Chapter Text
Yuuri and his team stood in the dirt driveway of an old house that stood just before a gray forest. Behind it, the trees cowered, unwilling to approach it and only skirting around it as they advanced, then ended, corralled by the cracked, bumpy road behind them. The stillness felt throughout the area made no attempt at feigning safe like their last case. It felt cold, menacing.
“Creepy,” Phichit mumbled beside him.
“The energy around here isn’t too great, either. It feels like the calm before the storm…” Leo mumbled, looking to Guang-Hong, who nodded.
“Like something’s waiting to attack just around the corner.”
“Every case we take,” Otabek shrugged.
“We’re physically incapable of taking a peaceful case,” Phichit sighed, turning to Yuuri. “How do you feel about this place, Yuuri?”
Yuuri’s eyes scanned over the house, almost expecting something to be at a window, watching them, but didn’t see anything. He found it a challenge to look away from the house to respond to Phichit, his mind screaming at him to be vigilant.
“I… don’t like it. At all. It feels heavy and there’s a ravenous hatred that’s so deeply sewn into the land and home,” Yuuri responded, wrapping his arms around himself. He could feel the energy of the house alone making him anxious to the point where his heart felt heavy in his chest and his breathing had to be consciously slowed.
“Yuuri, if you don’t want to—“
“No… I can handle it. Yuri called us here. He called me here. He needs us,” he said, pushing himself forward as he began walking towards the house, stopping abruptly when the door was thrown open.
“ Yuuri!” He heard Yuri call before he broke into a sprint towards them. Yuri looked like he was going to make to hug Yuuri, but held himself back and stood just a foot in front of the man, a little shyer with his affection towards anyone other than Otabek and his grandfather, as Yuuri well knew by now. “You came,” he sighed in relief.
“Of course we came, you called us,” Yuuri laughed, pulling Yuri into a hug, that Yuri timidly returned. Yuri nodded against him, then pulled away and moved to Otabek and wrapped the man’s arm around himself. Otabek smiled as he did, and pressed a kiss to Yuri’s temple; the action no longer drawing a blush from him.
“We should go inside. Did you tell Viktor you were coming?” Yuri asked, leading them up the rest of the driveway and towards the house.
“After you had called. I asked him for more information and he helped us get everything together. Why? Did you not tell him?” Yuuri responded, pausing in his search of whatever was causing the feeling of dread to face Yuri.
He had called them a day prior, while Celestino, Phichit, Otabek, and himself had been going over case files that had been submitted, planning their next and final season, after which they would work with Viktor and Yuri at the Russian branch of the Society for Psychical Research.
Yuri hadn’t said much beyond voicing his unease over their new case, and Yuuri had agreed to help without a second thought, organizing everything to arrive as soon as possible. It made things easier that his entire team was in one country this time, and they arrived as quickly as the day following his call.
“I assumed you would,” Yuri shrugged, opening the door stepping in with the others.
“Have you started the investigation yet?”
“No, I saw something before we got here that made me think this case might be a little bigger than us two. We just got here yesterday and Viktor asked Sara and Mila if they could wait until backup came.”
Yuuri hummed in understanding.
“How have your visions been, by the way?”
“Better. More relevant, but still annoying as all he-“
Yuuri was almost knocked backwards by the sudden weight of someone launching themselves at him. He felt a hand on the small of his back steady him, as the second cradled the back of his head and both held him firmly against the person holding him. He made to let out a startled noise at the suddenness of it, but it was silenced by the mouth on his. Yuuri responded as soon as he recognized the man in front of him and melted into the embrace, wrapping his arms around Viktor’s neck.
Viktor pulled away before Yuuri could deepen it further, leaving him dazed and out of breath. He rested his forehead against Yuuri’s, a bright smile on his face as he looked into Yuuri’s eyes. “I missed you,” he whispered.
Yuuri attempted to respond in kind, but all that fell from his lips was a jumbled mess of sound.
“You’re here!” A woman’s voice called out, snapping Yuuri back to the present where he became very aware of their audience. He could feel his face go bright red, the incredible heat he felt to the tips of his ears making it impossible to pretend he still had any of his dignity. Beside him, Viktor looked calm, if not a little pleased with himself as he kept an arm around Yuuri.
Yuuri buried his face into his side and took a deep breath before he turned to see the two women stepping into the room.
