Chapter Five: Exploration

A/N: I LIVE! YAYUH! Soooo sorry about the…what, SIX MONTH delay? Seven? Yeah. Very sorry. I had a lot going, my laptop decided it no longer wanted to be on the internet, my muses abandoned me, and I went to Jamaica. But if you want to know more about all THAT, you'll have to go to my xanga. ;)

I am a bit back now, though. We'll see how long it lasts this time, but yeah! Let's do this, right?

Warning: Chapter is a bit morbid near the end. Just a bit. Y'all are burton fans, I wouldn't worry much 'bout it.

Begin Chapter:

"The most fun thing to do in a big empty house is explore!" Mandy exclaimed. And with that, she grabbed Edward's arm and they set off. They walked up a short flight of stairs and found themselves in a long hallway. Mandy looked at Edward, letting go of his arm.

"This is as good a place to start as any." She announced. "What do you think is behind this door?" A mischievous grin spread across her freckled face. Edward, however, frowned at the door, trying to remember what was behind it. He didn't remember ever going through that door, nor what that room could possibly be.

"I don't know," he replied honestly. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Mandy replied, shrugging. "It'll be a surprise for both of us, which is more fun. Ready?" She twisted the handle and shoved…and the door didn't move an inch. Mandy frowned and tried again. Nothing. She tried once more, this time pulling. After a few more failed attempts, she finally let go.

"Well, this sucks." She said in a defeated, if not pouty tone. Edward frowned.

"What?" he asked

"Our first door and it's locked. We're off to a great start, areen't we?" Mandy explained. "You know where your father kept his keys?" Edward shook his head.

"No." he said. "Excuse me." Mandy stepped aside, giving him a questioning look. He walked up to the door and performed his lock-picking trick on it. Seconds later, it swung open, as if by magic. Edward turned back to Mandy, a somewhat pleased look on his face. Mandy whistled appreciatively.

"That's pretty cool. You didn't break it or scratch it or anything!" she complimented. Edward's eyes widened. Jim! That was what Jim had said. Mandy noticed his rather fearful look and raised an eyebrow.

"You okay?" she asked. Perhaps exploring wasn't such a great idea after all. Edward pushed all thoughts of Jim from his mind. Mandy wasn't Jim. She was nicer. And she was his friend. Wasn't she? Edward blinked, somewhat shocked at himself. Of course she was!

"Yes." He replied firmly. Mandy studied him for a moment, then shrugged. She walked into the room, her mouth falling open as she took it in.

"Woah!" she cried. "This is awesome!" Edward followed her into the room and looked around. The floors were tiled in white marble, and the walls were of white and gold paneling. IT was a welcome change from the rest of the house. A large claw-footed tub sat in the middle of the room, along with a spindly gold table. The table still had dusty soaps and shampoos on it. A basin sat against the wall, surrounded in candles of all sizes. Some of them were brand-new, some of them were halfway burnt, and a couple were even down to stubs. Mandy was still in awe of the room.

"I mean, I know it's a bathroom and all, but it's the coolest bathroom I've ever seen in my entire life. Hello!" Mandy cried as Leopold shot past her foot and into the room, detecting even more dust and grime. Though Leopold could open doors that were shut, it couldn't do anything about locked doors. It began rapidly cleaning away years of dust. Mandy laughed, and Edward smiled.

"I think this was the master bath." Mandy speculated.

"My father's bath." Edward added. Mandy walked over to the basin, picking up a towel. She looked at the gold initials monogrammed into the towel.

"L. M. I wonder what that stands f—oh, no, here we go." Mandy put down the towel and picked up a shaving kit. "Liam Montgomery. Very Nice."

"Father. . ." Edward whispered. Mandy looked at Edward thoughtfully.

"What was he like?" Mandy wanted to know. Edward looked past Mandy, into the years long gone. She watched all this with great interest; finally she was going to unravel some of the mystery that was Edward Scissorhands.

"He was kind. He helped me. He knew everything. He…" Edward's deep brown eyes filled with longing, and suddenly his young, innocent face grew very old and tired. "He loved me." This was said so quietly, Mandy almost missed it. She was silent, biting her lip as she watched him. He looked so sad; she wanted to do something to help. But what could she do? She couldn't bring back the dead for him. More than anything she wanted to make him smile. So, why don't you? Mandy scolded herself. She took a breath.

"Dude, I am so in love with this tub!" Mandy exclaimed suddenly, running and jumping into the tub. Edward looked up at her, quite startled. She stood up in the tub, fully clothed, putting a snooty expresson on her face. She put one hand on her hip, turned up her nose, and flicked a wrist out at Edward.

"Oh Edward, I do believe I've run out of bubbles! Have Leopold run to the store and get me some at once! And they simply must be vanilla scented. Heaven forbid anything ordinary touch my pampered and well groomed skin!" she moaned in an over-exaggerated snooty accent. Edward just frowned at her.

"Come on, I don't care who you are, that was funny." Mandy complained. Edward understood. She was making a joke. He smiled appreciatively. Mandy shrugged.

"Well it ain't no laugh, but thanks." She took a bow and—"Ouch!" Mandy lost her blanace, slipping down into the tub, disappearing from sight. Edward came over and peered over the edge of the giant tub.

"Wow, that kinda hurt." Mandy remarked, rubbing her head and wincing.

"Are you okay?" Edward asked, a worried expression on his face. Mandy nodded, grinning at him.

"Gimee a hand?" she held out her own hand. Continuing her comedy routine, she made a face. "Help me! I've fallen and I can't get up!" Edward took a step backwards, the worry on his face changing to fear. No…He remembered reaching out toward others. He remembered what happened. Kim, Kevin, Jim… his father….

