately, coaxed for continuation as they hobbled over to the door. No way in Hell were they staying in this room where her friend was somehow strapped down by a ghostly entity.

"But it came to me . . . and attacked me . . . the poltergeist. . . It dragged me down . . . the hole . . . into this room. . . and started . . . cutting me. . ." Oh no, a sadistic poltergeist. This night was turning into something straight out of a Japanese horror film. "He said . . . he needed . . . blood to remain . . . young. . . I've been here . . . for hours it . . . feels like." Each pause in her sentence was a heavy breath.

"Wait, he talked to you?" Hilde was getting more terrified by the moment. Did it possess Middie? Or was she just that attuned that she could here ghostly thoughts? They exited the room after a bit of fumbling in the dark and Hilde tried to orient herself in the messy situation.

"Yes . . . He- Hilde!" she tiredly cried. Her head turned to the left and their topic of discussion meandered down the blackened hallway, his white countenance visible from the distance. He moaned deafeningly, and Hilde started pulling Middie heavily in the opposite direction as icy heat rolled down her veins. They were really screwed, what if this had happened to the others? How could they know for sure they weren't nearly dead just as Middie seemed to be?

Her fingers felt numb as the chill overtook her senses and Hilde didn't know where should could go to escape with her injured friend.

"Arrêter votre . . . attaque, sans âme . . . bête. Je vous commande, . . .avec la Terre Mère . . . puissance de six." The blonde clutched to her turned and twisted her free hand in a strange motion, to which the pale being behind them bayed in anguish as it contorted its skeletal body. Apparently the strange tongue Middie recited was a chant of protection or banishment.

"Go. . . Leave me and run. . . The spell will . . . only hold for a . . . short while. You need to find. . . everyone else and. . . Get out." Hilde didn't bother to give a reply, the thought was stupid. She wouldn't leave her friend, under any circumstance, to the sympathy of that foul creature. She heaved her further away, wishing that a sign would lead them in the right direction.

Then a snakelike streak zoomed before them. Middie and Hilde gasped in fright at the second spirit while trying to back away, but the being refused to part from them. Hilde, quick on her feet, repeated the grandmother's mantra she used earlier on the bloody ghoul, but it didn't affect the ribbony, transparent creature.

"Ge-get away!" As a last attempt, she resorted swatting at it, but the thing merely wrapped its tail end around her arm and used its golden beads to stare at her.

"Follow me," it echoed in her mind's ear. Follow it? Why in the world would she follow a deathly spirit?

"Hilde. If it didn't . . . react to a . . . protective spell . . . then maybe it's . . . not a ghost?"

"Not a ghost?" The only sorts of creatures that kept such a physical form were. . . "A Familiar?" The whitish spirit untangled its limb from Hilde and floated a few centimeters from the pair of girls. With an agreement, they shuffled forward after the creature, happy to have anything other than their blood monster on their tails. After they walked for a few minutes, the familiar's unearthly glow illustrated to them that there was a left and right split of the hallway.

"Which . . .way?" As if understanding and answering her question, the stringy specter veered left into the lightening darkness.

"Is that the exit?" Hilde probed. There was definitely light coming from that direction, however faint, and it seemed as if the familiar was leading them directly toward the source. The girl with the pixie cut increased their tempo so that the two girls somewhat jogged down the grimly labyrinth. And then sudden the familiar vanished.

"The familiar!" Hilde exclaimed.

"Hilde?" It was a beautiful tone that replaced the spirit. She saw Duo's face lightened by the flashlight gripped in his hand as he bounded closer to them, and amazingly Trowa was just a few paces behind him.

"Trowa!" Her blonde friend wearily yelled, attempting to reach for him but causing Hilde to stumble with her a bit instead. They reunite with a flurry of tears and happy shouts before getting down to business.

"How did you two make it out?" the tomboy asked. Her arms looped tightly around Duo's neck as he kissed hers. She saw Trowa piggyback Middie out of the corner of her eye, probably to put less pressure on her leg.

