A/N: Hey everyone! Look, a new chapter! Before I begin though, I just wanted to go over a couple things :)
First and foremost, Casting Stones is a set of experiments I'm conducting. For the Boy was the original experimental piece, and because CS is technically an extension of FtB, the experiment continues. The experiments I'm conducting are first-person writing, and writing without an outline. It's purely based off inspiration at the moment; the main reason it seems so chaotic sometimes.
It's been a rather successful experiment, I'd say! I have found out I prefer an outline, but having a whim-writing is still quite fun :) I only mention this to keep you in the know about the irregular update schedule; I update when I write, and I write when I get brain food. My brain died recently, but it's coming back around.
This is a treat chapter for all of my patient readers, so loyal :) Here is a chapter many people have been wanting to see... So enjoy!
"I'm going with you."
Wufei stood in front of the car door, arms crossed and unmoving. Duo and Heero glanced at each other, Duo shrugging and Heero sighing.
"Do you even know where we're going?" Duo asked, and Wufei gave his own little shoulder-shrug.
"I don't really care. I just know it involves them."
Wufei was pissed when he found out Duo and Heero had gone to visit David's uncle. He had some things he had wanted to ask the man, but he couldn't go after they had, or the cover-story they used to get the man to talk would be broken. They needed that in place for when an official investigation could take place later.
Wufei might be a Preventer himself, but he had been a rebel first; the rules could be bent for a good cause.
"Fine. You get to drive though. I don't want to get pulled over again because Heero's speeding."
"Fine." Wufei didn't mind driving; it was rather soothing even if it was much slower than flying. He missed his days as a pilot, but there was no need for pilots anymore. Not with the peace.
He pushed those thoughts aside, not wanting to dwell too long on them again. He took the keys Heero was holding out, getting into the driver's seat while Duo climbed in the back, leaving Heero sitting next to Wufei.
"So what excuse did you give to go harass Them this time?" Wufei asked, turning over the engine. The jeep started on the third try, the floor and seat shaking under him.
"Camping, of course!"
"Of course. I forgot you two aren't that original," is all Wufei said in response, earning a cry of outrage from behind him.
"Well, which way are we going?"
"Take a left, head to the highway. Enter on the southbound, keep going."
"Got it."
"How the hell can you find people around here?" Duo muttered, peering closely at each house Wufei drove by. They were crawling at about 20 km/h down the very suburban neighbourhood, looking for a house that only Duo knew the address to.
"If you would just tell us which damn house-"
"There it is! Pull over, quick! Hurry hurry, she just got home."
Wufei smoothly pulled to a stop against the curb, Duo jumping out of the jeep before it had completely stopped. Heero exited next, followed by Wufei who still had to turn the vehicle off. They straightened their ties, Duo pulling his hair under a cap and checking himself in the side mirror.
"Okay, so we're private detectives working for Vernon Dursley in regards to Dudley Dursley's custody."
"And you think she'll believe you?"
"No, but she'll believe you. Just act like you normally do and she won't argue."
"What are you implying?"
"Duo believes there is a large object permanently encased in your colon," Heero answered blandly, "despite all medical evidence I have provided to prove otherwise."
Wufei scoffed, giving a dark glare to both Heero and Duo. Slamming his door closed, he strode across the street and the perfectly manicured lawn to knock briskly on the faux wood door. The sound of movement could be heard inside, and a woman answered the door. Her face was pinched, as though she was thinking of something displeasing.
"What do you want?"
"Are you Mrs. Petunia Evans, formerly Petunia Dursley?"
"Yes I am." Her voice was sharp, biting; but after having spent time around Duo, Heero, and Commander Une it felt more like talking to a slightly intoxicated Quatre. He nodded, glancing at the padfolio in his grip, flipping some papers randomly and making a checkmark.
