Warnings: Slightly scary, dark, shounen-ai later (1x2)

Note: Set in Victorian England. I dunno where it's gonna go. We'll just hope for the best, ne?

Elfindell

Chapter 3

Those eyes were scoured into Heero's mind so strongly that whenever he shut his own, he could still see them, staring at him. They seemed to be showing so much that no human should ever know. He could not remember what colour they were, only that they blazed with inhuman malice and threat.

He had to sit under the kitchen table for a good ten minutes before he recovered. Just that split-second glance had managed to chill his blood beyond imagining. He had to keep repeating to himself that it couldn't hurt him to get his furiously beating heart to calm.

He stayed in the house for the rest of the day, not daring to go outside where he might see Elfindell and might catch a glimpse of those eyes watching him from one of the windows. But is amazing how resilient a child's mind can be when kindled by fear. He forgot the terror that that gaze had distilled in him and instead realised: yes, there was a child in there. All his suspicions were correct. But.not a normal child. But that didn't bother Heero in his childish excitement. He wanted to find out more.but the effect of those eyes was still too fresh in his memory for the rest of that day.

He did not venture outside. But he could still almost see the house, he fancied, as he looked at the solid wall of his house that was all that divided him from Elfindell.

His father did not notice Heero's rather jumpy attitude that afternoon. He came back from work at the little book shop in town as always and didn't realise that Heero was sitting in the lounge alone in silence. There was no book in his lap or toys at his feet.he was.just thinking.

Heero just sat and pondered over his strange experience until his father called him for tea. It still rang fear in his heart, but this was overwhelmed by the desire to know exactly what it was that lurked behind the shuttered windows and front door of Elfindell.

He was decided: next Tuesday, as soon as Relena had set out for market, Heero was going into Elfindell.

A shadow passed over the sun and it was as if a cold draught whispered on the back of his neck. He shivered. Just father opening the back door, Heero imagined. He got up off his seat to go to his supper.

He glanced in the large mirror above the mantle as he left the room, the one that had been his mother's. His own reflection was not present in the mirror. Instead was the ghostly pale visage of an unearthly child, with eyes wide and blazing.

Heero started and almost cried out, but he blinked and the terrifying image was gone, as if had never been. All he saw was himself, nine-year-old boy, messy brown hair, grubby face, deep blue eyes. He shook his head. Father had told him to stop trying to scare himself with ghost stories. It was just his imagination getting overactive. But he took care not to look in the mirror again too closely.

He was even more silent than usual over supper. Nothing strange happened to fuel his imagination, but he was half expecting to see the wild child's reflection in the silverware or in the water in the wash basin. Doubt started to niggle at his bravery as darkness descended around the house. Had he involved himself in something he couldn't possibly handle?

He pushed his doubts aside. Imagine if he got into Elfindell! He'd be the envy of all the other children. But it was a matter that ran deeper than that. He felt the house call to him silently, as if inviting him to find out its secrets.

He intended to find out those secrets, no matter how much the prospect daunted him. Who was the strange wild girl? Why was she shut away from the world? And why did her eyes blaze like openings to the swallowing abysses of hell?

The night rolled in around the house greedily and completely. Presently Heero obediently kissed his father goodnight and went upstairs to bed. It had been a tiring day and he really couldn't wait to sleep. Only through sleep did he feel that he might escape the conflicting emotions of anticipation and fear that assailed him.

After washing he went into his darkened bedroom. His father had lit a candle, as always, and placed it on his bedside, but it seemed a pathetic illumination now. Was it his imagination or was the darkness more clinging tonight than it had ever been before?

Just his imagination. Heero stretched and yawned. He went to the window to draw the curtains. Elfindell skulked like a great empty skull under the starlight. It seemed more terrible and mysterious than ever. There were no lights in the windows at all.

Something caught Heero's eye, just as he was about to pull the curtains. It was in that window, the one he could clearly see from his own. The curtains were open, though no light shone from inside. In the gloom, he made out a shape.a figure. A child-like figure. It stood as still as stone in the darkened window and Heero realised with a terrible stab of fear that it was staring right at him. Even in the dark, the light glinted off terrible wide eyes that were stared intently and piercingly.

He pulled the curtains and dived into his bed, pulling the covers over his head. He clenched his eyes shut but the vision did not leave him. Even though the curtains had been shut in between him and Elfindell with its looming windows, he was sure that the thing was still watching him.

TBC

Whaddya think? Keep going?