Summary: Alright, Duo and Heero are "antique rescuers" for a museum that houses belongings of the socially "royal" deceased, meaning those individuals who had great social status and were important benefactors of the town in which they resided. However, the new house they are assigned to is rumored to be haunted by the ghost of Carl Baxter, the deceased head of estate. Craziness ensues when Duo finds a mysterious painting of a boy, Quatre starts entering trancelike states and Heero starts hallucinating, or is he really seeing ghosts?
Warnings: AU. OOC. (Look, if it's AU there is going to be some OOC to an extent because they're no longer the same character). Yaoi (meaning gay relationships), 1x2x1 and implied 3x4 & 5xM, dark, angst, violence, implied sex (past-tense rape), death, language…Oh, and it's a song fic…but you don't have to read the song lyrics if you don't want to. And there's some original characters in there.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Gundam boys, nor do I really want to. Honestly. Everyone says they wish they owned them, but then everyone would be coming to me to buy them from me. I wouldn't get a moments rest. So, no, I'm not making profit off this. And besides, borrowing them from time to time is just as fun as owing them, I would imagine. I also don't own the chapter titles. They're the name of the according song in the chapter, all owned by Evanescence. OH! And you may find traces of a small mini-series called Rose Red and a PlayStation 2 video game Fatal Frame (I and II). However, I do not own them, either. I don't even own legal copies! HOWEVER, I do own my original characters. Any character that does not appear in any series, movie or manga is mine. Yes, that's right, all M-I-N-E.
Haunted Essence
By Praevisum
"You can't abandon me
You belong to me
Breathe in and take my life in you
No longer myself only you
There's no escaping me my love
Surrender…"
Chapter V: Surrender
"Master Carl…I just…I could not. I…I…please, please no. Master Carl!"
Kallias was thrown onto the bed face down. The massive Carl clambered over him and shackled his wrists to the wall. Unable to move a far distance, Kallias struggled against Carl, trying to slip his hands free of the tight shackles. The iron cut into his wrists making them bleed. Facing the wall, waterfalls of tears tore down his cheeks, soaking his beautiful skin, as he struggled against the man who began to undo his robes.
"Hold still or it will hurt!"
Carl grabbed the silken braid that hung loosely at Kallias' side, its tip gently brushing the torn sheets on the tattered mattress.
"Oh, please, please, Master Carl, please …please no!" Kallias sobbed as he felt the man behind him press himself against Kallias' now bare opening. "OH GOD! PLEASE MASTER CARL, NO—"
"Heero! Heero!"
Slowly, thick lashes began to flutter open, repeatedly dusting the skin under giant blue orbs.
"What happened?" Heero asked as he grabbed the side of his head, the throbbing pain enough to knock him down again as he tried to sit up.
"You just kinda…fell over. I sorta caught you, but then I fell over too." Duo blushed as he stood and helped Heero to his feet, catching him as he swayed slightly. "You really scared the shit outta me. I didn't know what happened."
"I was…dreaming. At least, I think it was a dream."
"You were only out for like, three seconds, dude. You couldn't have been dreaming."
Heero walked over to the bed that had been in his vision. He touched the disintegrating sheet and suddenly felt everything. He felt what it was like to be Kallias, trapped on this bed. He felt what it was like to be afraid and be powerless to stop Carl and the fear he brought. He felt what it was like to be violated, to be a victim, and wanted to cry.
"What's wrong?"
"Well…I…I saw Kallias getting raped by Carl…in my dream." Heero refused to say vision. It sounded too The Craft like to him. "And now, sitting on this bed, I can feel it all. It's so horrible to be raped over and over and have no power to stop it."
Sullen, Duo slowly approached Heero and sat on the bed next to him, his hands between his legs.
"I…I know. I never told you this…or anyone, really. But, when I was younger," Duo's voice grew somber and his brilliant eyes dulled, "one of my foster mothers…she'd touch me. And, I know it's not the same thing as rape but—"
Duo didn't finish his sentence. He didn't have to. Heero understood and pulled him into a tight hug, letting Duo fall into him.
"Was this before we were friends?"
