Series: World of Fusion||Title: War of the Undead
Characters: Theron (OC), Shou, Ayaka (OC), & Nou (OC)||Ship: N/A
Chapters: 19-50||Chapter Words: 3,015||Total Words: 55,180
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 chapters; 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.
Theron wanted to laugh so very much. How could he not have something to laugh about? His plans to ensnare the bloodsucker's brother and use him to pressure the bloodsucker had been more or less in the back of his mind. He'd entertained the thought of getting a fresh zombie horde – there were a half dozen villages within the area that could be used as fodder – and using that to besiege the mansion. He'd originally thought about doing so once he had the bloodsucker collared. It certainly would have been fascinating to watch Marufuji's reaction to his home being burned and every one of his servants either torn apart or converted into part of the shambling horde.
But here the little brat stood, completely unaware of who Theron was and who Theron had. There was so much to laugh about and he kept as much of it as he could behind his lips.
He ordered his thoughts as quickly as he could. What to do with this now? He knew right away that he did not wish to tell the child that he had the bloodsucker. What he'd gleaned from his reports told him that they cared deeply for one another. He still suspected that the bloodsucker controlled him to some degree – why else would the younger one not have put a stake through him at the first opportunity?
After all, Theron had done that to his own mother when she'd fallen prey to the bloodsuckers and risen again. It was what should be done. Nothing he'd ever seen had told him otherwise.
He could not stay here for all that long, though. He'd told the truth; he'd taken a different turn while he'd been on the way to find the magician who would provide what he wanted. It was a shortcut; he didn't want to be gone all that long, not with the warrior from his superiors coming soon. The magic available to Zombie Master would enable them to travel very quickly.
Now he offered one of his most pleasant smiles. "I trust everything is fine at home?" Oh, he knew it wasn't. He would have to send a horde that way – perhaps one of the larger ones. Without anyone there to command the defenses, he would easily be able to overwhelm it. Though he did want to watch. There were so many options.
"No," Marufuji Shou said with a quick, nervous shake of his head, his eyes darting this way and that. "Everything's fine. I was just out for a little air."
Theron stifled another chuckle. "You've come quite a distance for a little air." Of course he did have that adorable spirit with him. That would widen his territory by a good margin. It did make him wonder if the young man knew that something had happened to his brother.
Shou tensed at that. He didn't quite back away, but he looked ready to dart away at the first genuine provocation. Theron did everything that he could to look harmless. He really wasn't certain if he succeeded. He wasn't very good at being harmless.
"I can go where I want. My brother rules this area, and I can defend myself," Marufuji declared, one hand gong to the deck holder at his belt. "Thanks for getting rid of those zombies but I need to go now." He hesitated for a second, a definite hint of curiosity flaring up behind his eyes before he continued. "You – haven't seen my brother out here, have you?"
Theron turned his lips down. They wanted to go up, but he forced them down regardless. "Is he out and about, then? I haven't seen him – though I can't really be certain if I'd recognize him. Descriptions don't always do the real person justice, you know."
That got a bit of a nod and the young man started to move away. "I think he just went to visit a friend, that's all. But I wasn't sure if he was out here."
Theron could tell very well when someone lied. He could practically taste the deception dripping off of those words, and he thought almost anyone who heard the younger Marufuji's words would have done the same. He was a very poor liar. Most likely from lack of practice.
Of course, Theron lied almost from the time that he'd learned how to talk. It made life ever so much easier when he chose what those around him knew about him.
"Of course. Perhaps he's visiting some of the larger villages. I'm certain that he requires regular sustenance and those would provide it, wouldn't they?" He indicated one direction that would leave the child wandering around for hours without seeing the slightest hint of his brother.
Not to mention he already had an idea on what to do once he'd worn the younger Marufuji out. But that would come later.
Marufuji turned his attention in the direction that he'd indicated. Then he nodded. "I'll check." He raised a hand in a sort of farewell salute before remounting his machine and heading away into the night.
Theron watched silently as the other faded out of sight. He played a long game; he already needed to get the item that would restrain the bloodsucker. He didn't need to burden himself at the moment with a new captive. Not right now.
With that taken care of, he turned his steps back towards his goal, indulging himself now in a few quiet chuckles. What a pleasant evening this was, and with far more to come.
Shou hurried along, casting glances from one side to the other as he did, glad that he hung a fair distance above the ground. It meant there were few that could cross paths with him unless he wanted to, which meant he traveled very fast.
Who was that? Just knowing the stranger's name didn't tell him who that guy was. Shou hadn't wanted to get away from someone that badly ever before. I think I would rather have spent an entire evening with Lady Camula. Maybe. He'd never quite been comfortable with the lady of the vampires, since she was why Ryou was a vampire now.
But the question on who that was hung in his mind, worrying at his thoughts. There wasn't anything about the encounter that should have worried him the way that it did – he'd had encounters like that before, sometimes. Perfectly polite and courteous strangers did exist.
