A/N: So I was walking around this morning in the rain, trying to come up with more ideas for this story, and this song came on my ipod. Normaly, it makes me think of Vampires (it did come from the underworld soundtrack, after all), but I realized it was perfect for S.T. Goku in this fic.

I don't own the song, the characters, or the series. I'm just playing with them for now.

Chapter Three

Awakening—The Damning Well

Part 1

I have control of a history untold

It begins with the father of sin

I walk alone in the garden of stones

I turn into the monster within

Life is too long for me

Life is too wrong for me

Gojyo yawned and tossed his bag into the back of the jeep. "What's the big rush?" he asked Hakkai quietly. Sanzo had awakened them all before sunrise, ordering them to move out. Goku had barely managed to load his bag before passing out in the back seat, where he lay sprawled now, using his pack as a pillow.

"To be honest, I don't have any idea," Hakkai replied. "I—"

"Shut up. Quit your jabbering so we can get moving already," Sanzo snapped, pulling his gun from his robes. His head was throbbing so badly he could barely keep his eyes open; his only thought was getting the hell away from that creepy ape.

Hakkai and Gojyo exchanged glances, but did what they were told nonetheless. They weren't about to cross Sanzo so early in the morning.

"Eh, Sanzo," Hakkai ventured, "shouldn't we wait for—"

"No! Let's just go already," the monk replied testily.

"Are you sure--?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Now shut up and get in so we can leave."

"Okay then…"

Seiten Taisei Son Goku sat perfectly still on his little cloud above the in, watching the Sanzo party drive away.

I really screwed that one up, he thought, rubbing his thumb along the power limiter at his wrist. I just miss him so bad…I couldn't help it.

Metal chips fell off in his hand. His limiters were in such poor shape now that one good hit would take them off, forget about his demon powers.

I hope they find me soon, he thought. I don't want to go rougue on these people. The slow, dangerous smile returned. No, that is a favor I reserve for the gods.

"Hakkai, when are we stopping? I'm hungry," Goku whined.

"Goku, please keep your voice down," Hakkai replied, casting a wary glance at Sanzo, who barely even seemed conscious.

"Hm?" Goku looked at Sanzo. "Sanzo? Are you okay?" He poked his shoulder. "Sanzo?"

"Shut up," the monk hissed, his eyes remaining tightly closed. "Just shut up already."

"All the same, though, I think we should stop for a little while and give Hakuryu a rest," Hakkai said.

Sanzo made no reply, so Hakkai allowed the jeep to slow.

"We got any food in here?" Goku asked, already leaning over the back of the seat, searching for their bag of supplies.

"It's on the driver's side, I think," Hakkai replied.

"Yes!" Goku pulled out the sack with their lunches in it. "Are there any meat buns—"

"Hand over the scripture!"

The four looked up to see yet another pack of weak demons surrounding them, at least twenty.

"Jeeze, can you have worse timing? At least let me get my lunch in," Goku said.

"Your voice is really starting to get on my nerves," Sanzo said. He pulled out his gun, firing just over Goku's head, close enough that his hair was ruffled by the speed of the bullet, and hit one of the demons. "One more word and I'll kill you, instead."

Goku gulped. He had the funny feeling Sanzo was serious this time.

"Well, let's go ahead and get this over with, since the big monkey isn't here to do it," Gojyo said, summoning his staff.

"Yes. It was rather convienient having him around, wasn't it?" Hakkai replied as a ball of chi began to form in his hands.

"I don't want to hear about that damn ape!" Sanzo snapped, firing off three more shots into the crowd.

The demons began to attack, and the usual bloodbath ensued; the problem, however, was that the twenty or so initial demons were only the tip of the ice burg. Apparently, they had actually thought up some form of a strategy, which involved six times that number laying in wait, then coming at them in waves.

"Where do they keep coming from?" Goku asked, finishing off a couple more. "This is taking forever! When to I get my lunch?"

"Please allow me to help," said a quiet voice to his right. Goku turned; Seiten Taisei was sitting on his cloud as though he wasn't floating in the middle of a battle.

"You're late, asshole!"

"Sorry."

A group of demons broke off and tried to attack Seiten Taisei from the back. Without turning, he fired a chi-blast at them, successfully clearing half the battlefield and nearly singeing Gojyo's eyebrows off.

"Hey! Watch it with those things!"

Seitein Taisei's cloud vanished, and he dropped lightly to the ground.

Cause there's something that

I realize

That I miss being human

I realize

That I miss being human

Nothing Times

"I thought I told you not to follow us," Sanzo growled.

"Why do you think I'm here?" Seiten Taisei replied. The chi blast he fired carved claw-like gouges into the earth. "The sooner they catch me, the sooner I can go back."

"D-damn you!" cried one of the demons.

"Too late. I already am," Seiten Taisei answered, frying the speaker.

At last, the final demon was killed, and Sanzo, Gojyo, Goku, and Hakkai began heading back to the jeep.

"Halt!

Sanzo turned. "Who the hell are you?" There was a man in armor standing twenty yards away.

No. This wasn't a man.

"Itansai," Seiten Taisei greeted him with a small nodd.

"You two know each other?" Goku asked.

"You could say that," Seiten Taisei replied. He's a bounty hunter hired by the Jade Emporer to capture me."

Itansai grinned.

"Arrest him."

From nowhere, fifty heavenly gaurds appeared and attacked. Demons may not have stood a chance against the Sanzo party, but fifty heavily armed gods were an entirely different matter.

Seiten Taisei sliced the heads off of three before they could lay a finger on him, but his four companions were restrained in short order.

One of the guards gabbed Saiten Taisei from behind; as he struggled to break the hold, the limiter on his left wrist shattered. Fangs and claws extended, his hand went through the guard's skull like a hot knife through butter, spraying grey matter in all directions.

I lose control as the story unfolds

I have been like a knife to bare skin

I walk alone like a king with no throne

I burn up from the monster within

Life is too long for me

Life is too wrong for me

"What's taking you incompetant fools so long? Just grab him already," Itansai barked. He drew the sword from his belt, and sliced it towards the ground, a wave of dirt and rock rolling towards Seiten Taisei.

"You think a little earth can hurt me?" he asked, fangs bared in a wicked smile. "I am the earth!" With a sweep of his hands, a the ground rushed up to meet Itansai, a tidal wave of dirt that buried him in seconds.

"General Itansai!" one of the soldiers called.

"Get him!"

The remaining soldiers lept on him, but he sliced through them as through through air. By the time he was finally restrained, he was covered in blood, and there were only five guards left, not counting the ones restraining the four travelers.

"Break his neck!" one of them order. There was a sickening crack, and Seiten Taisei went limp.

"That will only buy us time. We need to get him back as soon as possible," said the one who had taken charge.

"What about General Itansai?" one asked.

A hand popped out of the dirt where the bounty hunter in question was buried. Two men ran over to help pull him out.

"The target has been secured," one of them informed him as he brushed himself off. "The four extras though…what do we do with them?"

Itansai glanced at them. "We'll just take them with us. One of them is his past form; maybe the Emporer will up the price if we bring in both."

"What?" Goku shouted.

"Hey, what the fuck do you think you're doing?" Gojyo yelled.

Itansai looked at their captors. "Keep them quiet."

"Wha—"

That was all either of them managed before one of the guards brought the hilt of a sword down to the back of their heads.