"We didn't so much make it out as that monster scared us out. Jeez, that thing was on our asses like a wildfire. You fell when the floor collapsed so Trowa and I ran to get that fire hose is the hallway. The lock was rusted so that wasn't an issue but then we hear Middie screaming her head off so we run back when BAM! That rickety door just slams in our faces. We tried to break in, but it wouldn't budge."

"Afterward, that bloody specter was stalking us so we ran towards the staircases to reach the first floor and get to you and Middie. However, we got lost." Trowa frowned as he spoke, unhappy with the turn of events. Then Duo took over.

"So then, get this, this weird snake shows up and starts talking to Trowa, telling him that we won't find you two without a guide so he starts leading us this way and that. And boy was he right, we'd never find you down here in this maze! Though it's good you two managed to stick together!" He affectionately squeezed her hand as quartet started walking the way the girls were originally led by the familiar.

"The snake was a familiar Duo, a servant of a magical attuned person. And it was pure luck that I discovered Middie. I just found her when I was hiding from the ghost." They both told the boys what had happened to them, including the appearance of their own ribbon apparition.

"So whose transparent pet saved us, if you didn't send it to find us Dee?" She shook her head and shrugged. She'd been wondering the same thing. Glancing to Middie resting on Trowa's back, she also shrugged without knowledge.

The temperature fell again. Cursing, Hilde looked behind her where the sinister energy was assembling. Unlike the previous encounters, this time the phantom was extremely angry and it's rippling energy physically hit Hilde's arms like paddles. With everyone feeling the nasty sensation and understanding their dangerous position, they dashed together through the looming darkness as fear gripped them.

"I can't handle this anymore! If we see that damn thing again I might actually die of a heart attack!" Duo screeched. They followed the winding spaces until the flew straight into a set of figures with bouncing flashlights.

"Oh thank god!" Relena screamed as she barreled into Hilde's arms who happily received her hug. They were all alive! Hilde could cry from seeing their friends, in varied states of wellness, before her.

"No time for reunion, let's move!" Quatre called authoritatively. The ghost obviously was closing in on them and radiated the negativity to the point where normal people could experience it. He, along with his permanently attached girlfriend, sped ahead as the others followed, each recounting what had each happened to them. Dorothy had apparently fallen unconscious in a conference room after her fearful running bout when the shock of the dead body and bloody walls hit her. Quatre had found her while searching through a set of rooms that the group hadn't seen, and mysteriously had more than one exit as he found out when he tried to get back to the group with her. The Arabic boy had a shoulder wound that Heero wrapped after he and Relena found him at the mercy of the spirit.

They, Heero and Relena, had ended up returning to the room with the dead body at Heero's recommendation and knocked more of the wall out so they could go through it. Heero told them that looking through the papers he picked up, which were doctors' journals, it seemed that there was a unique ward within the asylum that did special procedures and treatments for 'incurable' patients.

Assuming this place was kept out of the general view, he used his amazing intelligence to piece together the hidden portion of the hospital that could only be located behind the superficial sanitarium, and ended up in the wing Quatre and Dorothy were. It's here, after searching countless rooms of disturbing content did they find their friends being attacked. They didn't know anything about the spirit, but started throwing things at it to prevent its attempted harm. Apparently everything went through his transparent body, but it agitated the poltergeist enough to vanish for a short time.

And using their luck, the second quartet started running down the mazelike ward until they collided with the remaining party. Equally, Hilde, Duo, Trowa and Middie shared their portions of the story until the longed haired blonde interrupted.

"In here!" Dorothy shrieked, and they all sorted into the room with gusto as Duo and Heero slammed the door shut. They pushed an overturned desk in front of the structure, though it probably would do little good.

"Hilde. We need to put up protective spells, otherwise it'll get us. Help me," Middie's quiet voice rang out, somewhat recovering from her trauma. She tapped Trowa's shoulder to let her down, and when he steadied her, she reached out her fingers to the midnight haired girl. Hilde had to pause for a moment. She understood their position of danger, but could she do this? Would she be able to expose herself fully in front of her longtime friends who didn't know this side of her? This magically attuned, superstitious side?

