Credit for the names of Asyl and Gala goes to Branch. I liked them so much I kept them and frankly and I can't think of any name more fitting for the previous incarnations of Zehel and Profe.
I also edited Ayanami's name, since he will be reappearing topic, even before he actually appears on set.

I'm glad to see people interested in this story. Big thanks for the favs and flollow!

During his short stay Frau had found out that, including him, roughly four generations of Ghosts occupied the church. There was Gido's generation, the fourth, Asyl's the third, which was thinning out, then the second which was constructed of the leftovers from the generations before Asyl, and last the weirdos who didn't want to go back.

He himself felt a bit like a lone wolf among them.

Frau could hardly tell how long the heap of souls he had classified as the first generation had been up here, but he was sure that it had been indeed a long, long, time. Going by that, it was a sheer miracle none of them had gone crazy.

On a side note, it had the advantage of not having watch duty two days in a row.

Leaning against a pillar, Frau watched the Ghosts that were gathered in the warmth of the day beneath the canopy of the trees. While most of them were seated on the ground, standing or leaning against a tree, he found Gido sprawled out on a low hanging branch, two others had followed suit and seated themselves on a tree on the opposite side.

He could hear them talking in close distance.

"Just a guess, but you're wondering what they're doing," a voice chimed in, and Frau struggled not to jump. Instead, tension stiffened his postured.

He would definitely never ever get used to it. Carefully he turned his head, noticed Asyl standing close to him. A broad smile decorated her lips.

"As a matter of fact," Frau started as he turned his head away, "I know what they're doing." And it was probably the only sane way to pass time up here. "It's a game. Each player needs to think up three things they probably wished for in their past life. If all your wishes are guessed you're quote unquote dead. Last one to remain without all their wishes revealed wins." Nothing of course. "I haven't quite figured out the rules though. There's no specific pattern to the questions..."

"Maybe there are no rules?" Asyl suggested, smirking.

"No, there are. You need at least a couple if you're playing a game with that many participants," Frau responded, shaking his head.

The women next to him gave a curious hum. "Quite the perceptive guy..." Asyl combed a few chestnut coloured strands of her from her face. "You're right," she continued. "There are rules. It's always rounds in five. First five rounds are yes or no questions usually, second five open questions, after that they usually go with topics – seasons, locations and so on. A round is always over when all participants have asked their share of questions."

"But you have a specific number of questions, right?"

Asyl chuckled. "That's the catch. You can ask anyone as many questions as you like, but can only go on for so long as the answer is a positive one. Means, as soon as there's a no, it's someone else's turn. Also you can't ask one about the others." She paused for a moment. "But you usually get a pretty good idea what they're like when you spend so much time with them. So you usually have a hunch what they've picked." She shrugged and smiled up at him.

"I got another question."

"Yeah?"

"What's Gido doing over there? He's not playing the game, that much I know." Silence answered him and as he turned away from the group to face Asyl she seemed thoughtful. "What?"

"Not entitled to answer," Asyl leaned back against the pillar opposed to his. Her smile had tilted ruefully.

Frau wanted to ask what she meant by that, but the look in her eyes made him quickly swallow his questions burning on his tongue. Instead he found himself asking, "looking forward to get back down again?"

"Yeah," she smiled, "but truthfully, I'll miss these idiots." Her eyes wandered off to somewhere distant. "That probably sounds weird to you, but... they're family, in a way." Asyl shrugged, a warm smile on her lips. "You were lucky, you know..."

Frau cocked an eyebrow. That woman broached a delicate subject.

Her dark blue eyes caught his in a soft gaze. "You were," she insisted, slumped against the pillar with a sigh. "See, contrary to you, we were scattered across the whole bloody continent. Most of us never met in person, and without Seele we would have probably never met each other. But you guys got a bloody brilliant chance to work together."

"I see..." Frau replied. "Honestly, when I think about it, it's a given that you're probably right. Although... I don't feel very lucky."

"Is that so..." she replied thoughtfully. "I suppose the lives that our kind lives do suck in general."

His answer was lost in a snort and the grin plastered to his face. "Guess so." His eyes were fixed on Gido again, but when he turned back to Asyl she was gone, vanished into thin air. It was a trick he was starting to get the hang of. After all, it was similar to teleporting as a Ghost.

