Howdy!
It's me again with another chapter, but before we get to that, I'm going to give my thanks to the people who reviewed.
Joseph Rosario- I am very happy you have enjoyed it so far :bows: Thank you for reviewing!
Karushna- :evil laugh: Sorry! I couldn't help it! Don't worry though: You'll find out what happens to Leon soon enough. Thank you for your review!
Wakaba- san- :huff, huff: I typed as fast as I could! Here you go! Thanks:passes out:
Alana-Star/SugarCat- Thanks for reviewing all my chapters! I'm truly honored by your caring to do so (even though you didn't have to) :smiles: Thanks again!
RavenShay- Many thanks for your review! That review got me working on the story again! (I've been getting a crapload of homework lately…:depressed sigh:…)
I would also like to thank my utterly fantastic Beta I Am Inu- Chan for beta-ing my story.
Luv you, girl friend!
Check out her stories!
I would also like to apologize for not updating sooner… Sorry.
Now, without further adieu, here's the next chapter.
Flowers and Mr. Detective: Aeternitas
Chapter Three: Transformation
Chris yelped in surprise as he spun around to meet his attacker.
'T- T- Chan?' Chris thought weakly to his friend.
"Chris! Whaddaya doing here? Do you know how many things in here will be happy to have you for a snack?" Tetsu exclaimed in an angrily annoyed manner, bonking poor Chris on his head.
Chris' eyes began to water immediately, and Tetsu's eyes widened as he tried to correct his mistake, but it was no use, and Chris began to cry.
"I just wanted to find Leon" he wailed, "But I can't find him! I knew I should had tried harder to stop him, and I knew I should have made him get a band-aid for his arm but I was so scared and even Count D's worried and- and-" But Chris could go no further, as he began to completely bawl.
Tetsu had never felt so guilty in his life, for it was, after all, partially his fault that the big oaf had gone into the back of the shop. Mainly the oaf's, but still.
Tetsu kneeled down to Chris' level and wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulders, in attempt to comfort him.
"Hey Chris" Testu said softly. "Hey, don't worry kiddo, we'll find him, no matter how long it takes."
The tears stopped. "We will?"
"Of course we will. When have I ever failed you before?"
Chris hiccupped and gave T- Chan a feeble smile, and Testu heaved an internal sigh of relief, reassured that the boy was not going to cry again.
Standing up and looking around, Testu's eyes came upon the four forks in the hallway. Chris' eyes followed.
"How are we going to find the right hallway?" Chris thought to T- Chan.
Tetsu smiled cockily and replied, "You seem to be forgetting that I'm a Totetsu, my dear lad. No watch and marvel at my superior tracking skills."
Chris giggled weakly.
Tetsu comically dropped to the floor and in a crawling position, began to sniff the ground. He closed his eyes and began sorting through the scents.
Chris, meanwhile, watched on in wonder.
'Okay', Tetsu began his contemplation. 'There are three sets of scents here. One of them is the incense, the other, his own, and the last is definitely Leon's (who else can smell like a walking cigarette around here?) as well as his blood (Tetsu felt another pang of guilt).
Tetsu continued his contemplation. 'The incense went through all four forks. I had gone through the first one on the left because it had the freshest scent, but then I doubled back and hid when I became aware of Chris' presence.'
Tetsu sniffed around the other three forks, just in case, which all had very faint scents ('The imbecile went everywhere and twice over how lost he was' Tetsu mused with a smirk) and concluded that he was correct in his first observation.
He stood up.
"Well, what are you waiting for, Whelp? I thought you were so eager to find that brother of yours!"
Chris smiled and saluted. "Where to, Captain?"
Before Tetsu had a chance to reply, an inhuman roar filled the air, stunning every creature in the compound into silence.
Chris was the first to recover, pulling on T- Chan's arm and yelling "Let's go! Leon's in trouble!"
Tetsu snapped out of it and leapt into action, throwing Chris onto his back (catching the child by surprise), and flew through the left corridor, praying that Leon was alright (for he wouldn't be able to stand the guilt if he wasn't), and hoping that they wouldn't run into the creature that made such a tortured sound.
Moments Before-
Leon awoke to the pounding pain in his head, finding himself sprawled on the cold, hard cement floor. He attempted to sit up, but laid back down, as he could not fight the nausea. He turned to one side and violently threw up, and let out a feeble moan.
After several long minutes, he attempted to sit up and succeeded in fighting the nausea that threatened to overwhelm him once again.
At once he realized something was wrong.
He looked around noticing that the girl had disappeared, leaving behind no traces of her being here (even the couch was gone).
Suddenly, Leon felt very self- conscious, in the middle of a weak cone of light, surrounded by darkness.
'Who knows what might be out there?' he mused to himself, and shuddered as the memory of the Spiders came back to him.
Something still felt strange. He felt somehow… different.
