Author's Notes: Thank you again for the wonderful feedback! Whoa...had no idea Relena
would have so many fans, so to speak but drawing my inspiration from the Sixth
Sense, she will be a factor as I pointed out before. She does have a role to
play in this.
Many thanks and much hugs to
Zan for being my third eye and again to you all for reading. Enjoy! ^^
Chapter Three:
It had been a simple kiss –
just the usual pressure of one’s lips against another’s. It was nothing too
fancy. One could even consider it a daily occurrence among people…humans…who wished to express their love
or desire for one another.
Desire…
It had meant nothing – not to
him at least. He was a rational thinker, one who could not allow such petty
antics to get to him. He had been kissed before – many, many times…okay just
once before but it had been sloppy, hurried, and not very romantic…
My desire…
And it had been with a woman. Big difference there.
And just where in the world
were they taking him?
He wasn’t walking…at least he
didn’t think he was. They were passing
(floating)
through some sort of corridor
with doors lined on each side like silent pathways to unseen secrets. It had
been bright and quite cheerful in the bedroom, but out here…amongst these
doors, the atmosphere had changed considerably. For one thing their voices had
become…well…different – almost high pitched and childish. Heero knew someone
was leading him, but he could barely make out who was doing so. Their pale,
naked flesh seemed to glow in the gloomy darkness, their voices rising and
falling as they spoke amongst themselves in a way that had Heero trying to his
best to decipher its meaning.
Duo had done something to
him, he was sure of that now. That kiss hadn’t been an ordinary one to say the
least. Besides still feeling the numbing sensation of having another man
touching him so intimately, Heero could feel a strange but not uncomfortable
sensation of drowsiness.
This must be the way you
feel when you’re stoned, he thought
with a sudden ridiculous urge to laugh. High, high on a
cloud…floating…floating away…
He tried to stare at the ceiling but it seemed to fade in and out of view. He shook his head rapidly and stared harder. Hmmm, it looked as if there was no roof after all. Just an infinite blackness that seemed to stretch on forever.
Duo wasn’t holding him that
much he knew. The boy with long hair had kissed him and laughed. And through
his hazy gaze, Heero had watched him go towards the one named Wufei. For a
moment, he was sure he had seen two naked children giggling with mischief, but
it had all been an illusion. There were no children here or if there were…then
they were doing a good job of hiding themselves from view.
“…children…”
“What did you say, Master
Heero?”
The voice was quite close to
him – probably the person holding him. It sounded like the one named Trowa. And
how did they know his name? He hadn’t told them that…had he?
“The…children…” Gods, but his
voice sounded like shit – thick and groggy like he had swallowed a bottle of
thick syrup.
Someone giggled. There it was
again – childish and full of tomfoolery.
“There are no children here,
Heero,” someone said. Heero deduced it was from the one named Quatre – the
leader of the bunch. “It’s all in your mind, don’t you think?”
Yeah, it had to be all in his
mind. But what about the boy in the garden? Had that all been another figment
of his imagination?
“We are here,” Quatre
whispered into his ear sending dull shivers of delirious anticipation down his
spine. He had to admit that there was something quite seductive about the head
servant. Back in the room, those bright green eyes had seemed to know too much.
They had been laughing at him, only back then, he had been too stunned at the
state of affairs to pay much attention to it. Had Quatre orchestrated
everything? Had the blond known he would be coming here? Just what kind of
power did the young man have?
His questions would have to
be answered much later for the longhaired boy suddenly opened up a set of doors
(which seemed to have appeared out of the gloom from nowhere) with a flourish.
“The baths!” Duo announced with
barely concealed excitement.
And what a bath it was! It
was quite odd really that such a place should have been built in the nineteenth
century. It looked like an indoor pool – a really steamy indoor pool. Grecian
pillars along with marble statues of naked boys in rather promiscuous poses
dotted the room here and there, giving it a rather appealing and seductive
atmosphere. There was the heavy smell of roses and as Heero squinted to get a
better look, he saw that the pool was filled with them – dozens, thousands, no
millions of white and red rose petals.
A loud splash and a yell of
delight filled his ears as he watched them begin to play within the warm water.
He blinked as he realized he could now feel sensation in his feet again. So
they really had floated all the way here! The cool tiles beneath his
feet had him wiggling his toes a little and a slight chill from a draft (who
knew where that had come from) sent him wrapping his arms around his body as he
shivered in response.