And yet every instinct that Shou had screamed that he needed to stay as far away from that man and most of all, he needed to make certain that Ryou wasn't anywhere near him either. It didn't matter that he'd claimed not to have seen Ryou. Shou wasn't going to believe Ryou was safe until he saw it for himself.
Once he wouldn't have been so worried about his brother. But once, Ryou couldn't perish just by being put into sunlight or by a wooden stake. Or enraged by the lack of blood. Ryou was as strong as he'd ever been, if in different ways, but he'd become weaker in some ways as well.
So Shou looked out for him. Shou made sure that he had a safe home in the mansion and that everyone there remained absolutely loyal to his brother or to him. Ever since he'd first set foot in the mansion, he'd done everything within his power to help his brother.
The moment that he'd found out what happened to his parents, he'd dedicated his life to his brother, to keeping him safe. He vividly remembered – sometimes more often than he would have liked – that moment when he'd turned the corner and seen the mob outside of their home.
"Monsters! Parents of monsters!" The calls rose up loud as some of the townsfolk shook improvised weapons – and not so improvised, with some of them waving sharpened blades and torches. "How dare you! How dare you! Kill them! Kill them all! The whole monstrous family!"
Shou couldn't tell exactly who led the shouting, but later he had a pretty good idea – the parents of the bully that Ryou drained. He had no idea then of how they'd found out so fast or how the mob gathered with such speed – he wasn't sure if he'd ever know, really. But there they were, even as the night grew darker around them.
His mother appeared in the doorway, head held high, eyes bright in confusion and anger. "What are you talking abut? What's got "
She never had the chance to finish the sentence. Hot in rage, someone threw a torch at her. It lit her gown on fire almost at once, flames rising around her as if by magic. She screamed, stumbling backwards, and Shou cried out in shock, reaching towards her even from halfway across the square.
"Mother! Father!" He wanted to get there. He wanted to get his parents out of there and they could find a new place to live, maybe with Ryou – preferably with Ryou – far away from here. These were their neighbors. They'd known them for years – for all of their lives. And yet not only did they turn on them so very quickly, everyone in that mob bayed for their blood.
He could hear his father yelling in fury, though the words were cut off a heartbeat later by a sound that Shou remembered for the rest of his life – those words choked off by a pained cry and a tiny sound, all but lost in the raging of the mob. Shou thought later it was the sound of his father's body falling, riddled by crossbow bolts. He learned about that part of it later, when others who could gain the information without being killed for it told him.
But he could tell what happened after that easily enough. It was impossible even for him, as he was running, to miss the blast of fiery energy that struck the very heart of their home and shattered it, rendering it down from solid stone and good wood to a pile of broken ruins. He cast a quick glance over his shoulder, enough to see the people cheering and the ruins on fire.
Then he turned onward and fled into the night, a terrible emptiness flowering within himself. His parents were dead. He knew it in the deepest part of his heart. He had never experienced anything this close. For years people told him his brother was dead, but he'd never believed that for a single moment. He'd been right – sort of – but before he'd even had the chance to tell this to his parents, to let them decide on what they could do from there, now everything fell into ruin around him.
Who? Who had told? How could they have told that soon? Shouldn't that guy's parents have still been raging and weeping instead of calling for pitchforks and torches and condemning his own parents to death without even letting them speak in their defense?
Without them even knowing what had happened? They hadn't known; Shou knew that very clearly. Just that morning he'd mentioned his brother, and they'd tried to gently reassure him that Ryou would be proud of him, but he wasn't ever going to come back, and he needed to learn to move beyond his conviction that Ryou was still alive.
Shou had nothing but what he had on him – one suit of clothes and his dueling deck. Nothing that he could trade for food or shelter. He could call his spirits into life, though not for more than an hour or so at a time. He'd been getting stronger with that, but at most he'd just be able to make it to the next town over. Maybe. If he were lucky.
And doing that still wouldn't get him any food. He could pick up a few things in the woods, maybe. A stream tumbled down that he could get water from. He wasn't going to die of starvation. Maybe he could go back – later – and see if he could find Fubuki. Fubuki would help him.
Fubuki had already been making plans to leave, especially since Asuka decided to become a mercenary and start traveling the world. He hadn't left yet but Shou had a pretty good idea that he would be making his plans to do so very soon.
He could get food and drink at least from Fubuki. After that he would start traveling. He needed to find Ryou – again – and tell him what happened. Then they could decide what to do together.
If he could find Ryou. Where would a vampire be? He'd already fed – Shou couldn't bring himself to be that upset, not when he'd never liked the guy anyway and not when he had his brother back – but the sun would rise and Ryou would have to be out of it. He would have to look and while Ryou promised to find him, Shou had no idea of how long that would take.
