The House
Ch. 12
Co-Authored By Azuril Noir Raine (i stopped touching it because he wouldn't cooporate.)
Co-Authored By Anshi-chan (yeah, hear that sound? that's the sound of you breaking my mind.)
Not even two or three seconds passed before Date's eye widened and he pushed Mars away, clutching his chest. He started coughing again, though it seemed like it was more violent. He held his hand over his mouth again, blood squicking through his fingers. When the fit subsided, he fell back onto the bed like a rag doll. His breathing was labored and raspy, and his face was flushed with fever, save for the blood on either side of his mouth.
"Sorry about that…didn't think you wanted me coughing into your mouth." He said, a faint smile on his face, though it was clear that he was in pain. "You asked what I wanted, Mars…and I want you to be here with me, but I'm gonna say it flat out---I'm terrified of that same idea. I don't want to risk hurting you, like I did with Mitsuhide. Since Xun…I've been just…scared shitless of a relationship..." Date winced, his arm pressing against some of his wounds. "Don't worry…I'm fine. Really. Just a few stitches popped out…" He insists, though it's clear that his problems are far more severe than that. He waves Mars off a bit, as if he wants to be alone. "Can you go tell Xun I need some stitches fixed? He's always been better at that than I." Date says softly, his smile fading a little.
Xun crossed his arms and sighed deeply. When met with puzzled looks, he fessed up.
"Okay, okay, I'll talk. There's another reason I'm worried. After I broke him…he's kinda had this…sorta phobia of relationships, and the couple times he's been raped didn't help. He got into the mindset of thinking that every relationship he'll be in will end up hurting him, either physically or emotionally, and we had an incident several months ago with just that happening…but that's another story. So…either he's repressing all these feelings, or he's gotten over it all, and I'm betting the former rather than the latter."
"If you were so afraid of this, then why did you even start it?" Mars asked, he didn't hold Date's fear against him, nor did he hate Date for it. He sighed heavily, "I'll go get Xun. And I suppose you'd like me to stay downstairs after that then?"
Date's smile fades completely and he sighs, though it's clear that every movement is painful. "I'm sorry. I just..I don't know. I really want to be with you, Mars." His voice trails off as he starts coughing again, curling up on his uninjured side. When the fit subsides, his hands and mouth are bright red with blood.
Mars just stared for a second, not sure what to do, then he ran out of the room.
"Xun, Xun!" he stopped at the top of the stairs, looking down at the group below, "Date needs help!"
Xun headed for the stairs quickly,
"What's wrong with him?" he asked upon joining Mars.
"He's coughing up blood, and he needs some things restiched."
"You sound like he hurt you somehow." Xun said, Mars following him back over by the room Date was in, they stopped outside it to continue talking..
"No, not hurt, just...I'm just...confused, that's all. He says he wants me, and then pushes me away. I don't understand, that's all it is."
"I see."
"Should I go?"
"What?"
"Do you think it would be easier for me and for him if I left with Nightmar and Neko? Am I just causing more trouble than I should staying here with him?"
"That's up to you. Do you want to stay?"
"Yes. But I want to leave too. I just know that things will never be the same for me no matter where I stay. I think I ruined it for myself with both groups. I honestly just want to disappear if it'll help anyone at all. Would it? Would it make anything better if I just disappeared?"
"I couldn't tell you. I really don't know."
"Date loves me, I know that much, I can tell that much, but he has a phobia of some kind keeping him from trusting me completely. It's making it seem more like a game. And I wish he'd stop toying with me. It's taken a lot for me come this far, I don't know how much more I can take."
"Mars..." Xun stopped when Mars turned away and headed down the hall.
"I'm going to see if my clothes are dry."
Xun sighed sadly and walked into Date's room, finding the one-eyed dragon curled up on the floor, having taken a bit of a tumble.
"What the hell is your problem?" Xun asked, kneeling next to him and propping him up against the bed. He tore open the front of Date's robe and checked over the stitches.
"I fucked up…that's my problem…I just fucked up again…"
Neko growled and stretched out on the couch, kicking Sheik off of it in the process.
"You know what? Let's just take Mars and go. Fuck Date and his phobia. He'll recover." She grumbled, her ears drooped in frustration.
