Description: Vampire Prince Heero has to delve into the world of humans and their wars to save his own world. (1x2) Quasi-AU

Rating: M

Stuff: I don't own Gundam Wing

Warnings: violence, blood, gore, blood drinking

Chapter 1

A four person honor guard greeted me as I departed the shuttle into the docking bay. They were sent simply to escort me from the shuttle to the car. Completely ridiculous. While I was quite young for a vampire, less than a century old, the fact that I was born a prince of the Yuy line meant I was much stronger than your average vampire. I certainly didn't require four babysitters to help me to the car. Even if I did happen to be attacked in broad daylight outside of a shuttle port full of bustling human witnesses, I was not alone. My retainer never left my side. Odin Lowe was assigned to me shortly after my birth. The older vampire had been given the task of teaching me how to fight and defend myself, and generally prepare me to eventually take over my father's role as King of Vampires. Some of the court had started to joke about how he was my "nanny", that is, until he finally heard someone say it and ripped out their throat. The nickname died shortly after that.

It had been 8 years since my last visit to this colony. A blink of an eye for an immortal, but a decent enough time for mortals. Despite that though, as I looked out the window I noticed that nothing had changed. L2 was just as much of a run down poor excuse for a colony as it ever was.

The dimly lit alleys filled with multitudes of nameless vagrants no one would miss made the colony prime feeding grounds for vampires; which was why L2 was host to the largest single clan. Their numbers may not rival what could be found on all of Earth, but Earth's vampire population was divided into multiple clans, and there existed no other place in all of the Earth Sphere where such a concentration of vampires could be found.

As we neared the run down warehouse complex the L2 clan called home, I was surprised to see a six person honor guard waiting for me. I was even more surprised when I was close enough to sense them. My guards at the shuttle port had all been vampires of roughly a few centuries, just old enough to be able to stand sunlight. These on the other hand were much older. I sensed that one or two of them may even be over a millenia in age. The L2 clan had always been exceedingly loyal to the crown and I saw no need for such an excessive guard force especially considering the reason I was here. I had come to this colony simply to check in with the local clan. It was a habit I attempted to upkeep with all clans. My mission here pretty much boiled down to a "meet and greet" and certainly didn't require such a guard force.

I exited the vehicle and with Odin slightly behind me and to the right, I headed down the winding back alleys to the warehouse entrance. I eyed the guards warily as they took up positions around me.

"Heya, boy, long time no see!" My lips quirked into a slight smile against my wishes at the exuberant greeting. The head of the L2 clan had always adopted a more casual tone around me, much to the annoyance of many more stodgy vampires. I personally found the vampire's mannerisms to be refreshing.

"It hasn't been that long. Though I assume your clan has been doing fine in the meantime?"

"Eh, we've been managing." The clan leader gave a slight shrug of his shoulders causing some of his shoulder-length dirty blond hair to fall in front of his seafoam green eyes. I had never been able to figure out if his hair was that color naturally or if it was the layer of grime. The leader took his cover role seriously. It was generally easier for the vampires of L2 to take on the appearance of one of the many downtrodden and the L2 clan leader, with his appearance of being a human of around 14 years, went with the cover of being a street urchin. He even went so far as to not bathe on a regular basis since nothing would stand out more than a sparkling clean street rat. I raised my eyebrow at him, requesting an elaboration.

"Well, ya know how it is. The feedin's good, but we've been havin' problems with them hunters."

"Ah. Will you require assistance?"

"Nah. Think we can handle 'em fine on our own."

"Don't hesitate to ask if the situation changes."

"Sure, no prob. You gonna be stayin' for dinner? 'Bout time for the drunks to be headin' out. I can get one'a the boys to glam¹ ya one."

"I appreciate the offer but it is not necessary. I shall be heading back shortly."

"Alrighty. See ya around, kid. Don't be no stranger."

"Certainly. Until we meet again, Solo."

The six guards were still there when I exited the warehouse into the back alleys and once again took up positions around me. Around halfway back to the vehicle, we came around a turn in the alley and there were the four guards from the shuttle port waiting for us. I instantly went on full alert.

Not even a second later I sensed an attack coming from behind me. My attempt to dodge the attack resulted in the silver dagger landing a blow to my lower back, possibly piercing my left lung, but successfully avoiding my heart. My unexpected movement had ripped the dagger out of the attacking guard's hands and it was now lodged in my body. I could feel the burning sensation the silver gave when in contact with my flesh.