Duo shook his head, a single tear trembling down his flawless cheek. "Around when we met, actually, in grade two."
"Why didn't you say anything to me? You know I could've helped you."
"Heero, you were six. What could you have really done?"
"I dunno…I still could've helped…somehow. I could've—"
"Could've what? Endangered yourself for someone you just met?"
"I would've protected you. That's what best friends do."
Duo sat up, locking eyes with the very serious Heero. Instantly, he knew Heero meant it, and would always mean it. Heero was his protector and he'd do anything and everything to return the favour.
XX
"Boo!"
Quatre and Trowa turned around, startled to see Wufei. He was standing tall with a bright smile one his face.
"Wu…fei? How did you…how are you walking?" Quatre sputtered.
"Ah, that doc fixed me up good as new. Great guy."
"How did you get here? We have the car." Trowa informed.
The smile on Wufei's face, to the trained eye, seemed to falter minutely for half a millisecond.
"Ugh…Meilan, actually. She drove me here."
"Really?" Quatre tried to look past Wufei for evidence of Meilan's presence. "Why didn't she say hello, then? She just let you off and left?"
"Yeppers! You know her, always wanting to get back to work."
"Quatre, can I talk to you for a minute alone, please?" Trowa motioned to the other side of the fountain where the trees could give them some privacy.
Nodding, Quatre followed Trowa to where he indicated, glancing over his shoulder to the boy they were leaving behind. Something didn't feel right with him, but he just couldn't place it. Sharply, Trowa turned to him, once they were hidden.
"I don't think that's Wufei."
"Me either." Again, Quatre glanced back at Wufei just as his left cheek twitched. "Yeah, something is very very wrong."
XX
"So, we're ditching the diaries?" Duo's voice bounced off the empty walls of the bare kitchen he was attempting to raid.
"Yeah, I figure they've told us all we'll find out from them." Heero jumped on top the counter, sitting on its edge.
"And the pictures?"
"Useless."
"But…" Duo started opening another bare cupboard, "isn't a picture worth a thousand words?"
"Not if you can't understand the language. We don't know enough about these people personally to really speculate anything or understand the pictures."
"Well then," Duo said, forfeiting his attempts to find food in the barren room. "What do you suggest we do?" He trudged towards Heero. "Start over?"
"Yes."
"Heero!" Duo protested, "We don't have enough time! We only have a few hours before we die."
"Who said anything about dying?" Heero looked sharply at Duo, not amused with his hyperboles of situations.
"Wufei said that Quatre said that there was going to be blood shed! Blood, Heero, means death in my books. And he also said we'd become a permanent fixture of this house. Like…maybe a wall. SHIT! Do you think that's where they went? Do you really thing they're in a wall? Heero, we need to help them." Duo began walking quickly to the door.
"Duo! You go nowhere without me, remember? Get back here."
"And just forget about my friends! I don't think so!" Duo reached the door and pushed up against it, as it had no handle. It swung forward and Duo disappeared.
Leaping off the counter, Heero ran after him, sticking his toe in the door right before it swung back. It pinched his foot and a searing pain shot up his leg, reminding him he had burnt his feet earlier. Swinging the door back open, Heero darted down the hallway after Duo, who was running back into the study where this whole fiasco started.
"WUFEI! TROWA! QUATRE! WHERE ARE YOU! WHERE ARE YOU! QUATRE! WUF—"
"Duo! Shut the hell up!" Heero had caught up with him and walked into the study in time to see Duo spinning in circles, his arms outstretched, and facing the ceiling calling out his friends' names. The scene he was witnessing made Duo look like he was crazy. Having had enough, Heero marched over to Duo and grabbed his shoulders. "Stop. You've gone completely psycho." Shaking him slightly, he kept moving his head, forcing Duo to look him in the eyes. "I'm serious. Calm down. We're never going to get out of here if we start falling apart. Now, sit down, here, over here, with me."
As if snapping out of a trance, Duo shook his head slightly, his mind beginning to clear again. Leary, he walked with Heero towards the chesterfield that was at the back of the study. The two boys sat in silence for a while, deep in their own thoughts.
"So, the diaries?"
