Me: Orignally, This Is Halloween was never to have a companion fic but Camille was insitant and had even threatened the safety of my copy of SSB Brawl to get my cooperation…
Camille: It's for a good cause, sweetheart.
Me: But you still haven't told me why you wanted me to write this fic in the first place, not to mention releasing it on White Day…
Camille: I'll tell you. After the story.
Me: Awww….
DISCLAIMER: Sam(hain) is my own. Ya now what ain't.
The Twenty-Sixth Parallel
By Corvus no Genmu the Prince of Slumberland
Samuel B. Mortimer was not one to scare easily. In fact, it would be considered odd to even consider the thought of him ever being scared. In his native England, he was infamous for his escapades of the Hallowed Eve's past, venturing in many a haunted house both natural and man-made and exiting without so much as a quiver. When a dog driven mad by abuse had broken free from its cruel master had charged him down amongst his elementary school classmates, he stood in defiance. The dog has since been rehabilitated and has kept the name Zero if only to prove the pains of the past can be healed by the joys brought from a better future. When mentioning his age to being that of a child began to irk his temper, he stood up against anyone that dared to say such a thing no matter the size or age. Some back-alley gangster to a nosey old lady, it didn't matter; it only brough a decision as to whether fists would be needed in the negotiations.
Never has he been afraid.
Until now.
It started out small, like most fears tend to do. It had been an annoying, and quite painful, first encounter between him and the distant cousin of his best friend, one Shinji Ikari. The second was by no means less annoying than the first though the excessive use of loud voices and abrasive comments did not in the first time they met. Iniatal contact was prickly after that. The occasional barb or jab made their way into whatever conversations the two made, with or without their mutual friends/relations, and though there were times of playfulness, they were rare.
The fear had grown as their strange relationship had grown and it wasn't until he had discovered the complete truth that he realized just what the feelings of unease that had settled into his heart, that strange fluttering of his stomach, and the occasional shiver that made its way down and up his spine had meant. He tried to deny it at first, to use the bold if false words that his best female friend, one Asuka Sohryu, had used with her own relationship but it was useless. He tried though, for two whole seasons to bury it, to destroy it, to wipe it completely from his mind but he couldn't.
Samuel Mortimer was head-over-heels in love with Rei Ayanami.
And that was nothing short of terrifying in itself, so he did the only thing one could do in his situation.
He ran.
To be fair, he did not run away from home or friends, which included the object of his affections, but had buried himself away in the old texts that he frequently read over and again in the past in a vain hope of finding a good enough solution to his situation. It wasn't until he had come upon a similar situation that he had realized just what he was doing.
He was succumbing to his fear.
And gods be damned if he allowed something like love, someone like Rei Ayanami, to make him feel fear.
"So… Shinji?"
"Yes, Sam?" Shinji's eyes remained on retuning the strings of his cello as the two boys sat in his room.
"What's your plan for White Day? You going to propose to your red-headed devil?" Sam's smirk changed slowly to a frown as, instead of getting embarrassed like he normally would, Shinji's spare hand began to fidget with something in his pocket. "Shinji? What's that?"
This time, the blue-eyed boy did start something terrible and dropped the object that Sam had been wondering about. The foreign boy kneeled down and picked it up to see that it was a small golden ring. He held it up to Shinji just as the door to Shinji's room opened to reveal Gendo who simply stared stoically at the scene before him.
He opened his mouth, one finger raised, before closing it with a shake of his head. "Too easy."
He shut the door and left.
Sam sweatdropped and decided to ignore Shinji's odd father. "Shinji, my ability to read kanji is still so-so. What does the inscription on this thing say?"
Shinji blushed and looked downwards towards the floor. "It says, 'I Promise'…"
"… As in, a promise ring? As in, 'I can't wed you now so I'll give you this until then' promise ring?" asked Sam, a grin started to grow on his face.
"Yeah…"
"Shinji, that's fantastic!" Sam crowed. "Gods above and below, do you have any idea how much money I've won cause of you!"
Shinji's embarrassment was forgotten in favor of suspicion. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, my hedgehogian friend, that there's been a betting pool as to when you'd give Asuka something to show that you're not just quote, 'Best Childhood Friends' endquote. Touji had Christmas and Kensuke had her birthday while I, your future best-man, chose White Day."
