Summary, Warnings, and Disclaimer: /cackles insanely/ Mine, mine, they're all mine… /is still cackling as the nice men in white coats drag her away/
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"When an action is once done, it is right or wrong for ever; no accidental failure of its good or evil fruits can possibly alter that."
-William Kingdon (W.K.) Clifford
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Sighing, Duo looked up from his laptop for the first time in an hour as he reviewed OZ's latest troop movements. He stretched his arms above his head and felt a pang of satisfaction go through him at the multiple popping sounds his body made.
A dog barked loudly outside, and the teenager glanced out the window and grinned. Outside, several children were playing some kind of game in the street as the sun went slowly down. Four of them stood in a square, while the others stood in a line beyond them. They had a bright red ball that they bounced between them, and the kids waiting to play alternately cheered and booed depending on what the players did.
Even as he watched, the ball went out of bounds, and rolled to a stop against the safehouse's white picket fence. Duo frowned in puzzlement as all of the kids visibly hesitated to retrieve the toy, quiet a few seconds passing before the oldest gathered his courage and gingerly stepped forward.
And that was when he became aware of it again, the same creepy feeling of being watched that he had felt this morning. This time Duo controlled himself, hiding any outward sign that anything had changed. Instead, the American let his gaze drift casually over to the computer screen. Gotcha, he thought, seeing in the screen the pale, blurry reflection of the intruder's face. He slipped a hand down to his boot and palmed one of his many knives, before abruptly spinning. He came out of the desk chair and landed in a crouch, blade at the ready…
Only to be brought up short as an empty room presented itself to his eyes.
"What the fuck?" Duo muttered, shocked. Damn it, he'd seen the bastard! It couldn't have taken him more than a fraction of a second to turn around, so how the hell had the guy managed to disappear that quickly? It was as if he had somehow vanished into thin air…
The American shook his head slowly, violet eyes very wide. "I'm going insane…" He fell backwards onto the bed, the knife nearly dropping from his limp hand.
He looked around dazedly for a few seconds, until his eyes fell on the laptop, still sitting quietly on the desk. Then he was up again, as a few short steps carried him over to the computer.
With brisk, efficient movements, Duo brought up his email. He typed out the safehouse's address, ran it through the laptop's Perfect Soldier-designed encryptment program, and then sent it to the three absentee pilots.
His task completed, the braided boy shut down his computer and fled the room.
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Quatre was watching a news program when he slipped into the den. Duo settled next to him on the couch, startling the blonde. The American murmured an apology, and for a few minutes watched the glowing television with him.
"Hey, Quat?" he finally asked, as the news went to a commercial break. "You said something last night about scientists studyin' this place…"
"Yes?" The Arabian gave him a curious frown, obviously wondering what he was on about now.
"Well…" Uncharacteristically, Duo hesitated, and the small blonde's curiosity instantly turned to concern.
"Duo, what is it?" he asked, aquamarine eyes intent on his friend.
"The scientists… did they ever mention anything… well, odd, about this place?" The teenager's hand tugged on the end of his braid.
The billionaire blinked. "Like what?"
If anything, Duo looked even more uncomfortable. "Um, you know, just… odd things." He winced at the blonde's raised eyebrow. "…I was just up in my room, an' saw some neighborhood kids out playin' in the street. Ta make a long story short, they wouldn't come near the house."
"Well, it is private property, and very old," Quatre said logically. "Their parents have probably drummed it into their heads since birth that they're not to trespass."
The American shook his head, frowning. "If they were just reluctant ta come in the yard, yeah, that'd make sense, but they weren't just reluctant, they were terrified. What the hell could have caused that?"
Quatre looked thoughtful. "Well… there were a few wild accusations from one scientist, a couple of decades ago, that the house was haunted. Ostensibly, there were a few instances of objects being moved with no apparent cause." He shrugged. "It was most likely a lab assistant having some fun with his or her supervisor. There's no such thing as ghosts."
Duo started to open his mouth, then paused and looked away, unsatisfied. "I know, Quat, but… this place gives me the willies."
Surprisingly, the blonde nodded in agreement, and for a few minutes more they sat in silence as the TV blared.
"I've sent the others the address," the braided boy finally said quietly. "Hopefully, they'll be here soon."
"Good." If there was no small amount of relief in the Arabian's voice, neither of them commented on it.
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He'd been seen!
It was all he could do not to weep for joy, even though he hadn't meant for it to happen. He'd spotted his reflection in the computer screen a split second after the strange boy had, and nearly hadn't made it safely into invisibility in time.