"Duo…it's like tabloids who take someone's words and just selection certain sentences to place together and change the meaning of the original paragraph. We don't know the real meaning, the subtext, to these entries. Besides, what has it told us so far? Carl was gay and Kallias was a servant who liked Carl's sister. How does that help us get out of this house? Our first instincts were wrong. We jumped to conclusions thinking that in the diaries we would find the answers."
"But what about Carl's murder and your vision of him? Maybe he's keeping us here. Maybe he wants us to solve the mystery! Maybe the bloodshed was his Quatre was speaking of, and maybe—"
"You're reaching. With all these maybes, Duo, we'll never really solve anything."
"We might!" Duo's eyes were desperate.
"I think what's most important right now is finding our friends. When we were in the attic room, I thought I saw Wufei. Maybe if we brake the window again…" Heero stood up and walked towards the large bay window. But, with every step he took, the clear and sunny day he saw through the glass became darker and darker until he stood right in front of the window. "Well, that fucking figures. It's boarded up. There's no breaking the window this time." Heero rolled his eyes, turning around to face Duo. "Duo, stand up now."
"What?" Duo was slow to comply, and could feel a slightly familiar breeze across his face. A slightly familiar voice filled his head, sweet and soft.
"Please, time is short. Let me escape in you before my master hurts me once more. I am fearful—"
"DUO! GET UP!" Heero marched towards his best friend who seemed to be caught in a trance. Kallias' translucent form was hovering horizontally next to Duo, his hand inching toward Duo's face. "DUO!" Heero reached him and grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the ghostly figure. "Duo, are you with me?"
"Hnnwha…what? What the—"
"Kallias."
"'Nuff said. I heard him again."
"Figures." Heero stared angrily at the guilty looking fading form that eventually completely vanished. "What did he say this time?"
"Pretty much the same thing. But, the window is boarded up? This is bullshit, man." Duo flopped down on the couch once again. "Complete bullshit. I'm not going out without a fight… but, I'm just so tired right now, of everything you know? I'm hungry and thirsty and mentally tired…and physically."
"Did you want to rest for a while? Take a nap or something?" Heero sat closely next to Duo.
"I should, but…I dunno. I just kinda wanna get out of here. I just want the door to come back and for us to walk outta here and kill Une for this assignment. I really hate her right now." Duo smirked, relaxing more on the couch and using Heero's arm as a pillow.
Heero chuckled at this, looking down at Duo's drowsy face smushed into his bicep. When he thought about it, this wasn't any different than when they were just hanging out, just the two of them. They had always been close friends but it was now, Heero realized, that he yearned to be so much more.
"Mmm, you're comfy." Duo nestled his head into Heero's arm, intertwining his arm into Heero's.
Boldly, Heero reached for Duo's hand and, placing his over top, gently caressed the backside of Duo's hand with his fingertips, feeling the soft, silk-smooth skin and letting his eyes flutter close.
XX
"So, are you two going to get help or not? I'll stand guard!" Wufei hollered from where he stood, questioning the two boys hidden amongst the trees talking to themselves.
"What are we going to do?" Quatre, worried, turned his head over his shoulder and looked at Wufei. "Trowa, I'm just so lost."
"I know. Let me handle this, okay?" Trowa placed a hand on Quatre's troubled shoulder and gently patted.
"Alright."
Trowa walked toward the smiling figure of Wufei and, stuffing his hands in his pockets, looked as casual as possible. "Wu, we were thinking, why don't you go get help? It only takes one, right? And that way, there's more room in jeep if there's someone extra to bring back, you know? Like Nataku." Trowa waited. Wufei didn't react to the misuse of his name, as he always did, and didn't try to throttle Trowa for calling Meilan her secret pet name that only Wufei was allowed to use.
"I…I think you two should go. It's your jeep, after all." Wufei had a nasty glare in his eyes, and if looks could kill Trowa betted Wufei was secretly trying to commit murder.
"Nah. You can use it. Quatre wants to stay here, and I don't want to upset him. You don't want to upset him, do you?"
"N-no." Wufei's fake smile faltered. "I'll stay here with him then. You go."
