May the madness continue. . .

. . .

Chapter 3: Warning

. . .

Ok, calm down Roxas, calm down. There is clearly something very logical about this. Oh who the fuck am I kidding-how was this possible? You don't just dream about something and then find it in your closet unless you know it's there! Let alone having the damn thing look just like you! What the fuck? I turned around and shook Hayner's shoulder. He groaned and then turned to look at me. "You awake already? What time is it?"

"Just after nine. Hayner this is really important!" I said as he sat up.

He yawned and then flexed his arms. "What is it?"

"Last night, I had a dream. Not the one I have been having, this was different. I was in a room, with this talking-stringless puppet."

"The puppet that was making you clothes?" He asked almost mockingly.

"Yes!" His face dropped. "He led me in to a back room and had me sitting, naked might I add, on a wooden table and made me a gothic Lolita. But he didn't stitch it, not once. That's not all."

"There's more?" I was going to slap him.

I bent down over the side of the bed. "When he was finished, he said 'perfect. You'd make a prefect'."

"A perfect what?" I sat up on the bed and turned to him.

"I don't know, but something tells me he was saying 'doll'." I held up the stuffed mini-me and Hayner's eyes widened. "What is going on?" My voice cracked. Hayner took the doll out of my hands and looked at it.

"Black magic. That's what." Hayner was serious. "I think we need to have a little chat with Uncle Luxord. Maybe he knows someone who can help." Hayner placed his hand under my chin and locked our eyes together. "Roxas, what ever is going on, I swear to you, I will find out what's happening." He kissed me and then stood up to get in the shower. I sighed. What was going on?

Now, my uncle was the last person you'd think Hayner would go to for help. Uncle, or Father, as he was better known as, Luxord was the head priest at the town's cathedral. But he's far from the typical priest. For one, his British. Two, he's drunk six days out of the week, only people don't realize it. Three, he won't fess up to it, but he's gay. And four, he couldn't give a shit about your ethnicity or beliefs. He was just awesome!

. . .

We stood outside the cathedral and looked up at the tall building. Hayner loved this building. Only because of its design. Many churches, like this one, that were built in the 1800s were built much like the ones from Europe in the gothic era. And Hayner was an eco goth. Yes, he's pagan, but that was his religion. And eco goths are people who are gothic and care about the environment. And I'm sure that if he completely had his way, our apartment would be decked out in an Elizabethan decor. And I'm sure if he could he would live in this building.

"Ah-look at it Roxas!" His arms were spread out and up in the air. "Isn't it beautiful? I could marry it!" Would you believe it if I told you he was hugging the wall?

"Yeah, gorgeous. But um-babe, that would be bigamy, and that's illegal." I smirked and patted his back. "Now come on, we do have a problem that needs solving." I said pulling him buy his wrist into the cathedral. Once inside, we found Luxord in the worship area talking to a couple. Hayner and I waited for a few minutes before he finished talking to the couple. When we came up to us, He took me into a bear hug.

"Roxas!" He smiled. "How's favorite nephew?"

I rolled my eyes. "Worried actually."

Luxord cocked an eye brow. "Why's that?"

"Maybe it would be better if we told you without the Sisters around." Hayner said causally pointing in the direction in which the nuns were more than likely listening.

Luxord nodded and led the way back to his office. He opened the door and let us enter before him. He locked the door behind us and then sat down at his desk. "Now, what's going on?"

"That's what we'd like to know." Hayner said with a sigh. "Lately, Roxas has been having really . . . odd dreams."

"Isn't that your area of expertise?" Luxord asked pointing at Hayner.

He scratched his head. "Yeah, but this is a little bit out of my league." We explained the situation and about the dreams.

"And then this morning after getting showered, I went into the closet to get dressed when this hit me on the head." I threw the doll on his desk and Luxord's eye widened. "We thought you might know what to do?"

"I wouldn't." Hayner and I sighed. "But I know someone who would. I'll give him a call and see what he says. He's a bit of an expert in this field." Luxord said examining the doll. "I'll let you know what he says." Hayner and I nodded. We sighed and thanked my uncle for his time and left . . . Well Hayner took longer than me. . .

