By: Spooks
~ ~ ~ ~
“Tell me again why we decided higher education was a good idea?” Duo groaned as he reluctantly got out of the car. He pocketed the keys and waited for his friends to get out of the vehicle as well.
“Higher education has nothing to do with this, Duo. It’s your big mouth that’s to blame,” Wufei said mildly as he tucked a strand of loose hair behind one ear.
“Stop arguing,” Quatre sighed, sounding as though he had said that phrase far too often. “And for the record, Duo, I think Wufei’s right on this one. Why did you take this bet? Why couldn’t you just walk away? Leave it be? Ignore it? Point behind the guy and yell, ‘What the heck is that?’”
“Really, Duo, this is pretty stupid,” Heero agreed. He swung the flashlight he carried until the beam was focused at the beginning of a forest trail, illuminating the sparse undergrowth that lined the winding path.
A twinkling of yellow flashes, fireflies, scattered the dark trail underneath the overhanging limbs. The slight buzz of mosquitoes and other insects filled the otherwise peaceful night, their quiet sounds swelling and fading with a gust of wind.
The group of five stepped onto the trail, beginning their trek through the darkness in a large clump. Heero held the flashlight, but Duo moved slightly ahead and took the lead.
“Okay, now look, I never said that I wanted to do this, let’s get that out of the way right now,” the American replied, shoving his hands in his pockets, ignoring the uneven terrain. “I know it wasn’t the smartest thing in the world to take a bet to go out to some dilapidated old bridges, but look at it this way, at least we’ll earn some respect from our fellow students. Another step toward normalcy and all of that.
“Besides, what’s the worst that could happen? Oh, and not a word about how that’s what the first guy to die always says. It’s stupid. People do this bridge thing all the time. It’s like one of those things all freshmen with a modicum of coolness end up doing. You guys want to be cool, right?” Duo pulled his hands out of his pockets and rubbed them together, smirking evilly. He glanced over his shoulder. “Besides, no one had to come with me. So why all the complaining? Are you scared of some old, haunted bridges?”
Heero raised an eyebrow. “Duo, you’re complaining more than anyone else.”
“I’m only worried that this old bridge will collapse under our combined weight and we’ll get soaked from falling in the water,” Trowa added.
Duo rolled his eyes and dropped his arms to his sides. “Right. Sure. The wood isn’t that old. Bridges, by the way. Plural. And they’re haunted. I think. Anyway, they’re supposed to be creepy, which is why going out here proves that we don’t suck. In a bad way, I mean.”
Wufei rolled his eyes. “How far away are these supposedly ‘creepy’ bridges, again?” He asked, checking his watch. The face lit up green in the murky darkness of the night.
“Oh, just a kilometer or two out in the woods. That’s what Trevor said, anyway,” Duo snorted. “Of course, Trevor’s an idiot.”
“And you took a dare from an idiot?” Wufei prodded.
“Yes.”
“Just checking.”
For a few minutes they trudged along the path in relative silence. The trees around them cast uneven shadows, their way lit by the bobbing flashlight beam. A lightning bug would sometimes flit in front of them, yellow light blinking dully before it disappeared into the night. Deeper into the thicket of trees, answering yellow flashes would sparkle and fade just as quickly, tiny companions in the dark. Above the boys, the waning moon cast a dull blue glow that barely managed to creep down through the branches thick with dark leaves.
They walked in a shifting group, and the trail was wide enough in places that three of them could easily walk abreast. A wet, earthy smell pervaded the air, moving on a warm damp breeze. Their eyes had adjusted to the darkness rather quickly, and their footsteps were accompanied by song of the crickets and the buzz of mosquitoes.
“How are we supposed to prove that we came out here?” Quatre asked as he stepped over a fallen log.
Duo unclipped a compact poloroid camera from his belt. “Take my picture at the end of the last bridge. There’s supposed to be some sort of plaque or marker or something.”
Heero looked over at him. “Last bridge? How many of these things are we going to have to cross?”
Wufei snorted. “And don’t forget, they’re haunted.”
“Shush, Wufei, you unbeliever,” Duo swatted the Chinese boy’s arm. Hard.
“Damnit, Duo! Why did you--" Wufei started, rubbing his a suddenly stinging arm.
Duo grinned. “Mosquito. Damn things,” he paused, “Anyway, back on topic, there are actually seven bridges…didn’t I mention that already? I know I said that there was more than one. I didn’t think you come with me if you knew you had to cross the river seven times. Well, fourteen if you count coming back.”
“I thought you didn’t care if we came with you?” Quatre asked, clearing his throat.
“What? You scared?” Duo teased. He cupped his hands in the air and carefully caught a firefly. He peered between his fingers at the blinking insect before he released it with a small laugh. “Cool.”
Quatre waited until Duo had turned his attention back to the group. “No, I’m annoyed. You sound like you’re the one who’s scared. I could be doing my Cal II, but no, I’m tromping through the woods to cross some bridge,” he replied. “Pardon, bridges.”
“Calculus is fun,” Trowa broke in dryly.
Quatre rolled his eyes. “Oh, yes. Lots of fun.”
“See, aren’t you glad we’re ‘tromping through the woods,’ as you so eloquently put it?” Duo grinned, his smile a pale shine in the shadows. He chuckled.
“No. I’d rather procrastinate elsewhere, like in the comfort of our own home,” Quatre replied.
Their own home. In the years since the war and the Barton Family conflict, the five former pilots had, at first, lived their lives as was expected of them. Wufei was the first to join to the Preventers, Heero followed soon after. Trowa spent most of his time between the circus and visits to the Winner Corporate Headquarters, where Quatre had struggled under the expectations of being the heir to a fortune of responsibility and restriction. Duo had helped Hilde start up her own salvage company, utilizing his Sweepers’ experience.
It wasn’t long before all five of the former pilots realized they had been forced, or perhaps just cheerfully guided, partially by the expectations of others, into occupations that used their backgrounds and former occupations as prerequisites. It didn’t leave room for ‘the what could have been,’ or what they might have chosen if not for their special circumstances.
It was something that began to chafe their respective mentalities, a shared burden that wormed its way into the conversation whenever and however they ended up meeting.
When Duo had taken the necessary equivalency tests and enrolled in a nondescript, reasonably ordinary Earth college, he had invited the other former pilots to join him. He hadn’t expected anyone to take his half-joking, half-utterly-genuine-and-slightly-nervous offer seriously, so when all four of the other teenagers had agreed, he was pleasantly surprised. They ended up pooling their money, since no one wanted to depend on Quatre’s funds, to rent a perfectly ordinary (for college students, anyway) house a few blocks from campus. The relatively normal thing to do.
A semester later and they were finally starting to fit in and find places in their new world. They found that most college students were either largely apathetic to what happened in the wars four years ago, or honestly didn’t know about the specific roles the former pilots had held.
Of course, there still remained that minority that did care and did know, or those that held a twisted version of reality as the truth. Despite that, however, the five were finally starting to put everything behind them and become “normal.” But at the same time, it was hard to let go of the past and let the world stop noticing them. Reluctant fame, despite its drawbacks, was still slightly seductive, and with the memorials built after the Barton Family conflict, they all had the potential to be quite well-known for their past deeds.
As it was, a day had yet to go by without someone recognizing one of them. Letting go and moving on, as difficult as that could be all by itself, was constantly being complicated by other people.
“So why are these seven bridges supposed to be haunted?” Wufei asked after a few minutes quiet walking.
Duo laughed. “I don’t even know if they are haunted. Trevor just said that weird things would happen when we crossed. Maybe it’s a combination of all those stupid urban legends that deal with bridges, one for each crossing. It could be something like that old graveyard everybody swears up and down is haunted, but just has a really vigilant caretaker.”
“So we could be on our way to getting arrested?” Heero growled. “Great.”
“Naw, I don’t think so,” Duo yawned, covering his mouth. “Who the hell would take care of a few bridges?”
“Some homeless person that lives under them,” Wufei replied, his voice full of speculation. “I’ve heard stories about those ‘Cry Baby’ bridges and how they’re only the product of a drunk’s wailing.”
“Um, what are those?” Duo asked, raising an eyebrow.
Trowa chuckled dryly. “I know a few variations of those particular stories myself. Which ones have you heard, Wufei?”
