They began the journey quietly, the two remained separate; just as Viral wanted it to be; they only ever saw each other when it was time to rest and eat.
Viral hunted, it was part of his nature to do so; and Leeron was happy enough to cook what ever the beastman brought back. Whatever Leeron said to him, he didn't pay any real attention to it; he just ate and went back to his Gunman to sleep. The next couple of day's passed like that, nothing exciting happened.
Once they arrived at Littner village Leeron was quick to look around the place.
I hope my husband will do all the hard work. He thought to himself; as he looked into the old huts that were now beginning to show there age.
Everything around me is aging, just not me. I don't even feel old! Is this how Viral feels? Leeron pondered over this thought, maybe he would ask. He glanced over at the beastman, who was glaring at the whole place. Of course…Viral suffered his first defeat by Kamina here. That was the beginning of the end of the reign of the Beastmen. Leeron pondered over this thought, nearly all the beastmen and women were no longer alive, only a few still existed, but they never ventured near the human cities; so it could be lower or higher. Rossiu wanted to find out; he was obsessed with numbers, learning what the population was for every city, human and beastmen alike. Viral was the one who had to kick some sense into him. And Leeron wondered if it was a literal kick.
He wandered around some more; looking at the old haunts that both he and Yoko visited. It was odd being back here, with no one around; none of the hustle and bustle of the years before… None of the excitement of building or fixing the weapons that was salvaged from the beastmen.
It was a hallow shell of his past.
Leeron looked into his old home…
Wires and needles; he couldn't escape, he was tied down… Unable to move… They spoke to each other, but he couldn't hear… They weren't that far away…
"Leeron," Viral's voice came through the hazy memories; and the mechanic noticed that the beastman looked concerned.
Must have said my name a few times… Not in the way I would want…Leeron looked at the blonde and spoke; "My first time,"
Viral looked disgusted and walked away, and Leeron turned back to look at his old home. What could have made me have that memory? Was it an actual memory…? Not something… Well, I never played any games that involved needles and wires before…
Viral had noticed the change in Leeron's scent as he had come up to him; it was of fear. That was the only reason why he called to the mechanic in the first place. He knew something was wrong, but it was Leeron, if he didn't want to talk about it, why should he interfere?
At dinner Leeron looked thoughtful; pondering on that swift memory.
"Found anything?" Viral asked, having finished his meal and was now drinking his tea.
"Nothing…" Leeron was hesitant to add 'of importance'; "To a great degree,"
Viral just nodded; so he had been right, Leeron had found something, or learned something.
As usual dinner was silent, but Leeron decided to ask the question.
"What did you say to Rossiu to get him to stop counting the beastmen population?"
Viral was startled, he had no idea where that came from; why ask that question now? It happened so long ago.
"I told him it had no purpose. Beastmen can't reproduce, they would have died out eventually, the number of them would be meaningless," Viral informed him, and the mechanic looked surprised; to which he raised an eyebrow.
"I just thought you'd have been blunt and kicked him," Leeron informed him.
To hear this, Viral laughed. Which surprised Leeron, who wasn't used to the beastman laughing in front of him; needless to say, he also began laughing, the sight of Viral kicking Rossiu was an appealing thought after all.
When they stopped, Viral looked at Leeron wearily; and Leeron just smiled.
The beast is getting used to me… After so many years, he is finally letting himself loosen up.
Without another word, Viral left, going back to his gunman to sleep. Leeron just sighed.
All right, maybe not getting used to me… He stood up, and walked away, letting the fire die out on it's own as he went to bed.
He tried to scream, tried to move. Nothing worked, his body was frozen, his tongue unable to move. The people around him… He couldn't see them, his vision was all… it was blurry… the people could have been beastmen, or human's. He just couldn't tell. All he wanted at the moment in time was to die. He had needles all over his body, and wires… there were wires everywhere… his body was in pain; mentally he was crying his heart out, he was in such pain; but physically he couldn't make a sound. They didn't know about his pain; all they wanted was results…
He woke with a start. Sweat ran down him and his breathing was erratic.