"I am Yao Lee, private investigator. With me are Terry Reed and Ryu Takahashi, both whom are private investigators as well. We have been hired by Vernon Dursley to evaluate the living situation for his son, a Mr. Dudley Dursley. If he feels the living conditions are inadequate, we are to open a case for him to gain custody. May we please conduct a quick walkthrough and speak to the minor-in-question?"
The woman looked like she wanted to argue, but Wufei narrowed his eyes, snapping his binder closed with a single hand and pushing aside the now-angry woman.
"I never said-!"
"Do you have something you do not wish to show us?" Wufei asked calmly, and her mouth snapped shut, irritation showing on her face.
"My associates would like to ask you some questions while I conduct a walkthrough, and then we need to talk with-"
"Dudley, yes I heard you the first time," she bit out, and Wufei gave a rather menacing smile (if the way she flinched back was any indication).
"Reed, Takahashi, please make sure to get adequate answers from Mrs. Evans."
"Yessir!" Duo chimed, tapping his fingers on the brim of his hat while Heero gave a small bow, moving subtly between Wufei and the aunt.
Wufei didn't try to eavesdrop on the conversation taking place in the sitting room, knowing that Duo and Heero would be able to give him a play-by-play on the way back home. Instead, he took his time looking around the house.
The papers they'd found showed that Petunia Evans was still living at the address where she had David while he was living with them. Wufei was looking for evidence of David living here, though it was over six months since the boy had been abandoned; there was little chance of finding anything. It was worth the opportunity to look though.
He started searching in the bedrooms upstairs. Pictures of an obese boy lined the walls, different ages and situations showing the progression of the boy's age and weight, both steadily climbing higher.
There were no pictures of David to be seen, not even in a corner of a frame. Either she had taken them down after he vanished, or there never were any to begin with. Pictures of the uncle, Vernon Dursley, were also absent.
The boy's room was cramped, toys and furniture lining the walls and taking up much of the floor. A full-sized bed was in the middle of the room, pressed under the window facing their neighbour's home. The bedroom next to it revealed more toys, the many different types mirroring the toys that had been in the child's bedroom.
Spoiled, Wufei thought, disgusted by what he was seeing. A child might deserve the right to play, but even that should have limits. The weight of the boy was no longer such a mystery; he must get everything he ever asked for.
Petunia Evans' room was immaculate; much like David's room normally was. Nothing rested on the top of the dresser or the nightstand, only two pillows rested on the bed, tucked neatly under the perfectly made sheets. The window only had a modest lace window dressing, tied back with a thin string on both sides. No pictures lined the walls, unlike the hallways, and other than the mentioned furniture, nothing else was present in the room.
It was like a self-made prison. It looked just like David's room.
"It makes more sense," Wufei mused aloud, closing the door. No matter how much effort Duo put into helping David mess up his room, the boy always cleaned it up right after. It had taken a few months for him to not get panicky about leaving things on the dresser (which now housed a small amount of his artwork), and plants lined many of the surfaces in the space. But those first few memories of the boy's room was a reflection of his aunt's behaviour.
The last bedroom upstairs was a guest bedroom, and the bathroom was as empty as the woman's room. A hall closet showed nothing interesting, except revealing yet another place where the child's toys were stored when not in use.
It was downstairs that he found a couple interesting things; evidence that David had lived here in the past. The location made Wufei nauseous.
I can't believe them! The small toy soldier that had been crammed into a corner (which could have easily belonged to the woman's son) was clenched in his fist, his eyes fixed on some pencil doodles on the back wall of the tiny closet; a location the overly large boy would never have been able to reach. Doodles that looked like ones David still drew in his notebook after waking up from a nightmare.
Wufei closed the door to the closet, his throat tight in his anger; making it hard for him to breathe. He made sure his face was impassive as he continued his search, finding no other evidence until reaching the storage shed in the backyard.
A small pillow and blanket were piled under a handful of gardening tools, some spoiled sacks of food and a flashlight underneath those as well. There were small specks of blood, only one large enough to show who it might have belonged to. The tiny handprint was enough to have Wufei backing out of the shed quickly, moving towards the house.
