A/N: I've just realized...that I started out with Sirius, Cyrus, and Rufus...and now I have Sirius, Remus, and Cyrus. Um. How did that happen? Okay, let me get this straight: Sirius = the leader, Remus = the nice, errand-boy one, Cyrus = the violent one. Yeah, sorry about that. I wrote this entire chapter out and then I realized that they weren't the same...and I did it in the last chapter, too. Sorry for any confusion, I know I made Cyrus two different people, but it's fixed now, right? O.o' Anyways, I hope you like this *last* chapter of SV! Yup, it's the last chapter. Well, I hope you guys like. R/R!
And I Would Give Up Forever For You
The flames leapt higher and higher, and Matt was half-afraid of entering when the house clearly wasn't built to withstand such harsh treatment, but the thought of Taichi trapped within its fiery walls drove him on, and he found himself charging down the lawn along with Sirius, Joe, and Iori. They dashed into the house and Matt quickly took in the sights.
He saw the faces of the elders, all much changed now, all humor and happiness having been sucked from their expressions. They were illuminated with an orange glow, from the reflection of the flames, and he'd never seen them so furious in all of his life. He was used to the elders that gathered the young ones for dancing around a bonfire until sunrise, summoned the adults for wild parties that only they could throw perfectly, and yet remain respected, wise, fair, and even mature, when they had to be.
The people he saw fighting in the name of their town, and not for a child they must look after, but for a friend, suddenly appeared older than their usual late teens-early twenties appearances. He felt so much younger and less experienced compared to these strong, brave people, but then he remembered where he was and ran forward to help them fight the enemy.
He was automatically attacked by a smaller, younger-looking vampire, who he quickly knocked down with a fierce uppercut that snapped his head back so hard that Matt heard a crack. As he fought, he kept an eye out for the elders, though he didn't think they'd be needing any help.
He saw a glimpse of Ikarus, pummeling his fists into a Fang male's stomach, grinning in triumph despite the blood running down his face from a gash on his forehead. He saw Remus, surprisingly untouched, but he noticed that, while Remus wasn't strong or muscular, he was thin and wiry, making him very agile. He easily dodged punches and tired his enemy out, and sometimes he even did things that Matt only ever saw in cartoons when he was younger - such as duck while two were throwing punches, making the two hit each other instead of him. He would have laughed, had he been in a different situation. He didn't need to check on Cyrus - no doubt, he was taking on two or three at a time, and beating their heads into the cement hard enough to leave a permanent dent. Jyou and Iori were back-to-back, fighting two at a time, a good team.
He looked towards the corner and he almost faltered in his steps. There was Sora, standing over a body lying on the floor, protecting it. He recognized the body immediately. It was Taichi, and he wasn't moving. He beat the person he was fighting at the moment and made his way towards her. She saw him coming and moved aside to let him stand beside her. Matt was a bit afraid to look at Taichi - what if he was burned? He chanced a glance. No, Taichi wasn't burned, but his shirt was very bloody, like he had a chest wound.
Matt instantly was filled with fury. They had hurt his mate. No one was allowed to touch his mate and get away with it. He turned on the Fangs, heard himself yell a sort of battle cry, and leapt onto the nearest Fang. Unfortunately, this particular Fang was huge. He was easily thrown off and the Fang began beating on him. He lay on the floor and absorbed the punches. He tried to get a punch in when he saw a weakness, but there weren't many. He gasped for breath and coughed, and warm liquid spurted out of his mouth. Suddenly, the weight was removed from his chest, and he was forcefully dragged to his feet. His vision cleared and he saw Sirius, standing with one arm around him and one out, ready to defend from an attack.
Sirius looked at him. "You alright?"
Matt nodded and wiped his mouth. He looked at his arm, and saw it was streaked with red. He wiped his mouth again, in surprise, and looked at his bloody fingers.
"You had better hope they didn't knock a tooth loose," Sirius told him, smirking, and then Sirius let him go and turned back to a fighting stance.
Matt watched as, just before his eyes, Sirius scissors-kicked a guy in the jaw and the guy's head snapped back with a sickening crunch and fell backwards onto the floor, immobilized. 'Whoa,' Matt thought, 'that was fucking cool.'
He snapped out of it when he saw the flash of silver. A Fang was approaching fast, a knife clutched tightly in his fist. Matt felt his blood run cold. A silver knife. If that thing ran into his heart...he'd die instantly.