“Wait a minute. I know that Wufei’s a damn gossip, but when did you hear about that kind of crap, Trowa?” Duo asked, turning and walking sideways. He subsequently stumbled over tree root. Wufei and Heero both grabbed one of his arms to stop him from falling.
“We should have let you fall, Duo,” Wufei grumbled. “I am not a gossip. Women gossip. I merely pay attention to people around me and observe them.”
Duo just grinned. “Right, that’s it. Anyway, Trowa?”
“Film class. As part of the class discussion on horror stories in general and what sort of hidden social commentary they may or may not contain, we discussed various modern urban legends,” Trowa shrugged. “It was interesting.”
Duo nodded. “Oh, okay. I remember you talking about it, now that I stop and think about it. That was why we rented all those slasher flicks, right?”
“Yes. I had to do a report.”
“I wish I had a class that made me watch movies,” Quatre muttered, wrinkling his nose.
“It’s your own fault,” Trowa lightly nudged the blond with his elbow. “Now, which things have you heard, Wufei?”
“Well,” Wufei drawled, dragging the word out. He flicked at a lightning bug that had dared to land on his shoulder. “Supposedly there’s a bridge where a woman drove off the edge. As the story goes, she was checking on her wailing infant, who was in the backseat. She wasn’t paying attention to the road, so she crashed. Supposedly, if you drive over the same bridge, stop in the center, and wait, your backseat is supposed to be wet with the child’s tears. Of course you’re also supposed to hear the baby’s cries or the screech of tires…or something equally ridiculous.”
“Right,” Trowa nodded. “There’s a few variations on that general theme. For instance, some variations state that you must get out of your car before you can hear the baby. Another one says that if you leave some kind of candy in the center of the bridge and close your eyes, when you open them the candy will be gone but the empty wrappers will remain.”
“It really does sound like a hungry homeless guy,” Duo observed. He swatted at a mosquito that had landed on his arm.
“It reminds me of all that stuff about Bloody Mary,” Heero mumbled, swinging the flashlight so that its beam focused further down the path. “I hear water.”
“Well, I imagine that these bridges are here for a reason, Heero,” Duo snickered. “Bloody Mary lives in mirrors, not on, under, or around bridges, by the way.”
“It’s all a load of bull,” Wufei grumbled. “Seven bridges. This path did look like it was well worn, but here it’s a bit overgrown. I bet we get to the end of the trail and find the bridges torn down, in disrepair, or uncrossable. Some dare.”
Duo threw his hands in the air. “Well, if that’s so, then we’ve had a nice walk in the woods. Good for us!”
“Did you tell this Trevor person when you were coming out here?” Quatre asked suddenly. “What if the whole point of this is to either jump out and scare you or to get us into trouble?”
“If it’s to get us into trouble and there’s cops out here, then we run like hell. I imagine we’d be able to evade the authorities, and if we couldn’t, we’d only be charged with trespassing. Hardly a felony,” the longhaired student caught another lightning bug and held it carefully. The bug crawled up his palm, its blinking yellow light casting a pale glow around his fingers. “And if Trevor’s out here waiting to scare us, then I’m going to kick his ass. Very simple.”
The rush of water was getting louder, and a cool breeze began to drift over them, whistling quietly through the trees. The firefly in Duo’s hand flew away suddenly, escaping to dark places unknown.
The path ahead of them widened in the beam of Heero’s flashlight, and a soft wash of blue moonlight flowed along the ground in subtle peaks and waves of shadow.
“It seems as though we’ve arrived,” Trowa commented.
“Huh. Well, I guess this is it,” Duo mumbled.
The trail stopped abruptly at the brink of the riverbank, which was more of a small canyon than a sloping bank, the edges essentially forming small dirt cliffs. Trees on either side of the clearing hung to the very lip of the drop off, roots gnarling out and then inward, gripping the edges and holding the trees firmly in place against the rush of the stream. There was no trail on either side of the bridge, and walking parallel to the river would have been treacherous; brambles and thick underbrush appeared to be strangling the already crowded tree trunks.
Ahead of them, a wooden bridge traversed over the running water. It was a covered bridge, about three meters wide, solid and straight between the riverbanks. The roof itself loomed about three meters above the deck of the span. Here the songs of crickets were punctuated by the occasional splashes and the croaking of frogs, and a wet smell permeated the air. The span itself was the only option available to them at this point; the trail ran straight onto the substantial-looking structure.
“It appears to be strong enough for us all to cross together,” Heero observed, stepping up to the edge of the bridge and shining the flashlight on the slats of its floor. He swung the beam up at the railing supports, noting their apparent stability, then finally took in the dark peak of a roof erected above the bridge. It was filled with shadows and sturdy crossbeams.
“Let’s get this over with then,” Wufei sighed and stepped onto the bridge, moving slightly in front of Heero as he did so. The Japanese teenager shrugged minutely and handed him the flashlight, which Wufei rolled in his hands a few times before starting forward.
Wufei stomped his foot down carefully on the slats before he stepped on them, making his progress slow but deliberate. He gently kicked the support beams that held up the cover of the bridge and the railings. “Well. I guess it won’t fall down,” he sounded almost disappointed.
“Great, now let’s go already!” Duo hopped up onto the wooden planks and clapped a hand on Wufei’s shoulder. “Lead the way.”
“If I must,” Wufei waited while Trowa and Quatre moved onto the span with the rest of them.
“Oh, you must,” Duo replied.
Together, the group of five moved forward. Underneath their feet, the bridge creaked occasionally and vibrated with their steps. The water, only ten meters below them, gurgled and splashed along, a dark current highlighted by pale moonbeams. Visible through the gaps in the railing and past the opening at the end of the bridge, the forest remained peaceful. A chilled breeze floated up from the stream below and washed over them, alleviating the slight mugginess of the night air.
Quatre ran his fingertips along the railing beside him as he walked. “This seems awfully sturdy for a so-called haunted bridge. You’d think that people went here all the time. The railing is even smooth, as though worn down by people’s hands.”
“Yeah, well, whatever,” Duo grumbled. He crept along behind Wufei, flanked on his left by Heero.
“Upset that a spook hasn’t jumped out at you, Duo?” Wufei looked back over his shoulder.
“Yeah, actually, I am. Otherwise this is just stupid,” the American complained. He spun around and started walking backwards, looking back past Trowa and Quatre. “I can’t even see the other side of the bridge anymore. It’s too damn dark out here,” he continued as he turned back around.
Wufei stepped off the end of the bridge, his shoes sinking into soft sandy dirt. He moved to the side and waited as the others passed him and stepped off the bridge. He shone the light back down the span they had just crossed. “It’s only about forty meters long, but you’re right. It is hard to see the other end.”
“Maybe we should turn off the flashlight and let out eyes adjust?” Quatre suggested, squinting down the trail that curved into the trees, parallel to the water and heading upstream.
“The moon’s not bright enough to push light through the tree branches when we’re on the wooded trails,” Heero replied. He paused, “But we could try it.”
“Let’s not worry about that just yet,” Duo grinned nervously, pulling the end of his braid under his arm and wrapping it around one wrist. He petted the tail of hair absently.
“All right,” Quatre shrugged, his narrow shoulders moving within the confines of his white shirt. The material moved with his gesture, embellishing it.
“So, let’s go,” Wufei gestured with the flashlight beam, pointing it down the narrow path. “Six more of these ridiculously safe bridges.”
“Er, tally ho, then!” Duo laughed, faking a British accent and tromping forwards. He snatched the flashlight from Wufei’s hand as he passed the other boy to take the lead.
They continued down the dark path, keeping in a single file line because of the narrowness of the trail. After less than a minute of walking, they stepped out into a small clearing that looked remarkably like the first one. It led straight to the mouth of another sturdy-looking bridge. Beside it, on either side, trees clung to the edge of the riverbank and forced them to take the bridge in order to stay with the trail. It certainly appeared that they had no choice but to go forward, unless they decided just give up and go back.
Without hesitating, Duo jumped onto the bridge, his feet thudding loudly on the wooden planks and shaking the structure. He directed the flashlight’s beam at the bridge itself. It looked like an exact replica of the other one, right down to the thick crossbeams that supported the heavy wooden cover.
“I wonder why we couldn’t see this bridge from the first one,” Duo wondered. He turned and peered downstream.
