Warnings: Um, people are dead, off camera, but Bri did call this cute. No actual deaths in the fic, just bossy ghosts. Well, one bossy ghost.
Author's Note: First of the drabbles. I'm doing these out of order as time and muse strikes. This one is sunhawk16's Wufei and Duo friendship.
Halloween Drabble 18
It was over. The last ritual, the last spade of dirt dropped on the last coffin. Wufei turned away from the grave, away from the people who surrounded it, and headed towards his car. He couldn't wait to get away, to hole himself back up in his apartment away from all of this grief and the well-meaning comfort of others.
Survivor's guilt, he thought as he walked through the cemetery. I know what this is. I know why I feel this way. I was supposed to be there with them that morning.
But he hadn't been. His car had blown a tire- he'd been parked by the side of the road, swearing at the jack, cursing the stubborn thing and feeling like the unluckiest person in the Sphere. Then his cell phone had rung and he'd discovered that he wasn't.
All four of them- his coworkers, his friends, his brothers-in-arms. All dead.
And he was alive.
He should've been there with them. He was supposed to have been there.
"I'm glad you weren't."
Wufei stopped and blinked, glancing cautiously around. Had he heard? No, he was alone in the cemetery.
"Ah, no one is ever really alone, Wufei, you know that."
It was a familiar voice, a familiar tone. One he'd heard a thousand times- and hadn't thought to hear again.
He wasn't hearing it now. He knew he wasn't. He couldn't be.
He'd have to talk to Sally. Not tell her he was hearing voices, of course, but that the stress was getting to him. Maybe she could give him something...
"You know she won't. She's worried to death about you. They all are. That's why I'm here."
Wufei blinked again as a familiar figure stepped out from behind one of the trees and grinned at him. He took a step back and then sat down heavily on the grass.
It... it couldn't be...
"Why, you look as if you've seen a ghost." Duo grinned at him and plopped down on the grass next to him. He looked- normal. His eyes sparkled at Wufei as he tilted his head, his braid sliding over his shoulder.
He was very different from the last time Wufei had seen him.
"You- but your- I saw your-"
"I'm dead, yes." Duo patted Wufei's arm. "I know. I just came back to talk to you for a minute. We're really worried about you."
"But- how?"
Duo waved a hand in the air. "Long story. Look, I don't have a lot of time. Sally's going to come looking for you in a few minutes. I just wanted to tell you a few things."
Wufei wondered if he was going insane, conjuring up some sort of vision to try and rationalize...
Duo smacked him on the back of the head. "Ow!"
"Does that feel like a hallucination to you?" He frowned at Wufei. "Heero said you wouldn't believe in me. I said you were smarter than that. You always pretended to be."
"Pretended to be?" Wufei protested and Duo chuckled.
"There we go. That sounds more like you. Now look, this whole you should've been there thing has got to stop. You've got a lot of work ahead of you Fei, and you can't let this slow you down. Trust me on this. You were not supposed to be there because you have things that you need to do."
"And you four didn't? Don't tell me-"
"I'm not-" Duo shook his head. "And trust me- we've got our hands full now. Whoever called it 'eternal rest' was insane." He smiled again. "Sally's on her way. I gotta go."
"But- you didn't tell me-"
Duo put a finger to his lips. "Some things I can't tell you. You'll find out eventually. In the meantime, stay out of trouble."
"Wufei?" Sally's voice. Somewhere close by. Wufei looked towards the sound and then back. Duo was gone- if he'd ever been there at all.
"Hey!" It was faint and far off, but it made Wufei smile.
"Telling me to stay out of trouble?" He snorted, heart lighter than it had been in days. "Take your own advice Maxwell." Wufei got to his feet, brushed himself off and went to find Sally.
OWARI
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