"Now I want you to stand." Liam said. Edward gave him a rather helpless look. The legs were quite new. He understood the mechanics of using them, but understanding and doing were two completely separate matters.

"I can't." Edward said. "I don't know how." Liam smiled. As mucha s he told himself that Edward was simply another invention, an experiment, he couldn't help but love the boy like his own son. He had given up being strictly scientific with Edward ages ago. There was just no way.

"Shall I help you?" The old inventor asked.

"Thank you, father." Edward said, giving him an exaggerated smile. He had almost gotten emotion down, but there was still work to be done. Liam took one of Edward's scissorhands gently and eased him upwards. All of a sudden, Edward slipped off the table. He landed on his feet, but for a moment, his knees buckled under the new weight. As he faltered, he sliced through Liam's arm, from elbow to wrist.

"Ahh!" Liam cried, pulling his injured arm to his chest. Edward's eyes widened.

"I'm sorry!" he cried in horror. Liam gave him a kind smile.

"Yes, yes, we will have to be careful about that." He said. He pushed a button on his cane, and Lucille came out to bandage up his arm.

"I hurt you." Edward stated sorrowfully.

"Oh, it's all right, Edward. I'll be all right. We just have to be careful until I can finish your hands, that's all." Liam said soothingly. He laughed. "That means no dancing, you hear me?" A joke. Edward gave him a smile…

"Edward? Hello?" Mandy was saying. Edward returned to the present.

"Yes?" he asked, nor remembering what was happening.

"Remember? Ahh, I've fallen and I can't get up!" Mandy said teasingly. Edward's face fell.

"No, I can't. I'm sorry!" he said quickly, a slightly panicked tone entering his soft voice. Mandy frowned thoughtfully.

"Hey, it's cool. I've got it." She said, climbing out of the tub and brushing the dust from her jeans. Edward looked down at the floor.

"Hey, come on, don't get all depressed on me, now." Mandy said, walking over and touching his arm. He flinched, causing her to frown again.

"Are you okay?" Mandy asked. Edward shook his head.

"I'm fine." He said. "Thank you." Mandy wasn't convinced, but what else could she do?

"Onward?" She offered. Edward nodded. Mandy pushed open the door on the other side of the room. Leopold shot past her again, and this time she could have sworn she heard a complaint in the humming mechanics.

"Master bedroom." Mandy called over her shoulder to Edward as she walked into the room. Edward frowned. Something about that room seemed to ring a bell. But what was so special about it?

"HOLY CRAP!" Mandy shrieked. Edward followed the sound into the room. Mandy stood beside the giant four-poster bed. One of the curtains was pulled back. Mandy had gone pale, both hands up over her mouth, eyes wide with shock. Edward stood behind Mandy and peered into the curtain. Oh. That was what was special about the room. Edward had to look away.

"Edward, is that…" Mandy whispered in horror.

"He didn't wake up." Edward said. "I took him to bed, but he didn't wake up."

"Oh…jeez." Mandy backed up. "You…that's…"

Edward stopped listening, once again, remembering.

Edward stared at the blood on his blade. He looked down at the old inventor. He hadn't made a sound when Edward cut him. Edward wondered why. Perhaps he was simply very tired. Yes, that had to be the reason. Very carefully, Edward slipped the old man into his arms. He carried him to his bedroom and laid him out on his bed. He pulled the curtains around the bed.

"Goodnight, Father." Edward whispered, slipping out of the room.

The next morning, Liam never came to breakfast. Nor lunch. In fact, he stayed in bed all that day. And the next. And the next. And… the next. He never woke up again.

"Edward…" Mandy was saying. "I don't think I want to explore anymore."

"Okay." Said Edward. Mandy went back through the door and into the bath again. Edward turned to follow, but stopped and looked back at the rotted corpse on the bed. All that was left of his father. He had long since figured out that his father was never waking up. Dead, Peg had called it, when she was talking to her husband about his father. Edward's father was dead. Edward pulled the curtain shut on the bed.

"Goodnight." He said. He then followed Mandy out the door and into the hall. Mandy decided to come back the next day. To watch a movie, she said. She just… needed to go home. Which was fine with Edward. He, too, needed to think.

Mandy walked home slowly, thinking about her visit. She was still shaken by what she'd seen in the bed. The man was decayed to almost nothing but bone, though skin still remained. Dust had covered the corpse, as well as cobwebs, and possibly a spider. It had been the single most horrific thing Mandy had ever seen. She'd been terrified. Her skin still crawled. But Edward… the whole time he'd just seemed sad. Not horrified at all.

Once more, Mandy wondered what sort of grip Edward had on reality. How much did he understand about life and death? How much did he understand about anything?

Mandy sighed. She would have to devote a lot more time to this mystery than she'd expected. This wasn't just a game, playing adventure all Wizard of Oz. This wasn't somewhere over the rainbow, this was a person, a very strange, mysterious person. But a person all the same. This was no fairytale. But there seemed to be a fair amount of magic where Edward was involved.

How much magic remained to be seen.

End Chapter Five.

Okay, wow. This one sort of had a mind of its own. I'd been wrestling with it for a long time, because I felt it was a little morbid, but the more I resisted it, the harder it was for me to write it any other way. So I just had to go with morbid.

I'll see what I can do about getting another chap up, but I promise you nothing. It doesn't seem to work out very well, does it? Meh. I am planning on writing some ficlets in other categories, though, so keep an eye or two open.

Peace!

aj

Review?