Everything in between.

Chapter 1

Side effect.

Drax remembered that Garou said he was worried about possible backlash over his shifting between half monster to human, and he has begun to understand why.

The months have passed since Amai was a serpent. They were 4 months into the New Year already. He had just got things settled between his father and Amai Mask. The schedule worked out fine after all. Weekdays, Drax is home with his father, weekends, he's in City R with Amai, holidays the two will spend time with him, no separation is allow under Drax's order.

Despite the rocky start of it all, the two managed to work it out. On weekdays, Drax is with his father, training, doing his homework and just hanging out with him. Weekend, Amai take him out into the other cities as he works. He keeps everything under secretary and avoids the crowds by going with band mates and other actors who work with Amai to avoid the spotlight. In recent weeks, Drax has become very talented at guitar. He could shred as good as Amai's lead guitarist known as Slim. That man was the best in all the cities and possibly the world. He taught Drax everything he knew, now, Drax is capable of playing any of Amai's songs on command, he can listen to a piece once and master it within an hour or two.

"Not bad kid, not bad!" Slim announced. They just finished up their session. Mainly it was to pass the time after a recent incident on the set of a movie Sweet Mask was doing. Amai was talking with producers about it, there were issues with the lead actress. Drax knew it too since he saw and experienced it first hand no more than a few minutes ago.

The actress was full of herself, she thought the world should bow down to her grace and beauty; after all, she was casted to be the love interest for Amai in the latest film. He remembered Amai speak of her in October, the two got off to a terrible start. Yet as time passed she appeared to have gotten better around him, but no one else.

He has seen it all first hand too. There were times where she would kick, and yell at the staff. She abused the makeup artist, berate the wardrobe and costume designers. She found the writers and demanded more lines, more camera time. Especially, she wanted to be in the picture as much as Amai was. Drax kept his distance for the most part, yet today, he could no longer be silent about it.

Drax was on the set when she began to reprimand a young errand girl who brought her a coffee she requested. She took one sip of it before nearly throwing it at the poor woman. "What is this? This isn't coffee, this is swill!" she protested.

"I… I got everything you asked, even the brand of coffee you wanted!"

"I will not stand for your insolence, do you know who I am!" she demanded.

"HEY!" Drax roared out. The actress turned and gave a fierce glare at him. "You don't yell at someone like that, let alone try and burn them with a coffee YOU asked for!"

She stood up and out of her chair, the actress stormed over to him, but he refused to back down. "Listen here you little shit. I don't care who you are, where you came from. I am the star of this movie! I alone control what goes on backstage. Everyone here is my bitch! That includes you! I am Anastasia Glamour, you are a mere piss on!"

It brought a smirk to Drax, he thought it was hilarious that this woman thinks she is the queen shit around here. "Yeah… sure, whatever you say." He turned to leave when she took hold of his shoulder; Drax winced as he felt her long fingernails dig into him. So much so, she was starting to draw blood! "Let go!" he warned.

"Make me!" she snapped back.

"Let…. Go…."

Drax didn't have to turn around, he felt her release him. He stumbled away as Amai confronted Anastasia; he turned and saw the coffee girl still on the ground, too startled to move. Instantly he went and assisted her up. "Take a break, take as long as you need. You don't have to answer to her anymore."

She gave a gracious nod before Amai turned back. "What is the meaning of this?" he questioned. "We are here to make movie magic, and yet here I stand and find my fellow actor berating our staff and assaulting them! He isn't even staff!"

Anastasia laid on her charm. "Oh… I am so sorry, I didn't mean to come across as a tyrant. I am to be a princess in this, you are my prince, are you not?" she asked in a fake sweet tone. One of her few talents it appears, she can make her voice sweet as sugar to get her way.

Amai glared at her. "Not another word from you," he warned. "I do not appreciate the way you treat those around you."

"Oh come on Sweetheart. We're the stars! There is no movie without us in it. We make the magic happen, we are the ones who brighten up the dull lives of the people around us. We are the ones who…"

"I heard enough from you." He then looked beyond her. "Drax, let's go." He announced.

Anastasia froze. "You… know this boy?"

Amai merely smiled as Drax came to his side, the two left together and didn't look back. However, Drax saw it. The veins Amai kept hidden were coming out, he was pissed off to say the least. "Let's get your shoulder looked after."

He was taken to the other side of the studio, there Amai left to check for a doctor. Slim was in the area, as he happened to be talking to Sweet Mask about their next album. Yet froze when he saw the blood coming through Drax's shirt. "Damn kid, you okay?"