"Gee, glad this has made you happy." Shinji said, sarcasm heavy in his voice. Sam tutted and shook a finger.
"Na-uh-uh! I'll not be anything like how Asuka is going to feel." Shinji was starting to feel embarrassed again and decided to try to get Sam off the topic of him and Asuka by using a topic he knew would distract the obsidian-haired boy easily.
"So what are you going to get Ayanami?"
Sam's grin turned upside down in an instant. "Why would I get something for Ice-Head?"
"She did give you chocolate for Valentine's Day." Shinji said.
"Yeah, as well as Touji, Kensuke, Kaworu, and you." Sam shot back.
"Yes, but yours was quite different from our own."
"So what?" asked Sam. "She spent more money on mine, that doesn't mean anything…"
"So you won't mind if I give her something then?" Sam's glare was above and beyond murderous, a twitch in his eyebrow making him look close to snapping his friend's neck. Shinji smiled, just the reaction he had been looking for. "I'm not the only boy she's friends with you know and she is quite well-liked. She'll probably be showered in gifts by tomorrow night."
Sam glared at Shinji for a moment more before suddenly standing and leaving without another word. Shinji chuckled to himself before looking once more down towards the promise ring in his hand. His familiar twitch started up for but a moment before his eyes hardened with a sudden resolve and he clenched his fist tight over the ring.
'Stupid girl-obsessed twits, stupid White Day, and stupid Rei Ayanami!' Sam kicked a discarded soda can hard down towards the street. 'Damn that boy for his sudden insight! Gods below and above, how the hell am I going to compare to that? He's going to practically propose to his best friend and here I am too damn chicken to say anything of the sort, let alone to the girl in question! Blast you, Ayanami!'
Sam wandered down the bustling streets in silence for some time, silently going over whatever plan he could devise to confront one Rei Ayanami when his amethyst eyes fell upon the very girl whom his mind had been so focused upon. Eyes widening in shock, he ducked into a small instep along the wall of a building. He creeped slowly behind her, quirking an eyebrow at the sight of the normally cheerful girl staring quite dejectedly at a large glass window filled where jewelry of all forms rested amidst the afternoon light, which served to only enhance their sparkle.
'Why is she…' Sam suddenly blinked. 'She doesn't have any. I've not seen her wear any at all in all the time I've known her! Even Horaki has a few earrings, but Rei…'
The female albino sighed sadly before walking away, never at all aware of the fact that she was being watched by another who already knew of her secret. He watched the bluenette until she had become another form lost in a crowd before moving to stand before the glass window and stare at the metalwork and large assortment of jewels in silent wonder. Tough he was not of the female persuasion, Sam was not one to kindly dismiss the brightly colored jewels that lay nestled amongst the varieties of gold and silver. It was part of man's nature, after all, to covet all things precious and rare, though not all of these had to be of the avarice-sort.
Amethyst eyes began to search for the one item that would stand out the most to his eyes. There were quite a few but nothing solid enough to speak on his behalf. Suddenly, there it was, nestled gently upon a navy clothe of silk beside a small tag of which was written upon, 'Inscriptions Available'. Sam's grin was one that had not been seen truly for some time. To be sure, he did grin the occasional mad grin he was famous for, but nothing like this. This was a grin of chance, of luck and fortune.
This was a lover's mad grin.
Rei Ayanami looked about the classroom and smiled slightly. So many couples were either being made or were having their bounds strengthened today. Even Miss Katsuragi was having romance in the form of the school's custodian/security guard one Ryoji Kaji. Rei looked over towards the door where she had seen Shinji leave with a confused Asuka following behind. If her woman's intuition was correct, her cousin was about to take the first major step in his relationship with the red-haired girl.
Rei sighed to herself. So much romance and yet here she was sitting in her usual seat with nothing to show save for the thank-you chocolates she had received from the boys of her group. Touji had spent most of his money on Hikari's chocolate and Kaworu was conversing quietly with Maya, both blushing every once and a while. Rei wasn't sure where Kensuke had gone off to, something about the classroom next door, and Sam… well Sam was acting quite odd, even for himself.
