Duo believed in ghosts. Maybe not full-blown, grab a candle and join the séance circle belief, but in a more--hey I've killed a lot of people, and if anything lingers afterward it's probably a good idea to be polite about it--way. Duo got the sense his traveling partner believed in ghosts, too, and for a lot less philosophical reasons. It was apparent in the way this dark-mirror reality failed to faze him much.

"Hey, Bui, how's it hanging?"

Plus, he kept addressing the ghosts by name.

"Bui", gray-skinned with a mouth full of shark-teeth, took a swipe at Yuusuke, growling wordlessly. Sightless, rotting eye sockets, the hollows writhing with maggots, locked unerringly on Yuusuke though they couldn't have possibly have seen him. Black claws sliced air just an inch from Yuusuke's nose, and the ghost-thing writhed, but couldn't get closer. Its torso sunk into the wall, legs missing entirely, pinned it pretty well in place.

Yuusuke stood against the hand rail on the right side of the stairs. They found that if they pressed themselves close to the metal they were just out of reach. Five steps down, the previous monster gave a final shriek and shudder and melted back into shadows. Five steps up, the next stain on the wall bubbled and long black fingers slid out, followed by an arm, like someone pushing their way through from the other side.

"Suzaku!" Yuusuke said as they passed, cheerful. "You're a little worse for wear."

Being paired with Yuusuke made the mission both more unnerving and more relaxing. On the one hand, Duo could've lived his whole life without knowing the names of the creatures they passed. On the other hand, Yuusuke made everything seem like a particularly insane guided tour of hell, rather than a journey through a shadowy nightmare.

"And on your left," Duo murmured, "you'll see the wrathful drowning continuously under the murky waters of the river Styx. Have your cameras ready!"

"What?" Yuusuke asked.

"Nothing."

Duo kept his eyes forward, stifling the desire to turn around and check on the other two every couple of steps. Trusting Yuusuke to watch his back was fine. Trusting Yuusuke with Trowa was something else all together. And despite his best efforts, the darkness and the monsters were getting to him. It made him itch for a weapon with more distance than his knives. He wished the rest of the ammunition hadn't gotten wet when Trowa had gone crazy.

It also bothered him that Trowa had gone crazy. And, yeah, he was worried and concerned for his friend, but on an even more fundamental level, it was alarming.

Trowa was the sanest person Duo knew. If this place could make Trowa go mad, there wasn't much hope for the rest of them.

"I hope there's no one around when Heero loses it," Duo muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing." But then, "Actually, how good is Kurama at ducking bullets?"

"Kurama? Don't know. Hiei can dodge 'em no problem. But I've never seen Kurama try. He's more 'prevent' than 'provoke' you know?" There was a thoughtful pause, and then, suspicion. "Why are you asking?"

"I was thinking about going crazy."

"Right now?"

"No." Duo grinned. "Maybe soon. Trowa did."

"Yeah, no kidding. Hey, if you go bonkers, don't shoot me, okay? Once is enough in a day."

"I won't."

"Thanks."

"No bullets."

"...yeah, okay."

"I'd have to stab you." Duo could feel his smile spread, growing thinner like a blade, like the edge of his knife pressed against the skin of his thumb, pressure until it broke through and there was blood and faint pain. Not enough.

Duo stopped, eyes still forward, on the next patch of faint light, the next smear on the wall, the stairs that went endlessly upward.

"I think I'm going crazy."

"Yeah? Well, do it while you're walking, would you? Multitask. My heels are getting wet."

Duo could hear the monster behind them drowning. The water was rising faster. He started up the steps again, and tried not to get lost in the dark. It should have been easy enough, since their path was a straight line.

"You're bleeding," Yuusuke said.

Duo lifted this thumb to his mouth and tasted blood. "You could tell?"

"I can smell it. It'll attract demons."

"Like sharks."

"Yeah, I guess."

"In the water."

Rubber soles thumped on metal as they walked, hollow and loud in the absolute quiet.

"Okay, now you're just creeping me out," Yuusuke said.

Duo bit down, felt pain, a little less distant this time, and tried to find something lighter to say, something that would convince both Yuusuke and himself that he was still rational. "We're probably already insane."

Not exactly what he'd been going for.

He tried again. "You'd think it'd be more fun."

Yuusuke was silent for a long moment, before a definitive, "Nah," drifted up to Duo. "Have you ever been crazy, before?"

Duo thought, and rifled through memories he didn't look at very often. "Maybe."

"I have. You know the difference between then and now?"

"What?"

"There's a lot more blood when I go crazy." There were fangs in that statement--the real kind, not cheap and plastic and Halloween-vampire. Even with his back turned to Yuusuke, Duo could feel it. "What about you?"

Duo remembered rage and fire and the cool-easy feeling of a knife in his fist. "Same."

"So, there you go. We're not crazy. Not yet."

"You'll let me know if that changes, right?"

