[March 21st] [The Man From U.N.C.L.E.] Unrestful

[insaneladybug.livejournal.com]

Title: Unrestful
Day/Theme: March 21st - To hell with human beings.
Series: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (specifically, The Odd Man Affair episode)
Character/Pairing: Mr. Ecks, Mr. Wye, an OC
Rating: T/PG-13


By Lucky_Ladybug

Ecks wasn’t sure why he couldn’t feel at ease. They were leaving the motel behind and going on to the partially furnished home they had chosen. But as he gripped his suitcase, his knuckles white, he felt like they were not leaving what was in that motel room. He felt like it was coming with them.

“Wye . . .” He looked to the older man, who was driving right at the speed limit. His knuckles were white. “Do you feel it too?”

“Feel what?” Wye growled.

“That it’s still haunting us.”

Wye swore. “It’s not haunting us, Ecks. It never leaves the motel.”

“Then why are you driving so fast?”

Wye stared at the speedometer. He slowed down before they reached the next corner. “Cor blimey. I really was spooked. When you said you saw that thing on the balcony . . .” He shuddered.

“Now you know at least some of what I felt in that mansion,” Ecks said. “And why I ran like the Devil himself was after me.”

“Yeah, and I wish I didn’t,” Wye retorted. “I wish you hadn’t had to experience it either, for that matter.”

Ecks sighed and leaned back, closing his eyes. “It goes against all logic, but I don’t feel at peace any more than you do. Something is still wrong, Wye. It’s still after us. For what purpose, I don’t know.” He sat up again. “I want a list of everyone who’s been in that room since this ghost trouble began. I want to try to find a common denominator linking everyone the ghost has appeared to.”

“That sort of thing would take ages to sort out!” Wye cried.

“Well, we’re still short in the job department,” Ecks said. “We’ve got time. I don’t know about you, but I can’t relax until this matter is solved.”

“Oh, Ecks, you’re letting your imagination run away with you!” Wye exclaimed. “Alright, we’re both still scared out of our wits by whatever that thing was back there, but it’s back there. We’re past it. If it’s never left the motel before, it’s not going to do so now.”

“I’ve told myself all those things,” Ecks replied. “It doesn’t help. I want that list.”

“So I just ring the motel manager up on the phone and tell him to send that list on over to us?” Wye scoffed. “He’ll probably say it’s against the rules, no matter how spooked we are.”

“Tell him he owes it to us after what happened with those racist idiots,” Ecks said. “And that if we can find an answer, it might help his business in the long run.”

Wye groaned. “Alright, I’ll talk to him. Just don’t expect much. We can’t make a lot of commotion, especially now that we’re not in the spy business and probably won’t be again.”

“I’m perfectly aware of that.” Ecks stared into the distance. “Maybe I can hack into his computer and get the list, if he won’t give it voluntarily.”

“You and your computer hacking,” Wye grumbled. “I don’t even know where you picked that up.”

“At the organization, of course.”

“Yeah, but I don’t recollect you being in any of the computer classes,” Wye pointed out.

Ecks shrugged. “You can pick up a lot of things without actually going to classes.”

“I’m perfect aware of that,” Wye replied, deliberately throwing Ecks’ earlier words back at him. “If you know so much about computers, maybe you should consider going into that field of work.”

“I’ve considered it,” Ecks agreed. “It’s still a possibility.”

“I’ll tell you, I’d rather you go into that than training beasts.”

“I know.”

Wye shook his head at the matter-of-fact response. He should have expected that.
****
To Wye’s surprise, it didn’t take too much convincing to get the manager to allow the list to pass to them. He was fed up with the strange incidents and welcomed any attempt to help him stop them from continuing. He sent it via special messenger and Ecks spent the next hours researching everyone on the list and cross-referencing where he could.

Wye came to find him when it was nearing evening. As neither of them were inclined towards making food, he had gone out and bought some frozen meals to tide them through the next days. He had stuck a couple in the oven some minutes ago. “Hey,” he greeted Ecks, leaning on the wall with crossed arms, “it’ll be time to eat soon.”

“I’ll come,” Ecks replied, sounding very occupied indeed.

“What are you so into?” Wye demanded, coming over to look. Ecks had the list just to the side of the computer desk and was every now and then checking something off on it.

“It’s taken a lot of digging, but I’ve found a connection between all of these people.” Ecks made one final check and leaned back, looking up. “They all died.”

Wye rocked back. “What are you talking about?!”

Ecks pointed at a name with his pencil. “Two years ago, the starlet almost drowned in a friend’s swimming pool. She was resuscitated after being clinically dead for five minutes.

“Three years ago, the businessman was in a serious car crash. He struck his head on the window and died. They managed to revive him at the scene.