I quickly reached around to yank it out and returned it to its owner, via a toss that had it land squarely in the guard's heart. I promptly ducked beneath another guard's attack and kicked out against his legs, upsetting his balance. I grabbed the small dagger from my boot sheath as I shot back upward and performed a spin that allowed me to slit the throat of yet another guard that had been trying to get me from behind.

I was able to spare a moment to note that Odin had taken down one guard and was currently fighting another before I saw a fourth guard bearing down on me. I threw my dagger at him and dropped into a roll when another guard decided to take a page from my book and threw a dagger at me. I successfully choreographed my roll to end near the guard I had just downed and retrieved my dagger from his chest.

Before I had the chance to perform my next move, I heard a gunshot and felt a sharp pain in my right shoulder. I glanced up just in time to see Odin charge the shooter and begin to wrestle for the gun. I then felt a sharp pain in my thigh and saw that the guard I had knocked over previously had shoved a dagger there to the hilt. I responded by jamming my dagger up under his chin.

I heard yet another gun shot and turned sharply, worried about Odin. Just then Odin successfully obtained the gun and shot its former owner in the face. He made his way over near me and it was then that I noticed the growing red stain at his abdomen. Three of the remaining guards started to head towards us with daggers out while the fourth pulled out a gun. "Run! I'll hold them off here. You get somewhere safe!" I hesitated only a moment, unwilling to leave Odin to face four opponents on his own but then the guard with the gun took aim on me and I turned to run.

I heard yet another gun shot but since I felt no new wound, I assumed either the guard missed or it was Odin's shot. I quickly sprinted for the end of the alley. As I turned the corner I glanced toward Odin, just in time to see the guard with the gun shoot him in the temple while another guard bore down on his body to finish the job. I froze on the spot. No! I couldn't believe it. You can't kill Odin! Before I had a chance to turn back though, the guard with the gun once again took aim at me. I quickly ran the rest of the way around the corner and heard the bullet bite into the brick wall near where my head had just been.

I sprinted past the parked vehicle that I had arrived in and picked a direction at random. I heard yet another gun shot but luckily the guard once again missed. I kept running, blindly choosing alley after alley. I jumped fences and took quick turns around buildings. I had no idea how long I ran, but it was still the night cycle when eventually I felt that I had lost my pursuers. I kept going just to be sure.

As I ran I checked the gunshot wound in my shoulder. It felt like a through-and-through so I shouldn't have to worry about poisoning from a silver bullet. The two stab wounds were making me weak but weren't life threatening on their own. I then turned my thoughts toward the events that had just occurred. Attacked by my own guards; I had obviously been betrayed. I could only think of one person who could get the Royal Honor Guard to attack me, and they also were the one who would most profit from my death.

I had been betrayed by the Royal Honor Guard Captain who was also filling the role of Lord Regent until I came of age to ascend the throne. I had been betrayed by Treize Khushrenada.

As I entered yet another refuse-filled alley, I stumbled in my headlong run. I fell to my knees briefly before collapsing completely face first on the grungy concrete. I knew the colony's day cycle would start soon and understood this to be my end. The colonies replicated sunlight exactly, and while I was normally able to counteract the effects of the sun, I was far too weak in my current state. I'm sorry Odin. It seems your sacrifice was in vain.

As I laid prone on the alley floor, I heard a quiet rustling sound. I turned my head toward the source of the noise and to my surprise, I saw a small human child start to emerge from amidst a pile of rubbish. The child noticed me and froze, staring. I couldn't help but note that I had never seen such a peculiar color of eyes before. They were the most alluring shade of violet, two sparkling amethysts focused my way. Then the child blinked and started moving again. The small human extracted itself the rest of the way from the rubbish and it was at that point that I noticed the long chestnut hair, well past shoulder-length. Despite the hair though, I was quite certain the child was a boy.