That night, Hayner sat in bed flipping through his books. I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth. When I was done, I joined him in bed. "Find anything?"

"Not really. They all say the same thing. Dolls may represent childness and puppets represent control of some sort." He sighed. "I wonder if Mom would know."

"Maybe she would. Should we visit her tomorrow? This would make a really good excuse." Hayner nodded.

"Alright. And in the mean time-" Is it possible to sue your husband for sexual harassment? If so, I could sue Hayner for millions. He stuck his hand down the front of my sweat pants. I honestly don't think there was a single night we hadn't had some form of sex since we got married. . .

This house again. . . Why was I constantly coming back here? What was here?

"The master wants you here. Wants you here, he does." I turned around to find puppet boy. This time he was wearing a suit from the Victorian era.

"If this master wants me so damn bad, why doesn't he show his face?" I asked.

Puppet boy shook his head. "You aren't ready to accept who he is yet. Not the way he wants you to. You aren't ready." His voice lowered to a whisper as he sank down to the ground. "You don't fear him enough."

"I don't fear him enough? Sending a doll from a damn dream is pretty fucking scary!" He shook his head.

"He didn't send the doll. I did. He didn't like me doing it either. Even if it scared you, he didn't like it." Puppet boy lowered his head. "Do I scare you?"

I shrugged. "I was never scared of dolls, or anything related to them. Honestly, I think you're pretty cool!" I offered a smile. He just sat there.

"Pretty cool, you think? Fear, you don't." I bent down placing my hands on my knees to meet his eyes. He never did. "He says I'm worthless, that I'm stupid . . . Then why does he send me? Why indeed?" He pulled himself back up. He was really much taller than me. "He can send someone else next time. I see no need for me to be here if he's not going to let me _ you."

"What is he not going to let you do? Could you spell it out?" He possibly did, but I couldn't hear it. He was walking down the hall, away from me. "Wait! What does he want?"I ran after him but he only got farther and farther away from me. "Puppet!" He stopped.

He turned his head a complete 180 degrees. It was quite creepy. "My name is _, not puppet." He turned his head back around. His guy clearly wasn't getting the fact that I was getting some of the words that he was saying. I sighed and he vanished from the picture.

I started walking again. Through the same stone halls with the same red carpet. Where the hell was I going? What the hell was I doing here? "The master wants you. That's why." I looked up and in the beams and rafters over head, a man with long dark gray and white hair sat polishing a silver object. "You have something he wants, and believe me, he will get it. Even if he has to kill for it!"

"Kill for it?" Could he mean- "What does Hayner have to do with any of this?"

The man smiled. He tucked his hair behind his ear as he stood up. "Everything." I soon learned that the object he was holding was a gun. He aimed it directly at me and fired-

My eyes flew open. My hand went to my chest. No holes. I let out a sigh of relief. I was in bed next to Hayner. I turned over and wrapped my arm around him. I couldn't find sleep again, so I just stayed up and waited for Hayner to wake up. When he did, he turned around and wrapped his arms around me. "Morning my little blond love bug!" He snuggled me in my neck.

"Morning. . ." I yawned.

"No sleep again?" I shook my head. "Aw. Want me to make you those special muffins you love so much?"

I grinned. "You never need to ask that to make them." I kissed Hayner and he got up to make me my special candy corn muffins topped with marshmallows. They were an orgasm in your mouth. Made me droll just thinking about it. . .

. . .

We hadn't heard from Luxord in three days. In fact, it was really starting to dwell on my mind. Hayner's to. He would check his cell phone every five minutes now. "Babe, he's not going to call every time you check your phone. He is a busy man, ya know." I said looking up at from my spot sitting at the coffee table working on my part of the project.

"Well this is really starting to tick me off. And you know how easily I get ticked off." He said starting to pace the floor. I sighed. He's such a thick skulled knuckle head. About an hour later the phone rang. I looked back at Hayner and he seemed unsure about it. "Hello?" He asked and put it on speaker.

