be more philosophical. If Leon's OOC, it's all my fault. Sorry.
The lyrics are from "Voodoo" by Godsmack and Leon's song quote is from "Paranoid" by
Tantric.
Enjoy.
"Oh, dear..." D murmured. With wide eyes he stared at the nondescript building from
which music poured out of in strains. The only thing marking it was a blue neon sign
glaring the world 'Twilight'.
"Okay, okay, so it's not exactly a club... more like a popular bar with a dance floor. Wait,
that is a club... eh, whatever," Leon said.
"Detective, I do not think this will work..." D said, give the building a once-over.
"Hey, don't knock it to you try it, ya know? C'mon, if you don't like it, we'll leave. Fair
enough?" D didn't answer. "Look, I'm goin' in, Count. Come with me or wait in the car."
D knew for a fact that Leon only ever called him Count when he was ticked with him.
Although very tempted to stay in the car and try to meditate, he knew it would be
impossible. Also, if he didn't keep Leon from drowning his sorrows in drink they would be
stuck here, for there was no way he would let Leon drive. Resigning himself to his fate
(yet again), he hurried across the street to catch up with Leon.
"Changed your mind?" Leon said, when he noticed D walking beside him.
"You'll keep your word about leaving?"
"My word is one thing I don't break," Leon said as they approached the bouncer. There
was a long line of people waiting, but he didn't seem to notice. "Hey, Chuck."
"Well, well, well, look-it who 'tis, the detective. How goes it, Orcot?"
"SSDD, what else?"
"I hear ya. You and a friend? What's... ah... his name?"
"D," he said. D gave a slight incline and smiled. Chuck gave him a nod in return.
"What's he worth?"
"A freebie?"
"Two," Chuck said, holding up two fingers.
"You got two last time, and if I remember it right, you got one left over from that. So
one," Leon argued. Chuck thought about it. "Twenty bucks on the next office pool."
"Deal," Chuck said, moving the rope and letting them in much to the chagrine of everyone
in line.
"Detective, might I ask what just transpired? You did not just barter for me I hope," D
said as Leon guided him down a walkway and into the club itself.
"Yeah, but not the way you think. If I want to bring a friend along I have to convince
Chuck it's worth the risk, so I give him freebies and bets on the office pool." One look
told Leon that D wasn't following. "Chuck can be a bit rough when handling drunks,
much like myself. Now, sadly, a lot of yuppie assholes frequent this place as well as us
normal folk and they are sue-happy like you wouldn't believe. They get ordered out and
they feel like it's their moral duty to throw their weight-- and money-- around," he
explained. "Ah, here's a seat."
Leon had managed to snag a table on the first floor, a feat which made him grin like a
Cheshire cat on the inside. D noted that the music was loud, but since they were nearer to
the bar than the dance floor, it wasn't unbearable. He could still hear Leon, though the
blonde had to speak louder than even what was usual for him.
"Now," Leon said, continuing, "a freebie is when the case become mysteriously lost. As
long as there's no real proof of damage done other than to said yuppie's pride, the case is
usually thrown out of court anyhow. This way we save the state and the taxpayers some
cash."
"But this is out of your precinct's boundaries, is it not?" D inquired.
"I got a distant cousin who works in this one. Not real close, but I saved his ass one time
and let's just say he's working off the debt."
"You make people pay for your help?" D couldn't help the venom that leaked into his
voice.
"I didn't mean like that. I took the fall for him one time because while he was innocent,
nobody believed him. Nearly cost me my job," Leon said, going on the defense. "And the
working off the debt was his idea, not mine."
"Indeed," D said, but he doubt Leon heard him. A pair of young women walked by,
distracting the detective and giving D the opportunity to survey the crowd.
