And thus my second epic begins... This part is kinda boring, but I'll get to the action soon... hopefully after this part.
This is a RE-WRITE of my original Part 1. There were some continuity problems with the original, so I am posting both this new version and the original for your viewing pleasure. ^_^ This part DOES work with the original EoB timeline (thank goodness!)
WARNINGS:There is some violence, strong language and it has the yaoi pairings of Duo+Heero, and Quatre+Trowa, and the yuri pairings of Dorothy+Relena and Catherine+Iria. So if you don't like yaoi or yuri pairings, then don't read this! This also has a completely new and original character, so don't take him, he's mine! ^_~
I was standing on the balcony of my mansion. No, I'm not Quatre. I'm Hilde Schbeiker. Yes, I'm German. And I don't bother trying to teach people how to pronounce my name anymore. Hell, I can barely pronounce it. I practically own the largest piece of real estate in the world. Too bad it doesn't count on Earth. I live in the Shadow Lands, an alternate dimension under the Earth. It's warm all year around because we're so close to molten lava, and it's always dark. This is where all the creepy crawlies from little kids' nightmares exist. Vampires, ghouls, imps, ogres, orcs, you name it, it's here. And I'm the leader of them all. They aren't all bad, actually. Most of them are pretty nice. We all live here like one big family.
Of course, some of the Shadow Landers weren't so happy here, and went up to what you call Earth to take it over, one city at a time. It was one of those dissidents that led to my coming here and becoming ruler. Yes, Morbius, the bastard and his henchmen who brought on the entire course of events better known as an "Eternity of Blood," as I call it. And it truly was one big bloody battle after another. I didn't get dragged in until I came to Earth and met Gabriel, a were-leopard. That's what Duo told me. He had tricked me into following him to a suspicious looking club, and that was where I stopped being human, and became a vampire.
It's not all bad. I can move quicker than the human eye can follow, I can bench press a Toyota truck, and I see just fine at night. But I admit, it has its drawbacks. We don't turn into dust if we see sunlight, we just have a bad allergic reaction to it. It kinda put an end to my days of lying on the beach trying to get a sun tan.
So it's been three months and six days since the last time anything happened. It was October 2nd, but down here it's hard to tell when time moves. That's why I brought a laptop down here to keep track of things above ground. We managed to tap into some of the cable lines below ground, so I get cable internet for free. Pretty good deal; the only price I had to pay was banging my head against the roof of the house.
It's amazing; this laptop runs completely on my power alone. No need for a battery or electricity... It's kinda eerie how it does that, but I'm not complaining.
That fellow standing outside of my door is Rasial. He is my vampire aide. He's been with me ever since Duo brought me here. I can remember the day...
"Hey everyone! I got an announcement!", Duo yelled in a booming voice.
We were standing on the balcony of the mansion that would soon be mine. Duo had called a "town meeting," and everyone came, out of respect for his father, and him of course, for he had defeated the enemy that his father could not, therefore avenging his father's death and making him a hero in the eyes of the people. Anyways, back to Duo's speech.
"Everyone, this is Hilde. She's gonna be your master, er, mistress, and heir to Shinigami."
I had been given title as Shinigami because Duo, well, to be honest, copped out of the deal. He had "other things" to do, the lazy bum, and dumped his royal responsibilities on me. Not that I minded or anything. Actually, I thought ruling a dark kingdom of creepy crawlies was kind of cool. In a dark, gothic sort of way.
"Treat her with the same respect you'd show me, or else!" He shook his fist in the air, and it glowed blue with power. I never knew Duo to be the threatening type. He always struck me as the benevolent type of ruler.
"If you're wondering why I'm not staying here and becoming the next Shinigami, it's because..." He paused, looking for the right words. "... because I don't think I'd be a very good ruler. Besides, I can't just leave my upperworld life behind."
All the citizens were mumbling. I pulled Duo aside.
"You think that was a good excuse to get out of being heir?"
"Hilde. I'm not getting out of it, I'm just trying to protect this place. Think about, this place would fall apart with my form of 'law and order'. And besides," he concluded, "I think you make a better leader than me."
"I still think you shouldn't have snuck out of this."