"Am I speaking with Hayner or Roxas?" The guy on the other asked calmly.

"You're on speaker, so we can both hear you. Who are you?" Hayner asked.

"The name's Riku. Luxord asked me to call you to give you a heads up on the doll you sent me." Hayner and I looked at each other. "These dreams you've been having, when did they start?"

"About a week ago." I replied.

"Now here's a question, have you ever partaken in practice of the dark arts?"

Hayner cocked an eyebrow. "Such as?"

"Satanism or Paganism or Voodoo. Anything that would be deemed 'unholy'." Riku answered.

"Aside from my practices, no. Right Roxas." I could feel Hayner glaring at me.

"Yeah."

Riku was silent for a moment. I then could hear a shift of papers as Hayner sat on the floor next to me. "Ok, as far as I'm concerned, this is a Voodoo doll. And as for it being in your closet, it was placed some time ago and you forgot about it. But that's my logical opinion. But honestly, I'm not too sure. Look, and I'm just throwing this out there, but you wouldn't happen to be living near any Satanists would you?" Hayner did a face palm. "They would be able to help more than I can over the phone."

I sighed. "Are you sure Riku? Hayner's not too big on asking Satanists for help."

"This is the only time I'm positive. Now, I've got to go. Long distance is a bitch on your phone bill."

"Where are you calling from?" I asked.

"Paris. Do take care." The line went dead and Hayner rubbed his head and groaned.

I looked over at him from my homework. "I could ask him ya know."

"I know. But-" Hayner sighed. "Fine. Ask him tomorrow." Hayner mumbled lying back on his back.

I crawled over on top of him. "You are way too stubborn." I peaked his lips. "Way too stubborn." Resting my head on his chest, Hayner held me tightly. "Hey, do know where the soul is?"

He stroked my back. "I really don't know. . . Some say that it enables the whole body. Others say it doesn't even exist. But I say it's a river of energy that flows from the eyes down to the heart and back again. All in all, it's a river of motion that never stops flowing till the body dies. Then the river flows on to the next body, or moves to where it's destined to go." I lightly smiled. "And then, I wonder, while I'm laying in bed with the person I love, where am I destined to go?"

"You'll be with me. Wherever we're supposed to go." I yawned.

"I love you to." It was moments like this that made what we had special. We didn't kiss, we didn't do anything. We just laid there and let sleep take over us. . .

. . .

"Ok, go ask him." Hayner said trying to push me out from the corner.

"Why don't you ask? He doesn't like to take me seriously." I said as we watched Axel flip through the pages of a book he was looking at.

"But he likes you better." Hayner had a point. But Axel didn't do anything for free.

"Yeah-you go."

"Tell you what, how about we both go and ask him?" He smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"I'd say yes, but I know I'd still be going over there by myself, so no." In defeat, the two of us sighed and sat down by the wall. "Ok. How are we going to do this?"

Hayner placed his fist under his chin and looked down at the ground. When he got an idea, he looked up at me. "Rock, paper, scissors?"

I shrugged. "What ever works." Have it my luck, whatever I threw, Hanyer would beat. So, I went with paper. Yup, he threw scissors. I swear he cheats. I rolled my eyes and stood up to walk over to Axel.

When I reached him, I noticed he had ear buds in. Great. I'd have to touch him. I looked back at Hayner and he waved me to go on. I sighed and squatted down in front of him and tapped his shoulder. He lifted his head up a bit and pulled out his ear buds. "Hey. What brings you to the dark side?"

"Cookies." That made him laugh. I rolled my eyes. "Actually, I need your help."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Is Hubby not playing up to part lately?" I rubbed my forehead with my index and middle fingers and my cheek with my thumb.

"No, not that. Look, what do you know about dolls?" Axel lowered his head, as if in deep thought. Then he began to rummage around and pulled out a pencil and a small piece of paper. He scribbled something down and then handed it to me.

"I don't know much, but out-little 'Dummy' does." He handed me the paper before gathering his books and standing up. "He collects and builds dolls and puppets for a living. He should know something." Dolls and puppets? Where did-

I looked back over at Hayner. He was leaning against the wall and watching Axel carefully. "Thanks Axel." I said turning around.