For another while he watched them, listening to them talk and tease each other with laughter, but after a while he disappeared back inside. As the design was as similar to the last brick as the church downstairs, Frau had minimal trouble getting anywhere he wanted, and right now he needed to clear his head some.

With Asyl gone, his distraction was gone as well, and Ayanami was creeping back inside his head in the most unpleasant way.

Technically nobody knew. As a human he couldn't be denied entrance into heaven, even when he had been Verloren's host, but he also had plenty of blood on his own hands. Darkness had overcome both souls and that was a fact. Then again, Frau's own soul was brimming with darkness as well and he had gotten a chance to wash it out. And to be fair Ayanami should be allowed the same chance as well... and he would most likely be granted it. And that was what he didn't want to think about in the first place. Because that meant trying to figure out how to deal with his presence up here in heaven.

Would they let Ayanami in here? Nobody had commented on that yet. Frau hoped they wouldn't. Because it was one thing to know that he was up here and Ayanami was out there, lost among the strays, but it was a completely different thing to know he was just three floors down.

He could easily strangle him. Stab him.

Not that Ayanami would die that easily.

Or at all.

Not up here.

But it was something he was looking forward to. The thought made him tense, mostly because there was little against it inside him. And while Frau was prone to a little violence and wouldn't mind smacking someone around when it was called for, it wasn't the same as reverting happily to torture. In fact it made him wonder if one of the wires in his head had snapped.

Cursing under his breath, Frau fished in his pockets for a cigarette and stopped mid-stairs. Leaning against the wall, he took a deep, smoky, breath and closed his eyes. Letting it seep out slowly between his lips he opened them again, staring at nothing particular. For a couple more breaths of smoke he stayed where he was before he continued his way upstairs, soon finding himself on the exact same platform he had spend so many evenings watching the sun set. It was where he had waited for the night to swallow the country and the city lights to lure him in for the hunt.

The exact same spot where he had found Teito singing that evening.

Frau wasn't quite sure which memory cut deeper, but he supposed it was Teito's. With a sigh he closed his eyes, took another drag and ground the stump with his heel. He imagined himself sitting in his usual spot, let the image form in his head, and he opened his eyes again doing exactly as he pictured.

As it seemed vivid memories made this easier.

With nothing to do Frau found himself fisting a hand into his shirt, fumbling the hemline of it.

Suddenly, something was dropped onto his lap and Frau picked it up. It was a plaything, a ball, soft enough to squeeze and busy his fidgety fingers with. When he looked up, he saw Gido standing over him with a smile plastered on his face.

"So here you're hiding."

"Not anymore," Frau sighed and squished the ball in his hand. He threw it up high, catching it just in time before it could drop onto the ground so far below. "You're here. Why are you here? I need to think," he complained.

"Don't hurt yourself," Gido smirked. This time Frau aimed for his face and judging by the sound which escaped Gido's throat, he had hit hard.

Pleased with himself, Frau smiled and caught the other's counter attack before the ball could hit him. "I talked to Asyl," he mentioned, trying to change the subject. He tossed the ball over to Gido, who threw it back and they kept doing that as their conversation continued. "She said you, the Ghost's from before, didn't know each other. I mean... in person."

"What about it?"

"So it's true." The realisation came absolute and made him quite for several minutes. Frau turned the toy in his hand, before throwing it back.

Gido shrugged merely. "I met Gala every once in a while. And Fea a couple times," he said after a while. "Suppose being a pirate had its advantages after all..."

Upon that Frau arched his eyebrows in question. "Well, I never met her..."

"That's because there was no need to." Frau growled and Gido answered with that ever forgiving and sorry look in his eyes that made him seethe time and time again. Gido only sighed, "she was our GP."

Frau blinked. "What?"

"You heard me." He smiled. "She treated our injuries-it came in as a handy excuse to visit her every now and then."

"Visit her?" Why was it that with everything Gido told him, he only ever reminded him of how little he knew about him. It made him feel like a kid once more. It also made him angry, as he felt it was unfair.

"Yeah, at the Krat estate. She was sister to the current head of the house. Under her watch, we were permitted entrance as long as we kept away from the main building and the kids. Well, one could say he tolerated our stay though."