"Listen Hilde. You're a vamp now. You can't go outside in daylight without having a major allerigic reaction. And the majority of the human population are scared shitless of vampires, and you haven't learned how to speak and hide your fangs at the same time yet."
"And you have?"
"Mine are retractable. And they appear at will."
"Oh yeah. Damn."
"You still wanna stay above ground?"
He had me there. I gave up, and decided to look upon this as a new adventure. Ruler and mistress of all the Shadow Lands. Had a nice ring to it.
"Fine," I conceeded. "I'll stay. But you owe me."
"Of course, Hilde."
Duo turned to the crowd and pulled me to the front. I got a sudden case of stage fright, which is pretty odd for me. I waved shyly at the masses, and they cheered. I guess they accepted me. A little too easily, I might add.
I expected some trouble once Duo left to go back to Earth, or as the people here call it, the Upper Grounds. But the TYPE of trouble was not what I expected. I thought people would start to plot against me, try to assasinate me, things like that. But that wasn't the problem at all. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The people didn't dare to even think about assasination, lest I delve into their minds and saw the thought. They were afraid that I would smite people for the smallest things like an unforgiving king.
That first day when Duo had announced my new reign, I had gone out to mingle with the people. Duo had suggested that Rasial accompany me, for I didn't know a thing about this place.
"This is Rasial," Duo said, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "He was around when I came here to train with Dad. He'll be a lot of help. I trust him with my life."
"No need for such compliments, milord," Rasial said. His voice was a rather deep tenor, nearly a bass. He had a calm, gentle tone, and I instantly thought of how great a singer he could be. Rasial had the greenest eyes I had ever seen, and baby fine blond hair. His complexion was pale (obviously; he was dead) and when he spoke I saw a bit of fang peek out. He hadn't been a vampire for too long, then. Duo had told me that after fifty years, a vamp learns to hide their fangs. That meant that...
"I've only been dead for 40 years."
Now I see why Duo thinks that mind reading vamps are annoying.
"Sorry. My old master used to whip me if I didn't obey her commands quickly enough, and often she didn't even say them, she thought them."
I nodded. "It's okay, Rasial. Old habits die hard... uh, I guess."
Duo chuckled. "You'd better watch what you say, Hilde. Old metaphors take on a whole new meaning. And dammit Rasial, call me Duo. I get enough of that 'milord' and 'master' crap from Heero."
Rasial laughed, and it was a pleasant sound. "Okay Duo, but you know I'm going to forget."
"Yeah, and I'll keep reminding ya."
They had a cheerful laugh, then Duo turned to me. "Now Hilde, you take care of yourself. I'll see ya later, okay?"
With that he left, in a blink of an eye. Now I was alone, in a completely new world. I turned to Rasial. "So, how does this world work? I mean, how do you guys do taxes and such?"
Rasial gave me a quick rundown of the economic system here. Basically, whenever the lord wants something, he will send his goons to fetch some cash from the peasants. I decided to hell with that system. I planned on making this place one helluva town.
But for now, I decided to walk around and see what was here. Rasial followed me like a lap dog/tour guide, telling about places and doing whatever I asked. I tried to mingle, but whenever I tried to walk by, people would hastily get out of the way. It's hard to mingle when there's a three feet ring of space around you. I whispered to Rasial, "This isn't working. How am I supposed to incur friendship instead of wrath?"
He replied calmly, "Milady, they all have the utmost respect for you."
I just sighed and walked towards the market. I tried to buy something, but the vendors kept insisting on giving it to me for free. Some crap about not being worthy and stuff. I just about had enough of this bull.
I leapt up onto one of the empty crates in the center of town square. Don't ask me why there were crates, they were just there. "Good people, hear me out!"
I got their attention rather quickly. I took a deep breath and summoned all the public speaking skills I had gained while working for Duo & Howard's salvage company. "You need not fear. I will not deal any retribution upon anyone except for those who truly deserve it. I'm the same as you all, a fellow..." I paused, searching for the words. I couldn't use human, for even I wasn't a human anymore.
"...a fellow... citizen. In fact, I'm a foreigner..."
I watched their reactions. Mostly it was shock, as if no one had spoken to them like this before. Hell, no one probably HAS spoken to them like this before. I was probably the first one to ever speak to them on equal terms.
