Series: World of Fusion||Title: War of the Undead
Characters: Shou, Tesni (OC), Theron (OC)||Ship: N/A
Chapters: 15-50||Chapter Words: 3,059||Total Words: 46,081
Genre: Drama, Supernatural||Rated: PG
Challenges: Diversity Writing, GX: Fused World, L2, 2000-6000 wpc; One Character Boot Camp, Marufuji Ryou, #19, rebel; Include The Word, #47, multipy; Chapter Set Boot Camp, #24, 50 chaptrs; Advent 2015-2016, GX, bonus #1: roll for fic length: between 100,000-200,000 words; Christmas Advent 2017, New Year's Special, start a new fic and update it once a week; Epic Masterclass, YGO GX, #4, AU Space
Notes: Same universe as Raised To His Word but featuring other characters. A little backstory will appear as well. Also, the character notes up top here will change depending on who is involved in each chapter.
Summary: The first strike in war involves doing as much damage as you possibly can – such as taking one of your enemy's strongest warriors and using him to get the strongest weapons. Ryou never thought he'd enjoy being a vampire but this is a whole new level. Perhaps it's a good thing he has a teacher and some new friends to help him out.
Shou stared into the thickening night. He could see easier in it than he had when he was younger, mostly out of practice now. But he couldn't begin to compare to Ryou's night vision. A vampire saw the world so very differently than a human did.
And his vampire brother wasn't there right now.
I should have been back before morning. And yet he hadn't been. Ryou told him he'd only be gone a short while, that he only needed to find a meal for the night and nothing more.
Ryou was an adult – by human standards if not vampire. He could stay out all day if he wanted to. Or all night. But not for a moment did that mean Shou didn't worry. There were vampire hunters in the world who wouldn't stop to care that Ryou wasn't an evil vampire.
He worried. It was what he did. He'd worried for those years Ryou vanished before, and told himself incessantly that his brother lived and would come home. Even when their own parents gave up hope and signed the paperwork that declared Ryou legally dead, Shou never believed it for so much as a heartbeat.
In all technicality it had been true, but Shou gave up caring about technicalities the moment he looked into his brother's ageless face once again. Now he looked older than Ryou ever would – Ryou, frozen forever at the age of seventeen – and he watched over the vampire's mansion while Ryou did whatever it was he had to do.
He stared out at the lands surrounding again. This wasn't a bad place to live. Far enough away from most settlements that Ryou did have to hunt his meals on a regular basis, but close enough that he had plenty of such places to choose from. It did border on one of the smaller zombie territories – that one run by Decayed Commander – but that didn't make it a bad location. They just had to keep extra guards on that point.
That wasn't the point Ryou went off to when he went hunting the night before, either. Decayed Commander's realm lay to the north. Ryou went to the west. There shouldn't have been any trouble at all. The areas to the west were firmly under the control of the vampires, with every village, hamlet, town, and whatever else they had utterly loyal to their liege.
Who technically was Ryou, but even after the last handful of years, Shou didn't quite have his head wrapped around that part.
He pressed his lips together, staring outward until stars speckled the evening sky, and still saw no hint of his brother.
He's in trouble. Shou knew that. He couldn't have explained how he knew it, only that the sense of it ran all through him. It also didn't mean he could do anything at all about it. His responsibly was to watch over the mansion and keep things running smoothly when Ryou wasn't there.
Which didn't make anything any better. He would never cease to be grateful that Ryou trusted him that much, that Ryou defied what the expectations of every other vampire were to give him that responsibility. He didn't know enough about vampire politics to know how bad of an idea this was but from the looks some of the other vampires gave him on their infrequent visits, he knew one thing: they thought it was a very bad idea.
But now he resolutely turned himself away from the window and stalked over to where his own dinner rested. Or he tried to stalk – he'd achieved his full growth but he would never have the kind of long legs that Ryou did – and managed instead a sort of firm stride. Close enough. He settled down at the table and stared at the plate. Still hot; one of the cooks had a positive talent with keeping food hot long beyond when it reasonably should have been.
I'm not hungry. He knew he should be. He'd only picked at his food once he realized just how late Ryou was. But when he worried, he lost all of his appetite, at least until whatever he worried about resolved itself.
Shou found his footsteps leading him back to the window. It had been hours since sunset – prime hunting time for vampires.
Something had to have happened to his brother. Ryou would have sent a message back if he'd been delayed. At least he would have normally. Since he hadn't, that meant trouble.
Shou's hand drifted down to his own deck. He pressed his lips together for a few seconds, then made up his mind. He turned away from the window and called for the captain of the guard. There were plenty of human servants in the mansion, all of them subservient to Ryou since he was the master here. But they also listened to Shou – most of the time. When Ryou wasn't around.
"My brother's late from his feeding," he told her almost as soon as she entered the room. One eyebrow quirked upward, but no more than that. "Too late for it to be an accident. So I'm going to go look for him."