“And ah, here’s a big one. Five years ago, this man was in an explosion. Killed instantly, couldn’t bring him back. He revived in the morgue and frightened the pathologist half to death.”

Wye stared at the list in disbelief. Ecks had made checkmarks all the way down the line. The final one he had checked was himself.

“I flatlined more than once in the hospital and it still seems like I may have left my body at least some of those times,” Ecks said quietly. “What about you? You didn’t tell me it was that serious, but with your injuries I know it could have been.”

Wye looked down. “. . . It took me a long time to drag myself far enough away from Zed’s house that I could be safely found by a passing motorist and taken to a hospital. I was told later that I was originally pronounced dead on arrival. All that stress and strain and blood loss, in addition to the actual wounds.”

Ecks stiffened, his grip on the pencil tightening. Although clearly upset to hear how grim it had been, he knew why his friend had kept silent about it. He only said, “So we both qualify.” He made one last checkmark.

“But what does this prove?” Wye cried. “We don’t know what this ghost’s game is any better than before! Why target people who were dead? Is it even aware that they died? How would it know?!”

“Maybe it has some kind of sense about that sort of thing,” Ecks said. “As to why it might target them, who knows. Maybe it feels a kinship with them. Maybe it’s jealous that they got to come back and it didn’t.”

“Well, I still say it’s ridiculous to get so up in arms about it,” Wye said. “It’s back at the motel. It won’t come after us. And say, do you have any idea who the ghost might have been in life?”

“I’m still working on that,” Ecks replied. “There’s no reported deaths at the motel or that would be my first guess. After doing a little research on ghosts, I read that they can relocate to nearby buildings if a place they like gets torn down. Or they can stay on the original ground and haunt whatever goes up in the other building’s place.”

“If it’s all true to begin with,” Wye said.

“Naturally I’m forced to work with the assumption that it is and that ghosts exist,” Ecks said. “After dinner I’ll try researching all the buildings in that area and if any were torn down. I’ll also find out what was on that spot before the motel was built. The manager gave the helpful information that the ghost sightings started two years ago, so that gives me a small window to work with.”

“And if you can pinpoint that and find out who the ghost might be, what then?” Wye still wasn’t sold.

“I don’t know,” Ecks admitted. “Maybe knowing who it might be would help ghost-hunters pounce on it at long last.”

“Well, I know I’ve had enough of spooky talk for a lifetime,” Wye said.

Ecks looked up at him with a bit of a smirk. “I thought you were a morbid soul at heart.”

“In some ways, yes. I’ve never actually been fond of ghost stories.” Wye turned away from the computer. “Let’s eat.”

Ecks got up to follow him. He didn’t want to admit to the cold chill that had started to settle in his veins when he found the first evidence of what the connection between everyone might be. He still wasn’t sure that was it. Maybe there was something else he had overlooked. He had certainly run across several things involving more than one of the room’s past occupants. But as far as he could tell, death and revival was the only thing that absolutely every one of the people had in common.

If this had happened when they were first getting to know each other, Wye would have demanded to know if Ecks wasn’t even rattled. But they were close enough now that Wye knew the answer. Ecks was very disturbed.

“Ecks. It’s going to be alright,” Wye said suddenly. “Nothing’s going to happen to either of us.”

“It had better not,” Ecks replied, clearly unconvinced.
****
The meal was good, but sleep later that night was a long time coming. When it finally did, Ecks was restless. Something was there. Something was calling for him, coming for him. Something was touching him.

“Wake up. Wake up to your death.”

His eyes flew open. A translucent being was hovering over him. It was clearly female, and also clearly ready and anxious to do him harm. One hand pressed coldly against his cheek. She leaned in, kissing him on the lips. Suddenly his entire throat felt cold. The chill was swiftly spreading over his entire body. He couldn’t even move. The only thing he knew to do was scream.

“That won’t do you any good. You died and came back. You still belong to the world of the dead. You haven’t accepted what happened to you. That means I can take you, unlike those others before you.”

“W-why?!” Ecks choked out. “Why do you want me?! Or any others like me?!”

“You shouldn’t have ever come back. That isn’t the natural order of things. You died, so you should still be dead. You should still be like me!”

“You’re mad!” Ecks cried.

A strange cup-like object appeared in her hand. “All I have to do is press this over your heart. It will hold fast and it will drain the life out of you. Then you’ll come with me! You’ll be with me forever more!”

Again Ecks fought to move, but without success. “No,” he protested in vain. “No, leave me alone! Go away!”

The door burst open and Wye rushed in, taking in the scene in an instant. “So Ecks was right,” he snarled. “Get away from him, you bloody she-demon!”

She just sneered at him. “He’s paralyzed from my kiss and there’s nothing you can do to stop me from what I’m going to do.” She brought the cup lower.

