((OOC: Continued from A Grave Mistake. This is a mostly planned story line, PM if you want to join.))

Carrying Tarin to the edge of the cemetery wasn't the hard part. A little awkward maybe, but not hard. It was the cab ride to the mansion that was hard. Not only was the cabby giving him a tough time because of the fact that Tarin was unconscious, continually trying to get Ash to agree to go to go to the hospital instead, but Ash was also dealing with his own internal battle about taking Tarin to the mansion.

Was this really the right thing to do? Would they actually be able to help him there, would Tarin then be able to link how he got there back to Ash? Maybe he should be taking Tarin to a hospital. In that case, Ash would be able to simply drop Tarin off anonymously and he could get help; at the mansion, they knew that he was a mutant, would that get back to Tarin, would they connect that they were brothers?

But Ash had run out of time as the cab came to a stop in front of a gate. Rolling the window down, Ash reached out to press the call button. Waiting just long enough until he heard a voice respond.

"Hey, name's Ash," he said into the box just outside the car. "Sam told me to come if I needed anything. Could you open the gate, I've got someone here who needs to see the doctor." That said, Ash waited to see what the response was going to be. At least if all else failed here, he could still take Tarin to the hospital.

Shin looked up from his magazine as a voice crackled on the intercom. Glancing at the television screen, he caught sight of two men. One held the other, propping him against his shoulder with his finger on the intercom button. The second man was draped in a black cloak… and he didn’t look too conscious. Shin’s eyes narrowed, and he lowered his feet from their deskish footrest.

"Hey, name's Ash," The voice explained, tone of urgency evident. "Sam told me to come if I needed anything. Could you open the gate, I've got someone here who needs to see the doctor." The hand dropped from the button. His suspicions were right on the money. Somehow, that didn’t comfort him.

Shin rose from his seat, taking a swig of his coffee and pressing the button. “Be right there.” The intercom near the front gates answered back. Echoing footsteps ran down dark halls.

~*~

The front gates swung open and Shin stepped into view, one side of his face masked in shadows, out of the streetlight. He looked at the two men. Somehow, they looked familiar. Something… he couldn’t place it.

“The doctor will see you now.” Shin spoke, serious as cancer. He’d contacted the good healer, telling him he’d have guests. He ushered them onwards, leading the way.

Hearing that whoever it was that answered the intercom would be right out, Ash turned to the cab driver and handed over the fare. A much higher fare than he would have wanted to pay, but he figured it was better than having the meter run up while waiting for someone to get out there.

Then Ash proceeded to pull Tarin out of the cab, this time settling for just pulling his brother's arm over his shoulder as they got out and holding him up that way beside the intercom box as the cab pulled away. Who knew how long he was going to be just standing there, and Ash was not going to stand the whole time with Tarin in his arms like he'd walked through the cemetery.

So Ash stood there, one hand holding Tarin's arm over his shoulders, the other hand holding his mask and hat as his arm helped keep Tarin upright.

It took a while, long minutes as he stood there supporting the dead weight of his younger brother, before the gates finally swung open and a figure walked out. A figure who looked at him and Tarin for a moment before saying that the doctor would see them now, then turned and walked back toward the mansion.

With a slight shrug and a sideways glance at Tarin, Ash started forward. It wasn't like Tarin was actually awake to know what was happening to him, and his feet dragging along the driveway as they approached the building was much better than an alternative Ash had thought about earlier that evening.

It was when they were halfway up the driveway that Ash realized he recognized the man leading him inside. He'd seen the guy before, he was sure. Another couple moments, Ash knew that he remembered seeing this guy last time he was at the mansion. It wasn't until they were actually inside, that Ash was able to place the face. And put a name to it.

It wasn't Sam, Ash was rather sure he'd have recognized him right way. It was that other guy who had given him the tour of the mansion, Shin. Though, honestly Ash wasn't sure whether it was a good thing the guy leading him and Tarin to see the doctor knew him or not...

Ash didn't have much longer to ponder that problem though. It didn't take much longer for them to reach the little hospital room-thing. Stepping through the door, Ash glanced around and saw their doctor walking over; Shin must have warned him about someone needing his help.

