Ghost in this house
I don't pick up the mail
I don't pick up the phone
I don't answer the door
I just a soon be alone
I don't keep this place up
I just keep the lights down
I don't live in these rooms
I just rattle around
I'm just a ghost in this house
I'm just a shadow upon these walls
As quietly as a mouse I haunt these halls
I'm just a whisper of smoke
I'm all that's left of two hearts on fire,
that once burned out of control
That took my body and soul
I'm just a ghost in this house
I don't mind if it rains
I don't care if it's clear
I don't mind staying in
There's another ghost here
She sits down in your chair,
and she shines with your light
And she lays down her head on your pillow at night
I'm just a ghost in this house
I'm just a shell of man I was
A living proof of the damage heartbreak does
I'm just a whisper of smoke
I'm all that's left of two hearts on fire,
that once burned out of control
that took my body and soul
I'm just a ghost in this house
I'm just a shadow upon these walls
As quietly as a mouse I haunt these halls
I'm just a whisper of smoke
I'm all that's left of two hearts on fire,
that once burned out of control
That took my body and soul
I'm just a ghost in this house
Oh I'm just a ghost in this house
"Yes, thank you. I'll check in on him. Don't worry Mrs. Caymoni."
Noin lowered the cell phone and hit the small button to end the call and sighed. Leaning forwards to rest her head against the steering wheel in front of her, she let the conversation run through her mind once more.
I am afraid should I go over there now they would still be there.. because I left and tried to call him before I called you, Miss. Noin. He's either not home, or something's happened to him that he's not answering his door or phone. The neighbors say they did not see he leave his house, nor did they hear or see any cars coming or going to his place. So I am at an impasse.. I am afraid he is hurt or something in his home.. could you please check on him for me?'
She looked up and at the street sign she was parked by. Roger's and North. She wasn't far from his house. Plus she hadn't seen him for over a year.. mind made up she started her car and turned onto North heading up towards the street he lived on. As she pulled up to it she noticed the lack of lights despite the fact that the sun had long since set. She got out of the car and walked up to the porch and then noticed the supplies the older lady had been speaking of.
Several sacks and a box sat on the porch next to the door. Frowning faintly she turned to the door and knocked on it waiting silently for someone to answer. After five minutes she knocked again. Still her efforts were met with silence. 'Damn... where are you Zechs.. No one saw you leave, so you should be home.' She knocked again, this time calling his name out loud. "Zechs! Zechs! Please.. answer the door if you're in there please.. Zechs?"
Nothing.
She sighed as she glanced down and studied the supplies beside her. A cooler was the box-type thing she had seen walking up here. She opened one of the bags quietly and frowned slightly to see paint supplies mixed with food and candles. She turned back to the door and then pounded on it hard. "Zechs! Answer me! I know you're in there.. " She blew her bangs out of her face and glared at the silent door. Then a thought struck her and she turned running down the steps to retrieve her phone. Zechs might have had an accident and couldn't answer the door even if he had wanted too.
She hit one of the speed dial buttons and then collected herself as an emotionless monotone voice answered the phone. "Hello?"
"Hello.. Heero? This is Noin.. does by any chance Duo still stay with you?"
"Hn... hai. The baka is here now feeding his face."
Noin couldn't help the smile that came at his words. "Good. Can you ask him if he'll do me a favor? As well that if he meets me at 1306 Rosthorne in five minutes that I will treat him to that new triple fudge sundae in the ice cream parlor."
"You know if you actually do get him that, that you will be keeping him company the rest of the night ne."
She laughed softly. "Yes, I know. Will he meet me?"
"Hn.. he's already on his way. You're crazy you know...either that or suicidal.."
"I know.. Thanks for relaying for me."
"Hn.. good luck .. you're going to need it."
The phone clicked and she lowered it to shut it off again and throw it back into her car. Leaning against the hood of her car, she waited on Duo. She didn't have to wait long, she straightened up as he saw the lone headlight of the Harley top the hill and come down to stop a couple feet away. Duo jumped off the bike dressed in black and laid the ebony helmet on the seat before looking up at her.
"So what do you need?"
Noin glanced at the dark and silent house. "I need you to unlock the door to that house there.. Zechs lives there and I'm afraid something has happened to him and he can't answer the phone or the door."
