Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ A Harder Beast to Kill ❯ A Harder Beast to Kill Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing and I make no money from this or any other story I write. 'My Immortal' isn't mine, either. It belongs to the group Evanescence.

Pairings: 13x5, 2x5

Category: Angst, Songfic

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: Yaoi, supernatural, lemon, mild language, violence

Title: A Harder Beast to Kill

Author: yellowhorde

Status: In Progress

You can visit my humble web page, yellowhorde's house, at http://www.webspawner.com/users/yellowhorde/index.html

Or feel free to send comments/constructive criticism to me at yellowhorde@hotmail.com

Note: Special thanks to my co-worker, Cathy, for sharing my interests and for all of her help, support, and genuine concern/warnings in regard to my use of the Ouija board.

A HARDER BEAST TO KILL

CHAPTER ONE

//I'm so tired of being here

Suppressed by all my childish fears

If you have to leave

I wish that you would just leave

Cause you presence still lingers here

And it won't leave me alone//

"Oh! It moved" Duo exclaimed excitedly. "It really MOVED!"

"You're moving it." Wufei accused, his black eyes narrowing in suspicion, unwilling to believe that the cheap plastic plachette had really moved across the board on its own.

"No, I'm not moving it, Wufei." Duo protested, "I swear to God I'm not."

While Wufei couldn't deny that the small device had jerked a little to the left as if in response to Duo's latest question - 'Are there any spirits present right now?' - he was absolutely certain that it had moved because Duo had so desperately wanted it to. The only question was whether his friend was moving the plachette deliberately or whether it was an unconscious effort.

The idea that a ghost or spirit may actually have moved it never crossed Wufei's mind until later.

A small ring of nine white aromatic candles circled the two young men seated Indian-style facing each other on the carpeted floor of the darkened living room. Some deeper part of Wufei's more rational mind suggested that Duo had arranged the candles around them to act as some sort of protection. How much protection a bunch of candles could offer in any given situation, though, was unclear.

Duo claimed that the candles helped 'set the mood' and Wufei believed that they were, sort of, though certainly not the one the braided American had probably intended. The flickering candlelight added to the sense of intimacy created by the two of them sitting so close together in the otherwise dark room. Each time their knees brushed against each other, waves of longing coursed through Wufei's body, filling him with a gentle yet insistent heat. He thanked God that it was too dark for Duo to see that he was blushing furiously.

A more sentimentally inclined individual might say that their being together surrounded by flickering candles in the dark was rather romantic, and secretly Wufei would've agreed. The heady scent of vanilla and hot wax filled the room and intermixed with a faint breeze that wafted in through the open windows carrying with it the dizzying promise of rain. Playfully the wind ruffled the curtains and made the tiny flames leap and dance as with a life of their own.

(If any of those candles go out,) Wufei thought, suddenly uneasy, (does that mean that our defenses have been breached?)

Wufei glanced at his friend and Duo's wide blue eyes looked almost purple in the soft golden light and his amazingly long chestnut brown braid fell heavily over one shoulder. Wufei had his shiny black hair neatly pulled back with an elastic tie and his equally black eyes glittered in the dim light like pools of fresh tar. Both young men wore tank tops, Wufei's blue, Duo's red, and nearly identical pairs of jean shorts. Neither of them wore shoes or socks and their conspicuous lack led a touch of casualness that may otherwise have been missing.

Sighing heavily, Wufei resisted the urge to pull his hands away from the slowly circling plachette and decided to indulge Duo for a little longer. They had been playing this 'game' for over half an hour without any significant results and things were just now beginning to get interesting. But even as he scoffed at the notion that you could contact the spirit world through use of one of the so-called 'talking boards', he couldn't keep from involuntarily shuddering as he watched the plastic glow-in-the-dark plachette move slowly across the board without any apparent effort on their part.

The scritch-scratching sound of the plachette sliding over the board seemed suddenly very loud in the stillness of the room, then somewhere far off in the night a dog barked three times, paused, barked three more times, and fell silent. The song of the cicada, a drowsy mid-pitched droning, which Wufei considered to be an oddly comforting sound, could be heard as well. Common farmer's folklore claimed that when the cicada started singing the first hard frost was only six weeks away.

(Which has to be wrong,) Wufei thought distractedly, turning his head and gazing wistfully outside towards the towering storm clouds that covered the twilight sky like a dark and sinister blanket. (It's only the end of July! That means that we would have a killing frost by the second week of September. That can't be right, can it? Or maybe it was when they stopped singing there would be six weeks to the first frost.)