“Viktor told us that he was bringing in more people, but I didn’t think it would be you! I-we love your show!” A black haired woman told him, excitedly. “My name is Sara and this is my wife, Mila. We’re really grateful that you would come all the way out here to help.”
Yuuri took in both women: they were beautiful, their features a stark contrast from each other: Mila’s hair was red, and much shorter than Sara’s, and subtly wavy as opposed to the other’s straight, long hair. Mila’s skin was also pale, opposed to Sara’s olive colored skin and where Mila exuded confidence and strength, and playfulness, Sara gave off a kind, flirtatious, excitable feeling.
“It’s no trouble at all,” Yuuri blushed, very aware of the arm Viktor had around his waist. “We’re happy to help. I’m Yuuri, this is Phichit, Leo, Guang-Hong, and that’s Otabek,” Yuuri said, pointing out each member of his team as he named them.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Mila said, shaking their hands.
“Likewise. Would you like to tell us about the activity you’ve experienced?” Phichit asked.
“Right.. um… well we can’t have you just standing around, we can talk in the living room,” Sara said.
***
They relocated, walking into the living room that was divided from the kitchen by different flooring and a counter, with Yuuri pressed against Viktor’s side, basking in the feeling of being with him again after the month they had been apart spent arranging their final season.
“If you could please start from the beginning,” Viktor said, setting a recording device on the coffee table in front of them. He and Yuuri were sat in the middle of the couch, facing the kitchen, with Yuri and Phichit on each side of them, Otabek sitting off to the side on a recliner with his laptop open on his lap, and Leo and Guang-Hong sitting on the arms of the couch, while Sara and Mila shared a loveseat across from Otabek.
“W-well, it started about four months ago, a month after we had moved in. At first it was nothing. Things would end up in different places, vases, pictures, plates would fall on their own. It was fine, but then Sara started waking up with small scratches, and I was having these awful nightmares, and hardly even slept anymore. There was also this horrible smell that would just move throughout the rooms, and we thought maybe some small animal had wandered in from the woods behind the house and died, but we cleaned the whole place and found nothing. Things got really bad recently. I mean bad . I got pushed down the stairs-” everyone froze as cackling could be heard echoing throughout the house, as if this person was laughing at what had happened.
Yuuri stood, eyes searching the room. He caught a glimpse of the two women and Viktor watching him in confusion. There was something here, something evil. It made his heart beat faster, and his breathing become choppier.
Yuuri slowly moved past the women, who were now standing as well, catching sight of one of the ceramic plates as it teetered in the open cabinet, standing on its own. The laughter grew louder and Yuuri saw her as she grinned menacingly at him before plates began flying in their direction.
“Get down!” Yuri commanded, and Yuuri was quick to knock the two women to the ground. From the corner of his eye he saw the others get down, too, getting behind the coffee table for protection, while Yuuri and the two women were left out in the open.
He braced himself, shielding them the best he could, but the hits never came. He looked up to find that the kitchen table had somehow made its way in front of them. He looked back to find Viktor panting, and mouthed a thank you.
The attack continued until nothing was left intact; pictures on the walls were ruined, the cabinets were empty, and the dishes were in pieces all over the floor. Yuuri felt the negative energy flicker out of range, and slowly stood, taking in the destruction. Viktor had his arms around him as soon as the attack had stopped, startling him, but once again, he was quick to warm up to the gentle, familiar touch.
After a few moments, Viktor pulled back, pressing relieved kisses on every inch of his face.
“Are you okay? Did anything hit you, my love? How are you feeling?” He asked between kisses. He pulled back again, looking Yuuri over for any marks.
“I-I'm fine, Vitya, really. You kept us safe. I should be the one who's worried; moving something that big, are you feeling lightheaded?” Yuuri asked, cradling Viktor's head in his hands.
Viktor kissed his palm, nuzzling his cheek into Yuuri's hands, a look of adoration on his face that turned Yuuri's already pink face even redder. “I'd move mountains for you, darling.”
“We're here on a case ,” Yuri called out to them, bringing them back to the situation at hand.
Yuuri slowly peeked over Viktor's shoulder to find the others watching them in a mixture of expressions, ranging from Yuri's annoyed to Otabek's uncaring. He bowed his head, feeling his whole face heat up in embarrassment as he quickly turned away from them and to the two women.
“We’ll definitely take your case.”
