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The Portrait

Part 5

Milliardo flipped the last circuit breaker and closed the box on the outside of the house with a satisfied nod. "This should do it," he mumbled to himself as he replaced the little padlock that secured the breaker box – After all this was a college neighborhood now, and "Play Pranks on Thy Neighbor" had always been one of the commandments in the holy book of higher education.

When he walked back into the house, the young man pushed the light switch near the front door, and the lamp above his head came to life instantly. Excellent, now at least I won't have to run around with candles anymore, Milliardo thought. He had called the DWP the day before and they assured him that water and gas would be turned back on first thing in the morning.

The young man checked his watch as he walked into the kitchen where he had put a box and several large shopping bags earlier when he arrived. He had asked Duo and Wufei to meet him here at noon, to help him move some furniture down from the attic, but had come earlier himself, to take care of a few other things beforehand.

He cleaned out one of the cabinets and started to unpack his shopping bags. He had bought snacks, several microwavable meals that didn't need refrigeration, a large can of coffee and last but not least a couple six-packs of beer which he stored in a large bucket covered with ice. There were plenty of light bulbs to replace the ones that were burned out or broken all over the house, and in the box was a coffeemaker, just a cheap one he had bought on sale. It would have to do until he decided if he really wanted to move into this place or not.

He wasn't lying when he told his father that he was starting to like the house, and the more time he had been spending here the more it felt like home already. Checking his watch again after he had put away the last of his groceries, Milliardo realized that he still had a good half an hour before his friends were due to arrive. He grabbed an armful of light bulbs and started to make his way through the house, beginning upstairs. When he finally reached the entertainment room his eyes, as always, were drawn to the portrait above the fireplace. He still didn't know as much as he would have liked about the young man in the painting, but he knew a lot more now than he had only a week ago. The same could also be said about his great grandfather. Reading the diary had given him a glimpse into a period of their lives in almost intimate detail, and made him feel like he had known them for a long time. Perhaps it was because he could easily identify with the two young men, that their story fascinated him so much. Of course, he already knew that there was no happy ending to their star-crossed love, but he still wasn't sure what actually happened.

According to the diary, it was during their trip to Newcastle, that Alexander first indicated that he was interested in more than just a platonic relationship with Octavian. From there on bond between them grew rapidly, and they spent almost every waking hour together. Which wasn't surprising, considering that Alexander's shore leave ended three weeks later, and the two lovers wouldn't see one another for more than two months. During those times when he was at sea, Octavian often wrote about how much he missed Alexander's company, and that the letters he received regularly couldn't make up for his lover's warm embraces and gentle kisses. But he also talked about how difficult it was not to be able to speak to anyone about the one he loved and their relationship. Those things were hard enough today; Milliardo could only imagine how much more difficult it must have been for Alexander and Octavian. If someone would have found out, Alexander would have lost everything, his rank and navy commission, his social status… and could have easily ended up in prison. And Octavian…?! Milliardo didn't even want to begin to imagine how his family would have reacted.

Milliardo was still studying the painting, lost in thought, when he suddenly felt like someone was standing behind him. His first thought was that Duo was trying to sneak up to scare him, but when he turned around there was no one there. Yet, the feeling that he wasn't alone remained. The young man swallowed.

"Alexander?!" he asked quietly, not sure what kind of response he actually expected.

Milliardo sensed the aura slowly shift, then a soft breeze ran through his hair, almost like a gentle touch. His mouth went dry and he could feel the hair in the back of the neck rise, but he was more in awe than frightened. Somehow he knew that Alexander wasn't out to harm him. If he was vengeful he would have settled his scores a long time ago. But his grandmother had lived with her ghostly housemate for many years even after her husband died, and it never seemed to have bothered her. And as for the stories she had told him and Relena when they were children; she probably wasn't trying to frighten them, but rather keep them from bothering him.

Still, this might take a little getting used to. The young man shook his head, trying to clear his mind. Alright now, I still have things to do. Duo and Wufei will be here soon. His gaze went up to the ceiling. The lamp fixture had been long removed and all that was left now was an empty socket dangling on a foot long wire, too high for him to reach without a ladder or stepstool. Milliardo looked around for something that would support his weight; the little round table didn't look sturdy enough and the couch was too heavy to move on his own.

Suddenly the young man felt a soft tug on his hand as the light bulb was pulled from his fingers. It seemed to hover in midair before it moved upward toward the ceiling. Wide-eyed and slack-yawed he watched the bulb was twisted slowly into the socket by an invisible hand. Moments later there was a soft click of the light switch being pushed and the makeshift lamp flickered to life.

Milliardo swallowed and somehow managed a wry grin. "Of course, you had to wait till the last light bulb to show me that trick." Alright, so it will take a lot of getting used to.

#

"Milliardo, you here?" Duo peeked cautiously through the half-open front door.

