Author's Notes: It's Halloween, Duo is awake and close enough to well, so the fun is really going to start. After all, the God of Death can't help but like a holiday devoted to the spirits and the dark. But is it really a good idea to play with toys from a stranger's attic, Duo? I am concerned about possible OOC, so I will give my half-assed excuses now. The boys have been working together long enough to establish a dynamic. They are not total strangers. I'm not trying to kill the original versions of them; I'm more inclined to leave them as they are than anything else. Yes, Wufei will continue to have that customary stick up his ass, no, Quatre will not be made into some flat-chested version of a debutant with mecha. More importantly, in my fuzzy little world, Trowa has a soft spot for Duo for many of the same reasons he seems to connect with Heero: there's a similarity in their backgrounds that most other people, even in the team, can't share with them. And if he can handle Heero, I see him having some affection for Duo as well. Good luck and goodbye.

Content and Warnings: Supernatural, increasing religious elements, mild language, possible hints of shonen ai, rated PG-13

Archive: Bolt of Tien Mu, Gundam Wing Universe, and FFnet

Feedback: tienmu (at) graffiti (dot) net

Disclaimer: This is the equivalent of singing classic rock songs in a school talent show: you obviously don't own them, you're not making any money, and your lack of talent may be a painful thing for others to witness. In addition to not owning GW, I don't own the quote Trowa uses, which is by Virna Sheard. The Complete Books of Azrael are real, lumped together as Our Name is Melancholy. It's a fabulous read, if you have a taste for it (beware of vague necrophilia). I don't own Malleus Maleficarum and wouldn't want to. My herb choices are meaningful and will be elaborated on at a later date. Great thanks to Scott Cunningham for making that possible.

Possessing Duo Maxwell, part two
A Gundam Wing 'Eek!' Fic by Tien Mu

Duo woke to a steady pulse of pain through most of his body. He shifted in increments, testing each area. So far, the only things that didn't hurt were his toes and his nose, though his left cheek hurt like hell. He was pleased that no one had tried to break his nose this time, at least. He tried to keep that in mind as all his muscles muttered in objection when he shifted to his right side and turned his head to alleviate the pressure on his bruised cheek. He ached as if he had been pinballing around in Deathscythe's cockpit.

"Duo, are you awake?"

The voice sounded fuzzy, as if he was hearing it through wet cotton. He tried to answer, but he throat was clogged with foamy saliva and his words came out as a raspy groan. He felt a light touch on his shoulder, just starting to pull him over onto his back.

"If you can turn over, I have pain pills for you. But you have to sit up," Quatre said.

Duo rolled over with Quatre's help, making his up-close view of the weave in the sofa cushions tilt sickeningly to the vaulted ceiling over him and Quatre's face peering in from the edge of his vision. But the position made the coil of his braid and the couch cushion press against his neck. He hissed and jerked himself back onto his side. With greater care this time, he simultaneously rolled over and pulled himself up into a half sitting position, his back leaning against the armrest of the couch. Quatre held a canteen against his lips so he could drink, then pressed two pills against his lips. Duo accepted them and the canteen returned to his mouth. He swallowed and the pills felt like rocks going down his throat. He coughed explosively to clear the congestion and took another drink.

"Hey," he said finally.

Quatre smiled and sat on the edge of the sofa.

"Hey, yourself. How are you feeling?"

"Been better. Been worse, too, so I won't complain."

Wufei appeared at the opposite end of the couch.

"That would be a first, Maxwell."

Duo pouted and winced when he felt his split lip crack.

"Don't be cruel to the wounded, man," he complained.

"Don't listen to him, Duo," Quatre said. "He's been watching you and Heero faithfully all day."

"Winner," Wufei growled. "Do no confuse the observation of duty with... something else."

Duo grinned widely, ignoring the split lip now.

"Wu, I didn't know you cared!"

Wufei huffed and turned on his heel. He lightly bounded up the steps to the second floor balcony and disappeared into a room. Duo chuckled and raked a hand through his hair.

"Duo, you shouldn't tease him so much."

"Yeah, right. This coming from the guy who gave me the ammunition to do it. Get real, Q. I'm just trying to get him to loosen up a little."

