Chapter 1: A New School, Acid Trips, and Honesty

Warnings: Yaoi, possible lemons in further chapters, possible deathfic, some angst, mentions of past death, some alcohol/drug use, profanity and lots of it, OOC, and some weirdness.

(PAST)

"Duo, dear, what have I told you about taking your father's old coat?" my mother scolded as I watched her pick up the worn, brown leather jacket with the brightly embroidered eye on the back. It had once belonged to my father. I dare not tell her that it was he who told me to take it, that he wanted me to have it. I was afraid that she'd start crying again like she had last time I'd said that. She'd told me it was cruel to say that because it wasn't right to pretend that daddy was still alive. I did not tell her that I saw him all the time as clear as day. He listened and even spoke sometimes. He said to tell mommy that he'd always love her and would wait for her in heaven just like he'd promised. Mommy could never hear him. She was not like me. I was the only one...

When I was eight years old, I went up in front of my class for show and tell and told them all, my secret. I could see angels, or at least that's what I'd thought they were at the time. Everyone, including the teacher laughed. They told me to prove it then. Of course I couldn't because it just wasn't possible. I knew from that moment on that I couldn't just tell people my secret because they just thought I was making it up, so I decided never to tell anyone again.

(PRESENT)

I stubbed out my cigarette as I walked into the school. It was an old brick building built sometime in the late 1800's. It made no difference to me really. I stepped past a corpse of a young boy of about fourteen crumpled by a janitor's closet with a gaping bullet hole in his chest. I shut my eyes as I passed. I hated them. They were disgusting for the most part. I could always tell how they'd died because it was usually visible in some way. It was usually painfully obvious. They disturbed me sometimes, but I guess for the most part, I was used to them.

I walked into the office and stood in front of the desk, waiting for the tall, skinny, blonde woman that looked to be in her forties to notice me. When she finally did, she jumped. I smiled brightly at her. She just looked at me.

"Duo Maxwell, I'm here to pick up a time table. I just transferred here from Alden Christian Academy for Boys in New Jersey. Could you help me out?" I asked cheerfully. She nodded. She shuffled through a pile of papers. She pulled one out from the pile and handed it to me. "Thanks." I said with fake enthusiasm. She smiled in a motherly way at me and ushered me out of her office.

I scanned the time table quickly as I walked towards the middle staircase twisting up to the other two stories of the school. According to my time table, I needed to go up to second floor. I shrugged my olive-green book bag up higher on my shoulder as I started up the stairs. I walked briskly down the hall, passing a girl of about fifteen hanging from one of the door frames. Another one, how many would I see here?

I ignored her as I passed through the doorway. I found my class soon after and walked in. I entered the bright room slowly. The teacher turned quickly, obviously wondering who was disturbing her peaceful class. "Hello, you are?" the short, stout, red-haired woman asked as politely as she could, trying to hide her annoyance at the interruption of her lesson. I handed her my transcript and waited as she looked it over. She nodded. "Well then Duo, Iguess you can take that seat next to Mr.Yuy, near the back." she said. I nodded, smiled and thanked her, then began towards my seat.

The guy next to me looked at me kind of strangely as I sat down. No one had ever looked at me like that before. I tossed my bag onto the floor under the desk and tried to pay at least a little bit of attention to the lesson.

"Nice jacket." the guy next to me said, admiring the coat I had slung over my shoulders. I hadn't expected him to speak to me. It still looked the same, except that the thread of the embroidered eye on the back had faded with time. My father's coat almost looked as if he could have been wearing it yesterday, but I knew he definitely hadn't. I smiled as I remembered what my mother would have said to me if she were still alive.

"You like it?" I replied. He nodded slightly. I made a decision and stuck out my hand briskly, Duo Maxwell. You are?"