"Come in, Maxwell. All the way back here, third door on the left."

Following the sound of his friend's voice the youth ended up in a relatively small room at the end of the hall. "I see you got the lights back on," he greeted Milliardo.

"Yeah, gas too." The other youth nodded. "Are you alone?"

"Wufei is running late, he was tutoring someone this morning and missed the bus back. He called me and told me to go ahead already; he will take the E-line and come directly here."

"Alright no problem."

"If there is anything that's not too heavy we can start moving it already without him." Duo suggested. "I see you have gotten cozy already." As he looked around his eyes caught the diary on the table. "You have been reading more of it."

"I thought it might help me to learn more about my great grandfather and his lover."

"Says the man who lectured me about privacy," the young man grinned. "Admit it, you were just hoping for some juicy details."

"Grow up, Maxwell." Milliardo huffed and rolled his eyes.

"So," Duo asked with a gesture at the painting over the fireplace. "Did you find out anything new about mysterious Mister Khushrenada here?"

"Duke Khushrenada," the other youth corrected.

"Huh?"

"That's the title he was holding, but I'm not sure if people would call him that or refer to him by his naval rank."

"So he was a real blue-blooded aristocrat, huh?" Duo stepped toward the painting, crooked his head as he studied it for a few moments, then turned back toward his friend. "Come to think of, your family descended from nobility too, right? What happened?"

"What do you mean?" Milliardo frowned slightly.

"To the title I mean."

"Oh, I guess someone, maybe my grandfather, decided it wasn't 'fashionable' anymore and dropped it." The young man shrugged. "So, are we going to sit here and talk family history or are we actually going to move some furniture?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"There is a TV in the back of my car. We can carry that inside already and then there might be a few smaller things in the attic. I also want to take one of the bed frames and mattresses down, but those are heavy so we will wait for Wufei with them."

"Sounds good." Duo nodded. "Well, what are you sitting there for? By the way, you still haven't told me what else you have found out."

"Not much," Milliardo admitted as the two young men walked out to the car. "I went to the local library the other day like Wufei suggested and checked their newspaper records. Surprisingly every paper in town reported about my great grandparents wedding but Alexander's death was barely mentioned. He apparently did die that very same day, but there is no word about how; only that his body was found late that evening by one of his servants."

"And THIS used to be his house, right?" his friend took a cautious look back over his shoulder. "So, he did die somewhere in there. And then your great grandparents moved into the place. That's creepy."

Milliardo shrugged as he opened the backdoor on his car. "Like Wufei said, a person dying at home wasn't that unusual at those times. Besides, it wasn't like he died of the plague or something."

"Hey, we don't know that." Duo pointed out.

"Well, it's pretty safe to assume he didn't, considering that no one in my family got sick. Now, give me a hand here."

The TV was only 29 inches, but it was bulky and the two men had a hard time getting a good grip on it.

"Got it." Duo finally announced.

"Me too," his friend confirmed. "Let's move it to the room we were just in. Do you want me to walk backwards?"

"No, that's fine. Let's just do it."

With Milliardo directing the other youth they made it from the car to the entrance and up the three steps to the front door.

"Damn it!" Duo cursed quietly as he peeked over his shoulder and realized that the door had closed behind them. There was no way that he could unlock and open it without having to set down the TV. "Where is Wufei when you need him? I just got such a good grip…" he swallowed the rest of the sentence when he heard the lock give away with a sharp click just before the door swung open.

"Di…did you see that just now? The door…it just opened on its own. Just like the diary the other day..." he stammered in a mixture of awe and shock. "I swear I didn't even touch it… I…"

"Maxwell, will you stop worrying about that f-ing door and move? This thing is heavy." Milliardo snapped at him.

#

"Are you serious? So it is really true?" Duo couldn't have looked more staggered if his friend had suddenly sprouted a second head. "He is still around…even now?"

After they had moved the TV into the entertainment room, Milliardo decided that it was only fair to tell the other youth about what had happened earlier.

"Yes," he confirmed. "He is here, somewhere."

"Wow, that's just…. I… can't believe it."

"Can't believe what, Maxwell?" Wufei asked as he walked into the room. "You guys know, you left the front door open?"

"Oh, yeah. We'd just carried something into the house and didn't have a hand free." Milliardo nodded.

"Sorry I'm late. Stupid transit system; why do they even have a schedule, if they never keep it?

"Don't worry about it."

"Wu, you won't believe what Milliardo told me."

"What?" Wufei looked at the older youth questioningly, leaving him no choice but to tell the whole story again.

Considering that he insisted on not believing in ghosts, Wufei seemed a lot less unruffled by it then Duo. But then again, he did say he believes in ancestral spirits; I wonder how he distinguishes between the two anyway, Milliardo thought.

