WM4
Witnessing Moon
Chapter 4
Story by: Cessy Angel

Quatre pulled me away from the scene and brought me where Trowa and Heero were standing, behind the crowd. Heero seemed undisturbed, Trowa with a look of worry, and Quatre seemed lost in though. I myself was quite disturbed with the scene. Every now and then someone would throw up and I heard the distinct sound of sobs coming from probable friends.

"Something isn't right here. It looks like were not the only ones here for other means." Heero looked around, then leaned against the wall behind him, folding his arms. "We need to be careful, people are going to get more suspicious, and we only arrived yesterday, and now this happens."

"Maybe it happened before." Trowa added, sneaking a glance at the scene. "Although I highly doubt it. I'll check it out on the laptop later."

Quatre looked at the floor. "This is horrible! Who could do something like this? It doesn't even seem human to do such a thing..." He closed his eyes and clenched his fists. "I know he's a HAZE soldier and all, but..."

"Shh, Quatre, keep your voice down." Heero whispered back.

I felt uncomfortable being there, the stench of death I was used to, but seeing such a mauled body disturbed me, brought back memories of times long past. But not only that, I was the one who killed the man. Hadn't I payed attention afterwards?

And still, it wasn't me.

Heero looked further into the hall where a group of men dressed in white clothes approached the body and they, too, had a looked of pure disgustingness in their faces. I also turned around completely to get a better look of things. There were five men in all, one of them bent down and looked at the severed head. He rose again, and yelled across the room: "Does anyone know this soldier's name? Speak, now!"

Two men who seemed to have been sobbing, came up to him, and held a hand of his breast as he spoke. The other looked down at the head, and tears appeared on the rim of his bloodshot eyes. "Sir, he was our brother... Matthias Harlequois."

"What rank was he in?" the other man asked, not feeling any emotion for the others' loss.

"Second class...."

"That'll be all. Everyone, go back to your rooms! Training will be canceled for everyone but the First class. No one touches the body without our consent. Now, go!"

I turned back to the others as they looked at the man with scanning eyes. Heero sighed. "We better go to our room, we'll talk there."

* * *

"This doesn't make any sense." Trowa closed the desktop and looked back at us. I was sitting on Heero's bed with him beside me, and Trowa and Quatre where sitting in front of us. "Wufei sent an e-mail saying that HAZE would not let anyone in or out of the building, never mind the premises."

"Why would they do that? It was only one murder." Quatre added.

"Did you find out anything on that Matthias Harlequois?" Heero asked.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, he's been a soldier in HAZE for two years, second class, two brothers, single, no children, normal schooling, etc." Trowa placed the laptop under his pillow. "But what are we going to do now?"

"We should stay low, and wait until something breaks."

We all nodded. Little did they know that I had something to do with it. I had to be extremely careful. To do so, it meant that I would not go on my midnight hunting anymore, atleast not until this thing dies out. Which I hope would be very soon...

* * *

That night, while everyone else slept, I couldn't even close my eyes. My mouth, throat and stomach burned as if on fire. But I knew what the reason was. I could almost smell the flesh that lay in the bed beside mine, and in a sadistic thought, I saw him and I, Quatre and myself, in a tight embrace, blood spilling from the neck I was drinking from.

Blood, such dark tainted blood.

I gasped at the though, it sounded so unlike me. And yet like me with that.

Each breath they took, each little movement they made, be it moving their arms, twitching a finger, or turning their heads, each movement was made out blood. Blood coursing throughout the body and into the heart, that pulsating organ in which my life depended on it.

Someone long ago had given me the same 'lesson'. I hated him for that.

But in many ways, hate was love, and love was fear. What I feared I could love, what I wanted to feel. Yet everything I felt, everything I ever trusted in, had turned into fear, and not into love. Love and shall be loved, unfortunately, it never turned out that way for me.

* * *

"Duo!... Duo?" Someone was shaking me. It had been two days since that night. They still had not let us out of our rooms, and I felt so weak at the moment.

"Heero, come here, something's wrong!" It was Quatre, I opened my eyes weakly, seeing a worried mask on his face, his eyes in pain. Heero jumped out of his bed and grunted, then gave me a glance and ran to the bed.

"He's white as snow... and feels so cold..." Quatre whispered, Trowa came over his shoulder, giving yet another worried glance in my direction.

Heero tired to take my pulse, but I pulled away, groaning.

"Duo, let me check you health!" He grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to him. I was so weak, much faster than normally. There was something about this place, this building...

