DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN VAMPIRE KNIGHT, ONLY YVELTA GRIMM
As Yvelta walked through the Moon Dorm doors, she noticed Hanabusa on the couch, glaring. Kirena was nowhere in sight.
Yvelta smiled at Hanabusa, but he ignored it. He was in an absolutely foul mood. How unfortunate, it had seemed like he was going to have a wonderful night when he was walking down the street hand in hand with that other girl. Something must have gone wrong.
Yvelta sighed. She couldn't leave him like this. 'What's wrong?' She sat next to him.
'It is not your concern.' He turned his head away.
His comment caused her to raise an eyebrow. How naïve of him. 'Anything that upsets you concerns me, Hanabusa. That is the role of a friend.'
He turned his icy blue eyes on her. 'It does not concern you.'
Yvelta stood suddenly. 'Very well. If you do not want my counsel I shall not give it to you. Good night, Hanabusa.'
He did not return her farewell, only turned to face the door again, brooding.
The next week passed uneventfully. Now it was Yvelta who was staring after Hanabusa, instead of the reverse. He would see Kirena after class each night and they would go out into the town. It frustrated her immensely. Yagari had not attempted to obtain her company again, though he remained familiar with her. Even Kaname had left her alone, noticing the change in her and being very wary of what it could mean. She may have seemed sad, but that only made her more dangerous, because she was liable to lash out.
The week after that, the headmaster was summoned before the Hunter Association to discuss Zero. They had been informed of his ever worsening state, and wanted to take action. His absence meant the vampires were essentially free to do as they wished for the day, without him there to enforce restrictions.
Rima and Senri threw a party, not for any particular reason, just to lighten the mood. Yvelta attended, but only because she was in the same building as them, and it was too difficult to concentrate with all the noise they were making. Kirena was there, too. Hanging off Hanabusa as if her life depended on it. It disgusted Yvelta.
Three hours in and she was indescribably bored. Everybody else was having fun. She just couldn't enjoy herself. She hadn't bothered to dress up for it, and neither had they. For once she was able to wear her favourite tight black cargo pants with straps (for weapons, of course) and a plain black tank top. She'd discovered these wonderful clothes when she first emerged from isolation twelve years previously. They were so different from everything else she had. But then, she only came out briefly once every hundred years or so, due to her desire for isolation, which made keeping up with fashion difficult. However, this didn't mean she was enjoying the party. Just enjoying not having to wear that damned uniform.
There was a crash from outside, and then the sound of something scraping along the wall. The other vampires ignored it. Yvelta was not so careless, and went to investigate.
She opened the door and looked out, but there was nothing out there. It was incredibly dark. The moon had been hidden behind thick storm clouds. Lightning flashed and she saw a figure a few metres away.
'Excuse me, who are you?' Yvelta called out. She received no answer. When the next bolt of lightning struck, the figure was gone.
A window shattered at the other end of the dorm. Yvelta sprinted around, but again found nobody.
'What the devil is going on?' She muttered to herself. Not a moment later she felt a slight pain in the base of her spine. Her hand groped around and pulled out a dagger. She spun to find the figure right behind her. She grabbed it, dragging it away, struggling, but dropped it when lightning flashed again. In the light of that bolt, the figure's face was revealed. It was identical to Yvelta.
Yvelta hissed and jumped backwards. 'Who are you?'
The figure merely grinned cruelly and leapt at her, slashing at her face with sharpened nails. It howled and raged when Yvelta dodged and weaved, not allowing a single hit to find its mark.
Soon the figure became angry and kicked Yvelta to the ground. 'They said you would be a good fight. I am disappointed.'
Yvelta was beginning to realise what this thing was. It had all the same moves as her, all the same types of weapons, even the same voice and face. It was a clone.
'The Hunter Association created you, didn't they?' Yvelta snarled as she crawled backwards. The clone just laughed.
'Well you were careless enough to allow them to take your DNA, weren't you? Stupid, very stupid. But I'm not just a clone. I'm improved.' The clone grinned that cruel, maniacal grin again and jumped towards Yvelta once more.
Yvelta spun, found her feet and kicked it in the face. 'Improved how?'
The clone recovered, wiping a hand across a split lip. 'They removed my empathy. I was bred to kill, and I have no qualms about doing so. I am the perfect killing machine.'
A version of Yvelta without empathy. That was disastrous. With the power it wielded, it could take over… Well, anything really.
'Perfect? Hardly. Only I retain that title.' Yvelta back flipped, kicking it in the face again as she did so, pulling out hidden blades from her cargo pants as she landed.
The clone growled, and wings sprouted from its back. It leapt into the air, circling around and diving to the ground to attack Yvelta. There wasn't a lot she could do against that kind of speed. She had no choice. She sprouted her own wings, black and red feathers whispering, and shot into the air.
Only once before had she fought in a storm, and she hadn't been flying. It was a sobering experience. The clone not only had no empathy, but also barely responded to pain. They had clearly improved upon her ability to withstand large amounts of damage. The clone cackled as Yvelta dodged a bolt of lightning, singeing her wings in the process.
By now the vampires inside had suspected that something was wrong, and had followed the noise. They had not expected to see two people fighting in the air in the middle of a storm.
Suddenly Yvelta dived down, pulling up just before she hit the ground. The clone had followed her, but hadn't been quick enough, slamming its face into the mud. Yvelta took the opportunity to get some decent strikes in, but it wasn't enough. The clone shook them off and leapt into the air again, pulling an odd metal object from its back. The clone clicked a button and the object lengthened, becoming a brutal looking sword.
