Dinner with Friends by Lil Boof
Standard disclaimers apply

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Duo paced backed and forth in his living room with the phone attached to his ear and the long curly cord wrapped around his fingers and legs. "So you’re coming! Oh great. Yeah, yeah I’m excited too…Wow I have lots to do now…Okay, Okay see you then…great bye." Duo hung up the phone and gave an excited little bounce as he untangled himself. "So much to do!" He hopped out of the cord, tripped on it , and fell backwards over a pile of magazines. "Stupid antique phone, should go back in the trash!" His hands sprang up to his face as his wide eyes scanned the room "What a mess!"

He set about straitening up the living room. Shifting around nick knacks, pushing papers into piles, and shoving things in the closet. Every couple of seconds he would glance up at the clock "Not a lot of time left." He shook his head in disbelief "How did I let this mess go so long?" His thoughts were frantic as he rushed around from room to room.

"Agh the kitchen!" He piled a load of dishes in the dishwasher, poured in some soap and closed the door. "O.K that’s good right?" He turned to his cat "Right?"

He hadn’t seen his friend in so long, everything had to be perfect. His cleaning frenzy left him panting and sweaty. He lifted his arm and gave him self a sniff. "Oh great, now I need a shower." Duo bounded up the staircase and jumped in the shower. As he scrubbed his hair his fingers caught in the tangles "Ouch damn knots" He picked up the bottle of conditioner and gave it a shake. Nothing came out. He took off the top and peered into the dry bottle "Hmm? I have to remember to get conditioner next time I go out."

After his shower he stood in front of the steamy mirror repeating to him self "Brush my teeth, wash my face, and comb my hair. Brush my teeth, wash my face, comb my…hey my bangs are really long. I can barley see myself." He drew a pair of small pointed scissors from a draw and held them to his face. As he moved them across his forehead he was struck with a thought. "Dinner!" He shouted at his reflection. "What am I going to make for dinner?"

Duo dropped the scissors, dashed out of the bathroom and slid into the kitchen on wet feet. The cupboard doors flew open and he began shuffling through their contents. Then he looked down at himself "Oh I guess I should put some clothes on." He cackled hysterically to himself as he walked naked through the living room The cat followed him.

"Heh... so busy worrying about dinner I forgot to…" He stopped short "…wonder what I should wear?"

Duo opened the hall closet and took out a black and gray striped shirt and a pair of tan pants. "Ahh that’s better" He tucked the front of the shirt down his pants and headed back into the kitchen. He picked out two cans and a box of crackers and set them on the counter. All he had to do now was wait for his guest to arrive. He sat on the couch next to his cat and waited, and waited, and waited some more.

*******

A young man with short-cropped hair and wide violet eyes sat quietly waiting for someone to visit him. They told him some people wanted to ask him some question and after that he could go. So he waited and waited and waited some more. He wanted to go home so badly. Who knows what would happen if he stayed away to long. He glanced up as a tall woman walked into the room. She looked nice enough he thought to himself. She asked him if he would come with her to a private room so they could talk. ‘Private? Yeah right.'

*******

Duo sat playing with the end of his braid. "Where the hell is he? Gezz you don’t see a guy for four years you’d think he’d be on time!"

Just then the doorbell buzzed, and kind of sparked. A small yelp could be heard from the other side.

A huge grin spread across Duo’s face as he leapt to his feet and opened the door. Outside stood his old friend, sucking on his finger.

"Duo?" Quatre stared at the man in front of him in utter disbelief. "Duo you…wow it’s been so long." Quatre said as he bobbed his head like a dashboard ornament. Not really knowing what to say, Quatre figured the polite thing to do was give him a hug so he reached out his arms.

"Hey it’s sure great to see you." Duo quickly wrapped his arms around the back of his head as he stepped out of hugs reach. "Come in, come in."

When Quatre stepped inside his eyebrows knotted and his nose crinkled. Shocked was one way to describe his reaction. The first thing he noticed was, of course, Duo; happy, smiling, overly excited and for some reason wearing clothes that were obviously too big for him. And then there was his…"Duo, your Hair?"

Duo planted a hand on the side of his head and fluffed his hair. "Yeah, I ran out of conditioner. Heh, it looks bad right?"