It was an ecletic mix. Some people wore fancy, top-of-the-designer-line dresses, others
looked like they had just gotten off work. Neither he nor Leon stood out, as several others
he could see wore the jeans and a t-shirt combination, and for that D was thankful. While
his cheongsams may have seemed attention-grabbing to Leon, they were actually rather
common in Chinatown. Normally he wouldn't have minded standing out, but that incident
from earlier reminded him that these people didn't who or what he was and had no respect
for him at all. Not all were like this, Charlene being a good example, but D didn't want to
take any chances. He did heal fast if anything did come up, but prevention was what he
was aiming for.
"Want a drink?" Leon asked. D shook his head. Leon left to get one of his own,
apparently. D seriously hoped it wasn't alcoholic.
"Hey, handsome," a girl said. It took D a moment to realize that she was speaking to him.
He smiled.
"Hello." The girl raised an eyebrow. She was blonde and had her hair pulled up in some
intricate fashion. She wore a shining iridescent dress that was cut about inch too short.
"My, what intriguing eyes," she said. "Care to dance, stranger?"
"No, but thank you," D replied. She pouted, but he said no more, and she left.
"Why didn't you dance with her?" Leon said, sitting down. D glanced at his drink, but it
appeared harmless. "Don't like the music or was it her?"
"The music is..." D searched for a word that described the driving beat that was behind
most of it so far. "It is... interesting. Certainly not what I am used to. And I was not what
she was looking for."
"Fine, don't tell me. But hot damn was she smokin'!" he said. This time D didn't resist the
urge to roll his eyes. Some days he wondered how the detective ever managed to get a
date with anyone. "Try it."
"Try what?"
"Dancing. You don't have to be with a girl, just go dance." D quirked an eyebrow at this,
but said nothing. "What, can't you dance?" Leon asked with a smirk.
"I can dance very well, Detective, however I am sure it's nothing you would know about,"
D replied in his usual teasing tone. Sure enough, he saw Leon's temper arise.
"Oh, yeah? Prove it."
"I have no need to prove it to you. You can believe me or not, that is your decision," he
said. Leon glared and D smiled.
"I will withhold all sugar from you."
"Please, I do not need you to feed me, I'll have you know," D said.
"I have a relative that works at an European-based chocolate factory upstate. I'm sure I
can get you the chocolate for half price."
D eyed him warily. "The chocolate?" he asked. Leon nodded. "How much will I get?"
"Depends, but I can guarantee you a cake box," Leon said. D felt like crying with joy. To
hell with pride and teasing the detective, he could lay his hands on not just any chocolate,
but the chocolate!
"You would not lie to me, would you?"
"Why would I? It's like I could get away with it Mr.-I-See-All."
"Very well," D said, calmly standing up and walking over to the dance floor. Inside,
though, he was doing somersaults with joy.
Just as he arrived the song change and became haunted and entrancing. He did know how
to dance, but he doubted it was anything Leon or any other person here knew about.
Instead, he just left himself move with music, letting it guide him. Soon, he was lost in the
song...
MISSING WORDS
Leon could see D from where he sat. He knew this song, but D probably didn't, so he
must be making everything up as he went along. The mysterious Count hadn't been
kidding; he could indeed dance, and Leon wasn't the only one noticing it. For some
reason, the detective thought, this song seemed to fit D in an odd way. Charming warmth
and frozenly lethal all rolled into one different eye-colored package.
MISSING WORDS
By the time the song ended, a good half of the club's eyes were on D. When the song
changed to something completely different, the apparent spell was broken and D "woke
up". He walked back over and sat down as if nothing had happen. He gave a side glance
to Leon.
"Next weekend would be a splendid time for the chocolate to arrive," he said. Leon
swallowed hard. He hadn't lied to D, he did have a relative that worked there, but they
hadn't spoken since... well, since his mom had died almost eight years ago. This wasn't
going to be easy.
"You got it," Leon said, managing a smile, but D's eyes were closed, lost in the music
again.
