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Cherry Blossom: Well…it's been awhile—
Matteo: A while? Try a whole frikken YEAR!
Cherry Blossom: Quiet you. : P At least I'm not abandoning it.
Matteo: You might as well be. No one's reading this anymore.
Cherry Blossom: Oh boo. I don't care if no one reads it. This is a present to green-chan to make her feel better 'cause she's been sick, kay?
Matteo: ::grumbles::
Cherry Blossom: Be nice and get on with the fic.
Matteo: Fine, fine. Here's goes nothing…
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. So there.
Notes: This is why some author's take three whole years to get the sequel to a novel out. It's also why we hate said author and throw sticks at their houses…
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And with this ring i wed thee true
And with this ring i wed thee now
And with this ring i play so dead
But no one's asking for the truth,
- Thru the Eyes of Ruby
Smashing Pumpkins
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Shadow Embraced – Chapter 3
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I met Loki the same time I met Midii. That's about the only thing I have to thank him for. Of course, I had heard about Loki long before I ever met him. Gossip in the vampyre world runs rapid and a crazy, human hating vampyre like Loki was hot news. And I had also met some of his flunkies at a party once. I was not impressed.
But I met the living legend on July sixth, A.C. 194, on L3. I was there following the recent uprisings between the people and the Alliance. Where there's war, there are plenty of good soldiers for me to munch. It was late, or early depending on how you look at it, about two in the morning when I saw Loki stumble unto into the streets, dragging behind him a young girl with long blond hair. Apparently she was a witch who was tossed out of her clan for loving a human and therefore no longer under the protection of the Witches' Counsel. I don't know how Loki had got a hold of her. She had much more power than he did, but I supposed that she must have been very new at this life of magic because her aura, although massive, was untapped except for a few raw bursts of power that shone through every now and then.
She looked frightened. Loki looked gleeful. His minions followed close behind as he threw her down on the sidewalk, calling out vicious epithets at her. It was obvious that they would kill her, not for food, but for sport. That was one thing I could never stomach. I pulled away from the meal I had selected for myself and sauntered over to take a look.
She was young, about the age I was before I was changed, and I couldn't help feeling sorry for the poor kid. Besides, Loki's antics were ruining my appetite. I also decided that I could use a good bondmate. So I told him to leave the girl alone, or I'd tear him a new asshole.
He didn't take too kindly to my suggestion.
But at the time I was stronger than any other vampyre in the district and Loki's psychic capabilities were no match for mine. He gave the kid up to me and basically accused me of being a lover of humans. I told him to blow it out his ear.
So Loki and I aren't exactly on friendly terms. Not that I'd like to be friends with the nutcase. But still, it's best not to make enemies in my world.
Oh well. I gained a very good friend out of the whole thing. Midii was eternally grateful to me for helping her out and we've been close ever since.
But I digress. What I meant to say through all this rambling is that I don't like Loki and he doesn't like me. And when two vampyres that dislike each other meet on the street, it's usually a sign that something no so good is going to happen. In other words; standoff.
Dorothy Catalonia
A.C. 196
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Dorothy watched the form in front of her with wary eyes. Loki had not changed since the last time she saw him. His hair was still as black as ebony, like somebody had spilled a jar of ink over his head, and it trailed down past his shoulders in thick locks. His body was lean, almost skinny like he hadn't been eating well. His clothing was immaculately tailored, a grey suit and long indigo overcoat with crimson piping. A bit too flamboyant for Dorothy's taste. His skin was very pale, a characteristic of all vampyres, and his lips were bright red, either from some kind of cosmetic or a recent meal of human blood. Dorothy voted for the latter.
"What are you doing here Loki?" she asked, bluntly.
His smile did not quite reach his ice blue eyes.
"Now, now," he chided, his voice chillingly soft. "Is that any way to talk to an old friend?"
"You were never my friend," Dorothy stated flatly. "In fact the last time we met you tried to kill Midii."
"She was mine first!" Loki shouted, losing his composure for an instant. Then he seemed to calm and his thin lips twisted into a half smirk. "But I grow tired of this old feud. You can keep your little bondling for all I care."