"Heero. Heero Yuy." he replied as he shook my hand. I noticed then, the little girl standing behind him. I closed my eyes, willing her to go away. When I opened them, she was not gone, but there were four more children around him as well, two girls and 3 boys all together. Ghosts. Why couldn't they just go away and leave me alone.

They seemed to be hiding behind Heero as if they were afraid of something. He was protecting them, especially the first little girl. I could sense some type of connection between them. He didn't seem to realize them, so I guess it was safe to say, he didn't know they were there.

I was glad I hadn't forgotten to let go of his hand while I was thinking. It'd happened before and didn't usually leave a good impression. Heero shivered and pulled his sweater tighter around himself. I turned away from him and watched the teacher as she spoke. All of the sudden, I felt a cold, small hand touch my own. I turned slowly to see the same one little girl as before. She was very pale and had darker, more noticeable marks and bruises over her flesh. She looked fragile, like a puppy that'd been kicked one too many times. I was sad to look at her. She was so young. She could not have been more than five years old. She looked up at me with watery, blue-coloured eyes. I closed my own eyes and willed her away. I couldn't bare to look at her. When I opened them, I found her still there, touching my hand. Then, she opened her mouth to speak.

"Help him" she said in a soft little girl type voice. I looked at her confusedly. Most of them never spoke and when they did it was either cursing or gibberish. They hardly ever made any sense.

"Who?" I asked, "Help who?" Instead of answer, she just smiled slightly and pointed slowly towards Heero. Then someone sniggered. Uh oh!

I'd done it again. I turned to see all eyes on me. I'd been talking to myself, or at least that's what they thought. I got up quickly and grabbed my bag.

"I'm sorry for interrupting your class, Miss. I have to go." I apologized as I bolted from the room.

At lunch I sat at a table by myself. A few kids whispered and snickered as they walked by. I expect they had seen my wonderful performance this morning. I doodled on a piece of paper, ignoring them.

I didn't look up as people walked in and out or by me. I didn't want to see anyone. Not after what had happened this morning. I used a black pen to shade around the little girl I'd been drawing. I shaded around her hair and eyes. She looked almost exactly like the little girl from this morning.

Someone sat down across from me. "So, what kind of drugs are you on?" The tan-haired guy asked, smirking. I shook my head. I recognized him from this morning's class.

"None, actually. I just daydream a lot." I replied. He raised an eyebrow suspiciously. I wasn't really lying. I did daydream a lot, but I just hadn't been this morning. He didn't press the subject. He glanced at the sketch I'd been working on. I quickly hid it under my binder. He opened his mouth to speak but was luckily cut off by the three guys and two girls that came to join us at the table. They were all holding containers of steaming french fries. One of them was Heero. The little girl was still with him. It was like she was clinging to him. I was confused. Ghosts didn't usually cling to people, they were more into places. I wondered why this particular one did.

"Hey Duo!" Heero greeted.

"Oh, so you know the acid guy." the tan-haired one said. I scowled.

"I am not on drugs!" I exclaimed. Heero chuckled.

"Duo, this is Trowa Barton," he pointed to the tan-haired boy across from me,"Quatre Winner," he pointed to the blonde boy next to Trowa, "Chang Wufei, just call him Wufei," he pointed to the Chinese boy, wearing glasses next to me," Sally Po," he pointed to the girl next to Wufei,"and Relena Darlian-Peacecraft." he finished, pointing to the girl in all pink next to himself. Everyone nodded to me.

"So, what was up with you today?" Heero inquired. My eyes widened a little. How to explain this mess? I couldn't tell them the real reason and I couldn't lie. If there is one thing I am, it's honest. How could I be honest and lie at the same time? Was that even possible?

TBC…

What will Duo tell his new friends? Who is the mysterious little girl following Heero? And why do the children seem drawn to him? Will Duo be able to help Heero? Better yet, is he sure he even wants to? Or maybe Heero will be able to help Duo instead… You'll all have to wait and see in the next chapters to come. Buhahahahahahaha!