"You can't mean that."
"Part of me does and part of me doesn't." She countered, burying her head in her arms.
"He's as broken as you are, Date." Xun said absently, "he's incapable of doing anything to purposely hurt anyone. And I know you know that."
"..."
"If you want to be with him, let him in, don't rip him up more."
"Don't you think I know that?"
"Then start acting like you care as much as you say you do. You'll just end out losing him if you don't."
"You know just dragging Mars out of here won't work. He's a danger to himself and others more so when he's depressed, and just pulling him out of here sans thinking might not be the best of ideas." Sheik said, now simply leaning against the couch he'd been booted off of. "I think the best bet we have is to simply wait it out."
"Why? Why are you all so content with him just eating himself away until there's nothing left to save?" Neko asked, sitting up, "where the hell do you guys get off thinking like that? He's gonna break, I know it. I don't want that for him. I don't want him hurting any more than he already is."
"You have a point there." Link said, "Date's confusing him, and I'm pretty sure he's ready to just crawl into a corner and hide. If he wants to stay, we can't force him to leave, it wouldn't be right."
"True." Neko admited. Mars suddenly came down the stairs, handing Neko her clothes. "Eh?"
"They're dry now." he explained, back in his own clothes.
"Oh. Ok." Neko said, taking her clothes and heading upstairs to find an empty room to change in. Mars sat down on the couch, staying silent until Xun reappeared.
"Mars, Date wants to talk to you." he said, Mars gave a tiny nod, then headed for the stairs.
"How are you doing?" Mars asked upon entering the room Date was in, "any better?"
"Yeah. Can you close the door."
"Huh?"
"Close the door."
Mars hesitated, then closed the door behind him as he walked the rest of the way into the room.
"Xun said you wanted to talk to me."
"Yeah." Date said, "I do." Mars sat down on the bed next to Date, watching him quietly, waiting for him to speak.
Neko trotted down the stairs, taking a flying leap and landing on Link's lap.
"Where's Mars?"
"Date wanted to talk to him." Xun said, "I think he may just have his head back on straight."
"Hm..."
A moment of silence went by, then Mars was kissed. After a second of shock, he melted into the kiss, letting Date do as he pleased. Date had him on his back a second later, hands roaming as they pleased. Both hoping no one would get curious and venture upstairs.
"Well, what do you suppose we do?" Neko asked, "should we just grab him and pull out?"
"Nope. Bad idea."
"We could just bluntly say 'we are leaving now move your ass'."
"Nope. Bad idea."
"Well, then what?"
"Let's just wait it out." Link said, "sorry if you don't think that's a good idea, but I think that's all we can do. Besides, haven't you learned by now,he makes hell look fun when he gets upset?"
"Hells, I remember that much. I don't know where he got the scorpions or how he got them in my mattress, but I'd rather not relive that experiance." Sheik said. Xun was giving him an odd look.
"You poor creature."
"Thank you."
Xun sighed and kicked at Neko's feet, making her growl at him and move her feet so he could flop onto the couch. He drew his legs up to his chest and closed his eyes, as if wanting to fall asleep.
"Stupid Date." He muttered to himself. Neko sat up, reaching over and poking him, only to find herself sprawled out in the ruins of the coffee table with a rather angered Xun stalking out of the room.
"What the hell just happened?"
"He just kinda picked you up and broke the table with your back. Are you alright?"
"One moment. I'm going to go kill him."
"No! No killing."
"Then I'll go wound him a moment." Neko followed the boy back out into the rain. Swearing to herself several times, she followed him for a good ten minutes before just grabbing the back of his coat and slamming him up against a tree. "You! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Xun didn't respond, aside from simply grabbing her wrists and twisting around, in an attempt to send her crashing to the ground again. "Fuck no! Not a second time!" Neko growled, countering the maneuver and pinning him back to the tree. "Alright…I thought you were the smart one here. Now…it's the fact that Date is slightly messed up and Mars is weird that's bugging you, right?" Xun lowered his eyes.
"Not quite…think of it as a sixth sense. I've been in that house for the past 200 years…and not aged a day, so I gathered an extra awareness. Date and Mars are both going to get hurt…either by each other or by that sadistic bastard stalking them."
