13-Jul-2001
*sings* And it's been a while since I've ...
...Posted a damn thing. Gomen ne, Emeru! (bad Tennimon puns! Wai! -.-;;)
Well, here we have part four. Getting closer.... ^^
Danke danke to Misu for beta-ing! Quickly! Wai!
Warnings: shounen ai, loss of vital fluids
Pairings: 1+2... In this part, too! Wai!
Archive: GW Addiction
Part 4 Begun: April 09, 2001
Part 4 Finished: July 12, 2001
Suggested listening: 'Shout' by Disturbed, 'Forever May Not Be Long Enough' by Live, or 'Hollow' by APC. Maynard rocks my Waldo.
"How'd you do it?" All traces of anger were gone from Duo's deceivingly wide eyes, the void replaced by a wondering innocence.
"Do what?" Heero inquired, though he was fairly certain he knew what 'it' was. But if it was a less sensitive issue, he was hardly going to incriminate himself once more.
"You know," Duo nearly spat, all cloying tinges of unassuming inexperience eliminated without a trace, an immediate and all over transformation that obviously signified he was serious.
Heero nearly sighed, but quickly quelled the impulse, though he was unable to rid himself of the nagging sense that he was losing control. Duo was having an adverse effect on him, of the system-wide hegemony he'd possessed over his human instincts. His frank honesty touched more deeply than anything had in years, longer than he cared to acknowledge.
"You know how you aren't supposed to take after the person is dead?" Heero asked, his tone almost reflective.
Duo nodded, the harsh bone hue of his skin stark against his vibrant eyes, deepening the shadows barely visible in the waning black and lending him an overly serious air.
"Do you know why?" Silently he quickened his pace, time moving too rapidly for his liking towards dawn.
Loose, golden brown tendrils lashed lightly against Duo's cheeks as he shook his head, matching Heero's stride without comment. "It seems more like a superstition."
"It's not," Heero said curtly. "Although the facts are almost entirely lost, I found an obscure reference that strongly implied that drinking the blood of someone already dead made you," he paused, "human again."
"And so he tried it?" Duo whispered.
"He did. I was closer to Saisa than he was, so we figured that it would be more beneficial for me to stay."
"Did you know it would work?" There was something of a morbid fascination in Duo's tone, like when inquiring as to the details of a grisly accident.
"No. But it was all we could think of. It was shortly after you... he -"
"Made me a vampire. Just say it." Duo's voice was suddenly brusque, his eyes wandering into the distance, anywhere but near his companion, and his movements minutely stiff.
Heero paused at the bitterness evidenced in Duo's manner, aware now of the sounds and slowly shifting images of night flickering around the two.
A frown darkened Duo's features briefly. "Why didn't you?"
"Why didn't I what?"
"Try it. Try to become human." Duo was angled away from him, so that he was regarded out of the corner of one eye, which made the action look as if borne from suspicion.
"It was more logical for Rial, Trowa, whoever he is... My absence would have been more conspicuous." Hopefully Duo would be satisfied with that explanation.
"Bullshit!" Duo spat. "I'm asking a serious question, Heero, answer it honestly."
Heero paused, not having any desire to answer said inquiry. "Would you?" he asked, an obvious diversion but one that would probably serve.
Duo's eyes narrowed briefly, recognizing the change of subject, but he chose to answer the question regardless. "Yes, I would."
That admission surprised him. It seemed all the vampires were more than content with the altered lot in life, heightened abilities and lowered needs, a situation that put one above the normal dredge of humanity and its monotonous uniformity. That seemed to be the almost universal appeal. "Why?" he asked, hoping his incredulity didn't seep into his voice. "You're something special now," he continued. "Something that normalcy can't compare to."
Duo turned to face him, a slightly bitter smile barely stretching his lips. "My life was never a contest, Heero. It was my life, and no matter how much I was messing it up or how many bad decisions I made, it was still mine to control. And now I'm... this," he said resentfully, holding one ghostly white hand into the fading moonlight, "and I'm not in control anymore. I have to abide by some supernaturally predetermined rules, or I'm not even this anymore. And -" He seemed about to continue, but broke off, looking to the sky. Moving his violet gaze to Heero's own, he let his actions do the speaking, as none was really needed.
"We don't have time to get back," Heero observed.
Duo shook his head. "But I think... I used to wander around here a lot... There should be a series of caves around here somewhere..." He pointed. "In that direction."
His memory proved correct, as only a few minutes of travel left them at the entrance to small cavern that initially appeared to be small. Yet, Heero realized as Duo stepped inside fearlessly and beckoned for him to follow, that was simply a facade.
However supernaturally enhanced his senses were, he still felt abruptly lost at the sudden loss of sight as they stepped from the reach of the last fading moonbeams. Instinctually he moved closer to where he had last been aware of Duo, surprised even as he did at the reliant gesture. He wasn't accustomed to being reliant on everyone, and the chink stolen from his self control disturbed him.
Although with Duo it seemed different, almost natural to depend on Duo, to - that was it. He trusted Duo! He wasn't even sure he could say that he had trusted Rial, thought he'd assured Duo they could. There was something different between the way he trusted Rial, more as a comrade, and the way he'd trusted Duo as a ... A Person.
He frowned, unsure of the implications of that simple admission, even only to himself. He needed all his control, needed it to continue to deceive Saisa and all the other vampires long enough to betray them.
"Heero?" Duo's voice called from the darkness, enveloping him in its echoes.
"What?" he responded quietly, as if raising his voice any more would shatter their careful equilibrium.
"There's not really anything to do here, so you might as well just sit down," Duo told him, and, in a movement that seemed as inherent as drinking, reached one hand through the black that blanketed them to tug Heero down next to him.
Silence. Or rather, the same un-silence, plagued with far off water dripping and pebbling dropping loose from the moorings, rife with the scratching of animals large and small, any gap in his or his companions' own noise easily filled with the sounds of a forest.
Of life.
Again he frowned, wondering at the direction his musing was dragging him. Another thing he'd lost grip of. And he had no idea of what route to take to chase desperately after it, as his mind screamed at him to do.
But what of his heart? Did his human desires follow him past the grave? Did he still have that driving force that with more and more frequency towards the end of his life seemed to undercut what logic had told him?
He must. For what else could so make him long for the lasting heat of the sun on his skin, or the cool, springing yield of grass under his feet? The chilling spray of an ocean and the shifting support of its shore? A sunset?
What would Duo look like under a sunset?
Yes, it was definitely his heart that thought suddenly of his braided companion, silent at his side. And suddenly he wanted Duo to be human again. Wanted to be human with Duo, perhaps the most unsettling divulgence of all. Wanted to watch a wave break over all that hair and wanted to brush the sand out of it a minute later. Wanted to roll down a hill and have Duo, laughing, land on him at the bottom. Wanted to watch Duo's form silhouetted by the brilliant pinks and oranges that were barely recallable in the recesses of his mind.
"I will if you will," he whispered.
End Part 4
*fic falls over the edge of cliff into requisite raging river*
Short part! I wanted to get some out before I went out of town. Short and strange. Chou chou hen da yo!
Ryan Harbin
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