Duo would want to see that.
It didn't take much to get Duo to follow him, using the 'second witness' line to make the woman nervous. He took Duo out to the shed, quickly summarizing his find.
"This is disgusting," Duo hissed, crouching to look at the blood. "You think she would have cleaned it up."
"It doesn't look like she comes inside often. The way the woman behaves would have had the food thrown away months ago."
"Yeah, that's gross too. For being so anally germaphobic, she leaves what I think is a sandwich to become maggot breeding grounds," he quipped, poking at the bag of food. Wufei felt his stomach roll, having to look away from the sight of the squirming larvae.
"So what now? We can't accuse her of anything while being 'private detectives,'" Wufei pointed out, and Duo hummed.
"Feel like stalking for a while?"
'Stalking' turned out to also mean harassing. Duo and Heero were at the hotel room they'd rented, while Wufei moved quietly around the back of the home, out of sight from any nosy neighbours. He slid his knife under the window, moving the latching lock so he could open the window and lift himself in.
The aunt and her son were watching some evening game show in the sitting room, a large bowl of popcorn in the hollow of the boy's crossed legs. Wufei made sure to move low so that he wouldn't be reflected in any of the glass fixtures and decorations in the sitting room. He quietly moved to the small closet he had found the army man in, lifting the handle to prop the door open. He set down Duo's hand-made masterpiece, which still gave him chills when looking at it.
He must have read one of Trowa's books, Wufei thought, leaving the door open and moving further into the house. At the top of the stairs, he pushed one of the pictures off the wall, letting it land on the floor. He slipped into the guest bedroom, moving under the bed where he couldn't be seen from the hallway. The shriek he heard was worth the three hours it took for Duo to convince him he should do this.
"Mummy! It's Harry! He's back!"
Wufei swallowed his revulsion at hearing the boy speak, his innocence not belonging in this house.
"No he isn't! This is a sick joke. Go to your room. Now!"
The boys wails from the order grated on Wufei's ears, growing louder as the boy moved towards his room.
"Daddy wouldn't make me leave! He would let me watch the telly!"
"Your father is a lowlife who doesn't deserve to see you!"
"I want Daddy!"
The sound of his crying was muted, but not silenced, as the bedroom door closed. The pasty, shaken complexion of the woman's face was easy for even Wufei to see from his current position, her hands gripping her hair.
"He's gone, he isn't coming back. He's gone, he isn't coming back. He's gone... he's gone!"
Guilty conscience. Wufei waited until she moved back downstairs before sliding out from under the bed, moving towards her bedroom this time. A second doll found a home on her bed, tucked messily into her sheets. A third went on top of her dresser, a fourth, fifth, and sixth inside the drawers. A couple more went into the closet, and he just tossed the remaining half-dozen randomly around the empty space. He left the house via her window, dropping to the lawn with a practiced roll to save himself from injury. He would have liked to stay to watch, but the longer he remained the more chances there were of being caught.
"May we speak with your son?"
The woman peered blearily at them, looking as if she had spent a long night drinking. It took a couple moments before she answered, stepping aside to let them in. Wufei suppressed his smirk, looking around the house as he entered.
It was a disaster. Broken glass and furniture littered the floors, and the house was in disarray. Wufei couldn't help but feel the triumph bloom in his chest.
The voodoo dolls really did a number, Wufei mused, letting a disappointed look cross his face as Duo had instructed. Duo pinned her reaction down pat.
"He's in the kitchen," she said bluntly, pointing to the dimly-lit room. Wufei led Heero and Duo, taking a seat at the kitchen table where the obese boy was working through a large plate of eggs and hash.
"Hi. We work for your dad. Can you tell us your name?" Duo asked, letting his 'work face' come into play.
For being such a self-absorbed bastard, he does good work, Wufei thought, watching the man lead the child around with his words.
"So you don't like living with your mom?" Duo questioned, and the boy shook his head back and forth hard.