Quatre stammered for a second "Ugh no. No it’s just…" He smiled "…it’s just fine."

The next thing he noticed was the God awful, unspeakable, stink coming from the house. He involuntarily put his fingers up to his nose, it was quick, but Duo noticed.

"What?" Duo asked. "Damnit that’s what I forgot. Stupid!" He smacked the palm of his hand against his forehead. "I’ll go put the cat box outside. Be right back."

Quatre waited for Duo to leave the living room before he let his true reaction show. His mouth gaped and his arms swung at his side as he turned a full three sixty to give the room a second look. " How can anyone live like this?" Stack upon stack of papers and boxes filled the room. The inside of Duo's house looked just like the salvage yard that surrounded it, and that smell. Quatre had cats; cats didn’t make that smell. Something wasn’t right here.

*******

Duo was leaning back in his black chair with his feet on the white table. His eyes were staring up at the bright lights over head. The woman who sat across from him wore small round glasses and a pleasant expression on her face.

"Can you tell me your name?" She asked kindly.

Duo let out a small snort "Sure! They call me lots of things. 02, Baka, God of Death…"

She looked up from her clipboard where she was writing everything down. "God of death?"

"Yup! But you can call me Duo."

"Ok Duo, can you tell me about what we found in your home?"

He started go for his braid but when it wasn’t there his fingers began to twist in the seam of his shirt. He looked down and started to talk into his hands "So I like to keep stuff." He said in a soft whine. " I never did anyone any harm." He scratched at the back of his head. "Did they have to take it because I keep stuff?"

*******

Duo popped his head though the break in the wall that dived the living room and the kitchen "Ready for dinner?" He chirped.

Quatre spun around to see Duo leaning on the counter with a can of soup in each hand.

"Duo, this is a special occasion lets go out to eat. Come on, my treat." Quatre said, nearly begging.

"NO! No I don’t go out… much… I mean the restaurants around here are really terrible and…and I’m making soup so we should stay." Before Quatre could argue, Duo closed the shutters that concealed the break.

Quatre resigned himself to sick it out through the evening, if only for the sake of his own curiosity. He sat on the couch next to the cat, who did not look the least bit worried. "Perhaps you’re right." Quatre said as he patted it’s head.

*******

She noted his response and smiled at him. "No Duo, they didn't take it to punished you. Your just not allowed to have long hair like that while you’re here."

"I know, because I might hurt myself right?"

"That’s right." She smiled.

Duo smacked his hands flat on the table. "That’s bullshit!"

His sudden eruption did not seem to faze her. "O.K Duo we’ll get back to that later" Her voice never lost its benevolent tone. "Can you tell me what it means to you to be called the God of Death?"

*******

After about five minutes Duo came back in the living room; he stood in front of the couch and looked down at Quatre, who was still petting his cat.

Quatre looked up and smiled "Nice cat Duo."

Duo shifted his weight from side to side, and bit at his nail for a second. He seemed anxious about something. "Quatre…umm the cat’s dead."

Quatre looked up shocked "What? No it’s not... see? "

The cat lay on its side and affectionately pressed its head into the palm of Quatre's hand.

Duo knelt down and put his chin on the cushion, then he gave the cat a little poke. The cat flicked its tale and let out a small Rrreow sound. "Heh I thought it was dead you know? I guess I jumped the gun a little…" He stood and shrugged his shoulders"…Oh well, come on in, dinner is ready."

"Duo wait, what do you mean jumped the gun?"

Duo looked back at him with an innocent expression in his eyes "Well, it will be dead right? We’ll all be dead…just not today." Then he went back in the kitchen.

With much apprehension, Quatre followed him.

*******

Duo pushed himself up on his hands and leaned over the table, staring the Doctor straight in the eye. He wanted to present himself as important, threatening even . "I’ll tell you what it means. It’s a lot of responsibility. You know, I have to do a lot of things for a lot of people so I can’t really spend to much time here."

But the doctor was unmoved. "Do you like to do those things Duo?"

He slumped back in his chair. "Yeah. Sure… I like to help."

"So it makes you feel good to help people?" She said.

