Thy Heart Shall Bleed

.:THREE:.

Relena's POV

Is Duo that stupid to go wondering off on his own?… isn't that obvious? I huffed out as we all went in search of the braided one.

Now come on, Relena, don't let Heero see you like this. I raised my eyes to my future husband. He's everything I want in a man, everyone would be jealous and happy that finally the obvious couple were finally together. And then Dorothy will, at last, get the hint that I'm not interested. Although she is very nice, concerted, polite and notices my graces but that would be shameful to me if the media found out. And how I just turn my back to the Perfect Soldier, soon I hope, the Perfect Husband for the Perfect Lady like myself. The only problem is that someone has their eyes on Heero as well, Duo. I'm not sure if he knows that Heero and I were meant to be but he doesn't give up. I do admire that determination of his.

I know I don't hate Duo, and I get this strong feeling about us, besides the competition, but I don't know what. It just feels like a connection. Like it or not, but we're so much alike. I feel like I don't really mind and I definitely won't tell anyone, especially Duo.

"Duo!" Quatre yelled out in the darkness. We've been traveling awhile, going through doors and such. Why would he run away? Was he scared; or did something take him away?

"Baka" Heero muttered in Japanese. Despite the harsh words he spoke, in his eyes, he looked worried. Duo's practically his best friend. I could handle that but Heero will be my true love.

"Don't worry, Heero, we'll find him" I said, looking concerned as I touched his arm.

It was fake, the concern. I felt only a little bit worried but that's as far as I go.

"Duo! Where are you?" Wufei said frantically.

"He couldn't have gone far" Trowa said, "We have to check all the doors."

We moved everywhere. Everyone had split up so it would be quicker to search. I sighed but opened a door quickly enough so if there was one of those monsters, I was ready to run. I had a torch in my hand and instantly checked every corner of the room. It was rusty in there. I moved in. There was a locker door in the middle of the room. It looked like it could fit at least two people in there. Why would the locker be in the middle? Heero would be pleased if I found something useful, I thought as I opened it up with ease.

All of the sudden, a bright light shone in my eyes.

The bright figure in the locker was Duo, except he looked more feminine than ever. He or rather she's hair was much longer, there wasn't that purple bang in his hair that I always admired silently. 'He' was wearing a black satin dress that matched perfectly with the necklace she wore. The pendant was a gruesome silver skull attached to a circle by the cross bones. The chain to the pendant was golden. The while thing looked strangely pirate-like as it lay at the top of her cleavage. She looked angry.

"You!" she shouted.

"Duo?" was all that came out of me.

"Why?" 'Duo' asked, "Why did you do it?"

"Do what?" I frowned.

Blood tears leaked out of her eyes but it didn't seem to bother her, whom still held the anger.

Ghostly red ribbons appeared around her. Hanging above nothing, it just seemed to come from the rusted ceiling.

"How could you do this?" she shouted as she suddenly moved forward, out of the locker. But swiftly the ribbons set down and gripped 'Duo' by the arms, hands, legs and around her neck. Her limbs shacked by the pressure as she tried to struggle out of them.

"Oh!" I gasped in fright. I moved back, "What?"

"I'll never forgive you!" she said, trying to struggle even more out of the ribbons. They just seemed to tighten. She was choking and blood started to pour around the skin where the ribbons held.

"Argh!" I screamed and fell on my backside. Duo's arms began to become bloody, then her whole body was covered in blood. I heard the crying coming from her. It seemed to echo. Duo and the ribbons slowly disappeared.

"No! not again, please!" Duo frantically tried to escape, "Please god, not again!"

It soon all disappeared. Her cries dispersed.

The others came and saw me, sitting on the ground.

"What happened?" all of them asked.

"Oh, if I told you, you wouldn't believe me!" I cried out. I was so frightened.

Duo's POV

Man, how did these people mutate? I asked myself as I just finished off another monster with my trusty revolver.

All these strange events are driving me crazy. It could have been all an illusion. I hoped.

I need to find the other guys. I'm getting the feeling being alone here, is an extremely dangerous thing to do.

I regret leaving the group for an illusion.. but I still kept the key I found. Who knows, it may come in handy.

I moved all the way back from where I split up with the others. They weren't there though. I didn't here them calling my or the noises of walking. They couldn't have gotten that far without noticing I'm not there, right?

"Yes they could! They hate you! They're glad you're not there…"

Is that my subconscious or that illusion again? "Leave me alone!" I gritted my teeth, "You're just an illusion. Stop messing with me!"

"But they don't care that you're not with them. I can hear they're thoughts… they're happy you're not there to annoy them… but I'm here. Come with me, Duo. I'd never disown you or run away from you."