"Any time, Roxas." A grin, an almost demonic one, rose upon Axel's lips. "Day or night." Why did that sound like he was trying to convince me that he was seriously trying to get inside my pants (which wasn't going to happen)? And that wasn't the only thing. Axel, for some reason, was avoiding all that spots with sunlight. And the way he was walking looked vaguely familiar. I just couldn't-

"What'd he say?" Hayner asked running his hand across my back. We both looked down at the piece of paper in my hands. I opened it up and found an address. "So he's invited you over?"

"Yeah. I guess so." Why did I feel so thrilled, yet bothered at the same time?

. . .

Later that night, Hayner and I walked through town trying to find the address Axel had given me. When we found it, we had to have been standing at the front gate for about ten-twenty minutes. The house was old, yes, but you could tell it got some maintenance done. The wind blew around our feet as we stood staring at the house. Hayner turned to me with an expression that said we had to come here at night.

I gulped and took his hand. "Let's go." I whispered. Hayner nodded.

Just as I was about to push open the gate-"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Hayner and I jumped and spun around to find a tall, blond boy, about our age, standing behind us holding a brown paper bag filled with groceries. "We have a dog, and he's not really friendly." The boy said in a voice that was much like a child. He was also wearing something that resembled a Victorian style outfit that young boys did wear. He was also wearing a tea cup hat and knee high converse. He walked over to the game and pushed it open. "I'll lead you inside." Hayner and I nodded as the boy led us through the gate and across the yard. The house was creepy looking enough staring at it from the gate, it was skin crawling up close. As if I wasn't worried enough. I got the oddest feeling that I had been here before, even though I know I haven't. We got to the door and the boy let us in first. "I'll inform Axel of your arrival."

"Oh-ok, thanks-" I turned around to thank him, but he was gone. But here was just here! I didn't hear any footsteps or anything. How could he just-"Hayner, where did he go?"

Hayner looked behind him and then looked at me as if he just saw a ghost. "I don't know. He was just here." Ok, this is really freaky. People just don't disappear, do they? "Roxas, I'm getting a really odd feeling." I don't blame him. I did to. Standing in the center of the entrance hall, I got really odd vibes telling me I was being watched. But every where I glanced, I couldn't find anything. Hayner walked over to me taking my hand. It was comforting, but not very helpful. Those eyes that were on me never left.

Voices arose from the hallway near the staircase in front of us. I'm not sure about Hayner, but I couldn't understand what they were saying, but it sounded like an argument. Hayner and I shared a glance then looked back at the hallway. A short time later and I saw something that I shouldn't have glanced over to see. Axel came into my line of vision and when I saw I shouldn't have looked, I meant it. I'll admit, Axel was I candy, but his naked body (upper half) was like moose chocolate. He wasn't buff, but toned and looked as if he knew how to please the man or woman, I'm pretty sure man, who he had in bed with him. And the tattoos on his sides that seemed to run back toward his back only added to the temptation. But this was all of course only a viewing for five seconds. Axel had pulled on an under shirt much to Hayner's relief. I looked back at him and he looked at me with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

"What?" He just shook his head squinting his eyes at me. I just shook my head. Ask anyone, you can always look, just not touch.

"Wow, glad to see you guys made it here ok." Axel smiled at us. "Oh Demyx."

"Yes, Axel?" My face almost dropped. The young boy from earlier was now standing right in front of us. He looked at us and smiled. That smile. It seemed so familiar. Axel wiggled his index finger, gesturing for Demyx to approach him. The way he approached Axel, the way he was walking, it was like he had a problem with his knee.

"Hayner, Roxas, this is our dummy, Demyx. A grown man and he still plays with dolls." Axel said shaking his head. "Play nicely now."

"We will." Demyx said as Axel walked away to go back to who knows what. "Alrighty then, this please." Demyx was surely being friendly, and he was living with Axel? How was a guy like this-Satanist. How could I forget?