Dorothy winced at the term. "Bondling" was what they called the humans who lived in servitude of their respective vampyre "Masters". Although some became "bonded" by choice, most bondlings were just humans who served because they didn't want to die. When Dorothy took on Midii as a friend, she had to find some way of claiming her to keep her from being pounced on by all the other vampyres. So Midii agreed to be bonded to her, in return for the protection of Dorothy's name. Only a crazy vampyre would dream of harming the bondling of one the most powerful nosferatu on earth. But now that Dorothy's powers were waning, her names did not mean that much anymore…
"I wouldn't want to associate myself with humans anyway," Loki continued.
At this, Dorothy had to laugh. "Associate? Loki you eat them for Hel's sake! Like it or not, their blood runs through your veins and there's nothing you can do to change that if you want to stay alive."
"Isn't there?" Loki whispered and Dorothy fought back a shiver that tried to work its way through her body.
'What does he mean by that?'
"I won't ask you again Loki. Why are you here?" Dorothy snapped, fear making her lose the calm she had shrouded around her like a cloak.
"I have some business to take care of," Loki said, casually, flicking invisible dust off his sleeve. "Have you heard the latest prophecy that Lunis has put forth?"
Dorothy cocked her head suspiciously. "I've never been one to pay attention to that psychic mystic shit. Then again, neither have you…"
"I know, but this time something caught my eye. And I quote:
"From the blood of one will come a new era, where the mortal shall crawl and the immortal shall rise. When Death's mistress succumbs to the shadow embraced, when the silencer screams, when the dragon falls from the sky, the circle shall be broken. Behold the Key, who shall become one with the earth and space. Only once Entropy devours the Key can Death roam free…"
Dorothy blinked, trying to understand the rather obscure passage. She gave up.
"Sounds like a bunch of nonsense to me."
"Of course it does," Loki replied in a condescending tone that made Dorothy want to smack him. "But don't you find it a bit strange that it uses your name?"
Dorothy blinked again. "My name?"
"Of course. Didn't you once used to be called Entropy?"
Memories assaulted Dorothy's mind. She saw herself back before the wars, back before the Gundams, back before there were space colonies, back when she ruled the Underground and the mere mention of her name caused the others to shrink in fear. She saw herself in a dark room with the bodies of those who angered her at her feet and goblets upon goblets of blood being passed around like so much red wine. She saw herself calling row upon row of humans with her mind, watching with a cruel smile as they fell over themselves to die at her hands. She saw millions of minions calling out her name…Danica L'entropie! Vive L'entropie! Vive DeLamanka! Vive! Vive…
She shook her head vigorously.
"I am no longer that person," she told Loki, a cold glint in her eyes.
"I know," he sighed. "More's the pity. I just thought you might be interested in knowing the end of the world involves you some how. Guess I was wrong."
"The end of the world?"
Loki smiled. "Oh come now, "…once Entropy devours the Key can Death roam free…" what else could it be but the end of the world? And I wanna be around to see it."
"I hate to burst your bubble honey, but I'm not gonna be devouring anybody anytime soon so you can just get back on your little spaceship back to L3, okay?" Dorothy growled back.
Loki just smiled wider and bowed slightly at the waist.
"We'll see about that," he said, walking off slowly. "We'll see…"
Dorothy watched his form get further and further away, feeling the tension leave her body as soon as he rounded a corner and he could no longer see him.
'Well…that was strange.'She shrugged off the uneasy feeling the meeting had left her with and continued on her way through the dirty streets towards Maxwell's Garage.
Just because Duo told her not to come around Hilde anymore, didn't mean Dorothy was actually going to listen to him. Besides, if Duo really was going to propose to Hilde sometime tonight, she needed to look her best and that meant she needed a new outfit, which meant…clothes shopping! And who else would Hilde take shopping with her then her best friend Doro-chan?
With that thought in mind, Dorothy swung through the shop doors and pattered around the various bits of machinery that littered the floor.
"Hiiiiiiiilde! Where arrrrrrrre youuuuuuu?" she yelled, causing many mechanics to stop what they were doing and look at her strangely before turning back to their work. It was Maxwell's Garage. They were used to weird chicks coming in and yelling out names. Especially when their boss had his friend with the spandex over.
Dorothy peeked into the office room window and found Hilde sitting at her desk, going over shipment costs on her computer. Surprised, the small German girl looked up when Dorothy flung open the door and burst into the room, dragging her to her feet.
"Dorothy! What are you doing—"
Dorothy ignored the girl's puzzled questions and proceeded in hauling her out of the office, grabbing her coat and beret from a rack by the door and gathering up Hilde's purse as she went.
