Crimson Petals
Authors: Dimitri (Lord of thee Plot) Aloysha (Master of Horror and Gore)
Rating: Not for the kiddies. If you weren't allowed to watch The Grudge or The Ring or movies like The Audition (Cut into pieces while alive with a piano wire…) make you sick you shouldn't read this.
Warnings: Some slash and het. Language, Violence, Gore, Rape, Blood, Death, Horror. Mild drug use and Bombay is a bad man, but more about that later. Fun for the whole family…only you know, not really. At all.
Notes: It's like The Grudge and The Ring, and whatever else we feel fit to toss in, but it's also very much…not. It starts out okay and then takes a dangerous turn for 'purely gratuitous violence' land. Dimitri was very much disturbed by the things that came out of his friend's head and the story isn't even done with yet.
Title: We suspect it's completely random.
Pairings: Fulton/Portman, Connie/Guy, Kenny/Tammy, Bombay/McKay, and Julie/Adam. Not that pairings matter in a story such as this…
Summery: The Ducks go to Japan to represent the US in a competition but it seems the house they're set up in has a lot more than an amazing view going for it. Winning becomes second to actually surviving.
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Chapter One
Free Falling
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Fulton wondered if, perhaps, he was becoming a little desensitized to all the stuff being a Duck brought. Here he was, sitting with his team and hearing all of the last minute details of the Japanese hockey tournament they were about to fly to Tokyo for, where they would once again be representing the US.
Yet, all he could think was 'I wonder what Tammy's up to.'
Tammy of course being Tammy Duncan, who, for the ill informed amongst us, was Fulton's best friend. One of them anyway. For the even more ill-informed the other would be Dean Portman, his partner in various violent and, if they were having a good day, illegal crimes. Not that Tammy didn't have all of that going for as well.
The reason he was wondering about Tammy was that she'd been pretty cryptic when he'd talked to her the day before and Tammy just didn't do cryptic. She simply didn't have the presence of mind to be anything but harsh, blunt, and straight to the point.
That why they got along so well, in his honest opinion anyway. Fulton didn't like to beat around the bush in most areas and Tammy never did anything like that, even if she was risking crushing the hopes and dreams of those around her.
Tommy, her brother, still hadn't gotten over his sister telling him that he'd never be anything other than a mediocre hockey player…
"Wait, what?" Connie's voice, slightly more high pitched than usual, sliced through his thinking process. He blinked and straightened up, hoping to look as if he actually gave a damn what Mister Kyle, the US liaison in respect to the tournament, was talking about.
Mister Kyle blinked. "I said that Charlie has opted to not play in this competition."
And now Fulton was really paying attention. "No way. If Charlie isn't going neither am I."
And he meant it. Charlie was their leader, the captain not to mention one of Fulton's first real friends. He'd happily follow the other teen into just about anything. The others seemed to agree with him because a mummer of agreement swept the room.
Charlie laughed and shook his head. "I'm going, I'm just not playing. It's…as a team, we're unstoppable and we know it. But individually I'm kind of…lacking. You all have these skills; Adam is just good period, no one is faster than Luis, or more skilled than Dwayne or more graceful than Kenny and Connie, Russ' knuckle puck and Fulton's shot are amazing-"
"Ly painful. Not to mention inaccurate. The head trauma I've suffered is substantial." Goldberg interjected. Charlie smiled.
"Okay. The point I was going for is that other than being able to outsmart everyone, I'm not really that useful. Not as a player anyway. I talked to Orion and the bored and Bombay and my scholarship has been altered from player to student coach."
Judging by the smile on Charlie's face this was something he was really excited about, so Fulton was content to just keep his mouth shut. If Charlie was happy he had nothing to say.
"Who's taking your spot then?" Adam asked. A thought tickled the back of Fulton's mind and he paused for a moment, letting it worm its way through his brain.
There was no way…
"Well I found someone fast, agile, and fierce. Not to mention scarier than Fulton and Portman combined." Charlie's smile was growing larger and Fulton knew, just knew, whom it was.
The door opened just then and standing in the doorway was Tammy, blond hair pulled back from her face, black jeans with a whole ripped in the middle and a black Nirvana t-shirt. Exactly how Fulton had left her, down to the black Doc Martins she'd happily blown a month's allowance on. While all of Tammy's teachers would faint at the sight of their favorite straight-laced student dressed like that, Fulton was far from surprised.
"You flatter me Conway. By the way, your girlfriend is really mad at you."
Charlie's smile vanished. "Why?"
"She recognized me from a picture you keep in your room and when she asked who I was I told her I was the mother of your children." Tammy shrugged. "Apparently she has no sense of humor."
Without waiting for a response Tammy walked over to where Fulton was sitting and sat on the side not already occupied by Portman. She flashed him a smile and he knew that this little trip was going to be interesting, to say the least of the matter.
"Glad to see you could arrive on time Miss Duncan." Orion said, making no attempt to keep the bite from his tone. Tammy just shrugged.
"I got lost. This is a big campus."
"Of course." Orion didn't look convinced. Tammy didn't look like she really cared. "All of that aside, Bombay is already in Tokyo and he's found the place where you'll be staying the next two weeks, at the very least. Longer if we don't get knocked out of the tournament."