Once again, Demyx lead us on our quest to where ever it was we were going. We walked through a few halls and around some corners (it's a pretty big house). And no what, no matter where, I felt eyes watching me and voices with every step I took. I'm pretty sure Ghost Adventures would love to visit this house. That's how creepy it was. I was constantly watching Hayner. As looked around, he'd strike up conversation with Demyx. And every now and then, Demyx would look back at me. I guess he wanted to make sure I didn't wonder off. While he chatted about with Hayner, I watch him as he walked. That limp in his knee was really bugging me. He would constantly tilt alight to the right and left with every step. I wanted ask him about it, but something kept me from asking.

"You don't have Coulrophobia and or Pediophobia do you?" Demyx asked stopping at a big red door. We shook our heads. If we did, would we be here right now? Nodding, Demyx turned around and opened the door leading to a really big room. Inside was just like a circus tent with a big fire place. It was amazing. I hadn't been to the circus since I was a kid. The walls we much like the candy cane strips you often see with red cloth pulled down from the center and looped to every corner and edge of the walls. And Demyx wasn't kidding about the doll thing. He had shelf after shelf full of them. Everywhere you turned around, there was one staring you in the face. There had to be at least a hundred of them. "So Axel tells me you need help about dolls, what can I assist you with?" Demyx asked walking over to a little stand that held a tea pot.

I sat on the red velvet sofa across from two red velvet chairs. "Well, lately, I've been having these really strange dreams lately. Mostly about this puppet who keeps saying he wants to do something to me. But I never hear what he says." I watched as Hayner looked at the massive doll collection. Then I looked over to Demyx who was now pouring hot water into a different tea top. "Then, a few days ago, after having a dream about said puppet making me clothes, I woke and went inside our closet and found a small voodoo doll that looked just like me and dressed in the exact same famous as I was in the dream."

Demyx nodded. "Dreams are a very odd thing. They show us our greatest fears, our deepest desires, and our most precious memories. Dreams hold all sorts of meanings as well. Like puppets, they show control. Whether you're trying to control someone or someone's trying to control you. Then dolls show us a childish nature inside us. Or magic, much like a voodoo doll. Maybe this puppet friend of yours and your doll are connected." Demyx said walking over to me and handed me a tea cup. He turned and gave one to Hayner. "You wouldn't happen to have the doll with you would you?"

"No. We don't." I sighed.

"We gave to the cathedral's head priest to see if he knew anything. Then he gave it to a friend of his who is currently in Paris at the moment." Hayner said sipping his tea.

"Hm. Without the doll I'm afraid there's not much I can do." Demyx said sitting in the red velvet chair across from me. "All I can say is figure out what is causing these dreams of yours and confront it."

I looked over at Hayner. He looked at a loss. "Are you sure there isn't anything?" I asked.

Demyx nodded. "I am sorry." I sighed and stood up.

"That's alright. If anything, we have a clue for where to start looking for anything." I smiled slightly. It wasn't much, but it was something.

Changing the subject a bit, the three of us just sat there and talked about Demyx's 'family' as he put it. He had made a good portion of the dolls and puppets in his room. Most of the rest were refurbished and freshened up. The others were gifts. Demyx seemed to have made a hobby of the craft and admitted to it becoming an obsession. So much so, he joined Axel and his friend in this cult. He hadn't gone too far into detail with the story though. Which was good because when Hayner looked at his watch it was nearing eleven and we had school the next morning. Demyx had offered the hospitality of spending the night, but we politely rejected the offer. We kinda wanted to be alive when we woke up in the morning with all of our organs in place where we left them. Demyx led us out and we were on our way home.

On the way, Hayner wrapped his arm around my shoulders and looked up at the night sky. "The sky's really dark tonight. And the stars are all red. I wonder what the means." I looked up and it was very dark with red twinkling stars. What did it mean I wondered. . .

. . .

That humming. . . Where was it coming from?

"From me of course." A finger brushed across my cheek.

"Who are you?"

