Kassatsu

Sutoomu

First off. I want to profusely apologize to all my readers for taking FOREVER to update. It wasn't my fault. My labtop internet connection was busted, and I just got it fixed. But, for all that time I couldn't get on the net, I wrote a lot. Which means I have, maybe, two chapters to post. The first is this, and it explains a lot about what has happened to Q. So I hope you enjoy it and like it and forgive me for making you wait sooo long.

Gomen nasai, gomen nasai, gomen nasai.../bows and bows and bows/

Please review. If I get some reviews, I'll post the next chapter. Which is the one that explains how he is getting hurt.

"Master Quatre, are you finished with your tea?"

Quatre looked up from his book and nodded sadly. He sighed as the Maguanac left the room with the tray, then set the book down and stared longingly out the window. It had been a week since Solo had possessed him, a week since he had spoken to Kassatsu, and a week since he left school. For some reason, his feelings had told him not to tell Rashid about Solo or anything, just like his feelings had stopped him from erasing Kassatsu's memories. He had simply told his giant of a bodygaurd and loyal servant that he had decided school wasn't for him. He had listened politely to Rashid's small lecture and 'I-told-you-so' in order not to give anything else away. Now, though, after a week back at tutoring, he was missing something. He knew he wasn't missing the school, since having the Maguanacs teach him was quite amusing, and he knew it wasn't the people, since most of them had been rude. He faintly suspected he was missing Kassatsu, or, more likely, Solo.

Solo had been the first spirit to just talk to him nicely. He had been somewhat persistent in 'find Duo', but he hadn't just possessed Quatre right after he got access. No, he had stayed hidden for a little while, let Quatre get used to him, and then only spoken to Quatre. Solo had respected his wishes of no possession at first and, now that Quatre had all the time to think about it and mull it over, he had had sufficient cause to possess Quatre. The Arabian boy had no doubts that Kassatsu would have injured him, but then again, it was Solo's fault for getting him in that situation in the first place. But Solo's intent behind it all was wrong, Quatre knew that. Solo shouldn't come alive again, and he shouldn't have used Quatre to find his friends and give them the notion. It was all just a bad idea. Because of Solo, Quatre had left school, which had actually been a good idea. To Quatre, Solo seemed like your average person...er, spirit. He made mistakes but tried to make up for them, and made more mistakes. At least he seemed to have a nice attitude.

Quatre's black lined eyes suddenly hardened with resolve. He stood up and made his way to his bed. He was still in his pajamas from the morning, having felt sleepy and very tired today, so he simply jumped under the messy covers and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. He got into a comfortable sleeping position and then leapt. Quatre pushed at himself, and seperated his spirit form. He hovered in mid air, looking down at his human body breathing in a deep sleep, then turned and floated out the window into the spirit realm, Trowa's words ringing in his mind.

"Solo being dead causes more pain than him being alive..."

Maybe that was so...but they didn't fully understand. If he could talk to Solo, make him understand...he had to try. Quatre began floating around in the spirit realm, a realm entirely white and silver and misty, himself being a misted over spirit Quatre. He began to float through the streets...well, technically, they weren't streets. They were more like large corridors with smaller, shadowed corridors attached. It was like being in the school with halls but everything was white and misted and there were no laughing or annoying teenagers around. A plus for the spirit realm. Of course, the random spirits you could meet was a down sign.

Quatre stopped admiring the dreamlike realm and began to search for Solo's spirit signature. Finding a faint trail, he began to follow it, eyes peered for any sign of Solo or any spirit for that matter. It could be very dangerous to be caught by surprise by a spirit. You never knew whether they were violent or not. And if Quatre was hurt in this world, his physical self mirrored his injuries in the real world. Life threatening, definitely. He knew this from past experiences. He saw a few shadows flicker as though a presence was there, but they only lasted the blink of an eye, and Quatre knew they were gone because he couldn't sense anything. The trail of Solo grew stronger the farther towards it he went, and he expected to find Solo soon.

"Are you looking for me?"

But not this soon. The signature hadn't been that strong yet, which meant Solo must be pretty talented at cloaking to minimize it that much.

/Yes/ he replied after a moment. /I was./

Solo's spirit looked at him, and Quatre finally saw what he looked like. He was of average height, with brown hair a shade lighter than Duo's hair. It definitely didn't have Duo's length, but it was pulled into a small tussock ponytail at the nape of his neck, with the hair around his ears hanging free and falling over his eyes. His heart shaped face and rosebud lips were exactly like his brothers, but his light grey eyes were dead of sparkle and his mouth looked as though it was missing a grin. He was dressed in a deep blue hoodie and jeans, the outfit he died in. Of course, none of this was solid or with clear colors. Both of them were like mirror reflections, Quatre a bit firmer since he was alive.

"Why?"

/Why what/ Quatre blinked.

"Why were you looking for me?"

/I...I wanted to talk to you/ Quatre stuttered.