"Is that what you're doing?" Quatre asked with a laugh. "I thought you were trying to drive him to homicide."

Duo punched him in the arm, but there was little force behind it. He sighed and slumped forward.

"I would kill for a hot shower."

"I think that can be arranged. It seems the owners of this house moved out recently. The water and electricity are still working."

"Are you serious? This is great! For once, a safe house that I won't mind staying in. Give me a hand here."

Duo grabbed Quatre's shoulder and pushed against it to shift himself across the couch until his feet were on the floor. He stood up, but swayed and collapsed again with enough force to make the springs and frame rattle.

"Shit."

"Duo, you need to take it slowly. You were shot, remember?"

"Not really," Duo said.

He ran a hand across the back of his neck, feeling the soft patch of gauze and the stiff edges of tape. He pulled his braid over his shoulder and craned his head to look at it.

"Hm. At least this is still with me. Shot, huh? Wish I could remember what happened."

"You can ask Heero later. Here," Quatre said and offered his hand to help Duo up again.

Duo stood and wobbled, balancing against Quatre's strength. When he was sure he wasn't going to fall again, he nodded and Quatre walked him to the downstairs bathroom.

"Is Heero okay? His knee looked like hell and-"

"He's fine. Don't worry. His knee will heal, if he would just stop walking on it all the time. He woke a few hours ago and keeps hiding himself away with his computer."

"Yep, sounds like standard Heero procedures."

Quatre made Duo sit on the closed toilet seat while he turned on the shower. There was no curtain and he had to tip the showerhead towards the wall as far as it would go to prevent having water spray over the floor.

"I'm afraid there aren't any towels or soap."

"I'll make do."

"Do you need any help getting undressed?" Quatre asked.

Duo gave him a shocked look that dissolved into a cheeky smile.

"Why, Q, I had no idea you thought about me that way."

Quatre blushed and stuttered.

"I only meant-"

"Relax, I know. I'll be fine. Thanks."

Quatre nodded and walked out. He was about to close the door when Duo called to him.

"Hey, what day is it? And time, too."

"It's still the thirty-first. You didn't miss much. And it's sixteen hundred hours. Okay?"

"Thanks."

Quatre closed the door and his steps moved away from the door. Duo pulled off both his shirts unceremoniously and tossed them in corner of the room. He pulled off his boots and socks and placed them by the door, then his pants and boxers joined the shirts. Naked, he carefully stretched his arms over his head, slowly pulling them to loosen the muscles. He did the same for his legs, then braced against the counter to twist his back until it gave a satisfying pop. The hot water was now making the room steam up and the top half of the mirror was misted over. Finally, he took the tie out of his hair and pulled the knotted plaits apart, finger combing them as much as he could. Even his scalp hurt.

He was about to step into the shower when the door opened and Quatre came in. Duo squawked and whirled away, but he turned the wrong way. Instead of turning his back to Quatre, he faced him fully, realized his mistake, and spun around again. His ample hair curtained his body almost to his knees. He turned just his head to glare at Quatre, who had also turned his back to Duo and was facing out the open door. However, his shoulders were shaking just a little with suppressed laughter.

"Christ, are you nuts? Can't a guy have a shower in peace?"

"Sorry, sorry. I was just going to offer to wash your clothes. There's an old box of detergent in the laundry and with all the blood, I thought you would want to, well, yes."

"Jeez, I wish you would have remembered about that before I got naked. The clothes are in the corner. I'll hang out in here until they're done drying, so let me know."

"Okay. They shouldn't take too long."

"Yeah, well, I'm not planning to rush through this shower. I deserve it. Oh, and hit Heero for telling us we should leave our rucksacks with the gundams before the mission."

"Of course. Enjoy," Quatre said as he closed the door behind him.

Duo grumbled as he got into the shower and squeezed himself into the corner where the water was aimed. Even then, water was splashing off his body and onto the floor outside. He soaked his hair, massaging his scalp and wringing his hair between his hands to get it as clean as possible. The water going down the drain was tinted red as dried blood in his hair and on his back was rinsed away. He turned the hot water on harder, heating the shower further and increasing the water pressure. He turned around under the spray, scrubbing his nails and knuckles across his skin to get off sweaty grime without the aid of soap. His skin turned pink and red in stripes where his treatment was a little too rough.