The river moved almost directly south, at least, it appeared to. Yet the other bridge, which should have been barely a hundred meters away, wasn’t visible in the clear night. Duo squinted and swung the flashlight in that direction. Nothing but air spanned the stream, which continued in a relatively straight direction for at least a quarter of a kilometer before gently curving out of sight.
Heero moved beside Duo. “We were walking quickly. We probably just moved farther upstream than you noticed.”
“I suppose,” Duo chewed his lower lip for a moment, then forced a smile. “You’re right, of course.”
Wufei came up on Duo’s other side. “That is rather odd. We should be able to see the other bridge from here. I know we couldn’t have come this far that quickly.”
From the opposite railing, Quatre cleared his throat. “May I have the flashlight for a minute, please?”
“Sure,” Duo replied, handing it over.
The blond boy directed the beam of light so that it shone upstream. “No sign of another bridge this way either. Of course, the river curves. Perhaps it’s just the night light and forest playing tricks with our eyes.”
“Maybe this is what’s supposed to be unusual about these bridges,” Trowa suggested.
“Oh, well. That makes sense,” Duo shrugged. “Let’s get going, then. If that’s the extent of the scariness, then this will be a piece of cake.”
“Okay,” Quatre turned and lead the way across the bridge.
Same as before, the crossing was uneventful.
At the end of the bridge, the path curved and headed upstream. Around them, the forest was alive with the sounds of insects and frogs, the flashing of the fireflies, and the occasional gurgles from the stream. A moist breeze continued to come from the moving water, accented with the frequent nuisance of biting insects that suddenly made the wind seem to be more of an annoyance than a Godsend in the humid night.
The third bridge appeared abruptly as the narrow trail turned suddenly back towards the river. Again, it was straight and strong looking, wooden and topped with a sturdy covering. Without bothering to test the obviously safe bridge, the five began to cross it. They stopped at the center to check to see if they could see their previous bridge or the next one that presumably lay upstream. Just as before, the only bridge visible was the one that stretched beneath their feet.
“Pah, how disappointing,” Duo muttered as they finished crossing and stepped down into the next portion of the forest path.
This trail was scattered with vegetation and tree roots. It was more overgrown than the previous paths they had walked, making it challenging for them to navigate around the small obstacles, despite their flashlight. Here the moonlight wasn’t visible at all; the branches above them crowded too thickly to allow the natural luminance through.
“Damnit!” Wufei hissed as he tripped on something unseen and rather solid. Since he was at the end of their single file line, he fell against Heero’s back. Luckily, the other boy had heard the curse and stopped, thus catching Wufei’s weight.
“Okay?” Heero asked over his shoulder as he waited for Wufei to right himself.
“Yeah. Thanks,” Wufei muttered. “I can barely see where I’m stepping.”
“Do you think we should turn off the flashlight and let our night vision adjust?” Duo asked. “It’s being wrecked by the brightness and all, if we wait a few minutes we’ll probably be able to see where we’re going.”
By this time, Trowa and Quatre had also stopped walking. The blond looked down at the flashlight in his hand. “Perhaps we should wait until we reach the next bridge to turn off the light. Stopping here would be unpleasant, at least there we’d have the wind coming off the river.”
“And even more bugs,” Heero replied sourly as he swatted at something crawling on his arm.
“That’s true,” Quatre shrugged, causing the beam of light to jump.
He turned off the flashlight.
The night around them was almost tangible. Only vague shapes and the bits of white they wore were faintly visible in the sudden black. A single firefly blinked and then was gone, its yellow glow soft against the heavy gloom. Above them, the wind rustled a few branches, then fell silent. The faint buzz of insects even seemed muffled by the darkness.
“Well. This isn’t pleasant at all,” Duo observed calmly. “I’m voting that we use the flashlight now and let our eyes adjust on the bridge. At least then we’d be able to sit down.”
“Fine,” Heero agreed.
“I don’t care,” Wufei sounded bored. “Might I suggest that the person in the middle of the line carry the flashlight if we intend to use it? I can’t see anything back here if the person leading has it.”
“All right,” Quatre said.
The flashlight came back on suddenly. Quatre passed it to Trowa, who in turn handed it to Duo. The American rolled it back and forth between his hands, then shone it purposefully up the path. “Let’s go already. This sucks.”
“Once again, Duo, this was your idea,” Wufei reminded him. “Starting to regret it?” "Not quite,” Duo laughed as they started moving again. “We’re not even halfway there, maybe something will happen later.”
“You, Duo Maxwell, are insane,” Wufei sighed.
“That’s one way to put it,” Trowa agreed.
“Hey, what is this? Gang up on Duo day or something?”
“Yes,” Heero replied seriously.
“We mark it on our calendar every month. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed before now,” Quatre laughed. “We use red ink just so no one misses it.”
“What, and only women and liars can see this ink?” Duo retorted, swinging the flashlight beam erratically in retaliation.
“Are you implying we are women, Duo?” Wufei asked.
“Of course I am,” Duo replied seriously. “Idiots.”
“I recall someone telling me that you are who you hang with,” Quatre cut in.
Duo laughed. “Oooohhhh…Using my own material against me. Clever, Quatre, clever.”
By this time they had managed to navigate the rough path. Ahead of them stood yet another bridge, the fourth. It looked exactly like the previous three had.
“Well, yay,” Duo said in a flat voice. “Another exciting bridge.”
They didn’t even pause before stepping onto the expanse. Dull footsteps thumped carelessly along until they reached the center of the bridge. Duo plopped down and threaded his legs through the crisscross of wood that made up the railing’s supports. Heero sank down beside him, and with a sigh Wufei knelt down, then settled back on his heels. Trowa gracefully sat down one smooth motion.
Quatre paced back and forth behind them for a moment, then leaned against the railing. He pulled back with a gasp, holding one of his hands to his chest as he too sat down, settling beside Trowa as he stuck his legs through the gaps in the railing support. “The rail is really rough on this bridge. I think I just got a splinter.”
“Ouch, tough luck,” Duo said sympathetically.
He handed the flashlight to Trowa, who shone the beam on Quatre’s hand while the blond carefully picked at a long splinter that had wedged itself in his palm. Fortunately, it wasn’t deep and had only managed to get stuck under the top layer of epidermis, so it didn’t take Quatre long to dig the splinter out with his blunt fingernails. He grimaced and flicked the offensive piece of wood off the edge of the bridge, sucking on his hand where the splinter had been.
As soon as Quatre finished, Trowa thumbed the flashlight off. The darkness didn’t seem as stifling with the moonlight’s glow and the rush of water below them. For a few minutes the group sat in silence, just watching the night. Eventually, black shadows seemed to pale and become less absolute, and distinctions in the darkness became more pronounced.
“See, Heero? No mosquitoes,” Duo whispered finally.
“No bugs at all,” Heero replied, turning to glance at both ends of the bridge.
Duo cocked his head to the side, feeling his braid slide against the wooden floor behind him. “Well sure there are…huh?” He paused, “Wait, you’re right. No lightning bugs either. Must be why I don’t hear the frogs anymore.”
“Maybe they only come out during certain parts of the night?” Quatre offered.
“I don’t think so…” Wufei’s voice trailed off for a moment. “They blink in order to attract a mate, why would they stop doing that?”
“Odd,” Heero mumbled. He pulled his legs up and carefully grabbed the railing to stand up.
“Onward, then?” Wufei asked as he, too, got to his feet.
“Yeah, yeah. Onward,” Duo agreed with absolutely no enthusiasm as he, Quatre, and Trowa also stood.
Soon they were off the fourth bridge and once again moving upstream. This path was just as rough as the last, and they moved more slowly than before. With the flashlight turned off, their night vision was slowly getting better, but they had to be careful not to trip on the tree roots and undergrowth that choked the trail.
The forest wasn’t nearly as pleasant without the beacon of luminance coming from the flashlight. No one mentioned it, but they all felt the darkness pressing down on them.
The night was lonely without the comforting yellow flashes of the fireflies or the deep croaking of the frogs. The air felt heavy, and the trees seemed to be forcibly blocking the cool breeze from the river. They could still hear the wind, though, even if it didn’t touch them. It sang softly as it shifted the branches above and around them.
