A Death At Hand

"Falling to Pieces"

By Nozomi

Stupid. He was so stupid.

Hiead sneered at the empty room, berating himself all over again.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

He had only meant to warn the boy of the consequences of annoying him, really. Bringing Fortran into it was to assure that no fighting would break out during their little talk. The boy may have been somewhat of a coward, but he could keep Zero under control easier than anyone else he knew could. But it had all gone wrong the instant Hiead opened his mouth.

A deal. What was he thinking, suggesting a deal? He didn't need Enna's help. The stupid boy would only get in the way, he knew that. Hiead had known that from the beginning.

Yet, by God, what had ever pushed him to asking for help from anyone, let alone him, of all people?

Something- something had pushed him, something that did not feel like it was his own will.

But that was stupid, of course. What could possibly be inside him that wasn't his own?

It had nothing to do, of course, to any subtle, totally uncalled for fascination with the chocolate-eyed boy. Zero was annoying, talkative, childish, brash, naive- and he contained a certain alluring quality, a certain aura of untainted innocence, per say- even after the occurrences of last night- that had Hiead completely and utterly puzzled from square one.

And he hated unbroken puzzles.

-----

Zero sat on his bed, head hanging dejectedly low, and eyes dancing with what might have been unshed tears, but ones that would never see the light of day. The discussion with Hiead after breakfast was furthest from his mind at the moment; in the quiet of his bedroom, the memories wouldn't be held back.

He was a fool. Others wouldn't be so torn up about this; Clay wasn't. In fact, Zero hadn't even known Lord Rupert all that well, though the man had been a close friend of his father's. But he couldn't help feeling like it was his best friend, or his mother, who had been killed. It was as if someone else's feelings were invading his thoughts, or something. Definitely disconcerting, after all that had happened; with all he had to think about. He wondered if anyone else had ever felt like this before; he considered asking someone- maybe Clay, or even Hiead if he saw him again soon- but then thought better of it. They would probably laugh and tell him he was crazy, or, in Hiead's case, ignore him altogether or punch him.

That was it; he was going crazy. Pretty soon he'd be imagining as if it were he who had murdered someone, or starting to feel the urge to- oh, he didn't know, kiss Hiead or something just as dangerous to his health and overall well being.

That was a disturbing thought, all right. He shuddered in dismay, then glanced up as the door opened and Clay peeked in.

"Zero? What are you doing, sitting here in the dark?"

A sigh. "Nothing. Just thinking."

Boy, did he step into that one. "Well, I hope you didn't hurt yourself too much," His best friend grinned at him, eyes shining with sudden inspiration. "C'mon."

"Where are we going?"

"Well, you seem unusually disturbed by last night's events. Maybe the local woman doctor might be able to help."

"You think?"

"Yeah, she might have some kinda medicine or herb that could make you forget, or something. Of course, it might also destroy some of your brain cells- which is the last thing you need."

Ever that grinning look. With a protesting cry, Zero jumped from the bed and pursued his blonde friend from his chambers and down the hall, Clay running and trying to laughingly apologize between puffed breaths.

-----

Kizuna saw the two visitors out of Hiead's chambers, then quietly slipped away, unnoticed, as Lord Hiead seemed to be entering one of his silent, glowering fits again. She found the Lady Ikhny roaming about the halls of the Manor, seemingly entranced with the splendor of it all. Kizuna wasn't surprised, for she had learned that Ticall Hall had been built very early in England's history, and had even once been called a Castle, though it was much too small to be an actual one.

"Pretty, isn't it?" she said, causing the brown-haired girl to glance up shyly, a bit startled.

"Oh… yes. It's very beautiful," Ikhny replied, running a hand absently over the deep red of an ancient tapestry. "Very…"

"He's spent almost his whole life here, you know."

The girl jerked up as if burned, gaze shooting to the servant girl. "How did you…?"

Kizuna smiled knowingly, "Isn't that what you were thinking about? It's pretty obvious."

Ikhny's eyes dropped, embarrassed. "Um… not… not exactly…"

"Oh?" confused, the pink-haired girl continued, "Then… if I may ask… what was it?"

"It was just-… nothing. Just nothing, that's all." She replied, almost wrenching her hand from the cloth in her haste to leave the corridor. Kizuna watched her go with mild bewilderment. That girl was a bit much to understand.