"God, what is with you? You're not even real! This whole town is screwed up! It's making me see n' hear things!" I shook my head and moved on to the door the others went through when I left them.

"Duo… I need you… they don't deserve you as much as I do…"

"I'm ignoring you! Go away!" I covered my ears and just blocked out the voice.

"Duo…please…" Haro's voice came over and over begging to be heard, "you're mine…you can't ignore me forever…"

"I can try!" I walked for a while and just started yelling everyone's name.

They couldn't have really left me…they might be looking for me right now…

I yelled louder. I didn't care if monsters would hear me. I just didn't want to be any more alone here.

"Heero!"

"I could get them to come here if that's what you want…I'd do anything for you, Duo…just please don't get yourself hurt. Promise me, Duo. I can protect…but I'm not as strong now as I was alive…" Haro's voice felt like it was right at my ear. I backed up a bit from there. Alive? Man, this is totally a delusion.

"Ok, ok, but I can't really promise that…just please let them be safe and find me" I couldn't take this. I just want the others with me. Maybe then 'Haro' will go away.

"Duo!" I heard Heero's voice from a distance.

"Heero?" I moved to the area where I heard it. Sure enough, there were the others running to my direction. God, I hope I don't get scolded for leaving.

"Duo! How dare you run off!" Wufei shouted even though they weren't near me yet.

As soon as they caught up they were all relieved that I was there. Relena looked shaken. Must have been a monster or something.

"Where were you, baka?" Heero said towering over me with a glare.

"I just went to check out something. That's all. I'm safe now" I said grinning.

"Did anything bad happen?" Quatre asked with a worry.

"Nah. Nothing I couldn't handle…"

"You are Duo… right?" Relena asked me softly. What the hell is wrong with her?

"Of course I am!" I frowned, "Why wouldn't I be?"

She looked away, "nothing…"

I don't know what her game is, but I don't want to be apart of it.

"While you were off, we found the exit," Trowa said, "but to get out we'd need a key. We didn't bring any explosives…"

"A key?" my eyes widened, I started to fish through my pocket, "like this one?"

"Where did you get that?" Quatre asked me.

"Oh, just found it on the floor somewhere" I didn't want to tell them what had happened with that outside room, not about Haro, or anything involving him. They would thing I was crazy or something.

"It's worth a try" Trowa said shrugging, "there's no real rush."

Everyone, including myself this time, went to the door with the lock. But there was this note on the door. Quatre told me that it wasn't there before.

It read:

To the ones who travel,

This door will lead you to the truth. Follow the path and cross the Lake of Toluca.

PostScript,

The dark will try, but the light won't lie.

Below the note, there was scratched by a knife in huge writing- Beware of the fog.

"Where did all this come from?" Wufei said, touching the scratched words.

"Maybe there is a survivor here. They must have don't it to warn us" Quatre said guessing.

Could it have been Haro who did this?

"We can't trust that this could have been done by a human" Wufei told us, pointing at the note and scratched words.

"The mutations would have driven them insane" Quatre softly said.

Heero just stared at the door, while Relena looked down the hallways with a blank look. What happed to them?

I took the key out again and put it through the keyhole. It opened with a 'click.' What a coincidence that I found the right key.

"Let's go then" I said snapping everyone out of their daze.

The sky was dark, black clouds were hovering…unless that's the fog. The air was cool, and some wind picked up a little. The only thing we saw clearly was the wooden boat ramp ahead of us. As the note foretold us, we followed the ramp path through the fog. It was the only thing we could trust. The further we moved, we could hear the splashes of the Lake we walked over. As soon as the ramp stopped, the fog in the sky was darker. Ahead there were two small boats tied to the bollard with an old rope. I could see a blurred white light, it wasn't like the sun, more like a lighthouse. Are we supposed to go there?

"It just said cross the Lake" Trowa spoke, "not exactly where, but just across."

"Does it mean to that?" Relena asked pointing to the lighthouse's light.

"What's the harm in going that way?" Quatre stated, "coincidentally there are two boats for us to travel."

We split up in the boats. I was with Heero and Relena. I rowed with Heero, while Relena sat in front of us, holding her arms. The cold and fog must be the reason. I saw that Quatre was the one who sat in front of Trowa and Wufei. Ha, Quatre must have pouted his way out of rowing. Lucky bastard.

Since I'm such a gorgeous and caring person, I'm letting Relena not row. And plus I'm being such a gentleman after all.

It's weird but Relena hasn't flirted with Heero ever since I rejoined them. Did Heero tell her off or did something happen to her.

She caught me glancing and nervously looked away. Jeez, what's her problem?

As we rowed, we looked back to make sure that we lined up to the blurred lighthouse.

"What is that?" Quatre shouted from his boat.

We all halted our rows to look behind us.