The small boy, who couldn't have been more than 5, possibly 6, years old, slowly looked over what he could see of my form; my blood gradually pooling around me. I saw him nod to himself and then looked me in the eyes again. "You're hurt. I's gotta hidey hole here. You can use it ta get better." Without waiting on a response the petite human child walked up and grabbed my arm just below my shoulder, attempting to pull me towards the pile of rubbish from which he had emerged. I dredged up enough energy to crawl in the direction he was trying to drag me. The child shifted the pile of rubbish and I could make out a hole in the side of the building behind it. It was a tight squeeze, and my weakness made it far more difficult than it should have been, but I made it through. I glanced around and noticed that the inside of the building was partially collapsed. The rubble completely surrounded this small pocket of space and the only access to it being the hole in the wall, which the child quickly covered back up with the rubbish.

"Dun worry. The bad'uns dunno bout this place. Whoever beat ya won't be able to find ya here." The child gave the most disarming smile. I simply nodded my head and rested my battered body on the cool concrete floor. I was promptly unconscious.

When I came to, the first thing I noticed was a scrap of bread crust and an overripe apple placed on the floor a few inches in front of my face. I glanced around as I sat up and saw the small child sitting cross legged just a few feet from me. He grinned beatifically and cocked his head slightly to the side. "I gots ya some food." The child's expression dimmed slightly and he shifted his eyes to stare at a point on the floor to my left. "Sorry it's not that great. Best I could do."

"It's ok. I don't eat human food."

"Ya don't? I'll take it then!" The child's small hand quickly snatched the bread crust off the floor. A thoughtful expression crossed his face as he began to nibble on the crust. "Whatcha eat if ya don't eat food?"

For the life of me, I don't know why, but I felt compelled to answer that question honestly. The petite, innocent human was simply bewitching, and thus, even though I should have lied, I didn't. "I drink blood."

The child's eyes grew impossibly wide and I knew this would be the moment when he would scramble away from my presence. A pang of guilt passed through me as I realised the boy would probably be too afraid to return to his hiding spot and would have to find a new one. Though as I was thinking that, instead of running, the child continued to sit cross legged across from me. He was staring at his tiny hand with a contemplative look. He glanced back my way and asked, "Does blood taste good?"

I couldn't help it; I laughed. I had never before met a human like this child. "It tastes good to me, but it wouldn't taste good to you, Little One."

"Oh. Well, do ya wanna drink my blood?" And the petite, angelic human offered his arm to me, hand open and wrist facing upward.

It was my turn for my eyes to widen. Such an earnest offer given with no hesitation. The simple thought of drinking his blood made the Hunger grow. I had gained back some of my strength from resting, but I would really need to feed to recover fully, and here was an offer of blood freely given. I hesitated still, not wanting to frighten the child. "Are you sure?"

The child shrugged his diminutive shoulders. "Does it hurt?"

"It would, but for only a moment. Then I'm told it feels rather pleasant."

"Ok." The child crawled closer so that he would be within reach and once again presented his arm, wrist upwards.

I gently grabbed the delicate wrist and leaned towards it. The child gave a small wince as my fangs pierced the sensitive skin, but then as the blood started to well up and I tenderly began to suckle, he relaxed. His eyes drooped to half-mast and a small grin graced his features. I very carefully monitored his well being. With the child's lifestyle of having to scrounge for scraps of food, he was probably not at full health to start with, so taking his blood was a delicate procedure. I did not want to harm the child by taking too much.

I had to stop myself long before the Hunger wanted to, but I had reached the point where the child could not handle any more. I gently lapped the pierce marks, causing them to heal over. The small boy was barely conscious and I guided him to lay down on the floor, cupping his head to prevent injury. With the child sleeping soundly, I slowly made my way out of the hiding place.

I took stock of my body. Between resting and feeding, my wounds had fully healed. I was not 100% yet, but I was certainly more than functional. I had regained enough of my powers that I would once again be able to sense others of my kind, so I felt safe wandering around the colony again.

It had taken me longer than I would have liked to finally find what I was looking for but I now headed back to the secret hiding place with my prize. It took a bit of maneuvering but I was able to make it through the entrance hole one handed with my prize intact. I placed the travel container filled with lentil soup next to the slumbering child.

I watched the child sleep for a moment, observing how the delicate chest rose and fell as the boy breathed. This small human child had saved my life, asking nothing in exchange. A bowl of soup seemed far too inadequate as repayment.