"Okay." She let her feet move to Middie's side, where she grasped the awaiting hand and raised her free hand to her heart. Then she closed her eyes and started the prayer just as a pulsing wave hit the door with a rumble.

"With these words, Protection I lay, To guard this ground, Both night and day. And for him who should not touch, May his body shiver and quake much. I now invoke the law of three, This is my will, so mote it be!" As she spoke her own words, she heard Middie repeatedly chant her own spell in what she assumed was French.

"La Terre Mère, moi protéger, Mauvais esprit, Sa colère, éprouver! Garde cet endroit, à protéger ces âmes. Entrée interdite le dèmon, conserver nos esprits totalité!" It seemed as if the combined efforts was working as the wailing and thudding stopped, but everyone could hear the rattling and see the quaking of the room outside of their protective space. It was as if the entire asylum was coming alive.

"This is it! We're going to die! I'm too young and gorgeous to be six feet under!" Duo himself wailed as the girls repeated their phrases. Tearful Relena was being held by Dorothy as the males in the room surrounded all the girls.

"No we are not." Heero monotonously replied. He didn't seem afraid, but you couldn't write off his shifting, wary eyes. "Whatever that is, it has to have a weak point," he said logically.

"But what Heero?" Trowa was keeping close to Middie and Hilde, unsure of how his presence could assist them in their escape.

"This may sound ridiculous, but I'm up for praying to God at this point! I mean how else do you drive out angry ghosts? I mean I don't know any voodoo spells like those two do!" Dorothy quipped, and Quatre actually slapped his hands together to wish for something to get them out of here.

"We can't stay here for long. We've severely aggravated the ghoul, so the longer we sit here powerless in our bubble, the stronger it'll get till it kills us." Hilde didn't want to bear the bad news, but she knew that a spirit this hungry for massacre wouldn't stop till they all died.

"Aren't ghosts stuck? Doesn't that mean if we force it to leave, it'll quiet down and leave us alone? Since it wouldn't be able to reach us?" Relena tentatively asked.

"Technically yes, bound spirits can only leave their haunted ground if they pass on through acceptance of death or through cleansing. But I doubt that we could cleanse such a dark entity and it certainly doesn't want to leave on its own." Middie replied with fatigue. Her leg must have been paining her so she slid to the floor while taking in the increasingly restless shaking.

"No I mean let's just get out of the house then. It can't follow us out right?"

"That's what we've been trying to do all night Relena, get out of this damned place!" Duo snorted. He received a glare from most occupants in the room. "Alright alright, it was totally me that got us balancing on the verge of our lives. I'll never challenge the deceased again!" It's at this point that a recognizable ribbon of white twisted into existence.

"The familiar!" Hilde and Middie yelled happily as Relena, Quatre and Duo shouted in shock and fear. Allowed a moment to fix itself, the apparition attached itself to Heero's unwilling shoulder and then disappeared as quickly as it came. Middie nearly cried in disappointment but Heero walked to one of the walls and attacked it with his shoulder. At his strange actions, Relena called to him.

"Heero, what are you doing!" He ignored her for another attempt at the wood covered section of wall before he turned to them.

"There's a window here. We're on the mezzanine level. If we go through here we'll be in the back of the building's courtyard." He resumed his forcefully assault.

"How do you know?" Dorothy asked, uncertain if the quiet teen had finally snapped under the extreme pressure of the evening's atrocities. Middie was the one who answered her though.

"The familiar. They can relay messages and directions when necessary."

"Familiar? What's a familiar?" Quatre questioned cautiously. Duo responded to the Arabic teen as he took one of the metal chairs scattered in the room and tried ramming it into the window after Heero stepped aside.