A shadow loomed ahead of us. Almost human shaped. We heard something that surprised us all. Gargling. Those creatures couldn't have walked on water. There'd be sinking to the bottom. More shadows appeared ahead. They didn't seem to be moving forwards. Just standing there. As if waiting for us to come to them.

"What do we do?" Wufei asked seriously.

A horn noise came forth to the side of us. It sounded like a ship. Soon enough, the shadow of a big giant ship was to one side, while the shadows grew around us. We were surrounded by shadows.

"What's happening?" Relena shrieked.

The noise of gargling and the ship's horn surrounded us.

"Maybe this is what they mean about the fog" Trowa said referring to the message we found on the door.

"I'm not getting anything from them" Quatre frowned, with his hand over his heart.

If he's not sensing anything then that means they're not really there, right? The note did say 'the dark will try, but the light won't lie.' Does that mean the shadows are lying? Well, it's worth a try. We can't just stay here.

"Heero," I said getting his attention, "Let's still row. I think they're just shadows."

Heero nodded, hesitantly but was determined to follow me. We rowed all the way to the shadows. Relena was holding the sides frightened of the dark. Trowa and Wufei rowed as well. Not sure what we were doing but they didn't want to be left behind. Quatre had his hand over his heart, trying to sense for the shadows.

The nearer we got, the bigger the shadows became and the les solid-looking there were.

The noises they once made was gone. All you heard was the occasional splashes of the water of the ghosting win, blowing the fog around like a feather.

"It's fake," I stated to the others, "I don't know how though. It might have something to do with the mutations."

"But what if it's contagious? What if we mutate!" Relena freaked.

"Calm down. If it is contagious, we would've been mutating by now" Heero spoke as he and I rowed on with the others.

"Right. And I don't feel any different from before, so there's nothing to worry about" I said smiling. That calmed Quatre down and he smiled back.

However, Relena wasn't convinced but who cares if she doesn't have faith in me? She never has anyway.

As we were rowing to the light, my stomach grumbled. Man, I'm hungry! I hope that wherever we're going, that there'll be food of some sort. Plus, I got to go pee as well. That's just great. I better not have to pee on a tree, 'cuz I always feel sorry for them. It's not their fault they grew in a particular place that there wasn't any toilets available.

The rowing was staring to kill my arms. Back and forth, my arms went. I swear, they're going to kill the next day. Of course, that's if we're going to survive that far!

It feels like forever of rowing! Relena told us if her were swerving off the target of the lighthouse. The more we rowed, the more I thought of Haro and the random things that popped into my head. Now, I believe I'm going strange.

I wondered if I should name my gun. Is that strange at all? I mean, in some movies, the actor would name their guns. So why can't I?

"We're here" Quatre said relived.

The sky had a light gray to it than before. I think it was because of the lighthouse. The fog still hasn't helped much as to where 'here' was. All it showed was big shadowed building further up ahead. We all scratched as we came out of those god forsaken, uncomfortable boats. We tied them with the ropes that were in the boats to the bollard that was offered.

"Everyone, remember where we parked" I joked, trying to break the silence. No one seemed to get the joke in their head at the moment. Heero only grunted. I guess that's the best I'm gonna get.

We walked along the wooden ramp with caution. Nothing seemed dangerous. The ramp turned right and ended with cement stairs. On the sides of the stairs, were big bushes that kept its perfect rectangle shape. We followed the pebbled path that led us closer to the enormous shadow of the building. We came past a working white fountain. Splashing dark water with trickles of light plops of water. Is this a good sign?

After watching the fountain a bit, we moved on ahead. The grass seemed cold, but was green still along the pebbled pathway. It led us to the front of the building. Even though it 'seemed' that it was daytime, the porch lights were on. No insects' flied to the light glow. Was there any life out here besides the mutations? As far as we could see, the building was three stories.

The whole look of the porch seemed cold, distant and lonely. There were no windows to the first floor. We knew that this is where we go. I felt my stomach churn nervously as Heero gripped the doorknob of the big white door. I felt that something big would happen inside this building. I didn't know if it was good or bad.

Heero opened the door. Cold wind blew at us as it creaked open. It was dark in there. Nothing could be seen.

The scariest bit through the darkness and the cold wind, was the sounds that softly echoed to us from inside.

The soft, expert symphony of a piano playing.

Yo, Yo, Yo! Sorry about the long wait, we had exams and plus a day ago I just had a needle shot at school. Grr.. the pain, THE PAIN!

Anyway, how was this chapter? Sorry if this is short btw. But I'd like you all to know- that between all the wait, know that I am working on the chapters in my free time.

and those who are waiting for something to jazz up the relationship between Duo and Heero. DON'T WORRY! It's coming. Don't know when, but I know it's coming!