Disclaimer: I don't own GW or Duo...
Note: Sorry this is late, I've been caught up in studying for an exam to get my P&C license :/ also, more chapters will be late until I pass the exam.
Void of Death
Hilde grumbled when she heard her phone vibrating on the nightstand in her hotel room from the shower. She could ignore it, knowing it must be Duo, but since this was the first time he tried to call her since yesterday, she couldn't help herself as she shuffled out of the bathroom with a towel on and leaving the shower running to grab her phone and answer without looking at the name.
"What do you want Duo?" She sneered before she could stop herself. If she was going to be sour about it why did she answer?
However, Duo's voice was not who answered back. "Hilde, have you seen Duo?"
Hilde recognized the gentle voice of Duo's blonde friend, but it sounded panicked and nervous. Hilde started to feel the creeping anxiety attached to that voice, as she began to second-guess her decision to leave. Had Duo done something stupid because of her? "No, I haven't seen him since yesterday. What happened?"
"He was in the hospital, but the doctors said he snuck out or something. We can't find him."
She was panicking now. "Why was he in the hospital?!"
Quatre hesitated, and she knew he didn't want to explain but he had to tell her, there wasn't any way of getting out of it. "He was shot, but he's stable, so he's okay." He quickly reassured her before she could freak out. "But he's walking around with a bullet wound and he could hurt himself even more."
"Oh my god, I'll go find him." She said, rushing to grab something to throw on while she was on the phone. "Did you try calling him?"
"He left his cell here at the hospital." He said. "Along with his clothes."
"So what, he's naked?!"
"He's probably wearing a hospital gown."
"Why would he leave in the first place?!"
"We don't know. Maybe to go look for Azrin? We got separated from when he was shot."
She expertly tossed on a cami and wiggled into her shorts, hopping towards the door while trying to slip on her shoes. "How did he get shot in the first place?!"
"We'll explain later, just help us find him before he gets hurt…worse."
"Okay, I'll head back to my place and see if he shows up. You check the café he usually meets you at. If you don't find him, call me." She pocketed the phone, not even bothering to do anything with her wet hair, and bolted out of the hotel room as fast as she could.
Duo locked the door to his house once he entered, shutting all the blinds and keeping the lights off. He didn't want anyone to see him, since he was supposed to be in recovery from a shot wound right now. The last thing he needed were people questioning him about something he couldn't explain himself.
He made it passed the kitchen and headed towards his room to find something to wear. He paused, thinking he saw someone peek from behind the island in the kitchen.
"Azrin?" He turned around, slowly making his way over, hoping it was Azrin, but when he looked, there was nothing there. He shook his head, thinking he was seeing things, then went back into his bedroom to rummage through his clothes.
He first grabbed underwear and a pair of skinny jeans Hilde didn't like him wearing, throwing them on and looking through the drawers for a shirt or jacket. He slipped on a red t-shirt and found a hoodie lying on the floor. He rolled up the sleeves and proceeded to find a pair of clean socks.
He jumped, hearing a thud come from his closet.
"Azrin? Is that you?" He looked over at the sliding closed doors in apprehension, slowly walking over and hoping it was just Azrin hiding behind it. He grabbed the handle and yanked.
However, it wouldn't budge. He tried pulling harder, but for some reason it was stuck. He had never had trouble with it before, and this place had been remodeled two years ago, so why was it stuck? He put all his strength in it, and opened it a crack.
Duo yelped and jumped back, seeing a pale face staring at him through the crack with wide brown eyes and blood dripping from its mouth. The face opened its mouth slowly and started making a gurgling sound as more of the crimson liquid poured out.
Duo fell back onto the bed, staring at the face in horror as it slammed the closet shut and more blood continued to spill onto the floor, leaking from cracks and corners and staining the carpet. He shook his head, not believing what he was seeing, and when he looked again, everything was gone.
Not a stain, not a drop of blood, nothing.
"This is nuts…" He mumbled to himself, hastily grabbing a pair of socks and shoes and bolting out of the room. He headed straight for the door. He didn't know where he was going to go, but he wasn't staying here. He grabbed the front door and yanked it open, coming face to face with another girl.
Duo yelped and jumped back before realizing it was Hilde. "Oh my god, Duo!" She jumped into his arms, and he just stood there, still shocked.
Until it finally hit him who was hugging him, and he buried his face in her shoulder and embraced her with all of his failing sanity. "Hilde…"
"Duo, are you okay?" She asked, pushing him back and looking at him. She looked confused. "What happened? Quatre said you were shot…"
"Hilde… I…" He said, not knowing where to begin. Hilde looked up at him, and his pale complexion and anxiety ridden features was enough to make her panic again.
"Duo? What's wrong? What happened?"