The crossing of the fifth bridge was uneventful, but the change in path on the other side was welcome. Instead of being rough and crowded by vegetation, it was as wide. They were able to move more quickly than before, their footsteps easily placed thanks to the faint light of the moon seeping down through the more widely spaced tree branches. Once again mosquitoes buzzed around their heads, and fireflies were visible, dotting the darkness. Occasionally, a frog croaked, and the sound of the water rushing downstream was easily discernable. Soon they stepped up onto the next bridge.
By this time, Trowa had taken the lead. He stepped off the end of the bridge first and stopped abruptly. There was no trail ahead of them to take upstream to the seventh and supposedly final bridge. Instead, the trees seemed intent on holding them in the small clearing at the end of the sixth bridge.
“What is it?” Quatre asked, stepping down beside the taller boy.
“Nowhere to go,” Trowa shrugged, the gesture easily visible now that their eyes had adjusted.
“Well. Shit. How the hell am I supposed to get a picture of that stupid plaque if we can’t get to the last bridge?” Duo grumbled, thumping his index finger on the camera he had unclipped from his belt.
“There’s a plaque thing right here,” Wufei said. His arms were crossed, so he used his toe to point towards a small pole that jutted out of the ground to the side of the bridge.
“Oh, so there is. Guess it’ll have to do,” Duo let out a deep breath and handed the camera to Heero. He leaned against the small iron sign and yawned.
“If you don’t want your night vision ruined, you might want to close or cover your eyes,” Heero said. He waited a few seconds, lined up the camera, closed his own eyes, and snapped the picture. The flash lit up the immediate area, its bright light harsh. Strange shadows danced momentarily in the backwash of the flare, but none of the boys could see them with their eyes closed.
A moment later, a poloroid ejected from the side of the camera. Heero took the small picture in one hand and blew on it carefully.
Duo blinked rapidly once he had opened his eyes. He took the camera back from Heero. “Wow, that was bright even with my eyes shut. Oh well, all for the good of the dare.”
Quatre just shook his head. “Sure, Duo.”
“So, what does the marker say?” Wufei asked Trowa, who had crouched down in front of the iron sign.
Trowa squinted at the words. “That can’t be right…Basically it says that this is the start of the seven bridges, and that on our way crossing back, we’ll only cross six bridges. That’s what’s supposed to be special about them, evidently.”
Duo knelt beside Trowa and peered at the sign as well. “But…we only crossed six bridges getting here,” he muttered.
“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” Wufei leaned against the edge of the bridge.
“You’re welcome,” Duo shot back absently. “Maybe we’ll get a seventh bridge on the way back.”
By this time, Heero had stopped blowing on the poloroid. He was squinting at it, holding it so that the maximum amount of moonlight hit its shiny surface. “Duo, I think you need a new camera.”
“What? Why?” Duo asked.
“Because this one isn’t working properly,” Heero responded, holding up the poloroid. “I think it’s letting light in.”
In the picture, Duo could barely be seen standing next to the plaque. Only the immediate area of the flash was visible, but that wasn’t the problem. A white smear of light seemed to sprout from the sign, wild sparks of brilliance haloing where the plaque should have been. The background seemed to be nothing but a black void.
“Huh, let’s try it again, just in case,” Duo held up the camera gestured to the others. “Group picture, get by the damn plaque thing. It can just be further proof, I guess.”
Wufei rolled his eyes and gave Duo a look of sheer boredom. He yanked Heero’s arm even as the other boy tried to escape being in the picture. Trowa merely stood up and put a hand on top of the sign. Quatre sighed and wandered behind the other three, pushing through and standing directly behind the plaque.
“Say cheese,” Duo said, holding the camera up.
The others closed their eyes again. A moment later the bright flash of the camera lit up the night. As soon as the flare died down, they all broke away from their pseudo-pose. Trowa went back to studying the sign, Wufei beside him. Heero sat down on the edge of the bridge. He picked up a twig and started snapping it into smaller pieces. Quatre wandered over to stand beside Duo.
Trowa read aloud:
“’Confusion:
Be warned before your crossings,
One less will return with you if you do not guard yourself well.
Remember this: going forward may not be the answer,
And you can never go back.’”
“Clear as mud,” Wufei remarked.
Meanwhile, Duo was fanning the poloroid in the air. He stared up at the moon.
Quatre leaned over his shoulder and looked, his hands still cupped around a captive lightning bug. “Stop flapping the picture around, I want to see it,” he said. He blew gently on the firefly and watched it flit away. “Come on.”
Obligingly, Duo handed the poloroid to Quatre and continued to look skyward.
“Weird…there’s definitely light getting in…but, wait…” Quatre cleared his throat quietly. “Um…Duo?”
“Huh?”
“Why didn’t you tell me I wasn’t in the picture?” Quatre asked, his voice low and almost angry.
“Because you were. How could you not be, you were standing in the middle,” Duo dropped his head down, tearing his eyes from the night sky.
Quatre shrugged, the gesture forcibly casual. He held up the picture. “Then explain this.”
Heero dropped the considerably shortened stick onto the dirt and stood up. “Let me see?” He took the picture from Quatre and looked at it carefully. “Strange.”
Duo edged up beside him on one side, and Wufei moved to stand on the other. Trowa looked down on the picture from in front of Heero, while Quatre moved in between him and Duo, forming a circle around the picture. Heero tilted the poloroid so that the cold moonlight fell on it.
Sure enough, the image showed Wufei, Heero, and Trowa, all with their eyes closed. Where Quatre had stood, the picture was pure black, just like the rest of the background that wasn’t illuminated by the camera’s flash. Once again the plaque seemed engulfed in a smear of strange light.
“O…kay…” Duo muttered. “New camera. Yes.”
“Enough of this,” Wufei said, stepped backwards. “Let’s get back to the car and go home.”
“Agreed,” Heero snapped out, handing the photograph back to Duo, who tucked it into the back pocket of his jeans.
Moving purposefully, the group shuffled onto the bridge. They moved in a clump, no one really leading and no one falling behind. Footsteps thudded the planks, and below them the water gurgled. The path on the other side was wide, and they continued to move as a group and headed downstream.
A few minutes later they stepped onto the next bridge. The silence around them seemed to thicken as they made it to the center of the span. Suddenly, Wufei stopped. Around him, the other four hesitated, then halted.
“Look around,” Wufei gestured at the woods on either side of the bridge’s ends. His voice was an urgent hush. “The bugs are gone again.”
“Oh come on,” Duo hissed, his eyes darting back and forth between the two ends of the bridge and the forest beyond. A trace of fear entered his voice. “Just because we can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”
Wufei just stared at him for a few long seconds, a hint of light reflected in his otherwise shadowed eyes. His voice was perfectly flat. “Right. What could I have been thinking?”
“Let’s go,” Heero said, his voice breaking the tension.
So they started moving again, Wufei striding forward in the lead. Duo quickened his pace and caught up with him.
“Are you pissed at me?” Duo whispered.
Wufei glanced over at him. “No.”
“Then why are you acting pissed? You know I didn’t mean anything against you, or dismiss your observations or anything like that…I’m just bored and want to get home now,” Duo spilled out, his voice still hushed. He bit his lip and continued, “No reason to stir anything up.”
Behind them, Heero watched the exchange. He glanced over his shoulder at Trowa, who just shrugged. Quatre glanced forward at the whispering two, then rolled his eyes at Heero.
“You’re bored? You sure that’s what it is?” Wufei replied evenly. “And I suppose we’re all bored, that’s why we’re hurrying through the woods to get back to the car, right?”
Duo bit his lip as they stepped up onto the next bridge. “I wouldn’t say that…”
“Then what would you say?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to think about it. This is kind of freaky, you know? There’s no need to point out more freakiness, that’s all,” Duo finally said.
“We’re on our way home, after all,” Heero stepped up and joined the conversation.
“Yeah, so why does it matter what more weirdness we encounter, as long as it’s almost over,” Duo nodded.
“Are you taking sides here, Heero?” Wufei asked, shooting a glance back at the Japanese boy before focusing his gaze back on the flooring of the bridge, choosing his steps.
“No, just stating a fact,” Heero replied easily.
Wufei nodded. “But that doesn’t give you the right to be an ass, Duo.”
“Fine, I can deal with that,” Duo muttered, relief evident in the small grin plastered to his face. “We’re cool?”
“I suppose.”
“Is discussion time over yet?” Quatre’s raised voice cut through the sounds of the water and the quiet whistle of the wind. Trowa’s quiet chuckle also managed to be heard, floating easily through the air.
