Kyuuketsuki Duo: The Wonder Years Part 1
The Morning After
Duo awoke with a start, a terrible thirst burning his throat. Even as he attempted to sit up and get his bearings, a strong hand supported him on his back and held a cup of liquid to his lips. Duo greedily swallowed the proffered liquid, somehow managing to drain most of the cup without choking, before realizing that what he had been drinking had not been water. He jerked away from the cup and nearly retched, the smell of blood suddenly filling his nostrils. He squeezed his eyes shut and averted his countenance as if to turn away from reality, but he caught himself as the events of the previous night came rushing into his mind. He remembered what he was, what he had agreed to be, and forced himself to accept the blood he required as a vampire.
The cup was set aside with the gentle knock of wood being placed upon wood, and the hand helped him back into a supine position, his thirst assuaged for now. Duo's recollection of the night was fuzzy, for the most part, as he had wavered in and out of consciousness for some part of it, but he thought he remembered the highlights: the destruction of his home, the revelations of his heritage, his deal with the Shinma, and his subsequent transformation into what he was now. He felt he was forgetting something... ah, yes, the strange encounter on the beach, and the dark and mysterious stranger that had hovered by his side.
Duo cracked open his eyes and saw only an old wooden ceiling, dirty, but sturdy. The supporting beams showed evidence of cobwebs, but no sign of cracks. A quick internal assessment told him that he was lying on the hard floor, but on top of a musty and worn blanket of sorts, while he himself was covered in some other material, smooth and cool.
He turned his head to the right, expecting to meet the eyes of his silent benefactor, but gasped when he saw only a cold white mask where a face should be beneath the dark, tousled hair. Two blank, prussian blue "eyes" looked back at him from the pale mask, expressionless but for the two blood red teardrops gracing the cheeks, and the image of thin, compressed lips.
Duo sat up slowly, his eyes never leaving the robed figure's mask as the blanket slipped soundlessly from around his shoulders and into his lap.
"It's you, isn't it?" he said, quiet wonder in his voice. "The one from last night. Heero."
The figure gave a terse nod of acknowledgment. He did not flinch as Duo's hand reached up in an eerie echo of his own gesture the previous night to tentatively touch the impassive face.
"This... this is my fault, isn't it? I... don't really recall clearly, but... I remember that you came to save me. And then they hurt you. They put you in this mask. Because of me...."
Duo's voice trailed off, and his eyes fell from the warrior's face and into his own lap, where his hands clenched into fists in his dark blanket.
"...Again." He spoke softly, as if to himself. "Someone else hurt, because of me. Again...."
::No.::
Duo looked up in surprise at his companion, certain that it was his voice that had whispered in his mind, although the warrior had not moved at all. It sounded as if it had been uttered aloud, the same deep timbre as it had been last night, when it had first tickled his soul.
::No. It was not your fault.::
Duo shook his head in denial. "No. It was my fault. They punished you because you failed to kill me. Because you ended up protecting me. Because --"
::It was my own fault. I was punished because I failed my mission. Because I chose to protect you. Because I turned my back on the Shinma.::
"But --"
Heero gave an impatient mental snort. ::They were my decisions. My consequences. End of discussion. Accept it.::
Duo opened his mouth as if to protest, but he could swear that Heero shot him a stern, disapproving look, and he snapped his mouth shut beneath the weight of the gaze that said "Leave it alone." Instead, Duo took the opportunity to survey their surroundings.
"So where are we?" Duo's earlier observations on the condition of the room's ceiling applied to the rest of the room as well -- dusty and old, but sturdy enough. He noted a closed sliding door on one wall, which presumably led to the rest of the building, but on the opposite wall the door had been slid open, letting in the fresh air and sunlight. Through the door Duo could spy a wooden veranda facing a modestly sized yard, and beyond the unkempt yard he saw a wide grassy field, grown tall and wild.