The doctor was halfway to him when Ash saw him falter slightly, his eyes darting around, before he continued on. "Tarin?" Ash stopped moving as he heard his brother's name on the doctor's lips. He hadn't said who needed help, just that someone did.

"What happened this time? Where's Lee? Well, don't just stand there, get him up on the bed."

"You know him?" Ash asked, his voice uncertain, shocked, as he moved to do what the doctor had said. Maybe he really should have taken Tarin to the hospital instead of bringing him here. Getting Tarin up there, none too gently, but not rough enough that it couldn't be blamed on the fact that he had to lift all that dead weight on his own, Ash stepped back and looked at the doctor.

"Found him duct taped to a headstone in a cemetery," Ash explained, grabbing his cape from Tarin since it had all but fallen off his brother anyway. "He was like this, breathing, heart beating, but completely unresponsive." To anything, Ash mentally added as he noticed the still reddish mark on Tarin's cheek from where he'd hit his brother across the face trying to get some sort of reaction.

Tarin honestly couldn't believe what was happening to him. As he stood there in the cemetery watching the things going on around him, he started to realize that this wasn't something he was going to be able to just step out of. If he could get to the mansion...Tarin thought suddenly, hope blossoming through him...Doc Prof couldn't do anything. The man had told him before, he could only heal physical wounds.

The worst part of this was that nobody was going to be able to figure out what had happened to him. As far as he knew, Tarin had never done anything like this before. Despair replaced the newborn hope and soon Tarin simply moved to a low gravestone and sat.

He couldn't feel the stone as he sat on it, nor could he feel the cold that had been so cutting before, when he'd been where his body was. He was still in the same short sleeved shirt, but it was like someone had shot his whole body up with Novocaine, but somehow he'd retained the ability to move.

Then someone showed up to help. Tarin watched as the masked and caped man dropped into the graveyard and seemed to appear out of the shadows. The getup brought back memories of Tarin's childhood, sitting in front of the TV with his brothers and watching zorro. Then the man spoke, the man spoke Tarin's name and his numb form nearly fell off the grave he was sitting on.

The man went about trying to rouse him and for another few moments, Tarin hoped that the physical abuse the man, Tarin would call him that for now, the alternative was still too shocking to deal with, pulled the tape from his mouth. Nothing happened, then the man, it was getting harder to call him that with how he was acting, slapped him across the face. Still, nothing happened.

The man took off the cape and Tarin had a small flashback of the time he'd ran into his brother walking down the street outside his shop. Puzzle pieces were falling into place and Tarin was not impressed with the picture being produced.

The cape was tossed of his body and the man moved round the back of the tombstone the and moments later Tarin's body was free, though it slumped in a disturbing way as the muscles refused to react to the new slack in his arms.

The mask and the hat came off as the man decided what to do next and Tarin cursed, his own voice surprising him in the dead silence of the cemetery. He'd definitely have to stop using 'the man' now. This wasn't an ordinary man. This was his brother.

__

The taxi trip had been uneventful, unless hearing Ash banter with the cabbie over whether or not Tarin needed a hospital was supposed to be fun. The address Ash had given peaked Tarin's interest as well. How did Ash know about the mansion...and moreso, whey was Ash running around dressed like Zorro.

The fact of the matter was, that Ash had to be a mutant. The knowledge almost floored Tarin yet again. Ash was older then him, his powers had to have manifested around the same time if not earlier. How had they ever known? Tarin had to stop thinking as they pulled up to the mansion. Ash gave his name and any doubt Tarin might have had evaporated.

Ash apparently hadn't decided to let bygones be bygones simply because he'd found his brother in a completely nonresponsive state, at least Tarin figured that was the case judging by the treatment of his body as they went into the mansion and made their way towards the infirmary wing. Flashbacks of a snowball fight materialized in Tarin's disjointed mind as he looked at the young man leading them.

They were in the infirmary soon enough, though, and of course Doc Prof recognized him. Ashy was surprised by this, so he obviously hadn't been around the mansion long and hadn't dropped his name a lot. They did have the same surname.