Sirius saw it, also, and quickly moved in front of Matt. The Fang pounced onto him and Sirius kicked backwards, sending Matt flying against the wall. Matt shook his head, dizzily wondering why Sirius kicked him, but then he realized Sirius didn't want him anywhere in stabbing range, and he felt a surge of warmth towards the elder. He was always looking out for him, always protecting him...why?
The Fang descended on Sirius and the black-haired beauty stood ready, feet planted apart, holding his fists up, and extending two fingers. He crooked the fingers towards himself, as if saying, "Bring it on."
Sirius reached up and grabbed a hold of the Fang's arms, holding them back. He brought his knee up, aiming for the Fang's groin, but the Fang saw his move and leapt backwards. Before Matt could even blink, the Fang hurled himself forward and seemed to hug Sirius with one arm. Sirius frantically tried to wrestle himself free without too much struggle, fearing that knife, but suddenly Sirius stopped moving and stood stone still, lifting his head up to look over the Fang's shoulder.
Matt felt his heart stop first, and then the cold-sickness washing over his body. He watched as the Fang seemed to need effort to pulled back away from Sirius, and a gout of blood spilled onto the floor as Sirius automatically fell to his knees. Matt screamed something unintelligible and ran forward.
The rest of the elders seemed to have known what had just happened and Matt found himself dropping to the floor beside Sirius along with Remus and Cyrus as Ikarus, Jyou, and Iori gathered in a circle around them to protect them. Matt watched helplessly as Remus frantically yanked his shirt off and tried to tie it tightly around Sirius's middle. Matt saw a glimpse of a sort of deep gash in the center of Sirius's chest - it wasn't in the heart, but it was dangerously close. Remus and Cyrus helped Sirius to his feet just as a piece of the flaming timber above their heads crashed onto the floor beside them, crushing a Fang under it.
"We've got to get out of here!" Remus yelled, and he began making his way towards the door. Matt noticed that all of the Fangs had already gotten the hell out of there, fearing the building's collapse, and he ran to Sora's side to help her carry Taichi. They got out of the house just as the roof caved in, and then they set off at a dead run to the safe house.
They only stayed there for a while, because Sirius urged them to continue on to home, not wanting to stay the night in enemy territory. They automatically saw the point in that, knowing that someone could have seen them running back towards the safe house, and they began the trip back home.
~ ~ ~ ~
Daisuke stood outside, shifting from foot to foot apprehensively. He knew that they would be returning soon - he could feel it - and Takeru and Ken had been going back inside and coming back outside again and again for the past half hour.
He paused, stopping his movements, and he peered out in the darkness and thought he saw figures moving in the distance. He continued to watch for a moment more to confirm it, and then took off running towards the figures, knowing it was them. Takeru and Ken saw him take off and ran after him, both smiling widely at seeing them returning okay. Their smiles wavered after a while, though - one of them was being carried in the arms of another, and another was limping weakly, held up by two others.
They ran faster, and soon they could make out the figures to be their friends. Daisuke froze in his steps and gasped. He watched as Matt slowly walked towards him, carrying Taichi in his arms.
Soon, Matt was standing before Daisuke, with Taichi held suspended in between them. Daisuke reached up and gently ran his fingertips down the side of Taichi's face, and he felt his eyes tear up.
"Is he...?"
"No, he's still alive, but barely. We have to get him into the house and in bed, to rest."
Daisuke nodded and looked towards the others, and gasped yet again when he saw Sirius being held up by Remus and Cyrus, who looked stricken and helpless, which was awfully bad for Cyrus.
He followed them all inside and they went to the second floor of the office, where Sirius, Remus, and Cyrus all lived. They lay Taichi in the guest bed and helped Sirius get settled in his own bed.
Jyou, who had been studying to be a doctor before he became a vampire, took a look at both Sirius's and Taichi's chest wounds, and found that Taichi hadn't been stabbed, only cut, and he'd been knocked out from being beaten so savagely and losing too much blood. Sirius, however, was stabbed, and stabbed deeply. Jyou said that since he didn't know what type of silver the knife was made of, he couldn't say what would happen to Sirius, or how bad it was. He said that if it was plain silver, then Sirius would heal, though over time, and he'd always have a scar, but if it was bewitched, or a special type of silver, then he could be poisoned.
The news was unsettling, but at least they now knew what to expect, and they set about getting as much blood for Taichi as they could gather, since he had lost a good deal more blood than Sirius had. Sirius kept losing and regaining consciousness, but, being the stubborn person he was, always refused "being babied", as he called it.