"I thought you hated me..."

/I do/ Quatre replied. /But...I've been thinking this past week since you...since I met Kassatsu and.../

"It's been a week?" Solo blinked. "Only that long?"

Quatre nodded. Time was very different in the spirit realm. For spirits, a day could be a year, or a year could be a day. They couldn't tell. Basically, there was no time passing in the spirit realm. /Yes, that long. And I've decided that...that I am willing to listen to you. But first know this. I still hate you for what you did, but I'm willing to somewhat forgive you. I understand now why you did it, but I'm still not comfortable with it, so please don't try anything. All I'm here for is to hear your idea./

"So you can help me?"

/No/ Quatre said firmly. /So I can dissuade you./ Quatre sighed. /Go ahead. Tell me how you plan to become alive again./

Solo's eyes glittered at this chance, and he sat down, Quatre sitting beside him, and began to explain. "There's a story in the spirit realm about a spirit who became alive again. They say he was a spirit one day and the next he was alive, just as he had been when he died, because of a procedure done by some of the living in the real world. I want to do that procedure, and become alive again. All the spirits say it's impossible, but I think I can do it! I know I can! I have to...for Kassatsu." Solo's eyes shone with determination.

/Solo/ Quatre started. /I was that spirit./

Solo's eyes sparkled and he smiled. "I know."

/You know/

"I've always known. That's why I found you and joined with you. Because you're the only one who knows completely how to do the procedure. Well, that and you're the only living person who can communicate with spirits. All of those gypsies and spirit mediums and seance people are gyps."

/True. But I'm not going to help you do the procedure./

"Why not?" Solo asked.

/Because you don't know what you're getting into/ Quatre shouted back. /You can't just come alive. There are sacrifices made. Sacrifices that are too dangerous to make./

"But you did it," Solo pointed out.

/Yes, I did it, but when they brought me back they didn't know what would happen. I was an experiment to them. Now I know, and it's not for a human being to go through./

"Look! I don't care what the sacrifices or consequences may be! I have to become alive again! I'm not meant to be here yet. I can feel it."

/You would care if you knew.../

"Then tell me!" Solo yelled. "Tell me, please."

Quatre looked at the spirit boy, then set his resolve and sat up. /Fine, I will. First off, imagine pain beyond pain. Pain that goes off the humanly known scale. Pain so intense, it's like you're dying over and over again in the most torturous way ever created. That/ Quatre paused for effect. /Is the kind of pain you will feel when they bring you alive again./ Solo's eyebrows had raised at this declaration, and Quatre continued, determined to show Solo the truth. /Then, imagine having to live the rest of your life with the guilt of innocent lives killed for you on your soul./

"What?" Solo asked, confused.

Quatre explained. /In order for the procedure to work, you have to kill four human lives. Four souls have to die in order for yours to come alive again. They.../ Quatre swallowed, then continued. /They killed a family in order to bring me to life. A young father and mother with little two year old twins. And the mother was pregnant. They were killed for me./

Solo swallowed hard, then breathed again. "I...I'll figure something else out...I will!"

Quatre decided to not even try and dissuade him in this, since he himself suspected of another way. But he wasn't here to help Solo, he was here to stop him. /When I...came back, I was in a coma for six weeks. I would have been in a coma forever, but they kept on researching and experimenting and they managed to wake me up by cutting my spine open and attaching small electronic neural pulses to each vertebrae to activate my brain. It hurts like hell, and it took me a month to relearn how to walk and talk and everything I had known before I died.

I stayed with the scientists for three months after that until I began to get my memory back, and then I ran away to find my family. Well, on the way there, a spirit possessed me, just as you did, and he took over me. Do you know of the phantom manslayer that appeared a year ago/

"Yeah, I remember that. It was on the news for at least two months. Some guy began killing people in broad daylight..."

/That was me, Solo. I'm the phantom manslayer. I watched from behind the spirit as he killed everyone he came across, either with weapons or with my powers. That was how I found out I had powers. By a spirit using them to slit the throat of a woman and rip apart a man. He killed forty seven people that day-including the scientists who came after me-with my body, as me, and then I watched him kill my father. And he was laughing. In my father's view, his son came back from the dead, began murdering people, and then laughed while he was killed. And the police could do nothing. With my powers, I was too powerful.

After my father was murdered, I began to fight back against the spirit. I couldn't regain control, but I did distract the spirit so he couldn't kill. The spirit decided to go into hiding, since he couldn't kill rapidly with my body when I fought him, so we spent one and a half months in hiding. But I couldn't completely stop him from killing. He killed about two or three people a night. And then he decided he was annoyed with me. He basically wasted all his energy one night in order to weaken me. And it worked. I became unconscious in my own mind.