Lee. Tarin had almost forgotten about Lee. Part of him wished they weren't going to get ahold of her. What was he going to do? There was no way to contact her. The doctor was trying to get Ash to do it, obviously thinking that the news would be easier coming from her brother-in-law. Tarin would have laughed if he wasn't so concerned about how Lee was going to handle all this.

The conversation was unimportant. The fact of the matter was, for whatever reason, Ash absolutely refused to call Lee. Tarin was surprised, more than surprised, but again, the feelings were crushed by concern. What was Lee going to do?

The sun had set quite a while ago, and Tarin still wasn't home from the shop. Not that the sun being down really meant that it was late, Lee reminded herself for what had to be the tenth time in the last hour, it was still winter which meant that the sun set early. The last fifty-five minutes, she corrected herself as she glanced at the clock to see that it was only 6:15. Not that that was really late by any means, but Tarin had mentioned wanting to close up early that day, saying something about going out for dinner that night, before she had left (early as well because she had been feeling restless), so Lee had been expecting Tarin to get home ages ago.

Expected him to be home an hour ago at the latest, actually, which is why Lee was starting to really get worried about the fact that she hadn't seen her husband yet. The fact was, Tarin never did this. If he needed a beer after a particularly bad last session that she hadn't been there for, he either brought a 6-pack home or called so they could meet up at the bar, he didn't just go by himself. And if he was really going to be stuck at the shop this much longer than expected, he always called. But there hadn't been a call, she hadn't seen or heard from him since she had left the shop four hours earlier that afternoon.

He never just didn't come home. Not unless something happened...

Immediately, Lee tore her mind away from that train of thought. Despite how many times before that day 'something' had happened to her and Tarin, Lee was not going to think of it as a possibility. He was probably just still at the shop, probably things had just taken longer with the last couple clients than he would have expected.

On her next pass, yes, Lee was pacing through the apartment, she grabbed the phone and dialled the shop on autopilot. Best to just find out for sure that he was there, running late, and be done with the worry before it sprouted into full fledged panic.

One ring...Two...Come on, Tarin, pick up...Four....Six....What's he doing?...Eight....

Then Lee heard the click of the answering machine picking up the line. Heard Tarin's familiar voice, the very same message she had heard that first time she'd called this number after accidentally standing Tarin up at the bar a year and a half earlier. Next came the beep, and Lee took a deep breath.

“Hey hon, it's me,” she said into the phone quickly. “You're probably on your way home, so I'll just erase this when I get in Monday, but if you are still there, could you call me as soon as you get this message?”

Hanging the phone up, Lee continued to pace through the apartment, trying not to worry about the fact that he wasn't home and hadn't answered at the shop. He's just on his way home, that's all, she kept telling herself.

Finally, Lee glared at the phone and tossed it on the table. Tarin wasn't going to phone, because he was going to be home any minute, annoyed that she wasn't ready to go for dinner yet. So into her bedroom she went to get changed for the evening. She'd hear the door open when Tarin got home, anyway. And, this would keep her from pacing some more.

The doctor was examining Tarin now, doing all that doctorish stuff they always seemed to before they got to the real problem. Though, in this case, Ash wasn't exactly sure what the real problem was. The bump he'd seen on Tarin's head hadn't appeared that bad to have caused this problem.

Ash was inching his way to the door at this point. He'd brought Tarin to get help, help which he was now getting, there really was no reason for him to stick around any longer. And he had almost made good his escape when the doctor turned to look at him. "You should call Lee."

"What?" Ash asked, stopping his movement as he blinked at the doctor. Where had that come from?

"His wife. She should know he's here, be told to come."

Lee. Yes, Ash knew that Lee was Tarin's wife, but having him call her? He didn't see that happening. Not that he actually had anything against her, the little time he actually spent with her when she was in Texas over the holidays, she seemed like a rather nice woman, but the fact of the matter was was that she was married to Tarin. She did need to find out, though...

"I've no clue how to get ahold of her. Or how to explain any of this to her," Ash told the doctor. It was true, on both counts.