Duo pivoted around and walked backwards. “Yeah, yeah. All is well.”
As they stepped off of the bridge, Quatre cleared his throat. “So that’s the third one on the way back…I wonder if we’ll get three or four more?”
Heero shrugged. “I’m sure we’ll see.”
They started down the next trail, and conversation fell silent once again. The path seemed wider than it had on the way there.
The lightning bugs were still absent, and with them went the sounds of the mosquitoes buzzing and the crickets chirping. The sounds of five pairs of feet treading dirt and foliage barely permeated the night’s sudden blanket of quiet. The wind even seemed muffled as it carried only the faintest wet smell of the water through the trees.
After what seemed far too long of a walk, they reached the fourth bridge.
“I just realized something,” Trowa said, breaking the silence abruptly.
The group halted and turned to Trowa, Heero and Duo already standing on the planks of the bridge, Wufei with one foot still on the dirt, the other on the wooden span. Quatre was a little behind Trowa, so he moved forward and into their loose circle.
“And that would be…” Quatre encouraged.
“Wasn’t the bridge with the sign supposed to be the first one?” Trowa asked, his voice even.
“Yeah,” Duo nodded. “We went backwards.”
Trowa frowned. “Then how come there was no path leading to it? Remember how we stepped off the bridge into a small clearing?”
“It’s possible that we didn’t notice it,” Heero replied, his head suddenly swiveling as he took a quick and paranoid survey of their immediate area. “Not likely, but possible.”
“Exactly,” Trowa nodded, just once.
“So what do you think that means?” Wufei asked. He folded his arms and glanced back at the expanse of bridge behind him. He turned sideways, putting his back to the railing.
“I have no idea what it means, but it did need to be pointed out.”
“I vote we continue moving. We’ve only got this bridge and then two more until we’re out of here,” Quatre said, shooting a worried glance up at Trowa’s solemn face. “I think we all realize that this whole thing is turning rather strange.”
“Is that a nice way of saying shut up and move on?” Duo asked, chuckling.
Quatre flat-out smirked. “Yes, it is. So let’s do that. Now.”
That said, they turned back to the bridge and started across. Above them, the cover of the bridge was dark and blackened with shadows. The moonlight still shone, though, and the water had taken on a silvery hushed quality, its faint burble fading into the quiet background of the night.
The fourth bridge passed beneath their hurried strides, and when they immerged at the other side, they didn’t pause before starting on the next path downstream. The trail was narrower than the previous one, so they were forced to walk in a line, Duo leading the way.
Moments later, they filed up and to the next bridge. They stepped up quickly, with no glances to the right or left as they started to cross.
When they were almost at the end of the bridge, Duo stopped abruptly and stepped backwards, colliding with Heero and Wufei, who had moved abreast each other as they had covered the span. Trowa managed to avoid treading on their heels by sidestepping and leaning against the railing in one easy motion.
“What the hell?” Wufei gritted out before he looked past the American. He stuttered for a moment, cleared his throat, and continued, “Where did the path go?”
“I was wondering the same thing myself, actually,” Duo returned.
Where the wood of the bridge’s flooring should of met the earth, fat roots curled, coming from trees that crowded the very edge of the bridge. Vines and shrubs choked around the closely spaced trunks, hemming them on the bridge and not allowing them to pass.
Heero turned and leaned out over the railing, his knuckles whitening against the wood. “We can’t climb out and get around them this way, either.”
“Shit…” Duo whispered, drawing the word out.
Trowa let out a sudden gasp.
Heero turned quickly, and Wufei’s head snapped around even as Duo blinked in shock. They faced Trowa, putting the blocked end of the bridge to their backs.
Trowa never did that.
“Where’s Quatre?” He whispered, his eyes darting around.
“What do you mean, ‘Where’s Quatre?’ He was right beside you, wasn’t he?” Duo asked, his voice rising in volume and pitch.
“He was behind me on the trail…we stepped up onto the bridge together, but I wasn’t paying attention,” Trowa swallowed audibly. He glanced over the side of the bridge before turning around completely and looking back the way they had came. “I didn’t hear a splash.”
“Splash? You don’t think…” Wufei looked down at the water. “He’d have had to climb over the railing, and I’m sure we would have heard that.”
“Not necessarily,” Duo muttered, running a finger along the solid wood of the rail itself. He winced and drew his hand back quickly. “It’s rough.”
“It’s possible that he went back, although I don’t know why he’d do such a thing,” Wufei said.
“Wouldn’t we have felt the vibrations under our feet, or at least heard him? He’s not the type to sneak off, if that’s what you’re getting at,” Trowa shook his head.
“That’s not what I meant,” Wufei snorted. “Duo’s more the type for that.”
“No I’m not!” Duo defended himself. “Well…maybe under certain circumstances, but I wouldn’t just run off by myself in a creepy forest. I’d be afraid that you’d leave me behind just to teach me a lesson. Besides, if I play a joke, I want it to be funny, not cruel. Who knows, Quatre might have had to take a leak and just stopped, not wanting to embarrass himself.”
“First of all, we wouldn’t leave you, we’d just be mad when we found you,” Heero broke in. “Quatre’s wearing that one of those free shirts we got at orientation. It’s white, and probably wouldn’t be difficult to spot in the dark.”
“That’s true,” Duo nodded. “Let’s just wait a minute, maybe he’ll show. What else are we going to do? We don’t have a choice but to go back anyway. Right?”
Trowa turned from his survey of the way they had come. “We cou--” His jaw snapped shut, cutting off his words abruptly as he looked past Heero.
Following Trowa’s gaze, the other three turned and looked. The end of the bridge that had been choked with thick tree trunks…the way that had been blocked…was now clear. A wide path curved away, heading not downstream, but away from the bridges and river, out into the woods.
Duo stepped forward quickly, stomping his feet down where the trees had just been. He craned his neck and looked down the new path, the wind whistling around him and down the trail, into the forest. “I think it’s the first path, the one that lead us to these damn bridges in the first place. And this is the fifth bridge, remember? How can that be?”
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Wufei whispered.
“No arguments here,” Heero muttered back.
Trowa stepped up and ran a cautious hand along the wood at the end of the bridge. “Did anyone touch the trees to make sure they were really there?”
“No,” Duo shook his head. He chewed his lower lip and swiveled his head around, taking in both ends of the bridge and what little of the forest he could see in the darkness. “If he had to take a leak, he’d have been back by now.”
“I’m going back,” Trowa snapped out, turning on his heel suddenly and stalking back across the bridge.
The other three exchanged a flurry of looks, then started after him.
“Wait, Trowa. We don’t want to get separated as well,” Heero said calmly.
The tall boy glanced over his shoulder, not slowing his pace. “Then hurry up.”
“Hey, Tro? You still have the flashlight, right? Maybe if we turn it on, we’ll be able to see better. It would give Quatre a beacon that would lead him right to us, if nothing else,” Duo suggested as they stepped off the end of the bridge and headed back upstream.
“It’ll ruin our night vision,” Wufei paused, “But I’m all for it.”
Wordlessly, Trowa turned on the flashlight and shone the beam all around, piercing the underbrush as best he could with the light. The contrast between the shadows and the brightness were harsh, giving the almost desperate sweeps of the beam a surreal quality.
“As if our night vision wasn’t already kind of messed up back when we took the pictures. Damn bright flash,” Duo muttered. He gasped. “The picture…”
“You mean the picture that Quatre was conveniently not in?” Trowa asked quietly. He directed the beam of light onto Duo’s face. “Are you sure you didn’t have something to do with that? You did take that picture.”
“Just what the hell are you implying, Trowa?” Duo’s voice was ice cold. He put his hands up to block the bright light shining in his eyes. “You’re usually so damn logical, and here you are flying off the handle and accusing me of something? So you’re fucking scared and worried? Guess what? We are too. It doesn’t give you the right to act like this.”
“How can I be ‘damn logical’ when so many seemingly impossible things are happening?” Trowa shot back. He stepped closer to Duo and moved the flashlight so it shone in the other boy’s face again. “We came out here because of you, and now Quatre is missing.”
“Trowa if you don’t back down right now, you’ll regret it,” Heero said evenly.
“In more ways than one,” Wufei added. “Your anger is misdirected.”
A moment passed. Utter stillness. Not even the wind blew.