Wye flew across the space between them, tackling Ecks off the bed and to the floor. At the same moment, he choked in surprise and pain. He fell backwards, letting go of Ecks as he collapsed to the floor on his back. The cup was over his heart.

Ecks stared in disbelieving horror. “No,” he rasped. “No, you can’t have him!”

“What can you do?” she purred. “There’s nothing. And it works almost instantaneously.” She smiled as she watched Wye’s stunned eyes sink closed.

Ecks snarled, forcing his arm to move with all the strength and willpower he could muster. “You say the only reason you have power over us is because we haven’t accepted what happened to us? Well, alright then.” Ecks pulled himself to his feet. “I was dead. I admit it. I wanted to believe it was a hallucination, a dream, but it wasn’t. It was real. I left my body. I saw Wye come back and bend over me.” He crossed the space to Wye and knelt down, grabbing hold of the suction cup and fighting to pull it free.

She snarled. “You won’t be able to get that off. Not if he can’t accept his death too.”

“He can and he will,” Ecks shot back. “He’s always accepted everything that’s happened to him. But I won’t accept you killing him. Or me. You can’t have either of us.” He wrenched the cup off and threw it to the floor, stomping on it to crush it.

As it dissolved into tiny pieces, she shrieked and vanished in a chilling whirlwind. The pieces vanished with her. Ecks was left bending over Wye’s motionless body, stunned and confused and frightened. “Wye . . .”

Tears pricked his eyes. He wasn’t sure he had ever cried, even when he had been told about his parents. They had hardly ever been around. But Wye had been around, and Ecks had come to know and love him, and now . . . now he should be waking up, but he wasn’t.

“Wye, no,” Ecks pleaded. “It can’t be too late. I got that thing off. Doesn’t that mean you accepted what happened? That you were still alive and aware enough to accept it? I’m not going to let that demon ruin what we were going to have. You were just alright, and we’d found each other again, and we were moving into this house to start over. . . .” He fumbled, reaching for Wye’s limp hand to feel for a pulse. “Wye, wake up!”

His shoulders shook as he held onto Wye’s hand. Was there a pulse? He wasn’t sure if he could feel anything or not.

He drew a deep breath. He had to calm himself, to focus on his training. He couldn’t let his emotions get in the way right now.

And then the hand was gripping his and he looked up with a start as Wye’s eyes slowly opened. “Don’t worry yourself so, Duck,” he said with a smile. “I’m alright.”

And Ecks laughed in relief and joy, reaching to help pull him up.
****
Sleep didn’t seem like it would come very easily, at least not for a while. The two friends sat on the edge of Ecks’ bed, stunned and disturbed and reeling from what had taken place.

“So what was her deal?” Wye frowned. “Why was she after us?”

“I’m still not even sure,” Ecks admitted. “I think she felt that since we’d died once, we were supposed to stay dead or else it would upset the proper balance of things. Whatever her reason, it was very twisted.” He clenched a fist.

“I heard what you said to her . . . I think,” Wye said. “You saw me bending over you? You never mentioned that.”

“Because if you confirmed that and some of the little details, like your debate club button falling off when you leaned over me, I’d have to accept I really left my body. I didn’t want to.” Ecks sighed and looked down. “Maybe I could have prevented all of this tonight if I had.”

“Don’t blame yourself. I was having a bit of trouble dealing with what happened to me as well.” Wye looked weary. “But I didn’t experience anything like you did, unless I don’t remember it. It must have been worse for you.”

“Well . . . it’s over now, and by tomorrow we’ll probably think what happened tonight was just a nightmare brought on by what happened at the motel,” Ecks said. “Maybe it was. But if it wasn’t, I wonder if she’ll go back to the motel until the next victim comes along.” He scowled. “We’re going to have to tell the manager what we found out about her.”

Wye looked displeased too. “That’s right. Well, we don’t have to tell him about her attacking us, at least.”

Ecks nodded. “We’ll present it as some research we stumbled across somewhere.”

“And we’ll save that for tomorrow.” Wye stood. “I’m going back to bed. You’d better try to get some sleep yourself.”

“I will.” Ecks laid down, climbing under the covers.

“You don’t think you’ll have any difficulty with that, do you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe now that I’ve accepted the past and know she can’t bother us again, sleep will come easy.”

Wye nodded. “Good luck with that.”

“What about you?” Ecks mumbled. “Will you find it easy to sleep?”

Wye paused in the doorway. “If I just keep telling myself I got to you in time, maybe.”

“You did,” Ecks said quietly. “Nearly at the expense of your own life.”

“Oh, she couldn’t have got me, Duck,” Wye smiled. “It’s as you said, I accept what’s happened to me. Even if it takes a little while sometimes,” he muttered.

Ecks smiled to himself as he settled into the bed. They had come through this mess alright. Maybe the new lives they were trying to sort out would work out for them after all.