"Doesn’t everybody. I mean everybody except for the bad guys, they just hurt people. That's never been my style, I just like to help. I'm a good guy, you know; take care of the people who can't take care of themselves and all that junk." He said flippantly

*******

Quatre noted how the table was set perfectly. Linen napkins, table cloth, plates, cups, all set up exactly as they should be. Duo had even put out a glass with wild flowers in it but they had started to wilt and turn brown.

Duo came away from the stove with a pot of tomato soup and a box of saltines tucked under his arm. "I hope you like Red Soup!" He said with a grin.

Quatre just arched his eyebrows and gave him a short nod.

"Good because that’s all I had. If I had known you were coming sooner I would have gone to the store."

Quatre sucked in his lips and debated with himself whether or not to ask his next question. "Duo when did I call you?"

Duo gave him a weird look; he seemed to think Quatre was playing with him "Just a little while ago of course." He smiled and went back to doling out the chunky red soup.

Quatre sighed inwardly, that was the answer he was afraid he would get. He knew that he had called Duo last Thursday and from the way the kitchen looked he hadn’t used it or put any food in it for months. Quatre's observant eyes caught the signs of neglect in the house, from the broken doorbell to the dishwasher with no knobs on it. These were all things Duo could have easily fixed. He stared at his former comrade with pity ’Duo what happened to you?’

*******

Quatre sipped his third cup off coffee while he patiently waited for more news. Every few hours a nurse would come in to update him on Duo’s status. In-between they let him rest in the lounge or watch his friend through the double-sided mirror. A few times the authorities had told him to go home but he insisted on seeing this though with Duo, no matter what the outcome was. To some extent he felt responsible.

Right now he was smiling back at Duo. Every now and then Duo would walk up to the mirror and press his nose against the fake mirror . Duo wasn’t stupid; he knew he was being watched. Quatre giggled to himself because it reminded him that in some ways Duo was still Duo.

*******

The two boys sat quietly at the table for a few minutes. Quatre couldn’t decide what was more unnerving, sitting in silence or hearing what Duo had to say.

"So have you seen anybody else?" he finally asked.

Duo shook his head but Quatre persisted "What about Heero?"

Duo looked up from his soup where he was dunking a saltine with his finger. "He comes and goes, comes and goes."

Quatre smiled "So you have seen him"

Duo nodded and gave a weak smile, never looking up at his friend.

Quatre relaxed a little, thinking for a minute that he was having a normal dinner conversation. "And you two never got together?"

At that, Duo broke out into a laughing fit "HA! Hehe we never…nope...oh no he just comes and goes." He abruptly shut up and was still again.

Quatre didn’t have a clue what he meant so he let it go, he didn’t want to push him, it obviously made him upset. From now on he would have to choose his questions carefully.

*******

The Doctor flipped though her file and circled a paragraph in her notes "Can you tell me about Heero?"

Having no more nails to bite, Duo sat picking at his blood-encrusted cuticles "What do you want to know?" He said casually.

"Can you tell me what happened the last time you saw him?"

"Yeah sure. The last time I saw him he was a real upset, just broke up with his girlfriend. He came to see me but I was out of town. When I got back to the house I found his note. He sounded so sad in the note, very lonely. So I went to find him."
Then Duo stuck his finger back in his mouth and turned his head toward the mirror.

"Did you find him?" She asked.

He shifted just his eyes toward her "Huh?" He answered, still chewing on his skin.

"Did you find Heero?"

"Oh yeah. When I did he was a real mess, very depressed and sleepy, he didn’t want to talk to me. He came to me, you know? And I wasn’t there. I felt bad so I took care of him for a while."

"I see."

"What?" He snapped "Don’t look at me that way!" He went back to chewing his nails "That’s what friends do…we take care of each other?"

*******

Silence again. Quatre was pretending to be interested in his soup by smashing the condensed lumps with the back of his spoon; he didn’t want to eat it because he was pretty sure the milk Duo put in it was bad. The soup was just another item to put on the mental list that Quatre was writing.