Amused blue eyes watched the
three boys frolic like children and he felt a reluctant tug of jealousy fill
his being as he itched to join in the fun.
“So what are you waiting
for?” came the familiar croon that had Heero blushing darkly and stepping away
from the smiling visage beside him. He hadn’t even heard Quatre walk up to him.
Of course you wouldn’t! his mind argued. He’s a ghost for crying out loud!
“Can…can you read minds?” the scientist asked quietly as he struggled not to stare too long at the naked young man before him. Quatre, he decided, had a physique that could be quite deceiving at first glance. Although, he looked slender in build, there was no doubt that the servant had been exposed to lots of hard work and must have lifted quite a few heavy things while alive. His shoulders were broad enough for his build with muscles that didn’t look too bulky or out of place. He was in fine shape and he knew it. How else would one explain his need to go naked at the drop of a dime? If Heero didn’t know any better, he would have sworn that they were all exhibitionists.
“Read minds?” Quatre’s eyes
widened in surprise before he burst into tittering laughter. He managed to
contain himself to grin cheekily at the embarrassed teen before him. “Oh no…I
don’t read minds. Maybe Duo does or Wufei…those two worry me with that talent
sometimes.”
A particularly loud ‘whoop’
from Duo had them staring through the mist at the boys in the pool again.
Quatre laughed.
“Please forgive them. We
don’t get to make use of this place a lot. You’re our first visitor in
over…uum…in quite some time and we are just happy you can share it with us.”
“Stop keeping him, Quatre,”
Duo said with a snicker as he seemed to leap out of the water.
Graceful…like a swan, Heero thought wildly, feeling his heartbeat quicken
again in anticipation. For a wild moment, he entertained the thought of Duo
repeating the kiss again, but it was quickly wiped out as he watched Duo walk
around him only to wrap his arms around Heero’s torso with a low laugh of
pleasure. “We want to play with him now,” he crooned sweetly, dark blue eyes
watching the jealous black ones in the pool. “Don’t we, Wufei?”
He laughed again causing
Heero’s knees to quiver in response at just how husky and incredibly sexy a
sound it was. He all but moaned as he felt Duo’s lips caressed his ear and the
feel of the naked but cool flesh against his backside. They might be ghosts,
but all of this…especially Duo’s very erect penis which was beginning to nudge
between his ass cheeks sent his face flooding with color and his nether regions…
“Oh, look!” Duo cried out
with derisive laughter. “He’s getting hard! What do we do with him now?
“Duo…” Quatre began with a
warning frown on his features. “Please stop that…”
“Stop what?” the longhaired
boy retorted with a cold smirk as he tightened his arms around Heero. “I’m just
pointing out an obvious situation.”
“We want to keep him, not
chase him away…”
“I told you I could make him
stay. Are you beginning to doubt me?”
Heero moaned and tried to
shake away the sudden lull of weariness that was beginning to descend upon him
again. They were talking but he couldn’t make out a thing they said. Were they
arguing? It sounded like they were. Duo’s arms around his waist were now making
it a bit hard to breathe.
Let me…
Their voices were beginning
to rise and Heero knew without a doubt that they were arguing amongst
themselves. He felt the pressure of Duo’s arms around him again. The pleasure
was being reduced to undeniable pain. He had to get out of here.
Let me go…
“Selfish! You are always
thinking about yourself, Duo! Why don’t you grow up for once!”
“Look who’s talking?! After
all this time, haven’t you realized that you have been just as selfish?! You’re
no longer…!”
“Let… me… go!”
And with that loud cry, Heero
tore himself away from Duo’s grasp, almost losing his footing as he staggered
away from the four men. He shook his head rapidly while forcing some air into
his lungs.
“Ghosts…not any different
from humans at least in mannerisms,” he muttered as he began to walk backwards
slowly. He was at least thankful that none of them were coming after him
although their surprised expressions had now become a bit…angry? Irritated?
Amused? He couldn’t tell but he wasn’t going to stick around to find out
either.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Duo asked a bit haughtily as he placed his hands on his hips.
“There’s no way out of here
unless one of us shows you the way,” Wufei added with a small smile. He was now
sitting at the edge of the pool with Trowa making himself comfortable beside
him.