How long they were there, D honestly didn't know, but once again he was surprised to
find that he didn't want to leave. Of course he longed to go home and visit with his
animals, but he also wanted to remain. It wasn't often that he socialized with others,
despite what Leon thought, and it was a chance to both get out and spend time with the
detective.
Oh, did Leon ever infuriate him! Intrigued him as well. His eyes worked on nearly
everyone (provided they were sober), but the detective was one of the very few who it did
not. As far as D could see, there was nothing exceptional that stood out that should make
it so. Usually those who did were either of great mental capacity or knew about him and
knew a trick or two to dodge his abilities. Obviously Leon was not of the first order, but
neither could he be of the second. Those who knew the truth had to believe it, and if they
believed it then they would see his pets' true forms. Leon did not, unless he was
completely smashed from alcohol. Perhaps some inhibition kept him from seeing while
sober? Why was he so resistant to believing? Why did he keep coming back to the pet
shop to try and pin some murder or other disaster on D, when he obviously knew that it
wasn't possible? And why, oh, why, did he keep calling D his friend?
All these questions were beginning to make D's head hurt. Either that or the pounding
music was finally getting to him. He wondered if he could blame it on the horrible pick-up
lines Leon had been using left and right. The Tennessee one nearly made him want to take
Leon's glass and through it right at him, but it probably wouldn't have the same effect as a
teacup.
"Detective, you are horrid at dating," D commented after Leon's last futile attempt. Leon
shrugged.
"Ah, no harm, no foul. These girls don't know what they're missin' out on!" he said,
leering at one or two. They ignored him. "Pfft, forget them."
I'm sure they have already forgotten you, D thought. Instead, he said, "My dear detective,
sometimes you make me wonder."
"Wonder what?"
"Whether or not you have a mind beyond that in your pants at all."
"Hey, I got a brain, ya know," he said, pointing to his head. "You don't make it to
detective without any wits."
"And yet you have no wit," D said dryly.
"Just wait and say that when I finally haul your skinny ass to jail!"
"We shall see."
Leon glowered, but decided to get another drink. D was curious as to what he was
drinking, but didn't ask. Whatever it was, it was making the detective even more energetic
and gittery than usual. When he came back, he had nothing.
"C'mon, let's get out of here," he said, glancing over his shoulder. D followed the look
but saw no one standing out. He stood and left with Leon anyhow, remaining silent until
they were in the car.
"May I inquire as to our quick departure?" he asked, knowing his tone would annoy the
blonde.
"Ex-girlfriend sighting, and this one is particularly bitchy," Leon said, mentally adding that
it was the one who had given him the shirt that D was now wearing.
"Language," D scolded without much enthusiasm. They drove in silence until reaching the
bridge. The lanes were packed with traffic; it looked like an accident had occurred.
"Shit," Leon said. He rested his forehead on the steering wheel for a moment, then sat
back. He checked his watch and looked around. Finally, he looked at D. "Up for one more
trip?"
"Another club?" Leon shook his head. "You are driving, Detective. Where you take us is
your decision, not mine."
"Fine," Leon said, sighing and jamming the car into reverse. Backing up, then doing a
U-turn, he soon had them cruising in the other direction. He turned off the main road onto
a side street that led them down to near the docks. He stopped the car when the street
turned to dirt. "C'mon," he said, getting out. "Follow me."
Perplexed by the detective's actions and attitude, D followed quietly. He wasn't sure how
Leon was picking his way through the rock and rubble in the dark, but however he was
doing it he seemed to know exactly where he was going. About ten minutes later they
were at the base of some sort of cliff. It wasn't natural, that much D could tell. A fallen
down building, perhaps?
Leon began climbing the "face" of whatever it was, so D had no choice but to follow. In
truth, he could make the entire climb in two great leaps, but he dared not do that in front
of Leon, especially in the mood he was in now. So up he went, pretending to the good
little human most thought him to be. He was almost to the top when he saw a hand
appear. Looking up, he saw Leon leaning over the edge, offering a hand to help him up.