Besides the overt things like the smell and way he looked; the way Duo was acting was scaring the hell out of him. It was obvious that his friend was in some kind of trouble but he didn’t want to say anything without knowing the extent of his problems. "Duo are you O.K?" but the wired boy continued to slurp his soup, ignoring the question. Quatre didn't repeat himself; he had learned his lesson.

Throughout the dinner he found himself staring at the jittery boy. He couldn’t get over how Duo had changed. He was noticeably thinner and his once beautiful hair was all matted and small chunks of it appeared to be cut out in random places.

Finally Duo looked up, it was as if he could sense he was being watched "Don’t like the Soup? You said you liked it?"

The blonde man smiled back, a touch of uncertainty cracked through his voice "I…do."

Dou flashed him a red tinted grin and gestured to his bowl "Then eat up before it gets cold."
Quatre steeled his nerve and lifted the stuff to his mouth. He had to force down three spoonfuls before Duo gave him an approving nod and went back to his own dinner.

*******

On the other side of the mirror the detectives were finally giving Quatre some information.

"I think you should know we found more of them."

"More!" Quatre felt himself feel ill all over again.

"32, all in the same condition as the first one. It seems they were well cared for. He had them stashed all over. Some in the basement but mostly tucked away in the junk yard."

Quatre paled "Oh God!"

"We thought you might like to get him a lawyer."

*******

"Duo what do you do for money?" Quatre had to know.

His host looked up from his meal. "What? Oh I sell stuff, you know, junk... yeah I sell all this junk that I find and sometimes I take in boarders."

"Boarders?" Quatre asked and then almost immediately regretted requesting an explanation.

"Yeah you know…big house, spare room, need money? Boarders." Duo replied as if it were the stupidest question ever asked.

"Well you know if you’re ever short…" Quatre paused mid-sentence as Duo lifted up his spoon and pointed at the cat.

"See? I told you the cat’s dead."

Quatre turned around and smiled "Duo the cats not…dead?"

Duo went back to eating "Sure looks dead to me."

*******

After about two minutes of letting Duo up to stretch his legs she called him back. "Duo come away from the mirror."

"I hate my hair you know."

"I know. I want to talk about how you think you help people."

"I don’t think, I know!" He shouted "I know I help them." He drew his feet up on the chair, bringing his knees to his chest. "I don’t want to talk about it anymore and don’t ask me about him either. O.K?"

"O.K Duo what do you want to talk about?"

*******

Quatre stared at the cat lying on the break nook. It didn’t appear to be moving or breathing. "Duo the cat’s dead!"

Duo just nodded and swallowed another mouthful of the spoiled soup. Quatre blinked a few times and then looked back at his mad host "I’m sorry Duo" he said softly.

"For what...did you kill it?" Duo smiled at his own joke and then wiped his mouth with his napkin. Then he pushed away from the table, walked over to the break, and picked up the dead animal. As he did a gush of urine hit the floor. Duo’s reaction was about the same as it was to his dead pet, close to nothing. "I’ll go bury it in the back, wait here"

Quatre frowned and nodded his head sympathetically.

On his way out the back door Duo shook his head and sighed to himself "Heh...The God of Death’s work is never done is it?"

Quatre smiled with one side of his mouth, going along with Duo while trying to conceal his horror. He had walked into a situation he wasn’t prepared for and he could do nothing but play along until he could make his exit. Then he would make some well-deserved phone calls.

*******

After listening to his explanation she nodded and continued to scribble on her clipboard.

"So then would you call yourself a collector?"

"No, I don’t think that’s the right word but I guess you could say that. I mean if someone has a lot of friends you wouldn’t say they collect friends right?"

"Can you tell me why you collect things Duo?"

"Same reason everybody else dose. You walk by a window and a little voice in your head says take me home."

"So you’re saying that a voice told you to do it" She looked at him with a small glint of hope in her eye.

He took his finger out of his mouth. "No! If you say it like that I sound crazy."

*******

Quatre watched Duo leave then went to the kitchen sink and looked out the window. Duo was stopped; his arms flailing about, even the one that was holding the dead cat. He appeared to be having a conversation with one of the many piles of scrap metal. It seemed to Quatre that he would not be back soon.

Quatre's stomach ached, a confirmation that the milk was bad. The few bites he took while under Duos eye where making him nauseous. He needed to find the bathroom.