He buried his face in the water, gasping air through his mouth periodically and rubbing down his face with only a little less force than he had used on the rest of his body. Then he sat down in the attached tub, folding his legs close to his chest. The water continued to beat down on him, running into his eyes and down his back. He rubbed his feet, bending each toe gently to check for breaks or sprains. There was no swelling, so it was not a practical necessity, but more an excuse to massage his aching feet.

Quatre's voice leaked through the closed door.

"Duo? Are you okay in there?"

"Yeah, of course. Whadya want?"

"It's been half an hour and your clothes are almost finished. I just wanted to tell you."

"Already?" Duo said to himself, then raised his voice to answer. "Okay, just set them outside the door."

Reluctantly, Duo stood up and shut off the water. Without a curtain to trap the warm air close to him, the water on his body soon turned too cold for comfort. Grumbling again, he wrung as much water out of his hair as he could and scraped it off his body with his hands.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," he complained.

He combed his fingers through his hair, hitting snag after snag.

"Heero needs to get hit extra hard for making me leave behind the sack that has my clothes and my brush. Jerk."

He roughly divided it into sections and braided it, leaving it looser than usual so it might dry sometime in the next twenty-four hours. There were bumps and stray bits everywhere and he scowled at his foggy reflection.

"Yep, extra hard."

He heard footsteps outside the door and a single knock on the door. He waited a minute before peeking his head out and snatching up the folded pile of clothes. He dressed as quickly as he could with his clothes sticking to all his damp skin, tugging fabric around in annoyance. He left the black over-shirt open and wrung his hair out one last time over the sink.

In the kitchen, Trowa had multiple bags of take-out burgers scattered on a cooking island. Wufei was standing across from him, looking dubiously at a burger sitting on its wrapper.

"Food! Trowa, you're my new favorite person!"

Duo threw an arm around Trowa's shoulders and started rooting through the bags. Trowa pushed one in front of him.

"Yours, Duo. Don't eat the others."

"Can I at least steal Heero's? He so deserves to go hungry right now!"

"No, Duo. You're not the only growing boy here," Trowa said with a tiny smile.

"Aw, man. Still, this is the best safe house I've had in a while. Hot shower, fresh food, clean furniture to sleep on. A guy could get used to this."

Duo tore the wrapper off his burger and took a massive bite. Wufei had just taken a bite of his own and looked vaguely green. Duo swallowed the mouthful, nearly choking.

"Wu, you don't look so good."

"I don't care what you say, Maxwell. This is not food."

"You gotta be kidding!"

Duo took an enthusiastic bite from his own burger. He shoved a hand into the bag and fished around for something without success. He set the sandwich down and peered into the bag. He looked up at Trowa mournfully.

"No fries?"

Trowa shook his head.

"We're on a budget."

Duo harrumphed and took another huge bite, followed by a prolonged, vaguely defiant drink from his soda. He gulped audibly.

"Who did the full sweep?"

Trowa raised an eyebrow.

"So, what other amenities does this fine establishment have to offer a discriminating gentleman?"

"Two bedrooms upstairs, one down, two baths, living room, kitchen, small attic. No turndown service or mint."

"Disappointing. Anything up in the attic?"

"Junk."

"Just my style. I'm gonna go check it out."

"Take Quatre."

Duo shrugged, surprised by the suggestion, and walked out, still eating his burger.

"Duo, are you really sure you want to go up there?" Quatre asked.

Duo looked down at him from the top step of the folding staircase leading into the attic.

"Sure! I want to see if there's good junk up there."

"I just..."

"Q, come on. There's just a lost of moldy furniture and boxes. I can see the whole room from here. Nothing to worry about."

Quatre sighed and gripped the sides of the ladder-like steps firmly.

The attic was, as Duo promised, packed with a jumble of old furniture and disintegrating boxes. The objects looked old enough and, as Quatre's sneezing fit attested, dusty enough that they must not have been touched in years. It was possible even the recent owners had not known about the attic and that it dated to owners before them.

