Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction ❯ Tuatha de D ❯ chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Title: "Tuatha da D"

Author: Mistress of the Sword

Archived: PSoH Fanfiction Group

Chapter 4/?

Chapter finished: 02/24/05

Rating: PG 13 (subject to change if story progresses)

Disclaimer: still stands

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‘Of course it’s just a phase. ’

“Leon there’s not enough evidence.”

He’s guilty as sin and you know it!

‘What kinda freak are you anyway?!’

‘Such a strange child. Of course his father was strange too.’

I’m not strange am I mommy? …Am I?

‘It’s just a phase.’

“Not enough to get a warrant.”

Just let me bring him in for questioning! I can bust his ass!

‘Is that normal?’

‘Did you see what he just did?!’

But he would have died if I hadn’t.

“Go home and don’t come back until you’re gonna be useful.”

‘What can we do about it?’

What’s wrong with me?

‘Just a phase.’

‘Weirdo!’

I’m not a weirdo! I’m not!

“Damn it Orcot! Don’t make me pull your ass from this case!”

‘Get away from us!’

Why does everybody hate me mommy?

‘God! You’ll never be normal will you?!’

“Just take a break.”

I don’t need a fucking break, I need to bring this guy in! Give me another day!

‘…a phase’

“…a break.”

You just don’t understand, that’s all…

The well built detective found himself bracing his arms against the worn wood of his window sill. Without his dreams he was left with only his thoughts, and even better- his memories. Stupid, stupid. How could he be so fucking stupid as to still remember all that shit? Worse, how could he still let it get to him? Angrily he scrubbed his face with his hands.

It was just stress. That’s all.

Leon had been spending all his time on his most recent cases, even working his day off. The first one had been straightforward recipe: a jealous wife, a cheating husband, the woman she found in bed with him. Just add some bullets, and bang, bang, bang. Let set for two hours and you have a simple case-closed. No, that one had been easy, and not really shocking considering. It was the older one was what was really bothering him.

A serial killer was still on the loose, but there were two, no, make that three, problems with the investigation. Aside from the method of murder, there was nothing to tie the cases together, no way to tell where he would strike next. Also it didn’t help that he hadn’t actually struck recently. Everyone else figured he was gone, or had stopped, but Leon knew better. If you asked him how he couldn’t tell you, he just knew the man was waiting to strike again. It didn’t help that they had absolutely no suspects either. Of course that meant there wasn’t enough evidence to keep the case opened.

It was days like these that he almost preferred the pet shop cases. He wished he could claim that these deaths were the Count’s fault but even he couldn’t find a way to trace it back to the man. This time there were no animals and there was no one who would sit there with fathomless eyes to explain it all to him, to tell him why it had to happen, even if he couldn’t really understand the reason. Maybe there wasn’t a reason for it.

That thought made him feel sick.

“You Leon Orcot are going fucking nuts you know that? You’d rather deal with that smug cross dressing freak with psycho murdering pets than normal homicide cases. You left your baby brother with said cross dressing freak and psycho murdering pets. Now you’re standing around in a dark room trying not to get upset over stupid memories and worrying over a dead end search instead of going to sleep now that you finally can without having to worry about weird ass fucking animal-people things trying to fuck with your already fucked up head,” he spoke out loud to the empty room.

The room didn’t answer.

He hadn’t really expected it to.

And of course he had more important things to dwell on. Like how he was supposed to help Chris. He didn’t have the faintest clue how to go about helping his brother with the changes that were going to start happening. And contrary to what most people thought it was not going to be just a ‘phase’. Or if it was ‘a phase’ it was going to be one helluva a long one. Leon was still feeling the repercussions of his own ‘phase’. He snorted at the thought.

What a load of shit.

Leon’s sharp gaze fell on the flower given to him by the man who was seldom far from his thoughts, for whatever reason he was giving himself that day. He stared at the flower on the shelf by his bed, suspiciously. He couldn’t help feeling that way about it. D had given it to him; of course he was going to feel suspicious.

In truth he had half expected it to come alive and eat him the first night it was in his room. Never mind that nothing else that D had given him had actually harmed him…Yet.

Although to be fair -not that he wanted to, or anything- Leon hadn’t had any dreams at all that he could remember in the past few days. So apparently the rather stupid looking flower was doing what D said it would.

Leon gently poked the flower pot with an experimental finger. He hadn’t touched the actual flower since he had realized just how easily it bruised the other day. There was still a black mark on the side of the stem where he had pressed too hard with his thumb. He still felt vaguely guilty when he looked at it, even though he knew it was stupid to feel that way over a damn plant. Hmph. Not like D would really expect anything different of him anyway. None of the other plants he had been given so far had survived.