He started shaking, fidgeting, looking anywhere but at her face, and she could see the past events of the day playing through his eyes. The confusion and fear was more than what she had ever seen in him, and it scared her…
"Hilde… I don't know what happened to me…" He stumbled back and onto one of the stools in the kitchen surrounding the island, trying to find something stable. "I-I think I'm going crazy…"
"My god, Duo, you don't look so good…" She said, trying to hold his balance. "You shouldn't have left the hospital, you could get sick."
Duo jumped, making Hilde jump, and he looked around like he heard a sound. Fear seemed to flow back into him as he scrambled up and yanked her out of the house. "I don't want to stay here anymore, let's go somewhere else."
"Um, okay…" she didn't know how to argue with this strange, frightened, puppy-like copy of her boyfriend. Why was he acting so strange? She held on to him, knowing he might fall apart if she let go. She lead him to her car. "We can go to my hotel room."
He nodded, slipping in and staring at the dashboard. "Okay…"
She got in and looked at him. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.
When they got to the hotel, Hilde set the car in park and looked over at Duo. He hadn't moved an inch. She gingerly placed a hand on his shoulder, shocking him back to reality. "Are you okay?"
He shook his head, the fear in him subsiding. "I'll be okay…"
"Okay… What happened?"
He didn't answer for a moment, leaving the air stagnate. He sighed. "I don't know…"
"Well, why don't you start from the beginning? How did you get shot?"
He sighed again, looking up and recollecting his thoughts. "It started when me and Azrin got into an argument about…" He trailed off, realization hitting him like a scythe to the gut. "Oh god, Azrin!" He fumbled with the car door and got out.
"Wait, Duo!" Hilde followed, standing up by the drivers side and calling out to him. "Where are you going?!"
"I have to find Azrin!" He said, looking panicked again. But the fear was different. It wasn't the fear for his sanity this time.
"Okay, where could he have gone?"
"I-I don't know…"
"Why don't we look together? You can't be running around with a shot wound."
"I'm fine, just wait for me." He said, turning around and taking off before she could coax him back into the car.
"But, Duo!" She watched as he ran off. "Duo, you don't even know what room number I'm in!" He stopped, looking at her expectantly, and she sighed, knowing she wouldn't be able to get him back into the car. "It's 304!" He nodded, and took off again.
She sighed and sat back in the car. "All I ever do is wait…"
Duo made his way through the crowded streets of the large city, looking for any sight of Azrin and making sure to avoid any more hallucinations. So far he had encountered a man walking into the street and getting hit by a semi, a teenager getting thrown out of a bar with a shot wound to the head, and a kid walking the streets asking if anyone saw his brother. All had disappeared, and all had appeared unusual compared to normal people.
It was almost like he could sense a difference between the weird apparitions and humans who walked among the living. It was one thing for him to think Death followed him, and quite another to actually see it.
It was freaking him out, but he kept Azrin on his mind. It kept him grounded with a goal that could get his mind off the freak show he was witnessing. Besides, the sooner he could find Azrin, the sooner he could get some answers.
Duo paused, thinking he saw a little black haired boy in the crowd, but realized it wasn't the same raven black color. He sighed, looking down at the pavement with guilt. Where did he go? He was my responsibility, and I lost him. Great babysitter I am…
Something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye, and he looked around to see a strange hooded figure in the crowd. The person was wearing a black trench-like coat with its hood obscuring his face. If Duo didn't know any better, he would have thought it was a black spot in the middle of a picture.
He paused, realizing the figure wasn't moving, and it was facing towards him. He turned around and took off at a steady pace, ignoring it only to see if it would follow him. He looked back, seeing the figure standing in the crowd the same distance away as the first time. He quickened his pace, turning a corner to try and lose the figure.
He stopped dead, seeing the person standing in the crowd in front of him, sending a shiver down his spine. He took off at a mad sprint, hoping to somehow lose the person following him, a deep sense of dread falling to the pit of his stomach. He spotted a Preventer Station and made a bee line for it, refusing to look anywhere else for fear the figure would appear in front of him instead.
He burst into the doors like he had ran a home run, trying to catch his breath. He walked over to the desk with the receptionist, leaning on the counter to maintain balance. "Is Quatre and Wufei here?"
The receptionist looked stark white, shaking her head. "Um, no, they're looking for you…"
"They are?" He asked, blanking on the reason.
"Weren't you in the hospital for a shot wound…?"
Duo froze, dawning on him that he had no way to explain his miraculous healing. In fact, he had avoided that whole conversation with Hilde because he had no idea what to say. He was confused himself, and the last thing he wanted was to be taken into a testing facility and dissected.
He couldn't stay; he had to leave. How was he going to explain what happened, if he didn't even know himself? He needed answers, but the only person who had them was missing.
He needed to find Azrin.
He didn't even utter a word before he bolted out of there, the receptionist yelling for him to stop.