Stronger. Deadlier.
'Whoa, where did those thoughts come from?' Leon mused to himself and ran a hand through his hair.
In an instant, he flinched and pulled his hand back to find that his nails were extremely long and sharp, as they were the ones that stabbed him in the head. His hair was longer and thicker as well, and had come out of his hair-tie. He continued to look up his arm and found that he was wearing strange bracers made of gold, as well as exotic gold bands on his biceps. It was then he realized in much surprise that his wound had partially healed, having already formed a strong scab.
'What?' Leon mused to himself 'That wound was bleeding like crazy just a moment ago…'
Touching his wound gingerly, he stretched his arm in a circular motion, and then froze as another question formed in his mind.
'How long was I here?'
He looked for his watch but could not find it, as it was replaced with the gold bracer, he suddenly came to realization at how cold he was. He rubbed his arms and looked down, find that he had no shirt on; only an exotic gold necklace dangling from his neck, which obviously covered very little. Continuing to look down at a reflected flash, he saw that he had gold anklets, and…
Leon began to turn a brilliant shade of crimson.
"What the hell!" Leon said aloud in surprise and violated anger.
A Loincloth?
His thoughts where interrupted when a voice in his head revealed its presence.
'You have awoken too soon', the voice echoed, one of which he recognized but couldn't remember.
The voice continued to inform him, 'You are much stronger that I anticipated. I underestimated you. No worries. It seems that you are just going to have to suffer through the rest of the transformation as you are now.'
Leon had no time to think over what the voice had said as he double over in pain; a pain so great that it knocked him off his feet and onto his knees. An all too familiar burning feeling came back in full force that made him cry out in pain.
"Wh-what's happening t-to me!" Leon managed to gasp out through gritted teeth, feeling his teeth grow painfully sharper.
His whole body was on fire, and he collapsed onto the cement.
As he writhed in pain on the ground, he felt his tailbone begin to elongate and the bones on his back tear up from underneath his skin, which was the worst pain of all. He let out an agonized scream as it continued to grow, which ended up sounding similar to a roar.
The transformation was complete.
Count D awoke with a start at the sound of a tormented roar that ripped into the night.
It was unusual and rare for the Kami to be truly startled; only the most unusual and rare circumstances caused him to be so. This had to be an extreme case, as for it had woken him up.
Not that he had been sleeping well in the first place, worrying over the safety of his golden lion and the recently missing Chris. Although, D figured Chris was safe, for the animals have gotten used to the boy, so he would be in no immediate danger.
Not that that was an excuse not to worry.
D rested his head on his hands a found that he was sweating profusely.
He could almost feel the pain that was causing the animal; such a pain could not be ignored by him.
With that said, D grabbed a robe to put over his nightwear, grabbed one torches that conveniently lit his room, and set off into the back corridor.
(AN: "Torches? A little bit old fashioned, Count D." :silence: "But hey, that pretty cool anyways!" :hugs D:)
As he expertly walked in the direction of the angst-ridden cry, the kami sought answers in his thoughts.
He did not recognize the owner of the voice, yet for a moment, when he first heard the sound, he instantly thought of Leon…
But that was impossible. That creature was definitely inhuman.
Right?
D suddenly felt very worried indeed.
Just then, the Count felt another presence in the corridor.
He closed his eyes and reached out with his mind to identify the mysterious being, and sensed that the incense had returned.
'Have you found him?' he asked.
Then, a smoky, soft voice echoed his mind.
'Yes. The Golden One has been found.'
Tetsu ran as fast as he could (which was at about half speed, for Chris began to slide of his back several times) toward the anguished cry. He still didn't know why, but from the look on Chris' face, something told him that the boy knew that Leon was in trouble; could feel it.
Tetsu could smell Leon's scent getting stronger in the direction he was going, as well as something else.
Alas, he came upon a corridor that reeked of spider, which, upon entering, he saw an open door with blood on the floor.
Tetsu froze. He recognized the scent as being Leon's blood.
'Nononono…. He can't be dead! Please don't let him be dead!'
Chris must had felt his tension, and asked what was wrong.
There was a slight pause as Tetsu readjusted Chris on his back
"Don't worry about it, ok? Everything's fine…"
'I hope' he added in his mind.
Chris still was not reassured for he sensed the uneasiness in T- Chan's reply, but decided not to press the matter further.
He instead attempted to look around (only to have that attempt foiled), courtesy of Tetsu's wild fuchsia hair blocking his view.
Testu began to approach the door with caution; his nerves were on end the moment he saw the blood. Who knows: whatever did this still may be around…
He stepped into the room cautiously, only to be met with darkness, except for a dim light with something sprawled in the middle... Suddenly, the door shut and locked behind him.
'Shit' Tetsu cursed silently. 'That's not good…'
He sensed that Chris was uneasy and scared.