::An abandoned temple. There are no people in this area. It will serve while you adjust to your new life.::
A fresh breeze swept in through the open door, and Duo shivered under his light blanket, spun of some substance he could not identify. Then he blinked.
"Where are my clothes?"
::They are outside. Sunning them is the easiest way to dispel the lingering presence of the Dark.:: Well, not really. It would have been a lot easier for him to just flex his aching power a bit and chase the darkness away, but when he had tried to invoke it, the boy had spasmed as if he could feel it clawing through his veins. Since then, Heero had chosen his actions carefully.
Duo shivered again as he recalled the chilling shadows that had slithered over and through him last night as he had been held captive by the Shinma, and he drew the black blanket closer around him.
"So why are you here, anyway?" Duo appraised the silent Shinma with a curious look, but elicited no immediate response from him. "Why are you taking care of me?"
::...::
Duo abruptly recalled there being some talk the previous night of the warrior being of an unconversational sort, and was forced to agree. He gave a small, exasperated sigh and returned to his vaguely interested scrutiny of the odd fabric of his blanket. It seemed to have no weave, no fibers or threads, and looked strangely similar to the material of Heero's cloak.
::I wanted to know.::
"Huh?" was the intelligent answer. He hadn't been expecting a reply.
::I wanted to know. About you. About your power.:: Heero mindspoke slowly, as if reluctant to continue.
Duo wore a puzzled look. "What about it? You probably know more about it than I do."
::...::
Duo drummed his fingers on the floor, obviously willing to wait for an answer. He was glad he hadn't been left alone to his fate, but couldn't it have been with someone a little less... inscrutable? Although he supposed he couldn't blame him for the mask thing.
Heero turned his face away from the boy before him and out into the open field. ::I need to know that you're worthy. That I lost to a worthy adversary.::
Duo cocked his head inquisitively at the former Shinma soldier. "Does that mean so much to you? Power?"
Heero shook his head slightly. ::No. Not... quite.::
Another long silence. Duo idly wondered if he was trying to avoid the topic, or if he was just gathering his thoughts. Heero idly wondered if he had been better off before the boy's natural curiosity had been released by the breaking of his parents' barriers, while he struggled to give form to the vague stirrings and half-realized thoughts trapped within his mind.
::Our current situation... it is the result of a rather surprising turn of events. And I wonder. How it came to pass. How you managed to escape, with the odds so stacked against you.::
"Escape?" Duo asked incredulously. "You would call this escape? Being blackmailed into serving dark powers? I guess I'm alive, if that's what you mean."
Heero shook his head once, with precision. ::You are alive because they wanted you alive.::
The new guardian snorted. "You could have fooled me. How do you figure?"
::You are merely a pawn in Shinma politics. It profits them all, for you to live, one way or another.::
"Now wait just a second there... That 'one way or another' thing sounded just a touch too ominous there. So last night I was --"
::Two nights ago.:: Duo blinked in surprise. ::You had much recovery to do. You still have.::
Duo digested the information silently, then shook his head, a somewhat pained expression crossing his face. "Golly, my head hurts. Politics would be too much for me right about now. You'll have to explain it all to me some other time."
Heero agreed with a brief nod.
Duo sighed wearily. "So why are you here again? Oh wait. You wanted to figure, um, everything out, didn't you?" He gave his companion a critical look. "You're just that kind of person, aren't you?" he semi-accused.
Heero did not deign to respond to the allegation.
"Well, I hope everything turns out okay for you with that. I'd hate to ruin your well-ordered universe by being completely unfathomable. That would suck. Believe me, I know. It sucks."
He heaved another deep sigh as he considered how much of his own well-ordered universe had been turned upside down, and raked his fingers through his bangs. "Well, whatever your reasons, I'm glad you're along for the ride. I don't think we were properly introduced the other night. I'm Duo. Sorry about that whole --" He gestured vaguely with his hand. "-- drinking your blood thing last night. I don't know what came over me." The apology seemed somehow inadequate and unnecessary at the same time, but he felt better for having made a stab at it. "Think I could get my clothes now?"