The next day, he went on another killing spree. This time, sixty two people died before I woke up. When I did, and I found out what he was doing, I was incredibly angry. So angry that I was able to push the spirit out. Of course, once I did that, I was stuck in a square full of dead people with the police surrounding me. And for that split second when I pushed him out and regained control of my body, the barrier the spirit had put up fell down, and three bullets hit me. I got away and survived, but because of me and my weakness, two hundred and four people were dead. I killed two hundred and four people! And you know what the worst part is? Even after the spirit left, I had a sense of bloodlust. I wanted to kill more. I still...if I get angry with someone and look at them a certain way, they'll die./

"So I guess a happy Quatre is the best Quatre, then," Solo said in a low voice after a moment of silence between them. "I'm really sorry for what I did now. If I had known I..."

/You didn't know/ Quatre cut him off. /It's in the past./

Solo nodded, and after another moment asked."What did you do then?"

/I wandered for about a month, and then I went and found my oldest sister. I don't know how she did it, but I told her my story and she believed me. I lived with her for two months, and then the police began to catch up on my trail, as well as the spirit. My sister and I found the Maguanacs, a group of old friends, and with their help, I've been running from the police and the spirit and some other people for just over a year now. And that year has been filled with many painful discoveries about being a spirit psychic. Basically, your life will be hell. Any questions/ Quatre asked seriously.

"Just three," Solo ventured softly. "How old were you when you died, how did you die, and how long were you dead for?"

/I was thirteen when I died. I was kidnapped because of my father's wealth, tortured for six months while the kidnappers demanded ransom, and then killed when they got their money by having my throat slit. And I was dead for seven years. If I had lived normally, I'd be twenty two right now./

"Quatre, you have had a very sorrow filled life," Solo said. "And I understand you wanting to keep me from going through that. But I am going to become alive. Wait, here me out!" Solo stopped Quatre from interrupting. "First off, when I come back alive, I'll have you. That makes a world of difference, literally. You can teach me how to protect myself from being possessed, and you could stop me if I ever was to be possessed. You could teach me everything, your mistakes and how to avoid them, the dangers and benefits. With you there, it would be easy for me. You have to admit that's true."

Quatre scowled but nodded. /Even so. The pain.../

"Quatre," Solo said. "I will gladly go through all that pain if I can be with Kassatsu again. We're all we have. We're all orphans. Duo and I were street rats until we went to our orphanage, which was destroyed in a terrorist bombing. Wufei's entire clan was murdered, including his late wife. Trowa has no memory of any parents. He was raised in a geurilla army until he left and found his sister. And Heero...Heero was an assassin, Quatre. He was taught to kill people when he was a kid. All of us have painful pasts like you, and we're all we have. Kassatsu is the reason why Heero doesn't kill anymore. Kassatsu is the reason why Duo is so happy, and the reason why Wufei doesn't think he is weak and worthless anymore. Kassatsu is the reason Trowa talks. Mind you, he still doesn't talk much, but at least he does. He used to never talk. Every single one of us has killed and have the guilt of blood on our souls, Quatre, but together, we feel whole. And now I'm gone, and Kassatsu is dying. You saw them, you know! I have to become alive for them. For them, I will take the pain beyond pain. I will take the power and the risk of possessment and pain. I will do anything in the world for them. But I can't do it alone. I need you to help me. Please, Quatre! I beg of you, help me."

/Solo, I can't.../

"Don't say that yet. Think it over for another week. Please, just think it over. I don't need an answer right away. I want you to understand first, how I feel," Solo paused. "Quatre, I ask a favor. Please allow me to join with you again. For just a week! And after that, if you don't want to help me, I'll leave and never disturb you again. I swear on my brother's life. Please, Quatre."

Quatre thought. Solo's request wasn't extreme or unthinkable. It might actually help Quatre understand how Solo felt about all this. Of course, he was still firmly against the whole idea...wasn't he? And Solo was swearing on Duo's life. That was a very deep vow. And Quatre had to admit he liked Solo's company. It was like the friend he never had...

/Fine./

Solo jumped up and pumped a fist. "Awesome! Can I join you now?" Quatre nodded and Solo flew forward into Quatre, his spirit forming with Quatre's own. It was like having two pieces of paper instead of one when a spirit joined you. It only felt a very tiny bit thicker.

/I'm going back to my world now, so hold on./

"I'm sorry, golden, but your trip will have to be delayed."

Quatre halted midstep. Only one person had ever called him 'golden'. He knew that voice. He knew that voice/Oh, Allah, no.../ Quatre whispered as a spirit flowed into view. He was a tall, ugly scar faced man, with completely evil eyes. Eyes which had once replaced Quatre's own. His hands and clothes were bloodstained and he chuckled as fear filled Quatre's eyes. This was the Phantom Manslayer.

Did you like it? Bet you weren't expecting that. I hope that sounded okay. I keep worrying it's stupid...anyhoo, I'll rely on your opinions. Please review me. I reply to every review 'cause reviewers are special. So please review and ask me anything. Thankies!

Storm