"I'll try to give you fair warning."

"Will something spontaneously burst into flame?"

"Fire's not really my thing. I just hit shit."

Duo blinked. That was it? "What kind of demon are you?"

Yuusuke bristled. "I'm the kind that hits shit."

"Can't you at least try to devour my soul?"

"No! Okay? I just--"

"Tempt me to evil?"

"Suck my cock. That evil enough for you?"

Duo spun and, walking backwards and without breaking stride, smacked Yuusuke upside the head, and then turned back around and kept going.

"OW!"

"What?"

"You why the hell did you hit me?"

"What are you talking about? You must be going crazy."

Yuusuke walked on Duo's heels on purpose. Duo stumbled and grinned, and wished he could be more cheerful about it, but when he'd looked into the water behind Yuusuke he was pretty sure he'd seen something in there. Staring back.

"Hey," Duo said. "If I do go crazy, just take Trowa and run, all right?"

"No promises." Yuusuke's answer came without hesitation. "Besides, if it ever comes down to trusting me to be the brains of this operation, I have to tell you right now that we're fucked."

And then the stairs ended.

Duo almost staggered, pulled to an abrupt stop, and Yuusuke bumped into him, propelling them both forward onto the short platform. It was just a bit larger than the door it lead to, which was eggshell white painted metal, bright under the emergency light.

Duo tested the handle, found it locked, dropped to his knees and got them wet in the water that was already creeping over the floor. He pulled out his jammer and lockpick.

"Duck!" Was the only warning Duo got, before Yuusuke kicked the door in.

Duo put his tools away and stood up.

"I know that look," Yuusuke said with a grin. "Kurama gives me that look all the time."

There was a splash behind them, and then another, soft like a footfall. Both Yuusuke and Duo spun around, to see something climbing up the last step, long hair straggling, kimono dark with water and ragged.

Yuusuke sucked in a breath and took a step forward, "Botan--"

"What the hell are you--!" Duo grabbed Yuusuke's collar and pulled him back hard, sending them both backwards into the room beyond the door. "You really are crazy!"

"She's a friend!" Yuusuke snapped, and his arm tightened around Trowa and the look in his eyes said, I carried your friend without whining about it once!

Duo felt guilty, glancing back at the girl that was drawing closer. It was possible she was just hurt. She could need help.

The sound of metal dragging against metal made Duo glance down.

She was carrying a scythe. And when she lifted her head to look at them, her grin and flat black eyes sent chills through Duo. He shot Yuusuke an incredulous look. Yuusuke took a step back and shut the door.

In the pitch dark, there was the sound of Yuusuke jiggling the handle. "Lock's broke," he announced.

"Yeah, whose fault is that?" Duo flicked on his pen light and looked around. Yuusuke was leaning against the door with one hand, the other keeping Trowa steady, and there was a solid bench beside him. He stuck his light in his mouth, walked around to one side and shoved it over.

"Think furniture keeps out a grim reaper?" Yuusuke asked, eyes on the door.

"I hope so. There isn't much else to stop her."

"Yeah."

The other side of the door was silent. There was water on the floor here, too, up around their ankles, but it didn't seem to be rising higher.

"You'll notice I didn't ask about the 'grim reaper' bit."

"Not really."

"It's because I don't want to know."

Water dripped, somewhere, over Duo's shoulder. It was still dark but for the spot of Duo's penlight, which was directly on the door. The door was wrong--completely different from what it looked like on the outside. It was wooden, heavy-looking, tall and arched at the top. As long as it didn't grow a monster or turn into writhing snakes, Duo supposed it was alright.

"Is she really a grim reaper?"

"Yep." Yuusuke drew the word out on a casual note, and didn't take his eyes off the door.

"All right," Duo said. "Think I've got time to look around before she kicks the door in and devours our souls?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Do grim reapers need to use doors?"

Not a comforting thought.

"I'll stand here and keep watch," Yuusuke concluded, turning to lift Trowa off his shoulder and settle him on another long bench. "Whatever you're doing, do it quick."

Duo nodded and checked on Trowa, who was cool to the touch, but breathing, pulse steady. Not dead, and that was high on Duo's list of Things To Be Happy About. Even if he would have been happier had Trowa been conscious.

It was as he was leaning over the other boy, glancing at what his light illuminated, that he saw the Bible, tucked neatly into slot allotted on the back of the bench in front of the one Duo leaned on. And Duo realized it wasn't a bench--it was a pew. They were in a church.

"Sure," Duo said, pushing upright slowly. "Why not?"

The church was small and, but for the silt-thick water on the floor--clean. Worn but well taken care of. Duo sloshed down the aisle to the right, penlight skittering over the stone walls and pillars. The confessionals were in a corner near the front.

Someone was crying--a low, muffled sound. Duo froze, penlight pausing on the moth-eaten canvas curtain of a confessional booth. His stance sank and centered. His grip on his knife shifted and settled.