He was sitting in his desk, reading silently to himself without sparing so much as a glance towards her even when the occasional boy came up to her to give her some White Day chocolate. Her attempts at communicating with them seemed doomed to failure for every time they tried to speak with her in turn, their eyes would wonder to something behind Rei and they'd immediately find reason to flee.
Rei's suspicion rose with every raised eyebrow Sam sent her way.
After the tenth boy had come, and subsequentially fleed for his life, Rei had, had enough.
"What are you doing?" she asked Sam, standing before his desk with her hands on her hips.
"At the moment, attempting to read. Attempting being the keyword here." Sam answered, his eyes still on his book. "What do you want?"
"I want you to stop scaring any guy that so much as looks at me!" exclaimed Rei, fed up with Sam's attitude. The boy in question merely glanced up at her before going back to his book.
"Stop griping at me and open your present will you?" Sam turned a page. "I'm tired of waiting for you."
"What?" Rei blinked in surprise. 'How did he…?'
Sam looked up at her, eyebrow raised. "You know? The one in your locker? Addressed to 'Ice Princess' I believe?"
"You were spying on me!"
Sam stared at her in silence before shaking his head. He shut his book and stood up. He walked past the confused Rei only to snatch up the very gift she had been trying to hide since this morning. It wasn't that she was embarrassed by it, but knowing Asuka…
"Hey! Give that back!" Rei yelled, trying to grab it from his hands. Sam held up above her head and frowned at her.
"Why? You don't want it, so it's mine then."
"What kind of logic is that?!" exclaimed Rei.
Sam quirked an eyebrow, his neutral mask fading into a face of confusion. "What? Didn't you read the card?" He looked at the small package and saw that the small card was untouched and still sealed shut. Sam's eyes hardened. 'This… hurts… but at least I don't have to be afraid of this pain anymore…'
Rei suddenly snatched the package from his hands and quickly made her escape, leaving a shell of a boy behind. Once she had gotten far enough, Rei paused for breath and looked down at the package and frowned in puzzlement. Just why was Sam acting so odd, and over something like a White Day present to… 'Oh…' Rei's face began to burn. She wasn't stupid nor was she naïve, but she did have a healthy dose of denial. 'He didn't, he wouldn't!'
With a trembling hand, Rei opened up the card and saw for herself.
'He did.' Rei's face was flushed and looked torn between being embarrassed for her blindness and being angry at Sam. For what, she didn't quite know though a small voice spoke of how his way of delivery could have been more upfront and personal.
She chose to ignore that voice in favor of opening the gift. Rei would be lying if she said that she hadn't expected something like rubber springs to pop out, Sam was, if nothing else, an avid prankster so she was quite stunned by what layed gently upon the velvet clothe of the box's interior. It was a small heart-shaped locket and chain, both made of shining silver. The locket had a small series of pale-blue aquamarine gemstones set into the shape of a snowflake with the heart of the shape being made of a single shining ruby to match the hue of her eyes. Hands still trembling somewhat, Rei fiddled with the clasp of the locket until she opened it to see the picture placed inside.
She smiled fondly at the memory, it was their group's summer trip to Okinawa and they had been enjoying the beach when Kensuke had called them over for a picture. Even Sam, who detested swimming as much as he detested sunlight and its effect on human skin, was reluctant to do so but seeing as Kaworu had taken it upon himself to place himself next to his fellow albino, Sam was quick to appear at Rei's other side. In the moment before the camera took the picture, Sam had wrapped an arm around Rei's shoulder and had kissed her cheek. The picture forever immortalized Rei's shocked/embarrassed face and Sam's grin at having done such a prank.
Too bad Rei's handprint would remain on his face for the rest of that day.
Rei looked to the otherside of the locket and nearly choked. Written in soft, yet elegant script was the English words for 'Snowflake Heart'. She shut the locket and turned on her heel. Rei quickly walked back towards the classroom and opened the door with a loud slam. "Samuel B. Mortimer!"
Sam looked up in slight surprise from where he stood gazing melancholy at the sky. His eyes widened slightly as Rei marched up to him and poked him hard in the chest with her finger. "You, you…! Oh!" Rei growled furiously to herself before reaching up and grabbing Sam's face and pulling him down to her and pressed her lips hard against his.