Her eyebrow crept up a touch more at that. "Where are you going to look for him? He has a lot of ground he could have covered."
Shou winced. "I know. But I can look all night and all day if I have to. Someone has to have seen him, and my Roids should be able to get in touch with his Cyber Dragons." At least he hoped they could. The two sets of monsters got along reasonably well. He didn't have a lot of other options. Just sitting around here wasn't one of them.
I didn't look for him when he vanished the first time. I'm not going to make the same mistake twice.
Captain Tesni tilted her head in a slight gesture of acknowledgment. "If that's what you want to do. But at least have some food first. Don't think I haven't noticed you didn't eat yet." Her lips quirked a bit. "You don't want to collapse while searching for him, do you?"
Shou could feel the faintest hints of redness creeping up his cheeks. "I guess you're right." He knew she was. The desire to find out where Ryou was drove him hard, but he knew Tesni and she wouldn't let him cross the gates unless he'd had a decent meal first – and probably packed a lunch or two to go along with him.
"I'll check with the guard and see if they've seen him anywhere, or if anyone knows where he intended to go. Don't go until I get back, please."
"All right," Shou mock-grumbled, more for form's sake than anything else as he settled himself back at the table and started to eat. The cooks who made the food were better at their job than almost anyone else he knew – though they'd never yet served anything that compared to the food they'd had when he was a child, before Ryou vanished.
Shou tried hard not to think about those years Ryou had been gone. His parents had discussed moving to a different place, but hadn't ever gone through with it. He'd never asked, but he suspected they stayed just for the chance that Ryou would come back to them.
Though when he had returned, they hadn't had a chance to actually see him again. Shou's blood ran hot at the memory alone – running back through town with Ryou's orders ringing in his ears, wanting to tell his parents, and turning the corner to see the howling mob already at the front of their home.
He never knew how they found out so fast. It didn't seem to have been long enough. But there the mob was, the parents of the one Ryou killed in the lead, shrieking about Ryou being a monster and unholy and how it was all their parents' fault. Shou hadn't believed that then and he didn't now.
Seeing their home set on fire broke the commands Ryou set in his mind and he fled before the mob could see him. He didn't know where Ryou had vanished off to – Ryou always disappeared, it seemed, and he was left to follow without knowing where to go.
But now he would find his brother. Now he wouldn't wait around for Ryou to come back in whatever condition he was in – probably a bad one.
When Tesni entered the room again, Shou looked down to see that he'd cleaned his plate completely. He'd barely tasted a single thing and couldn't have said what he'd eaten. But it was all gone, every last crumb.
Tesni nodded in approval as she came over. "One of the guards on duty last night said she saw him leave towards the west. He didn't mention which village he planned on stopping at, though."
Shou nodded. He already knew that part, but getting what he knew confirmed wasn't bad. "So I'll probably be gone for a while."
"I already told the cook you're leaving. Wait a few more minutes and he'll have a few meals packed for you."
That got another nod from Shou. He would need to pack a few things other than his deck anyway. At least traveling didn't mean that he'd miss out on Kabayama's cooking. Shou wasn't sure of where Ryou found the curry-loving cook but he found himself grateful every day for the man's presence.
Tesni watched him for a few seconds, a worried tilt to her lips now. "He really shouldn't have been gone this long. It never takes him so long to find a good meal."
"He should've been back in just a couple of hours," Shou agreed. Ryou did have to take care of the entire small territory but that never took this long and if he'd intended to do his rounds, he would've said something either when he left or sent a message later.
Armored fingers drummed against the marble of the dinner table. "I'll send warriors to the other directions as well. It's our responsibility to serve Hell Kaiser and that means making sure he doesn't get into trouble that he can't get himself out of."
That eased a little more of the knot of tension inside of Shou's heart. If he could find Ryou, then all the rest of it would be gone.
Events moved swiftly after that. A servant brought up a sack containing three days' worth of food – more than Shou thought he would need, but he wasn't gong to turn it down. If need be, he would provide food for Ryou himself, which meant that he would need to restore himself afterward. Another pack provided extra means to do that – healing potions of the most refined variety. That and the food would keep him in good condition until he needed to come back here to restock.
He did not want to. He wanted to find Ryou already walking in the door even as he prepared to leave it.
Which, of course, didn't happen. Tesni's warriors were prepared to leave almost as soon as he was, and each gave him a brief salute as everyone began to spread out. Shou considered the cards in his deck and selected Gyroid, calling the creature into existence and hopping on its back.
"Let's go, Gyroid! See if you can find my brother's Cyber Dragons!" After living together for so long, he hoped from the bottom of his heart that his Roids could do that.
Gyroid didn't speak like some monsters, but the creature made an affirmative noise and launched itself forward. They weren't going quite as fast as Ryou or one of his dragons could fly, but Shou thought they covered ground reasonably well enough. He watched for any sign of anyone at all as the mansion slipped out of sight and the land spread around him.