After searching the ground level of the house the queasy boy glanced up the stairs and saw a towel drying over the banister. "It must be up there" He climbed the stairs and opened the first door he came to.

It was a bedroom, a very neat, very stuffy bedroom. Certainly it wasn’t Duo’s. Perhaps it was one of the rooms he rented. Then his eyes fell on the bed and he felt his heart jump for a second. The figure lying in the bed startled him. Who ever it was, was cover completely with a sheet and apparently sound asleep. He backed away quietly, before he woke the room’s occupant. Then it occurred to him that who ever it was they weren’t moving or breathing. Bile rose in his throat as he saw the tanned hand peeking out from the covers. He turned quickly, his need to find the bathroom more urgent then ever. He spun around and was face to face with Duo. "You shouldn’t be up here."

*******

 

"Dose anyone know what is going on yet?" Quatre was becoming quite frustrated with the way things were progressing. It had been three days since he admitted Duo. If the doctors didn’t give a diagnosis today Duo would be handed over to the policy and Quatre did not want that.

They had sent a doctor slash administrator to tend to Quatre's questions. "Mr. Winner, sorry to keep you in the dark but these things take time. You understand don’t you? They think it’s some sort of delirium brought on by a traumatic experience."

They both stared solemnly at Duo though the trick mirror. He was walking around the room looking for a way out.

Quatre let his hands slide down his cheeks, exaggerating the dark bags around his eyes. "Traumatic experience?"

The doctor nodded "Most likely this is some kind of post war stress syndrome."

"But the war was over years ago and he was fine then? We were all fine. Mostly fine anyway?"

"Sometimes these things won't manifest themselves until years after the event. Regardless, this is what we are going to put down on his chart for now.

"You have to say something, is that it?"

"Unless you want him turned over to another facility. I think we can all agree that is not a good idea. Will you be claiming reasonability for him?"

Quatre nodded "He has no family."

The doctor frowned. "You’re a good friend then. Can you sign off on this for me."

Quatre took the pen offered to him and signed the documents 'Good friend?'

"You got him a lawyer right?" The doctor asked on his way out of the room.

Quatre turned from the mirror to the doctor "Didn't you just say that..."

The doctor raised his hand to cut Quatre off and correct himself. "Understand it is a serious condition but it won't be enough to keep him out of court, there is a lot a very damning evidence against him."

*******

Quatre's heart raced "I just came up here to use the bathroom."

Duo came up to his flank and quickly circled in front of him, blocking his view of the bed. "It’s out side, the last door at the end of the hall you should have asked."

He left with out any further words and Duo shut the door. He ran to bathroom and wretched out the remaining soup and anything else he had ever had in his stomach. When he came out he heard noise coming from the bedroom. Duo was carrying-on on the other side. Despite his better judgment he snuck up to the door and opened it just a crack.

*******

Duo had refused to say anything for the last forty-five minutes. Fatigued herself, the doctor placed Duo in the care of the orderly and went to get a cup of coffee.

Quatre was waiting in the lounge when she walked in. "Excuse me can you tell me anything about Duo's condition." He asked her politely.

"I can't reveal that I'm sorry." She smiled back using the same tone she used on her patients.

"I'm Mr. Winner, he's my responsibility now you see, and I need to know how I should be preparing to take care of him."

She set you coffee down and took off her glasses "I see. Hello Mr. Winner. To be honest there is not much I can tell you right now. It’s too early to tell what really happened. We need to hold him for a longer period; he still hasn't let his guard down enough for me to get the full story. It may be a form of PTSS but it may also be the beginning of Schizophrenia. It may be a lot of things. "

"But you must have some clue why..." He looked at her with pleading eyes "…thirty two?"

"He seems to think that by caring for them he is somehow helping them and in some way that is alleviating part of his guilt. "

Quatre shook his head in confusion. "So what your telling me is that he’s been hoarding dead bodies and taking care of them to make him self feel better? How can that make someone feel better?"

"The mind protects itself in strange ways. No one can predict what the results will be." She said sympathetically.

