A/N: Ok well my last chapter might've been a bit monotonous but I felt there were some things that needed to be known and introduced. As for this chapter, I hope you guys like it but I can't promise anything of citrus or sap variety.

Warnings: None I can think of. The usual profanity here and there maybe.

Pairings: Same old same old.

Disclaimers: Standard disclaimers apply.

Chapter 12: Late Night Chills

)For billions of years, billions of moons

Man loved a woman, the child it was born

learned how to hunt, learned how to cry

Like humans do...

I'm breathing in I'm breathing out....(

The song in itself was starting to irritate me deeply. I was trying to make a cd and for some reason Windows kept adding this stupid crap to my play list. Like Humans Do..... Maybe it will be nice on a day when I actually am in the mood to listen to nice little jingles about the theory of man, but right now........

I need some sleep(1).

My mom would kill me if she knew I was up this late on a SCHOOL night but she was out working late. I was also working so I feel her pain. My dad hadn't been around a lot lately. I think my mom and him were trying to work some stuff out on their own. I accepted this. I knew what it was like to need to figure things out too.

I deleted the song for the umpteenth time that day and continued my monotonous clicking and adding and erasing. It was nearing Christmas break which meant the teachers were in a homework frenzy, adding as much assays and reports as possible before vacation set in and they were forced to force us to engage in the usual Christmas rituals of making hallway ornaments. I SHOULD'VE been working on an essay on 'my philosophy on life' along with the report on 'how I know that the life I live now isn't a dream of some sort' (2). Some matrix bullshit like that. Why can't the guy just stick to ENGLISH for Chrissakes. I can do English. But all this hardcore deep thinking philosophy stuff? I'm already stressed enough as it is. But instead of doing that I had gotten distracted. I had already finished a good ten sheets of homework in the last couple of days and just needed to finish those last couple of papers before something else was added to the pile and I went into cardiac arrest. Knowing the heartless bastards they'd probably fail me too. DESPITE the fact that I had no control over any heart conditions I might acquire at such an uncertain age as this one, but let's not forget that I didn't hand in the assignment and if I knew I had a heart condition I should've finished it earlier so the assignment could be accounted for. YUP, that's would've been the RESPONSIBLE thing to do. Please. They can kiss my ASS.

OK I seriously need a break. I'm starting to get sarcastic and bitter towards my own self. I rubbed my temples tiredly in hopes of massaging away my headache and dragged myself to the closet. I threw on my jacket, grabbed some money, and whisked myself out the door.

As I got out the elevator and walked out onto the night street I noticed couples walking in little clusters to catch the subway downtown or the bus. Heero and I had at least two late night tryst of this sort. I felt kinda left out (despite the fact I didn't know these people) as I was headed towards a Starbucks, which I just knew was going to be open because if not, I think I'd have a mental breakdown and just lose it.

I listened to the distant honking of traffic and the laughter of people floating through the chilled night air.Most would say it'd be quiet at the beautiful hour of 12:00 pm but I don't live in the suburbs so it's quite the opposite here in the city. In fact, at this time, everyone is just starting to emerge from deep within their day dens. It's quite amazing. (pulls out binoculars)

I hadn't seen or heard from Trowa or Heero since that Sunday at Q's house. It's Wednesday now. Exactly. And I can only wonder where the hell Heero is and hope he has plans of returning sometime soon. Quatre was just plain angry and bitter at the world which kinda creeped me out because he doesn't get like that often. I knew he was a bit pissed once Trowa left but I could understand, even if he had as of yet to confide in me. He was in doubt of if Trowa and him had a real relationship or not. I still wonder the same thing about Heero and myself at times.

In other breaking news.... There's been some attacks down by the docks and when Police have tried to investigate the area they mysteriously fall ill. Hmmmm.......The case is a mystery in itself, because barges and the usual shipping guys haven't been stricken or injured. Back to you Al! BUt no, on the real, I think that maybe if everyone just went about their business they wouldn't find themselves getting caught out like that. I asked Quatre and he just nodded his head sullenly in agreement. This is actually an improvement in comparison to the angery little troll he's been for the last couple of days. I seriously worry about him. I mean his dad hardly has time for him, he's been through a whole host of one night stands and other shallow relationships and then there's the possibility that the one person who actually holds his heart is never coming back? Possibly not caring enough to even call? He sometimes talks about how he can feel Trowa reaching out to him, telling him he'll be back soon. The whole empathy things he has going on. I don't agree or disagree with him when he speaks on it. I mean I sure as hell don't see Heero reaching out to me anytime soon. Heero implied he was coming back and so I'm going to stick by that. Heero is too much of a bastard to waste time giving out false hopes with words such as 'I'll be back, I love you'. If he was planning on a disappearing act then he'd simply just walk out. That's how I know he cares despite the indifference he displays at times.