Warm fingers pressed against my neck and I groaned again. A dead thing didn't have a pulse.

"No..." Heero whispered, again pressing his fingers on my cold skin. I pulled the bed sheet over my head and turned away, mumbling a low "Go away."

"What's wrong, Heero?" Trowa asked reluctantly.

"He... doesn't... have... a pulse." Heero sat beside me and looked at me through the blanket.

"What?!"

They continued talking, but I stopped listening. I wanted to stop altogether. I closed my eyes and I stopped breathing. I didn't need oxygen to survive, only blood. The facade was over. I was over. All I felt like doing was the sink into emptiness, let the others chose my path.

My first and real friends, and I let them see me like this.

"Duo, wake up!" Quatre took hold of my shoulders and began shaking me.

"Quatre... let go of me..." I whispered. He didn't let go, but he stopped shaking me.

"Duo... will you tell us what's going on?" Heero asked, pulling away the blanket, I shivered, I was only wearing a black tanktop and pants. But it wasn't only because of what I was wearing, it was because I needed something, something that I could only kill to acquire.

Suddenly, a knock came from the door, I slumped back into Quatre's arms as Heero grunted and answered it. A tall and thin soldier with medium dark brown hair entered the room. He was probably a first class, two or three small medals clinging onto his uniform.

"Occupants of room 412. Heero Yuy, Quatre Raberba Winner, Trowa Barton... and Duo Maxwell?" He asked in a somewhat annoyed tone. He began walking into the room, and Heero was about to protest, but stepped aside anyway.

"You are to again stay in... what?" He saw me and gasped, almost. He walked to the bed and got on his knees beside it. "What is going on here?"

"Sir, we don't know..." Quatre replied. "He was like this when I woke up this morning..."

"He needs medical attention-"

"No!" I yelled, not very loudly, but enough to make the soldier jump. "Heero... close the door..." I had not other choice. I had to do this. As soon as Heero closed the door, I whispered softly. "Please forgive me, but this... this is why I am what I am..."

With that, I tossed Quatre back into Trowa's arms as they fell backwards into the other bed, and I grabbed the soldier by the head and brought him to my lap.

"I'm sorry..."

"Duo!?"

I plunged my fangs into his neck, and I immediately felt the warm sensation of blood pulsating into my mouth. Like the last time, I began sucking harder and harder, not a speck of blood spilled from the neck, and I wanted it so to last forever. To never need to see the faces of those whom I loved.

I knew they looked at me in pure horror, I heard Quatre gasp, and Heero and Trowa were both shocked, they didn't even move.

Finally, there was no more blood left. I had regained most of my strength, I felt my fingers warm up again the cold flesh of the once alive body.

I lifted my head slowly. Streams of blood ran down my mouth. "Did you once think I was human?" I whispered to low I didn't know if the others had heard me. "Did you think I was human!"

"Nani?!" Heero asked, the shocked expression hadn't left his face. "What are you?" For the first time, I think Heero was afraid, his body and voice trembled.

"Duo..." Quatre began to talk and I turned towards him. This time he looked at me with sadness, and I returned the face, I felt so sorry for what I had done. It was as if I had been mentally compelled to do so.

The body fell on the floor and I brought my hands to my head. I think I muttered a few words, and the others only walked closer, until each one was facing me, one on each side of the bed. I began shaking, my body trembling as I felt the urge to cry, but I did. Blood tears spilled from my cheek to the white sheets.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." I repeated over and over again in a whisper.

"Duo... why hadn't you told us this before? What did you think we would do?" Quatre's finger brushed against my cheek and wiped one of my blood tears away. He was so understanding.

"I... I've lived for so long this way... I didn't think you'd accept me, I didn't think you'd love me as if I were mortal. Don't you understand? No one can understand me. No one has ever tried, and I've never given the chance for anyone, but now..."

I paused. "Dammit! Why must I brake down now?!"

Quatre sighed, sadness in everything he did. "Duo, tell us, tell us how it happened, what happened, everything. How can we understand you without knowing... what you are..."

I trembled. Trowa looked at me with sadness like Quatre, and Heero too had the same expression. I hated to see them this way. I despised to make others sad. And I made so many people sad, friends that I've known and left.

And yet, I began to talk.

* * *

Author's note: Oh my Gawd, yes, a chapter longer than 9kb! Well, erm, this chapter could have used a bit more in it, but I wanted to go strait to the point. NOW I can start writing Duo's past. I'll probably go with fast details, only explain important situations. Oh well, please review! (Reviews are what keeps us writers writing, ne? hm...)