30-Nov-2000
Disclaimer: GW is owned by sunrise... Or something.
0.o Does anyone here watch Angel? I watched it a bit last season, and my mom recorded today's for me, which I watched so I wouldn't offend her. They killed off the character I like! ;_; It appears Angel is taking the same view I have on a few things.... 0.o O.O
For some reason, 'Blue Monday' sounds different every time I play it. o.o And the reason this got so damn strange was because I listened to 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' through the last half. ^^;
To avoid confusion: There are three points of view: Duo's, Heero's, and Saisa's. You should be able to figure out who's point of view it is, even if not immediately. If you really can't, email me. Also, I switch around a LOT. As in, in the middle of a scene. Which is why it looks like I'm marking a new scene but I'm actually not.
Warnings: Eventual yaoi/shounen ai Bloodsucking, general unhappiness
Pairings: LOOK at the subject line... See the list? There ya go...
After the normal initial confusion, Maxwell rebounded surprisingly well. A fact made all the more apparent by the way that he, unlike Yuy, did not hide the fact that he was far superior physically to most among us. It wasn't that he pushed anyone around - But he was hard to miss as it was. He had a way of walking that made his hair swirl around his hips in a strangely mesmerizing way, even in that braid he wore. He also moved so smoothly, so gracefully, that it drew your eyes even further. Combined with the clear defeat of anyone who challenged him, he had gained in only a few months status it took most years to achieve. Except for Yuy, of course.
He wondered what he playing with in those two. They could either make or break him, depending on which side they were on. Yuy by himself was dangerous enough, but he clearly hadn't been thinking when he'd made Maxwell. If he'd just drunk the boy's blood and been done with it, it would have enriched him sufficiently physically and mentally to ensure a victory had he challenged Yuy, something he'd been planning on doing for some time. However, should he lose, he could never regain back what he'd worked so hard to gain, through subtle dealing and back stabbings, and the unmaking of all who'd been with them at the time.
It didn't help that Maxwell seemed to have latched himself onto Yuy, and it didn't matter the latter did to ignore him. Maxwell could have anyone he wanted as a companion - There were no real friends - but he chose, for some reason beyond Saisa's comprehension, Yuy. It could be, he supposed, a recognition of fellow power, a bid to get someone who could possibly beat him on his own side.
Either way, he would have to be careful...
'He's watching again....' Duo watched back out of the corner of his eye, knowing Saisa was too preoccupied to notice. It only a short time, he'd been able to assess quite easily the structure here. Saisa was at the top mainly through clever bluffs and hollow threats, some of which he could follow through with, most not. He'd also realized that the real power - physically, at least - behind the vampire was Heero Yuy. For all the lengths they both went to trying to hide it, if you sat down and observed, as he had the first week, you could see how Saisa flicked not - so - casual, assessing glances towards the smaller vampire, how he never put Heero in a position for conflict. However, he'd also noticed that, should he wish to, Heero could easily avoid Saisa's evasions and establish himself as the real leader. He had the intelligence, as well. Duo hadn't been able to figure out, yet, what kept him back. He clearly left things up to Saisa for a reason. That was one of the things that first convinced him to try and figure Heero out. He was easily pushed around in almost all aspects of their lives - 'Yeah, right...'[1] - When he didn't obviously didn't need to be. He was actually surprised, because there had been several instances when Heero had actually stood up for himself - and those opposed had ended up in far, far worse shape than Heero himself. In fact, he hadn't seen Rial since that day... He wasn't sure whether to be happy for Rial or angry at Heero; If he had reason to be upset at all. Frowning, he set out to find Heero.
He looked up just in time to be knocked nearly to the floor as Duo pounced on him. He scowled. He should have heard him coming from thirty meters away.
"I'm afraid you may have met your match, Heero!" Duo said, smiling, then jumped up, braid swinging as he went. Heero's eyes narrowed in a brief response, and then he abruptly levered himself from the floor in one smooth movement.
"What do you want?" Idly Duo wondered if Heero had always been so cold, or if being killed had been what had taken away most aspects of a personality.
"Well..." No use in stalling. He dropped his smile as he dropped all facade of joking, his face and demeanor becoming serious at once.
"What did you do to Rial?"
"That's not something you need to be concerned with." Dismissal.
"I think it is." He could be just as cold as Heero if need be.
All he received was another glare and then Heero turned around and walked casually away. His eyes narrowed and he chased briefly after, catching up to him after only a few steps and grabbing his shoulder roughly. For the first time, a brief flicker of fear burned through him - He'd never seen Heero look that pissed before.
"Don't fuck with me, Duo!" he hissed. This time Duo didn't try to go after him.
(Several hours later)
"He's been asking about you."
"What? Who?"
"Duo." Incredulence[2] flashed in forest green, then a slight frown settled between the brown eyebrows.
"You don't think he's... With him?" Heero took only a fraction of a second to calculate.
"No. I believe he feels the same way I do. If he's looking for you, it's for his own reasons."
"If you say so." Not mocking, just mater of fact. "You know him better than I do."
"Aa." He glanced swiftly at the sky, and then back to his companion. "It's getting bright. See you next week." The other boy contemplated for a few seconds, then nodded.
"Right. Same place?"