This was a good territory that Ryou had charge of. It would take at least half an hour to get to the nearest settlement this way, and that wasn't a very big one. Shou visited it on his own before; two dozen homes, half that many shops, and everyone else tended to a large farm there, or went to work in the nearby mines.
Technically the mansion counted as being in the mountains. It was cleverly placed so that it remained in shade by day or by night, regardless of the time of year. A perfect residence for the local vampire in charge. It wasn't where Shou had ever thought to spend the rest of his life, but he enjoyed it there.
Movement caught his eye and he turned his attention that way. Gyroid moved with him, and soon they hovered over what he'd seen. It was definitely a what – if only because he didn't think "who" qualified when one referred to zombies.
Shou frowned. "They shouldn't be here," he muttered to himself. Zombies weren't much for conversation so he didn't think he could ask what they were doing there. They hadn't noticed him but seemed targeted on something else altogether. Maybe they'd somehow wandered in from Decayed Commander's region?
If that were so then he should probably return them to Decayed Commander. He'd never met the zombie leader for their neighboring territory but Shou hoped he wasn't that bad of a person. Of a zombie. Whatever. The spirit zombies tended to be more intelligent than those made from humans. That would probably help.
"All right, let's get going!" Shou declared, tilting Gyroid downward. Gyroid obligingly pushed forward, tire-hands stretched out to shove at one zombie's shoulder. The zombie growled and raised one hand to push back, but Gyroid just pushed in return, then did the same thing to one of the others.
When they were turned the way that Shou wanted them to go, he leaned forward to where they could see him. Or smell him. Or whatever zombies did. "Come on! Follow me!"
The zombies focused on him, forgetting whatever it was that they'd been after, and reached towards him, moaning as if in anticipation of a good meal. Shou shuddered at the sight and kept going forward, not moving so fast that they were out of sight of the zombies, but not so slow that they were in danger of being caught.
Or that he was in danger of being caught. Zombies didn't eat metal so Gyroid would be safe. Gyroid could also get him out of there before he was in deep trouble.
Getting to Decayed Commander's territory took time. It had been perhaps eight or nine of the clock when he'd left the mansion and by the time midnight struck, they were just at the border. Finding someone who could take charge of these three zombies would be the extremely difficult part.
"Hello there."
A very ordinary and calm voice and Shou almost jumped out of his skin when he heard it. He whirled to see a man several years older than himself standing there. A bow and a quiver of arrows slung on his back, he offered a cheerful smile just visible in the starlight. His clothes put Shou in mind of what a hunter might wear, especially since he spied a few dried drops of blood here and there.
"Hi," Shou replied, not moving from on top of Gyroid. "I'm a little busy right now, honestly."
"So I see. Let me handle that." The stranger turned a firm gaze to the zombies, removing a small sphere from one pocket and holding it before him. "Go! Return to your homes and remain there until you're summoned!"
At once the three zombies turned and walked past him, paying no more attention to Shou or Gyroid or anything else, not even giving a hint that they might be hungry. The stranger kept the sphere held out until they were out of sight, then put it away as he turned his full attention back to Shou.
"Terribly sorry if those bothered you, good sir," the possible-hunter said with a courteous tilt of his head. "It can be difficult for even the strongest magic to control zombies at times."
Shou's skin crawled and he gripped Gyroid more tightly. "Who are you and how did you do that? I thought only a necromancer could command zombies."
"For the most part that's true. But I happen to know a clever necromancer, and I'm allied to Decayed Commander, who gives me free reign over his territory. So with the help of my crystal, the zombies will do as I tell them to do. It's truly difficult to keep them all going in the same direction at the same time." His eyes focused onto Shou. "And what is the brother of the vampire ruler of this territory doing here? Shouldn't you be at home?"
That sent even more of Shou's skin crawling. "How do you know who I am?"
"How could I not? I've never met your brother but I know this is his home and it's only wise to know the leaders of a place, even if they don't know you." The hunter smiled a smile that did nothing at all to ease Shou's worries. "Is something wrong? Is that why you're out here at this hour?"
Shou shook his head. He knew he should be grateful that the stranger had disposed of the zombies harmlessly, but he still couldn't get himself calmed down. The way the other stared at him, every word that he said flavored with a hint of mockery, as if he knew some great joke that Shou didn't have any idea about. None of it felt right at all and he refused to let his guard down. "I don't even know who you are. Why should I answer you?"
"Oh, that's very, very bad of me. I should have introduced myself." The hunter executed a very elaborate bow. "I really didn't mean to be in this area anyway. I took a shortcut while on the way to visit one of the mages on the other side of the mountain. But since I've encountered you, I'll tell you my name." His smile seemed to gleam in a way that made Shou wish he'd come armed with more than just his deck. "You may address me as Theron."
To Be Continued
Notes: Well, here Shou truly enters the story!