Shou wasn't sure of how long he ran or where he went. He didn't even think that he cared that much, as long as it was away from the nightmare that had been his home only scant hours earlier. When he finally pitched to a halt he couldn't see the town anymore and he could barely keep himself on his feet. Seeing a thick bush nearby, he stumbled underneath it, curled himself up under the branches, and fell into the deepest sleep he'd ever had in his life.
What happened when he woke up made him wish he'd perhaps not slept so deep.
Shou tried very hard not to think of those horrible days. Meeting Ryou again and then having to deal with his parents being murdered wasn't one of the better days of his life and the week that followed it hadn't been any better.
But that led to his life with his brother now, and he wouldn't turn that down for anything at all.
Shou pulled his thoughts together long enough to check the area. He hadn't seen anything that resembled Ryou or anyone else who might possibly know where Ryou might be since he'd left Theron. Checking the other side wasn't that bad of an idea; Tesni's warriors would not be able to move as fast as he could, which meant he'd be able to cover more ground.
He still couldn't shake the feeling that there was something he'd missed somewhere. He couldn't pin it down and all it really felt like was a mere sensation of distrust.
"Come on, Mother, we're almost there," a voice drifted towards him on the wind, and he turned in that direction, indicating to his ride to wait for a few moments. He peered through the night shadows until he saw what was there – who was there.
Two women made their way along, each of them armed, and one of them keeping a sharp eye on the world around them. Their clothes reflected hard travel, with tears and rips in the once-sturdy fabric, and the older woman seemed to have lost a shoe somewhere along their trek. Between the two of them she had more damage done to her garments, which looked to have started off as the normal wear of a butcher, clothes wrapped close to them that could be easily washed clean of blood.
"Are we?" Her mother gasped, her feet stumbling. "I don't even know where we are anymore."
Shou only hesitated for a moment. He wasn't sure of where they were going, but he knew the area around here well enough. He could probably give directions – and he wanted to know why they looked this beat up. He nudged his mount to take him down closer.
"Excuse me," he said, catching their attention. Both of them stared up at him, the younger woman moving so she stood between him and her mother. "Where are you going? And what happened?"
"Why should we tell you?" The younger woman asked, her eyes narrowed. Something about her reminded him of his brother – not in the looks, but in the way that she moved, cautious and wary, a predator without prey but very much aware they were being hunted.
After living with Ryou all this time, Shou knew very well that hunted predators were the most dangerous. So he didn't try to scare them. That wouldn't end well.
"Because I can help you. I'm Marufuji Shou. My brother rules this area." He doubted that they had seen Ryou. They looked too wary right now.
The two of them exchanged glances before looking back at Shou. "Your brother?" The older woman asked cautiously. "Who is he?"
"Marufuji Ryou. Do you know him?"
Both shook their heads, then the older woman shifted forward a single step. "If he's the ruler here, then he needs to know – the village of Sunsdown has been completely overrun and destroyed by a zombie horde. I don't know if there are any other survivors, but I doubt it."
Shou frowned; more zombies? "I'll take you to the mansion," he said at last. "You can get some rest there and when he comes home you can tell him, if he doesn't already know." That could be why Ryou wasn't around. He'd possibly run into those zombies and was even now putting them all down. He did regret that he'd not be able to see that. Watching Ryou in action would always be a pleasure of his.
He dropped a little lower. "Who are you?" He didn't get the same sense of danger from them as he did from Theron. The looked too exhausted to even worry about mincing words and offering teasing hints that probably meant nothing at all.
"I'm Ayaka. I was the butcher in Sunsdown. This is my daughter Nou." The older woman nodded towards the other. Shou nodded his greeting before turning Gyroid towards the mansion. Even without Ryou at home, Cook Kabayama would be glad of more living people to appreciate his talents and Tesni would definitely want to know what was going on.
And maybe this meant that Ryou would be home after he dealt with this zombie issue.
To Be Continued
Notes: As of this update, this story is on indefinite hiatus. I'm not having any problems with the plot, don't worry about that. My reasons are three:
01: I need to finish three chapters (minimum) on Chains of Blood before Feb. 14 and as it turns out, I don't have the energy I used to. So writing three fics or more at one time isn't a thing I can do anymore. So, I'm going to finish CoB as soon as I can.
02: I have a GX fic that I need to write and achieve 25,000 words on by Feb. 14. As I said, doing three or more fics isn't a thing for me now, so I need to focus on that one as well. This will replace the 1-shot collection I originally had in mind for that challenge fill. (said 1-shot collection will exist in due time. Just not now. It's set in Reversal world, if anyone's curious.)
03: YGO Big Bang approaches and I have a good idea I'm quite looking forward to writing that will be a fantasy wings!AU featuring Edo and Yuusuke as protogonists. So, look for that to be posted in August.
I am going to post drabbles/one-shots between now and the end of the hiatus as well. With any luck, my posting of this fic will resume no later than March or April. I'm going to put in an effort to pre-write what I've missed between now and then. We'll see how that works out. If I succeed, there will be daily updates until I reach whatever point I'm at then. If not... well, we'll see. Time will tell.