"You don't know him? I thought you knew Tarin since you brought him here. But I've got their number in my office-"

"I can't," Ash said, interrupting the doctor as he backed toward the door once more. He couldn't call Lee from here, telling her that Tarin was here, that he'd been the one to bring Tarin here. Ash had thought it would be an anonymous enough way to get Tarin help. Not as anonymous as simply dumping him at the first hospital he came to, but anonymous enough to continue to keep the secret he'd kept for the last 20 years.

"I've got to go," Ash continued, and with that slipped out the door, not stopping until he'd made two turns in the hallway and was sure he couldn't be seen from the infirmary.

Why did it have to be Tarin that he'd found in the cemetery like that?

Shin leaned in the corner, watching quietly as the doctor and Ash laid Tarin down. The face had finally come back to him. He’d seen that man before, during a snowball fight at the park. Had they introduced themselves to each other? He couldn’t remember. What was his name…? Sharon? Terry? Tara…?

>>"You should call Lee." The doctor spoke. The name clicked something, and Shin slapped his forehead. Lee! That had been the name of the lady the man had been with. He remembered him calling her a couple of times. What had she called him?

“Tarin,” He said finally, as Ash slipped out the door. Shin pushed off the wall, silently stepping towards the doctor. “And if he wouldn’t call her, I will.”

Nodding, Doc Prof gave Shin the number. He dialed it up on his cellphone, waiting on the ring.

Lee had already finished changing and was in the bathroom doing her hair and makeup, when she heard the phone ring. Putting her eyeshadow down, almost dropping it in her hurry, Lee ran back out to the living room and grabbed the phone from the coffee table.

"Tarin?" She asked, the worry she'd been trying to shove aside back in her voice. "It's about damn time, where are you?"

The voice that answered her wasn't Tarin's though, and as she heard what the man had to say, Lee collapsed, back onto the chair that was behind her.

Something had happened. Tarin was at the mansion, and it was serious enough that she needed to be called, but that Tarin couldn't call her himself.

Lee's worry was already turning into fear and panic as she set the phone back down with a slightly shaky hand. Taking a slightly shaky breath as well, she then pushed herself up from the chair and made her way to the door, putting the first pair of shoes she saw on. It didn't matter what she looked like, didn't matter if things matched, she needed to get to the mansion as quickly as she could. Then grabbing her coat, keys, and purse, Lee was out the door.

----------------------------------

The cab ride seemed to take forever. Was it taking longer than it had other times, or did it just seem to be that way? Finally, though, Lee made it to the gates in front of the mansion. Throwing money over the seat to the driver, Lee jumped out and punched the call button, waiting for a response.

As soon as Lee heard a voice coming from the intercom, she started speaking herself. "Someone here called me, told me I needed to come see DocProf," she said, her voice fast, and was it slightly higher pitched than normal? "Please open the gates, please."

Then more waiting, and Lee stood there looking at the gate, contemplating whether she'd be able to squeeze through the bars, or be able to actually climb it in what she was wearing.

Before she had come to a decision, or that level of desperation, the gates started opening, and Lee was moving, slipping through as soon as they had opened enough to let her through.

And then she was running. Up the driveway, through the front doors, down the hallways. Lee was thankful and slightly horrified that they had been here often enough before this night that she knew exactly where she was going.

Finally, she reached the infirmary, and came to a dead stop just inside the doors, her eyes darting around frantically for her husband. A second later, she registered that DocProf was standing beside Tarin.

"Is he alright? What's wrong? Is it ok if I come closer?" Lee shot off the questions at the doctor.

"No, no, come here, that's alright. Physically, he's alright. Physically, all he had was a bump to the head and some scratches."

As soon as Lee heard the doctor's first words, that it would be alright for her to come closer with her siphoning powers, she was doing just that, moving to Tarin's bedside, reaching out to hold his hand, brush the hair off his forehead.

But he didn't move, react, anything when she touched him. Something felt off...

"What's wrong with him?" Lee asked, the worry and panic coming back into her voice again as her eyes shot back up to DocProf.

"Why don't you have a seat?" Lee saw him indicating the chair that was behind her. Sitting, she couldn't help but notice just how soft his voice had been.