Drax discarded the garment. "Fine, I'll be…" yet paused. He turned to the wounded shoulder and found it already healed over. "Fine…" he muttered. Amai returned with a new shirt and some disinfect. He paused once he saw Drax's wound was already healed over.

"Rapid healing huh?" Amai whispered.

"Guess so," He took the sweater and placed it on. "What is with that woman? Who the hell does she think she is?"

"Good question, I am going to find out."

Since then, he sat in wait of Amai's return. Slim decided to give him another guitar lesson, yet, there was nothing he could play that Drax couldn't play back to him. "Damn kid, you're going to replace me!" he laughed.

They passed the time just jamming together, that was until an ungodly shriek echoed through the studio. Everyone froze. Anastasia was screaming at the top of her lungs. "NO THIS IS MY BIG BREAK, THIS IS MY MOMENT. AMAI MASK WAS GOING TO MAKE MY FACE KNOWN TO THE WORLD! HOW DARE YOU, HOW DARE YOU!"

It only grew louder and louder as Anastasia continued to scream along at the top of her lungs. She was being escorted out by security with Amai trailing behind them. "I could never work with someone like you, you're a vile woman who shows no beauty for those around you. Let this be a painful lesson to you, your opportunity has been wasted by disregarding the respect of others."

"YOU'LL PAY AMAI MASK! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS!"

She went on and on until she was out of the studio door. They called in the staff for the movie as Amai explained the situation. "We are putting this on hold for the time being, just until we can find another leading actress to fill the role. I am sorry for the time that has been wasted, I refuse to see you be abused by a woman like that for the sake of a film."

The staff understood, many adored Amai for his bold statement and for standing up for them. When they were dismissed, he came back to Drax and sighed. "I apologize about that, such vile and ugly people I cannot stand to work with!"

Slim snickered. "Never stopped you before Sweet. What changed?"

Amai glared at him, but then smirked. "I guess being a father does that."

Drax smiled. "So, what now?"

He thought it over, Amai appeared to run some idea through his head but then realized it was only Saturday. "Perhaps we can do something different, my schedule just cleared very suddenly."

"Well, you two boys have your fun. I am going to work on our next album. Thanks for the idea Sweet, I'll get started on that song!" As Slim left, Amai began to smile.

"He says your skills rival his own when it comes to the guitar… I am impressed"

"Yeah, well I had to. You bought me a wicked ax, if I didn't get good at it, it would have been a waste of money."

Amai laughed as wrapped his arm around him. "Come now, the day is young and we have all the time in the world, what shall we do?"

#

Train.

That's what Drax wanted to do. He wanted to train and see how much stronger he has gotten. As of late, he has found himself feeling different, each and every time he spars with Amai. He didn't think much of it at first, but now, it was eating away at him. They retreated back to the condo in City R, Drax changed into his training clothes without the weighted suit. Amai slipped into his battle gear. Not a word was spoken as they reached the gym. Sweet Mask stretched himself out before turning to Drax. "Something on your mind?"

He nodded. "Garou… was worried when I became a serpent the second time around." He confessed. "Stay that there could be side effects to what I have been doing… I think I am starting to notice them now."

It caught his attention. Amai was curious as Drax explained what he has been feeling. "There are moments where I can feel my arm surge with power and strength. I can move a lot faster than before, I stopped wearing the weighted clothing since it doesn't do anything for me anymore, no matter the weight. But… it was recently I realized that something wasn't right."

"Oh?"

"I haven't even told dad this yet. But… a while ago, on my way home from school. I ran into a tiger threat monster, it was attacking people and I just felt… I had to do something!"

Amai appeared to fall deep into thought. "Wasn't there a monster called the Boxing Beast?" he asked.

"Yeah, that one."

"Strange, I heard of it. The monster was defeated, but no one knows by who…" he began to put two and two together. "How?" he asked.

"Well, it happened like this…" Drax explained that he ran in to help the people first, yet then the monster took notice of him. He moved too fast for other people to see apparently yet the monster could. From there, the two went into an all out battle. Drax then felt the surge in his arm and legs. He couldn't ignore the power and unleashed it upon the monster. One shot and it was blown into the wall, he rushed and kicked it in the face, breaking the neck. Yet, was too scared to stick around. "I ran all the way home to my room. I checked myself over in the mirror. I wasn't hurt… but my eyes changed."

"You're eyes you say? How?"

Drax took a deep breath. "They became serpent,"