He sighed and shook his head, and shivered lightly as his hair brushed lightly against the nape of his neck. As a child born and raised in the darkness of space, exposed only to the steady climate controlled atmosphere of his colony, he knew nothing of Earth's weather related folklore. The old saying may indeed be true, though he had his doubts. He would just have to wait and see.

A brilliant bolt of sizzling white light tattooed itself across the heavens in a breathtakingly beautiful display of nature's potentially destructive forces. It's very brightness left zigzagged white slashes on the back of Wufei's eyelids for several long seconds after the lightning had vanished. A few moments later thunder muttered and growled its low reply to the lightning's flirtatious challenge.

Wufei swiped the back of one hand across his sweaty brow and feverently wished that his landlord would get off his lazy ass and fix the air conditioning. It had been broken for the better part of two weeks, and it had been two extremely hot and humid weeks at that, with temperatures hanging just over 100F. He had left several messages on the man's answering machine, polite at first but becoming even less so as time dragged on and his once comfortable home turned into an inferno. The approaching storm stirred up a light wind that slipped inside the open windows, making the interior of the house almost bearable. It was truly a welcomed blessing.

Beads of sweat trickled slowly down Wufei's back despite the cooling breeze that ruffled the curtains and his blue tank top molded itself to his upper torso like a second skin. The corner of his mouth quirked in an uncertain smile, but his heart was beating slow and heavy in his heart and the palms of his hands were clammy. He was excruciatingly aware of the heat of Duo's knee as it pressed against his own leg and his shorts stretched uncomfortably tight over the swell of his growing arousal.

The Ouija board set across their mutual laps hid this embarrassing fact from Duo, thankfully. It measured approximately eight by twelve inches. Its design was fairly simple and there was nothing remarkable whatsoever about its construction. The alphabet, printed in black and divided into two curved lines of thirteen letters each, was positioned directly in the center of the semi-glossy surface. Below the alphabet the numbers 0 through 9 laid out in a straight row with the words 'Good Bye' just underneath them. In the upper left corner was a smiling sun complete with little rays of light with the word 'Yes' nearby. In the upper right corner there was the picture of a crescent moon and one lone star near the word 'No'.

The game didn't look very mystical to Wufei with its silly glow-in-the-dark lettering and cheap plastic pointer. In fact, it looked just the same as any other board game you might find in a toy store, which is exactly where Duo had found it. And while Wufei knew that many spiritualists believed that spirits of the dead were capable of using the Ouija board to communicate - and occasionally interact - with the living, he considered himself a rational and logical individual. In his mind there was no such things as ghosts. Dead was dead. Keeping this train of thought firmly in mind, he was able to easily disregarded the spiritualistic theory in favor of the automatistic, or scientific theory, which stated that while the Ouija operator's conscious mind denied controlling the plachette, it was really the operator's subconscious mind controlling the muscles in the hand and arm, spelling out messages in needed or wanted the conscious mind to hear.

Although Wufei was able to logically dismiss any mysticism related to the Ouija board, there was still something about this simple child's toy that bothered him. From the moment Duo had arrived and had showed it to him with his large round eyes glittering with eagerness, Wufei had felt uneasy.

(But it's just a game,) he thought. (If it were in any way dangerous, they wouldn't sell it in a toy store... Would they?)

Since Duo seemed so eager to play, Wufei had reluctantly agreed and with Duo acting as 'spokesperson' they had asked various questions ranging from reasonable - 'Who will win the World Series this year?' - to the down right ridiculous - 'Is Elvis Presley still alive?' - all without much luck. The plachette had stubbornly remained still and unmoving beneath their fingertips and Wufei had detected no otherworldly presence in their midst.

Actually, Wufei hadn't expected anything to happen. His experiences with ghosts were strictly limited to reading about them in horror novels and watching scary movies and sitting as close as he dared next to Duo on Saturday nights. He didn't much care for such movies, which he dubbed as `gore flicks', but he so enjoyed spending time with Duo, a confirmed horror flick addict, that he was willing to put up with almost any movie the braided American brought over. Truthfully though, he probably wouldn't recognize a ghost if it came out and danced the Mamba right before his eyes.

Wufei's fingertips rested lightly without exerting pressure on the plastic plachette almost touching Duo's and together they watched in awed silence as the device moved across the board. The plachette finally hovered over the word 'Yes' in the left hand corner. Are there any spirits present right now? The question echoed through Wufei's mind and he shivered involuntarily as his internal temperature seemed to plummet twenty degrees.

"Come out, come out, where ever you are." He mumbled softly and uttered a short, shaky laugh.