"As I said, physically, Tarin is fine. I've already healed the few minor injuries he had. So, to be honest, I don't know why he's like this. Tarin has been non-responsive to any stimuli the entire time he's been here. And he has minimal brain activity. Simply put, Tarin is in a coma, and I can't even tell you why.

"I'm sorry, Lee."

Lee sat. And listened. The words poured through her, and it almost felt like she stopped breathing, like her heart stopped beating. Sometime while DocProf was talking, Lee's eyes had returned to Tarin's face, though she didn't recall that happening.

Non-responsive. Minimal brain activity. The words tumbled over and over in Lee's mind again and again. She squeezed Tarin's hand, unconsciously hoping against hope, but got no response.

Why did this have to happen? Lee wondered as she continued to look at Tarin, tears slowly filling her eyes. She didn't even know or care whether DocProf was still there. Why did things always have to happen to them? They hadn't even been married for two months yet...

Shin stepped back into the infirmary, carrying two cups of coffee. One was for him, one for the guest. He’d buzzed her in from the office when she’d arrived, then let her have the first few minutes with the doctor alone. Doc Prof didn’t seem to know what was wrong either; the guy had just… gone stiff. Like a corpse.

Like his mind was elsewhere, while the body stayed warm.

The cup of coffee clicked down on the bedside table by Lee. Shin nodded at her, and took his own seat on a stool on the other side of the bed. To talk now felt like a crime, and so he didn’t say a word. If she wanted to talk to him, she would. For now, all he’d do was offer silent support.

He took a sip of his coffee, looking at the floor.

Lee didn't know how long she had been sitting there beside Tarin's hospital bed, her hand clasping his, as if waiting for any sort of tiny movement, when she heard a quiet clink beside her. Jumping slightly, Lee looked over to see a coffee cup being set down, Lee guessed for her. DocProf must have figured she'd be able to use a cup about now.

Turning her head to thank the man, Lee was kind of shocked to see a much younger man than she had been expecting to be there moving around the bed and sitting on the other side. His head down. That, Lee was thankful for, as she realized some of the tears that had filled her eyes had spilled over as she sat there.

Raising her free hand, Lee wiped at the offending tears on her cheeks, then looked up at the young man again.

"Thanks for the coffee," Lee said softly, then tilted her head to the side a bit. "Do I know you?"

Shin looked up, scratching his cheek. He wondered if she had the sort of memory that wouldn’t forget a stranger one had snowball fights with in the park. “Not really. I think you were too focused on having a snowball fight with him at the time to catch my name.” A nod towards Tarin, and then he continued. “I was the one who let him into the mansion when he was dropped off tonight. The other guy ran off, and… I was the one who called.”

He glanced at the cellphone still sitting on the table near his side. “My name’s Shin, by the way…”

Lee listened as the young man sitting across from her spoke. She had, but had been too distracted by a snowball fight with Tarin? Lee frowned in thought. What was he talking about.

And then it clicked. The snowball fight she had Tarin had finally had, more than a year after she had initially challenged him, which had ended up being joined by a young man and woman. Lee hadn't thought much of it at the time, had just figured that they were just two random people. She hadn't thought that she'd ever see them again, never mind the fact that they might be mutants. Or, Shin was at least.

"Thanks for that," Lee said, turning her eyes away from Shin to make sure she didn't spill anything as she grabbed her coffee. But she wasn't sure whether she was thanking him for letting Tarin in through the gate earlier, calling her, or for letting her in. Maybe all three.

Then the last thing that Shin said clicked in, and she turned her eyes back to him, a confused expression mixing with everything else on her face. "Other guy? How did Tarin get here, then?" She hadn't thought before that moment about how Tarin had gotten there, who had brought him to the mansion. She'd been a little distracted and concerned about the condition she had found Tarin in.

"Other guy? How did Tarin get here, then?" Lee asked the one question Shin had been dreading. Not really, though. No. Quite easy to answer, actually. His shoulders dropped into a shrug.