Duo had no idea where to start searching for Azrin. He looked at the café they went to the first time, and that was the only place he thought he might have been. He hadn't known him long enough to get to know him, or figure where his favorite places were. All he could think to do was file a missing person's report, but that wasn't a good idea because for one, it hadn't been twenty-four hours since he last saw him; and second, it would expose himself.
He paused. Well, if I'm not human, maybe I can sense him… or something supernatural like that… He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate, but didn't really know what he was looking for. Was he supposed to feel any different? Was he supposed to see something in his mind? He had no idea what he was supposed to feel, let alone do to sense someone. He sighed, defeated.
Suddenly a cold chill ran up his spine, the same feeling he got when he saw that hooded figure in the crowd. He looked around, feeling uneasy, hoping that thing hadn't followed him. He sighed, not seeing a single thing that could remotely be considered an enemy. He turned to head off down the road.
He froze. His blood ran cold, as the figure from earlier stood before him in a menacing glory only inches away. The person stood at least five inches taller than himself, surrounded by an eerie darkness, as his hood shrouded his face from sight. He was covered from head to toe in a long black trench coat that hugged his slender and muscular form. If Duo didn't know any better, he would have thought he was looking at the manifestation of Darkness itself.
He backedaway. He could feel the figure's gaze following him, ominously. He gulped, frozen solid and unable to run for his life, and hoping to whatever god was up there he would have mercy on him and bail him out of this predicament. Which was unlikely.
Duo felt another chill go up his spine, as the figure spoke like he commanded the darkness around him. "Where is the boy, Azrin?"
"I-I don't know… I haven't seen him since this morning." He said, being honest.
Duo had the distinct feeling that wasn't the answer he should have given. The figure then held out his hand, as black mist started to form around it, molding into a long staff. A blade burst from the hilt, curving around like a sickle. Duo recognized that weapon all too well, and his fear that Death was following him had finally come to fruition, in the worst way.
Duo held up his hands in defense. "L-Look, I really don't know where he is!" He said, becoming defiant. "And if I did I wouldn't tell you." Duo wished he could smack himself for that last comment. He was never a coward, but he usually didn't provoke an enemy that could slice him in half within a millisecond.
The figure started pulsating anger, and Duo felt like he had aggravated Armageddon itself. He did the first thing he could think of in this situation.
He turned and ran.
However, before he could get very far, the figure appeared in front of him, slicing the air with his scythe in an attempt to behead Duo. Luckily the braided pilot was quick enough to duck, though ended up falling down again and trying to scramble to his feet.
The figure held out his hand again, and for a moment Duo figured he was going to summon another weapon, when suddenly he felt like something was tugging on his arms and legs. He looked down, his eyes widening, as he saw smoke of darkness begin to wrap itself around him and pull him beneath the surface of the sidewalk they were on.
Duo tried to pull away from the black mist, but it seemed to have a tight grip on him, as it continued to pull him farther and farther into the black void. He looked around, hoping to call for help, but no one seemed to think anything was wrong. He thought that maybe seeing a giant hole of darkness swallow someone up would be frightening to the public, but it was as if they couldn't see him.
Are they blind? He thought to himself, but figured that since normal people couldn't see ghosts, this had to be something similar considering he was trying to run away from Death. "Let go, I don't know where he is!" He yelled, thrashing and struggling against his restraints. He feared what might be beyond the Void of Darkness. It could permanently kill him, or it could be a gate into Hell. What if it brought him to the other side and stuck him in Purgatory? Or maybe it was to the Black Abyss. He didn't want to think about being stuck in a void of darkness for all eternity.
The figure smirked as he watched the pathetic creature struggle. There was no way out, not against him. Whether he liked it or not, he was going to get some answers, even if he had to torture him to get it.
Fear racked through Duo as the darkness surrounded him, gulping him down and dragging him out of sight. Everything went black, and the fear that he would never see Hilde or his friends again started to spill over.
For the first time in his life, he was afraid to die.
Hilde checked her phone every couple seconds, barely paying attention to the pay-per-view on the 42-inch television. She was worried. More than for Duo's safety. She was worried for his sanity. He had never looked so scared in his life. And he had fought in a war. Hell, he called himself Death and paraded around the battlefield leaving bodies in his wake.
She shivered to think about the past. He wasn't actually that bad, but she knew his past haunted him.
But not like this. This was something recent, something now. Something had scared him far worse than what PTSD he had left from the war.
Hilde jumped when she heard a knock on her hotel door, and lit up. "Thank god you're back!" She said, rushing to open it. She quickly grabbed the handle and yanked the door open.
However, standing there wasn't Duo, but a tall looming figure in a black cloak. The figure smirked, Hilde giving it a confused look.
"Who are you?"
To be continued
Okay, finally another chapter.
Also, I ask that you please review if you like this story or even if you don't like it, I will take creative criticism. Even if you just send a "nice" or "lol" I don't care, I just want to know that people are actually reading this. Reviews help the writer get motivated for writing more. With my exam overshadowing me, I need some positivity -_-