"You know who I am." A pair of warm lips kissed my neck. "You've been asking for me for a while now." I was? I opened my eyes to find a shadow looming over me. MY heart was pounding, yet I wasn't scared. Was this him? Was this the 'master'? I still couldn't see his face, but I could see his eyes. They were ablaze and on fire. They were topaz rimmed with sun-orange the seeped into the topaz making them very alive and warm. My hands found their way around his sides and up his back. His massive wings brushed against my arms. Those fiery feathers ticked my skin and left a feeling as if I was running a fever.

"You're the master of hat puppet. . ." I whispered. "You're the one who wants me." He nodded. "What do you want?"

He grinned showing off his perfectly sharpened white teeth. "I thought that would have been obvious. Guess I'll have to show you." I was laid down on my back. His hands glazed over my chest and down my abdomen. Fallowing his hands, he left a trail of kisses. It was getting hot. Very hot.

There was a scripture; it says 'lead me not into temptation, and deliver us from evil'. That was very hard to do some times. Whoever this master was, he was offering a deep temptation that was hard to ignore. I willingly fallowed. Not because I was scared, not because I was weak, but because I wanted to. I wanted to know what he wanted. I wanted to know what he could do.

He leaned over me with a sly smile on his face. "Why the puzzled look? Feeling guilty?"

"Guilty about what?" I asked.

"About this." I gasped as something was pressed into me. All my sense went into over drive. My vision went blurry. My hearing faded. Scents overwhelmed me. The taste of cinnamon made my mouth water. Touch was over sensitive. My breathing got heavier. My heart started to race. Sweat was beating from off my skin. "You're not even trying to resist me." Was I suppose to? I looked over to him. He seemed disappointed. Isn't this what he wanted? He locked eyes with me. "I guess taking your soul will be easier than I thought." Something started clicking after he said that. Everything stopped and everything fell silent. My soul? He wanted my soul. . . .No way in hell! He started laughing. A deep maniacal laugh that shook you to the very core. "That's more like it!" Oh shit-

He pinned me to the ground, his hands tightly clamped around my arms. His trusting growing violent. My insides burning up. What did this have to do with stealing my soul? My face started to get really hot. A pair of strong arms wrapped around me and held me close. Everything I had was telling me to push him away, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I held onto him, tangling my fingers into his wild hair. I could feel my stomach cramping and his thrusting getting quicker. It wasn't long before something wet and sticky covered my abdomen and something wet and hot was filling my insides. I felt my chest raise and fall heavily. He didn't move. He did speak. He just held me. And when he did move away, it was only to look me dead in the eye. He smirked before leaning down and kissing me.

He pulled away, yet again, and sat down just in front of me. "Tell me _, how was this little show? Did our new friend enjoy it?" What? I sat up and looked over in the direction where he was looking at to find the one thing scared me most out of everything that had happened.

"Quite the show, I'd say milord." A light gray skinned being with bat-like wings was standing behind a blond, gagged and tied to a chair. Much like this master, I couldn't make out much detail of this figure, but Hayner was clear as day. His expression was one I had seen so many times before. It was heart breaking. "I think our friend here was quite fond of it. He couldn't look away." The gray figure laughed.

"Perfect. Let him go." The second Hayner was free, he ran over to me and knelt to my side. He turned to the Master glaring at him. He shouted something, but I couldn't hear him. The master chuckled deeply with his arms crossed over his chest. "Just try and keep him from me."

"Just try and take him." A voice with an enchanting echo said out of nowhere. Then, in a bright flash of light, a pair of bright pearly white wings flashed in front of us. "He will never be yours _!"

. . .

My eyes slowly opened. I felt really achy and physically drained. I turned over onto my side to see if Hayner was still sleeping and found the oddest thing. His side of the bed was empty. I sat up and peered over the room to see where he was. He was sitting at the kitchen table. I slowly got up and made my way across the room. Hayner looked very disturbed and uneasy. He had made a cup of tea and seemed to just be staring at it. "Is everything ok?" My voice was crackly.

Hayner looked up with me with a really odd expression. He looked really tired. He shook his head before looking back down at his tea. "Roxas."

"Yeah?" What was wrong?

He met my eyes. "Are you having an affair with Axel?"