I reached forward and reverently brushed the bangs out of the child's face. To find such a pure, unsullied being in such a place as this was a surprise. To find a human like this one was rare enough, but to find one in the squalor of L2 I would have never believed possible. Before I was even aware I was doing it, I had pricked my forefinger on my fang and began to draw a rune on the child's forehead with my blood. I focused my being, pulling my powers to me. My eyes began giving off a cobalt blue glow. "Ex viribus humani hanc meam amodo usque in sempiternum."² The rune glowed bright red briefly before fading completely, signifying the spell taking hold. Now no vampire weaker than me would be able to harm the child, and since vampires stronger than me were practically non-existent, the child would most likely be safe from all vampires for the rest of his life. Though I did hope Solo would be able to sense my claim spell and take the boy under his wing. Protecting the child from becoming prey to vampires didn't prevent the child from becoming prey to humans.

I had to leave soon. I had undoubtedly been detected during my wandering earlier looking for food for the child. While I had avoided coming too close to any vampire, they would still be able to sense my presence in general even though they would not have been close enough to sense my specific location. Treize's troops had certainly been informed of my continued existence by now and would be searching for me to finish the job. I would have to leave before I led them to this location.

"Thank you, Little One." I took what I assumed was my last look at the small human child and then left. I wasn't sure where I was going but I was sure of one thing; if I was going to get my revenge on Treize I would have to prepare and plan.

-x-

-Author's Note-

Thanks for reading!

Reviews are greatly appreciated but I'm not gonna bug people for them. My only request is that if you feel the need to tell me my story sucks, please tell me why you think so, otherwise I'll just assume you're an uncreative troll. Thanks. :)

[1] glam = glamour

[2]"Ex viribus humani hanc meam amodo usque in sempiternum." - Hopefully this translates to something like "By my powers, I claim this human as mine from now until eternity" since that's what I asked Google Translate to tell me, but since I don't know a stitch of Latin, for all I know Heero could be saying "I crave purple gummi octopi."

For the curious (since I couldn't find a good place to put this info in the story), Heero can't become king until he is at least 100 years old.

My own personal thoughts/lore on vampire ages & aging:

Vampires have as much trouble with change as humans do and thus the vast majority don't even make it their first millennia. They either A) have too much trouble adapting, making them stand out too much and thus are found by hunters and killed or B) become weary with trying to keep up with the ever changing world of humans and decide to end their own existence. (Think about how much trouble your grandmother has with modern technology or even accepting modern fashion trends and then multiply that by 10.) The number of vampires slowly tapers off as you near the 1k years mark and practically cliff dives after that. So a vampire that is at least 1,000 years old would be respected. Vampires that are at least 2,000 years old would be uncommon, and vampires that are 3,000 or older would be almost mythical.

As for aging, vampires age mentally and physically the same as humans until they reach puberty, then they stop physically aging naturally. A vampire can then use their powers to continue to physically age but at the expense of being weaker during the aging time. So to many vampires, physically appearing old would be a sign of power. Sort of like displaying you have "power to spare".

The older a vampire is, the more powerful they are (usually). So, a 2k yr old vamp would be stronger than a 1k yr old vamp.

To get an idea of how a vampire would be perceived by another vampire, take their age and divide by 10 to get their age in "human years". So a 600 year old vamp = 60 year old human. (But keep in mind that they age mentally the same as humans. So while a 100 yr old vamp may be treated like a 10 yr old child, they wouldn't have the mentality of a 10 yr old.)

For my own mental timeline, I defined AD 3000 as being when the planet switched over to the AC time measurement.

My own personal thoughts/lore on disabling/killing vampires:

There are two ways to kill a vampire. Removing them from (or destroying) their brain is the quickest. Decapitation of course being the cleanest and most surefire way, but a scatter shot type weapon could work too. The trick would be to make sure the shot destroyed enough of their brain. The other way to kill a vampire is through silver poisoning. It is of course much slower and gives the vampire a chance to remove the silver, thus preventing death.

Other types of mortal wounds would not kill a vampire but could disable a vampire. Stabbing a vampire in the heart for example would "stun" the vampire, effectively taking them out of a fight and giving you a chance to decapitate them.

Also, I'm not happy with this title. Had kinda spur-of-the-moment decided to upload my two completed chapters but when I went to upload them I noticed my story still had it's stand-in title of "vamp heero" and that certainly wouldn't do. Immortal was just the first vaguely vampiry thing that popped into my head.

Timeline: Episode Zero (manga)