His undertone gave away what he didn't say. They hadn't been friends. At least not with the head of the house. Nothing out of the ordinary, Frau guessed, but there was something else on his mind. "What about the soldiers? Bet the king wasn't happy to have you hanging out with his minions."

"Nobles estates are neutral ground. As long as we had her on our side they were unable to do a thing."

Something else came to his mind. "Wait a second. She lived with her family?"

"Yeah..." Gido scratched his throat in thought. "She once told me it was far from home and everyone thought it was a miracle she survived. After that... I'm not quite sure. From what I gathered over the years she's been home since then."

An unusual fate. Then again Gido had stayed on Eden as well. Just like Fea had stayed with his brother and nephew. Teito... his hand clutched hard around the ball he caught and a half choked sound made it past his lips. Teito had always been angry with him when he had kept things from him, but lately he had been realising that Gido did the same. Apparently Frau had taken on his bad habits as well. "What about you...?" he asked, quite shyly.

"Me?" Gido pointed a finger at himself and seemed surprised.

Frau took a deep breath and let it out, as he looked up. "Yes," he replied. "You." Silence fell upon them as he scrutinised Gido. The man he looked up to and... loved, in a way. He kept things from him too. The question, though, was why. "I don't know anything about you," he said quietly and pressed his lips together.

All in all he was a book of seven seals wrapped into one giant enigma.

Gido seemed to think the same, as he smiled in answer and chuckled. "But we both know that's not quite true."

"It is," Frau insisted as he pouted. "You never told me anything about yourself, but you know my life story. That's quite unfair. It's not like I'm asking you to tell me about your death." He muttered the lasts words, as it was a delicate subject for both sides in many ways. His eyes had dropped to the ground.

Gido's answer surprised him. "Well, what do you want to know?"

He blinked and looked up. What did he...? Frau tried to come up with a precise answer or question, but in the end he merely shrugged and said, "I don't know. Anything." Suddenly he smirked and ran a hand through his hair, averting his eyes almost sheepishly. "Tell me about Mag and that... thing you had," he said and quickly added, "if that's okay of course."

"It's okay." His answer came with a chuckle. "And if by thing you mean relationship, we," there was a notable pause in his speech. "We weren't like that."

Frau couldn't exactly say that it surprised him, because he couldn't remember the two of them being a couple or anything close to that. Yet... yet there was the fact that they had a daughter. "Then what was it?" Frau heard himself ask. "I mean... you knew each other, I already gathered that much as a kid. But you also have a kid, so it certainly wasn't nothing."

"You're right," Gido nodded and crossed his arms. "It was something, but we were just friends."

He snorted. "Yeah, right. Friends." Frau smirked. "Seems more like friends with benefits to me," he teased.

"No, really, it wasn't," Gido denied as he shook his head. He sighed. "We were close, she was my best friend, we grew up together, but we certainly weren't like that."

"Killjoy," Frau sighed, but smiled. The expression on Gido's face spoke of open fondness, something Frau had rarely ever seen. Then he sighed, because he could guess the answer as to why there was a child too easily. And he wasn't keen to know the details about it. There were a lot ways to get to that outcome without an actual relationship. "But... did you have a girlfriend?"

"No," Gido smiled. "No girlfriend."

"Yet that smile tells me there was somebody. A boyfriend?" An agreeing hum answered him. "Do I get a name?"

"No," this time he smirked. "You won't get a name from me."

There was something undeniably sad about Gido's expression, which automatically silenced Frau for a while. "Did he die?", he asked quietly.

"No," Gido said. And that was what made Frau ultimately curious. He could tell something had happened, something bad and Gido wasn't telling him what it was. He was about to open his mouth and ask, when Gido did the same and told him, "Don't. I don't want to talk about it."

So all he said was, "that bad?"

"Far worse than you can imagine..." And Frau swallowed at the brittle tone in Gido's voice. But at the same time he clenched his fists. Somebody had hurt Gido and that went beyond his sympathy.

Frau was not foolish enough to believe his mentor, his hero, was invincible, but whoever had created that sad, rueful look on his face deserved a proper beating. Without a second thought Frau walked up to him and patted his head with a smile. "It's okay," he said and shrugged, although his fibres were burning with curiosity. "You don't have to talk about it. I know now... what it's like."

