Unsolicited Advice

Interlude and Bonus

Chapter Summary: Vincent Grey is a Head Hunter currently tracking what he thinks to be an easy target. Vincent is wrong.

Bonus!: Amanda, Duncan and Heero discussing First Deaths

Note: I revised the first chapter with a few changes. The main ones being that Methos is now a little more subtle in his inquiries, and I changed the timeline a bit. Heero miraculously did not die in the war or in the Mariemaia Incident, as I concluded that 15/16 is just a little too young to spend eternity as, no matter how much of a BAMF you are.

Super Note!: Sorry for the double upload, but I almost forgot to thank everyone who reviewed, fave'd, and alerted! Every one of those messages made me feel like I was cuddling a kitten. In other words: warm and loved ^_^ Thank you so much!

Interlude

Belgium, Chile, Italy, South Africa, India, Japan, New Zealand, Turkey, Denmark, Ireland.

Ten disparate places, ten similar failures. Each time it started the same and inevitably ended the same. He'd get a place, get a job, go to work, pay his bills, but sooner or later he would unintentionally alienate or offend everyone he regularly come in contact with until he was forced to pick up and start over again. Except for Ireland. His past had caught up to him in the form of a vengeful OZ loyalist trying to poison him and almost succeeding. As he'd convulsed and his vision had gone to black, Heero had thought those to be his final moments. But he'd woken up not much later alive and well (albeit in a dumpster) and concluded his assailant hadn't accounted for his enhanced immune system. That had been two months ago. Duo had disappeared a month or so before that.

Duo's disappearance had knocked him off his axis more than the assassination attempt. It was also a contributing factor to his being here, starting over again but with a new path and a revised mission. Not to become a member of society, but to become a person.

First Step: social skills; ergo, college. Today was Thursday, he'd started two weeks ago and he was now walking home from his 1:30 class with a headache brewing. He'd never felt this light buzzing pain before and was apprehensive it might turn into something truly painful. He could deal with pain, didn't mean he necessarily liked it. He took a turn down an alley that would shave 3 minutes off his trek and take him right past a drug store. He'd stop for some aspirin just in case. Halfway down the alley a well-built blond man stepped into his path, a cocky smirk on his lips.

"My name is Vincent Grey. Today you die," the man intoned dramatically.

Heero's eyes caught Vincent reaching inside his coat and reacted in the blink of an eye. Before Vincent knew what hit him he found his cheek mashed against the brick wall, his shoulder threatening to tear out of its socket by the arm behind his back, and a hand reaching into his coat and pulling out the weapon that he'd never managed to draw.

Heero's grip didn't slacken one iota, but he was a little surprised. A sword? No matter. He tightened his grip even further and ignored the cry of pain his move elicited.

"Try this again and I will destroy you," he said coldly before slamming Vincent's head into the brick and letting the man fall to the dirty ground, unconscious.

Opponent incapacitated, Heero turned his attention to the sword. Inspection found it to be well made, well balanced, and sharpened to a razor's edge. He nodded once, shed his coat, wrapped the blade in it, and started walking the remaining three blocks to his apartment. As he stepped into the busy sunlit street he noted that his headache had disappeared.

Vincent awoke to the last tingles of his Immortal healing taking care of what had been a prodigious goose egg. His first thought on waking up was a late coming realization that the new Immortal he'd marked as easy pickings was far more fearsome than expected despite evidently not knowing of The Game. He supposed he should be glad he still had his head but he didn't doubt the boy's words for a second. He would not be making a second attempt. He levered himself to his feet and then felt a thrill of panic settle just under his skin.

Where's my sword?

.

Bonus scene between Amanda, Duncan and Heero on the subject of First Deaths:

"So, how'd you die?" Amanda asked with a grin, leaning forward in curiosity and morbid anticipation. The boy looked so young, what fate had befallen him that was violent enough to trigger Immortality?

"Amanda," Duncan began with an apologetic smile tossed at Heero before he turned fully to Amanda and tried to herd her away from his student. "That's a bit of a personal subject, he might not want to talk about it."

"Oh pish, there's supposed to be a 'bond' between Teacher and Student, right? You have to know each other's First Death! Or at least you have to know his. First Deaths leave a lasting impression and often affect us well into our Immortality. It's for his own good that we know," and she rounded towards the young man. "Heero?" She was curious, so sue her. Heero stared impassively back at her.

"I get it, you want a fair exchange of information. Why should we know something about you that you don't know about us? That's absolutely fair." Okay, she was really curious. "Well, Duncan here -"

"Amanda -"

"Duncan here was killed the first time in what amounts to a kilted turf war -"

"Amanda!"

"You're right, it wasn't a war, it was more like a squabble with swords." Duncan put his head in his hands and slowly shook it. "And I was clubbed upside the head for trying to get a bite to eat."

"You stole bread from a plague-ridden house, they didn't want you spreading the disease!"

"Duncan," Amanda smiled sweetly, and this time it was her who dragged him slightly away. "I'm trying to show him that a First Death doesn't have to be glamorous or honorable or anything like that, in case his wasn't. The majority of First Deaths are usually stupid and messy and -"

"I don't know."

She wasn't sure she'd heard that correctly over their fevered whispering. "You don't know… what?"

Heero was utterly calm when he stated, "I don't know how I died."

Duncan was just as confused as she was; dying was usually pretty memorable, even after the first time. He tried to clarify, "You don't know the exact details, or…?"

"I don't know for certain which of the instances that could have resulted in my death actually proved fatal." Heero seemed to be taking this news much more calmly than either Amanda or Duncan. Amanda's eyes were wide as she stared at Heero and Duncan's jaw was tightening steadily as the full meaning of those words sunk in.

END INTERLUDE

So, yeah, inspiration finally struck again.

Getting a whole chapter, much less a story out of my muse is sometimes like nailing jello to a tree. The muse will give me a nebulous but wonderful idea full of possibilities, but when I try to hammer out the details it all just falls apart and very little sticks to the tree. Alternately, my muse will give me very specific details, like a line or two, but not enough details, like a hint to the rest of the scene. For instance, the second scene started with just the lines: "How did you die?" "I don't know."

BTW: This will now be marked as In-Progress as I now have at least two scenes to write out for this universe, quite possibly more, including expanding upon this chapter's second scene. What I want to hear is how you guys want Duo to be brought into this. Is he going to be Mortal, Pre-Immortal, or Immortal (how old?) Watcher? He will most likely get along famously with Amanda and Methos.