***
After they had cleaned the mess of shattered dishes and splintered wood, the women led them through the large, old house, recalling encounters they’d had in each part of the house.
Yuuri had been listening closely, but was distracted by the sound of a woman crying. He slowed his steps until the others had passed him, taking advantage of their distraction to wander off and towards the sound of the crying. It became louder as he stepped into the master bedroom, seemingly coming from the wall behind an old dresser.
Yuuri pressed his ear against the wall, hearing the steady sob of a woman. He pursed his lips, looking behind him to the door, but couldn’t hear the others close by.
He pushed the dresser aside, with a small grunt, revealing a part of the wall that had a slightly different colored wood paneling.
He pushed the dresser further, exposing the whole thing. He tugged at the wooden boards, finding that they came off easily, and the wood even crumbled in his hands—probably due to age— and found the beginnings of a door just behind it. He continued to yank free boards of wood that snapped and dissolved beneath his fingers until the entirety of it was revealed. He stopped for a moment, looking back out into the hallway, for a moment considering calling someone else to investigate with him, but for no reason or feeling thought against it and cautiously pulled the door open.
The sound of crying became louder, and Yuuri could see the silhouette of a woman sitting at the center of the room, holding an old stuffed bear. The entire room looked like it was meant for a child, with a cobweb covered rocking horse in the corner, and a shelf full of old wooden toys and books. Yuuri took a cautious step closer to the woman, kneeling down beside her, noticing her clothes looked old fashioned.
“Are you alright?” He asked, laying a hand on her shoulder.
The woman turned to him, revealing the long gash on her throat. Yuuri drew back with a small gasp as the woman moved closer to him, while he tried to back away, still on the floor.
“ My son ,” the woman said, barely above a whisper, her voice shaky from her crying. “ They killed my son!” She shrieked, moving to loom over Yuuri, who only had time to lean away, until she was only inches away from his face. The phantom blood pouring out of her wound dripped onto him, chilling him to the bone with no trace left anywhere but his heart.
“W-who?” Yuuri asked.
“ They killed him ,” the woman repeated, suddenly standing, and moving away from Yuuri to sit on the rocking chair beside the small bed, looking down at the stuffed bear in her hands.
“ Who killed him? W-where? Why ?” Yuuri asked again, standing and taking a small step towards the woman.
At the sound of his movement she looked up, a hateful look directed at Yuuri, or rather, beyond Yuuri.
“ Husband and her,” she hissed before vanishing entirely.
He turned to where the woman looked to find nothing there, but feeling the same dread he had felt earlier when she had appeared.
“Yuuri!” Viktor called from just outside the room, before he ran in, looking panicked when he stepped in. “Why did you wander off?” He asked, pulling Yuuri into a tight hug.
When he finally pulled back, he seemed to take notice of where they were. “What is this?”
“I don’t know. I heard a woman crying, and it was coming from the wall and when I moved the dresser there was a door that had been covered up.”
“Did the woman do anything to you?”
“No,” Yuuri shook his head, looking to the rocking chair where she had last been. “But she said her husband and a woman had killed her son. I… do you think the thing that has been attacking Sara and Mila is the woman?”
“We’ll ask Yura and Otabek to look into it,” Viktor reassured him. “Let’s get back to the others and explain to Sara and Mila how you destroyed their room,” he joked, making Yuuri pout.
Viktor laughed, pressing a languid kiss to Yuuri’s lips until he felt him drop his pout and kiss back with a small laugh of his own.
“Okay, but I’m sure they would have liked to know that their room had a hidden room adjacent where a murder and possible kidnapping took place long ago.”
“Naturally. Maybe even before they bought the place.”
***
Yuuri shifted nervously as he stood in front of Mila and Sara. They had been quiet for longer than he would have liked after he had told them what he had found.
“C-can we see it?” Mila finally asked.
“Yes, of course! It’s your house and I wouldn’t think of restricting your access to any part of it. Besides, I wanted to have Phichit take a look at it.”
“Yura and I will stay here and do some research and set up the equipment,” Otabek said, already typing on his laptop.
“Right. Did you want to take a camera with you?” Yuri asked, picking it up out of its case and holding it out to Viktor, who took it with a quiet ‘thank you.’
***
“And… there’s nothing bad there?” Sara asked, holding onto Mila’s arm as they made their way back.