Sam was stunned out of his mind and yet had enough sense about him to return her kiss, totally ignorant of the catcalls and cheers the two of them were receiving from the rest of the class. The need for air was the one thing that brought their kiss to a close but the two remained close to one another, both hugging each other and their noses faintly touching.
"Rei…" Sam swallowed. "Rei, what…?"
"I love you." Sam's jaw snapped shut and he stared down at Rei. "Ever since…" She looked down, suddenly shy. "Ever since last Christmas…"
Sam swallowed. He remembered. "… The same, Snowflake."
Rei glanced up at him. "I need to hear the words too you know."
Sam smiled and kissed her nose. "You, my dear, are as preciously unique as a snowflake and I love you."
Rei's answer to that was another kiss which was quickly reciprocated.
Claws of steel and blood aged beyond mortal comprehension flashed forward, sharp tips just a hair's width from the crystalline orb upon which one could see two young souls reciprocate unspoken feelings. Eyes of hellfire burned liquid death upon the orb, wishing to destroy it, to stop the torment the orb seemed to have been created for but the being behind the eyes knew better. This orb, as simple as it appeared to be, was a world unto itself, a Parallel of the very world in which he stood as a god to those that knew of him and his brethren. He knew not how or why the mortal shells of himself and her were so capable of finding love when this Parallel's own could not.
Samhain cursed to himself and turned his back on the orb. He knew why, more than anyone really should. It was not a matter of race, for they were Immortal and Immortal is not bound by such mediocrities as race, their's being any that most believed them to be, a reflection of the people's ideals. It was not a matter of distance, for their's was a world divided by sectors of varying sorts where many kept to themselves and their own concerns. If he so wished, he could fly to her now but he couldn't. For, in the end, it all came down to it being a matter of faith. His was a forgotten, nay even shunned, faith that was losing more and more of its ground amongst the realm of the Immortal.
It was because of this that he had been selected in the first place, though Samhain suspected that his 'family' amongst the other Death Gods had a hand in it. He was one of the few that still went to earth, to collect the souls of the dead and place them amongst their assorted realms of the After Plane. Never was there a soul that had escaped his grasp.
Save for her's.
Rei Ayanami.
Eve.
Ember eyes looked skyward, where the stars were shining in all their brilliance, silently wondering as to what she was up to now that she and her… husband… were returned to their proper realms, their mortal shells dust on the winds. He would end up sinking into a depression that only another reaping of souls could cure before his desire to be close to her would return and he would find himself watching the twenty-sixth Parallel with the eyes of one watching all their dreams coming true in the hands of another.
He felt something tingling in the air but brushed it away with a wing. Such disturbances had been fairly common recently since The Reaping and Samhain was quick to ignore it in favor of gazing upon the Parallel. There were times, when the feeling became persistant and whenever Samhain would turn focus upon it, the feeling was gone as though it was never there to begin with. This time, however, proved to be different. His eyes on the orb, Samhain saw more than felt the form that kneeled beside him to look into the orb.
He kept perfectly still, eyes never leaving the orb even as a gentle, human hand fell upon his and a pair of lips pressed gently to the shell of his pumpkinhead. The person was gone in an instant and Samhain felt… different. He looked up once more into the sky and noticed a single star shining brighter than its brethren and he knew what had occurred, what would continue to occur. He knew as well as she that neither of them could be together in the way they hoped, but they could continue to watch as their love was reflected in a Parallel.
For them, it was enough.
Me: Okay, Camille. Spill.
Camille: (smiles and leans close to My ear and whispers) RememberValentine's last?
Me: (grins/blushes) Yeah?
Camille: (takes My hand and places it on her tummy) Thank you for the present. (smiles)
Me: … (blinks) … (blinks) You're pregnant? … again?
Camille: (nods)
Me: (smiles) Holy smokes…… (faints)
Camille: He took that better than I hoped.
Me: (wakes up) I love you! (hugs Camille) I love Adrian! I love my muses! I love the world! Hallelujah, I'm going to have another kid!
Camille: (laughs) If you're this excited, I can't imagine how you'll be when you hear about Adrian.
Me: Que? What about Adrian?
Camille: Oh, you'll see.