Trowa lowered the flashlight, pointing the beam at the ground. “I apologize. I was out of line.”
“Don’t worry about it. I think that if Quatre was in earshot, he would have shown up by now,” Duo mused, biting his lip. He was still blinking rapidly, trying to get the bright spots from the flashlight out of his vision.
Heero cleared his throat. “Lead the way, Trowa.”
Trowa didn’t have to be told twice. As they walked, Duo had taken it upon himself to periodically call Quatre’s name, while Trowa swung the flashlight beam to both sides of the trail in random, almost wild patterns.
“Quatre! Come on, where the hell did you go?” Duo’s voice tapered off as they reached the next bridge. “What if someone grabbed him?”
“You know as well as we do that Quatre’s a lot stronger than he looks,” Wufei said, swiveling his head and scanning in all directions as they crossed started to cross. “At the very least, we’d have heard something that would indicate a struggle. The bridge would have vibrated, well, if he stepped on the bridge at all.”
“He did. He was on it with us at first, then fell back,” Trowa nodded, his voice tense.
“What if this doesn’t have a logical explanation?” Heero’s voice was barely above a whisper as they stepped off the edge of the bridge and continued on the next path. The trail here was well worn, a fact that no one observed out loud. It had been narrow before.
“What do you mean?” Duo finally asked, his voice sounding slightly hollow against the whistle of the wind. He cleared his throat and yelled Quatre’s name again, then waited for Heero to elaborate.
“Why are we ignoring the obvious, even if it is potentially alarming?” Heero only asked in reply.
“I think that none of us really want to consider the possibility that Quatre’s disappearance is related to the disappearances of the bridges,” Wufei said. “Is that what you were getting at?”
“Yeah, in a way,” Heero nodded.
“Quatre!” Duo called out again. He rubbed his throat and shrugged awkwardly. “I don’t want to think about that.”
“We don't have much of a choice,” Trowa spoke up. He stopped waving the flashlight as they reached the end of the trail where the next bridge started. The merry gurgling of running water contrasted sharply with the gravity in his tone.
“First we only cross six, then the thing with the picture, then the sudden disappearance of the bugs and frogs…” Duo counted off on his fingers. “Hey, and let’s not forget the overly enigmatic plaque.”
“What did it say again?” Heero asked, stepping up onto the bridge. “I wasn’t paying much attention.”
“I can’t remember the exact words, but it said something like: Be wary and watch yourself or one less will not return with you,” Wufei supplied.
“And that going forward may not be the answer, neither may be going back,” Trowa finished, rolling the flashlight in his hands. He paused and looked over the rough wooden railing, then continued crossing with the others.
“One less will not return?” Heero echoed. “One less bridge?”
“That’s what I thought, but maybe…it means a person,” Duo stepped off the edge of the span and stopped. He took a deep breath before raising his voice. “Quatre! Where are you?! Hellooooooo!”
“Assuming that what’s happening has anything to do with the plaque, how exactly will it help us? If going forward isn’t the answer, and going back isn’t either, how are we supposed to find him?” Wufei asked. “I can’t believe we’re talking about this so rationally. It’s surreal.”
“Hopefully we’re jumping to conclusions,” Duo replied. “I don’t really know what to think right now, but maybe we’re worrying over nothing. We could laugh about this tomorrow, for all we know. Let’s just keep going, that way if all else fails, we can re-read that damn plaque and see if we’re missing something. This could be a big hoax or something. Yeah. Something.”
“Like those other urban legends, the ones that could easily be a drunk or a homeless person?” Heero asked as he looked to the left of the path, his eyes squinting against the beam of Trowa’s flashlight. The moving light did strange things to the shadows. Heero kept thinking he saw something dodging out of sight, but when he focused his gaze in that direction, everything was still.
“I don’t know what would be worse in this case, having a human do something like this or having a…something else…do it,” Wufei muttered.
“This isn’t helping,” Trowa observed.
“Sure it is,” Duo laughed emptily. “It’s helping our paranoia.”
They walked on, slowly scanning the area around them in the filtered moonlight and waving flashlight beam. The wind had died down again, and the humidity made the atmosphere seem smothering. By this time, the four had gotten used to walking on the forest terrain, so their footsteps were much quieter than when they had first started out. The rushing of the water had faded into the background stillness of the night once again. Periodically, Duo called out Quatre’s name, but the sound seemed to fall dead in the air as soon as it left his lips. Far too quickly, they reached the next bridge.
“Fourth one,” Wufei observed.
Heero stepped forward. “Trowa, shine the flashlight down the center of the bridge. If this keeps to the pattern, then this should be as far as we can go.”
Trowa did so, the beam of luminance piercing the shadowed bridge easily. The end of the span was open, and they could see a small clearing of space between the bridge’s end and the beginning of the tree line.
“Can’t tell if there’s a path there or not,” Duo muttered. He glanced at the others, making sure their faces were fixed in his mind. “All right, everyone make sure you’re keeping up with the group and are beside someone. No one falls behind.”
“I can’t believe we’re acting like this. There’s got to be something behind this…this…strangeness,” Wufei said as they walked the length of the bridge, keeping beside Heero. He glanced back at Duo and Trowa.
“If you can think anything, be sure to tell us,” Duo responded dryly.
Trowa just pointed the flashlight over the railing. The beam bounced off the water and refracted in the rushing waves heading downstream.
“He’s not down there,” Heero stated, looking at Trowa.
“I know,” Trowa nodded, not moving his gaze from the water below. “I keep thinking…”
“It’s probably a fish or a frog,” Wufei said over his shoulder.
“That’s not what I was going to say,” Trowa replied.
“Sorry…”
“It’s fine. It was useless anyway.”
Heero stepped off the edge of the bridge. He stopped abruptly, his shoulders tensing. “There’s no path.”
Wufei strode across the small clearing. “The foliage is extremely thick. Unless we want to fight through these trees and bushes, we’re stuck. At any rate, there’s no trail. There should be. But there isn’t.”
“Fuck,” Duo stated.
Trowa cleared his throat and pointed the flashlight beam. It illuminated an iron marker, and on first glance, it appeared to be the same one they had encountered after their first crossing of the bridges.
But it wasn’t.
“Fuck,” Duo whispered again, crouching down in front of the sign. He rubbed the palm of his hand over the writing. “There’s more on it this time…smaller writing. It’s real.”
“Of course it’s real,” Wufei snorted half-heartedly, kicking the plaque’s pole. He squinted at it, and read out loud.
“’Choice:
Misunderstanding leads to failure.
Guard the mind from the heart,
But react with both.
Remember the choices
That are not ahead of you.
Order does not matter,
The newness of Chaos doesn’t either.’”
“That’s just…” Heero muttered, shaking his head. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
Duo stood up and backed away from the marker. He took a few deep breaths. “Guys, get around the sign. I’m going to take another picture.”
“Why?” Wufei asked.
“You know why,” Duo snapped back.
“Calm down,” Heero said, his voice perfectly even. “Duo, why don’t you let one of us take the picture?”
“Because it’s my camera.”
Trowa sighed. “Could everyone stop being so irrational?”
“You’re one to talk,” Duo shot back.
“I know,” Trowa admitted calmly, an edge of frustration marring his tone. “I already apologized for getting angry at you, Duo.” Duo paused in fiddling with his camera. He gave Trowa a long look, then sighed. “Sorry.”
Wufei moved to stand behind the plaque, and Heero flanked him, arms crossed over his chest. Trowa shrugged minutely and took the other side, turning his head to the side and searching the trees for any sign of movement.
“Ready?” Duo asked. Without waiting for an answer, he continued, “Remember to close your eyes, or your night vision will get all fucked…even though we have the flashlight on, it’s still there, ya know?”
Trowa covered the beam of the flashlight with his hand. “Take the picture,” he said distractedly.
Wufei turned and gave Trowa a long look. “Snap out of it. Everything will be fine.”
The other student shrugged.
“Um, okay…” Duo cleared his throat. “1, 2, 3.”
On the third count, he snapped the picture. A moment later, the camera ejected the poloroid into Duo’s waiting hand. The others opened their eyes and moved away from the iron marker.
Trowa uncovered the flashlight and swung it to face the trees again, peering into the dark forest. Above them, the moon shone down cool light, casting soft shadows that contrasted harshly with those made by the sharp beam of the flashlight.