'Shitshitshit, I forgot, Chris is afraid of the dark…'
He swung Chris down from his back and set the boy in front of him, then bent down to his level.
"Chris, I want you to stay here, Ok? If something happens to you, yell for me."
Chris nodded.
'Wait, why can't I go with you?' Chris asked when T- Chan began to cautiously walk away.
"Because I can't fight with you clinging to me. And besides, if I get into trouble, then I need you to go get Count D for me."
'Oh.', Was all Chris could say.
Then he saw a figure lying under a dim light, a figure that, for a moment, looked exactly like-
"Leon!"
Chris began to run towards his brother, just when a large click sounded and several darts shot at the youngest Orcot. Chris froze at sound; his eyes going wide at the sight of all the flying flashes… Suddenly, he was pushed out of the way, hearing a pained grunt from T- Chan behind him.
Chris spun around "T- Chan?"
Tetsu had been knock over by the force of the darts, but stood up quickly at Chris' calling. 'I guess there were more than I thought…' he mused, surveying the damage. 'And tiny, too...' he grimaced as he pulled one out of his chest. 'One down, only about hundred more to go…'
"T- Chan?"
"Yes Chris?" he replied, turning to the little boy, expecting him to ask him if he was alright.
But that never came, as when he looked at Chris, the boy had an expression of open gaping, his finger pointing at something behind him, his eyes wide.
Tetsu spun around and realized that he was right beside the weak light, and whatever was underneath it. He gasped at the sight.
It was Leon… but it wasn't. He had changed significantly, looking overall, more powerful and… and sexier than before… Tetsu blushed furiously in confused thought.
'Whoa, what the hell! Where did that come from?'
Just then, he heard a whimper from behind.
'Oh, I forgot about Chris…'
He turned around and was stunned to see Chris, wide- eyed and frightened of what he saw.
"Chris, what's wrong?" he asked, and then it hit him: Chris couldn't see his brother's human form. He must be terrified.
Tetsu turned to the young boy and gave him a hug, once again in attempt to comfort him.
'It's okay, don't worry, he's not going to hurt you…'
Chris still wasn't reassured.
'What the heck is that thing doing here? Forget that, what the heck is that thing?'
Chris had seen something like it before, when he went to the zoo once with his aunt... but never this close… and this one was different…
He buried his head into T-Chan's shoulder, and bit back a sob.
"Don't worry Chris, you'll be safe with me. I'll prote… protect yo…" Tetsu could say no more as he passed out because of the mysterious substance that was secreted onto the darts.
'Oh darn…' Aeternitas thought to herself from her hidden spot next to the light on the ceiling. 'I was hoping that my little trap would get the Count…'.
Then she looked closely at the boy who set off the trap, remembering who he was.
The boy from her vision. Her pet- what was his name again? Oh yes… Leon-'s brother.
Her eye sockets lit up at the mere thought.
'He's so nice, I want him too. When he becomes my pet, we'll play with each other everyday and I'll keep him forever.'
Then a thought struck her. Maybe… maybe now, she can have a family. Yes, that sounded about right. With Leon and him, staying with her forever…
She liked the idea. Now, to make him hers.
She concentrated on the Totetsu, who just passed out from the venom she had put on the dart.
'Excellent. Now I won't have to worry about him.'
Just when she was about to approach the boy, an intruder entered their midst.
"The Count!" she hissed, and with lighting fast speed, she was gone in the shadows.
With almost unnatural speed and grace, Count D followed the smoke through the maze of doors and halls finally reaching one that filled him with dread, seeing the elaborate 'A' etched upon the door.
He sensed her presence still within and entered swiftly through the door. He saw Chris hovering over Tetsu's unconscious form, his face pale and fear evident in his eyes. Behind him, the also unconscious form of a -------lay face down on the floor, which radiated mystical power. Count D frowned (for it was a creature he had not encountered before), and concentrated on it. Slowly, it transformed into Leon.
(AN: about the dashes: read note at the end of the story.)
The look in D's eyes was of shock and of sadness (for Leon's pain), but then they hardened with anger and fury as he searched for the Little Miss responsible for this.
He sensed her presence still inside of the room, heading for the door.
Turning around all he had time to see was the door swinging from the speed of which Aeternitas had left.
Well, I hope you all liked this chapter. Eight pages! Whew!
If you were wondering about why therearedash marks where Leon's new form would be revealed: I wanted to save it for the next chapter.
Why?
Because I can.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
… Ahem…
Anyways,
Something has come to my attention: Word has been going around that many people have been getting busted for responding to reviews, so alas, this will be the last time I will be doing this.
I will recognize all of you though, because I believe you deserve that much…
And remember: I'm always open for suggestions, so if you have any, please, pray tell.
Gotta Go. See you next chapter.
Aliehs
PS- The rules about multiple grammar marks here suck.