Duo raised his eyes from the board and frowned slightly at his friend. "You shouldn't taunt them, Wufei." He said, his voice holding light reproach, "You could make them angry."

Wufei felt the irrational urge to argue the point but looking into his friend's eyes, he realized that Duo was being completely serious. His usual air of nonchalance was gone and his face was earnestly solemn. This was a side of Duo that Wufei wasn't at all familiar with and the absence of the familiar glow of good humor in those blue eyes made him a little uncomfortable.

"And what are they going to do to me if they get pissy?" Wufei tone was one of forced lightness and he had expected Duo to respond in kind but instead of smiling at him, Duo simply meet his eyes with that same maddening air of solemnity.

"You don't want to know."

Hot and cold shivers worked their way up Wufei's spine. "I think your right." He murmured feeling more uncomfortable than ever.

A strained silence fell as both sets of eyes returned to the board game that no longer felt like a game. Duo's liquid eyes met Wufei's questioning gaze and he smiled tentatively but it lacked its usual mesmerizing strength. His tongue darted out and moistened his lips. From almost directly overhead, thunder boomed they both jumped as if goosed though their hands never broke contact with the plachette.

The curtains billowed outwards from the windows as a sudden blast of cold air ripped through the windows, so cold it seemed to burn their exposed flesh. The smell of snow filled the room, and it was as if all the warmth of the room had been sucked into oblivion. The wind swirled through the room like a miniature tornado, snuffing candles and scattering a small stack of letters and papers that had been neatly piled on top of the entertainment cabinet. The television snapped on then began to rapidly flick channels for several seconds before the screen once more went blank. The air currents stilled as abruptly as it had began and in the sudden silence the two young men's rapid, startled breathing seemed very loud. Each breath puffed steaming clouds of vapor into the suddenly freezing air.

"I've never had anything like this happen before." Duo whispered in a small shaky voice. "Do you think we should stop?"

He looked so uncertain that Wufei felt a little sorry for him. He opened his mouth to say, 'Sure, it's getting late and it would probably be best to put the game away now.' but what really came out of his mouth was, "Let me ask a question."

Two sets of eye brows shot up at these words, Duo's in amazement that Wufei would want to continue after what had just happened, and Wufei's in shock at hearing those words come out of his mouth when all he wanted to do was put the game away and call it a night.

Taking a deep breath, Wufei closed his eyes and concentrated. The small living room was freakish cold but he did his best to ignore the goose bumps that marched up and down his bare limbs. Words seemed to whisper through his mind but they were soft and indistinct as if they were being heard from over a great distance. They clamored for attention, growing steadily louder, clearer, and when he opened his mouth, they came tumbling forth effortlessly. He spoke them aloud slowly, clearly, and his voice didn't tremble and give away how very nervous he really was.

"Who are you?"

The plachette slid across the board quickly, smoothly, and this time there was no doubt that this was the work of some unknown force. Wufei felt a tingling sensation like cold electricity jolt up into the tips of his fingers. The chill invaded him, working its way up his arms and spread to his legs - his whole body. He glanced up to Duo and his friend's white, scared face spoke plainly that he was feeling the same sensations. A message, written in some odd spiritual shorthand was spelled out before their very eyes and it didn't take a genius to figure out what was being 'said'.

UNOWHOIM

"You know who I am." Wufei whispered hoarsely as he deciphered the message. His teeth were chattering so hard it was difficult to talk and his jaw ached from the unnatural cold.

His brow furrowed in confusion and he glanced at Duo for some sort of clue as to who their visitor might be. Duo shrugged his shoulders helplessly, his body shivering violently. His blue eyes were very wide in the dim light cast by the last few remaining candles.

Frustrated, Wufei inhaled sharply through his nose and the faintest traces of flowers lingered in the frigid night air. A small cry was wrenched from his throat as the muscles of his body tightened almost painfully in recognition as the subtle fragrance intensified until it was a cloying choking thing. His breath caught in his throat and he suddenly found himself drowning in an almost sickly sweet ocean of scented air.

There was no mistaking this smell. They were roses, thick, beautiful, old-fashioned roses, red as blood, soft as lips.

"Treize!"

Wufei gasped the name aloud and all of the color suddenly drained form his face. He began to tremble uncontrollably as a potent mixture of shocked fear and desperate longing washed over him and tried to suck him down into the cold darkness that surged around him like a living, breathing thing.

"Wufei, are you alright, man?" Duo's voice was concern but it was so soft, so muffled, as if it had crossed thousands of miles.

"Can't you smell them?" Wufei gasped out, and every word was a tremendous effort of concentration and willpower.