“Hurry up,” Duo muttered at the picture. He squinted at it.
“I don’t think it can understand you,” Wufei remarked, nodding his head at the developing poloroid. Heero snorted, turning away and looking back at the bridge.
“Ha, ha,” Duo rolled his eyes. His voice dropped to a whisper. “I’m staring to get worried…”
“About Quatre?” Wufei asked, his voice low. He glanced over at Trowa, only a few feet distant physically, but miles away mentally.
“Yeah…but about Tro, as well…” Duo shook his head. “This is so fucked. I’m sorry that I dragged you guys out here.”
“We came out here of our own free will,” Heero said quietly.
“And now we’re all trapped in what seems to be an alternate reality that doesn’t have bugs or frogs, but does have disappearing bridges,” Duo snorted, his voice growing louder as he continued. “Oh, and happens to steal our friends when we’re not paying attention. And freaks us out, putting us all on edge and making us snipe at each other. Let’s not forget how it hems us in with trees and gives us cryptic messages on signs that probably aren’t supposed to be here at all…”
“It’s not your fault,” Heero said patiently.
Beside him, Wufei nodded.
“I know, but that doesn’t bring Quatre back,” Duo frowned. “And it sure as hell doesn’t make me feel less guilty.”
“Is the picture finished?” Trowa asked, effectively changing the topic.
Duo shrugged. “Shine that flashlight over here, I can barely see this damn thing,” he held the picture out, letting Trowa hold the flashlight over it.
In the illuminated poloroid, Trowa, Wufei, and Heero all stood, eyes closed against the glare of the camera’s flash. Behind them, the background was totally black. The sign, unlike in the other two pictures, appeared perfectly normal.
“If you three are in the picture…” Duo’s voice trailed off. He bit his lip, then laughed hollowly. “Well, great, we’ve just found out that the pictures mean jack shit. Let’s go back and see if we can find Quatre back the way we just came.”
That said, he started walking towards the bridge, shoving the poloroid and the camera into Heero’s hands as he passed. The Japanese boy blinked, then carefully slipped the picture into his back pocket and attached the camera to his waistband.
Duo was already on the bridge, moving quickly. He turned around and glared at the other three. “What the hell are you guys waiting on?”
“Duo, are you okay?” Wufei asked.
“Fucking fine, now let’s go!”
So they went, moving quickly, following Duo. The longhaired boy kept far ahead, calling every few steps for Quatre, his voice ragged. Through one trail and over another bridge, Duo strode forward boldly, his back square to his friends.
“For God’s sakes…” Trowa muttered. He turned around abruptly and glared at Heero, then Wufei. “Do something about him. He’s absolutely irrational for some reason. It’s not helping anything.”
“It had something to do with the picture,” Heero clipped out, his eyes scanning down the path. Duo had paused, waiting for them, but hadn’t turned around.
“But we were all in it…” Wufei’s eyes widened. “We were all in it! Surely he doesn’t think that because we were all there that he’ll be supposedly next?”
Heero nodded, his brow furrowing. “He must. That’s probably why he’s keeping so far ahead. He’s either scared, or he’s trying to protect the rest of us…it also must be why he gave me the camera.”
The three boys looked at each other, then turned to look up the path. Duo wasn’t there.
“He must have gone ahead,” Wufei stated firmly, crossing his arms over his chest. “Duo! Wait up!”
“We hope…” Trowa muttered, striding down the path after Heero, who had starting moving as soon as he had seen that Duo wasn’t there.
“Duo! Wait for us!” Heero yelled, moving up the path quickly.
He reached the next bridge, the third one, and looked around before stepping up onto the wooden planks. He glanced up at the roof covering the span and ignored the thick shadows. He took a hesitant step forward, and tried not to think about the strange prickling on the back of his neck. He knew that there was nothing in the shadows above him. Nothing was going to drop down onto him.
Heero swallowed and forced his feet to move, but only after he saw the bouncing of Trowa’s flashlight beam come up beside him.
“If the pattern continues…” Heero said, his voice hesitant. He didn’t turn to look at Trowa.
“I know,” Trowa replied quietly, his footsteps barely making a noise as he stared down over the railing. “This is the third.”
Heero nodded and started walking, the crawling sensation on the back of his neck traveling down his spine. He fought down the urge to shudder.
At the center of the bridge they paused. Trowa once again leaned against the railing and stared down at the water. He set the flashlight down on the top of the railing as he did so. Heero studied the other boy for a long moment, watching Trowa’s intent, almost too-focused gaze. Frowning, Heero turned to talk to Wufei.
“He’s gone,” Heero whispered, his voice echoing muted shock.
Trowa’s back straightened and he slowly swiveled his head to look at Heero. “What?”
“Wufei’s…gone,” Heero repeated. “He was right there with us…did you see him when we were chasing Duo?”
“I thought he was behind me,” Trowa replied. He glanced back over the side of the bridge, then directed a heavy gaze at Heero. “The water’s quiet now.”
“What?” Heero exclaimed. His fists clenched at his sides. “What the hell do I care if the water’s quiet? Wufei’s gone now. Duo’s gone. So is Quatre. What does the water matter?”
Trowa’s voice was low. “Heero. Everything in this matters. Disappearing bridges. Changing signs. Trees that block our way, then don’t. Paths and trails that at one point are nearly impossible to walk along, then suddenly become clear enough to run on, and in the dark no less. I think we’re in over our heads here. The missing insects, and the absence of natural sound. Haven’t you noticed that the wind doesn’t even smell damp anymore?”
“Of course I have, Trowa! What are we going to do about it?” Heero replied through gritted teeth. He clenched and unclenched his jaw. “This is so different from what we’ve been prepared for…or have really thought about…There has to be something we can do.”
“Then let’s start at the most obvious place: the signs,” Trowa paused, leaning back against the railing and tipping his head up to look at the varied shadows in the bridge’s cover. “I’m convinced that Duo was right: when the first one referred to losing one, it didn’t mean a bridge, but one of us. The consequences of not guarding ourselves.”
“Whatever that means,” Heero muttered. He cleared his throat, moving to lean against the railing opposite of Trowa. He didn’t like having his back to either end of the bridge. This way, they could watch each other as well. He continued, “But what about those pictures? Wufei was in the last one, behind the sign.”
“I don’t know,” Trowa shrugged stiffly. “Misunderstanding…the second sign said it would lead to failure. I think that when it said to guard our minds from our hearts was an elaboration on the guarding ourselves thing the first one referred to?”
“That makes sense…” Heero shifted his weight, checking both sides of the bridge, then looking back over his shoulder. Trowa was right; the water was silent. The back of Heero’s neck started to prickle again. He shrugged, trying to shake the sensation away. It didn’t work, so he reached into his pocket for the picture Duo had shoved in his hand earlier. It would give him something to focus on. “What about the choices mentioned? We can’t go forward, but we can’t go back? So what does that leave us?”
“Up or down?” Trowa replied dryly. He pushed away from the railing to stand. “Let’s see what’s at the end of this bridge.”
Heero peered down at the picture in his hand. He wasn’t surprised to see that where Wufei had once stood, there was nothing but black background. The sign now glowed. “The picture changed.”
“He’s gone now?”
Heero nodded, slipped the picture back into his pocket, and moved away from the railing as well. He spared the water one last long look. “What if none of this means anything at all?”
“It has to.”
“Does it?”
Trowa didn’t reply. He picked up the flashlight again and pointed it down at the floor of the bridge. The beam pierced the darkness, dispelling shadows, and seeped through the cracks between the boards. Below them, the water reflected the unnatural light in dips and waves.
Slowly they walked the rest of the length of the bridge, side by side. They didn’t look at each other, or over the edge of the railing, but kept their gazes fixed on the gaping darkness that marked the end of the wooden span. Far too quickly, they reached it.
Standing in the mouth of the portal, Heero felt a cool, damp breeze stir around him. A lightning bug flashing in front of his face and was gone. He cleared his throat, listening to the sound as it fought to be heard over the gurgle of the river underneath him and the croak of the occasional frog.
“We can leave,” Heero finally said.
Trowa’s answer was firm. “No. We can’t.”
Morbid amusement. “I didn’t say that it was an option. I was just stating a fact.”
“I understand,” Trowa nodded, looking sideways at his friend. Heero smirked, his eyes marked with resignation. "Do you?”