But anyways...... the news hasn't said anything new about the whole docks thing so I guess I'm just gonna have to stay tuned to see what the conclusion is. If they ever even come up with a conclusion.

I hadn't gotten too many gigs at club in the last week or so and the reason behind that is because the club was going through the process of adjusting to new management. It appears Zechs had some far away business affairs to tend to and has left Anthony in his place. Anthony says he has some big ideas for the place and I do believe he does. Exactly what kind of big ideas is what I would like to find out. I asked him and he just said:

"Just be ready to do the coming out this week Friday." I agreed by giving him my usual grin and telling him I'd be there. And then he said something strange before I turned to walk away.

"Bring Heero along too!" I did my best to keep the grin in place and gave him a thumbs up.

"Will do." I wasn't about to say "Well you see I don't even know where Heero is...." because that would require giving him the absolute truth. I didn't even want to face the truth so how the hell was I supposed to spread it to others? It's something I just couldn't cope with at the moment. I'd dwell on it after I finished the pile of shit on my desk and handed it in to my sadistic dictator of an English teacher. You are SO gonna get yours Mr. Cciapetta (3). Mock my words......

I finally made it to the Starbucks and was relieved to see it open and glowing in all it's caffeinated sinful glory. That's what it was like to drink coffee, or blood as a matter of fact. Liquid sin....... the cure for my screwed up 12:00 in the morning fatigue.

I ordered a Grande Caféé Vanilla Frapuccino (4) and waited expectantly at the serving end of the counter after giving the freckle faced blonde at the register a five dollar bill and receiving my change. At this time of night the place was pretty empty. No one needed coffee, they were all to busy getting drunk off their asses to worry about staying awake. They'd need the stuff tomorrow morning though, but would be too smashed to walk their asses to Starbucks so instead they'd have to actually get up and make it themselves while trying to ignore the pounding of the bass drums between their ears. Haha......

I smiled at the fair haired guy who had made my creamy confection and thanked him as he passed me a straw. I walked out the door sipping the stuff through the straw happily. Feeling much better as I pulled the straw out and licked the whip creme right off. So damn good.....

I was as happy as a lark, halfway through the thick Vanilla good ness, as I reached the elevator to head up to my floor. I paused in my drink as I felt a presence following me. I looked behind me but saw nothing. The hallway was empty, and when I did look the only thing that looked back at me were the beige stucco walls. I shrugged as I continued to sip the drink. I got to the front of my door and fumbled with the key a bit. I hated when stuff like this happened, because it always reminded me of those movies when someone is trying to get in their apartment and some kind of psycho killer is lurking in the hallway. I thought that maybe it would be easier if I put my frap down but that just wasn't possible. I loved the stuff too damn much. I shivered a bit as the temperature in the hallway made a sudden drop. Well someone needs to fix the boiler........

"Well well, what do we have here?" I looked around out the corners of my eyes as I heard the voice vibrate and die in the air. I know I heard a voice but I couldn't seem to pin point who the owner of the voice was. It definitely wasn't Ray. I had my back to the door and fingered the keys in my hand, trying to find the right one so I could just escape into my home. A small chuckle drifted through the air and I swallowed a bit wondering to myself if I had finally lost it, without realizing, and was now hearing voices. But then I did something crazy that would definitely certify immediate institution. I decided to respond.

"Who is it? Where the hell are you hiding?" I said steadying my voice and relishing in the fact that it came out as firm as intended. A laugh shook me as it shot through the stillness of the air and was followed by the voice.