“In the sense of something that can do you harm, probably not. I mean, not that I could set apart— this whole place is kind of… echoing bad energy— but there was a great deal of negative energy coming from that room. Something bad happened there, the woman was covered in blood crying over her son, but she wouldn’t tell me exactly what happened. None of her negative emotions seemed directed at me, though, so that should mean we’re not in any danger,” Yuuri explained as they stepped into the room.
The woman had reappeared, slowly rocking the chair back and forth again as quiet sobs escaped her lips; her hands fiddling with the bear’s ears. She didn’t look up at them, but she seemed to tense up.
“ I don’t want them in here,” she rasped out.
“I’m sorry, we just wanted to help you find your son,” Yuuri explained.
“ Make them leave.”
“ Please, we can help,” Guang-Hong tried, but the woman didn’t even look at him.
“ Make them leave. ”
“If I do, will you talk to me?”
She seemed to consider it for a moment, then the chair stopped moving and she looked up. “ Yes. Make them leave.”
“Okay,” Yuuri mumbled. “She doesn’t want you here,” he told the others. “She wants you to get out.”
Guang-Hong, Phichit, and Leo nodded, leaving the room with Sara and Mila just behind them.
“And you want to… stay here to talk to her?” Viktor asked, not missing the way Yuuri only said ‘you’ and not ‘us.’
“Yes-“
“No way,” Viktor interrupted. “I’m not going to leave you in here alone with her. We know nothing about this spirit.”
“I’ll be fine. Viktor, please? Just trust me, okay?”
“Make them leave ,” the woman said again, this time, louder.
“ No . If you get hurt-“
“You’re upsetting her. You’ll get someone hurt, just give me a few minutes.”
“ No ,” Viktor repeated more firmly, his eyes meeting Yuuri’s. They stared each other down for several moments before Yuuri heard an enraged shriek and looked to find the rocking horse hurdling their way.
He shoved Viktor backward and out the door, which quickly slammed shut as soon as he was out. The wooden horse smashed against the wall just behind him, shattering completely.
“I’m sorry. He was just worried. He didn’t mean to upset you. Can you tell me about your son now?” He asked, taking a tentative step closer to the woman. They both ignored the pounding at the door.
She watched him, and Yuuri began to feel a little nervous. Why hadn’t she wanted anyone else in the room with them? Why had she gotten violent when Viktor wouldn’t leave? He was starting to think this wasn’t such a good idea when she finally spoke.
“ They took him ,” she finally said.
“But how? Where? Why? I can’t help you if you don’t tell me more,” Yuuri pleaded.
“ She seduced my husband. Made him do this to me,” she said, signalling to her wounds. “Ran in to keep them away from him. Stabbed. Bleeding. Saw them take him. Crying. Dark . Woke up. Me and mistress. No son; no husband.”
Yuuri waited a moment in silence, wondering if she was going to say anything else, but she didn’t.
“She… made him ki-hurt you?” She nodded.
“Said I was in the way,” she snarled. “ Stupid man.”
“Has she hurt you directly while you’re here?”
“ Taunts me. Doesn’t come here. ”
“Why not?” Yuuri asked, looking around the room for anything that would impede her from entering the room. He found it in the form of a horseshoe hanging from the doorframe.
“ The woman is always watching. Out there, careful with others,” she said, before she vanished once again.
The door was thrown open to reveal Viktor breathing heavily, and looking in complete disarray. Yuuri lowered his head, refusing to meet Viktor’s anger. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled, peeking up to see his lover’s reaction.
“No, you’re not,” was all he said before he turned and left the room without a glance back.
Yuuri opened his mouth to say something, but couldn’t come up with anything to keep the man from walking away. He only watched as Viktor left, hand lifted, then drawn to his chest when he reconsidered reaching out.
“Hey, it’s okay, Yuuri. You’re okay. He’ll get over it, alright?” Phichit said, pulling him into a loose hug.
“He’s upset with me. We’ve never fought,” Yuuri mumbled into Phichit’s shoulder.
“We’ll… let you guys talk,” Mila said, leaving the room with Sara, who gave Yuuri a sympathetic smile before she walked out.
They all sat themselves on the large bed, with the exception of Phichit, who kneeled in front of Yuuri.
“All couples argue. You’ll be okay, Yuuri. Viktor adores you. You just kinda scared him, and he was kinda trying to keep you from doing your job, but it’ll be okay,” Guang-Hong said, rubbing Yuuri’s back.