"Wow! Look at all these old toys," Quatre said. "Some of these are collectors' items today. How old do you think any of this is?"

"Old enough to hold office," Duo answered with a laugh.

There was a wobbling noise of objects trying to keep their balance as Duo backed into a book case. A glass jar tipped over and rolled off its shelf to shatter on the floor. It released a puddle of deeply red liquid.

"Christ!"

"Tell me that isn't blood," Quatre said as he peered at it.

"I would, buddy, but you know I wouldn't risk lying."

Duo carefully picked up a section of a glass with a faded paper label stuck to it. Bat's Blood.

"No way. What the hell else is in there?"

"Duo, I really think we should get out of here. This is getting a little..."

"Yeah, just let me see."

He turned jars and bottles on the shelves to check their labels and tilted his head to read the titles of stacked books.

Mars Compound. Dried Angelica. Rosemary Simple.

The Complete Books of Azrael. Book of Shadows. Malleus Maleficarum.

"What's..."

"Duo!"

"Okay, okay. We're going."

Duo tugged roughly at what he had been looking at. It was a thin slice of black marble, inscribed in tarnished silver, so dark it was barely visible.

Quatre had already disappeared through the hatch in the floor. Duo stuck his head through, holding out the board.

"Take this for me."

Quatre took the stone warily and Duo scrambled down the stairs. The hatched swung up and slammed shut. Quatre felt he could breathe a little again and rubbed absently at the tightness in his chest.

"Duo, what is-"

Duo was already pounding down the stairs to the first floor.

"Hey, guys, check this out," he yelled.

Heero glared around the back of the recliner he had permanently claimed as his own. His face was cast in a faint green glow, indicating that the laptop was occupying its usual spot with him. There was a crumpled paper bag next to him; apparently, he had deemed the dinner tolerable.

"Must you? I'm trying to type our mission report."

Trowa came out of the kitchen to lean against the wall, watching everyone else. Wufei pushed past him and Duo almost tumbled the rest of the way down the stairs in a fit of laughter when he saw him. Having given up on the dinner Trowa had provided, he was instead morosely eating a stalk of celery. He looked unspeakably annoyed about the situation.

"Wu, you know you burn more calories eating that than you get from it, right?"

Wufei didn't see fit to answer. Quatre was right on Duo's heels and looked worried.

"Duo, what did you find? Those things were, Allah, I don't know what they were."

"Relax, man. No witch's brew right now. It's just a spirit board."

Quatre's nose and brow wrinkled in confusion.

"I've never heard of that."

"They're supposed to let you contact the spirits, demons, all sorts of stuff. They can spell out messages with it. But I didn't see the pointer for it."

"Good. Even you couldn't possibly feel the need to play with such superstitious nonsense," Wufei snapped.

"So says Dragon Boy," Duo replied. "Come on. It would be fun to mess around. Have you forgotten what tonight is?"

Wufei snorted.

"The thirty-first of October. Saturday. Your point?"

"You really don't know? Geez, what I wouldn't give for one other red-blooded American on this team."

"A Duo is more than enough," Quatre teased.

"Haha. I knew you didn't really love me."

"Oh, be quiet. So what's so important about today?"

"It's Halloween! All Hallows Eve. The night the spirits can walk the earth freely. The night when people can become something they aren't. The night people give out candy to strangers in masks. It's SACRED, guys! It's the best holiday ever."

Trowa walked over. He took the board from Duo's hands and turned it around, examining it.

"Tis the night, they say, when all souls come back from the far away, the dead, forgotten this many a day," he recited.

"Whoa. Where'd you pick that up?" Duo asked.

"I've spent time in several predominantly Catholic countries. You don't need another American. Yuy, give me a spare disk," he ordered.

Heero scowled but checked the label on a disk and handed it to him. Trowa held it up in front of Duo by one corner.

"Will this work as a pointer?"

Duo's grin grew to universal proportions.

"I don't know who you are and what you did with my Trowa, but you are so my best friend today. Let's get this séance on the road!"