"Wu, you know I can't do that. I'm not leave Quatre alone in a place like this, ever." Trowa misused his name once again, and he didn't even flinch. Something was very wrong and Trowa was hoping that the real Wufei was alright, for this one could be nothing less than a fake.
"But, I think it's safer, for the both of you, if you go get help."
"What about you?" Trowa raised his brow.
"Oh, you know me, I'll be fine."
"Yeah, and how's your leg?"
"Ugh, good. Fine. I already told you that."
"Um, Wufei…which leg did you hurt, again. I forget," Trowa baited.
"I…ugh…it was my…" Wufei now had a sour look on his face. "Is that really important? I mean, who cares? It doesn't matter which leg."
Trowa knew it. This Wufei didn't even know which leg the real Wufei had injured. Trowa knew the injured leg was Wufei's left one, and that it would be almost impossible to stand so quickly after narrowly missing a main artery.
"So, how'd she fix you up, anyway?" Trowa baited again.
"She?"
"The doctor."
"Oh…ugh…she…she, ugh…Does it matter? Why do you keep asking about my leg?"
"Maybe it matters because you don't know the answers. Maybe you cannot provide them because you're not Wufei. It was your left leg, and your doctor was a man. So, reveal yourself, in your true form."
Wufei began to convulse violently. Trowa took a step back, not sure if this imposter was about to attack or combust. Quatre, worried and watching the whole time, came running over to Trowa's side.
"What's wrong with him?"
"I…I don't know." Trowa took another step backwards as the imposter's condition worsened.
Wufei's jet-black hair began to drain of its colour, starting at the roots. It became a blinding white. His onyx eyes drained of colour as well, pupils and all. The rosy colour in his lips drained, and continued to drain downward. His bronze skin became the same blinding white, almost like pure light. He was still convulsing, and opened his mouth to scream but instead the light burst forward and Trowa and Quatre had to shield their eyes as the courtyard filled with light.
When they thought it was safe again, Trowa and Quatre opened their eyes to find themselves alone. Wufei had gone, and Quatre was horrified.
"He just…blew up! I just don't understand this place. There's some sort of magic or evil surrounding everything." Quatre began talking very quickly. "It's embedded into the very soul of this place. It's haunted and cursed! It's alive. It has control of itself. I mean, have you ever heard of a house that kicks you out, and makes you fall from the sky? Or makes windows one way and burns people when they try to leave? Or makes doors disappear or rooms appear at will? There is a very evil force at work here. We have to get our friends out! I don't think they'll make it out on their own. We have to…tear it down. That's what we have to do. We're tearing it down." Quatre made a move toward the jeep when Trowa grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
"Enough. Calm down. According to Une, this place is already demolished so we can't damage it. It's standing because someone's making it. Finding out who that is, may be up to Heero and Duo."
XX
"Meilan, I order you to go back to work." Wufei glared angrily at his fiancé as the doctor and nurse wheeled him down the hall towards the Operating Room.
"Chang Wufei don't you dare start ordering me about! I'll go back to work when I'm good and ready. Right now, I'm going to sit down in the waiting room and I'm not leaving until they've given you the okay! Do you understand me!"
"Woman, I am able to take care of myself—"
"Shut up, Wufei." Meilan smirked. She knew it was all about honour in public because when they got home he'd be whining and crying like a puppy. "See you in a few."
"Hours." The doctor shook his head as they entered the Operating Room.
"There's no sense in running
You know I will find you
Everything is perfect now
We can live forever"
TBC.
Author's Note: Wow, everyone has my permission to draw and quarter me. Seriously, it's been forever and I'm so sorry. I took forever writing it (there's so much going on right now with my health and I'm just drained of inspiration) and then my beta underwent knee surgery and, though you'd think this would give her ample time to beta, it really hasn't. Though, there's no need to worry, because I have the end written out so it shouldn't be too long now.
Again, I would like to thank my readers and everyone who has me on their author alert list (WINK). And I'd love to thank my beta because without her…I wouldn't have gone to prom again. Tee hee.
I understand that this one is a little on the short side, but I warn you the last chapter is very long so I'll make up for it. I swear it.