"I couldn't show myself to you even if I wanted to." I sucked my teeth and rolled my eyes. What the hell is this person getting at? Maybe it was all in my head. I shook the voice off convinced that I needed a shrink and stuck the key in int the door and began to turn the knob when the voice started up again

" I can however show you I'm real." I winced as I felt a sudden gust and watched in horror as the end of the hallway began to freeze until the point where the window marking the end of the it shattered into tiny little splintered pieces right before my eyes. I looked around confused. The voice laughed manically as it danced off the walls and vibrated through the air.

"I would run right about now if I were you......" I then noticed that the ice covering corridor was indeed making its way up the hallway towards me, and not to slowly either. A gust of wind carried the splintered glass to shoot in my direction and I ducked, one barely missing my cheek. I cursed and made a dash for the stairs. Screw the elevator. Something told me that wouldn't help me too much. I ran as fast as possible, trying to escape the icy cold fate that awaited me if I stopped. Let's face it. No one wants to die a human icicle. It just isn't fair.

I felt the hairs on my neck begin to stand on end and the goose bumps popping up and down my back began to spread over my arms. The voice followed me as I ran down the stairwell freezing everything in it's path and shattering the few windows our complex did have. As the glass flew around me in the torrential winds running rampant through my hallway I could fell a couple hit my arms and break the skin. I decided I'd look at them later and hissed slightly as another grazed the back of my neck.

As I saw an old woman taking the stairs up, probably for morning exercises, I shouted at her to turn down the stairs. She just ignored me thinking I was insane. She continued up the stairs seemingly oblivious to the flying glass and storm of ice chasing after me. She must be deaf and BLIND. How do you not see that? How do you not hear maniacal voices laughing?

"Don't you get it, turn down the fucken stairs!" I ran past her and didn't even bother to look back as I continued my rapid decent. I thought I could hear a scream just before it died and seemed to shatter along with another window. I was running for my life and as sad as it was right now I decided it wouldn't be too cool to be frozen to death. Not in the least. The voice wrapped itself around me dancing with mirth and malice.

"This is the fate you deserve for your abandonment!" I ignored what I guessed to be a her judging by the sound of her voice and fled out the door just in time to see the whole apartment turn into a nice chunk of ice and then covered my ears as an eerie ear splitting shriek sounded through out the area followed by the breaking of every single last window in the damn complex (in addition to the ones already broken in my hallway). The glass rained from the sky and I threw myself out the way as to avoid being cut and shredded to pieces. Passerby also covered their ears as they ran out the way of the raining glass and small chunks of ice. I ran to the other side of the street and stared in horror at what had once been my apartment building. The home I had shared with my mother and father. The ice covering the building started breaking off in even bigger chunks and I actually flinched as they crashed down on cars and would've chuckled at all the alarms that went off if it wasn't for the fact that the whole situation in itself was not a call for laughter. I stared at the scene before me and was deaf to noise and chaos going on around me as the voice made it's comeback. Making sure to leave as much destruction and foreboding in it's leave as it had done in it's wake.

"Until next time babe... we had a real cool time........." The voice drifted off in it's insane cackling and I tried my best to ignore how corny that last line had sounded and had focused and the key words: next time.

Shit. In addition to hearing voices I also had another problem: It was gonna take years to get all that homework done over. I looked out at the people on the street. One man was cursing up a storm because a chunk of ice had imbedded itself in his brand new Mercedes. Car alarms were still whining through the air and probably wouldn't be turned off for a while. Chances were that the owners were inhabitants of the complex. Most likely dead if the situation was as bad as it looked. That old lady never had a chance.

I brought the straw to my mouth to take a sip of my Frappuccino (which I had somehow held throughout the whole ordeal) and was pissed to find that the shit was frozen solid. I let it fall to the ground with a small 'thunk' and stared off into the cold nighty sky.

"....next time..."

(X)(x)(X)

I made my way to Quatre's hoping that whatever had destroyed my apartment and it's inhabitants wouldn't be back anytime tonight. If it really had to come back it could return when I had gotten some proper sleep. Because if possible I'd kick it's ass for wasting my Frappuccino. As illogical as the thought seemed in my mind. How could you kick the ass of something you couldn't see? Did it even have an ass? If it did would it hurt if I kicked it?