"And I wish you didn't."

At that Frau's smile tilted sadly. There was nothing they could do about that now. They had died back then. Gido had died for good while Frau had become Zehel in his place. It was inevitable. A sigh escaped his lips, as thinking about this was depressing. With every passing second his mood seemed to worsen as well. They were in need of a change of subject and scenery, Frau decided. He tried to smile once more and he gripped the fur collar on Gido's coat. "How about you help me pick a new favourite spot?" he suggested. "I like this place, but... too many memories cling to it." And right now he could use a far less depressing atmosphere.

"So that's what you call it? Favourite spot? I would've rather gone for deer stand or lookout..."

Quietly, Frau snorted. "Guess so..." he muttered, still trying to smile. "So, care to help me?" He nodded towards the open yard and was surprised by a kiss when he turned his head back. Some incoherent muttering was lost along his lips.

"Yeah," Gido muttered close to his lips and smiled. "But I don't think you need a new spot..."

Frau's eyebrows arched up. "Oh, and you happen to know just exactly what I need."

"Of course."

"And that would be?"

His answer surprised Frau. "Pleasant memories. You come here to think, but this place reminds you of your hunts and Tiashe and all that, and while thinking about your brat might not be so bad, it still hurts. So I think you need a few happy memories to connect to this place."

Unexpectedly, Frau found himself laughing quietly. The words he wanted to speak were silenced in a kiss though, and his complaint hummed in his throat. "Gido..." he muttered, face hot. Still, he fisted his hands into the man's coat, not pushing him away. "I..." In a surge of frustration Frau bit Gido's nose when he wouldn't let him talk, and finally the man flinched away. "It's not only that," he pouted.

"Then what is it?" Gido sighed, the frustration evident in his voice.

"This place..." Frau paused and held his breath for a second. Somehow saying this out loud was much more embarrassing than just thinking about it. And it hurt a lot more. Finally he shook his head. Gido had been nothing more than a memory for most of his life and this place just reminded him of it. "I just want a new spot... some place where..." you're more than just a memory, he thought. "Just some place new," he said and pressed a quick, light kiss onto the other's lips. "Okay?"

"Alright," Gido said, and Frau sighed as fingers were threaded through his hair again.

For a moment, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to lean into the touch, knowing it was more than selfish. Gido was dear to him, and he loved him in many ways, but he wasn't in love. Ever since his death, pain had haunted him, just like his whole life, and when he had finally found someone who had been able to numb the ugly feeling aching in his chest, his love had been ripped from him. Ever since then, ever since he had died, he had been trying to numb it again.

Gido's presence soothed his reopened wounds as well as the new ones, and Frau was willing to give in to the warmth of it. After all, he was only passing time, and Gido was probably doing the same. Wasn't that what all of them did one way or another? Licking each other's wounds like injured animals, till the bleeding and burning stopped. Hoping that holding on tight would make the pain go away. He wouldn't see Teito in a long time anyway, and the next time he does, Teito probably wouldn't remember him anyway.

The thought of it hurt. In fact, lately an awful lot hurt. The sex, the kisses, the holding on tight until knuckles went white and hands hurt, all of this numbed the pain for a while at least. The pain related to Teito and his friends, and Gido was an entirely different paint to deal with.

To Frau it felt like inflicting another kind of pain to forget the same. Like breaking a finger or a hand to overwrite the burning sensation of a gaping flesh wound.

Lately he was breaking limbs very often.

And the guilt he felt was mostly because by drowning it out, the pain about losing Teito, he was forgetting him. And that was what Frau didn't want to do. He didn't want to forget, he just wanted the pain to stop for a while.

"Let's go then," Gido spoke softly. "We'll find you a nice, warm place to hide from everyone," he encouraged with the hint of a grin back in his voice.

Chipper as always, Frau thought and smiled thinly, then sank headfirst onto his shoulder. Suddenly he did not want to go anymore; he also did not want to replace the memories. In fact... "It will stop one day... right?" he asked the other man quietly.

A heavy sigh escaped Gido's throat. "It becomes bearable one day." And he kept running a hand through his hair, Frau basking in the feeling, as he needed that comfort more than anything.

Frau tried to ignore the bitterness in Gido's voice.