"Okay, I'm listening." Neko said, slowly releasing the tactician.
"But what irks me more is that everyone seems to be caring about Mars, and how he's going to be feeling. What about Date? He's fragile, thought he'll never let it on. No one seems to think of how Date will be affected? What if Mars stays and Date gets hurt? Then they both have to live with it! What about if he leaves? Then Date will be messed up for a while but he'll get better..." Xun sank to the ground, drawing his knees up to his chest. Neko sank down back to his level, petting his cheek.
"Is there something you want to talk about?" Xun started to shake his head but stopped.
"It started after Date's loss at Mitagahara…" Neko sat back, listening intently to the story, drawing every bit of information in. When Xun had finished, he sank back and bit his lip. "That's why I'm having problems okay?"
"Well, first off," Neko said, "we care about Mars because he's shit powerful and if upset, he'll probably blow up the planet, plus Nightmare doesn't take kindly to any type of harm coming to him so we try to avoid any awkward fits of anger from him if we can. And second of all, you're right, we should take Date into account too, Mars isn't the only one that'll be affected by this whole thing. Third of all, I see where your worrying comes from...I defiantly get that now. And forth of all, you sound like you're just all for getting rid of Mars, like his absence would solve all of your problems. I must admit, he has caused a lot of problems for you guys and I can understand your wanting him gone, but if we just pull out damage will be done not only to Mars but to Date as well. This needs to be handled as delicatly as possible and-it's obvious that I'm bullshitting this bit, isn't it?"
"Fairly so, yes."
"Ok. So I want to just drag him out of here and never come back here again. I'll admit that. But it's not up to me. Normally, Nightmare has authority over Mars, and it's a bit of a shock to see how powerless he seems to be now. And now we've all kind of left our own special bit of scarring on you guys. I'm sorry about all this, I really am. We all are."
"What are we going to do now?"
"Sit? Eat? Be merry?"
"Bite me."
"I will. Don't tempt me."
Xun sighed and leaned back against the tree.
"We could pray that they come to their senses." He adds, looking up at the rain, listening to the thunder that suddenly seems to have manifested itself in the storm. He tensed. "Thunderstorm…" He gets to his feet. "We should be getting back…You know. The thunderstorm between Osaka and Mitagahara."
Date opened his eye and pulled away from the kiss at the rumble of thunder. He tenses, looking away from Mars and out the window, his skin going pale with fear.
"What's wrong?" Mars asked somewhat breathlessly, Date shook his head a bit.
"Nothing. Just..."
"A bad dream that once was real?" Mars finished for him. "The rain also makes me a little...nostalgic." then he gave Date a slightly agitated look, "and don't you dare tell me 'nothing' when you're whiter than chalk. I'm not stupid, and I don't like people thinking I am."
"I know you're not stupid. I didn't think you were. It's just..."
"What?" his eyes softened a bit, "what is it? You should know by now that you can talk to me."
"No, it's...it's not worth going into. I'd rather leave it be."
"...alright." Mars said, knowing what lines he shouldn't try to cross, "we'll drop the subject then." Date gave a relieved sigh. "Now, what are you going to do? I think it's safe to assume you're not going to finish this if you're ghost white with fright."
"I-can I just...can I just hold you? Just...remind me that I'm not alone."
"Alright. Do what you want." Mars sat up when Date moved to lay down again, pulling the young mage down with him, running his fingers through long red hair, taking his time in trying to regroup mentally. Mars hesitated for a long moment, debating on whether speaking would be a wise idea or not. Finally, he decided to chance it, "you know you're not alone here right?"
"Huh?"
"You're not alone here. I can't say you shouldn't be afraid, I know how frightening memories can be, but I just wanted to remind you that you aren't all alone here and that you're safe now." he closed his eyes, "I guess...that's all I wanted to say."
Date bit his lip and slowly let go of Mars. He pulled away and slowly sat up, wincing as he did so. He scooted over to the edge of the bed and pulled on his robe. "Are you sure you should be moving?" Mars asked.
"No. I probably shouldn't but…"
"But you feel like you have to."
Date nodded slowly as he tried to stand. He staggered, and Mars darted over.