He took it and was hauled up, not roughly, but not all too gently either.
"Here we are," Leon said with a great sigh.
D turned and looked over the edge and nearly gasped at the view. From where they stood
the bay was quite visible, and on a clear night like this the stars reflected on the water,
intermingling with the lights from the city itself. He could see the bridge in the distance.
Here there was no light from fixtures or any other artificial source, making the darkness
that more real.
"It's wonderful," D whispered. Leon said nothing, merely sat down on nearby boulder.
"Sit," he ordered, and D complied, sitting down beside him.
"What is this place?" he asked quietly. Leon took a moment to answer.
"I come here to think sometimes. Found it in my first year as a cop. There was a murder
over there," he said, nodding behind him and to the left, "and I was stuck here helping the
clean-up crew. Night fell and I looked out... and this was here. Haven't brought anyone
else out here before."
"I feel honored," D said. Leon stayed silent and several minutes went by.
"Leon...? What is wrong?" D asked. It was obvious something was wrong, and D
wondered if it had anything to do with his 'psych leave'. He wanted to talk about it, or
else he wouldn't have brought D out here.
Leon took a deep breath and let it out before answering. "Everything, D. I feel like it's all
falling apart at the seams. I told you what happened with the woman and her baby. It
wasn't just because of that that the doc gave me leave. I knew them, D. They lived down
the hall from me. She was a single mom; in college for cryin' out loud. The father beat it
out of town before the kid was even born. I mean, what asshole abandons his unborn child
and the mother like that? And it's not like he didn't know-- I could hear their fights in my
apartment, as did everyone else on the floor. It took every ounce of self-control I had not
to go down there and beat the shit out of the guy. Everyone on the floor helped her out,
since her parents had died and she was on her own. Hell, I'm the one that called the
ambulance when Mrs. Shaker knocked and said she was in labor."
D didn't know what to say. He doubted any words would be comforting, so he let Leon
just talk. That itself could heal many things, or at least lessen the burden of bearing them
so often.
"And it's not just that. The capt'n has been on my case for a few weeks now, ridin' me
about this or that shit. Jill, too. Don't get me wrong, she's definitely helpful, but lately
she's been on some kind of PMS from hell and is out to destroy any guy that crosses her
path, including me, and I didn't even do anything for once. On top of all that, I'm goin'
for broke-- literally--, I haven't had a date in months, my family is driving me off the deep
end about going to New York, my only friend isn't even human and a suspect, and I'm
getting dumped with weird-ass cases every fucking week."
D would've felt a twinge of guilt at the last comment, but he didn't even hear it. His only
friend... isn't even human? Could he... but how? How could he know?
"I'm guessing by your silence you caught what I said. No, I have no fucking clue what you
are, but I know you ain't human. You can't be. And to be honest, D, I really don't give a
flying fuck," he said. "Fits in nice and neat with all the other warped shit that is my life."
"I will not deny what you say. You are correct; I am not human," D said. "And about
everything else... I do not know what to tell you."
"What, you mean that the infamously wise Count D is speechless?" Leon said, for a
moment almost back to his usual self. "Well, damn, call Ripley's." He paused. "On second
thought, forget that. I doubt even they'd believe all this bizarre shit."
"You humans never truly cease to astound me," D said. Leon looked at him curiously.
"Even when you are feeling the most hopeless, you still manage to humor yourselves.
Never is there only one emotion for you; you are always a concoction of several.
Sometimes you are driven to go on merely because of your emotions, and other times
those same emotions destroy you. You can be as vicious and feral as any of the creatures
of earth or as reserved and intelligent as any of my kind."
"Yeah, we are a wacked-out bunch, aren't we?"
"Indeed, maybe that's why my pets love humans so much."
"Like that lizard killing herself?"
"Yes," D said. There was another pause.
"I wouldn't say I'm hopeless, D, just disillusioned. Like I told Chuck, SSDD."