"Of course. Ja ne, Rial." He didn't hear the other boy's whispered correction as he dropped from sight.[3]
(A week later)
He could see, as he watched them, that every day he was trying to tighten his hold on something he could no longer handle, like a child with fire. There was only a subtle change in Yuy that could be nothing but the shifting moods normal with the cycling of the moon[4] but Maxwell was, well, restless. While he was still around Yuy as much, he held him in a more calculating manner, less open than before. He frequently roamed, seemingly randomly, looking into strange places in the underground network and going further out than Saisa himself had ever bothered. On several occasions, he though Maxwell had noticed him, but the boy had continued almost immediately, with nothing but a cursory sweep of his eyes around whatever room or hallway he happened to be in. If Maxwell was looking for something, he didn't know what, but he'd heard 'Rial,' muttered a few times. After several days, he'd finally recalled who Rial was. He and Yuy had seemed to be rather friendly, at least, as friendly as Yuy got, when Rial suddenly disappeared. As he could recall, it had been after some sort of disagreement with Yuy, who had refused to tell him what had happened to Rial or what the disagreement had, in fact, been over. Ah, well... he really wasn't concerned with their dealings. If Yuy had unmade another, or even sent him beyond, it made no difference to him. It hadn't even been pinned on him this time. He settled the issue and turned back to those watching him. It was almost time to eat.
He swallowed uncomfortably. He didn't think he'd ever be used to drinking blood, especially the blood of someone still struggling under me. I'd asked Heero once why we didn't just wait til a person died, and then drink them. He'd muttered something about 'going beyond' and when he'd asked Heero what that meant, he simply stared at him with slight incredulence in his eyes and didn't answer. He still wasn't sure what it meant, but he was sure it was something bad.
Slightly behind him, standing in the ever present shadows, he could see Heero, mostly using the brilliant blue of his eyes to identify him. Heero never seemed more submissive than during the frenzy to feed, falling into the shadows until all but the very lowest had taken their fill, and non left would dare challenge him. Actually, he was a great deal more feared following Rial's disappearance, which more had noticed than he'd originally thought. In fact, Heero seemed to be even more docile recently, ever since he'd been given a wide berth by almost everyone. And the more Duo tried, the less he understood about Heero.
He was thrust back into reality by a rude jostle from the side - and the one responsible didn't seem guilty in the least. In fact, as he realized who it had been, a peculiar smile grew over his face, even as his eyes reflected the change undergone in the animal desire for blood.
"Well, if it isn't our newest member!" he exclaimed, contempt overshadowing any welcome that may have been present in his voice. "Already trying to be first in line, are we?" Duo swallowed and refrained from pointing out that they were both near the end. Upon changing, any pretense of civilness disappeared any one was reverted to a state that could only be duplicated by a human if one was drunk; You became paranoid, jumpy, and savagely protective of what you considered yours.
"Go right ahead," he said, and stepped back slightly. Even if he could win, he didn't need to expend energy uselessly, and the particular one confronting him had many more allies than he did.
For a moment, it appeared the issue was going to be pressed, as confusion flashed in the face of his confronter - maybe he had expected resistance - but then he swung around with the grace of one awakened, ignoring Duo completely.
Suddenly he understood Heero a lot more.
He reflected silently as the flow of vampires gradually slowed, the frenzy calmed, and the final victim for the night was brought out. The one he was supposed to...
He had few qualms about killing - These people were going to die, whether by his hand or another's, they would die. Even before being turned, he had quickly become aware that the galaxy was a cruel place, and as idealistic as he might like to think, he couldn't change that. Eat or be eaten has a whole new meaning... He was aware of his changing - something that made the whole process slightly more tolerable - as he went forward, sinking into her neck without a struggle. He noticed Heero beside him, his face so changed with the transformation, going for her wrist with the same intensity he went about everything, focused solely on feeding. Another time he would have cared, but he could feel the same thing affecting him, boring through his inhibitions until nothing human remained conscious. He growled and sucked harder, bringing the last vestiges of blood from the weak human beneath him, almost wishing she would struggle, so he could have some entertainment. But she was too far gone, body twitching as it was stripped of its soul and her muscles relaxed. So far in was he that he didn't notice the first few times Heero nudged him, and growled savagely at the sudden violent shove that followed.
"That's enough." Heero hadn't even bothered to wipe the blood trailing from the corners of his mouth, dribbling down his neck to disappear beneath his green tank top.[5] "It's almost too late." His words, the meaning and premonition they carried, jerked Duo back, and he nodded as he scrubbed at his bloody face with his sleeve, noting how the blood flowing was almost too cold.[6]
Quatre Raberba Winner had been nearly to his end, when he had shown up. A tall, thin boy with strangely cut brown hair and only one visible eye, a striking green. He was too quiet, speaking only to answer questions, and then barely more than monosyllables. However, what he'd revealed had more than conformed Quatre's suspicions.
They had returned, and in full force.
End Part 1
Notes:
[1] The 'yeah, right...' is expressing contempt at theirs being an actual life
[2] Y'know, I thought 'incredulence' was a word. But I had to make it up. ^^;;
[3] No, you're not supposed to know what that's all about.
[4] Er... This is something I made up. ^^
[5] Yes, I kept the tank top! But not the shorts... Sorry.
[6] That accounts for part of the title... More explanation soon.
Ryan Harbin
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