I thanked whatever God was out there that my mom had been at work and that my dad was.... well somewhere. I didn't even stick around once I heard the police sirens closing in on the scene. With police would come reporters. Reporters would ask questions. All those late night partiers(5) would have to combat with nosy reporters AND hangovers when they came back to their, what is now an igloo, of a home. In addition to not wanting to have to deal with that lot, I didn't want to know the outcome or death toll would be more like it. I'd find out tomorrow when I could handle it. Lately that's what everything had been. I'll deal with it tomorrow....

As I neared Q's complex after what seemed like an good 30 minutes of trekking up and down slopes and nearly tripping over fire hydrants, I wondered what Heero would make of this whole thing. I also wondered what the hell had destroyed my apartment. What? Had there been some serious issues with the thermostat? Was my apartment it's own earth and going through some weird sort of global warming? Your apartment just doesn't decide to turn into a block of ice about the same time voices are chasing you around. That just doesn't happen. Let's not forget to mention once again that in addition to abnormal it's damned freaky and creepy and SCARY! What was I supposed to tell Q?

"OH hey Q you see I was being chased by this voice and then my apartment exploded into a shower of giant man killing hail! So I was wondering if I could stay the night?"

He'd have me institutionalized on the SPOT. He'd have his sister tie me up and force me to wait on the couch, gagged and bound, until the men in the white coats came and gave me my hug me jacket and took me away to the happy hotel. All the while I'd be screaming that I'm not crazy and even after they see the news (shit like that just has to be on the news) they'd still keep me locked up in the padded room due to the fact that I was the only one claiming to hear a voice chasing me, CHASING me! Then I would die old and lonely and by then would've REALLY gone insane and on my tombstone they'd write "Happy go lucky psycho on his way to Nirvana. May the Gods of rock bless rest his soul. Rock on Rock Angel, Rock on." Sure yeah. Sounds like the perfect fairy tale ending. I'd take being turned into a human ice pop over that any day. Oh and get this! Even if I do escape the mental hospital before college I'd still wouldn't be able to get in because I highly doubt much people would allow a temporarily insane young man such as myself to attend their school. So then when I can't get into college I'll end up sitting on the couch and drinking beer for the rest of my life, wondering what went wrong with it and where Heero went all those years go........ And when Emily from General Hospital's husband will get his memory back. But I've been ranting so I think I should just walk quietly and twiddle my thumbs now.

The chilled December air was starting to get to me. After an experience like that. I absolutely hated the cold now. Not that I didn't before, but I could tolerate it at least. I was growing really cold and could feel myself becoming lightheaded. I tried to steady myself against a lamp post but all this did was make me even dizzier. My vision was starting to blur dangerously and all sounds around me became a screaming rush like when you're under water in the pool. I let out a ragged breath.

"C'mon Duo........" I tried to give myself a small pep talk but found myself grimacing as my head started pounding. I held a hand to my head stumbling a bit.

I don't think that my mind could take the reality of the situation because the next think I knew I was fainting towards the sidewalk, blackness consuming my vision.......

(X)(x)(X)

I was walking through the Atlantis Corridor again. This time it didn't seem as big since it was my second time coming to this place. Maybe this was my own personal little heaven and now I was checking in for good. I walked and walked and finally came to the wide open space that seemed to serve as a courtyard.

The girl was still looking off into the night sky as if she'd been frozen there since my last visit. I approached her and she looked at me, shaking her head slightly as she chuckled to herself.

I heard my voice echo through the air as I spoke.

"What's so funny?" She shook her head, tossing thick raven locks here and there.

"Nothing is funny, that's what's so funny." I gave her a confused look as she bowed her head letting the hair cascade around her, obscuring her lithe form.

"I've decided to help you."

"Help me what?" She gave me a shocked look.

"Surely you must now what you're here to do!" I shook my head and gave her 'the look'.

"Your supposed to free me!" I through my hands up in frustration

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" She ran to me and put her hands over my mouth, giving me a horrified look.

"You should watch how you speak in the temple!" She whispered harshly.

"Helios watches and hears all that goes on in this place....." She looked around as if expecting a wild heard of savage Indians to be upon us.

"Listen my little chickadee I'm not a very religious guy in case you haven't noticed. And I definitely don't worship this Helios your talkin 'bout. Plus this isn't a real temple! It's all a dream!" At first she was a bit taken back but then she smiled and sat down, crossing her legs.

