Trails of Intertwined Stars: Chapter 74 {Part 1}

~Chapter 122: Duncan's Truth~

The boy stared at the general, his expression deadly serious.
"The first memory I ever showed you, don't you remember what it was?"
Jiu frowned, trying to remember. Now he thought about it, he could oddly recall what had happened.
"I don't know what I'd do without you, Leora," Duncan sighed with a smile, dabbing the sweat off himself, gently.
"Duck-an, Leora love Duck-an!" The toddler exclaimed.
Duncan grinned, kneeling down to her height. He gently kissed her cheek and looked in her eyes, his expression soft.
"And I love you too, Leora. I'll always protect you, okay?"
Leora nodded with a big grin.
The truth hurt, as Jiu came to the realisation that all this time, all these years; Duncan's final wish, the one he'd said was about Leora, was not to harm her (like they'd assumed), but to always protect her. The general stared at the apparition, warily.
"Then what was with all those hauntings? You made her hurt, you got her into trouble. What part of that was protecting Leora?"
The boy frowned," I only ever haunted when she was in pain; I only wanted to save her, she was all I had left in this god awful manor. I never truly meant for her to get in trouble, but my family has a way to twist the truth, and throw the blame on whoever will take it."

Jiu considered all the hauntings. The shattered vase, Lord Bramston had touched Leora, so Duncan made his dirty hands bleed. Percy Hughes had beaten Leora, so Duncan took him to the nursery to haunt and beat him. Mistress Mohan had hurt Leora, so Duncan gave her a stroke. Lord Bramston had touched Leora in the bath, so Duncan used the radiator to scare him off. When Duncan had made Leora scrape at the door, he was likely only trying to help her escape to get help, because her fever must have been high that night. The hanging of Lord Bernard because he'd made her cry out in pain. Though, there was one Jiu could not quite understand.
"Why did you kill Archie Mills that day?"
Duncan sighed," Truth be told, I heard Leora cry out in pain, I only meant to scare the boy away. I didn't realise he couldn't swim, you see. He had a rather large hatred for water I was not aware of. He struggled, and hit his head on that rock. Had he not struggled, I'm certain he would have survived. A pity, he seemed like such a kind boy."
Jiu shook his head, struggling to come to terms that Duncan was not out to torment Leora," But what about those times you appeared to Leora? The mirror, the garden party? Or the times you knocked?"
"In Leora's case, I was hoping to reassure her that I'd always be there for her; that photo in the garden party, I was actually just stroking her neck as a small goodbye; suppose the photo didn't look that way, though," Duncan muttered, regretfully," As for the knocking, well, I wanted people to realise I was there. It worked, didn't it?"

"I suppose, just not the way you intended. What about her tuberculosis; your mother had that, didn't she?"
Duncan frowned, solemnly," Yes, my mother did. Though, I had nothing to do with Leora getting ill, that was purely her body alone. Keeping her trapped in the manor made her rather susseptable to death; the same happened to my mother. I tried to heal Leora though, with the river water and flowers."
Jiu stared in shock. He remembered seeing Leora have those, but he'd assumed they were poisoning her. Now he thought about it, the days she'd had them, she'd looked healthier.
Jiu rubbed his temples," Then; those horrific dreams?"
"Warnings."
Jiu's expression darkened, realising what Duncan was implying.
"Warnings? What do you mean 'warnings'? You're telling me there's another threat, aside from you?" Jiu asked, panicked.
Duncan nodded," There is. But first, you answer my question."
"Duncan, you need to-!"
"ANSWER MY QUESTION!" Duncan screamed.
Jiu sighed, feeling adrenaline pumping through him. There was no point arguing, Duncan wouldn't answer his question, till Jiu answered his. The best thing to do was to quickly answer Duncan's and get it over with so Jiu could protect Leora.

"Where is she?" Duncan whispered, his tone deadly serious.
Jiu hesitated, but recalled that Duncan had surely proven he was no longer a threat.
"She's not here."
"I can tell. Where?"
Jiu sighed, admitting," A church in the village."
Duncan paused, his eyebrows rising," A...church? By herself?"
"No, Henry took her."
Duncan stared at Jiu, and the general heard the wind outside howling viciously against the manor, genuine fear in the boys eyes. Jiu suddenly realised what this meant.
"You... can't be serious, can you...?" Jiu whispered, trembling," He's not...?"
Duncan stepped forward," How do you think I died that day, Jiu? Henry pushed me. My cousin, my best friend; pushed me in. And Leora is next."
"But...no," Jiu shook his head," Henry's been nice recently, he cares about her-!"
"Does he!?" Duncan laughed," Let me tell you something, Harry cares about nobody but himself. He wants wealth. He wants eternal life. Leora is in his way. He killed his own parents because they were in his way; he'll kill anyone in his way."
"But they were killed by a shooter!?" Jiu uttered.
"A shooter has a reason for coming, usually a budget," Duncan sighed," That shooter was hired by my family, Jiu."

Jiu felt like he was going to be sick.
"You tried to hide her from the person who was protecting her, Jiu. You've handed her into the hands of the devil, and he will not stop till he gets his way."
Jiu ran out of the room, desperate to get to the church. He ran down all the flights of stairs, everything. He had to get to Leora before it was too late. The sky was dark, it was nearly Christmas Day. He snatched a waiting gun off the table in the foyer, past the littered corpses and ran out of the manor. He ran to the village, the wind howling in his ears like some vile curse. He felt like such an idiot for not realising, and now, Henry would have his way.