Duo glanced at the house and then followed her up to the porch, before kneeling in front of the door and taking a look at the lock and then taking something long and silver from the back of his head from the top of his braid. "You keep lock picks in your hair?" she asked him softly as he began to work on the door lock.
"Its handy.. especially when I forget my key. Although I think Heero goes out of his way to find locks that are super hard to pick to put on his door. Of course it might not be because of me.. don't know if you knew this or not, but Relena's a pretty hot lock picker too.. not as good as I am of course.."
Noin blinked and then turned her attention back to the door. "How much longer?"
"Not long now.." he said slowly as he leaned suddenly in towards the door. Soon the door clicked faintly and swung in slightly. "Jackpot.. so Zechs hasn't been reporting in for work or what?" Duo asked as he stood up and replaced the lock pick in his hair.
Noin brushed past him inside the small house. "What? No... Zechs quit the Preventers over a year ago. Not long after we returned from the Mars mission. No reason, he just sent in his uniform and badge and a letter saying he wasn't going to work as Preventer Wind any longer. I called him then and found him here, living alone and we talked for an hour before I left. There's a woman who apparently buys supplies for him, she called me and told me she was worried about him.."
Duo moved to flip the switch on the side wall, nothing happened. He flipped it back and forth for a couple seconds with no result. "Looks like he's not paid any attention to his light bill either. But you have been keeping tabs on him right? Cause from what I've heard he really shouldn't of quit the Preventers. There was a paper I saw once while I was with Heero in the Preventers HQ that stated that in order to pardon him for War crimes he was to work as a Preventer and have an eye kept on him. Hmm..."
He moved over to the kitchen and then turned the facet. "Well.. he has water.. just nothing else it looks like and he's not in here.." he said as he walked out of the kitchen past her towards a dark hallway. She shook her head slightly and followed him.
"I didn't know that.. I haven't seen him for a year, not since he left anyway." There was a sneeze from the shadows of the hallway.
"Damn its dusty back here.. nope not in the bathroom either. Well, I guess its good that no one knows that or he could be in a shitload of trouble. Cool... I never knew he painted.. he's good."
Noin followed his voice to a room that was dimly lit up from the outside, by the street lamp beside the house. Assorted sizes of canvas sat leaning against walls, and also up on various easels. She walked over to one easel sitting beside a window. Duo was studying one leaning inside the small bay window. She looked at the canvas and gasped softly. It was so life-like she had for a moment thought that she had been facing the former world nation leader, come back from the dead.
Treize sat there looking off to the side of the canvas at something unknown. There were roses in the background as well as a feline that sat on the back of the chair the young general sat in. She turned away from it to look at one of the others. Roses once again, other times it was a self portrait of himself. She turned away towards the door. "I'm going to check the other rooms." she said as she left the room.
She heard Duo follow her and she found two other doors at the end of the hallway. She unlocked one to discover it was a back door into a garden that seemed to have over taken the back yard of the house. She shut the door and turned to see Duo opening the other and then looking back out at her. "I think I found him.." he said softly and then backed out of the doorway to let her in.
She walked into the bedroom and discovered the bed empty. It had obviously been slept in by its looks, a flicker of faint light caught her eye. She turned and then saw it came from under another door. Walking over to it she opened it and froze. Pale blonde hair fell down the back of the chair he sat in, the tips of it brushing the floor lightly with the faint movements of his head back and forth as he read from whatever was in front of him. She slowly walked around him to she he held a small book in his hands and was reading it silently.
She glanced over at the flickering light source. A candle held in a holder on a small metal table gave off a feeble glow that barely lit up the pages that he read. She glanced quietly over his shoulder at the small book and noticed the writing in it was uneven and at times in a completely different color ink. Then she realized it wasn't a book, but a small journal. Softly she spoke to him so not to startle him. "Zechs..?"
He didn't act as if he'd heard her. She frowned softly. "Zechs.. can you hear me..?"
He continued to read obvious to her presence beside him. She sighed and then thought of something. "Milliardo..?"
He started and then lowered his book, looking up at her.
Azure blinked a couple times before focusing on her and then a small frown
seemed to shape his lips for a moment before disappearing. " .. Noin..?"
