Q and Yoyo

Ace was turning off the living room lights when a thump made his heart freeze. His entire body was shaking at this point. He pointed his gun in the direction of the back of the house.

"So uh, what the heck was that?" Ace whispered.

"It was a thump."

Rei held her left arm out in front of her, her forearm in front of her face and parallel to the floor. She slowly made her way toward the back of the house, then stopped. "Ace, get in front of me. I don't feel like getting shot."

Ace frowned at the thought that he'd shoot her. He was going to retort but he realized he was getting closer to the unlocked back door. He really didn't like where this was going. He neared it. His heart was beating so loudly it hurt his ears. Yet he didn't hear anything else. "Um, Adela?" Ace asked the door. "Are you there?"

"I doubt it's Adela," she thought forlornly, though she desperately hoped it was her.

The door burst open as a large burst of wind caught it. Rei squeaked and jumped back a step, hardly expecting that.

Ace jumped back and barely kept himself from shooting the door. When he opened his eyes he saw nothing there, which only scared him even more. "This place is screwed up," Ace said walking carefully towards the door and peering his head out. Nothing was there. This was getting to be too much.

Rei grabbed the door and pulled it shut, locking it to keep it from blowing open again. She was getting jumpy and that was not a good thing when something was going on, especially when it was possibly dangerous. "Back to the main room," she whispered, though she did not know who she did not want to hear her.

Ace carefully followed Rei back to the main room. He was scared. Doors don't just fly open. At that moment a scream occurred that he could of sworn was very, very close. It felt like it was inside the house, but he knew that wasn't possible.

Rei spun around at the scream, almost wanting to scream herself. This place was way messed up and she wanted it to stop being messed up. "Where did that come from?" she asked carefully, not letting her fear creep into her voice.

Ace wasn't sure, either. Doors were flying open, screams, and shadows. The place was just terrifying him. He carefully checked the rooms around them just to make sure he was right in the fact that there was no one around. There wasn't. He looked outside again, and he saw an empty street.

"What the freedom is doing all that screaming?" he whispered.

"That's why I asked if you knew which direction it came from," Rei hissed, her voice still low. "If we can find the source, we can stop it or kill it or sacrifice you to it or something."

Ace heard the scream again. This time he ignored his fear and listened to the direction. "That way," he pointed over to the opposite side of the house they were on. "It came from over there."

"And we're not sacrificing me," he added.

"We are if it means I get away," Rei responded absently, making her way toward the sound. The house was fairly small since Adela was the only one who lived there, but it seemed to take forever to reach the other side of the house. She came to a closed door, cringing when she heard the scream again. "It's on the other side."

"Are you kidding me?" Ace said. A part of him was admittedly relieved at the idea of not having to deal with it, but a part of him was annoyed. He was tired of playing games with whatever this thing was. He ran toward the other side of the house and looked for it. "Come out!"

Utter silence fell over the house after Ace shouted. It annoyed Rei, enough to make her shove open the door and flip on the light switch. As light flooded the room, Rei could only help but stare at what she saw.

"Um, Ace?"

Ace walked over to Rei and stared at the room. "Oh," Ace said. Inside was Adele's body, lying limp over a couch. She didn't look very alive. "When did that happen?" Ace asked, even though he knew Rei didn't know any better than he.

Rei raced into the room and to Adela's side, ignoring caution and wanting only to make sure Adela was okay. She repositioned the woman so she lay on her back on the couch and checked her pulse. She nearly let out a moan when she felt nothing. She angrily examined the room, looking for the culprit.

Ace felt bad for Rei losing her friend. He was really unhappy about the whole situation, but he kept his eyes open when he saw a person standing on the other side of the window. "Um, Rei?" Ace said as he pointed the gun at the window. "There's someone there."

Rei spun, arm straight out and ready to strike. There was indeed someone standing on the other side of the window. A large, cloaked someone.

"You!" she shouted, walking forward, ready to throw open the window and zap the cloaked figure. "Don't move or you're beyond dead."

The figure completely ignored Rei's command and disappeared in an instant. Ace was a bit in shock as he dealt with it. He looked around the room carefully, kept expecting it to poof in front of them. But it hadn't shown itself.

"Come back here!" Rei shouted, crossing the remaining distance between her and the window quickly. She tried to open the window but it stuck fast. "No!"

She turned, facing Ace, anger plain on her face. "We're finding him."

Ace didn't like the idea of that, but he also didn't like the look on her face. "Out in the dark where we can't see what's going on?" Ace asked. "I don't know if that's such a good idea. We need at least a plan."

"The plan is simple," Rei said as she began hunting through dresser drawers. "We find a flashlight, we go outside, and we find whoever did this. What happens after that is still up for debate." She slammed a drawer closed, making the things on top of the dresser rattle.

Ace grabbed a few pieces of metal and a glass. After a moment of drawing on the ground he had transmuted them a flashlight and handed it to her. "It should last for the night, but I don't know how long it will last after that," Ace said.

"Ready to do this?" he asked.

"You have no idea," Rei said, accepting the flashlight without much thought. Her entire world was spinning oddly around her. She had been scared out of her mind, then found a close friend dead in her own home. The combination had locked logic out and she wanted only to bring justice of some kind to the cause.

"That's new," a small voice said somewhere in the back of her mind as she stormed out of the house, flashlight in one hand, knife in her left.

Ace followed Rei. He was a bit scared and he could tell the look on her face that someone was going to die. He didn't mind, though. He'd rather Rei be ready to fight then the two of them be scared as they were. He held out his gun and followed closely behind her as they crossed the yard. It was dark and silent. The screaming from before was nowhere to be heard.