"It's a magic ghost that works for the good guys apparently. It led Hilde and Middie and Trowa and me to each other so I guess there's no need to worry about that one?" He grumbled when the chair failed him and bent at the armrest. Middie rose and hobbled over to him to prevent any further attempts.

"Don't bother. The barrier inside is just as protected as it is on the outside. The only way you're getting out is if we drop the barrier and then break out." Everyone took an anxious breath.

"So we let the creeper trying to kill us have a chance of actually killing us if we want to get out?"

"If you want a chance at survival, yes. That monster will eventually break this barrier, if you couldn't tell from the enormous amount of malice within it. Our only hope, if the familiar is correct, is this window." Hilde too walked to hold Duo's hand as she thought over the consequences. If they should not have the strength to break open the window in a short time span, they would all definitely be crushed by the specter and his murderous intent. On the other hand, both Middie and Hilde knew that without proper tools and stronger prayers they wouldn't be able to protect this room forever. Especially with the potential limitlessness of the apparition's power. They had no idea what kind of poltergeist this was and how many victims it was drawing energy from.

"This is our only shot," Hilde solemnly told everyone as she looked around the room of seniors. "We'll take down the barrier, but you have to get the window open. If you don't. . . it's probably 'nice knowing you'." With a collective agreement after a long, contemplative pause, Duo and Heero, followed by the second and third teams of Trowa and Quatre, Dorothy and Relena waited apprehensively by the blocked exit with old furniture.

Taking a deep breath, Middie and Hilde readied themselves for the assault and counted down before starting their reversal prayers.

"Three. . . Two . . .One. . ." The change was chaotic as the negativity filled the atmosphere, at the same time as a crunching was heard from behind the pair. Duo's comic voice rang out as Quatre yelled to them over the livid howling.

"It's open, the wood was fragile! Come on!" Needing no other cue, the two teens twisted around and b-lined for the exit, seeing Quatre and Trowa, the only two left, tumble out of the splintered gateway. Following suit, Hilde swore as she flung herself forward that something icy barely brushed her neck. Then a pain jolted her side as she landed on dewy earth and rolled away into the evening's environment.

It was a long time that any sound was heard. It's as if the world stilled in response to their harrowing experience. Shifting her head left and right, she noticed her classmates and friends scattered around her, all conscious but unwilling to speak. Some of them looked pained, either from injury or their awkward body positions, but no one was going to complain as they sprawled into the grass, no longer inside Hell. To honor that, instead of speaking, Hilde muttered inside her head.

'Please. Just let it truly be over.' And as she closed her eyes, she could have sworn a flash of flimsy white touch her neck.

"Is anyone hurt?" It's a known voice, but one the team hadn't heard all night. Hilde unsteadily sat up with the assistance of a hand on her back. Opening her blue orbs, Wufei's weary face met hers. On pure instinctual joy, she threw her arms around him in a tight hug as he gracelessly choked. Everyone exclaimed happily at the Chinese teen's appearance, and the horror they all just experienced was relayed to him in a frenzy.

"I'm certainly glad I sent in my shiki to help." He sighed as he told them that he'd been at his family's temple all night praying for their safety and protection because of the evil energies that were cropping up. He eventually send his family's familiar to seek them out and help however it could, explaining the force that had assisted them earlier.

"I parked my motorcycle by the van, so we'll head there and I'll take you all back to my home. We'll bandage any cuts and get some rest." He led the way to the parked vehicle in which the group had arrived. But only a few steps in, he turned to them with a serious face.

"I hope you never tempt those of the spiritual realm ever again Maxwell. If it wasn't for the sorceresses and myself, none of you would be alive. Let that be a warning to us all."

Duo sheepishly apologized as everyone started to head back and then came up beside her and tenderly took her waist.

"So, why didn't I know you were a witch lady?" He rubbed his nose into her hair. She smiled at the loving gesture. "You could have warned me about this so I wouldn't have nearly died!" Hilde laughed to the point of her sides splitting.

What was the past, would remain the past. No one dared to look back at the asylum.

~Fin~