Eventually, he allowed Remus to feed him, after failing many attempts at holding the spoon steady and not dropping the food all over his face, pillow, neck, or chest. Taichi was hooked up to a machine that was giving him blood, and Daisuke and Matt stayed by his side when they weren't running errands or visiting Sirius or Koushirou, who demanded updates on what was going on all the time.
Koushirou was overjoyed at the news of Taichi's return, though dismayed at the fact that both Taichi and Sirius were wounded and in bed.
"Bed just isn't the place for tough guys like them," he'd said to them.
One afternoon, Matt was sitting in the bathroom, looking at Taichi, who was laying propped up in the bathtub. He had been washing the dried blood and dirt out of Taichi's hair and off of his skin, and now Taichi was soaking in fresh, clean water, because Ikarus had said it would do him good to get himself hydrated again, or something like that.
Matt lowered his gaze to his hands, which were playing with a piece of string he'd found on the table. Lately, his hands had been restless. Taichi had been knocked out for the past five days, and Sirius was showing no sign of recovery.
He sighed, not in defeat, but from how tired he was. He'd been under a lot of stress ever since the night Taichi had fled, and even Taichi being safe and sound back home with him didn't seem to calm Matt's nerves. He felt a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, and he thought idly if perhaps the feeling was foreshadowing something bad that might happen soon. He hoped he was wrong.
Suddenly, he heard the sounds of the water being swished around, and he looked up to see Taichi sitting up straight and opening his eyes slightly.
He leapt to his feet. "Taichi?!"
"Matt...turn the light off."
Matt immediately turned around and flicked the light switch off, and then whirled around again, walking to his lover's side and bending down so he could be level with Taichi.
"Tai, how do you feel?"
"I'm...starving."
Matt sprinted to the door and stuck his head out.
"Hey, he's awake! Tai's awake! Oh, he's hungry, get something!"
He heard something that sounded like a chair falling over and doors flew open. Daisuke sprinted down the hall, arms waving wildly, and a huge, genuine, excited grin on his face that Matt hadn't seen in a long time.
Daisuke turned into the room and ran to Taichi.
"Tai! You're awake! Oh, man, Tai, I've been so worried, we all have-"
"We?" Tai asked groggily, staring at Daisuke as if he was insane. "What are you talking about? Where am I? What happened? And why am I in a freaking bathtub?"
Daisuke hugged Taichi tightly. "You ran away, Tai. Remember that?"
Something flickered in Tai's eyes and he looked at Daisuke, staring at him.
"Oh...the house. I stayed in the house, but then some Fangs ran in and started attacking me, and they were too many for me to fight alone. I think one of them set fire to the house..." He looked around. "Is this the house?"
"No, this is Sirius's house. You know, the second floor of the office?"
Ikarus waited until Daisuke and Matt had walked Tai to the guest bedroom and laid him down, and then set a pitcher of blood on Taichi's lap.
"Don't you dare chug it," he warned the brunette, who grinned back and began sipping at the warm, thick liquid.
Daisuke sat down with Tai to fill him in about everything that had happened, after he was knocked out, and helping Tai fill in any blank parts that he couldn't remember.
Matt went to go visit Sirius in his room, and Sirius asked Remus and Cyrus to leave them alone, since he'd been meaning to tell Matt something.
Matt pulled a chair up to Sirius's bedside, and leant in to listen to him.
"Tai's awake?"
He nodded, and Sirius smiled. "Good. I was worrying, but I knew he'd make it through."
Matt smiled and rubbed his arm, staring at the floor. "Hey, um, thanks."
Sirius smiled even wider, knowing what Matt meant. Matt went on, "For everything. Saving my life, helping me get Tai back, always being there to give advice and listen to me..."
"No problemo," Sirius responded, but it didn't sound like Sirius anymore. His voice was weaker, and more frail. In fact, it wasn't much more than a whisper.
"I've been meaning to tell you about something that happened to us, a long time ago. Us meaning Remus, Cyrus, and I, that is. When we were younger, Cyrus ran away from *our* very first leader-choosing-procession thingy. You know, someone should name those things. Anyways, we didn't see him for two whole months, but when we did, we were closer than ever."
Sirius laughed a bit at Matt's wide eyes and shocked expression. "Cy ran away from you guys, too?"
"Yes, but he came back. We didn't go looking for him because he'd be pissed off at us if we did, and besides, we had faith in him. We knew he'd come back on his own; just needed to have some free time to himself. We redid the procession, and this time, no one ran away." Sirius laughed slightly.
They remained silent for awhile, and then Sirius smiled warmly and reached out to touch Matt's hand. He found a grip on Matt's hand, and Matt gripped back, though gently, and looked straight at Sirius, sensing it was imperative to listen to what he had to say next.