"I saw them, most of them. It was worse than anything I had ever seen in the war. I thought we would be ok afterwards. It must have been so much worse for them, but I never really thought about until now. I thought everyone would go live their lives in peace. Maybe they were his peace?"

*******

Quatre peered through the sliver and saw Duo standing in front of the bed, his arms folded around him and rocking on his heels. "Stay, stay there, shh shh, shh, shh, stay there..." He was talking to the corpse in the bed. Quatre let out a gasp that was just a little too loud. Duo turned his head a caught Quatre's eye, his posture stiffened and he started toward the door.

Panic overrid concern and Quatre pulled the door shut and flew down the stairs. He ran down and kept going until he ran out of stairs. He looked back over his shoulder to make sure the Duo was not behind him. It was then he realized he was looking up. He was in the cellar. He fumbled for the phone in his pocket. He dialed the emergency number.

As soon as someone answered he lost all ability to think rationally. "Sir, tell me again what happened." No matter which way she put it the operator couldn’t get a straight answer out of him.

"I’m telling you I don’t know what happened! I just need someone to come down here."

"Well, do you need an ambulance?" She sounded frustrated.

"No I don’t think so" He was so confused.

"Well Sir you can’t tie up the line. If you can't tell me what you need I have to cut you off."

He took a deep breath "I guess I need to report a murder."

*******

Back behind the glass wall, Quatre remained staring at his friend. 'I should have stayed in touch with you, maybe if I had been there I could have seen it coming. I could have done something. Some friend.

Just then the detective enter the room with the preliminary reports. " I have some good news for you." Then he glanced at Duo who was sitting under the table, trying to keep the orderlies from invading his personal space by batting at them with his slipper. "Well better news at least." He smiled to himself.

Quatre could tell he found the situation amusing; he shot him an angry glare "Well just say it."

"All the prelims showed they died of natural causes."

"So he didn't kill them?" Quatre felt a rush of relief wash over him.

"Well we haven’t tested them all yet."

"And the one in the bed was it…"

"The mummy? Yeah it was" The detective nodded.

Quatre shook his head, deeply sadden by his answer but not surprised. "I see, and not him either... right?"

"No the autopsy showed a cocktail of barbiturates in his gut"

However that news did shock him "Suicide?"

"It appears to be." Then the detective excused himself and left the room.

"Thank you." Then Quatre turned his gaze back to the mirror "Duo you couldn't have help it, but now who is going to help you?" He wiped a tear from his tired eye and grabbed his coat.

 

*******

The phone gave off a faint blue glow. He held it to the wall and used it to guide his hand to the light. A single naked bulb above Quatres head spotlighted him in a ring of white light. The junk-lined shelves surrounding him seemed to absorb the light into themselves. The ring slowly faded from dingy white to black.

He looked up. Tools of every make and model hung from the beams above his head. The basement was in strong contrast to the arid upper level of the house. The smell was damp and ripe down here. He could here Duo calling him through the ceiling. The tools swayed on their hooks and he knew Duo was over head, somewhere.

Quatre moved out of the light into the safety of shadow. He slowly crept along the wall, feeling for an opening to duck into. He crouched low in the corner, his phone in his hand, the blue glow pressed against his heaving chest. He took a deep breath and rolled his head back, trying to remain clam. He opened his eyes and saw a ray of light coming from a small hole above his head. Some wires were running through it, and then the light was gone.
The hole was blocked.

"I see you."

*******

Duo fidgeted with his shirt cuffs while he waited, and waited and waited some more.

" Please, sit still Mr. Maxwell." The fat man in the black suite said.

"These clothes are too tight."

"Excuse me?"

"Very confining…itchy too. Why do I need a shirt and a jacket anyway? I'm not cold. But I like the jacket more than the shirt. Can't I just wear the jacket?"

" Mr. Maxwell, I think we have more important things to worry about."

"No" Duo corrected with a raised finger and a smug look "It seems to me that nobody here knows what's important." He smiled innocently "If I leave the tie on would that be OK?"

The lawyer patted his client on his shoulder. " I know you must be nervous, but please try to control yourself." He was the best and his patience for Duo ran as deep as Quatre’s pockets.

*******

"Did you get lost?" Duo called down the hole "Hold on I'll be right there." Then the hole opened back up.