Indian Pipe, huh? He could see how it got the name. It rather looked like a white pipe sticking stem up from the dark soil. Leon wondered how it kept his dreams away. He hadn’t had a chance to drop back by the pet shop since acquiring the strange looking plant. And he still had questions about his dreams. But what was really bothering him now that he was rested enough to feel bothered by it was the way D had reacted to the explanation of his dream.

The Count had seemed upset when Leon had mentioned the horse-goat thing. And he never did tell what he thought it was. Instead he had just tossed the flower at Leon and sent him on his way with a pat on his ass- figuratively speaking of course.

Cough.

With that the detective flopped back on the bed with a disgusted groan. He was absolutely right. He was going crazy. What was even worse was that he couldn’t even pretend that he wasn’t. How can you argue with yourself that you’re not crazy when you’ve just proved how perfectly crazy you are?

“Just go to sleep, man,” he again spoke out loud to himself, as if speaking out loud would fill the emptiness of the room and drive the disturbing thoughts from his head. He really needed to stop listening to his own thoughts. It rarely helped him, and his mental voice usually made him crankier than even he felt justified in being.

That’s it! - He’d just have to stop listening to himself.

Of course since he wasn’t talking to himself at the moment he didn’t bother to stop and ask himself why he suddenly stood up with the plant in hand. He didn’t pay any attention to the niggling voice that was asking him what the hell he was doing when he placed it in his kitchen and returned to his bedroom. And he ruthlessly squashed the said voice that insisted he was a fucking moron.

Life, Leon suddenly began to realize, was so much simpler when you didn’t worry about what you thought of yourself. With a small mocking grin he laid back on his bed and pulled the blankets up to his chin.

~There you are.~

‘It’s you again.’

~You were expecting me. You wouldn’t have gotten rid of the Faery Mist had you not.~

‘Faery Mist? That flower?’

~So unattractive, I‘ve always felt. Not to mention rather inconvenient.~

‘Whoa, hold up! I thought it was called Indian Pipe?’

~Among other things.~

‘Jeeze! Do you and D compare notes on how to piss me off or are you both naturally obnoxious and evasive?’

~Having never met this D of yours I would have to say it comes naturally.~

‘Fucking great.’

~While you were away, did you find what you want?~

‘Did I find what I want?’

~What you most desire?~

‘Back to that again? Why the hell should I tell you anyway?’

~Because I asked.~

‘Not good enough. Why should you care?’

~Well. You certainly found something in your time away.~

‘Answer the question.’

~Very well. Would you believe me if I told you I wish to help you.~

‘Wait, lemme think for a second… No.’

~Why must you be like this?~

‘Hey, I’m asking the questions here! Why are you bothering me?’

~I already told you why. The fact that you don’t believe me changes nothing. You of all people should appreciate my reasons for wishing to help you, little brother.~

‘Don’t call me that! You’re not my brother! You’re a-what the hell are you anyway?’

~You finally ask. I am a phooka dear child. And like it or not I am kin of your kin.~

‘A phooka? What the hell is that? And don’t call me child!’

~I am what I am. Come climb on my back. We will discuss what that is further when we get to where you’re going.~

‘Fuck that! I am not getting on your back! And just what do you mean when we get to where I’m going?’

~I can take you there. Isn’t that what you want? All you have to do is climb on.~

‘I’m not going anywhere with you until I know what the hell is going on! For the last time I don’t want- …Oh what the hell, it’s just a dream.’

… It’s just a dream.

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I’m sorry that I’m not sorry if this chapter was confusing. It’s just that Leon’s thought patterns are a bit jumbled, so that’s the way the chapter turned out. Also, some of the punctuation may not have shown up because of the way it loads on FF.net.

In case you were wondering:
the whole beginning of the chapter is Leon replaying old conversations and responding to them in his head. The end of the chapter is him conversing with his ‘dream friend’.

Special Notes:
The phooka is a real mythological creature. Yeeeaaah- just go ahead and work that one out. Essentially a shape shifting animal that is primarily identified as a black horse, goat, large dog, or even occasionally a bird. Considered a faery creature, or an Irish hobgoblin, they are known for offering rides to the unsuspecting and then when people get on to run crazily all over the place before gently depositing their rider on the ground. And by gently depositing, I really mean bucking them off, hopefully without killing them. My phooka is playing a slightly different role for our beloved detective but that doesn’t mean he’s not going to be in a for wild ride. ^_______^

…I’m going to bed now.