"No time to explain. Must shop now," she said, pulling Hilde by the hand and handing her the coat.
Seeing as how Dorothy wasn't about to give her an explanation any time soon, Hilde gave an apologetic wave to the mechanics who were now watching curiously as her friend dragged her out into the street, and put on the jacket and hat.
Once outside, Dorothy hailed a taxi and ordered it to take them to the mall. Hilde smiled and placed her purse in her lap. She had really wanted to take a break from work but her guilty conscious wouldn't let her, even though it had been a couple weeks since her last day off. She was glad that Dorothy sprang one of her impromptu shopping sprees on her, but she really would have appreciated some warning first.
'Aw, who am I kidding?' she thought. 'If I had got some warning I would probably have found a reason to put it off. And I need a break dammit!'
"So Doro-chan," she said out loud, "what brought this intense need to shop on?"
"Oh nothing," Dorothy said innocently. "I just need to find an outfit for one of Quatre's dull parties and wanted some company."
Hilde muffled a giggle with her hand.
"Oh come on, they can't be that bad," she protested.
Dorothy looked at her in mock horror.
"Are you kidding? The last time I went to one of those stupid Winner Corporation functions I had to listen to two morons discuss door furnishings. Door furnishings! Do you know how boring that is?"
"Oh I can guess. But what's wrong with that dress you got last week. You know, the blue silk with green edging?"
Dorothy fiddled in her seat in sudden embarrassment.
"It got kinda…ripped."
Hilde smiled knowingly. "Gee, I didn't know Quatre was so forceful," she remarked innocently.
Dorothy growled and whapped her on the arm.
"Shut up you skank."
"Hoe."
"Whore."
"Bitch."
"Why thank you."
Both girl erupted into giggles and Dorothy remembered just why she had spent so much time with humans instead of her own kind. Most vampyres had no sense of humor. And none of them liked shopping quite so much as Hilde did.
"We're here," Dorothy announced as they pulled up to the shining chrome monstrosity that was Chasmen-Perry Department Store. It hadn't changed much since when they first built it fifty years ago, but only Dorothy could really say so for sure without being accused of senility. And it still had the best designer dresses for good prices on Earth.
"Come on," Dorothy said, thrusting a handful of bills at the taxi driver and dragging Hilde out of the car and in through the revolving front doors. "We don't wanna miss the sales!"
Hilde laughed and let herself be dragged, letting herself relax as her friend chattered about the various tacky window displays.
The girls mall-trodded like experts, bypassing stores that were too expensive or too tacky or too weird, all though Dorothy did enjoy poking around the "it" store for oddities. There were just so many things you could do with rubber! But after a while, their feet began to hurt and Hilde's stomach growled impatiently. It was time for a rest.
Plopping herself down in one of the green plastic café chairs, Dorothy sighed and looked rubbed her feet mournfully.
"Fifteen stores and we haven't found any outfits worthy of our attention! What's the world coming to?"
Hilde smiled and examined her menu with much interest.
"Don't worry. Something will jump out of us. But right now I need a drink and some cheesecake!"
Dorothy licked her lips.
"Oh yeah, I'm all for that. And a good strong margarita too. I've had a tough morning."
"Aw," Hilde teased. "Was Quatre too rough in bed? Or maybe you just didn't get to fuck last night…I know! The Maguanac's wanted in on the action, right?"
Dorothy winced at the mental image and shuddered a bit.
"Now I really do need that drink. You are one sick puppy, you know that Hil?"
"Yep," Hilde crowed, one hand flagging down the waiter. "But that's why you love me."
Dorothy rolled her eyes. "I'd hate to see what kind of kids you and Maxwell will have."
Hilde blinked. "Kids? With Duo?!"
"Why not? Doncha love him?"
Hilde blushed and hid behind her menu.
"Well yeah but…he's probably never gonna ask me to marry him. He's too afraid of commitment," she explained.
Dorothy grinned a bit.
"Oh really?"
'Boy is she going to get a surprise tonight. Wish I could see the expression on her face when he gets down on one knee…'"What about you Doro-chan," Hilde asked, wanting the focus to be off her. "When are you gonna start pumping out little blond cherubs with ice-blue eyes and little plastic fencing swords, hmmm?"