Slowly, one of the younger ogres stepped forward. "Forgive my rudeness, milady, but how do you intend on ruling us, if you don't know our ways?"
It was an interesting question. I smiled and said, "Don't worry, you weren't being rude. Seeking answers is a good trait." Great, I was starting to sound like some wise old man. "No, I don't intend on ruling you."
A gasp shook the crowd.
Someone cried out, "But that goes against Lord Duo's orders!"
It was like no one had ever disobeyed a Lord's decree or something. I waved my hand to quiet them down. "No, I'll still be obeying Duo's order. He said to be heir. Just because I'm heir doesn't mean I'm going to rule you all like I'm some sort of queen or something. I'll just be governing."
I got a bunch of blank looks.
"Isn't govern the same as to rule?", the young ogre asked.
"No, ruling is to force the people into doing things through fear. To govern..." I thought about it, and it did seem like the same thing. I thought harder. "To govern is almost the same thing, except that the lord is much more forgiving and kind, and should be a servant of the people, not the other way around."
The crowd was silent. I was afraid they were going to cart me off to tar and feather me. Then the young ogre spoke up. "So you mean..." He trailed off; I guess he didn't know the words.
"You all will have free will, to a point. As long as you obey some basic laws, you can do and say what you want," I said.
The crowd cheered. I guess they haven't had free will in a long time, if ever. Shinigami must have been one hell of a despot to incur this much wrath in the people.
From then on, life has been pretty good. I created a good economic system, taxes and all, and of course, the taxes paid for all sorts of stuff, library, post office, etc. You wouldn't believe how similar this place is to California. Well, a nineteeth century style California with the technology of today, anyways. I created a police force. They were pretty ruthless at first, but lately they've been a bit more merciful. Must have been the disappointed look on my face when they brought back the head of some poor imp they caught pickpocketing.
Of course, all this power came with a price. After setting up everything, creating all the systems and whatnot, I was dead tired. In fact, I was so exhausted, I fainted dead cold on the tenth day of the job.
I regained consciousness in my bed, in the master bedroom. It was a huge room. The decor was pretty much black and white, with white walls, black carpet, and black curtains. The bed was white with dark blue sheets. Rasial was sitting in the chair beside the bed, dressed in a simple dark blue button up dress shirt and black slacks. He was watching me with his deep green eyes.
"Feeling better, milady?"
"Yeah. And do you HAVE to call me 'milady'?"
"It's out of respect," he said. "And force of habit," he added quietly.
"Well, if you really respect me, then respect my wish and call me Hilde."
"I'll try, Hilde."
"Okay then. How long have I been out?"
"Only a couple of hours."
I breathed a sigh of relief. I hadn't wasted much time. I tried to sit up, but I suddenly felt lightheaded and fell back down. "Damn, too tired," I grumbled.
Suddenly, a pale wrist was placed before me. I looked up at Rasial. "What the hell are you doing?", I asked.
"Drink. It'll make you feel better."
Duo had told me that while vampires need blood to survive above ground, down here blood wasn't needed. He didn't know why, just that while he and Heero were here, Heero didn't have to drink any blood to survive. However, to vamps, blood signifies one of three things: food, sex, or power. Sometimes it meant all three at once.
I looked at Rasial's wrist. I wasn't comfortable with sucking on someone's wrist, which is surprising, since I ripped apart another vampire with my bare hands just a few months ago and didn't blink. My discomfort with the situation must have shown, for he suddenly leaped onto the bed and pulled me into his arms. He put his hand behind my head and guided me towards his neck. I didn't need any further urging, and my stomach was crying out for sustenance. I sank my fangs into his soft flesh and drank his sweet blood. It felt warm going down my throat and it tingled, like alcohol. In fact, I was beginning to feel kind of tipsy, so I pulled away. I looked at him; his eyes were closed, his lips were parted slightly and he was panting softly. I shifted, and I noticed a hardness in his pants. He opened his emerald eyes and blinked at me. I looked into his eyes for a moment, and I had a sudden urge to go down on him. I shook the feeling away.
"Sorry," Rasial whispered in a husky voice. "I do that to people sometimes."
"Yeah, well, stop. I don't like it when people have my hormones on a leash." God knows that has happened to me one too many times, with Gabriel. "Besides, not all vampires are sex-hungry."
