Well, I decided to provide you all with some nice background info on Rasial's life. But not too much. Eh heh...
~blah~ = Telepathy. I forgot to mention that before... ^_^;;
blah = Thoughts (me like italics... ^_^)
WARNINGS: There is some violence, a bit of angst/mention of suicide, 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! ^_~
"Why the HELL didn't you tell me you were frickin' 400 years old? 40 years old my ass..."
I was pretty pissed off. Here, a vampire of immense power who was probably at Master level, was calling ME mistress. Why did Rasial have to make everything so damn difficult? Hell, he was the epitome of difficulty. Or maybe I was just overreacting, and the stress of the situation was getting to me. Nah. I'm right, I'm always right.
"You're being pretty bitchy, Lady Hilde."
"And you have a keen sense of the obvious."
"I'll tell you about myself, if you promise me one thing."
"And what might that be?"
"Don't tell anyone anything of what I'm about to tell you."
I thought about it for a moment. I didn't think there was any harm in that. "Fine. Now talk."
"Yes, I'm about 400 years old. I was 20 when I was... changed. I was changed by a rogue vampire, who didn't really care about my welfare. So for 80 years I wandered around Europe, until I..."
He paused. I watched his eyes harden to cold stone.
"... I was 'captured' by Serah, a master vampire."
"Captured?"
"Yeah. I was practically a slave to her."
His eyes shimmered with anger. All of a sudden I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I was frightened for my welfare. I thought that if he resented being commanded, then...
"Don't worry," he said softly, "I don't feel like a slave when I'm with you."
"Oh. Did it show on my face?"
"Yeah."
"Oh." Vampires usually don't show emotion on their face; however, I've been a vampire for less than a year. I still have an excuse to show emotion.
"So anyways, she dragged me into the Shadow Lands and ruled my life for about 250 years. It was my own personal hell. And she wouldn't even let me kill myself either."
I felt really bad for the poor guy. I reached out to touch his cheek. He leaned into my hand and kissed it gently. He turned his eyes towards me, and I felt myself drawn to those emerald depths, feeling like I was metaphysically drowning. I finally realized the true extent of his power, since he came very close to rolling my mind. But he stopped before he went too far.
"You could fight me off, you know."
"I can't."
"You can. You have the power."
"No, I don't."
"Yes, you do. Remember, you have half of Shinigami's power. Use it!"
"I..."
I didn't want to admit that I didn't know how to use it. I could tap into a small part of the power, but the vast majority of the power that I got from Shinigami remained untouched. I just trailed off, since I couldn't think of anything to say.
"Never mind," he said. "So about 50 years ago, Shinigami came in and defeated Serah, for which I was really grateful. He was kind and good to me." He paused, looking thoughtfully for a moment before looking at me. "I owed him, and I became Shinigami's right hand man as a thanks for saving me from an eternity of slavery. He was very good to me..." He trailed off. From the slightly wistful look in his eyes, I thought he...
"Maybe I was. Love is a very complicated emotion." He looked at me, and that wistful look was back in his eyes, but this time, they were directed at me.
I blinked, and I left the room. No way in hell was I going to deal with emotions at this point in time. I had more important things to deal with.
Sleep is wonderful. The fact that I can dream and not have to think about the things that plague me while I'm awake is enough to calm my nerves after that talk with Rasial. What's scary is that I'm supposed to be the stronger of us two. This was like being a lion tamer. The lion will obey as long as it doesn't realize that it can rip your throat out with one bite. I didn't know how much longer I could keep Rasial in the dark about me not being able to tap into Shinigami's power. If he knew that, he might just kill me and take control of the Shadow Lands himself. Rasial didn't seem like the kind of guy who would do that, but he's already nearly rolled my mind twice. I don't know if he's truly a friend, or just biding his time.
But for now, I dream. I dream about life before death, before I changed, and before things around me got chaotic. Life was good.
However, no matter how much I will it, I have to wake up eventually. Or else I know that my problems will follow me into my sleep.
~Hilde!~
"Huh? Quatre?"
~Yeah. Duo says to get up here, now. Something's happening.~
The connection broke, and I got up grudgingly. Why did something have to happen now? I quickly pulled on a blue tank top and some jeans. I grabbed a white button-up short-sleeved shirt to use as a light jacket as I ran out of my room.
"Going somewhere?", Rasial asked as I ran past him down the stairs.
"Duo says they need me."
"Oh. I'll catch up."
I didn't even bother grunting a response as I flew out the door and headed as fast as I could to the portal connecting the Shadow Lands and the Upper Grounds.
"Relena says there are going to be three more seraphim coming. But she doesn't know where," Duo said to me.
"Oh. Well, can't she find out? I mean, she found out last time..." I trailed off, not sure if I should be talking about the last seraph that Rasial killed.