"And that is?" D asked.
"Same shit, different day," Leon replied. D smiled despite the language.
"An accurate, if coarse description."
"Understatement of the fucking year," Leon muttered. "I just don't know where I go from
here. I love my job and wouldn't give it up for the world, but it's making me want to jump
out the nearest window lately. Like the song goes, 'Why bleed for the wicked if the
wicked don't bleed for me'."
"Because, Leon, you care about others. The loyalty you show to your fellow human
beings is admirable, even to my kind. I have been around a long time and I can tell you
that such loyalty isn't often shown. You would willing sacrifice yourself for another to
protect them-- that is why you became an officer of the law, is it not?"
"Yeah. Back then I thought I could take on the world. Now... I can barely handle San
Francisco," Leon said. He looked at D. "So just how old are you?"
"Ah, my dear detective, it isn't nice to ask one's age," D replied, smirk in place. To his
surprise (yet again), Leon laughed.
"Yeah, I s'pose not. So just what are you? Can you answer that?"
"I thought you didn't care."
"I meant I didn't care if you were human or not, I'll still drag you off to jail," Leon
retorted. It was D's turn to laugh.
"You can try, Detective. But to answer your question, I am... ah... how should I put it? A
kami, so to speak, but not a god in the way you think of it. Think of me more as an... earth
spirit, you could say," D said.
"Well, that explains you and your damn pets," Leon said. "What about the eyes? Earth
spirit related?"
"That's a secret, Detective," D said.
Leon gave a slight glare, but only said, "Ignorance is bliss."
"So it would seem."
"Any other advice, O Wise One? Like you said, you've been around a long time. Gotta
have something useful locked away in that sneaky mind of yours," Leon said, tapping his
own head for emphasis.
"Simply this: take one day at a time," D told him.
"What, that's it? No light effects? No drums in the background? No godly appearances?"
"Often, Detective, the most complicated problems have simplest answers." Leon stared at
him for a minute, thinking it over, then turned to face the view.
"And the simplest ones have the complicated answers, right?" D merely smiled. "Problem
is, D, I don't what's what or what to believe any more. I never gave much thought to God
or any other supernatural being, but here I am talking to you. I always thought everything
was just black and white, right and wrong, cut and dry. Now... everything just seems like
chaos. No rhyme, no reason, just complete chaos."
"That's one problem all you humans have," D said.
"What?"
"You try to control everything. Life, death, good, bad... you always have to be in control.
You can't force nature or anything else to be what it's not. There's a balance to it all.
Remember the dream at the museum? The tiger and her cubs? That is the balance."
Leon thought about that for a moment. The Count had a point, he knew, which wasn't
surprising. Hell, even now his mind was telling him that none of this could be real, that D
had to be human, but he knew better. D had never lied outright before, so why would he
now? Truth was, he being an earth spirit made a lot of things make more sense. Leon
wondered...
"D, does being an earth spirit mean you're connected to nature?" D felt a bit surprised that
Leon made the connection, but probably knew he shouldn't. The detective was certainly
inquisitive and despite appearance it looked like most things didn't escape his attention.
"Yes."
"So is it like the idea with fairies that if you didn't believe in them, they didn't exist?"
"Similar, Detective. My existence depends upon nature, not belief. If nature dies, I die. My
father, my sister, my grandfather, and all the others would die."
"No wonder you got upset in that dream," Leon said, "but I still stand by what I said. I
wouldn't have stood by and watched you get killed. Can you even be killed? Eh,
whatever, too much for my brain to handle. But I gotta ask-- wouldn't your trying to stop
the destruction of nature be that control you accused me and the rest of the human race
of?"
"Sometimes nature can't maintain the balance herself and needs a little help," D replied.
"In other words, it's okay for you to do it, but not us?" Leon growled. "What the hell is
that?"
"The difference, Detective, is that my kind know when to act and when not to; you
humans rarely have such an ability."