"Taichi totally respects you as a leader, you know, Matt. I could sense it, even while he was feral, and these past few nights, he'd been going through hell willing himself not to run back to you. He loves both you and Daisuke more than anything in the world." Sirius tilted his head to the side slightly and smirked to himself. "But, then again, who wouldn't? You're a great person, Matt, and I think you're the best leader I've seen in the past thousand years. Tai'd have to be blind and deaf not to love you, Matt, and even then, I'm sure your touch would move him."
Matt blushed a good deal and lowered his head to try and hide it. "Thanks," he mumbled, knowing it was a very weak response to something so great. Sirius seemed to accept it, though, the way he accepted everyone and everything.
"Matt?"
He glanced up at Sirius, who looked more serious now.
"I'd love for you to succeed me in ruling the Southside."
Matt's eyes widened. He pointed at himself. "Who, me? Are you kidding? Me, take your place? You have awfully huge shoes to fill, Sirius."
"I think you could handle it," Sirius said confidently, and smirked. "Dai could fill in for Remus, and I'm sure it would be Tai's pleasure to take Cyrus's job."
"Thank you so, so much," Matt said, feeling, yet again, that it wasn't a worthy response for everything Sirius was doing, had done, for him.
He was surprised to feel tears sliding down his cheeks. "You do too much for me," he shakingly accused Sirius.
Sirius laughed again, and his eyes shone with that mirth and fire that never left him.
"No, Matt. I don't do enough for you."
Matt shook his head in wonderment at this amazing, gorgeous person, and forgot all about how weak he was now. He'd never dare to think of Sirius as weak ever again. He hugged Sirius hard, and Sirius hugged back, smiling to himself.
Matt couldn't help but thinking Remus and Cyrus had to be the luckiest guys in the world. He'd always felt that Sirius was special, and that he was very lucky to have known him and met him in his lifetime.
~ ~ ~ ~
Tai was up and walking about normally in a few days. Soon, Cyrus was busy training Taichi to take his place, knowing that it wouldn't be long until the day came. Remus, Dai, and Matt spent their time in Sirius's room, sitting on his bed and talking to him, telling stories and jokes that had them keeling over in laughter.
They tried to ignore the fact that during his last checkup with Jyou, Sirius had shown signs of growing weaker, and they feared that Sirius might be poisoned. They hadn't told Sirius, having decided not to frighten him, but Matt knew that Sirius already knew. He saw it in his eyes when he looked into them. Sirius always knew the truth; it was pointless to lie to him, even if you weren't actually telling him a lie to his face. There was no hiding from Sirius. He was just way too damn perceptive of so many things that no one else noticed.
~ ~ ~ ~
Exactly two weeks after they had returned home, Sirius died. His heart stopped, and Jyou guessed that the poison had spread and gotten to it through his bloodstream. It had taken a bit longer because Sirius was a vampire, and therefore had a much better immune system, but in the end, Sirius still died.
Matt couldn't help but feel it was unfair that Sirius had to die. He stared out the window, watching Remus and Cyrus, with grave faces, digging in the backyard. They were going to give him a proper funeral, but Remus and Cyrus had insisted on digging the grave themselves.
As Matt pondered the person he'd known his entire life as the leader of the town, the one he could always turn to, and the great person that everyone respected and admired, he realized something that he should have known all along, but still shocked him when he thought about it. Sirius died saving *him*. If it weren't for Sirius pushing him back and fighting the Fang for him, Matt might have been the dead one. Matt wept all over again at that thought, even though he knew Sirius would hate it if Matt, or anyone else, had mourned his death.
He remembered all of the wonderful, smart, funny, and awe-inspiring things that Sirius had said to him or others.
~No problemo.~
Matt watched as Remus and Cyrus finally stopped digging and trudged back inside, and he slowly turned around to look at Sirius's bed. Soon, he'd be sleeping in that same bed, since he, Dai, and Tai would have to move into the office building to take their positions. Remus and Cyrus, having lost their leader, couldn't be in office anymore, and they were going to move away to find a new life together.
~Shibby, isn't it?~
Matt got to his feet and began walking out of the room and down the hall. The funeral would start soon. They were using a part of the office, not wanting to go anywhere near a funeral home, since the humans would freak out over certain aspects that would tell of a person's vampirism, such as the fact that their skins turns a white color. Literally white. Like the walls were, now that all of the pictures of Sirius, Remus, and Cyrus had been taken down for the move.