That was some nightmare…
He sighed and quickly went out to bathe. He couldn't go about the way he was, feeling all sticky and sweaty; and for all the wrong reasons.
As Leeron looked out the window, he noted that Viral was probably still asleep; the sun was just beginning to rise. He knew where he could bathe in peace, and he wouldn't be long anyway.
As he began to undo his clothes and placing them on the embankment, he let the water soothe his muscles. Slowly entering the warm water and relaxing his tense muscles; he let out a long sigh of pleasure.
It's so good to be relaxing; the stress wasn't doing my skin any favours. Leeron thought to himself, and looked over at the wilderness around him; I shouldn't stay in here for too long, things have changed…
He then heard a loud screech from one of the animals; and that made up his mind. He was out of the water faster than he had gotten into it and was no sooner back at the camp than he saw Viral dragging a rabbi-deer for dinner.
It was only Viral. Leeron sighed in his head; unable to believe that he panicked over nothing; I am getting overly jumpy now… It must have something to do with that nightmare… But how do I find out…
"Your people moved due to the weapons underground?" Viral asked, which surprised the mechanic, who nodded; "We'll go underground,"
"Wait, we left because the weapons made it unbearable to live," Leeron protested.
"Have you found any answers yet?"
"No…" Leeron replied, not happy that he had to say anything.
"Then we'll go," He allowed the meat to dry out and began to walk towards the village.
"Viral, I do remember some things," Leeron confessed.
The beastman kept walking, but looked at him.
"When I was younger, I was… I don't know, experimented on? I had this… flash back of people putting needles into me; and then last night I had this nightmare about the same people and when I tried to scream I couldn't; and when I tried to move, I couldn't… I was in such pain…" Leeron shuddered.
"Experiments," Viral said thoughtfully; "Done back when you all lived underground?"
Leeron paused; "Possibly, it was always dark, so it could be,"
Viral never said anything; he just kept on moving towards the underground entrance.
"You know, it might not be safe," Leeron reminded him.
"I can't die," Viral pointed out and then noticed the rock that was in front of the entrance.
Quickly he ran off, though Leeron knew why; within a few minutes Viral's gunman was moving the boulder out of the way, and the stench of the underground came up to them.
Leeron wrinkled his nose; but he noticed that Viral looked ill.
"Seventy years," The beastman muttered and looked over to him; "We'll leave it for today, neither of us can go down,"
"Is it because..." Leeron began to ask, but Viral shook his head.
"It's been closed off with no ventilation for sometime,"
The two remained silent and looked at the cave. Leeron was hoping to find his answers there, and yet he feared it.
"Why me? Why did they pick me?" He asked out loud, although the question wasn't directed to him, Viral listened regardless; "Why not Yoko or one of the other's? They were the one's who actually fought, not me; I was never interested in such thing,"
This was the first time he had ever heard Leeron speak in such a way, there was nothing behind his tone, no flirtation, vanity, no teasing. Just honesty.
"That's why," He said softly and the mechanic looked at him in surprise; "You weren't like the other's, you were different and they noticed,"
"Do you know... What it's like?"
Viral nodded; "Yea. We beastmen may be created by hand, but I know what it's like to be prodded at. Ever wondered why the Spiral King choose me to be immortal and not one of the generals?"
Leeron was silent, he'd never actually thought of that before. Why did the Spiral King choose Viral over the last remaining generals? For Viral to be a story-teller? There must have been more to it than that!
"Because it was the Spiral King himself who made me. I was... Unique from the rest of the beastmen," His golden eyes looked at him, wondering if he had caught on and was surprised that he hadn't; "I am the only one who was created by two different animals,"
"Part cat..."
"Part shark," He finished; "The Spiral King wanted to see if it would make a more powerful solider,"
Leeron frowned as he sat down on a rock; "But we never saw any other's..."
"I was the only subject that lived long enough to be sent into battle," Viral leaned against his gunman; "I was poked at and prodded when ever I returned from battle, like you probably were,"
He just looked at the beastman, understanding; Viral was one of a kind, the only experiment to live with the DNA of two different animals flowing through him. It comforted Leeron, but it didn't sooth him, after all he had no idea what had actually been done to him, or why.