Epilogue - Aftermath
A/N: I think I've come further than my Forgiveness days, what do you think? I got the original thing going, at least. I got a few reviews pointing out that I was basically retelling the movie in Forgiveness, which I set out not to do in this one. So now I wreck all of that and write another movie scene! But strangely enough, it didn't feel like I was rewriting this one. Does that show? Moon Child belongs to... I don't know. Not me, that's for sure. Who does Moon Child belong to?
He hadn't fed in nights. He tried to count exactly how many, but found that it was impossible. They ran into each other like water. Or blood. He closed his dark eyes in an attempt to dispel the thought. Not blood. He was tired, God he was so tired, and every night was the same. Full of memories and confusion and despair and pain as he resisted those sharp, vampire urges. To drink and continue this madness. To continue the fake imitation of life he had put together. He used to hate endings, when he was young and wanted happiness to go on forever. Was he paying for that now? Faced with the endlessness of this thing called 'immortality', he couldn't imagine a more gentle blessing than an ending to life. And they still want to live forever, he thought scornfully. Fools. They'll never learn. Of course not. To learn they'd have to become like him, and he wouldn't wish that upon anyone. But... but it wasn't quite endless, was it?
No. You left me, Luka. You wise old son of a bitch.
His hair hung long and filthy around his face, forming dark stripes across dull, half-closed eyes. Kei didn't know or care where he was, and too weak with hunger to do anything about it. He was sitting upright, sprawled against something, but it was pure coincidence that whatever was behind him formed a right angle with the floor. He could just as easily have been lying down, or found himself in some ridiculous position. It made no difference to a dead man. One leg was carelessly drawn up and one arm rested on something that may have been a box. Insects swarmed the dusty floor.
It was as good a place as any to die.
Any second now the sun would come up. He had become adept at reading the time of night by the feel of the air, the temperature and the different sounds. He'd crawled in here, too weak to walk, as soon as the silver moonlight teased and tormented him awake. It had been hours now, and the nights were warmer now with the coming of summer. But even the flies avoided him. They knew what he really was.
You had the right idea, Luka. I should have followed you then. You never let yourself get in such a pathetic state, and you blazed out like a star on the beach, next to your sea. A real romantic end. What would you think of me now? Did I fulfil your expectations?
There was a place where the roof of Kei's rough shelter had collapsed, and through it the sky eased from blue to grey, the colour that for years had been the last warning for him and Luka to seek shelter. They rarely left it so late. Kei made a point of looking at it now, opening his stiff eyelids to turn his eyes to the patch of light, pupils contracting. He defiantly held the sky's gaze until he was forced to blink, eyes watering painfully. He closed them again, allowing them to recover in the cool darkness behind his eyelids. That wuld be the last time he saw the sky that colour. He would have smiled, but he thought it inappropriate. Perfect composure. That was how Luka had done it.
Any minute now, he thought, satisfied suddenly. Any-
A small, deft hand reached out and touched his watch, shattering the mirror-perfect atmosphere.
Dark eyes snapped open.
-End-
Wow, you made it this far! I'm proud. Review please.