A moment of sadness caught Dorothy off guard. She knew she could never have children. No living thing ever came out of a dead body. But it never really effected her until now. How would Quatre feel if he knew that she could not produce the heir he so desperately longed for?
"Earth to Dorothy…come in Dorothy!" Hilde waved her hand in front of Dorothy's face, bringing her back to the present with a start.
"Huh?" She asked blearily.
"You spaced out on me for a moment," Hilde said, looking worried. "Anything you wanna tell me?"
Dorothy smiled at her friend.
"Yeah…I want the rest of your cheesecake."
Laughing, Hilde took her own fork and blocked Dorothy's path to her plate.
"You'll have to fight me for it," she said wickedly.
"Gladly," Dorothy agreed, and silverware met with a clang. It was terribly bad etiquette but it was loads of fun, and the two girls didn't mind the stares they were getting from the other patrons. Sometimes it was just good to be a kid again.
After losing the fork war, Hilde and Dorothy once again set off to find the perfect cocktail dress. They came across a small store that mainly stocked wedding dresses but had a few items that were less formal. What caught Dorothy's eye was the shimmering violet sheath that was displayed in the window.
"Wow…"
Hilde nodded, silently agreeing.
"That would look so perfect on you!" Dorothy squealed, dragging Hilde into the store.
Hilde protested. "Me?! We're supposed to be shopping for you!"
"Oh come on," Dorothy prodded. "Just try it on. You know you want to."
Deciding that arguing with Dorothy was a losing battle, Hilde found herself shoved into the small change room with the shimmering mass of violet satin in her hands.
When she walked out of the room and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, even she had to admit that the effect was stunning. The dress was long and sleeveless with a high neckline that flowed over her shoulders into a very low back. There was a slit up the side with showed a creamy expanse of leg and the clingy fabric hugged her curves like a second skin, giving just the right effect of sexy yet tasteful.
"You look like a dream," Dorothy sighed. "You have to buy it!"
Hilde smiled ruefully and looked down at the price tag.
"Are you kidding? This costs more than the new shipment of parts we just got in. I can't afford this. Not in a million years."
"Bah!" Dorothy sneered, waving the excuses away. "Like that should have anything to do with it. I'll pay for it."
Hilde's eyes opened wide with shock. "I can't let you spend your money like that!" she protested.
"Who said I was gong to spend my money?" Dorothy shrugged. "Quatre gives me quite a large amount for my upkeeping. Can't imagine why. Even he should know that an apartment in Soho doesn't cost _that_ much."
After much persuasion (but not too much) Hilde found herself packed back into a taxi with a large box, purple ribbon tied tightly around it. A bit dazed about the whole affair, Hilde could only watch as the driver pulled up to her house and stopped. She could only sit in shock until Dorothy booted her out the door.
"Have fun with your new outfit," Dorothy called, waggling her fingers at Hilde.
"B-but we didn't even find you a new dress," she wailed.
Dorothy rolled her eyes. "I can just fix the other one. Don't worry about it. Just relax for a change. And for God's sake do something with your hair! It looks like you were caught in an oil spill or something. Bye!"
The window rolled up and the taxi drove away, leaving Hilde to stare after it helplessly.
"But where the hell am I gonna wear this thing?!"
Receiving no answer from the exhaust fumes that rose up at her, Hilde sighed and walked up to her front door, searching for the keys in her purse.
'Well I can't wait to see Duo's face when he catches me in this dress. Maybe I should demand that he take me out to dinner tonight so I have an excuse to wear it…'On the counter, Hilde found a note from her absent lover.
"Hey sweet thing!
Listen, I'm gonna be a bit late tonight but don't bother cooking anything. When I get home we're going out! Tonight's gonna be special. Wear something sexy (wink wink) ^__^
Love,
Duo"
Hilde stared at the note and then at the box in her arms.
'…hm. I'll have to ask Quatre if his ESP is catching.' To Be Continued…- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cherry Blossom: …..
Matteo: Don't you have anything to say?
Cherry Blossom: Too tired. Can't come up with funny commentary. Need pocky.
Melpomene: This must be "no speaking in complete sentences day".
Cherry Blossom: Hurt you. Badly.
Matteo: ::sigh:: Okay basically if you liked the story and want to see it continue, review. If you hated the story and would like to see it burn…
Melpomene: Try ripping it to shreds in a funny MST!
Cherry Blossom: ::glare:: Die you!
Matteo: Bye folks!