I actually managed to remember to update for once! Yay!

Thanks to Pokegal-Angella, LuckyTigger, Starfire1407, OffMyTea, splitheart1120, seany96, thedarkone78, ninetailsgirl94 and Lynx of the Sand for reviewing. Cyber cookies for all, me thinks :)

Disclaimer: Me owns nothing.

Chapter Thirty-Six: The Second Strike

"I love being free!" May yelled as she zoomed through the house.

"It's great!" Misty agreed, copying May. They flew through walls and down through floors. They weaved out of each others way. They passed Drew who was stretching in the dinning room.

"Oh, I love room to stretch," Drew sighed as he reached to his toes.

Rusty seemed to be enjoying himself by the looks of it. He was running throughout the house, barking like a mad dog. On a few occasions he almost tripped up the other ghosts as he cut in front of them.

"Rusty!" Paul yelled as he was almost tripped for the third or fourth time. Now, if Paul had been Drew then he would've been tempted in chasing the dog for revenge, but Paul was Paul so he just clicked his tongue and continued on his way. Paul passed Leaf and the two living teens in the dinning room. He paused to listen to their conversation.

"Promise me that you'll never tell your mother I'm a ghost here," Leaf was saying, "Cross your hearts."

"Fine," Ash replied, "We promise not to tell mum anything."

"Or dad," Vi added.

"Thank you," Leaf sighed, "But if I do happen to come up, just say my name is… er…"

"Erasabeth," Paul said as Leaf failed to come up with something. Leaf and the others turned to him in a questionable manner but Paul merely shrugged. "There used to be a story that the conservatory in the garden was haunted by the ghost of Erasabeth Blake, a lady from Buckinghamshire. The stories were wrong but your father will know the stories."

"OK," Vi said. Paul continued on his way, stepping over Rusty once again.

Dawn was flying round the house, noting all the changes she hadn't spotted in the dark. She was smiling once again which Paul was more than happy to see. She had been a little distressed whilst being locked up in the small room under the house. All of them had suffered really but now it felt good to be free again.

"Let's go outside," May said loudly, "Oh, I want to go outside!"

"Don't get your panties in a twist, May," Drew teased, "Let's go already."

The pair whooshed past Paul, bickering about who would get outside first. Misty followed half heartedly until she reached the end of the corridor where she promptly changed her mind.

"I think I should leave them to it," she said aloud to no one in particular, "Either they'll re-kill each other or they'll come back stronger friends."

"Or they'll make out," Dawn added as she rose from the floor boards. Misty went bright red suddenly.

"I do not want to see that!" she yelled, "Ew, ew, ew."

"Let's go and see Harold and Delia," Dawn suggested energetically. Dawn grabbed Misty's wrist and dragged her down to the lower floor. Paul smirked as Misty let out a long moan about being dragged around. Yes, things returned to normal so quickly. This in mind, he continued on his way through the house.

Paul ignored his surroundings until he found himself in the ball room. He looked around the ominous room. The spot where Leaf had fallen from the balcony had a plant pot with some flowers in it. The pot was green with a leaf pattern round it. Paul smirked at this. Leaf did like her flowers. He should bring her to see this when she was feeling up to it.

Everything seemed to flash through Paul's head at that minute. They had really failed on that night when Leaf was killed. They had had Mort surrounded but it was no use, the ghost was just too powerful for them. Paul couldn't afford to be weak. He had people to look after, he had friends to protect. Leaf had died because of his weakness, just like Dawn had. Paul ran a hand through his hair as even darker thoughts entered his mind. Would they ever win? Could they beat a powerful spirit like Mort? Was there a way to make up for all of his mistakes? There had to be, it was only fair that there was but deep down Paul knew that life wasn't fair. And if life wasn't fair then death would never come close to fair.

"Is everything alright?"

Paul glanced down at the floor as he heard Rusty's voice. The dog was sat obediently looking up at his master, tongue hanging out of the left side of his mouth. Paul smirked at the mutt.

"You're enjoying yourself, I see," Paul said, "It's been a while since you could run around like this."

"It's nice to stretch my legs," Rusty yapped. Paul chuckled. He knelt beside the dog and gently patted the spaniel. Rusty wagged his tail at the sudden fuss Paul was making over him. It had been a while since anyone had done this to him. Not since Leaf died and the ghosts returned to normal had people stroked him like this. Despite being a ghost dog, Rusty missed the scratches and the treats given to him. It was nice for Paul to rub his head like this.

But Rusty could sense that Paul's thoughts weren't on stroking him. The teen's eyes were clouded with something resembling guilt and anger, not a very good mix. Even so, the dog paid no attention to him and decided to enjoy the free stroking from his master.

"Mort," Paul stated suddenly. Rusty looked up at Paul, his eyes narrowing at the name. Paul noticed the dog's reaction but didn't say anything about it. "I wonder who he is. I can't recall there being a Mortimer Shinji but the family resemblance is uncanny."

"He was a Shinji," Rusty growled, "But not in name."

Paul tilted his head to the side in confusion while Rusty sneezed. He had just let something slip which he hadn't meant too, Paul realised. On the other hand, Mort was a Shinji after all but why wouldn't he have the family name if he was one…

"Oh," Paul stated, "He's an illegitimate heir."

"How did you know?" Rusty asked.