Duo smiled. "Oh, she told us about that. She couldn't tell us exactly what happened, but she did say that you and Rasial took care of it."
"Oh." I seemed to be saying that a lot lately. Maybe I just ran out of sarcastic comments. "So, should we be spreading out to watch the city or something? Feels kinda odd just sitting here waiting for them to come."
"The guys have already fanned out. It's just you and me for now."
I raised an eyebrow. I found it strange that Heero had left without him, or that Duo would let Heero go out alone. "Why did you let Heero go?"
"He's just scouting the area around the house. He'll be back in a few minutes. Where's Rasial?"
"Right here."
I jumped three feet away from him. He had appeared behind me in the doorway without me even noticing. Duo, on the other hand, hadn't even blinked.
"Nice to see ya, Raz."
"It's good to see you too, Lord Duo."
"Takin' good care of Hilde?"
"Yes, very."
I swallowed my urge to rebut his statement. I didn't really have the time to argue with a 400 year old vampire. "Alright, let's just go and find the seraphim," I said instead.
Heero came back just as I had said that. He looked at all of us, then nodded. We all wordlessly followed him outside.
Heero led us to Golden Gate Park, where Quatre, Trowa and Wufei were facing off with the enemy. There were three new seraphim, and they looked fierce. All three were wearing outfits that seemed like Roman gladiator outfits. It seems that we came just in time for introductions.
"I am Michael." He was wearing a purple cape and a white roman gladiator outfit. He was brandishing a vampire sword. No, it wasn't a sword used or made by vampires. It was just that style of sword. I studied weapons when I was in high school, that's why I know. I wondered inanely why I remembered these things and not the trigonometry.
"I am Gabriel." He was wearing a black roman gladiator outfit and a dark red cape that was on his shoulder, much like how Treize used to wear his cape. He had a large Italian axe with an elongated handle, with two smaller axes on his belt.
"I am Raphael." He was wearing a green cape and a white roman gladiator outfit with a black leather vest over a white tunic. He had an English partizan, a rather peculiar looking sword.
They all pulled their weapons out simultaneously and pointed them at us. "We will destroy the plague of humanity that has tarnished this once lush world."
And to think I thought that they couldn't get any cheesier.
"Enough of this. We fight!" Michael yelled as he charged towards Rasial and me. I didn't take the time to pay attention to what was going on around me. It was just me and him. A battle, mano a mano. Damn, my Spanish is bad.
He leaped into the air and spread his black wings. And as with the rest of them, he had three wings. I leapt into the air after him, using my power to levitate. He had better control than I did, and I knew that I would have to get him to the ground so I would at least be on an even level with him. My heart beat like a taiko drum; it rang loudly in my ears and kept me from concentrating on the fight. I didn't realize how high I had flown to follow this guy. Don't look down, don't look down.
I stopped flying. He stopped about ten feet above me and looked down.
"What, afraid of heights?", he said mockingly.
"No."
He started to drop from the sky, right to my eye level. "I am not that foolish." He struck out at me with a sword that appeared from under his cape, as if he had pulled it out of the air.
I flew back, but my reaction wasn't quick enough. A sharp pain flew across my chest, and I knew that he had cut me rather deeply. I didn't have time to take a good look because I was too busy trying to dodge his attacks. Michael's sword came within a width of a hair to cutting my skin on more than one occasion. That was too close for comfort for me. This fight seemed to be culminating to my downfall, or so it seemed. I didn't have a weapon and levitating used up more energy than I had. I decided to drop to the ground and let him come to me.
I stood on terra firma, grateful that I had held out for this long. This was the first time that I had been in an elongated fight like this. The first war against Morbius was nothing like this. Those fights were quick, bloody, violent, and usually ended up in the tearing up of someone's body.
I kept an eye on Michael, who was up in the sky watching me. He floated down and stood across from me. Even with all the commotion going around me, I felt my world narrow down to just him and me. I watched his chest rise and fall, and I could hear his heart beat in my ears. Thump thump, thump thump. We stared each other down, and then he sneered at me.
"You are not a worthy opponent."
"You're just upset because I won't fight you in the air."
"You are unable to fight in the air because you are weak."
"You complain too much."
I think he got tired of all this bantering, because he charged me again. I drew my fists together, trying to summon something, a ball of energy, a spirit sword, anything.
Nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing. I was NOT happy.
The sword came towards me at lightning speed. I didn't even have time to think before I felt the blade plunge into my side. My blood spilled all over my shirt, and I heard the cloth tear as he pulled out his sword, laughing as I fell to the ground. I didn't even get a chance to feel the ground. I think I passed out before that.
"Help me..."
It was that same dream with the girl with pigtails. She was calling out, her voice strained from the effort.
"Please, help me..."
I reached out to her, but then her image screamed and vanished into thin air.
I decided that it was a good time to wake up, so I did. Initially it was a good idea, however, I didn't take into account that my side had been shredded to so much meat thanks to a particular three winged seraph.