Heero frowned in thought but
he didn’t slow his steps. There was now quite a distance between them and from
his new vantage point, Heero could clearly see just how pale his ‘friends’
really were. Perhaps if he went a bit further, they would vanish completely or
better yet, if he closed his eyes and opened them up again, he would be back in
the graveyard with only the bugs to keep him company.
“It won’t hurt to find out,
would it?” he countered with a light smirk. He reached out behind him, hands
seeking desperately for the doorknob. Finding the cool and rather heavy object,
he turned it with a forceful yank perhaps thinking it might have been locked.
But to his surprise, the door gave way quite easily and he found himself being
literally pushed out of the room by
some unseen force, and into the pitch blackness that was the corridor which
seemed to lead to nowhere.
/There’s no way out of
here…/
“Where there’s a will,
there’s got to be a fucking way,” he muttered harshly to himself as he stumbled
upright, forcing his feet to lead him towards a possible exit.
~*~
The four children sat in
solemn silence, their feet swinging back and forth in the water that had now
lost its steam and warmth. The rose petals had withered to a dull brown that
looked unsightly and quite ghastly in the pool. A sudden chill had entered the
once lively room. Gone were the ornate pillars and marble statues instead ruins
and broken debris – remnants of a place once grandeur remained in its wake. It
had become desolate and gloomy, a far cry from the earlier scene filled with
giddy euphoria.
Quatre sighed and scratched
his head with a low sound of exasperation. “Damn it, Duo. Why? Every time! It’s
always you!”
“Don’t start with me,” came
the low mumble as the boy began to play with Wufei’s hair gently. “I didn’t do
anything…”
“If you had just kept your
hands to yourself…”
“Do you really think he can
get out of here?” Duo scoffed. “He can’t leave. Even he knows that. He wants
something that I have.”
Quatre eyed the boy with a
small smirk. “Is that so? I’m sure you noticed it as well, didn’t you, Duo? He
reminds you of someone…doesn’t he?”
Three pairs of eyes were now
focused on the frowning longhaired boy. “What are you trying to say, Quatre?”
Duo growled softly as he clenched his hands into tight fists. “Just what are
you trying to say?”
The blond leaned closer to
place a small finger against the other boy’s forehead looking quite unrepentant.
“You know exactly what I’m trying to say. Master Joshua…”
“Don’t say that name!” came
the vehement bellow as Duo rose to his feet quickly. In his agitation he had
changed back to his adult form, his eyes now blazing with an anger that could
not be contained. “Don’t you ever say that name again!”
Quatre stood on his tiptoes,
a small hand reaching up to caress the taller boy’s lower back gently. It came
away coated with something warm and thick.
“Stop getting unnecessarily
angry, Duo,” the boy said firmly. “Your wounds are beginning to reopen.”
“You…you…”
Wufei rose to his feet with a
light stretch, allowing his own limbs to grow back to their adult form. He
wrapped his arms around his partner with a soft sigh before whispering softly
into Duo’s ear. The other two couldn’t hear the words they exchanged, but whatever
the Chinese man had said seemed to ease the agitated boy’s mind. With a slow
nod of understanding, Duo spun on his heels and began to walk away without
giving Quatre or Trowa another glance.
“Is he going to brood again?”
the blond asked with a light huff as he continued to watch the striding
servant.
“No,” Wufei replied with a
light shake of his head. “He’s just going to rest for a while as I should too.
We’ve both over exerted ourselves today.” And giving both boys a light bow, he
stepped away from them to chase after his elusive friend.
Trowa winced at the sound of
frustration from his lover’s lips – if they could really be called that. To
Quatre, he would always be the ‘new boy’, the one who had come after him. They
had been the first servants to be hired by the Dunhill family, Duo and Wufei
had come much later. From the moment he had laid eyes on the blond boy, so many
centuries ago, Trowa had felt a very reluctant attraction towards him.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Quatre’s master had
been quite…possessive of his servant.
Trowa was sure that the scars
would never heal.
“If you are quite done
thinking, Trowa,” Quatre mumbled as he wrapped his arms around the taller boy’s
neck. He traced the outline of the boy’s ear and sighed heavily. “Someone has
to go get Master Heero.”
“I’ll do it,” Trowa replied
with a small smile as he watched the blond’s hand travel lower until he could
do nothing more than gasp at the sharp sensation of pleasure that shot down his
spine. He arched into Quatre’s slow kisses trying desperately to stop his
painful seduction.