Oh, well, back to her duties.

-----

"Stupid parties," Gareas Elidd muttered, throwing a pillow against the far wall, where it fell silently to the carpeted floor, "Stupid murder. And, most of all, stupid Lord Rupert!" with those words, he sighed heavily and collapsed sullenly back upon his bed. Due to last night's brutal man slaying, the seventeen-year-old was confined to his chambers and the corridor they lay on, and he didn't like it one bit.

Not one bit. He growled audibly and flopped over, burying his head in the over-filled blankets. Maybe, if he lay here long enough, he could suffocate himself and get out of this torture…

"It can't really be all that bad… can it?" Ernest Cuore, his longtime friend and best buddy of the same age, piped up helpfully. Damn. The blonde youth always seemed to be around him nowadays, giving encouraging little tidbits of speech for his mental digestion. What he couldn't seem to understand was that Gareas liked to settle into a funk every once in awhile, especially when it wasn't uncalled for- though he didn't mind so much that Ernest hung around him a lot. He enjoyed the blue-eyed boy's company most of the time.

Now wasn't one of those times, however. He lifted his head of short green hair and narrowed his eyes at his friend, as if the very audacity of asking that particular question at this time created an unbearable enmity between the two. It wasn't true, of course, but it was a bit satisfying to imagine it was so.

"I mean…" Ernest continued, more withdrawn than before, as if he really didn't want to voice what he was thinking aloud, "Imagine what it's going to be like for those two they found actually in the room with the… the body. It must be a terrible strain on them both, Garu."

"Yeah?" Gareas sneered, eyes glued to the ceiling so his friend would know that the expression wasn't directed at him, "Well, I don't think it's quite the way you think so, Ernest. At least not for one of them. That was Hiead Gner in there. That cold-blooded sonuvabitch is probably laughing at the whole situation right now."

He thought he heard Ernest snort a laugh, and the green-eyed youth swung his gaze over to gaze balefully at the blonde.

"Perhaps you're right, Garu. I don't believe I've ever seen Gner feeling any kind of remorse at all, but anything is possible. Besides, Rei Enna was found with him in there."

"That idiot?" he snorted in disgust and rolled over, "I didn't even know those two were friends."

"They're not," Ernest sounded so sure of himself, Garu rolled back over to stare at him.

"How do you-"

He was interrupted by a loud crash, then the tinkle of musical notes, as if a rather large vase had fallen heavily onto the keys of a piano and then rolled across it to the end. Garu jumped up and rushed to the door, Ernest close behind him. A glance down the hallway revealed nothing in particular out of the ordinary, and in fact nobody was even coming to investigate. The youth spotted a servant girl down the hall and hailed her to him.

"Yes, Lord?"

"What was that sound, that crash just now?"

"Crash, my Lord? What-"

"Oh, never mind," Garu cut her off in disgust at her lack of information, disappearing behind his door once again and leaving the young girl to stand, astonished, on the other side.

"You heard it, didn't you?" he demanded of Ernest once the door was closed again. The blonde nobleman nodded a bit distractedly. When no more answer came, Garu gave up and went to perch lightly on his bed, ready incase anything else happened.

"Garu…?" Ernest voiced at last, causing him to look up from his contemplation of the lushly carpeted floor.

"Hm?"

"Did you… What did it sound like, to you?"

"Huh? Oh. Um… like something crashing onto a piano, or something."

"And where… where did it come from?"

"Well, it sounded like it was in that direction," he motioned towards the wall in front of him, "But… now that I think about it… it wasn't muffled at all, almost like it happened in here," he looked a bit dismayed, "but that's impossible, right?"

"Mm," Ernest acknowledged, looking as if his friend had just unknowingly confirmed something rather frightening.

-----

"Zero!" a hushed whisper pierced the air of the stables. "Don't you think this is a bit much, after last time?"

"Aw, c'mon, Clay, don't be such a coward!" was shot back, barely piercing the blonde boy for how often he'd heard it before. Well, Zero was certainly looking better.