“What if I’m not-“
“Nope. Shut up. Get those doubts out of your head,” Phichit said, flicking his forehead.
Yuuri was about to tell Phichit that he was just being realistic, when a knock made them all look to the door. Viktor stood there awkwardly, his eyes focused on Yuuri. “Can I have a minute?”
Each of his teammates looked to Yuuri who hesitated for a moment, but eventually nodded. All three of the boys made their way out of their room, but not without a final glance back at Yuuri, who was keeping his shaking hands between his thighs.
He’d never really done this dating thing; it had never felt right, and he never felt like he could just put himself into a normal relationship with all of the spiritual stuff consuming his life. But then there was Viktor, and he was everything. He was part of this life, and he was beautiful, and sweet, and smart, and he made Yuuri so happy . He was someone he could talk to; who knew and loved parapsychology as much as him, and he was scared that that was about to crumble because he had known he wasn’t good enough from the start.
“I shouldn’t have walked out like that,” Viktor finally said, startling Yuuri out of his mourning of the end. “When we met, I used to pride myself on knowing when you were upset or when you would get stuck in your head, do you remember? My beautiful Yuuri who goes quiet when he thinks he’s done something bad and suffers alone. Sara said you were upset, and I shouldn’t have left you like that,” Viktor said, softly.
“I’m sorry,” Yuuri whimpered, tears beginning to run down his cheeks.
Viktor kneeled in front of him, wiping his tears.
“No. No, you’re not. You’re not sorry you did it, and you shouldn’t have to be. You told me that you prioritize your job and I thought I understood that, but between a spirit and your own safety I would choose you every time, and I get frustrated when you don’t choose yourself.
“I love you so much and I get scared when you put yourself in situations like that— and you have the tendency to do it quite often— and I don’t know what to do with myself. I feel helpless. I feel like we’re worlds away because you have these abilities that are amazing and they let you do things I could only imagine and it makes me feel powerless to help you.
“I’m so far gone I don’t know what I would do with myself if I lost you, but that doesn’t give me the right to try and cage you up. I’m the only one that needs to apologize, darling. I upset you and then I left you alone to worry without another word. I’m sorry. Would you forgive me?” Viktor wiped the new stream of tears that trickled down Yuuri’s face and picked up each of his trembling hands, placing a kiss on each palm.
Yuuri hiccuped, at the show of affection and nodded, pulling Viktor into a tight hug. He heard him let out a sigh of relief as he held Yuuri close to him.
“You came back really fast,” Yuuri mumbled into his shoulder. “Phichit didn’t even have enough time to get upset enough to start cursing you out,” he joked.
“Of course I did! Yuuri, it doesn’t matter how angry I am, I would never want to hurt you. It was never my intention to hurt you. I didn’t even think about how you might have felt until Sara told me. You should have been angry with me, and maybe it was because anybody else would have reacted that way that I didn’t think- but you’re not anybody else. You’re you and you’re wonderful and I love everything about you. I was being selfish and I’m sorry.”
“I love you,” Yuuri whispered back, pulling back to meet Viktor’s eyes. “I’ve never had anything like this and it’s amazing and horrible at the same time because I love having this—I love having you— but I also feel like I could lose you any second and that scares me a-and when you left I thought maybe… you’d reached your limit or you’d gotten sick of me. Next time you’re upset or angry at something I did I don’t want you to just leave . I can’t have you just… leave, Vitya. I want you to talk to me and I want us to work it out or for you to tell me if… if we c-can’t work it out because it’s not fair to just leave me here wondering how things are between us or if there’s still even an ‘us ,’ okay?” Viktor nodded, wiping his own eyes.
“Okay,” he responded quietly, before a teasing smile spread on his lips. “I don’t think I ever thanked you for saving me from the flying rocking horse,” he said before diving down to kiss Yuuri’s cheeks, forehead, nose, lips, then making his way down to his neck, drawing a squeak from Yuuri’s lips.
Yuuri laughed at the sensation, gently nudging Viktor away. “Viktor! Stop, we’re on a case!” He managed to gasp out between fits of laughter.
“There’s my beautiful Yuuri’s smile,” Viktor smiled, wiping the rest of Yuuri’s tears away. “Let’s go back to the others okay?”
Yuuri nodded, wiping the rest of his tears as he stood, pulling Viktor to his feet, keeping their hands intertwined as they left the room.