"No, my mummy never lets me have fun. It's always boring here. Daddy let me go places and do things, and here I have to stay in my room all the time."
"When your mom and dad were together still, did she act like this?"
"Only to Harry. But Harry was a freak, so it was okay to do it to him. I'm not a freak, so she shouldn't be mean to me."
Wufei had to hold his tongue, reminding himself the boy didn't know any better. He was taught this by his parents.
"Oh? Who is Harry? We don't have him as a person who lives here," Duo said, jumping on the opportunity. Wufei could see the tension in Duo's shoulders, and the grip Heero had on his pants. They couldn't react, or else their facade would be broken.
"He was my cousin. But he went away, and then Mummy and Daddy left each other too. Mummy said she had to be really bad to Harry, because Harry was a bad boy who did bad things like his mummy and daddy."
"What kind of bad things did your mom do to him?"
The answers he gave were enough for Wufei to break the pen in his hand, the ink dripping down his fist and onto his clothes. Heero's pants ripped at one point, his grip tearing the sturdy material apart. Duo, on the other hand, acted like the words spewing from the boy's mouth were perfectly normal and not in the least bit horrifying.
"It sounds like your mom's starting to do that with you, too," Duo said, tracing the word 'bitch' with his pen as he watched the boy nod morosely. The word was traced and filled in so many times that it most likely was imprinted several sheets down on the pad.
"Yeah. She threatens me with Harry's room sometimes, though she doesn't make me go in it. She doesn't even open his door anymore, not since he ran away."
"Well, why don't we take you to your dad's place then?" Duo said, clapping his hands together once as if coming to a final decision. Wufei glanced at Heero, who was trying to light the table on fire with his eyes.
"Yeah! Okay!"
"You realize we just kidnapped a child from his mother, are now driving across the country to drop him off with his father, and that if we are caught we're doing much more than a week in lock-up?" Wufei asked Duo as they grabbed food off of the shelf. Duo nodded, opening the fridge enough to sneak his hand inside to press the light off as he opened it fully. While the occupants of the home were not present, someone might see the light in the empty home and call the police.
"I understand you are angry, but this isn't going to end well," Wufei continued, holding the bag open as Duo piled the food inside.
"Look, I had to do something. Heero said I can't kill the bitch, so I'm taking the last person she cared about and giving them to someone who isn't as much of a total fuck-up."
"And what are you planning on doing to keep us out of it? He's going to spend at least a week in our company, getting to know what we look like well enough to give a description."
"Have it covered. Heero's working on it right now."
"Don't tell me, I don't want to know," Wufei said quickly, setting down the full bag and picking up an empty one. They needed enough food to get them through a week, as grocery stores would be out of the question along with hotel services. Duo tossed in a package of cheese, closing the door to the fridge and opening the freezer.
"Well, this looks good enough, we better scram," Duo said, closing the freezer and picking up a couple packs. They went out the same way they came in, checking for anyone watching before heading to their car a couple blocks away. Anyone looking now would see two college students coming back from a grocery trip, not two kidnappers stealing food from a stranger's home.
"This better be worth it, I only have two more days off of work."
"We can drop you off in London before heading to Liverpool," Duo said, and Wufei nodded. It would be the best situation. And if Duo and Heero were caught with the Dursley child, he wouldn't be incriminated.
Though if that did happen, Wufei would fight hard to get them out. His honor wouldn't allow otherwise.
"Enjoy your camping trip?"
Wufei looked up from his desk, spotting Une standing in his doorway. Wufei shrugged, placing his pen down and stretching his arms.
"Thought it would be much more relaxing than it was. I forgot 'relaxing' and 'Maxwell' don't belong in the same sentence," Wufei replied, rolling his eyes.
"Well, whatever you did while 'camping' better not end up on my desk."
Wufei watched her leave, head dropping into his hands once she closed the door to the office.
She fucking knows. God damn you, Duo Maxwell!