"Illegitimate children don't usually take the family name," Paul replied, "Because that would mean the lord who sired them would have to acknowledge them but the hair colour and those eyes… they are Shinji."

Rusty sniffed at Paul's shoe trying to escape the look Paul was giving him. Paul wanted more information from the dog. Rusty didn't see any danger in resisting Paul. He would simply begin to sniff something and seemingly become interested in that instead of doing as his master wanted. It was the perfect plan… until Paul gave him a very good scratch behind the ears. Paul smirked as he saw the dog collapse onto the floor due to his tickling. If Rusty were a cat, he'd be purring by now. As if by magic, Rusty's resolve broke and he began to spout everything he knew.

"Back in the seventeen hundreds, my time, there were two Shinji brothers," Rusty told Paul, "They were inseparable until one of them died when they went to town. However, the ghost of the brother who died never left the house for some reason so the other brother tried to bring him back."

"Using the Lazarus Theory," Paul mumbled. Rusty nodded.

"And he succeeded," Rusty went on, "But then a dark shadow descended on the Manor."

"Mort," Paul said.

"Mortimer Sinclair," Rusty corrected Paul, "The son of the Lord Shinji. He saw that the brothers were together once again even though one was supposed to be dead. So he devised a plan. He was going to kill them both so he could claim the family inheritance."

"What happened?" Paul prompted.

"The already dead brother gave his life for the other," Rusty went on, "But he was totally destroyed in the process which meant he couldn't come back as a ghost. So then Mort turned his eye on the other brother but when Mort was about to kill him, a servant came to the rescue. Mort killed the servant instead and made the servant into a ghost by accident."

"So Mort was still living at that time?" Paul asked.

"After killing the servant something happened, a sort of reverse Lazarus theory, and Mort was changed into a ghost," Rusty went on, "But since he was born of blood out of this house, he gained these powers."

Paul stared at Rusty for a few seconds like he was trying to figure something out. When Paul looked at him like this, the dog got scared. Paul's eyes were burning dead into Rusty's eyes. Rusty twitched on the spot, realising that he had just spouted all the information. To make matters worse, the dog realised that Paul had stopped scratching him a few sentences back.

"You were the servant," Paul breathed. Rusty yelped and shot from Paul's side like he'd received an electric shock. Paul frowned, deciding he should go after the dog but something didn't seem quite right to him. Instead he looked round the room.

"I know you're there, Mort," Paul said, "Why are you hiding?"

"I'm not hiding, Paul," Mort's voice echoed through the empty ball room, "I have never hidden in my life."

"Then what do you want?" Paul snapped, suddenly growing tired of Mort's escapades. Mort laughed a cold merciless laugh.

"I have my eye on the last pawn," Mort announced, "Just so you know, Paul Shinji."

Paul rolled his eyes and began to walk out of the ballroom. Figuring this should annoy Mort to no end, Paul ignored Mort's attempts to call him back. In the end, Mort retaliated by slamming all the doors shut and sealing off the room. Paul sighed as he put a hand on the large oak door that led into the hallway.

"Typical Shinji," Mort taunted from the centre of the room, "So arrogant, so sure of themselves."

"I can't say what the Sinclairs are like, I'm afraid," Paul replied calmly, "But if we Shinjis are so arrogant and so sure of ourselves, it can't be such a bad thing if you wanted to be one of us."

Paul turned to face Mort. Mort's face was twisted into a murderous expression like he was going to kill Paul entirely. Paul raised a finger and wagged it from side to side as a warning.

"Kill me and you'll have to find two more people," Paul said, "Temper, temper. I would expect more from someone like you but in the same way, I wouldn't."

"You dare stand up to me?" Mort spat. Paul shoved his hands in his pockets, smirking like nothing was a problem.

"How dare you speak to me like this," Paul replied coyly, "If this all boils down to blood, Mort, which I am sure it does, then I am the one who you should be bowing down to. I understand all your choices by the way: three servants, one gypsy and an evacuee, all very impressionable people, very easy for you to dominate. Then you have Leaf, a sweet caring girl who can easily be walked all over. Finally, and mistakenly, there is me. So why me, Mort? What possessed you to choose me?"

Mort remained silent, his lips tightening into a thin line. His eyes burnt with hatred and anger while all his muscles were visibly tensed. Paul smirked again. The younger ghost closed his eyes, feeling a sense of triumph.

"I see then," he replied, "You saw an opportunity for revenge and you took it. How is revenge working out for you? Good? No, no it's not."

Paul opened his eyes sharply, his smirk disappearing at the same time. Mort was shot backwards off his spot and crashed into the wall. He was held up against the stone for a few seconds until Paul relaxed his gaze on the spirit.

"If you hurt us again, Mort, I will kill you," Paul warned. He released Mort from his hold completely. Paul shot a glare at Mort to relay his message before he turned and phased right through the otherwise closed off wall.

Mort coughed once Paul's presence had left the room. He rubbed his neck nervously.

"Damn Shinji," Mort spat, "That's your second strike against me."

So Paul is standing up to Mort *shivers* is that such a good idea? And what is the deal with Rusty? There's something strange with that mutt, I tell you. Hehe. The next update shall be a Rusty explanation chapter so don't worry about being confused.

Just a quick note to OffMyTea. I will be trying to put more contestshipping into this story, unfortunately I don't ooze contestshipping (or any other shipping apart from Ikari) so writing it is a little weird for me :) But it shall be in!

Please review!

RSx