"Were you able to find out anything else about how he died?" his friend wanted to know. "That could be the key to why he still hasn't moved on."

"Not really."

"What about the diary?" Duo asked. "Your great-grandfather didn't mention anything either?"

"I…haven't gotten that far yet. It's kind of hard to read on," the older youth admitted.

His friend nodded understandingly. "Like reading a book that you know will end badly."

"Only in this case the main characters aren't just the product of someone's imagination. Even though they used to live a hundred years ago, after reading about them they have become very real for me. I feel like I know them and understand them. I know they were happy together, if only for a short time in their lives…" Milliardo trailed off, then cleared his throat. "Alright, let's get moving, shall we?"

Wufei and Duo nodded in agreement. They followed their friend up into the attic where he pointed out the pieces of furniture that he wanted to move downstairs.

"The iron bed frame isn't as heavy as it looks, I checked it out earlier. But the mattress is kind of bulky. It will probably be best if we put it sideways and slide it down the stairs. With two of you taking the front and I'll be in back making sure it doesn't move too fast. Other than that I just need a couple of chairs and one of the smaller tables for the kitchen and maybe one of the nightstands."

"So you are really going to live here?" Wufei asked as he tried to pull the bed's headboard free from behind a large chest of drawers.

"I have already been spending a lot of time here, might as well stay a night or two before I decide if I want to move in for good. I really like this place; I don't know why I didn't realize it sooner. It's so much larger than my little apartment and closer to school. If I wanted I could probably easily find a housemate, too."

"You already have one…remember." Duo pointed out.

"Yeah," Milliardo laughed. "But I was thinking more of someone who can pitch in on the repairs that need to be done."

"Duo, give me a hand with this dresser," Wufei demanded. "I can't get the headboard out without moving it."

"Move it where?"

"Just over there to the other side of the wall." The young man gestured at a free spot near the window and his friend nodded in acknowledgement.

But when they tried to pick the dresser up they realized that it was a lot heavier than it looked.

"Wow, I forgot that they used to make furniture from real wood. There is no way we can carry that thing."

"Need a hand?" Milliardo asked.

"There isn't enough room for all three of us. Maybe if we just remove the drawers that will make it light enough," Duo suggested, and instantly started to pull them out. The first three came out without any problem, and the young man handed them off to his friend who set them aside. The last drawer however, on the very bottom, only opened about three quarter and then wouldn't budge, no matter how hard Duo pulled and tugged.

"Careful Maxwell," Milliardo warned. "Don't break it."

"Don't worry, I don't think I could, even if I tried," his friend grinned. "Good old, solid workmanship. They don't make 'em like that anymore. It feels like there is something stuck under that thing."

Putting one of his feet against the dresser for leverage, he angled the front of the drawer upwards and gave it another try. This time, his effort paid off. And as the drawer slid out of the dresser case, nearly knocking Duo over in the process, so did what looked like a bundle of some kind of paper.

"Papers?" the young man frowned as the small package dropped to the floor.

"Letters," Wufei corrected and bent down to pick it up. "Looks like someone has been hiding them there."

Indeed, it was a small stack of a dozen or so letters, tied together by a black velvet ribbon.

"Doesn't look like the same handwriting as in the diary."

Duo was right. The handwriting was similar, yet clearly different, very elegant and smooth. And from what Milliardo could tell, as his friend handed him the bundle, at least the top letter was addressed to his great-grandfather.

"Do you think they are love-letters from…HIM?" Duo gestured vaguely around the room.

It made sense. Octavian had mentioned in his journal that he had been corresponding regularity with his lover when they were apart. And the fact that he hadn't destroyed the letters, even after he married and his lover had died, spoke volumes about his feelings for Alexander. I wonder if great-grandma ever knew.

"Are you going to read them?"

"I don't know. There is a reason those letters were hidden. And as much as I'd like to find out what happened, I think the two of them still deserve some degree of privacy."

"I guess so." Duo admitted.

###

"Thanks guys, I really appreciate all your help." Milliardo told his friends as he dropped them off in the parking lot outside the dorms. After moving the furniture, they hung out for a while. But since both Duo and Wufei had evening classes that night he had offered to drive them home around five.

"No problem whatsoever." Wufei assured him. "We will see you tomorrow. Thanks for the ride."

"Milliardo, are you sure you will be alright, staying alone overnight at that house?" Duo asked.

"I'll be fine. Besides, Maxwell…" the older youth grinned as shifted gears and released the brakes. "I won't be alone."

"Exactly my point!" Duo yelled after him.

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T.B.C.

Author's Note: I often listen to music when write, music helps me to get into the right 'mood'. I have certain songs I listen to when I work on certain stories, or sometimes certain chapters. My song for the Alexander Octavian relationship is 'Right here waiting,' by Brian Adams. It seems to have just the right ambiance. If you have the song, give it a try, listen to it.