"Point one out to me sometime," he replied. I pointed at myself. He chuckled. "Riiiight," he said. Stupid vamps. Oh wait, I'm one too. Crap. Well, I'm different, dammit.
Well, I'd like to think so anyway.
So life went on. Or, pseudo-life, I should say. According to science, vampires can't be considered living, for we don't need to breath and we don't die unless killed in some way by outside sources. If left in peace, vampires can live on and on... But with the way things are, a vampire is lucky to make it out of it's first fifty years with less than a mangled backbone.
Anyways, Rasial and I took care of the Shadow Lands, like two good business partners. The Shadow Lands bloomed and grew, peace seemed infinite, and the economy soared. Aren't I a great businesswoman?
Then on Wednesday, the thirteenth day of the tenth month, AC 200, something happened. [1]
Everyone in the Shadow Lands felt it in their bones, and it shook us all. Rasial came to my side. He was dressed in one of his usual casual-professional outfits, usually slacks and a dress shirt. But they were always dark blue. "My lady, something's happening above ground."
"First of all, stop calling me 'my lady' and second, get me my coat please. I'm going above ground."
"Yes my— I mean, Hilde."
He got me my coat in a flash and I headed to my old world. Rasial asked if I wanted to take an escort with me, but I didn't think I needed it.
Of course I would be wrong. When I reached portal between worlds, I felt the power surge grow stronger. I leaped through the portal and ran to the city. I came to a pitch black city. The lights were out, and people outside everywhere were screaming and generally panicking. I didn't try to calm anyone down. I ran to Duo's house.
"DUO!!!" I screamed as I ran towards the vicinity of his house. I knew either Heero or Duo would hear me and open the door.
"Hilde." Heero had opened the door. He didn't bother saying anything, he just gestured for me to come inside.
Everyone was there: the five ex-Gundam pilots, Iria, Catherine, Dorothy, Relena & Sally. Noin and Zechs were still terraforming Mars. You'd think they'd be done after four years, but no, they were still working on it.
We sat around the fire place, and Quatre began to speak.
"None of us know what's going on. Do you know what's going on, Hilde?"
I shook my head. "No, I came as soon as I felt the tremors."
"You felt them all the way from the Shadow Lands?" Duo asked.
"Yeah, we all did. Rasial reported something strange happening above ground, and everyone felt the strange quakes in the ground," I replied.
We sat in silence, everyone absorbing the information I had just coughed up. Finally Duo spoke.
"I say we go to the scene of the most energy. What do ya'll say?"
There was a hum of agreement before we headed for the cars. Well, most of us headed for cars. Dorothy had her strange yellow limo-type car, and Wufei & Sally had their Chevy truck. It was a white Silverado; I liked it a lot. The supernatural beings with super speed, like me, Trowa, Quatre, and Heero, all followed along, sitting on top of the cars acting as lookouts. Duo could have sat up with us, but he chose to drive his Jeep. He never could use his powers to their full potential. I guess he likes being a down to earth kind of guy. Hence the reason he gave me the title as Shinigami. He could never get used to using his powers 24-7.
We finally reached Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill. It was a nice place to make out. Not that I would know from personal experience or anything. The energy waves that we had been feeling all eminated from the top of the tower.
"Women, stay here." Typical Wufei command.
I shook my head. "No way, I'm going. I came here to find out what all this crap was about, and dammit, I'm going to find out."
Wufei just shrugged, and he and Sally ran towards the tower. The rest of us followed, a sense of urgency flooding our minds and instincts.
We climbed the stairs, running as if hell itself was on our heels. There was something about this event, something completely off about the entire situation. I didn't like this feeling. When we got to the top, we were treated to a strange sight. It was a flaming triangle pointed downwards, with a horizontal line in the middle.
"What the hell is that?" Duo asked no one in particular. The rest of us shrugged.
"It's the wiccan symbol for Earth," Dorothy said. She and Relena had just made it to the top of the tower. I looked at them for a split second, then turned back to the fiery symbol. Then suddenly it flashed brightly. Relena, Quatre and Iria all started walking towards it, a strange gleam in their eyes. "Hey, wait—" I started to say, and then another flash of light made all of us pull back, except for those three. "Oi!", I heard Duo shout.
