Notes – For the gx_100. Set just after season four, while Ryo is still in the wheelchair. Credit goes to "The Folklore of Discworld" by Terry Pratchett & Jacqueline Simpson for information upon pre-Hollywood vampires.
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"…And then the creature closed in on her, wailing it's unholy wail and…"
"Why are the girls in your stories always semi-naked when the ghosts attack?"
"Because that's the whole point of a ghost story! Why would they bother attacking her while she had her clothes on?" Fubuki pouted, flicking the torch under his face back on to emphasis the pout.
"But why would she bother taking her clothes off in a strange house in the first place?" asked Ryo. He was really missing the point of this.
"I'm starting to think coming here to keep you company was a waste of time if you're just going to criticize my techniques for creating a gruesome tale," Fubuki warned him.
"No, I am thankful for this," assured Ryo, "I just think a ghost story shouldn't have to end up sounding like budget porn."
Scandalised by this accusation, Fubuki thrust the torch towards Ryo, stating, "You tell a ghost story if you know so much then."
"All right," replied Ryo, better settling himself into the wheelchair to think.
A pang of guilt ran through Fubuki was he remembered that it was even there. It had been so long since he'd got to talk to Ryo as just the Ryo that he knew, not this alien star of the Pro Leagues that called himself Hell Kaiser, it was easy to forget that the man who had once been his closest friend was also a cripple.
After a few minutes of thinking Ryo nodded to Fubuki, waking the other from his trance.
"I believe that I know a story suitable," Ryo said, "Though it is not strictly about ghosts."
"That doesn't matter, as long as it's supernatural and scares me senseless whatever form of spirit you choose is up to you," Fubuki assured him.
"We'll see," Ryo smiled, before setting out the start of the story, "Our tale begins in the Middle Ages of Europe, at the beginning of the time of the vampires."
"This isn't going to be factual is it?" asked Fubuki suddenly, "It'd be pretty lame if you used this to disprove all those vampire stories after you met one first hand."
"A little factual, yes, but it will be necessary," Ryo told him, before continuing, "Vampires were not, as the stories would have it, always from aristocratic families. The beginnings they came from were crueler than that. At the start vampire was a term used to mean the same as we use the word zombie in modern times."
Fubuki rolled his eyes to symbolise that he was bored, so Ryo chose to go into a bit more depth of the matter, "A true vampire of the early times was the corpse of a villager, rotting and decayed. People know that when a human body is buried it bloats to a larger size, the skin pales causing the blood to be seen clearly through it's skin. Not only that but blood would pour from their mouths and noses as they roamed the streets of the night. When stabbed their windpipes would emit a squawk as the remaining gases of their bodies escaped."
Fubuki was recoiling suitably where he sat. That would teach him not to mock Ryo's knowledge of the obscure.
"These were the first vampires, and these were the creatures humans destroyed," carried on Ryo, "Their methods were not pretty. In the start they tried to burn the undead, but the bodies of these vampires would not burn. Eventually the humans reasoned that a vampire could not haunt the streets, strangling their children and taking their blood, if the vampire could not leave the coffin it was put in. So the village folk waited until the creature returned to its coffin before the first light of dawn. When the vampire had settled down to sleep for the day the people would nail the bodies down to the coffin using stakes, so they would not walk again."
"Poor vampires," sighed Fubuki.
"I think you're missing the point, but I'll move on," Ryo continued, "The vampires saw what the people did and realised that humans could be just as dangerous to them as they were to humans. But as they watched through angry eyes they saw that humans treated each other as equal, if you looked like a human no one would suspect you. But this was not good enough for the vampires – they would not be seen as being the same as the lowly creatures from the villages. If they were going to appear as mortals once more they would be more beautiful and more important than the creatures that tried to destroy them. So they began to change themselves, the men wearing high-collared robes of black, to state their authority over the village men."
"While the women wore those long, sexy nightgowns complete with underwire," said Fubuki gleefully.
"Yes, quite," coughed Ryo, "There was no doubt that these people were better than the humans so the village people did not doubt them. They were thankful that these beautiful aristocrats had come and that the corpses that once roamed the country seemed to have disappeared. But alas, all was not perfect. Even without the walking corpses people were still dying in the night. The vampires had not gone; they must have just changed. And what had shown up when the corpses had conveniently gone away? It did not take anyone long to judge…"
He paused for effect before carrying on with his story, "This began the war of the humans against the vampires. While vampires existed in their aloof social groups it was not impossible for humans to find them alone and kill them. And soon the once prosperous race of the vampires was losing whole families, until at last only one vampire remained."
"Camilla…" mused Fubuki, thinking of what others had told him about her and the brief times he'd seen her through Darkness's eyes.
"She was beautiful but she was scared, this world had no place for her," Ryo went on, closing his eyes, "She knew she was the last, and when she was gone there would be no more vampires in the world. But she could not have it; a world without vampires was no world at all. So she slept, hoping that when she was woken from her coffin the world would have lost its suspicion towards the vampires and she could begin her noble race again."
"Choosing only the strongest, and most perfect to become the new breed of vampires," Fubuki went on, "I know the story from there. Though… weren't you out for the count when she told it?"
"She… spoke to me while I was in the doll," confirmed Ryo, "She told me her tale."
He looked at unease, so Fubuki said, "Even though what she did was wrong I think she made a good choice with you."
That just seemed to make Ryo look somewhat embarrassed, "Maybe back then, but she wouldn't choose me to take that role now." He motioned towards the wheelchair, but Fubuki knew he also meant the way he had changed over the past few years.
"I would," Fubuki said confidently, then when he realised that sounded odd he added, "If I was a vampire looking to start a new, perfect vampire race that is."
There was a small smile from Ryo, but he turned off the torch so it wasn't so noticeable, "Regardless of what she did we must remember she was trying to bring back a whole race of people. For that reason I don't think we should ever forget Camilla."
Fubuki nodded. Even after what happened to him, Ryo still thought nobly of her… Camilla had made more of a right choice than she'd ever know by choosing Ryo.