"Hey! You! Back to bed!" Date shook his head and limped over to the window just as a large peal of thunder split the air, causing the one-eyed boy to cringe and whimper like a scared puppy. The lightning flashed and only then did Mars fully realize the fear and terror manifesting in Date's eye. "No. Date—don't…"
"I can't…not anymore…not after what he did to me…" He moved onto the windowsill, away from Mars.
"No! Don't you dare! Date! Don't!" Date just closed his eye, and stepped into nothingness.
"Is that…oh hell!!" Xun cried, dashing forwards. Neko saw, outrunning Xun in an effort to catch the suicidal boy, though she was one step too late. He hit the ground with a sickening crack, his skin pale and his breathing unnoticeable. The thunder roared above them, as if the memory had beaten his ability to go on this night.
"Why are we bringing him inside if he's...?" Neko asked as she helped Xun carry Date up the stairs to his room, they'd made sure Mars was downstairs and away from the carnage to avoid a spaz attack worthy of the type the mage was prone to...and he was prone to causing natural disasters when upset too much.
"He's not dead." Xun said, "it's not possible to kill yourself anywhere in or around the House, Weaver made it so from the beginning."
"I'm starting to really like her." Neko said as she kicked the door to Date's room open more, dragging him into the room and onto the bed, "we'll let whatever it is that happens when you try to kill yourself happen and then send Mars after him."
"Are you sure he deserves that kind of torture?"
"I'm positive. Because it's either Mars or me, and I'd make Mars look like a picnic with the beating I'd give him."
"...k."
"Let's get downstairs and see how Mars is holding up...if there are no trees in your kitchen then we're ok."
"What?"
"Nevermind, it's a long story."
"He grows trees?
"...deja vu."
Xun shrugged and brushed a few strands of hair from Date's face.
"This time…I don't think I blame him." He sighed and gently checked for broken bones. Finding none, he tapped Date's nose in an effot to wake him. A pained groan later, the One-Eyed Dragon woke, slowly looking around. Xun looked over at Neko. "Go get Mars."
"Right, let's release the beast after someone's rattled his cage." Neko said as she headed for the door. She headed downstairs, stopping in the living room, Mars seemed calm enough, over the fit of hysterics he'd been in earlier, Neko sighed, "how's he doing?" she asked, looking at Link.
"He's ok, I think." Link said.
"Mars," Neko said, "do you want to talk to Date?"
"H-he's alive? How?"
"Xun told me that you can't commit suicide in or around the House, no matter how hard you try. I'm not sure whether to think of that as good or bad thoguh."
"So he's alive?"
"Yup."
"Not for long!"
"Mars, wait!"
Date looked at Xun tiredly,
"So, I'm alive still then?"
"Weaver has made impossibly for you to comit suicide in or around the House, I think she didn't tell you because she knew you would attempt it."
"How nice of her." Date said sourly, then they heard someone headed for the room, with a panicky Neko on their heels.
"Mars, Mars, wait, he might not be in the best of conditions right now, beating him might just be a bad idea!"
"If he's not in a worse way now then he will be when I'm through with him!"
"Uh-oh." Xun moved away from the bed fast when the door slammed open, Mars storming into the room, Neko stopping in the doorway, then entering at a walk. Both she and Xun cringed at the loud 'slap'ing noise that followed.
"You bastard! You fucking bastard!" Mars shrieked, "why?! What the hell would make you think that fucking killing yourself was a good idea?! You have the nerve to say you love someone, then you pull a stunt like that, right in front of them?!" another slap, "Why?! Date, tell me why you would do that to yourself?! Why you would do that to me! Was it something that happened before all this? Someone that happened before all this? is it old nightmares that are driving you to do these utterly moronic thigns? Is that it?! I have nightmares too, I have the pain of being used too, being someone's little bitch! Neko does, Link does, Sheik does, we all have skeletons in our closets, Date. But they don't make the choices for us, they shouldn't make the choices for you too. There's no reason that they should." he stopped talking to catch his breath, trying and failing at holding back tears. "Why would you do this to me? Why?"
TBC...
A/N: ...not much to say here, sorry.
Mars: can I kill you now?
ANR: no. I will kick your feminine little ass.
Mars: hey!
ANR: if the truth hurts...
BOOM!
Zykan: o-o and it looks like it did.