"You my friend, have so much to learn." She shook her head and continued gazing off into the sky. It grew silent before she carefully spoke her next words.

"Duo?" I looked up.

"Just remember...." She got up and stared at the floor.

"No matter what happens....." She closed in on, staring into my eyes. My mouth grew dry as I stared back into the olive green orbs.

"Whatever you do...." She swallowed nervously, bringing her hand up to touch my face. Our pulses raced together, speeding up as my palms grew sweaty. I tried to speak but no sound came out.

"....beware of the silence darkness holds...." She lowered her eyes and pressed her forehead against my chest. Her breathing becoming slower around me. Her other arm came around my neck as she held me to her. I stared ahead, as my eyes widened in slight confusion. Her body was warm

" ....but carefully tread the light....." She pulled away looking at me, her eyes shining with fear and desperation. She then pressed her body against mines fully, wrapping her arms around me, and hugging me as if her life depended on it.

"Remember...." Our breathing blended together, roaring around us as it threatened to suck us in and throw us into the light overtaking our surroundings.....

(X)(x)(X)

"Never have I heard of a teenager over working themselves into a fever. THIS goes in the book! Most of them are too lazy to even work themselves into a sweat!" I heard a slight clucking sound.

"Now, now, you know that's not true! You shouldn't be so prejudice." I heard a snort and then foot steps drifting away from me as the sound of a door clicking shut registered in my mind. I then found myself drifting off into the land of darkness once again.

(X)(x)(X)

Someone was walking towards me and I groaned slightly hoping to signal them in my direction. Wherever I was at this moment was irrelevant. All I knew was that I felt incredibly warm and comfy. The foot steps stopped not to far from me.

"Your awake it seems." I struggled to open my eyes to see who was talking to me, but I couldn't. It was dark and for a minute I was a bit scared. My whole entire body was on fire and I couldn't get comfortable. I tried to get up but felt someone gently push me down.

"I'll take care of those eyes, just relax." I did as I was told and was a bit soothed by what felt like a cloth soaked in warm water, wash over my face and wiped over my eyes. I felt the muscles in my face loosen up immediately and sighed in quiet contentment. As I felt the cloth removed from my face I blinked open my eyes and found myself staring back into shining onyx ones. I tried to sit up and brought my hand to my head as a wave of nausea came over me. I still sat up trying to will the feeling away. When I was finally convinced I was stable I took a good look at my rescuer and was surprised.

"Wufei?" He took on a stern look.

"No." I leaned forward to get a better look at his face and wasn't surprised when I was met by the facial features of the same Asian guy in my school that if I recall properly, had been named Wufei.

"Ok this is weird. You were a highschool student like me not to long ago, then you were a police man, and now you're a...." I took in his appearance and found that he was wearing an apron with a light dusting of flour over it. I gave him a small smirk.

"Baker." I finished triumphantly. Wufei noticed my look as I crossed my arms to give him a look that I'm pretty sure said: "WHAAAT now?" He sighed and then gave me a serious look.

"Ok you must not mention this to anyone." I nodded, happy that I was getting the answers to something for a change. He paused and cleared his throat.

"I was under cover in your school trying to seek out a dangerous criminal." He said quickly, still wearing that serious look. I just stared at him and blinked slowly.

"You expect me to believe that?" He flopped his hands in his lamps.

"Do you have another theory as to my identity changes?" He gave a smirk that mirrored my own earlier. I grinned.

"Touche." He seemed to think for a moment and then smiled slightly.

"And I'm not a baker at this moment. I'm supposed to be a delivery man." I snorted.

"Could've fooled me." I rolled my eyes for emphasis and then flopped my hands down in my lap loudly.

"So how did I get here?" He walked to the other side of the room and brought a small tray to rest on the bed before me. On it was a cup of hot chocolate and two butter cookies. I looked up at him and smiled.

"Thanks." He nodded. I took the mug of hot chocolate and saw he had an identical mug clutched in hands, his containing tea and had dragged a small stool for himself to sit upon. He took small sips, focusing solely on his steaming beverage. I took this time to examine him over my mug of hot chocolate, as subtly as possible. His jet black hair was slicked pag into a small cat tail and as I looked closer I noticed he seemed of Asian, possibly Chinese, descent. He seemed of medium, yet strong build, definitely a bit bigger than me if he was indeed as short as I was picturing. He was probably my height when he stood. He stopped sipping from the mug and carefully placed it down on tray in front of me.