"So you're back to tellin' me that I shouldn't try to control everything? By me and
everyone else trying to control it all, nature's balance is thrown off, right?" Ah, D thought,
he made the connection. Perhaps I should have more faith in him. "I know if I can do
that, D. I just can't sit on the sidelines and let people get killed or watch bad things happen
and not try to do anything about it. I became a cop to help and protect people, and,
damnit, that's what I'm going to do. I get what you're saying, but I can't do it."
"I never expected you to. One of your famous men once said, 'You may never know what
results will come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.' You are
what you are, Leon. A human, and you cannot be anything but that. If you and the rest of
mankind did not try control everything, then there would be no use for my existence. My
kind exist because you do. Everything is a balance. You understand, and that's more than
most can say."
"So what I am supposed to do? We can talk philosophy all night long, but that doesn't
change the fact that I have to face the world tomorrow and I'm not sure I can do it. It's
great that I understand, but where does that get me? The world is an ugly place, D-- you
can't deny that. I see it with my own eyes everyday. It all seems pointless. I know it's not,
but I can't help but feel that it is," Leon said, sighing deeply. He felt a hundred years old.
"Even though you are young, you are battle weary, Leon. You've seen more than most
men do in a lifetime, and it's a hard burden to bear. You've done things you're not proud
of and it makes you feel like you're not as worthy to be who and what you are," D said.
"You sound like you're talking from experience."
"More than you'll ever know, Detective. But if there is ever anything your kind possesses
that cannot be denied by anyone as great, then it is your ability to endure. Time and time
again mankind should have become extinct, but against all odds you have survived and
endured the greatest of hardships. You may be just a human, but you have more power
within you than you will ever truly know," D said. "As I said earlier, take one day at a
time."
"You know, I've always tried to live each day like it's my last, because let's face it-- it just
might be. Live in the moment and all that. Now I'm thinking that maybe I had the right
idea all along."
"No harm, no foul," D said, quoting Leon. Leon smiled.
"Yeah."
They had remained at the lookout for some time after that, before realizing how late it
was. The ride home had been silent, but a peaceful silence. They arrived at the pet shop
just before midnight.
"It was, in spite of my hesitations, a wonderful evening, Detective. I thank you for inviting
me," D said, standing at the door to his shop.
"Eh, I probably should be thanking you, though considering how much I apologized
tonight I'd only further ruin my reputation if I did," Leon said, waiving it off.
"Oh, and what reputation would that be?" D said, teasing. This was really starting to
become a bad habit with him.
"The best damn detective in all of San Fran!" Leon replied without missing a beat. He
grew a bit somber. "It was a hell of night, D, but I'm glad you were there."
"As was I," D said, noticing the discomfort the detective had about admitting that. "And
you're welcome." Leon nodded and started up the steps when D realized he was still
wearing the t-shirt and jeans. "Detective, your clothes!"
"Keep 'em. Who knows, maybe you'll change your mind and start wearing normal
clothes!" he said without stopping.
"I do!" D replied, but Leon had already reached his car and gotten in. D sighed for what
seemed like the hundredth time that night and went inside his shop.
That detective! He was so infuriating! But, even with all his bad qualities, he had some
redeeming ones as well. He was certainly an asset to mankind, and a prime example of
both the good and the bad of the species.
D was Leon's only friend, as the detective had said, and, if he didn't count his pets, Leon
was his. Never before had a human been so laid-back and forthcoming with him, and if he
was to be honest with himself... he truly didn't mind it.
Much.
A/N: The end. That was certainly a weird trip! I still don't know how I got from there to
here, but I did and here it is.
How did Leon know what D was? I gave him credit for having more brains than he acts
like has. I tried to keep him as close to "canon" as possible, but with him spouting
philosophical questions, that's not exactly easy. D, too.
Anyhow, here it is. Take it or leave it, it's up to you. Please review if you can.