"Damn that Michael," I said in a hoarse whisper.
Next to me, a warm presence moved slightly. I looked over to find Rasial lying next to me, bandages around parts of his body and a small bandage on his cheek. I reached out and ripped it off.
"YEOWCH!!!!! Ow, that hurt! What's your problem?!"
I giggled, but my giggle turned into a gasp when a sharp pain exploded through my side.
"Lady Hilde!" He got up immediately and straddled me, but not touching me. I suddenly seemed small underneath his average frame. He put a hand on my side, gently touching it. I let out a small cry. I had never been this weak before. For the first time since I had gained my vampiric powers, I was well and truly scared. What happens to vampires when they die? Do they still have souls, or are their souls lost when they die the first time? I didn't want to die; I still had things to take care of in this life, er, pseudo-life.
I took a deep breath, letting it out shakily as I tried to regain my composure. Thinking about death wasn't helping things. The seraphim... when all else fails, concentrate on business.
"What happened after I passed out?"
Rasial sighed. I raised an eyebrow. I got the feeling I would be in for a not-so-good story.
"Well... we lost. Golden Gate Park is no more."
"WHAT?!"
"After you passed out, Michael started rampaging around and destroyed half the park. You know, the others weren't doing so well against the other two. Raphael, he pretty much knocked out Trowa, pounded on Quatre, and nearly split Wufei with his damn partizan. And then Gabriel... he actually beat out Duo."
"He... he did?" I couldn't imagine anyone actually beating Duo. He and Heero were unstoppable. I remembered their fight against Morbius. They weren't that weak. "That... that's not possible..."
"It is when your significant half is distracted and not there to help you."
"Eh?"
"When Michael had stabbed you, he went to fight Heero, so Gabriel had a chance against Duo. These new seraphim are tough, Lady Hilde."
"So where were YOU the whole time?"
"I had to bail out Wufei, Quatre and Trowa. They were about to be turned into mincemeat before I stepped in to stop Raphael."
"Oh. So what happened to Heero and Duo?"
"Michael beat Heero to the point of unconsciousness and left him for dead before ravaging the park. Duo sensed that and ran to help Heero, but got his back cut in the process. It was about that time we all decided to pull back."
I sighed. This was bad. If Heero and Duo, our two best fighters, couldn't stand up to them, and the rest of the guys were injured so badly... then what chance did the girls and I have?
It had been a whole week since the major attack. The news kept saying that mysterious assailants were destroying major landmarks during the night, but we knew the truth. It was much better to be ignorant. Like they say, ignorance is bliss.
My wound had healed quickly, but it was so deep that a scar remained. Usually a vampire doesn't scar unless the weapon had some silver in it. So I was guessing that the sword had a bit of silver. That would explain why I passed out so quickly afterwards. I could feel that my power had been cut in half because of the laceration, but I couldn't do anything about it. Having a large gash in your side would cut your power in half too.
Rasial took care of me for the first few days. I could barely move, let alone get out of bed. He fed me, took care of business, and was extremely gentle with me. When I slept, I could feel him wrapping his arms carefully around me, keeping me warm and safe while I dreamed. What a nice guy.
Then I remembered he was 400 years old. I kept my wits about me, making sure he wasn't just trying to sucker me into giving him the Shadow Lands.
Then I got a call from Relena. Not a telephone call, one of those mental calls.
~Hilde!~
"Hm?"
~The seraphim are coming again.~
"Great..."
~Meet us at Duo's house. We're all going to fight this time.~
I just nodded. Rasial looked at me as I was doing it.
"Why did you just nod?"
"Relena called."
"Seraphim?"
"Seraphim."
We headed for Duo's house again.
Once again, we were at Duo's house, but this time everyone was here. When we had arrived, everyone was crowded around the table. Relena was sitting at the head. She was held a swinging pendant over a map of San Francisco, while Quatre and Iria held their hands over hers. A black feather was sticking out between their fingers. [1]
"Got it!"
Relena stood up and pointed at the map. "Look, right there. Fisherman's wharf. That's where they'll be."
Duo nodded. "Alright. Relena, stay here and keep safe. I'd ask you to come but..."
"Say no more, Duo, I understand," Relena said. "I wouldn't do much on the battle field. Just do your best."
Everyone nodded, and we headed for our cars. As Duo, Heero, Rasial and I piled into Duo's jeep, Rasial tugged on my jacket.
"You sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Besides," I said with determination, "I want revenge..."
Back to:Part 4
[1]: This is kinda like that scene in Escaflowne where Hitomi, Allen and Merle are all looking for Van in one of the earlier episodes.
Okay, here's their weapons:
Vampire Sword
Italian Axe
English Partizan
Feel free to e-mail me your rants and raves, just don't cuss me out, okay?
Copyright reserved 2001 Top Ace