"Smell what, Wufei?" Blue eyes glittered as Duo leaned towards his friend. "What's happening?"

"I... don't... know."

Wufei had never told anyone about his brief love affair with the OZ General, certainly none of his fellow Gundam pilots. There was no way they could possibly understand the intense feelings that had raged between him and Treize. If the others had ever found out that one of their own had been literally sleeping with the enemy they would have surely branded him a traitor.

The fear that his scandalous relationship would be discovered and shame at having surrendered himself so completely, physically and emotionally, to a known enemy had kept Wufei silent all this time. Even after Treize's death he still couldn't fully understand the nature of their relationship for in truth, there hadn't really been a relationship. There had been desire, and lust, and a terrible aching loneliness that had all but consumed him. But had there been love? No. They had had one wonderful, miserable night of raging passion but love had never made an appearance. Of that Wufei was certain.

And yet, when Treize had died, killed in battle by the very boy he had successfully seduced, such a scalding wash of grief had poured over and through Wufei. His sorrow overwhelmed him, hollowed him out, destroying everything and leaving behind a battered heart and a devastated soul. But whether his tears had been from the loss of a lover or from being denied an honorable death would be forever unknown.

To say that Wufei had loved Treize wasn't exactly true in the strictest sense. Their relationship for want of a better word had been much more complicated than that. Love, lust, hatred, shame, all of these emotions had swirled together in a confusing concoction until no one emotion could be used to accurately describe Wufei's feelings towards the older man. All he did know is that they had shared a bond that went beyond mere love and hate. On some deeper level they had understood each other as soldiers and as rivals and their connection went beyond the purely physical.

But had they loved each other? Really loved each other?

Wufei believed the answer to be a solid `no' but even now as he sat knee to knee with the boy who now held his heart, he couldn't be certain that he had answered the question with the honesty it deserved.

"What do you want?" Wufei heard himself ask the presence softly, his heart in his throat, choking him.

The plachette slid across the board, pulling both boys' hands along with it as it did so. It came to a stop over one of the letters of the alphabet and moved no more.

U

The tingling cold that radiated up from the plachette intensified. It surged up Wufei's arms, biting, freezing, numbing his flesh even as it set his nerve endings on fire. He cried out in surprised pain as he felt frozen tentacles slice through his body and encircle his furiously beating heart in a steel-like grip. Tiny hairs all over his body stood to attention and his skin felt tight and uncomfortable, like it had suddenly shrunk.

A low soft voice whispered in his mind, words without form or meaning and Wufei recoiled from this voice as he felt his consciousness slipping away. Fear lanced through his heart. Instinctively he jerked his hands away from the plastic plachette and as he did so there was a loud roar like that of thunderclap and some invisible force hurled him across the room and into the opposite wall. His body struck the unyielding surface with enough force to knock off several framed photographs from the wall and they clattered to the ground, their protective glass fragmenting.

"Wufei!"

Duo scrambled to his feet, flinging the Ouija board aside as he crossed to where his friend lay dazed on the floor. The board fell to the ground with a thin almost inaudible thump and the plachette bouncing uselessly against the floor to land at the base of the entertainment system. Its cheap plastic surface shimmered in that sickly glow-in-the-dark green as the dim light of the candles was absorbed. The glimmering grew stronger for a moment then died away as if it had never existed.

Wufei heard Duo calling his name but it was faint and distant. He tried to pull himself to his feet but they refused to support his weight and he slid back slowly along the wall until he lay in a crumpled heap on the carpet. A cold like he had never before experienced cocooned his body from head to toe and sank into his flesh and to his bones so that he wondered if he would ever be warm again. His head hurt terribly, having come into painful contact with the wall, and his vision blurred and rippled in a red haze of pain.

Dazed and disoriented, Wufei glanced over to where the Ouija board lay discarded on the ground. Fear trickled into his heart and his eyes widened in disbelief. For a heartbeat or two he saw, or thought he saw, the tall, transparent image of a man standing next to where he had been seated across from Duo. The figure was so impossibly familiar that at first his mind failed to give credit to what he was seeing. He squinted his eyes, trying to focus his eyes properly but the effort seemed beyond him.

The ghostly image of Treize Khushrenada, dressed impeccably neat in his uniform, turned slowly towards Wufei and his bright blue eyes burned with a deep and resonating light, like dazzling sapphires or captured stars. One white gloved hand reached out towards him and the phantom's lips moved though Wufei heard no sound for his vision was gobbled up by black dots and he was swept out into a dark sea of oblivion to where memories lurked of an endless night spent indulging in guilty pleasures with a man he had no business loving in the first place.

TO BE CONTINUED...

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