The bright light continued to shine, and I had to step back towards the stairs. I noticed that Heero and Duo were doing the same thing. But Iria, Quatre and Relena were all walking towards it, slowly as if they were in a trance. For all I knew, they might have been, with their glassy eyes and calm look on their faces.
The rest of us watched as if we were in some cruel dream, and Dorothy called out, "Relena! Stop! It's dangerous!" But Relena kept walking, and so did the Winner siblings. They reached out and touched the symbol, and a sudden burst of energy blew us to the walls. Well, most of us anyway. Quatre, Iria and Relena all collapsed, and their respective life partners ran up to them as the light from the burning symbol disappeared, leaving nothing suspicious. It was as if nothing had happened.
"Quatre? Quatre!" Trowa said as he took Quatre's motionless body into his arms. Another cry from the other side of the tower caught my attention. "Relena!" Dorothy's voice was calm, but I could sense an underlying worry from the witch for the young leader of the world. She really is a witch in the true sense of the word, don't think I'm insulting her or anything. Dorothy had been interested in Wiccan for a long time, and after a while she became a witch for real.
"Iria!" Catherine, Trowa's sister, pulled Iria into her lap. It was funny how after Trowa and Quatre made the announcement that they were in love, and after they had introduced the two sisters, Iria and Catherine had fallen into a deep love for each other. Like brother, like sister, I suppose. That was a long time ago, when I was still human. Ah, to be human again.
"What the hell was that?" Wufei asked. He had 'worry-wort' written all over his face. I looked around the tower, then I walked up to the observation windows and looked outside. It was still dark, but I could sense the sun rising.
"Daylight is coming," Heero said. "We'd better go home before we get caught."
Everyone nodded and we headed home. Trowa carried Quatre, Heero carried Relena, and Duo carried Iria. We hopped back into our cars and drove home, the rising sun behind us.
They were still out by the time we reached Duo's house.
"They just need some rest," Trowa said quietly. I watched Trowa, Catherine and Dorothy sit around and worry about their loved ones, and suddenly felt lonely. Of all of them, I was the only one who was still well and truly single. I quietly went outside. Wufei and Sally went home to check on their son, Liu Po. I waved bye to them as they left. Don't worry, they had a babysitter, so they said.
After being in the Shadow Lands for such a long time, it feels sort of weird to be in the sunlight again. The rays of the dawn hit me in the face, and I winced. I couldn't open my eyes and watch its glorious beauty. I could only watch behind the shade of a tree. I sat down on the veranda and stared out into the street. I missed being human.
"Doing okay, Hilde-neechan?"
"I'm okay, Duo-niichan."
He sat next to me and put his arm around my shoulders. "Cheer up, it'll be okay." I just nodded. "But," he continued, "this new event bugs me. Why would a burning symbol for the earth show up at Coit Tower? And why did the earth shake when it happened?"
"And why was there a blackout in the city?", Heero said as he walked up behind us and sat behind Duo. He pulled Duo into his lap, and put a hand in my hair and ruffled it like an older brother would do his sister. I looked at him, and he seemed gentler than I had ever seen him. Maybe Duo finally de-programmed Heero, so he could be himself again. Relena once told me that Dr. J had told her that Heero was a caring, kind, loving boy before the training. I wonder if this is what he would have always been like if it hadn't been for the training.
Heero looked at me with gentle eyes, and I knew that he was himself again. I smiled. "Whatever happens, we'll get through it together, right? I know how cheesy that sounds, but tell me we won't be set against each other again, right?"
Duo and Heero nodded. They remembered when Heero and I were set against Duo in a battle of wills between Morbius and Duo. I shook the memory away. It still gave me nightmares at times.
"Alright! Then let's get some rest... we've had a tiring day," I said, and got up to go back inside. Duo and Heero got up and followed me. Everyone was going to stay at Duo's house today, and once all of us had decided where to sleep, we settled down to get some rest.
[1]: Yes, I worked it all out. If July 31 is on a Saturday, then October 13 will come on a Wednesday. Yes, I have nothing better to do other than figure out dates for my fics... ^^;;
Well, that part was quite boring, and I left it at a pseudo-cliffhanger... Anyway, feel free to e-mail me your rants and raves, just don't cuss me out, okay?
Copyright reserved 2001 Top Ace