Sometimes Fulton kind of doubted Orion's faith in them. Sure, they'd all made nice and come to terms with having a new coach, but there were times when the man's sarcasm rivaled even Fulton's, which was amazing in and of itself.
"You'll all need to be up bright and early tomorrow for the flight so don't stay up too late."
They all nodded, even thought it went without saying that no one actually meant it. Tammy leaned towards him, a smirk dancing over her lips.
"What do you think?"
"I can't believe your parents, Mr. and Mrs. you can't go to LA because it's too far away, are letting you go to Japan."
She snorted. "You'd be amazed what parents will do when a scholarship is on the line. I'm just glad they let me come; I was beginning to get bored without you and this promises to be fun."
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Gordon Bombay was a man of many talents, but very few passions. One of those passions was hockey and, more importantly, The Ducks. Even though he wasn't the coach anymore, but rather the team's lawyer, they were still one of the single most important things in his life.
Hence being willing to put his practice on hold to come out to Tokyo and find a place nice enough for the team to stay in for the next month or so as well as act as 'chaperone' while they were there. He'd dragged his wife along as well and they'd eventually found a very nice, slightly run down house. They'd put in the work to fix it up and make it able to withstand a bunch of slightly psychotic teenagers and now there was nothing left but the waiting.
The team would be flying out in a few days and he'd be able to see his team again. He'd been busy the past few months and hadn't had much of a chance to, but now…now it'd be like old times, with his kids around him. He couldn't wait. Until then he had a big empty house to enjoy with the woman he'd married.
Not a bad deal if he said so himself.
He looked down at the fax machine, willing it to print out the contract he'd drawn up with Eden Hall a few days ago and was just now getting an answer to, so he could be done with work for the day. His wife was upstairs, cleaning out the last remaining room, and he intended to surprise her with a night on the town, so to speak.
He knew the past few weeks of trying to adjust to Tokyo when she knew next to no Japanese had been tough on her so he thought this might make it up somewhat.
Finally the contract was printed out and the signatures he'd needed on the bottom. He put it into the folder he kept all of his important documents in then headed out of his office, turning off the lamp as he went past. He closed the door then turned.
He blinked.
The place was a mess. Newspaper and food wrappers and leaves and clothes and what looked like pillow feathers were strewn all over the floor. Pale blue footprints, the color they'd painted some of the bedrooms, walked across the floor.
He peered at them, noting that they seemed almost…childlike in size. He shook that off though and sighed. What was going on? This was so unlike her… Sure, she'd been a little annoyed about all the work and leaving home but this was…a little beyond that.
"Honey?"
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He heard something creak, like a floorboard, to his left. In the direction of the footprints actually. He turned and saw, at the end of the hallway, a swaying figure. Even though he could only see the outlined, framed against the light streaming in from the outside streetlamps, he knew it was her. The sound of water hitting the floor was the only sound for a moment. Then he sighed.
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"What's going on? We just finished cleaning up and the team is going to be here soon." He waited for a response but only got the dripping. He took a step forward when the sound of something large falling down the steps made him turn.
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His heart lept into his throat as the body of his wife, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with paint flecks dotting her skin, came tumbling down. He took an uneasy step forward, glancing back at the dark figure at the end of hall that still swayed back and forth. Another few steps and he was kneeling next to her, turning her head.
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His stomach clenched the rolled as bile rose to the back of his throat. Her eyelids had been shown shut with thick black wire and blood streaked the skin underneath, almost as if she'd been crying blood. He wanted to scream but he was afraid if he opened his mouth he'd throw up everything he'd eaten, ever.
"…gordon?" Her voice was thin and reedy and he knew he was going to be sick. He couldn't believe she was still alive.
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Ice-cold liquid hit his shoulder and went through his shirt, touching his skin. He turned; heart thudding so loudly he knew the entire world could hear it. Glittering black eyes stared into his own, half obscured by long wet almost white blond hair.
"She didn't see so now she never sees." The voice was soft and heavily accented but all he could see were the eyes, peering out from gray, stretched skin. A strand of hair slipped forward and touched his skin, searing through it like acid. He jerked back, colliding with his wife.
The figure, the woman, lept forward and knocked him flat on his back. One hand on his chest, burning and making it impossible for him to even draw in a breathe, while the other raised up and opened to reveal two eyeballs, still slick with blood.
He coughed and vomit, sour and burning, spilled forth.
"Bad man." The woman said as she tipped her hand and let the eyes fall to the floor with a wet plop. "Shhh. Don't tell; it's our secret."
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She drew back and picked her hand up, finally allowed him to draw in air. Foul air that tasted of rotting fish, but air none the less. There was a noise, almost like a cat's meow, to his side and he looked and found a small girl, completely nude and holding a black cat in her arms. She too looked wet, black hair sticking to her face and arms, skin the same ashen gray color.
She opened her mouth, as if to scream.
"Meeeerrrrroooowwwwwwww."
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(And now a word from your authors)
Dimitri: Her eyes? Dude…
Losha: Hmm? What? It's not like she needs them anymore…
Dimitri: …
Losha: What? No, really, what?