Quatre scrambled to the side, maybe there would be another way out. Maybe it was hidden in the rows of shelves. He stumbled though the maze of junk and wire and metal. The deeper in he got the more his stomach sank. He covered his mouth and nose with one hand and felt along the wall with the other. He hit something solid, but not quite hard. It gave a him a weak feeling all the way up him arm, right to his heart. He knew that feeling well.

He gave it a slight squeeze in the dark. His fingers easily sank into the stringy wet mess of rotted flesh. He sucked in his breath and yanked his hand back, wiping it on his pants.

" It can’t be…" Quatre froze, his heart pounded against the phone.

He heard footsteps behind him and he saw the light on his cheek through the corner of his eye. Then he looked forward and saw what he had touched. "What the hell is that!" He jumped back.

" A little respect for the dead if you don't mind." Duo said behind him.

The body lay on the self, partially covered in a sheet, like it was sleeping. He spun around to face Duo. "Stay back Duo, I don't want to have to hurt you." He held the phone out as if it were a gun, for the good it would it do him.

"Why would you hurt me?" Duo looked over Quatre's head. " Oh…" He said "I see. It's not like that. She needed my help. I'm just watching her until someone comes for her."

Quatres voice failed him, he strained to whisper " Duo, what did you do?"

"Me?" Duo interrupted "No. She was dead when I got there. Long dead. And it seemed that nobody even noticed." He walked next to Quatre, who stepped to the side. Then he lifted his hand, his fingers hovered over the bits of hair that still clung to the back of the skull, as if to stroke them. " So I thought…" He said softly "… what happens to her next? I couldn't just leave her there..." He paused thoughtfully "...she was all alone."

Quatre took a deep breath through his mouth "What's upstairs Duo?" he asked firmly.

"Quatre, there are so many of them." Duo turned the flashlight on the others " So many people are alone. And they need help."

There were bodies as much as there were shelves for them to lay on. The basement was tomb with corpses in varying states of decay, but not disorder. The junk was cleared away from this area and no dust covered them at all. The sheets should have been stained with the signs of decay but most were fresh and white. They were just like the one upstairs but not so well persevered.

Tears welled up in Quatre's eyes as he rephrased the question. "Duo, who is upstairs?"

Duos hand went limp at his side; the flashlight shone on the ground and Quatre could hear him sobbing in dark. "They need a friend. One friend...you see? It makes all the difference."

*******

The wood of the banister felt warm under Quatre's hand. He had been gripping the railing in front of him the whole time. They made everyone wait for forty long minutes before they read the verdict. Afterward, he slowly let his fingers uncurl; they ached as the blood flowed back in. And now he knew that Duo would be getting the help he needed, the help he himself could not give him. He felt relieved and then guilty. A week ago this was not his problem and now it was once again out of his hands. But for some reason he wished he could bear this burden for his friend. Would things have been different if they had not lost touch? Could he have helped them both?

Quatre stood as they led Duo out of the courtroom. There were things he wanted to say. Things that would take hours to explain but they didn't have hours, only a few seconds.

"Duo, I want you know… I'm sorry. I wasn’t there when you needed me. I should have called you sooner." The words were weak, he was capable of more and he knew it but there just wasn’t time.

Duo stopped and looked down at the floor "It's important to be there." He said flatly.

"I know.. " Quatre said , his voice was tight.

Duo snapped his head to the side, locking eyes with his friend, those eyes flashed with the first signs of recognition since this started. "Always be there." He reached out his cuffed hands towards Quatre " It's really important to be there!"

One guard pushed Duo forward. " Lets go Sicko."

"Don’t do that! He has to understand.." Duo shouted up at the hulking man. No matter how hard they shoved him they could not stop him from speaking what was left of his mind. "Never let the things that are precious to you out of your sight." He nearly climbed over the guard’s shoulders only to be pulled back and restrained in the large mans grip.

" Quatre! You can’t know what's happening to them when you’re not around." The courtroom echoed with his words as they dragged him out kicking and screaming. "That’s the worse kind of surprise…the kind you can’t see coming."

"I do know, Duo!" Quatre called out "I know."

 

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The End

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