27-Mar-2002
Title: The Crocodile Pool
Author: Ebonydove
Pairings: 1+2/3+4 later
Warnings: OOC, language, slight gore, mention of rape
Disclaimer: More money being made. If it was, I'd be sending it to charity
anyway. I don't own 'em, just play wit' 'em.
Author's note: Thanks to those of you who have written to me and urged me to continue the story. I've been in a bit of a writer's slump lately and it made me get off my duff and write something. I'm glad you enjoyed it enough to tell me. Thanks again!
Trowa sat on the edge of the bed and watched as Heero's soothing tone and calming words eased Duo out of his nightmare. Duo had been under a great deal of stress, but he couldn't help feeling it was his painting that had somehow upset him.
He had taken up painting after the wars to try to fight some of his own demons that walked with him constantly. Quatre said he had natural talent when it came to it, and encouraged him even when he wanted to dash things against the walls in frustration. He had finally begun to enjoy working with the colors and brushes. He was creating visions of beauty now, when before all he had created where visions of bloodshed and death. He watched as Duo blinked back the tears that threatened to roll down his cheeks again. Now, seeing Duo in such a state, he was having doubts that it was a talent he should be proud of at all.
Duo smiled a weak smile to Trowa over Heero's left shoulder as he rested his chin on it and took a few deep breaths. "Ne, Trowa?" He met the intense look in the green eyes and it finally registered that Trowa was upset. "I'm sorry to have scared you guys."
Trowa opened his mouth as if to reply, but then shut it again and looked at Quatre. He was pale and shaking a bit. "Quatre are you alright?"
Everyone then turned to the blonde-haired boy who had stepped away from the bed after hitting Duo across the face. "Trowa... " His voice cracked as he tracked something with his wide eyes at the far side of the room. Trowa followed his sightline but saw nothing unusual near, or on, the wall.
"What is it?" Heero's stern voice broke through the haze to Quatre's ears.
Quatre glanced quickly to the pair still wrapped around each other on the bed. "It was something... that moved. Like a shadow, but softer. I know that doesn't make sense." He looked back over to Trowa, whose gaze was bright and fixed entirely on him. "And I could hear crying. I thought it was Duo, but then he began speaking to Trowa." Quatre worried his bottom lip and sat down in a nearby high-backed chair. He ran a shaking hand through his golden locks and stared again at the wall. "What ever I saw and heard, it's gone know."
"It's her ghost." Duo's voice quivered and sounded very hollow as he spoke against the cloth of Heero's shirt. He buried his face in the material and wrapped his arms around his waist and tried to get his breathing under control.
Trowa watched Quatre very carefully before finally turning to Duo and speaking. "Duo? Are you say you're being haunted?"
Heero's eyes snapped up and he turned to Trowa with a fierce glare in his eyes. "Stop it. He's fine." He growled out through clenched teeth.
"I'm just trying to figure out what's going on here, Heero. I'm not accusing him of anything." Trowa watched as Duo shook his head, still hidden in the safety of Heero's shirt. "And he is certainly not fine and neither is Quatre."
Duo looked up, his indigo eyes wide and full of unshed tears. "I dunno. I feel like... I feel like I'm in a dream. Like I'm watching a film. But everything around me feels so real. I can't explain it. It became more pronounced when we got here though." Something in his eyes shifted, then as he frowned. "But I am not crazy, Trowa. I'm not. This isn't like it was before with Treize. It's feels totally different." Heero gave him a little squeeze and kissed his ear.
Trowa laid a hand on Duo's arm and looked at him seriously. "I know that, Duo. And I believe you." He took a deep breath and glanced over to Quatre who now had his head in his hands. "There are things in this universe beyond my scope of reason, that cannot be explained in heaven or nature, but are true and exist all the same."{1}
Quatre's soft voice floated up from where he had his head bowed. "There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy."{2}
Duo smiled, pulling away from Heero to look at Quatre. "You sir, are a poet and a scholar."{3}
Heero looked to each of them before frowning and sighing in frustration. "Why do I feel like you all are speaking in another language?"
Trowa smiled and moved to Quatre, kneeling in front of him and placing a hand on each knee. "Quatre, are you okay?"
Quatre looked up into the bright green eyes in front of him and smiled a warm smile. "Yes. I'm fine."
He turned to the two still on the bed and smiled at them as well. "Why don't we go and have the dinner that we made from earlier. All this excitement has made me hungry and it's getting late."
"Sounds like a good idea to me. Duo?" Heero brushed his thumb over Duo's cheek and looked for any sign of hesitation, but found none.
"Yeah, that's sounds good. I can't remember the last thing I ate." Duo took a great breath and stood abruptly from Heero and the bed. He cocked his head to one side and looked as if he was about to apologize again when Trowa rose and cut him off.
"Don't. Let's just go and have some dinner. We'll talk about this in the morning after everyone's gotten some rest."
With them all in agreement, they went downstairs to eat before retiring for the evening. Quatre lingered for a moment in the room and looked again at the wall and the window. A small glint in the glass caught his eye and he walked over to it. He lifted up the pane to let the cool evening breeze float into the room. It was a beautiful night with the moon bright in the sky and the blossoms from the garden wafted into the room. He looked out to the garden to admire it when he saw the slight figure of a young girl in a long flowing dress, standing up and staring up at him in the window from where she stood at the edge of the garden. He was about to say something to her, to find out why she was standing there in the garden when he heard his name being called.
"Quatre? Are you coming?"
He heard Trowa's voice from downstairs and turned to the door for an instant. When he looked back to where the girl was, she was gone. He repressed the urge to shiver and shut the window harshly, locked it and backed away. He was certain know. It wasn't just Duo seeing things, it was him now too.
End Part 6
Notes:
{1} - Quoted from Shakespeare's MacBeth.
{2} - From Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.
{3} - Yep, it's from Shakespeare too, and appears in many of his stories. Of the top of my head I believe it's from Much Ado About Nothing originally.
(:./ebony/pool6)