“Some guy named Ash. Wore a flapping cape, real Darkwing Duck. Wrapped Tarin up in it. Not sure how they were connected though, or where they’d been before this whole thing… but…” Shin’s eyes frowned. “He seemed quick to run when he heard your name…”

Now came his turn to ask questions. He hoped he didn’t seem presumptuous. “So. Does the name Ash ring any bells?” Narrowing Asian eyes shifted to fall on the doctor’s face. “The same goes for you too, professor.”

If there had been a caped 'hero' going around town hurting people, that was his business. All the more if the caped figure were helping them. The tiny fact he’d met Ash before had completely slipped his mind~

Frustration. Frustration beyond what Tarin would have thought possible up until this experience. Anger, rage, dismay, despair, hopelessness. All those things that you hear on the commercials that say that you’re the only one who can ask for help then advertise the local mental hospital. Only Tarin couldn’t ask for help. Tarin couldn’t ask for anything because as far as he could tell, he was the only one who knew he was there.

Oh, they knew his body was there. It was laying, limp and useless in the infirmary bed where Ash had deposited it before having a spaz attack and leaving the mansion. Lee still didn’t know that he’d been there. Lee definitely didn’t know Ash was a mutant, hell, as far as Tarin knew, nobody knew Ash was a mutant. That line of thought only brought more frustrations, and old ones at that. There was no sense in it now, not while Lee was sitting by his bedside like a grieving widow with tears rolling down her cheeks.

It was easier to understand now, how some of the spirits became so bitter when they were on this side. It made more sense why they were always begging for his help to communicate with someone…anyone that they once knew. Being in the room with Lee and not being able to let her know that he was there produced the worst feeling of all, and Tarin couldn’t name it. Only feel it.

The other spirits…no, Tarin corrected himself, he wasn’t a spirit. He was alive. The little beeping heart monitor proved that. Somehow he’d just managed to end up out of his body. The problem was, he had no idea how to get back in.

The young man who’d helped Ash bring Tarin into the infirmary was there now, he’d brought Lee coffee and Tarin instantly placed the teen in the ‘friend’ category. At least someone was there for her, even if they weren’t a close friend. Even if they didn’t know how to help any more than Tarin knew how to help himself. The boy’s name was Shin. Tarin would thank him later when…if he figured this whole thing out.

The boy mentioned Ash's name. Lee would figure it out, Lee would know. Tarin almost hoped that she would track him down and demand to know what had happened. It was the least his brother deserved for not staying and telling her himself. It would have been the decent thing to do.

It was easy to get depressed, easy to want to give up because as he sat in the little infirmary Tarin realized just how limited he was. Walking to Lee did nothing to comfort her, and when he reached out to touch her, he felt nothing. She didn’t either, but now she was asking how he’d gotten there. She’d work backwards and Tarin didn’t have a clue how he really felt about that. Would Lee be able to trace this whole thing back to its source? Thinking of it renewed Tarin’s flagging interest in an immediate solution there was someone who needed to go in the ‘enemies’ column with stars and underlines and in bold italicized type. Tarin’s eyes narrowed as he thought. He was going to wake up and when he did, the person who had done this was going to pay.

Lee blinked when Shin said that the guy's name was Ash. And blinked again when he asked a moment later if that name rang any bells for her. Ash did ring some bells, especially in connection with Tarin. But he didn't connect with the mansion, with being able to bring Tarin here, or with wearing a cape?

"Are you sure his name is Ash?" Lee asked slowly, looking at Shin, who was now looking over at the doctor who had wandered back over and was standing near the foot of the bed. "Brown hair? Has a Texan accent?" Lee went on to ask.

It was so strange, though. For this guy to know Tarin, to be named Ash, to seem to run when her name was brought up, it had to be Tarin's brother. Yet, how could it have been Tarin's brother to have brought him here? Ash wasn't a mutant. Tarin would have told her that, Josh would have told her.

Then Lee turned her head as if to see who was behind her. And frowned when she saw no one there between her and the wall. Only empty space. But Lee was sure she had felt someone there, was still feeling someone there.

Maybe it's just someone out in the hall, Lee told herself as she turned back to look across at Shin. It wasn't as if the person she was sure she had felt there was all that close.

"But, how would he know to bring Tarin here?" Lee asked, the frown still on her face, as she directed the question to both Shin and the doctor.