Trowa nodded again, turning away from the forest and back to face the bridge.
They walked back across.
The water was silent. Once at the other end, they paused and turned around. Trowa directed the light back the way they had came, but the end of the bridge wasn’t visible. It should have been…but it just wasn’t.
Without exchanging words, they started down the trail, heading upstream, being sure to stay side by side. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, they were at the next bridge. The second.
“This is it,” Heero observed.
“Perhaps,” Trowa replied grimly as they stepped up onto the planks. He gripped the flashlight hard and shone it at the end of the bridge. It was visible.
They stepped forward, the span seeming to pass underneath their feet as thought it wasn’t there. Things were getting shorter. Less bridges, easier paths between them, and now the bridge itself…neither said anything, but they both acknowledged it.
There was a small clearing past the lip of the bridge. The forest was silent, muted, as though it was only a painted set. Static. The sign was there.
Heero nodded at the iron marker even as Trowa shone the flashlight on it. From their vantage point, they couldn’t see the front of it, and therefore couldn’t tell if the writing had changed.
“We should see if it says something,” Heero finally said.
Trowa closed his eyes briefly, then nodded. “We should.”
Moving together, they both stepped off the bridge and onto the soft ground. The world seemed to shift around them, the darkness of the shadows deepening. The moon was gone.
“Fuck,” Heero whispered, searching the sky.
The orb wasn’t behind a cloud. It just wasn’t there.
Trowa looked at the sign and read it.
“Action:
It’s not about the crossing.
Open yourself to the possibility of something else.
It’s not that it isn’t there for you to see.
What is there doesn’t see you.
Only one must understand,
Then the others will follow.’”
“Something else?” Heero echoed. He snorted, then unclipped Duo’s camera from the waistband of his jeans.
Trowa’s gaze followed the movement. “Should we even bother?”
“Why not?” Heero’s voice tapered off into a empty chuckle. He closed his mouth abruptly and frowned, rubbing up and down one of his arms harshly. “Sorry.”
Trowa shrugged, knowing that most of Heero’s hard won stability had been severely rocked in the past hour. “You want to take the picture?” He asked Heero.
Trowa held tight to his forced calm as he waited for an answer. Heero wasn’t the only one feeling shaken. While Trowa knew that he and Heero were similar in the ways they had once dealt their emotions, Heero’s situation was far different from Trowa’s.
Trowa had always been an excellent actor, his genuine reactions well hidden, usually because of necessity. It became a habit, only dropped around those people close to him, but in times of stress, he sometimes reverted back to that false apathy. Heero, on the other hand, had practiced suppression to the point of believing the presented facade himself. But he had changed. Now that Heero’s emotions were out there, and had been for some time, he wasn’t always used to their results. Sometimes he didn’t know how to deal with them.
Similar, but entirely different, Trowa thought.
They were both scared, but Trowa was more worried about Heero at the moment than anything else. If Heero was next to go…then Trowa was sure he could deal with it. But if Trowa was next…he knew Heero would probably be fine…but he wasn’t positive.
Breaking out of his reverie, Trowa noticed that his friend was staring down at the camera clutched in his hands. Duo’s camera.
“Heero?”
Heero’s shoulders stiffened. He didn’t look up. “I’m worried.”
“So am I, but we’re doing our best. There’s nothing more we can do,” Trowa replied. He placed his hand over the one Heero had on the camera. “I’ll take the picture.”
Heero’s face hardened and he handed the camera over. He nodded decisively, then moved to stand behind the sign. Trowa backed up a few steps. “Ready?”
Heero nodded again and closed his eyes. Trowa thumbed the flashlight off and set it on the ground. He aimed the camera, closed his own eyes, and snapped the picture. A painful spot of brightness danced across the back of his eyelids as the flash went off. He rubbed at his eyelids lightly, keeping his eyes closed.
At the sound of the poloroid ejecting from the side of the camera, he opened them, immediately looking in Heero’s direction.
He really wasn’t that surprised when he saw that Heero wasn’t there anymore. A heaviness settled over Trowa’s shoulders and dragged down at the center of his chest. He tried not to get carried away with wild thoughts and speculation...
Holding the poloroid perfectly still between his thumb and index finger, Trowa clipped Duo’s camera to his belt and picked up the flashlight. Sparing one last glance at the sign, he stepped back onto the bridge.
He had to stop himself from breaking into a run when his footsteps vibrated the wooden boards underneath his the soles of his shoes. Deliberately, he placed one foot in front of the other, squaring his shoulders against the strange tightness that gripped his heart. Once he reached the center of the bridge, Trowa flicked the flashlight on and looked at the picture in his hand.
No Heero. Glowing sign. Big surprise.
Trowa slipped the picture into his back pocket and continued forward. What would be at the end of this bridge? Would he somehow switch sides of the river and be given a path out? Or would there be nothing but another clearing and another sign? What if he blinked, and suddenly the others were back? What a blessing that would be. Totally unrealistic…but then…nothing about this was realistic. Or maybe it was. Maybe that was the problem. He wasn’t sure what to think at this point.
He reached the end of the bridge. An empty clearing that looked more like a painting than a natural setting. No sign.
Suddenly he thought he saw something crawling at the corner of his vision. Trowa turned his head quickly, fighting the impulse to back away…but there was nothing there. Just a shadow. Swallowing, the boy looked around again. The clearing had shrunk. Or was it only his imagination? Trowa turned around, his heels making a soft sound as he pivoted to stare back the way he had came, back across the bridge.
On either side of the span over the railings, there was nothing but a blank void of shadows. He couldn’t see the forest on the other side of the riverbank, never mind the end of the bridge or the forest beyond. It was as though it had just…gone away. Stopped existing. Faded into nothingness.
Trowa turned back to look at the small clearing, only to find that he wasn’t at the end of the bridge anymore. Nothing but an expanse of wooden planks lay before him. He whirled back around. The bridge seemed to go right into the darkness, with neither end visible…and he was in the middle. The center. The land was gone.
Trowa felt his eyes widen as he chewed his lower lip, hard enough to make it bleed. Sucking on the coppery blood, he fought to keep his suddenly short breath under control. So much for retaining his composure, he thought, a mixture of panic, sarcasm, and despair washing over him. How had he been guided into this? Was he trapped?
What choices were left for him now? He couldn’t go forward, the bridge didn’t look like it existed past a certain point. If he went back, he faced the same problem. Nothing was there. Nothing but him, and the bridge, and the darkness. He couldn’t even hear his heartbeat anymore.
He leaned over the railing and looked down, the void below him gaping. He craned his neck up, ignoring a wave of dizziness. Nothing but darkness above.
Not forward. Not back. Order didn’t matter? Was this Chaos? Or neither?
It’s not that it isn’t there for you to see.
What is there doesn’t see you.
With a sudden burst of understanding, Trowa threw the flashlight over the side of the bridge, the beam spinning in the black, twirling, gouging the abyss with light….he blinked, and suddenly it was gone.
What else was left? He could, and should, disappear too. Trowa climbed easily onto the railing and stood for a moment, taking a deep breath of the thick air. He couldn’t take the predictable path; he should do something else. He grasped the support beam beside him, even though he didn’t need it to keep his balance. A splinter pierced his skin. Just like Quatre.
What would happen? What would it hurt? Might as well see if he ended up anywhere. If he was wrong, he’d never know, right? Wouldn’t he just disappear? The choices one had to make…
Why not? In some strange way, wasn’t their goal to disappear? Not be what they once were, but new people not predetermined by their pasts? Wasn’t this almost the same thing…?
Well, Not quite, but that was okay. Parallels and irony. Trowa wasn’t sure he understood, but that was fine. He only had once course of action left to him now, anyway.
He felt a smirk steal across his face. He closed his eyes.
Trowa stepped off the railing and fell into obscurity.
~ ~ ~ ~
The next morning Trowa opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling above him. His palm throbbed. He looked at it, but there was nothing there but a small scar.
What had caused that again? The memory had been so clear, and it hadn’t been so recent that…
Trowa sat up, and the fading memory left his mind. Time to move on. The past was the past. He had things to do.
The choice had already been made.
Only time could reveal the wisdom of their decision.
~ ~ ~ ~
That morning, when they went to classes, no one recognized them as the former Gundam pilots.
It was a good day.
~ ~ ~ ~