"Hello?" Duo used Preventer Voice. His "hey, I'm friendly, but in charge" voice. "Who's there?"

If this were a scary movie Duo thought, saying that would ensure that it's a monster, and it's going to eat me.

...

Duo, you idiot, this is a scary movie.

Approaching the booth quickly but cautiously, Duo said, "But I'm the badass hero, so I totally get to survive until the end." And flicked the curtain open.

Revealing nothing. Except a wall of fuses and switches--the main power controls.

"Right, like I'm going to fall for that one."

The darkness and the empty confessional had nothing to say.

"Dammit."

Despite misgivings, and "it's a goddamned trap you moron" warning bells, Duo put the knife away and stepped into the booth. Closer inspection revealed an uncomplicated system. Resetting it a simple matter of shutting all the sub-sections off, then the main switch, and then turning them all back on again in reverse order. Duo put the penlight in his mouth and went to work.

Halfway through turning them back on, someone tugged hard on his braid. Duo spun, and there was a shriek of laughter from the emptiness behind him, the sound of small feet running away. His head thumped back against the wall, glancing off a pointed switch.

"Fuck!"

The penlight clattered to the floor.

Scolding, "Duo!"

"Sorry, Father," Duo muttered automatically, rubbing the back of his head. Then he lowered his hand slowly, heart thumping once in his throat, eyes skittering to the side, where the screen separated the two parts of the booth.

There was the shadow of a person on the other side. The jerky motion of the head, accompanied by the snick-crack of broken bones rubbing together as the shadow turned its head made Duo think he didn't want to look any closer.

"Hello, my son."

It seemed Yuusuke wasn't the only one today to name his dead.

"Hey there, Father." Duo had never had first-hand interaction with ghosts before, but he'd once thought about it long enough to come to the conclusion that if he should ever meet one, he'd at least try to be polite. "How are you doing?"

"Tired. And worried."

"Worried?" Duo's eyes skittered to the fuses. "About what?"

"You. I haven't seen you in a while. All the other children ask where you've gone."

"Yeah. Sorry about that." He reached for the next one, and found he couldn't move. He glanced back at the figure behind the screen. He could see the gleam of teeth.

"Isn't it time you come home, my son?"

If he concentrated, he could curl his hand, one finger at a time, into a fist. "Uh, I don't think that's the greatest idea, Father."

"You don't?"

Duo's arm shook with the strain of raising it. "No, I really really don't." He flicked the next switch, but couldn't reach the one after that before his arm was dragged down again.

"Don't you miss us, Duo?"

Outside, there was an explosion, the percussive pressure rocking through him, deafening him for a moment, and he would've flinched, would have ducked for cover instinctively if he'd been able to move. Children were screaming. Duo pulled in a lungful of stale, recycled air--colony air, tasting gunpowder and ashes on the back of his tongue.

"I do miss you, Father."

Duo closed his eyes, and thought of how he would explain failing the mission to Heero, who probably had no patience for ghosts, who could probably deal with ghosts and do the mission at the same time, who would not acknowledge "ghosts" as a viable excuse for a task unaccomplished.

Wufei might understand better--it was difficult to tell what Wufei would find acceptable and what he would scoff at, those pesky old-school Traditions and upper class Etiquette flaring up at the strangest times.

Trowa might not understand, but he wouldn't judge. He'd log whatever Duo said away, and pull it out should he ever have to deal with ghosts--or pretend to become one.

And Quatre would just blink and factor it into his overall plan. "I see," Quatre would say. "I'll have my research team to look into that. In the meantime, stick close to Heero or Wufei. They're scarier than most demonized shadows of the past." Or something. Quatre would be a little more articulate about it.

"I miss you," Duo repeated. "But there are people here I would miss more if I died."

"Haven't you been searching for a way back to us?" Father's voice had taken on a hard edge, demanding. "Didn't you spend the entire war seeking a way to death?"

Duo felt a cold smile curve his lips. "I would never go looking for death."

"No?"

"No." Duo opened his eyes, and looked directly at the shadow on the other side. "She comes to me."

Then there was no screen between them, no wall at all, everything was rubble and smoke and fire, but Duo was still standing, and so was the shadow--a terrible parody of Father Maxwell, with night-black eyes and twisted limbs. The thing surged forward. Duo brought his knife to bear with the flick of his wrist--he could manage that much at least.

The thing stopped, just short of impaling itself on Duo's blade, and pressed closer. Duo watched the point dimple black fabric over the thing's chest. It leaned closer, until it could whisper in Duo's ear.

"There are thousands of us. How many have you killed? We'll shred your soul to pieces. You won't be able to stop us."

Duo's witty comeback was to throw everything into a final punch forward, the knife sliding between ribs and slamming home. Pain ripped up his shoulder, sank into his neck and head.

He felt a brush of lips against his forehead like a benediction.

The lights came up.

Duo blacked out.

#20 - the road home