Duo uncurled himself from the blanket and made to stand up, but the moment he got to his feet, a wave of disorientation swept over him. Before he could stumble more than a step, Heero was by his side and easing him back down to his makeshift bed, seeming to be the only thing staying still in the world that was spinning madly around him.
::It will pass. Your body is still adjusting to the changes. You will be out of balance with yourself for a while before your Shinma side and your human side reach an equilibrium.::
Duo grunted in acknowledgment, the best he could manage while his innards settled. Heero soundlessly left his side and went outside for a moment, then returned.
::I flipped your clothes over to expose the other side. You will have to do without them for a while longer.::
"Right. I guess a boy could do worse than boxers and a blanket." He carefully raised himself into a sitting position and leaned his back against the wall, swathed in his blanket. "So tell me about the Shinma."
:: ? :: Heero projected a questioning feeling into Duo's mind.
"You're a vampire, right? And I guess I am, too." Duo shook his head, the situation still seeming rather surreal to him. He made a self-deprecating noise, pleased with the way it lacked any hysterical edge. "You know, I still haven't figured out if my entire life up until this point has been a dream, and I am only now waking up to reality, or if this is the dream, and at any moment I'll wake up to hear Sister Helen calling me down for breakfast...." He fell silent for a moment, briefly mourning the loss of those lost the other night, before coming to the decision that he must instead consider them to be those he is fighting for, lest the perpetual pain of immense loss overwhelm him one day.
"So why are we sitting in broad daylight?" He continued on with his original thought. "Shouldn't we be piles of ashes or something? I mean, I've never heard of a vampire that could withstand the light of day, or congregated in large shadowy amorphous masses."
Heero leveled a look at him, and Duo felt as if he had an eyebrow raised at him. ::I've never heard of a vampire that wore a cross around his neck.::
Duo blinked, not comprehending the reference at first. Then his hand flew up to the crucifix resting on his chest, a gift from Sister Helen. He looked down at the silver cross, marveling at all of the things that had changed since he had first put the necklace on. What would Sister Helen and Father Maxwell think of him now? People had often called him Maxwell's demon, a reference to the ominous portents under which he had arrived at the orphanage, as well as his own fey behavior. They had no idea how right they were.
He chuckled at the irony. "Point taken."
::We may be possessed of a vampiric nature, but we are more than mere vampires in legends of old. We are Shinma.:: He stated the fact as if it should have explained everything.
"So why aren't you part of that large shadowy amorphous mass?"
Heero gave him another look, similar to the last. ::If you refer to why I am wearing a human form --::
"And I am," Duo interjected.
::-- at the moment, I have been locked into this form,:: Heero continued without missing a beat.
"Locked?...That's part of your punishment, isn't it?"
A brief nod.
"...I'm sorry," Duo apologized, his eyes begging forgiveness for crimes he didn't commit.
Heero shrugged negligently, seeming to imply that humanity was as good a form as any. ::We've been over this before, and I don't like to repeat to myself. It wasn't your fault.::
"So is that why you can speak inside my head and my skin doesn't crawl? Because you're kinda being human now?"
A mental shrug, dismissing the question as unimportant.
Okay. Duo assumed that he would soon learn more than he had ever wanted to know about Shinma, since it would be his task to hunt the strays. It appeared that he would have a good teacher, as well. "So what happens now?"
Another mental shrug. ::I don't know. I hadn't thought that far.::
Duo did the equivalent of sweatdropping in a series that doesn't do sweatdropping. "You haven't thought that far?" he repeated flatly.
Heero's mindvoice conveyed a certain defensive quality. ::I started that night with plans to neutralize and abduct you. When it became apparent that that wasn't going to work out, I didn't think I'd live through the night, let alone be left to make sure you also live to perform your own duty.::
Blink. "Well. This is certainly going to be fun, isn't it?"
TBC...
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