“Poor Master Heero,” Quatre
drawled lazily as his hands continued its exploration of the beautiful boy
before him. “He’ll be left wandering around and around in circles until he
can’t walk anymore.”
“In here, time stands still,
Trowa,” the boy continued. He smirked as he listened to the rapid breathing
from his lover. “In here, I can do whatever I want. I’ll just have to remind
Duo and Wufei about that.”
He relished in the low cry of
satisfaction that accompanied his final stroke and he held up his hand watching
the thick creamy fluid run down his fingers. He licked them slowly and
thoroughly making sure that he held the other boy’s attention.
“Go find him, my love,” he
crooned as he traced the outline of the taller boy’s lips. “And bring him back
to me.”
“I understand,” came the low
reply as Trowa rose to his feet, his body still tingling with warmth and dull
satiation from what he had just experienced. The cold will come seeping in
again once away from Quatre. Just being without the other was enough to remind
him of just how empty and hollow they all were – just mere shells of something
that was once human.
He keeps us all ‘alive’, he thought as he gave a light bow and disappeared
from his master’s presence. Without him…we really are nothing.
So why this incessant need to keep Heero around? Just what did this foreigner have that could make Quatre this adamant? And then there was the fact that Heero was a scientist. It was a well-known fact that most scientists who had dared to come to these grounds in search of the elixir had been turned away or denied access. It was one of the many reasons Duo was insolent to anyone who crossed the gates. It was the reason he had been shot so many years ago by a jealous alchemist. Of course, Duo had his reasons for hating humans. He enjoyed the thrill of watching them squirm in terror, the fear that came into their eyes as they faced the inevitable presence of death. They had grown cynical and critical of the living since their untimely passing. They were all treasure hunters – greedy, selfish people who only thought about themselves and nothing else. What would make Heero any different?
His keen eye caught the
figure of the boy still staggering within the darkness of the corridors. Heero
looked fatigued and it seemed as if he could barely stand. Trowa had never seen
such determination in the living before. Was that what made him so different?
This need to prove himself to others?
And jealousy reared its ugly
head. All he had to do was allow Heero to wander around until Duo caught up to
him. And if the longhaired boy was still angry…then they would have one less
human to worry about.
But the image of his lover’s
face and the firm instructions rang through his mind again causing Trowa to
groan in resignation. And with a heavy sigh, he floated gently behind the weary
boy for a while before placing a hand over Heero’s eyes and sending him into
instant slumber.
~*~
The doctor hummed softly to
himself as he placed the second mug of hot cocoa on the small dinning table. He
wasn’t sure if his visitor would be able to drink anything but it wouldn’t do
to be rude to her now, would it?
The fireplace crackled with
golden flames as it lent a much-needed heat to the room. The tiny cottage they
had rented for their stay was more than enough for their needs. He eyed the
clock warily. It was already
“Coming, coming,” he muttered
as the sudden chime of the doorbell broke through his reverie.
He shuffled towards it and
opened the latch quickly, his lips forming a welcome smile of pleasure as he
noticed the young girl standing with an armful of books.
“Miss. Peacecraft. What a
pleasant surprise. Please do come in.”
The girl giggled softly and
allowed her jacket to be taken off. “Thank you, Doctor J. It’s definitely been
a weird day to say the least. I can’t seem to get into my own apartment for
some reason and I was supposed to meet my boyfriend at the train station
earlier but he stood me up. Can you believe it? I even tried calling him and
all I get is the dial tone. I’m not speaking to him again until he apologizes!
That seems fair, doesn’t it?”
The doctor could only nod
with a warm smile. “Of course it does. Now…” He pointed towards the books in
her hand. “What do you have for me?”
The change of topic didn’t
seem to faze the intelligent girl for her eyes brightened with pleasure at the
thought of speaking about something she had always loved. She sat upon the
offered chair and grinned widely.
“In here, I have stories for
you, Doctor J,” she said with a light laugh. “Everything you ever wanted to
know about the Dunhills and their young servants. And now….” She eyed the pile
of books she had brought it. “Where do you want me to begin, sir?”
The doctor chuckled softly
and reached for his mug to take a sip of the hot drink. He leaned back on his
chair and eyed the dying flames in the fireplace before replying softly.
“Perhaps we should start…from
the very beginning…”
TBC…