Still, though, the boy had seen him! He was a wizard, or at least a Squib!
Harry smiled, as he curled up comfortably, floating an inch above the plush chair and only a few feet away from the two teenagers watching the telly. They didn't know he was there, of course- being dead did have a few advantages, even if they didn't come close to balancing out the disadvantages.
Still smiling, the ghost of the Boy-Who-No-Longer-Lived studied the face of the beautiful longhaired boy. He remembered the genuine smile that had lit up that face when the boy- Duo, according to his eavesdropping- had seen the children playing in the street.
That was the moment Harry had decided that he would show himself, when he had seen that smile. His family had never smiled like that when they saw something as innocent as children playing; Aunt Petunia would be more likely to keep a sharp on them to make sure they didn't trample her precious flowers. The flowers that he had planted, and that he kept alive over the burning summers, so he still didn't see by what right she had to claim them…
He shook himself. That was old news, the distant past. It was no longer important, and he knew that, but sometimes he found himself thinking that he was still alive and sixteen, when chores were important, to appease his family and dispel unwanted thoughts. It was as if there would be no Death Eater raid, no burst of green light, no moment of despair knowing he had failed them, failed them all…
Again Harry pulled himself out of the past. All that was years ago, he no longer knew how many, and was very close to not caring. With a silent snarl, he thrust himself through the back of the chair and into the darkness of his cupboard, barely noticing the fact he nearly went through the blonde as well, making him shiver from the sudden chill.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow, for good or for ill, he would show himself to this Duo. And what would come… would come.
Bitterly, he snorted. Hell, it wasn't like anything could hurt him now anyway…
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A/N: Aaaand, it's done. /sighs in relief/ Thank God… Just a chapter of Serpent's Riddle to go, and then I can get back to my main fics…
Aren't y'all happy about that?
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Review Responses
Our thanks to: E.A.V., Firehedgehog, Kate Maxwell, Larail, lilmatchgirl007, Shino Ryu, shroom, and Tanya the Insane & Aristarchus the Muse.
Akua: Those are most definitely the right questions to be asking. Yes, Duo is a wizard, but I haven't decided about Q-kun yet.
Cor-chan: /glares and rubs her bruises/ That hurt, yanno…
/sighs/ I know. I'm trying to stretch the chapters out a bit more, and I think I got this one to accept a couple hundred more words, but it's slow going.
Kimpatsu no Hoseki: Does that answer you question a bit?
mercurialgreen: /grins/ Three cheers for alternate pairings!
Mithros: /bows thankfully/ I just can't stand the way some other authors throw two genres together without thinking about how they'd fit together, or interact, so I do my best to keep myself from doing the same thing.
OOMaxwellDemonOo: /laughs/ You do that to stories, too? I generally keep my imagination to imagining slashy innuendoes in het fics, though.
/smiles dreamily/ Hair…
That really happened to you?
Rav Rev: The actual answer is a version of number five- I got so busy with my other stories I didn't get around to this one for a while. Though number six happened on another story…
Let's see… one- that would take far too long to explain here, and will be in a future chapter anyway. Two- ghosts have the ability to go completely invisible, as evidenced by the fact Peeves believes Harry under the invisibility cloak was the Bloody Baron, in the books. Three- mostly no, and yes. Four- yes; they'll be arriving in a few chapters. Five- not from Harry, but other than that… well, they are Gundam pilots. And trouble magnets…
SidhePrincessAislinn: Not necessarily, not just because I've never seen how that pairing can work unless Duo makes it three, but because I don't see the need to have every single character paired off by the end of the story like so many authors do.
simpleinsanity: /laughs/ Not that particular scenario, but I have been creeped out a few times by a sudden cloud passing over the sun while I was reading something scary…
I don't know if all the pilots will be wizards- that seems kind of unlikely to me. They will all be able to see Harry eventually, though.
Skeren Dreamera: /laughs/ Just lucky, I guess…
Wren Truesong: /bows/ Thank you, my lady, for your understanding…
It is true that Harry died a violent death, which partially anchored him to the house, but mostly it's the fact that it was here he died. There'll be a twist, though- I subscribe to the Tanya Huff belief about ghosts, if that means anything to you.
/shudders/ Frankly, though, I believe it could have been worse. I don't know if Muggles can become ghosts, but if they had, and were trapped in the same house with him…
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I tried to update this from home last night, but my floppies got corrupted, so now I'm sitting in front of a school computer. Enjoy anyway, though. Or else! /glares/
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8 December 2004