'Now that's just unfair…' Yvelta whined. She gave Hanabusa a quick look. 'Battle axe.'
He nodded and raced inside, knowing exactly what she meant. She still had her armour and battle axe in her room, though locked away, but he knew where the key was. He had to hurry.
While waiting for her battle axe, Yvelta dodged the blade that her clone continuously swung at her, never tiring. It was like fighting a machine.
'I am greatly dissatisfied with your performance. I expected more from one apparently so skilled.' Her clone sneered.
'Oh, performance is what you want, is it?' Yvelta's eyes flashed, and she flew straight upwards, right into the storm. The clone looked up after her, seemingly confused.
As Yvelta gained height, she formulated a plan. She had never trained to fight herself. She'd have to be tricky. She suddenly stopped flying upwards, closed her wings and shot down towards the ground, spinning. As she passed the clone she grabbed it, taking it with her, and when they hit the ground she pushed the clone underneath her so it took the brunt of the impact. She rolled of the clone, wheezing. Unfortunately, the sword had pierced her side when they hit the ground. Not an ideal outcome, but at least the clone seemed to be taken care of.
How wrong she was. A few moments later the clone rose, seemingly unharmed.
'Risky move. Shame it didn't pay off.' It taunted her.
Hanabusa returned to find her in bad shape. She grabbed the axe from him and faced her opponent. The vampires were just watching. She wished they would go inside where they would be safer.
Yvelta and the clone shot into the air and charged at each other, weapons held aloft. But the clone could predict her every move. It was no use, it was just too strong. She tried to hold it off and failed, eventually crashing to the ground, an unconscious, broken, bloody heap. The clone touched down next to her, laughing.
'Now, who's next?' It turned its eyes on Hanabusa. 'You helped her. You can suffer my wrath for your mistake.'
Kirena screamed and ran away from Hanabusa as the clone leapt at him, forcing him to the ground. He managed to dodge the first few hits, but the clone learned quickly and eventually got him. The other vampires were attacking it now, to no avail. They were all yelling, Kirena was still screaming, and the clone was laughing at the sound of pounding flesh and breaking bone.
'NOOOOOOOOOOOO!'
Everything stopped. The clone turned around to find Yvelta forcing herself to her feet, face contorted with rage.
'Back for more, hmm? I'll be with you in a moment.' The clone cocked its head before lifting its arms up to attack Hanabusa again.
'YOU DO NOT TOUCH HIM!' Yvelta screamed in fury.
'Got a soft spot for him, have you?' The clone smirked and punched Hanabusa right in the face.
Yvelta snapped.
A previously untapped well of strength exploded from within her, and her whole body tingled. She was changing. The bones in her wings cracked and snapped, and the muscles tightened. They lengthened, becoming stronger. New feathers sprouted, gleaming. She could feel the muscles throughout her whole body strengthening, tensing for battle. Hands turned into claws, face became snout, fangs protruded from her jaws. She became an unspeakable beast, a physical representation of the various genes inside her.
The last thing to change was her eyes. No longer were they violet and gold. Now they were red and black, and filled with a fiery loathing. She roared and jumped at the clone, tearing it to pieces in a matter of seconds, ignoring the deep wounds it gave her.
When the clone was utterly destroyed, she turned to Hanabusa. He looked terrified, as did all the other vampires. Except Kaname.
Yvelta whined and ran into the forest. Nobody followed her. They were too shocked by what had taken place.
Kaname was the first to recover. 'Hanabusa needs treatment. Take him inside.' The others did so. Kaname did not help, he just stared into the forest with a deep curiosity, and returned to the dorms.
The following morning, when he had recovered somewhat, Hanabusa went into the forest to find her. She had not returned at all that night, and he was worried, though still apprehensive about her monstrous transformation.
It did not take him long to find her. He just followed the broken trees and destroyed ground. He found her in the centre of a clearing, stark naked, but back in her usual form. She was asleep. He blushed as he saw her in this vulnerable state, and hurriedly wrapped her in his jacket before carrying her back to the dorms. She was lighter than she had been before, as if the transformation had been so physically stressful that it had emaciated her.
He sat by her bedside for the whole day while she recovered. Not once did he think about leaving, not even when Kirena came in and demanded that he spend time with her before she had to leave. Nothing else mattered to him at the moment. She looked so innocent now. You would never guess that only hours before she had been the most terrifying creature he had ever had the misfortune to lay eyes upon. He could still barely believe it.
At some point Kaname entered. He spoke briefly to Hanabusa about Yvelta's state, which had not changed. Her body was healing slowly. She needed rest. Hanabusa became frustrated with Kaname's questions. It sounded like he wanted to perform experiments on her, see what the extent of this power was. When Kaname realised Hanabusa was becoming agitated, he left.
The whole day passed, and that night, and Hanabusa still would not leave. He missed class. He was absolutely exhausted, but he was determined to remain awake to look after her.
His resolve didn't last long. Soon he was lying on top of the bed, one arm around the sleeping form next to him, the other cradling his head as he snored. He slept for hours.
Yvelta woke once, but she did not alert Hanabusa. She let him sleep, stroking his hair.
If only every morning could be like this, a voice said in her head.
Shut up, said another.
She smiled and went back to sleep.