Warnings and Disclaimer: I'm afraid I need to claim all bits of insanity, 'cause I'd probably be sued if I tried to shove the blame onto someone else, but the rest isn't mine.
The world was a neat, orderly place, if not necessarily a nice one. In fact, it could be downright mean. But in the world, everything made sense. Effect followed cause, Relena followed Heero- every event had a logical explanation somewhere behind it.
At least, that was how Duo had seen it, his entire life. You were born, you survived as best you could- the streets were a very good teacher for that particular lesson- and then you died.
Except the thing currently sitting on his bed, staring at him through thick-framed glasses kind of made all that go flying out the window.
"Er... Are you all right?" the pale boy asked with a shy smile, running a hand through hair that would give Heero's a run for his money on messiness. "You look like you've seen a-"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence," Duo interrupted absently, still in shock as he lowered the gun. Why the hell not, after all? It wasn't like it was going to do him any good...
The ghost had to stifle a laugh behind a hand. "I'm sorry," he finally said, his precisely British accent somehow making the situation even more surreal. "I knew it was cliché, but I just couldn't resist..." He floated up off the bed, closer to the stunned boy by the door.
Duo automatically took a step back as the ghost came to a stop just in front of him. "But... you really can see me," he murmured, a sense of wonder clear on his transparent features. "I thought maybe you could, but I wasn't sure..."
"W-why wouldn't I be able to see you?" the American managed to stammer out. He could hardly believe he was actually talking to the thing. It had to be a trick of some kind, maybe a hologram. Or a hallucination...
Yeah, that was it. Duo felt a profound sense of relief fill him as he came to what must be the correct solution. The reflection on his monitor, that constant feeling that he was being watched... simply symptoms of his descent into insanity. And he'd just hit rock bottom.
The ghost actually looked depressed at the question, despite being only a figment of his imagination. "Because not everyone can," he said sadly, further confirming the conviction in Duo's mind that he'd gone crazier than a bedbug. "In fact, you're the first person who has since I died."
Somehow, that wasn't surprising...
Duo was about to ask how long ago that had been (in for a penny, in for a pound, after all) when the sound of a car pulling into the drive distracted him. His eyes widened as he realized who it must be. "Quatre," he muttered out loud.
The apparition drifted over to the window and, even though ghosts were supposed to be non-corporeal, nudged aside a curtain to study the little blonde. Duo watched the emotions pass over his face, uncertainty the foremost.
Finally he nodded, apparently having come to a decision. "Tell him... tell him want you want," the ghost said, turning to look at the teenager. He pushed up his glasses with a nervous finger. "I... don't know if he can see me, though. So... be careful."
His speech concluded, he faded away before Duo's eyes, until the Gundam pilot was utterly alone in the room.
-
Quatre hummed cheerfully, if rather tiredly as he pushed open the front door. It wasn't often that a mission went truly wrong, but it was still always nice when one went well.
"Duo?" he called out curiously. The house was far too quiet to be holding the loud American. No music blaring, no TVs left on... If it wasn't for the second car in the drive, he'd almost have wondered if Duo wasn't back from the supermarket yet.
He peeked into the kitchen. No, there were the bags of groceries, still sitting on the counter...
"You called, Q?"
Quatre squeaked, spinning around to see Duo standing at the foot of the stairs. He stared at the braided boy as his heart raced. "Duo, have you ever considered wearing bells?" he asked once his pulse had slowed down a bit.
"Where would the fun in that be?" the pilot automatically quipped back, stepping further into the hall. "I wouldn't be able ta make 'Fei have heart attacks anymore."
The billionaire chuckled. "Of course..." His laughter died away as he spotted the gun in Duo's hand. "What-?"
The teenager blinked down at the weapon for a moment, as though surprised to see it. "Oops." He put it back inside the holster tucked into the back of his pants and pulled his shirt down to hide it. "Thought I heard something upstairs, went to check it out," he offered in explanation.
"And did you find anything?" Quatre asked, his sharp eyes catching the ever-so-slight paleness of his friend's face.
For a second, Quatre thought the boy was about to say something, but then Duo shrugged. "Just my nerves playing tricks on me. This house..."
The Arabian nodded, though more than his space heart told him that the pilot was keeping secrets. "I understand," he said mildly. Keeping secrets or not, he knew Duo would never do anything to jeopardize his four fellow pilots. If it was something important, he'd tell them.
And besides, the house really was creepy enough to make you imagine things.
-
A long time later, Duo lay on his bed beneath the sheets, staring up at the dark ceiling. There had been no sign of the ghost since that brief meeting, and he was beginning to wonder...