~Taichi totally respects you as a leader, you know, Matt.~
Matt walked into the room where a large group of people were gathered, sitting in rows of chairs, and Sirius was laying in a cherry casket with a ruby satin lining. Matt leant against the doorway and stared at the man in the casket, and he realized just how young he looked. Sirius could pass for a nineteen-year-old if he wished, and some people might think of him as twenty-one, while others might think of him as seventeen. He had that sort of look about him that never quite revealed his real age.
He walked down the aisle and knelt before the casket, staring down at the soft, pale face. He resisted the urge to open the eyes and take one last long look into the sea of deep blue that he would find there. He ran a hand through the silky black hair and trailed a finger down the strong jaw, and then leant down to rest his head on the chest.
~You're a great person, Matt, and I think you're the best leader I've seen in the past thousand years.~
They stood outside for the funeral. Matt half-expected it to start raining like in the movies and stories. It didn't rain, though. They stood outside around the grave and stared at the tombstone that Sora had spent the entire day carving. It looked beautiful. It was round at the top, medium-height, and had a beautiful looking angel's face and wings carved into the top, above his name and the date he was born and the day he died. Matt couldn't help but feel it was a bit ironic to have an angel on a vampire's headstone, but, thinking of Sirius and how much like an angel he himself seemed, he thought it fit perfectly.
~Tai'd have to be blind and deaf not to love you, Matt, and even then, I'm sure your touch would move him.~
Remus sobbed his heart out at the funeral, and it hurt Matt's ears to hear it. It wasn't that it was high-pitched, just that it sounded so sorrowful that you could almost feel the pain that was probably wracking Remus at the moment. Cyrus, who had never been one to show his feelings or weaknesses, had his arms crossed tightly and was hugging himself, staring at the grave through scrunched eyes that never ran out of tears, and he kept hiccupping. Ikarus and Sora were hugging each other like their lives depended on it, Ikarus staring at the grave with red, puffy eyes and a sort of rosy-cheeked pout, and Sora was crying in his arms, silently. Tai was hugging Daisuke tightly to his chest and they were both tearing a bit at the eyes, but neither had ever had the chance to be as close to Sirius as Matt had been. Matt, on the other hand, had sobbed all the previous night and morning, and now he merely had tears running down his face. He had tried to hold them back, knowing that Sirius wouldn't want to see tears, but he couldn't help it.
~No, Matt. I don't do enough for you.~
But he did. He did so much for Matt that he couldn't help but feel that he owed Sirius so much, and he felt a wave of sadness wash over him, knowing that he'd never be given the chance to pay Sirius back for everything that he had done. Every smile, every encouraging word, and every time his eyes lit up when he looked his way. Sirius had done more for him than anyone had in his life, and Matt would be eternally grateful. Sirius did everything he possibly could for Matt, Remus, Cyrus, and everyone he met, and expected nothing in return, and Matt knew how rare it was to find a genuine person like that. He knew he had to live up to Sirius's name, and he didn't think he'd be able to do it, but he felt a surge of pride at being chosen by Sirius to succeed him. He may not be as good as Sirius as a leader, but he'd try his very best to govern the Southside as well as Sirius would want him to.
Matt pulled a white flower from out of his pocket and gently tossed it onto Sirius's grave, and then he followed everyone else back inside the building. Sirius was gone, but there was something that Matt could save. He would slowly, but surely, take off where Sirius had left, saving the Southside from the Fangs, from cruelty, and keeping them from becoming as violent as the Northside. He would save the town, little by little, by keeping its inhabitants safe.
Just the way Sirius sacrificed his life for Matt, Matt would sacrifice his life for the next generation of elders. Someday, he was going to meet the one to succeed him, and someday, he was going to shower him with the attention Sirius gave him, and leave an impact on that kid's life, the way Sirius left an impact on Matt's, but for now, he was content to just wait for that day, take things one step at a time, the way Sirius himself did when he was just starting out.
~ ~ ~ ~
A/N: Whee! Okay, Southside Vampires is done. Uh...wow. I hope I don't get flamed by people who liked Sirius. Eh, but it did make the fic a bit better, didn't it? Well, I'm happy with the way it came out...so you all should be, too! So, review and tell me what you thought of this chapter, or, if you like, what you thought of the whole entire fic. I'll see you guys later! Hugs and kisses! ^-~
Ikky: Just glad you didn't kill me...
Yeah I thought of you dying instead of Sirius...but it would have made a better impact if Sirius died. BTW, people, in case you care, Ikarus was modeled after Ikky, my muse...(that's Ikky's real name).
Ikky: Gwah! O.o' Review, people, review.