Voice from the Grave

By Bakaness

Warnings: Wu- POV, WEIRD, more than a little OOC, I think.

Archive: Well, hopefully here at GW Addiction, but it should be up sometime in the future at www.geocities.com/nariee_i

Notes: I wrote this after re-watching my one and only GW video… episode 4 in particular… Since minna-san liked my last POV so much… here's another. And it's non-yaoi… sinner that I am… 5+you'll find out. This is set not too much longer after the 4th episode… I think it's called Victorian Nightmare.

Enjoy!

        She changed my life in an instant. I was a scholar – it was my calling, all that I cared for. Of course, as a Dragon, I was schooled in the arts of war, but I was no warrior. Not like her.

        She died in the way she always dreamed she would die. I can hear her voice so clearly, dreamy and wistful, telling me how she wished to die while I tried to suppress my horror. "I want to die honourably, in battle. I want to deal death to as many of my enemies as possible before I feel cold steel release my soul into the hands of Death. I want you to hold me… to comfort me as I take my last breath. Will you do that for me Wu? Please?" And I would always answer her the same way, never realizing it could happen; "I will, I swear."

        I ran. The time for war came, and I ran. She died in that battle, lying alone, and took everyone and everything I ever loved with her. I became the last of the Children of the Dragon. When I realized what I had done, how I had betrayed all those who loved me, I begged for her to come back, to help me. I never expected her to hear me. I never expected her to do it. I found myself becoming more like her than like me. I became obsessed with battle, blood-lust, strength and honour. I became the vessel of all her anger and the essence that made her a warrior, but I lacked her tempering kindness and inner peace. My soul was like the ocean tempest – hers a mirror-still lake, calm and tranquil, perfectly balanced.

        "Fighting a weak enemy leaves me feeling so empty afterwards." Her words echoing in my head, spilling from my lips after I fought that woman who reminds me so much of her, Noin. In shock I screamed to the moon, the silent forest my only witness to the sudden terror that gripped my soul. She was so much like Meiran, and I was so far from what I used to be… I felt her spirit leave me that night. She congealed into a misty wraith for a second and I felt an icy brush against my lips, then she was gone, only soft words fading in the wind, so soft I may have imagined them. "I love you husband… we shall be together soon."

        She was gone from me, but she had left her imprint. She had left me a warrior. I finally understand how honour captivated her so, when to me it was merely a word. Her last words gave me hope, and I began to search for every tidbit of information I could find on the woman I had fought that night, Lieutenant Lucretia Noin, graduate of the Victoria Military Academy, second only to Zechs Marquise, whom she worships and adores. Everything about her screams Meiran. I'm sure that's what Meiran ment… but… she's my enemy. As much as my bleeding heart ("I don't fight weaklings and bleeding hearts") longs for it, I cannot betray my cause. Maybe, in the future… we will fight together. But now, for now, I grieve alone.