He shook his head, trying to clear his mind. What was he thinking? Of course he'd imagined the entire thing!
Still...
Feeling utterly ridiculous, Duo sat up. "Um... hello?" he whispered into the darkness, putting his bare arms around his knees. "Are... are you there?"
For a moment, there was nothing. Then the temperature of the room seemed to drop a couple of degrees as a voice whispered in his ear. "I'm always here."
Duo yelped and dove off the bed in a tangle of sheets. Gravity decided to introduce him to the wooden floor with a painful thud, and soon after the formerly silent night was filled with curses.
Eventually the pilot wound down, until he finally fell silent and looked up at the cause of his aggravation. The ghost was hovering over the bed, staring with wide eyes, and Duo had the feeling that if he'd had a body, he'd be blushing red enough to put a fire engine to shame.
The braided teenager couldn't help but be a little disappointed, really. He would have expected his mind to come up with a... well, a more unusual hallucination. Except for his transparency, lack of any color, and the gentle glow that he gave off, bathing the room with a silvery light, you wouldn't have looked twice at him if you passed him on the street.
Well, actually parents might have held their children's hands more tightly and gone about their business just a little bit faster, Duo reconsidered as he looked at the ill-fitting clothes the apparition wore. They were obviously secondhand, and in any overprotective mother's mind would scream "hoodlum!"
Kind of like the clothes he'd worn as a kid on the streets. Probably why his subconscious had picked them to clothe his very own hallucination.
The ghost blinked owlishly under his steady regard. "Er... oops?" he offered to the boy lying on the floor.
Duo carefully untangled the sheets from around his legs and stood up. "...Don't do that again," he ordered. "Ya almost gave me a heart attack, and then I'd be hanging around haunting this dump with you."
The pale boy's lips twitched, but he nodded. "Sorry."
The American sighed and grabbed his sheets. "Forget it." He tossed them out over the bed so they'd lay flat, and did his best not to wince as they passed right through the ghost. "So, who are you, anyway?"
The spirit settled down so that he was perched on the edge of the bed. "My name's Harry. Harry Potter. And you're Duo?"
By this time nothing was going to surprise Duo, least of all that a figment of his imagination knew his name, so he simply nodded. "Duo Maxwell," he added, completing the introductions. The longhaired teenager plopped back down on the bed and leaned back against the pillows to stare at the ghost some more.
Who fidgeted under his regard. "Um... You're taking this rather well..." he started nervously.
Duo shrugged. "So I'm insane. Big deal. People have been tellin' me that for years."
The ghost looked at him oddly. "You're not insane."
"Yes, I am. I'm talking to a hallucination," Duo pointed out. "You don't get much crazier than that. Well, unless ya start eating people on your way to world domination."
"I am not a hallucination!" Oh, yes, the ghost was most definitely offended.
"Oh?" Duo gave him a skeptical look. "Why am I the only one who can see you, then?"
He frowned, pushing up his glasses. "I never said you were the only one who could, just the only one who has so far. There should be plenty of people who can, unless something's gone really wrong, but none of them ever came here."
"So I'm just the first?" Despite his doubts over the entire matter, Duo couldn't help but be just a little bit curious to find out just what kind of strange puzzle his mind had slapped together. "What's so different about me? What do ya need to see ghosts, anyway? Bad life insurance?"
The ghost looked uncomfortable. "Well... You have to have magic."
A/N: -looks uncomfortable herself- Erm... I'm kind of grounded from the computer right now, so I shouldn't be doing this, but I wanted to keep up my whole 'post every two weeks' deal, so... Here you go. Cross your fingers and hope I don't get in trouble...
Our sincerest gratitude to A lilmatchgirl, blackrosebunny(Well, I'm pretty decided on Duo/Harry, but other than that… -shrugs-), Bluespark(-grins- I try…), Cattiebrie393, Ciupacapra (-beams- Thanks), Curlz-Kitsune, E.A.V., Fate, Firehedgehog, insanechildfanfic, J-chan8, Kimpatsu no Hoseki, Larail, LassyD (-chuckles- I'll admit, in some ways this is one of my favorites, too…), Lost-Remembrance, Minako Nine, Mithros (Can't do anything about them? Says who? –smirks-), Rav Rev (-looks annoyed- You know, you're getting way too good at guessing where this is going… The answer's yes, but to all or one I'm not saying), P.L.S., and Under the Old Oak Tree (-sighs- I'm afraid I have no knowledge of the subject whatsoever, so I'll trust you on the matter) for reviewing.
2 March 2005