She smiled slightly and straightened up. "Yes.. I was worried about you and so was a friend of yours. You didn't answer your door or your phone. There are supplies that your friend brought out waiting on your porch."
He nodded absently and glanced silently at the journal he held in his hands. Standing up slowly he carefully set it down on the chair and then picked up the small candle leaving the small room and setting the candle down next to the bed. "I should take care of them then.." he said softly, but he made no move to leave the bedroom. Instead he sat down on the bed and silently, as if forgetting she was there he ran a hand over one of the pillows on the bed. "Sometimes he visits me.. at night. Sometimes while I'm lying in bed or when I'm reading what he wrote in his journal." a small smile flashed for a moment before fading and he stood again as if remembering the supplies again on the porch.
She watched him sadly as he walked towards the bedroom door only to stop and look down at the smaller person blocking it. ".. I know you for somewhere.. don't I?" he asked quietly. Surprisingly Duo just nodded and stepped out of his way, following the tall form silently down the hall towards the front door where he brought in the sacks and the small cooler. He set them inside and then sat down in one of the chairs looking lost for what to do next.
Duo said nothing to either of them as he seemed to pounce on the bags and cooler dragging them off into the kitchen and then taking the other various items down the hallway, apparently to wherever they went. 'Just what I need.. two of them acting weird..' Sighing she walked over to sit beside Zechs. "Can I ask you a question?" she asked him leaning forwards slightly to catch his attention again.
He glanced vaguely in her direction before looking down the hallway silently. "Yes.."
"You said someone visited you.. who would he be?"
He smiled again, this time it reached all of the way into his eyes giving them a bit of life she hadn't realized until then they'd been lacking. "Treize.. of course he's not supposed to be coming back here.. against the rules and all that for a ghost to visit those who knew him in life. But even he gets a little tired of waiting so he sneaks here and visits for a while.."
It took all her willpower not to cry. He had finally snapped one part of her said. Living alone with the kind of grief he carried with him it was bound to happen. She glanced up to see Duo standing not far from them and finally stood. She couldn't think of anything to do at the moment, so she simply allowed herself to pretend for now everything was fine and smiled at him. His attention had wandered once more though and she sighed softly. "I have to go now.. will you be alright by yourself?"
Zechs nodded and then stood silently turning towards the hallway. "I'm not alone.. but I'll be fine." She nodded and then turned to flee outside to the street to keep herself from breaking down. Minutes later she felt someone standing beside her and glanced up at Duo.
"That turned out worse than I expected." she said softly leaning back slightly against the hood of her car. Duo once more surprised her by saying nothing and just nodding once before turning towards his bike and picking up his helmet.
"I'll take you up on the ice cream later, I think you need some time to think and get yourself back together." he said as he sat down on the bike. She smiled weakly at him, watching as he put the helmet on and then started the bike. With a small wave he turned and left her alone by her car. She turned and then got into it, starting it to pull away from the house driving through the streets without really thinking of where she was going until finally she ended up at her own house.
****
Zechs watched them both leave silently from one of the windows in his work room and then sat down in the bay window staring out up at the sky. He sighed softly as the silence reined once more and closed his eyes, leaning his head against the glass. He allowed a ghost of a smile to grace his lips as he felt the hint of arms surround his shoulders, though there couldn't possibly be anyone behind him. It was pleasant to believe in ghosts.. especially since that was all he really was anymore. What was wrong with one ghost comforting another?
He stayed like that until the warmth finally left and he opened his eyes to see the dawn spreading over the sky. He glanced at the various paintings scattered over the room, he would perhaps do another today. Glancing back out at the sky he studied the coming dawn. It would be a good day to work outside in the yard. Perhaps he should take a canvas out back and paint the roses again. He glanced away from the window towards another painting, smiling silently he stood and walked over towards it taking in all the details in it. The pale gray feline behind on the chair had been his own, before the war had ruined everything. He didn't know what had happened to it, perhaps it still lived with someone. His eyes took in the lines around the sapphire ones in the painting.
'They made you old before your time, beloved.. we were both made to grow up much to quickly..' he thought silently before turning away from the painting and walking out of the room back to his bed. He lied down on the bed, letting his mind wander and then smiled softly as another form settled down beside him and held him until he fell asleep.
(I might write more to this.. I'm not sure where it is going, so the future is uncertain concerning this fic)