So, it had been a good idea to seek help to suppress the memories of last night, Clay acknowledged. He had had to taunt and tease his friend to go to the woman next door who practiced medicine, -she was a woman, after all, and Zero's father had forbid them to keep company with 'lowlifes' like her- but it had been worth it in the end. She had given his friend some sort of herb that she claimed would do "just the thing". Truthfully, both youths had been more than eager to leave as soon as possible, for the healer, Tsukasa Something-or-other, was obscenely tall, towering over both of them by a full five inches. She had made them both nervous.

At least Zero seemed to be feeling better. The brown-haired boy wasn't being as annoyingly annoying as he had been earlier, and he had almost completely lost the haunted look in his eyes, though Tsukasa had said the herb wouldn't suppress the memories any further than the subconscious, so dreams would probably still awaken them at night for a long time to come. She had warned Zero to be cautious, however, for high levels of stress, anxiety, or just plain emotion could nullify the effects of the medicine if the right conditions were met.

Zero didn't seem to be bothered by that particular tidbit of information, as he was even now going against his father's orders for everyone to stay inside the manor until further notice. The blonde boy would much rather be looking around for information about what had really happened last night, but it was no use with a friend like Zero. And Clay couldn't help but accompany him, if only to make sure his friend didn't find more trouble, or that More Trouble wouldn't find him. The two usually seemed to go hand in hand.

"Hello? Is anyone in here?" a new voice came to them just as they reached the stalls of their two favorite horses, Ginger and Daisy. Startled, Clay jerked and ducked down as he recognized that voice all too well, and hoped that Zero knew enough to do the same.

"Lady Ikhny!" he hissed almost inaudibly, heart racing. What was she doing here? They were so going to get in trouble, now. He should never have come.

"Hello?" the girl called again, pushing up her glasses and glancing around. Clay could only describe the look upon her face as 'anxious', as he watched her from a hole in the wood of the stall. Ikhny took a few steps more into the stables, and the blonde youth found himself catching his breath in expectation.

"… Anyone…?" she sounded so lost, Clay thought. Why had she come in here in the first place, if not to get away from the manor like they had? He sneaked a glance in Zero's direction, saw the look on his face, and knew what was coming almost immediately- but it was too late.

At Zero's cry of greeting, the girl jumped and whirled in their direction, something in her brown eyes relaxing as she saw it was just the chocolate-haired youth who had popped up from behind the stall door.

"Mister Enna." She acknowledged, eyes full of some strange emotion that Clay couldn't decipher. "But… aren't you usually with…?" Ikhny came to a halting stop, blinking in surprise, as Clay took his cue and stood up as well, a look of obvious embarrassment upon his features. She nodded awkwardly in his general direction, then cast her eyes down.

God, how Zero hated uncomfortable silences. And, above all, the horses were waiting to be let out and given some exercise. Forcing a grin, he gestured towards the stalls.

"So, Ikhny… you wanna come? Being trapped in my own house it not exactly what I'd call a good time."

The girl looked startled to say the least, but, after a moment of consideration, she agreed. "I'd love to. I was actually looking for someone, but…"

This piqued Clay's interest a bit, as he paused from saddling his mare for a long instant. "Who, may I ask, Lady Ikhny?"

"Well…" she began, biting her lower lip in thought, "I'm not really sure… You see, I was following her, and I thought she ran in here… but now she's seemed to have just disappeared altogether. I must have just imagined things," she finished in a rush, looking put out.

The blonde youth looked thoughtful for a moment, then turned back to his horse, "Very interesting…"

Moments passed in silence between the three, until Zero looked up from his work on Daisy as a strong current of bitingly cold air whipped his brown locks of hair around his head, gaze jumping around uncertainly. He thought he'd heard-

For just an instant-

…

It must have just been the wind, he thought, going back to his work, but still unable to shake the unnerving feeling that someone, somewhere was watching him. He was so intent on forgetting it that he didn't notice Ikhny was looking at him rather strangely; then she looked away, and the moment was past.

'Find me…'

'Look at me…'

Just the wind.

-----

Okay, little twist, hm? Yes, a 'dark secret', as you termed it, Poetisa. I'm not quite sure when this fic is set, but I was actually leaning more toward England before the War- around 1910 or so- than between the Wars.

Oh, and one more thing: I'm not happy with this overall chapter like I have been with the others, so please comment on it, ok? I think I may need to re-write it. *sigh*

Nozomi