"I had been on patrol and came across you passed out on the sidewalk. The sun hadn't come up as of yet and I can only imagine that if you had been there all night you were probably frozen to death by then." He stopped to look at me and then shook his head.

"That was almost two days ago. When we brought you in you quickly went from possibly hypothermic to broken out in an all out fever. You tossed and turned for most of the day. Nothing I or Sally did seemed to help you. Then about sometime last night you just stopped and slept contented as ever, even if only a bit too warm." He looked at me as if in awe.

"It was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen." I nibbled on a butter cooky in thought and then just stuffed the whole thing in my mouth and chewed silently. After I swallowed I wrinkled my nose a bit trying to remember what I had originally done that night. I nearly fainted back into the bed when everything came as clear as day. Immediately I felt the cold wash over me as I erupted into fit of shivers. Wufei's eyes widened before he lay me back down and threw the blanket over my shivering body. I clutched the covers to me and noticed a small t.v. in the far corner of the room. I asked Wufei to switch it on to the news and he did as I asked politely.

The news anchor was talking about some story or the other and I wasn't surprised when the volume was turned up that he was mentioning the strange occurrences that had happened on my block a little more than a day ago. I sat up in awe as I saw the thawed out remains of my apartment; it looked even worse when thawed out the way it was. I shook my head in sadly as tears began pricking at my eyes. However the last part of the anchor's dialogue is what caught me.

"...... the fire on 189th street took what is estimated to be 1,200 lives, with little number of survivors who arrived on the scene to find their home in flames........" I shook my head is disbelief, the tears now gone.

Fire..........? There was no fire........I was right there. I was IN that damn apartment. There was no fire. There was no fire. There no fire..........? I looked down at my lap confused. Had I been hallucinating? My head started pounding violently. I was going insane....... I couldn't........

I turned to Wufei who wore an equal look of disbelief.

"Wufei....." He tightened his jaw and stared at the floor as if in deep thought. It went silent as the droning in the back drop was muted. The anchors mouth continued to move, not projecting an sound. Everything moved in slow motion around. All sounds, all people, all activity just slowed down. My heart sounded in my ears again, like a weird sort of timer. I swallowed nervously and I could vaguely see green eyes.....

"Whatever you do........" I could feel my heart threatening to leap out my throat as I turned my scared gaze to Wufei. Wufei looked slightly scared for me as he kneeled by my side.

"Duo?" I felt the cold overtake me again and started shivering violently.

"....beware of the silence darkness holds...." I mouthed the words silently as Wufei looked at me, obviously troubled. Sound was roaring in my ears again.

" ....but carefully tread the light....." I could vaguely hear Wufei shout through the intense roaring as I finished what she had told me. As darkness swallowed me whole again I could vaguely make out the image of the raven haired girl.......falling.......surrounded by the white light.......

Heero, where are you?

(X)(x)(X)

(1) I think were all pretty sure where this line comes from.... Hehehe, couldn't resist.

(2) I had a friend whose English teacher was into philosophy so the teacher had the class work on an essay about there views on god, the devil, and how they know if were not all just living in some kind of dream.

(3) My friends teacher is named Mr. Cciapetta. Since it's pronounced Chia-petta they just call him Mr. Chiapet. Ch ch ch CHIA! Hehehhe.....

(4) This is my personal favorite and I make sure to order one every afternoon as I come home from school and walk through Penn Station. Duo would probably be more of a mocha loving guy but who the hell cares. He WILL love Caféé Vanilla because it's MY story. MUAHHAHAHA....

(5) Me computer says this not be a word. Well that is just too bad....

Notes: I wasn't sure where to end it exactly but I felt that there was good enough. What' dya think? I don't know who credit for the song lyrics go to. Sorry the chap was so short, but I just wanted you guys to know that Duo was alive somewhere in the story . OH and just to let all know, I am not a New york City expert so therefore for all I know 189th street is nowhere near any of the places Duo ventures but that's ok, because this is after all a story.....